If, whether for his own sake, or for the sake of others, a man wishes
neither for a son, nor for wealth, nor for lordship, and if he does not
wish for his own success by unfair means, then he is good, wise, and
virtuous.
Few are there among men who arrive at the other shore (become Arhats);
the other people here run up and down the shore.
But those who, when the law has been well preached to them, follow the
law, will pass over the dominion of death, however difficult to cross.
A wise man should leave the dark state of ordinary life, and follow the
bright state of the Bhikshu. After going from his home to a homeless
state, he should in his retirement look for enjoyment where enjoyment
seemed difficult. Leaving all pleasures behind, and calling nothing his
own, the wise man should purge himself from all the troubles of the
mind.
Those whose mind is well grounded in the seven elements of knowledge,
who without clinging to anything, rejoice in freedom from attachment,
whose appetites have been conquered, and who are full of light, they are
free even in this world.
CHAPTER VII
THE VENERABLE
There is no suffering for him who has finished his journey, and
abandoned grief, who has freed himself on all sides, and thrown off all
fetters.
They exert themselves with their thoughts well-collected, they do not
tarry in their abode; like swans who have left their lake, they leave
their house and home.
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