Dhammapada book review
I have been a student of stoicism for many years, and stoicism is very compatible with many versions of Christianity, but stoicism, to me, seems even more compatible with different forms of Buddhism. So, in the spirit of being open minded, and given that these past seven months I've needed some spiritual and mental healing, something to soothe the mind the way only stoicism has for me before, I decided to test this hypothesis of mine and to read the Buddhist scripture, the Dhammapada. Here is my review of that work.
The Dhammapada is a summary text of the eight-fold path and the four noble truths compressed into an anthology of parallel verses said to be the sayings of the Buddha himself. The title translates into something like the path of truth and for the most part it reads like proverbs or the book of wisdom except pretty quickly it becomes unbiblical, but we'll get into that in a moment and what follows next will be a breakdown of each chapter.
1. contrary way: Our thoughts shape our perception of reality, expressed in Parallel complementary verses.
2. watchfulness: Mindfulness versus thoughtlessness and why mindfulness is better.
3. the mind: Thoughts and emotions are uncontrollable but the mind when aimed and given direction flies straight like an arrow.
4. flowers of life: Beauty fades and all is vanity; it’s better to chase wisdom and truth which is eternal than it is to chase pleasure, which only lasts for a moment.
5. the fool: Foolishness comes from pride, not from mere simple ignorance. For a wise man can spend time with a fool and still remain wise, and a fool can spend time with the wise man and learn nothing.
6. the wise man: while the fool is driven by shame and pride, a wise man accepts correction and criticism then changes their own behaviors rather than blame the observer.
7. infinite freedoms: Liberation is only true freedom if one abandons desire, fear, and vanity.
8. better than: To conquer oneself is greater than conquering one thousand foes and one meaningful word is better than one thousand empty ones.
9. good and evil: Evil may seem benign or even sweet at first but like drops of water eventually it fills the jar and overflows. Evil deeds and bad deeds accumulate and have disastrous consequences that lead to harm, death, and pain.
10. lives: This is close to the golden rule. Since, all living creatures fear pain and death; one then should do their best not to harm others.
11. beyond life: If one relies on or hopes in youth, beauty, or the body they are unwise. Because youth will age, beauty will fade into ugliness, and the body decays and dies, no one escapes this.
12. self-possession: Here is the first real break from western and Christian thought as one must now rely on the self for their own salvation and that self-mastery is the only path to purification.
13. arise watch: The world is nothing but an illusion, a delusion, a perception, a mirage, and it is easy to be deceived and be intoxicated by it, so reject it. Reject the world.
14. the Buddha: To be free from passion and free from desire is to be enlightened.
15. joys: Happiness is living without hatred and without greed, it is living simply among the complex, forgiving among the hateful, generous among the greedy, by rejecting their world (values) and their views (perspectives).
16. transparent pleasures: Attachment brings grief and fear of loss.
17. forsake anger: Anger is conquered by forgiveness, hatred is conquered by love, greed is conquered by generosity, and lies are conquered by truth.
18. hasten and strive: One's goal should be to be refined as silver. To remove the impurities of greed, ignorance, lust, anger, negligence, and hypocrisy.
19. righteousness: Here it is not about what one knows or what one writes or what one says but about what one does. Living rightly means living in a way that is nonviolent, that is truthful, and honest, that demonstrates self-restraint and practices self-control.
20. the path: The 8-fold path is the best of all paths, and the four noble truths are the best of all truths.
21. wakefulness: One must weigh actions against consequences; it is better to renounce small pleasures for greater joys.
22. the dark in darkness: Wrongdoing, evil deeds and wicked deeds, carry consequences. A lack of self-control leads to self-deception which leads to downward downfall, corruption, pain, suffering, and poverty.
23. endurance: this chapter uses the metaphor of an elephant rising from a swamp. It sates that if one cannot find a wise companion then it is better to walk alone, but that the more disciplined you are, the more insult and hardship you will have to endure.
24. cravings: Cravings and desire are like a vine that entangles the soul. The only way to truly get rid of the weed and to have true liberation is to cut it off at the roots.
25. the monk: This chapter describes the ideal monk as someone who is a monastic, that they must be calm, restrained, satisfied with little, mindful of others, thoughtful of oneself, detached, disciplined, purified and inwardly righteous. They must be someone who controls their speech, closes their lips, and holds their tongue.
26. the brahman: The highest rank is not defined by birthright but by true liberation, true restraint, true truth, true purity, and true endurance.
Looking at this here, while some principles, especially early on in the writings, are compatible with western thought, seemingly synchronistic with Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and even Mormonism, the further in you go in the book the less compatible it is with the Abrahamic religions. Its concentration on self-reliance, on an anti-communal stance, and the abandonment of all earthly desire makes it antithetical to Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. For read at the extreme, one would have to also deny their children and their spouses, which would deny the Christian ethic to be fruitful and multiply, and the ideal that there is one partner for each individual. Christianity makes you one in the body of Christ, therefore you are to be concerned with all members of the body of Christ, as the hand is no more important than the eye, and the eye no more important than the foot. This Christian ideal of unity, communion, and wholeness through community, is not found in Buddhism as represented in the Dhammapada. I would give this book a 7 out of 10 as a read. I found it both interesting and enlightening though I disagreed with some of its core maxims and principles.