Dhammapada word cloud

[Click on the image for an embiggened version.]

I thought it would be an interesting project to paste the entire text of the Dhammapada into Wordle in order to see what language the Buddha (or at least that text, which is generally reckoned to be one of the older Buddhist suttas) used.

I used Buddharakkhita's translation from Access to Insight.

The language strikes me as being predominantly positive and humanistic. "One" here is the presonal pronoun. "Man" is the main subject. "Wise," "holy," and "good" are the main adjectives. "Like" is common because the Buddha used a lot of similes, so this is "like" as in "fortifying this mind like a well-fortified city" not as in "I like ice cream."

"Evil" is a prominent topic, as are "craving" and "suffering."

"Mind" and "monk" are common terms, speaking to both the sociological and psychological leanings of Buddhism.

"Samsara" doesn't make the cut.

See the graphic on Wordle.

Related posts:
A handy Microsoft Word trick
The weasel word, "Misspoke"
The Dhammapada and vegetarianism