Itivuttaka 76

This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard: “Aspiring to these three forms of bliss, monks, 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, a heavenly world,’ 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.