Dhammapada verse 337
Chapter 24, Craving (Taṇhāvagga) · verses 334–359
“I say this to you, good people, all those who have gathered here: dig up the root of craving, as you’d dig up grass in search of roots. Don’t let Māra break you again and again, like a stream breaking a reed.”
Taṁ vo vadāmi bhaddaṁ vo, yāvantettha samāgatā; Taṇhāya mūlaṁ khaṇatha, usīratthova bīraṇaṁ; Mā vo naḷaṁva sotova, māro bhañji punappunaṁ.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 337 mean?
Verse 337 belongs to chapter 24, Craving (Taṇhāvagga), which gathers verses 334–359 on craving. It is filed under craving & attachment. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 336 and verse 338 are part of the same passage.
Twenty-six verses on craving, and the longest sustained passage in the book. The image is thirst, then a creeper that spreads by night, then the house-builder who builds again and again until the rafters are broken. The chapter is the one most directly concerned with the mechanism by which the self renews its own difficulty.
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