Choose Wisely
According to the Samyutta Nikaya, the first of the factors of stream-entry is “association with superior persons.”
A man who wraps rotting fish
in a blade of kusa grass
makes the grass smelly:
so it is
if you seek out fools.
But a man who wraps powdered incense in the leaf of a tree
makes the leaf fragrant:
so it is
if you seek out
the enlightened.
— from the Itivuttaka, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
(image: “A Whole World,” by Couprie and Louchard)