The Dhammapada and the Sutta Nipata

by F. Max Müller, Viggo Fausböll

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.

Genres: Buddhism, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Religion, Philosophy

296 pages, Paperback

Published March 11, 2011

About the author

Friedrich Max Müller, K.M. (Ph.D., Philology, Leipzig University, 1843)—generally known as Max Müller or F. Max Müller—was the first Professor of Comparative Philology at Oxford University, and an Orientalist who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion. Müller wrote both scholarly and popular works on the subject of Indology and the Sacred Books of the East, a 50-volume set of English translations, was prepared under his direction.

Müller became a naturalized British citizen in 1855. In 1869, he was elected to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres as a foreign correspondent. He was awarded the Pour le Mérite (civil class) in 1874, and the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art the following year. In 1888, he was appointed Gifford Lecturer at the University of Glasgow, delivering the first in what has proved to be an ongoing, annual series of lectures at several Scottish universities to the present day. He was appointed a member of the Privy Council in 1896.

His wife, Georgina Adelaide Müller was also an author. After Max's death, she deposited his papers at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

Reviews

[Munesh Chauhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A crisp narration of a mindfulness and simplicity.