Thag 2.16 — Mahākāḷa

English translation by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.

Translation

Text

Thag 2:16 Mahākāla

This swarthy woman
[preparing a corpse for cremation]
    —crow-like, enormous—
breaking a thigh & then the other
    thigh,
breaking an arm & then the other
            arm,
cracking open the head,
    like a pot of curds,
she sits with them heaped up beside her.

Whoever, unknowing,
makes acquisitions
    —the fool—
returns over & over
to suffering & stress.
So, discerning,
don’t make acquisitions.
    May I never lie
    with my head cracked open
        again.