Dhammapada 183

Doing nothing wrong, bringing what is good to fulfillment, cleansing your own mind: this is the…

Doing nothing wrong, bringing what is good to fulfillment, cleansing your own mind: this is the teaching of the Buddhas.

Translated from the Pāli by Banya

In plain words

The teaching is presented in three parts: stop wrongdoing, develop goodness, and clear the mind. Avoiding harm is one part of practice, alongside actively doing good and attending to the mind.

Key words

pariyodapana

cleansing, clarifying — Here it concerns one's own mind, alongside conduct.

The story behind the verse

How did the Seven Buddhas keep Fast-day?

In the commentary, at Jetavana, Ānanda considered what he had heard about the earlier Buddhas. He knew accounts of their families, lifespans, disciples, and places of awakening, and he wondered how they observed the religious fast-day. He asked the Buddha whether their observance differed from the present one, and the Buddha explained that the intervals between observances differed. He said the essential verses of admonition were the same, and he then gave the verses about avoiding wrong, developing good, patience, restraint, and purification of mind.

Retold by Banya from the traditional commentary, after E. W. Burlingame, Buddhist Legends (1921).

Explanation by Banya. Traditional readings vary.