Dhammapada · Chapter 18
Impurity (Taints)
21 verses · Rust born of iron eats away the iron itself; the heedless are devoured by their own deeds. The Buddha names the four worsts — bad recitation, neglect in households, miserliness, harmful action — and warns against ignoring impurity.
Chapter 18
मलवग्गो
Malavagga
18.1
Like a withered yellow leaf you now are; the messengers of death stand near you
18.2
Therefore make a lamp of yourself; quickly strive and become wise
18.3
Your life-span has reached its end; you have come into the presence of Yama
18.4
Therefore make a lamp of yourself; quickly strive and become wise
18.5
Gradually, little by little, moment by moment, the wise one should expel his own taints —…
18.6
Just as rust arises from iron and then consumes the very iron from which it came, so the…
18.7
Chants are tarnished by non-recitation; houses by non-tending; beauty by sloth; the guard…
18.8
Misconduct is the tarnish of a woman; stinginess the tarnish of a giver
18.9
Worse than these taints is ignorance — the supreme taint of all
18.10
Life is easy for the shameless one, bold as a crow, the destroyer, the impudent, the…
18.11
But life is hard for the modest one — ever seeking purity, unattached, unimpudent, of…
18.12
Whoever destroys life, speaks falsehood, takes what is not given in this world, and goes…
18.13
And whoever indulges in liquor and strong drink — that person, right here in this world,…
18.14
Know therefore, O person, that evil dhammas are the unrestrained ones
18.15
People give according to their faith and confidence
18.16
He in whom this envy is cut off, destroyed at the root, fully uprooted — he by day or…
18.17
There is no fire like lust; there is no grip like hatred
18.18
Easy to see are the faults of others, but one's own are hard to see
18.19
For one who constantly contemplates others' faults — ever fault-finding — his own…
18.20
There is no path in the sky; there is no recluse outside the Dhamma
18.21
There is no path in the sky; there is no recluse outside the Dhamma