As if close to the head of a snake,
Whoever [wants] to disregard pleasures of the world,
Should establish skill in contemplation.
是欲當遠，
Shì yù dāng yuàn,
如附蛇頭，
rú fù shé tóu,
違世所樂，
wéi shì suǒ lè,
當定行禪。
dāng dìng xíng chán.
Parallel: The Pali Sutta Nipata, Atthakavagga - Chap. 1 Verse 768
Discussion: The character 禪 (chán) in the last line can be translated as meditation but is most commonly used today to refer to the Chan Buddhist school that would come to prominence in the proceeding centuries of Chinese buddhist history. The word itself is the shorten version of 禪那 (chán nuó), being a transliteration of the Sanskrit word for dhyāna (Pali, jhāna). Though, at this early stage of Buddhist transmission from India to China the word was associated with a wider range of Buddhist contemplation including but not exclusively the type of meditation known as dhyāna. It's for this reason I've translated it as contemplation rather than meditation as this captures the more generalised understanding and use of the word in China at that time (see Yuanci).