Reading and Meditating [session 01 english] the Buddha, the Dhammapada
Channel: Buddhism 4 Happiness
Date: 03/12/2018

You are invited to read and meditate with me on a pair of sayings of the Buddha, as found in a translation of the Dhammapada, published online on the wonderful web pages of Access to Insight.

Access to Insight is a Theravada Buddhist website providing access to many translated texts from the Tipitaka, and contemporary materials published by the Buddhist Publication Society and many teachers from the Thai Forest Tradition.

Access to Insight is well known to students of Buddhism around the world. For example, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, although he does not have Internet access, proclaims it as a valuable resource, and Bhikkhu Bodhi's acclaimed translation of the Pali Canon also recommends it . It has been cited in the Journal of Buddhist Ethics, Multi-Ethnic Children's Literature and Cross-Cultural Research.

It is also cited in several standard textbooks used in teaching Buddhism.

The Dhammapada is a cherished Buddhist text. 
In this session I read from the Dhammapada
first two verses found in the first chapter titled "Pairs"
But first I will read portions of the introduction given
by Bhikkhu Bodhi, found at
https://accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.intro.budd.html#intro

which goes like the following:

From ancient times to the present, 
the Dhammapada has been regarded as 
the most succinct expression of the 
Buddha's teaching found in the Pali canon and 
the chief spiritual testament of early Buddhism. 
In the countries following Theravada Buddhism, 
such as Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand, 
the influence of the Dhammapada is ubiquitous. 

Dhammapada is an ever-fecund source 
of themes for sermons and discussions,
 a guidebook for resolving the 
countless problems of everyday life, 
a primer for the instruction of 
novices in the monasteries. 
Even the experienced contemplative, 
withdrawn to forest hermitage or 
mountainside cave for a life of meditation, 
can be expected to count a copy 
of the book among his few 
material possessions. 
. . .
[and so on, although I skip around a little]

Then after my reading the introduction by Bhikkhu Bodhi [to the Dhammapada]
I read the first two verses as follows:
5:34 Reading verse 1 and 2 of the first chapter of the Dhammapada
1. Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts suffering follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.

2. Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they are all mind-wrought. If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow.

You may read this pair and the rest of the ten pairs  at
https://accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.01.budd.html

translated from the Pali by
Acharya Buddharakkhita 
copyrighted 1996

May my reading and meditating upon the sayings of the Buddha bring joy and reduce suffering. May this session introduce some one to the sayings of the Buddha as found in the Dhammapada and the website Access to Insight. 

Thank you for your feedback.

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Source video: Buddha-Dhammapada-firstPairOfVerses.mp4
created/edited 12/2/2018
original recording: WP_20181201_13_05_38_Pro.mp4 (using a Microsoft Lumia 950XL) 
Date of recording: 2018, December 1, 1 PM
Location: The Gazebo at The Kundalini Yoga Center at Altamonte Springs Florida.
quick tinyurl link: https://tinyurl.com/dhammapadamed1