Daily Reading ~ May 21

Hoa Vo Uu (Buddha Dharma Education Association)
Venerable Shravasti Dhammika

The Buddha’s Words of Wisdom

If you observe the trees or the grass,

Without knowing it, they exhibit different types and kinds.

There are many different species.

Then observe beetles and moth or small insects like ants;

They exhibit different types and kinds.

There are many different species.

♦♦♦

And in the four-footed creatures, both great and small.

They exhibit different types and kinds.

There are many different species.

Observe creatures that crawl on their bellies, snakes and reptiles.

They exhibit different types and kinds.

There are many different species.

♦♦♦

Observe fish and those that have the water as their home;

They exhibit different types and kinds.

There are many different species.

Observe birds on the wings, those that travel through the sky.

They exhibit different types and kinds.

There are many different species.

♦♦♦

In these creatures’ types and kinds can be seen;

In humans no such types or kinds can be seen.

Not in hair or head, not in ears or eyes,

Not in mouth or nose, lips or eyebrows

Is there any great difference?

Not in neck or shoulder, not in abdomen or chest,

Not in genitals is there any great difference.

Not in hands or feet, not in fingers or mails,

Not in calves, thighs or complexion

Are there different types or kinds as there are with other creatures?

Human types do not differ greatly as other species do.

The differences between humans are only differences of convention.