Dhammapada verse 8
Chapter 1, Pairs (Yamakavagga) · verses 1–20
“Those who contemplate the ugly, their faculties well-restrained, eating in moderation, faithful and energetic: Māra cannot strike them down, like the wind, a rocky mountain.”
Asubhānupassiṁ viharantaṁ, Indriyesu susaṁvutaṁ; Bhojanamhi ca mattaññuṁ, Saddhaṁ āraddhavīriyaṁ; Taṁ ve nappasahati māro, Vāto selaṁva pabbataṁ.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 8 mean?
Verse 8 belongs to chapter 1, Pairs (Yamakavagga), which gathers verses 1–20 on the paired verses that open the book. It is filed under self-discipline. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 7 and verse 9 are part of the same passage.
The opening chapter works in pairs: twenty verses arranged as ten twin verses, each pair holding the same situation in two forms and repeating the same refrain. It opens with the line that sets up the whole book — intention is the leader of things — and then runs the contrast through blame and forgiveness, hatred and its ending, and the difference between a mind that is guarded and one that is not.
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