Essence of the Dhammapada - (Wisdom of India) by Eknath Easwaran (Paperback)

About the Book

Eknath Easwaran, translator of the best-selling edition of the "Dhammapada, " sees this powerful scripture as a perfect map for the spiritual journey. Said to be the text closest to the Buddha's actual words, it is a collection of short teachings memorized during his lifetime by his disciples. Easwaran presents the "Dhammapada" as a guide to spiritual perseverance, progress, and ultimately enlightenment -- a heroic confrontation with life as it really is, with straight answers to our deepest questions. We witness the heartbreak of death, for instance -- what does that mean for us? What is love? How does karma work? How do we follow the spiritual life in the midst of work and family? Does nirvana really exist, and if so, what is it like to be illumined?
In his interpretation of Buddhist themes, illustrated with stories from the Buddha's life, Easwaran offers a view of the concept of Right Understanding that is both exhilarating and instructive. He shares his experiences on the spiritual path, giving the advice that only an experienced teacher and practitioner can offer, and urges us to answer for ourselves the Buddha's call to nirvana -- that mysterious, enduring state of wisdom, joy, and peace.

Book Synopsis

In this companion to his best-selling translation of The Dhammapada, Eknath Easwaran explains how The Dhammapada is a perfect map for the spiritual journey.

Said to be the text closest to the Buddha's actual words, The Dhammapada is a collection of short teachings that his disciples memorized during his lifetime. Easwaran presents The Dhammapada as a guide to spiritual perseverance, progress, and ultimately enlightenment -- a heroic confrontation with life as it really is, with straight answers to our deepest questions. We witness the heartbreak of death, for instance -- what does that mean for us? What is love? How does karma work? How do we follow the spiritual life in the midst of work and family? Does nirvana really exist, and if so, what is it like to be illumined?

In his interpretation of Buddhist themes, illustrated with stories from the Buddha's life, Easwaran offers a view of the concept of Right Understanding that is both exhilarating and instructive. He shares his experiences on the spiritual path, giving the advice that only an experienced teacher and practitioner can offer, and urges us to answer for ourselves the Buddha's call to nirvana -- that mysterious, enduring state of wisdom, joy, and peace.

From the Back Cover

The Dhammapada is practical, free from speculation and theory. It's suitable for people living in the world, with a family, a career, and all the problems of daily life. Most of the Buddhist scriptures are addressed to monks and nuns, but The Dhammapada is addressed to all, and if we look at the Buddha's life, we see that those attracted to him were often ordinary men and women like you and me. In later centuries the body of Buddhist scripture grew to be more voluminous than the Bible, but I would say that we need nothing more than The Dhammapada to answer the Buddha's call to nirvana. It is the perfect map for the spiritual journey.
- Eknath Easwaran

Review Quotes

"Our favorite translation is Eknath Easwaran's The Dhammapada. His Indian heritage, literary gifts, and spiritual sensibilities here produce a sublime rendering of the words of the Buddha. Verse after verse shimmers with quiet, confident authority." - Huston Smith & Philip Novak [Reviewing Easwaran's translation, The Dhammapada, in Buddhism]

About the Author

Eknath Easwaran (1910-1999) grew up in India and studied both Sanskrit and Pali, the simplified version of Sanskrit that was spoken by the Buddha. He was chairman of the English department at a major Indian university when he came to the United States on a Fulbright fellowship in 1959.

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. From the mid 1970s onwards, Easwaran held classes on the core Buddhist scripture, the Dhammapada, in addition to his talks on meditation, world mysticism, and spiritual living.

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. Easwaran's translations of the Indian classics, the Dhammapada, The Bhagavad Gita, and The Upanishads, are all best-selling editions in English. His books have been translated into 16 languages, and more than 2 million copies are in print.