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The Dhammapada
Chapter Twenty Three: The Elephant
As an elephant in battle
Endures an arrow show from a bow,
So will I endure verbal abuse;
Many people, indeed, lack virtue.
The tamed elephant is the one
They take into a crowd.
The tamed elephant is the one
The king mounts.
Best among humans is the tamed person
Who endures verbal abuse.
Excellent are tamed mules,
Thoroughbreds, horses of the Indus valley,
Tusked elephants and great elephants.
But even more excellent
Are people who have tamed themselves.
Not by means of these animals could one go
To that place not gone to,
Where a self-tamed person goes
By means of a well-tamed, disciplined self.
The elephant called Dhanapalaka
Is hard to control when in rut;
Tied down, the tusker doesn't even eat,
Remembering the elephant forest.
The sluggish and gluttonous simpleton
Who sleeps and rolls about
Like a fat, grain-fed hog
Is reborn again and again.
In the past, this mind went wandering
Where it wished, as it liked, and as it pleased.
Now I will retrain it wisely,
As an elephant keeper does an elephant in rut.
Delight in vigilance.
Protect your own mind.
Lift yourself from a bad course
Like a tusker sunk in mud.
If you find an intelligent companion,
A fellow traveler
A sage of good conduct,
You should travel together,
Delighted and mindful,
Overcoming all dangers.
If you do not find an intelligent companion,
A fellow traveler
Of good conduct and wise,
Travel alone,
Like a king renouncing a conquered kingdom,
Like the elephant Matanga in the forest.
There is no companionship with a fool;
It is better to go alone.
Travel alone, at ease, doing no evil
Like the elephant Matanga in the forest.
Happiness is having friends when need arises.
Happiness is contentment with whatever there is.
Happiness is merit at the end of one's life.
Happiness is the abandoning of all suffering.
In the world, respect for one's mother is happiness,
As is respect for one's father.
In the world, respect for renunciants is happiness,
As is respect for brahmins.
Happiness is virtue lasting through old age.
Happiness is steadfast faith.
Happiness is the attainment of wisdom.
Not doing evil is happiness.
...excerpt from The Dhammapada
Continue to Chapter Twenty Four...
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