Khuddaka Nikaya - Theragatha 2

Khuddaka Nikaya - Theragatha 2

Thag 2.13
Heraññakani
Translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Alternate translation:Olendzki (excerpt)Thanissaro
PTS: vv. 145-146



Source: Transcribed from a file provided by the translator.



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Heraññakani (Thag 2.13) {vv. 145-146}
Days & nights
fly past.
Life
comes to an end.
The span of mortals
runs out,
like the water of a piddling stream.
But the fool doing evil deeds
doesn't realize that later
it's bitter for him:
evil for him
the result.


Thag 2.16
Mahakala

This swarthy woman
[preparing a corpse for cremation]
— crow-like, enormous —
breaking a thigh & then the other
thigh,
breaking an arm & then the other
arm,
cracking open the head,
like a pot of curds,
she sits with them heaped up beside her.

Whoever, unknowing,
makes acquisitions
— the fool —
returns over & over
to suffering & stress.
So, discerning,
don't make acquisitions.
May I never lie
with my head cracked open
again.


Valliya (Thag 2.24) {vv. 167-168}
What needs to be done
with firm persistence,
what needs to be done
by someone who hopes for Awakening,
that I will do.
I will not fail.
See: persistence & striving!

You show me the path:
straight,
coming ashore in the Deathless.
I, through sagacity,
will reach it, know it,
as the stream of the Ganges,
the sea.


Punnamasa (Thag 2.26) {vv. 171-172}
Shedding five hindrances
so as to reach the unexcelled rest
from the yoke,
taking the Dhamma as mirror
for knowing & seeing myself,
I reflected on this body —
the whole thing,
inside & out,
my own & others'.
How vain & empty it looked!


Thag 2.27
Nandaka

Just as a fine thoroughbred steed
stumbling, regains its stance,
feeling all the more urgency,
& draws its burden
undaunted.

In the same way, remember me:
consummate in vision,
a disciple of the Rightly
Self-awakened One,
the Awakened One's thoroughbred child,
his son.


Thag 2.30
Kanhadinna

Men of integrity
have been attended to,
the Dhamma repeatedly
listened to.
Having listened,
I followed the straight way,
coming ashore in the Deathless.

Passion for becoming,
having been killed by me,
no further such passion
is found in me.
It neither was
nor will be
nor is found in me
even now.


Thag 2.37
Sona Potiriyaputta

It's not for sleeping,
the night garlanded
with zodiac stars.
The night, for one who knows,
is for staying awake.

If I were to fall from my elephant's shoulder,
and a tusker trampled me,
death in battle would be better for me,
than that I, defeated,
survive.


Thag 2
Culaka

The peacocks — with lovely feathers, lovely wings,
Lovely blue necks and lovely faces,
Call out — a lovely song with a lovely sound.
This great earth has lovely waters and grasses;
There are lovely clouds in the sky.

Meditating with a good sound body and a good mind,
It is good to go forth well
In the good teaching of the Buddha.
Experience that highest, unwavering state!
Most pure, subtle, most hard to see.



Translator's note
This highly alliterated poem, attributed to the elder monk Culaka, plays with
the prefix su- , which occurs no less than 14 times in these two short stanzas.
It has three primary meanings, covered successively through the poem: 1) lovely
or well-formed; 2) good, thorough, or well done; and 3) it is often used as a
simple intensive prefix, meaning something like "very" or "most."
The plaintive call of the peacock, commonplace during the three-month rainy
season retreats undertaken by the Buddha's monks and nuns, is a favorite theme
of their nature poetry preserved in the Theragatha and the Therigatha .
The first stanza reflects the balanced appreciation of the natural world that
comes from the focused but equanimous mind in meditation. Pleasurable
sensations, such as the ones described here in response to the beauty of nature,
can be experienced mindfully by those devoid of craving, without the tendency
present in most of us to cling to the pleasure or resist its inevitable passing
away. Early Buddhist poetry often points out the beauties of nature, but seldom
lingers on them.
The second stanza leads one on to higher aspirations. It inspires the listener
(for the was primarily an oral tradition) to give up the mundane pursuits of the
worldly life, engage in the purifying and clarifying enterprise of meditation,
tread diligently the straight path pointed out by the Buddha and, finally,
attain in this very lifetime the perfection of the human condition.