[\q
xxv/] INTRODUCTION
BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
THE
phase of beliefs which this Suttanta is intended to meet, into which its
argument fits, has been set out in some detail in the opening chapter of my
'American Lectures.' As there pointed out[1],
the discussion which thus opens this series of dialogues forms also the first
question in the Kathā Vatthu, and the first question in the Milinda. We cannot
be far wrong if, in our endeavours to understand the real meaning of the
original Buddhism, we attach as much weight to this question as did the author
or authors of these ancient and authoritative Buddhist books.
The
Suttanta sets out in sixty-two divisions [2]
various speculations or theories in which the theorisers, going out always from
various forms of the ancient view of a 'soul'-a sort of subtle manikin inside
the body but separate from it, and continuing, after it leaves the body, as a
separate entity-attempt to reconstruct the past, or to arrange the future. All
such speculation is condemned. And necessarily so, since the Buddhist
philosophy is put together without this ancient idea of 'soul.'
The
Buddhist scheme endeavours, in other words, to include all the truth which
previous thinkers had grafted on to the old savage theories of a semi-material,
subtle, permanent entity inside the body, while rejecting those theories
themselves; it endeavours to retain all the philosophic truth which previous
thinkers had grafted on to the theosophies-the corollaries of the soul
theories-while rejecting those theosophies themselves. The reasons given for
this position are threefold firstly, that such speculators about ultimate
things,
[\q
xxvi/] 1
BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
either
in the past or the future, have insufficient evidence. see only one side of the
shield;[3]
secondly, that such speculations do not lead to emancipation, to Arahatship;[4]
and thirdly, that such theories are really derived from the hopes, the
feelings, and the sensations arising from evanescent phenomena[5]-they
belong, in other words, to the realm of hastily formed, empirical opinion (diņņhi), not to that of' the higher wisdom (pa¤¤ā). So that Buddhism, in
the first place, holds a position somewhat similar to the modern Agnostic
position. Secondly, while acknowledging the importance of feeling and of
intellect, it lays special stress upon the regulation, the cultivation, of the
Will[6].
And thirdly, it distinguishes between a lower and a higher wisdom,[7].
Several
scholars, and especially-with more knowledge and detail-Dr. Karl Neumann, have
maintained that the position of Buddhism in the history of Indian philosophy is
analogous to that of Schopenhauer in European philosophy. On the other hand, it
is maintained by Professor Deussen that Schopenhauer's position is analogous to
that of the Upanishads. The reconciliation will probably be found to be that
what Buddhism took over, with more or less of modification, from the
Upanishads, is about the same as that part of the Upanishad doctrine which is
found, in European phraseology, in Schopenhauer; and what Buddhism rejected
alto-ether is not to be found in Schopenhauer. He himself, who however knew
both systems only from second-hand and inaccurate authorities, says, ' If I am
to take the results of my own Philosophy as the standard of truth, I should be
obliged to concede to Buddhism the pre-eminence over other (systems of
philosophy).'
However
this question may be decided-and its discussion, at the necessary length, by a
competent student of philosophy, is a very pressing want-it is certain from the
details given in our Suttanta that there were then current in Northern India
many other philosophic and theosophic speculations besides those the priests
found it expedient to adopt, and have preserved for us in the Upanishads. And
who can doubt but that some, if not all of them, may also have had their
influence on the new doctrine? There was always much philosophising in India
outside the narrow and inexact limits
[\q
xxvii/] INTRODUCTION.
of
the so-called six Darsanas; and we have to thank Buddhist scholars for
preserving, in their Pāli and Sanskrit works, the evidences of such philosophy
as the priests wished to exclude from notice[8].
[\q
001/]
DIALOGUES OF THE BUDDHA.
DäGHA
NIKâYA.
[COLLECTION
OF LONG DIALOGUES.]
I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA [9].
[THE
PERFECT NET.]
1.
1. Thus have I heard. The Blessed One was once going along the high road
between Rājagaha and Nālandā[10]
with a great company of the brethren, with about five hundred brethren. And
Suppiya the mendicant[11]
too was going along the high road between Rājagaha and Nālandā with his
disciple the youth Brahmadatta. Now just then Suppiya the mendicant was
speaking in many ways in dispraise of the Buddha, in dispraise of the Doctrine,
in dispraise of the Order. But young Brahmadatta, his pupil, gave utterance, in
many ways, to praise of the Buddha, to praise of the Doctrine, to praise of the
Order. Thus. they two, teacher and pupil, holding opinions in direct
contradiction one to the other, were following, step by
[\q
002/] I.
BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
step,
after the Blessed One and the company of the brethren.
2.
Now the Blessed One put up at the royal rest-house in the Ambalaņņhikā.
pleasance[12] to pass the
night, and with him the company of the brethren. And so also did Suppiya the
mendicant, and with him his young disciple Brahmadatta. And there, at the
rest-house, these two carried on the same discussion as before.
[2]
3. And in the early dawn a number of the brethren assembled, as they rose up,
in the pavilion; and this was the trend of the talk that sprang up among them,
as they were seated there. 'How wonderful a thing is it, brethren, and how
strange that the Blessed One, he who knows and sees, the Arahat, the Buddha
Supreme, should so clearly have perceived how various are the inclinations of
men! For see how while Suppiya the mendicant speaks in many ways in dispraise
of the Buddha, the Doctrine, and the Order, his own disciple young Brahmadatta,
speaks, in as many ways, in praise of them. So do these two, teacher and pupil,
follow step by step after the Blessed One and the company of the brethren,
giving utterance to views in direct contradiction one to the other.'
4.
Now the Blessed One, on realising what was the
drift of their talk, went to the pavilion, and took his seat on the mat spread
out for him. And when he had sat down he said: 'What is the talk on which you
are engaged sitting here, and what is the subject of the conversation between
you?' And they told him all. And he said:
5.
[\q
003/] MINOR DETAILS OF MERE MORALITY.
5.
'Brethren, if outsiders should speak against me, or against the Doctrine, [3]
or against the Order, you should not on that account either bear malice, or
suffer heart-burning, or feel ill will. If you, on that account, should be
angry and hurt, that would stand in the way of your, own self-conquest. If,
when others speak against us, you feel angry at that, and displeased, would you
then be able to judge how far that speech of theirs is well said or ill ?'
'That
would not be so, Sir.'
'But
when outsiders speak in dispraise of me, or of the Doctrine, or of the Order,
you should unravel what is false and point it out as wrong, saying: " For
this or that reason this is not the fact, that is not so, such a thing is not
found among us, is not in us."
6.
'But also, brethren, if outsiders should speak in praise of me, in praise of
the Doctrine, in praise of the Order, you should not, on that account, be
filled with pleasure or gladness, or be lifted up in heart. Were you to be so
that also would stand in the way of your self-conquest. When outsiders speak in
praise of me, or of the Doctrine, or of the Order, you should acknowledge what
is right to be the fact, saying: "For this or that reason this is the
fact, that is so, such a thing is found among us, is in us."
7. '
It is in respect only of trifling things, of matters of little value, of mere
morality, that an unconverted man, when praising the Tathāgata, would speak.
And what are such trifling, minor details of mere morality that he would praise
[4]
[THE MORALITIES[13]. PART I.]
8."'
Putting away the killing of living things, Gotama the recluse holds aloof from
the destruction
[\q
004/] 1. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
of
life. He has laid the cudgel and the sword aside, and ashamed of roughness, and
full of mercy, he dwells compassionate and kind to all creatures that have
life." It is thus that the unconverted man, when-speaking in praise of the
Tathāgata, might speak[14].
' Or
he might say: "Putting away the taking of what has not been given, Gotama
the recluse lived aloof from grasping what is not his own. He takes only what
is given, and expecting that gifts will come [15],
he passes his life in honesty and purity of heart."
Or he
might say: " Putting away unchastity, Gotama the recluse is chaste. He
holds himself aloof, far off, from the vulgar practice, from the sexual act[16]."
9.
'Or he might say: " Putting away lying words, Gotama the recluse holds
himself aloof from falsehood. He speaks truth, from the truth he never swerves;
faithful and trustworthy, he breaks not his word to the world."
'Or
he might say: " Putting away slander, Gotama the recluse holds himself
aloof from calumny. What he hears here he repeats not elsewhere to raise a
quarrel
[\q
005/] MINOR
DETAILS OF MERE MORALITY.
against
the people here; what he hears elsewhere he repeats not here to raise a quarrel
against the people there. Thus does he live as a binder together of those who
are divided, an encourager of those who are friends, a peacemaker, a lover of
peace, impassioned for peace, a speaker of words that make for peace."
'Or
he might say: " Putting- away rudeness of speech, Gotama the recluse holds
himself aloof from harsh language. Whatsoever word is blameless, pleasant to
the car, lovely, reaching to the heart, urbane[17],
pleasing to the people, beloved of the people-such are words he speaks."
'Or
he might say: " Putting away frivolous talk[18],Gotama
the recluse holds himself aloof from vain conversation. In season he speaks, in
accordance with the facts, words full of meaning, on religion, on the
discipline of the Order. He speaks, and at the right time, words worthy to be
laid up in one's heart, [5] fitly illustrated, clearly divided, to the
point."
10.
'Or he might say: " Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof from causing
injury to seeds or plants[19].
He
takes but one meal a day, not eating at night, refraining from food after hours
(after midday).
He
refrains from being a spectator at shows at fairs, with nautch dances, singing,
and music.
He
abstains from wearing, adorning, or ornamenting himself with garlands, scents,
and unguents.
He
abstains from the use of large and lofty beds.
He
abstains from accepting silver or gold.
He
abstains from accepting uncooked grain.
He
abstains from accepting raw meat.
He
abstains from accepting women or girls.
He
abstains from accepting bondmen or bondwomen.
[\q
006/]
I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
He
abstains from accepting sheep or goats.
He
abstains from accepting fowls or swine.
He
abstains from accepting elephants, cattle. horses, and mares.
He
abstains from accepting cultivated fields or waste.
He
abstains from the acting as a, go-between or messenger.
He
abstains from buying and selling.
He
abstains from cheating with scales or bronzes[20]
or measures.
He
abstains from the crooked ways of bribery, cheating, and fraud.
He
abstains from maiming, murder, putting in bonds, highway robbery, dacoity, and
violence."
'Such
are the things, brethren, which an unconverted man, when speaking in praise of
the Tathāgata, might say.'
Here
ends the Cåla Sãla [the Short Paragraphs on Conduct]
11.
'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on
food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the injury of seedlings and
growing plants whether propagated from roots or cuttings or joints or buddings
or seeds [21]-Gotama the
[\q
007/] MINOR
DETAILS OF MERE MORALITY.
recluse
holds aloof from such injury to seedlings and growing plants."
12.
[6] 'Or he might say: " Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living
on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of things stored
up; stores, to wit, of foods, drinks, clothing, equipages, bedding, perfumes,
and curry-stuffs[22]- Gotama the
recluse holds aloof from such use of things stored up."
13. 'Or he might say: " Whereas some
recluses and Brahmans while living on food provided by the faithful, continue
addicted to visiting shows[23];
that is to say,
(1)
Nautch dances (naccaü)[24]
(2)
Singing of songs (gãtaü).
(3)
Instrumental music (vāditaü).
(4)
Shows at fairs (pekkhaü)[25]
.
[\q
008/] 1. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
(5)
Ballad recitations (akkhānaü)[26].
(6)
Hand music (pāõissaraü )[27].
(7)
The chanting of bards (vetālaü)[28].
(8)
Tam - tam playing (kumbhathånaü)[29]
.
[\q
009/]
MINOR DETAILS OF MERE MORALITY.
(9)
Fairy scenes (Sobhanagarakaü)[30].
(10)
Acrobatic feats by Caõķālas(Caõķāla-vaüsa-dhopanaü)[31].
(11)
Combats of elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls, goats, rams, cocks, and quails.
(12)
Bouts at quarter- staff [32],
boxing, wrestling[33].
(13-16)
Sham-fights, roll-calls, manoeuvres, re- views[34]
-
Gotama
the recluse holds aloof from visiting such shows"
14.
'Or. he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on
food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to games and recreations[35];
that is to say,
(1)
Games on boards with eight, or with ten, rows of squares[36].
(2)
The same games
[\q
010/] I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
played
by imagining such boards in the air[37].
(3) Keeping
going over diagrams drawn on the ground so that one steps only where one ought
to go[38].
(4) Either
removing the pieces or men from a heap with one's nail, or putting them into a
heap, in each case without shaking it. He who shakes the heap, loses[39]
(5)
Throwing dice [40]
(6)
Hitting a short stick with a long one [41].
(7)
Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched
out in lac, or red dye, or flower-water, and striking the wet hand on the ground
or on a wall, 'calling out 'What shell it be ?' and showing the form required
-elephants, horses, &c. [42]
(8)
Games with balls[43]
(9)
Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves[44]
(10)
Ploughing with. toy ploughs[45]
(11)
Turning summersaults[46].
(12)
Playing with toy windmills made of palm-leaves[47].
[\q
011/]
MINOR DETAILS OF MERE MORALITY.
(13)
Playing with toy measures made of palm-leaves.
(14,
15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows[48]
(16)
Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a. playfellow's back[49]
(17)
Guessing the play fellow's thoughts.,
(18)
Mimicry of deformities
[7]
Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such games and recreations."
15.
'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on
food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of high and large
couches; that is to say[50],
(1)
'Moveable settees, high, and six feet long (âsandi)[51]
(2)
Divans with animal figures carved on the sup-ports (Pallanko)[52].
[\q
012/] 1. BRAHMA-JâLA
SUTTA.
(3)
Goats' hair coverlets with very long fleece (Gonako)[53].
(4)
Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (Cittakā).
(5)
White blankets (Paņikā).
(6)
Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (Paņalikā).
(7)
Quilts stuffed with cotton wool (Tålikā).
(8)
Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, &c. (Vikatikā).
(9)
Rugs with fur on both sides (Uddalomã).
(10)
Rugs with fur on one side (Ekantalomã).
(11)
Coverlets embroidered with gems(Kaņņhissaü).
(12)
Silk coverlets(Koseyyaü).
(13)
Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers(Kuttakaü).
(14-16)
Elephant, horse, and chariot rugs.
(17)
Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (Ajina-paveõi).
(18)
Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope.
(19)
Carpets with awnings
[\q
013/] MINOR
DETAILS OF MERE MORALITY.
above
them (Sauttara-cchadaü).
(20)
Sofas with red pillows for the head and feet."
16.
'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on
food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of means for
adorning and beautifying themselves; that is to say,
Rubbing.
in scented powders on one's body, shampooing it, and bathing it. Patting the
limbs with clubs after the manner of wrestlers[54].
The use of mirrors, eye-ointments, garlands, rouge, cosmetics, bracelets,'
necklaces, walking-sticks, reed cases for drugs, rapiers, sunshades,
embroidered slippers, turbans, diadems, whisks of the yak's tail, and
long-fringed white robes
Gotama
the recluse holds aloof from such means of adorning and beautifying the person[55]."
17.
'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on
food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to such low conversation as
these :
Tales
of kings, of robbers, of ministers of state tales of war, of terrors, of
battles ; talk about foods and drinks, clothes, beds, garlands, perfumes ;
talks about relationships, equipages, villages, town, cities, and countries ;
tales about women [8], and about heroes; gossip at street corners[56],
or places whence
[\q
014/] I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
water
is fetched; ghost stories[57];
desultory talk[58]; speculations
about the creation of the land or sea[59],
or about existence and non-existence [60]
Gotama
the recluse holds aloof from such low conversation."
18.
'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on
food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of wrangling
phrases[61]
such as
"
You don't understand this doctrine and discipline, I do.
How
should you know about this doctrine and discipline ?
"You
have fallen into wrong views. It is I who am in the right."
"I
am speaking to the point, you are not[62]"
"You
are putting last what ought to come first, first what ought to come last[63]."
"What
you've excogitated so long, that's all quite upset."
[\q
015/] MINOR
DETAILS OF MERE MORALITY.
"
Your challenge has been taken up[64]
"
You are proved to be wrong[65]."
"
Set to work to clear your views[66]."
"
Disentangle yourself if you can[67]"
Gotama
the recluse holds aloof from such wrangling phrases."
19.
'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on
food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to taking messages, going on
errands, and acting as go-betweens; to wit, on kings, ministers of state,
Kshatriyas, Brahmans, or young men, saying: 'Go there, come hither, take this
with you, bring that from thence'
Gotama
the recluse abstains from such servile duties."
20.
'Or he might say: " Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on
food provided by the faithful, are tricksters[68],
droners out (of holy words for pay)[69],
[\q
016/] I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
diviners[70],
and exorcists[71], ever
hungering to add gain to gain[72]
- Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such deception and patter."'
Here
ends the Majjhima Sãla [the Longer Paragraphs on Conduct].
[9] 2
I. 'Or he might say: Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food
provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood, by
low arts, such as these:
(1) Palmistry-prophesying
long life, prosperity, &c from marks on child's hands, feet. &c.[73]
(2)
Divining by means of omens and signs[74]
(3)
Auguries drawn from thunderbolts and other celestial portents[75].
[\q
017/] MINOR
DETAILS OF MERE MORALITY.
(4)
Prognostication by interpreting dreams[76]
(5)
Fortune-telling from marks on the body[77].
(6)
Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice[78]
(7)
Sacrificing to Agni[79].
(8)
Offering oblations from a spoon[80].
(9-13)
Making offerings to gods of husks, of the red powder between the grain and the
husk, of husked grain ready for boiling, of ghee, and of oil[81].
(14)
Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, &c., into the fire out of one's mouth[82].
(15)
Drawing blood from one's right knee as a sacrifice to the gods[83].
[\q
018/]
I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
(16)
Looking at the knuckles, &c., and, after muttering a charm, divining
whether a man is well born or lucky or not[84]
(17)
Determining whether the site, for a proposed house or pleasance, is lucky or
not[85].
(18)
Advising on customary law[86].
(19)
Laying demons in a cemetery[87].
(20)
Laying ghosts[88]
(21)
Knowledge of the charms to be used when lodging in an earth house[89].
(22)
Snake charming[90].
[\q
019/] MINOR
DETAILS OF MERE MORALITY.
(23)
The poison craft[91].
(24)
The scorpion craft[92].
(25)
The mouse craft[93].
(26)
The bird craft[94].
(27)
The crow craft[95].
(28)
Fore telling the number of years that a man has yet to live.
(29)
Giving charms to ward off arrows[96].
(30)
The animal wheel[97]
Gotama
the recluse holds aloof from such low arts."
22.
'Or he might say: " Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on
food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts, such as these
Knowledge
of the signs of good and bad qualities in the following things and of the marks
in them denoting the health or luck of their owners:-to wit, gems[98],
staves, garments, swords, arrows, bows, other weapons, women[99],
men[100],
boys[101],
girls[102], slaves,
slave-girls, elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls, oxen, goats[103],
sheep[104], fowls[105],
quails[106], iguanas[107],
earrings[108],
tortoises, and other animals
Gotama
the recluse holds aloof from such low arts."
23.
'Or he might say: " Whereas some recluses
[\q
020/] I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
and
Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by
wrong means of livelihood, by low arts, such as soothsaying, to the effect that
[10]
The chiefs will march out.
The
chiefs will march back.
The
home chiefs will attack, and the enemies' retreat.
The
enemies' chiefs will attack, and ours will retreat.
The
home chiefs will gain the victory, and the foreign chiefs suffer defeat.
The
foreign chiefs will gain the victory, and ours will suffer defeat [109]
Thus
will there be victory on this side, defeat on that
Gotama
the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.
2 4.
' Or he might say : " Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on
food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by such low arts as foretelling
( 1)
There will be an eclipse of the moon.
(2)
There will be en eclipse of the sun.
(3)
There will be en eclipse of a star (Nakshatra)[110].
(4)
There will be aberration of the sun or the moon.
(5)
The sun or the moon will return to its usual path.
(6)
There will be aberrations of the stars.
(7)
The stars will return to their usual course[111].
[\q
021/] MINOR
DETAILS OF MERE MORALITY.
(8)
There will be a fall of meteors[112]
(9)
There will be a jungle fire[113].
(10)
The-re will be an earthquake.
(11)
The god will thunder.
(12-15)
There will be rising and setting, clearness and dimness, of the sun or the moon
or the stars[114], or
foretelling of each of these fifteen phenomena that they will betoken such and
such a result " [11]
25. 'Or
he might say:" Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food
provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood, by
low arts, such as these
Foretelling
an abundant rainfall.
Foretelling
a deficient rainfall.
Foretelling
a good harvest
Foretelling
scarcity of food.
Foretelling
tranquillity.
Foretelling
disturbances.
Foretelling
a pestilence.
Foretelling
a healthy season.
Counting
on the fingers[115].
[\q
022/] I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
Counting
without using the fingers[116]
Summing
up large totals[117].
Composing
ballads, poetising[118]
Casuistry,
sophistry[119]
Gotama
the recluse holds aloof from such low arts."
26.
'Or he might say: " Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on
food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood,
by low arts, such as
[\q
023/] MINOR
DETAILS, OF MERE MORALITY.
(1)
Arranging a lucky day for marriages in which the bride or bridegroom is brought
home[120]
(2) Arranging
a lucky day for marriages in which the bride or bridegroom is sent
forth[121],
(3)
Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace [or using charms to
procure harmony][122]
.
(4)
Fixing a lucky time for the outbreak of hostilities [or using charms to make
discord][123]
(5)
Fixing-a lucky time for the calling in of debts [or charms for success in
throwing dice][124]
(6)
Fixing a lucky time for the expenditure of money [or charms to bring ill luck
to an opponent throwing dice][125].
(7)
Using charms to make people lucky [126].
(8)
Using charms to make people unlucky.
(9)
Using charms to procure abortion.
(10)
Incantations to bring on dumbness.
(11)
Incantations to keep a man's jaws fixed.
(12)
Incantations to make a man throw up his hands.
(13)
Incantations to bring on deafness,[127].
[\q
024/]
I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
(14)
Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror[128]
(15)
Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed[129].
(16)
Obtaining oracular answers from a god[130].
(17)
The worship of the Sun[131].
(18)
The worship of the Great One[132].
(19)
Bringing forth flames from one's mouth.
(20)
Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck[133]-
Gotama
the recluse holds aloof from such low arts."
[\q
025/] MINOR
DETAILS OF MERE MORALITY.
[12]
27. ' Or he might say: Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food
provided by, the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood, by
low arts, such as these:
(1)
Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted.
(2)
Paying such vows.
(3)
Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house [134].
(4)
Causing virility[135].
(S)
Making a man impotent[136].
(6)
Fixing on lucky sites for dwelling[137].
(7)
Consecrating sites[138].
(8)
Ceremonial rinsings of the month.
(9)
Ceremonial bathings[139].
(10) Offering
sacrifices.
(11-14)
Administering emetics and purgatives.
(15)
Purging people to relieve the head (that is by giving drugs to make people
sneeze).
(16)
Oiling people's ears (either to make them grow or to heal sores on them).
(17)
Satisfying people's eyes (soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them).
(18)
Administering drugs through the nose,[140].
(19)
Applying collyrium to the eyes.
(20)
Giving medical ointment for the eyes.
(21)
Practising as an oculist.
(22)
Practising as a surgeon.
(23)
Practising as a doctor for children.
[\q
026/]
I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
(24) Administering
roots and drugs.
(25)
Administering medicines in rotation[141]
Gotama
the recluse holds aloof from such low arts."
'These,
brethren, are the trifling matters, the minor details, of mere morality, of
which the unconverted man when praising the Tathāgata, might speak.'
Here
end the Long Paragraphs on Conduct.
28.
'There are, brethren, other things profound, difficult to realise, hard to
understand, tranquillising, sweet, not to be grasped by mere logic, subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise[142]
These things the Tathāgata, having himself realised them and seen them face to
face, hath set forth; and it is of them that they, who would rightly praise the
Tathāgata in accordance with the truth, should speak.
'And
what are they ?
29.
'There are recluses and Brahmans, brethren, who reconstruct the ultimate
beginnings of things, whose speculations are concerned with the ultimate past[143],
and who on eighteen grounds put forward various
[\q
027/] THE
ETERNALISTS.
assertions
regarding it. [13] And about what, with reference to what, do those venerable
ones do so ?
30.
'There are, brethren, some recluses and Brahmans who are Eternalists[144],
and who, on four grounds, proclaim that both the soul and the world are
eternal. And about what, with reference to what, do those venerable ones do so?
31.
'In the first place, brethren, some recluse or Brahman by means of ardour, of
exertion, of application, of earnestness, of careful thought, reaches up to
such rapture of heart that, rapt in heart, he calls to mind his various
dwelling-places in times gone by-in one birth, or in two, or three, or four, or
five, or ten, or twenty, or thirty, or forty, or fifty, or a hundred, or a
thousand, or in several hundreds or thousands or laks of births-to the effect
that " There I had such and such a name, was of such and such a lineage[145]
and caste[146], lived on
such and such food, experienced such and such pains and pleasures, had such and
such a span of years. And when I fell from thence I was reborn in such and such
a place tinder such and such a name, in such and such a lineage and caste,
living on such and such food, experiencing such and such pains and pleasures,
with such and such a span of years. And when I fell from thence I was reborn
here." Thus does he recollect, in full detail both of condition and of
custom, his various dwelling
[\q
028/]
I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
places
in times zone by. [14] And he says to himself: " Eternal is the soul ; and
the world, giving birth to nothing new, is stedfast as a mountain peak, as a
pillar firmly fixed. and though these living creatures transmigrate and pass
away, fall from one state of existence and spring up in another, yet they ale
for ever and ever. And why must that be so? Because I, by means of ardour of
exertion of application of earnestness of careful thought, can reach up to such
rapture of heart that, rapt in heart, I can call to mind, and in full detail
both of condition and of custom, my various dwelling-places in times gone by-by
that is it that I know this-that the soul is eternal; and that the world,
giving birth to nothing new, is stedfast as a mountain peak, as a pillar firmly
fixed ; and that though these living creatures transmigrate and pass away, fall
from one state of existence and spring up in another, yet they are for ever and
ever."
'This,
brethren, is the first state of things on account of which, starting from
which, some recluses and Brahmans are Eternalists, and maintain that both the
soul and the world are eternal.
32. [The
second case put is in all respects the same save that the previous births thus
called to mind extend over a still longer period up to ten world aeons[147].]
33. [15]
[The third case put is in all respects the same save that the previous births
thus called to mind extend over a still longer period up to forty world aeons.]
34. [16]
'And in the fourth place, brethren, on what ground is it, starting from what,
that those venerable ones are Eternalists, and maintain that the soul and the
world are eternal.
'In
this case, brethren, some recluse or Brahman
[\q
029/] THE
ETERNALISTS.
is
addicted to logic and reasoning. He gives utterance to the following conclusion
of his own, beaten out by his argumentations and based on his sophistry[148];
"Eternal is the soul; and the world, giving birth to nothing new is
steadfast as a mountain peak, as a pillar firmly fixed; and these living
creatures, though they transmigrate and pass away, fall from one state of
existence and spring up in another, yet they are for ever and ever.
"'This,
brethren, is the fourth state of things on the ground of which, starting from
which, some recluses and Brahmans are Eternalists, and maintain that the soul
and the world are eternal.
35.
'These, brethren, are those recluses and Brahmans who are Eternalists, and in
four ways maintain that both the soul and the world are eternal. For whosoever
of the recluses and Brahmans are such and maintain this, they do so in these
four ways, or in one or other of the same, and outside these there is no way in
which this opinion is arrived at.
36. '
Now of these, brethren, the Tathāgata knows that these speculations thus
arrived at, thus insisted on, will have such and such a result, such and such
an effect on the future condition of those who trust in them. [17] That does he
know, and he knows also other things far beyond (far better than those
speculations)[149]; and
having that knowledge he is not puffed up, and thus untarnished he has, in his
own heart[150], realised
the way of escape from them[151],
has understood, as they really are, the rising up and passing away of
sensations. their sweet taste, their danger, how they cannot be relied on; and
not grasping after any (of
[\q
030/] I. BRAHMA-JâLA
SUTTA.
those
things men are eager for) he, the Tathāgata, is quite set free[152].
37.
'These[153], brethren,
are those other things, profound, difficult to realise, hard to understand,
tranquillising, sweet, not to be grasped by mere logic,. subtle, comprehensible
only by the wise, which the Tathāgata, having himself realised and seen face to
face, hath set forth ; and it is concerning these that they who would rightly
praise the Tathāgata in accordance with the truth, should speak.'
Here
ends the First Portion for Recitation.
CHAPTER
II.
1. '
There are, brethren, some recluses and Brahmans who are Eternalists with regard
to some things, and in regard to others Non-Eternalists; who on four grounds
maintain that the soul and the world are partly eternal and partly not.
'And
what is it that these venerable ones depend upon, what is it that they start
from, in arriving at this conclusion ?
2. '
Now there comes a time, brethren, when, sooner or later, after the lapse of a
long long period, this world-system passes away. And when this happens beings
have mostly been reborn in the World of Radiance, and there they dwell made of
mind, feeding on joy, radiating light from themselves, traversing the air,
continuing in glory; and thus they remain for a long long period of time.
3.
Now there comes also a time, brethren, when,
[\q
031/] ETERNALISTS
AND NON-ETERNALISTS.
sooner
or later, this world-system begins to re-evolve. When this happens the Palace
of Brahmā appears, but it is empty. And some being or other, either because his
span of years has passed or his merit is exhausted, falls from that World -of
Radiance, and comes to life in the Palace of Brahmā. And there also he lives
made of mind, feeding on joy, radiating light from himself, traversing the air,
continuing in glory; and thus does he remain for a long long period of time.
4.
'Now there arises in him, from his dwelling there so long alone, a
dissatisfaction and a longing: " O! would that other beings might come to
join me in this place! " And just then, either because their span of years
had passed or their merit was exhausted, other beings fall from the World of
Radiance, and appear in the Palace of Brahma as companions to him, and in all
respects like him. [18]
5.
'On this, brethren, the one who was first reborn thinks thus to himself: "
I am Brahmā, the Great Brahmā, the Supreme One, the Mighty, the All-seeing, the
Ruler, the Lord of all, the Maker, the Creator, the Chief of all, appointing to
each his place, the Ancient of days the Father of all that are and are to be[154].
'These other beings are of my creation. And why is that so ? A while ago I
thought, 'Would that they might come!' And on my mental aspiration, behold the
beings came."
'And
those beings themselves, too, think thus: " This must be Brahmā,, the
Great Brahmā, the Supreme, the Mighty, the All-seeing, the Ruler, the Lord of
all, the Maker, the Creator, the Chief of all, appointing to each his place,
the Ancient of days, the Father of all that are
[\q
032/]
I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
and
are to be. And we must have been created by him. And why? Because, as we see,
it was he who was here first, and we came after that."
6.
'On this, brethren, the one who first came into existence there is of longer
life, and more glorious, and more powerful than those who appeared after him.
And it might well be, brethren, that some being on his falling from that state,
should come hither. And having come hither he might go forth from the household
life into the homeless state. And having thus become a recluse he, by reason of
ardour of exertion of application of earnestness of careful thought, reaches up
to such rapture of heart that, rapt in heart, he calls to mind his last
dwelling-place, but not the previous ones. He says to himself: "That
illustrious Brahmā, the Great Brahmā, the Supreme One, the Mighty, the
All-seeing, the Ruler, the Lord of all, the Maker, the Creator, the Chief of
all, appointing to each his place, the Ancient of days, the Father of all that
are and are to be, he by whom we were created, he is stedfast immutable
eternal, of a nature that knows no change, and he will remain so for ever and
ever. But we who were created by him have come hither as being impermanent
mutable limited in duration of life.
[19]
'This, brethren, is the first state of things on account of which, starting out
from which, some recluses and Brahmans, being Eternalists as to some things,
and Non-eternalists as to others, maintain that the soul and the world are
partly eternal and partly not.
7.
'And what is the second ?
'There
are, brethren, certain gods called the " Debauched by Pleasure[155].
'For ages they pass their time in the pursuit of the laughter and sport of
sensual lusts. In consequence thereof their self-possession is corrupted, and
through the loss of their self-control they fall from that state[156].
[\q
033/] THE
SEMI-ETERNALISTS.
8. '
Now it might well be, brethren, that some being, on his falling from that
state, should come hither. And having come hither he should, as in the last
case, become a recluse, and acquire the power of recollecting his last birth,
but only his last one.
9.
'And he would say to himself: " Those gods who are not debauched by
pleasure are stedfast, immutable, eternal, of a nature that knows no change,
and they will remain so for ever and ever. [20] But we-who fell from that
state, having lost our self-control through being debauched by pleasure-we have
come hither as being impermanent, mutable, limited in duration of life."
10.
'And what is the third ?
'There
are, brethren, certain gods called "the Debauched in Mind[157]."
They burn continually with envy[158]
one against another, and being thus irritated, their hearts become ill-disposed
towards each other, and being thus debauched, their bodies become feeble, and
their minds imbecile. And those gods fall from that state.
11.
'Now it might well be, brethren, that some
[\q
034/] I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
being,
on his falling from that state, should come hither; and having become a recluse
should ' as in the other cases, acquire the power of recollecting his last
birth, but only his last one.
12.
'And lie would say to himself: "Those gods who are not debauched in mind
do not continually burn with envy against each other, so their hearts do not
become evil disposed one towards another, nor their bodies feeble and their
minds imbecile. Therefore they fall not from that state; they are stedfast,
immutable, eternal, of a nature that knows no change, and they will remain so
for ever and ever. [21] But we were corrupted in mind, being constantly excited
by envy against one another. And being thus envious and corrupt our bodies
became feeble, and our minds imbecile, and we fell from that state, and have
come hither as Being impermanent, mutable, limited in duration of life."
'This,
brethren, is the third case.
13.
'And what is the fourth?
In
this case, brethren, some recluse or Brahman is addicted to logic and
reasoning. He gives utterance to the following conclusion of his own, beaten
out by his argumentations and based on his sophistry: " This which is
called eye and ear and nose and tongue and body is a self which is impermanent,
unstable, not eternal, subject to change. But this which is called heart, or
mind, or consciousness is a self which is permanent, stedfast, eternal, and
knows no change, and it will remain for ever and ever[159]
This,
brethren, is the fourth state of things, on the ground of which, starting from
which, some recluses
[\q
035/] THE
EXTENSIONISTS.
and
Brahmans are Semi-eternalists, and in four ways maintain that the soul and the
world are in some respects eternal, and in some not.
14.
'These, brethren, are those recluses and Brahmans who are Semi-eternalists, and
in four ways maintain that the soul and the world are eternal in some cases and
not in others. For whosoever of the recluses and Brahmans are such and maintain
this, they do so in these four ways or in one or other of the same; and outside
these there is no way in which this opinion is arrived at.
[22]
15. 'Now of these, brethren, the Tathāgata knows that these speculations, thus
arrived at, thus insisted on, will have such and such a result, such and such
an effect on the future condition of those who trust in them. That does he
know, and he knows also other things far beyond (far better than those
speculations); and having that knowledge, he is not puffed up, and thus
untarnished he has, in his own heart, realised the way of escape from them, has
understood, as they really are, the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste, their danger, how they cannot be relied on, and not grasping
after any (of those things men are eager for) he, the Tathāgata, is quite set
free.
'
These, brethren, are those other things, profound, difficult to realise, hard
to understand, tranquillising, sweet, not to be grasped by mere logic, subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise, which the Tathāgata, having himself realised
and seen face to face, hath set forth; and it is concerning these that they who
would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with the truth, should speak.'
16.
'There are, brethren, certain recluses and Brahmans who are Extensionists[160],
and who in four ways set forth the infinity or finiteness of the world. And
[\q
036/] I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
on
what ground, starting out from what, do these venerable ones maintain this ?
17.
'In the first case, brethren, some recluse or Brahman, by means of ardour of
exertion of application of earnestness of careful thought, reaches up to such
rapture of heart that he, rapt in heart., dwells in the world imagining it
finite. And he says thus to himself: "Finite is the world, so that a path
could be traced round it[161].
And why is this so ? Since I, by means of ardour of exertion of application of
earnestness of careful thought, can reach up to such rapture of heart that,
rapt in heart, I dwell in the world perceiving it to be finite-by that I know
this."
'This,
brethren, is the first case. ,
18.
'The second case is similar, only that the conclusion is: [23] 'Infinite is the
world without a limit. Those recluses and Brahmans who say it is finite, so
that a path could be traced round it, are wrong[162]."
19.
'The third case is similar, only that the conclusion is that he imagines the
world limited in the upward and downward directions, but infinite across; he
declares both the former conclusions to be wrong.
20.
'In the fourth case, brethren, some recluse or Brahman is addicted to logic and
reasoning. He gives utterance to the following conclusion of his own, beaten
out by his argumentations and based on his sophistry: "This world is
neither finite nor yet infinite. Those recluses and Brahmans who maintain
either the first, or the second, or the third conclusion, are wrong. [24]
Neither is the world finite, nor is it infinite."
'This,
brethren, is the fourth case.
[\q
037/] THE
EEL-WRIGGLERS.
21.
'These, brethren, are those recluses and Brahmans who are Extensionists, and in
four ways maintain that the world is finite or infinite. For whosoever of the
recluses and Brahmans are such, and maintain this, they do so in these four
ways or in one or other of the same ; and outside these there is no way in
which this opinion is arrived at.
22.
'Now of these, brethren, the Tathāgata knows that these speculations thus
arrived at, thus insisted on, will have such and such a result, such and such
an effect on the future condition of those who trust in them. That does he
know, and he knows also other things far beyond (far better than those
speculations); and having that knowledge he is not puffed up, and thus
untarnished he has, in his own heart, realised the way of escape from them, has
understood, as they really are, the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste, their danger, how they cannot be relied on, and not grasping
after any (of those things men are eager for) he, the Tathāgata, is quite set
free.
'These,
brethren, are those other things, profound, difficult to realise, hard to
understand, tranquillising, sweet, not to be grasped by mere logic, subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise, which the Tathāgata, having himself realised
and seen face to face, hath set forth; and it is concerning these that they who
would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with the truth, should speak.'
23.
'There are, brethren, some recluses and Brahmans who wriggle like eels; and
when a question is put to them on this or that they resort to equivocation, to
eel-wriggling, and this in four ways.
'Now
on what ground starting out from what, do those venerable ones do so ?
24.
'In the first place, brethren, some recluse or Brahman does not understand the
good in its real nature, nor the evil. And he thinks: -"I neither know
[\q
038/]
I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
the
good, as it really is, nor the evil. [25] That being so, were I to pronounce
this to be good or that to be evil, I might be influenced therein by my
feelings or desires, by illwill or resentment. And under these circumstances I
might be wrong; and my having been wrong might cause me the pain of remorse;
and the sense of remorse might become a hindrance to me[163]."
Thus fearing and abhorring the being wrong in an expressed opinion, he will
neither declare anything to be good, nor to be bad; but on a question being put
to him on this or that, he resorts to eel-wriggling. to equivocation, and says:
" I don't take it thus. I don't take it the other way. But I advance no
different opinion. And I don't deny your position. And I don't say it is
neither the one, nor the other[164].
'This
is the first case.
'And
what is the second ?
25.
[The same, reading] Under these circumstances I might fall into that grasping
condition of heart which causes rebirth; and my so falling might cause me the
pain of remorse; and the sense of remorse might become a hindrance to me."
[26] Thus fearing and abhorring the falling into that state[165],
he will neither declare (&c., as in 24).
'This
is the second case.
'And
what is the third ?
26. [The
same, reading] 'And he thinks: "I neither know the good, as it really is,
nor the evil. Now there are recluses and Brahmans who are clever, subtle,
experienced in controversy, hair-splitters, who ,go about, methinks, breaking
to pieces by their wisdom
[\q
039/] THE
EEL-WRIGGLERS.
the
speculations of others. Were I to pronounce this to be good, or that to be
evil, these men might join issue with me, call upon me for my reasons, point
out my errors. And on their doing so, I might be unable to explain[166].
And that might cause me the pain of remorse; and the sense of remorse might
become a hindrance to me." Thus fearing and abhorring the joinder of
issue, he will neither declare (&c., as in 24).
'This
is the third case. [27]
'And
what is the fourth ?
27. '
In this case, brethren, some recluse or Brahman is dull, stupid. And it is by
reason of his dullness, his stupidity, that when a question on this or that is
put to him, he resorts to equivocation, to wriggling,, like an eel-" If
you ask me whether there is another world,-well, if I thought there were, I
would say so. But I don't say so. And I don't think it is thus or thus. And I
don't think it is otherwise. And I don't deny it. And I don't say there neither
is, nor is not, another world." Thus does he equivocate, and in like
manner about each of such propositions as the following[167]:
a
(2) There is not another world.
(3)
There both is, and is not, another world.
(4)
There neither is, nor is not, another world.
b.(1)
There are Chance Beings (so called because they spring into existence, either
here or in another world, without the intervention of parents, and seem
therefore to come without a cause).
(2)
There are no such beings.
(3)
There both are, and are not, such beings.
(4)
There neither are, nor are not, such beings.
c
(1) There is fruit, result, of good and bad actions.
[\q
040/]
I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
(2) There
is not.
(3) There
both is, and is not.
(4)
There neither is, nor is not.
d.(1)
A man who has penetrated to the truth[168]
continues to exist after death.
(2)
He does not.
(3)
H e both does, and does not.
(4)
He neither does, nor does not.
'This,
brethren, is the fourth case[169].
[28]
28. 'These, brethren, are those recluses and Brahmans who wriggle like eels;
and who, when a question is put to them on this or that, resort to
equivocation, to eel-wriggling; and that in four ways. For whosoever do so,
they do so in these four ways, or in one or other of the same; there is no
other way in which they do so.
29.
'Now of these, brethren, the Tathāgata knows that these speculations thus
arrived at, thus insisted on, will have such and such a result, such and such
an effect on the future condition of those who trust in them. That does he
know, and he knows also other things far beyond (far better than those
speculations); and having that knowledge he is not puffed up, and thus
untarnished he has, in his own heart, realised the way of escape from them, has
understood, as they really are, the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste, their danger, how they cannot be relied on, and not grasping
after any (of those things men are eager for) he, the Tathāgata, is quite set
free.
'These
brethren, are those other things, profound, difficult to realise, hard to
understand, tranquillising,
[\q
041/] THE
FORTUITOUS-ORIGINISTS.
sweet,
not to be grasped by mere logic, subtle, comprehensible only by the wise, which
the Tathāgata, having himself realised and seen face to face, hath set forth;
and it is concerning these that they who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in
accordance with the truth, should speak.'
30.
'There are, brethren, some recluses and Brahmans who are Fortuitous-Originists[170],
and who in two ways maintain that the soul and the world arise without a cause.
And on what ground, starting out from what, do they do so ?
31.
'There are, brethren, certain gods called Unconscious Beings[171].
As soon as an idea occurs to them they fall from that state. Now it may well
be, brethren, that a being, on falling from that state, should come hither; and
having come hither he might go forth from the household life into the homeless
state. And having thus become a recluse he, by reason of ardour and so on (as
in the other cases) reaches up to such rapture of heart that, rapt in heart, he
calls to mind how that idea occurred to him, but not more than that. He says to
himself: " "Fortuitous
[\q
042/]
I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
in
origin are the soul and the world. And why so ? Because formerly I was not, but
now am. Having not been, I have come to be." [29]
'This,
brethren, is the first state of things on account of which, starting out from
which some recluses and Brahmans become Fortuitous-Originists, and maintain
that the soul and the world arise without a cause.
32,33
'And what is the second ?
In
this case, brethren, some recluse or Brahman is addicted to logic and
reasoning. He gives utterance to the following conclusion of his own, beaten
out by his argumentations, and based on his sophistry: " The soul and the
world arose without a cause."
'
This, brethren, is the second case.
34. '
Now of these, brethren, the Tathāgata knows that these speculations thus
arrived at, thus insisted on, will have such and such a result, such and such
an effect on the future condition of those who trust in them. That does he
know, and he knows also other things far beyond (far better than those
speculations) ; and having that knowledge he is not puffed up, and thus
untarnished he has, in his own heart, realised the way of escape from them, has
understood, as they really are, the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste, their danger, how they cannot be relied on, and not grasping
after any (of those things men are eager for) he, the Tathāgata, is quite set
free.
'
These, brethren, are those other things, profound, difficult to realise, hard
to understand, tranquillising, sweet, not to be grasped by mere logic, subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise, which the Tathāgata, having himself realised
and seen face to face, hath set forth; and it is concerning these that they who
would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with the truth, should speak.'
[30]
35. ' These, brethren, are the recluses and Brahmans who reconstruct the
ultimate beginnings of things, whose speculations are concerned with the
[\q
043/] THE
BELIEVERS IN FUTURE LIFE.
ultimate
past, and who on eighteen grounds put forward various assertions regarding the
past[172].
And those who do so, all of them, do so in one or other of these eighteen ways.
There is none beside.
36. '
Now of these, brethren, the Tathāgata knows that these speculations thus
arrived at, thus insisted on, will have such and such a result, such and such
an effect on the future condition of those who trust in them. That does he
know, and he knows also other things far beyond (far better than those
speculations); and having that knowledge he is not puffed up, and thus
untarnished he has, in his own heart, realised the way of escape from them, has
understood, as they really are, the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste, their danger, how they cannot be relied on, and not grasping
after any (of those things men are eager for) he, the Tathāgata, is quite set
free.
'These,
brethren, are those other things, profound, difficult to realise, hard to
understand, tranquillising, sweet, not to be grasped by mere logic, subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise, which the Tathāgata, having himself realised
and seen face to face, hath set forth ; and it is concerning these that they
who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with the truth, should
speak.'
37.
'There are, brethren, recluses and Brahmans who arrange the future, whose
speculations are concerned with the future, and who on forty-four grounds put
forward various assertions regarding the future. And on account of what,
starting out from what, do they do so ?
38.
'There are, brethren, recluses and Brahmans who [31] hold the doctrine of a
conscious existence after death[173],
and who maintain in sixteen ways that
[\q
044/]
I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
the
soul after death is conscious. And how do they do so ?
'They
say of the soul: " The soul after death, not subject to decay, and
conscious,
(1)
has form[174],
(2
is formless[175],
(3)
has, and has not, form,
(4)
neither has, nor has not, form,
(5)
is finite,
(6)
is infinite,
(7)
is both,
(8)
is neither,
(9)
has one mode of consciousness,
(10) has
various modes of consciousness
(11) has
limited consciousness
(12) has
infinite consciousness
(13) is
altogether happy
(14) is
altogether miserable
(15) is
both
(16) is
neither
39.
'These, brethren, are those recluses and Brahmans who hold the doctrine of a
conscious existence after death, and who maintain in sixteen ways that the soul
after death is conscious. And those who do so, all of them, do so in one or
other of these sixteen ways. There is none beside.
40.
'Now of these, brethren, the Tathāgata knows that these speculations thus
arrived at, thus insisted on, will have such and such a result, such and such
an effect on the future condition of those who trust in them. That does he
know, and he knows also other things far beyond (far better than those
speculations) and having that knowledge he is not puffed up, and thus
untarnished he has, in his own heart, realised the way of escape from them, has
understood, as they really are, the rising up and passing away of sensations,
their sweet taste, their danger, how they cannot be relied on, and not grasping
after any (of those things men are eager for) he, the Tathāgata, is quite set
free.
[\q
045/] THE
BELIEVERS IN FUTURE LIFE.
'These,
brethren, are those other things, profound, difficult to realise, hard to
understand, tranquillising, sweet, not to be grasped by mere logic, subtle,
comprehensible. only by the wise, which the Tathāgata, having himself realised
and seen face to face, hath set forth; and it is concerning these that they who
would rightly raise the Tathāgata in accordance with the truth, should speak.'
Here
ends the Second Portion for Recitation. [32]
CHAPTER
III.
1.
'There are, brethren, recluses and Brahmans who hold the doctrine of an
unconscious existence after death, and who maintain in eight ways that the soul
after death is unconscious. And how do they do so ?
2.
'They say of the soul : "The soul after death, not subject to decay, and
unconscious,
(1)
has form,
(2) is
formless,
(3) has,
and has not, form,
(4) neither
has, nor has not form
(5) is
finite,
(6) is
infinite,
(7) is
both,
(8) is
neither.
3.
'These, brethren, are those recluses and Brahmans who hold the doctrine of an
unconscious existence after death, and who maintain in eight ways that the soul
after death is unconscious. And those who do so, all of them, do so in one or
other of those eight ways. There is none beside.
4.
'Now of these, brethren, the Tathāgata knows that these speculations thus
arrived at, thus insisted on, will have such and such a result, such and such
an effect on the future condition of those who trust in them. That does he
know, and he knows also other things far beyond (far better than those speculations);
and having that knowledge he is not puffed up, and thus untarnished he has, in
his own heart, realised the
[\q
046/] I.
BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
way
of escape from them, has understood, as they really are, the rising up and
passing, away of sensations, their sweet taste, their dancer, how they cannot
be relied on, and not grasping after any (of those things men are eager for)
he, the Tathāgata is quite set free.
'These,
brethren, are those other things, profound, difficult to realise, hard to
understand, tranquillising, sweet, not to be grasped by mere logic, subtle,
comprehensible only by the wise, which the Tathāgata, having himself realised
and seen face to face, hath set forth and it is concerning these that they who
would rightly praise the Tathāgata in, accordance with the truth, should speak.
5-8.
[33] [Similar sections for those who maintain in eight ways that the soul after
death is neither conscious nor unconscious.]
[176]
9. [34] 'There are, brethren, recluses and Brahmans who are Annihilationists, who
in seven ways maintain the cutting off, the destruction, the annihilation of a
living being[177]. And on
account of what, starting out from what, do they do so ?
10. '
In the first place, brethren, some recluse or Brahman puts forth the following
opinion, the following view : " Since, Sir, this soul has form, is built
up of the four elements, and is the offspring of father and mother, it is cut
off, destroyed, on the dissolution of the body; and does not continue after
death; and then, Sir, the soul is completely annihilated." Thus is it that
some maintain the cutting off, the destruction, the annihilation of a living,
being,
11.
'To him another says: 'There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe. That I do
not deny. But the whole soul, Sir, is not then completely annihilated. For
there is a further soul - divine, having form, belonging to the sensuous plane,
feeding on solid food. That you neither know of nor perceive. But I know
[\q
047/] THE
ANNIHILATIONISTS.
and
have experienced it. And since this soul, on the dissolution of the body, is
cut off and destroyed, does not continue after death, then is it, Sir, that the
soul is completely annihilated." Thus is it that some maintain the cutting
off, the destruction, the annihilation of a living being.
12.
'To him another says: "There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe. That I
do not deny. But the whole soul, Sir, is not then completely annihilated. For
there is a further soul-divine, having form, made of mind, with all its major
and minor parts complete, not deficient in any organ. This you neither know of
nor perceive. But I know and have experienced it. And since this soul, on the
dissolution of the body, is cut off and destroyed, does not continue after
death, then is it, Sir, that the soul is completely annihilated." Thus is
it that some maintain the cutting off, the destruction, the annihilation of a
living being.
13.
'To him another says: " There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe. That I
do not deny. But the whole soul, Sir, is not then completely annihilated. For
there is a further soul, which by passing beyond ideas of form, by the dying
out of ideas of resistance, by paying no heed to ideas of difference, conscious
that space is infinite, reaches up to the plane of the infinity of space[178].
This you neither know of nor perceive. [35] But I know and have experienced it.
And since this soul, on the dissolution of the body, is cut off and destroyed,
does not continue after death, then is it, Sir, that the soul is completely
annihilated." Thus is it that some maintain the cutting off, the
destruction, the annihilation of a living being.
14.
'To him another says: " There is, Sir, such ,a soul as you describe. That
I do not deny. But the whole soul, Sir, is not then completely annihilated.
[\q
048/]
I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
For
there is a further soul, which having passed beyond the plane of the infinity
of space, knowing that consciousness is infinite, reaches up to the plane of
the infinity of consciousness[179].
This you neither know of nor perceive. But I know and have experienced it. And
since this soul, on the dissolution of the body, is cut off and destroyed, does
not continue after death, then is it, Sir, that the soul is completely
annihilated." Thus is it that some maintain the cutting off, the destruction,
the annihilation of a living being.
15.
'To him another says: "There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe. That I
do not deny. But the whole soul, Sir, is not then completely annihilated. For
there is a further soul, which by passing quite beyond the plane of the
infinity of consciousness, knowing that there is nothing, reaches up to the
plane of no obstruction[180].
This you neither know of nor perceive. But I know and have experienced it. And
since this soul, on the dissolution of the body, is cut off and destroyed, does
not continue after death, then is it, Sir, that the soul is completely
annihilated." Thus is it that some maintain the cutting off, the
destruction, the annihilation of a living, being.
16.
'To him another says: "There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe. That I
do not deny. But the whole soul, Sir, is not then completely annihilated. For
there is a further soul, which by passing quite beyond the plane of no
obstruction, realises 'This is good, this is excellent,' and reaches up to the plane
of neither ideas nor the absence of ideas[181]
This you
[\q
049/] THE
PERFECT NET.
neither
know of, nor perceive. But I know and have experienced it. And since this soul,
on the dissolution of the body, is cut off, destroyed, does not continue after
death, then is it, Sir, that the soul is completely annihilated." Thus is
it that some maintain the cutting off, the destruction, !the annihilation of a
living being.
17.
'These, brethren, are the recluses and Brahmans who are Annihilationists and in
seven ways maintain the cutting off, the destruction, the annihilation of a
living being. [36] And whosoever do so they, all of them, do so in one or other
of these seven ways. There is none beside.
18.
[Repetition of 40, above p. 44, setting forth that other, higher,
knowledge of a Tathāgata, for which alone he can be rightly praised.]
19.
'There are, brethren, recluses and Brahmans who hold the doctrine of happiness
in this life, who in five ways maintain the complete salvation, in this visible
world, of a living being. And relying on what, starting out from what, do they
do so ?
20. '
Hereon, brethren, some recluse or Brahman may have the following opinion, the
following view: "Whensoever the soul, in full enjoyment and possession
[\q
050/] I.
BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
of
the five pleasures of sense, indulges all its functions, then, Sir, the soul
has attained, in this visible world, to the highest Nirvāõa[182].
" Thus do some maintain the complete happiness, in the visible world, of a
living being.
21.
'To him another says: "There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe. That I
do not deny. But the soul does not by that alone attain to the highest Nirvāõa.
And why not ? Sensuous delights, Sir, are transitory, they involve pain, their
very nature is to fluctuate. And grief, lamentation, pain, sorrow, and loathing
arise out of their inconstancy and change. [37] But whensoever the soul,
putting away sensuous delights and evil dispositions, enters into and abides in
the First Jhāna, the state of joy and ease, born of seclusion, accompanied by
reflection, accompanied by investigation, then, Sir, has the soul attained, in
this visible world, to the highest Nirvāõa." Thus do some maintain the
complete happiness, in the visible world, of a living being.
22.
'To him another says: "There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe. That I
do not deny. But the soul does not by that alone attain to the highest Nirvāõa.
And why not ? Because inasmuch as that state involves reasoning and
investigation it is stamped as being gross. But whensoever, Sir, the soul,
suppressing both reasoning and investigation, enters into and abides in the
Second Jhāna, the state of joy and case, born of serenity,, without reflection
or investigation, a state of elevation of mind, internal calm of heart, then,
Sir, has the soul attained, in this visible world, to the highest
Nirvāõa." Thus do some maintain the complete happiness, in the visible
world, of a living being.
[\q
051/] THE
PERFECT NET.
23
'To him another says: "There is, Sir, such a soul as you describe. That I
do not deny. But the soul does not by that alone attain to the highest Nirvāõa.
And why not ? Because inasmuch as that state involves the sense of joy, of
exhilaration of heart, it is stamped as being gross. But whensoever, Sir, the
soul, by absence of the longing after joy remains in equanimity, mindful and
self-possessed, and experiences in the body that ease of which the Arahats
speak (when they say) 'the man serene and thoughtful dwells at case,' and so
enters into and abides in the Third Jhāna-then, Sir, has the soul attained, in
this visible world, to the highest Nirvāõa." Thus do some maintain the
complete happiness, in the visible world, of a living being.
24. '
To him another says: " There is. Sir, such a soul as you describe. That I
do not deny. But the soul does not by that alone attain to the highest Nirvāõa.
And why not ? Because inasmuch as that state involves a constant dwelling of
the mind on the case it has enjoyed it is stamped as gross. [38] But
whensoever, Sir, the soul, by putting away ease, by putting away pain, by the
previous dying away both of joys and griefs has entered into and abides in the
Fourth Jhāna[183] - a state
made pure by self-possession and equanimity, without pain and without
ease-then, Sir, has the soul attained, in this visible world, to the highest
Nirvāõa." Thus do some maintain the complete happiness, in the visible
world, of a living, being.
25. '
These, brethren, are the recluses and Brahmans who hold the doctrine of
happiness in this life, who in five ways maintain the complete salvation, in
this visible world, of a living being. And those who do
[\q
052/] I.
BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
so,
all of them, do so in one or other of these five ways. There is none beside.
26.
[Repetition of 40, above p. 44, setting forth that other, higher,
knowledge of a Tathāgata, for which alone he can be rightly praised.]
27.
'These, brethren, are the recluses and Brahmans who arrange the future, whose
speculations are concerned with the future, and who on forty-four grounds put
forward various assertions regarding the future. And those who do so, all of
them, do so in one or other of these .forty-four ways. There is none beside.
28.
[Repetition of 40, above p. 44, setting forth that other, higher, knowledge
of a Tathāgata, for which alone he can be rightly praised.]
[39]
29. 'These, brethren, are the recluses and Brahmans who reconstruct the past,
and arrange the future, or who do both, whose speculations are concerned with
both, and who in sixty-two ways put forward propositions with regard to the
past and to the future, and those who do so, all of them, do so in one or other
of these sixty-two ways. There is none beside.
30.
[Repetition Of 40, above p. 44, setting forth that other, higher,
knowledge of a 'Tathāgata, for which alone he can be rightly praised.]
[40]
32. 'Of these, brethren, those recluses and Brahmans who are Eternalists, who
in four ways maintain that the soul and the world are eternal:
(2)
those who are Semi-eternalists, who in four ways maintain that the soul and the
world are partly eternal and partly not:
(3)
those who are Extensionists, who in four ways maintain the infinity or the
finiteness of the world:
(4)
those who are Eel-wrigglers, who when a question is put to them on this or that
resort, in four ways, to equivocation, to wriggling like eels:
(5)
those who are Fortuitous-Originists, who in two ways maintain that the soul and
the world arose without, a cause:
[\q
053/] THE
PERFECT NET.
(6)
those who in any of these eighteen ways reconstruct the past :
(7)
those who hold the doctrine of a conscious existence after death, who maintain
in sixteen ways that the soul after death is conscious:
(8)
those who hold the doctrine of an unconscious existence after death, who
maintain in eight ways that the soul after death is unconscious:
(9)
those who maintain in eight ways that the soul after death is neither conscious
nor unconscious:
(10)
those who are Annihilationists, who maintain ill seven ways the cutting off,
the destruction, the annihilation of a living being:
(11)
those who hold the doctrine of happiness in this life, who in five ways
maintain the complete salvation, in this visible world, of a living being
That opinion
of theirs is based only on the personal sensations, on the worry and writhing
consequent thereon[184],
of those venerable recluses and Brahmans, who know not, neither perceive, and
are subject to all kinds of craving:
45
foll. [41,42] 'Those opinions of theirs are therefore based upon contact
(through the senses).
58
foll. [43] That they should experience those sensations without such contact,
such a condition of things could not be.
71.
[44] 'They all of them, receive those sensations through continual contact in
the spheres of touch. To them on account of the sensations arises craving, on
account of the craving arises the fuel (that is, the necessary condition, the
food, the basis, of future lives), from the fuel results becoming, from the
tendency to become arises rebirth, and from rebirth comes death, and grief,
lamentation, pain, sorrow, and despair. It is, brethren, when a brother
understands,
[\q
054/] I. BRAHMA-JâLA SUTTA.
as
they really are, the origin and the end, the attraction, the danger, and the
way of escape from the six realms of contact, that he gets to know what is
above, beyond, them all[185].
72.
[45] ' For whosoever, brethren, whether recluses or Brahmans, are thus
reconstructors of the past or arrangers of the future, or who are both, whose
speculations are concerned with both, who put forward various propositions with
regard to the past and to the future, they, all of them, are entrapped in the
net of these sixty-two modes; this way and that they plunge about, but they are
in it; this way and that they may flounder, but they are included in it, caught
in it.
'Just,
brethren, as when a skilful fisherman or fisherlad should drag a tiny pool of
water with a fine-meshed net he might fairly think: " Whatever fish of
size may be in this pond, every one will be in this net; flounder about as they
may, they will be included in it, and caught"-just so is it with these
speculators about the past and the future, in this net, flounder. as they may,
they are included and caught. [46]
73.
'The outward form, brethren, of him who has won the truth[186],
stands before you, but that which binds it to rebirth is cut in twain. So long
as his body shall last, so long do gods and men behold him. On the dissolution
of the body, beyond the end of his life, neither gods nor men shall see him.
'Just,
brethren, as when the stalk of a bunch of mangoes has been cut, all the mangoes
that were hanging on that stalk go with it; just so, brethren, though the
outward form of him who has won the truth stands before you, that which binds
it to rebirth has been cut in twain. So long as his body shall last, so long do
gods and men behold him. On the dissolution of the body, beyond the end of his
life, neither gods nor men shall see him.'
[\q
055/] THE
PERFECT NET.
74.
When he had thus spoken, the venerable ânanda said to the Blessed One:
'Strange, Lord, is this, and wonderful! And what name has this exposition of
the truth ?'
'ânanda,
you may remember this exposition as the Net of Advantage, and as the Net of
Truth, and as the Supreme Net, and as the Net of Theories; remember it even as
the Glorious Victory in the day of battle!'
Thus spake the
Blessed One, and glad at heart the brethren exalted his word. And on the
delivery of this discourse the thousandfold world-system shook.
Here ends
the Brahma-Jāla Sutta.
[1] 'American Lectures on Buddhism.' London, 1896, pp. 38~43.
[2] Summed up below, pp. 52, 53 ; and set out more fully in the list in the 'American Lectures,' pp. 31-33.
[3] See the fable quoted below, pp. 187, 188.
[4] See below, pp. 44, 188.
[5] See for instance below, pp. 53, 54.
[6] See the paper on ' The Will in Buddhism,' J R. A. S., 1898.
[7] See below, p. 42, &c., of this Suttanta.
[8] Professor Cowell has been good enough to inform me that, in his opinion, the attempted restriction of all philosophy to the six Darsanas, and the very use of the term, is late mediaeval. The six are of course not mutually exclusive; and this, and the omissions in the classification of philosophy under these six heads, render it rather like a classification of animals into men, horses, birds, ghosts, beetles, and sparrows.
[9] The whole of this Sutta was translated into English by the Rev. Daniel Gogerly, Wesleyan missionary in Ceylon, in the journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1846 (reprinted by P. Grimblot in his 'Sept Suttas Palis,' Paris, 1876).
[10] Nālandā, afterwards the seat of the famous Buddhist university, was about seven miles north of Rājagaha, the capital of Magadha, the modern Raj-gir (Sum. p. 35).
[11] Suppiya was a follower of the celebrated teacher Sa¤jaya, whose views are set out and controverted in the next Sutta.
[12] Ambalaņņhikā, 'the mango sapling.'
It was, says Buddhaghosa (pp. 41, 42), a well-watered and shady park so called
from a mango sapling by the gateway. It was surrounded with a rampart, and had
in it a rest-house adorned with paintings for the king's amusement.
There was another garden so named at Anurādhapura in Ceylon, to the east of the Brazen Palace (Sum. 1, 13 1). This was so named, no doubt, after the other which was famous as the scene of the 'Exhortation to Rāhula starting with falsehood,' mentioned in Asoka's Bhabra Edict (see my 'Buddhism,' pp. 224, 225).
[13] These titles occur, in the MSS., at
the end of the sections of the tract that now follows. It forms a part of each
of the Suttas in the first division, the first third, of this collection of
Suttas. The division is called therefore the Sãla Vagga or Section containing
the Sãlas. The tract itself must almost certainly have existed as a separate
work before the time when the discourses, in each of which it recurs, were
first put together.
Certain paragraphs from this tract occur also elsewhere. So in Majjhima I, 179 we have the whole of the short paragraphs; in Majjhima, Nos. 76 and 77, and in Mahāvagga V, 8, 3, we have 17; in Majjhima II, 3 we have most of 18; and so on. The whole of this tract has been translated into English by Gogerly (in Grimblot, see page 1, note), into French by Burnouf (also in Grimblot, pp. 212 foll.), and into German by Dr. Neumann (in his Buddhistische Anthologie, pp. 67 foll.).
[14] This refrain is repeated at the end of each clause. When the Sãlas recur below, in each Sutta, the only difference is in the refrain. See, for instance, the translation of p. 100 in the text.
[15] Neumann has 'waiting for a gift' which is a possible rendering: but pātikankhati has not yet been found elsewhere in the sense of 'waiting for.' The usual meaning of the word expresses just such a trifling matter as we have been led, from the context, to expect.
[16] Gāma-dhammā, 'from the village habit, the practice of country folk the "pagan"' way.' One might render the phrase by 'pagan' if that word had not acquired, in English, a slightly different connotation. It is the opposite of porã, urbane (applied to speech, below, 9)ôr. Neumann misses the point here, but has 'hflich' below.
[17] Porã. See note above on 8.
[18] Sampha-ppalāpa. Sampha occurs alone in the Hemavata Sutta, and at Jāt. VI, 295; A. 11, 23.
[19] Samārambhā cannot mean 'planting' as Dr. Neumann renders it.
[20] Kaüsa-kåņa. The context suggests that kaüsa (bronze) may here refer to coins, just as we say in English 'a copper,' and the word is actually so used in the 11th and 12th Bhikkhunã Nissaggiya Rules -the oldest reference in Indian books to coins. The most ancient coins, which were of private (not state) coinage, were either of bronze or gold. Buddhaghosa (p.79) explains the expression here used as meaning the passing off of bronze vessels as gold. Gogerly translates 'weights,' Childers sub voce has 'counterfeit metal,' and Neumann has 'Māss.' Buddhaghosa is obliged to take kaüsa in the meaning of 'gold pot,' which seems very forced ; and there is no authority for kaüsa meaning either weight or mass. On the whole the coin explanation seems to me to be the simplest.
[21] Buddhaghosa gives examples of each of these five classes of the vegetable. kingdom without explaining the terms. But it is only the fourth which is doubtful. It may mean 'graftings,' if the art of grafting was then known in the Ganges valley.
[22] âmisa. Buddhaghosa (p. 83) gives a long list of curry-stuffs included under this term. If he is right then Gogerly's 'raw grain' is too limited a translation, and Neumann's ' all sorts of articles to use' too extensive. In its secondary meaning the word means something. nice, a relish, a dainty.'
[23] Visåka-dassanaü. This word has only been found elsewhere in the phrase diņņhi-visåkaü, 'the puppet shows of heresy' (Majjhima I, pp. 8, 486; and Serissaka Vimāna LXXXIV, 26). The Sinhalese renders it wiparãta-darsaõa.
[24] Dancing. cannot mean here a dancing in which the persons referred to took part. It must be ballet or nautch dancing.
[25] Literally 'shows.' This word, only
found here, has always been rendered 'theatrical representations.' Clough first
translated it so in his Sinhalese Dictionary, p. 665, and he was followed by
Gogerly, Burnouf, myself (in 'Buddhist Suttas,' p. 192), and Dr. Neumann (p.
69),-and Weber (Indian Literature, pp. 199, 319) seems to approve this. But it
is most unlikely that the theatre was already known in the fifth century B. C.
And Buddhaghosa (p. 84) explains it, quite simply, as naņa-samajjā. Now samajjo
is a very interesting old word (at least in its Pāli form). The Sanskrit,
according to the Petersburg Dictionary, has only been found in modern
dictionaries. The Pāli occurs in other old texts such as Vinaya 11, 107 ; IV,
267 (both times in the very same context as it does here); ibid. II, 150; 1V,
85; Sigālovāda Sutta, p.300; and it is undoubtedly the same word as samāja in
the first of the fourteen Edicts of Asoka. In the Sigālovāda there are said to
be six dangers at such a samajjo; to wit, dancing, singing, music, recitations,
conjuring tricks, and acrobatic shows. And in the Vinaya passages we learn that
at a samajjo not only amusements but also food was provided; that high
officials were invited, and had special seats; and that it took place at the
top of a bill. This last detail of 'high places' (that is sacred places) points
to a religious motive as underlying the whole procedure. The root aj
(??greak??agw??, ago, whence our 'act') belongs to the stock of common Aryan roots, and
means carrying on. What was the meaning of this 'carrying on together'? Who
were the people who took part? Were they confined to one village? or have we
here a survival from old exogamic communistic dancings together? Later the word
means simply fair,' as at Jātaka III, 541 :
'Many the bout 1 have played with quarterstaves at the fair,' with which Jātaka I, 394 may be compared. And it is no doubt this side of the festival which is here in the mind of the author; but 'fair' is nevertheless a very inadequate rendering. The Sinhalese has rapid movement in dance-figures' (ranga-maõķalu).
[26] These ballad recitations in prose and verse combined were the source from which epic poetry was afterwards gradually developed. Buddhaghosa has no explanation of the word, but gives as examples the Bhārata and the Rāmāyaõa. The negative anakkhānaü occurs Majjhima I, 503.
[27] Buddhaghosa explains this as 'playing on cymbals'; and adds that it is also called pāõitāëaü. The word is only found here and at Jātaka V, 5o6, and means literally 'hand-sounds.'
[28] Buddhaghosa says 'deep music, but some say raising dead bodies to life by spells.' His own explanation is, I think, meant to be etymological; and to show that he derives the word from vi + tāëa. This would bring the word into connection with the Sanskrit vaitāëika, 'royal bard.' The other explanation connects the word with Vetāla, 'a demon,' supposed to play pranks (as in the stories of the Vetāla-pa¤ca-viüsati) by reanimating corpses. Dr. Neumann adopts it. But it does not agree so well with the context; and it seems scarcely justifiable to see, in this ancient list, a reference to beliefs which can only be traced in literature more than a thousand years later. Gogerly's rendering funeral ceremonies,' which I previously followed, seems to me now quite out of the question.
[29] It is clear from Jātaka V, 5o6 that this word means a sort of music. And at Vinaya IV, 285 kumbhathånikā are mentioned in connection with dancers, acrobats, and hired mourners. Buddhaghosa is here obscure and probably corrupt, and the derivation is quite uncertain. Gogerly's guess seems better than Burnouf's or Neumann's. The Sinhalese has 'striking a drum big enough to hold sixteen gallons.'
[30] Buddhaghosa seems to understand by this term (literally 'of Sobha city') the adornments or scenery used for a ballet-dance. (Paņibhāõa-cittam at Vinaya 11, 151; IV, 61, 298, 358; Sum. 1, 42 is the nude in art.) Weber has pointed out (Indische Studien, II, 38; III, 153) that Sobha is a city of the, fairies much given to music and love-making. It is quite likely that the name of a frequently used scene for a ballet because a proverbial phrase for all such scenery. But the Sinhalese has 'pouring water over the heads of dancers, or nude paintings.'
[31] Buddhaghosa takes these three words separately, and so do all the MSS. of the text, and the Sinhalese version. But 1 now think that the passage at Jātaka IV, 390 is really decisive, and that we have here one of the rare cases where we can correct our MSS. against the authority of the old commentator. But 1 follow him in the general meaning he assigns to the strange expression 'Caõķāla-bamboo washings.'
[32] See Jātaka III, 541.
[33] Nibbuddhaü. The verbal form nibbujjhati occurs in the list at Vinaya III, 180 (repeated at 11, 10); and our word at Milinda 232.
[34] All these recur in the introductory story to the 50th Pācittiya (Vinaya IV, 107). On the last compare Buddhaghosa on Mahāvagga V, I, 2 9.
[35] All these terms recur at Vinaya III, 180 (repeated at II, 10).
[36] Chess played originally on a board of eight times ten squares was afterwards played on one of eight times eight squares. Our text cannot be taken as evidence of real chess in the fifth century B. C., but it certainly refers to games from which it and draughts must have been developed. The Sinhalese Sanna says that each of these games was played with dice and pieces such as kings and so on. The word for pieces is poru (from purisa)-just our men.'
[37] âkāsaü. How very like blindfold chess !
[38] Parihāra-pathaü. A kind of primitive 'hop-scotch.' The Sinhalese says the steps must be made hopping-.
[39] Santikā. Spellicans, pure and simple.
[40] Khalikā. Unfortunately the method of playing is not stated. Compare Eggeling's note as in his Satapatha-Brāhmaõa 11I, 106, 7. In the gambling-scene on the Bharhut 'Tope (Cunningham, PI. XLV, No. 9) there is a board marked out on the stone of six times five squares (not six by six), and six little cubes with marks on the sides visible lie on the stone outside the board.
[41] Jhaņikaü Something like 'tip-cat.' Siü - kelãmaya in Sinhalese.
[42] Sa1āka-hatthaü. On flour-water as colouring matter, see Jātaka I, 220.
[43] Akkhaü. The usual meaning is 'a die.' But the Sinhalese translator agrees with Buddhaghosa. Neither gives any details.
[44] Pangacãram. The Sinhalese for this toy is pat-kulal. Morris in J. P. T. S., 1889, p. 205, compares the Marathãpungi.
[45] Vankakaü. From Sanskrit vrika. See journal of the Pāli Text Society, 1889, p. 206.
[46] Mokkhacikā,. So the Sinhalese. Buddhaghosa has an alternative explanation of turning over on a trapeze, but gives this also. See Vinaya I, 275, and J. P. T. S., 1885, p. 49.
[47] Cingulikaü. See Morris in the J. P. T. S., 1885, p. 5o, who compares cingulāyitvā at Aīguttara III, 15, 2.
[48] All these six, from No. 10 inclusive, are mentioned in the Majjhima, vol. 1, p. 266, as children's games.
[49] Akkharikā. it is important evidence for the date at which writing was known in India that such a game should be known in the fifth century B. C.
[50] The following list recurs Vinaya I, 192 = 11, 163 = Aīguttara 1, 181, &c.
[51] âsandã. Buddhaghosa merely says 'a seat beyond the allowed measure,' but that must refer to height, as the only rule as to measure in seats is the 87th Pācittiya in which the height of beds or chairs is limited to eight 'great' inches (probably about eighteen inches). The Sinhalese Sanna adds 'a long chair for supporting the whole body.' At Jāt. I, 208 a man lies down on an āsandã so as to be able to-look up and watch the stars. At Dãgha I, 55 = Majjhima 1,515 = Saüyutta 111, (where the reading must be corrected), the âsandã is used as a bier. The âsandã is selected as the right sort of seat for the king in both the Vājapeya and Inauguration ceremonies because of its height (Eggeling, Sat.-Brāh. III, 35, 105). It is there said to be made of common sorts of wood, and perforated; which probably means that the frame was of wood and the seat was of interlaced cane or wickerwork. The diminutive āsandiko, with short legs and made square (for sitting, not lying on), is allowed in the Buddhist Order by Vinaya 11, 149. And even the āsandã is allowed, if the tall legs be cut down, by Vinaya II, 169, 170 (where the reading chinditvā seems preferable, and is read in the quotation at Sum. 1, 88). The renderings ' large cushion' at ' Vinaya Texts,' II, 27 and 'stuffed couch' at 111, 209 must be accordingly corrected. Gogerly translates 'large couch,' Burnouf une chaise longue,' and Neumann bequeme Lehnstuhl.'
[52] Pallanko. It is noteworthy that, in
spite of the use of a divan with animals carved on its supports being here
objected to, it is precisely the sort of seat on which the Buddha himself, or
Buddhist personages of distinction, are often, in later sculptures, represented
as sitting (Grunwedel, 'Buddhistische kunst,' pp. III, 124, 137; Mitra, 'Budh
Gayā,' Plates XI, XX, &c. &c.). At Mahāvaüsa 25 sãhāsana and pallanko
are used of the same seat (Asoka's throne), and sãhāsana is used of Duņņha
Gamini's throne, ibid. 157. But the Lion throne of Nissanka Malla, found at
Pollonnaruwa, is not a pallanko, but an actual stone lion, larger than life
size ('Indian Antiquary,' vol. 1, p. 135. Compare the similar seat in
Grunwedel, p. 95).
By Vinaya 11, 170 the possession of a pallanka was allowed to the Order if the animal figures were broken off (the translation in 'Vinaya Texts,' III, 209, must be altered accordingly, reading vāle for vale, as at Vinaya IV, 312). By Vinaya II, 163 it is laid down that members of the Order were not to use a complete pallanko even in laymen's houses, so that Nigrodha's action in the passage just quoted (Mahāvaüsa 25) was really a breach of the regulations.
[53] The words from gonako down to kaņņhissaü inclusive, and also kuttakaü, are found only in this list, and Buddhaghosa seems to be uncertain as to the exact meaning of some of them. All except No. 7 might be used in laymen's houses ('Vinaya Texts,' III, 197), and all might be possessed by the Order i used only as floor coverings (ibid. 111, 209); except again No. 7, the cotton wool of which might be utilised for pillows. As there is a doubt about the spelling it may be noticed that the Sanna reads goõakaü and uddalomiü: and the MS. in the R. A. S. (which repeats each sentence) has -gonakaü and uddalomiü both times.
[54] Sambāhanaü. Perhaps rubbing the limbs with flat pieces of wood. See Buddhaghosa here and at 'Vinaya Texts,' III, 60.
[55] This is not quite accurate. Out of the twenty items here objected to, three (shampooing, bathing, and the use of sunshades) were allowed in the Order, and practised by Gotama himself. Bathrooms, and halls attached to them, are permitted by 'Vinaya Texts,' III, 189; shampooing by ibid. III, 68, 297. There are elaborate regulations for the provision of hot steam baths and the etiquette to be observed in them; and instances of the use of the ordinary bath in streams or rivers are frequent. The use of sunshades is permitted by 'Vinaya Texts,' 111, 13 2-3, and is referred to ibid. 111, 88, 274.
[56] Visikhā-kathā. Buddhaghosa (p.90) takes this word (literally street-talk') in the sense of talk about streets, whether ill or well situate, and whether the inhabitants are bold or poor, &c.
[57] Pubba-peta-kathā. The commentator confines this to boasting talk about deceased relatives or ancestors.
[58] Nānatta-kathaü, literally 'difference-talk.' The expression seems somewhat forced, if taken as meaning 'desultory'; but I see no better explanation.
[59] Lokakkhāyikā. Buddhaghosa refers this specially to such speculations as are put forth according to the Lokātyata system by the Vitaõķas (also called Lokāyatikas). These are materialistic theorisers, of whose system very little is, so far, known. See the note at 'Vinaya Texts, vol. iii, p. 151. 1 have collected other references to them in my ' Milinda,' vol. i, p.7 ; and to these Dãgha I, 11 114,120, and Attha Sālinã, p.3, may now be added. They are probably referred to below in chap. iii of this Sutta, 10, 20.
[60] 'This list of foolish talks recurs in Suttas 76-78 in the Majjhima, and at Vinaya I,188.
[61] These expressions all recur at Majjhima II, 3.
[62] Sahitaü me, literally 'the put together is to me,' &c. The idiom is only found here, and may mean either as rendered above, or 'the context is on my side,' or 'the text (of the Scriptures) is on my side,' or merely 'that which is of use is on my side.' This last, given by the Sanna, amounts to the same as the version adopted above.
[63] Putting the cart before the horse.
[64] âropito te vādo. On the use of this idiom compare the Commentary on the Therã Gāthā, p. 101. There is a misprint here in the text, aropito for āropito. 'Issue has been joined against you would be a possible rendering. It is the phrase used, when some one has offered to hold debate (maintain a thesis) against all corners, by an opponent who takes up the challenge.
[65] Niggahãto si. On this idiom compare the opening paragraphs of the Kathā Vatthu and the Commentary on them (especially pp. 9,10). It is literally 'you are censured.'
[66] 3 Cara vāda-pamokkhāya. So Buddhaghosa. But Gogerly renders, 'Depart, that you may be freed from this disputation and the only parallel passage seems to support this view. It is Majjhima 1, 133, where it is said to be wrong to learn the Scriptures for the sake of the advantage of being freed from discussion or debate where texts are quoted against one. Pamokkha occurs besides at Saüyutta I, 2, Jātaka V, 30, 31, and Mahāvaüsa 158, but not in this connection.
[67] So the author of Milinda in making his hero Nāgasena use just such a phrase (Mil. P. 27) is making him commit a breach of propriety.
[68] Kuhakā. 'Astonish the world with the three sorts of trickery,' says Buddhaghosa. These are also referred to without explanation at Jātaka IV, 297 (where we should, 1 think, read kuhana).
[69] Lapakā. Compare Itivuttaka, No. 99 = Aīguttara I, 165, 168; and also Milinda 228, Jātaka III, 349.
[70] Nemittakā, 'interpreters of signs and omens.' See the note on nimittaü in the next paragraph. Compare Milinda 299; Jāt. IV, 124.
[71] Nippesikā, 'scarers away' (? of ghosts, or bad omens). But the Commentary and Sanna give no help, and the word has only been found in this list.
[72] All the five words in this list recur at A. III, iii but the context there is as undecisive as it is here, and the Commentary (fol. di of the 'Turnour MS. at the India Office), though slightly different, gives no better help.
[73] Aīgaü, literally 'limbs.' Buddhaghosa distinguishes this from lakkhaõaü (No. 5 in this list), and from anga-vijjā (No. 16). It is not found, in this sense, anywhere in the texts.
[74] Nimittaü, literally 'marks,' or ,signs.' Buddhaghosa tells a story in illustration. King Paõķu, they say (Pāõķi in the Sanna), took three pearls in his closed hand, and asked a diviner what he had in it. The latter looked this way and that for a sign; and seeing a fly which had been caught by a house-lizard (the Sanna says 'by a dog,' perhaps the meaning is simply 'in sugar') getting free (üuttā), said at once 'pearls' (also muttā in Pāli). 'How many." says the king. The diviner, hearing a dog bark thrice, answered ' three.' Compare Mil. 178, and the note to the last section on nemittikā, and the story at Mahāvaüsa 82.
[75] Uppādo, 'the portents of the great ones, thunderbolts falling, and so on,' says Buddhaghosa. The Great Ones here mean, 1 think, the spirits or gods presiding over the sun, moon, and planets (see the note on 26). The word corresponds to the Sanskrit Utpāta, though the d is vouched for by overwhelming authority. But this is only another instance of a change not infrequent (as Ed. Mller has shown, Pāli Grammar, p. 37); and the one or two cases where Burmese scribes have (wrongly) corrected to uppāta is another instance to be added to those referred to in the Introduction to Sum. 1 of their habit of putting an easier reading where the more difficult one is really right. Childers should therefore have kept this word separate from the other uppādo. Comp. Jāt. 1, 374.
[76] Supinaü. On the theory of dreams compare Mil., pp. 297-301. At Jāt. I, 374 the word is masculine. Perhaps charms to avert bad dreams (Ath.-veda VI, 46; XVI, 5 and 6) are included in this low art.' Jāt. No. 77 mocks at the dream interpreters.
[77] Lakkhaõaü. The commentator on this word as used in the very same connection at Jāt. I, 374 adds that it means also the knowledge of good and bad marks on such persons and things as are mentioned here in our next paragraph. Buddhaghosa confines its meaning to that given above. This contradiction is another confirmation of the opinion expressed by me in 1880 in 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' pp. lxiii foll., that Childers was wrong in ascribing the Jātaka Commentary to Buddhaghosa. The word occurs in Buddhaghosa's sense at D. I, 114, 120= A. 1, 163, &c.; Jāt. I, 56.
[78] Musikācchinnaü. The allied superstition of thinking it unlucky to wear clothes gnawed by mice is laughed out of court in the Mangala Jātaka, No. 87.
[79] Aggi-homaü. Telling people that a sacrifice, if offered in a fire of such and such a wood, will have such and such a result.
[80] Dabbi-homaü. Telling people that an oblation of such and such grains, butter, or so on, poured into the fire from such and such a sort of spoon, will have such and such a result.
[81] See Hillebrandt, 'Neu und Vollmondsopfer,' pp. 31, 171, and Ritual-literatur' in Bhler's 'Grundriss,' pp. 71, 72, 114, 176. The nine homas here objected to may also be compared with the seven at Ath.-veda VIII, 9, 18.
[82] No instance of this can be traced in the books of the Brahmans.
[83] Compare the passage in Hillebrandt, in Bhler's Grundriss,' p. 176, on the use of blood for sorcery. In one passage, Rig-vidh. III, 18, 3, it is one's own blood that is to be used. But the specific interpretation given here by Buddhaghosa cannot be paralleled from the Brahmanical books.
[84] Anga-vijja. Buddhaghosa thus separates this from the aīgaü of No. 1. In both the passages Jāt. 11, 200, 250 the knowledge is simply that of judging from a man's appearance that he is rough or bad. and it is the good man in the story (in the second case the Bodisat himself) who is the anga-vijjā-pāņhako. So at Jāt. V, 458 it is by anga-vijjā that the Bodisat prophesies that a man will be cruel.
[85] Vatthu-vijjā. Childers (Dict., p. 559) has 'pool' instead of 'house,' having misread sara for ghara (s and gh are nearly alike in Sinhalese). The craft is further explained by Buddhaghosa in his comment on the Mahā-parinibbāna Sutta I, 26. Its success depended on the belief that the sites were haunted by spirits. See further below, 27.
[86] Khatta-vijjā,. The Burmese MSS.
correct the rare khatta into the familiar khetta. Khetta-vijjā indeed occurs at
Ud. III, 9, and may just possibly there (in connection with writing,
arithmetic, tables, &c.) be correct in the meaning- of 'land-surveying,
mensuration.' Buddhaghosa, though his explanation is corrupt, evidently
understands the phrase in a sense similar to that of khatta-dhamma at Jāt. V,
489, 490; Mil. 164 (see also 178); and his gloss nãtisatthaü is probably nearer
the mark than Saīkara's (on Chānd. Up. VII, 1, 2), which is dhanur-veda. It is
the craft of government, then lying in great part in adhering- to custom.
The Sutta only follows the Upanishad in looking at all these crafts as minor matters, but it goes beyond it in looking upon them as a 'low' way, for a Brahman, of gaining a livelihood.
[87] Siva-vijjā. It is clear that siva is used euphemistically, and we may here have an early reference to what afterwards developed into the cult of the god Siva. Buddhaghosa gives an alternative explanation as knowledge of the cries of jackals.
[88] Bhåta-vijjā. Also in the Chāndogya list (lac. cit.)
[89] Bhåri-vijjā. It is the same as bhåri-kammaü, explained in the same way by Buddhaghosa on 27 below.
[90] Ahi-vijjā. One method is described at Jāt. IV, 457, 8, Perhaps such charms against snake-bite as Ath.-v. V,13 ; VI, 12, 56; VII, 88, are included.
[91] Buddhaghosa says curing or giving poison, or poison spells (compare Ath.-v. VI, 90, 93, 100).
[92] These are explained to mean simply curing the bites of these creatures.
[93] These are explained to mean simply curing the bites of these creatures.
[94] Understanding their language.
[95] Divining- by the appearance and the cawings of crows.
[96] Compare the Ambaņņha-vijjā at Sum. 255 and below, p. 96 of the text, 23.
[97] Miga-cakkaü. Understanding the language of all creatures.
[98] The whole of this 'low art' as applied to gems has been collected in a series of manuals now edited by L. Finot in his 'Lapiddires Indiens,' Paris, 1896.
[99] The art in these four cases is to determine whether the marks on them show they will bring good (or bad) luck to the houses in which they dwell.
[100] The art in these four cases is to determine whether the marks on them show they will bring good (or bad) luck to the houses in which they dwell.
[101] The art in these four cases is to determine whether the marks on them show they will bring good (or bad) luck to the houses in which they dwell.
[102] The art in these four cases is to determine whether the marks on them show they will bring good (or bad) luck to the houses in which they dwell.
[103] The art in these four cases is to determine whether the marks on them show they will bring good (or bad) luck to the houses in which they dwell.
[104] The art in these five cases is to determine whether it is unclean or not to eat them.
[105] The art in these five cases is to determine whether it is unclean or not to eat them.
[106] The art in these five cases is to determine whether it is unclean or not to eat them.
[107] The art in these five cases is to determine whether it is unclean or not to eat them.
[108] 'This comes in here very oddly. But the old commentator had the same reading, and takes the word in its ordinary senses, not even as amulet.
[109] Throughout these paragraphs the plural is used. This cannot be honorific, as the few great kings of that time are always spoken of in the singular. Yet all the previous translators, except Burnouf, translate by the singular-'the king will march out,' &c. It is evident that we have to understand 'chiefs,' and not the 'king ': and that not absolute monarchies, but republican institutions of a more or less aristocratic type, were in the mind of the composer of the paragraph.
[110] Nakkhatta, translated by Gogerly and Neumann a 'planet.' Buddhaghosa explains it by 'Mars and so on.' This may apply to planets, but also to stars in general, and I know no other passage where the meaning of the word is confined to planets. Burnouf has (constellation,' but what can the eclipse of a constellation mean?
[111] Patha-gamana and uppatha-gamana. Prof. Kielhorn says (in a note he has been kind enough to send me on this section): What the author means by these words 1 do not know. But uppatha-gamana would be literally "aberration, the going away from one's proper path"; and patha-gamana therefore should be "following one's proper course." 1 am sure the two words could not mean conjunction and opposition; nor, 1 think, ascension and declension. It is curious that Buddhaghosa has not explained them.'
[112] Ukkā-pāto. See Jāt. 1, 374; Mil. 178.
[113] Disā-dāho. Thunder and lightning,' according to Neumann; fiery corruscations in the atmosphere,' according to Gogerly, whom Burnouf follows. But Buddhaghosa's words are only explicable of a jungle fire. Compare Jāt. 1, 212, 213, 374.
[114] Burnouf takes these four words to refer to four occurrences. Gogerly and Neumann take them as only two. Buddhaghosa seems to imply four.
[115] Muddā. There has been great diversity in the various guesses made at the meaning in this connection of muddā, which usually means 'seal' or 'seal-ring.' Gogerly has 1 conveyancing,' and so also Childers; Burnouf takes this word and the next as one compound in the sense of foretelling the future by calculating diagrams'; and Neumann has 'Verwaltungsdienste, 'administrative services. Buddhaghosa is very curt. He says only hattha-muddāgaõanā Hatthamuddā is found elsewhere only at Jāt. III, 528, where hattha- muddaü karoti means 'to beckon,' and at Vin. V, 163, where it is said of the polite member of the Order that he makes, no sign with his hand, nor beckons. (On hattha-vikāra compare Mil. 1, 207, 547 = Vin. I,157 = Vin. II, 216.) Both these passages are much later than our text, and the sense of beckoning is here impossible. But muddā is mentioned as a craft at Vin. IV, 7 (where it is called honourable), at M. I, 85, and several times in the Milinda (pp. 3, 59, 78, 178 of the Pāli text), and muddiko as the person who practises that craft at D. I, 51 and Vin. IV, 8. The Sinhalese comment on this (quoted in my translation of the Milinda, 1, 91) shows that the art there was simply arithmetic, using the joints or knuckles of the fingers as an aid to memory. And this is no doubt the meaning in our paragraph.
[116] Gaõanā. Buddhaghosa's comment on this is acchiddakā-gaõanā, in contradistinction to the last. It is evidently calculation not broken up by using, the fingers, mental arithmetic pure and simple. The accountant who uses this method is called gaõako (D. I, 51 ; Vin. IV, 8). Buddhaghosa's comment on the latter passage is given by Minayeff at Pat. 84, but with a wrong reading, akkhiüņaka.
[117] Saükhānaü, literally 'counting up.' He who has the faculty of doing this can, on looking at a tree, say how many leaves it has, says Buddhaghosa. But the first words of his comment are doubtful. He may perhaps mean calculating masses by means of the rosary. Burnouf skips this word, and Neumann has simply 'counting.'
[118] Kāveyyaü. The word recurs, in a bad sense, at A. 1, 72= III, 107, and also at S. I, 110 in the phrase kāveyya-matto, 'drunk with prophecy, inspired.' Buddhaghosa enumerates, in the words of A. II, 230, four kinds of poetry, and explains them in nearly the same words as found in the Manoratha Påranã on that passage. None of the four refer to sacrificial hymns. Impromptu rhyming, ballad singing, and the composition of poems are meant.
[119] Lokāhyataü. Usually rendered 'materialism.' But it is quite clear that this meaning is impossible in this connection. See Milinda 174.
[120] Compare the Sinhalese bãna (binna) marriage in which the bridegroom is brought into the house of the bride's family.
[121] Compare the Sinhalese dãga marriage in which the bride is sent out to live in the bridegroom's family. We have no words now in English to express this difference between marrying and giving in marriage.
[122] Saüvadanaü. Childers calls this a magic art, following Burnouf who calls it sorcery. Buddhaghosa explains it as astrology. The fact is all these expressions are technical terms for acts of astrology or sorcery, they none of them occur elsewhere either in Pāli or Sanskrit, and the tradition preserved by Buddhaghosa may be at fault in those cases in which the use of the word had not survived to later times. The general sense may be sufficiently clear, but for absolute certainty of interpretation we must wait till examples are found in Indian books of the actual use of the words, not in mere lists, but in a connection which shows the meaning. Ath-v III, 30 is a charm to secure concord in a family, compare VII, 52 ; and there are several charms in the Athara-veda for success in gambling.
[123] Saüvadanaü. Childers calls this a magic art, following Burnouf who calls it sorcery. Buddhaghosa explains it as astrology. The fact is all these expressions are technical terms for acts of astrology or sorcery, they none of them occur elsewhere either in Pāli or Sanskrit, and the tradition preserved by Buddhaghosa may be at fault in those cases in which the use of the word had not survived to later times. The general sense may be sufficiently clear, but for absolute certainty of interpretation we must wait till examples are found in Indian books of the actual use of the words, not in mere lists, but in a connection which shows the meaning. Ath-v III, 30 is a charm to secure concord in a family, compare VII, 52 ; and there are several charms in the Athara-veda for success in gambling.
[124] Saüvadanaü. Childers calls this a magic art, following Burnouf who calls it sorcery. Buddhaghosa explains it as astrology. The fact is all these expressions are technical terms for acts of astrology or sorcery, they none of them occur elsewhere either in Pāli or Sanskrit, and the tradition preserved by Buddhaghosa may be at fault in those cases in which the use of the word had not survived to later times. The general sense may be sufficiently clear, but for absolute certainty of interpretation we must wait till examples are found in Indian books of the actual use of the words, not in mere lists, but in a connection which shows the meaning. Ath-v III, 30 is a charm to secure concord in a family, compare VII, 52 ; and there are several charms in the Athara-veda for success in gambling.
[125] Saüvadanaü. Childers calls this a magic art, following Burnouf who calls it sorcery. Buddhaghosa explains it as astrology. The fact is all these expressions are technical terms for acts of astrology or sorcery, they none of them occur elsewhere either in Pāli or Sanskrit, and the tradition preserved by Buddhaghosa may be at fault in those cases in which the use of the word had not survived to later times. The general sense may be sufficiently clear, but for absolute certainty of interpretation we must wait till examples are found in Indian books of the actual use of the words, not in mere lists, but in a connection which shows the meaning. Ath-v III, 30 is a charm to secure concord in a family, compare VII, 52 ; and there are several charms in the Athara-veda for success in gambling.
[126] Subhaga-karanaü. Many such charms are preserved in the Atharva-veda (for instance, X, 3:; 5; XVI, 4; 9)
[127] It would be useless to seek in the Atharva-veda, which (with the one exception mentioned in the notes to the next section) gives only the charms which are supposed to bring benefits, for instances of these malevolent practices. But we have here direct evidence that black magic, as was indeed inevitable was as fully trusted in the sixth century B. C. in the valley of the Ganges as white. We need not be surprised that the malevolent charms are not recorded.
[128] Adāsa-pa¤ho. Buddhaghosa says they made a god appear in the mirror and answer questions put. It is a later conception to discard the god, and make the mirror itself give pictures of the hidden events. The mirror is of metal (Par. Dip. 235).
[129] Kumāri-pa¤ho. Through a girl of good family and repute.
[130] Deva-pa¤ho. Also obtained through a girl, but this time a deva-dāsã or temple prostitute. It is instructive to find, even under the patriarchal regime of the sixth century B. C., that men thought they could best have communications from the gods through the medium of a woman.
[131] âdiccupaņņhānam. Such sun-worship is ridiculed in the Jātaka of the same name, No. 173.
[132] Buddhaghosa explains the Great One as Mahā Brahma. This seems to me very doubtful. It is at least odd to find Brahma introduced in this connection. We may grant that the Buddhists might have put sun-worship into a list of sorceries, but there was no ceremonial cult of Brahma and little or none of Brahmā. And however much the new gospel might hold the speculations of the dominant theosophy in contempt, that would scarcely explain their being ranked as privates in this regiment. Burnouf avoids this by rendering the phrase generally 'serving the great,' and Neumann has 'practising sorcery.' Neither of these guesses seems happy. Mahat in composition is elsewhere always mahā in Pāli, and we possibly have here a sandhi for mahatã-upaņņhānam, in the sense of worship of the Great Mother, the Earth, with covert allusion to Mahã. This would give excellent sense, as the worship of the Mother Earth was closely associated in the popular mind with witchcraft. A god or goddess is certainly meant, and one so associated would be best in place here. It is perhaps worthy of note that in the oldest portion of the Taittirãya Upanishad, Sun, Moon, Earth, and Srã occur together in a set of mystic groups, and Sun, Moon, Brahma, and food are all identified by a word-play with Mahas (Sãkrā-vallã" 4-7).
[133] See Milinda 191, and Jāt. II, 410.
[134] Bhåri-kammaü. Is this a place sacred to Mother Earth? The ceremony referred to is the carrying out of the vijjā or craft mentioned in the list at 2 I.
[135] Vassa- and vossa-kammaü. Morris discusses the etymology of these words, only found in this list, in the J. P. T. S., 1889, p. 208. The idea of the second is not, of course, castration, but making a man's desire to fail by a spell. Several such are preserved in the Atharva (IV, 4 ; VI, 1 0 1 to give virility ; VI, I 3 8 ; VII, 1 I 3 to cause impotence).
[136] Vassa- and vossa-kammaü. Morris discusses the etymology of these words, only found in this list, in the J. P. T. S., 1889, p. 208. The idea of the second is not, of course, castration, but making a man's desire to fail by a spell. Several such are preserved in the Atharva (IV, 4 ; VI, 1 0 1 to give virility ; VI, I 3 8 ; VII, 1 I 3 to cause impotence).
[137] Vatthu-kammaü and -parikiraõaü. These constitute the vatthu-vijjā of 21.
[138] Vatthu-kammaü and -parikiraõaü. These constitute the vatthu-vijjā of 21.
[139] Bathings, that is, of other people.
[140] See Mil. I, 511 and the rules laid down in 'Vinaya Texts, II 53-55.
[141] The Buddhist view of Nos. 11-25 must
not be mistaken. It is sufficiently clear from the numerous examples in the
Vinaya (see especially 'Vinaya Texts,' II, pp. 4I-I44), and from the high
praise accorded to Jãvaka and other physicians, that the objection was to
recluses and Brahmans practising medicine as a means of livelihood. They might
do so gratis for themselves or for their coreligionists, and laymen might do so
for gain.
The use of paņimokkha in No. 25 is curious. It is when, for instance, a purgative is first given and then a tonic to counteract the other, to set free from its effect. Compare Jāt. V, 25.
[142] The corresponding Sanskrit terms occur at Divyāvadāna, p. 492. No doubt the reading there ought to be nipuõo.
[143] These phrases recur S. III, 45. On anuddiņņhi see also Gogerly in the, Ceylon Friend, 1875, p. 133, and Morris in the J. P. T. S., 1886, p. 113; and compare , attānuddiņņhi at Mil. 146, 160, 352 S. N. 1119. As in our colloquial expression a 'viewy man,' diņņhi almost always, and anudiņņhi in all the seven passages where it occurs, have a connotation of contempt-a mere view, an offhand ill-considered opinion, a delusion. The Greek greak.Øæøa has had a similar history, and dogma or speculation is a better rendering than view or belief.
[144] Sassata-vādā.
[145] Gotra, literally 'cow-stall.' The history of this word has yet to be written. It probably meant at the time this Sutta was written a family or lineage traced through the father. On the meaning of gotraja (the gentiles of Roman Law) in the later law-books see West and Bhler, 'Hindu Law of Inheritance,' p.17 I.
[146] Vaõõa, literally colour.' Gogerly renders it 'appearance,' and Neumann 'Beruf.' I have chosen caste (though it is not caste in its strictest sense) because it no doubt refers to the cattāro vaõõā mentioned so often in the Suttas. it is true that these-Khattiyas, Brahmans, Vessas, and Suddas-were not castes, but four divisions of the people, each consisting of many subdivisions (by customs as to connubium and commensality) which afterwards hardened into castes. ,,See J. R. A. S., 1897, PP. SO-,90.
[147] Saüvaņņa - vivaņņaü (rolling up and
evolution, from vaņņ, to turn). It is the period of the gradual disintegration
and conformation of a world. Needless to add that the length of this period
cannot be expressed in figures.
Neither the idea nor the word occurs in books known to be before the Buddha. But both are Indian rather than Buddhist. Saüvarta is found in the Mahā Bhārata and the Rāmāyaõa; and the later Sāīkhya notion of pralaya is closely allied.
[148] This phrase recurs below, chap. iii 14, 20.
[149] Sãla, for instance, and samādhi, and all the other things known to a Buddha, says Buddhaghosa, p. 108.
[150] Paccattaü. See the common phrases A. II, 198=S. I, 9, 10, 117; M. I, 188=422; M. I, 251, 252 = S. III, 54, &c.; and S. N. 611,906; Mil. 96, 347; Sum. 182. 'Without depending on anyone else, himself by himself,' says Buddhaghosa.
[151] Nirvana, says Buddhaghosa.
[152] Gogerly (PP. 77, 78 in Grimblot) has made a sad mess of this paragraph misunderstanding the grammatical construction of the first clause, and misinterpreting- parāmasati in the second, and nissaranaü in the third.
[153] Not of course the four speculations, but the higher knowledge which has led him to reject them.
[154] This string of epithets recurs at M.
I, 327 in the course of the story of the Brahmā, named Baka, who is represented
as coming to the very conclusion set out in our section. The story was a
favourite one, and three recessions of it have been preserved (M. I, 326-331 ;
S. I, 142-144, and Jāt. No. 405). Mr. Crow evidently considered
himself the Mahā Brahmā of the period.
The omission in the Dialogue of all reference to the Kesava Birth Story may be a sign of greater age or it may be due simply to the fact that it is not required for the argument there.
[155] Khiķķa-padosikā. They are not mentioned elsewhere except in the list of gods in the Mahā Samaya (p. 287).
[156] Buddhaghosa on this has a curious note. The gods, though of great glory, are delicate in body. A man, having- gone without food - for seven days even, may restore his strength by the use of clear broth and so on. But the gods can't play tricks with themselves; and if they lose their heads and forget their meal-times, they die-pass away from that state. The poor gods! Whether this be really implied in the text or not, it is at least in harmony with the irony of the Buddha's talk.
[157] Mano-padosikā. Only found here and in the list in the Samaya Sutta. Even there it is almost certainly merely taken from this passage, so that it looks very much as if both these classes or titles of gods were simply invented, in irony, for the sake of the argument. Buddhaghosa identifies this class with the retinue of the four Great Kings-that is the regents of the four quarters.
[158] Upanijjhāyanti, from jhāyati, to burn. Elsewhere found only at Vin. 1, 193; II, 269; 111, 118, in all which passages it has the connotation of 'covet, lust after.' Buddhaghosa takes it here in the sense of envy, and tells a tale, too long to quote, to show the quarrelsome nature of these gods. In the sense of 'consider' (from jhāyati, to think) the word has only been found at S. N., p. 143. There may have been confusion between the two homonyms, so that ours got to mean to consider in such a way as to be excited, to burn.'
[159] Buddhaghosa explains that these speculators perceive how the organs of sense break up (and sense impressions pass away); but they fail to see that the same thing holds even more strongly in the case of thoughts, since no sooner has each mental impression given rise to the succeeding one than it passes away. Not perceiving that, and depending on the analogy of birds, who fly away from one tree only to alight on another, they conclude that the mind, when this individuality is broken up, goes (as a unity) elsewhere.
[160] Antānantikā.
[161] Parivaņumo. Only found here. Buddhaghosa says nothing.
[162] According to Buddhaghosa (Ats. 160) there are four things that are infinite-space, the number of world-systems, the number of living creatures, and the wisdom of a Buddha. Had this doctrine formed part of the original Buddhism we should expect to find these cattāri - anantāni in the chapter on the 'Fours' in the Aīguttara, but I do not find them there.
[163] Either in self-training or in the attainment of bliss in heaven' says Buddhaghosa (p.115).
[164] Buddhaghosa gives examples of these five equivocations.
[165] Buddhaghosa explains that if, in his ignorance, he should, by chance, declare the good to be good, he will be puffed up by the approval of the wise. But if he should blunder, he will be filled with vexation and illwill when his error is pointed out. Either of these states of mind will be the fuel to keep the fire burning, the state technically called Upādāna, 'grasping.'
[166] Sampāyati. See the note at 'Vinaya Texts,' III, 317, and compare M. I, 85, 96, 472.
[167] Such questions are called elsewhere the common basis of discussions among Brahmans.
[168] The word here used is Tathāgata, 'he who has gone, or perhaps come, to the truth.' See Chalmers in the J. R. A. S.' Jan., 1898, and compare S. III, 111, 116-118; M. I, I40, 171, 486; S. N. 467. The use of sammaggato (D. I, 55, &c.) and of gatatto (D. I, 57, &c.) shows that gata was used elliptically in the sense of gone to the furthest point aimed at' among the followers of the other sects that arose at the same time as Buddhism. The exact derivation and history of the word Tathāgata may be doubtful, but its meaning is, on the whole, clear enough.
[169] This is the identical answer put below (p. 57 of the text) into the mouth of Sa¤jaya Belaņņhaputta.
[170] Adhicca-samuppannikā. This adhicca (which must be distinguished from the other adhicca, derived from adhãyati, occurring at Jāt. III, 218 = IV, 301) recurs at M. 1, 443, where it is opposed in the sense of 'occasional' to abhiõha at M. I, 442 in the sense of 'habitual.' Udāna VI, 5 throws light on its use here. It is there associated with words meaning neither self-originated, nor created by others.' It is explained by Buddhaghosa on our passage (Sum. I, 118) as 'springing up without a cause.' The derivation is doubtful.
[171] Asa¤¤a-sattā. They spring into being in this wise. Some one of the Brahman ascetics having practised continual meditation and arrived at the Fourth Jhāna, sees the disadvantage attached to thinking, and says to himself: 'It is by dwelling on it in thought that physical pain and all sorts of mental terrors arise. Have done with this thinking. An existence without it were better.' And dying in this belief he is reborn among the Unconscious Ones, who have form only, and neither sensations nor ideas nor predispositions nor consciousness. So long as the power of the Jhāna lasts, so long do they last. Then an idea occurs to them-the idea of rebirth in this world-and they straightway die.
[172] See 1, 1, 29 (p. 12 of the text).
[173] Literally 'who are After-deathers, Conscious-maintainers.' These summary epithets are meant to be contemptuous, and the word chosen for death adds to the force of the phrase. It is not the usual word, but āghātana (so read in the text), meaning literally 'shambles, place of execution.' The ordinary phrase would have been parammaraõikā.
[174] So the Ajãvakas, says Buddhaghosa.
[175] So the Nigaõņhas, says Buddhaghosa.
[176] 9-18 are discussed by James D'Alwis in 'Buddhist Nirvana,' p. 47. Comp. Jacobi, 'Jaina Såtras,' II, 236, 339.
[177] Sato sattassa. Insert the word sato in the text (as in 17,19, 41, 42). The Kaņha Upanishad I, 20 alludes to such belief.
[178] Compare the 4th Vimokha. See Rh. D. 'Buddhist Suttas,' pp. 5 2, 213. The idea of resistance, paņigha, is here not ethical, but refers to the senses. Having no sense of reaction to touch, of opposition to muscular effort. it appears from M. I, 164 that this was pretty much the view put forth by Gotama's first teacher âlāra Kālāma.
[179] Compare the 5th Vimokha. This seems from M. I 165 to have been much the same as the view held by Rāma, whose son and pupil, Uddaka, was Gotama's second teacher.
[180] Compare the 6th Vimokha.
[181] Though it is not explicitly so
stated, this last of these seven theorisers is no doubt to be considered as
believing in all the sorts of soul held by the others, so that he believes in
seven. One may compare the five souls each more subtle than the last, made
respectively of anna, prāõa, manas, vij¤āõa, and ānanda (food. breadth mind,
consciousness, and joy), described in the Taittirãya Upanishad II, 1-5. The
Buddhist modification of these 'theories omits the souls, and treats instead of
various states of mind (produced by stages of meditation), the attainment of
which, during this life, leads to rebirth in corresponding worlds, or planes of
existence, named after those stages. of meditations. But the oldest Piņaka
texts say very little about it, and the history of Buddhist speculation on the
matter has yet to be formulated.
Centuries
afterwards we find a somewhat analogous conception in the gradually ascending
series of seven, each more subtle than the last (Sthåla-sarãra, änga-sarãra,
indriya, manas, ahaīkara, buddhi, and ātman), set out in the Sāīkhya texts, and
the later Vedanta has a similar series. There is sufficient truth in the idea
of the series of seven set out in our text to explain the persistence of the
general idea in all the Indian systems, but the details and the application are
strikingly different.
The text shows that the four Aråpa Vimokhas of the Buddhist theory were regarded by the early Buddhists as derived from closely allied speculations, older than Buddhism, and expressed in almost identical phraseology.
[182] Buddhaghosa here (Sum. 1, 121) explains Nirvāõa as the suppression of pain; pain, dukkha, being bodily, as opposed to domanassa, mental. 'In this visible world' means in whatever world the particular soul happens to be at the time. On parikāreti compare V. II, 290 rājā uyyāne paricāresi, 'the king indulged himself, enjoyed himself, in the garden.' All its functions' is added from the Commentary.
[183] The text shows that the four Jhānas were regarded by the early Buddhists as older than Buddhism. The very words used are identical; the only modification introduced in Buddhism being the omission of the ' souls.' These four, Together. with the four Aråpa Vimokhas (see note on 19), make up the Eight Attainments (Samāpattiyo), often mentioned in the Jātaka commentary as practised by pre Buddhistic recluses.
[184] On paritasita compare M. 1, 36 na asati paritassati, 'is not worried at what is not ' : paritasita, 'fidgetiness ' or 'worry,' at M. 1, 136; S. III, 15-19; and Mil. 253, 400. On vipphandita, M. I, 8, 486; Dh. S. 381 (Asl. 253); Jāt. IV, 495.
[185] In the text the first three of these four propositions are repeated of each of the eleven classes of theorisers. 'The fourth is put in the form which, to avoid repetition, I have adopted for all the four.
[186] Tathāgata, that is the speaker himself, the Buddha.