oarding grain. All these should be avoided as we avoid a
fiery pit; sowing the land, cutting down shrubs, healing of wounds or
the practice of medicine, star-gazing and astrology, forecasting lucky
or unfortunate events by signs, prognosticating good or evil, all these
are things forbidden. Keeping the body temperate, eat at proper times;
receive no mission as a go-between; compound no philteries; abhor
dissimulation; follow right doctrine, and be kind to all that lives;
receive in moderation what is given; receive but hoard not up; these
are, in brief, my spoken precepts. These form the groundwork of my
rules, these also are the ground of full emancipation. Enabled thus to
live this is rightly to receive all other things. This is true wisdom
which embraces all, this is the way to attain the end; this code of
rules, therefore, ye should hold and keep, and never let it slip or be
destroyed. For when pure rules of conduct are observed then there is
true religion; without these, virtue languishes; found yourselves
therefore well on these my precepts; grounded thus in rules of purity,
the springs of feeling will be well controlled, even as the
well-instructed cow-herd guides well his cattle. Ill-governed feelings,
like the horse, run wild through all the six domains of sense, bringing
upon us in the present world unhappiness, and in the next, birth in an
evil way. So, like the horse ill-broken, these land us in the ditch;
therefore the wise and prudent man will not allow his senses license.
For these senses are, indeed, our greatest foes, causes of misery; for
men enamoured thus by sensuous things cause all their miseries to recur.
Destructive as a poisonous snake, or like a savage tiger, or like a
raging fire, the greatest evil in the world, he who is wise, is freed
from fear of these. But what he fears is only this--a light and trivial
heart, which drags a man to future misery--just for a little sip of
pleasure, not looking at the yawning gulf before us; like the wild
elephant freed from the iron curb, or like the ape that has regained the
forest trees, such is the light and trivial heart; the wise man should
restrain and hold it therefore. Letting the heart go loose without
restraint, that man shall not attain Nirvana; therefore we ought to hold
the heart in check, and go apart from men and seek a quiet
resting-place. Know when to eat and the right measure; and so with
reference to the rules of clothing and of medicine; ta