09 - Evil

Khuddaka Nikaya
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Dhammapada

A Translation

Translated from the Pali

by Thanissaro Bhikkhu(Geoffrey DeGraff)

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Dhammapada IX

Evil

116:

Be quick in doing
what's admirable.
Restrain your mind
from what's evil.
When you're slow
in making merit,
evil delights the mind.

117-118:

If a person does evil,
he shouldn't do it again & again,
shouldn't develop a penchant for it.
To accumulate evil
brings pain.

If a person makes merit,
he should do it again & again,
should develop a penchant for it.
To accumulate merit
brings ease.

119-120:

Even the evil
meet with good fortune
as long as their evil
has yet to mature.
But when it's matured
that's when they meet
with evil.

Even the good
meet with bad fortune
as long as their good
has yet to mature.
But when it's matured
that's when they meet
with good fortune.

121-122*:

Don't be heedless of evil
('It won't come to me').
A water jar fills,
even with water
falling in drops.
With evil -- even if
bit
by
bit,
habitually --
the fool fills himself full.

Don't be heedless of merit
('It won't come to me').
A water jar fills,
even with water
falling in drops.
With merit -- even if
bit
by
bit,
habitually --
the enlightened one fills himself full.

123:

Like a merchant with a small
but well-laden caravan
-- a dangerous road,
like a person who loves life
-- a poison,
one should avoid
-- evil deeds.

124:

If there's no wound on the hand,
that hand can hold poison.
Poison won't penetrate
where there's no wound.
There's no evil
for those who don't do it.

125:

Whoever harasses
an innocent man,
a man pure, without blemish:
the evil comes right back to the fool
like fine dust
thrown against the wind.

126*:

Some are born in the human womb,
evildoers in hell,
those on the good course go
to heaven,
while those without effluent:
totally unbound.

127-128:

Not up in the air,
nor in the middle of the sea,
nor going into a cleft in the mountains
-- nowhere on earth --
is a spot to be found
where you could stay & escape
your evil deed.

Not up in the air,
nor in the middle of the sea,
nor going into a cleft in the mountains
-- nowhere on earth --
is a spot to be found
where you could stay & not succumb
to death.