The sacred lies in a heart of faith. Have faith, and be sure of what you do; for every miracle arises upon faith.
We see the same thing, but we do not think alike; and so we feel happiness and suffering unequally.
The happy person is not one who has everything, but one who is happy with everything they have.
Give, keep the precepts, cultivate meditation; have virtue, concentration, wisdom; set mindfulness well; do your duty rightly; have loving-kindness and patience; be truthful, self-sacrificing, and let go — this is the way to Nirvana.
Abandon, and the heart is clean.
Let go, and the heart is clear.
Come to terms, and the heart is cool.
Forgive, and the heart is at peace.
See everything as it is — not as we wish it to be.
Look at yourself, to mend yourself.
Look at others, to forgive them.
Look ahead, to build hope.
Look back, to correct your faults.
One who has lost hope is like one who has stopped thinking.
The only person with no faults is the one who does nothing at all.
Do not lose heart, for it profits nothing. Endure, and go on doing your duty as best you can; then good things will flow back to you of themselves.
Behind success, for the most part, is not brilliance but effort. Effort may not succeed every time, but every success is born of effort.
An obstacle does not mean we cannot go forward; it only makes the walking a little harder. Once you have decided to walk on, do not be shaken by the obstacles you will meet.
We shall never succeed without a strong heart. Encouragement can be found from those around us, but the strength itself we must build for ourselves.
Though others look down on us, let us not look down on ourselves. Though others lose faith in us, let us not lose faith in ourselves.
Even if in all this world there were not one person left for us to rely on, we still have ourselves — the best refuge we can ever have.
Because yesterday can no longer be gone back to and mended, there is tomorrow, for us to begin anew and do better. Success lies ahead only of those who never give up trying.
Fallen or risen, do not grieve over life.
Right or wrong, do not think of fleeing the problem.
Good or bad, do not mind the gossips.
Praised or cursed, do not take it up — give it back.
Whether we are wicked or good in a conversation depends on who is telling it.
In doing good, do not worry whether it will be repaid. The good we do is not wasted, for good is worth more than anyone could ever repay. Keep building good steadily, and at a certain point the good we have built will flow back to build us in turn.
As for merit and goodness, once done it is never lost; it all flows back to us — only in what form, and how soon or late, that is all. And with evil it is just the same.
Merit and goodness, even done in secret, is still excellent; but evil, even done in a temple, is still base.
A good person does good without conditions; but a poor one must have conditions before doing any good.
Waking to a new day, if you do not yet know what good to do today, then at least keep a good mood — even that is best of all.
Because each of us stands in a different place, with different needs and circumstances, it is only natural that each person’s reasons and decisions differ.
When angry with someone, first call to mind the good they have done you, and your anger will ease, more or less.
Peace of mind does not come only from getting everything as we wish; it comes also from bringing ourselves to accept that nothing goes wholly as we wish.
Sometimes we are dissatisfied because our heart has not had enough. In this world nothing is perfectly good or complete; it rests only on how far we are content with it.
“Poor” means having little; it does not mean suffering. “Rich” means having much; it does not mean happiness. Whether we drink from a golden bowl or a coconut shell, if we are content they are worth the same. To lack is suffering; to have and not be satisfied is also suffering; but if we know “just enough,” then even to lack is no suffering.
Bodily ease may come from having; but ease of heart comes from having enough.
No need to fly as high as others; choose only as high as you can fly. The way you fly need not be like anyone else’s — just fly on until you reach your dream, that is enough.
To be able to read a book matters; to read a situation matters more; to read others matters greatly; to read oneself matters most of all.
Do not fret over the future until the present has no happiness. Do not let the evils of the past and the fear of the future destroy the good of the present.
Life will be happy if we learn how to live with suffering.
Whatever in this world is beyond our power to command will teach us the meaning of the words “let go.”
To set free a thousand birds and fish earns not the merit of letting go — even of one thing within.
A fish has eyes, yet still takes the hook, for it lacks wisdom. We humans, though we see with our eyes, should not be quick to believe until we have first examined with wisdom.
Practising the Dharma and doing good should be done continuously; then Dharma and goodness will become our very nature.
Virtue removes the coarse impurities; concentration removes the medium; meditation removes the subtle.
To reach the meditative state in practice is not hard; but to keep it once reached is harder. The fruit of practice is measured by this: when an object strikes, how quickly you can quell it and let it go.
Making merit is doing good. Building the perfections is doing ever better. Still, silent, simple — that is the heart of the Dharma.
Whatever we live with, we should understand its nature and ordinary way; then we will not suffer over it.
Whatever it be, if we see it as it truly is, speak of it as it truly is, and let it be as it truly is — everything becomes easy.
It is no fault of ours to misunderstand each other sometimes; the fault is in refusing to apologize and to come to an understanding.
When you quarrel, call to mind the good the other has done you, and the anger will ease — greatly.
The human being is the strangest thing: willing to lose health to gain money, and in the end willing to lose money to win back health.
One who tries to know everything about others will find happiness very hard to come by. Close the ears, left and right, close both eyes, and close the mouth a little too — and one still sleeps at ease.
Speech is dangerous when the heart holds poison.
Speech has no power when we speak without thinking first.
Poisonous speech, and life is short;
gentle speech, and life is happy;
sweet speech, and life is good;
bad speech, and life is done for.
Do not be quick to think life holds only bad things; it may be just a turning point that will let us find something better than before.
Life moves forward by looking ahead; life falls back by dwelling only on old disappointments.
In truth, suffering does not last long; it is unending only because we take it up and think it over and over again.
However able you are, you walk one step at a time.
However clever, you eat one mouthful at a time.
However brilliant, you live one day at a time.
Be patient — for a flower, to grow beautiful, does not take just a single day.
Problems and experience tend to grow together, naturally, as our age and station rise. However many problems you have, use the experience you have and tell yourself: I have grown much greater now, great enough to face and mend those problems. As you grow older, tell yourself: I have passed through enough of the world to see that what happens is the ordinary way of the world — for the only person with no problems is one who is already dead. Let your body and your heart grow up together.
Our life is like climbing a mountain: the higher we go, the more tired we grow, and the less ground remains, until standing becomes ever harder.
Sometimes it matters little who came first and who came later; what matters more is who will understand us and stay at our side to the end. It matters little who is with us when we have everything; what matters is who is still with us when nothing is left.
Losing what we love teaches and reminds us to care as best we can for what still remains with us — including those who love us, and those we love, alike.
The most important person is the one before us.
The most important time is the time when we can still do something.
The most important task is the one we are doing right now.
When you see someone do good, be glad for them and take them as an example. When you see someone do wrong, do not blame them, but tell yourself: I will not do as they do.
Turn anger into compassion, loving-kindness, forgiveness.
Turn envy into gladness.
Turn stinginess into sympathy, into knowing how to give and to share.
Do not hate one who envies you, but honour them — for they are one who thinks you better than themselves. Do not hate one who imitates you, but thank them — for they show that what you do has value in their eyes.
Pay no heed to the words of those who love to slander and malign others. However they slander, malign, or curse us, it has no effect on our life, for their speech has no virtue and no truth, and therefore no power. On the contrary, the more they revile us, the better we shall fare. But the words of one of virtue — a truthful person who speaks only good — once spoken, tend to come true indeed, by the power of pure speech.
Do not grow close to one who speaks without thinking.
Do not befriend one who always sees the world darkly.
Do not take the side of a fool.
Do not work with one who sees no value in it.
A great pagoda looks all the grander for the little pagodas ringed around it as attendants. A great person, too, looks the grander for the followers around them. So one who is senior should have kindness toward juniors and followers, and one who is junior should have humility, honesty, and sincerity — for in this world all things ever support and depend on one another.
Behind the greatness and strength of bricks that bond and stand together is the softness and pliancy of the mortar. And so gentleness and loving-kindness are what lie behind greatness; and loving-kindness is a thing of the utmost importance for this world.
Life is like a tale: it matters not whether it is short or long, but rather whether it has good things worth remembering.
All our lives are equal in being human; but what makes us differ is each person’s deeds. The moment we do good is the moment that gives our life value.
Treat others just as you would have them treat you; for the person of honour is the one who honours others.
Some people’s lives turn out well because others looked down on them; but some people’s lives turn worse because they looked down on others.
Seeing another grow rich and prosper, look at how they earned it — do not envy them for having it. Patience makes a person prosper; endure to the full, and everyone prospers.
If you will not let go of the past with your hands, what hands will you have left to grasp the future? If you never learn to plan ahead, your life will have no future.
It is not suffering that makes us overthink; it is overthinking that makes us suffer.
Better to have a wise man for an enemy than a fool for a friend.
A problem that can be solved — why worry over it? A problem that cannot be solved — worrying does no good.
The use of force does not mean strength; it shows weakness. To solve a problem with violence is to create yet another problem in its wake.
If we think a mistake was someone else’s doing, we will feel aggrieved; but if we feel that we had a part in it, we gain experience and learn together.
To be a good leader does not require always walking ahead of others, but rather making others willingly wish to follow you — for power without faith, however great, cannot endure.
Some things, though we do not want to do them, we should do — if they are good. But some things, however much we want to do them, we should not — if they are evil.
Life may not turn out as we think; but life will turn out as we act. In the first part of life, we build our habits; after that, our habits build our future.
Hardship gives rise to hope; where there is hope, there arises the strength to struggle and endure; and endurance brings success. As long as hope is not lost, there is always a way.
Learn from your mistakes; grow wise from your disappointments. Do not lose heart while strength remains. Do not despair, for there is still breath in you.
We can never receive happiness from outside if we do not first make happiness arise within our own heart.
If we are the one talking, we speak only of what we already know; but if we are the one listening, we come to know a great many things we did not yet know.
If we have done no wrong, others have the right only to suspect. What others think of us does not matter; what matters is what we ourselves think.
If we leave our feelings in the keeping of other people’s talk, we will be happy and sad by turns, according to what their mouths say. So keep your heart with yourself, and you will not be a slave to others’ talk. Conquer your own heart, and you conquer the whole world.
Whenever we are angry, our mind sinks lower; whenever we forgive, our mind rises higher. Look at yourself, to mend yourself; look at others, to forgive them — for forgiveness is the beginning of friendship, and the first to benefit from forgiveness is oneself.
When we cannot change something to be as we wish, we must adjust what differs so it can fit together — just as we cannot change the direction of the wind, but we can trim the sail and use the wind’s force to make the boat sail the way we want.
What will uphold the world after we have gone from it is not our words, but our deeds. Some people are still alive, though they have died; but some have died, though they are still alive.
Endurance forges a person into one who can endure. A life with no Mara to overcome makes no great legend. Any wealth that comes easily is not worth enough to remember or take pride in.
Disappointment in some things in life does not mean we are hopeless for our whole life. A disappointment in one thing may lead us to find something better. The worst misfortune of that day may become the best fortune of this one.
The saying “do good and get good” does not mean one must become rich; the most important part of “getting good” is having a happy life.
In truth, everyone wants to do good; but too often they surrender to selfishness.
Doing good deeds in the present can ease the deeds of the past and bring good for the future.
Conquer evil with good.
Conquer falsehood with truth.
Conquer cruelty with loving-kindness.
Conquer an enemy by turning them into a friend.
Conquer all things with patience.
Truth has the power to conquer everything in this world. One who is always truthful has no weak point by which others can harm them. Even a million false words cannot conquer a single word of truth.
For whoever has understood the truth, praise and slander are worth the same.
Everything in this world is already right as it is; it is only our opinions that are wrong. See the world as it is — not as we wish it to be.
Mindfulness makes a big matter into a small one; but bias makes a small matter into a big one.
Use mindfulness to think everything over before deciding, for some decisions may affect our whole life.
Think over everything you would say; but do not say everything you think.
Sometimes silence is the best speech. While anger is in the heart, it is best to say nothing at all. If you are angry today, keep it to say tomorrow.
Everything has many sides; it depends which side we choose to look at. The very same matter can make us laugh or weep — it depends on how we think.
To err is ordinary. If we are truly in the wrong, then to admit the fault is more honourable than to make excuses.
Do not let unease arise too often in your heart, for it will make you weak, disheartened, and easily driven to despair.
Whoever still clings too much to the words of others will find success hard to attain.
To be a tiger, do not waver — the heart must be still.
To be a lion, pay no mind to the barking of dogs.
To be a swan, do not dally with the flock of crows.
To be lord of the forest, do not waste time on earthworms.
To be a king of beasts, do not go fighting mud-smeared pigs.
Be gentle, but not weak. Be strong, but not hard.
Only those who never lose hope can succeed, for hope undying is a great power. As for patience and effort — one must endure to the very end to prosper, and strive to the very end to succeed.
True friendship is being able to accept the differences of others. Giving is the beginning of friendship. Self-sacrifice is generosity of spirit expressed through deed at its finest.
Dwell amid a good environment, keep good company, conduct yourself fittingly — for the environment gives rise to memory. Try to remember only good things, for memory gives rise to thought. Try to think only of good things, for thought gives rise to behaviour. Try to train your behaviour in good ways, for behaviour done continuously becomes habit. And habit is what determines the future of a life.
Whether we are wicked or good depends on who is telling it.
When you live among conventions, know how to use convention; but do not cling to what is merely convention.
Everything has two sides; it depends which side we choose to look at. Look at the good side, and we see only good; look at the bad side, and we see only bad.
Every pencil usually comes with an eraser attached, because every one of us is liable to make mistakes. But try not to use up the eraser before the pencil — for that would mean we have erred too often, until nothing is left to erase our mistakes any longer.
Whatever we may lose, if our heart feels good and at ease, count it a profit. But if we gain something and our heart feels bad and uneasy, count it a loss.
Our life is sustained by what we gain; but our life moves forward by what we give up.
In this world no one is fortunate forever, and no one is unfortunate forever. So when you rise, do not be deluded; when you fall, do not lose heart.
In this world there are two days on which we can do nothing: yesterday and tomorrow. Make today the best you can — for if we make today good, it is as if we have built a good past for the days to come.
An umbrella was not made to stop the rain from falling, but made so that we can walk on through the rain.
Friendship is not mathematics, that there must be rules and formulas for keeping company.
Love is attending to each other’s little things; it lets the other know they still matter, always.
Happiness need not be grand — just small happinesses, each day.
Every one of us has a good side and a bad side. So learn to forgive others, just as we have forgiven ourselves.
You may be discouraged, but do not give up. Whether you succeed or not, never mind — just make today the best you can.
Remember always: to achieve great success, one must also face great risk.
A warm atmosphere in the family is a most important foundation in life.
Give encouragement, and point out the way of goodness, to everyone.
Words of encouragement, though they cannot solve the problem, at least give us the strength to face it. The encouragement we give ourselves is always beautiful, like the sky after rain — nothing stays dark forever; in a while it always passes.
See a problem as something of a joke, and something of a challenge; then you will find it is not as frightening as you thought. Be glad when you see others happy — that is making happiness for yourself.
Sometimes we must thank suffering, for leading us to true happiness.
Sometimes we must thank our mistakes, for teaching us to mend.
Sometimes we must thank our rivals, for giving us the chance to better ourselves into greatness.
Sometimes we must thank disappointment, for leading us to something better.
Sometimes we must thank slander, for driving us on to success.
If we have done good and are still gossiped about as putting on a show, let them be — for at least we have done good, and are far better off than they, who cannot manage even to think well or speak well.
Sometimes we look only for what we lack, until we overlook what we have. Give importance to what we have, before these things are gone.
As the moon’s reflection arises from the stillness of the water, so wisdom arises from the stillness of the mind.
Do not envy anyone’s life, for we cannot be sure whether what we see is real or false.
Our word “better” does not mean doing better than others, but doing better than every time we have done before. Measure success by this: making succeed what has never succeeded before.