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17. One should abandon anger (kodha); one should relinquish conceit (māna);
one should pass beyond every fetter (saṃyojana).
Sufferings (dukkha) do not befall him who,
unattached to name-and-form (nāmarūpa), possesses nothing.
Whoever holds in check arisen anger
as one would a swerving chariot —
him I call a charioteer;
other people are but holders of the reins.
One should conquer anger by non-anger;
one should conquer the bad by the good;
one should conquer the miserly by giving,
and the speaker of falsehood by truth.
One should speak the truth; one should not give way to anger;
when asked, one should give, even when there is little.
By these three things
one may go into the presence of the devas.
Those sages who are harmless,
ever restrained in body,
go to the imperishable state,
where, having gone, they sorrow not.
For those who are ever wakeful,
who train themselves by day and by night,
who are intent upon Nibbāna,
the taints (āsava) come to an end.
This is an ancient thing, Atula; it is not merely of today:
they blame the one who sits in silence,
they blame the one who speaks much,
they blame even the one who speaks in measure —
there is no one in the world who is not blamed.
There never was, there never will be,
nor is there found at present,
a person who is wholly blamed
or wholly praised.
But he whom the discerning praise,
having observed him day after day —
one of flawless conduct, intelligent,
composed in wisdom and virtue —
who is worthy to blame him,
who is like a coin of gold from the Jambu River?
Even the devas praise him;
by Brahmā too he is praised.
One should guard against agitation of the body;
one should be restrained in body.
Having abandoned misconduct by body,
one should practice good conduct by body.
One should guard against agitation of speech;
one should be restrained in speech.
Having abandoned misconduct by speech,
one should practice good conduct by speech.
One should guard against agitation of the mind;
one should be restrained in mind.
Having abandoned misconduct by mind,
one should practice good conduct by mind.
The wise are restrained in body,
and restrained in speech;
the wise are restrained in mind —
they indeed are thoroughly well restrained.
The Chapter on Anger, the Seventeenth.
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Verses of the Dhammapada: the Eighteenth Chapter, the Chapter on Stains (Malavagga)
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.