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Dhammapada · 17 of 26
CHAPTER XVII. Anger
221.Let a man leave anger, let him forsake pride, let him overcome all bondage! No sufferings befall the man who is not attached to name and form, and who calls nothing his own.
222.He who holds back rising anger like a rolling chariot, him I call a real driver; other people are but holding the reins.
223.Let a man overcome anger by love, let him overcome evil by good; let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth!
224.Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods.
225.The sages who injure nobody, and who always control their body, they will go to the unchangeable place (Nirvâna), where, if they have gone, they will suffer no more.
226.Those who are ever watchful, who study day and night, and who strive after Nirvâna, their passions will come to an end.
227.This is an old saying, O Atula, this is not only of to-day: ‘They blame him who sits silent, they blame him who speaks much, they also blame him who says little; there is no one on earth who is not blamed.’
228.There never was, there never will be, nor is there now, a man who is always blamed, or a man who is always praised.
229.But he whom those who discriminate praise continually day after day, as without blemish, wise, rich in knowledge and virtue, who would dare to blame him, like a coin made of gold from the Gambû river?
230.Even the gods praise him, he is praised even by Brahman.
231.Beware of bodily anger, and control thy body! Leave the sins of the body, and with thy body practise virtue!
232.Beware of the anger of the tongue, and control thy tongue! Leave the sins of the tongue, and practise virtue with thy tongue!
233.Beware of the anger of the mind, and control thy mind! Leave the sins of the mind, and practise virtue with thy mind!
234.The wise who control their body, who control their tongue, the wise who control their mind, are indeed well controlled.
Asked of Guide
Why does the chapter insist on controlling body, tongue, and mind separately?
The chapter lays out three distinct arenas — body, tongue, mind — because each is a source of anger that must be trained in its own way: bodily anger shows as harmful action, tongue as hurtful speech, mind as resentful intention. Verses 231–233 name each sphere and then pair control with practising virtue in that same sphere, so training is practical and specific rather than vague.
This tripartite discipline mirrors the Dhammapada’s earlier insistence that ethical life is everyday work: restrain rising anger like a charioteer (verse 222), “speak the truth, do not yield to anger” (224), and keep watch day and night to end passion (226). When you read the Bhagavad Gita, it makes a similar division of action, speech, and thought and ties mastery in each to liberation; here those three controlled channels lead toward Nirvâna.
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