§ 76.

This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard: "Aspiring to these three forms of bliss, a wise person should guard his virtue. Which three? [Thinking,] 'May praise come to me,' a wise person should guard his virtue. [Thinking,] 'May wealth come to me,' a wise person should guard his virtue. [Thinking,] 'At the break-up of the body, after death, may I reappear in a good destination, in heaven,' a wise person should guard his virtue. Aspiring to these three forms of bliss, a wise person should guard his virtue."

    Intelligent,
you should guard your virtue,
aspiring to three forms of bliss:
    praise;
    the obtaining of wealth;
    and, after death, rejoicing
in heaven.

Even if you do no evil
but seek out one who does,
you're suspected of evil.
Your bad reputation
    grows.
    The sort of person you make a friend,
    the sort you seek out,
that's the sort you yourself become --
for your living together is of
    that sort.

The one associated with,
the one who associates,
the one who's touched,
the one who touches another
    -- like an arrow smeared with poison --
contaminates the quiver.
So, fearing contamination, the enlightened
should not be comrades
with evil people.

A man who wraps rotting fish
in a blade of kusa grass
makes the grass smelly:
    so it is
    if you seek out fools.
But a man who wraps powdered incense
in the leaf of a tree
makes the leaf fragrant:
    so it is
    if you seek out
    the enlightened.

    So,
knowing your own outcome
as like the leaf-wrapper's,
you shouldn't seek out
those who aren't good.
The wise would associate
with those who are.
Those who aren't good
lead you to hell.
The good help you reach
a good destination.