MINDFULNESS · DHAMMAPADA 28
Remembering What Matters
When the learned man drives away vanity by earnestness, he, the wise, climbing the terraced heights of wisdom, looks down upon the fools, serene he looks upon the toiling crowd, as one that stands on a mountain looks down upon them that stand upon the plain.
Dhammapada 28 · Chapter 2, On Earnestness · trans. F. Max Müller · Read the full text at Project Gutenberg
Reflection
The verse begins, “When the learned man drives away vanity by earnestness, he, the wise, climbing the terraced heights….” In its chapter, this image points toward careful attention as the ground of a wakeful life. The old translation speaks sharply of ‘the fool’; it is more useful to read this as a pattern any person can enter or leave. Because this is a historic English translation, test the teaching in experience rather than treating its wording as a demand for belief.
Practice prompt
Where might remembering your intention change the next hour?