Not-Quite-Daily Dhamma: Verses for Reflection

"What people expect to happen is always different
from what actually happens; from this arises
great disappointment. This is the way that the
world works."

--Salla Sutta (Sn. 588)

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"All conditioned phenomena are impermanent,
unstable, subject to change."

--Dhammapada 277 (20:5)

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"Life is uncertain; death is certain."

--Uraga Jataka (Jat. 354)

Not-Quite-Daily Dhamma: Verses for Reflection

"Mindfulness is the path to the deathless;
heedlessness is the path to death. Those
who are mindful do not die; the heedless
are as if dead already."

--Dhammapada 21 (2:1)

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"Greed can neither be eliminated by
bodily acts nor by speech. Hatred
can neither be eliminated by bodily
acts nor by speech. Delusion can
neither be eliminated by bodily acts
nor by speech. But all of these can
be eliminated by wisely seeing them."

--Anguttara Nikaya (101:23)

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Re: holding onto anger and resentment:

"By doing this, you are like a man who
wants to harm another and picks up a
burning ember. He only burns himself."

--Venerable Buddhaghosa, Visuddhi Magga (9:23)

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"The anger that you entertain
gnaws away at the very roots
of any virtues that you observe."

--Venerable Buddhaghosa, Visuddhi Magga (9:22)

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"If you get angry at someone, then
maybe you make him suffer, maybe not;
though with the hurt that anger brings,
you certainly are suffering now."

--Venerable Buddhaghosa, Visuddhi Magga (9:22)

Not-Quite-Daily Dhamma: Verses for Reflection

"One who conquers himself is greater than one who
conquers a thousand times a thousand men on the
battlefield. Be victorious over yourself, and not over
others. When you have gained victory over yourself,
not even the gods can turn it into defeat."

--Dhammapada 102-104 (8:4-5)

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"One who stops rising anger as one would stop an
out-of-control chariot, that one deserves to be called
a charioteer; others merely hold the reins."

--Dhammapada 222 (17:2)

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"Forbearing patience is the highest form of self-discipline."

--Dhammapada 184 (14:6)

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"When a house is burning, the fire is put out with water.
So it is with a man of wisdom. Skillful, learned, and self-
reliant, he extinguishes sorrow as soon as it arises."

--Salla Sutta (Sn 591)

Daily Dhamma: Verses for Reflection

 

"All that we experience is the result of our thoughts, is
founded on our thoughts, is made up of our thoughts..."

--Dhammapada 1:1

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"Whatever harm an enemy may do to one...an undisciplined mind
can do far greater harm. Whatever good one's mother, father, or
other relatives may do for one, a well-disciplined mind can do far
greater good."

--Dhammapada 42-43 (3:10-11)

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The Buddha: "What is the purpose of a mirror, Rahula?"

Rahula: "The purpose of a mirror is reflection, Venerable One."

The Buddha: "So it is with the mind, Rahula.  Actions of body,
speech, and mind should be done after repeated reflection."

--Ambalatthika Rahulovada Sutta (MN 61)