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THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINES.
"Let the wise man guard his thoughts, for they are very difficult to perceive, very artful, and they rush wherever they list." The fool who knows his foolishness is wise, at least so far. But a fool who thinks himself wise, he is called a fool indeed." "One's own self conquered is better than all other people." Here is a condensed censure of asceticism: "Not nakedness, not platted hair, not dirt, not fasting, or lying on the earth, not rubbing with dust, not sitting motionless, can purify a mortal who has not overcome desires."
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The following is a varied selection of these gems. "Bad deeds, and deeds hurtful to ourselves, are easy to do; what is beneficial and good, that is very difficult to do." "This world is dark, few only can see here; a few only go to heaven, like birds escaped from the net." "Health is the greatest of gifts, contentedness the best riches; trust is the best of relationships, Nirvana the highest happiness." "If any thing is to be done, let a man do it, let him attack it vigorously. A careless pilgrim only scatters the dust of his passions more widely." Similes of great aptness or beauty abound. As the bee collects nectar and departs without injuring the flower, or its colour or scent, so let a sage dwell in his village." "Like a beautiful flower, full of colour, but without scent, are the fine but fruitless words of him who does not act accordingly." "There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed." "The fault of others is easily perceived, but that of oneself is difficult to perceive; a man winnows his neighbour's faults like chaff, but his own fault he hides, as a cheat hides the bad die from the gambler." "If a fool be associated with a wise man even all his life, he will perceive the truth as little as a spoon perceives the taste of soup."
It is natural to find in these pithy sayings the pervading truth of the universality of suffering and the vanity of life. "Before long, alas! this body will lie on the earth, despised, without understanding, like a useless log." "As a cowherd with his staff drives his cows into the stable, so do Age and Death drive the life of men." Old
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