PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN
Canto II.
Psalms of Two Verses
CL
Kaṇhadinna
Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.
Public Domain
Reborn in this Buddha-age at Rājagaha, in a brahmin's family, he was named Kaṇhadinna. Come of age, and impelled by the efficient cause culminating, he came to the General of the Norm,[1] heard the Norm, believed, left the world, and developing insight, won arahantship. Thereupon he thus declared aññā:
[179] Waited have I on saintly men and heard
Full many times the saving truths [they taught].
Hearing I knew I should attain the road
That leads away from things that age and die.[2]
[180] [138] And so in me all lust to live again
Thus being utterly cast out, since then
In me 'tis no more found, nor was't, nor will it e'er
Come back in me, nor at this hour doth rise in me.[3]
[1] Sāriputta. We are left in doubt as to whether Kaṇhadinna is the son in the preceding story or not. If he is, then the 'great Thera' he met was Sāriputta; but in that case it is curious that the stories are not explicitly connected.
[2] Lit., the ambrosial road; according to the Commentary - the Eightfold Path. 'I knew I should' is, literally, 'I shall [attain].' He had already attained.
[3] Either glosses have crept in, or the additional feet in the latter gāthā are intentional, to pile on emphasis.
