The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1916-05-04
~ Or. FRANK CRANE
Copyright. 1915. by Frank Crane)

More people delight in proverbs than
one would suppose. You will be sur
prised to find how many persons COPY
IN their commonplace book, or hang up-
on their wall by the mirror or over tho
desk, certain pithy apothegms that
strike their fancy.
For their benefit let me here o,ve
some sayings that are found in the
Ohammapada, or Verses of Teaching
ihey represent pretty faithfully the
doctrine of Buddha, but their high ethi-
cal value will be appreciated by the
west.
1t may be well for us to chew these
oriental bits of wisdom thoughtfully.
and we may, so doing, realize what has
been said Of them, "a little thereof
saves from much sorrow"
According to Buddha, the sources Of
sorrow are three: craving. illwill Tor
hate), and delusion Tor ignorance).
AS rain gets into an ill-thatched
house, 80 craving gets into an ill-trained
mind.
If a man hates, suffering follows him
close. as the wheel follows the hoof Of
the beast that draws the cart"
IF man talks much about the truth.
but acts not in accordance with it, he is
but little better than the cowherd who
counts the cattle Of Others" What more
striking picture have you seen than this,
of the dilettante who il as one that
counts other peoples cattle?
1.-THE man who is vigilant over himself
makes to himself an island that no flood
can overwhelm."
The one who has attained self-mas-
terry has assembled the tower of wisdom,
whence he looks down. free from sorrow,
upon the sorrow-laden race of mankind"
Those who attain the secret of life, ac-
cording to Buddha, do not attain it by
knowledge, but by what is called the
awakening. Coming from ignorance to
wisdom is like waking from sleep and
dreams to reality.
"A guarded mind brings happiness"
''The mind is seated in the hollow Of
the heart" Perhaps this means that
there is no real intelligent perception
without love.
''To the mind accustomed to delusion
the truth is unpleasant and fearsome,
even as a fish quivers and throbs when
thrown up out of the water on to the
land"
The influence of ones mind is COM
pared to the fragrance of flowers. ''The
fragrance of flowers, of sandal, or in
cense, or jasmine, is not waited against
the wind; but the fragrance of wisdom is
waited against the wind"
IF on journey you can find no one
better than nor equal to yourself, then
go your way alone A fool is no COM
pany."
Riches are mine, thinks the fool. But
a man that does not know himself, much
less can he know riches"
Though a fool meet wise men and
hear wisdom his whole life long, yet he
remains ignorant Of the truth, as spoon
Of the flavor of SOUP
Look upon him who makes you see
your defectS as upon one VINO points you
out treasure"
BE it village or forest, on land or sea,
where the noble mind dwells is the place
to be-" -
The teaching Of the Buddha, says Sila-
cara, is summed up in famous stanza
as simply that everything in the world
comes into existence from some cause,
and with the ceasing of that cause the
thing ceases" The hearing OF this
stanza was the occasion Of the CONVEX
sion of one of the Buddha's most famous
disciples. Apparently simple, almost to
the point of banality, as this statement
lis, yet the unreserved acceptance OF its
truth leads to what is called The truth
Supreme. which is "that everything that
exists is conditioned and dependent"