Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Dhammapada (Kinh Pháp Cú) is the number-one sutra in Theravada (Thượng tọa bộ, Tiểu thừa, Phật giáo Nguyên thủy), the teachings of which are often simple and straight to the point. The other big branch of Buddhism is Mahayana (Phật giáo Đại Thừa), focusing on deep, puzzling, and sometimes mysterious philosophical logics.

Dhammapada is also important in Mahayana, but not as central as in Theravada.

The first two sentences of Dhammapada are central to your life and should change your life completely for the better – if you understand and focus on them.

The first two verses of the first two paragraphs of Dhammapada are identical, and they read:

Mind/heart leads everything
Mind/heart rules, Mind/heart creates

Ý dẫn đầu các pháp
Ý làm chủ, ý tạo
(Thích Minh Châu translated version)

These two sentences are straight forward:

1. Your mind precedes (leads) everything both inside your mind and outside your mind.

Ex: Your mind has to think: “I hate this jerk,” before the mind starts to hate this jerk (inside) and hate this jerk out on the street (outside).

Nothing happens to you and your life without your mind’s starting first.

2. Mind rules everything. This repeats and emphasizes the first point above. Your mind rules itself and rules your life.

No other rulers, no other causes, no other circumstances, nobody and nothing can affect your life.

Your mind, and your mind alone, is the ruler of itself and of your life.

3. Mind creates.

Your mind creates everything: love and hate in the mind and outside the mind, friend and enemy inside and outside, greed and generosity inside and outside, anger and gentleness inside and outside, confidence and insecurity/unconfidence inside and outside.

In summary, your mind – and nothing else, nothing else, nothing else – rules you and your life.

That is very simple and solid, brothers and sisters.

So, focus on putting the mind to work – the mind should be in control of, and take responsibility for, everything you think and do, for itself and for your life.

Stop pointing the finger to any ruler other than yourself, such as your family conditions, your physical disability, your education, your undeserving relatives, your city, your government, the stupid world, the poverty, the abuses, the oppressors, the injustices …

Nobody and nothing may be your ruler.

You are the sole ruler of your mind and your life.

With compassion,

Hoành

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