Khuddaka Nikaya - Dhammapada - Dhammatthavagga

Dhp XIX
Dhammatthavagga
The Judge
Translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Alternate translation:BuddharakkhitaThanissaro
PTS: Dhp 256-272



Source: Transcribed from a file provided by the translator.



Copyright © 1997 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Access to Insight edition © 1997
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256-257
To pass judgment hurriedly
doesn't mean you're a judge.
The wise one, weighing both
the right judgment & wrong,
judges others impartially —
unhurriedly, in line with the Dhamma,
guarding the Dhamma,
guarded by Dhamma,
intelligent:
he's called a judge.



258-259
Simply talking a lot
doesn't mean one is wise.
Whoever's secure —
no hostility,
fear —
is said to be wise.

Simply talking a lot
doesn't maintain the Dhamma.
Whoever
— although he's heard next to nothing —
sees Dhamma through his body,
is not heedless of Dhamma:
he's one who maintains the Dhamma.



260-261
A head of gray hairs
doesn't mean one's an elder.
Advanced in years,
one's called an old fool.

But one in whom there is
truth, restraint,
rectitude, gentleness,
self-control —
he's called an elder,
his impurities disgorged,
enlightened.



262-263
Not by suave conversation
or lotus-like coloring
does an envious, miserly cheat
become an exemplary man.

But one in whom this is
cut through
up- rooted
wiped out —
he's called exemplary,
his aversion disgorged,
intelligent.



264-265
A shaven head
doesn't mean a contemplative.
The liar observing no duties,
filled with greed & desire:
what kind of contemplative's he?

But whoever tunes out
the dissonance
of his evil qualities
— large or small —
in every way
by bringing evil to consonance:
he's called a contemplative.



266-267
Begging from others
doesn't mean one's a monk.
As long as one follows
householders' ways,
one is no monk at all.

But whoever puts aside
both merit & evil and,
living the chaste life,
judiciously
goes through the world:
he's called a monk.



268-269
Not by silence
does someone confused
& unknowing
turn into a sage.
But whoever — wise,
as if holding the scales,
taking the excellent —
rejects evil deeds:
he is a sage,
that's how he's a sage.
Whoever can weigh
both sides of the world:
that's how he's called
a sage.



270
Not by harming life
does one become noble.
One is termed noble
for being gentle
to all living things.



271-272
Monk,
don't
on account of
your precepts & practices,
great erudition,
concentration attainments,
secluded dwelling,
or the thought, 'I touch
the renunciate ease
that run-of-the-mill people
don't know':
ever let yourself get complacent
when the ending of effluents
is still unattained.