Theragāthā 207
Verses of the Senior Monks 5.10
The Book of the Fives
Chapter One
Yasadatta
1 With fault-finding mind, the simpleton
listens to the victor’s instruction.
They’re as far from the true teaching
as the earth is from the sky.
2 With fault-finding mind, the simpleton
listens to the victor’s instruction.
They fall away from the true teaching,
like the moon in the waning fortnight.
3 With fault-finding mind, the simpleton
listens to the victor’s instruction.
They wither away in the true teaching,
like a fish in a little puddle.
4 With fault-finding mind, the simpleton
listens to the victor’s instruction.
They don’t thrive in the true teaching,
like a rotten seed in a field.
5 But one with contented mind
who listens to the victor’s instruction—
having wiped out all defilements;
having witnessed the unshakable;
having arrived at ultimate peace—
the undefiled are fully extinguished.