Theragāthā — Versos dos Monges Anciãos — 21.1 — Vaṅgīsa

1“Now that I’ve renounced
the lay life for homelessness,
I’m overrun
by the rude thoughts of the Dark One.

2Even if a thousand warrior chiefs and great archers,
well trained, with strong bows,
were to completely surround me;
I would never flee.

3And even if women come,
many more than that,
they won’t bother me,
for I stand firm in the teaching.

4I heard with my own ears
from the Buddha, Kinsman of the Sun,
about the path going to extinguishment;
that’s what delights my mind.

5Wicked One, if you come near me
as I meditate like this,
I’ll make sure that you, Death,
won’t even see the path I take.”

6“Giving up desire and discontent,
along with all thought of domestic life,
they wouldn’t get snarled in anything;
unsnarled, free of snarls: that’s a real mendicant.

7Whatever here is included in form—
on earth, in the sky, or in planet’s deep—
wears out, it is all impermanent:
the self-examined live having comprehended this.

8People are bound to their attachments,
to impingement of the seen and heard, <j>and to what is thought.
Unstirred, dispel desire for these things;
for one called ‘a sage’ does not cling to them.

9Trapped in the sixty wrong views, <j>full of their own opinions,
ordinary people are fixed in wrong principles.
But that mendicant wouldn’t join a sect,
still less would they utter lewd speech.

10Proficient, long serene,
free of deceit, alert, without envy,
the sage has reached the state of peace;
quenched, he awaits his time.”

11“Give up conceit, Gotama!
Completely abandon the different kinds of conceit!
Besotted with the different kinds of conceit,
you’ve had regrets for a long time.

12Smeared by smears and slain by conceit,
people fall into hell.
When people slain by conceit are reborn in hell,
they grieve for a long time.

13But a mendicant who practices rightly,
a path-victor, never grieves.
They enjoy happiness and a good reputation,
and they rightly call him a ‘Seer of Truth’.

14So being not hard-hearted, but energetic,
with hindrances given up, pure;
and having completely given up conceit,
the one who makes an end with knowledge <j>is assuaged.”

15“I’ve got a burning desire for pleasure;
my mind is on fire!
Please, out of compassion, Gotama,
tell me how to quench the flames.”

16“Your mind is on fire
because of a perversion of perception.
Turn away from the sign
that’s attractive, provoking lust.

17With your mind unified and serene,
meditate on the ugly aspects of the body.
With mindfulness immersed in the body,
be full of disillusionment.

18Meditate on the signless,
give up the tendency to conceit;
and when you comprehend conceit,
you will live at peace.”

19“Speak only those words
that do not hurt yourself
nor harm others;
such speech is truly well spoken.

20Speak only pleasing words,
words gladly welcomed.
Pleasing words are those
that bring nothing bad to others.

21Truth itself is undying speech:
this is an ancient teaching.
Good people say the teaching and meaning
are grounded in truth.

22The words spoken by the Buddha
for finding the sanctuary, extinguishment,
for making an end of suffering:
this really is the best kind of speech.”

23“Deep in wisdom, intelligent,
expert in the path and what is not the path;
Sāriputta, so greatly wise,
teaches Dhamma to the mendicants.

24He teaches in brief,
or he speaks at length.
His call, like a myna bird,
overflows with inspiration.

25While he teaches
the mendicants listen to his sweet voice,
sounding attractive,
clear and graceful.
They listen joyfully,
their hearts elated.”

26“Today, on the fifteenth day sabbath,
five hundred monks have gathered together <j>to purify their precepts.
These untroubled sages <j>have cut off their fetters and bonds,
they will not be reborn again.

27Just as a wheel-rolling monarch
surrounded by ministers
travels all around this
land that’s girt by sea.

28So disciples with the three knowledges,
conquerors of death,
revere the winner of the battle,
the unsurpassed caravan leader.

29All are sons of the Blessed One—
there is no rubbish here.
I bow to the Kinsman of the Sun,
destroyer of the dart of craving.”

30“Over a thousand mendicants
revere the Holy One
as he teaches the immaculate Dhamma,
extinguishment, fearing nothing from any quarter.

31They listen to the immaculate Dhamma
taught by the fully awakened Buddha;
the Buddha shines
at the fore of the mendicant Saṅgha.

32Blessed One, your name is ‘Giant’,
seventh of the seers.
You are like a great cloud
that rains on your disciples.

33I’ve left my day’s meditation,
out of desire to see the Teacher.
Great hero, your disciple Vaṅgīsa
bows at your feet.”

34“Having overcome Māra’s wrong path,
you wander with hard-heartedness dissolved.
See him, the liberator from bonds,
dissecting the unattached section by section.

35You have explained in many ways
the path to cross the flood.
The Seers of Truth stand unfaltering
in the freedom from death explained by you.

36As the bringer of light who has pierced the truth,
you’ve seen what lies beyond all planes.
When you saw and realized this for yourself,
you taught it first to the group of five.

37When the Dhamma has been so well taught,
how could those who know it be negligent?
That’s why, being diligent, we should always train
respectfully in the Buddha’s teaching.”

38“The senior monk awakened after the Buddha,
Koṇḍañña, is keenly energetic.
He regularly gains
the blissful meditations of seclusion.

39Whatever can be attained by a disciple
who does the Teacher’s bidding,
he has attained it all,
through diligently training himself.

40With great power and the three knowledges,
expert in encompassing the minds of others,
Koṇḍañña, the heir to the Buddha,
bows at the Teacher’s feet.”

41“As the sage, who has gone beyond suffering,
sits upon the mountain slope,
he is revered by disciples with the three knowledges,
conquerors of death.

42Moggallāna, of great psychic power,
encompasses with his mind,
scrutinizing their minds,
liberated, free of attachments.

43That is how those endowed <j>with many fine qualities
revere Gotama,
the sage gone beyond suffering,
perfect in every respect.”

44“Like the moon on a cloudless night,
like the shining immaculate sun,
so too Aṅgīrasa, O great sage,
your glory outshines the entire world.”

45“We used to wander, drunk on poetry,
from village to village, town to town.
Then we saw the Buddha,
who has gone beyond all things.

46He, the sage gone beyond suffering,
taught me the Dhamma.
When we heard the Dhamma, <j>we became confident—
faith arose in us.

47Hearing him speak of
the aggregates, the sense-fields,
and the elements, I understood;
and then I went forth to homelessness.

48It is for the benefit of many
that the Realized Ones arise—
the men and women
who follow their instructions.

49It is truly for their benefit
that the sage realized awakening—
for the monks and for the nuns
who see that they’ve reached certainty.

50The Clear-eyed One, the Buddha,
the Kinsman of the Sun,
has well taught the four noble truths
out of sympathy for living creatures.

51Suffering, suffering’s origin,
suffering’s transcendence,
and the noble eightfold path
that leads to the stilling of suffering.

52As these things were taught,
so I have seen them.
I’ve realized my heart’s goal,
and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.

53It was so welcome for me
to be in the presence of the Buddha.
Of the well-explained teachings,
I arrived at the best.

54I’ve realized the perfection of direct knowledge;
my clairaudience is purified;
I am master of three knowledges, <j>attained in psychic power,
I’m expert at reading the minds of others.”

55“I ask the Teacher unrivaled in wisdom,
who has cut off all doubts in this very life:
a monk has died at Āḷavī’s premier shrine,
who was well-known, famous, and quenched.

56Nigrodhakappa was his name;
it was given to that brahmin by you, Blessed One.
He wandered in your honor, yearning for freedom,
energetic, a resolute Seer of Truth.

57O Sakyan, All-seer,
we all wish to know about that disciple.
Our ears are eager to hear,
for you are the most excellent teacher.

58Cut off our doubt, declare this to us;
your wisdom is vast, tell us of his quenching!
All-seer, speak among us,
like the thousand-eyed Sakka <j>in the midst of the gods!

59Whatever ties there are, or paths to delusion,
or things on the side of unknowing, <j>or that are bases of doubt
vanish on reaching a Realized One,
for his eye is the best of all people’s.

60If no man were ever to disperse corruptions,
like the wind dispersing the stormclouds,
darkness would shroud the whole world;
not even brilliant men would shine.

61The attentive are bringers of light;
my hero, that is what I think of you.
We’ve come for your discernment and knowledge:
here in this assembly, declare to us about Kappāyana.

62Swiftly send forth your sweet, sweet voice,
like a goose stretching its neck, gently honking,
lucid-flowing, with lovely tone:
alert, we all listen to you.

63You have entirely abandoned birth and death;
curbed and pure, I urge you, speak the Dhamma!
For ordinary people <j>have no wish-granter,
but Realized Ones <j>have a comprehensibility-granter.

64Your answer is definitive, and we will adopt it,
for you have perfect understanding.
We raise our cupped palms one last time,
one of unrivaled wisdom, <j>don’t deliberately confuse us.

65Knowing the teaching of the noble ones <j>from top to bottom,
one of unrivaled energy, <j>don’t deliberately confuse us.
Like a man baking in the summer sun <j>would long for water,
I long for your voice, so let the sound rain forth.

66Surely Kappāyana did not <j>lead the spiritual life in vain?
Did he realize quenching,
or did he still have a residue?
Let us hear what kind of liberation he had!”

67“He cut off craving for name and form right here,”
said the Buddha, “the river of darkness that had long lain within him.
He has entirely crossed over birth and death.”
So declared the Blessed One, the leader of the five.

68“Now that I have heard your words,
seventh of seers, I am confident.
My question, it seems, was not in vain,
the brahmin did not deceive me.

69As he said, so he did—
he was a disciple of the Buddha.
He cut the net of death the deceiver,
so extended and strong.

70Blessed One, Kappāyana saw
the starting point of grasping.
He has indeed gone far beyond
Death’s dominion so hard to pass.

71God of gods, best of men, I bow to you,
and to your son,
who followed your example, a great hero;
a giant, bosom son of a giant.”

72That is how these verses were recited by the senior venerable Vaṅgīsa.

73The Great Book is Finished

80The Verses of the Senior Monks are finished.