- 5.
- The friend who is a helpmate, and the
friend
- Of bright days and of dark, and he who
shows
- What it is you need, and he who throbs
for you
- With sympathy: - these four the wise
should know
- As friends, and should devote himself
to them
- As mother to her own, her bosom’s
child.
- To him amassing wealth, like roving
bee
- Its honey gathering [and hurting
naught].
- Riches mount up as ant-heap growing
high.
- When the good layman wealth has so
amassed
- Able is he to benefit his clan.
- In portion four let him divide that
wealth.
- So binds he to himself life’s
friendly things.
- One portion let him spend and taste
the fruit.
- His business to conduct let him take
two.
- And portion four let him reserve and
hoard;
- So there’ll be wherewithal in
times of need.
- (Dialogues of the Buddha II. pp. 179-180)
-
-
- 6.
- Who follows mean companions soon
decays:
- He never fails who with his equals
mates:
- Who leans towards the noble rises
soon.
- So do thou serve a better than
thyself.
- (The Book of the Gradual Sayings I, p. 108).
-
-
- 7.
- Giving and harmlessness and
self-restraint,
- Control of sense and servece to the
parents
- And holy ones who live the righteous
life,
- If any one be wise to do these things
- By good men favoured, he, an Ariyan
- Clear-sighted, will attain the world
of bliss.
- (The Book of the Gradual Sayings I, p. 135f).
-
-
- 8.
- Just as a mountain, all of solid rock,
- Stands in a forest, in a mighty grove,
- And neath its shelter grow the
forest-lords:
- So in this world, dependent on their
head,
- A virtuous believer, wife and
children,
- Kinsmen and friends and relatives, who
live
- Supported by that clan-head, grow
apace.
- When they behold that good man’s
charity,
- His virtue and the righteous life he
leads,
- If they have wits, they follows his
example:
- So in this life treading with
righteousness
- The path that leads unto the Happy
Lot,
- In the Heaven World they win the bliss
they seek.
- (The Book of the Gradual Sayings I, p. 136).
-
-
- 9.
- Whoso is wise and confident,
- Of learning deep, a Dhamma-bearer,
- And lives accordantly therewith,-
- “Light of the Order” such is
called.
- The virtuous monk, the learned nun,
- The layman and laywoman staunch,
- These four illuminate the Order.
- “Lights of the Order” they
are called.
- (The Book of the Gradual Sayings II, p. 9).
-
-
- 10.
-
- Mother and father and the Enlightmened
One,
- Tathagata, and those who follow him,
- Whoso entreateth ill stores up much
woe.
- For such ill deeds to parents, in this
life
- The sages blame that man, and in the
life
- That follows to the place of woe he
goes.
- Mother and father and the Enlightened
One,
- Tathagata, and those who follow him,
- Whoso entreateth well stores up much
merit.
- For such good deeds to parents, in
this life
- The sages praise that man, and
afterwards
- In the world of heaven he wins
happiness.
- (The Book of the Gradual Sayings II, p. 4)
-
-
- 11.
-
- Who praiseth him who should be blamed,
- Or blameth who should praised be,
- He by his lips stores up ill-luck
- And by that ill-luck wins no bliss.
- Small is the ill-luck of a man
- Who gambling loseth all his wealth.
- Greater by far th’ill-luck of him
- Who, losing all and losing self,
- Gainst the Well-fares fouls his mind.
- Whoso reviles the Worthy Ones,
- In speech and thought designing ill,
- For an hundred thousand periods,
- For six and thirty, with five more
- Such periods, to Purgatory’s
doomed.
- (The Book of the Gradual Sayings II, p. 4).
-
-
- 12.
-
- Bound by the bond of passions and
becoming,
- Bound by the bond of view, by
ignorance
- Circled about, to birth and death
returning
- Creatures go faring on samsara’s round.
- But they who, passions fully
comprehending,
- Have learned becoming’s bond and
have thrown off
- The bond of view and ignorance
abandoned,
- Freed from all bonds have surely bonds
transcended.
- (The Book of the Gradual Sayings II, p. 12f).
-
-
- 13.
-
- Contented with what brings no blame,
- A trifling, easy-gotten thing,
- His mind untroubled by the thought
- Of lodging, robes, or food and drink,
- He is not worried where to go.
- And thus the things declared to suit
- The life of the recluse are won
- By that contented, earnest monk.
- (The Book of the Gradual Sayings II, p. 30).
-
-
- 14.
-
- Not covetous, with heart of malice
void,
- A man should dwell, with concentrated
mind,
- With mind one-poined, in the self
controlled.
- (The Book of the Gradual Sayings II, p. 32).
-
-
- 15.
-
- Of those who have faith at its best
- Who comprehend best Dhamma
- Of those who have faith in the Buddha,
- Gift-worth, unsurpassed:
- Of those who have faith in Dhamma,
- Passionless, calming, blissful:
- Of those who have faith in the Order,
- The field of merit supreme:
- Of those who give gifts of their best
- The merit doth increase.
- Best is their life and beauty,
- Fame, good report, bliss, strength.
- The sage who gives of his best,
- In best of dhammas calmed,
- Deva-become or human,
- Winning the best rejoiceth.
- (The
Book of the Gradual Sayings II, p. 39f).