Thursday 21 February 2013

Buddhist Wheel






Watercolour by Margaret M Brownlow


Extract from The Sermon at Benares.

And the Buddha said:
The spokes of the wheel are the rules of pure conduct: justice is the uniformity of their length; wisdom is the tyre; modesty and thoughtfulness are the hub in which the immovable axle of truth is fixed.
He who recognizes the existence of suffering, its cause, its remedy and its cessation has fathomed the four noble truths.  He will walk in the right path.
Right views will be the torch to light his way.  Right aspirations will be his guide.  Right speech will be his dwelling-place on the road.  His gait will be straight, for it is right behaviour.  His refreshments will be the right way of earning his livelihood.  Right efforts will be his steps; right thoughts his breath; and right contemplation will give him the peace that follows in his footprints.

Taken from a 1915 translation.

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