[665] The Blessed One addressed the brahmin Sundarikabhāradvāja, who stood to one side, in verses:
"Do not, brahmin, when kindling firewood,
imagine that this is purity, for it is external;
the skilled do not say that purity comes by that —
by one who would seek purification through the outward.
Having abandoned the burning of firewood, brahmin,
I kindle the flame within alone [1];
with fire ever burning, with self ever concentrated,
an arahant (arahaṃ), I live the holy life (brahmacariya).
For conceit, brahmin, is your carrying-pole load,
anger your smoke, false speech your ashes;
the tongue is the ladle, the heart the altar of the flame:
a self well tamed is the light of a man.
The Dhamma, brahmin, is a lake with virtue (sīla) as its ford —
unclouded, praised by the good to the good —
where indeed the masters of knowledge (vedagū), having bathed,
cross to the far shore with limbs unwetted [1].
Truth, Dhamma, restraint, the holy life —
this, brahmin, is attainment of the supreme (brahmapatti), grounded upon the middle.
Pay homage to those who have become true and upright:
that man I call 'one who fares by the Dhamma (dhammasārī).'"
#1 M.: ajjhattamevujjalayāmi.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.