judging

To pass judgment hurriedly
doesn’t mean you’re a judge.
The wise one, weighing both
the right judgment & wrong,
judges others impartially–
unhurriedly, in line with the Dhamma,
     guarding the Dhamma,
     guarded by Dhamma,
     intelligent:
he’s called a judge.
256-257

Simply talking a lot
doesn’t mean one is wise.
Whoever’s secure–
     no
          hostility,
          fear–
is said to be wise.

Simply talking a lot
doesn’t maintain the Dhamma.
Whoever
–although he’s heard next to nothing–
     sees Dhamma through his body,
     is not heedless of Dhamma:
he’s one who maintains the Dhamma.
258-259

A head of gray hairs
doesn’t mean one’s an elder.
Advanced in years,
one’s called an old fool.

But one in whom there is
truth, restraint,
rectitude, gentleness,
self-control–
he’s called an elder,
his impurities disgorged,
enlightened.
260-261

Not by suave conversation
or lotus-like coloring
does an envious, miserly cheat
become an exemplary man.

But one in whom this is
     cut through
     up-rooted
     wiped out–
he’s called exemplary,
     his aversion disgorged,
          intelligent.
262-263

A shaven head
doesn’t mean a contemplative.
The liar observing no duties,
filled with greed & desire:
what kind of contemplative’s he?

But whoever tunes out
the dissonance
of his evil qualities
–large or small–
in every way
by bringing evil to consonance:
     he’s called a contemplative.
264-265

Begging from others
doesn’t mean one’s a monk.
As long as one follows
householders’ ways,
one is no monk at all.

But whoever puts aside
both merit & evil and,
living the chaste life,
     judiciously
goes through the world:
     he’s called a monk.
266-267

Not by silence
does someone confused
     & unknowing
turn into a sage.

But whoever–wise,
as if holding the scales,
     taking the excellent–
     rejects evil deeds:
he is a sage,
that’s how he’s a sage.
Whoever can weigh
both sides of the world:
     that’s how he’s called
     a sage.
268-269

Not by harming life
does one become noble.
One is termed
          noble
     for being
          gentle
to all living things.
270

     Monk,
don’t
on account of
     your habits & practices,
     great erudition,
     concentration attainments,
     secluded dwelling,
     or the thought, ‘I touch
     the renunciate ease
     that run-of-the-mill people
     don’t know’:
ever let yourself get complacent
     when the ending of effluents
     is still unattained.
271-272

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Read this translation of Dhp 256–272 Dhammaṭṭhavagga: The Judge by Bhikkhu Ṭhanissaro on DhammaTalks.org. Or read a different translation on SuttaCentral.net, SuttaFriends.org, Ancient-Buddhist-Texts.net or AccessToInsight.org. Or explore the Pali on DigitalPaliReader.online.

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