Health is the greatest of gifts, contentedness the best riches; trust is the best of relationships, Nirvana the highest happiness.
Buddha Dhammapada, Verse 204, Happiness (300 BCE) Translated by F. Max Müller
Source checked by an editor
When and why it was written
- When
- From the chapter on happiness in the Dhammapada.
- Why
- The verse ranks what is most worth having.
What it means
The list is plain on purpose. Health, contentment and trust are ordinary goods that we notice mostly when they are missing.
Naming them is a form of gratitude for what is already here.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
Read the source
Dhammapada by Traditional (Pali Canon), 300 BCE
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