Path of Light

Thus righteousness is feeble, and the power of evil is constant, mighty, and dire; by what righteousness could it be overcome, if there were not the Thought of Enlightenment?

This foul form that ho has taken he makes into the priceless jewel of a conqueror's form; oh, grasp firmly the Thought of Enlightenment, that exceedingly potent elixir!

Though he have wrought most grievous sins, a man by taking refuge therein escapes them straightway; as ignorant beings under the guardianship of a mighty man escape sore terrors, why seek they not their refuge in this?

Eager to escape sorrow, men rush into sorrow; from desire of happiness they blindly slay their own happiness, enemies to themselves; they hunger for happiness and suffer manifold pains.

He who repays good deed with good deed is praised; what shall be said of the Son of Enlightenment, who does kindness unsought?

To win this jewel of the Thought I offer perfect worship to the Blessed Ones, to the stainless gem of the Good Law, and to the Sons of the Enlightened, oceans of virtues.

I give to the Conquerors and their Sons myself entirely. Take me for your chattel, O noble beings; I make myself in love your slave.

I take refuge with the Enlightened One, awaiting the coming of the perfect Light; I take refuge in the Law and the Congregation of Sons of Enlightenment.

Whatsoever be the sin that I, poor brute, in my beginningless round of past births or in this birth have in my madness done or made others do or approved for my own undoing, I confess the transgression thereof, and am stricken with remorse.

Whatsoever guilt I have gathered in my foolishness and delusion, alike the wrong of nature and the wrong of commandment, I confess it all as I stand before the Masters with clasped hands, affrighted with grief, and making obeisance again and again.

With clasped hands I entreat the perfectly Enlightened Ones who stand in all regions that they kindle the lamp of the Law for them who in their blindness fall into sorrow.

A lamp for them who need a lamp, a bed for them who need a bed, a stave for all beings who need a slave.

This Thought of Enlightenment has arisen within me I know not how, even as a gem might be gotten by a blind man from a dunghill.

It is an elixir made to destroy death in the world, an unfailing treasure to relieve the world's poverty, a supreme balm to allay the world's sickness.

A tree under which may rest all creatures wearied with wandering over life's paths, a bridge open to all wayfarers for passing over hard ways, a moon of thought arising to cool the fever of the world's sin, a great sun driving away the gloom of the world's ignorance, a fresh butter created by the churning of the milk of the Good Law.

For the caravan of beings who wander through life's paths hungering to taste of happiness this banquet of bliss is prepared, that will satisfy all creatures coming to it.

If a work be undertaken in haste and without right reflection, one may well consider whether it should be done or not.

If I fulfil not my vow by deeds, I shall be false to all beings, and what a fate will be mine.

Since I work not righteousness when I am able, how shall I do it when crazed by the pains of hell.

The Passions lie not in the objects of sense, nor in the sense-organs, nor between them, nor elsewhere; where do they lie?

They are but a phantom. Then cast away thy heart's terror, and labour for wisdom; why shouldst thou vainly torture thyself in hell?

How should he who needs medicine find healing, if he depart from the physician's command?

The Speaker of the Truth has said that from thought alone come all our countless terrors and griefs.

All this has sprung from the sinful thought, as the Saint's song tells; thus in the threefold world there is no foe to fear save the thought.

The Perfect Charity is declared to be the thought of surrendering to all beings our whole possessions and likewise the merit thereof; thus it is but a thought.

But when the thought of wrath is slain, all my foes are slain.

In like manner the forces without me I cannot control; but I will control the thought within me, and what need have I for control of the rest?

To overcome sorrow and win happiness men wander in vain, for they have not sanctified their thought, the mysterious essence of holiness.

The thief Heedlessness, waiting to escape the eye of remembrance, robs men of the righteousness they have gathered, and they come to an evil lot.

When remembrance stands on guard at the portal of the spirit, watchfulness comes, and nevermore departs.

And now that thou hast made diligent search and found therein nothing essential, say wherefore thou still clingest to the body.

Conceive of the body as a ship that travels to and fro, and make it go at thy bidding for creatures to fulfil their end.

He who is thus master of himself will ever bear a smiling face; he will put away frowns and be first to greet others, a friend of the world.

In no place and by naught can the mind be destroyed, for it is unembodied; but from imaginations clinging to the body it suffers with the body's hurt.

Can the ill-will of others towards me touch me in this life or in births to come, that I should dislike it?

Better for me to die this same day than to live long in sin, for however long I stay, the same death-agony awaits me.

Happiness is hard to win, pain comes readily; there is no escape from life save by pain; then be firm, O my spirit!

There is nothing which practice cannot make easy; so by practice in slight sufferings we learn to bear great pains.

If that for which I live is lost, what profits life itself which is spent wholly in ungodliness?

Even in pain the wise man will not let the calm of his spirit be disturbed; for he is at war with the Passions, and in war suffering abounds.

They who overcome their foes by presenting their bosoms to the enemy's blows are "victors," "heroes"; the rest are "slayers of the slain."

All are under the sway of their own works; who am I to undo this?

All offences, all the various sins, spring of necessity from outer forces; none are self-guided.

My present tribulation is not so heavy, and will be very gainful; let me be glad of a suffering that redeems the world from its suffering.

Thou art willing for thy neighbour to be glad when he praises thy worth; but thou art loth to be thyself glad when another's worth is praised.

I seek not suffering, yet in my folly seek the cause of suffering; since my pain comes from my own offence, why shall I be wroth with another?

Thou hast framed the Thought of Enlightenment in desire to make all creatures happy: then why now art thou wroth with creatures who of themselves find happiness?

They who do me hurt are moved thereto by my works, and thence they fall into hell; surely it is I that undo them.

Not only wilt thou not grieve for thine own sins, but thou darest to be jealous of the righteous.

"Nay, I am glad, forsooth, because my neighbour is pleased with me." But what is it to me whether my neighbour is pleased with me or with another? the joy is his; not the smallest share of it is mine.

They who rise against me to crush my glory and honour are in truth working to save me from falling into hell.

Thus this fruit of my patience is won by me and by him together; to him must be given the first share, for be is the cause of my patience.

The greatness of creatures is that he who has the spirit of kindliness towards them wins worship; the greatness of the Enlightened is that merit is won by love toward them.

To win the grace of the Blessed Ones to-day I make myself utterly the slave of the world. Let the crowds of living beings set their feet upon my head, or smite me, and the Lord of the World be glad.

Beyond ail doubt these Merciful Ones have made the whole universe their own; truly it is our Lords who shew themselves in the form of creatures, and dare we despise them?

And likewise thou mayst not dishonour him who wrongs thee because he is weak; for the warders of hell and the Merciful Ones are his strength.

Now he who is patient will seek for strength, for in strength lies Enlightenment. Without strength there is no righteous work, as without the wind there is no motion. And what is strength? Vigour in well-doing. What is its contrary called? Faintness, clinging to base things, despair, self-contempt.

How cant thou forsake the noble delight in the Law, which brings an endless course of comforts, and find pleasure in wantonness, mirth, and other like sources of sorrow?

The spirit that knows not despair, the troops of the Army, devoted heed, self-submission, equal esteem of self and others, and regard of others in place of self are the supports of strength.

Every work is done for the sake of happiness, whether the happiness come or no; but how can he whose happiness is work itself be happy in doing no work? Then when one work is brought to an end, he will plunge into another, as the elephant, vexed by the heat of midday, plunges straightway into the lake that he finds.

As poison that has reached the blood spreads through the body, so the sin that finds a weak spot spreads through the spirit.

As the seed of the cotton-tree is swayed at the coming and going of the wind, so will he be obedient to his resolution; and thus divine power is gained.

When thus vigour has been nurtured, it is well to fix the thought in concentred effort; the man of wandering mind lies between the fangs of the Passions. It cannot wander if body and thought be in solitude; so it is well to forsake the world and put away vain imaginations.

Passion is overcome only by him who has won through stillness of spirit the perfect vision.

The mortal who thinks of his gains or his honours or the favour of many men will be afraid of death when it falls upon him.

The wise man will seek not for pleasure, for from desire arises terror.

The Blessed Ones have said that the fool is no man's friend; for the fool has no love save where his interest lies.

Mark how fortune brings endless misfortune by the miseries of winning it, guarding it, and losing it. Then shrink from the desires, and learn delight in solitude, in the peaceful woodlands void of strife and toil.

I will think of myself as a sinner, of others as oceans of virtue; I will cease to live as self, and will take as my self my fellow-creatures.

We love our hands and other limbs, as members of the body; then why not love other living beings, as members of the universe?

If thou lowest thyself, thou must have no love of self; if thou wouldst save thyself, thou dose not well to be saving of self.

Would that my fellow-creatures should understand that all is as the void!

In life are oceans of sorrow, fierce and boundless beyond compare, a scant measure of power, a brief term of years; our years are spent in vain strivings for existence and health, in hunger, faintness, and labour, in sleep, in vexation, in fruitless commerce with fools, and discernment is hard to win.

There, too, the Spirit of Desire is labouring to cast us into deep hells; there evil paths abound, and unbelief can scarce be overcome.

Then when will the day come when I may bring peace to them that are tortured in the fire of sorrow by my ministrations of sweetness born from the rain-clouds of my righteousness, and when I may reverently declare to the souls who imagine a real world that all is void, and righteousness is gathered by looking beyond the Veiled Truth?