The Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths – that there is sorrow in this world, that the root cause for sorrow is desire (or attachment to worldly things), that it is possible to overcome sorrow, and that the way to overcome sorrow is the Eightfold Path.
The Eightfold Path is a misnomer because (in essence) it consists of right belief, right conduct and right action. The Dhammapada is the user’s manual or the user’s guide to the Eightfold Path.
The Dhammapada is a collection of 423 verses, originally compiled in the Pali language. Though it is arranged into twenty-six chapters, the arrangement is superfluous as the subject matter is more or less the same. Dhamma means righteousness, and Pada means path; thus, the Dhammapada is the path to righteousness. The Dhammapada is as important to Buddhists as the Gita is to Hindus, because it contains the teachings of the Buddha in concise and precise terms. But, it should be understood, that the Dhammapada is only one of several Buddhist religious scriptures.
The essential teaching of the Buddha is that the path to freedom (from worldly attachments) is to conquer our passions. Traditionally, there are five passions in Hindu / Buddhist philosophy – these consist of desire, anger, ignorance, avarice and pride. The conquest of self thus consists of conquering these passions.
“The wise control themselves” says the Buddha (Chapter 6, Verse 5). “Happy is the practice of virtue before old age approaches” (Chapter 23, Verse 14). In its essentials, the practice of Buddhism could be distilled to these maxims.
The teachings of Buddha are known as the “Middle Path”, because the way the Buddha taught was the mean between a life of materialism and a life of austerity. The Buddha taught that objects of desire are impermanent; and to be attached to transient things is to delude oneself. The Buddha believed in the practice of moderation – both in one’s personal life and in one’s philosophy. (In this he differed from Mahavira, the other great teacher of the sixth century B.C.)
Another reason for the popularity and spread of Buddhism was that the Buddha made no distinction between rich and poor, caste and creed. Buddha was the first to practice – and to preach – the brotherhood of mankind.
The lay Buddhist seeks refuge in the Buddha (the Savior), the Dhamma (the Law of righteousness) and the Sangha (the Order of monks).
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