tariki

Regarding....

Do not make light of your failings,

Saying, "What are they to me?"

A jug fills drop by drop.

So the fool becomes brimful of folly.

Cleary says......."the time lapse that may occur between specific causes and their effects creates latitude for all sorts of imaginative deception."

Beware of "imaginative deception"!!

And of...

Do not belittle your virtues,

Saying, "They are nothing."

A jug fills drop by drop.

So the wise man becomes brimful of virtue.

......Cleary speaks of the Tao Te Ching and quotes "Do the great while it is still small."

Mischief

Be quick to do good.

If you are slow,

The mind, delighting in mischief,

Will catch you.

Turn away from mischief.

Again and again, turn away.

Before sorrow befalls you.

Set your heart on doing good.

Do it over and over again,

And you will be filled with joy.

A fool is happy

Until his mischief turns against him.

And a good man may suffer

Until his goodness flowers.

Do not make light of your failings,

Saying, "What are they to me?"

A jug fills drop by drop.

So the fool becomes brimful of folly.

Do not belittle your virtues,

Saying, "They are nothing."

A jug fills drop by drop.

So the wise man becomes brimful of virtue.

As the rich merchant with few servants

Shuns a dangerous road

And the man who loves life shuns poison,

Beware the dangers of folly and mischief.

For an unwounded hand may handle poison.

The innocent come to no harm.

But as dust thrown against the wind,

Mischief is blown back in the face

Of the fool who wrongs the pure and harmless.

Some are reborn in hell,

Some in this world,

The good in heaven.

But the pure are not reborn.

Nowhere!

Not in the sky,

Nor in the midst of the sea,

Nor deep in the mountains,

Can you hide from your own mischief.

Not in the sky,

Not in the midst of the ocean,

Nor deep in the mountains,

Nowhere

Can you hide from your own death.

Thomas Cleary states that this chapter is aimed at "drawing a distinction between quantity and quality in life, contrasting superficial activities, observances, and aims with deeper appreciation of perennial truths and enduring values."

Which speaks to me of a thought expressed in a little book once read on Cistercian spirituality, "The Way of Simplicity"........

Here is a life which is not a succession of alternating superior and inferior activities, but rather a continuous rhythm of equally valid ones.

So we move on.......

The Thousands

Better than a thousand hollow words

Is one word that brings peace.

Better than a thousand hollow verses

Is one verse that brings peace.

Better than a hundred hollow lines

Is one line of the dharma, bringing peace.

It is better to conquer yourself

Than to win a thousand battles.

Then the victory is yours.

It cannot be taken from you,

Not by angels or by demons,

Heaven or hell.

Better than a hundred years of worship,

Better than a thousand offerings,

Better than giving up a thousand worldly ways

In order to win merit,

Better even than tending in the forest

A sacred flame for a hundred years -

Is one moment's reverence

For the man who has conquered himself.

To revere such a man,

A master old in virtue and holiness,

Is to have victory over life itself,

And beauty, strength and happiness.

Better than a hundred years of mischief

Is one day spent in contemplation.

Better than a hundred years of ignorance

Is one day spent in reflection.

Better than a hundred years of idleness

Is one day spent in determination.

Better to live one day

Wondering

How all things arise and pass away.

Better to live one hour

Seeing

The one life beyond the way.

Better to live one moment

In the moment

Of the way beyond the way.

Do you now, or have you resided in Japan?

No, I think the closest I ever came was when I was bobbing about on top of a little cargo ship crossing from Sumatra to Penang, this in my wayward and ill spent youth. Maybe it is my distance from an actual Pure Land congregation that enables me to have a possibly idealised view................maybe if I saw a devotee picking their nose - or worse - I would reel away in distaste.

But, picking up a few points, I would say that as far as my reading and understanding goes, there is a very wide spectrum within the Pure Land tradition, certainly there is now, when the likes of Thich Nhat Hanh and D.T Suzuki - who have both lived more within the zen path - have versed their understanding. A spectrum that ranges from Amida "up there", who will welcome devotees to the Pure Land "out west" upon death, to Amida as "myth", as personification of Reality-as-is, and the Pure Land is NOW, this world, even this moment. (Possibly a realisation easier to come to when one does not have toothache.. )

There was an interesting story in Jeff Wilsons book "Buddhism of the Heart" where he spoke of two different "believers" who sought confirmation of their views from the local "reverend". So the question was put....."Amida Buddha - is he real or a myth?" "Amida is a metaphor." One man jumped up with joy, his personal view confirmed. Seeking further confirmation he asked again......"So Amida is purely metaphor?" "Oh no" came the reply, "Amida is very real." As Jeff Wilson comments...."Each man got a teaching that shook up his fossilized views, forcing him to consider other ways of approaching the tradition, and thus notice the way even notions of Amida are used to reinforce our egoistic desires. This kind of skilful means is an expression of the compassion valued by Shin Buddhists, which both meets you where you are, and, when you are ready, challenges you to go further."

As far as how the Pure Land way - even Mahayana in general - evolved from the earliest forms of Buddhism, Shinran (13th century, founder of Jodo Shinshu, and a particular mentor of mine) turned what I suppose are our modern notions of history on their head. He understood the reality of the Vow (that Reality - "being" - is Unjudgemental, Infinite in Compassion, and is ever "working" in infinite ways to bring all to enlightenment) as fundamental. Therefore intuitions of such, and expressions of such, can be found within all things, at any time......prior to the historical Buddha, as inferred by his teaching, as coming to the fore within the Mahayana.

Saichi says it more simply.....

O Saichi! What is your joy?

This world of delusion is my joy!

It contains the seeds

Of relishing the Dharma.

Namu-amida-butsu is blooming everywhere!

(I was interested that the Urantia Papers actually referred to the "lesser" and "greater" roads (of Buddhism) as I had never heard these terms mentioned before they were spoken of by Thomas Cleary in his commentary to the Dhammapada. Still, greater or lesser, "many that are first shall be last" etc etc. Perhaps better not to think too deeply about which we are "on"?

Brent, just put of interest, a short excerpt from D.T.Suzuki's book "Buddha of Infinite Light". He is speaking of a title that is often used for Amida (the Buddha in question) by devotees......OYA-SAMA

We believe in Amida Buddha as our Oya-sama, or Oya-san, as it is sometimes called. It is the term used to express love and compassion. Oya means parent, but not either parent, rather both mother and father; not separate personalities, but both fatherly and motherly qualities united in one personality. The honorific san is the familiar form of sama. The latter, Oya-sama, is the standard form. In Christianity, God is adressed as the Father - "Our Father who art in heaven" - but Oya-sama is not in heaven, nor is Oya-sama Father. It is incorrect to say "he" or "she," for no gender distinction is found. I don't like to say "it," so I don't know what to say. Oya-sama is a unique word, deeply endearing and at the same time rich with religious significance and warmth.

So we don't know what to say, which perhaps is best in some ways....

Perhaps it is the internalisation of this that prompted Suzuki to translate the givingof grace - and of being grace for us - by Amida (Reality-as-is) by the homely English word "favour".......as in...

Doubts have all been taken away,

I know not how and when!

How to be thankful for the favour - I know not!

"Namu-amida-butsu"!

(Saichi)

I know that when I developed an interest in Christology, I found there were "high" and "low" versions. Some began at the top (with God the Father) and worked their way down, while others began at the bottom (with the pure humanity of Jesus) and worked their way up. To be honest, at the time, I was inclined to begin at the bottom and stay there...............which, I suppose, is why I find the word "favour" so endearing, the kind of word I would use for the lend of a lawnmower by my neighbour. My experience is that we then see the favours done by others all day and everyday, and come to see how grace is part and parcel of our world. And not something bestowed from on high by "Him up there".

All the best

Derek

The Master

At the end of the way

The master finds freedom

From desire and sorrow -

Freedom without bounds.

Those who awaken

Never rest in one place.

Like swans, they rise

And leave the lake.

On the air they rise

And fly an invisible course,

Gathering nothing, storing nothing.

Their food is knowledge.

They live upon emptiness.

They have seen how to break free.

Who can follow them?

Only the master,

Such is his purity.

Like a bird,

He rises on the limitless air

And flies an invisible course.

He wishes for nothing.

His food is knowledge.

He lives upon emptiness.

He has broken free.

He is the charioteer.

He has tamed his horses,

Pride and the senses.

Even the gods admire him.

Yielding like the earth,

Joyous and clear like the lake,

Still as the stone at the door,

He is free from life and death.

His thoughts are still.

His words are still.

His work is stillness.

He sees his freedom and is free.

The master surrenders his beliefs.

He sees beyond the end and the beginning.

He cuts all ties.

He gives up all desires.

He resists all temptations.

And he rises.

And wherever he lives,

In the city or the country,

In the valley or in the hills,

There is great joy.

Even in the empty forest

He finds joy

Because he wants nothing.

Following the seven lights of awakening,

The seven lights, given by Cleary as:- Recollection, Examination of realities, Diligence, Joyfulness, Tranquillity, Concentration and Equanimity.

The Wise Man

The wise man tells you

Where you have fallen

And where you yet may fall -

Invaluable secrets!

Follow him, follow the way.

Let him chasten and teach you

and keep you from mischief.

The world may hate him.

But good men love him.

Do not look for bad company

Or live with men who do not care.

Find friends who love the truth.

Drink deeply.

Live in serenity and joy.

The wise man delights in the truth

And follows the law of the awakened.

The farmer channels water to his land.

The fletcher whittles his arrows.

And the carpenter turns his wood.

So the wise man directs his mind.

The wind cannot shake a mountain.

Neither praise nor blame moves the wise man.

He is clarity.

Hearing the truth,

He is like a lake,

Pure and tranquil and deep.

Want nothing.

Where there is desire,

Say nothing.

Happiness or sorrow -

Whatever befalls you,

Walk on

Untouched, unattached.

Do not ask for family or power or wealth,

Either for yourself or for another.

Can a wise man wish to rise unjustly?

Few cross over the river.

Most are stranded on this side.

On the riverbank they run up and down.

But the wise man, following the way,

Crosses over, beyond the reach of death.

He leaves the dark way

For the way of light.

He leaves his home, seeking

Happiness on the hard road.

Free from desire,

Free from possessions,

Free from the dark places of the heart.

Free from attachment and appetite,

Following the seven lights of awakening,

And rejoicing greatly in his freedom,

In this world the wise man

Becomes himself a light,

Pure, shining, free.

Anyway, Thomas Cleary says of this current chapter, that it deals with the mental pollution of folly, one of the factors known to produce misery. "Here the fool is characterized by ignorance of truth, possessiveness, conceit, insensitivity, shortsightedness, and self-importance."

Commenting on....

The fool who knows he is a fool

Is that much wiser.

The fool who thinks he is wise

Is a fool indeed.

.....he mentions some words of Confucius, who said "Shall I teach you how to know something? Realize you know it when you know it, and realize you don't know it when you don't."

AHHHH!.........."theoretically possible"

Yes, that could be it, thanks Mike.

Become one with everything..........theoretically possible. Becoming one with everything is a bit of a parody of the "eastern" viewpoint, if I might say so, based more upon the words of those such as Sir Edwin Arnold in his ""The Light of Asia", something about the dewdrop slipping into the shining sea..... The symbolism within the Pure Land sees gold as representing the undifferentiated nature of enlightenment, while the lotus flower (which grows out of the muck) symbolises each unique individual. So the Pure Land is full of infinite golden lotus flowers. Merton speaks of the Hidden Ground of Love, and a consciousness born of such, prior to the subject-object split.....and I would suppose, subject to it. Seriously, my own mind tends to fuzz out at most of this, and I just start thinking whether or not the cat needs feeding.

My eyes being hindered by blind passions,

I cannot perceive the light that grasps me;

Yet the great compassion, without tiring,

Illumines me always.

(From "Hymns of The Pure Land Masters", Shinran)

Anyway, back to the Dhammapada..............otherwise the moderator just might have to step in and speak of the thread being hi-jacked.....

The Fool

How long the night to the watchman,

How long the road to the weary traveler,

How long the wandering of many lives

To the fool who misses the way.

If the traveler cannot find

Master or friend to go with him,

Let him travel alone

Rather than with a fool for company.

"My children, my wealth!"

So the fool troubles himself.

But how has he children or wealth?

He is not even his own master.

The fool who knows he is a fool

Is that much wiser.

The fool who thinks he is wise

Is a fool indeed.

Does the spoon taste the soup?

A fool may live all his life

In the company of a master

And still miss the way.

The tongue tastes the soup.

If you are awake in the presence of a master

One moment will show you the way.

The fool is his own enemy.

The mischief is his undoing.

How bitterly he suffers!

Why do what you will regret?

Why bring tears upon yourself?

Do only what you do not regret,

And fill yourself with joy.

For a while the fool's mischief

Tastes sweet, sweet as honey.

Bit in the end it turns bitter.

And how bitterly he suffers!

For months the fool may fast,

Eating from the tip of a grass blade.

Still he is not worth a penny

Beside the master whose food is the way.

Fresh milk takes time to sour.

So a fool's mischief

Takes time to catch up with him.

Like the embers of a fire

It smolders within him.

Whatever a fool learns,

It only makes him duller.

Knowledge cleaves his head.

For then he wants recognition.

A place before other people,

A place over other people.

"Let them know my work,

Let everyone look to me for direction."

Such are his desires,

Such is his swelling pride.

One way leads to wealth and fame,

The other to the end of the way.

Look not for recognition

But follow the awakened

And set yourself free.

I can't quite catch what the Dalai Lama actually says at about the 43/44 second mark of the video. Sounds like "particularly possible" or something, but I can't make sense of it.

Any offers?

Maybe if it had been about hot dogs or burgers he would have got it?

Anyway George, not a digression at all. There was a story of the Dalai Lama where he was invited to give a talk on Tibetan Metaphysics to an invited audience of 2000 people. He walked onto the stage, where a rather large chair had been readied for his royal presence, complete with a very large cushion. He sat himself down and found himself bouncing up and down a bit, which caused him to break into delighted chuckles. He preceded to bounce for a few seconds more, all the while smiling and laughing. Eventually, I suppose, he gave his profound lecture, but a zen master would have said the lecture had already been given!

We should all learn to bounce a little bit more.

Like a lovely flower,

Bright but scentless,

Are the fine but empty words

Of the man who does not mean what he says.

Or, as Jesus says in St Matthew..... "The scribes and the pharisees sit in Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach but do not practice"

There is another little story, of a man looking for a good church to attend. He enters one and hears the preacher say......"We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done." The man dropped into a seat and sighed with relief....."Thank goodness, I've found my crowd at last!"

Knowing it is MY crowd has its own "rewards", so...

Look to your own faults,

What you have done or left undone.

Overlook the faults of others.

In the translation of the Dhammapada by S.Radhakrishnan that I have, he says of "wisdom" that it is attained by spiritual insight or intuition rather than by observation and analysis, a result of a contemplative rather than an intellectual attitude.

Radhadkrishnana, entering the realm of Greek mythology, goes on to speak of what a goddess tells young Telemachus, "Take courage. Some things you will think for yourself. Others a god will put into your heart." And that "genuine insight/wisdom is achieved by a perfect communion with the source of all truth, which is to be found, not created."

Speaking of "creation", he says that the Primordial Buddha wished to become many, that the wish was prajna, divine wisdom. That the Buddha and Prajna came to be regarded as the Father and Mother of the Universe.

Heady stuff indeed, and a bit far from my own small world of feeding the cat and obeying "the wife"!!!

Thomas Cleary says of these verses that we can pursue the things of this world as vanities, or we may mindfully use them constructively to beautify the world if we realise their value.

Though we should.....

Understand that the body

Is merely the foam of a wave,

The shadow of a shadow.

Nevertheless, we should.....

Like garlands woven from a heap of flowers,

Fashion from your life as many good deeds.

That the first does not negate the need for the second. Rather the idea suggests that the "good deeds" are empty of self.

Cleary again.........speaks of "being in the world but not of the world", that individual liberation and enlightenment are continually "reinvested" in the world for the benefit of the people of the world.

So on to Chapter 4.......

Flowers

Who shall conquer this world

And the world of death with all its gods?

Who shall discover

The shining way of dharma?

You shall, even as the man

Who seeks flowers

Finds the most beautiful,

The rarest.

Understand that the body

Is merely the foam of a wave,

The shadow of a shadow.

Snap the flower arrows of desire

And then, unseen,

Escape the king of death.

And travel on.

Death overtakes the man

Who gathers flowers

When with distracted mind and thirsty senses

He searches vainly for happiness

In the pleasures of the world.

Death fetches him away

As a flood carries off a sleeping village.

Death overcomes him

When with distracted mind and thirsty senses

He gathers flowers.

He will never have his fill

Of the pleasures of the world.

The bee gathers nectar from the flower

Without marring its beauty or perfume.

So let the master settle, and wander.

Look to your own faults,

What you have done or left undone.

Overlook the faults of others.

Like a lovely flower,

Bright but scentless,

Are the fine but empty words

Of the man who does not mean what he says.

Like a lovely flower,

Bright and fragrant,

Are the fine and truthful words

Of the man who means what he says.

Like garlands woven from a heap of flowers,

Fashion from your life as many good deeds.

The perfume of sandalwood,

Rosebay or jasmine

Cannot travel against the wind.

But the fragrance of virtue

Travels even against the wind,

As far as the ends of the world.

How much finer

Is the fragrance of virtue

Than of sandalwood, rosebay,

Of the blue lotus or jasmine!

The fragrance of sandalwood and rosebay

Does not travel far.

But the fragrance of virtue

Rises to the heavens.

Desire never crosses the path

Of virtuous and wakeful men.

Their brightness sets them free.

How sweetly the lotus grows

In the litter of the wayside.

Its pure fragrance delights the heart.

Follow the awakened

And from among the blind

The light of your wisdom

Will shine out, purely.

Just a little background to the various concerns/questions I ask myself.......in between just living.

The central doctrine of Buddhism is anatta, or "not-self", without understanding which a real knowledge of Buddhism is altogether impossible. The point is, at least to me, that it cannot be understood in any intellectual sense, but only experienced.

Many Buddhist texts, not least the Dhammapada, can come across as a manual for "attainment", and one can find oneself seeking to groom a spiritual persona for stardom! That is not the intent of the text, obviously, and as was explained at the beginning, the Dhammapada is just a small part of a larger whole.

One Theravada Bhikkhu wrote that at the moment of emancipation/enlightenment, effort falls away having reached the end of its scope. It is the scope of effort, and the paradoxes it involves, that set me on the trail of Pure Land Buddhism, the way of "Other Power."

Within the Ch'an/Zen tradition, when the Sixth Patriarch was chosen, there was, according to legend (?) a competition between the applicants. Each had to write a verse to explain their understanding.

One wrote.....

The body is the Bodhi-tree

The mind is like a clear mirror standing.

Take care to wipe it all the time,

Allow no grain of dust to cling to it.

The winner.......

The Bodhi is not like a tree,

The clear mirror is nowhere standing.

Fundamentally not one thing exists:

Where then is a grain of dust to cling?

As Thomas Merton has said, this verse is not any sort of statement of fundamental principle, not any declaration of pantheism, nor anything else of the sort, but a pointing to the most penetrating "experience". The language is not metaphysical but poetic and phenomenological. The insight is "a direct grasp of being itself, but not an intuition of the nature of being." (See the essay "Mystics and Zen Masters" in the book of the same name)

All this, for me, relates to "faith" and "works", the contrast between a "self" that "accepts" an offer of salvation, as opposed to a realisation of that which IS, which can come in infinite ways.

Hopefully I have not muddied the waters.

Nick, its been a while since I really gave the text a close look. I'm familiar enough with it that particular verses pop into mind, one in particular that speaks of the "sage" who, like a swan, is always flying off, leaving the lake behind. (One translation has it that they leave home after home behind.) I'm no sage, but the image is an encouragement and a perfect picture of how things are, at least for me. Once again, no attempt to identify myself with Christ, but I think of the NT verse about the Son of Man having "nowhere to lay his head."

Anyway, I more than hinted at the beginning, that in effect I'm reading it with semi critical eyes, after quite a few years now seeking more to open to grace than endeavouring to "attain", in the way that the Dhammapada often implies, or even states explicitly. So the words are often very "new" to me, and in some ways, distant and even inappropriate.

I'm the one with questions.

All the best

An untroubled mind,

No longer seeking to consider

What is right and what is wrong,

A mind beyond judgments,

Watches and understands.

Thomas Cleary speaks of these lines as the need to surrender the impulse to evil and relinquishing anticipation of reward for goodness. Leading on from this, there is the need to not be attached to any form of "spiritual attainment", which is called "affliction by the dust of religion". Cleary also mentions the Zen Proverb...."The spoils of war are lost in celebration."

For me, this is at the very far end of the spectrum covered by "grace", and leads into "Love God, and do what you will" (St Augustine), which D T Suzuki relates to the Buddhist Anabhoga-Carya, or "no striving", "effortlessness".

Which can be seen as a return to "innocence", the regaining of Paradise.

In a discussion between Merton and Suzuki, the path is traced from an original innocence, through knowledge, and into a new innocence. The "fall" here is understood to be not rebellion (against God) but a happy fault that necessitated so great a redeemer (the "O felix culpa" of the Catholic Tradition)

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time. (T S Eliot)

("Knowing it for the first time" seems to imply the slate is not wiped clean, nor has the suffering of experience been wasted or unnecessary - which has something to say regarding Theodicy, but I'll leave it.)

P.S. The discussion between Merton and Suzuki is Part Two of Merton's book of essays "Zen and the Birds of Appetite", an essay called "Wisdom in Emptiness".

Here is Chapter 3

Mind

As the fletcher whittles

And makes straight his arrows,

So the master directs

His straying thoughts.

Like a fish out of water,

Stranded on the shore,

Thoughts thrash and quiver,

For how can they shake off desire?

They tremble, they are unsteady,

They wander at their own will.

It is good to control them,

And to master them brings happiness.

But how subtle they are,

How elusive!

The task is to quieten them,

And by ruling them to find happiness.

With single-mindedness

The master quells his thoughts.

He ends their wandering.

Seated in the cave of the heart,

He finds freedom.

How can a troubled mind

Understand the way?

If a man is disturbed

He will never be filled with knowledge.

An untroubled mind,

No longer seeking to consider

What is right and what is wrong,

A mind beyond judgments,

Watches and understands.

Know that the body is a fragile jar,

And make a castle of your mind.

In every trial

Let understanding fight for you

To defend what you have won.

For soon the body is discarded,

Then what does it feel?

A useless log of wood, it lies on the ground,

Then what does it know?

Your worst enemy cannot harm you

As much as your own thoughts, unguarded.

But once mastered,

No one can help you as much,

Not even your father or your mother.

Mike, thanks for the encouragement.

Moving on to Chapter 2.........

Wakefulness

Wakefulness is the way to life.

The fool sleeps

As if he were already dead,

But the master is awake

And he lives forever.

He watches.

He is clear.

How happy he is!

For he sees that wakefulness is life.

How happy he is,

Following the path of the awakened.

With great perseverance

He meditates, seeking

Freedom and happiness.

So awake, reflect, watch.

Work with care and attention.

Live in the way

And the light will grow in you.

By watching and working

The master makes for himself an island

Which the flood cannot overwhelm.

The fool is careless.

But the master guards his watching.

It is his most precious treasure.

He never gives in to desire.

He meditates.

And in the strength of his resolve

He discovers true happiness.

He overcomes desire -

And from the tower of his wisdom

He looks down with dispassion

Upon the sorrowing crowd.

From the mountain top

He looks down at those

Who live close to the ground.

Mindful among the mindless,

Awake while others dream,

Swift as the race horse

He outstrips the field.

By watching

Indra became king of the gods.

How wonderful it is to watch.

How foolish to sleep.

The bhikkhu who guards his mind

And fears the waywardness of his thoughts

Burns through every bond

With the fire of his vigilance.

The beggar who guards his mind

And fears his own confusion

Cannot fall.

He has found his way to peace.

For me, this is where the first questionable verses are found.....

And from the tower of his wisdom

He looks down with dispassion

Upon the sorrowing crowd.

From the mountain top

He looks down at those

Who live close to the ground.

Mindful among the mindless,

Awake while others dream,

Swift as the race horse

He outstrips the field.

Thomas Cleary, in his commentary, contrasts this essentially "Theravadan" expression with the warnings given to those on the Mahayana path (Cleary himself speaks of the "Lesser" and the "Greater" journey).....

Buddhists on the Greater Journey are always warned to avoid becoming so intoxicated by the state described here as to lose pity and compassion for others. That proscribed intoxication is called the Deep Pit of Liberation.

Cleary's overall summary of the chapter is that it focuses "particularly on describing the merits of vigilance and rebuking negligence and heedlessness. Vigilance means exercising unremitting awareness of self, truth, and reality, sloughing off the torpor of heedlessness to act practically on realities."

Just picking up one or two points......

Rivanna:- As you mentioned, there does seem to be a contrast with the Pure Land version of Buddhism – the voice in the Dhammapada is more ascetic and rigorous, almost Stoic, e.g. it says “Give up folly” as opposed to “return to the foolish self to be saved by Amida.”

There is certainly, due to its origins, a monastic bias pervading the Theravada Scriptures, and therefore this would apply to the Dhammapada. Pure Land Buddhism arose in part as a reaction to the perceived elitism of a monastic based Buddhism. Although the origins of the Pure Land way are shrouded somewhat, from very early on it can be found as a form of understanding/devotion that was practiced alongside monastic based Buddhism - not least Ch'an/Zen. But in 12/13th century Japan it did self-consciously assert itself as a lay based way, very egalitarian............and devotees actually came to suffer various persecutions from the Buddhist "mainstream" authorities.

Also, regarding folly, and foolish selves......the term "foolish self" could almost be called a "technical term" in Pure Land speak. For me, without going into great detail, it has no reference at all to intellectual ability (obviously... ), but refers to the fundamental/existential understanding that the perceived self, that which we assume ourselves to be, is totally incapable of resolving the contradictions of human existence in any definitive manner, that such a self is dominated by self-centred desires that can only be broken by the light of infinite compassion that "grasps us, never to abandon us".

Anyway, a Pure Lander would still seek to "give up folly"......

Utilising one of the commentaries I have - this from Thomas Cleary, recognised as one of the foremost translators of various Buddhist texts, both Theravada and Mahayana.

Cleary's overall summary of the chapter is.....

This first chapter presents its teaching in sets of verses contrasting good and bad ways and their consequences, juxtaposing the causes of joy and sorrow. Purity of mind, self-control, moderation, freedom from rancor, accurate thought, purity of action, and practical application are praised as good ways in contrast to corruption of mind, grudge bearing, hatred, laziness, self-indulgence, false thinking, tainted action, and heedlessness.

Cleary also draws upon his knowledge of Mahayana and often quotes from the multitude of Mahayana texts. His comment pertinent to the words of Tolle, and in respect of the opening verse...................The Mahaparinirvana-sutra says......"Be master of mind, do not be mastered by mind."