Psalms of the Brethren CCLV: Angulimala

Thou who art walking, friar, dost say: ‘Lo! I have stopped!’
And me thou tellest, who have stopped, I have not stopped!
I ask thee, friar, what is the meaning of thy words?
How sayest thou that thou hast stopped, but I have not?

Yea, I have stopped, Angulimala, evermore,
Towards all living things renouncing violence;
Thou holdest not thy hand against thy fellow-men,
Therefore ’tis I have stopped, but thou still goest on.

O long is it since mighty sage by me revered,
A friar, to this forest great, hath found his way!
Lo! I will readily forego a thousand crimes,
Hearing the righteous doctrine in this verse of thine.

And so the bandit doffed his armour and his sword
And threw them down a cliff, into a pit, a chasm.
Before the Welcome One, low worshipping, the thief
Straightway besought the Buddha’s leave to be enrolled.

Thereat the Buddha, mighty Sage most pitiful,
Master of all the world and eke of all the gods,
Spake then these words to him, saying i i Yea, Come bhikkhu!’
And e en thereby to him was bhikkhu - status given.

He who in former days a wastrel living,
In later day no more so spends his time,
He goeth o’er the world a radiance shedding,
As when the moon comes free in clouded sky.

To whomsoe’er the ill deeds he hath wrought,
By a good life are closed up and sealed,
He goeth o’er the world a radiance shedding
As when the moon comes free in clouded sky.

Surely a brother who in youth doth give
Himself to live within the Buddha’s Rule,
He goeth o’er the world a radiance shedding
As when the moon comes free in cloudy sky.

O let my foes but hear the Norm as told to me,
And hearing join with me to keep the Buddha’s Rule!
O let my foes but minister to men of peace,
Who e’en have taken to their hearts that holy Norm!

O let my foes from time to time but hear that Norm
From them who tell of gentleness, and who commend
Affection, and to what they hear, their actions suit!

For such a foe would verily not work me harm,
Nor any other creature wheresoever found.
He would himself attain the peace ineffable,
And thus attaining cherish all both bad and good.

The conduit-makers lead the stream,
Fletchers coerce the arrow shaft,
The joiners mould the wooden plank,
The self ’tis that the pious tame.

Some creatures are subdued by force,
Some by the hook, and some by whips;
But I by such an One was tamed
Who needed neither staff nor sword.

Innocens! such the name I bear,
While Noxious in the past was I;
To-day most truly am I named,
For now I hurt not any man.

Once an obnoxious bandit I,
Known by my name of Finger-wreathed,
Till toiling mid the awful flood,
I refuge in the Buddha found.

Once were my hands imbrued with blood;
Known was my name as Finger-wreathed.
O see the Refuge I have found,
With every craving rooted out!

Me who had wrought such direful deeds,
Fast going to my place of doom,
Me all that doing’s aftermath
Hath touched e’en here — and freed from debt
Now take I my allotted share.

’Tis a fool’s part heedless to waste his life: —
Such are the folk who will not understand.
He who is wise doth foster earnestness
As he were watching o’er his chief est wealth.

Give not yourselves to wastage in your lives,
Nor be familiar with delights of sense.
He who doth strenuously meditate,
His shall it be to win the bliss supreme.

O welcome this that came nor came amiss!
O goodly was the counsel given to me!
’Mong divers doctrines mooted among men,
Of all ’twas sure the Best I sought and found.

O welcome this that came nor came amiss!
O goodly was the counsel given to me!
The threefold wisdom have I made mine own,
And all the Buddha’s ordinance is done.

Deep in the wild beneath some forest tree,
Or in the mountain cave, is’t here, is’t there,
So have I stood and let my throbbing heart

Transported beat. Happy I seek my rest,
Happy I rise, happy I pass the day,
Escaped from snare of evil — ah! behold
The Master’s sweet compassion shown to me!

A child born of good brahmin stock was I;
Of pure and high descent this side and that.
This day the Welcome One doth call me son,
The Master, yea, the Sovereign of the Norm.

Gone is all craving, nowhere have I hold.
Guarded the gates, and well controlled the sense.
Of this world’s misery spewing forth the root,
From every poison-taint am I immune.

The Master hath my fealty and love,
And all the Buddha’s ordinance is done.
Low have I laid the heavy load I bore:
Cause for rebirth is found in me no more.