Theragāthā 216

Verses of the Senior Monks 6.7

The Book of the Sixes

Chapter One

1 Get up, Kātiyāna, and sit!

Don’t sleep too much, be wakeful.

Don’t be lazy and let the kinsman of the negligent,

the King of Death, catch you in his trap.

2 Like a wave in the mighty ocean,

rebirth and old age sweep you under.

Make a safe island of yourself,

for you have no other shelter.

3 The teacher has mastered this path,

which transcends chains,

and the fear of birth and old age.

Be diligent in the first and final watches of the night,

and dedicate yourself to practice.

4 Free yourself from your former bonds!

Wearing your outer robe, with shaven head,

eating almsfood,

don’t delight in play or sleep,

dedicate yourself to absorption, Kātiyāna.

5 Meditate and conquer, Kātiyāna,

you’re an expert in the path

to sanctuary from the yoke.

Having arrived at unexcelled purity,

you’ll be extinguished as a flame by water.

6 A lamp of feeble flame

is bent down by the wind, like a creeper;

just so, kinsman of Indra,

shake off Māra, without grasping.

Free of lust for feelings,

await your time here, cooled.