Uttarajjhayana 14

14.1

devā bhavittāṇa pure bhavammī keī cuyā egavimānavāsī |
pure purāṇe usuyāranāme khāe samiddhe suralogaramme ||

Having been gods in a previous existence, dwelling together in a single celestial palace, / some fell [from there] into the ancient city named Isukāra, celebrated, prosperous, and lovely as the world of the gods.

Having been gods in a former existence and lived in the same heavenly region, some were born (here below) in the ancient, wealthy, and famous town called Ishukâra, which is beautiful like heaven.

14.2

sakammaseseṇa purākaeṇaṃ kulesu daggesu ya te pasūyā |
nivviṇṇasaṃsārabhayā jahāya jiniṃdamaggaṃ saraṇaṃ pavannā ||

By the remnant of their past karma, they were born into noble families; / having understood and become disgusted with the fear of the cycle of rebirth, they took refuge in the path of the Jinas.

14.3

pumattamāgamma kumāra do vī purohio tassa jasā ya pattī |
visālakittī ya tahosuyāro rāyattha devī kamalāvaī ya ||

Having attained manhood, the two princes, and the purohita and his wife Yasā, / and likewise Isukāra of far-reaching fame, the king of that place, and Queen Kamalāvatī—

14.4

jāījarāmaccubhayābhibhūyā bahiṃvihārābhiniviṭṭhacittā |
saṃsāracakkassa vimokkhaṇaṭṭhā daṭṭhūṇa te kāmaguṇe virattā ||

Overcome by the fear of birth, old age, and death, their minds set on the homeless life, / having seen [the world], for the sake of release from the wheel of the cycle of rebirth, they became detached from the pleasures of the senses.

14.5

piyaputtagā donni vi māhaṇassa sakammasīlassa purohiyassa |
sarittu porāṇiya tattha jāiṃ tahā suciṇṇaṃ tavasaṃjamaṃ ca ||

Both dear sons of the brāhmaṇa, the purohita who was devoted to his duties, / having remembered their previous birth in that state, and the austerity and self-restraint they had well practiced,

14.6

te kāmabhogesu asajjamāṇā mānussaesuṃ je yāvi divvā |
mokkhābhikaṃkhī abhijāyasaḍḍhā tāyaṃ uvāgamma imaṃ udāhu ||

Not clinging to sensual pleasures, whether human or divine, / desiring liberation, their faith awakened, approached their father and spoke thus:

14.7

asāsayaṃ daṭṭhu imaṃ vihāraṃ bahuaṃtarāyaṃ na ya dīhamāuṃ |
tamhā gihaṃsi na raiṃ lahāmo āmaṃtayāmo carissāmu monaṃ ||

“Seeing that this existence is transient, full of obstacles, and life is not long, / we therefore find no delight in the house; we take our leave, we will practice the silent ascetic life.”

14.8

aha tāyago tattha munīṇa tesiṃ tavassa vāghāyakaraṃ vayāsī |
imaṃ vayaṃ veyavio vayaṃti jahā na hoī asuyāṇa logo ||

Then their father said to those sages what would cause an obstacle to their austerity: / “The knowers of the Vedas speak this word: that there is no heavenly world for the sonless.

14.9

ahijja vee parivissa vippe putte paḍiṭṭhappa gihaṃsi jāyā! |
bhoccāṇa bhoe saha itthiyāhiṃ āraṇṇagā hoha munī pasatthā ||

Having studied the Vedas, served the brāhmaṇas, and established sons in the household, O sons, / having enjoyed pleasures with women, become forest-dwelling, praiseworthy sages!”

'My sons, after you have studied the Vêdas, and fed the priests, after you have placed your own sons at the head of your house, and after you have enjoyed life together with your wives, then you may depart to the woods as praiseworthy sages.'

14.10

soyaggiṇā āyaguṇiṃghanenaṃ mohāṇilā pajjalaṇāhieṇaṃ |
saṃtattabhāvaṃ parittappamāṇaṃ loluppamāṇaṃ bahuhā bahuṃ ca ||

By the fire of grief, with the qualities of the soul as fuel, heightened by the blazing wind of delusion, / with his being tormented, lamenting, and yearning much in many ways,

14.11

purohiyaṃ taṃ kamaso'nunaṃtaṃ nimaṃtayaṃtaṃ ca sue ghaṇeṇaṃ |
jahakkamaṃ kāmaguṇehiṃ ceva kumāragā te pasamikkha vakkaṃ ||

To that purohita who was gradually grieving and tempting his sons with wealth / and in due order with the pleasures of the senses, those young men, having observed his speech, [said]:

14.12

veyā ahīyā na bhavaṃti tāṇaṃ bhuttā diyā niṃti tamaṃ tameṇaṃ |
jāyā ya puttā na havaṃti tāṇaṃ ko nāma te anumannejja eyaṃ ||

“Vedas studied do not become a protection; fed, the twice-born go from darkness to darkness; / and sons that are born do not become a protection. Who indeed would approve of this [word] of yours?

14.13

khaṇamettasokkhā bahukāladukkhā pagāmadukkhā anigāmasokkhā |
saṃsāramokkhassa vipakkhabhūyā khāṇī anatthāṇa u kāmabhogā ||

Giving pleasure for only a moment, causing suffering for a long time, bringing abundant suffering and meager pleasure, / opposed to liberation from the cycle of rebirth, sensual pleasures are indeed a mine of ruin.

14.14

parivvayaṃte aniyattakāme aho ya rāo paritappamāṇe |
annappamatte ghanamesamāṇe pappoti maccuṃ purise jaraṃ ca ||

While turning round with desire unchecked, tormented day and night, / heedless of other things, seeking wealth, a man meets with death and old age.

14.15

imaṃ ca me atthi imaṃ ca natthi imaṃ ca me kicca imaṃ akiccaṃ |
taṃ evamevaṃ lālappamāṇaṃ harā haraṃti tti kahaṃ pamāe? ||

‘This I have, and this I have not; this is to be done by me, and this is not to be done’— / while he is lamenting just in this way, thieves carry him away. How can there be heedlessness?

14.16

ghanaṃ pabhūyaṃ saha itthiyāhiṃ sayaṇā tahā kāmaguṇā pagāmā |
tavaṃ kae tappai jassa logo taṃ savva sāhīṇamiheva tubbhaṃ ||

Abundant wealth along with women, kinsmen, and pleasures of the senses in full measure— / that for the sake of which people practice austerity, all that is in your own power right here.”

'Great wealth and women, a family and exquisite pleasures: for such things people practise austerities. All this you may have for your asking.'

14.17

dhanena kiṃ dhammadhurāhigāre sayaneṇa vā kāmaguṇehi ceva |
samaṇā bhavissāmu guṇohadhārī bahiṃvihārā abhigamma bhikkhaṃ ||

“What is the use of wealth when undertaking the yoke of Dharma, or of kinsmen, or of the pleasures of the senses? / We will become śramaṇas possessing an abundance of virtues, living the homeless life, going for alms.”

14.18

jahā ya aggī araṇīusaṃto khīre ghayaṃ tella mahātilesu |
emeva jāyā! sarīraṃsi sattā saṃmucchaī nāsai nāvaciṭṭhe ||

[The father said:] “Just as fire resides in the fire-drill, ghee in milk, and oil in sesame seeds, / even so, O sons, the soul resides in the body: it develops, perishes, and does not remain.”

14.19

no iṃdiyaggejjha amuttabhāvā amuttabhāvā vi ya hoi nicco |
ajjhatthaheuṃ niyayassa baṃdho saṃsāraheuṃ ca vayaṃti baṃdhaṃ ||

[The sons said:] “It cannot be grasped by the senses because of its formless nature; and because of its formless nature, it is eternal. / Bondage of the self is caused by internal factors, and they say bondage is the cause of the cycle of rebirth.

14.20

jahā vayaṃ dhammamajāṇamāṇā pāvaṃ purā kammamakāsi mohā |
orujjhamāṇā parirakkhiyaṃtā taṃ neva bhujjo vi samāyarāmo ||

As we in the past, not knowing the Dharma, committed evil karma through delusion, / even if obstructed and held back, we will never practice that again.

14.21

abbhāhayaṃmi logaṃmi savvao parivārie |
amohāhiṃ paḍaṃtīhiṃ gihaṃsi na raiṃ labhe ||

When the world is attacked, surrounded on all sides / by the unerring [nights] falling, one can find no delight in the house.”

14.22

kena abbhāhao logo? kena vā parivārio? |
kā vā amohā vuttā? jāyā! ciṃtāvaro humi ||

[The father said:] “By what is the world attacked? By what is it surrounded? / And what are called the unerring ones? O sons, I am filled with anxiety.”

14.23

maccuṇā'bbhāhao logo jarāe parivārio |
amohā rayaṇī vuttā evaṃ tāya! viyāṇaha ||

[The sons said:] “The world is attacked by death, surrounded by old age; / the nights are called the unerring ones. Know it thus, O father!

14.24

jā jā vaccai rayaṇī na sā paḍiniyattaī |
ahammaṃ kuṇamāṇassa aphalā jaṃti rāio ||

Each night that passes does not return; / for one who practices unrighteousness, the nights pass fruitless.

"You have brought together all these objects of desire, and have collected many exquisitely pleasant things. Let us, therefore, fully enjoy the pleasures; afterwards we shall go forth on the road of salvation."

14.25

jā jā vaccai rayaṇī na sā paḍiniyattaī |
dhammaṃ ca kuṇamāṇassa saphalā jaṃti rāio ||

Each night that passes does not return; / and for one who practices Dharma, the nights pass fruitful.”

14.26

egao saṃvasittāṇaṃ duhao sammattasaṃjuyā |
pacchā jāyā! gamissāmo bhikkhamāṇā kule kule ||

[The father said:] “Having lived together in one place, both of us endowed with right faith, / afterwards, O sons, we will go begging from house to house.”

14.27

jassatthi maccuṇā sakkhaṃ jassa vatthi palāyaṇaṃ |
jo jāṇe na marissāmi so hu kaṃkhe sue siyā ||

[The sons said:] “He who has a pact with death, or he who has an escape from it, / he who knows ‘I will not die’—he indeed may wait for tomorrow.

14.28

ajjeva dhammaṃ paḍivajjayāmo jahiṃ pavannā na puṇabbhavāmo |
anāgayaṃ neva ya atthi kiṃci saddhākhamaṃ na viṇaittu rāgaṃ ||

This very day let us undertake the Dharma, having entered which we are not born again; / for the future there is nothing at all, without subduing attachment, worthy of faith.”

14.29

pahīṇaputtassa hu natthi vāso vāsiṭṭhi! bhikkhāyariyāi kālo |
sāhāhi rukkho lahae samāhiṃ chinnāhi sāhāhi tameva khāṇuṃ ||

[The father said:] “For one bereft of sons there is indeed no home, O Vāsiṣṭhī! It is the time for begging alms; / a tree with branches finds peace, but with branches cut, it is just a trunk.

14.30

paṃkhāvihūṇo vva jaheha pakkhī bhiccāvihūṇo vva raṇe nariṃdo |
vivannasāro vaṇio vva poe pahīṇaputto mi tahā ahaṃ pi ||

Like a bird deprived of wings, or a king in battle deprived of servants, / or a merchant whose ship has lost its cargo, so am I too, deprived of sons.”

14.31

susaṃbhiyā kāmaguṇā ime te saṃpiḍiyā aggarasā pabhūyā |
bhuṃjāmu tā kāmaguṇe pagāmaṃ pacchā gamissāsu pahāṇamaggaṃ ||

[The mother said:] “These pleasures of the senses are well gathered for you, abundant prime delicacies are assembled; / let us then enjoy the pleasures of the senses to our heart's content, and afterwards you shall go on the supreme path.”

14.32

bhattā rasā bhoi! jahāi ṇe vao na jīviyaṭṭhā pajahāmi bhoe |
lābhaṃ alābhaṃ ca suhaṃ ca dukkhaṃ saṃcikkhamāṇo carissāmi monaṃ ||

[The father said:] “Pleasures and relishes abandon us, O lady, as our age declines; I do not abandon pleasures for the sake of life. / Reflecting upon gain and loss, pleasure and pain, I will practice the silent ascetic life.”

'We have finished enjoying pleasures, my dear; our life is drawing to its close. I do not abandon pleasures for the sake of an unholy life; but looking with indifference on gain and loss, on happiness and suffering, I shall lead the life of a monk.'

14.33

mā hū tumaṃ soyariyāṇa saṃbhare juṇṇo va haṃso paḍisottagāmī |
bhuṃjāhi bhogāi mae samāṇaṃ dukkhaṃ khu bhikkhāyariyāvihāro ||

[The mother said:] “Do not let yourself be swept away by grief for your sons, like an old swan struggling against the current! / Enjoy pleasures along with me; indeed, the wandering life of begging alms is sorrowful.”

14.34

jahā ya bhoī! tanuyaṃ bhuyaṃgo nimmoyaṇiṃ hicca palei mutto |
emee jāyā payahaṃti bhoe te haṃ kahaṃ nānugamissamekko? ||

"And just as a snake, O husband, having sloughed its skin, runs away freed, / so these sons renounce pleasures: how can I not follow them alone?"

14.35

chiṃdittu jālaṃ abalaṃ va rohiyā macchā jahā kāmaguṇe pahāya |
ghoreyasīlā tavasā udārā dhīrā hu bhikkhāyariyaṃ caraṃti ||

Having cut the net like weak fish, having abandoned the objects of desire, / enduring dreadful conduct, noble through austerity, the steadfast wander as mendicants.

14.36

naheva kuṃcā samaikkamaṃtā tayāṇi jālāṇi dalittu haṃsā |
paleṃti puttā ya paī ya majjhaṃ te haṃ kahaṃ nānugamissamekkā? ||

"Just like curlews traversing the sky, like geese having torn the nets of skin, / my sons and my husband flee: how can I not follow them alone?"

14.37

purohiyaṃ taṃ sasuyaṃ sadāraṃ sīccābhinikkhamma pahāya bhoe |
kuḍuṃbasāraṃ viuluttamaṃ taṃ rāyaṃ abhikkhaṃ samuvāya devī ||

Having seen the purohita go forth from home with his sons and his wife, having abandoned pleasures, / [and having seen] that family's wealth, abundant and supreme, the queen repeatedly addressed the king:

14.38

vaṃtāsī puriso rāyaṃ! na so hoi pasaṃsio |
māhanena pariccattaṃ dhanaṃ ādāumicchasi ||

"A man who eats what has been vomited, O king, is not praised; / you desire to take the wealth that has been abandoned by the brāhmaṇa!

14.39

savvaṃ jagaṃ jai tuhaṃ savvaṃ vāvi dhanaṃ bhave |
savvaṃ pi te apajjattaṃ neva tāṇāya taṃ tava ||

If the whole world were yours, or even all its wealth, / all of it would still be insufficient for you, nor would it offer you protection.

14.40

marihisi rāyaṃ! jayā tayā vā manorame kāmaguṇe pahāya |
ekko hu dhammo naradeva! tāṇaṃ na vijjaī annamiheha kiṃci ||

You will die, O king, today or tomorrow, having left behind charming objects of desire; / Dharma alone, O king, is protection; nothing else exists here, nothing at all.

'Whenever you die, O king, and leave all pleasant things behind, the Law alone, and nothing else in this world, will save you, O monarch.

14.41

nāhaṃ rame pakkhiṇi paṃjare vā saṃtāṇachinnā carissāmi monaṃ |
akiṃcanā ujjukaḍā nirāmisā pariggahāraṃbhaniyattadosā ||

I do not rejoice [here], like a female bird in a cage; having cut worldly ties, I will practice sagehood, / having nothing, upright, desireless, freed from the fault of possessions and violent activities."

14.42

davaggiṇā jahā ranne ḍajjhamāṇesu jaṃtusu |
anne sattā pamoyaṃti rāgaddosavasaṃ gayā ||

"Just as in a forest fire, while creatures are burning, / other animals rejoice, fallen under the sway of attachment and aversion,

14.43

evameva vayaṃ mūḍhā kāmabhogesu mucchiyā |
ḍajjhamāṇaṃ na bujjhāmo rāgaddosaggiṇā jagaṃ ||

even so are we fools, infatuated with sensual pleasures; / we do not perceive the world burning with the fire of attachment and aversion.

14.44

bhoge bhoccā vamittā ya lahubhūyavihāriṇo |
āmoyamāṇā gacchaṃti diyā kāmakamā iva ||

Having enjoyed and vomited pleasures, living lightly, / they go along rejoicing, like birds moving at will.

14.45

ime ya baddhā phaṃdaṃti mama hattha'jjamāgayā |
vayaṃ ca sattā kāmesu bhavissāmo jahā ime ||

And these, bound, flutter, having fallen into my hands today; / and we, attached to desires, will become just like them.

14.46

sāmisaṃ kulalaṃ dissa bajjhamāṇaṃ nirāmisaṃ |
āmisaṃ savvamujjhittā viharissāmi nirāmisā ||

Seeing an osprey with meat attacked, and one without meat [left in peace], / having abandoned all meat, I will live desireless.

14.47

giddhovame u naccāṇaṃ kāme saṃsāravaḍḍhaṇe |
urago suvaṇṇapāse va saṃkamāṇo tanuṃ care ||

Knowing that desires, resembling vultures, increase the cycle of rebirth, / like a snake shrinking before Garuḍa, one should wander with restrained body.

14.48

nāgo vva baṃdhaṇaṃ chittā appaṇo vasahiṃ vae |
eyaṃ patthaṃ mahārāyaṃ! usuyāri tti me suyaṃ ||

Like an elephant having broken its bonds, he should go to his own dwelling." / This is the path, O great king, in Iṣukāra; thus have I heard.

14.49

caittā viulaṃ rajjaṃ kāmabhoge ya duccae |
nivvisayā nirāmisā ninnehā nippariggahā ||

Having abandoned vast kingship and sensual pleasures difficult to renounce, / free from sense objects, desireless, free from affection, free from possessions,

'Leave your large kingdom and the pleasures which are so dear to all; abandon what pleases the senses, and what attracts; be without attachment and property; learn thoroughly the Law and give up all amusements; then practise famous and severe penance, being of firm energy.'

14.50

sammaṃ dhammaṃ viyāṇittā ceccā kāmaguṇe vare |
tavaṃ pagijjha'hakkhāyaṃ ghoraṃ ghoraparakkamā ||

having correctly understood the Dharma, having renounced supreme objects of desire, / having undertaken austerity as taught, terrifying, with terrifying prowess,

14.51

evaṃ te kamaso buddhā savve dhammaparāyaṇā |
jammamaccubhauvviggā dukkhassaṃtagavesiṇo ||

thus they gradually became enlightened, all devoted to Dharma, / terrified of the fear of birth and death, seekers of the end of suffering.

14.52

sāsane vigayamohāṇaṃ puvviṃ bhāvanabhāviyā |
acireṇeva kāleṇa dukkhassaṃtamuvāgayā ||

In the teaching of the free from delusion, previously cultivated with right contemplation, / in no long time they reached the end of suffering.

14.53

rāyā saha devīe māhaṇo ya purohio |
māhaṇī dāragā ceva savve te parinivvuḍa || –tti bemi ||

The king along with the queen, the brāhmaṇa purohita, / the brāhmaṇa woman, and the boys—all of them reached complete liberation. —Thus I say.