oxford world’s classics THE DHAMMAPADA The Dhammapada, ‘sayings of dhamma’—that is, religiously inspiring statements—is the Pa¯li version of one of the most popular texts of the Buddhist canon. Like all religious texts in Pa¯li, it belongs to the Therava¯da school of the Buddhist tradition whose participants are at present found primarily in Kampuchea, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Com- piled in verse, it is a religious work meant to inculcate a certain set of religious and ethical values, as well as a certain manner of perception of life and its problems and their solutions. That it has performed this task with remarkable success is hardly debatable. Perhaps the best testimony for that is its enduring popularity among Buddhists of all denominations, throughout the centuries of their existence. John Ross Carter is Professor and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion and the Robert Hung-Ngai Ho Professor of Asian Studies at Colgate University. He has written, edited, and contributed to several other books on the religious traditions of Asia. Mahinda Palihawadana is Professor of Sanskrit Emeritus at Sri Jayawardhanapura University in Sri Lanka. He has written several articles on Therava¯da Buddhist thought. oxford world’s classics For almost 100 years Oxford World’s Classics have brought readers closer to the world’s great literature. Now with over 700 titles—from the 4,000-year-old myths of Mesopotamia to the twentieth century’s greatest novels—the series makes available lesser-known as well as celebrated writing. The pocket-sized hardbacks of the early years contained introductions by Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Graham Greene, and other literary figures which enriched the experience of reading. Today the series is recognized for its fine scholarship and reliability in texts that span world literature, drama and poetry, religion, philosophy and politics. Each edition includes perceptive commentary and essential background information to meet the changing needs of readers. OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS The Dhammapada Translated with an Introduction and Notes by JOHN ROSS CARTER and MAHINDA PALIHAWADANA 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in OxfordNew York AthensAucklandBangkokBogotáBuenosAiresCalcutta CapeTownChennaiDaresSalaamDelhiFlorenceHongKongIstanbul KarachiKualaLumpurMadridMelbourneMexicoCityMumbai NairobiParisSãoPauloSingaporeTaipeiTokyoTorontoWarsaw with associated companies inBerlinIbadan Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York Translation © Oxford University Press 1987 Editorial matter © John Ross Carter and Mahinda Palihawadana 2000 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published as an Oxford World’s Classics paperback 2000 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organizations. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Tipitaka. Suttapitaka. Khuddakanikaya. Dhammapada English. The Dhammapada/translated with an introduction and notes by John Ross Carter and Mahinda Palihawadana. (Oxford world’s classics) I. Carter, John Ross. II. Palihawadana, Mahinda. III. Title. IV. Series. BQ1372.E54 C36 2000 294.3′82322—dc21 00–037519 ISBN 0–19–283613–7 13579108642 Typeset in Times by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in Great Britain by Cox & Wyman Ltd. Reading, Berkshire To Kusuma and Sandra and for Priyamvada, Ravindra, Nirmala, Ruchira, Christopher John, Mary Elizabeth This page intentionally left blank This page intentionally left blank PREFACE Twenty-two years ago our project of translating the Dham- mapada was launched when we began work together in Sri Lanka. Over the years our long-distance correspondence has witnessed enormous change: from a time when it took more than one month to receive a response by one of us to the other’s work on one segment of the project, to today’s email, when a reply is often received in the same day. Our larger work, The Dhammapada, was first published by Oxford University Press in 1987, with a paperback edition, containing a new introduction, appearing in 1998. It was a massive undertaking. In that work, we decided to provide first a new English transla- tion of the Pa¯li verses followed by a presentation of the Pa¯li text together with the English translation both of the verses and of the commentarial glosses on words appearing in those verses. We followed the order of presentation of the verses developed by the fifth-century Pa¯li commentary on the Dham- mapada (the Dhammapadatthakatha¯). We decided not to stop ˙˙ there. We continued searching later Sinhala commentarial sources running from the tenth to the twentieth century to pro- vide, in extensive notes, our own critical textual comments as well as translations of elaborations on doctrinal matters. And throughout that work we integrated scholarly discussions avail- able at the time of issues dealing with the early and received text. That earlier and larger work, from which the English transla- tion of the verses appears here with but very few changes, remains available for anyone wishing to pursue in greater depth issues that might arise from reading the verses appearing in this volume in the Oxford World’s Classics series. We have designed this present translation of the most popular canonical text among Buddhists, and one of the great religious texts of the world, for the general reader, and notes have been included to viii Preface provide some elaboration of terms and concepts that might not be entirely clear at first reading. J.R.C. M.P. Hamilton, NY Maharagama CONTENTS Introduction xi Select Bibliography xxvii THE DHAMMAPADA i. The Pairs 3 ii. Awareness 6 iii. The Mind 8 iv. Flowers 10 v. The Childish 13 vi. The Sagacious 16 vii. The Worthy 18 viii. The Thousands 20 ix. The Wrong 23 x. The Rod 25 xi. Old Age 28 xii. The Self 30 xiii. The World 32 xiv. The Awakened One 34 xv. Happiness 37 xvi. The Pleasant 39 xvii. Wrath 41 xviii. Stains 43 xix. The Firm in Dhamma 46 xx. The Path 49 xxi. Miscellaneous 52 xxii. Hell 55 xxiii. The Elephant 57 xxiv. Craving 59 xxv. The Bhikkhu 63 xxvi. The Bra¯hmana 66 ˙ Explanatory Notes 72