Buddha’s Teachings

“Some time ago, when reading the Sutta-Nipata, I was led to the conclusion that, while all verse when translated should receive a metrical rendering, it was particularly desirable to make the attempt here, so as to emphasize in English the historically significant varieties of versification found in the Pali. In 1928 Professor Lanman suggested that, with a Pali text on the opposite page (as in the Loeb Classics), my metrical experiment should find a place in the Harvard Oriental Series. This volume is the outcome of his suggestion.”—Author’s Preface

This book contains a metrical English rendering of an important Buddhist work in Pali named ‘Sutta-Niapata’ with the original text in Romanized version on the opposite page. The Sutta-Nipata belongs to that portion of the Sutta-Pitaka which is named Khuddaka Nikaya or ‘Collection of Short Treatises’ as distinct from the four long Nikayas called Digha, Majhima, Samyutta and Anguttara.