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The World. Do not follow an inferior way; Don’t live with negligence. Do not follow a wrong view; Don’t be engrossed in the world. Rouse yourself! Don’t be negligent! Live the Dharma, a life of good conduct. One who lives the Dharma is happy In this world and the next. Live the Dharma, a life of good conduct. Don’t live a life of bad conduct. One who lives the Dharma is happy In this world and the next. If one sees the world as a bubble, If one sees it as a mirage, One won’t be seen By the King of Death. Come, look on this world As a beautified royal chariot. Fools flounder in it, But the discerning do not cling. Whoever recovers from doing evil By doing something wholesome Illuminates the world Like the moon set free from the cloud. Whoever replaces an evil deed With what is wholesome Illuminates the world Like the moon set free from the cloud. Blind is this world; Few see clearly here. As birds who escape from nets are few, Few go to heaven. Swans travel the path of the sun; Those with psychic powers travel through space; The wise travel forth from the world, Having conquered Mara and his army. For people who speak falsely, Who transgress in this one way, And who reject the world beyond, There is no evil they won’t do. Fools don’t praise generosity; Misers don’t go to the world of gods. The wise rejoice in generosity And so find happiness in the hereafter. Absolute rule over the earth, Going to heaven, Supreme sovereignty over all worlds- The fruit of stream entry surpasses them all. ~ The Dhammapada
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