The Three Higher Trainings — A Poem

A contemplative journey through ethics, concentration, and wisdom

In the valley where quiet minds roam,
Where thoughts find shelter and hearts find home,
A traveller walked with a lantern bright,
Seeking the path from shadow to light.

He carried no gold, no claim, no name—
Just the subtle ache of the inner flame;
A whisper urging him to see
The truth behind conventional reality.

1. Training in Ethics

He first met Ethics, gentle and wise,
A guardian standing beneath the skies.
“Walk with care,” he said, “and let each deed
Be shaped by kindness, not by greed.

For every action plants a seed—
A future mind, a future need.
Choose well, and suffering will fade;
Choose harm, and storms will be made.”

His words were soft, yet firm and clear,
A compass for the traveller’s fear.
He bowed, and with his guiding hand,
He stepped with virtue across the land.

2. Training in Concentration

Then came Concentration, still alone,
A mountain speaking in a silent tone.
“Your mind,” he said, “is a wandering breeze—
It scatters thoughts among the trees.

But breathe, and let the winds grow mild;
Return to presence, calm in the wild.
Hold steady now, like moonlit lakes,
And watch how clarity awakes.”

The traveller sat, the world grew slow,
And from that stillness, peace began to glow.
A single-pointed, quiet stream
Revealed the mind’s unbroken beyond the dream.

3. Training in Wisdom

Last came Wisdom, cloaked in light,
A teacher born from insight’s sight.
“Look deeper now,” he softly said,
“Beyond the stories your thoughts have fed.

See how all things rise and fall—
No self to grasp, no fixedness at all.
The world is woven of empty threads,
Yet luminous in the life it spreads.”

The traveller gazed, and in that view
The old illusions broke in two.
He saw the dance of form and space,
The self unbound, the mind in grace.

The Journey’s End

So he walked on, with heart refined—
Ethics guiding every kind act of mind,
Concentration steady as the dawn,
Wisdom shining where shadows had gone.

And in that path, he came to see
The quiet truth of a deeper reality:
Freedom is not a distant shore—
It lives within the mind’s own core.

Three trainings woven, pure and bright,
A choreography of inner light.
Step by step, the traveller found
The boundless sky within the groundless ground.