SuttaCentral
Here’s the verse:
*How very happily we live
free from busyness
among those who are busy .
Among busy people,
free from busyness we dwell.
Dhammapada verse 199 (Translation by Thanissaro Bhikkhu)
*
Now here’s my doubt(s): was the Buddha pointing out the monks, the laypeople, or both? does busyness mean the duties of the world, or the search of sensual pleasures?
Looking forward to hear your answers.
Blessings!
A helpful variation is Gil Fronsdal’s where he renders this as ‘without ambition among those with ambition.’ Which I’ve understood as referring to a forward thinking mind, occupied with the creation of future becoming and the search for false happiness therein.
Although they are not considered by anyone as “canonical”, it’s always good to check the background story to the verses.
They are what tradition has used to help explain the deeper meaning.
Here is the Pali of Dhp199:
Susukhaṁ vata jīvāma, ussukesu anussukā; Ussukesu manussesu, viharāma anussukā.
And the definition of ussukesu:
adj. zealously desiring; ambitious; anxiously striving (for); anxious (about); agitated; stressed [ud + su + ka]
The DPD gives the above verse as an example, along with Thig 5.6:
“Saddhāya pabbajitvāna, agārasmānagāriyaṁ; Vicariṁhaṁ tena tena, lābhasakkāraussukā.
Having gone forth in faith from the lay life to homelessness, I wandered here and there, jealous of possessions and honors.
Bhante Sujato translates it as ‘greedy’.
And I checked my BPS printed copy of The Dhammapada, which my good friend @Sumana gifted me from Sri lanka (thank you again Sumana 
), translated by Acharya Buddharakkhita, he’s got ‘avarice’ which is a synonym for greed.
