As a bee–without harming the blossom, its color its fragrance– takes its nectar & flies away: so should the sage go through a village.
–Dhammapada, 4, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Hard to hold down, nimble, alighting wherever it likes: the mind. Its taming is good. The mind well-tamed brings ease.
-Dhammapada, 3, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Overcome your uncertainties and free yourself from dwelling on sorrow. If you delight in existence, you will become a guide to those who need you, revealing the path to many.
‘I have sons, I have wealth’– the fool torments himself. When even he himself doesn’t belong to himself, how then sons? How wealth? A fool with a sense of his foolishness is–at least to that extent–wise. But a fool who thinks himself wise really deserves to be called a fool.
-Dhammapada, 5, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
The Buddha was joined by his own son, Rahula, a young boy. He advised him: “Cultivate Rahula, a meditation on loving-kindness, for by cultivating loving-kindness, ill will is banished forever. Cultivate, too, a meditation on compassion, for by cultivating compassion, you will find harm and cruelty disappear.”
For those who are ready, the door To the deathless state is open. You that have ears, give up The conditions that bind you, and enter in.
-Majjhima Nikaya
Empty and calm and devoid of self Is the nature of all things. No individual being In reality exists. There is no end or beginning, Nor any middle course. All is an illusion, As in a vision or a dream. All beings in the world Are beyond the realm of words. Their ultimate nature, pure and true, Is like the infinity of space.