Linked Discourses 1.26

1. A Sword

Lamps

“How many lamps are there

that light up the world?

We’ve come to ask you, worthy sir:

how are we to understand this?”

“There are four lamps in the world,

a fifth is not found.

The sun blazes by day,

the moon radiates at night,

while a fire illuminates both

by day and by night.

But a Buddha is the best of blazes:

this is the supreme radiance.”