Verses of the Senior Monks 3.3

The Book of the Threes

Chapter One

Bākula

Whoever wishes to do afterwards

what they should have done before

has lost the causes for happiness,

and afterwards they’re tormented by regrets.

You should only say what you would do;

you shouldn’t say what you wouldn’t do.

The wise will recognize

one who talks without doing.

Oh! Extinguishment is so very blissful,

as taught by the fully awakened Buddha:

sorrowless, stainless, secure,

where suffering all ceases.