The Buddhist Tradition - The Dhammapada

6. The Wise Man

Like one pointing out hidden treasure, if one finds a man of intelligence who can recognise one's faults and take one to task for them, one should cultivate the company of such a wise man. He who cultivates a man like that is the better for it, not worse. 76 

 If a man disciplines, instructs and restrains them from what is not right, he will be dear to the good, and disliked by the bad. 77 

 Don't cultivate the company of bad companions. Don't cultivate depraved men. Cultivate companions of good character. Cultivate superior men. 78 

 He who drinks in the Truth will live happily with a peaceful mind. A wise man always delights in the Truth taught by the saints. 79 

 Navvies channel water, fletchers fashion arrows, and carpenters work on wood, but the wise disciple themselves. 80 

 Like a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, so the wise are not moved by praise or blame. 81 

 The wise find peace on hearing the truth, like a deep, clear, undisturbed lake. 82 

 The good renounce everything. The pure don't babble about sensual desires. Whether touched by pleasure or pain, the wise show no change of temper. 83 

 If a man does not seek children, wealth or power either for himself or for someone else, if he does not seek his own advantage by unprincipled means, he is a virtuous man, a wise man and a righteous man. 84 

 Few are those among men who have crossed over to the other shore, while the rest of mankind runs along the bank. However those who follow the principles of the well-taught Truth will cross over to the other shore, out of the dominion of Death, hard though it is to escape. 85, 86 

 A wise man, abandoning the principle of darkness, should cultivate what is pure. Leaving home for the homeless life, let him seek his joy in the solitude which people find so hard to enjoy, and, abandoning sensual pleasures, let him cleanse himself of inner defilements, looking on nothing as his own. 87, 88 

 Those whose minds are thoroughly practices in the factors of enlightenment, who find delight in freedom from attachment in the renunciation of clinging, free from the inflow of thoughts, they are like shining lights, having reached final liberation in the world. 89