Theragāthā 198

Verses of the Senior Monks 5.1

The Book of the Fives

Chapter One

Rājadatta

1 I, a monk, went to a charnel ground

and saw a woman’s body abandoned there,

dumped in a cemetery,

full of worms that devoured.

2 Some men were disgusted,

seeing her dead and rotten;

but sexual desire arose in me,

I was as if blind to her oozing body.

3 Quicker than the cooking of rice

I left that place!

Mindful and aware,

I retired to a discreet place.

4 Then the realization

came upon me—

the danger became clear,

and I was firmly disillusioned.

5 Then my mind was freed—

behold the clear rightness of the teaching!

I’ve attained the three knowledges

and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.