Anger (DHP221-234)

Abandon anger, give up pride,
Overcome every fetter.
For afflictions do not beset one who has nothing,
Who is unattached to mind and body.

The one who would restrain anger as it arises,
Like a careening chariot,
I proclaim a true charioteer,
While another just holds the reins.

Conquer anger with conciliation,
Evil with good,
Stinginess with giving,
And a liar with the truth.

Speak the truth,
Have no anger,
Give when asked, even from little.
By these three, would you enter the presence of the
gods.

The wise do no harm,
Ever-restrained in body.
Having gone to the Unshakable State,
They grieve no more.

For those who are always awake,
Learning day and night,
Intent on Nibbāna,
The toxins disappear.

O Atula, this is not new but very old:
They criticize one who sits silently, they criticize
one who talks much,
And they criticize one who speaks moderately.
No one in the world goes uncriticized.

There was not, is not, and never will be
A person wholly criticized or wholly praised.

Who is worthy to reprove the one
Whom the intelligent, having examined day after
day, praise,

Whose conduct is faultless,
Who is intelligent, endowed with wisdom and
virtue,
Who is like a coin of fine gold:
Even the gods praise him;
Even by Brahmā he is praised.

Guard yourself from violence;
In body, be restrained.
Having now renounced this physical misconduct,
Act properly with the body.

Guard yourself from angry speech;
In speech, be restrained.
Having now renounced this verbal misconduct,
Act properly with speech.

Guard yourself against an angry mind;
In mind, be restrained.
Having now renounced this mental misconduct,
Act properly with the mind.

The wise who are restrained in body, restrained in
speech,
And restrained in mind, are indeed thoroughly
restrained.

© Peter Feldmeier, 2013.

First published in Dhammapada — The Way of Truth : A Fresh Translation and Commentary on Buddhism’s Most Beloved Text by Buddhist Publication Society.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Prepared for SuttaCentral by Aminah Borg-Luck.