ספרי מקור

The Dhammapada opens on its governing thesis: mind precedes all things. Hatred is conquered only by non-hatred, and practice outweighs profession.

Heedfulness is the path to the deathless. Diligence and restraint build a refuge no flood carries away; the wise prize it over vanity.

The mind is restless and hard to hold, but a guarded, well-directed mind wins freedom — and decides our greatest harm or our greatest help.

Death seizes the distracted pleasure-gatherer. Live harmlessly, watch your own faults, and let deeds match words: virtue's fragrance outlasts all.

The fool clings to a self and possessions he does not own. Deeds ripen, and evil tastes sweet only until its fruit turns bitter.

Welcome the one who shows you your faults. The wise fashion themselves, choose good company, and stand unshaken by fortune's extremes.

Liberation is the end of suffering and of rebirth. The unconditioned is reached by stilling craving, and true knowledge issues in quietude.

One meaningful word outweighs a thousand empty ones. Self-conquest is the supreme victory, and a day of insight outweighs a barren century.

Hasten toward good and turn from evil. Deeds ripen on delay, none too small to matter, and no place in the cosmos shelters anyone from their own.

All beings fear death and love life, so harm none. Cruelty rebounds on its doer; inner purity, not outward austerity, makes the holy one.

The body perishes and is no fit object of clinging. Craving builds the house of rebirth and its extinction is freedom; a world afire demands urgency.

The self is its own master and its own refuge. Reform yourself before instructing others — no one can purify another.

See the world as a bubble and a mirage. Rouse yourself to virtue: the first step in holiness surpasses all worldly sovereignty.

Avoid evil, do good, purify the mind — the teaching of all the Awakened. Human birth is rare, and desire is never satisfied.

True happiness is dwelling unafflicted among the afflicted. Own nothing and contend for nothing: contentment is wealth, and peace the highest joy.

Grasping at pleasure forsakes the real aim. Attachment is the fetter from which grief and fear are born; seek neither the pleasant nor the unpleasant.

Anger is to be relinquished rather than expressed. Conquer each vice by its opposite — anger by love, greed by giving — and stay steady under blame.

Death is near, so purify now. Your own deeds defile or refine you, ignorance is the worst taint, and the faults to watch are your own.

Justice is equity, not coercion. Titles are earned by virtue rather than outward marks, and nobility means compassion and doing no harm.

There is one way — the Eightfold Path — and you must walk it yourself. See the three marks of existence and uproot craving entirely.

Trade a lesser pleasure for a greater good. Harm sought for pleasure recoils, watchfulness ends craving, and solitude perfects the practice.

Falsehood leads downward, and the robe without restraint condemns rather than saves. Discipline must be wholehearted, never slack.

Endure abuse as the tamed elephant endures the arrow. Taming oneself surpasses every other mastery; seek a wise companion, or walk alone.

Thirst is the self-renewing root of rebirth and suffering. Uproot it at the source; the subtlest fetter is attachment to family and possessions.

Restraint in every sense defines the mendicant. Kindness, meditation and knowledge carry one across the flood — the self is its own refuge.

The true brahmana is made by attainment, not by birth: blameless, non-retaliating, harming no being, every fetter cut, and deeply wise.

The graduated path of virtue, concentration and wisdom; the Four Noble Truths; mindfulness as the one way; and a vision of righteous, poverty-relieving rule.

The path is a diagnostic, not a metaphysics. The liberated one escapes every predication, and the awakening came by self-effort and was nearly not taught.

Dependent origination as the middle doctrine, the aggregates as not-self, and liberation as the cessation of clinging — never annihilation.

Three roots of action and their reversal; karma as conditioned rather than mechanical; and a goal that is liberation, personally verified, not heaven.