PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN
Canto III.
Psalms of three Verses
CLXXVI
Vāraṇa
Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.
Public Domain
Reborn in this Buddha-age in Kosala as a brahmin's son, he was named Vāraṇa. Come of age, he heard a Thera preach the Norm in a forest, and believing, entered the Order. One day going to wait upon the Buddha he saw, on the way, a family quarrel, through which some were slain. Distressed, he hastened to the Exalted One, and told him. And the latter, discerning the progress of his mind, exhorted him, saying:
[237] Whoso here causeth fellow-creatures pain,
From this and from the other-world, from both
This man may forfeit all they yield of good.[1]
[238] Whoso with loving heart compassion takes
On every fellow-creature, such a man
Doth generate of merit ample store.
[239] [165] Train ye yourselves in pious utterance,
In waiting ever on the wise and good,
In haunting secret solitary seat,
And in the calm and concentrated mind.
When these verses were ended, Vāraṇa, developing insight, won arahantship.
[1] The last phrase from the Commentary, 'the good and happiness comprised in both worlds.'
