Dhammapada verse 20
Chapter 1, Pairs (Yamakavagga) · verses 1–20
“Little though they may recite scripture, if they live in line with the teaching, having given up greed, hate, and delusion, with deep understanding and heart well freed, not grasping to this life or the next, they share in the blessings of the ascetic life.”
Appampi ce saṁhita bhāsamāno, Dhammassa hoti anudhammacārī; Rāgañca dosañca pahāya mohaṁ, Sammappajāno suvimuttacitto; Anupādiyāno idha vā huraṁ vā, Sa bhāgavā sāmaññassa hoti. Yamakavaggo paṭhamo.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 20 mean?
Verse 20 belongs to chapter 1, Pairs (Yamakavagga), which gathers verses 1–20 on the paired verses that open the book. It is filed under anger & peace, craving & attachment, wisdom & folly, good & evil, giving & merit. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 19 and verse 21 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.
More verses on this