GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY

CENTRAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL
LIBRARY

Call No.
 THE

DHAMMAPADA
WITH INTRODUCTORY ESSAYS

PALI TEXT

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

AND NOTES

BY

S. RADHAKRISHNAN
r
3712

RPa3.

GEOFFREY CUMBERLEGE

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO

1950
 Oxford University Press, Amen Home, London E.C. 4■
GLASGOW KLW YOfcK TOIONTO MflWUWt WILIWCION
BOMBAY CALCUTTA MAOftAf CAP! TOWN

Geoffrey Cumber lege, Publisher to the University

CENTRAL AROI'KO. OGIGAH

LIBRARY, NL.W
A<*. No.'^S)t .
.
11 xt-
% ^ ‘ --
.5 r^r~2.-M*
°*UNo-. -JSZZTj&Ch

«T»*» 4 h
0-i* ‘
• \v‘
./3» ..

1». 2^-T-*. (7-T/..

'LAk&fffAlk..

PRINTED ,M GREAT BRITAIN

 PREFACE
•The tree of civilization has its roots in spiritual values which
most of us do not recognize. Without these roots the leaves
would have fallen and left the tree a lifeless stump. In the
history of civilization it has been the privilege of Asia to
enrich the mind of the world with the noblest content of
spiritual values. She has been brought into more or less direct
contact with Europe—the Persian Empire, which included
a part of India and Greece, the invasion of the East by Alex¬
ander, Anoka’s missions to the West, the Roman Empire,
which extended over a part of Asia, the Moors in Spain, and
the Crusades—and each time she has left her mark on
Europe.
To-day there is a world-wide renaissance. We have come
to recognize that it is either one world or none. The effort to
build one world requires a closer understanding among the
peoples of the world and their cultures. This translation of
the Dhammapada, the most popular and influential book of
the Buddhist canonical literature, is offered as a small con¬
tribution to world understanding. The central thesis of the
book, that human conduct, righteous behaviour, reflection,
and meditation are more important than vain speculations
about the transcendent—has an appeal to the modem mind.
Its teaching—to repress the instincts entirely is to generate
neuroses; to give them full rein is also to end up in neuroses
—is supported by modem psychology. Books so rich in
significance as the Dhammapada require to be understood by
each generation in relation to its own problems. The Intro¬
ductory Essays and the notes may be found useful from this
standpoint.
vi PREFACE
The second Introductory Essay on Gautama the Buddha is
reprinted with the kind permission of the British Academy
from the Proceedings of the British Academy, Volume XXIV,
being the Annual Lecture on a Master Mind delivered ori
28 June 1938.
I am deeply grateful to my friend Professor F. W. Thomas
for his kindness in reading the proofs and making many
valuable suggestions.
April 1950 S. R.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Bhagavadgltd. B.G.
Buddhaghosa. B.
Maiiabharata. M.B.
Sanskrit. Skt.
Uparti sad. Up,
 CONTENTS
PREFACE ..... y

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . . vi

INTRODUCTION:

I. THE DHAMMAPADA . . i

IT. GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA . . 3

TEXT, TRANSLATION, AND NOTES:

I. THE TWIN-VERSES . . 58

II. VIGILANCE . . .66

III. THOUGHT . . . .70

IV. FLOWERS . . . .74

V. THE FOOL . . . .79

VI. THE WISE MAN . . .84

VII. THE ARHAT (THE SAINT) . 89

VIII. THE THOUSANDS . . -93

IX. EVIL CONDUCT . . .98

X. PUNISHMENT . . .102

XI. OLD AGE . . . .108

XII. THE SELF . . . .112

XIII. THE WORLD . . . 115

XIV. THE BUDDHA (THE AWAKENED) . 119

XV. HAPPINESS . . .125

XVI. PLEASURE . . . .128

viii CONTENTS

XVII. ANGER . . ■ • 13I

XVIII. IMPURITY . . • • *35

XIX. THE RIGHTEOUS . . .14°

XX. THE PATH . . • • x45

XXI. MISCELLANEOUS VERSES • *5*

XXII. THE DOWNWARD COURSE (HELL) . 156

XXIII. THE ELEPHANT . . . 160

XXIV. THIRST (OR CRAVING) . . *64

XXV. THE MENDICANT . . • >7*

XXVI. THE BRAHMIN . . • *77

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY . . lS8

PALI INDEX . . • . 1S9

GENERAL INDEX . • ■ *93

 INTRODUCTION
• I. THE DHAMMAPADA

Tiie Dhammapada, a part of the Khuddaka Nikaya of the

Sutta Pifaka, has in the Pali version 423 verses divided into
26 chapters.1 It is an anthology of Buddhist devotion and
practice, which brings together verses in popular use or
gathered from different sources. Though it may not contain
the very words of the Buddha, it does embody the spirit of
the Buddha’s teaching, summoning men to a process of
strenuous mental and moral effort. Dhamma is discipline,
law, religion;2 pada is path,3 means (upaya), way (;magga).
Dhammapada is thus the path of virtue. Pada also means the
base; Dhammapada is then the base or the foundation of
religion. If pada is taken as a part of a verse, then Dhamma¬
pada means the utterances of religion. The Chinese translate
Dhammapada as ‘scriptural texts’ since it contains passages
from the various canonical books.
We cannot with any definiteness fix the date of the Dham¬
mapada as that depends on the date of the Buddhist canon
of which it forms a part. Buddhist tradition, with which
Buddhaghosa agrees, holds that the Canon was settled at the
First Council. Yuan Chwang’s statement that the Tipifaka
was written down at the end of the First Council under the

1 There are Chinese and Tibetan versions of the Dhammapada which

differ slightly from the Pali text, though they all agree in substance. The
Chinese version has 39 chapters while the Pali has 26. In the former there
are 8 chapters at the beginning, 4 at the end, and Chapter 33 in addition
to those found in the Pali version. Even in the chapters which are common
to the Chinese and the Pali versions there are 79 morC verscs m the
Chinese than in the Pali.
1 Dliamma also means thing or form (see 279), or way of life (tt>7)-
* Cf. nppamddo amatopadam, 21; vigilance is the path that leads to
eternal life.
B
 2 INTRODUCTION
orders of Kasyapa shows the prevalent view in the seventh
century a.d. The Mahavamia tells us that in the reign of King
Vattagamani (88 to 76 B.c.) ‘the profoundly wise priests had
theretofore orally1 perpetuated the Pali of the Pifakattaya and,
its Affhakatha (commentary), but that at this period the
priests, foreseeing the perdition of the people, assembled and,
in order that the religion might endure for ages, recorded
the same in books’.2 The Mahdvamsa belongs to the fifth
century a.d. (a.d. 459-77), though it is founded on an older
Affhahatha which represents an unbroken line of Ceylonese
tradition. The Milindapaiiha, which belongs to the beginning
of the Christian era, mentions the Dhammapada, The Kathd-
vattu contains many quotations from the Dhammapada as
also from the Mahdviddesa and Cullaniddesa. In the Tipifaka
itself no mention is made of the Third Council under Aioka
at Pafaliputra about 247 b.c. There are references to the First
Council at Rajagrha (477 b.c.) and the Second Council of
Vaisali (377 b.c.). Evidently the Buddhist Canon as it has
come down to us was closed after the Second Council and be¬
fore the Third Council. As the Second Council was convened
only to consider the ten deviations from the strict discipline
of the earliest times for which VinayaPifaka had no provision,
the bulk of the Vinaya Pitaka should have been completed be¬
fore the Second Council at Vaisali. The verses of the Dhamna-
pada were believed from very early times, that is, from the
period of the First Council which settled the Canon, to have
been utterances of the Buddha himself.3
The Chinese attribute the work to Arya Dharmatrata,
though it is difficult to find out his date.4

1 mukhapdf Irena. 1 pottakesu likJtapayum (Mahavamia, p. 37).

1 Max Muller thinks that the writings commented on by Buddhagho$a
date from the first century d.c., when Vattagamani ordered the Sacred
Canon to be reduced to writing (S.B.E., vol. x (1881), p. xiv).
4 Samuel Beal suggests that he lived about 70 B.C. Sec his Dhamma¬
pada (1902), p. 9.
 INTRODUCTION 3

The verses are generally connected with incidents in the

life of the Buddha and illustrate the method of teaching
adopted by him. In the Pali commentary attributed to Bud-
•dhaghosa the meaning of the verses is explained by references
to parables believed to have been used by the Buddha, not
only a wise teacher but a compassionate friend of his
fellow men, in preaching to the multitudes that came to
hear him.
The commentary on the Dhammapada called Dhammapada
Affhakathd is ascribed to Buddhaghosa, as is evident from
the colophon. Buddhaghosa was a learned Brahmin who was
converted to Buddhism and flourished about a.d. 400. He
wrote commentaries on each of the four great collections or
Nikayas. His greatest work is the Visuddhimagga. His is the
greatest name in the history of Pali Buddhist scholasticism,
and naturally the authorship of the commentary on the
Dhammapada was also attributed to him. But, as the language
and the style of this commentary differ much from those of
his well-known works, Visuddhimagga, the commentaries on
the Vinaya, and the four greater Nikayas, Buddhaghosa’s
authorship is not generally accepted.

II. GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA

In Gautama the Buddha we have a master mind from the

East, second to none so far as the influence on the thought
and life of the human race is concerned, and sacred to all as
the founder of a religious tradition whose hold is hardly less
wide and deep than any other. He belongs to the history of
the world’s thought, to the general inheritance of all culti¬
vated men; forjudged by intellectual integrity, moral earnest¬
ness, and spiritual insight, he is undoubtedly one of the greatest
figures in history.
 4 INTRODUCTION

I. Life
Though his historical character has been called in question,1
there are few competent scholars, if any, at the present day*
who doubt that he was an historical person whose date can
be fixed, whose life can be sketched at least in outline, and
whose teachings on some of the essential problems of the
philosophy of religion can be learnt with reasonable certainty.
I cannot here enter into a detailed justification for holding
that certain parts of the early Canonical literature contain the
recollections of those who had seen and heard the Master.2
It was a world in which writing was not much in use; so
memories were more accurate and tenacious than is usual
now. This is evident from the fact that a document of a much
earlier date, the Rg Veda, has come down to us, preserved
in men s memories, with fewer variant readings than manv

' See £mile Senart, Etsai sur la legendc du Buddha (1875).

The tradition is that the Dhamia and the Vinaya were rehearsed in a
Council held immediately after the death of the Buddha and that a second
Council was held a hundred years later at Vai&lli, when the Vinaya was
again recited and ten errors of discipline were condemned. According to
the Ceylonese school, the Third Buddhist Council was held in the time of
Asokn, about 247 B.c. From the Bh5br0 edict of ASoka, where seven
passages which arc identified with parts of the Sutta Pifaka arc cited for
study by his co-religionists, it may be inferred that Buddhist texts of the
type preserved in that book were in existence in Anoka’s time. Jn the
inscriptions at Safichi, the terms dhammakathika, ‘preacher of the I .aw’,
petaki, one who knows a Pitaka, sutdlikini, one who knows a Suttanta
pacanekdyxka, one who knows the five Nikiyas, occur, and they indicate
mat Pi takas. Dialogues, and the five Nikayas were well known at the time.
These inscriptions are admitted to be of the second century b.c. We may
take it as fairly certain that the Canonical tradition was well established
about the period of A6oka. This fact is confirmed by the evidence of the
Chinese translations and the discovery of Sanskrit texts answering to parts
of the five Nikiyas. Within the Canon itself there are strata of varying
dates and signs of much addition and alteration, though the whole of it
is said to be the word or preaching of the Buddha, buddhavacana or
prcwacana. It is clear that there has been a floating tradition from the
time of the Buddha himself.
 INTRODUCTION S

texts of later ages.1 Though the Buddhist documents have

undergone a good deal of editing in later times, the memor¬
able sayings and deeds of the Founder can be learnt with
•moderate accuracy. The ornate supernatural elements and
unhistorical narratives such as those about the marvels at¬
tending the birth of Gautama represent the reactions to his
personality of his early followers, who were more devoted
than discerning. There is, however, fundamental agreement
between the Pali Canon, the Ceylon Chronicles, and the
Sanskrit works about the important events of his life, the
picture of the world in which he moved, and the earliest form
of his teaching. The stories of his childhood and youth have
undoubtedly a mythical air, but there is no reason to distrust
the traditional accounts of his lineage. He was bom in the
year 563 b.c.,2 the son of Suddhodana of the Ksatriya clan
known as &akya of Kapilavastu, on the Nepalese border, one
hundred miles north of Benares. The spot was afterwards
marked by the emperor Aioka with a column which is still
standing.3 His own name is Siddhartha, Gautama being his
family name. The priests who were present at his birth said
that he would be an emperor (cakravartin) if he should con¬
sent to reign; he would become a Buddha, if he adopted the
life of a wandering ascetic. Evidently the same individual
1 Professor Mncdonell writes: ‘It appears that the kernel of Vedic
tradition, as represented by the Veda, has come down to us, with a
high degree of fixity and remarkable care for verbal integrity, from a period
which can hardly be less remote than 1000 B.c.’ (A History of Sanskrit
Literature (1900), pp. 46-7).
1 Tradition is unanimous that he died in his eightieth year, and this
date is assigned to 483 b.c. Vincent Smith thought that he died about
543 b.c. See Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1918, p. 547; Oxford
History of India (1923), p. 48.
1 It bears an inscription: ‘When King DevJnampriya Priyadariin
[Asoka’s title in inscriptions] had been anointed twenty years, he came
himself and worshipped this spot, because Buddha Sakyamuni was bom
here.... He caused n stone pillar to be set up (in order to show) that the
Blessed one was horn here' (Hultzsch, Inscriptions of Aioka( 1925), p. 164).
 6 INTRODUCTION

could not be both an emperor and a Buddha, for renuncia¬

tion of a worldly career was regarded as an indispensable pre¬
liminary for serious religion. We learn from the Sutta Nipata
the story of an aged seer named Asita who came to see the*
child, and more or less in the manner of Simeon prophesied
the future greatness of the child, and wept at the thought that
he himself would not live to see it and hear the new gospel.
The mother died seven days after the birth of the child, and
her sister Mahaprajapati, Suddhodana's second wife, brought
up the baby. In due course Gautama married his cousin
Yaiodhara' and had a son Rahula. The story that Gautama’s
father was particular that his son should be spared depressing
experiences and that chance or the will of the gods set in his
path an old man broken and decrepit, a sick man, a dead man,
and a wandering ascetic, which last inspired him with the
desire to seek in the religious life peace and serenity, indicates
that Gautama was of a religious temperament and found the
pleasures and ambitions of the world unsatisfying. The ideal
of the mendicant life attracted him and we hear frequently
in his discourses of the ‘highest goal of the holy life for the
sake of which clansmen leave their homes and go forth into
homelessness’.2 The efforts of his father to turn his mind to
secular interests failed, and at the age of twenty-nine he left
his home, put on the ascetic’s garb, and started his career as
a wandering seeker of truth. This was the great renunciation.3
It is difficult for us in this secular age to realize the obsession
of religion on the Indian mind and the ardours and agonies
which it was willing to face for gaining the religious end.

1 Other names are also mentioned, Bhaddakaccii, Gopa.

1 Cf. the Brhad-dranyaka Up.: ‘Knowing him, the Atman, the Brah¬
mins relinquish the desire for posterity, the desire for possessions, the
desire for worldly prosperity and go forth as mendicants’ (bhikfAearyam
caranti) (iii. 5).
1 In the later legend his separation from his wife becomes the theme
of an affecting tale.
 INTRODUCTION 7
Gautama’s search led him to become the disciple of the Brah¬
min ascetics Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta, who in¬
structed him in their own doctrine (dharma) and discipline
•{vituxya). He possibly learnt from them the need for belief,
good conduct, and the practice of meditation, though the
content of their teaching seemed to him unsound. The cure
for the sorrows of the world was not to be found in the end¬
less logomachies of the speculative thinkers. Determined to
attain illumination by the practice of asceticism, he withdrew
with five disciples to Uruvela, ‘a pleasant spot and a beautiful
forest’, soothing to the senses and stimulating to the mind.
It is a general assumption in India that a holy life is led most
easily in peaceful and beautiful landscapes which give a sense
of repose and inspiration. Her temples and monasteries are
on the banks of rivers or tops of hills, and all her emphasis
on piety never made her forget the importance of scenery
and climate for the effort of religion. In this beautiful site
Gautama chose to devote himself to the severest forms of
asceticism. Just as fire cannot be produced by friction from
damp wood, but only from dry wood, seekers whose passions
arc not calmed, he thought, cannot attain enlightenment. He
accordingly started a series of severe fasts, practised exercises
of meditation, and inflicted on himself terrible austerities.
Weakness of body brought on lassitude of spirit. Though
often during this period he found himself at death’s door, he
got no glimpse of the riddle of life. He therefore decided that
asceticism was not the way to enlightenment and tried to
think out another way to it. He remembered how once in his
youth he had an experience of mystic contemplation, and now
tried to pursue that line. Legend tells us that, at this crisis,
Gautama was assailed by Mara, the tempter, who sought in
vain, by all manner of terrors and temptations, to shake him
from his purpose. These indicate that his inner life was not
undisturbed and continuous, and it was with a mental struggle
8 INTRODUCTION

that he broke away from old beliefs to try new methods. He

persisted in his meditations1 and passed through the four
stages of contemplation culminating in pure self-possession
and equanimity. He saw the whole universe as a system of
law, composed of striving creatures, happy or unhappy, noble
or mean, continually passing away from one form of existence
and taking shape in another. In the last watch of the night
‘ignorance was destroyed, knowledge had arisen ... as I sat
there, earnest, strenuous, resolute’. Gautama had attained
bodhi or illumination and became the Buddha, the enlightened
one.2
While the Buddha was hesitating whether he should at¬
tempt to proclaim his teaching, the Scriptures say that the
deity Brahma besought him to preach the truth. This means,
perhaps, that, as he was debating within himself as to wrhat
he should do, he received a warning, somewhat similar to that
delivered by the demon of Socrates, against withdrawal from
life. He concludes that ‘the doors of immortality are open.
Let them that have ears to hear show faith’, and starts on his
ministry. He not merely preached, which is easy, but lived the
kind of life which he taught that men should live. He adopted
a mendicant missionary’s life with all its dangers of poverty,
unpopularity, and opposition. He converted in the first place
the five disciples who had borne him company in the years
of his asceticism, and in the deer park, ‘where ascetics were
allowed to dwell and animals might not be killed’, at the
modern Sarnath, he preached his first sermon. Disciples
1 Cf. Lalitavistara:
ihdsane sufyatu me iariram
Ivagasthimdnuam pralayam ca ydtu
aprdpya bodhim bahukalpadurlabham
naivdsandt kdyam etat califyati.
1 The name ‘Buddha’ is a title like Christ or Messiah, only it is not
confined to one individual. On the site in Bodhgaya, where Gautama is
said to have attained enlightenment, stands the Mahflbodhi temple.
 INTRODUCTION 9

began to flock to him. At the end of three months there were

sixty, including the beloved Ananda, the companion of all
his wanderings. He said to them one day: ‘Go now and
vander for the gain of many, for the welfare of many, out of
compassion for the world, for the good, for the gain and for
the welfare of gods and men. Let not two of you go the same
way. Preach the doctrine which is glorious in the beginning,
glorious in the middle, and glorious in the end, in the spirit
and in the letter: proclaim a consummate, perfect and pure
life of holiness.’ The Buddha himself travelled far and wide
for forty-five years and gathered many followers. Brahmins
and monks, hermits and outcasts, noble ladies, and repentant
sinners joined the community. Much of the Buddha’s
activity was concerned with the instruction of his disciples
and the organization of the Order. In our times he would
be taken for an intellectual. When we read his discourses
we are impressed by his spirit of reason. His ethical path
has for its first step right views, a rational outlook. He
endeavours to brush aside all cobwebs that interfere with
mankind’s vision of itself and its destiny. He questions
his hearers who appear full of wisdom, though really
without it, challenges them to relate their empty words of
vague piety to facts. It was a period when many pro¬
fessed to have direct knowledge of God. They tell us
with assurance not only whether He is or is not but also
what He thinks, wills, and does. The Buddha convicts
many of them of putting on spiritual airs. In the Tevijja
Sutta he declares that the teachers who talk about Brahma
have not seen him face to face. They are like a man in
love who cannot say who the lady is, or like one who builds
a staircase without knowing where the palace is to be, or like
one wishing to cross a river who should call the other side
to come to him.1 Many of us have the religious sense and
1 Dfgha, i.r*35.
10 INTRODUCTION

disposition, but are not clear as to the object to which

this sense is directed. Devotion, to be reasonable, must
be founded on truth. The Buddha explains to them the
significance of brahmavihara, or dwelling with Brahmit,
as a certain kind of meditation, a state of mind where love
utterly free from hatred and malice obtains for all. It is
not, of course, nirvana, to which the eight-fold path is the
means.
In view of the variety of counsel he advised his disciples
to test by logic and life the different programmes submitted
to them and not to accept anything out of regard for their
authors. He did not make an exception of himself. He says:
‘Accept not what you hear by report, accept not tradition:
do not hastily conclude that “it must be so”. Do not accept
a statement on the ground that it is found in our books, nor
on the supposition that “this is acceptable”, nor because it is
the saying of your teacher.’1 With a touching solicitude he
1 ‘This I have said to you, O Kalamus, but you may accept it, not
because it is a report, not because it is a tradition, not because it is so
said in the past, not because it is given from the scripture, not for the
sake of discussion, not for the sake of a particular method, not for the
sake of careful consideration, not for the sake of forbearing with wrong
views, not because it appears to be suitable, not because your preceptor
is a recluse, but if you yourselves understand that this is so meritorious
and blameless, and, when accepted, is for benefit and happiness, then you
may accept it.’ iti kJio kdldmd yarn taut avocumha — ettha tumhe kdldmd
md anussavena md parampardya md itikirdyd vd nid pijakasampddanena
md takkahetu md nayahetu dkdra-paratdtakkena md dift/umjjhdnak-khantiyd
via bhavyarupatdya md samarto no gardti, yadd tumhe kdldmd attend vd
jdneyydtha— ime dhammd kutald ime dhammd anavajjd ime dhammd
viiihuppastthd ime dhammd samattd samadinnd hitdya sukhdya sariivat-
tantiti atha tumhe kdldmd upasampajja vihareyydthd ti— iti yarn tarn vuttam
idam etam pa ticca vuttam. (Ahguttara, iii. 633.) ‘Would you then,
mendicants, thus knowing, thus seeing, say thus, “Esteemed is our teacher
(satthd) and out of esteem for the teacher we say thus" ?’ ‘Not so, revered
sir.’ ‘What you say, mendicants, is it not what you yourselves know,
yourselves perceive, yourselves have comprehended?’ 'It is so, revered
sir.’ MahdtanJidsadkhaya Sutta.
Cf. also: 'As the wise test gold by burning, cutting and rubbing it (on
 INTRODUCTION ii

begs his followers not to be hampered in their thought by the

prestige of his name. 'Such faith have I, Lord,’ said Sariputta,
‘that methinks there never has been nor will be nor is now
any other greater or wiser than the Blessed One.’ ‘Of course,
Sariputta/ is the reply, ‘you have known all the Buddhas of
the past?' ‘No, Lord.’ ‘Well then, you know those of the
future?’ ‘No, Lord.’ ‘Then at least you know me and have
penetrated my mind thoroughly?’ ‘Not even that, Lord.’
‘Then why, Sariputta, are your words so grand and bold?’
There is nothing esoteric about his teaching. He speaks with
scorn of those who profess to have secret truths. ‘O disciples,
there are three to whom secrecy belongs and not openness.
Who are they? Secrecy belongs to women, not openness;
secrecy belongs to priestly wisdom, not openness; secrecy
belongs to false doctrine, not openness. . . . The doctrines
and the rules proclaimed by the perfect Buddha shine before
all the world and not in secret.’ Speaking to his disciple
Ananda shortly before his death, the Buddha says: T have
preached the truth without making any distinction between
exoteric and esoteric doctrine; for in respect of the truths,
Ananda, the Tathagata has no such thing as the closed fist
of a teacher who keeps some things back.’1 In many of his
discourses he is represented as arguing with his interlocutors
in a more or less Socratic manner, and persuading them in¬
sensibly to accept positions different from those from which
they started. He would not let his adherents refuse the burden
of spiritual liberty. They must not abandon the search for
truth by accepting an authority. They must be free men able
to be a light and a help to themselves. He continues: ‘Be ye
a piece of touchstone), so are you to accept my words after examining
them and not merely out of regard for me.'
tdpdc chcdac ca nikasdt suvarnam iva pwrfitaih
parikfya bhiksavo grdhyam madvoco na tu gauravdt.
(Jnanasdra-samuccaya, 31.)
1 Mahaparinibbdna Suita, 32.
12 INTRODUCTION

as those who have the self as their light. Be ye as those who

have the self as their refuge. Betake yourselves to no external
refuge. Hold fast to the truth as to a refuge.’1 The highest seat
of authority is the voice of the spirit in us. There is little ctf
what we call dogma in the Buddha’s teaching. With a breadth
of view rare in that age and not common in ours he refuses to
stifle criticism. Intolerance seemed to him the greatest enemy
of religion. Once he entered a public hall at Ambalatthika and
found some of his disciples talking of a Brahmin who had just
been accusing Gautama of impiety and finding fault with the
Order of mendicants he had founded. ‘Brethren’, said Gautama,
‘if others speak against me, or against my religion, or against
the Order, there is no reason why you should be angry, dis¬
contented, or displeased with them. If you arc so, you will
not only bring yourselves into danger of spiritual loss, but
you will not be able to judge whether what they say is correct
or not correct’—a most enlightened sentiment, even after
2,500 years of energetic enlightenment. Doctrines are not
more or less true simply because they happen to flatter or
wound our prejudices. There was no paradox, however
strange, no heresy, however extreme, that the Buddha was
unwilling or afraid to consider. He was sure that the only
way to meet the confusion and extravagance of the age was
by patient sifting of opinions and by helping men to rebuild
their lives on a foundation of reason. He denounced unfair
criticism of other creeds. ‘It is’, he said, ‘as a man who looks
up and spits at heaven; the spittle does not soil the heaven,
but comes back and defiles his own person.’
There was never an occasion when the Buddha flamed
forth in anger, never an incident when an unkind word
escaped his lips. He had vast tolerance for his kind. He
thought of the world as ignorant rather than wicked, as
1 attadipa attasarana, anailtlasarana; dhannnadipa dhammatarana
(Mahdparinibbdna Sulla, 33; see also 35).
 INTRODUCTION 13

unsatisfactory rather than rebellious. He met opposition with

calm and confidence. There was no nervous irritability or fierce
anger about him. His conduct was the perfect expression of
eourtesy and good feeling with a spice of irony in it. On one
of his rounds he was repulsed by a householder with bitter
words of abuse. He replied: ‘Friend, if a householder sets
food before a beggar, but the beggar refuses to accept the
food, to whom docs the food then belong?' The man replied:
‘Why, to the householder of course.’ The Buddha said:
‘Then, if I refuse to accept your abuse and ill will, it returns
to you, does it not ? But I must go away the poorer because
I have lost a friend.’1 Conversion by compulsion was un¬
known to him. Practice, not belief, is the foundation of his
system. He wished to create a temper and a habit. We are
unhappy because of our foolish desires. To make ourselves
happy all that is necessary is to make ourselves a new heart
and sec with new eyes. If we suppress evil thoughts and culti¬
vate good ones, a bad unhappy mind can be made into a good
happy one. The Buddha is not concerned with changes of
creed. He sits by the sacred fire of a Brahmin and gives a
discourse on his views without denouncing his worship.
When Siha the Jain becomes a Buddhist, he is required to
give food and gifts as before to the Jain monks who frequent
his house.2 With a singular gentleness the Buddha presents
his view's and leaves the rest to the persuasive power of truth.
The great hero of moral achievement is frequently called
upon to decide trivial matters of monastic discipline. To
found an organization is to come to terms with the world and
concede to social needs. It is to provide a refuge for those
who are not quite at home in the ordinary life of society.
There were troubles within the Order. Gautama’s cousin,
Devadatta, wished to supersede him as the head of the
Order and plotted against him, but he was forgiven. On one
1 Majjhima, 75. * Mahdvagga, vi. 31. 11.
>4 INTRODUCTION

occasion the Buddha found a monk suffering from dysentery

and lying in filth. He washed him and changed his bed with
the help of his companion Ananda and said to his disciples:
‘Whoever, O monks, would nurse me should nurse the sick
man.’ There were no distinctions of caste in the Buddhist
Order. ‘Just as, O monks, the great rivers such as the Ganges,
the Yamuna, Aciravatl, Sarabhu, and Mahl, when they fall
into the ocean, lose their former names and clans and are
known as the ocean, even so do the four castes of Ksatriyas,
Brahmins, Vattyas, and ^udras, when they have gone forth
in the Doctrine and Discipline taught by the Tathagata, from
a home to a homeless life, lose their former names and clans
(iiamagotra) and arc known as ascetics.’1 In his time women
were not secluded in India, and he declared that they were
quite capable of attaining sanctity and holiness. In the last
year of his life he dined with the courtesan Ambapali. But
he had considerable hesitation in admitting women to the
Order. 'How, Lord, are we to conduct ourselves with regard
to womankind?’ ‘Don’t see them, Ananda.’ ‘But if we see
them, what are we to do?’ ‘Abstain from speech.’ ‘But if they
should speak to us, what arc we to do?’ ‘Keep wide awake.’
Ananda was quite chivalrous, pleaded the cause of women
for admission into the Order, and won the consent of the
Master. It was the right course, but perhaps not quite ex¬
pedient. ‘If, Ananda, women had not received permission to
enter the Order, the pure religion would have lasted long,
the good law would have stood fast a thousand years. But,
since they have received that permission, it will now stand
fast for only five hundred years.’1 For a woman entry into
the religious Order required the assent of the relatives, while
1 Uddna, v. 5; cf. Mundaka Up.: ‘Like as rivers flowing into the ocean
disappear abandoning name and form (ndntarupa), so he that knows, being
freed from name and form, attains to the divine person beyond the be¬
yond’ (iii. z. 8).
* Mahaparirribbdtta Sutta, v. 23.
 INTRODUCTION *5

man was, at least in theory, at his own disposal. But the rules
of the Order were by no means final. The Buddha says:
‘When I am gone, let the Order, if it should so wish, abolish
all the lesser and minor precepts.’
The story of his death is told with great pathos and sim¬
plicity in the Mahaparinibbana Sutta. The Buddha was now
eighty years old, worn out with toil and travel. At a village
near the little town of Kusinagara, about 120 miles north¬
east of Benares, in 483 b.c., he passed away. The quiet end
of the Buddha contrasts vividly with the martyr’s deaths of
Socrates and Jesus. All the three undermined, in different
degrees, the orthodoxies of their time. As a matter of fact,
the Buddha was more definitely opposed to Vedic orthodoxy
and ceremonialism than was Socrates to the State religion of
Athens,1 or Jesus to Judaism, and yet he lived till eighty,
gathered a large number of disciples, and founded a religious
Order in his own lifetime. Perhaps the Indian temper of
religion is responsible for the difference in the treatment of
unorthodoxies.

II. The Four Truths

The text of his first sermon has come down to us.2 There
is no reason to doubt that it contains the words and the ideas
of the Buddha. Its teaching is quite simple. After observing
that those who wish to lead a religious life should avoid the

* Xenophon says that Socrates ‘was frequently seen sacrificing at home

and on the public altars of the city’ (Memorabilia, 1. 1. 2). According to
Plato the last words of Socrates were: ‘Critol I owe a cock to Asclepius;
will you remember to pay the debt ?’ (Phaedo, 118).
* An examination of the Pali Canon justifies us in regarding as originat¬
ing with the Buddha himself the Benares sermon on the four noble truths
and the eight-fold path, some of the speeches in the Mahdparinibbdna
Sutta, some of the verses and short utterances handed down as the ‘words
of the Buddha’ in the Dhammapada, Uddna, and Itivuttaka, which are
found in more or less the same form in the Sanskrit texts of Nepal and
in Tibetan and Chinese translations.
 i6 INTRODUCTION

two extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification and

follow the middle way, he enunciates the four truths about
sorrow (duhkha), the cause of sorrow (samudaya), the removal
of sorrow (nirodha), and the way leading to it (marga).
1. ‘Birth is sorrow. Decay is sorrow. Sickness is sorrow.
Death is sorrow. ... To be conjoined to things which we
dislike, to be separated from things which we like—that also
is sorrow. Not to get what one wants—that too is sorrow.’
Birth and death, suffering and love are universal facts. They
are the signs of a lack of harmony, of a state of discord. Con¬
flict is at the root of man’s misery, of his spiritual disease.
It is a pervasive feature of all empirical existence, which is
impermanent and transitory; and escape from it can, and
must, be found.
2. Everything has a cause and produces an effect. This
simple principle governs the whole universe, gods and men,
heaven and earth. It is applicable not only to this vast uni¬
verse stretching through boundless space, with its dazzling
world systems and endless series of alternations of growth
and decay, but also to the events of human life and affairs
of history. If we can detect and eliminate the cause of suffer¬
ing, suffering itself will disappear. The cause of it is tanhn
(Sanskrit trsna), craving for existence.1 This truth is later
elaborated in the chain of causation with twelve links.2 Ignor¬
ance and craving are bound together as the theoretical and
practical sides of one phenomenon. The rise of ignorance
1 Cf. Brhad-dranyaka Up.: 'A person consists of desires, and as is his
desire, so is his will; and as is his will, so is his deed; and whatever deed
he does, that he will reap' (iv. 4).
J ‘By reason of ignorance dispositions; by reason of dispositions
consciousness; by reason of consciousness name and form; by reason of
name and form contact; by reason of contact feeling; by reason of feeling
craving; by reason of craving grasping; by reason of grasping becoming;
by reason of becoming birth; by reason of birth old age, death, grief,
mourning, pain, sorrow and despair.’ The sequence of the chain varies in
different texts.
 INTRODUCTION *7
marks a rupture with life, a violation of its organic integrity.
It shows itself in an exaggerated individualism, self-isolation,
and rebellion against the harmony of the world. Cravings and
desires arise, tormenting the soul, which they bind in chains,
and reducing it to a servitude from which it would fain
escape. Ignorance is destroyed by intuition, desire by ethical
striving.1
Freedom from prejudice is a relative term, and even the
Buddha cannot lay claim to it in any absolute sense. He
accepts as axiomatic karma and rebirth. As a man acts, so shall
he be. We are for ever making our own moral world for good
or ill. Every thought, feeling, and volition counts for some¬
thing in our personal development. Mankind is for ever
fashioning itself. The thoughts and acts of a remote and in¬
visible past have actually produced the contents of our earth.
The Buddha sees life as beneath the sovereignty of infinite
righteousness. We can never escape the consequences of our
deeds. Suffering of every kind, disease and loss, failure and
disappointment, the wounds of affection and the frustration
of purpose are all charged with moral significance and deter¬
mined by the principle of moral causation. That there is a
retribution for selfishness and a reward of inward peace for
an unselfish life, that we shall be made to realize what we have
done and in the expressive language of Ezekiel ‘loathe our¬
selves for our iniquities’ is the Buddha’s deepest conviction.
He says: ‘My action is my possession: my action is my in¬
heritance : my action is the matrix which bears me: my action
is the race to which I belong: my action is my refuge.’ The

* Cf. 'When the desires (kdmalf) that arc in his heart cease then at once
the mortal becomes immortal and obtains here in this world Brahman’
{Katha Up. iv. to). Cf. Dhammapada 251. Cf. M.B.: ‘kimabandhanam
e%'edam ninyad astlha bandhanam’. See also B.G. ii. 70, 71.
Again, Itivuttaka says: ‘Whatever misfortunes there are here in this
world or in the next, they all have their root in ignorance (avijjdmiilaka)
and are given rise to by craving and desire’ (40).
C
 x8 INTRODUCTION
rule of law has a redeeming feature in that it removes ghastly
visions of eternal hell. No place of doom can last for ever.
Heaven and hell belong to the order of the finite and the
impermanent. However intense and long they may be, they
have an end, and how and when they end depends on our¬
selves. Every baser impulse turned into sweetness, every
meaner motive mastered, every humbling weakness overcome
counts in this effort. We should not, however, think that we
need not be concerned with poverty or suffering on the as¬
sumption that people get only what they deserve and have
brought it on themselves. If any one feels like that, if his
nature has become opaque to the high brotherhood of all
living creation, the law will deal with him sternly, for he has
refused to become its agent for mercy and forgiveness. The
working of the law is not due to the interference of any
personal deity. Bewildering shadows of divine injustice and
arbitrary caprice are ruled out.
The human person is a compound of body (riipa), with its
powers of movement and its organs of sense, of feelings (w-
dana), of perception (sarhjiia), of sight, hearing, smell, taste,
and touch by which he is in commerce with the external
world; dispositions (samskara), which include aptitudes, abi¬
lities, resulting from the past, providing an inheritance for
good or ill from previous lives, and constituting a stock of
character with which to start at a fresh birth; and summing
them all up was thought (vijnana), covering the whole group
of mental activities from the most concrete ideation to the
most abstract meditation. The inner life of a person is only
a succession of thoughts, desires, affections, and passions,
and, when the corporeal bond which holds them together falls
away at death, the unseen potencies beget a new person, psy¬
chologically, if not physically, continuous with the deceased,
to suffer or enjoy what his predecessor had prepared for him by
his behaviour. The elements which constitute the empirical
 INTRODUCTION 19
individual are always changing, but they can never be totally
dispersed until the power that holds them together and impels
them to rebirth—the craving, the desire for separate existence
—is extinguished.
If there is no permanent self, then who is affected by the
works which the not-self has performed ? The Buddha an¬
swers: ‘Shall one who is under the dominion of desire think
to go beyond the mind of the Master ?M In the early texts
there is no explanation of this difficulty. There is only an
assertion of psychical continuity.2 He who understands the
nature of the soul and its successive lives cannot regard any
single life as of great importance in itself, though its conse¬
quences for the future may be momentous.
3. For the removal of ignorance a strict morality is essen¬
tial. Slla and prajfid, good conduct and intuitive insight, are
inseparably united. The Buddha does not speak of codes and
conventions, laws and rites. The way to be happy is to have a
good heart and mind which will show itself in good deeds.
Simple goodness in spirit and deed is the basis of his religion.
He detaches the perfect life from all connexion with a deity
or outside forces, and teaches man that the best and the worst
that can happen to him lie within his own power. We fre¬
quently hear him say: ‘Come, disciples, lead a holy life for
the extinction of sorrow.’ The noble eight-fold path repre¬
sents a ladder of perfection. The first step is right views, know¬
ledge of the four truths, which is not to be confused with
the gnosis, jnana of the Upanisads, or the faith of the theists.
But so long as the truths are known only in the intellect

1 SamyutUt, iii. 103.

* In the Mahanidana Suita there is a reference to the ‘descent’ of the
consciousness into the womb of the mother preparatory to rebirth. Con¬
tinuity of consciousness between the old and the new lives is asserted,
and commentators differ in regard to the question of a corporeal accom¬
paniment of the consciousness. B., for example, denies that the conscious¬
ness is accompanied by a physical form.
 20 INTRODUCTION
they have no life. They must be discovered and proved by
every man in the depths of his own being. The first step is
an awakening, a summons to abandon a way by which we
miss our truth and destiny. It is not a casual change of opiniofi,
but a radical adjustment of nature which affects the very
depths of the soul and leads to the second step of right aspira¬
tions towards renunciation, benevolence, and kindness.1 It is
to resolve to renounce pleasures, to bear no malice, and do
no harm. Right speech requires us to abstain from lying,
slander, abuse, harsh words, and idle talk. Right action is to
abstain from taking life, or taking what is not given, or from
carnal excesses. Right livelihood is to abstain from any of
the forbidden modes of living, which are those of a trader in
weapons, slave-dealer, butcher, publican, or poison-seller.
The Buddha forbade his monks ever to become soldiers. The
eight-fold path is more than a code of morality. It is a way
of life. Right effort consists in suppressing the rising of evil
states, in eradicating those which have arisen, in stimulating
good states and perfecting those which have come into being.
It is the beginning of mental cultivation. The habit of self¬
observation is an effective way to deal with the underworld
of the human mind, to root out evil desires and cravings, to
maintain an equilibrium between the conscious mind and the
other part of our equipment, the complicated psychic and
physical apparatus. Man is false and deceitful not merely in
relation to others, but to himself as well. We adopt ideas not
always out of pure and disinterested motives, but through
some kind of resentment or failure in life. We become vin-

' Digha, i. 124. In Majjhima, 41, the Buddha says that the strong
aspiration of a good man takes effect, ‘if he should wish, after the destruc¬
tion of the cardinal vices, to realize by his own transcendent knowledge
in this present world initiation into, and abode in, the viceless deliverance
of heart and intellect, it will come to pass.’ Cf. James v. 16: ‘The supplica¬
tion of a righteous man availeth much in its working/ It is not the answer
of God to a petition, but the response of cosmic law in early Buddhism.
 INTRODUCTION 21

dictive and tyrannical because our pride has been wounded,

or our love has been unrequited, or because we have had
some humiliating physical deformity. The remarkable thing
about man is that he often deceives himself. Many of us are
machines most of the time. Our thoughts and feelings follow
an habitual pattern. Through self-examination we attempt
to break up automatisms, destroy the reliance of the mind on
habitual props and discover the self. Sloth and torpor are as
harmful to spiritual progress as evil desires. Right mindful¬
ness is to look on the body and the spirit in such a way as
to remain self-possessed and mindful, overcoming both han¬
kering and dejection. It is self-mastery by means of self-
knowledge which allows nothing to be done mechanically or
heedlessly. It is to see things under the aspect of eternity.
Right contemplation takes the form of the four meditations.
There is a curious impression that the Buddha’s prescription
for good life is the cessation of activity, desiring little and
doing nothing. The resolve to win the saving truth, the efforts
needful for its attainment, the lives spent in the practice of
virtue, the unrelaxing tension of will maintained through
constant temptation to aim at less than the highest, all rest
on the certitude that the human will is capable of heroic en¬
deavour and achievement. Meditation is an act of attention,
an effort of will. It is not passive reverie, but intense striving,
concentration of mind in which will and thought become
fused. According to the Buddha’s teaching each man will
have to find salvation, in the last resort, alone and with his
owti will, and he needs all the will in the world for so formid¬
able an effort. The general impression that the mystic ex¬
perience is granted and not achieved is far from correct,
except in the sense that all great moments of experience are
in a measure given. The mystic is not so much passive as
receptive. His life is one of strenuous discipline. Right con¬
templation is the end and the crown of the eight-fold path.
22 INTRODUCTION

When the mind and the senses are no longer active, when
discursive thought ceases, we get the highest and purest state
of the soul, when it enjoys the untrammelled bliss of its own
nature. It is the substance of the highest life when ignorance
and craving become extinct and insight and holiness take
their place. It is peaceful contemplation and ecstatic rapture
wrought by the mind for itself. It is the true and healthy life
of the soul, in which we have a foretaste of a higher existence
compared with which our ordinary life is sick and ailing. Wc
have in it a sense of freedom, of knowledge, immediate and
unbounded.
The Buddha gives a workable system for monks and lay
people. In the discourse to the Brahmin Kutadanta he lays
down five moral rules binding on all lay people, which are:
refraining from killing, from taking what is not given, from
wrongful indulgence in the passions, from lying, and from
intoxicants. It is not abstention from work that he demands.
A Jain layman asks him if he teaches the doctrine of in-action,
and the Buddha replies: ‘How might one rightly say of me
that the ascetic Gautama holds the principle of in-action ?
I proclaim the non-doing of evil conduct of body, speech,
and thought. I proclaim the non-doing of various kinds of
wicked and evil things_I proclaim the doing of good con¬
duct of the body, speech, and thought. I proclaim the doing
of various kinds of good things.’ In the Buddha’s scheme of
ethics, the spirit of love is more important than good works.
'All good works whatever are not worth one-sixteenth part
of love which sets free the heart. Love which sets free the
heart comprises them. It shines, gives light and radiance.’
‘As a mother, at the risk of her life, watches over her only
child, so let every one cultivate a boundless love towards all
beings.’ Respect for animal life is an integral part of morality.
A good Buddhist does not kill animals for pleasure or eat
flesh. They are his humble brethren and not lower creatures
 INTRODUCTION 23

over whom he has dominion by divine right. Serenity of spirit

and love for all sentient creation are enjoined by the Buddha.
He does not speak of sin, but only of ignorance and foolish¬
ness which could be cured by enlightenment and sympathy.
4. When the individual overcomes ignorance, breaks the
power of his own deeds to drag him back into expiation,
ceases to desire1 and to regret and attains enlightenment, he
passes into the world of being as distinct from that of exist¬
ence, being which is free from form and formlessness, from
pain and delight, though that state is not humanly conceiv¬
able. It is deliverance, freedom from rebirth, nirvana. The
Buddha refused to explain its nature. The question is un¬
profitable, and perhaps our descriptions of it unmeaning.
What it would be like no words could tell, but the Buddha
shows how it could be reached. He promises the beatific
vision in this life to those who adopt his way. He does not
mention ceremonial, austerities, gods—one or many—or even
a worship of himself. He is the discoverer, the teacher of
the truth. He concentrates his teaching on moral discipline
and would not enter into metaphysical discussions with the
crowd of contemporary sophists. Whether the world was in¬
finite in space or limited, whether it had an origin in time
or not, whether the person who had attained truth had or
had not individuality, or would or would not live after death,
the Buddha would not discuss. Dislike of mere speculation
is the distinguishing mark of the Buddha’s teaching.
The Buddha ‘has no theories’.2 He does not claim to have
1
yadd tarve pramucyante kdmd, ye’sya hjdi sthitdh
atha martyo’mrto bhavati, atra brahma samabmte.
‘When all desires which entered one’s heart arc abandoned, then does
the mortal become immortal, and he obtains Brahman' (Brhad-dranyaka
Up. iv. 4).
* Majjhima, 1. 486. On statements like this, the Madhyamika system
bases the doctrine of htnyatd or the emptiness of all theories. Cf. iunyatd
sarvadrftinam proktd nissaranarii jinaih (Mddhyamika kdnkd, xvii. 8).
24 INTRODUCTION

come down to earth with a wisdom which had been his from
all eternity. According to his own account, as the Jataka
stories relate, he acquired it through innumerable lives of
patient effort.1 He offers his followers a scheme of spiritual
development and not a set of doctrines, a way and not a creed.
He knew that the acceptance of a creed was generally an ex¬
cuse for the abandonment of the search. We often refuse to
admit facts, not because there is evidence against them, but
because there is a theory against them. The Buddha’s teach¬
ing begins with the fact of his enlightenment, a spiritual ex¬
perience which cannot be put into words. Whatever doctrine
there is in him relates to this experience and the way of at¬
taining it. To use an image employed by him—our theories
of the eternal are as valuable as are those which a chick
which has not broken its way through its shell might form
of the outside world. To know the truth, we must tread the
path.
In this he resembles some of the greatest thinkers of the
world. Socrates replied to the charge of‘corrupting the young’
that he had no ‘doctrine’, that Meletus had not produced
any evidence, either from his pupils or their relations, to
show that they had suffered from his ‘doctrine’.2 Jesus had
an abhorrence of dogma. It was not a creed that he taught,
or a church that he established. His aim was to show a new
way of life. The cross was the symbol of the new religion,
not the creed. Bearing the cross is the condition of disciple-
ship. It stands for a new way of overcoming evil with good,
demands a change of outlook, a rejection of instinctive ego¬
isms and of the earthly standards of glory and greatness.
St. Paul gives us the ‘fruits of the spirit’, ‘love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tem¬
perance’, and contrasts them with ‘the works of the flesh’,
1 Anguttara, iv. 36, says that Buddha is the redeemed soul who is not
subject to any bonds. * Apology, 22.
 INTRODUCTION 25

which are ‘idolatry, hatred, variance, jealousies, wrath, strife,

envyings, murders, and such like’.1 St. Thomas Aquinas ex¬
perienced in the last year of his life a prolonged ecstasy, as
h result of which he refused to write any more, despite the
entreaties of his secretary, Reginald. Robert Bridges in The
Testament of Beauty describes the incident thus:

I am happier in surmising that his vision at Mass

—in Naples it was when he fell suddenly in trance—
was some discnthralmcnt of his humanity;
for thereafter, whether ’twer Aristotle or Christ
that had appear’d to him then, he nevermore wrote word
neither dictated but laid by inkhorn and pen;
and was as a man out of hearing on thatt day
when Rcynaldus, with all the importunity of zeal
and intimacy of friendship, would hav recall’d him
to his incomplcted summa ; and sighing he reply’d
1 toil tell thee a secret, my son, constraining thee
lest thou dare impart it to any man while I liv.
My writing is at end. I hav seen such things reveal'd
that what I hav written and taught seemeth to me of small worth.
And hence I hope in my God, that, as of doctrin
ther wil be speedily also an end of Life!

We have now seen with approximate certainty on the

strength of the available evidence what the oldest traditions
disclose to us of the life and teaching of the Buddha. Though
his character and teaching suited admirably his religious
world, his elemental simplicity, active love, and personal help
in offering to men a way to happiness and escape from sorrow
caused his contemporaries and future generations to regard
him as a saviour.2 By refusing to make positive statements on
the ultimate problems on the ground that their solutions

1 Galatians v. 22-3, 20-1.

1 In the Mahapadana Suttanta we have the most categorical affirma¬
tion of the divine character of the Buddha.
26 INTRODUCTION

escape definition, he helped to provoke doctrinal contro¬

versies. To satisfy the needs of less strenuous temperaments,
who had also their rights, varieties of Buddhism less severe
and philosophic developed.

ill. The Buddha and the Upanisads

To know what the Buddha actually taught or what his
earliest followers thought he did, we must place ourselves in
imagination in the India of the sixth century b.c. 1 hinkcrs,
like other people, are in no small measure rooted in time and
place. The forms in which they cast their ideas, no less than
the ways in which they behave, are largely moulded by the
habits of thought and action which they find around them.
Great minds make individual contributions of permanent
value to the thought of their age; but they do not, and cannot,
altogether transcend the age in which they live. The questions
which they try to answer are those their contemporaries are
asking: the solutions which they give are relative to the tradi¬
tional statements handed down to them. Even when they are
propounding answers which are startlingly new, they use the
inadequate ideas and concepts of tradition to express the
deeper truths towards which they are feeling their way. They
do not cease to belong to their age even when they are rising
most above it. Thought makes no incongruous leaps; it ad¬
vances to new concepts by the reinterpretation of old ones.
Gautama the Buddha has suffered as much as anyone from
critics without a sense of history. He has been cried up, and
cried down, with an equal lack of historical imagination.
Buddhism came to be widely known in the West in the latter
part of the last century, when a wave of scepticism spread
over the world as the result of the growth of science and
enlightenment. Positivism, agnosticism, atheism, and ethical
humanism found wide support. In much of the literature of
doubt and disbelief the name of the Buddha is mentioned
 INTRODUCTION 27

with respect. The humanists honour him as one of the earliest

protagonists of their cause—the happiness, the dignity, and
the mental integrity of mankind. Those who declare that men
tannot know reality, and others who affirm that there is no
reality to know, use his name. Intellectual agnostics who flirt
with a vague transcendentalism quote his example. Social
idealists, ethical mystics, rationalist prophets are all attracted
by his teaching and utilize it in their defence. Great as is the
value of the Buddha’s teaching for our age, we cannot hope
to understand its true significance without an adequate refer¬
ence to the environment in which he lived. This effort of
historical imagination is not easy. For the simple words and
concepts with which the Buddha faced the situations of his
life and ministry have become charged with the controversies
and developments of later generations. Naturally we are in¬
clined to read some of his utterances with the later doctrines
in our minds. All great thought, religious or philosophical,
is capable of bearing many meanings which were not in the
minds of their authors. To set aside, for the moment, the
later interpretations and seek, instead, to view the Buddha,
as far as we can, as a thinker of the sixth century B.C., living,
moving, and teaching in its peculiar conditions, is a task of
extreme difficulty and delicacy; and for obvious reasons the
work of reconstruction can never be complete. But we may
be reasonably certain that it yields a picture which, in its
main outlines at least, must correspond fairly well to the
reality.
If we place ourselves in imagination in the India of the
sixth century B.C., we find that different streams of thought,
belief, and practice—animism, magic, and superstition—were
tending to unite in a higher monistic idealism. Man’s attempt
to seek the truth and put himself in a right relation to it
assumed the forms of dualistic and pluralistic experiments,
but they were all agreed on certain fundamentals. Life does
28 INTRODUCTION

not begin at birth or end at death, but is a link in an infinite

series of lives, each of which is conditioned and determined
by acts done in previous existences. Animal, human, and
angelic forms are all links in the chain. By good deeds we'
raise our status and get to heaven, and by evil ones we lower
it. Since all lives must come to an end, true happiness is not
to be sought in heaven or on earth. Release from the round
of births resulting in life in eternity is the goal of the religious
man and is indicated by such words as moksa or deliverance,
union with Brahman, and nirvana.
The methods for gaining release were variously conceived.
At least four main ones could be distinguished: (i) the Vedic
hymns declared that prayer and worship were the best means
for gaining the favour of the Divine. (2) The most popular
was the sacrificial system which arose out of simple offerings
to the deity and became complicated in the age before the
Upanisads. While its inadequacy was admitted by the Upani¬
sads, it was tolerated as a method useful for attaining tem¬
poral blessings and even life in a paradise. (3) Asceticism was
popular with certain sects.1 By means of temperance, chastity,
and mental concentration one can increase the force of thought
and will. The advocates of the ascetic path were betrayed
into the extravagance that, by suppressing desires and endur¬
ing voluntary tortures, one could attain supernatural powers.
Tapas or austerity is said to be better than sacrifice,2 and is
regarded as the means for attaining the knowledge of Brah¬
man.3 (4) The Upanisads insist on vidyS, or wisdom, or
insight into reality, accompanied by control of desire and
detachment from earthly ties and interests. Vidyd is not learn¬
ing, but rapt contemplation; it is a realization of one’s unity
with the Supreme Spirit, in the light of which all material
attachments and fetters fall away. The Buddha, who teaches
« Ps Veda, x. 136; x. 190. * Chdndogya Up. iii. *7.
* Taittiriya Up. iii. 1, 5.
 INTRODUCTION 29

‘the middle path’ between self-indulgence and self-mortifica¬

tion, inclines to the last view.
The Upanisads, from which the Buddha’s teaching is de¬
rived1, hold that the world we know, whether outward or
inward, docs not possess intrinsic reality. Intrinsic reality
belongs to the knower, the Atman, the self of all selves.
Brahman and Atman arc one. Knowledge of this supreme
truth, realization of the identity of the self of man and the
spirit of the universe, is salvation. It is a state of being, not
a place of resort, a quality of life to be acquired by spiritual
training and illumination. Till this goal is reached man is
subject to the law of karma and rebirth. Under the shadow
of the fundamental thesis of the unity of the individual spirit
with the universal spirit numberless dogmas developed, in
which the special god of the devotee was identified with the
universal spirit. The Buddha accepts the propositions that the
empirical universe is not real, that the empirical individual
is not permanent, that both these are subject to changes
which are governed by law and that it is the duty of the
individual to transcend this world of succession and time and
attain nirvana. Whether there is anything real and positive
in the universe, in the individual, and in the state of libera¬
tion, he declined to tell us, though he denied the dogmatic
theologies. The Upanisads contrast the absolute fullness of

1 The Buddha says that ‘there arc these four truths of the Brahmins
which have been realized by me by my own higher knowledge and made
known (Atlguttara, iv. 185; Samyutta, xxii. 90). He characterizes his
dhnrma as ancient (purdna)—as eternal (sasvata or sand tana). He com¬
pares it to the discovery of an old buried forgotten city (Nagara Sutta).
He is said to be a knower of the Veda (vtdajHd) or of the Vedanta (1xddn-
tajHa) (Samyutta, i. 168; Sutta Nip&ta, 463). Max Muller observes that
Buddhism is ‘the highest Br§hmanism popularized, everything esoteric
being abolished, the priesthood replaced by monks, and these monks
being in their true character the successors and representatives of the
enlightened dwellers in the forest of former ages' (Last Essays, 2nd series
(1901), p. 121).
3o INTRODUCTION

limitless perfection with the world of plurality—a state of

disruption, restriction, and pain. If there is a difference be¬
tween the teaching of the Upanisads and the Buddha, it is
not in their views of the world of experience (sanisdra), but
in regard to their conception of reality {nirvana).
Before we take up the question of the meaning of the
Buddha’s silence, let us understand his motive for it. The
supremacy of the ethical is the clue to the teaching of the Bud¬
dha. His conceptions of life and the universe are derived
from his severely practical outlook. The existence of every¬
thing depends on a cause. If we remove the cause, the effect
will disappear. If the source of all suffering is destroyed,
suffering will disappear. The cure proposed by the sacrificial
and the sacramental religions which filled his environment'
has little to do with the disease. The only way in which we
can remove the cause of suffering is by purifying the heart
and following the moral law. Doctrines which take away from
the urgency of the moral task, the cultivation of individual
character, are repudiated by the Buddha.
If what the Upanisads declare is true, that we are divine,
then there is nothing for us to aim at or strive for. The Jaina
and the Samkhya theories maintain an infinity of souls in¬
volved in matter. For them the duty of man would consist
in ascetic practices by which the unchangeable essence could
be freed from the changing trammels. Whether we believe
with the Upanisads in one universal spirit, or with the
1 Cf. plavdhy eta adrdhd yctjilarupHi. 'Sacrifices arc frail boats across
the ocean of tamsdra' (Mun^aka Up. i. 2. 7>- Again: ndnudhydydd bahun
iabddn vdeo vigldpanom hi tat. ‘Brood not over this mass of words, for it
is a waste of breath' (Brhad-dranyaha Up. iv. 4. 21; sec also iii. 8. 10).
When a Brahmin came to the Buddha with the remnants of his oblation in
his hand, the Buddha said to him: 'Do not deem, O Brahmin, that purity
comes by merely laying sticks in fire, for it is external. Having therefore
left that course, I kindle my fire only within, which burns for ever.'
‘Here in this sacrifice the tongue is the sacrificial spoon and the heart is
the altar of the fire' (Sarhyutta, i. :68).
 INTRODUCTION 3*

Sarhkhya system in an infinite plurality of spirits, the nature of

the spirit is conceived as unchanging and unchangeable. But
ethical training implies the possibility of change. Man is not
divine, but has to become divine. His divine status is some¬
thing to be built up by good thoughts, good words, and good
deeds. He is a concrete, living, striving creature. To tell him
that there is a transcendental consciousness where scepticism
and relativity are defeated from all eternity is not of much
comfort. It is the concrete man, not the transcendental self,
that has to acquire morality. The proposition that there is no
permanent unchanging self in persons or things {sarvam
anatmam) is not a speculative theory, or a sentimental out¬
burst on the transitoriness of the world, but the basis of all
ethics. We have to build the self by effort and discipline.
The self is something which evolves and grows, something
to be achieved and built up by pain and labour, and not some¬
thing given to be passively accepted and enjoyed. The ego
consists of the feelings that burn us, of the passions we brood
over, of the desires that haunt us and of the decisions we
make. These are the things that give life its dramatic charac¬
ter. There is nothing absolute and permanent in them. That
is why we can become something different from what we are.
The reality of the person is in the creative will. When we
deny the clamour of emotions, stay the stream of things,
silence the appetites of the body, we feel the power of self
within our own being. Again, the delusion of self leads man
to strive to profit himself and injure others. The passionate
sense of egoism is the root of the world’s unhappiness.1 To
be egoistic is to be like a rudimentary creature that has grown
* Naguijuna says that when the notion of self disappears, the notion
of mine also disappears and one becomes free from the idea of I and
mine:
dtmany asati cdlmfyam kuta eva bhavijyati
nirmamo nirahafikdrah iam&d dtmdtmaninayoh.
(Mddhyamika-kdrikd, xviii. 2\ cf. B.G. ii. 71.)
32 INTRODUCTION

no eyes. It is to be blind to the reality of other persons. We

begin to grow only when we break down our clinging to the
envelopes of the body and mind and realize that we have our
roots in a state which is untouched by the familiar dimen¬
sions of this world. Detachment from ego means a gentler,
profounder, sympathy with all sentient creation. It is the
recovery of wholeness, of an ordered nature in harmony with
the cosmos.
The Buddha denies the view that the ego is permanent
and unchanging, as well as the view that at death it is utterly
destroyed. For, if death ends all, many people might imagine
that it was not necessary to increase the burden of this short
life by the need for self-control. The ego is a composite
existent and changing.
Interest in the supernatural diverts attention and energy
from ethical values and the exploration of actual conditions
by means of which their realization may be furthered. The
Buddha learnt from life around him that men never use the
powers they possess to advance the good in life so long as
they wait upon some agency external to themselves to do the
work they are responsible for doing. They expect the exercise
of divine magic for a sudden transmutation into a higher kind
of nature. Dependence on an external power has generally
meant a surrender of human effort. The Buddha did not deny
the existence of the popular gods, but he treated them as
angels who belonged to the empirical order and needed in¬
struction themselves. By precept and example, he was an
exponent of the strenuous life.1 The whole course of the
universe is governed by law. It is unnecessary to make the
divine creator responsible for the strange disproportion in

1 The last words of Gautama the Buddha are said to be these: vaya-
dhammd samkhdrd, appamudena lampddctha. ‘All composites arc perish¬
able by nature, strive diligently.’ Cf. Aioka’s saying: ‘Let small and great
exert themselves’ (First Edict).
 INTRODUCTION 33

men’s lives.1 The Buddha rejects the conception of God as

a personal being who takes sides in our struggles or a super¬
natural tyrant who interferes with the process of the universe.
Theistic emphasis seemed to him to deprive man of his in¬
dependence and make him an instrument for the realization of
ends that are not human. In the first part of the Tevijja Sutta
the teacher makes out that it is impossible to have any know¬
ledge of the nature of the personal Brahma and so any attempt
to attain unity of spirit with him is futile. In the last part of
the same text he makes out that through the practice of the
brahmaviharas we can draw near to Brahman, the funda¬
mental spirit which is the basis of all things.
The vital problem for the Buddha was not how the world-
spirit, if any, manifests itself in the superhuman realm, but
in the individual man and in the empirical world. What con¬
trols the universe is dhartna, the moral law. The world is
made, not by gods and angels, but by the voluntary choices
of men. The history of man is the total sequence of human
lives, their decisions and experiences. The situation which

1 Cf. Garuda PurJna:

sukJtasya duhkhasya na kopi ddtd
paro daddtiti kubuddhir efd
svayaih krtam svena phalcna yujyate
iarira he nistara yat tvayd krtam.
‘No one gives joy or sorrow. That others give us these is an erroneous
conception. Our own deeds bring to us their fruits. Body of mine, repay
what you have done.’
An early Buddhist poet bursts out in fierce anger:
He who has eyes can see the sickening sight;
Why does not Brahma set his creatures right ?
If his wide power no limits can restrain,
Why is his hand so rarely spread to bless?
Why are his creatures all condemned to pain ?
Why does he not to all give happiness?
Why do fraud, lies and ignorance prevail?
Why triumphs falsehood—truth and justice fail?
(The Jdtaka, E.T. by Cowell and Rouse, vol. vi (1907). P- IIO0

D
34 INTRODUCTION

each of us finds in the world when he enters it is due to the

innumerable actions of men and women in the past; and we,
by our will and action, each in his own measure, can deter¬
mine what the next moment in history is going to be. By
substituting the law of cause and effect for the caprices of
demons and gods, the Buddha put the noblest system of
morality in the place of tribal custom and taboo. The Buddha
knows—and none better—that the human will is not omni¬
potent; it works in a material, animal, and social environment
which impinges at every point on the life of man, though he,
by his will and exertion, can modify and reshape to some
extent his environment. This continual interaction between
man and his environment is the texture of which history is
woven. Human effort counts.
The object of religion is the ideal in contrast to the present
state. Dharrna is the unity of all ideal ends, arousing us to
desire and action. It controls us because of its inherent mean¬
ing and value, and not because it is already in realized existence
apart from us. The reality of dharrna is vouched for by its
undeniable power in action. The Buddha insists that it is not
wholly without roots in existence. He objects, however, to
any identification of dharrna with a being outside nature.
To imagine that dharrna or the ideal of morality is external
to nature is to imply that the natural means are corrupt and
impotent. It is to make out that man in a state of nature is
evil, and regeneration is a matter of grace. The improvement
of human character will not be regarded as the natural result
of human effort, but will be viewed as a sudden and com¬
plete transmutation achieved through the aid of the super¬
natural. For the Buddha, the impulse to dharrna, to justice
and kindliness, is operative in things, and its efficient activity
will mean the reduction of disorder, cruelty, and oppression.
Dharrna is organic to existence and its implication of karma
is the builder of the world. There is not in the Buddha’s
 INTRODUCTION 35

teaching that deep personal loyalty, passion of love, and in¬

timate dialogue between soul and soul resembling closely in
its expression earthly love. And yet the essence of religion,
the vision of a reality which stands beyond and within the
passing flux of immediate things, the intuitive loyalty to
something larger than and beyond oneself, an absolute active
in the world, is in him.

iv. Metaphysical Views

The Buddha discouraged doctrinal controversies as pre¬
judicial to inward peace and ethical striving; for we reach
here unfathomably deep mysteries on the solution of which
thought must not insist.1 The meaning and value of life are
determined by the mystery behind it, by an infinity which
cannot be rationalized. The pain and evil of life would be
unendurable if the empirical universe were all, if world and
man were self-sufficient, if there were nothing beyond, higher,
deeper, more mysterious. We believe in a transcendent super-
historic reality, not so much because rational thought de¬
mands its existence, but because the empirical is bounded
by a mystery in which rational thought ends. Systems of

1 Nagnscna, who may be regarded as being quite familiar with the

views of his predecessors and contemporaries, says that there are questions
which do not deserve to be answered. There are four different kinds of
questions: (i) Some can be answered definitely (ekdmia vydkara?iya).
‘Will everyone who is born die? 'Yes’, is the decisive answer. (2) Some
questions can be answered by resort to division (vibhajya vydkaratnya).
Is everyone reborn after death? Anyone free from passions is not reborn,
while one who is not so is reborn. (3) Some questions can be answered
by counter questions (pratiprechd vyakaraniya). Is man superior or in¬
ferior? The counter question is: ‘In relation to what? If, in relation to
animals, he is superior; if in relation to gods, he is inferior. (4) I here
are some questions which require to be set aside (sthapamya). Are the
aggregates (skandhas) the same as the soul (tattva) ? (Miliftdapanha, iv.
2. 4). Cf. Abhidharmakola, v. 22:
ekdmsena vibhdgena prcchdtah uhdpaniyatah
vydkrtam maranotpattiviiiffdtmdnyatddivat.
36 INTRODUCTION

affirmative theology which give us glowing pictures of the

divine and its relation to us are exoteric and do not touch
upon the ultimate issues of life. Mystical negative theology
brings us closer to the final depths. The limit to rational
thought and logical definition is set by a mystery. ‘Before it
words turn back and mind fails to find it/1 In the extreme
abstinence of his words the Buddha shows himself to be the
absolute mystic, and yet his followers in later generations
interpreted his silence1 in divergent ways. Man’s instinct for
philosophizing cannot be suppressed for long. Eighteen dif¬
ferent sects grew up in the second century after the Buddha,
if the reports of the Chronicles of Ceylon are to be accepted.3
In understanding the meaning of the Buddha’s silence three
alternatives are open to us. (1) He did not know whether there
was anything beyond the empirical succession. (2) He knew
that the empirical universe was all and there was nothing
beyond it. (3) He believed that there was a transempirical
reality in the universe, a time-transcending element in the
self, but had his ethical motives and logical reasons for declin¬
ing to give definitions of essentially ineffable matters. There
are some who make out that his silence was a cloak for
nihilism. He denies the reality of any absolute, and so there
is nothing permanent in the soul, and nirvana is the night of
nothingness, annihilation. There are others who look upon
him as an agnostic. He did not know the truth of things ;
possibly the truth, if any, could not be known. His silence
was an expression of suspended judgement. Still others think
that he was a mystic, and like all mystics shrank from giving
descriptions of ineffable states which could only be felt and
realized and not discussed and spoken about. Modem inter¬
preters of the teaching of the Buddha accept one or the other
of the views according to their own inclinations.
1 Taittirfya Up. ii. 4. * Samyutta, iv. 400; Majjhima, i. 426.
3 Dipavamsa, v. 53; MahSxxtniia, v. 8.
 INTRODUCTION 37

Anyone who believes that the Buddha was a sceptic or an

agnostic who did not know the ultimate grounds of things
simply because he did not give an account of them misses the
main drift of his teaching.1 Such an attitude will be opposed
to many utterances in which the Buddha makes out that he
knows more than what he has given to his disciples. It will
be unfair to equate his attitude with an indolent scepticism
which will not take the trouble to find out a positive or a
negative answer to the ultimate questions, or to say that he
had not the courage to own that he did not know. We read:
‘At one time, the Exalted One was staying at KosambI in the
gim$apa grove. And the Exalted One took a few Simsapa leaves
in his hand and said to his disciples: “What think ye, my
disciples, which are the more, these few Sirf^apa leaves which
I have gathered in my hand, or the other leaves yonder in
the Sirh^apa grove ?” “The few leaves, sire, which the Exalted
One holds in his hand are not many, but many more are those
leaves yonder in the Sirh^apa grove.” “So also, my disciples,
is that much more, which I have learned and have not told
you, than that which I have told you. And, wherefore, my
disciples, have I not told you that? Because, my disciples, it
brings you no profit, it does not conduce to progress in holi¬
ness ; because it does not lead to the turning from the earthly,
to the subjection of all desire, to the cessation of the transitory,
• Professor A. Berricdale Keith states the case for the agnostic view
thus: ‘It rests on the twofold ground that the Buddha has not himself
a cleur conclusion on the truth of these issues but is convinced that
disputation on them will not lead to the frame of mind which is essential
for the attainment of mnvna.' ‘Western analogies show sufficiently that
there arc many earnest thinkers who believe in the reality and purpose
of the universe—which the Buddha did not—and yet accept the destruc¬
tion of the individual on death with satisfaction or resignation.’ ‘It is
quite legitimate to hold that the Buddha was a genuine agnostic, that he
had studied the various systems of ideas prevalent in his day without
deriving any greater satisfaction from them than any of us to-day do
from the study of modern systems, and that he had no reasoned or other
conviction on the matter’ (Buddhist Philosophy (1923). PP- 45 2°^ 63).
38 INTRODUCTION

to peace, to knowledge, to illumination, to nirvana: there¬

fore have I not declared it unto you.” M Malunkyaputta*
states the metaphysical issues and says frankly that he is
dissatisfied because the Buddha will not answer them. He
challenges him with a bluntness bordering on discourtesy:
‘If the Lord answers them, I will lead a religious life under
him: if he does not answer them, I will give up religion and
return to the world. If the Lord does not know, then the
straightforward thing is to say, “I do not know.” ’ With a
quiet courtesy the Buddha says that he did not offer to answer
the questions and gives a parable. ‘A man is hit by a poisoned
arrow. His friends hasten to the doctor. The latter is about
to draw the arrow out of the wound. The wounded man,
however, cries: “Stop, I will not have the arrow drawn out
until I know who shot it, whether a woman or a Brahmin,
a VaiSya, or a Sudra, to which family he belonged, whether
he was tall or short, of what species and description the arrow
was”, and so on. What would happen? The man would die
before all these questions were answered. In the same way
the disciple who wished for answers to all his questions about
the beyond, and so on, would die before he knew the truth
about suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffer¬
ing and the way to the cessation of suffering.’ The Buddha’s
aim is intensely practical, to incite his listeners not to specula¬
tion but to self-control. There are parts of what most con¬
cerns us to know which he cannot describe adequately. So
he desires his disciples to follow his path and see for them¬
selves. He proclaims that, if we exert and control our thoughts,
purify our hearts and remould our desires, there will shine
out on us the gold-like splendour of virtue; the perfect
goodness, the eternal dharma, will be established in the
stainless shrine. The vision is for him who will see it, for
as the Buddha says in his sermon at Benares: ‘If ye walk
1 Samyutta, v. 437. 1 Majjhiwa, 63.
 INTRODUCTION 39

according to my teaching ... ye shall even in this present

life apprehend the truth itself and see face to face. It is
not an agnostic who speaks here with such conviction and
authority. , , , .
Though he questioned many beliefs, he never doubted the
existence of the moral order of the universe or the supreme
reality and value of the life of the soul. His incessant in¬
sistence on the practice of virtue and the critical testing of
opinions by the standard of reason were based on ardent
positive convictions. The absolute is for him the law of
righteousness. It is the answer to human hope and striving,
that on which the whole existence of the world is founded.
It is the meaning of history, the redemption of all creation.
If we assume, as we are obliged to by the compulsion of
facts, that the Buddha knew the truth, though he did not
proclaim it, may it not be that his truth was atheism ? Those
who wish to discredit the powerful and massive witness of
religious experience to the reality of an absolute spirit quote
the Buddha in their support. Was not nirvana ‘only the sleep
eternal in an eternal night’? A heaven without a God, im¬
mortality without a soul, and purification without prayer sum
up his doctrine. T. H. Huxley finds hope in the fact that
‘a system which knows no God in the Western sense, which
denies a soul to man, which counts the belief m immortality
a blunder and the hope of it a sin, which refuses any efficacy
to prayer and sacrifice, which bids men to look to nothing
but their own efforts for salvation, which in its original purity
knew nothing of vows of obedience and never sought the aid
of the secular arm, yet spread over a considerable moiety of the
old world with marvellous rapidity and is still, with whatever
base admixture of foreign superstitions, the dominant creed
of a large fraction of mankind’.’ Given the psychological
« Romanes Lecture, 1893. Childers in his article on ‘iWMg'in the
Pali Dictionary writes: ‘There is probably no doctrine more distinctive
40 INTRODUCTION

conditions of the time, the reception of the Buddha’s

message would be unthinkable, if it were negative. For any¬
one who is familiar with the religious environment of India
it is impossible to look upon a philosophy of negation as the
mandate of a religious revival. Though the Buddha disputes
the pre-eminence of Brahma, the highest of the gods, those
who accepted his leadership felt that he did so in the interests
of a higher concept. The worshippers of other gods trans¬
ferred their adoration to another form of divinity. It was the
age of the growth of the great gods Siva and Visnu, and in
course of time the Buddha himself was deified by his fol¬
lowers. His adherents were certainly not people inclined to
atheism.
It would be more interesting and legitimate if we should
relate the Buddha’s teaching to his own environment and ask
whether or not he believed in a reality beyond and behind
the phenomenal world, in a self over and above the empirical
individual and in a positive conception of nirvana as life
eternal. It would help us to decide the question whether he
is an atheist or a believer in an absolute spiritual reality.
i. The conception of dharma has an interesting history.
The idea of rta as moral and physical order is an Indo-
Iranian one.1 All things and beings are under the power of
law. They follow a certain course prescribed for them. In the
Vedic period the idea gradually extended from the physical
order to the moral order of the world and covered law, custom,
and etiquette, the principles by which a man should act. Rta,
the moral order, is not the creation of a god. It is itself divine
and independent of the gods, though the gods Yaruna and
the Adityas are its guardians. In the Upanisads we find state-
of Sskyamuni's original teaching than that of the annihilation of being
(pp. 267 and 274). Bumouf 'is decidedly in favour of the opinion that the
goal of Buddhism is annihilation’.
* In both Vcdic and old Persian it is expressed by the same word
meaning law, Vedic rta, old Persian arta, Avcstan asha.
 INTRODUCTION 4*

ments like: ‘There is nothing higher than dhamia.' ‘ That

which is the dharma is the truth.’1 Rta (order) and satya
(truth) are the practical and theoretical sides of one reality."
The real is the world of perfect rhythm. Disjointedness,
separateness, incoherence, lack of rhythm are marks of our
mortal life. Our love of order, our search for truth, is an ac¬
knowledgement of our kinship with the other world. Whereas
in the Upanisads stress is laid on the absolute as real, and
truth and dharma are identified with it, in early Buddhism
there is greater stress laid on dharma as the norm operating
in the actual world and a lack of concentration on the absolute
as real. Dharma is the immanent order. It denotes the laws
of nature, the chain of causation, the rule for the castes. ‘Who
is, venerable sir, the King of Kings?’ ‘Dharma is the King
of Kings.’3 It is the absolute infallible righteousness of which
our earthly justice is but a shadow. Gradually it was applied
to the form or character of a thing, its ground and cause.
The Absolute is apprehended by us in numberless ways.
Each religion selects some one aspect of it and makes it the
centre to which others are referred. The Buddha emphasized
the ethical aspect. For him the whole process of nature, from
wheeling stars to the least motion of life, is wrought by law.
Even though we may, in some of our speculative moods,
contemplate the possibility that the universe is irrational and
chaotic, we do not in practice adopt that view. We assume
and work in the hope that the world is an expression of law,
and our hope is increasingly justified by experience. But this
law is an ethical one. We may in some of our perverse moods
imagine that the universe is chaotic, loveless, and wicked,
but we act in the supreme confidence that it is essentially
righteous. The moral ideals are not subjective fancies or
casual products thrown up by the evolutionary process. They

1 Brhad-aranyaka Up. i. 4- *4* ...

* Taittiriya Up. i. i and 9. Anguttara, 111.
42 INTRODUCTION

are rooted in the universe. For the Buddha, dharma or

righteousness is the driving principle of the universe. It is
what we are expected to bring into existence. Every moral
ideal has two features. It is attainable by man and sustainable
by the universe. If it is not in our power to bring it into
existence, there is no point in asking us to work for it. Un¬
attainable values may be beautiful to contemplate, but they
are by no means ethical. They do not hold our loyalty. It may
be argued that we may strive to realize the values, but the
universe will dash our hopes and our best endeavours will
be frustrated. We cannot hope to make things better than
they are. We require the assurance that there is a pervasive
principle which works towards moral perfection, the ideal to
which we finite individuals contribute, each within his own
limited sphere. The Buddha gives us that assurance. He tells
us that the only reality on which we can count is dharma or
righteousness. The redemption of the world is the actualiza¬
tion of dharma. ‘All beings in the world/ he says, ‘yea, all
shall lay aside their complex form.’1 The Buddha may not
believe in a cosmic potentate, omniscient and omnipotent,
but he tells us that the universe is not indifferent to our
ethical striving. The central reality of dharma backs us in
our endeavours to achieve a better than what is. There is a
reality beyond the empirical succession that responds to the
confidence of those that trust it. Dharma is not a mere ab¬
straction, but is the reality underlying the sensible world and
determining it. Though everything in this empirical universe
is passing, there is something which does not pass. It ex¬
presses itself in the world as natural and spiritual law, which
is the transcendental character of the empirical universe. Wc
1 'One deep divergence must be named. The Buddhist scheme pro¬
claims the ultimate salvation of all beings. Christianity in its most wide¬
spread historic forms still condemns an uncounted number to endless
torment and unceasing sin’ (J. E. Carpenter, Buddhism and Christianity
(1923). P- 3«>6).
 INTRODUCTION 43
are to pay homage and reverence to it. The Buddha, after
he is fully enlightened, proposes to live under dhartna ‘pay¬
ing it honour and respect'.1 Insight into dhartna (dhammavi-
passana) is enlightenment. The end of the eight-fold path is
the winning of insight, ‘the attainment, comprehending and
realizing even in this life emancipation of heart and emancipa¬
tion of insight’. Is this insight a subjective psychical condi¬
tion, a state of love without an object of love, as the Buddha
puts it? He tells us that in it we attain a direct and immediate
realization of the supremely real, here and now.2 We seize
directly the spiritual hidden below the sensible appearances.
From the order in the confusion we get to the eternal in the
transient, the reality in the phenomena. This insight is at¬
tained by keeping the mind in a state of repose and detach¬
ment from the outward reality. When we purify our heart
by ethical training, when we focus the total energy of our
consciousness on the deepest in us, we awaken the inherent
divine possibilities, and suddenly a new experience occurs
with clarity of insight and freedom of joy. Those who tell us
that for the Buddha there is religious experience, but there
is no religious object, are violating the texts and needlessly
convicting him of self-contradiction. He implies the reality
of what the Upanisads call Brahman, though he takes the
liberty of giving it another name, dhartna, to indicate its
essentially ethical value for us on the empirical plane. The
way of the dhartna is the way of the Brahman.3 To dwell in
dhartna is to dwell in Brahman.4 The Tathagata is said to
have the dhartna as his body, the Brahman as his body, to
be one with the dhartna and one with the Brahman.5 The
* Samyutta, ii. 138 f.; Anguttara, ii. 20 f.
* In one of the early Pali texts, nindria is described as ‘subtle, compre¬
hensible by the wise, indescribable and realizable only within one's self’:
nipuno panditavedariiyo, atakkaviedro, paccattam xxditabbo viiinuhi.
* Samyutta, I. 141. 4 Anguttara, i. 207.
* Digha, iii. 84, 81.
44 INTRODUCTION

eight-fold path is called indifferently brahmayana or dharma-

ydna.
2. The doctrine of non-self (anatta) asserts that the ego is
a process of becoming. In the Alaguddiipauia Sutta1 the ac¬
cusation is made that the Buddha teaches the doctrine of the
destruction of a real entity, but he denies it absolutely. He
argues that he bids men throw off only the non-ego consist¬
ing of the five constituents, bodily form, perception, feeling,
the dispositions, and intellect. He found a party of thirty
weak young men who had been spending their time with their
wives in a grove. One of them had no wife and for him they
had taken a courtesan, who, while they were not noticing,
had taken their things and fled. Seeking for her, they inquired
of the Buddha whether he had seen a woman. ‘What do you
think, young men,’ he replied, ‘which is better for you, to go
in search of a woman or to go in search of your self? It is
better, Lord, for us to go in search of our self.’2 The Dhamma-
pada says: ‘The self is the lord of self; who else could be the
lord ? With self well subdued, a man finds a lord such as few
can find.’3 In a remarkable passage-' he says: ’My disciples,
get rid of what is not yours. Form, feeling, perception, &c.,
arc not yours. Get rid of them. If a man were to take away
or bum or use for his needs all the grass and boughs and
branches and leaves in this Jeta wood, would it occur to you
to say, the man is taking us away, burning us or using us for
his needs?’ ‘Certainly not, Lord.’ ‘And why not?’ ‘Because,
Lord, it is not our self or anything belonging to our self.’
‘Just in the same way’, replies the Buddha, ‘get rid of the con¬
stituents (skandhas), the not-self.’ From this it is clear that
the constituents have no more to do with the real being of man
than the trees of the forest where he happens to be. ‘Leave
nothing of myself in me’, says Plotinus. There is in man
x Majjhima, i. 140. * Vinaya, i. 23. 5
4 Majjhima, 22.
 INTRODUCTION 45

something real and permanent, simple and self-existent, which

is contrasted with the transitory constituents, and when the
Buddha asks whether anything which is changeable and perish¬
able can be called the self he implies that there is somewhere
such a self.1 This view is corroborated by the Buddhist for¬
mula: ‘This is not mine: I am not this: this is not myself.’
These negations aim at expressing the absolute difference of
self from non-self or object. It is something which stands
wholly outside of empirical determinations. When the Bud¬
dha asks us to have the self as our light (attadlpa), the self
as our refuge (attasarana),2 surely he is referring not to the
transitory constituents, but the universal spirit in us. Is there
nothing else in the self than the empirical collection? Is the
person identical with the five aggregates? To this question
the usual answer is given that the relationship is ineffable
(avdeyay We cannot say whether the person is identical with
the aggregates or distinct from them. Sariputta, in his dis¬
cussions with Sati,4 observes that the Tathagata is declared

« Cf. also the sermon on the burden and the bearer (Samyutla, iii. 25).
1 Mah&parimbbdna Sutta, ii. 26. In Sarny utlanikdya, 1. 75 (Uddna 47)
the attakdnio is approved os one who finds in the world, naught dearer
than the self’: na . . . piyataram attand kvaci. The Buddha tells King
Pascnadi: ‘When wc traverse all regions with a thoughtful mind we will
not reach anything dearer than the self {attand) j so also is the common
self of others (pulhu attd) dear. Who seeks the self (<attakdma) will injure
(himse) none.’
3 The Buddha felt that his answer, whether affirmative or negative,
was likely to be misunderstood. The affirmative answer would lead to
the doctrine of ctemalism (Sdh'atavdda) and the negative answer to
nihilism (ucchedavdda). The Buddha avoids both these extreme positions.
Cf. Advayavajrasamgraha: i&ivaiacchcdanirmuktam tattvam saugatasam-
matam (p. 62). Nagarjuna observes that the Buddhas have taught that
there is the self, that there is the not-sclf, as also that there is neither the
self nor the not-sclf:
dtwety api prajnapitam andtmety api desitam
buddhair ndtmd na cdndtmd kaicid ity api deiitant.
(,Mddhyatmka Kdrikd, xviii. 6.)
Mqjjhima, i. 256 f.
46 INTRODUCTION

neither to be the five aggregates nor to be different from them.

In several passages the true self is identified with the eternal
dharma}
When the Upanisads make out that the centre and core of
the human being is the universal self, or atman, and the aim
of man is to discover it, the Buddha insists on the remaking
of character, the evolving of a new personality. But the dis¬
covery of the latent self is not possible without a transforma¬
tion of the whole being. The aim of man is to become what
he is. One has to grow into the self. The Buddha warns us
against the danger of assuming that, because we are divine
in essence, we are not divided in actuality. To become actually
divine is our goal. ‘In this very life he is allayed, become cool,
he abides in the experience of bliss with a self that has become
Brahma (brahmabhutd).** The removal of the veils and fet¬
ters essential for the manifestation of the universal self is a
strenuous ethical process. If the Upanisads declare that man
is set free by knowledge, the Buddha asserts that he is happy
who has renounced all craving. He whose life is smothered
with sensuality, dark with fear and hate, lurid with anger
and meanness cannot attain that vision or reach that happi¬
ness. The Buddha’s emphasis is more on the pathway (tnSrga)
than on the goal, but he implies the reality of a universal
spirit which is not to be confused with the changing em¬
pirical aggregate.
3. The conception of nirvana as the blissful end for which
everyone must strive is taken over by the Buddha from
existing speculation, and it is parallel to that of moksa (release)
of the Upanisads. The term nirvana occurs in the Upanisads
and the Bhagavadglta, and it means the blowing out of all
passions, reunion with supreme spirit (brahmamrvdna). It
does not mean complete extinction or annihilation, but the
1 Angultara, i. 149.
* Mqjjhima, i. 3441 u- »59J AAguttara, ii. an.
 INTRODUCTION 47

extinction of the fire of the passions and the bliss of union

with the whole.1 In it the chain of causation is broken for
ever and there is no re-birth. The Buddha uses the words
brahmaprapti, brabnabhiita for the highest state. It is attain¬
able in this life, even before the death of the body. The
Buddha describes how he arrived at the incomparable serenity
of nirvana, in which there is no birth or age, sickness or death,
pain or defilement. When the layman Visakha asked the nun
Dhammadinna what nirvana was, she said: ‘You push your
questions too far, Visakha. The religious life is plunged in
nirvana, its aim is nirvana, its end is nirvaria. If you wish,
go and ask the Lord, and as he explains it, thus bear it in
mind.’ The Buddha said to the layman: ‘The nun Dhamma¬
dinna is learned. She is of great wisdom. If you had asked
me the question, I should have explained it as she did, that
indeed is the answer. Thus bear it in mind.’2 We can make
end of pain in this life.3 The Buddha is not content with
making promises to be fulfilled beyond the grave, but speaks
to us of a vision to be achieved while we are yet in the body.
Those who have gone up into the holy mount come back
with their faces shining. Mogallana said to Sariputta: ‘Your
faculties, friend, are clear, the colour of your skin is pure
and clean, can it be that you have attained the immortal?’
‘Yes, friend, I have attained the immortal.’ Nirvana is a
spiritual state attainable in this life and compatible with in¬
tellectual and social work. The sense of selfhood is com¬
pletely killed in it. Two of the Buddha’s disciples declare:
‘Lord, he who has reached enlightenment has utterly de¬
stroyed the fetters of becoming. Who is, by perfect wisdom,
emancipate, to him there does not occur the thought that

* In Vifttu Purdna selfless devotion to God is said to help us to attain

nirvdna: prdpnoty drddhite vifnoh nirvanam api cottamam.
* Majjhima, i. 304.
* difthe dhomme dukkhass’ antakaro hoti (Majjhima, 9).
4g introduction

anyone is better than I or equal to me or less than I.* ‘Even

so/ answered the Buddha, ‘do men of the true stamp declare
the wisdom they have attained. They tell what they have
gained, but do not speak of “I” {atta).H
Nirvana is non-temporal in the sense that birth and death
are indifferent to those who attain it. It brings with it happi¬
ness of the highest order. It inspires the poetry of much of
Thera and Theri gathas. What happens at the death of the
body ? Is it an absolute cessation of the enlightened one or is it
only a severance of connexion with the world of experience
and the enjoyment of another sphere of existence, which is the
true reality? The Buddha declines to answer the question.
It is difficult to get canonical support for the view that nir¬
vana is annihilation. When the Buddhist scriptures speak to
us in eloquent terms and give us ecstatic descriptions of the
state of holiness, perfection reached by the ethical path, it is
not of death that they speak. Nirvana, the fruit of the noble
path, the freedom from passions, the rest that knows no
break, the life that even the gods are said to covet, the goal
of all striving, is not nothingness. It is the breaking down of
the barriers that constitute separate existence. It is the un¬
changing life in the timeless all. It is not the mere correction
of previous existence, but the end of all present and previous
forms, something contrasted with the here and now. When
the words ‘deathless, endless, changeless’ are applied to it,
they refer to the quality of being and not to the duration of
existence. ‘No measure can measure him who has attained
life eternal. There is no word to speak of him. Since all forms
of existence are done away, all paths of speech are done away
likewise.*
In the Aggi-Vacchagotta Sutta2 it is said that the flame
ceases to appear when the fuel is consumed. Similarly, when
the cravings and desires which sustain the fire of life dis-
1 Anguttara, iii. 359- * Majjhima, i. 487.
 *
INTRODUCTION 49

appear, its fuel is consumed. The extinction of the visible

fire is not utter annihilation.1 What is extinguished is the fire
of lust, of hatred, and of bewilderment. Nun Khema tells
King Pasenadi that ‘the Lord has not explained it*. ‘Why has
the Lord not explained ?’ ‘Let me ask you a question, 0 King,
and as it suits you, so explain it. What think you, O King?
Have you an accountant or reckoner or estimator who can
count the sands of the Ganges, and say, so many grains, or
so many hundred, thousand, or hundred thousand grains?’
‘No, reverend one.* ‘Have you an accountant who can measure
the water of the ocean and say, so many measures of water,
or so many hundred, thousand, or hundred thousand mea¬
sures?’ ‘No, reverend one.’ ‘And why?’ ‘Reverend one, the
ocean is deep, immeasurable, unfathomable.’ ‘Even so, O
King, that body by which one might define a Tathagata is
relinquished, cut off at the root, uprooted like a palm tree
brought to nought, not to arise in the future. Freed from the
designation of body, a Tathagata is deep, immeasurable, un¬
fathomable as the ocean.’2
The liberated soul apart from the mortal constituents is
something real but ineffable. Nirvana is not extinction but is
the unconditioned life of the spirit.3 The Mahavagga4 says:

* In the Svetdivatara Up. (VI. 19) the supreme self is compared to a

fire the fuel of which has been consumed.
* Samyutta, iv. 374.
* Cf. Sammdparibbdjanlya Sutta, 1: ‘We will ask the sage (muni) of
great understanding who has crossed, gone to the other shore, is blessed
(parinibbuta) and of a firm mind. How does a mendicant wander rightly
in the world, after having gone out from his house and driven away
desire ?' See also Kevaddha Sutta: ‘The mind (vHOdnam), the indefinable,
the infinite, released from all (sabbato paham); here water, earth, fire, and
air have not a footing; here the great and the small, the subtle and the
gross, the beautiful and the unbeautiful, here name and form completely
cease’ (85); Sutta Nipdta, Pdrdyana Vagga: ‘No measure measures him
who enters rest. There is no word with which to speak of him. All thought
is here at an end and so are all paths that words can take here closed.’
4 Khandhaka, vi. 46.
E
50 INTRODUCTION

‘When he is liberated, there arises in him the knowledge,

“lam liberated”. He knows that individual existence (jati) is
ended (khlna), the holy life (brahmacariya) has been lived, what
ought to be done {karanlyam) has been done, there is nothing
beyond (n’aparam) this state (itthataya).* The liberated indi¬
viduals are said to be immersed in the deathless (amat-
ogadha).1 When Yamaka maintains that a monk in whom
evil is destroyed is annihilated when he dies and does not
exist, Sariputta argues that it is a heresy and that even in
this life the nature of a saint is beyond all understanding.
To Vaccha the Buddha says that ‘the saint who is released
from what is called form is deep, immeasurable, hard to
fathom like the great ocean’. It is a different, deeper mode
of life, inconceivable ('ananuvejjo).* It is capable only of nega¬
tive description. The expressions of negative theology, the
divine dark, the infinite God, the shoreless ocean, the vast
desert, occur again and again. It is not being in the ordinary
sense and yet a positive reality of which thought has no idea,
for which language has no expression. If this world is an end¬
less process, perpetual change, nirvana is peace and rest in
the bosom of the eternal. The consciousness contemplated in
nirvana is so different from the ordinary human conscious¬
ness that it should not bear the same name. Rather it is non¬
consciousness, for all distinct consciousness is the conscious¬
ness of a not-self, of externality. As the Upanisad has it:
‘When he does not know, yet is he knowing, though he does
not know.’3 For knowing is inseparable from the knower
because it cannot perish. But there is no second, nothing else
different from him that he could know. ‘It becomes (trans¬
parent! like water, one, the witness, without a second. This
is the world of Brahman.’4 All is transparent, nothing dark,

* Dhammapada, 4x1. * Alaguddupama Suita.

3 Brhad-dranyaka Up. iv. 3. 30.
* talila cko draftadvaito bhavati tfa brahmalokah. (Ibid. iv. 3. 32.)
 n & »3

INTRODUCTION 5i

nothing resistant. There is no admixture of the unstable. In

the famous passage of the Brhad-aranyaka Up. ajnavalkya
describes to his wife Maitreyi the nature of the released soul
as one with the highest reality and being not definable in
terms of anything else. ‘As a lump of salt has no inside nor
outside and is nothing but taste, so has this atman neither
inside nor outside and is nothing but knowledge. Having
risen from out these elements, (the human soul) vanishes with
them. When it has departed, (after death) there is no more
consciousness.* She expresses her bewilderment. Then Yaj-
navalkya continues: ‘I say nothing bewildering; verily, be¬
loved, that atman is imperishable and indestructible. When
there is, as it were, duality, then one sees the other, one tastes
the other, one salutes the other, one hears the other, one
touches the other, one knows the other. But, when the atman
only is all this, how should we see, taste, hear, touch, or know
another? How can we know him by whose power we know
all this? That atman is to be described by no, no {neti neti).
He is incomprehensible, for he cannot be comprehended, in¬
destructible, for he cannot be destroyed, unattached, for he
does not attach himself: he knows no bond, no suffering, no
decay. How, O beloved, can one know the knower?’1 He is
the light of lights. In a beautiful passage,2 it is said: ‘To the
wise who perceive him (Brahman) within their own self be¬
longs eternal peace, not to others. They feel that highest un¬
speakable bliss, saying this is that. How then can I understand
it? Has it its own light or does it reflect light? No sun shines
there, nor moon, nor stars, nor these lightnings, much less
this fire. When he shines, everything shines after him: by his
light all the world is lighted.’ The Udana states the Buddha’s
position correctly when it affirms the reality of something
beyond greed, ignorance, and duality, free from all attach¬
ments, a further shore, steadfast, imperishable, which no
i s> s< * Kafka Up. ii. 5. 13“*S-

3712
 52 INTRODUCTION

storms could shake. Nirvana belongs to that order. ‘For there

is a sphere’, says the Buddha, ‘where there is neither earth
nor water, light nor air, neither infinity of space nor infinity
of consciousness, nor nothingness nor perception nor absence
of perception, neither this world nor that world, both sun
and moon. I call it neither coming nor going nor standing,
neither motion nor rest, neither death nor birth. It is with¬
out stability, without procession, without a footing. That is
the end of sorrow.’1 Space cannot hold it, for it is without
position: time cannot contain it, for it is above all change.
It neither acts nor suffers. Rest and motion are identical to it.2

V. Spiritual Absolutism

It is unwise to insist on seeing nihilism or agnosticism in

teachings where another explanation is not merely possible
but probably more in accordance with the Buddha’s ideas
and the spirit of the times. It is impossible for any one to
have the Buddha’s fundamental experience of the deficiency
of all things mutable and therefore of human life, in so far
as it is occupied with passing things, without a positive ex¬
perience of an absolute and immutable good. It is the back¬
ground against which the emptiness of the contingent and
the mutable is apprehended. If the Buddha declined to define
the nature of this absolute or if he contented himself with
negative definitions, it is only to indicate that absolute being
is above all determinations.3 It is difficult to differentiate this
1 Udana, E. T. by G. Strong, p. m.
2 For a fuller discussion of this question see Indian Philosophy, vol. i,
2nd ed. (1929), pp. 676 ff., 446 ff., 465 ff.
3 The tradition of teaching by silence has been an ancient one in India.
Kona Up. says: ‘The eye docs not go thither, nor speech nor mind. We
do not know, we do not understand how one can teach it. It is different
from the known, it is also above the unknown, thus we have heard from
those of old who taught us this’ (i. 2, 4). Brhad-drattyaka Up. points out
that the self can only be described as 'not this, not this. It is incompre¬
hensible; so cannot be comprehended’: sa efa neti nety dtmd agrhyo na hi
 INTRODUCTION 53
supreme being from the absolute Brahman of Advaita Ve¬
danta or the super-God of Christian mysticism as formulated
in the writings of the pseudo-Dionysius. The Buddha’s con¬
demnation of the world of experience is based on the same
assumption of the absolute, but he refused to state it as the
ground of the depreciation, since it is not a matter capable of
logical proof. Hesitation and diffidence in defining the nature
of the supreme seemed proper and natural to the Indian
mind. The Upanisads rarely try to cramp the divine within
the limits of logical descriptions or stringent definitions. The
Buddha’s complete renunciation of any attempt at determina¬
tion is at the opposite extreme to the utmost precision of

SrhyaU (iii. 9. 26; iv. 2, 4; iv. 4. 22). Taittiriya Up. observes that the
words turn back from it with the mind. In his commentary on the Brahma
Siitra, Samkara recounts that the teacher, when requested to explain the
nature of the self, kept silent and to the repeated inquiries of the pupil,
gave the answer: ‘Verily, I tell you but you understand not, the self is
silence: brumah khalu tvam tu na vijdndsi upaidrtto 'yam dtmd (iii. 2. 17).
In the Daktindmurti Stotra it is said:4 Wonderful is it that there under
a banyan tree the pupil is old while the preceptor is young. The teaching
of the preceptor is by silence, but the doubts of the pupil are dispersed*:
citram vafataror mule vrddhah Hfyo gurur yuvd
guros tu maunam vydkhyanam sifyas tu ehitmasamiayaft.
The silence of the Buddha is thus in conformity with the ancient tradi¬
tion of mauna. Lamkdvatdra Sutra says that the transcendental truth has
no words for its expression: paramdrthas tv anakfarafr: ‘silent are the
Tathdgatas, O Blessed one*: mound hi bhagavdms tathdgatdh. The Mddhya-
mika system looks upon the Absolute as free from the predicates of
existence, non-existence, both and neither: asti ndsti, ubhaya anubhaya
catuskotivinirmuktam. So Niigilrjuna says that the Buddha did not teach
anything to anybody: na kvaeit kvasyacit kaicid dharmo buddhena deiitah
{Mddhyamika Kdrikd, xv. 24). Candraklrti declares that, for the noble,
the highest truth is silence: paranidrtho hi drydndm tufnimbhdvah
{Mddhyamika Vrtti, p. 56). Again: 'How can the truth which is inexpres¬
sible be taught and heard? Yet it is through attribution that it is taught
and heard*:
anakfarasya dharmasya irutih kd deiand ca kd
fruyate deiyate cdpi tamdropad anakfarah. (Ibid., p. 264.)
Cf. the maxim: ‘Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.’
54 INTRODUCTION

detail in which some other teachers indulge. It is a case of

an excess of light which ignores the value of shade. The
Buddha’s reasons for his silence are quite intelligible. In the
first place, in the India of the sixth century b.c. we had specu-
tions as bold, and speech as pungent, and varieties of religious
experience as numerous and as extravagant, as anywhere and
at any time in the history of mankind. The people were not
only full of superstition, but were also intensely sophisticated,
and it was difficult to draw a sharp line between the super¬
stition of the ignorant and the sophistry of the learned.1 In
this confusion the Buddha insisted on an understanding of
the facts of human nature and experience and an avoidance
of all speculation and belief on mere authority. Authority
rules through the appeal it makes to man’s reason and in¬
sight. The human spirit rightly submits to it only in so far
as this character of its truth or worth is actually seen or
recognized. Prudence, respect, fear, may counsel obedience
on occasions, but, if these are the only considerations, they
have no true authority. The Buddha requires us to possess
the courage and the resolution to use our own understanding
and pass beyond theories to facts. Secondly, each should
realize the truth by personal effort and realization. For this
ethical striving was essential. Doctrinal controversies pro¬
duced hasty tempers and did not lead to a quiet pursuit of
truth. Truth is a sacred achievement, not a plaything of the
dialectician. In the world of spirit none can see who does not
kindle a light of his own.2 Thirdly, his mission was to interest
not merely the intellectuals, but the common people with

1 See Brahmajdla Sutta.

* The Buddha invites everyone to see for himself (Dfgltamkdya, ii,
p. 217); sec also Visuddhimagga, p. 216: ehi paisa imam d/iammamti tvatii
pavattam chi-patta-vidham arahatiti. Cf. Plotinus: 'Out of discussion we
call to vision, to those desiring to see we point the path; our teaching is
a guiding in the way ; the seeing must be the very act of him who has
made the choice’ {Ermeads, vi. 9. 4).
 INTRODUCTION 55
great ideas. He was anxious to tell them that the royal road
was by the practice of the virtues. Fourthly, the affirmative
theology, in its anxiety to bring the absolute into relation
with the relative, makes the absolute itself relative. It offers
proofs for the existence of God and conceives of God as an
objective reality similar to that of the natural world. It trans¬
fers to the world of spirit the quality of reality which properly
belongs to the natural world. Arguments for and against the
existence of God understand the divine in a naturalist sense,
as an object among objects, as existent or non-existent, as
good or evil. They refuse to see the super-being of God, its
unfathomable mystery. The views of God as Creator or
Father or Lover or Comrade belong to the theology of the
finite, which confuses the reality of God with the finite sym¬
bols thereof. The divine exists, not by virtue of any relation¬
ship to or comparison with other things, but in its own right,
as a reality of a different quality infinitely greater than the
thoughts of our mind or the phenomena of nature. So the
Buddha set himself against all personal conceptions of God,
which, by declaring the existence in God of all perfections
present in creation, have a tendency to substitute faith for
works. Prayer takes the character of private communications,
selfish bargaining with God. It seeks for objects of earthly
ambitions and inflames the sense of self. Meditation on the
other hand is self-change. It is the reconditioning of the soul,
the transforming of its animal inheritance and social heredity.
Fifthly, the nature of absolute reality is supra-logical, and it
is idle to insist on giving logical accounts of it. The uncon¬
ditioned absolute cannot be conceived by means of logical
categories.1 Subject to these limitations, the Buddha pointed
out the reality of nirvana, of an absolute self and of an abso¬
lute reality which he chose to call dharma. He had support
for his austerity of silence and negative descriptions of the
* Cf. Suntideva’s Bodhicaryavatdra: buddher agocaras tatlvam (ix. a).
56 INTRODUCTION

absolute in the Upanisads. ‘There the eye goes not, speech

goes not, nor the mind. We know not, we understand not
how one would teach it.’1
I may refer briefly to certain inadequacies in the Buddha’s
thought, which revealed themselves in its later history and
relation to Hinduism, (i) Philosophy is a natural necessity of
the human mind and even the Buddha did not succeed in
compelling his hearers to adopt an attitude of suspended
judgement on the ultimate questions. In the absence of
definite guidance from the teacher, different metaphysical
systems were fastened on him early in the career of Buddhism,
(ii) The Buddha’s conception of dharma as the absolute reality
was not sufficiently concrete for practical purposes. We can
pray with wheels as the Tibetans do, but not to wheels.
Gradually the Buddha became deified, (iii) While the Brah¬
min teachers reserved the life of retirement for those who
had passed through the trials of life, the Buddha taught that
the preparatory stages of student life and married life were
not essential and one could retire from the cares of the world
at any age. These three exaggerations can be easily under¬
stood, if we realize that the three great enemies with which
spiritual life had to contend in the Buddha’s time were the
theologians, the ritualists, and the worldlings.
We find in Gautama the Buddha, in powerful combina¬
tion, spiritual profundity, moral strength of the highest
order and a discreet intellectual reserve. He is one of those
rare spirits who bring to men a realization of their own
divinity and make the spiritual life seem adventurous and

1 We have in Plato a vision of the Beyond transcending the highest

God. Dionysius passes beyond the eternal relation of Father and Son, the
infinite thinker and his everlasting thought, and fixes his gaze on the
abyss of being containing both. This super-essential essence admits of
no definition, could be expressed in no predicate. Dionysius dared to call
it a Reason that did not reason, a word that could not be uttered, an
absolute non-existence that is above all existence.
 INTRODUCTION 57

attractive, so that they may go forth into the world with a

new interest and a new joy at heart. While his great intellect
and wisdom gave him comprehension of the highest truth,
his warm heart led him to devote his life to save from sorrow
suffering humanity, thus confirming the great mystic tradi¬
tion that true immortals occupy themselves with human
affairs, even though they possess divine souls. The greatness
of his personality, his prophetic zeal and burning love for
suffering humanity, made a deep impression on those with
whom he lived, and gave rise to those legends and stories
which are the modes of expression available to ordinary
humanity when it tries to express true things, in this case
the personal superiority of the Buddha to the rest of them;
and so Gautama the apostle of self-control and wisdom and
love becomes the Buddha, the perfectly enlightened, the
omniscient one, the saviour of the world. His true greatness
stands out clearer and brighter as the ages pass, and even the
sceptical-minded are turning to him with a more real appre¬
ciation, a deeper reverence, and a truer worship. He is one
of those few heroes of humanity who have made epochs in
the history of our race, with a message for other times as well
as their own.
 CHAPTER I

YAMAKAVAGGO'
THE TWIN-VERSES

i manopubbartgamd dhammd manoseffhd manomayd,

rnanasa ce padutfJiena bhdsati vd karoti vd
tato noth dukkham anveti cakkarii va vahato padarn i

(i) (The mental) natures are the result of what we have

thought, are chieftained by our thoughts, are made up of
our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought,
sorrow follows him (as a consequence) even as the wheel
follows the foot of the drawer (i.e. the ox which draws the
cart), (i)
The chapter is called The Twin-verses, as it consists of ten groups
of two verses beginning on one theme.
dhamrna: mental natures. Vedand, samjftd, and saiiisk&ra are col¬
lectively termed dharma. These are the result of vijftdtia which is
called manas. The mental faculties are dominated by mind, governed
by it, and made up of it. Though the word mind has, in English,
mainly an intellectual connotation it can also be used in the sense
of the whole content of consciousness. Manas in the sense of vijiidna
is the active thinking principle.
The influence of thought on human life and society is great. All
that we are is the result of what we have thought. In one sense it
is true that we live in a world of hard facts, but in a more important
sense we live in a world of thoughts. By changing our thoughts we
change our life and indirectly we change the character of the world.
Cf. Amrtabmdu Up. 2; Maitrdyani Up. vi. 34:
mana eva manusydndm kdranam bandhamok$ayoh
bandhdya vifaydsarigt mokse nirvisayam smrtam

1 In preparing the text I have consulted different versions, chiefly

V. I'ausboll's published in 188s (2nd edit., 1900) and that of the Pali Text
Society published in 1914.
 YAMAKAVAGGO—THE TWIN-VERSES 59
‘The mind of man is the only cause for bondage or release; when
it is attracted by objects of pleasure it is bound; when it is not
attracted by objects it is released.'

2 manopubbangama dhammd manoseffha manomayd,

manasd ce pasannena bhdsati vd karoti vd
tato nam sukham anveti chaya va anapdyini. 2

(2) (The mental) natures are the result of what we have

thought, are chicftained by our thoughts, are made up of our
thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happi¬
ness follows him (in consequence) like a shadow that never
leaves him. (2)
chaya va anapdyini: another reading, chdyd va anuyayini, like one’s
shadow ever accompanying. Mah&karmavibhahga, Sylvain Levi’s
ed., p. 48.
In these two verses the Buddha makes out that our hope of salva¬
tion lies in the regeneration of our nature. We may all attain to
happiness and serenity if we build up our character, and strengthen
our moral fibre. We may make the circumstances of life as perfect as
possible and it is our duty to do so; yet man’s worst enemy is him¬
self. l ie cannot be happy if his mind and heart are not right.

3 ‘ahkocchi mam, avadhi mam, ajini mam, ahdsi me*

ye tarn upanayhtmti verarii tesarii 71a sammati 3

(3) ‘He abused me, he struck me, he overcame me, he robbed

me—in those who harbour such thoughts hatred will never
cease. (3)
Hatred will never cease in those who entertain thoughts of revenge.

4 ‘ahkocchi mam, avadhi mam, ajini mam, ahdsi me'

ye tarn na upanayhanti verarh tes’ upasammati 4

(4) ‘He abused me, he struck me, he overcame me, he robbed

me’—in those who do not harbour such thoughts hatred will
cease. (4)
6o YAMAKAVAGGO—THE TWIN-VERSES

5 na hi verena verani sammant' idha kudacanam

averena ca sammanti; esa dhammo sanantano 5

(5) Not at any time are enmities appeased here through en¬
mity but they arc appeased through non-enmity. This is the
eternal law. (5)
sanantano: ancient, eternal.

6 pare ca na vijdnanti, 'mayam ettha yamamase'

ye ca tattha vijdnanti, tato sammanti medhagd 6

(6) Some (who are not learned) do not know that we must
all come to an end here; but those who know this, their dis¬
sensions cease at once by their knowledge. (6)
The first line is also rendered ‘others do not know that here wc must
restrain ourselves’, yam, to go or to restrain.

7 subhanupassim viharantam tndriyesu asamvutam

bhojanamhi amattannum kusitam hinaviriyam
tam ve pasahati maro vato rukkham va dubbalam 7

(7) As the wind throws down a tree of little strength so in¬

deed does Mara (the tempter) overthrow him who lives look¬
ing for pleasures, uncontrolled in his senses, immoderate in
eating, indolent, and of low vitality. (7)
Mara is the tempter in Buddhist mythology, the spirit which deceives
and misleads man, making his path difficult and sorrowful, the power
for evil which makes for death.

8 asubhdnupassim viharantam indriyesu susamvutam

bhojanamhi ca mattannum saddham araddhaviriyam
tam ve nappasahati maro vato selam va pabbatam 8

(8) As the wind does not throw down a rocky mountain, so

Mara indeed does not overthrow' him who lives unmindful
of pleasures, well controlled in his senses, moderate in eating,
 YAMAKAVAGGO-THE TWIN-VERSES 61

full of faith (in the Buddha, the law, and the Samgha or
community), and of high vitality. (8)
These verses indicate the difference between the path of sense
gratification and that of sense control. It is the principle of all
religions. In the Christian tradition the way to bliss lies through
toil, not through pleasure. The Fall indicates that the lust for
pleasure lost man his path to bliss. The first six books of Virgil s
Aeneid may be interpreted as setting forth the different stages of
man’s life in which he seeks to have his own way and is brought
down through his self-will to hell where he recognizes his past
errors and leams that he must reach the heavenly Latium by an¬
other course.

9 anikkasdvo kasavam yo vattham paridahessati

apeto damasaccena na so kasavam arahati 9
(9) He who will wear the yellow robe without having cleansed
himself from impurity, who is devoid of truth and self-con¬
trol, is not deserving of the yellow robe. (9)
kdsava: Skt. kdsdya, refers to the distinctive garment of the Buddhist
priests and the Hindu samnyasins. There is a play on the words.
Kdj&ya means impurity, nifkafaya means free from impurity,
aniskasdya is ‘not free from impurity’.
Cf. M.B. xii. 568:
aniskasaye kdfdyam ihdrtham iti viddhi tat
dharmadhvaj&nam mund&ndm vrttyartham iti me matift
'Know that this yellow robe on a person who is not free from im¬
purity serves only the interests of cupidity; it is my view that it
supplies the means of living to those shavelings who carry their
virtue like a flag!’
What counts is inner worth, nobility of soul.

10 yo ca vantakasav' assa silesu susamdhito

upeto damasaccena sa ve kasavam arahati 10
(10) But he who puts away depravity, is well grounded in
all virtues, and is possessed of self-restraint and truth is in¬
deed worthy of the yellow robe. (10)
 62 YAMAKAVAGGO—THE TWIN-VERSES

11 asare sdramatino sare cdsdradassino

te sdram nadhigacchanti micchasamkappagocara 11

(u) They who imagine truth in untruth and see untruth in

truth, never arrive at truth but follow vain imaginings (de¬
sires). (u)
sara: the sap of a thing, essence or reality of a thing. It is the highest
reality metaphysically and truth in a moral sense.
Vain imaginings: false thoughts arc their pasture grounds. The
Buddha again and again emphasizes that the great reality in this
world is character.

12 saram ca sdrato natva asdram ca asdrato

te saram adhigacchanti sammdsamkappagocara 12

(12) But they who know truth as truth and untruth as un¬
truth arrive at truth and follow right desires. (12)
These follow the true trail while the former arc misled by wander¬
ing fires. We must not run after shadows.

13 yathd agdram ducchannam vutthi samativijjhati

evam abhdvitam cittam rago samativijjhati 13

(13) As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, so passion

makes its way into an unreflecting mind. (13)
abhdvitam: unreflecting, untrained, uncultivated.

14 yathd agdram succhannam vutthi na samativijjhati

evam subhavitam cittam rago na samativijjhati 14

(14) As rain does not break through a well-thatched house,

so passion does not make its way into a reflecting mind. (14)

15 idha socati, pecca socati, papakarl ubhayattha socati

sa socati, sa vihanfiati, disvd kammakilittham attano 15
 YAMAKAVAGGO-THE TWIN-VERSES 63

(15) The evil-doer grieves in this world, he grieves in the

next; he grieves in both. He grieves, he is afflicted, seeing the
evil of his own actions. (15)

16 idha modati, pecca rnodati, katapunno ubhayattlia modati

so modati, sa pamodati, disvd kantmavisuddhim attano 16
(16) The righteous man rejoices in this world, he rejoices in
the next; he rejoices in both. He rejoices and becomes de¬
lighted seeing the purity of his own actions. (16)

17 idha tappati, pecca tappati, pdpakarl ubhayattlia tappati

‘pdpam me katarii* ti tappati, bhiyo tappati duggatirii gato 17
(17) The evil-doer suffers in this world, he suffers in the next;
he suffers in both. He suffers (thinking) ‘evil has been done
by me’. He suffers even more when he has gone on the evil
path. (17)

18 idha nandati, pecca nandati, katapunno ubhayattlia nandati

‘puiiham me kataiti ti nandati, bhiyo nandati suggatim gato

(18) The righteous man rejoices in this world, he rejoices in

the next; he rejoices in both. He rejoices (thinking) good
has been done by me’. He rejoices still more when he has
gone on the good path. (18)
The evil path and the good path are usually translated by hell and
heaven. They arc really the lower and the higher worlds. All beings
have to travel downward or upward according to their deeds.
In later Buddhism the torments of hell arc most realistically drawn.

19 bahum pi ce sahitam bhdsamano, na takkaro hoti naro

pamatto
gopo va gavo ganayam paresam na bhagava samahhassa
hoti 19
64 YAMAKAVAGGO—THE TWIN-VERSES

(19) Even if he recites a large number of scriptural texts but,

being slothful, docs not act accordingly, he is like a cowherd
counting the cows of others, he has no share in religious
life. (19)
sahitam: tamhitam or samhitds. It is the name of the collection of
the Buddha’s utterances, tire Tipifaka.
tepifakassa buddhavacatiass’ elam namam
sdmaMa: religious life, what constitutes a real samana or Sramana,
the Buddhist counterpart of the Hindu Brdhtnana. The Buddha is
frequently called the good samtvia. Cf. SOtnailila-phala Sutta.

Sec Matthew xxiii. 2; John x. 12.

20 appaih pi ce sahitam bhasamano, dhammassa hoti anudham-

macari
ragarii ca dosam ca pahdya 7tioham sanimappajano suvi-
muttacitto
anupadiydno idlia vd huram va, sa bhdgavd sdmatlnassa
hoti 20
(20) Even if he recites only a small number, if he is one who
acts rightly in accordance with the law', he, having forsaken
passion, hatred, and folly, being possessed of true knowledge
and serenity of mind, being free from worldly desires both
in this world and the next, has a share in the religious life. (20)
The Buddha’s teaching is a way of life, not a way of talking. We are
what we love and care for.
Some modem existentialists affirm that man is a self-creating,
self-maintaining, self-fashioning will. The importance of human
effort is stressed in this chapter. Every moment the course of our
life is being decided. The raw' material out of which life is made
takes its form and sets by our thoughts and deeds. As it docs so, the
unknown future becomes the irrevocable past. Our freedom can
operate only within limits.
The Buddha does not support the cynical view that nothing really
matters. For him every act has significance. He criticizes Makkhali
 YAMAKAVAGGO—THE TWIN-VERSES 65
GosSla’s teaching that all actions are indifferent in their effects.
Faith in responsible action is the foundation of all serious living.
‘Seek nought from the helpless gods by gift and hymn
Nor bribe with blood, nor feed with fruits and cakes.
Within yourselves deliverance must be sought:
Each man his poison makes.
—Sir Edwin Arnold, The LiSht °f Asia'
 CHAPTER II

APPAMADA VAGGO

VIGILANCE

i appamado amatapadam, pamddo maccuno padam

appamatta na miyanti, ye pamattd yathd maid 21

(1) Vigilance is the path to eternal life, thoughtlessness is the

path to death. Those who are vigilant (who are given to reflec¬
tion) do not die. The thoughtless are as if dead already. (21)
appamada: vigilance. It is thoughtfulness, reflective attitude which
is the root of all other virtues. Its opposite is pamdda, sloth, slug¬
gishness, accidia.
ye keci kusala dhammd sabbe te appamadamulaka.
Strenuous activity is the way to nirvana; sloth is the way to death.
amatam: Skt. amrtam, deathless. This gives the negative side of
nirvana which positively is the highest spiritual freedom.

2 eiarn visesato natvd appamadahi pandita

appamdde pamodanti ariydnam gocare rata 22

(2) The wise who have clearly understood this reflectiveness

delight in reflectiveness and rejoice in the knowledge of the
Aryas. (22)
ariydnam: the Aryas, the noble, the elect, those who have entered
on the path which leads to sanctification.

3 te jhdyino sdtatika niccam dalhaparakkama

phusanti dhira nibbdnam yogakkhemam anuttaram 23

(3) These wise ones, meditative, persevering, always putting

forth strenuous effort attain to nirvana, the highest freedom
and happiness. (23)
 APPAMADAVAGGO—VIGILANCE 67
jhdnam: Skt. dliydnam, intense concentration leading to serenity of
mind which is an anticipation of nirvana.
The positive side of nirv&iia is brought out in this verse.

4 utthdnavato satimato sueikammassa nisammakarino

samyatassa ca dhammajivino appamattassa yaso’ bhivad-

dhati 24
(4) If a person is reflective, if he rouses himself, if he is ever-
mindful, if his deeds are pure, if he acts with consideration,
if he is self-restrained and lives according to law, his glory
will increase. (24)

5 utfhdneri appamadena saniiamena damena va

dipam kayiratha medhavi yam ogho ri dbhikirati 25

(5) The wise man, by rousing himself, by vigilance, by re¬

straint, by control, may make for himself an island which the
flood cannot overwhelm. (25)
He can make for himself an island in the ocean of samsdra which no
flood of ignorance and craving can overwhelm. The island is the
bliss of nirvdna.

6 pamddam anuyuiijanti bald dummedhino jand

appamddam ca medhavi dhanatii setfham va rakkhati 26

(6) Fools, men of inferior intelligence, fall into sloth; the wise
man guards his vigilance as his best treasure. (26)

We must strive without ceasing.

7 md pamddam anuyunjetha, md kamaratisanthavam

appamatto hi jhayanto pappoti vipulam sukham 27

(7) Give not yourselves over to sloth or to the intimacy with

lust and sensual pleasures. He who meditates with earnestness
attains great joy. (27)
 68 APPAMADAVAGGO—VIGILANCE

8 pamadam appamddena yada nudati pandito

panndpasddam aruyha asoko sokinim pajam
pabbatatpho va bhummatthe dhlro bale avekkhati 28

(8) When the wise man drives away sloth by strenuous effort,
climbing the high tower of wisdom, he gazes sorrowless on
the sorrowing crowd below. The wise person gazes on the
fools even as one on the mountain peak gazes upon the dwel¬
lers on the plain (below). (28)

9 appamatto pamattesu suttesu bahujagaro

abalassath va slghasso hitva yati sumedhaso 29

(9) Earnest among the slothful, awake among the sleepy, the
wise man advances even as a racehorse does, leaving behind
the hack. (29)

10 appamddena maghavd devdnath setthatam gato

appamddam pasamsanti, pamddo garahito sadd 30

(10) By vigilance did Indra rise to the lordship of the gods.

People praise vigilance; thoughtlessness is always depre¬
cated. (30)

Indra becomes in Buddhism an archangel ruling the Tavatiriisa

heaven.

The Buddha admitted the gods of the Brahmins and promises his
followers who have not reached the highest knowledge but have
acquired merit by a virtuous life that they shall be bom again in
the world of the gods.

11 appamadarato bhikkhu pamdde bhayadassivd

samyojanam anum thiilam daham aggi va gacchati 31

(11) A mendicant who delights in vigilance, who looks with

fear on thoughtlessness (who sees danger in it), moves about
like a fire consuming every bond, small or large. (31)
 APPAMADAVAGGO—VIGILANCE 69

The trammels which bind us to the phenomenal world are the bonds,
small and large.

12 appamadarato bhikkhu pamade bhayadasriva

abhabbo parihandya nibbanass' eva santike 32

(12) A mendicant who delights in vigilance, who looks with

fear on thoughtlessness, cannot fall away (from his perfect
state) (but) is close to nirvana. (32)

‘A priest who is in this state is not liable to fall away either from
the state of tranquillity and contemplation or from the four paths
and their fruition; if he has attained them, he cannot lose them;
if he has not yet attained them, he cannot fail to do so’ (B).
To attain the higher quality of life we must work with diligence.
B.G. stresses the need for unremitting inner fight, for the rending,
at each moment, of whatever veils of ignorance stand between the
human being and the supreme truth.
 CHAPTER III

CITTAVAGGO

THOUGHT

i phandanam, capalam cittam durakkhaih, dunnivarayam

ujurh karoti medhavi usukaro va tejanam 33

(1) Just as a flctcher makes straight his arrow, the wise man
makes straight his trembling, unsteady thought which is
difficult to guard and difficult to hold back (restrain). (33)

Cf. B.G. vi. 35. Mind in Indian thought, Hindu and Buddhist, is
said to be fickle and difficult to control, but by training it can become
stable and obedient.

2 varijo va thale khitto okamokata ubbhato

pariphandati 'dam cittam maradheyyam pahatave 34

(2) Even as a fish taken from his watery home and thrown on
the dry ground (moves about restlessly), this thought quivers
all over in order to escape the dominion of Mara (the tempter
or Death). (34)

3 dunniggahassa lahuno yatlhakamanipatino

cittassa damatho sadhu, cittam dantam sukhdvaham 35

(3) The control of thought, which is difficult to restrain, fickle,

which wanders at will, is good; a tamed mind is the bearer of
happiness. (35)

4 sududdasam sunipunam yatthakdmanipdtinam

cittam rakkhetha medhavi, cittam gut lam sukhavaham 36

(4) Let the wise man guard his thought, which is difficult to
perceive, which is extremely subtle, which wanders at will.
 CITTAVAGGO—THOUGHT 7»

Thought which is well guarded is the bearer of happi¬

ness. (36)

5 duraiigamam ekacaram asarlram guhasayam

ye cittam sarmamessanti, mokkhanti mdrabandhana 37

(5) They who will restrain their thought, which travels far,
alone, incorporeal, seated in the cave (of the heart), will be
freed from the fetters of death. (37)

6 anavafthitacittassa saddhammam avijanato

pariplavapasadassa panful na paripurati 38

(6) If a man’s thought is unsteady, if it does not know the

true law, if the serenity of mind is troubled, (in him) wisdom
is not perfected. (38)

7 anavassutacittassa ananvahatacetaso,
pumiapdpapahinassa natthi jdgarato bhayarn 39

(7) There is no fear for him whose thought is untroubled (by

faults), whose thought is unagitated, who has ceased to think
of good and evil, who is awake (watchful, vigilant). (39)

anavassuta: untroubled (by faults).

Cf. Lalitavistara, Ch. XXII.
iufkd dlravd na punaJi iravanti. The faults arc dried up, they will
not flow again. In the Mahdparinibbdna Sutta three kinds arc dis¬
tinguished, kdmdsavd, bhavdsavd, avijjdsavd, the faults of lust, of
existence, and of ignorance.
The direction of the mind towards external objects requires to
be checked. It is mithydpravrtti which leads to rebirth.
who has ceased to think of good and evil. The Buddha taught the
BrShmin women in Srivastl who approached him for advice, ‘There
are two things in the world which are immutably fixed, that good
actions bring happiness and bad actions result in misery. But (it is
not generally known that) the joys of heaven as well as the sorrows
of earth arc both to be avoided’ (Beal, Dhammapada (1902), p. 89).
 72 CITTAVAGGO—THOUGHT
Good secures for us rebirth in a happy life or heaven even as evil
secures rebirth in an unhappy life. We must aim at nirvana which
goes beyond good and evil.

8 kumbhupamam kdyam imam viditvd

nagarupamam cittam idam thapetva

yodhetha tndram panndvudhena
jitarii ca rakkhe, anivesano siyd 40

(8) Knowing that this body is (fragile) like a jar, making this
thought firm like a fortress, let him attack Mara (the tempter)
with the weapon of wisdom, protect what he has conquered
and remain attached to it. (40)

anivesana: let him be watchful, even after he has vanquished Mfira.

At no stage in our development can we be sure that no tempta¬
tions will overtake us. St. Paul says: ‘Let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall’ (x Cor. x. 12). Danger often lurks
just where strength is assumed for that is the point which is often
left unguarded.

9 aciram vat5 ay am kayo pathavim adhisessati

chuddho apetaviniidno nirattham va kalingaram 41

(9) Before long, alas, will this body lie on the earth, despised,
bereft of consciousness, useless like a burnt faggot. (41)

10 diso disarii yam tarn kayird veri vapatia verinam

micchdpanihitam cittam papiyo narii tato kare 42

(10) Whatever an enemy may do to an enemy, whatever a

hater may do to a hater, a wrongly directed mind will do us
greater harm. (42)

11 na tarn mata pita kayird, anne va pi ca natakd

sammapanihitam cittam seyyaso noth tato kare 43

(11) Not a mother, not a father, nor any other relative will
 CITTAVAGGO—THOUGHT 73
do so much; a well-directed mind will do us greater service.
(43)
All duties have self-control for their end, sane dtiarmah manoni-
grahalaksaiidntdh.
This word ‘self-control’ has become so worn by frequent usage that
its true meaning is lost on us. Self-control is freedom from routine.
It is not a mere negative achievement, the harsh repression of every
positive impulse. Negatively it is deliverance from habit, mechanical
repetitive living. Positively it is inspired, creative life.
 CHAPTER IV

PUPPHAVAGGO

FLOWERS

ko imam pathavim vijessati yamalokam ca imam sadevakam ?

ko dhammapadam sudesitam kusalopuppham ivapacessati? 44
(0 Who shall conquer this world and this world of Yama
(the lord of the departed) with its gods? Who shall find out
the well-taught path of virtue even as a skilled person finds
out the (right) flower? (44)

sudesitam: well taught. The Buddha is the teacher of the path.

margadariaka, margadeiika.

z sekho pathavim vijessati yamalokam ca imam sadevakam

sekho dhammapadam sudesitam kusalo puppham iva paces-
sati 45

(2) The disciple will conquer this world and this world of
Yama with its gods. The disciple will find out the well-taught
path of virtue even as a skilled person finds out the (right)
flower. (45)

3 phenupamam kdyam imam viditva

marlcidhammam abhisambudhdno
chetvdna marassa papupphakdni
adassanam maccurajassa gacche 46
(3) Knowing that this body is like froth, knowing that it is
of the nature of a mirage, breaking the flowery shafts of Mara,
he will go where the king of death will not see him. (46)

Kama, the Hindu god of love, uses flower-arrows which are here
 PUPPHAVAGGO—FLOWERS 75

attributed to Mara, the tempter. Cf. the names of Kama, puspa-

bdna, kusumdyudha.
Cf. Lalitavistara: mdydmaricisadrid vidyutphenopamas capalaJi.

4 pupphani h.' eva pacinantam vyasattamanasam naram

stttfam gamath mahogho va maccu ddaya gacchati 47

(4) Death carries off a man who is gathering (life’s) flowers,

whose mind is distracted, even as a flood carries off a sleeping
village. (47)

5 pupphatti h' eva pacinantam vyasattamanasam par am

atittam yeva kdtnesu antako luirute vasam 48

(5) Death overpowers a man even while he is gathering (life’s)

flowers and whose mind is distracted even before he is satiated
in his pleasures. (48)
antaka: Death.
Cf. M.B. Sdntiparva:
puspaniva tncinvantam anyatragatamanasam
anavdptepi kamesu mrtyur abhyeti mdtuwam
suptani vydghram mahaugho va mrtyur addya gacchati
saftcinvdnakam evainam kdmdndm avitrptikam
‘Death approaches a man, like one who is gathering flowers,
whose mind is turned elsewhere, before his desires are fulfilled.
Death carries off this man, who is gathering flowers and who is not
satisfied in his desires (or pleasures), even as a flood carries off a
sleeping tiger.’

6 yathapi bhamaro puppham vannagandham ahe{hayam

paleti rasam ddaya evarii game muni care 49

(6) Even as a bee gathers honey from a flower and departs

without injuring the flower or its colour or scent, so let a
sage dwell in his village. (49)
The mendicant takes what is offered him freely by the faithful and
does them no harm.
 76 PUPPHAVAGGO—FLOWERS

7 na paresam vUomSni\ na paresam katdkatam

altano va avekkheyya katdni akatdni ca 50

(7) Not the unworthy actions of others, not their (sinful)

deeds of commission or omission, but one’s own deeds of
commission and omission should one regard. (50)

8 yatlidpi ruciram puppham vannavantam agandhakam

evam subhasita vdcd aphald hoti akubbato 51

(8) Like a beautiful flower, full of colour but without scent,

are the well-spoken but fruitless words of him who does not
act (as he professes to). (51)
Cf. Matthew xxiii. 2, 3. ‘The scribes and the pharisees sit in
Moses’ seat; so practise and observe whatever they tell you, but not
what they do; for they preach but do not practise.’

9 yathdpi ruciram puppham vannavantam sagandhakam

evam subhasita vdcd saphala hoti sahubbato 52

(9) But like a beautiful flower full of colour and full of scent
are the well-spoken and fruitful words of him who acts (as
he professes to). (52)

10 yathdpi pupphardsimhd kayird mdldgune bahu

evam jdtena maccena hat tab bam kusalam bahum 53

(10) As many kinds of garlands can be made from a heap of

flowers, so many good works should be achieved by a mortal
when once he is born. (53)

From the raw material of life, different possibilities can be de¬

veloped.

11 na pupphagandho pativdtam eti,

na candanam, tagaram mallika va
satarii ca gandho pativdtam eti,
sabbd disd sappuriso pavati 54
 PUPPHAVAGGO—FLOWERS 77
(i i) The scent of flowers does not travel against the wind, nor
that of sandalwood, nor of tagara and maUika flowers, but
the fragrance of good people travels even against the wind.
A good man pervades every quarter. (54)
tagara: a plant from which scented powder is made.
mallikd: jasmine.

12 candanaiii tagaram vd pi uppalam at ha vassikl

etesani gandhajdtanam silagandho anuttaro 55

(12) Sandalwood or tagara, a lotus flower or a vassikl, among

these kinds of perfumes the perfume of virtue is unsur¬
passed. (55)

vassikl: a variety of jasmine flower.

13 appamatto ay ash gandho y’ ay am tagaracandani

yo ca silavatam gandho vati devesu uttatno 56

(13) Little is the scent that comes from tagara orsandalwood,

the perfume of those who possess virtue rises up to the gods
as the highest. (56)
The reference is to certain sages who neglected cleanliness in their
pursuit of holiness; when they were afraid of getting into the presence
of the gods, the gods said:
‘Be not afraid. Our nostrils are filled with the perfume of your
good deeds.’ The odour of sanctity covered up the smell of their
unclcanliness.

14 tesam sampannasilanam appamddavihdrinam

sammadahha-vimuttdnam mdro maggam na vindati 57

(14) Of those who possess these virtues, who live without

thoughdessness, who are freed by perfect knowledge, Mara
the tempter never finds their way. (57)
Those who are set free by perfect wisdom overcome death.
 78 PUPPHAVAGGO—FLOWERS

15 yatha samkaradhanasmim ujjhitasmmi mahdpathe

padwnam tatthd jayetha sucigandham manoramam 58
(15) Just as on a heap of rubbish thrown upon the highway
grows the lotus sweetly fragrant and delighting the heart. (58)
paduman: lotus. The symbol of the lotus is frequently used in
Indian literature, Hindu and Buddhist. The beginnings of the lotus
arc in the slime of the depths. Its development and blossoming arc
in response to the light of the sun. The lotus symbolises the divine
possibilities of human nature.

16 evaih sarhkdrabhiitesu andJiabhute puthujjane

atirocati paniidya sammasambuddhasavako 59
(16) Even so among those blinded mortals who are like rub¬
bish the disciple of the truly enlightened Buddha shines with
exceeding glory by his wisdom. (59)
pailildya: by his wisdom. Prajild is the primary form of knowledge
of which all other forms arc limitations. It is spiritual wisdom which
is gained by the practice of virtue, iila, and contemplation, samadhi.
In the later doctrine of prajfldpdramitd the five steps to prajild arc
ddtia, fJla, kfdnti, virya, and dlrydna.
Wisdom is attained by spiritual insight or intuition rather than
by observation and analysis. It is the result of a contemplative
rather than an intellectual attitude. Homer makes the grey-eyed
goddess tell the young Telemachus, ‘Take courage. Some things you
will think of for yourself. Others a god will put into your heart.’
Prajna is achieved by a perfect communion with the source of all
truth, which is to be found, not created. The Buddha is the en¬
lightened one who found the truth as he sat through the silent
nights in meditation. Those who like to discern the truth of things
become free from attachment, free from sin, free from birth and
old age. yathdbhutam pajandti, te vitardga, te vidosa, te parimuccanti
jatiyd jarayd. Majjhima I. 65. According to Mahayana Buddhism,
the Supreme Adibuddha who corresponds to the Hvara of the
Upani?ads wished to become many. This wish or desire is desig¬
nated prajfSa, divine wisdom. The Buddha and the Prajfla came to
be regarded as the Father and the Mother of the Universe. See also
Mantjukya Up. 6.
 CHAPTER V

BALAVAGGO

THE FOOL

1 dlghd jagarato ratti, dlgharn santassa yojanam

dlgho bdldnam sanisdro saddhammam avijamtam 60
(1) Long is the night to him who is awake, long is theyojana
(a space of nine or twelve miles) to him who is weary; long is
the chain of existence to the foolish who do not know the true
law. (60)
samara : chain of births and deaths which goes on until we arc freed
from it by the knowledge of the true law which leads to nirvana.

2 carah ce n* adhigaccheyya seyyam sadisam attano

ekacariyajfi dalhath kayira, natthi bale sahdyatd 61
(2) If on a journey (a traveller) does not meet his better or
equal let him firmly pursue his journey by himself; there is
no companionship with a fool. (61)
The reference is to one who is travelling in the path of religious duty.

3 ‘puttd m'atthi dhanam m'atthV Hi balo vihannati

attd hi attano natthi, kuto puttd ? kuto dhanam ? 62
(3) The fool is tormented thinking ‘these sons belong to me’,
‘this wealth belongs to me’. He himself does not belong to
himself. How then can sons be his? How can wealth be
his? (62)

4 yo balo mahnati bdlyam pandito vapi tena so

balo ca panditamdnl sa ve balo ti vuccati 63
 80 BALAVAGGO—THE FOOL

(4) The fool who knows his foolishness is wise at least to

that extent; but a fool who thinks himself wise is called a
fool indeed. (63)

5 ydvajivam pi ca balo panditam payirupasati

na so dhammam vijanati dabbl suparasam yathd 64
(5) If a fool be associated with a wise man even all his life,
he does not perceive the truth even as a spoon (does not
perceive) the taste of soup. (64)

6 muhuttam api ce vifinu panditam payirupasati

khippam dhammam vijanati jivhd suparasam yathd 65
(6) But if a thoughtful man be associated with a wise man
even for a minute, he will soon perceive the truth even as
the tongue (perceives) the taste of soup. (65)
The same idea and image are found in the M.B.:
dram hy atijajlah Surah panditam paryupdsyaha
na sa dharman vijanati darvi suparasan iva
muhOrtam api tam prdjflah panditam paryupdsya hi
ksipram dharman vijdndti jitrvd suparasdn iva.
(x. 178.)

7 caranti bald dummedhd amitten* eva attand

karontd pdpakam kammam yam hoti kafukapphalam 66
(7) Fools of little understanding, being enemies to themselves,
wander about doing evil deeds which bear bitter fruits. (66)

8 na tam kammam katam sddhu yam katva anutappati

yassa assumukho rodam vipakam patisevati 67
(8) That deed is not well done, which, having been done,
brings remorse, whose reward one receives weeping and with
a tearful countenance. (67)
 BALAVAGGO—THE FOOL 81

9 tarn ca kammam katarii sddhu yarn katva n' anutappati,

yassa patito sumano vipdkam patisevati 68
(9) But that deed is well done, which, having been done, does
not bring remorse, whose reward one receives delighted and
happy. (68)

10 madhuva ma&tati halo ydva pdpam na paccati

yada ca paccati pdpam atha {balo) dukkham nigacchati 69
(10) So long as an evil deed does not bear fruit, the fool thinks
that it is like honey; but when it bears fruit, then the fool
suffers grief. (69)

11 mdse mdse kusaggena bdlo bhunjetha bhojanam

na so sankhatadhammanam kalam agghati solasim 70
(11) Let a fool month after month eat his food with the tip
(of a blade) of kusa grass; nevertheless he is not worth the
sixteenth part of those who have well understood the law. (70)
Though the Buddha often adopts a gloomy view of the nature of
the body to wean us from bodily pleasures, he does not support
asceticism. If wc adopt the right attitude, wc can enjoy the things
of sense. Good conduct is higher than asceticism.

12 na hi pdpam katam kammarn sajjhu khlram va muccati

daham tarn bdlam anveti bhasmacchanno va pavako 71
(12) An evil deed, like newly drawn milk, does not turn (at
once); smouldering, like fire covered by ashes, it follows the
fool. (71)
muccati-. does not turn (suddenly), even as newly drawn milk does
not curdle immediately but takes some time to do so.
Cf. Maim, iv. X72: n ddharmai carito loke sadya/i phalatigaur iva,
‘An evil act committed in the world does not bear fruit at once, like
a cow (or like milk)’. Sometimes evil acts take a long while to pro¬
duce their results.
G
 82 BALAVAGGO—THE FOOL
13 yavad eva anatthdya nattam balassa jdyati
hanti balassa sukkamsam muddham assa vipdtayam 72
(13) The knowledge that a fool acquires, far from being to
his advantage, destroys his bright share of merit and cleaves
his head. (72)
The first line is also rendered thus: ‘When to his disadvantage a
fool acquires knowledge.’1

14 asatam bhdvanam iccheyya purekkhdram ca bhikkkusu

dvdsesu ca issariyam puja parakulesu ca 73
(14) Let the fool wish for false reputation, for precedence
among the mendicants, for lordship in convents, and worship
among other groups. (73)

15 ‘mam' eva kata mafmantu gihl pabbajitd ubho

mam' evativasa assu kiccdkiccesu kismici'
iti balassa sankappo icchd mono ca vaddhati 74
(15) ‘Let both the householders and the monks think that
this is done by me. Let them follow my pleasure in what
should be done and what should not be done.’ Such is the
wish of the fool and so his desire and pride increase. (74)
Ambition and self-will are dangers which one should avoid.

16 anna hi labhupanisa, anna ntbbdnagdmini

evam etam abhinndya, bhikkhu buddhassa sdvako
sakkdram n' abhinandeyya vivekam anubruhaye 75
(16) One is the road that leads to gain; another is the road
that leads to nirvana. Let the mendicant, the disciple of the
Buddha, having learnt this, not seek the respect of men but
strive after wisdom. (75)
1 See Buddhist "Legends, E.T. by E. W. Burlingame, vol. ii (1921),
p. 144.
 BALAVAGGO—THE FOOL 83

viveka: wisdom or discrimination. This word is also used for separa¬

tion from the world and retreat into solitude (kdyaviveka), or sepa¬
ration from idle thoughts (cittaviveka), or the highest separation
and freedom (nirvdna). The disciple of the Buddha should not
delight in worldly gain but should devote himself to solitude.
Nowadays it is difficult to find men who can endure to be alone
with themselves for long periods.
Cf. Kalha Up. for the two ways of the good and the pleasant.
I. 2. 1-2.
 CHAPTER VI

PANDITA VAGGO

THE WISE MAN

i nidhlnam va pavattararii yam passe vajjadassinam

niggayhavadim medhdvim tddisam panditam bhaje
tddisam bhajamanassa seyyo hoti na pfipiyo 76
(1) If a person sees a wise man who reproaches him (for his
faults), who shows what is to be avoided, he should follow
such a wise man as he would a revealer of hidden treasures.
It fares well and not ill with one who follows such a man. (76)
One should not resent candid criticism by a friend.

• 2 ovadeyydnusaseyya, asabbhd ca nivaraye,

satam hi so piyo hoti asatam hoti appiyo 77
(2) Let him admonish, let him instruct, let him restrain from
the impure. He becomes beloved of the good and hated by
the evil. (77)

3 na bhaje papake mitte, na bhaje purisadhame

bhajetha mitte kalydne, bhajetha purisuttame 78
(3) One should not associate with friends who arc evil-doers
nor with persons who are despicable; associate with friends
who are virtuous, associate with the best of men. (78)

4 dhammapiti sukharii seti vippasartnena cetasa

ariyappavedite dhamme soda ramati pandito 79

(4) He who drinks in the law lives happily with a serene mind.
 PAJ^PITAVAGGO—THE WISE MAN 8s

The wise man ever rejoices in the law made known by the
elect (or the Aryas). (79)
Ariya refers to the Buddha and his followers.

5 udakam hi nayanti nettikd

usukdra namayanti tejanam
ddrutrt namayanti tacchakd
attanam damayanti panditd 80

(5) Engineers (who build canals and aqueducts) lead the water
(wherever they like), fletchers make the arrow straight, car¬
penters carve the wood; wise people fashion (discipline)
themselves. (80)
See verse 33.
nayanti: lead. They force the water to go where it would not go
of itself.

6 selo yatha ekaghano vatena na samtrati,

exam nindapasamsasu ?ia saminjanti panditd 81
(6) As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, so wise men
are not moved amidst blame and praise. (81)

See B.G. ii. 66-7.

7 yathdpi rahado gambhiro vippasanno andvilo

evam dhammdni sutvdnd vippasldanti panditd 82
(7) Even as a deep lake is clear and calm so also wise men
become tranquil after they have listened to the laws. (82)

8 sabbattha ve sappurisd cajatiti na kdmakamd lapayanti santo

sukhena pkuffha athavd dukhena na uccavacam panditd
dassayanti 83
86 PAI^PITAVAGGO—THE WISE MAN

(8) Good people walk on whatever happens to them. Good

people do not prattle, yearning for pleasures. The wise do
not show variation (elation or depression), whether touched
by happiness or else by sorrow. (83)
sabbattha (Skt. sarvatra), everywhere, in all conditions.
cajanti: another reading is vajanti: the good people, ridding them¬
selves of lust by the wisdom which arhat-ship confers, are not shaken
by the earthly conditions (lokadharma), which are mndd, praimhsd,
sukha, duhkha, labha, alubha, yaia, ayaia. Good people everywhere
practise renunciation.

9 na attahetu, na parassa hetu, na puttam icche, na dhanam,

na rattham
nayicche adhammena samiddkim attano sa silavd, paiiiiava,
dhammiko siya 84
(9) He who, for his own sake or for the sake of another, docs
not wish for a son or wealth or a kingdom, if he does not wish
for his own prosperity by unfair means he certainly is vir¬
tuous, wise, and religious. (84)

10 appakd te manussesu ye jand paragamino

athdyam itara paja tlram ev' anudhdvati 85

(10) Few amongst men are those who reach the farther shore:
the other people here run along (this) shore. (85)
The other shore stands for life eternal, mrvdrux] this shore for
earthly life, samsdra.

ii ye ca kho sammadakkhate dhamme dhammd ’nuvattino

te jand par am essanti maccudheyyam suduttaram 86
(11) But those who, when the law has been well preached
to them, follow the law, will pass to the other shore, [beyond]
the dominion of death which is difficult to overcome. (86)
 PAIjipiTAVAGGO—THE WISE MAN 87

Only those who understand the law and follow it in practice can
attain to nirvana.

12 kanham dhammam vippahdya sukkam bhdvetha pandito

oka anokam dgamma, viveke yattha duramam 87

(12) Let the wise man leave the way of darkness and follow'
the way of light. After going from his home to a homeless
state, that retirement so hard to love. (87)

13 tatrabhiratim iccheyya, hitva kame akincano

pariyodapeyya attdnam cittaklesehi pandito 88
(13) let him there look for enjoyment. Putting away all plea¬
sures, calling nothing his own, let the wise man cleanse him¬
self from all the impurities of the heart. (88)
Light and darkness stand for good and evil. The homeless life
seems to be devoid of enjoyment, but real happiness is to be found
there.

cittaklesehi: the impurities of the heart which are passion, anger,

ignorance, arrogance, and pride.

14 yesam sambodhiyahgesu sammd cittam subhavitam

adanapatinissagge anupaddya ye rata,
khlndsava juttmanto te loke parinibbutd 89
(14) Those whose minds are well grounded in the (seven)
elements of enlightenment, who without clinging to any¬
thing rejoice in freedom from attachment, whose appetites
have been conquered, who are full of light, attain nirvana in
this world. (89)
te loke parinibbutd: they attain nirvana in this world. They are freed
from all worldly fetters though they live in this world. Nirvdna
means extinction of individuality, not complete annihilation. It is
frequently described as a state of bliss. There are eight progressive
stages of sanctification called the four paths (cattdro maggd) and
88 PAtypiTAVAGGO—THE WISE MAN

four fruitions (cattSri phal&ni). The arhat attains the full fruition
of final sanctification. He answers to the jUxm-mukta and attains what
is called upadhtiesa-nirvancr, on the death of the body he attains
anup&dhisefa-nirvdJia or videha-mukti. The oil in the lamp of life is
burnt out, the seed of existence is withered, and he enters the bliss
of mrvdtta, which is the supreme reward of the highest spiritual
development.
The seven elements arc the seven component parts of the Bud¬
dhist ideal of character: mindfulness, wisdom, energy, joyousness,
serenity, concentrated meditation, and equanimity.
 CHAPTER VII

ARAHANTAVAGGO

THE ARHAT (THE SAINT)

i gataddhino visokassa vippamuttassa sabbadhi

sdbbaganthappahlnassa parildho na vijjati 90
(1) There is no suffering for him who has completed his
journey, who is freed from sorrow, who has freed himself on
all sides, who has shaken off all fetters. (90)
The Arhat is he who has reached the hiRhest degree of the four
orders of the Ary as: Srotdpanna, Sakriddgdmin, Andgdmin, and
Arhat.
Srotdpanna is he who has got into the stream. He may have seven
births before he reaches the other shore, i.e. nirvana. Sakrddgdmin
is he who comes back but once. He is born only once again among
men or gods. Andgdmin is he who does not come back. He is not
born again in this world. He may be bom in the world of Brahma
before he reaches nirvdna. Arhat is the perfected who has reached
the highest state, from which nirvdna is perceived.

2 uyyunjanti satlmanto na nikete ramanti te

hathsd vapaUalam hitva okam okam jahanti te 91
(2) The thoughtful exert themselves; they do not delight in
an abode; like swans who have left their lake they leave their
house and home. (91)
satlmanto (Skt. sniftimantah): possessed of memory.
In Buddhist psychology sati has the technical meaning of mind¬
fulness.

3 yes am saitmicayo natthi, ye parinndtdbhojand

sunnato animitto ca vimokho yesam gocaro,
akase va sakuntanam gati tesarh durannayd 92
9o ARAHANTAVAGGO—THE ARHAT (THE SAINT)

(3) Those who have no accumulation (of property), who eat

according to knowledge, who have perceived (the nature of)
release and unconditioned freedom, their path is difficult to
understand like that (the flight) of birds through the sky. (92)
ammitto: unconditioned, owing to the absence of passion and other
causes. Since it is freed from these causes it is called unconditioned
freedom, r&gddininntt&bh&vena animittam, tehi ca vimuttan ti ani-
mitto vimokJto (B.).
See also M.B. xii. 6763:
sakundmhn ivdkaie matsydndm iva codahe
yathd padarii na drfyeta tathd jfldnaviddm gatih
‘As the path of the birds in the air or of fishes in the water is invisible,
even so is the path of the possessors of wisdom.’ ‘The wind blows
where it wills, and you hear the sound of it but you do not know
whence it comes or whither it goes: so it is with every one who is
bom of the Spirit’ (John iii. 8).

4 yassdsava parikkhlna, ahare ca atiissito

suniiato ammitto ca vimokho yassa gocaro,
akase va sakuntanam padam tassa durannayam 93
(4) He whose passions are destroyed, who is indifferent to
food, who has perceived (the nature of) release and uncondi¬
tioned freedom, his path is difficult to understand like that
of birds through the sky. (93)
asavd: passions. They are four: kdmdsava, sensuality; bhavasava,
lust for life; diffdsava, speculative interest; avijjdsava, ignorance.
See 39 n.

5 yass' indriyani samatham gatdni,

assa yathd sarathina sudanta,
pahinamanassa anasavassa
devapi tassa pihayanti tddino 94
(5) Even the gods envy him whose senses are subdued like
 ARAHANTAVAGGO—THE ARHAT (THE SAINT) 91

horses well tamed by the charioteer, who is free from pride

and free from taints. (94)
The disciple of the Buddha who has attained nirvdna is above all
gods.
The simile of the charioteer is used often in Indian texts (Kafha
Up., iii. 3; MilindapaflJia, 26-8).
Cf. Plato who makes the Charioteer ’Reason’ and the two horses
‘Sensibility’ and ‘Spirit’ (Lotus, 898 c).

C pathavisamo na virujjhati
indakhilupamo tddi subbato
rahado va apetakaddamo
smhsdra na bhavanti tadino 95
(6) Such a man who is tolerant like the earth, like a threshold;
who does his duty, who is like a lake free from mud: to a man
like that there is no cycle of births and deaths. (95)
The similes suggest the imperturbability of the saint. The earth is
generally represented as an emblem of patience.
kfamd dharitri. The earth does not shrink or protest whatever is
laid upon it. The bolt of Indra suggests strength and firmness, and
the unruffled lake represents serenity and purity.
B., however, gives a different interpretation. The earth does not
feel pleasure even though flowers are thrown on it, nor does the
bolt of Indra show displeasure even though unsavoury things are
brought to it. Even so, a wise person is indifferent to honour and
dishonour.

7 santam tassa manam hoti, santa vacd ca kamma ca

sammadannd vimuttassa upasantassa tadino 96
(7) His thought is calm, calm is his word as well as his deed
when he has obtained freedom through true knowledge and
has become tranquil. (96)
The threefold division of thought, word, and deed is found in many
pre-Buddhist writings: yan me manasd, vded, karmand va duskrtam
92 ARAHANTAVAGGO—THE AR1IAT (THE SAINT)
krtam (Taittirlya Aranyaka, x. i. 12). See also Mann, xii. 4-8; M.B.
xii. 4059, 6512, 6549, 6554; xiii- 5677-

8 assaddho akataniiu ca sandhicchedo ca yo naro

hatavakaso vantaso sa ve uttamaporiso 97
(8) The man who is free from credulity, who knows the un¬
created, who has severed all ties, who has put an end to all
occasions (for the performance of good or bad actions), who
has renounced all desires, he, indeed, is exalted among
men. (97)
akata: the uncreated. The teacher assumes that sorrow, error, and
discord spring from the ignorance of the unmade, the uncreated,
and knowledge of the unmade, the uncreated, leads to the harmonies
of goodness, truth, and beauty.
There seems here to be a play on different meanings (jf/efa).

9 game vd yadi vdrailne mnne vd yadi vd thale

yatth' arahanto viharanti tarii bhQmirii rumaneyyakam 98
(9) That place is delightful where saints dwell, whether in
the village or in the forest, in deep water or on dry land: (98)

10 ramaniyani arandani yattha na ramatljano

vitardgd rammanti na te kdmagavesino 99
(10) Forests are delightful (to saints); where (ordinary) people
find no delight there the passionless will find delight, for they
do not seek for the pleasures of sense. (99)
 CHAPTER VIII

SAHASSAVAGGO
THE THOUSANDS

1 sahassam api ce vdca anatthapadasamhitd

ekam atthapadam seyyo yam sutvd upasammati ioo
(1) Better than a thousand utterances composed of meaning¬
less words is one sensible word on hearing which one be¬
comes peaceful, (ioo)
Most of us think ourselves to be religious when we mouth sacred
formulas, even when we do not know of what wc speak. Of the
beauty and terror of the human soul on its knees before the unseen
power we feci nothing.
Cf. St. Paul: ‘Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five
words with my mind, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand
words in a tongue* (i Corinthians xiv. 19).

2 sahassam api ce gdthd anatthapadasamhitd

* ekam gathapadarh seyyo yam sutvd upasammati ioi
(2) Better than a thousand verses composed of meaningless
words is one word of a verse on hearing which one becomes
peaceful. (101)

3 yo ca gathasatam bhase anatthapadasamhitd

ekam gathapadam seyyo yarn sutvd upasammati 102
(3) Better than reciting a hundred verses composed of mean¬
ingless words is one text on hearing which one becomes
peaceful. (102)
The Chinese version reads: ‘Although a man can repeat a thousand
stanzas but understand not the meaning of the lines he repeats, this
 1

94 SAHASSAVAGGO—THE THOUSANDS

is not equal to the repetition of one sentence well understood which

is able, when heard, to control thought. To repeat a thousand words
without understanding, what profit is there in this ? But to under¬
stand one truth, and hearing it to act accordingly, this is to find
deliverance’ (Beal, Dhammapada (1902), p. 104).

4 yo sahassath sahassena sangame mdnuse jine

ekam cajeyya attanam sci ve sahgdmajuttamo 103

(4) If a man were to conquer in battle a thousand times a

thousand men, and another conquer one, himself, he indeed
is the greatest of conquerors. (103)
Cf. Proverbs xvi. 32. ‘He that is slow to anger is better than the
mighty: and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.’

5 attd have jitarii seyyo yd c' ay am itara pajd

attadantassa posassa tiiccam samyataedrino 104

(5) Conquest of self is indeed better than the conquest of

other persons; of one who has disciplined himself, who al¬
ways practises self-control. (104)

6 ri eva devo, na gandhabbo, na tndro saha braJmund

jitam apajitam kayird tatharupassa jantuno 105

(6) Not even a god nor a gandharva nor Mara along with
Brahma could turn into defeat the victory of such a one (who
has conquered himself). (105)
Gandharvas are fairies.
BrahmA is the creator god according to Hindu tradition.
The Buddhists acknowledge the existence of some Hindu deities
and offer worship to them in recognition of the friendly services
they rendered to Gautama the Buddha.
Man cannot be injured by external forces. He cannot be hurt
except by himself.
 SAHASSAVAGGO—THE THOUSANDS 95
7 mdse mdse sahassena yo yajetha satam satnam
ekam ca bhavitattanam muhuttam api pujaye
sa yeva pujand seyyo yam ca vassasatam hutam 106
(7) If a man month after month for a hundred years should
sacrifice with a thousand (sacrifices), and if he but for one
moment pay homage to a man whose self is grounded in
knowledge, better is that homage than what is sacrificed for
a hundred years. (106)
‘To obey is better than sacrifice’ (1 Samuel xv. 22).
Cf. M.B.:
na tty aminay&ni tlrthdni na devS mrcchilamaya
te punanty urukulena darian&d eva s&dhavah
‘The waters of sacred rivers, images (of gods) made of day and
stone purify us after a long time, the saints (purify us) at sight.’

8 yo ca vassasatam jantu aggim paricare vane,

ekam ca bhavitattanam muhuttam api pujaye
sa yeva pujand seyyo yam ca vassasatam hutam 107
(8) If a man for a hundred years tend the (sacrificial) fire in
the forest, and if he but for one moment pay homage to a man
whose self is grounded in knowledge, better is that homage
than what is sacrificed for a hundred years. (107)

9 yam kind yit\ham va hutam va loke

samvaccharam yajetha punnapekho
sabbam pi tarn na catubhagam eti
abhivadana ujjugatesu seyyo 108
(9) Whatever a man sacrifice in this world as an offering or
oblation for a year in order to gain merit—the whole of it
is not worth a quarter (of the better offering). Homage paid
to the righteous is better. (108)
96 SAHASSAVAGGO—THE THOUSANDS

io abhivadanasilissa niccam vaddhapacdyino

cattaro dhamma vaddhanti, ayu, vanno, sukhatn, balatn 109
(10) To him who constantly practises reverence and respects
the aged, four things will increase, life (length of days), beauty,
happiness, strength. (109)
Cf. Manu, ii. 121, where the four things arc life, knowledge, glory,
and strength.
abhivSdanaHlasya rtityam vrddhopasevinali
catvari sampravardhante dyur vidyd yaio balam

11 yo ca vassasatam jive ditssilo asamdhito

ekaham jivitam seyyo silavantassa jhdyino no
(11) But he who lives a hundred years, wicked and unre¬
strained, a life of one day is better if a man is virtuous and
reflecting, (no)
Better than a hundred years of wicked and intemperate life is a single
day of moral and contemplative life.
Cf. Ps. lxxxiv. 10 (Prayer-Book version): ‘One day in thy courts
is better than a thousand.’

12 yo ca vassasatam jive duppaniio asamdhito

ekaham jivitam seyyopanhdvantassajhdyino hi
(12) And he who lives a hundred years, ignorant and un¬
restrained, a life of one day is better for one who is wise and
reflecting, (in)

13 yo ca vassasatam jive kusito htnavlriyo

ekaham jivitam seyyo viriyam arabhato dalham 112
(13) And he who lives a hundred years, idle and weak, a life
of one day is better if a man strenuously makes an effort. (112)

14 yo ca vassasatam jive apassam udayavyayam

ekaham jivitam seyyo passato udayavyayam 113
(14) And he who lives a hundred years, not perceiving begin-
 SAHASSAVAGGO—THE THOUSANDS 97
ning and end (birth and death), a life of one day is better if
a man perceives beginning and end. (113)
We must know that in this world everything rises and passes away.

15 yo ca vasssasatam jive apassam amatam padam

ekahath jivitam seyyo passato amatam padam 114
(15) And he who lives a hundred years not perceiving the
deathless state, a life of one day is better if a man perceives
the deathless state. (114)

16 yo ca vassasatani jive apassam dhammam uttamam

ekaham jivitam seyyo passato dhammam uttamam 115
(16) And he who lives a hundred years not perceiving the
highest law, a life of one day is better if a man perceives
the highest law. (115)

H
 CHAPTER IX

PAPAVAGGO
EVIL CONDUCT

1 abhittharetha kalydne papa cittam nivaraye

dandham hi karoto puniiam pdpasmim ramati mono 116

(1) A man should hasten towards the good; he should re¬

strain his thoughts from evil. If a man is slack in doing what
is good, his mind (comes to) rejoice in evil. (116)

2 pdpaH ce pitriso kayira na tam kayira punappunam

na tam hi chandarii kayiratha dukkho pdpassa uccayo 117

(2) If a man commits sin, let him not do it again and again.
Let him not set his heart on it. Sorrowful is the accumulation
of evil conduct. (117)

3 purinaii ce pur iso kayira kayiratK email punappunam

tarnhi chandarii kayiratha, sukho puhhassa uccayo 118

(3) If a man does what is good, let him do it again and again.
Let him set his heart on it. Happiness is the outcome of good
conduct. (118)

4 pdpo pi passati bhadrarii yava pdpath na paccati

yadd ca paccati pdpam (atha) pdpo pdpdni passati 119

(4) Even an evil-doer sees happiness so long as his evil deed

does not ripen; but when the evil deed has ripened, then
does the evil-doer see evil. (119)

5 bhadro pi passati pdpam ydva bhadrath na paccati

yadd ca paccati bhadram (atha) bhadro bhadrdnipassati 120
 PAPAVAGGO—EVIL CONDUCT 99

(5) Even a good man sees evil as long as his good deed does
not ripen; but when his good deed ripens, then the good
man sees the good (in store for him). (120)

6 mappamannetha papassa *na mam tarn agamissati*

udabindunipatena udakumbhopi purati
balo purati papassa thokathokam pi acinam 121

(6) Think not lightly of evil (saying) that ‘it will not come
near me’. Even a watcr-pot is filled by the falling of drops
of water. A fool becomes full of evil even if he gathers it little
by little. (121)

7 mappamannetha puiiiiassa *na maiii tarn agamissati'

udabindunipatena udakumbhopi purati,
dhiro purati puhnassa thokathokam pi acinam 122

(7) Think not lightly of good (saying) that ‘it will not come
near me’. Even a water-pot is filled by the falling of drops of
water. A wise man becomes full of goodness even if he gathers
it little by little. (122)

8 vanijo va bhayath maggam appasattho mahaddhano

visam jivitukdmo va pdparn parivajjaye 123

(8) As a merchant ill-attended and having much wealth shuns

a dangerous road, as a man who loves his life avoids poison,
so should (a wise man) avoid evil actions. (123)

9 pdnimhi ce vano nassa hareyya panina visam

nabhanam visam anveti, natthi pdparn akubbato 124

(9) If there be no wound on a person’s hand he might touch

poison with his hand. Poison does not harm one who has no
wound. No evil (befalls) him who does no evil. (124)
 I0O PAPAVAGGO—EVIL CONDUCT

jo yo appadutthassa narassa dussati

suddhassa posassa anatiganassa
tam eva balath pacceti papam
sukhumo rajo pativatam va kiiitto 125

(10) Whoever does wrong to an innocent person or to one

who is pure and sinless, evil recoils on that fool even as fine
dust thrown against the wind (recoils on the person throw¬
ing it). (125)

11 gabbham eke upapajjanti nirayaiii papakammino

saggam sugatino yanti parinibbanti anasava 126

(11) Some enter the womb; evil-doers go to hell; the good

go to heaven; those free from worldly desires attain nir¬
vana. (126)
Enter the womb: are re-bom on earth.

12 na antalikfdie, na samuddamajjhe, na pabbatanam vivaram

pavissa,
na vijjati so jagatippadeso, yatthaftkito munceyya papa-
kamma 127

(12) Neither in the sky nor in the midst of the sea nor by
entering into the clefts of mountains is there known a place
on earth where stationing himself, a man can escape from (the
consequences of) his evil deed. (127)

13 na antaltkkJie, na samuddamajjhe, na pabbatanam vivaram

pavissa,
na vijjati so jagatippadeso yatthat\hitam nappasahetha
maccu 128

(13) Neither in the sky nor in the midst of the sea nor by
entering into the clefts of mountains is there known a place
 PAPAVAGGO-EVIL CONDUCT ioi

on earth where stationing himself, death cannot overcome

(him). (128)
We cannot find release from death except by enlightenment.
These verses are an emphatic expression of the Buddhist prin¬
ciple that punishment comes from the moral order which reacts on
those who break it. If a man persists in doing evil which he has
himself recognized as such the consequences of his evil conduct
will at last overtake him. The view that God intervenes in the world
to make guilty people suffer is for the Buddha a sheer superstition.
The law of dharma is organic to the nature of reality.
Cf. Gandhi: 'I do not regard God as a Person. Truth for me is
God and God’s law and God arc not different things or facts, in the
sense that an earthly king and his law arc different. Because God is
an Idea, Law Himself. ... He and His law abide everywhere and
govern everything.’ Harijan, 23 March 1940.
 CHAPTER X

DANDAVAGGO
PUNISHMENT

i sabbe tasanti dandassa sabbe bhdyanti maccuno

attanam upamam katvd na haneyya na ghataye 129

(1) All men tremble at punishment, all men fear death. Liken¬
ing others to oneself, one should neither slay nor cause to
slay. (129)
attanam upamam katvd: do as you would be done by.
yathd aJiam evam anne pi sattd.
Cf. B.G. vi. 32:
dtmaupamyena sarvatra samam pafyatiyo* rjuna;
Cf. M.B.
dtmopamas tu bhdtefu yo vai bhavati puru$ah
nyastadando jitakrodhah sa pretya sukham cdhate
The person who looks upon others as he looks upon himself, who
has given up retaliation, who has conquered anger, obtains happi¬
ness in the next world.
na tat parasya samdadkydt pratikulam yad dtmanah
efa sarhkfepato dharmah kamad anyafi pravartate
One should not behave towards others in a way which is dis¬
agreeable to oneself. This is the essence of morality. All other
activities are due to selfish desire. {Anuiasanaparva, 113, 6, 8.)
Hitopadeia:
prdnd yathatmano 'bhlsfd bhutdndm api te tathd
dtmaupamyena bhutesu daydni kurvanti sddhavah.
‘By likening with oneself good people bestow compassion on all
beings.’
Consideration for the feelings of others, not doing to them what
you would not have them do to you, is the basis of society, according
to Confucius. See Analects, iv. 15; xv. 2.
 DAI^PAVAGGO—PUNISHMENT 103

2 sabbe tasanti dandassa sabbesam jlvxtam piyam

attdnam upamam katvd na haneyya na ghdtaye 130

(2) All men tremble at punishment: all men love life. Liken¬
ing others to oneself one should neither slay nor cause to
slay. (130)
Cf. Matthew vii. 12: ‘Therefore all things whatsoever ye would
that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the
law and the prophets.’ Luke vi. 31: ‘And as you wish that men
would do to you, do so to them.’
Cf. M.B.: dtinanah pratikuldni parefdm na samdearet: ‘Do not do
unto others what is disagreeable to yourself.’

3 sukhakdmdm bhutani yo dandena vihimsati

attano sukham esdnopecca so na labhate sukham 131

(3) He who seeking his own happiness inflicts pain (strikes

with a stick) on beings who (like himself) are desirous of
happiness does not obtain happiness after death. (131)

Cf. Manu, v. 45:

yo 'hi>iisakani bhutani hinasty dtmasukhecchayd
sa jlvami ca mrtai caiva na kvacit sukham edhate.
Cf. M.B. xiii. 5568:
ahimsakdni bhutdni dandena vinihanti ya)i
dtmanah sukham icchan sa pretya naiva sukhi bhavet

4 sukhakamani bhutani yo dandena na himsati

attano sukham esdno pecca so labhate sukham 132

(4) He who seeking his own happiness does not inflict pain
(strike with a stick) on beings who (like himself) are desirous
of happiness obtains happiness after death. (132)

5 md 'voca pharusam kahei vutta pativadeyyu tam

dukkha hi sdrambhakatha patidanda phuseyyu tam 133
 io4 DAIJJPAVAGGO—PUNISHMENT

(5) Do not speak anything harsh. Those who arc spoken to

will answer you (in the same way). Since angry talk is painful,
retaliation will touch you. (133)

6 sace neresi attdnam kamso upahato yatha,

esa patto *.si nibbanam sarambho te na vijjati 134

(6) If you make yourself as still as a broken gong you have

attained nirvana, for agitation is not known to you. (134)

7 yatha dandena gopdlo gavo pdceti gocaram

evarh jar a ca maccu ca ayum pacenti pdninant 135

(7) Just as a cowherd with his staff drives the cows into the
pasture-ground, so old age and death drive the life of sentient
beings (into a new existence). (135)

8 atha pdpani kammani karam bdlo na bujjhati

sehi kammehi dummedho aggidaddho va tappati 136

(8) But a fool committing evil deeds does not know (what is
in store for him). The stupid man burns indeed through his
own deeds, like one burnt by fire. (136)
He is consumed by his own deeds as if burnt by fire.

9 yo dandena adandesu appadutfhesu dussati

dasannam anhataram fhanam khippam eva nigacchati 137

(9) He who inflicts punishment on those who do not deserve

punishment and offends against those who are without offence
soon comes to one of these ten states. (137)

10 vedanam pharusam jdnim sarlrassa ca bhedanam

garukam vdpi dbadJiam cittakkJiepam vapdpune 138
 DAI^PAVAGGO—PUNISHMENT 105

(10) He may have cruel suffering, loss (of wealth), injury

of the body, heavy afflictions (dread diseases), or loss of
mind, (138)

11 rajato va upassaggam abbhakkhanam va darunam

parikkhayam va natinam bhogdnam va pabhangunam 139

(ri) or a misfortune proceeding from the king or a fearful

accusation, loss of relations, or destruction of treasures, (139)
abbhakkh&nam: false accusations for high treason or similar offences.

12 atha v' assa agdrani aggi dahati pavako

kayassa bhedd duppanno nirayam so ’papajjati 140

(12) or lightning fire burns his houses and when his body is
dissolved the fool goes to hell. (140)

13 na naggacariya najafa na pahka

nanasaka thandUasayika va
rajo cajallam ukkutikappadhdnam
sodhenti maccam avitinnakankham 141

(13) Not nakedness, not matted hair, not dirt (literally mud),
not fasting, not lying on the ground, not rubbing with ashes
(literally dust), not sitting motionless purify a mortal who
is not free from doubt. (141)
Not lying on the ground: not sleeping on the bare earth.
The Buddha rejects these outward signs of asceticism as they do
not calm the passions. Cf. Hosea vi. 6: T will have mercy and not
sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offering.’
Sumagadhd-Avaddna has the following story: A number of naked
friars were assembled in the house of the daughter of Anathapin-
dika. She called her daughter-in-law Sumagadha and said, 'Go and
see those highly respectable persons.’ SumSgadhS, expecting to see
 106 DAtfPAVAGGO—PUNISHMENT

some of the saints like Sariputra, MaudgalySyana, and others, ran

out full of joy. But when she saw these friars with their hair like
pigeon wings, covered by nothing but dirt, offensive, and looking
like demons, she became sad. ‘Why arc you sad ?’ said her mother-
in-law. SumagadhS replied, ‘O Mother, if these are saints, what
must sinners be like ?’ (Max Muller, The Dhammapada (1881), p. 39.)
Sec Amagandha Suita, 11.
Cf. Lucian: ‘If you think that to grow a beard is to acquire wis¬
dom, a goat is at once a complete Plato.’

14 alankato ce pi samah careyya

santo danto niyato brahmacarl
sabbesu bhutesu nidhdya dandam
so brahmano so samano sa bhikkhu 142

(14) He who though adorned (dressed in fine clothes) fosters

the serene mind, is calm, controlled, is established (in the
Buddhist way of life), is chaste, and has ceased to injure all
other beings, he indeed is a Brahmin, an ascetic (samana),
a friar (a bhikkhu). (142)
samana: one who is tranquil. Brahminhood is not a matter of birth
but of temperament.
Fastings and other ascetic practices arc advised only as means to
self-control.

15 kirinisedho puriso koci lokasmi vijjati

so nindam appabodhati asso bhadro kasam iva? 143

(15) Is there in the world any man so restrained by modesty

that he avoids censure as a well-trained horse avoids the
whip? (143)

It is also rendered thus: ‘What man is there found on earth so re¬

strained by shame that he never provokes reproof, as a good horse
the whip ?’
 DANPAVAGGO—PUNISHMENT 107

16 asso yatha bhadro kasanivitfho

atapino samvegino bhavatha
saddhaya sllena ca viriyena ca
samadhina dfiammavinicchayena ca
sampannavijjdear and patissata
pahassatha dukkham idam anappakam 144

(16) Like a well-trained horse when touched by a whip, be

strenuous and swift and you will, by faith, by virtue, by
energy, by meditation, by discernment of the law, put aside
this great sorrow (of earthly existence), endowed with know¬
ledge and (good) behaviour and mindfulness. (144)
Faith is the acceptance of Gautama’s teaching, though Gautama
encouraged investigation and inquiry.

17 udakam hi nay anti nettikd

usukard namayanti tejanam
ddrum namayanti tacchakd
attdnam damayanti subbatd 145

(17) Engineers (who build canals and aqueducts) lead the

water (where they like); flctchers make the arrow straight;
carpenters carve the wood; good people fashion (discipline)
themselves. (145)
See 80.
 CHAPTER XI

JARAVAGGO
OLD AGE

i ko nu haso? kirn anando niccam pajjalite sati?

andhakarena onaddhd padtpam na gavessatha ? 146

(1) Why is there laughter, why is there joy while this world
is always burning? Why do you not seek a light, you who
are shrouded in darkness (ignorance)? (146)
Fire is used by the Buddhists to represent the empirical process
which is full of suffering. The world is perpetually changing, burn¬
ing, and so we should strive to get out of it.

2 passa cittakatam bimbam arukdyam samussitam

aturam bahusamkappam yassa n’ atthi dhuvam thiti 147

(2) Behold this painted image, a body full of wounds, put

together, diseased, and full of many thoughts in which there
is neither permanence nor stability. (147)

3 parijinnam idam rupam, roganiddham pabhanguram

bhijjati putisandeho maranantam hi jivitam 148

(3) This body is worn out, a nest of diseases and very frail.
This heap of corruption breaks to pieces, life indeed ends in
death. (148)

4 yard ’mani apatthani alapuneva sarade

kapotakani aft him tatii disvana ka rati? 149

(4) What delight is there for him who sees these white bones
like gourds cast away in the autumn? (149)
 JARAVAGGO—OLD AGE 109

Cf. Rudrayanavad&na of the Divydvadana:

ydnbndny apariddhani viksiptdni diio diiaJi
kapotavarndny asthini tdrti drsfiaiha kd ratih
The spiritual exercises of Ignatius Loyola include a contempla¬
tion of the dissolution and death of the body. We are called upon to
anticipate our approaching dissolution, fasten our mind on the
conditions preceding death when our power of sight begins to fade,
the sense of hearing grows dim, our mental faculties diminish in
vitality, and the ego itself perishes. The body which is so familiar
and dear to us becomes a mass of corruption preyed upon by busy
maggots, a formless horror from which even our dearest relations
recoil, bhdryd bibhyati tasmin kdyc (Sarhkara).

5 afthinarh nagarenh katam mdihsalohitalepanam

yattha jar a ca maccii ca mono rnakkho ca ohito 150

(5) Of the bones a citadel is made, plastered over with flesh

and blood, and in it dwell old age and death, pride and
deceit. (150)
Cf. Manu, vi. 76. mdmsalohitalepanam.
Visuddhimagga gives a story which illustrates the view of the
body as a citadel of bones. The hermit MahS-Tissa was walking
near Anuradhapura meditating on the transiency of life. A woman
who had quarrelled with her husband passed him, gaily dressed,
and smiled at him, showing her teeth. When the husband who was
in pursuit asked him whether he saw a woman pass by the sage
replied: ‘I saw only a skeleton, whether it was man or woman I know
not.’

6 jiranti ve rajaratha sucitta

atho sariram pi jar am upeti
satam ca dhammo tiajaram upeti
santo have sabhhi pavedayanti 151

(6) The splendid chariots of kings wear away; the body also
comes to old age but the virtue of the good never ages, thus
the good teach to each other. (151)
 no JARAVAGGO—OLD AGE

7 appassutayam puriso balivaddo va jirati

mamsani tassa vaddhanti, pattiia tassa ?ia vaddhati 152

(7) A man who has learnt but little grows old like an ox; his
flesh increases but his knowledge does not grow. (152)
Amos addresses the fat and sensuous women of his day: ‘ye kine
of Bashan’ (Amos iv. 1); [massive in body but small in mind]. The
denunciation of the body is intended to awaken men to the need
for knowledge.

8 anekajatisamsdram sandhavissam anibbisam

gahakarakam gavesanto dukkha jdti punappunam 153

(8) I have run through a course of many births looking for

the maker of this dwelling and finding him not; painful is
birth again and again. (153)
It shows that we must travel through many births until we dis¬
cover the builder of this body. Sec B.G. vi. 45; vii. 19.
Finding him not: avindanto, alabhanto (B.).

9 gahakaraka! diftho 'si, puna geharii na kdhasi

sabhd te phasuka bhagga, gahakutam ■visankhitam
visankharagatam cittam tanhdnam khayam ajjhaga 154

(9) Now are you seen, O builder of the house, you will not
build the house again. All your rafters are broken, your ridge¬
pole is destroyed, your mind, set on the attainment of nirvana,
has attained the extinction of desires. (154)
153 and 154 represent the words which Gautama the Buddha is
said to have uttered at the moment of his enlightenment. In the
commentary on the Brahmajala Sutta, this verse is said to be the
first utterance of the Buddha, his last being the words in the Mahd-
parinibbdna Sutta: ‘Life is subject to age, strive in earnest’.
The builder of the house is craving, tanhd. It is the cause of re¬
birth. If we shake off craving there is nothing to bind us to the
wheel of existence.
 JARAVAGGO—OLD AGE hi

Cf.:
kdma, jdnami te mulam, sanihalpdt kila jdyase
na tvdrn samkalpayhyami tato me na bhavifyasi.
‘Desire, I know thy root; from imagination art thou bom; no
more shall I indulge in imagination, I shall have no desire any more.*
Sir Edwin Arnold renders the allegory thus:
Many a house of life
Hath held me—seeking ever him who wrought
These prisons of the senses, sorrow-fraught;
Sore was my ceaseless strife
But now,
Thou builder of this tabernacle—Thou!
I know Thee! Never shalt Thou build again
These walls of pain,
Nor raise the roof-tree of deceits; nor lay
Fresh rafters on the clay;
Broken Thy house is, and the ridge-pole split!
Delusion fashioned it!
Safe pass I them—deliverance to obtain.
Cf. Mddhyamika Kdrikd, xxii. i: satiikalpaprabhavo rdgo dveso
mohai ca kathyate: 'Of imagination are born attachment, aversion,
and delusion.’

10 acaritvd brahmacariyam, aladdha yobbane dhanam

jinnakoned vajhayanti khinamacche va pallale 155

(10) Men who have not practised celibacy (proper discipline),

who have not acquired wealth in youth, pine away like old
cranes in a lake without fish. (155)

11 acaritvd brahmacariyam, aladdha yobbane dhanam

senti capatikhind’ vapuranani anutthunam 156

(11) Men who have not practised celibacy, who have not
acquired wealth in youth, lie like worn out bows, sighing
after the past. (156)
 CHAPTER XII

ATTAVAGGO
THE SELF

i attanam ce piyam jaiiha rakkheyya nam surakkhitam

tinnam ahiiataram yamam pafijaggeyya pandito 157

(1) If a man holds himself dear, let him diligently watch him¬
self. The wise man should be watchful during one of the three
watches. (157)
Cf. Mark xiii. 37. ‘And what I say to you I say to all, watch.’
One of the three watches: may also mean one of the three periods
of life.

2 attanam eva pathamam patirupe mvesaye

ath’ aiinam anusaseyya na kilisseyya pandito 158

(2) Let each man first establish himself in what is proper,

then let him teach others. (If he do this) the wise man will
not suffer. (158)
Before we teach others we must set ourselves right.

3 attanam ce tathd kayird yath' aiinam anusdsati

sudanto vata dametha attd hi kira duddamo 159

(3) If a man so shapes his life as he directs others, then, sub¬

duing himself well, he might indeed subdue (others), since
the self is indeed difficult to subdue. (159)

4 attd hi attano ndtho ko hi ndtho paro siya ?

attand hi sudantena ndtham labhati dullabham 160

(4) The self is the lord of self; who else could be the lord?
 ATTAVAGGO—THE SELF 1x3

With self well subdued a man finds a lord who is difficult

to obtain. (160)
Cf. B.G. vi. 5.

5 attana va katarn pclpam attajam attasambhavam

abhimanthati dummedham vajiram v’asmamayam manim 161

(5) The evil done by oneself, born of oneself, produced by

oneself, crushes the fool even as a diamond breaks a precious
stone. (161)
asmamayam, Skt. ahnamayam, made of stone; another reading,
amhamayam.

6 yassa accantadussilyam maluvd sdlam tv* otthatam

karoti so tath’ attdnam, yathd nam icchati diso. 162

(6) As a creeper overpowers the entwined sal tree, he whose

impiety is great reduces himself to the state which his enemy
wishes for him. (162)

7 sukaram asadhuni attano ahitani ca

yarn ve hitarii ca, sddhum ca tam ve paramadukkaram 163

(7) Evil deeds, deeds which are harmful to oneself, are easy
to do. What is beneficial and good, that is very difficult to
do. (163)
When Devadatta attempted to create a split among the priesthood
Gautama uttered the following verse which precedes verse 163,
though it is not included in the Dhammapada.
‘What is good is easy of performance by one who is good, but
difficult by one who is bad; what is bad is easy of performance by
one who is bad, but difficult by those who are righteous.’

8 yo sasanam arahatam ariyanam, dhammajivinam

patikkosati dummedho ditfhim nissaya pdpikam
phalani kaffhakasseva attaghannaya phallati 164
1
114 ATTAVAGGO—THE SELF

(8) The foolish man who scorns the teaching of the saintly,
the noble, and the virtuous and follows false doctrine, bears
fruit to his own destruction even like the Khattaka reed. (164)
'The reed either dies after it has borne fruit or is cut down for the
sake of its fruit.’ Max Muller, Dhammapada (1881), p. 46.
diffhim: doctrine. A distinction is generally made between micchd-
diffhi false doctrine, and tammOdiffM or true doctrine.

9 attand va katam pdpam attand sartkilissati

attand akataih pdpam attand va visujjhati
sudd hi asuddhi paccattam ndiino annarii visodhayc 165

(9) By oneself, indeed, is evil done; by oneself is one injured.

By oneself is evil left undone; by oneself is one purified.
Purity and impurity belong to oneself. No one purifies
another. (165)
paccattam: the individual. Skt. pratydtman.

10 attadattham paratthena bahund pi na hdpaye

atthadattham abhinndya sadatthapasuto siyd 166

(10) Let no one neglect his own task for the sake of another’s,
however great; let him, after he has discerned his own task,
devote himself to his task. (166)
attha: artha or good.
sadattha is sva-artha or one’s own good.
Of. B.G. iii. 35.
Each one should study his situation, choose his ideal, and resolve
the strains of thought, emotions, and circumstances in the pursuit
of the ideal.
 CHAPTER XIII

LOKAVAGGO

THE WORLD

1 hlnarii dhammam na seveyya pamadena na satitvase

micchddiffhim na seveyya na siyd lokavaddhano 167
(1) Do not follow evil law. Do not live in thoughtlessness.
Do not follow false doctrine. Do not be a friend of the
world. (167)
lokavaddhano: Do not be worldly minded and thus prolong your
sojourn in the world.

2 utthitthe nappamajjeyya, dhammam sucaritam care

dhammacari sukham seli asmim loke par am hi ca 168
(2) Get up (rouse yourself), do not be thoughtless. Follow
the law of virtue. He who practises virtue lives happily in
this world as well as in the world beyond. (168)

3 dhammam care sucaritam, na noth duccaritam care

dhammacari sukham seti asmim loke par am hi ca 169
(3) Follow the law of virtue, do not follow the law of sin.
He who practises virtue lives happily in this world as well as
in the world beyond. (169)
Cf. ‘Enter ye in at the strait gate; for wide is the gate and broad
is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go
in thereat. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it’ (Matthew vii. 13
and 14).

4 yathd bubbulakam passe yathd passe marlcikam

evam lokam avekkhantam maccurdjd na passati 170
,,6 LOKAVAGGO—THE WORLD

(4) Look upon the world as a bubble: look upon it as a mirage.

Him who looks thus upon the world the king of death does
not see. (170)
Cf. phenapitujlupaviam rupam vedand bubbulupama
maricikupamd sadfld, sankJiard kadalupamd
mdyupamai] ca vififldnam dipitadiecabandhuna.
(Samyutta N. iii. 142-)

Here form, &c., arc regarded as bubbles.

The realist view that the elements, skandhas, are ultimate is not
supported by passages like these.
Cf. Majjhima jV.: ‘Depending on the oil and the wick docs the
light of the lamp bum; it is neither in the one nor in the other nor
anything in itself; phenomena are likewise, nothing in themselves.
All things are unreal, they are deceptions; nirv&tta is the only truth
(iii. 240).
The root of all evil, according to the Buddha, is belief in the
permanence of the individual, tatkdyadrffiprabhavdh sarve kleidjt,
'when we take anything as permanent, we become attached to it.

5 etha, passath' imam lokam cittam rdjarathupamam

yattha bald visidanti, riatthi samgo vijanatam 171

(5) Come, look at this world resembling a painted royal

chariot. The foolish are sunk in it; for the wise there is no
attachment for it. (171)

6 yo ca pubbe pamajjitvd paccha so nappamajjati

so imam lokam pabhdseti abbha mutto va candima 172

(6) He who formerly was thoughtless and afterwards became

reflective (sober) lights up this world like the moon when
freed from a cloud. (172)

7 yassa papam katam kammam kusalena pithlyati

so imam lokam pabhdseti abbha mutto va candima 173
 LOKAVAGGO—THE WORLD ”7

(7) He whose evil conduct is covered by good conduct lights

up this world like the moon when freed from a cloud. (173)

8 andhabhuto ayam loko tanuk' ettha vipassati

sakunto jdlamutto va appo saggdya gacchati 174

(8) This world is blinded, few only can see here. Like birds
escaped from the net a few go to heaven. (174)

Men of this world arc blind ; only very few have eyes to see. So
only a few go to heaven.
Cf. Psalm cxxiv: ‘Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of
the fowler.’

9 hamsddiccapathe yanti dkase yanti iddhiyd

niyanti dhira lokamhd jetva mar am savahinim 175

(9) The swans go on the path of the sun, they go through the
sky by means of their miraculous power. The wise are led
out of this world, having conquered Mara (the tempter) and
his hosts. (175)
iddhi: magical power. Another rendering: ‘they that possess
(miraculous) powers go through the air*.
sav&hinim: another reading, savdhanam.

10 ekam dhammam atltassa musavddissa jantuno

vitinnaparalokassa n'atthi pdpam akdriyam 176

(10) He who violates one law, who speaks falsely, scoffs at

another world, there is no evil he will not do. (176)

11 nave kadariya devalokam vajanti

bale have nappasamsanti ddnam
dhlro ca ddnam anumodamano
ten' eva so hoti sukhi parattha 177
1,8 LOKAVAGGO—THE WORLD

(u) Verily, the niggardly do not go to the world of the

gods. Fools, indeed, do not praise giving. But the wise man,
rejoicing in charity, becomes on that (account) happy in the
other world. (177)

12 pathavya ekarajjena saggassa gamanena va

sabbalokadhipaccena sotapatti phalam varain 17S

(12) Better than absolute sovereignty on earth, better than

going to heaven, better than lordship over all the worlds is
the reward of reaching the stream (the attainment of the first
step in sanctification). (178)
Sotapatti is entering the stream up which the seeker has to forge
his way.
The fruit of conversion is better than all earthly goods and
heavenly gifts.
 CHAPTER XIV

BUDDHAVAGGO

THE BUDDHA (THE AWAKENED)

1 yassajitam mvajlyati jitam assa noydti koci loke

tarn buddham anantagocaram apadamkenapadena nessatha?
179

(1) He whose conquest is not conquered again, into whose

conquest no one in this world enters, by what track can you
lead him, the awakened, of infinite perception, the track¬
less ? (179)
is not conquered again: is not turned into defeat.
buddham: the awakened, anyone who has arrived at complete
knowledge, and not confined to Gautama. There are many Buddhas,
some lived in the dim past; others may rise in the distant future.
apadam: trackless. He has no mark or track by which we can
describe him. He defies all description.
‘The man who is possessed of even a single one of such condi¬
tions as rdga, attachment, &c., him ye can lead forward; but the
Buddha has not even one condition or basis of renewed existence,
and therefore by what track will you lead this unconditioned
Buddha?’ (B.).
In other words there is no possibility of his sliding into empirical
existence.

2 yassa jalinl visattika tanhd n'atthi kuhtnet netave

tam buddham anantagocaram apadam kena padena nessatha?

(2) He whom no desire net-like or poisonous can lead astray,

by what track can you lead him, the awakened, of infinite
perception, the trackless? (180)
,20 BUDDHAVAGGO

There are no meshes of desire which will lead him back captive
into the world.
visattikd: poisonous. Skt. visaktika, capturing, vifdtndhd, poison¬
ous.

3 ye jhanapasuta dhira nekkhammupasame rata

devapi tesam pihayanti sambuddhdnam satimatam 181

(3) Even the gods emulate those wise men who are given to
meditation, who delight in the peace of emancipation (from
desire) the enlightened, the thoughtful. (181)

pihayanti: emulate. Skt. sprhayanti.

4 kiccho manussapafilabho kiccham maccana jlvitam

kicchani saddhammasavanam kiccho buddhanam uppddo 182

(4) Difficult is it to obtain birth as a human being; difficult

is the life of mortals; difficult is the hearing of the true law,
difficult is the rise of buddhahood (or enlightenment). (182)

The opportunities offered by human life are great.

5 sabbapapassa akaranam kusalassa upasampadd

sacittapariyodapanam etam buddhdna sasanam 183

(5) The eschewing of all evil, the perfecting of good deeds,

the purifying of one’s mind, this is the teaching of the Bud¬
dhas (the awakened). (183)
The ideal is not the negative avoidance of evil but the positive per¬
formance of good and inward cleansing.

6 khanti paramam tapo titikkha, tiibbdnam paramam vadanti

buddha
na hi pabbajito parupaghati samarto hoti par am vihetha-
yanto 184
(6) Patience which is long suffering is the highest austerity.
 THE BUDDHA (THE AWAKENED) 121

The awakened declare nirvana to be the highest (of things).

He verily is not an anchorite who oppresses (others); he is
not an ascetic who causes grief to another. (184)
parupaghdti: (one) who oppresses others: param upaghatetiti paru-
paghatl.

7 anUpavado, anupaghdto, patvnokkhe ca samvaro

mattahnutd ca bhattasmim pantham ca sayandsanam

adhicitte ca dyogo etam buddhdna sdsanam 185

(7) Not reviling, not injuring, (practising) restraint accord¬

ing to the law, moderation in eating, dwelling in solitude,
diligence in higher thought, this is the teaching of the
awakened. (185)
pdtimokkhe: according to the law, the law leading to freedom; Skt.
prdtimoksa. It is the title of the oldest collection of the ethical
precepts of the Buddhists.

8 na kahapanavassena titti kamesu vijjati

‘appassdda dukhd kama iti vihndya pandito 186

(8) There is no satisfaction of one’s passions even by a shower

of gold pieces. He who knows that ‘passions are of small
enjoyment and productive of pain’ is a wise man. (186)

kahdpana: a gold coin.

titti: satisfaction. Skt. tppti.
appassdda: of short duration. Skt. alpa, dsvada, of little pleasure.

9 api dibbesu kamesu ratim so nadhigacchati

tanhakkhayarato hoti sammasambuddhasavako 187

(9) Even in celestial pleasures he finds no delight. The dis¬

ciple who is fully awakened delights only in the destruction
of all desires. (187)
 122 BUDDHAVAGGO
Cf. M.B. Sdntiparva, 6503:
yac ca kdmasukham loke yac ca divyarii mahat stikham
trpidkfayasukhasyaitc n'drhatah sodasbh kaldni

Whatever delight of satisfaction there is on earth, whatever is the

great delight in heaven, they arc not worth the sixteenth part of the
joy which springs from the destruction of all desires.

10 bahum ve saranam yanti pabbatdni vanuni ca

aramarukkhacetyam manussd bhayatajjitd 188

(10) Men driven by fear go to many a refuge, to mountains,

and to forests, to sacred trees, and shrines. (188)

11 n'etam kho saranam khemam, n'etam saranam uttamam

n'etam saranam agamma, sabbadukkhd pamuccati 189

(11) That, verily, is not a safe refuge, that is not the best refuge.
After having got to that refuge a man is not delivered from
all pains. (189)

12 yo ca buddham ca dhammam ca sangham ca saranam goto

cattari ariyasaccdni sammappannaya passati 190

(12) But he who takes refuge in the Buddha, the Law, and
the Order, he perceives, in his clear wisdom, the four noble
truths. (190)

The Buddha, the Law, and the Order arc the three refuges, trisarana,
of the Buddhists.

We must conjure up before the eye of the mind the image of the
Buddha. His mien is bright, his bearing beautiful as distinct from
the form and countenance of M&ra, whose features are wrung with
evil and whose look spreads terror.

13 dukkham, dukkhasamuppddam, dukkhassa ca atikkamam

arty am c'affhangikam maggarh, dnkkJiupasamagdminam

191
 THE BUDDHA (THE AWAKENED) 123

(13) Suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffer¬

ing, and the noble eightfold path which leads to the cessation
of suffering. (191)

The eightfold path consists of right views (sammddiffhf), right as¬

pirations (famm&samkappo), right speech (sammdv&aI), right actions
(iamm&kammanto), right living (snmmdjlvo), right exertion (sammd-
vdydmo), right recollection (sanmidsati), and right meditation (tarn-
mdsamddhi).

It is called the middle path since it is equally remote from the

extremes of self-indulgence and sclf-mortification. It also avoids
the extremes of superstition and scepticism.

14 etam klio saranam kJtemam, etam saranam uttamam

etam saranam agarnma sabbadukkha pamuccati 192

(14) That, verily, is a safe refuge, that is the best refuge;

after having got to that refuge a man is delivered from all
pains. (192)

15 dullabho purisajanno na so sabbattha jayati

yattha so jayati dhiro tarn kulam sukJiatn edhati 193

(15) An exalted person (a Buddha) is difficult to be found.

He is not bom everywhere. Wherever such a wise one is born
that household prospers. (193)

16 sukho buddhanam uppado, suklui saddhammadesana

sukJia sanghassa samaggi, samagganam tapo sukho 194

(16) Blessed is the birth of the awakened; blessed is the teach¬

ing of the true law; blessed is concord in the Order; blessed
is the austerity of those who live in concord. (194)

Cf. Psalm cxxxiii. 1: ‘Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren
to dwell together in unity.’

17 pujarahe pujayato buddhe yadi va savake

papaheasamatikkante tinnasokapariddave 195

124 BUDDHAVAGGO

(17) He who pays homage to those who are worthy of homage,

whether the awakened or their disciples, those who have
overcome the host (of evils) and crossed beyond the stream
of sorrow. (195)

18 te tadise pujayato nibbute, akutobhaye

na sakka punnam sahkhdtum im' ettarn api kena ci 196

(18) He who pays homage to such as have found deliverance

and are free from fear, this his merit cannot be measured
by anyone. (196)

The teaching of the Buddha gives us a religion of hope, as it sug¬

gests the possibility of Buddhahood for every human being.
 CHAPTER XV

SUKHAVAGGO
HAPPINESS

1 susukham vatajlvama verinesu averino

verinesu manussesu viharama averino 197

(1) We live happily then, hating none in the midst of men who
hate. We dwell free from hate among men who hate. (197)

2 susukJiam vat a jlvama aturesu anatura

aturesu manussesu viharama anatura 198

(2) We live happily then, free from disease in the midst

of those who are afflicted with disease. We dwell free from
disease among men who are afflicted with disease. (198)

3 susukham vatajlvama ussukesu amissukd

ussukesu manussesu viharama anussuka 199

(3) We live happily then, free from care in the midst of those
who are careworn; we dwell free from care among men who
are careworn. (199)

4 susukham vata jlvama yesan no riatthi kincanam

pltibhakkha bhavissdma deva dbhassara yatha 200

(4) We live happily then, we who possess nothing. We will

dwell feeding on happiness like the shining gods. (200)

In the Chinese version the Buddha says: ‘My life is now at rest,
calm, indifferent, with no thought about what I must do. Pile up
then the wood and let the fire encircle me; but how can it touch
such an one as I’ (Beal, Dhammapada (1902), p. 137).
126 SUKHAVAGGO—HAPPINESS
Cf. M.B. xii. 9917:
susukham vatajlvdmi yasya me nasti kiflcana
mithilaydm pradiptdydm tta me dahyati kiflcana.
I live happily indeed for I possess nothing. While Mithila is in
flames nothing of mine is burning.

5 jayarix verarn pasavati dukkham seti pardjito

upasanto sukham seti hitva jayaparajayam 201

(5) Victory breeds hatred; the conquered dwells in sorrow.

He who has given up (thoughts of both) victory and defeat,
he is calm and lives happily. (201)

Cf. the Skt. version of this verse as found in Avaddnaiataka:

jayo vairatii prasavati dukkham iete pardjitah
upaidntah sukham iete hitvd jayapardjayam.

6 riatthi rdgasamo aggi, riatthi dosasamo kali

n'atthi khandhddisa dukkhd n'atthi santiparam sukham 202

(6) There is no fire like passion, no ill like hatred, there is

no sorrow like this physical existence (individuality), there
is no happiness higher than tranquillity. (202)

7 jigaccha parama rogd sankhdra pararnd dukhd

etam ndtva yathabhutam nibbanam paramam sukham 203

(7) Greediness is the worst of diseases; propensities are the

greatest of sorrows. To him who has known this truly, nir¬

vana is the highest bliss. (203)

Sariukara is one of the five skandhas\ here it is used in the sense
of bodily existence or organic life (Childers). See v. 278.

8 drogyaparamd Idbha samtuffhiparamam dhanam

vissdsaparamd ndti nibbanam paramam sukham 204

(8) Health is the greatest of gifts, contentment is the greatest

 SUKHAVAGGO—HAPPINESS 127

wealth; trust is the best of relationships. Nirvana is the

highest happiness. (204)
vissdsa: trust, or one who can be trusted. He is the best of kinsmen.

9 pavivekarasam pitvd rasam upasamassa ca

niddaro hoti nippdpo dhammapitirasam pivam 205

(9) Having tasted the sweetness of solitude and the sweet¬

ness of tranquillity he becomes free from fear and free from
sin while he drinks the sweetness of the joy of the law. (205)

10 sadhu dassanam ariyanam, sannivdso sadd suklio

adassanena bdlanam niccam eva suklil siyd 206

(10) The sight of the noble is good ; to live with them (in
their company) is always happiness. He will be always happy
who does not see fools. (206)

11 bdlasahgatacdri hi digharn addhdna socati

dukkho bale hi samvaso amitten* eva sabbadd

dftlro ca sukhasaihvaso iidtinam va samdgamo 207

(11) He who consorts with a fool suffers a long way. Associa¬

tion with fools as with an enemy is always (productive of)
pain. Association with the wise, as meeting with one’s kins¬
folk, is (productive of) happiness. (207)

12 dhiram ca, paiiiiam ca, bahussutam ca

dhorayhasilam, vatavantam, ariyam

tarn tadisam, sappurisarh, sumedham

bhajetha nakkhattapatham va candimd 208

(12) Therefore, even as the moon follows the path of the

constellations one should follow the wise, the intelligent, the
learned, the much enduring, the dutiful, the noble: such a
good and wise man (one should follow). (208)
Cp. the Skt. version: dhlrais tu sukhasamvdso jildtindm iva
samgamah.
 CHAPTER XVI

PIYAVAGGO

PLEASURE

i ayoge yunjam attanarii yogasmim cu ayojayam

attharn hitvd piyaggdhi pihet' attanuyoginam 209

(1) He who gives himself to the distractions (of the world)

and does not give himself to meditation, giving up his own
welfare and grasping at pleasure, will envy him who exerts
himself in meditation. (209)

2 md piyehi samagahchi, appiyehi kudacanam

piyanam adassanam dukkham appiyanam ca dassanam 210

(2) Let no man cling to what is pleasant or unpleasant. Not

to see what is pleasant is pain as also (it is pain) to sec what
is unpleasant. (210)
The absence of the pleasant and the presence of the unpleasant
are both painful.

3 tasmd piyam na kayirdtha piyapayo hi pdpako

gantJid tesam na vijjanti yesarii n’atthi piyappiyam 211

(3) Therefore, do not take a liking to anything; loss of the

loved object is evil. There are no bonds for him who has
neither likes nor dislikes. (211)
One must establish in the self a complete indifference to all created
things. One must detach one’s heart and mind from all temporal
possessions, ties, and affections.

4 piyato jayati soko, piyato jayati bhayarn

piyato vippamuttassa n'atthi soko, kuto bhayam? 212
 PIYAVAGGO—PLEASURE i*9

(4) From the liked arises grief; from the liked arises fear. To
one who is free from liking there is no grief. How (then can
there be) fear? (212)

5 pemato jayatl soko, pemato jayati bhayam

pemato vippamuttassa riatthi soko, kuto bhayam ? 213

(5) From affection arises grief; from affection arises fear. To

one who is free from affection there is no grief. How (then
can there be) fear? (213)

6 ratiya jayati soko, ratiya jayati bhayam

ratiya vippamuttassa riatthi soko, kuto bhayam ? 214

(6) From enjoyment arises grief, from enjoyment arises fear.

To one who is free from enjoyment there is no grief. How
(then can there be) fear? (214)

7 kamato jayati soko, kamato jayati bhayam

kamato vippamuttassa riatthi soko, kuto bhayam ? 215

(7) From desire arises grief, from desire arises fear. To one
who is free from desire there is no grief. How (then can there
be) fear? (215)

8 tanhaya jayati soko, tanhaya jayati bhayam

tanhaya vippamuttassa riatthi soko, kuto bhayam ? 216

(8) From craving arises grief, from craving arises fear. To

one who is free from craving there is no grief. How (then
can there be) fear? (216)

9 siladassanasamparmam, dhammattham saccavddinam

attano kamma kubbanam tamjano kurute piyam 217

(9) Him who is endowed with virtue and insight, who is

K
13® PIYAVAGGO—PLEASURE

established in the law, who is truthful, who minds his own

affairs, him the world holds dear. (217)

10 chandajato anakkhdte man as a ca phufo siya

kamesu ca appajibaddhacitto uddhariisoto ’ti vuccati 218

(10) He in whom a desire for the Ineffable has arisen, who is

replete with mind, whose thought is freed from desires, he is
called one who ascends the stream. (218)
uddhariisoto, Skt. urdhvariisrotas: one who swims against the stream
and is not carried away by the vulgar passions of the mind. He is
not at the mercy of impulses. He is bound upstream. It is also a
technical name for one who has reached the world of Avrhas and
is proceeding to that of the Akaniffhas. It is the last stage before
reaching the formless state arupadh&tu.

11 cirappavasim purisam durato sotthim Sgatam

natimittd suhajjd ca abkinandanti dgatam 219

(11) When a man who has been long away returns safe from
afar, kinsmen, friends, and well-wishers receive him gladly.
(219)

12 tatK eva katapuiinam pi asma lokd par am gat am

puniidni patiganhanti piyam ndti va dgatam 220

(12) Even so his good deeds receive the good man who has
gone from this world to the next, as kinsmen receive a friend
on his return. (220)
Cf. mrtarii sartram utsrjjya kdsfhalosfhasamarii ksitau
vimukha b&ndhavd ydnti dhamias tarn anugacchati.
Relations turn back leaving behind the dead body like a piece of
stone or wood; dharma (the result of good or evil deeds) alone fol¬
lowed! him.
 CHAPTER XVII

KODHAVAGGO

ANGER

i kodham jahe, vippajaheyya manam

samyojanam sabbarn atikkameyya
tam ndmarupasmim asajjamSnam
akiiiicanam nanupatanti dukkhd 221

(1) Let a man put away anger, let him renounce pride. Let
him get beyond all worldly attachments; no sufferings befall
him who is not attached to name and form (phenomenal
existence), who calls nothing his own. (221)

2 yove uppalitam kodham ratham bhantam va dharaye

tam aham sarathim briimi, rasmiggaho itarojano 222

(2) He who curbs his rising anger like a chariot gone astray (over
the plain), him I call a real charioteer, others but hold the
reins (and do not deserve to be called charioteers). (222)

3 akkodhena jine kodham, asadhum sddhuna jine

jine kadariyam danena, saccendlikavadinam 223

(3) Let a man overcome anger by non-anger (gentleness), let

him overcome evil by good, let him overcome the miser by
liberality, let him overcome the liar by truth. (223)

Cf. the Skt. verse in the M B. Udyogaparva, 38. 73. 74:

akrodhena jayet krodhatn asddhum sddhuna jayet
jayet kadaryam danena satyen&likavddinam.

4 saccath bhane, na kujjheyya, dajja 'ppasmim pi ydetto

etehi tihi fhdnehi gacche devana santike 224
 132 KODHAVAGGO—ANGER

(4) One should speak the truth, not yield to anger, if asked
give even a little. By these three means one will certainly
come into the presence of the gods. (224)

5 ahimsakd ye munayo, niccam kayena samvuta

te yanti accutam fhdnam, yatthagantvd na socare 225
(5) The sages who injure none, who always control their body,
go to the unchangeable place, where, having gone, they do
not grieve. (225)

6 sadd jagaramandnam, ahorattanusikkhinam

nibbdnam adhimuttanam, attham gacchanti asavd 226

(6) Those who are ever vigilant (wakeful), who study by day
and by night, who strive after nirvana, their taints come
to an end. (226)

7 poranam etam, alula, n’etam ajjatandm iva

nindanti tunhim dstnam, nindanti bahubhdninam
mitabhdninam pi nindanti, n'atthi loke anindito. 227

(7) This is an old saying, O Atula, this is not (a saying) only

of to-day. 'They blame him who remains silent, they blame
him who talks much, they blame also him who speaks in
moderation.’ There is not anyone in the world who is not
blamed. (227)
Atula is the name of the pupil whom Gautama addresses in this
verse.

8 na cdhu, na ca bhavissati, na c'etaraiii vijjati

ekantam nindito poso ekantam vd pasamsito 228

(8) There never was, nor will be, nor is there now to be found
anyone who is (wholly) blamed, anyone who is (wholly)
praised. (228)

No one receives unqualified blame or unqualified praise.

 KODHAVAGGO—ANGER *33

9 yaii ce vinnii pasamsanti amivicca suve suve

acchiddavuttim medhavim paiindsilasamahitam 229

(9) But he whom the discriminating praise observing day

after day, as without blemish, wise, endowed with meditative
wisdom and virtue, (229)

suve suve. Skt. sva}1 svali, day after day.

10 nekkham jambonadasseva ko tarn ninditum arafiati ?

devd pi naiii pasamsanti brahmuna pi pasatiisito 230

(10) who is worthy to blame him who is like a gold coin from
the Jambu river? Even the gods praise him; he is praised
even by Brahma. (230)

Brahma is the creator god, who is ranked higher than the other
gods.

11 kdyappakopam rakkJieyya, kdyena samvuto siya

kayaduccaritam hitvd, kdyena sucaritam care. 231

(11) Let one be watchful of bodily irritation. Let him practise

restraint of the body. Having abandoned the sins of the body
let him practise virtue with his body. (231)

12 vacipakoparii rakkheyyat vdedya samvuto siya

vadduccaritam hitvd, vdedya sucaritam care 232

(12) Let one be watchful of speech-irritation. Let him practise

restraint of speech. Having abandoned the sins of speech let
him practise virtue with his speech. (232)

One should control angry words and practise speaking good words.

13 manopakopam rakkheyya, manasa samvuto siya

manoduccaritam hitvd, manasa sucaritam care 233
*34 KODHAVAGGO—ANGER

(13) Let one be watchful of mind-irritation. Let him practise

restraint of mind. Having abandoned the sins of mind let him
practise virtue with his mind. (233)
One should control angry thoughts and cultivate good thoughts.

14 kayena samvuta dhira atho vacaya samvuta

manasa samvuta dhira te ve suparisamvutd 234

(14) The wise who control their body, who likewise control
their speech, the wise who control their mind are indeed wrell
controlled. (234)
 CHAPTER XVIII

MALAVAGGO

IMPURITY

1 pandupalaso va 'dBm 'si, yamapurisa pi ca tarn upatthitd

uyyogamukhe ca titthasi, pdtheyyarii pi ca te na vijjati 235

(1) You are now like a withered leaf ; even the messengers
of death have come near you. You stand at the threshold of
departure (at the gate of death) and you have made no pro¬
vision (for your journey). (235)

uyyoga: departure, decay, death.

2 so karolii dlparn attano, khippam vdyama, pandito bhava

niddhantamalo anangano dibbam ariyabhumim ehisi 236

(2) Make for yourself an island (refuge), strive quickly, be

wise. When your impurities are purged and you are free from
sin you will reach heaven, the land of the elect. (23^)

A drowning man can save himself by reaching an island.

Dlpa is the name for a lamp. The Buddha is called dipankara.
The first part of the verse may also be rendered ‘make of the self
a lamp’.

3 upanltavayo ca 'dani 'si, sanipayato 'si yamassa santike

vaso pi ca te n'atthi antara, pdtheyyam pi ca te na vijjati
237
(3) Your life has come near to an end, you are arrived in the
presence of Yama (the king of death). There is no resting-
place for you on the way and you have made no provision (for
your journey). (237)
i36 malavaggo—impurity

4 so karohi dlpatn attano, khippam vdyama, pandito bhava

niddhantamalo anangano na punam jdtijaram upehisi 238

(4) Make for yourself an island, strive quickly, be wise. When

your impurities are purged and you are free from sin, you
will not again enter into birth and old age. (238)

5 amipubbena medhavi thokathokarh khane khane

kammdro rajatass' eva niddhame malam attano 239
(5) As a smith removes the impurities of silver, even so let
a wise man remove the impurities of himself one by one,
little by little, and from time to time. (239)

6 ayasd va malam samuffhitam, tadutthdya tarn eva khadati

evam atidhonacarinam sakakammdni nayanti duggatim 240

(6) Impurity arising from iron eats into it though bom from
itself, likewise the evil deeds of the transgressor lead him to
the evil state. (240)
Even as iron’s own rust destroys it, so also the sinner’s own acts
lead him to evil.
sakakammdni: another reading sdtti kammdni.

7 asajjhdyamala manta, anut\hdnamala ghard

malam vannassa kosajjam, pamado rakkhaio malam 241

(7) Non-recitation is the impurity of the seeker, non-exertion

is the impurity of house; indolence is the impurity of (per¬
sonal) appearance, and thoughtlessness is the impurity of the
watchful. (241)
Non-exertion is the impurity of the household life; or, non-repair
is the impurity of the house.
He who keeps watch must not be slothful or forgetful.

8 mal' itthiya duccaritam, maccheram dadato malam

mala ve pdpakd dhamma asmim loke paramhi ca 242
 MALAVAGGO—IMPURITY *37

(8) Bad conduct is the impurity of a woman; niggardliness

is the impurity of the giver; evil deeds are impurities in this
world and in the next. (242)

9 tato mala malataram avijjd paramam malam

etam malam pahatvdna nimmald hotha bhikkhavo 243

(9) But there is an impurity greater than all impurities.

Ignorance is the greatest impurity. O mendicants, having
cast away that impurity, be free from all impurities. (243)

nimmald: free from impurities, clean, taintless.

10 sujivam altirikena, kakasurena, dhamsind

pakkhandtnd, pagabbhena, sankilitthena jlvitam 244

(10) Life is easy to live for one who is shameless, who is of

(the boldness of) a crow hero, for the mischief-maker, for the
slanderer, for the impudent, and for the impure. (244)
pakkhandin: slanderer. One who meddles with other people's busi¬
ness (£.).

11 hxrtmatd ca dnjj'wam niccarh sucigavesina

alltieri appagabbhena suddhajivena passata 245

(11) But life is hard to live for one who has a sense of modesty,
who always seeks for what is pure, who is disinterested, not
impudent, who lives in purity; the man of insight. (245)

12 yo pdnam atipateti musdvadam ca bhasati

loke adinnam adiyati paradaram ca gacchati 246

(12) He who destroys life, who speaks untruth, who in this

world takes what is not given to him, who goes to another
man’s wife, (246)

13 surdmerayapdnam ca yo naro anuyufijati

idti eva-m-eso lokasmim mulam khanati attano 247
 138 MALAVAGGO—IMPURITY

(13) and he who gives himself to drinking intoxicating liquors,

he, even in this world, digs up his own root. (247)

14 evam bho purisa, jdnahi, pdpadhamma asannata

md tarn lobho adhammo ca dram dukkhdya randhayum
248

(14) Know this, 0 man, that evil is not (easily) controlled.

Let not greed and wrong-doing bring you to grief for a long
time. (248)
If you are subject to greed and wrong-doing you will suffer for
long.

15 dadati ve yathasaddham yathapasadanam jano

tattha yo manku bhavati paresam pdnabhojane
na so diva vd rattim vd samddhim adhigacchati 249

(15) Men give (alms) according to their faith or according to

their friendliness. Therefore, he who frets about the drink
and food given to others does not, either by day or by night,
enjoy peace of mind. (249)

We must be content with wrhat we get and not be disturbed if others

get more than we ourselves.

16 yassa c' etam samucckinnam, mUlaghaccam samuhatam

sa ve diva vd rattim vd samddhim adhigacchati 250

(16) He in whom this spirit (of envy) is destroyed, removed

by the very root, he, indeed, by day and by night, enjoys
peace of mind. (250)

17 n'atthi ragasamo aggi, n'atthi dosasamo gaho

n'atthi mohasamam jalam, n'atthi tanhasama nadt 251

(17) There is no fire like passion, no capturer like hatred,

there is no net (snare) like delusion, no torrent like crav¬
ing. (251)
 MALAVAGGO—IMPURITY 139

18 sudassam vajjam annesam, attano pana duddasam

paresam hi so vajjani opundti yathdbhusam
attano pana chadeti kalirii va kitavd sat ho 252
(18) The fault of others is easily seen; our own is difficult
to see. A man winnows others' faults like chaff, but his own
faults he hides even as a cheat hides an unlucky throw. (252)
See Matthew vii. 3.
Cf.: narah sarsapanidtrdni paracchidrdni pasyati
dtmano bilvamdtrdni patyann api na pafyati.

19 paravajjanupassissa niccam ujjhanasahhino

asavd tassa vaddhanti drd so asavakkhayd 253
(19) To him who is observant of the faults of others, who is
ever censorious, his own passions increase and he is far from
the destruction of passions. (253)

20 dkase padam n'atthi, samano n'atthi bahire

papaheabkirata. paja, nippapanca tathagatd 254

(20) There is no path in the sky, there is no recluse (adopt¬

ing the Buddhist path) outside (of us), mankind delights in
worldliness; the Buddhas are free from worldliness. (254)
Another interpretation is ‘No one outside the Buddhist community
can walk through the sky.’ This is not consistent with the Buddha’s
well-known discouragement of the display of miraculous powers.
Cf. Lalitavistara-. andlayam nisprapailcam anutpddam asambha-
vam.

21 akase padam n'atthi, samano n'atthi bahire

sankhdrd sassatd n'atthi, n'atthi buddhanam injitam 255

(21) There is no path in the sky, there is no recluse outside

(of us). Nothing in the phenomenal world is eternal, there
is no instability to the awakened. (255)
There is no variableness in the Buddhas or the aw'akened.
 CHAPTER XIX

D HAMM A TTHA VAGGO

THE RIGHTEOUS

1 na tena Jioti dhammattho yen' attharh sahasd naye

yo ca attham anattham ca ubho niccheyya pandito 256
(1) He who carries out his purpose by violence is not therein
righteous (established in the law). He is wise who decides
both advantage and disadvantage. (256)
He must discriminate between right and wrong.

2 asahasena dhammena samena nayati pare

dhammassa gutto medhdvl dhammaffho ti pavuccati 257
(2) He who guides others by a procedure that is non-violent
and equitable, he is said to be a guardian of the law, wise
and righteous. (257)
dhammassa gutto: guardian of the law or guarded by law. He is
guarded by law when he acts according to law. All his acts arc
directed by a sense of justice.
dhammagutto, dhammara/tkhito: guarded by law, protected by
law (£.).

3 na tena pandito hoti yavata bahu bhdsati

khemi, avert, abhayo, pandito ti pavuccati 258
(3) A man is not learned simply because he talks much. He
who is tranquil, free from hatred, free from fear, he is said
to be learned. (258)

4 na tavatd dhammadharo yavata bahu bhasati

yo ca appam pi sutvana, dhammam kayena passati
sa ve dhammadharo hoti yo dhammam nappamajjati 259
 DHAMMATTHAVAGGO—THE RIGHTEOUS 141

(4) A man is not a supporter of the law simply because he

talks much, but he who, little learned, discerns it by his body,
he who does not neglect the law, he, indeed, is the supporter
of the law. (259)
kdyena: by body, by all his mental powers, by his acts.
dharnma: four great truths (Z?.).

5 na tena thero so hoti yen* assa phaUtam siro

paripakko vayo tassa moghajinno ti vuccati 260

(5) A man is not an elder simply because his head (hair)

is grey. Ilis age is ripe, but he is called grown old in vain.
(260)
Cf. Manu, ii. 136:
na tena vrddho bhavati yendsya palitam Hr ah
yo vai yuvapi adhlydnas tain devdh ithaviram viduh.
‘If the hair has become white, a man does not on that account
become old; though a man may be young if he is learned, the gods
look upon him as old.’ See also M.B. Vanaparva, 133. 11; Salya-
parva, 51. 47.

6 yamhi saccam ca, dhammo ca, ahimsa, sahhamo, damo

sa ve vcmtamalo dhiro thero ti pavuccati 261

(6) He in whom dwell truth, virtue, non-violence, restraint,

control, he who is free from impurity and is wise, he is called
an elder. (261)

7 na vakkaranamattena vannapokkharataya va
sadhurupo naro hoti issukl macchari satho 262

(7) Not by mere talk, not by the beauty of the complexion,

does a man who is envious, greedy, and wicked become of
good disposition. (262)
142 DHAMMATTHAVAGGO—THE RIGHTEOUS

8 yassa c’etam samucchitmam, miilaghaccham samuhatam

sa vantadoso medhdvl sadhurupo ti vuccati 263

(8) He in whom these (envy, greed, and wickedness) are

destroyed, removed by the very root, he who is free from
guilt and is wise, is said to be handsome. (263)

9 na mundakena samano abbato, alikarh bhanam

icchdlobhasamapanno samano kim bhavissati ? 264

(9) Not by tonsure docs one who is undisciplined and who

speaks untruth become a religious man. How can one who is
full of desire and greed be a religious man ? (264)
samana: religious man. It is bramana from the root fram, to work
hard. It is he who performs hard austerities. Pali samana is derived
also from sam to quiet. He who quiets the senses is a samana.
Cf. Imitation of Christ, Bk. i, chap, xvii: ‘The habit and the shaven
crown do little profit; but change of manners, and perfect mortifica¬
tion of passions, make a true religious man.’

10 yo ca sanieti pciparn anum tkulani sabbaso

samitatta hi pdpanam samano ti pavuccati 265

(10) But he who always quiets the evil tendencies, small or

large, he is called a religious man because he has quieted all
evil. (265)

11 na tena bhikkhu $0 hoti yavata bhikkhate pare

vissarh dhammam samadaya bhikkhu hoti na tdvatd 266

(11) He is not a mendicant simply because he begs others

(for alms). He who adopts the whole law is a mendicant, not
he who adopts only a part. (266)
vis sam: Skt. vifvak, on all sides, completely.
Another translation of the second line is ‘he is not a mendicant
simply because he adopts the whole law of the mendicant’.

«
 DHAMMATTHAVAGGO—THE RIGHTEOUS 143

12 yo 'dha puiiilam ca pdparn ca bahetva brahmacariyavd

samkhdya loke carati, sa ve bhikkhuti vuccati 267

(12) But he who is above good and evil and is chaste, who
comports himself in the world with knowledge, he, indeed, is
called a mendicant. (267)

13 na monena muni hoti muUiariipo aviddasu

yo ca tularh va paggaytia varam ddaya pandito 268

(13) By (observing) silence a man does not become a sage if

he be foolish and ignorant; but that wise man, who, holding
(as it were) the scale, takes what is good, (268)

14 papani parivajjeti sa muni, tena so muni

yo munati ubho loke, muni tena parouccati 269

(14) and avoids the evil, he is the sage, is a sage for that (very)
reason. He who in this world weighs both sides, is called a
sage on that (very) account. (269)

15 na tena ariyo hoti yena panani himsati

ahimsa sabbapdnanam ariyo ti pavuccati 270

(15) A man is not noble (or elect) because he injures living

creatures. He is called noble because he does not injure living
beings. (270)

He has compassion for all living creatures.

16 na silabbatamattena, bahusaccena va puna

athava samadhilabhena vivicca-sayanena va 271

(16) Not only by disciplined conduct and vows, not only by

much learning, nor moreover by the attainment of medita¬
tive calm nor by sleeping solitary, (271)
■44 DHAMMATTHAVAGGO-THE RIGHTEOUS

17 phusami nekkhatntnasukham aputhujjanasevitam

bhikkhu vissasamdpadi appatto asavakkhayam 272

(17) do I reach the happiness of release which no worldling

can attain. O mendicant, do not be confident (rest not con¬
tent) so long as you have not reached the extinction oi im¬
purities. (272).
 CHAPTER XX

MAGGAVAGGO

THE PATH

1 tnaggan' atthahgiko setfho, saccdnam caturo padd

virago setfho dhammdnam dipadanam ca cakkhumd 273

(1) Of paths the eightfold is the best; of truths the (best are)
four sayings (truths); of virtues freedom from attachment is
the best; of men (literally two-footed beings) he who is pos¬
sessed of sight. (273)
cakkhumd: possessed of sight. He who has the eye for truth.

2 eso va maggo, n'atth' anno dassanassa visuddhiya

etamhi tumhe patipajjatha, morass' etam pamohanam 274

(2) This is the path; there is none other that leads to the
purifying of insight. You follow this (path). This will be to
confuse (escape from) Mara (death, sin). (274)
This is the path. Life is a pilgrimage, we are all wayfarers seeking
the end of the path, advanafi p&ram (Kafka Up. iii. 9).

Agni is said to be the pathfinder.

Dhamma is the door to the deathless (Vinaya Pifaka, i. 5).
Confusion of MSra means his discomfiture.

3 etamhi tumhe pafipannd dukkhass' antam karissatha

akkhdto ve may a maggo anHdya sallasanthanam 275

(3) Going on this path, you will end your suffering. This path
was preached by me when I became aware of the removal of
the thorns (in the flesh). (275)
L
 146 MAGGAVAGGO—THE PATH

salla, Skt. ialya, arrow, thorn, iokaialya, the arrows or thorns of

grief. The Buddha is called in Lalitavistara mahdialyahartd, the
great remover of thorns.

The Buddha preached this path when he learnt how to throw

off the bonds.

4 tumhe hi kiccam atappam, akkhdtaro tathagata

pafipannd pamokkhantijhdyino mdrabandhana 276

(4) You yourself must strive. The Blessed Ones are (only)
preachers. Those who enter the path and practise meditation
are released from the bondage of Mara (death, sin). (276)

tathdgatd: the Blessed Ones, those who have arrived, have reached
nirvdna. They only show the way. Each one must achieve the goal
for himself under the guidance of the Buddhas.

5 ‘sabbe sarikhdrd aniccd' ti yadd pannaya passati

atha nibbindatl dukkhe, esa maggo visuddhiya 277

(5) ‘All created things are impermanent (transitory).’ When

one by wisdom realizes (this), he heeds not (is superior to)
(this world of) sorrow; this is the path to purity. (277)

All creation is passing. It is all suffering. It is all unreal. By recalling

men to these principles, the Buddha summons the toiling multitudes
to give up the pursuit of shadows and take to the path of purity.
Heidegger holds that when we experience anguish this is the
proof that we are dealing not with being but with non-being.

6 1 sabbe sarikhdrd dukkhd' ti yadd pannaya passati

atha mbbindati dukkhe, esa maggo visuddhiya 278

(6) All created things are sorrowful.’ When one by wisdom

realizes (this) he heeds not (is superior to) (this world of)
sorrow; this is the path to purity. (278)

7 'sabbe dhammd anatta' ti yadd pannaya passati

atha mbbindati dukkhe, esa maggo visuddhiya 279
 MAGGAVAGGO—THE PATH *47
(7) ‘All the elements of being are non-self.’ When one by
wisdom realizes (this), he heeds not (is superior to) (this
world of) sorrow; this is the path to purity. (279)
an-attd: non-self, have no individuality or permanent being.

All things arc impermanent, anitya, lacking in self or reality,

andtman, and therefore unsatisfactory, sorrowful, dukkha. They are
impermament because they arc dependent or caused. ‘Three are the
features of all phenomenal existence, satitskrta laksandni, origin,
utpdda, cessation, vyaya, and change of state, sthity anyathatvam *
Anguttara Nikaya, iii. 47. According to the Brahma Sutra 'the
permanent is that being which is uncaused’: sad akdranavdn nityam.
IV. 1. 1, Aryadeva observes: ‘Nowhere is there the existence of any¬
thing that is not dependent (on other things or causes) at any time.
The permanent therefore docs not exist anywhere (in the finite
universe’).
apratitydstita nasti kaddeit kasyadt kvacit.
na kaddeit kvacit kaicid vidyate tena idivatah.
Catuiiataka, ix. 2.
Whatever is subject to modification is not permanent, vikrtir
jdyate yasya idivatam tan na hi. All things arise from a cause ye
dhantmd hetuppabhavd. Whatever has by nature an origin has also
by nature a cessation yarn kind samudayadhammam, sabbath tarii
nirodhadhammam. In later Buddhism it is argued that ‘origination,
existence and destruction arc of the nature of appearance, dream,
a fairy castle1.
yathd mdyd yathd svapno gandharvam nagaram yathd
tathotpddas tatha sthanam tatha bhahga uddhrtah.
Mddhyamika Kdrikd, vii. 34.

The individual passes through a series of phases which have no

essential reality of their own. Our life is an inconstant process, ever
changing and never stopping to be. We arc not entities but pro¬
cesses. Anyone who has seen things as causally determined processes
will not attach permanent value to his individuality. Life in the
world of time and space is a condition of incessant change. Plato
asks: ‘How can that which is never in the same state be anything?’
(Cratylus, 439). If we lose our individuality, if we break down
the barrier of selfishness, the cosmic process pursues its normal
course.
148 MAGGAVAGGO—THE PATH
8 utthanakalam hi anutfhahdno
yuva ball dlasiyam upeto
samsanna-samkappamano kuslto
panndya maggam alaso na vindati 280

(8) He who does not get up when it is time to get up, who,
though young and strong, is full of sloth, who is weak in
resolution and thought, that lazy and idle man will not find
the way to wisdom. (280)

9 vacanurakkhi manasd susamvuto

kayena ca ahusalam na kayira
ete tayo kammapathe visodhaye
aradhaye maggam isippaveditam 281

(9) Guarding his speech, restraining well his mind, let a man
not commit anything wrong with his body. He who keeps
these three roads of action clear, will achieve the way taught
by the wise. (281)

10 yoga ve jayatt bhuri ayoga bhuri samkfiayo

etam dvedhdpatham hatva bhavaya vibhavaya ca
tath* attanam niveseyya yathd bhuri pavaddhati 282

(10) From meditation springs wisdom; from lack of medita¬

tion there is loss of wisdom. Knowing this twofold path of
progress and decline, a man should place himself in such a
way that his wisdom increases. (282)
samkhayo: loss. Skt. samksayah.

11 vanam chindatha, ma rukkham, vanato jdyati bhayam

chetva vanam ca vanatham ca nibbana hotha bhikkhavo
283
(u) Cut down the (whole) forest, not the tree (only); danger
 MAGGAVAGGO—THE PATH *49

comes out of the forest. Having cut down both the forest and
desire, O mendicants, do you attain freedom. (283)
vana has two meanings, lust and forest.
nirvana is nis-vana.

12 ydvam (hi) vanatho na chijjati anumatto pi narassa narisu

patibaddhamano va tdva, so, vaccho khlrapano va mdtan
284
(12) As long indeed as the desire, however small, of a man
for women is not destroyed, so long is his mind attached (to
existence) as a sucking calf is to its mother. (284)
Jditrapdno: another reading JdiirapafiO, drinking milk.

13 ucchinda sineham attano, kwnudam saradikatii vapamna

santimaggam eva bruhaya nibbdnam sugatena dent am 285

(13) Cut out the love of self as you would an autumn lily
with the hand. Cherish the path to peace, to nirvana pointed
out by the Buddha. (285)
sugata: the Buddha, one who has fared well. Sec 419.

14 ‘idha vassam vasissdmi idha hemantagimhisu*

iti bdlo vicinteti antarayam na bujjhati 286

(14) ‘Here I shall dwell in the rain, here in winter and sum¬
mer’ thus the fool thinks; he does not think of the obstacle
(of life). (286)
antarayam: the obstacle. This life is an inexorable progress to death.
The future on which we pin our hopes will be taken from us even
as the past was taken. Prince or peasant, king or beggar, death lies
at the end of the road.
\
15 tam puttapasusammattam byasattamanasarh naram
suttam gamam mahogho va maccu adaya gacchati 287
ISO MAGGAVAGGO—THE PATH

(15) As a great flood carries off a sleeping village, death takes

off and goes with that man who is giddy (with the possession
of) children and cattle, whose mind is distracted (with the
desire for worldly goods). (287)

16 na santiputta tanaya, na pita, n'api bandhava

antakenadhipannassa n’atthi ndttsu tdnatd 288

(16) Sons arc no protection, nor father, nor relations, for one
who is seized by death, there is no safety in kinsmen. (288)

17 etarn atthavasam natva pandito silasarhvuto

nibbdnagamanatii maggam khippam eva visodhaye 289

(17) Realizing the significance of this, the wise and righteous

man should even quickly clear the path leading to release.
(289)
He must understand the undependable character of outer circum¬
stances and yearn for true safety in spiritual freedom.
maggam: the path.
The name of the book Dhammapada refers to the path of virtue:
‘This is the way; walk ye in it’ (Isaiah xxx. 2i).Therc is an oft-
quoted saying: ‘Some run swiftly; some walk; some creep painfully;
but everyone will reach the goal who keeps on’.
 CHAPTER XXI

PAKINNAKA VAGGO

MISCELLANEOUS VERSES

i mattd-sukhapariccdgd passe ce vipulam sukhatn

caje matta-sukham dhiro sampassam vipulam sukham 290

(1) If, by surrendering a pleasure of little worth one sees a

larger pleasure, the wise man will give up the pleasure of
little worth, and look to the larger pleasure. (290)

2 paradukkhupadhdnena yo attano sukham icchati

verasamsaggasamsaffho vera so napamuccati 291

(2) He who desires happiness for himself by inflicting suffer¬

ing on others, he, entangled in the bonds of hatred, is not
freed from hatred. (291)

3 yam fu kiccam apaviddham akiccam pana kayirati

unnaldnam pamattanam tesarii vaddhanii asava 292

(3) giving UP what should be done, what should not be

done is done, in those unrestrained and careless, the taints
increase. (292)

4 yesarii ca susamdraddhd niccam kdyagatd sati

akiccam te na sevanti kicce sdtaccakdrino
satanam sampajananatn attharh gacchanti asava 293

(4) But those whose mindfulness is always alert to (the nature

of) the body, who do not aim at what should not be done, who
steadfastly do what should be done, the impurities of these
mindful and wise people come to an end. (293)
152 PAKIIjH^AKAVAGGO—MISCELLANEOUS VERSES

5 mdtaram pitaram hanlvd, rajano dve ca khattiye

raffiam sanucaram hantva anigho yati brdhmano 294

(5) A (true) Brahmin goes scatheless though he have killed

father and mother and two kings of the warrior caste and
a kingdom with all its subjects. (294)

The commentator B. explains tanhd as rndta, asmimana as pita,

sassatadiffi and ucchcdadiffi as two ksatriya kings, dvadaidyatana
as raffia and nandir&ga as anucara. See 295 n.

6 mdtaram pitaram hantva, rajano dve ca sotthiye

veyyagghapancamam hantva anigho yati brdhmano 295

(6) A (true) Brahmin goes scatheless though he have killed

father and mother and tw'o holy kings and an eminent man
as the fifth. (295)

veyyaggha: derived from vyaggha, means an eminent man or a

tigerish man.
This verse is an exaggerated way of expressing the doctrine that
a saint cannot commit any sin. Those who have attained enlighten¬
ment are lifted above the world of good and evil. They arc beyond
the reach of any temptation to evil.
The commentator is startled by the literal view and so offers an
allegorical interpretation that mother is passion, father is pride, the
two valiant kings are heretical systems and the kingdom is sensual
pleasure, and veyytgha is represented as the place infested by the
tigers of obstruction to final beatitude. A passage from the third
book of the Lariikavat&ra Sutra is quoted by Mr. Beal as having
been recited by the Buddha in explanation of a similar utterance
which he made to Mahimati:
Lust, or carnal desire, this is the Mother,
Ignorance, this is the Father,
The highest point of knowledge, this is Buddha,
All the KleSas, these are the Rahats,
The five skandhas, these are the priests;
PAKIIjUjIAKAVAGGO—MISCELLANEOUS VERSES 153
To commit the five unpardonable sins
Is to destroy these five
And yet not suffer the pains of hell.
(Samuel Beal, Dhtmtmapada (1902), pp. 7"8-)

The verse indicates the sanctity and prestige which the Buddha
gave to the Brahmins; for he uses the word Brdhmana for the arhat
or the follower of the Buddha who has attained to final sanctifica¬
tion. Sec Chapter XXVI, Brdhmana.

7 suppabuddham pabujjhanti soda gotamasdvaka

yesam diva ca ratto ca niccarii buddhagatd sati 296

(7) The disciples of Gautama are always well awake, their

thought is always, day and night, set on the Buddha. (296)

8 suppabuddham pabujjhanti sadd gotamasdvaka

yesam diva ca ratto ca niccarii dhammagatd sati 297

(8) The disciples of Gautama are always well awake; their

thought is always, day and night, set on the Law'. (297)

9 suppabuddham pabujjhanti sadd gotamasdvaka

yesam diva ca ratto ca niccam samghagata sati 298

(9) The disciples of Gautama are always well awake; their

thought is always, day and night, set on the Order. (298)

10 suppabuddham pabujjhanti sadd gotamasdvaka,

yesam diva ca ratto ca niccam kayagatd sati 299

(10) The disciples of Gautama are always well awake; their

thought is always, day and night, set on the (nature of the)
body. (299)

11 suppabuddham pabujjhanti sadd gotamasdvaka

yesatii diva ca ratto ca ahimsdya rato mano 300
i54 PAKItflSTAKAVAGGO—MISCELLANEOUS VERSES

(n) The disciples of Gautama are always well awake; their

mind, day and night, delights in abstinence from harm (com¬
passion, love). (300)

12 suppabuddham pabujjhanti sadd gotamasdvaka

yesam diva ca ratto ca bhavandya rato mono 301

(12) The disciples of Gautama are always well awake; their

mind, day and night, delights in meditation. (301)

13 duppabbajjam durabhiramam duravasd ghara dukhd

dukkho *samanasarhvdso dukkhdnupatitaddhagu
tasmd na c'addhagu siya na ca dukJthdnupatito siyd 302

(13) It is hard to leave the world as a recluse and hard to

enjoy. Hard also is it to live at home as a householder. Living
with the unsympathetic is painful. The life of a wanderer is
beset with pain. Therefore let no man be a wanderer, let no
one fall into suffering (302)
‘The traveller on the long road of samara meets with nothing but
sorrow; sorrowful is the life of the recluse; sorrowful is the life of
the householder; sorrowful is association with those who are not
our equals; therefore let him travel no more and so he will not be
exposed to sorrow’ (J5.).

14 saddho, stiena sampanno, yasobhogasamappito

yam yam padesam bhajati tattha tatth' eva pujito 303

(14) Whatever region a man of faith, endowed with virtue,

with fame, and prosperity is allotted, even there he is revered.
(303)
No matter what place he resorts to, he will be honoured.

15 dure santo pakasenti himavanto va pabbato

asant' ettha na dissanti ratti-khittd yathd sard 304
PAKIl!l!£AKAVAGGO—MISCELLANEOUS VERSES 155

(15) Good people shine from afar like the Himalaya moun¬
tains but the wicked are not seen, like arrows shot in the
night. (304)

16 ekasanam ekaseyyam eko car am atandito

eko damayam attanam vanante rami to siya 305

(16) Let one sit alone, sleep alone, act alone without being
indolent, subdue his self by means of his self alone: he would
find delight in the extinction of desires. (305)
vanante: extinction of desires, or, as in a forest. See v. 283.
 CHAPTER XXII

NIRAYAVAGGO

THE DOWNWARD COURSE (HELL)

i abhutavddi nirayam upeti yo vdpi katva (na karornV c'aha

ubho pi te pecca sama bhavaiiti niMnakamma manujd pa-
raltha 306

(1) He who speaks what is not (real) goes to hell ; he also,

who having done a thing says ‘I do not do it.’ After death
both become equal, being men with evil deeds in the next
existence. (306)

2 kascroakantha bahavo papadhammd asaiinata

papa pdpehi kammehi nirayam te upapajjare 307

(2) Many men who arc clad in yellow robes are ill-behaved
and unrestrained. Such evil-doers by their evil deeds go to
hell. (307)
kdsdvakantha, literally, those about whose neck hangs the yellow
robe. Suffering is the wages of sin.

3 seyyo ayogulo bhutto tatto aggisikhupamo

yam ce bhunjeyya dussilo ratfhapindam asannato 308

(3) Better is it for an irreligious unrestrained (person) to

swallow a ball of red-hot iron than enjoy the diet of a king¬
dom. (308)

4 cattari thdndni naro pamatto dpajjati paraddrupasevi

apunnalabham na nikamaseyyam nindam tatiyam nirayam
catuttham 309
 THE DOWNWARD COURSE (HELL) 157

(4) An unthinking man who courts another’s wife gains four

things, access of demerit, broken rest, thirdly blame, and
fourthly hell. (309)
na nikdmaseyyam: not obtaining the rest as he wishes it, he obtains
it as he does not wish it, for a short time only.
yathd icchati cvatii seyyam alabhitvd, anicchitam parittakam tva
kdlam seyyam labhati (£.).

5 apuiinaldbho ca gati ca pa pika, bhUassa bkltaya rati ca

thokikd
rdjd ca dandam garukcah paneti tasma naro paraddram na
seve 310
(5) There is access of demerit as well as the way to the evil
state; there is the short-lived pleasure of the frightened in the
arms of the frightened, and a heavy penalty from the ruler.
Therefore do not run after another man’s wife. (310)
These arc ways of expressing the simple truth ‘Do not commit
adultery.’

6 knso yathd duggahito hattham evanukantati

sdmaiiiiam duppardmattham nirayaya upakaddhati 311

(6) As a blade of grass when wrongly handled cuts the hand,

so also asceticism when wrongly tried leads to hell. (311)

7 yam kind sithilam karnmam samkilittham ca yam vatam

sathkassaram brahmacariyam na tarn hoti mahapphalam 312

(7) An act carelessly performed, a vow improperly observed,

unwilling obedience to the code of chastity brings no great
reward. (312)

8 kayird ce kayirdthenam dalham enarh parakkame

sithilo hi paribbajo bhiyyo akirate rajam 313
I58 NIRAYAVAGGO

(8) If anything is to be done let one do it vigorously. A recluse

who is careless only bespatters himself the more with dust.
(3*3)

9 akatam dukkatam seyyo pacchd tapati dukkatam

katam ca sukatam seyyo yam katvd nanutappati 314

(9) An evil deed left undone is better, for an evil deed causes
suffering later. A good deed done is better for doing, it does
not cause suffering. (314)

10 nagaram yatha paccantam guttam santarabdhiram

evam gopetha attdnam khano ve md upaccaga
khandtlta hi socanti nirayam hi samappitd 315

(10) As a frontier town is well-guarded within and without,

so guard the self. Do not let a moment glide by, for they who
allow the moments to pass by suffer when they are consigned
to hell. (315)
paccantam: on the border or the frontier.

11 alajjitaye lajjanti lajjitaye na lajjare

micchaditih isamadand sattd gacchanti duggatvn 316

(11) They who are ashamed of what they ought not to be

ashamed of and are not ashamed of what they ought to be
ashamed of, such men, following false doctrines, enter the
evil path. (316)

12 abhaye ca bhayadassino, bhaye cdbhayadassino

micchadifthisamaddna sattd gacchanti duggatim 317

(12) They who fear when they ought hot to fear and do not
fear when they ought to fear, such men, following false doc¬
trines, enter the evil path. (317)
 THE DOWNWARD COURSE (HELL) IS9
13 avajje vajjamatino vajje cavajjadassino
micchadif(hisamaddna satta gacchanti duggatim 318

(13) Those who discern evil where there is no evil and see
nothing evil in what is evil, such men, following false doc¬
trines, enter the evil path. (318)

14 vajjam ca vajjato iiatvd, avajjam ca avajjato

sammadiffJusamadana satta gacchanti suggatim 319

(14) Those who discern evil as evil and what is not evil as
not evil, such men, following the true doctrines, enter the
good path. (319)
 CHAPTER XXIII

nagavaggo

THE ELEPHANT

1 aham ndgo va samgdme cdpdto patitam saram

ativdkyam titikkhissam, dussilo hi bahujjano 320

(1) I shall endure hard words even as the elephant in battle

endures the arrow shot from the bow; the majority of people
are, indeed, ill natured. (320)
The elephant is the symbol in Buddhism of endurance, strength,
and restraint. The Buddha himself is called ndga or mahdndga, the
great elephant. There is a legend that he descended from heaven
in the form of an elephant to be bom on earth.
Cf. Manu, vi. 47: ativddam titikseta.

2 daniam nayanti samitim dantam raja 'bkirdhatt

danto settho manussesuyo 'tivakyam titikkhati 321

(2) They lead a tamed elephant into battle; the king mounts
a tamed elephant. The tamed is the best among men, he who
endures patiently hard words. (321)

3 varam assatard dantd ajdnlyd ca sindhava

kunjard ca mahdnagd attadanto tato varam 322

(3) Good are mules when tamed, so also the Sindhu horses
of good breed and the great elephants of war. Better than
these is he who has tamed himself. (322)

4 na hi etehi yanehi gaccheyya agatam disam

yatha 'ttand sudantena danto dantena gacchati 323
 NAGAVAGGO—THE ELEPHANT 161

(4) For with these animals does no man reach the untrodden
country (nirvana) where a tamed man goes on a tamed nature
(with his self well-tamed). (323)

5 dhanapalako nama kunjaro

ka\ukappabhedano dunnivarayo
baddho kabalam na bhuiijati
sumarati nagavanassa kunjaro 324

(5) The elephant called Dhanapalaka is hard to control when

the temples are running with a pungent sap (in the time of
rut). He does not eat a morsel (of food) when bound. The
elephant thinks longingly of the elephant-grove. (324)

6 middhi yada hoti mahagghaso ca

niddayitd samparivattasayi
mahavaraho va nhvapapultho
punappunam gabbham upeti mando 325

(6) If one becomes a sluggard or a glutton rolling himself

about in gross sleep, like a hog fed on wash, that foolish one,
again and again, comes to birth. (325)
If a man revels in physical existence, gives way to indolence, eats
overmuch, and spends his time in sleep, he misses his true destiny
as man.

7 idam pure cittam acari edritam

yenicchakam yatthakamam yalhasukham
tad ajj’ aham niggahessami yoniso
hatthippabhinnam viya ankusaggaho 326

(7) This mind of mine would wander formerly as it liked, as

it desired, as it pleased. I shall now control it thoroughly even
as the rider holding the hook controls the elephant in a state
of rut. (326)
M
162 NAGAVAGGO—THE ELEPHANT

8 appamadarata hotha, sacittam anurakkhatha

dugga uddharath’ attdnam patike satto va kuhjaro 327

(8) Be not thoughtless, guard your thoughts. Extricate your¬

self out of the evil way as an elephant sunk in the mud. (327)

9 sa ce labhetha nipakam sahayam

saddhimcaram sadhuviharidhiram
abhibhuyya sabbani parissayani
careyya ten' attamano satlmd 328

(9) If you find a companion, intelligent, one who associates

with you, who leads a good life, lives soberly, overcoming
all dangers, walk with him delighted and thoughtful. (328)

10 no ce labhetha nipakam sahayam

saddhimcaram sadhuviharidhiram
raja va raffham vijitam pahdya
eko care mdtang' arahhe va ndgo 329

(10) If you do not find a companion, intelligent, one who

associates with you, who leads a good life, lives soberly, walk
alone like a king who has renounced the kingdom he has
conquered or like an elephant (roaming at will) in the forest.
(3*9)

ii ekassa caritam seyyo n'atthi bale sahayatd

eko care na capdpdni kayird appossukko mdtang' arahhe va
ndgo 330

(11) It is better to live alone, there is no companionship with

a fool. Let a man walk alone with few wishes like an elephant
(roaming at will) in the elephant-forest. Let him commit no
sin. (330)
 NAGAVAGGO—THE ELEPHANT 163

12 atthamhi jatamhi sukha sahaya

tutthi sukha yd itarltarena
puhiiaih sukham jlvitasamkhayamhi
sabbassa dukkhassa sukham pahanam 331

(12) Companions are pleasant when an occasion (or need)

arises; contentment is pleasant when mutual. At the hour
of death merit is pleasant. The giving up of all sorrow
is pleasant. (331)
itarltarena: whatever be the cause, small or great, parittena va
vipulena vd (5.).

13 sukha matteyyatd lake atho petteyyatd sukha

sukha sdmanhatd lolte, atho brahmahhata sukha 332

(13) To have a mother is happiness in the world; to have a

father is happiness in the world; to have a recluse is happiness
in the world; to have a sage is happiness in the world. (332)
It is rendered also ‘Happy is motherhood in the world; happy is
fatherhood; happy is the state of a religious man in this world;
happy is the state of a 9agc.'

14 sukham ydva jar a sllam, sukha saddha patitthitd

sukho pahhaya pafilabho, pdpdnam akaranam sukham 333

(14) Happy is virtue lasting to old age; happy is faith firmly

rooted; happy is the attainment of wisdom; happy is the
avoidance of sins. (333)
 CHAPTER XXIV

TANHAVAGGO

THIRST (OR CRAVING)

i manujassa pamattacarino tanha vaddhati maluva viya

so plavati kurahuram phalarn icchaih va vanasmim vdnaro
334

(1) The craving of a thoughtless man grows like a creeper.

Like a monkey wishing for fruit in a forest he bounds hither
and thither [from one life to another]. (334)

2 yam esd sahatl jamml tanha loke visattikd

sokd tassa pavaddhanti abhivattam va blranam 335

(2) Whomsoever this fierce craving, full of poison, overcomes

in the world, his sorrows increase like the abounding birana
grass. (335)

abhivaffam: abounding, growing rapidly.

Craving is the root of all human suffering. To be rid of it is to
be free from suffering.

3 yo cetam sahatl jammim tanham loke duraccayam

sokd tamha papatanti udabindu va pokkhard 336

(3) He who overcomes in this world this fierce craving, diffi¬

cult to subdue, sorrows fall off from him like water drops
from a lotus leaf. (336)

4 tam vo vaddmi bhaddam vo ydvant’ ettha samagata

tanhaya mulant khanatha uslrattho va blranam
ma vo nalam va soto va maro bhanji punappunam 337
 TAIJJHAVAGGO—THIRST (OR CRAVING) 165

(4) I declare to you this good (counsel). ‘Do ye, as many as

are gathered here, dig up the root of craving as one digs up
the birana grass to find the usira root, that Mara (Death)
may not destroy you again and again even as the river destroys
the reeds (on the bank).' (337)

5 yatlidpi mule anupaddave dalhe chinnopi rukkho punar eva

ruhati
evart't pi tanhiinusaye anuhate nibbattatl dukkham idam
punappunam 338
(5) As a tree, even though it has been cut down, grows again
if its root is firm and uninjured (i.e. safe), even so if the ad-
herences of craving are not destroyed, this suffering returns to
us again and again. (338)

6 yassa chattimsati sotu mandpassavand bhusa

valid vahanti dudditthim sankappa rdganissita 339
(6) Him whose thirty-six streams flowing towards pleasures
of sense are strong, whose thoughts are set on passion, the
waves carry away that misguided man. (339)
Thirty-six streams are the six organs of sense and the six objects
of sense in relation to a desire for sensual pleasures (kdma), a desire
for existence (bhava), and a desire for prosperity (vibhava).
If a man’s desires flow unchecked the waves of his lust and crav¬
ing bear him off.

7 savanti sabbadhi sota lata ubbhijja tiffhati

tarn ca disvd latam jatam mulam paiinaya chindatha 340
(7) The streams flow everywhere; the creeper (of passion)
springing up gets fixed. If you see that creeper sprung up,
cut its root by means of wisdom. (340)

8 saritani sinehitani ca somanassani bhavanti jantuno

te satasitd sukhesino, te ve jatijarupagd nard 341
166 TAIjIHAVAGGO—THIRST (OR CRAVING)

(8) To creatures happen pleasures and wide-ranging endear¬

ments. Hugging those pleasures they hanker after them.
Those men indeed undergo birth and old age. (341)

9 tasinaya purakkhatd pajd parisappanti saso va badhito

samyojanasariigasattakd dukkham upentipunappunam dray a
342
(9) Men driven on by craving run about like a hunted hare.
Fast bound in its fetters, they undergo suffering for a long
time, again and again. (342)

10 tasinaya purakkhatd pajd parisappanti saso va badhito

tasmd tasinam vinodaye bhikkhu dkankhl virdgam attano
343
(10) Men driven on by craving run about like a hunted hare.
Let, therefore, the mendicant, wishing for himself freedom
from passion, shake off craving. (343)

11 yo nibbanatho vanddhimutto vanamutto vanam eva dhdvati

tam puggalatn eva passatha mutto bandhanam eva dhdvati
344
(11) He who having got rid of the forest (of desire) gives
himself over to the life of the forest (desire), he who, free
from the forest (of desire), runs back to the forest (of desire),
—look at him, though free, he runs into bondage. (344)
This verse plays on the two meanings of varta, forest and desire.

12 na tam dalham bandhanam dhu dhird

yad dyasam darujam babbajam ca
sarattarattd manikundalesu
puttesu daresu ca yd apekhd 345
 TAIjJHAVAGGO—THIRST (OR CRAVING) 167

(12) Wise people do not say that that fetter is strong which
is made of iron, wood, or fibre, but the attachment to ear¬
rings made of precious stones, to sons, and wives is passion¬
ately impassioned. (345)

13 etarn dalham bandhanam ahu dhlra

ohdrinam sithilam duppamudeam
etaih pi chetvdna paribbajanti
anapekhino kdmasukham pahdya 346

(13) Wise people call strong this fetter which drags down,
yields, and is difficult to unfasten. After having cut this people
renounce the world, free from longings and forsaking the
pleasures of sense. (346)

14 ye r agar attdnupat anti sotam sayamkatam makkatako va

jalam
etam pi chetvdna vajanti dhira anapekhino sabbadukkham
pahdya 347

(14) Those who are slaves to passions follow the stream (of
craving) as a spider the web which he has made himself. Wise
people, when they have cut this (craving), leave the world,
free from cares, leaving all sorrow behind. (347)
‘As a spider, after having made its thread-web, sits in the middle,
and after killing with a violent rush a butterfly or a fly which has
fallen in its circle, drinks its juice, returns and sits again in the
same place, in the same manner, creatures who arc given to passions,
depraved by hatred and maddened by wrath, run along the stream
of thirst which they have made themselves and cannot cross it’ (B.).

15 munca pure, munca pacchato, tnajjhe munca bhavassa pd~

ragu
sabbattha vimuttamdnaso na puna jdtijaram upehisi 348
i68 TAI^JHAVAGGO—THIRST (OR CRAVING)

(15) Give up what is before, give up what is behind, give up

what is in the middle, passing to the farther shore of existence.
When your mind is wholly freed you will not again return to
birth and old age. (348)

16 vitakkapamathitassa jantuno tibbardgassa subhdnupassino

bhiyyo tanhd pavaddhati esa kho dalham karoti bandhanam
349
(16) Craving increases more to a creature who is disturbed
by thoughts, full of strong passions, yearning for what is
pleasant; he indeed makes his fetters strong. (349)

17 vitakkiipasame ca yo rato asubham bhavayati sadd sato

esa kho vyantikakiti esa-cchecchati marabandhanam 350

(17) He who delights in quieting his thoughts, always reflect¬

ing, dwells on what is not pleasant, he will certainly remove,
nay, he will cut the bonds of death. (350)
asubham: what is not pleasant, i.e. on the impurities of the body.

18 niffharigato asantasl vitatanho anahgano

acchiddi bhavasalldni antimo' yam samussaye 351

(18) He who has reached the good, who is fearless, who is

without craving and without sin, he has broken the thorns
of existence, this body is his last. (351)

19 vitatanho anaddno niruttipadakovido

akkhardnam sannipatam janha pubbdpardni ca
sa ve antimasarlro mahapanno mahapuriso ti vuccati 352

(19) He who is without craving, without appropriation, who

is skilful in understanding words and their meanings, who
knows the order of letters (which are before and which are
after), he is called the great sage, the great person. This is his
last body. (352)
 TAIjJHAVAGGO—THIRST (OR CRAVING) 169

20 sabbdbhibhu sabbavidu ’ham asmi sabbesu dhammesu aniipa-

litto
sabbamjaho tanhakkhaye vimutto sayam abhhmdya kam
uddiseyyam? 353
(20) ‘I have conquered all, I know all, in all conditions of life
I am free from taint. I have renounced all and with the
destruction of craving I am freed. Having learnt myself, to
whom shall I point as teacher?’ (353)
B. suggests that when the Buddha was on the way to Benares and
the Brahmin Upaka asked him about his teacher, the Buddha gave
this answer. The Buddha claims omniscience; elsewhere he claims
to be the only teacher.

21 sabbaddnam dhammadanam jindti

sabbam rasam dhammaraso jindti
sabbam ratim dhammaratl jindti
tanhakkhayo sabbadukkham jindti 354

(21) The gift of the law surpasses all gifts; the flavour of
the law surpasses all flavours, the delight in the law surpasses
all delights. The destruction of craving conquers all sor¬
rows. (354)
dhammadana: ‘gift of the law’ is the technical expression for instruc¬
tion in the Buddhist religion.

22 hancmti bhogd dummedham no ve pdragavesino

bhogatanhdya dummedfio hanti anne va attanam 355

(22) Riches destroy the foolish, not those who seek the beyond
(the other shore). By a craving for riches the foolish person
destroys himself as he destroys others. (355)

23 tinadosdni khettani rdgadosa ayam paja

tasma hi vltaragesu dinnam hoti mahapphalam 356
I70 TAISrHAVAGGO—THIRST (OR CRAVING)

(23) Weeds are the bane of fields and passion the bane of this
mankind; therefore offerings made to those free from passion
bring great reward. (356)

24 tinadosani khettani dosadosd ayani paja

tasma hi vitadosesu dinnam hoti mahapphalam 357

(24) Weeds are the bane of fields and hatred is the bane of
this mankind; therefore offerings made to those free from
hatred bring great reward. (357)

25 tinadosani khettani mohadosa ayam paja

tasma hi vltamohesu dinnam hoti mahapphalam 358

(25) Weeds are the bane of fields and folly is the bane of this
mankind; therefore offerings made to those free from folly
bring great reward. (358)

26 tinadosani khettani icchadosa ayam paja

tasma hi vigaticchcsu dinnam hoti mahapphalam 359

(26) Weeds are the bane of fields; desire is the bane of this
mankind; therefore offerings made to those freed from desire
bring great reward. (359)
icchadosa: desire is the bane. Uncontrolled desire is the danger. A
fool who heard that a staff is useful to an honest man to drive away
dogs picked up everything that looked like a staff and was finally
bearing such a load of them that he could scarcely drag himself
along. The greedy accumulate the requirements of life beyond all
need so that they are of no use to them but become a burden.
 CHAPTER XXV

BHIKKHUVAGGO

THE MENDICANT

1 cakkhund samvaro sddhu, sddhu sotena savtvaro

ghdnena samvaro sddhu, sddhu jivhdya samvaro 360

(1) Restraint in the eye is good; good is restraint in the ear; in

the nose restraint is good; good is restraint in the tongue. (360)

2 kdyena samvaro sddhu, sddhu vdcaya sarrtvaro

manasd samvaro sddhu, sddhu sabbattha sarirvaro
sabbattha samvuto bhikkhu sabbadukkha pamuccati 361

(2) In the body restraint is good, good is restraint in speech;

in thought restraint is good, good is restraint in all things.
A mendicant who is restrained in all things is freed from all
sorrow. (361)

3 hatthasannato pddasaiiiiato vdcaya sanilato saiinatuttamo

ajjhattarato samdhito eho santusito tarn dhu bhikkhum 362

(3) He who controls his hand, he who controls his feet, he

who controls his speech, he who is well-controlled, he who
delights inwardly, who is collected, who is alone and content,
him they call a mendicant. (362)

4 yo mukhasahnato bhikkhu mantabhanl anuddhato

attharii dhammam ca dipeti madhuram tassa bhasitam 363

(4) The mendicant who controls his tongue, who speaks

wisely, not uplifted (puffed up), who illuminates the meaning
and the law, his utterance is sweet. (363)
172 BHIKKHUVAGGO—THE MENDICANT

attham dhammam: the meaning and the law or temporal and spiritual
matters.

5 dhammaramo dhammarato dhammam anuvicintayan

dhammam armssaram bkikkku saddhamma na parihayati 364

(5) He whose pleasance is the law, who delights in the law,

meditates on the law, follows the law, that mendicant does
not fall from the true law. (364)

6 saldbham ndtimarlneyya nuhnesam pihayam care

ahhesarii pihayaih bhikkhu samddhim nd 'dhigacchati 365

(6) He should not overvalue what he himself receives; he

should not envy others. A mendicant who envies others does
not obtain tranquillity. (365)

7 appalabho pi ce bhikkhu saldbham natmannati

tam ve deva pasamsanti suddhajlvim atanditam 366

(7) Even the gods praise that mendicant who though he

receives little does not overvalue what he receives, whose life
is pure and strenuous. (366)

8 sabbaso namarupasmim yassa n'atthi mamayitam

asatd ca na socati sa ve bhikkhuti vuccati 367

(8) He, indeed, is called a mendicant who does count as his

own any name and form, who does not grieve from having
nothing. (367)
namarupa: name and form, mind and body which are, in Buddhist
doctrine, the marks of individual existence.
mamayitam: who does not identify himself with or who is not
attached to.
asat : what is not. He who does not grieve for that which does
not exist.
 BHIKKHUVAGGO—THE MENDICANT i73
9 mettavihari yo bhikkku pasanno buddhasasane
adhigacche padam santam sahkharupasamam sukham 368

(9) The mendicant who lives in friendliness and calm (has

faith) in the doctrine of the Buddha, he will attain the tran¬
quil, blessed place where (bodily) existence is at rest. (368)

mettavihari: who lives in friendliness, who dwells in loving-

kindness.
padam santam: the tranquil place or the path of tranquillity.

10 siiica bhikkhu imam ndvam sittd te lahum essati

chetvd ragain ca dosam ca tato nibbdnam ehisi 369

(10) Empty the boat, O mendicant; when emptied it will go

lightly. Having cut off passion and hatred then you will go
to freedom. (369)

tato: then, at the end of a few years he has to live (2?.).

The reference here is to jivanmukti or arhattva or upddhiie$a-
nirvdna.
rdgadosabandhanani chinditvd arahattam patto tato aparabhage
anupddisesa nibbdnam ehisiti attho: having severed the bond of
passion and hatred and attained arhatship, thereafter thou shalt
go to nirvana unconditioned (B.).

11 panca chinde panca jahe panca uttaribhavaye

panca sangatigo bhikkhu 1 oghatinnoti' vuccati 370

(11) Cut off the five, get rid of the five, master (rise above)
the five. A mendicant who has freed himself from the five
fetters is called ‘one who has crossed the flood’ (of re¬
birth). (370)

The five to be cut off are egoism, doubt, false asceticism, lust, and
hatred.
The five to be got rid of are longing for births with form, births
without form, self-will, vanity, and ignorance.
X74 BHIKKHUVAGGO—THE MENDICANT

The five to be mastered are faith, manliness, mindfulness, medita¬

tion, and wisdom.
The five fetters are greed, hatred, folly, pride, and false doctrine.
They may stand for rupa, form, vedana, feeling, sariijild, notion,
sarhskdra, predisposition, and vijiidna or intelligence.

12 jhdya, bhikkhu, ma capamado,

mate katnagune bhamassu cittam
ma lohagulam gill pamatto
via kandi *dukkham idam' ti dayhamdno 371

(12) Meditate, O mendicant, be not negligent. Let not your

thought delight in sensual pleasures, that you may not for
your negligence have to swallow the iron ball, that you may
not cry out when burning ‘This is suffering!’ (371)
Swallowing red-hot iron balls is said to be a form of punishment
in hell.

13 riatthi jhmiam apaMassa pamld n’atthi ajjhayato

yamhijhdrutm ca panda ca sa ve mbbanasantike 372

(13) There is no meditation for one who is without wisdom,

no wisdom for one without meditation; he in whom there are
meditation and wisdom, he indeed is close to nirvana. (372)

14 sunttagdram paviffhassa santacittassa bhikkhuno

amanusl rati hoti samma dhammam vipassato 373

(14) A mendicant who with a tranquil heart has entered an

empty house, he has a more than human (divine) delight,
through his right discernment of the law. (373)

amanusl rati: divine bliss.

15 yato yat0 sammasati khandhdnam udayabbayam

. labhati pitipdmojjam amatam tam vijdnatam 374
 BHIKKHUVAGGO—THE MENDICANT i75

(15) Whenever he comprehends the origin and destruction

of the elements of the body he obtains joy and happiness,
which is life eternal to those who know. (374)

16 tatrayam adi bhavati idha paiitiassa bhikkliuno

indriyagutto santutfhi pdtimokkhe ca samvaro
mitte bhajassu kalydne, suddhdjive atandite 375

(16) This is the beginning here to a wise mendicant, control

of the senses, contentment, restraint under the law (accord¬
ing to the precepts of the pdi'bnokkha), cultivation of friends
who are noble, of pure life, and zealous (not slothful). (375)

17 patisanthdravuttyassa dearakusalo siyd

tato pdmojjabahulo dukkhass' antaih karissati 376

(17) Let him live a life of friendship. Let him be an adept in

the discharge of his duties, then his happiness being much he
will make an end of suffering. (376)

18 vassikd viya pupphdni tnaddavdni pamuncati

evam ragam ca dosarii ca vippamuncetha binkkJiavo 377

(18) As the vassika plant sheds its withered flowers, 0 mendi¬

cants, so you should get rid of passion and hatred. (377)

19 santakdyo santavdeo santamano susamahito

vantalokdmiso bhiklthu upasanto ti vuccati 378

(19) That mendicant is said to be calmed who has a calmed

body, a calmed speech, and a calmed mind, who is well-
established, who has rejected the baits of the world. (378)

20 attand coday * attdnam patinidse attam altana

so attagutto satima sukham bhikkhu vihdhisi 379
176 BHIKKHUVAGGO—THE MENDICANT

(20) Rouse your self by your self, examine your self by your
self. Thus guarded by your self and attentive you, mendi¬
cant, will live happy. (379)

21 atta hi attano natho atta hi attano gati

tasma sahnamay' attdnam assam bhadram va vdnijo 380

(21) For self is the lord of self; self is the refuge of self;
therefore curb yourself even as a merchant curbs a fine
horse. (380)

22 pamojjabahulo bhikkhu pasanno buddhasasane

adhigacche padam santath sahkhdrupasamam sukham 381

(22) The mendicant full of delight, calm (with faith) in the

doctrine of the Buddha, will certainly reach the peaceful
state, the cessation of natural existence and happiness. (381)

23 yo have daharo bhikkhu yuhjati buddJiasasane

so imam lokam pabhdseti abbha mutio va candima 382

(23) The mendicant who, though young, applies himself to

the doctrine of the Buddha, he illuminates this world like
the moon when freed from a cloud. (382)
 CHAPTER XXVI

BRAHMAN A VAGGO

THE BRAHMIN

i chinda sotam parakkamma kame panuda brahmana

sahkhardnam kitayam natvd akataiiiiu si brahmana 383

(1) O Brahmin, cut off the stream, be energetic, drive away

desires. Knowing the destruction of all that is made (or the
elements of existence) you know the uncreated, O Brahmin.

(383)
The term ‘Brahmana’ of the Vedas is accepted by the Buddhists as
a term for a saint, one who has attained final sanctification. The
Brahmin is one who casts off his belief in the durable existence of
the individual which is the basis of all pride and desire. Not by
ritual and sacrifices, not by isolation and trance but by self-forget¬
fulness and active social service does one transcend the ego and
become a Brfihmin who knows the uncreated.1
The Buddha here distinguishes between the created perishable
and the uncreated imperishable.
‘cut off the stream; be energetic’ may also be rendered, ‘cut off
the stream with energy’.

2 yadd dvayesu dhammesu paragu hoti brdhmano

ath* assa sabbe samyoga attharh gacchanti janato 384

1 Cf. J. G. Jennings: 'It should never be forgotten that Buddhism is

a reformed Brahmanism, as is evidenced by the invariably honorific use
which Gautama makes of the title ‘Brahmin’ and it therefore takes for
granted certain Vcdic or Vedantic postulates. The background of
Buddhism, as that of Brahmanism, is Brahman, the impersonal divine
unity underlying and harmonizing all individualities, all egoism, all
differences, and all strife’ (The Vedantic Buddhism of the Buddha (1947).
PP- 573-4)-
N
 178 BRAHMA£JAVAGGO—THE BRAHMIN

(2) When the Brahmin has reached the other shore in both
laws, to him who knows all bonds vanish. (384)

The two laws refer to self-restraint and spiritual insight attained

through meditation.
Cf. ‘Ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you
free’ (John viii. 32).

3 yassa par am apdram va par dp dr am na vijjati

vitaddaram visanhuttam tam aham brumi brdhmanam 385

(3) Him I call a Brahmin for whom there is neither this shore
nor that shore, nor both, who is free from fear and free from
shackles. (385)

4 jhdyim virajam dsinam, katakiccam andsavam

uttamattham anuppattam tam aham brumi brdhmanam 386

(4) Him I call a Brahmin who is meditative, free from pas¬

sion, settled, whose work is done, free from taints and who
has attained the highest end (of sainthood). (386)

5 diva tapati ddicco, rattim abhati candimd

sannaddho khattiyo tapati, jhdyi tapati brahmano
atha sabbam ahorattim buddho tapati tejasa 387

(5) The sun shines by day, the moon lights up the night, the
warrior shines in his armour, the Brahmin shines in his medi¬
tation, but the awakened shines all day and night by his
radiance (of spirit). (387)

6 bahitapdpo ti brahmano samacariya samarto ti vuccati

pabbdjayam attano malam tasma pdbbajito ti vuccati 388

(6) Because he has put aside evil he is called a Brahmin;

because he lives in serenity he is called a samana \ because he
puts away his impurities he is called pabbajita. (388)
 BRAHMAIjJAVAGGO—THE BRAHMIN 179
These are fanciful derivations. Brahmin is derived from bah, to put
aside, drive away, samana from sam, to be equable, pabbajita from
pabbaj, to cast out.

7 na brahmanassa pahareyya nassa muhcetha brahmano

dhi brahmanassa hantaram tato dhl yassa muiicati 389

(7) One should not attack a Brahmin; let not the Brahmin
free (his anger) on him (the evil-doer); woe to him who slays
a Brahmin and more woe to him who sets free (his anger) on
him (the evil-doer). (389)
A Brahmin should not return evil for evil. Even when struck he
should not lose his temper. The Brahmin should not take the life
of any creature that breathes. The only blood that he can shed is
his own if the giving up of his life would save or rescue a fellow
creature.

8 na brdhmanass* etad akthei seyyo

yadd nisedho manaso piyehi
yato yato himsamano mvattati
tato tato sammati-m-eva dukkham 390

(8) It is no slight benefit to a Brahmin when he holds his mind

back from the pleasures of life. Wherever the wish to injure
desists, even there is cessation of suffering. (390)

9 yassa kdyena vaedya manasd riatti dukkatam

samvutam tlhi fhanehi tarn ahatii brumi brdhmanam 391

(9) Him I call a Brahmin who does not hurt by body, speech,
or mind, who is controlled in these three things. (391)

10 yamhd dhammam vijaneyya sammasambuddhadesitam

sakkaccam tarn namasseyya aggihuttam va brahmano 392

(10) Him who has understood the law as taught by the well-
awakened (fully enlightened) one, him should a man worship
180 BRAHMAIjIAVAGGO—THE BRAHMIN

reverentially, even as the Brahmin worships the sacrificial

fire. (392)
sakkacca: Skt. satkrtya.
Wc must honour him who teaches us the law of the Buddha.

11 najafahi na gottena najacca hoti brahmano

yamhi saccam ca dhammo ca, so sukhi, so ca brahmano 393

(11) Not by matted hair, not by lineage, not by caste docs

one become a Brahmin. He is a Brahmin in whom there are
truth and righteousness. He is blessed. (393)

Cf. Vasala Sutta: ‘Not by birth does one become an outcast; not
by birth docs one become a Brahmin; by deeds one becomes an
outcast, by deeds one becomes a Brahmin’ (21, 27).
Cf. also Sundarikabharadvaja Sutta: ‘Do not ask about descent,
but ask about conduct; from wood, it is true, fire is bom; (likewise)
a firm sage, although belonging to a low family, may become noble
when restrained (from sinning) by humility’ (9).

12 kim tejafahi dummedha kim te ajinasdfiya?

abbhantaram te gahanam bdhiram parimajjasi 394

(12) What is the use of matted hair, O fool, what of the rai¬
ment of goat-skins ? Thine inward nature is full of wicked¬
ness; the outside thou makest clean. (394)

gahanam: full of wickedness, literally impenetrable because it is

choked up with sin.

‘Not fish or flesh, not abstinence, not nakedness, shaven head

(mundiyam), matted hair, dirt, or garments of hide, not observance
of the fire sacrifice or many immortal penances (award bahu tapd)
in this world, charms and oblations, observance of the seasons by
sacrifice, (not these) make clean the mortal who has not passed
beyond doubt (Culla Vagga, 2, Amagandha Sutta).
Cf. Matthew xxiii. 27; Luke xi. 39.
 BRAHMAIjJAVAGGO—THE BRAHMIN 181

13 pamsukuladharam jantum kisam, dhamanisanthatam

ekarh vanasmim jhayantam tarn aham brumi brahmanam
395
(13) Him I call a Brahmin who wears cast-off garments, lean,
spread over with veins, solitary, and who practises meditation
in the forest. (395)

14 na cdham brahmanam brumi yonijam mattisatribhavam

bhovadi ndma so hoti, sa ce hoti sakimcano
akimcanam anuddnam tam aham brumi brahmanam 396

(14) I do not call him a Brahmin because of his origin or of

his mother. If he be with goods he is called bhovadi. Him I
call a Brahmin who is free from goods and free from attach¬
ment. (396)
bhovOdi: One who says bho, the familiar form of address to inferiors
or equals. Brahmins generally address the Buddha as bho, while the
Buddhists use bhanlt, ‘lord’. The Brahmins are called bhovSdins
or arrogant men who address even the Buddha with familiarity.
The Buddhists use bhovadi as a term of reproach for the Brahmins.

15 sabbasamyojanam chetvd yo ve na paritassati

sahgdtigani visamyuttam tam aham briimi brahmanam 397

(15) Him I call a Brahmin who has cut all the fetters, who
never trembles (in fear), who has passed beyond attach¬
ments, who is separated (from what is impure). (397)

16 chetvd nandim varattam ca sandanam sahanukkamam

ukhhittapafigham buddham tam aham brumi brahmanam
398
(16) Him I call a Brahmin who has cut the strap and the
thong and the chain with its appurtenances, who has burst
the bar and is awakened. (398)
182 BRAHMAIjJAVAGGO—THE BRAHMIN

Hatred is the strap, desire is the thong, the sixty-three heretical

doctrines are the chain, the appurtenances arc doubt, ignorance,
&c., and the bar is the bar of ignorance.

17 akkosam vadhabandham ca adutfhoyo titikkhati

khantibalam balanlkam tam aharn brumi brahmanam 399

(17) Him I call a Brahmin who, though he has committed

no offence, bears patiently reproach, ill-treatment, imprison¬
ment; who has endurance for his force and strength for his
army. (399)

18 akkodhanam vatavantam silewantam anussutam

dantam antimasariram tam aharn brumi brahmanam 400

(18) Him I call a Brahmin who is free from anger, who is

careful of religious duties, observes the moral rules, pure,
controlled, and wears his last body. (400)
anussutam: pure, without lustful appetites.

19 vdri pokkharapatte va aragge-r-iva sdsapo

yo na lippati kamesu tam aharn brumi brahmanam 401

(19) Him I call a Brahmin who, like water on the leaf of a

lotus or a mustard seed on the point of an awl, does not
cling to pleasures. (401)
lippati: another reading liriipati.
As water does not cling to the lotus leaf or a mustard seed to an
awl point, the Brahmin does not cling to pleasures.

20 yo dukkhassa pajandti idh eva khayam attano

pannabhdram visamyuttam tam aham brumi brahmanam
402
(20) Him I call a Brahmin who, even here, knows the end
of his suffering, who has laid aside his burden, who is
detached. (402)
 BRAHMAljIAVAGGO—THE BRAHMIN 183

21 gambhlrapannam medhavim maggdmaggassa kovidam

uttamattham anuppattam tam aharii brumi brahmanam 403

(21) Him I call a Brahmin whose wisdom is deep, who pos¬

sesses knowledge, who discerns the right way and the wrong
and who has attained the highest end. (403)

22 asamsattham gahaffhehi anagdrehi c'iibhayam

anokasdrim appiccham tam aham brumi brahnanam 404

(22) Him I call a Brahmin who keeps away from both house¬
holders (laymen) and the houseless (mendicants), who docs
not frequent houses and has but few wants. (404)

23 nidhdya dandam bhutesu tasesu thavaresu ca

yo na hanti na ghateti tam aham brumi brahmanam 405

(23) Him I call a Brahmin who lays aside the rod with regard
to creatures, moving or unmoving, and neither kills nor causes
(their) death. (405)
24 aviruddham viruddhesu attadandesu nibbutam
sadanesu andddnam tam aham brumi brahmanam 406

(24) Him I call a Brahmin who is without hostility among

those who are hostile, who is peaceful among those with up¬
lifted staves, who is unattached among those who are
attached. (406)

25 yassa rdgo ca doso ca mono makkho ca patito

sdsaporiva araggd tam aham brumi brahmanam 407

(25) Him I call a Brahmin whose passion and hatred, pride

and hypocrisy have fallen like a mustard seed from the point
of an awl. (407)

26 akakkasam vinnapanim giram saccam udiraye

ydya ndbhisaje kamci tam aham brumi brahmanam 408
184 brAhmanavaggo—the brahmin

(26) Him I call a Brahmin who utters true speech, free from
harshness, clearly understood, by which no one is offended.
(408)

27 yo dha digham va rassam vd anttm thulam subhasubham

loke adinnam nadiyati tam ahatii brumi brahmanam 409

(27) Him I call a Brahmin who docs not take, here in the
world, what is not given him, be it long or short, small or
large, good or bad. (409)

28 asd yassa na vijjanti asmim loke paramhi ca

nirdsayam visamyuttam tam aham brumi brahmanam 410

(28) Him I call a Brahmin who has no desires for this world
or for the next, who is free from desires and who is separated
(from impurities). (410)

29 yassalayd na vijjanti anndya akathamkathl

amatogadham anuppattam tam aham brumi brahmanam 411

(19) Him I call a Brahmin who has no desires, who is free

from doubt by knowledge (of the truth), who has reached the
depth of the eternal. (411)
akathatiikathi: free from doubt. They do not ask ‘how’ (katham).

30 yo dha puniiam ca pdpam ca ubho sahgam upaccaga

asokam virajam suddham tam aham brumi brahmanam 412

(30) Him I call a Brahmin who here has passed beyond the
attachments of good and evil, who is free from grief, free
from passion, free from impurity. (412)

31 candam va vimalam suddham vippasannam anavilam

nandlbhavaparikkhinam tam aJiam brumi brahmanam 413
 BRAHMAIJIAVAGGO—THE BRAHMIN 185

(31) Him I call a Brahmin who like the moon is stainless,

pure, serene, undisturbed, in whom joyance is extinguished.
(413)
32 yo imam palipatham duggarii sarhsdram moharn accaga
tinno p&ragato jhayi anejo akathamkatht
anupaddy a nibhnto tarn ahatii brumi brdhmanam 414

(32) Him I call a Brahmin who has gone beyond this miry
road of rebirth and delusion, difficult (to cross), who has
crossed over, who has reached the other shore, who is medita¬
tive, unagitated, not doubting, not grasping, and calm. (414)

33 yo dha /tame pahatvana and garo paribbaje

kdmabhavaparikkhinarh tarn aharii brumi brdhmanam 415

(33) Him I call a Brahmin who, in this world, giving up all

sensual pleasures, wanders about without a home, in whom
all desire for existence is extinguished. (415)

34 yo dha tanham pahatvana anagaro paribbaje

tanJidbhavaparikkhinam tarn aharh brumi brdhmanam 416

(34) Him I call a Brahmin who, in this world, giving up all

craving, wanders about without a home, in whom all craving
for existence is extinguished. (416)

35 Ititva manusakam yogam dibbam yogam upaccaga

sabbayogavisamyuttam tarn aharh brumi brdhmanam 417

(35) Him I call a Brahmin who, casting off attachment to

human things, rises above attachment to heavenly things, is
separated from all attachments. (417)

36 hitva ratim ca aratim ca sitibhutam nirupadhim

sabbalokdbhibhum viram tam aharh brumi brdhmanam
418
186 BRAHMANAVAGGO—THE BRAHMIN

(36) Him I call a Brahmin who gives up what is pleasurable

and what is unpleasurable, who is cooled and is free from
any seeds (of renewed existence), the hero who has conquered
all the worlds. (418)

37 cutiv'i yo vedi sattdruwi upapattim ca sabbaso

asattam sugatarh buddham tarn aham brumi brdhmanam
419
(37) Him I call a Brahmin who knows everywhere the
perishing of living things and their uprising, who is free
from attachment, living aright, and who is awakened. (419)

38 yassa gatim najananti devdgandhabbamdnusa

kkindsavam arahantam tarn aham brumi brdhmanam 420

(38) Him I call a Brahmin whose path the gods do not know,
nor spirits nor men, whose taints are extinct and who has
attained sainthood. (420)

39 yassa pure ca paccha ca majjhe ca n'atthi kimeanam

akimeanam andddnam tarn aham brumi brdhmanam 421
(39) Him I call a Brahmin for whom there is nothing before,
behind, or between, who has nothing and is without attach¬
ment. (421)
He does not possess anything nor docs he yearn for anything.

40 usabham pavaram vlraih mahesim vijitdvinam

anejam nahatakam buddham tarn aham brumi brdhmanam
422
(40) Him I call a Brahmin who is fearless (like a bull), noble,
heroic, the all-wise, who has overcome (death), the sinless
who has accomplished his study, the awakened. (422)
nahatakam. Skt. snatakam.
 BRAHMAliJAVAGGO—THE BRAHMIN 187

41 pubbe-nivasam yo vedl saggapdyarii ca passati

atho jatikkhayam pat to abhiniidvosito muni
sabbarcositavosanam tarn aharii brumi brdhmanam 423

(41) Him I call a Brahmin who knows his former abodes

(lives), who perceives heaven and hell, has reached the end
of births, is a sage whose knowledge is perfect and has
accomplished all that has to be accomplished. (423)
j&tiklthayam: the end of births.
Karma is the governing principle of the objective world. The
human being is not merely object but is also subject. When he
realizes inwardness, subjectivity, freedom from the law of karma,
‘the heart of Being (which) is celestial rest’, he attains nirvana, con¬
quest over time, the end of births. The end of the way is to become
what we arc, to become Buddha or Brahman. Cf. Brhad-dranyaka
Upanishad: ayath dharmaJi . . . ayam dtmd idam amrtam idarn
brahma idatii sarvam*. II. 5. u.
 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Dhammapada. E.T. by Max MOllbr. Sacred Books of the

East, vol. x, 1881.
The Dhammapada. E.T. by James Gray, 1881.
The Buddha's Way of Virtue, by W. D. C. Wagiswara and K. J.
Saunders, 1912.
The Dhammapada, edited by Suriyagoda Sumancala Thera.
Pali Text Society, 1914.
Dhammapada, by P. L. Vaidya, 1934.
The Dhammapada, by Irving Babbitt, 1936.
 PALI INDEX1

akakkasam, 408. appassadd, 186.

akataniiu, 383. appiya, 77.
akaranam, 183, 333. abhaya, 258, 317.
akutobhaya, 196. abhiratim, 88.
akusalam, 281. abhivddand, xo8.
akkocchi, 3, 4. abhutavddi, 306.
akkodham, 223, 400. amatani, 114, 374.
akkosam, 399. amatapadam, 21.
akkhardnam, 352. ayasd, 240.
agandhakam, 5X. ayoga, 209, 282.
agar am, 13. ayogula, 308.
oggi, 3*. *«>7. *3<>, 140, 202, 251, aratim, 4x8.
308, 39*. arahatam, 164, 420.
ojini, 3, 4- ariyam, 191; see also 79, 236, 270.
affhailgikam, 191, 273. artyasaccdni, 190.
aff/tlnam, 149, 150. ariydnam, 22, 164, 207.
annul, 31, 265, 409. arukdyam, 147.
aianditam, 305, 366, 375. alikavddinam, 223.
alia, passim, avajjam, 3x9; see also 318.
adinnam, 246, 409. avijjd, 243.
adhamma, 84, 248. asarnvutam, 7.
addhagu, 302. asariram, 37.
anatta, 279. asdram, n, 12.
anattham, 72, 256. asokarn, 412; see also 28.
anantagocaram, 179, x8o. ahimsd, 261, 270; see also 225, 300.
anappakam, 144. dkdsa, 92, 93, 174. a54> *55-
andddnam, 352, 396, 406, 421. ddicca, 175, 387.
andvilam, 82, 4x3. dnanda, 146.
anasaka, 141. arogyaparama, 204.
andsavam, 94, 126, 386. dsava, 93, 226, 253, 292, 293.
anicca, 277.
anibbisam, 153. icchd, 74, 264.
anudhammacdri, 20. injitam, 255.
anuppattam, 386, 403, 4x1. iddhi, 175.
anusikkhinam, 226. indriya, 7, 8, 94, 375-
anussutam, 400. issariyam, 73.
anupaghdta, 185. issuki, 262.
aniipalitta, 353.
anupavdda, 185. udakarn, 80, 145; see also I2X, X22,
antako, 48, 288. 336.
antardyam, 286. udayabbayam, 374.
apundaldbham, 309, 310. udayavyayam, 1x3.
apekhd, 345. unnafdnam, 292.
appamdda, 21 22, 25, 28, 30-2, upassaggam, 139.
327. uppalam, 55.
1 The numbers indicate the verses.
190 PALI INDEX
vppdda, 182, 184. candanam, 54-5.
usabham, 422. eandimd, 172-3, 208, 387.
usukdra, 80, 145. cittatn, 33-40, 42-3, 89, 116, 154,
. I7*» 37*;
ekaghana, 81. cxrappavdsim, 219.
ehacaram, 37.
ekaeariyam, 61. chandam, 117-8.
ekantam, 228.
ekaseyyam, 305. jaMid, 157, 352.
ekdsanam, 305. jafd, 141.
ekdham, xio-115. jayam, 201.
esana, 131, 132. jard, 13S, 15°. 151. 333-
jdti, IS3-
okam, 34, 91. jivhd, 65, 360.
oghatirma, 370. jfvitam, 110-15, *30. *48,182, 244.
ot that am, 162.
ohdrinttm, 346.
tanhd, 180, 334, 335, 3491 *ee alto
154. 216, 251, 337-8, 354, 4i6.
kanham, 87.
tathdgata, 254, 276.
katdkatam, 50.
titikkhd, 184.
kadariyam, 223.
tuffJti, 331.
kabalam, 324.
tejanam, 33,80, 145.
kammam, 66-8, 71, 173, 312; J«
tejas, 387.
fl/io is, 16, 136, 217, 239, 281.
kalam, 70.
Aotfm, 252. thaiidilasdyikd, 141.
kakasurn, 244.
kdma, 186; re* also 27, 48, 186-7, dandam, 142, 310, 405; see also
218, 346, 401. 129-32, 135, 137.
kdyam, 40, 46; see also 140, 225, damn, 261.
23L *59. 281, 293, 299, 361, 391. daham, 31.
kdsdvam, 9, ro; see also 307. dahantam, 71.
kumudam, 285. dalham, 61,112, 313, 345, 346, 349.
kumbhupamam, 40. ddrtam, 177.
kulam, 193. dipam, 25, 236, 238.
kodham, 221-3. dukhha, 133, 153, 202, 221, 278;
see also 1x7, 248, 277, 279, 302.
khandhdnam, 374. dukha, 186, 203, 302; see also 83.
khindsavam, 420; see also 89. duggatim, 17, 240, 316-18.
kJtemam, 189, 192. dummedham, 161, 355; see also 66,
373. 392. 394-
gandhabba, 105. dussilo, no, 308, 320.
gandha, 54, 56. devalokam, 177.
gambhira, 82; see also 403. deva, 94, 181, 200, 230, 366, 420;
gahakdraka, 154; see also 153. see also 30, 56, 105.
gdtha, 101-2.
giM, 74- dhanam, 26, 64, 84, 155-6, 204.
guhdsayam, 37. dhammani, passim,
gotamasdvaka, 296-9, 300-1. dhiram, 208, 328, 329; see also 23,
28, 122, 175, 177, 181, 193, 207,
cakkarn, 1. 234, 26x, 290, 329, 346-7.
 PALI INDEX 191
nakkhattapatham, 208. buddhasdsatta, 368, 381, 382.
nagarupamam, 40. brahmacartynsm, 155-6, 312; see
naram, 47-8, 287; see also 125, 262, also 142, 267.
284, 3<>9-*o. 34* •
brahmund, 105, 230.
ndtham, 160 \ see also 380. brdhmanam, 385-6, 391, 395"8.
ndmariipa, 221, 367. 399-423; tee also 142,294-5,384.
nindam, 143, 309. 387-9. 392-3-
nibbanam, 23, 184, 203-4, 226, 285 ;
see also 32, 75, 289, 372. bhagga, 154.
nirayam, 126,140,306-7, 309, 315; bhatuim, 264.
see also 31. bhantam, 222.
nirdsayavi, 410. bhadram, 119-20, 380.
nirupddhim, 418. bhamara, 49.
nekkluim, 230; see also 181, 267, bhayam, 39, 123, 212-16, 283 ;«r
272. also 31-2, 317.
bhavasalldni, 351.
pajd, 85, 254, 342-3, 356-9- „ bhikkhu, 31-2, 75, 142, 266-7, 272,
paiind, 38, 152, 372; sec also 28, 40, 343. 361, 363. 364^71. 378-V,
59, 229, 277-80, 333, 340. 381-2; see also 243, 283, 362,
pandilam, 64-5, 76; see also 22, 28, 376.
63. 79-83. 87. rS7-«. 186, 236,
238, 256, 268, 289. makkataka, 347.
padumam, 58. maggam, 57, 123, 191, 280-1, 289;
papanca, 195, 254- , see also 274-5, 277-9.
pabbajita, 74; see also 174, 388. maccu, 47, 128, 135, 150, 287; see
pamatta, 19, 309,371; see also 27-9. also 21, 46, 86, 129, 170.
292. mana, 116, 300-1; see also 1, 2,233.
paribbaja, 313. martdkam, 170; see also 46.
pariipaghdti, 184. mamsam, 152; see also 150.
pdtimokkha, 185, 375. nidtanga, 329-30.
pdpadhamtna, 248, 307. mara, 7, 8, 40, 57, 105, 17S. 337;
pdpam, 17, 69, 71, 117. 119-20, see also 34, 37, 40, 46, 175, 276,
125, x6r, 165, 173, 267, 412; see 35®.
also 116, 123, 136, 248, 265, 269, rnicchddiffhi, 167; see also xi, 316-
307. 330- 18.
puggalam, 344- o , , musavddam, 246; see also 176.
puirnam, 18, 116, ix8, 196, 267, medhagd, 6.
331, 412; see also 39, 108, :i8, mcdhdvim, 76,403; see also 25-6,33,
220. 36, 239, 253. *63-
puppham, 49, 51-2; see also 47-8, moham, 20, 414.

yamapurisa, 235.
*93-
yamalokam, 44-5.
piija, 73. *04. yogakhemam, 23.
pokkhara, 336. yoga, 282, 4x7.
yojanam, 60.
baddha, 324.
bandhanam, 344-6, 349. rajata, 239.
buddhagatd, 296. rajam, 313; see also 125, 141.
buddham, 179, 180, 190, 398, 419, rattham, 84, 294, 329.
422; see also 75, 182-5,194. *55- ratham, 222.
192 PALI INDEX
rasam, 49, 205, 354. saccam, 224, 261, 393, 408; see also
rdga, 13-14, 20, 339, 347. 369. 377- 217, 293.
rdgadosa, 356. saccdni, 190.
rukkham, 7, 283; see also 338. sati, 146, 293, 296-8.
riipam, 148. saddhammam, 38, 60, 302-5, 377;
roga, 203. see also 182, 194, 364.
saddhd, 333; see also 144.
santam, 96, 368, 381.
Idbhiipanisd, 75.
sambodhi, 89.
samacariya, 388.
vanrta, 109; see also 51-2, 241-62. samana, 142, 184, 255-6, 264, 375.
vannagandham, 49. samddhi, 249,250, 365; see also 144,
vanam, 283, 384; see also 107, :88, 271.
284. saranam, 188-9, 192.
vassikd, 377. sariram, 151, 352, 400.
vassikl, 55. sdvaka, 75, 195.
vdnara, 334. sukham, 2, 27, 79. i<>9, *3i“2,
vivekam, 75; see also 87. 168-9, 193, 20X-2, 204, 290-1,
visam, 123; see also 396, 402. 331. 333. 368, 379. 381.
vissdsam, 272; see also 204. suk/ufoa/tam, 35, 36.
titram, 418, 422. sugatam, 419.
veravt, 3, 4, 201; see also 5, 291. suniiata, 92, 93.
vydsattamanasam, 47-8. sumedham, 208.
soka, 335; see also 28, 212-6.
saggam, 126. sotam, 347, 383.
sankappa, 339; see also 74. sotlldya, 295.
sankhdra, 255, 277-8; see also 203,
383. hathsa, 91, 175.
sangkam, 190; see also 194, 298. himavanta, 304.
sashsdram, 153; see also 95, 153. hurdhuram, 334.
 GENERAL INDEX1
Abhidharmakoia, 35 n. Dipavamsa, 36 n.
Advayavajrasamgraha, 45 n. Dtvydvaddna, 109.
Aggi-vacchagotta Suita, 48.
Alaguddupama Sutta, 44, 50 n. Ezekiel, 17.
Amdganaha Sutta, 106, 180.
Amos, no. Fausboll, V., his edition of the
Analects of Confucius, 102. Dhammapada, 58.
Aquinos, St. Thomas, 25.
Arnold, Sir Edwin, his The Light of Galatians, Epistle to the, 25 n.
Asia, 65, hi. Gandhi, M. K., xoi.
Aryudcva's Catuiiataka, 147. Caruda Pur ana, 33 n.
Aiokn, v, 2, 4 n., 5 «nd n., 32 n. Gosaia, Makkhali, 64-5.
Avaddnasataka, 126.

Harijan, 101.
Beal, Samuel, his Dhammapada, Heidegger, 146.
2 n., 71, 94. 12s, *52-3- z Hitopadesa, 102.
Bhagavadgltd, 17 n., 31 n., 46, 69,
Homer, 78.
70, 85, 102, no, 113, 114.
Hosea, 105.
Brahmajdla Sutta, 54 n., no. Hultzsch’s Inscriptions of Aioka,
Brahma Sutra, 147. 5 n.
Brhad-draityaka Up., 6 n., 16 n., Huxley, T. H., 39.
23n., 3on.,41 n., son., 51,5211.,
187.
Imitation of Christ, The, 142.
Bridges, Robert, his The Testament
Indian Philosophy, by S. Radha-
of Beauty, 25.
krishnan, 52 n.
Buddhagho?a, 1, 2 n., 3, 69, 90, 91,
Isaiah, 150.
no, 119,137, 140, 141,152,154,
Itivuttaka, 15 n., 17 n.
157. 163, 167, 169, 173-
Burlingame, E. W., his Buddhist
Jennings, J. G.t hisThe Veddntic
Legends, 82.
Buddhism of the Buddha, 177.
Burnouf, 40 n.
Jhanasdra-samuccaya, nn
John, Gospel according to St., 64,
Candraklrti, 53 n.
90, 178.
Carpenter, j. E., his Buddhism and
Christianity, 42 n.
Kaiyapa, 2.
Chdndogya Up., 28.
Childers, 39 n., 126.
Kafha Up., 17 n., 51 n., 83, 91,

Confucius, 102. 145*

Corinthians, First Epistle to the,
Keith, A. B., his Buddhist Philo¬
sophy, 37 n.
72, 93-
Cullaniddesa, 2. Kena Up., 52 n.
Kevaddha Sutta, 49 n.

Dakfindmurli Stotra, 53.

Dharmatrfita, 2 n. Lalitavistara, 8 n., 71, 75. *39. *46.
Dionysius, 53, 56 n. Larhkavatdra Sutra, 53, 152.
1 The numbers indicate pages.
194 GENERAL INDEX
L6vi, Sylvain, his edition of Mahd- Paul, St., 24-5. 72. 93-
karmavibhaAga, 59. Plato, 56 n.; his Apology, 24 n.;
Loyola, Ignatius, 109. Cratylus, 147; Latcs, 91; Phaedo,
Lucian, 106. 15 n.
Luke, Gospel according to St., 103, Plotinus, 44, 54 n.
180. Proverbs, the Book of, 94.
Psalms, the, 96, 117, 123.
Macdonell, Professor, his History
of Sanskrit Literature, 5 n. Rg Veda, 4, 5 n., 28 n.
Madhyamika Karika, 23 n., 31 n., Rudrayandvadana, 109.
45 s? n., 147-
Mddhyamika Vflti, 53 n. Sdmaniiaphala Sutta, 64.
Mahdbhdrata, 17, 61, 75, 80, 90, Ssarhkara, 53, 109.
92, 95, *02, 103, 122, 126, 131, Siriikhya, $0-1.
14*. Sammdparibbdjanlya Sutta, 49.
Mahdniddna Sutta, 19. Samuel, First Book of, 95.
Mahdniddesa, 2. Samyutta, 30 n.
Mahapadana Suttanta, 25. Santidevn’s Bodhicarydvatdra, 55 n.
Mahdparinibbdna Sutta, 11 n., 12 Senart, Emile,his Essai sur la
n., 14 n., 15 and n., 45 n., 71, legende du Buddha, 4 n.
no. Smith, Vincent (in Oxford History
MahdlanhdsaiikJtaya Sutta, ion. of India), 5 n.
Mahdvagga, 13 n., 49. Socrates, 8, 11, 15, 24.
MahdvariUa, 2, 36 n. Sumdgadlul-Avadana, 105.
Mdnfukya Up., 78. Sundarika bhdradvdja Sutta, 180.
Manu, 81, 92, 96, 103, 109, 141, Svetdlvatara Up., 49 n.
160.
Mark, Gospel according to St., 112. Taittirfya Arattyaka, 92.
Matthew, Gospel according to St., Tevijja Sutta, 9, 33.
64, 76, 103, 1x5, 139, 180.
Max Muller, 2 n., his edition of the UdSna, 14 n., 15 n., 45 n., 51, 52.
Dhammapada, 106, 114, 188;
Last Essays, 29 n. VaKagamani, 2.
Milmdapanha, 2, 35 n., 91. Aeneid, 61.
Virgil’s
Mundaka Up., 30 n. Vifnu Purdna, 47.
Visuddhimogga, 3, 54 n., 109.
Nagarjuna, 31 n., 45 n., 53 n.
Nflgascna, 35 n. Xenophon, his Memorabilia, 15 n.
 PRINTED IN
CRHAT BRITAIN
AT THE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
OXFORD
BY
CHARLES BATRY
PRINTER
TO THE
UNIVERSITY