Dhammapada verse 227
Chapter 17, Anger (Kodhavagga) · verses 221–234
“It’s always been this way, Atula, it’s not just today. They blame you when you’re silent, they blame you when you speak a lot, and even when you speak just right: no one in the world escapes blame.”
Porāṇametaṁ atula, netaṁ ajjatanāmiva; Nindanti tuṇhimāsīnaṁ, nindanti bahubhāṇinaṁ; Mitabhāṇimpi nindanti, natthi loke anindito.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 227 mean?
Verse 227 belongs to chapter 17, Anger (Kodhavagga), which gathers verses 221–234 on anger. It is filed under speech. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 226 and verse 228 are part of the same passage.
Fourteen verses on anger. The chapter gives the practical instruction to overcome anger with kindness and to give up what feeds it, and it describes the angry person as one who loses their own good. It also holds the verse about giving rather than taking as the way anger is dissolved.
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