74.
The night is long to one awake, a stage[1] to one who is weary; to fools not knowing the true Law,[2] transmigration, too, is long.
75.
One of vile nature notices the trivial fault of others though small as a grain of sessamum, but his own fault, as large as a cocoa-nut, he does not see.[3]
76.
A wise man should not make known his fault to others; he should, however, notice the defects of another; as a tortoise conceals the members of its body, so should he conceal his own blemishes, but discover those of others.[4]
77.
Punishment is awarded to a wise man when praised by a fool;[5] a wise man praised by a wise man is well praised.
- ↑ "A stage," i.e., the distance of a yojana (eight miles). This stanza is the 60th of the Dhammapada.
- ↑ "True law," i.e., religious duty.
- ↑ Compare the following metrical translation by Muir:—
"Thou mark'st the faults of other men,
Although as mustard-seeds minute:
Thine own escape thy partial ken,
Though each in size a bilva fruit."
—Mahâbhârata, i. 3069.
"All men are very quick to spy
Their neighbours' faults, but very slow
To note their own; when these they know,
With self-deluding art they eye."
—Mahâbhârata, viii. 2116.
The following is adapted from Subhâshitârṇava, 275:—
"Men soon the faults of others learn:
A few their virtues, too, find out;
But is there one—I have a doubt—
Who can his own defects discern?"
Compare also Matthew vii. 3 and 4: "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" &c. The Burmese version makes a comparison with the cocoa-nut (nâḷikera), the Sanskrit version with the bilva or Bengal quince (Ægle Marmelos), which is sacred to Mahâdeva.
- ↑ Compare Manu, vii. 104 and 105, with reference to a king's duties:—
"He should indeed act guilelessly, never by guile; but he, self-guarded, should be aware of the frauds used by his enemy. Let another know his weak point; like a tortoise, he should protect his members and guard his own defect." - ↑ Compare Mahâbhârata, xii. 4217.
Hence the aspersion against them. When Buddhism was fully established, the word brâhmaṇa was employed as a term for an Arhat, or "one who has obtained final sanctification."
B
