Appamada Vagga: Mindfulness
- Mindfulness is the way to immortality; heelessness is the way to death. The mindful do not die; the heedless are already dead.
- Knowing clearly the distinction of mindfulness, the wise rejoice in mindfulness, delighting in the pastures of the Nobel Ones.
- The wise, constant in contemplation, ever persevering steadfastly, attain to nirvana, the supreme freedom from bondage.
- Ever growing in the glory of him who is vigorous, vigilant, pure in conduct, considerate, self-restrained, righteous and heedful.
- By sustained effort, mindfulness, discipline and self-control, let the wise man make for himself an island which no flood can engulf.
- The ignorant and foolish indulge in heedlessness; the wise man guards his mindfulness as his greatest treasure.
- Do not indulge in heedlessness. Do not seek intimacy with sensory delights. Verily, the mindful and the meditative attain abundant bliss.
- Just as one who stands upon the summit of a mountain surveys those below who suffer in ignorance, even so the wise man, who casts off heedlessness by mindfulness, beholds the suffering mass from the heights of wisdom he has mastered.
- Mindful amidst the heedless, wide awake among the slumbering, the wise man moves ahead like a swift steed leaving behind a weak horse.
- By mindfulness did Mahava (Indra) attain to sovereignty over the gods. Mindfulness is ever esteemed and heedlessness ever disdained.
- The mendicant who delights in mindfulness and looks upon heedlessness with fear advances like fire, consuming all fetters*, great and small.
- The mendicant who delights in mindfulness and looks upon heedlessness with fear cannot fall backwards. He is close to nirvana.
* There are ten kinds of fetters: 1) the delusion of separateness; 2) indulgence in rites and ceremonies; 3) doubts; 4) sense-desires; 5) attachment to forms; 6) attachment to formless realms; 7) hatred; 8) restlessness; 9) pride; 10) ignorance. The first five pertain to this shore, the next five pertain to the further shore. The first three are removed on becoming a sotapanna or srotapatti, the second two are becoming a skadagamin, the next two on becoming an anagamin, and the last five on becoming an arahant or arhat.
Taken from The Dhammapada with Udanavarga published by Concord Grove Press 1986
