The Dhammapada on why a few true words beat a thousand empty ones. From The Dhammapada by the Buddha, gathered 3rd century BC.
Bahiya had survived a shipwreck and wrapped himself in tree bark. At the port of Supparaka, a later commentary tells, people took him for a holy man.
He began to doubt it, and went to Savatthi to find someone wiser. He found the Buddha in the street, on his morning round for alms. Bahiya begged to be taught. Twice he was told it was not the time.
A later commentary on the Dhammapada tells of Bahiya, who begged three times to be taught and was answered in a few lines, in the street. The verses say one word of sense, which quiets the one who hears it, beats a thousand empty words. In 1968, Robert Kennedy took about five minutes to tell a crowd in Indianapolis of Martin Luther King’s death. The city stayed calm.
A thousand words show what you know; one right word shows you care. Practical advice: when someone is upset, say one true, kind sentence, then stop.
Well established · checked against 9 sourcesWhen someone you love is upset, say one kind, true sentence, then stop.
“When friends come to me upset, I talk too much and give advice. How do I say less?”
One Word That Brings Peace and the other 11 ideas of The Dhammapada, a minute at a time.
Download on theApp StoreEvery idea is drawn from the public-domain text, and its names, dates and quotes are checked against the sources listed with it. The paintings are made for Counsel; they show the scene, not a historical record.
