The Dhammapada

The Dhammapada is a Pali version of one of the most popular text of the Buddhist canon. The Dhammapada, or “sayings of the Buddha”, is a collection of 423 verses that tell about the ideals and teachings of the Buddha. When taken together, these verses provide a structured form of teaching within the Buddhist religion. These verses are a kind of guiding voice to the path of true enlightenment.

The Dhammapada is a religious work that is meant to provide a certain set of religious and ethical values, as well as a certain manner of perception of life and the problems that life brings along with the solutions. Although the verses may be looked at as trying to create good or bad people, the verses are actually trying to get people to understand what is good and what is bad in the Buddhist religion. In other words, the book is trying to produce someone who will think and comprehend the ideas of the Buddha. A person who reads the text should be able to form his or her opinions about enlightenment and Nirvana. The same is true for a person who is listening to the text being read. The listener must consider and comprehend what is being spoken.

Throughout the text, images of virtue are portrayed in the figure of the bhikkhu. According to the text the Buddha describes the bhikkhu as one self-reliant, self-restrained, and one who possess integrity. In verses 360-363 the text tells of how retraining in everything can bring about freedom from all suffering. “The bhikkhu who is restrained in all [the senses], is freed from all suffering” (V. 361). The things that make this person praiseworthy can be found throughout the entire set of verses, but particularly in Chapter 25, The Bhikkhu. The bhikkhu is praiseworthy because he is one who not only studies and understands the Buddha’s sayings but one who practices the teachings of the Buddha. A bhikkhu does not envy, is without self-identification, free from hate and desire. The virtues that a bhikkhu embodies are deemed as positive and morally “wholesome” (kusala) because the bhikkhu has achieved what the Buddha has deemed to be right and the way to enlightenment.

Within the Dhammapada, the Buddha describes the bhikkhu as one who has wisdom and meditation. “There is no meditative absorption for one who lacks insight; there is no insight for one who is not meditating. In whom there is meditative absorpti...

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...n help depict the bhikkhu in a more poetic manner than just a straightforward description. For example, in verse 369 the metaphor that is used is that of a boat needing to have the water bailed from it. The boat is representing the mind while the water is representing hate and lust. Again a metaphor is given in verse 377 when the text talks about jasmine shedding its leaves. The jasmine is representing the mind, while the leaves are representing passion and ill-will.

The goal of the Dhammapada is ultimately to create perceptive and righteous people. With the way the text is written, it is obvious that the goal is to get readers and listeners alike to think about this text and ponder over the sayings of the Buddha. The very way the first chapter is written gives a preview of the things that should be noticed throughout the text: good verses bad, disciplined verses undisciplined, and practice verses laziness. The bhikkhu is one person who sets the right path for people to follow. The bhikkhu shows the people what virtues are positive and wholesome. The bhikkhu gives and receives from society and strives to cultivate the kind of mental state as prescribe by the Buddha.