This, O Atula, is an old saying; it is not one of today only: they blame those who sit silent, they blame those who speak too much. Those speaking little too they blame. There is no one who is not blamed in this world.
Na cāhu na ca bhavissati, na cetarahi vijjati ekantaṁ nindito poso, ekantaṁ vā pasaṁsito.
There never was, there never will be, nor does there exist now, a person who is wholly blamed or wholly praised.
Yañ-ce viññū pasaṁsanti, anuvicca suve suve, acchiddavuttiṁ medhāviṁ, paññāsīlasamāhitaṁ,
Examining day by day, the wise praise him who is of flawless life, intelligent, endowed with knowledge and virtue.
nekkhaṁ jambonadasseva, ko taṁ ninditum-arahati? Devā pi naṁ pasaṁsanti, Brahmunā pi pasaṁsito.
Who deigns to blame him who is like a piece of refined gold? Even the gods praise him; by Brahma too he is praised.
Story
Once, Atula and his companions numbering five hundred, wishing to listen to words of Dhamma, went to Thera Revata. The thera however was very aloof like a lion; he did not say anything to them. They were very much dissatisfied and so they went to Thera Sariputta. When Thera Sariputta learned why they had come, he expounded exhaustively on the Abhidhamma. He also was not to their liking, and they grumbled that Thera Sariputta had been too lengthy and too profound. Next, Atula and his party approached Thera Ananda. Thera Ananda expounded to them the bare essentials of the Dhamma. This time, they remarked that Thera Ananda had been too brief and too sketchy. Finally they came to the Buddha and said to him, "Venerable Sir, we have come to listen to your teaching. We have been to other teachers before we come here, but we are not satisfied with any of them. Thera Revata did not bother to teach us and he just kept silent; Thera Sariputta was too exhaustive and the Dhamma he taught us was too difficult for us. As for Thera Ananda, he was too brief and too sketchy. We do not like any of their discourses."
To them the Buddha said, "My disciples, blaming others is not something new. There is no one in this world who is never blamed; people would blame even a king, or even a Buddha. To be blamed or to be praised by a fool is of no consequence; one is truly blamed only when he is blamed by a wise man, and truly praised only when praised by a wise man."
Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:
This, O Atula, is an old saying; it is not one of today only: they blame those who sit silent, they blame those who speak too much. Those speaking little too they blame. There is no one who is not blamed in this world.
There never was, there never will be, nor does there exist now, a person who is wholly blamed or wholly praised.
Examining day by day, the wise praise him who is of flawless life, intelligent, endowed with knowledge and virtue.
Who deigns to blame him who is like a piece of refined gold? Even the gods praise him; by Brahma too he is praised.
At the end of the discourse Atula and his companions attained Sotapatti Fruition.
Dhamma
nikkham jambonadasseva: like a nikkha of jambonada gold. Jambonada gold which comes from Jambu river is the finest gold. A nikkha can be a weight-unit of gold, an ornament or a coin.
