Buddhism
Dhp21-32
Text
Minor Collection
Sayings of the Dhamma 21–32
2. Diligence
Heedfulness is the state free of death;
heedlessness is the state of death.
The heedful do not die,
while the heedless are like the dead.
Understanding this distinction
when it comes to heedfulness,
the astute rejoice in heedfulness,
happy in the noble ones’ domain.
They who regularly meditate,
always staunchly vigorous;
the attentive realize extinguishment,
the supreme sanctuary from the yoke.
For the hard-working and mindful,
pure of deed and attentive,
restrained, living righteously, and diligent,
their reputation only grows.
By hard work and diligence,
by restraint and by self-control,
a smart person would build an island
that the floods cannot overflow.
Fools and simpletons
devote themselves to negligence.
But the wise protect diligence
as their best treasure.
Don’t devote yourself to negligence,
or delight in erotic intimacy.
For if you’re diligent and meditate,
you’ll attain abundant happiness.
When the astute dispel negligence
by means of diligence,
ascending the palace of wisdom,
sorrowless, they behold this generation of sorrow,
as an attentive one on a mountain top
beholds the fools below.
Heedful among the heedless,
wide awake while others sleep—
a true sage leaves them behind,
like a swift horse passing a feeble.
Maghavā became chief of the gods
by means of diligence.
People praise diligence,
while negligence is always deplored.
A mendicant who loves diligence,
seeing fear in negligence—
advances like fire,
burning up fetters big and small.
A mendicant who loves diligence,
seeing fear in negligence—
such a one can’t decline,
and has drawn near to extinguishment.
Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato, dedicated to the public domain (CC0), via SuttaCentral.
✦ Connected Across Traditions
The Golden Rule
Matthew 7:12
“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”
Hadith (An-Nawawi 13)
“None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”
Leviticus 19:18
“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Mahabharata 5.1517
“One should never do to another what one regards as injurious to oneself.”
Impermanence & Letting Go
Tao Te Ching 76 (trans. James Legge)
“Man at his birth is supple and weak; at his death, firm and strong. (So it is with) all things. Trees and plants, in their early growth, are soft and brittle; at their death, dry and withered.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2 (trans. Edwin Arnold)
“Nay, but as when one layeth His worn-out robes away, And taking new ones, sayeth, "These will I wear to-day!" So putteth by the spirit Lightly its garb of flesh, And passeth to inherit A residence afresh.”
Quran 55:26-27
“Everyone that is thereon will pass away; There remaineth but the Countenance of thy Lord of Might and Glory.”
The Path to Wisdom
Proverbs 4:7
“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”
Analects 2:11 (trans. James Legge)
“If a man keeps cherishing his old knowledge, so as continually to be acquiring new, he may be a teacher of others.”
Tao Te Ching 33 (trans. James Legge)
“He who knows other men is discerning; he who knows himself is intelligent.”
Quran 39:9
“Are those who know equal with those who know not?”
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
“And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
Genesis 1:3
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 16 (trans. Edwin Arnold)
“The Doors of Hell Are threefold, whereby men to ruin pass, The door of Lust, the door of Wrath, the door Of Avarice. Let a man shun those three!”