The Buddha’s teaching: Sila (morality), Samadhi (mastery over the mind) and Panna (purification of the mind via Vipassana Meditation).
The bhikkhu gone to a lonely place
who is of peaceful heart
in-sees Dhamma rightly,
knows all-surpassing joy.
Explanation: A monk who enters an empty house, whose mind is at peace, and who is capable of seeing the reality of things, experiences an ecstasy not known to ordinary minds. Continue reading “Verse 373. He Who Is Calm Experiences Transcendental Joy”
No concentration wisdom lacks,
no wisdom concentration lacks,
in whom are both these qualities
near to Nibbana is that one.
Explanation: For one who lacks meditation there is no wisdom. Both meditation and wisdom are essential and cannot be had without the other. If in a person, both wisdom and meditation are present, he is close to Nibbana. Continue reading “Verse 372. There Is No Wisdom In Those Who Do Not Think”
Meditate bhikkhu! Don’t be heedless!
Don’t let pleasures whirl the mind!
Heedless, do not gulp a glob of iron!
Bewail not when burning, ‘This is dukkha’!
Explanation: O monk, meditate and do not be indolent. Do not allow your mind to loiter among sensual pleasures. If you allow it, it will be like having iron balls forced down your throat in hell. You will bewail your fate crying, “This is suffering,” Do not allow it to happen. Continue reading “Verse 371. Meditate Earnestly”
Five cut off and five forsake,
a further five then cultivate,
a bhikkhu from five fetter free
is called a ‘Forder of the flood.’
Explanation: One should break away from the five lower fetter. One must get rid of the five higher fetters. One must cultivate the five faculties. One must go beyond five attachments. A monk who has achieved these is described as the one who has crossed the flood. Continue reading “Verse 370. Flood-Crosser Is One Who Has Giver Up The Fetters”
O bhikkhu bail this boat,
when emptied it will swiftly go.
Having severed lust and hate
thus to Nibbana you’ll go.
Explanation: O monk, your boat must be emptied of the water which, if accumulated, will sink it. Once the water is taken out and the boat is emptied, both lust and hate gone, it will swiftly reach its destination – Nibbana. Continue reading “Verse 369. Give Up Lust And Hatred”
The bhikkhu in kindness abiding,
bright in the Buddha’s Teaching
can come to the Place of Peace,
the bliss of conditionedness ceased.
Explanation: The monk who extends loving-kindness to all, takes delight in the Teaching of the Buddha, will attain the state of bliss, the happiness of Nibbana, which denotes the pacifying of the agitation of existence. Continue reading “Verse 368. The Monk Who Radiates Loving-Kindness Radiates Peace”
For whom there is no making ‘mine’
towards all name and form,
who does not grieve for what is not,
he’s truly ‘bhikkhu’ called.
Explanation: He has gone beyond all sense of his own name and form. To him, there is no existence of I, my or mine. If his name and form entity were to decay and deteriorate, he will not grieve. Such a person is called a monk. Continue reading “Verse 367. He Is A Monk Who Has No Attachment”
Disdaining not his gains,
though little he receives,
pure of life and keen
that bhikkhu devas praise.
Explanation: The monk may have received only a little but he does not under estimate what was given him. He is satisfied with what he has received. Such a monk, who leads a pure livelihood, is praised by deities. Continue reading “Verse 366. The Gods Adore Virtuous Monks”
He should not disdain his gains
nor live of others envious,
the bhikkhu who is envious
does not attain collectedness.
Explanation: Do not underestimate what you have received. And again, do not expect what others have got. If a monk covets what others have received, he will never attain tranquillity of mind. Continue reading “Verse 365. Accept What One Receives”
The bhikkhu who in Dhamma dwells,
in Dhamma delighting and pondering,
remembering the Dhamma – he
does not decline from Dhamma True.
Explanation: The monk who abides in the Dhamma, who delights in the Dhamma, and is ever mindful of the Dhamma, does not fall away from the Dhamma of the virtuous. Continue reading “Verse 364. The Monk Abides in Dhamma”
