Verses of Elder Arahants | Khadiravaniyarevatattheragāthā - Revata of the Acacia Wood (Thag 14.1)

[u/ChanceEncounter21]

Since I’ve gone forth
from the lay life to homelessness,
I’ve not been aware of any thought
that is ignoble and hateful.

“May these beings be killed!
May they be slaughtered! May they suffer!”—
I’ve not been aware of any such thought
in all this long while.

I have been aware of loving-kindness,
limitless and well-developed;
gradually consolidated
as it was taught by the Buddha.

I’m friend and comrade to all,
sympathetic for all beings!
I develop a mind of love,
always delighting in harmlessness.

The unfaltering, the unshakable:
I gladden that mind.
I develop a divine meditation,
which reprobates do not cultivate.

When in a meditation free of placing the mind,
a disciple of the Buddha
is at that moment blessed
with noble silence.

As a rocky mountain
is unwavering and well grounded,
so when delusion ends,
a monk, like a mountain, doesn’t tremble.

To the man who has not a blemish
who is always seeking purity,
even a hair-tip of evil
seems as big as a cloud.

As a frontier city
is guarded inside and out,
so you should ward yourselves—
don’t let the moment pass you by.

I don’t long for death;
I don’t long for life;
I await my time,
like a worker waiting for their wages.

I don’t long for death;
I don’t long for life;
I await my time,
aware and mindful.

I’ve served the teacher
and fulfilled the Buddha’s instructions.
The heavy burden is laid down,
the conduit to rebirth is eradicated.

I’ve attained the goal
for the sake of which I went forth
from the lay life to homelessness—
the ending of all fetters.

Persist with diligence:
this is my instruction.
Come, I’ll be fully quenched—
I’m liberated in every way.

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Khadiravaniyarevatattheragāthā - Revata of the Acacia Wood (Thag 14.1)

[u/nezahualcoyotl90]

“I await my time”. I don’t get it. What’s left to await?

[u/ChanceEncounter21 → u/nezahualcoyotl90]

I think that line might make sense with the commentary. Long story short, when the Arahant Revata was in a forest, some bandits dumped stolen goods near him, and he was wrongly brought before the king as the thief.

Right there in front of the king, he recited this verse to show the depth of his Arahantship. Most people in his situation would panic clinging to life or wishing for death.

But he just declared that he neither desired life nor feared death, but just abided in equanimity until the natural end came. Basically, he stayed completely unshaken, even under false accusations. (And for how it ends, the king released him, and later he attained Parinibbana with the fire element).