Damma & Basic Principles

Enlightenment

Through the round of many births

without reward,

without rest,

seeking the house builder.

Painful is birth again

and again.


House builder, you're seen!

You will not build a house again.

All your rafters broken,

the ridge pole destroyed,

gone to the Unformed, the mind

has attained the end of craving.

— Dhp 153-54


Dhamma


Phenomena are preceded by the heart,


ruled by the heart,

made of the heart.

If you speak or act with a corrupted heart,

then suffering follows you —

as the wheel of the cart,

the track of the ox that pulls it.



Phenomena are preceded by the heart,

ruled by the heart,

made of the heart.

If you speak or act with a calm, bright heart,

happiness follows you,

like a shadow that never leaves.

— Dhp 1-2


Heedfulness: the path to the Deathless;

Heedlessness: the path to death.

The heedful do not die;

The heedless are as if

already dead.

Knowing this as a true distinction,

those wise in heedfulness

rejoice in heedfulness,

enjoying the range of the noble ones.


Buddhist Teaching in brief.

The non-doing of any evil,

the performance of what is skillful,

the cleansing of one's own mind:

This is the Buddhas' teaching.


Not disparaging, not injuring,

restraint in line with the Patimokkha,

moderation in food,

dwelling in seclusion,

commitment to the heightened mind:

This is the Buddhas' teaching


Dhp 183, 185


Adapted from An Introduction to the Buddha, Dhamma, & Sangha by Thanissaro Bhikkhu