At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those interested in low things come together and converge with those interested in low things. In the past …

In the future …

At present, too, sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those interested in low things come together and converge with those interested in low things.

It’s like how dung comes together with dung, urine with urine, spit with spit, pus with pus, and blood with blood. In the same way, sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those interested in low things come together and converge with those interested in low things. In the past … In the future … At present, too, sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those interested in low things come together and converge with those interested in low things.

Sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those interested in good things come together and converge with those interested in good things. In the past …

In the future … At present, too, sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those interested in good things come together and converge with those interested in good things.

It’s like how milk comes together with milk, oil with oil, ghee with ghee, honey with honey, and molasses with molasses. In the same way, sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those interested in good things come together and converge with those interested in good things. In the past … In the future … At present, too, sentient beings come together and converge because of an element. Those interested in good things come together and converge with those interested in good things.”

That is what the Buddha said. Then the Holy One, the Teacher, went on to say:

“Socializing promotes attachments;
they’re cut off by not socializing.
If you’re lost in the middle of a great sea,
and you clamber up on a little log, you’ll sink.

So too, a person who lives well
sinks by relying on a lazy person.
Hence you should avoid such
a lazy person who lacks energy.

You should dwell with the noble ones
who are secluded and determined
and always energetic;
the astute who practice absorption.”