«Wisdom without honesty is mere craft and cozenage.  And therefore the reputation of honesty must first be gotten, which cannot be but by living well. A good life is a main argument [...] If I err, pardon me: “No art is discovered at once and absolutely”. I do not desire to be equal to those that went before; but to have my reason examined with theirs, and so much faith to be given them, or me, as those shall evict. I am neither author nor fautor of any sect. I will have no man addict himself to me; but if I have anything right, defend it as Truth’s, not mine, save as it conduceth to a common good. It profits not me to have any man fence or fight for me, to flourish, or take my side. Stand for truth, and ‘tis enough. [...] Imposture is a specious thing, yet never worse than when it feigns to be best, and to none discovered sooner than the simplest. For truth and goodness are plain and open; but imposture is ever ashamed of the light.

»Ill fortune never crushed that man whom good fortune deceived not. I therefore have counselled my friends never to trust to her fairer side, though she seemed to make peace with them; but to place all things she gave them, so as she might ask them again without their trouble, she might take them from them, not pull them: to keep always a distance between her and themselves. He knows not his own strength that hath not met adversity. Heaven prepares good men with crosses; but no ill can happen to a good man. Contraries are not mixed. Yet that which happens to any man may to every man. But it is in his reason, what he accounts it and will make it [...] Affliction teacheth a wicked person some time to pray: prosperity never.»

Ben Jonson, Discoveries made upon Man and Matter

«A large group of Ajaan Lee's Bangkok students arranged to go with him on a meditation trip into the forest. When the group assembled at the station, though, it turned out that many of them had each brought along at least two large suitcases of "necessities" for the trip, and even many of the monks from Bangkok monasteries had brought along large loads. On seeing this, Ajaan Lee said nothing, but simply set out walking along the railroad tracks. Since he was walking, everyone had to walk, although it wasn't long before the members of the group most burdened down began complaining, "Than Phaw, why are you making us walk? We've got so much heavy stuff to carry!" At first Ajaan Lee said nothing, but finally told them, as he kept on walking, "If it's heavy, then why burden yourself with it?"

»One of Ajaan Fuang's students was feeling mistreated by the world, and so went to him for consolation. He told her, "What's there to feel mistreated about? You're the one that's swayed under the events that have hit you, that's all. Contemplate what's happening and you'll see that the mind is something separate. Events come passing in and then go passing by. So why be influenced by them? Keep your mind right at the simple awareness that these things come and soon they'll be gone, so why follow them? What, really, is yours? When you die, you won't be able to take anything with you, so why waste time wanting anything? There's nothing you have to want at all. Make your mind quiet. Make it one. You don't have to concern yourself with your own attainments or those of other people. Simply be aware. That's enough. Whenever anything hits you, let it go only as far as 'aware'. Don't let it go all the way into the heart. Even though your views may be right, if you cling to them you're wrong."

“Everything that happens to you has its causes. Once you contemplate it skillfully until you know its causes, you'll be able to get past it. Everyone lives with suffering, suffering, suffering, but they don't comprehend suffering, which is why they can't free themselves from it. Those who know don't suffer. The Buddha didn't teach us to cure our pains. He taught us to comprehend them. You have to approach the pain with discernment, to see that it's not you. It's not yours. Your awareness is one thing, the pain is something separate. When you can see it in this way, things will be easier."

»Advice for a woman who had to live with one illness after another: "Use your mindfulness to contemplate the body until you can visualize it as bones falling down in a heap, and you can set them on fire until there's nothing left. Then ask yourself: Is that your self? Then why does it make you suffer and feel pain? Is there any 'you' in there? Keep looking until there's nothing of yours at all. The mind will then see itself as it really is, and let go of its own accord."

"As soon as we're born, we're sentenced to death -- just that we don't know when our turn will come. So you can't be complacent. Start right in and develop all your good qualities to the full while you still have the chance. If you want to be a good person, make sure you know where true goodness really lies. Don't just go through the motions of being good. We all want happiness, but for the most part we aren't interested in building the causes for happiness. All we want are the results. But if we don't take an interest in the causes, how are the results going to come our way?"

"The day will arrive when death comes to you, forcing you to let go of everything of every sort. That's why you should practice letting go well in advance so that you can be good at it. Otherwise -- let me tell you -- it's going to be difficult when the time comes."

"You have to keep being observant of the mind: awareness itself. It's not the case that the mind isn't aware, you know. It's basic nature is awareness. Just look at it. It's aware of everything -- aware, but it can't yet let go of its perceptions, of the conventions it holds to be true. So you have to focus your investigation on in. Focus on in until the mind and its objects separate from each other. Simply keep at it. If you're persistent like this, without let-up, your doubts will gradually fade away, fade away, and eventually you'll reach your true refuge within you, the basic awareness called buddha that sees clearly through everything. This is when you'll know what's actually within, what's actually without, what's actually a resting spot, and what's really your refuge."

"Things outside are simply resting spots. The body is a resting spot. For the brief moment that the elements of earth, water, wind, and fire stay balanced together, you can rest with the body. But as for your true refuge, you've already seen it. It's this basic awareness itself, within the mind. Buddha is the awareness that lies further within. Once you realize this, that's all there is. It's sovereign in and of itself. It knows clearly and truly, all around. That's the true refuge within you. Things outside are just temporary supports, things you can depend on for a little while, like a crutch. As long as there's the breath to keep them alive, you make use of them. When there's no more breath, that's the end of the problem. The physical elements separate and no longer depend on each other, so the mind returns to its own true refuge. And where is that? Just where is that buddha awareness? When we've trained the mind to be its own refuge, there will be no sorrow at that moment in the meditating heart. The Buddha's own search was for this refuge. He taught all of his disciples to take refuge in themselves, for we can depend on others only for a little while. Other people merely show us the way. But if you want what's really true and good in life, you have to depend on yourself -- teach yourself, train yourself, depend on yourself in every way. Your sufferings come eventually from you. Your happiness, eventually from you. It's like eating: If you don't eat, how are you going to get full? If you leave it up to other people to eat, there's no way you're going to get full. If you want to be full, you yourself have to eat. It's the same with the practice."

"You can't let yourself latch on to things outside you. Things outside are inconstant. Impermanent. Undependable. They change with every in-and-out breath. This holds not only for you, but for everyone. If you don't part from one another while you're still alive, you part when you die. You part from things with every in-and-out breath. You can't base the meaning of your life on these things -- and you don't have to. You can simply tell yourself that this is the way things are all over the world. The world offers nothing lasting. We don't want things to be that way, but that's the way they are. They don't lie under anyone's control at all. This is true not only with things outside, but also with things within you. You want the body to stay alive, you don't want it to die, but it's going to die. You don't want it to change, but it changes, constantly. This is why you have to get your mind in shape so that it can take refuge in itself. And all the qualities you need are already present within you. All forms of good and evil are present within you. You already know which path is the good one, which path is the shoddy. Stop and take a look at yourself right now: Are you on the right path? Whatever is wrong, don't latch onto it. Let go of it. Past, future, whatever, let go of it, leaving only the present. Keep the mind open and at ease in the present at all times, and then start investigating."

"You already know that things outside aren't you or yours, but inside you there are many levels you have to examine. Even the mind isn't really yours. There are still inconstant and stressful things inside it. Sometimes it wants to do this, sometimes to do that, it's not really yours. So don't get too attached to it. Thought-constructs are the big issue. Sometimes they form good thoughts, sometimes evil thoughts, even though you know better. You don't want to think those things, and yet they keep appearing in the mind, in spite of your intentions. So you have to regard them as not being yours. Examine them. There's nothing dependable about them. They don't last. They're impersonal events, so let them go in line with their own nature. And what is there that's lasting, solid, dependable, and true? Keep looking on in. Focus your mindfulness on the breath, and ask yourself right there. Eventually you'll come to see what's what within you."

"The heart when it's released is like the fire element in the air. When fire goes out, it isn't annihilated anywhere. It still permeates space, simply that it doesn't latch onto any kindling, so it doesn't appear. When the mind 'goes out' from defilement, it's still there, but when new kindling comes, it doesn't catch fire, doesn't latch on -- not even to itself. That's what's called release."

"Before you say anything, ask yourself whether it's necessary or not. If it's not, don't say it. This is the first step in training the mind -- for if you can't have any control over your mouth, how can you expect to have any control over your mind? Think first before you act. Don't be the sort of person who acts first and then has to think about it afterwards." 

»One day Ajaan Fuang heard one of his students starting an answer with, "Well, it seems to me..." He immediately cut him off: "If you don't really know, say you don't know, and leave it at that. Why go spreading your ignorance around?" "We each have two ears and one mouth -- which shows that we should give more time to listening, and less to speaking."

»A student asked permission to keep a notebook of Ajaan Fuang's teachings, but he refused, saying, "If you jot everything down, you'll feel it's okay to forget what you've written, because it's all there in your notebook. The end result is that all the Dhamma will be in your notebook, and none in your heart. If you listen well, you'll gain wisdom. You listen with your heart, not just with your ears, and you have to put what you've heard into practice right then and there. That's when you'll reap the benefits. If you don't put it into practice, what you've heard will never become real inside you."

"Nothing comes from focusing on the faults of others. You can get more done by looking at your own faults instead. How good or bad other people are is their own business. Focus on your own business instead. When people say something is good, it's their idea of good. But is it always what's really good for you? You have to be your own refuge. If you're the sort that has to take refuge in other people, then you'll have to see things the same way they do, which means you have to be stupid the same way they are. So pull yourself out of all that, and take a good look at yourself until things are clear within you. If people hate you, that's when you're let off the hook. You can come and go as you like without having to worry about whether or not they'll miss you or get upset at your going. And you don't have to bring any presents for them when you come back. You're free to do as you like."

»The wife of a Navy lieutenant was meditating at home when suddenly she had an urge to give Ajaan Fuang a good tongue-lashing. No matter how much she tried to drive the thought out of her mind, she couldn't. Several days later she went to ask his forgiveness, and he told her, "The mind can think good thoughts, so why can't it think bad thoughts? Whatever it's thinking, just watch it -- but if the thoughts are bad, make sure you don't act in line with them."

»A woman complained to Ajaan Fuang that she had been meditating for a long time but still couldn't cut any of her defilements. He laughed and said, "You don't have to cut them. Do you think you can? The defilements were part and parcel of this world long before you came. You were the one who came looking for them. Whether or not you come, they exist on their own. And who says that they're defilements? Have they ever told you their names? They simply go their own way. So try to get acquainted with them. See both their good and their bad sides."

Geoffrey De Graff, Ajaan Fuang Jotiko, Awareness Itself

«Description of man: dependency, desire of independence, need. Condition of man: inconstancy, weariness, unrest.

»We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in our own being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of others, and for this purpose we endeavour to shine. We labour unceasingly to adorn and preserve this imaginary existence, and neglect the real. And if we possess calmness, or generosity, or truthfulness, we are eager to make it known, so as to attach these virtues to that imaginary existence. We would rather separate them from ourselves to join them to it; and we would willingly be cowards in order to acquire the reputation of being brave. A great proof of the nothingness of our being, not to be satisfied with the one without the other, and to renounce the one for the other! For he would be infamous who would not die to preserve his honour. We are so presumptuous that we would wish to be known by all the world, even by people who shall come after, when we shall be no more; and we are so vain that the esteem of five or six neighbours delights and contents us.

»Vanity. - How wonderful it is that a thing so evident as the vanity of the world is so little known, that it is a strange and surprising thing to say that it is foolish to seek greatness!

»The great and the humble have the same misfortunes, the same griefs, the same passions; but the one is at the top of the wheel, and the other near the centre, and so less disturbed by the same revolutions.»

Blaise Pascal, Thoughts

Now, can anything be more foolish than that men who have all the opportunities which prosperity, wealth, and great means can bestow, should secure all else which money can buy - horses, servants, splendid upholstering, and costly plate - but do not secure friends, who are, if I may use the expression, the most valuable and beautiful furniture of life? And yet, when they acquire the former, they know not who will enjoy them, nor for whom they may be taking all this trouble; for they will one and all eventually belong to the strongest: while each man has a stable and inalienable ownership in his friendships. And even if those possessions, which are, in a manner, the gifts of fortune, do prove permanent, life can never be anything but joyless which is without the consolations and companionship of friends.

And great and numerous as are the blessings of friendship, this certainly is the sovereign one, that it gives us bright hopes for the future and forbids weakness and despair. In the face of a true friend a man sees as it were a second self. So that where his friend is he is; if his friend be rich, he is not poor; though he be weak, his friend's strength is his; and in his friend's life he enjoys a second life after his own is finished. This last is perhaps the most difficult to conceive. But such is the effect of the respect, the loving remembrance, and the regret of friends which follow us to the grave. While they take the sting out of death, they add a glory to the life of the survivors.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Laelius

«And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? (Genesis 4;9)»   My italics. And my addition: Yes, you do are; we all are.

My name is Hugo "pusillus draco" Adrian, and probably I am not any of the things you are thinking I am, judging by this Declaration of Principles. I am not a tedious catechizing buddhist or a sublimating philosopher. I am not an intellectual or an artist. Or maybe I am, but I wouldn't like to be considered so, as long as creed and knowledge and art keep being used to establish a fallacious distinction between some good ones up and many common ones below (in a universe that's round and spins, "vertical" is nothing but a trompe-l'oeil); or between those who know better and those who are mistaken. I am just a human being trying to be no more and no less than what I can be. And, believe me, that's a lot. In my case, and in yours too.

This tiny site is dedicated to that tiny number of people who believe that responsability is not a chain, but everyone's share in the making of a better world; that riches amount to a finite number and the more you get, the less is left for the others; that a fabulous car won't make any person admirable, but an admirable person can make any car fabulous; that happines is not an object to be attained, but is in the eye that sees; that their problems are only theirs, and anybody else's problems are theirs too; that people don't need as much as they think, and don't think as much as is needed; and that we strive hard and harder till succes in the making our own lifes as unbearable as no enemy of us could.

If you don't trust appearances, are willing to consider somebody else's opinion as valuable as your own one, and would rather exchange than impose, then you'll always be welcome here.

By the way, English is not my mother tongue, so you'll find lots of faults. But, as long as I can make myself understood, I don't care at all. And you shouldn't either, if you are going to put any message in here.