Impurity

You are like a withered leaf now, with death's messengers already drawing near. You stand at the threshold of departure, and you've packed nothing for the journey.

Like a withered leaf are you now; death’s messengers await you. You stand on the eve of your departure, yet you have made no provision for your journey!

Make an island of refuge for yourself. Strive hard and grow wise; once your impurities are blown away and your stains are cleansed, you will enter the celestial realm of the noble ones.

Make an island for yourself! Strive hard and become wise! Rid of impurities and cleansed of stain, you shall enter the celestial abode of the Noble Ones.

Your life has reached its end, and you are setting out toward death. There is no resting place for you along the road, and still you have made no provision for the journey.

Your life has come to an end now; You are setting forth into the presence of Yama, the king of death. No resting place is there for you on the way, yet you have made no provision for the journey!

Make an island of refuge for yourself. Strive hard and grow wise; once your impurities are blown away and your stains are cleansed, you will not come again to birth and decay.

Make an island unto yourself! Strive hard and become wise! Rid of impurities and cleansed of stain, you shall not come again to birth and decay.

Bit by bit, moment by moment, let the wise person burn away their own flaws, the way a silversmith patiently refines silver, removing the impurities one at a time.

One by one, little by little, moment by moment, a wise man should remove his own impurities, as a smith removes his dross from silver.

Just as rust is born from iron and then eats away the very iron that gave rise to it, so a person's own careless deeds lead them on to a bad destination.

Just as rust arising from iron eats away the base from which it arises, even so, their own deeds lead transgressors to states of woe.

What goes untended decays: scriptures decay without recitation, a home decays without upkeep, beauty decays through neglect, and a guard fails through inattention.

Non-repetition is the bane of scriptures; neglect is the bane of a home; slovenliness is the bane of personal appearance, and heedlessness is the bane of a guard.

Misconduct is the stain that spoils a person, and stinginess is the stain that spoils a giver. In truth, all harmful deeds are stains, in this world and the next.

Unchastity is the taint in a woman; niggardliness is the taint in a giver. Taints, indeed, are all evil things, both in this world and the next.

Of all the stains a person can carry, the deepest is ignorance. Shed that one, and you become truly clean.

A worse taint than these is ignorance, the worst of all taints. Destroy this one taint and become taintless, O monks!

Life comes easily to the shameless one: brazen as a crow, meddling, backbiting, forward, and corrupt.

Easy is life for the shameless one who is impudent as a crow, is backbiting and forward, arrogant and corrupt.

Life comes hard to the modest one: always seeking purity, detached and unassuming, clean in conduct and discerning.

Difficult is life for the modest one who always seeks purity, is detached and unassuming, clean in life, and discerning.

Whoever destroys life, speaks falsely, takes what is not given, goes to another's spouse, and is given over to intoxicants: that person digs up their own roots, right here in this world.

One who destroys life, utters lies, takes what is not given, goes to another man’s wife, and is addicted to intoxicating drinks — such a man digs up his own root even in this world.

Whoever destroys life, speaks falsely, takes what is not given, goes to another's spouse, and is given over to intoxicants: that person digs up their own roots, right here in this world.

One who destroys life, utters lies, takes what is not given, goes to another man’s wife, and is addicted to intoxicating drinks — such a man digs up his own root even in this world.

Know this, good friend: harmful deeds are hard to hold in check. Don't let greed and wrongdoing drag you into long-lasting misery.

Know this, O good man: evil things are difficult to control. Let not greed and wickedness drag you to protracted misery.

People give according to their faith and goodwill. But whoever frets over the food and drink given to others will find no stillness of mind, by day or by night.

People give according to their faith or regard. If one becomes discontented with the food and drink given by others, one does not attain meditative absorption, either by day or by night.

But whoever has uprooted that discontent entirely, cut out and extinguished, finds stillness of mind, by day and by night.

But he in who this (discontent) is fully destroyed, uprooted and extinct, he attains absorption, both by day and by night.

There is no fire like lust, no grip like hatred, no net like delusion, no river like craving.

There is no fire like lust; there is no grip like hatred; there is no net like delusion; there is no river like craving.

Another's faults are easy to see, but your own are hard to see. You winnow others' faults like chaff in the wind, yet hide your own, the way a cheat conceals a losing throw of the dice.

Easily seen is the fault of others, but one’s own fault is difficult to see. Like chaff one winnows another’s faults, but hides one’s own, even as a crafty fowler hides behind sham branches.

Whoever is always hunting for others' faults, forever finding something to criticize: their own troubles only grow, and they remain far from being free of them.

He who seeks another’s faults, who is ever censorious — his cankers grow. He is far from destruction of the cankers.

There is no track traced through the sky, and no true seeker apart from the path. People delight in the things of the world, but the awakened are free of that clinging.

There is no track in the sky, and no recluse outside (the Buddha’s dispensation). Mankind delights in worldliness, but the Buddhas are free from worldliness. [19]

There is no track traced through the sky, and no true seeker apart from the path. All conditioned things pass away, but in the awakened there is no wavering.

There is no track in the sky, and no recluse outside (the Buddha’s dispensation). There are no conditioned things that are eternal, and no instability in the Buddhas.