A small but powerful injection of Buddhism straight into your soul.

The Dhammapada

By: Unknown Translator: Gil Fronsdal Published: Sometime in the 3rd to 1st century BC 152 Pages

Briefly, what is this book about?

This is Buddhist scripture in a similar sense to how the New Testament is Christian scripture. In this case it's 423 verses (as opposed to nearly 8,000 in the New Testament) all of which have supposedly been uttered by the Buddha. The verses are arranged into thematic chapters (Mind, Anger, Happiness, etc.)

What's the author's angle?

In theory the author is the Buddha, and his angle would be bringing the readers to enlightenment. In reality most people believe that the verses were compiled by early Buddhist communities. The angle I got out of it was the elimination of desire.

Who should read this book?

Given how important this book is to tens of millions of people, and how short it is (if you're just looking at the verses absent commentary it's around 10,000 words) I would say anyone who's even remotely interested in religion, philosophy, or eastern thought, should read this book.

Specific thoughts: More directly Buddhist than I expected