The Dhammapada on working on yourself the way a craftsman works wood. From The Dhammapada by the Buddha, gathered 3rd century BC.
A commentary from around the 5th century AD tells of Pandita, a boy of seven. He had just become a novice monk at Shravasti. On his eighth day, he walked to the village behind his teacher, Sariputta, and kept stopping to stare.
Farmers were leading water along a canal into their fields. Arrow makers were heating reeds over a fire and bending them straight. Carpenters were shaping logs into cartwheels.
A later commentary on the Dhammapada tells of a seven-year-old novice who watched farmers steer water, arrow makers straighten reeds and carpenters shape wheels, then turned the lesson on his own mind. Verses 80 and 145 say the wise fashion themselves. Frederick Douglass, enslaved and forbidden lessons, taught himself to write from the letters ship carpenters marked on timber.
Nobody is born finished: you are the timber and the carpenter. Practical advice: pick one habit to bend, and work on it a little every day.
Likely, on the evidence · checked against 8 sourcesPick one trait you call your nature, and practice its opposite once today.
“I keep saying I’m just an impatient person. How do I actually start to change that?”
Shape Yourself Like Wood 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.
