Dhammapada verse 344
Chapter 24, Craving (Taṇhāvagga) · verses 334–359
“Unsnarled, they set out for the jungle, then they run right back to the jungle they left behind. Just look at this individual! Freed, they run to bondage.”
Yo nibbanatho vanādhimutto, Vanamutto vanameva dhāvati; Taṁ puggalametha passatha, Mutto bandhanameva dhāvati.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 344 mean?
Verse 344 belongs to chapter 24, Craving (Taṇhāvagga), which gathers verses 334–359 on craving. 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 343 and verse 345 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.