THE BUDDHA'S PATH OF VIRTUE A TRANSLATION OF THE DHAMMAPADA BY F.L. WOODWARD, M.A. WITH A FOREWORD BY SIR PONNAMBALAM ARUNACHALAM, M.A. (Cantab.) THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING HOUSE MADRAS--LONDON 1921 TO H.S.O. CONTENTS Foreword Translator's Preface I. The Pairs II. Heedfulness III. The Mind IV. Flowers V. Fools VI. The Wise VII. The Arahat--The Worthy VIII. The Thousands IX. Evil X. Punishment XI. Old Age XII. The Self XIII. The World XIV. The Awakened One XV. Happiness XVI. Affections XVII. Anger XVIII. Impurity XIX. The Just XX. The Path XXI. Divers Verses XXII. The Evil Way XXIII. The Elephant XXIV. Craving XXV. The Mendicant XXVI. The Brahmana FOREWORD The Dhammapada, of which a metrical translation by Mr. Woodward is here presented, is a precious Buddhist Scripture which deserves to be widely known. The Theosophical Society is to be congratulated on securing so competent and sympathetic a translator and on publishing it in a popular form. The _Dhammapada_ is a part of the _Khuddaka Nikāya_ of the Buddhistic Canon and consists of about 420 stanzas in the _sloka_ metre. Every fully ordained _bhikkhu_[1] is expected to know the book by heart, and its verses are often on the lips of pious laymen. The beginner of Buddhist studies can have no better introduction to Buddhism and must go back to it again and again to enter into the spirit of Buddha and his apostles. The Scriptures of the Buddhist Canon are known collectively as the _Ti-piṭaka_ (Sansk. _Tri-piṭaka_), "the Three Baskets or Treasuries". These divisions correspond to the two Testaments of the Christian Bible and contain (excluding repetitions) more than twice as much matter. They are known separately as the _Vinaya piṭaka_, _Sutta piṭaka_ and _Abhidhamma piṭaka_, the Basket of Discipline, the Basket of Discourses and the Basket of Metaphysics. These scriptures are regarded with the utmost veneration by Buddhists as containing the word of Buddha (_Buddha-vacanam_), and are reputed to have been recited at the first Council held, according to tradition, at Rājagaha immediately after Buddha's death _circa_ 540 B.C. It seems more probable that they grew up gradually and did not receive their final shape till about three centuries later, at the Council held under the auspices of the Emperor Asoka at Pāṭaliputra _circa_ 247 B.C. The account given of the First Council in the closing chapter of the _Culla vagga_ seems to indicate that the Basket of Metaphysics was then unknown or unrecognised, and that the scriptures were then a _Dvi-piṭaka_ (Two Baskets) rather than a _Ti-piṭaka_ (Three Baskets).