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# Theragatha

## Chapter XVIII -- The Forties

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XVIII -- Maha Kassapa {vv. 1051-1090}
[Thanissaro Bhikkhu, trans.]

> One shouldn't go about
> surrounded, revered
> by a company:
> one gets distracted;
> concentration
> is hard to gain.
> Fellowship with many people
> is painful.
> Seeing this,
> one shouldn't approve
> of a company.

> A sage shouldn't visit families:
> one gets distracted;
> concentration
> is hard to gain.
> He's eager & greedy for flavors,
> whoever misses the goal
> that brings bliss.

> They know it's a bog --
> the reverence & veneration
> of families --
> a subtle arrow, hard to extract.
> Offerings are hard for a worthless man
> to let go.

> * * *

> Coming down from my dwelling place,
> I entered the city for alms,
> stood courteously next to a leper
> eating his meal.

> He, with his rotting hand,
> tossed me a morsel of food,
> and as the morsel was dropping,
> a finger fell off
> right there.

> Sitting next to a wall,
> I ate that morsel of food,
> and neither while eating it,
> nor having eaten,
> did I feel
> any disgust.

> Whoever has mastered
> left-over scraps for food,
> smelly urine for medicine,
> the foot of a tree for a dwelling,
> cast-off rags for robes:
> He is a man
> of the four directions.

> * * *

> Where some are exhausted
> climbing the mountain,
> there
> the Awakened One's heir
> -- mindful, alert,
> buoyed by his psychic power --
> Kassapa climbs.

> Returning from his alms round,
> climbing the peak,
> Kassapa does jhana
> with no sustenance/clinging,
> having abandoned terror
> & fear.

> Returning from his alms round,
> climbing the peak,
> Kassapa does jhana
> with no sustenance/clinging,
> unbound
> among those who burn.

> Returning from his alms round,
> climbing the peak,
> Kassapa does jhana
> with no sustenance/clinging,
> free of fermentation,
> his duty
> done.

> Spread with garlands of vines,
> places delighting the mind,
> resounding with elephants,
> appealing:
> those rocky crags
> refresh me.

> The color of blue-dark clouds,
> glistening,
> cooled with the waters
> of clear-flowing streams
> covered with ladybugs:
> those rocky crags
> refresh me.

> Like the peaks of blue-dark clouds,
> like excellent peaked-roof buildings,
> resounding with tuskers,
> appealing:
> those rocky crags
> refresh me.

> Their lovely surfaces wet with rain,
> mountains frequented
> by seers
> & echoing
> with peacocks:
> those rocky crags
> refresh me.

> This is enough for me --
> desiring to do jhana,
> resolute, mindful;
> enough for me --
> desiring the goal,
> resolute,
> a monk;
> enough for me --
> desiring comfort,
> resolute,
> in training;
> enough for me --
> desiring my duty,
> resolute,
> Such.

> Flax-flower blue,
> like the sky
> covered over with clouds;
> filled with flocks
> of various birds:
> those rocky crags
> refresh me.

> Uncrowded
> by householders,
> frequented
> by herds of deer
> filled with flocks
> of various birds:
> those rocky crags
> refresh me.

> With clear waters &
> massive boulders,
> frequented by monkeys &
> deer,
> covered with moss &
> water weeds:
> those rocky crags
> refresh me.

> There is no such pleasure for me
> in the music of a five-piece band
> as there is when my mind
> is at one,
> seeing the Dhamma
> aright.

> * * *

> One shouldn't do lots of work,
> should avoid people,
> shouldn't busy oneself.
> He's eager & greedy for flavors,
> whoever misses the goal
> that brings bliss.

> One shouldn't do lots of work,
> should avoid
> what doesn't lead to the goal.
> The body gets wearied,
> fatigued.
> Aching, one finds
> no tranquillity.

> * * *

> Simply by flapping the mouth
> one doesn't see
> even oneself.
> One goes around stiff-
> necked,
> thinking, 'I'm better
> than they.'

> Not better,
> he thinks himself better,
> the fool:
> the wise don't praise him,
> the stiff-necked man.

> But whoever isn't stirred
> by the modes of
> 'I'm better,
> not better.
> I'm worse.
> I'm like that';
> one who's discerning,
> who acts as he says,
> well-centered
> in virtues,
> committed to
> tranquillity of awareness, he
> is the one
> the wise
> would praise.

> One with no respect
> for his fellows in the holy life,
> is as far
> from the true Dhamma
> as the earth
> is from the sky.

> But those whose conscience
> & fear of evil
> are always rightly established: they
> have flourished in the holy life.
> For them
> there's no further becoming.

> A monk conceited & vain,
> even though clad
> in a robe of cast-off rags,
> like a monkey in a lion's skin,
> doesn't shine because of it.

> But a monk not conceited
> or vain,
> masterful,
> his faculties restrained, shines
> because of his robe of cast-off rags,
> like a lion
> in the cleft of a mountain.

> * * *

> These many devas,
> powerful, prestigious
> -- 10,000 devas --
> all of Brahma's retinue,
> stand with their hands over their hearts,
> paying homage to Sariputta,
> the Dhamma-general,
> enlightened,
> centered,
> great master of jhana,
> [saying:]

> 'Homage to you, O thoroughbred man.
> Homage to you, O superlative man --
> of whom we have no direct knowledge
> even of that
> in dependence on which
> you do jhana.

> 'How very amazing:
> the awakened ones'
> very own deep range --
> of which we have no direct knowledge,
> though we have come
> as hair-splitting archers.'

> Seeing Sariputta,
> a man worthy of worship,
> worshipped by deva retinues,
> Kappina
> smiled.

> * * *

> As far as this buddha-field extends
> -- except for the great sage himself --
> I'm the one
> outstanding
> in ascetic qualities.
> There's no one else
> like me.

> The Teacher has been served by me;
> the Awakened One's bidding,

> done;
> the heavy load, laid down;
> the guide to becoming, uprooted.

> Neither to robe,
> nor dwelling,
> nor food
> does he cling:
> Gotama,
> like a lotus unspotted
> by water, inclining
> to renunciation, detached
> from the three planes of becoming.

> He,
> the great sage,
> has the frames of reference
> as his neck,
> conviction
> as hands,
> discernment
> as head.
> The great master of jhana
> he goes about
> always unbound.

Revised: Fri 12 April 2002