From the Dhammapada

10/11/10

" Life hath its ups and downs. 

For that's the way it is !

But hark, Faith is all you need,

To keep thy life at ease ! "

 ( Random Musings    by    KMG )

  

        We are what we think. All that we are  arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.  Speak or act with an impure mind, and trouble will follow you, as  the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart. Speak or act with a pure mind, and happiness will follow you as your shadow unshakable.           More than two and half millenia ago, a royal Prince, by an inner urge, turned a recluse, and silently walked out of the royal household, and wandered  in the forests, till he settled down under a banyan tree at Gaya in north India, and meditated till he became the Awakened, the Enlightened Realized Soul. Prince Siddhaarta became the Gautama Buddha (563 to 483 B.C), and rose like a Colossus of Wisdom. He travelled in north India, preaching as he went around, and gave the first Sermon at Sarnath near Varanasi. He enunciated the Four Noble Truths, and the Eightfold Path, the Principles that spread throughout the Orient far and wide. He was the Light of Asia, nay the Light of the World. Even today His teachings are quite relevant. Let us hear some of His words of Wisdom.  Let us regale a few drops of that Nectar, and quench our parched thirst. Here are some passages from His "Dhammapada" (Path of Righteousness): 

 *                           *                                *                               *        

In this world  hate never yet dispelled hate.  Only love dispels hate.This is the Law, ancient and inexhaustible.                      

*                      *                          *                        *      

How easily the wind overturns a frail tree.  Seek happiness in the senses, indulge in food and sleep, and you too will be uprooted.  The wind cannot overturn a mountain. Temptation cannot touch the man  who is awake, strong and humble, who masters himself  and  minds the Law.                       

*                      *                           *                        *      

Mistaking the false for the true, and the true for the false, you overlook the heart, and fill yourself with desire.  See the false as false, and, the true as true. Look into your heart, follow your nature.                      

*                      *                            *                        *      

An unreflecting mind is a poor roof.  Passion, like the rain, floods the house. But if the roof is strong, there is shelter.                      

*                       *                            *                        *      

Whoever follows impure thoughts, suffers in this world and the next. In both worlds he suffers, and how greatly when he sees the wrong he has done. But whoever follows the Law, is joyful here and joyful there. In both worlds he rejoices. And how greatly when he sees the good he has done.                       

 *                      *                            *                        *      

However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you, if you do not act upon them ?  Read as few words as you like, and speak fewer. But act upon the Law. Give up the old ways -- passion, enmity and folly.      

Know the truth and find peace.