Foolish Mind (Man Murkha)
by Bhikshu Subodhanand 

chorus:

Oh foolish mind, how many times you have gone round (in samsara),
Saying and saying you’ll find happiness? It is suffering you have known.

You think you’ll get happiness from all the things under the sun,
You wander around, overwhelmed by desires, one engendering another,
You have been burned by the heat of passion’s fire,
You cry and cry because you lack understanding. (1)

You go out to obtain the things that you desire,
But out there you are struck by the arrow of hatred.
You suffer, oh, oh, hit by sin’s flame,
You have been blinded by the net of delusion. (2)

Now that’s enough of confusion, oh, foolish mind,
A birth like this one will be hard to achieve again,
Hard to cross is this samsara in form like the Ganges,
Your birth as a man is your boat to get across. (3)

How long will you last, with your lack of wisdom?
Follow the path of wisdom, and experience bliss.
Lord Buddha told it all,
Let your conduct be good and, see, you’ll get liberation. (4)
(Dhammalok & Amritanand 1984: 14)