From harm to oneself, fear arises,
Observe the people involved in conflicts;
I will recount the urgency of awakening,
as it has profoundly stirred within me.
Seeing beings floundering,
like fish in shallow water;
Seeing them obstructed by one another,
fear overcame me.
The world is completely essence-less,
all directions are unsettled;
Desiring a sanctuary for myself,
I saw no place secure.
Indeed, at the ultimate impasse,
understanding the obstruction, discontent arose in me;
Here then, I discerned the dart,
hard to perceive and lodged deep within the heart.
Afflicted by that dart,
my mind raced in all directions;
Upon extracting that very dart,
I neither fled nor faltered.
In that regard, trainings are praised,
Those which are highly esteemed in the world,
One should not be engrossed in them;
Having fully penetrated all sense-desires,
One should train for one‘s own |liberation::Nibbāna|.
One should be truthful, humble,
straightforward, and free from deceit or slander;
Without anger, free from greed
the sage overcomes these impurities.
One should dwell free of sleepiness, fatigue, and dullness,
not dwell in negligence;
One should continue without self-importance,
with a mind inclined towards Nibbāna.
Do not be misled by falsehood,
nor cultivate attachment to mere appearances;
Fully understand conceit,
and conduct oneself without impulsiveness.
Do not delight in the old,
nor seek comfort in the new;
Do not grieve for what is declining,
and do not become bound by craving.
Greed, I say, is the great flood,
longing, a swift and sweeping current;
The forming of intentions, the compulsion,
the mire of sense-desires is difficult to escape.
The sage, not deviating from the truth,
stands firmly on the ground;
having relinquished all,
he is indeed called ’peaceful‘.
Indeed, he who is wise and has perfect knowledge,
having understood the Dhamma, they are independent;
rightly he conducts himself in the world,
desiring nothing from anyone.
One who has crossed beyond sense-desires,
the bond in the world so hard to surmount;
he neither grieves nor resents,
having crossed the stream, he is unbound.
What was before, let it wither away,
let there be nothing after;
if you grasp not at the middle,
you will live in peace.
In all of name-and-form,
for whom there is no ’mine-making‘ (cherishing);
Does not grieve for that which is not,
such a one suffers no loss in the world.
For whom there is no ’this is mine‘,
nor anything belonging to others;
Finding no ’mine-ness‘,
he does not grieve, saying ’nothing is mine'.
Without harshness, without greed,
without impulses, equal towards all;
I declare these benefits,
When asked about the unwavering one.
For the one knowing the unperturbed,
there are no volitional formations at all;
Not engaging in new ventures,
he sees safety everywhere.
Neither in equal nor in unequal,
Nor in the superior does the sage speak;
Peaceful, free from stinginess,
He neither delights in nor rejects anything.