CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

ANGER.

221. Conquer anger, banish pride; Every fetter cast aside;[1] Clinging not to Name and Form,[2] Him who calleth nought his own Sorrow never shall betide.

222. He who rising wrath restrains, As one checks a whirling team, Him a driver true I deem; Others only hold the reins.

223. Wrath with kindliness allay, To the stingy freely give; Conquer lying words with truth; Evil deeds with good repay.

224. Speak the truth nor vexed be; Give, however scantily. Following these maxims three, Thou the blessed gods shalt see.

225. Sages harm no living thing; Self-restraint accomplishing Such men reach the Deathless Lot,[3] Where all sorrow is forgot.

226. Ever watchful, night and day Learning wisdom never cease; In the one who strives for Peace[4] All the cravings die away.[5]

227. There is a saying, Atula, Of old, not of to-day: "They blame the man who silent sits, Or whose tongue wags alway; And blame the man who keeps the mean; None in the world is blameless seen."

228. There never was, nor will be, sure, Nor lives now among men, A being blamed exclusively, Nor one entirely praised.

229-30. But one whom men of wisdom praise, Watching him day by day, Of faultless life, of holy ways, Thoughtful and wise, like Jambu gold,[6] Who to blame such a saint is bold? Neither the gods, nor e'en Brahmā, From him their praise withhold.

231. 'Gainst angry deeds be on thy guard; In body be composed; All bodily misdeeds discard; With body tread the Way.

232. 'Gainst angry words be on thy guard; In speech be thou composed; All wrongful ways of speech discard; In speech follow the Way.

233. 'Gainst angry thoughts be on thy guard; In thought be thou composed; All wrongful ways of thought discard; In thoughts follow the Way.

234. In body sages are controlled; In thoughts as well as speech; And they are Sages truly called Who are controlled in each.

[1] The Fetters, _saññojanāni_, are ten. These are cast off at different stages of the Path, until perfection is reached.

[2] _Nāma-rūpa_, "abstract and concrete," the five constituents of personality, _viz._, mind and its factors with the four, body, feeling, perception, and mental functions.

[3] _Nibbāna_, 'the changeless, _accutaṁ_'.

[4] idem.

[5] idem.

[6] A precious gold from the Jambu river; others say, like rose apple in colour.