Thag 3:14 · Gotama
While wandering on
I went to hell;
went again & again
to the world of the hungry ghosts;
stayed countless times, long,
in the pain of the animal womb;
enjoyed
the human state;
went to heaven
from time to time;
settled in the elements of form,
the elements of formlessness,
neither perception, perception-less.
Ways of taking birth
are now known:
devoid of essence,
unstable,
conditioned,
always blown along.
Knowing them
as born from my self,
mindful
I went right to peace.
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).
