[612] Standing to one side, Brahmā Sahampati spoke these verses in the presence of the Blessed One:
"One should resort to secluded beds and seats;
one should practise for release from the fetters (saṃyojana).
But if one should not find delight there,
let one dwell in the Saṅgha, self-guarded, mindful (satimā).
Walking for alms from family to family,
#[1] In the Ma. (Burmese) and Yu. (European) editions the word "pabbataṃ" appears in between at this point.
guarded in the sense faculties, prudent, mindful,
one should resort to secluded beds and seats,
released from fear, liberated in the fearless.
Where there are terrifying serpents,[1]
where lightning streaks and the sky thunders,[2]
in the blinding darkness of the night,
there sat a bhikkhu, his hair-raising terror gone.
And this[3] has surely been seen by me; this is no mere hearsay:
within a single holy life a thousand have left Death behind.
More than five hundred trainees, and tens, ten times tenfold —
all have attained to the stream, never to go to the animal realm.
And as for the rest of these folk — 'partakers of merit,' so my mind holds —
I cannot so much as count them, from dread of false speech."[4]
The Fourth: the Aruṇavatī Sutta.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.