Who will penetrate this earth
& this realm of death
with all its gods?
Who will ferret out
the well-taught Dhamma-saying,
as the skillful flower-arranger
	the flower?

The learner-on-the-path
will penetrate this earth
& this realm of death
with all its gods.
The learner-on-the-path
will ferret out
the well-taught Dhamma-saying,
as the skillful flower-arranger
	the flower.

Knowing this body
is like foam,
realizing its nature
	— a mirage —
cutting out
the blossoms of Mara,
you go where the King of Death
	can't see.

The man immersed in
gathering blossoms,
his heart distracted:
death sweeps him away —
	as a great flood,
	a village asleep.

The man immersed in
gathering blossoms,
his heart distracted,
insatiable in sensual pleasures:
the End-Maker holds him
under his sway.

As a bee — without harming
	the blossom,
	its color,
	its fragrance —
takes its nectar & flies away:
so should the sage
go through a village.

Focus,
not on the rudenesses of others,
not on what they've done
	or left undone,
but on what you
have & haven't done
	yourself.

Just like a blossom,
bright colored
	but scentless:
a well-spoken word
	is fruitless
when not carried out.

Just like a blossom,
bright colored
	& full of scent:
a well-spoken word
	is fruitful
when well carried out.

Just as from a heap of flowers
many garland strands can be made,
	even so
one born & mortal
	should do
 — with what's born & is mortal —
	many a skillful thing.

No flower's scent
goes against the wind —
	not sandalwood,
	   jasmine,
	   tagara.
But the scent of the good
does go against the wind.
The person of integrity
wafts a scent
in every direction.

Sandalwood, tagara,
lotus, & jasmine:
Among these scents,
the scent of virtue
is unsurpassed.

Next to nothing, this fragrance
 — sandalwood, tagara —
while the scent of the virtuous
wafts to the gods,
	supreme.

Those consummate in virtue,
dwelling    in heedfulness,
released    through right knowing:
Mara can't follow their tracks.

As in a pile of rubbish
cast by the side of a highway
	a lotus might grow
	clean-smelling
	pleasing the heart,
so in the midst of the rubbish-like,
people run-of-the-mill & blind,
	there dazzles with discernment
	the disciple of the Rightly
	Self-Awakened One.