Whoever takes a rod
to harm living beings desiring ease,
when he himself is looking for ease,
meets with no ease after death.
Speak harshly to no one,
or the words will be thrown
right back at you.
Contentious talk is painful,
for you get struck by rods in return.
As a cowherd with a rod
drives cows to the field,
so aging & death
drive the life
of living beings.
When doing evil deeds,
the fool is oblivious.
The dullard
is tormented
by his own deeds,
as if burned by a fire.
Whoever, with a rod,
harasses an innocent man, unarmed,
quickly falls into any of ten things:
Neither nakedness nor matted hair
nor mud nor the refusal of food
nor sleeping on the bare ground
nor dust & dirt nor squatting austerities
cleanses the mortal
who’s not gone beyond doubt.
Who in the world
is a man constrained by conscience,
who awakens to censure
like a fine stallion to the whip?
Like a fine stallion
struck with a whip,
be ardent & chastened.
Through conviction
virtue, persistence,
concentration, judgment,
consummate in knowledge & conduct,
mindful,
you’ll abandon this not-insignificant pain.
Irrigators guide
the water.
Fletchers shape
the arrow shaft.
Carpenters shape
the wood.
Those of good practices control
themselves.
Origin URL: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/KN/Dhp/Ch10.html