Thag 14:2  Godatta

Just as a fine, well-bred bull

yoked to a load,

enduring his load,

crushed

by the heavy burden,

doesn’t throw down his yoke;

so, too, those who are filled with discernment

—as the ocean, with water—

don’t look down on others.

This is nobility among beings.

Having fallen in time

under the sway of time,

having come under the sway

of becoming & not-,

people fall subject to pain

& they grieve.

Elated       by causes of pleasure,

cast down     by causes of pain,

fools are destroyed

by both,

not seeing them

for what they are.

While those who, in the midst of

pleasure & pain

have gone past the seamstress—craving—,

stand firm

like a boundary pillar,

neither elated nor cast down.

Not to gain or loss

not to status or honor,

not to praise or blame,

not to pleasure or pain:

Everywhere

they do not adhere—

like a water bead

on a lotus.

Everywhere

they are happy, the enlightened,1

everywhere

un-

defeated.

No matter what

the unrighteous gain

or the righteous loss,

righteous loss is better

than if there were unrighteous gain.

No matter what

the status of the unaware

or the lowliness of those who know,

the lowliness of those who know

is better,

not the status of those

unaware.

No matter what

the praise from fools

or the censure from those who know,

the censure from those who know

is better

than if there were praise

from fools.

And as for the pleasure

from sensuality

and the pain from seclusion,

the pain from seclusion

is better

than if there were pleasure

from sensuality.

And as for living through unrighteousness

and dying for righteousness,

dying for righteousness

is better,

than if one were to live

through unrighteousness.

Those who’ve abandoned

sensuality & anger,

whose minds are calmed

from becoming & non-,

go through the world

unattached.

For them there is nothing

dear or undear.

Developing

the factors for awakening,

faculties,

& strengths,

attaining the foremost peace,

they, without effluent,

totally

unbind.

Note

1. Reading dhīrā with the Thai and Sinhalese editions. The PTS edition has vīrā, “heroes.”