1
For the sake of another’s
benefit, however great it may be, do not neglect one’s own (moral) benefit. Clearly
perceiving one’s own benefit one should make every effort to attain it. (Dhammapada,
v. 166)
2
Monks, the partial fulfiller (of
observances) attains partially: the prefect observer attains in full. Not barren of result
are these rules of the training, I declare. (The Book of the Gradual Saying I. 212)
3
- Charity, kind words, and doing a good turn
- And treating all alike as each deserves:
- These bonds of sympathy are in the world
- Just like the linchpin of a moving car.
- Now if these bonds were lacking, mother who bore
- And father who begat would not receive
- The honour and respect (which are their due).
- But since the wise rightly regard these bonds,
- They win to greatness and are worthy praise.
- (The Book of the Gradual Saying II. p. 36)
4
This was said by the Lord:
‘Whoever sees conditioned genesis sees dhamma, whoever sees dhamma sees
conditioned genesis.’ (The Collection of the Middle Length Sayings I. p. 236f)
5
- Whose hath craving as his mate
- To age-long wandering is bound.
- He cannot cross rebirth’s stream,
- Existence thus or otherwise.
- Knowing the danger of it all,
- Knowing how craving beareth woe,
- Freed from all craving let the monk.
- Ungrasping, mindful, wander forth.
- (The Book of the Gradual Saying II, 11)
6
Body, brethren, is impermanent.
What is impermanent that is suffering. What is suffering, that is void of the self. What
is void of the self, that is not mine, I am not it, it is not my self. That is how it is
to be regarded by perfect insight of what it really is. (The Book of the Kindred Saying
III, p. 21)
7
- They who in change perceive the permanent
- And happiness in Ill, and see the self
- In what is not-self, in the foul the fair,_
- Such wander on the path of view perverse,
- Creatures of mind distraught, of mind unsound.
- Bond-slaves to Mara, not free from the bond,
- To the round of birth and death do beings go.
- But when the wakened ones, makers of light,
- I’ the world arise, they show this dhamma
forth,
- Which goeth to Ill’s calming. Hearing them
- Men become wise, get back their sense and see
- Th’ impermanent as being such, and Ill
- As being Ill, and what is not-self see
- As not-self, and behold the foul as foul,
- Thus by right view transcending every Ill.’
- (The Book of the Gradual Saying II. p. 61)
8
Body, brethren, is impermanent.
That which is the cause, that which is the condition of the arising of body, that also is
impermanent. How, brethren, can a body which is compounded of the impermanent come to be
permanent? (The Book of the Kindred Saying III, p. 22)
9
- Life is swept onward: brief our span of years:
- One swept away by eld hath no defence.
- Then keep the fear of death before thine eyes,
- And do good deeds that lead to happiness.
- The self-restraint of body, speech and thought
- In this life practised, meritorious deeds,
- These make for happiness when one is dead.
- (The Book of the Gradual Saying I. 139)
10
What, brethren, is "the
laying down of the burden"? It is the utter passionless ceasing of craving, the
giving up of craving, the renouncing of, the release from, the absence of longing for this
craving. That, brethren, is called "the laying down of the burden." 9The Book
of the Kindred Saying III, p. 25)
11
- The asavas whereby would be
- A deva-birth or airy sprite,
- Gandharva, or whereby myself
- Would reach the state of yakkhahood,
- Or go to birth in human womb, _
- Those asavas now by myself
- Are slain, destroyed and rooted out.
- As a lotus, fair and lovely,
- By the water is not soiled,
- By the world am I not soiled;
- Therefore, brahmin, am I Buddha.
- (The Book of the Gradual Saying II. p. 45)
12
The Exalted One said to the
venerable Anuradha: "Both formerly and now also, Anuradha, it is just sorrow and the
ceasing of sorrow that I proclaim." (The Book of the Kindred Saying III, p.
101)
13
- When a house is burning, goods removed therefrom,
- Not what are burned, will be of use to him
- Who doth remove them. So the world is burned
- By eld and death. Then save thyself by giving.
- What’s given is well saved.
- The self-restraint of body, speech and thought
- in this life practised, meritorious deeds,
- These make for happiness when one is dead.
- (The Book of the Gradual Saying I. 139)
14
That ease, that pleasure that
arises owing to the eye,_ that is the satisfaction of the eye. That impermanence, that
ill, that instability which is the eye, _ that is the misery of the eye. That restraint of
desire and lust, that renouncing of desire and lust which are in the eye, _ that is the
way of escape from the eye. (The Book of the Kindred Saying IV, p. 4)
15
- A heart well tamed, made pure and undefiled,
- Considerate for every living thing,_
- That is the Way the highest to attain.
- (The Book of the Kindred Saying IV, p. 75)