Dear Nina and friends,

thanks. You are right. However, to me, 'beast' doesn't sound nice.
How about this:

like the wheel (follows) the foot of the bearing animal (drawing a
loaded cart).

I will include available translations of this verse for readers to
compare.

CHIBS, Taiwan
All mental phenomena are preceded by mind,
Mind is their master, they are produced by mind.
If somebody speaks or acts
With a corrupted mind,
Hence suffering follows him,
Like the wheel the foot of the bearing animal.

Ven Acharya Buddharakkhita
Mind precedes all mental states.
Mind is their chief
they are all mind-wrought.
If with an impure mind
a person speaks or acts,
suffering follows him like the wheel
that follows the foot of the ox.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Phenomena are preceded by the heart,
ruled by the heart,
made of the heart.
If you speak or act
with a corrupted heart,
then suffering follows you --
as the wheel of the cart,
the track of the ox
that pulls it.

Ven. Narada
Mind foreruns (all evil) conditions, mind is chief, mind-made are
they; if one speaks or acts with wicked mind, because of that, pain
pursues him, even as the wheel follows the hoof of the draught-ox.

PTS???
Mind is the forerunner of (all evil) states. Mind is chief; mind-made
are they. If one speaks or acts with wicked mind, suffering follows
one, even as the wheel follows the hoof of the draught-ox.

The Dhammapada Stories, Daw Mya Tin
All mental phenomena have mind as their forerunner; they have mind as
their chief; they are mind-made. If one speaks or acts with an evil
mind, 'dukkha' follows him just as the wheel follows the hoofprint of
the ox that draws the cart.

John Richards
Mind precedes its objects. They are mind-governed and mind-made. To
speak or act with a defiled mind is to draw pain after oneself, like
a wheel behind the feet of the animal drawing it.

Harischandra Kaviratna
All the phenomena of existence have mind as their precursor, mind as
their supreme leader, and of mind are they made. If with an impure
mind one speaks or acts, suffering follows him in the same way as the
wheel follows the foot of the drawer (of the chariot).

Max Muller
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is
founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man
speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel
follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.

T. Byrom
We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.

metta,
Yong Peng

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, nina van gorkom wrote:
> like the wheel (follows) the foot of the one who carries.

N: < the beast of burden's foot > would be an alternative. The one
who carries seems like a person.