The Dhammapada is in Pali, and a translator has to choose an English word for each term — which is why the same Pali word comes out differently in different translations. This page gives the working vocabulary, in the order it tends to come up, with the plainest English equivalent and a note on where the word is doing real work.
The four that carry the argument
Dhamma (Sanskrit: dharma). Two jobs in one word: the teaching, and a thing — any phenomenon, any state, anything that arises. Verse 1 begins manopubbaṅgamā dhammā, “intention is the leader of things”, where it means things; the book’s title means the teaching. Context decides.
Kamma (Sanskrit: karma). Action — specifically intentional action, and the result it carries. It is not fate and it is not a ledger kept elsewhere: it is the claim that what you do shapes what happens to you.
Anicca. Impermanent, not lasting. Verse 277 is the definition in use: sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā — all conditions are impermanent.
Dukkha. Usually translated “suffering”, though the word covers everything from pain to dissatisfaction to a wheel that does not run true. Translators who dislike the heaviness of “suffering” use “stress” or “unsatisfactoriness”; all of them are reaching for the same thing.
The four that describe the goal
Nibbāna (Sanskrit: nirvana). Literally “extinguishment”, as a fire goes out — not annihilation, and not a place. The Dhammapada refers to it rather than defining it.
Anattā. Not-self: the claim that what we call a self is a process rather than a thing. Verses 277–279 place it alongside impermanence and dukkha.
Taṇhā. Thirst — the craving that renews itself. Chapter 24 is built on this word, and verse 154 (the house-builder) is its most famous image.
Upādāna. Clinging, grasping, the fuel that keeps the process going. Often paired with taṇhā: thirst, then taking hold.
The four that describe the practice
Sīla. Ethics, virtue, conduct — the precepts, and the everyday discipline of not causing harm.
Samādhi. Immersion, concentration, collectedness. The mind settled on one thing rather than scattered.
Paññā. Wisdom, discernment — seeing things as they are rather than as they are wanted.
Sati. Mindfulness, recollection. The word literally means remembering, which is a useful corrective to the way it is used in English now: it is closer to “keeping something in view” than to “paying attention”.
The four brahmavihāras
Mettā — goodwill, loving-kindness. Karuṇā — compassion, the response to suffering. Muditā — gladness at another’s good fortune. Upekkhā — equanimity, the steadiness that can hold all three.
These four are the vocabulary of the metta page, and mettā specifically is where verse 5 and verse 223 do their work.
The people and the books
Bhikkhu / bhikkhunī — a monastic, literally “one who lives on alms”. Chapter 25 is addressed to bhikkhus.
Arahant (Sanskrit: arhat) — the perfected one, one who has finished the work. Chapter 7 is a series of portraits of such a person.
Bodhisatta (Sanskrit: bodhisattva) — a being bound for awakening. The term is central in Mahayana and appears in the Pali canon mostly in the context of the Buddha’s own previous lives.
Saṅgha — the community; in the refuges, the community of those who have practised.
Sutta — a discourse. Vinaya — the monastic discipline. Abhidhamma — the third basket of the canon, the scholastic analysis of mind and matter.
Words you will see in this site’s page addresses
The site uses English for its URLs, but the chapter names stay in Pali, because that is how they are known:
- Yamakavagga — the chapter of pairs (chapter 1)
- Appamādavagga — heedfulness (chapter 2)
- Cittavagga — the mind (chapter 3)
- Kodhavagga — anger (chapter 17)
- Taṇhāvagga — craving (chapter 24)
The chapter index lists all 26, and each chapter page begins with a paragraph on what the chapter is doing.
A note on pronunciation
Pali is written phonetically, and the diacritics matter: ā is long, ṇ and ṭ and ḍ are retroflex (tongue curled back), ṃ is nasalised, ṅ is the ng sound. English speakers who ignore them are still understood — but “Dhammapada” with a retroflex d sounds different from “Dhammapada” with an English one.