20.1
The best way is the eightfold path.
The best sayings are the four noble truths.
The best quality is detachment.
The best being on two legs is one who sees clearly.
20.2
There is one Way, no other.
It leads to the vision of Truth.
Enter the Way.
Mara the Beguiler will loose sight of you.
20.3
The Way puts an end to suffering.
I proclaim the Way, having known myself
the extrication of the arrows.
20.4
All effort must be made by you alone.
Buddhas only point the path.
Enter the Way.
Become absorbed in Awareness.
Break free of the bonds of Mara.
20.5
"All of Creation is transient."
When one sees clearly this truth,
he is done with suffering.
This is the path to pure Awareness.
20.6
"All of Creation is sorrow."
When one sees clearly this truth,
he is done with suffering.
This is the path to pure Awareness.
20.7
"All of Creation is not Self."
When one sees clearly this truth,
he is done with suffering.
This is the path to pure Awareness.
20.8
One who is indolent when it is time for effort –
who, though young and strong,
is lazy, weak-willed, and lacking in determination –
will never find the Way.
20.9
Guard your speech.
Observe your mind.
Do no harm with your body.
Practice these three and you walk the path of the masters.
20.10
Clarity increases through spiritual practice.
Clarity weakens with lack of practice.
Knowing this two-way path of gain and loss,
walk in the direction of clarity.
20.11
Cut down the jungle of desire, not just a tree.
From the jungle of desire comes fear.
Cut down the jungle of desire, you practitioners,
and cut out the underbrush of lust.
Be free of the jungle.
20.12
For if the least bit of underbrush remains
of the desire between man and woman,
you are bound to delusion
like a suckling calf to its mother.
20.13
Root out your love of self
as you would pull up a faded autumn lotus.
Cherish only the path of peace that leads to Nirvana.
Be guided by One Who Is Gone.
20.14
"I will live here in monsoon season,
and there during the hot and cold months."
Lost in such thoughts,
the unaware ignore what awaits.
20.15
Infatuated with children and cattle,
the unaware man is swept away by death,
as a flood carries off a sleeping village.
20.16
Children are no refuge.
Fathers and mothers and families are no refuge.
When death takes hold,
kinsmen cannot protect you.
20.17
Understanding the import of this,
the wise act in accordance with virtue,
and quickly clear the way to Nirvana.