Chapter 1. Pairs
Verse 19
Global verse #19
He who for his own benefit constantly recites the (canonical) literature3 but does not act accordingly, that heedless man, like a cowherd that counts the cows of others, is not enriched by the asketic life.
Footnotes
3. A.P. Buddhadatta Maha Thera (Dhammapadaṃ: An Anthology of the Sayings of the Buddha, Colombo, n.d., p.6) comments: ‘This is the only place in the Pāli where where this word [sahitaṃ] occurs to indicate “literature”. It is doubtful whether this was used here to mean the same thing. Another possibility here is to take this as two words sa and hitam instead of one. If we take it as two words we have to translate it as: “Though much he speaks about beneficial things”.’