Day 10 of 14Tuesday 16 February 2027
Harmlessness
10. The Rod
Dhp 129–145 · Khuddaka Nikāya — The Minor Collection
A question to carry today
This chapter asks us to take ourselves as the measure and harm no one. With whom could you be gentler today?
One small act today
Eat one vegetarian meal today.
The reading
– Minor Collection
Sayings of the Dhamma 129–145 10. The Rod
All tremble at the rod,all fear death.Treating others like oneself,neither kill nor incite to kill.All tremble at the rod,all love life.Treating others like oneself,neither kill nor incite to kill.Creatures love happiness,so if you harm them with a stickin search of your own happiness,after death you won’t find happiness.Creatures love happiness,so if you don’t harm them with a stickin search of your own happiness,after death you will find happiness.Don’t speak harshly,they may speak harshly back.For aggressive speech is painful,and the rod may spring back on you.If you still yourselflike a broken gong,you reach extinguishmentand know no conflict.As a cowherd drives the cowsto pasture with the rod,so too old age and deathdrive life from living beings.The fool does not understandthe evil that they do.But because of those deeds, that simpletonis tormented as if burnt by fire.One who violently attacksthe peaceful and the innocentswiftly fallsto one of ten bad states:harsh pain; loss;the breakup of the body;serious illness;mental distress;hazards from rulers;vicious slander;loss of kin;destruction of wealth;or else their homeis consumed by fire.When their body breaks up, that witless personis reborn in hell.Not nudity, nor matted hair, nor mud,nor fasting, nor lying on bare ground,nor wearing dust and dirt, or squatting on the heels,will cleanse a mortal not free of doubt.Dressed up they may be, but if they live well—peaceful, tamed, committed to the spiritual path,having laid aside violence towards all creatures—they are a brahmin, an ascetic, a mendicant.Can a person constrained by consciencebe found in the world?Who shies away from blame,like a fine horse from the whip?Like a fine horse under the whip,be keen and full of urgency.With faith, ethics, and energy,immersion, and investigation of principles,accomplished in knowledge and conduct, mindful,give up this vast suffering.While irrigators guide water,fletchers shape arrows, and carpenters carve timber— those true to their vows tame themselves.
Licence: CC0-1.0 (Sujato) · personal-use (Minh Châu)The translation belongs to the translator/source credited above. Please attribute when quoting.
Read in the library (bilingual, with chanting mode) →On the calendar: Wednesday 17 February 2027
Missing a day is fine — simply read on.