Dhammapada verse 27
Chapter 2, Diligence (Appamādavagga) · verses 21–32
“Don’t devote yourself to negligence, or delight in erotic intimacy. For if you’re diligent and meditate, you’ll attain abundant happiness.”
Mā pamādamanuyuñjetha, mā kāmaratisanthavaṁ; Appamatto hi jhāyanto, pappoti vipulaṁ sukhaṁ.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 27 mean?
Verse 27 belongs to chapter 2, Diligence (Appamādavagga), which gathers verses 21–32 on heedfulness and negligence. It is filed under happiness, self-discipline, the path. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 26 and verse 28 are part of the same passage.
This chapter is built on one opposition: heedfulness and negligence. Its twelve verses return again and again to the claim that the heedful person does not fall where the negligent one does, and it closes with a portrait of the diligent practitioner advancing like fire. Verses 21–23 are the ones usually quoted on death and the deathless.
More verses on this