Chapter on the Wise (DHP76-89)

Collection of Minor Texts

Verses of Dhamma

Chapter on the Wise

Like a person who leads you to hidden treasure:

this is how to see a person who points out your faults.

A wise person who tells you what you need to subdue

is the kind of person you should associate with.

Associating with that kind of person

is always for the better and never for the worse.

A person might advise you, instruct you,

and keep you away from what is not good;

They are liked by those who are good,

and not liked by those who are not good.

Do not associate with evil friends,

do not associate with lowly people;

associate with good spiritual friends

and with the highest of people.

When one enjoys the Dhamma, then one sleeps happily,

with a clear mind;

a wise person always appreciates

the Dhamma proclaimed by the noble ones.

Irrigators guide water,

fletchers shape arrows,

carpenters shape wood,

the wise train themselves.

Just as the wind

does not move solid stone,

praise and criticism

do not disturb the wise.

Like a deep lake,

clear and undisturbed,

when the wise hear the Dhamma

they attain clarity.

Good people let go of everything;

the peaceful do not prattle about sensuality.

Whether they are touched by pleasure or pain,

neither elation nor depression can be seen in the wise.

Whether because of oneself or because of another,

one should not wish to obtain children, wealth, lordship, or personal success

in ways contrary to Dhamma.

Instead let one be virtuous, wise, and in accord with Dhamma.

Few are the humans

who go beyond.

Most people

only run around on the shore.

Those who act in accordance

with the well-explained Dhamma

will go beyond the mortal realm

so difficult to escape.

Abandon dark things and develop bright things;

a wise person

leaves home for homelessness

and lives in seclusion, where it is difficult to find satisfaction.

One who has nothing could hope to find satisfaction there,

after abandoning sensuality;

a wise person would cleanse themselves

of mental defilements.

Those who have developed the factors of awakening

correctly and thoroughly,

who have taken up relinquishment,

who appreciate non-grasping,

and have eliminated their corruptions—

such radiant beings have attained Nibbāna in this world.