Chapter VI, Section 1a

p. 23 CHAPTER VI. THE WISE MAN (PA ND ITA). 76. If you see an intelligent man who tells you where true treasures are to be found, who shows what is to be avoided, and administers reproofs, follow that wise man; it will be better, not worse, for those who follow him. 77. Let him admonish, let him teach, let him forbid what is improper!--he will be beloved of the good, by the bad he will be hated. 78. Do not have evil-doers for friends, do not have low people for friends: have virtuous people for friends, have for friends the best of men. 79. He who drinks in the law lives happily with a serene mind: the sage rejoices always in the law, as preached by the elect (Ariyas). 80. Well-makers lead the water (wherever they like); fletchers bend the arrow; carpenters bend a log of wood; wise people fashion themselves. [78. It is hardly possible to take mitte kalyâ n e in the technical sense of kalyâ n a-mitra, 'ein geistlicher Rath,' a spiritual guide. Burnouf (Introd. p. 284) shows that in the technical sense kalyâ n a-mitra was widely spread in the Buddhist world. 79. Ariya, 'elect, venerable,' is explained by the commentator as referring to Buddha and other teachers. 80. See verses 33 and 145 , the latter being a mere repetition of our verse. The nettikâs, to judge from the commentary and from the general purport of the verse, are not simply water-carriers, but builders of canals and aqueducts, who force the water to go where it would not go by itself. The Chinese translator says, 'the pilot manages his ship.' See Beal, l.c. p. 79.] p. 24 81. As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, wise people falter not amidst blame and praise. 82. Wise people, after they have listened to the laws, become serene, like a deep, smooth, and still lake. 83. Good people walk on whatever befall, the good do not prattle, longing for pleasure; whether touched by happiness or sorrow wise people never appear elated or depressed. 84. If, whether for his own sake, or for the sake of others, a man wishes neither for a son, nor for wealth, nor for lordship, and if he does not wish for his own success by unfair means, then he is good, wise, and virtuous. 85. Few are there among men who arrive at the other shore (become Arhats); the other people here run up and down the shore. [83. The first line is very doubtful. I have adopted, in my translation, a suggestion of Mr. Childers, who writes, 'I think it will be necessary to take sabbattha in the sense of "everywhere," or "under every condition;" pa ñk akhandâdibhedesu, sabbadhammesu, says Buddhaghosha. I do not think we need assume that B. means the word vi g ahanti to be a synonym of va g anti.