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## Dhammapada IX

# Evil

Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
For free distribution only.

Read an alternate translation by Acharya Buddharakkhita

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116:

> Be quick in doing
> what's admirable.
> Restrain your mind
> from what's evil.
> When you're slow
> in making merit,
> evil delights the mind.

117-118:

> If a person does evil,
> he shouldn't do it again & again,
> shouldn't develop a penchant for it.
> To accumulate evil
> brings pain.

> If a person makes merit,
> he should do it again & again,
> should develop a penchant for it.
> To accumulate merit
> brings ease.

119-120:

> Even the evil
> meet with good fortune
> as long as their evil
> has yet to mature.
> But when it's matured
> that's when they meet
> with evil.

> Even the good
> meet with bad fortune
> as long as their good
> has yet to mature.
> But when it's matured
> that's when they meet
> with good fortune.

121-122*:

> Don't be heedless of evil
> ('It won't come to me').
> A water jar fills,
> even with water
> falling in drops.
> With evil -- even if
> bit
> by
> bit,
> habitually --
> the fool fills himself full.

> Don't be heedless of merit
> ('It won't come to me').
> A water jar fills,
> even with water
> falling in drops.
> With merit -- even if
> bit
> by
> bit,
> habitually --
> the enlightened one fills himself full.

123:

> Like a merchant with a small
> but well-laden caravan
> -- a dangerous road,
> like a person who loves life
> -- a poison,
> one should avoid
> -- evil deeds.

124:

> If there's no wound on the hand,
> that hand can hold poison.
> Poison won't penetrate
> where there's no wound.
> There's no evil
> for those who don't do it.

125:

> Whoever harasses
> an innocent man,
> a man pure, without blemish:
> the evil comes right back to the fool
> like fine dust
> thrown against the wind.

126*:

> Some are born in the human womb,
> evildoers in hell,
> those on the good course go
> to heaven,
> while those without effluent:
> totally unbound.

127-128:

> Not up in the air,
> nor in the middle of the sea,
> nor going into a cleft in the mountains
> -- nowhere on earth --
> is a spot to be found
> where you could stay & escape
> your evil deed.

> Not up in the air,
> nor in the middle of the sea,
> nor going into a cleft in the mountains
> -- nowhere on earth --
> is a spot to be found
> where you could stay & not succumb
> to death.

Revised: Wed 16 May 2001