"Associate ONLY with the wise;
Associate NOT with the fools."
- The Buddha
My sister related a story to me about her student.
There was once the student needed to stay back in school for CCA.
Together with his friends, they went to the nearby games arcade to while away time while waiting for the CCA to begin.
His friends played the game machines there.
He did not.
He merely bought a cup noodle and ate
Smart move cos' that day, their teacher made a surprise spot check at the place and caught all of them.
When the teacher asked for his parents' number, he told the teacher that he did not play the games, he only ate.
The teacher then checked with the uncle at the shop and confirmed that what he said was true.
With that, the teacher let him off.
Take another example.
You're out with a group of friends.
Your friends suggested going to an illegal gambling den.
You hesitated.
But they call you a coward, a 'chicken', and told you there's no danger, that you can just sit and watch and don't have to gamble.
Out of peer pressure, and not wanting to 'lose face' or appear like a coward or a 'chicken', you went along.
To watch.
Coincidentally, there was a police crackdown that evening and even though you kept telling the police you were only there to watch, you were arrested just the same.
Depending on your past karma (deeds),
3 scenarios may take place.
You may :
1) Be charged, even though you are truly innocent (and that means you don't have much good karma);
2) Be arrested and put in jail over night and released the next day because you were found to be innocent after all. ( a bit good karma from the past); OR
3) Found to be innocent and released that same night (past good karma).
The opposite is also true.
Take an example :
You are stressed with work and family commitments.
Your friend told you about a free meditation course.
You went for it, enjoyed it and attended the whole course with your friend, and benefited from it, feeling more relaxed after the course.
From the above examples, we can see why The Great Buddha said 'to associate only with the wise, and not the fools'.
Cos' with the wise, they will encourage you on only doing good.
To cultivate.
That way, you'll gain merits and have good karma to help you tide through future bad times, should there be any.
Whereas if you associate with the fools, not only will they bring you suffering upon suffering, but also sink you further and deeper into samsara.
So do be careful who you consider to be your real true friends, and who are your real foes.
"Associate not with evil friends,
Associate not with mean men;
Associate with good friends,
Associate with Noble men."
- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 78
"He who walks in the company of fools has to grieve for a long time.
Association with fools is ever painful, as living with an enemy.
Association with the wise is a pleasure, as living with relatives."
- The Buddha, Dhammapada verse 207
"Do not think lightly of evil, saying 'it will not come to me.'
Even a water pot is filled by the falling of drops.
Similarly the fool, gathering little by little,
fills himself with evil."
- The Buddha
"So long as an evil deed does not affect the fool,
he thinks it is honey;
But when it affects him,
Then he comes to grief."
- The Buddha
"So, when a fool does wrong deeds, he does not realise (their evil nature);
by his own deeds the fool is tormented,
like one burnt by fire."
- The Buddha
"It is easy to be bad but difficult to be good.
- The Buddha
"Karma does not depend on any special being or power,
BUT only upon each individual who makes his own karma."
- Ajahn Laa
"An evil deed does not immediately bear fruit,
Just as milk does not curdle at once;
But it follows the fool,
Burning him like live coal covered with ashes."
- The Buddha
"The skill and knowledge of a fool can only harm him;
It destroys his merit and his wisdom."
- The Buddha
