Dhammapada verse 370
Chapter 25, Mendicants (Bhikkhuvagga) · verses 360–382
“Five to cut, five to drop, and five more to develop. When a mendicant slips five chains they’re said to have crossed the flood.”
Pañca chinde pañca jahe, pañca cuttari bhāvaye; Pañca saṅgātigo bhikkhu, “oghatiṇṇo”ti vuccati.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 370 mean?
Verse 370 belongs to chapter 25, Mendicants (Bhikkhuvagga), which gathers verses 360–382 on the mendicant’s day. It is filed under no theme. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 369 and verse 371 are part of the same passage.
Twenty-three verses on the mendicant, meaning the monastic practitioner, and much of it is practical: restraint in the body, in speech and at the bowl, and contentment with what is giving. The chapter has less doctrine than chapter 24 and more description of how a day of practice is arranged.