The Finished Journey — The Dhammapada

This chapter paints a person who has finished the hard inner journey. That person has dropped grief, broken free on every side, and thrown off the chains that held them. They leave home and old habits like swans leaving a lake. Their thoughts stay collected. They do not cling to the old life. They may own little and eat simple food, but their path is hard to follow, like birds flying through the air.

Their wants grow quiet. Their senses work like horses trained by a good driver. They are free from pride and greed, and even the gods envy them. They stay patient like the earth and steady like a strong bolt. Their mind stays clear like a lake without mud. Once true knowledge sets them free, their thoughts, words, and deeds all grow quiet.

The person who stops believing every false story, who knows what is uncreated, who cuts ties and drops desire, is called the greatest of people. Wherever these wise ones live, in a village or a forest, that place becomes beautiful. Forests that bore most people can delight someone without passion, because that person is not hunting pleasure the way the world does.