Dhammapada verses 273–289 emphasize the eightfold path as the foremost way to liberation, seeing the impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self nature of all things. Further, the verses mention the relation of meditation and wisdom, They mention restraint, how wisdom through meditation, on cutting off the forest as well as the undergrowth, and making swift effort to purify by the way of practice leading to Nibbāna.

Dhammapada verses 334–359 depict craving as a binding force, likening it to a creeping vine, a trapped hare, and a spider’s web. The wise cut these bonds, free from passion, aversion, illusion, and longing, crossing beyond birth and aging. The highest gift is the Dhamma, surpassing all wealth and pleasures, and the destruction of craving is the greatest victory. Offerings to those free from defilements bear the greatest fruit.

Dhammapada verses 383–423 redefine ‘Brāhmaṇa’ (sage) by inner attainment, not birth or appearance. Through effort, a true sage cuts craving, understands reality, and realizes Nibbāna. Fearless, detached, pure, and restrained, they embody non-violence and patience. Free from defilements and attachments, having overcome suffering and rebirth, the sage achieves the ultimate goal, radiating wisdom and peace.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

The Blessed One explains the two principles of explaining the Dhamma - 1) ‘See harm as harm’ and 2) ‘Having seen harm as harm, become disenchanted with it, become detached from it, and be released from it.’

Overcome by two kinds of wrong views, some get stuck, while others overreach. But those with vision see.

The Buddha describes the three quests of sensual pleasure, renewed existence, and spiritual life as the result of holding tight to the thought ‘This is the truth’ and the accumulation of bases for views.

The Buddha describes the three defilements - the taint of sensual desire, the taint of becoming, and the taint of ignorance, and one who is free from them.

The Blessed One describes how beings are affected by respect and disrespect, and how this affects their rebirth. The true person is one who is collected, detached, and delights in the ending of grasping.

The Buddha shares the three kinds of best confidence - 1) in the Buddha, 2) in the mental quality of fading of desire, and 3) in the community of the Blessed One’s disciples.

The Buddha teaches that one could be far from him despite being physically close, and one could be near to him despite being physically far. When one sees the Dhamma, one sees the Buddha.

The Buddha explains why he is called the Tathāgata, the one who has perfectly understood the world, its arising, cessation, and the way of practice leading to its cessation.

On being asked about his teaching and what he proclaims, the Buddha describes non-conflict as the goal of his teaching and proclaims a state where perceptions do not lead to preoccupation. Venerable Mahākaccāna elaborates on this by thoroughly examining the dependent arising of phenomena, beginning with the six sense bases—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.

The Buddha explains the difference between cultivation and lack of cultivation with regard to body and mind, and recounts his own journey to full awakening.

The wanderer Māgaṇḍiya holds the view that sensual indulgence is spiritual growth and harshly criticizes the Buddha for teaching sense restraint, calling him a destroyer of spiritual growth. The Buddha skilfully reveals the true nature of sensual pleasures through vivid similes such as a leper finding relief by scorching himself over burning coals and a blind man mistaking a filthy rag for a spotless white cloth.

The Buddha teaches in detail how to develop mindfulness while breathing in and out through sixteen naturally unfolding steps, showing how their cultivation fulfills the four establishments of mindfulness, which in turn fulfill the seven factors of awakening, culminating in true knowledge and liberation.

The Buddha affirms the Four Noble Truths as the core of his teaching and praises venerable Sāriputta’s deep understanding of them, who then expounds the truths, detailing suffering in all its forms, the arising of suffering rooted in craving, the end of suffering, and the Noble Eightfold Path as the way of practice leading to the end suffering.

Verses depicting the path to liberation through the central metaphor of a serpent shedding its skin. Each stanza illustrates how a bhikkhu abandons defilements like anger, passion, craving, and conceit, thereby casting off attachment to this world and the next.

Verses depicting the uncertain, brief, and suffering-laden nature of mortal life, emphasizing the inevitability of death for all beings, like ripe fruits fated to fall. The Buddha counsels against futile grief and lamentation over the departed, urging the wise to understand the world’s relentless course of decay and death.

Eight verses on overcoming the mire of delusion by avoiding attachment to sensory pleasures, discerning their causes, and practicing for being free of ‘mine’.

The Buddha describes the conduct of a person who is said to be ‘peaceful’. Such a person is free from craving before the breakup of body. He is one who examines distinctions in all contacts, withdrawn, straightforward, unassuming, unmoved amid views, not holding to a construct, and for whom, there is no ‘mine’ in the world.

The Buddha answers Puṇṇaka’s questions about the sacrifices made by sages and brahmins, the nature of their desires, and who has truly crossed over birth and old age.

The young deity Kassapa shares a verse on the instruction for a bhikkhu.

The Buddha contrasts the body’s visible decay with the mind’s instability, which is clung to as ‘self’, comparing it to a restless monkey jumping between branches. He teaches that wisdom arises from understanding the full twelve-link chain of dependent co-arising, which explains the origin and cessation of all suffering.

The Buddha explains that while one can become detached from the decaying body, it is harder to detach from the mind, which is far more fleeting. He illustrates the principle of dependent co-arising with a specific example—just as fire arises from rubbing two sticks together and ceases when they are separated, so too feeling arises from contact and ceases with the cessation of contact.

The Buddha explains to a brahmin that the cycle of existence is without a discoverable beginning, and that it is not easy to calculate the number of aeons that have passed by and gone.

What is the burden and who bears it, what is the taking up of the burden and the putting down of it.

The Buddha teaches the things to be fully understood and what full understanding is.

Consciousness, while persisting, might persist attached to form, feeling, perception, and intentional constructs. When passion for these is abandoned, the support for the establishment of consciousness is completely cut off. That consciousness, being unestablished, does not grow, and by not intentionally constructing, is liberated.

After examining the impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and the changing nature of the five aggregates, the Buddha teaches how to see them with proper wisdom, as not being suitable to identify with.

The Buddha explains that those recollecting past lives are merely recalling one or more of the five aggregates. He defines each aggregate and shows how a noble disciple sees them as impermanent, dissatisfactory, and not suitable to identify with, leading to disenchantment, dispassion, and liberation.

Everything, when not directly known, not completely comprehended, not detached from, and not let go of, is incapable of resulting in the wearing away of suffering.

The Buddha teaches the Dhamma for the complete comprehension of all clinging through seeing the dependent co-arising of feeling through the six sense bases.

The Buddha explains how the Dhamma is directly visible, immediate, inviting one to come and see, applicable, and to be personally experienced by the wise through the six sense bases.

The Buddha uses the simile of a log of wood carried by a river to explain the eight obstacles to reaching Nibbāna.

When a bhikkhu asks the Buddha why the factors of awakening are called so, the Buddha gives a simple and direct answer, ‘since they lead to awakening.’

The Buddha explains that all bhikkhus should cultivate the four establishments of mindfulness, clarifying how the practice serves different purposes based on one's development - for new bhikkhus to know reality, and for trainees to gain full understanding. The perfectly awakened ones also abide in them, now disentangled.

The Buddha visits the dying lay disciple Dīghāvu and guides him to reflect on his solid foundation of faith and virtue (stream-entry), and then on deeper insights into impermanence. After his death, the Buddha declares him a wise non-returner, now bound for final Nibbāna.

The Buddha shares the importance of recollection of the Buddha, Dhamma, Saṅgha, one’s virtue, generosity, deities, in-and-out breathing, death, body, and peace.

When approached with abundant offerings, the Buddha expresses a heartfelt wish to avoid fame, and speaks of five contemplations which result in being established in dispassion and wisdom.

The Buddha explains the proximate causes of non-regret, joy, tranquility, and other qualities leading to liberation, contrasting how they are fulfilled in a virtuous person versus an unprincipled person.

After the serpent king Mucalinda stands guard over the Buddha during a rainstorm, the Buddha utters a verse on the happiness found in seclusion, harmlessness toward living beings, the transcendence of sensual desire, and the relinquishment of the conceit ‘I am.’

After his full awakening, the Buddha surveys the world, seeing beings aflame with passion, aversion, and delusion. He reflects on the nature of the world and the suffering inherent in existence. By seeing the world as it truly is, he points to the path of liberation.

The Buddha expresses an inspired utterance after reflecting on his giving up of the perceptions and notions [born of] mental proliferation.