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Dhammapada(Dhp XIX) – Dhammatthavagga: The Judge

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DHAMMAPADA

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XIX – The Judge

256-257 To pass judgment hurriedly
doesn’t mean you’re a judge.
The wise one, weighing both
the right judgment & wrong,
judges others impartially —

unhurriedly, in line with the Dhamma,
guarding the Dhamma,
guarded by Dhamma,
intelligent:
he’s called a judge.

258-259 Simply talking a lot
doesn’t mean one is wise.
Whoever’s secure —
no hostility,
fear —
is said to be wise.

Simply talking a lot
doesn’t maintain the Dhamma.
Whoever
— although he’s heard next to nothing —
sees Dhamma through his body,
is not heedless of Dhamma:
he’s one who maintains the Dhamma.

260-261 A head of gray hairs
doesn’t mean one’s an elder.
Advanced in years,
one’s called an old fool.

But one in whom there is
truth, restraint,
rectitude, gentleness,
self-control —
he’s called an elder,
his impurities disgorged,
enlightened.

262-263 Not by suave conversation
or lotus-like coloring
does an envious, miserly cheat
become an exemplary man.

But one in whom this is
cut through
up-rooted
wiped out —
he’s called exemplary,
his aversion disgorged,
intelligent.

264-265 A shaven head
doesn’t mean a contemplative.
The liar observing no duties,
filled with greed & desire:
what kind of contemplative’s he?

But whoever tunes out
the dissonance
of his evil qualities
— large or small —
in every way
by bringing evil to consonance:
he’s called a contemplative.

266-267 Begging from others
doesn’t mean one’s a monk.
As long as one follows
householders’ ways,
one is no monk at all.

But whoever puts aside
both merit & evil and,
living the chaste life,
judiciously
goes through the world:
he’s called a monk.

268-269 Not by silence
does someone confused
and unknowing
turn into a sage.

But whoever — wise,
as if holding the scales,
taking the excellent —
rejects evil deeds:
he is a sage,
that’s how he’s a sage.

Whoever can weigh
both sides of the world:
that’s how he’s called
a sage.

270 Not by harming life
does one become noble.
One is termed noble
for being gentle
to all living things.

271-272 Monk,
don’t
on account of
your precepts & practices,
great erudition,

concentration attainments,
secluded dwelling,
or the thought, ‘I touch
the renunciate ease
that run-of-the-mill people

don’t know’:
ever let yourself get complacent
when the ending of effluents
is still unattained.


Provenance: ©1997 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

Transcribed from a file provided by the translator.

This Access to Insight edition is ©1997–2009 John T. Bullitt.

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