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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
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