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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Let no one forget his own duty for the sake of another’s, however great; let a man, after he has discerned his own duty, be always attentive to his duty.
—The Dhammapada
The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, and their thoughts day and night are always set on the church.
—The Dhammapada
He who has tasted the sweetness of solitude and tranquillity, is free from fear and free from sin, while he tastes the sweetness of drinking in the law.
—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
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
This mind of mine went formerly wandering about as it liked, as it listed, as it pleased; but I shall now hold it in thoroughly, as the rider who holds the hook holds in the furious elephant.
—The Dhammapada
There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed.
—The Dhammapada
Topics: Emotions, Greed
That is the safe refuge, that is the best refuge; having gone to that refuge, a man is delivered from all pain.
—The Dhammapada
But that is not a safe refuge, that is not the best refuge; a man is not delivered from all pains after having gone to that refuge.
—The Dhammapada
As long as the evil deed done does not bear fruit, the fool thinks it is like honey; but when it ripens, then the fool suffers grief.
—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
Him I call indeed a Brahmana whose path the gods do not know, nor spirits (Gandharvas), nor men, whose passions are extinct, and who is an Arhat (venerable).
—The Dhammapada
He who overcomes this fierce thirst, difficult to be conquered in this world, sufferings fall off from him, like water-drops from a lotus leaf.
—The Dhammapada
He who is thoughtful, blameless, settled, dutiful, without passions, and who has attained the highest end, him I call indeed a Brahmana.
—The Dhammapada
Let us live happily then, though we call nothing our own! We shall be like the bright gods, feeding on happiness!
—The Dhammapada
Cut off the five (senses), leave the five, rise above the five. A Bhikshu, who has escaped from the five fetters, he is called Oghatinna, ‘saved from the flood.’
—The Dhammapada
If a man is tossed about by doubts, full of strong passions, and yearning only for what is delightful, his thirst will grow more and more, and he will indeed make his fetters strong.
—The Dhammapada
Death comes and carries off that man, praised for his children and flocks, his mind distracted, as a flood carries off a sleeping village.
—The Dhammapada
The sight of the elect (Arya) is good, to live with them is always happiness; if a man does not see fools, he will be truly happy.
—The Dhammapada
Let him admonish, let him teach, let him forbid what is improper!—he will be beloved of the good, by the bad he will be hated.
—The Dhammapada
‘All forms are unreal,’ he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way that leads to purity.
—The Dhammapada
Him I call indeed a Brahmana who, after leaving all bondage to men, has risen above all bondage to the gods, and is free from all and every bondage.
—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
For self is the lord of self, self is the refuge of self; therefore curb thyself as the merchant curbs a good horse.
—The Dhammapada
If a man has transgressed one law, and speaks lies, and scoffs at another world, there is no evil he will not do.
—The Dhammapada
Him I call indeed a Brahmana who fosters no desires for this world or for the next, has no inclinations, and is unshackled.
—The Dhammapada
Beware of bodily anger, and control thy body! Leave the sins of the body, and with thy body practise virtue!
—The Dhammapada
Like a well-guarded frontier fort, with defences within and without, so let a man guard himself. Not a moment should escape, for they who allow the right moment to pass, suffer pain when they are in hell.
—The Dhammapada
A true Brahmana goes scatheless, though he have killed father and mother, and two valiant kings, though he has destroyed a kingdom with all its subjects.
—The Dhammapada
He in whom there is truth, virtue, love, restraint, moderation, he who is free from impurity and is wise, he is called an elder.
—The Dhammapada
After a stronghold has been made of the bones, it is covered with flesh and blood, and there dwell in it old age and death, pride and deceit.
—The Dhammapada
A Bhikshu (mendicant) who delights in earnestness, who looks with fear on thoughtlessness, moves about like fire, burning all his fetters, small or large.
—The Dhammapada
He who destroys life, who speaks untruth, who in this world takes what is not given him, who goes to another man’s wife;
—The Dhammapada
A Bhikshu who, though he receives little, does not despise what he has received, even the gods will praise him, if his life is pure, and if he is not slothful.
—The Dhammapada
There is no suffering for him who has finished his journey, and abandoned grief, who has freed himself on all sides, and thrown off all fetters.
—The Dhammapada
Earnest among the thoughtless, awake among the sleepers, the wise man advances like a racer, leaving behind the hack.
—The Dhammapada
The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, and their mind day and night always delights in compassion.
—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
If you go on this way, you will make an end of pain! The way was preached by me, when I had understood the removal of the thorns (in the flesh).
—The Dhammapada
Do not speak harshly to anybody; those who are spoken to will answer thee in the same way. Angry speech is painful, blows for blows will touch thee.
—The Dhammapada
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