WISDOM · DHAMMAPADA 71
A Deeper Kind of Knowing
An evil deed, like newly-drawn milk, does not turn (suddenly); smouldering, like fire covered by ashes, it follows the fool.
Dhammapada 71 · Chapter 5, The Fool · trans. F. Max Müller · Read the full text at Project Gutenberg
Reflection
The verse begins, “An evil deed, like newly-drawn milk, does not turn (suddenly).” 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
Ask: is this true, useful, and timely?