(8) 'A Brâhmana that dwells in the house of a foolish man without receiving food to eat, destroys his hopes and expectations, his possessions, his righteousness, his sacred and his good deeds, and all his sons and cattle.'

A certain youth in the service of a great king was dissatisfied with his rations, so he went to the cook and reproached him with dishonoring his master by his stinginess. The youth would not listen to his excuses, but wrote off an angry letter of complaint to the king, in terms of outward compliment and respect, but betraying an angry spirit. On receiving this letter, the king observed that it contained only complaints about meat and drink, and evinced no aspirations after spiritual food, and therefore needed no answer, as "the proper answer to a fool is silence." When the youth received no answer to his letter, he was much surprised, and threw the blame on the cook and on the messenger, ignoring the fact that the folly of his own letter was the real reason of its being left unanswered. He wrote in all five letters, but the king persisted in his refusal to reply, saying that fools are enemies to God and man, and that he who has any dealings with a fool fouls his own nest. Fools only regard material meat and drink, whereas the food of the wise is the light of God, as it is said by the Prophet, "I pass the night in the presence of my Lord, who giveth me meat and drink," and again, "Fasting is the food of God," i.e., the means by which spiritual food is obtained. Explanation of the text "And Moses conceived a secret fear within him. We said 'Fear not, for thou shalt be uppermost (over Pharaoh's magicians) '".

(1) He said, "Though the path of the mean is wisdom, The water which is insufficient for a camel Whoso has four loaves as his daily allowance, Whether he eat two or three, he observes the mean. But if he eat all four he transgresses the mean, A very slave to greed, and voracious as a duck. Whoso has an appetite for ten loaves, Know, though he eat six, he observes the mean. If I have an appetite for fifty loaves, While you can manage only six, we are not on a par.

(42) Though the mere imitator quotes a hundred proofs, They are all based on opinion, not on conviction. He is only scented with musk, he is not himself musk; He smells of musk, but is really naught but dung. For his dung to become musk, O disciple, For he who, like the musk-deer, feeds on saffron of Khoten That man of cant has at his tongue's end A hundred proofs and precepts, but there is no life in him. When the preacher has himself no light or life, How can his words yield leaves and fruit?

(14) When is this food exhausted?” “Seven days will pass before the energy of this food will be exhausted; again Ananda, if a Sravaka who has not yet entered into the ranks of steadfastness partake of this food, he can attain to the ranks of steadfastness before it is exhausted; if [a Sravaka who] has entered into the ranks of steadfastness partake of this food, he can obtain liberation of mind before it is exhausted; if one who has not yet cherished the thought towards the Mahayana partake of this food he can cherish the thought before it is exhausted; if one who has cherished the thought [towards the Mahayana] partake of this food, he can attain to the acquiescence in the eternal law before it is exhausted; if one who has attained to the acquiescence partake of this food, he can attain to the state in which he is bound by one birth only before it is exhausted; just as a medicine called ‘the excellent flavour’ which has such a peculiarity that one who has taken it can exterminate all poison of passions before it is exhausted, even so this food exterminates all poison of passions before it is exhausted.”

(2) If he share in the life of the foolish, a man assuredly goes to hell; if he share it not, he wins hatred; what profits it to have commerce with the foolish? They are friends for a moment, foes for a moment, wrathful when they should be pleased — how hard to content are the worldly! They are angered if wholesomely counselled, and hold me back from good; if I heed them not they are wroth, and pass into hell. When can good come of a fool? He is jealous of a better man, contentious with a peer, haughty towards one that is lower, puffed up by praise, angered by blame. Exaltation of self, blame of others, discourse in praise of worldly pleasure — some such guilt will assuredly come from fool to fool. Thus it is from the union of one with another; evil thereby meets evil. I will live alone, in peace and with untroubled mind.

(17) The incarnate Bodhisattva said: “Measure not the infinite virtue and wisdom of Tathagata by the finite virtue and wisdom of the Sravaka; though the four great oceans might become dry, yet this bowl of food would never be exhausted. All men [in all the W’orlds] may eat of it even as much as a quantity equal to Mount Sumeru, and for a period lasting a Kalpa, yet it could never be exhausted. And why ? The food spared by one who is infinitely endowed with the virtues of discipline, meditation, wisdom, liberation, and knowledge of liberation, could never be exhausted.”

(1) The marks of the wise man, of the half wise, and of the fool. The wise man is he who possesses a torch of his own; That leader is his own director and light; He is his own protector; do ye also seek protection The second, he, namely, who is half wise, He clings to the wise man like a blind man to his guide, So as to become possessed of the wise man's sight. But the fool, who has no particle of wisdom, Has no wisdom of his own, and quits the wise man. He knows nothing of the way, great or small,

(3) But those who, carping at this, My teaching, practise it not, — know them as deluded in all knowledge, as senseless men doomed to destruction.

(1) 'When the Father produced by intellect and austerity seven kinds of food' — truly by intellect and austerity the Father did produce them. ' One of his [foods] was common to all.' That of his which is common to all is the food that is eaten here. He who worships that, is not turned from evil, for it is mixed [i.e. common, not selected]. 'Of two he let the gods partake/ They arc the tmta (fire-sacrifice) and thtfra/mta (offering). For this reason one sacrifices and offers to the gods. People also say that these two are the new-moon and the full-moon sacrifices. Therefore one should not offer sacrifice [merely] to secure a wish first both men and animals live upon milk. Therefore they either make a new-bom babe lick butter or put it to the breast. Likewise they call a new-born calf 'one that does not eat grass ' what does not ' — for upon milk everything depends, both what breathes and what does not. This that people say, cBy offering with milk for a year one escapes the second death ' — one should know that this is not so, since on the very day that he makes the offering he who knows escapes the second death, for he offers all his food to the gods. eaten all the time?' Verily, the Person is imperishableness, for he produces this food again and again. ' He who knows this imperishableness ' — verily, a person is imperishableness, for by continuous meditation he produces this food as his work. Should he not do this, all the food would perish. ( He eats food with his mouth (pratlkd)' The prattka is the mouth. So he eats food with his mouth.

(25) 'Who then knows where He is, He to whom the Brahmans and Kshatriyas are (as it were) but food, and death itself a condiment?'

(3) It is well to flee from the foolish. If he come in thy way, seek to win him over by kindness, not so as to hold commerce with him, but in a manner of godly indifference. I will take from him only enough for the holy life, as the bee takes honey from the flower; thus in every place I will hold myself from commerce with him, like the new moon.

(41) If such food be bestowed on the absent, What dainties may not the guest who is present expect? The courtier who attends in the presence of the king The difference between them is beyond calculation; One sees the light, the other on]y the veil. Strive to obtain entrance within, Having chosen thy Director, be not weak of heart, Nor yet sluggish and lax as water and mud; But if thou takest umbrage at every rub, How wilt thou become a polished mirror?"

(11) He wanders into the boundless desert, Sometimes halting and despairing, sometimes running. He has no lamp wherewith to light himself on his way, He lacks wisdom, so as to boast of being alive, And also half wisdom, so as to assume to be dead? That half wise one became as one utterly dead If you lack perfect wisdom, make yourself as dead Under the shadow of the wise, whose words give life. The fool is neither alive so as to companion with 'Isa,

(9) Mark how fortune brings endless misfortune by the miseries of winning it, guarding it, and losing it; men's thoughts cling altogether to their riches, so that they have not a moment to free themselves from the sorrows of life. Thus they who are possessed by desire suffer much and enjoy little, as the ox that drags a cart gets but a morsel of grass. For the sake of this morsel of enjoyment, which falls easily to the beast's lot, man, blinded by his destiny, wastes this brief fortune, that is so hard to win. For all time lasts the struggle for the welfare of the mean body that is doomed to depart and fall into hell, and even a millionth part of this labour would win the rank of the Enlightened. Greater is the pain of them that are possessed by desire than the pain of the way of holiness, and no Enlightenment comes to them. Neither sword, nor poison, nor fire, nor fall into abysses, nor foemen may be compared to the desires, if we bear in mind the agonies of hell and the like. Then shrink from the desires, and learn delight in solitude, in the peaceful woodlands void of strife and toil. Happy are they who are fanned by the sweet silent breezes of the forest, as they walk upon the pleasant rock-floors broad as in a palace and cooled by the moonbeams' sandal ointment, and take thought for the weal of their fellow-creatures! Dwelling anywhere for what time they will, in deserted sanctuary or cave or beneath the trees, saved from the weariness of winning and guarding possessions, they wander fancy-free at pleasure. Indra himself can hardly win the bliss of contentment that is enjoyed by him who wanders homeless at his own free will and unattached to aught.

(11) The world is like a table spread for successive relays of guests who come and go. There are gold and silver dishes, abundance of food and perfumes. The wise guest eats as much as is sufficient for him, smells the perfumes, thanks his host, and departs. The foolish guest, on the other hand, tries to carry off some of the gold and silver dishes, only to find them wrenched out of his hands and himself thrust forth, disappointed and disgraced.

(19) “ Who but the foolish, ignorant, and unintelligent, hearing such excellent teachings as these, cherish not the thought of supreme enlightenment?”

In a certain convent there lived a Sufi whose conduct gave just offence to the brethren. They brought him before their Shaikh and thus accused him, "This Sufi has three very bad qualities; he babbles exceedingly like a bell, at his meals he eats more than twenty men and when he sleeps he is as one of the Seven Sleepers." The Shaikh then admonished him, insisting on the obligation of keeping to the golden mean; and reminding him that even the prophet Moses was once rebuked by Khizr for speaking to excess. But the delinquent excused himself on the grounds that the mean is relative, what is excess in one man being moderation in another, that he who is led by the spirit is no longer subject to the outward law, and that, the "inner voice," which rules such an one s conduct, is its own evidence.