Poems of the Elders

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bodom
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Re: Poems of the Elders

Post by bodom »

Thag 1:50 Vimala

The earth’s sprinkled
with rain, wind
is blowing, lightning
wanders the sky,
but my thoughts are stilled,
well-centered
my mind
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/T ... g1_50.html

:namaste:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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bodom
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Re: Poems of the Elders

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1:110 Usabha

Trees on the hilltops
are flourishing,
watered by a new high-rising cloud,
giving birth to even more goodness
for Usabha—
desiring seclusion,
conscious of
“wilderness.”
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/T ... 1_110.html

:namaste:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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bodom
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Re: Poems of the Elders

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1:113 Vanavaccha

With clear waters &
massive boulders,
frequented by monkeys &
deer,
covered with moss &
water weeds:
Those rocky crags refresh me.
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/T ... 1_113.html

:namaste:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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bodom
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Re: Poems of the Elders

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2:3 Valliya

A monkey,
coming to the little hut
with five doors,
goes from door to door, knocking
moment by moment.
Stand still, monkey,
don’t run.
It’s not yours
as it was before.
You’re bound by discernment.
You won’t get far away.
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Thag/thag2_3.html

:namaste:
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bodom
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Re: Poems of the Elders

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Thag 2:37 Soṇa Poṭiriyaputta

It’s not for sleeping,
the night garlanded
with zodiac stars.
The night, for one who knows,
is for staying awake.
If I were to fall from my elephant’s shoulder,
and a tusker trampled me,
death in battle would be better for me,
than that I, defeated,
survive.
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/T ... g2_37.html

:namaste:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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bodom
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Re: Poems of the Elders

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Thag 3:5 Mātaṅgaputta

It’s too cold,
too hot,
too late in the evening—
people who say this,
shirking their work:
The moment passes them by.
Whoever regards cold & heat
as no more than grass,
doing his manly duties,
won’t fall away
from ease.
With my chest
I push through wild grasses—
spear-grass,
ribbon-grass,
rushes—
cultivating a heart
bent on seclusion
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Thag/thag3_5.html

:namaste:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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bodom
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Location: San Antonio, Texas

Re: Poems of the Elders

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5:8 Vakkali

Stricken by sharp, wind-like pains,
you, monk, living in the forest grove
—harsh, with limited range for alms—
what, what will you do?
Suffusing my body
with abundant rapture & joy,
& enduring what’s harsh,
I’ll stay in the grove.
Developing the establishings of mindfulness,
strengths, faculties,
the factors for awakening,
I’ll stay in the grove.
Reflecting on those who are resolute,
their persistence aroused,
constantly firm in their effort,
united in concord,
I’ll stay in the grove.
Recollecting the One Self-awakened,
self-tamed & centered,
untiring both day & night,
I’ll stay
in the grove.
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Thag/thag5_8.html

:namaste:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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bodom
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Re: Poems of the Elders

Post by bodom »

9 Bhūta

When, knowing, “stress, aging-&-death”—
where people run-of-the-mill are attached—
comprehending stress,
the wise man does jhāna, mindful,
there’s no greater enjoyment than that.
When, striking down
attachment,
the bringer of stress
& craving,
the bringer of stress bound up
with objectification,
he does jhāna, mindful,
there’s no greater enjoyment than that.
When, touching with discernment
the auspicious, two-times-four road,
the ultimate path,
cleansing away all defilement,
he does jhāna, mindful,
there’s no greater enjoyment than that.
When he develops the peaceful state,
—sorrowless, stainless, unfabricated,
cleansing away all defilement,
cutting through fetters & bonds—
there’s no greater enjoyment than that.
When, in the sky, the thundercloud roars,
with torrents of rain on all sides
of the path of the birds,
and the monk, having gone to a cave, does jhāna,
there’s no greater enjoyment than that.
When, seated on the bank of rivers
covered with flowers,
garlanded with various forest plants,
happy at heart, he does jhāna,
there’s no greater enjoyment than that.
When, at midnight in the secluded grove,
the devas drizzle, the fanged animals roar,
and the monk, having gone to a cave, does jhāna,
there’s no greater enjoyment than that.
When, having kept his own thoughts in check,
taking refuge in the mountains in a mountain fissure,
free from disturbance, free
from barrenness,
he does jhāna,
there’s no greater enjoyment than that.
When, happy,
destroying stain, barrenness, grief,
free from door-bolts, free from underbrush, free
from arrows,
having put an end to all effluents,
he does jhāna,
there’s no greater enjoyment than that.
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Thag/thag9.html

:namaste:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
nmjojola
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Re: Poems of the Elders

Post by nmjojola »

A cool thing about the Therigatha is, if I'm not mistaking, it's the first collection of poetry all 'composed' or 'versed' (or whatever the oral equivalent would be to 'written') by women in history.
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bodom
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Re: Poems of the Elders

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Thag 10:2 Ekavihāriya

If, in front or behind,
there is no one else,
it’s extremely pleasant
for one staying alone
in the forest.
Come then! Alone
I will go to the wilderness
praised by the Awakened One
pleasant for a resolute monk
dwelling alone.
Alone,
astute in my goal,
I’ll quickly enter the grove
—refreshing,
giving rapture
to meditators—
the haunt
of elephants in rut.
When the Cool Forest’s in full flower,
in a cool mountain gorge,
having bathed my limbs
I’ll walk back & forth
alone.
Ah, when will I dwell,
alone and free from companions,
in the refreshing great forest—
my task done,
effluent-free?
As I desire to do this,
may my purpose succeed.
I myself
will bring it about.
No one can do it
for anyone else.
* * *
I myself
bind on my armor.
I will enter the grove
and will not emerge
without having attained
the end of the effluents.
While soft breezes blow—
cool,
heavily, fragrantly scented—
I’ll make ignorance burst,
as I sit on a mountaintop.
In the forest covered with blossoms
or perhaps on a cool hillside,
blessed with the bliss of release,
on Giribbaja I’ll delight.
* * *
I am now he
whose resolves are fulfilled
like the moon on a full-moon night.
With effluents all
totally ended,
there is now no further becoming.
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/T ... g10_2.html

:namaste:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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bodom
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Re: Poems of the Elders

Post by bodom »

nmjojola wrote: Sat Aug 08, 2020 6:37 pm A cool thing about the Therigatha is, if I'm not mistaking, it's the first collection of poetry all 'composed' or 'versed' (or whatever the oral equivalent would be to 'written') by women in history.
I'm not sure about in history but I do know that is regarded as the earliest known collection of women's literature composed in India specifically.

:namaste:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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bodom
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Re: Poems of the Elders

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10:1 Kāludāyin

Covered in embers now are the trees,
shedding their canopy, lord, in search of fruit.
As if flaring up, they glow.
The time, great hero, partakes of savors.
The trees in bloom, delightful,
waft delights
all around, in all directions,
dropping their petals in hope of fruit.
Now, O hero, is the time to set forth.
Neither too cold nor too hot:
pleasant the season, lord, fit for a journey.
Let them see you—the Sakyans & Koliyans—
facing west, crossing in the Rohiṇī.
In hope they plow the field.
In hope the seed is sown.
In hope do merchants go to sea,
bringing back wealth.
Let the hope in which I stand bear fruit.
Again & again they sow the seed.
Again & again the deva-kings rain.
Again & again farmers plow the fields.
Again & again grain comes to the kingdom.
Again & again beggars wander.
Again & again lords of giving give.
Again & again having given, the lords of giving
again & again go to the heavenly place.
* * *
Truly, an enlightened one of deep discernment
cleanses, back for seven generations,
the family in which he’s born.
I would imagine you to be Sakka, the deva of devas
for you engendered a sage truly named.
Suddhodana is the name of the Great Seer’s father,
and Māyā name of the Buddha’s mother
who, having nurtured the bodhisatta with her womb,
at the break-up of the body, rejoices in the threefold divine realm.
She, Gotamī, having passed away,
having fallen away from here,
is now endowed with heavenly sensual pleasures.
She rejoices in the five strings of sensuality,
surrounded by those groups of devas.
I am the son of the Buddha,
who endures what is hard to endure—
Aṅgīrasa: incomparable, Such.
You, Sakka, are my father’s father.
In the Dhamma, Gotama,
you are my grandfather.
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/T ... g10_1.html

:namaste:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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bodom
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Re: Poems of the Elders

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Thag 11 Saṅkicca

What do you want in the woods, my boy,
like a bird exposed to the rain?
Monsoons refresh you,
for seclusion is for those in jhāna.
As the monsoon wind
drives the clouds in the rainy season,
so thoughts concerned with seclusion
impel me.
* * *
A black crow
making its home in a charnel ground
inspires within me
mindfulness in—
based on dispassion for—
the body.
* * *
One whom others don’t guard,
who doesn’t guard others:
He is a monk
who lies down in ease,
unconcerned with sensual passions.
* * *
With clear waters &
massive boulders,
frequented by monkeys &
deer,
covered with moss &
water weeds:
Those rocky crags
refresh me.
* * *
I’ve lived in wildernesses,
canyons, & caves,
isolated dwellings
frequented by predator & prey,
but never have I known
an ignoble, aversive resolve:
“May these beings
be destroyed,
be slaughtered,
fall into pain.”
* * *
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.
I don’t delight in death,
don’t delight in living.
I await my time
as a worker his wage.
I don’t delight in death,
don’t delight in living.
I await my time,
mindful, alert.
https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Thag/thag11.html

:namaste:
Liberation is the inevitable fruit of the path and is bound to blossom forth when there is steady and persistent practice. The only requirements for reaching the final goal are two: to start and to continue. If these requirements are met there is no doubt the goal will be attained. This is the Dhamma, the undeviating law.

- BB
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