CHAPTER TEN.
PUNISHMENT.
129.
All beings fear the rod, all fear to die;
Regard them as thyself; strike not nor slay.
130.
All beings fear the rod; all love their life;
Regard them as thyself; strike not nor slay.
131.
Whoso treats pleasure-loving creatures ill,
When he seeks bliss for self he shall not find it.
132.
Whoso treats pleasure-loving creatures well,
When he seeks happiness for self shall find it.
133.
Use not harsh speech; when harshly spoken to
Men may retort; painful are quarrellings,
And punishment may follow thy harsh words.
134.
If thou can'st keep thy tongue from wagging oft,
Silent as some cracked gong, thou hast thereby
Nibbāna won; no brawling is in thee.
135.
As with a stick the herdsman drives his kine,
So death and age compel the lives of men.
136.
The fool in doing ill knows not his folly;
His own deeds, like a fire, the fool consume.
137.
He who offends the harmless innocent
Soon reaches one of these ten states of woe;
138.
Sharp pain, disease, or bodily decay,
Grievous disaster, or a mind distraught;
139.
Oppression by the king, or calumny,
Loss of relations, loss of all his wealth,
140.
His house burned by a thunderbolt or fire;
At death, poor fool, he finds rebirth in hell.
141.
Not nakedness, nor matted hair nor filth,
Not fasting long, nor lying on the ground,
Not dust and dirt, nor squatting on the heels.
Can cleanse the mortal that is full of doubt.
142.
But one that lives a calm and tranquil life,
Though gaily decked, if tamed, restrained, he live
Walking the holy path in righteousness,
Laying aside all harm to living things,
True mendicant, ascetic, Brāhmin he!
143.
Who in this world is so restrained by shame
That, like a thoroughbred flicked by the whip.
He can think lightly of the lash of blame?
144.
By faith and virtue, energy, and mind
In perfect balance, searching of the Norm,
Perfect in knowledge and good practices,
Perfect in concentration of your thoughts,
Ye shall strike off this multitude of woes.
145.
As cultivators guide the water-course,
As fletchers straighten out the arrow-shaft,
As carpenters warp timber to their needs,
So righteous men subdue and train themselves.
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
OLD AGE.
146.
Laugh ye, rejoice ye, when this world is burning?
O wrapped in darkness, will ye not seek light?
147.
Behold this body decked, a mass of sores,
Sickly and swayed by multitudinous thoughts.
Impermanent, unstable, uncomposed!
148.
Poor worn-out carcase, home of sicknesses,
Fragile, corrupting mass, mere life in death!
149.
What joy to look upon these bleached bones,
Like useless gourds in autumn thrown aside!—
150.
A township built of bones and plastered o'er
With flesh and blood, the home and dwelling-place
Of age and death, pride and hypocrisy!
151.
Just as a royal chariot gaily decked
Falls to decay, so grows this body old;
But Truth and Norm old age cannot assail,
The holy ones indeed know no decay.
152.
Just like an ox, the witless man grows old;
His flesh grows, but his wits do not increase.
153-4.
Thro' many a round of birth and death I ran,
Nor found the builder that I sought. Life's stream
Is birth and death and birth, with sorrow filled.
Now, housebuilder, thou'rt seen! No more shalt build!
Broken are all thy rafters, split thy beam!
All that made up this mortal self is gone;
Mind hath slain craving; I have crossed the stream![1]
155.
They who in youth have never trod the way
Of righteousness, nor garnered wisdom's store.
Like herons in a fishless pool decay.
156.
They who in youth have never trod the way
Of righteousness, nor garnered wisdom's store.
Like broken bows, lie weeping their lost day.
[1] The triumphant words of the Buddha, when at last He attained enlightenment, Nibbāna, beneath the Bo-tree.