15. Happiness

1 Let us live so very happily,

2 loving among the hostile.

3 Among hostile humans,

4 let us live with love.

1 Let us live so very happily,

2 healthy among the ailing.

3 Among ailing humans

4 let us live healthily.

1 Let us live so very happily,

2 content among the greedy.

3 Among greedy humans,

4 let us live content.

1 Let us live so very happily,

2 we who have nothing.

3 We shall feed on rapture,

4 like the gods of sublime luminosity.

1 Victory breeds enmity;

2 the defeated sleep badly.

3 The peaceful sleep at ease,

4 having left victory and defeat behind.

1 There is no fire like greed,

2 no crime like hate,

3 no suffering like the aggregates,

4 no bliss beyond peace.

1 Hunger is the worst illness,

2 conditions are the worst suffering.

3 When one has known this as it is,

4 extinguishment is the ultimate happiness.

1 Health is the ultimate blessing;

2 contentment, the ultimate wealth;

3 trust is the ultimate family;

4 extinguishment, the ultimate happiness.

1 Having drunk the nectar of seclusion

2 and the nectar of peace—

3 free of stress, free of evil,

4 drink the joyous nectar of truth.

1 It’s good to see the noble ones,

2 staying with them is always good.

3 Were you not to see fools,

4 you’d always be happy.

1 For one who consorts with fools

2 grieves long.

3 Painful is living with fools,

4 like being stuck with your enemy.

5 Happy is living with an attentive one,

6 like meeting with your kin.

1 Therefore:

2 An attentive one, wise and learned,

3 a behemoth of virtue, true to their vows, noble:

4 follow a true and intelligent person such as this,

5 as the moon tracks the path of the stars.