Indian stream·Pāli Tipiṭaka·Dhammapada·Chapter XVIII. Impurity.

Source context

Theme

graduated purification of the soul through recognition and removal of moral and mental impurities

Soul-faculty

Intellectual Soul

Steiner

not engaged in the GA corpus

Cross-tradition

• Vedanta (Vivekachudamani tradition)The Vedantic concept of mala (impurity of mind) as an obstacle to self-knowledge shows cross-tradition congruence with the Dhammapada's mapping of mental defilements as the primary barrier to liberation.
• Kabbalah (Klipot doctrine)The kabbalistic doctrine of klipot — husks or shells obscuring divine light — parallels structurally the Dhammapada's identification of impurity as a covering that conceals the soul's inherent luminosity.
• Christian ascetic tradition (Desert Fathers, logismoi)The Desert Fathers' catalogue of logismoi (troubling thoughts) as impurities requiring vigilant purification shows cross-tradition congruence with the Dhammapada's enumeration of mental taints obstructing the path.

Chapter XVIII. Impurity.

CHAPTER XVIII.

IMPURITY.

235Thou 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,
[235. Uyyoga seems to mean departure. See Buddhaghosa's commentary on verse 152, p. 319, l. 1; Fausböll, Five *G*âtakas, p. 35.

236'An island,' for a drowning man to save himself; (see verse 25.) Dîpa n kara is the name of one of the former Buddhas, and it is also used as an appellative of the Buddha, but is always derived from dîpo, 'a lamp.'

239This verse is the foundation of the thirty-fourth section of the Sûtra of the forty-two sections; see Beal, Catena, p. 201; Sutta-nipâta, v. 962.]
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!
[244. Pakkhandin is identified by Dr. Fausböll with praskandin, one who jumps forward, insults, or, as Buddhaghosa explains it, one who meddles with other people's business, an interloper. At all events, it is a term of reproach, and, as it would seem, of theological reproach.

246On the five principal commandments which are recapitulated in verses 246 and 247, see Buddhaghosha's Parables, p. 153.

248Cf. Mahâbhârata XII, 4055, yeshâ*m* v*ri*ttis *k*a sa*m*yatâ. See also verse 307.]

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 Sama*n*a by outward acts. The world
[249. This verse has evidently regard to the feelings of the Bhikshus or mendicants who receive either much or little, and who are exhorted not to be envious if others receive more than they themselves. Several of the Parables illustrate this feeling.

251Dr. Fausböll translates gaho by 'captivitas,' Dr. Weber by 'fetter.' I take it in the same sense as grâha in Manu VI, 78; and Buddhaghosa does the same, though he assigns to grâha a more general meaning, viz. anything that seizes, whether an evil spirit (yakkha), a serpent (a*g*agara), or a crocodile (kumbhîla).
Greed or thirst is represented as a river in Lalita-vistara, ed. Calc. p. 482, trish*n*â-nadî tivegâ pra*s*oshitâ me *gñ*ânasûrye*n*a, 'the wild river of thirst is dried up by the sun of my knowledge.'

252See Childers, Notes, p. 7; St. Matthew vii. 3.

253As to âsava, 'appetite, passion,' see note to verse 39.

254I have translated this verse very freely, and not in accordance with Buddhaghosa's commentary. Dr. Fausböll proposed to translate, 'No one who is outside the Buddhist community can walk through the air, but only a Sama*n*a;' and the same view is taken by Professor Weber, though he arrives at it by a different construction. Now it is perfectly true that the idea of magical powers (*ri*ddhi) which enable saints to walk through the air, &c., occurs in the Dhammapada, see v. 175, note. But the Dhammapada may contain earlier and later verses, and in that case our verse might be an early protest on the part of Buddha against the belief in such miraculous powers. We know how Buddha himself protested against his disciples being called upon to perform vulgar miracles. 'I command my disciples not to work miracles,' he said, 'but to hide their good deeds, and to show their sins' (Burnouf, Introd. p. 170). It would be in harmony with this sentiment if we translated our verse as I have done. As to bahira, I should take it in the sense of 'external,' as opposed to adhyâtmika, or 'internal;' and the meaning would be, 'a Sama*n*a is not a Sama*n*a by outward acts, but by his heart.' D'Alwis translates (p. 85): 'There is no footprint in the air; there is not a Sama*n*a out of the pale of the Buddhist community.'
Prapa*ñk*a, which I have here translated by 'vanity,' seems to include the whole host of human weaknesses; cf. v. 196, where it is explained by ta*m*hâdi*tth*imânapapa*ñk*a; in our verse by ta*m*hâdisu papa*ñk*esu: cf. Lalita-vistara, p. 564, anâlaya*m* nishprapa*ñk*am anutpâdam asambhavam (dharma*k*akram). As to Tathâgata, a name of Buddha, cf. Burnouf, Introd. p. 75.] delights in vanity, the Tathâgatas (the Buddhas) are free from vanity.

255There is no path through the air, a man is not a Sama*n*a by outward acts. No creatures are eternal; but the awakened (Buddha) are never shaken.
[255. Sa n khâra for sa*m*skâra; cf. note to verse 203. Creature does not, as Mr. D'Alwis (p. 69) supposes, involve the Christian conception of creation.]

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