
Dhammapada verse 198
Chapter 15, Happiness (Sukhavagga) · verses 197–208
“Let us live so very happily, healthy among the ailing. Among ailing humans let us live healthily.”
Susukhaṁ vata jīvāma, āturesu anāturā; Āturesu manussesu, viharāma anāturā.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 198 mean?
Verse 198 belongs to chapter 15, Happiness (Sukhavagga), which gathers verses 197–208 on happiness. It is filed under happiness. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 197 and verse 199 are part of the same passage.
Twelve verses on happiness, and on where it is said to come from. The chapter is explicit that the happiness it means is not the happiness of acquisition: it is the happiness of one who has given up, who is free of fever, and it repeatedly sets that against the delight of people who are still tied to what they cling to.
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