Part 2 - Dhammavagga - Dhamma

6. Kittayissami te dhammam
ditthe dhamme anitiham
yam viditva sato caram
tare loke visattikam.

I will teach you a Dhamma,
not hearsay but to be directly seen.
Whoever discovers it and knows it,
and lives by it with mindfulness,
will transcend craving for the world.

7. Suvijano bhavam hoti
suvijano parabhavo
Dhammakamo bhavam hoti
dhammadessi parabhavo.

Prosperity in life is plain,
decline in life is also plain:
one who loves the Dhamma prospers,
one who hates the Dhamma declines.

8. Yo ca dhammam abhiññaya
dhammam aññaya pandito
rahado va nivato ca
anejo vupasammati.

Thoroughly understanding the Dhamma
and freed from longing through insight,
the wise one rid of all desire
is calm as a pool unstirred by wind.

9. Yesam dhamma asammuttha
paravadesu na niyare
te sambuddha sammadañña
caranti visame samam.

Those to whom the Dhamma is clear
are not led into other doctrines;
perfectly enlightened with perfect knowledge,
they walk evenly over the uneven.

10. Na udakena suci hoti
bahv ettha nhayati jano
yamhi saccañ ca dhammo ca
so suci so ca brahmano.

Not by water is one made pure
though many people may here bathe, ^[1]
but one in whom there is truth and Dhamma,
he is pure, he is a brahman.

11. Ujuko nama so maggo
abhaya nama sa disa
ratho akujano nama
dhammacakkehi samyuto.

The path is called "straight,"
without fear" is the destination;
the carriage is called "silent"
and its wheels are right effort.

12. Hiri tassa apalambo
saty-assa parivaranam
dhammaham sarathim brumi
sammaditthipure javam.

Conscience is the rails and
mindfulness the upholstery,
Dhamma is the driver and
right view runs ahead of it.

13. Yassa etadisam yanam
itthiya purisassa va
sa ve etena yanena
nibbanassa'eva santike.

And whether it be a woman,
or whether it be a man,
whoever travels by this carriage
shall draw close to Nibbana.

14. Ye keci osadha loke
vijjanti vividha bahu
dhammosadhasamam na'tthi
etam pivatha bhikkhavo.

Of all the medicines in the world,
manifold and various,
there is none like the medicine of Dhamma:
therefore, O monks, drink of this.

15. Dhammosadham pivitvana
ajaramarana siyum
bhavayitva ca passitva
nibbuta upadhikkhaye.

Having drunk this Dhamma medicine,
you will be ageless and beyond death;
having developed and seen the truth,
you will be quenched, free from craving.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The Buddha's contemporaries believed that people could be purified by bathing in sacred rivers.