Thag 3.5 — Mātaṅgaputta

English translation by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.

Translation

Text

Thag 3:5 Mātaṅgaputta

  It’s too cold,
  too hot,
  too late in the evening—
people who say this,
shirking their work:
    The moment passes them by.

Whoever regards cold & heat
as no more than grass,
doing his manly duties,
    won’t fall away
    from ease.

With my chest
I push through wild grasses—
    spear-grass,
    ribbon-grass,
    rushes—
cultivating a heart
        bent on seclusion.