Chapter 10

Everyone trembles at punishment, everyone fears death. Remember that you are just like them, and so do not kill, nor cause others to kill.

Everyone trembles at punishment, everyone loves life. Remember that you are just like them, and so do not kill, nor cause others to kill.

Whoever, seeking his own happiness, harms or kills beings who also long for happiness will not find happiness after death.

Whoever, seeking his own happiness, does not harm or kill beings who also long for happiness will find happiness after death.

Do not speak harshly to anyone; those you speak to will answer you in kind. Angry words are painful, and blows will be met with blows.

If you stay silent like a cracked gong that no longer rings, then you have reached Nirvana; you no longer know strife.

Just as a cowherd drives his cows into the stable with his staff, so age and death drive the lives of human beings.

A fool is unaware when he does evil deeds, but the wicked man is burned by his own deeds, as if burned by fire.

Whoever inflicts pain on innocent and harmless people will quickly come to one of these ten states:

He will suffer cruelly, or face loss, or bodily injury, or serious illness, or loss of his mind,

Or misfortune from the king, or a terrible accusation, or the loss of relatives, or the destruction of his wealth,

Or lightning fire will burn down his houses; and when his body is destroyed, the fool will go to hell.

Neither nakedness, nor matted hair, nor filth, nor fasting, nor lying on the ground, nor smearing oneself with dust, nor sitting motionless can purify a mortal who has not overcome his desires.

The one who, though dressed in fine clothing, practices tranquility—who is calm, subdued, restrained, chaste, and has stopped finding fault with all other beings—he is a true Brahmana, an ascetic (sramana), a friar (bhikshu).

Is there anyone in this world so restrained by humility that he takes no offense at being rebuked, the way a well-trained horse accepts the whip?

Like a well-trained horse touched by the whip, be active and alert. By faith, by virtue, by energy, by meditation, by discernment of the law, you will overcome this great pain of reproof—perfect in knowledge and conduct, and never forgetful.

Irrigators direct the water where they want; fletchers shape the arrow; carpenters shape a log of wood; good people shape themselves.