{xxxv} Buzurjmihr Bokhtagan’s Preface1

This book, Kalila and Dimna, which was collected by the learned and the Brahmans of India, contains various pieces of advice, wise anecdotes, and fables. Wise men of every sort strove to produce a collection containing good advice for the present and future and for this life and the next until they achieved this good result, and they set it down in eloquent language put into the mouths of beasts, birds, and wild animals, and in that they achieved several benefits. First, they took advantage of the opportunity to arrange words so that every topic that was initiated was brought to a satisfactory conclusion. Second, advice, wisdom, sport, and jest were combined so that wise men could profit by reading it while the ignorant could read it as fable. Young learners could look upon it as knowledge and advice, and it would be easy for them to memorize. When they reached maturity they could reflect upon what they had memorized and see that the pages of their minds were filled with benefits and they could avail themselves of a precious storehouse. It is like a man of mature years who stumbles across a treasure his father left for him. He rejoices over it and is freed from the necessity of working for a living for the rest of his life.

The reader of this book should know the original purpose for assembling and composing it, for if he does not he will not reap the benefits. First, it is necessary that it be read correctly, for if that is neglected how can the meaning be understood? Writing is the mold into which meaning is poured, and if mistakes are made in reading, how can the meaning be comprehended? Once one is able to read it, one should reflect upon it and not try to get to the end as quickly as possible. One should rather allow the benefits to become part of one’s nature slowly. If not, it would be like a man who found a treasure in the wilderness. “If I transport it by myself,” he said to himself, “I will spend my life doing it and only a little will be transported. It would be better to hire laborers and rent many pack animals to take it all to my house.” That is what he did, and he sent several loads off ahead of himself. The hirelings thought it would be better to {xxxvi} take the treasure to their own houses, and when that man, who thought he was so foresighted and wise, got home he had nothing of the treasure but regret and remorse.

Truly one should realize that the benefit lies in understanding, not in memorizing, and anyone who initiates a labor without understanding is like the man who wanted to speak Arabic. He put a slate in the hands of a learned friend of his and said, “Write something for me in Arabic.” When it was done he took it home, looked at it from time to time, and thought he had acquired perfect eloquence. One day in an assembly he made a mistake in Arabic. One of those present smiled. The man laughed and said, “My tongue makes a mistake because the slate is at home.”

One should strive to acquire knowledge and know that understanding is key, for searching for knowledge and storing provisions for the afterlife are necessary tasks. A person who is truly alive must have knowledge and good action, and the light of good manners should also illuminate his mind. The medicine of experience saves people from the death of ignorance just as the light of the sun illuminates the face of the earth and the fountain of youth gives eternal life. Knowledge is adorned by good deeds, for beneficence is the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

Anyone who possesses knowledge and does not act upon it is like a man who knows the dangers of a road but takes it anyway and is robbed and plundered, or like a sick person who knows the ill effects of certain foods but eats them anyway and dies. Of course anyone who knows the detriment of a thing and throws himself into it anyway will be a target for blame—like the two men who fell into a pit. One was sighted and the other was blind. Although death was common to both, the blind man’s excuse was more acceptable to persons of wisdom and insight.

The benefit in learning is first and foremost for self-respect and self-improvement and only then for teaching others, for if one benefits others and neglects oneself it is like a spring: it benefits everybody, but the spring itself is unaware of it. There are two things with which one should first assist oneself and then give to others: knowledge and money. That is, when all aspects of experiences are known, first one should strive to improve one’s own moral character and only then that of others. If an ignorant person thinks this is a joke, he is like a blind man who chides a cross-eyed one.

An intelligent person must keep before his eyes his goals and purposes at the beginning of a labor and determine his destination before setting foot on the road. Otherwise he will suffer confusion and regret.

{xxxvii} A wise man would do better always to put the quest for the afterlife ahead of desire for this world, for he who aspires less for this world has less regret when he departs it. He who strives for the afterlife gets both his worldly desires and life eternal, while he who limits his striving to this life has a miserable life here and is deprived of reward in the afterlife. The striving of the people of the world to achieve three things is praiseworthy: to store up provisions for the afterlife, to acquire the wherewithal for living, and to have good relations with others by doing as little harm as possible.

The most pleasing of all qualities are piety and the acquisition of money by licit means. Although one should in no situation despair of the mercy of the Creator and the favorability of fortune, to rely on them and to neglect effort are far from wise. To acquire happiness and felicity one does better to be steadfast in one’s labors and earnest in one’s endeavors. If, as happens due to the quirkiness of fate, an indolent person achieves something or a heedless person gets somewhere, one should pay no attention to that and not be misled by it, for fortunate is he who follows the fortunate and wise in never being far from trust in God or unmindful of the excellence of striving.

One does better to be guided by the conduct of the ancients and to make the experiences of the moderns one’s model for conduct, for if one learns lessons only from one’s own experiences one will spend one’s life in tribulation. While it is said that “in every loss is a gain,” it is better to see others’ losses and to benefit from their experiences. If one deviates from this path one will encounter something unpleasant every day, and by the time one has acquired certainty through experiences it will be time to depart.

Anyone who ignores these precepts will be deprived of the integrity of life. Opportunity will be lost, one will be lethargic in time of need, things will be believed that may or may not be true, false assumptions will be made based on irrationality, one will pay attention to the blather of informants, one’s family and people will be injured on the say-so of seditious troublemakers, one will not do good to the poor, one will chase after lusts—and for the intelligent there is no error greater than following one’s lusts—and one will quit the field of certainty.

When an intelligent person is beset by vicissitudes he should take refuge in correctness and not persist in error, mistakenly calling it steadfastness and sticking to one’s word. When you proceed blindly down an {xxxviii} unfamiliar road without a guide and stray from the right way, the farther you go the more lost you become. If a splinter falls into your eye and you neglect to take it out and rub your eye, doubtlessly you will become blind.

A wise person should believe in heaven-sent destiny and not neglect prudence. He should not approve for others what he does not approve for himself, for every action has a reward, and when one’s time comes it cannot be hastened or delayed.

Readers of this book should focus their attention on understanding its underlying meaning and recognize what lies beyond the metaphors so that they may not need other books and experiences and not be like someone who gropes in the dark or tosses a stone over a wall. Once they understand they can base their labors and plan for this life and the next on that understanding so that the benefits can accrue and be perpetual. God grants success in what pleases him through his wide grace.

1. Buzurjmihr Bokhtagān was minister to the Persian kings Kavadh I (r. 498–531) and Chosroës I Anoshirvan “the Just” (r. 531–579) and is known to history as an embodiment of wise counsel.