Dhp VI : The Wise

Regard him as one who

points out

treasure,

the wise one who

seeing your faults

rebukes you.

Stay with this sort of sage.

For the one who stays

with a sage of this sort,

things get better,

not worse.

Let him admonish, instruct,

deflect you

away from poor manners.

To the good, he’s endearing;

to the bad, he’s not.

Don’t associate with bad friends.

Don’t associate with the low.

Associate with admirable friends.

Associate with the best.

Drinking the Dhamma,

refreshed by the Dhamma,

one sleeps at ease

with clear awareness & calm.

In the Dhamma revealed

by the noble ones,

the wise person

always delights.

Irrigators guide

the water.

Fletchers shape

the arrow shaft.

Carpenters shape

the wood.

The wise control

themselves.

As a single slab of rock

won’t budge in the wind,

so the wise are not moved

by praise,

by blame.

Like a deep lake,

clear, unruffled, & calm:

so the wise become clear,

calm,

on hearing words of the Dhamma.

Everywhere, truly,

those of integrity

stand apart.

They, the good,

don’t chatter in hopes

of favor or gains.

When touched

now by pleasure,

now pain,

the wise give no sign

of high

or low.

One who wouldn’t–

not for his own sake

nor that of another–

hanker for

wealth,

a son,

a kingdom,

his own fulfillment,

by unrighteous means:

he is

righteous, rich

in virtue,

discernment.

Few are the people

who reach the Far Shore.

These others

simply scurry along

this shore.

But those who practice Dhamma

in line with the well-taught Dhamma,

will cross over the realm of Death

so hard to transcend.

Forsaking dark practices,

the wise person

should develop the bright,

having gone from home

to no-home

in seclusion, so hard to enjoy.

There he should wish for delight,

discarding sensuality–

he who has nothing.

He should cleanse himself–wise–

of what defiles the mind.

Whose minds are well-developed

in the factors for self-awakening,

who delight in non-clinging,

relinquishing grasping–

resplendent,

their effluents ended:

they, in the world,

are Unbound.