This existence of ours is as transient as autumn clouds To watch the birth and death of beings is like looking at the movements of a dance. A lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the sky, Rushing by, like a torrent down a steep mountain.

You should respect each other and refrain from disputes; you should not, like water and oil, repel each other, but should, like milk and water, mingle together.

No matter what path you choose, really walk it.

As irrigators lead water where they want, as archers make their arrows straight, as carpenters carve wood, the wise shape their minds.

Do not believe what you have heard Do not believe in tradition because it is handed down many generations Do not believe in anything that has been spoken of many times Do not believe because the written statements come from some old sage Do not believe in conjecture Do not believe in authority, or teachers, or elders But after careful observation and analysis, when it agrees with reason and it will benefit one and all, then accept it and live by it.

For those who are ready the door to the deathless state is open. If you have ears give up the conditions that bind you and enter in.

Know all things to be like this: A mirage, a cloud castle, A dream, an apparition, Without essence, but with qualities that can be seen. Know all things to be like this: As the moon in a bright sky In some clear lake reflected, Though to that lake the moon has never moved. Know all things to be like this: As an echo that derives From music, sounds, and weeping, Yet in that echo is no melody. Know all things to be like this: As a magician makes illusions Of horses, oxen, carts and other things, Nothing is as it appears.