iti76:0.1So It Was Said 76
iti76:0.2The Book of the Threes
iti76:0.3Chapter Three
iti76:0.4Wishing for Happiness
iti76:1.1This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard.
iti76:2.1“Mendicants, an astute person who wishes for three kinds of happiness should take care of their ethics.
iti76:2.2What three?
iti76:2.3‘May I be praised!’ ‘May I become rich!’ ‘When my body breaks up, after death, may I be reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm!’
iti76:2.4An astute person who wishes for these three kinds of happiness should protect their precepts.”
iti76:2.5The Buddha spoke this matter.
iti76:2.6On this it is said:
iti76:3.1“Wishing for three kinds of happiness—
iti76:3.2praise, prosperity,
iti76:3.3and to delight in heaven after passing away—
iti76:3.4the wise would take care of their ethics.
iti76:4.1Though you do no wrong,
iti76:4.2if you associate with one who does,
iti76:4.3you’re suspected of wrong,
iti76:4.4and your disrepute grows.
iti76:5.1Whatever kind of friend you make,
iti76:5.2with whom you associate,
iti76:5.3that’s how you become,
iti76:5.4for so it is when you share your life.
iti76:6.1The one who associates and the one associated with,
iti76:6.2the one contacted and the one who contacts another,
iti76:6.3are like an arrow smeared with poison
iti76:6.4that contaminates the quiver.
iti76:6.5The attentive, fearing contamination,
iti76:6.6would never have wicked comrades.
iti76:7.1A man who wraps
iti76:7.2putrid fish in blades of grass
iti76:7.3makes the grass stink—
iti76:7.4so it is when associating with fools.
iti76:8.1But one who wraps
iti76:8.2sandalwood incense in leaves
iti76:8.3makes the leaves fragrant—
iti76:8.4so it is when associating with the attentive.
iti76:9.1So, knowing they’ll end up
iti76:9.2like the wrapping, the astute
iti76:9.3would shun the wicked,
iti76:9.4and befriend the good.
iti76:9.5The wicked lead you to hell,
iti76:9.6the good help you to a good place.”
iti76:10.1This too is a matter that was spoken by the Blessed One: that is what I heard.