PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN

Canto I.
Psalms of Single Verses
Part II

XI
Gavaccha the Less

Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.

[idx][pali]

Public Domain

 

Reborn as a brahmin at Kosambī, and hearing the Exalted One preach, he entered the Order. At that time the bhikkhus of Kosambī had become contentious.^[1] Then Gavaccha the Less, not taking part with either side, remained steadfast in the Exalted One's admonition, and developing insight, attained to arahantship. And seeing in the bhikkhus' quarrelsome tastes what might have been the downfall of his own good, he reflected with joy and enthusiasm on his own contrasted state, saying:

[11] Abundantly this brother doth rejoice,
For the blest truths the Buddha hath revealed
Are his, and he hath won the Path of Peace,
And his the bliss where worldly cares are stilled.

 

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^[1] They seem to have been incorrigibly so, in spite of the Buddha's earnest and repeated exhortations (Majjh., i. 320 ff., 513).