Dhammapada on Comfort

Death carries off a man who is gathering flowers and whose mind is distracted, as a flood carries off a sleeping village.

Look at this dressed-up lump, covered with wounds, joined together, sickly, full of many thoughts, which has no strength, no hold!

Rouse thyself! do not be idle! Follow the law of virtue! The virtuous rests in bliss in this world and in the next.

Not to blame, not to strike, to live restrained under the law, to be moderate in eating, to sleep and sit alone, and to dwell on the highest thoughts,--this is the teaching of the Awakened.

But that is not a safe refuge, that is not the best refuge; a man is not delivered from all pains after having gone to that refuge.

That is the safe refuge, that is the best refuge; having gone to that refuge, a man is delivered from all pain.

Let us live happily then, free from ailments among the ailing! among men who are ailing let us dwell free from ailments!

Let a man leave anger, let him forsake pride, let him overcome all bondage! No sufferings befall the man who is not attached to name and form, and who calls nothing his own.

O man, know this, that the unrestrained are in a bad state; take care that greediness and vice do not bring thee to grief for a long time!

He in whom that feeling is destroyed, and taken out with the very root, finds rest by day and by night.

`All created things are grief and pain,' he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way that leads to purity.

Death comes and carries off that man, praised for his children and flocks, his mind distracted, as a flood carries off a sleeping village.

If an occasion arises, friends are pleasant; enjoyment is pleasant, whatever be the cause; a good work is pleasant in the hour of death; the giving up of all grief is pleasant.

Let him live in charity, let him be perfect in his duties; then in the fulness of delight he will make an end of suffering.

It advantages a Brahmana not a little if he holds his mind back from the pleasures of life; when all wish to injure has vanished, pain will cease.