Dhammapada verse 21
Chapter 2, Diligence (Appamādavagga) · verses 21–32
“Heedfulness is the state free of death; heedlessness is the state of death. The heedful do not die, while the heedless are like the dead.”
Appamādo amatapadaṁ, pamādo maccuno padaṁ; Appamattā na mīyanti, ye pamattā yathā matā.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 21 mean?
Verse 21 belongs to chapter 2, Diligence (Appamādavagga), which gathers verses 21–32 on heedfulness and negligence. It is filed under impermanence & death. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 20 and verse 22 are part of the same passage.
This chapter is built on one opposition: heedfulness and negligence. Its twelve verses return again and again to the claim that the heedful person does not fall where the negligent one does, and it closes with a portrait of the diligent practitioner advancing like fire. Verses 21–23 are the ones usually quoted on death and the deathless.
More verses on this