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Flowers (Pupphavagga)

English · sourceSinhala translation · pending
RefsKN 2, Dhp 44–59
Page details
Pali
Pupphavagga
Type
vagga
Parent text
dhammapada
Verses
Dhp 44–59
Sources
raw/tipitaka/sutta/khuddaka-nikaya/dhammapada/ (pali.txt, en-sujato.txt, si-dezoysa.txt)
Last updated
2026-04-14

Summary: The Pupphavagga ("Chapter on Flowers") uses the flower as a multi-valent simile rather than a single image: flowers of dhamma to be gathered by the trainee (Dhp 44–45), flowers of sense-pleasure that carry the heedless to death (Dhp 47–48), flowers that look beautiful but have no fragrance when speech is not acted on (Dhp 51–52), and — the centrepiece — sīla-gandha, the "fragrance of virtue" that, unlike any floral scent, travels upwind and reaches even the gods (Dhp 54–56). The vagga culminates in the lotus-from-refuse image (Dhp 58–59): the Buddha's disciple rising with wisdom from among blind worldlings as a fragrant lotus rises from a roadside heap.

Themes

  • The dhamma as flower, the trainee as flower-gatherer (Dhp 44–45): the sekha (trainee) "picks" the well-taught dhamma as a flower-expert picks flowers, surveying this earth and the Yama realm.
  • Body as foam, sense-pleasures as Māra's flowers (Dhp 46–48): seeing the body's foam-like, mirage-like nature cuts Māra's blossoming; conversely, one who gathers sense-pleasure "flowers" with an attached mind is swept away by death like a sleeping village by a flood.
  • The bee-simile for the sage's alms-round (Dhp 49): as the bee takes nectar without harming the flower's colour or fragrance, the muni walks the village.
  • Self-scrutiny over others' faults (Dhp 50): attend to your own deeds and omissions, not others'.
  • Speech with and without fruit (Dhp 51–53): eloquent speech unacted on is a colourful but scentless flower; acted on, a colourful and fragrant one; a person born should, like a garland-maker with a flower-heap, make many skillful deeds.
  • The supreme fragrance — virtue (Dhp 54–56): ordinary fragrances cannot travel upwind, but sīla-gandha does; it spreads in all directions and reaches even the highest gods. Among all scents, the scent of virtue is supreme.
  • Māra cannot find the heedful (Dhp 57): for the virtuous, appamāda-dwelling, rightly-liberated, Māra does not find the path.
  • The lotus from the refuse-heap (Dhp 58–59): from a roadside rubbish-mound a fragrant lotus may blossom; so too, among puthujjana thought of as refuse, the sammāsambuddha's disciple outshines with wisdom.

Verses

<!-- Stacked-block format: Pali + English + Sinhala per verse, stable #dhp-N anchors. -->

Verse 44

Pali (dhp44:1–44:4)

Ko imaṁ pathaviṁ vicessati,
Yamalokañca imaṁ sadevakaṁ;
Ko dhammapadaṁ sudesitaṁ,
Kusalo pupphamiva pacessati.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

Who bestirs this earth,
and the Yama realm with its gods?
Who sets out the well-taught word of truth,
as an expert a flower?

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

(ආත්මභාව සංඛ්‍යාතවූ) මේ පෘථිවිය කවරෙක් දිනන්නේද, සතර අපායද දෙව්ලෝ සහිතවූ මේ මනුෂ්‍ය ලෝකයද කවරෙක් දිනන්නේද? මනාකොට දෙසන ලද්දාවූ (සත්තිස් බොධිපාක්‍ෂික) ධර්මය (මල් කඩා රැස්කරන්නාවූ) මල්කරුවකු මල මෙන් පරීක්‍ෂාකරන්නේ (හෙවත් ප්‍රතිවේධ කරන්නේ) ද?

Key terms: pathavī (earth), yamaloka (Yama's realm), dhammapada (word/step of dhamma) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): Pathavikathāpasutapañcasatabhikkhuvatthu — "the five hundred monks who heard talk on [the nature of] earth". Anonymous group-vatthu. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 45

Pali (dhp45:1–45:4)

Sekho pathaviṁ vicessati,
Yamalokañca imaṁ sadevakaṁ;
Sekho dhammapadaṁ sudesitaṁ,
Kusalo pupphamiva pacessati.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

A trainee bestirs this earth,
and the Yama realm with its gods.
A trainee sets out the well-taught word of truth,
as an expert a flower.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

(සප්තවිධ) ශෛක්‍ෂතෙම (හික්මෙන්නේ), (ආත්මභාව යයි කියන ලද) පෘථිවිය දිනන්නේය. සතර අපායද, දෙව්ලොව සහිතවූ මේ මනුෂ්‍ය ලෝකයද දිනන්නේය. ශෛක්‍ෂ (හික්මියයුතු) පුද්ගලතෙම මනාකොට දෙසන ලද්දාවූ (සත්තිස් බෝධි පාක්‍ෂික) ධර්මය මල්කරුවෙකු මල මෙන් පරීක්‍ෂාකරන්නේ (හෙවත් ප්‍රතිවේධ කරන්නේ) යි.

Key terms: sekha, dhammapada Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): shares the Dhp 44 vatthu. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 46

Pali (dhp46:1–46:4)

Pheṇūpamaṁ kāyamimaṁ viditvā,
Marīcidhammaṁ abhisambudhāno;
Chetvāna mārassa papupphakāni,
Adassanaṁ maccurājassa gacche.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

Knowing this body's like foam,
realizing it's all just a mirage,
and cutting off Māra's blossoming,
vanish from the King of Death.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

මේ කය පෙණපිඬක් වැනියයි දැන, මිරිඟු වැනියයි සලකන්නාවූ මහණතෙම, (ක්ලේශ) මාරයාගේ (පංච) කාම ගුණයන් (හෙවත් ත්‍රෛභූමක දුක්ඛයන්) සිඳ මාරයාහට අවිෂයවූ (නොපෙනෙන) නිර්වාණයට (මාර්ගඵල චිත්තයන්ට අරමුණු කරගැනීම් වශයෙන්) යන්නේයි.

Key terms: pheṇa (foam), marīci (mirage), Māra, maccurāja (King of Death) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): Marīcikammaṭṭhānikabhikkhuvatthu — "the monk with the mirage-as-meditation-subject". (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 47

Pali (dhp47:1–47:4)

Pupphāni heva pacinantaṁ,
byāsattamanasaṁ naraṁ;
Suttaṁ gāmaṁ mahoghova,
maccu ādāya gacchati.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

As a mighty flood sweeps off a sleeping village,
death steals away a man
even as he gathers flowers,
his mind caught up in them.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

මල් කඩා රැස්කරන්නාවූ, (මාලාකාරයක්හු මෙන් මේ ලෝකයෙහි පංචකාම ගුණයෙහි) තදින් ඇලුනු සිත් ඇති මනුෂ්‍යයා, මහවතුරක් නිදන්නවූ ගම්වැසි ජනයා (මුහුදට ගෙණයන්නාක්) මෙන් මරණය හාම හැරගෙණ යන්නේයි.

Key terms: maccu (death), byāsattamanas (attached mind), mahogha (great flood) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): Viṭaṭūbhavatthu — the story of Viṭaṭūbha, son of King Pasenadi, whose massacre of the Sakyans and subsequent drowning occasioned this verse. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 48

Pali (dhp48:1–48:4)

Pupphāni heva pacinantaṁ,
byāsattamanasaṁ naraṁ;
Atittaññeva kāmesu,
antako kurute vasaṁ.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

The terminator gains control of the man
who has not had his fill of pleasures,
even as he gathers flowers,
his mind caught up in them.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

(මල් කඩා රැස්කරන්නාවූ මාලාකාරයක්හු මෙන් මේ ලෝකයෙහි) පංචකාම ගුණයෙහි ඇලුනු සිත් ඇති, මනුෂ්‍යයා (වස්තුකාම ක්ලෙශ) කාමයන්හි තෘප්තියකට නොපැමිණියාහුම මාරතෙම තමා වසඟ කරන්නේය.

Key terms: kāma (sense-pleasure), antaka (the terminator — a Māra-epithet) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): Patipūjikakumārivatthu — the story of Patipūjikā the young woman whose lifetime of daily offerings was measured against a celestial life-span. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 49

Pali (dhp49:1–49:4)

Yathāpi bhamaro pupphaṁ,
vaṇṇagandhamaheṭhayaṁ;
Paleti rasamādāya,
evaṁ gāme munī care.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

A bee takes the nectar
and moves on, doing no damage
to the flower's beauty and fragrance;
and that's how a sage should walk in the village.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

යම්සේ බමරතෙම මල්ද වර්ණයද ගන්ධයද නොනසමින් (පුෂ්ප) රසය පමණක් ගෙණ (වනයට) නැඟීයේද එපරිද්දෙන්ම භික්‍ෂුතෙම ගොදුරු ගම්හි සිඟා ඇවිදින්නේය.

Key terms: bhamara (bee), muni (sage), rasa (nectar/essence) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): Macchariyakosiyaseṭṭhivatthu — Kosiya the miser merchant converted by Mahāmoggallāna. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 50

Pali (dhp50:1–50:4)

Na paresaṁ vilomāni,
na paresaṁ katākataṁ;
Attanova avekkheyya,
katāni akatāni ca.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

Don't find fault with others,
with what they've done or left undone.
You should only watch yourself,
what you've done or left undone.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

අනුන්ගේ ඵරුෂ වචනයෝ (මෙනෙහි නොකට යුත්තාහ.) අනුන්ගේ කරණ ලද්දාවූද නොකරණ ලද්දාවූද (දුශ්චරිත සුචරිත) දෙය නොබලන්නේය. තමාගේම කරණ ලද (දුශ්චරිත) නොකරණලද (සුචරිත) දෙය බලන්නේය.

Key terms: vilomāni (faults, rough-spoken things), katākata (done-and-undone) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): Pāveyyaājīvakavatthu — concerning a Pāveyya (place-of-origin) ājīvaka ascetic. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 51

Pali (dhp51:1–51:4)

Yathāpi ruciraṁ pupphaṁ,
vaṇṇavantaṁ agandhakaṁ;
Evaṁ subhāsitā vācā,
aphalā hoti akubbato.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

Just like a glorious flower
that's colorful but lacks fragrance;
eloquent speech is fruitless
for one who does not act on it.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

සිත්කලුවූ, මනාවූ පැහැ ඇති, සුවඳ රහිතවූ, මල් යම්සේ (සුවඳ නොපතුරුවා) ද එපරිද්දෙන්ම මනාකොට දෙසනලද ත්‍රිපිටක බුද්ධ වචනය (ඒ ධර්මය) නොකරන්නාහට සඵල නොවෙයි.

Key terms: subhāsitā vācā (well-spoken speech), aphala (fruitless) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): Chattapāṇiupāsakavatthu — Chattapāṇi the lay follower. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 52

Pali (dhp52:1–52:4)

Yathāpi ruciraṁ pupphaṁ,
Vaṇṇavantaṁ sagandhakaṁ;
Evaṁ subhāsitā vācā,
Saphalā hoti kubbato.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

Just like a glorious flower
that's both colorful and fragrant,
eloquent speech is fruitful
for one who acts on it.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

සිත්කලුවූ, මනා පැහැ ඇති, සුවඳ සහිතවූ, මල් යම්සේ (සුවඳපතුරුවා) ද එපරිද්දෙන්ම මනාකොට දෙසන ලද ත්‍රිපිටක බුද්ධ වචනය (ඒ ධර්මය) කරන්නාහට සඵල නොවෙයි.

Key terms: saphala (fruitful), subhāsitā vācā Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): shares the Dhp 51 vatthu. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 53

Pali (dhp53:1–53:4)

Yathāpi puppharāsimhā,
kayirā mālāguṇe bahū;
Evaṁ jātena maccena,
kattabbaṁ kusalaṁ bahuṁ.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

Just as one would create many garlands
from a heap of flowers,
when a person has come to be born,
they should do many skillful things.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

පුෂ්පරාශියකින් බොහෝ මල්දම් (දක්‍ෂවූ මාලාකාරයෙක්) යම්සේ කෙරේද එපරිද්දෙන්ම උපන්නාවූ මිනිසා විසින් බොහෝ කුසල් කටයුතුයි.

Key terms: puppharāsi (flower-heap), kusala (skillful / wholesome), macca (mortal) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): Visākhāvatthu — the story of Visākhā, chief female lay-supporter, whose lifelong generosity illustrated the "many garlands" teaching. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 54

Pali (dhp54:1–54:4)

Na pupphagandho paṭivātameti,
Na candanaṁ tagaramallikā vā;
Satañca gandho paṭivātameti,
Sabbā disā sappuriso pavāyati.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

The fragrance of flowers doesn't spread upwind,
nor sandalwood, pinwheel, or jasmine;
but the fragrance of the good spreads upwind;
a true person's virtue spreads in every direction.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

මල් සුවඳ උඩුසුළඟට නොපැමිණෙයි. සඳුනෙහි සුවඳද, තුවරලායෙහි සුවඳද, සීනිද්ද බෝලිද්දයෙහි සුවඳද උඩු සුළඟට නොයයි. (බුද්ධාදී) සත්පුරුෂයන්ගේ (ශීල) සුගන්ධය වනාහි උඩුසුළඟට පැමිණෙයි. (කුමක්හෙයින්ද යත්) සත්පුරුෂතෙම (යම්හෙයකින් ශීල සුගන්ධයෙන්) සියලු දසදිගුන් මැඩ පවතීද එහෙයිනි.

Key terms: pupphagandha (flower-fragrance), paṭivāta (against the wind), sappurisa (true person), sīla (implied — the sataṁ gandho) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): Ānandattherapañhavatthu — occasioned by Ānanda&#x27;s question on whether there is any fragrance that travels against the wind. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 55

Pali (dhp55:1–55:4)

Candanaṁ tagaraṁ vāpi,
uppalaṁ atha vassikī;
Etesaṁ gandhajātānaṁ,
sīlagandho anuttaro.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

Among all the fragrances—
sandalwood or pinwheel
or lotus or jasmine—
the fragrance of virtue is supreme.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

තුවරලා හා සඳුන් පිළිබඳවූ මානෙල් හා සමන් පිළිබඳවූ යම් මේ සුවඳක් වේද, මේ සුවඳවලට වඩා සිල්වතුන්ගේ ශීල සුගන්ධය උතුම්ය.

Key terms: *sīla-gandha* (fragrance of virtue), anuttara (supreme, unsurpassed) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): shares the Dhp 54 vatthu. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 56

Pali (dhp56:1–56:4)

Appamatto ayaṁ gandho,
yāyaṁ tagaracandanī;
Yo ca sīlavataṁ gandho,
vāti devesu uttamo.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

Faint is the fragrance
of sandal or pinwheel;
but the fragrance of the virtuous
floats to the highest gods.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

තුවරලා සඳුන් පිළිබඳ මේ සුවඳ ටිකක් පමණය. සිල්වතුන්ගේ යම් උතුම් සුවඳෙක් වේද, දෙවියන් අතරද හමයි.

Key terms: sīlavatāṁ gandho (fragrance of those possessed of virtue), deva Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): Mahākassapattherapiṇḍapātadinnavatthu — alms offered to Mahākassapa by Sakka. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 57

Pali (dhp57:1–57:4)

Tesaṁ sampannasīlānaṁ,
appamādavihārinaṁ;
Sammadaññāvimuttānaṁ,
māro maggaṁ na vindati.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

For those accomplished in ethics,
meditating diligently,
freed through the highest knowledge,
Māra cannot find their path.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

පරිපූර්ණවූ (ලෞකික ලොකොත්තර) ශීල ඇති, අප්‍රමාදව වසන සුලුවූ, මනාකොට දැන (සියලු කෙලෙසුන් කෙරෙන්) මිදුනාවූ, ඒ ක්‍ෂීණාශ්‍රවයන්ගේ මග (දිව්‍යපුත්‍ර) මාරතෙම නොදන්නේය.

Key terms: sampannasīla (sīla-accomplished), appamāda-vihārī, sammadaññā-vimutta (rightly-known-liberated), Māra Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): Godhikattheraparinibbānavatthu — the parinibbāna of the arahant Godhika (cross-referenced at SN 4.23 (cited; not yet ingested)), whose consciousness Māra failed to locate after death. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 58

Pali (dhp58:1–58:4)

Yathā saṅkāradhānasmiṁ,
ujjhitasmiṁ mahāpathe;
Padumaṁ tattha jāyetha,
sucigandhaṁ manoramaṁ.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

From a heap of trash
discarded on the highway,
a lotus might blossom,
fragrant and delightful.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

මහ මගෙක්හි උගුලන ලද්දාවූ, ඒ කසලගොඩෙක්හි සුවඳ ඇති, සිත් අලවන්නාවූ, පියුමෙක් යම්සේ උපදීද.

Key terms: saṅkāradhāna (rubbish-heap), paduma (lotus) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): Garahadinnavatthu — Garahadinna the Nigaṇṭha-supporter and his conversion. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 59

Pali (dhp59:1–59:4)

Evaṁ saṅkārabhūtesu,
andhabhūte puthujjane;
Atirocati paññāya,
sammāsambuddhasāvako.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato

So too, among those thought of as trash,
a disciple of the perfect Buddha
outshines with their wisdom
the blind ordinary folk.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

එසේම කසල ගොඩක් බඳුවූ, (නුවණ ඇස් නැති හෙයින්) අන්ධවූ, පුහුදුන් ඉක්මවා සම්මා සම්බුදුන්ගේ ශ්‍රාවකවූ (මහාක්‍ෂීණාශ්‍රව) තෙම නුවණින් (පුහුදුන් ලෝකයා) ඉක්ම දිලිසෙන්නේය.

Key terms: puthujjana (ordinary folk), paññā (wisdom), sammāsambuddha-sāvaka (disciple of the perfect Buddha) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): shares the Dhp 58 vatthu. (commentary — not canonical)

Colophon segment dhp59:5: Pupphavaggo catuttho. — "Pupphavagga, the fourth."

Concepts introduced in this vagga

People mentioned

Vatthu-attributed (commentary only):

Not creating a page for Dhp 44, 46, 50 (anonymous group-vatthus or unnamed figures).

Textual notes

  • Dhp 47 and 48 share their opening half-verse (Pupphāni heva pacinantaṁ, byāsattamanasaṁ naraṁ) — a deliberate parallelism the Pali preserves and Sujato renders with slightly varied English.
  • Dhp 51 and 52 form a matched pair (scentless / fragrant flower = unacted-on / acted-on speech).
  • Dhp 58 and 59 form a two-verse simile unit: Dhp 58 supplies the image (lotus from refuse), Dhp 59 applies it (disciple among puthujjana).
  • Appamatto in Dhp 56:1 means "faint, a small amount" (from appa-matta) and must not be confused with appamatto from appamada "heedful". Context disambiguates: here the "faint fragrance" of sandalwood is contrasted with the superior fragrance of the virtuous.
  • The sīla-gandha theme of Dhp 54–56 is cross-cited elsewhere in the canon at AN 3.79 (cited; not yet ingested) (the Gandhajāta Sutta, which quotes Ānanda's question directly).

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