The Related Suttas Collection 14.16

Chapter Two

With Verses

At Sāvatthī.

“Bhikkhus, sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those who have bad convictions come together and converge with those who have bad convictions. In the past …

In the future …

At present, too, sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those who have bad convictions come together and converge with those who have bad convictions.

It’s like how dung comes together with dung, urine with urine, spit with spit, pus with pus, and blood with blood. In the same way, sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those who have bad convictions come together and converge with those who have bad convictions. In the past … In the future … At present, too, sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those who have bad convictions come together and converge with those who have bad convictions.

Sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those who have good convictions come together and converge with those who have good convictions. In the past …

In the future … At present, too, sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those who have good convictions come together and converge with those who have good convictions.

It’s like how milk comes together with milk, oil with oil, ghee with ghee, honey with honey, and molasses with molasses. In the same way, sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those who have good convictions come together and converge with those who have good convictions. In the past … In the future … At present, too, sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those who have good convictions come together and converge with those who have good convictions.”

That is what the Buddha said. Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say:

“Socializing promotes entanglement; they’re cut off by being aloof. If you’re lost in the middle of a great sea, and you clamber up on a little log, you’ll sink.

So too, a person who lives well sinks by relying on a lazy person. Hence you should avoid such a lazy person who lacks energy.

Dwell with the noble ones who are secluded and determined and always energetic; the astute who practice absorption.”