iti.76 Itivuttaka

Aspiring for Happiness

This was said by the Lord…

“Bhikkhus, aspiring for these three kinds of happiness, a wise person should guard virtuous conduct. What are the three?

Aspiring ‘May praise come to me,’ a wise person should guard virtuous conduct. Aspiring ‘May I become wealthy,’ a wise person should guard virtuous conduct. Aspiring ‘Upon the perishing of the body at death may I be reborn in a good bourn, in a heavenly world,’ a wise person should guard virtuous conduct. These are the three kinds of happiness aspiring for which a wise person should guard virtuous conduct.”

Aspiring for three kinds of happiness
The wise person should guard virtue:
Praise, the obtaining of property,
Rejoicing in heaven hereafter.

If one who does no evil
Associates with an evil-doer,
He is suspected of evil
And his disrepute grows.

Whatever person one befriends,
Whomever one associates with,
One becomes of like quality,
One becomes like one’s companion.

The follower and the followed,
One who contacts and one contacted,
Are like an arrow coated with poison
That contaminates its quiver.
Fearing contamination the wise person
Should not have evil friends.

A man who ties up putrid fish
With some blades of kusa-grass
Makes the kusa-grass smell putrid;
So it is with those who follow fools.

But a man who wraps tagara powder
In the broad leaf of a tree
Makes the leaf smell fragrant;
So it is with those who follow sages.

Therefore as with the leaf-container,
Understanding the outcome for oneself,
The unvirtuous should not be followed,
A wise person should follow the virtuous.
The unvirtuous lead one to hell,
The virtuous help one reach heaven.

- Translator: John D. Ireland

- Editor: Bhikkhu Sujato

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Wishing for Happiness

the good help you to a good place.”
This was said by the Buddha, the Perfected One: that is what I heard.
“Mendicants, an astute person who wishes for three kinds of happiness should take care of their ethics.
What three?
“May I be be praised!” “May I become rich!” “When my body breaks up, after death, may I be reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm!”
An astute person who wishes for these three kinds of happiness should protect their precepts.”
The Buddha spoke this matter.
On this it is said:
Wishing for three kinds of happiness—
praise, prosperity,
and to delight in heaven after passing away—
the wise would take care of their ethics.
Though you do no wrong,
if you associate with one who does,
you’re suspected of wrong,
and your disrepute grows.
Whatever kind of friend you make,
with whom you associate,
that’s how you become,
for so it is when you share your life.
The one who associates and the one associated with,
the one contacted and the one who contacts another,
are like an arrow smeared with poison
that contaminates the quiver.
A wise one, fearing contamination,
would never have wicked friends.
A man who wraps
putrid fish in blades of grass
makes the grass stink—
so it is when associating with fools.
But one who wraps
sandalwood incense in leaves
makes the leaves fragrant—
so it is when associating with the wise.
So, knowing they’ll end up
like the wrapping, the astute
would shun the wicked,
and befriend the good.
The wicked lead you to hell,
This too is a matter that was spoken by the Blessed One: that is what I heard.