Like a well-guarded frontier fort, with defences within and without, so
let a man guard himself. Not a moment should escape, for they who allow
the right moment to pass, suffer pain when they are in hell.
They who are ashamed of what they ought not to be ashamed of, and are
not ashamed of what they ought to be ashamed of, such men, embracing
false doctrines, enter the evil path.
They who fear when they ought not to fear, and fear not when they ought
to fear, such men, embracing false doctrines, enter the evil path.
They who see sin where there is no sin, and see no sin where there is
sin, such men, embracing false doctrines, enter the evil path.
They who see sin where there is sin, and no sin where there is no sin,
such men, embracing the true doctrine, enter the good path.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE ELEPHANT
Silently I endured abuse as the elephant in battle endures the arrow
sent from the bow: for the world is ill-natured.
They lead a tamed elephant to battle, the king mounts a tamed elephant;
the tamed is the best among men, he who silently endures abuse.
Mules are good, if tamed, and noble Sindhu horses, and elephants with
large tusks; but he who tames himself is better still.
For with these animals does no man reach the untrodden country
(Nirvana), where a tamed man goes on a tamed animal--on his own
well-tamed self.
The elephant called Dhanapalaka, his temples running with pungent sap,
and who is difficult to hold, does not eat a morsel when bound; the
elephant longs for the elephant grove.
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