Rating: 
Summary: One of the best translations
Review: Somehow I have managed to collect ten different translations of the Dhammapada. This one is my favorite. The introductions to each section are very helpful to understanding the context these verses originated from. The translations themselves are alive, unlike some of the others that I have in my library.I highly recommend this translation.
Rating:
Summary: Eternal Freedom from Suffering. A MUST Read!
Review: The Dammapada went to the core of my being like few books have done before. This book literally transformed previous pain into genuine compassion and understanding. The work of Eknath Easwarren is a noble gift to humanity. His introduction brings you into the life of Buddha, where you "feel" what He went through, and how he overcame the same doubts, anxieties, and responses from ego that we all strive to overcome.
There is no preaching in this tradition, only the heartfelt and breathtaking teaching of the way out of pain.
This book reads like a jewel that brings light to your mind and your soul. It encompasses the greatest teachings of Buddha, and will show you exactly how to achieve Nirvana. This is not a religion, it is a way of life, paved with the eightfold path, that is for all of humanity equally, even if you subscribe to another religion. It will reach your human mind, and help you transform into an "awakened" one. HIGHLY Recommended for the everlasting peace you deserve.
Barbara Rose, author of 'Individual Power' and 'If God Was Like Man'
Rating:
Summary: Spirituality for everybody
Review: The Dhammapada delivers the core of Bedims to everyone.
The Dhammapada is a simple short book. No pages long philosophical stuff (which will bore most people probably to death).
Instead the Dhammapada gives simple values by which everyone can live or at least like.
By reading this you will receive all the wisdom that Buddha has gathered in his entire life in an hour.
Rating:
Summary: The Book of the books!
Review: The Dhammapada possesses a rare quality: the critical reader finds the text he prepares to appraise, evaluating him instead. "Better than a speech of a thousand vain words is one thoughtful word that brings peace to the mind." "Like a flower, full of color but lacking in fragrance, are the words of those who do not practice what they preach." "More than those who hate you, an undisciplined mind does greater harm." "There is no fire like lust. . . " Of the books I have read in Indian religion, as a Christian, I find this the most spiritually challenging in that regard. I read the text first, and the introduction afterwards. I thought later it might be good to go through the text twice before the introduction. While Easwaran gives an eloquent explanation of and apologetic for the Buddha's teachings, he says little about this sutra. While the Dhammapada speaks extremely well for itself, I would have liked to know more about its origin, how it places in the body of Buddhist literature, and a few other explanations. Especially, what exactly did the author mean by "selfish attachments?" Did he think there was another kind? One thing that stood out for me in this text was the contrast it showed with later Buddhism. At one point, Easwaran writes, "The joy in (Buddha's) message is the joy of knowing he has found a way for everyone, not just great sages . . . " The text, however, speaks of the wise looking "upon the suffering multitude as from a mountaintop," and repeatedly stresses the difficulty of obtaining nirvana. It stresses the necessity of raising yourself "by your own efforts," of "cutting down the whole forest" of desire, and of going it alone, if need be, like an elephant in the woods. How easy Buddha's followers themselves found these teachings can be seen from the later history of monasticism, tantra, Pure Land, and Zen, which incrementally brought back so much that Buddha got rid of. I found myself wondering, after reading this text, if anyone has ever lived up to these teachings -- any more than to the Sermon on the Mount, to which it is often compared. (Though it reminded me more of Proverbs or James -- a clue, perhaps, to its origin.) This contrast makes it is a comfort to me that, contrary to the parallels Easwaran attempts, the early Christians were historians, the Sermon on the Mount is not the whole of their message, and the rest of what they say shows that, in the end, we do not need to save ourselves. While I disagree with the Buddha's teachings on attachments, karma, reincarnation, and self-salvation, there are many wise sayings in this text that a Christian, as well as a Buddhist, may find worthy of meditation. author, Jesus and the Religions of Man
Rating: 
Summary: Many thoughtful words.
Review: The Dhammapada possesses a rare quality: the critical reader finds the text he prepares to appraise, evaluating him instead. "Better than a speech of a thousand vain words is one thoughtful word that brings peace to the mind." "Like a flower, full of color but lacking in fragrance, are the words of those who do not practice what they preach." "More than those who hate you, an undisciplined mind does greater harm." "There is no fire like lust. . . " Of the books I have read in Indian religion, as a Christian, I find this the most spiritually challenging in that regard. I read the text first, and the introduction afterwards. I thought later it might be good to go through the text twice before the introduction. While Easwaran gives an eloquent explanation of and apologetic for the Buddha's teachings, he says little about this sutra. While the Dhammapada speaks extremely well for itself, I would have liked to know more about its origin, how it places in the body of Buddhist literature, and a few other explanations. Especially, what exactly did the author mean by "selfish attachments?" Did he think there was another kind? One thing that stood out for me in this text was the contrast it showed with later Buddhism. At one point, Easwaran writes, "The joy in (Buddha's) message is the joy of knowing he has found a way for everyone, not just great sages . . . " The text, however, speaks of the wise looking "upon the suffering multitude as from a mountaintop," and repeatedly stresses the difficulty of obtaining nirvana. It stresses the necessity of raising yourself "by your own efforts," of "cutting down the whole forest" of desire, and of going it alone, if need be, like an elephant in the woods. How easy Buddha's followers themselves found these teachings can be seen from the later history of monasticism, tantra, Pure Land, and Zen, which incrementally brought back so much that Buddha got rid of. I found myself wondering, after reading this text, if anyone has ever lived up to these teachings -- any more than to the Sermon on the Mount, to which it is often compared. (Though it reminded me more of Proverbs or James -- a clue, perhaps, to its origin.) This contrast makes it is a comfort to me that, contrary to the parallels Easwaran attempts, the early Christians were historians, the Sermon on the Mount is not the whole of their message, and the rest of what they say shows that, in the end, we do not need to save ourselves. While I disagree with the Buddha's teachings on attachments, karma, reincarnation, and self-salvation, there are many wise sayings in this text that a Christian, as well as a Buddhist, may find worthy of meditation. author, Jesus and the Religions of Man
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