Dhammapada verse 276
Chapter 20, The Path (Maggavagga) · verses 273–289
“You yourselves must do the work, the Realized Ones just show the way. Meditators practicing absorption are released from Māra’s bonds.”
Tumhehi kiccamātappaṁ, akkhātāro tathāgatā; Paṭipannā pamokkhanti, jhāyino mārabandhanā.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 276 mean?
Verse 276 belongs to chapter 20, The Path (Maggavagga), which gathers verses 273–289 on the path. It is filed under happiness, the path. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 275 and verse 277 are part of the same passage.
Seventeen verses on the path, and the most explicitly doctrinal chapter in the book. It presents the eightfold path as the only way and lays out its factors, then insists that the path is something walked rather than admired. It includes the verses on the four noble truths and on the body as a wound that should be seen clearly.