01Mind comes first

The first verse sets the tone: everything begins in the mind, and if you act with a corrupted mind, suffering follows as the cart wheel follows the ox’s foot. The second verse gives the other half, happiness following like a shadow that never leaves. The book goes on in pairs and short chapters, on heedfulness, on the mind, on flowers, on the fool, on the wise, on old age, on craving. There are 423 verses in 26 chapters. A monk can carry it in memory, and many Theravada monks do.

02Hatred and non-hatred

The fifth verse is the one most often carved on gateways and printed on school walls across the Buddhist world. Hatred is never calmed by hatred in this world; by non-hatred it is calmed; this is an eternal law. The commentary sets it in a feud between two women carried through many births, each harming the other’s children, until the Buddha speaks this verse to them at Jetavana. Verses three and four lead to it: whoever keeps thinking “he abused me, he beat me, he robbed me” keeps the hatred alive.

03Heedfulness, the deathless path

The second chapter opens with a verse that sums up the Buddha’s last words: heedfulness is the path to the deathless, heedlessness the path to death. The heedful do not die; the heedless are as if dead already. Appamada means alert, careful attention, the opposite of drifting. The chapter praises the monk who rouses himself, steady and restrained, and builds an island no flood can overwhelm. The commentary tells it in the setting of Queen Samavati of Kaushambi and her women, who kept their minds steady even as their palace burned.

04The teaching of all the Buddhas

Verse 183, in the Buddha chapter, is the shortest statement of the whole path: not doing any evil, taking up the good, purifying one’s own mind. This is the teaching of the Buddhas. With the two verses that follow it forms the Ovada Patimokkha, which Theravada tradition says the Buddha gave to 1,250 arahants who gathered unbidden at the Veluvana on the full moon of Magha. In Thailand, Laos and Cambodia that day is kept as Magha Puja, with candle-lit processions three times around the vihara.

05Read with its kathas

Theravada teachers rarely read a verse alone. The Dhammapada commentary, attributed to Buddhaghosa, gives for each verse the occasion on which the Buddha spoke it, some 300 stories in all. Kisa Gotami goes from house to house for a mustard seed from a home where no one has died. The bandit Angulimala lays down his sword. The old monk Cakkhupala walks in blindness, crushing insects he cannot see, and the Buddha says no evil was done because no will was there. Sermons in Sri Lanka and Myanmar still pair verse and katha.

06The birch-bark copy from Khotan

The Pali text is not the only one. In 1892 the French explorer Dutreuil de Rhins obtained near Khotan a birch-bark manuscript of the Dhammapada in the Gandhari language, written in Kharosthi script, probably in the 1st to 3rd century CE. It is among the oldest Indian manuscripts that survive anywhere, with pieces now in Paris and St Petersburg. A Sanskrit cousin, the Udanavarga, and a Prakrit version known as the Patna Dhammapada show how widely these verses travelled, school by school, each keeping its own order.

07Learned by heart today

In Sri Lanka children learn Dhammapada verses at Sunday dhamma school, and the Vesak lanterns often carry them. In Myanmar novices sit for examinations on it. In Bharat it is the one Pali book many families keep on the shelf, and at Buddha Purnima in Bodh Gaya and Sarnath monks recite it in full. Teachers of every Buddhist school, Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana, quote it. Because it is short and plain, it is usually the first Buddhist scripture a newcomer reads.

08Translations

Viggo Fausböll printed the Pali text with a Latin translation in Copenhagen in 1855. Max Müller’s English version appeared in 1881 in the Sacred Books of the East, volume 10, and began a long line of English translations. Bhadant Anand Kausalyayan’s Hindi translation, with the Pali alongside, is the one most widely read in north India. There are now versions in nearly every Indian language, from Marathi and Bangla to Tamil, and the verses have been set to music for chanting.

What it contains

1
Yamaka Vagga: pairs
Verses 1–20. Verses in contrasting pairs: the corrupted mind and the clear mind, hatred and non-hatred, the true and the false.
2
Appamada Vagga: heedfulness
Verses 21–32. Heedfulness is the path to the deathless. The watchful monk is compared to a swift horse that leaves the weak behind.
3
Citta Vagga: the mind
Verses 33–43. The mind is restless and hard to guard, and the wise straighten it as a fletcher straightens an arrow. A well-directed mind does more good than mother or father.
4
Puppha Vagga: flowers
Verses 44–59. The sage moves through the village as a bee takes nectar without harming the flower’s colour or scent. The scent of virtue travels even against the wind.
5
Bala Vagga: the fool
Verses 60–75. Long is the night to the sleepless, and long the round of births to the fool. A fool who knows he is a fool is wise to that extent.
6
Pandita Vagga: the wise
Verses 76–89. Follow the one who points out your faults as if showing hidden treasure. The wise are not shaken by praise or blame, as a solid rock is not shaken by the wind.
7
Arahanta Vagga: the arahant
Verses 90–99. The one who has reached the end of the road and is free of sorrow. Delightful are the forests where the passionless find joy.
8
Sahassa Vagga: the thousands
Verses 100–115. One word that brings peace is better than a thousand empty ones. Greater than conquering a thousand times a thousand men in battle is conquering oneself.
9
Papa Vagga: evil
Verses 116–128. Hurry toward the good and hold the mind back from evil. There is no place in the sky, the sea or a mountain cave where one can escape one’s own evil deed.
10
Danda Vagga: the rod
Verses 129–145. All tremble at the rod, all fear death; putting oneself in another’s place, one should neither kill nor cause to kill.
11
Jara Vagga: old age
Verses 146–156. What laughter, what joy, when the world is ever burning? Here the Buddha speaks the verses said to have been his first words after awakening, on finding the builder of the house.
12
Atta Vagga: the self
Verses 157–166. One is one’s own protector. Set yourself first in what is right, then teach others.
13
Loka Vagga: the world
Verses 167–178. Look on the world as a bubble, as a mirage, and the king of death does not see you. Better than lordship over the earth is the fruit of stream-entry.
14
Buddha Vagga: the Buddha
Verses 179–196. Hard is it to be born human, hard to hear the true dhamma, hard for a Buddha to arise. Verse 183 gives the teaching of all the Buddhas.
15
Sukha Vagga: happiness
Verses 197–208. Happily we live, free of hatred among those who hate. Health is the greatest gain, contentment the greatest wealth, nibbana the highest bliss.
16
Piya Vagga: affection
Verses 209–220. From what is dear comes grief, from what is dear comes fear. One who comes home after long years away is welcomed by kin, and good deeds welcome the doer in the next world.
17
Kodha Vagga: anger
Verses 221–234. Conquer anger with gentleness, the miser with giving, the liar with truth. Whoever checks rising anger like a swerving chariot is the true charioteer.
18
Mala Vagga: impurity
Verses 235–255. You are now like a withered leaf; make an island for yourself. Of all stains, ignorance is the worst.
19
Dhammattha Vagga: the just
Verses 256–272. One is not wise because he talks much, nor an elder because his hair is grey. The just judge weighs both sides without haste.
20
Magga Vagga: the path
Verses 273–289. Of paths the eightfold is the best, of truths the four. You must make the effort yourself; the Tathagatas only show the way.
21
Pakinnaka Vagga: miscellany
Verses 290–305. Verses on many subjects. If by giving up a small happiness one sees a great one, the wise give up the small.
22
Niraya Vagga: hell
Verses 306–319. The fruits of false speech and wrong conduct. As a frontier city is guarded within and without, so guard yourself.
23
Naga Vagga: the elephant
Verses 320–333. As the elephant in battle bears the arrow, so the Buddha bears harsh words. Delight in heedfulness and lift yourself from the mud like an elephant sunk in a bog.
24
Tanha Vagga: craving
Verses 334–359. Craving grows like a creeper in the heedless. The gift of dhamma excels all gifts, and the ending of craving overcomes all sorrow.
25
Bhikkhu Vagga: the monk
Verses 360–382. Restraint of eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, speech and mind. Empty this boat, monk; emptied, it will go swiftly.
26
Brahmana Vagga: the true brahmana
Verses 383–423. The longest chapter, closing the book. It describes the brahmana by conduct and attainment, one who has crossed over, calm, free of clinging.

Famous verses

मनोपुब्बङ्गमा धम्मा मनोसेट्ठा मनोमया। मनसा चे पदुट्ठेन भासति वा करोति वा। ततो नं दुक्खमन्वेति चक्कंव वहतो पदं॥
Mind goes before all things; mind is their chief, they are made of mind. If one speaks or acts with a corrupted mind, suffering follows as the wheel follows the foot of the ox.Dhammapada 1

न हि वेरेन वेरानि सम्मन्तीध कुदाचनं। अवेरेन च सम्मन्ति एस धम्मो सनन्तनो॥
Hatred is never calmed by hatred in this world. By non-hatred it is calmed. This is the eternal law.Dhammapada 5

अप्पमादो अमतपदं पमादो मच्चुनो पदं। अप्पमत्ता न मीयन्ति ये पमत्ता यथा मता॥
Heedfulness is the path to the deathless; heedlessness is the path to death. The heedful do not die; the heedless are as if dead already.Dhammapada 21

सब्बपापस्स अकरणं कुसलस्स उपसम्पदा। सचित्तपरियोदपनं एतं बुद्धान सासनं॥
Not doing any evil, taking up what is skilful, purifying one’s own mind: this is the teaching of the Buddhas.Dhammapada 183

Influence

Translated into nearly every major language; Max Müller’s 1881 version (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 10) began its life in the West, and verse 5 is quoted at the United Nations and in countless sermons.