Dhp197-208 — Chapter 10
Minor Collection
Sayings of the Dhamma 197–208
15. Happiness
Let us live so very happily,
loving among the hostile.
Among hostile humans,
let us live with love.
Let us live so very happily,
healthy among the ailing.
Among ailing humans
let us live healthily.
Let us live so very happily,
content among the greedy.
Among greedy humans,
let us live content.
Let us live so very happily,
we who have nothing.
We shall feed on rapture,
like the gods of streaming radiance.
Victory breeds enmity;
the defeated sleep badly.
The peaceful sleep at ease,
having left victory and defeat behind.
There is no fire like greed,
no crime like hate,
no suffering like the aggregates,
no bliss beyond peace.
Hunger is the worst illness,
conditions are the worst suffering.
For one who truly knows this,
extinguishment is the ultimate happiness.
Health is the ultimate blessing;
contentment, the ultimate wealth;
trust is the ultimate family;
extinguishment, the ultimate happiness.
Having drunk the nectar of seclusion
and the nectar of peace—
free of stress, free of evil,
drink the joyous nectar of truth.
It’s good to see the noble ones,
staying with them is always good.
Were you not to see fools,
you’d always be happy.
For one who consorts with fools
grieves long.
Painful is living with fools,
like being stuck with your enemy.
Happy is living with an attentive one,
like meeting with your kin.
Therefore:
An attentive one, wise and learned,
a behemoth of virtue, true to their vows, noble:
follow a true and intelligent person such as this,
as the moon tracks the path of the stars.
✦ Connected Across Traditions
The Golden Rule
Matthew 7:12
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Hadith (An-Nawawi 13)
“None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”
Leviticus 19:18
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Mahabharata 5.1517
“One should never do to another what one regards as injurious to oneself.”
The Path to Wisdom
Proverbs 4:7
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.”
Analects 2:11
“If you study the past and use it to understand the present, you are worthy of being a teacher.”
Tao Te Ching 33
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.”
Quran 39:9
“Are those who know equal to those who do not know?”
Good vs Evil / Light vs Darkness
Yasna 30:3
“Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action.”
John 1:5
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Genesis 1:3
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
Bhagavad Gita 16:21
“There are three gates to self-destructive hell: lust, anger, and greed. Therefore, one must learn to give these up.”