Verses 277, 278 and 279

Dhammapada Verses 277, 278 and 279

Stories Relating to Anicca, Dukkha and Anatta.

Five hundred bhikkhus, after receiving their subject of meditation from the Buddha, went into the forest to practice meditation, but they made little progress. So, they returned to the Buddha to ask for another subject of meditation which would suit them better. On reflection, the Buddha found that those bhikkhus had, during the time of Kassapa Buddha, meditated on impermanence. So, he said, "Bhikkhus, all conditioned phenomena are subject to change and decay and are therefore impermanent."

Then the Buddha spoke in verse as follows:

"Sabbe sankhara anicca" ti
yada pannaya¹ passati
atha nibbindati dukkhe
esa maggo visuddhiya.

Verse 277: "All conditioned phenomena are impermanent"; when one sees this with Insight-wisdom, one becomes weary of dukkha (i.e., the khandhas). This is the Path to Purity.

"Sabbe sankhara dukkha" ti
yada pannaya passati
atha nibbindati dukkhe
esa maggo visuddhiya.

Verse 278: "All conditioned phenomena are dukkha"; when one sees this with Insight-wisdom, one becomes weary of dukkha (i.e., the khandhas). This is the Path to Purity.

"Sabbe sankhara anatta" ti
yada pannaya passati
atha nibbindati dukkhe
esa maggo visuddhiya.

Verse 279: "All phenomena (dhammas) are without Self"; when one sees this with Insight-wisdom, one becomes weary of dukkha (i.e., the khandhas). This is the Path to Purity.

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1. panna: Insight-wisdom (Vipassana panna).