“Having striven, brāhman, cut the stream. Dispel sensual passions. Without abandoning sensual passions, a sage encounters no oneness of mind. If something’s to be done, then work at it firmly, for a slack going-forth kicks up all the more dust.
It’s better to leave a misdeed undone. A misdeed burns you afterward. Better that a good deed be done that, when done, you don’t regret.
Just as sharp-bladed grass, if wrongly held, wounds the very hand that holds it— the contemplative life, if wrongly grasped, drags you down to hell.
Any slack act, or defiled observance, or fraudulent holy life bears no great fruit.”
‘Having striven, brāhman, cut the stream. Dispel sensual passions. Without abandoning sensual passions, a sage encounters no oneness of mind. If something’s to be done, then work at it firmly, for a slack going-forth kicks up all the more dust.
It’s better to leave a misdeed undone. A misdeed burns you afterward. Better that a good deed be done that, when done, you don’t regret.
Just as sharp-bladed grass, if wrongly held, wounds the very hand that holds it— the contemplative life, if wrongly grasped, drags you down to hell.
Any slack act, or defiled observance, or fraudulent holy life bears no great fruit.’
Origin URL: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/SN/SN2_8.html