David 23 Independent Artist

Better than a thousand useless words is one useful word, hearing which one attains peace.

May all creatures, all living things, all beings one and all, experience good fortune only.
May they not fall into harm.

Calm is one’s thought, calm one’s speech, and calm one’s deed, who, truly knowing, is wholly freed, perfectly tranquil and wise.

One who is virtuous and wise shines forth like a blazing fire;
like a bee collecting nectar one acquires wealth by harming none.

In every virtue all-accomplished, with wisdom full and mind composed,
looking within and ever mindful-thus one crosses the raging flood.

Wonderful it is to train the mind, so swiftly moving, seizing whatever it wants.
Good is it to have a well-trained mind, for a well-trained mind brings happiness.

Some recluses and brahmins, so called, Are deeply attached to their own views;
People who only see one side of things
Engage in quarrels and disputes.

Happy indeed we live, friendly amidst the hostile.
Amidst hostile people we dwell free from hatred.

Just as rust arising from iron
eats away the base from which it arises, even so, their own deeds lead transgressors to states of woe.

Little though one recites the sacred texts, but puts the Teaching into practice, forsaking lust, hatred, and delusion, with true wisdom and emancipated mind, clinging to nothing of this or any other world — one indeed partakes of the blessings of a holy life.

If you fear pain, if you dislike pain, don’t do an evil deed in open or secret.
If you’re doing or will do an evil deed, you won’t escape pain: it will catch you even as you run away.

Rouse yourself! Sit up!
Resolutely train yourself to attain peace.
Do not let the king of death, seeing you are careless, lead you astray and dominate you.

Speak not harshly to anyone, for those thus spoken to might retort.
Indeed, angry speech hurts, and retaliation may overtake you.

Let go of the past, let go of the future, let go of the present, and cross over to the farther shore of existence.
With mind wholly liberated,
you shall come no more to birth and death.

Though all one’s life a fool associates with a wise person, one no more comprehends the Truth than a spoon tastes the flavor of the soup.

If by renouncing a lesser happiness one may realize a greater happiness,
let the wise one renounce the lesser, having regard for the greater.

One is not wise because one speaks much.
One who is peaceable, friendly and fearless is called “wise”.

One by one, little by little, moment by moment, a wise one should remove one’s own impurities, as a smith removes dross from silver.

Let one guard oneself against irritability in bodily action; let one be controlled in deed.
Abandoning bodily misconduct, let one practice good conduct in deed.

There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.

Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it.

Silent in body, silent in speech, silent in mind, without defilement, blessed with silence is the sage.
One is truly washed of evil.

In this world, good it is to serve one’s mother, good it is to serve one’s father, good it is to serve the monks, and good it is to serve the holy ones.

Any sensual bliss in the world, any heavenly bliss, isn’t worth one sixteenth-sixteenth of the bliss of the ending of craving.

By effort and heedfulness, discipline and self-mastery, let the wise one make for oneself an island which no flood can overwhelm.

Well done is that action of doing which one repents not later, and the fruit of which, one reaps with delight and happiness.

Impermanent truly are compound things, by nature arising and passing away. If they arise and are extinguished, their eradication brings happiness.

One has broken the cycle, attained freedom from desire. The dried-up stream no longer flows. The cycle, broken, no longer turns. This, just this, is the end of misery.

There are those who do not realize that one day we all must die.
But those who do realize this settle their quarrels.