Dhammapada verse 42
Chapter 3, The Mind (Cittavagga) · verses 33–43
“A wrongly directed mind would do you more harm than a hater to the hated, or an enemy to their foe.”
Diso disaṁ yaṁ taṁ kayirā, verī vā pana verinaṁ; Micchāpaṇihitaṁ cittaṁ, pāpiyo naṁ tato kare.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 42 mean?
Verse 42 belongs to chapter 3, The Mind (Cittavagga), which gathers verses 33–43 on the mind and its taming. It is filed under mind & intention, anger & peace. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 41 and verse 43 are part of the same passage.
Eleven verses on the mind, which the chapter describes as hard to hold back, flighty, subtle, and quick to alight wherever it will. The argument is not that the mind should be stopped but that it should be tamed: a guarded mind brings happiness, and a wrongly directed mind does more harm than an enemy. It is the shortest chapter in the book after the one on the perfected.
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