Book XX. The Path, Magga Vagga

273, 274, 275, 276

The Eightfold Path is the best of Paths; the Four Sayings are the best of Truths;
Freedom from desire is the best of states; he that has eyes to see is the best of men.

This is the only Path; there is none other that leads to Purity of Vision;
Do ye enter upon this Path; so shall ye confound Māra.

Enter ye upon this Path, and ye shall make an end of suffering;
This is the Path which I preached so soon as I learned to remove the Arrow of Lust.

It is you who must put forth exertion; the Tathāgatas are only guides;
By meditation, those that enter upon this Path win release from the bondage of Māra.

277

“Impermanent are all existing things.”
With wisdom who perceives this fact,
Straightway becomes contemptuous of suffering.
This is the Way of Salvation.

278

“Involved in suffering are all existing things.”
With wisdom who perceives this fact,
Straightway becomes contemptuous of suffering.
This is the Way of Salvation.

279

“Unreal are all existing things.”
With wisdom who perceives this fact,
Straightway becomes contemptuous of suffering.
This is the Way of Salvation.

280

He that rises not when it is time to rise, young, strong, given over to laziness,
Weak of will and thought, indolent, such a lazy man finds not the path to wisdom.

281

One should be guarded in word and restrained in thought; likewise with the body one should do no wrong;
Should one make clear these three paths of action, one will gain the Path made known by the sages.

282

From meditation springs wisdom; from lack of meditation, wisdom dwindles away.
He that knows this twofold path of gain and loss
Should so settle himself that wisdom may increase.

283, 284

Cut down the forest, not alone a single tree, for from the forest springs fear;
Cut down the forest of lust and its undergrowth, monks, and ye shall be free from lust.

For so long as man allows even the slightest particle of lust after women to remain unextirpated,
So long is he in bondage, even as a calf that drinks his mother’s milk is in bondage to the cow.

285

Cut off the love of self, even as you would break off an autumnal lotus with your hand.
Advance along the Path to Tranquillity. The Happy One has pointed the way to Nibbāna.

286

“Here will I dwell during the rain, during the winter and summer.”
Thus the simpleton imagines, knowing not that he must die.

287

If a man be passionately devoted to sons or flocks and herds, if his mind be completely absorbed therein,
The Prince of Death will take and bear him away, even as a raging torrent sweeps away a sleeping village.

288, 289

Sons are no refuge, nor a father, nor kinsfolk;
There is no refuge in kinsfolk, for one who has been overtaken by Death.

The man who is wise, who lives under the restraint of the moral law, understanding this power of circumstances,
Should quickly clear the path to Nibbāna.