Dhammapada is a collection of sayings of the Buddha compiled by his followers after his death 2,500 years ago and transmitted orally for over 500 years before being written down around 2,000 years ago. It is the core work in Buddhist thought.

It is a spiritual work without being religious. It contains the Buddha’s key messages, expressed in striking and often beautiful images; a manual for living a good life, as relevant today as it was then. It introduces the ideas of karma: if you do or think bad things then bad will come back to you; that life is suffering which is caused by too much attachment to worldly things, and that everything in life will decay: wealth, beauty and power are all temporary.

This new verse translation of selected sections of Dhammapada is illustrated by images of the Buddha from the Buddhist caves at Ajanta, Ellora and Kanheri and from Bodh Gaya, the place of the Buddha’s enlightenment.