All that we are is the result of
our thoughts; it is founded on our thoughts and made up of our
thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. If you speak or
act with a harmful thought, trouble will follow you as the wheel
follows the ox that draws the cart.
All that we are is the result of our thoughts; it is founded on
our thoughts and made up of our thoughts. With our thoughts we
make the world. If you speak or act with a harmonious thought,
happiness will follow you as your own shadow, never leaving you.
-Dhammapada
As a tree with strong uninjured roots, though cut down, grows up
again, so, when deep craving is not rooted out, suffering arises
again and again. -Dhammapada
Attentiveness is the path to true life;
Indifference is the path to death.
The attentive do not die;
The indifferent are as if they are dead already.
-Dhammapada
' Best among paths is the eightfold path. Best among thruths are
the
thruths in four lines. Best of all Dharmas is freedom from
desire. Best
among two-footed beings is the one with Vision. ' Dhammapada
All tremble when there is a weapon,
Everyone fears death;
Feeling for others as for oneself,
One should neither kill nor cause to kill.
-Dhammapada>
As rain seeps into
an ill-thatched hut,
so passion,
the undeveloped mind.
As rain doesn't seep into
a well-thatched hut,
so passion does not,
the well-developed mind.
-Dhammapada, 1, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
When the wise person drives out
heedlessness
with heedfulness,
having climbed the high tower
of discernment,
sorrow-free,
he observes the sorrowing crowd--
as the enlightened man,
having scaled
a summit,
the fools on the ground below.
-Dhammapada, 2, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Whatever an enemy might do
to an enemy,
or a foe to a foe,
the ill-directed mind
can do to you
even worse.
Whatever a mother, father
or other kinsman
might do for you,
the well-directed mind
can do for you
even better.
-Dhammapada, 3, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Knowing this body
is like a clay jar,
securing this mind
like a fort,
attack Mara
with the spear of discernment,
then guard what's won
without settling there,
without laying claim.
-Dhammapada, 3, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Just as from a heap of flowers
many garland strands can be made,
even so
one born & mortal
should do
--with what's born & is mortal--
many a skillful thing.
-Dhammapada, 4, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
An evil deed, when done,
doesn't--like ready milk--
come out right away.
It follows the fool,
smoldering
like a fire
hidden in ashes.
-Dhammapada, 5, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
The path to material gain
goes one way,
the way to Unbinding,
another.
Realizing this, the monk,
a disciple to the Awakened One,
should not relish offerings,
should cultivate seclusion
instead.
-Dhammapada, 5, translated by Thanissaro BBhikkhu
Forsaking dark practices,
the wise person
should develop the bright,
having gone from home
to no-home
in seclusion, so hard to enjoy.
There he should wish for delight,
discarding sensuality--
he who has nothing.
He should cleanse himself--wise--
of what defiles the mind.
-Dhammapada, 6, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Greater in battle
than the man who would conquer
a thousand-thousand men,
is he who would conquer
just one--
himself.
-Dhammapad, 8, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Don't associate with lowly qualities.
Don't consort with heedlessness.
Don't associate with wrong views.
Don't busy yourself with the world.
Get up! Don't be heedless.
Live the Dhamma well.
One who lives the Dhamma
sleeps with ease
in this world & the next.
-Dhammapada, 13,, translation by Thanissarro Bhikkhu
Hunger: the foremost illness.
Fabrications: the foremost pain.
For one knowing this truth
As it actually is,
Unbinding
Is the foremost ease.
Freedom from illness: the foremost good fortune.
Contentment: the foremost wealth.
Trust: the foremost kinship.
Unbinding: the foremost ease.
-Dhammapada, 15,, translated by Thanissaroo Bhikkhu
Winning gives birth to hostility.
Losing, one lies down in pain.
The calmed lie down with ease,
having set
winning & losing
aside.
-Dhammapada, 15, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Drinking the nourishment,
the flavor,
of seclusion & calm,
one is freed from evil, devoid
of distress,
refreshed with the nourishment
of rapture in the Dhamma.
-Dhammapada, 16, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Having applied himself
to what was not his own task,
and not having applied himself
to what was,
having disregarded the goal
to grasp at what he held dear,
he now envies those
who kept after themselves,
took themselves
to task.
-Dhammapada, 16, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
There's no one unfaulted in the world.
There never was,
will be,
nor at present is found
anyone entirely faulted
or entirely praised.
-Dhammapada, 17, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
By telling the truth;
by not growing angry;
by giving, when asked,
no matter how little you have:
by these three things
you enter the presence of devas.
-Dhammapada, 17, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Conquer anger
with lack of anger;
bad, with good;
stinginess, with generosity;
a liar, with truth.
-Dhammapada, 17, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Abandon anger,
Be done with conceit,
Get beyond every fetter.
When for name & form
You have no attachment
--have nothing at all--
no sufferings, no stresses, invade.
-Dhammapada 17, translated by Thanissaro BBhikkhu
When you see with discernment,
'All fabrications are inconstant'--
you grow disenchanted with stress.
This is the path to purity.
When you see with discernment,
'All fabrications are stressful'--
you grow disenchanted with stress.
This is the path to purity.
When you see with discernment,
'All phenomena are not-self'--
you grow disenchanted with stress.
This is the path
to purity.
-Dhammapada, 20, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
From striving comes wisdom;
from not, wisdom's end.
Knowing these two courses
--to development
decline--
conduct yourself
so that wisdom will grow.
-Dhammapada, 20, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Attention is living; inattention is dying.
The attentive never stop; the inattentive are dead already.
-Dhammapada 21, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Just as sharp-bladed grass,
if wrongly held,
wounds the very hand that holds it--
the contemplative life, if wrongly grasped,
drags you down to hell.
-Dhammapada, 22, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
I--like an elephant in battle,
enduring an arrow shot from a bow--
will endure a false accusation,
for the mass of people
have no principles.
The tamed is the one
they take into assemblies.
The tamed is the one
the king mounts.
The tamed who endures a false accusation
is, among human beings,
the best.
-Dhammapada, 23,, translated by Thanissaroo Bhikkhu
Riches ruin the man
weak in discernment,
but not those who seek
the beyond.
Through craving for riches
the man weak in discernment
ruins himself
as he would others.
-Dhammapada, 24, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
When a person lives heedlessly,
his craving grows like a creeping vine.
He runs now here
& now there,
as if looking for fruit:
a monkey in the forest.
If this sticky, uncouth craving
overcomes you in the world,
your sorrows grow like wild grass
after rain.
If, in the world, you overcome
this uncouth craving, hard to escape,
sorrows roll off you,
like water beads off
a lotus.
-Dhammapada, 24, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
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