9. Wickedness - pāpavagga 116-128 Flashcards
116
Rush to do good,
shield your mind from evil;
for when you’re slow to do good,
your thoughts delight in wickedness.
116
117
If you do something bad,
don’t do it again and again,
don’t set your heart on it,
for piling up evil is suffering.
117
118
If you do something good,
do it again and again,
set your heart on it,
for piling up goodness is joyful.
118
119
Even the wicked see good things,
so long as their wickedness has not ripened.
But as soon as that wickedness ripens,
then the wicked see wicked things.
119
120
Even the good see wicked things,
so long as their goodness has not ripened.
But as soon as that goodness ripens,
then the good see good things.
120
121
Think not lightly of evil,
that it won’t come back to you.
The pot is filled with water
falling drop by drop;
the fool is filled with wickedness
piled up bit by bit.
121
122
Think not lightly of goodness,
that it won’t come back to you.
The pot is filled with water
falling drop by drop;
the sage is filled with goodness
piled up bit by bit.
122
123
Avoid wickedness,
as a merchant with rich cargo and small escort
would avoid a dangerous road,
or one who loves life would avoid drinking poison.
123
124
You can carry poison in your hand
if it has no wound,
for poison does not infect without a wound;
nothing bad happens unless you do bad.
124
125
Whoever wrongs a man who has done no wrong,
a pure man who has not a blemish,
the evil backfires on the fool,
like fine dust thrown upwind.
125
126
Some are born in a womb;
evil-doers go to hell;
the virtuous go to heaven;
the undefiled become fully extinguished.
126
127
Not in the sky, nor mid-ocean,
nor hiding in a mountain cleft;
you’ll find no place in the world
to escape your wicked deeds.
127
128
Not in the sky, nor mid-ocean,
nor hiding in a mountain cleft;
you’ll find no place in the world
where you won’t be vanquished by death.
128
