To Our Children

O children! Listen,

Your father is going to confer

To urge you all.

Please remember this

And keep this as a code of conduct;

With eagerness and caution,

You will preserve it,

Each one of you.

Normally, good people,

Those who possess wisdom

And who are of good family,

Do not indulge in boastfulness,

Rivalry, abuse,

The exploitation of others,

Boasting and boasting.

Whenever they go,

To wherever their destination,

They walk like a snake,

Their heads lowered,

Full of disciplines and reserves,

In order to protect their good reputation.

On the other hand, people of low status,

From poor families,

Obtuse and devoid of wisdom,

Walk while swaying,

Holding the arms up,

Quite like a scorpion,

Which, in fact, possesses little venom.

He stands up, chest-thumping,

Does the round back, and raises

Confident in the venom of his sting.

But his body is terribly small,

His energy is feeble:

Even with the poison of his sting,

Still, how much can he sting?

Normally, foul people

Can not be aligned

With good people,

Because they defend their name

Standing above average,

Defend their lineage

And their family’s tradition.

O, my children! Please pay close attention,

Your father will advise you

Following the path

Of gatha pali,

Which go way back to ancient time.

Please, with ardor, retain these counsels,

Each of you, without a difference.

These words form a code

To educate which would lead to success

You, children, in the future.

Your father does not own property

Worth to leave you

Except these counsels

According to the contents of the sacred pali.

The sage says that fire is bright.

Is that not so?

But it is not the equal of the Sun.

He says the Sun’s rays

Are resplendent in the heavens

But are not equal to

The dharma of the Lord Buddha.

The fire blazes with all its might

But at the end of its time it is gone,

Used up, extinguished.

The Sun is brilliant,

Magnificent, it is true

But, when it sets, it is dimmed.

You can not see its light.

Stanzas 1-10 of Chbab Kun Cau (Moral Codes of Conduct: Children

and Grandchildren) Composed in Pad Kakagati (Crowe’s Gait Metre)

17th Century or earlier