[32] **22**
The speaker of untruth goes to hell (niraya),
as does he who, having done a deed, says, "I did not do it."
Both of these, after death, become equal —
humans of base actions in the world beyond.
Many with the ochre robe about the neck
are of evil character, unrestrained;
those evil ones, by their evil deeds,
are reborn in hell.
[Note 1: The reading "rattiṃ khittā" is also found elsewhere.]
Better that an iron ball be eaten,
red-hot, like a crest of flame,
than that one immoral and unrestrained
should eat the almsfood of the country.
Four states does the heedless man incur
who consorts with the wife of another:
the acquisition of demerit; sleep not as he wishes;
blame as the third; hell as the fourth.
There is the acquisition of demerit, and an evil destination;
scant is the delight of the frightened man with the frightened woman;
and the king imposes a heavy punishment.
Therefore a man should not consort with the wife of another.
Just as kusa grass, wrongly grasped,
cuts the very hand,
so the ascetic life (sāmañña), wrongly handled,
drags one down to hell.
Whatever act is done slackly,
whatever observance is defiled,
a holy life (brahmacariya) recalled with suspicion —
that is not of great fruit.
If one would do it, let one do just that;
let one undertake it firmly.
For a slack wanderer's life
scatters dust all the more.
[Note 1: Also read "kayirā ce kayirāthenaṃ."]
A bad deed is better left undone,
for a bad deed torments one afterward;
a good deed done is better,
which, having done, one does not regret.
As a frontier city
is guarded within and without,
so guard yourselves;
let not the moment pass you by.
For those who have let the moment pass grieve,
consigned to hell.
They are ashamed of what is not shameful;
of what is shameful they are not ashamed.
Taking up wrong view (micchādiṭṭhi),
beings go to a bad destination.
Seeing danger in what is no danger,
and seeing no danger in what is danger,
taking up wrong view,
beings go to a bad destination.
Conceiving fault in what is faultless,
and seeing no fault in what is faulty,
taking up wrong view,
beings go to a bad destination.
But having known the faulty as faulty
and the faultless as faultless,
taking up right view (sammādiṭṭhi),
beings go to a good destination.
The Niraya Vagga, the Twenty-second.
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**The Nāga Vagga, the Twenty-third of the Dhammapada Verses**
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.