The Chapter about Love (DHP209-220)

Engaging oneself in what is not suitable, not engaging in what is suitable,
abandoning the good, grasping the loved, he envies the one who endeavours for himself.

Do not associate at any time with those who are loved or with those unloved,
there is suffering not meeting those loved, and suffering from meeting those unloved.

Therefore do not hold anything as loved, for losing those who are loved is loathsome.
There are no knots for those who hold nothing as loved or as unloved.

From love there arises grief, from love there arises fear,
for one who is free from love there is no grief, how is there fear?

From fondness there arises grief, from fondness there arises fear,
for one who is free from fondness there is no grief, how is there fear?

From delight there arises grief, from delight there arises fear,
for one who is free from delight there is no grief, how is there fear?

From desire there arises grief, from desire there arises fear,
for one who is free from desire there is no grief, how is there fear?

From craving there arises grief, from craving there arises fear,
for one who is free from craving there is no grief, how is there fear?

Endowed with virtue and insight, principled, knowing the truths,
doing the deeds that are his own, that one the people love.

The one with desire arisen for the undeclared, will be suffused with the awakening mind,
with a mind unconnected with sense pleasures, he is spoken of as ‘one gone upstream’.

When one who lives abroad for a long time comes safely from afar,
his relatives, friends and companions come and greatly rejoice.
Just so, when one who has performed merit goes from this world unto the next,
his merits are received just as relatives come to their loved one.

Translated by Ānandajoti Bhikkhu.

2nd edition, November 2017.

The text and translation, together with detailed notes and discussions, may be found in multiple formats on the translator’s website, Ancient Buddhist Texts.

Used by kind permission of Bhikkhu Ānandajoti.

The original translation was released under the following licence: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Aminah Borg-Luck.