[239] Standing to one side, the young deva (devaputta) Tāyana spoke these verses in the presence of the Blessed One:
"Exert yourself and cut the stream!
Dispel sensual pleasures, brahmin!
Without having abandoned sensual pleasures,
a sage (muni) does not attain oneness (ekatta) [of mind].
If one would do it, one should do it;
one should undertake it firmly;
for the wanderer's life, laxly practiced,
only scatters up more dust.
An ill deed is better left undone:
an ill deed torments one afterwards.
A good deed done is better,
which, having done, one does not regret.
Just as kusa grass, wrongly grasped,
cuts the very hand that grips it,
so the ascetic life (sāmañña), wrongly taken up,
drags one down to hell (niraya).
Whatever deed is slack,
whatever observance (vata) is corrupt,
a holy life (brahmacariya) of dubious character —
that is not of great fruit."
This is what the young deva Tāyana said. Having said this, he paid homage to the Blessed One and, keeping him on his right, vanished right there.
[Page footnote of the Siam Raṭṭha edition printed within this passage: "¹ Sī. reads jhānamabuddhābuddho. ² Sī., Yu. read vāpi vindanti" — variant readings pertaining to the verses of the preceding sutta.]
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.