Psalms of the Brethren CCV: Vakkali

Thou who foredone with cramping pains,
Dwell’st in the jungle, in the woods,
Thy range confined, in hardship dire—
Tell me, bhikkhu, how wilt thou live?

With bliss and rapture’s flooding wave
This mortal frame will I suffuse.
Though hard and rough what I endure,
Yet will I in the jungle dwell.

Herein myself I’ll exercise: —
The Starting-x)oints of Mindfulness,
The Powers five, the Forces too,
The Factors of Enlightenment —
So will I in the jungle dwell.

For I have seen [what friends have wrought]:
Their striving roused, their straining mind,
Their staunch and ever onward stride,
In concord bound, — and having seen,
E’en in the jungle will I dwell,

Remembering Him, the Very Wake,
Supremely tamed, intent, serene, —
With mind unwearied night and day,
Thus will I in the jungle dwell.