Let one such as this advise you and instruct you.
And also restrain you from rude behavior.
Such a person is pleasing to good people.
But displeasing to the bad.

Do not associate with evil friends.
Do not associate with the lowest of people.
Associate, rather, with virtuous friends.
Associate with the best of people.

One who drinks in the Dharma
Sleeps happily with a clear mind.
The sage always delights in the Dharma.
Taught by the noble ones.

Irrigators guide water and fletchers shape arrows.
Carpenters fashion wood and sages tame themselves.

As a solid mass of rock is not moved by the wind
So a sage is not moved by praise or blame.

As a deep lake is clear and undisturbed
So a sage becomes clear upon hearing the Holy Dharma.

Virtuous people always let go.
They don’t prattle about pleasures and desires.
Touched by happiness and then by suffering,
The sage shows no sign of being elated or depressed.

A person who would not wish for success by unethical means
Not for the sake of oneself
Not for the sake of others
Not with hopes for children, wealth, or kingdom,
Is a person of virtue, insight, and truth.

Few are the people who reach the other shore.
Many are the people who run about this shore.

But those who are in accordance with the Dharma
Will go beyond the realm of Death, that is so hard to cross.

Giving up dark ways, sages cultivate the bright.
They go from home to homelessness to the solitude
That is so very hard to enjoy.

There they find delight by abandoning sensual pleasures
They have nothing and cleanse themselves from thoughts that defile the mind.