Elephants
Elephants run through this chapter as images of endurance and training. The chapter opens with a speaker resolved to endure abuse as a war elephant endures arrows, and says the person who endures abuse is the best of humans, better than any tamed mule, horse or tusker. A first-person verse says: once my mind wandered as it pleased; now I will guide it as a trainer guides an elephant with a hook. It says to pull yourself out of the pit like an elephant from a bog, and to travel with an alert friend if you find one, otherwise alone. The closing verses list blessings: a friend in need, contentment, serving parents, keeping precepts, gaining wisdom.
A note on these verses. Verse 325 says the overeater who loves sleep “returns to the womb again and again”, a reference to being born again.
Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · public domain (CC0) · about 2 min · on SuttaCentral
320Like an elephant struckwith arrows in battle,I shall endure abuse,for so many folk are badly behaved.
321The well-tamed beast is the one led to the crowd;the tamed elephant’s the one the king mounts;the tamed person who endures abuseis the best of human beings.
322Those who have tamed themselves are betterthan fine tamed mules,thoroughbreds from Sindh,or giant tuskers.
323For not on those mountswould you go to the untrodden place,whereas, with the help of onewhose self is well tamed,you go there, tamed by the tamed.
324The tusker named Dhanapālais musky in rut, hard to control.Bound, he eats not a morsel,for he misses the elephant forest.
325One who gets drowsy from overeating,fond of sleep, rolling round the bedlike a great hog stuffed with grain:that dullard returns to the womb again and again.
326In the past my mind wanderedhow it wished, where it liked, as it pleased.Now I’ll carefully guide it,as a trainer with a hook guides a rutting elephant.
327Delight in diligence!Take good care of your mind!Pull yourself out of this pit,like an elephant sunk in a bog.
328If you find an alert companion,an attentive friend to live happily together,then, overcoming all adversities,wander with them, joyful and mindful.
329If you find no alert companion,no attentive friend to live happily together,then, like a king who flees his conquered realm,wander alone like a tusker in the wilds.
330It’s better to wander alone,there’s no fellowship with fools.Wander alone and do no wrong,at ease like a tusker in the wilds.
331A friend in need is a blessing;it’s a blessing to be content with whatever;good deeds are a blessing at the end of life,and giving up all suffering is a blessing.
332In this world it’s a blessing to serveone’s mother and one’s father.And it’s a blessing also to serveascetics and brahmins.
333It’s a blessing to keep precepts until you grow old;a blessing to be grounded in faith;the getting of wisdom’s a blessing;and it’s a blessing to avoid doing wrong.