The Dhammapada: Verses on the WayTrembling and quivering is the mind, Difficult to guard and hard to restrain. The person of wisdom sets it straight, As a fletcher does an arrow. The Dhammapada introduced the actual utterances of the Buddha nearly twenty-five hundred years ago, when the master teacher emerged from his long silence to illuminate for his followers the substance of humankind’s deepest and most abiding concerns. The nature of the self, the value of relationships, the importance of moment-to-moment awareness, the destructiveness of anger, the suffering that attends attachment, the ambiguity of the earth’s beauty, the inevitability of aging, the certainty of death–these dilemmas preoccupy us today as they did centuries ago. No other spiritual texts speak about them more clearly and profoundly than does the Dhammapada. In this elegant new translation, Sanskrit scholar Glenn Wallis has exclusively referred to and quoted from the canonical suttas–the presumed earliest discourses of the Buddha–to bring us the heartwood of Buddhism, words as compelling today as when the Buddha first spoke them. On violence: All tremble before violence./ All fear death./ Having done the same yourself,/ you should neither harm nor kill. On ignorance: An uninstructed person/ ages like an ox,/ his bulk increases,/ his insight does not. On skillfulness: A person is not skilled/ just because he talks a lot./ Peaceful, friendly, secure–/ that one is called “skilled.” In 423 verses gathered by subject into chapters, the editor offers us a distillation of core Buddhist teachings that constitutes a prescription for enlightened living, even in the twenty-first century. He also includes a brilliantly informative guide to the verses–a chapter-by-chapter explication that greatly enhances our understanding of them. The text, at every turn, points to practical applications that lead to freedom from fear and suffering, toward the human state of spiritual virtuosity known as awakening. Glenn Wallis’s translation is an inspired successor to earlier versions of the suttas. Even those readers who are well acquainted with the Dhammapada will be enriched by this fresh encounter with a classic text. |
Contents
MIND 3343 | 10 |
THE SKILLED PERSON 7689 | 18 |
DETRIMENT 116128 | 26 |
OLD AGE 146156 | 32 |
THE WORLD 167178 | 39 |
CHAPTER SIXTEEN PLEASING 209220 | 46 |
TOXINS 235255 | 51 |
FIRMLY ON THE WAY 256272 | 57 |
CRAVING 334359 | 70 |
THE SUPERIOR PERSON 383423 | 79 |
INTRODUCTION | 89 |
CHAPTER OVERVIEWS AND NOTES | 103 |
THOUSANDS 100115 | 138 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 191 |
PLEASING 209220 | 197 |
THE LOWER WORLD 306319 | 64 |
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Common terms and phrases
anger arise attainment awakening become beneficial Bhikkhu Bodhi birth bodily body Brahmin breathe Buddha Buddhist literature burning call superior cessation cetera childish person citta Connected Discourses consciousness craving cultivation death deathless delight desire dhamma Dhammapada Dīgbanikāya diligence disciples dukkha dwells ease eightfold path elephant existence experience fault fetters flower follows four noble truths fruit goal Gotama Guide harm human impulses Indian insight Introduction to Chapter living lower world Mahāyāna Majjbimanikāya Māra matter means meditation mental metaphor mirage monk namarupa negligence nibbāna Nikaya noble eightfold path oneself pain Pāli Pali canon Pali Text Pali Text Society passion peace Perennial Philosophy phenomena practice practitioner qualities radiant reader realm rebirth refers refuge restrained rituals Samyuttanikāya Sanskrit scent seeker sense faculty skilled person sorrow speech stream stream-enterer superior person Sutta term Thanissaro Bhikkhu Theravada thought toxins traditions translation unbinding understanding verbal root verses viññāṇa wandering wisdom wise person word