Verses of the Senior Monks 3.1

The Book of the Threes

Chapter One

Aṅgaṇikabhāradvāja

Seeking purity the wrong way,
I served the sacred fire in a grove.
Not knowing the path to purity,
I practiced endless mortification.

I’ve gained this happiness by means of happiness:
see the excellence of the teaching!
I’ve attained the three knowledges
and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.

I used to be brahmin only by kin,
but now I really am a brahmin!
I am master of the three knowledges, I’m a bathed initiate,
I’m a scholar and a knowledge master.