菩提行經

The Bodhicitta of the Perfection of Patience

(VI Kṣāntipāramitā)

(Chapter Four)

I vow to perform all wholesome deeds,

Letting the precepts lead the way before;

Making offerings to the Tathāgata

Through a hundred thousand kalpas without end.

Cultivating the practice, seeking enlightenment,

The fault of anger I let not arise;

Contemplating all kinds as being empty,

Therefore the mind delights in patience.

One must not crave nor delight in pleasure,

But keep the mind in equanimity;

When the mind holds the sickness of anger and affliction,

Be not deluded—then it may be made complete.

Here and there are benefactors

Who provide and bring gain and nourishment;

Should one cherish that as weighty,

And not obtain it, anger and affliction arise.

In all the matters of close association,

Let no added wrath or resentment stir;

Where there is no anger therein,

One again attains this peace and joy.

Patience must be attained in just this way,

Or facing an enemy who wrongs you,

That anger must surely be removed,

Life after life ever in peace and joy.

That enmity arises within the mind,

And cherishing it brings no joy again;

If one clings to anger and affliction forever,

The unwearied good is not destroyed.

He devours my great resentment,

Yet toward me there is no benefit or gain;

Knowing his enmity does not consume,

Therefore one must be firmly patient.

Whenever one sees enmity and resentment come,

Be joyful and not angry;

If toward enmity one rouses anger,

Its benefit is straightway extinguished.

The patient mind ever abides here,

Not letting anger rise up;

Dwelling in patience without time's measure,

Anger and enmity of themselves do not arise.

If a person can guard their cherishing,

And does not commit evil deeds of speech;

If the karma of the mouth is not abandoned,

Thereafter one is wronged by enemies.

Therefore, with a firmly patient mind,

One straightway attains those joys.

That Durgāpuraka,

With wrong views seeking liberation,

With blade harming, scorching and burning the body—

No benefit, though he could be patient.

Foolish, without right view,

He receives great suffering and affliction.

I, here, with the mind of Bodhi,

How could I not be patient with such suffering?

Mosquitoes, gnats, and the elements,

Ever hunger and thirst, suffering and affliction;

Dark pain afflicts the sick one—

Dwelling in patience and not perceiving it.

Cold and heat, wind and rain,

Sickness restraining, bringing misery;

Suffering through all afflictions,

Patient and not seeking peace and joy.

When killed, the blood flows out,

Yet the mind is firm, valiant, and bold;

Harming the body, oneself sees the blood,

With terror and astonishment.

That one whose mind is pure and clear

Is ever besieged by anger and affliction,

And held fast by the afflictions;

The patient mind can be valiant and bold.

The serpent's belly crawls upon the ground,

Like anger dwelling in the mind;

Slay it and be not afraid,

For having slain it, gain and joy are won.

The Tathāgata, the one of great compassion,

Pitying suffering, speaks of saṃsāra;

He makes known the root of transgression,

Dwelling in patience and not committing it.

Father and mother are hard to fathom in mind;

When children meet drowning and death,

They keep the mind apart from anger and rage,

Themselves distant from the great retribution of suffering.

Like one without wisdom

Who causes that transgression to arise—

Cultivating the practice yet without wisdom,

The arising of anger is just like this.

If you wish to abide in the inconceivable,

Then cultivate and uphold this mind;

Here, where attachment and defilement arise,

Let anger not arise and stir.

If craving for those defiling objects

Gives birth to many transgressions,

Then by reason of those karmic powers

One cannot attain freedom.

If toward objects one does not crave,

Therein there is no place of arising;

When the mind harmonizes, nothing is amiss,

Therefore again it does not arise.

If craving does not arise,

Not obtained, yet one says of oneself,

"I have attained such a state"—

Again arises the inconceivable.

That which is unborn does not arise;

What manner of attaining could there be?

Observe here and there:

It is extinguished and attained without remainder.

This mind is ever pure and clear,

Like the color of the maṇi jewel;

Transformations arise through their cause—

Without a cause, how could there be a mark?

What was created in the past,

How was that matter created?

Following that as the cause,

That cause gives rise to the fruit.

All, though through causes,

The causes of good and evil are through the mind.

Speaking of seeking the nature of quiescence,

What manner of thing would it be?

If one clings to the harmony of causes,

That joy together with suffering and affliction,

This mind cannot abide;

The discerning person should exhort themselves.

Therefore, as toward an enemy,

Think of them as a virtuous spiritual friend;

Acting in such a manner,

One can receive joy.

Thus all sentient beings,

Through karma, are not self-mastered;

If self-mastery were accomplished,

Who would go straight to suffering?

The scattered mind clings to objects,

That mind does not know;

Forsaking food, it eats anger on,

And that suffering it loves in turn.

If oneself is without merit,

Cherishing binds the karma;

Like eating poison by mistake,

One falls into the realm of birth and death.

Dwelling in the place of afflictions,

Thereby one cannot guard oneself;

Wishing to liberate others—

How could this matter be accomplished?

The afflictions, deluded, dark, and obscure,

Then give rise to self-slaughter;

Poisonous, harmful, without compassion—

Why is that anger not restrained?

Their own nature, again, is deluded,

Causing them to be ruined;

Giving rise to anger without doubt,

Like fire that can give rise to burning.

Sentient beings, of foolish nature,

Cause many faults and errors;

Foolishness here

Is like smoke in empty space.

If a person does not restrain anger,

Toward that deluded one without wisdom,

It is like holding a staff to exhort another,

Causing them yet more affliction.

I, from past births,

Have brought suffering and affliction to sentient beings;

Therefore in this body,

Suffering afflictions, I am able to be patient.

My body is, as it were, like tin,

Receiving its being burned;

As tin fastened into the mind,

What manner of suffering is received?

I now see this body

Like an image without feeling;

Only that suffering and affliction—

Hatred and anger cannot be freed.

Delusion gives rise to the karma of craving,

Not understanding this root of suffering;

Suffering, conditioned upon one another,

How do afflictions arise?

Like the suffering of the hells,

Flying into the forest of swords,

Knowing the karma one has produced—

Where is there anger and affliction?

I, bound by such karma,

Must know it rises from this place;

Then I must enter the hells—

It is not created by another.

If I wish to exhaust this karma,

Immeasurable, without bound—

My karma is likewise so,

Long, long in the hells.

I pass through it in this way;

That one is truly my enemy—

How can wisdom discriminate?

Delusion and anger create it.

If a person can guard and uphold,

Together with enmity, patient and not deluded,

That mind gives rise to merit and virtue—

How would one enter the hells?

When I exhaust all my deeds,

I attain the cause like that;

Without patience toward anger, without guarding,

The practice is destroyed.

The mind, without mark, without form—

Scattered, it is at once destroyed;

Since the body keeps the guard,

The body's suffering one must patiently endure.

I, with the body's evil karma of mouth,

Quickly passing, do not commit it;

The body not together with the multitude's suffering—

What manner of angry mind is there?

I now am born in that place;

With a pure mind I act and act;

Their benefit is thus none—

What use in food and drink?

In all that one performs,

The important thing is to benefit others;

If there is no benefit to them, take no delight—

Surely the transgression is beyond doubt.

It is not like the hour of sinking and floating;

Crave not heresy and long life;

In death one must fall to the realm of suffering,

Like one within a dream.

A hundred years receiving joy,

As if truly attaining bliss—

Once known, one sees it is not so;

Like that, at the time of impermanence.

Though the lifespan be yet long and enduring,

Knowing both these matters then,

How could that one attain joy?

Long rejoicing there,

Oneself attains much benefit;

Like a wanderer of long ages,

Form defiled, with empty hands.

Merit and benefit follow rising and falling,

The root of transgression arises again;

When merit is exhausted, transgression does not arise,

Because, attained, no anger arises—

How would that be destroyed?

Turning toward doing what is unwholesome,

Thus is the inconceivable;

The unwholesome does not destroy,

One must not praise and laud anger,

For it destroys sentient beings.

Thus the mind that benefits others—

Anger toward them has no reason to arise;

For their sake, cultivate this mind,

Patient, not abiding therein.

Seeing afflictions arise in them

Is the dispersal of patience's merit and virtue.

Stūpas and images and the wondrous Dharma—

Slandered and destroyed:

The Buddha again is without suffering and affliction,

So I toward them have no anger.

Toward Teacher and kin,

Create no karma of attachment;

This cause arose in the past—

Once seen, then straightway known.

The awakened mind beholds sentient beings

Ever amidst suffering and affliction;

Having seen them in this way,

In suffering and affliction one can be patient.

Hatred and delusion—

Discriminate them each by kind;

These poisons one must come to know,

How can it be said without error?

That past, what was it like,

That it harmed through that karma?

Thus the causes of all karma—

How are they to be cut off?

The Buddha's merit is likewise so;

I now with single-minded heart act,

Together with all sentient beings,

The mind of loving-kindness mutually shared.

Like fire burning this house,

Fire entering within that house,

That house again having grass,

That fire of itself prolongs—

Thus is the simile for the mind.

Harmonized together with the fire of anger,

It burns up merit and virtue;

In a kṣaṇa it does not endure.

If a person kills with their hand,

Departing far from doing good,

The suffering of the hells can be removed—

Is this good true or untrue?

If a person in the world

With little suffering cannot be patient,

The suffering of the hells is immeasurable—

Why is the cause of anger not severed?

I again, with suffering like this,

Passing through a hundred thousand hells,

Each and every one for the benefit of others,

Doing so not for myself.

I am not like that—

Those great sufferings and afflictions,

One must depart from this world;

For benefit one acts in such a way,

Departing suffering, attaining joy.

Those all praise the merit and virtue,

They are extolled in this way;

How could one not attain joy?

That one thus attains such,

Unobstructed in joy.

Benefiting others is the supreme;

The wise—why would they not part from it?

Thus acting nobly and lofty,

Attaining joy yet not cultivating,

Seeing this, if one does not relinquish,

One destroys right view.

If one reveres and cherishes therein,

Through virtue then extols;

That virtue is straightway extolled,

Even to revering and loving oneself.

About to arouse the Bodhi-mind,

For the sake of all sentient beings,

Now attaining those joys—

How could one be angry at sentient beings?

The Buddha, for the offerings of the three realms,

Wishes sentient beings to become Buddhas;

Worldly benefit attained is not true—

Why do afflictions create thus?

If a person, together with flesh and bone,

And together with those kin,

In nurturing and in livelihood,

Takes no joy—how does anger arise?

As that one seeks Bodhi,

Ought to use the Bodhi-mind,

Yet does not love sentient beings,

Forsaking merit for the sake of anger.

If a person can seek and arrive,

Giving out wealth in generosity,

That seeking is straightway not attained,

Unlike the wealth that is at home.

The pure merit and virtue of blessings—

What obstacle could not be obtained?

Once attained, oneself does not receive it,

Like cultivating the practice in anger.

Performing transgression and performing merit,

Neither together nor in sympathetic joy,

Again not together relied upon to act—

About to oneself not be grasped.

If a person loves an enemy,

Wishing to seek this joy,

And again seeks words of praise,

This matter cannot be attained.

Though desire be fully satisfied,

Suffering increases, no joy or delight;

The Bodhi-mind without patience—

That benefit is not accomplished.

The afflictions are like a hook,

Making a person not self-mastered;

Like in the hells,

Killing a person, cast into the fire-pit.

I, at root, seek the benefit of others;

What need of illusory praise?

No blessing, no lifespan,

No power, no peace and joy.

The conduct of self-benefit is not complete;

The wise one ought to know:

Thereafter, ever one must act for oneself,

Must love joy fully satisfied.

Cultivating the practice requires praise,

Or taking a blade to slay oneself—

Thus it is not true;

Without benefit, no gain and joy.

Like destroying a house,

Seeing the sun within and without,

Again through praise made fine,

One must use the mind to make light.

That one contemplates upon sound—

Arising and ceasing are again equal;

A mind such as this benefits others,

Ought to act in just this way.

How does one love therein,

And bring about benefit?

That one again attains joy,

And my benefit is not illusory.

Person after person attains gain and joy,

Together with those who reward me—

What is the self?

Not separately are awe-virtue and joy.

That one thus rewards me,

Loving them is attained apart;

That one is not conditioned together with this,

Like the foolish and deluded ones.

The words of reward I receive—

Far destroy them, do not be defiled and attached;

Hating the evil one of upright virtue,

By this anger is performed,

Praise becomes an obstacle.

I now do not arouse it,

Holding firm, not following the evil path;

For their sake I act selflessly.

If one aids all sentient beings,

Gain and nourishment like binding cords,

Make sentient beings liberated—

How could that intention be angry?

If a person wishes to depart suffering,

And again enters the gate of liberation,

This is the awe-virtue of the Buddha—

Why again would I be angry at them?

This anger I do not create;

It is because of the obstacle to merit.

Cultivating the practice with equal patience,

That one cannot be reaped.

One's own self has many errors;

Through patience one ought not to act.

That error is not committed,

And that merit again is gathered in.

If a person has no merit,

Peaceful patience arises of itself;

Ever making peaceful and dwelling patience,

Why again say "obstacle"?

The world wishes to benefit people—

One ought not give an obstacle;

The obstacle should leave home,

Yet one again cannot leave home.

The world is truly hard to attain;

The seeker who can be together—

I, though I speak of wholesome deeds,

In that place cannot be attained.

That one can bring about enlightenment,

Departing far from those resentments,

Like going out and coming in within—

Therefore it is said not to be hard.

Repentance toward the cause of karma,

Toward that one acts as a guide;

This is the fruit of patience,

In this way it can arise.

That one is not mine in mind;

This mind again dwells in patience,

Accomplishing the inconceivable,

Making offerings to the wondrous Dharma.

This mind, for the benefit of others,

Even together with the lifespan,

Or enmity and resentment not shared—

Why speak of patience apart?

Toward that evil mind,

Each and every one together with patience—

Just so patience is attained,

Through offerings to the wondrous Dharma.

Toward the Buddha together with sentient beings,

The World-Honored One has spoken;

All people offer and serve,

And can be moved to attain wealth.

The Tathāgata and this Dharma,

Together with sentient beings, are equal;

Revering the words the Buddha taught,

Sentient beings too attain thus.

That intention is likewise so;

Toward oneself do not act;

Toward that great equality,

Equality toward sentient beings.

A great intention toward sentient beings,

With loving-kindness, make offerings;

Arouse the mind like the merit of Buddhas,

As the merit Buddhas have attained.

Therefore practice the Buddha-Dharma;

Buddha and sentient beings are equal—

Toward the Buddha not equal,

The ocean of merit without bound.

The Buddha's merit is pure and unmixed,

Without merit can the body compare;

Though the three realms make offerings,

Seeing thus, it is yet hard to attain.

The Buddha-Dharma and the guiding Teacher

Are the supreme among sentient beings;

Making offerings to sentient beings,

One must direct the intention thus.

Toward all kin,

Should one not give rise to good benefit,

In serving them therein,

One does no wrong.

Destroying the body, entering the Avīci hell—

If that one acts so, I again act;

With a vast and great mind for all of them,

In this way one must perform all wholesome deeds.

Like a worldly person being a self-mastered lord,

By reason of this matter does not extol the feeling;

Why then act as that one's child,

I make it so that they are not a servant.

Like the Buddha entering suffering yet not suffering,

Again attaining peace and joy together with delight,

Delighting together with all those Buddhas—

The Buddhas rejoice because of doing this.

Like the body's afflictions pervading all,

Wishing that all may be fully complete;

In the suffering of sentient beings, likewise so,

I, without skillful means, have no compassion.

Therefore this suffering I depart far from,

Rescuing all suffering with the mind of kindness.

Formerly afflicting and harming the patient one—

That transgression I now repent.

I now serve and attend the Tathāgata,

Together with the world's servants;

May all people tread their feet upon my head,

Receiving those joys together with the Buddha.

The world all is lazy in doing,

But through the mind of kindness and pity one is unhindered;

Seeing all this without comparing colors,

That one, weighed thus, who would not revere?

In this way serving and attending the Tathāgata,

In this way the matter of self-benefit is accomplished;

In this way making the world lessen suffering and affliction—

Therefore I now have left home.

Like a single king

Who can subdue all people;

There is no one not subdued,

For the king's person is loftiest.

That is not for himself alone;

To shelter that, the power of the king

Cuts off those weak forces,

And again there is no fault or wrong.

The compassionate mind dwells in patience,

That power even in the hells

Can aid all sentient beings;

Thus there are evil kings.

Anger is not the king's command;

Like the suffering of the hells,

The afflictions in sentient beings,

That suffering is received by oneself.

Joy not shared with that king,

As if shared with the Buddha;

The wholesome mind in sentient beings—

Why is this mind not received?

One who can keep sentient beings

Will afterward attain Buddhahood;

Seen, one can be revered,

This joy again is not seen.

Without sickness and again dignified,

Joyful and living long,

Wealthy and noble as a Wheel-Turning King—

All by reason of patience.

The Sūtra of the Conduct of Bodhi

The Bodhicitta of the Perfection of Vigor

(Chapter Five)

The wise one can be patient,

Bodhi rests upon vigor;

Indolence departs far from merit,

As parted by the swirling wind.

The power of vigor—what is it like?

Compared to that, discrimination speaks;

Indolence is not vigor,

Like doubt that beholds itself.

One who craves and delights in sleep and rest,

Loving pleasure without ceasing,

Sunk in the suffering of saṃsāra—

It arises by reason of indolence.

The afflictions are a dwelling-house;

The power of indolence invades within,

And can reach the gate of impermanence—

Why now do you not know?

Vigor for the sake of that;

This done, that one does not see;

Indolence, sleeping and resting,

This is an ox of license.

If this is not seen,

All the paths are lost;

Therein one cannot attain realization—

Why crave sleep and rest?

If there is dignified bearing to attain,

If impermanence should come,

Giving out cannot be exhausted—

How then, in indolence?

If vigor is not cultivated,

At ease if vigorous;

Suddenly the place of impermanence—

Reflecting upon it, take it as suffering.

Seeing that gate of Yama,

Suffering and affliction again perilous;

In a moment tears flow down,

Kin cannot rescue.

Hearing the hells open their gates,

Recalling one's own scorching karma,

The body in impurity,

Anxious, cannot be loved.

The suffering of the hells is too great,

Evil karma is just like that;

Like a fish in flowing water,

Compared to that, fear is just so.

The karma of the hells once done,

Again receiving the burning suffering of fire,

The body withering in suffering and affliction—

How can it be made pure and clear?

Māra together with the suffering one

Seizes a person, dispatching them to impermanence;

Impermanence's suffering can be feared,

This is the fruit of indolence.

Foolish, sunk in sleep and rest,

Passing through here yet not swiftly,

Entering the great sea of suffering,

Again not attaining a human body.

Apart from the joy of the supreme Dharma,

The boundless seeds of joy—

Indolence together with laughing delight,

The cause of suffering—how is it joy?

Seeing the power of anger increasing much,

Knowing that one's own vigor,

That one performs all deeds,

As if equal with that.

What enlightenment have I attained,

That I do not discriminate in acting?

Toward the Tathāgata's true reality,

The upright words of right liberation.

Those mosquitoes, flies, gnats,

Together with worms, shrimp, and clams—

If they attained the power of vigor,

They too would realize Bodhi.

Compared to that, I, having become human,

Can know benefit and non-benefit;

Remembering and knowing those acts of vigor,

Why would I not attain Bodhi?

Or one gives up both hand and foot—

This gives rise to fear;

The foolish, contrary to the teaching,

This benefit they do not know.

Cutting away and burning,

Without ceasing, all arise;

Through countless other kalpas

Yet realizing not Bodhi.

Passing through countless sufferings,

Long, long realizing Bodhi;

Like being struck by the suffering of poison—

Poison exhausted, the suffering all healed.

Acting as physician for all,

Rescuing and curing all sufferings of sickness;

Therefore suffering is dispelled,

All sicknesses lessened.

Therefore it is said: rescue and cure;

Sweet medicine does not benefit the sickness,

A skilled physician cures the hard disease,

Sweet medicines all are not used.

Before and after, all is thus;

One who knows can act,

Thereafter can cultivate the practice;

This body is cast away and gone.

The wise person beholds this body

Like a vegetable that has grown;

Withering, it becomes dust and earth—

This casting off does not part from name.

The body's suffering again makes suffering,

The mind has not yet thought of acting;

The wise person's mind is not evil,

Thus no suffering from evil karma.

Knowing the meaning of Dharma makes joy,

Full of joy and merit in the body;

Without this there is no saṃsāra—

Suffering, why again be sorrowful?

Seeking out past transgressions,

Deeply benefiting others, an ocean of merit—

This is the power of the Bodhi-mind,

Together with the essentials of the two vehicles.

Thus benefit without joy—

How could one act to attain suffering?

The Bodhi-mind draws onward,

The wise person mounts the carriage of joy.

For the sake of perfecting sentient beings,

The joy of generosity, the power of skillful means;

The body's power performs misery,

Observing together with extolling.

Departing discrimination in this way,

One increases vigor;

My body can be relinquished,

Surpassing the body's skillful means.

I dispel therein,

Losing a very great number;

Each and every one is lost,

Even to the end of all kalpas.

That too is wholly exhausted,

I have nothing at all;

Boundless suffering having passed,

How could my mind be harmed?

I seek much merit and virtue,

For the benefit of those beings;

Studying each and every merit,

Kalpas end yet study does not end.

Even a hair's worth of that merit,

I, born, have done nothing;

Or wherever I am born,

There too is nothing at all.

I, with joy, make offerings,

Making offerings to the Buddha, the World-Honored One;

For craving, one cannot act,

So the vow is not fully complete.

Without giving, fearing peace for others;

Without cultivating, anxious for pleasure;

Like entering the mother's womb,

Though the mother bears sickness and affliction.

In the past, for departing the Dharma,

I now bear the fruit-retribution;

Being born is just like this—

What Dharma must I make to have?

The root of all wholesome mind

Is the silent stillness of the world;

That root ever not departing,

Ever attaining good fruit-retribution.

Afflictions and suffering bind fast,

Like being beset by many anxieties;

Therein cherishing the obstacle of calamity,

Giving birth to transgression and feeling it oneself.

If a person, in place after place,

Can arouse wholesome vows,

And thereby feel that merit,

Broadly attaining the fruit of offerings.

If a person, in place after place,

Performs transgression keeping joy apart,

Will bear that fruit-retribution,

Broadly attaining suffering pressing in.

That moon gathers light,

Spreading forth many fragrances;

The Buddha's voice, heard as the foremost—

Not cultivating, it will not be attained.

But that one of the Well-Gone

Attains realization of the Dharma of the Well-Gone,

Like the lotus, lofty and noble,

Also like a person who knows the moon.

Yama and the dark prison

Lead the souls of those who transgress;

The fire-pit and the boiling copper,

Scorching—surely one must enter.

Blazing fire together with blade and staff

Cut the flesh into a hundred thousand pieces,

Threatening into the scorching city—

All by reason of the unwholesome.

Therefore let the mind perform the wholesome,

Examining even the smallest things,

Relying upon the banner of the Vajra,

Cultivating and learning while examining.

First contemplate harmony;

Not examining that, not learning,

Then it is not called supreme;

That one must, the mind having created,

Be born in that very place,

Increasing those transgressions and sufferings,

A whole lifetime not cultivating.

Compared to that, not seeking the victorious,

The three great matters one ought to know;

Through the power of karma and afflictions,

The future becomes evil causes;

Here, what is one to do?

The world is full of afflictions,

Keeping people unfree;

I am like a person who cannot bear—

Therefore I do not act.

For the sake of karma one must cultivate;

How can one abide at ease?

One must contemplate self and not-self;

In this way I, having acted,

A single drop of sweet ambrosia,

The bird eats and transforms its golden wings.

My intention is truly low and inferior,

Yet can free me from small suffering and calamity;

Anger makes the mind difficult,

The unwholesome again gives birth to transgression;

Seeing the mindless arise,

How vast, surpassing difficulty.

Therefore with a pure and clear mind,

One ought to recite this verse of text,

Making it so that those three realms—

I depart far from frivolous discourse.

I conquer all,

No one can conquer me;

I now must know myself

To be the Lion-cub of the Buddha.

Sentient beings depart from self and other;

For their sake one attains the supreme;

Let not enmity be indolent—

Indolence and enmity depart of themselves.

Leading into the path of evil destinies,

The wholesome body is destroyed;

Because I, from foolishness and evil,

From food and drink receive suffering;

That receiving is in all things—

Cultivating the practice relies upon arrogant pride.

In order to have a fragrant name,

How can one speak of weakness?

In this way, if valiant and bold,

Conquer that enemy of yours;

Diligently cultivate this matter,

If arrogance and enmity are not conquered.

If that arrogant mind arises,

Then truly it is my enemy;

Though the victorious fruit may wish to arise,

That fruit will surely be lost.

Like the Lion diligent,

Seeing the resembling beasts of affliction,

The affliction-beasts in thousands and myriads—

Merely they cannot be opposed.

In the world's great suffering and affliction,

The person sees themselves as fully sufficient;

The afflictions not subdued,

One straightway meets suffering like this.

I make even the head fall,

Even to the very heart;

The afflictions, those enemies—

All of them I do not subdue.

By reason of cultivating vigor,

That arrogance and karma are exhausted and destroyed,

Broadly attaining great fruit-retribution,

Feeling joy and delight oneself.

Because of joyfully cultivating the cause,

That one runs and cannot keep pace;

The place of cultivation not determined,

Again attaining the un-excellent.

Saṃsāra wished yet insufficient,

Like a blade smeared with honey;

If one craves the sweet ambrosia of merit,

Eaten, it turns out well.

This is the karma of silent stillness,

Feeling the wondrous fruit, relying upon it;

Like hot days and cold nights,

Day and night can clash.

Vigor is a mighty strength,

Able to break all indolence;

Broadly able to depart far,

Body and mind can be at peace and joy.

The afflictions, the staff and the firm prison—

Break them with the sword of mindful wisdom;

Like a wooden sword carried along,

Together with that woman who learns.

Holding the sword in hand yet not using it,

Fearing its loss is just like this;

Thinking the sword once lost,

The hells abide within the mind.

The world knows the good person

Will not consent to drink poisonous blood;

The repentant mind is also like this;

If the repentant mind does not act,

Leaving home with a mind of vigor

Is like guarding a bowl of oil;

The bowl falling, one must die,

Falling into the place of terror.

Because of sleeping and resting in indolence,

Like the poisonous snake destroying itself;

Not going, one will be wounded,

Running fast, crying out for rescue.

Each and every one repenting deeply,

Making the mind reflect;

This repentance cannot be kept—

Why did I act so?

Harmony is the cause of karma,

Cut it with the sword of right mindfulness;

Why does the mind flatter itself?

Through this mindfulness broadly attained,

Right mindfulness the mind does not arouse,

Not even a hair's worth can be extinguished.

Karma comes as if going and coming,

All retributions are attained;

Like that Tūlaka,

Following the wind, it is borne;

The vigorous person is likewise so,

Increasing and surpassing, attained in this way.

The Sūtra of the Conduct of Bodhi

(End of Scroll 2)