Verse 64

Dhammapada Verse 64

The Story of Thera Udayi

Thera Udayi would often go and sit on the platform from which learned theras delivered their discourses. On one occasion, some visiting bhikkhus, taking him for a very learned thera, put to him some questions on the five aggregates (khandhas). Thera Udayi could not answer, because he did not know anything of the dhamma. The visiting bhikkhus were greatly astonished to find that one staying in the same monastery with the Buddha knew so very little about the khandhas and the ayatanas (sense-bases and sense-objects).

To them, the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

Yavajivampi ce balo
panditam payirupasati
na so dhammam vijanati
dabbi suparasam yatha.

Verse 64: A fool, even though he is associated with a wise man all his life, does not understand the Dhamma, just as a ladle does not know the taste of soup.