The Wise

Regard him as one who
        points out
        treasure,
the wise one who
seeing your faults
        rebukes you.
Stay with this sort of sage.
For the one who stays
with a sage of this sort,
        things get better,
        not worse.

Let him admonish, instruct,
    deflect you
away from poor manners.
To the good, he's endearing;
to the bad, he's not.

78:

Don't associate with bad friends.
Don't associate with the low.
Associate with admirable friends.
Associate with the best.

79*:

Drinking the Dhamma,
refreshed by the Dhamma,
one sleeps at ease
with clear awareness & calm.
In the Dhamma revealed
by the noble ones,
the wise person
    always delights.

80:

Irrigators guide     the water.
Fletchers shape     the arrow shaft.
Carpenters shape     the wood.
The wise control
                    themselves.

81:

As a single slab of rock
won't budge in the wind,
so the wise are not moved
    by praise,
    by blame.

82:

Like a deep lake,
clear, unruffled, & calm:
so the wise become clear,
    calm,
on hearing words of the Dhamma.

83*:

Everywhere, truly,
those of integrity
    stand     apart.
They, the good,
don't chatter in hopes
of favor or gains.
When touched
    now by pleasure,
    now pain,
the wise give no sign
    of high
    or low.

84:

One who wouldn't --
not for his own sake
nor that of another --
hanker for
    wealth,
    a son,
    a kingdom,
    his own fulfillment,
by unrighteous means:
he is righteous, rich
        in virtue,
        discernment.

85-89*:

Few are the people
who reach the Far Shore.
    These others
    simply scurry along
    this shore.
But those who practice Dhamma
in line with the well-taught Dhamma,
will cross over the realm of Death
so hard to transcend.

Forsaking dark practices,
    the wise person
should develop the bright,
having gone from home
    to no-home
in seclusion, so hard to enjoy.
There he should wish for delight,
discarding sensuality --
    he who has nothing.
He should cleanse himself -- wise --
of what defiles the mind.

Whose minds are well-developed
in the factors of self-awakening,
who delight in non-clinging,
relinquishing grasping --
    resplendent,
    their effluents ended:
    they, in the world,
    are Unbound.