CHAPTER XIII NOTES.
[135] Literally, “to advance against.” ([return])
[136] Cf. Beal’s translation in the S. B. E. Vol XIX. pp. 306-307, vs. 2095-2101. Beal utterly misunderstands the Chinese original. ([return])
[137] The Buddhacarita, Cowell’s translation in the S. B. E. Vol. XLIX. p. 145. ([return])
[138] From A. J. Edmunds’s translation of Dhammapada. ([return])
[139] P. 225. Beal’s translation is not always reliable, and I would have my own if the Chinese original were at all accessible. ([return])
[140] The gâthâs supposed to be the first utterance of the Buddha after his enlightenment, according to Rockhill’s Life of the Buddha (p. 33) compiled from Tibetan sources, give an inkling of nihilism, though I am inclined to think that the original Tibetan will allow a different interpretation when examined by some one who is better acquainted with the spirit of Buddhism than Rockhill. Rockhill betrays in not a few cases his insufficient knowledge of the subject he treats. His translation of the gâthâs is as follows:
“All the pleasures of the worldly joys,
All which are known among the gods,
Compared with the joy of ending existence,
Are not as its sixteenth part.“Sorry is he whose burden is heavy,
And happy he who has cast it down;
When once he has cast off his burden,
He will seek to be burthened no more.“When all existences are put away,
When all notions are at an end,
When all things are perfectly known,
Then no more will craving come back.”
In the Udâna, II., 2, we have a stanza corresponding to the first gâthâ here cited, but the Udâna does not say “the joy of ending existence,” but “the destruction of desire.”
According to the Lalita Vistara, the Buddha’s utterance of victory is (Râjendra Mitra’s Edition p. 448):
“Cinna vartmopaçânta rajâh çuṣkâ âçravâ na punaḥ çravanti.
Chinne vartmani varttate duḥkhasyaiṣonta ucyate.”
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[141] Warren’s Buddhism in Translations, p. 376. ([return])
[142] General D. M. Strong’s translation, p. 64. ([return])
[143] The text does not expressly say “animate or inanimate”, but this is the author’s own interpretation according to the general spirit of Mahâyânism. ([return])
[144] There are two obstacles to final emancipation: (1) affective, and (2) intellectual. The former is our unenlightened affective or emotional or subjective life and the latter our intellectual prejudice. Buddhists should not only be pure in heart but be perfect in intelligence. Pious men are of course saved from transmigration, but to attain perfect Buddhahood they must have a clear, penetrating intellectual insight into the significance of life and existence and the destiny of the universe. This emphasising of the rational element in religion is one of the most characteristic points of Buddhism. ([return])
[145] This is one of the most important philosophical texts of Mahâyânism. Its original Sanskrit with the commentary of Chandra Kîrti has been edited by Satis Chandra Acharya and published by the Buddhist Text Society of India. The original lines run as follows (p. 193):
“Aprahînam, asamprâptam, anucchinnam, açâçvatam,
Aniruddham, anutpannam, evam nirvânam ucyate.”
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[146] Literally, that which is characterised by the absence of all characterisation. ([return])
[147] Cf. the following from the Mâdhyamika:
“Bhaved abbâvo bhâvaç ca nirvânam ubhayam katham:
Asamskṛtam ca nirvânam bhâvâbhavâi ca samskṛtam.”
Or, “Tasmânna bhâvo nâbhâvo nirvânamiti yujyate.”
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[148] In the Visuddhi-Magga XXI. (Warren’s translation, p. 376 et seq.), we read that there are three starting points of deliverance arising from the consideration of the three predominant qualities of the constituents of being: 1. The consideration of their beginnings and ends leads the thoughts to the unconditioned; 2. The insight into their miserableness agitates the mind and leads the thoughts to the desireless; 3. The consideration of the constituents of being as not having an ego leads the thoughts to the empty. And these three, we are told, constitute the three aspects of Nirvâna as unconditioned, desireless, and empty. Here we have an instance in the so-called Southern “primitive” Buddhism of viewing Nirvâna in the Mahâyânistic light which I have here explained at length.
En passant, let us remark that as Buddha did not leave any document himself embodying his whole system, there sprang up soon after his departure several schools explaining the Master’s view in divers ways, each claiming the legitimate interpretation; that in view of this fact it is illogical to conclude that Southern Buddhism is the authoritative representation par excellence of original Buddhism, while the Eastern or the Northern is a mere degeneration. ([return])
[149] There are three Chinese translations of this Mahâyâna text, by Dharmarakṣa, Kumârajîva, and Bodhiruci, between 265 and 517 A.D. ([return])
Samsârasya ca nirvânât kincid asti viçeṣaṇam:
Na nirvâṇasya samsârât kincid asti viçesaṇam.
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Nirvâṇasya ca yâ kotiḥ kotiḥ samsârasya ca,
Vidyâdanantaraṃ kincit susukṣnaṃ vidyate.
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[152] Concerning the similarity in meaning of this statement to the one just preceding, a commentator says that the sixth is the statical view of Suchness (or Dharmakâya) and the seventh its dynamical view. One explains what the highest reality of Buddhism is and the other what it does or works. ([return])
[153] The Discourse on Buddha-essence by Vasubandhu. The Japanese Tripitaka edition of 1881, fas. II., p. 84, where the stanza is quoted from the Sûtra on the Incomprehensible. ([return])
[154] This is expressed in the first verse of the Mâdhyamika Çâstra, which runs as follows:
“Anirodham anutpâdam anucchedam açâçvatam
Anekârtham anânârtham anâgamam anirgamam.”
Literally translated these lines read:
“No annihilation, no production, no destruction, no persistence,
No unity, no plurality, no coming in, no going out.”
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[155] Compare this Buddhist sentiment of universal love with that of the Christian religion and we shall see the truth that all religions are one at the bottom. We read in Thomas à Kempis’s Imitation of Christ (ch. XIII): “My son, I descended from heaven for thy salvation; I took upon me thy sorrows, not necessity but love drawing me thereto; that thou thyself mightest learn patience and bear temporal sufferings without repining. For from the hour of my birth, even until my death on the cross, I was not without suffering of grief.” This is exactly the sentiment that stimulates the Bodhisattvas to their gigantic task of universal salvation. Those who are free from sectarian biases will admit without hesitation that there is but one true religion which may assume various forms according to circumstances. “Many are the roads to the summit, but when reached there we have but one universal moonlight.” ([return])
[156] The Dharmapada, XIV. 5. Mr. A. J. Edmunds’s translation is,
“Ceasing to do all wrong,
Initiation into goodness,
Cleansing the heart:
This the religion of the Buddhas.”
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