WISDOM · DHAMMAPADA 66
Knowing What You Do Not Know
Fools of little understanding have themselves for their greatest enemies, for they do evil deeds which must bear bitter fruits.
Dhammapada 66 · Chapter 5, The Fool · trans. F. Max Müller · Read the full text at Project Gutenberg
Reflection
The verse begins, “Fools of little understanding have themselves for their greatest enemies, for they do evil deeds which….” In its chapter, this image points toward humility about what we know. The old translation speaks sharply of ‘the fool’; it is more useful to read this as a pattern any person can enter or leave. Because this is a historic English translation, test the teaching in experience rather than treating its wording as a demand for belief.
Practice prompt
What assumption could you hold more lightly today?