Part 3 - Kilesavagga - The Defilements

16. Kamayogena samyutta
bhavayogena cubhayam
ditthiyogena samyutta
avijjaya purakkhata
satta gacchanti samsaram
jatimaranagamino.

Bound by desire, tied to becoming,
fettered tightly by false opinions,
yoked to ignorance, whirled around:
thus beings wander through samsara,
dying only to be born again.

17. Na hiraññasuvannena
parikkhiyanti asava
amitta vadhaka kama
sapatta sallabandhana.

Neither gold nor minted coins
can make the defilements disappear.
Sense desires are enemies and killers,
hostile darts, rigid bonds.

18. Ummadana ullapana
kama cittapamathino
sattanam samkilesaya
khippam marena odditam.

Desire is agitating and deceiving,
a source of mental pain,
a net cast out by Mara ^[1]
to entangle and defile beings.

19. Pabbatassa suvannassa
jatarupassa kevalo
dvitta va nalam ekassa
iti vidva samañ care.

Were there a mountain all made of gold,
doubled that would not be enough
to satisfy a single man:
know this and live accordingly.

20. Kodhano dubbanno hoti
atho dukkham pi seti so
atho attham gahetvana
anattham adhipajjati
tato kayena vacaya
vadham katvana kodhano.

How ugly is the angry man!
His sleep is without comfort;
despite his wealth he is always poor.
Filled with anger as he is, he wounds
by acts of body and speech.

21. Hanta labhati hataram
jetaram labhati jayam
akkosako ca akkosam
rosetarañ ca rosako
atha kamma vivattena
so vilutto vilumpati.

One who kills gets a killer,
one who conquers gets a conquerer,
one who reviles gets reviled.
Thus as a result of his own actions
the spoiler will in turn be spoiled.

22. Natth'añño ekadhammo pi
yeneva nivuta paja
samsaranti ahorattam
yatha mohena avuta.

There is no other single thing
by which the human race is hindered,
by which it wanders day and night,
so much as by this: delusion.

23. Imesu kira sajjanti
eke samanabrahmana
viggayha nam vivadanti
jana ekangadassino.

How they cling and how they wrangle,
yet claim to be recluses and brahmans.
Quarreling and clinging to their opinions,
they see only one side of things.

24. Ye ca rattim diva yutta
sammasambuddhasasane
te nibbapenti ragaggim
niccam asubhasaññino.

Those who apply themselves, day and night
to the teachings of the Buddha
will quench the burning fire of lust
by the perception of the impure.

25. Dosaggim pana mettaya
nibbapenti naruttama
mohaggim pana paññaya
yayam nibbedhagamini.

By love they will quench the fire of hate,
by wisdom the fire of delusion.
Those supreme men extinguish delusion
with wisdom that breaks through to truth.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Mara: the Tempter, the Evil One.