Dhp XXIV : Craving

If this sticky, uncouth craving

overcomes you in the world,

your sorrows grow like wild grass

after rain.

To all of you gathered here

I say: Good fortune.

Dig up craving

–as when seeking medicinal roots, wild grass–

by the root.

Don’t let Mara cut you down

–as a raging river, a reed–

over & over again.

If its root remains

undamaged & strong,

a tree, even if cut,

will grow back.

So too if craving-obsession

is not rooted out,

this suffering returns

again

&

again.

He whose 36 streams,

flowing to what is appealing, are strong:

the currents–resolves based on passion–

carry him, of base views, away.

Loosened & oiled

are the joys of a person.

People, bound by enticement,

looking for ease:

to birth & aging they go.

Encircled with craving,

people hop round & around

like a rabbit caught in a snare.

Tied with fetters & bonds

they go on to suffering,

again & again, for long.

Cleared of the underbrush

but obsessed with the forest,

set free from the forest,

right back to the forest he runs.

Come, see the person set free

who runs right back to the same old chains!

That’s not a strong bond

–so say the enlightened–

the one made of iron, of wood, or of grass.

To be smitten, enthralled,

with jewels & ornaments,

longing for children & wives:

that’s the strong bond,

–so say the enlightened–

one that’s constraining,

elastic,

hard to untie.

Gone to the beyond of becoming,

you let go of in front,

let go of behind,

let go of between.

With a heart everywhere released,

you don’t come again to birth

& aging.

For a person

forced on by his thinking,

fierce in his passion,

focused on beauty,

craving grows all the more.

He’s the one

who tightens the bond.

Arrived at the finish,

unfrightened, unblemished, free

of craving, he has cut away

the arrows of becoming.

This physical heap is his last.

All-conquering,

all-knowing am I,

with regard to all things,

unadhering.

All-abandoning,

released in the ending of craving:

having fully known on my own,

to whom should I point as my teacher?

A gift of Dhamma conquers

all gifts;

the taste of Dhamma,

all tastes;

a delight in Dhamma,

all delights;

the ending of craving,

all suffering

& stress.

Riches ruin the man

weak in discernment,

but not those who seek

the beyond.

Through craving for riches

the man weak in discernment

ruins   himself

as he would   others.

Fields are spoiled by weeds;

people, by passion.

So what’s given to those

free of passion

bears great fruit.