1. Follow not the vulgar way; live not in heedlessness; hold not false views; linger not long in worldly existence.

2. Arise! Do not be heedless! Lead a righteous life. The righteous live happily both in this world and the next.

3. Lead a righteous life; lead not a base life. The righteous live happily both in this world and the next.

4. One who looks upon the world as a bubble and a mirage, him the King of Death sees not.

5. Come! Behold this world, which is like a decorated royal chariot. Here fools flounder, but the wise have no attachment to it.

6. He who having been heedless is heedless no more, illuminates this world like the moon freed from clouds.

7. He, who by good deeds covers the evil he has done, illuminates this world like the moon freed from clouds.

8. Blind is the world; here only a few possess insight. Only a few, like birds escaping from the net, go to realms of bliss.

9. Swans fly on the path of the sun; men pass through the air by psychic powers; the wise are led away from the world after vanquishing Mara and his host.

10. For a liar who has violated the one law (of truthfulness) who holds in scorn the hereafter, there is no evil that he cannot do.

11. Truly, misers fare not to heavenly realms; nor, indeed, do fools praise generosity. But the wise man rejoices in giving, and by that alone does he become happy hereafter.

12. Better than sole sovereignty over the earth, better than going to heaven, better even than lordship over all the worlds is the supramundane Fruition of Stream Entrance. [15]

“Lokavagga: The World” (Dhp XIII), translated from the Pali by Acharya Buddharakkhita. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013.
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167

Don’t associate with lowly qualities.
Don’t consort with heedlessness.
Don’t associate with wrong views.
Don’t busy yourself with the world.

168-169

Get up! Don’t be heedless.
Live the Dhamma well.
One who lives the Dhamma
sleeps with ease
in this world & the next.

Live the Dhamma well.
Don’t live it badly.
One who lives the Dhamma
sleeps with ease
in this world & the next.

170

See it as a bubble,
see it as a mirage:
one who regards the world this way
the King of Death doesn’t see.

171

Come look at this world
all decked out
like a royal chariot,
where fools plunge in,
while those who know
don’t cling.

172-173

Who once was heedless,
but later is not,
brightens the world
like the moon set free from a cloud.

His evil-done deed
is replaced with skillfulness:
he brightens the world
like the moon set free from a cloud.

174

Blinded this world —
how few here see clearly!
Just as birds who’ve escaped
from a net are
few, few
are the people
who make it to heaven.

175

Swans fly the path of the sun;
those with the power fly through space;
the enlightened flee from the world,
having defeated the armies of Mara.

176

The person who tells a lie,
who transgresses in this one thing,
transcending concern for the world beyond:
there’s no evil
he might not do.

177

No misers go
to the world of the devas.
Those who don’t praise giving
are fools.
The enlightened
express their approval for giving
and so find ease
in the world beyond.

178

Sole dominion over the earth,
going to heaven,
lordship over all worlds:
the fruit of stream-entry
excels them.

“Lokavagga: Worlds” (Dhp XIII), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (BCBS Edition), 30 November 2013.
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