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# Thag 6:5 · Māluṅkyaputta
- URL: https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/thag-6-5/
- Published: 2026-06-01T01:14:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-13T16:48:41.000Z
- Description: Theragāthā · Thag 6:5. Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu.
- Author: Ninth Heaven Literature & Arts Association (NHLAA)
- Tags: Buddhism, Sutta Piṭaka, Text, Indian, The Elder Monks, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Theragāthā, Verse, Pali, Early Buddhist, Library

When a person lives heedlessly,

his craving grows like a creeping vine.

He runs now here

& now there,

as if looking for fruit:

a monkey in the forest.

If this sticky, uncouth craving

overcomes you in the world,

your sorrows grow like wild grass

after rain.

If, in the world, you overcome

this uncouth craving, hard to escape,

sorrows roll off you,

like water beads off

a lotus.

To all of you gathered here

I say:

Good fortune.

Dig up craving

—as when seeking medicinal roots, wild grass—

by the root.

Don’t let Māra cut you down

—as a raging river, a reed—

over & over again.[1](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Thag/thag6%5F5.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co)

Do what the Buddha says.

Don’t let the moment pass by.

Those for whom the moment is past

grieve, consigned to hell.[2](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Thag/thag6%5F5.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co)

Heedlessness is dust.

Dust follows on heedlessness.

Through heedfulness, knowledge,

pull out

your own arrow

on your own.

Notes

1\. The verses up to this point = [Dhp 334–337](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/dhp-24/).

2\. See [Dhp 315](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/dhp-22/).

See also: [MN 63](https://www.journal.ninthheaven.co/civilisation/trad-buddhism/mn-63/)

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*Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu. © 2014 / rev. 2017 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu — released under the [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) licence, for free distribution only. Source: [dhammatalks.org](https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Thag/thag6%5F5.html?ref=journal.ninthheaven.co) (Metta Forest Monastery).*