Sayings Of The Buddha – Rupert Gethin (eng)

SAYINGS OF THE BUDDHA

RUPERT GETHIN

PREFACE
Despite their being some of the oldest and most important Buddhist literary works, the suttas of the Pali Nikāyas are not widely known nor generally read (either in translation or the original) beyond Buddhist circles, except perhaps in the context of university courses in Indian or religious studies. I hope that the present volume might go some way to making these striking texts more accessible and familiar to a general readership.

In translating this selection of suttas, I should like to acknowledge the debt I owe to previous scholars and translators generally, but in particular my understanding of Pali texts owes much to conversations with and the published works of Steven Collins, Margaret Cone, L. S. Cousins, Oskar von Hinüber, and K. R. Norman; I am grateful to Mr Norman for answering my queries on several passages, while the first part (a–kh) of Margaret Cone’s Dictionary of Pali has been invaluable, and like all scholars of Pali I look forward to the publication of the rest of this dictionary. Over the course of working on these translations I have had many conversations on questions relating to Pali literature with my wife, Rita Langer, and these, as well as her own work on Buddhist funeral rituals, have also fed into my understanding of Pali texts generally and of particular passages.

I am also grateful to Ken Robinson, who read through the whole typescript meticulously, pointing out numerous mistakes and making valuable suggestions. Any mistakes that remain, however, are entirely my responsibility. Finally, I would like to thank Judith Luna, the editor of the Oxford World’s Classics series, for waiting and also for her quick and judicious advice.

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