Dhammapada
These are live recordings of five movements of Dhammapada by Ronald Corp. They were performed at Hampstead Parish Church on Friday 10 May 2024 by The LFCCM Festival Singers, Emily Wenman Soprano and Alastair Carey Conductor.
Dhammapada is a sequence of sayings of the Buddha in verse form. The texts were translated from Pali and Sanskrit by Francis Booth. The opening movement is a Buddhist chant commonly recited by both lay people and Buddhist monks in Buddhist communities:
Bhuddam saranam gacchami.
I take refuge in the Buddha.
Dhammam saranam gacchami.
I take refuge in the Dharma (divine cosmos).
Sangham saranam gacchami.
I take refuge in the Sangham (the community that follows the teachings of the Buddha, seeking enlightenment).
In the live performance, recordings of bells and gongs calling the Sangham to prayer, made by Francis Booth on a visit to Nepal, separated the movements sung by The LFCCM Festival Singers.
The movements presented here are:
- Buddham saram gacchami
- Homage to the Blessed One
- Dhammapada I - “Evil follows evil”
- Dhammapada IV - “The world is like a bubble on a pond”
- Meditation on the Four Sublime States
