A ligament uniting the foot's big toe

With the other toes and an extra finger

May be considered as natural growths,

But they are more than is good for use.

Excrescences and tumours are growths

From the body, which has been moulded

In full accordance with the perfect model,

But they are unnatural additions to it.

It is that the addition to the foot is but

The attachment to it of so much useless flesh

And the addition to the hand is but

The planting on it of a useless outgrowth.

When another toe is united to the big toe,

To divide the membrane makes man weep;

And when there is an extra finger,

To gnaw it off makes one cry out indeed.

In the one case, there is a member too many,

And in the other a member too few, but the pain

And anxiety which they cause is the same;

Hence the Buddha's findings to warn off.

The benevolent men of the present age

Look at the evils of the world as with eyes

Full of dust, being filled up with sorrow by them;

While those who are not benevolent, having violently

Altered the character of their proper nature,

Greedily pursue after riches and respects.

The presumption therefore is simply univocal--

Benevolence is contrary to the primal nature of man:

How full of trouble and contention

Has the world been ever since Heaven and Earth

Were born in the throes of primordial indivisibility!