Today's Vedika insight
22 September 2026 · Dhammapada 5
Na hi verena verāni sammantīdha kudācanaṃ; averena ca sammanti, esa dhammo sanantano.
na hi verena verāni sammantīdha kudācanaṃ | averena ca sammanti, esa dhammo sanantano || 5 ||
“Hatreds are never appeased by hatred here at any time. By non-hatred they are appeased; this is an ancient principle.”
Vedika literal rendering checked against the Pāli text and Theravāda translations; avera is retained as non-hatred rather than narrowed to sentiment alone.
“Ending retaliation does not deny harm. It refuses to let the injury reproduce its own mental and behavioural pattern through us.”
Dhammapada 5
Vedika commentary
Retaliation can feel like closure while extending the life of the original injury. Non-hatred changes the means: harm can be named, stopped and answered without training the mind in the very hostility it opposes.
Vedika distinguishes the original Sanskrit, a literal rendering, and an interpretive paraphrase so that the words of the text are never confused with explanation.
Source
Dhammapada 5
Traditional commentary
Dhammapada 5; Theravāda Pāli text and commentarial tradition
Explanation
Vedika
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