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Dhammapada: Annotated & Explained
The Dhammapada ("Path of the Buddha's Teachings") is a daily inspiration for millions of Buddhists all over the world and for people of all spiritual traditions who have been impressed by its beauty and power. These words—believed to have been spoken by the Buddha himself over 2,500 years ago—contain most of Buddhism's central teachings.
Originally composed in the ancient language of Pali, this timeless text concisely and inspirationally portrays the route a person travels as he or she advances toward enlightenment. With poetic sequence and rhythm, the Dhammapadadescribes the fundamental role of mental conditioning in making us who we are. It paints contrasting portraits of three levels of our human existence—the fool, the wise one, and the enlightened one—and addresses specific aspects of experience, conduct, and belief that characterize our transformation from one of these modes of being to another.
Now you can experience the Dhammapada with understanding even if you have no previous knowledge of Buddhism. This SkyLight Illuminations edition offers insightful yet unobtrusive commentary that explains references and philosophical terms, shares the inspiring interpretations of famous spiritual teachers, and gives you deeper insight into the text.
Originally composed in the ancient language of Pali, this timeless text concisely and inspirationally portrays the route a person travels as he or she advances toward enlightenment. With poetic sequence and rhythm, the Dhammapadadescribes the fundamental role of mental conditioning in making us who we are. It paints contrasting portraits of three levels of our human existence—the fool, the wise one, and the enlightened one—and addresses specific aspects of experience, conduct, and belief that characterize our transformation from one of these modes of being to another.
Now you can experience the Dhammapada with understanding even if you have no previous knowledge of Buddhism. This SkyLight Illuminations edition offers insightful yet unobtrusive commentary that explains references and philosophical terms, shares the inspiring interpretations of famous spiritual teachers, and gives you deeper insight into the text.
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First published September 21, 2009
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August 17, 2019
The heart and soul of Buddhism
There are numerous translations into English from the original Pali of this most sacred and most fundamental scripture of Theravada Buddhism, a book that is of course revered by all Buddhists. It really doesn't matter much which one you choose since "the path of the dharma" or "the sayings of the Buddha" are fairly easily understood on a denotative level regardless of which professional did the translating. Such was the Buddha's intention (and more) as he transversed northern India some twenty-five hundred years ago speaking to people from all walks of life of his "awakening" and his formula for transcending human suffering. By tradition the Dhammapada is said to be derived from the very words the Buddha spoke as taken down from the oral recitations of disciples some years after his death.
This edition from the Skylight Illuminations series edited by Andrew Harvey does everything in a modest and easy to assimilate fashion. The translation is that of Max Muller from 1870 as updated by Jack Maguire who also wrote a short Introduction and did the page-facing annotations. The changes in the text are mostly to make the word choices more in accordance with nonsexist language and to use a vocabulary more in keeping with the twentieth rather than the nineteenth century. There are some style changes, but they are unimportant.
When I first came across the Dhammapada some thirty years ago I was not much impressed. Certainly the Buddha's opening dictum, essentially that "we are what we think" was not to be argued against; and certainly his injunction to do no harm to sentient being is advanced wisdom. Even as a young man that was obvious to me. But what bothered me was that again and again the Buddha would say do good, refrain from evil, follow the right path, etc. Ultimately there is the Eightfold Path: right understanding, right purpose, right speech, right conduct, right occupation, right effort, right attention, and right meditation. But, I wanted to know, just what is right and what is wrong? How great a thing is it to say that we should live life with the right understanding, the right purpose, etc., without defining exactly what right is?
And then after some years and some study in the Buddhist literature and elsewhere it became clear to me what is right and what is wrong. And then I returned to the Dhammapada and found it all spelled out in deceptively simple language. My "problem" as a young man was that I had prejudged the text (and my experience with the text), expecting some great and momentous revelation leading me dramatically from darkness to the light, when in fact the truth of liberation is to be found in the most mundane ideas and actions--which, by the way, is why there is a Zen tradition in Buddhism that eschews all the weighty tombs in the canon and cries out for spontaneity and simple living. It can even be said that all of the voluminous literature of Buddhism--more, much more than anyone could read in a lifetime, or several lifetimes--is superfluous.
Except for the Dhammapada. Toss all the rest of it away and take the Dhammapada with you wherever you go and you will be very well served. In fact, all the other Buddhist writings, some of them wondrous and magnificently insightful, may be just an obfuscation. Better to just study the Dhammapada.
The sayings themselves are dialectic. There is often a point and a counterpoint, or an illumination and then a variation on that illumination. There is plenty of repetition, but the text flows gracefully from the opening "Couplets" or "Twin Verses" through advice on joy and pleasure, on evil and anger, on the fool and the wise, on the nature of the self and its relationship to the world, to the final chapter on the "Brahmin," whom the Buddha sees as one who is liberated from the pairs of opposites, has conquered death and is ready to enter into nirvana. Still it should be remembered the Buddha's words are aimed most directly to those who would don the saffron robes.
In this translation and in the annotations and commentary it is taken for granted that the words of the Dhammapada are literal except where the Buddha clearly intends a metaphor or a parable. However, after years of study of not just Buddhism, Vedanta, the Tao, the main yogas and other ideas from the East, it is my belief that much of what is in the Dhammapada is to be taken symbolically. As in all great works of religion there is both a level for aspirants and for the laity. An "intentional language" is used so that the sage may speak simultaneously to both beginners and those with some considerable experience along the path.
Thus, from my point of view, the karma that befalls us is psychological (although often quite concrete and coming from without, and soon). The rebirths are the rebirths of consciousness. And when the Buddha spoke of the self, note well he also spoke of the non-self. Impermanence is all, change is all, and the self is a powerful illusion that can be dispelled only through insightful meditation.
These things and the illusion of death and the fact that we are always alive (which is why the Buddha was famously silent on the hereafter--it was irrelevant) cannot be gleaned at a first reading or even a tenth. Or if you are gifted perhaps they can be. But take the Buddha's advice and meditate as he did and then some enlightenments will follow, soon or late. And they will be lost and then they will be regained. Combine your meditation with reading the Dhammapada again and still again and gradually the weight of the Buddha's argument and the illumination of his insights will become clear and the dharma will be obvious.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
There are numerous translations into English from the original Pali of this most sacred and most fundamental scripture of Theravada Buddhism, a book that is of course revered by all Buddhists. It really doesn't matter much which one you choose since "the path of the dharma" or "the sayings of the Buddha" are fairly easily understood on a denotative level regardless of which professional did the translating. Such was the Buddha's intention (and more) as he transversed northern India some twenty-five hundred years ago speaking to people from all walks of life of his "awakening" and his formula for transcending human suffering. By tradition the Dhammapada is said to be derived from the very words the Buddha spoke as taken down from the oral recitations of disciples some years after his death.
This edition from the Skylight Illuminations series edited by Andrew Harvey does everything in a modest and easy to assimilate fashion. The translation is that of Max Muller from 1870 as updated by Jack Maguire who also wrote a short Introduction and did the page-facing annotations. The changes in the text are mostly to make the word choices more in accordance with nonsexist language and to use a vocabulary more in keeping with the twentieth rather than the nineteenth century. There are some style changes, but they are unimportant.
When I first came across the Dhammapada some thirty years ago I was not much impressed. Certainly the Buddha's opening dictum, essentially that "we are what we think" was not to be argued against; and certainly his injunction to do no harm to sentient being is advanced wisdom. Even as a young man that was obvious to me. But what bothered me was that again and again the Buddha would say do good, refrain from evil, follow the right path, etc. Ultimately there is the Eightfold Path: right understanding, right purpose, right speech, right conduct, right occupation, right effort, right attention, and right meditation. But, I wanted to know, just what is right and what is wrong? How great a thing is it to say that we should live life with the right understanding, the right purpose, etc., without defining exactly what right is?
And then after some years and some study in the Buddhist literature and elsewhere it became clear to me what is right and what is wrong. And then I returned to the Dhammapada and found it all spelled out in deceptively simple language. My "problem" as a young man was that I had prejudged the text (and my experience with the text), expecting some great and momentous revelation leading me dramatically from darkness to the light, when in fact the truth of liberation is to be found in the most mundane ideas and actions--which, by the way, is why there is a Zen tradition in Buddhism that eschews all the weighty tombs in the canon and cries out for spontaneity and simple living. It can even be said that all of the voluminous literature of Buddhism--more, much more than anyone could read in a lifetime, or several lifetimes--is superfluous.
Except for the Dhammapada. Toss all the rest of it away and take the Dhammapada with you wherever you go and you will be very well served. In fact, all the other Buddhist writings, some of them wondrous and magnificently insightful, may be just an obfuscation. Better to just study the Dhammapada.
The sayings themselves are dialectic. There is often a point and a counterpoint, or an illumination and then a variation on that illumination. There is plenty of repetition, but the text flows gracefully from the opening "Couplets" or "Twin Verses" through advice on joy and pleasure, on evil and anger, on the fool and the wise, on the nature of the self and its relationship to the world, to the final chapter on the "Brahmin," whom the Buddha sees as one who is liberated from the pairs of opposites, has conquered death and is ready to enter into nirvana. Still it should be remembered the Buddha's words are aimed most directly to those who would don the saffron robes.
In this translation and in the annotations and commentary it is taken for granted that the words of the Dhammapada are literal except where the Buddha clearly intends a metaphor or a parable. However, after years of study of not just Buddhism, Vedanta, the Tao, the main yogas and other ideas from the East, it is my belief that much of what is in the Dhammapada is to be taken symbolically. As in all great works of religion there is both a level for aspirants and for the laity. An "intentional language" is used so that the sage may speak simultaneously to both beginners and those with some considerable experience along the path.
Thus, from my point of view, the karma that befalls us is psychological (although often quite concrete and coming from without, and soon). The rebirths are the rebirths of consciousness. And when the Buddha spoke of the self, note well he also spoke of the non-self. Impermanence is all, change is all, and the self is a powerful illusion that can be dispelled only through insightful meditation.
These things and the illusion of death and the fact that we are always alive (which is why the Buddha was famously silent on the hereafter--it was irrelevant) cannot be gleaned at a first reading or even a tenth. Or if you are gifted perhaps they can be. But take the Buddha's advice and meditate as he did and then some enlightenments will follow, soon or late. And they will be lost and then they will be regained. Combine your meditation with reading the Dhammapada again and still again and gradually the weight of the Buddha's argument and the illumination of his insights will become clear and the dharma will be obvious.
--Dennis Littrell, author of “The World Is Not as We Think It Is”
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