Non-hatred (avera)

Summary: Avera — literally "non-vera", the absence of hostility or enmity — is the Buddha's stated antidote to hatred. In its locus classicus at Dhp 5, the Buddha declares that hatred is never laid to rest by hatred, but only by its opposite. The Daṇḍavagga extends the same principle from the mental and relational register of enmity to the physical register of violence: one who compares others with oneself neither kills nor causes killing (Dhp 129–130), and the true renunciant is the one who has "laid down the rod" toward all beings (Dhp 142). The principle is one of the most frequently cited ethical teachings in the canon.

Canonical locus

Dhp 5 (Pali, dhp5:1–5:4)
Na hi verena verāni, sammantīdha kudācanaṁ;
Averena ca sammanti, esa dhammo sanantano.

English (Sujato): For never is hatred laid to rest by hate, it's laid to rest by love: this is an ancient teaching.

Sinhala (de Zoysa): මේ ලෝකයෙහි කිසි කලෙකත් වෛරයෙන් වෛර සංසිඳීමක් නො වේ. අවෛරයෙන් ම වෛර සංසිඳේ. මේ පුරාතන ධර්මතාව යි.

The verse is paired with the preceding two verses (Dhp 3–4), which describe how those who dwell on grievance — "he abused me, he struck me, he defeated me, he robbed me" — cannot still their hatred, while those who let the grievance go can. See dhammapada 01 yamakavagga, dhammapada 01 yamakavagga, dhammapada 01 yamakavagga.

Analysis

This section draws together the doctrinal pattern in Dhp 3–5, Dhp 129–132, Dhp 142, MN 21 (cited; not yet ingested), and SN 46.54 (cited; not yet ingested).

What avera is not

Avera is not mere suppression of anger. In the doctrinal scheme it belongs to the wholesome counterpart of the three unwholesome roots: where dosa (hatred) is one of the three roots of unwholesome action, adosa (non-hatred) is one of the three roots of wholesome action. Avera and adosa are overlapping but not identical: adosa is the mental factor; avera is the relational stance that arises from cultivating it. (Dhp 5; Dhp 20)

The "ancient teaching" (sanantano dhammo)

The phrase esa dhammo sanantano ("this is an ancient/eternal principle") signals that the Buddha is not introducing a novel doctrine but affirming a truth that transcends any particular teacher or tradition (Dhp 5). The same phrase appears at Dhp 6 and elsewhere in the canon to mark teachings the Buddha frames as timeless rather than sectarian. (Dhp 5–6)

The self-comparison principle (Dhp 129–130)

The Daṇḍavagga restates non-hatred in a different idiom: attānaṁ upamaṁ katvā — "treating others like oneself" or "making oneself the comparison." Because all tremble at punishment, fear death, and love life, one should neither kill nor cause killing. The point is not sentimentality but moral symmetry: what one knows directly in oneself is extended to others as the basis for restraint. (Dhp 129–130)

Non-hatred as laying down the rod (Dhp 131–132, 142)

Dhp 131 and Dhp 132 turn the same self-comparison into explicit kammic consequence: harming beings while seeking one's own happiness fails even on its own terms, while refraining from harm supports happiness hereafter. Dhp 142 completes the movement by redefining holiness: not outward marks but having nidhāya daṇḍaṁ — laid aside the rod toward all beings — makes one truly a brāhmaṇa, samaṇa, or bhikkhu. In this way avera is not merely the absence of revenge but the positive relinquishment of coercion and injury. (Dhp 131–132, 142)

Practical application

The teaching is applied in two registers across the canon: interpersonal (e.g. MN 21 (cited; not yet ingested) Kakacūpama Sutta, the simile of the saw — maintaining loving-kindness even under physical assault) and intrapersonal (the cultivation of metta as a formal meditation, detailed at e.g. SN 46.54 (cited; not yet ingested)). (Note: MN 21 and SN 46.54 are not yet ingested — cited from canonical reference only.)

Commentarial elaboration

The Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā attributes the occasion of Dhp 3–6 to the quarrel between a barren senior wife and a junior wife's child, which the commentary traces across multiple lifetimes of reciprocal revenge — offered as a concrete illustration of the principle that hatred multiplies unless broken by its opposite. (commentary — not canonical; see TD-007 for pending Dhp-a ingest.)

Textual notes

Sujato renders averena at Dhp 5 as "by love", which is doctrinally suggestive but broader than the Pali's stricter "by non-hatred" / "by non-enmity". The positive rendering points toward mettā; the literal rendering keeps the contrast with vera sharper. (Dhp 5)
Dhp 129–130 do not use the word avera, but the ethical logic is the same one restated as attānaṁ upamaṁ katvā and non-killing. The Daṇḍavagga thus serves as a practical extension of Dhp 5 rather than a separate doctrine. (Dhp 129–130)

Related concepts

three unwholesome roots — dosa (hatred) as one of the three roots; avera / adosa as its counterpart
metta — loving-kindness, the formal meditative cultivation of non-hatred
khanti — patience, the endurance-face of non-hatred
kamma — why hatred perpetuates and non-hatred severs the chain