Gift from a kind reader ... The Way of the Buddha!

I recently received in the mail a beautiful little art book called The Way of the Buddha: The Illustrated Dhammapada - illustrated by images from the Rubin Museum of Art, a museum dedicated to the art of the Himalayas. Some aspects of the book are very like Christianity:

"He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me" - in those who harbor such thoughts hatred will never cease.

"He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me" - in those who do not harbor such thoughts hatred will cease.

For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love - this is an old rule.

The world does not know that we must all come to an end here; but those who know it, their quarrels cease at once.

That's a great idea, and I am familiar with this expression of it:

But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:44-48, NIV)

The main reason for not harboring hatred is that we then fill our own minds with hatred. That is an additional evil for which we are accountable. And it does nothing to counter the evil that was done to us. I am delighted with the book and greatly admire the art, though I think I had better remain a Catholic!

See also:

Real Buddhism scholar to "neural Buddhists": The Buddha does not infinitely morph and would never drop two g's for "meditation gear"

Materialists start to come to grips with global failure but materialism dies hard"

"Neural Buddhists, Christians, and the Mud that failed"

"Neural Buddhism: Do neurons get reincarnated?" (No, actually, they get recycled.)