Serenity

Translated from the Pāḷi by Michael Olds

[1][pts][than][bodh] I Hear Tell:

Once upon a time The Lucky Man,
Sāvatthi-town revisiting,
Anāthapiṇḍika's Jeta Grove Park

There, to the Beggars gathered round, he said:

"Beggars!"

"Bhante!" the Beggars responded.

So the Lucky Man said to them:

"Develop serenity, beggars!

Serene, beggars,
a beggar knows the nature of things.

And what 'nature of things' does he know?

The self-arising of form
and the settling down of form,
the self-arising of sense experience
and the settling down of sense experience
[14] the self-arising of perception
and the settling down of perception
the self-arising of own-making
and the settling down of own-making
the self-arising of consciousness
and the settling down of consciousness.

And what, beggars, is the self-arising of form
what the self-arising of sense-experience
what the self-arising of perception
what the self-arising of own-making
what the self-arising of consciousness?

■

Here, beggars, overjoyed at,
overly thrilled with,
there is remaining tied down.

But overjoyed at,
overly thrilled with what,
does he remain tied down?

Overjoyed at,
overly thrilled with form
there is remaining tied down.

Overjoyed at,
overly thrilled with
remaining tied down to form,
delight arises.

Whatever is delight with form,
that is supporting fuel,
the counterpart of supporting fuel is existence,
the counterpart of existence is birth,
the counterpart of birth is aging and death;
and grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair follow after.

Even suchwise is the self-arising of this whole pile of do-do painful ugly ukky k-kha!

■

And what, beggars, is the self-arising of sense experience?

Overjoyed at,
overly thrilled with sense experience
there is remaining tied down.

Overjoyed at,
overly thrilled with
remaining tied down to sense experience,
delight arises.

Whatever is delight with sense experience,
that is supporting fuel,
the counterpart of supporting fuel is existence,
the counterpart of existence is birth,
the counterpart of birth is aging and death;
and grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair follow after.

Even suchwise is the self-arising of this whole pile of do-do painful ugly ukky k-kha!

■

And what, beggars, is the self-arising of perception?

Here, beggars, overjoyed at,
overly thrilled with perception
there is remaining tied down.

Overjoyed at,
overly thrilled with
remaining tied down to perception,
delight arises.

Whatever is delight with perception,
that is supporting fuel,
the counterpart of supporting fuel is existence,
the counterpart of existence is birth,
the counterpart of birth is aging and death;
and grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair follow after.

Even suchwise is the self-arising of this whole pile of do-do painful ugly ukky k-kha!

■

And what, beggars, is the self-arising of own-making?

Here, beggars, overjoyed at,
overly thrilled with own-making
there is remaining tied down.

Overjoyed at,
overly thrilled with
remaining tied down to own-making,
delight arises.

Whatever is delight with own-making,
that is supporting fuel,
the counterpart of supporting fuel is existence,
the counterpart of existence is birth,
the counterpart of birth is aging and death;
and grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair follow after.

Even suchwise is the self-arising of this whole pile of do-do painful ugly ukky k-kha!

■

And what, beggars, is the self-arising of consciousness?

Here, beggars, overjoyed at,
overly thrilled with consciousness
there is remaining tied down.

Overjoyed at,
overly thrilled with
remaining tied down to consciousness,
delight arises.

Whatever is delight with consciousness,
that is supporting fuel,
the counterpart of supporting fuel is existence,
the counterpart of existence is birth,
the counterpart of birth is aging and death;
and grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair follow after.

Even suchwise is the self-arising of this whole pile of du-du painful ugly ukky k-kha!

This, beggars, is the self-arising of form
this the self-arising of sense experience
this the self-arising of perception
this the self-arising of own-making
this the self-arising of consciousness.

And what, beggars, is the settling down of form
what the settling down of sense experience
what the settling down of perception
what the settling down of own-making
what the settling down of consciousness?

■

Here, beggars, not overjoyed at,
not overly thrilled with,
there is not remaining tied down.

But not overjoyed at,
not overly thrilled with what,
is there not remaining tied down?

Not overjoyed at,
not overly thrilled with form
there is not remaining tied down.

Not overjoyed at,
not overly thrilled with
not remaining tied down to form,
delight in form subsides.

Delight ending,
supporting fuel ends,
supporting fuel ending,
existence ends,
existence ending,
birth ends,
birth ending,
aging and death ends,
and thereupon grief and lamentation,
pain and misery,
and despair subside.