Indian stream·Pāli Tipiṭaka·Dhammapada·Chapter X. Punishment.

Source context

Theme

karmic consequences of harming others versus the fruits of restraint and non-violence

Soul-faculty

Sentient Soul

Steiner

not engaged in the GA corpus

Cross-tradition

• Karma doctrine (Vedanta / Hindu tradition)The chapter's insistence that harm rebounds upon the perpetrator and that suffering follows wrongdoing as a shadow maps structurally onto the Vedantic doctrine of karma as self-executing moral causation.
• Jain ahimsa ethicsThe Dhammapada's prioritisation of non-injury (ahimsa) as the basis for moral safety shows cross-tradition congruence with Jain ethics, where refraining from harm to all beings is the foundational soteriological imperative.
• Stoic lex naturalisThe chapter's claim that punishment is intrinsic rather than externally imposed exhibits cross-tradition congruence with Stoic natural law, where moral transgression carries its own penalty through violation of the logos-ordered cosmos.

Chapter X. Punishment.

CHAPTER X.

PUNISHMENT.

129All men tremble at punishment, all men fear death; remember that you are like unto them, and do not kill, nor cause slaughter.

130All men tremble at punishment, all men love life; remember that thou art like unto them, and do not kill, nor cause slaughter.

131He who seeking his own happiness punishes or kills beings who also long for happiness, will not find happiness after death.
[129. One feels tempted, no doubt, to take upama in the sense of 'the nearest (der Nächste), the neighbour,' and to translate, 'having made oneself one's neighbour,' i.e. loving one's neighbour as oneself. But as upamäm, with a short a, is the correct accusative of upamâ, we must translate, 'having made oneself the likeness, the image of others, having placed oneself in the place of others.' This is an expression which occurs frequently in Sanskrit; cf. Hitopade*s*a I, 11: Prâ*n*â yathâtmano 'bhîsh*t*â bhûtânâm api te tathâ, Âtmaupamyena bhûteshu dayâ*m* kurvanti sâdhava*h*. 'As life is dear to oneself, it is dear also to other living beings: by comparing oneself with others, good people bestow pity on all beings.' See also Hit. I, 12; Râm. V, 23, 5, âtmânam upamâ*m* k*ri*tvâ sveshu dâreshu ramyatâm, 'making oneself a likeness, i.e. putting oneself in the position of other people, it is right to love none but one's own wife.' Dr. Fausböll has called attention to similar passages in the Mahâbhârata, XIII, 5569 seq.

130Cf. St. Luke vi. 31.

131Dr. Fausböll points out the striking similarity between this verse and two verses occurring in Manu and the Mahâbhârata:--
Manu V, 45: Yo 'hi*m*sakâni bhûtâni hinasty âtmasukhe*kkh*ayâ, Sa *g*iva*ms* *k*a m*ri*tas *k*aiva na kva*k*it sukham edhate. Mahâbhârata XIII, 5568: Ahi*m*sakâni bhûtâni da*nd*ena vinihanti ya*h*, Âtmana*h* sukham i*kkh*an sa pretya naiva sukhî bhavet. If it were not for ahi*m*sakâni, in which Manu and the Mahâbhârata agree, I should say that the verses in both were Sanskrit modifications of the Pâli original. The verse in the Mahâbhârata presupposes the verse of the Dhammapada.]

132He who seeking his own happiness does not punish or kill beings who also long for happiness, will find happiness after death.

133Do not speak harshly to anybody; those who are spoken to will answer thee in the same way. Angry speech is painful, blows for blows will touch thee.

134If, like a shattered metal plate (gong), thou utter not, then thou hast reached Nirvâ*n*a; contention is not known to thee.

135As a cowherd with his staff drives his cows into the stable, so do Age and Death drive the life of men.

136A fool does not know when he commits his evil deeds: but the wicked man burns by his own deeds, as if burnt by fire.

137He who inflicts pain on innocent and harmless persons, will soon come to one of these ten states:
[133. See Mahâbhârata XII, 4056.

134See Childers, s.v. nibbâna, p. 270, and s.v. kâ*m*so; D'Alwis, Buddhist Nirvâ*n*a, p. 35.

136The metaphor of 'burning' for 'suffering' is very common in Buddhist literature. Everything burns, i.e. everything suffers, was one of the first experiences of Buddha himself. See v. 146.]

138He will have cruel suffering, loss, injury of the body, heavy affliction, or loss of mind,

139Or a misfortune coming from the king, or a fearful accusation, or loss of relations, or destruction of treasures,

140Or lightning-fire will burn his houses; and when his body is destroyed, the fool will go to hell.

141Not nakedness, not platted hair, not dirt, not fasting, or lying on the earth, not rubbing with dust,
[138. 'Cruel suffering' is explained by sîsaroga, 'headache,' &c. 'Loss' is taken for loss of money. 'Injury of the body' is held to be the cutting off of the arm, and other limbs. 'Heavy afflictions' are, again, various kinds of diseases.

139Upasarga means 'accident, misfortune.' Dr. Fausböll translates râ*g*ato va upassaggam by 'fulgentis (lunae) defectionem;' Dr. Weber by 'Bestrafung vom König;' Beal by 'some governmental difficulty.' Abbhakkhânam, Sanskrit abhyâkhyânam, is a heavy accusation for high treason, or similar offences. Beal translates, 'some false accusation.' The 'destruction of pleasures or treasures' is explained by gold being changed to coals (see Buddhaghosha's Parables, p. 98; Thiessen, Kisâgotamî, p. 6), pearls to cotton seed, corn to potsherds, and by men and cattle becoming blind, lame, &c.

141Cf. Hibbert Lectures, p. 355. Dr. Fausböll has pointed out that the same or avery similar verse occurs in a legend taken from the Divyâvadâna, and translated by Burnouf (Introduction, p. 313 seq.) Burnouf translates the verse: 'Ce n'est ni la coutume de marcher nu, ni les cheveux nattés, ni l'usage d'argile, ni le choix des diverses espèces d'aliments, ni l'habitude de coucher sur la terre nue, ni la poussière, ni la malpropreté, ni l'attention à fuir l'abri d'un toit, qui sont capables de dissiper le trouble dans lequel nous jettent les désirs non-satisfaits; mais qu'un homme, maître de ses sens, calme, recueilli, chaste, évitant de faire du mal à aucune créature, accomplisse la Loi, et il sera, quoique paré d'ornements, un Brâhmane, un Çramana, un Religieux.' See also Suttanipâta, v. 248.
Walking naked and the other things mentioned in our verse are outward signs of a saintly life, and these Buddha rejects because they do not calm the passions. Nakedness he seems to have rejected on other grounds too, if we may judge from the Sumâgadhâ-avadâna: 'A number of naked friars were assembled in the house of the daughter of Anâtha-pi*nd*ika. She called ber daughter-in-law, Sumâgadhâ, and said, "Go and see those highly respectable persons." Sumâgadhâ, expecting to see some of the saints, like *S*âriputra, Maudgalyâyana, and others, ran out full of joy. But when she saw these friars with their hair like pigeon wings, covered by nothing but dirt, offensive, and looking like demons, she became sad. "Why are you sad?" said her mother-in-law. Sumâgadhâ replied, "O mother, if these are saints, what must sinners be like?" Burnouf (Introduction, p. 312) supposed that the *G*ainas only, and not the Buddhists, allowed nakedness. But the *G*ainas, too, do not allow it universally. They are divided into two parties, the *S*vetambaras and Digambaras. The *S*vetambaras, clad in white, are the followers of Par*s*vanâtha, and wear clothes. The Digambaras, i.e. sky-clad, disrobed, are followers of Mahâvîra, resident chiefly in Southern India. At present they, too, wear clothing, but not when eating. See Sâstram Aiyar, p. xxi. The *g*a*t*â, or the hair platted and gathered up in a knot, was a sign of a *S*aiva ascetic. The sitting motionless is one of the postures assumed by ascetics. Clough explains ukku*t*ika as 'the act of sitting on the heels;' Wilson gives for utka*t*ukâsana, 'sitting on the hams.' See Fausböll, note on verse 140.] not sitting motionless, can purify a mortal who has not overcome desires.

142He who, though dressed in fine apparel, exercises tranquillity, is quiet, subdued, restrained, chaste, and has ceased to find fault with all other beings, he indeed is a Brâhma*n*a, an ascetic (*s*rama*n*a), a friar (bhikshu).

143Is there in this world any man so restrained by humility that he does not mind reproof, as a well-trained horse the whip?

144Like a well-trained horse when touched by
[142. As to da*nd*anidhâna, see Mahâbh. XII, 6559, and Sutta-nipâta, v. 34. 143, 144. I am very doubtful as to the real meaning of these verses. If their object is to show how reproof or punishment should be borne, my translation would be right, though alpabodhati in the sense of parvi facere is strange.] the whip, be ye active and lively, and by faith, by virtue, by energy, by meditation, by discernment of the law you will overcome this great pain (of reproof), perfect in knowledge and in behaviour, and never forgetful.

145Well-makers lead the water (wherever they like); fletchers bend the arrow; carpenters bend a log of wood; good people fashion themselves.
[145. The same as verse 80. According to Fausböll and Subhûti we ought to render the verses by, 'What man is there found on earth so restrained by shame that he never provokes reproof, as a good horse the whip?' See Childers, s.v. appabodhati.]

JSON: /api/sources/tripitaka/dhammapada/12-chapter-x-punishment.json