MINDFULNESS · DHAMMAPADA 275

Awake in This Moment

If you go on this way, you will make an end of pain! The way was preached by me, when I had understood the removal of the thorns (in the flesh).

Dhammapada 275 · Chapter 20, The Way · trans. F. Max Müller · Read the full text at Project Gutenberg

Reflection

The verse begins, “If you go on this way, you will make an end of pain.” In its chapter, this image points toward a practical path of attention, ethics, and understanding. Its value is practical when it changes how you meet one choice, relationship, or difficult feeling today. Because this is a historic English translation, test the teaching in experience rather than treating its wording as a demand for belief.

Practice prompt

What pulls you away from the present most often?