However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?
Buddha Dhammapada, verse 19 (300 BCE) Translated by F. Max Müller
Source checked by an editor
When and why it was written
- When
- Compiled around the third century BCE.
- Why
- Placed in the opening chapter, on the twin verses, where the text sets out the difference between knowing and doing.
What it means
The verse targets a specific and comfortable substitution: study standing in for practice.
Müller's cowherd image is the sharper form. Counting cattle that belong to someone else is real work, carefully done, that leaves you owning nothing.
Read the source
Dhammapada by Traditional (Pali Canon), 300 BCE
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Your turn
What does this bring up for you?
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