Title: Treasury Of Truth: Illustrated Dhammapada
Author: Ven. Weragoda Sarada Maha Thero
Publisher: The Singapore Buddist Meditation Centre
Language: English
Print Length: 897 pages
All of the Buddha’s teachings have been grouped into three collections or Three Baskets (Tripitakas). The three Pitakas are Vinaya, Abhidhamma, and Sutta. The present work Dhammapada is the second Book of the Minor Collection (Khuddakagama) of the Sutta Pitaka (The Basket of Discourses). It consists of 423 stanzas arranged in 26 Vaggas or Chapters. By reading the Dhammapada, one could learn the fundamentals of the Buddhist way of life.
The Dhammapada (Pāli; Sanskrit: Dharmapada, धर्मपद) is a collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form and one of the most widely read and best known Buddhist scriptures. The original version of the Dhammapada is in the Khuddaka Nikaya, a division of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism.
The Buddhist scholar and commentator Buddhaghosa explains that each saying recorded in the collection was made on a different occasion in response to a unique situation that had arisen in the life of the Buddha and his monastic community. His translation of the commentary, the Dhammapada Atthakatha, presents the details of these events and is a rich source of legend for the life and times of the Buddha.
