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Dhammapada
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  • XVIII - Impurities
    • 240*:
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240*240:

Just as rust
-- iron's impurity --
eats the very iron
from which it is born,
    so the deeds
of one who lives slovenly
    lead him on
to a bad destination.

 



240: "One who lives slovenly": As DhpA makes clear, this refers to one who uses the requisites of food, clothing, shelter, and medicine without the wisdom that comes with reflecting on their proper use. The Pali term here is atidhonacarin, a compound built around the word dhona, which means clean or pure. The ati- in the compound could mean "overly," thus yielding, "one overly scrupulous in his behavior," but it can also mean "transgressing," thus, "transgressing against what is clean" = "slovenly." The latter reading fits better with the image of rust as a deficiency in the iron resulting from carelessness.





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