Dhammapada 10
Minor Collection
Sayings of the Dhamma 129–145
10. The Rod
129 All tremble at the rod,
all fear death.
Treating others like oneself,
neither kill nor incite to kill.
130 All tremble at the rod,
all love life.
Treating others like oneself,
neither kill nor incite to kill.
131 Creatures love happiness,
so if you harm them with a stick
in search of your own happiness,
after death you won’t find happiness.
132 Creatures love happiness,
so if you don’t harm them with a stick
in search of your own happiness,
after death you will find happiness.
133 Don’t speak harshly,
they may speak harshly back.
For aggressive speech is painful,
and the rod may spring back on you.
134 If you still yourself
like a broken gong,
you reach extinguishment
and know no conflict.
135 As a cowherd drives the cows
to pasture with the rod,
so too old age and death
drive life from living beings.
136 The fool does not understand
the evil that they do.
But because of those deeds, that simpleton
is tormented as if burnt by fire.
137 One who violently attacks
the peaceful and the innocent
swiftly falls
to one of ten bad states:
138 harsh pain; loss;
the breakup of the body;
serious illness;
mental distress;
139 hazards from rulers;
vicious slander;
loss of kin;
destruction of wealth;
140 or else their home
is consumed by fire.
When their body breaks up, that witless person
is reborn in hell.
141 Not nudity, nor matted hair, nor mud,
nor fasting, nor lying on bare ground,
nor wearing dust and dirt, or squatting on the heels,
will cleanse a mortal not free of doubt.
142 Dressed up they may be, but if they live well—
peaceful, tamed, committed to the spiritual path,
having laid aside violence toward all creatures—
they are a brahmin, an ascetic, a mendicant.
143 Can a person constrained by conscience
be found in the world?
Who shies away from blame,
like a fine horse from the whip?
144 Like a fine horse under the whip,
be keen and full of urgency.
With faith, ethics, and energy,
immersion, and investigation of principles,
accomplished in knowledge and conduct, mindful,
give up this vast suffering.
145 While irrigators guide water,
fletchers bend arrows straight,
and carpenters bend timber straight,
those true to their vows tame themselves.