[2141] Even if a man has risen by birth or by discipline,
yet if he makes his effort only afterward,
when the task is at hand he founders amid the perils.²
For that man of wavering wisdom a great breach opens wide;
like one blind in the night, he sees only the gross forms.
He who sees the pursuit of the essential in what is without essence
never attains understanding at all;
like a sarabha deer on a rugged mountainside, he founders midway.
But even if a man is of low birth,
if he exerts himself and is resolute,
endowed with good conduct and virtue,
he shines like a fire in the night.
Taking this indeed³ as your simile,
establish⁴ your sons in the branches of knowledge (vijjā);
the man of wisdom takes root and grows,
as seed in a field grows by the rain.
The Haṃsa Jātaka, the Sixth
#1 Sī., Yu.: nāvarajjhanti. 2 Ma.: kicche āpāsu. 3 Ma.: me. 4 Ma.: vācaya.
7. The Sattigumba Jātaka
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.