PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN
Canto I.
Psalms of Single Verses
XXXV
Sāmaññakāni
Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.
Public Domain
[Pali]
He was reborn in this Buddha-age as the son of a Wanderer,[1] and was converted to the religious life when lie saw the Exalted One perform the twin-miracle.[2] And through jhāna he attained arahantship.
Now a Wanderer named Kātiyāna, whom he had known as a layman, had lost all support from the laity since the Buddha had arisen, and was destitute. He came to the Thera and said: 'You of the Sakiyans, who have won much fame and support, live happily, but we are distressed and destitute. What should one do to compass happiness both in this life and the next?' The Thera said: 'Happiness not of the world: - this, for one who undergoes the suitable procedure to get it, and who gets it, is alone to be called unqualified happiness.' And to illustrate this by his own attainment, he uttered this verse:
[35] Happiness he who seeks may win an he practise the seeking -
Honour he gaineth beside, and growth of renown shall befall him -
So he but practise the road called Straight,[3] even the Ariyan,
The Noble Eightfold Path whereby we may reach salvation.[4]
[1] Paribbājaka - i.e., an unattached religieux. Whether he was born before the father left the world, or after he had lapsed into it again (cf. Sisters, Ps. lxviii.), is not stated.
[2] Cf. p. 36, n. 1.
[3] 'Because one has put away all bodily and other crookedness,' explains the Commentary. I seem to discern an echo of the Nikāya verse: Ujuko nāma so maggo (Saṇy., i. 14; Sisters, verse 361)- 'Straight is the name that Way is called.' The Pāli is in Gāyatrī metre (Vedic).
