Dhammapada verse 19
Chapter 1, Pairs (Yamakavagga) · verses 1–20
“Much though they may recite scripture, if a negligent person does not apply them, then, like a cowherd who counts the cattle of others, they miss out on the blessings of the ascetic life.”
Bahumpi ce saṁhita bhāsamāno, Na takkaro hoti naro pamatto; Gopova gāvo gaṇayaṁ paresaṁ, Na bhāgavā sāmaññassa hoti.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 19 mean?
Verse 19 belongs to chapter 1, Pairs (Yamakavagga), which gathers verses 1–20 on the paired verses that open the book. 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 18 and verse 20 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.
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