Dhammapada 291
One who wants their own happiness by bringing suffering upon another is entangled in the bonds of…
One who wants their own happiness by bringing suffering upon another is entangled in the bonds of hatred and is not freed from hatred.
Translated from the Pāli by Banya
Pāli
Paradukkhūpadhānena,
attano sukhamicchati;
Verasaṁsaggasaṁsaṭṭho,
verā so na parimuccati.
In plain words
Seeking happiness by making someone else suffer ties you into hatred. The verse rejects that route to happiness, even when it seems to serve your interests.
Key words
- paradukkha
- another's suffering — The harm to another is central, not incidental to the contrast.
The story behind the verse
“Not hatred for hatred”
In the commentary, a girl ate eggs laid by a hen, and the hen formed a grudge and wished to harm the girl’s children in another life. In later births they became a cat and a hen, and a leopardess and a doe, and Each injured the other’s offspring and renewed the wish for revenge. At last one was a woman in Sāvatthi and the other an ogress, and the ogress killed the woman’s earlier children and pursued her again. The woman fled to the monastery with a child, and the Buddha taught them to end retaliation rather than continue the feud.
Retold by Banya from the traditional commentary, after E. W. Burlingame, Buddhist Legends (1921).
To reflect on
Where could your convenience depend on another person's unnecessary difficulty?
Try it today
Change one small plan so it does not knowingly burden someone else.
Practise it with
Compassion (karuṇā)
Explanation by Banya. Traditional readings vary.