[30] 20.
Of paths, the eightfold is the best;
of truths, the four statements;
dispassion (virāga) is the best of dhammas;
and of two-footed beings, the One with Vision (cakkhumā).
This alone is the path — there is no other —
for the purification of vision.
Enter upon this path,
for this is the confounding of Māra;
entering upon this path,
you will make an end of suffering (dukkha).
The path has been declared to you by me,
who understood the drawing-out of the dart;
by you yourselves must the ardent effort be made —
the Tathāgatas are proclaimers.
Those who enter upon it, meditators,
will be released from the bondage of Māra.
"All conditioned things (saṅkhārā) are impermanent (anicca)":
when one sees this with wisdom (paññā),
then one grows disenchanted with suffering.
This is the path to purity.
"All conditioned things are suffering":
when one sees this with wisdom,
then one grows disenchanted with suffering.
This is the path to purity.
"All dhammas are not-self (anattā)":
when one sees this with wisdom,
then one grows disenchanted with suffering.
This is the path to purity.
Not rousing himself at the time for exertion,
though young and strong, given over to laziness,
his mind sunken in its intentions, indolent —
such a sluggard does not find the path of wisdom.
Guarding speech, well restrained in mind,
one should do nothing unwholesome with the body:
let one purify these three courses of action (kammapatha)
and attain the path made known by the seers.
From application (yoga) indeed wisdom (bhūri) is born;
from non-application, the perishing of wisdom.
Knowing this twofold path,
leading to growth and to decline,
let one so establish oneself
that wisdom may increase.
Cut down the forest, not the tree;
from the forest fear is born.
Having cut down the forest and the undergrowth (vanatha),
be without the forest (nibbanā), bhikkhus.
For as long as the undergrowth of a man toward women
is not cut away, be it ever so slight,
so long is his mind bound,
like a milk-drinking calf to its mother.
Cut off your own affection,
as one plucks with the hand an autumn white lily;
cultivate the very path of peace —
Nibbāna has been taught by the Well-Farer (Sugata).
"Here shall I dwell through the rains;
here through winter and summer" —
so the fool thinks;
he does not perceive the danger.
That man, drunk with sons and cattle,
his mind attached,
death seizes and carries away,
as a great flood a sleeping village.
Sons are no protection,
nor a father, nor even kinsmen;
for one seized by the Ender (Antaka),
there is no protection among relatives.
Knowing the import of this,
let the wise one, restrained by virtue (sīla),
swiftly clear
the path that leads to Nibbāna.
The Path Chapter (Maggavagga), the twentieth.
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The Verses of the Dhammapada: the twenty-first chapter, the Miscellaneous Chapter (Pakiṇṇakavagga).
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.