Dhammapada verse 64
Chapter 5, The Fool (Bālavagga) · verses 60–75
“Though a fool attends to the wise even for the rest of their life, they still don’t understand the teaching, like a spoon the taste of the soup.”
Yāvajīvampi ce bālo, paṇḍitaṁ payirupāsati; Na so dhammaṁ vijānāti, dabbī sūparasaṁ yathā.
English by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, via SuttaCentral)
What does Dhammapada verse 64 mean?
Verse 64 belongs to chapter 5, The Fool (Bālavagga), which gathers verses 60–75 on the fool. It is filed under wisdom & folly. Read it with the verses around it: the Dhammapada arranges chapters as short runs, not as isolated lines, so verse 63 and verse 65 are part of the same passage.
The fool, in sixteen verses. The chapter is not kind about it: the fool who knows they are a fool is at least partly wise, the fool who thinks they are wise is beyond help, and the harm a fool does lands on themselves first. It includes the image of evil tasting sweet until it ripens.
More verses on this