Dhammapada, Dhamma Verses (KN 2)
Pāli verses with English translation in this collection of 423 Dhamma verses, along with a discussion of their meaning and their collection.
Pāli verses with English translation in this collection of 423 Dhamma verses, along with a discussion of their meaning and their collection.
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4<br />
Introduction<br />
A Book of Ethical Teachings<br />
The <strong><strong>Dhamma</strong>pada</strong> is probably the most popular book in the Pāḷi Canon, and has had<br />
innumerable translations into most modern languages. 1 The timeless ethical teachings<br />
contained in these verses are still considered relevant to people’s lives, and they are a<br />
good guide to living well, and show how to reap the rewards of good living.<br />
Together with the commentarial stories that accompany the verses – along with the<br />
Jātaka verses and stories – they have formed the backbone of the teaching of Buddhist<br />
ethics for well over 2,000 years. The verses and stories are well known in traditional<br />
Theravāda Buddhist cultures, and most born and brought up in those societies will be able<br />
to recite many of the verses, and relate the stories that go with them, even from a young<br />
age.<br />
This is not at all surprising as the verses are often memorable, and the stories that<br />
accompany them equally so. 2 They provided a framework for understanding what are<br />
good and bad actions, and what the consequences of both will be, which is central to the<br />
Buddhist teaching on ethics.<br />
The popularity of the stories can be seen from the many times they are found illustrated<br />
on the ancient monuments of India, especially around Chetiyas; they are also seen in<br />
frescoes and reliefs in temples in Buddhist countries right up to the present day, and they<br />
serve to remind and reinforce the teachings that they embody.<br />
The collection consists of 423 verses, organised into twenty-six chapters, most of which<br />
are fairly short. As there are something like 20,000 verses in the Pāḷi Canon, 3 this is but a<br />
very small collection and the <strong><strong>Dhamma</strong>pada</strong> is indeed one of the smallest books in the<br />
Canon. 4 Most of the verses stand by themselves, although in some cases they come in<br />
pairs, 5 and in others two or more verses are evidently joined together to form a longer<br />
unit.<br />
The verses give instruction to the different groups that comprise the Buddhist community,<br />
including advice for the lay person and the monastic, and a number of the verses,<br />
especially towards the end, show ways for understanding who is living up to their role in<br />
the community well, and who is not. 6<br />
1<br />
Including those that are no longer – or never were – homes to Buddhist cultures.<br />
2<br />
Here the commentarial stories are only given in brief, but the complete collection in<br />
Burlingame’s translation can be found here: http://bit.ly/DhpCommentary.<br />
3<br />
Around 140 of the verses have parallels elsewhere in the Canon.<br />
4<br />
Only Khuddakapāṭha, which appears to have been added much later than the other texts, and<br />
Cariyāpiṭaka, also a late text, are shorter.<br />
5<br />
Most notably in the first chapter.<br />
6<br />
I think particularly of the Chapters on Monastics and Brahmins here.