The Dhammapada · 2 of 2 · tr. F. Max Müller

Chapter XX, Section 1b

Weber renders it by 'Gedeihen,' but the commentator distinctly explains it as 'vast knowledge,' and in the technical sense the word occurs after vidyâ and before medhâ, in the Lalita-vistara, p.

541.

283.

A pun, vana meaning both 'lust' and 'forest.' See some mistaken remarks on this verse in D'Alwis, Nirvâ n a, p.

86, and some good remarks in Childers, Notes, p.

7.] p.

69 284.

So long as the love of man towards women, even the smallest, is not destroyed, so long is his mind in bondage, as the calf that drinks milk is to its mother.

285.

Cut out the love of self, like an autumn lotus, with thy hand!

Cherish the road of peace.

Nirvâ n a has been shown by Sugata (Buddha).

286.

'Here I shall dwell in the rain, here in winter and summer,' thus the fool meditates, and does not think of his death.

287.

Death comes and carries off that man, praised for his children and flocks, his mind distracted, as a flood carries off a sleeping village.

288.

Sons are no help, nor a father, nor relations; there is no help from kinsfolk for one whom death has seized.

289.

A wise and good man who knows the meaning of this, should quickly clear the way that leads to Nirvâ n a.

[285.

Cf.

G âtaka, vol.

i.

p.

183.

286.

Antarâya, according to the commentator, g ivitântarâya, i.e.

interitus, death.

In Sanskrit, antarita is used in the sense of 'vanished' or 'perished.' 287.

See notes to verse 47 , Thiessen, Kisâgotamî, p.

11, and Mahâbh.

XII, 9944, 6540.]

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Themes

Detachment Gelassenheitpraxis

Eckhart's Abgeschiedenheit/Gelassenheit — radical letting-go of will, image, and grasping that opens the soul to God; distinct from inner_silence (quietness) and from material renunciation, and adjacent to Sufi tark and Buddhist non-grasping as a practice rather than a metaphysical claim.

The instruction to 'cut out the love of self' directly aligns with the practice of radical letting-go of attachment.

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Good Thought Word Deedethics

The Zoroastrian triad of right thought, right speech, and right action as the foundation of ethical life; truth-in-living.

The instruction to 'cherish the road of peace' implies a commitment to right thought and action as a spiritual path.

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Meditationpraxis

Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.

Verses 286 and 287 explicitly describe meditation as a practice that leads to or away from death.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

The mention of Nirvana implies a union with the divine state achieved through liberation.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

The instruction to cut out love of self uses a paradoxical command to destabilize ordinary attachment.

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Poverty Of Spiritanthropology

Eckhart's radical reading of Matthew 5:3 — the saint as one who wants nothing, knows nothing, and has nothing, having emptied even the will and the self with which to receive God; distinct from renunciation_of_wealth (material poverty).

The call to cut out the love of self reflects a state of emptiness or lack of attachment.

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Renunciation Of Wealthethics

The spiritual danger of attachment to material possessions; wealth as a spiritual obstacle.

The text warns against relying on sons, fathers, or flocks as sources of help.

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Self Knowledgesoteriology

The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.

The instruction to cut out the love of self implies a recognition of one's true nature is necessary for liberation.

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Sunyata Emptinesssoteriology

The Buddhist doctrine that all phenomena lack independent self-nature; emptiness as the positive recognition that things arise only in dependence on conditions — distinct from kenoma's mere deficiency.

The commentary explicitly defines the term as 'vast knowledge,' aligning with the concept of emptiness recognized in Buddhist doctrine.

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