Monday, April 03, 2006

Dhamapada

Dhamapada

The Pairs

1
Mind precedes all mental states.
Mind is their chief;
they are all mind-wrought.
If with an impure mind
a person speaks or acts,
suffering follows him like the wheel
that follows the foot of the ox.

2
Mind precedes all mental state.
Mind is their chief;
they are mind-wrought.
If with a pure mind
a person speaks or acts,
happiness follows him
like his never-departing shadow.

3
“ He abuse me,
he struck me,
he overpowered me,
he robbed me.”
Those who harbour such thoughts
do not still their hatred.

4
“ He abuse me,
he struck me,
he overpowered me,
he robbed me.”
Those who do not harbour such thoughts
still their hatred.


5.
Hatred is never appeased
by hatred in this world.
By non-hatred alone
is hatred appeased.
This is a Law Eternal*.
*( Dhammo Sanantano – Law is natural principle, timeless norm, what works on its original power requiring no extraneous support. By its own nature hatred only generates and never appeases hatred.)

6.

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

7.
Just as a stormthrows down a weal tree,
so dose Mara ** overpower the man
who lives for the pursuit of pleasures,
who is uncontrolled in his senses,
immoderate in eating,
indolent and dissipated.

**Mara –Literally, the destroyer, Mara stands for 1) mental defilements; 2) phenomenal world; 3) death; ( no.1 leads to 2 and 3) ;4) Lord of evil forces --- a powerful deity who tempts and misleads those following the path to Nibbana.

8.
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. ***

***Meditating on the impurities (Asubbanupassim); techniques of meditation which reveal the inherent impurity or repulsiveness of the body, and act as powerful antidotes to lust.