An Unforgettable Inheritance: Being the Stories of Dhammapada (Set of 7 Volumes)

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Vol. 1: Yamaka Vagga and Appamada Vagga
Vol. 2: Citta Vagga and Puppha Vagga
Vol. 3: Bala Vagga and Pandita Vagga
Vol. 4: Arahanta Vagga, Sahassa Vagga and Papa Vagga
Vol. 5: Dandavagga, Jaravagga and Attavagga
Vol. 6: Lokavagga, Buddhavagga, Sukhavagga and Piyavagga
Vol. 7: Kodhavagga, Malavagga, Dhammatthavagga and Maggavagga

Dedicated to the revered memory of my great Vinaya teacher, the late most Venerable Widurapola Piyatissa Mahā Nāyaka Thera, and the late Most Venerable Candamani Mahā Thera of Kushinara Vihāra, India, and in the memory of all other teachers, Venerable Nānatiloka Mahā Thera and Venerable Candavimala Mahā Nāyaka Thera of Sri Lanka, and Mahasi Sayadaw Venerable U Sobhana, Aggamahāpandita, the Mulapatthāna Sayadaw Venerable Nārada, Aggamahāpandita and the Yamaka Abhidhamma Acharya Sobhita Mahā Thera of Myanmar, and in memory of my departed parents. May all my teachers and parents attain Nibbana!

Venerable Acharya Buddharakkhita is the founder-president of Maha Bodhi Society, Bangalore. He was a member of the Editorial Board of the Sixth Buddhist Synod (Chattha Sangayana) in Yangon, which brought out a complete edition of the Buddhist scriptures. Since then he has established many Buddhist centres in India and abroad and rendered yeomen spiritual and humanitarian services. He established Mahabodhi Monastic Institute in Bangalore, India, Buddhayoga Meditation Centre in USA and conducted many Dhamma and Pali courses, meditation courses and written numerous books and translation of Buddhist texts. They have been published all over the world, including some German, Portuguese, Korean and Chinese translations. He has been editing and publishing English monthly DHAMMA for last five decades.

Mahabodhi Academy of Pali and Buddhist studies and Bhagavan Buddha University of Pali and Theravāda Buddhism, Bangalore are the result of his effort and research to provide a systematic Buddhist education as widely as possible, the first of its kind in whole of India.

Dhammapada, a great world classic, is the spiritual testament of the Buddha. An anthology of perennial inspiration, it is a practical handbook as well for right living, it is an uplifting document acting as a friend, philosopher and guide. Flashes of insight that illumined the Buddha's mind are strung together, as it were, into a garland of luminous sayings of pure wisdom.

Each verse of the Dhammapada has a significant historical incident as the backdrop. The stories, therefore, are not mere legends or tales, as some would try to make out.

The present rendering is a humble attempt at reconstructing that period of Indian history about which very little is known.

A whole world of new facts emerge from the stories, outlining a picture of the then society, very different from the one now known. Here we find an eternal India that is not merely a geographical or historical entity, but something that is the very substratum of man's aspirations for self-purification. These stories are deeply ingrained in the hearts of at least one-fourth of the world's population; men from India to Japan to Mexico, from Scandinavia to Australia, white men, black men, brown men, orientals, occidentals -all are alike inspired!