Theragāthā 232

Verses of the Senior Monks 9.1

The Book of the Nines

Chapter One

Bhūta

1 When an astute person knows,

“Old age and death are suffering;

yet an ignorant ordinary person is bound to them”,

completely understanding suffering, being mindful,

practicing absorption:

there is no greater pleasure than this.

2 When clinging, the carrier

of suffering,

and craving, the carrier

of this painful mass of proliferation,

are destroyed, and one is mindful,

practicing absorption:

there is no greater pleasure than this.

3 When the eightfold way, so full of grace,

the supreme path, cleanser of all corruptions,

is seen with wisdom; and one is mindful,

practicing absorption:

there is no greater pleasure than this.

4 When one develops that peaceful state,

sorrowless, stainless, unconditioned,

cleanser of all corruptions,

cutter of fetters and bonds:

there is no greater pleasure than this.

5 When the thundercloud rumbles in the sky,

while the rain pours on the path of birds all around,

and a monk has gone to a mountain cave,

practicing absorption:

there is no greater pleasure than this.

6 When sitting on a riverbank covered in flowers,

garlanded with brightly colored forest plants,

one is truly happy,

practicing absorption:

there is no greater pleasure than this.

7 When it is midnight in a lonely forest,

and the lions roar as the heavens pour,

and a monk has gone to a mountain cave,

practicing absorption:

there is no greater pleasure than this.

8 When one’s own thoughts have been cut off,

between the mountains, sheltered inside a cleft,

without stress or heartlessness,

practicing absorption:

there is no greater pleasure than this.

9 When one is happy, destroyer of stains, heartlessness, and sorrow,

free of obstructions, snarls, and thorns,

and with all defilements annihilated,

practicing absorption:

there is no greater pleasure than this.