Bhikkhu Sujato · English Selected edition
- Language
- English
- Contents
- The chapters and verse ranges follow this edition of the Dhammapada.
- Credits
- SuttaCentral published repository
- Rights
- CC0 · Bhikkhu Sujato
Buddhism
Dhammapada
An anthology of Pali verses in the Khuddaka Nikāya. Its teachings address conduct, attention and liberation. Later commentarial stories are presented separately from these verses.
ReadContents and editions
Contents
1–20 of 26 results
Editions & sources
F. Max Müller · historical edition Selected edition
- Language
- English
- Contents
- The chapters and verse ranges follow this edition of the Dhammapada.
- Credits
- F. Max Müller · Gutenberg 2017
- Rights
- Historical translation; Gutenberg US public-domain record. Some adjacent verses are combined in the source and retain range identifiers.
Mahāsaṅgīti · Pali Selected edition
- Language
- Pali
- Contents
- The chapters and verse ranges follow this edition of the Dhammapada.
- Credits
- SuttaCentral published repository
- Rights
- Public domain · Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka Buddhavasse 2500
Verses gathered by subject
The verse collection
The Dhammapada belongs to the Khuddaka Nikāya, a collection in the Theravāda Pali canon that also includes discourses and poems. Its 423 verses are arranged in twenty-six chapters. The headings identify subjects as varied as the mind, flowers, old age and the path. The first chapter groups verses in pairs. Closely repeated wording allows a change of intention or conduct in one verse to bring about a different consequence in the next.
Commentary and stories
The verses have a rich history of interpretation through stories. A commentary attaches settings, speakers and incidents to sayings that can be very brief in the canonical text. The story of the monk Cakkhupāla is one such account. Its characters and narrative details belong to the commentary. The opening verse itself can be identified independently of that story.
Editions in this library
The collection here includes the Mahāsaṅgīti Pali edition and Bhikkhu Sujato’s English translation published by SuttaCentral. F. Max Müller’s older English translation provides another point in the work’s publication history. Some adjacent verses appear together in its digital source. A combined range in that edition preserves the unit a reader actually encounters in the translation.