Property:SanskritTranslation
From Bodhicitta
This is a property of type Text.
T
Jealous of those who are better than them, contentious with their equals, and arrogant toward their inferiors, praise makes them conceited, and censure makes them hostile. Does good ever come from the fool? +
Whoever seeks to rapidly rescue himself and others should practice the supreme mystery of placing yourself in the position of another. +
Due to an excessive attachment to the self, we fear the most insignificant dangers. Who would not hate this self, who, like an enemy, only brings fear to our heart? +
It is the self who in its attempt to resist weakness, hunger, thirst, and the like brings death to birds, fishes, and land animals, and stands as an enemy against the world. +
It is the self who for the sake of gain and honor will bring death even to his own parents, who would steal what belongs to the Three Jewels, and thereby become fuel for the fires of the Avichi hell. +
What wise man would seek to protect or pay his respects to this self and would not see it as an enemy? Who would have a high regard for it? +
“If I give, what will I eat?”—this selfishness will turn you into an ogre. “If I eat, what will I give?”—this generosity will make you King of the Gods. +
The one who oppresses another for self-interest will be cooked in the hells. The one who suffers oppression for the sake of others will obtain all perfections. +
The same desire to exalt oneself that would lead to evil rebirth, low social status, and stupidity can lead to good rebirth, honor, and wisdom, if it is transferred into another. +
One who makes another work for him without due compensation will suffer slavery and other forms of oppression in his next life. One who works for another will enjoy lordship and other advantages. +
All those who live in torment in this life suffer only because of their desire for happiness. All those who live in happiness are in such a condition because of their wish to make others happy. +
Self-praise, censuring others, and idle talk about the pleasures of the cycle of transmigration, these are some of the demeritorious actions in which a fool who mixes with fools must engage. +
But why say more? Simply compare these two: the fool who seeks only his own welfare, and the sage who seeks only to benefit others. +
Whoever fails to replace his own pleasure with the suffering of others will not reach, of course, the station of the awakened, but neither will he know happiness even in this cycle of transmigration. +
What is more, even if you leave aside future lives, even in this life if the servant did not carry out his work or if the lord did not pay him the salary that is due to him, no visible results would obtain. +
Instead of working for the only thing that brings happiness in this and the next world, that is, to give happiness one to another, deluded beings embrace the most horrible pains in order to harm one another. +
Whatever calamities, pains, and fears there are in this world, they all are due to grasping at the self. What will I gain by grasping at it in this manner? +
If one does not abandon the self, one cannot abandon sorrow, as one cannot escape being burned if one does not avoid fire. +
Therefore, in order to quell my own suffering and that of others, I surrender myself to others, and adopt them as my self. +
“I belong to others”: let this be your conviction, oh my mind. From now on you will have no other concern than the benefit of all sentient beings. +
