EARNESTNESS AND THOUGHTLESSNESS

                                              NIRVANA AND THE DEATH

                  EARNESTNESS IS THE PATH OF IMMORTALITY(NIRVANA), THOUGHTLESSNESS THE PATH OF DEATH. THOSE WHO ARE IN EARNEST DO NOT DIE, THOSE WHO ARE THOUGHTLESSNESS ARE AS IF DEAD ALREADY. HAVING UNDERSTOOD THIS CLEARLY, THOSE WHO ARE ADVANCED IN EARNESTNESS DELIGHT IN EARNESTNESS, AND REJOICE IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE ELECT. THESE WISE PEOPLE, MEDITATIVE, STEADY, ALWAYS POSSESSED OF STRONG POWERS, ATTAIN TO NIRVANA, THE HIGHEST HAPPINESS. IF AN EARNEST PERSON HAS ROUSED HIMSELF, IF HE IS NOT FORGETFUL, IF HIS DEEDS ARE PURE, IF HE ACTS WITH CONSIDERATION, IF HE IS RESTRAINS HIMSELF, AND LIVES ACCORDING TO LAW- THEN HIS GLORY WILL INCREASE. 

                 BY ROUSING HIMSELF, BY EARNESTNESS BY RESTRAINT AND CONTROL, THE WSE MAN MAY MAKE FOR HIMSELF, AN ISLAND WHICH NO FLOOD CAN OVERWHELM. FOOLS FOLLOW AFTER VANITY. THE WISE MAN KEEPS EARNESTNESS AS HIS BEST JEWEL. FOLLOW NOT AFTER VANITY, NOR AFTER THE ENJOYMENT OF LOVE AND LUST! HE WHO  IS EARNEST AND MEDITATIVE, OBTAINS AMPLE JOY. WHEN THE LEARNED MAN DRIVES AWAY VANITY BY EARNESTNESS, HE THE WISE, CLIMBING THE TERRACED HEIGHTS OF WISDOM, LOOKS DOWN UPON THE FOOLS, FREE FROM SORROW HE LOOKS UPON THE SORROWING CROWD, AS ONE THAT STANDS ON A MOUNTAIN LOOKS DOWN UPON THEM THAT STAND UPON THE PLAIN.
            EARNEST AMONG THE THOUGHLESS, AWAKE AMONG THE SLEEPERS, THE WISE MAN ADVANCES LIKE A RACER. LEAVING BEHIND THE HACK. BY EARNESTNESS DID MAGHAVAN (INDRA) RISE TO THE LORDSHIP OF THE GODS. PEOPLE PRAISE EARNESTNESS, THOUGHTLESSNESS IS ALWAYS BLAMED.

              A BHIKSHU(MENDICANT) WHO DELIGHTS IN EARNESTNESS, WHO LOOKS WITH FEAR ON THOUGHTLESSNESS, MOVES ABOUT LIKE FIRE, BURNING ALL HIS FETTERS, SMALL OR LARGE. A BHIKSHU(MENDICANT) WHO DELIGHTS IN REFLECTION, WHO LOOKS WITH FEAR ON THOUGHTLESSNESS, CANNOT FALL AWAY FROM HIS PERFECT STATE-HE IS CLOSE UPON NIRVANA.

                                                                      FLOWERS

                      WHO SHALL OVERCOME THIS EARTH, AND THE WORLD OF YAMA, THE LORD OF THE DEPARTED, AND THE WORLD OF THE GODS? WHO SHALL FIND OUT THE PLAINLY SHOWN PATH OF VIRTUE, AS A CLEVER MAN FINDS THE RIGHT FLOWER? THE DISCIPLINE WILL OVERCOME THE EARTH, AND THE WORLD OF YAMA, AND THE WORLD OF THE GODS. THE DISCIPLINE WILL FIND OUT THE PLAINLY SHOWN PATH OF VIRTUE, ASA CLEVER MAN FINDS THE RIGHT FLOWER. HE WHO KNOWS THAT THIS BODY IS LIKE FROTH, AND HAS LEARNT THAT IT IS AS UNSUBTANTIAL AS A MIRAGE, WILL BREAK THE FLOWER-POINTED ARROW OF MARA AND NEVER SEETHE KING OF DEATH.

                  DEATH CARRIES OFF A MAN WHO IS GATHERING FLOWER, AND WHOSE MIND IS DISTRACTED, AS A FLOOD CARRIES OFF A SLEEPING VILLAGE. DEATH SUBDUES A MAN WHO IS GETHERING FLOWERS, AND WHOSE MIND IS DISTRACTED, BEFORE HE IS SATIATED IN HIS PLEASURE. AS THE BEE COLLECTS NECTAR AND DEPARTS WITHOUT INJURING THE FLOWER, OR ITS COLOR OR SCENT, SO LET A SAGE DWELL IN HIS VILLAGE.

                 NOT THE PERVERSITIES OF OTHERS, NOT THEIR SINS OF COMMISSION OR OMISSION, BUT HIS OWN MISDEEDS AND NEGLIGENCES SHOULD A SAGE TAKE NOTICE OF.  LIKE A BEAUTIFUL FLOWER, FULL OF COLOR, BUT WITHOUT SCENT, ARE THE FINE BUT FRUITLESS WORDS OF HIM WHO DOES NOT ACT ACCORDINGLY. AS MANY KINDS OF WREATHS CAN BE MADE FROM A HEAP OF FLOWERS, SO MANY GOOD THINGS MAY BE ACHIEVED BY A MORTAL WHEN ONCE HE IS HORN. THE SCENT OF FLOWERS DOES NOT TRAVEL AGAINST THE WIND, NOR THAT OF SANDAL-WOOD, OR OF TAGARA AND MALLIKA FLOWERS, BUT THE ODOR OF GOOD PEOPLE TRAVELS EVEN AGAINST THE WIND, A GOOD MAN PERVADES EVERY PLACE. SANDAL-WOOD OR TAGARA, A LOTUS-FLOWER, OR A VASSIKI, AMONG THESE SORTS OF PERFUMES, THE PERFUME OF VIRTUE IS UNSURPASSED. 

                 

               MEAN IS THE SCENT THAT COMES FROM TAGARA AND SANDAL-WOOD THE PERFUME OF THOSE WHO POSSESS VIRTUE RISES UP TO THE GODS AS THE HIGHEST. OF THE PEOPLE WHO PASSES THESE VIRTUES, WHO LIVE WITHOUT THOUGHTLESSNESS, AND WHO ARE EMANCIPATED THROUGH TRUE KNOWLEDGE, MARA, THE TEMPTER, NEVER FINDS THE WAY. AS ON A HEAP OF RUBBISH CAST UPON THE HIGHWAY THE LILY WILL GROW FULL OF SWEET PERFUME AND DELIGHT, THUS AMONG THOSE WHO ARE MERE RUBBISH THE DISCIPLE OF THE TRULY ENLIGHTENED BUDDHA SHINES FORTH BY HIS KNOWLEDGE ABOVE THE BLINDED WORLDLING.