From far Kosala, rich Sudata came,
Friend of the destitute and orphans called.
In houses rich, and rich in lands and gold,
But richer far in kind and gracious acts,
Who stopped in Rajagriha with a friend.
But when he learned a Buddha dwelt so near,
And heard the gracious doctrine he proclaimed,
That very night he sought the bamboo-grove,
While roofs and towers were silvered by the moon,
And silent streets in deepest shadows lay,
And bamboo-plumes seemed waving silver sprays,
And on the ground the trembling shadows played.
Humble in mind but great in gracious deeds,
Of earnest purpose but of simple heart,
The master saw in him a vessel fit
For righteousness, and bade him stay and learn
His rules of grace that bring Nirvana's rest.
And first of all the gracious master said:
"This restless nature and this selfish world
Is all a phantasy and empty show;
Its life is lust, its end is pain and death.
Waste not your time in speculations deep
Of whence and why. One thing we surely know:
Each living thing must have a living cause,
And mind from mind and not from matter springs;
While love, which like an endless golden chain.
Binds all in one, is love in every link,
Up from the sparrow's nest, the mother's heart,
Through all the heavens to Brahma's boundless love.
And lusts resisted, daily duties done,
Unite our lives to that unbroken chain
Which draws us up to heaven's eternal rest.
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