The Path Chapter (DHP273-289)

Collection of Minor Texts

Verses of Dhamma

The Path Chapter

The best of paths is the Eightfold;

of truths, the one in four steps.

The best of qualities is dispassion;

of bipeds, the one who sees.

This is the path - there is no other -

for obtaining vision and purity.

Therefore, follow this path

which confuses Māra.

When you have followed this path

you will end suffering.

I have explained the path for you;

by means of knowledge the sting is eased.

It is by you that the effort must be made;

the Truth-Finders just explain.

Those who have followed the path become free

from the bonds of Māra.

Everything is impermanent -

when one sees this with wisdom,

one becomes disenchanted with suffering;

this is the path to purity.

Everything is unsatisfying -

when one sees this with wisdom

one becomes disenchanted with suffering;

this is the path to purity.

Everything is impersonal -

when one sees this with wisdom,

one becomes disenchanted with suffering;

this is the path to purity.

Not rising to the occasion when it is time to do so,

young and strong, but indolent,

aimless, and lazy,

the indolent one does not find the path of wisdom.

With speech controlled and mind well-restrained,

and doing nothing harmful with the body,

purify these three paths of karma

and accomplish the path demonstrated by the seer.

Commitment produces abundance,

a lack of commitment completely eliminates it.

Knowing these two paths

which lead to existence and non-existence,

one should settle oneself accordingly

and cultivate abundance.

Cut down the forest, not the tree;

the forest produces danger.

When you have cut down the forest and its undergrowth,

you will have no forest, monks.

As long as the undergrowth has not been cut down,

even if only a tiny amount is left, then whether one is a man or a woman

one will be bound to it,

like a calf sucking milk from its mother.

Cut off self-cherishing,

like plucking a lotus in autumn.

Practice the peaceful path to Nibbāna

as taught by the Heavenly One.

“Here I will spend the rainy season,

here the winter, here the summer.”

This is how a fool thinks,

not aware of the obstacle.

Intoxicated with children and cattle,

a person with mind attached;

like a great flood sweeping away a sleeping village,

such a person is swept away by death.

There is no safety in children,

parents, or kin;

when one is seized by the Ender,

there is no safety in relatives.

Having understood this issue,

the wise person, moral and self-restrained,

quickly purifies the path

that leads to Nibbāna.