dhp44:0.1Minor Collection
dhp44:0.2Sayings of the Dhamma 44–59
dhp44:0.34. Flowers
dhp44:1Who bestirs this earth,
dhp44:2and the Yama realm with its gods?
dhp44:3Who sets out the well-taught word of truth,
dhp44:4as an expert a flower?
dhp45:1A trainee bestirs this earth,
dhp45:2and the Yama realm with its gods.
dhp45:3A trainee sets out the well-taught word of truth,
dhp45:4as an expert a flower.
dhp46:1Knowing this body’s like foam,
dhp46:2realizing it’s all just a mirage,
dhp46:3and cutting off Māra’s blossoming,
dhp46:4vanish from the King of Death.
dhp47:1As a mighty flood sweeps off a sleeping village,
dhp47:2death steals away a man
dhp47:3even as he gathers flowers,
dhp47:4his mind caught up in them.
dhp48:1The terminator gains control of the man
dhp48:2who has not had his fill of pleasures,
dhp48:3even as he gathers flowers,
dhp48:4his mind caught up in them.
dhp49:1A bee takes the nectar
dhp49:2and moves on, doing no damage
dhp49:3to the flower’s beauty and fragrance;
dhp49:4and that’s how a sage should walk in the village.
dhp50:1Don’t find fault with others,
dhp50:2with what they’ve done or left undone.
dhp50:3You should only watch yourself,
dhp50:4what you’ve done or left undone.
dhp51:1Just like a glorious flower
dhp51:2that’s colorful but lacks fragrance;
dhp51:3eloquent speech is fruitless
dhp51:4for one who does not act on it.
dhp52:1Just like a glorious flower
dhp52:2that’s both colorful and fragrant,
dhp52:3eloquent speech is fruitful
dhp52:4for one who acts on it.
dhp53:1Just as one would create many garlands
dhp53:2from a heap of flowers,
dhp53:3when a person has come to be born,
dhp53:4they should do many skillful things.
dhp54:1The fragrance of flowers doesn’t spread upwind,
dhp54:2nor sandalwood, pinwheel, or jasmine;
dhp54:3but the fragrance of the good spreads upwind;
dhp54:4a true person’s virtue spreads in every direction.
dhp55:1Among all the fragrances—
dhp55:2sandalwood or pinwheel
dhp55:3or lotus or jasmine—
dhp55:4the fragrance of virtue is supreme.
dhp56:1Faint is the fragrance
dhp56:2of sandal or pinwheel;
dhp56:3but the fragrance of the virtuous
dhp56:4floats to the highest gods.
dhp57:1For those accomplished in ethics,
dhp57:2meditating diligently,
dhp57:3freed through the highest knowledge,
dhp57:4Māra cannot find their path.
dhp58:1From a heap of trash
dhp58:2discarded on the highway,
dhp58:3a lotus might blossom,
dhp58:4fragrant and delightful.
dhp59:1So too, among those thought of as trash,
dhp59:2a disciple of the perfect Buddha
dhp59:3outshines with their wisdom
dhp59:4the blind ordinary folk.