The Wise Person

Chapter Six -- The Wise Person

1. If one finds a person who points out faults
   and who reproves, one should follow such a wise
   and sagacious person as one would a guide to
   hidden treasure. It is always better, and never
   worse, to cultivate such an association.
   
2. Let the person admonish, instruct and shield
   one from wrong; this person , indeed is dear to
   the good and detestable to the evil.
   
3. Do not associate with evil companions;
   do not seek the fellowship of the vile. Associate
   with good friends; seek the fellowship of noble people.
   
4. One who drinks deep the Dhamma lives
   happily with a tranquil mind. The wise person ever
   delights in the Dhamma made known by the Noble One
   (the Buddha).
   
5. Irrigators regulate the waters; fletchers
   straighten the arrow shaft; carpenters shape the
   wood; the wise control themselves.
   
6. Just as a solid rock is not shaken by the
   storm, even so the wise are not affected by
   praise or blame.
   
7. On hearing the Teachings, the wise
   become perfectly purified like a lake deep,
   clear and still.
   
8. The good renounce (attachment for) everything;
   the virtuous do not prattle with a yearning
   for pleasures. The wise show no elation or depression
   when touched by happiness or sorrow.
   
9. They are truly virtuous, wise and righteous,
   who neither for their own sake nor for the sake of
   another (do any wrong), who do not crave for
   sons, wealth or kingdom, and do not desire
   success by unjust means.
   
10. Few among people are those who cross to
    the farther shore. The rest, the bulk of people,
    only run up and down the hither bank.
    
11. But those who act according to the perfectly
    taught Dhamma will cross the realm of
    Death, so difficult to cross.
    
12. Abandoning the dark way, let the
    wise person cultivate the bright path. Having
    gone from home to homelessness, let one yearn
    for that delight in detachment, so difficult to enjoy.
    Giving up sensual pleasures, with no attachment,
    the wise person should cleanse oneself of
    defilements of the mind.
    
13. Those whose minds have reached full
    excellence in the factors of enlightenment, who,
    having renounced acquisitiveness, rejoice in not
    clinging to things--rid of cankers, glowing with
    wisdom, they have attained Nibbana in
    this very life.