Chapter 102: Possession of Modesty

Verse 1015
A man stands handcuffed before a judge who is deciding his fate.A friend in the foreground is waiting for the judgment, sad because he sympathizes with his friend’s sorrowful situation. A Goddess places her hand on the friend’s head, honoring his modesty and compassion.

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Weaver’s Wisdom

Verse 1011

For fair-faced maidens, modesty means bashfulness,
but the deeper modesty shies away from shameful karmas.

Verse 1012

Food, clothing and such do not differ much among people;
what distinguishes good men from others is modesty.

Verse 1013

All life clings to a body;
perfect goodness clings to all that is modest.

Verse 1014

Is not modesty a jewel adorning perfect men?
Without it, is not their strut an awful blemish to behold?

Verse 1015

The world decrees that men who are as ashamed
by others’ disgrace as by their own are modesty’s fondest home.

Verse 1016

The great would rather hold themselves behind
modesty’s barricade than breach it to acquire the vast world.

Verse 1017

Those who prize unpretentiousness will forsake life to preserve it.
But they never forsake modesty for the sake of life.

Verse 1018

If a man does not feel ashamed of what makes others feel ashamed,
virtue itself will be ashamed of him.

Verse 1019

Failing to observe good conduct, one sets his family on fire.
Living in shamelessness, he incinerates everything good.

Verse 1020

The movements of men devoid of modesty mock life,
like wooden puppets suspended on a string.