DhammaPada verses 1-20 share on the power of the mind in shaping one's experiences, the importance of letting go of resentment and hostility, the consequences of living without restraint and moderation, the distinction between essence and non-essence, the sorrow and joy tied to one's actions, the importance of acting according to the Dhamma, and who partakes in the true ascetic life.

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 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.

Whoever has not let go of passion, aversion, and illusion is said to be bound by Māra, ensnared by Māra's trap, at the mercy of the Evil One, and subject to his will.

Whoever has let go of passion, aversion, and illusion is called one who has crossed beyond the ocean—with its waves, currents, whirlpools, lurking with fierce animals and monsters.

The Buddha advises to 1) dwell contemplating the unattractive nature of the body, 2) establish mindfulness as the first priority while breathing in and out, and 3) observe impermanence in all conditioned phenomena.

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

The Buddha explains to the brahmin Jāṇussoṇi how he overcame fright and dread while practicing seclusion in remote lodgings in the forests and woodlands, leading to the three true knowledges and full awakening.

The Buddha explains the four cases of taking up practices, based on whether they are pleasant or painful now and whether they ripen as suffering or a pleasant abiding in the future.

The Buddha explains to Jīvaka the circumstances in which meat may be consumed and the demerit of slaughtering living beings for the Tathāgata or his disciples.

The Buddha instructs Rāhula on how to regard the five aggregates as not-self which he immediately applies to practice. The Buddha then teaches Rāhula on how to meditate on the elements, the divine abodes, unattractiveness, impermanence, and mindfulness of breathing to abandon unwholesome mental qualities and cultivate wholesome mental qualities.

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.

Shortly after the Buddha's final Nibbāna, Venerable Ānanda addresses the brahmins Gopaka Moggallāna and chief minister Vassakāra, clarifying that the Buddha appointed no successor, establishing the Dhamma itself as the refuge for the Saṅgha. He outlines ten qualities that make a bhikkhu worthy of veneration and distinguishes the meditations praised by the Buddha from those based on hindrances.

King Pasenadi expresses deep sorrow over his grandmother's death. The Buddha teaches him that all beings, without exception, are subject to death and cannot escape it, likening it to a potter's pots that are all bound to break.

The Buddha uses the simile of a turtle struck by a harpoon to illustrate how attachments to acquisitions, respect, and popularity can lead to misfortune and hinder spiritual progress.

The Buddha explains how acquisitions, respect, and popularity are harsh, bitter, and severe, obstructing the attainment of the unsurpassed safety from bondage, using a simile of an old jackal with mange.

The Buddha explains how acquisitions, respect, and popularity are harsh, bitter, and severe, obstructing the attainment of the unsurpassed safety from bondage, using a simile of turbulent winds high in the sky.

The Buddha uses different similes to explain how acquisitions, respect, and popularity are harsh, bitter, and severe, obstructing the attainment of the unsurpassed safety from bondage.

It may be that a woman, even when alone with a man, may not remain occupying his mind, but acquisitions, respect, and popularity might.

It may be that a beauty queen, even when alone with a man, may not remain occupying his mind, but acquisitions, respect, and popularity might.

A laywoman should wish for her son to become like the foremost lay disciples Citta and Hatthaka, and if he goes forth, wish that acquisitions, respect, and popularity not come upon him while he is still a trainee.

A laywoman should wish for her daughter to become like the foremost female lay disciples Khujjuttarā and Nandamātā, and if she goes forth, may acquisitions, respect, and popularity not come upon her while she is still a trainee.

The Buddha explains how understanding the gratification, drawback, and escape in regard to acquisitions, respect, and popularity leads to personal experience and attainment of the goal of asceticism or brahminhood in this very life.

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

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 contrasts the suffering experienced by gods and humans, who delight in impermanent sense objects, with the contentment of the Tathāgata who understands their true nature, highlighting the differing views of happiness held by the world and the Noble Ones.

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 illusion determines whether one is susceptible to provocation and reacts with anger, or remains unshaken.

The seven underlying tendencies - 1) sensual desire, 2) aversion, 3) wrong view, 4) doubt, 5) conceit, 6) attachment to existence, and 7) ignorance - are described in brief. The Noble Eightfold Path is the way for direct knowledge, full understanding, complete exhaustion, and giving up of these tendencies.

The five higher fetters - 1) Passion for worldly existence, 2) passion for formless existence, 3) conceit, 4) restlessness, and 5) ignorance - are described in brief. The Noble Eightfold Path is the way for direct knowledge, full understanding, complete exhaustion, and giving up of these five higher fetters.

The seven underlying tendencies - 1) sensual desire, 2) aversion, 3) wrong view, 4) doubt, 5) conceit, 6) attachment to existence, and 7) ignorance - are described in brief. The four establishments of mindfulness should be cultivated for directly knowing, full understanding, complete exhaustion, and giving up of these tendencies.

The five higher fetters - 1) Passion for worldly existence, 2) passion for formless existence, 3) conceit, 4) restlessness, and 5) ignorance - are described in brief. The four establishments of mindfulness should be cultivated for direct knowledge, full understanding, complete exhaustion, and giving up of these five higher fetters.

The Buddha explains how the mind can be obsessed by the senses.

The Buddha explains what causes the hindrances to arise and how to abandon them.

The Buddha explains the faults concerning this life and the next life, the strivings for laypeople and those who have gone forth, the things that cause regret and do not cause regret, the importance of not resting content with wholesome qualities, the two things that cause regret and do not cause regret, the two dark and bright qualities, and the two occasions for approaching the rains retreat.

The Buddha teaches on two hopes that are difficult to abandon, two kinds of people who are rare in the world, two kinds of people who are difficult to satisfy, two causes for the arising of passion, aversion, wrong view, and right view, and two kinds of offenses.

The Buddha describes the seven underlying tendencies toward 1) sensual desire, 2) aversion, 3) views, 4) doubt, 5) conceit, 6) passion for existence, and 7) ignorance that are present in living beings.

The spiritual life is lived for the abandoning and complete uprooting of the seven underlying tendencies toward 1) sensual desire, 2) aversion, 3) views, 4) doubt, 5) conceit, 6) passion for existence, and 7) ignorance.

On seeing the people of Sāvatthi clinging to sensual pleasures, the Buddha expresses an inspired utterance on harm that comes from sensual desire.