Lists and acrostics
Problems bring wisdom and fortitude.
Time brings mastery.
Experience brings the knack of setting things right.
Decision brings the knowing of right from wrong.
Thought brings forth wisdom.
Development brings forth quality.
The heart-mantra of prosperity:
diligent in earning;
careful in keeping;
having good friends;
living within one’s means;
making one’s living fittingly.
The art of being well-loved. In the original it is an acrostic: the initials of the five maxims, read in a row, spell the word mahāniyom, “to be loved by all.”
- loving-kindness;
- earning one’s living honestly;
- good character, with humility;
- a smiling, cheerful face;
- friendliness and generosity of spirit.
A lucky star. Here too the initials spell a word, duang dii, “a lucky fate.”
- good character, well-mannered, apt in study;
- gentle words, pleasing eloquence, quick wit;
- grace and beauty of body and mind;
- good in body, in speech, in thought, in deed, and in heart.
Living a life of quality and success:
- Live by your own plan.
- Find the goal of your life.
- Strive to accomplish your life’s goal.
- Do what is important first.
- Do not overlook a problem, even a small one.
- Do not lose heart or give things up easily.
- Devote yourself, working with full intent.
- Make everything come out well, of the highest quality.
- Make everything of benefit to yourself and others.
- Do not bring trouble on yourself or others.
- Develop yourself to be ever better.
- Constantly examine and review yourself.
- Mend the weaknesses and shortcomings you have.
- Never stop inquiring and seeking experience.
The gift and the giver
Most people think that giving is losing, because they are used only to receiving and have never thought to be givers. To be a giver and to be an asker are, of course, felt differently: when we are the asker, we feel anxious whether or not they will give to us, until it becomes an unease, and we feel ourselves lower than they. On the contrary, when we are the giver, we feel our own worth rise at once.
Giving to those we love, or giving because duty requires it — in our heart this does not yet count as being a true giver. And giving in hope of some return is the same.
But if we give to someone who has nothing to do with us at all, without any return, thinking only that we are giving — that shows we are a giver with a truly noble heart.
Training to be a giver may be hard at first, out of reluctance or for other reasons; but when we practise giving often, from little to much, as much as we can give without troubling ourselves, the stream of happiness from giving will gradually soak into the heart, little by little, until it grows and grows. Once we are happy in giving, every time we give we will feel rapture and joy, and the thought that giving is losing will not be in our heart at all — there will be only a stream of loving-kindness arising within us.
Problems and letting go
Problems are of two kinds: those that can be solved, which we solve in due order; and those beyond our power to solve, which we must let go. Everything in the world has a fixed natural law: in competition there is losing, winning, and drawing; in business there is profit, loss, and breaking even; there is gain and there is loss; there is happiness and there is suffering; there is love and there is hate; there is a problem and there is wisdom; there is arising and there is ceasing — that is all there is. As long as we are in the world, we must meet the worldly conditions; it is only natural. Thus, when we are troubled at heart, we should find the answer to what the cause of the suffering is. Sometimes we may be clinging to the suffering — clinging, say, to others’ words, clinging to fear or suspicion, or clinging to what can no longer be mended. Once we know suffering, then understand that whatever in this world is beyond our power to possess will teach us the meaning of the words “let go.”
The world today
Today we have bigger houses, but smaller families.
We have more conveniences, but less time.
We have more education, but less common sense.
We have more knowledge, but less reason.
We have handier means of communication, but less friendship.
We have more quantity, but less quality.
We have more money, but less happiness.
We have more profit from our work, but poorer health.
In the midst of a world grown more advanced, the environment grows worse by the day. Humankind lives in dependence on this world, and the future of this world depends on humankind as well. Everything in this world is always just enough — only it can never be enough for human greed.
Eight ways to train oneself
- Train yourself to be calm and still.
- Do not slip into pride and self-importance.
- Be one who does not hoard.
- Pay no mind to gossip.
- Do not be obsessed with being right.
- Do not be led astray by craving.
- Know that everything soon passes.
- Know how to forgive and to sacrifice.
1. Train yourself to be calm and still. Be composed and steady, speaking only what is good; do not speak what is bad, for any harmful speech or criticism only makes one’s own mind base and clouded. Think over everything you would say, but do not say everything you think.
2. Do not slip into pride and self-importance. Be an ordinary person; do not think yourself important. When anything happens to you, do not make too much of yourself. Have humility, and know how to honour others — for the person of honour is the one who honours others.
3. Be one who does not hoard. Train yourself not to cling to anything. All hoarding of things is a burden, more or less — except the hoarding of goodness.
4. Pay no mind to gossip. Train yourself to see through to the ordinary way of the world; for in this world there is no one who is never gossiped about. Even within one family, people gossip about one another — so what of others? One who is easily shaken by gossip shows they do not yet see through the world.
5. Do not be obsessed with being right. Train yourself to be easygoing, not clinging too much to anything. Whoever is obsessed with being correct, obsessed with reasons to excess, and will not accept any differing opinion, becomes a person full of conceited views — one who is right about everything, yet has no happiness, because they must battle the thoughts of everyone around them, merely for the sake of being right by their own reckoning.
6. Do not be led astray by craving. Train yourself not to be too much a slave to money; learn to be content with what you can earn and what you have. Know the words “just enough,” for in this world nothing is the best and nothing the most perfect; it rests only on how far we are content with it. Once we know “just enough,” we need not earn much money, and life can do far more than merely earn money. Bodily ease may come from having; but ease of heart comes from having enough. The happy person is not one who has everything, but one who is happy with everything they have.
7. Know that everything soon passes. When there is suffering, know that the suffering will soon pass. When there is happiness, know that the happiness will soon pass. When you meet bad circumstances, know that those matters will soon pass; they do not happen to you alone, and they do not stay with you all your life. So when you rise, do not be deluded; when you fall, do not lose heart — in a while everything always passes.
8. Know how to forgive and to sacrifice. Train yourself to be one of loving-kindness, for a mind endowed with loving-kindness is a pure mind. Look at yourself, to mend yourself; look at others, to forgive them. When you would be angry with someone, call to mind the good they have done you, and it will not be hard to forgive — and the first to benefit from forgiveness is oneself. As for being one who sacrifices: it is training yourself to be a giver and to accept some disadvantage, for self-sacrifice is generosity of spirit expressed through deed at its finest. Life is sustained by what we gain; but our life moves forward by what we give up. This world of ours can go on even without religion, but it can never deliver happiness if it is without forgiveness, loving-kindness, and self-sacrifice — for these are things of the utmost importance for this world.
«The most fearsome enemy…»
The most fearsome enemy — is our own thoughts.
The greatest failure — is discouragement and despair.
The most foolish act — is deceiving oneself.
The most hateful thing — is selfishness.
The worst defeat — is being defeated by one’s own heart.
The gravest mistake — is refusing to accept the truth.
The most valuable thing — is having sound health.
The thing most to be proud of — is having done good.
The thing most worth having — is patience and effort.
The most honourable thing — is helping others.
The most praiseworthy thing — is self-sacrifice.
The thing most to be guarded — is one’s words and deeds.
The thing most to be cultivated — is mindfulness and wisdom.