This translation of the Theragāthā was made by Bhikkhu Sujato with Jessica Walton. It is based on the Mahāsaṅgīti edition of the Pali text.

The translation relies heavily on the translation and notes by K.R. Norman for the Pali Text Society, published as Elders’s Verses I, first published 1965. For a few verses we have also consulted translations by Bhikkhu Thanissaro and Bhikkhu Bodhi. In all cases, however, the final translation was made directly from the Pali text.

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Prepared for SuttaCentral by Bhikkhu Sujato.

Theragāthā

Verses of the Senior Monks

Chapter of the Twos

2.19. Nanda

I used my mind unwisely,
I was addicted to ornamentation.
I was vain, fickle,
Tormented by desire for sensual pleasures.

But with the help of the Buddha,
The Kinsman of the Sun, so skilled in means,
I practiced wisely,
And extracted any attachment to being reborn from my mind.