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Buddhism

Thag 1:119 · Vajjiputta

Thai temple painting: Prince Vessantara gives away the white elephant
Vessantara Jātaka, Chapter 2 (Himavanta Forest) · Thai, Rattanakosin, c. 1850–1870 · Walters Art Museum

Coming to the bower

at the root of a tree,

placing

unbinding

in your heart,

do jhāna, Gotama,

& don’t be heedless.

What use is this

chitter-chatter

to you?1

Note

1. In SN 9:5, a deva addresses this verse to Ven. Ānanda, who has been spending too much time teaching Dhamma to laypeople.


Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. © 2014 / rev. 2017 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu — released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 licence, for free distribution only. Source: dhammatalks.org (Metta Forest Monastery).

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