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Thag 6.9

Jenta, the High Priest’s Son

Purohitaputtajentattheragāthā

from: The Book of the Sixes

Chapter One

Jenta, the High Priest’s Son

I was drunk with the pride of birth
and wealth and authority.
I wandered about intoxicated
with my own gorgeous body.

No-one was my equal or my better—
or so I thought.
I was such an arrogant fool,
stuck up, waving my own flag.

I never paid homage to anyone:
not even my mother or father,
nor others esteemed as respectable.
I was stiff with pride, lacking regard for others.

When I saw the foremost leader,
the most excellent of charioteers,
shining like the sun,
at the fore of the mendicant Saṅgha,

I discarded conceit and vanity,
and, with a clear and confident heart,
I bowed down with my head
to the most excellent of all beings.

The conceit of superiority <j>and the conceit of inferiority
have been given up and eradicated.
The conceit “I am” is cut off,
and every kind of conceit is destroyed.

Translation: German (Ayyā Sabbamittā), English (Bhikkhu Sujato). Source: SuttaCentral / Bilara (public domain, CC0).

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