Not to do any evil;

to embrace the good;

to purify one’s mind:

this is the instruction of the Buddhas.

Patient acceptance is the ultimate fervor.

Extinguishment is the ultimate, say the Buddhas.

No true renunciate injures another,

nor does an ascetic hurt another.

Not speaking ill nor doing harm;

restraint in the monastic code;

moderation in eating;

staying in remote lodgings;

commitment to the higher mind—

this is the instruction of the Buddhas.

Even if it were raining money,

you’d not be sated in sensual pleasures.

An astute person understands that sensual pleasures

offer little gratification and much suffering.

Thus they find no delight

even in celestial pleasures.

A disciple of the fully awakened Buddha

delights in the ending of craving.

So many go for refuge

to mountains and forest groves,

to shrines in tended parks;

those people are driven by fear.

But such refuge is no sanctuary,

it is no supreme refuge.

By going to that refuge,

you’re not released from all suffering.

One gone for refuge to the Buddha,

to his teaching and to the Saṅgha,

sees the four noble truths

with right understanding:

suffering, suffering’s origin,

suffering’s transcendence,

and the noble eightfold path

that leads to the stilling of suffering.