The Dhammapada

by Eknath Easwaran

We can think of samskaras as grooves of conditioning, compulsive desires.

Whatever the label, if we act on a samskara it becomes stronger. The conditioning is reinforced, making it more likely that we will act on that samskara the next time. Samskaras are the key to character, but their root is deep below the level of conscious awareness.

The last skandha is vijnana, “consciousness”: the appropriation of each unit of experience to the mass of conditioning formed by the experiences of the past. Vijnana is like a river, carrying the accumulated karma of all previous thought and action.

We don’t really experience the world, he observes; we experience constructs in the mind made up of information from the senses.

There is no self in such events, and no real distinction between observer and observed.

We have to be very careful of misunderstanding here, for the Buddha is not saying that the physical world is a figment of imagination.

What the Buddha is telling us is precisely parallel to what the quantum physicists say: when we examine the universe closely, it dissolves into discontinuity and a flux of fields of energy. But in the Buddha’s universe the mind-matter duality is gone; these are fields in consciousness.

In profound meditation, one goes beyond sensory appearance and eventually beyond the very structure of the phenomenal world: time, space, causality. Time stops; there is only the present moment. Then everything is pure energy, a sea of light.

My relationship with you is not with you as you see yourself, but with you as I see you: a waxworks creation in my mind. As a result, two people can share the same house and literally live in different worlds.

Both, of course, were describing the same land. “We see as we are,” and our foreign policy follows what we see. Those who see themselves surrounded by a hostile world preparing for war tend to make that vision a reality.

Little by little, too, we change the world we live in. Even the grand earthshaking events of history have their origins in individual thought.

Karma is stored in the mind.

“Fly in the sky, burrow in the ground,” says the Buddha, “you cannot escape the consequences of your actions.” You can run, but you cannot hide.

From this root ignorance arises trishna, the insistent craving for personal satisfaction. From trishna comes duhkha, the frustration and suffering that are the human condition.

We want to gratify a process with a process. The ego cannot be satisfied, and the more we try, the more we suffer.

When the mind is stilled, the appearance of change and separateness vanishes and nirvana remains.

Nirvana is aroga, freedom from all illness; shiva, happiness; kshema, security; abhaya, the absence of fear; shanta, peace of mind; anashrava, freedom from compulsions; ajara, untouched by age; amata, unaffected by death. It is, in sum, parama sukha, the highest joy.

“As irrigators lead water to their fields, as archers make their arrows straight, as carpenters carve wood, the wise shape their lives.”

Buddhist scriptures are divided into three pitakas or “baskets.” By far the largest and most important of these is the Sutra Pitaka (in Pali, Sutta Pittaka) or “basket of discourses,” which consists mostly of talks by the Buddha or one of his direct disciples. The Dhammapada, though not considered a sutra, is included in this collection.

Every reader knows that one book which becomes part of one’s life means more than a thousand others. The Dhammapada was meant as such a book,

in the long run, the sweet and easy way leads to more suffering; the hard way, to nirvana.

Even in the Dhammapada – that is, even for his lay followers – the Buddha emphasizes the practice of meditation above all else.

For hatred can never put an end to hatred; love alone can. This is an unalterable law. 6 People forget that their lives will end soon. For those who remember, quarrels come to an end.

Those who recite many scriptures but fail to practice their teachings are like a cowherd counting another’s cows. They do not share in the joys of the spiritual life. 20 But those who know few scriptures yet practice their teachings, overcoming all lust, hatred, and delusion, live with a pure mind in the highest wisdom. They stand without external supports and share in the joys of the spiritual life.

26The immature lose their vigilance, but the wise guard it as their greatest treasure. 27 Do not fall into ways of sloth and lust. Those who meditate earnestly attain the highest happiness.

meditation is a battle and this arrow is “the weapon of wisdom”

an undisciplined mind not only cannot be relied on, it cannot avoid doing harm.

Hard it is to train the mind, which goes where it likes and does what it wants. But a trained mind brings health and happiness. 36 The wise can direct their thoughts, subtle and elusive, wherever they choose: a trained mind brings health and happiness.

Remember, this body is like a fragile clay pot. Make your mind a fortress and conquer Mara with the weapon of wisdom. Guard your conquest always. 41 Remember that this body will soon lie in the earth without life, without value, useless as a burned log.

More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm. 43 More than your mother, more than your father, more than all your family, a well-disciplined mind does greater good.

Do not give your attention to what others do or fail to do; give it to what you do or fail to do.

there are two kinds of immature people: those who do not see their own mistakes as mistakes, and those who do not forgive mistakes committed by someone else.

samsara in verse 60, which refers to the cycle of birth and death, means literally “that which is moving intensely,”

if those who are immature have enough self-knowledge to realize that they are immature, that is the beginning of wisdom

“All the effort must be made by you,” he says in a later verse (276). “Buddhas only show the way.”

“seven fields of enlightenment”: mindfulness, vigor, joy, serenity, concentration, equanimity, and “penetration of dharma”

Bodhi is not nirvana. It is a temporary stilling of the mind,

The immature go after false prestige – precedence of fellow monks, power in the monasteries, and praise from all.

If you see someone wise, who can steer you away from the wrong path, follow that person as you would one who can reveal hidden treasures. Only good can come out of it.

As a solid rock cannot be moved by the wind, the wise are not shaken by praise or blame. 82 When they listen to the words of the dharma, their minds become calm and clear like the waters of a still lake.

An arhant is that person who, having developed the fullness of humanity by attaining nirvana, now truly deserves to be called a human being.

If life is conceived of as a school where all are training for full spiritual development, the arhant is the graduate.

After a good deal of arduous effort, generally over many lives, the aspirant becomes a “once-returner” (sakridagamin), one who has sighted the other shore of nirvana but not yet reached it. For such a person, the crossing can be completed in just one more life.

Those who finally reach the other shore become a “never-returner” (anagamin).

reward and punishment issue from the self-fulfilling law of karma, which permeates every aspect of the Buddha’s teachings.

Like any physical law, the law of karma operates everywhere and at every moment. It is totally impersonal, requiring no agency other than ourselves.

It is impossible to escape the karmic result of action no matter where we may try (127). The karma must return in kind, whether good or bad, even though it may take time for the right circumstances to come around

a large part of our experience is simply the mechanical return of the karma our previous actions have accumulated.

If we continue to commit a mistake – say, an outburst of anger – each repetition makes it easier to make the same mistake again, so that gradually anger becomes part of our character.

In a very real way, we are what our samskaras are: as the network of choice-pathways in us, they constitute the karmic legacy of all our previous choices.