Let go the past, let go the future too,
Let go the present and go beyond becoming.
With mind released from everything,
To birth-and-decay you shall come no more.
All gifts the gift of Truth excels.
All tastes the taste of Truth excels.
All delights the delight in Truth excels.
All sorrows the end of craving excels.
Weeds are the bane of fields,
Lust is the bane of mankind.
Hence offerings made to lustless ones
Yield abundant fruit.
Weeds are the bane of fields,
Thirst is the bane of mankind.
Hence offerings made to thirstless ones
Yield abundant fruit.
Let him live a life of cordiality.
Let him be skilled in good conduct.
And full of joy thereby,
He will put an end to ill.
By yourself censure yourself.
By yourself examine yourself.
Thus self-guarded and mindful, too,
Shall you, bhikkhu, live in bliss.
Whosover, although still young,
Devotes himself to the Buddha's Teaching -
He illumines all the world,
As the moon emerging from the cloud.
One should not strike a brahmana,
Nor such a brahmana vent his wrath on him.
Woe to him who strikes a brahmana.
More woe to him who gives way to his wrath.
Thank you Rooksa for three pages of translations from the Dhamapada. Unfortunately, most folks on A2K will probably have no idea of the context, or even the source of the material. I can't vouch-safe for translation, and I'm too lazy to do comparisons with the various translations available for the Dhamapada, and there are many.
The Dhamapada is a book that comprises one very small section of the Theravada Cannon. I've commented frequently on the major divisions within Buddhism, and so will not reiterate here. The Thereavada texts are in the Pali language,and are the oldest and most orthodox of all Buddhist texts. These date from at, or near the time that the historical Buddha lived and taught.
The Theravada Canon has three major divisions: The first is devoted to Buddhist discipline, ordinances(?), and directions for monastic life that the Buddha laid down during his lifetime. This consists of five works: Bhikkhu-Vibhanga; Bhikkhuntg-Vibhana; Mahi-Vagga; Culla-Vagga; and Parivara-Patha. These five works are pretty daunting reading, and primarily of interest to those studying the fundamental sources to Buddhist monastic practices. These "rules" were handed down from the historical Buddha as various questions developed regarding how his followers should regard the practical problems of living a Buddhist life. It is, therefore, important generally to help us understand the thinking process of the founder of our religion. As the centuries rolled by the times and circumstances changed, and further adjustments were made. For example, originally the historical Buddha directed his sermons almost entirely to monks. Later when a sub-community of nuns came into being, some practices changed a bit to accommodate the new circumstances. With the rise of Mahayana, much of the First Basket of the Pitaka seemed no longer so relevant. There aren't many translations of the books of this First Basket, and that is a significant hurdle for those who have no Pali.
The Second Basket is named the Sutta-Pitaka, or Sermon Basket. The Sutta-Pitaka has five major divisions: Digha-Nikaya; Majjhima-Nikaya; Samyutta-Nikaya; Anguttara-Nikaya; and the Khuddaga-NIkaya that is further broken down into fifteen books ... Khuddaka-Patha; Dhammapada; Udana; Itivuttaka; Sutta-Nipata; Vimanna-Vatthu; Thera-Gatha; Theri-Gatha; Jataka; Niddesa; Patisambhida-Bagga; Apadama; Buddha-Varsa; and Cariya-Pitaka. These are all sermons by the historical Buddha and some of his leading followers. There are a lot of them, and these are the most accessible of the Theravadan Canon. One, The Dhamapada (Note the variation in spelling. Old Pali isn't based on an alphabet similar to European languages, and every translator has their own way of approximating the original terms. This makes study in translations a bit difficulty for those unwilling to adjust to a more flexible means of reading), has appeared in many translations and is sometimes called the "Buddhist Bible", though that is truly a misnomer.
The Third Basket is the Abhidhamma-Pitaka that deals with metaphysical matters. Sound interesting? Actually, this is the most dreary, difficult and least accessible of the Pali Canon. Don't go there unless you are very, very serious and have exceptional background in Buddhist studies. This is very, very tough sledding and oh how tired you will quickly become from trying to untangle the inner meaning and sense of the works. The Metaphysical Basket consists of: Dhamma-Sangani; Vibbanga; Kata-Vattha; Puggala-Pannatti; Dhatu-Katha; Yamaka; and Patthana.
No, I don't carry around all those names in my head. These are from Henry Clark Warren whose work has been around for a very long time, and still remains one of the best for the Theravadan material. A virtually complete set of the 39 volumes of the Theravada Canon was given to a number of Western Colleges and Universities, but so far as I know isn't available to the general public ... not the sort of publication that will outsell the latest Steven King novel. As important as the Theravada Canon is to Buddhism, it's general appeal is very limited. All of it is written in a language that is pretty much dead, and is stylistically dreary by modern standards. It's filled with iterative lists and seems sometimes endlessly to repeat itself. These are texts that were largely memorized(!) by monks whose level of literacy was virtually zero. Emphasis can in many cases be inferred by the number of times the same thing is said in slightly different ways ... sometimes even then the significance isn't entirely clear. The minds of those who lived over two thousand years ago in a culture so different from our own may never be really familiar to moderns, especially moderns whose preparation for reading these texts directly is zero.
I hope that folks will find a good translation of The Dhamapada, which is pretty easy reading ... though it can sometimes be misleading read in isolation from the larger body of doctrines. Still it is well worth having on the shelf along with the Tao Teh-Ching, the Edicts of Asoka, and others.
