14. The Buddhas

1 He whose victory may not be undone,

2 a victory unrivaled in all the world;

3 by what track would you trace that Buddha,

4 who leaves no track in his infinite range?

1 Of craving, the weaver, the clinger, he has none:

2 so where can he be traced?

3 By what track would you trace that Buddha,

4 who leaves no track in his infinite range?

1 The attentive intent on absorption,

2 who love the peace of renunciation,

3 the Buddhas, ever mindful,

4 are envied by even the gods.

1 It’s hard to gain a human birth;

2 the life of mortals is hard;

3 it’s hard to hear the true teaching;

4 the arising of Buddhas is hard.

1 Not to do any evil;

2 to embrace the good;

3 to purify one’s mind:

4 this is the instruction of the Buddhas.

1 Patient acceptance is the ultimate fervor.

2 Extinguishment is the ultimate, say the Buddhas.

3 No true renunciate injures another,

4 nor does an ascetic hurt another.

1 Not speaking ill nor doing harm;

2 restraint in the monastic code;

3 moderation in eating;

4 staying in remote lodgings;

5 commitment to the higher mind—

6 this is the instruction of the Buddhas.

1 Even if it were raining money,

2 you’d not be sated in sensual pleasures.

3 An astute person understands that sensual pleasures

4 offer little gratification and much suffering.

1 Thus they find no delight

2 even in celestial pleasures.

3 A disciple of the fully awakened Buddha

4 delights in the ending of craving.

1 So many go for refuge

2 to mountains and forest groves,

3 to shrines in tended parks;

4 those people are driven by fear.

1 But such refuge is no sanctuary,

2 it is no supreme refuge.

3 By going to that refuge,

4 you’re not released from all suffering.

1 One gone for refuge to the Buddha,

2 to his teaching and to the Saṅgha,

3 sees the four noble truths

4 with right understanding:

1 suffering, suffering’s origin,

2 suffering’s transcendence,

3 and the noble eightfold path

4 that leads to the stilling of suffering.

1 Such refuge is a sanctuary,

2 it is the supreme refuge.

3 By going to that refuge,

4 you’re released from all suffering.

1 It’s hard to find a thoroughbred man:

2 they’re not born just anywhere.

3 A family where that attentive one is born

4 prospers in happiness.

1 Happy, the arising of Buddhas!

2 Happy, the teaching of Dhamma!

3 Happy is the harmony of the Saṅgha,

4 and the striving of the harmonious is happy.

1 When a person venerates the worthy—

2 the Buddha or his disciple,

3 who have transcended proliferation,

4 and have left behind grief and lamentation,

1 quenched, fearing nothing from any quarter—

2 the merit of one venerating such as these,

3 cannot be calculated by anyone,

4 saying it is just this much.