ANGER

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
ANGER.

221.
Conquer anger, banish pride;
Every fetter cast aside;[1]
Clinging not to Name and Form,[2]
Him who calleth nought his own
Sorrow never shall betide.

222.
He who rising wrath restrains,
As one checks a whirling team,
Him a driver true I deem;
Others only hold the reins.

223.
Wrath with kindliness allay,
To the stingy freely give;
Conquer lying words with truth;
Evil deeds with good repay.

224.
Speak the truth nor vexed be;
Give, however scantily.
Following these maxims three,
Thou the blessed gods shalt see.

225.
Sages harm no living thing;
Self-restraint accomplishing
Such men reach the Deathless Lot,[3]
Where all sorrow is forgot.

226.
Ever watchful, night and day
Learning wisdom never cease;
In the one who strives for Peace[4]
All the cravings die away.[5]

227.
There is a saying, Atula,
Of old, not of to-day:
"They blame the man who silent sits,
Or whose tongue wags alway;
And blame the man who keeps the mean;
None in the world is blameless seen."

228.
There never was, nor will be, sure,
Nor lives now among men,
A being blamed exclusively,
Nor one entirely praised.

229-30.
But one whom men of wisdom praise,
Watching him day by day,
Of faultless life, of holy ways,
Thoughtful and wise, like Jambu gold,[6]
Who to blame such a saint is bold?
Neither the gods, nor e'en Brahmā,
From him their praise withhold.

231.
'Gainst angry deeds be on thy guard;
In body be composed;
All bodily misdeeds discard;
With body tread the Way.

232. 'Gainst angry words be on thy guard;
In speech be thou composed;
All wrongful ways of speech discard;
In speech follow the Way.

233. 'Gainst angry thoughts be on thy guard;
In thought be thou composed;
All wrongful ways of thought discard;
In thoughts follow the Way.

234.
In body sages are controlled;
In thoughts as well as speech;
And they are Sages truly called
Who are controlled in each.
[1] The Fetters, saññojanāni, are ten. These are cast off at different stages of the Path, until perfection is reached.

[2] Nāma-rūpa, "abstract and concrete," the five constituents of personality, viz., mind and its factors with the four, body, feeling, perception, and mental functions.

[3] Nibbāna, 'the changeless, accutaṁ'.

[4] idem.

[5] idem.

[6] A precious gold from the Jambu river; others say, like rose apple in colour.