Dhammapada

The Path of Dhamma

XXV. Bhikkhuvagga: Monks (360-382)

By Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For free distribution only.

[360-361] Restraint with the eye is good,
good is restraint with the ear.
Restraint with the nose is good,
good is restraint with the tongue.
Restraint with the body is good,
good is restraint with speech.
Restraint with the heart is good,
good is restraint everywhere.
A monk everywhere restrained
is released from all suffering and stress.

[362] Hands restrained,
feet restrained
speech restrained,
supremely restrained --
delighting in what is inward,
content, centered, alone:
he's what they call
a monk.

[363] A monk restrained in his speaking,
giving counsel unruffled,
declaring the message and meaning:
sweet is his speech.

[364] Dhamma his dwelling,
Dhamma his delight,
a monk pondering Dhamma,
calling Dhamma to mind,
does not fall away
from true Dhamma.

[365] Gains:
don't treat your own with scorn,
don't go coveting those of others.
A monk who covets those of others
attains
no concentration.

[366] Even if he gets next to nothing,
he doesn't treat his gains with scorn.
Living purely, untiring:
he's the one
that the devas praise.

[367] For whom, in name and form
in every way,
there's no sense of mine,
and who doesn't grieve
for what's not:
he's deservedly called
a monk.

[368] Dwelling in kindness, a monk
with faith in the Awakened One's teaching,
would attain the good state,
the peaceful state:
stilling-of-fabrications ease.

[369] Monk, bail out this boat.
It will take you lightly when bailed.
Having cut through passion, aversion,
you go from there to Unbinding.

[370] Cut through five,
let go of five,
and develop five above all.
A monk gone past five attachments
is said to have crossed the flood.

[371] Practice jhāna, monk,
and don't be heedless.
Don't take your mind roaming
in sensual strands.
Don't swallow -- heedless --
the ball of iron aflame.
Don't burn and complain: 'This is pain.'

[372] There's no jhāna
for one with no discernment,
no discernment
for one with no jhāna.
But one with both jhāna
and discernment:
he's on the verge
of Unbinding.

[373] A monk with his mind at peace,
going into an empty dwelling,
clearly seeing the Dhamma aright:
his delight is more
than human.

[374] However it is,
however it is he touches
the arising-and-passing of aggregates:
he gains rapture and joy:
that, for those who know it,
is deathless,
the Deathless.

[375-376] Here the first things
for a discerning monk
are guarding the senses,
contentment,
restraint in line with the Pāṭimokkha.
He should associate with admirable friends.

Living purely, untiring,
hospitable by habit,
skilled in his conduct,
gaining a manifold joy,
he will put an end
to suffering and stress.

[377] Shed passion
and aversion, monks --
as a jasmine would,
its withered flowers.

[378] Calmed in body,
calmed in speech,
well-centered and calm,
having disgorged the baits of the world,
a monk is called
thoroughly
calmed.

[379] You yourself should reprove yourself,
should examine yourself.
As a self-guarded monk
with guarded self,
mindful, you dwell at ease.

[380] Your own self is
your own mainstay.
Your own self is
your own guide.
Therefore you should
watch over yourself --
as a trader, a fine steed.

[381] A monk with a manifold joy,
with faith in the Awakened One's teaching,
would attain the good state,
the peaceful state:
stilling-of-fabrications ease.

[382] A young monk who strives
in the Awakened One's teaching,
brightens the world
like the moon set free from a cloud.

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