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Buddhism

Thag 3:5 · Mātaṅgaputta

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

It’s too cold,

too hot,

too late in the evening—

people who say this,

shirking their work:

The moment passes them by.

Whoever regards cold & heat

as no more than grass,

doing his manly duties,

won’t fall away

from ease.

With my chest

I push through wild grasses—

spear-grass,

ribbon-grass,

rushes—

cultivating a heart

bent on seclusion.

See also: AN 8:95


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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