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A Study of the Dhammapada Collection

2: Contents (Chapters 1 - 7)

One of the most striking things about the Pāḷi Dhammapada is that nearly all of its verses (95%) are found in at least one of the other collections, and not infrequently in all of them. Given the fragmentary nature of the Gāndhārī Dharmapada, and its close resemblance to the Pāḷi where it does exist, we could expect that the figures would be even higher if we had more of that text available.

Below are tables covering the twenty-six chapters in the Pāḷi Dhammapada, with the information relating to the correspondence between chapter and verse abstracted, so that it is possible to see at a glance the correspondences in the four main collections.Normally the information concerning the Mahāvastu and the other texts is not presented here, as they are generally not collections of verses, and only contain incidental parallels (the Mahāvastu contains a Sahasravarga, and maybe a Bhikṣuvarga, and the information concerning these chapters is summarised).⁰¹ Following each of the tables I have made a few notes highlighting certain aspects they bring out in regard to content and sequence, together with other explanatory notes whenever necessary.

There are certain verses in the Pāḷi collection that find no parallel in any of the other collections; in that case I have also inspected the Pāḷi Canon itself to see whether they are parallels there, and I give the findings in the notes that follow the tables.

Where the verses only partially parallel the Pāḷi, this is noted by indicating the quarters that are parallel (as a, b, c, d, etc). Where parts of two verses together make up a parallel, this is also clearly indicated.

Parts of the Gāndhārī Dharmapada are, unfortunately, badly damaged or lost, so that sometimes we no longer know the contents of the whole verse, and therefore how well it parallels the Pāḷi. The verses affected in this way have therefore been marked with an asterick in the tables that follow.

The total number of verses in the Pāḷi and the parallels in the other collections are noted at the bottom of each table.

1: Yamakavagga

• It is clear, when looking at this table, that although the Yamaka category is well established, which verses belong to it is not. In the parallels most of the verses appear, but roughly half of them have been collected under different rubrics.
• There are no good parallels to the verses 17 - 18 of the Pāḷi collection, and these also find no parallel elsewhere in the Canon.
• Patna is quite close to the Pāḷi, having the first eight verses in common, albeit in different order.
• Gāndhārī has twenty-three verses collected in its Yamakavaga, but only ten parallels from that chapter (it is very possible that other pairs appeared in different chapters, the contents of which have been lost).
• Udānavarga knows of all but three of the verses, but only six are in its Yugavarga.

2: Appamādavagga

• In the 2nd chapter the agreement is very high, there being thirty-three out of a potential thirty-six parallels, and all but three of them belong to an Appamāda chapter.
• The Pāḷi, Patna, and Udānavarga chapters all open with the same three verses, but after that the sequence breaks down.

3: Cittavagga

• All of the verses find a parallel in one or other of the collections, and nearly all are in a Cittavagga (four are in other vaggas).
• The Gāndhārī Dharmapada, it should be stressed, is very badly broken in its Citavaga and may have contained other parallels that are lost.

4: Pupphavagga

• The collection of verses having a simile about flowers seems to have been well established, and there are good parallels not only to the chapter name, but to the contents also.
• Patna has sixteen verses in its Puṣpavarggaḥ, and fifteen are parallel to its Pāḷi counterpart; Gāndhārī Puṣpavaga has fifteen verses and thirteen are parallel to the verses in the Pupphavagga.
• The sequence 11 - 14 finds a parallel in Patna and Udānavarga, and partly so in Gāndhārī.

5: Bālavagga

• Gāndhārī's Balavaga is one of the lost chapters, and there are therefore only two verses parallel to the Pāḷi in this chapter, that have been collected in its Paṇidavaga.
• The sequence 6 - 9 is paralleled in Patna and Udānavarga; as is the sequence 13 - 16, but in the latter the division of the verses does not agree with the parallels, which however, agree with one another.

6: Paṇḍitavagga

• The parallels to the Pāḷi Paṇḍitavagga in the Patna Dharmapada are mainly to be found in its Atthavarggaḥ and Āsavavarggaḥ.
• The last five verses are sequential in both collections.
• Only six of the Pāḷi verses are paralleled in the Gāndhārī Dharmapada, which is a bit surprising, as it has nineteen verses collected in its Paṇidavaga.
• The Udānavarga parallels are scattered throughout that collection.

7: Arahantavagga

• The Gāndhārī had an Arahavaga, but it is lost, together with all the verses it contained.
• Neither Patna nor Udānavarga know of the rubric, and the parallels are scattered throughout those collections.
• There is no good parallel to 6, but compare Udānavarga 17.12.