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The Exalted Chapters
(Udānavarga)

A simplified translation of the Udānavarga, the largest collection of Dhammapada-type verses.

edited by
Franz Bernhard
(1965)

translated by
Ānandajoti Bhikkhu
(version 1, December 2025)

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Text and Translation

Text Only and 2 Studies

Html Table of Contents

Abbreviations

Introduction

 

1. The Chapter about Impermanence

2. The Chapter about Desire

3. The Chapter about Craving

4. The Chapter about Heedfulness

5. The Chapter about the Beloved

6. The Chapter about Virtue

7. The Chapter about Good Conduct

8. The Chapter about Speech

9. The Chapter about Deeds

10. The Chapter about Faith

11. The Chapter about Ascetics

12. The Chapter about the Path

13. The Chapter about Honour

14. The Chapter about Mischief

15. The Chapter about Mindfulness

16. The Miscellaneous Chapter

17. The Chapter about Water

18. The Chapter about Flowers

19. The Chapter about Horses

20. The Chapter about Anger

21. The Chapter about the Realised One

22. The Chapter about Learning

23. The Chapter about the Self

24. The Chapter Involving Repetition

25. The Chapter about Friends

26. The Chapter about Nirvāṇa

27. The Chapter about Seeing

28. The Chapter about Wrong

29. The Chapter about the Pairs

30. The Chapter about Happiness

31. The Chapter about the Mind

32. The Chapter about Monastics

33. The Chapter about Brahmins

Abbreviations

Texts

AN = Aṅguttaranikāya
DN = Dīghanikāya
Dhp = Dhammapada
Iti = Itivuttika
Ja = Jātaka-aṭṭhakathā
MN = Majjhimanikāya
Netti = Nettippakaraṇa
SN = Saṁyuttanikāya
Snp = Suttanipāta
Thag = Theragāthā
Ud = Udāna
Uv = Udānavarga

Resources

Bernhard, Uv = Franz Bernhard, Udānavarga
BHSD = Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary
BHSG = Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar
CPD = Critical Pali Dictionary
DoP = Margaret Cone, A Dictionary of Pāli
DPD = Digital Pāḷi Dictionary
Monier-Williams, MW = Sanskrit-English Dictionary
PTS = Pali Text Society edition
PTSPED = Pali Text Society Pali-English Dictionary
Syntax = O. H. de A. Wijesekera, Syntax of the Cases in the Pali Nikayas
Tibetan = Tibetan translation of Udānavarga, in Kg mdo sde sa, 209a1-253a7

Verse Types

stm. = Simple Statement (often normative, encouraging or discouraging behaviour)
adm. = Admonitory (usually imperative, gerundive and sometimes optative)
rh.q. = Rhetorical Questioning (often followed by statements or admonitions)
decl. = Declarative (first person declaration, often indicating what should be followed).

sim. = Simile (saying a is like b, or, just as a, so b)
ana. = Analogy (similar to similes but without a comparison word, these can also include metaphors)

Ānandajoti Bhikkhu,
January 2026

last updated: December 2025