CHAPTER SEVEN.

THE ARAHAT--THE WORTHY.

90. He for whom life's journey's over, free from sorrow, free from pain Who has all the knots unfastened, suffering knows not again.

91. Household life for them no joys hath; striving and intent in mind As the swan deserts the marshes, every home they leave behind.

92. They who gather up no treasure, feeding on the food that's known,[1] They who range in mind the Void, the unconditioned formless Space, As the bird's path in the ether, so their ways are hard to trace.

93. They whose taints are all evanished, independent of support, They who range in mind the Void, the unconditioned, formless Space, As the bird's path in the ether, so their tracks are hard to trace.

94. He whose senses now are tranquil, like a horse by trainer tamed (Pride struck off, the taints[2] evanished), to the very gods is famed.[3]

95. Like the solid ground unshaken, like the threshold of a door, Like a pool by mud unsullied, such a saint is born no more.

96. Calm the mind of such a being, calm his thoughts and words and deeds, Set free by the perfect knowledge, liberated from life's needs.

97. Self-dependent, self-sufficing, knower of the Uncreate[4] Who hath loosed the bonds of action, from the chain of births set free, All desires are fallen from him, noblest of all beings he.

98. In the village or the forest, on the water or the ground, Where the worthy ones are dwelling, there the earth's delights are found.

99. Ah! delightful are the forests! where the worldling finds no joy, There the passionless find pleasure, whom the senses do not cloy.

[1] literally, 'whose food is thoroughly understood' (as to its properties, qualities and purpose).

[2] The taints, _āsava's_, are three:--_kama_, desire; _bhava_, love of life; _avijjā_, ignorance. A fourth, _ditthi_, the holding of heretical views, is sometimes added. The gods are supposed to be still bound by these, and to envy the emancipated man.

[3] 'famed', literally 'by the gods is envied'.

[4] _Akataññu_, knowing the Unborn, the Eternal, the state of '_Nibbāṇa_', as in v.3 83:, but possibly here the context requires 'ungrateful', _i.e._, not bound by ties of gratitude to anybody.