GOOD AND EVIL
116   Make haste and do what is good; keep your mind away from evil.  If a man is slow in doing good, his mind finds pleasure in evil.

117		  
If a man does something wrong, let him not do it again and again. Let him not find pleasure in his sin. Painful is the accumulation of wrongdoings.

118		  
If a man does something good, let him do it again and again. Let him find joy in his good work. Joyful is the accumulation of good work.

119		  
A man may find pleasure in evil as long as his evil has not given fruit; but when the fruit of evil comes then that man finds evil indeed.

120		  
A man may find pain in doing good as long as his good has not given fruit; but when the fruit of good comes then that man finds good indeed.

121		  
Hold not a sin of little worth, thinking "This is little to me." The falling of drops of water will in time fill a water jar. Even so the foolish man becomes full of evil, although he gather it little by little.

122		  
Hold not a deed of little worth, thinking "This is little to me." The falling of drops of water will in time fill a water jar. Even so the wise man becomes full of good, although he gather it little by little.

123		  
Let a man avoid the dangers of evil even as a merchant carrying much wealth, but with a small escort, avoids the dangers of the road, or as a man who loves his life avoids the drinking of poison.

124		  
As a man who has no wound on his hand cannot be hurt by the poison he may carry in his hand, since poison hurts not where there is no wound, the man who has no evil cannot be hurt by evil.

125		  
The fool who does evil to a man who is good, to a man who is pure and free from sin, the evil returns to him like the dust thrown against the wind.

126		  
Some people are born on this Earth; those who do evil are reborn in hell; the righteous go to heaven; but those who are pure reach NIRVANA.

127		  
Neither in the sky, nor deep in the ocean, nor in a mountain cave, nor anywhere, can a man be free from the evil he has done.

128		  
Neither in the sky, nor deep in the ocean, nor in a mountain cave, nor anywhere, can a man be free from the power of death.
 

(Chapter 9 of 'The Dhammapada' (Buddha's discourses) translated by Juan Mascaro - a Penguin Classic).

 

 




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