The glowworm shines
as long as the sun hasn’t risen.
But when that splendor rises,
the glowworm’s light is destroyed.
It no longer shines.
Likewise, sectarians1 shine
as long as those rightly awakened
don’t appear in the world.
Those logicians2 aren’t purified,
nor are their disciples.
Those of bad views
aren’t released
from stress.
Notes
1. Reading titthiyānaṁ with the Thai edition. The Sri Lankan and Burmese editions read, takkikānaṁ, “logicians.” The parallel passage in the Udānavarga (29.2) agrees with this latter version.
2. In DN 1, the Buddha criticizes the philosophies of many of his contemporaries for having been “hammered out by logic.”
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