The Dhammapada  – Translated by Thomas Byrom

16. Pleasure

Do not let pleasure distract you
From meditation, from the way.

Free yourself from pleasure and pain.
For in craving pleasure or in nursing pain
There is only sorrow.

Like nothing lest you lose it,
Lest it bring you grief and fear.
Go beyond likes and dislikes.

From passion and desire,
Sensuousness and lust,
Arise grief and fear.
Free yourself from attachment.

He is pure, and sees.
He speaks the truth, and lives it.
He does his own work.
So he is admired and loved.

With a determined mind and undesiring heart
He longs for freedom.
He is called uddhamsoto –
“He who goes upstream.”

When a traveler at last comes home
From a far journey,
With what gladness
His family and friends receive him!

Even so shall your good deeds
Welcome you like friends
And with what rejoicing
When you pass from one life to the next!