Description

Professor: David J. Kalupahana is Emeritus professor of Philosophy at the University of Hawaii. After graduation in 1959 from the University of Sri -Lanka with a degree in Pali, Sanskrit and Philosophy, he thought in the Department of Pali and Buddhist Civilization. He was invited to the Department of Philosophy at the University of Hawaii, where he served as the Chairman from 1974 – 1980. He has published twenty books and more than fifty articles in academic books and journals.

In the present essay Prof. Kalupahana propose to examine the pre- Buddhist Brahmanical thinking in India and explains the Buddha's Philosophy as a critical response to that tradition. The reformulation of the Brahmanical philosophy in the Gita will then be outlined in order to show to what extent the Dhammapada represents a response to the Gita.

Professor, proceeds with the analysis of The Dhammapada, and will indicate the unsatisfactoriness of determining the antiquity of any of the various versions depending primarily on linguistic evidence.

He also indicates how a linguistic analysis can be supplemented by a careful examination of the philosophical analysis becomes absolutely necessary when we attempt to discover a theme on the basis of which the literary value of the Dhammapada may be appreciated.
The Buddhist Brahmanical thought. The Buddha's response to the upanisads. The theory of knowledge. The Buddha's world- view The Bhagavadgita. The problems posed in the Gita. The structure of Dhammapada.

in this text the main themes in the Dhammapada are some of the topics explained in a remarkable manner.