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The Dhammapada
The Dhammapada
The Dhammapada
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The Dhammapada

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For students of Buddhism "The Dhammapada" is a must-read. This historic collection gathers various words spoken by the leader and founder of Buddhism. Each of the phrases in verse form coincides with a specific event that happened in Buddha's life, and he offers words of wisdom to shed light on these situations. This text is a staple in the Buddhist religion and is widely known as one of the most famous books in Eastern culture. Even though the thoughts of Buddha are his spoken word in written form, it is important for readers to remember that Buddha wanted all his philosophies to be open to interpretation and debate. With his verses, Buddha offers his own belief system for the world to analyze. For those who want to accept these words, they often find that "The Dhammapada" is an inspiration to change their lives. However, people from all different religions and creeds can find wisdom through Buddha's sayings; he looked at morality with a passive eye and willed his followers to treat everyone with the utmost respect. These and other beliefs can be found in "The Dhammapada," which will be an interesting read for anyone wishing to challenge or expand their own thoughts and beliefs.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 1, 2013
ISBN9781596743373
The Dhammapada

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a lovely translation, but the word choices lean towards the Christan mind set.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There is wisdom here hidden in verse form and covered over with years of translation. After decoding it is a great insight into Goatama Buddha,
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Much better than the Penguin edition.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a slim volume of Buddhist teachings- only a page or two per topic. It ranges from Anger, to Old Age. The wisdom presented is easily understood, but difficult to master. Regardless of what you believe, or religion you follow, there will be something for you to ponder on.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a golden nugget of a book - a tiny paperback containing tons of wisdom. Dhammapada (Dhamma in Pali, Dharma in Sanskrit - both meaning the Truth), the 423 aphorisms of the way of the Buddha, the Perfect Path, is translated from Pali language. The Introduction by Juan Mascaro, covering one third of the tiny book, is in itself a wonderful interpretation of what is to follow. A must book on one's bedside table.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The translation is a bit odd at times: Church for Sangha for instance. Not sure where the yin-yang on the cover comes from?I'm sure there are better translations of this pop collection of Lord Buddha's teachings, but I wouldn't know as after reading I went straight to Bhikkhu Bodhi's excellent translations of the Nikayas.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Dhammapada, a collection of sayings of the Buddha, is certainly a book filled with wisdom from a very wise man. It was great to read it and, as a Christian, to be able to appreciate his insights into human nature and into the nature of reality. Buddhist spirituality has always deeply impressed me and I was certainly not disappointed by reading this book. Easwaran's notes are generally very helpful, though his constant need to compare Christianity and Christ, neither of which he seems to understand very well, with Buddhism and the Buddha was a bit annoying at times. Overall, I think this is a book from which much insight can be gained and I recommend it to others as well.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Simply beautiful! A reader can immerse oneself for days. An amazing translation. Beautiful! This book is small enough to carry around in a pocket, and I keep it with me at all times. It's that amazing.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I doubt I have anything original to say about The Dhammapada, but I'll offer my tuppence-worth anyway.Its message is a deceptively simple one, in essence "be kind, be mindful". In that, as the editor of my edition, Juan Mascaró, says, it has a commonality with the essence of every major world religion. I guess the differences between religions are mainly in the particular cultural presentation of universal truths (and, perhaps, the lengths to which we go to justify deviating from the clearly marked path).The passages in the Dhammapada which particularly resonated for me on this reading were those that chime with the person-centred worldview based on the psychological theory of Carl R. Rogers. So, for example, chapters one and two (Contrary Ways and Watchfulness) had meaning for me in respect of Rogers' quality of Congruence: the awareness of the flow of thought and feeling in ourselves and how they arise and are more or less distorted through the lens of past experience and psychological defensiveness. Other chapters speak to me of the process of personality change and the movement from rigid, pre-defined views of the world, to a more fluid, in-the-moment 'way of being' (to borrow the title of one of Rogers' books). There are, for me, other correspondences (though I wouldn't go so far as to say there are exact matches throughout) which I won't elaborate on, but which added to the richness of my reading this time around.I find it fascinating that a secular, science-based approach to understanding the nature of being human can arrive at some very similar conclusions to those underlying our oldest religious traditions. This is why, as an atheist, I'm still interested in religion. It's part of who we are and the tendency towards religious ways of experiencing is likely to continue unabated as a part of us.I'm not personally inclined towards a belief in godhead, but the numinous feeling of universal oneness which I have sometimes (rarely) felt speaks to me of the deep relatedness which, at our best, we can recognise for each other as persons of intrinsic worth, regardless of any other perceived differences.

Book preview

The Dhammapada - Digireads.com Publishing

THE DHAMMAPADA

BEING

AN ANCIENT ANTHOLOGY PRESERVED

IN THE SHORT COLLECTION OF

THE SACRED SCRIPTURES

OF THE BUDDHISTS

TRANSLATED BY ALBERT J. EDMUNDS

A Digireads.com Book

Digireads.com Publishing

Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-4846-2

EBook ISBN 13: 978-1-59674-337-3

This edition copyright © 2013

Please visit www.digireads.com

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.

PREFACE TO THE SUTRA CALLED FA-KHEU.

THE DHAMMAPADA

I. ANTITHESES.

II. EARNESTNESS.

III. THE HEART.

IV. FLOWERS.

V. FOOLS.

VI. THE PANDIT (or, Scholar).

VII. THE ARAHAT.

VIII. THOUSANDS.

IX. EVIL (or Wrong).

X. THE ROD.

XI. OLD AGE.

XII. ONESELF.

XIII. THE WORLD.

XIV. THE BUDDHA.

XV. HAPPINESS.

XVI. PLEASURE.

XVII. ANGER.

XVIII. BANES.

XIX. THE JUST.

XX. THE WAY.

XXI. MISCELLANY.

XXII. HELL.

XXIII. THE ELEPHANT.

XXIV. THIRST.

XXV. THE MONK.

XXVI. THE BRAHMIN.

GLOSSARY OF PÂLI BUDDHIST TERMS.

POSTSCRIPT.

DEDICATED TO MY FRIENDS

BUNFORD AND ELLA SAMUEL

OF MOUNT AIRY, PHILADELPHIA

AS WHOSE GUEST I TRANSLATED THE

GREATER PART OF THIS BOOK

INTRODUCTION.

This ancient anthology of Buddhist devotional poetry was compiled from the utterances of Gotamo and his disciples; from early hymns by monks; and from the popular poetic proverbs of India. Several of the Dhammapada verses are found in the Hymns by Monks, a book of the sacred Pâli Canon. Others are found scattered throughout that Canon, in all its main collections of Discourses, and four even in the Books of Discipline; while we encounter yet others in the national Epic of India and in the Law-Book of Manu, which is the Hindû Deuteronomy. These last are written in classical Sanskrit; but as Pâli is a popular idiom thereof, but little change is needed to turn a stanza from one tongue to the other—no more than to Anglicize the Hallowe'en of Burns. Not only in the pure Sanskrit of the Brahmin classics do we find stray lines of our Hymns, but in the corrupt Sanskrit of later Buddhist literature, which arose in the valley of the Ganges during the two centuries preceding the Christian era. Moreover, some fragments of Buddhist verse found in Chinese Turkestan, and dating from very early times, contain stanzas known to the Dhammapada, but written in a debased Prâkrit or provincial dialect.

In these various forms—Pâli, Sanskrit and Prâkrit,{1}—the sacred books were recited in Buddhist monasteries, from Ceylon to Afghanistan, for four hundred years, until, about 40 B. C.,{2} they began to be written; at first in Ceylon alone, but afterwards wherever the religion went. A Chinese account, however, says that the Book of Discipline was copied in the second century B. C., from an older archetype. In the early Christian centuries the Hymns were taken to China, to Cambodia, and still later to Burmah,{3} Japan, Tibet and Siam. We have at least one version in Chinese which sticks quite close to the Pâli, though adding new selections. Besides this true translation, the Chinese have produced varied recensions (just as the early Christians with the Clementines) which deal very freely with the matter. At the same time, the Chinese had an historical and critical sense which was lacking in the Hindûs, and they knew the difference between a faithful and a licentious textual form. We have appended to this introduction the Chinese preface translated by Beal, the quaint statements of which will bear out what we are saying, and throw light also upon the religious mind of China, which is not essentially different from our own.

As our collection of Hymns is a series of extracts, it is possible that it was not compiled until after the age of writing. So the Chinese Preface would make it appear; but Hindû literary habits and ours are so different, that we cannot be sure of this. The Chinese in other accounts even give the name of the compiler, Dharmatrâta; and some indications seem to point to the first century before Christ as his date. But this is uncertain. We do know, however, both from the Pâli Monkish Hymn-Book, and from the Tibetan historian, that hymn-writers flourished during the third century that followed the demise of Gotamo, as well as earlier.

The first printed edition of the Dhammapada was made in 972, when the Chinese recension of the Buddhist Scriptures and their concomitant literature was first printed. The Pâli original was destined to be printed at last by a Christian scholar at Copenhagen in 1855, when Vincent Fausböll's edition was also the first Pâli text to be printed in Europe.{4} It is from this veteran scholar's second edition (London, 1900) that our present translation has been made. Much help has been derived from the Latin translation of Fausböll which accompanies his text; from the English of Max Müller (Sacred Books of the East, Vol. X.: Oxford, 1881; second edition, 1898){5}; and from the French of Fernand Hû (Paris, 1878.) I have not had the fortune to see the German of Weber or the English of James Gray. The literal Latin of Fausböll is especially valuable. For further information, and for the various meanings of the term Dhammapada, we refer the reader to Max Müller's Introduction to his translation. Our own rendering of the word is based upon Stanzas

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