Dhammapada

Victory breeds enmity; the defeated sleep badly. The peaceful sleep at ease, having left victory and defeat behind.

There is no fire like greed, no crime like hate, no suffering like the aggregates, no bliss beyond peace.

Hunger is the worst illness, conditions are the worst suffering. When one has known this as it is, extinguishment is the ultimate happiness.

Health is the ultimate blessing; contentment, the ultimate wealth; trust is the ultimate family; extinguishment, the ultimate happiness.

Having drunk the nectar of seclusion and the nectar of peace— free of stress, free of evil, drink the joyous nectar of truth.

It’s good to see the noble ones, staying with them is always good. Were you not to see fools, you’d always be happy.

For one who consorts with fools grieves long. Painful is living with fools, like being stuck with your enemy. Happy is living with an attentive one, like meeting with your kin.

Therefore: An attentive one, wise and learned, a behemoth of virtue, true to their vows, noble: follow a true and intelligent person such as this, as the moon tracks the path of the stars.

Applying yourself where you ought not, neglecting what you should be doing, forgetting your goal, you cling to what you hold dear, jealous of those devoted to their heart’s goal.

Don’t ever get too close to those you like or dislike. For not seeing the liked is suffering, and so is seeing the disliked.

Therefore don’t hold anything dear, for it’s bad to lose those you love. No ties are found in they who hold nothing loved or loathed.

Sorrow springs from what we hold dear, fear springs from what we hold dear; one free from holding anything dear has no sorrow, let alone fear.

Sorrow springs from attachment, fear springs from attachment; one free from attachment has no sorrow, let alone fear.

Sorrow springs from relishing, fear springs from relishing; one free from relishing has no sorrow, let alone fear.

Sorrow springs from desire, fear springs from desire; one free from desire has no sorrow, let alone fear.

Sorrow springs from craving, fear springs from craving; one free from craving has no sorrow, let alone fear.

One accomplished in virtue and vision, firmly principled, and truthful, doing oneself what ought be done: that’s who the people love.

One eager to realize the ineffable would be filled with awareness. Their mind not bound to pleasures of sense, they’re said to be heading upstream.

When a man returns safely after a long time spent abroad, family, friends, and loved ones celebrate his return.

Just so, when one who has done good goes from this world to the next, their good deeds receive them there, as family welcomes home one they love.

Give up anger, get rid of conceit, and escape every fetter. Sufferings don’t befall one who has nothing, not clinging to name and form.

When anger surges like a lurching chariot, keep it in check. That’s what I call a charioteer; others just hold the reins.

Defeat anger with kindness, villainy with virtue, stinginess with giving, and lies with truth.

Speak the truth, do not be angry, and give when asked, if only a little. By these three means, you may enter the presence of the gods.

Those harmless sages, always restrained in body, go to the state that does not pass, where there is no sorrow.

Always wakeful, practicing night and day, focused only on extinguishment, their defilements come to an end.

It’s always been this way, Atula, it’s not just today. They blame you when you’re silent, they blame you when you speak a lot, and even when you speak just right: no one in the world escapes blame.

There never was, nor will be, nor is there today, someone who is wholly praised or wholly blamed.

If, after watching them day in day out, discerning people praise that sage of impeccable conduct, endowed with ethics and wisdom;

like a pendant of Black Plum River gold, who is worthy to criticize them? Even the gods praise them, and by the Divinity, too, they’re praised.

Guard against ill-tempered deeds, be restrained in body. Giving up bad bodily conduct, conduct yourself well in body.

Guard against ill-tempered words, be restrained in speech. Giving up bad verbal conduct, conduct yourself well in speech.

Guard against ill-tempered thoughts, be restrained in mind. Giving up bad mental conduct, conduct yourself well in mind.

An attentive one is restrained in body restrained also in speech, in thought, too, they are restrained: they are restrained in every way.

Today you’re like a withered leaf, Yama’s men await you. You stand at the departure gates, yet you have no supplies for the road.

Make an island of yourself! Swiftly strive, learn to be wise! Purged of stains, flawless, you’ll go to the heavenly realm of the noble ones.

You’ve journeyed the stages of life, and now you set out to meet Yama. Along the way there’s nowhere to stay, yet you have no supplies for the road.

Make an island of yourself! Swiftly strive, learn to be wise! Purged of stains, flawless, you’ll not come again to rebirth and old age.

A smart person would purge their own stains gradually, bit by bit, moment by moment, like a smith smelting silver.

It is the rust born on the iron that eats away the place it arose. And so it is their own deeds that lead the overly-ascetic to a bad place.

Not rehearsing is the stain of hymns. The stain of houses is neglect. Laziness is the stain of beauty. A guard’s stain is negligence.

Misconduct is a woman’s stain. A giver’s stain is stinginess. Bad qualities are a stain in this world and the next.

But a worse stain than these is ignorance, the worst stain of all. Having given up that stain, be without stains, mendicants!

Life is easy for the shameless. With all the rude courage of a crow, they live pushy, rude, and corrupt.

Life is hard for the conscientious, always seeking purity, neither clinging nor rude, pure of livelihood and discerning.

Take anyone in this world who kills living creatures, speaks falsely, steals, commits adultery,

and indulges in drinking beer and wine. Right here they dig up the root of their own self.

Know this, my man: they are unrestrained and wicked. Don’t let that greed and unrighteousness inflict pain on you for long.

The people give according to their faith, according to their confidence. If you get upset over that, over others’ food and drink, you’ll not, by day or by night, become immersed in samādhi.

Those who have cut that out, dug it up at the root, eradicated it, they will, by day or by night, become immersed in samādhi.

There is no fire like greed, no crime like hate, no net like delusion, no river like craving.

It’s easy to see the faults of others, hard to see one’s own. For the faults of others are tossed high like hay, while one’s own are hidden, as a cheat hides a bad hand.

When you look for the flaws of others, always finding fault, your defilements only grow, you’re far from ending defilements.

In the atmosphere there is no track, there’s no true ascetic outside here. People enjoy proliferation, the Realized Ones are free of proliferation.

In the atmosphere there is no track, there’s no true ascetic outside here. No conditions last forever, the Awakened Ones are not shaken.

You don’t become just by passing hasty judgment. An astute person evaluates both what is pertinent and what is irrelevant.

A wise one judges others without haste, justly and impartially; that guardian of the law is said to be just.

You’re not an astute scholar just because you speak a lot. One who is secure, free of enmity and fear, is said to be astute.

You’re not one who has memorized the teaching just because you recite a lot. Someone who directly sees the teaching after hearing only a little is truly one who has memorized the teaching, for they can never forget it.

You don’t become a senior by getting some grey hairs; for one ripe only in age, is said to have aged in vain.

One who is truthful and principled, harmless, restrained, and self-controlled, attentive, purged of stains, is said to be a senior.

Not by mere enunciation, or a beautiful complexion does a person become holy, if they’re jealous, stingy, and devious.

But if they’ve cut that out, dug it up at the root, eradicated it, that intelligent one, purged of vice, is said to be holy.

A liar and breaker of vows is no ascetic just because they shave their head. How on earth can one be an ascetic who’s full of desire and greed?

One who stops all wicked deeds, great and small, because of stopping wicked deeds is said to be an ascetic.

You don’t become a mendicant just by begging from others. One who has undertaken domestic duties has not yet become a mendicant.

But one living a spiritual life, who has banished both merit and evil, who wanders having appraised the world, is said to be a mendicant.

You don’t become a sage by being sagelike, while still confused and ignorant. The astute one who holds the scales, taking only the best,

and shunning the bad— that is a sage, <j>and that is how one becomes a sage. One who sagely weighs both in the world, is thereby said to be a sage.

You don’t become a noble one by harming living beings. One harmless toward all living beings is said to be a noble one.

Not by precepts and observances, nor by much learning, nor by meditative immersion, nor by living in seclusion,

do I experience the bliss of renunciation not frequented by ordinary people. A mendicant cannot rest confident without attaining the end of defilements.

Of paths, the eightfold is the best; of truths, the four statements; dispassion is the best of things, and the Clear-eyed One is the best of humans.

<em>This</em> is the path, there is no other for the purification of vision. You all must practice this, it is the way to baffle Māra.

When you all are practicing this, you’ll make an end of suffering. I have explained the path to you for extracting the thorn with wisdom.

You yourselves must do the work, the Realized Ones just show the way. Meditators practicing absorption are released from Māra’s bonds.

All conditions are impermanent— when this is seen with wisdom, one grows disillusioned with suffering: this is the path to purity.

All conditions are suffering— when this is seen with wisdom, one grows disillusioned with suffering: this is the path to purity.

All things are not-self— when this is seen with wisdom, one grows disillusioned with suffering: this is the path to purity.

They don’t get going when it’s time to start; they’re young and strong, but given to sloth. Their mind depressed in sunken thought, lazy and slothful, they can’t discern the path.

Guarded in speech, restrained in mind, doing no unskillful bodily deed. Purify these three ways of performing deeds, and win the path known to seers.

From meditation springs wisdom, without meditation, wisdom ends. Knowing these two paths— of progress and decline— you should conduct yourself so that wisdom grows.

Cut down the jungle, not just a tree; from the jungle springs fear. Having cut down jungle and snarl, be free of jungles, mendicants!

So long as the vine, no matter how small, that ties a man to women is not cut, his mind remains trapped, like a calf suckling its mother.

Cut out affection for oneself, like plucking an autumn lotus. Foster only the path to peace, the extinguishment the Holy One taught.

“Here I will stay for the rains; here for winter, here the summer”; thus the fool thinks, not realizing the danger.

As a mighty flood sweeps away a sleeping village, death steals away a man who dotes on children and cattle, his mind caught up in them.

Children provide you no shelter, nor does father, nor relatives. When you’re seized by the terminator, there’s no shelter in family.

Knowing the reason for this, astute, and ethically restrained, one would quickly clear the path that leads to extinguishment.

If by giving up material happiness one sees abundant happiness, the attentive would give up material happiness, seeing the abundant happiness.

Seeking their own happiness by imposing suffering on others, intimate with enmity, they’re not freed from enmity.

They dump what should be done, and do what should not be done. For the insolent and the negligent, their defilements only grow.

Those that have properly undertaken constant mindfulness of the body, don’t cultivate what should not be done, but always do what should be done. Mindful and aware, their defilements come to an end.

Having slain mother and father, and two aristocratic kings, and having wiped out <j>the kingdom with its tax collector, the brahmin walks on untroubled.

Having slain mother and father, and two prosperous kings, and a tiger as the fifth, the brahmin walks on untroubled.

The disciples of Gotama always wake up refreshed, who day and night constantly recollect the Buddha.

The disciples of Gotama always wake up refreshed, who day and night constantly recollect the teaching.

The disciples of Gotama always wake up refreshed, who day and night constantly recollect the Saṅgha.

The disciples of Gotama always wake up refreshed, who day and night are constantly mindful of the body.

The disciples of Gotama always wake up refreshed, whose minds day and night delight in harmlessness.