11. Śramaṇavarga
The Chapter about Ascetics
(15 Verses)
[11.1]
[adm.]
Chindhi srotaḥ, parākramya kāmāṁ praṇuda sarvaśaḥ,
nāprahāya muniḥ kāmān, ekatvam adhigacchati.
Cut off the stream, after striving, remove desires in every way, the sage, without having abandoned desires, does not attain unity.
[11.2]
[adm.]
Kurvāṇo hi sadā prājño, dṛḍham eva parākramet,
śithilā khalu pravrajyā, hy ādadāti puno rajaḥ.
Indeed the wise one, always striving, should steadfastly strive, indeed the lax renunciant surely takes up impurities again.
[11.3]
[stm.]
Yat kiṁ cic chitilaṁ karma, saṁkliṣṭaṁ vāpi yat tapaḥ,
apariśuddhaṁ brahmacaryaṁ na tad bhavati mahāphalam.
Whatever the lax deed, or that austerity which is defiled, an impure spiritual life does not have great fruit for him.
[11.4]
[stm. + sim.]
Śaro yathā durgṛhīto hastam evāpakṛntati,
śrāmaṇyaṁ duṣparāmṛṣṭaṁ, narakān upakarṣati.
Just as an arrow, wrongly held, cuts into the hand, so the ascetic life, wrongly grasped, drags one down to purgatory.
[11.5]
[stm. + sim.]
Śaro yathā sugṛhīto, na hastam apakṛntati,
śrāmaṇyaṁ suparāmṛṣṭaṁ, Nirvāṇasyaiva so ’ntike.
Just as an arrow, rightly held, does not cut into the hand, so the ascetic life, rightly grasped, is indeed in the presence of Nirvāṇa.
[11.6]
[stm.]
Duṣkaraṁ dustitīkṣaṁ ca śrāmaṇyaṁ mandabuddhinā,
bahavas tatra saṁbādhā yatra mando viṣīdati.
Hard to do, hard to endure, is the ascetic life, with the understanding of a fool, there are many obstacles where the foolish one becomes dispirited.
[11.7]
[stm.]
Śrāmaṇye carate yas tu svacittam anivārayet,
punaḥ punar viṣīdet ca, saṁkalpānāṁ vaśaṁ gataḥ.
But the one who lives the ascetic life and would not restrain his own mind, that one would become dispirited again and again, having come under the influence of bad intentions.
[11.8]
[stm.]
Duṣpravrajyaṁ durabhiramaṁ, duradhyāvasitā gṛhāḥ,
duḥkhāsamānasaṁvāsā, duḥkhāś copacitā bhavāḥ.
The going-forth is hard, hard to find real delight, but it is also hard to dwell in households, dwelling with those of different minds is suffering, accumulated existences are suffering.
[11.9]
[stm.]
Kāṣāyakaṇṭhā bahavaḥ pāpadharmā hy asaṁyatāḥ,
pāpā hi karmabhiḥ pāpair ito gacchanti durgatim.
Many wearing the robe around their necks are of wicked nature, unrestrained, the wicked through their wicked deeds go from here to a bad destination.
[11.10]
[stm. + sim.]
Yo ’sāv atyantaduḥśīlaḥ, Sālavāṁ mālutā yathā, Edgerton under mālavā, quotes this line as: sālaṁ vā māluvā yathā Ud xi.10. There does seem to have been some confusion between mālatā/mālavā, but elsewhere Edgerton has: mālutā, (1) a high number (cf. prec): Gv 106.5 (seems to correspond to māluda; (2) ( = mālu, q v., with Pali and AMg. correspondents), n. of a creeper, symbol of cause of unhappiness (because it chokes trees on which it grows).
karoty asau tathātmānaṁ yathainaṁ dviṣa-d-icchati.
The one who continually has poor virtue, like a deadly creeper on a Sāla tree, that one makes himself just as an enemy wishes him to be.
[11.11]
[stm.]
Sthaviro na tāvatā bhavati yāvatā palitaṁ śiraḥ,
paripakvaṁ vayas tasya, mohajīrṇaḥ sa ucyate.
One is not an elder on account of one’s head having grey hair, for the one who is only matured, aged, is called one grown old in delusion.
[11.12]
[stm.]
Yas tu puṇyaṁ ca pāpaṁ ca prahāya brahmacaryavān,
viśreṇayitvā carati, sa vai sthavira ucyate.
One who, abandoning both merit and demerit, living the spiritual life, having cast off associations, wanders, that one is surely called an elder.
[11.13]
[stm.]
Na muṇḍabhāvāc chramaṇo, hy avṛtas tv anṛtaṁ vadan,
icchālobhasamāpannaḥ śramaṇaḥ kiṁ bhaviṣyati?
Not through a shaven head is one an ascetic, if one is unchecked, speaking lies, how will one endowed with desire and greed be an ascetic?
[11.14]
[stm.]
Na muṇḍabhāvāc chramaṇo, hy avṛtas tv anṛtaṁ vadan –
śamitaṁ yena pāpaṁ syād, aṇusthūlaṁ hi sarvaśaḥ –
śamitatvāt tu pāpānāṁ śramaṇo hi nirucyate.
Not through a shaven head is one an ascetic, if one is unchecked, speaking lies – one by whom wicked deeds are still to be quenched, small and great, in every way – but through the quenching of wicked deeds one is called an ascetic.
[11.15]
[stm.]
Brāhmaṇo vāhitaiḥ pāpaiḥ, śramaṇaḥ śamitāśubhaḥ,
pravrājayitvā tu malān uktaḥ pravrajitas tv iha.
One is a Brahmin, an ascetic, who has quenched the unpleasant, through restraining wicked deeds, but after driving forth impurities one is truly called one gone forth here.
Śramaṇavargaḥ 11.
The Chapter about Ascetics, the Eleventh