[534] Then the Venerable Aṅgulimāla, gone into seclusion, in retreat, experiencing the bliss of liberation (vimuttisukha), on that occasion uttered this inspired utterance (udāna):
"Whoever, having been negligent before,
afterwards is negligent no more,
illuminates this world
like the moon freed from a cloud.
Whoever's evil deed, once done,
is closed off by the wholesome,
illuminates this world
like the moon freed from a cloud.
Whatever young bhikkhu indeed
devotes himself to the Buddha's teaching,
he illuminates this world
like the moon freed from a cloud.
Let even my enemies hear a talk on the Dhamma;
let even my enemies devote themselves to the Buddha's teaching;
let even my enemies associate with those persons,
the good, who lead others to accept the Dhamma.
Let my enemies hear the Dhamma in due season—
the purification that is patience (khanti),
the praise of non-opposition—
and let them practise in accordance with it.
For surely such a one would not harm me,
nor anyone else whatsoever;
having attained the supreme peace,
he would protect beings frail and firm.
Irrigators lead the water,
fletchers bend the arrow-shaft,
carpenters bend the wood;
the wise tame themselves.
Some tame with the rod,
with hooks and with whips;
by one without rod, without weapon—
by the Stable One—was I tamed.
'Harmless' (Ahiṃsaka) is my name,
though formerly I was harmful;
today I bear a name that is true:
I harm no one at all.
A bandit I was before,
renowned as Aṅgulimāla;
swept along by the great flood,
I came to the Buddha as refuge.
Blood-handed I was before,
renowned as Aṅgulimāla;
behold the going for refuge:
the conduit to existence (bhavanetti) has been uprooted.
Having done much kamma of that kind,
leading to a bad destination,
touched by the ripening of that kamma,
free of debt I eat my food.
Fools, people of poor wisdom,
devote themselves to negligence;
but the wise man guards diligence
as his foremost treasure.
Do not devote yourselves to negligence,
nor to intimacy with delight in sensual pleasures;
for the diligent one, meditating,
attains abundant happiness.
Well come it was, not gone amiss;
this was no bad counsel for me:
among the well-analysed dhammas,
I came to that which is best.
Well come it was, not gone amiss;
this was no bad counsel for me:
the three true knowledges (tisso vijjā) have been attained;
the Buddha's teaching has been done."
The Aṅgulimāla Sutta, the sixth, is finished.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.