Songs of the Little Hut
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The sky god rains
but my hut is well thatch'd
draft free, simple
I concentrate my mind —
Rain, sky god
rain
— Godhika
Who dwells in the little hut?
A solitary hermit
He's shed desire
He keeps a sharp mind
Oh his little hut was not
built in vain
— Kutiviharin
You have your old cottage
Now you want a new one
but friend don't you realize
a new cottage is just
further trouble
— Kutiviharin
Irrigators channel the creeks
Fletchers straighten the
arrow shaft
Carpenters bend a plank to their will
Men of character
give shape to the self
— Kula
The seeing one sees both
the one who sees
and the one who doesn't
The one who doesn't see
sees neither
— Vappa
My little hut pleases me
I have no need for women
Let them take their
fine clothes and trouble
somewhere else
— Ramaniyakutika
Addictions he shook off
food, clothes, house, medicine, no longer needed
His birthplace is emptiness
He leaves tracks
like a bird
through the sky
— Vijaya
We dwell alone in the forest
old trees the woodcutter rejected
People look at me
like hell-bound creatures at someone
going to heaven
— Vijjiputta
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Enlightenment Poems from the Theragatha and Therigatha
Songs of the Sons and Daughters of Buddha
translated by Andrew Schelling and Anne Waldman
Shambhala 2020
just be honest — wouldn't you have loved to have written these poems!
