Texts from the Buddhist canon : commonly known as Dhammapada

1 62 DHAMMAPADA.
layman, and standing by the side of the Bhikshu, repeated
these expostiilatory stanzas :
—
" Shaman ! wHther goest thou ? unguarded
in the workiags of thought. Step by step becom-
ing more immersed in i
the slough, as you follow
your evil purpose. Disgrace not your robes b'y
such evil condilct as you purpose ! Death stares
you in the face as you go forward ! Stem the •
stream (of inclination), pause and reflect, trample
down the lustful desire. A man who does not
destroy desire is led on by one thought alone (to
do this and that, till he destroys and ruins him-
self). Be up then, and dare to do ! Bind thyself
fast. The man who has left home (to become a
Shaman), and yet gives way to idleness and sloth
— ;
whose mind still hankers after impure indulgence ,
—is like the rotten tree against which the wind
blows, which can hardly resist its force, but is soon
blown down."
Then Buddha, having assumed his glorious appearance,
the Bhikshu, ashamed of his weakness, fell down at the
master's feet, and, deeply repenting, soon became a Eahat
and countless others who heard the circumstances, belong-
ing to the Vih§,ra, received divine niumiuation.