SOME SHORT BUDDHIST TEXTS

THE FOUNDATION OF ALL GOOD QUALITIES
By Lama Tsong Khapa

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STRING OF PRECIOUS JEWELString of Precious Jewels
by Nagarjuna

I'll tell you briefly the fine qualities
Of those on the path of compassion:
Giving, and ethics, patience, and effort,
Concentration, wisdom, compassion and such.
Giving is giving away what you have,
And ethics is doing good to others.
Patience is giving up feelings of anger,
And effort is joy that increases all good.

Concentration's one-pointed, free of bad thoughts,
And wisdom decides what truth really is.
Compassion's a kind of high intelligence
Mixed deep with a love for all living kind.

Giving brings wealth, a good world comes from ethics;
Patience brings beauty, eminence comes from effort.
Concentration brings peace, and from wisdom comes freedom;
Compassion achieves everything we all wish for.

A person who takes all seven of these
And perfects them together will reach
That place of inconceivable knowledge
No less than the world's protector.

THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF THE PATH BY LAMA ZONG KHAPA

I bow down to the venerable Spiritual Masters.
I will explain, as well as I am able, the essence of all the teachings of the Conqueror, the Path praised by the Conquerors and their spiritual children, the entrance for the fortunate ones who desire liberation.
Listen with clear minds, you fortunate ones who direct your minds to the Path pleasing to the Buddha and strive to make good use of leisure and opportunity without being attached to the joys of cyclic existence.

For you, embodied beings bound by the craving for existence: without the pure determination to be free from the ocean of existence, you cannot pacify the attractions to its pleasurable effects.
Thus from the outset, strive to generate the determination to be free.
By contemplating the leisure and endowments so difficult to find and the fleeting nature of your life, reverse the clinging to this life.
By repeatedly contemplating the infallible effects of karma and the miseries of cyclic existence, reverse the clinging to future lives.
By contemplating in this way, do not generate even for an instant the wish for the pleasures of cyclic existence.
When you have the mind aspiring for liberation day and night unceasingly, then you have generated the determination to be free.

However, if your determination to be free is not sustained by the pure dedicated heart, it does not become the cause for the perfect bliss of unsurpassed Enlightenment.
Therefore, the intelligent ones generate the supreme enlightenment thought.
Swept by the current of the four power rivers, tied by the strong bonds of karma which are so hard to undo, caught in the iron net of self-grasping egoism, completely enveloped by the darkness of ignorance, born and reborn in boundless cyclic existence, unceasingly tormented by the three miseries - by thinking of all mother sentient beings in this condition, generate the supreme altruistic aspiration.

Even if you meditate upon the determination to be free and Bodhicitta, without the wisdom realizing the ultimate nature, you cannot cut the root of samsara.
Therefore, strive for the means to realize dependent arising.
One who sees the infallible cause and effect of all phenomena in cyclic existence and beyond, and destroys all false perceptions [of their inherent exist- ence], has entered the Path which pleases the Buddha.
Appearances are infallible dependent arisings; emptiness is free of assertions [of inherent existence or non-existence].
As long as these two understandings are seen as separate, one has not yet realized the intent of the Buddha.
When these two realizations are simultaneous and concurrent, from the mere sight of infallible dependent arising comes definite knowledge which completely destroys all modes of mental grasping.
At that time, the analysis of the profound view is complete.
In addition, appearances clear away the extreme of [inherent] existence; emptiness clears away the extreme of non-existence.
When you understand the arising of cause and effect from the viewpoint of emptiness, you are not captivated by either of the extreme views.

In this way, when you have realized the exact points of the three principal aspects of the path, by depending on solitude, generate the power of joyous effort and quickly accomplish the final goal, my child!

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EIGHT VERSES FOR TRAINING THE MIND - by Geshe Langri Tangpa

By thinking of all sentient beings
as even better than the wish-granting gem,
for accomplishing the highest aim,
may I always consider them precious.

Wherever I go, with whomever I go,
may I see myself as less than all others,
and from the depth of my heart
may I consider them supremely precious.

May I examine my mind in all actions
and as soon as a negative state occurs,
since it endangers myself and others,
may I firmly face and avert it.

When I see beings of a negative disposition
or those oppressed by negativity or pain,
may I, as if finding a treasure, consider them precious,
for they are rarely met.

Whenever others, due to their jealousy,
revile and treat me in unjust ways,
may I accept this defeat myself,
and offer the victory to others.

When someone whom I have helped
or in whom I have placed great hope
harms me with great injustice,
may I see that one as a sacred friend.

In short, may I offer, both directly and indirectly,
all joy and benefit to all beings, my mothers,
and may I myself secretly
take on all their hurt and suffering.

May they not be defiled
by the concepts of the eight mundane concerns,
and aware that all things are illusory,
may they, ungrasping, be free from bondage.

(For an online commentary on this text by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, see http://www.dalailama.com/teachings/training-the-mind.)

ENTERING THE DHARMA GATE by Jetsun Milarepa

Though grief in the Ocean of Samsara
Is preached, and its renunciation is urged,
Few people are really convinced
And renounce it with determination.
Though knowing that life will ever turn to death,
Few feel uneasy, or think that it will end.
Though their life is blessed with good prospects,
Few can practice abstention for a day.
Though the Bliss of Liberation is expounded
And Samsara's pains are stressed,
Few can really enter the Dharma Gate.
Though the profound Pith-Instructions
Of the Whispered Lineage are given without stint, few
Without fail can practice them.
Though the teaching of Mahamudra is expounded
And the Pointing-out demonstration is exercised,
Few can really understand the Essence of Mind.
To the hermit's life and the Guru's wish
One can always aspire, but few
Can put them into practice.
The perfect, skillful path of Naropa
May be shown, without concealment,
But those who can really follow it
Are very few. My dear lad,
You should follow in my footsteps
If in this life you want to do
Something that is worthwhile.

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