Dhammapada verse 219
Chapter 16, The Beloved (Piyavagga) · verses 209–220
“When a man returns safely after a long time spent abroad, family, friends, and loved ones celebrate his return.”
Cirappavāsiṁ purisaṁ, dūrato sotthimāgataṁ; Ñātimittā suhajjā ca, abhinandanti āgataṁ.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 219 mean?
Verse 219 belongs to chapter 16, The Beloved (Piyavagga), which gathers verses 209–220 on the beloved, and the grief that follows. 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 218 and verse 220 are part of the same passage.
Twelve verses on the beloved, and this is the chapter that explains grief. Its argument is that sorrow follows from affection — the one you love, the thing you cannot lose — and it does not tell the reader to love less so much as to see what they have taken on. Verses 209–211 are the ones most often quoted.