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Thag 18
PTS: Thag 1051-90
Maha Kassapa
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
© 1998
Alternate translation: Olendzki (excerpt)

    One shouldn't go about
    surrounded, revered
    by a company:
    	one gets distracted;
    	concentration
    	is hard to gain.
    Fellowship with many people
    		is painful.
    Seeing this,
    	one shouldn't approve
    	of a company.

    A sage shouldn't visit families:
    	one gets distracted;
    	concentration
    	is hard to gain.
    He's eager & greedy for flavors,
    	whoever misses the goal
    	that brings bliss.
    They know it's a bog —
    	the reverence & veneration
    	of families —
    a subtle arrow, hard to extract.
    Offerings are hard for a worthless man
    	to let go.

    	* * *

    Coming down from my dwelling place,
    I entered the city for alms,
    stood courteously next to a leper
    eating his meal.

    He, with his rotting hand,
    tossed me a morsel of food,
    and as the morsel was dropping,
    a finger fell off
    	right there.

    Sitting next to a wall,
    I ate that morsel of food,
    and neither while eating it,
    nor having eaten,
    did I feel
    any disgust.

    Whoever has mastered
    	left-over scraps for food,
    	smelly urine for medicine,
    	the foot of a tree for a dwelling,
    	cast-off rags for robes:
    He is a man
    of the four directions.

    	* * *

    Where some are exhausted
    climbing the mountain,
    there
    the Awakened One's heir
    	 — mindful, alert,
    	buoyed by his psychic power —
    Kassapa climbs.

    Returning from his alms round,
    climbing the peak,
    Kassapa does jhana
    with no sustenance/clinging,
    	having abandoned terror
    	& fear.

    Returning from his alms round,
    climbing the peak,
    Kassapa does jhana
    with no sustenance/clinging,
    	unbound
    	among those who burn.

    Returning from his alms round,
    climbing the peak,
    Kassapa does jhana
    with no sustenance/clinging,
    	free of fermentation,
    	his duty
    	done.

    Spread with garlands of vines,
    places delighting the mind,
    resounding with elephants,
    appealing:
    		those rocky crags
    		refresh me.

    The color of blue-dark clouds,
    	glistening,
    cooled with the waters
    of clear-flowing streams
    covered with ladybugs:
    		those rocky crags
    		refresh me.

    Like the peaks of blue-dark clouds,
    like excellent peaked-roof buildings,
    resounding with tuskers,
    appealing:
    		those rocky crags
    		refresh me.

    Their lovely surfaces wet with rain,
    mountains frequented
    	by seers
    & echoing
    	with peacocks:
    		those rocky crags
    		refresh me.

    This is enough for me —
    	desiring to do jhana,
    	resolute, mindful;
    enough for me —
    	desiring the goal,
    	resolute,
    	a monk;
    enough for me —
    	desiring comfort,
    	resolute,
    	in training;
    enough for me —
    	desiring my duty,
    	resolute,
    	Such.

    Flax-flower blue,
    	like the sky
    covered over with clouds;
    filled with flocks
    of various birds:
    		those rocky crags
    		refresh me.

    	Uncrowded
    by householders,
    	frequented
    by herds of deer
    filled with flocks
    of various birds:
    		those rocky crags
    		refresh me.

    With clear waters &
    	massive boulders,
    frequented by monkeys &
    	deer,
    covered with moss &
    	water weeds:
    		those rocky crags
    		refresh me.

    There is no such pleasure for me
    in the music of a five-piece band
    as there is when my mind
    	is at one,
    seeing the Dhamma
    		aright.

    	* * *

    One shouldn't do lots of work,
    should avoid people,
    shouldn't busy oneself.
    He's eager & greedy for flavors,
    	whoever misses the goal
    	that brings bliss.

    One shouldn't do lots of work,
    should avoid
    what doesn't lead to the goal.
    The body gets wearied,
    fatigued.
    Aching, one finds
    no tranquillity.

    	* * *

    Simply by flapping the mouth
    one doesn't see
    even oneself.
    One goes around stiff-
    	necked,
    thinking, 'I'm better
    	than they.'

    Not better,
    he thinks himself better,
    	the fool:
    the wise don't praise him,
    the stiff-necked man.

    But whoever isn't stirred
    by the modes of
    	'I'm better,
    	not better.
    	I'm worse.
    	I'm like that';
    one who's discerning,
    who acts as he says,
    well-centered
    in virtues,
    committed to
    tranquillity of awareness, he
    is the one
    	the wise
    		would praise.

    One with no respect
    for his fellows in the holy life,
    is as far
    		from the true Dhamma
    as the earth
    		is from the sky.

    But those whose conscience
    & fear of evil
    are always rightly established: they
    have flourished in the holy life.
    	For them
    there's no further becoming.

    A monk conceited & vain,
    even though clad
    in a robe of cast-off rags,
    like a monkey in a lion's skin,
    	doesn't shine because of it.

    But a monk not conceited
    	or vain,
    	masterful,
    	his faculties restrained, shines
    because of his robe of cast-off rags,
    	like a lion
    	in the cleft of a mountain.

    	* * *

    These many devas,
    powerful, prestigious
    	 — 10,000 devas —
    all of Brahma's retinue,
    stand with their hands over their hearts,
    paying homage to Sariputta,
    the Dhamma-general,
    	enlightened,
    	centered,
    	great master of jhana,
    		[saying:]

    'Homage to you, O thoroughbred man.
    Homage to you, O superlative man —
    of whom we have no direct knowledge
    even of that
    in dependence on which
    	you do jhana.

    'How very amazing:
    the awakened ones'
    very own deep range —
    of which we have no direct knowledge,
    though we have come
    as hair-splitting archers.'

    Seeing Sariputta,
    a man worthy of worship,
    worshipped by deva retinues,
    Kappina
    smiled.

    	* * *

    As far as this buddha-field extends
    	 — except for the great sage himself —
    I'm the one
    outstanding
    in ascetic qualities.
    There's no one else
    like me.

    The Teacher has been served by me;
    the Awakened One's bidding,
    			done;
    the heavy load, 		laid down;
    the guide to becoming, 	uprooted.

    Neither to robe,
    nor dwelling,
    nor food
    does he cling:
    	Gotama,
    	like a lotus unspotted
    	by water, inclining
    	to renunciation, 	detached
    	from the three planes of becoming.[1]

    He,
    the great sage,
    has the frames of reference
    	as his neck,
    conviction
    	as hands,
    discernment
    	as head.
    The great master of jhana
    he goes about
    	always unbound.

# Note

1.
  The three planes of becoming are the sensual, form, and formlessness. See SN 12.1.

See also: AN 4.259.