འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་གྱ་རྩ་བའ་རྒྱད 154

154

And at nighttime, south.
A mantra reciter should never
Wish for material benefits.

“He should not recite, for this purpose, the mantra,
Nor should he talk about his family and its activities.⁹¹⁷
A practitioner of impeccable conduct,
Adorned with auspicious marks, should sit on the ground.

“He should perform ablutions in pure water
That reaches up to the hem of his robe,
And thoroughly wash his feet,
Wiping them seven times with clay.⁹¹⁸

“After urinating, he should use seven handfuls,⁹¹⁹
After passing stool, use thirty handfuls,
And clean his hands afterward.
When clearing phlegm or snot,
He should take two handfuls of clay.⁹²⁰

“One should perform one’s toilet carefully,
In a place far from one’s dwelling.⁹²¹
One should go to where no sound is heard,
And where all paths disappear.⁹²²

“There, at one’s pleasure,
Outside the southern boundary,⁹²³
In a pit submerged in saline water⁹²⁴
And covered over with sand,

“But not on a riverbank—
One should avoid polluting them with feces—
In a covered and secret place where one feels at ease,
In a wilderness devoid of people,

“Can a mantra practitioner go to the toilet
To void his body of impurities.
A mantra reciter should know the right time
And not hold in feces for too long.

“One should therefore go, whenever one feels like it,
To a clean and deserted spot as prescribed
And build there a toilet-cabin
The way one wants.

“One should always relieve oneself
In silence, without any company,
In a secret and hidden hut,
Or a place concealed by the terrain.

“When urine and stool have been evacuated,
A vow holder should always clean himself
Using soft and well-kneaded clay,
Free of living organisms.

“One should divide the clay into three lumps and always use one
To clean one’s anus and the remaining two to clean each hand.
A mantra practitioner should always collect the clay
From the ground as described before

“And thoroughly wash his feet,
First the right, then the left.
A mantra reciter should ensure
That the feet do not touch each other.⁹²⁵

“The personal hygiene of mantra reciters
Has been taught at length before.