The Thousands

Better than a thousand hollow words
Is one word that brings peace.

Better than a thousand hollow verses
Is one verse that brings peace.

Better than a hundred hollow lines
Is one line of the law, bringing peace.

It is better to conquer yourself
Than to win a thousand battles.

Then the victory is yours.

It cannot be taken from you,
Not by angels or by demons,
Heaven or hell.

Better than a hundred years of worship,
Better than a thousand offerings,
Better than giving up a thousand worldly ways
In order to win merit,
Better even than tending in the forest
A sacred flame for a hundred years—
Is one moment's reverence
For the man who has conquered himself.

To revere such a man,
A master old in virtue and holiness,
Is to have victory over life itself,
And beauty, strength and happiness.

Better than a hundred years of mischief
Is one day spent in contemplation.

Better than a hundred years of ignorance
Is one day spent in reflection.

Better than a hundred years of idleness
Is one day spent in determination.

Better to live one day
Wondering
How all things arise and pass away.

Better to live one hour
Seeing
The one life beyond the way.

Better to live one moment
In the moment
Of the way beyond the way.

The Man Who Is Awake

He is awake.
The victory is his.
He has conquered the world.

How can he lose the way
Who is beyond the way?
His eye is open.
His foot is free.
Who can follow after him?

The world cannot reclaim him
Or lead him astray,
Nor can the poisoned net of desire hold him.

He is awake!
The gods watch over him.

He is awake
And finds joy in the stillness of meditation
And in the sweetness of surrender.

Hard it is to be born,
Hard it is to live,
Harder still to hear of the way,
And hard to rise, follow and awake.

Yet the teaching is simple.
Do what is right.
Be pure.
At the end of the way is freedom.
Till then, patience.

If you wound or grieve another,
You have not learned detachment.

Offend in neither word nor deed.
Eat with moderation.
Live in your heart.
Seek the highest consciousness.

Master yourself according to the law.
This is the simple teaching of the awakened.

The rain could turn to gold
And still your thirst would not be slaked.
Desire is unquenchable
Or it ends in tears, even in heaven.

He who wishes to awake
Consumes his desires
Joyfully.

In his fear a man may shelter
In mountains or in forests,
In groves of sacred trees or in shrines.
But how can he hide there from his sorrow?

He who shelters in the way
And travels with those who follow it
Comes to see the four great truths.

Concerning sorrow,
The beginning of sorrow,
The eightfold way,
And the end of sorrow.

Then at last he is safe.
He has shaken off sorrow.
He is free.

The awakened are few and hard to find.
Happy is the house where a man awakes.

Blessed is his birth.
Blessed is the teaching of the way.

Blessed is the understanding among those who follow it,
And blessed is their determination.

And blessed are they who revere
The man who awakes and follows the way.

They are free from fear.
They are free.

They have crossed over the river of sorrow.