[14] 4.
Who will conquer this earth,
and this world of Yama together with its devas?
Who will gather the well-taught word of the Dhamma,
as a skilled one plucks a flower?
The learner (sekha) will conquer this earth,
and this world of Yama together with its devas.
The learner will gather the well-taught word of the Dhamma,
as a skilled one plucks a flower.
Having known this body to be like foam,
awakening fully to its mirage-like nature,
having cut off the flower-tipped [arrows] of Māra,
one would go where the King of Death sees not.
Death seizes and carries off
the man of entangled mind,
even as he gathers flowers,
as a great flood sweeps away a sleeping village.
The Ender brings under his sway
the man of entangled mind,
even as he gathers flowers,
still unsated in sensual pleasures.
As a bee, without harming the flower endowed with colour,¹
flies away taking its nectar,
so should the sage (muni) walk in the village.
Not the wrongs of others,
not what others have done and left undone,
but one's own deeds done and left undone
should one regard.
As a lovely flower,
full of colour but lacking scent,
so is well-spoken speech fruitless
for one who does not act upon it.
As a lovely flower,
full of colour and possessed of scent,²
so is well-spoken speech fruitful
for one who acts well upon it.
As from a heap of flowers
one might make many clusters of garlands,³
so by a mortal, once born,
much good should be done.
The scent of flowers goes not against the wind,
nor sandalwood, nor tagara, nor jasmine;
but the scent of the good goes against the wind:
the true person (sappurisa) pervades all directions.
Sandalwood or tagara,
lotus, and then jasmine—
among these kinds of fragrance
the fragrance of virtue (sīla) is unsurpassed.
Slight is this fragrance,
this of tagara and sandalwood;
but the fragrance of the virtuous,
supreme, wafts among the devas.
Of those perfect in virtue,
dwelling in heedfulness (appamāda),
liberated through right final knowledge—
Māra does not find their path.
As on a rubbish heap,
cast out beside the highway,
a lotus might grow,
pure-scented, delighting the mind,
so among those who have become as rubbish,
among blind worldlings (puthujjana),
the disciple of the Fully Self-Enlightened One
outshines them through wisdom.
The Flower Chapter (Pupphavagga), the fourth.
¹ The Po., Ma., and Yu. editions read vaṇṇagandhaṃ ("its colour and scent").
² The Po. and Ma. editions read sugandhakaṃ.
³ The Po., Ma., and Yu. editions read mālāguṇe.
The Verses of the Dhammapada: the fifth chapter, on Fools (Bālavagga).
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.