The Buddha’s teachings reached the West only a few decades ago: first in a limited version at the beginning of the 20th century, and then — in recent decades — in a broader, more profound, and more accessible way. Western practitioners who traveled to East Asia met Dhamma teachers and monks, studied, experimented, and returned with discoveries that sparked great inspiration. Some wrote books about it, some even became monks themselves. Thus, the Buddha’s words — passed down from generation to generation since his death — were preserved almost miraculously, and became available mainly in English and German thanks to the work of Western scholars and monks.

My name is Shai Schwartz, and I encountered the Dhamma during a trip to East Asia. When I returned to Israel from Myanmar (formerly Burma) in 1998, after a significant period of study and practice, I discovered how great the linguistic gap was: even if the texts were accessible in English, many of my relatives and friends were unable to truly connect with them. Out of deep appreciation for the Buddha’s words and the immense benefit of the Dhamma, I decided to begin translating — first for my immediate circle, and later for all Hebrew readers who did not find translations clear and accessible enough.

In 1999, during my studies at Tel Aviv University, I delved into Sanskrit — the classical literary language of India — and from there I continued to study Pali, the language of ancient Buddhist scriptures. In 2021, I returned to academia and began my doctoral studies, which are devoted to the study of the concept of nirvana in early Buddhism as reflected in the Pali Canon. My translation work relies on the original Pali texts, on all existing translations, and on a variety of modern tools — from electronic dictionaries and textual databases to the extensive use of artificial intelligence (LLM) tools that assist in research and writing.

In 2004, the book “What the Buddha Taught” was published by Keter, which includes many talks that I had translated over the years. Later, I published “What the Buddha Said,” a broad collection of selected suttas and translated articles, with the desire to emphasize the Buddha’s original words — not interpretation. In 2006, the collection “What Else the Buddha Said” was published (in collaboration with Assaf Federman), which contains shorter, lesser-known talks.

In 2008, I published a new and complete translation of the Dhammapada, and then I embarked on a long and significant journey: translating the entire Buddhist files. The first of these, “The Collection of Long Discourses,” was a six-year project, including intensive editing alongside two dear Israeli monks—the Venerable Metachito and the Venerable Brahma-Vihara. Later, a new edition of the Dhammapada entitled “The Path of Truth” was also published, as was the book “A Look at Buddhist Thought,” which includes articles and insights on the Dhamma.

In 2018, I returned to Myanmar for a long metta retreat, following which I published a book on the practice of metta meditation and the transition to Vipassana meditation written by my beloved teacher Sayado Oo Indaka. Since then, I have continued to translate the medium-length collection of talks, and so far over a hundred talks have been completed in three parts, the last of which was published at the end of 2025.

Publishing Dhammadana is a personal mission. It is a way of giving back thanks for the tremendous gift I received from the humble teachers I met in Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and later here in Israel. The Buddha was a wonderful teacher, whose words are sharp and clear, and there is no reason why they should not be accessible to anyone seeking inspiration and understanding in the path he outlined more than 2,500 years ago.

The translation effort is entirely philanthropic: I am giving the books as gifts to anyone who is interested—in the hope of opening more doors, and allowing more people to approach the Dhamma and discover its wonder. In this way, I continue the ancient tradition of giving the Dhamma as a gift—as it was generously given to me.

I wish us all a path of success, happiness, health, and Nibbana already in this life.