Dhammapada 377

As jasmine sheds its wilted flowers, so shed passion and aversion, bhikkhus

As jasmine sheds its wilted flowers, so shed passion and aversion, bhikkhus.

Translated from the Pāli by Banya

In plain words

Monks are asked to let go of passion and aversion as jasmine sheds softened or wilted flowers. The flowers’ exact condition is uncertain, but the instruction to let go of passion and aversion is clear.

Key words

dosa

aversion — A pushing-away tendency, kept distinct from anger and enmity.

rāga

passion — An attraction that binds the mind, contrasted with aversion.

The story behind the verse

“The grass withereth, the flower fadeth”

In the commentary, a group of monks received meditation instruction from the Buddha. They retired to the forest and practiced, and they observed jasmine flowers that had opened that morning. By evening, those flowers were falling from their stems, and the monks resolved to release passion, aversion, and delusion and practiced with renewed effort. The Buddha saw their effort and sent out a light while teaching the jasmine comparison, and the commentary says the monks attained liberation after the lesson.

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

Explanation by Banya. Traditional readings vary.