When a wise person fully understands that old age and death—
To which an ignorant unawakened person is bound—
Are suffering; and they are mindful, practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.

When attachment, the carrier of suffering,
And craving, the carrier of the suffering of this mass of proliferation,
Are destroyed; and they are mindful, practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.

When the blissful eightfold way,
The supreme path, cleanser of all stains,
Is seen with wisdom; and they are mindful, practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.

When one develops that peaceful state,
Sorrowless, stainless, unconditioned,
Cleanser of all stains, and cutter of fetters and bonds:
There is no greater pleasure than this.

When the thunder-cloud rumbles in the sky,
And the rain falls in torrents on the path of birds everywhere,
And a monk has gone to a mountain cave, practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.

When sitting on a riverbank covered in flowers,
Garlanded with many-coloured forest plants
One is truly happy, practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.

When it is midnight in a lonely forest,
And the sky rains, and the lions roar,
And a monk has gone to a mountain cave, practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.

When one’s own thoughts have stopped,
Meditating between two mountains, sheltered inside a cleft,
Without stress or heartlessness, practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.

When one is happy, destroyer of stains, heartlessness, and sorrow,
Without obstructions, entanglements, and darts,
And with all defilements annihilated, practising jhāna:
There is no greater pleasure than this.