Dhammapada: The Wise

1Regard one who sees your faults

2as a guide to a hidden treasure.

3Stay close to one so intelligent and astute

4who curbs you when you need it.

5Sticking close to such an impartial person,

6things get better, not worse.

1Advise and instruct;

2curb wickedness:

3for you shall be loved by the good,

4and disliked by the bad.

1Don’t mix with bad friends,

2nor with the worst of men.

3Mix with spiritual friends,

4and with the best of men.

1Through joy in the teaching you sleep at ease,

2with clear and confident heart.

3An astute person always delights in the teaching

4proclaimed by the Noble One.

1While irrigators guide water,

2fletchers bend arrows straight,

3and carpenters bend timber straight,

4the astute tame themselves.

1As the wind cannot stir

2a solid mass of rock,

3so too blame and praise

4do not affect the wise.

1Like a deep lake,

2clear and unclouded,

3so clear are the astute

4when they hear the teachings.

1True persons give up everything,

2they don’t cajole for the things they desire.

3Though touched by sadness or happiness,

4the astute appear neither depressed nor elated.

1Never wish for success by unjust means,

2for your own sake or that of another,

3desiring children, wealth, or nation;

4rather, be virtuous, wise, and just.

1Few are those among humans

2who cross to the far shore.

3The rest just run around

4on the near shore.

1When the teaching is well explained,

2the people who practice accordingly

3will cross over

4Death’s dominion so hard to pass.

1Rid of dark qualities,

2an astute person would develop the bright.

3Having left home for homelessness

4in seclusion, where joy is hard,

1they’d long for satisfaction there.

2Forsaking sensual pleasures, owning nothing,

3an astute person would cleanse themselves

4of mental corruptions.

1And those whose minds are rightly developed

2in the awakening factors;

3who, letting go of attachments,

4delight in not grasping:

5with defilements ended, brilliant,

6they are quenched in this world.