Vol. 11 · pages 376–380

357 THE BUDDHIST WAY OF LIFE IV § 2. On Craving and Lust 1. Do not be possessed by Craving nor by Lust. 2. This is the Buddhist way of life. 3. Not in a rain of riches is satisfaction of desire to be found. “Unsatisfying, grievous are desires,” so the wise man well knows. 4. Even in the pleasures of the heaven-worlds he takes no delight; his delight is in the ending of craving, he is the disciple of the Supremely Awakened One, the Buddha. 5. From craving is born sorrow, from craving is born fear. To him who is wholly free from craving there is neither sorrow nor fear. 6. From craving is born sorrow, from craving is born fear. To him who is wholly free from craving there is neither sorrow nor fear. 7. He who gives himself to vanity, forgetting (the real aim of life) and grasping at pleasure, will in time envy him who has exerted himself in meditation. 8. Let no man have attachment to anything; loss of it gives pain. Those who love nothing, and hate nothing have no fetters. 9. From pleasure comes grief, from pleasure comes fear; he who is free from pleasure knows neither grief nor fear. 10. From attachment comes grief, from attachment comes fear ; he who is free from attachment knows neither grief nor fear. 11. From lust comes grief, from lust comes fear ; he who is free from lust knows neither grief nor fear. 12. From greed comes grief, from greed comes fear; he who is free from greed knows neither grief nor fear. 13. He who possesses virtue and intelligence, who is just, speaks the truth, and does what is his own business, him the world will hold dear. 14. Kinsmen, friends and lovers salute a man who has been long away, and returns safe from afar. 15. In like manner his good works receive him

358 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES IV who has done good, and has gone from this world as kinsmen receive a friend on his return. § 3. On Hurt and Ill-will 1. Cause no hurt ; Cherish no ill-will. 2. This is the Buddhist Way of Life. 3. Is there in all the world a man so blameless that he gives no occasion for reproach, as a spirited horse gives no occasion for the stroke of the lash ? 4. By confidence, by virtue, by energy, by meditation, by investigation into the Truth, by perfection in knowledge and conduct, by recollectedness, leave ye this great suffering behind 5. The most excellent of ascetic practices is the practice of forbearance, of long suffering ; “most excellent of all is Nibbana” ; so says the Buddha. He is no ascetic who does hurt to others ; he is no disciple who works another’s woe. 6. To speak no ill, to do no harm, to practise restraint in conformity with the discipline, this is the counsel of the Buddha. 7. Kill, nor cause slaughter. 8. He who seeking his own happiness does not punish or kill beings who also long for happiness, will find happiness. 9. If, like a shattered, metal plate (gong), thou utter nothing, then thou hast reached Nibbana ; anger is not known to thee. 10. He who inflicts pain on innocent and harmless person, will soon come to grief. 11. He who, dressed in fine apparel of tranquillity, is quiet, subdued, restrained, chaste, and has ceased to find fault with all other beings, he indeed is an ascetic (Samana), a friar (Bhikku). 12. Is there in this world any man so restrained by shame that he does not provoke reproof, as a noble horse the whip? 13. If a man offend a harmless, pure, and innocent person, the evil falls back upon that fool, like light dust thrown up against the wind.

359 THE BUDDHIST WAY OF LIFE IV § 4. On Anger and Enmity 1. Cherish no anger. Forget your enmities. Win your enemies by love. 2. This is the Buddhist Way of Life. 3. The fire of anger should be stilled. 4. One who harbours the thought : “ He reviled me, maltreated me, overpowered me, robbed me,” in him anger is never stilled.” 5. He who harbours not such a thought, in him anger is stilled. 6. Enemy works evil to enemy, hater to hater, but whose is the evil. 7. Let a man overcome anger by love, let him overcome evil by good ; let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth. 8. Speak the truth, do not yield to anger ; give, if thou art asked for little. 9. Let a man leave anger, let him forsake pride, let him overcome all bondage ; no sufferings befall the man who is not attached to name and form, and who calls nothing his own. 10. He who holds back rising anger like a rolling chariot, him I call a real driver, other people are but holding the reins. 11. Conquest begets enmity ; the conquered lie down in distress. The tranquillized lies down in happiness, dismissing alike victory and defeat. 12. There is no fire like lust, no ill-fortune like hatred. There is no misery like the constituents of existence, no happiness higher than the Peace of Nibbana. 13. For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time : hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule. § 5. On Man, Mind and Impurities 1. Man is what his mind makes him. 2. The training of the mind to seek the good, is the first step in the path of Righteousness. 3. This is the main teaching in the Buddhist Way of Life.

360 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES IV 4. In everything the primal element is mind. Mind is pre-eminent. 5. If a man speaks or does evil suffering follows him, close as the wheel of the hoof of the beast that draws the cart. 6. If a man speaks or acts from uprightness of mind, happiness follows him, close like his never-departing shadow. 7. This fickle, unsteady mind, difficult to guard, difficult to guide—the wise man makes it straight as the fletcher makes straight the arrow. 8. As quivers and throbs the water-dwelling fish, when thrown up out of the water on to the land, so quivers and throbs the mind forsaking the realm of Mara. 9. Hard to control, unstable is this mind, ever in quest of delight. Good is it to subdue the mind. A mind subdued brings happiness. 10. Make thyself an island, work hard, when thy impurities are blown away, and thou art free from guilt, thou wilt enter into the heavenly world of the elect. 11. Let a wise man blow off the impurities of himself, as a smith blows off the impurities of silver, one by one, little by little, and from time to time. 12. As the impurity which springs from the iron, when it springs from it, destroys it ; thus to a transgressor’s own works, lead him to the evil path. 13. But there is a taint worse than all taints. Ignorance is the greatest taint. O! mendicants, throw off that taint, and become taintless. 14. Life is easy to live for a man who is without shame, a crow here, a mischief maker, an insulting, bold and wretched fellow. 15. But life is hard to live for a modest man, who always looks for what is pure, who is disinterested, quiet, spotless and intelligent. 16. He who destroys life, who speaks untruth, who in the world takes what is not given him, who goes to another man’s wife. 17. And the man who gives himself to drinking

361 THE BUDDHIST WAY OF LIFE IV intoxicating liquors, he even in this world, digs up his own grave. 18. O man, know this, that the unrestrained are in a bad state; take care that greediness and vice do not bring thee to grief for a long time. 19. The world gives according to its faith or according to its pleasure ; if a man frets about the food and the drink given to others, he will find no rest either by day or by night. 20. He in whom that feeling is destroyed, and taken out with the very root, finds rest by day and by night. 21. There is no fire like passion, there is no torrent like greed. 22. The fault of others is easily perceived, but that of oneself is difficult to perceive; a man winnows his neighbour’s faults like chaff but his own faults he hides, as a cheat hides the bad dice from the player. 23. If a man looks after the faults of others, and is always inclined to be offended, his own passions will grow, and he is far from the destruction of passions. 24. Refrain from all evil; cultivate the good ; cleanse your own thoughts; this is the teaching of the Buddha. § 6. On Self and Self-Conquest 1. If one has self, let him practise self-conquest. 2. This is the Buddhist Way of Life. 3. Self is the lord of self, who else could be the lord ? With self well subdued, a man finds a lord such as few can find. 4. The foolish man who scorns the rule of the venerable (arahat), of the elect (ariya), of the virtuous and follows a false doctrine, he bears fruit to his own destruction, like the fruits of the Katthaka reed. 5. By oneself the evil is done, by oneself one suffers; by oneself evil is left undone, by oneself one is purified. The pure and the impure (stand and fall) by themselves, no one can purify another. 6. He who loves looking for pleasures only, his