The sea is not my problem,

My task is not the mountains,

My job is not the earth;

My calling’s rather to attend

That I should never fail

Repaying kindness granted me.

This quotation, from the Verses of Drumsong, King of the Serpentines, is found in a teaching of the Buddha, where he recounts the story of a serpentine king, as an admonition to his monks for quarreling. It can be found in Je Tsongkhapa’s Preparing for Tantra: The Mountain of Blessings.

Page last updated on December 9, 2007 .