Psalms of the Brethren CCXLVII: Udayin

Buddha the Wake, the son of man,
Self-tamed, by inward vision rapt,
Bearing himself by ways sublime,
Glad in tranquillity of heart;

To whom men honour pay as one
Who hath transcended all we know;
To whom gods also honour yield: —
So I, an arahant, have heard —

From jungle to Nibbana come,
With every fetter left behind,
Glad in renouncing worldly joys,
Extracted like fine gold from ore,

‘On wooded heights in Himalayd
For, sure, of all we Naga’ name,
(Serpent or elephant or man)
Supremely true that name for him —

This Naga will I praise to you,
For he no sin’ — na agun — doth.
Mercifulness, sobriety:
These be two of the Naga’s feet;

Intelligence and mindfulness:
Other two feet of this Elephant.
The Naga’s trunk is confidence;
His white tusks, equanimity;

His throat awareness, and his head
Is insight; testing touch of trunk
Is weighing wisely good and bad;
Shrine of the Norm his viscera;
Detachment is the tail of him.

So musing rapt, and breathing bliss,
Composed in body and in mind,
Composed, this Naga, when he walks,
Composed, this Naga, when he stands,

Composed, this Naga, lying down,
And eke composed while he sits;
Self -governed whatsoe’er he doth:
This is the Naga’s perfect way.

Blameless in all that he enjoys,
Enjoying naught that calls for blame,
Hath he but gotten food and gear,
From store laid up he doth refrain.

Whether the tie be coarse or fine,
Bonds of all kinds he knaps in twain;
He goeth wheresoe’er he will,
Nor careth wheresoe’er he goes.

As lotus born within a lake,
By water nowise is defiled,
But groweth fragrant, beautiful,

So is the Buddha in this world,
Born in the world and dwelling there,
But by the world nowise defiled,
E’en as the lily by the lake.

A mighty fire that’s spent itself,
And hath no fuel dieth down,
And of the smouldering ashes men
Do say ‘That fire is now extinct.’

Lo! here’s a parable the wise
Have taught to make their meaning known.
Great Nagas, they will understand
The Naga, by that Naga taught:

With passion gone, and hatred gone,
And dulness gone, sane and immune,
This Naga yielding up his life,
Will clean ‘go out,’ sane and immune.