經律異相 30.11

30.11

Though one makes many jeweled flowers, / And crafts dangling ornaments of silk, / It is by widely amassing the fragrance of virtue / That one's rebirths become ever finer. / Rare herbs and fragrant blossoms / Do not send their scent against the wind; / The fragrance of a virtuous person, / Blossoming near the Way, pervades all directions. / Sandalwood and abundant perfumes, / Blue lotuses and fragrant flowers— / Though these be called genuine, / They do not equal the fragrance of precepts. / The fragrance of flowers is faint, / And cannot be called genuine; / The fragrance of upholding the precepts / Reaches up to the heavens, unsurpassed. / With precepts fully accomplished, / And practicing without indolence, / Delivered by focused mind, / One departs forever from the path of Māra. (From the second fascicle of the Dharmapada)