Dhammapada verse 32
Chapter 2, Diligence (Appamādavagga) · verses 21–32
“A mendicant who loves diligence, seeing fear in negligence— such a one can’t decline, and has drawn near to extinguishment.”
Appamādarato bhikkhu, pamāde bhayadassi vā; Abhabbo parihānāya, nibbānasseva santike. Appamādavaggo dutiyo.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 32 mean?
Verse 32 belongs to chapter 2, Diligence (Appamādavagga), which gathers verses 21–32 on heedfulness and negligence. It is filed under no theme. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 31 and verse 33 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.