20.
The Book of the Sixties
1.
Verses of the Elder Mahāmoggallāna
1149.
"Forest-dwellers, almsfood eaters, delighting in what comes into the bowl through gleaning;
We split the army of Death, internally well concentrated.
1150.
"Forest-dwellers, almsfood eaters, delighting in what comes into the bowl through gleaning;
We shake off the army of Death, as an elephant a hut made of reeds.
1151.
"Tree-root dwellers, acting continuously, delighting in what comes into the bowl through gleaning;
We split the army of Death, internally well concentrated.
1152.
"Tree-root dwellers, acting continuously, delighting in what comes into the bowl through gleaning;
We shake off the army of Death, as an elephant a hut made of reeds.
1153.
"In a hut made of a skeleton, stitched together with flesh and sinews;
Shame on you, full of foul odour, you cherish another's body.
1154.
"In a bag of dung wrapped in skin, she-demon with swellings on the chest;
Nine streams in your body, which flow always.
1155.
"Your body with nine streams, producing bad smell, an obstruction;
A monk avoids it, just as one desiring purity avoids excrement.
1156.
"If people knew it thus, as I know it;
They would avoid it from afar, like a place of dung in the rainy season."
1157.
"So it is, O great hero, as you speak, ascetic;
Here some sink down, like an old bull in the mud.
1158.
"Whoever would think to dye the sky with turmeric,
Or even with another dye, that would only result in vexation.
1159.
"That mind, like space, internally well concentrated;
Do not assail one of evil mind, like a moth to a mass of fire.
1160.
"See this adorned image, a heap of sores, raised up;
Afflicted, the object of many thoughts, for which there is no stable duration.
1161.
"See this adorned form, with jewels and earrings;
Bones wrapped in skin, together with clothes it looks beautiful.
1162.
"Feet lacquered with lac, face smeared with powder;
Enough to delude a fool, but not one seeking the far shore.
1163.
"Hair arranged in eightfold braids, eyes smeared with eye ointment;
Enough to delude a fool, but not one seeking the far shore.
1164.
"Like a newly painted eye ointment container, the putrid body adorned;
Enough to delude a fool, but not one seeking the far shore.
1165.
"The hunter laid the snare, the deer did not touch the net;
Having eaten the fodder, we go, while the deer trappers lament.
1166.
"The hunter's snare is cut, the deer did not touch the net;
Having eaten the fodder, we go, while the deer hunters grieve.
1167.
"Then there was what was terrifying, then there was what was hair-raising;
When Sāriputta, accomplished in many ways, was quenched.
1168.
"Impermanent indeed are activities, having the nature of arising and falling;
Having arisen, they cease; their appeasement is happiness.
1169.
"They penetrate the subtle, as the tip of a hair with an arrow;
Those who see the five aggregates as alien and not as self.
1170.
"And those who see activities as alien and not as self;
They penetrated the subtle, as the tip of a hair with an arrow.
1171.
"As if struck by a spear, as if burning on the head;
For the abandoning of sensual lust, a mindful monk should wander forth.
1172.
"As if struck by a spear, as if burning on the head;
For the abandoning of lust for existence, a mindful monk should wander forth."
1173.
"Urged by the one of developed self, the bearer of his final body;
I shook the Migāramātu mansion with my big toe.
1174.
"Not by undertaking this slackly, not by this with little strength;
Is Nibbāna to be attained, the release from all mental knots.
1175.
"And this young monk, this excellent person;
Bears his final body, having conquered Māra with his army.
1176.
"Lightnings illuminate the cleft, of Vebhāra and of Paṇḍava;
Gone to the mountain cave he meditates, the son of the incomparable such one.
1177.
"Calmed, abstaining, dwelling in a secluded resting place, a sage;
An heir of the Buddha, the foremost, honoured by Brahmā.
1178.
"The calmed one, the one who has ceased, the sage dwelling in a secluded resting place;
The heir of the Buddha, the foremost, pay respect, brahmin, to Kassapa.
1179.
"And whoever would go through a hundred births, all brahmin births;
A learned one, accomplished in the Vedas, among human beings again and again.
1180.
"Even if one were a teacher, one who has gone beyond the three Vedas;
This is not worth a sixteenth fraction of the homage to him.
1181.
"He who touched the eight deliverances before the meal,
In forward and reverse order, then goes for almsfood.
1182.
"Do not assail such a monk, do not dig your own grave, brahmin;
Inspire your mind with faith, in the Worthy One, the Such;
Quickly pay respect with joined palms, lest your head be split asunder.
1183.
"He does not see the Good Teaching, led on by wandering in the round of rebirths;
He runs after the wrong path, the crooked path going downward.
1184.
"Like a worm smeared with dung, infatuated with activities;
Sunk in material gain and honour, hollow goes Poṭṭhila.
1185.
"And see this one coming, Sāriputta of good appearance;
Liberated on both sides, internally well concentrated.
1186.
"Free from the dart, with bondage eliminated, possessor of the threefold true knowledge, who has abandoned death;
Worthy of offerings from human beings, the unsurpassed field of merit.
1187.
"These many gods, possessing supernormal power, famous;
Ten thousand gods, all Brahma's chaplains;
Paying homage to Moggallāna, they stand with joined palms.
1188.
"'Homage to you, thoroughbred among men, homage to you, highest of men;
Whose mental corruptions are eliminated, you are worthy of offerings, dear sir.'
1189.
"Venerated by the king, arisen as the conqueror of death;
Like a white lotus by water, he is not tainted by activities.
1190.
"Whose world with its Brahma realm is known in a thousand ways in a moment;
A master in the power of supernormal abilities and in passing away and rebirth, that monk sees the deities at the proper time.
1191.
"Like Sāriputta in wisdom, in morality and in peace;
Even a monk who has gone beyond, this would be his highest.
1192.
"Of a hundred thousand crores, I could create individual existences in a moment;
I am skilled in transformations, I have become a master of supernormal power.
1193.
"Having reached the perfection of mastery in concentration and true knowledge, one of the Moggallāna clan, in the Dispensation of the Unattached;
The wise one, with concentrated faculties, cut off bondage, just as an elephant a rotten creeper.
1194.
"The Teacher has been attended upon by me, the Buddha's teaching has been fulfilled;
The heavy burden has been laid down, the conduit to existence has been uprooted.
1195.
"For whatever purpose I went forth, from home into homelessness;
That purpose has been attained by me, the destruction of all mental fetters.
1196.
"What kind of hell was it, where Dussī was tormented;
Having assaulted the disciple Vidhura, and the brahmin Kakusandha.
1197.
"There were a hundred iron spikes, all causing individual suffering;
Such was the hell, where Dussī was tormented;
Having assaulted the disciple Vidhura, and the brahmin Kakusandha.
1198.
"Whoever directly knows this, a monk, a disciple of the Buddha;
Having assaulted such a monk, Dark One, you undergo suffering.
1199.
"In the middle of the lake stand mansions lasting a cosmic cycle;
Lapis lazuli-coloured, beautiful, flaming, luminous;
Nymphs dance there, many of diverse colours.
1200.
"Whoever directly knows this - etc.
Dark One, you undergo suffering.
1201.
"He who indeed, urged by the Buddha, while the community of monks looked on;
Shook the Migāramātu mansion with his big toe.
1202.
"Whoever directly knows this - etc.
Dark One, you undergo suffering.
1203.
"He who shook the Vejayanta mansion with his big toe,
Supported by the power of supernormal power, he stirred the deities.
1204.
"Whoever directly knows this - etc.
Dark One, you undergo suffering.
1205.
"He who in the Vejayanta mansion questioned Sakka;
'Friend, do you know the liberation through the elimination of craving?'
To him Sakka answered, when asked the question, according to truth.
1206.
"Whoever directly knows this - etc.
Dark One, you undergo suffering.
1207.
"He who questions Brahmā, standing in the Sudhammā assembly hall;
'Do you still today, friend, have that view which you had before;
Do you see the radiance transcending in the Brahma world?'
1208.
"To him Brahmā answered, when asked the question, according to truth;
'I do not have, sir, that view which I had before.
1209.
"'I see the radiance transcending in the Brahma world;
How could I today say, "I am permanent, I am eternal"?'
1210.
"Whoever directly knows this - etc.
Dark One, you undergo suffering.
1211.
"He who touched the peak of great Neru through deliverance;
The forest of the Eastern Videhas, and the men who sleep on the ground.
1212.
"Whoever directly knows this, a monk, a disciple of the Buddha;
Having assaulted such a monk, Dark One, you undergo suffering.
1213.
"Fire indeed does not think, 'I am burning a fool';
But a fool, having approached a blazing fire, is burnt by it.
1214.
"Just so you, Māra, having approached the Tathāgata;
You will burn yourself, like a fool touching fire.
1215.
"Māra generated demerit, having approached the Tathāgata;
What do you think, Evil One, does not my evil ripen?
1216.
"For one who acts, evil is accumulated for you, for a long time, O Death;
Māra, be wearied of the Buddha, do not have hope regarding the monks.
1217.
"Thus the monk threatened Māra, in the Bhesakaḷā Grove;
Then that unhappy demon disappeared right there."
Thus the Venerable Elder Mahāmoggallāna spoke these verses.
The Book of Sixties is concluded.
The summary therein:
In the Book of Sixties, Moggallāna of great supernormal power;
Alone, the verses of the elder, sixty-eight they are.