Chapter 7

The burning fever of passion does not exist for one who has finished his journey (i.e., completed his spiritual evolution), who is free from sorrow, wholly emancipated, and released from all the bonds (of conditionality).

The mindful who leave home do not delight in an abode; like wild geese quitting a lake, they abandon whatever security they have.

Those who do not accumulate (material or mental possessions), who thoroughly understand (the true nature of) the food they eat, and whose range of experience (lit., pasture) is liberation through (the realization of) the Empty (suñña) and Unconditioned (animitta), their path, like that of birds in the sky, is difficult to trace.

He whose impurities are extinct, who is not attached to food, and whose range of experience (lit., pasture) is liberation through (the realization of) the Empty (suñña) and Unconditioned (animitta), his path, like that of birds in the sky, is difficult to trace.

He whose senses are pacified like horses well controlled by the charioteer, who has eradicated conceit and who is free from impurities – the very gods love a man of such (good) qualities (as these).

Like the earth, he offers no opposition; like the main pillar (of the city gate), he stands firm. He is (pure) like a lake free from mud. For a man of such (good) qualities (as these) there are no more wanderings (from life to life).

Tranquil is the thought, tranquil the word and deed, of that supremely tranquil person who is emancipated through Perfect Knowledge.

He is a superior man (uttamaporiso) who does not (merely) believe (but) who knows the Unmade, who has severed all links (with conditioned existence), put an end to the occasions (of good and evil), and who has renounced (lit., vomited up) all worldly hopes.

Whether village or forest, plain or hill, delightful is that spot where the (Supremely) Worthy dwell.

Delightful are the forests where ordinary people find no pleasure. Those who are free from passion delight (in them), (for) they do not go in quest of sensuous enjoyment.