Buddha on Mindfulness

Ingredients:

Sayings of Buddha (5th century BC) on "Mindfulness".
Rendered in haiku form.

This is a continuation from Buddha on Choices.

The image is "The Valkyrie's Vigil" by Edward Robert Hughes.

Directions:

Mindfulness of life
Is the way of Nibbana.
Mindful ones don’t die.

Distraction from life
Is the way of Death. Fools sleep,
As if they were dead.

Awake and knowing,
How happy the wise are in
Noble mindfulness.

Ever practicing
Concentration and insight,
The goal: Nibbana.

Striving for freedom,
Mind fixed on the ultimate,
The wise break all bonds.

Awake, purify,
Work with care and compassion
And live in the Way.

The fame and fortune
Of the heedful and mindful
Will surely increase.

Through diligent work,
Disciplined in thought and deed,
You will see the light.

Like men of wisdom,
Make yourself an island which
No flood overwhelms.

The fool is careless,
But the master guards the door
Of the jewel of mind.

He yields not to lust,
But meditates and resolves
To find inner joy.

Masters see the world
As mountain dwellers see those
Who live on the plain.

The wise in his tower
Looks down at the madding crowd
With impartial gaze.

Among the mindless,
He wakes, swift as a racehorse
And outstrips the field.

Indra was mindful,
And became king of the gods.
Awake like Indra!

He who sees danger
In sleep, advances like fire,
Burning through all bonds.

He who is content
In mindfulness will not fall.
Indeed, he is close.

Life is not a dream
So wake up and wake up and
Find the way to peace.