Craving (Taṇhā Vagga)
Verse 334
Pāli Source
Manujassa pamattacārino taṇhā vaḍḍhati māluvā viya; so palavatī hurāhuraṃ, phalam icchaṃ va vanasmi vānaro.
English Translation
For a person who lives heedlessly, craving grows like a creeping vine. Such a person jumps from one life to the next, like a monkey in the forest seeking fruit.
Way to Enlightenment draft translation — not yet reviewed for accuracy.
Editorial Note
Opens the Taṇhā Vagga (Craving) — the restless monkey searching tree to tree is one of the Dhammapada’s most vivid images for how unexamined craving keeps a mind (and, traditionally, a being across lives) in motion without settling.
Source
Pali critical edition: O. von Hinüber & K.R. Norman (Pali Text Society, 1995), digitized by the Dhammakaya Foundation via GRETIL, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0