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 DHAMMAPADA

A TRANSLATION
 DHAMMAPADA

A TRANSLATION

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

(GeoffreyDeGraff)

PRINTED FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION

DHAMMA DANA PUBLICATIONS

BARRE CENTER FOR BUDDHIST STUDIES

BARRE, MASSACHUSETTS
 COPYRIGHT
© THANISSAROBHIKKHU 1998

Thisbookmaybecopiedor reprinted/or/ree distribution

withoutpermission fromthepublisher.
Otherwiseall rightsreserved.

CoverPhoto© GregoryM. Smith. Usedwith permission.

Printed in the United States of America.

Libraryof Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication
Datapending.

Third edition, revised, 2003

 CONTENTS

PREFACE i
INTRODUCTION iii

i: PAIRS i

ii: HEEDFULNESS 7

in: THE MIND 10

iv: BLOSSOMS 13

v : FOOLS 18

vi: THE WISE 23

vii: ARAHANTS 27

vni: THOUSANDS 30

ix : EVIL 34

x: THE ROD 38

xi: AGING 42

xii: SELF 45

xin : WORLDS 48

xiv : AWAKENED 51

xv : HAPPY 56
xvi: DEAR ONES 59

xvn : ANGER 62

xvin: IMPURITIES 66

xix : THE JUDGE 71

xx : THE PATH 76
xxi: MISCELLANY 81

xxn: HELL 85

xxm: ELEPHANTS 89

xxiv: CRAVING 93

xxv: MONKS 100

xxvi: BRAHMANS 106

HISTORICAL NOTES 119

END NOTES 137

GLOSSARY l6l

ABBREVIATIONS l66

BIBLIOGRAPHY 167
 PREFACE

Anothertranslationof theDhammapada.
Many other Englishtranslationsarealreadyavail-
able-the fingersof at leastfivepeoplewouldbeneeded
to countthem-so I suppose that a newtranslationhas
to bejustified,to provethat it'snot "just"anotherone.In
doingso,though,I'd rathernot criticizethe effortsof
earliertranslators,for I owethema greatdeal Instead,
I'll askyou to readthe Introduction and Historical
Notes,to gain an ideaof what is distinctiveaboutthe
approachI havetaken,andthe translationitself,which I
hopewill standon its ownmerits.The originalimpulse
for makingthe translationcamefrommyconvictionthat
the text deservedto be offered freely as a gift of
Dhamma.As I knewof no existingtranslationsavailable
asgifts,I mademyown.
The explanatory
materialis designedto meetwith
the needs of two sorts of readers: those who want to read

the text asa text,in the contextof the religioushistory

of Buddhism-viewed from the outside-and those

whowantto readthetext asaguideto thepersonal con-

duct of their lives. Although there is no clear line
dividingthesegroups,the Introductionis aimedmoreat
the secondgroup,andthe HistoricalNotesmoreat the
first. The End NotesandGlossarycontainmaterialthat
should be of interest to both. Verses marked with an
asterisk in the translation are discussed in the End

Notes. Pali terms-as well as Englishterms usedin a

specialsense,
suchaseffluent,
enlightened
one,
fabrication,
stress,
and Unbinding-whenthey appearin morethan
oneverse,areexplained
in theGlossary.
In addition to the previoustranslatorsand editors
from whosework I haveborrowed, I owea specialdebt
of gratitudeto JeanneLarsenfor her help in honing
downthe language of the translation.
Also,JohnBullitt,
CharlesHallisey,KarenKing, AndrewOlendzki,Ruth
Stiles,Clark Strand,PaulaTrahan,andJaneYudelman
offeredmanyhelpfulcomments that improvedthequal-
ity of thebookasa whole.Any mistakesthat remain,of
course, aremyownresponsibility.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Metta ForestMonastery
ValleyCenter,CA 92082-1409
December,1997

II
 INTRODUCTION

The Dhammapada, an anthologyof verses attributed

to the Buddha,haslong beenrecognized asoneof the
masterpiecesof earlyBuddhistliterature.Only more
recentlyhavescholarsrealizedthat it is alsooneof the
earlymasterpiecesin the Indian tradition of kavya,or
belles lettres.

This translationof the Dhammapada

is an attemptto
rendertheverses into Englishin a waythatdoesjusticeto
bothof thetraditionstowhichthetextbelongs. Although
it is temptingto viewthesetraditionsasdistinct,dealing
with form(kavya)andcontent(Buddhism), the idealsof
kavyaaimedatcombiningformandcontentinto a seam-
lesswhole.At thesametime,theearlyBuddhists adopted
andadapted the conventions of kavyain a waythat skill-
fully dovetailedwith their viewsof how teachingand
listeningplayedarolein their pathof practice.My hope
is that the translationpresentedherewill conveythe
same seamlessness and skill.

As an exampleof kavya,the Dhammapadahas a

fairly completebody of ethical and aesthetictheory
behindit, for the purposeof kavyawasto instructin the
highestendsof life whilesimultaneously givingdelight.
The ethicalteaching of theDhammapada is expressed
in
the first pair of verses:the mind, throughits actions

in
(kamma),
is the chiefarchitectof oneshappiness
andsuf-
fering both in this life and beyond.The first three
chapterselaborateon this point,to showthat thereare
two majorwaysof relatingto thisfact:asa wiseperson,
who is heedfulenoughto makethe necessary effortto
train his/her own mind to be a skillful architect;and asa
fool, who is heedlessand seesno reason to train the mind.
The work as a whole elaborates on this distinction,
showingin moredetailboththe pathof thewiseperson
and that of the fool, togetherwith the rewardsof the
formerandthedangers of thelatter:thepathof thewise
personcanleadnot onlyto happiness withinthe cycleof
deathand rebirth, but alsoto total escapeinto the
Deathless,beyondthe cycleentirely;the pathof the fool
leadsnotonlyto sufferingnowandin thefuture,but also
to furtherentrapment within the cycle.The purposeof
the Dhammapada is to makethe wisepathattractiveto
the reader so that he/she will follow it-for the dilemma
positedbythe first pairof verses is not onein theimagi-
nary world of fiction; it is the dilemmain which the
readeris already
placed bythefactof beingborn.
To makethe wisepathattractive,the techniques of
poetryare usedto give"savor"(rasa)to the message.
AncientIndianaesthetic treatisesdevotedagreatdealof
discussion to the notion of savor and how it could be

conveyed.The basictheorywasthis: Artistic composi-

tion expressed
statesof emotionor statesof mindcalled
"bhava." The standard list of basic emotions included

love(delight),humor,grief,anger,energy,
fear,disgust,

IV
and astonishment. The readeror listenerexposedto
thesepresentationsof emotiondid not participatein
them directly;rather,he/shesavoredthem asan aes-
thetic experience
at oneremovefrom the emotion.Thus,
the savorof griefis not grief,but compassion.The savor
of energyis not energyitself,but admirationfor hero-
ism.The savorof loveis not lovebut an experience of
sensitivity.The savorof astonishment is a senseof the
marvelous. The proofof the indirectness of theaesthetic
experiencewas that someof the basic emotionswere
decidedlyunpleasant,
whilethe savorof theemotionwas
to beenjoyed.
Althoughaworkof art mightdepictmanyemotions,
andthus-like a goodmeal-offer manysavorsfor the
reader/listener
to taste,onesavorwassupposed to dom-
inate.Writersmadea commonpracticeof announcing
the savortheyweretryingto produce,usuallystatingin
passingthat theirparticularsavorwasthe highestof all.
The Dhammapada [354]statesexplicitlythat the savor
of Dhammais the highestsavor,whichindicatesthat
that is the basic savor of the work. Classic aesthetic

theorylists the savorof Dhamma,or justice,asoneof

the three basicvarietiesof the heroic savor(the other
twodealwith generosityandwar):thuswewouldexpect
the majorityof the versesto depictenergy,andin fact
theydo, with their exhortations
to action,strongverbs,
repeatedimperatives, and frequentuseof the imagery
from battles,races,andconquests.
 Dhamma,in the Buddhistsense,impliesmorethan
the "justice"of Dhammain aesthetic
theory*However,
the long sectionof the Dhammapada devotedto "The
Judge"-beginningwith a definitionof a goodjudge,
and continuingwith examplesof goodjudgment-
showsthat the Buddhistconceptof Dhammahasroom
for theaesthetic
meaning
of thetermaswell
Classictheory also holds that the heroic savor
should,especially at the endof a piece,shadeinto the
marvelous. This, in fact, is what happensperiodically
throughoutthe Dhammapada, andespecially
atthe end,
wherethe versesexpress astonishment at the amazing
andparadoxical qualitiesof a personwhohasfollowed
the path of heedfulness to its end,becoming "pathless"
[92-93;179-180]-totally indescribable, transcending
conflictsanddualitiesof everysort.Thus the predomi-
nant emotions that the versesexpressin Pali-and
should also expressin translation-are energyand
astonishment,so asto producequalitiesof the heroic
and marvelous for the reader to savor. This savor is then

what inspiresthe readerto followthe path of wisdom,

with the resultthat he/shewill reacha directexperience
of thetruehappiness,
transcending
all dualities,foundat
theendof thepath.
Classic
aesthetic
theorylistsa varietyof rhetorical
fea-
turesthat canproducesavor.Examples from theselists
that canbe foundin the Dhammapada include:accumu-
lation(padoccaya)
[137-140],
admonitions (upadista)[47-48,
246-248,et.al.],ambiguity(aksarasamgbata) [97,294-295],

VI
benedictions(asis)[337],distinctions(visesana)
[19-20,21-
22,318-319],
encouragement (protsahana)
[35,43,46,et.aL],
etymology(nirukta)[388],examples(drstanta)
[30],expla-
nations of causeand effect (hetu) [1-2], illustrations
(udaharana)[344],implications
(arthapatti)
[341],rhetorical
questions(prccha)[44,62,143,et. aL],praise(gunakirtana)
[54'56,58-59,92-93,et.aL],prohibitions(pratisedha)
[121-
122,271-272,371,et. aL], and ornamentation (bbusana)
[passim].
Of these,ornamentation is the most complex,
includingfour figuresof speech andten "qualities."
The
figuresof speecharesimile[passim],extendedmetaphor
[398],rhyme(includingalliterationandassonance), and
"lamps"[passim].This last figureis a peculiarity of
Pali-a heavilyinflectedlanguage-thatallows,say,one
adjectiveto modifytwo differentnouns,or oneverbto
functionin two separate sentences.(The nameof the
figurederivesfrom the ideathat the two nounsradiate
from the oneadjective, or the two sentencesfrom the
oneverb.)In English,the closestwehaveto thisis paral-
lelism combined with ellipsis. An examplefrom the
translation is in verse 7-
Mara overcomes him
as the wind, a weak tree

-where "overcomes" functions as the verb in both

clauses,
eventhoughit is elidedfromthesecond.
This is
how I have rendered lamps in most of the verses,
althoughin two cases
[174,206]I foundit moreeffective
to repeatthelamp-word.

VII
 The ten "qualities"are more generalattributes of
sound,syntax,and sense,includingsuchattributesas
charm,clarity,delicacy,
evenness,exaltation,sweetness,
andstrength.The ancienttextsarenot especially
clear
on what someof thesetermsmeanin practice.Even
wherethey are clear,the terms deal in aspectsof
Pali/Sanskritsyntaxnot alwaysapplicableto English.
What is important,though,is that somequalitiesare
seenas more suited to a particular savorthan others:
strengthandexaltation,
for example,
bestconveya taste
of the heroic and marvelous. Of these characteristics,
strength(ojas)is the easiestto quantify,for it is marked
by long compoundedwords. In the Dhammapada,
approximatelyone tenth of the versescontaincom-
poundsthat areaslongasa wholelineof verse, andone
verse[39] hasthreeof its four linesmadeup of such
compounds. Bythe standards of laterSanskritverse,this
is rathermild, but whencompared with versesin the
restof the Pali Canonandotherearlymasterpieces of
kavya,theDhammapada is quitestrong.
The text alsoexplicitlyaddsto the theoryof charac-
teristicsin sayingthat"sweetness"is notjust anattribute
of words,but of the personspeaking [363].If the person
is a true exampleof the virtueespoused, his/herwords
aresweet. This point couldbegeneralized to covermany
of theotherqualitiesaswell.
Anotherpoint fromclassicaesthetictheorythat may
berelevantto theDhammapada is theprincipleof howa
literarywork is givenunity.Althoughthe text doesnot

VIII
providea step-by-step sequential portraitof the pathof
wisdom,asa lyric anthologyit is muchmoreunified
than most Indian examplesof that genre.The classic
theoryof dramaticplot constructionmaybe playingan
indirectrolehere.On the onehand,a plot mustexhibit
unity by presenting a conflictor dilemma,anddepicting
the attainmentof a goalthroughovercoming that con-
flict. This is precisely
what unifiesthe Dhammapada: it
beginswith the dualitybetweenheedless and heedful
waysof living, and endswith the final attainmentof
total mastery.On the other hand,the plot must not
showsmooth,systematic progress; otherwisethe work
would turn into a treatise. There must be reversals and

diversions to maintaininterest.This principleis at work

in the fairlyunsystematicorderingof the Dhammapada's
middle sections.Versesdealingwith the beginning
stages of the patharemixedtogetherwith thosedealing
with laterstages andevenstages beyondthe completion
of thepath.
One morepoint is that the idealplot shouldbe con-
structedwith a sub-plotin whicha secondary character
gainshis/hergoal,andin sodoinghelpsthemaincharac-
ter attainhisor hers.In additionto theaesthetic
pleasure
offeredby the sub-plot, the ethical lessonis one of
humancooperation: peopleattaintheirgoalsby working
together.In the Dhammapada, the samedynamicis at
work.The main"plot"is that of thepersonwhomasters
theprincipleof kammato thepoint of total releasefrom
kammaandthe roundof rebirth;the "sub-plot"depicts

IX
the personwhomastersthe principleof kammato the
pointofgainingagoodrebirthon thehumanor heavenly
planes.The second persongainshis/hergoal,in part,by
beinggenerous andrespectful
to thefirstperson[106-109,
177],thus enablingthe first personto practiceto the
point of total mastery.In return,the first persongives
counselto the second personon howto pursuehis/her
goal[76-77,363],In this waythe Dhammapada depicts
theplayof life in awaythat offerstwopotentiallyheroic
roles for the reader to choose from, and delineates those
rolesin sucha way that all peoplecanchooseto be
heroic,workingtogetherfor theattainmentof their own
truewellbeing.
Perhaps thebestwayto summarize theconfluence of
Buddhistandkavyatraditionsin the Dhammapada is in
light of a teachingfromanotherearlyBuddhisttext,the
SamyuttaNikaya(iv*5),on the factorsneeded to attain
one'sfirst tasteof the goalof the Buddhistpath.Those
factorsarefour:associating with peopleof integrity,lis-
teningto their teachings, usingappropriate attentionto
inquireinto the waythoseteachings applyto oneslife,
andpracticingin line with the teachings in a waythat
doesthemjustice.EarlyBuddhists usedthe traditionsof
kavya-concerning savor,rhetoric,structure,andfigures
of speech-primarilyin connectionwith the secondof
thesefactors,in orderto maketheteachings appealing to
thelistener.However, the questionof savoris relatedto
the otherthreefactorsaswell.The wordsof a teaching
mustbe spokenby a personof integritywhoembodies
their message
in his/her actionsif their savoris to be
sweet [158,363]*The listener must reflect on them
appropriatelyandthenput theminto practiceif theyare
to havemorethana passing, superficialtaste.Thusboth
the speaker andlistenermustactin linewith the words
of a teachingif it is to bearfruit. This point is reflected
in apairof verses fromtheDhammapada itself [51-52]:

Justlike a blossom,
brightcolored
but scentless:

a well-spoken
word
is fruitless
when not carried out.

Justlike a blossom,
brightcolored
& full of scent:

awell-spoken
word
is fruitful
when well carried out.

Appropriatereflection,the first stepalistenershould

followin carryingout thewell-spoken word,meanscon-
templatingone'sownlife to seethe dangers of following
the path of foolishnessandthe needto followthe path
of wisdom.The Buddhisttraditionrecognizes twoemo-
tions asplayinga role in this reflection.The first is
samvcga, a strongsenseof dismaythatcomeswith realiz-
ing the futility andmeaningless of life asit is normally

XI
lived,togetherwith a feelingof urgencyin tryingto find
a wayout of the meaningless cycle.The second emotion
is pasada,the clarityand serenitythat comewhenone
recognizesa teachingthat presentsthe truth of the
dilemmaof existence and at the sametime pointsthe
wayout. Onefunctionof theverses in the Dhammapada
is to providethis senseof clarity whichis whyverse82
statesthatthewisegrowserene onhearingtheDhamma,
and 102 states that the most worthwhile verse is the

meaningful
onethat,on hearing,bringspeace.
However,the process doesnot stopwith thesepre-
liminaryfeelings of peace andserenity.Thelistenermust
carrythroughwith the pathof practicethat the verses
recommend. Althoughmuchof the impetusfor doingso
comes fromtheemotionsof samvega andpasada sparked
by the contentof the verses, the heroicand marvelous
savorof theverses playsaroleaswell,byinspiringthelis-
tener to rousewithin him or herselfthe energyand
strengththat the path will require.When the path is
broughtto fruition,it bringsthepeace anddelightof the
Deathless [373-374].This iswheretheprocess initiatedby
hearingor readingthe Dhammabearsits deepest savor,
surpassing all others.It is thehighestsensein whichthe
meaningful versesof theDhammapada bringpeace.

In preparingthe followingtranslation,I havekept

the abovepoints in mind, motivatedboth by a firm
beliefin the truth of the message
of the Dhammapada,
andby adesireto presentit in acompellingwaythat will

XII
inducethereaderto put it into practice.Althoughtrying
to stayascloseaspossibleto the literalmeaningof the
text,I've alsotried to conveyits savor.I'm operatingon
theclassic assumption that,althoughtheremaybeaten-
sion betweengiving instruction (beingscrupulously
accurate)and giving delight (providing an enjoyable
tasteof thementalstatesthatthewordsdepict),thebest
translationis onethat playswith that tensionwithout
submittingtotallyto onesideat theexpense of theother.
To conveythe savorof the work,I haveaimedat a
sparestyleflexibleenoughto express
not onlyits domi-
nantemotions-energyandastonishment-butalsoits
transientemotions,suchashumor,delight,and fear.
Althoughthe originalverses conformto metricalrules,
the translations are in free verse. This is the form that

requiresthe fewestdeviationsfrom literal accuracy

and
allows for a terse directness that conforms with the

heroicsavorof the original.The freedomI haveusedin

placingwordson thepagealsoallowsmanyof thepoetic
effectsof Pali syntax-especiallythe parallelismand
ellipsisof the"lamps"-to shinethrough.
I havebeenrelativelyconsistentin choosingEnglish
equivalentsfor Pali terms,especiallywherethe terms
havea technicalmeaning. Totalconsistency,
althoughit
maybea logicalgoal,is by no means a rationalone,espe-
ciallyin translating
poetry.Anyonewhois truly bilingual
will appreciate this point. Wordsin the originalwere
chosen for their sound and connotations, as well as their
literal sense,
sothe sameprinciples-within reasonable

XIII
limits-have been used in the translation. Deviations

from the original syntaxarerare,andhavebeenlimited

primarilyto six sorts.The first four arefor the sakeof
immediacy:occasional useof the American"you"for
"one";occasionaluseof imperatives ("Do this!")for opta-
tives ("One should do this"); substitutingactivefor
passive voice;andreplacing "hewhodoesthis"with "he
doesthis"in manyof the verses definingthe truebrah-
manin Chapter26,The remainingtwo deviations are:
makingminoradjustments in sentence structureto keep
a wordatthe beginning or endof aversewhenthisposi-
tion seemsimportant(e.g*,158,384);and changingthe
numberfromsingular("thewiseperson")to plural("the
wise")whentalking aboutpersonalitytypes,both to
streamline thelanguage andto lightenthegenderbiasof
the originalPali,(As mostof the verses wereoriginally
addressed
to monks,I havefound it impossibleto elimi-
nate the genderbias entirely,and so apologizefor
whateverbiasremains,)
In verseswhereI sensethat a particularPaliword or
phraseis meantto carry multiple meanings,I have
explicitlygivenall of thosemeanings
in the English,even
wherethis has meanta considerable expansionof the
verse.(Manyof theseverses arediscussedin the notes,)
Otherwise, I have tried to make the translation as trans-
parentaspossible, in orderto allowthelight andenergy
of theoriginalto passthroughwith minimaldistortion.
The Dhammapada hasfor centuriesbeenusedasan
introductionto the Buddhistpoint of view.However,

XIV
the text is by no meanselementaryeitherin termsof
contentor style.Manyof theverses presuppose at leasta
passingknowledge of Buddhistdoctrine;othersemploy
multiplelevelsof meaningandwordplaytypicalof pol-
ishedkavya.For this reason,I haveaddednotesto the
translationto helpdrawout someof theimplicationsof
verses that mightnot be obviousto peoplewhoarenew
to eitherof thetwotraditionsthatthe textrepresents,
I hopethat whatever delightyougainfromthistrans-
lation will inspireyou to put the Buddha'swordsinto
practice,sothatyouwill someday tastethesavor,
notjust
of thewords,but of the Deathless to whichtheypoint.

xv
 i: PAIRS

Phenomena
are precededby theheart,
ruledbytheheart,
made of the heart*

If youspeakor act
with acorruptedheart,
thensufferingfollowsyou-
as the wheel of the cart,
the track of the ox

that pullsit.
Phenomena
are precededbythe heart,
ruledbythe heart,
made of the heart.

If youspeakor act
with acalm,brightheart,
thenhappiness followsyou,
like a shadow
that never leaves.
1-2*

'He insulted me,

hit me,
beat me,
robbed me'
"for those who brood on this,
hostilityisn'tstilled.
'He insulted me,
hit me,
beat me,
robbed me'-
for those who don't brood on this,
hostility is stilled*

Hostilities aren't stilled

throughhostility,
regardless.
Hostilities are stilled

throughnon-hostility:
this,anunendingtruth.

Unlike those who don't realize

that we'rehereon theverge

ofperishing,
those who do:

theirquarrels
arestilled,
3-6

Onewhostaysfocused
onthebeautiful,
is unrestrained with the senses,
knowingno moderation
in food,
apathetic,
unenergetic:
Mara overcomes him
as the wind, a weak tree.
Onewhostaysfocused on thefoul,
is restrainedwith regardto thesenses,
knowingmoderation in food,
full of conviction& energy:
Mara does not overcome him
as the wind, a mountain of rock.

He who, depraved,
devoid
of truthfulness
& self-control,
puts on the ochrerobe,
doesn't deserve the ochre robe.

But he who is free

of depravity
endowed
with truthfulness
& self-control,
well-established

in theprecepts,
truly deserves
the ochrerobe.
9-10

Thosewhoregard
non-essence as essence

and seeessenceas non-,

don'tgetto theessence,
rangingaboutin wrongresolves.
But those who know
essence as essence,

and non-essenceas non-,

getto theessence,
rangingaboutin rightresolves.

As rain seepsinto
an ill-thatched hut,
sopassion,
theundeveloped
mind.
As raindoesn'tseepinto
a well-thatched hut,
sopassiondoesnot,
thewell-developed
mind.
13-14

Here hegrieves
hegrieves hereafter.
In both worlds

thewrong-doergrieves.
Hegrieves,
he'safflicted,
seeing
thecorruption
of his deeds.

Here he rejoices
he rejoices hereafter.
In both worlds

themerit-maker rejoices.
He rejoices,
isjubilant,
seeingthepurity
of his deeds.
Here he's tormented
he's tormented hereafter.
In both worlds

thewrong-doer'stormented.
He'stormented atthethought,
I've donewrong/
Havinggoneto abaddestination,
he's tormented
all the more.

Here hedelights
hedelights hereaften
In both worlds

themerit-maker delights.
He delightsat thethought,
I've made merit,'

Havinggoneto agooddestination,
hedelights
all the more,
15-18*

If he recitesmanyteachings,
but
-heedless man-

doesn'tdowhattheysay,
like acowherdcountingthecattleof
others,
hehasno sharein the contemplative
life.
If he recitesnext to nothing
but follows the Dhamma
in line with the Dhamma;
abandoning
passion,
aversion, delusion;
alert,
his mind well-released,
not clinging
either here or hereafter:

hehashissharein thecontemplative
life,
19-20
 ii: HEEDFULNESS

Heedfulness:thepathto theDeathless.
Heedlessness:
thepathto death.
The heedful do not die.
The heedless are as if

alreadydead.
Knowingthisasa truedistinction,
those wise in heedfulness

rejoice in heedfulness,
enjoyingthe rangeof thenobleones.
Theenlightened,
constantly
absorbedinjhana,
persevering,
firm in their effort:

theytouchUnbinding,
theunexcelled
safetyfrombondage.
Those with initiative,
mindful,
clean in action,
actingwith dueconsideration,
heedful, restrained,
livingtheDhamma:
theirglory
grows.
21-24*
Through initiative,needfulness,
restraint, & self-control,
the wise would make
an island
no flood

cansubmerge,
25

They'readdictedto heedlessness
-dullards, fools-
while one who is wise
cherishes heedfulness

ashishighestwealth,
26

Don'tgivewayto heedlessness
or to intimacy
with sensualdelight-
for a heedfulperson,
absorbed injhana,
attains an abundance of ease,
27

When the wisepersondrivesout

heedlessness
with heedfulness,
havingclimbedthehightower
of discernment,
sorrow-free,
heobserves
thesorrowingcrowd-
astheenlightened
man,
havingscaled
a summit,
thefoolson thegroundbelow.

Heedfulamongtheheedless,
wakefulamongthoseasleep,
just asa fasthorseadvances,
leavingtheweakbehind:
so the wise.
29

Throughheedfulness, Indrawon
to lordshipoverthegods.
Heedfulness is praised,
heedlessness censured-

always.
30

Themonkdelightingin heedfulness,
seeing
dangerin heedlessness,
advanceslike a fire,
burningfetters
great& small.
Themonkdelightingin heedfulness,
seeingdangerin heedlessness
-incapableof fallingback-
standsrighton theverge
of Unbinding.
31-32
 in : THE MIND

Quivering,wavering,
hardto guard,
to hold in check:
the mind.

Thesagemakes
it straight-
like a fletcher,
the shaft of an arrow*

Like a fish

pulledfrom its homein the water

SCthrown on land:

thismindflips& flapsabout
to escape
Mara'ssway.
Hard to hold down,
nimble,
alightingwherever
it likes:
the mind.

Its tamingis good.

The mind well-tamed

bringsease.
So hard to see,
sovery,verysubtle,
alightingwherever
it likes:
the mind.

Thewiseshouldguardit.

10
The mindprotected
bringsease*

Wanderingfar,
goingalone,
bodiless,
lying in a cave:
the mind.
Those who restrain it:
from Mara's bonds

they'llbefreed.
33-37*

Forapersonof unsteady
mind,
not knowingtrueDhamma,
serenity
set adrift:

discernment
doesn'tgrowfull
38

Forapersonof unsoddened
mind,
unassaulted awareness,
abandoning
merit& evil,
wakeful,
thereis no danger
no fear.
39*

II
Knowingthis body
is like a clayjar,
securingthis mind
like a fort,
attack Mara

with thespearof discernment,

thenguardwhat'swon
withoutsettlingthere,
withoutlayingclaim.
40*

All toosoon,thisbody
will lie on theground
cast off,
bereft of consciousness,
like a uselessscrap
of wood.
41

Whateveranenemymightdo
to an enemy,
or a foe to a foe,
the ill-directed mind

candoto you
even worse.

Whatever a mother, father

or other kinsman

mightdo for you,

the well-directed mind

cando for you

even better.
42-43*

12
 iv: BLOSSOMS

Who will penetrate

thisearth
& this realm of death

with all its gods?

Who will ferret out

thewell-taughtDhamma-saying,
asthe skillfulflower-arranger
the flower?

The learner-on-the-path
will penetratethis earth
& this realm of death

with all its gods.

The learner-on-the-path
will ferret out

thewell-taughtDhamma-saying,
astheskillfulflower-arranger
the flower.
44'45*

Knowingthisbody
is like foam,
realizingits nature
-a mirage-
cutting out
the blossoms of Mara,
yougo wheretheKingof Death
cant see*

46

The man immersed in

gathering
blossoms,
his heart distracted:

deathsweeps him away-

asagreatflood,
a villageasleep.
The man immersed in

gathering
blossoms,
his heart distracted,
insatiable
in sensual
pleasures:
the End-Maker holds him

underhissway,
<-"""
47-48*

As abee-without harming
the blossom,
its color,
its fragrance-
takesits nectar& fliesaway:
soshouldthesage
gothroughavillage,
49
Focus,
not on the rudenessesof others,
not on whatthey'vedone
or left undone,
but on whatyou
have & haven't done

yourself.
50

Justlike a blossom,
brightcolored
but scentless:

awell-spoken
word
is fruitless
when not carried out.

Justlike a blossom,
brightcolored
& full of scent:

awell-spoken
word
is fruitful
when well carried out,
51-52

Justasfroma heapof flowers

manygarlandstrandscanbemade,
even so

one born & mortal

should do
-with what's born & is mortal-

manyaskillfulthing,
53*
No flower's scent

goesagainst
thewind-
not sandalwood,
jasmine,
tagara.
Butthescentofthegood
doesgoagainstthewind*
Thepersonof integrity
wafts a scent

in everydirection.

Sandalwood,
tagara,
lotus,& jasmine:
amongthesescents,
the scent of virtue

is unsurpassed.

Nextto nothing,thisfragrance
-sandalwood,tagara-
while the scent of the virtuous

waftsto thegods,
supreme.
54-56*

Those consummate in virtue,

dwelling in heedfulness,
releasedthroughright knowing:
Mara can't follow their tracks.
57*

16
As in apileof rubbish
castbythesideof ahighway
alotusmightgrow
clean-smelling
pleasingtheheart,
so in the midst of the rubbish-like,
peoplerun-of-the-mill& blind,
there dazzles with discernment
thediscipleof theRightly
Self-Awakened One.
58-59
 v: FOOLS

Longfor thewakefulis thenight.

Longfor theweary,
aleague.
For fools
unaware of True Dhamma,
samsara

is long.
60

If, in yourcourse,
youdon'tmeet
yourequal,yourbetter,
thencontinueyourcourse,
firmly,
alone.

There'sno fellowship
with fools,
61

1 have sons, I have wealth'-

the fool torments himself.
When even he himself

doesn'tbelongto himself,
how then sons?
How wealth?
62

18
A fool with a sense of his foolishness
is-at least to that extent-wise.
But a fool who thinks himself wise

reallydeserves
to becalled
a fool
63

Even if for a lifetime

thefool stayswith thewise,

heknowsnothingof theDhamma-
as the ladle,
thetasteof thesoup.

Even if for a moment,

theperceptive personstayswith thewise,
he immediately knowstheDhamma-
asthetongue,
thetasteof the soup,
64-65

Fools, their wisdom weak,

are their own enemies

astheygothroughlife,
doingevil
that bears
bitter fruit.
66
 Its not good,
thedoingof thedeed
that, once its done,
you regret,
whoseresultyoureapcrying,
yourfacein tears.

Its good,
thedoingof thedeed
that, once its done,
youdont regret,
whoseresultyoureapgratified,
happyatheart,
67-68

As longasevilhasyetto ripen,
thefool mistakes
it for honey.
But whenthat evil ripens,
the fool falls into

pain,
69

Month after month

thefoolmighteat
onlyatip-of-grass
measure
of food,
but he wouldn't be worth
one sixteenth
of those who've fathomed
the Dhamma,
70

20
An evil deed, when done,
doesn't-likereadymilk-
comeout right away.
It follows the fool,
smoldering
like a fire
hidden in ashes.
71*

Only for hisruin

does renown come to the fool

It ravageshisbrightfortune
& rips hishead apart.
He would want unwarranted status,
preeminence amongmonks,
authority amongmonasteries,
homage fromlayfamilies.

'Lethouseholders
& thosegoneforth
both think that this

wasdoneby mealone.
MayI alonedetermine
what'saduty,what'snot':
the resolve of a fool

astheygrow-
hisdesire& pride.
72-74

21
Thepathto materialgain
goes one way,
thewayto Unbinding,
another.

Realizing
this,themonk,
a discipleto the AwakenedOne,
shouldnot relishofferings,
should cultivate seclusion
instead.
75

22
 vi: THE WISE

Regardhim asonewho
points out
treasure,

the wise one who

seeing
yourfaults
rebukes you.

Staywith thissortof sage.

Fortheonewhostays
with a sageof thissort,
thingsgetbetter,
not worse.

Let him admonish, instruct,

deflectyou
awayfrompoormanners,
To thegood,he'sendearing;
to the bad, he's not,
76-77

Don't associate with bad friends.

Don't associate with the low.
Associate with admirable friends.
Associate with the best,
78

23
DrinkingtheDhamma,
refreshedby the Dhamma,
onesleepsat ease
with clear awareness & calm.
In the Dhamma revealed

bythenobleones,
thewiseperson
alwaysdelights,
79*

Irrigatorsguide the water.

Fletchersshape the arrowshaft.
Carpentersshape the wood.
The wise control
themselves.
80

As asingleslabof rock
won'tbudgein thewind,
so the wise are not moved

bypraise,
byblame.
81

Like a deeplake,
clear, unruffled, & calm:
so the wise become clear,
calm,
onhearingwordsofthe Dhamma.
82

24
Everywhere, truly,
thoseof integrity
stand apart.
They,thegood,
don'tchatterin hopes
of favoror gains.
When touched

nowbypleasure,
now pain,
thewisegiveno sign
of high
or low,
83*

One who wouldn't-

not for his own sake
nor that of another-
hanker for
wealth,
a son,

a kingdom,
his own fulfillment,
by unrighteous
means:
heis righteous,
rich
in virtue,
discernment,
84
Fewarethe people
who reach the Far Shore,
These others

simplyscurryalong
this shore.

But thosewho practiceDhamma

in line with the well-taughtDhamma,
will cross over the realm of Death
so hard to transcend.

Forsaking
darkpractices,
thewiseperson
shoulddevelopthebright,
havinggonefromhome
to no-home

in seclusion,
sohardto enjoy.
Therehe shouldwishfor delight,
discardingsensuality-
he who hasnothing.
He should cleanse himself-wise-
of what defiles the mind.

Whosemindsarewell-developed
in thefactorsfor self-awakening,
who delightin non-clinging,
relinquishing
grasping-
resplendent,
their effluents ended:

they,in theworld,
are Unbound,
85-89*

26
 vii: ARAHANTS

In one who

hasgonethefull distance,
is free from sorrow,
is fully released
in all respects,
has abandoned all bonds:
no fever is found,
90

The mindfulkeepactive,
don'tdelightin settlingback.
Theyrenounce everyhome,
everyhome,
likeswanstakingoff froma lake,
91

Not hoarding,
havingunderstood
food,
their pasture-emptiness
& freedomwithoutsign:
their trail,
likethatof birdsthroughspace,
can't be traced.

27
Effluents ended,
independentof nutriment,
their pasture-emptiness
& freedomwithoutsign:
their trail,
likethat ofbirdsthroughspace,
can't be traced,
92-93*

He whose senses are steadied

like stallions

well-trained
bythecharioteer,
his conceit abandoned,
free of effluent,
Such:
even devas adore him.

Like the earth, he doesn't react-

cultured,
Such,
like Indra'spillar,
like a lake free of mud.
For him
-Such-

there's
no travelingon,
r^ i is
Calm " his
1 " mind,
calmhis speech & his deed:
onewho'sreleased
throughrightknowing,
pacified,
Such.
94-96*

28
 The man

faithless/ beyondconviction
ungrateful/ knowingthe Unmade
a burglar/ whohassevered connections
who'sdestroyed
his chances / conditions
whoeatsvomit: / hasdisgorged
expectations:
the ultimate person,
97*

In villageor wilds,
valley,plateau:
thatplaceis delightful
where arahants dwell
98

Delightfulwilds
wherethecrowdsdon'tdelight,
thosefreefrompassion
delight,
for they'renot searching
for sensual pleasures,
99

29
 viii: THOUSANDS

Better
than if there were thousands

of meaningless
wordsis
one

meaningful
word

thaton hearing
bringspeace.

Better
than if there were thousands

of meaningless
verses
is
one

meaningful
verse

that on hearing
bringspeace.

And betterthanchantinghundreds
of meaningless
verses
is
one

Dhamma-saying
thaton hearing
bringspeace.

30
Greater in battle

thanthe manwhowouldconquer
a thousand-thousand men,
is he who would conquer
just one-
himself.

Betterto conqueryourself
than others.

Whenyou'vetrainedyourself,
livingin constantself-control,
neitheradevanorgandhabba,
nor a Mara banded with Brahmas,
couldturn thattriumph
back into defeat.
103-105

Youcould,monthby month,
at a cost of thousands,
conduct sacrifices
a hundred times,
or

payasinglemoment's
homage
to one person,
self-cultivated.

Betterthanahundredyearsof sacrifices
wouldthatactof homage
be.
Youcould,for a hundredyears,
live in a forest

tendinga fire,
or

paya singlemoment's
homage
to one person,
self-cultivated.

Betterthanahundredyearsof sacrifices
wouldthat actof homage
be.
Everything
offered
or sacrificed in the world

for anentireyearbyoneseeking
merit
doesn't come to a fourth.

Betterto payrespect
to thosewho'vegone
the straightway.
106-108*

If you'rerespectful
byhabit,
constantly honoringtheworthy,
fourthingsincrease:
longlife,beauty,
happiness,
strength.
109

Betterthanahundredyears
lived without virtue, uncentered, is
oneday
livedby avirtuousperson
absorbed injhana.

32
Andbetterthana hundredyears
livedundiscerning,
uncentered,
is
oneday
livedby adiscerning
person
absorbed injhana.
Andbetterthanahundredyears
livedapathetic& unenergetic,
is
oneday
livedenergetic
& firm.
And betterthanahundredyears
livedwithoutseeing
arising& passingaway,is
oneday
livedseeing
arising& passingaway.

And betterthana hundredyears

livedwithoutseeing
the Deathless state, is
oneday
livedseeing
the Deathless state.

Andbetterthanahundredyears
livedwithoutseeing
the ultimate Dhamma, is
oneday
livedseeing
the ultimate Dhamma.
110-115

33
 ix : EVIL

Bequickin doing
what's admirable.

Restrain
yourmind
from what's evil

When you'reslow
in makingmerit,
evildelightsthe mind.
116

If apersondoesevil,
heshouldn'tdo it again& again,
shouldn'tdevelop apenchantfor it.
To accumulate evil

bringspain.

If apersonmakes merit,
heshoulddo it againScagain,
shoulddevelop apenchantfor it.
To accumulate merit
, . 6 ease,
brings
117-118

34
Even the evil

meetwith goodfortune
aslongastheirevil
hasyetto mature.
But when it's matured

that'swhentheymeet
with evil

Eventhegood
meet with bad fortune

aslongastheirgood
hasyetto mature.
But when it's matured

that'swhentheymeet
with goodfortune.
119-120

Don't be heedless of evil

('It won'tcometo me).
A waterjar fills,
even with water

falling in drops.
With evil-even if
bit

by
bit,
habitually-
the fool fills himself full.

35
Don't be heedless of merit
(It won'tcometo me').
A waterjar fills,
even with water

falling in drops.
With merit-even if
bit

by
bit,
habitually-
theenlightened onefillshimselffull

Like a merchant with a small

but well-laden caravan

-a dangerous
road,
likeapersonwholoveslife
-a poison,
one should avoid
-evil deeds,
123

If there's no wound on the hand,

that handcanhold poison.
Poisonwont penetrate
where there's no wound.
There's no evil
for those who don't do it.
124
Whoever harasses
an innocent man,
amanpure,withoutblemish:
theevilcomesrightbackto thefool
like fine dust

thrownagainst
thewind.
125

Some are born in the human womb,

evildoers in hell,
thoseon thegoodcoursego
to heaven,
while those without effluent:

totallyunbound*
126*

Not up in the air,

nor in the middle of the sea,
norgoinginto acleftin the mountains
-nowhere on earth-

is a spotto be found
whereyoucouldstay& escape
your evil deed.

Not up in the air,

nor in the middle of the sea,
nor goinginto acleftin themountains
-nowhere on earth-

is a spotto be found
whereyoucouldstay& not succumb
to death.
127-128

37
 x : THE ROD

All
tremble at the rod,
all
are fearful of death.

Drawingtheparallelto
yourself,
neitherkill norgetothersto kill
All
tremble at the rod,
all
hold their life dean

Drawingtheparallelto
yourself,
neitherkill norgetothersto kill.
129-130

Whoever takes a rod

to harmlivingbeingsdesiringease,
whenhehimselfis lookingfor ease,
meets with no ease after death.

Whoever doesn't take a rod

to harmlivingbeingsdesiringease,
whenhehimselfislookingfor ease,
meets with ease after death.
131-132
Speakharshlyto no one,
or the words will be thrown

rightbackatyou.
Contentious talkis painful,
for yougetstruckby rodsin return.
133

If, like a flattenedmetalpot

youdon'tresound,
you'veattainedan Unbinding;
in youthere'sfound
no contention.
134

As a cowherd with a rod

drives cows to the field,
soaging& death
drive the life

of livingbeings,
135

Whendoingevildeeds,
the fool is oblivious.
The dullard
is tormented

by hisowndeeds,
asif burnedby afire.
136

39
 Whoever, with a rod,
harasses an innocent man, unarmed,
quicklyfallsinto anyof tenthings:
harshpains,devastation, a brokenbody,graveillness,
mental derangement, trouble with the government,
violentslander,
relatives lost,propertydissolved,
houses
burned down.

At thebreak-up
of thebody
this one with no discernment,
reappearsin
hell
137-140

Neither nakedness nor matted hair

nor mud nor the refusal of food

norsleeping
on thebareground
nordust& dirt norsquattingausterities
cleanses the mortal

who'snot gonebeyonddoubt.

If, thoughadorned,
onelivesin tune
with the chaste life
-calmed, tamed, & assured-
havingput downtherodtowardallbeings,
he's a contemplative
a brahman
a monk,
141-142

40
Who in the world

is amanconstrained
by conscience,
who awakens to censure

like a fine stallion to the whip?

143*

Like a fine stallion

struckwith awhip,
be ardent & chastened.

Throughconviction
virtue, persistence,
concentration,
judgment,
consummate
in knowledge
& conduct,
mindful,
you'llabandon
thisnot-insignificant
pain.
144

Irrigatorsguide thewater.
Fletchers shape thearrowshaft.
Carpenters shape thewood.
Thoseofgoodpractices
control
themselves.
H5
 xi: AGING

Whatlaughter, whyjoy,
whenconstantly aflame?
Enveloped in darkness,
don'tyoulookfor alamp?
146

Lookatthebeautified image,
aheapof festering wounds,shoredup:
ill, but theobject
of manyresolves,
wherethereis nothing
lastingor sure,
147

Worn out is thisbody,

a nestof diseases,
dissolving.
This putrid conglomeration
isboundto breakup,
for life is hemmed in with death*
148

On seeing
thesebones
discarded

likegourdsin thefall,
pigeon-gray:
whatdelight?
149

42
A citymadeof bones,
plastered
overwith flesh& blood,
whose hidden treasures are:

pride & contempt,

aging& death.
150

Evenroyalchariots
well-embellished

getrun down,
andsodoesthebody
succumb to oldage,
Butthe Dhammaof thegood
doesn'tsuccumb to oldage:
thegoodlet thecivilizedknow.
151

This unlisteningman
matures like an ox.

His musclesdevelop,
his discernment not.
152*

Throughthe roundof manybirthsI roamed

without reward,
without rest,
seeking
thehouse-builder.
Painfulis birth again
& again.

43
House-builder, you'reseen!
Youwill not build ahouseagain.
All yourraftersbroken,
theridgepoledestroyed,
goneto the Unformed, themind
hascometo theendofcraving,
153-154*

Neitherlivingthechastelife
norgainingwealthin theiryouth,
theywasteawaylikeoldherons
in a dried-uplake
depletedof fish.

Neitherlivingthechastelife
norgainingwealthin theiryouth,
theylie around,
misfired from the bow,
sighingoveroldtimes,
155-156

44
 xii: SELF

If youholdyourselfdear
thenguard,guardyourselfwell
Thewisepersonwouldstayawake
nursinghimself
in anyof thethreewatchesof thenight,
thethreestages
of life.
157*

First
he'd settle himself
in what is correct,
onlythen
teach others.
He wouldn't stain his name
: he is wise*
158

If you'dmoldyourself
thewayyouteachothers,
then, well-trained,
goahead& tame-
for,astheysay,
what'shardto tameisyou
yourself
159

45
Your own self is

your own mainstay

for whoelsecouldyourmainstay be?
With youyourselfwell-trained
youobtainthemainstay
hard to obtain.
160

The evil he himself has done

-self-born, self-created-
grindsdownthedullard,
asa diamond,a preciousstone.
161

Whenoverspread byextremevice-
likea saltreebyavine-
youdo to yourself
whatan enemy wouldwish.
162*

They'reeasyto do-
thingsof no good
& nouseto yourself*
What'struly useful& good
is truly harderthanhardto do.
163

46
The teaching
of those
who live the Dhamma,
worthyones,noble:
whoevermalignsit
-a dullard

inspiredby evilview-
bears fruit for his own destruction,
likethefruitingof thebamboo.
164*

Evilis done byoneself

byoneselfis onedefiled.
Evilis leftundoneby oneself
byoneselfis onecleansed.
Purity& impurityareonesowndoing*
No onepurifiesanother.
No otherpurifiesone.
,65*

Don'tsacrifice
yourownwelfare
for that of another,
no matterhowgreat.
Realizingyourowntruewelfare,
beintentonjust that.
166*

47
 xiii: WORLDS

Don'tassociate
with lowlyqualities*
Don't consort with heedlessness.

Don'tassociate
with wrongviews.
Don'tbusyyourself
with theworld.
167

Get up!Don'tbeheedless.
Live the Dhamma well
One who lives the Dhamma

sleeps
with ease
in this world & the next.

Live the Dhamma well.

Don'tliveit badly.
One who lives the Dhamma

sleeps
with ease
in this world & the next.
168-169

See it as a bubble,
seeit asa mirage:
onewhoregardstheworldthisway
theKingof Deathdoesn'tsee.
170*
Come, look at this world
all decked out

likea royalchariot,
wherefoolsplungein,
while those who know

don'tcling,
171

Who once was heedless,

but later is not,
brightenstheworld
like the moon set free from a cloud.

His evil-done deed

is replaced
with skillfulness:
hebrightenstheworld
like the moon set free from a cloud,
172-173

Blinded this world-

howfewhereseeclearly!
Justasbirdswho'veescaped
from a net are
few, few
arethe people
who make it to heaven.

49
Swansfly thepathof thesun;
thosewith thepowerfly throughspace;
theenlightenedfleefromtheworld,
havingdefeatedthearmiesof Mara.
175

The personwhotells a lie,

whotransgresses
in thisonething,
transcending
concern for theworldbeyond:
there's no evil

hemightnot do.

No misersgo
to the world of the devas.

Thosewhodon'tpraisegiving
are fools.

Theenlightened
express
theirapproval
for giving
and so find ease

in theworldbeyond.
177

Sole dominion over the earth,

goingto heaven,
lordshipoverallworlds:
thefruit of Stream-entry
excels them.
178*
 xiv: AWAKENED

Whoseconquest
cant be undone,
whoseconquest
no one in the world
can reach;
awakened,
hispastureendless,
pathless:
bywhatpathwill youleadhim astray?

In whomthere'sno craving
-the stickyensnarer-
to leadhim anywhereveratall;
awakened, hispastureendless,
pathless:
bywhatpathwill youleadhim astray?
179-180

They,theenlightened, intentonjhana,
delightingin stilling
& renunciation,
self-awakened & mindful:
even the devas

viewthemwith envy.
181
Hard thewinningofa humanbirth.
Hard the life of mortals.
Hard the chance to hear the true Dhamma.

Hard thearisingof Awakened

Ones,
182

The non-doing ofanyevil,

theperformanceof what'sskillful,
thecleansing of one's ownmind:
thisis theteaching
of the Awakened.

Patient endurance:

theforemostausterity.
Unbinding:
the foremost,
sosaytheAwakened.
He whoinjuresanother
is no contemplative.
He who mistreats another,
no monk.

Not disparaging,
not injuring,
restraint in line with the Patimokkha,
moderation in food,
dwelling in seclusion,
commitment to theheightened mind:
thisis theteaching
of the Awakened.
183-185*
Not evenif it rainedgoldcoins
would we have our fill

of sensual
pleasures.
'Stressful,
theygivelittle enjoyment'-
knowingthis,thewiseone
findsno delight
evenin heavenly sensual
pleasures.
He is onewhodelights
in theendingof craving,
adiscipleof theRightly
Self-Awakened One.
186-187

Theygoto manyarefuge,
to mountains & forests,
to park& treeshrines:
peoplethreatened with danger.
That'snot thesecure refuge,
not thesupreme refuge,
that'snot therefuge,
havinggoneto which,
yougainrelease
fromallsuffering& stress.

Butwhen,havinggone
to the Buddha, Dhamma,
& Sanghafor refuge,
youseewith rightdiscernment
the four noble truths-

53
 stress,

the cause of stress,

thetranscendingof stress,
& thenobleeightfoldpath,
thewayto thestillingof stress:
that'sthesecurerefuge,
that,thesupreme refuge,
thatis therefuge,
havinggoneto which,
yougainrelease
fromall suffering& stress,
188-192*

It'shardto comeby
a thoroughbred of aman.
It'ssimplynot true
that he'sborneverywhere.
Whereverhe'sborn,anenlightened
one,
thefamilyprospers,
is happy.
193

A blessing: thearisingof AwakenedOnes.

A blessing: the teaching
of trueDhamma.
A blessing: the concordof theSangha.
The austerityof thosein concord
is ablessing.
194

54
If youworshipthoseworthyofworship,
-Awakened Onesor their disciples-
who've transcended

complications,
lamentation,
& grief,
whoareunendangered,
fearless,
unbound:

there'sno measurefor reckoning

thatyourmerit'sthismuch/
195-196

55
 xv: HAPPY

How veryhappilywelive,
freefromhostility
amongthosewhoarehostile*
Amonghostilepeople,
freefromhostilitywedwell

How veryhappilywelive,
freefrommisery
amongthosewhoaremiserable.
Amongmiserable people,
freefrommiserywedwell

Howveryhappilywelive,
freefrombusyness
amongthosewhoarebusy.
Amongbusypeople,
freefrombusyness
wedwell

How veryhappilywelive,
wewhohavenothing.
We will feedon rapture
liketheRadiantgods.
197-200
Winninggivesbirth to hostility.
Losing,oneliesdownin pain.
The calmed lie down with ease,
havingset
winning& losing
aside.
2OI

There'sno firelikepassion,
nolosslikeanger,
nopainliketheaggregates,
no easeotherthanpeace.

Hunger:theforemostillness.
Fabrications: theforemostpain.
Foroneknowingthistruth
asit actuallyis,
Unbinding
is the foremost ease.

Freedom
fromillness:theforemost
goodfortune.
Contentment: the foremost wealth.

Trust:theforemostkinship.
Unbinding:the foremost
ease.
202-204

Drinkingthenourishment,
the flavor,
of seclusion & calm,
one is freed from evil, devoid
of distress,

57
refreshed with the nourishment

of rapturein the Dhamma,

205

It'sgoodto seeNobleOnes,
Happytheircompany-always.
Throughnot seeingfools
constantly,
constantly
onewouldbehappy.

For,livingwith afool,
onegrievesalongtime.
Painful is communion with fools,
aswith anenemy-
always,
Happy is communion
with theenlightened,
aswith agatheringofkin.
So:

theenlightened man-
discerning,learned,
enduring,dutiful,noble,
intelligent,amanofintegrity:
follow him
-one of this sort-

asthe moon,the path

of the zodiac stars,
206-208
 xvi: DEAR ONES

Havingappliedhimself
to what was not his own task,
andnot havingappliedhimself
to what was,
havingdisregardedthegoal
to graspat whathehelddear,
he now envies those

who keptafterthemselves,
took themselves
to task.
209*

Don'tever-regardless-
beconjoinedwith what'sdear
or undear.

It'spainful
not to see what's dear
or to see what's not.

Sodon'tmakeanythingdear,
for it's dreadful to be far
from what's dean
No bonds are found
for those for whom
there's neither dear
nor undean
2IO2II

59
Fromwhat'sdearis borngrief,
from what's dear is born fear.
For one freed from what's dear

there'snogrief
-so how fear?

Fromwhat'slovedis borngrief,
from what's loved is born fear.
For one freed from what's loved

there's
nogrief
-so how fear?

Fromdelightis borngrief,
fromdelightis bornfean
Foronefreedfromdelight
there's
no grief
-so how fear?

Fromsensuality is borngrief,
fromsensuality is bornfean
Foronefreedfromsensuality
there's
no grief
-so how fear?

Fromcravingis borngrief,
fromcravingis bornfean
Foronefreedfromcraving
there'sno grief
-so Ihow rear?
r ;,
212-216 -

60
One consummate

in virtue SCvision,
judicious,
speakingthetruth,
doinghisowntask:
the world holds him dean
217

If

you've
givenbirth to awish
for what can'tbe expressed,
are suffused with heart,
yourmindnot enmeshed
in sensualpassions:
you'resaidto be
in theup-flowingstream.
218*

A manlongabsent
comes home safe from afar.

His kin, his friends,hiscompanions,

delightin hisreturn.
Injust thesameway,
whenyou'vedonegood
& gonefromthisworld
to theworldbeyond,
yourgooddeeds receive
you-
as kin, someone dear
come home.
219-220

61
 xvii: ANGER

Abandonanger,
be done with conceit,
getbeyondeveryfetter.
When for name & form

youhaveno attachment
-have nothingat all-
no sufferings,
no stresses,
invade*
221

Whenangerarises,
whoeverkeepsfirm control
asif with a racingchariot:
him
I call a master charioteer.

Anyoneelse,
a rein-holder-
that's all
222

Conqueranger
with lackof anger;
bad,with good;
stinginess,
with generosity;
a liar, with truth,
223

62
Bytellingthetruth;
by not growingangry;
bygiving,whenasked,
no matterhowlittle youhave:
bythesethreethings
youenterthepresence of devas.
224

Gentlesages,
constantlyrestrained
in body,
goto the unwaveringstate
where,havinggone,
there'snogrief,
225

Thosewhoalwaysstaywakeful,
trainingby day& by night,
keenon Unbinding:
their effluents come to an end,
226

This has come down from old, Atula,

& notjust fromtoday:
theyfind faultwith one
who sits silent,
theyfind faultwith one
whospeaks agreatdeal,
theyfind faultwith one
who measures his words.
There's no one unfaulted in the world.
There never was,
will be,
nor at presentis found
anyoneentirelyfaulted
or entirelypraised.
227-228

If knowledgeable
peoplepraisehim,
havingobserved
him
dayafterday
to be blameless
in conduct,intelligent,
endowed with discernment & virtue:

likeaningotofgold-
who's fit to find fault with him?

Evendevaspraisehim.
Evenby Brahma he'spraised.
229-230

Guardagainst anger
eruptingin body;
in body,berestrained.
Havingabandoned bodilymisconduct,
liveconducting yourself
well
in body.
Guardagainstanger
eruptingin speech;
in speech,
berestrained.
Havingabandoned verbalmisconduct,
liveconductingyourselfwell
in speech.

64
Guardagainst anger
eruptingin mind;
in mind, be restrained.
Havingabandoned mentalmisconduct,
liveconducting
yourselfwell
in mind.

Thoserestrained
in body
-the enlightened-
restrainedin speechSCin mind
-enlightened-
are the ones whose restraint is secure.
231-234*
 xvin : IMPURITIES

You are now

likea yellowed
lea£
Already
Yama's minions stand near.

Youstandatthedoorto departure
but haveyetto provide
for thejourney.

Makeanislandfor yourself!
Workquickly!Bewise!
With impuritiesall blownaway
unblemished,
you'llreachthedivinerealm
of the noble ones.

You are now

right attheendofyourtime.
You are headed

to Yama'spresence,
with no placeto restalongtheway,
but haveyetto provide
for thejourney.

Makean islandfor yourself!

Workquickly!Bewise!

66
With impuritiesall blownaway,
unblemished,
youwon'tagainundergo
birth
& aging.
235-238*

Justasa silversmith
stepby
step,
bit by
bit,'
moment to

moment,

blowsawaytheimpurities
of molten silver-
so the wise man, his own.
239

Just asrust
-iron's impurity-
eatstheveryiron
from which it is born,
so the deeds

of onewholivesslovenly
lead him on
to a bad destination.
240*

67
No recitation:
theruinousimpurity
of chants,
No initiative: of a household.

Indolence:
of beauty,
Heedlessness:
of aguard.

In awoman,misconduct is animpurity.
In adonor,stinginess.
Evil deeds
aretherealimpurities
in this world & the next.

Moreimpurethantheseimpurities
is theultimateimpurity:
ignorance.
Havingabandoned thisimpurity,
monks,you'reimpurity-free,
241-243

Life'seasyto live
for someoneunscrupulous,
cunning asa crow,
corrupt,back-biting,
forward, & brash;
but for someone
who'sconstantly
scrupulous,cautious,
observant, sincere,
pure in hislivelihood,
cleanin hispursuits,
it's hard,
244-245

68
Whoever kills, lies, steals,
goesto someone
else's
wife,
& is addicted to intoxicants,
digshimselfup
bythe root
right herein thisworld.

Soknow,mygoodman,
that bad deeds are reckless.

Don'tletgreed& unrighteousness
oppressyouwith long-termpain,
246-248

Peoplegive
in line with their faith,
in line with conviction.

Whoevergetsflustered
at food& drinkgivento others,
attains no concentration

by dayor by night.
But one in whom this is

cut through
up- rooted
wiped out
attains concentration

by dayor by night.
249-250

69
There'sno firelikepassion,
no seizure
likeanger,
no snare like delusion,
no riverlikecraving,
251

Its easyto see

the errors of others,
but hard to see

your own.
You winnow like chaff
the errors of others,
but conceal
yourown-
likeacheat,anunluckythrow.
If youfocuson theerrorsof others,
constantly findingfault,
youreffluentsflourish.
You'refar fromtheirending,
252-253

There'sno trail in space,

no outsidecontemplative.
Peoplearesmitten
with complications,
but devoidof complication are
theTathagatas,
There'sno trail in space,
no outsidecontemplative,
no eternal fabrications,
no wavering
in theAwakened,
254-255*

70
 xix : THE JUDGE

To passjudgmenthurriedly
doesn'tmeanyou'reajudge.
Thewiseone,considering both
therightjudgment& wrong;
judgesothersimpartially-
unhurriedly,in linewith theDhamma,
guardingtheDhamma,
guarded by Dhamma,
intelligent:
he'scalledajudge,
256-257*

Simplytalkinga lot
doesn't mean one is wise.
Whoever's secure-

no hostility,
fear-
is said to be wise.

Simplytalkingalot
doesn't maintain the Dhamma.
Whoever

-althoughhe'sheardnextto nothing-
seesDhammathroughhisbody,
is not heedless of Dhamma:
he'sone who maintains the Dhamma.
258-259*
A headofgrayhairs
doesn't mean one's an elden

Advanced
in years,
one's called an old fool

But one in whom there is

truth, restraint,
rectitude,
gentleness,
self-control-
he'scalled an elder,
hisimpuritiesdisgorged,
enlightened.

260-261

Not bysuave conversation

or lotus-likecoloring
doesan envious, miserlycheat
become anexemplary man.
But one in whom this is

cut through
up- rooted
j
wiped
L out-
he'scalledexemplary,
1 '
hisaversion disgorged,
intelligent.
t>
262-263

72
A shaven head

doesn'tmeana contemplative.
The liarobservingno duties,
filledwith greed& desire:
whatkindof contemplative's
he?

But whoever tunes out

the dissonance

of hisevilqualities
-large or small-
in everyway
bybringingevilto consonance:
he'scalleda contemplative.
264-265*

Begging
fromothers
doesn't mean one's a monk.

As longasonefollows
householders'
ways,
one is no monk at all.

But whoever
putsaside
both merit & evil and,
livingthechaste life,
judiciously
goesthroughtheworld:
he'scalled a monk.
266-267

73
Not bysilence
does someone confused

& unknowing
turn into a sage.
But whoever-wise,
asif holdingthescales,
takingtheexcellent-
rejectsevildeeds:
heis a sage,
that'showhe'sasage.
Whoevercanweigh
both sides of the world:
that's how he's called

a sage.
268-269*

Not by harminglife
does one become noble.
One is termed noble

for being gentle

to alllivingthings.
270

Monk,
don't
on account of

your precepts& practices,

greaterudition,
concentration attainments,
secluded
dwelling,

74
 or thethought,1 touch
the renunciate ease

that run-of-the-mill people

don't know':

everlet yourselfgetcomplacent
whentheendingof effluents
is still unattained.
271-272*

75
 xx : THE PATH

Of paths,theeightfoldis best.
Of truths,thefoursayings.
Of qualities,
dispassion.
Of two-footedbeings,
theonewith theeyes
to see.

273*

Justthis
is thepath
-there is no other-

to purifyvision.
Follow it,
and that will be Mara's
bewilderment.

Followingit,
youput anend
to suffering& stress.
I havetaughtyouthispath
havingknown-for yourknowing-
the extraction of arrows.

Its for youto strive

ardently.
Tathagatas simply
pointout theway.
Thosewho practice,
absorbed
injhana:
from Mara's bonds

they'llbefreed.
274-276*

Whenyouseewith discernment,
'Allfabricationsareinconstant'-
yougrowdisenchanted with stress.
This is thepath to purity.
Whenyouseewith discernment,
'Allfabricationsarestressful'-
yougrowdisenchanted with stress.
This is thepath to purity.
Whenyouseewith discernment,
All phenomena arenot-self'-
yougrowdisenchanted with stress.
This is thepath
to purity.
277-279

At the time for initiative

he takes no initiative.

Young,strong,but lethargic,
the resolves of his heart
exhausted,
thelazy,lethargicone
losesthepath
to discernment.
280

77
 Guarded in speech,
well-restrained in mind,
do nothingunskillful
in body.
Purify
these three courses of action.

Bringto fruition
thepaththatseershaveproclaimed,
281

Fromstrivingcomes
wisdom;
from not, wisdoms end.
Knowingthesetwocourses
-to development,
decline-

conductyourself
sothat wisdomwill grow,
282

Cut down
the forest of desire,
not the forest of trees.
From the forest of desire

comedanger& fear.
Havingcutdownthisforest
& its underbrush, monks,
be deforested.
Foraslongastheleast
bit of underbrush
of a man for women

is not cleared
away,
the heart is fixated

likeasucklingcalf
on its mother.

Crush

yoursenseof self-allure
likeanautumnlily
in the hand.

Nurtureonlythepathto peace
-Unbinding-
astaughtbytheOneWellGone.
283-285*

'HereI'll stayfor therains.

Here, for the summer & winter.'
Soimagines
thefool,
unaware of obstructions.

That drunk-on-his'sons'&'cattle man,

all tangledup in themind:
deathsweeps him away-
asagreatflood,
a villageasleep.
286-287

79
There are no sons

to giveshelter,
no father,
no family
for oneseizedbythe Ender,
no shelteramongkin.

Conscious

of thiscompelling
reason,
thewiseman,restrainedbyvirtue,
shouldmakethe path pure
-right away-
thatgoesall thewayto Unbinding.
288-289*

80
 xxi: MISCELLANY

If, by forsaking
a limited ease,
he would see
an abundance of ease,
the enlightened
man
would forsake
the limited ease
for the sake
of the abundant.
290

He wants his own ease

bygivingothersdis-ease.
Intertwined in the inter-

actionof hostility,
fromhostility
he's not set free.
291

In those who

rejectwhatshould,
& do what shouldn't be done
-heedless, insolent-
effluentsgrow.

81
But for those who

arewell-applied,
constantly,
to mindfulness
immersed
in thebody;
don'tindulge
in what shouldn't be done

& persist
in what should
-mindful, alert-
effluents come to an end*
292-293*

Havingkilledmother& father,
twowarriorkings,
thekingdom& its dependency-
the brahman, untroubled, travels on.

Havingkilledmother& father,
twolearnedkings,
&, fifth, atiger-
the brahman, untroubled, travels on.
294-295*

Theyawaken,
always
wideawake:
Gotama'sdisciples
whosemindfulness,
bothday& night,
is constantly
immersed
in the Buddha,

82
Theyawaken,alwayswideawake:
Gotama'sdisciples
whosemindfulness,
bothday& night,
is constantlyimmersed
in the Dhamma,

Theyawaken, alwayswideawake:
Gotama's disciples
whosemindfulness, bothday& night,
is constantly
immersed
in theSangha,
Theyawaken,
alwayswideawake:
Gotama'sdisciples
whosemindfulness,
bothday& night,
is constantly
immersed
in thebody.
Theyawaken,
always
wideawake:
Gotama'sdisciples
whoseheartsdelight,bothday& night,
in harmlessness.

Theyawaken, alwayswideawake:
Gotama's disciples
whoseheartsdelight,bothday& night,
in developing
themind,
296-301*

Hard is thelifegoneforth,
hard to delightin.
Hard is the miserable
householder's life.
Its painfulto staywith dissonant
people,
painful to travelthe road.
So be neither traveler

nor pained,
302

The man of conviction

endowed with virtue,
glory,& wealth:
wherever hegoes
he is honored*
303*

Thegoodshinefromafar
like thesnowyHimalayas,
The baddon'tappear
even when near,
likearrowsshotinto the night,
304

Sittingalone,
restingalone,
walkingalone,
untiring.
Taminghimself,
he'ddelightalone-
alone in the forest,
305

84
 xxii : HELL

He goesto hell,
the one who asserts

what didn't takeplace,

as does the one

who,havingdone,
says,1 didn't/
Both-low-actingpeople-
therebecome equal:
afterdeath,in theworldbeyond*
306

An ochre robe tied 'round their necks,

manywith evilqualities
-unrestrained, evil-
rearise, because of their evil acts,
in hell

Better to eat an iron ball

-glowing, aflame-
than that, unprincipled&
unrestrained,
youshouldeatthe almsof thecountry,
307-308
Fourthingsbefalltheheedless
man
who lies down with the wife of another:
a wealth of demerit;
a lackofgoodsleep;
third, censure;
fourth, hell

A wealth of demerit, an evil destination,

& thebriefdelightof a
fearful man with a
fearful woman,
SCthekinginflictsaharshpunishment*
So
no man should lie down
with the wife of another,
309-310

Justassharp-bladed grass,
if wronglyheld,
woundstheveryhandthatholdsit-
thecontemplativelife,if wronglygrasped,
dragsyoudownto hell

Anyslackact,
or defiled observance,
or fraudulent
life of chastity
bearsno greatfruit.

86
If something'sto bedone,
thenworkatit firmly,
for a slackgoing-forth
kicksup all themoredust.

It's better to leave a misdeed

undone.

A misdeedburnsyouafterward.
Betterthat agooddeedbedone
that,afteryou'vedoneit,
won'tmakeyouburn.
311-314

Like a frontier fortress,

guarded inside& out,
guardyourself.
Don'tlet themomentpassby.
Thosefor whomthemomentis past
grieve,consignedto hell.
315

Ashamed of what's not shameful,

not ashamed of what is,
beingsadoptingwrongviews
goto abaddestination.

Seeingdangerwherethereis none,
& no dangerwherethereis,
beingsadoptingwrongviews
goto abaddestination.
Imaginingerror wherethereis none,
andseeingno errorwherethereis,
beingsadoptingwrongviews
goto abaddestination.

Butknowingerroraserror,
and non-error as non-,
beingsadoptingrightviews
goto agood
destination,
316-319

88
 xxin : ELEPHANTS

I-like anelephantin battle,

enduringanarrowshotfromabow-
will endure a false accusation,
for themassof people
have no principles,
320

The tamed is the one

theytakeinto assemblies.
The tamed is the one

thekingmounts.
The tamed who endures
a false accusation

is,amonghumanbeings,
the best.
321

Excellent are tamed mules,

tamedthoroughbreds,
tamed horses from Sindh.
Excellent, tamed tuskers,
greatelephants.
But even more excellent
are those self-tamed.
Fornot bythesemountscouldyougo
to the land unreached,
asthetamedonegoes
bytaming,well-taming,
himself,
322-323

Thetusker,Dhanapalaka,
deepin rut, is hardto control
Bound, he won't eat a morsel:
the tusker misses

theelephant
wood.
324*

When torpid
L & over-fed,
a sleepy-headlollingabout
likea stouthog,fattenedon fodder:
a dullard enters the womb
over &

overagain,
325

Before,
thismindwentwandering
however it pleased,
wherever it wanted,
bywhatever waythatit liked.
TodayI will holdit aptlyin check-
asonewieldingagoad,an elephant in rut,
326

90
Delightin needfulness.
Watchoveryourownmind.
Lift yourselfup
fromthehard-going way
like a tusker sunk in the mud.
327

If yougaina maturecompanion-
afellowtraveler,right-living,enlightened-
overcoming all dangers
gowith him,gratified,
mindful

If youdon'tgaina maturecompanion-
a fellowtraveler,
right-living,enlightened-
go alone
likea kingrenouncing hiskingdom,
like theelephantin theMatangawilds,
his herd.

Goingaloneis better.
There'sno companionship
with afool.
Go alone,
doingno evil,atpeace,
liketheelephantin theMatangawilds.
328-330*
A blessing: friendswhentheneedarises*
A blessing: contentment with whatever thereis.
Merit at theendingof lifeis ablessing,
A blessing: the abandoning of allsuffering
& stress.

A blessing
in theworld:
reverence
to yourmother.
A blessing: reverence
to yourfatheraswell
A blessing
in theworld:
reverence
to a contemplative.
A blessing: reverence
for abrahman,
too.

A blessing
into oldageis virtue.
A blessing: conviction established.
A blessing: discernment attained.
Thenon-doing of evilthingsis
ablessing.
331-333

92
 xxiv: CRAVING

Whenapersonlivesheedlessly,
hiscravinggrowslikea creeping
vine.
He runs now here
& now there,
asiflooking for fruit:
amonkeyin theforest,
334

If thissticky,uncouthcraving
overcomes youin theworld,
yoursorrows growlikewild grass
after rain.

If, in theworld,youovercome
thisuncouthcraving, hardto escape,
sorrowsroll off you,
like water beads off
a lotus,
335-336

To all of yougathered
here
I say:Goodfortune.
Dig up craving
-as whenseekingmedicinal
roots,wild grass-
by theroot.

93
Don'tlet Maracutyoudown
-as a ragingriver,a reed-
over & over again*
337"

If its root remains

undamaged
& strong,
a tree, even if cut,
will growback*
Sotoo if latentcraving
is not rooted out,
thissufferingreturns
again
&

again.
338

He whose36 streams,
flowingto whatis appealing,
arestrong:
the currents-resolvesbasedon passion-
carryhim,of baseviews,away.

Theyfloweverywhichway,thestreams,
but thesprouted
creeper
stays
in place.
Now,seeingthat thecreeper's
arisen,
cutthroughits root
with discernment.
339-340*

94
Loosened & oiled

arethejoysofa person.
People, boundbyenticement,
lookingfor ease:
to birth & agingtheygo.
341*

Encircled
with craving,
peoplehop 'round& around
likea rabbitcaughtin a snare.
Tied with fetters & bonds

theygoon to suffering,
again& again,for long.

Encircledwith craving,
peoplehop'round& around
likea rabbitcaughtin asnare.
So a monk

shoulddispel craving,
shouldaspire to dispassion
for himself.
342-343*

Cleared of the underbrush

but obsessedwith the forest,
set free from the forest,
right backto theforestheruns.
Come,seethepersonsetfree
whorunsrightbackto thesameoldchains!
344

95
That'snot astrongbond
-so saytheenlightened-
theonemadeof iron,of wood,or ofgrass.
To be smitten, enthralled,
with jewelsSCornaments,
longingfor children& wives:
that'sthestrongbond,
-so saytheenlightened-
onethat'sconstraining,
elastic,
hard to untie.

But havingcutit, they

-the enlightened-goforth,
freeof longing,abandoning
sensual ease.

Thosesmittenwith passion
fallback
into a self-made stream,
like a spidersnaredin its web.
But,havingcutit,
theenlightened setforth,
freeof longing,abandoning
allsuffering& stress.
345-347*

Goneto thebeyondof becoming,

youletgo of infront,
letgoof behind,
letgoof between.
With ahearteverywherelet-go,
youdon'tcomeagainto birth
& aging.
348*

For a person
forcedon byhisthinking,
fiercein hispassion,
focused on beauty,
cravinggrowsall themore.
He's the one

whotightensthebond.
Butonewhodelights
in the stillingof thinking,
always mindful
cultivating
a focus on the foul:
He's the one
who will make an end,
the one who will cut Mara's bond.
349-350*

Arrived at the finish,

unfrightened,
unblemished,free
of craving,
hehascutaway
thearrowsof becoming.
This physical
heapishislast.
Freefromcraving,
ungrasping,

97
astutein expression,
knowingthecombination
of sounds-
which comes first & which after.
He's called a

last-body
greatlydiscerning
great man.
351-352

All-conquering,
all-knowing amI,
with regardto allthings,
unadhering*
All-abandoning,
releasedin theendingof craving:
havingfullyknownon myown,
to whomshouldI point asmyteacher?
353:

A gift of Dhammaconquers allgifts;

the taste of Dhamma, all tastes;
adelightin Dhamma, all delights;
theendingof craving, all suffering
& stress.

354'

Riches ruin the man

weak in discernment,
but not those who seek

thebeyond.
Throughcravingfor riches
the man weak in discernment
ruins himself
as he would others,
355

Fieldsarespoiledbyweeds;
people,bypassion.
Sowhat'sgivento those
freeof passion
bearsgreatfruit.

Fieldsarespoiledbyweeds;
people,byaversion.
Sowhat'sgivento those
free of aversion

bearsgreatfruit.

Fieldsarespoiledbyweeds;
people,bydelusion.
Sowhat'sgivento those
free of delusion

bearsgreatfruit.

Fieldsarespoiledbyweeds;
people,by longing.
Sowhat'sgivento those
freeof longing
bearsgreatfruit.
356-359

99
 :

xxv: MONKS

Restraintwith theeyeisgood,
goodis restraintwith theear.
Restraintwith thenoseis good,
goodis restraintwith thetongue.
Restraintwith thebodyisgood,
goodis restraintwith speech.
Restraintwith theheartis good,
goodis restraint everywhere,
A monkeverywhere restrained
is released
fromall suffering& stress,
360-361*

Hands restrained,
feet restrained

speechrestrained,
supremely restrained-
delightingin whatis inward,
content, centered, alone:
he'swhat they
7 call
,
a monk,

362

100
A monkrestrained
in hisspeaking,
givingcounsel
unruffled,
declaring
themessage & meaning:
sweetis his speech,
363*

Dhammahisdwelling,
Dhammahisdelight,
amonkponderingDhamma,
callingDhammato mind,
doesnot fall away
from true Dhamma,
364

Gains:

don'ttreatyourownwith scorn,
don'tgocovetingthoseof others,
A monk who covets those of others
attains
no concentration,

Evenif hegetsnextto nothing,

he doesn'ttreathisgainswith scorn.
Livingpurely,untiring:
he's the one

that the devaspraise,

365-366

101
For whom, in name & form
in everyway,
there's no sense of mine,
& whodoesn't
grieve
for what's not:

he'sdeservedly
called
a monk,
367

Dwellingin kindness, a monk

with faith in theAwakened One'steaching,
wouldattainthegoodstate,
thepeaceful state:
stilling'of-fabrications
ease*
368*

Monk, bail out this boat.

It will takeyoulightlywhenbailed.
Havingcutthroughpassion, aversion,
yougofromthereto Unbinding,
369*

Cut throughfive,
letgoof five,
& develop fiveabove
all,
A monkgonepastfiveattachments
is said to have crossed the flood.
370*

IO2
Practicejhana, monk,
and don't be heedless.

Don'ttakeyourmindroaming
in sensual strands.
Don't swallow-heedless-
the ball of iron aflame.

Don't burn & complain:'This is pain.'

371

There'snojhana
for one with no discernment,
no discernment

for onewith nojhana.

Butonewith bothjhana
& discernment:

he's
on theverge
of Unbinding.
372

A monkwith his mind at peace,

goinginto an emptydwelling,
clearlyseeingtheDhammaaright:
hisdelightis more
than human.

However it is,
however it is he touches

thearising'&'passing
of aggregates:
hegainsrapture& joy:

103
 that, for those who know it,
is deathless,
the Deathless.
373-374

Herethefirst things
for a discerning
monk
are guardingthesenses,
contentment,
restraint in line with the Patimokkha.
He should associate with admirable friends.

Livingpurely,untiring,
hospitableby habit,
skilled in his conduct,
gainingamanifoldjoy,
he will put an end
to suffering
& stress,
375-376

Shedpassion
& aversion, monks-
asajasminewould,
its withered flowers,
377

Calmedin body,
calmedin speech,
well-centered & calm,
havingdisgorged
thebaitsoftheworld,
a monk is called

thoroughly
calmed,
378

104
Youyourselfshouldreprove
yourself,
shouldexamineyourself
As aself-guardedmonk
with guardedself,
mindful,youdwellatease.
379

Your own self is

your own mainstay.

Your own self is

yourownguide.
Therefore
youshould
watchoveryourself-
as a trader, a fine steed.
380

A monkwith a manifoldjoy,
with faithin theAwakened One'steaching,
wouldattainthegoodstate,
thepeacefulstate:
stilling-of-fabrications
ease.
381*

A youngmonkwhostrives
in theAwakened One'steaching,
brightenstheworld
like the moon set free from a cloud.
382

105
 ' "

xxvi: BRAHMANS

Havingstriven,brahman,
cut the stream.

Expelsensual
passions.
Knowingtheendingof fabrications,
brahman,
youknowtheUnmade.
383*

Whenthebrahmanhasgone
to thebeyondof twothings,
then all his fetters

goto theirend-
he who knows,
384*

Onewhosebeyondor
riot-beyond
or
beyond'&'not'beyond
cant be found;
unshackled, carefree:
he's what I call
a brahman,
385*

106
Sittingsilent,dustless,
absorbed in jhana,
histaskdone,effluentsgone,
ultimategoalattained:
he's what I call
a brahman,
386

Bydayshinesthesun;
by night,themoon;
in armor, the warrior;
injhana,thebrahman.
Butall day& all night,
everyday& everynight,
the Awakened One shines

in splendor,
387

He's called a brahman

for havingbanished
hisevil,
a contemplative
for livingin consonance,
onegoneforth
for havingforsaken
his own impurities,
388*

107
One should not strike a brahman,
nor should the brahman

let loosewith hisanger.

Shame on a brahman's killer.
More shame on the brahman

whoseangerslet loose,
389*

Nothing'sbetterfor thebrahman
than when the mind is held back

fromwhatis endearing
& not.
However his harmful-heartedness

wears away,
that's how stress

simplycomes
to rest,
390*

Whoeverdoesnowrong
in body,
speech,
heart;
is restrained
in thesethreeways:
he's what I call
a brahman,
391

Thepersonfromwhom
youwouldlearntheDhamma
taughtby theRightly
Self-Awakened One:

youshouldhonorhim with respect-

asa brahman, the flame for a sacrifice,
392*

108
Not by mattedhair,
by clan,or bybirth,
is one a brahman.
Whoever has truth
& rectitude:

heis apureone,
he, a brahman.

What'stheuseof yourmattedhair,
youdullard?
What'stheuseof yourdeerskincloak?
Thetangle'sinsideyou.
You comb the outside,
393-394*

Wearingcast-offrags
-his bodylean& linedwith veins-
absorbedinjhana,
alone in the forest:
he's what I call
a brahman,
395

I don't call one a brahman

for beingbornof amother

or sprungfromawomb.
He'scalleda 'bho-sayer'
if hehasanythingat all.
Butsomeone with nothing,
whoclingsto no thing:
he's what I call
a brahman,
396*

109
Havingcuteveryfetter,
hedoesn'tgetruffled.
Beyondattachment,
unshackled:
he's what I call
a brahman.
397

Havingcutthestrap& thong,
cord & bridle,
havingthrownoff thebar,
awakened:
he's what I call
a brahman.
398"

He endures-unangered-
insult,assault,
Scimprisonment.
His armyis strength;
hisstrength,forbearance:
he's what I call
a brahman.
399

Freefromanger,
duties observed,
principled,with no overbearing
pride,
trained,a last-body':
he's what I call
a brahman.
400*

no
 Like water on a lotus leaf,
a mustardseed on the tip of an awl,
he doesn'tadhere to sensualpleasures:
he's what I call
a brahman,
401

He discerns
righthere,
for himself,
on his own,
his own

endingof stress.
Unshackled, his burden laid down:
he's what I call
a brahman.
402*

Wise,profound
in discernment, astute
asto what is the path
& what's not;
hisultimategoalattained:
he's what I call
a brahman.
403

in
 Uncontaminated

byhouseholders
& houseless ones alike;
livingwith no home,
with next to no wants:
he's what I call
a brahman*
404

Havingput asideviolence
against
beingsfearfulor firm,
he neither kills nor

getsothersto kill:
he's what I call
a brahman.
405

Unopposing amongopposition,
unbound amongthearmed,
unclinging amongthosewhocling:
he's what I call
a brahman.
406

His passion,aversion,
conceit, & contempt,
havefallenaway-
like a mustard seed

from the tip of an awl:

he's what I call
a brahman.
407

112
He wouldsay
what's non-grating,
instructive,
true-

abusingno one:
he's what I call
a brahman.
408

Here in the world

hetakesnothingnot-given
-long, short,
large,small,
attractive, not:
he's what I call
a brahman,
409

His longingfor this

& for the next world
can't be found;
freefromlonging,unshackled:
he's what I call
a brahman,
410

113
His attachments,
his homes,
can't be found.

Throughknowing,
heis unperplexed,
hasattainedtheplunge
into Deathlessness:
he's what I call
a brahman.

He hasgone
beyondattachment
here
for both merit & evil-

sorrowless,
dustless,& pure:
he's what I call
a brahman.
412*

Spotless,
pure,likethemoon
-limpid & calm-
hisdelights,hisbecomings,
totallygone:
he's what I call
a brahman.
413

114
He hasmadehiswaypast
thishard-going
path
-samsara, delusion-
has crossed over,
hasgonebeyond,
is free from want,
fromperplexity,
absorbedin jhana,
throughno-clinging
Unbound:
he's what I call
a brahman,
414

Whoever,abandoningsensual
passions
here,
wouldgoforth fromhome-
hissensual
passions,
becomings,
totallygone:
he's what I call
a brahman.

Whoever,abandoning cravinghere,
wouldgo forthfromhome-
hiscravings,
becomings,
totallygone:
he's what I call
a brahman.
415-416

115
Havingleftbehind
the human bond,
havingmadehiswaypast
the divine,
from all bonds unshackled:
he's what I call
a brahman*
417

Havingleft behind
delight& displeasure,
cooled,with no acquisitions-
aherowhohasconquered
all the world,
everyworld:
he's what I call
a brahman*
418

He knowsin everyway
beings'passing
away,
and their re-

arising;
unattached, awakened,
well-gone:
he's what I call
a brahman,
419

116
He whosecoursetheydon'tknow
-devas, gandhabbas;
& humanbeings-
his effluents ended, an arahant:
he's what I call
a brahman.
420

He whohasnothing
-in front, behind, in between-
theonewith nothing
whoclingsto no thing:
he's what I call
a brahman*
421*

A splendidbull,conqueror,
hero,greatseer-
free from want,
awakened, washed:
he's what I call
a brahman.
422

He knows his former lives.

He sees heavens & states of woe,
hasattained theendingof birth,
is a sage whohasmastered full-knowing,
his mastery
totallymastered:
he's what I call
a brahman.
423*

117
 HISTORICAL NOTES:
THE TEXT & THE TRANSLATION

There are many versionsof the Dhammapadanow

extant:several
recensions
of the PaliDhammapada
from
Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, and Thailand; two
incompletemanuscriptsof a GandhariDharmapada
foundin centralAsia;and a manuscriptof a Buddhist
Hybrid-SanskritDharmapada foundin a libraryin Tibet,
calledthe PatnaDharmapada because photographs of
this manuscriptarenowkept in Patna,India.Thereis
alsoa Chinesetranslationof the Dharmapada madein
the third centuryC.E.from a Prakrit original,now no
longerextant,similarto-but not identicalwith-the
Pali Dhammapada.Partsof a Dharmapadatext are
included in the Mahavastu,a text belongingto the
LokottaravadinMahasanghika schoolIn addition,there
are Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese versions of a text
calledthe Udanavarga, whichis knownin at leastfour
recensions,all of them containing many versesin
commonwith the Dhammapada/Dharmapada (Dhp)
texts. To further complicatematters,there areJain
anthologiesthat containverses
clearlyrelatedto someof
thosefoundin theseBuddhistanthologies aswell.
Despitethe manysimilaritiesamongthesetexts,
theycontainenoughdiscrepancies
to havefueleda small

119
scholarlyindustry.The differentrecensions of the Pali
Dhp containsomanyvariantreadingsthat thereisn't
yet-evenaftermorethana centuryof Westernscholar-
shipon thetopic-a singleeditioncovering themall The
discrepanciesamongthe Pali andnon-Paliversions are
evengreater.Theyarrange verses in differentorders,each
containsversesnot foundin the others,andamongthe
verses
in differentversions
thatarerelated, thesimilarityin
termsof imageryor message is sometimes fairlytenuous.
Fortunately
for anyone
lookingto theDhpfor spiritual
guidance,
the differences
amongthevariousrecensions-
thoughmanyin number-rangein importance fromfairly
minorto minorin theextreme.Allowingfor a fewobvi-
ousscribalerrors,noneof themfall outsidethe paleof
whathaslongbeenaccepted asstandardearlyBuddhist
doctrine as derived from the Pali discourses. For exam-

ple,doesthe milk in verse71comeout, or doesit curdle?

Is the bond in verse 346 subtle, slack, or elastic?Is the
brahman in verse 393happy, or is hepure?Forall practical
purposes,thesequestionshardlymatter.They become
importantonlywhenoneis forcedto takesidesin choos-
ing whichversionto translate, andeventhenthe nature
of thechoiceis likethat of aconductor decidingwhichof
themanyversions of a Handeloratorioto perform.
Unfortunatelyfor the translator,though,the schol-
arly discussions
that havegrownaroundtheseissues
havetendedto blowthemall out of proportion,to the
point wherethey call into questionthe authenticityof
the Dhp as a whole.Because the scholarswho have

120
devotedthemselves to this topichavecomeup with such
contradictoryadvicefor thepotentialtranslator-includ-
ing the suggestionthat it's a wasteof time to translate
someof the verses at all-we needto sort throughthe
discussionsto seewhat,if any,reliableguidancetheygive.
Thosewhohaveworkedon the issuesraisedby the
variantversionsof Dhp have,by andlarge,directedthe
discussion
to figuringout whichversionis theoldestand
most authentic, and which versions are later and more
corrupt.Lackingany outsidelandmarksagainstwhich
the versionscanbe sighted,scholars
haveattemptedto
reconstructwhatmusthavebeenthe earliestversionby
triangulatingamongthe textsthemselves.
This textual
trigonometrytendsto relyon assumptionsfromamong
the followingthreetypes:
i) Assumptions
concerning
whatis inherently
an earlieror
laterformofa verse.
Theseassumptions arethe leastreli-
ableof the three,for they involveno truly objective
criteria. If, for instance, two versions of a verse differ in
that oneis moreinternallyconsistent
thantheother,the
consistentversion will seemmore genuineto one
scholar, whereasanother scholar will attribute the con-
sistencyto latereffortsto "cleanup" theverse.Similarly,
if one version contains a rendition of a verse different
from all other renditions of the same verse, one scholar
will seethat asa signof deviance;
another,asa signof
theauthenticitythat mayhavepredated
a laterstandard-
izationamongthe texts.Thustheconclusions drawnby
different scholarsbasedon theseassumptionstell us

121
moreaboutthe scholars'
presuppositions
than they do
about the texts themselves.

2) Assumptions
concerningthemeteroftheverses
in ques-
tion.Oneof thegreatadvances in recentPalischolarship
hasbeenthe rediscoveryof themetricalrulesunderlying
earlyPali poetry.As the Buddhahimselfis quotedas
saying,"Meter is the structural frameworkof verses."
(S.i.60) Knowledgeof metricalrules thus helpsthe
editoror translatorspotwhichreadings
of a versedevi-
ate from the structure of a standard meter, and which
onesfollowit. Theoreticallythe obviouschoicewould
be to adoptthe latterandrejectthe former.In practice,
however, the issueis not soclear-cut.EarlyPalipoetry
datesfroma timeof greatmetricalexperimentation, and
sothereis alwaysthe possibilitythat a particularpoem
wascomposedin an experimentalmeter that never
achieved widespread recognition.
Thereis alsothepossi-
bility that-as the poetrywasspontaneous andoral-a
fair amount of metrical license was allowed. This means

that the more"correct"formsof a versemayhavebeen

the productsof a later attemptto fit the poetry into
standard molds. Thus the conclusions based on the

assumption of standardmetersarenot astotallyreliable

astheymightseem.
3) Assumptions concerning
thelanguage
in whichtheorigi-
nalDhpwasfirst composed. Theseassumptions requirean
extensiveknowledge of MiddleIndiedialects.A scholar
will assume aparticulardialectto havebeenthe original
language of the text,andwill furthermakeassumptions

122
aboutthe typesof translationmistakes
that mighthave
beencommonwhentranslatingfrom that dialectinto
the languagesof the texts we now have.The textual
trigonometrybasedon theseassumptions ofteninvolves
suchcomplicated methodsof sightingandcomputation
that it canproducean "original"versionof the text that
is just that: veryoriginal,coincidingwith noneof the
versions extant. In other words, where the current vari-
antsof aversemightbea,b,andc,the addedassumption
aboutthe Dhp'soriginallanguage andthe ineptitudeof
ancienttranslatorsandcopyistsleadsto the conclusion
that the verse must have been d. However, for all the
impressiveeruditionthat this methodinvolves,not even
the mostlearnedscholarcanofferanyproofasto what
the Dhp'soriginallanguage was.In fact,aswewill con-
siderbelow,it is possiblethat the Buddha-assuming
that he wasthe authorof the verses-composed poetry
in morethanonelanguage, andmorethanoneversionof
a particularverse.So,aswith the first setof assump-
tions,themethodsof triangulation basedon anassumed
originallanguageof the Dhptell usmoreabouttheindi-
vidualscholar's
positionthantheydo abouttheposition
of the text.

Thus,althoughthescholarship devotedto the differ-

ent recensions of the Dhp hasprovideda usefulservice
in unearthing somanyvariantreadings of thetext,none
of the assumptions usedin tryingto sort throughthose
readingsfor "theoriginal"Dhp haveled to anydefinite
conclusions.Their positivesuccess hasbeenlimited

123
mainlyto offeringfood for academic
speculationand
educatedguesses.
On the negative side,though,theyhavesucceeded in
accomplishing somethingtotally useless:a wholesale
senseof distrustfor the earlyBuddhisttexts,and the
poetictextsin particular.If the textscontainso many
varyingreports,the feelinggoes,andif their translators
andtransmitterswereso incompetent, howcananyof
thembe trusted?This distrustcomesfrom accepting,
unconsciously, the assumptions concerning authorship
and authenticitywithin whichour modern,predomi-
natelyliteratecultureoperates:thatonlyoneversionof a
versecouldhavebeencomposed by its originalauthor,
andthat all otherversions mustbe latercorruptions. In
termsof the Dhp, this comesdownto assumingthat
therewasonlyoneoriginalversionof the text,andthat
it wascomposed in asinglelanguage.
However,theseassumptions aretotally inappropri-
atefor analyzingthe oral culturein whichthe Buddha
taughtand in whichthe versesof the Dhp werefirst
anthologized.If welook carefullyat the natureof that
culture-and in particularat clearstatements from the
earlyBuddhisttextsconcerning the eventsandprinci-
plesthat shapedthosetexts-we will seethat it is
perfectlynaturalthat thereshouldbeavarietyof reports
aboutthe Buddha'steachings,all of which might be
essentially
correct.In termsof theDhp, wecanviewthe
multipleversions of thetext asasign,not of faultytrans-
mission,but of anallegiance to their oralorigins.

124
 Oral proseandpoetryareverydifferentfrom their
written counterparts.
This factis obviousevenin our own
culture. However, we have to make an active effort of the
imaginationto comprehendthe expectations
placedon
oral transmissionbetweenspeakers
and listenersin a
culture where there is no written word to fall back on. In

sucha setting,the verbalheritageis maintainedtotally

throughrepetitionandmemorization.A speaker with
somethingnewto sayhasto repeatit oftento different
audiences-who, if theyfeelinspiredby themessage, are
expected to memorize at leastits essential
parts.Because
communication is face-to-face, a speakeris particularly
prized for an ability to tailor his/her message to the
moment of communication, in terms of the audience's
backgroundfrom the past,its stateof mind at present,
anditshoped-forbenefits
in thefuture.
This puts a doubleimperativeon both the speaker
andthelistener.The speaker
mustchoose his/herwords
with an eyeboth to howtheywill affectthe audience
in
the presentand to how they will be memorizedfor
future reference. The listener must be attentive, both to
appreciate the immediateimpactof the wordsand to
memorizethemfor futureuse.Althoughoriginalityin
teachingis appreciated,
it is onlyoneof a constellationof
virtuesexpectedof a teacher.Other expectedvirtues
includeaknowledge of commoncultureandanabilityto
playwith that knowledge for the desiredeffectin terms
of immediateimpactor memorability.The Pali Dhp
(verse45)itselfmakesthispoint in comparing theactof

125
teaching,not to creatingsomethingtotally newout of
nothing, but to selectingamongavailableflowersto
createapleasingarrangementjust rightfor theoccasion.
Of course, there are situations in an oral culture
whereeither immediateimpact or memorabilityis
emphasized at the expenseof the other.In a classroom,
listeningfor impactis sacrificed
to theneedsof listening
for memorization, whereas in a theater,the emphasisis
reversed. All indications show, however, that the Buddha
asa teacherwasespecially
sensitiveto both aspects
of
oral communication, and that he trained his listeners to
besensitiveto bothaswell.On theonehand,the repeti-
tious styleof manyof his recordedteachingsseemsto
havebeenaimedat hammering theminto the listeners
memory;also,at the endof manyof his discourses, he
wouldsummarize the mainpointsof the discussionin
an easy-to-memorizeverse.
On theotherhand,therearemanyreportsofinstances
in whichhislisteners gainedimmediate Awakening while
listeningto hiswords.And,thereis a delightfulsectionin
oneof his discourses (theSamannaphala Suttanta,D.2)
satirizingthe teachers of otherreligioussectsfor their
inabilityto breakawayfromthe formulaicmodeof their
teachings to givea directanswerto specific
questions ("Its
asif, whenaskedabouta mango, onewereto answer with
a breadfruit,"one of the interlocutorscomments,"or, when
askedabouta breadfruit, to answer
with a mango.")
The
Buddha,in contrast,wasfamousfor hisabilityto speak
directlyto hislisteners'
needs.

126
 This sensitivity
to bothpresentimpactandfutureuse
is in linewith twowell-knownBuddhistteachings: first,
the basicBuddhistprincipleof causality,that an acthas
repercussions bothin thepresentandon into the future;
second, the Buddha'srealization,
earlyon in histeaching
career, that someof hislisteners
wouldattainAwakening
immediately on hearinghiswords,whereas otherswould
be ableto awakenonlyaftertakinghis words,contem-
platingthem,andputtingtheminto prolonged practice.
A surveyof the Buddha's prosediscourses recorded
in the PaliCanongivesan ideaof howthe Buddhamet
the doubledemands placedon him asateacher. In some
cases,to respondto a particularsituation,he wouldfor-
mulateanentirelyoriginalteaching. In others,he would
simplyrepeata formulaicanswerthat he kept in store
for generaluse:eitherteachingsoriginalwith him, or
moretraditionalteachings-sometimes lightly tailored,
sometimesnot-that fit in with his message. In still
others,he would take formulaicbits and pieces,and
combinethem in a newwayfor the needsat hand.A
surveyof his poetryreveals the samerangeof material:
originalworks;setpieces-originalor borrowed,occa-
sionallyalteredin linewith the occasion; andrecyclings
of oldfragments in newjuxtapositions.
Thus, althoughthe Buddhainsistedthat all his
teachingshad the sametaste-that of release-he
taughtdifferentvariationson the themeof that tasteto
differentpeopleon differentoccasions,in line with his
perceptionof theirshort-andlong-termneeds. In reciting

127
averse to aparticularaudience, hemightchange aword,a
line, or an image,to fit in with their backgrounds
and
individual needs*

Addingto thispotentialfor varietywasthefactthat

the peopleof northernIndiairr histime spokeanumber
of different dialects, each with its own traditions of
poetryandprose.The Pali Cullavagga (v*33*i)records
the Buddhaasinsistingthat his listenersmemorizehis
teachings,
not in a standardized
lingua franca,but in their
own dialects*Thereis no wayof knowingwhetherhe
himselfwasmulti-lingualenoughto teachall of his stu-
dents in their own dialects,or expectedthem to make
the translations
themselves*
Still, it seems
likelythat,as
a well-educated aristocrat of the time, he would have
beenfluentin at leasttwo or threeof the mostprevalent
dialects.Someof the discourses-suchas D*2i-depict
the Buddhaasan articulateconnoisseur of poetryand
song,sowecanexpectthat hewouldalsohavebeensen-
sitiveto the specialproblemsinvolvedin the effective
translationof poetry-alive,for instance,
to the factthat
skilledtranslationrequiresmorethansimplysubstitut-
ing equivalentwords*The Mahavagga (v*i3*9)reports
that the Buddhalistened,with appreciation, asa monk
fromthe southerncountryof Avantirecitedsomeof his
teachings-apparentlyin the Avanti dialect-in his
presence* Althoughscholars haveoftenraisedquestions
aboutwhichlanguage the Buddhaspoke,it might be
moreappropriate to remainopento the possibilitythat
he spoke-and couldcompose poetryin-several*This

128
possibilitymakesthe questionof "the"originallanguage
or "the"originaltextof the Dhpsomewhat irrelevant,
The textssuggest
that evenduringthe Buddha's
life-
time his students made efforts to collect and memorize a
standardized bodyof histeachings underarubricof nine
categories:dialogues,narratives
of mixedproseandverse,
explanations, verses,spontaneous exclamations,
quota-
tions,birth stories,amazingevents, questionandanswer
sessions.However, the actof collecting
andmemorizing
waspursuedby only a sub-groupamonghis monks,
whileothermonks,nuns,andlaypeopledoubtlessly had
their ownindividualmemorized storesof teachingsthey
hadhearddirectlyfromtheBuddhaor indirectlythrough
thereportsof theirfriendsandacquaintances,
The Buddhahadtheforesightto ensurethat thisless
standardized fund of memoriesnot be discountedby
latergenerations;
atthe sametime,he establishednorms
so that mistakenreports,deviatingfrom the principles
of his teachings,
wouldnot be allowedto creepinto the
acceptedbody of doctrine.To discouragefabricated
reportsof his words,he warnedthat anyonewho put
wordsin his mouthwasslandering him (A.n.23).This,
however,could in no way preventmistakenreports
basedon honestmisunderstandings. So,shortlybefore
his death, he summarizedthe basic principles of his
teachings:the 37Wings to Awakening(bodbi-pakkkiya
dhamma-seenote to verse301)in the generalframe-
work of the development of virtue,concentration,
and
discernment,leadingto release.
Thenhe announced the

129
generalnormsby whichreportsof his teachings
wereto
be judged* The Mahaparinibbana Suttanta (D,i6)
quoteshim assaying:
"Thereis the casewherea monksaysthis:In the
BlessedOne'spresence haveI heardthis, in the
BlessedOnespresencehaveI receivedthis*,,Inthe
presenceof a communitywith well-known
leading
elders,,,Ina monastery
with manylearnedelders
who know the tradition,,Jn the presenceof a
singleelderwho knowsthe tradition haveI heard
this, in his presence
haveI receivedthis: This is
the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the
Teachers instruction/ His statement is neither to

be approvednor scorned.Without approvalor

scorn, take careful note of his words and make
themstandagainstthe discourses andtally them
againstthe Vinaya,If, on makingthem stand
againstthe discourses and tallying themagainst
the Vinaya,youfind thattheydon'tstandwith the
discourses
or tally with the Vinaya,you maycon-
clude: 'This is not the word of the Blessed One;
this monkhasmisunderstood it'-and youshould
rejectit. But if,,,theystandwith the discourses
and
tally with the Vinaya,you mayconclude: 'This is
the word of the Blessed One; this monk has
understood
it rightly,'"
Thus,a reportof the Buddha's teachings
wasto be
judged, not on the authority of the reporter or his
sources,
but on theprincipleof consistency:
did it fit in

130
with whatwasalready knownof the doctrine? This prin-
ciplewasdesigned to ensurethat nothingat oddswith
the originalwouldbe accepted into the standardcanon,
but it did openthepossibilitythat teachings in linewith
the Buddha's, yetnot actuallyspokenbyhim, mightfind
their wayin* The earlyredactors of the canonseemto
havebeenalertto this possibility,
but not overlyworried
by it. As theBuddhahimselfpointedout manytimes,he
did not designor createthe Dhamma,He simplyfound
it in nature.Anyonewhodeveloped the pitch of mental
strengthsandabilitiesneededfor Awakening coulddis-
coverthesameprinciples aswell ThustheDhammawas
by nomeansexclusively his.
This attitudewascarriedoverinto the passages of
the Vinayathat citefour categories of Dhammastate-
ments:spokenby the Buddha,spokenby his disciples,
spokenby seers(non-Buddhist sages), spokenby heav-
enlybeings.As long asa statementwasin accordance
with the basicprinciples, the questionof whofirst stated
it did not matter.In an oral culture,wherea saying
mightbe associated with a personbecause he authored
it, approved it, repeatedit often,or inspiredit byhis/her
wordsor actions,thequestionof authorship wasnot the
overridingconcernit has sincebecomein literatecul-
tures.Therecentdiscovery of evidence that a numberof
teachings associated with the Buddhamayhavepre-or
post-datedhis time would not havefazedthe early
Buddhists at all,aslongasthoseteachings werein accor-
dance with theoriginalprinciples.

131
 Shortly after the Buddha'spassingaway,the
Cullavagga (xi) reports,his disciplesmet to agreeon a
standardized canonof histeachings, abandoning theear-
lier nine-foldclassification
and organizingthe material
into somethingapproaching the canonwehavetoday.
Thereis clearevidence that someof thepassages in the
extantcanondo not dateto thefirst convocation, asthey
report incidentsthat took placeafterwards. The ques-
tion naturallyarisesasto whetherthereareanyother
lateradditionsnot soobvious.This questionis particu-
larly relevantwith regardto textslike the Dhp, whose
organizationdiffers considerablyfrom redactionto
redaction, andleadsnaturallyto the furtherquestionof
whether a later addition to the canon can be considered

authentic.The Cullavagga (xi.ui) recountsan incident

that shedslighton thisissue:
Now at that time,Ven.Puranawaswandering on
a tour of the SouthernHills with a largecommu-
nity of monks,approximately 500 in all. Then,
havingstayedaslongashe likedin the Southern
Hills while the eldermonkswerestandardizing
the DhammaandVinaya,hewentto the Bamboo
Park,the Squirrels'Sanctuary,in Rajagaha. On
arrival, he went to the elder monks and, after
exchanging pleasantries,
satto oneside.As hewas
sittingthere,theysaidto him, "FriendPurana,the
DhammaandVinayahavebeenstandardized by
the elders. Switch over to their standardization."

[He replied:] "The Dhammaand Vinayahave

132
 beenwell-standardized
by the elders.Still I will
hold simply to what I haveheardand receivedin
the presenceof the BlessedOne."
In other words, Ven. Parana maintained-and
undoubtedlytaughtto his followers-a recordof the
Buddha's teachings thatlayoutsidethe standardized ver-
sion,but wasnevertheless authentic.As wehavealready
noted,thereweremonks,nuns,andlaypeoplelike him
evenwhilethe Buddhawasalive,andtherewereproba-
bly otherslike him whocontinuedmaintainingpersonal
memories of the Buddha'steachings evenafterthelatter's
death.This storyshowsthe officialearlyBuddhistatti-
tudetowardsuchdifferingtraditions:eachaccepted the
trustworthiness of the others.As time passed, someof
the early communitiesmay havemadean effort to
include these "external" records in the standardized

canon,resultingin variouscollections
of proseandverse
passages.The rangeof thesecollections
wouldhavebeen
determinedby the materialthat wasavailablein, or
could be effectivelytranslatedinto, eachindividual
dialect.Their organization
wouldhavedepended on the
taste and skill of the individual collectors. Thus, for
instance,
wefindversesin thePaliDhpthatdonot existin
otherDhps,aswellasverses in the PatnaandGandhari
Dhpsthatthe Palitraditionassignsto theJatakaor Sutta
Nipata.Wealsofind versesin oneredaction composed of
linesscatteredamongseveralversesin another.In any
event,the fact that a text wasa later addition to the stan-
dardizedcanondoesnot necessarily
meanthat it wasa

133
later invention.Given the ad hoc wayin which the
Buddhasometimes taught,and the scattered natureof
thecommunities whomemorized histeachings, thelater
additionsto thecanonsmaysimplyrepresent earliertra-
ditionsthatescaped standardizationuntil relatively
late.
When Buddhistsbegancommittingtheir canonsto
writing,approximately at the beginningof the common
era,theybroughta greatchangeto the dynamicof how
theirtraditionsweremaintained. Theadvantages ofwrit-
ten over oral transmission are obvious: the texts are saved

from the vagaries

of humanlong-termmemoryanddo
not die out if those who have memorized them die before

teaching othersto memorize themaswell Thedisadvan-

tagesof writtentransmission, however,
arelessobvious
but no lessreal.Not onlyistherethepossibilityof scribal
error, but-because transmission is not face-to-face-
therecanalsobethesuspicion of scribalerror.If a reading
seemsstrangeto a student,he hasno wayof checking
with the scribe,perhapsseveral generations distant,to
seeif the readingwasindeeda mistake.When con-
frontedwith suchproblems, hemay"correct" thereading
to fit in with his ideasof what mustbe right, evenin
caseswherethe readingwascorrect,and its perceived
strangeness wassimplya resultof changes in the spoken
dialector of hisownlimitedknowledge andimagination.
The fact that manuscripts of otherversions of the text
werealsoavailablefor comparisonin suchinstances
couldhaveledscribes to homogenize thetexts,removing

134
unusualvariantsevenwhenthe variantsthemselvesmay
havegonebackto theearliest
daysofthetradition.

Theseconsiderations of howtheDhp mayhavebeen

handeddownto the present-andespecially the possi-
bility that (i) variantrecensionsmight all be authentic,
and that (2) agreement amongthe recensions might be
the resultof later homogenization-havedetermined
the wayin whichI haveapproached this translationof
thePaliDhp. Unlikesomeotherrecenttranslators, I am
treatingthe Pali Dhp asa text with its ownintegrity-
just as eachof the alternativetraditions has its own
integrity-and havenot tried to homogenize thevarious
traditions. Where the different Pali recensions are unan-

imousin their readings,evenin cases wherethe reading

seemsstrange(e.g.,71,209,259,346),I havestuckwith
the Pali without trying to "rectify" it in light of less
unusualreadings givenin the othertraditions.Only in
cases where the different Pali redactions are at variance

with oneanother,andthe variantsseemequallyplausi-

ble, have I checked the non-Pali texts to see which
varianttheysupport.Thetranslationhereis drawnfrom
threeeditionsof the text: the Pali Text Society(PTS)
edition editedby O. von Hiniiber and K.R. Norman
(1995);the OxfordeditioneditedbyJohn RossCarter
andMahindaPalihawadana, togetherwith its extensive
notes(1987);and the RoyalThai edition of the Pali
Canon(1982). The PTSeditiongivesthe mostextensive
list of variantreadingsamongthe Pali recensions, but

135
evenit is not complete.The RoyalThai edition, for
example, contains
49 preferred and8 variantreadings
not
givenin the PTSversionat all Passages
whereI havedif-
feredfromthePTSreadingarecitedin theEndNotes.
Drawingselectivelyon variousrecensionsin thisway
I cannotguarantee
that the resultingreadingof the Dhp
corresponds
exactlyto theBuddha's words,or to anyone
text that once existed in ancient India, However, as I
mentionedat the beginningof this note,all the recen-
sionsagreein their basicprinciples,sothe questionis
immaterialThetruetestof thereading-andthe result-
ingtranslation-is if the readerfeelsengaged enoughby
the versesto put their principlesinto practiceandfinds
that theydo indeedleadto the release that the Buddha
taught.In thefinalanalysis,nothingelsereallycounts.

136
 END NOTES

(Numbers
refertoverses)
1-2: The factthat thewordmanois pairedherewith
dhamma wouldseemto suggest that it is meantin its role
as"intellect"the sensemediumthat conveys knowledge
of ideasor mentalobjects(twopossible meanings for the
word dhamma).However, the illustrations in the second
sentence of eachverseshowthat it is actuallymeantin
its roleasthementalfactorresponsible for thequalityof
one'sactions(as in mano-kamma),
the factor of will and
intention,shapingnot onlymentalevents,
but alsophysi-
calreality(onthispoint,seeS.xxxv.145),
Thus,following
a Thai tradition, I have rendered it here as "heart,"

The images in theseverses arecarefullychosen. The

cart,representing suffering,is aburdenon theoxpulling
it, andthe weightof its wheelsobliterates the ox'strack.
Theshadow, representinghappiness, is no weighton the
bodyat all.
All Pali recensions of this versegivethe reading,
manomaya - madeof the heart,whileall other recen-
sionsgivethe readingmanojava - impelledbytheheart,
7-8: Focused on the foul: A meditative exercisein
focusingon the foul aspectsof the bodyso asto help
undercutlust andattachment for the body(seeM,ii9),
A,in,i6 givesa standarddefinitionfor restraintwith the

137
senses:"Andhow doesa monkguardthe doorsto his
sense faculties? There is the case where a monk, on
seeinga formwith the eye,doesnot graspat anytheme
or particularsby which-if he wereto dwellwithout
restraintover the faculty of the eye-evil, unskillful
qualitiessuchasgreedor distressmightassailhim. He
practiceswith restraint.He guardsthefacultyof theeye.
He achieves restraintwith regardto the facultyof the
eye,(Similarlywith the ear,nose,tongue,body& intel-
lect,)This is howa monkguardsthe doorsto his sense
faculties,"

11-12:Wrongresolves = mentalresolves for sensual-

ity, ill will, or harmfulness.Right resolves= mental
resolves for freedomfromsensuality,
for freedomfromill
will, and for harmlessness,

17-18: "Destination" in these two verses and

throughoutthetext means
onesdestination
afterdeath,
21: The Deathless= Unbinding(nibbana/nirvana),
whichgivesrelease
fromthecycleof deathandrebirth,
22: "The rangeof the nobleones":Any of the four
stages
of Awakening, aswell asthe total Unbindingto
whichtheylead.The four stagesare:(i) stream-entry,
at
whichoneabandons
thefirst threementalfetterstying one
to the roundof rebirth:self-identityviews,uncertainty,
andgrasping atpreceptsandpractices; (2)once-returning,
atwhichpassion, aversion,
anddelusion arefurtherweak-
ened;(3) non-returning,at whichsensualpassionand
irritationareabandoned; and(4) arahantship, at which

138
the final fivefettersareabandoned: passionfor form;
passionfor formlessphenomena, conceit,restlessness,
andignorance* For otherreferences
to the "rangeof the
noble ones,"see92-93and 179-180*

37: "Lying in a cave":According to the Dhp

Commentary(hereafterreferredto as DhpA), "cave"
heremeansthe physicalheart,aswell asthe four great
properties-earth (solidity), water (liquidity), fire
(heat),and wind (motion)-that makeup the body.
Sn.iv.2alsocompares
thebodyto acave.
39: Accordingto DhpA,"unsoddened mind"means
oneinto whichthe rainof passiondoesn'tpenetrate
(see
13-14);"unassaulted awareness"means a mind not
assaulted
by anger."Beyondmerit & evil":The arahant
is beyondmerit andevilin that he/shehasnoneof the
mentaldefilements-passion, aversion,or delusion-
that would lead to evil actions, and none of the
attachments that would cause his/her actions to bear
kammicfruit of anysort,goodor bad.
40: "Without settlingthere,without layingclaim":
twomeanings of thewordanivesano.
42: A.vii.6o illustratesthis point with sevenways
that a personharmshim/herselfwhenangry,bringing
on resultsthat an enemywouldwish:He/shebecomes
ugly,sleepsbadly,mistakesprofit for lossand lossfor
profit, loseswealth, loseshis/her reputation, loses
friends,and actsin sucha way that-after death-
he/shereappears in abadrebirth.

139
 44-45* "Dhamma-saying": This is a translationfor
the term dhammapada. To ferret out the well-taught
Dhamma-saying meansto selectthe appropriate maxim
to applyto a particularsituation,in the samewaythat a
flower-arrangerchooses the right flower,froma heapof
availableflowers(see53),to fit into a particularspotin
the arrangement, "The learner-on-the-path": A person
whohasattainedanyof the first threeof the four stages
of Awakening (seenote22).
48: Accordingto DhpA, the End-makeris death.
Accordingto anotherancientcommentary,
the End-
maker is Mara*

53: The last line of the Pali here can be read in two
ways,either"evenso,manya skillful thing shouldbe
doneby oneborn & mortal"or "evenso,manya skillful
thing shouldbe donewith what'sborn & mortal"The
first readingtakesthe phrasejatenamaccena, born &
mortal, as being analogousto the flower-arranger
implicit in the image.The secondtakesit asanalogous
to theheapof flowersexplicitlymentioned.In thissense,
"what'sborn & is mortal" would denoteone'sbody,
wealth, and talents*

54-56:Tagara= a shrubthat, in powdered form,is

usedasaperfume.A.m.79explains thehowthescentof
a virtuouspersongoesagainstthewindandwaftsto the
devas,by sayingthat thosehumanandcelestialbeings
who knowof the goodcharacterof a virtuousperson
will broadcast
one'sgoodnamein all directions.

140
 57'"Rightknowing":
theknowledge
of full Awakening.
71: "Doesn't-like readymilk-come out right
away":All Palirecensionsof thisversegivethe verbmuc-
cati-"to comeout" or "tobe released"-whereas DhpA
agrees with the Sanskritrecensionsin readingthe verb
as if it were mucchati/murckati, "to curdle." The former
readingmakesmoresense, bothin termsof theimageof
the poem-which contrastscomingout with staying
hidden-andwith the plain fact that freshmilk doesn't
curdleright away.The Chinesetranslationof Dhp sup-
portsthis reading,asdo two of threescholarlyeditions
of thePatnaDhp.
79: "Drinking the Dhamma,refreshedby the
Dhamma":two meaningsof the word, dhammapiti.
"Clear...calm":twomeanings
of vipasannena.
83: "Standapart":readingcajantiwith DhpA and
manyAsianeditions.
86: The syntaxof this verseyieldsthe bestsenseif
we takeparamasmeaning"across," and not as"the far
shore."

89: Factorsfor self-awakening= mindfiilness,

analysis
of qualities,persistence,rapture,serenity,concentration,
andequanimity.
92-93:"Havingunderstood food.... independentof
nutriment":The first questionin theNovice's Questions
(Khp 4) is "Whatis one?"The answer: "All animalssub-
siston nutriment."The conceptof food andnutriment
hererefersto the mostbasicwayof understanding the

141
causalprinciplethat playssuch a centralrole in the
Buddha'steaching.As S,xn,64pointsout, "Thereare
thesefour nutrimentsfor theestablishing of beingswho
havetakenbirth or for the supportof thosein search of
a placeto be born. Which four?Physicalnutriment,
grossor refined;contactasthe second, consciousness the
third, andintellectual
intentionthefourth" Thepresent
versesmakethe point that the arahanthas so fully
understood theprocess of physicalandmentalcausality
that he/sheis totally independent of it, and thus will
nevertakebirth again.Suchapersoncannotbecompre-
hendedby any of the forms of understandingthat
operatewithin the causalrealm.
94: "Such(tadin)":an adjective usedto describe one
whohasattainedthegoalof Buddhistpractice,indicat-
ing that the personsstateis indefinable but not subject
to changeor influences of anysort."Rightknowing":the
knowledge of full Awakening.
95: Indra'spillar = a postsetup at the gateof a city.
Accordingto DhpA, therewasan ancientcustomof
worshipping this post with flowers and offerings,
althoughthosewhowantedto showtheir disrespect for
this customwould urinateand defecateon the post. In
eithercase,the post did not react,
97: This verseis a series
of puns.Thenegativemean-
ingsof the punsareon the left sideof the slashes;the
positivemeanings,ontheright.Thenegativemeanings are
soextremely negative
thattheywereprobablyintended to
shocktheir listeners.
Onescholarhassuggested that the

142
lastword-uttamaporiso,the ultimateperson-should
alsobe readasa pun, with the negativemeaning,"the
extremeof audacity,"
but that wouldweakenthe shock
value of the verse*

100: Accordingto DhpA, the wordsabassamin this

and the following versesmeans"by the thousands"
ratherthan"athousand"The sameprinciplewouldalso
seemto hold for satam-"by the hundreds"
ratherthan
"a hundred"-in 102,

108: "Doesn'tcometo a fourth":DhpA: The merit

producedby all sacrificial
offeringsgivenin theworldin
the courseof a yeardoesn'tequalevenonefourthof the
meritmadebypayinghomage onceto onewhohasgone
thestraightwayto Unbinding,
121-122:"(It wont cometo me')":The Thai edition
readsthis line asna mattamagamissati
- "[Thinking]it
won't amount to much "

126: Heaven and hell, in the Buddhist view of the

cosmos,arenot eternalstates.One maybe rebornon
one of the various levels of heaven or hell as the result of

one'skammaon the humanplane,and thenleavethat

levelwhenthat particularstoreof kammawearsout.
143: Sometranslators haveproposedthat the verb
apabodheti,here translated as "awakens"should be
changed to appam bodheti,
"to think little of" This, how-
ever,goesagainstthesense of theverseandof arecurrent
imagein the Canon,that the better-bred the horse,the
more sensitiveit is evento the idea of the whip, to say
nothingof thewhipitself See,for example,
 The questionraisedin this verseis answeredin S.i.iS:
Thoserestrained
byconscience
are rare-

thosewhogo throughlife
always mihdfuL
Havingreached the end
of suffering& stress,
theygo throughwhatis uneven
evenly;
gothroughwhatis out-of-tune
in tune*

152: Muscles: This is a translation of the Pali man-

sani,whichis usuallyrenderedin this verseas"flesh,"
However,because the Paliword is in the plural form,
"muscles"
seems moreaccurate-andmoreto thepoint.
I53'I54: DhpA:Theseverses weretheBuddha's
first
utteranceafter his full Awakening.For somereason,
they are not reportedin any of the other canonical
accountsof theevents followingon theAwakening.
DhpA: "House"= selfhood;house-builder = crav-
ing. "House" may also refer to the nine abodesof
beings-the sevenstationsof consciousness andtwo
spheres(seeKhp 4 and0.15).
The word anibbisamin 153can be read either as the
negative
gerundof nibbisati
("earning,gaininga reward")
or asthe negativegerundof nivisati,alteredto fit the
meter,meaning"coming to a rest,settled,situated."
Both
readingsmakesensein the contextof the verse,sothe

144
word is probablyintendedto havea doublemeaning:
without reward, without rest,

157:"Thethreewatches of thenight":thisistheliteral
meaning of theverse, but DhpA showsthat theimageof
stayingup to nursesomeonein the night is meantto
standfor beingwakefulandattentivethroughoutthe
threestages of life:youth,middleage,andold age.The
point hereis that it is nevertoo earlyor too lateto wake
up andbeginnurturingthegoodqualitiesof mind that
will leadto one'struebenefit.On thispoint,seeA,m,5i-
52, where the Buddha counsels two old brahmans,
nearingtheendof theirlifespan,to beginpracticing
gen-
erosityalongwith restraintin thought,word,anddeed,
162: DhpA completesthe imageof the poemby
sayingthat one'svicebringsaboutone'sowndownfall,
just asa maluvacreeperultimatelybringsabout the
downfallof thetreeit overspreads.
Seenote42,
164:A bambooplantbearsfruit onlyonce,andthen
dies soon after,

165: "No one purifiesanother.No other purifies

one,"Theseare the two meaningsof the one phrase,
nannoannamvisodhaye.
166: A,iv,95listsfour typesof peoplein descending
order: those devoted to their own true welfare as well as
that of others, those devoted to their own true welfare
but not that of others, those devoted to the true welfare
of others but not their own, and those devoted neither
to their own true welfare nor that of others. S.XLVII.IQ
makesthepoint thatif oneis truly devotedto one'sown
welfare,
othersautomatically
benefit,in thesameway
that an acrobatmaintaininghis/herownbalance
helps
his/herpartnerstaybalancedaswell
170: Sn,v.i5 reports a conversationbetween the
Buddhaandthe brahmanMogharaja
with apoint simi-
lar to that of this verse:

Mogharaja:
How does one view the world
so as not to be seen

byDeathsking?
The Buddha:

Viewtheworld,Mogharaja,
as empty-
alwaysmindful
to haveremovedanyview
about self

This wayoneis above

& beyonddeath.
This is how one views the world
so as not to be seen

by Death's
king,
176: This verseis also found at Iti*25, wherethe con-
text makesclearthemeaningof ckamdhammam,
or "this
onething":theprincipleof truthfulness.
178:Thefruit of StreamEntryis the firstof thefour
stages
of Awakening
(seenote22).A personwhohas

146
attainedStreamEntry-entry into thestreamthatflows
inevitably to Unbinding-is destinedto attain full
Awakening within at mostsevenlifetimes,neverfalling
below the human state in the interim,

183-185:
Theseverses
area summaryof a talk called
the Ovada Patimokkha, which the Buddha is said to
havedeliveredto an assembly of 1,250arahantsin the
first yearafterhis Awakening,Verse183is traditionally
viewedasexpressing theheartof the Buddha's
teachings.
191: The noble eightfold path: right view,right
resolve, right speech,
right action,right livelihood,right
effort,right mindfulness,
rightconcentration,
195-196:Complications = papanca.
Alternative
trans-
lationsof this termwouldbe proliferation,elaboration,
exaggeration. The term is usedboth in philosophical
contexts-in connection with troubles and conflict-
and in artistic contexts, in connection with excessive
detailandelaboration,M,i8 states:
"Dependent on eye&
forms,eye-consciousnessarises.
Themeetingof thethree
is contact.With contactasa requisitecondition,thereis
feeling.What one feels,oneapperceives (labelsin the
mind).What oneapperceives, onethinksabout.What
one thinks about,onecomplicates.Basedon what a
personcomplicates, the apperceptions & categories of
complicationassailhim/herwith regardto past,present,
& futureformscognizable viatheeye,[Similarlywith the
othersenses,] Now,with regardto thecausewhereby
the apperceptions & categoriesof complicationassaila
person:if thereis nothingthereto relish,welcome, or

147
remainfastened to, thenthatis theendof theunderlying
tendencies to passion,to irritation,to views,to uncer-
tainty, to conceit, to passionfor becoming,& to
ignorance. That is the endof takingup rods& bladed
weapons, of arguments, quarrels,disputes,accusations,
divisivetale-bearing, & falsespeech.That is wherethese
evil,unskillfulthingscease withoutremainder,"
209: This verseplayswith the variousmeanings of
yoga(task, striving, application,meditation) and a
relatedterm,anuyunjati (keepingaftersomething, taking
someone to task).In placeof the Palireadingattanuyogi-
nam,"thosewhokept afterthemselves," the PatnaDhp
readsatthanuyoginam, "thosewho kept after/remained
devotedto thegoal,"
218: "The up-flowingstream":DhpA: the attain-
ment of non-returning,the third of the four stagesof
Awakening (seenote22\
231-233:Bodily misconduct= killing, stealing,
engaging
in illicit sex.Verbalmisconduct= lies,divisive
speech,
harshspeech, idlechatter.Mentalmisconduct
=
covetousness,ill will, wrongviews,
235:Yama= thegodof the underworld, Yamasmin-
ionsor underlingswerebelievedto appearto a person
just prior to themomentof death,
236:Impurities,blemishes= passion, aversion,
delu-
sion, and their variouspermutations,includingenvy,
miserliness,hypocrisy,
andboastfulness.

148
 240: "Onewholivesslovenly":
As DhpA makes clear,
thisrefersto onewhousestherequisites
of food,clothing,
shelter, and medicine without the wisdom that comes
with reflectingon theirproperuse.The Palitermhereis
atidhonacarin,a compound built aroundthe word dhona,
whichmeanscleanor pure.The ati- in the compound
couldmean"overly," thusyielding,"oneoverlyscrupulous
in hisbehavior,"but it canalsomean"transgressing,"
thus,
"transgressing againstwhat is clean"= "slovenly"The
latter readingfits betterwith the imageof rust asa
deficiencyin theiron resultingfromcarelessness.
254-255:"No outsidecontemplative":
No true con-
templative, definedasa personwhohasattainedanyof
the four stagesof Awakening,existsoutsideof the prac-
ticeof the Buddha's teachings
(seenote22).In D.i6,the
Buddhais quotedasteachinghis final student:"In any
doctrine& disciplinewherethe nobleeightfoldpath is
not found, no contemplativeof the first...second...
third...fourth order [stream-winner,once-returner,non-
returner,or arahant]is found.But in anydoctrine&
disciplinewherethe nobleeightfoldpathis found,con-
templatives of the first...second...third...fourth
orderare
found.Thenobleeightfoldpathis foundin thisdoctrine
& discipline,andright heretherearecontemplatives of
the first...second...third...fourth
order.Other teachings
areemptyof knowledgeable contemplatives. And if the
monksdwellrightly,thisworldwill not beemptyof ara-
hants."(On thenobleeightfoldpath,seenote191.)
On "complication,"
seenote195-196.

149
 256-257* Thesense of theverse, confirmedby DhpA,
suggests that the Pali worddhammattho means"judge."
This,in fact,is thethemetyingtogethertheverses in this
chapter.The duty of ajudgeis to correctlydetermine
attba,a word that denotesboth "meaning"and "judg-
ment,"thesetwo senses of the wordbeingconnected by
the fact that thejudgemustinterpretthe meanings of
wordsusedin rulesandprinciplesto seehowtheycor-
rectlyapplyto theparticulars of a casesothathecanpass
a correctverdict.The remainingversesin this chapter
giveexamples of interpretingatthain anappropriate
way
259: "SeesDhammathroughhis body":The more
common expression in the Pali Canon is to touch
Dhammathroughor with the body(phusati or phassati,
he touches,ratherthanpassati,
he sees).The Sanskrit
recensions
andthe PatnaDhp all supportthe reading,
"he would touch," but all Pali recensions are unanimous
in thereading,"hesees"Somescholars regardthis latter
readingasa corruptionof theverse;
I personally
find it a
morestrikingimagethanthecommonexpression,
265: This verseplayswith a numberof nounsand
verbsrelatedto the adjective sama,
whichmeans"even,"
"equal,""onpitch,"or "in tune"Throughoutancientcul-
tures,theterminologyof musicwasusedto describe the
moralqualityof peopleandacts.Discordantintervalsor
poorly-tunedmusicalinstrumentsweremetaphors for
evil; harmonious intervals and well-tuned instruments,
for good.Thus in Pali,samana,
or contemplative,also
meansa personwho is in tune with the principlesof

150
Tightnessandtruth inherentin nature.Hereandin 388,
I've attemptedto givea hint of theseimplicationsby
associating
theword"contemplative" with "consonance"
268-269: This versecontainsthe Buddhist refutation
of the ideathat "thosewhoknowdon'tspeak, thosewho
speakdon'tknow" For anotherrefutationof the same
idea,seeD.I2.In Vedictimes,asage(muni)wasa person
who took a vowof silence(mona)andwassupposed to
gain specialknowledgeas a result. The Buddhists
adoptedthe term muni,but redefinedit to showhow
true knowledge wasattainedandhowit expressed itself
in the sage'sactions.For a fuller portrait of the ideal
Buddhistsage, seeA.m.23andSn.i.i2.
271-272: This versehas what seemsto be a rare con-
struction, in which na + instrumental nouns + a verb in
the aoristtensegivesthe forceof a prohibitive("Don't,
on accountof x, do y"). "The renunciate easethat run-
of-the-millpeopledon'tknow,"accordingto DhpA, is
thestateof non-returning, the third of thefour stagesof
Awakening (seenote22).Because non-returners arestill
attachedto subtlestatesof becoming on thelevelof form
andformlessness, DhpA driveshomethe message that
evennon-returners shouldnot be complacent by para-
phrasinga passage fromA.I (203in theThai edition;at
the endof Chapterxix in the PTSedition)that reads,
"Just as even a small amount of excrement is foul-
smelling,in the samewayI do not praiseevena small
amountof becoming, not evenasmuchasa fingersnap."
 273: The four truths: stress,its cause,its cessation,
and the path to its cessation(which is identicalto the
eightfoldpath).Seenote191.
275:"I havetaughtyouthispath":readingakkhato vo
mayamaggo with the Thai edition,a readingsupported
by the PatnaDhp, "Havingknown-for yourknowing":
two waysof interpretingwhatis apparentlyaplayon the
Paliword,annaya, whichcanbe eitherbe the gerundof
ajanati
or thedativeof anna.On theextractionof arrows
asa metaphorfor the practice,seeML63andM,105,
285:Althoughthefirstwordin thisverse, ucchinda,
lit-
erallymeans"crush,"
"destroy,"
"annihilate,"
I havefoundno
previousEnglishtranslationthat rendersit accordingly.
Mosttranslateit as"cutout" or "uproot,"whichweakens
theimage.On theroleplayedby self-allure in leadingthe
heart to becomefixated on others,seeA,vn,48,
288: Ender = death,

293:Mindfulness immersed in thebody= thepractice

of focusing on thebodyatall timessimplyasa phenome-
non in andof itself,asa wayof developing meditative
absorption (jhana) andremoving anysenseof attraction to,
distress over,or identification
with thebody,M.119 liststhe
followingpractices asinstances of mindfulness immersed
in the body:mindfulness of breathing, awareness of the
four posturesof the body (standing,sitting, walking,
lying down),alertnessto all the actionsof the body,
analysis of thebodyinto its 32parts,analysis of it into its
four properties (earth,water,fire,wind),andcontempla-
tion of thebody'sinevitable decomposition afterdeath.

152
 294* This verseand the onefollowingit useterms
with ambiguous meaningsto shock the listener.
Accordingto DhpA,mother= craving; father= conceit;
twowarriorkings= viewsof eternalism (thatonehasan
identity remainingconstantthroughall time) and of
annihilationism(thatone'sconsciousness is totallyanni-
hilatedat death);kingdom= the twelvesensespheres
(the sensesof sight,hearing,smell,taste,feeling,and
ideation,togetherwith their respective
objects);depen-
dency= passions for thesensespheres,
295: DhpA:two learnedkings= viewsof eternalism
and annihilationism;a tiger = the pathwherethe tiger
goesfor food,i.e.,the hindranceof uncertainty, or else
all five hindrances(sensualdesire,ill will, torpor &
lethargy,restlessness& anxiety,and uncertainty).
However,in Sanskritliterature,"tiger"is a term for a
powerfulandeminentman;if that is whatis meanthere,
thetermmaystandfor anger.
299: See note 293.

301:"Developing themind"in termsof the37Wings

to Awakening: thefourframesof reference (ardent,mind-
ful alertnessto body,feelings,mind states,andmental
qualitiesin andof themselves),thefourrightexertions (to
abandon andavoidevil,unskillfulmentalqualities,andto
fosterandstrengthen skillfulmentalqualities),the four
bases of power(concentration based on desire,
persistence,
intentness, anddiscrimination),thefivestrengths andfive
faculties(conviction,
persistence, mindfulness,concentra-
tion,anddiscernment), theseven factors
for self-awakening

153
(seenote89),andthenobleeightfoldpath(seenote191).
For a full treatment of this topic, seeTheWingsto
Awakening (DhammaDana Publications,1996),
303: DhpA: Wealth = both materialwealthandthe
sevenformsof noblewealth(ariya-dhana):
conviction,
virtue, conscience,concern (for the results of evil
actions),erudition,generosity,
discernment.
324: DhpA:Dhanapalaka wasa nobleelephantcap-
tured for the king of Kasi. Although given palatial
quarterswith the finestfood, he showedno interest,but
thoughtonlyof the sorrowhis motherfelt, alonein the
elephantwood,separated
from herson,
329-330:DhpA:The bull elephant namedMatanga,
reflectingon the inconveniences of living in a herd
crowdedwith she-elephants andyoungelephants-he
waspushedaroundashewentinto theriver,hadto drink
muddiedwater,hadto eatleaves that othershadalready
nibbled,etc.-decidedthat he wouldfind morepleasure
in livingalone.His storyparallels
thatof theelephantthe
Buddhametin theParileyyaka Forest(Mv.x.4.6-7).
337:This verseprovidesa Buddhisttwistto thetyp-
ical benedictionsfound in worksof kavya.Insteadof
expressinga wish that the listenersmeetwith wealth,
fame,status,or otherworldlyformsof goodfortune,this
versedescribes the highestgoodfortune,whichcanbe
accomplished only throughone'sownskillful kamma:
the uprootingof cravingandthe resultingstateof total
freedom from the round of death and rebirth. A similar

154
twist on the themeof good fortune is found in the
MangalaSutta(Khp.5,Sn.n.4),whichteaches that the
bestprotectivecharmis to developskillfulkamma,ulti-
matelydevelopingthe mind to the point whereit is
untouched bythevagaries of theworld.
339: 36 streams= three forms of desirefor eachof the
internalandexternal
sense spheres
(seenote294)-3 x 2x
6 = 36. Accordingto onesub-commentary, the three
formsof desirearedesires focusedon the present,past,
andfuture.According to another,
theyarecraving for sen-
suality,
cravingforbecoming, andcravingfor no-becoming.
340: "Everywhichway":Readingsabbadbi with the
Thai andBurmeseeditions.The creeper, accordingto
DhpA, is craving,which sendsthoughtsout to wrap
aroundits objects,
whileit itselfstaysrootedin themind.
341:This versecontainsanimpliedsimile:theterms
"loosened
& oiled,"hereappliedtojoys,werecommonly
used to describe smooth bowel movements.

343: For the variousmeaningsthat attano-"for

himself"-can havein this verse,seenote 402.
346: "Elastic": The usual translation for sithilam-
"slack"-does not fit in this verse, but all the Pali
recensionsare unanimouson this reading,so I have
chosena nearsynonymthat does.The PatnaDhp ren-
ders this term as "subtle," whereas the Tibetan
commentary to the Udanavargaexplainsthe line asa
whole asmeaning"hard for the slackto untie."Both
alternatives
makesense,but maybeattemptsto "correct"

155
a termthat couldwell haveoriginallymeant'elastic/'a
meaning thatgotlostwith thepassageof time,
348: DhpA: In front = the aggregates of the past;
behind= the aggregates
of the future;in between= the
aggregates
of thepresent.
Seealsonote385.
350: "A focus on the foul": A meditative exercisein
focusingon the foul parts of the body so asto help
undercutlustandattachment for thebodySeenote7-8.
352:'Astutein expression,
knowingthe combination
of sounds-which comes first & which after": Some ara-

hants,in additionto theirabilityto overcome

all of their
defilements, are also endowed with four forms of acumen
(patisambhida),one of whichis acumenwith regardto
expression (nirutti-patisambhida),
i.e.,a totalmastery
of lin-
guisticexpression.Thistalentin particularmusthavebeen
ofinterestto theanthologist(s)
whoput together theDhp.
"Last-body":
Because an arahantwill not be reborn,
thispresentbodyis his/herlast.
353:Accordingto M.26andMv.i.6.7,oneof thefirst
peoplethe Buddhamet after his Awakeningwasan
asceticwho commented on the clarity of his faculties
andaskedwho his teacherwas.This versewaspart of
the Buddha'sresponse.
354: This versecontainsseveralterms relatedto aes-
thetics.Bothdhamma (justice)anddana(gift/generosity)
are sub-typesof the heroic rasa,or savor.(Seethe
Introduction.)The third sub-typeof the heroic-yuddha
(warfare)-is suggested by the verb"conquer,"which

156
occursfour timesin the Pali.Rati(delight/love)is the
emotion(bhava)that corresponds
to the sensitiverasa.In
effect,theverseis saying
thatthehighest formsof rasaand
emotionarethoserelatedto Dhamma; thehighestexpres-
sionoftheheroicDhammarasa is in theendingofcraving.
360-361: See note 7-8.

363: "Counsel":In the contextof Indian literary

theory,thisis the meaningof thewordmania, whichcan
alsomean"chant." The literarycontextseemsto be the
properonehere.
368: "Stilling-of-fabrications
ease":
thetrue easeand
freedomexperienced whenall fiveaggregates
arestilled.
369: DhpA:The boat= one'sownpersonhood (atta-
bhava,the body-mindcomplex);thewaterthat needsto
be bailedout = wrongthoughts(imbuedwith passion,
aversion,or delusion).
370: DhpA:Cut throughfive= thefivelowerfetters
that tie the mind to the roundof rebirth(self-identity
views,uncertainty,graspingat precepts& practices,sen-
sualpassion,irritation);let go of five= the fivehigher
fetters(passionfor form,passionfor formlessphenom-
ena,conceit,restlessness, & ignorance); developfive =
the fivefaculties(conviction,persistence, mindfulness,
concentration,discernment);five attachments= passion,
aversion, delusion, conceit, views.

381: See note 368.

157
 383: This verse,addressedto a member of the brah-
man caste,is one of the few in Dhp where the word
brahman
is usedin its ordinarysense,
asindicatingcaste
membership,and not in its specialBuddhist senseas
indicatinganarahant.
384: DhpA: two things = tranquility meditation
andinsightmeditation*
385:DhpA:This verserefersto a personwhohasno
senseof "I" or "mine," either for the senses("not-
beyond")or their objects("beyond").
The passage
may
also refer to the sense of total limitlessness that makes

theexperience of Unbindingtotallyineffable,
asreflected
in thefollowingconversation(Sn.v.6):
Upasiva:
He who has reached the end:
Does he not exist,
or is hefor eternityfreefromdis-ease?
Please,
sage, declarethisto me
asthisphenomenon hasbeenknownbyyou.
The Buddha:

One who has reached the end has no criterion

bywhichanyonewouldsaythat-
it doesn't exist for him.

Whenall phenomena aredoneawaywith,

allmeansof speaking
aredoneawaywith aswelL
388: Stains= the impuritieslisted in note 236,On
"consonance,"seenote 265,
 389: The word "anger"hereis addedfrom DhpA,
whichinterpretsthe"lettingloose"asthe actof retaliat-
ing with angeragainstone'sassailant.
Sometranslators
read"brahman"asthe subjectnot only of the second
line, but also the first: "A brahman should/would not
strikea brahman
" However,
this readingis unlikely,for
a brahman(in this context,an arahant)would not strike
anyoneatall If a brahmanretaliates with angerto being
struck,that is a signthat he is not a truebrahman: thus
moreshameon him for havingassumeda statusnot
truly his*On the topicof howto reactto violentattack,
see M.2i and M .

390: "What'sendearing & not":In thephrasemanaso

piyehi,
piyehicanbe readstraightasit is,as"endearing,"
or
asan elidedformof apiyehi,
"notendearing" The former
readingis morestraightforward,but giventhe reference
to "harmful-heartedness" in the next line, the latter read-
ingserves to tie the stanzatogether.
It is alsoconsistent
with thefactthatDhpA takesthisversetobea continua-
tion of 389.Giventhe wayin whichkavyacultivateda
tastefor ambiguities andmultipleinterpretations,both
readings mayhavebeenintended.
392: "Brahmin"hereis usedin its ordinarysense,
as
indicating castemembership,and not in its special
Buddhistsense asindicatinganarahant,
393:"He is apureone":reading50suciwith the Thai
edition,a readingsupportedby the Chinesetranslation
of theDhp.

159
 394' In Indiaof the Buddha's day mattedhair,etc,
wereregarded asvisiblesignsof spiritualstatus*
396: "Bho-sayer"-Brahminsaddressed othersas
"bho"asa wayof indicatingtheir (thebrahmans') supe-
rior caste*"If he hasanything"(readingsacewith the
Burmeseedition)= if he/shelaysclaimto anythingas
his/her own*

398:DhpA: strap= hatred;thong= craving; cord=

62 forms of wrong view (listed in the Brahmajala
Suttanta,D*i); bridle = latent tendencies(sensuality,
becoming, anger,conceit,views,uncertainty,
ignorance)*
400: "With no overbearingpride":readinganus-
sadam with theThai andBurmese editions*
"Last-body":
see note 352*

402:"Forhimself,
onhisown,hisownendingof stress":
threedifferentwaysthat the oneword attanofunctions
in this verse*

411: According to DhpA, "attachments/homes

(alayaf = cravings*
"Knowing":the knowledgeof full
Awakening (anna).
412: See note 39*
421: See note 348*
423: The formsof masterylistedin thisversecorre-
spondto the three knowledgesthat comprisedthe
Buddha'sAwakening:knowledgeof previouslives,
knowledge of howbeingspassawayandarerebornin
thevariouslevelsof being,andknowledge of theending
of theeffluentsthatmaintaintheprocess of birth*

160
 GLOSSARY

Aggregate(khandha):Any oneof the fivebasesfor

clingingto a senseof self:form (physicalphenomena,
including the body), feelings,perceptions(mental
labels),
thought-fabrications,
consciousness.
Arahant: A "worthyone"or "pureone;"a person
whose mind is free of defilement and thus is not des-
tined for further rebirth. A title for the Buddha and the

highestlevelof hisnobledisciples.
Becoming(bhava):Statesof beingthatdevelop first
in the mind and allowfor birth on anyof threelevels:
the levelof sensuality,
the levelof form,andthe levelof
formlessness.

Brahma:An inhabitantof the highest,non-sensual

levels of heaven.

Brahman:The Brahmans of India havelongmain-

tainedthat they,bytheir birth,areworthyof thehighest
respect.Buddhistsborrowedthe term "brahman"to
applyto arahantsto showthat respectis earnednot by
birth, race,or caste,
but by spiritualattainmentthrough
followingtheright pathof practice.Mostof theverses in
the Dhammapada usethewordbrahmanin this special
sense;thoseusingthe word in its ordinary senseare
indicated in the notes.

161
 Deva: Literally,"shiningone."An inhabitantof the
heavenly
realms,
Dhamma: (1) Event;a phenomenonin and of itself;
(2) mentalquality;(3) doctrine,teaching;(4) nibbana.
Sanskrit form: Dharma.

Effluent (asava):One of four qualities--sensuality,

views,becoming, andignorance-that"flowout" of the
mind and create the flood of the round of death and
rebirth.

Enlightenedone (dhira): Throughoutthis transla-

tion I have rendered buddhaas "Awakened," and dhira as
"enlightened." AsJanGondapointsout in his book,The
VisionoftheVedic Poets,
the worddhirawasusedin Vedic
and Buddhist poetry to meana personwho has the
heightened powersof mentalvisionneededto perceive
the "light" of the underlyingprinciplesof the cosmos,
togetherwith the expertiseto implementthoseprinci-
plesin the affairsof life and to revealthem to others.A
personenlightened in this sensemayalsobe awakened,
but is not necessarily
so.
Fabrication(sankhara):Sankharaliterallymeans
"putting together/'and carriesconnotationsof jerry-
riggedartificiality.It is appliedto physicalandto mental
processes,aswellasto theproductsof thoseprocesses. In
somecontexts it functionsasthefourthof thefiveaggre-
gates-thought-fabrications; in others,it covers
all five.
Gandhabba: Celestial musician,a member of one of
the lower deva realms.

162
 Heart (manas): The mind in its role as will and
intention.

Indra: King of the devasin the Heavenof the

Thirty-three.
Jhana:Meditativeabsorption. A stateof strongcon-
centration,devoidof sensuality or unskillfulthoughts,
focusedon a singlephysicalsensation or mentalnotion
whichis then expanded to fill the wholerangeof one's
awareness. Jhanais synonymous with right concentra-
tion, the eighthfactorin the nobleeightfoldpath (see
note 191).
Kamma: Intentionalact,bearingfruit in termsof
statesof becoming
andbirth. Sanskritform:karma.
Mara: The personificationof evil,temptation,and
death.

Patimokkha: Basiccodeof monasticdiscipline,

composed
of 227rulesfor monksand311
for nuns.
Samsara:Transmigration;
the "wandering-on";
the
round of death and rebirth.

Sangha: On the conventional

(sammati)
level,this
term denotes the communities of Buddhist monks and

nuns;on the ideal(ariya)level,it denotes

thosefollowers
of the Buddha,lay or ordained,who haveattainedat
leaststream-entry(seenote22).
Stress(dukkha): Alternativetranslationsfor dukkha
includesuffering,
burdensomeness,
andpain.However-
despitethe unfortunateconnotations
it haspickedup

163
from programsin "stress-management" and "stress-
reduction"-theEnglishwordstress,in its basicmeaning
asthe reactionto strainon the bodyor mind,hasthe
advantageof coveringmuchthe samerangeasthe Pali
worddukkha. It applies
bothto physicalandmentalphe-
nomena, rangingfromtheintensestressof acuteanguish
or pain to the innateburdensomeness
of eventhe most
subtlementalor physicalfabrications.It alsohasthe
advantage of beinguniversally recognized assomething
directlyexperienced in all life,andis at the sametimea
usefultool for cuttingthroughthe spiritualpride that
keepspeopleattachedto especially refinedor sophisti-
catedformsof suffering:onceall suffering,no matter
how nobleor refined,is recognizedasbeingnothing
morethanstress,the mind canabandon the pridethat
keepsit attachedto that suffering,andso gainrelease
fromit. Still, in someof theverses of theDhammapada,
stress
seems too weakto conveythemeaning, soin those
versesI haverendered dukkha aspain,suffering,
or suffering
& stress.

Tathagata:Literally,"onewhohasbecome authentic
(tatha-agata),"
or "onewho is reallygone(tatha-gata)"
an
epithet usedin ancientIndia for a personwho has
attainedthehighestreligiousgoal In Buddhism,it usu-
ally denotesthe Buddha,althoughoccasionally it also
denotes anyof hisarahantdisciples,
Unbinding (nibbana):Because nibbanais usedto
denotenot only the Buddhistgoal,but alsothe extin-
guishingof a fire,it is usuallyrendered
as"extinguishing"

164
or, evenworse,"extinction"However, a studyof ancient
Indianviewsof the workingsof fire (seeTheMind Like
FireUnbound) revealsthat peopleof the Buddha'stime
felt that a fire,in goingout, did not go out of existence
but wassimplyfreedfromits agitation,entrapment, and
attachment to its fueL Thus, when applied to the
Buddhistgoal,the primaryconnotation
of nibbana
is one
of release,
alongwith coolingandpeace,Sanskritform:
nirvana.

165
 ABBREVIATIONS

A AnguttaraNikaya
D DighaNikaya
Dhp Dhammapada/Dharmapada
DhpA Dhammapada
Commentary
Iti Itivuttaka

Khp Khuddakapatha
M MajjhimaNikaya
Mv Mahavagga
PTS PaliTextSociety
S Samyutta
Nikaya
Sn Sutta Nipata

166
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Brough, John, ed. The GandhariDharmapada.

London:OxfordUniversityPress,1962.
Carter,JohnRossandMahindaPalihawadana,
trans.
anded.TheDhammapada.
NewYork:OxfordUniversity
Press, 1987

Cone,Margaret. "PatnaDharmapada,Part I: Text,"

inJournalofthePaliTextSociety,
xm, 1989:101-217.
Dhammajoti,BhikkhuKualaLumpur,trans,anded.
TheChinese
Version
ofDharmapada. Kelaniya,Sri Lanka:
Postgraduate
Instituteof PaliandBuddhistStudies,
1995.
Gonda,Jan.TheVisionoftheVedic
Poets.
The Hague:
Mouton, 1963.

von Hiniiber, O., and K.R. Norman, eds. Dhamma-

pada.Oxford:The PaliTextSociety,
1995.
Norman, K.R., trans. The Wordof theDoctrine.
Oxford:ThePaliTextSociety,
1997.
Warder,A.K. IndianKavyaLiterature,
vols.i and n,
2nd rev.eds.Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass,1989and 1990.

In addition to the above works, I have also consulted

manypreviousEnglishtranslationsand renderingsof
the Dhammapada,
completeand incomplete, including

167
thoseby Ven.AnandaMaitreya,Babbitt,Beyer,Ven.
Buddharakkhita,Byrom, Cleary,Kaviratna, Vens.
Khantipalo and Susanna,Mascaro,Ven, Narada,Ven,
Piyadassi,
Radhakrishnan, and Wannapok,aswell as
Thai translationsby Plengvithaya
and Wannapok.In
addition, I have consulted translations of the Udana-
varga-again,completeand incomplete-by Sparham
and Strong*I havealsodrawn from the RoyalThai
Edition of the Pali Canon,publishedby Mahamakut
RajavidalayaPress,
Bangkok, 1982*

168
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