TEN PRECEPTS FROM DHAMMAPADA
Hate for hatred if ye render,
Hatred lives and mortal strife;
Love return for bitter hatred,
Hatred dies, and sweet is life! (5)
Pious precepts, gentle friend,
Never acted, wisely meant,
Are like gay and coloured flowers, --
Without fragrance, without scent! (51)
As you dread all pain and suffering,
Love your life and death abhor,
So doth every living creature,
Harm not things that live and breathe. (129, 130)
With the men who live in hatred
Ye shall live devoid of hate,
Unto men who smite in anger
Show your love and meekness great. (197)
Good works done endure for ever,
And in higher life will meet,
E'en as gentle loving kinsmen
Home-returning kinsmen great! (200)
Anger by your love o'ermaster,
Good for evil acts return;
By charity the miser conquer,
By your truth let false men learn! (223)
Faults of other men ye question,
Not the fault that ye have done!
Like chaff your neighbour's vices winnow,
Like a false die hide your own! (252)
Not an Elder, not a Sage,
Is the man advanced in age;
Truth and virtue, love and pureness,
Make the Elder and the Sage. (260, 261)
Not by skins and plaited hair,
Not by family or birth,
But by truth and righteousness
Is the Brâhman known on earth. (393)
Wherefore wear the plaited hair,
Wherefore garment wild of skin,
What avails this outward penance
When there's ravening within! (394)
Hate for hatred if ye render,
Hatred lives and mortal strife;
Love return for bitter hatred,
Hatred dies, and sweet is life! (5)
Pious precepts, gentle friend,
Never acted, wisely meant,
Are like gay and coloured flowers, --
Without fragrance, without scent! (51)
As you dread all pain and suffering,
Love your life and death abhor,
So doth every living creature,
Harm not things that live and breathe. (129, 130)
With the men who live in hatred
Ye shall live devoid of hate,
Unto men who smite in anger
Show your love and meekness great. (197)
Good works done endure for ever,
And in higher life will meet,
E'en as gentle loving kinsmen
Home-returning kinsmen great! (200)
Anger by your love o'ermaster,
Good for evil acts return;
By charity the miser conquer,
By your truth let false men learn! (223)
Faults of other men ye question,
Not the fault that ye have done!
Like chaff your neighbour's vices winnow,
Like a false die hide your own! (252)
Not an Elder, not a Sage,
Is the man advanced in age;
Truth and virtue, love and pureness,
Make the Elder and the Sage. (260, 261)
Not by skins and plaited hair,
Not by family or birth,
But by truth and righteousness
Is the Brâhman known on earth. (393)
Wherefore wear the plaited hair,
Wherefore garment wild of skin,
What avails this outward penance
When there's ravening within! (394)