Udanavarga 2.8-11

2.8

「如作田溝，近於大道，中生蓮華，
香潔可意。有生死然，凡夫處邊，
智者樂出，為佛弟子。」

"Just as in a ditch by a field,
Near to the great highway,
A lotus flower grows therein,
Fragrant, pure, and delightful;
So amid birth and death like this,
Where ordinary people dwell at the margins,
The wise delight in leaving,
Becoming disciples of the Buddha."

“As a ditch in the field, close beside the highway, will produce the lily in its midst, and spread far and wide its delightful perfume, so in the midst of life and death (that is, the phenomenal world), beside the way of false speculation (universal inquiry), the wise man diffuses his glad sentiments in becoming a disciple of Buddha.”

2.9

佛說偈已即還山中。賢者阿難前白佛言：「向者世尊臨田溝上，所說二偈不審其義？願聞其意。」佛告阿難：「汝見溝中污泥不淨糞壤之中生蓮華不？」「唯然見之。」佛言：「阿難！人在世間展轉相生，計壽百歲或長或短，妻子恩愛飢渴寒熱，或悲或欣，一凶二吉三毒四倒五陰六入七識八邪九惱十惡，猶如田溝畜藏糞壤污泥不淨。欻有一人覺世無常，發心學道修清淨志，凝神斷想自致得道，亦如污泥生好蓮華，身自得道還度宗親，一切眾生皆蒙開解，亦如華香奄蔽臭穢。」

Having spoken the verses, the Buddha returned to the mountain. The worthy Ānanda stepped forward and addressed the Buddha, saying: "Just now when the Bhagavat approached the field ditch, what was the meaning of the two verses spoken? We wish to hear their significance." The Buddha told Ānanda: "Did you see the lotus flower growing in the filthy mud and impure dung within the ditch?" "Yes, indeed, I saw it." The Buddha said: "Ānanda! People in the world are born in succession, their lifespan reckoned at a hundred years, whether longer or shorter; with the affection of wives and children, hunger, thirst, cold, and heat, now sorrowful, now joyful, with the one misfortune, the two fortunes, the three poisons, the four inversions, the five aggregates, the six sense bases, the seven consciousnesses, the eight wrongful paths, the nine vexations, and the ten evils—they are like a field ditch harboring dung and filthy, impure mud. Suddenly, there is one person who awakens to the world's impermanence, resolves to learn the Way, cultivates a pure aspiration, concentrates the spirit, severs thoughts, and attains the Way by himself. This is just like a fine lotus flower growing from filthy mud; having attained the Way himself, he returns to deliver his kinsmen, and all sentient beings receive opening and understanding, just as the flower's fragrance covers and masks the foul filth."

2.10

五十比丘聞佛說法，進志堅固，即得阿羅漢道。

When the fifty bhikṣuṇīs heard the Buddha speak the Dharma, their resolve became firm and steadfast, and they immediately attained the arhat path.

2.11

法句譬喻經愚闇品第十三

Udānavarga: Chapter 13 on Folly and Darkness