Gautam
Buddha Dhammapada Discourses
The Dhammapada, an anthology of 423 verses, has
long been recognised as one of the masterpieces of
early Buddhist literature. From ancient times to the
present, the Dhammapada has been regarded as the
most succinct expression of the Buddha's teaching
found in the Theravada Pali Canon of scriptures
known as the Khuddaka Nikaya ("Minor Collection") of
the Sutta Pitaka.
Buddhist tradition has it that shortly after the
passing away of the Buddha his
disciples met in council at Rajagaha for the purpose
of recalling to mind the truths
they had received from their beloved Teacher during
the forty-five years of his
ministry. Their hope was to implant the principles
of his message so firmly in
memory that they would become a lasting impetus to
moral and spiritual conduct, for themselves, their
disciples, and for all future disciples who would
seek to follow in the footsteps of the Awakened One.
With the Teacher no longer among them, the monks
found themselves with the
responsibility of handing on the teaching as
faithfully as possible. Having no written texts to
rely on, they did as their ancestors had before them
and prepared their discourses for recitation, that
is, basic themes were repeated with variations in
order to impress the ideas on their hearers. At that
time, according to the Sinhalese, the Dhammapada was
orally assembled from the sayings of Gautama given
on some three hundred different occasions.
Subsequently, several renditions of the Dhammapada
in the Sanskrit and Chinese
languages came into circulation. Likewise, a number
of stanzas are to be found
almost verbatim in other texts of the canonical
literature, testifying to the esteem in
which its content was anciently held. Since first
collated, the Dhammapada has
become one of the best loved of Buddhist scriptures,
recited daily by millions of
devotees who chant its verses in Pali or in their
native dialect.
It was inevitable that differences in interpretation
of teaching as well as of
disciplinary practices would arise, with the result
that about a century after the First Council was
held a second gathering was called to affirm the
purity of the doctrine. It was at this Second
Council that the Arhats divided into two main
streams, namely, the Mahasanghika or "Great
Assembly" and the Theravada or "Doctrine of Elders."
These gradually developed into the Mahayana or
Northern School of Buddhism
espoused chiefly in India, Tibet, China, and later
Japan, and the Hinayana or
Southern School whose stronghold is Sri Lanka,
Burma, and the countries of Southeast Asia.
(From the Dhammapada Foreword of Dr. Harischandra
Kaviratna,
with minor
adaptations, 1980, Theosophical University Press)
Note : Gautam Buddha Dhammapada Translated by Thomas
Byrom
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