{"collection":"Buddhism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bud/thag/thag3.htm","path":"bud/thag/thag3.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bud/thag/thag3.htm","text":"Note: Unless otherwise indicated, these suttas were translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.\nIt's too cold,\ntoo hot,\ntoo late in the evening --\npeople who say this,\nshirking their work:\nthe moment passes them by.\nWhoever regards cold & heat\nas no more than grass,\ndoing his manly duties,\nwon't fall away\nfrom ease.\nWith my chest\nI push through wild grasses --\nspear-grass,\nribbon-grass,\nrushes --\ncultivating\na seclusion heart.\nHis limbs knotted\nlike a kala plant,\nhis body lean\n& lined with veins,\nknowing moderation\nin food & drink:\nthe man of undaunted heart.\nTouched by gnats\n& horseflies\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in the wilds,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the great wood,\nlike an elephant\nat the head of a battle:\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 he, mindful,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 should stay there\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 endure.\nOne alone is like Brahma,\ntwo, like devas,\nthree, like a village,\nmore than that:\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 a hullabaloo.\n[Related reading: Ud III.3]\nListen, kinsmen, all of you,\nas many as are assembled here.\nI will teach you the Dhamma:\nPainful is birth,\nagain & again.\nRouse yourselves.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Go forth.\nApply yourselves\nto the Awakened One's bidding.\nScatter the army of Death\nas an elephant would\na shed made of reeds.\nHe who,\nin this doctrine & discipline,\nremains heedful,\nabandoning birth,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the wandering-on,\nwill put an end\nto suffering & stress.\nWhile wandering on\nI went to hell;\nwent again & again\nto the world of the hungry shades;\nstayed countless times, long,\nin the pain of the animal womb;\nenjoyed\nthe human state;\nwent to heaven\nfrom time to time;\nsettled in the elements of form,\nthe elements of formlessness,\nneither-perception, perception-less.\nWays of taking birth,\nare now known:\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 devoid of essence,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 unstable,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 conditioned,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 always driven along.\nKnowing them\nas born from my self,\nmindful\nI went right to peace.\nWhoever wants to do later\nwhat he should have done first,\nfalls away from the easeful state\n& later repents.\nOne should speak\nas one would act,\n& not\nas one wouldn't.\nWhen one speaks without acting,\nthe wise, they can tell.\nHow very easeful:\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Unbinding,\nas taught by the Rightly\nSelf-awakened One -- \n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 sorrowless,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 dustless,\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 secure,\nwhere stress\n& suffering\ncease.","title":"Theragatha III","type":"page"}