[23] 13.
One should not follow an inferior dhamma;
one should not dwell in heedlessness (pamāda);
one should not follow wrong view (micchādiṭṭhi);
one should not be one who swells the world.
One should rouse oneself, one should not be heedless;
one should practise the Dhamma well.
One who lives by the Dhamma rests in happiness,
in this world and in the next.
[Edition apparatus at this point (markers refer to lines of the preceding page/item): ¹ Ma.: attaghātāya. ² Ma.: hi. — Sigla: Po. = Sinhalese ed.; Ma. = Burmese ed.; Yu. = European ed.]
One should practise the Dhamma well;
one should not practise it ill.
One who lives by the Dhamma rests in happiness,
in this world and in the next.
As one would look upon a bubble,
as one would look upon a mirage —
one who regards the world in this way
the King of Death (Maccurājā) does not see.
Come, behold this world,
ornate like a royal chariot,
wherein fools sink down,
while for those who understand there is no attachment (saṅga).
But one who, having been heedless before,
afterwards is heedless no more —
he¹ illuminates this world
like the moon freed from a cloud.
One whose evil deed, once done,
is covered over² by the wholesome (kusala) —
he illuminates this world
like the moon freed from a cloud.
Blind is this world;
few here see clearly.
Like a bird³ freed from a net,
few go to heaven (sagga).
Swans⁴ travel the path of the sun;
they travel through the sky by psychic power (iddhi).
The wise are led forth from the world,
having conquered Māra together with his mount.
For a person who has transgressed this one thing —
who speaks falsehood,
who has cast away the world beyond (paraloka) —
there is no evil that he might not do.
Truly, the miserly do not go to the world of the devas (devaloka);
fools indeed do not praise giving (dāna);
but the wise one, rejoicing in giving,
thereby becomes happy hereafter.
[Edition apparatus: ¹ Po., Ma.: somaṃ. ² Also read pahīyati ("is abandoned"). ³ Ma.: sakuṇo. ⁴ Ma., Yu.: haṃsādiccapathe yanti. — In the printed source this note-block falls at the page break, between the third and fourth lines of the preceding verse.]
Better than sole sovereignty over the earth,
better than going to heaven,
better than lordship over the whole world
is the fruition of stream-entry (sotāpattiphala).
The Chapter on the World (Lokavagga), the Thirteenth.
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The Verses of the Dhammapada: the Fourteenth, the Chapter on the Buddha (Buddhavagga)
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.