A man struggling for existence will naturally look for something of value. There are two ways of looking – a right way and a wrong way. If he looks in the wrong way he recognizes that sickness, old age and death are unavoidable, but he seeks the opposite.
“If he looks in the right way he recognizes the true nature of sickness, old age and death, and he searches for meaning in that which transcends all human sufferings. In my life of pleasures I seem to be looking in the wrong way.”

Now, there are five evils in the world. First, there is cruelty; every creature, even insects, strives against one another. The strong attack the weak; the weak deceive the strong; everywhere there is fighting and cruelty.
Second, there is the lack of a clear demarcation between the rights of a father and a son; between an elder brother and a younger; between a husband and a wife; between a senior relative and a younger; on every occasion each one desires to be the highest and to profit
off the others. They cheat each other, there is deception and a lack of sincerity.
Third, there is the lack of a clear demarcation as to the behavior between men and women. Everyone at times has impure and lascivious thoughts and desires that lead them into questionable acts and often into disputes, fighting, injustice and wickedness.
Fourth, there is the tendency for people to disrespect the rights of others, to exaggerate their own importance at the expense of others, to set bad examples of behavior and, being unjust in their speech, to deceive, slander and abuse others.
Fifth, there is the tendency for people to neglect their duties toward others. They think too much of their own comfort and their own desires; they forget the favors they have received and cause annoyance to others that often passes into great injustice.

In a land where the true teaching prevails, every dweller has a pure and tranquil mind. Indeed, Buddha’s compassion untiringly benefits all people, and His shining spirit exorcizes all impurities from their minds.
A pure mind soon becomes a deep mind, a mind that is commensurate with the Noble Path, a mind that loves to give, a mind that loves to keep the precepts, an enduring mind, a zealous mind, a calm mind, a wise mind, a compassionate mind, a mind that leads people to Enlightenment by many and skillful means. Thus shall the Buddha’s Land be built.
A home with one’s wife and children is transformed into a home where Buddha is present; a country that suffers because of social distinctions is likewise transformed into a fellowship of kindred spirits.
A golden palace that is blood-stained can not be the abiding place for Buddha. A small hut where the moonlight leaks in through chinks in the roof can be transformed into a place where Buddha will abide, if the mind of its master is pure.
When a Buddha Land is founded upon the pure mind of a single person, that single pure mind draws other kindred minds to itself in the Samgha. Faith in Buddha spreads from individual to family, from family to village, from village to towns, to cities, to countries, and finally to the whole world.
Indeed, earnestness and faithfulness in spreading the teaching of the Dharma are what build the Buddha Land.

In this world there are three wrong viewpoints.
If one clings to these viewpoints, then all things in this world are but to be denied.
First, some say that all human experience is based on destiny; second, some hold that everything is created by God and controlled by His will; third, some say that everything happens by chance without having any cause or condition.
If all has been decided by destiny, both good deeds and evil deeds are predetermined, weal and woe are predestined; nothing would exist that has not been foreordained. Then all human plans and efforts for improvement and progress would be in vain and humanity would be without hope.
The same is true of the other viewpoints, for, if everything in the last resort is in the hands of an unknowable God, or of blind chance, what hope has humanity except in submission? It is no wonder that people holding these conceptions lose hope and neglect efforts to act wisely and to avoid evil.
In fact, these three conceptions or viewpoints are all wrong: everything is a succession of appearances whose source is the accumulation of causes and conditions.

There are causes for all human suffering, and there is a way by which they may be ended, because everything in the world is the result of a vast concurrence of causes and conditions, and everything disappears as these causes and conditions change and pass away.
Rain falls, winds blow, plants bloom, leaves mature and are blown away. These phenomena are all interrelated with causes and conditions, and are brought about by them, and disappear as the causes and conditions change.
One is born through the conditions of parentage. His body is nourished by food: his spirit is nurtured by teaching and experience.
Therefore, both flesh and spirit are related to conditions and are changed as conditions change.

To those who choose the path that leads to Enlightenment, there are two extremes that should be carefully avoided. First, there is the extreme of indulgence in the desires of the body. Second, there is the opposite extreme of ascetic discipline, torturing one’s
body and mind unreasonably.
The Noble Path, that transcends these two extremes and leads to Enlightenment and wisdom and peace of mind, may be called the Middle Way. What is the Middle Way? It consists of the Eightfold Noble Path: Right View, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Behavior, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.
As has been said, all things appear or disappear by reason of an endless series of causes. Ignorant people see life as either existence or non-existence, but wise men see beyond both existence and non-existence something that transcends them both; this is an observation of the Middle Way.

There is a fable told of a man who found an anthill which burned in the daytime and smoked at night. He went to a wise man and asked his advice as to what he should do about it. The wise man told him to dig into it with a sword. This the man did. He found in succession a gate-bar, some bubbles of water, a pitchfork, a box, a tortoise, a butcher-knife, a piece of meat and, finally, a dragon which came out. The man reported to the wise man what he had found. The wise man explained the significance of it and said, “Throw away everything but the dragon; leave the dragon alone and do not disturb him.”
This is a fable in which “anthill” represents the human body. “Burned in the daytime” represents the fact that during the day people turn into acts the things they thought about the previous night. “Smoked at night” indicates the fact that people during the night recall with pleasure or regret the things they did the previous day.
In the same fable, “a man” means a person who seeks Enlightenment. “A wise man” means Buddha. “A sword” means pure wisdom. “Dig into it” refers to the effort he must make to gain Enlightenment.
Further in the fable, “gate-bar” represents ignorance; “bubbles” are puffs of suffering and anger; “pitchfork” suggests hesitation and uneasiness; “box” suggests the storage of greed, anger, laziness, fickleness, repentance and delusion; “tortoise” means the body and the mind; “butcher-knife” means the synthesis of the five sensory desires, and “a piece of meat” means the resulting desire that causes a man to covet after satisfaction. These things are all harmful to man and so Buddha said,
“Throw away everything.”
Still further, “dragon” indicates a mind that has eliminated all worldly passions. If a man digs into the things about him with the sword of wisdom he will finally come to his dragon. “Leave the dragon alone and do not disturb him” means to go after and dig up a mind free of worldly desires.

Here is another allegory. A man who has committed a crime is running away; some guards are following him, so he tries to hide himself by descending into a well by
means of some vines growing down the sides. As he descends he sees vipers at the bottom of the well, so he decides to cling to the vine for safety. After a time when his arms are getting tired, he notices two mice, one white and the other black, gnawing at the vine.
If the vine breaks, he will fall to the vipers and perish. Suddenly, on looking upward, he notices just above his face a bee-hive from which occasionally falls a drop of honey. The man, forgetting all his danger, tastes the honey with delight.
“A man” means the one who is born to suffer and to die alone. “Guards” and “vipers” refer to the body with all its desires. “Vines”means the continuity of the human life. “Two mice, one white and the other black” refer to the duration of time, days and nights, and the passing years. “Honey” indicates the physical pleasures that beguiles the suffering of the passing years.

There is an allegory that depicts human life. Once there was a man rowing a boat down a river. Someone on the shore warned him, “Stop rowing so gaily down the swift current; there are rapids ahead and a dangerous whirlpool, and there are crocodiles and demons lying in wait in rocky caverns. You will perish if you continue.”
In this allegory, “the swift current” is a life of lust; “rowing gaily” is giving rein to one’s passion; “rapids ahead” means the ensuing suffering and pain; “whirlpool” means pleasure, “crocodiles and demons” refers to the decay and death that follow a life of lust and indulgence; “Someone on the shore,” who calls out, is Buddha.
Here is another allegory. A man who has committed a crime is running away; some guards are following him, so he tries to hide himself by descending into a well by means of some vines growing down the sides. As he descends he sees vipers at the bottom of the well, so he decides to cling to the vine for safety. After a time when his arms are getting tired, he notices two mice, one white and the other black, gnawing at the vine.
If the vine breaks, he will fall to the vipers and perish. Suddenly, on looking upward, he notices just above his face a bee-hive from which occasionally falls a drop of honey. The man, forgetting all his danger, tastes the honey with delight.
“A man” means the one who is born to suffer and to die alone. “Guards” and “vipers” refer to the body with all its desires. “Vines”means the continuity of the human life. “Two mice, one white and the other black” refer to the duration of time, days and nights, and the passing years. “Honey” indicates the physical pleasures that beguiles the suffering of the passing years.

Once Yama, the legendary King of Hell, asked a man who had fallen into hell about his evil deeds in life, whether, during his life, he had ever met the three heavenly messengers. The man replied: “No, my Lord, I never met any such persons.”
Yama asked him if he had ever met an old person bent with age and walking with a cane. The man replied: “Yes, my Lord, I have met such persons frequently.” Then
Yama said to him: “You are suffering this present punishment because you did not recognize in that old man a heavenly messenger sent to warn you that you must quickly change your ways before you, too, become an old man.”
Yama asked him again if he had ever seen a poor, sick and friendless man. The man replied: “Yes, my Lord, I have seen many such men.” Then, Yama said to him: “You have come into this place because you failed to recognize in these sick men the messengers from heaven sent to warn you of your own sickness.”
Then, Yama asked him once more if he had ever seen a dead man. The man replied: “Yes, my Lord, I have been in the presence of death many times.” Yama said to him: “It is because you did not recognize in these men the heavenly messengers sent to warn you that you are brought to this. If you had recognized these messengers and taken their warnings you would have changed your course, and would not have come to this place of suffering.”

Once there was a young woman named Kisagotami, the wife of a wealthy man, who lost her mind because of the death of her child. She took the dead child in her arms and went from house to house begging people to heal the child.
Of course, they could do nothing for her, but finally a follower of Buddha advised her to see the Blessed One who was then staying at Jetavana, and so she carried the dead child to Buddha.
The Blessed One looked upon her with sympathy and said: “To heal the child I need some poppy seeds; go and beg four or five poppy seeds from some home where death has never entered.”
So the demented woman went out and sought a house where death had never entered, but in vain. At last, she was obliged to return to Buddha. In his quiet presence her mind cleared and she understood the meaning of his words. She took the body away and buried it, and then returned to Buddha and became one of his disciples.

There are five things which no one is able to accomplish in this world: first, to cease growing old when he is growing old; second, to cease being sick; third, to cease dying; fourth, to deny extinction when there is extinction; fifth, to deny exhaustion.
Ordinary people in the world sooner or later run into these facts, and most people suffer consequently, but those who have heard the Buddha’s teaching do not suffer because they understand that these are unavoidable.

There are four truths in this world: first, all living beings rise from ignorance; second, all objects of desire are impermanent, uncertain and suffering; third, all existing things are also impermanent, uncertain and suffering; fourth, there is nothing that can be called an “ego,” and there is no such thing as “mine” in all the world.
These truths that everything is impermanent and passing and egoless, have no connection with the fact of Buddha’s appearing or not appearing in this world. These truths are certain; Buddha knows this and, therefore, preaches the Dharma to all people.

Both delusion and Enlightenment originate within the mind, and every existence or phenomenon arises from the functions of the mind, just as different things appear from the sleeve of a magician.
The activities of the mind have no limit, they form the surroundings of life. An impure mind surrounds itself with impure things and a pure mind surrounds itself with pure things; hence, surroundings have no more limits than the activities of the mind.
Just as a picture is drawn by an artist, surroundings are created by the activities of the mind. While the surroundings created by Buddha are pure and free from defilement, those created by ordinary people are not so.
The mind conjures up multifarious forms just as a skilful painter creates pictures of various worlds. There is nothing in the world that is not mind-created. A Buddha is like our mind; sentient beings are just like Buddhas. Therefore there is no difference among the mind, Buddhas and sentient beings in their capability of creating all things.
Buddha has a right understanding of all things as fashioned by the mortal mind. Therefore, those who know this are able to see the real Buddha.