Dhammapada

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The Dhammapada (Pāli; Prakrit: Dhamapada; Sanskrit Dharmapada; sometimes translated into English as Path of the Dharma) is a versified Buddhist scripture traditionally ascribed to the Buddha himself. It is one of the best known texts from the Theravada canon. Its literary merits are a matter of disagreement.[1]

Contents

[edit] History

Pali Canon
    Vinaya Pitaka    
   
                                       
SV. Khandhaka Vin V
               
   
    Sutta Pitaka    
   
                                                 
DN MN SN AN KN
                                                 
   
    Abhidhamma Pitaka    
   
                                                           
Dhs. Vbh. Dhk.
Pug.		 Kvu. Yam. Patthana
                       
   


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The Dhammapada, from the Pāli Tipitaka, is considered one of the most popular pieces of Theravada literature.[2]

According to tradition, the Dhammapada's verses were spoken by the Buddha on various occasions.[3] Most verses deal with ethics.[4] The text is part of the Khuddaka Nikaya of the Sutta Pitaka, although over half of the verses exist in other parts of the Pali Canon.[5] A fourth or fifth c. CE commentary attributed to Buddhaghosa includes 305 stories which give context to the verses.

Although the Pāli edition is the most well known, a number of other versions are known:[6]

  • a Dharmaguptaka version in Gandhari written in Kharosthi script[7]
  • sections of a Lokottaravada version
  • a Sammatiya version in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, known as the Patna Dharmapada
  • a seemingly related Mula-Sarvastivada text known as the Udānavarga[8] in
    • 3 Sanskrit versions
    • a Tibetan translation, which is popular in traditional Tibetan Buddhism
  • 4 Chinese works entitled Fajiu jing; one of these appears to be an expanded translation of the Pali version; this has not traditionally been very popular.

[edit] Organization

The Pali Dhammapada contains 423 verses in 26 chapters (listed below in English and, in parentheses, Pali).[9][10][11]

I. The Twin-Verses (Yamaka-vaggo) (see excerpt below)
II. On Earnestness (Appamāda-vaggo)
III. Thought (Citta-vaggo)
IV. Flowers (Puppha-vaggo)
V. The Fool (Bāla-vaggo)
VI. The Wise Man (Paṇḍita-vaggo)
VII. The Venerable (Arahanta-vaggo)
VIII. The Thousands (Sahassa-vaggo)
IX. Evil (Pāpa-vaggo)
X. Punishment (Daṇḍa-vaggo) (see excerpt below)
XI. Old Age (Jarā-vaggo)
XII. Self (Atta-vaggo)
XIII. The World (Loka-vaggo)
XIV. The Buddha — The Awakened (Buddha-vaggo) (see excerpt below)
XV. Happiness (Sukha-vaggo)
XVI. Pleasure (Piya-vaggo)
XVII. Anger (Kodha-vaggo)
XVIII. Impurity (Mala-vaggo)
XIX. The Just (Dhammaṭṭha-vaggo)
XX. The Way (Magga-vaggo) (see excerpt below)
XXI. Miscellaneous (Pakiṇṇaka-vaggo)
XXII. The Downward Course (Niraya-vaggo)
XXIII. The Elephant (Nāga-vaggo)
XXIV. Thirst (Taṇhā-vaggo) (see excerpt below)
XXV. The Mendicant (Bhikkhu-vaggo)
XXVI. The Brāhmana (Brāhmaṇa-vaggo)

[edit] Excerpts

The following English translations are from Müller (1881). The Pali text is from the Sri Lanka Tripitaka Project (SLTP) edition.[10]

[edit] Ch. I. Twin Verses (Yamaka-vaggo)
1. 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. Manopubbaṅgamā dhammā manoseṭṭhā manomayā
Manasā ce paduṭṭhena bhāsati vā karoti vā
Tato naṃ dukkhamanveti cakkaṃ'va vahato padaṃ.
2. 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 a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him. Manopubbaṅgamā dhammā manoseṭṭhā manomayā
Manasā ce pasannena bhāsati vā karoti vā
Tato naṃ sukhamanveti chāyā'va anapāyinī.
5. For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule. Na hi verena verāni sammantīdha kudācanaṃ
Averena ca sammanti esa dhammo sanantano.

[edit] Ch. X. Punishment (Daṇḍa-vaggo)
131. He who seeking his own happiness punishes or kills beings who also long for happiness, will not find happiness after death. Sukhakāmāni bhūtāni yodaṇḍena vihiṃsati
Attano sukhamesāno pecca so na labhate sukhaṃ.
132. He who seeking his own happiness does not punish or kill beings who also long for happiness, will find happiness after death. Sukhakāmāni bhūtāni yodaṇḍena na hiṃsati
Attano sukhamesāno pecca so labhate sukhaṃ.
133. Do not speak harshly to anybody; those who are spoken to will answer thee in the same way. Angry speech is painful, blows for blows will touch thee. Mā'voca pharusaṃ kañci vuttā paṭivadeyyu taṃ
Dukkhā hi sārambhakathā paṭidaṇḍā phuseyyu taṃ.

[edit] Ch. XIV: The Buddha (The Awakened) (Buddha-vaggo)
183. Not to commit any sin, to do good, and to purify one's mind, that is the teaching of (all) the Awakened. Sabbapāpassa akaraṇaṃ kusalassa upasampadā
Sacittapariyodapanaṃ etaṃ buddhāna sāsanaṃ.

[edit] Ch. XX: The Way (Magga-vaggo)
276. You yourself must make an effort. The Tathagatas (Buddhas) are only preachers. The thoughtful who enter the way are freed from the bondage of Mara. Tumhehi kiccaṃ ātappaṃ akkhātāro tathāgatā
Paṭipannā pamokkhanti jhāyino mārabandhanā.
277. 'All created things perish,' he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way to purity. Sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā'ti yadā paññāya passati
Atha nibbindati dukkhe esa maggo visuddhiyā.
278. 'All created things are grief and pain,' he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way that leads to purity. Sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā'ti yadā paññāya passati
Atha nibbindati dukkhe esa maggo visuddhiyā.
279. 'All forms are unreal,' he who knows and sees this becomes passive in pain; this is the way that leads to purity. Sabbe dhammā anattā'ti yadā paññāya passati
Atha nibbindati dukkhe esa maggo visuddhiyā.

[edit] Ch. XXIV: Thirst (Taṇhā-vaggo)
343. Men, driven on by thirst, run about like a snared hare; let therefore the mendicant drive out thirst, by striving after passionlessness for himself. Tasiṇāya purakkhatā pajā parisappanti saso'va bādhito
Tasmā tasiṇaṃ vinodaye bhikkhu ākaṅkhī virāgamattano.
350. If a man delights in quieting doubts, and, always reflecting, dwells on what is not delightful (the impurity of the body, &c.), he certainly will remove, nay, he will cut the fetter of Mara. Vitakkupasame ca yo rato asubhaṃ bhāvayati sadā sato
Esa kho vyantikāhiti esa checchati mārabandhanaṃ.

[edit] English translations

  • Tr F. Max Müller, in Buddhist Parables, by E. W. Burlinghame, 1869; reprinted in Sacred Books of the East, volume X, Clarendon/Oxford, 1881; reprinted in Buddhism, by Clarence Hamilton; reprinted separately by Watkins, 2006; reprinted 2008 by Red and Black Publishers, St Petersburg, Florida, ISBN 978-1-934941-03-4; the first English translation (a Latin translation had appeared in 1855)
  • Tr J. Gray, American Mission Press, Rangoon, 1881
  • Tr J. P. Cooke & O. G. Pettis, Boston (Massachusetts?), 1898
  • Hymns of Faith, tr Albert J. Edmunds, Open Court, Chicago, & Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., London, 1902
  • Tr Norton T. W. Hazeldine, Denver, Colorado, 1902
  • The Buddha's Way of Virtue, tr W. D. C. Wagiswara & K. J. Saunders, John Murray, London, 1912
  • Tr Silacara, Buddhist Society, London, 1915
  • Tr Suriyagoda Sumangala, in Ceylon Antiquary, 1915
  • Tr A. P. Buddhadatta, Colombo Apothecaries, 1920?
  • The Buddha's Path of Virtue, tr F. L. Woodward, Theosophical Publishing House, London & Madras, 1921
  • In Buddhist Legends, tr E. W. Burlinghame, Harvard Oriental Series, 1921, 3 volumes; reprinted by Pali Text Society[1], Bristol; translation of the stories from the commentary, with the Dhammapada verses embedded
  • Tr R. D. Shrikhande and/or P. L. Vaidya (according to different bibliographies; or did one publisher issue two translations in the same year?), Oriental Book Agency, Poona, 1923; includes Pali text
  • "Verses on Dhamma", in Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon, volume I, tr C. A. F. Rhys Davids, 1931, Pali Text Society, Bristol; verse translation; includes Pali text
  • Tr N. K. Bhag(w?)at, Buddha Society, Bombay, 1931/5; includes Pali text
  • The Way of Truth, tr S. W. Wijayatilake, Madras, 1934
  • Tr Irving Babbitt, Oxford University Press, New York & London, 1936; revision of Max Müller
  • Tr K. Gunaratana, Penang, Malaya, 1937
  • The Path of the Eternal Law, tr Swami Premananda, Self-Realization Fellowship, Washington DC, 1942
  • Tr Dhammajoti, Maha Bodhi Society, Benares, 1944
  • Tr Jack Austin, Buddhist Society, London, 1945
  • Stories of Buddhist India, tr Piyadassi, 2 volumes, Moratuwa, Ceylon, 1949 & 1953; includes stories from the commentary
  • Tr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Oxford University Press, London, 1950; includes Pali text
  • Collection of Verses on the Doctrine of the Buddha, comp Bhadragaka, Bangkok, 1952
  • Tr T. Latter, Moulmein, Burma, 1950?
  • Tr W. Somalokatissa, Colombo, 1953
  • Tr Narada, John Murray, London, 1954
  • Tr E. W. Adikaram, Colombo, 1954
  • Tr A. P. Buddhadatta, Colombo, 1954; includes Pali text
  • Tr Siri Sivali, Colombo, 1954
  • Tr ?, Cunningham Press, Alhambra, California, 1955
  • Tr C. Kunhan Raja, Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar/Madras, 1956; includes Pali text
  • Free rendering and interpretation by Wesley La Violette, Los Angeles, 1956
  • Tr Buddharakkhita, Maha Bodhi Society, Bangalore, 1959; 4th edn, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1996; includes Pali text
  • Tr Suzanne Karpelès?, serialized in Advent (Pondicherry, India), 1960-65; reprinted in Questions and Answers, Collected Works of the Mother, 3, Pondicherry, 1977
  • Growing the Bodhi Tree in the Garden of the Heart, tr Khantipalo, Buddhist Association of Thailand, Bangkok, 1966; reprinted as The Path of Truth, Bangkok, 1977
  • Tr P. Lal, New York, 1967/70
  • Tr Juan Mascaró, Penguin Classics, 1973
  • Tr Thomas Byrom, Shambhala, Boston, Massachusetts, & Wildwood House, London, 1976 (ISBN 0-87773-966-8)
  • Tr Ananda Maitreya, serialized in Pali Buddhist Review, 1 & 2, 1976/7; offprinted under the title Law Verses, Colombo, 1978; revised by Rose Kramer (under the Pali title), originally published by Lotsawa Publications in 1988, reprinted by Parallax Press in 1995
  • The Buddha's Words, tr Sathienpong Wannapok, Bangkok, 1979
  • Wisdom of the Buddha, tr Harischandra Kaviratna, Pasadena, 1980; includes Pali text
  • The Eternal Message of Lord Buddha, tr Silananda, Calcutta, 1982; includes Pali text
  • Tr Chhi Med Rig Dzin Lama, Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, India, 1982; tr from the modern Tibetan translation by dGe-'dun Chos-'phel; includes Pali & Tibetan texts
  • Tr & pub Dharma Publishing, Berkeley, California, 1985; tr from the modern Tibetan translation by dGe-'dun Chos-'phel
  • Commentary, with text embedded, tr Department of Pali, University of Rangoon, published by Union Buddha Sasana Council, Rangoon (date uncertain; 1980s)
  • Tr Daw Mya Tin, Burma Pitaka Association, Rangoon, 1986; probably currently published by the Department for the Promotion and Propagation of the Sasana, Rangoon, and/or Sri Satguru, Delhi
  • Path of Enlightenment, tr David J. Kalupahana, Universities Press of America, Lanham, Maryland, c. 1986
  • Tr Raghavan Iyer, Santa Barbara, 1986; includes Pali text
  • Tr Eknath Easwaran, Arkana, London, 1986/7(ISBN 978-1-58638-019-9); reissued with new material Nilgiri Press 2007, Tomales, CA (ISBN 9781586380205)
  • Tr John Ross Carter & Mahinda Palihawadana, Oxford University Press, New York, 1987; the original, expensive hardback edition also includes the Pali text and the commentary's explanations of the verses; the cheap paperback reprint in the World's Classics Series omits these
  • Tr U. D. Jayasekera, Colombo, 1992
  • Treasury of Truth, tr Weragoda Sarada, Taipei, 1993
  • Tr Thomas Cleary, Thorsons, London, 1995
  • The Word of the Doctrine, tr K. R. Norman, 1997, Pali Text Society, Bristol; the PTS's preferred translation
  • Tr Anne Bancroft?, Element Books, Shaftesbury, Dorset, & Richport, Massachusetts, 1997
  • Tr F. Max Müller (see above), revised Jack Maguire, SkyLight Pubns, Woodstock, Vermont, 2002
  • Tr Glenn Wallis, Modern Library, New York, 2004 (ISBN 0-679-64397-9)
  • Tr Gil Fronsdal, Shambhala, Boston, Massachusetts, 2005 (ISBN 1-59030-380-6)
  • Tr Amitov Katz?, ed Rosemary Bryant, Astrolog Publishing House, Hod Hasharon, Israel, 2005
  • Tr Bhikkhu Varado, Inward Path, Malaysia, 2007; Dhammapada in English Verse

See also online translations listed below.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Buddhist Studies Review, 6, 2, 1989, page 153, reprinted in Norman, Collected Papers, volume VI, 1996, Pali Text Society, Bristol, page 156
  2. ^ See, for instance, Buswell (2003): "rank[s] among the best known Buddhist texts" (p. 11); and, "one of the most popular texts with Buddhist monks and laypersons" (p. 627). Harvey (2007), p. 322, writes: "Its popularity is reflected in the many times it has been translated into Western languages."
  3. ^ Pertinent episodes allegedly involving the historic Buddha are found in the commentary (Buddharakkhita & Bodhi, 1985, p. 4). In addition, a number of the Dhammapada's verses are identical with text from other parts of the Pali tipitaka that are directly attributed to the Buddha in the latter texts. For instance, Dhammapada verses 3, 5, 6, 328-330 can also be found in MN 128 (Ñāṇamoli & Bodhi, 2001, pp. 1009-1010, 1339 n. 1187).
  4. ^ Harvey (2007), p. 322, line v.b., refers to the Dhammapada as "a popular collection of 423 pithy verses of a largely ethical nature." Similarly, Brough (2001)'s preface (p. xvii) starts: "The collection of Pali ethical verses entitled Dhammapada is one of the most widely known of early Buddhist texts."
  5. ^ Geiger (2004), p. 19, para. 11.2 writes:
    More than half the verses may be found also in other canonical texts. The compiler of the Dh. [Dhammapada] however certainly did not depend solely on these canonical texts but also made use of the great mass of pithy sayings which formed a vast floating literature in India.
    In a similar vein, Hinüber (2000), p. 45, para. 90 remarks: "The contents of the Dhp are mainly gnomic verses, many of which have hardly any relation to Buddhism."
  6. ^ Buddhist Studies Review, 6, 2, 1989, page 153, reprinted in Norman, Collected Papers, volume VI, 1996, Pali Text Society, Bristol, page 156
  7. ^ Brough (2001). The original manuscript is believed to have been written in the first or second century CE.
  8. ^ Hinüber (2000), p. 45, para. 89, notes:
    More than half of [the Dhammapada verses] have parallels in corresponding collections in other Buddhist schools, frequently also in non-Buddhist texts. The interrelation of these different versions has been obscured by constant contamination in the course of the text transmission. This is particularly true in case of one of the Buddhist Sanskrit parallels. The Udānavarga originally was a text corres[p]onding to the Pāli Udāna.... By adding verses from the Dhp [Dhammapada] it was transformed into a Dhp parallel in course of time, which is a rare event in the evolution of Buddhist literature.
  9. ^ English chapter titles based on Müller (1881).
  10. ^ a b Retrieved 2008-03-28 from "Bodhgaya News" (formerly, La Trobe U.) starting at http://www.bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=&record=7150, and from "MettaNet - Lanka" at http://www.mettanet.org/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/5Khuddaka-Nikaya/02Dhammapada/index.html.
  11. ^ Brough (2001) orders the chapters of the Gandhari Dharmapada as follows: I. Brāhmaṇa; II. Bhikṣu; III. Tṛṣṇā; IV. Pāpa; V. Arhant; VI. Mārga; VII. Apramāda; VIII. Citta; IX. Bāla; X. Jarā; XI. Sukha; XII. Sthavira; XIII. Yamaka; XIV. Paṇḍita; XV. Bahuśruta; XVI. Prakīrṇaka (?); XVII. Krodha; XVIII. Pruṣpa; XIX. Sahasra; XX. Śīla (?); XXI. Kṛtya (?); XXII. Nāga, or Aśva (?); XXIII. - XVI. [Lost]. [Parenthesized question marks are part of Brough's titles.]

[edit] Sources

  • Brough, John (2001). The Gandhari Dharmapada. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited.
  • Buswell, Robert E. (ed.) (2003). Encyclopedia of Buddhism. MacMillan Reference Books. ISBN 978-0028657189.
  • Geiger, Wilhelm (trans. by Batakrishna Ghosh) (1943, 2004). Pāli Literature and Language. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. ISBN 81-215-0716-2.
  • Harvey, Peter (1990, 2007). An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-31333-3.
  • Hinüber, Oskar von (2000). A Handbook of Pāli Literature. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-016738-7.
  • Müller, F. Max (1881). The Dhammapada (Sacred Books Of The East, Vol. X). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2008-04-02 from "WikiSource" at http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dhammapada_(Muller).
  • Ñāṇamoli, Bhikkhu (trans.) & Bhikkhu Bodhi (ed.) (2001). The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-072-X.

[edit] External links

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