The Path

Of all paths the Eightfold is
the best; of all truths the
Four Noble Truths are
the best; of all things
passionlessness is the
best; of men the Seeing
One (the Buddha) is the best.

This is the only path; there is
none other for the purification
of insight. Tread this path, and
you will bewilder Mara.

Walking upon this path you
will make an end of suffering.
Having discovered how to
pull out the thorn of lust, I
make known the path.

You yourselves must strive;
the Buddhas only point the
way. Those meditative ones
who tread the path are
released from the bonds
of Mara.

"All conditioned things are
impermanent"--when one
sees this with wisdom, one
turns away from suffering.
This is the path to purification.

"All conditioned things are
unsatisfactory"--when one
sees this with wisdom, one
turns away from suffering.
This is the path to purification.

"All things are not-self"--when
one sees this with wisdom, one
turns away from suffering. This
is the path to purification.

The idler who does not exert himself
when he should, who though young
and strong is full of sloth, with a mind
full of vain thoughts--such an indolent
man does not find the path to wisdom.

Let a man be watchful of speech,
well controlled in mind, and not
commit evil in bodily action. Let
him purify these three courses of
action, and win the path made
known by the Great Sage.

Wisdom springs from meditation;
without meditation wisdom wanes.
Having known these two paths of
progress and decline, let a man so
conduct himself that his wisdom
may increase.

Cut down the forest (lust), but not
the tree; from the forest springs fear.
Having cut down the forest and the
under-brush (desire), be passionless,
O monks.

For so long as the underbrush of
desire, even the most subtle, of a
man towards a woman is not cut
down, his mind is in bondage, like
the suckling calf to its mother.

Cut off your affection in the manner
a man plucks with his hand an autumn
lotus. Cultivate only the path to peace,
Nibbana, as known by the Exalted One.

"Here shall I live during the rains,
here in winter and summer"--thus
thinks the fool. He does not realize
the danger (that death might intervene).

As a great flood carries away a
sleeping village, so death seizes
and carries away the man with a
clinging mind, doting on his children
and cattle.

For him who is assailed by death
there is no protection by kinsmen.
None there are to save him--no
sons, nor father nor relatives.

Realizing this fact, let the wise man
restrained by morality, hasten to
clear the path leading to Nibbana.

---The Dhammapada, Chapter 20---