Rating: 5/5
For anyone interested in Buddhism, this is a great read. The Dhammapada is a collection of the Buddha's teachings, so this book gives an overview of the main concepts.
This book uses the translation from Max Muller for its base. The translation itself is very understandable. I haven't compared this to other translations, but it felt easy to read. Jack Maguire's notes and explanations add some depth for Western readers. These are helpful throughout. However, there are some passages that benefit from his explanations more than others. These aren't long asides, which I found useful because they weren't too distracting from the main text.
The introduction and some of the notes give some cultural context for this work as well. This is important to keep in mind because there have been changes since it was first collected that make certain passages seem antiquated. It's a great introduction to Buddhism and is something that I could see rereading multiple times.
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