My Personal Dhammapada--Book Ten: "Violence"

The idea of rendering chapters of the Dhammapada into texts that speak to my own concerns with violence and addiction has inspired me to respond to two of this great scripture's books. I do not pretend to translation or even faithfulness to the original. I am simply using the words attributed to Buddha and as found in Glenn Wallis's new version as a template to guide my own reckonings with chronic spiritual and psychological pain. Book Ten, "Violence," is meant as a personal primer in non-violence and a gift to my dear friend, Susan Gelber Cannon, who seeks to teach peace in the classroom.

MY PERSONAL DHAMMAPADA
Book Ten: Violence
for Amira

Just the thought of violence terrifies us.
Ditto for death.
Knowing how disturbed the mere idea of harm makes us
should make us shrink from harming others.

Just the thought of violence terrifies us
and makes us aware that life is precious.
Knowing that life is precious
should make us shrink from harming others.

Whoever inflicts violence on fellow beings--
beings who desire nothing more than to be left in peace--
supposing that violence brings peace
will not know peace in life or death.

Whoever refrains from violence to fellow beings--
beings who desire nothing more than to be left in peace--
believing that non-violence brings peace
will know peace in life and death.

Speak with a temperate tongue.
Harsh words invite their like
from those to whom they are spoken.
The pain inflicted by wrongful words
spreads to those who utter them.

Be like dull metal that is kicked or pounded:
unclangorous, letting the matter end there.
When you know you are not the target,
there is nothing to provoke in you.

Like cattle being driven to market,
aging and death herd human life.

The childish do not know what is good for them.
The childish keep suffering consequences from their own actions.
Their gurus are obstinacy, anger and fear.

To inflict violence on the unsuspecting and innocent
is to risk immediate retribution of like and kind:
insult begets insult;
slander begets slander;
slap begets slap and slap curls into fist.
Soon the countryside is burning
and the cities are wastelands.
Degradation begets degradation;
destruction begets destruction;
slaughter begets slaughter.

Just as a raging fire consumes a building,
a man is consumed by violence
and all that remains after his death
are the ruins of rectitude
and a restless spirit wandering between worlds.

The seed of violence is harder than diamond.
It is made to survive in desert and drought
and thrive in the most meager of moistures.
This craving cannot be erased by self-mortification,
weakened by austerity,
quenched by prolonged absence from society
or strangled by contempt for worldly affairs.

A rich, daper man who is perfected in tolerance,
who practices patience and reserve
and makes the hunger of others his own
is more deserving to be called a righteous seeker
and a follower of the Way
than the poor, matted man in rags
whose renunciation is founded on intolerance
(of himself and others).

The man of non-violence
is not dead to pangs of remorse
but is prodded by them to self-correction
and greater kindness to others.

The man of non-violence
is as alert as a thoroughbred
to the whip-snap proddings of wisdom and virtue.
Using perserverance, patience and principle
based on long hours of prayer, praise and study,
his conduct is conduit for mercy and compassion
that brings relief and comfort
to his own pain and that of others.

Just as they gulley guides water
and acumen guides the hand of the craftsmen,
non-violence guides a wise man's life.