Dhammapada verse 142
Chapter 10, The Rod (Daṇḍavagga) · verses 129–145
“Dressed up they may be, but if they live well— peaceful, tamed, committed to the spiritual path, having laid aside violence toward all creatures— they are a brahmin, an ascetic, a mendicant.”
Alaṅkato cepi samaṁ careyya, Santo danto niyato brahmacārī; Sabbesu bhūtesu nidhāya daṇḍaṁ, So brāhmaṇo so samaṇo sa bhikkhu.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 142 mean?
Verse 142 belongs to chapter 10, The Rod (Daṇḍavagga), which gathers verses 129–145 on the rod, and not harming. It is filed under the path. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 141 and verse 143 are part of the same passage.
Seventeen verses on the rod, meaning punishment and harm. It opens with the line that all tremble at the rod and love their life, and from that derives the instruction to treat others as oneself. Later verses hold the person who answers harm with harm and the person who stills themselves like a broken gong.
More verses on this