Introduction
The Dhammapada is a work of about 423 verses, divided into 26 chapters. The word "Dhammapada" means "Verses of Dhamma" which is the Pali term for the Sanskrit "dharma," referring at once to universal law, an individual's path, and Buddha's teachings. It is a concise and extremely practical work of Theravada Buddhism.
Chapter 1: Verse-pairs
i) Our life, our perception, is shaped by our mind; we become what is thought. Suffering follows speech or acts coming from a polluted thought as a cart's wheels follow the ox's foot.
ii) Our life, our perception, is shaped by our mind; we become what is thought. Tranquil joy follows speech or acts coming from a pure thought as a shadow never departs.
iii) "He hated me! He attacked me! He defeated me! He robbed me!" They who fill themselves up with these type of thoughts will never be free from hatred.
iv) "He hated me! He attacked me! He defeated me! He robbed me!" They who do not fill themselves up with these type of thoughts will surely become free from hatred.
v) Hate cannot be stopped by hatred, whatever the occasion; only love can conquer hate. This is an ancient and unalterable law (compare Liber AL I:41 & I:57).
vi) People do not remember 'Every man and every woman is a star' and 'Existence is pure joy.' For those who realize this, all quarrels come to an end. (see Liber AL I:3 & II:9)
vii) Like a wind blowing down a weak tree, Choronzon* prevails over those who remain in a frantic pursuit of the pleasurable, with senses uncontrolled, without faith in themselves, eating too much, and working too little.
viii) Like a wind passing over an unshakeable rocky mountain, Choronzon* cannot prevail over those who are not running frantically in pursuit of the pleasurable, self-disciplined in mind and sense, full of faith in themselves, eating moderately, and working resolutely.
ix) One who calls herself a Thelemite and wears the crown of spiritual royalty, being not free of defilements (see note below) having not purified the mind, devoid of self-control and truth, does not deserve to call herself a Thelemite nor wear the crown of spiritual royalty.
x) But she who is free of defilement, having purified her mind, endowed with self-control and truth, is truly worthy of calling herself a Thelemite and of wearing the crown of spiritual royalty.
xi) Those with improper intentions, considering the trivial and superficial to be essential, are lost in the pastures of their vain fancies, never attaining the essential, highest knowledge.
xii) But the wise, knowing what is trivial and superficial and what is vital and essential, abide in the pastures of proper intention, attaining the supreme, essential goal.
xiii) As rain leaks through the roof of a poorly thatched house, so do impurities (see note below) seep into the untrained mind.
xiv) As rain does not leak through the roof of a well-thatched house, so can impurities not seep into the well-trained mind.
xv) Here she grieves and suffers, being afflicted, having seen the stain of her own impure Will.
xvi) Here she laughs and rejoices, being delighted, having seen the beauty of her own pure Will (compare Liber AL I:44 & II:20).
xvii) Here she grieves and suffers, having gone to a state of woe in seeing the results of her own defiled Will.
xviii) Here she rejoices and is happy, having gone to a state of joy in seeing the results of her own undefiled Will.
xix) Those who recite many spiritual texts but fail to practice the teachings is like a cowherd counting another's cows. They do not partake in the joys of this spiritual quest.
xx) Those who know only few spiritual texts but practice the teachings, having overcome all desire, aversion, delusion, attachment, and fear, living with a mind freed from grasping anything here or any "here-after;" they are partakers of the joy of this spiritual quest.
* Choronzon, the essence of dispersion and failure, here replaces the Buddhist notion of Mara, the tempter whom is equivalent to Satan tempting Jesus with pleasures and attachments. Choronzon/Mara represents all that which can wreck the work of the Thelemite including the impurities or defilements of:
- ignorance,
- attachment/craving,
- aversion/enmity,
- and fear.
Chapter 2: Vigilant Awareness
xxi) The path to the Deathless State, the City of the Pyramids*, is mindfulness: constant, vigilant awareness. Those lacking vigilance do not escape the path of death. Those who maintain vigilant awareness do not die; they who are dull and unaware are as dead, they can never come to Life.
xxii) Those who are vigilant and wise in meditation and awareness, knowing the death of the unaware, rejoice in awareness, and delight in the City of the Pyramids* with the noble ones.
xxiii) Those who persevere in meditation, forever firm in vigilance, those steadfast ones attain Nothingness*, the incomparable release from all bonds and defilement, the highest joy and freedom.
xxiv) Glory increases for those who stand vigilant and mindful, those of pure action, who with equilibrated deeds and self-discipline in mind, live in harmony with Will being vigilantly aware.
xxv) By standing alert, persistent in meditation, by self-discipline of word, speech, and thought, one makes an island for oneself that no flood can overwhelm (compare Liber AL III:4-7).
xxvi) Those immature people without wisdom, remain in unawareness. But the wise one guards her awareness vigilantly like the greatest treasure.
xxvii) Fall not into slothful unawareness, nor chase mindlessly after pleasures. Those who meditate with vigilance, being aware, attain the highest joyful ease.
xxviii) Overcoming their slothful unawareness through vigilant persistence, they ascend beyond suffering to the peaks of wisdom. They look upon the suffering and immature multitude as one standing upon a mountain looks on the ground below.
xxix) Among the slothfully unaware, she is vigilantly aware; among those who are asleep, she is wide-awake; The one with great wisdom moves like a racehorse, leaving others behind.
xxx) The earnest and vigilance are always respected, the slothful and unaware are never respected.
xxxi) The aspirant who delights in awareness, seeing fearfulness and ignorance in the unaware, Goes, burning away both the subtle and gross fetters*** like a fire.
xxxii) The aspirant who delights in awareness - seeing fearfulness and ignorance in the unaware - will never fall back; she is in the presence of the City of the Pyramids, being Nemo****.
* The City of the Pyramids, or No-thing, is the Thelemic analogue to Nirvana/Nibbana, being the final goal of Buddhist practice; it is the destruction of ignorance. That is, it is the destruction of duality in morality (good & evil), duality in psychology (craving & aversion), and duality in thought (self & not-self); they abide in the unconditioned, unchangeable, un-decaying and impersonal.
** Horus here is used as an analogue to Buddhist Maghavan, the Buddhist form of the Vedic Indra, the latter of which is the leader of gods, also known as the god of lavishness and war, bringer of storms.
*** The "subtle and gross fetters" refer partly to the impurities already mentioned but Buddhists go into more detail, delineating ten major fetters which bind one to a suffering state: belief in a permanent personality, excessive doubt, attachment to rules and rituals, craving for sensual pleasures, malice/ill-will, craving for material existence, craving for supra-material heavens, conceitedness/vanity/arrogance, restlessness/distraction, and ignorance/delustion. It is up to the individual Thelemite to see how these can all be fetters to attainment of one's Will.
**** Nemo, Latin for "no man," is the title of one who attains to the City of the Pyramids, having annihilated all her impurities/defilements and "fetters," especially her personal self or ego in the Impersonal.
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