A spark of Buddhist wisdom for the fourth day of this month. Mountains are made |
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Each year BDK shares a daily calendar of Buddhist thoughts paired with colorful images.A spark of Buddhist wisdom for the fourth day of this month. Mountains are made |
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 | As a simple approach to basic Buddha's teachings, BDK America has provided 31 short lessons. Each day we provide a new lesson so that busy people will only need a minute or two each day to learn more about Buddhism. |
The Teaching of Buddha - Day 4
Just as there are causes for all human suffering, there are conditions by which it may be ended and Enlightenment attained. Everything in the world comes into existence as the result of a vast concurrence of causes and conditions, and everything passes away as the causes and conditions themselves change.
The falling of rain, the blowing of wind, the blooming of flowers, the falling of leaves - these phenomena are all brought about and completed according to the interaction of such causes and conditions.
One is born through the conditions of parentage. One's body is nourished by food and one's spirit is nurtured by teaching and experience. Therefore both flesh and spirit are related to conditions and are changed as conditions change.
It is the everlasting and unchanging rule of existence that everything is created and finally brought to extinction by such series of causes and conditions. The observation that all things are in transition, that nothing remains fixed in a constant unchanging state; only this is the one unchanging and eternal truth.
All 31 lessons are collected in a small booklet called A Teaching a Day, as edited from our small hardcover book, The Teaching of Buddha. Both print items are available to order; you can also download a PDF of A Teaching a Day.
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 | We hope you enjoy today's excerpt from the Pali Dhammapada, an anthology of Buddhist ethical thoughts and precepts. With its simplicity of expression and poetic beauty, the Dhammapada has been a popular introduction to Buddhist wisdom through the centuries. |
The Ignorant ...
75. “This path leads to worldly gain, and that to nirvana.” Knowing thus, the disciples of the Buddha should not delight in worldly fame but should take to a life of solitude.
76. If one meets a person who points out his faults and scolds him, he should associate with such a wise person as though he were the revealer of great treasure; there will be much weal and no woe in serving such a person.