[reload all]
[simple read]

Thag 14.1
Revata's Farewell
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Since I went forth from home into homelessness, I haven't known an ignoble, aversive resolve. "May these beings be destroyed, be slaughtered, fall into pain" — I've not known this resolve in this long, long time. But I have known good will, unlimited, fully developed, nurtured step after step, as taught by the One Awake: to all, a friend; to all, a comrade; for all beings, sympathetic. And I develop a mind of good will, delighting in non-malevolence — always. Unvanquished, unshaken, I gladden the mind. I develop the sublime abiding, not frequented by the lowly. Attaining no-thinking, the disciple of the Rightly Self-awakened One is endowed with noble silence straightaway. As a mountain of rock is unmoving, firmly established, so a monk, with the ending of delusion, like a mountain, doesn't quake. To a person without blemish, constantly in search of what's pure, a hair-tip of evil seems a storm cloud. As a frontier fortress is guarded within & without, you should safeguard yourselves. Don't let the moment pass you by. I don't delight in death, don't delight in living. I await my time like a worker his wage. I don't delight in death, don't delight in living. I await my time mindful, alert. The Teacher has been served by me; the Awakened One's bidding, done; the heavy load, laid down; the guide to becoming, uprooted. And the goal for which I went forth from home life into homelessness I've reached: the end of all fetters. Attain completion through heedfulness: that is my message. So then, I'm about to be Unbound. I'm released everywhere.
[previous page][next page]