Dhammapada means “verses of dharma” or “the path of teaching.” The collection arranges the Buddha’s teachings by theme — mind, pairs, flowers, the fool, the sage, the path. The verses are direct and memorable, meant to be memorized and lived from:
“We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world.”
It is often the first Buddhist text given to new students, and one they return to for the rest of their practice.