Buddhism

Thig 5:6 · Mittakālī

Going forth through conviction

from home into homelessness,

I wandered this place & that,

greedy for tribute & gains.

Missing out on the foremost goal,

I pursued a lowly one.

Under the sway of defilements,

I didn’t awaken1 to the goal

of the contemplative life.

Then, sitting in my dwelling,

I suddenly came to my senses:

I’m following a miserable path.

I’m under the sway of

craving.

Next to nothing, my life,

crushed

by aging & illness.

Before the body breaks apart,

I have no time

for heedlessness.

After watching, as it actually was,

the arising-disbanding of aggregates,

I stood up with mind released,

the Awakened One’s bidding

done.

Note

1. Reading na bujjhi’ham with the Burmese and Sinhalese editions.

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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