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?