Dhammapada verse 104
Chapter 8, The Thousands (Sahassavagga) · verses 100–115
“It is surely better to conquer oneself than all those other folk. When a person has tamed themselves, always living restrained,”
Attā have jitaṁ seyyo, yā cāyaṁ itarā pajā; Attadantassa posassa, niccaṁ saññatacārino.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 104 mean?
Verse 104 belongs to chapter 8, The Thousands (Sahassavagga), which gathers verses 100–115 on comparisons with a thousand. 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 103 and verse 105 are part of the same passage.
Sixteen verses that keep comparing one thing to a thousand. A single meaningful saying beats a thousand meaningless ones, one day of the disciplined life beats a hundred years of the undisciplined, and the chapter turns that arithmetic toward what a person does rather than what they recite.
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