By
Published: 28th May
2013
The world has been
witnessing many philosophical thoughts till date. And, Buddhism has turned out
to be both philosophical and religious. Buddhist teachings, which are filled
with practical lessons explained by Buddha in simple terms, were collected and
compiled as ‘Dhammapada’. This work,
till date, has been translated in many languages, including Tamil in prose form
.
For the first
time, the book has been translated in a poetry form with an eponymous title.
The translation was done by noted Tamil poet Yazhan Athi and has been brought
out by Buddha’s Light International Association, Chennai Branch. The book was
released recently.
Hailing from Vellore, Yazhan Athi now
works as a school teacher in Ambur. As a poet and a writer he has many works to
his credit, including much acclaimed books such as Isai Uthir Kaalam, Sevipparai, Nedunthee and Kaspa. He is considered as one of the notable modern poets in
today’s Tamil literary arena.
The book titled ‘Dhammapada’ has Buddha’s teachings put
in simple terms, written in two to three lines and include daily life lessons
which are practical.
The translation to
Tamil language has also been done using simple words which are easy to
understand for a reader. Also, the author has used the words with utmost
care.
For example, the
Tamil word Nirvaanam, which refers to
nudity has been avoided to prevent any unpleasant feeling among the readers.
Instead, another word Nippaanam is
used, which literally means being clean, good and enlightened.
Speaking to City
Express, Yazhan Athi shared his thoughts about his recent work and his
attraction to Buddhism.
“Buddha’s
teachings were collected and compiled wholly as ‘Tiripitaka’ in Bali language. The
collection of sayings of Buddha in verse forms were compiled as Dhammapada and categorized under the
second pitaka – Abidhamma Pitaka.
The collection
contains 431 verses under 26 chapters such as thought, evil, old age and
happiness among others. Until Buddha’s life time, these verses existed only in
verbal form and it was only after his demise, those verses were converted into
written form,” said Yazhan Athi.
He added, “It was
in 1960, a Sri Lankan Buddhist monk named Somananda translated Dhammapada into Tamil for the first
time. But it was in prose format and it contained many Sinhala and Sanskrit
words which were very difficult to understand. From then on many translations
came into the scene, of which the translation by K Dhammananda, one of the
Buddhist monks inspired me very much”
Yazhan Athi came
to know about Buddhist thoughts through Ambedkar’s writings.
“I had an
opportunity to read Ambedkar’s ‘Buddha
and his Dhamma’ and I got attracted to Buddhist thoughts.” Through
incessant reading of Buddha’s teachings he also came to know about Zen philosophy
which made him write the first-of- its-kind direct Zen poems.
His collections
include Kaali Koppaiyum Thaanai Nirambum
Thaeneerum, which was published by city-based publishers, Karuppu
Pirathigal.
Courtesy: The New Indian Express
