Clarity Without Pride

Reflection

The verse begins, “Let the fool wish for a false reputation, for precedence among the Bhikshus, for lordship in….” 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.