Keep Working

One’s goal is achieved by hard work and not by building castles in the air.

Narayana Pandita (1340-1400)

Keep Working

Dreams will get you nowhere; a good kick in the pants will get you a long way.

The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647) By Baltasar Gracián

Keep Working

Active hands, full bellies.

Khmer Adage 

A Light Touch

Blandness with a handful, saltiness with just a pinch.

Khmer Proverb

King's Codes IV

Consider the case of a good husband,

Having a wife

And a happy home,

Obedient children,

Obeying the father’s orders,

Just like the slaves who show themselves

To the master to receive orders.

Your parents recommend you,

The sages, who have succeeded one another, declare,

The ancients teach you this:

If you want to eat, you have to look for food,

If you want something in the distance, you have to make the journey

If you want affection, invite  

Friends, and treat them as such.

Bad counsels, do not pay them any attention;

Bad acts, do not follow them;

Bad people, do not rub it in;

The ignorant, do not talk to them;

The needy, do not trust them;

The fools, do not rub it in,

And do not consider them as good friends.

Be exact in weighing things.

If you need the services of others,

Speak to competent people.

Do not take the maxims

And compare them to those of the Buddhist texts.

Do not take the words of the venerable ancients

And compare them to those of the fools.

Examine the marks of the dail of the scale,

To arrive at an opinion

Of what is heavy or light.

Do not take women, jewels,

And gold as measures of things.

In your heart, do not develop

An abandonment of the virtuous of dharma.

You have to know how to use tul and hap;

You have to know what is low and high.

Use your eyes to discern the good.

Knowing the degree of purity of gold,

Do not reject the stone;

Knowing what white chalk is,

Do not reject the sheets of paper.

When cultivating rice, pay attention to the grass;

By studying someone's lineage, examine his collaterals;

In judging the servants, their behavior is examined;

Seeing a good behavior,

Do not reject the possibility of a ruse;

By noticing a pure heart,

One does not neglect to appraise his/her behavior.

To judge a queen, one must probe her observances;

To know a king, one must appraise his power;

To know a soldier, one must appraise his exploits;

To know a craftsman, it is necessary to examine the works

Produced by his hands;

If one take a woman,

He must scrutinize her home.

There are three kinds of disappointment

According to our parents’ recommendations,

And the advice of the ancients:

Raw rice, pure whiteness,

Stayed raw after being cooked;

A beautiful person who is a fool;

And a sage without morality!

Likewise, religious without virtuous;

An elderly without good behavior;

A poor man who looks at things with contempt;

A prodigal wife

Who spends out of step;

The foolish soldiers

Who are difficult to train.

Stanzas 30-39 of Chbab Rajaneti (Moral Codes of Conduct: King’s Neti or Royal Codes)

by King Sri Dharmaraja II (1628-1630)

Here are the links to parts I, II, III

Offspring

Love your children one tao (a unit of measurement); love your

grandchildren one thaing (one thaing equals to two taos).

Khmer Proverb

Far and Away

This shore and its opposite

Are as far as eternity

Just like the sky and the earth

Will never meet.

Just as the scientists

Who are opposite in their views

Have never agreed

Not once.

Just like the eight directions

Are far and away from one another

One would never hear

A claim that north meets south.

Composed in Pad Brahmagiti (Brahma’s Song Metre)

For recitation go here

Impossibility?

The gourd sinks, broken pieces float.

Khmer Adage