Why Dhammapada is so appealing to foreigners?

[asahi]

Most people are lazy , they want instant result .

[form]

The original committed to memory dhamma must have been short rather than long? Or worse with a big chunk of stories.

[Bundokji]

One reason could be that they are more practical and relevant to everyday life. The suttas for example include many repetitions that appear to be impractical. If you can say the same thing in a more concise and condensed way, then why not?

Also short verses allow for wisdom to be conveyed in a more poetic way. One can be almost certain that those who find the dhammapada appealing would also find the Udāna appealing. After a lengthy conversation between the Buddha and someone else, the utterances appear to have a transcendental quality that cannot be found in lengthy conversations. It is akin to summing up, or the crux of the matter, hence they are often presented at the end. The noble way seems to be more inline with end-making than proliferating.

[Spiny Norman]

Most people are lazy , they want instant result .

I'm not sure that's true. Lazy people are more likely to just slavishly follow a teacher, and not bother with the texts at all.

[mjaviem]

I almost haven't read anything from Dhammapada yet. But this is one quote I like much:

Dhammapada Verse 114:

... One might live for a hundred years without seeing the deathless state,
but a life of one day is better for one seeing the deathless state...

[form]

Mist of the verses can be traced to a sutta content. So sutta came first or the verse came first?

[Tennok]

Those who do not accumulate and are wise regarding food, whose object is the Void, the Unconditioned Freedom—their track cannot be traced, like that of birds in the air

It's just beautifull. The translation I once found, struck my heart with apower of a great poetry. This line gave me a taste, a promise of freedom. And, as others had already mentioned, Dhammapada has this taoistic feel. It's not dry, not repetitive, just the essence and intuitive glimpses of the Deathless.

But it's funny, how keeping great works of religion and culture as a part of the official, forced education has a reverse effect - they stop working. I can imagine a class of Sri Lankan kids listening to that, tired and sleepy, their teacher is also bored, nobody gives a @#%$@. It's same in my country, some great, spiritual poetry of old is just being wasted by forcing it upon unwelcoming children, too young to grasp it.

But ,perhaps Dhammapada kind of affects whole culture of Sri Lanka in a good way? Can you say something about it's impact, SararthW? Impact on movies, comic books, such stuff? Sri Lankan pop?

I know that in Japan most of people don't care much about Buddhism, but ideas of anicca, anatta and sunyatta, general feel of impermanence, are present in their culture and mentality. Especially high culture. Is it similiar in Sri Lanka?

[SarathW]

Those who do not accumulate and are wise regarding food, whose object is the Void, the Unconditioned Freedom—their track cannot be traced, like that of birds in the air

It's just beautifull. The translation I once found, struck my heart with apower of a great poetry. This line gave me a taste, a promise of freedom. And, as others had already mentioned, Dhammapada has this taoistic feel. It's not dry, not repetitive, just the essence and intuitive glimpses of the Deathless.

But it's funny, how keeping great works of religion and culture as a part of the official, forced education has a reverse effect - they stop working. I can imagine a class of Sri Lankan kids listening to that, tired and sleepy, their teacher is also bored, nobody gives a @#%$@. It's same in my country, some great, spiritual poetry of old is just being wasted by forcing it upon unwelcoming children, too young to grasp it.

But ,perhaps Dhammapada kind of affects whole culture of Sri Lanka in a good way? Can you say something about it's impact, SararthW? Impact on movies, comic books, such stuff? Sri Lankan pop?

I know that in Japan most of people don't care much about Buddhism, but ideas of anicca, anatta and sunyatta, general feel of impermanence, are present in their culture and mentality. Especially high culture. Is it similiar in Sri Lanka?

The only good thing that happen to me due to forced memorisation of Dhamma Pada is that I learned some Pali and remember them. They immensely help me now.

[Tennok]

The only good thing that happen to me due to forced memorisation of Dhamma Pada is that I learned some Pali and remember them. They immensely help me now.

I see. That's cool. Do many people in Sri Lanka know Pali?

[SarathW]

The only good thing that happen to me due to forced memorisation of Dhamma Pada is that I learned some Pali and remember them. They immensely help me now.

I see. That's cool. Do many people in Sri Lanka know Pali?

Not really.
But many Sinhalese languages is based on Pali and Sanskrit.
In theory we should be able to learn Pali faster than any other but I don't have much luck with it.

[justindesilva]

The only good thing that happen to me due to forced memorisation of Dhamma Pada is that I learned some Pali and remember them. They immensely help me now.

I see. That's cool. Do many people in Sri Lanka know Pali?

Not really.
But many Sinhalese languages is based on Pali and Sanskrit.
In theory we should be able to learn Pali faster than any other but I don't have much luck with it.

Many bhddhist schools like Ananda, Mahinda as well as provincial schools in sri lanka along with pirivena schools giving priority to budda damma offer pali language as a subject , thus opening pali language understanble to a high percentage of buddhists in sri lanka.
Though even myself is not a student of pali makes it easier to understand articles on buddhism. Sinhala articles on buddhism are mostly written by erudite monks with a literacy on pali, using sinhala words based on sanskrit and pali. Pali is never a spoken language any where.