Wise people, after they have listened to the laws, become serene, like a deep, smooth, and still lake.
Buddha Dhammapada, Verse 82, The Wise Man (300 BCE) Translated by F. Max Müller
Source checked by an editor
When and why it was written
- When
- From the chapter on the wise in the Dhammapada.
- Why
- The verse follows the image of the rock unshaken by wind.
What it means
The still lake is clear because it is deep and undisturbed. Understanding, the verse suggests, settles a person in the same way.
Stillness here is not emptiness; it is depth that has stopped churning.
Our reading of the passage cited above, not a quotation from a commentary.
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Dhammapada by Traditional (Pali Canon), 300 BCE
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