Rev. Danny Fisher

Today’s quote comes from Siddhartha Gautama (circa fifth and/or sixth century B.C.E.)–the historical Buddha and de facto progenitor of the Buddhist religions.  It is attributed to him in the eighteenth chapter of the Dhammapada (which is on “Impurities”):

Make an island for yourself!
Work quickly! Be wise!
With impurities all blown away,
    unblemished,
you’ll reach the divine realm
of the noble ones.

    You are now
right at the end of your time.
    You are headed
to Yama’s presence,
with no place to rest along the way,
but have yet to provide
for the journey.

Make an island for yourself!
Work quickly! Be wise!
With impurities all blown away,
    unblemished,
you won’t again undergo birth
            & aging.

Just as a silver smith
step by
step,
    bit by
    bit,
        moment to
        moment,
blows away the impurities
of molten silver –
so the wise man, his own.

Just as rust
– iron’s impurity –
eats the very iron
from which it is born,
    so the deeds
of one who lives slovenly
    lead him on
to a bad destination.

[...]

Life’s easy to live
for someone unscrupulous,
    cunning as a crow,
    corrupt, back-biting,
    forward, & brash;
but for someone who’s constantly
    scrupulous, cautious,
    observant, sincere,
    pure in his livelihood,
    clean in his pursuits,
            it’s hard.

[...]

There’s no fire like passion,
no seizure like anger,
no snare like delusion,
no river like craving.

It’s easy to see
the errors of others,
but hard to see
your own.
You winnow like chaff
the errors of others,
but conceal your own –
like a cheat, an unlucky throw.

If you focus on the errors of others,
constantly finding fault,
your effluents flourish.
You’re far from their ending.