“What is the source of light in the world?
What in the world is the wakeful one?
What are the colleagues of those living by work?
What is one’s course of movement?“What nurtures both the slack and active
Just as a mother nurtures her child?
The creatures who dwell on the earth—
By what do they sustain their life?”“Wisdom is the source of light in the world;
Mindfulness, in the world, is the wakeful one;
Cattle are the colleagues of those living by work;
One’s course of movement is the furrow.“Rain nurtures both the slack and active
Just as a mother nurtures her child.
Those creatures who dwell on the earth
Sustain their life by rain.”
sn.1.80 Saṁyutta Nikāya (Linked Discourses)
Source of Light
- Translator: Bhikkhu Bodhi
- Editor: Blake Walsh
Lamp
“What’s the lamp for the world?What in the world is wakeful?
Who are one’s work colleagues?
What is one’s walk of life?
What nurtures the idle and the tireless,
like a mother her child?
By what do the creatures who live off the earth
sustain their life?”
“Wisdom is the lamp for the world.
Mindfulness in the world is wakeful.
Cattle are one’s work colleagues,
and the furrow is one’s walk of life.
Rain nurtures the idle and the tireless,
like a mother her child.
The creatures who live on the earth
sustain their life by rain.”