Dhp VI : The Wise

Don’t associate with bad friends.

Don’t associate with the low.

Associate with admirable friends.

Associate with the best.

Drinking the Dhamma,

refreshed by the Dhamma,

one sleeps at ease

with clear awareness & calm.

In the Dhamma revealed

by the noble ones,

the wise person

always delights.

Irrigators guide

the water.

Fletchers shape

the arrow shaft.

Carpenters shape

the wood.

The wise control

themselves.

As a single slab of rock

won’t budge in the wind,

so the wise are not moved

by praise,

by blame.

Like a deep lake,

clear, unruffled, & calm:

so the wise become clear,

calm,

on hearing words of the Dhamma.

Everywhere, truly,

those of integrity

stand apart.

They, the good,

don’t chatter in hopes

of favor or gains.

When touched

now by pleasure,

now pain,

the wise give no sign

of high

or low.

One who wouldn’t–

not for his own sake

nor that of another–

hanker for

wealth,

a son,

a kingdom,

his own fulfillment,

by unrighteous means:

he is

righteous, rich

in virtue,

discernment.

Few are the people

who reach the Far Shore.

These others

simply scurry along

this shore.