The Buddhist Way of Life : On vigilance, earnestness and boldness

9. On vigilance, earnestness and boldness

• When, vigilant, the wise man puts from him negligence, ascending the tower of wisdom he looks down, free from sorrow, upon the sorrow-laden race of mankind. As from a mountain top, the wise man looks upon the fools in the valley. 
• Vigilant among the negligent, awake among those asleep, as a fleet courser leaves behind a sorry nag, so go the wise.
• Give not yourselves unto negligence. Have naught to do with the lust of the flesh. The vigilant is given to meditation.
• Earnestness leads to where death is not'; heedlessness is the way to death. Those who continue in earnestness do not die, but the heedless are as if already dead.
• Fall not away from your purpose for the sake of another, however great this latter may be. When once you have seen your goal, hold it firm and fast. 
• Be watchful! Have done with indolence! Travel the True Path ! Whoso walks thereon happy he lives in the world. 
• Idleness is a disgrace; constant sloth is defilement. By strenuous striving and with the help of insight you should pull out the poisoned arrow of indolence. 
• Give not yourselves unto negligence. Have not to do with the lust of the flesh. The vigilant, the given to meditation, these attain an overflowing happiness. 
• If an earnest person has roused himself, if he is not forgetful, if his deeds are pure, if he acts with consideration, if he restrains himself, and lives according to Dhamma, his glory will increase.

The Buddhist Way of Life : On self and self-conquest

6. On self and self-conquest.

 

• If one has self, let him practise self-conquest. 
• This is the Buddhist Way of Life. 
• Self is the lord of self, who else could be the lord ? With self well subdued, a man finds a lord such as few can find. 
• The foolish man who scorns the rule of the venerable (arahat), of the elect (ariya), of the virtuous and follows a false doctrine, he bears fruit to his own destruction, like the fruits of the Katthaka reed. 
• By oneself the evil is done, by oneself one suffers; by oneself evil is left undone, by oneself one is purified. The pure and the impure (stand and fall) by themselves, no one can purify another. 
• He who loves looking for senses uncontrolled, immoderate in his food, idle and weak, will certainly be overthrown by his own overdoing as the wind throws down a weak tree. 
• He who lives without looking for pleasures, his senses well controlled, moderate in his food, faithful and strong, he will not be overthrown any more than the wind throws down a rocky mountain. 
• If to himself a man is dear, let him keep close watch upon himself. 
• First establish thyself in the right then thou mayest counsel others. Let not the wise man give occasion for reproach. 
• Oneself, they say is hard to control. If one shapes oneself according as one counsels others, thus well controlled one will have control over others. II. A man pays in himself for the evil he has done and in himself is purified. The good and evil are purified severally, no one purifies another.
• Though one should conquer in battle thousands and thousands of men, who shall conquer himself, he is the greatest of warriors. 
• First establish thyself in the right, then thou mayest counsel others. Let not the wise man give occasion for reproach.
• If one shapes oneself according as one counsels others, thus well controlled, one will have control over others. Oneself they say, is hard to control.
• Verily oneself is the guardian of oneself. What other guardian should there be. Guarded by oneself, one gets a guardian the like of which is not likely gotten.
• If to himself a man is dear, let him keep close watch upon himself. 
• A man pays in himself for the evil he has done, and in himself is purified. The good and evil are purified severally, no one purifies another. 
• Verily oneself is the guardian of oneself; what other guardian should there be? Guarded by oneself, one gets a guardian the like of which is not easily gotten.