Selections from The Dhammapada – Chapters 14 -18, Part 2 of 2

CHAPTER 16 PLEASURE “They who give themselves to vanity, and do not give themselves to meditation, forgetting the real aim (of life) and grasping at pleasure, will in time envy them who have exerted themselves in meditation. Let no person ever look for what is pleasant, or what is unpleasant. Not to see what is pleasant is pain, and it is pain to see what is unpleasant. Let, therefore, no person love anything; loss of the beloved is evil. Those who love nothing and hate nothing, have no fetters. From pleasure comes grief, from pleasure comes fear; they who are free from pleasure know neither grief nor fear. From affection comes grief, from affection comes fear; they who are free from affection know neither grief nor fear. From lust comes grief, from lust comes fear; they who are free from lust know neither grief nor fear. From love comes grief, from love comes fear; they who are free from love know neither grief nor fear. From greed comes grief, from greed comes fear; they who are free from greed know neither grief nor fear. They who possess virtue and intelligence, who is just, speaks the truth, and does what is their own business, they the world will hold dear.”

CHAPTER 17 ANGER “Let a person leave anger, let them forsake pride, let them overcome all bondage! No sufferings befall the person who is not attached to name and form, and who calls nothing their own. They who hold back rising anger like a rolling chariot, they I call a real driver; other people are but holding the reins. Let a person overcome anger by love, let them overcome evil by good; let them overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth! Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if you are asked for little; by these three steps you will go near the devas.

The sages who injure nobody, and who always control their body, they will go to the unchangeable place (Nirvâna), where, if they have gone, they will suffer no more. Those who are ever watchful, who study day and night, and who strive after Nirvâna, their passions will come to an end. This is an old saying, O Atula, this is not only of to-day: ‘They blame them who sit silent, they blame them who speak much, they also blame them who say little; there is no one on Earth who is not blamed.’ There never was, there never will be, nor is there now, a person who is always blamed, or a person who is always praised. But they whom those who discriminate praise continually day after day, as without blemish, wise, rich in knowledge and virtue, who would dare to blame them, like a coin made of gold from the Gambû river?”

CHAPTER 18 IMPURITY “You are now like a sear leaf, the messengers of death (Yama) have come near to you; you stand at the door of your departure, and you have no provision for your journey. Make yourself an island, work hard, be wise! When your impurities are blown away, and you are free from guilt, you will enter into the heavenly world of the elect Noble Ones (Ariya). Your life has come to an end, you come near to death (Yama), there is no resting-place for you on the road, and you have no provision for your journey. Make yourself an island, work hard, be wise! When your impurities are blown away, and you are free from guilt, you will not enter again into birth and decay.”