The Dhammapada (“Words of the Doctrine”) is an anthology of verses, comprising of Gautama Buddha’s adages and teachings. Composed in the 3rd century BCE in the Pāli language, it is one of the foundational texts of Buddhism. It has long been one of the most beloved of the Buddhist texts in the West.
The Dhammapada‘s 423 pithy aphorisms are organized topically into 26 vaggas (chapters) that penetrate the core of human experience. The verses are occasionally arranged in pairs, e.g., “The Fool” and “The Sage,” “The World” and “The Buddha,” and other chapters. Many of the Dhammapada‘s aphorisms are also found in other books of the Pāli canon.
The Dhammapada‘s insights carry the endurance of all great literature. It was the first Pāli text ever to be translated, first into Latin by the Danish intellectual Viggo Fausböll in 1855. Over the years, hundreds of scholars have produced voluminous commentaries on the Dhammapada—not only to explain the phrasing of the individual verses but also to add narratives on the occasions on which the Buddha is supposed to have uttered each verse.
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An act carelessly performed, a broken vow, and hesitating obedience to discipline, all this brings no great reward.
—The Dhammapada
Look upon the world as a bubble, look upon it as a mirage: the king of death does not see him who thus looks down upon the world.
—The Dhammapada
From lust comes grief, from lust comes fear; he who is free from lust knows neither grief nor fear.
—The Dhammapada
The world gives according to their faith or according to their pleasure: if a man frets about the food and the drink given to others, he will find no rest either by day or by night.
—The Dhammapada
He for whom there is neither this nor that shore, nor both, him, the fearless and unshackled, I call indeed a Brahmana.
—The Dhammapada
If a man becomes fat and a great eater, if he is sleepy and rolls himself about, that fool, like a hog fed on wash, is born again and again.
—The Dhammapada
Watching his speech, well restrained in mind, let a man never commit any wrong with his body! Let a man but keep these three roads of action clear, and he will achieve the way which is taught by the wise.
—The Dhammapada
He who always greets and constantly reveres the aged, four things will increase to him, viz. life, beauty, happiness, power.
—The Dhammapada
Bad conduct is the taint of woman, greediness the taint of a benefactor; tainted are all evil ways in this world and in the next.
—The Dhammapada
As a tree with strong uninjured roots, though cut down, grows up again, so, when deep craving is not rooted out, suffering arises again and again.
—The Dhammapada
As on a heap of rubbish cast upon the highway the lily will grow full of sweet perfume and delight, thus the disciple of the truly enlightened Buddha shines forth by his knowledge among those who are like rubbish, among the people that walk in darkness.
—The Dhammapada
He in whom all this is destroyed, and taken out with the very root, he, when freed from hatred and wise, is called respectable.
—The Dhammapada
The evil done by oneself, self-begotten, self-bred, crushes the foolish, as a diamond breaks a precious stone.
—The Dhammapada
Of the people who possess these virtues, who live without thoughtlessness, and who are emancipated through true knowledge, Mara, the tempter, never finds the way.
—The Dhammapada
The thoughtless man, even if he can recite a large portion (of the law), but is not a doer of it, has no share in the priesthood, but is like a cowherd counting the cows of others.
—The Dhammapada
Men who have not observed proper discipline, and have not gained treasure in their youth, lie, like broken bows, sighing after the past.
—The Dhammapada
He who, though dressed in fine apparel, exercises tranquillity, is quiet, subdued, restrained, chaste, and has ceased to find fault with all other beings, he indeed is a Brahmana, an ascetic (sramana), a friar (bhikshu).
—The Dhammapada
He who lives without looking for pleasures, his senses well controlled, moderate in his food, faithful and strong, him Mara will certainly not overthrow, any more than the wind throws down a rocky mountain.
—The Dhammapada
Even though a speech be a thousand (of words), but made up of senseless words, one word of sense is better, which if a man hears, he becomes quiet.
—The Dhammapada
There never was, there never will be, nor is there now, a man who is always blamed, or a man who is always praised.
—The Dhammapada
If you see an intelligent man who tells you where true treasures are to be found, who shows what is to be avoided, and administers reproofs, follow that wise man; it will be better, not worse, for those who follow him.
—The Dhammapada
It is good to tame the mind, which is difficult to hold in and flighty, rushing wherever it listeth; a tamed mind brings happiness.
—The Dhammapada
He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me,—in those who do not harbour such thoughts hatred will cease.
—The Dhammapada
And he who lives a hundred years, ignorant and unrestrained, a life of one day is better if a man is wise and reflecting.
—The Dhammapada
Men, driven by fear, go to many a refuge, to mountains and forests, to groves and sacred trees.
—The Dhammapada
Him I call indeed a Brahmana who finds no fault with other beings, whether feeble or strong, and does not kill nor cause slaughter.
—The Dhammapada
The Awakened call patience the highest penance, long-suffering the highest Nirvana; for he is not an anchorite (pravragita) who strikes others, he is not an ascetic (sramana) who insults others.
—The Dhammapada
Not in the sky, not in the midst of the sea, not if we enter into the clefts of the mountains, is there known a spot in the whole world where a man might be freed from an evil deed.
—The Dhammapada
He who does not rouse himself when it is time to rise, who, though young and strong, is full of sloth, whose will and thought are weak, that lazy and idle man will never find the way to knowledge.
—The Dhammapada
Well-makers lead the water (wherever they like); fletchers bend the arrow; carpenters bend a log of wood; wise people fashion themselves.
—The Dhammapada
The fields are damaged by weeds, mankind is damaged by lust: therefore a gift bestowed on those who are free from lust brings great reward.
—The Dhammapada
As a fletcher makes straight his arrow, a wise man makes straight his trembling and unsteady thought, which is difficult to guard, difficult to hold back.
—The Dhammapada
He who inflicts pain on innocent and harmless persons, will soon come to one of the ten states: he will have cruel suffering, loss, injury of the body, heavy affliction, or loss of mind.
—The Dhammapada
Those who are slaves to passions, run down with the stream (of desires), as a spider runs down the web which he has made himself; when they have cut this, at last, wise people leave the world free from cares, leaving all affection behind.
—The Dhammapada
No, that deed is well done of which a man does not repent, and the reward of which he receives gladly and cheerfully.
—The Dhammapada
He in whom a desire for the Ineffable (Nirvana) has sprung up, who is satisfied in his mind, and whose thoughts are not bewildered by love, he is called urdhvamsrotas (carried upwards by the stream).
—The Dhammapada
The world does not know that we must all come to an end here;—but those who know it, their quarrels cease at once.
—The Dhammapada
It advantages a Brahmana not a little if he holds his mind back from the pleasures of life; when all wish to injure has vanished, pain will cease.
—The Dhammapada
If a man would hasten towards the good, he should keep his thought away from evil; if a man does what is good slothfully, his mind delights in evil.
—The Dhammapada
Silently shall I endure abuse as the elephant in battle endures the arrow sent from the bow: for the world is ill-natured.
—The Dhammapada
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