Pairs

What you experience begins in the mind: the mind leads it, the mind makes it.

Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought.

What you experience begins in the mind: the mind leads it, the mind makes it.

Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought.

"They hurt me. They wronged me. They beat me. They took what was mine." As long as you keep replaying these grievances, your hatred will never end.

“He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered me, he robbed me.” Those who harbor such thoughts do not still their hatred.

"They hurt me. They wronged me." When you finally put these stories down, your hatred dissolves on its own.

“He abused me, he struck me, he overpowered me, he robbed me.” Those who do not harbor such thoughts still their hatred.

Hatred never ends through more hatred; it ends only by letting hatred go. This truth is ancient and unchanging.

Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. By non-hatred alone is hatred appeased. This is a law eternal.

Most people forget that all of this — including us — is temporary. Those who truly remember this find their quarrels simply falling away.

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

If you chase pleasure past its measure — comfort, ease, the feeling of safety — unguarded at the senses, immoderate, idle, blind to what triggers you, you'll be toppled when the storm hits, like a tree with shallow roots. That storm has a name: Māra, the tempter, the pull toward craving and distraction.

Just as a storm throws down a weak tree, so does Mara overpower the man who lives for the pursuit of pleasures, who is uncontrolled in his senses, immoderate in eating, indolent, and dissipated.

But if you live with awareness, senses steady, needs modest, heart committed, you stand firm like a mountain. No storm can move you; Māra finds no hold.

Just as a storm cannot prevail against a rocky mountain, so Mara can never overpower the man who lives meditating on the impurities, who is controlled in his senses, moderate in eating, and filled with faith and earnest effort.

Wearing the robes of wisdom without doing the inner work is hollow. Without honesty and self-discipline, the outward appearance means nothing.

Whoever being depraved, devoid of self-control and truthfulness, should don the monk’s yellow robe, he surely is not worthy of the robe.

But someone who has genuinely done the work, who lives with integrity, practices restraint, and values truth, that person truly embodies what the robes represent.

But whoever is purged of depravity, well-established in virtues and filled with self-control and truthfulness, he indeed is worthy of the yellow robe.

Those who take the trivial for what matters, and dismiss what matters as trivial, never reach the heart of things; they wander off, chasing the wrong aims.

Those who mistake the unessential to be essential and the essential to be unessential, dwelling in wrong thoughts, never arrive at the essential.

Those who see what truly matters as it is, and the trivial as merely trivial, reach the heart of things, their aims set right.

Those who know the essential to be essential and the unessential to be unessential, dwelling in right thoughts, do arrive at the essential.

Just as rain pours through a badly thatched roof, unchecked desires flood an undisciplined mind.

Just as rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, so passion penetrates an undeveloped mind.

Just as rain can't get through a well-thatched roof, desires can't overwhelm a mind that's been carefully trained.

Just as rain does not break through a well-thatched house, so passion never penetrates a well-developed mind.

A person who acts harmfully suffers now and suffers later. They suffer twice: once in the doing, and again when they see clearly what they've done.

The evil-doer grieves here and hereafter; he grieves in both the worlds. He laments and is afflicted, recollecting his own impure deeds.

A person who acts with goodness feels joy now and joy later. They're glad twice: once in the doing, and again when they see the good they've brought into the world.

The doer of good rejoices here and hereafter; he rejoices in both the worlds. He rejoices and exults, recollecting his own pure deeds.

Harmful actions bring suffering that compounds: pain in the present, pain in memory, and deeper pain if you continue down the same road.

The evil-doer suffers here and hereafter; he suffers in both the worlds. The thought, “Evil have I done,” torments him, and he suffers even more when gone to realms of woe.

Goodness compounds too. Joy in the present, joy in reflection, and ever-deepening joy as you continue on a wholesome path.

The doer of good delights here and hereafter; he delights in both the worlds. The thought, “Good have I done,” delights him, and he delights even more when gone to realms of bliss.

You can memorize every wise teaching ever written, but if you don't live any of them, you're just counting someone else's treasure. The knowledge isn't yours until you practice it.

Much though he recites the sacred texts, but acts not accordingly, that heedless man is like a cowherd who only counts the cows of others — he does not partake of the blessings of the holy life.

Even someone who knows only a single teaching, but truly lives it, letting go of greed, hate, and confusion, has found something real. One lived truth is worth more than a thousand memorized ones.

Little though he 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 — he indeed partakes of the blessings of a holy life.