Dhammapada verse 31
Chapter 2, Diligence (Appamādavagga) · verses 21–32
“A mendicant who loves diligence, seeing fear in negligence— advances like fire, burning up fetters big and small.”
Appamādarato bhikkhu, pamāde bhayadassi vā; Saṁyojanaṁ aṇuṁ thūlaṁ, ḍahaṁ aggīva gacchati.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 31 mean?
Verse 31 belongs to chapter 2, Diligence (Appamādavagga), which gathers verses 21–32 on heedfulness and negligence. It is filed under craving & attachment. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 30 and verse 32 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