Dhammapada, Dhamma Verses (KN 2)

Introduction – 6
I count 67 verses as belonging to this category (15%): 40, 46, 49, 50, 61, 75, 77, 78, 84, 87,
88, 116, 123, 129, 130, 133, 144, 157, 158, 159, 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 197, 198, 199, 210,
221, 223, 224, 231, 232, 233, 234, 236, 238, 239, 242, 243, 248, 274, 281, 282, 285, 289, 290,
302, 313, 315, 327, 328, 329, 330, 340, 343, 348, 369, 370, 371, 376, 377, 379, 380, 383, 389.
There are only 13 Rhetorical verses by my reckoning, and they make up 3% of the
collection. Verse 44 is an example:
Kŏ imaṁ paṭhaviṁ vicessati
Who will know this earth
yamalokañ-ca imaṁ sadevakaṁ?
and the lower realm, together with the gods?
Ko dhammapadaṁ sudesitaṁ
* Who (will reflect) on the well-taught verse of Dhamma
kusalo puppham-ivappacessati?
as a good man reflects on a flower?
See: vv. 44, 46, 62, 146, 179, 180, 212-216, 264, 353, 394.
Similes, 1 in which otherwise unlike things are compared to drive home a point, are used
in many places throughout the collection. An example is found in the last pair of lines in
verse 7, which compares the ease with which Māra can overthrow the indolent to the way
a weak tree is easily overthrown by the wind:
Subhānupassiṁ viharantaṁ, indriyesu asaṁvutaṁ,
Living contemplating what is pleasant, uncontrolled in sense faculties,
bhojanamhi amattaññuṁ, kusītaṁ hīnavīriyaṁ –
not knowing the limit in food, indolent, low in energy –
taṁ ve pasahati Māro vāto rukkhaṁ va dubbalaṁ.
Māra surely overthrows that one, like wind (overthrows) a weak tree.
There are 89 verses employing similes (21%): 1, 2, 7, 8, 13, 14, 19, 21, 28, 29, 31, 33, 34,
40, 44, 45, 46, 49, 51, 52, 53, 58, 59, 64, 65, 71, 76, 81, 82, 91-95, 123, 125, 134, 135, 136,
143, 144, 149, 150, 152, 155, 156, 161, 162, 164, 170-174, 202, 208, 219, 220, 222, 235, 239,
240, 251, 252, 268, 284, 285, 287, 304, 311, 315, 320, 325, 326, 327, 329, 330, 334-338, 342,
343, 347, 377, 380, 401, 407, 413.
Metaphors do not use comparison, but suggest a resemblance between otherwise
disparate objects. An example can be found in verse 25, where the island is the safe haven
the person who is striving hopes to make.
1
Normally signified by a comparison word such as iva, va, viya, yathā, upama and sama.