Chapter 9
Evil
116
Hasten to do good;
restrain your mind from evil.
He who is slow in doing good,
his mind delights in evil.
117
Should a person commit evil,
let him not do it again and again.
Let him not find pleasure therein,
for painful is the accumulation of evil.
118
Should a person do good,
let him do it again and again.
Let him find pleasure therein,
for blissful is the accumulation of good.
119
It may be well with the evil-doer
as long as the evil ripens not.
But when it does ripen,
then the evil-doer sees
(the painful results of) his evil deeds.
120
It may be ill with the doer of good
as long as the good ripens not.
But when it does ripen,
then the doer of good sees
(the plesant results of) his good deeds.
121
Think not lightly of evil, saying,
"It will not come to me."
Drop by drop is the water pot filled.
Likewise, the fool,
gathering it little by little,
fills himself with evil.
122
Think not lightly of good, saying,
"It will not come to me."
Drop by drop is the water pot filled.
Likewise, the wise man,
gathering it little by little,
fills himself with good.
123
Jusr as a trader
with a small escot
and great wealth would avoid
a perilous route,
or just as one desiring to live
avoids poison,
even so should one shun evil.
124
If on the hand there is no wound,
one may carry even poison in it.
Poison does not affect one
who is free from wounds.
For him who does no evil, there is no ill.
125
Like fine dust thrown against the wind,
evil falls back upon that fool
who offends an inoffensive,
pure and guiltless man.
126
Some are born in the womb;
the wicked are born in hell;
the devout go to heaven;
the stainless pass into Nibbana.
127
Neither in the sky nor in the mid-ocean,
nor by entering into mountain clefts,
nowhere in the world
is there a place where
one may escape
from the results of evil deeds.
128
Neither in the sky
nor in the mid-ocean,
nor by entering into mountain clefts,
nowhere in the world
is there a place where
one will not be overcome
bu death.
