Dhammapada: Wisdom of the Buddha — trans. Harischandra Kaviratna Theosophical University Press Online Edition DHAMMAPADA, Wisdom of the Buddha Translated by Harischandra Kaviratna First Edition copyright © 1980 by Theosophical University Press ( also available). Dvigatelj 2sd instrukciya. Electronic version ISBN 978-1-55700-132-0. All rights reserved. This edition may be downloaded free of charge for personal use. Except for brief excerpts, no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial or other use in any form without the prior permission of Theosophical University Press. For ease of searching, words are not accented in this version.

Illustration of CANTOS I can imagine no scholar in this country or elsewhere, who could produce a better rendition of Dhammapadam than Dr. Harischandra Kaviratna. Early in life he acquired a knowledge of Sanskrit, Prakrit, Magadhi, Hindi, English, German, Latin, and other languages and arts. Kaviratna has contributed immensely to our Sinhala literature on a multiplicity of subjects such as Yoga, Indian philosophy, Mahayana, Theravada, Zen, Tantrikism, Peruvian and Mayan cultures, pre-Christian European cultures, and Egyptology.

The Komodo dragon is the largest lizard in the world. Adult Komodo dragons can kill prey as large as deer and water buffalo, and this species can eat up to 80% of its own body weight at one time. Kosovo's final status negotiation process: a way out or cul-de-sac “Kosovo's declaration of independence is the result of a long status process in which the EU left no.

The present version of Dhammapadam is a verbatim translation which has carefully preserved the true spirit of Buddha's very word. This anthology may be regarded as a Buddhist encyclopaedia in miniature. Punnasara Maha Thero, Spiritual Instructor, Government Central College, Madamba, Sri Lanka Theosophical University Press, publishing and distributing quality theosophical literature since 1886: PO Box C, Pasadena, CA USA; e-mail:; voice: (626) 798-3378. Free printed catalog available on request; also online at. Palm Leaf Manuscript Photo: Courtesy of K. Paranavitana, Assistant Archivist, Department of National Archives, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Outer wooden covers ('Kamba') and the first and last pages of the Pali text of the Dhammapada in Sinhalese characters.

This palm leaf manuscript (17 1/2' x 2 1/2') is believed to be the oldest extant copy of the scripture. The upper cover depicts the Bodhi tree in green, under which the mendicant Gautama is said to have attained supreme enlightenment, and eight stupas colored amber against a red background. The lower cover shows a relic casket and two stupas beside the Sri Pada Mountain with the Buddha's footprint, and portrays also the Great Passing of the Buddha into Parinirvana.

OREWORD Buddhist tradition has it that shortly after the passing away of the Lord Buddha five hundred of his Arhats and disciples, led by Kasyapa, 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 salient principles of his message so firmly in memory that they would become a lasting impetus to moral and spiritual conduct, not alone for themselves and the brethren in distant parts of the land, but likewise 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 and discipline of the Order as faithfully as possible. Having no written texts to rely on, they did as their forebears 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. Put in verse form the couplets contrast the vanity of hypocrisy, false pride, heedlessness, and selfish desire with the virtues of truthfulness, modesty, vigilance, and self-abnegation. The admonitions are age-old, yet they strike home today, their austerity of purpose fittingly relieved by gentle humor and earthy simile. 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.