Spiritual Gurus of India: Dhammapada - Chapter 8

Chapter 8 of Dhammapada is based on the theme of thousands. To sum up in one sentence, the core of this chapter is quality is better than quantity. One good thing is better than thousand bad things. Expressions replete with thousands of words are of no value. One meaningful word is more valuable, if hearing it one is pacified. A poem replete with thousands of verses is of no value if it has no useful meaning. One single stanza pregnant with wisdom is more valuable, if hearing it one is pacified. As in all the chapters this chapter also stresses the importance of self control. It says that a person who has conquered the Self is of more value than a person who has conquered thousands of men in a battle. Self conquest is greater than the conquest of others. The victory of one who conquers the Self cannot be turned into defeat. He remains a self controlled individual who lives ever disciplined.

Read on all the verses to get the whole content of this chapter. There are 16 verses in this chapter:

Verse 100

Better than if there were thousands

of meaningless words is

one meaningful word

that on hearing brings peace.

Verse 101

Better than if there were thousands

of meaningless verses is

one meaningful verse

that on hearing brings peace.

Verse 102

And better than chanting hundreds

of meaningless verses is

one Dhamma - saying

that on hearing brings peace.

Verse 103 - 105

Greater in battle

than the man who would conquer

a thousand - thousand men,

is who would conquer just one - himself.

Better to conquer yourself than others.

When you have trained yourself,

living in constant self control,

neither a deva nor a gandhabba,

nor a Mara banded with Brahmas,

could turn that triumph

back into defeat.

Verse 106

You could, month by month,

at a cost of thousands,

conduct sacrifices a hundred times

pay a single moment's homage

to one person, self cultivated.

Better than a hundred years of sacrifice

would that homage be.

Verse 107

You could, for a hundred years,

live in a forest tending a fire,

pay a single moment's homage

to one person, self cultivated.

Better than a hundred years of sacrifice

would that homage be.

Verse 108

Everything offered or sacrificed in the world

for an entire year by one seeking merit

doesn't come to a fourth.

Better to pay respect to those

who have gone the straight way.

Verse 109

If you are respectful by habit

constantly honoring the worthy,

four things increase:

long life, beauty, happiness, strength.

Verse 110

Better than one hundred years

lived without virtue, uncentered, is

one day lived by a virtuous person

absorbed in jhana.

Verse 111