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Buddhism

Thag 2:3 · Valliya

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

A monkey,

coming to the little hut

with five doors,

goes from door to door, knocking

moment by moment.

Stand still, monkey,

don’t run.

It’s not yours

as it was before.

You’re bound by discernment.

You won’t get far away.

See also: SN 35:199


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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