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The Dhammapada
Chapter Twenty Two: Hell
Those who assert what is not true go to hell,
As do those who deny what they've done.
Both these people of base deeds become equal
After death, in the world beyond.
Many who wear the saffron robe
Have evil traits and lack restraint.
By their evil deeds are these wicked people
Reborn in hell.
Better to eat a flaming red-hot iron ball
Than to be an immoral and unrestrained person
Feeding on the alms-food of the people.
Four results come to the careless person
Who consorts with the spouse of another:
Demerit,
Disturbed sleep,
Disgrace,
And hell.
For the frightened pair
Delight is brief
And then comes
Demerit,
Rebirth in an evil state,
And harsh punishment from the king.
Therefore a person should not consort with another's spouse.
Just as kusa grass cuts the hand
That wrongly grasps it,
So the renunciant life, if wrongly grasped,
Drags one down to hell.
A lax act, corrupt practice,
Or chaste life lived dubiously
Doesn't bear much fruit.
With steady effort
One should do what is to be done
Because the lax renunciant stirs up
Even more dust.
A foul deed is best not done -
The foul deed torments one later.
A good deed is best done -
For, having done it, one has no regret.
Just as a fortified city
Is guarded inside and out,
So guard yourself -
Don't let a moment pass you by.
Those who let the moment pass
Grieve when they're consigned to hell.
Ashamed of what's not shameful
And not ashamed of what is,
Those who take up wrong views
Go to a bad rebirth.
Seeing danger in what's not dangerous
And not seeing danger in what is,
Those who take up wrong views
Go to a bad rebirth.
Finding fault in what's not at fault
And seeing no fault in what is,
Those who take up wrong views
Go to a bad rebirth.
But knowing fault as fault,
And the faultless as the faultless,
Those who take up right views
Go to a good rebirth.
...excerpt from The Dhammapada
Continue to Chapter Twenty Three...
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