Whatever spirits have gathered here,
— on the earth, in the sky —
may you all be happy
& listen intently to what I say.

Thus, spirits, you should all be attentive.
Show goodwill to the human race.
Day & night they bring offerings,
so, being heedful, protect them.

Whatever wealth — here or beyond —
whatever exquisite treasure in the heavens,
does not, for us, equal the Tathāgata.
This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Buddha.
By this truth may there be well-being.

The exquisite deathless — ending, dispassion —
discovered by the Sakyan Sage in concentration:
There is nothing to equal that Dhamma.
This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Dhamma.
By this truth may there be well-being.

What the excellent Awakened One extolled as pure
and called the concentration
of unmediated knowing[1]:
No equal to that concentration can be found.
This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Dhamma.
By this truth may there be well-being.

The eight persons — the four pairs —
praised by those at peace:
They, disciples of the One Well-Gone, deserve offerings.
What is given to them bears great fruit.
This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Saṅgha.
By this truth may there be well-being.

Those who, devoted, firm-minded,
apply themselves to Gotama’s message,
on attaining their goal, plunge into the deathless,
freely enjoying the liberation they’ve gained.
This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Saṅgha.
By this truth may there be well-being.

An Indra pillar,[2] planted in the earth,
that even the four winds cannot shake:
That, I tell you, is like the person of integrity,
who — having comprehended
the noble truths — sees.
This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Saṅgha.
By this truth may there be well-being.

Those who have seen clearly the noble truths
well-taught by the one deeply discerning —
regardless of what [later] might make them heedless —
will come to no eighth state of becoming,[3]
This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Saṅgha.
By this truth may there be well-being.

At the moment of attaining sight,
one abandons three things:
identity-views, uncertainty,
& any attachment to habits & practices.[4]
One is completely released
from the four states of deprivation,[5]
and incapable of committing
the six great wrongs.[6]
This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Saṅgha.
By this truth may there be well-being.

Whatever bad deed one may do
— in body, speech, or in mind —
one cannot hide it:
an incapability ascribed
to one who has seen the Way.
This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Saṅgha.
By this truth may there be well-being.

Like a forest grove with flowering tops
in the first month of the heat of the summer,
so is the foremost Dhamma he taught,
for the highest benefit, leading to unbinding.
This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Buddha.
By this truth may there be well-being.

Foremost,
foremost-knowing,
foremost-giving,
foremost-bringing,
unsurpassed, he taught the
foremost Dhamma.
This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Buddha.
By this truth may there be well-being.
Ended the old, there is no new taking birth.
Dispassioned their minds toward future becoming,
they,
with no seed,
no desire for growth,
enlightened, go out like this flame.[7]
This, too, is an exquisite treasure in the Saṅgha.
By this truth may there be well-being.

Whatever spirits have gathered here,
— on the earth, in the sky —
let us pay homage to the Buddha,
the Tathāgata worshipped by beings
human & divine.
May there be
well-being.

Whatever spirits have gathered here,
— on the earth, in the sky —
let us pay homage to the Dhamma
& the Tathāgata worshipped by beings
human & divine.
May there be
well-being.

Whatever spirits have gathered here,
— on the earth, in the sky —
let us pay homage to the Saṅgha
& the Tathāgata worshipped by beings
human & divine.
May there be
well-being.

“Those peacefully eating
millet, Job’s tears, green gram,
leaf-fruit, tuber-fruit, water-chestnut-fruit,
obtained in line with the Dhamma,
don’t desire sensual-pleasures
or tell falsehoods.

But when eating what is well-made,
well-prepared,
exquisite, given, offered by others,
when consuming cooked rice,
Kassapa, one consumes a raw stench.

Yet you, kinsman of Brahmā, say,
‘Raw stench is not proper for me,’
while consuming cooked rice
and the well-prepared fleshes of birds.
So I ask you, Kassapa, the meaning of that:
Of what sort is ‘raw stench’ for you?”

“Killing living beings,
hunting, cutting, binding,
theft, lying, fraud, deceptions,
useless recitations,
associating with the wives of others:
This is a raw stench,
not the eating of meat.

Those people here
who are unrestrained in sensuality,
greedy for flavors,
mixed together with what’s impure,
annihilationists,
discordant[1] & indomitable:
This is a raw stench,
not the eating of meat.

Those who are rough, pitiless,
eating the flesh off your back,
betraying their friends,
uncompassionate, arrogant,
habitually ungenerous,
giving to no one:
This is a raw stench,
not the eating of meat.

Anger, intoxication,
stubbornness, hostility,
deceptiveness, resentment,
boasting, conceit &pride,
befriending those of no integrity:
This is a raw stench,
not the eating of meat.

Those of evil habits,
debt-repudiators, informers,
cheats in trading, counterfeiters,
vile men who do evil things:
This is a raw stench,
not the eating of meat.

Those people here
who are unrestrained toward beings,
taking what’s others’,
intent on injury,
immoral hunters, harsh, disrespectful:
This is a raw stench,
not the eating of meat.

Those who are very greedy,
constantly intent
on hindering and killing;
beings who, after passing away,
go to darkness,
fall headfirst into hell:
This is a raw stench,
not the eating of meat.

No fish & meat,[2]
no fasting, no nakedness,
no shaven head, no tangled hair,
no rough animal skins,
no performance of fire oblations,
or the many austerities
to become an immortal in the world,
no chants, no oblations,
no performance of sacrifices
at the proper season —
purify a mortal
who hasn’t crossed over doubt.

One should go about
guarded
with regard to those things,
one’s faculties understood,
standing firm in the Dhamma,
delighting in being straightforward
& mild.
Attachments past,
all suffering abandoned,
the enlightened one
isn’t smeared
by what’s heard or seen.”

Thus the Blessed One,
explained the meaning again & again.
The one
who had mastered chants
understood it.
With variegated verses
the sage —
free from raw stench,
unfettered, indomitable[3] —
proclaimed it.
Hearing the Awakened One’s
well-spoken word —
free from raw stench,
dispelling all stress —
the one with lowered mind
paid homage to the Tathāgata,
chose the Going Forth right there.

One who,
flouting, despising
a sense of shame,
saying, “I am your friend,”
but not grasping
what he could do [to help]:
Know him as
“Not one of mine.”

One who,
among friends,
speaks endearing words
to which he doesn’t conform,
the wise recognize
as speaking without doing.

He’s not a friend
who’s always wary,
suspecting a split,
focusing just on your weakness.
But him on whom you can depend,
like a child on its parent’s breast:
That’s a true friend
whom others can’t split from you.

Carrying one’s manly burden,
the fruits & rewards develop
the conditions that make for joy,
the bliss that brings praise.
Drinking the savor of seclusion,
the savor of calm,
one is freed from evil, devoid
of distress,
refreshed with the savor
of rapture in the Dhamma.[1]

“Many devas &human beings
give thought to protection,
desiring well-being.
Tell, then, the highest protection.”

“Not consorting with fools,
consorting with the wise,
paying homage to those worthy of homage:
This is the highest protection.

Living in a civilized land,
having made merit in the past,
directing oneself rightly1]:
This is the highest protection.

Broad knowledge, skill,
well-mastered discipline,
well-spoken words:
This is the highest protection.

Support for one’s mother &father,[2]
assistance to one’s wife and children,
consistency in one’s work:
This is the highest protection.

Generosity, living in rectitude,
assistance to one’s relatives,
deeds that are blameless:
This is the highest protection.

Avoiding, abstaining from evil;
refraining from intoxicants,
being heedful of mental qualities:
This is the highest protection.

Respect, humility,
contentment, gratitude,
hearing the Dhamma on timely occasions:
This is the highest protection.

Patience, being easy to instruct,
seeing contemplatives,
discussing the Dhamma on timely occasions:
This is the highest protection.

Austerity, celibacy,
seeing the noble truths,
realizing unbinding:
This is the highest protection.

A mind that, when touched
by the ways of the world,[3]
is unshaken, sorrowless, dustless, at rest:
This is the highest protection.

When acting in this way,
everywhere undefeated,
people go everywhere in well-being:
This is their highest protection.”

Passion &aversion
come from what cause?
Displeasure, delight,
horripilation
are born from what?
Arising from what
do thoughts fling the mind around,
as boys, a (captive) crow?

Passion &aversion
come from this[1] as a cause;
displeasure, delight,
horripilation
are born from this;
arising from this
thoughts fling the mind around,
as boys, a (captive) crow:
They’re born from affection
arisen from the mind,
from oneself,[2]
like the trunk-born (shoots)
of a banyan tree,
thick, attached to sensuality,
like a māluva vine spread in a forest.
Those who discern where it’s born
drive it out — listen, yakkha!
They cross over this flood,
so hard to cross,
never crossed before,
for the sake of no further becoming.

Living the Dhamma life,
living the holy life:
This, they say, is the highest power.
But if, having gone forth
from home into homelessness,
you are harsh-mouthed,
delighting in injury, a stupid beast,
your life is more evil.

You increase your own dust.
A monk delighting in quarrels,
shrouded under delusion,
doesn’t know the Dhamma
even when proclaimed by the Awakened One.

Injuring those developed in mind,[1]
he, surrounded by ignorance,
doesn’t know defilement
to be the path
that leads to hell.

Arriving at deprivation,
from womb to womb,
from darkness to darkness,
a monk of this sort, after death,
comes to suffering.
Just like a cesspit, full, used for many years,
one of this sort, befouled,
would be hard to clean.

Monks, whoever you know
to be like this,
depending on homes,
evil in his desires,
evil in his resolves,
evil in behavior & range,
all of you, united, shun him.

Sweep away the sweepings,
throw away the trash,
then remove the chaff:
non-contemplatives
who think they’re contemplatives.
Having swept away those of evil desires, evil
in behavior & range,
then pure, affiliate mindfully
with the pure.
Then, united, astute,
you will put an end
to suffering & stress.[2]

Seers, before, were austere
& restrained in mind.
Abandoning the five strings of sensuality,
they practiced for their own benefit.
They had no cattle,
no gold,
no wealth.
They had study
as their wealth.

They protected the Brahmā treasure.[1]
They did not despise what was prepared for them:
food set at doors, prepared out of conviction
for those who seek.
Prosperous lands & kingdoms
honored brahmans with multi-colored clothes,
bedding, & dwellings.
Brahmans
protecting their principles,
protected by law,[2]
were not to be violated,
not to be beaten.
No one could block them
from the doors of any home.
For 48 years (young brahmans)
followed the holy life.
Brahmans of old practiced the search
for knowledge & conduct.
Brahmans went to no other (caste),[3]
nor did they buy their wives.
Living together from mutual love,
having come together, they found joy together.
Aside from the time
after menstruation,
brahmans didn’t engage
in copulation.

They praised:
the holy life, virtue,
being straightforward, mild, austere,
composed, harmless, enduring.
The foremost brahman among them,
firm in perseverance,
didn’t engage in copulation
even in a dream.
Those imitating his practice
praised the holy life, virtue,
& endurance.
They asked for rice, bedding, cloth,
butter & oil.
Having collected all that
in line with rectitude,
from that
they performed the sacrifice.
And in setting up the sacrifice,
they didn’t harm cows.

“Like a mother, father,
brother, or other relative,
cows are our foremost friends.
From them comes medicine.
They give food, strength,
beauty, &happiness.”

Knowing this line of reasoning,
they didn’t harm cows.
Delicate, with large bodies,
beautiful, prestigious,
brahmans were committed to standards
of what should & shouldn’t be done
in line with their principles.
As long as this lasted in the world,
humanity prospered in happiness.

But a perversion came among them.
Seeing, little by little,
the splendor of kings —
women well-ornamented,
chariots yoked to thoroughbreds,
well-made, with elaborate embroideries,
houses &homes,
well-proportioned, planned &laid out
lavish human wealth,
surrounded by circles of cows,
joined with groups of excellent women —
the brahmans grew greedy.
Having composed chants there,
they went up to Okkāka.

“You have much wealth & grain.
Sacrifice! Much is your property!
Sacrifice! Much is your wealth!”

Then the king, lord of charioteers,
induced by the brahmans,
having performed these sacrifices —
the horse sacrifice, the human sacrifice,
sammāpāsa, vājapeyya, & niraggaḷa[4] —
gave the brahmans wealth:
cows, bedding, clothes,
women adorned,
chariots yoked to thoroughbreds,
well-made, with elaborate embroideries,
Having had delightful homes,
well-proportioned, filled throughout[5]
with various grains,
he gave the brahmans wealth.

And they, receiving the wealth there,
found joy together in hoarding it.
Overcome by desire,
their craving grew more.
Having composed chants there,
they went up to Okkāka again.

“Like water & earth,
gold, wealth, & grain,
are cows to human beings.
This is a requisite for beings.
Sacrifice! Much is your property!
Sacrifice! Much is your wealth!”

Then the king, lord of charioteers,
induced by the brahmans,
killed in a sacrifice
many hundred-thousands of cows.
The cows —
meek like sheep,
giving milk by the bucket —
hadn’t,
with their hooves or horns or
anything else, done
anyone
any harm.
But the king,
grabbing them by the horns,
killed them with a knife.

Then the devas, the Fathers,
Indra, and rakkhasas
cried out,
“An injustice!”
when the knife fell on the cows.

Three were the diseases before then:
desire, hunger, &aging.
But from violence against cattle
came ninety-eight.
This injustice of violence
has come down as ancient.
The innocent are killed;
the sacrificers fall away
from the Dhamma.

This tradition — ancient, vile —
is criticized by the observant.
Where people see such a thing,
they criticize the sacrificer.
With the Dhamma perishing in this way,
merchants are split from workers,
noble warriors are split far apart,
the wife despises the husband.
Noble warriors, kinsman of Brahmā,
and any others protected by clan,
repudiating the doctrine of their birth, fall
under sensuality’s
sway.

Because:
When you honor
— as the devas, Indra —
one from whom
you might learn the Dhamma,
he, learned, honored,
confident in you,
shows you the Dhamma.

You, enlightened, heedful,
befriending a teacher like that,
practicing the Dhamma
in line with the Dhamma,
pondering,
giving it priority,
become
knowledgeable,
clear-minded,
subtle.

But if you consort with a piddling fool
who’s envious,
hasn’t come to the goal,
you’ll go to death
without
having cleared up
the Dhamma right here,
wit
your doubts unresolved.

Like a man gone down to a river —
turbulent, flooding, swift-flowing —
and swept away in the current:
How can he help others across?

Even so:
He who hasn’t
cleared up the Dhamma,
attended to the meaning
of what the learned say,
crossed over his own doubts:
How can he get others
to comprehend?

But as one who’s embarked
on a sturdy boat,
with rudder & oars,
would — thoughtful, skillful,
knowing the needed techniques —
carry many others across,
even so
an attainer-of-knowledge, learned,
developed in mind,[1] unwavering
can get other people to comprehend —
when the conditions have arisen
for them to lend ear.
So :
You should befriend
a person of integrity —
learned, intelligent.
Practicing so
as to know the goal,
when you’ve experienced the Dhamma,
you get bliss.

“With what virtue,
what behavior,
nurturing what actions,
would a person become rightly based
and attain the ultimate goal?”

“One should be respectful
of one’s superiors[1]
& not envious;
should have a sense of the time
for seeing teachers;[2]
should value the opportunity
when a talk on Dhamma’s in progress;
should listen intently
to well-spoken words;
should go at the proper time,
humbly, casting off arrogance,
to one’s teacher’s presence;
should both recollect & follow
the Dhamma, its meaning,
restraint, & the holy life.

Delighting in Dhamma,
savoring Dhamma,
established in Dhamma,
with a sense of how
to investigate Dhamma,
one should not speak in ways
destructive of Dhamma,[3]
should guide oneself
with true, well-spoken words.

Shedding
laughter, chattering,
lamentation, hatred,
deception, deviousness,
greed, pride,
confrontation, roughness,
astringency, infatuation,
one should go about free
of intoxication,
with steadfast mind.

Understanding’s the heartwood
of well-spoken words;
concentration, the heartwood
of learning &understanding.

When a person is hasty & heedless
his discernment & learning
don’t grow.
While those who delight
in the Dhamma taught by the noble ones,
are unsurpassed
in word, action, & mind.
They, established in
calm,
composure, &
concentration,
have reached
what discernment &learning
have as their heartwood.”[4]

Get up!
Sit up!
What’s your need for sleep?
And what sleep is there for the afflicted,
pierced by the arrow,
oppressed?

Get up!
Sit up!
Train firmly for the sake of peace.
Don’t let the king of death,
— seeing you heedless —
deceive you,
bring you under his sway.

Cross over the attachment
to which human & heavenly beings
remain, desiring,
tied.
Don’t let the moment pass by.
Those for whom the moment is past
grieve, consigned to hell.

Heedlessness is
dust, dust
comes from heedlessness,
has heedlessness
on its heels.
Through heedfulness &clear knowing
you’d remove
your own arrow.

“Abandoning the five strings of sensuality,
endearing, charming,
going forth from home
through conviction,
be one who puts an end
to suffering & stress.
Cultivate admirable friends
and an isolated dwelling,
secluded, with next-to-no noise.
Know moderation in eating.
Robe, alms-food,
requisites, dwellings:
Don’t create craving for these.
Don’t be one who returns to the world
. Restrained in the Pāṭimokkha
and the five faculties,
have mindfulness immersed in the body,
be one who’s cultivated disenchantment.
Avoid the theme of beauty,
connected with passion.
Develop the mind in the unattractive —
gathered into one,[1] well-centered.

Develop the themeless.[2]
Give up obsession with conceit.
Then, from having broken through conceit,
you will go about,
stilled.”
In this way, the Blessed One often instructed Ven. Rāhula[3] with these verses.

“We ask the Teacher of supreme discernment,
who has cut off uncertainty in the here-&-now:
A monk has died at the Aggāḷava shrine —
well-known, prestigious, with mind fully unbound.

Nigrodha Kappa was his name,
given by you, Blessed One, to that brahman.
He went about revering you —
who sees the firm Dhamma —
intent on release, with persistence aroused.

Sakyan, All-around Eye,[2]
we all, too, want to know of that disciple:
Ready to hear are our ears.
You, our teacher: You are unexcelled.

Cut through our uncertainty. Tell me this,
make known, One of discernment deep,
that he was totally unbound.
Like Thousand-eyed Sakka, in the midst of the devas,[3]
speak, All-around Eye, in ours.

Here, whatever snares there are, paths
of delusion, siding
with not-knowing, bases
of uncertainty:
On reaching the Tathāgata, they don’t exist,
as that Eye is the foremost of men.

For if no man were ever to disperse defilements —
as the wind, a dark mass of clouds —
the whole world would be enveloped in darkness.
Even brilliant people wouldn’t shine bright.

But the enlightened are makers of light.
Thus I think you’re that, enlightened one.
We have come to one who knows through clear-seeing.
Make Kappa shine in our assembly.

Quickly, handsome one, stir your handsome voice.
Like a swan,[4] stretching out (its neck), call gently
with rounded tones, well-modulated.
We all listen to you, sitting upright.

Pleading, I shall get the pure one to speak,
he whose birth & death are abandoned.
For people run-of-the-mill haven’t the power
to bring about what they desire,
but Tathāgatas do have the power
to bring about what they have pondered.

This, your consummate explanation,
is rightly-grasped, you of discernment
rightly straight.
This last salutation is offered:
Knowing, don’t delude us,
one of discernment supreme.

Understanding the noble Dhamma
from high to low,
knowing, don’t delude us,
hero supreme.
I long for the water of your speech
as if distressed in mind by the heat in the summer.
Rain down a torrent.[5]

Was the holy life, as led by Kappa
in line with his aim? Was it not in any way in vain?
Did he unbind with no fuel remaining?[6]
Let us hear how
he was released.”

“Here he cut off craving for name-&-form,
the current of the Dark One, the long-time obsession.
He has crossed over birth & death.”
So spoke the Blessed One, excelling in five.[7]

“Hearing this, your word,
highest of seers,
I am brightened &calmed.
Surely, my question was not in vain,
nor was I deceived by the brahman.
As he spoke, so he acted:
He was a disciple
of the One Awakened.
He has cut through
the tough, stretched-out net
of deceitful Death.
He, Kappiya, saw, Blessed One,
the beginning of clinging.
He, Kappayāna,[8] has gone beyond
the realm of Death
so very hard to cross.”

“I ask the sage of abundant discernment,
crossed over to the far shore,
totally unbound, steadfast in mind:
Leaving home, rejecting sensuality,
how does one wander rightly in the world?”[1]

“Whoever’s omens are uprooted,
as are meteors, dreams, & marks,[2]
whose fault of omens is completely abandoned:
He would wander rightly in the world.

A monk should subdue passion
for sensualities human
& even divine.
Having gone past becoming,
and met with the Dhamma,
he would wander rightly in the world.

Putting behind him
divisive tale-bearing,
a monk should abandon anger & meanness.
With favoring & opposing
totally abandoned,
he would wander rightly in the world.

Having abandoned dear & undear,
independent — through no-clinging—of anything at all,
fully released from fetters,
he would wander rightly in the world.

He finds no essence in acquisitions,
having subdued passion - desire for graspings,
independent is he, by others unled:
He would wander rightly in the world.

Having rightly found the Dhamma,
he is unobstructed in speech, mind, & act.
Aspiring to unbinding,
he would wander rightly in the world.

A monk who’d not gloat, “He venerates me,”
or brood when insulted,
or be elated on receiving food from another:
He would wander rightly in the world.

Fully abandoning greed & becoming,
abstaining from cutting & binding (other beings),
he, having crossed over doubt, de-arrowed,
he would wander rightly in the world.

Having found what’s appropriate for himself,
the monk wouldn’t harm anyone in the world,
Having found the Dhamma as it actually is,
he would wander rightly in the world.

In whom there are no obsessions,
his unskillful roots uprooted,
with no longing, no
expectations:
He would wander rightly in the world.

His effluents ended, conceit abandoned,
beyond reach of every road to passion,
tamed, totally unbound, steadfast in mind:
He would wander rightly in the world.

Convinced, learned, having seen certainty,
not following factions among those who are factious,
enlightened; his greed, aversion, & irritation subdued:
He would wander rightly in the world.

Victorious, pure, his roof opened up,[3]
a master of dhammas, gone beyond
& unperturbed,
skilled in the knowledge of fabrication - cessation:
He would wander rightly in the world.

Gone beyond speculations
about futures & pasts,
and — having passed by —
purified in his discernment,
fully released from all sense-media[4]:
He would wander rightly in the world.

Knowing the state,
meeting the Dhamma,
seeing the opened-up
when his effluents
are abandoned
from the ending
of all acquisitions:
He would wander rightly in the world.”

“Yes, Blessed One, that’s just how it is.
Any monk dwelling thus,
tamed, gone totally beyond
all things
conducive for fetters[5]:
He would wander rightly in the world.”

“I ask you, Gotama, Deeply Discerning:
How-acting does one become a good disciple —
either one gone from home into homelessness,
or a lay follower with a home?

For you discern the destination & future course
of the world along with its devas
— there is no one equal to you
in seeing the subtle goal;
for they call you foremost, awakened

Understanding all knowledge
the whole Dhamma,[1]
you proclaim it to beings with sympathetic mind.
Your roof opened up,[2] All-around Eye,[3]
you, stainless, illumine the whole world.

He came to your presence —
Erāvaṇa, the nāga king,[4]
having heard, ‘Conqueror.’
Having consulted with you, having heard,
he understood and, satisfied,
(thought,) ‘Good.’

And King Vessavaṇa Kuvera[5]
came, inquiring about the Dhamma.
To him, too, you spoke when asked.
And he too, having heard, was satisfied.

And these sectarians, debaters by habit,
whether Ājīvakas or Nigaṇṭhas,
don’t overtake you in terms of discernment,
as a person standing
doesn’t catch up
with one going quickly.

And these brahmans, debaters by habit,
any elderly brahmans,
and any others who consider themselves debaters,
all depend on you for the meaning.

For this Dhamma is subtle & blissful.
This, Blessed One, well set-forth by you:
We all want to hear it.
Tell it to us, Excellent Awakened, when asked.

All these monks are sitting together —
and the lay followers, right there — to hear.
Let them listen to the Dhamma
awakened to by one who is stainless,
as the devas listen to Vasavant’s[6] well-spoken word.”

“Listen to me, monks. I will let you hear
the Dhamma of polishing away. Live by it,[7] all of you.
May those who are thoughtful, seeing the purpose,
partake of the duties proper for one gone forth.

A monk should surely not wander
at the wrong time.
He should go for alms in the village
at the right time.
For attachments get attached to one going
at the wrong time.
That’s why they don’t wander at the wrong time,
the awakened.

Sights, sounds, tastes,
smells, & tactile sensations
intoxicate beings.
Subduing desire for these things,
one should, at the right time, enter for alms.

Having received alms in proper season,
a monk, returning alone, should sit down in solitude.
Pondering what’s inside, his mind-state collected,
he should not let his heart wander outside.

If he should converse with a disciple,
a monk, or anyone else,
he should utter the exquisite Dhamma,
and not divisive speech or disparagement of others.

For some retaliate against arguments.
We don’t praise those of limited discernment.
Attachments get attached on account of this & that,
for they send their minds far away from there.

Having heard the Dhamma taught by the One Well-Gone,
the disciple of foremost discernment, having considered it,
should resort to almsfood, a dwelling, a place to sit & lie down,
and water for washing dust from his robe.

So a monk should stay unsmeared by these things —
almsfood, a dwelling, a place to sit & lie down,
and water for washing dust from his robe —
like a water-drop on a lotus.

As for the householder protocol,
I will tell you how-acting
one becomes a good disciple,
since the entire monk - practice
can’t be managed by those wealthy in property.

Laying aside violence toward all living creatures,
both the firm & unfirm in the world,
one should not kill a living being, nor have it killed,
nor condone killing by others.

Then the disciple should avoid
consciously (taking) what’s not given,
— anything, anywhere —
should not have it taken
nor condone its taking.
He should avoid all (taking of) what’s not given.

The observant person should avoid uncelibate behavior
like a pit of glowing embers.
But if he’s incapable of celibate behavior,
he should not transgress with the wife of another.

When gone to an audience hall or assembly,
or one-on-one, he should not tell a lie,
nor have it told, nor condone it’s being told.
He should avoid every untruth.

Any householder who approves of this Dhamma
should not take intoxicating drink,
nor have others drink it, nor condone its being drunk,
knowing that it ends in madness.

For from intoxication, fools do evil things
and get others, heedless, to do them.
One should avoid this opening to demerit —
madness, delusion — appealing to fools.

One should not kill a living being,
take what’s not given, tell a lie, nor be a drinker.
One should abstain from uncelibate behavior —
sexual intercourse — should not eat at night
, a meal at the wrong time,
should not wear a garland or use scents,
should sleep on a bed, on the ground, or on a mat,
For this, they say, is the eightfold uposatha,
proclaimed by the Awakened One
who has gone to the end of suffering & stress.

Then, having kept, well-accomplished,
the eightfold uposatha
on the fourteenth, fifteenth, & eighth
of the fortnight,[8]
and on special days of the fortnight,
with clear & confident mind,
the observant person
at dawn after the uposatha,
confident, rejoicing,
should share food & drink, as is proper,
with the Saṅgha of monks.

One should righteously support mother &father,
should engage in righteous[9] trade,
One heedful in this householder protocol
goes to the devas called
Self-radiant.”