Dhammapada Chapter 6: The Wise

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76. When the wise person sees your faults, he points them out and helps you to improve. It is as if he guides you to a hidden treasure. Associate with such a wise person. As a result, only good will come, not bad.

77. A noble friend advises you, instructs you, and restrains you from doing evil. Such a noble friend is pleasing to grateful people but displeasing to the ungrateful.

78. Do not associate with evil friends. Do not associate with people with evil intentions. Associate with noble friends. Associate with the best of people who are full of wholesome qualities.

79. The wise person tranquilizes his mind through the realization of Dhamma. He lives happily rejoicing in the Dhamma. He always delights in the true Dhamma taught by the noble ones.

80. Irrigators guide water to wherever it is needed. Arrow makers shape arrows to fit to task. Carpenters fashion wood for the desired design. The wise tame themselves in the same way.

81. As a solid mass of rock is not shaken by a storm, so too the wise are not moved by praise or blame.

82. As a deep lake that is clear and still, so too are the wise, having listened to the true Dhamma.

83. Noble people let go of desire for everything. They do not speak deceptively in order to gain pleasures and desires. Touched by happiness or unhappiness, the wise show no elation or depression.

84. The wise person neither commits evil for his own sake nor for the sake of others. He neither desires children, nor wealth, nor kingdom unfaithfully. He does not desire any success by unrighteous means. He is indeed virtuous, wise, and righteous.

85. Few, among humans, cross over the journey of rebirth to the farther shore called Nibbāna. The rest, the majority of people, only run about on this shore.

86. Those who act according to the perfectly taught Dhamma will reach Nibbāna, by crossing the realm of Māra, which is difficult to cross.

87. The wise person abandons unwholesome things and cultivates wholesome things. Then, abandoning household life, that person becomes a monk or a nun and enters the solitude, which is hardly enjoyed by ordinary people.

88. The wise person seeks delight in solitude, abandoning sense pleasures. Heading towards ultimate purification, he cleanses himself of the things that defile the mind.

89. Liberated ones’ minds have reached full maturity in the enlightenment factors. Giving up all grasping, they delight in Nibbāna. Since they have destroyed impurities, they glow with wisdom. They are the ones who attain ultimate freedom in this world.

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