Translating Classical Buddhism to Modern English

The Related Discourses

5. Elements

（四四八）有偈 5 (448). With Verse
如是我聞： 一時，佛住王舍城迦蘭陀竹園⋯如上廣說已⋯即說偈言： 1. Thus I have heard:1 One time, the Buddha was staying at the Squirrel Bamboo Park of Rājagṛha … recited in full as in SĀ 5.4 above … He then spoke these verses:
  • 「常會故常生；
    相離生則斷。
    如人執小木
    而入於巨海，
    人木則俱沒，
    懈怠俱亦然。
  • “One is always born with those one always associates;
    Separated from each other, birth then ends.
    Like someone who clings to a small log
    And enters the vast ocean,
    When the person and log both sink,
    It’s the same when both are lazy.
  • 當離於懈怠，
    卑劣之精進。
    賢聖不懈怠；
    安住於遠離。
  • One should part with someone lazy
    Whose effort is very weak.
    The noble person isn’t lazy;
    They stand securely far from it.
  • 慇懃精進禪，
    超度生死流。
    膠漆得其素，
    火得風熾然。
  • They diligently make effort in meditation,
    And ford across the stream of birth and death.
    Sticking together, they obtain their brightness,
    As a fire burns hot in the wind.
  • 珂乳則同色，
    眾生與界俱。
    相似共和合，
    增長亦復然。」
  • Shells and milk have the same color,
    As beings go with their elements.
    Resembling each other, they unite
    And grow larger in the same way.”

Notes

  1. This is sūtra no. 448 in the Taisho edition and no. 696 in Yinshun (T99.2.115b24-c5, Y30.162a2-8).

    The prose of this sūtra was abbreviated because it’s identical to the previous sūtra, SĀ 5.4. To this same prose, verses have been added at the end. The concluding verses are in turn identical to those found in SĀ 5.3. See the notes to those two sūtras for a discussion of the parallels that are relevant for the prose and verse parts of this sūtra. [back]

Translator: Charles Patton

Last Revised: 1 February 2026

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