Words of Buddha - Enlightened One

Both delusion and enlightenment originate within the mind, and every existence or phenomenon arises from the functions of mind, just as different things appear from the sleeve of a magician.

The activities of the mind have no limit, they form the surroundings of life. An impure mind surrounds itself with impure things and a pure mind surrounds itself with pure things; hence, surroundings have no more limits than the activities of the mind.

Just as a picture is drawn by an artist, surroundings are created by the activities of the mind. While the surroundings created by Buddha are pure and free from defilement, those created by men are not so.

"Your suffering is my suffering and your happiness is my happiness," said Buddha, and, just as a mother always loves her child, He does not forget that spirit even for a single moment, for it is the nature of Buddha-hood to be compassionate.

The Buddha's spirit of compassion is stimulated according to the needs of men; man's faith is the reaction to this spirit, and it leads him to Enlightenment, just as a mother realizes her motherhood by loving her child then the child, reacting to that love, feels safe and at ease.

Yet people do not understand this spirit of Buddha and go on suffering from the illusions and desires that arise from their ignorance; they suffer from their own deeds accumulated through worldly passions, and wander among the mountains of delusion with the heavy burden of their evil deeds.

It is easy to shield the outer body from poisoned arrows, but it is impossible to shield the mind from the poisoned darts that originate within itself. Greed, anger, foolishness and the infatuations of egoism - these four poisoned darts originate within the mind and infect it with deadly poison.

If people are infected with greed, anger, and foolishness, they will lie, cheat, abuse and be double-tongued, and then, will actualize their words by killing, stealing, and committing adultery.

The three evil states of mind, the four evil words, and the three evil acts, if added together, become the ten gross evils.

If people become accustomed to lying, they will unconsciously commit every possible wrong deed.
Before they can act wickedly they must lie, and once they begin to lie they will act wickedly with unconcern.

Greed, lust, fear, anger, misfortune, unhappiness, all derive from foolishness. Thus foolishness is the greatest of the poisons.

From desire, action follows; from action suffering follows; desire, action and suffering are like a wheel rotating endlessly.

The rolling of this wheel has no beginning and no ending; how can people escape reincarnation? On life follows another life according to this transmigrating cycle in endless recurrence.

Although the nature of Buddhahood is possessed by all people, it is buried so deeply in the defilements of worldly passion that it long remains unknown. That is why suffering is so universal and why there is this endless recurrence of miserable lives.

But, just as, by yielding to greed, anger and foolishness, evil deeds are accumulated and condition rebirth, so, by following the Buddha's teaching, the evil sources will be cleared away and rebirth in the world of suffering will be ended.

Be vigilant and go beyond death. If you lack vigilance, you cannot escape death. Those who strive earnestly will go beyond death; those who do not can never come to life. The wise understand this, and rejoice in the wisdom of the noble ones. Meditating earnestly and striving for nirvana, they attain the highest joy and freedom.

If you meditate earnestly, pure in mind and kind in deeds, leading a disciplined life in harmony with the dharma, you will grow in glory. If you meditate earnestly, through spiritual disciplines you can make an island for yourself that no flood can overwhelm.

- Dhammapada 2 : Vigilance 1,2

Buddha first trained himself to be kind to all animate life and to avoid the sin of killing any living creature, by virtue of which he wished that all people might know the blessedness of a long life.

Buddha trained himself to avoid the sin of stealing, by virtue of which that he wished all people might have everything they needed.

Buddha trained himself to avoid committing adultery, by virtue of which he wished that all people might know the blessedness of a pure spirit and not suffer from insatiable desires.

Buddha, aiming at his ideal, trained himself to remain free from all deception, by virtue of which he wished that all people might know the tranquility of mind that would follow in speaking the truth.

He trained himself to avoid all double-tongue, by virtue of which he wished that all people might know the joy of fellowship.

The Saint

Even the gods envy the saints,
whose senses obey them like well-trained horses who are free from pride.

Wisdom has stilled their minds, and their thoughts, words, and deeds are filled with peace.

Freed from illusion and from personal ties,
they have renounced the world of appearance
to find reality. Thus they reached the highest.

They make holy wherever they dwell,
in village or forest, on land or at sea.
With their senses at peace and their
minds full of joy, they make the forests holy.

Knowing that things neither exist nor do not exist, remembering the dream-like nature of all everything, one should avoid being caught by pride of personality or praise for good deeds; or caught and entangled by anything else.

If a person is to avoid being caught in the current of his desires, he must learn at the very beginning not to grasp after things lest he should become accustomed to them and attached to them. He must not become attached to existence or to non-existence, to anything inside or outside, neither to good things nor to bad things, neither to right nor to wrong.