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Lesson 3.4.1 Pupphavaggo – Words Like a Flower
The Buddha often employs comparisons or makes use of similes when addressing his lay followers. Such analogies are especially common in the verses collected in the Dhammapadapāḷi. The chapter on flowers, Pupphavaggo, is particularly rich in such similes, and the verses for this lesson are quoted from it. Associated with King Pasenadi of Kosala and his queens Mallika and Vāsabhakhattiyā, as well as Vishāka, these verses draw a parallel between the fragrance of flowers and the words they uttered. One compares the perfumes of intense and enjoyable flowers, like sandalwood or lotus flowers, with the unsurpassed scent of sīla (sīlagandho). As delightful as these fragrances are, they cannot achieve the same repute as a virtuous person can accomplish: to travel against the wind reaching far and wide.