The best of paths is the Eightfold Path. The best of truths are the four Sayings. Non-attachment is the best of states. The best of bipeds is the Seeing One.
Eso va maggo natthañño, dassanassa visuddhiyā, etaṁ hi tumhe paṭipajjatha, Mārassetaṁ pamohanaṁ.
This is the only Way. There is none other for the purity of vision. Do you follow this path. This is the bewilderment of Màra.
Etaṁ hi tumhe paṭipannā dukkhassantaṁ karissatha, akkhāto ve mayā maggo, aññāya sallasanthanaṁ.
Entering upon that path, you will make an end of pain. Having learnt the removal of thorns, have I taught you the path.
Striving should be done by yourselves; the Tathàgatas are only teachers. The meditative ones, who enter the way, are delivered from the bonds of Màra.
Story
Five hundred bhikkhus, after accompanying the Buddha to a village, returned to the Jetavana monastery. In the evening they talked about the trip, especially the nature of the land, whether it was level or hilly, clayey or stony, etc. The Buddha came to them in the midst of their conversation and said to them, "Bhikkhus, the path you are talking about is external to you; a bhikkhu should only be concerned with the path of the Noble Ones (ariyas) and strive to do what should be done for the attainment of the Ariya Path (Magga) that leads to the realization of the Perfect Peace (Nibbana)."
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
The best of paths is the Eightfold Path. The best of truths are the four Sayings. Non-attachment is the best of states. The best of bipeds is the Seeing One.
This is the only Way. There is none other for the purity of vision. Do you follow this path. This is the bewilderment of Màra.
Entering upon that path, you will make an end of pain. Having learnt the removal of thorns, have I taught you the path.
Striving should be done by yourselves; the Tathàgatas are only teachers. The meditative ones, who enter the way, are delivered from the bonds of Màra.
At the end of the discourse those five hundred bhikkhus attained Arahatship.
Dhamma
atthangiko: Ariya Atthangika Magga, or the Noble Path of Eight Constituents. This is the Path pointed out by the Buddha for liberation from the round of existences. The Eight Constituents are: right view, right thinking, right speech, right action, right living, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.
caturo pada: Cattari Ariyasaccani, or the Four Noble Truths. These are the four Truths upon which the whole doctrine of the Buddha is based. They are: (a) the Noble Truth of Dukkha; (b) the Noble Truth of the Cause of Dukkha, i.e., craving; (c) the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Dukkha; and (d) the Noble Truth of the Path leading to the Cessation of Dukkha. (N.B. Dukkha, in this context, means the five aggregates of attachment or Pancupadanakkhandha).
dhamma: both conditioned and unconditioned things.