Tipitaka » Sutta Pitaka » Khuddaka Nikaya » Dhammapada » V2:Appamadavagga
Pali Versions : Pali-English version and Pali-Devanagri Version
Source: Adapted from the original translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Appamadavagga: Alertfulness[]
21. Alertfulness: the path to the Deathless. Slothfulness: the path to death. The heedful do not die. The slothful are as if already dead.
22. Knowing this as a true distinction,those wise in alertfulness rejoice in heedfulness,enjoying the range of the noble ones.
23. The enlightened, constantly absorbed in jhana,persevering,firm in their effort: they touch Unbinding, the unexcelled safety from bondage.
24. Those with initiative,mindful,clean in action,acting with due consideration,heedful, restrained,living the Dhamma: their glory grows.
25. Through initiative, alertfulness, restraint, & self-control, the wise would make an island no flood can submerge.
26. They're addicted to slothfulness -- dullards, fools -- while one who is wise cherishes alertfulness as his highest wealth.
27. Don't give way to slothfulness or to intimacy with sensual delight -- for a heedful person, absorbed in jhana, attains an abundance of ease.
28. When the wise person drives out slothfulness with alertfulness, having climbed the high tower of discernment, sorrow-free, he observes the sorrowing crowd -- as the enlightened man, having scaled a summit, the fools on the ground below.
29. Heedful among the slothful, wakeful among those asleep, just as a fast horse advances, leaving the weak behind: so the wise.
30. Through alertfulness, Indra won to lordship over the gods. alertfulness is praised, slothfulness censured -- always.
31. The monk delighting in alertfulness, seeing danger in slothfulness, advances like a fire, burning fetters great & small.
32. The monk delighting in alertfulness, seeing danger in slothfulness -- incapable of falling back -- stands right on the verge of Unbinding.