Yet the admiration the Dhammapada has elicited has not been confined to avowed followers of Buddhism. The expounder of the verses that comprise the Dhammapada is the Indian sage called the Buddha, an honorific title meaning "the Enlightened One" or "the Awakened One." And though this last course is extremely difficult and demanding, the voice of the Buddha speaks words of assurance confirming that it can be done, that it lies within man's power to overcome all barriers and to triumph even over death itself. The disciple should treat all beings with kindness and compassion, live honestly and righteously, control his sensual desires, speak the truth and live a sober upright life, diligently fulfilling his duties, such as service to parents, to his immediate family and to those recluses and brahmans who depend on the laity for their maintenance (332-333). The visible order does not yield an evident solution, but the Buddha's teaching reveals the factor needed to vindicate our cry for moral justice in an impersonal universal law which reigns over all sentient existence. Thereafter, for forty-five years, he traveled throughout northern India, proclaiming the truths he had discovered and founding an order of monks and nuns to carry on his message. It wanders wherever it desires. (iv) The fourth level of teaching in the Dhammapada provides no new disclosure of doctrine or practice, but an acclamation and exaltation of those who have reached the goal. The monks asked the Buddha what the elder had done in previous lives to die in that way with body filled with boils and pus. Like a fletcher who straightens an arrow, the wise one trains his mind to be upright. One is called the stage of once-returner (sakadagami), when the disciple will return to the human world at most only one more time; the other the stage of non-returner (anagami), when he will never come back to human existence but will take rebirth in a celestial plane, bound to win final deliverance there. The recognition of duality extends beyond the limits of conditioned existence to include the antithetical poles of the conditioned and the unconditioned, samsara and Nibbana, the "near shore" and the "far shore." One should not respond to bitter speech but maintain silence (134).

<>/Metadata 1417 0 R/ViewerPreferences 1418 0 R>> Verses discussed in the notes are indicated in the text by an asterisk at the end of the verse. Extolled in Chapter 7 under his own name and in Chapter 26 (385-388, 396-423) under the name brahmana, "holy man," the arahant serves as a living demonstration of the truth of the Dhamma.
Pali Canon | endobj The Buddha taught it to laypeople as well as to monks, and many of his lay followers reached high stages of attainment. Those who control the mind which wanders afar, solitary, incorporeal, and which resides in the inner cavern (of the heart), will liberate themselves from the shackles of Mara. In the popular understanding kamma is sometimes identified with fate, but this is a total misconception utterly inapplicable to the Buddhist doctrine. The thoughtful, who have seen the transience and hidden misery of worldly life, break the ties of family and social bonds, abandon their homes and mundane pleasures, and enter upon the state of homelessness (83, 87-89, 91). so very, very subtle, In English alone several translations are available, including editions by such noted scholars as Max Muller and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. The one who conquers himself, the victor over his own mind, achieves a conquest which can never be undone, a victory greater than that of the mightiest warriors (103-105). Like a fish pulled from its home in the water & thrown on land: this mind flips & flaps about to escape Mara's sway. The first truth details the various forms of suffering — birth, old age, sickness and death, the misery of unpleasant encounters and painful separations, the suffering of not obtaining what one wants. available, Access to Insight is owned and managed by the, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.intro.budd.html. Like a fish So hard to see, and 39 of this book, with reference to Thera Cittahattha. Explanation: In the Dhammapada there are several references Man's moral freedom is a reason for both dread and jubilation, for by means of his choices he determines his own individual destiny, not only through one life, but through the numerous lives to be turned up by the rolling wheel of samsara. control his mind. hard to guard and hard to check, For six years he experimented with different systems of meditation and subjected himself to severe austerities, but found that these practices did not bring him any closer to his goal. grow. into an efficient arrow-shaft. To his followers, the Buddha is neither a god, a divine incarnation, or a prophet bearing a message of divine revelation, but a human being who by his own striving and intelligence has reached the highest spiritual attainment of which man is capable — perfect wisdom, full enlightenment, complete purification of mind.

this body, here upon the earth. one of wisdom renders straight Even if he has committed evil in the past, there is no need for dejection or despair; for a man's ways can be radically changed, and one who abandons the evil for the good illuminates this world like the moon freed from clouds (173). On one occasion, after Thera Meghiya returned from alms-round, he noticed a pleasant and beautiful mango grove, which he thought was an ideal spot for meditation. %PDF-1.7 The fourth and final stage is that of the arahant, the Perfected One, the fully accomplished sage who has completed the development of the path, eradicated all defilements and freed himself from bondage to the cycle of rebirths. It wanders wherever it desires. The disciplining of the mind is seen 39. has to be perpetually mindful to protect the city. Taken together, these delineate for us the basic world view of early Buddhism. Hard to hold down, This theme is announced already by the pair of verses which opens the Dhammapada, and reappears in diverse formulations throughout the work (see, e.g., 15-18, 117-122, 127, 132-133, Chapter 22). Explanation: It is realistic to think of the body as vulnerable, Even the experienced contemplative, withdrawn to forest hermitage or mountainside cave for a life of meditation, can be expected to count a copy of the book among his few material possessions. The universe is in flux, a boundless river of incessant becoming sweeping everything along; dust motes and mountains, gods and men and animals, world system after world system without number — all are engulfed by the irrepressible current. The wise who understand this distinction abide in heedfulness and experience Nibbana, "the incomparable freedom from bondage" (21-23). Neither father nor mother, nor any other kindred, can confer greater benefit than does the well-directed mind. I make this offering of Dhamma in grateful memory of my teachers, parents and relatives, departed and living. The entire discipline of the Buddha, from basic morality to the highest levels of meditation, hinges upon training the mind.
One should not yield to anger but control it as a driver controls a chariot (222). endobj Edited by Editorial Committee, Burma Tipitaka Association Rangoon, Burma, 1986 Courtesy of Nibbana.com For free distribution only, as a gift of dhamma.

alighting wherever it likes:

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