Verses of the Senior Monks 4.4

The Book of the Fours

Chapter One

Nandaka (2nd)

Curse you mortal frame, you stink!
You’re on Māra’s side, you fester!
O body, you have nine streams
that are flowing all the time.

Don’t think much of mortal frames;
don’t disparage the Realized Ones.
They’re not even aroused by heaven,
let alone by humans.

But those who are fools and simpletons,
with bad advisors, shrouded in delusion,
that kind of person is aroused by bodies,
when Māra has laid down the snare.

Those in whom greed, hate, and ignorance
have faded away;
such people are not aroused by bodies,
they’ve cut the strings, they’re no longer bound.