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THE FOOL
[1] Long is the
night to him who is awake, long is a league to the weary. Long is the cycle of
life to the senseless person who knows not the true Law.
Page – 206 [2] If one does not find in his quest someone superior or even equal to himself, then he must resolutely go on all alone; no help can come from the senseless person. [3] I have sons, I have riches – so says the senseless man and worries himself. Even one's own self does not belong to oneself, how can then sons and riches so belong? [4] The senseless who recognises his senselessness is wise to that extent, but the senseless who considers himself wise is indeed senseless. [5] The senseless person may serve a wise man throughout his life, but he will not know the Right Law, even as a ladle does not know the taste of the soup. [6] An intelligent person may serve the wise one just for a moment but he will immediately have the knowledge of the Right Law, even as the tongue has the taste of the soup. [7] The senseless, wrong-minded as he is, acts himself as his own enemy, he does wrong acts that bear bitter fruits. [8] That act is not the right act by doing which you repent, the fruits of which you enjoy weeping and shedding tears. [9] That act is the right act by dong which you do not repent, whose fruits you enjoy with a glad and happy mind. [10] So long as the evil bears
no fruit, the senseless man finds it sweet as honey,
he plunges into suffering as soon as the evil bears its fruits.
Page – 207 [11] Month after month the senseless person may take his food with the tip of a blade of grass,¹ yet he will not be worth even a sixteenth part of those who have understood the Law. [12] A wrong act done, even like fresh milk, does not at once turn sour, but it pursues the senseless man consuming him like a fire smouldering under ashes. [13] Whatever knowledge a senseless man gains serves only to bring calamity to him, turns his head and kills his brighter side. [14] The senseless man desires to realise the unreal, to be placed in front among the Adepts, he desires lordship at home and worship abroad. [15] "Those who are in the world and those who are outside it both must applaud whatever I do, they must obey me" – thus the desire, thus the conceit of the senseless one goes on increasing. [16] One way leads to gain, quite another towards Nirvana. The Bhikkhu, the disciple of the Buddha knows this and does not seek honour, he cultivates withdrawal.
Page – 208
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