Loosened & oiled

are the joys of a person.

People, bound by enticement,

looking for ease:

to birth & aging they go.

341
Dhammapada XXIV : Craving

Encircled with craving,

people hop round & around

like a rabbit caught in a snare.

Tied with fetters & bonds

they go on to suffering,

again & again, for long.

Encircled with craving,

people hop round & around

like a rabbit caught in a snare.

So a monk

should dispel      craving,

should aspire      to dispassion

for himself.

342-343
Dhammapada XXIV : Craving

Cleared of the underbrush

but obsessed with the forest,

set free from the forest,

right back to the forest he runs.

Come, see the person set free

who runs right back to the same old chains!

344
Dhammapada XXIV : Craving

That’s not a strong bond

–so say the enlightened–

the one made of iron, of wood, or of grass.

To be smitten, enthralled,

with jewels & ornaments,

longing for children & wives:

that’s the strong bond,

–so say the enlightened–

one that’s constraining,

elastic,

hard to untie.

But having cut it, they

–the enlightened–go forth,

free of longing, abandoning

sensual ease.

Those smitten with passion

fall back

into a self-made stream,

like a spider snared in its web.

But, having cut it, the enlightened set forth,

free of longing, abandoning

all suffering & stress.

345-347
Dhammapada XXIV : Craving

Gone to the beyond of becoming,

you let go of in front,

let go of behind,

let go of between.

With a heart everywhere released,

you don’t come again to birth

& aging.

348
Dhammapada XXIV : Craving

For a person

forced on by his thinking,

fierce in his passion,

focused on beauty,

craving grows all the more.

He’s the one

who tightens the bond.

But one who delights

in the stilling of thinking,

always

mindful

cultivating

a focus on the foul:

He’s the one

who will make an end,

the one who will cut Mara’s bond.

349-350
Dhammapada XXIV : Craving

Arrived at the finish,

unfrightened, unblemished, free

of craving, he has cut away

the arrows of becoming.

This physical heap is his last.

Free from craving,

ungrasping,

astute in expression,

knowing the combination of sounds–

which comes first & which after.

He’s called a

last-body

greatly discerning

great man.

351-352
Dhammapada XXIV : Craving

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All-conquering,

all-knowing am I,

with regard to all things,

unadhering.

All-abandoning,

released in the ending of craving:

having fully known on my own,

to whom should I point as my teacher?

353
Dhammapada XXIV : Craving

Big Amitabha Buddha, Lantau Island, Hong Kong.

A gift of Dhamma conquers

all gifts;

the taste of Dhamma,

all tastes;

a delight in Dhamma,

all delights;

the ending of craving,

all suffering

& stress.

354
Dhammapada XXIV : Craving

Riches ruin the man

weak in discernment,

but not those who seek

the beyond.

Through craving for riches

the man weak in discernment

ruins   himself

as he would   others.

355
Dhammapada XXIV : Craving