Dear Luang Phaw. The first auspiciousness of life teaches us not to associate with the fools. First of all, I’d like to know how a fool is like, and what the ill-effects from associating with the fools are.
Answer
by Venerable Dhattajeevo Bhikku
It’s difficult to figure out who is foolish, who is wise because it doesn’t show on their forehead. No fool has a sign on his forehead showing that he is a fool. It’s difficult to create a standard; especially the worldly standard, to tell who is a fool or a wise one. It cannot be figured out by the standard of appearance since some good-looking people are foolish. Also, the standard of education doesn’t work too since some doctoral people are criminals. The financial status cannot be counted as well because some millionaires are foolish, but some are wise, some poor people are wise, and some are foolish.
Therefore, the difficulty to figure out who a fool or a wise one is had been continued for thousands of years until the Lord Buddha gave us a standard, i.e. the deed people do, the people who do good deeds are good and the people who do bad deeds are bad.
How about the fools? The fools are the people who normally like to do bad deeds, have bad thoughts, and give bad speech. They do that usually, not once in a while, not because they are off their guard, but it’s their habit. The fools usually have bad thought, give bad speech and do bad deeds.
Starting from being greedy, vengeful, desiring to take advantage of people and having thoughts of jealousy, the fools will usually have these ideas.
Having bad speech is like lying usually, giving vulgar speech usually, imputing people usually and gossiping about people usually.
What is doing bad deeds usually then? It’s starting from killing, stealing, corrupting and committing adultery usually.
The people who have bad thoughts, give bad speech and do bad deeds usually are called the fools. They are habitually bad. Monks call this kind of people the fools, and laypeople call them bad people. These are common characters of the fools explained by the Lord Buddha considering from their deeds.
How? If we associate with the fools, it’s such a ruin since when 2 things are close to each other, they will absorb the qualities of one another; for instance, if you put a dry stuff next to a wet one, they both will be wet; and if you put bitter food next to insipid one, they both will be bitter.
It’s the same thing to humans. When a good person gets to socialize with a foolish person, it has a good chance that they both will be foolish; therefore, the Lord Buddha taught us not to associate with the fools because we will lose…
1. The capability to make a decision if things are good or bad, right or wrong, proper or improper. It’s because the fools have different ideas than the good ones since they think that their bad ideas are great; therefore, when we have to be with the fools or associate with the fools, the first thing of us that will be ruined is our consideration since we will make false decision just like them and the bad things will become good in our minds.
From that, we will think, speak and act in the false way. Wherever the fools are will be disastrous. If a fool becomes a leader, no matter of what country, the society will be all confused; therefore, when a fool becomes the leader of a country, wars will occur every time.
External fools; i.e., bad people that were already mentioned.
Internal fools; i.e., ourselves. Whenever we have bad idea, bad speech or do bad action, we, ourselves, are the fools. We should solve it real fast.
When? If we have an idea to be the last person who improves ourselves, we are truly foolish and will be foolish even over-life since we’d like to be the last one to be improved.
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