The Dhammapada is a collection of the sayings of the Buddha. They were probably first gathered in northern India in the third century B.C.E. Dhamma means law, justice, righteousness, discipline, truth; pada means path, step, foot, foundation. The Dhammapada was transmitted and recorded in Pali, the canonical language of southern Buddhism, and it has become the principal scripture for Buddhists in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.

The Dhammapada is one of the most popular and accessible books in all of Buddhist literature. In it are the words of the Buddha, teaching that all suffering stems from desire and that the way to attain freedom is to purify the heart and follow the way of truth. Thomas Byrom’s verse rendering of the Dhammapada uniquely captures the Buddha’s original teachings with simplicity and lyricism.

Thomas Byrom, Ph.D., was educated at Oxford and Harvard universities and taught literature at St. Catherine’s College and Exeter College.

Unabridged in a pocket (3” x 4.5”) paperback edition. Foreward by Ram Dass. 113 pages.