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Saturday, December 11, 2010

Dhammapada - Chapter 7 - Arahants

The 7th Chapter of Dhammapada talks in depth about Arahants. Arahant, in Buddhism, signifies a spiritual practitioner who has realized certain high stages of attainment. The verses explain all about the character and activities of a person who has attained enlightenment. They say that the Arahants are at the end of their journey in the life and death cycle and their quest for liberation has succeeded. They are sorrow-less and totally released in mind. They have got rid of all knots and no bonds bind them. No anxiety exists in them. Those mindful ones make the effort to keep their attentiveness always in trim. They are not at all attached to abodes or settlements.


The verses further say that those whose senses are calmed like a horse trained by a horse-tamer, who have fully given up judgment, who is free of influences, the sight of those mentally stable ones please even the gods.
The Arahant has no faith but in himself. He is aware of deathlessness - the unconditioned. He is a breaker of connections, because he has severed all worldly links. He has destroyed all the opportunities for rebirth. He has given up all desires. Because of these the Arahant is truely noble person.     

There are 10 verses in this chapter as quoted below:

Verse 90
In one who has gone the full distance,
is free from sorrow,
is fully released in all respects,
has abandoned all bonds:
no fever is found.

Verse 91
The mindful keep active,
don't delight in settling back.
They renounce every home,
every home,
likes swans taking off from a lake.

Verse 92
Not hoarding, having understood food,
their pastures -  emptiness 
and freedom without sign:
their trail,
like that of birds through space
can't be traced.

Verse 93
Effluents ended, independent of nutriment,
their pastures - emptiness
and freedom without sign:
their trail,
like that of birds through space
can't be traced.

Verse 94
He whose senses are steadied
like stallions well trained by charioteers,
his conceit abandoned,
free of effluent,
Such: even devas adore him.

Verse 95
 Like the earth, he doesn't react - 
cultured , Such, like Indra's pillar,
like a lake free of mud.
For him - Such - there's no travelling on.

Verse 96
Calm is his mind,
calm is his speech and his deed:
one who's released through right knowing,
pacified Such.

Verse 97
The man
faithless / beyond conviction
ungrateful / knowing the Unmade
a burglar / who has severed connections
who has destroyed his chances / conditions
who eats vomit: has disgorged expectations :
the ultimate person.

Verse 98
In village or wilds,
valley, plateau:
that place is delightful
where arahants dwell.

Verse 99
Delightful wilds
where the crowds don't delight 
those free from passion delight,
for they're not searching
for sensual pleasures. 

Chapter 8 will be continued in the next blog post.

For further reading:
The Dhammapada (Penguin Classics)
The Dhammapada
The Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha (Oxford World's Classics)
The Dhammapada (Book and Audio-CD Set): Teachings of the Buddha
The Dhammapada: Verses on the Way (Modern Library Classics)
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