Dhp100-115 β Chapter 6
Minor Collection
Sayings of the Dhamma 100β115
8. The Thousands
Better than a thousand
meaningless sayings
is a single meaningful saying,
hearing which brings you peace.
Better than a thousand
meaningless verses
is a single meaningful verse,
hearing which brings you peace.
Better than reciting
a hundred meaningless verses
is a single saying of Dhamma,
hearing which brings you peace.
The supreme conqueror is
not he who conquers a million men in battle,
but he who conquers a single man:
himself.
It is surely better to conquer oneself
than all those other folk.
When a person has tamed themselves,
always living restrained,
no god nor centaur,
nor MΔra nor divinity,
can undo the victory
of such a personage.
Rather than a thousandfold sacrifice,
every month for a full century,
itβs better to honor for a single hour
one who has developed themselves.
That offering is better
than the hundred year sacrifice.
Rather than serve the sacred flame
in the forest for a hundred years,
itβs better to honor for a single hour
a personage who has developed themselves.
That offering is better
than the hundred year sacrifice.
Whatever sacrifice or offering in the world
a seeker of merit may make for a year,
none of it is worth a quarter
of bowing to the sincere.
For one in the habit of bowing,
always honoring the elders,
four blessings grow:
lifespan, beauty, happiness, and strength.
Better to live a single day
ethical and absorbed in meditation
than to live a hundred years
unethical and lacking immersion.
Better to live a single day
wise and absorbed in meditation
than to live a hundred years
witless and lacking immersion.
Better to live a single day
energetic and strong,
than to live a hundred years
lazy and lacking energy.
Better to live a single day
seeing rise and fall
than to live a hundred years
blind to rise and fall.
Better to live a single day
seeing the state free of death
than to live a hundred years
blind to the state free of death.
Better to live a single day
seeing the supreme teaching
than to live a hundred years
blind to the supreme teaching.
β¦ Connected Across Traditions
Impermanence & Letting Go
Tao Te Ching 76
βA man is born gentle and weak. At his death he is hard and stiff. The soft and yielding is the disciple of life.β
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
βTo everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.β
Bhagavad Gita 2:22
βAs a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.β
Quran 55:26-27
βEveryone upon the earth will perish, and there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honor.β