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The Dear (Piyavagga)

English · sourceSinhala translation · pending
RefsKN 2, Dhp 209–220
Page details
Pali
Piyavagga
Type
vagga
Parent text
dhammapada
Verses
Dhp 209–220
Sources
raw/tipitaka/sutta/khuddaka-nikaya/dhammapada/ (pali.txt, en-sujato.txt, si-dezoysa.txt)
Last updated
2026-05-13

Summary: The Piyavagga ("The Dear") is the sixteenth chapter of the dhammapada, twelve verses (Dhp 209–220) on the dangers of attachment to what is dear (piya), the sorrow and fear that arise from affection, desire, and craving, and the true qualities that make one genuinely dear to others. It opens with a warning against misdirected effort and clinging (Dhp 209), moves through a five-verse crescendo on the origins of sorrow and fear in dear things, attachment, relishing, desire, and craving (Dhp 210–216), pivots to the virtuous and mindful person who is truly loved (Dhp 217–218), and closes with the image of good deeds welcoming the doer into the next world as family welcome a traveler home (Dhp 219–220).

Themes

  • Misdirected effort and jealousy (Dhp 209): the opening verse criticizes those who apply themselves wrongly, neglect their true goal, cling to dear things, and envy those devoted to practice. It sets the chapter's contrast between worldly attachment and spiritual application.
  • The suffering of proximity and separation (Dhp 210): the verse warns against intimate association with both liked and disliked persons, since not seeing the liked is suffering and seeing the disliked is suffering. This is a pragmatic foundation for the non-attachment taught in the following verses.
  • The crescendo of attachment: from dear things to craving (Dhp 211–216): six verses trace a rising scale of bondage — holding things dear, sorrow and fear arising from what is dear (piya), attachment (pema), relishing (rati), sensual desire (kāma), and finally craving (taṇhā). The refrain "no sorrow, let alone fear" marks liberation at each stage.
  • Who is truly dear (Dhp 217): in contrast to the earlier warning against making things dear, this verse says that people naturally love one accomplished in virtue and vision, firm in principle, truthful, and doing what ought to be done. This is attraction to goodness, not clinging.
  • Heading upstream (Dhp 218): the verse describes one eager for the ineffable, filled with awareness, with mind unbound to sense pleasures, and calls such a person "one heading upstream" (uddhaṃsota).
  • Merit as welcome (Dhp 219–220): the closing pair uses the domestic image of family and friends rejoicing at a traveler's safe return to illustrate how one's own good deeds (puñña) receive one in the next world.

Verses

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Verse 209

Pali (dhp209:1–209:4)

Ayoge yuñjamattānaṁ,
yogasmiñca ayojayaṁ;
Atthaṁ hitvā piyaggāhī,
pihetattānuyoginaṁ.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato (dhp209:1–209:4)

Applying yourself where you ought not,
neglecting what you should be doing,
forgetting your goal, you cling to what you hold dear,
jealous of those devoted to their heart’s goal.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

තමා නොයෙදියයුතු තැන යොදන්නාවූද, යෙදිය යුතු තැන නොයොදන්නාවූද පුද්ගලතෙම අර්ථය (යහපත) හැර ප්‍රියයම ගන්නාසුලුවූයේ ආත්මාර්ථකාමියා පතන්නේය.

Key terms: ayoga (wrong application), yoga (right application), attha (goal, benefit), piyaggāhī (clinging to what is dear), anuyogī (one devoted to practice) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): pending commentary review. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 210

Pali (dhp210:1–210:4)

Mā piyehi samāgañchi,
appiyehi kudācanaṁ;
Piyānaṁ adassanaṁ dukkhaṁ,
appiyānañca dassanaṁ.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato (dhp210:1–210:4)

Don’t ever get too close
to those you like or dislike.
For not seeing the liked is suffering,
and so is seeing the disliked.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

ප්‍රියයන් හා ද අප්‍රියයන් හා ද කිසිකලෙක්හිදු (තෘෂ්ණා ආශ්‍රය වශයෙන්) සමාගමය නොකරන්නේය. (කුමක් නිසාදයත්) ප්‍රියවූ සත්ව (සංස්කාරය)න්ගේ නොදැක්ම දුක්ය. අප්‍රියවූ සත්ව (සංස්කාරය)න්ගේ දැක්ම දුක්ය.

Key terms: piya (dear, liked), appiya (disliked), adassana (not seeing), dassana (seeing) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): pending commentary review. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 211

Pali (dhp211:1–211:4)

Tasmā piyaṁ na kayirātha,
piyāpāyo hi pāpako;
Ganthā tesaṁ na vijjanti,
yesaṁ natthi piyāppiyaṁ.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato (dhp211:1–211:4)

Therefore don’t hold anything dear,
for it’s bad to lose those you love.
No ties are found in they who
hold nothing loved or loathed.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

එහෙයින් (කිසි සත්වයෙක්වත් සංස්කාරයක්වත්) ප්‍රිය නොකරව්. ඒ එසේ මැයි. ප්‍රියයන්ගේ වියෝගය ලාමකයි. යම් (රහත්) කෙනෙකුන්ට ප්‍රියවූ හෝ අප්‍රියවූ වස්තුවක් නැද්ද, ඔවුන්ට (අහිධ්‍යාදීකාය) ග්‍රන්ථයෝ (ගැටලු) නැත්තාහ.

Key terms: piyāpāya (loss of dear ones / separation from the loved), ganthā (ties, fetters), piyāppiya (dear and not dear) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): pending commentary review. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 212

Pali (dhp212:1–212:4)

Piyato jāyatī soko,
piyato jāyatī bhayaṁ;
Piyato vippamuttassa,
natthi soko kuto bhayaṁ.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato (dhp212:1–212:4)

Sorrow springs from what we hold dear,
fear springs from what we hold dear;
one free from holding anything dear
has no sorrow, let alone fear.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

ශෝකය ප්‍රියවූ සංස්කාරයන් නිසාම උපදනේය. භය ප්‍රියවූ සංස්කාරයන් නිසා උපදනේය. ප්‍රිය වස්තුවෙන් මුක්තවූ සිත් ඇත්තාහට ශෝකයෙක් නැත. භය කොයින්ද?

Key terms: piya (dear), soka (sorrow), bhaya (fear), vippamutta (freed, released) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): pending commentary review. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 213

Pali (dhp213:1–213:4)

Pemato jāyatī soko,
pemato jāyatī bhayaṁ;
Pemato vippamuttassa,
natthi soko kuto bhayaṁ.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato (dhp213:1–213:4)

Sorrow springs from attachment,
fear springs from attachment;
one free from attachment
has no sorrow, let alone fear.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

ශෝකය ප්‍රේමය නිසාම උපදනේය. භය ප්‍රේමය නිසාම උපදනේය. ප්‍රේමයෙන් මිදුණු සිත් ඇත්තාහට ශෝකයක් නැත. භයක් කොයින්ද?

Key terms: pema (affection, attachment) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): pending commentary review. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 214

Pali (dhp214:1–214:4)

Ratiyā jāyatī soko,
ratiyā jāyatī bhayaṁ;
Ratiyā vippamuttassa,
natthi soko kuto bhayaṁ.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato (dhp214:1–214:4)

Sorrow springs from relishing,
fear springs from relishing;
one free from relishing
has no sorrow, let alone fear.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

ශෝකය පඤ්චකාම ගුණ රතිය නිසා උපදනේය. භය පඤ්චකාම ගුණ රතිය නිසා උපදනේය. පඤ්චකාම ගුණරතියෙන් මිදුණු සිත් ඇත්තාහට ශෝකයක් නැත. බියක් කොයින්ද?

Key terms: rati (delight, relishing) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): pending commentary review. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 215

Pali (dhp215:1–215:4)

Kāmato jāyatī soko,
kāmato jāyatī bhayaṁ;
Kāmato vippamuttassa,
natthi soko kuto bhayaṁ.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato (dhp215:1–215:4)

Sorrow springs from desire,
fear springs from desire;
one free from desire
has no sorrow, let alone fear.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

ශෝකය කාමයන් නිසාම උපදනේය. භය කාමයන් නිසාම උපදනේය. කාමයන්ගෙන් මිදුණු සිත් ඇත්තාහට ශෝකයක් නැත. බියක් කොයින්ද?

Key terms: kāma (sensual desire) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): pending commentary review. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 216

Pali (dhp216:1–216:4)

Taṇhāya jāyatī soko,
taṇhāya jāyatī bhayaṁ;
Taṇhāya vippamuttassa,
natthi soko kuto bhayaṁ.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato (dhp216:1–216:4)

Sorrow springs from craving,
fear springs from craving;
one free from craving
has no sorrow, let alone fear.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

ශෝකය තෘෂ්ණාව නිසාම උපදනේය. භය තෘෂ්ණාව, නිසාම උපදනේය. තෘෂ්ණාවෙන් මිදුණු සිත් ඇත්තාහට ශෝකයක් නැත. භයක් කොයින්ද?

Key terms: taṇhā (craving) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): pending commentary review. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 217

Pali (dhp217:1–217:4)

Sīladassanasampannaṁ,
dhammaṭṭhaṁ saccavedinaṁ;
Attano kamma kubbānaṁ,
taṁ jano kurute piyaṁ.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato (dhp217:1–217:4)

One accomplished in virtue and vision,
firmly principled, and truthful,
doing oneself what ought be done:
that’s who the people love.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

(චතුපාරි ශුද්ධි) ශීලයෙන් හා (මාර්ගඵල සම්ප්‍රයුක්තවූ) සම්‍යක් දෘෂ්ටියෙන් ද යුක්තවූ (නවලොකොත්තර) ධර්මයෙහි පිහිටියාවූ (සත්‍යඥානයෙන්) සත්‍යවාදීවූ තමාගේ කාර්යය කරන්නාවූ ඒ ක්‍ෂීණාශ්‍රවයා (ලෞකික) මහජනතෙම ප්‍රිය කරන්නේය.

Key terms: sīla (virtue, moral conduct), dassana (vision, insight), dhammaṭṭha (firm in Dhamma / principled), saccavedin (truth-knower), kamma (action, deed) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): pending commentary review. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 218

Pali (dhp218:1–218:4)

Chandajāto anakkhāte,
Manasā ca phuṭo siyā;
Kāmesu ca appaṭibaddhacitto,
Uddhaṁsototi vuccati.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato (dhp218:1–218:4)

One eager to realize the ineffable
would be filled with awareness.
Their mind not bound to pleasures of sense,
they’re said to be heading upstream.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

නිර්වාණයෙහි (කත්තුකම්‍යතා කුසලච්ඡන්ද වශයෙන්) උපන් ඡන්දය ඇතියේ, (යටතුන් මග හා තුන්පල) සිතින් ස්පර්ශ කෙළේත්වේද, රූපදීපඤ්චකාමයෙහිද නොඇලුණු සිත් ඇත්තේවේද (හෙතෙම) උද්ධං සෝතයයි කියනු ලැබේ.

Key terms: chanda (zeal, desire to act), anakkhāta (the unproclaimed, ineffable), appaṭibaddhacitta (mind not bound), uddhaṃsota (heading upstream) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): pending commentary review. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 219

Pali (dhp219:1–219:4)

Cirappavāsiṁ purisaṁ,
dūrato sotthimāgataṁ;
Ñātimittā suhajjā ca,
abhinandanti āgataṁ.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato (dhp219:1–219:4)

When a man returns safely
after a long time spent abroad,
family, friends, and loved ones
celebrate his return.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

බොහෝකල් විදේශයෙහි විසූ පුරුෂයෙකු දුර රටකින් සුවසේ ආවහු (දැක) නෑයෝද මිත්‍රයෝද, යහලුවෝද, ඔහුගේ ඊමට යම්සේ සතුටු වෙද්ද?

Key terms: cirappavāsin (long absent), sotthi (safely), ñātimittā (relatives and friends), suhajjā (intimate companions), abhinandanti (rejoice over) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): pending commentary review. (commentary — not canonical)

Verse 220

Pali (dhp220:1–220:4)

Tatheva katapuññampi,
asmā lokā paraṁ gataṁ;
Puññāni paṭigaṇhanti,
piyaṁ ñātīva āgataṁ.

English — Bhikkhu Sujato (dhp220:1–220:4)

Just so, when one who has done good
goes from this world to the next,
their good deeds receive them there,
as family welcomes home one they love.

Sinhala — A.P. de Zoysa

එපරිද්දෙන්ම කරණලද පින්කම් ඇති (පුරුෂයාද) මෙලොවින් (මිය) පරලොවට ගියහු (ඔහු) කළ කුශලයෝ දුර සිට ආ ප්‍රිය නෑයෙකු (පිළිගන්නා නෑයන්) මෙන් පිළිගන්නාහ.

Key terms: katapuñña (one who has done good), paraṃ gata (gone to the beyond), puñña (merit, good deed) Traditional vatthu (Dhp-a): pending commentary review. (commentary — not canonical)

Textual notes

  • Dhp 212–216 form a five-verse repetition sequence using the same formula with five different terms: piya (dear), pema (attachment), rati (relishing), kāma (desire), and taṇhā (craving). The sequence moves from what is held dear toward craving.
  • Dhp 209–211 and 212–216 together constitute a sustained treatment on the dangers of worldly attachment, while Dhp 217–218 pivot to the positive qualities of the truly dear person, and Dhp 219–220 close with a simile of merit welcoming the traveler.
  • Dhp 217 may seem to pull against Dhp 211's "don't hold anything dear" (mā piyaṃ kayirātha), but the verses distinguish clinging to what is dear from being loved because of virtue, truthfulness, and right conduct.
  • Dhp 218's anakkhāta and uddhaṃsota are kept as Pali key terms because Sujato's "ineffable" and "heading upstream" are interpretive renderings of compact technical language.
  • No registered high-risk passage is in scope.

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