The Dhammapada [Paperback]

John Ross Carter (Translator), Mahinda Palihawadana (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2, 1998

The Dhammapada, the Pali version of one of the most popular texts of the Buddhist canon, also ranks among the classics of the world's religious literature. This critical edition presents to the English reader for the first time the Dhammapada as it has been known throughout the centuries. With this volume, Carter and Palihawadana make a major contribution to the understanding of the Dhammapada, not only by presenting a new and accurate translation of the verses, but also by enabling readers to see the wake of this remarkable text through centuries of Buddhist tradition. In addition to the original Pali, the editors provide a translation of the commentary on the verses and the subsequent brief explanations of verse and commentarial passages provided by Sinhala sources.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Far surpasses any previous translation of the Dhammapada in terms of its scope and contextual accuracy. Carter and Palihawadana have not only proivde a fresh English translation of the Pali but a transliteration of the Dhammapada (which makes it eminently useful for students of Pali) and, most impressively, a translation of the exhaustive and extremely commentarial Pali Dhammapadatthakatha....This, then, is a work of wide scholarly magnitude and great philological erudition."--Religious Studies Review

Language Notes

Text: English (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 552 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (July 2, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195108604
• ISBN-13: 978-0195108606
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,107,862 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Scholarly Dhammapada, April 26, 2005

By 

Robin Friedman (Washington, D.C. United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Dhammapada (Paperback)

The Dhammapada is a deeply-inspiring religious text and the best-known work of the Theravada Buddhist canon. It consists of 423 short verses arranged in 26 chapters which cover, in brief form, the major aspects of the Buddha's teachings from the most mundane to the deepest. About 25 percent of the verses appear elsewhere in the Theravada Buddhist canon. In many Buddhist countries, children memorize this text which has much to teach both the learned and the simple. In its combination of simplicity and depth, the closest analogue to the Dhammapada in the Jewish-Christian Scriptures is the book of Psalms.

The Dhammapada has been well-served by many excellent translations. The translation under review here, by John Ross Carter, Professor of Philosophy at Colgate University, and Mahinda Palhawandana, Professer of Sanskrit Emeritus in Sri Lanka, is unique in its care and in the scope of its learning. In addition to the text, this translation includes line-by-line translations of the earliest Sri Lankan commentaries on the Dhammapada. These commentaries were written over the course of many centuries and systematized in about 1000 A.D. There is a separate and later series of commentaries on the text in which stories were written to illustrate the events that gave rise to the Buddha's utterance of each verse. These stories are not included here, but they are summarized in another well-known translation of the Dhammapada by the monk Narada, which I shall mention below.

This edition begins with a scholarly introduction to the text and the commentaries followed by an English rendition of the text of the Dhammapada without commentary. The next section of the book repeats the English translation together with the Pali text with the addition of the extensive commentary. Each chapter is arranged in accordance with the commentarial arrangement in which some verses are considered singly and others are combined in groups. Following the translation of text and commentary, there is a series of notes. Some of these notes deal with points of grammar while others describe in detail points of Buddhist teaching to illuminate the text and commentary.

The goal of this detailed presentation is to make the Dhammapada and its ancient interpretations available so that the interested reader may study the text with his or her own eyes. As Carter and Palihawanana state in their introduction (p. 9):

"It was our endeavor to make this work as much as possible a 'stitching of the centuries'. What this reveals is on the one hand the prodoundly evocative power of the religious sentiments expressed in the text, and on the other the conservatism of the tradition that interprets the text as we see in these documents. ... But from the way we set about it, what is of singular importance is the arrangement of this book: presenting the text itself as a text and presenting the history of its study in the setting of a growing tradition of interpretation....We wanted to make the text, as something in human hands, to point forward from the past through present into the future."

I want to give two brief examples from the translation. First, verse 183 of the Dhammapada is universally regarded as offering the shortest, most basic statement of the Buddha's teaching. Here it is in Carter and Palihawadana:

"Refraining from all that is detrimental,

The attainment of what is wholesome,

The purification of one's mind:

This is the instruction of Awakened Ones."

Note how the translation avoids the use of the word "bad" in line one and "good" in line two. Many might question this. But the point of this translation is to avoid the theistic connotations many Western readers will bring to the words "good" and "bad". Also note the term "Awakened Ones" in the final line rather than the more literal and traditional translation, "all the Buddhas". The difference points in the direction of universalizing the teaching rather than, perhaps, limiting it by sectarianism.

I want to look briefly at verse 1 of the Dhammapada which is basic to much of what follows in the text. It is also perhaps the most difficult verse in the work. Here it is in Carter and Palihawadana:

"Preceded by perception are mental states,

For them is perception supreme,

From perception have they sprung.

If, with perception polluted, one speaks or acts,

Thence suffering follows

As a wheel the draught ox's foot."

Most translation of verse 1 speak in terms of "the mind." Thus, Narada translates the beginning of the verse: "Mind is the forerunner of (all evil) states. Mind is chief: mind-made are they." ... Carter and Palihawadana try to present the text in a way that will not encourage the Western reader to equate it with the idealism of Plato or Berkeley. The verse remains a difficult and deep teaching on any reading.

I have the good fortune to participate in a Sutta Study Group where we read the Dhammapada chapter-by-chapter over the course of about one year. We used Carter and Palihawadana together with several other translations, as we discussed and debated and tried to understand the Dhammapada together.

The reader may not by lucky enough to have access to such a group, but the Dhammapada is a work that will reward individual study at any level. Some readers may find Carter and Palihawandana more than they need to begin. But for those wanting to make a detailed study of this great text, this work is invaluable.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine translation, April 4, 2002

By 

Riku Simonen (Turku, Finland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

I have previously read classic Max Muller's version and some translations foud at numerous web-pages. I think this is clearly
the best of them. Carter and Palihawadana have retained texts lyric style but still their ambition is to bring autentic text as such to us. Hence reader have to use glossary where most importánt words and referensees are. I may be a bit annoying but
If you really want know exactly what what is in original dhammapada you has to use such method. Some at web "intreprete"
too much, then the text may look easier but It may go also wrong.
Only negative comment is that people to which english is not native language, text may have too mamy many fine but unfamiliar words. I recommend this book. It is one of the classics of Worlds religious teachings.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Infinitely better than the Penguin Classics version, January 26, 2001

By 

Sarakani (Harrow United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dhammapada: The Sayings of the Buddha (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

It is not easy to translate an ancient Indian language (Pali) to flowing English and retain the original meanings and senses.

This is a meticulous translation and it is clear the authors have spent time and effort to try and get it right. One of the authors being Sinhalese (which is also a language close to Pali)would have better understood the meanings and senses of terms more than most Western scholars, and the joint authorship suggests a polished and balanced approach to attain near perfection.

No translation can articulate the experiential meanings behind the verses or hope to equal the ancient meanings. But this one gets close representing an honest attempt at a challenging goal. The English may appear somewhat academic but this is a thoroughly modern translation and OUP have done their homework in bestowing authorship.

The publisher is to be congratulated and this book deserves the shelf of any good library.