The Path

The best of paths is the Eightfold [Path];
The best of truths, the Four [Noble Truths].
The best of qualities is dispassion;
And the best among gods and humans
Is the one with eyes to see.

This is the path
For purifying one's vision; there is no other.
Follow it,
You'll bewilder Māra.
Follow it,
You'll put an end to suffering.
This is the path I have proclaimed,
Having pulled out the arrows.

It is up to you to make strong effort;
Tathāgatas merely tell you how.
Following the path, those absorbed in meditation
Will be freed from Māra's bonds.

"All created things are impermanent."
Seeing this with insight,
One becomes disenchanted with suffering.
This is the path to purity.

"All things are suffering."
Seeing this with insight,
One becomes disenchanted withs suffering.
This is the path to purity.

"All things are not-self."
Seeing this with insight,
One becomes disenchanted with suffering.
This is the path to purity.

Inactive when one should be active.
Lazy [though] young and strong,
Disheartened with one's resolves,
Such an indolent, lethargic person
Doesn't find the path of insight.

Watchful in speech and well-restrained in mind,
Do nothing unskillful with your body.
Purify these three courses of action;
Fulfill the path taught by the sages.

Wisdom arises from [spiritual] practice;
Without practice it decays.
Knowing this two-way path for gain and loss,
Conduct yourself so that wisdom grows.

Cut down the forest [of desire], not [real] trees.
From the forest [of desire], fear is born.
Having cut down both the forest and the underbrush,
Monks, be deforested [of desire].

As long as even the slightest underbrush of desire
Between man and woman is not cut away,
For that long, the mind is bound
Like a suckling calf to its mother.

Destroy attachment to self
As you could an autumn lily in your fist.
Cultivate the path to peace,
The Nirvana taught by the Well-Gone-One.

"Here I'll live during the rainy season,
And here during the winter and summer."
So the fool ponders,
Unaware of danger.
Intoxicated by children and cattle,
That addict
Is swept away by Death,
As a sleeping village is by a great flood.

Children, parents, and relatives
Are not a protection;
For someone seized by Death,
Relatives are no protection.
Knowing this,
The wise person, restrained by virtue,
Should quickly clear the path
To Nirvana.