Psalms of the Sisters LXI: Sīsupacālā

Lo! here a Sister, in the Precepts sure,
Well-guarded in the sixfold way of sense,
Who hath attainèd to that Holy Path,
That ever-welling elixir of life.

Now think upon the Three-and-Thirty Gods,
And on the gods who rule in realm of Shades,
On those who reign in heaven of Bliss, and on
Those higher deities who live where life
Yet flows by way of sense and of desire:
Think and thither aspire with longing heart,
Where in past ages thou hast lived before.

Ay, think upon the Three-and-Thirty gods,
And on the gods who rule in realm of Shades;
On those who reign in heaven of Bliss, and on
Those higher deities who live where life
Yet flows by way of sense and of desire.

Consider how time after time they go
From birth to death, and death to birth again,
Becoming this and then becoming that,
Ever beset by the recurring doom
Of hapless individuality,
Whence comes no merciful enfranchisement.

On fire is all the world, is all in flames!
Ablaze is all the world, the heav'ns do quake!

But that which quaketh not, that ever sure,
That priceless thing, unheeded by the world,
Even the Norm–that hath the Buddha taught
To me, therein my mind delighted dwells.

And I who heard his blessed word 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, O Evil One, avaunt!
Here, O Destroyer, shalt thou not prevail!