Dhammapada (translated from the Pali)
by F. Max Müller | 1881 | 38,599 words
The English translation of the Dhammapada—a central text in the Pali Buddhist canon, specifically part of the Sutta-pitaka. The Dhammapada comprises a collection of "law verses" that encapsulate the teachings of the Buddha, focusing on ethical conduct and mental cultivation. The text emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility, m...
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Chapter XVI - Pleasure
209. He who gives himself to vanity, and does not give himself to meditation, forgetting the real aim (of life) and grasping at pleasure, will in time envy him who has exerted himself in meditation.
210. Let no man 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.
211. Let, therefore, no man love anything; loss of the beloved is evil. Those who love nothing and hate nothing, have no fetters.
212. From pleasure comes grief, from pleasure comes fear; he who is free from pleasure knows neither grief nor fear.
213. From affection comes grief, from affection comes fear; he who is free from affection knows neither grief nor fear.
214.[1] From lust comes grief, from lust comes fear; he who is free from lust knows neither grief nor fear.
215. From love comes grief, from love comes fear; he who is free from love knows neither grief nor fear.
216. From greed comes grief, from greed comes fear; he who is free from greed knows neither grief nor fear.
217. He who possesses virtue and intelligence, who is just, speaks the truth, and does what is his own business, him the world will hold dear.
218.[2] He in whom a desire for the Ineffable (±·¾±°ù±¹Äåṇa) has sprung up, who is satisfied in his mind, and whose thoughts are not bewildered by love, he is called Å«rdhvaṃsrotas (carried upwards by the stream).
219. Kinsmen, friends, and lovers salute a man who has been long away, and returns safe from afar.
220. In like manner his good works receive him who has done good, and has gone from this world to the other;—as kinsmen receive a friend on his return.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
See Beal, Catena, p. 200.
[2]:
Ūrdhvaṃsrotas or uddhaṃsoto is the technical name for one who has reached the world of the ´¡±¹á¹›h²¹²õ (Aviha), and is proceeding to that of the Akanishá¹has (Akaniá¹á¹ha). This is the last stage before he reaches the formless world, the ´¡°ùÅ«±è²¹»å³óÄå³Ù³Ü. (See Buddhaghosha’s Parables, p. 123; Burnouf, Introduction, p. 599. ) Originally Å«rdhvaṃsrotas may have been used in a less technical sense, meaning one who swims against the stream, and is not carried away by the vulgar passions of the world.