Samsara And Nirvana
Look about and contemplate life!
Everything is transient and nothing endures. There is birth and
death, growth and decay; there is combination and separation.
The glory of the world is like a flower: it stands in full bloom
in the morning and fades in the heat of the day.
Wherever you look, there is a rushing and a struggling, and an<
eager pursuit of pleasure. There is a panic flight from pain and
death, and hot are the flames of burning desires. The world is
vanity fair, full of changes and transformations. All is Samsara.
Is there nothing permanent in the world? Is there in the
universal turmoil no resting-place where our troubled heart can
find peace? Is there nothing everlasting?
Oh, that we could have cessation of anxiety, that our burning
desires would be extinguished! When shall the mind become
tranquil and composed?
The Buddha, our Lord, was grieved at the ills of life. He saw the
vanity of worldly happiness and sought salvation in the one thing
that will not fade or perish, but will abide for ever and ever.
Ye who long for life, know that immortality is hidden in
transiency. Ye who wish for happiness without the sting of
regret, lead a life of righteousness. Ye who yearn for riches,
receive treasures that are eternal. Truth is wealth, and a life
of truth is happiness.
All compounds will be dissolved again, but the verities which
determine all combinations and separations as laws of nature
endure for ever and aye. Bodies fall to dust, but the truths of
the mind will not be destroyed.
Truth knows neither birth nor death; it has no beginning and no
end. Welcome the truth. The truth is the immortal part of mind.
Establish the truth in your mind, for the truth is the image of
the eternal; it portrays the immutable; it reveals the
everlasting; the truth gives unto mortals the boon of
immortality.
The Buddha has proclaimed the truth; let the truth of the Buddha
dwell in your hearts. Extinguish in yourselves every desire that
antagonizes the Buddha, and in the perfection of your spiritual
growth you will become like unto him.
That of your heart which cannot or will not develop into Buddha
must perish, for it is mere illusion and unreal; it is the source
of your error; it is the cause of your misery.
You attain to immortality by filling your minds with truth.
Therefore, become like unto vessels fit to receive the Master's
words. Cleanse yourselves of evil and sanctify your lives. There
is no other way of reaching truth.
Learn to distinguish between Self and Truth. Self is the cause of
selfishness and the source of evil; truth cleaves to no self; it
is universal and leads to justice and righteousness.
Self, that which seems to those who love their self as their
being, is not the eternal, the everlasting, the imperishable.
Seek not self, but seek the truth.
If we liberate our souls from our petty selves, wish no ill to
others, and become clear as a crystal diamond reflecting the
light of truth, what a radiant picture will appear in us
mirroring things as they are, without the admixture of burning
desires, without the distortion of erroneous illusion, without
the agitation of clinging and unrest.
Yet ye love self and will not abandon self-love. So be it, but
then, verily, ye should learn to distinguish between the false
self and the true self. The ego with all its egotism is the false
self. It is an unreal illusion and a perishable combination. He
only who identifies his self with the truth will attain Nirvana;
and he who has entered Nirvana has attained Buddhahood; he has
acquired the highest good; he has become eternal and immortal.
All compound things shall be dissolved again, worlds will break
to pieces and our individualities will be scattered; but the
words of the Buddha will remain for ever.
The extinction of self is salvation; the annihilation of self is
the condition of enlightenment; the blotting out of self is
Nirvana. Happy is he who has ceased to live for pleasure and
rests in the truth. Verily his composure and tranquillity of mind
are the highest bliss.
Let us take our refuge in the Buddha, for he has found the
everlasting in the transient. Let us take our refuge in that
which is the immutable in the changes of existence. Let us take
our refuge in the truth that is established through the
enlightenment of the Buddha. Let us take our refuge in the
community of those who seek the truth and endeavor to live in the
truth.
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