Bodhipaksa

Selection four

By means of diligence,
Indra became foremost of the gods.
Diligence is praised,
Heedlessness is always despised.

Just like a beautiful flower,
Colorful but lacking fragrance,
So fine words are fruitless
To one who does not practice them.

Just like a beautiful flower,
Colorful and fragrant,
Thus well-spoken words
Are fruitful to the one who practices them.

Long is the night to the wakeful one.
Long is the league to the wearisome one.
Long is the cycle of rebirth to the foolish;
Those not seeing the true Dhamma.

For the man who acts heedlessly,
Craving grows like a vine.
He drifts from existence to existence
Like a monkey in the forest desiring fruit.

Whomever this contemptible
Clinging and lust conquers in this world,
His griefs increase,
Like the growing biranam [plant].

And who conquers this contemptible
Hard-to-eradicate lust in this world,
Sorrows fall away from him
As a drop of water from a lotus leaf.

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