Dhammapada verse 176
Chapter 13, The World (Lokavagga) · verses 167–178
“When a personage, spurning the hereafter, transgresses in just one thing— lying— there is no evil they would not do.”
Ekaṁ dhammaṁ atītassa, musāvādissa jantuno; Vitiṇṇaparalokassa, natthi pāpaṁ akāriyaṁ.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 176 mean?
Verse 176 belongs to chapter 13, The World (Lokavagga), which gathers verses 167–178 on the world, and not following it. 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 175 and verse 177 are part of the same passage.
Twelve verses on the world and on not following it. The chapter contrasts the person who sees the world as a bubble or a mirage with the crowd that does not, and it holds the line that the world is blind and only a few see clearly.
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