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Sutta Piṭaka · Khuddaka Nikāya

vera (hatred, enmity)

English · sourceSinhala translation · pending
RefsDhp 3–5; Dhp 197; AN 5.174 (cited; not yet ingested) (the five dangers of breaking the precepts, each called a vera); SN 12.41 (cited; not yet ingested) (the five fearful animosities, pañca bhayāni verāni)
Page details
Pali
vera
Sanskrit cognate
vaira
Part of speech
noun (n.)
Root
√vir ("to oppose, be hostile"); cf. Skt vaira "enmity, feud"
English
hatred; enmity; hostility; grudge; feud; (Sujato) "hate"
Type
glossary
Last updated
2026-04-13

Definition: Vera denotes active, sustained hostility — not a momentary flash of anger (that is kodha) but the settled, reciprocating enmity that fuels feuds and revenge. The canon treats it both as an interpersonal condition and, by extension, as a name for the grave moral dangers that spring from broken precepts.

Canonical usage

Dhp 3 (dhp3:1–3:2)
"Akkocchi maṁ avadhi maṁ, ajini maṁ ahāsi me";
Ye ca taṁ upanayhanti, veraṁ tesaṁ na sammati.

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English (Sujato): "They abused me, they hit me, they beat me, they robbed me" — those who nurse such thoughts never lay their hatred to rest.
Dhp 5 (dhp5:1)
Na hi verena verāni sammantīdha kudācanaṁ.

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English (Sujato): For never is hatred laid to rest by hate.
Dhp 197 (referenced only — not yet ingested)
Susukhaṁ vata jīvāma, verinesu averino.
— "Happy indeed we live, free from hatred among the hateful."

Nuances and translation notes

English has no exact equivalent. Vera is stronger and more relational than "anger" (kodha) and more settled than "ill-will" (byāpāda); it implies a two-sided dynamic — a grudge carried, often reciprocated. Translators' choices:

  • Sujato: "hate" / "hatred" (renders it as a stable condition)
  • Buddharakkhita: "hatred" / "enmity"
  • Thanissaro: "animosity" (emphasises the reciprocal aspect)
  • de Zoysa (Sinhala): වෛර (vaira), the direct Sinhala cognate, preserving the Indic register

The compound avera ("non-vera") names the antidote — see non hatred avera.

A second technical usage: in AN 5.174 (cited; not yet ingested) and SN 12.41 (cited; not yet ingested) the five precepts, when broken, are each called a vera — an "animosity" the transgressor generates, which produces fear in this life and the next. This extends vera from interpersonal feud to a quasi-karmic field of hostility generated by unwholesome action.

Related concepts

  • avera — its negation; the antidote declared at Dhp 5
  • dosa — hatred as a mental root (one of the three unwholesome roots)
  • kodha — anger (acute, episodic), contrasted with vera (settled, relational)
  • byapada — ill-will, the mental-factor form of hostility
  • khanti — patience, the practice that defuses incipient vera

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