我如象戰 不恐中箭 常以誠信 度無戒人 譬象調正 可中王乘 調爲最善 自調待彼 象不食草 若其不飽 如人不達 不得其道
wǒ rú xiàng zhàn bù kǒng zhòng jiàn cháng yǐ chéng xìn dù wú jiè rén bì xiàng diào zhèng kě zhōng wáng chéng diào wéi zuì shàn zì diào dài bǐ xiàng bù shí cǎo ruò qí bù bǎo rú rén bù dá bù dé qí dào
Key Message
As the trained elephant stands fearless under arrows in battle, the self-disciplined practitioner maintains integrity in any environment — for only one who has tamed themselves can truly engage the world.
▸The Nāgavagga (Chapter on the Elephant) uses the elephant — the most powerful and regal creature in the Indian world — as a sustained metaphor for the trained and self-disciplined practitioner.
The Nāgavagga (Chapter on the Elephant) uses the elephant — the most powerful and regal creature in the Indian world — as a sustained metaphor for the trained and self-disciplined practitioner. Like an elephant in battle who feels no fear even when struck by arrows, the practitioner endures in the midst of those without ethical discipline, maintaining sincerity and trustworthiness throughout. As an elephant must be trained before it can bear a king — and a trained elephant is the most useful of all — so too is self-taming (tiáo) the highest good, and only after taming oneself can one rightly engage with others. And just as an elephant that does not eat cannot become full, no person attains the Way without making the effort to reach it.