Buddha Dhammapada Teachings - Mischief

Be quick to do good.
If you are slow,
The mind, delighting in mischief,
Will catch you.

Turn away from mischief.
Again and again, turn away.
Before sorrow befalls you.
Set your heart on doing good.

Do it over and over again,
And you will be filled with joy.
A fool is happy
Until his mischief turns against him.

And a good man may suffer
Until his goodness flowers.
Do not make light of your failings,
Saying, "What are they to me?"
A jug fills drop by drop.

So the fool becomes brimful of folly.
Do not belittle your virtues,
Saying, "They are nothing."
A jug fills drop by drop.

So the wise man becomes brimful of virtue.
As the rich merchant with few servants
Shuns a dangerous road
And the man who loves life shuns poison,
Beware the dangers of folly and mischief.

For an unwounded hand may handle poison.
The innocent come to no harm.
But as dust thrown against the wind,
Mischief is blown back in the face.

Of the fool who wrongs the pure and harmless.
Some are reborn in hell,
Some in this world,
The good in heaven.
But the pure are not reborn.
Nowhere!
Not in the sky,
Nor in the midst of the sea,
Nor deep in the mountains.

Can you hide from your own mischief.
Not in the sky,
Not in the midst of the ocean,
Nor deep in the mountains,
Nowhere
Can you hide from your own death.