Suta Kaṇḍa — On Learning and Listening
Dhamma Nīti · 6 verses with translation and commentary
58. Learn from one who truly knows, and knowledge loses none of its quality
นิปุเณ สุตเมเสยฺย วิจินิตฺวา สุตตฺถิโก ภตฺตํ หุกฺขลิยํ ปกฺกํ ภาชเน ปิ ตถา ภเว ฯ
One who seeks knowledge should, after careful selection, seek his learning from one who is truly skilled — just as rice cooked in the pot remains equally cooked even when scooped into a serving dish.
The sincere seeker of knowledge should reflect carefully and choose to learn only from one who is genuinely expert and refined. The simile is direct: rice well cooked in the pot remains fully cooked even when scooped into a serving dish; just so, knowledge thoroughly grasped by a true expert remains complete and potent when passed on to a student. Teaching loses none of its quality in transmission from a genuine source.
59. Those afar gather gems; those nearby overlook them
วสุํ คณฺหนฺติ ทูรฏฺฐา ปพฺพเต รตโนจิเต น มิลกฺขา สมีปฏฺฐา เอวํ พาลา พหุสฺสุเต ฯ
Those who dwell far off travel to gather riches on a mountain full of jewels, yet the savages who live nearby do not (gather them). Just so are fools toward one who is deeply learned.
People from distant lands travel to a mountain full of gems and labor to gather its treasures, while the wild folk who live at the very foot of that mountain fail to see its worth and remain poor. This simile applies to knowledge of the Dhamma. The fool who lives close to a deeply learned person — perhaps in the same monastery or community — nonetheless gains nothing from that wisdom, because he cannot see its value and makes no effort to harvest it; while others may travel far to gather the pearls of that person's wisdom. Opportunity close at hand is meaningless if one does not know its worth.
60. Knowledge is useless to a fool
หิรญฺเญน มิคานํ ว สุสีเลน อสีลิโน อธมฺมิกสฺส ธมฺเมน พาลานมฺปิ สุเตน กึ ฯ
What use is gold to wild beasts? What use is virtue to one without morals? What use is Dhamma to one who does not stand in the Dhamma? What, then, is the use of knowledge to fools?
Gold is useless to a beast, for it cannot eat it and does not understand its worth. Virtue is meaningless to one who has no moral compass, for he cannot put it to use. The Dhamma — the law of truth — is likewise meaningless to one who is not fundamentally established in it. The rhetorical question therefore asks: what use, then, is knowledge to a fool? He may memorize the texts, but without the basic qualities of intelligence, morality, and right intention, that knowledge is as worthless as gold to an ox.
61. To know little is to be like an ox grown only in flesh
อปฺปสฺสุตายํ ปุริโส พลิพทฺโธ ว ชีวติ มํสานิ ตสฺส วฑฺฒนฺติ ปญฺญา ตสฺส น วฑฺฒติ ฯ
A man of little learning lives like a plough-ox: his flesh may grow, but his wisdom (paññā) does not grow.
One who does not strive to learn may grow old, but grows only in body, like an ox fattened to await the day of slaughter. His body ages and expands, but the wisdom within remains stunted and undeveloped. Such a life is a waste of potential, driven by instinct and base appetite rather than by conscious growth. Growth in flesh must in the end decay, whereas growth in wisdom leads to liberation. Merely surviving through the years is not the same as living a meaningful life.
62. The frog in the well thinks its water is vast
อปฺปสฺสุโต สุตํ อปฺปํ พหุ มญฺญติ มานโว สินฺธูทกํ อปสฺสนฺโต กูเป โตยํ ว มณฺฑุโก ฯ
A man of little learning thinks his scanty learning great — like a frog in a well that, never having seen the water of the ocean, thinks its own water great.
One who has only a little knowledge, never having met the true depth and breadth of learning, mistakenly reckons his own understanding to be vast — like a frog born and raised in a well, believing that the little pool it lives in is the whole ocean, for want of any view of the vast and boundless sea of knowledge that exists. Both the frog and the half-learned man are content in their heedlessness. True wisdom begins with acknowledging how much one still does not know — the humility born of having glimpsed the vastness of the ocean.
63. Little streams roar; the great river flows in silence
ตทมินา ปิ ชานาถ โสพฺเภสุ ปทเรสุ จ สณนฺตา ยนฺติ กุสุมฺภา ตุณฺหี ยนฺติ มโหททธี ฯ
Know it by this too: little streams among gullies and rocky clefts flow with a loud noise, while great rivers flow along in silence.
A small stream running through rocky clefts roars noisily with its narrow current, in contrast to a great, deep river that flows on calm and still. Just so, one with little knowledge or slight distinction tends to boast, to argue, and to be loud in proclaiming his opinions, while one of deep wisdom and true attainment is by nature calm, quietly confident, and profound. He has no need to advertise himself; his presence and his deeds tell everything of their own accord — but in silence.
End of Suta Kaṇḍa (On Learning and Listening), verses 58–63, comprising 6 verses.