Sacred Text · The Dhammapada
The Dhammapada, verse 1
Chapter 1, The Twin-Verses · verse 1
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.”
Dhammapada 1 · Müller
Translation: F. Max Müller (1881), The Dhammapada, Sacred Books of the East vol. X, public domain, via Project Gutenberg (ebook 2017). Reproduced in full and in context; verse 5 and the verse count (423 verses, 26 chapters) validated against the source before publishing.
Christian comparison
How this connects to Jesus
The Dhammapada opens by teaching that we are shaped by our thoughts. Jesus taught something close: that what defiles a person comes out of the heart (Matthew 15:18-19), and Paul urged believers to be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2). Christianity adds a hope this verse does not claim, that God himself can give us a new heart, not by our effort alone but as a gift.
Explore: The heart and the mindWhy Jesus?Read the Gospel