Miscellaneous Words of Wisdom

(based on THE DHAMMAPADA / and reworked into rhyme by BB)

 

It’s said that people can rate / as long as they live without hate;

So if you’re surrounded by hate, / do keep it off of your plate.

 

Act with a peaceful mind, / and happiness follows behind;

Act with a corrupted mind, / and it’s misery that you will find.

 

Your hatred will not abate / if you let yourself constantly hate;

Hatred ends only through love / and not through a lacking thereof.

 

Immoderation with food: / do that and you’re going to be screwed;

Show moderation with food, / and with happiness you’ll be imbued.

 

Doing evil calls forth the prediction: / you’re going to encounter affliction;

By doing that which is right, / you’ve going to encounter delight.

 

Vigilance will open your eyes; / negligence is not for the wise,

A restless mind’s hard to control; / a calm mind will make a nice goal.

 

If your mind is pure and awake, / fear will not make you quake;

If your mind is rightly directed, / cruel actions will be rejected.

 

If in others you look for each fault / and yourself you prefer to exalt,

Then you really ought to begin / to look much more carefully within.

 

Well-spoken words have great clout / when you have carried them out;

They’ll resemble a lovely, sweet flower / and have phenomenal power.

 

The wise one who knows he’s a fool / is someone who really is cool;

A fool who thinks himself wise / will always be caught in his lies.

 

We know that we always should / try to do that which is good;

If it’s evil that we keep preferring, / negativity will keep recurring.

 

Violence means suffering and pain, / and to think that it doesn’t is insane;

Hoping and striving for peace / will help pain and suffering cease.

 

If we see the world as a bubble, / it’s going to cause us less trouble;

If we think that all this is forever, / well, we’re not very clever.

 

If we look at the world with fresh eyes, / great wisdom will eventually arise;

If compassion and wisdom are a goal, / we’re going to be feeling more whole.

 

If we constantly clutch on to things, / we’ll find out what misery brings;

If we do less to cause so much pain, / more happiness will be our gain.

 

Anger’s a horrible fetter; / certainly we can do better.

You will not be misunderstood, / if you conquer your anger with good.

 

You won’t be considered uncouth, / if you subscribe to the truth;

Just having gray in your hair / does not always mean you’re aware.

 

It is really not very attractive / if we’re lazy when we ought to be active;

Seek wisdom and find your own path, / and do not incur others’ wrath.

 

Taming a lion is hard; / you always must be on your guard;

But harder than that you will find / is trying to tame your own mind.

 

How can we be behaving / if we are constantly craving?

It’s better if we circumvent / our greed and be more content.

(3-25-14)