dhamma means law, justice, righteousness, discipline, truth.

pada means path, step, foot, foundation.
 

1. Choices
 

We are what we think.

All that we are arises with our thoughts.

With our thoughts we make the world.
 

In this world

Hate never yet dispelled hate.

Only love dispels hate.

This is the law,

Ancient and inexhaustable.
 

You too shall pass away.

knowing this, how can you quarrel?
 

How easily the wind overturns a frail tree.

Seek happiness in the senses,

Indulge in food and sleep,

And you too will be uprooted.
 

For great is the harvest in this world,

And greater still in the next.
 
 

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.
 

How happy he is!

For he sees that wakefulness is life.

How happy he is,

Following the path of the awakened.
 

So awake, reflect, watch.

Work with care and attention.

Live in the way

And the light will grow in you.
 

3. Mind
 

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 judgements,
 

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.
 

4. Flowers
 

Like a lively flower,

Bright but scentless,

Are the fine but empty words

Of the man who does not mean what he says.
 

5. The Fool

If the traveler cannot find

Master or friend to go with him,

Let him travel on alone
 

Rather than with a fool for company.
 

Why do what you will regret?

Why bring tears upon yourself?
 

Look not for recognition

But follow the awakened

And set yourself free.
 

6. The Wise Man
 

Do not look for bad company

Or live with men who do not care.

Find friends who love the truth.
 

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.
 

7. The Master
 

Those who awaken

Never rest in one place.

Like swans, they rise

And leave the lake.
 

The master surrenders his beliefs.

He sees beyond the end and the beginning.
 

8. The Thousands
 

Better than a thousand hollow words

Is one word that brings peace.
 

It is better to conquer yourself

Than to win a thousand battles.
 

Then the victory is yours.

It cannot be taken away 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--

In one moment's reverence

For the man who has conquered himself.
 

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.
 

9. Mischief
 

Turn away from mischief.

Again and again, turn away,

Before sorrow befalls you.
 

10. Violence
 

See yourself in others.

Then whom can you hurt?

What harm can you do?
 

He who seeks happiness

By hurting those who seek happiness

Will never find happiness.
 

He who harms the harmless

Or hurts the innocent,

Ten times shall he fall--

Into torment or infirmity,

Injury or disease or madness,

Persecution or fearful accusation,

Loss of family, loss of fortune.
 

Believe, meditate, see.

Be harmless, be blameless.

Awake to the law.

And from all sorrow free yourself.
 

11. Old Age
 

For behold your body--

A painted puppet, a toy,

Jointed and sick and full of false

imaginings,

A shadow that shifts and fades.
 

The ignorant man is an ox.

He grows in size, not in wisdom.
 

12. Yourself
 

To straighten the crooked

You must first do a harder thing--

Straighten yourself.
 

You are your only master.

Who else?

Subdue yourself,

And discover your master.
 

You are the source

Of all purity and all impurity.
 

No one purifies another.
 

Your work is to discover your work

And then with all your heart

To give yourself to it.
 

13. The World
 

As the moon slips from behind a cloud

And shines,

So the master comes out from behind his ignorance

And shines.
 

This world is in darkness.

How few have eyes to see!
 

14. The Man Who Is Awake
 

He is awake.

The victory is his.

He has conquered the world.
 

Live in your heart.

Seek the highest consciousness.
 

In his fear a man may shelter

In mountains or in forests,

In gloves of sacred trees or in shrines.

But how can he hide there from his sorrow?
 

15. Joy
 

Live in joy,

In love,

Even among those who hate.
 

Health, contentment and trust

Are your greatest possessions,

And freedom your greatest joy.
 

Look within.

Be still.

Free from fear and attachment,

Know the sweet joy of the way.
 

How joyful to look upon the awakened

And to keep company with the wise.
 

16. Pleasure
 

He is pure, and sees.

He speaks the truth, and lives it.

He does his own work.

So he is admired and loved.
 

Even so shall your good deeds

Welcome you like friends

And with what rejoicing

When you pass from this life to the next!
 

17. Anger
 

Let go of anger.

Let go of pride.

When you are bound by nothing

You go beyond sorrow.
 

Anger is like a chariot careering wildly.

He who curbs his anger is the true charioteer.

Others merely hold the reins.
 

With gentleness overcome anger.

With generosity overcome meanness.

With truth overcome deceit.
 

The world always finds

A way to praise and a way to blame.

It always has and it always will.
 

Beware of the anger of the mouth.

Master your words.

Let them serve truth.
 

Beware of the anger of the mind.

Master your thoughts.

Let them serve truth.
 

The wise have mastered

Body, word and mind.
 

They are the true masters.
 

18. Impurity
 

You are as the yellow leaf.

The messengers of death are at hand.

You are to travel far away.

What will you take with you?
 

Or as iron is corroded by rust

Your own mischief will consume you.
 

But the greatest impurity is ignorance.

Free yourself from it.

Be pure.
 

You may give in the spirit of light

Or as you please,

But if you care how another man gives

Or how he withholds,

You trouble your quietness endlessly.
 

Dwelling on your brother's faults

Multiplies your own...
 

19. The Just
 

Quietly consider

What is right and what is wrong.

Receiving all opinions equally,

Without haste, wisely,

Observe the law.
 

He harms no living thing.
 

20. The Way
 

"Everything arises and passes away."

When you see this, you are above sorrow.

This is the shining way.
 

Master your words.

Master your thoughts.

Never allow your body to do harm.

Follow these three roads with purity

And you will find yourself upon the one way,

The way of wisdom.
 

Sit in the world, sit in the dark.

Sit in meditation, sit in light.

Choose your seat.

Let wisdom grow.
 

"Here shall I make my dwelling,

In the summer and the winter,

And in the rainy season."

So the fool makes his plans,

Sparing not a thought for his death.
 

21. Out of the Forest
 

There is pleasure

And there is bliss.

Forgo the first to possess the second.
 

If you are happy

At the expense of another man's happiness,

You are forever bound.
 

22. The Dark
 

One man denies truth.

Another denies his own actions.

Both go into the dark

And in the next world suffer

For they offend truth.
 

Do what you have to do

Resolutely, with all your heart.

The traveler who hesitates

Only raises dust on the road.
 

It is better to do nothing

Than to do what is wrong.

For whatever you do, you do to yourself.
 

Like a border town well guarded,

Guard yourself within and without.
 

Let not a single moment pass

Lest you fall into darkness.
 

23. The Elephant
 

If the traveler can find

A virtuous and wise companion

Let him go with him joyfully

And overcome the dangers of the way.
 

24. Desire
 

The fool is his own enemy.

Seeking wealth, he destroys himself.
 

25. The Seeker
 

In all things be a master

Of what you do and say and think.

Be free.
 

If you are not wise,

How can you steady the mind?

If you cannot quieten yourself,

What will you ever learn?

How will you become free?
 

26. The True Master
 

When the world dissolves

Everything becomes clear.
 

But day and night

The man who is awake

Shines in the radiance of the spirit.