by Eknath Easwaran (Author)
Dhammapada means the path of dharma, the path of truth, harmony, and righteousness that anyone can follow to reach the highest good. Easwaran's translation of this classic Buddhist text is the best-selling edition in its field, praised by Huston Smith as a sublime rendering. The introduction gives an overview of the Buddha's teachings that is penetrating and clear - accessible for readers new to Buddhism, but also with fresh insights and practical applications for readers familiar with this text. Chapter introductions place individual verses into the context of the broader Buddhist canon. Easwaran is a master storyteller, and his opening essay includes many stories that make moving, memorable reading, bringing young Siddhartha and his heroic spiritual quest vividly to life. But Easwaran's main qualification for interpreting the Dhammapada, he said, was that he knew from his own experience that these verses could transform our lives. This faithful rendition brings us closer to the compassionate heart of the Buddha.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 280
Edition: Second
Publisher: Nilgiri Press
Published: 30 Sep 2007
ISBN 10: 1586380206
ISBN 13: 9781586380205
In 1961 Easwaran founded the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation in California, and in 1967, at the University of California, Berkeley, he taught the first academic course on meditation ever offered for credit at a major American university. He continued to teach passage meditation and his Eight Point Program for spiritual living to an American and international audience for almost forty years. His twenty-seven books on meditation and the classics of world mysticism are translated into twenty-five languages.
From the mid 1970s onwards, Easwaran held classes on the Dhammapada for a primarily American audience. A gifted teacher, he was able to anticipate the problems that Western readers may have with the concepts underlying the classics of Indian spirituality, and to explain them in fresh and profoundly simple ways.
But for Easwaran the Dhammapada was not just of intellectual interest. His main qualification for interpreting the Dhammapada, he said, was that he knew from his own experience that these verses could truly transform our lives.