The Fool (DHP60-75)

Long is the night for the wakeful,
Long is a trek for the weary,
Long is samsara for fools,
Who do not understand the true Dhamma.

If a traveler should not find another better or equal
to himself,
Then he should resolutely travel alone.
With fools there is no companionship.

The fool worries: “I have sons, I have wealth.” He does not even possess himself.
How then sons? How then wealth?

A fool who considers himself foolish is,
In this, like a sage.
But a fool who is proud of his cleverness
Is truly called fool.

A fool who spends a lifetime attending on a sage,
Will not apprehend the Dhamma,
Just as a spoon can never know the soup’s flavor.

An intelligent person who attends on a sage,
Even for a moment,
Will quickly apprehend the Dhamma,
Like the tongue perceiving the soup’s flavor.

Thoughtless fools act as their own enemies,
Doing evil deeds that bear bitter fruit.

That deed is not well-done,
Which one regrets when accomplished,
Which results in crying and a tear-streaked face.

That deed is well-done,
Which one does not regret when accomplished,
Which results in delight and joy.

As long as evil has not ripened,
The fool thinks it honey;
When evil ripens, the fool suffers.

Though month after month
He may eat his food with the tip of the grass blade,
The fool is not worth a fraction
Of one who has realized the Dhamma.

Indeed, like fresh milk,
An evil deed does not immediately curdle.
Burning, it follows the fool,
Like a fire concealed by ashes.

Only to his detriment does knowledge arise in the
fool.
It destroys his good fortune and splits his head.

He seeks undue respect, honor among monks,
Authority in monasteries, and devotion by families
not his own.

“Let both householder and monk think that alone I have done this,
Let them be under my will in every task.” So thinks the fool, whose desire and pride grow.

There is one path to worldly gains,
And a very different path to Nibbāna.
Let the monk who knows this,
The disciple of the Awakened One,
Not rejoice in honor, but cultivate solitude.

© Peter Feldmeier, 2013.

First published in Dhammapada — The Way of Truth : A Fresh Translation and Commentary on Buddhism’s Most Beloved Text by Buddhist Publication Society.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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