Dhammapada verse 349
Chapter 24, Craving (Taṇhāvagga) · verses 334–359
“For a personage churned by thoughts, very lustful, focusing on beauty, their craving grows and grows, tying them with a stout bond.”
Vitakkamathitassa jantuno, Tibbarāgassa subhānupassino; Bhiyyo taṇhā pavaḍḍhati, Esa kho daḷhaṁ karoti bandhanaṁ.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 349 mean?
Verse 349 belongs to chapter 24, Craving (Taṇhāvagga), which gathers verses 334–359 on craving. It is filed under mind & intention, craving & attachment, good & evil. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 348 and verse 350 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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