To pass judgment hurriedly
doesn't mean you're a judge.
The wise one, weighing both
the right judgment & wrong,
judges others impartially —
unhurriedly, in line with the Dhamma,
	guarding the Dhamma,
	guarded by Dhamma,
intelligent:
he's called a judge.

Simply talking a lot
doesn't mean one is wise.
Whoever's secure —
	no     hostility,
	   fear —
is said to be wise.

Simply talking a lot
doesn't maintain the Dhamma.
Whoever
 — although he's heard next to nothing —
	sees Dhamma through his body,
	is not heedless of Dhamma:
he's one who maintains the Dhamma.

A head of gray hairs
doesn't mean one's an elder.
Advanced in years,
one's called an old fool.

But one in whom there is
	truth, restraint,
	rectitude, gentleness,
	self-control —
he's called an elder,
	his impurities disgorged,
	   enlightened.

Not by suave conversation
or lotus-like coloring
does an envious, miserly cheat
become an exemplary man.

But one in whom this is
	cut    through
	up-    rooted
	wiped out —
he's called exemplary,
	his aversion disgorged,
	   intelligent.

A shaven head
doesn't mean a contemplative.
The liar observing no duties,
filled with greed & desire:
what kind of contemplative's he?

But whoever tunes out
the dissonance
of his evil qualities
 — large or small —
in every way
by bringing evil to consonance:
	he's called a contemplative.

Begging from others
doesn't mean one's a monk.
As long as one follows
householders' ways,
one is no monk at all.

But whoever puts aside
both merit & evil and,
living the chaste life,
	judiciously
goes through the world:
he's called a monk.

Not by silence
does someone confused
	& unknowing
turn into a sage.
But whoever — wise,
as if holding the scales,
	taking the excellent —
	rejects evil deeds:
he is a sage,
that's how he's a sage.
Whoever can weigh
both sides of the world:
	that's how he's called
	a sage.

Not by harming life
does one become noble.
One is termed   noble
	for being  gentle
to all living things.

	Monk,
don't
on account of
	your precepts & practices,
	great erudition,
	concentration attainments,
	secluded dwelling,
	or the thought, 'I touch
	the renunciate ease
	that run-of-the-mill people
	don't know':
ever let yourself get complacent
	when the ending of effluents
	is still unattained.