I am a water-carrier. Even when it is cold
I must continue to go to the cold water
For fear of the stick of the noble lady
In fear of her abuse and anger.
Brahmin, what is it you fear,
that you always go to bathe in the water,
your arms and legs shaking
In this terrible cold?
‘’Oh, but you already know,
Madam Punnika, when you ask me:
I am making merit
To cover the wrong I have done.
Whoever, whether young or old
Does wrong in the world
By washing in this water
they are set free from that bad kamma.”
“And from whom have you learned this,
– the teaching of one fool to another:
That by washing with water
one is set free from one’s bad kamma?
Why do they not all go to heaven, then –
all the frogs and turtles,
fish, crocodiles,
and all that live in this water?
By washing in water they too should be
set free from all bad kamma.
If these rivers washed away
The wrong acts of the past
then they would also wash away all good
And by this you would go out.
do not do that very thing.
Do not let the cold harm your skin.”
“I have been on the wrong path!
And you have shown me the right one –
Madam I give to you
This washing cloth.
“Keep the cloth for yourself,
I do not need it, I do not want it.
If you fear suffering,
If you hate suffering,
Then do not do wrong
Either publicly or privately.
If you should do a wrong action
Or if you are doing wrong now
Then you will not be free from suffering
Regardless of how you run away.
If you fear suffering,
If you hate suffering,
Then go for refuge to the Buddha, the perfect one –
To his Dhamma, and to the Sangha.
Live by the precepts
It will be for your good and happiness.
“I go for refuge to the Buddha, the perfect one –
To his Dhamma, and to the Sangha.
I will live by the precepts
For my good and for my happiness.
In the past I claimed relation to Brahma –
Now I truly am a Brahman!
I have known the highest truths,
I am a learned one – washed clean.”