Psalms of the Brethren CCXXI: Brahmadatta

Whence rises wrath for him who void of wrath
Holds on ‘the even tenor of his way,’
Self-tamed, serene, by highest insight free?

Worse of the two is he who, when reviled,
Reviles again. Who doth not, when reviled,
Revile again, a twofold victory wins.

Both of the other and himself he seeks
The good; for he the others angry mood
Doth understand and soothe [checking himself].

Him who of both is the physician, since
Himself he healeth and the other too,
Folk deem a fool, they knowing not the Norm.

If anger rise in thee, then think upon
The Figure of the Saw; and if arise
Craving t’ indulge thyself, remember thou
The Parable of how they ate the Child.

If, lusting for new lives in heaven and earth,
Thy heart run wild, O check and curb it swift
By mindfulness, as ’twere the beast men find
In young corn grazing trespasser, and bind.