Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
Free Buddha Dharma ebook
A Refuge in Awakening
By Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, translated from the Thai by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Free download here:
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/refawake.pdf
===
A Refuge in Awakening
By Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, translated from the Thai by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Free download here:
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/refawake.pdf
===
❤1🥰1🙏1
Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
Free Buddha Dharma ebook
A Refuge in Awakening
By Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, translated from the Thai by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
“Those who have gone to the Buddha as refuge will not go to the realms of deprivation. On abandoning the human body, they will fill the company of the gods.”
I will now explain this verse so that you can practice in a way leading to the supreme attainment, capable of eliminating all your suffering and fears, reaching the refuge of peace.
We come into this world without a substantial refuge. Nothing—aside from the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha—will follow us into the next life. These three are the only things in which we can take refuge both in this life and in lives to come.
There are two levels on which people take refuge in the Triple Gem. Some take refuge only on the level of individuals, while others take refuge on the level of inner qualities, by developing the steps of the practice within themselves.
Free download here:
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/refawake.pdf
===
A Refuge in Awakening
By Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo, translated from the Thai by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
“Those who have gone to the Buddha as refuge will not go to the realms of deprivation. On abandoning the human body, they will fill the company of the gods.”
I will now explain this verse so that you can practice in a way leading to the supreme attainment, capable of eliminating all your suffering and fears, reaching the refuge of peace.
We come into this world without a substantial refuge. Nothing—aside from the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha—will follow us into the next life. These three are the only things in which we can take refuge both in this life and in lives to come.
There are two levels on which people take refuge in the Triple Gem. Some take refuge only on the level of individuals, while others take refuge on the level of inner qualities, by developing the steps of the practice within themselves.
Free download here:
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/refawake.pdf
===
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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
Rattanakosin Buddha, Wat Nong Hoi Buddhist temple, Lamphun, Thailand.
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Chapter 2
Appamada Vagga
Heedfulness
11. Appamadarato bhikkhu
pamade bhayadassi va
Samyojanam auum thulam
daham aggi'va gacchati. 31.
THE HEEDFUL ADVANCE
11. The Bhikkhu 13 who delights in heedfulness, and looks with fear on heedlessness, advances like fire, burning all fetters 14 great and small. 31.
Story
A monk, failing in his meditation in the forest, was coming to see the Buddha. On the way he saw a forest fire advancing, burning all things great and small. This sight induced him to think that he too should advance burning all the fetters, great and small, by the fire of the Noble Eightfold Path. The Buddha read his thought and, radiating a ray of light, advised him accordingly.
===
Vajrayana Tantrayana Buddhism channel:
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Tibetan Buddhism - Vajrayana, Tantrayana and esoteric Buddhism channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/tibetanbuddha
===
Appamada Vagga
Heedfulness
11. Appamadarato bhikkhu
pamade bhayadassi va
Samyojanam auum thulam
daham aggi'va gacchati. 31.
THE HEEDFUL ADVANCE
11. The Bhikkhu 13 who delights in heedfulness, and looks with fear on heedlessness, advances like fire, burning all fetters 14 great and small. 31.
Story
A monk, failing in his meditation in the forest, was coming to see the Buddha. On the way he saw a forest fire advancing, burning all things great and small. This sight induced him to think that he too should advance burning all the fetters, great and small, by the fire of the Noble Eightfold Path. The Buddha read his thought and, radiating a ray of light, advised him accordingly.
===
Vajrayana Tantrayana Buddhism channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/tantrayanabuddhism
Tibetan Buddhism - Vajrayana, Tantrayana and esoteric Buddhism channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/tibetanbuddha
===
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Buddha teachings from the Vajrayana, esoteric, secret or Tantrayana vehicle
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“Mendicants, in some past lives the Realized One was reborn as a human being. ... Due to performing those deeds he was reborn in a heavenly realm. When he came back to this place he obtained this mark: he is golden colored; his skin shines like lustrous gold.
On this it is said:
“Fixated on good will, he gave gifts. In an earlier life he poured forth cloth fine and soft to touch, like a god pouring rain on this broad earth.
So doing he passed from here to heaven, where he enjoyed the fruits of deeds well done. Here he wins a figure shining like honey-yellow gold, like Indra, the finest of gods.
If that man stays in the house, not wishing to go forth, he conquers and rules this vast, broad earth. He obtains abundant excellent cloth, so fine and soft to touch.
He receives robes, cloth, and the finest garments. if he chooses the life gone forth. For he still partakes of past deed’s fruit; what’s been done is never lost.”
Partial excerpts from DN 30 : Pathikavagga
On this it is said:
“Fixated on good will, he gave gifts. In an earlier life he poured forth cloth fine and soft to touch, like a god pouring rain on this broad earth.
So doing he passed from here to heaven, where he enjoyed the fruits of deeds well done. Here he wins a figure shining like honey-yellow gold, like Indra, the finest of gods.
If that man stays in the house, not wishing to go forth, he conquers and rules this vast, broad earth. He obtains abundant excellent cloth, so fine and soft to touch.
He receives robes, cloth, and the finest garments. if he chooses the life gone forth. For he still partakes of past deed’s fruit; what’s been done is never lost.”
Partial excerpts from DN 30 : Pathikavagga
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Free Buddhism Dharma ebook
Small Boat, Great Mountain
Theravadin Reflections On the Natural Great Perfections Dzogchen
By Amaro Bhikkhu
Free download here:
https://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN395.pdf
===
Small Boat, Great Mountain
Theravadin Reflections On the Natural Great Perfections Dzogchen
By Amaro Bhikkhu
Free download here:
https://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN395.pdf
===
👏1🏆1
Free Buddhism Dharma ebook
Small Boat, Great Mountain
Theravadin Reflections On the Natural Great Perfections Dzogchen
By Amaro Bhikkhu
One of the delights of Small Boat, Great Mountain is that Ajahn Amaro has enumerated many of references and provided clear and compelling explanations of the deathless nature of the intrinsic awareness or the mind. In orthodox circles in Burma and Sri Lanka, however, this notion is frankly contradictory, since awareness (or consciousness, vijnana) is considered impermanent.
The issue is of particular interest at the current time. Over decades, many Western vipassana teachers and students have sought teachings from Dzogchen masters. Among the Tibetan teachers who have been especially helpful to vipassana seekers have been the late Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, his son Tsoknyi Rinpoche, and the late Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche. Having been inspired by the profound view and techniques of this lineage, many vipassana practitioners are grappling to reconcile Dzogchen understandings with their Theravadan backgrounds.
Ajahn Amaro’s talks as recorded in this book are a very important contribution to this dialogue. As such, a few words about the occasion on which they were given may be of interest.
In the lineage of Ajahn Chah, a teacher is not supposed to prepare much for a Dharma talk. Rather the teacher is encouraged to trust in his or her sense of the moment and to intuit from the setting and the audience what words are most appropriate. I believe that Ajahn Amaro followed this guideline during the retreat with Tsoknyi Rinpoche, and that we are most fortunate to have this record of the extraordinary talks that the situation evoked. In their erudition, humor, and profundity, they are a unique and accurate transmission of the atmosphere of that special retreat. May their message lead all those who read them directly to their own Buddha-nature and to the vast freedom of the Natural Great Perfection Dzogchen.
Free download here:
https://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN395.pdf
===
Small Boat, Great Mountain
Theravadin Reflections On the Natural Great Perfections Dzogchen
By Amaro Bhikkhu
One of the delights of Small Boat, Great Mountain is that Ajahn Amaro has enumerated many of references and provided clear and compelling explanations of the deathless nature of the intrinsic awareness or the mind. In orthodox circles in Burma and Sri Lanka, however, this notion is frankly contradictory, since awareness (or consciousness, vijnana) is considered impermanent.
The issue is of particular interest at the current time. Over decades, many Western vipassana teachers and students have sought teachings from Dzogchen masters. Among the Tibetan teachers who have been especially helpful to vipassana seekers have been the late Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, his son Tsoknyi Rinpoche, and the late Nyoshul Khen Rinpoche. Having been inspired by the profound view and techniques of this lineage, many vipassana practitioners are grappling to reconcile Dzogchen understandings with their Theravadan backgrounds.
Ajahn Amaro’s talks as recorded in this book are a very important contribution to this dialogue. As such, a few words about the occasion on which they were given may be of interest.
In the lineage of Ajahn Chah, a teacher is not supposed to prepare much for a Dharma talk. Rather the teacher is encouraged to trust in his or her sense of the moment and to intuit from the setting and the audience what words are most appropriate. I believe that Ajahn Amaro followed this guideline during the retreat with Tsoknyi Rinpoche, and that we are most fortunate to have this record of the extraordinary talks that the situation evoked. In their erudition, humor, and profundity, they are a unique and accurate transmission of the atmosphere of that special retreat. May their message lead all those who read them directly to their own Buddha-nature and to the vast freedom of the Natural Great Perfection Dzogchen.
Free download here:
https://ftp.budaedu.org/ebooks/pdf/EN395.pdf
===
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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
Buddham Saranam Gacchami
Dhammam Saranam Gacchami
Sangham Saranam Gacchami
I go to the Buddha for refuge.
I go to the Dhamma for refuge.
I go to the Sangha for refuge.
बुद्धं शरणं गच्छामि। धर्मं शरणं गच्छामि। संघं शरणं गच्छामि।
Dhammam Saranam Gacchami
Sangham Saranam Gacchami
I go to the Buddha for refuge.
I go to the Dhamma for refuge.
I go to the Sangha for refuge.
बुद्धं शरणं गच्छामि। धर्मं शरणं गच्छामि। संघं शरणं गच्छामि।
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Chapter 2
Appamada Vagga
Heedfulness
12. Appamadarato bhikkhu
pamade bhayadassi va
Abhabbo parihanaya
Nibbanass'eva santike. 32.
THE HEEDFUL ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF NIBBâNA
12. The Bhikkhu who delights in heedfulness, and looks with fear on heedlessness, is not liable to fall. 15 He is in the presence of Nibbana. 32.
Story 32: A monk was frugal and contented. The Buddha attributed those characteristics to the monk's close association with Him in the past and remarked that monks of his type were already in the presence of Nibbana.
===
Words of the Buddha channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/wordsofbuddha
===
Appamada Vagga
Heedfulness
12. Appamadarato bhikkhu
pamade bhayadassi va
Abhabbo parihanaya
Nibbanass'eva santike. 32.
THE HEEDFUL ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF NIBBâNA
12. The Bhikkhu who delights in heedfulness, and looks with fear on heedlessness, is not liable to fall. 15 He is in the presence of Nibbana. 32.
Story 32: A monk was frugal and contented. The Buddha attributed those characteristics to the monk's close association with Him in the past and remarked that monks of his type were already in the presence of Nibbana.
===
Words of the Buddha channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/wordsofbuddha
===
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Words of the Buddha
Daily teachings of Buddha Dharma
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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
The Brahma-viharas: Head & Heart Together
Thai forest monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu teaches us how to use wisdom to cultivate compassion
Part 1 of 3
The brahma-viharas, or “sublime attitudes,” are the Buddha’s primary heart teachings—the ones that connect most directly with our desire for true happiness. The term “brahma-vihara” literally means “dwelling place of brahmas.” Brahmas are gods who live in the higher heavens, dwelling in an attitude of unlimited goodwill, unlimited compassion, unlimited empathetic joy, and unlimited equanimity. These unlimited attitudes can be developed from the more limited versions of these emotions that we experience in the human heart.
The four brahma-viharas (sublime attitudes) are:
1) Goodwill (metta)
2) Compassion (karuna)
3) Empathetic joy (mudita)
4) Equanimity (upekkha)
Of these four emotions, goodwill (metta) is the most fundamental. It’s the wish for true happiness, a wish you can direct to yourself or to others. Goodwill was the underlying motivation that led the Buddha to search for awakening and to teach the path to awakening to others after he had found it.
The next two emotions in the list are essentially applications of goodwill. Compassion (karuna) is what goodwill feels when it encounters suffering: it wants the suffering to stop. Empathetic joy (mudita) is what goodwill feels when it encounters happiness: it wants the happiness to continue. Equanimity (upekkha) is a different emotion, in that it acts as an aid to and a check on the other three. When you encounter suffering that you can’t stop no matter how hard you try, you need equanimity to avoid creating additional suffering and to channel your energies to areas where you can be of help. In this way, equanimity isn’t cold hearted or indifferent. It simply makes your goodwill more focused and effective.
Making these attitudes limitless requires work. It’s easy to feel goodwill, compassion, and empathetic joy for people you like and love, but there are bound to be people you dislike—often for very good reasons. Similarly, there are many people for whom it’s easy to feel equanimity: people you don’t know or don’t really care about. But it’s hard to feel equanimity when people you love are suffering. Yet if you want to develop the brahma-viharas, you have to include all of these people within the scope of your awareness so that you can apply the proper attitude no matter where or when. This is where your heart needs the help of your head.
All too often, meditators believe that if they can simply add a little more heart juice, a little more emotional oomph, to their brahma-vihara practice, their attitudes can become limitless. But if something inside you keeps churning up reasons for liking this person or hating that one, your practice starts feeling hypocritical. You wonder who you’re trying to fool. Or, after a month devoted to the practice, you still find yourself thinking black thoughts about people who cut you off in traffic—to say nothing of people who’ve done the world serious harm.
This is where the head comes in. If we think of the heart as the side of the mind that wants happiness, the head is the side that understands how cause and effect actually work. If your head and heart can learn to cooperate—that is, if your head can give priority to finding the causes for true happiness, and your heart can learn to embrace those causes—then the training of the mind can go far.
This is why the Buddha taught the brahma-viharas in a context of head teachings: the principle of causality as it plays out in (1) karma and (2) the process of fabrication that shapes emotions within the body and mind. The more we can get our heads around these teachings, the easier it will be to put our whole heart into developing attitudes that truly are sublime. An understanding of karma helps to explain what we’re doing as we develop the brahma-viharas and why we might want to do so in the first place. An understanding of fabrication helps to explain how we can take our human heart and convert it into a place where brahmas could dwell.
Thai forest monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu teaches us how to use wisdom to cultivate compassion
Part 1 of 3
The brahma-viharas, or “sublime attitudes,” are the Buddha’s primary heart teachings—the ones that connect most directly with our desire for true happiness. The term “brahma-vihara” literally means “dwelling place of brahmas.” Brahmas are gods who live in the higher heavens, dwelling in an attitude of unlimited goodwill, unlimited compassion, unlimited empathetic joy, and unlimited equanimity. These unlimited attitudes can be developed from the more limited versions of these emotions that we experience in the human heart.
The four brahma-viharas (sublime attitudes) are:
1) Goodwill (metta)
2) Compassion (karuna)
3) Empathetic joy (mudita)
4) Equanimity (upekkha)
Of these four emotions, goodwill (metta) is the most fundamental. It’s the wish for true happiness, a wish you can direct to yourself or to others. Goodwill was the underlying motivation that led the Buddha to search for awakening and to teach the path to awakening to others after he had found it.
The next two emotions in the list are essentially applications of goodwill. Compassion (karuna) is what goodwill feels when it encounters suffering: it wants the suffering to stop. Empathetic joy (mudita) is what goodwill feels when it encounters happiness: it wants the happiness to continue. Equanimity (upekkha) is a different emotion, in that it acts as an aid to and a check on the other three. When you encounter suffering that you can’t stop no matter how hard you try, you need equanimity to avoid creating additional suffering and to channel your energies to areas where you can be of help. In this way, equanimity isn’t cold hearted or indifferent. It simply makes your goodwill more focused and effective.
Making these attitudes limitless requires work. It’s easy to feel goodwill, compassion, and empathetic joy for people you like and love, but there are bound to be people you dislike—often for very good reasons. Similarly, there are many people for whom it’s easy to feel equanimity: people you don’t know or don’t really care about. But it’s hard to feel equanimity when people you love are suffering. Yet if you want to develop the brahma-viharas, you have to include all of these people within the scope of your awareness so that you can apply the proper attitude no matter where or when. This is where your heart needs the help of your head.
All too often, meditators believe that if they can simply add a little more heart juice, a little more emotional oomph, to their brahma-vihara practice, their attitudes can become limitless. But if something inside you keeps churning up reasons for liking this person or hating that one, your practice starts feeling hypocritical. You wonder who you’re trying to fool. Or, after a month devoted to the practice, you still find yourself thinking black thoughts about people who cut you off in traffic—to say nothing of people who’ve done the world serious harm.
This is where the head comes in. If we think of the heart as the side of the mind that wants happiness, the head is the side that understands how cause and effect actually work. If your head and heart can learn to cooperate—that is, if your head can give priority to finding the causes for true happiness, and your heart can learn to embrace those causes—then the training of the mind can go far.
This is why the Buddha taught the brahma-viharas in a context of head teachings: the principle of causality as it plays out in (1) karma and (2) the process of fabrication that shapes emotions within the body and mind. The more we can get our heads around these teachings, the easier it will be to put our whole heart into developing attitudes that truly are sublime. An understanding of karma helps to explain what we’re doing as we develop the brahma-viharas and why we might want to do so in the first place. An understanding of fabrication helps to explain how we can take our human heart and convert it into a place where brahmas could dwell.
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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
The teaching on karma starts with the principle that people experience happiness and sorrow based on a combination of their past and present intentions. If we act with unskillful intentions either for ourselves or for others, we’re going to suffer. If we act with skillful intentions, we’ll experience happiness. So if we want to be happy, we have to train our intentions to always be skillful. This is the first reason for developing the brahma-viharas: so that we can make our intentions more trustworthy.
Some people say that unlimited goodwill comes naturally to us, that our Buddha-nature is intrinsically compassionate. But the Buddha never said anything about Buddha-nature. What he did say is that the mind is even more variegated than the animal world. We’re capable of anything. So what are we going to do with this capability?
We could do—and have done—almost anything, but the one thing the Buddha does assume across the board is that deep down inside we want to take this capability and devote it to happiness. So the first lesson of karma is that if you really want to be happy, you can’t trust that deep down you know the right thing to do, because that would simply foster complacency. Unskillful intentions would take over and you wouldn’t even know it. Instead, you have to be heedful to recognize unskillful intentions for what they are, and to act only on skillful ones. The way to ensure that you’ll stay heedful is to take your desire for happiness and spread it around.
The second lesson of karma is that just as you’re the primary architect of your own happiness and suffering, other people are the primary architects of theirs. If you really want them to be happy, you don’t just treat them nicely. You also want them to learn how to create the causes for happiness. If you can, you want to show them how to do that. This is why the gift of dharma—lessons in how to give rise to true happiness— is the greatest gift. In the Buddha’s most famous example of how to express an attitude of unlimited goodwill, he doesn’t simply express a wish for universal happiness. He also adds a wish that all beings avoid the causes that would lead them to unhappiness: “Let no one deceive another or despise anyone anywhere, or through anger or irritation wish for another to suffer.” (Sutta Nipata 1.8) So if you’re using visualization as part of your goodwill practice, don’t visualize people simply as smiling, surrounded willy-nilly by wealth and sensual pleasures. Visualize them acting, speaking, and thinking skillfully. If they’re currently acting on unskillful intentions, visualize them changing their ways. Then act to realize those visualizations if you can.
A similar principle applies to compassion and empathetic joy. Learn to feel compassion not only for people who are already suffering, but also for those who are engaging in unskillful actions that will lead to future suffering. This means, if possible, trying to stop them from doing those things. And learn to feel empathetic joy not only for those who are already happy, but also for those whose actions will lead to future happiness. If you have the opportunity, give them encouragement.
===
Words of the Buddha channel:
https://news.1rj.ru/str/wordsofbuddha
===
Some people say that unlimited goodwill comes naturally to us, that our Buddha-nature is intrinsically compassionate. But the Buddha never said anything about Buddha-nature. What he did say is that the mind is even more variegated than the animal world. We’re capable of anything. So what are we going to do with this capability?
We could do—and have done—almost anything, but the one thing the Buddha does assume across the board is that deep down inside we want to take this capability and devote it to happiness. So the first lesson of karma is that if you really want to be happy, you can’t trust that deep down you know the right thing to do, because that would simply foster complacency. Unskillful intentions would take over and you wouldn’t even know it. Instead, you have to be heedful to recognize unskillful intentions for what they are, and to act only on skillful ones. The way to ensure that you’ll stay heedful is to take your desire for happiness and spread it around.
The second lesson of karma is that just as you’re the primary architect of your own happiness and suffering, other people are the primary architects of theirs. If you really want them to be happy, you don’t just treat them nicely. You also want them to learn how to create the causes for happiness. If you can, you want to show them how to do that. This is why the gift of dharma—lessons in how to give rise to true happiness— is the greatest gift. In the Buddha’s most famous example of how to express an attitude of unlimited goodwill, he doesn’t simply express a wish for universal happiness. He also adds a wish that all beings avoid the causes that would lead them to unhappiness: “Let no one deceive another or despise anyone anywhere, or through anger or irritation wish for another to suffer.” (Sutta Nipata 1.8) So if you’re using visualization as part of your goodwill practice, don’t visualize people simply as smiling, surrounded willy-nilly by wealth and sensual pleasures. Visualize them acting, speaking, and thinking skillfully. If they’re currently acting on unskillful intentions, visualize them changing their ways. Then act to realize those visualizations if you can.
A similar principle applies to compassion and empathetic joy. Learn to feel compassion not only for people who are already suffering, but also for those who are engaging in unskillful actions that will lead to future suffering. This means, if possible, trying to stop them from doing those things. And learn to feel empathetic joy not only for those who are already happy, but also for those whose actions will lead to future happiness. If you have the opportunity, give them encouragement.
===
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https://news.1rj.ru/str/wordsofbuddha
===
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Words of the Buddha
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When they give him almsfood, he should lift his upper robe with his left hand, stretch out his bowl with his right hand, and receive the alms while holding the bowl with both hands. He shouldn’t look the donor in the face. He should be attentive to whether they wish to give curry or not. If they take hold of a serving spoon or a vessel, or they tell him to wait, then he should assume they wish to give, and he should wait. When they have given alms, he should cover the bowl with his upper robe, and leave carefully and without hurry.
Partial excerpts from Kd 18 : Chapter on Proper Conduct
Partial excerpts from Kd 18 : Chapter on Proper Conduct
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Forwarded from Words of the Buddha
Manopubbangama dhamma
manosettha manomaya
manasa ce pasannena
bhasati va karoti va
tato nam sukha manveti
chayava anapayini.
All mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner; they have mind as their chief; they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness (sukha) follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.
Dhammapada Verse 2 : Matthakundali Vatthu
manosettha manomaya
manasa ce pasannena
bhasati va karoti va
tato nam sukha manveti
chayava anapayini.
All mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner; they have mind as their chief; they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness (sukha) follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.
Dhammapada Verse 2 : Matthakundali Vatthu
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