The Dhammapada
Words of Truth - Selections from the Dhammapada
Not to do any evil, to cultivate the good, to purify oneβs mind, this is the Teaching of the Buddhas.
To speak no ill will, to do no harm, to practice
self-restraint according to the fundamental precepts, to be moderate in
eating, to live in seclusion, to devote oneself to higher consciousness,
this is the Teaching of the Buddhas.
Fools, men of little intelligence, give themselves
over to negligence, but the wise man protects his diligence as a supreme
treasure.
Give not yourselves unto negligence; have no
intimacy with sense-pleasures. The man who meditates with diligence
attains much happiness.
By endeavour, diligence, discipline and self-mastery, let the wise man make (of himself) an island that no flood can overwhelm.
All (mental) states have mind as their forerunner,
mind is their chief, and they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with a
defiled mind, then suffering follows ..
All (mental) states have mind as their forerunner,
mind is their chief, and they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts, with
a pure mind, happiness follows one as oneβs shadow that does not leave
one.
βHe abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed meβ: the hatred of those who harbour such thoughts is not appeased.
Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world; it is appeased by love. This is an eternal Law.
This fickle, unsteady mind; difficult to guard, difficult to control, the wise man makes straight, as the fletcher the arrow.
Hard to restrain, unstable is this mind; it flits
wherever it lists. Good is it to control the mind. A controlled mind
brings happiness.
He whose mind is unsteady, he who knows not the
Good Teaching, he whose confidence wavers, the wisdom of such a person
does not attain fullness.
Whatever harm a foe may do to a foe, or a hater to another hater, a wrongly-directed mind may do one harm far exceeding these.
Neither mother, nor father, nor any other relative, can do a man such good as is wrought by a rightly-directed mind.
That deed is not well done, which one regrets when
it is done and the result of which one experiences weeping with a
tearful face.
Make haste in doing good; restrain your mind from evil.
Whosoever offends an innocent person, pure and
guiltless, his evil comes back on that fool like a fine dust thrown
against the wind.
The man of little learning (ignorant) grows like a bull; his flesh grows but not his wisdom.
If a man practices himself what he admonishes
others to do, he himself, being well-controlled, will have control over
others. It is difficult, indeed, to control oneself.
Oneself is oneβs own protector (refuge); what other
protector (refuge) can there be? With oneself fully controlled, one
obtains a protection (refuge) which is hard to gain.
Do not follow mean things. Do not dwell in negligence. Do not embrace false views.
Come, behold this world, how it resembles an
ornamental royal chariot, in which fools flounder, but for the wise
there is no attachment to it.
Happy indeed we live without hate amongst the hateful. We live free from hatred amidst hateful men.
From lust arises grief; from lust arises fear. For him who is free from lust there is no grief, much less fear.
He who holds back arisen anger as one checks a whirling chariot, him I call a charioteer; other folk only hold the reins.
Conquer anger by love, evil by good, conquer the miser with liberality, and the liar with truth.
Be on your guard against verbal agitation; be controlled in words. Forsaking wrong speech, follow right ways in words.
Be on your guard against mental agitation; be controlled in thoughts. Foresaking evil thoughts, follow right ways in thoughts.
The wise are controlled in deed, controlled in thoughts, verily, they are fully controlled.
As rust, arisen out of iron, eats itself away, even so his own deeds lead the transgressor to the states of woe.
Know this, O good man, that evil things are uncontrollable. Let not greed and wickedness drag you to suffering for a long time.
There is no fire like lust. There is no grip like hate. There is no net like delusion. There is no river like craving.
The fault of others is easily seen; but ones own is
hard to see. Like chaff one winnows otherβs faults, but oneβs own one
conceals as a crafty fowler disguises himself.
Not by silence does one become a sage (muni) if one
be foolish and untaught. But the wise man who, as if holding a pair of
scales, takes what is good and leaves out what is evil, is indeed a
sage.
You yourselves should make the effort; the Awakened
Ones are only teachers. Those who enter this Path and who are
meditative, are delivered from the bounds of Mara (Evil).
βAll conditioned things are impermanentβ, when one
sees this in wisdom, then one becomes dispassionate towards the painful.
This is the Path to Purity.
Who strives not when he should strive, who, though
young and strong, is given to idleness, who is loose in his purpose and
thoughts, and who is lazy- that idler never finds the way to wisdom.
Watchful of speech, well restrained in mind, let
him do no evil with the body; let him purify these three ways of action,
and attain the Path made known by the Sages.
The craving of the man addicted to careless living grows
like a Maluva creeper. He jumps hither and thither, like a monkey in the
forest looking for fruit.
Whosoever in this world is overcome by this wretched clinging thirst, his sorrow grows.
One should not despise what one receives, and one
should not envy (the gain of) others. Those who envy others do not
attain concentration.
The sun glows by day; the moon shines by night; in
his armor the warrior glows. In meditation shines the Brahman. But all
day and night, shines with radiance the Awakened One.
On Ethics / The Middle Way / The Eightfold Path and The Four Noble Truths
In the Benares Sermon the Buddha’s teaching begins
with the enunciation of the Four Noble Truths.
These truths are: that suffering is everywhere (known as the truth
of dukkha), that misplaced desire (attachment) is the cause of
suffering; that its cure lies in removal of the cause (the Possibility
of Liberation from Difficulties exists for everyone); and that the cause
may be removed by following the Noble Eightfold Path.
Buddhism recognizes that humans have a
measure of freedom of moral choice, and Buddhist practice has
essentially to do with acquiring the freedom to choose as one ought to
choose with truth: that is of acquiring a freedom from the passions and
desires that impel us to distraction and poor decisions. In this end,
the Buddhist dharma enjoins:
..to tread the Noble Eightfold Path, the course of
conduct that can end suffering. The path requires one to live a life
based on a right view, right thought, right speech, right conduct, right
vocation, right effort, right attention and right concentration. The
details of Buddhist practice are to be derived from this framework and
worked out by reference to the principle of seeking the Middle Way in
all things. In following the Middle Way, extremes are repudiated since
they constitute the kind of ties and attachments that impede progress
towards release.
It is the nature of life that all beings will face
difficulties; through enlightened truthful living one can transcend
these difficulties, ultimately becoming fulfilled, liberated and free. (Collinson, Fifty Eastern Thinkers, 2000)
The Noble Eight-Fold Path is the path of living in
awareness. Mindfulness is the foundation. By practicing mindfulness, you
can develop concentration, which enables you to attain understanding.
Thanks to right concentration, you realize right awareness, thoughts,
speech, action, livelihood and effort. The understanding which develops
can liberate you from every shackle of suffering and give birth to true
peace and joy. (Thich Nhat Hanh, Old Path White Clouds)
What the individual can do is to give a fine
example, and to have the courage to uphold ethical values .. in a
society of cynics. (Albert Einstein, letter to Max Born)
Buddhism as Practical Philosophy
On Yoga and the Interconnection of Body Mind and Universe
All our philosophy is dry as dust if it is not immediately translated into some act of living service. (Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi)
Everything he advocated he did: he believed firmly
that the best recommendation for a philosophy or a religion is not a
book, but the life it inspires. (Collinson on Gandhi, Fifty Eastern Thinkers, 2000)
This truth is to be lived, it is not merely pronounced with the mouth ..(Hui Neng)
They have a practical aspect that is readily
absorbed into daily life. At the same time they deal with certain large
questions that have always fascinated humankind: questions concerning
the soul, the self, free will, death, God, reality and the meaning of
life. Buddhism is sensitively agnostic concerning these ultimate
questions and so allows for the human sense of mystery and transcendence
and the propensity to speculate and reason that are part of human
consciousness in general. (Collinson, Fifty Eastern Thinkers, 2000)
Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is. (Bhagavad-Gita)
The body and mind both exist as the Relative
Motions of Wave-Centers of all matter in the Universes and are
intimately interconnected. Yoga, as a practical philosophy, recognises
the importance of harmony of body, mind and universe as being an
interconnected whole / One. Yoga means ‘union’ as Fritjof Capra writes;
.. the idea of the individual being linked to the cosmos is expressed in
the Latin root of the word religion, religare (to bind strongly), as
well as the Sanskrit yoga, which means union. (Fritjof Capra)
The Wave Structure of Matter should greatly aid in the practice
of yoga as it explains how humans are structures of the universe, an
inseparable part of the whole / One.
An improvement in posture and breathing is not the
sole nor even the primary aim of yoga. Instead, it is either a
therapeutic method of freeing the mind from false beliefs, or the
insight into ultimate reality, the dharmas, achievable by this method.
Yoga is an intrinsic and integrated system consisting of metaphysics,
the philosophy of mind, the theory of knowledge, ethics and the
philosophy of language. (Patanjali)
Health is a balanced state of bodily elements and
of all anatomical and physiological systems, where each part of the body
functions at full potential. (Iyengar)
All impressions and reactions are known as ‘mental
fluctuations’ or ‘thought-waves’, and yoga is the control of
thought-waves in the mind. (Patanjali)
Yoga aids many problems currently existing in
modern society. At a physical level, it gives relief from countless
ailments. The practice of the postures strengthens the body and creates a
feeling of well-being. From the psychological viewpoint, Yoga sharpens
the intellect and aids concentration. It steadies the emotions and
encourages a caring concern for others. Above all, it gives hope. The
practice of breathing techniques calms the mind. Its philosophy sets
life in perspective. In the realm of the spiritual, Yoga brings
awareness and the ability to be still. Through meditation, inner peace
is experienced .Thus Yoga is a practical philosophy involving every
aspect of a person’s being. It teaches the evolution of the individual
by the development of self-discipline and self-awareness. (Iyengar)