PSALMS OF THE BRETHREN
Canto VIII.
Psalms of Eight Verses
CCXXX
Sirimitta
Translated from the Pali by Mrs. C.A.F. Rhys Davids.
Public Domain
Reborn in this Buddha-age at Rājagaha as the son of a very wealthy landowner, he was named Sirimitta, his mother being sister to Sirigutta, whose story is included in the Dhammapada Commentary.[1] Now he, Sirimitta, Sirigutta's nephew, found faith when the Master subdued the elephant Dhanapāla.[2] And he entered the Order, and in due course became arahant.
One day rising from his seat to recite the Pātimokkha, he took a painted fan,[3] and reseating himself, taught the Norm to the bhikkhus, and in so doing, distinguished the more eminent virtues thus:
[502] From anger and from hatred free,
Clean of deceit, of slander bare,
Look you! a brother such as he,
When he goes hence,[4] will weep no more.
[503] From anger and from hatred free,
Clean of deceit, of slander bare,
Ever 'door-guarded'[5] brother, he,
When be goes hence, will weep no more.
[504] From anger, etc.
... of slander bare,
Brother of noble virtue, he,
When he goes hence, will weep ro more.
[505] [242] From anger, etc.
Brother of virtuous comrades, he,
When he goes hence, will weep no more.
[506] From anger, etc.
Brother of noble insight, he,
When he goes hence, will weep no more.
Having discoursed against anger and so on, he then set forth the supreme career by verses describing the right attitude for individuals, testifying thereby to aññā in himself:
[507] Of him whose faith in the Tathāgata
Is firmly planted and unwavering,
Whose virtues are commended by the good
And pleasing in the eyes of Ariyans,[6]
[508] Who dwells contented with the Brotherhood,
Who in his views is candid and sincere:
'No pauper he,' they say, with so much wealth,
Nor sterile and in vain the life of him.
[509] So let the wise man, so let him who aye
Remembereth that which Buddhas have enjoined,
Devote himself to faith and righteousness,
To know the blessedness they brought to us
And the true vision of the holy Norm.[7]
[1] Presumably in i. 434 ff. He was a lay-adherent of Sāvatthī,
[2] Called Nāḷāgiri in Vinaya Texts, iii. 247-250. Cf. Milinda, i. 297 ff.
[3] So did the learned Sister Khujjutarā in preaching (Dhammapada Commentary, i. 209).
[4] 'To another world' (Commentary). He is not discoursing necessarily of or to arahants. Cf. for a different import in the phrase, verse 188.
[5] Gutta-dvāro, the technical phrase in Buddhist ethics for control over the 'gates' of sense.
[6] Buddhas, Silent (Pacceka) Buddhas, and earnest disciples (Buddha-savakā).
[7] = verse 204.
