Chapter 10
Violence
120
All tremble at violence;
all fear death.
Putting oneself in the place of another,
one should not kill
nor cause another to kill.
130
All tremble at violence;
life is dear to all.
Putting oneself in the place of another,
one should not kill
nor cause another to kill.
131
One who,
while himself seeking happiness,
oppresses with violence
other being who also desire happiness,
will not attain happiness hereafter.
132
One who,
while himself seeking happiness,
does not oppress with violence
other beings who also desire happiness,
will find happiness hereafter.
133
Speak not harshly to anyone,
for those thus spoken to might retort.
Indeed, angry speech hurts,
and retaliation may overtake you.
134
If, like a broken gong,
you silence yourself,
you have approached Nibbana,
for vindictiveness is no more in you.
135
Just as a cowherd,
drives the cattle to pasture with a staff,
so do old age and death
drive the life force of beings
(from existence to existence).
136
When the fool commits evil deeds,
he does not realize (their evil nature).
The witless man is tormented
by his own deeds,
like one burnt by fire.
137
He who inflicts violence
on those who are unarmed,
and offends those who are inoffensive,
will soon come upon
one of these ten states:
138-140
Sharp pain, or disaster, bodily injury,
serious illness, or derangement of mind,
trouble from the government,
or grave charges, loss of relatives,
or loss of wealth,
or houses destroyed by ravaging fire,
upon dissolution of the body
the ignorant man is born in hell.
141
Neither going about naked,
nor matted locks,
nor filth,
nor fasting,
nor lying on the ground,
nor smearing oneself
with ashes and dust,
nor sitting on the heels (in penance)
can purify a mortal
who has not overcome doubt.
142
Even though he be well-attired,
yet if he is poised, calm, controlled
and established in holy life,
having set aside violence
towards all beings -- he, truly,
is a holy man,
a renunciate, a monk.
143
Only rarely is there a man
in this world who,
restrained by modesty,
avoids reproach,
as a thoroughbred horse
avoids the whip.
144
Like a thoroughbred horse
touched by the whip,
by strenuous,
be filled with spiritual yearning.
By faith and moral purity,
by effort and meditation,
by investigation of the truth,
by being rich in knowledge and virtue,
and by being mindful,
destroy this unlimited suffering.
145
Irrigators regulate the waters,
fletchers straighten arrow shafts,
carpenters shape wood,
and the good control themselves.
