35. Chapter 35 - The Houseless Monk

1Learn from me, with attentive minds, the road shown by the wise ones[1], which leads a monk who follows it, to the end of all misery. (1) Giving up the life in a house, and taking Pravrajyā, a sage should know and renounce those attachments which take hold of men. (2)

2A restrained monk should abstain from killing, lying, stealing, carnal intercourse, from desire, love, and greed. (3)

3Even in his thoughts a monk should not long for a pleasant painted house filled with the fragrance of garlands and frankincense, secured by doors, and decorated with a white ceiling-cloth[2]. (4)

4For in such a dwelling a monk will find it difficult to prevent his senses from increased desire and passion. (5)

5He should be content to live on a burial-place, in a deserted house, below a tree, in solitude, or in a place which had been prepared for the sake of somebody else[3]. (6)

6A well-controlled monk should live in a pure place, which is not too much crowded, and where no women live. (7)

7He should not build a house, nor cause others to erect one; for many living beings both movable and immovable, both subtile and gross, are seen to be killed when a house is being built; therefore a monk should abstain from building a house. (8, 9)

8The same holds good with the cooking of food and drink, or with one’s causing them to be cooked. Out of compassion for living beings one should not cook nor cause another to cook. (10)

9Beings which live in water, corn, or in earth and wood, are destroyed in food and drink; therefore a monk should cause nobody to cook. (11)

10There is nothing so dangerous as fire, for it spreads in all directions and is able to destroy many beings; one should therefore not light a fire. (12)

11Even in his thoughts a monk should not long for gold and silver; indifferent alike to dirt and gold he abstains from buying and selling. (13)

12If he buys, he becomes a buyer; if he sells, he becomes a merchant; a monk is not to engage in buying and selling. (14)

13A monk who is to live on alms, should beg and not buy; buying and selling is a great sin; but to live on alms is benefitting. (15)

14He should collect his alms in small parts according to the Sūtras and so as to avoid faults; a monk should contentedly go on his begging-tour, whether he get alms or not. (16)

15A great sage should not eat for the sake of the pleasant taste (of the food) but for the sustenance of life, being not dainty nor eager for good fare, restraining his tongue, and being without cupidity. (17)

16Even in his thoughts he should not desire to be presented with flowers, to be offered a seat, to be eloquently greeted, or to be offered presents, or to get a magnificent welcome and treatment. (18)

17He should meditate on true things only[4], committing no sins and having no property; he should walk about careless of his body till his end arrives. 09)

18Rejecting food when the time of his death arrives, and leaving the human body, he becomes his own master[5], and is liberated from misery. (20)

19Without property, without egoism, free from passions and the Āsravas, he obtains absolute knowledge, and reaches eternal beatitude. (21)

20Parakaḍa = parakṛta, explained parair ātmārthaṃ kṛta.

21Śukla dhyāna, see note 1, p. 200.

22By the destruction of the vīryāntarāya.