யாதும் ஊரே யாவரும் கேளிர் தீதும் நன்றும் பிறர்தர வாரா நோதலும் தணிதலும் அவற்றோ ரன்ன சாதலும் புதுவது அன்றே வாழ்தல் இனிதென மகிழ்ந்தன்றும் இலமே முனிவின் இன்னாது என்றலும் இலமே மின்னொடு வானம் தண்துளி தலைஇ யானாது கல்பொருது இரங்கும் மல்லல் பேர்யாற்று நீர்வழிப் படூஉம் புணைபோல் ஆருயிர் முறைவழிப் படூஉம் என்பது திறவோர் காட்சியின் தெளிந்தனம் ஆகலின் மாட்சி எஞ்ஞான்றும் இகழ்ந்தனம் அன்றி அகழ்வாரைத் தாங்கும் நிலம்போல் தொல்லாண்மை மேற்கொண் டேம்.
Every town is my own; every person is kin. Good and evil come not from others — they are within. Pain and its relief are like that too. Death itself is nothing new. We do not rejoice that life is sweet. We do not complain that it is bitter. Like a raft on a great roaring river where lightning-rain falls and boulders thunder — our precious lives move according to their nature. This is what the clear-eyed know. Therefore we have never chased greatness, and we have not bowed to those who would destroy us. Like the earth that bears even those who dig into it, we have taken the old valor as our own.
The cosmopolitan thesis stated as a simple fact, not an aspiration. Every town is already my own. This is not a goal to work toward — it is a perception of what is already true.
The ethical consequence: if belonging is universal, then good and evil are internal matters, not things done to you by strangers. This removes the logic of tribalism at its root.
Equanimity without stoic detachment. We do not perform happiness or unhappiness. We simply live without those performances.
The great image: life as a raft on a flood-river. You cannot fight the current. You can only be clear-eyed about where the river goes. This is not fatalism — it is lucidity.
The political conclusion. 'We have never chased greatness' — meaning: we have not competed for power. 'Like the earth that bears those who dig it' — we endure, with the patient strength of the ground itself. The 'old valor' (tol ānmai) is not martial valor — it is the valor of endurance and clarity.