[254] 7. This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard:
"Bhikkhus, aspiring to these three kinds of happiness, a wise person should guard virtue (sīla). What three? [Thinking,] 'May praise come to me,' a wise person should guard virtue. [Thinking,] 'May riches arise for me,' a wise person should guard virtue. [Thinking,] 'With the breakup of the body, after death, I shall be reborn in a good destination (sugati), in a heavenly world (sagga),' a wise person should guard virtue. Aspiring to these three kinds of happiness, bhikkhus, a wise person should guard virtue."
The Blessed One spoke this meaning. Concerning this, it is said:
The sagacious one should guard virtue,
aspiring to the three kinds of happiness:
to praise, to the gaining of riches,
and to rejoicing in heaven after death.
Even if one does no evil oneself,
if one consorts with a doer of evil,
one falls under suspicion of evil,
and one's disrepute grows.
Whatever kind of friend one makes,
whatever kind of person one consorts with,
such a one indeed does one become,
for such is living together.
Consorting, [he taints] the one who consorts with him;
touched [by evil], touching the other in turn:
as an arrow tainted with poison
smears the quiver yet unsmeared.
For fear of contamination, the wise man
should never have an evil person for a friend.
When a man wraps putrid fish
in blades of kusa grass,
the kusa blades too give off a putrid smell:
such is consorting with fools.
But when a man wraps tagara
in leaves,
the leaves too waft fragrance:
such is consorting with the wise.
Therefore, knowing that one's own ripening
is like that of the leaf-wrapper,
the wise person should not consort with the bad;
he should consort with the good:
the bad lead one to hell (niraya),
the good bring one to a good destination.
This meaning too was spoken by the Blessed One; so I have heard.
The Seventh [Sutta].
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.