Dhammapada verse 18
Chapter 1, Pairs (Yamakavagga) · verses 1–20
“Here they delight, hereafter they delight, one who does good delights in both places. They delight thinking of good things they’ve done; when gone to a good place, they delight all the more.”
Idha nandati pecca nandati, Katapuñño ubhayattha nandati; “Puññaṁ me katan”ti nandati, Bhiyyo nandati suggatiṁ gato.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 18 mean?
Verse 18 belongs to chapter 1, Pairs (Yamakavagga), which gathers verses 1–20 on the paired verses that open the book. It is filed under no theme. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 17 and verse 19 are part of the same passage.
The opening chapter works in pairs: twenty verses arranged as ten twin verses, each pair holding the same situation in two forms and repeating the same refrain. It opens with the line that sets up the whole book — intention is the leader of things — and then runs the contrast through blame and forgiveness, hatred and its ending, and the difference between a mind that is guarded and one that is not.