Rewriting the Buddha

By Susan Brassfield Cogan

So I told myself the Dhammapada is one of the oldest books of Buddhist thought. I should read it. What I wanted was a nice simple readable version that I could dip into. The Dhammapada isn’t something you read straight through like a novel. It’s basically a collection of aphorisms, little short sayings, like a box of really, really good fortune cookies.

I quickly discovered that most translations are completely unreadable, some more than others. A few of the more modern ones attempt to clarify the language—I don’t think I’m the first person to notice the readability problem. However, I may be the first person that noticed the problem who was a writer and not a translator.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Brassfield Cogan
• Release date: May 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476162331

Susan Brassfield Cogan

Susan Cogan is a full time writer and occasionally amuses herself as a graphic designer. She writes things that she enjoys and she enjoys quite a lot. She has been at various times a nurse’s aid, a belly dancer, an actress, a journalist, and a radio shock jock. Her career is long, varied, colorful, often exaggerated and occasionally untrue. Cogan is the author of many novels: Black Jade Dragon, Dragon Sword, Dragon Rising, The Button Man, The Last Gift, Heart of the Tengeri, Murder on the Waterfront and The Man Who Needed Killing. Her nonfiction works include: Hands of the Buddha, The Buddha’s Three Jewels, and The Pocket Darwin. She has also written numerous award winning short stories.

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