Noticing the desolation in the mind of the pleasure-seeking man, the Buddhist poet composed this song and taught it to the brethren in the vihāra: 6
"Unless refuge you take in the Buddha and find in Nirvāna rest
Your life is but vanity—empty and desolate vanity.
To see the world is idle, and to enjoy life is empty.
The world, including man, is but like a phantom, and the hope of heaven is as a mirage.7
"The worldling seeks pleasures fattening himself like a caged fowl.
But the Buddhist saint flies up to the sun like the wild crane.
The fowl in the coop has food but will soon be boiled in the pot.
No provisions are given to the wild crane, but the heavens and the earth are his."8
The poet said: "The times are hard and teach the people
a lesson; yet do they not heed it." And he composed
another poem on the vanity of worldliness:9
"It is good to reform, and it is good to exhort people to reform.
The things of the world will all be swept away.
Let others be busy and buried with care.
My mind all unvexed shall be pure.10
"After pleasures they hanker and find no satisfaction;
Riches they covet and can never have enough.
They are like unto puppets held up by a string.
When the string breaks they come down with a shock.11
"In the domain of death there are neither great nor small;
Neither gold nor silver is used, nor precious jewels.
No distinction is made between the high and the low.
And daily the dead are buried beneath the fragrant sod.12
"Look at the sun setting behind the western hills.
You lie down to rest, but soon the cock will announce morn.
Reform to-day and do not wait until it be too late.
Do not say it is early, for the time quickly passes by.13
"It is good to reform and it is good to exhort people to reform.
It is good to lead a righteous life and take refuge in the Buddha's name.
Your talents may reach to the skies, your wealth may be untold—
But all is in vain unless you attain the peace of Nirvāna."14
XLIV.
SECRECY AND PUBLICITY.
The Buddha said: "Three things, O disciples, are characterized by secrecy: love affairs, priestly wisdom, and all aberrations from the path of truth. 1
"Women who are in love, O disciples, seek secrecy and shun publicity; priests who claim to be in possession of special revelations, O disciples, seek secrecy and shun publicity; all those who stray from the path of truth, O disciples, seek secrecy and shun publicity. 2
"Three things, O disciples, shine before the world and cannot be hidden. What are the three? 3
"The moon, O disciples, illumines the world and cannot be hidden; the sun, O disciples, illumines the world and cannot be hidden; and the truth proclaimed by the Tathāgata illumines the world and cannot be hidden. These three things, O disciples, illumine the world and cannot be hidden. There is no secrecy about them." 4