Dhammapada verse 12
Chapter 1, Pairs (Yamakavagga) · verses 1–20
“Having known the essential as essential, and the inessential as inessential; they realize the essential, for right thoughts are their habitat.”
Sārañca sārato ñatvā, asārañca asārato; Te sāraṁ adhigacchanti, sammāsaṅkappagocarā.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 12 mean?
Verse 12 belongs to chapter 1, Pairs (Yamakavagga), which gathers verses 1–20 on the paired verses that open the book. It is filed under mind & intention. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 11 and verse 13 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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