Theragāthā — Versos dos Monges Anciãos — 16.9 — Anuruddha

1Leaving my mother and father behind,
as well as sisters, kinsmen, and brothers;
having given up the five sensual stimuli,
Anuruddha practices absorption.

2Surrounded by song and dance,
awakened by cymbals and gongs,
he did not find purification
while delighting in Māra’s domain.

3But he has gone beyond all that,
and delights in the Buddha’s teaching.
Having crossed over the entire flood,
Anuruddha practices absorption.

4Sights, sounds, tastes, smells,
and touches so delightful:
having crossed over these as well,
Anuruddha practices absorption.

5Returning from almsround,
alone, without partner,
seeking rags from the dust heap,
Anuruddha is without defilements.

6The thoughtful sage
selected rags from the dust heap;
he picked them up, washed, dyed, and wore them;
Anuruddha is without defilements.

7The principles of someone
who has many wishes and is not content,
who socializes and is conceited,
are wicked and corrupting.

8But someone who is mindful, few of wishes,
content and untroubled,
delighting in seclusion, joyful,
always resolute and energetic;

9their principles are skillful,
on the side of awakening;
they are without defilements—
so said the great seer.

10“Knowing my thoughts,
the supreme Teacher in the world
came to me in a mind-made body,
using his psychic power.

11He taught me more
than I had thought of.
The Buddha who loves non-proliferation
taught me non-proliferation.

12Understanding that teaching,
I happily did his bidding.
I’ve attained the three knowledges,
and have fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.

13For the last fifty-five years
I have not lain down to sleep.
Twenty-five years have passed
since I eradicated drowsiness.”

14“There was no more breathing
for the unaffected one of steady heart.
Imperturbable, committed to peace,
the Clear-eyed One was fully quenched.

15He put up with painful feelings
without flinching.
The liberation of his heart
was like the extinguishing of a lamp.”

16“Now these touches and the other four
are the last to be experienced by the sage;
nor will there be other phenomena
since the Buddha was fully quenched.

17O Penelope, weaver of the web—
there’s no more abodes in the heavenly host.
Transmigration through births is finished,
now there’ll be no more future lives.”

18“The mendicant by whom the galaxy
with the age of the Divinity are known in an hour—
that master of psychic ability sees the gods
at the time they pass away and are reborn.”

19“In the past I was Annabhāra,
a poor carrier of fodder.
I practiced as an ascetic,
the renowned Upariṭṭha.

20Then I was reborn in the Sakyan clan,
where I was known as ‘Anuruddha’.
Surrounded by song and dance,
I was awakened by cymbals and gongs.

21Then I saw the Buddha,
the Teacher, fearing nothing from any quarter;
filling my mind with confidence in him,
I went forth to homelessness.

22I know my past lives,
the places I used to live.
I was born as Sakka,
and stayed among the thirty-three gods.

23Seven times I was a king of men
ruling a kingdom,
victorious in the four quarters,
lord of the Black Plum Tree Land.
Without rod or sword,
I governed by principle.

24Seven from here, seven from there—
fourteen transmigrations in all.
I shall remember my past lives:
at that time I stayed in the realm of the gods.

25I have gained complete tranquility
in immersion with five factors.
Peaceful, serene,
my clairvoyance is purified.

26Steady in five-factored absorption,
I know the passing away and rebirth of beings,
their coming and going,
their lives in this state and that.

27I’ve served the Teacher
and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.
The heavy burden is laid down,
the leash to existence is eradicated.

28In the Vajjian village of Veḷuva,
my life will come to an end.
Beneath a thicket of bamboos,
being undefiled, I will be fully extinguished.”