Psalms of the Sisters LX: Upacālā

Lo! here a Sister who the fivefold sense
Of higher life hath trained, with memory
And power of inward vision perfected,
And thus hath made her way into the Path
Of Holiness, by noble spirits trod.

Why lovest thou not birth? since, being born,
Thou canst enjoy what life of sense doth bring.
Enjoy the sport of sense and take thy fill,
Lest thou too late with bitter pangs regret.

To one that's born death cometh soon or late,
And many perils at the hands of men:
Scathe, torture, loss of limb, of liberty,
Nay, life. So Ill-ward bound is the born child.

Lo! in the princely Sākiya clan is born
He who is Wholly Wake, Invincible.
'Tis he hath shown the saving Truth to me
By which the round of birth is overpassed,

Even the What and Why of
ILL, and how
Ill comes, and how Ill may be overpassed,
E'en by the Ariyan, the Eightfold Path,
That leadeth to th' abating of all Ill.

And I who heard his blessed words, abide
Fain only and alway to do his will.
The Threefold Wisdom have I gotten now,
And done the bidding of the Buddha blest.

On every hand the love of sense is slain.
And the thick gloom of ignorance is rent
In twain. Know this, thou Evil One, avaunt!
Here, O Destroyer! may'st thou not prevail.