PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN
Canto I.
Psalms of Single Verses
X
Puṇṇamāsa
Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.
Public Domain
Reborn in this Buddha-age as the eon of Samiddbi, a brahmin of Sāvatthī, he left the world when a son was born to him, and entering the Order under the Exalted One, took the Four Truths as his exercise in meditation, and became an arabant. His former wife sought to seduce him from his faith, visiting him adorned, and with her [16] child. But the Brother, showing his utter detachment, uttered this psalm:
[10] All longings as to this or other life
Have I put far from me, as one who hath
Beta'en himself to truth, whose heart's at peace,
Who, self-subdued, in all things undefiled,
Discerns the world's incessant ebb and flow.
Then the woman thinking, 'This holy man cares not for me nor for the child; I am not able to persuade him,' went away.[1]
[1] A curious feature about this story is the repetition of it, again as Puṇṇamāsa's, in Canto II., the Commentator taking no notice of the substantial identity in legend and authorship. See Ps. CXLVI.
