The Dhammapada is one of the most popular and accessible books in all of Buddhist literature. In it are the words of the Buddha, teaching all that is suffering stems from desire and that the way to attain freedom is to purify the heart and follow the way of truth. Thomas Byroms`s verse rendering of The Dhammapada uniquely captures the Buddha`s original teachings with simplicity and lyricism. Thomas Byrom, Ph.D., (d. 1991) was educated at Oxford and Harvard. He was a fellow of St. Catherine`s College and Exeter College, where he taught Old English and modern literature.