Translated from the…
277. ‘All created things perish,’ he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way to purity.
278. ‘All created things are grief and pain,’ he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way that leads to purity.
279. ‘All forms are unreal,’ he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way that leads to purity.
DHAMMAPADA, Chapter 20. The Way
THE WAY.
273. The best of ways is the eightfold; the best of truths the four words; the best of virtues passionlessness; the best of men he who has eyes to see.
274. This is the way, there is no other that leads to the purifying of intelligence. Go on this way! Everything else is the deceit of Mâra (the tempter).
275. If you go on this way, you will make an end of pain! The way was preached by me, when I had understood the removal of the thorns (in the flesh).
276. You yourself must make an effort. The Tathâgatas (Buddhas) are only preachers. The thoughtful who enter the way are freed from the bondage of Mâra.
[273. The eightfold or eight-membered way is the technical term for the way by which Nirvâna is attained. (See Burnouf, Lotus, p. 519.) This very way constitutes the fourth of the Four Truths, or the four words of truth, viz. Duhkha, ‘pain ;’ Samudaya, ‘origin;’ Nirodha, ‘destruction;’ Mârga, ‘road.’]
271., 272. Not only by discipline and vows, not only by much learning, not by entering into a trance, not by sleeping alone, do I earn the happiness of release which no worldling can know. Bhikshu, be not confident as long as thou hast not attained the extinction of desires.
DHAMMAPADA, Chapter 19. The Just
268., 269. A man is not a Muni because he observes silence (mona, i.e. mauna), if he is foolish and ignorant; but the wise who, taking the balance, chooses the good and avoids evil, he is a Muni, and is a Muni thereby; he who in this world weighs both sides is called a Muni.
270. A man is not an elect (Ariya) because he injures living creatures; because he has pity on all living creatures, therefore is a man called Ariya.
DHAMMAPADA, Chapter 19. The Just
266. A man is not a mendicant (Bhikshu) simply because he asks others for alms; he who adopts the whole law is a Bhikshu, not he who only begs.
267. He who is above good and evil, who is chaste, who with knowledge passes through the world, he indeed is called a Bhikshu.
DHAMMAPADA, Chapter 19. The Just
264. Not by tonsure does an undisciplined man who speaks falsehood become a Samana; can a man be a Samana who is still held captive by desire and greediness?
265. He who always quiets the evil, whether small or large, he is called a Samana (a quiet man), because he has quieted all evil.
[265. This is a curious etymology, because it shows that at the time when this verse was written, the original meaning of sramana had been forgotten. Sramana meant originally, in the language br the Brahmans, a man who performed hard penances, from sram, ‘to work hard,’ &c. When it became the name of the Buddhist ascetics, the language had changed, and sramana was pronounced samana. Now there is another Sanskrit root, sam, ‘to quiet,’ which in Pâli becomes likewise sam, and from this root sam, ‘to quiet,’ and not from sram, ‘to tire,’ did the popular etymology of the day and the writer of our verse derive the title of the Buddhist priests.
DHAMMAPADA, Chapter 19. The Just
262. An envious, greedy, dishonest man does not become respectable by means of much talking only, or by the beauty of his complexion.
263. He in whom all this is destroyed, and taken out with the very root, he, when freed from hatred and wise, is called respectable.
DHAMMAPADA, Chapter 19. The Just
260. A man is not an elder because his head is grey; his age may be ripe, but he is called ‘Old-in-vain.’
261. He in whom there is truth, virtue, love, restraint, moderation, he who is free from impurity and is wise, he is called an elder.
DHAMMAPADA, Chapter 19. The Just
259. A man is not a supporter of the law because he talks much; even if a man has learnt little, but sees the law bodily, he is a supporter of the law, a man who never neglects the law.
DHAMMAPADA, Chapter 19. The Just
258. A man is not learned because he talks much; he who is patient, free from hatred and fear, he is called learned.
DHAMMAPADA, Chapter 19. The Just