A verse each morning
One verse for today, the same for every reader, chosen in book order from all 423 — the way the Dhammapada has been recited daily for centuries. Yesterday’s verse stays on its own page.
Read today’s verse
One verse a day.
The Dhammapada’s 423 verses, in Pali and English. Read one each morning, draw one at random, or find the verse for what you feel — and take it with you as a card.
Today’s verse
Tuesday, October 27, 2026 · the same verse for every reader, everywhere
“Intention is the leader of things; intention is first, they’re made by intention. If with corrupt intent you speak or act, suffering follows you, like a wheel, the ox’s foot.”
Manopubbaṅgamā dhammā, manoseṭṭhā manomayā; Manasā ce paduṭṭhena, bhāsati vā karoti vā; Tato naṁ dukkhamanveti, cakkaṁva vahato padaṁ.
Missed a day? Every verse keeps its own page — today’s verse links to yesterday’s, and the book is always one click away.
What you can do here
Draw a verse at random
Turn the whole book into a deck: 423 verses, drawn one at a time, none repeated until the round is spent. Copy it, or save it as a card.
Draw a random verse
Find the verse for what you feel
Angry, grieving, restless, tempted? Write it in plain words and the finder matches your sentence against every verse’s themes — anger, craving, mind, death — with the Pali alongside. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Open the verse finder
Take the verse with you
Every verse becomes two cards in your browser: a 1080×1080 square for a post, and a 1080×1920 wallpaper for your phone. Paper and ink only — nothing is uploaded anywhere.
Make a verse card
The 26 chapters
Twenty-six chapters, 423 verses. The chapter names are the oldest index this text has — the Pairs, the Mind, Flowers, Craving, the Elephant.
- 1Pairs YamakaVagga1–20
- 2Diligence AppamādaVagga21–32
- 3The Mind CittaVagga33–43
- 4Flowers PupphaVagga44–59
- 5The Fool BālaVagga60–75
- 6The Astute PaṇḍitaVagga76–89
- 7The Perfected Ones ArahantaVagga90–99
- 8The Thousands SahassaVagga100–115
- 9Wickedness PāpaVagga116–128
- 10The Rod DaṇḍaVagga129–145
- 11Old Age JarāVagga146–156
- 12The Self AttaVagga157–166
- 13The World LokaVagga167–178
- 14The Buddhas BuddhaVagga179–196
- 15Happiness SukhaVagga197–208
- 16The Beloved PiyaVagga209–220
- 17Anger KodhaVagga221–234
- 18Stains MalaVagga235–255
- 19The Just DhammaṭṭhaVagga256–272
- 20The Path MaggaVagga273–289
- 21Miscellaneous PakiṇṇakaVagga290–305
- 22Hell NirayaVagga306–319
- 23Elephants NāgaVagga320–333
- 24Craving TaṇhāVagga334–359
- 25Mendicants BhikkhuVagga360–382
- 26Brahmins BrāhmaṇaVagga383–423
Everything else in the book
The tools above work on all 423 verses. These pages take one subject or one question at a time — each one quoting real verses with their numbers, so anything here can be checked against the text.
Start here
What the book is, what the title means, which translation to read.
Quotes by subject
Every verse on one subject, in Pali and English, with verse numbers.
The Buddhist background
The schools, the vocabulary, what is chanted, and loving-kindness.
Reading and quoting
Where the checkable quotes are, and how to tell them from the rest.
What is the Dhammapada?
The Dhammapada is a collection of 423 short sayings of the Buddha, arranged in 26 chapters and preserved in the Pali canon as part of the Khuddaka Nikāya. Its verses are the Buddhist tradition’s most quoted text — memorised, chanted and copied by hand for more than two thousand years, from Sri Lanka to Burma to the temples of Laos you see pictured on this page.
It is not a story and not a rulebook. It is a book of maxims about the mind: that intention runs ahead of every act, that hatred never ends by hatred, that a trained mind brings a happiness no one can take. Each verse stands alone, which is why one verse a day works.
The English here is Bhikkhu Sujato’s translation, published by SuttaCentral and released into the public domain (CC0), with the Pali root text alongside. Read the suttas in full at suttacentral.net. This site is an independent reading tool and speaks for no monastery, lineage or tradition.
The text’s sources and licences are listed in full on the sources page.
Questions
What is the Dhammapada?
A short collection of 423 verses attributed to the Buddha, in the Pali canon. It is the most widely quoted Buddhist text; verse 5 — hatred never ends by hatred — may be the most quoted line the tradition has.
Whose translation is this, and may I share it?
Bhikkhu Sujato’s English translation, published by SuttaCentral and dedicated to the public domain under CC0, with the Pali root text from the same source. Copy, quote and share freely; the full licence note is on the sources page.
Are the verse cards really free?
Yes. Every verse downloads as a 1080×1080 square and a 1080×1920 phone wallpaper, drawn in your own browser. No watermark, no account, no upload — the image never leaves your device.
Is this site Buddhist? Which tradition?
The site publishes one of the foundational texts shared across Buddhist traditions, without commentary. It is an independent project and is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any monastery, lineage or organisation.
Can I get the verse each day without visiting?
Bookmark today’s page — the address is the same every day, and the verse changes at midnight UTC. You can also add the site to your phone’s home screen; an email edition and push reminders are on the roadmap.