Dhammapada Chapter 21: Miscellaneous

The Miscellaneous chapter opens with the Dhammapada's whole theory of renunciation in one sentence: if by giving up a small happiness one may see a great one, let the wise abandon the small for the sake of the great (21.1). Its ethical corollary follows at once: happiness sought by inflicting suffering on others only entangles one in enmity (21.2). Neglect breeds corruption — what should be done left undone, what should not be done done — while for the mindful, established in awareness of the body, the corruptions waste away (21.3–21.4).

The chapter's most striking verses are deliberately shocking riddles: 'having killed mother and father and two kings, the brahmin goes untroubled' (21.5–21.6) — traditional glosses read the mother as craving, the father as conceit, the kings as false views: what must be slain are the roots of ego, not people. The serene refrain that follows is the antidote: the disciples of Gotama are always well awake, their mindfulness day and night on the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha, the body, on non-harming, on cultivation (21.7–21.12). The good shine from afar like the Himalaya, while the wicked are unseen as arrows shot in the night (21.15); and the chapter closes praising solitude: alone and content, delighting at the forest's edge (21.16).