Minor Collection

Sayings of the Dhamma 60–75

5. The Fool

dhp60:1 Long is the night for the wakeful;

dhp60:2 long is the league for the weary;

dhp60:3 long wander the fools

dhp60:4 who don’t understand the true teaching.

dhp61:1 If while wandering you find no partner

dhp61:2 equal or better than yourself,

dhp61:3 then firmly resolve to wander alone—

dhp61:4 there’s no fellowship with fools.

dhp62:1 “Sons are mine, wealth is mine”—

dhp62:2 thus the fool frets.

dhp62:3 For even your self is not your own,

dhp62:4 let alone your sons or wealth.

dhp63:1 The fool who thinks they’re a fool

dhp63:2 is wise at least to that extent.

dhp63:3 But the true fool is said to be one

dhp63:4 who imagines that they are wise.

dhp64:1 Though a fool attends to the wise

dhp64:2 even for the rest of their life,

dhp64:3 they still don’t understand the teaching,

dhp64:4 like a spoon the taste of the soup.

dhp65:1 If a clever person attends to the wise

dhp65:2 even just for an hour or so,

dhp65:3 they swiftly understand the teaching,

dhp65:4 like a tongue the taste of the soup.

dhp66:1 Fools and simpletons behave

dhp66:2 like their own worst enemies,

dhp66:3 doing wicked deeds

dhp66:4 that ripen as bitter fruit.

dhp67:1 It’s not good to do a deed

dhp67:2 that plagues you later on,

dhp67:3 for which you weep and wail,

dhp67:4 as its effect stays with you.

dhp68:1 It is good to do a deed

dhp68:2 that doesn’t plague you later on,

dhp68:3 that gladdens and cheers,

dhp68:4 as its effect stays with you.

dhp69:1 The fool imagines that evil is sweet,

dhp69:2 so long as it has not yet ripened.

dhp69:3 But as soon as that evil ripens,

dhp69:4 they fall into suffering.

dhp70:1 Month after month a fool may eat

dhp70:2 food from a grass-blade’s tip;

dhp70:3 but they’ll never be worth a sixteenth part

dhp70:4 of one who has appraised the teaching.

dhp71:1 For a wicked deed that has been done

dhp71:2 does not curdle quickly like milk.

dhp71:3 Smoldering, it follows the fool,

dhp71:4 like a fire smothered over with ash.

dhp72:1 Whatever fame a fool may get,

dhp72:2 it only gives rise to harm.

dhp72:3 Whatever good features they have it ruins,

dhp72:4 and blows their head into bits.

dhp73:1 They’d seek the esteem that they lack,

dhp73:2 and status among the mendicants;

dhp73:3 authority over monasteries,

dhp73:4 and honor among other families.

dhp74:1 “Let both layfolk and renunciants think

dhp74:2 the work was done by me alone.

dhp74:3 In anything at all that’s to be done,

dhp74:4 let them fall under my sway alone.”

dhp74:5 So thinks the fool,

dhp74:6 their greed and pride only growing.

dhp75:1 For the means to profit and the path to quenching

dhp75:2 are two quite different things.

dhp75:3 A mendicant disciple of the Buddha,

dhp75:4 understanding what this really means,

dhp75:5 would never delight in honors,

dhp75:6 but rather would foster seclusion.