The Dhammapada and the Sutta Nipata

Beginning this work, Max Muller provides a thorough introduction to his translation of the Dhammapada -- perhaps the best-loved piece of Buddhist scripture. In it he explores the chronology of early Buddhism and its literature. The translation itself is accompanied by copious notes on the choices Muller made in rendering the original Pali into English. The Dhammapada, a collection of wisdom-sayings, is traditionally held to consist of words spoken by the Buddha on various occasions. Danish scholar Viggo Fausboll then offers his introduction to and translation of the Sutta Nipata, a text generally reckoned to be among the most primitive parts of the Theravada Buddhist canon on the grounds of its language and the stage in the formation of Buddhism that it depicts. The Sutta Nipata consists of verse and prose passages celebrating the path to enlightenment discovered by the Buddha, a wisdom that speaks to us even today. Pali words in this second edition are set using modern diacritical marks.