Psalms of the Brethren CCLX: Ananda

With slanderer and man of wrath,
With the mean-hearted and malign
No commerce should the wise man hold.
Evil is concourse with the bad.

With the believer and the wise,
The gentle and the learned man
Communion should the wise man hold,
For blest is concourse with the good.

Behold the tricked-out puppet shape, a mass
Of sores, a congeries diseased, teeming
With many purposes and plans, and yet
In whom there is no power to persist.

Much learn d in holy lore and eloquent,
The leal henchman of the Buddha he;
N o w hath the burden fallen from his back.
Released, the Gotamid lies down to rest.

Foi him the deadly cankers live no more
Gone are the chains, the barriers all behind;
In blissful cool he bears his final frame,
For ever past the power of birth and death.

Wherein are founded and set up the truths
Taught by the Buddha of the Sun’s great line: —
The Path that to Nibbana straight doth lead
There, too, stands Ananda the Gotamid.

Hence four and eighty thousand texts in all
The number that for me have currency.

Whoso but little knowledge hath,
That man grows old as doth an ox.
His fleshly bulk is multiplied,
But understanding groweth not.

The learned man who doth despise,
For knowledge, him who little knows,
Is as a blind man who doth bear
A lamp: — so ’tis borne in on me.

Wait on the men of learning; look
That learning nowise injured be;
For ’tis the root of holy life;
Hence bear the Doctrine in your hearts.

This scholar grasps the Norm aright,
And well its sense doth ascertain.

By patience eager purpose grows,
Up surges effort; then he weighs;
Thus timely exercising will,
Within he grows composed, intent.

Who in the Norm is widely versed
And bears its doctrines in his heart,
Disciple of the Buddha, wise,
Eager to understand the Norm:
Such as he is, him follow ye.

Who in the Norm is widely versed
And bears its doctrines in his heart,
Of the great Master’s treasure Ward,
An eye is he for all the world,
Whom all should honour and revere,
Who in the Norm is widely versed.

Who in the Norm takes his delight,
Doth love and con it over well,
And lets it live in memory,
That brother from the holy Norm
Will ne’er secede nor fall away.

Art thou so heavy, loth to act?
Life hourly ebbing, canst not rise?
To give thy body pleasures gross
So greedy? Whence should come to thee •
The happy ease of holy friar?

The firmament on every hand
Grows dim, yea, all confused stand
The truths I seemed to understand.
Gone is the noble friend we love,
And dark is earth and heaven above.

And is the comrade passed away,
And is the Master gone from hence?
No better friend is left, methinks,
Than to mount guard o’er deed and sense.

They of the older time are gone;
The new men suit me not at all.
Alone to-day this child doth brood,
Like nesting-bird when rain doth fall.

Full many folk from divers regions come
To see. Forbid them not as hearers of the Norm;
Suffer them to behold me, ’tis the hour.

Full many folk from divers regions come —
To see. The Master opportunity
Doth give. The Man who Sees forbiddeth none.

For five-and-twenty years a learner I;
No sensual consciousness arose in me.
O see the seemly order of the Norm!

For five-and-twenty years a learner I;
No hostile consciousness arose in me.
O see the seemly order of the Norm!

For five-and-twenty years on the Exalted One
I waited, serving him by loving deeds,
And like his shadow followed after him.

For five-and-twenty years on the Exalted One
I waited, serving him with loving speech,
And like his shadow followed after him.

For five-and-twenty years on the Exalted One
I waited, serving him with loving thoughts,
And like his shadow followed after him.

When pacing up and down, the Buddha walked,
Behind his back I kept the pace alway;
And when the Norm was being taught, in me
Knowledge and understanding of it grew.

But I am one who yet has work to do,
A learner with a mind not yet matured;
And now the Master hence hath passed away,
Who e’er to me such sweet compassion showed!

O! then was terror, then was mighty dread,
Then stiffened hair and quivered creeping nerve,
When he, endowed with every crowning grace
The All-Enlightened Buddha passed away.

Who in the Norm is widely versed,
And bears its doctrines in his heart —
Of the great Masters treasure Ward —
An eye was he for all the world,
Ananda, who is passed away .

Who in the Norm is widely versed,
And bears its doctrines in his heart —
Of the great Master s treasure Ward—
An eye was he for all the world,
Dispelling gloom in darkest place.

Sage of the tireless ministry,
Foremost in mindful vigilance,
Foremost in steadfast fortitude
Upholder of the holy Norm,
Of all its jewels living mine: —
Our Elder Brother, Ananda.

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.