The Dhammapada: Verses & Stories

This translation uses the Dhammapada Pāli text approved by the Sixth International Buddhist Synod. Daw Mya Tin consulted the Pāli Commentary when the meaning of a verse was doubtful, and in difficult cases also drew upon Burmese translations and traditional explanations. The stated aim was to remain as faithful as possible to the Pāli while also producing intelligible English. 

The work also provides a concise doctrinal framework for reading the verses. The Preface highlights several key teachings: verses 1–2 on karma and the primacy of mind; verse 21 on mindfulness; verse 29 on diligence; verses 153–154 on the Buddha’s Enlightenment and the ending of craving; verses 277–279 on impermanence, suffering, and non-self; verse 276 on personal effort; verse 183 on avoiding evil, cultivating merit, and purifying the mind; and verse 24 on the qualities conducive to success in life. These passages show that the collection is intended not merely as literary wisdom but as a practical guide to Buddhist ethical and contemplative training. 

The translator emphasizes the practical and ethical character of the collection. Major themes include the primacy of mind, mindfulness, karma, restraint, wisdom, moral discipline, impermanence, suffering, non-self, craving, liberation, and Nibbāna. The opening verses of the Yamakavagga present mind as the forerunner of mental phenomena, while the Appamādavagga identifies mindfulness as the path to the Deathless. Later chapters address the disciplined mind, wisdom, the arahant ideal, evil and its consequences, self-cultivation, the world, the Buddha, happiness, attachment, anger, impurity, righteousness, the Path, monastic conduct, craving, and the qualities of a brāhmaṇa understood in a spiritual rather than hereditary sense. 

A particularly important feature of the volume is the separation between Part I — Verses and Part II — Stories. Part I gives the Pāli verse, English translation, and explanatory notes. Part II then supplies narrative summaries of the corresponding commentarial stories. The Preface states that these stories are generally believed to derive from the Dhammapadaṭṭhakathā, traditionally attributed to Buddhaghosa, although the editors note that the incidents themselves are placed in the lifetime of the Buddha and may reflect older material transmitted before the commentary was compiled.