Dhammapada verse 334
Chapter 24, Craving (Taṇhāvagga) · verses 334–359
“When a man lives heedlessly, craving grows in them like a camel’s foot creeper. They jump from one thing to the next, like a langur greedy for fruit in a forest grove.”
Manujassa pamattacārino, Taṇhā vaḍḍhati māluvā viya; So plavatī hurā huraṁ, Phalamicchaṁva vanasmi vānaro.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 334 mean?
Verse 334 belongs to chapter 24, Craving (Taṇhāvagga), which gathers verses 334–359 on craving. 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 333 and verse 335 are part of the same passage.
Twenty-six verses on craving, and the longest sustained passage in the book. The image is thirst, then a creeper that spreads by night, then the house-builder who builds again and again until the rafters are broken. The chapter is the one most directly concerned with the mechanism by which the self renews its own difficulty.
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