Inclined to Flow Together
or
Birds of a Feather Flock Together

Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds

[1][pts] I Hear Tell:

Once upon a time The Lucky Man, Sāvatthī-town revisiting.

There he addressed the beggars:

"Beggars!"

"Bhante!" they responded.

The Lucky Man said this to them:

"It is owing to information, beggars,
that beings flow together in agreement.

Backwardly-inclined beings
flow together in agreement
with those whose beliefs are backwardly-inclined.

The soundly-inclined
flow together in agreement
with those whose beliefs are soundly-inclined.

In the past too, beggars,
it was owing to information
that beings flowed together in agreement.

Backwardly-inclined beings
flowed together in agreement
with those whose beliefs were backwardly-inclined.

The soundly-inclined
flowed together in agreement
with those whose beliefs were soundly-inclined.

In the future too, beggars,
it will be owing to information
that beings will flow together in agreement.

Backwardly-inclined beings
will flow together in agreement
with those whose beliefs are backwardly-inclined.

The soundly-inclined
will flow together in agreement
with those whose beliefs are soundly-inclined.

In the present too, beggars,
it is owing to information
that beings flow together in agreement.

Backwardly-inclined beings
flow together in agreement
with those whose beliefs are backwardly-inclined.

The soundly-inclined
flow together in agreement
with those whose beliefs are soundly-inclined."