Chapter 9

If you want to move quickly toward what is good, keep your mind away from evil; when a person does good half-heartedly, the mind starts to take pleasure in evil.

If you have done something wrong, don’t do it again; don’t take pleasure in it: suffering is what comes from evil.

If you have done something good, do it again; take pleasure in it: happiness is what comes from good.

Even a wrongdoer experiences happiness as long as the evil deed has not yet ripened; but once it ripens, the wrongdoer faces the consequences.

Even a good person experiences hard times as long as the good deed has not yet ripened; but once it ripens, the good person enjoys happy days.

Don’t take evil lightly, telling yourself, “It won’t catch up with me.” Just as a water jar fills up drop by drop, a fool fills up with evil, gathering it little by little.

Don’t take good lightly, telling yourself, “It won’t reach me.” Just as a water jar fills up drop by drop, a wise person fills up with good, gathering it little by little.

Avoid evil deeds the way a merchant carrying great wealth with only a few companions avoids a dangerous road, the way someone who loves life avoids poison.

Someone with no wound on the hand can safely handle poison; poison doesn’t harm where there is no wound—and likewise, there is no evil for one who does no evil.

If someone wrongs a person who is harmless, pure, and innocent, the evil rebounds upon that fool, like fine dust thrown against the wind.

Some are reborn; wrongdoers go to hell; the righteous go to heaven; those free from all worldly desires reach Nirvana.

Not in the sky, not in the middle of the sea, not even by retreating into mountain caves—nowhere in the whole world can a place be found where one can escape the consequences of an evil deed.

Not in the sky, not in the middle of the sea, not even by retreating into mountain caves—nowhere in the whole world can a place be found where death cannot overtake a mortal.