Through many a birth in samsara
have I wandered in vain,
seeking the builder of this house of life.
Repeated birth is indeed suffering.
O house-builder, you are seen!
You will not build this house again.
For your rafters are broken
and your ridgepole shattered.
My mind has reached the unconditioned;
I have attained the destruction of craving.
_______________________
A Commentary on the verses:
These two verses, the first paean of joy uttered by the Buddha immediately after his Awakening, are not found in any other place in the canon. Venerable Ananda heard them from the mouth of the Buddha. The compilers of the Dhammapada have inserted them here.
With these words, the Buddha speaks of his past wandering and the suffering he encountered.
Siddhartha discovered, by his own intuitive wisdom, that the elusive architect is not some outside being, but his own craving and attachment.
This discovery lead to Siddhartha's Awakening and becoming the Buddha.
The rafters of this self-created house (rebirth) are defilements. The ridgepole is ignorance, the root of all defilements.
The shattering of the ridgepole of ignorance by wisdom results the end of construction (rebirth).
With the demolition the house, the Mind attains the Unconditioned, which is Nirvana.
---Hung Su---
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