Everything is burning (tr Jonathan Vold)
Everything is burning, holy ones.
And what is everything?
The eye, holy ones, is on fire;
the forms that pass it by are on fire;
the eye’s own awareness is on fire;
the impressions it receives are on fire,
and every sensation spawned
by the need for those impressions:
all pleasure, pain and numbness is on fire.
And how does the fire burn?
With the fires of passion:
passion burns the eye, holy ones,
with fires of hate and lust
and fires of delusion,
fires of birth and age, death and sorrow,
fires of crying and suffering,
grieving and despairing:
the eye with all its passions is on fire.
And not only the eye, holy ones,
but the ear is on fire and all that can be heard
is burning;
the nose is on fire and all that can be smelled
is burning;
the tongue is on fire and all that can be tasted
is burning;
the body is on fire and all that can be touched
is burning.
And sensing this, holy ones,
the wise and honorable disciple
learns to turn away:
he turns away from the eye
turns away from the forms,
turns away from awareness,
from impressions
and from every sensation spawned
by the need for those impressions,
turns away from all that is
pleasant, painful or numb;
he learns to turn away
from the ear and from what it hears,
from the nose and from what it smells,
from the tongue and from what it tastes,
from the body and from all that it can touch;
he learns to turn away from the mind
and from ideas,
from the mind’s awareness,
from impressions
and from the sensations spawned
by the need for those impressions;
he turns away from all that is
pleasant, painful or numb.
And by turning away, holy ones,
the disciple gives up all passions,
and when he leaves the fires of passion he is free:
and being free he knows that he is free:
he knows his birth is finally exhausted,
his holy life lived, his duty done,
and finally, holy ones,
he is no more for this world.
