Thag 14:2 Godatta
Just as a fine, well-bred bull
yoked to a load,
enduring his load,
crushed
by the heavy burden,
doesn’t throw down his yoke;
so, too, those who are filled with discernment
—as the ocean, with water—
don’t look down on others.
This is nobility among beings.
Having fallen in time
under the sway of time,
having come under the sway
of becoming & not-,
people fall subject to pain
& they grieve.
Elated by causes of pleasure,
cast down by causes of pain,
fools are destroyed
by both,
not seeing them
for what they are.
While those who, in the midst of
pleasure & pain
have gone past the seamstress—craving—,
stand firm
like a boundary pillar,
neither elated nor cast down.
Not to gain or loss
not to status or honor,
not to praise or blame,
not to pleasure or pain:
Everywhere
they do not adhere—
like a water bead
on a lotus.
Everywhere
they are happy, the enlightened,1
everywhere
un-
defeated.
No matter what
the unrighteous gain
or the righteous loss,
righteous loss is better
than if there were unrighteous gain.
No matter what
the status of the unaware
or the lowliness of those who know,
the lowliness of those who know
is better,
not the status of those
unaware.
No matter what
the praise from fools
or the censure from those who know,
the censure from those who know
is better
than if there were praise
from fools.
And as for the pleasure
from sensuality
and the pain from seclusion,
the pain from seclusion
is better
than if there were pleasure
from sensuality.
And as for living through unrighteousness
and dying for righteousness,
dying for righteousness
is better,
than if one were to live
through unrighteousness.
Those who’ve abandoned
sensuality & anger,
whose minds are calmed
from becoming & non-,
go through the world
unattached.
For them there is nothing
dear or undear.
Developing
the factors for awakening,
faculties,
& strengths,
attaining the foremost peace,
they, without effluent,
totally
unbind.
Note
1. Reading dhīrā with the Thai and Sinhalese editions. The PTS edition has vīrā, “heroes.”
