Dhammapada verse 102
Chapter 8, The Thousands (Sahassavagga) · verses 100–115
“Better than reciting a hundred meaningless verses is a single saying of Dhamma, hearing which brings you peace.”
Yo ca gāthā sataṁ bhāse, anatthapadasaṁhitā; Ekaṁ dhammapadaṁ seyyo, yaṁ sutvā upasammati.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 102 mean?
Verse 102 belongs to chapter 8, The Thousands (Sahassavagga), which gathers verses 100–115 on comparisons with a thousand. It is filed under good & evil. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 101 and verse 103 are part of the same passage.
Sixteen verses that keep comparing one thing to a thousand. A single meaningful saying beats a thousand meaningless ones, one day of the disciplined life beats a hundred years of the undisciplined, and the chapter turns that arithmetic toward what a person does rather than what they recite.
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