Thag 14.2 - Thag 14:2 Godatta
Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
Source: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Thag/thag14_2.html
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Copyright: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017
License notice: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.
Attribution: From Handful of Leaves, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu; https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/Ebooks/SuttaPitaka_251113.epub. Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.
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Completeness: ABBREVIATED. Every source-unit character is preserved, including introductions, notes and verse structure. Thanissaro's collection-level note explicitly states that repetitions were cut: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/about.html. This is evidence about the translation method, not an assertion that every individual unit contains an omission; no repetitions reconstructed.

Thag 14:2 Godatta

Just as a fine, well-bred bull
    yoked to a load,
    enduring his load,
            crushed
    by the heavy burden,
        doesn’t throw down his yoke;
so, too, those who are filled with discernment
    —as the ocean, with water—
        don’t look down on others.
This is nobility among beings.

Having fallen in time
    under the sway of time,
having come under the sway
    of becoming & not-,
people fall subject to pain
        & they grieve.

Elated by causes of pleasure,
cast down by causes of pain,
fools are destroyed
        by both,
    not seeing them
    for what they are.
While those who, in the midst of
    pleasure & pain
have gone past the seamstress—craving—,
stand firm
    like a boundary pillar,
    neither elated nor cast down.

Not to gain or loss
not to status or honor,
not to praise or blame,
not to pleasure or pain:
    Everywhere
they do not adhere—
    like a water bead
    on a lotus.
    Everywhere
they are happy, the enlightened,1
    everywhere
        un-
    defeated.

No matter what
    the unrighteous gain
    or the righteous loss,
righteous loss is better
    than if there were unrighteous gain.
No matter what
    the status of the unaware
    or the lowliness of those who know,
the lowliness of those who know
            is better,
    not the status of those
    unaware.
No matter what
    the praise from fools
    or the censure from those who know,
the censure from those who know
            is better
    than if there were praise
    from fools.
And as for the pleasure
    from sensuality
and the pain from seclusion,
    the pain from seclusion
            is better
    than if there were pleasure
    from sensuality.
And as for living through unrighteousness
and dying for righteousness,
    dying for righteousness
            is better,
    than if one were to live
    through unrighteousness.

Those who’ve abandoned
    sensuality & anger,
    whose minds are calmed
    from becoming & non-,
go through the world
            unattached.
For them there is nothing
        dear or undear.
Developing
    the factors for awakening,
    faculties,
    & strengths,
attaining the foremost peace,
they, without effluent,
    totally
    unbind.

Note

1. Reading dhīrā with the Thai and Sinhalese editions. The PTS edition has vīrā, “heroes.”