Read aloud in “Pamela Weiss Hosts Matty Weingast”
Norman
117. “Having taken pestles, young men grind corn; nourishing wives and children, young men find wealth.
118. “Do the Buddha’s teaching; having done it one does not repent. Wash your feet quickly and sit down on one side. Intent on peace of mind, do the Buddha’s teaching.”
119. They heard her utterance, Paṭācārā’s teaching; they washed their feet and sat down on one side. Intent on peace of mind, they did the Buddha’s teaching.
120. In the first watch of the night they recollected that they had been born before; in the middle watch of the night they purified the divine eye; in the last watch of the night they tore asunder the mass of darkness [of ignorance].
121. Standing up they paid homage to her feet. “We have taken your advice; we shall dwell honouring you like the thirty deities honouring Inda, who is unconquered in battle. We have the triple knowledge; we are without āsavas.”
Weingast
Farmers take grain from the earth
and branches from the trees.
They crack open one with the other
and take what’s left to feed their families.
You are all like unripe grain.
Take time to grow.
Then leave the ground behind
and let your husks be stripped away.
I promise. Less is more.
So Patachara told us.
So we sat on the ground like unripe grain.
We gave ourselves to the Path.
And the Path broke us apart.
What we feared most
is now seen for what it is.
True peace.
Freedom.
All that broke apart
was the darkness
we had for so long
been calling our whole world.