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DHAMMAPADA. CHAP. XXIV.
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CHAPTER XXIV.
THIRST. 334. The thirst of a thoughtless man grows like a creeper; he runs from life to life, like a monkey seeking fruit in the forest.
335. Whomsoever this fierce thirst overcomes, full of poison, in this world, his sufferings increase like the abounding Birana grass.
336. He who overcomes this fierce thirst, difficult. to be conquered in this world, sufferings fall off from him, like water-drops from a lotus leaf.
337. This salutary word I tell you, 'Do ye, as many as are here assembled, dig up the root of thirst, as he who wants the sweet-scented Usira root must dig up the Birana grass, that Mâra (the tempter) may not crush you again and again, as the stream crushes the reeds.
338. As a tree, even though it has been cut down, is firm so long as its root is safe, and grows again, thus, unless the feeders of thirst are destroyed, this pain (of life) will return again and again.
339. He whose thirst running towards pleasure is exceeding strong in the thirty-six channels, the
334. This is explained by a story in the Chinese translation. Beal, Dhammapada, p. 148.
335. Bîrana grass is the Andropogon muricatum, and the scented root of it is called Usîra (cf. verse 337).
338. On Anusaya, i.e. Anusaya (Anlage), see Wassiljew, Der Buddhismus, p. 240 seq.
339. The thirty-six channels, or passions, which are divided by the commentator into eighteen external and eighteen internal, are
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| SR No. | 007674 |
| Book Title | Dhammapada |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Max Muller |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1881 |
| Total Pages | 2540 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 45 MB |