Those who are intelligent, meditative, persevering, who ceaselessly struggle with themselves, attain to Nirvana, which is the supreme felicity.
Whosoever can sustain his zeal, remain pure in his actions, act wisely, restrain his passions, live according to the Law (or to morality), he shall see his renown increase. (Dhammapada)
This promise of a good name does not seem to me quite worthy of the Buddhist teaching. It probably meant something else. And to live according to morality, one must know which morality is intended, for if it is the usually recognised social morality, that also does not seem to me a very alluring promise. Those who have decided to abandon all worldly weaknesses certainly do not care about satisfying social morality… nor about acquiring a good name!
To sustain one’s zeal is an excellent thing, to remain pure in one’s actions is also indispensable, to act wisely is also perfect, one cannot do it too often; to restrain one’s passions, that goes without saying, is the beginning… but that conclusion!!
However I see “Dhamma” has been translated here as “Law”, and “Yasa” as “renown”, whereas Dhamma should mean rather the inner truth and Yasa the spiritual glory. So we can interpret the text in this way: “Whosoever can sustain his zeal, remain pure in his actions, act wisely, restrain his passions, live according to the inner truth, he shall see his spiritual glory ever growing.”
Thus understood, this text is quite excellent. One cannot do better than to conform to it.
The Mother
