SN2:22 Khema
- DG BB TBW © Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. (More copyright information)
1Standing to one side, the young deva Khema recited these verses in the presence of the Blessed One:
2v.327 "Foolish people devoid of wisdom
Behave like enemies towards themselves.
They go about doing evil deeds
Which yield only bitter fruit.
3v.328 "That deed is not well performed
Which, having been done, is then repented,
The result of which one experiences
Weeping with a tearful face.
4v.329 "But that deed is well performed
Which, having been done, is not repented,
The result of which one experiences
Joyfully with a happy mind."
[n.173] I follow Se, which adds a terminal ti after the third verse and ascribes the next three verses to the Buddha. No change of speaker is indicated in Be or Ee1.
The Blessed One:
5v.330 "One should promptly do the deed
One knows leads to one's own welfare;
The thinker, the wise one, should not advance
With the reflection of the carter.
6v.331 "As the carter who left the highway,
A road with an even surface,
And entered upon a rugged bypath
Broods mournfully with a broken axle—
7v.332 "So the fool, having left the Dhamma
To follow a way opposed to Dhamma,
When he falls into the mouth of Death
Broods like the carter with a broken axle."
[n.174] ¶¶5–6 are quoted at Mil 66–67. In ¶5c I read with Be, Se, and Ee2 sakaṭikacintaya; manta in pāda d must be the nominative of the agent noun mantar. In ¶6a I follow Se and Ee1 & 2, which read panthaṁ, as against Be maṭṭhaṁ; Mil (Ee and Se) reads nama (a corruption?). Spk glosses pāda d: akkhachinno va jhayati ti akkhachinno avajhayati, which suggests that va is not the emphatic indeclinable but a verbal prefix. Spk, however, takes the va in ¶7 to represent viya. On maccumukha (in ¶7c) as "the mouth of Death" rather than "the face of Death," see Ja IV 271,7, Ja V 479,29, and Vism 233,21–22 (Ppn 8:20).
1Ekamantaṁ ṭhito kho khemo devaputto bhagavato santike imā gāthāyo abhāsi:
2"Caranti bālā dummedhā,
amitteneva attanā;
Karontā pāpakaṁ kammaṁ,
yaṁ hoti kaṭukapphalaṁ.
3Na taṁ kammaṁ kataṁ sādhu,
yaṁ katvā anutappati;
Yassa assumukho rodaṁ,
vipākaṁ paṭisevati.
4Tañca kammaṁ kataṁ sādhu,
yaṁ katvā nānutappati;
Yassa patīto sumano,
vipākaṁ paṭisevati.
5Paṭikacceva taṁ kayirā,
yaṁ jaññā hitamattano;
Na sākaṭikacintāya,
mantā dhīro parakkame.
6Yathā sākaṭiko maṭṭhaṁ,
samaṁ hitvā mahāpathaṁ;
Visamaṁ maggamāruyha,
akkhacchinnova jhāyati.
7Evaṁ dhammā apakkamma,
adhammamanuvattiya;
Mando maccumukhaṁ patto,
akkhacchinnova jhāyatī"ti.