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Thag VI.9
(vv. 423-428)

Jenta, the Royal Chaplain's Son

Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For free distribution only.


	I was
drunk with the intoxication
of my birth, wealth, & sovereignty.
Drunk with the intoxication
of my body's build, coloring, & form,
I wandered about,
regarding no one
as my equal or better,
	foolish, arrogant, haughty,
	my banner held high.
I — disrespectful, arrogant, proud — 
bowed down to no one,
not even mother,
		father,
or those commonly held
in respect.

Then — seeing the ultimate leader,
supreme, foremost of charioteers,
	like a blazing sun,
arrayed with a squadron of monks — 
casting away pride & intoxication
through an awareness serene & clear,
	I bowed down
	my
	head
to him, supreme
among all living beings.

Haughtiness & contempt
	have been abandoned
	— rooted out — 
the conceit "I am" is extracted,
all forms of pride, destroyed.

Revised: Sunday 2005-07-03
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/khuddaka/theragatha/thag-06-09-tb0.html