The Thousands

The Buddha's Way of Virtue, by W.D.C Wagiswara and K.J. Saunders, [1920], at sacred-texts.com

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§ VIII

THE THOUSANDS

100. Better than a thousand empty words is one pregnant word, which brings the hearer peace.

101. Better than a thousand idle songs is a single song, which brings the hearer peace.

102. Better it is to chant one verse of the law, that brings the hearer peace, than to chant a hundred empty songs.

103. If one were to conquer a thousand thousand in the battle—he who conquers self is the greatest warrior.

104, 105. Self-conquest is better than other victories: neither god nor demi-god, neither Mara nor Brahma, can undo the victory of such a one, who is self-controlled and always calm.

106. If month by month throughout a hundred years one were to offer sacrifices costing thousands, and if for a moment another were to reverence the self-controlled—this is the better worship.

107. If one for a hundred years tended the

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sacred fire in the glade, and another for a moment reverenced the self-controlled, this is the better worship.

108. Whatsoever sacrifice or offering a man makes for a full year in hope of benefits, all is not worth a quarter of that better offering—reverence to the upright.

109. In him who is trained in constant courtesy and reverence to the old, four qualities increase: length of days, beauty, gladness, and strength.

110. Better than a hundred years of impure and intemperate existence is a single day of moral, contemplative life.

111. Better is one day of wise and contemplative life than a thousand years of folly and intemperance.

112. Better one day of earnest energy than a hundred years of sloth and lassitude.

113. Better one day of insight into the fleeting nature of the things of sense, than a hundred years of blindness to this transiency.

114. Better one day of insight into the deathless state (Nirvāna), than a hundred years of blindness to this immortality.

115. Better one day of insight into the Supreme Law, than a hundred years of blindness to that Law.