..续本文上一页ory of Gisa Kotami who, having lost her only son, went from house to house desperately seeking a remedy for his death; or a macabre one as in the story of Angulimala who kept tab of the number of victims he had murdered by wearing a necklace of their fingers around his neck. We have afforded ourselves the liberty to dispense with parts of some of the original stories that we considered rather long or dull, and embellished others in an attempt to make them more palatable to the modern reader. This we have done, however, taking care to retain the original meaning of each story.
Those who would like to see the unedited versions of our stories can refer to The Dhammapāda, Verses and Stories, translated from Pali by Daw Mya Tin and published by the Myanmar Pitaka Association, Rangoon, 1986. This edition may not be readily available outside of Myanmar. A more accessible publication is The Dhammapāda by Ven. Sri Dhammananda which was published by the Sasana Abhiwurdhi Wardhana Society, Malaysia, 1992, and which, with few exceptions, reproduces the texts of the stories in the Myanmar
edition almost verbatim. We have relied on these two publications as our main sources of reference in compiling our book.
In the introduction to his book, Ven. Sri Dhammananda makes the following remark about the Dhammapāda: “It is impossible to estimate how many human beings have refrained from telling a lie, killing an insect, spreading a rumor, or taking what is not given, by calling to mind a story from the Dhammapāda at the right moment. If the world has experienced moments of compassion and wisdom in the face of greed, hatred, and delusion, the Dhammapāda must be given its due share of credit for it.”
No doubt the Dhammapāda will continue to be a source of inspiration and edification to all who seek spiritual upliftment within its pages.
THE EDITOR
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Acknowledgement
WE WOULD LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE our appreciation to the following bhikkhunis: Rev. Jen Du, Rev. Shing Ing, Rev. Jian Jih, and Rev. Shiou Ding, as well as to Ms Hsu Mei Jr and Mr. Hsu Te Wei for their assistance in the translation of the English texts into Chinese; to Ms Aye Sabai Win for proofreading the English manuscript and making constructive suggestions; and especially to Rev. Dau Soon for enriching our stories with her vivid illustrations. Her drawings were inspired by the beautiful art work of Mr. U. G. de Silva that appeared in the Sasana Abhiwurdhi Wardana Society”s edition of The Dhammapāda, 1988.
《Dhammapada Stories - Contents - Introduction - Acknowledgement》全文阅读结束。