Chapter 6 – Patience, continued from September 19, 2020 edition Stanzas 54 - 63 of 134
54.
The enmity that others show me,
Since in this or future lives
It cannot actually devour me,
Why should I be so averse to it?
55.
Perhaps I turned from it because
It hinders me from having what I want.
But all my property I’ll leave behind,
While since sins will keep me steady company.
56.
Better far for me to die today,
Than live a long and evil life.
However long the days of those like me,
The pain of dying will be all the same.
57.
One man dreams he lives 100 years
Of happiness, but then he wakes.
Another dreams and instant’s joy,
But then he likewise wakes.
58.
And when they wake, the happiness of both
Is finished, never to return.
Likewise, when the hour of death comes round,
Our lives are over, whether brief or long.
59.
Though we be rich in worldly goods,
Delighting in our wealth for many years,
Despoiled and stripped as though by thieves,
We must go naked and with empty hands.
60.
Perhaps we’ll claim that by our wealth we live,
In living, gather merit, dissipating evil.
But if we are aggressive for the sake of profit,
Won’t our gains be evil, all our merits lost?
61.
And if the aim for which we live
Is thereby wasted and undone,
What use is there in living thus?
When evil is the only consequence?
62.
And is, when people slander us,
We claim our anger is because they injure others,
How is it we do not resent
Their slander when it’s aimed at someone else?
63.
And if we bear with this antipathy
Because it’s due to other factors,
Why are we impatient when they slander us?
Defilement, after all, has been the cause of it.
(Chapter on Patience to be continued)
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