CHAPTER 7

THE ARAHAT

(7.1–10)

90.   No fever is found

In one who has travelled the road,

Who, sorrowless, freed in every way,

Has destroyed all bonds.

91.   The mindful make effort:

They do not delight in a dwelling.

As geese leave a pool,

They give up any kind of home.

92.   Those who do no hoarding,

Who fully understand food,

Whose range is liberation,

Empty and signless –

Their path is as hard to follow

As that of birds in the sky.

93.   One whose defilements are exhausted,

Who is unattached to food,

Whose range is liberation,

Empty and signless –

His track is as hard to follow

As that of birds in the sky.

94.   One whose senses have attained calm

Like horses well trained by a charioteer,

Whose pride has gone, who is free from defilements –

Such a one even the gods envy.

95.   Like the earth, such a one has no ill will:

True to his vows, he’s like a royal pillar,

A mudless pool.

Such a one has no more wanderings in saṃsāra.

96.   Calm is the mind

And calm the speech and actions

Of such a one, perfectly calm,

Who is freed through right knowledge.

97.   That man who’s faithless,

Ungrateful, a burglar,

Who’s blown his chances, an eater of forbidden food,

He’s a brave fellow indeed.

[alternatively]

That man who’s desireless,

Who knows the unmade, a breaker of links,

Who’s gone beyond chances, who’s got rid of desire,

He’s a fine person indeed.

98.   Wherever Arahats live,

In village or forest,

In valley or hill –

What a lovely place it is!

99.   Lovely are the forests

Where folk find no delight.

Those free from passion will find delight there:

They don’t seek for sensual things.