Catukkanipāta 47

Numbered Discourses 4.47

5. With Rohitassa

Very Far Apart

1 “Mendicants, these four things are very far apart. What four? The firmament and the earth. … The near and the far shore of the ocean. … Where the dazzling sun rises and where it sets. … The teaching of the virtuous and the teaching of the wicked. … These are the four things very far apart.

2 The firmament is far from the earth;

they say the other shore of the ocean is far;

and where the dazzling sun rises is far

from where that beacon sets.

But even further apart than that, they say,

is the teaching of the virtuous from the wicked.

3 The company of the virtuous is reliable;

as long as it remains, it stays the same.

But the company of the wicked is fickle,

and so the teaching of the virtuous

is far from the wicked.”