Dhammapada verse 15
Chapter 1, Pairs (Yamakavagga) · verses 1–20
“Here they grieve, hereafter they grieve, an evildoer grieves in both places. They grieve and fret, seeing their own corrupt deeds.”
Idha socati pecca socati, Pāpakārī ubhayattha socati; So socati so vihaññati, Disvā kammakiliṭṭhamattano.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 15 mean?
Verse 15 belongs to chapter 1, Pairs (Yamakavagga), which gathers verses 1–20 on the paired verses that open the book. It is filed under good & evil. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 14 and verse 16 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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