The Dhammapada is one of the best known and best loved Buddhist texts, a sequence of verses traditionally said to have been spoken by the Buddha himself to help people on the path to liberation. In her version for Penguin Classics, Valerie J Roebuck seeks to translate the Pali into modern English verse that will keep the beauty and clarity of the original.

Posts Tagged ‘translation’

A new journal article

Posted on: September 21st, 2012 by admin No Comments

Sept21

Last week I sent off the corrected proofs of a new article on the Dhammapada and related texts, called Dhammapada, Dharmapada and Udānavarga: the Many Lives of a Buddhist Text. It is to be included in the December edition of the journal Religions of South Asia, which is published by the Equinox Press.

An Introduction to the Dhammapada

Posted on: August 26th, 2012 by admin No Comments

Sept8

Poster for talk, 'Introduction to the Dhammapada'

Valerie Roebuck will be giving a talk entitled An Introduction to the Dhammapada as part of the Summer Programme at the Manchester Centre for Buddhist Meditation. It will be open to all, and no previous knowledge of the text or of Buddhism is required.
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A New Year Resolution?

Posted on: December 31st, 2011 by admin 2 Comments

Dec31

Whatever an enemy can do to an enemy,
Or a rival to a rival,
A wrongly directed mind
Will do worse to you than that.

What mother or father cannot do,
Or any other kin,
A rightly directed mind
Will do better for you than that.

Dhammapada 42-3

These are some of my favourite verses from the Dhammapada, though in their apparent simplicity they are particularly difficult to translate. (The original Pali is given below.)
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