239 “The good eat properly obtained
millet, wild grains, broomcorn,
greens, tubers, and squashes.
They don’t lie to get what they want.

240 But when you eat delicious food,
nicely cooked and prepared, and offered by others,
enjoying a dish of fine rice,
Kassapa, you eat putrefaction.

241 ‘Putrefaction is not appropriate for me’—
so you said, kinsman of Brahmā.
Yet here you are enjoying a dish of fine rice,
nicely cooked with the flesh of fowl.
I’m asking you this, Kassapa:
what do you take to be putrefaction?”

242 “Killing creatures, mutilation, murder, abduction;
stealing, lying, cheating and fraud,
learning crooked spells, adultery:
this is putrefaction, not eating meat.

243 People here with unbridled sensuality,
greedy for tastes, mixed up in impurity,
nihilists, immoral, intractable:
this is putrefaction, not eating meat.

244 Brutal and rough backbiters,
pitiless and arrogant betrayers of friends,
misers who never give anything:
this is putrefaction, not eating meat.

245 Anger, vanity, obstinacy, contrariness,
deceit, jealousy, boastfulness,
haughtiness, wicked associates:
this is putrefaction, not eating meat.

246 The ill-behaved, debt-evaders, slanderers,
business cheats and con-artists,
vile men committing depravity:
this is putrefaction, not eating meat.

247 People here who can’t stop harming living creatures,
taking from others, intent on hurting,
immoral, cruel, harsh, lacking regard for others:
this is putrefaction, not eating meat.

248 Greedy, hostile, aggressive to others,
and addicted to evil—those beings pass into darkness,
falling headlong into hell:
this is putrefaction, not eating meat.

249 Not fish or flesh or fasting,
being naked or shaven, or dreadlocks or dirt,
not rough hides or serving the sacred flame,
or the many austerities in the world aimed at immortality,
not hymns or oblations, sacrifices or seasonal observances,
will cleanse a mortal not free of doubt.

250 Guarding the streams of sense impressions, wander with faculties conquered,
standing on the teaching, delighting in sincerity and gentleness.
The wise have escaped their chains and given up all pain;
they don’t cling to the seen and the heard.”

251 The Buddha explained this matter to him again and again,
until the master of hymns understood it.
It was illustrated with colorful verses
by the sage free of putrefaction, unattached, hard to trace.

252 Having heard the fine words of the Buddha,
that are free of putrefaction, getting rid of all suffering;
humbled, he bowed to the Realized One,
and right away begged to go forth.

 

239"Sāmākaciṅgūlakacīnakāni ca,
Pattapphalaṁ mūlaphalaṁ gavipphalaṁ;
Dhammena laddhaṁ satamasnamānā,
Na kāmakāmā alikaṁ bhaṇanti.

240 Yadasnamāno sukataṁ suniṭṭhitaṁ,
Parehi dinnaṁ payataṁ paṇītaṁ;
Sālīnamannaṁ paribhuñjamāno,
So bhuñjasī kassapa āmagandhaṁ.

241 Na āmagandho mama kappatīti,
Icceva tvaṁ bhāsasi brahmabandhu;
Sālīnamannaṁ paribhuñjamāno,
Sakuntamaṁsehi susaṅkhatehi;
Pucchāmi taṁ kassapa etamatthaṁ,
Kathaṁpakāro tava āmagandho".

 

242 "Pāṇātipāto vadhachedabandhanaṁ,
Theyyaṁ musāvādo nikativañcanāni ca;
Ajjhenakuttaṁ paradārasevanā,
Esāmagandho na hi maṁsabhojanaṁ.

243 Ye idha kāmesu asaññatā janā,
Rasesu giddhā asucibhāvamassitā;
Natthikadiṭṭhī visamā durannayā,
Esāmagandho na hi maṁsabhojanaṁ.

244 Ye lūkhasā dāruṇā piṭṭhimaṁsikā,
Mittadduno nikkaruṇātimānino;
Adānasīlā na ca denti kassaci,
Esāmagandho na hi maṁsabhojanaṁ.

245 Kodho mado thambho paccupaṭṭhāpanā,
Māyā usūyā bhassasamussayo ca;
Mānātimāno ca asabbhi santhavo,
Esāmagandho na hi maṁsabhojanaṁ.

246 Ye pāpasīlā iṇaghātasūcakā,
Vohārakūṭā idha pāṭirūpikā;
Narādhamā yedha karonti kibbisaṁ,
Esāmagandho na hi maṁsabhojanaṁ.

247 Ye idha pāṇesu asaññatā janā,
Paresamādāya vihesamuyyutā;
Dussīlaluddā pharusā anādarā,
Esāmagandho na hi maṁsabhojanaṁ.

248 Etesu giddhā viruddhātipātino,
Niccuyyutā pecca tamaṁ vajanti ye;
Patanti sattā nirayaṁ avaṁsirā,
Esāmagandho na hi maṁsabhojanaṁ.

249 Na macchamaṁsānamanāsakattaṁ,
Na naggiyaṁ na muṇḍiyaṁ jaṭājallaṁ;
Kharājināni nāggihuttassupasevanā,
Ye vāpi loke amarā bahū tapā;
Mantāhutī yaññamutūpasevanā,
Sodhenti maccaṁ avitiṇṇakaṅkhaṁ.

250 Sotesu gutto viditindriyo care,
Dhamme ṭhito ajjavamaddave rato;
Saṅgātigo sabbadukkhappahīno,
Na lippati diṭṭhasutesu dhīro".

 

251 Iccetamatthaṁ bhagavā punappunaṁ,
Akkhāsi naṁ vedayi mantapāragū;
Citrāhi gāthāhi munī pakāsayi,
Nirāmagandho asito durannayo.

252 Sutvāna buddhassa subhāsitaṁ padaṁ,
Nirāmagandhaṁ sabbadukkhappanūdanaṁ;
Nīcamano vandi tathāgatassa,
Tattheva pabbajjamarocayitthāti.