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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As rain does not break through a well-thatched house, passion will not break through a well-reflecting mind.
—The Dhammapada
Topics: The Mind
Him I call indeed a Brahmana who is tolerant with the intolerant, mild with fault-finders, and free from passion among the passionate.
—The Dhammapada
A wise and good man who knows the meaning of this, should quickly clear the way that leads to Nirvana.
—The Dhammapada
Him I call indeed a Brahmana who does not offend by body, word, or thought, and is controlled on these three points.
—The Dhammapada
He who knows that this body s like froth, and has learnt that it is as unsubstantial as a mirage, will break the flower-pointed arrow of illusion, and never see the king of death.
—The Dhammapada
He who always greets and constantly reveres the aged, four things will increase to him, viz. life, beauty, happiness, power.
—The Dhammapada
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.
—The Dhammapada
Topics: Positive Attitudes, Thought, Thinking, Optimism, Thoughts
Not nakedness, not platted hair, not dirt, not fasting, or lying on the earth, not rubbing with dust, not sitting motionless, can purify a mortal who has not overcome desires.
—The Dhammapada
Him I call indeed a Brahmana who does not cling to pleasures, like water on a lotus leaf, like a mustard seed on the point of a needle.
—The Dhammapada
Forests are delightful; where the world finds no delight, there the passionless will find delight, for they look not for pleasures.
—The Dhammapada
The gods even envy him whose senses, like horses well broken in by the driver, have been subdued, who is free from pride, and free from appetites.
—The Dhammapada
From greed comes grief, from greed comes fear; he who is free from greed knows neither grief nor fear.
—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
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
Like a well-trained horse when touched by the whip, be ye active and lively, and by faith, by virtue, by energy, by meditation, by discernment of the law you will overcome this great pain (of reproof), perfect in knowledge and in behaviour, and never forgetful.
—The Dhammapada
A man is not a mendicant (Bhikshu) simply because he asks others for alms; he who adopts the whole law is a Bhikshu, not he who only begs.
—The Dhammapada
He who, by causing pain to others, wishes to obtain pleasure for himself, he, entangled in the bonds of hatred, will never be free from hatred.
—The Dhammapada
If a man’s thoughts are unsteady, if he does not know the true law, if his peace of mind is troubled, his knowledge will never be perfect.
—The Dhammapada
‘Here I shall dwell in the rain, here in winter and summer,’ thus the fool meditates, and does not think of his death.
—The Dhammapada
Make thyself an island, work hard, be wise! When thy impurities are blown away, and thou art free from guilt, thou wilt not enter again into birth and decay.
—The Dhammapada
He who has reached the consummation, who does not tremble, who is without thirst and without sin, he has broken all the thorns of life: this will be his last body.
—The Dhammapada
He who possesses virtue and intelligence, who is just, speaks the truth, and does what is his own business, him the world will hold dear.
—The Dhammapada
Self is the lord of self, who else could be the lord? With self well subdued, a man finds a lord such as few can find.
—The Dhammapada
He who is above good and evil, who is chaste, who with knowledge passes through the world, he indeed is called a Bhikshu.
—The Dhammapada
Few are there among men who arrive at the other shore (become Arhats); the other people here run up and down the shore.
—The Dhammapada
An evil deed is better left undone, for a man repents of it afterwards; a good deed is better done, for having done it, one does not repent.
—The Dhammapada
A Bhikshu (mendicant) who delights in reflection, who looks with fear on thoughtlessness, cannot fall away (from his perfect state)—he is close upon Nirvana.
—The Dhammapada
By oneself the evil is done, by oneself one suffers; by oneself evil is left undone, by oneself one is purified. Purity and impurity belong to oneself, no one can purify another.
—The Dhammapada
Beware of the anger of the mind, and control thy mind! Leave the sins of the mind, and practise virtue with thy mind!
—The Dhammapada
Good people shine from afar, like the snowy mountains; bad people are not seen, like arrows shot by night.
—The Dhammapada
‘All created things perish,’ he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way to purity.
—The Dhammapada
Pleasant in the world is the state of a mother, pleasant the state of a father, pleasant the state of a Samana, pleasant the state of a Brahmana.
—The Dhammapada
If a man make himself as he teaches others to be, then, being himself well subdued, he may subdue (others); one’s own self is indeed difficult to subdue.
—The Dhammapada
Him I call indeed a Brahmana who in this world is above good and evil, above the bondage of both, free from grief from sin, and from impurity.
—The Dhammapada
Him I call indeed a Brahmana who takes nothing in the world that is not given him, be it long or short, small or large, good or bad.
—The Dhammapada
Some people are born again; evil-doers go to hell; righteous people go to heaven; those who are free from all worldly desires attain Nirvana.
—The Dhammapada
The virtuous man is happy in this world, and he is happy in the next; he is happy in both. He is happy when he thinks of the good he has done; he is still more happy when going on the good path.
—The Dhammapada
Him I call indeed a Brahmana who has traversed this miry road, the impassable world and its vanity, who has gone through, and reached the other shore, is thoughtful, guileless, free from doubts, free from attachment, and content.
—The Dhammapada
Him I call indeed a Brahmana who is free from anger, dutiful, virtuous, without appetite, who is subdued, and has received his last body.
—The Dhammapada
He who seeking his own happiness punishes or kills beings who also long for happiness, will not find happiness after death.
—The Dhammapada
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