DhammapadaBuddhismAccepted ScripturePaliShareDhammapada 18F. Max Muller 1881 - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableF. Max Muller 1881LanguageEnglishEspañol‹Dhammapada 1Dhammapada 2Dhammapada 3Dhammapada 4Dhammapada 5Dhammapada 6Dhammapada 7Dhammapada 8Dhammapada 9Dhammapada 10Dhammapada 11Dhammapada 12Dhammapada 13Dhammapada 14Dhammapada 15Dhammapada 16Dhammapada 17Dhammapada 18Dhammapada 19Dhammapada 20Dhammapada 21Dhammapada 22Dhammapada 23Dhammapada 24Dhammapada 25Dhammapada 26›Dhammapada: ImpurityDhammapada 18ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter235Thou art now like a sear leaf, the messengers of death (Yama) have come near to thee; thou standest at the door of thy departure, and thou hast no provision for thy journey. 236Make thyself an island, work hard, be wise! When thy impurities are blown away, and thou art free from guilt, thou wilt enter into the heavenly world of the elect (Ariya). 237Thy life has come to an end, thou art come near to death (Yama), there is no resting-place for thee on the road, and thou hast no provision for thy journey. 238Make thyself an island, work hard, be wise! When thy impurities are blown away, and thou art free from guilt, thou wilt not enter again into birth and decay. 239Let a wise man blow off the impurities of his self, as a smith blows off the impurities of silver one by one, little by little, and from time to time. 240As the impurity which springs from the iron, when it springs from it, destroys it; thus do a transgressor's own works lead him to the evil path. 241The taint of prayers is non-repetition; the taint of houses, non-repair; the taint of the body is sloth; the taint of a watchman, thoughtlessness. 242Bad conduct is the taint of woman, greediness the taint of a benefactor; tainted are all evil ways in this world and in the next. 243But there is a taint worse than all taints,--ignorance is the greatest taint. O mendicants! throw off that taint, and become taintless! 244Life is easy to live for a man who is without shame, a crow hero, a mischief-maker, an insulting, bold, and wretched fellow. 245But life is hard to live for a modest man, who always looks for what is pure, who is disinterested, quiet, spotless, and intelligent. 246He who destroys life, who speaks untruth, who in this world takes what is not given him, who goes to another man's wife; 247And the man who gives himself to drinking intoxicating liquors, he, even in this world, digs up his own root. 248O man, know this, that the unrestrained are in a bad state; take care that greediness and vice do not bring thee to grief for a long time! 249The world gives according to their faith or according to their pleasure: if a man frets about the food and the drink given to others, he will find no rest either by day or by night. 250He in whom that feeling is destroyed, and taken out with the very root, finds rest by day and by night. 251There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed. 252The fault of others is easily perceived, but that of oneself is difficult to perceive; a man winnows his neighbour's faults like chaff, but his own fault he hides, as a cheat hides the bad die from the gambler. 253If a man looks after the faults of others, and is always inclined to be offended, his own passions will grow, and he is far from the destruction of passions. 254There is no path through the air, a man is not a Samana by outward acts. The world delights in vanity, the Tathagatas (the Buddhas) are free from vanity. 255There is no path through the air, a man is not a Samana by outward acts. No creatures are eternal; but the awakened (Buddha) are never shaken. ‹Previous chapterDhammapada 17Next chapterDhammapada 19›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. Public domain in the United States via Project Gutenberg