About
The Dhammapada

The Dhammapada is a collection of the Buddha's sayings. It was probably compiled by followers of the Buddha during the third century before Christ. The version quoted here was translated by John Richards. In his introduction he indicates that the Dhammapada is a subset of the Theravada Pali Canon of scriptures known as the Khuddaka Nikaya. There are a number of closely related Mahayana works. The Fa Chu Ching, would appear to be a direct, Chinese translation of the Dhammapada.

It's believed that the Buddha lived from 563 to 483 B.C. in India. He started out life as Prince Gotamma, but later became known as the Buddha as a result of his spiritual awakening. The name Buddha comes from the Sanskrit word budh, meaning to be awake, to be conscious, or to know.

Buddhist Mysticism | Quotations drawn from The Dhammapada | Bibliographic references | ©1999 by D. Platt