Dhammapada verse 41
Chapter 3, The Mind (Cittavagga) · verses 33–43
“All too soon this body will lie upon the earth, bereft of consciousness, tossed aside like a worthless log.”
Aciraṁ vatayaṁ kāyo, pathaviṁ adhisessati; Chuddho apetaviññāṇo, niratthaṁva kaliṅgaraṁ.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 41 mean?
Verse 41 belongs to chapter 3, The Mind (Cittavagga), which gathers verses 33–43 on the mind and its taming. 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 40 and verse 42 are part of the same passage.
Eleven verses on the mind, which the chapter describes as hard to hold back, flighty, subtle, and quick to alight wherever it will. The argument is not that the mind should be stopped but that it should be tamed: a guarded mind brings happiness, and a wrongly directed mind does more harm than an enemy. It is the shortest chapter in the book after the one on the perfected.