(20.1–17)
273. The Eightfold Path is the best of paths,
The Four Sayings the best of truths,
Freedom from passion the best of states,
The Seer the best of two-footed beings.
274. This is the path – there is no other –
For the purification of seeing.
Enter upon this one:
This is the thwarting of Māra.
275. If you enter upon this path,
You’ll make an end of suffering –
The path I taught you
Once I’d understood the easing of darts.
276. You have to make the effort:
The Tathāgatas are the teachers.
Meditators who enter upon the path
Are freed from Māra’s bonds.
277. ‘All conditioned things are impermanent.’
When by wisdom you see this,
You grow weary of suffering.
This is the path to purity.
278. ‘All conditioned things are suffering.’
When by wisdom you see this,
You grow weary of suffering.
This is the path to purity.
279. ‘All dhammas are without self.’
When by wisdom you see this,
You grow weary of suffering.
This is the path to purity.
280. If at the time for striving he does not strive,
Gives in to lethargy though young and strong,
That idle, lazy man, with lowered thoughts and mind,
Does not by wisdom discover the path.
281. Guarding your speech, restrained in mind
And body too, you should do no unskilful act.
Purifying these three ways of action,
You’ll reach the path taught by the sages.
282. From practice arises wisdom;
From not practising, decrease of wisdom.
Knowing this twofold path
Leading to gain and loss,
You should establish yourself in such a way
That your wisdom increases.
283. Cut down the wood, not the tree.
From the wood arises danger.
Cut down wood and brushwood
And be free from the wood, monks.
284. As long as any tiny bit of brushwood
Of a man towards women is not cut down,
He has a mind in bondage,
Like a sucking calf towards its mother.
285. Cut off affection towards yourself
As you’d pluck an autumn lily with your hand.
Develop the path to peace,
The nibbāna taught by the Well-Gone.
286. ‘I’ll live here in the rainy season,
Here in the winter and summer,’
The fool thinks:
He does not see his danger.
287. If a man’s intoxicated by sons and cattle,
His mind attached to this and that,
Death carries him away
As a great flood takes a sleeping village.
288. Sons cannot protect you,
Nor father, nor any relatives.
When you are assailed by the Ender
There’s no protection in your kin.
289. Knowing this for a fact,
The wise one, restrained by good conduct,
Should quickly clear
The path that leads to nibbāna.