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Dhammapada
- Dhammapada 23
- The Elephant
- translated by Acharya Buddharakkhita
320. As an elephant in the battlefield withstands arrows shot
from bows all around, even so shall I endure abuse. There are many, indeed, who lack
virtue.
321. A tamed elephant is led into a crowd, and the king mounts
a tamed elephant. Best among men is the subdued one who endures abuse.
322. Excellent are well-trained mules, thoroughbred Sindhu
horses and noble tusker elephants. But better still is the man who has subdued himself.
323. Not by these mounts, however, would one go to the
Untrodden Land (Nibbana), as one who is self-tamed goes by his own tamed and
well-controlled mind.
324. Musty during rut, the tusker named Dhanapalaka is
uncontrollable. Held in captivity, the tusker does not touch a morsel, but only longingly
calls to mind the elephant forest.
325. When a man is sluggish and gluttonous, sleeping and
rolling around in bed like a fat domestic pig, that sluggard undergoes rebirth again and
again.
326. Formerly this mind wandered about as it liked, where it
wished and according to its pleasure, but now I shall thoroughly master it with wisdom as
a mahout controls with his ankus [sic] an elephant in rut.
327. Delight in heedfulness! Guard well your thoughts! Draw
yourself out of this bog of evil, even as an elephant draws himself out of the mud.
328. If for company you find a wise and prudent friend who
leads a good life, you should, overcoming all impediments, keep his company joyously and
mindfully.
329. If for company you cannot find a wise and prudent friend
who leads a good life, then, like a king who leaves behind a conquered kingdom, or like a
lone elephant in the elephant forest, you should go your way alone.
330. Better it is to live alone; there is no fellowship with a
fool. Live alone and do no evil; be carefree like and elephant in the elephant forest.
331. Good are friends when need arises; good is contentment
with just what one has; good is merit when life is at an end, and good is the abandoning
of all suffering (through Arahatship).
332. In this world, good it is to serve one's mother, good it
is to serve one's father, good it is to serve the monks, and good it is to serve the holy
men.
333. Good is virtue until life's end, good is faith that is
steadfast, good is the acquisition of wisdom, and good is the avoidance of evil.