[33]
I shall endure abusive speech,
as the elephant in battle endures the arrow fallen from the bow;
for many people are without virtue (dussīla).
They lead the tamed one into the assembly;
the tamed one the king mounts;
best among human beings is the tamed one
who endures abusive speech.
Excellent are tamed mules,
and thoroughbred horses of Sindh,
and the great tusker elephants (kuñjara, mahānāga);
but one who has tamed himself is more excellent than these.
[Siam Raṭṭha page-note ¹: the European edition reads "ve" — evidently for "hi" in "dussīlo hi bahujjano".]
For not by these mounts could one go
to the region not gone to before;
as the tamed one goes there
by a self well tamed, by the tamed self.
The tusker named Dhanapālaka,
in acrid rut, hard to restrain,
eats not a morsel while he is bound:
the tusker remembers the elephant forest.
When a man is drowsy and a great eater,
a sleeper who rolls about as he lies,
like a great hog fattened on fodder,
that dullard comes to the womb again and again.
Formerly this mind (citta) went wandering¹
where it wished, wherever it desired, as it pleased;
today I shall restrain it thoroughly,
as the holder of the goad restrains an elephant in rut.
Delight in heedfulness (appamāda);
keep watch over your own mind;
draw yourselves out of the difficult way,
as a tusker sunk² in the mire draws itself out.
[Siam Raṭṭha page-notes: ¹ the European edition reads "cāritaṃ" (for "cārikaṃ"); ² the European edition reads "satto va" (for "sanno va").]
If one should find a prudent companion,
a fellow wayfarer, of good conduct and wise,
then, overcoming all perils,
one should walk with him, glad at heart and mindful (satimā).
If one should not find a prudent companion,
a fellow wayfarer, of good conduct and wise,
then, as a king abandons the realm he has conquered,
one should walk alone, like a mātaṅga elephant in the forest.
Better is the faring of one alone;
there is no companionship with a fool;
one should walk alone and do no evils,
with few concerns, like a mātaṅga elephant in the forest.
Pleasant are companions when a need has arisen;
pleasant is contentment with whatever there is;
pleasant is merit at the exhaustion of life;
pleasant is the abandoning of all suffering (dukkha).
Pleasant in the world is dutiful care of one's mother,
and dutiful care of one's father is pleasant;
pleasant in the world is dutiful care of ascetics,
and dutiful care of brahmins is pleasant.
Pleasant is virtue kept until old age;
pleasant is faith firmly established;
pleasant is the attainment of wisdom;
the non-doing of evils is pleasant.
The Nāga Chapter (Nāgavagga), the Twenty-third.
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Verses of the Dhammapada: the Twenty-fourth, the Chapter on Craving (Taṇhāvagga)
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.