Better to live a single day
energetic and strong,
than to live a hundred years
lazy and lacking energy.
Better to live a single day
seeing rise and fall
than to live a hundred years
blind to rise and fall.
Better to live a single day
seeing the state free of death
than to live a hundred years
blind to the state free of death.
Better to live a single day
seeing the supreme teaching
than to live a hundred years
blind to the supreme teaching.
Minor Collection Sayings of the Dhamma 116–128 9. Wickedness
Rush to do good,
shield your mind from evil;
for when you’re slow to do good,
your thoughts delight in wickedness.
If you do something bad,
don’t do it again and again,
don’t set your heart on it,
for piling up evil is suffering.
If you do something good,
do it again and again,
set your heart on it,
for piling up goodness is joyful.
Even the wicked see good things,
so long as their wickedness has not ripened.
But as soon as that wickedness ripens,
then the wicked see wicked things.