As new wars are erupting in various locations on the globe right now, and old wars are continuing without any sign of letting off, I think it’s good to be reminded of these two sentences. I found both of them close to each other in a single publication, so I’ll quote from there:
[...] the UNESCO charter begins with the preamble: “Since it is in the minds of men that wars are created, it is in the minds of men that the fortresses against war must be erected”. This is almost exactly like the very first verse of the Dhammapada which states: “Mind precedes all wholesome and unwholesome states and is their chief; they are all mind wrought. If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts, misery follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox”.
Ven K. Sri Dhammananda in Buddhism for the Future
