Psalms of the Brethren CCXXVIII: Sarabhanga

Ay, reeds in handfuls once I plucked, and built
A hut wherein I sojourned; hence the name
‘Reedpicker’ given me by the common voice.

But not to me doth it belong to-day
To pluck the reeds in handfuls as of yore,
Because of what the training doth prescribe,
Revealed to us by glorious Gotama.

How wholly and entirely he did ail: —
That had Reedpicker never seen before.
This sorely ailing state he came to see
Through word of Him who is beyond the gods.

The self-same Path by which Vipassi went,
The Path of Sikhi and of Vessabhu,
Of Kakusandha, Konagamana,
And Kassapa, e’en by that very Road
Lo! now to us there cometh Gotama.

‘Lo! now to us there cometh Gotama.’
And all these seven Buddhas, — they for whom
Craving was dead, and nought was grasped, and who
Stood planted on Abolishing of Ill —
They taught this Norm, ay, even such as they,
Who were themselves the body of the Norm,

In great compassion for us all, e’en these
Four Ariyan Truths: the Truth of Ill; the Cause;
The Path; the End, th’ abolishing, of Ill,

Whereby the endless tale of grief and pain
In life’s great cycle cannot take its course;
For when this body dies and life is spent,
No other rebirth cometh more — yea, free
Am I from birth, from evil utterly!