Commentary on the Dhammapada–by Swami Nirmalananda Giri
The Deeds of a Fool
The old adage is true: “A fool and his money are soon parted.” But the fool clings to his folly with great tenacity. So Buddha is now going to expound the deeds of a fool.
Their own enemy
“Stupid fools go through life as their own enemies, doing evil deeds which have bitter consequences.”
Human beings are astonishing, even in their foolishness. One of the most astonishing follies is their insistence on doing things which bring them nothing but bitterness inwardly and outwardly. “Aren’t we having a good time?” they ask their fellow-fools, shuffling through their little dreary lives that are crammed with activity that is really doing nothing in the end result.
A friend of mine challenged her father as to what his way of life–which he cordially hated, but which made him a lot of money–had ever done for him. Indignantly he took a deep draw on his cigarette (as he habitually did) as his hands shook (as they habitually did), and stammered out: “Why…it has made me very happy!” She was speechless at this response. Truly, he was the most miserable person I had ever seen, or have seen since. He was not an evil man, but had foolishly chosen a way of life completely galling to him just so he could make money and be respected by people he despised. As a result he was friendless and respected by no one, including his wife and children. But he did have money–which he used to endow scholarships so others could take up the career he wished he had adopted.
In India they speak of the camel that chews on thorns that pierce its mouth and make it bleed, but keeps on chewing. People are the same. Over and over they do what makes them suffer, often resolving to never do it again, but just as often repeating their folly. Many more people are destroying themselves without any idea they are doing so. They are bewildered as to what the problem is, and keep on piling up the pain. Others have somehow anesthetized themselves so they do not even know they are suffering. That is why Buddha said the first step we must take is the acknowledgment of the fact of our suffering.
The self-revealing nature of action
In Hinduism and Buddhism acts are not classed as right or wrong because some divine revelation has said so–as is the case in Western religion. In the East the character of an action is determined solely by its effect on the actor–not on the whim of a deity or prophet. So Buddha further says:
“A deed is not well done if one suffers after doing it, if one bears the consequences sobbing and with tears streaming down one’s face. But a deed is well done if one does not suffer after doing it, if one experiences the consequences smiling and contented.” Of course Buddha is speaking of the long-term or ultimate consequences of a deed. Many people rejoice at the successful accomplishment of an evil deed, but in time–even in another incarnation–the suffering will result. On the other hand, some people are unhappy at doing good because they do not understand the principle of karma. But in time they rejoice at the good they did. The important principle is the fact that all actions in time reveal their true nature. But until then:
A fool and his karma…
“A fool thinks it like honey so long as the bad deed does not bear fruit, but when it does bear fruit he experiences suffering.” “I got away with it!” so thinks the fool. Consequently, when the suffering starts he wails: “What did I do to deserve this?” Never learning, he keeps on perpetuating his misery. When will it end? That is all up to him.
Ascetic fools
There are not only self-indulgent fools, there are self-denying fools who think that by coercing and tormenting the body they will somehow become spiritual. Engaging in physical discipline enables them to stay intent on their favorite subjects–their bodies and their egos. The ascetic struggle takes up all their attention so they can utterly forget their true selves–their spirits. Of such persons Buddha remarks: “Even if a fool were to take his food month after month off the tip of a blade of grass, he would still not be worth a fraction of those who have understood the truth.” Narada Thera translates this verse: “Month after month a fool may eat only as much food as can be picked up on the tip of a kusha grass blade; but he is not worth a sixteenth part of them who have comprehended the Truth [Dharma].”
If we saw someone who would eat each day only as much food as could be contained on the tip of a blade of grass, we would consider that he was living on–and in–spirit. But we would be wrong. He would only be an amazing fool. His incredible discipline and dedication would be only so much stupidity, but other fools would admire it greatly. (If you do not believe me, just go to India for a while.)
The expression “sixteenth part” is significant. In Indian thought, sentient beings upon the earth are classified in sixteen categories, from the most elementary to the most developed. To only be worth a sixteenth of a fully perfected human being is to be rated with the most elementary plant life such as moss or mold. And to not be even worth that would be as of no more worth than a pebble–not even alive. In the spiritual sense, those without awakened consciousness are not alive. They are insentient, though technically sentient.
It is easy to look at this negatively, as though Buddha is saying what worthless people such ascetics would be. But actually he is saying how great is the awakened person. It is a matter of praise, not blame. We should admire the wise, not despise the foolish.
Inevitable karma
“Like fresh milk a bad deed does not turn at once. It follows a fool scorching him like a smouldering fire.” Narada Thera renders it: “Verily, an evil deed committed does not immediately bear fruit, just as milk curdles not at once; smouldering, it follows the fool like fire covered with ashes.”
As already mentioned, the unwise think that they have gotten away with wrong action if it does not immediately rebound on them. Although there is such a thing as rapid karmic reaction, karma usually ripens like fruit before it falls off the universe-tree and hits us. It also takes a well-ripened mind to intuit this and know that “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Believing in one’s own immortality–even eternity–carries a lot of connotations.
Beneath the ashes of our forgetfulness–especially forgetfulness of past lives–the karmas lie smoldering. We may feel their heat in a vague way and feel unease, but in time, as Harischandra Kaviratna translates it, the karma “suddenly blazes up” and burns us, much to our confusion, for we have long ago forgotten what we did to produce this result. No wonder human life is an utter mess.
A knowledge worse than ignorance
“A fool acquires knowledge only to his own disadvantage. It destroys what good he has, and turns his brains.” (“To his ruin, indeed, the fool gains knowledge and fame; they destroy his bright lot and cleave his head.”–Narada Thera)
I hardly know where to start on this. All around us we see fools whose knowledge, little or great, is completely destructive. Consider how many scientific discoveries have rebounded to our detriment. Nothing good whatsoever has come from nuclear energy. There is hardly a greater or more harmful fraud than nuclear power plants. Like demons from a hideous fantasy they brood over the landscape, subtly poisoning everything in sight. Every single one is built at a cost ruinous to the economy and we have yet to see the “cheap” and “clean” power promised to us. Yet, addicted to death, governments will not learn and give them up. The very fact of “nuclear waste” should terrify them into abandoning such folly, but it never happens.
Now we face the holocaust of genetic engineering.
In religion we find the most obvious evidence of Buddha’s assertion. The “New Age” is a carnival of foolishness, of idiocy based on fragmentary knowledge. Rare is the oyster who produces a round pearl; most oysters make misshapen globs. It is the same with fools; the seed of knowledge mutates into distorted ideas and actions. Tell a fool that Krishna says it is a delusion to think we have the power to kill or the capacity to be killed, and he will instantly state that murder is not so bad, then, especially murder of the unborn. “It’s all one” and “We are all God” are the slogans of spiritual and moral stupidity, even though they are statements of truth–when in the mouth of the wise.
As a yogi once told me: “Never teach either meditation or philosophy to crazy people. It will just compound their craziness, another tool for them to express their insanity. And it will give a bad reputation to what should be respected.” As Buddha says, it will crack their heads open. As an Eastern Christian priest once said to me about some mentally and morally degenerate people: “Those animals need a religion. But not my religion!” Just see what fools in the West are doing daily to utterly muddle and even destroy the great values of Hinduism and Buddhism.
Look at me, everybody!
“One may desire a spurious respect [“undue reputation”–Narada Thera] and precedence among one’s fellow monks, and the veneration of outsiders. Both monks and laity should think it was my doing. They should accept my authority in all matters great or small.’ This is a fool’s way of thinking. His self-seeking and conceit just increase.”
Success also ruins a fool. One achievement and he swaggers and boasts for life. These are the last people in the world that should have “self-esteem” or “high self-image.” But many are the fools today who are eager to bestow such nonsense on them. As the upanishad says: “Living in the abyss of ignorance yet wise in their own conceit, deluded fools go round and round, the blind led by the blind.”
Normal people have a healthy and reasonable desire to improve themselves and to succeed in worthwhile endeavors, but fools only want to glorify themselves and justify their egotism and arrogance. Here, too, a multitude of fools await to “boost their morale” and give them “self-confidence” and make things even worse for them and those unfortunate enough to come into contact with them. Only take a good look at politics throughout the world to see a riot of fools.
The two ways
Buddha is not taking pleasure in delineating the ways of fools. He has a very positive and constructive purpose: finally pointing us to the way of wisdom. So he concludes by saying: “One way leads to acquisition, the other leads to nirvana. Realizing this a monk, as a disciple of the Buddha, should take no pleasure in the respect of others, but should devote himself to solitude.” Narada Thera gives a more accurate rendering: “Surely, the path that leads to worldly gain is one, and the path that leads to nirvana is another; understanding this, the bhikkhu, the disciple of the Buddha, should not rejoice in worldly favors, but cultivate detachment [viveka].”
A disciple of the Buddha is one who is intent on the revelation of his own Buddhahood, his Buddha Nature. Seeing that the accolades of others lead only to addiction and hunger for more, he disregards all such and practices discrimination (viveka), seeing truly that the ways of the world are hollow, but filled with poison, in contrast to the Buddha Way which concentrates on real spiritual attainment rather than mere spiritual reputation. He finds his fulfillment in nothing less than the perfection of nirvana.
“Only that yogi whose joy is inward, inward his peace, and his vision inward shall come to Brahman and know Nirvana. All consumed are their imperfections, doubts are dispelled, their senses mastered, their every action is wed to the welfare of fellow-creatures: such are the seers who enter Brahman and know Nirvana. Self-controlled, cut free from desire, curbing the heart and knowing the Atman, man finds Nirvana that is in Brahman, here and hereafter.”
1) Dhammapada 66 [Go back]
2) Dhammapada 67, 68 [Go back]
3) Dhammapada 69 [Go back]
4) Dhammapada 70 [Go back]
5) Dhammapada 71 [Go back]
6) Galatians 6:7 [Go back]
7) Dhammapada 72 [Go back]
8) Dhammapada 73, 74 [Go back]
9) Katha Upanishad 1:2:5; Mundaka Upanishad 1.2.8 [Go back]
10) Dhammapada 75 [Go back]
11) Bhagavad Gita 5:24-26 [Go back]
