Beyond Blame and Praise

Reflection

The verse begins, “Let a fool month after month eat his food (like an ascetic) with the tip of….” 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.