This book comprises Buddhist stories which have been selected from the old commentary to the Dhammapada. This anthology of fifty-six stories represents only a small part of the very large original work, which in its complete translation fills three large volumes.
In this volume is presented an English translation of the Pali-Dhammapada by a distinguished Buddhist monk and Pali scholar, Venerable A.P. Buddhadatta of Sri Lanka. The Meaning and Message of the Dhammapada is analysed and explained by eight eminent scholars, which include two Sri Lankan Buddhist monks, Ven. Narada and Ven. Piyadassi, Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi of America, and five Indians, namely, the well-known Osho, Ven. Acharya Buddharakkhita, Prof. L.M. Joshi, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and A.K. Bandyopadhyay. The Dhammapada is also available in Prakrit and Sanskrit languages. In the last chapter, the Editor makes an interesting comparative study of the Pali, Prakrit and Sanskrit Dhammapada as well as their translations in the Chinese and Tibetan languages. All this information naturally makes this book a unique study of the Dhammapada.
Nikunja Vihari Banerjee has furnished in this book, The Dhammapada, the complete Pali text in both Devanagari and Roman characters. As the 26 groups dealing with the subject matter of Dhammapada are concerned with things or persons, moral phenomena and miscellaneous items, he has rearranged them in three divisions. A,B and C and brought out the spirit of the message succinctly. In the last chapter he has shown how the Dhammapada echoes the message of the great religions of mankind and thus is universal in character and relevant to people at all times. This is a great book by a dedicated and devoted savant written especially for the benefit of all.
The Lotus Sutra - Buddhism has a large corpus of scripture and "The Lotus Sutra" is regarded as the most important of the Mahayana Buddhism which spread in most parts of the then know world, including China, Korea and Japan, where it served as the basis of Tien- tai, Tendai and Nichiren schools, the latter now very popular in the West under the name of Soka Gakkai led by the famous Daisaku lkeda. The work " bears the character of a dramatic performance, Sakyamuni Load Buddha himself , consisting of a series of dialogued, brightened by the magic effects of a would - be supernatural scenery."