In this discourse, the Buddha advises cultivating the qualities of patience, loving-kindness and compassion. For true character is revealed only when tested by disagreeable words and deeds. Using vivid similes culminating with the simile of the saw, the Buddha instructs to not give rise to a mind of hate, even if bandits were to seize and carve one up limb by limb.

The brahmin Subha asks the Buddha why humans experience such inequality in lifespans, health, wealth, and birth. The Buddha gives a detailed exposition of kamma, showing how specific wholesome and unwholesome actions—like killing, anger, generosity, and humility—bring their corresponding results in the human realm.

When the householder Potaliya claims he has “cut off all dealings” by retiring, the Buddha explains that true renunciation lies not in abandoning possessions but in abandoning unwholesome actions and defilements. Through vivid similes, he reveals the futility of sensual pleasures and how the true cutting off of all dealings is accomplished in the Noble Ones’ Discipline.

Verses on the cultivation of boundless loving-kindness for all beings, without exception. One should develop a protective, selfless love like a mother for her child. Maintained constantly, this "divine abiding" purifies the mind of ill-will and, combined with wisdom, leads to ultimate liberation.

When asked about the state of peace and the way of practice to reach it, the Buddha describes this state as being steady and unruffled, like the middle of the ocean where no wave arises. He then shares the way of practice to achieve it without delay: guarding the senses, letting go of indulgence, to be a meditator who cultivates wakefulness, and through investigation, abandoning a host of unwholesome qualities.

Venerable Sāriputta inquires of the Buddha about how a bhikkhu dwelling in solitude should deal with various challenges and cultivate the path. The Buddha delivers a complete guide for dispelling the darkness, moving from withstanding hardships to dispelling ‘distressing thoughts’ and ultimately purifying the mind from the ‘five kinds of dust.’

The Buddha illustrates that his true inheritance is the Dhamma, not material possessions. Venerable Sāriputta clarifies the practice of seclusion by listing numerous harmful qualities to abandon and the Middle Way that leads to abandoning of them, to clear vision, wisdom, tranquility, to full awakening.

Venerable Sāriputta explains the four kinds of persons based on their understanding of blemishes and blemish-free qualities. He uses the simile of a bronze bowl to illustrate the importance of understanding one’s blemishes and blemish-free qualities.

The Buddha uses the simile of a defiled cloth to explain how the mind can be similarly defiled by various impurities, and how it can be purified by abandoning them. And it is through this very practice that one arrives at unshakeable faith in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha. The Buddha also addresses a brahmin in verses who believes in purification by bathing in river.

The Buddha distinguishes pleasant abidings in the here and now from the way of effacement leading upwards to complete quenching. Effacement is shown as the gradual chipping away of defilements through restraint, cultivation of the noble eightfold path, and diligent training, culminating in the complete freedom of Nibbāna.

A lay disciple asks the Buddha why greed, aversion, and delusion still occupy and remain in his mind. The Buddha explains the importance of cultivating discernment of the gratification, drawback, and escape in the case of sensual pleasures along with cultivating the joy and happiness apart from sensual pleasures. He then recounts a conversation with the Nigaṇṭhas on this topic.

The Buddha describes the abandoning of anger as a security for non-returning.

One is incapable of ending suffering without directly knowing and completely comprehending anger, without the mind detaching from it and without abandoning it. One is capable of ending suffering by directly knowing and completely comprehending anger, with the mind detaching from it, and by abandoning it.

The Buddha shares the consequences for a person acting with an upset mind based on his direct knowledge.

Greed, aversion, and delusion are internal impurities that act as one’s internal enemies. Though they obscure clarity and injure one from within, most people fail to recognize their true nature.

The Buddha describes the fires of passion, hatred, and delusion which consume beings who cling to a self. The wise cool these flames with wisdom, loving-kindness, and perceiving unattractiveness.

The Buddha uses the simile of a person being carried down by a lovely and alluring river current to illustrate the painful results of craving and indulgence in the internal sense bases.

The young deity Māgha asks the Buddha in a verse on what to cut off to sleep with ease and grieve no more. The Buddha advises to cut off anger.

When a brahmin woman expresses faith in the Buddha, her husband, a brahmin of the Bhāradvāja clan, goes to dispute the doctrine of the Buddha. The Buddha teaches the brahmin the importance of cutting off anger.

The Buddha explains the cause and condition by which a person comes to be recognized as aggressive or gentle. He illuminates how the presence or absence of passion, aversion, and delusion determines whether one is susceptible to provocation and reacts with anger, or remains unshaken.

The Buddha answers step-by-step to a series of questions starting with the source of quarrels and disputes, followed by the arising of various things such as hopes, aims, desires, possessions; leading all the way to the description of the ultimate purity of the spirit.

The Buddha contrasts the misdirected and well-directed mind, and explains the importance of directing the mind.

The Buddha describes three persons based on how they respond to anger. One person is like a line etched on rock, another like a line etched on ground, and the third like a line etched on water.

The Buddha explains eight kinds of giving, including giving out of fear, giving to maintain a good reputation, and giving to purify the mind.

Dhammapada verses 320–333 highlight self-discipline, wisdom, and perseverance through the imagery of elephants. They highlight inner mastery over strength, the value of solitude over company of immature persons, and the importance of taming one’s mind. Honoring parents, cultivating virtue, and letting go of suffering lead to true ease.

Dhammapada verses 360–382 depict the ideal bhikkhu as one who restrains the senses, body, speech, and mind, leading to freedom from suffering. Emphasis is placed on mindfulness, inner joy, collectedness, and self-reliance. Through discipline and reflection, the bhikkhu advances towards the peace of Nibbāna, shining like the moon freed from clouds.

Verses on the cultivation of boundless loving-kindness for all beings, without exception. One should develop a protective, selfless love like a mother for her child. Maintained constantly, this "divine abiding" purifies the mind of ill-will and, combined with wisdom, leads to ultimate liberation.