Dhammapada 300

Those disciples of Gotama whose minds delight in harmlessness by day and by night always wake alert

Those disciples of Gotama whose minds delight in harmlessness by day and by night always wake alert.

Translated from the Pāli by Banya

In plain words

The Buddha's disciples whose minds enjoy harmlessness day and night are praised for waking alert. This line concerns waking well; it does not by itself declare that they have reached full enlightenment.

Key words

ahiṁsā

harmlessness — The mind delights in this quality throughout day and night.

The story behind the verse

The youth and the demons

In the commentary, a boy was accustomed to remembering the Buddha, and his father took him along while gathering firewood near Rājagaha. The father went after the oxen, leaving the boy asleep beneath the cart, and the city gates closed before the father could return. During the night, supernatural beings approached the boy, and one tried to pull him away, and the boy uttered his familiar recollection of the Buddha. The beings then protected him and brought him food, and when the events came before the king and the Buddha, the Buddha taught the group of verses on alert disciples and their practices.

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

Explanation by Banya. Traditional readings vary.