Well, I guess Buddha A.K.A Siddhartha Gautama doesn’t need any introduction. The rich brat ran away at the age of 29 to seek spiritual wisdom in the forests. As the story goes, by 35, he pretty much did the job and found what he wanted deep within him under the shade of a Bodhi tree. Then he gave talks to people and went wherever he could. These pearls of knowledge were collected as Dhammapada and are now helping millions of urban hippies who are wishing to burn the inner torch.
Here are few of them that might cool your inner valleys —
1)The Noble Minds have stillness.
The wise ones not just according to Buddha alone have stillness in their minds. This is referred to as “Sthitaprajna” in Bhagavad Gita. As Upekkha in Buddhism. And as equanimity in western books. Whatever the word, the essence is the same. The mind is a rock, not some wild horse chasing all the fantasies of grasslands.
2)Avoid the company of immature.
There’s a harsh truth in these words. In fact, his fellow spiritual flower Rumi also confirms this when he advises us only to hang out with supporting mates. And the Stoic legend Seneca even goes a bit further and strictly says to retire into ourselves as much as possible or the next best is to associate with the ones who improve you. This is because when we hang out with rotten minds, the infection soon spreads like Albert Camus’s Plague. Or they belittle your passions and dreams which makes the realization an impossible event.
More dreams are killed in the companionship of fools than in failures. No wonder people say that you are the average of five people you spend time with.
3)Desires Kill you whether you see it or not.
Buddha calls desire the primary evil. This is because it is the ultimate happiness killer. you become a slave to a thing or a person when desire enters into the picture. Any sort of attachment or condition invariably brings in disappointments that anchor you down. I get that. How is it possible not to have desires in this materialistic world when everything is a competition?
The answer is plain and simple. you die regardless of what you accumulate. unless you come out of this rut and realize the “self” within, there’s no way out.
Thomas Jefferson understood this when he said — “ Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of good conscience, good health, occupation and freedom in all pursuits.”
4)Self Mastery is Important
Conquering yourself is the hardest thing in the mind. In fact, it is easy to occupy an empire with a disciplined empire but to obtain control over self like the philosopher-king Marcus Aurelius is hard. Hence he did that journal thing to reflect on one’s own faults and craft a better person.
Yes, it takes time but you should not give up and let suffering or ignorance comes in the way. Listen to what Robert Greene has to say about this —
“ Mastery is not a function of genius or talent. its is a function of time and intense focus applied to a particular field.”
5)Now is the time to wake up
No, there’s no magic pill that lets you live forever. There’s no time for ifs and buts. This moment is the time for all you want to do in this life. Rescheduling, postponements, delays, and suspensions are for gods not for mortals like us. Every opportunity or chance that life offers has a seed that will give a chance to grow. If you say no, then you are skipping the advancement of your life. Listen when Thomas Hobbes says that human life is nasty and short.
Do not hold back yourself. Everything will soon end and all the mistakes will be forgiven by time. But before that happens —
“Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” May the gods be envious of your life.
Thy Vox 
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