Axial Commons
Buddhism
Tho' a hundred years in the woods One tend the sacred fire, Yet if for a moment's space He worship the feet of one Whose self is self-subdued; Such worship is better far Than his age-long offerings
Not all the sacrifice That is offered in all the world For a year, with a view to gain, Is worth a single quarter Of the worship that is paid To the upright holy man.
Whoso hath reverence For those advanced in years, Four blessings thrive for him, Life, beauty, bliss and strength.
Tho' one live a hundred years, Immoral, uncontrolled, 'Tis better to live for a day, Moral and well controlled.
Tho' one live a hundred years Foolish and uncontrolled, 'Tis better to live for a day Wisely and well controlled.
Tho' one live a hundred years Listless and lacking zeal, 'Tis better to live for a day While striving manfully.
Tho' one live a hundred years Blind to the rise and fall, 'Tis better to live for a day Seeing the rise and fall.
Tho' one live a hundred years And see not the Deathless State, 'Tis better to live for a day And see the Deathless State.
Tho' one live a hundred years And see not the Norm Supreme, 'Tis better to live for a day And see the Norm Supreme.
Haste to do good; thy thoughts from ill restrain; Sloth in good deeds makes one for evil fain.
If thou do ill, cease, and thy sin forgo; Take not delight therein; ill deeds bring woe.
If thou do good, thy life in good employ; Take thou delight therein; good deeds bring joy.
Sinners see bliss while their ill deeds are green; When the sin ripens, sorrow then is seen.
Good men see ill while their good deeds are green; When the good ripens, happiness is seen.
Think not of ill: "It cannot be my fate"; As drop by drop the water fills the pot, So slowly good men good accumulate.
Think not of good: "It cannot be my fate"; As drop by drop the water fills the pot, So slowly bad men woes accumulate.
Just as the lord of some rich caravan, Whose guard is scanty, fears the highwayman; As one who loves his life must poison shun, Be wise and guard 'gainst evil deeds begun.
Thou mayest poison handle if thy palm Contain no wound; whole skin no poison fears; There is no ill for him that doth no harm.
Who on a harmless creature worketh pain, In whom no fault, in whom no ill is found, Upon that fool his evil deeds rebound As fine dust cast i' the wind falls back again.
Some men by birth a life on earth attain; The wicked go to hell, the good to heaven; But holy saints are never born again.
Not in the air nor middle of the sea, Nor entering a mountain cave to hide, Nor anywhere on earth can'st thou abide Where from thy ill deeds thou can'st set thee free.
Not in the air nor middle of the sea, Nor entering a mountain cave to hide, Nor anywhere on earth can'st thou abide Where death shall not pursue and conquer thee.
All beings fear the rod, all fear to die; Regard them as thyself; strike not nor slay.
All beings fear the rod; all love their life; Regard them as thyself; strike not nor slay.
Whoso treats pleasure-loving creatures ill, When he seeks bliss for self he shall not find it.
Whoso treats pleasure-loving creatures well, When he seeks happiness for self shall find it.
Use not harsh speech; when harshly spoken to Men may retort; painful are quarrellings, And punishment may follow thy harsh words.
If thou can'st keep thy tongue from wagging oft, Silent as some cracked gong, thou hast thereby Nibbāna won; no brawling is in thee.
As with a stick the herdsman drives his kine, So death and age compel the lives of men.
The fool in doing ill knows not his folly; His own deeds, like a fire, the fool consume.
He who offends the harmless innocent Soon reaches one of these ten states of woe;
Sharp pain, disease, or bodily decay, Grievous disaster, or a mind distraught;
Oppression by the king, or calumny, Loss of relations, loss of all his wealth,
His house burned by a thunderbolt or fire; At death, poor fool, he finds rebirth in hell.
Not nakedness, nor matted hair nor filth, Not fasting long, nor lying on the ground, Not dust and dirt, nor squatting on the heels. Can cleanse the mortal that is full of doubt.
But one that lives a calm and tranquil life, Though gaily decked, if tamed, restrained, he live Walking the holy path in righteousness, Laying aside all harm to living things, True mendicant, ascetic, Brāhmin he!
Who in this world is so restrained by shame That, like a thoroughbred flicked by the whip. He can think lightly of the lash of blame?
By faith and virtue, energy, and mind In perfect balance, searching of the Norm, Perfect in knowledge and good practices, Perfect in concentration of your thoughts, Ye shall strike off this multitude of woes.
As cultivators guide the water-course, As fletchers straighten out the arrow-shaft, As carpenters warp timber to their needs, So righteous men subdue and train themselves.
Laugh ye, rejoice ye, when this world is burning? O wrapped in darkness, will ye not seek light?
Behold this body decked, a mass of sores, Sickly and swayed by multitudinous thoughts. Impermanent, unstable, uncomposed!
Poor worn-out carcase, home of sicknesses, Fragile, corrupting mass, mere life in death!
What joy to look upon these bleached bones, Like useless gourds in autumn thrown aside! -
A township built of bones and plastered o'er With flesh and blood, the home and dwelling-place Of age and death, pride and hypocrisy!
Just as a royal chariot gaily decked Falls to decay, so grows this body old; But Truth and Norm old age cannot assail, The holy ones indeed know no decay.
Just like an ox, the witless man grows old; His flesh grows, but his wits do not increase.
Thro' many a round of birth and death I ran, Nor found the builder that I sought. Life's stream Is birth and death and birth, with sorrow filled. Now, housebuilder, thou'rt seen! No more shalt build! Broken are all thy rafters, split thy beam! All that made up this mortal self is gone; Mind hath slain craving; I have crossed the stream!
They who in youth have never trod the way Of righteousness, nor garnered wisdom's store. Like herons in a fishless pool decay.
They who in youth have never trod the way Of righteousness, nor garnered wisdom's store. Like broken bows, lie weeping their lost day.
Hast thou regard for self? Then keep thyself well guarded. Be wise and keep good watch for one of the three watches.
First ground thyself in fitness; next, another teach. Thus shalt thou wisdom gain and suffer no reproach.
First carry out thyself whate'er thou teachest others. Self-tamed, thou'lt tame another; but self is hard to tame.
Self is the lord of self; who else could be the lord? By taming self one gains a lord most hard to gain.
The evil done by self, self-born and self-begotten, Crushes the senseless fool, as a bolt the jar of stone.
He who is choked by sins, as a creeper chokes a tree, Doth to himself what e'en his foes would have him do.
Easy is ill to do and harmful to oneself; But what is good and wholesome, that is hard to do.
Whose rejects the words of noble righteous saints On his own head brings ruin by his perversity, As bamboo trees put forth their fruit and die away.
By self is evil done; by self is one defiled; Ill deeds not done by self to self bring purity; Each for himself is pure; each for himself impure; Thou can'st not cleanse another man's impurity.
Mind thy affairs, not others', however great they be; Right knowledge of one's own brings more prosperity.
Follow not the way unworthy; Live not thou in slothfulness; Let not doctrines false allure thee; Turn thy thoughts from worldliness.
Stand! Arise! Throw sloth away; Follow the path of righteousness; Happy he who walks aright, Here and in the world to come.
As a bubble on the water, As a phantom of the sands, Him who thus the world despiseth, Death the king cannot behold.
Lo! this world in all its splendour, Like a royal car adorned, Wherein many a fool is seated, Hath no power to bind the wise.
He who formerly was slothful, But is slothful now no more, Lighteth up the world with splendour, As the moon from clouds released.
He who, having once done evil, Covers up his ill with good, Lighteth up the world with splendour, As the moon from clouds released.
All this world is wrapped in darkness; Few be they that are not blind; Like the birds that 'scape the fowler, Few be they that go to heaven.
Lo! the swans fly on the sun's path, Fly by magic through the air; Wise men from the world departing Conquer Death and all his hosts.
He who by false words transgressing Breaks one tittle of the Norm; He who future life renounceth Every wicked deed will do.
Those who covet reach not heaven; Fools care not for charity; He who charity approveth Reacheth heavenly joy thereby.
Rule on earth and joy in heaven, Sovreignty of all the worlds - These are all by him transcended Who hath entered on the stream.
The Awakened One, unconquered Conqueror, Whose conquest naught in this world can undo. Who ranges o'er His boundless sphere untraced. By what tracks can ye lead Him to rebirth?
Free from the snares of passion's outspread net, The Awakened One, whom longing cannot draw, Who ranges o'er His boundless sphere untraced. By what tracks can ye lead Him to rebirth?
Those sages who, to meditation given, Delight in freedom's bliss, with mind controlled, Gods envy Them, Those All-Awakened Ones.
To gain a birth as man is hard indeed; 'Tis hard to get one's living in the world; Hard is the hearing of the doctrine true; Hardest to be an All-Awakened One.
"Refrain thyself from every evil deed; Stablish thyself in good; cleanse thine own thoughts" - This is the message of the Awakened Ones.
Long-sufferance is the best austerity; Nibbāna, say the Awakened Ones, is best.
"Revile not, harm not, live by rule restrained; Of food take little; sleep and sit alone; In meditation keep thy thoughts controlled" - This is the message of the Awakened Ones.
"Lust is not sated, tho' it rain gold coins; Brief is the pleasure, great the pains of lust" - Whoso saith this and knows it, he is wise.
He finds no pleasure e'en in heaven's delights; He finds his joy in slaying all desire, That follower of the All-Awakened Ones.
To many a refuge frightened mortals flee, Mountains and forests, groves and sacred trees;
These are no refuge safe, no sure retreat, By these we are not from all woe released.
He who takes refuge in the Awakened One, The Doctrine and the Brotherhood, beholds By right insight the Fourfold Noble Truths,
Sorrow and sorrow's cause and sorrow's ceasing, The Noble Eightfold Path that leads thereto -
This is the refuge safe, the sure retreat; This only from our woes can us release.
Hard is that one of noble birth to find; Not born in every land is He; the race Wherein that Sage is born is prosperous.
Blest is the rising of the Awakened Ones; Blest is Their teaching of the Doctrine True; Blest is the union of the Brotherhood; And blest to dwell together in unity.
The Awakened Ones and they that follow Them, Worthy to be adored, have conquered all The hosts of evil, crossed the flood of sorrow.
Whoso shall worship Them, the worthy Ones, In whom desires are quenched and fear allayed, None can declare the merits of that man.
O happily we live Angerless amid the angry! O happily we spend our days Amid the angry angerless!
O happily we live In health amid the sickly ones! O happily we spend our days Amid the sickly ones in health!
O happily we live Free from greed amid the greedy! O happily we spend our days Amid the greedy free from greed!
O happily we live Who have not anything at all! Like ever-radiant gods above, Our food immortal joys shall be.
Hate follows victory; Conquered ones sit sorrowing. But the calm live blissfully, Renouncing conquest and defeat.
There is no fire like lust; No sin brings such ill-luck as hate; No pains so great as body's pains; No bliss is like the perfect Calm.
Hunger's the greatest plague, Embodied life the greatest woe; Whoso knows this in truth, can say: "Nibbāna is the Bliss Supreme."
Health is the greatest gain; Contentment is the greatest wealth; Best kinsman is the trusty friend; Nibbāna is the Bliss Supreme.
Who tastes the savour sweet Of solitude, who drinks of calm, Is free from terror, free from sin, Draining the nectar of the Norm.
'Tis good to see the saints; To dwell with them is blessedness; If he should never fools behold, A man could dwell in happiness.
The company of fools Ne'er fails to bring distress. To live with fools brings suffering, As living with an enemy, But wise men's company brings bliss, As being with dear relatives.
If one be good and wise, Well-versed in lore profound, Long-suffering, dutiful, a saint, Righteous and wise; if such there be, Follow his footsteps, as the moon Follows the path of the stars.