CHAPTER 15

HAPPINESS

197–9. Ah, how happily we live: susukhaṃ vata jīvāma – susukhaṃ jīvāma means ‘very happily we live’, but vata turns a statement into a fervent exclamation. Jīvāma and viharāma (‘we dwell’ in l. 3) could equally be imperatives: ‘let us live!’ and ‘let us dwell!’

Carefree … careworn: Those who are anussuka or ussuka, free of or full of care and anxiety.

STORY: A war is about to break out between the Sākiyas and Koliyas, relatives of the Buddha’s father and mother respectively. The Buddha goes up to the armies to find out the cause of the conflict, but no one can remember, not even the commanders: the quarrel has taken on a momentum of its own. Finally one of the slaves recollects that the quarrel originated in a dispute over the irrigation rights to a river.

The Buddha points out to the warring parties that water is of little value, whereas the lives of the warriors are beyond price. He speaks the verses, contrasting his way of life with that of the combatants.

200. Radiant Gods: devā ābhassarā, a class of beings from the high Brahmā heavens.

Verse 9.12 of the Jain Uttarajjhayaṇa Sutta resembles this one in its first two pādas – Roth (1976: 166–9) quotes a translation by Hermann Jacobi: ‘Happy are we, happy live we who call nothing our own; when Mithilā is on fire, nothing is burned that belongs to me.’ Udānavarga 30.44 has a verse resembling the Uttarajjhayaṇa version: ‘Ah, how happily we live, / We who own nothing! / Though Mithilā burns / Nothing burns that belongs to us.’ In the Jain text it appears to be spoken by Janaka, a king of Mithilā who is also an enlightened sage. It is also paralleled in the Mahābhārata (Roth op. cit.; see also Brough 1962: 229–30 on the parallel verse, GDhp 168).

STORY: The Buddha goes to a village where he is aware of 500 young women who are ready to benefit by his teaching. Māra turns the villagers against the Buddha, so that he will not receive alms that day. When the young women arrive, Māra taunts the Buddha with the fact that he has not eaten that day, and must be feeling the pangs of hunger. The Buddha points out to Māra that he is content, living on the joy of meditation like the Radiant Gods. The 500 young women attain Stream-Entry.

201. The victor: Following K. R. Norman (1997: 30, 111–12), who takes jayaṃ as a present participle (‘the conquering one’) rather than a noun (‘victory’).

in pain: dukkhaṃ.

STORY: The king of Kosala three times goes to war against his nephew Ajātasattu, and each time is defeated. Overcome by grief, he refuses to eat and takes to his bed. The Buddha speaks the verse to console him.

202. pain: dukkha.
aggregates: khandha – see Glossary.

STORY: At a wedding celebration, the bride’s parents invite the Buddha and the monks for alms. The bridegroom is so distracted by desire for the bride that he does not pay proper attention to the Buddha. The Buddha, by his psychic power, makes the bride invisible to the groom. He speaks the verse, and both bride and groom attain Stream-Entry. The Buddha now lets him see her once more.

203. Rather a free translation here, since it is impossible to translate literally without writing ‘Buddhist Hybrid English’. The words translated as ‘worst’ and ‘greatest’ are all forms of parama, ‘supreme’. Literally, ‘Hunger [is] the supreme disease, the saṅkhāras the supreme painful (dukkha) [things]: knowing this as it is (yathābhūtaṃ), [one realizes that] nibbāna is the supreme happiness.’
Conditioned things: The saṅkhāras or ‘conditions’, all the components of the conditioned realm.
truly: yathābhūtaṃ, ‘as it [really] is’.

STORY: A poor farmer comes late to a meeting with the Buddha and the monks, because he has spent the morning searching for his one ox, which has strayed. Realizing that the farmer has had nothing to eat, the Buddha delays his teaching until food has been found for him. There is some criticism of the Buddha for delaying his discourse for just one man. He explains afterwards that if the farmer had tried to listen to the teaching while hungry, he could not have comprehended it. As it is, he has listened intently and gained Stream-Entry.

204. See my comments on v. 203. Literally, ‘Gains have absence of disease as their supreme [example]; wealth has happiness as its supreme [example]; a relative has trust as his/her supreme [quality]; nibbāna is the supreme happiness.’
Health: Literally, ‘absence of disease’ (ārogya).
Trust is what makes the truest kin: i.e. it is trustworthiness, not blood relationship, that makes a person into a true relative.

STORY: King Pasenadi has got into the habit of drastically over-eating, and finds he has become uncomfortable, short of energy, and inclined to quarrel with members of his family. The Buddha, speaking v. 325, advises him on how to cut down on the amount of rice he is eating. The king learns moderation in eating, and his health and family relationships become better than ever before. The king becomes a devout follower of the Buddha.

205. Savouring: Literally, ‘drinking’.
free of fear: niddaro. K. R. Norman (1997: 113) takes this as coming from ni (‘without’) + dara (‘fear’ or ‘distress’, < Sanskrit dara), though, as he points out, the reason for the doubling of ‘d’ is unclear, since it is not required for metrical reasons. It is possible that instead it comes from ni + ^*dvara = jvara, ‘burning’, ‘fever’. This verse is not paralleled in other Dharmapada literature – but see also the notes on vīta-ddaraṃ for v. 385.
the taste of joy in the Dhamma: Or ‘the taste of drinking the Dhamma’. For the pun on dhamma-pīti, see the note on v. 79.

STORY: A similar story to the one for v. 166, but told of the Elder Tissa.

206–8. If you never see a fool / You’ll always be happy: Literally, ‘by the non-seeing of fools one would always be happy.’
So: tasmā hi. These words fall outside the metrical verses.
steadfast: Or perhaps ‘wise’ (dhīra).
such a: tādisaṃ – cf. the note for v. 76.
As the moon keeps to the zodiac path: Literally, ‘as the moon [keeps to] the path of the lunar mansions’. The mansions (nakkhatta, Sanskrit nakṣatra) are twenty-seven constellations marking the course of the moon round the ecliptic. They form a kind of lunar zodiac, which was known in India before the solar zodiac of twelve constellations was imported into India from Hellenistic Greek astrology.

STORY: When the Buddha is suffering from dysentery, caused by the illness that will eventually end his life, Sakka himself comes to attend upon him, even emptying his chamber-pot for him. The monks are amazed, because normally the gods find the smell of human beings (even healthy ones) repulsive. But Sakka is grateful to the Buddha because his teaching has enabled him to attain Stream-Entry.

CHAPTER 16

THE DEAR

The dear (piya) is that to which one is attached, or what is cherished. K. R. Norman (1997: 32–3) translates it throughout as ‘pleasant’, but this seems to restrict the meaning to things, rather than people. In many of the following verses, the word could apply equally to either, but the commentarial stories generally take it as applied to people, such as family members. The message is not that one should not feel love for other beings, but rather that one should not be caught up in personal attachment.

209–11. Verse 209 is built round a series of derivatives of the verb yuj-, ‘to yoke’, ‘to join’, ‘to apply oneself’ (cf. yoga), and is hard to translate into idiomatic English: literally, ‘Applying oneself (yuñjaṃ) to not-yoga (ayoga), and non-applying (ayojanaṃ) to yoga, having abandoned the goal, clinging to what is dear, one would envy the one who applies himself to the goal (attānuyoginaṃ) [taking atta as equivalent to attha: K. R. Norman, 1997: 114].’
In v. 210 Norman, as usual, takes the words as applying to things or states rather than people: ‘Do not at any time associate with pleasant (or) unpleasant things. Not seeing pleasant things is painful, and also seeing unpleasant things.’
losing what’s dear: Literally, ‘the going away of the dear’.

STORY: A young man and his father become monks, and his mother becomes a nun. However, the three do not give up their attachment to one another, and spend their time chatting together. The Buddha speaks the verses to remind them of their proper duties.

212. If you’re freed from the dear / You’ll have no grief, let alone fear: Literally, ‘For the one who is freed from the dear, there is no grief, let alone fear.’ Similarly in vv. 213–16.

STORY: A layman whose son has died is overcome by grief, so that he gives up eating and working. The Buddha visits him and reminds him that death is common to all beings: the wise do not give themselves up to excessive grief.

213. STORY: Visākhā’s granddaughter has died, and she is in mourning. The Buddha asks her if she would like to have as many dear ones as there are people in the city of Sāvatthi. She says that she would. He reminds her that, if this were so, she would be constantly in mourning, as there is always someone dying in Sāvatthi.

214. STORY: The Licchavi princes go off to a festival in their finery, looking like the Thirty-Three Gods. Before nightfall, they are carried home battered and covered in blood, having fought over a beautiful courtesan they met on the way.

215. STORY: A young man called Anitthigandha refuses to marry unless his parents can find a girl as beautiful as a golden statue that he has had made. They send some Brahmins to look for such a girl, and they search, taking the statue with them, until one day a woman mistakes it for her daughter. A date for the wedding is fixed, but on the way to Anitthigandha’s home the girl becomes ill and dies.

Hearing of this, Anitthigandha is struck down with grief, and refuses to eat. Aware of his plight, the Buddha calls at his house on his alms-round, and is invited in by the youth’s parents. They bring Anitthigandha to meet the Buddha, who teaches him with this verse. Anitthigandha attains Stream-Entry.

216. STORY: A Brahmin farmer promises a share of his crop to the Buddha. The night before it is due to be harvested, it is destroyed by a storm. The farmer is grief-stricken, because he feels that he is breaking his word to the Buddha. The Buddha comforts him by speaking the verse, and he gains Stream-Entry.

217. firm in the Dhamma: dhammaṭṭha – cf. the introduction to Chapter 19 and the notes to vv. 256–7.

STORY: Five hundred boys take a liking to the Elder Kassapa the Great, and offer him the basket of pancakes they have with them, though they have given none to the Buddha and other monks whom they met previously. Kassapa asks them to offer the pancakes to the Buddha and the monks, and they do so. The other monks are shocked by the boys’ favouritism towards Kassapa, but the Buddha does not mind at all. He speaks this verse in praise of Kassapa. Hearing it, the boys all attain Stream-Entry.

218. who has aroused a wish for the Undeclared: chandajāto anakkhāte, referring to a person who has already attained one of the lower three paths – Stream-Entry, Once-Return or Non-Return – and had a preliminary experience of nibbāna (‘the Undeclared’). (If he or she had attained Arahatship, the chanda, or wish, would no longer be present.)
the Undeclared: nibbāna, because it cannot be described.
filled with that consciousness: Literally, ‘filled with mind’, but referring to the state of mind produced by seeing nibbāna. Carter and Palihawadana (1987: 267) translate this as ‘clear in mind’, but quote the commentary: ‘Who would be filled with the thoughts pertaining to the three prior Paths and Fruits’ – i.e. Stream-Entry, Once-Return and Non-Return.
heading upstream: Against the stream of saṃsāra. See ‘Stream-Enterer’ in the Glossary.

STORY: A monk dies without attaining Arahatship, and his followers are distressed. However, the Buddha points out that the monk had attained Non-Return, and had therefore been reborn in the high heavens called the Pure Abodes: he will certainly attain Arahatship in his next birth.

219–20. good actions: puñña.
the next: Literally, ‘the other [world]’.

STORY: A pious layman called Nandiya makes generous offerings to the community of monks. Moggallāna, visiting the Tāvatiṃsa heaven through his psychic powers, sees a wonderful palace there, and enquires for whom it has been built. It turns out that it is for Nandiya.

CHAPTER 17

ANGER

221. pride: The Sanskrit and Pali word māna is probably derived from man-, ‘to think’: hence, perhaps, ‘thinking well of oneself’. In Sanskrit poetry it is often used of the hurt pride of a woman whose husband favours a rival wife. But the commentator relates māna to mā-, ‘to measure’, giving it the meaning of ‘measuring oneself against others’, ‘thinking oneself better/worse/the same as someone else’. (Buddhist thought considers that all these are simply forms of pride or self-conceit.) The commentarial story in fact seems to show both kinds of māna in action: that which led Rohiṇī in a former life to disfigure the dancing-girl (see below), and that which leads her in the present life to hide herself from view.
sorrows: dukkha.

STORY: Rohiṇī, sister of the Elder Anuruddha, is suffering from a disfiguring skin disease, and hides herself away. Anuruddha encourages her to perform a meritorious act in order to become free of her affliction. She sells her jewellery and with the proceeds has a hall built, to which she invites the Buddha and the monks. After the offerings of food, the Buddha explains the reason for her affliction: in a previous existence as a queen she was jealous of one of the king’s dancing-girls, and played an unpleasant trick on her, putting powder from an itching plant in her bed, so that she would develop a disfiguring rash.

The Buddha speaks the verse, on the consequences of anger, and Rohiṇī attains Stream-Entry. At that moment, her disease vanishes and her complexion becomes like gold. Later, when she dies, she is reborn in the heaven of the Thirty-Three Gods, so beautiful that she becomes the darling of Sakka himself.

222. STORY: A monk begins to cut down a tree to build himself a hut. The deity living within the tree tries to stop him, holding up her^* baby in front of the monk. The monk does not see the baby, and cuts off its arm. The deity is tempted to kill the monk, but restrains her anger, and instead goes and reports to the Buddha what has happened. The Buddha speaks the verse in praise of the deity’s self-restraint, and the deity attains Stream-Entry; however, she still grieves for the loss of her home. The Buddha points out another tree to be the deity’s home: because it is the Buddha’s gift, no one will be able to damage or remove it. The Buddha makes the Vinaya rule preventing monks from cutting down trees.

223. The verse is puzzling, because in all versions it seems to mix abstract nouns with adjectives, and in some cases it is not clear which is intended: see K. R. Norman 1997: 116.
By freedom from anger [literally, ‘By non-anger’: see the notes on v. 5] you should conquer anger: The Commentary takes akkodhena jine kodhaṃ as ‘By freedom from anger you should conquer the angry person’, though kodha does not seem elsewhere to be used in this sense.
By good conquer what is not good: Or ‘By good conquer the person who is not good’.
miserliness: Or ‘the miser’.
the teller of lies: This seems unambiguously to refer to a person, but both the Sanskrit Udānavarga (20.19) and the Gāndhārī Dharmapada (280) have ‘one should conquer falsehood by truth’.

STORY: Uttarā, the daughter of a wealthy banker, and a devout Buddhist, is married into a non-Buddhist family. Frustrated at not being able to offer alms to the monks, she pays Sirimā, a beautiful courtesan, to stay with her husband while she organizes an alms-giving. Her husband, presented with a courtesan who is greatly sought after, readily agrees.

Sirimā, it seems, does not realize that she is there merely as a temporary companion, but thinks she is the new mistress of the house. One day the husband sees Uttarā bustling about, preparing for the alms-giving, and laughs. Sirimā, seeing the intimacy between the two of them, becomes jealous and throws hot ghee at Uttarā. Uttarā controls her anger, reflecting on her gratitude at Sirimā for enabling her to give alms. She meditates on loving kindness, and the boiling-hot fat does not harm her. Uttarā’s maids begin to beat Sirimā, but Uttarā prevents them. Sirimā, overcome by Uttarā’s kindness, begs her forgiveness. Uttarā agrees to forgive her if the Buddha will do so. They go before him, and the Buddha praises Uttarā. Sirimā herself becomes a follower of the Buddha (see also the story for v. 147).

224. tell the truth: K. R. Norman (1997: 34, 116), following Brough (1962: 184, on GDhp 22), takes this as ‘speak what is pleasant’, deriving saccaṃ from sātyaṃ, not satyam. However, the verse specifies three practices, and speaking pleasantly seems to be part of the same practice as ‘not getting angry’.
even if there’s not much: Literally, ‘even [if there’s] little’.
practices: Literally, ‘states’.

STORY: Moggallāna visits a heavenly realm, and sees divine beings enjoying existences of great splendour. When asked what they have done to earn such a reward, they are almost too embarrassed to say. One has simply spoken the truth. One was a servant who did not get angry when her master ill-treated her. Others gave small items of food to monks. The Buddha confirms that even small acts of merit can bring enormous rewards.

225. Where those who go don’t grieve: Literally, ‘where having gone they would not grieve’.

STORY: An old Brahmin couple, great devotees of the Buddha, continually refer to him as their son, and treat him as such. Both attain Non-Return. When people disapprove of their way of addressing the Buddha, he explains that in 1,500 past lives they have been either his parents, his uncle and aunt, or his grandparents. He stays near them for three months, at the end of which they attain Arahatship and pass away.

226. go to rest: atthaṃ gacchanti – ‘go west’, ‘set’, like the sun and moon.

STORY: A slave woman called Puṇṇā, too tired to sleep, wonders why the Buddha’s monks are also wakeful at night. Is one of their number sick? Next day she offers her modest meal of a rice cake to the Buddha. He explains that his monks are wakeful through mindfulness, and Puṇṇā attains Stream-Entry.

227–30. truth: Word added for clarity.
When they’ve observed him day after day: The only way to find out if a person is truly enlightened.
of new gold: jambonada – gold that has been worked for the first time.

STORY: Atula, a layman, brings 500 companions to the monastery and requests teaching from various senior followers of the Buddha. Revata is extremely taciturn. Sāriputta expounds the Abhidhamma, at great length. Ānanda gives a very brief and simple talk. Atula goes and complains to the Buddha, who explains that no one in this world escapes criticism: kings, the earth, the sun and moon, even the Buddha himself. Praise or blame from foolish people does not matter, and only praise from the wise and learned is worth paying attention to.

231–4. anger: pakopa, sometimes translated as ‘disturbance’, which seems to be how the Commentary is taking it. Presumably the verses are primarily concerned with bad actions, speech and thought that are the result of anger. Carter and Palihawadana (1987: 276–7) have ‘intemperance’.
thoroughly restrained: In ll. 1–3 of v. 234 we have saṃvutā, ‘controlled’, ‘restrained’. In l. 4 we have su-pari-saṃvutā, ‘well + all-round + restrained’.

STORY: The Buddha speaks the verses to a group of six monks who are very noisy, clattering about in wooden shoes and disturbing their fellow monks. At the end of his instruction, the six monks attain Stream-Entry.

CHAPTER 18

RUST

Rust: mala. The key word in this chapter, the mala-vagga, can be used of any kind of impurity or stain, and in the course of the chapter I have varied the translation accordingly. However, in vv. 240–43, it is specifically used of impurities that, like rust in metal, corrode away the sound material that surrounds them.

235–8. you/You: A genuine second-person singular: all four verses seem to be addressed to one individual.
at the start of an undertaking: Following K. R. Norman 1997: 36, 119. The commentary takes uyyoga-mukhe as ‘on the brink of dissolution’, presumably regarding ud + yoga as the opposite of yoga, ‘joining’. Uyyoga appears not to be found elsewhere in the Pali Canon, but in Sanskrit the normal meaning of udyoga is ‘effort’, ‘striving’, ‘undertaking’. If we take it in that sense here, it would refer to the metaphorical journey to Yama’s abode that everyone has one day to take.
provision for your journey: pātheyya – literally, ‘belonging to the road’. In the metaphorical sense, presumably a store of merit.
So make an island: My ‘so’ actually represents the Pali so, which is a demonstrative adjective or pronoun: ‘that [one]’. However, here it emphasizes the ‘you’ and links it back to the previous verse: ‘That very same you must make an island …’ Carter and Palihawadana (1987: 280) take dīpa as ‘lamp’ (< Sanskrit dīpa), but the commentary takes it as ‘island’ (< Sanskrit dvīpa), thinking of the traveller in the verse as a shipwrecked sailor.
With rust blown away: The metaphor appears to be from the smith’s technique for removing impurities from molten metal: cf. v. 239.
to meet Yama: Literally, ‘to the presence of Yama’.

STORY: A butcher spends his life killing cows, and never performs any good action. He sells some of the meat, but also insists on eating beef every day himself. One day, when there is no beef for him to eat, he plucks out the tongue of a living cow. His own tongue splits. He begins to crawl around, lowing like a cow, dies, and is reborn in the Avīci hell.

His son, terrified, leaves the town and sets up elsewhere, where he becomes a skilled goldsmith. Although very successful, he too does no meritorious acts. His sons in time become followers of the Buddha, and are worried about their father. On his behalf, they invite the Buddha and the monks for alms. The Buddha gives this teaching to the goldsmith, who attains Stream-Entry.

239. STORY: A Brahmin does a number of kind actions to help the monks and make their lives more comfortable. The Buddha speaks the verse about him, and he gains Stream-Entry.

240. The one who misuses the requisites: Following the Commentary, which takes this to refer to the four requisites of the monk: food, clothing, medicine and lodging. K. R. Norman (1997: 36, 120) takes it to mean ‘one excessively devoted to ascetic practices’.

STORY: A monk named Tissa becomes possessive about a particularly fine robe that has been offered to him. While dwelling upon this, he dies, and is reborn as a louse in the robe. When the other monks start to divide up the robe, the louse screams in distress, though only the Buddha can hear it. The Buddha knows that, if they divide the robe now, the louse will hold a grudge against them and be reborn in a hell world. Only after seven days, when the former monk has died as a louse and been reborn in the Tusita heaven, will the Buddha allow the monks to divide up the robe. He warns the monks of the danger of excessive attachment to the requisites.

241. texts: manta (Sanskrit mantra), here referring to texts such as Suttas which monks would have needed to learn by heart.
houses: The literal meaning. K. R. Norman (1997: 36, 120) takes it as ‘families’. In either case, regular maintenance is needed.

STORY: A monk called Udāyi disparages the teaching of Sāriputta and Moggallāna, and offers to teach and chant in their place; but when he takes the teacher’s seat he cannot remember a word. He is driven away, and falls into a cesspit.

242–3. misconduct: Presumably sexual misconduct is primarily intended, as in the commentarial story.
ways: dhamma, here clearly of a course of conduct rather than a state of mind. I borrow Burlingame’s useful rendering (1921: III, 124).

STORY: A husband is so embarrassed by the behaviour of his adulterous wife that he finds it difficult to appear in society. The Buddha tells a Jātaka story concerning the insatiable nature of wicked women, and encourages him to develop wisdom.

244–5. It’s easy to live like a shameless person: Literally, ‘[life is] easily lived by a shameless [one, who is …]’; and similarly in the contrasting verse.
A crow-hero: Presumably noisy and loud, but not really brave. The Commentary takes it as referring to a monk who, instead of accepting alms in due measure, wherever they are offered, is constantly looking out for the houses that give the most lavish food. He is compared to a crow which is constantly on the lookout for unguarded food that it can snatch. This does not explain the ‘hero’ element in the word, unless it means ‘a hero among crows’. Carter and Palihawadana (1987: 285–6) translate it as ‘crafty as a crow’.

STORY: A monk called Cullasāri accepts food as a payment for giving medical treatment, instead of depending upon alms; he then offers it with boastful words to Sāriputta, who silently refuses it. Cullasāri is unabashed by the fact that he is openly breaking the Vinaya rules, but the Buddha reproaches him with the verses.

246–8. Verses 246–7 summarize the five precepts of lay Buddhist conduct, with a change from the usual order (here 1, 4, 2, 3, 5), no doubt to fit the metre.
Gives himself up to strong drink: Surā-meraya-pānaṃ … anuyuñjati. Literally, ‘undertakes/devotes himself to the drinking of surā and meraya’, which are thought to be the names of two different kinds of liquor, perhaps one fermented and one distilled. However, as they occur in the formulation of the fifth precept – surā-meraya-majja-ppamādatthānā vermanī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi: ‘I undertake the precept to avoid states of intoxication and carelessness [caused by] surā and meraya’ – they are clearly intended to symbolize every kind of intoxicant. (In modern English versions of the precepts, they are often translated as ‘drink and drugs’.)
my friend: Literally, ‘O man’ (bho purisa). I assume that this is a fairly colloquial greeting, here used in warning. The wide range of ancient Indian greetings, with their different levels of relative status and familiarity, is practically impossible to translate.
Evil states: pāpadhammā.
wrongdoing: adhamma.
to long suffering: literally, ‘to suffering for a long time (ciraṃ)’.

STORY: Some laymen are trying to keep different ones of the five precepts, and argue about which is the most difficult. The Buddha points out that all are difficult and all equally important.

249–50. clarity of mind: pasāda, with connotations of peace, brightness and lucidity.
this [v. 250, l. 1]: i.e. the discontent.

STORY: A novice called Tissa is always discontented with the alms-food he receives, even the sumptuous offerings of Anāthapiṇḍika and Visākhā. He boasts of the wealth and generosity of his own family. However, when someone visits Tissa’s home town and makes enquiries, it turns out that Tissa is a gatekeeper’s son who went on the road with a band of wandering carpenters. The Buddha speaks the verses to advise him to eat what is offered and be content.

251. STORY: Despite the Buddha’s incomparable skill as a teacher, five laymen cannot concentrate on his words, but spend the time sleeping, fidgeting or daydreaming. The Buddha explains to Ānanda that this comes from habits of lust, hate, delusion or craving built up over many lives.

252. STORY: An elaborate sequence of stories, covering many lives, and full of magic, concerns the banker Meṇḍaka, the grandfather of Visākhā. In a former life, Meṇḍaka and his wife, son, daughter-in-law and slave have all gained psychic powers through their generosity to a Paccekabuddha. Because of their affection for one another, they made a wish to continue to be reborn together in life after life, until the time of the present Buddha, when all five of them attain Stream-Entry.

Some non-Buddhist ascetics try to dissuade Meṇḍaka from going to see the Buddha, finding fault with the Teacher: hence the verse.

253. STORY: A monk keeps finding fault with his fellow monks. As a result, he increases his own defilements instead of conquering them.

254–5 Outside the Order there is no true wanderer [samaṇa]: ‘the Order’ and ‘true’ added for clarity. The idea is that the higher attainments are possible only in the Buddha’s dispensation.
proliferation: papañca – the tendency of the mind to go after more and more distractions.

STORY: Subhadda, the last follower to achieve liberation in the Buddha’s lifetime, asks him the questions that are answered in the verses: Is there a path in the air? Can someone outside the Order be called a monk? Are conditioned things (saṅkhāras) eternal?

CHAPTER 19

THE JUST

‘The Just’ is my translation of dhammaṭṭha – one who stands in the Dhamma. However, in vv. 256–7 the word specifically refers to a judge.

256–7. justice: dhammaṭṭha – see above. Here I have translated it as ‘justice’ to try to give some sense of the pun.
justly: dhammena – ‘with dhamma’.
What’s the case and not the case: atthaṃ anatthaṃ ca – ‘benefit/right/purpose and not-beneficial/wrong/not to the purpose’, with a pun on attha, the word used above for the (law) case.

STORY: Some monks, entering a courtroom to keep out of the rain, are shocked to see judges who are taking bribes and trying cases badly.

258. STORY: The words are spoken concerning some boastful monks who talk a lot but know nothing.

259. Dhamma-bearer: One who knows and understands the Dhamma, and so can teach it to others.
with his body: Directly, through his own experience.
isn’t careless: na-ppamajjati – cf. pamāda, in the introduction to the notes on Chapter 2.

STORY: A monk known as Ekuddāna (‘One Utterance’) is an Arahat, though he knows just one verse:

A sage with high thoughts, diligent,

Training in the paths of silence,

Calmed and ever mindful –

Such a one has no sorrows.

When he teaches the Dhamma with this one verse, the forest deities applaud him. Two visiting monks with more to say do not receive the same response.

260–61. He’s just had a long life: paripakko vayo tassa – ‘Of him there is fully ripened age.’

STORY: The Buddha explains why he calls Lakuṇṭaka Bhaddiya an Elder, though he’s very young. (For Lakuṇṭaka Bhaddiya, see also the stories for vv. 81, 294–5.)

262–3. fine: sādhurūpa – literally, ‘of good appearance’: but here the word rūpa does not appear to add anything to the meaning of the word (K. R. Norman 1997: 124).
fine words: ‘fine’ added for clarity.
Verse 263: First half as for v. 250.
free from fault: Or possibly ‘free from hatred’ – vanta-doso. In Pali there are two words dosa, one meaning ‘hatred’, ‘ill will’ (< Sanskrit dveṣa), the other meaning ‘fault’ (< Sanskrit doṣa). Sometimes there is a clear difference between them because of their context, while at others their meanings seem to overlap.

STORY: Some monks hope to gain a reputation through their eloquence, despite their lack of real knowledge.

264–5. Puns on ‘wanderer’ (samaṇa) and ‘to cause to become quiet’, ‘to quell’ (sam-).

STORY: A monk called Hatthaka uses underhand tactics when taking part in debates. The Buddha reproaches him with these verses.

266–7. Verse 266 is somewhat problematic, and there have been various attempts to explain it. Some read the second half as ‘By taking on the whole Dhamma / One becomes a monk, not otherwise.’ This involves taking vissadhamma as ‘the whole Dhamma’, deriving vissa from the Vedic Sanskrit viśva, ‘all’, ‘whole’. However, it still causes the difficulty of taking na tāvatā, ‘not thus’ (translated here as ‘not … for all that), as ‘not otherwise’. K. R. Norman (1997: 40, 125–6) relates vissa to such words as Sanskrit veśma, ‘dwelling’, and regards the verse as an attack on some Brahmins who begged alms while still living the household life.
Rather as in the previous pair of verses, there are wordplays on bhikkhu, ‘monk’, and bhikkh-, ‘to beg alms’.
living the holy life: brahmacariyavā – perhaps meaning specifically ‘celibate’.
not … for all that: na tāvatā, i.e. not even through begging alms.

STORY: A Brahmin ascetic who is not a Buddhist wants the Buddha to address him as ‘monk’. With these verses, the Buddha explains why he does not do so.

268–9. Puns on muni, ‘sage’ (literally, ‘silent one’), mona, ‘silence’, and munā-, ‘to understand’, ‘to measure’.
understands both in the world: i.e. good and evil choices, taking loke as locative. The Commentary takes loke as plural, giving ‘understands both worlds’.

STORY: In the early days, Buddhist monks receive food in silence, leading to unfavourable comparisons with ascetics of other groups, who thank the laypeople politely. The Buddha then institutes the custom of giving a discourse as thanks after a meal. This still leads to criticism. The Buddha explains that people may keep silence for a number of reasons – ignorance, lack of confidence, or even meanness about sharing their knowledge with others. Silence is not what makes a person a real sage.

270. STORY: The verse is spoken to a fisherman called Ariya (‘Noble’). The Buddha explains that a person who takes the lives of other beings cannot be truly noble.

271–2. by much learning: Literally, ‘by much truth’.
Nor has a monk attained confidence: I follow K. R. Norman’s interpretation (1997: 40, 127–8), which regards āpādi as governed, like phusāmi, by the na in v. 271.
The commentary follows a different interpretation of these verses, in which v. 272 would read:

Or by thinking, ‘I enjoy the happiness of renunciation

Not known to worldly folk,’

Should a monk rest content

Until he reaches the destruction of the defilements.

STORY: Monks who have achieved the stages of Stream-Entry, Once-Return and Non-Return are feeling satisfied with their progress. The Buddha urges them to press on until they have achieved Arahatship.

CHAPTER 20

THE PATH

273–6. The ‘you’/‘You’ in these verses is a genuine second-person plural: the Buddha is addressing a group of monks.
The Eightfold Path: ‘Path’ added for clarity.
Four Sayings: The Four Noble Truths – of suffering, the cause of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path to the cessation of suffering.
states: dhammas, in the sense of ‘mental states’.
Seer: cakkhumā – literally, ‘one who possesses the eye (of insight)’, i.e. the Buddha.
are the teachers: i.e they can show you the way, but can’t liberate you without your effort.
who enter upon the path: ‘the path’ added for clarity.

STORY: A group of monks are talking about the state of the paths they have taken to reach the monastery. The Buddha reminds them that these are not the sort of paths with which they should be concerning themselves.

277–9. you see … You grow weary: Literally, ‘one sees … One grows weary’. The dictionary definitions of nibbindati – ‘becomes depressed’, ‘becomes disgusted’ – do not fit its use in Buddhism, since they convey strong negative feeling. The word refers to the moment of realization that suffering has gone on long enough, and one doesn’t want to do it any more: cf. in the stories of Paṭācārā (v. 113) and Santati (v. 142) the idea that ‘more than the water in the four oceans’ is the expanse of tears you have shed over all those past lives in saṃsāra. The knowledge acts as a spur to become free of suffering.
The verses are a statement of Buddhist teaching on the three signs of existence: All conditioned things are impermanent: sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā.
All conditioned things are [subject to] suffering: sabbe saṇkhārā dukkhā.
All dhammas are without self: sabbe dhammā anattā. The phraseology of this last is different, because not just conditioned things (saṅkhāras) but also nibbāna, the unconditioned dhamma, are without self.

STORY: The stories attached to these verses all follow the same pattern: the Buddha considers which meditation object will be most suitable for a group of monks, and sets them, respectively, recollection of impermanence, of suffering, and of no-self.

280. STORY: All but one of a group of monks attain Arahatship: the other misses the opportunity. Seeing how the Buddha greets those who have attained Arahatship, but not himself, the other monk decides to make an effort; however, he has a painful accident which prevents his fellow monks from going on their alms-round when they have to look after him. The Buddha tells the story of a past life when this monk had been a youth who, through his laziness, prevented his fellows from receiving offerings, and he speaks the verse.

281. STORY: As in the stories for vv. 71, 72 and 136, Moggallāna sees a ghost, this time in the form of a giant figure with the head of a pig. It had formerly been a spiritual teacher who tried to break the friendship between two monks and, when rebuked, refused to accept correction.

282. practice: yoga.
wisdom: bhūri, a word that in Sanskrit has many meanings: ‘plenty’, ‘prosperity’, ‘greatness’, even ‘the earth’ (all ultimately derived from the verb bhū-, ‘to be’). The meaning ‘wisdom’ is given by the Commentary, which explains that wisdom is as extensive as the earth.
Leading to gain and loss: bhavāya vibhavāya ca – ‘[Leading] to existence and non-existence [of wisdom]’.

STORY. A monk called Poṭhila has studied the teaching throughout the ages of seven Buddhas, but has still not made the effort to gain freedom. The Buddha spurs him to act by repeatedly calling him ‘Tucchapoṭhila’ – ‘Empty Poṭhila’. Poṭhila tries to find a learned teacher, but, because of his pride, he is sent to learn from a seven-year-old novice. Receiving the boy’s basic teaching, and urged on by the Buddha with this verse, he attains Arahatship.

283–4. These two verses depend on a complex series of puns on the word vana = (1) ‘wood’ (i.e. small forest, not timber), (2) ‘desire’, ‘yearning’; vanatha, ‘brushwood’; and nibbana, ‘without wood’ or ‘without desire’, but perhaps with a reminiscence of nibbāna, which could punningly be taken as ‘state of being without wood/desire’.
towards women: nārisu. The Patna Dharmapada (362) has ñātisu, the Udānavarga (18.4) bandhuṣu, both of which mean ‘towards relatives’.

STORY: A group of men become monks late in life. The former wife of one of them continues to be their loyal supporter. When she dies, all are very distressed. The Buddha tells them that in a previous life, when they were crows, she was drowned in the sea, and they could not save her. They are suffering because they have not eradicated the forest of greed, hatred and delusion.

285. affection towards yourself: Or perhaps just ‘your own affection’: sineham attano, ‘affection of [one]self’. Sineha is personal attachment – not loving kindness, which is free of clinging. (This ‘you’ is a genuine second-person singular: the verse is addressed to one individual.)
you’d pluck: Added for clarity.
lily: kumuda – a water lily, not a lotus, as sometimes translated. (They are distinct species of water plants.)
the Well-Gone: sugata – the Buddha.

STORY: A young monk who was a goldsmith in lay life cannot make any progress with meditation on foulness, a subject given to him by Sāriputta (cf. the notes on vv. 7–8). The Buddha realizes that this is because in his present life and many previous ones the youth has spent his time working with beautiful things. He creates the form of a large and beautiful red lotus, and tells the monk to use that as his subject. Contemplating it, the monk attains all the stages of jhāna. The Buddha then causes the lotus to wither. The monk realizes the three signs of existence: impermanence, suffering and no-self. As the young monk meditates, the Buddha sends a luminous image of himself to appear before him and speak the verse, and the monk attains Arahatship.

286. STORY: A wealthy merchant makes plans for the future of his business. The Buddha remarks to Ānanda that in fact the merchant will die in seven days. When Ānanda passes this on to the merchant, he determines to spend the rest of his time giving alms, and he attains the state of Stream-Entry. At the end of the seven days, he feels ill, goes to bed, and dies.

287. Apart from first half-line, this verse is identical with v. 47.
sons: This of course may refer to offspring in general.

STORY: That of Kisā Gotamī – see the story for v. 114.

288–9. Sons: As in v. 287.
good conduct: sīla, which protects one in a way that relatives cannot.
The path that leads to nibbāna: nibbāna-gamanaṃ maggaṃ. The Patna Dharmapada (368–9) has saggagamanaṃ maggaṃ, ‘the path that leads to heaven’, but the Udānavarga (6.15) has the equivalent to the Pali version: nirvāṇagamanaṃ mārgaṃ.

STORY: That of Paṭācārā – see the story for v. 113.

CHAPTER 21

MISCELLANEOUS

290. happiness from material things: Following K. R. Norman 1997: 43, 132. Others take mattāsukha as ‘limited happiness’.

STORY: The city of Vesāli is afflicted by drought, followed by famine, plague and an influx of evil spirits. The Buddha is invited to the city to chant a blessing. He teaches the Ratana (Jewel) Sutta – still a very popular blessing – to Ānanda, and tells him to recite it. As soon as Ānanda begins to recite, rain falls and the troubles of the city are over. People marvel at the power of the Buddha, but he explains that it is the result of relatively small acts of service in a previous life.

291. happiness: sukha.
pain: dukkha.

STORY: A girl likes eating eggs. Her hen conceives a grudge against her, and determines that in a future life she will eat the girl’s young. The rest of the story follows a similar pattern to the one in the Commentary for v. 5.

292–3. go to rest: cf. the note on v. 226.

STORY: A group of monks are in the habit of wearing sandals of fancy pattern. The Buddha speaks the verses to recall them to their proper duties, after which they attain Arahatship.

294–5. These notorious verses must surely always have been accompanied by a commentary, though the actual explanation of the symbolism may have varied from one tradition to another. There is no evidence that they were ever taken literally, in an antinomian sense.
mother = craving (taṇhā, fem.).
father = conceit (anumāna, masc.).
two royal [khattiya = kṣatriya] kings/two Brahmin kings = the extreme views of eternalism and annihilationism.
a kingdom = sense-avenues and sense-desires.
tax-gatherers = clinging to life. It is not possible to tell from the verse whether the tax-gatherer is singular or plural, but clearly he (or they) represents something quite difficult to get away from.
tiger-man, or perhaps ‘tiger-forest’ = the hindrances (see Glossary). Following K. R. Norman (1997: 134), I have taken veyaggha-pañcamaṃ as ‘tiger-like [man] as fifth’ rather than the grammatically unlikely ‘five-fold tiger-forest’ – the usual translation. The Sanskrit Udānavarga (33.62) has vyāghraṃ ca pañcamaṃ hatvā: ‘and killing a tiger as fifth’.

STORY: The Buddha is said to have spoken these two verses on different occasions about the monk Lakuṇṭaka Bhaddiya, apparently a tiny man who was subject to teasing, though he was a great Arahat.

296–301. Are always wide awake: Literally, ‘wake always well-awakened’. Clearly it is intended figuratively, though there may be the implication that there is a level of awareness present even in sleep.
Both day and night they are ever / Mindful of the Buddha [/Dhamma/Saṅgha]: Literally, ‘of whom, both day and night, there is mindfulness constantly gone to the Buddha[/Dhamma/Saṅgha]’.
meditation: bhāvanā – literally, ‘causing-to-be’, ‘development [of the mind]’. The word is used of meditative practice in a broad sense, not just of formal sessions of meditation.

STORY: A boy who is devoted to the Buddha is left alone at night outside a city and near a cremation ground. He is protected by two spirits (amanussā, non-human beings), who appear to him in the form of his parents. When the king learns of this, he asks whether it is only contemplation of the Buddha that gives protection in this way. The Buddha explains that any of the six forms of meditation listed in the verses will have the same effect.

302. This verse is problematic, but seems to point out difficulties in both the householder’s and the renouncer’s lives.
So you shouldn’t be a wayfarer: Burlingame (1921: III, 183) takes this as ‘… such a wayfarer’, to resolve the apparent contradiction in the last line.

STORY: A monk, formerly a prince, becomes discontented when he hears the sounds of a festival taking place nearby. He feels that monks have a very hard life. A spirit appears and reminds him that there are other beings who would envy his state. The Buddha speaks the verse in confirmation of this.

303. STORY: See the story for vv. 73–4.

304. Himavat: ‘Snowy’, another name for Himālaya, ‘Abode of Snow’.
even: Added for clarity.

STORY: Anāthapiṇḍika’s second daughter, Cullasubhaddā (see the story for v. 18), is married to the son of another banker, and sent to live a long way from her parents. Her in-laws are followers of a group of naked ascetics. She refuses to visit those ascetics, despite the anger of her parents-in-law, and speaks in praise of the Buddha, until they too become interested and wish to see him. She visualizes the Buddha and offers him an invitation, which he accepts. The Buddha explains in the verse how he was aware of Cullasubhaddā’s invitation, even at a distance. Her in-laws are very impressed by the Buddha and his monks, and become devout followers.

305. STORY: The Buddha speaks the verse in praise of a monk who lives a solitary, hermit-like existence.

CHAPTER 22

HELLS

Niraya, literally, ‘down-going’, is used in Pali as an equivalent of Sanskrit naraka, ‘hell’. The difference between the hells of Buddhist and Western traditions is that those of the Buddhist (and other South Asian) traditions are subject to impermanence, as are the heavens, and, after undergoing the results of their actions, beings are reborn elsewhere. The hell most frequently mentioned in the Dhammapada Commentary is the Avīci (see Glossary). In this section I have generally translated niraya as ‘hell world’, to try to suggest the distinction between this and the Christian view. Strictly speaking, the Buddhist ‘hells’ are more like purgatories.

306. STORY: Some ascetics, jealous of the alms and reputation of the Buddha, plot against him, with the aid of the ascetic woman Sundarī (‘Beautiful’), who pretends to be having an affair with him (cf. Ciñcā in the story for v. 176). Once the rumour has started to get about, the ascetics pay some criminals to murder Sundarī and throw her body on a rubbish pile near to the place where the Buddha is staying. They then go to the king and accuse the Buddhist monks of killing her to cover up their teacher’s misconduct. When the Buddha is told about this, he calmly utters the verse.

The king, doubting the word of the ascetics, sends officers to find out what has really happened. They find the hired killers drinking the proceeds of their crime, and boasting about what they have done. The lying ascetics are punished, and the Buddha’s reputation increases.

307. their backs: Literally, ‘their necks’, but I have used the equivalent colloquial usage in English. Here the monk’s robe is being worn only externally, and does not correspond to a proper attitude within.
of evil character: pāpadhammā.

STORY: Moggallāna and Lakkhaṇa see some skeletal ghosts with the attributes of monks. Moggallāna explains that these were monks who were ordained in the time of the Buddha Kassapa, but did not live up to their vows. (cf. the stories for vv. 71, 72, 136, 281.)

308. Hot as flames of fire: Literally, ‘like a flame of fire’. The image of swallowing a red-hot ball of iron is commonly used of the dangers of eating alms-food to which one is not entitled.
eat the alms of the kingdom: i.e. accept the support of laypeople while not living as a monk should.

STORY: The Buddha speaks the verse as a warning to some monks who have been claiming spiritual attainments they do not possess in order to get alms.

309–10. reckless: pamatto – literally, ‘unaware’. (See the introduction to the notes on Chapter 2.)
Ill fortune earned: apuññalābha – literally, ‘acquisition of demerit’, the kammic consequences of wrong action.

STORY: Khema, a banker’s son, is constantly getting into trouble with married women. He is caught three times, and each time the king lets him go out of sympathy for his father; but Khema will not learn his lesson. His father takes him to the Buddha, who speaks these verses, bringing the young man to his senses.

311–13. wanderer’s life: sāmañña, the condition of a samaṇa – see Glossary.
kusa grass: See the notes on v. 70.
spiritual practice: Or celibacy (brahmacariya).
doubtful: Following the Commentary, which takes saṅkassara as being from saṅkā, ‘doubt’. K. R. Norman (1997: 45) takes it in the alternative sense as ‘vile’ (perhaps from Vedic Sanskrit saṅkasuka, though he does not comment on this).
Just scatters more dust on himself: ‘on himself’ added for clarity.

STORY: Contrary to the monastic rule, a monk pulls up a blade of grass. He is remorseful, but another monk says that it does not matter, pulling up a whole clump of grass to make his point. The Buddha speaks the verses in rebuke. (As usual, the fault of denying the difference between right and wrong is regarded as more serious than making a mistake and honestly acknowledging the fact.)

314. STORY: A woman finds that her husband has been having sexual relations with their slave woman. In her jealousy, she punishes the woman cruelly, mutilating her face and locking her in the house. Then she goes off with her husband (who is apparently unaware of what she has done) to hear the Buddha’s teachings.

In their absence, some relatives visit the house, discover what has happened, and release the slave woman. In front of the assembled people, she reports the matter to the Buddha. He speaks the verse; the couple attain Stream-Entry, and immediately set free the slave woman, who herself becomes a follower of the Buddha.

315. STORY: Some monks have an uncomfortable time because the city where they are staying is expecting an attack, and the citizens are mainly concerned with fortifying it. The Buddha counsels them to endure the situation, but reminds them that they too should fortify themselves.

316–17. where there is no danger: Literally, ‘in non-danger’.
where danger exists: Literally, ‘in danger’.

STORY: Arguments break out between ascetics who go completely naked and ascetics who wear a small loincloth. The verses are said to be the Buddha’s comment on this.

318–19. where there is no fault: Literally, ‘in the non-blamable’.
where fault exists: Literally, ‘in the blamable’.

STORY: Some parents who are followers of other teachers are unhappy when their young children become devotees of the Buddha; but wise neighbours calm their fears. The parents go to pay homage to the Buddha, who teaches them with these verses.

CHAPTER 23

THE ELEPHANT

Nāga has many meanings, including ‘serpent-deity’ and ‘hero’, but in this chapter it clearly means ‘elephant’, and the majority of the verses mention this animal.

320–22. arrows: Taking saraṃ as plural (as it is in uv 19.21).
abusive speech: ativākyaṃ – speech beyond the normal bounds.
Sindh: Pali/Sanskrit Sindhu – the area of the Indus river, proverbial home of the finest horses in ancient India.

STORY: Instigated by Māgandiyā (see the stories for vv. 21–3, 179–80), people shout abuse at the Buddha wherever he goes. Ānanda wants him to leave, but the Buddha asks him what they will do if they meet similar abuse elsewhere. Will they keep moving on? He compares himself to a well-trained elephant, who endures arrows with patience. The mob are won over by the Buddha’s patience, and many of them attain higher states.

323. to the place where none has gone: agataṃ disaṃ, taking agata as ‘not gone to’. K. R. Norman (1997: 47, 139) translates this as ‘to the region where there is no rebirth’, taking agata as ‘without gati [place of rebirth – see Glossary]’. In either case, it means the unconditioned, nibbāna.

STORY: A monk who was an elephant-trainer in lay life sees a man trying to teach a trick to an elephant, and gives him advice. The Buddha reproaches him for troubling himself with mounts which cannot help him get to his goal as a monk.

324. must: A fluid (sometimes spelled ‘musth’) secreted from the forehead by some bull elephants during rut.
in captivity: Literally, ‘bound’.

STORY: An elderly Brahmin gives up his property to his sons and daughters-in-law, on the understanding that they will take care of him. Soon, however, they begin to ill-treat him. The Buddha shames them by telling the story of the captive elephant Dhanapālaka, who weeps for his parents left behind in the jungle.

325. STORY: A shortened version of that for v. 204.

326. mahout: Literally, ‘aṅkusa-holder’, the aṅkusa (Sanskrit aṅkuśa) being the hooked stick used by an elephant-driver.

STORY: A novice monk called Sānu practises eagerly, constantly offering the merit of his actions to his parents. His present, human, parents are not aware of it, but a yakkhinī, his mother in a previous birth, greatly appreciates it. When he becomes discontented and wishes to return to the household life, both his mothers do their best to dissuade him: his human mother by pointing out the disadvantages of the household life, and his yakkhinī mother by possessing him and causing him to have a fit. Both in their own ways warn him of the dangers of leaving the Buddha’s path.
Sānu recovers, and returns to the Order. He is ordained as a monk, and becomes an Arahat and a famous teacher.

327. Awareness: appamāda – see the introduction to the notes on Chapter 2.

STORY: An old war-elephant, formerly very strong, but now grown weak with age, gets stuck in the mud of a lake. The trainer has drums beaten, as though for battle, rousing the elephant’s pride so that it manages to extricate itself. The Buddha points it out as an example to the monks.

328–30. skilful: K. R. Norman (1997: 47, 141) takes nipaka in its alternative sense as ‘zealous’.
conquered territory: vjita – cf. jita in v. 40 and its notes. Here, however, there still seems to be a memory of the original meaning.
like an elephant in an elephant-forest: Norman splits the words mātaṅg’araññe va nāgo differently, reading them as ‘like a mātaṅga nāga elephant [which he takes as a particular kind or breed of elephants] in the forest’.
It’s better to walk alone: Literally, ‘better is walking of one alone’.
with fools: Taking bāle as instrumental plural rather than locative singular – otherwise, ‘in a fool’.

STORY: The Buddha has gone to the forest to get away from the quarrelling monks, and an old elephant has gone there to get away from the constant noise and jostling of the herd. The Buddha praises the elephant, which provides him with water and protects him in the forest (see the story for v. 6).

331–3. pleasant: sukha, here implying ‘bringing happiness’.
caring for your mother … caring for Brahmins: All traditional sources agree that the abstract nouns matteyyatā, petteyyatā, sāmaññatā, brahmaññatā here mean ‘care for mother’, ‘care for father’, ‘care for wanderers (samaṇa)’, ‘care for Brahmins’, rather than ‘motherhood’, ‘fatherhood’, ‘wanderer’s state’, ‘Brahminhood’. As K. R. Norman (1997: 142–3) points out, sāmaññatā and brahmaññatā are double abstract nouns, since sāmañña and brahmañña are already abstracts (‘samaṇa-hood’, ‘Brahminhood’), and -tā is a further abstract suffix; the same is perhaps true of matteyyatā and petteyyatā, suggesting that none of these words is to be taken in an obvious sense.

STORY: The Buddha is thinking about unjust kings who oppress their subjects. Māra mistakenly supposes that he still has a craving for kingship, and tries to tempt him back to the household life. The Buddha tells him that no amount of power or wealth is enough to satisfy a person who is not free from craving.

CHAPTER 24

CRAVING

Craving – literally, ‘thirst’ (taṇhā) – is what, in Buddhist teaching, keeps us trapped in the realm of birth and death.

334–7. māluvā creeper: See the notes on v. 162.
If someone is overpowered: Literally, ‘the one whom this fierce (jammī) craving overpowers’.
bīraṇa grass after rain: Literally, ‘bīraṇa grass [that has been] rained on’. Bīraṇa grass (Sanskrit vīriṇa) = Andropogon muricatum.
venerable sirs: As K. R. Norman points out, the expression bhaddaṃ vo, which looks as though it means ‘good luck to you [pl.]’, is in fact functioning like a vocative – ‘good sirs’. See K. R. Norman 1997: 144, and Brough 1962: 264.
usira root: Sanskrit uśīra – the fragrant root of the bīraṇa grass (see above), believed to have medicinal properties.

STORY: A monk in the Buddha Kassapa’s time falls away and begins to give false teaching. After a stay in the Avīci hell, he is reborn in the present Buddha’s time as a talking fish with beautiful golden scales (because of his previous practice as a follower of a Buddha) but a foul breath (because of his false teaching). After telling his story, the fish dies, overcome by remorse, and is reborn in a hell world again.

338–43. Just as a tree … grows again: Strongly reminiscent of Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad III.9.28 (tr. Roebuck 2000: 69; 2003: 59).
tendency to craving: taṇhānusaya. The anusayas are latent tendencies to which the mind is liable to return, and in later Buddhism are often listed as seven: tendencies towards sense-desire, desire for existence, anger, pride (māna – see the notes on v. 221), views, doubt and ignorance. The Commentary takes the tendency to craving as comprising the first two on the list, but it is not clear whether the theory was fully developed when the Dhammapada was composed (Carter and Palihawadana 1987: 497).
thirty-six streams: According to Carter and Palihawadana (1987: 359; 497, n. 9), the various possible activations of craving: ‘eighteen activations dependent on the internal [āyatanas] and eighteen on the external’. There are a number of possible interpretations of the thirty-six, but clearly they are related to the operation of the six senses. (In Buddhist thought, the mind is considered a sense along with sight, hearing etc., with dhammas as its objects.) Each sense may be associated with craving for inner or outer objects in the past, present or future, and in three modes – craving for sense-pleasures, craving for existence and craving for the cessation of existence – giving various ways of arriving at thirty-six.
Floods: Reading vāhā, rather than mahā, ‘great’, which does not fit the syntax here.
stands tall: ‘tall’ added for clarity.
Crawl around like a trapped hare: Following Carter and Palihawadana (1987: 359–60). K. R. Norman (1997: 50) has ‘run around like a hunted hare’, but the verb parisappati comes from the root sṛp-, ‘to creep’, and the imagery of a hare caught in a snare seems more appropriate here.

STORY: The Buddha, seeing a young sow, is observed to smile. He explains that in the time of the Buddha Kakusandha she was a hen who used to enjoy the sound of a monk teaching. When she died, because of this wholesome activity, she was reborn as a princess. After seeing some maggots (leading to an understanding of foulness, or impermanence?) she achieved the first meditation (jhāna) and was then reborn in a Brahmā world. From there she fell to her current state. Understanding this, the Buddha smiled. He speaks the verses.

The commentator then takes the sow’s story on through a series of births to Sri Lanka in his own time, where she is again a woman of high station. She becomes a nun, and attains Arahatship. She recollects her previous births and recounts them before passing into nibbāna.

344. Puns on vana, ‘wood’/‘desire’, as in vv. 283–4: ‘without brushwood’, nibbanatha; ‘committed to the wood’, vanādhimutto. k.R. Norman (1997: 145–7), pointing out that the commentarial story does not take account of the puns, regards the verse as an attack on Brahmins who, though living in the forest, maintain their family commitments.

STORY: A monk, a follower of the Arahat Kassapa, returns to the lay life. Falling into bad company, he becomes a bandit. When he is captured and is awaiting execution, Kassapa sees his plight and tells him to take up his former meditation subject again. The bandit does so, and his fearlessness impresses his captors. Kassapa reports the matter to the Buddha, who sends his likeness to appear before the condemned man and teach him with this verse. At the moment of execution, the former monk attains Arahatship.

345–6. rope: babbaja, made of plaited reeds or grass (K. R. Norman 1997: 146).
hard to escape for the slack: Following K. R. Norman (1997: 50, 146–7), who takes sithilaṃ duppamuñcaṃ as a compound, with ṃ inserted for metrical reasons. The Commentary tries to explain sithilaṃ, ‘slack’, ‘lax’, as an epithet for the chain, perhaps referring to a bond that is supple like leather. It is followed by Carter and Palihawadana (1987: 362–3), who have ‘lax [and yet] hard to loosen’.

STORY: The monks see some convicts in chains, and ask the Buddha whether there are any stronger chains than these. He replies that the bonds of passion and attachment are far stronger than physical chains.

347. STORY: Queen Khemā avoids hearing the Buddha’s teaching, fearing that he will disparage her beauty. When she is eventually persuaded to hear him, he causes the figure of an extremely beautiful woman to appear before her, to grow old and to die (cf. the story of Nandā for v. 150). Seeing this, she attains Stream-Entry. Then the Buddha speaks this verse, and she attains Arahatship. The Buddha tells the king, her husband, that she will either have to ordain as a nun or pass away in parinibbāna. With his permission, Khemā joins the Order and becomes chief among the nuns, supreme in insight.

348. STORY: Uggasena, a banker’s son, falls in love with a woman acrobat and runs away to join her troupe. They marry. First of all Uggasena just looks after their carts and oxen, and carries their equipment – surely one of the earliest descriptions of a roadie in literature. But when one day he hears his wife playfully calling their child ‘son of a cart-driver’ he determines to prove his worth, and sets about learning one of the acrobats’ most difficult tricks, a routine of seven somersaults on top of a very tall bamboo pole. It takes him a year to learn, but when he has perfected it he announces a public performance.

The Buddha realizes that Uggasena has the ability to attain Arahatship, and goes to see him. Uggasena performs his seven somersaults, only to find that the audience has been looking at the Buddha, who has just arrived, and not at him. He is greatly disappointed. Understanding his thought, the Buddha sends Moggallāna to request him to perform again. Delighted, Uggasena now performs fourteen somersaults and lands back on top of his pole. At this moment, the Buddha speaks the verse, and Uggasena attains Arahatship; he comes down from the pole to pay homage to the Buddha, and is ordained as a monk.

When Uggasena is asked whether he felt any fear when he came down from the pole, he declares that he did not – tantamount to a claim of Arahatship. When others express doubts about this, the Buddha confirms his attainment with v. 397.

Later, the Buddha recounts the actions, good and bad, in a past life that led Uggasena and his wife to their present situation. Uggasena’s wife decides that she too will attain whatever her husband has attained, is ordained as a nun, and attains Arahatship.

349–50. the fair … the foul: cf. the notes on vv. 7–8.

STORY: The monk Dhanuggaha is distracted by a beautiful laywoman, and becomes discontented. The Buddha reveals that in a previous life she had been Dhanuggaha’s wife, but had betrayed him to his death for love of a bandit.

351–2. This accumulation: i.e. the body, as in the following verse.
Skilled in etymology and words, / Who knows the order of letters: The words used here are normally technical terms of grammar, but in this context must refer to the skills necessary to understand and teach the Dhamma (Carter and Palihawadana 1987: 500, n. 29). ‘letters’ is literally ‘syllables’. Indian scripts, including Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī, are written in syllables, which in turn are built up of symbols for the individual phonemes. So it is not absolutely certain that written language is meant here.
a great person – / So he is called: Overruns the metre. Probably ‘a great person’ has been added from an early commentary.

STORY: Māra takes the form of a gigantic elephant and tries to frighten Rāhula, the Buddha’s son, now ordained. But, though Rāhula is only eight years old, he is an Arahat, and Māra cannot frighten him.

353. through the destruction of craving: Literally, ‘in the destruction of craving’.
as teacher: Added for clarity.

STORY: After the Buddha’s enlightenment, and his stay of seven weeks at Bodh Gaya, he goes to meet the five ascetics with whom he previously practised asceticism. On the way he meets Upaka, an Ājīvika ascetic, who sees the Buddha’s radiant appearance and asks the name of his teacher. The Buddha replies with this verse. Upaka neither accepts nor rejects the statement, but goes on his way.

354. conquers: jināti, used in two different senses in the verse. In ll. 1–3 it means ‘surpasses’, while in l. 4 it means ‘destroys’.

STORY: The gods are debating about which gift is best, which flavour is best, which pleasure is best, and why the destruction of craving is supreme. Eventually they go to the Buddha, who answers with the verse.

355. STORY: A banker has died without leaving an heir, and his immense wealth has gone to the king. It turns out that, far from enjoying his good fortune, he was a miser with an evil temper. The Buddha tells the stories of the past lives that brought him to that state.

356–9. STORY: Aṅkura has given alms in various existences for 10,000 years, while Indaka gave a spoonful of his own food to the Arahat Anuruddha. The Buddha points out that giving to such a one brings far more merit than giving indiscriminately.

CHAPTER 25

THE MONK

360–61. STORY: Five monks try each to guard one of the sense-doors, and argue among themselves who has the most difficult task.

362. STORY: A young monk, showing his prowess at throwing stones, hits a goose and kills it, so violating one of the gravest Vinaya rules. The Buddha recounts the Kurudhamma Jātaka, which illustrates the care with which people in former times kept the precepts.

363. A gentle speaker: Taking manta-bhāṇī from Sanskrit mandra-bhāṇin, not mantra-bhāṇin, which would mean ‘a speaker of mantras/sacred texts’ (K. R. Norman 1997: 149).

STORY: A monk called Kokālika repeatedly disparages Sāriputta and Moggallāna, and in consequence of his wicked behaviour is swallowed by the earth (cf. the story for v. 17).

The Buddha explains that this is not the first time that Kokālika has got into trouble through failure to hold his tongue, and recounts the well-known fable of a tortoise carried through the air by holding on with his teeth to a pole carried between two geese. When someone makes a remark about this strange sight, the tortoise is unable to resist opening his mouth to reply, and tumbles to his death. The tortoise was Kokālika in a previous birth.

364. Dwelling in Dhamma: Literally, ‘Having Dhamma as his pleasure-garden’ (dhammārāma).

STORY: This concerns a monk called Dhammārāma, who, during the last four months of the Buddha’s life, behaves in the same way as Attadattha (story for v. 166) and Tissa (story for v. 205).

365–6. STORY: A monk is close friends with a follower of Devadatta, and stays with Devadatta’s monks, partly because of the rich gifts they receive. When the Buddha reproaches him, he explains that he does not share their views, but stays with them because of this friendship.

The Buddha points out the dangers of living with bad people, telling the story of a previous existence in which the monk had been an elephant. Normally well controlled, the elephant overheard the conversation of some bandits and, under their influence, went wild and killed his keepers. When it was arranged that he should hear the conversation of sages, he recovered his former good qualities. The Buddha advises the monk to avoid bad company, and to be content with what he receives.

367. STORY: The Buddha accepts food from a Brahmin, and teaches him about ‘name and form’ (nāma-rūpa), the mental and physical aspects of existence.

368–76. conditioned things: The saṅkhāras.
Cut off five, give up five: The five lower and higher fetters (see Glossary under saṃyojana).
Develop five to the highest: The five indriyas (faculties): (1) saddhā, ‘faith’/‘confidence’; (2) viriya, ‘energy’/‘courage’; (3) sati, ‘mindfulness’; (4) samādhi, ‘concentration’; (5) paññā, ‘wisdom’.
five bonds: Greed, hate, delusion, pride and views.
Don’t let your mind wander: Literally, ‘don’t cause your mind to wander’.
Don’t … swallow an iron ball: See the notes on v. 308.
recklessly: pammatto, ‘[being] unaware’.
There’s no meditation … close to nibbāna: This verse is found in the surviving literature of many of the early Buddhist schools: see Skilling 2006: 111, n. 47.
an empty house: Perhaps literally a secluded place, suitable for meditation (Carter and Palihawadana 1987: 382; K. R. Norman 1997: 53), or perhaps a symbol for the unattached mind itself.
Who has right insight into dhammas: Literally, ‘seeing rightly into dhammas’, with connotations of vipassanā, the insight aspect of meditation.
dhammas: Or ‘the Dhamma’, but here dhammaṃ is probably being used as an accusative plural (as in Uv 32.9, which has dharmān).
beyond the human: Literally, ‘not-human’ (amānusī), a word generally used of divine beings.
contemplates: sammasati, implying repeated and intense meditative activity.
aggregates: khandhas – see Glossary.
So this is how the wise monk / Can make a beginning here: Literally, ‘In that respect, this is the beginning here / For the wise monk.’
monastic rule: pātimokkha, the basic code of the monastic life, with 227 rules for monks and 311 for nuns.
Find friends … livelihood: Some editions place this at the start of the following stanza.
friends … good for you: mitte kalyāṇe. K. R. Norman (1997: 152–3) takes ‘of pure livelihood’ (suddhājīve) and ‘unwearied’ (atandite) in the next line as Eastern forms of the nominative singular, referring to the subject of bhajassu (imperative, ‘resort to’ friends etc.). He demonstrates that in the earlier versions (and preserved in Uv 32.27 c–d) the reference was to knowing measure, i.e. moderation (mitta < mātra), in food (cf. vv. 7–8, where the word occurs as matta), rather than to friends (mitta < mitra). However, the use of the word kalyāṇa, normally paired with mitta, ‘friend’, rather than pratirūpa (or its derivatives), ‘suitable’, shows that this possible meaning of mitta has been lost in the Pali Dhammapada. I therefore translate it as it has been traditionally understood. Norman takes the Pali line as it now stands as ‘Being of good livelihood and unwearied, associate with friends who are noble.’

STORY: Some burglars break into the house of a wealthy laywoman, who is away listening to her son, an Arahat, teaching the Dhamma. If she comes back, the chief burglar is determined to kill her. However, though three times a servant comes to tell her that there are burglars in the house – first in the strongroom for copper coins, then in the one for silver, and then in the one for gold – the laywoman sends the servant away, telling her not to bother her while she is listening to the Dhamma.

Hearing of this, the burglars think that if they were to rob a woman like this they would be struck by thunderbolts; so the chief orders the other burglars to put back what they have already stolen. Then they go to the woman and confess their fault. She forgives them, and asks her son to ordain them as monks. Becoming aware of what has happened, the Buddha sends a likeness of himself to appear before the new monks and teach them with these verses.

377. STORY: A group of 500 monks see that jasmine flowers which have bloomed in the morning are dropping in the evening. They resolve that, before the flowers have fallen, they will have let go of greed, hatred and delusion. The Buddha appears and encourages them with the verse, and all attain Arahatship.

378. Peaceful in mind, concentrated: Following K. R. Norman, one of the manuscripts, and apparently the Commentary, and reading santamano samāhito. Most versions have santavā susamāhito, ‘peaceful(?), well-concentrated’. But santavā is problematic. The final element -vā has been taken to represent either a possessive form or a past participle (hence, ‘having peace’ or ‘having become peaceful’), but it probably originally represented < vāk, ‘speech’. Presumably once this had been forgotten this word was taken to refer to the mind, and the first pāda was emended to refer to speech to complete the usual triad (K. R. Norman 1997: 153).
at peace: upasanta, ‘thoroughly peaceful’. Cf. upasama in the note to vv. 3–4.

STORY: A monk called Santakāya (‘Of Peaceful Body’) was miraculously born of a lioness. Like his mother, he is peaceful and composed in all his actions, making him an exemplary monk.

379–80. STORY: A poor ploughman gives up his hard life to become a monk. When he puts on the robes, he leaves his tattered old loincloth hanging on a tree. Whenever he becomes discontented with the monastic life, he visits the old loincloth, which he calls his ‘teacher’, and reproaches himself. He soon attains Arahatship, and no longer needs to visit this ‘teacher’. The Buddha confirms his attainment with the verses.

381. STORY: Vakkali loves the physical beauty of the Buddha, and becomes ordained in order to be able to gaze on him at all times. When the Buddha perceives that Vakkali is ready to understand, he reproves him, asking why he wants to gaze on the mass of corruption which is the body: ‘Whoever sees the Dhamma, sees me.’ But Vakkali continues to follow the Buddha wherever he goes. When the Buddha orders Vakkali back to his monastery at the start of the Rains Retreat (which means that he will not see him for three months), Vakkali determines to commit suicide. He climbs Vulture Peak, intending to throw himself off. However, the Buddha sends his likeness to appear before him and speak the verse.

After further encouragement, Vakkali becomes an Arahat with great psychic powers. The Buddha names him the foremost of the monks possessing faith.

382. STORY: The Arahat Anuruddha, the foremost of the monks for the divine eye – the power to see what is happening at a distance – has a novice called Sumana. At seven years old, Sumana has such remarkable psychic powers that, when Anuruddha is ill, he is able to fly to Lake Anotatta, in the Himalayas, to fetch him healing water to drink. The nāga king who lives there is reluctant to let him have it, but Sumana has the power to compel him.

Later, the Buddha sees adult monks patting the novice on the head and tweaking his ears, so decides to teach them a lesson. He asks Ānanda to tell the novices to bring water from Lake Anotatta so that he can bathe his feet. Of course, none of the other novices can do it, but Sumana, the youngest of them, manages without difficulty. Sumana receives his full ordination, and the Buddha speaks this verse.

CHAPTER 26

THE BRAHMIN

383. Strive, and cut across the stream: Literally, ‘Having striven/Striving, cut across the stream’, taking parakkamma as an indeclinable participle (‘absolutive’), ‘having striven/striving’. Alternatively, taking it as an imperative (equivalent to parakkama), ‘Cut across the stream, strive’. See Carter and Palihawadana 1987: 391, 505, and K. R. Norman 1997: 154.
conditioned things: The saṅkhāras.
You’ll know the unmade: ‘You’ll be akataññū,’ a knower of the unmade – cf. the notes on v. 97.

STORY: A generous Brahmin gives alms to monks and addresses them all as Arahats. Those who are not yet Arahats feel uncomfortable about this, and stop going to his house. The Buddha explains that the Brahmin is simply expressing his joy at giving alms, and urges them all to attain Arahatship.

384. twofold states [dhammas]: e.g. pleasure and pain, praise and blame. The equivalent verse in the Udānavarga (33.68) has sveṣu dharmeṣu (‘among [his] own dharmas’) instead of the expected dvayeṣu dharmeṣu: see K. R. Norman 1997: 154–5. The Commentary here seems to take dvaya, ‘twofold’, as simply equivalent to ‘two’, and takes it to refer to the two means to liberation rather than the twofold states characteristic of saṃsāra (Carter and Palihawadana 1987: 392).
go to rest: atthaṃ gacchanti – see the note on v. 226.

STORY: At Sāriputta’s request, the Buddha gives a discourse about the two states (dhammas) – calm (samatha) and insight (vipassanā) – through which a meditator can attain liberation.

385–6, 395–423. Him I call a Brahmin: tam ahaṃ brūmi brāhmaṇaṃ. Although this refrain (which could also be translated as ‘That one I call a Brahmin’) is in the masculine gender, the words are of course intended to be taken in an inclusive sense, and several of the commentarial stories attached to these verses are about women (vv. 391, 395, 401, 403, 421).

385. The far shore … near shore: K. R. Norman (1997: 155, referring to Brough 1962: 202) considers that here pāra (‘other shore’, ‘further shore’) and apāra (‘this shore’, ‘nearer shore’) refer to the next life and the present life. The Commentary takes them as referring to the internal and external sense-bases (āyatana): see Carter and Palihawadana 1987: 392–3. However, the story suggests the symbolism of nibbāna and saṃsāra.
Free of fear: vīta-ddaraṃ – see the notes on v. 205. The parallel versions to the present verse have vīta-jjaraṃ (PDhp 40) and vikada-dvara (GDhp 35; Brough 1962: 186), ‘free of fever’.

STORY: Māra, in disguise, questions the Buddha about ‘the other shore’. The Buddha, recognizing him, says that it has nothing to do with Māra, since it can be attained only by one who is freed from desires.

386. STORY: A Brahmin wonders why the Buddha calls his own followers ‘Brahmins’, regardless of their birth, yet does not call him a Brahmin. The Buddha explains that he uses the word only for those who have attained Arahatship.

387. STORY: During a great festival, four glorious sights can be seen all at once: King Pasenadi, in his royal splendour; the golden-skinned Arahat Elder Kāḷudāyi, seated in meditation; the setting sun; and the rising moon. But the Buddha outshines them all. When Ānanda afterwards mentions this to him, the Buddha confirms it with the verse. (Kāḷudāyi – ‘Dark Udāyi’ – formerly a minister to King Suddhodana, is not the same as the monk(s) named Udāyi mentioned in the notes to vv. 64, 152, 241.)

388. A series of wordplays: on ‘Brahmin’ (brāhmaṇa) and ‘get rid of’ (bāh-); on ‘wanderer’ (samaṇa) and ‘even/peaceful conduct’ (samacariyā); and on ‘giving up’ (pabbājā) and ‘renouncer’ (pabbajita).

STORY: As for v. 386, but here a follower of another tradition wonders why the Buddha does not address him as pabbajita.

389–90. There are problems with both these verses in the form in which we have them.
anger: Word added twice for clarity.
him who strikes a Brahmin: Or ‘a Brahmin-slayer’, but in context it appears that a lesser assault is intended.
More shame on him who unleashes his anger: Presumably, in response. It would hardly make sense for the verse to say that it is more serious for the first Brahmin to use harsh words to the second Brahmin than to beat him. Rather, the verse is warning the second Brahmin not to retaliate. (For a detailed discussion of this verse and its variants, see Carter and Palihawadana 1987: 507–8.)
Verse 390 is obscure and probably corrupt. K. R. Norman (1997: 55) translates the first two lines as ‘This is no advantage for a brahman, when there is restraint of mind from pleasant things,’ taking ‘This’ presumably as referring back to the actions mentioned in the previous verse.
To have restraint of mind: Literally, ‘When he has restraint of mind’.
The more the will to harm ceases, / The more is sorrow calmed: Here I translate the Pali version as we have it, where it is part of a discussion of anger and retaliation. K. R. Norman (1997: 156–7) reads hiṃsa-mano as derived from hi ssa mano, ‘indeed … the mind’, rather than following the Commentary and taking it as equivalent to hiṃsā-mano, ‘the will to harm’, for which, as he points out, there is no warrant in the parallel verses in the Sanskrit Udānavarga and the Gāndhārī Dharmapada. Originally, it seems, v. 390 was concerned with attachment, rather than ill will, but the Commentary (or even, perhaps, the compiler of the Pali Dhammapada) has taken it as following on from v. 389. (For the Gāndhārī version, see Appendix 1, v. 15 and note.)
things that are dear: Or ‘people that are dear’. The text just has piya in the plural – see the introduction to the notes on Chapter 16.
sorrow: dukkha.

STORY: A Brahmin tests Sāriputta’s self-control by coming up behind him and hitting him with a stick. The Elder is completely untroubled. The Brahmin, filled with remorse, begs his pardon and invites him for a meal. Sāriputta’s followers want to punish the man, but Sāriputta stops them, asking them who has been hit.

391. ways: Literally, ‘places’ – i.e. body, speech and mind.

STORY: The verse is spoken in praise of the Arahat Mahāpajāpati, the first bhikkhunī. (She had been the sister and co-wife of the Buddha’s mother, and had brought him up as her own after his mother died.) Some of the other nuns question whether her ordination was properly carried out; the Buddha confirms that he himself ordained her, and speaks the verse in praise of her.

392. STORY: Every night, before going to sleep, Sāriputta bows towards the direction in which the Elder Assaji is living. Some monks complain that Sāriputta is paying respect to the cardinal points, but the Buddha explains that he is in fact paying respect to the person who first passed on to him the Buddha’s teaching.

393. matted locks: jaṭā – the piled-up matted hair that is the symbol of the ascetic, especially in many Hindu traditions.
lineage: gotta (Sanskrit gotra) – the exogamous family unit to which Brahmins belong, each one thought to be descended from one of the ancient sages.
caste: Or perhaps simply ‘birth’ (jāti).

STORY: Similar to that for v. 386.

394. antelope-skin garment: Another symbol of the ascetic.
mess: The dictionary meaning of gahana is ‘a thicket, tangle, or obstruction’. Carter and Palihawadana (1987: 398–9) have, ‘Within you is the jungle’ K. R. Norman (1997: 56) has, ‘There is a thicket inside you.’ But the reference here is to something that needs thorough cleaning or polishing (pari-majj- in the following line), rather than cutting through. The Commentary repeats the word gahana without giving an alternative, glossing the sentence as ‘Within you is a gahana of defilements, passion etc.: you clean it [so that it is] polished like elephant-dung or horse-dung’, which, as Carter and Palihawadana point out, ‘does not appear ugly to the onlooker’. So I have assumed that gahana must mean primarily something dirty, rather than something tangled.

STORY: A Brahmin, a false ascetic, tricks people out of money and valuables.

395. STORY: Spoken in praise of Kisā Gotamī – cf. the stories for vv. 114, 287. The ascetic described in the verse is kisa, ‘lean’, like her.

396. Brahmin womb or mother: ‘Brahmin’ added for clarity.
a man who says ‘good sir’: bhovādin, ‘bho’ being a greeting used by Brahmins. Some have taken this as a disrespectful or patronizing address to non-Brahmins, but there seems no evidence for this. In the Laws of Manu (2.122) the word bho is actually prescribed as a greeting between Brahmins.

STORY: Similar to that for v. 386.

397. STORY: Spoken in praise of Uggasena, the former acrobat – see the story for v. 348.

398. cut the strap and the girth, / The thong with its attachments: The Commentary equates the strap with hate, the girth with craving, the thong with wrong views, and the attachments with the latent tendencies (see the notes on v. 338): see Carter and Palihawadana 1987: 401.
the door-bar: Symbolizing ignorance (ibid.).
awakened: buddha.

STORY: Two Brahmins compete to see which of their oxen is stronger, by organizing a tug of war between them. The oxen are harnessed to opposite ends of the same cart, which is loaded with sand. The Brahmins whip the oxen, but the cart does not move, and the harnesses break.

When the Buddha hears his monks discussing this, he points out that these are merely external straps and thongs: it is more important to break the internal ones, which represent anger and craving.

399. There are problems with the text of this verse.
Abuse, beating and imprisonment: akkosaṃ vadhabandhañ ca – possibly intended as accusative plurals, as they are in the equivalent Udānavarga verse (33.18).
Whose strength is patience, whose army is his strength: Or perhaps, taking khantībalaṃ balānīkaṃ as a compound, ‘Whose power of patience is his strong army’. K. R. Norman (1997: 159) considers that the second occurrence of bala in the Pali probably represents vrata, ‘vow’, ‘observance’, via a form such as vada or vala. The Udānavarga (33.18) has kṣāntivratabalopetaṃ, ‘endowed with the strength of his vow of patience’.

STORY: A Brahmin is angry because his wife constantly praises the Buddha. He determines to beat the Buddha in argument, and asks him a question: What must one do to live happily? The Buddha replies that one must destroy anger. The Brahmin is ordained as a monk and attains Arahatship, and the same afterwards happens to his brothers.

400. bearing his last body: Because he won’t be reborn after death.

STORY: Sāriputta’s mother, Rūpasārī (‘Sārī the Beautiful’), a Brahmin woman, gives alms to him and his monks, but keeps abusing them while she does so, because she resents his having left the household life to become a monk. He bears it all without ill feeling.

401. needle’s point: āragga. Most translators (e.g. K. R. Norman 1997: 56) have ‘the point of an awl’, perhaps because of the etymological relationship between ārā and the English word ‘awl’, normally used of the large needle used by a leather-worker. But the simile seems to envisage a small needle.

STORY: Spoken in praise of the leading nun Uppalavaṇṇā: see the story for v. 69.

402. STORY: A runaway slave is ordained as a monk and becomes an Arahat. When his former master tries to seize him, the Buddha explains that the man’s burden has fallen away from him. The master realizes that the man can no longer be his slave.

403. STORY: Spoken in praise of the leading nun Khemā: see the story for v. 347.

404. STORY: A monk goes to a deserted place to meditate, and the local deity (not necessarily a goddess, as Burlingame has it: see the notes on vv. 119–120), feeling inconvenienced by his presence, tries to get rid of him by tricking him into breaking the monastic code. He/she is unsuccessful, and the monk orders him/her to leave. However, he does not at any time become angry with the deity.

405. STORY: A monk, meditating in the forest, attains Arahatship, and sets off to report the matter to the Buddha. Meanwhile, a wife has run away after quarrelling with her husband, determined to go back to her parents’ home. Afraid to enter the forest alone, she walks closely behind the monk, who does not so much as look at her. The husband, finding them, thinks that the monk has gone off with his wife, and beats him badly. The monk does not at any point become angry.

406. STORY: A Brahmin woman wishes to offer food to four old monks, and is furious when four little boy novices, Saṃkicca (story for v. 110), Paṇḍita (story for v. 80), Sopāka and Revata (story for v. 98), are sent instead. She leaves them unfed, and tries to find an older monk to feed in their place; but Sāriputta and Moggallāna in turn refuse to eat there and depart.

Realizing that the boys are now extremely hungry, the god Sakka takes the form of an old Brahmin and goes to the house. When he pays respect to the novices, the woman and her husband are outraged: they beat him and try to throw him out. Sakka reveals his identity, and the couple feed him and the novices.

When asked afterwards whether they had got angry about any of this, the novices reveal that they had not – so confirming that they are Arahats, and thus supremely venerable.

407. needle’s point: See the note on v. 401.

STORY: A reflection on the tale of Mahāpanthaka and Cūḷapanthaka (see the story for v. 25). When Mahāpanthaka turned Cūḷapanthaka out of the monastery, was he motivated by anger? No, an Arahat does not have such defilements: he was acting from concern for the Dhamma.

408. truthful: Or perhaps ‘pleasant’ (saccaṃ – see the notes on v. 224).

STORY: The monk Vaccha addresses everyone as vasali, ‘little man’, ‘low person’, a term of contempt. The other monks are offended, but the Buddha, reflecting on Vaccha’s previous births, realizes that for 500 lives he has been born in Brahmin families, where it has been the custom to use this term for others. He explains that Vaccha is free of ill will, and is simply using this expression out of long habit.

409. Takes nothing that is not given: adinnaṃ nādiyate – a reference to the traditional second of the five precepts. See vv. 246–7 and notes.

STORY: An Arahat monk takes a cloth that has been laid outside by a Brahmin, thinking that it has been thrown away. Proclaiming him guiltless of theft, the Buddha speaks the verse.

410. STORY: At the Rains Retreat ceremony, when laypeople bring robes and other requisites in alms for the monks, Sāriputta gives instructions that he should be informed when the requisites arrive. He is planning to distribute them among the young monks and novices, but some hearers think he must still suffer from craving for such things. The Buddha explains the true situation, and speaks the verse.

411. Plunged into the deathless, not arising again: amatogadham anuppattaṃ. K. R. Norman (1997: 57, 161) translates this as ‘arrived at the firm foundation of the death-free’, taking ogadha as equivalent to ogādha, ‘firm foundation’.
STORY: As for v. 410, but told of Moggallāna.

412. here: i.e. in this world, taking ’dha as idha. K. R. Norman (1997: 58, 162) takes it as adha, ‘but’. Both kinds of clinging: Literally, ‘Both clingings’ – following K. R. Norman (1997: 58, 161), who takes saṅgaṃ as masculine plural. This has the backing of the Udānavarga (33.29), which has the dual form (ubhau saṅgāv < saṇgau), not available in Pali.

STORY: Spoken of Revata, in the story told for v. 98.

413. With indulgence and existence exhausted: nandī-bhava-parikkhīṇa – nandī, often translated as ‘relishing’, is not joy itself, but the tendency to hold on to such feelings; bhava, ‘being’ or ‘becoming’, is the tendency to be bound to future existence.

STORY: As a result of generosity to a previous Buddha, the Brahmin Candābha (‘Moonlight’) emits a radiance like moonlight from his navel. Some ascetics take him around with them as a means of impressing people and getting alms. But Candābha finds that when he goes into the presence of the Buddha the radiance disappears, and when he leaves it reappears. He studies with the Buddha to learn the spell that makes this happen, but within a few days achieves Arahatship and sends his former companions away. He is no longer interested in the power to emit moonlight.

414. STORY: That of Sīvali, who spent seven years in the womb. His mother, Suppavāsā, a Buddhist laywoman, is finally released from the pain of the extended pregnancy when offering alms to the Buddha. Later, Sīvali becomes a monk and attains Arahatship. The other monks remark on the suffering that Sīvali must have endured during his prolonged stay in the womb. The Buddha says that this is indeed so, but Sīvali has now become free of suffering.

415. here: As in v. 412.

STORY: A handsome young man called Sundarasamudda (‘Ocean of Beauty’) becomes a monk. His parents later regret having allowed him to be ordained, and his mother enlists a courtesan to try to make him come back to the household life. This woman tries all her wiles to seduce Sundarasamudda, but as he begins to waver the Buddha sends his likeness before him to speak this verse. Sundarasamudda attains Arahatship.

416. here: As in v. 412.

STORY: A complicated sequence of stories of the lives (including the past lives) of two bankers, Jotika and Jaṭila, who enjoy existences of extraordinary and magical luxury before renouncing everything to become monks. Both become Arahats. Each in turn is asked whether he still feels attachment to his family and his former wealth; each says that he does not, and the Buddha confirms it with the verse.

417. STORY: A wandering actor gives up his profession to become a monk, and attains Arahatship. When the monks see another actor putting on the same kind of performance that he used to do, they ask him whether he still longs for the actor’s life. He declares that he does not, and the Buddha confirms it with the verse.

418. with no remnant of craving: nirūpadhi, ‘without upadhi [the trace of attachment that can lead to future rebirth]’.

STORY: Similar to that for v. 417.

419–20. awakened: buddha, which can be applied to Arahats as well as to Buddhas.
destination: gati – see Glossary.
spirits: gandhabbas – see Glossary.

STORY: Vaṅgīsa, a Brahmin psychic, claims to be able to tell where people have been reborn after death by tapping on their skulls. The Buddha tests him by getting hold of five skulls: four from men who have been reborn, respectively, in a hell world, as an animal, as a human being and as a deity, and one from a man who has attained Arahatship. Vaṅgīsa correctly identifies the first four, but does not know what has happened to the last. The Buddha offers to teach him about this if he becomes ordained as a monk. Vaṅgīsa does so, and himself attains Arahatship.

421. STORY: A man called Visākha hears the Buddha’s teaching and attains the state of Non-Return. When he returns home, his wife, Dhammadinnā, thinks at first that he must be angry with her, since he no longer shows desire towards her. He offers all his possessions to her, saying that he no longer wishes to engage in worldly matters. Dhammadinnā refuses his wealth and becomes a nun. She soon attains Arahatship. Visākha remains a devout layman.

One day Visākha sees Dhammadinnā at the nuns’ residence and asks her a series of questions about the four Higher Stages. She answers every one, including one about Arahatship, with ease and clarity. She adds, however, that if he wishes to know about Arahatship he should go to the Buddha. But when Visākha reports the conversation, the Buddha tells him that what ‘my daughter Dhammadinnā’ has said was right, and that, if asked, he himself would answer in the same way. He praises Dhammadinnā with this verse.

Though the content of the discourse is not given here, it is recounted in full in the Cūḷavedalla Sutta (Majjhima Nikāya 1.299ff.: Sutta 44).

422. bull: Laudatory epithet for a leader or hero.
bathed: nhātaka (Sanskrit snātaka) – normally used of one who has completed his studies and ritually bathed to mark the end of his period of studentship. So there are connotations of his having completed his learning, as well as of his being washed clean.
awakened: As in v. 419.

STORY: After the incident recounted in the story for v. 177, Aṅgulimāla is asked whether he felt any fear when faced by the rogue elephant; when he declares that he did not, he is accused by some of speaking a falsehood. The Buddha confirms the truth of what he says with this verse.

423. perfect in knowledge: abhiññā-vosito – possessing the special knowledges characteristic of a Buddha.

STORY: When the Buddha is ill, the Brahmin Devahita gives him the medicine he needs, and hot water to bathe in. The Buddha is cured. Devahita asks who is the best person to give alms to, and receives his answer in the form of the verse.

SUMMARY VERSES

These verses are not found in all manuscripts of the Dhammapada, and are presumably later than the main body of the text. However, they are highly characteristic of South Asian literature, representing an aide-memoire for those learning the texts by heart.

3.   the Kinsman of the Sun: ādiccabandhu. The Buddha is said to have been born in the royal dynasty that claimed descent from the Sun God.