Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish
Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish (Skt. Damamūka-nidāna-sūtra, Tib. མདོ་མཛངས་བླུན།, Wyl. mdo mdzangs blun, Pali: Bala-pandita Sutta), sometimes called Ocean of Narratives, consists of Jataka stories in fifty-one chapters, tracing the causes of present tragedy in human lives to events which took place in former lifetimes. The theme of each narrative is the same: the tragedy of the human condition, the reason for this tragedy and the possibility of transcending it. For centuries, it has been a source of inspiration, instruction and pleasure for all who have read it. The history of this unusual scripture is still uncertain. Legend has it that the tales were heard in Khotan by Chinese monks, who translated them into Chinese. In the caves of Dunhuang there are many wall paintings illustrating stories from the Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish, as well as painted scrolls on the same theme.
The text was translated into Mongolian from Tibetan. The version available in English is translated from the Mongolian.
Quotations from the sutra
མི་གནོད་སྙམ་དུ་བརྙས་མི་བྱ། །
མེ་སྟག་ཆུང་ངུ་དག་གིས་ཀྱང༌། །
Do not disregard small misdeeds,
Thinking they are harmless,
Because even tiny sparks of flame,
Can set fire to a mountain of hay.
མི་ཕན་སྙམ་དུ་བརྙས་མི་བྱ། །
ཆུ་ཡིས་ཐིགས་པ་བསགས་པ་ཡིས། །
Do not disregard small positive acts,
Thinking they are without benefit,
Because even tiny drops of water,
Will eventually fill a large container.
Translations
- Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish, translated from the Mongolian by Dr. Stanley Frye, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, ISBN 81-85102-15-5
Tibetan Text
- Derge Kangyur, vol.74, ff.129r-298r (pp.257-595)