Dhammapada verse 48
Chapter 4, Flowers (Pupphavagga) · verses 44–59
“The terminator gains control of the man who has not had his fill of pleasures, even as he gathers flowers, his mind caught up in them.”
Pupphāni heva pacinantaṁ, byāsattamanasaṁ naraṁ; Atittaññeva kāmesu, antako kurute vasaṁ.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 48 mean?
Verse 48 belongs to chapter 4, Flowers (Pupphavagga), which gathers verses 44–59 on flowers, and what they stand for. It is filed under mind & intention. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 47 and verse 49 are part of the same passage.
Sixteen verses that use flowers as their working image — garlands made from a heap, a blossom that falls, a fragrance that travels with the wind or does not. The chapter moves from that image to speech, to the person who gathers what is worth gathering, and to the end of the body. It also holds the verse on knowing the body as foam and a mirage.
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