Introduction to The Dhammapada
Written by: Acharya Buddharakkhita
Published on: December 26, 2012
Category:
The Dhammapada
The Buddha's Path of Wisdom
translated from the Pali
with an introduction by
Bhikkhu Bodhi
© 1996-2012
Preface
The Dhammapada is the best known and most widely esteemed text in the Pali Tipitaka, the sacred scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. The work is included in the Khuddaka Nikaya ("Minor Collection") of the Sutta Pitaka, but its popularity has raised it far above the single niche it occupies in the scriptures to the ranks of a world religious classic. Composed in the ancient Pali language, this slim anthology of verses constitutes a perfect compendium of the Buddha's teaching, comprising between its covers all the essential principles elaborated at length in the forty-odd volumes of the Pali canon.