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DHAMMAPADA. CHAP. X.
CHAPTER X.
PUNISHMENT.
129. All men tremble at punishment, all men fear death; remember that you are like unto them, and do not kill, nor cause slaughter.
130. All men tremble at punishment, all men love life; remember that thou art like unto them, and do not kill, nor cause slaughter.
131. He who seeking his own happiness punishes or kills beings who also long for happiness, will not find happiness after death.
129. One feels tempted, no doubt, to take upama in the sense of 'the nearest (der Nächste), the neighbour,' and to translate, 'having made oneself one's neighbour,' i. e. loving one's neighbour as oneself. But as upamăm, with a short a, is the correct accusative of upamâ, we must translate, 'having made oneself the likeness, the image of others, having placed oneself in the place of others.' This is an expression which occurs frequently in Sanskrit; cf. Hitopadesa I, II:
Prânâ yathâtmano 'bhîsh/â bhûtânâm api te tathâ, Âtmaupamyena bhuteshu dayâm kurvanti sâdhavah.
'As life is dear to oneself, it is dear also to other living beings: by comparing oneself with others, good people bestow pity on all beings.'
See also Hit. I 12; Râm. V, 23, 5, âtmânam upamâm kritvâ sveshu dâreshumyatâm, 'making oneself a likeness, i. e, putting oneself in the position of other people, it is right to love none but one's own wife.' Dr. Fausböll has called attention to similar passages in the Mahâbhârata, XIII, 5569 seq.
130. Cf. St. Luke vi. 31.
131. Dr. Fausböll points out the striking similarity between this verse and two verses occurring in Manu and the Mahâbhârata :—
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