Dhammapada · Chapter 5
The Fool
16 verses · Long is the night to the sleepless, long the road to the weary, long is samsara to the fool who knows not the true dharma. Better to walk alone than with the foolish; the fool tastes wrongdoing as sweet until it ripens.
Chapter 5
बालवग्गो
Bālavagga
5.1
Long is the night for the wakeful; long is the league for the weary; long is samsara for…
5.2
If on your wandering you do not find an equal or a superior companion, walk alone…
5.3
'My sons, my wealth' — so the fool torments himself
5.4
A fool who knows he is a fool is, by that very knowing, already wise
5.5
Even if a fool attends on a wise person all his life, he comprehends not the Dhamma — as…
5.6
But the discerning one, even for a moment attending the wise, swiftly comprehends the…
5.7
Self-conquest is indeed better than conquering all others — for the self-tamed person,…
5.8
One who walks with fools, bound by friendship — they are not freed from suffering, as…
5.9
'Here I will live during the rains, here in winter and summer' — so the fool plans, not…
5.10
As long as evil ripens not, the fool thinks it is honey
5.11
Month after month a fool may eat his food with the tip of a kusa grass blade — yet he is…
5.12
An evil deed once done does not curdle immediately like fresh milk — burning, it follows…
5.13
The fool's knowledge arises only for his own ruin — it destroys his good fortune and…
5.14
The fool desires undeserved status — precedence among monks, authority in monasteries,…
5.15
'Let both householders and ascetics know it was done by me; may they all defer to me in…
5.16
One is the path to worldly gain; another is the path to Nibbana