Dhammapada 5- Fools

A reading of the fifth chapter of the Dhammapada as translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The Dhammapada is a canonical Buddhist text written in a poetic style. Each chapter bears many listens over time, and is somewhat like the Tao Teh Ching, delivering ancient wisdom and inspiring the contemplative life. Listen at the beginning of your own meditation practice, or any time of day as a source of inspiration. Enjoy!

Transcript

Dhammapada 5 Fools Long for the wakeful is the night,

Long for the weary a league.

For fools unaware of true Dhamma,

Samsara is long.

If in your course you don't meet your equal,

Your better,

Then continue your course,

Firmly,

Alone.

There's no fellowship with fools.

I have sons,

I have wealth.

The fool torments himself,

When even he himself doesn't belong to himself.

How then,

Sons,

How wealth?

A fool with a sense of his foolishness is,

At least to that extent,

Wise.

But a fool who thinks himself wise really deserves to be called a fool.

Even if for a lifetime the fool stays with the wise,

He knows nothing of the Dhamma.

Has the ladle the taste of the soup?

Even if for a moment the perceptive person stays with the wise,

He immediately knows the Dhamma.

Has the tongue the taste of the soup?

Fools,

Their wisdom weak,

Are their own enemies,

As they go through life doing evil that bears bitter fruit.

It's not good,

The doing of the deed that,

Once it's done,

You regret,

Whose result you reap crying,

Your face in tears.

It's good,

The doing of the deed that,

Once it's done,

You don't regret,

Whose result you reap gratified,

Happy at heart.

As long as evil has yet to ripen,

The fool mistakes it for honey.

But when that evil ripens,

The fool falls into pain.

Month after month the fool might eat only a tip of grass measure of food,

But he wouldn't be worth one sixteenth of one who's fathomed the Dhamma.

An evil deed,

When done,

Doesn't,

Like ready milk,

Come out right away.

It follows the fool,

Smoldering,

Like a fire hidden in ashes.

Only for his ruin does renown come to the fool,

It ravages his bright fortune and rips his head apart.

He would want unwarranted status,

Preeminence among monks,

Authority among monasteries,

Homage from lay families.

Let householders and those gone forth both to think that this was done by me alone.

May I alone determine what's a duty,

What's not.

The resolve of a fool,

As they grow,

Is desire and pride.

The path to material gain goes one way.

The way to unbinding,

Another.

Realizing this,

The monk,

A disciple to the Awakened One,

Should not relish offerings.

Should cultivate seclusion instead.

Reviews

Thank you, thought-provoking indeed. It begs the question for me of how one decides whether a difficult friend is a person to avoid. Is she the fool or am I for thinking that she is? Will give that some thought. Thank you Mark.