Dhammapada - Yammaka Vagga - Verse 1 - Cakkhupalatthera Vatthu

 

The Dhammapada

Yammaka Vagga

 

Verse 1

Cakkhupalatthera Vatthu

 

Manopubbangama dhamma
manosettha manomaya
manasa ce padutthena
bhasati va karoti va
tato nam dukkhamanveti
cakkamva vahato padam.

 

 

Verse 1

Suffering follows the evil-doer

Mind precedes all knowables,
mind's their chief, mind-made are they.
If with a corrupted mind
one should either speak or act
dukkha follows caused by that,
as does the wheel the ox's hoof.

The mind precedes all situations resulting from thought. Most actions are made from within the mind. If one initiates an action with an evil mind, suffering will follow just as the wheel follows the hoof-print of the ox that draws the cart. Evil thoughts lead to unfortunate circumstances, just as the ox cannot be free of the cart that it pulls. The verse is named after the blind monk, Cakkhupala, whose blindness was explained as the consequence of his having acted with an evil intention in a previous existence. The word ‘dukkha’ depicts suffering, especially mental trauma within the mind.

The story of the blind monk, Thera Cakkhupala was told by the Buddha as the parable to explain the verse depicted as the first of the Yammaka Vagga. I have included the story within another story in an attempt to try and understand. It is said that the Most Enlightened One told the story of Thera Cakkhupala while at the Jetavana Monastery at Sravasti, on a day when the discourse was being listened to by more than forty thousand of the Sangha, and that at the end, nearly thirty thousand bhikkhus attained arahat status together with patisambhida (analytical insight).        

The verse and the specific parable are sourced from the following references (28 October 2009) –

1. http://www.tipitaka.net/tipitaka/dhp/verseload.php?verse=001

2. http://www.buddhanet.net/dhammapada/d_twin.htm

3. http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/sbe10/index.htm - The Dhammapada. Translated from the Pali by F. Max Muller. 1881. Volume X – The Sacred Books of the East. The Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Arahat or arahants = are described as buddhanubuddha, those who have attained enlightenment after the Buddha.

Bhikkhu (male), Bhikkhuni (female) = Ordained monks, usually Buddhist monks.