dhp60:0.1Minor Collection
dhp60:0.2Sayings of the Dhamma 60–75
dhp60:0.35. The Fool
dhp60:1Long is the night for the wakeful;
dhp60:2long is the league for the weary;
dhp60:3long transmigrate the fools
dhp60:4who don’t understand the true teaching.
dhp61:1If while wandering you find no partner
dhp61:2equal or better than yourself,
dhp61:3then firmly resolve to wander alone—
dhp61:4there’s no fellowship with fools.
dhp62:1“Sons are mine, wealth is mine”—
dhp62:2thus the fool frets.
dhp62:3For even your self is not your own,
dhp62:4let alone your sons or wealth.
dhp63:1The fool who thinks they’re a fool
dhp63:2is wise at least to that extent.
dhp63:3But the true fool is said to be one
dhp63:4who imagines that they are wise.
dhp64:1Though a fool attends to the wise
dhp64:2even for the rest of their life,
dhp64:3they still don’t understand the teaching,
dhp64:4like a spoon the taste of the soup.
dhp65:1If a clever person attends to the wise
dhp65:2even just for an hour or so,
dhp65:3they swiftly understand the teaching,
dhp65:4like a tongue the taste of the soup.
dhp66:1Fools and simpletons behave
dhp66:2like their own worst enemies,
dhp66:3doing wicked deeds
dhp66:4that ripen as bitter fruit.
dhp67:1It’s not good to do a deed
dhp67:2that plagues you later on,
dhp67:3for which you weep and wail,
dhp67:4as its effect stays with you.
dhp68:1It is good to do a deed
dhp68:2that doesn’t plague you later on,
dhp68:3that gladdens and cheers,
dhp68:4as its effect stays with you.
dhp69:1The fool imagines that evil is sweet,
dhp69:2so long as it has not yet ripened.
dhp69:3But as soon as that evil ripens,
dhp69:4they fall into suffering.
dhp70:1Month after month a fool may eat
dhp70:2food from a grass-blade’s tip;
dhp70:3but they’ll never be worth a sixteenth part
dhp70:4of one who has appraised the teaching.
dhp71:1For a wicked deed that has been done
dhp71:2does not curdle quickly like milk.
dhp71:3Smoldering, it follows the fool,
dhp71:4like a fire smothered over with ash.
dhp72:1Whatever fame a fool may get,
dhp72:2it only gives rise to harm.
dhp72:3Whatever good features they have it ruins,
dhp72:4and blows their head into bits.
dhp73:1They’d seek the esteem that they lack,
dhp73:2and status among the mendicants;
dhp73:3authority over monasteries,
dhp73:4and honor among other families.
dhp74:1“Let both layfolk and renunciants think
dhp74:2the work was done by me alone.
dhp74:3In anything at all that’s to be done,
dhp74:4let them fall under my sway alone.”
dhp74:5So thinks the fool,
dhp74:6their greed and pride only growing.
dhp75:1For the means to profit and the path to quenching
dhp75:2are two quite different things.
dhp75:3A mendicant disciple of the Buddha,
dhp75:4understanding what this really means,
dhp75:5would never delight in honors,
dhp75:6but rather would foster seclusion.