[371]
If no other is found before or behind him,
it is exceedingly comfortable for one dwelling alone in the forest.
Come then, alone I shall go to the wilderness praised by the Buddha
as comfortable for a bhikkhu dwelling alone, of resolute will (pahitatta).
Delightful, bringing rapture (pīti) to meditators, frequented by rutting elephants —
alone, master of my goal, swiftly shall I enter that woodland.
In the cool wood in full flower, in a cool mountain grotto,
I shall bathe my limbs and walk in meditation all alone.
Alone, without a companion, in the delightful great forest —
when shall I dwell there, my task accomplished, free from taints (āsava)?
As I desire to do thus, may my intention succeed;
I myself shall bring it to accomplishment — no one is the doer for another.
Behold, I bind on my armor; I shall enter the woodland;
I shall not come out from it without having attained the destruction of the taints (āsavakkhaya).
While the breeze blows, cool and laden with fragrance,
seated upon the mountain's crest I shall rend ignorance (avijjā) asunder.
In the forest mantled with blossoms, in the cool cave, surely,
gladdened by the bliss of liberation (vimutti), I shall delight in the mountain fastness.
I am one whose intention is fulfilled, like the moon on the fifteenth day;
with all taints utterly destroyed, there is now no renewed existence.
The Elder Ekavihāriya.
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.