Selected verses from The Bodhicharyavatara Chapter 4: Carefulness by Shantideva
Destroy a single being's joy
And you will work the ruin of yourself.
No need to speak of bringing low
The joy of beings infinite as space itself.
And so, according to my promise,
I will act attentively.
From this day forth, if I now fail to strive,
I'll fall from low to even lower states.
Today, indeed, I'm hale and well,
I have enough to eat and I am not in danger.
But this life is fleeting, unreliable,
My body is like something briefly lent.
And yet the way I act is such
That I shall not regain a human life!
And losing this, my precious human form
My evils will be many, my virtues none.
Here is now my chance for wholesome deeds,
But if I fail to practice virtue,
What will be my lot, what shall I do,
Bewildered by the sorrows of the lower realms?
If through the evil action of a single instant
I must spend an aeon in the Hell of Unrelenting Pain,
The evils in samsara stored from time without beginning-
No need to say that they will keep me from the states of bliss!
And mere experience of such pain
Does not result in being freed from it,
For in the very suffering of such states,
More evil will occur and then in great abundance.
Thus, having found this moment of reprieve,
If I now fail to train myself in virtue,
What greater folly could there ever be?
How more could I betray myself?
O my enemy, afflictive passion,
Endless and beginningless companion!
No other enemy indeed
Is able to endure so long!
All other foes that I appease and wait upon
Will show me favors, give me every aid,
But should I serve my dark defiled emotions ,
They will only harm me, draw me down to grief.
If thus my ancient and unceasing foes,
The wellspring only of my growing pain,
Can lodge so safe within my heart,
How can I live so blithe and fearless in this wheel of life?
And if the jail guards of the prisons of samsara,
The butchers and tormentors of infernal realms,
All lurk within me in the web of craving,
What joy can ever be my destiny?
Better if I perish in the fire,
Better that my head be severed from my body
Than ever I should serve and reverence
My mortal enemies, defiled emotions.
This is how I should reflect and labor,
That I might apply the precepts thus set forth.
What invalids in need of medicine
Ignored their doctor's words and gained their health?