Now I see you, damned house builder!
You ain’t building no house no more!”
All your rafters busted,
the roof has collapsed.
And the mind, set loose
from the quagmire of its own making,
scores a major victory:
no more thirst!
Click here and there for a visual translation.
—translated from the Pāli by Motýlí Voko
Dhammapada XI.8
Gahakāraka dittho’si
puna geham na kāhasi
sabbā te phāsukā bhaggā
gahakūtam visamkhitam
visamkhāragatam cittam
tanhānam khayam ajjhagā.
About the poem: According to the Indian commentator Buddhaghosa, the son of Māyā uttered these precise words at the crack of dawn, under a tree on a river bank, to express the intense joy he experienced in the split second of awakening.
Jan Vihan Jan Vihan is a contributing writer for In The Fray.
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