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 Pali 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.