Continuing with my Office Lens housecleaning, I will be publishing quotes I gathered from Eknath Easwaran’s translation of The Dhammapada through Aug. 17. Easwaran’s introduction to the Dhammapada provides an excellent overview of the Buddha’s teachings.

Why this book? While Nichiren Buddhists are often criticized for exclusivistic focus on the Lotus Sutra, I believe that by learning about the provisional teachings we gain a deeper appreciation of the Lotus Sutra. The Lotus Sutra is, after all, the ocean into which all of the separate rivers of Buddhism flow.

As Nichiren writes:

Once they enter the great ocean of the Lotus Sūtra, the teachings preached before the Lotus are no longer shunned as provisional. It is the mysterious virtue of the great ocean of the Lotus Sūtra that, once they are encompassed in the single flavor of Namu-myōhō-renge-kyō, there is no longer any reason to refer to the distinct names “nenbutsu, ” “precepts,” “shingon, ” or “Zen.” Thus the commentary states, “When the various rivers enter the sea, they assume the same unitary salty flavor. When the various kinds of wisdom [represented by the provisional teachings] enter the true teaching, they lose their original names.

At one time I considered taking the Dhammapada verses and creating a Daily Dharma on Instagram. My inspiration was this verse:

Our life is shaped by our mind; we become what we think. Suffering follows an evil thought as the wheels of a cart follow the oxen that draw it.

Unfortunately finding appropriate, public domain art proved too difficult. Still, I recommend reading the full Dhammapada.