77
f\
O
LITERARY HISTORY
OF
SANSKRIT BUDDHISM
(FROM WINTERNITZ, SYLVAIN LEVI, HUBER)
BY
G . K. NARIMAN
(Aufhor of Religion of the Iranian Peoples;
Iranian Influence on Muslim Literature)
D, B. TAHA.POREVALA SONS k Co.
1920
Printed by Mr. Dhanjibhoy Dosabhoy, General Manager, The Bombay
Printing Works, Ltd., at The Commercial Printing Press,
11, Cowasji Patell Street, Fort, Bombay, and published by Messrs. D. B,
Taraporevala Sons & Co., Bombay.
OFFERED
AS A TRIBUTE OF APPRECIATION
TO
Sir RABINDRANATH TAGORE
THE POET SCHOLAR
OF
AWAIKENING ORIENT.
2005667
CONTENTS,
FOREWORD. PAGE.
Introductory 1
CHAPTER I.
The two schools of Buddhism 3
Essence of Mahayana g
CHAPTER II.
Sanskrit Buddhist canon 7
CHAPTER III.
Mahavastu'. ... ... ... ... 11
Importance of Mahavastu ... 18
Its Jatakas 14
Mahavastu and Puranas ... 15
More Mahayana affinities ... ... 17
Antiquity of Mahavastu ... 17
CHAPTER IV.
Lalitavistara 19
Extravagant imagery 20
Conception and Birth of Buddha 20
Sin of unbelief 22
Pali and Sanskrit go back to an older source 23
The Buddha at school 23
Acts of the Buddha 24
Component elements of Lalitavistara 24
Translation into Chinese and Tibetan ... 25
Relation to Buddhist art 26
No image in primitive Buddhism 26
General estimate of LaHtavUtara 27
11.
CHAPTER V. PAGB.
Ashvaghosha and his school ... ... ... ... 28
Life of Ashvaghosha ... ... ... 29
Ashvaghosha's great work : the Buddha's biography ... SO
Buddhacarita and Kalidasa ... ... ... ... 32
Statecraft, erotic art and warfare ... ... ... ... 33
Love and religion ... ... ... .. ... ... 34
Synthesis of Schools 36
Sutralankara 36
Vajrasuci : polemic against caste ... ... ... ... 38
Other works of Ashvaghosha 39
Matriceta 40
Buddhist poet Shura ,.. 41
Master's selfless love 42
CHAPTER VI.
Literature of Avadanas 45
Veneration for the Buddha ... .. 45
What is A vadana ? . . . ... ... ... ... ... 45
The fixed model 48
Culture evidences ... ... ... ... ... ... 49
Maiden disciple : Story 28 ... 50
Extreme Compassion : Story 34 50
Disinterested pity : Story 36 50
Princess devout : Story 54 51
Guerdon of service to Buddha : Story 100 51
Avadanashataka and cognate tales ... ... ... 52
Tibetan and Chinese analogies 52
Characteristics ... ... ... ... ... ... 53
Analysis of components ... ... ... ... ... 54
Shardulakarna : love of the untouchable 55
Ashokavadana ... 57
Kunala : Queen mother and step-son ... 58
Pali parallels 58
Rupavati'a sacrifice 59
in.
PAGE.
Kalpadrutnavadanatnala ... "... 59
Unequivocal Mahay anism 60
Miscellaneous Avadanas 61
Avadanas in Chinese and Tibetan 62
CHAPTER VII.
Mahayanasutras ... 54
Worship of Books in Nepal 64
Saddharmapundarika 64
Parable of house on fire ... 67
Reclaimed son : a parable ... ... ... ... ... 68
Figurative language ... ... ... ... ... 69
Exaggeration of phrase and figure ... ... ... ... 69
In praise of Sutra 70
Persistence of Puranic influence ... ... ... ... 71
Elements of diverse epochs ... ... ... 71
Age of the Sutra 73
Karandavyuha : its Theistic tendency ... ... ... 74
Potency of Avalokiteshvara ... ... ... ... 75
His peregrinations ... ... 76
Sukhavativyuha : the Land of Bliss ... 77
Manjushri ... 79
Kurunapundarika Sutra 80
Lankavatara 80
Samadhiraja 82
Suvarnaprabhasa Sutra , 82
Rashtrapala Sutra 83
Prevision of degeneracy 84
CHAPTER VIII.
Nagarjuna ••• •••' ... 89
Vindication of middle doctrine 90
Other works attributed to Nagarjuna 91
iv.
PAGE,
Nagarjuna's life 92
Aryadeva ... ... ... 94
Asanga 94
More philosopher than poet 95
Asanga 96
Buddhist humour 98
Opponent of Samkhya philosophy ... 99
Candragomi ... ... ... ... ... loo
Santideva ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 100
Core of doctrine ... ... ... ... lol
Importance of the book 102
Other virtues ... ... ... 103
Quotations from previous works 103
Moral ideal ... ... ... 105
Books contrasted 105
The aspirant's obligations ... ... ... ... ... 107
Self and others : the difference 107
Psychic identity 108
Philosophical doubt 10ft
Reaction 109
CHAPTER IX.
Stotras, Dharanis, Tantras ; 110
Hymns : Buddhist and Hindu 110
Tara and her poet devotees... ... ... ... ... Ill
Dharanis or Necromantic formulae... ... ... .. 112
Sanskrit Dharanis in Japan ... ... ... ... ... 116
Antiquity of Dharanis ... ... ... 117
The Adikarmapradipa 118
Varieties of Tantras : Yogi's training 118
Degrading instructions 119
Supreme Yogiship 120
The authorship ...*-> 121
Printed Tantra literature IM
Christianity and Buddhism .., 123
V.
CHAPTER X PAGI.
Are similarities accidental ? 123
Seydel s hypothesis 124
" Loans " from Buddhism 124
American scholar's researches 125
Parallel texts 126
Legends ' 128
Miracles 127
Resurrection and Nirvana 128
Results of comparison ... ... 129
Vitality of Buddhism 131
CHAPTER XI.
Ancient Indian National Literature 133
Importance and extent of Indian literature ... ... 133
Peculiar traits of Indian genius 134
Aryan unity of speech ... ... 13g
Impact of Indian genius on German thought 138
CHAPTER XII.
Beginnings of Indian Studies in Europe ... 141
Great Britain and Brahmanic learning ... 142
Early English scholars 143
Jones and Colebrooke 143
Sanskrit learning and Germany 147
DaraShukoh's Persian Upanishad ... ... 150
Beginnings of Vedic studies 152
Leader of research in three great religions 152
Christian Lassen ... ... ... 153
The great Dictionary 153
Histories of literature 154
Catalogues of MSB 154
Encyclopaedia of Sanskrit knowledge 155
CHAPTER XIII.
The Chronology of Indian Literature 15«
A few dated events 157
vu
PACI.
Extra-Indian helps ... 158
Indian's sense of history ... ... ... .., ... 160
APPENDIX I.
Constitution of the Buddhist Canon, by Sylvain Levi ... 162
APPENDIX II.
Sutralankara ... ... ... ... 177
Prefatory ..' ' ... 177
The outraged Pandit 178
Buddhist and Brahmanic controversy 179
Chinese Aid 180
Japanese co-operation 181
In search of treasure 183
Life of Ashavaghosha 184
Chinese reverence for Sanskrit texts ... ... ... 185
Was he a King? 187
His method 189
Authorship established 191
The personse of the Story Book 196
The grade of civiiisation 198
The Arts 200
Vindication of a neglected school ... ... ... ... 201
Preserved in China though lost in India 202
His renowned predecessors 203
APPENDIX III.
Most ancient Buddhist records, by M. Winternitz ... 207
The Pali Canon 207
APPENDIX IV.
Buddhist Drama, by M. Winternitz 219
viL
APPENDIX V. PAGE.
Treasure Trove of Ancient Literatures ... 224
The discovery— Scientific expeditions 224
New old tongues — Resurrection of dead languages— The
last creed of Manes — Pahlavi the religious and secular
idiom of mediaeval Iran 230
Enormous Buddhist Sanskrit literature in original and
vernacular versions — Great discovery of the century ;
Pali not the mother tongue of Buddhism •, Pali
represents translation from perished vernacular. ... 235
The hiatus in classical Sanskrit supplied — Buddhist
poetry or drama in Sanskrit — Matriceta and Ashva-
ghosha the forerunners of Kalidasa — Authenticity
and verification of Tibetan treasures ... 240
APPENDIX VI.
The Inscription of Ara. By Prof. H. Luders, Ph.D.,
(Berlin) 24?
Poetcript 255
APPENDIX VII.
The Sources of the Divyavadana. Chinese translation of
Sanskrit-Buddhist Literature • 257
How Chinese helps Sanskrit 260
APPENDIX VIII.
Inscribed frescos of Turfan, by Ed. Huber 264
A Bharhut Sculpture 269
King Kanishka and the Mula Sarvastivadis 274
APPENDIX IX.
The Medical Science of Buddhists.., , 276
viiL
APPENDIX X PAGE.
The Abhidharma Kosha Vyakhya 279
APPENDIX XI
Reference to Buddhism in Brahmanical and Jain Writings. 287
APPENDIX XII
Notes on the Divyavadana 293
Notes .*. ... .*. ... 301
Index 341
ABBREVIATIONS.
BEFEO— Bulletin de 1'Ecole frangaise d'Extreme Orient.
Bibl. Ind.— Bibliotheca Indica.
Ep. Ind. — Epigraphia Indica.
ERE — Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, edited by
James Hastings, Edinburgh.
GGA — Gottinger Gelehrte Anzeigen.
Grundriss — Grundriss der indo-arischen Philogie und
Altertumskumde, founded by G. Buhler, continued by
F. Kielhorn, edited by H. Luders and Wackernagel,
Strassburg, Trubner.
Ind. Ant. — Indian Antiquary (Bombay).
JA — Journal Asiatique.
JAOS— Journal of the American Oriental Society.
JASB— Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
JBRAS — Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal
Asiatic Society.
JPTS— Journal of the Pali Text Society.
NGGW— Nachrichten von der K. Gesellschaft der
Wissenschaften zu Gottingen.
OC— Orientalistenkongresse (Verhandlungen, Transac-
tions, Acts).
PTS— Pali Text Society.
RHR — Revue de 1'histoire des Religions, Paris.
SBA — Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie der
Wissenschaften.
SBE— Sacred Books of the East, edited by F. Max
Muller.
SWA — Sitzungsbsrichte der Wiener Akademie der
Wissenschaften.
WZKM— Wiener Zeitschrift fur dir Kunde des Morgen-
landes.
ZDMG — Zeitschrift der Deutchen Morgenlandischen
Gesellschaft.
FOREWORD.
The works with which our standard literary histories of
Sanskrit literature deal are almost exclusively confined to
Brahmanic texts. Weber, Earth and Hopkins and after
them even Barnett and Keath have scarcely assigned its due
place in the history of Sanskrit literature to the contribution
made by the Buddhist authors. The brilliant and outstanding
exception in English is still the Renaissance chapter of India :
What can it teach us by Max Muller. That there was a vast
literature embodied in Sanskrit by Buddhist thinkers is
attested even by the sparce references in classical Sanskrit to
them and by an occasional find of a Buddhist work in a Jain
bhandara. The late Dr. Peterson came upon the Nyayabindutika
in a Jain library, and the various papers read before the
Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society by Telang and
Professor K. B. Pathak demonstrate the deposits of Buddhist
works in extensive quotations, if not in entire texts, to be
found in the libraries of the Jainas of Kanara. The Mahavyut-
patti in one place (p. 51) mentions thirty-eight famous writers,
the names even of some of whom have grown strange to us.
The works of others have perished and there are hardly any,
of the lives and complete literary remains of whom we have
positive knowledge. For a search of Sanskrit Buddhistic texts
in Jain libraries the public may look up to enlightened Jain
religious preceptors like the Jainacharya Vijayadharmasuri
who combines ancient traditional practices, — the Jain saint
did all his journies to Benares, Calcutta and other sacred places
in Northern India on foot from Surat,— with a broad religious
outlook and a Western method of organised research.
Thus there is a gap in our knowledge of Sanskrit
literature which this book is intended to supply. I have
XI
entirely depended upon Winternitz in the first thirteen
chapters. It was my intention to bring up-to-date the work
which appeared originally in 1913 •, but commercial Bombay
has evinced small care for literary research and the best of
its libraries are yet innocent of the learned series like
the SBA. SWA. and toun% pao, not to mention
a host of other continental periodicals, without which
it is impossible to continue Winternitz's laborious history.
Winternitz is by no means a new name to English readers.
He prepared for Max Muller the voluminous index to the
forty-nine volumes of his Sacred Books of the East. I have
endeavoured to embody all his valuable notes and cite all the
authorities which he has most industriously collected ; but
it is possible that some may have been left out since the
chapters were first prepared for the literary columns of the
Bombay Chronicle which had naturally to be kept free from
learned overloading.
Next after Winternitz the reader will have to feel grateful
to M. Sylvain Levi, of the College de France, of some of
whose charming studies I have attempted to produce a faint
reflex. The "Constitution of the Buddhist canon," was
turned by me into English for the Rangoon Gazette as soon
as I received a copy of it from the distinguished savant. It
created a mild sensation in the Asiatic seat of Pali learning
where my efforts at the appreciation of Buddhism as
incorporated in Sanskrit literature were combated with a fury
familiar to those who have a practical acquaintance with
odium fhtologicum* The romance of Sutralankara is a brilliant
essay of Sylvain Levi's for the accidental defects in which
the responsibility must be borne by myself. The Appendix
(III) on the Pali canon gives a foretaste of the splendid
pages of Winternitz which I hope it will not take me
long to bring out in English. As a supplement to the history
Xll
I have added as Appendix IV the weighty contribution to the
Buddhist drama by Winternitz (VOJ. 1913, p. 38). While
these chapters will more or less appeal to the specialist,
Appendix V on the " Treasures of ancient literatures " by
Luders will interest any one susceptible to the importance of
the revival and resuscitation of a dead past and, in some cases,
of a past neither the existence nor the death of which was
suspected. It was prepared in the first instance for one of
Mrs. 'Besant's literary periodicals. The number of works
which have been brought again to unanticipated light from
Central Asia includes not only Sanskrit and Buddhist texts,
but Iranian and especially Pahlavi documents of prime value.
The Appendix (VII) on the sources of the Divyavadana is
inserted as a proof of the great importance of Chinese for
Sanskrit Buddhism. The contribution by Ed. Huber
(Appendix VlII) is believed to be his last. The death at the
early age of thirty-five of this French genius is a loss not only
to Buddhist scholarship in its difficult ramifications of Chinese
Tibetan, Sanskrit and Pali but to that exceedingly rare
branch of learning which links Mahayana Buddhism to Persia
through the intermediary of Tibet. (Melanges, Sylvain Levi,
p. 305). As the literary activities of the Buddhists have
perhaps not been fully represented in the work of Winternitz
in respect of grammar, lexicography, — Amara was most
probably a Buddhist, — astronomy and medicine, I have inserted
the condensed remarks of J. Jolly on medical science of the
Buddhists from the Grundriss. Much concise information in
English on Vasubandhu has been supplied by Sylvain Levi
and the Japanese scholars in the various articles in the
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics ; but I hope the few pages
from Burnouf will not be held antiquated (Appendix X).
The Abhidharma Kosha Vyakhya may yet possibly attract the
leisure and the attention of an Indian lover of learning in
a position to have it edited. References to Buddhism in
Xlll
Brahmanical and Jaina writings (Appendix XI) and
Appendix XII represent a portion of the notes made by me
for a Sanskrit Buddhist literary record which must be
effaced in the presence of Winternitz's work. My
thanks are due to all the editors of the periodicals in whose
journals the chapters in this collection appeared in the first
instance.
Some inconsistencies in the matter of spelling have to be
explained. They relate generally to the < -h- sound and the
jvhsound. The consensus ot Orientalists is inclined to assign
to the English c the phonetic value of ch in church. However,
old associates like Panchatantra will no doubt long appear in
their time-honoured shape. There is much to be said in
favour of the exclusive phonetic value of c especially as it
never now represents the /-sound. Various devices have
been adopted to do away with the h and at the same time to
represent sh. Here the general agreement of scholars is less
pronounced. I do not think many, if any, scholars will agree
with me in my insistence on avoiding Sarvastavad*« and
Chandragom/tt which are to me alien importations such
as at least Indian Sanskritists should unhesitatingly reject.
If we speak of our friend Trivedi there is no reason why we
should adopt the European exotic Yajurved/;/. I adhere to
Mula Sarvastivadi.
I have to thank the Commercial Press, Bombay, for
promptness and care and to deprecate in advance a certain
amount of overlapping of material due to my having had to
deal with several authors working on the identical themes.
My own notes are indicated by N. at the end of each.
THE AUTHOR.
Bombay, November 1919-
LITERARY HISTORY OF BUDDHISM.
Buddhism rose in India and it is all but dead in India 5
but the zeal of the early Buddhist
Introductory missionaries spread the faith far beyond
the boundaries of its native land. There is
no lack of authentic histories of Buddhism but up to now no
systematic history of the Buddhist literature in Sanskrit
has appeared. Buddhism has had an immense literature.
The literary productions of the Buddhists fall into " two
ilivisions. The sacred language, however, of Buddhism
lias not been one. The religion had early branched into
several sects and each of them had a sacred tongue of its
own. It is yet a moot question what the original language
of Buddhism was and whether we have descended to us any
fragments of the tongue employed by the Buddha himself.
Whatever that original language was it is now certain that
Pali has no claim to that distinction. Strictly speaking there
are only two sacred languages of the Buddhists, Pali and
Sanskrit. Pali is the hieratic language of the Buddhists of
Ceylon. Siam and Burma who observe a prosaic and more
ancient form of Buddhism. The sacred language of Tibet,
China and Japan is Sanskrit and although very few books on
Buddhism written in Sanskrit have ever been discovered there,
it is unquestionable that at one time there was an immense
Buddhist literature, a vast amount of which was translated
into Tibetan and Chinese and latterly scholars have suc-
ceeded in recovering a portion of the Sanskrit canon which
was believed to have perished beyond recall. The history of
Buddhism will have a sufficient amount of light thrown on it
when we have accessible to us in a European language the
essence of the Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist works. But
Pali Buddhism has the merit of being compact and has been
studied more or less vigorously in Europe. The Sanskrit
Buddhism has had the disadvantage of being looked upon
with suspicion. It was believed to be a later production.
Very few scholars are now sceptical regarding some of the
texts which this Sanskrit Buddhist literature embodies and
which date from an antiquity as respectable as any of the
Pali texts.
The following chapters were intended to be published
in English with the collaboration of the
o °k C distinguished scholar who first conceived
and executed the plan of a history of
Buddhist literature in Sanskrit. The War interrupted the
design. At the suggestion of Indian scholars interested at
once in Buddhism and in Sanskrit I have undertaken to
publish these chapters which, unlike my studies on Parsis
and Early Isl^m, lay claim to no originality. The
merit of these pages devoted to an elucidation of the historical
data comprising the Buddhist literature, that has survived
in Sanskrit, consists in a lucid marshalling of every
available source which makes the study as valuable as it
is original. It is at once a pioneer and a perfected enterprise.
In the original scheme due regard is had to the Pali branch of
Buddhism as well as Sanskrit. I propose, however, in view
of the deserved sanctity attached to Sanskrit first to lay
before brother Pandits the section on Sanskrit. The original
work is supported throughout by authorities and references.
The extent of these notes covers almost as much space as
the text itself.
G. K. N.
CHAPTER I.
However extraordinarily rich and extensive the Pali
literature of India, Ceylon and Burma
™y be' sti11 h ^presents only the
literature of one sect of the Buddhists.
Alongside of it in India itself and apart from the other
countries where Buddhism is the dominant religion, several
sects have developed their own literary productions, the
language of which is partly Sanskrit and partly a dialect
which we may call the mid-Indian and which is given the
designation of "mixed Sanskrit " by Senart. Of this Sanskrit
literature there have remained to us many voluminous books
and fragments of several others while many are known to
us only through Tibetan and Chinese translations. The
major portion of this literature, in pure and mixed Sanskrit,
which we for brevity's sake call Buddhist Sanskrit literature,
belongs either to the school known as that of the Mahayana
or has been more or less influenced by the latter. For an
appreciation, therefore, of this literature it is necessary in the
first place to make a few observations on the schism in
Buddhism which divided it early into two schools, the
Mahayana and the Hinayana.
The most ancient Buddhist school, the doctrine of which
coincides with that of the Theravada, as perpetuated in Pali
tradition, sees in salvation or Nirvana the supreme bliss and
in the conception of Arhatship, which is already in this
life a foretaste of the coming Nirvana, the end and goal of all
strivings, — a goal which is attainable only by a few with the
nelp of a knowledge which is to be acquired only in ascetic
life. This original objective of early Buddhism has not been
rejected by the adherents of the later or Mahayana school.
On the other hand it has been recognised as originating with
the Buddha himself. It is characterised as the Hinayana or
the " inferior vehicle " which does not suffice to conduct all
beings to cessation of sorrow. What the later doctrine teaches
is the Mahayana or the " great vehicle," which is calculated
to transport a larger number of people, the whole community
of humanity, over and beyond the sorrow of existence. This
new doctrine, as is claimed by its followers, rests upon a
profounder understanding of the ancient texts or upon later
mystical revelation of the Buddha himself and it replaces th<?
ideal of the Arhat by that of the Bodhisattva. Not only the
monk but every ordinary human being can place before
himself the goal to be re-born as a Bodhisattva, which means
an enlightened being or one who may receive supreme illumi-
nation and bring salvation to all mankind. If this goal is to
be made attainable by many there must be more efficient
means for making it accessible to all than are to be found in
the Hinayana doctrine. Therefore, according to the doctrine
of the Mahayana, even the father of a family occupied
with worldly life, the merchant, the craftsman, the sovereign,
— nay, even the labourer and the pariah — can attain to salva-
tion on the one hand, by the practice of commiseration
and goodwill for all creatures, by extraordinary generosity
and self-abnegation, and on the other, by means of a
believing surrender to and veneration of the Buddha,
other Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas. In the Pali canon the
Buddha is already sometimes shown as a superman but he
becomes such only because of his attainment to supreme
illumination which enables him to perform miracles and finally
to enter Nirvana. What has remained for us as an object of
veneration after his passing away is only his doctrine or at
any rate his relics. The school of the Lokottaravadis, which'
are a special sect of that Hinayana, go further and decline to
see in the Buddha an ordinary man. For the Buddha is a
superhuman being (Lokottara) who comes down for a limited
period of time for the succour of all mankind.
s
In the Mahay ana, on the other hand, the Buddhas from
the first are nothing but divine beings
Mahayana anc* t"ie'r Peregrmati°ns on the earth and
their entry into Nirvana no more than
a freak or thoughtless play. And if in the Himyana there
is the mention of a number of Buddhas, predecessors of
Shakyamuni in earlier rcons, the Mahayana counts its
Buddclhas by the thousand, nay, by the million. Moreover,
innumerable millions of Bodhisattvas are worshipped as
divine beings by the Mahayana Buddhists. These Bodhi-
sattvas who are provided with perfections (Paramitas) and
with illumination, out of compassion for the world
renounce their claim to Nirvana. Furthermore, there are the
Hindu gods and goddesses especially from the Shiva cycle
who are placed on a par with the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
who contribute to the amplification of the Buddhist pantheon.
This newly formed mythology, this new Bodhisattva ideal
and the much more vigorously prominent worship of the
Buddha or Buddha-bhakti together form the popular phase of
Mahayana. So far this process was already extant in the
Hinayana, it developed itself under the influence of Hinduism ;
and similarly the philosophical side of Mahayana is only a
further evolution of the doctrine of Hinayana under the
influence of Hinduism.
The ancient Buddhism denied the Ego and saw in the
knowledge of the non-Ego a path to Nirvana, to extinction
of the Ego. The Mahayana schools went still further and
taught that not only there was no Ego, but that there was
nothing at all,- only a blank, sarvam shunyam. They pro-
fessed a complete negativism or shitnyavada which denied
both Being and non-Being at the same time or believed in
idealistic negativism or Vijnavavada which at least recog-
nises a Being comprised in consciousness. As Max Wallaser
has put it, negativism is a better characterisation of the
Mahayana philosophy than nihilism,
6
The Sanskrit literature in Buddhism, however, is by no
means exlusively Mahayanist. Before all the widely spread
sect of the Sarvastivadis, which belonged to the Hinayana
and which is indicated by its designation of positivists,
possessed a canon of its own and a rich literature in Sanskrit.
Literally the doctrine of Sarvastivada means the doctrine
of All-Exists.
CHAPTER II.
Of this Sanskrit canon no complete copy is to be
found. We know it only from larger or
smaller fragments of its Udana-varga,
Dharmapada, Ekottaragama and Madhya-
magama which have been discovered from
the zylographs and manuscripts recovered from Eastern
Turkistan by Stein, Grunwedel and Le Coq, as well as from
quotations in other Buddhist Sanskrit texts like the
Mahavastu, Divyavadana and Lalitavistara and finally from
Chinese and Tibetan translations.
The literature of Central Asian discoveries has already
assumed great proportions. The more important references
are • Pischel, Fragments of a Sanskrit Canon of
the Buddhist from Idykutsari in Chinese Turkistan, SBA
1904, p. 807. New Fragments, ibid p. 1138-, The
Turfan Recensions of the Dhammapada, SBA 1908, p. 968.
What, however, Pischel regarded as the recensions of the
Dhammapada are in reality fragments of the Udanavarga of
Dharmatrata, the Tibetan translation of which has been
rendered into English by Rokhill in 1883, and the Sanskrit
original of which Luders is going to edit from the Turfan
finds. Vallee Poussin has discovered fragments of the same
work in the collection brought from Central Asia by Stein
and there is found Udana corresponding to the Pali
Udana ( JA, 1912, p. 10, vol. xix, p. 311 ). Levi, JA,
1910, p. 10 vol. xvi, p. 444. On the other hand the
ancient Kharosthi manuscript discovered in Khotan by
Dutreuil de Rhins, important equally from the standpoint of
palaeography and literary history, represents an anthology
prepared after the model of the Dhammapada in Prakrit
(Comptes rendus de I'Academie des inscriptions, May
1 89 5 and April 1898; Stein, Ancient Khotan, 1188-, Senart
8
OC XI, Paris, 1897, i, i, seq. JA 189S, p. 9, vol. XII,
193, 545; Luders NGGW 1899, p. 474-, Rhys Davids
JRAS, 1899, p. 426, and Franke ZDMG 60, 1906, p. 477).
Buddhist Sutras in Sanskrit inscribed on bricks have
been found by V. A. Smith and W. Hoey in the ruins of
Gopalpur along with inscriptions ranging between 250
and 400 A.D. ( JASB proceedings, 1896, p. 99). For
translations into Chinese and Tibetan see Oldenberg
ZDGM 52, pp. 654, 662 ; Anesaki Le Musew, new series
xx, vi 1905, pp. 23-37. On a Chinese translation of a
« Nirvanasutra, "- see JARS 1881, p. 66.
To the Vinayapitaka of the same canon belongs probably
also the fragment of a ritual for the initiation of monks
written in Sanskrit which was found in Nepal by Bendall
as well as the Pratimokshasutra which is inferred from one
Tibetan and four Chinese translations, Album Kern, p. 373,
and OC xiii, Humburg, 1902,' p. 58. S. Levi discovered
the fragment of a Vinayapitaka of the Sarvastivadis in the
Tokharian (JA 1912, p. 10, vol. xix, p. 101. Oldenberg
ZDMG 52, p. 645.)
The principal texts of the canon of the Mulasarva-
stivadis— this is the designation of the Sanskrit canon
according to tradition — were translated from Sanskrit into
Chinese in 700-712 by the Chinese pilgrim I-tsing.
(J. Takakusu, a record of Buddhist religion by I-tsing,
translated, Oxford 1896, p. XXXVII. See Anesaki JRAS
1901, p. 895-, Ed. Huber in DEFEO VI 1906, p. 1,
Sylvain Levi in the Toung Pao, V. 19C4, p, 297-, VIII,
110).
A sub-division of the Mulasarvastivadi.3 are the Sarva-
stivadis who had a Vinaya of their own just as the other three
9
sub-divisions of the same school, r(^., the Dharmaguptas,
Mahishasakas and Kashyapiyas (Levi ibid p. 114 1907). But the
Chinese "Tri-pitaka" does not mean the same thing as the Pali
Tipitaka but contains also many non-canonical texts and even
philosophical treatises of Brahmanism (Takakusu, JRAS
1896, p. 415.)
Likewise in the Tibetan Kanjur which is also denominated
"Tripitaka," there is much which has no comparison with the
Tipitaka of Pali and which doubtless does not belong to the
ancient canon. As in these so also in the Chinese and Tibetan,
there are the sub-divisions into Vinaya, Sutra and Abhidharma.
This Sanskrit canon in its Chinese rendering betrayes in
the texts and in the arrangements of its component books
many coincidences with the Pali canon and on the other hand
many deviations from it. This is to be explained by assuming
that the Pali canon was first translated in some part of India
first from a common source, probably the lost Magadhi canon
and later on in another province the Sanskrit canon branched
itself off.
According to Sylvain Levi (Taung Pao 1907, p. 116)
the Vinaya of the Sanskrit canon was first codified in the
3rd or 4th century after Christ. In the Sanskrit canon the
Agamas correspond to the Xikayas in Pali, the Dirghagama
answering to the Dighanikaya, the Madhyamagama to the
Majjhinanikaya, the Ekottaragama to the Anguttaranikaya
and the Samyuktagama to the Samyuttanikaya. There was
also a '« Kshudraka " corresponding to the Khuddakanikaya.
Whether in this latter all those texts were included which in
the Pali canon are embodied in this Nikaya we do not know
but we know that in the Sanskrit canon also there were corres-
ponding to the Pali texts of Suttanipata a Sutranipata, Udana
10
corresponding to Udana, to Dhammapada a Dharmapada,. to
Theragatha a Sthaviragatha, to Vimanavatthu a Vimanavastu
and to Buddha Vansa a Buddha Vansha. It is doubtful
whether the collection of the " seven Abhidharmas " which
stands translated in the Chinese Tripitaka was also derived
from the ancient canon in as much as these Abhidharmas
have nothing in common with the Abhidhammapitaka of the
Pali canon except the numeral seven and a few titles.
J. Takakusu, J.R.A.S. 1905, p. 138 and J.1YT.S. 1905, p. 67.
Thus if the canon of the Mulasarvastivadis has been
preserved only incompletely, the other Sanskrit Buddhist sects
likewise give no closed canon, each having only one or
more texts to which was accorded special sanctity as a kind
of Bible and which assimilated the older texts of a Tripitaka
recognised as such in principle and rejecting others.
11
CHAPTER III.
As belonging to the old school of Hinayana we have in
the first place to mention the Maha-
Mahavastu.
Le MaharastU) Sanskrit text, was published for the first
time with introduction by E. Sanart with a detailed conspec-
tus of contents in the Introduction, Paris 1882-1897. A
Earth in RHR., 11, 1885, p. 160 ; 42, 1900, p. 51 and Journal
des Savants 1899, p. 459, p. 517, p. 623. E. Windisch, the
Composition of the Mahavastu, Leipzig 1909. A conspectus
of the contents is also given by Rajendralal Mitra in his
Nepalese Buddhist Literature, pp. 115-161.
The book gives itself the title of: " The Vinayapitaka
according to the text of the Lokottaravadis belonging to the
Mahasanghikas." These Mahasanghikas, that is, the adher-
ents of the Mahasangha or the Great Order are according to
concurrent reports the most ancient Buddhist schismatics.
This is the only thing positive which we can ascertain
regarding the rise of Buddhist sects from the contradictory
and confused accounts. (Compare Kern Manual of
Buddhism, p. 105).
A sub-division of theirs was the Lokottaravadis, that is,
those according to whose doctrine the Buddhas are Supra-
Mundane or Lokottara and are only externally connected with
worldly existence.
" Nothing in the perfectly Awakened Ones is comparable
to anything in the world but everything connected with the
great Rishis is exalted above the world." (Mahavastu V. 1,
1. p. 159,2). They wash their feet although no dust attaches
to them, they sit under the shade although the heat of the
sun does not oppress them, they take nourishment although
12
they are never troubled with hunger, they use medicine
although they have no diseases. (Windisch loc. cit. p. 470.)
According to the Mahavastu, the Lokottaravadis belong to
the Madhyadesha or the 16 countries lying between the
Himalaya and the Vindhya mountains, (Mahastu V. 1, p. 198.)
Entirely in keeping with this doctrine, the biography of
the Buddha which forms the principal contents of the Maha-
vastu is related as an " Avadana" or a miraculous history.
It is clearly not thereby differentiated much from the texts
of the Pali canon which are devoted to the life of the Buddha.
Here rfe this Sanskrit text just as in the Pali counterpart we
hear of miracles which accompanied the conception, the
birth, the illumination, and the first conversions brought
about by the Buddha. The Mahavastu harmonizes with
the Pali Nidanakatha in this that it treats of the life of the
Buddha in three sections, of which the first starts with the
life of the Bodhisattva in the time of the Buddha Dipankara
(V. 1, 193) and describes his life in the time of other and
earlier Buddhas. The second section (in V. 2, 1) takes us to
the heaven of the Tushita gods, where the Bodhisattva who
is re-born there is determined to seek another birth in the
womb of Queen Maya and relates the miracle of the concep-
tion and the birth of the prince, of his leaving the home, his
conflict with Mara, and the illumination which he succeeds in
acquiring under the Bodhi Tree. The third section (V. 3),
lastly recounts, in harmony with the principal features of the
Mahavagga oftheVinay apitaka, the history of the first
conversions and the rise of the monastic order. And this is
also one reason why the Mahavastu is described as belong-
ing to the Vinayapitaka, although barring a few remarks on
the initiation of the Order it contains next to nothing about
the Vinaya proper or the rules of the Order.
Note : The Mahavastu does not contain the Pali technical expres-
sions, Durenidana, Avidurenidnna and Santikenidana. See Windisch loc. cit.
p, 473, 476 ff.
IS
When we, however, say that the Mahavastu recounts the
main outline of the life of the Buddha for the Lokottaravadis,
that by no means implies that this exhausts the contents
of the work 5 nor does it give an adequate idea of its compo-
sition. Far from being a literary work of art, the Mahavastu
is rather a labyrinth in which we can only with an effort
discover the thread of a coherent account of the life of the
Buddha. This account is constantly interrupted by other
material, specially by the numerous Jatakas and Advanas and
also by dogmatic Sutras. We find no order. Sometimes an
attempt is made to put together in a loose -fashion the
various component parts of the work. Moreover, the same
story is frequently repeated whether it be an episode in
the life of the Buddha or a Jataka, being related twice
one after' another, first in prose and then in verse, although
in a more or less diverging version. But in several passages
the same episodes recur with a trifling difference. Thus the
legend of the Buddha's birth is recounted no less than four
times (Windisch, Buddha's Birth, p. 106, 124 ff.). Again the
language is also not uniform. No doubt the whole work,
both the prose and verse, is written in wrfat we call " mixed
Sanskrit," but this dialect makes a varying approach to
Sanskrit. The more disparate it is from Sanskrit, the more
ancient it appears. (Oldenberg ZDMG 52, 663).
Despite this and notwithstanding the circumstance that
out of this book we learn hardly anything
Importance new on the life of the Buddha or of
of Mahavastu. ..
the Lokottaravadis, it is or the greatest
importance because it preserves for us many ancient traditions
and old versions of texts which also occur in the Pali canon.
Thus the setting out of his home by the Prince Siddhartha, the
celebrated abhinishkramana of Sanskrit books, is related,
as in the Pali Majjhimanikaya (26 and 36) in the most archaic
14
fashion (V. 2, 117). As an instance of the various strata of
the book we may mention another version ot the same episode
in the life of the Buddha and belonging to a later period which
follows immediately after the first and more ancient recital
in the Mahavastu. Similarly we find early versions of the
celebrated "Benares sermon" and presentments of the following
well-known texts in the Pali canon : — The Mahagovinda Sutta
(Dighanikaya 19) the Dighanakhasutta (Majjhimanikaya, 74)
the Sahassavagga of the Dhammapada, the Khuddakapatha,
the Pabbajja, the Padhana and the Khaggavisana Suttas
belonging to the Suttanipata, and pieces from the Vimana
Vatthu and the Buddha Vansha (Oldenberg ZDMG 52, 659 f.
665 f. Windisch Mara and Buddha, 316 f, 322 f). There are
poems, moreover, on the birth of the Buddha and vestiges
of ancient Buddhistic ballads which we so often come across.
Quite of special value is, however, the Mahavastu
as a mine of Jatakas and other stories.
Its Jatakas. These have been separately treated by
Serge d'Oldenberg (JRAS 1896, p. 335
f.) and by BarthT (Journal des Savants 1889, p. 625 f.)
Charpentier has discussed a few of the Jatakas in the
Mahavastu in his history of the Pacceka Buddhas (p. 2 f.
12 f, 25 f.). A good half of the book consists of Jatakas
which are related partly in prose with verses inserted, or first
in prose and then again in verse. Further we see the
Bodhisattva now as a universal sovereign, now as the son
of a merchant, then as a Brahman, again as a Naga prince
as a lion, as an elephant, etc. Many of the Jatakas
are versions of the same story which we find in the Pali
book of Jatakas. They harmonize word for word with
the Pali and many a time show more or less divergence.
Thus, for instance, the Shyamakajataka (V. 2, p. 209 f. ), the
pathetic story of the Brahman's son who is shot dead with
15
his arrow by King Peliyaksha is only a version of the Shya-
makajataka so well known to us. The Kinnarijataka (V. 2, p.
94 f.) corresponds in character, though not in contents to the
Kinnara legend in the Jataka book. Kushajataka appears
once (V. 2, p. 420 f.) in a recension which is tolerably divergent
from Pali, a second time (V. 1, p. 3 f) in metrical form which
betrays resemblances with the Pali gathas. The story of
Amara, the smith's daughter, (V. 2, p. 836) answers to the
Pali Jataka No. 387. The Markatajataka (V. 2, p. 246 f.) is the
fable of the monkey and the crocodile and is known to us as
No. 208 of the Pali Jataka book. The history of Nalini, who
is seduced by Eka Shringa, grows into a highly developed
legend in Mahavastu (V. 3, p. 143 f.). But it retains some
ot the more ancient features which have disappeared in
the prose Pali Jataka of Isisinga (Luders, NGGW 1901,
p. 20 f.).
There are, however, many Jatakas and Avadanas in the
Mahavastu which have nothing corres-
Mahavastu ,. . _, ,.
and Puranas. Ponding to them m Pali. In these are
especially glorified again and again the
extraordinary propensity to self-sacrifice and generosity on
part of the Bodhisattva. Thus as King Arka, for example,
the Bodhisattva bestows upon the Buddha of the age
80,000 grottoes or cave temples fashioned out of the seven
kinds of precious stones (1, 54). On another occasion he
surrenders his wife and child only to learn a wise maxim
(1, 91 f.). As a beggar he is more pious than King Kriki, for
he kills no living being and places his pots on cross ways
in order that they may be filled with rice and grain for the
hungry •, and when he hears that his parents in his absence
have given away to the Buddha the straw with which he had
shortly before embellished his hut he rejoices over it for a
month (1, 317 f.).
IS
Many of the narratives bear the impress of a
Brahmanic or Puranic character. Such is for instance
the history of Brahmadatta, who is childless and betakes
himself to the Rishis upon which three birds are borne to
him which speak with a human voice and utter many sapient
proverbs. This story reminds us of the beginning of the
Markandeya Purana. And incidentally it may be observed
that the portrayal of hell in the beginning of the Mahavastu
has points of contact with the same Purana. It is. however,
in the Pali tradition that we find the foundation of the visit of
Maudgalyayana to the 8th Inferno as well as his sojourn in
the world of beasts and the world of Pretas, the Asuras. and
various kind of deities. For in the Pali tradition also Mog-
galana is a saint who roams through heaven and hell and all
the worlds. However the Rajavamsha or the History of the
Kings to whose dynasty Shakyamuni belonged begins entirely
after the fashion of the Puranas with an account of the
creation (1, 338 ff.j. The spirit of the Puranas is also
breathed by the Jataka (1, 283 ff.), in which a Rishi named
Rakshita who is the Bodhisattava, attains to such miraculous
powers as an ascetic that he touches the sun and the
moon with his hand. The spirit of the Puranas is very
similar to that of the Mahayana and many of the stories in
the Mahavastu betray the same partiality for the phantasma-
gorial— astounding sorcerers to perform the miracles of
saints, so peculiar to the Mahayana texts. To this class
belongs " the Story of the Umbrella " (Chattravastu I, 253 ff.)
After the Buddha had freed the city of Shravarti of a
terrible plague caused by Yakshas, gods or spirits hold up
umbrellas over the Buddha to do him honour. The latter
however with his usual compassionateness makes one Buddha
to appear under each umbrella by virtue of his supernatural
powers so that each god believes that the Buddha is seated
under his own umbrella.
17
And, although the Mahavastu belongs to the Hinayana
and has contacts with much which may
or actually does occur "in the Pali texts
of the Theravadis, it embodies a
good deal which makes an approach to the Mahayana.
Thus, for instance, we find in the first volume (1, 63-193) a
large section on the ten bhumis or places which a Bodhi-
sattva has to go through and the description of the virtues
which he must possess in each of the ten stages; In this
section has been interpolated a Buddhanusmriti (1, 163 ff.)
that is, a hymn to the Buddha who in no way is here
different from Vishnu or Shiva in the stotras of the Puranas.
It is also in keeping with the idea of the Mahayana when it
is said that the power of the Buddhas is so great that the
adoration of the Exalted One alone suffices for the attainment
of Nirvana (II, 362 ff.) and that one earns for oneself infinite
merit when one only circumambulates a stupa and offers
worship with flowers and so forth. That from the smile of
the Buddha proceed rays which illuminate the whole Buddha
field (Buddha Khetra) occurs innumerable time in the Maha-
yana texts (III, 137 ff). It is also a Mahayanist conception
when mention is made of a great number of Buddhas and
when it is stated that the Bodhisattva is not generated by
father and mother, but springs directly from his own proper-
ties (Windisch, the Buddha's Birth^ p. 97, Note, p. 100 f.
and p. 193 f.)
The nature of the composition of the Mahavastu entails
the difficulty that the period when it was
comP°sed is veiT hard to determine.
Many circumstances point to a high
antiquity, for instance, the fact that it belongs to the Lokot-
taravada school and its language. That the work is entirely
written in " mixed Sanskrit " while in the Mahayana texts this
dialect alternates with Sanskrit, is a mark of its greater
18
antiquity. For, as Earth says, Sanskrit is in Buddhist texts
only an interloper ( Journal des Savants, 1899, p. 459).
Certainly old are those numerous pieces which the Mahavastu
has in common with the Pali canon and which go back to
ancient Pali sources. The gathas of the Khadgavishna Sutra
( I 357,) may be even older than the corresponding Khagga-
visana Sutta in the Pali buttanipata. When, however, in the
Mahavastu these verses are sung by five hundred dying
Pratyeka Buddhas then' in their mouth they refrain. " He
wanders lonely like a unicorn " sounds peculiarly in-
congruous and it becomes improbable that the prose portion
should be as old as the gathas. To the time of the first
century after Christ likewise point the Mahayanist features
already indicated as well as a few passages which seem to
have been influenced by the sculptors of the Gandhara art*
When, for example, in the scene of the flower miracle, the
lotus flowers in the form of a circle fall round the halo of the
Buddha, it may be noted that the halo was first introduced
into India by Greek artists (see A. Foucher JA 1933,
p. 10, part II, p. 208, and his Uart greco-bouddique du Gan-
dara^ vol. I, p. 622 •, besides, the many Buddhas under
the umbrellas remind us of the sculptured monuments)
The reference in the Mahavastu to the Yogacharas brings
us down to the fourth century (I, 120) •, and so do the
allusions to the Huns and the most interesting ones to the
Chinese language and writing and the characterisation of
astrologers as " Horapathaka " (III, 178). But the core of
the Mahavastu is old and probably was composed already
two centuries before Christ, although it has been expanded
in the fourth century after Christ and perhaps even at a later
period. For it is only the embellishment that has been
borrowed from the Mahay ana, while on the other hand, it is
merely a feeble admixture of the Mahayana doctrine proper
and not of the Mahayana mythology which we find in the
Mahayavastu,
19
CHAPTER IV*
The Mahavastu describes itself as a work belonging to
Hinayana, although it has assimilated
Lalitavistara. some of the Mahayana features. The
Lalitavistara on the contrary is regarded as
one of the most sacred Mahayana texts, as a Vaipulya Sutra.
It is a text-book of voluminous contents and given the usual
designation of a Mahayana Sutra and yet originally the work
embodied a descriptive life of the Buddha for the Sarvastivadi
school attached to the Hinayana.
The Lalitavistara is edited by S- Lefmann who also brought out a
translation of the first chapters in Berlin in 1875. The great Bengali scholar
Rajendralal Mitra prepared an English translation for the Bibliotheca
Indica of which 3 fasciculi have appeared. (Calcutta, 1881 to 1886.)
He has also brought out an incomplete text. A complete French
translation by Foucaux appeared in Paris in the Annals du Musee
Guimet, vol. vi, xix, (Paris, 3887-1892.) The Chinese tradition as
to the Lalitavistara makes it a life of the Buddha representing the
Savastivadi school (Beal, the Romantic Legend of Sakya Buddha from
the Chinese Sanskrit, London, 1875, Introduction. Also Foucaux's
French translation of Lalitavistara introduction, vol. II., Beal's Romantic
Legend is an abbridged translation from the Chinese version of the Abhinish-
Kramana Sutra which has not been preserved in the original Sanskrit, but
was translated into Chinese so early as 587 A.D. It appears to have been
a biography of the Buddha representing the sect of the Dharmaguptas.
The Mahayana idea however corresponds already to the
Very title of the Lalitavistara which means the " exhaustive
narrative of the sport of the Buddha. " Thus the life work
of the Buddha on the earth is characterised as the diversion
(Lalita) of a supernatural being.
In the introductory chapter the Buddha appears as an
exalted divine being, although the chapter starts after the
mode of the ancient Pali Suttas with the words : " So
have I heard. Once upon a time the master was sojourning at
Sharvasti in the Jeta Park in the garden of Anathapindada,"
20
But while in the Pali texts the Master is introduced with
these or similar stereotyped initial
phrases and is surrounded by a few
disciples or at the most his suite of
*' 500 monks," and then immediately the Sutta proper begins,
in the Lalitavistara, as in all the Vaipulya Sutras of the
Mahayana, the picture that is outlined of the Buddha is a
grandiose one encircled by divine radiance. He is surrounded
by twelve thousand monks and by no less than thirty-two
thousand Bodhisattvas, " all still in the trammels of only one
re-birth, all born with the perfections of a Bodhisattva, all
enjoying the knowledge of a Bodhisattva, all in the possession
of an insight in magical charms " and so forth. While in
the middle watch of the night the Buddha sits sunk in
meditation, from his head issues forth a stream of light which
penetrates into the heavens and sets all the gods in commo-
tion. These latter forthwith chant a hymn of praise to the
exalted Buddha and soon after appear Ishvara and the other
divinities before the Master, throw themselves at his feet and
implore him to reveal the excellent Vaipulya Sutra called the
Lalitavistara for the salvation and blessing of the world.
While they panegyrize in extravagant terms the excellences
of the text revealed by this and even earlier Buddhas, the
Buddha expresses his assent by silence. Only after these
circumstantial introductions, which fill a large chapter
commences the biography proper of the Buddha which forms
the contents of the work. And it starts indeed just from
where in the Pali Nidanakatha, the second section, (avidure-
nidana) begins.
The Bodhisattva abides in the heaven of the Gratified
Conception (Tushita) gods in a glorious celestial
and Birth of palace. The Bodhisattva is the recipient
Buddha. of over a hundred honourific epithets and
the celestial palace in which he resides of over a dozen.
21
Under the sound of eighty-four thousand drums he is called
upon to descend to the earth to commence his work of
salvation. After long consultations in which the excellences
and the deficiencies of a large number of princely families
are weighed the Bodhisattva finally decides to be re-born in
the house of King Shuddhodana in the womb of Queen Maya,
She alone possesses all the qualities of a Buddha's mother.
Perfect like her beauty, which is described to minutest -de tail,
are her virtue and chastity. Besides, of all the women of
India she is the only one in a position to bear the future
Buddha since in her is united the strength of ten thousand
elephants. The conception proceeds with the assistance of
the gods after the Bodhisattva had determined to enter the
womb of his mother in the form of an elephant. The gods
prepare not only a celestial residence for Maya during her
lying in, but construct a palace of jewels in her womb so that
the Bodhisattva may not remain soiled there for ten months.
In this palace of jewels he sits in his marvellous tenderness.
But his body shines in glorious sheen and a light expands
itself for miles from the womb of his mother. The sick
come to Maya Devi and are cured of their diseases as soon
as the latter places her hand upon their head. " And when-
ever she looks towards her right she sees the Bodhisattva
in her womb just as a man beholds his own face in a clear
mirror." The yet unborn Bodhisattva in his mother's womb
delights the celestials by pious sermons and the god Brahma
obeys his every suggestion.
This part is comprised in chapters 2 to 6. The beginning of the sixth
chapter has been translated by Windisch in his Buddha's Geburt, p, 162 ff.
As the conception so also the Bodhisattva 's birth. It is
accompanied by miracles and portents. In the Lumbini Park
he is born in the manner well known to us through numerous
sculptures though not like an ordinary human but as an
22
omniscient Exalted Being, as a Mahapurusha, «The Great
Spirit." Lotus flowers are strewn under every step of his
and the new born child announcing his greatness takes seven
steps towards each of the six cardinal points.
The. creator Prajapati is characterized as Purnsha and Mahapurusha in
the Brahmanas and Upanishads and subsequently also Brahma and Vishnu.
The seven steps of the new born child Buddha are also to be explained from
the myth of the inarch of Vishnu.
-0 .\
Here the narrative is interrupted by a dialogue between
Ananda and the Buddha in which vehe~
Sin of un= mence is shown towards every unbeliever
who does not credit the miraculous birth
of the Buddha (chapter vii, p. 87 to 91). Faith in the Buddha
is taught as an essential component of religion. And we
are reminded of Krishna in the Bhagavadgita when the
Buddha says :
« To all who believe in me I do good. Like friends
are they to me who seek refuge in me. And many a friend
the Tathagata has. And to those friends the Tatha-
gata only speaks the truth, not falsehood
To believe Ananda should be thy endeavour. This I
commend unto you,"
Why this dialogue should appear just here is certainly not due
to accident, but is based on the fact that it is with reference
to the legends relating to the conception and the birth of
the Buddha that the Lalitavistara diverges very strikingly
from other Buddhist schools in its extravagance as to the
miraculous. It is no longer so in the further course of the
narrative. Indeed there is here very often an extraordinary
harmony with the most ancient Pali account, e. g., that of the
Mahavagga of the Vinayapitaka, although, it may be noted
incidentally, that the Gathas of the Lalitavistara appear more
ancient than those in the corresponding Pali texts. (The
23
relation of the Pali tradition to the Lalitavistara is treated of
by Oldenberg in OC, V 1882, vol. 2, p. 1017 to 122,
and Windisch in Mara and Buddha and Buddha? s Birth as
well as by Kern in SEE, vol. 21, p. xi ff, and last but
not least by Burnouf Lotus de la Bonne Loi, p. 864 f.)
The two texts in such cases are not dependent upon
Pali and San- each Other ' but both go back to a common
skrit go back older tradition. But even here the Lalita-
to an older vistara has much that is wanting in the
older accounts. Two episodes in parti"
cular are noteworthy. One of these recounts (chapter 8)
how the Bodhisattva as a boy is brought by his foster
mother to the temple and how all the images of the gods
rise up on their pedestals to prostrate themselves at his feet.
The other episode (chapter 10) relates the first experience
of the Bodhisattva at school.
With a suite of ten thousand boys with immense pomp
in which the gods participate— eight
Tat school thousand heavenly damsels for instance
scatter flowers before him— the small
Bodhisattva celebrates his admission into the writing school.
The poor schoolmaster cannot bear the glory of the divine
incarnation and falls to the ground. A god raises him up and
tranquillizes him with the explanation that the Bodhisattvas
are omniscient and need no learning, but that they come to
school only following the course of the word. Then the
Bodhisattva amazes the schoolmaster with the question as
to which of the 64 scripts he was going to instruct him in.
And he enumerates all the sixty-four in which are included
the Chinese symbols and the script of the Huns, — alphabets
of which the teacher did not know even the names. Finally
with the ten thousand boys he commences his study of the
alphabet. With every letter of the alphabet the Bodhisattva
pronounces a wise maxim.
24
According to E. Kuhn, Gurupuja Kaumudi (p» 116 f,) these two
legends of the child Buddha may have served as models for the Gospel
A pocrypha which relate similar stories of the child Jesus. The chapters
12 and 13 also contain episodes which are wanting in the other biographies
of the Buddha. (Winternitz WZKM 1912, p. 237 f.).
On'the other hand in its further course the Lalitavistara
narrative (chapters 14-26) deviates only
a Iittle from the le£end known to us from
other sources •, the principal events in
the life of the Buddha being the four meetings from which the
Bodhisattva learns of old age, disease, death and renunciation ;
the flight from the palace •, the encounter with King Bimbi-
sara •, Gautama's years of instruction and his futile ascetic
practices 5 the struggle with Mara 5 the final illumination and
the enunciation of the doctrine to the world at large at the
request of god Brahma. But even here the Lalitavistara is
remarkable for its exaggerations. While Gautama, for
instance, passes the four weeks after his illumination, in our
most ancient account, in meditation under various trees
(Mahavagga, 1, 1-4, Dutoit Life of the Buddha, p. 66), in
the Lalitavistara ( p. 377), in the second week, he goes out
for a long promenade through thousands of worlds and in the
fourth week takes a small walk, which stretches only from
the eastern to the western ocean. The last chapter (27)
however is once again after the fashion of the Mahayana
sutras, a glorification of the book of Lalitavistara itself, and is
devoted to the enumeration of the virtues and the advantages
which a man acquires by its propagation and reverence.
From all these it is quite probable that our Lalitavistara
Component 'IS a redaction of an older Hinayana text
elements of expanded and embellished in the sense
Lalitavistara. of ^e Mahayana,— a biography of tfie
Buddha representing the Sarvastivada school. This assump-
tion also explains the nature of the text which is by no means
the- single work of one author, but is an anonymous compila-
tion in which very old and very young fragments stand in
juxtaposition. The hook moreover consists, according to its
form, of unequal sections, a continuous narrative in Sanskrit
prose and numerous often extensive metrical pieces in " Mixed
Sanskrit." Only rarely these verses constitute a portion of the
narrative. As a rule they are recapitulations of prose narra-
tion in an abbreviated and simpler and some times also more
or less divergent form. Many of these metrical pieces are
beautiful old ballads which go back to the same ancient
sources as the poems of the Pali Suttanipata mentioned above.
The examples are the birth legend and the Asita episode in
chapter VII, the Bimbisara history in chapter XVI and the
dialogue with Mara in chapter XVIII. They belong to the
ancient religious ballad poesy of the first centuries after the
Buddha. But several prose passages also, like the sermon at
Benares in the XXVIth chapter, are assignable to the most
ancient stratum of Buddhistic tradition. On the other hand the
younger components are to be found not only in the prose
but also in the Gathas, many of which are composed in highly
artistic metres. Such are the Vasantatilaka and Shardula-
vikridata which are tolerably frequent (see the index to metres
in Lefmann's edition VII, p. 227 f, and Introduction, p. 19 ff).
We do not know when the final redaction of the Lalita-
Translation vistara took place. It was formerly erro-
into Chinese neously asserted that the work had already
and Tibetan. been translated into Chinese in the first
Christian century. As a matter of fact we do not at all know
whether the Chinese biography of the Buddha called the Phu-
yau-king which was published in about 300 A. D., the alleged
" second translation of the Lalitavistara," is really a translation
of our text (Winternitz, WZKM 1912, p. 241 f.). A precise
rendering of the Sanskrit text is in the Tibetan, which was only
produced in the 5th century. It has been edited and trans-
lated into French by Foucaux. It may be taken for certain
that a version little different from our Lalitavistara was known
to the artists who about 850-200 decorated with images the
celebrated temple of Boro-Budur in Java. For these magnifl^
cent scriptures represent scenes in the legend of the Buddha
in a manner as if the artists were working with the text of
the Lalitavistara in the hand. And Pleyte has simply
recapitulated the entire contents of the Lalitavistara as an
explanation of the sculptures ( the Buddha legend in the
sculpture in the temple of Boro-Budur, Amsterdam, 1901.
See also Speyer La Museon, 1903, p. 124 ff).
But the artists who embellished the Greco-Buddhistic
monuments of Northern India with scenes
. from the life of the Buddha are als<>
already familiar with the Buddha legend
as related in the Lalitavistara. They worked no doubt not
after the text, but in accordance with living oral tradition.
The harmony, nevertheless, between the sculptures and the
Sanskrit text is not rarely of such a character that we must
assume that the literary tradition was at times influenced by the
artist. Upon art and literature there was mutual influence.
The authorities to be consulted here are L'art Creco-bouddhique du
Gand/iara, part 1,324 f . 666 ff ; Grunwendel Buddhist art in India, p. 94,
1C4, f, 134; Senart O C xiv, 1905, 1,121 ff; and Bloch ZDMG 62, p. 370 ff.
While the ancient Buddhistic art in the time of Ashoka,
No image -n *n t^le re^e^s °f Bharhut, Sanchi, etc.,
primitive knows of no image of the Buddha
Buddhism. but oniy a symbol (e.g., the wheel) for
the person of the Founder of the religion, a representation of
the Buddha is the principle object of the Gandhara art. Can
it not be connected with this that in the intervening centuries
the Buddha became an object of Bhakti and the adoration of
the Buddha was pushed into the central point of his religion ?
27
Thus there is concurrent testimony that the age of the
Gandhara art, the floruit of which falls in the second
century after Christ, was also the period of Mahayana texts
which treat of the Buddha legend.
" On the grounds of style derived in the first instance from Greco-Roman
art the period of the development can only be the period from the birth of
Christ to the fourth century. " Grunwendel Buddhist Art in India* p. 81.
According to Foucher Dart Greco -bouddhique du Gandhara, part 1,
p. 40 ff. the flourishing period of the Gandhara art coincides with the second
half of the second century A.D.
It is, therefore, but natural that we should have preset-
General esti- ec* m t^ie Lalitavistara both the very old
mate of Lalita- tradition, and accounts younger by
vistara. centuries, of the legend of the Buddha. An
important source of old Buddhism it is only there, where it
coincides with the Pali texts and other Sanskrit texts like the
Mahavastu. But it is erroneous to regard the Lalitavistara
in its entirety as a good old source for our knowledge of
Buddhism as does Senart in his ingenious and unsuccessful
Essai sur la legende du Buddha, (p. 31 f., 456 f.). Nor does
the Lalitavistara give us a clue " to popular Buddhism " of
older times as is claimed by Vallee Poussin. It is rather a key
to the development of the Buddha legend in its earliest
beginnings, in which only the principal events of the life of
the great founder of the religion have been adorned with
miracles, down to the final apotheosis of the Master in which
from start to finish his career appears more like that of a
god above all the other gods. But from the standpoint of
literary history the Lalitavistara is one of the most important
works in Buddhist literature. It is not indeed a Buddha epic
proper, but it embodies all the germs of one. It was from the
ballads and episodes which have been preserved in the oldest
elements of the Lalitavistara, if probably not from the
Lalitavistara itself, that the greatest poet of Buddhism,
Ashvaghosha, created his magnificent epic called Buddha-
carita or life of the Buddha.
28
CHAPTER V.
Authorities: Sylvain Levi, Le Buddhacarita d' Ashvaghosha, ]k 1892
hva hosh P' ' Vo1' XIX> P> 21 ff< Whe" Levi at P' 2°2
and his school. characterises the Buddhacarita as " a substantial
abridgment of the Lalitavistara " he is in the wrong.
At least the Lalitavistara in its present redaction could not have been the model
of Ashvaghosha- The Buddhacarita has been edited by Cowell, Oxford 1893,
and translated by him in SEE, vol. XLIX. On Ashvaghosha and his
importance to Indian literature, Sylvain Levi deals in his comprehensive study
Ashvaghosha le Sntralankara et ses sources, JA 1908, p. 10, vol. XII,
p. 77. ff. Anesaki in ERE, vol. II, 159 f. We now know from the
discoveries of Luders that Ashvaghosha wa$ also a dramatic poet, as the
author of the Shariputrapakarana SBA, 1911, p. 388 ff. A biography of
Ashavaghosha by Kumarajiva was translated into Chinese between 401
and 409 A.D. It is given as an excerpt by Wassiljew in his Buddhism
though it is a wholly legendary account.
Down to the year 1892 when the French scholar Sylvain
Levi published the first chapter of the Buddhacarita, people
in Europe knew little of Ashvaghosha beyond his name.
To-day he is known to us as one of the most eminent poets
of Sanskrit literature, as the masterly model of Kalidasa and
as the author of epic, dramatic and lyrical poems. Unfor-
tunately, however, we know very little of his life. All tradi-
tion agrees that he was a contemporary of king Kanishka
(about 100 A.D. ) and that he was one of the leaders, if
not the founder, of the Mahayana doctrine of Buddhism.
On the uncertainty of the age of Kanishka see above vol. I, p. 437 ;
Franke and Fleete independently come to the conclusion that Kaniehka came
to power in 5153 B.C. On the contrary, R. G. Bhandarkar (JBRAS XX
ff 19,385 ff ) is of opinion that Kanishka lived in the third century A.D.
Boyer in JA 190C, V. XV., p. 526 ff. makes it prob^ple that he lived at
the end of the first and the beginning of the second century A.D. In his
latest investigation on the sera of Kanishka, Oldenberg comes to the conclu-
sion that he is to be assigned to the close of the first century A . D
(NGGW 1911, p. 421-427). To the same result arrives on other ground
Pandit Haraprasada Shastri (Sundaranandam Kavyam, p. 427) He would
also identify .the poet with Ashvaghosha Raja occurring in an inscription of
the times of Kanishka ( Ep. Ind. VIII, 171 f.) which however Vogel
considers to be an unsuccessful attempt.
Quite positively Ashvaghosha came of a Brahman
family and had a sound Brahmanic educa-
tion before he went over to Buddhism*
As a Buddhist he joined, we may sur-
mise, at first the Sarvastivada school but laid great stress
on Buddha Bhakti and thus prepared for the Mahayana. As
his birthplace or home is mostly mentioned Saketa or
Ayodhya, modern Oudh. But Benares and Patna are also
mentioned in this connection. His mother's name was
Suvarnakshi. The Tibetan life of Ashvaghosha says of
him : " There was no question that he could not solve, there
was no objection which he would not remove •, he threw down
his opponents as fast as a strong wind breaks down decayed
trees."
According to the same account he was a distinguished
musician who himself composed music and with his troupe of
minstrels, male and female, roamed through market towns.
There he played and sang with his choir melancholy ditties
on the nullity of existence and the crowd stood charmed with
his entrancing melody. In this way he won many over to
his religion. According to Vasubandhu he assisted
Katyayaniputra in the preparation of his commentary on the
Abhidharma.
The Chinese pilgrim I-tsing, who journied through India
in 671-695 speaks of the learned monks who successfully
combated the heretics, furthered the religion of the Buddha
and were, consequently esteemed higher than gods and men
by the people. And he adds that in each generation there
are only a couple of such men— men like " Nagarjuna, Deva
and Ashvaghosha of antiquity. "
30
Hiuen-tsiang calls Ashvaghosha, Deva, Nagarjuna and
Kumaralabdha " the four suns which illuminate the world "
(SEE V, XLIV, p. IX.) The same I -tsing relates how
in his time in India was read in front of Buddhist shrines
inter alia a manual of sacred texts prepared by Ashvaghoshai
He also knows him as the author of hymns, of Sutralamkara
and of the Buddhacarita (I-tsing Record translated by
Takakusu, p. 152 f. 165, 181).
Of the Buddhacarita I-tsing says that it was a volu-
Ashva hosha's minous P°em wm'ch recounted the life and
great work : the work of the Buddha « from the time
the Huddha's when he was still living in the royal palace
till his last hour in the park of the sal trees;"
He adds : " It is extensively read in all the five parts of India
and in the countries of the South Sea (Sumatra, Java and
the neighbouring islands). He clothed manifold notions
and ideas in a few words which so delighted the heart of his
reader that he never wearied of perusing the poem. More-
over it was regarded as a virtue to read it inasmuch as it
contained the noble doctrine in a neat compact form " (I-tsing
p. 165 f.). From what I-tsing says it follows that he knew
the Buddhacarita in the form of its Chinese translation in
which the epic consists of 28 cantos and the narrative is
brought down to the Nirvana of the Buddha.
It is the Fo-sho-hing t-tsan translated from Sanskrit into Chinese
between 414 and 421 by Dhannaraksha and by Beal from Chinese into
English in SBE XIX. Rhys Davids (J$AS 1901, p. 405 f.) has rightly
emphasized that this Chinese work is no translation in our sense. Much
more accurate is the rendering of the 7th or 8th century into Tibetan
(Leumanu, WZKM 7, 1893, p. 193 ff.).
Now since the Tibetan translation also contains 28 cantos
we must indeed suppose that in the Sanskrit text which
comprises only 17 cantos and terminates with the conversions
si
in Benares we have only a torso 5 and in fact It is but a torso.
For out of these 17 cantos only the first 13 are old and
genuine. The concluding portion was supplied by one
Amritananda, who lived as a copyist in the beginning of the
9th century, because he himself admits he could find no
complete manuscript. Even the manuscript of the Huddha-
carita discovered by Haraprasada Shastri reaches down
only to the middle of the Uth canto (JASB V. V. 1909
p. 47 ff.).
And what the Chinese pilgrim says in eulogy of the
Buddhacarita we can completely substantiate on the basis
of the torso we possess. Here we have in reality for the first
time a proper Buddha epic created by a true poet,— a poet
who, permeated with the love and reverence for the exalted
person of the Buddha and profound reverence for the verity
of the doctrine of the Buddha, represents the life and the
teaching of the master in noble language of art which is not
artificial. The Buddhacarita is technically called a Mahakavya
or great poem,- a courtly epic in art, and it is composed in
the style appropriate to Kavya, the beginnings of which we
find in the Ramayana. Valmiki and his immediate followers
were the predecessors of Ashvaghosha just as the latter
himself was a forerunner of Kalidasa. All the three great
poets, however, agree in this that in the employment of
Alamkaras or poetic embellishment they are throughout
moderate. And moderate as to language and style is
Ashvaghosha also in the presentment of the miraculous in
the Buddha legend. He eschews the extravagance such as
We find for example in the Lalitavistara. In contrast with
the chaotic disorder of the text of the Mahavastu and
the Lalitavistara we find in the Buddhacarita a consi-
dered and artistic arrangement of the material. And although
the poet is at home with the older sacred texts he stands
independent of them, Not that he has in any way altered
32
the tradition : he" understands how to invest with a new poetic
garb the legend known of old and to lend originality of
expression to the doctrine of the primitive Buddhistic sutras.
Always is Ashvaghosha more of a poet than a monk, — at
least in his Buddhacatita. As Windisch observes, Ashva-
ghosha seems to have diligently avoided the ring of the
phraseology of the older texts — (Mara and Buddha, p. 205).
Quite differently poetical for instance from that of the
Lalitavistara is the picture of the young
Buddhacarita . .
and Kalidasa. Pnnce going out tor a walk in cantos 3
and 4 :
Here in a charming way is depicted how when the news
arrives that the prince had gone out the ladies of the city in
their curiosity hasten from their chambers to the roofs of
the houses and to the windows, hindered by their girdles
which fall off, and rush forward with the greatest haste
pressing on and pushing each other, frightening by the clank
of their waistbands and the ring of their ornaments the
birds on the roofs. The faces of the beauties, charming
as lotus, gleaming out of the windows appear, as if the walls
of the houses were really decorated with lotus flowers. As
Cowell has already noticed in the preface to his edition of the
Buddha Charita, Kalidasa has imitated this scene from
Ashvaghosha (Buddha Charita, iii 13/24) in his Raghuvamsha
(vii, 5/1?). The meeting with the old man whom the gods
cause to appear before the prince is charmingly described.
In his astonishment the prince asks :
" Who is the man coming this side, oh charioteer ?
With white hair, eyes sunk deep in their sockets,
Bending over his staff, his limbs quavering ?
Is that Nature's course or a sport of Chance ?"
33
To this the charioteer replies :
" Old age it is that has broken him,— age,
The thief of beauty and the destroyer of strength,
The source of sorrow and the end .of joy,
The foe of intelligence and the disappearance of memory.
He too sucked at his mother's breast,
As a child learnt to walk in course of time.
Slowly he grew big and strong, — a youth,
By degrees has old age crept on him."
After the prince had learnt, on his three walks out of
his palace, of old age, disease and death, no more could he find
any joy in life. It is in vain that the family priest by order
of the king calls upon the women and maidens of the palace
to bend their energies on their seductive art to soothe
the prince and turn him from his distressing thoughts.
The prince remains untouched by the soft distractions. He
only thinks of the unthinking ways of these women and cries
out (iv 60 f.) :
" How senseless the man appears to me whose neighbour
ill and old and dead he
Sees and yet holds fast to the good things of this life and
is not thrilled with anxiety.
It is as if a tree divested of all flower and fruit must
fall or be pulled down. —
Unaffected remaining the neighbouring trees."
The presentment of the love scenes belongs to the
Statecraft indispensable element in the poetic art
erotic art and as an appanage to the court. And the poet
warfare. satisfies this demand in depicting the,
sports of the lovely maidens who endeavour to draw the
34
prince towards themselves (iv, 24/58) just as well as
in the vivid portrayal of the night scene in the ladies'
chamber which causes the prince to fly from the palace.
These themes give Ashvaghosha the opportunity for the
display of his erotic art. It may be noted that the
description (v, 48/62) in its primitive shape is recounted by
the young Yasa in the Pali Vinayapitaka. We have already
had occasion to remark that a similar scene in the
Ramayana (v, 9/11) has been copied from this Buddhist poet
Ashvaghosha. The court poet, however, must also be
familiar with the doctrine of the mtishasttas or statecraft.
And the world-wise principles are unfolded to the prince by
the priest attached to the royal household in order to divert
his mind from his meditations (iv, 62/82). Finally, belonging
to the same species of court poetry is the delineation of
the battle scene. Here our poet rises to the occasion in that
in the thirteenth canto he conjures up a vivid scene of the
struggle of the Buddha with Mara and his hordes.
Ashvaghosha was the author of another poem to be
classed in the category of court poetry
Love an p/0 Saundarnnandakavvct. The lucky
religion.
discoverer and editor of this poem is
Pandit Haraprasada Shastri (A. Bastion, JA 1902, vol.
xix, p. 79 ff and F. W. Thomas JRAS 1911, p. 1125).
It also turns round the history of the Buddha's life, but limns
especially those scenes and episodes which have been either
lightly touched upon or not treated at all in the Buddha-
charita. Thus in the first canto is exhaustively described
the history of the finding of the city of Kapalivastu. The
actual content of this poem, however, is constituted by the
history of the loves of Sundari and Nanda, the half-brother of
the Buddha who is initiated into the Order against his will by
the latter :
35
" Just as Sundari, the lovely bride of Nanda, weeps and
wails over her lost husband so does Nanda suffers for his
beloved Vain are the attempts of the brother monks to
tranquillize him. Even the word of the Buddha is impotent
to reconcile him. Then the Master takes him by the hand
and rises with him to heaven. On their way they see in the
Himalayas a hideous one-eyed female monkey and the Buddha
asks Nanda if Sundari was more charming than she and
Nanda naturally says " Yes " with energy. Soon after>
however, they see in the heaven the upsaras or celestial
nymphs and Nanda finds that the difference between them
and his wife is as great as that between the latter and the
one-eyed ape. From this moment onwards he is possessed
with a passionate longing for the fairies and returning on earth
gives himself up to serious ascetic practices in order to be
able to attain to the paradise. Thereupon Ananda, the favour-
ite disciple of the Buddha, teaches him that even the joys of
paradise are vain and nugatory. Nanda is finally convinced
and goes to the Buddha to say that he had no longer a desire
for the beauties of heaven. The Buddha is greatly pleased
and preaches to him in several cantos the cardinals of his
doctrine. Nanda now retires into the forest, practices the four
great meditations and becomes an arhat. Gratefully he
betakes himself to the Buddha and does him reverence but
the Master calls upon him now that he has attained his object,
out of compassion for others to preach the doctrine of
salvation and conduct others to emancipation.
The reference to the forcible conversion of Nanda occurs also in
our older sources : Mahavagga, i. 54; Nidanakatha p. 91 ; Rhys Davids
Buddhist Birth Stories, p. 128. As is pointed out by Haraprasada Sastr
(p. xiii) a strongly divergent version of this legend is to be found in the
Pali commentary on the Dhammapada. See also Spence Hardy, Manual
of Buddhism; Kern, fit'story of Buddhism, i, 155; Fouoher, Greco-
Buddhist Art (i, 464).
se
Whilst in the Buddha Charita there is no express doc-
trine emanating fronj the Mahayana school,
the concluding portion of the Saundara-
nanda-kavya already begins to betray
a leaning towards the Mahayana. It is not sufficient for it
that Nanda himself should become a saint who attains to
Nirvana. He must also be an apostle of the faith, although
it must not be forgotten that even in the Hinayana the obliga-
tion of the propagation of the faith and proselytism is
highly praised, as in a Sutra in the Anguttaranikaya.
Besides in the third great work of Ashvaghosha, entitled the
Sutralankura, which we up to now knew only from a French
translation of the Chinese version belonging to about 405
B.C., many of the semi-legendary stories are based on a
Hinayanic foundation. From this Sutralankara translated into
French from the Chinese version of Kumarajiva, Huber
was able to trace three stories to the Divyavadana (BEFEO,
1904, pp. 709-726) but fragments of the Sanskrit original
have more recently been discovered at Turfan and
studied by Luders in an old palm leaf manuscript, (see
Fragments of Bhuddhist Drama, Berlin, 1911, and Vallee
poussin Le Museon, .1909, p. 86.)
Sutralamkara or " Sutra-Ornament " is a collection of
pious legends after the model of the
Sutralamkara. Jatakas and Avadanas which are narrated
in prose and verse in the style of
Indian poetic art. Many of these legends are known to us
of old, e. g., that of Dirghavus or prince Long-life and of
king Shibi. Others already show more of the spirit of the
Mahayana or at least a reverence for the Buddha which is
more Mahayanistic in its tendency. An illustration is
furnished by story No. 57, which happens also to be one
of the most charming in the collection.
37
A man comes to the monastery and desires to be initiat-
ed into the Order. The disciple Shariputra examines him
and finds that the candidate in none of his previous existences
for seons had done the smallest good deed and pronounces
him unworthy of admittance. The man leaves the monas-
tery in tears. Then the Buddha himself meets him and the
Buddha's heart being full of compassion he strives to
convert all mankind with the love that a mother bears to her
son. He lays his hand on the head of the rejected one and
asks " Why dost thou cry " ? And the latter relates to him
how Shariputra had dismissed him. Thereupon the Buddha
consoles him " in a voice that resounded like distant thunder "
and adds that Shariputra was not omniscient. The Buddha
himself then brings the man back to the monastery and
relates before all the monks the karma, which was a good
act whereby the man had acquired right to emancipation.
Once upon a time in his previous birth this person was a
poor man who was wandering in a hill forest to collect wood,
when a tiger rushed at him. Filled with terror he cried out
" adoration to the Buddha." On account of these words the
man must partake of deliverance from sorrow. The Buddha
himself initiated him and presently he became an Arhat.
An example of a real Mahayanistic Buddha-bhakti is
also furnished by No. 68, where Gautami, the foster mother
of the Buddha, attains to Nirvana through the grace of the
Buddha.
That theSutralankara is of later origin than the Buddha
charita is proved by the fact that the latter is quoted in the
former. (Huber, page 192, 222). Since in two of the stories
of the Sutralankara a part is played by king Kanishka, Ashva-
ghosha must have lived at the time v of the composition of
the book as an old man at the court of the . king. But it is
much to be deplored that up to now we have only Chinese
38
translations of the Sutralankara. The Sanskrit text so far
has never been discovered. Not only is it in itself a
literary work of importance the merits of which impress
themselves upon us through two translations, first Chinese
and then French, as has been appropriately observed by
Levi, but it is not of trifling significance for the history of
Indian literature and culture inasmuch as it mentions the
epics of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, it combats the
philosophical doctrine of the Sankhya and Vaisheshika
schools just as forcibly as it opposes the religious views of
the Brahmans and the Jains and refers in a variety of ways to
the scripts, to the arts and to painting. Still more is uncertainty
a matter for regret with reference to a few other books which
are attributed to Ashvaghosha. It is a question whether
they really belong to him. This applies especially to the
Vajrasuchi or Diamond Needle, which is in any case an
interesting little book in which there is a vehement polemic
against the caste system of the Brahmans.
The Vajrasuchi or Refutation of the Arguments upon which the Brahma-
Vajrasuchi : nical institution of the caste is founded by the learned
polemic against Buddhist Ashvaghosh (edited by Lancelot Wilkinson)
cas*e< also the Tunku by Soobajee Bapoo, being a reply to
the Wujra Soochi, 1839. A. Weber, Uber die Vajrassuci (Abdhandlungen
der Preu ss. Akademie der Wissenschaften phil.-hbt. Kl. 1859, S. 295 ff. Und
Indische Streifen 1, 116 ff.) B. H. Hodgson Essays on the Languages, Litera-
ture and Religion of Nepal and Tibet, London 1874, p. 126 ff. and S. Levi
J. A. 1908, s. 10, t. XII p. 70 f.
Here the author very effectively takes up the Brahmanic
standpoint and demonstrates on the authority of Brahmanic
texts and citations from the Veda, the Mahabharata and
Manu the invalidity of the claims of castes as recognised by
Brahmanas. When in 1829 Hodgson published a translation
of the book and Wilkinson in 1839 published an edition they
astonished scholars by the democratic spirit of Europe
39
displayed in the book. In this tract the doctrine of equality
of mankind has been advocated 5 for all human beings are, " in
respect of joy and sorrow, love, insight, manners and
ways, death, fear and life, all equal." Did we but know
more about the author and the time when the book was com-
posed it would be of much greater importance for the literary
history of India on account of the quotations from Brahmanic
texts. It speaks for the authorship of Ashvaghosba that in
Sutralamkara No. 77 the Brahmanic institutions are arraigned
with the help of quotations from Manu's law book just
as in the Vajrasuchi. On the other hand the Vajrasuchi is
enumerated neither in the Tibetan Tanjur nor among the works
of Ashvaghosha by I-tsing 5 and further in the Chinese
Tripitaka Catalogue the Vajrasuchi, which is said to contain
" a refutation of the four vedas," is described as translated into
Chinese between 973 and 981 and is ascribed to a Dharmakirti,
(Bunyo Nanjio, Catalogue of the Chinese translation of the
Buddhist Tripitaka, No. 1303). The Chinese term «fa-shang'>
is the translation of the Sanskrit proper name Dharmakirti.
It is altogether undecided whether other books the
Other works authorship of which is assigned to Ashva*
of Ashva- ghosha by Chinese, Japanese and Tibetan
ghosha. writers were actually composed by him*
The fame of Ashavaghosha as a teacher of the Mahayana is
founded on his Mahayana Shraddhotpada or the Rise
of the Mahayana Faith, a philosophical treatise studied in
the monasteries of Japan as the basis of the Mahayana
doctrine. "The poet of the Buddhacarita? says Levi,
" shows him here as a profound metaphysician, as an intrepid
reviver of a doctrine which was destined to regenerate
Buddhism." However, it is anything but certain or rather
highly improbable that it is in reality the product of Ashva-
ghosha since it embodies teaching which is assignable to a
later date. So long, however, as the Sanskrit text of the book
40
is denied us a final judgment regarding the age of the author
is impossible.
The Shraddhotpada was translated first in 534 and then
in 710 A.D. into Chinese. From the second Chinese transla-
tion T. Suzuki prepared an English version, " Discourse of the
awakening of Faith in the Mahayana." Suzuki holds Ashva-
ghosha the poet to be the author and asserts on the basis of
the book itself, the Mar ayana Shraddhotpada, that he was the
actual founder of the Mahayana sect. The doctrine which the
book incorporates is, however, that of the Vijnanavada as
taught by Asanga and the teaching of the Tathagatagarbha
and the Tathata which occurs in the Lankavatara. Professor
Takakusu, who holds the authorship of the poet Ashvaghosha
as altogether out of the question, says that the older catalogue
of the Chinese texts does not contain the name of Ashva-
ghosha as the author. In the Tibetan Tanjur Ashvaghosha
is also described as the composer of the Sha'apancasha'ika-
namastotrai the panegyric in 150 verses, which according to
I-tsing, is the work of the poet Matriceta. In fact I-tsing
cannot say too much regarding the renown of this
Matriceta, who at all events belongs to the same school as
Ashvaghosha and is accordingly confused with him.
To follow the Tibetan historian Taranatha, Matriceta is
only another name of Ashvaghosha, (F.W.,
Matriceta. Thomas OC XIII, 1902, p. 40). One
dare not decide whether our Matriceta
is identical with the Matriceta, the author of the
Maharajakanikahkha, (Thomas Ind. Ant., 1903, p. 345
ff. and SC Vidyabhushana JASB, 1910, p. 477 ff.) « It is
entrancing," says I-tsing, " in the congregation of the monks
to hear recited the hymn in 150 verses or the hymn in 400
Verses. These fascinating poems are like heavenly flowers-
41
in their beauty and the exalted principles which they contain
emulate in dignity the height of mountain summits. There-
fore all the composers of hymns in India imitate his style
regarding him as the father of literature. Even men like the
Bodhisattva Asanga and Vasubandhu greatly admire him.
Throughout India every monk, as soon as he is able to recite
the five or ten commandments, learns the psalms of Matriceta.'»
The legend would have it that in a previous birth he was a
nightingale which eulogised the Buddha in charming melody.
1-tsing himself traslated from Sanskrit into Chinese the hymn
of 150 verses (Record, p. 156,666). Now, however, most
fortunately we have discovered in Central Asia fragments of
the Sanskrit originals of the hymns of Matriceta and from the
mutilated manuscripts discovered at Turfan, to which we
already owe so much, Siegling has succeeded in reconstruct-
ing almost two-thirds of the text. The verses are in the
artistic, but not the extravagant Kavya. style. Besides Dr.
Siegling who has been preparing an edition for the press
similar fragments discovered in Central Asia have been
published by Levi (JA 1910, page 455, and Vallee Poussin
1911, page 764) F. W. Thomas translated one of
Matriceta's poems, the Varnanartha-oarnana, from the Tibetan
rendering into English (Ind. Ant. vol. 34, p. 145).
Better known is the poet Shura or Aryashura, probably
issuing from the same school, although
°fa considerably younger date whose
Jatakamala strongly resembles the
Sutralamkara in style. The Jatakamala or the Garland
of Jatakas is, however, only the name of a species of
composition. Several poets have written jatakamalas
that is, they have treated with a free hand in an
original poetic speech in mixed verse and prose selections of
the Jatakas. It was also not Aryashura's business to
discover new stories but to reproduce ancient legerids in
42
artistic and elegant idiom. His diction in prose as well as
verse is of the kavya class, but noble and elevated, more
artistic than artificial. So far as the jatakas are designed to
be employed by the monks in their sermons, the jatakamala
also serves this purpose for the preacher. Only the poet
who was probably himself a preacher at the court, has none
but monks before his eyes, who held their religious discourses
in courtly circles where Sanskrit poesy was understood and
appreciated. The book contains 34 jatakas which, like the
35 jatakas of the Pali C^riyaf etaka, illustrate the Paramitas
or the excellences of the Bodhisattva. Nearly all the stories
appear also in the Pali Book of Jataka and twelve are to be
found likewise in the Cariyapatika. Many of the Sanskrit
verses harmonise with the Pali jatakas. (See Speyer's
translation, p. 337.) To the few stories which are wanting
in the Pali collection belongs the first in which is related how
the Bodhisattva sees a hungry tigress about to devour its
young and sacrifices himself to be her nourishment. It is a
highly characteristic story and may be reproduced here as
an example of the anecdotal literature designed to convey
the Mahayana Uoctrine of universal compassion.
This most characteristic story runs as follows;—
« Already in his earlier births the Master
Master's self- displayed a selfless love for all creatures
less love.
and allowed himself to be absorbed
into other beings. Therefore must men cherish for the
Buddha, the Lord, supreme attachment. For the following
miracle on the part of the Lord in one of his previous births
is recounted— a deed which was celebrated by my venerable
teacher, one of the adorers of Three Jewels, who gave satis-
faction to his preceptor by his insight and truth and became
himself an eminent master in the search for virtue. In those
days the Bodhisattva, who is now the Lord, in keeping
48
with his extraordinary promises by virtue of his charity,
love, succour to the poor conferred grace on the world
out of compassion issuing from the immaculate stream of
insight and love, was born in a Brahman family devoted to
their duties and pre-eminent for character, learned and
powerful. " As he grew up he presently acquired mastery
over all the arts and sciences. He obtained much
wealth and honour. However he found no pleasure in
worldly life and soon withdrew into retirement. As a pious
ascetic he lived in the forest. One day he was wandering
accompanied by a single disciple in the mountains. He saw
in a cave a young tigress exhausted with hunger and about
to devour her own young, trustfully approaching her to feed
on her milk.
" As the Bodhisattva saw her
Trembled he, brave as he was,
Filled with compassion for the sorrow of the nearest,
Like the prince of mountains in an earthquake.
How strange ! The compassionate remain intrepid even
under great personal grief.
But when a stranger is smitten, however small, they
quail."
He sent out his disciple to fetch meat. But this was
only a pretext in order to be left alone. He was already
determined to hurl himself down the precipice in order
to save the life of the creature and to serve as food to the
mother tiger. He based his resolve on this that this futile
earthly life has no value except as an offering for others.
Moreover, he would give a heartening example unto those
who would benefit the world, put to shame the self-seekers,
point the path of heaven to the benevolent and himself attain
44
to supreme illumination. Nothing else he desired : — " Not
out of covetousness, nor in search of renown, nor joys ot
Heaven or kingly rule to acquire •, not for the sake of my
eternal weal •, but only to do good to my neighbour,
do I act thus. As surely as this is truth, so may it be granted
unto me to remove the tribulation of the world and to bring
salvation to it, even as the sun brings it light when darkness
swallows it up."
With these words he hurls himself down the cliff. The
tigress has her attention called by the noise, leaves her
young and throws herself upon the body of the Bodhisattva
to devour it. When the disciple comes back and beholds
the spectacle, he is profoundly moved and utters a few verses
of veneration for the exalted Master. Men, demi-gods,
and gods express their admiration for the Lord by strewing
garlands of flowers and precious stones over what is left of
his bones.
The inexhaustible sympathy of the Bodhisattva has also
been glorified in most other stories. I-tsing extols the
Jatakamala or Jatakamalas among the works which in his
time were great favourites and were much read in India.
Among the frescoes in the caves of Ajanta there are scenes from
the Jatakamala with inscribed stophes from Aryashura. The
inscriptions belong palaographically to the sixth century
A. D. and since another work of Aryashura had already been
translated into Chinese in 484, the poet must have lived in
the fourth century.
I-tsing, Tr. Takakuku, p. 366 f. ; H. Luders, NGGW 1902, p. 758 ff.
B. Nanjio, Catalogue of the Chinese Tripitaka, No. 1349 ; The Zacharlse,
GGA, 188H, p. 850, F. W. Thomas in Album Kern, p. 405, ff. The
; Chinese translation of the Jatakamal mentions Aryashura as the author, It
..has pniy.H.itories, see Ivanpvski in K MR, ^903, V. 47, p. 298 ff,
45
CHAPTER VI.
The Jatakamala is also called Bodhisattva Avadana-
mala, for Bodhisattva Avadana is synony-
mous with Jataka< The Jatakas are
consequently nothing but Avadanas having
the Bodhisattva for their hero. Consequently works
like the Sutralankara and the Jatakamala have much in
common with the texts of the Avadana literature. On the
other hand numerous Jatakas are to be found in the collections
of Avadanas.
On the Avadana literature in general see Eurnouf, Introduction to the
History of Buddhism, p. 207 ; Feer in the introduction to his translation, and
Speyer. Foreword to his edition of the Avadanashataka.
Like both the books of Buddhist story literature, the
Avadana texts also stand, so to say, with
fo^therBud°dha. one foot in the Hinaya"a ^ the other
in the Mahayana literature. And I-tsing
(Takakusu, p. xxii f. and 14 f.) lets us know that
the line of demarcation between the Hinayana and the
Mahayana was often anything but rigid. The older
works belong entirely to the Hinayana and yet
they display the same veneration for the Buddha which is not
wanting likewise in the Pali Jatakas and apadanas \ but they
eschew the hyperbole and the mythology of the Mahayana,
while the latest avadana books are permeated with the
Mahayana.
The word ' avadana ' signifies a great religious or moral
achievement, as well as the history of a
great achievement- Such a great act
may consist in sacrifice of one's own life,
but also may be confined to the founding of an institution
for the supply of incense, flowers, gold and jewels to, or the
building of, sanctuaries,— stupas, chaityas, and so forth.
Since these stories as a rule are designed to inculcate that
46
dark deeds bear dark fruits, white acts beget fair fruit, they
are at the same time tales of karma which demonstrate how
the actions of one life are intimately connected with those in
the past or future existences. They are to be regarded as
legends only from our modern standpoint. To the Buddhist
they are actualities. They have indeed been related by the
Buddha himself and are warranted to be the word of the
Buddha, — Buddhavacana — like a Sutra. Like the jatakas
the avadanas also are a species of sermons. It is accordingly
usually related by way of an introduction where and on what
occasion the Buddha narrated the story of the past and at the
close the Buddha draws from the story the moral of his
doctrine. Hence a regular avadana consists of a story of the
present, a story of the past and a moral. If the hero of the
story of the past is a Bodhisattva the avadnna can also be
designated a jataka. A particular species of avadanas are
those in which the Buddha instead of a story of the past
relates a prognostication of the future. These prophetic
anecdotes serve like the stories of the past to explain the
present karrna. There are besides avadanas in which
both the parties of the stories are united and finally there
is a class in which a karma shows good cr evil consequence
in the present existence. All these species of avadanas
occur sporadically also in the Vinaya and the Sutra bitakas
They, however, are grouped in large collections with the
object of edification or for more ambitious literary motives.
A work of .the first variety is the Avadanashataka which is
most probably the most ancient of its kind. It is a collection
of a hundred avadana legends.' Since it was already rendered
into Chinese in the first half of the 3rd century and since it
makes mention of the dinar a we may with tolerable certainty
assign it to the second Christian century. That it belongs
to the Hinayana is indicated already by the character of
the anecdotes •, but this is likewise corroborated by the
47
circumstances that in the stories relating to the present
there are fragments embodied from the Sanskrit canon of the
Sarvastivadis relating to the Parinivana and other sutras.
In these legends the worship of the Buddha plays a great
part. There is no trace in them, however, of the Bodhisattva
cult or of any Mahayanistic mythology.
The Avadanashataka consists of ten decades, each
treating of a different theme. The first
thataka! ^our contain stories designed to show
the nature of acts, the performance of
which enables a man to 'become a Buddha or a Pratyeka
buddha. The division into vargas (Pali vagga) of ten
components each is a favourite with Pali texts and accordingly
would appear to date from the older Buddhist period. All the
tales of the first and nearly all of the third decade are
of a prophetic nature.
Here an act of piety is related by which a person,— a
Brahman, a princess, the son of an usurer, a wealthy merchant,
a gardener, a king, a ferry man, a young maiden and so forth, —
makes adoration to the Buddha which usually leads to the
occurrence of some kind of miracle, and then the Buddha with
a smile reveals that the particular person in a future age will
become a Buddha or (in the Third book) a Pratyekabuddha.
On the other hand the histories in the Second, and in the
Fourth decades are Jatakas. With regard to the saintly
virtues and astounding acts, it is explained that the hero of
these tales was no other than the Buddha himself in one of
his earlier births. A kind of Pretavastu, corresponding to
the Pali Petavatihu, is represented by the Fifth book. A
saint,— usually it is Maudgalyayana, — proceeds to the world
of spirits and observes the sorrows of one of its denizens,
(pretas) male or female. He questions the spirit regarding '
the cause of his tribulation. The spirit refers him to the
Buddha, and the latter then narrates the history of the « black
deed ", — the refusal to give alms, offence to a saint, etc. — which
this creature perpetrated in his previous birth. The Sixth
book relates histories of men and beasts that through some
pious act are born as deities in heaven. The last four
decades narrate stories purporting to show the nature of acts
which lead to Arhat-ship. The Arhats of the Seventh book
are all derived from the Shakya clan \ those of the Eighth book
are all women •, those of the Ninth are persons of irreproachable
conduct 5 and those of the Tenth are men who in former days
committed evil deeds and suffered in consequence and sub-
sequently owing to an act of virtue'attained to the state of an
Arhat.
Now these stories in our collection have not only been
arranged after a definite plan and system,
Thf fixed
model kut are related according to a set
model. This process of working according
to a pattern is carried to the extent of perpetual reiteration
of phrases and descriptions of situations in unaltered
strings of words. Thus following the rigid pattern every
one of our tales begins with the protracted formula :
"The Buddha, the Lord, venerated, highly respected,
held in honour, and lauded by kings, ministers, men of wealth,
citizens, artisans, leaders of caravans, gods, Nagas, Yakshas,
Asuras, Garudas, Kinnaras and gigantic snakes, adored by
Devas, Nagas, Yakshas, Asuras, Garudas, Kinnaras and
gigantic snakes, the Buddha, the Lord, the Renowned, the
Served, betook himself, accompanied by his disciples and
provided with all the necessaries in clothing, food, bedding,
covering, refreshments and medicaments in the shape of alms
to and was sojourning at "
Similarly every one of these tales ends with •.
" Thus spake the Lord and with ecstacy in their hearts
the monks applauded the speech of the Master,"
49
Finally when the' moral of the story is pointed out the
process is invariably described in these words :
" Therefore, Oh monks, is the fruit of wholly dark deeds
wholly dark ; that of wholly white deeds is wholly white }
that of mixed deeds is mixed. Wherefore, Oh monks, you
shall abandon the dark and the mixed deeds and take your
pleasure only in fair acts,"
A pious man, an opulent personage, a mighty sovereign,
a happy wedding, the up-bringing of a
evidences. young man, the appearance of an earlier
Buddha and similar recurring pheno-
mena are ever described in stereotyped terms. Nor is this
applicable only to a few brief sentences. It holds good of
extensive pieces covering several pages of print. One of the
longest of these fixture pieces describes the smile of the
Buddha with which the latter lays down that every one can
attain to the state of a Buddha. The Buddha always is
moved to a smile before he prophesies the future. When
he smiles from his mouth issue rays of blue, yellow, red and
white. One of these beams of light go down to the
depths of inferno, the others are darted heavenwards. After
encircling thousands and thousands of worlds they return
back to the Buddha and disappear into some one or the
other of the parts of the Buddha's body according to the
nature of the vaticination •, and all this is delineated to the
minutest particular. This circumstantiality and the minu-
tiae are characteristic of the narrative mode of the Avadana-
shataka. However, together with much that is banal and
wearisome we always get edifying stories and many valuable
anecdotes and noteworthy variants to other stories accessible
to us from other portions of Buddhist narrative literature.
We can cite only a few examples in order to give an idea
of the character of this remarkable collection of Buddhist
folklore.
So
Here are some characteristic stories in which the tru£
social life of India is mirrored.
A poor girl smears the feet of the Buddha with sandal
paste. This fills the whole city with the
Maiden dis- e f
ciple: Story 28. fragrance °f sandal. At this miracle the
maiden is exceedingly delighted, falls at
the feet of the Buddha and prays that in her future birth
she may be born a Pratyeka-Buddha. The Buddha smiles
and prophesies that she shall be a Pratyeka-Buddha named
Gandhamadana, (Fragrance-Delight).
This story is a version of the tale of King Shibi who has
Extreme Com. fiven awa>' a11 his ^oods and Possessions
passion : Story in charity. He, however, is not
34- content with merely making men happy ;
he would show kindness to the smallest creature. He cuts
off his skin with a knife and exposes himself in such a
manner that flies feast on his blood. This is seen by
Shakra (Indra) in his heaven and he comes forward to put
king Shibi to a further test, appearing before him in the
form of a vulture ready to pounce upon him. The king looks
at the bird only with benevolence and says, "Take, my
friend, what you like of my body I present it to you." There-
upon the god metamorphoses himself into a Brahman and
asks of the king both his eyes. Shibi says " Take, Great
Brahman, what thou wouldst •, I will not hinder thee." Next
Shakra reassumes his true form and promises to Shibi that
he shall attain to perfect enlightenment.
This is the legend of Maitrakanyaka representing the
Sanskrit version of the Pali Jataka of
"Mittavindaka." But the story here
takes quite a different turn from the Pali
inasmuch as the hero is the Bodhisattva, He gets here also
his penalty for offending his mother and undergoes the hot
51
wheel torture. But while he is subjected to the fearful
torment he is informed that he will have to suffer it for
sixty-six thousand years till another man guilty of a similar
sin appears. He feels compassion for the creature and
resolves to bear the wheel on his head for all eternity so
that no other being may have to endure the agony. In
consequence of this thought of compassion the wheel
disappears from on his head.
At the suggestion of his princess, king Bimbisara
set up a Stupa in his seraglio over
some hair and nails presented to him
by the Buddha. The Stupa was
worshipped by the women with incense, lamps, flowers, etc
But when prince Ajatashatru assassinated his father
Bimbisara and himself ascended the throne, he gave strict
orders that no lady of his harem should, on pain of death,
venerate the shrine. Shrimati, however, who was one of the
ladies in the harem, did not obey the command and laid a
garland of lights round the Stupa. The infuriated king put
her to death. She died with the thought of the Buddha in her
mind and was immediately translated to heaven as a divinity.
While the heroes of all the Avadanas are the Buddha's
Guerdon of contemporaries, the hero of this last
service to Bud- story is a person who lived in the times of
dha : Story 100, kjng ^Yioka. The connection with the
time of the Buddha is established by the insertion of an
account of the decease of the Buddha. This narrative piece ia
extracted from a Pariniroanasutra and is in tolerable accord
with the celebrated Pali Mahapannibbanasutta. (Another
passage from the Parinirvanasutra serves as an introduction
to Story No. 40).
A hundred years after the passing of the Buddha
lived king Ashoka. He had a son named Kunala who
52
was so charming that the king thought he had no equal
in the world. One day, however, he learnt from merchants
from Gandhara that there were still more handsome young
men than the prince in their country. According to the
merchants there was living a youth called Sundara who was
not only of irreproachable beauty, but wherever he turned
there sprang up a lotus pond and a garden. The astonished
king Ashoka sent a messenger and invited Sundara and
satisfied himself about this wonder. The king asked to what
karma the youth owed his excellence and the Elder Upagupta
gave the explanation. At the time that the Buddha had just
attained to complete Nirvana the present Sundara was an
impoverished peasant who prepared a refreshing bath and
revived with food Mahakashyapa and his suite of 500 monks
who had performed the obsequies of the master, who were
depressed with sorrow at the passing of the Lord and who
had been exhausted with the long journey. Sundara was now
enjoying the fruit of this his good deed.
A number of the stories in our Avadanashataka turn up
Avadanasha- *n other Avadana anthologies and a few
taka and also in the Pali Apadanas. Thus the
cognate tales. legend of Rashtrapala which is No< 90
in our collection corresponds partly to the Ratthapalasutta of
the Pali AJajhimanikaya and partly the Ratthapala Apadana.
But the correspondence stops short of the titles in the
Sanskrit and the Pali and the Pali Apadana displays great
divergence (Peer, Avadanashataka, pp. 240 f., 313 f., 335,
340 ff., 354 f., 360 f., 372 f., 439 f.).
An old work which bears a great resemblance to the
Tibetan and Avadanashataka and has a number of
Chinese analo- stories in common with it is the Karma
gues- shaiaka or Hundred Karma Stories. This
work, however, is unfortunately preserved to us onJy in a
Tibetan translation. (Peer pp. XXIX f., 442 ff .; V. V, 382 ff.,
404 ff. and JA 1901 V. XVII, pp. 50 ff., 257 ff.,4lOff;
Speyer p. XIX f.). Translated from Sanskrit but no longer
preserved in the original language is also the Tibetan collec-
tion of Avadanas now celebrated in the literature of the world
as the story book of Dsanglun under the title of The Wise
Man and the Fool. It has been translated into German by
J. Schmidt. Takakusu points to a Chinese version of this
work (JRAS 1901, p. 447 ff.)
A collection younger than the Avadanashataka but one
which has incorporated in it exceedingly
Divyavadana.
old texts is the Divyavadana or the Divine
Avadana. The original Sanskrit has been edited by Cowel
and Neil of Cambridge. Large extracts from it had already
been translated by Burnouf (Introduction to the History of
Indian Buddhism). The title of the work is not certain; it is
only found in the chapter headings of some manuscripts.
Rejendralal Mitra described a' manuscript entitled Divyavnda-
namala which greatly deviates from our printed edition
(Nepalese Buddhist' Literature, pp. 304-316). Also a Paris
manuscript which is described in the Cambridge edition
(p. 663 ff.) harmonizes only partially with our Divyavadana.
This collection of stories, of great importance for the
history of Indian sociology, begins with
Characteristics' the Mahayanistic benediction, "Oh,
reverence to all the exalted Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas " and contains a few obviously later accretions
in the Mahayanistic sense. As a whole, however, the book
decidedly belongs to the Hinayana school. As the example
of the Mahayanistic interpolation we may mention
chapter XXXIV which is noted in the collection itself as a
Mahayanasutra (p. 483). In chapter XXX there occurs
the shadakshara vidya or the well-known Tibetan formula
54
of om mani padme hum (Poussin, Boudhiame p. 881).
The Sanskrit canon of Buddhism is repeatedly men-
tioned and individual canonic texts are quoted such as
Dirghagama^ Udana, Sthaviragatha (Oldenberg, ZDMG 52,
1891, pp. 658, 655 f., 658, 665). It mentions the four Agamas
(p. 383). Many of the stories commence and terminate
exactly as in the Avadanashataka. And finally a number of
stereotyped phrases and descriptions, so characteristic, appear
again in self-same words in the Divyavadana. In all proba-
bility they are derived from the common source,— the Vinaya~
piiaka of the Sarvastivadis. As a matter of fact, more than
half of the anecdotes have been borrowed from the latter but
several have been loans from the Sutralankara of Ashva-
ghosha which we discussed above (Huber BEFEO IV, 1904,
709 ff. 5 VI, 1906, 1 ff 5— Sylvain Levi Toung Pao, V. VII,
1907, 105 ff., and Speyer Avadanashataka II, preface p. XVI f.).
The Divyavadana is composed of very varied materials.
It has no principle of division, nor is it
untf°rm with regard to language and
style. Most of the legends are written in
good simple Sanskrit prose which is only here and there
interrupted by Gathas. But in some passages we find also
elaborate poetry of genuine Kavya style with long compounds.
The editor of this collection of legends appears, therefore, to
have simply pieced together a variety of stories from other texts.
From this also follows that the several component elements of
the work are assignable to different periods of time. If our col-
lection, as has been alleged, was already translated into Chinese
in the third Christian century it could not have been publi-
shed in the original long before that date. At the same time
we have to bear in mind that because some of the Avadanas
in the Divyavadana were translated into Chinese in the third
century (Cowel Neil, p. 655), therefore it does not necessarily
follow that the work as a whole was rendered into Chinese
55
(Kern Manual, p. 10 Earth, RHR 889, V. 1$, p. 260). Not
only there is the mention of the successors of Ashoka, the
kings of the Shunga dynasty down to the Puahyamitra
(178 B.C.) but there is the repeated occurrence of the dinar a,
which brings us down to the second century. And sorne
period after Ashvaghosha must have elapsed before a
compiler could take extracts from his Sutralankara for his
own anthology. The Divyavadana, therefore, was redacted
rather in the third than in the second century. Nevertheless
it is remarkable that just one of the most interesting legends
in the Divyavadana, the story of Shardulakarna, was
translated into Chinese in 265 A.D. The contents of this
Avadana noteworthy in many respects, are as follows : —
The Master was sojourning in Shravasti and Ananda was
Shardulakarna: wont daily to repair to the town on his
love of the un- begging round. Once upon a time, as
touchable. he was returning from the town, he became
thirsty and saw a Chandala maiden, named Prakriti, fetching
water from a well. " Sister," said he to her, " Give me some
water to drink." Prakriti replied, "I am a Chandala girl,
Revered Ananda. " " Sister, " said Ananda, " I do not ask
you about your family and your caste, but if you have any
water left, give it to me and I will drink." (Note that so
far the similarity with Jesus and the Samaritan woman is
surprising, John 4, 7 ff., but the whole course of the narra-
tive further down in the Gospel is so different that we can
scarcely think of any connection between the Buddhist and
Christian Scriptures.) The maiden hands him the water to
drink and falls deep in love with the Saint. She tells her
mother that she will die or have Ananda for her husband.
The mother, who was a powerful witch, prepared a potent
philtre and attempted her sorcery on Ananda with mantras.
The process is described in a way similar to the incantation
in the Kayshikasutra of the Atfwvaveda. The charm is
56
successful. Ananda comes into the house of the Chandala
where the joyful Prakriti ha.s prepared a bed. But in the
moment of supreme danger, Ananda breaks out into tears and
supplicates the Buddha in his distress. The latter hastens
to his succour with his own counter mantras. Ananda
leaves the Chandala home and returns to his monastery.
The great witch declares to her unfortunate daug^her that the
necromancy of Gautama is superior to her own. But Prakriti,
the Chandala maiden, was yet not cured of her love. She
went into, the town and followed Ananda day after day as he
went forth on his mendicant's circuit. Once more Ananda in
his sorrow turned to the Master for help. The latter summoned
Prakriti to himself and ostensibly consented to her desire
that Ananda should be her husband. Soon, however, he
brings her to a frame of mind in which she takes the vow of
spinsterly chastity and turns a nun. She not only has her
hair shaven and dons the nun's weeds, but dives into
the profundity of the four Noble Truths and understands the
religion of the Buddha in its entirety.
When, however, the Brahmans, warriors and citizens of
Shravasti heard that the Buddha made a Chandala daughter a
nun, they were greatly perturbed, conveyed it to the king
Prasenajit and the latter immediately set out for the Master
to remonstrate with him. Numerous Brahmans, warriors and
citizens of Shravasti had gathered together there. Then the
Buddha related the story of Trishanlui, the Chandala chieftain.
The latter ages ago was desirous of matching his learned son
Shardulakarna to the daughter of the proud Brahman Push-
karasari. The Brahman rejected his overtures with disdain
and now follows a most interesting dialogue in which
Trishanku subjects to searching criticism the caste system
and the Brahmanic code of morality. He demonstrates that
between members of the various castes there exists no such
natural difference as between diverse species of animals and
£7
plants. Moreover, there could be no caste according to the
doctrines of transmigration and the theory of karma inasmuch
as each individually is reborn in accordance with his own
deeds. Finally, Pushkarasari is convinced of the erudition of
Trishanku and consents to the marriage. And, concludes the
Master, the Brahman's daughter was in a former birth no
other than the Chandala spinster Prakriti. The Buddha
himself was in that age Trishanku ; ;and who else could be
Shardulakarna, but Ananda.
This beautiful legend of the Buddhists was known to Richard Wagner by
means of the French translation of Bournouf (.Introduction p. 205 R.) and
upon it he has based his " Victors."
Old because already translated into Chinese in the third
Christian century is also the cycle of
Ashokavadana. stories called the Ashokavadana incorpo-
rated with the Divyavadana (XXVI-
XXIX ). The central figure of the tales is the great king
Asoka. Historically these legends contain hardly anything,
of moment. But the important exceptions are, first, the
mention of the persecution of Jainism (p. 427 ) \ and secondly
the intolerance of Buddhist monks under Pushyamitra
(p. 433 f. ). Rhys Davids has studied these allusions (JPTS
1 896, p. 88 f.). The tales are more valuable from the lite-
rary standpoint. First of all here we have the extraordinary
dramatic legend of Upagupta and Mara. It is an unusually
bold idea to have Mara the Evil One, the Tempter, converted
by a Buddhist monk. Still bolder it is when saint Upagupta,
who longs for a vision of the Buddha, who had passed for
centuries into Nirvana, implores his proselyte Mara to appear
to him in the garb of the Buddha and the latter, like an
experienced actor, so thoroughly personates the Buddha that
the holy man sinks in obeisance before him. So drama-
tically conceived is the whole story that one can well believe
that here simply a Buddhist drama is recapitulated. In
58
language, style and metre the piece belongs to the art of
court poetry. We are not therefore at all surprised that,
as has been proved by Huber, the compiler of the Divyava~
dana has extracted in its literal entirety this magnificent
section from the Sutralankara of Ashvaghosha.
Divyavadana pp. 356-364, translated by Windisch, Mara and Buddha*
p. lt>j ff. Huber Ashvughosha : Sutralankara translated into French,
p. 263 ff. and BEFEO 4, 1904, p. 709 ff.
A Pali version of this legend quite artless and undramatic has been
discovered from the Burmese book of Lokapannattiby Duroiselle (BEFEO, 4
1904, p. 414 ff.) It is remarkable that the monastery in which Upagupta
(who subsequently became the preceptor of Ashoka) lived, was founded by
the brothers Nata (actor) and Bhata (soldier) and was accordingly called
Natabhatika. Not inappropriately Levi calls the Ashokavadana a kind of
Mohatmya of the Xutabhatika monastery at Mathura.
The source of one of the most charming legends in the
Kunala : Queen Ashoka cycle of tales in the Divyavadana
mother and remains unknown. It is the pathetic
step-son. episode of Kunala. He was the son of
King Ashoka, and at the instigation of his wicked step-mother
was blinded of his eyes of wonderful beauty. Not for a
moment did he feel indignation or hatred against her who was
the cause of so much misery to himself.
The Divyavadana has many legends in common with
the Pali canon. The seventh chapter is
Pali parallels. an extract from the Mahaparinirvanasutra*
To a well-known Pali sutra or dialogue
corresponds the history of Puma who goes out as an apostle
to the wild and violent Shronaparantakas, determined to bear
with equanimity and gentleness their invectives, assaults and
attempts at murder. (Divyavadana p. 36 ff.)
Samyuttauikaya IV p. 60 ; Majihimanikaya III, 267 ; JPTS 1887, p. 23
Pali jataka No. 4 answers to Divyavadana, p. 498 ff., the story being that of
the voting merchant's son who sells a dead rat and gradually acquire*
enormous wealth.
59
The Rupavatiavadana, thirty-second in our collection
reminds us rather of the legends in the
Sacrifice1'8 Jatakamala. The heroine cuts off her
breast to feed with her flesh and blood a
starving woman who was about to eat up her child. In her,
however, we see the Mahayana ideal of a Bodhisattva who
when questioned as to the motive of her behaviour, replies : —
" Verily I sacrifice my breast for the sake of the child
not that I may get kingdom or joys, not for heaven, not to
become Indra, not to reign supreme over the world as its
sole sovereign, but for no reason except that I may attain to
supreme, complete, enlightenment in order that I may
domesticate the untamed, liberate those that are not free,
console those that are disconsolate and that I may conduct to
complete Nirvana the unemancipated. As true as this
resolve of mine is, may my womanly sex vanish and may I
become a man." No sooner did she utter these words than
she was transformed into a prince Rupavata who afterwards
became king and reigned for 60 years.
In the same Kavya style as the Jatakamala there is the
legend which is an artistic elaboration of the Maitrakanyaka
Avadana in accordance with the tradition of the Ava-
danashataka of which it is the thirty-sixth story. In our
Divyavadana it is the thirty-eighth. Extracts of this nature
bring the collection of Divyavadana in harmony with the
ordinary category of the Avadanamala literature.
Poetic elaboration of avadana stories drawn partly from
the Avadanashataka and partly from other
Kalpadruma-
vadanamala. sources is represented by the Kalpa-
drumavadanamala or the " Wishtree-
avadana-garland," that is, a garland of avadanas which
procures all desires ; by the Ratnavadanamala or the
" Precious stone-avadana-garland ;" and by the Asokavadana-
mala, or the " Avadana garland of king Ajsoka,"
Feer p. xxiii ff. : Speyer p. xii ff., xxi ff. ; Raj. Mitra, Nepalesp
Buddhist Literatim*, pp. f> ff., 197 ff., 292 ff. ; Bendall, Catalogue p. 1:00'.
A legeml from the Ratnavadnnamala is translated by Mahendra I.al Das in
the journal of the Buddhist Text Society, 1894, part 3.
The Kalpadrumavadanamahi begins with an elaboration
of the last story in the Avadanashataka.
And Just aS in th<? Iatter the elder
Upagupta appears carrying on a dialogue
with king Asoka so all the legends in these Avadanamalas
have been shaped in the form of conversations between Asoka
and Upagupta. The Asokavadanamala in its first part
contains legends of Asoka himself, then only follow religious
instruction in the shape of historical narratives related by
Upagupta to Asoka. Now all these three collections differ
from the Avadanashataka not only in the circumstance that
they have been cast entirel}- in epic shlokas, but especially in
that they belong unequivocally to the Mahay ana and in
language and style remind one of the Puranas. Besides,
they must belong also to the period which gave birth to the
sectarian Puranas. It may be noted that as has been shown
by Waddell (JASB proceedings, 1899, p. 70 ff. ) Upa-
gupta is only another name ot Tissa Moggaliputta, the
perceptor of Asoka. He is also a well-known celebrity in
Pali literature.
Another collection which has liberally drawn upon the
Avadanashataka is the Dvavimshatyavadana or the Avadana
of the Twenty-two Sections. Here also Upagupta is represent-
ed as holding dialogues with Asoka, but they soon disappear
from the stage and their place is occupied by Shakyamuni
and Maitreya, the Buddha of the present period and the
Buddha to come. But the legends here are related in prose
and have been divided into sections in accordance with the
morals inculcated by each. They deal with " acts of merit,''
" listening to sermons," " liberality, " and so forth. The
61
Bhadrakalavadana is a collection of thirty-four legends which
Upagupta relates to Asoka. Its title connects the advadanas
with the age of virtue. It is similar to the Avadanamalas in
that it is entirely in verse. But in plan and contents it bears
a resemblance to the Mahavagga of the Pali Vinayapitaka.
Bendall Catalogue, p. 88 ff.; Feer xxlx.j Kaj. Mitra. p. 42 ff .; Speyer xxxvi.
According to S. d'Oldenburg who has translated the thirty-fourth story,
which is another version of Jatakamala 31, corresponding to the Pali Jataka
No. 537 (JRAS 1892, p. 331 ff,), theSkadra is of a later date than Ksemendra
who flourished about 1040 A.D.
Just as in the sectarian Puranas there are extensive
chapters and sometimes entire indepen-
dent WOrks which are technicall7 called
Mahatmyas, of legendary import and
generally invented to explain the origin of a festival or rite
(vrata), so also we have a corresponding category of Buddhist
texts. A collection of such legends is the Vraiavandawala
or " Garland of avandas on fasts and rites " which has nothing
in 'common with the Avanda collection mentioned above
except that it has the same framework,— dialogues between
Upagupta and Asoka.
Raj. Mitra, pp. 102 ff., 22 ff., 231, 276 ff. Other texts of the same class
are at pp.229 f., 232 f., 266 ff., 269 ff., 280 ff.; L. Feer Suvarnavarana.
avadanam et Vratavadanamala xii, Borne, 1899 I, p. 19 ff.
These are obviously very late Mahayana texts. A collec-
tion of a most variegated nature is the Vicitrakarnikavadana
which has thirty-two stories, some of them derived from the
Avadanashataka and others appertaining to the type of the
Vratavadana. Mixed like the contents is also the language
being now a barbarous Sanskrit, now Sanskrit verse, again
Pali and so forth. ( Speyer, pp. xciii-c ). All these books are
up to now only known in manuscript. But there are others
which are accessible to us though only in their Tibetan and
Chinese translations.
62
As regards avadana collections in Chinese, (see Peer xxx)
Avadanas in the Conies et Apologues Indiens of
Chinese and Stanislas Julien, Paris, 1860, translated into
Tibetan. German by Schnell, 1903, are of Chinese
origin, ultimately going back to Sanskrit prime texts. But in
our collections of manuscripts and in Chinese and Tibetan
translations we have preserved to us not only anthologies of
avadanas, but also several individual avadanas of extensive
compass. For instance, the Sumagadhavadana> represents
the legend of Sumagadha, the daughter of the famous mer-
chant Anatha-pindada, who creates an aversion for the Jains
in her husband and by a miracle converts the whole city to
the religion of the Buddha. In one of her former births she
was the daughter of the celebrated king Kriki, associated in
legends with his wonderful dreams. These dreams have a
wider significance than as affecting Sanskrit or even Buddhist
literature. They belong to the literature of the world*
(See Jataka No. 77 and S. d'Oldenburg in JRAS p. 50&
ff., and Tsuru-Matsu Tokiwai Studies in Sumagadha-
vadana, Dissertation for the University of Strasburg, 1899 5
Raj. Mitra, p. 237.) It is remarkable that the same avadana
is quoted from a Vinaya text in the Abhidharmakosha
Vyakhya of Yashomitra. Finally, we have to make particular
mention of the ponderous corpus of avadanas by the great
Kashmirian Buddhist poet Kashemendra, who flourished about
1040 A.D. His work the Avadana-Kalpalata enjoys high
reputation in Tibet.
The text with the Tibetan translation is edited in the
Bibliotheca Indica series by Sarat Chandra Das and Hari
Mohan Vidyabhusana. Kshemendra] is a prolific writer and
versifier of almost astounding fertility. We shall come across
him more than once later on because he has occupied himself
with various provinces of literature. However, he distinguishes
himself less by his genius and taste than by his iron assiduity.
The great mass of legends into which Kshemendra works the
Buddhist Avadanas in the style of the elegant poetry is more
didactic than spiritual as regards the tales which he selects*
The Buddhist propensity to self-sacrifice has been carried
here to such refinement and to such a pitch and the doctrine
of Karma has been inculcated with such extravagance and
above all the moral is so thickly strewn over that it often
overshoots the mark. The collection consists of 107 legends
to which Somendra, the son of Kshemendra, added, besides an
introduction, the one hundred and eighth tale of Jimutavahana.
All these legends are mostly known to us either from other
Avadana anthologies or otherwise. The Padmavati Avadana,
for instance, is the story of Padmavati familiar to us in the
Pali commentaries. The Ekashringa Avadana is the Rishya-
shringa legend so well known to us. They both occur also in
the Mahavastu (NGGW, 1901 p. 26) and Luders has shown
that Kshemendra has worked up this legend after the
Mahavastu. The version by Kshemendra of this story ha»
been reproduced in German verse by H. Francke.
64
CHAPTER VII.
The entire Buddhist Sanskrit literature discussed up to
now belongs to the borderland and the
Mahayanasutras. buffer state between the Hinayana and
the Mahayana Buddhism. Now we turn to
those works which stand decidedly on the Mahayana soil.
There is no canon of the Mahayana, and there can be none
because the Mahayana represen ts no unity of sects. We are
indeed, informed of a council which is said to have been held
under King Kaniska, but whether at this council any canon
was established, and if so, in what language and by what
sects, is left doubtful. The so-called " nine dharmas " are no
canon of any sect, but a series of books which have been
composed at different periods and belong to different persua-
sions, though all of them enjoy a high veneration in Nepal
to-day. These nine works are :
Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita, Saddharmapundarika,
Lalitavistara, Lankavatara, Suvarnaprabhasa, Gandavyuha,
Tathagathaguhyaka Samadhiraja, Dashabhumishvara. All
these scriptures are also designated Vaipulyasutras.
The term dharma in the " nine dharmas " is no doubt
an abbreviation for Dharmaparyaya or
Worship o^ religious texts. A formal divine service
is accorded to these nine books in Nepal,
a bibliolatry which is characteristic of the Buddhism
prevalent there and which is manifested in the body of the
texts themselves.
Hodgson's Essays p. 13; Burnoufs Introduction p. 29 ff, 60 ff ; Kern's
der Buddhismus II 508 ff.
The most important and as a literary production of high
value among the Mahayanasutras is the
Saddharmapundarika, the ''Lotus of
the Good Law." It was translated into
French as early as 1852 by Burnouf and in 1884 an English
65
translation by Kern appeared in the Sacred Books of the
East series. The Sanskrit text was edited at St. Petersburg
in 1908 in the Bibliotheca Buddica series by the joint
editors the Dutch scholar, Kern, and the Japanese professor,
Bunyio Nanjio. Whoever desires to be acquainted with the
Mahayana Buddhism with all its distinguishing features,
with all its excellencies and shortcomings, may be recom-
mended a study of these texts. Here very little remains of
Shakyamuni as a man. The Buddha is properly speaking
now higher than a god, above all the divinities, an immeasur-
ably exalted Being, who has lived since countless aeons and
who will live for all eternity. " I am the father of the world,"
he says of himself (xv, Gatha 21), " who have sprung from
myself (Svayambhu), the physician and the protector of all
creatures •, and only because I know how the fatuous are of
perverted sense and blind that I, who have never ceased to
exist, give myself out as departed." It is only because of his
compassion for all creatures, his regard for the infirmities of
human understanding, that he pretends to have entered
Nirvana. He is comparable to the physician who had many
sons and who once during their father's absence fell seriously
ill. The father, on his return, treated them with medicaments,
but only a few of them took the medicine, the others refusing
it. In order to persuade even the latter to accept the treat-
ment, the father goes out into a foreign country and pretends
to be dead. The children, who now feel themselves orphans,
take the prescribed physic and are healed. The Buddha has
recourse to a similar stratagem when he apparently enters
Nirvana, but again and again he emerges to proclaim his
gospel. (Chapter xv, S B E 2 i , p. 304 ff). It is his evangel
that connects him with humanity, but not like the Buddha of
the Pali sutras, who roams about from place to place as a
medicant friar to proclaim his doctrine, preaches the Buddha
of the " Lotus." He takes up his stay on the Gridhrakuta
66
peak among " a numerous assembly of monks and nuns and
often still larger crowds of thousands of Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas, of gods and demi-gods." And whenever he
purposes <( to shower down the mighty rain of religion, to
sound the great drum of faith, to raise the lofty banner of faith,
to kindle ths illuminating torch of creed, to blow the powerful
trumpet of religion, to beat the colossal kettle-drum of religion,
a flash of light breaks forth from the circle of hair between
his eyebrows which illuminates the eighteen thousand
' Buddha countries * with all the Buddhas and the crea-
tures therein and reveals wondrous visions to the Bodhi-
sattva Maitreya. For the Buddha of the " Lotus " is likewise
a mighty sorcerer who loves by means of grand phantasma-
goria to influence the minds of his audience. And thus diverg-
ing as is this Buddha from the one known to us in the
ancient texts, so also deviates his doctrine from the Buddha of
the Hinayana. True, it is his mission to conduct the crea-
tures to " Buddha knowledge," to enlightenment. But he
gives them a particular vehicle " the Buddha Vehicle, " which
leads them to the goal. Every living entity can become a
Buddha that only listens to the sermon of the Buddha, that
performs any deed of virtue, that leads a moral life. But even
those who adore the relics, build stupas, or construct images
of the Buddha of any kind whether of precious stone, marble,
wooden statues or frescoes, and even children who set up
stupas of sand while at play or scratch the lineaments of the
Buddha on the wall, those who offer flowers or incense to the
stupas or make music there, — nay, even such as have
fortuitously thought of the Lord with the idea of " Veneration
to the Buddha," every one of them attains to supreme illumi-
nation (chapter 2, Gathas 61 ff, 74 ff, SBE 21, p. 47 ff).
The three "vehicles" are only apparent. They are all suppo-
sed to lead to Nirvana, —that of the disciple, that of the
Pratyekabudhas and that of the Boddhisattvas. In reality,
67
however, it is only the grace of the Buddha by which the one
as well as the other reaches illumination and becomes Buddha.
This tenet is elucidated with one of those charming parables
which not seldom occur in the Saddharmapundarika.
In an old dilapidated house there lived a father with his
children. Suddenly the house took fire.
house on* f in! The father was in a£ony about his children-
He was a strong mm and could take
up the younger ones in his arms and fly from the house,
but the house had only one door. The children, who suspected
nothing, were running about in play and took no heed of his
warning. He was threatened with perishing along with his
children in the surrounding fire. Now a sound idea occurred
to him. Children always love toys, and he called out to them
and said that he had all sorts of expensive toys, bullock-carts,
tram carts, antelope carts, collected for them out of the house.
No sooner did the children hear these words then they rushed
out of doors and were saved. Now they asked of their
father for the promised three kinds of toy carts and the father,
being a wealthy man, gave them splendid and beautifully up-
holstered bullock-carts. The children were delighted and
happy. Now who would accuse the father of falsehood in
that he promised the children three kinds of ordinary play
carts and gave them in reality carts of a most splendid descrip-
tion ? Similarly the Buddha treats the children that are men,
inducing them to come out by promise of the three "vehicles"
from the burning and dilapidated house of this world, saves
them and bestows upon them a unique vehicle, the costliest
of all, the « Vehicle of the Buddha."
The Buddha is also represented in the Buddhist parable
of the lost son as the good affluent father kindly disposed
towards his sons, the human children :
68
A rich man had an only son. He roamed about in
foreign countries for fifty years, while the
Reclaimed father was growing continually more weal-
son : a partble.
thy and had become a great man. But the
son lived in foreign lands impoverished and in straitened
circumstances. At last he comes home as a beggar where
his father was all this while longingly expecting him. The
beggar son comes to the house of his father but he does not
recognise his parent in the great man who, surrounded by a
large retinue like a king, sits in the front of his mansion.
As he sees the pomp and circumstance, he flies from the
house in fear lest the beggar in tattered rags be maltreated.
The father, however, immediately recognises him and
sends out his servants to fetch the mendicant. Trembling
and shaking with terror he is dragged along and falls down
powerless. The father then gives orders to release him.
The beggar stands up joyful and repairs towards the poor
quarters of the city. Now the wealthy man bethinks himself
of a plan to win the confidence of his son. He gets him
oppressed with the meanest piece of work by the workmen
in his house but takes opportunity frequently to associate
with him and gradually worms himself into his confidence.
Twenty years in this way pass by without the father being
recognised by the son. When on the point of death he sum-
mons all his relations and announces that the beggar, who
had become his confidential servant was his own son, and
appoints him heir to all his estate. This wealthy man was
the Buddha, the son that was lost and recovered are the
human children who only very gradually draw themselves to
the Buddha, the wise father, and finally acquire his fortunate
legacy.
6$
The Master is as frequently compared to a physician
as to a loving father. The simile is
language™ especially expanded in which the children
of the world are likened to those that
are born blind and whose eyes are opened by the great
physician Buddha (p. 129 ff.) That the Buddha knows
no partiality but is to all equally a good father and physi-
cian is brought home by means of two charming metaphors.
Just as a powerful rain cloud goes down caves and refreshes
all grass, verdure and trees by its moisture and just as the
latter sucked by the dryness of the earth blow into it new
life, so also appears the Buddha in the world and renovates*
all creatures by bringing them the gift of peace. As the
sun and the moon send down their rays equally on all, on the
good and the wicked, on the high and the low, so the
precepts of the Buddha are for the whole world (pp. 199 ff.
122 ff, 128 ff.)
All these similes would be more beautiful if they were
Exaggeration not car"e^ out to° extensively and extrava-
of phrase and gantly far so that the point of comparison
figure. suffers. But this hyperbole in the figura-
tive language is quite characteristic of the book. It is
an actual intoxication of words with which the reader is
deadened, the thought being drowned in the inundation of
verbiage. Still more immense and magnified than words
are the figures. There lives, for instance, " a Buddha forty
hundred thousand myriads of ten million rcons, as many as
there are grains of sand in the River Ganges" ', and after
he had attained to complete Nirvana, his true religion endured
for a hundred thousand myriads of ten million ages equal to
the number of ears of corns in all India •, and a degenerated
form of the true faith continued further fora thousand myriads
of ten million 'ages equal to the number of the ears of corn in
70
the four continents. And there arose one after another in the
world " twenty hundred thousand myriads often million " such
Buddhas (chap, xi, SEE, 21 text, pp. 376 f.355.) In the most
extravagant fashion, beyond all limits of computation the
Buddha is glorified, especially in the grandiose phantas-
magoria of Chapter XIV in which, through the magical
powers of the Buddha, the earth splits and suddenly appear
from all sides many hundred thousand myriads of ten
thousand Bodhisattvas each with a following as numerous
as the aggregate grains of sixty Ganges streams. And
while these innumerable Bodhisattvas pay homage to the
Buddha fifty ages pass away during which a great silence
rules but which through the supernatural power of the Lord
appear only as an afternoon. To the astonished Maitreya
the Buddha says that all these Bodhisattvas have been his
disciples. Equally limitless and exaggerated is the adoration
of the text itself. For, strangely enough, in the midst of
our text there is the recurring mention of the preaching and
the exposition of the book by the Buddha and its propagation
by the preceptors. Thus in Chapter XI, Shakyamuni causes
to appear in the air a stupa and from inside the stupa is
heard a voice of a Buddha dead for myriads of ages 5—
"Excellent, excellent, exalted Shakyamuni, thou hast well
uttered this sermon of the Lotus of the good Religion ;
yea, it is so, it is so, exalted, blessed Lord." Time and
again the merit of the preacher of the Lotus and the faithful
listeners of this exhortation is praised, It is cited in
Chapter XXII.
The sermon of the Lotus is like fire for those who are
benumbed, like clothing to the naked,
thelutra0' like a leader to the caravan> a mother
to children, a boat to those who would
cross the river, a taper for the dispelling of darkness. He
who writes down this book or causes it to be written acquires
71
endless merit. The female creature that hears it has lived
for the last time as a female. He who listens to the sermon
of the Lotus and declares his agreement with it shall always
have a sweet breath as if issuing from a lotus and from his
body will flow the fragrance of sandal.
All this immoderation of language and especially the
Persistence laudation of the text in the text itself are
of Puranic as peculiar to the Mahayana Sutras
influence. as to the Puranas. The Amitayur-
dhyana Sutra lays down : " When a person has committed
much evil, but has not spoken ill of the great Vaipulya Sutras,
and if he be a very stupid man, who neither feels reproach for
his wicked deeds nor repents of them, but if he at the moment
of his death encounters a good and wise preceptor who recites
to him the superscription and titles of the twelve sections of
the Mahayana texts, and if he has thus heard of all the Sutras,
he will be absolved from the great sins which would otherwise
hurl him into birth and death for thousands of ages." It is the
spirit of the Puranas which is perceived in every line of the
Saddharmapundarika, The few points of contact between
the text of the Saddharmapundarika and that of the
Shatapathabrahmana which Kern indicates by no means
suffice to bring the work in line with the Vedic literature
(SBE 21, p. xvi f.), and it is precisely on this count that the
book cannot belong to the earliest period of Buddhism. If
we did not know that it had already been translated into
Chinese between 255 and 316 A.D., we should not consider it
as so ancient, for the latter date must at least be its age.
At all events, however, the book contains elements
Elements of °f diverse periods. It is impossible that
diverse the Sanskrit prose and the gathas in
epochs. "mixed Sanskrit" should have arisen
contemporaneously, even if they did not incorporate oftta
T2
glaring inconsistency of contents. Frequently in the prose
passages as also in the gathas the book is spoken
of as a metrical composition. It is probable that originally
the book consisted only of verse with brief prose passages
interspersed by way of introduction and links between the
verses. These brief prose paragraphs were subsequently
expanded especially as the dialect of the verse gradually be-
came obsolete. And, without being exactly commentary, they
came to serve as an exposition. It is remarkable that just
those chapters which contain no gathas prove even on other
grounds to be rather accretions. These chapters, from xxi
to xxvi, are more devoted to the panegyric of the Bodhi-
sattvas while the Sadharmapundarika in the rest of the texts
sings the glorification of the Buddha Shakyamuni. One of
these Bodhisattvas is Bhaisajyaraja, the prince of the
Physician's art who, in xxi chapter reveals magical
formulae and exorcisms (Dharanis) and in chapter xxii, after
he has for twelve years fed on fragrant substance and drunk
oil, covers himself in finest clothing, has an oil bath and burns
himself. For twelve thousand years his body burns without
cessation, and this grand sacrifice and glorious firework has
the only object of showing respect to the Buddha and to the
Sadharmapundarika ! The xxivth chapter is devoted to the
Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, a great redeemer. He who
invokes him is free from every danger. The sword of the
executioner breaks to pieces when the person condemned
to death offers supplication to him. All fetters are loosened,
only if his name is pronounced. He saves the shipwrecked
and the caravans overtaken by robbers. A woman who
desires a son or a beautiful daughter has only to invoke
Avalokiteshvara and her wish is fulfilled^ This chapter also
contains a large gatha extract to the glorification of Avaloki-
teshvara, but this too is a late addition. For all the gathas
are not older than the prose, many being interpolated at
73
subsequent periods. (Kern SBE 21 p. xviii f). The ancient
Chinese translation contains doubtless chapters xxi-xxvi, but
in an order different from that of our Sanskrit text. This
shows that the parishishtas or appendices were not
appertaining originally to the work.
Although, however, the Sadharmapundarika represents
later and earlier ingredients it displays
Sutra*^ C a mu°k greater unity of character than
either the Mahavastu or the Lalitavistara.
It is not possible that the older and the younger components
should be separated by any extensive lapse of time. If the
book had assumed its present compass between 265 and 316
A.D., when the first Chinese translation was prepared or even
earlier, in its primary formation it must have well arisen
about 200 A.D. Even Kern, who strives to establish that
the Sadharmapundarika and the Lalitavistara have preserved
materials going back to the most ancient period of Buddhism,
has been able to cite instances only from the Lalitavistara.
There is no ground for asserting that the older text saw the
light " a few centuries earlier, " as Kern assumes (p. xxii).
Bendall ascribes to the fourth or fifth century a manuscript
of the Sadharmapundarika discovered by him (JRAS 1901,
p. 124). Fragments of the Sadharmapundarika have been
discovered also in Central Asia during the -explorations by
Stein and others (J.R.A.S. 1911, p. 1067 ff). One fact is
incontestable." The entire Sadharmapundarika, prose and
gatha, presupposes a high development of the Mahay ana
Buddhism, especially in the direction of Buddha-bhakti, the
adoration of relics, the worshipping of images and, above all,
a highly flourishing epoch of Buddhist art. For, when there
is such prominent mention of thousands of myriads of ten
millions of stupas, which were erected for the relics of
a Buddha or of *he ten millions of mharast which are
n
delineated as magnificent buildings, most luxuriously
furnished there must have existed at least several
hundreds of stupas and viharas, topes and monasteries, and
these were doubtless embellished with images of the Buddha
in precious stones, with statues of the Buddha carved in wood
or metal and with reliefs and frescoes.
See especially chapter ii, Gathas 77 ff., SBE. In japan the Sadharma-
pundarika is the sacred book of the Nichi-ren sect, Buniyu Nanjio, Short
History of the Twelve Buddhist Sects, Tokyo, 1886, p. 132 ff.
To the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara who has been eulo-
Karanda vy uha : gised in Chapter XXIV of the Sadharma-
its Theistic pundarika is also dedicated an entire
tendency. Mahayanasutra of great compass, the full
title of which is Avalokiteshvara-gunakarandavyuha,— "The
exhaustive description of the basket of the merits of the
Avalokiteshvara." The title is usually mentioned in its
abbreviated shape of Rarandavyuha. We have two versions
of this book, the more ancient one being in prose and the
younger in shlokas. The prose text was edited by Satya-
vrata Shamashrami in 1873. The catalogue of the India
Office, library registers, an edition which seems to have
appeared in 1872 at Serampore.
Burnouf, Introduction pp. 196-206; Raj. Mitra, Kep» Buddh. Lit., p. 95 ft
Bendall, Catalogue p. 9 ff ; La Vallee Poussin, ERE II, p. 259 f.
The metrical recension occupies theistic* ground. For
it is related how at the beginning of things appeared the
Adibuddha or the primitive Buddha, also .called Svayambhu, or
Self-Being and Adinatha or the First Lord, and created the
world by his meditation. Avalokiteshvara is derived from
this spirit and he co-operated in the creation of the world
fashioning from his eyes the moon and the sun, Maheshvara
from his forehead, Brahman from his shoulders, Narayana from
75
his heart, and from his teeth the goddess of speech Sarasvati.
Precisely as this introduction is of the Puranic kind, so also
are the language and style of the metrical Karandavyuha
totally of the younger Puranas. We have no evidence that
the theistic Buddhism with its Adibuddha as a creator existed
in India, prior to the tenth century. Even La Vallee Poussin
only demonstrates that the creed of Adibuddha was spread
over India but not that it can be proved to have existed in
ancient times. (ERE3 1. p. 95 ). Further, the fact that the
Tibetan translation which was made probably in 1616 A.D.
and which is found in the Kanjur and is based on the prose
version, which does not contain the Adibuddha section, shows
that the poetic version was then unknown. (La Vallee
Poussin, ERE, II, p. 259). On the other hand, the
cult of Avalokiteshvara is already familiar to the Chinese
pilgrim Fah-ien, about 400 A.D. He himself implores
this Bodhisattva for rescue when he is overtaken by a storm
on his voyage from Ceylon to China. The oldest images
of Avalokiteshvara date from the fifth century. A Chinese
translation of a Kanmdavyuha was made as early as 270 A.D.
L. A, Waddell, JRAS. 1894, p. 57; A. Poacher, Etude stir 1'Iconographic
Boudhique de 1'Inde, Paris 1900, p. 97 ff., and La Vallee Poussin, ERE
II. p. 256 ff. ; Buniyo Nanjio, Catalogue No. 168 where the title is given as
Ratnakaranda-kavyuhasutra. A second translation was made between 420
and 479.
The basic idea is the same in both the versions of
the Karandavyuha— the exaltation of the
Av^IokiUshvlra. marvellous redeemer Avalokiteshvara,
"the Lord looking down," that is, he who
Surveys with infinite compassion all the creatures. This
interpretation is found in the text itself (Burnouf, Introduc-
tion, p. 201 f.), but it is possible to explain the name in
other ways (La Vallee Poussin, ERE, II, p. 201 f.).
76
Avalokiteshvara here appears as a typical Bodhisattva
but declines to enter into Buddha-hood so long as all the
creatures have not been emancipated. To bring salvation
to all creatures, to succour all the sorrowing, to save all
from want, to exercise unbounded commiseration which
does not recoil from sin, and do'es not stop short at the gates
of hell, this is the one and the only obligation of the Avaloki-
teshvara. Words are placed in the mouth of Avalokiteshvara
to the effect that it is better for 2 Bodhisattva to commit sins
in the exercise of sympathy, to suffer in hell, rather than to
disappoint a creature of the hopes centred by the latter in
him (ERE, II, p. 257 f.). The opening chapter of the
Karandavyuha portrays how he descends into the fireful Avici
(hell) in order to set free the tormented from their pain. No
sooner does he enter it, than the scorching glow turns into
agreeable coolness1, in place of the cauldrons in which
millions of the damned are boiling like vegetable, there appears
a lovely Lotus Pond. The seat of torture is transformed into
a pleasance.
E. B. Cowell, Journal of Philology, vi, 1876. p. 222 ff., reprinted also in Ind
Ant., viii, 249 ff. L. Scherman, the Vision Literature, p. 62 ff. Cowell
compares the apocryphal gospel of Nkodemus and derives the Indian from the
Christian legend.
From this hell Avalokiteshvara passes on to the abode
of the Pretas and treats with food and
His peregri- jrink tjiesc gi,osts writhing with ever-
nations.
lasting hunger and thirst. One of his
wanderings takes him to Ceylon where he converts the
cannibal female giant Rakshasi, from thence to Benares where
he preaches the doctrine to the creatures who have been born
as insects and worms, and thence to Magadha where he saves
the inhabitants in a miraculous way from a terrible. famine.
In Ceylon he appears as the winged horse Balaha in order to
77
carry away and save from perishing the ship- wrecked persons
enticed by the giant sorceress.
Jataka No. 196, where the winged charger is identified with the Buddha
in a previous birth. In the Karandavyuha the merchant Simhala carried off
to Ceylon is the Buddha Shakyamuni in an earlier existence.
Little as is the claim of books like the Karandavyuha
upon our attention, on the whole we are bound to concede that
hardly anywhere else human helplessness and longing for
emancipation have found a more vigorous expression than in
these tracts and the idea of redemption a finer instrumentality
than in the personation of Avalokiteshvara.
The Buddhist's longing for spiritual liberation finds a
more logical outlet in the Sukhavati-
'*•*'' • detailed description of the
Land of Bliss. As the Saddharma-
pundarika serves to glorify the Buddha Shakyamuni, as the
Karandavyuha is dedicated to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara,
so the Sukhavativyuha is sacred to the panegyric of the Buddha
Amitabha. Among the innumerable Buddhas there is one
who, by means of prayers or pranidhana in a former life
faithfully practising the virtues -of a Bodhisattva for untold
ages, was born again in the world of Sukhavati in the
Occident. There he produces boundless light, whence
his name Amitabha •, and immeasurable is the duration
of his life, whence his other name, Amitayus. In this
" Buddha country," the Paradise of Sukhavati, there is no
hell, there is no existence as beasts, Pretas, or Asuras. This
blessed land is filled with infinite fragrance. There grow
trees of precious stones in many hundred thousand colours
and equally marvellous lotus flowers. There are no moun-
tains there but the land is a plain like the palm of the hand.
Charming rivulets supply lovely sweet water and their
78
splashing makes the most lovely music. The creatures that
are horn in Sukhavati are provided with the most fascinat-
ing qualities of body and mind and enjoy all the delights
which they have only to wish for. There is no difference
between men and gods. There is no such thing as day or
night. There is no darkness. Amitabha is continuously
praised and he who constantly thinks in reverence of him, he
who bethinks himself of the growth of his good deeds, he
who turns his thoughts to enlightenment, and he who
devoutly prays to be born in that world, to him Amitabha
appears in the hour of his death and the aspirant sees the
light again in the Land of Bliss. Nay, even those who think
of Amitabha with a single thought are born there. But
the creatures in Sukhavati are not born of woman. They
come into being seated on lotus flowers when they have
firmly believed in Amitabha or as adhering to the chalice of
a lotus when their faith is not sufficiently finr.. Joyous and
tranquil, perfectly wise and immaculate live the creatures
in that world of benignity. With that extravagance of
language and exaggeration of figures which are come across
in Mahayanasutras is also described the grandeur of
Amitabha and his paradise in the Sukharativyuha.
Of this book we have two diverse recensions. The
longer one which might well be the original and the shorter
one which appears to be an abbreviated edition of the former
with an emended introduction. Both versions have been
edited by Max Muller, and Bunyiu Nanjio in the Anecdota
Oxoniensia Aryan Series, Vol. I, part II, Oxford, 1883, and
translated by Max Muller SBE vol. 49, part 2. A third
book called the Amitayurdhanasuti a is less occupied with
the picture of the country of Sukhavati than with the
exhortations to meditation or dhyana of Amtayus by means of
which a man attains to the Blessed Land. It is •• translated
79
from Chinese by J.Takakusu in SEE Vol. 49,-part 2, p. 159 ff.
This Sutra is unfortunately not preserved to us in the
original Sanskrit, but only in a Chinese translation and is
interesting in that it contains the history of Ajatashatru and
Bimbisara known also in the Pali accounts. Kern, Der
Buddhismus I, 243 ff, Spence Hardy, Manual of Bud-
dhism, London, 1860, p. 317 f). A Sukhavativyuha
is reported to have been translated into Chinese
between 148 and 170 and there are no less than twelve
versions of it dating from different centuries. In 402,
Kumarajiva translated the shorter version. A translation
of the Sukhavativyuha-Sutra is also credited to Hiuen-
Tsiang in 1650 A.D. (Nanjio, Catalogue Nos. 23, 25,
27, 199, 200, 863). This testifies to the favour in which the
text was held in China. In Japan, however, the three texts
relating to Amitayus and Sukhavati form the fundaments of
the doctrine of the two Buddhistic sects of Jodoshu and
Shinshu. The latter has the largest number of adherents of
any Buddhist sect in Japan, It is to be noted that the
literary value of these texts by no means corresponds to
their importance in religious history.
B. Nanjio, Twelve Japanese Buddhist Sects pp. 104 ft,, 122 ff, and
Anecdota Oxoniensia, Vol. I, p. xviii ff. H Hass, Amida Buddha, our
Refuge, Texts for the understanding of Sukhavati-Buddhism, Leipzig 1910.
In the cult and in the art of the Buddhist the Bodhisattva
Manjushri occupies a distinguished posi-
Manjushri. tion along with Avalokiteshvara. In
the Gandavyuha, Manjushri is glorified
as the only one who can help the aspirant to perfect enlighten-
ment. This work is only available in manuscript. It was
translated into Chinese between 317 and 420 under the title
of Avatamsakasutra or Buddha-vatamsakasutra and is the
cardinal text-book of the Japanese Buddhist sect Ke-gon.
80
Raj. Mitra Nep. Euddh. Lit., p. 90 ff ; Bendall Catalogue, p. 23.
According to Hodgson's Essays,rp. 16 (also see p. 49) Aryasanga was the
author of this book ; compare also Eurnouf Introduction, p. 111.
It is Professor Takakusu who informs us that the
Gandavyuha is identical with the Chinese Avatamsaka for
he has made a comparison of the Sanskrit with the Chinese
original.
Se« Wassiljew, Der Buddhismus, p. 171 ff , and B. Nanjio, Twelve Japa-
nese Buneihist Sects, p. 57 ff. The Ganavyuhasutra No. 971 in B. Nanjio'
Catalogue («.ee No. 782) translated between 746-771 is altogether a different
work.
The Sutra, which has many points of contact with the
Sukhavativyuha but which has also
Karunapun- many legends of the class of Avadanas,
darika S .g the Karunapundarika ? the Lotus of
Compassion. It relates to the marvellous country of Padma
where the Buddha Padmottara worked and whose life was
thirty world-periods. The Sutra was translated into Chinese
in the sixth century.
Raj. Mitra, p- 285 ff; Bendall Catalogue, p. 73 Sylvain Levi has discovered
and published a legend from the Karunapundarika in the Tokharain language
(Memorial volume to Vihelm Thomsen, Leipzic, p. 155 ff.).
While these Mahayanasutras are devoted mainly to the
cult of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
Lankavatara. whose wonderful qualities and mighty deeds
are eulogised or legends in connection
with whom are recounted, there is a series of Sutras in
Buddhist Sanskrit which partake more of a philosophical or
dogmatic character. Of this nature is the Lankavatara^ or
as it is also called Saddharmalankavatara. The book gives
a report of the miraculous visit of the Buddha Shakyamuni
to Ravana, the King of Ceylon. Ravana pays his reverence
81
to the Buddha and presses him for a reply to a number of his
enquiries touching the religion. The answers given by the
Buddha which represent the doctrine of the Yogacara school
go to form the main contents of the ten chapters of the Sutra.
It is. moreover, interesting inasmuch as it explores
the tenets of the Samkhyas. Vaishesikas, Pashupatas and
other philosophical schools and religious denominations of
Brahmanic origin. Remarkable is a prophetic passage in
chapter 10 where the Buddha says : —
" A hundred years after my Nirvana will live Vyasa, the
composer of the Mahabharata. Then will arise the Pandavas,
Kauravas, Nandas and Mauryas. The Nandas, Mauryas,
Guptas and Mlecchas, the most degraded of princes, will
be the rulers. The domination of the barbarians will be
succeeded by an upheaval which in its turn will herald
the Kaliyuga."
The teaching of the Yogacara school is the same as
the doctrine of Asanga and the same precepts are found in
the Mahay ansahraddhotpada.
The mention of the barbarians can only refer to the reign
of the Hun princes, Toramana and Mihirakula, and consequ-
ently the book must have been composed in the beginning of
the sixth century. But as again a Chinse translation of the
Lankavatara had already been made in 443, the excerpt must
belong to a subsequent recension or can only be an
interpolation.
Burnout" Introduction, p. 458 ff ; Bendall Catalogue, p. 20 fl. ; S. Ch
Vidyabhusana; An Analysis of the Lankavtara Sutra, JASB 19"'5, ff : Baj.
Mitra Nep. Buddh. Lit. p. 113 f , where, however, the statement about a
Chinese translation rr.ade in 168-190 is incorrect. See Bunyiu Nanjio
Catalogue Nos» • 75- 177. Of the same species of literature is also Oasabhumis.
wara Mahayanasutra in which the Buddha holds an exhortation to the gods in
Indras' heaven on the ten stages, the " dashabhumi ", through which an
entity arrives "at Budhahood. This Sutra was translated into Chinese in 400
Raj Mitra Nep. Buddh. Lit., p. 81 ff., Bendall Catalogue p. 4 f.
Of a dogmatic nature is also the Samadkiraja, the
King of Meditations. It is a dialogue
Sa mad hi raja. between Candraprabha and the Buddha. It
is shown here how the Bodhisattva by means
of the diverse meditations, especially the supreme one, the
sovereign meditation, can achieve transcendent knowledge of
the conditions which are necessary for the preparation of the
mind for the loftiest stage of thought. The conditions are
veneration of the Buddhas ; .absolute renunciation of the
world ; gentleness and benevolence to all creatures •, com-
plete indifference with reference to one's own life and
health ; in the case of necessity, sacrifice for others \ and
finally the conviction of the non-reality of the world or firm
faith in the universal Void or Shunyata. When meditating
on the form of the Buddha the candidate must not think of
any corporeal shape because the Buddha is coir posed of pure
religion, he is not procreated, he is effect without cause, he is
the cause of all things and without beginning, of boundless
greatness and illimitable beneficence. The same ideas recur
repeatedly, in between there being legends of holy men who
propounded the great Samadhi.
Raj. Mitra Nep. Buddh. Lit., 297-221. Bendall Catalogue, p. 22 f.
Based from^the standpoint of negativism or Shunyatavada
is likewise Suvarnaprabhasa or Golden
Suvarnaprabhasa Effulgence, the contents of which are
partly philosophical, partly legendary and
partly digress into the region of Tantra-Buddhism. The
Buddha is here an eternal divine Being. A Brahman asks for
a relic of the Buddha, be it no bigger than a mustard seed
(chapter II ). But he is instructed that it is easier to have
hair grown on the back of a tortoise than to find such a relic.
83
For the Buddha is not really born but his true corporeal frame
is the Dharmakaya or Dharmadhatu, that is, an immaterial
body consisting only of religion.
According to Suzuki's Ashvaghosha's Discourse on the Awakening of
the Faith, p. 62 n. Dharmakaya denotes the Absolute.
Nor did the Buddha enter Nirvana, his body being eternal.
A large portion of the Sutra is occupied with the glorification
of the Sutra itself. In chapter VIII appears the goddess
Sarasvati, in chapter IX Mahadevi, the consort of Shiva, to
belaud the Sutra. Among the legends which we find related in
the Surarnapvabhasa we encounter that of the prince who kills
himself to serve as food to a starving tigress and the father
of the prince preserves his bones in a golden casket over
which to erect a stupa. There is, however, also a recital of
magical terms or Dharanis and Tantra-ritual in the book.
On the whole we see a diction the most sluggish among
sectarian Puranas and one would wonder how the Golden
Effulgence had acquired such immense reputation among the
Buddhists of Nepal, Tibet and Mongolia, if the people con*
cerned were not of comparatively a low state of culture. The
Sutra was translated into Chinese in the sixth century,
Burnouf Introduction, p 471 ff.; Raj. Mitra Nep. Buddh. Lit., p. 241 fl.;
Bendall Catalogue, p. 12 f. ; M. Anesaki, ERE IV, p, 839. According to La
Vallee Poussin Bouddhisme, Etudes and Mateiiaux, p. 127, the Suvarna^
prabhasa is nothing but a Mahatmya of Dharanis, A fragment of the
Suvarnaprabhasa, which is also quoted in the Siksasamuccaya Bendall, p.160 ff .*
has been published by H, Stonner from a zylograph discovered at Idikutshari
(SJ3A 1904 p. 1810 ff,)
Partly dogmatic and partly legendary in nature is the
Rashtrapalasutra, also entitled Rashtrapala-
paripruccha, which was translated into
Chinese between 589-618. The Sutra
consists of two portions, the first of which is more of a
84
dogmatic nature and contains the responses of the Buddha to
Rashtrapala's questions on the qualities or Dharmas of a
Bodhisattva. The second part narrates the Jataka of the
prince Punyarashmi whose story has some features in
common with the legend of the Buddha. But even in the
first portion the Buddha briefly narrates his deeds in previous
births to elucidate the Bodhisattva Dharmas and in the
course of his address makes mention of fifty Jatakas. At the
end of these Jatakas there is an abrupt prophesy on the future
decay of the religion which is the most important section of
the Sutra. For the picture sketched here so vividly and with
such precision could only be a reflection of actual facts and
must be a satirical portrayal of the lax morals of the Buddhist
monks, since we are told, for instance :
" Without self-reproach and without virtue, proud, puffed
up, irritable will be my monks ; intoxi-
cated with sPirituouS 1^uor- While they
grasp the banner of the Buddha they
will only serve men of the world, and they will have to them-
selves, like householders, wives, sons and daughters. They
will not eschew lust so that they may not be born as
beasts, spirits and denizens of hell. They will address
homilies to fathers of families but will remain themselves
unbridled. "
Rastrapalaparipruccha, the Sutra of the Mahayana, published by L. Finot
Bib. Budd, II, St. Petersburg 1901; La Vallee Poussin "Le Museon" IV, 19C3,
p 3 6 ff. With the Pali Ratthapalasutra our Sutra has nothing in common
except the name Rashtrapala in Pali Ratthapala.
There must have been an entire class of such Pariprucchas or questions
among the Mahayanasutras like the Puranaparipruccha and so forth ; Nanjio
Catalogue, p. xiii ff. Finot, p. ix ff. 28 ff.
This vaticination of corrupt monasticism reminds us of a
similar one in the Pali Theragatha. And the Chinese transla-
tion of the Rastrapalaparipruccha made between 589 and 618
S5
shows that the circumstances depicted here must have arisen
already in the sixth .century. But the Sutra cannot be
much older than the Chinese translation as is evidenced by
the barbarous language, especially in the gathas, which is an
intermingling of Prakrit and bad Sanskrit, the artificial meter
and the untidy style.
The most important and the most reputed of all the
" philosophic " Mahayanasutras are the Prajnaparamitas^
sutras of perfection of wisdom. They treat of six perfections
(paramitas) of a Bodhisatva, but particularly of the Prajrta or
wisdom the supreme excellence. This wisdom, however,
consists in the recognition of the Shunva vada or negativism
which declares everything as " void ", denies Being as well as
non-Being and has for a reply to every question a " No ". It is
believed to have been at first a sutra of one hundred and
twenty-five thousand shlokas in which this wisdom was
inculcated in the shape of dialogues in which the Buddha was
the principal speaker. Subsequently this sutra was
abbreviated into a hundred thousand, twenty-five thousand, ten
thousand, and lastly eight thousand shlokas. According to
another tradition the sutra with eight thousand shlokas was
the original, it being subsequently gradually expanded. As a
matter of fact, we are acquainted with Prajnaparamitas of a
hundred thousand, of twenty-five thousand, of eight thousand,
of two thousand five hundred and of seven hundred shlokas.
In the Mahayana often as in the Hinayana there is mention of
ten but more frequently of six paramitas, viz., generosity
performance of duty, gentleness, intrepidity, meditation and
wisdom. (Dharmasamgrasa 17.)
(The Prajnaparamitas are prose works but in India it is
customary to measure even texts in prose by shlokas each
unit consisting of thirty-two syllables.)
(The Tibetan Sher-phyin is a literal translation of the
Shatasahasrika which has been quoted as Bhagavati in the
Shikshasamuccaya. It was translated into Chinese between
402 and 405 according to Anesaki (Le Museon VII, 1906).
This translation contains quotations from Pali texts (Bendajl
C. pp. 143-148 and JRAS 1898 p. 370.)
The senseless customs of embodying constant repetitions
which we find so annoying in the Pali suttas becomes in the
voluminous Prajnaparamitas so limitless and excessive that it
would be quite possible to strike out more than half of these
collossal works like the Shatasahasrika for the same sentences
and phrases recur times without number. Thus, for instance, it
is not only said in the introduction that out of the whole body
of the Buddha rays of light break forth and an immeasurable
effulgence is spread over the entire world 5 but it is repeated
of his teeth, bones, of each member and particle of his body
that rays of light issue from them to the east, the west and so
on, and in the case of each cardinal point the entire description
is repeated. It is not enough for these writers to say that
" everything is only name " •, but this everything is detailed to
exhaustion in interminable series of sentences. It is
conceivable that men should entertain the philosophical view
that .the world is not a reality and that all is negation and that
man is unable to express any verdict on any question except
in the shape of a negative •, but that people should from this
standpoint offer universal denial and write book after book
and thousands of pages might appear impossible. But this
impossibility is materialised in the Prajnaparamitas. This
extravagance for the sake of extravagance is explained by
the supposition that the monks scribbled so much because it
was with them a religious merit to transcribe as much as
possible of these sacred books and to write out of them to the
same extent. The same principle reiteration manifests itself
87
in Buddhistic art. Entire vast surfaces of rocks and caves
are covered with the images of the Buddha. As regards the
contents of these treatises the essential doc-trine in the
Hundred Thousand Prajnaparamitas is the same as in the
Vajracchedika Prajnaparamita. The latter resembles consi-
derable in form the Hinayana sutra. It consists of a few
pages in which the doctrine of these texts is condensed. As
in the voluminous Prajnaparamitas here also it takes the form
of a dialogue between the Buddha and Subhuti. The
Shunyata doctrine is not explored and no attempt is made to
inculcate it ; but it is simply repeatedly stated. There is no
pretence at argument. Starting from the ancient Buddhist
dogma of the non-Ego here not only the Ego but everything
else is denied, — even the doctrine of the Buddha and the
Buddha himself. This we read in the Vajracchedika (Ch. 13.)
The Vajraqchedika has been edited by Max Muller and
translated by him in the SBE. For Stein Fragments in
Khotan see JRAS 1903. It was translated into French by
Harlez (JA 1891). The same scholar printed and translated
the Manchu version (W7XM 1897). It was translated into
Chinese about 401. In Japan the Vajracchedika and the
Prajnaparamitahrdaya are the chief texts of the Shingon
sects. In the Prajnaparamitahrdaya metaphysics degenerate
into magical formulae. Fragments of the Vajracchedika in a
north Aryan translation and a Adhyardhashatika Prajna-
paramita in a Sanskrit recension with sections in the north
Aryan have been made known to us from Central Asia by
Leumann.
There are no doubt as many non-Buddhist readers who
see in utterances like those of Ch. 13 profound sense as those
who see nothing but nonsense in it. As a matter of fact it
need not be either one or the other, but just that " middle
doctrine " which proceeds in paradoxes in that it on one
83
hand asserts nihilism in the strictest sense of the word and
on the other so far recognises the phenomenal world as to
admit the relative truth of things and the doctrine becomes
comparatively intelligible only by the assumption of a dual
nature of verity, a superior and an inferior one as has been
clearly and significantly taught by Nagarjuna. It may be
noted that among those who are the least enthusiastic about
this phase of Buddhism is Earth who declares (RHR 18S2)
that " la sagesse transcendante, qui sait, qu'il n'y a ni choses
existantes ni non-existantes, ni de realite qui ne soit aussi une
non-realite, sagesse qu'ont proclammee et proclameront des
infinites de myriades d'arhats et de bodhisatvas qui ont etc et
n'ont pas ete, qui seront et ne seront pas 5 qui, grace a sa
science de Buddha, a sa vue de Buddha, sont percus, apercus,
connus du Buddha, lequel luimeme,. n'est ni existant ni non-
existant."
89
CHAPTER VIII.
The adherents of the Hinayana proclain the Prajnapara-
mita in a hundred thousand slokas to be
Nagarjuna. the latest Mahayanasutra and attribute its
authorship to Nagarjuna. The authority
for this is Taranatha, the Tibetan historian (p. 71), whose
work has been translated from the Tibetan by Scheifher.
So far the tradition may be correct in that it is an apocry-
phal Sutra issuing from the school of Nagarjuna, for it
consists, like all Prajnaparamitas, only of innumerable repeti-
tions of the principles of the Madhyamika system founded by
Nagarjuna. What appears in the dialogues of those Sutras
as somewhat abstruse and confused is expressed systema-
tically and with lucid clarity in the Madhyamakakarikas or
Madhyamikasutras of Nagarjuna. This principal work of
Nagarjuna, with the commentary by Chandrakirti called
Prasannapada, was published by L. de La Vallee Poussin,
in the St. Petersburgh Bibliotheca Buddhica, in 1903, and
the twenty-fourth chapter of the commentary has been
translated by the same Belgian scholar in the Melanges
Le Charles de Harlez. The Madhyamakakarika is a
systematic philosophical work of the class with which we
have been familiar in Brahmanic scientific literature. It is in
a metrical form to help the memory. It is composed as
Karikas to which the author himself usually appends
his own scholia. Now the commentary composed by
Nagarjuna himself to his work and the title of which
we know to be Akutobhaya is no longer extant in
Sanskrit but is known to us only in a Tibetan translation.
This valuable scholia has been translated from the Tibetan
by Max Walleser. Both the old commentaries of Buddha-
palita and Bhavaviveka are preserved only in the Tibetan
Tanjur. Candrakirti's Madhyamakavatara is also preserved
no where except in the Tanjur. It is a prolegomena not only
90
to the Madhyamika system but to the Mahayana philosophy
in general. This too has been made accessible to us by La
Vallee Poussin in his French version from the Tibetan
(Le Museon, viii, 1907, 249 ff. 5 xi, 1910, 271 if.) The
Sanskrit commentary on' the Madhyamikasutra, which we
possess, is the one by Candrakirti who probably lived in the
first half of the seventh century. Candrakirti and Candragomi
were contemporaries and rivals. Candragomi was a
disciple of Sthiramati who flourished at the close of the sixth
century. A contemporary of Sthiramati was Dharmapala.
A disciple of the latter knew Candrakirti, while Bhavaviveka,
the contemporary of Dharmapala, has been quoted by
Candrakirti (N. Peri La viede Vasubandhu, Extrait du BEFEO).
According to S. Ch. Vidyabhusana (Journal of the Buddhist
Text Society, v, 1897) Candrakirti, however, was a contem-
porary of Sankara. It is also from these philosophical Sutras
that we first come to know its doctrine which, originating
with the denial of the soul taught in the Theravada school,
came to repudiate both Being and non-Being and is, therefore,
designated the Middle Doctrine.
In this treatise the natural objection is placed in the
mouth of the opponents of Negativism :
'f a".is "Td" and 5 there i9 no
beginning and no end, then there could
possibly be no four " noble truths," no conduct of life on
the principles of recognition of these verities, no fruit of
good or bad deeds, no doctrine of the Buddha (Dharma), no
monastic order and, finally, no Buddha himself. Accordingly
the entire system of the Buddha's religion should fall to the
ground. To this Nagarjuna replies ; —
" The doctrine of the Buddha is based on two verities-
conventional truth, in which the profound sense is occult,
and truth in the supreme sense. Whoso does not know
91
the difference between these two truths does not understand
the deep contents of the Buddha's precepts. Only as based
on the truth of ordinary life can the supreme verity be
inculcated and only with the help of the latter can Nirvana be
attained," We see, indeed, no other possibility of reducing
to sense many a passage of the Prajnaparamitas which strikes
us as meaningless or preposterous except on the basis of its
accommodating itself in the history of philosophy to the not
unknown assumption of a two-fold truth. Vallee Poussin
gives us a sound presentment of this Madhyamika doctrine in
his « Buddhism " (pp. 189 ff., 290 ff. See also Anesaki, ERE,
iv, p. 838.).
Besides Madhyamakakarikas, many other works are
Other works attributed to Nagarjuna, whether rightly
attributed to or wrongly we are no longer able to
Nagarjuna. decide. Dharmasamgrapha passes for his
production. It is a small dictionary of Bhuddist technical
terms and the original Sanskrit text has been preserved to
us. It is edited by Kenjiu Kasawara, Max Muller and H
Wenzel. It is to be noted that half of the termini of this
Dharmasamgraha also occur in the Dharmasarirasutra
which was discovered in the sands of Central Asia by
Grunwedel and which has been published by Stonner (SBA,
1904, p. 1282 ff.). On the other hand, the Suhrttekha or
the " Friendly epistle "— a letter from Nagarjuna to a king on
the basic principles of the Buddhist religion in one hundred
and twenty-three verses— is known to us only in an English
translation from the Tibetan version, the original Sanskrit
having perished. (Wenzel in JPTS, 1886, p. 1 ff.). Unfortu-
nately we cannot determine who this king was to whom the
epistle is addressed although, according to our Chinese
sources, it was Satavahana, while the Tibetans call him
Udayana. It is noteworthy that the missive contains nothing
92
which might not also appear in the Pali canon, while its several
verses coincide verbally with the Pali Dhammapada and
similar texts. Many slokas are in harmony with well-known
Brahmanic proverbs. The Chinese pilgrim I-Tsing highly
extols this work of Nagarjuna and bears witness to its
being widely read and learnt by heart in India in his
days (Takakusu p. 158 ff.). The first Chinese translation of
the epistle dates from 481 A.D. I-Tsing himself prepared
a Chinese version of the epistle of Nagarjuna which he
despatched from India to a friend in China. ( Gp. cit. p. 166. ).
According to the biography of Nagarjuna translated
into Chinese in 405 by Kumarajiva,
Na2UflUI1 this Hindu master of Chinese was
born in Southern India in a Brahman
family. He studied the four Vedas and acquired all the
sciences. He had, however, the reputation of being likewise
a great wizard. By means of his sorcery he could make
himself invisible and intruded himself, followed by three com-
panions into the royal palace, where they offended the ladies
of the harem. They were discovered, the three colleagues of
Nagarjuna were executed and he himself escaped by just
previously having vowed to become a monk. He redeemed
the pledge, in ninety days studied all the three Pitakas
and mastered their meaning but was not satisfied with the
same and commenced to search for other Sutras till finally he
received the Mahayanasutra from a venerable hermit in the
Himalayas. With the assistance of Nagaraja, the sovereign
Serpent, he also came by a commentary on the Sutra. He
energetically propagated Buddhism in Southern India. His
biographer would have us believe that he was at the head of
the religious propaganda for over three hundred years
(Wassiljew, p. 232 ff.). The Tibetans, however, are still
more extravagant, and make him six hundred years old when
98
he died. Of these legends themselves much can be true ;
Nagarjuna, just like the somewhat earlier Ashvagosha, came
of a Brahmin origin. Very probably Nagarjuna lived at the
close of the second Christian century. Our authorities are
Rajatarangini (/ - 173), Kern ( Manual of Buddhism, 122 ff. ).
and Jacobi (JAOS, 31, 1911, p. 1 ff.). His work betrays
familiarity with Brahmanic knowledge. At any rate he must
have, as founder of a principal branch of the Mahayana-
Buddhism, enjoyed great respect so that centuries after him
in his case was represented 'the phenomenon familiar among
literatures of the world. To him were ascribed several works
which were intended to secure high reputation. Throughout
Northern India, Nagarjuna is also the Buddha " without the
characteristic marks," and his productions are quoted along
with " Sutras from the Buddha's own mouth." ( B. Nanjio
Twelve Japanese Buddhist Sects, p. 48 ff.). In the Chinese
Tripitaka, Nagarjuna is the reputed author of twenty-four
books. (S. Beal Ind. Ant. 16, 1887, p. 169 ff.). We expect
the translation of Nagarjuna's Catustava or four hymns from
the collaboration of Vallee Poussin and Thomas. Nevertheless,
Nagarjuna was as little as Ashvaghosha, the real founder of the
Mahayana. The Mahayana doctrine of the text inculcating
it must have appeared already in the first Christian century?
for we find translations of Mahayana manuals in Chinese in
the second century. Besides the Gandhara sculptural art,
which is the peculiar art of the Mahayana Buddhism of India,
had its development in the period between the rise of Christi-
anity and the four subsequent centuries. The most ancient
Chinese translation of a Buddhist text is the "Sutra of the
forty-two Articles" which is reported to have been prepared
in 67 A.D. by Kassapa Matanga from Indian, that is,
Sanskrit originals ( B. Nanjio Catalogue»No. 678 ). But we do
not know whether these were Mahayana texts. The earliest
Chinese translations of the Mahayana texts ^re those of the
94
Sukhavativyuha, between 148 and 170 A.D., of the Dasasa-
hasnka Prafnaparamihi, between 75 and 220 A.D. (B. Nanjio
Catalogue No. 235 and No. 5). Other Mahay ana texts were
rendered into Chinese between the third and the fifth century.
(Grunwedel Buddhist Art in India, pp. 81, 150 ff., 167).
Along with the biographies of Ashvaghosha and Nagar-
juna translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva
about 405 A.D., we come across a life of
Deva or Aryadeva who also is mentioned as a great master
of the Mahayana " in antiquity " by I-tsing and Hiuen-tsang*
But his " biography " is entirely legendary and of his works
all that is surviving in Sanskrit is a fragment of a dogmatic
poem which has the uncommon interest of being a polemic
directed against the Brahmanic ritual. It inveighs, for instance,
against the doctrine which assigns the power of purifying
sins by a bath in the Ganges. But the verses do not
contain anything specifically Mahayanistic (Haraprasad
Shastri,JASBVol. 67, 1898, p. 175 ff.) Otherwise all that
we know of Aryadeva is from quotations in Sanskrit and from
Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist literature. Cahdrakirti cites
Shataka-Catushataka and Shataka-Shastra of Aryadeva and
also Aryadevap..diya in his Madhyamakavritti. (La Valee
Poussin, pp. 16, 173, 552 and 393 ; also La Vallee Poussin,
Le Museon, p. 236 ff., on the confusion of the name of
Aryadeva with Candrakriti and the epithet of Nilanetra and
Kanadeva as attached to Aryadeva, see N. Peri, Apropos
de la date de Vasubandhu, p. 27 ff. Extract from BEFEO,
xi, 1911).
Asanga or Aryasanga was to the Yogacara school of
Mahayana Buddhism what Nagarjuna was
to the Madhyamika sect. The Yogacara
branch teaches Vijnanavada, which is a doctrine that nothing
95
exists outside our consciousness which consequently
repudiates Sunyavada or the doctrine of the void equally with
the reality of the phenomenal world. But at the same
time it admits in a certain sense the Being contained in
thought and consciousness. The subtle Bodhi can be
attained only by the Yogacara, that is, he who practices
Yoga ; and that, too, only gradually after the aspirant
has completed his career as a Bodhisattva in all the
ten stages ( ' dnsabhumi). The practice of Yoga or
mysticism which was already not quite foreign to Hinayana
Buddhism was reduced by Asanga to a systematic connection
with the Mahayana Buddhism. The principal text of this
doctrine is the Yogacarabhumisiistra, of which only one part,
the Bcdhisatt'uabhumi, is conserved in Sanskrit. The whole
work was regarded by the Yogacaras as a revelation by
Maitreya. It is a scholastic philosophical book of the class
of Abhidharma texts.
(On the doctrines of the Yogacara school see Vallee
Poussin, p. 200 ff •, Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism, London,
p. 125 ff. and Levi in the Introduction to his Translation of
Mahayana Sutralamkara. On the Yogacara literature in
Tibetan sources see Zerbatskoi, Le Museon VI, 1905, p. 144 ff.
The Bodhisattvabhumi, the old text-book of the Yogacara
school in English, by S. Bendall and Vallee Poussin, Le
Museon, VI, 1905, p. 38 VII, 213.)
As revealed also by Maitreya, or the future Buddha, is
More a^so regarded the Mahayana Sutralam-
philosopher kara \ but the scholar Sylvain Levi who
than poet. discovered the work fixes its authorship
on Asanga. And indeed, the entire text consisting as it does
of memorial verses or karikas and commentary or Tifca is a
production of Asanga. "Without being an important poet,
Asanga knew how to employ with ingenuity the Buddhist
96
Sanskrit idiom and often to make use of artistic ir.eter, stoks
and Arya strophies. But he was decidedly more a philosopher
than a poet. Even though in the last two chapters he glori-
fies the perfection of the Buddha and concludes with a hymn
(verse v) ', he displays in his scholastic enumeration of all the
excellencies of the Buddha, more erudition than inspired
veneration. Only in the ninth chapter in which Asanga
concentrates all his mental powers in a clear exposition of the
concepts of Bodhi and Buddhahood, does he relieve with
vividness and a lively imaginative diction the insipid
monotony. Thus, for instance, Bodhi, by means of which the
illuminates the world, is compared in a series of metaphors
with the sun.
Asanga, more properly Vasubandhu Asanga, is the
eldest of three brothers who were born in
Purusapura, modern Peshawar, in the
extreme north of India, as the sons of a Brahman of the
Kaushika family. They probably lived in the fourth
century and were all three adherents of the Sarvastivada
school* Takakusu places Vasubandhu between 420 and
500 (JRAS, 1905, p. 1 ff.). Wogihara assigns Vasubandhu
a date between 390 and 470 and Asanga somewhere between
375 and 450 (op. cit. p. 16). Sylvain Levi decides for the
first half of the fifth century as regards the activity of Asanga.
But N. Peri has made it probable that Vasubandhu was born
about 350 A.D. (Apropos de la date de Vasubandhu BEFEO
XI, 1911, Nos. 3-4.). The youngest son Vasubandhu
Virincivatsa is not important in literature. All the more
distinguished was the middle of the three brothers, Vasu-
bandhu, one of the most remarkable figures in the history of
the Buddhist letters. I-tsing reckons Asanga and Vasu-
bandhu among the celebrated men of middle ages, that is, the
period between the time of Ashvaghosha, Nagarjuna and
97
Aryadeva on the one hand and his own times on the other
Takakusu, p. 181.). A biography ofVasubandhu in which
that of his brother A sanga is also embodied was composed
by the Indian monk Paramartha (499-569) which was trans-
lated from Chinese by Takakusu in the learned French journal
Toung Pao (V., 1904, pp. 1 ff.). It was published as an
extract by Wassiljew in his most interesting Buddhism
which has been translated into French, German but still
awaits an Fnglish translator (German translation, p. 235 ff.).
Still more of a legendary nature than the Chinese is the
Tibetan biography incorporated with Taranatha's History of
Buddhism (107 fF.). Paramartha imported from Magadha
to China the works of Asanga and Vasubandhu in the year
5S9. With an astonishing erudition Vasubandhu combined a
great independence of thought. His maggnum opus, the
Abhidharmakosha, is unfortunately not preserved in the
original Sanskrit. We only know the Abhidharmakoshavya-
khya, which is a commentary on the work by Yashomitra and
the Chinese and Tibetan versions of the text. The oldest
Chinese translation is that by Paramartha, made between 563
and 567. A second rendering prepared between 651 and 654
originated with the celebrated Hiuen-Tsiang himself. The
Abhidharmakosha was a work treating of ethics, psychology,
metaphysics composed in Sutras and Karikas after the fashion
of Brahmanic philosophical manuals. The book presupposes
the Vibhashas or the texts of the school of the Vaibhashikas.
The Vibhashas are reputed to have been compiled by
Katyayaniputra and cast into a literary mould by Ashva-
ghosha. Despite the fact that theKoshaisa work of the
vSarvastivada School, which appertains to the Hinayana, it is
considered as an authority by other sects. The treatise has
been used by the Chinese and Japanese Mahayanists as a text
book and it has given rise to a voluminous commentary
literature,
98
For other authorities, consult Bag. Mitra, Nep. Buddh Lit., p. 3 ff.;
Bendall Catalogue, p. 25 ff. ; Burnouf. Introduction, p 502 ff. ; Sylvain Levi
ERE. 1, p. 20 and La Vallee Poussion in ERE IV, p. 129 ff.
Standing entirely on the soil of the Hinayana is
the Gathusamgrapha of Vasubandhu with which we are
acquainted in its Tibetan version. It is a collection of
maxims with an intelligent commentary, excerpts from which
have been cited by A. Schiefner. These 24 Gathas are
apophthegms conceived wholly in the spirit of the Lhani-
mapada. The commentary shows us the philosopher Vasu-
bandhu also as a humorous evangelist and the book is other-
wise justly attributed to him. Here is an illustration :
" A jackal used to follow a lion because it yearned for
the remnants of flesh devoured by him.
hum ur* Once upon a time the lion was hungry, and
having killed a large bear, called upon
the jackal to carry it. Now as the jackal was too feeble to
bear the load and at the same time was afraid lest the lion in
his anger should put it to death, could not make up its
mind to agree to the demand. But it knew that the lion was
proud and said : " In order to carry this burden two things
are necessary, to groan and to bear the load. I cannot do
both at the same time. You must take up one of the two."
As the lion was proud and was not willing to groan, he asked
the jackal to groan and agreed to carry the load himself.
Accordingly the lion bore the burden and the jackal followed
groaning after the lion. Just in the same way I bear the
burden of the preaching of the doctrine, but you are only in
the position of assenting and say, That is so."
Schiefner op, cit. p. 582 ; for Yasubaudhu'u Qathasalngrapua, Melanges
Aaiatiques, VII (Bulletin XXIV, St. Peteraburg, 1878) p. 559 ff.
As a philosopher Vasubandhu also wrote a discourse to
Opponent of combat the Samkhya philosophy. It is
Samkhya called the Paramartha Saptati or Seventy
philosophy. yerses of Supreme Verity. The Sanskrit
original has perished, but it would appear to be a refutation
of the Sarnkhyasaptati of Ishvarakrishna. Paramartha
mentions a heretic named Vindhyavasha as the author of the
Samkhya book against which Vasubandhu's polemic was
directed. It is remarkable, however, that to the Chinese also
Vasubandhu is the reputed critic of Ishvarakrishna's work.
(Takakusu,T'oung Pau, 1904, p. 15 ff.-, BEFEO, Vol. IV
1904, p. 1 ff. >, JRAS, 1905, p. 16 ff. According to Takakusu
Vindhyavasa is identical with Ishvarakrishna.)
It was not till late in life that Vasubandhu was converted
to the Mahayana by his brother. Now he repented, his
biography relates his earlier depreciation of the Mahayana so
much that he was prepared to cut off his tongue, but his
brother suggested to him that it would be a superior penance
to employ henceforward his tongue with as conspicuous
success for the elucidation of the Mahayana principles as he
had done to combat its doctrine previously. Vasubandhu
acted up to the counsel and wrote after the death of Asanga a
large number of commentaries on the Sadkarmaptmdarika
the Prajnaparamita and other Mahayana Sutras together with
other learned works, as to whose existence we know only from
their renderings in Chinese and Tibetan. Paramartha praises
the charm and the convincing power of his works and T^inds
up with these words :
"Accordingly, all who study the Mahayana and the
Hinayana in India use the productions of Vasubandhu as
their text-books. There is nowhere a promulgator of the
doctrine of Buddism belonging to another school or in a
100
heretical sect who is not seized with fear and perturbation as
soon as he hears his name. He died in Ayodhya at the age of
eighty. Although he led a secular life his true character was
hard to understand."
(For other authorities, consult Raj. Mitra Nep. Buddh
Lit., p. 3 ff. ; Bendall Catalogue p. 25 ff. 5 Burnouf Intro-
duction, p. 502 ff. ; Sylvain Levi, ERE 1, p. 20, and La Valiee
Poussin in ERE, IV, p. 129 ff.)
A treatise on the doctrine of the Vijnanavadis in twenty memorial verses
with a commentary called Vim^hakakatika Prakarana is translated from the
Tibetan by La Valiee Poussin (Museon, 1912, p. 53 ff.) Takakusu, T'oung
Pao, 1904, p. 27.
To the School of Asanga belongs Candragomi who as
a "grammarian, philosopher and poet,
Candragomi. enjoyed high renown in the Buddhist
literary world. He was a contemporary of
Candrakirti whose doctrine he assailed and was alive at the
time of I-tsing's visit to India in 673. According to Tara-
natha who has got a considerable deal of legendary nature
to report about him, he composed innumerable hymns and
learned works. Of the literary productions we own only a
religious poem in the form of an epistle to his disciple, the
Shishya Lekha Dharma Kavya. In this the Buddhist
doctrine is propounded in the elegant style of Kavya.
Minayeff, JRAS, 1899, p. 1133 ff., assigns him the close of the fourth and
beginning of the fifth century. B. Liebich, WZKM 13, 1999, 308 ff., places
him between 465 and 544. But for Sylvain Levi's views, BEFEO, 1903,
p. 38'ff. see above.
The most conspicuous amongst the later apostles of
Mahayana Buddhism, who also distinguish-
Shantideva. ed himself as a poet, is Shantideva
who lived probably in the seventh
century. If we Credit Taranatha he was born in Saurashtra
101
or modern Gujarat, as the son of a king; was impelled
by the goddess Tara herself to renounce the throne, the
Bodhisattva Manjushri himself in the guise of a Yogi initiating
him into the sciences ; became a prime minister to the king
Pancasimha and ended by taking to monastic life. Tara-
natha ascribes to him the three works, Shikshasamuccaya,
Sutrasamuccaya and Bodhicary avatar a.
Taranath, op. cit. 162 ff., although we know of a Sutrasamuccaya only by
Nagarjuna, see Winternitz WZKM, 1912, p. 246 ff.
Taranath, op. cit. 162 ff., although we know of a Sutra-
samuccaya only by Nagarjuna, see Winternitz WZKM, 1912,
p. 246 ff.
The Shikshasamuccaya or the Compendium of Doctrine
is a manual of Mahayana Buddhism which consists of 27
Karikas or memorial verses and a large commentary compiled
by the author at the same time with the Karikas.
We purposely say that the commentary by Shantideva is
" compiled " because it is composed almost entirely of
quotations and extracts from the sacred texts which he has
grouped together round his Karikas and arranged in
chapters.
The work accordingly displays an extraordinary erudi-
tion and vast reading but little originality. However, it is
most perfectly adapted to be an introduction especially to
the technical study of the Mahayana on account of the
numerous and often large citations from texts, which have
perished, of great value. This is more especially so because
Shantideva proves himself in such cases, as we can check
very exact and reliable in his quotations.
The basic thought of the work and in fact the core of
Core of t^ie Mahayana ethics is given expression
doctrine. to in the first two Karikas. They are ; —
102
" When to myself just as well as to others fear and
pain are disagreeable, then what difference is there between
myself and others that I should preserve this self and not
others ? He who would make an end of sorrow, would attain
to the farther end of joy, must fortify the roots of faith
and set his heart determined on enlightenment."
The Siksasamuccaya has been edited by the English
scholar C. Bendall in the BMotheca Buddhica Series of
St. Petersberg with a lucid masterly introduction and a
conspectus of the contents. The edition is based on a
unique manuscript but the editor has brought to his task
his rare knowledge of the Tibetan into which the original
Sanskrit was translated, between 816 and 838, the Sanskrit
being written most probably in the middle of the seventh
century.
By means of numerous extracts from the Mahayana-
sutras Santideva proves the salutariness
Importance of of Bodhicittam, or the heart set upon
the book.
enlightenment, the determination to enter
upon the path of a Bodhisattva with a view thereafter to
become a Buddha. But he who has made this high resolve
must exercise self-denial and practice self-sacrifice for the
sake of others to the uttermost limit of possibility. He must
be prepared to give up for the sake of others not only his
worldly possessions but his personal salvation hereafter. He
must not shrink from appropriating to himself the sins and
sorrows of other creatures in hell. The Bodhisattva must
say:
" I take upon myself the sorrows of all beings. I have
resolved to undertake them, I bear them, I do not turn away
from them, I do not fly from them, I do not tremble, I do not
quake, I fear not, I re-trace not my steps backwards, I do
not despair. And why so ? It is imperative that I assume
103
the burden of all beings. I have no inclination for pleasures
for I have made avow to save all creatures. Liberate
I must all creatures from the primeval forest of birth, from
the primeval forest of old age, from the primeval forest of
sickness, from the forest- of heresy, from the forest of all
good deeds, from the primeval forest born of ignorance.
I have not thought merely of my own emancipation, for
I must save all creatures by means of the ferry, of the
resolve for omniscience, from the flood of Samsara. I have
made up my mind to abide for interminable myriads of seons
on the spots of torture. And why so ? Because it is better
that I alone should suffer than that all these creatures should
sink into the state of torment. I deliver myself up as a
pledge."
The above is an extract from the Vojradhvajasutra ( La
Vallee Poussin, Roudhisme, p. 322 f.
Other virtues. 337 f). Next after compassion rank all
other perfections ( Paramrtas ) necessary
to the pure conduct of a Bodhisattva,— meditation standing
at the head of the list. It leads to supreme sagacity which
is an insight into the " Void " or Sunyata, to the understanding
of the Nil and the faith which has its expression in the
adoration of the Buddha in the building of s tup as and the
like. And yet all this, notwithstanding, his mind must ever
be directed to the salvation of other creatures " May I bring
all creatures into the conditions of Nirvana ! " This has to
be his constant thought. Santideva here quotes from the
Ratnumeghasiitra ( op. cit. 348 ).
Bendall gives a catalogue of the numerous texts which
Quotations are strung together in Siksasamuccaya
from previous especially those which are represented by
a large number of citations or by copious
extracts. Thus the Akasagarbhasutra is drawn upon to
104
dilate upon various kinds of sin, including the five criminal
transgressions of a king, the eight offences of a Adikarmika-
Bodhisattva and so on ( p. 59 ff.). On sins and penances two
passages, a short one and a longer are reproduced from the
Upaliparipruccha (pp. 147 f, 168 ff.). Tolerably numerous are
theextracts from theUgraparipruccha orUgradataparipruccha,
for instance, on the obligations of married life (p. 78) and
on the life of the ascetic in the forest. The latter subject is also
treated of in an extract (p. 193 ff.) from the Candrapradipasutra
as the Samadhiraja is here called and which is frequently
laid under contribution. Of frequent occurrence is the Ganda-
vyuha on the noble friend (p. 34), and on the virtues of him
who is resolved upon Bodhi (p. 101 ff.). From the Vimala-
kirtinirdesha, which is several times depended upon, we get at
a large piece on the virtues of a Bodhisattva (p. 324 ff.). Santi-
deva quotes as an independent text the Avalokanusutra which
is embedded in the Mahavastu. A long passage from the
Ratnolkadharani on the merits of a Bodhisattva furnishes us
a " Dharani " which is no mere incantation and which can
hardly be differentiated from a Sutra. This citation is also
interesting as indicating the avocations and names of the
ascetic orders (p. 331 ff.). The 'more important of the other
works quoted in the Siksasamuccaya by Santideva are the
Tathagataguhyasutra. Dasabhumikasutra, Dharmasamgi-
tisutra, several recensions of the Prajnaparamita, Karuna-
pundarika, Ratnakutasutra, Ratnamegha, Lankavatara,
Lalitavistara, Salistambasutra, Saddharmapundarika, Suvarna-
prabhasa, etc.
The Ranakutasntra is said to have been translated into Chinese before
170 A.D. As to its contents as given in the Cliine,->e renderi'iip see \Viissiljew-
Buddhismns, p. 167 ff.
105
Although the Siksasamuccaya is the production of a
scholar of little originality and the Bodhi-
Moral ideal. caryavatara is the creation of an eminent
poet, there is no question but that we
owe both to the same author. Apart from external grounds
the two books so fundamentally different in their character
take the same standpoint as regards the doctrine. In both
the texts the moral ideal is the Bodhisattva who has resolved
to attain to enlightenment, who strives to obtain his object
in the first place by means of inexhaustible compassion for
all creatures, and secondly, by means of adoration of the
Buddha and who perceives supreme wisdom in the recognition
of " Vanity " or Shunyata.
The text of the Bodlticaryai-atara was edited by the Russian scholar I. P.
Minayeff in the Zapiski. and it has also been reprinted in the Journal of the
Bhuddhist Text Society. La Vallee Poussin published for the Bibliotheca
Indica Prajnakaramati's commentary on the Bodhicaryavatara and also a
translation of it.
Some of the passages occurring in the Shiksasamuccaya have been taken
over by Shantideva in his Bodhicaryavatara, e.g., Shiksasamuccaya, p. 155 ff.
Bodhiearyavutarn, vi 120 if. Note that in the Bodhicaryavatara (V. 105)
Shantideva recognises the necessity of a study of his Shiksasamuccaya.
Earth (RHR 42, 1900, p. 55) characterises Shiksnsam-ucoaya a« "la scholas-
tique v«rbeuse et delayoe usque ad nauseam " whilst he (RHK, 1S93. p. 259 ff.)
greatly appreciates the Bodhicaryavatara as a counterfoil to the " Imitatio
Christ!" of Thomas a Kempis. The Bodhicaryavatnra teaches by no means
how to imitate the Buddha but how to become a Buddha. Compare Poacher
RHR, 1908, vol. 57 p. 241 ff.
The Shiksasamuccaya expands itself in learned garrulity
into a flood of quotations. The Eodhicarva-
contrasted vatara which means admission to the
Bodhi life, or the conduct of life leading to
enlightenment, not seldom rises to the loftiest strains of
religious poetry. Shantideva himself disclaims any literary
106
object for his production. He observes that he composed it
" for his own satisfaction " or with the view that it may be
of use to any one so inclined. But he gives expression to his
religious sentiments with such warmth and inspiration that he
becomes a poet almost in spite of himself.
The work begins with the glorification of the Bodhicitta,
meditations on enlightenment and the resolve to become a
Buddha for the sake of the salvation of all creatures. Thus
the poet says ( i. 8) :
"When you overcome the many hundreds of birth
sorrows, when you free all beings from their misery, when
you enjoy many hundreds of pleasures, then do not, ever on
any account, relax your thought of the " Bodhi. "
The poet pours out in inspired words his sentiments,
after having thus directed his attention to enlightenment. He
voices his inner joy at the good deeds of all creatures regard-
ing their emancipation. He prays to all the Buddhas of all
the quarters of the world that they may kindle the lamp of
religion for all the ignorant. He implores all the Bodhisattvas
to delay their own Nirvana. He supplicates for the liberation
of all creatures and finally offers himself up to all the
creatures :
" By virtue of the merit which I have acquired through
good deeds, may I bring mitigation to the sorrows of all
creatures. May I be medicine to the sick. May I be their
physician and their nurse so long as their malady endures.
May I be a protection unto those that need it, a guide to such
as have lost their path in the desert and a ship and a ford and
a bridge to those who seek the farther shore. And may I be
a lamp unto those that need light, a bed of repose to those
that want rest 5 a servitor to all the creatures requiring
service." (Ill, 6 ; 7 j 17 ; 18).
107
The obligations that the Bodhisattva lays upon himsel f
(chapters iv to viii) include the pledge to
ThobI?gations!S strive after BodhL He is responsible for
the weal of all beings. He must exert
himself for all perfections (Paramitas). Before all he must be
prepared for self-sacrifice. He must likewise observe all the
regulations of the religion and all the precepts of good conduct
as prescribed in the holy scriptures which he must accordingly
study with energy. And . here certain texts are particularly
recommended to the aspirant (v. 103, ff.). The worst of our
enemies are anger, hatred and passion. We have to fight
them. It is they who do us evil, not our foes. The latter we
must love like all other creatures. For when we love the
creatures we rejoice the Buddhas •, in injuring them we injure
the Buddhas. " When some one does me an evil turn, that is
only the fruit of some previous act or karma. Why should
I be wrath with him ?" We should not hate even those who
destroy the images of the Buddha, the stupas, nay even the
good religion itself.
To the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas who have so often
Self and ruined their bodies for the sake of other
others : the creatures and even have repaired to the
erence. inferno, to them he is beneficent who is
kind to other creatures. Therefore must one show only
kindness even to those who have done him an evil" turn (see
VI ; 33 •, 68 •, 120 ; 124 5 126). The Bodhisattva from the first
diligently strives to avoid any difference between his Ego and
others •, and to identify himself wholly and entirely with
others. This is a function which the Bodhisattva has
particularly to practice.
" I must destroy the sorrow of the stranger because it
pains like one's own grief 5 I must therefore do good to others
because they are beings like myself." Just as a man loves
108
his hands and feet because they are his members, so also all
living beings have the right of affection inasmuch as they
are all members of the same world of animate creation. It is
only mere usage which makes us look upon this our body,
which in fact does not exist, as our Ego. Exactly similarly
by habit we can bring ourselves to see our Ego in others
(VIII 90 ff.).
With admirable eloquence, which can only spring mroe
reverential conviction, Shantideva manages
Psychic to acjvar,ce almost as an obvious proposi-
identity.
tion that to the pious disciple of the
Bodhi there is complete " equality between others and one's
self," technically called paratmasamata and he finally reduces
it to " transformation of the neighbour into oneself," known
as partatmaparivartana (La Vallee Poussin, ERE 11, 749,
752 f.).
The ninth Chapter is of a less philosophically ambitious
nature and its contents are pure learning.
Philosophical j it th philosophical doctrine of the
doubt.
void or nihilism is developed according
to the Madhyamika system. This chapter has been edited
with the commentary by La Vallee Poussin in his
Rouddhisme. However irreconcilable the negativism of this
system may appear to us with the renunciation and self-
sacrifice with reference to other creatures taught in the first
chapters, nevertheless with Shantideva also the familiar
doctrine of the difference between the two varieties of Truth
is the means by which to bridge the apparent contradiction.
In the end everything in the world is vacuity and nullity. But
it is only the delusion as regards the Ego, the Atmamohat
which is pernitious. The delusion as regards duties, Karva
mohu, is beneficent (La Vallee Poussin Bouddhisme, p. 109 ff.)*
109
Still it is sufficiently strange that after all the teaching of
active compassion the poet comes to the conclusion :
(ix, 152 f.).
u Since all being is so vacuous and null, what can, what
shall he, acquired ? Who can he honoured, who can he
reproached ? How can there he joy and sorrow, the loved
and the hateful, avarice and non-avarice ? Wherever you
search for them you find them not."
It seems to he the curse of Indian mentality that when-
ever it scares too high it lands itself in
Reaction. absurdity. Thus the legends of sacrifice
often turn into ludicrous tales and so does
the whole fabric of the philosophy of Mahayana end in—
Nothing. On the other hand, with some justification we can
look upon as a later accretion the tenth chapter which with its
invocations to Vajrapani and Manjushri and its panegyric of
acts show a spirit totally counter to that of the other chapters.
Already Taranatha reports that there was some suspicion
regarding the genuineness of this chapter. (La Vallee
Poussin, Bodhicaryavatara tr. p. 143 f.).
110
CHAPTER IX.
We have already pointed out the great similarity between
Stotras, Mahay anas utras and Puranas. And just
Dharanis, as we know that numerous Mahatmyas
Tantras. and stotras are jojned on to the Puranic
literature so we find many analogous texts in the literature
of the Mahayana. The Buddhist Svayambhu-purana, the
Mahatmya of Nepal, and like productions are well known.
Svayambhu, or the Adibuddha, or the primeval Buddha, is here
the Buddha turned into God in a monotheistic' sense 5 and the
Purana recounts entirely in the style of the Vaishnavite and
Shaivaite Mahatmyas legends of the origin of the country
of Nepal, the shrine of Svayambhu and numerous places of
pilgrimage or tirthas capable of performing cures and miracles
and protected by snake deities or Nagas.
See also R. Mitra Nepalese Buddhist Literature, p. 248 ff ; Hodgson
p. 115, ff.; Sylvain Levi, Le Nepaul, IS*. 5, 1, p. 208 ff.
Besides, the Buddhist stotras or hymns are in no way
Hymns : differentiated from those which are devot-
Buddhist and ed to the veneration of Vishnu or Shiva.
Hindu. Such stray stotras jlave found admit-
tance into older texts like the Mahavastu and others. But
we have a complete collection of such hymns, some of which
are in the Kavya style and in metrical form. An example is
the KaLyanapanca-vimshahk^ , the Twenty-iive-blessings hymn
in twenty-five Sragdhara verses, by a poet called Amrita-
nanda, and the Lokesvarashutaka, a hymn to the Lord of the
world in a hundred verses by another poet called Vajradatta.
A selection of forty-nine litanies relating to Shakyamuni and
Other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is the buprabhatastava.
A hymn of the kind which from of old has been so common
in India consisting of a succession of names or honorific
epithets to the god is the Paramarthanamasamgiti*
Ill
An untold number of Nepalese deities are invoked for the sake of their
blessings. See H. H. Wilson, Works II., p. II. ff.
Raj. Mitra, Nep. Eudh, Lit., pp. 99, 112, '239, 175.
Stotras which are still only in manuscripts are Samantabhadrapraiudha'na ,
MrgatkatabutvH, Saptabuddh(iitotra and so forth.
Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Bodheian Library, Vol. II, by
M. Wintirnitz and A. B. Keith, Oxford, 1905, p. 255 ff. The Saptabuddha-
stotra has been translated by Wilson, Works Vol. II, p. 5 ff.
A large number of Stotras are sacred to the Buddhist
goddess Tara, the saviour, the female
Tara and her counterpart of Avalokiteshvara. A pane-
poet devotees.
gync composed entirely in Kavya style by
the Kasmirian poet Sarvajnamitra on Tara is the Sragd/iara-
stotra, otherwise called the Aryatarasragdharastotra, which
is in thirty-seven strophes. Sraghadhara or the bearer of
garland is at once an epithet of Tara and the name of a meter
in which the poem is composed. The poet lived in the first
half of the eighth century. According to the legend he was a
personage distinguished for his liberality and according to
Taranatha a son-in-law of the king of Kashmir. After he had
given away in charity all his treasures he is reported finally
to have had recourse to the life of an itinerant monk. Once
he happened to encounter a Brahman on the way who appealed
to him in his poverty and besought him for money for the
marriage of his daughter. In order to furnish mone^ to the
man Sarvajnamitra sold himself to a king who had just
instituted a great human sacrifice for which he was in need of
a hundred men. But when the poet heard the laments of
his brothers in sorrow with whom he was about to be
sacrificed he sung his hymn to Tara and the goddess des-
cended and rescued the hundred victims condemned to death.
Whilst the Sragdharas to tra has poetic value the Aryatara-
namashatottarashataka&totra or the eulogy in one hundred and
112
eight names of the noble Tara is only a litany of names
and epithets of the goddess. The Ekavimshatistotra, the
song of praise in thirty-one or twenty-one strophes is but
a loose string of invocations to the goddess Tara.
According to L. A. Waddell, JRAS, p. 63 ff , the cult of Tara was
introduced about 600 A.D,
History of Buddhism, p. 168 ff.
These three stotras have been edited and translated by
O. de Blonay, Materiaux pour servir a 1'histoire de la deesse
Buddhique Tara (Bibl. de 1'ecole des hautes etudes, fasc. 107).
The Sragdharastotra with a commentary and two Tibetan
versions have also been edited by Satis Chandra Vidya-
bhusana. In the introduction the editor enumerates no less
than ninety-six texts relating to Tara. Of these only
sixty-two are preserved in Tibetan translation. A great
adorer of this goddess Tara was also Candragomi whom
we mentioned above and to whom a Tarasadhan shataka
has been attributed. (Blonay, p. 17 f.)
A great and essential element of the Mahayanistic
Dharanis or literature is constituted by Dharanis or
Necromantic magical formula;. The necessity for
formulae for exorcisms, and charms for
blessing and witchcraft which was taken into account in
the earliest ages in the Vedic Mantras, especially
those of the Atharvaveda, was too vigorously working in
the Indian popular mind for Buddhism to be altogether devoid
of it. We already know how the Buddhists of Ceylon
employ some of their most charming suttas as Parittas or
Pirits. In a similar fashion the Mahayanistic Buddhists in
India transforms to some extent the sacred texts themselves
into necromantic charms. To these we have to add innumer-
able invocations to the numerous deities in the Mahayana
113
of a Buddhistic or Hindu origin and— last but not least— the
favourite mysterious words and syllables already occurring
in the sacrificial mysteries of the Yajurveda. An instance
of a Sutra composed for magical objective is the Meghasuira.
It commences, as do other Mahayanasutras, with the words :
" So have I heard, once upon a time the Master was
dwelling in the palace of the snake princes Nanda and
Upanda." It proceeds to recount how the serpent deities
made worship to the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas upon
which one of the serpentine kings thus interrogated the
Exalted One :
" How, Lord, may all the sorrows of all the snakes be
assuaged and how may the snakes so rejoice and be happy
that they may shower down rain over India at the proper
time and thereby help the growth of grass, scrubs, vegetation
and trees, cause to sprout all seeds and cause all sap to well
up in trees, thus blessing the people in India with
prosperity ? " Rejoicing over the enquiry the Buddha
replies: —
" By means of a religious exercise, Dharma, Oh King
of Snakes, all the sorrows of all the snakes may be instantly
assuaged and they may be blessed with prosperity."
" Which religious exercise is this ? " " It is Benevolence,
Maitri. The gods and men, Oh Prince of Serpents, who
live in such benevolence will not be burnt by fire, wounded
by sword, drowned in water, killed by poison, overpowered
by a hostile army. They sleep in peace ; they wake in tran-
quillity •, protected they are by their own virtue. Therefore,
Oh Prince of Serpents, thou must be actuated with
benevolence as regards thy body, with benevolence as regards
thy speech, with benevolence with regard to thy thought.
But further. Oh Prince of Snakes, thou must put into
114
practice the Dharani called Sarvasukhanduda, the Giver-of-all-
happiness. This assuages all the pain of all the serpents,
lends all sanity, brings down upon this India rain showers at
the right season and helps the growth of all grass, scrubs,
vegetables and trees, causes all seeds to sprout and all sap
to well up." " And how does this Dharani run ?"
And here follow the Dharanis proper. They consist of
numerous invocations to female deities like the Preserver, the
Conserver and others to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, with
interlarded apostrophes like " Clear away the wicked, purify
the way," and adjurations to snakes like •' Come ye great
snakes, rain it down over India"', and finally isolated and
unintelligible syllables such as " Sara sire sire suru suru
naganam Java Java jivi jivi juvu juvu, etc." At the end comes
again a description of the wizards' rites which are performed
with these Dharanis, and the assurance that in times of a
draught there is no better means of calling down a shower of
rain than the use of these Sutras.
A much simpler form of an adjuration to snakes, which,
however, is supposed to act as an antidote to snake poison
is to be found in the Vinayapitaka, Cullavagga V, 6, where
the snakes are tranquillized by the Buddhistic benevolence
called Metta in Pali and Maitri in Sanskrit. (See also Jataka
293 and Digha Nikaya, 32.) A Sutra similar to the Meghasutra
is the Dishasvastikasutra which is preserved in a fragment
discovered at Turfan in Chinese Turkistan in the Uigurian
language, (Tishastvustik by W. Radloff and Baron A. von
Steail-Holstein Bibl. Buddhica, XII, St. Petersburg, 1910).
The Dharanis often appear as parts of a Sutra in
which the circumstances are reported under which they
were revealed. But there are also numerous Dharanis
which are preserved in individual manuscripts, and, on the
115
other hand, entire large collections of Dharanis. In these we
find formulae of exorcisms against the influence of evil
spirits, poison, snakes and demons 5 charms for healing the
sick and for longevity j magical utterances which bring
success in war and others which bring it about that a man is
reborn in the paradise of Sukhavati, that a man comes to
no evil birth, that a man is freed from sins. There are
also Dharanis by means of which one can charm a
Bodhisattva or protect oneself from infidelity. Not only can
wind and water be influenced by Dharanis but they can effect,
according to wish, the birth of a son or daughter. An
unusual favourite in Nepal is the Pancaraksha or the Five-fold
Protection which is a collection of five Dharanis : (1) Maha-
pratisara, a protection against sin, malady and other evils 5 (2)
Mahasahasrapramardini, against the evil spirts 5 (3) Maha-
mayuri, against snake poison*, (4) Mahashitavati against hostile
planets, wild animals and venomous insects and (5) Maharak-
sha, against diseases. Such Dharanis as serve against all
manner of evil powers are frequently employed also as
amulets.
Dharani literary means " a means to hold fast " especially a spirit or a
secret power. It does not signify " a formula possessing great efficacy " as
interpreted by Burnouf and Wilson. Burnouf deals in detail with Dharanis;
Introduction, pp. 466, 482 ff . ; Wassiljew Der Buddhismus, p. 153 ff., 193 ff.,
217 ; La Vallee Poussin Bouddhisme, Etudes et Materiaux, p. 199 ff.: C. Bendall
JRAS 1880, p. 286 ff. A Mahameghasutra was translated into Chinese between
397 and 439 and other translations were made between 589 and 618 and 746-
771. B. Nanjio Catalogue Nos. 186-188, 244, 970.
For instances ofDharanimantra, Raj. Mitra Nep. Buddh.
Lit., p. 80 f., and Dharani Collections, pp. 93 f. 174, 176, 267 f.,
283, 291 f. Numerous MSS. are also registered in Bendall's
Catalogue. La Vallee Poussin conjectures (JRAS, 1895, p.
433 ff.) that the Dharani called Vidyadharapitaka which is
quoted in the Adikarmapradipa is the same as the Dharani-
pitaka. A like Dharanipitaka is said to have been included
116
in the canon of the Mahasanghikas according to Hiuen-Tsiang
(Kern Manual, p. 4).
(Raj. Mitra. Nep. Buddh. Lit., pp. 164 ff., 173 f. Winter-
nitz and Keith, Catalogue of Sanskirit Manuscripts in the
Bodleian Library, Vol. II, p. 257 ff.)
In the Nepalese law courts the Buddhist people are
sworn on the Pancaraksha (Hodgson Essays, p. 18).
Many Dharanis are only a kind of philosophical Sutras,
Sanskrit the doctrines of which they are intended to
Dharanis in present in a nutshell, but in the process
it becomes less a question of the
substance of the doctrine than words which are mysterious
and unintelligible. Of this variety are the two Prajnaparami-
tahridayasutras, the Sanskrit texts of which are enshrined in
the palm leaves in the ancient cloister of Horiuzi in Japan since
609 A.D. These Sutras inculcate the hrdaya or the heart
of the Prajnaparamita which is a mantra to assuage all pains,
which embodies the perfection of all wisdom and which runs
thus : " Oh Lord, thou that hast gone, gone, gone to the
further shore, gone entirely to the further shore, hail.'* This
is by the way nothing but an erroneous ethymology of the
term Paramita. Even this apostrophe which may be said in
a certain measure to represent the essence of the negative
doctrine of Prajnaparamitasutras stands on no more elevated
spiritual level than the Ushnishamjayadharani which is
likewise bequeathed to us by the palm leaves of Horiuzi
and consists merely in a series of unintelligible invocations.
The ancient palm leaves containing the Prajnaparaniitahridayasutra and
the Ushnishavjayadharani, edited by Max Mtiller and B. Najio (Ahecdota
Oxoniensia, Aryan Series, Vol. I, part 111), Oxford, 1884, SBE, vol. 49, part
II, p. 145 ff.
The Ganapatihridayadharani (Raj. Mitra Nep. Budh Lit., p. 89 f.) is
addressed to the Shaivit god Ganapati, although it is "revealed by the
Buddha,?
117
These Dharanis have found wide and deep admission into,
the ancient Mayahanasutras. We find them
in chaPters 21 and 26 of the Soddhar-
mapundafika which are later interpola-
tions and in the last two sections of the Lanka-oatara^ one in
the oldest Chinese rendering made in 443 A.D. Accordingly
we cannot consider the Dharanis to be altogether younger
products. We meet with them in the Chinese translations
dating from the fourth century. It may be conjectured, how-
ever, that originally they were unintelligible Sutras which
dispensed with the Buddhistic doctrine just as do the Parittas
of the Pali literature. But gradually the unintelligible
mysterious syllables acquired prime importance and became
the core, the bija, which lay concealed in the magical potency
of the formula. And finally under the influence of Shaivit
Tantras they became powerful thaumaturgic, and the
essential elements in Buddhistic Tantras which originally
they were not.
The Tantras, however, are a branch of Buddhistic litera-
ture which is worth consideration as1 a testimony to the
complete mental decadence in Buddhism. They treat partly
of rites, Kriyatantra, and ordinances, Caryatantra, and partly
of the secret doctrine, Yogatantra, intended for the Yogi.
The best of these works belong to the former class in which
the ancient Brahmanic ritual is revived. Of this category is
the Adikarmapradipa, a book which describes in the style of
the Brahmanic manuals of ritual (Grhyasutras, Karma-
pradipas) the ceremonies and religious functions, which have
to be performed by the Adikarmaka-Bodhisattva, that is, the
adherent of the Mahayana, an aspirant after spiritual
illumination.
118
The Adikarmapradipa is made up of the Sutra text
technically known as the m ulasutra with a
The Adikarma- running commentary incorporating prescript
tions regarding the initiatory ceremony
for the disciple who may be a layman or a monk, sprinkling
with water, ablutions and prayers, and further rules on gargling
the mouth, brushing the teeth, morning and evening prayers,
offering of water to the souls of the departed (Pretas), the
giving of charity dinners, worshipping of the Buddha and
other sacred creatures, the reading of the Prajnaparamita,
meditations and the rest, which are to be practised by the
candidate or the neophite as contradistinguished from the full
Yogi.
To the Kriyatantra texts also belongs the Ashtamivrata-
Varietics of vidhana which contains the ritual to be
Tantras ; Yogi's observed on the eighth day of each
fortnight. The rite entails the drawing of
mystic diagrams and movements of the hand, oblations and
prayers with mysterious syllables which are addressed not
only to the Buddha and the Bodhisattva, but also to the
Shaivit deities.
Wilson, Works II, p. 31 ff.
But a majority of the Tantras belong to the second
category, that of the Yogatantra. These treatises are derived
indeed from the mysticism ot the Madhyamika and Yogacara
schools. What the Yogi endeavours to arrive at is the
supreme knowledge of the Nullity or Shunyata. But it is
worthy of attention that he exerts himself to attain this object
not only by means of ascetism and meditation, but also with
the help of necromantic exercises and adjurations, hypnotism
and physical excitements. To the latter contribute the use
of meat and intoxicants as well as sexual excesses. Accord-
ingly in these Tantras we encounter an agglomeration of
119
mysticism, witchcraft and erotics with revolting orgies
They comprise the practice of the five M's, mamsa or flesh.
matsya or fish, madya or spiritous liquors, mudra or mysteri-
ous movements and finally and primarily mazthuna or sexual
intercourse. Of real Buddhism in these texts there is left
next to nothing. On the other hand they are most intimately
allied to the Shaivit Tantras from which they are differentiated
only by the external frame and by the verbal statement that
they are " enunciated by the Buddha." The prominence
assigned to female goddesses, Yoginis, Dakinis and others
is characteristic. It were idle to seek to meet with sense or
rationality in these books. Their authors were in all probabi-
lity wizards who pursued the study practically and for the
most part in search of impure objects.
Nevertheless many of these books enjoy great reputation.
De rading ^°r mstance tne Tathagataguhyaka. or
instructions Guhyasamaja belongs to the nine Dharmas
of the Nepalese Buddhists. The book
indeed begins with instructions on the various classes of
meditation, but presently deviates into exposition of all
manner of secret figures and formulae which are necessary
for the latria of the Buddha and it is not satisfied with the
hocus-pocus of the magical words and rites, but enjoins as a
means to the most elevated perfectoin the eating of elephant,
horse and dog flesh and daily intercourse with young Chandala
maidens. The Mahakalr.tantra is next the model of a colloquy
between Shakyamuni and a goddess and it is claimed to have
been "announced by the Buddha." It, however, contains
instruction on the mystical significance of the letters of the
alphabet, composing the name Mahakala or Shiva, on the
means of discovering hidden treasures, acquiring kingship,
getting a desired woman and even Mantras and magical rites
to deprive men of reason and to subjugate or slay them.
The Samvarodayatantra is again, despite its form of a
120
conversation between the Buddha and Vajrapani, more
of a Shaivit than a Buddhistic text. In it the Linga
cult and the worship of the Shaivit gods is expressly
recommended. In the Kalacakra which is said to have
been revealed by the Adibuddha we have already the mention
of Mecca of Islam. In the Manjushrimulatanlra Shakyamuni
proclaims inter alia that four hundred years after him
Nagarjuna will appear.
(Raj. Mitra. Nep. Buddh. Lit., p. 261 ff.1, Burnouf Introduc-
tion, p. 480 ; Raj. Mitra. Nep. Buddh. Lit., p. 172 f. •, Burnouf
Introduction, p. 479 f.)
There is no room for doubt that all these books were
written long after the times of Nagarjuna
and the Mahayanasutras and the possibility
is precluded that Nagarjuna, the founder
of the Madhyamika school, could have composed also
the Tantras. Nevertheless he is the reputed author of five
of the six sections of the Panckrakrama. At all events this
book deals more with Yoga than with Tan trie usages properly
so called. As its title signifies the Panckakrama is an exposi-
tion of the " five steps ," the last of which is the final position
of the supreme Yogi. The preliminary steps consist in the
purification of the body, speech and mind so that they acquire
the " diamond " nature of the body, the speech and the mind
of the Buddha. But the medium through which the five
stages are reached comprises magical circles, magical formula
mysterious syllables and the worship of Mahay anis tic and
Tantric goddesses. In this manner the Yogi acquires the
loftiest step where all else ceases and there is absolutely no
duality at all.
Edited with an introduction by La Vallee Poussin Etudes et Texte,
Tantriques (Recueil deTravaux publics par la faculte de philosophic et letters,
Univereitede Grand, fasc. 16), Grand et Louvain, 1896. Bnrnouf Introductions
p. 497 ff. Vajra " The Diamond " plays a chief part in the mystics of the
Tantras.
121
Of such a Yogi it is said :
" As towards himself so is he towards his enemy. Like
his wife is his mother to him 5 like his mother is the courtezan
to him ; like a Dombi (a wandering minstrel of the lowest
caste) is to him a Brahman woman 5 his skin to him is like the
garment 5 straw is like a precious stone ; wine and food like
excreta 5 an abuse like a song of praise ; Indra like Rudra ;
day as night •, the phenomena as dreams ; the extant as the
perished 5 pain as enjoyment 5 son as a vicious creature 5
heaven as hell, — and so to him the bad and the good are one."
If in reality a Nagarjuna was the author of this section
it must be another person of the same
The authorship, name than the founder of the Madhyamika
system. But as the author of the third
sections is given out to be Shakyamitra, he is probably the
same as the person mentioned by Taranatha as a contem-
porary of Devapala of Bengal, about 850 A.D. and this
period may well belong to the entire book. When Tarana-
tha says that during the period of the Pala dynasty in Bengal,
that is from the seventh to the ninth century, Yoga and
magic preponderated in Buddhism we may well credit him
and the rest of the Tantras may have arisen rather in this
than in an earlier age. Taranatha in his history of Buddhism
in India gives us an adequate conception of Tantric Buddhism.
Here indeed we have the mention of Mahayana and Tripitaka
of Buddhistic science and Buddhistic self-sacrifice, but a
much more prominent part is played by Siddhi or the super-
natural power acquired through Tantras and Mantras.
In the Catalogue of Buddhist Sanskrit MSS. in the Royal
Asiatic Society by E. B. Cowell and J. Eggeling ( JRAS,
1876, reprint p.28) we find the mention of Pancakramopadesha
by Srighanta. The tantra literature has no popular origin, but
122
I* " learned " in its way. La Vallee Poussin (JRAS, 1899, p.
141 f.) is inclined to regard Tantra and Tantra-Buddhism as
ancient. But no proofs have been adduced in support of this
theory. ( See Rapson, JRAS, 1898, p. 909 ff., ) Haraprasad
Shastri (JASB, Proceedings 1900, p. 100 ff. ) assigns the
Tantra literature to the fifth or the sixth century. Taranatha
was born in 1573 and completed his history in 1608 which
was written with Indian and Tibetan materials. He reports
even in his time at page 189 ff. actual practising wizards. Bar-
barous like the contents of the Tantras, is as a rule also the
Sanskrit in which it is written, and one would rather pass
over this literature ,in silence were it not for the fact that it
has been so widely spread in Northern India, Tibet and
latterly in China that to it is attached great culture— historic
importance.
An anthology called Subhashitasamgraha published by
Bendall (Le Museon, 1903, p. 275 ff.)
contains extracts from the Madhyamaka
and the Tantra texts. Purely magical
texts are the Sadhanas published by F. W. Thomas (ibid
p. 1 ff). The manuscript catalogues give an idea of the
great compass of Tantra literature in India. In Tibet the
Tantras were the best means of amalgamating Buddhism
with the analogous creed of wizards. The Tantras were
imported into China in 1200. Some of the Sanskrit tantric
MSS. discovered by A. O. Franke, are dealt with by
F. Kielhorn, (JRAS, 1894, 835 ff). In Japan' the Shin-gon
sect is based on Tantra texts. (B. Nanjio, Short History of
the Twelve Japanese buddhist Sects.) On Tantras and the
Tantra Buddhism in general, see Burnouf Introduction
p. 465 ff, 578 f 5 Wassiljew Der Buddhism us, p. 201 ff., but
especially La Vallee Poussin Bouddhism Etudes et Mate-
rtaux, pp. 72 ff., 130 ff., and Bouddhisme, pp. 343 ff., 368 ff.
12S
CHAPTER X,
CHRISTIANITY AND BUDDHISM
Resemblances and Differences.
So far as Buddhism has been a world-religion a great part
of the Buddhist literature belongs to the world-literature. We
have seen in several places that Buddhistic fables, anecdotes,
stories and legends have not only immigrated along with
Buddhism into East Asia but have their manifold parallels in
European literatures,— a circumstance, however, which does
not establish that Buddhistic stories have wandered into
Europe but that frequently the reverse has been the case.
We have also seen that the legend of the Buddha himself has
many features in common with the Christian religion and that
individual dicta and similies in the suttas or dialogues in
the Buddhist « Tipitaka " and in the Mahayana sutras
remind us more or less strikingly of passages in the Chiristian
Gospel.
The question, however, to what extent such resemblances
Are simila- between the Buddhist and Christian litera-
rities acci- tures actually exist and what importance is
dental ? to ^e attached to them is of such a moment
that we must once again examine it as a whole. Is it a
question here of a few more or less accidental similarities and
harmonies which are to be explained by the fact that the
legends, similarities, and expressions in question have sprung
from the same situation and religious spirit ; or is it a matter
of actual dependence of one literature upon the other ? Does
the Christian Gospel stand under the influence of the Buddhist
holy writ derived from the pre-Christian times ? .Or have the
later Buddhist texts like the Lalituvistara and Saddhartna-
pundarika been influenced by the Christian Gospel ? These
124
problems have repeatedly been the subject of research and
have found various answers.
It was especially Rudolf Seydel who believed that he had
proved numerous instances of harmony
h^pothe'sfs. Between the life of Jesus, according to the
Gospel, and the legend of the Buddha, so
that he set up the hypothesis that the evangelists employed,
along with a primitive Matthew and a primitive Mark,
also an ancient Christian poetic Gospel which was influenced
by Buddhism, and that from the .latter were borrowed
all those legends, similitudes, and expressions which
have answering parallels in the Buddhist texts. He
considered this hypothesis to be necessary, because the
similarities according to his view appear not solitary but in
abundance and to constitute regular groups, in fact, a con-
nected whole. A single stick, he believed, can be easily
broken but with much more difficulty a bundle of them or
rather a bundle of bundles. Quite true. If, however, the
stick is no stick but a phantom of a stick, it is no use, nor
is a bundle of them nor a bundle of bundles either. As a
matter of fact it is not difficult to show, and has been shown
repeatedly, that the majority of similarities adduced by Seydel
cannot bear a more precise test.
More cautious than that of Seydel is the attitude of the
Dutch scholar G. A. van den Bergh van
"Buddhism0™ Eysin§a towards the problem of Indian
influence on the Christian scriptures.
From the start he set aside all which can be easily explained
on the ground of similarity of circumstances under which the
texts arose, on the ground of the similarity of religious develop-
ment, and lastly on the ground of general human nature.
Still according to him there are real similarities which can be
accounted for only as Joans, but we have not to assume a
125
literary dependence but that only by verbal communication in
the times of the Roman Caesars Indian material, motives, and
ideas reached the West and that a few of these features were
borrowed in the structure of the legends of the earliest
Cht istianity. Of the fifty-one parallels which Seydel believed
were discovered, Bergh van Eysinga holds only nine to be
worth discussing and six only out of these to be more or less
to the point.
What Seydel undertook to give with the help of
American insufficient material — in his time Buddhist
scholar's literature was very incompletely known —
researches. namely, harmonies between the Buddhist
and Christian scriptures, has been once again attempted on
the basis of much more exact knowledge of Pali and Sanskrit
texts by the American scholar, Albert J. Edmunds. It is not
his object, as he expressly states, to demonstrate the depend-
ence of the Christian scriptures upon the Buddhist but only
to place the two religions in juxtaposition so that their
comparison may enable us to understand them better.
Nevertheless, he is inclined to the view that Christianity as the
more eclectic religion of the two borrowed from Buddhism, and
that it was especially Luke who knew the Buddhist epic. But
the comprehensive contexts of the passages brought forward
by Edmunds, and which are comparable only half-ways in both
the literary circles, most clearly prove .that there is no instance
in which a loan on the part of the four evangelists must be
assumed •, that in most cases there is only similarity of
thought which does not presume a literary connection •, that
in the best of examples we can admit only a possibility of a
mutual influence, and that this possibility is heightened to
probability in altogether very few cases. And frequently
enough the passages placed in parallels by Edmunds demon-
strate how much greater are the divergencies than the
similarities.
Let us read for instance the parallel texts in Edmunds
P II I text regarding the miraculous conception and
birth of Christ and of the Buddha and the
dissimilarities immediately arrest our attention. No doubt in
both cases we have miracles. But there they are, as we learn
from the history of religions as well as mythology and folk-
lore, at the birth of great men everywhere. To the Virgin
birth the Greek mythology offers a much closer parallel than
the Buddhist legend. But the Buddha was not conceived and
given birth to by a maid but by a wedded queen. Besides
the texts touching the temptation of the Buddha by Mara, and
Christ by Satan, show more divergencies than similarities and
the temptation of Zoroaster by Ahriman indicates that here we
have not to do with simple textual loans but at the most with
the historico-religious connections of much earlier times.
Likewise in the legend of the transfiguration of Jesus as com-
pared with the report of the phospherescent body of the
Buddha in the Mahaparinibbanasutta, I can only see a
striking and highly interesting historico-religious parallel but
no borrowing from the Buddhist literature.
Much greater is the similarity between the legends of
Asita and of Simeon in Luke. In spite of
several divergencies, which even here are
undeniable, I consider it to a certain extent probable that the
Buddhist legend was known to the author of the Christian
narrative. Possible also is a connection between the legend
of the Buddha, who as a boy separated himself from his
companions and was found in deep meditation, and the narra-
tive of the twelve-year old Jesus who instead of returning
with his parents to Nazareth stopped behind in the temple of
Jerusalem and engaged in a conversation with the teachers.
I hold likewise possible a connection between the benediction
on the Lord's Mother by the woman in Luke (XI. 27f) and in
the Nidanakatha. And even if it is not surprising that a saint
127
is served by an angel, still it is noteworthy that angels
received the fasting Jesus and the fasting Buddha-, hence
here also a connection is possible.
To the miracles of Christ two parallels have been
found in the Jatuka book. As Jesus fed
Miracles. • , /- c .
with five loaves and two fishes five thou-
sand men, so in a Jataka five hundred men are feasted by
means of a cake which multiplies itself. And just as Peter
walks over the water and is about to sink underneath as soon
as his faith wavers, so in another Jataka a believing layman
walks across a river so long as he thinks of the Buddha with
cheerful mind and begins to sink as soon as the inspiring
Buddha thoughts are discarded at the sight of the waves. But
both these accounts occur only in the " stories of the present "
in the Jataka commentary and from their late time of origin it
is not precluded that they originally belonged to Christianity.
From post-Christian times is also derived the narrative
of the poor maiden who bestows upon the monks her all, two
copper pieces, which she had found in a heap of sweepings
and is commended on that account by the Buddha according
to whom her gift must be as highly prized as that of a wealthy
person who gives away all his goods and treasures. She
has not to wait long for the reward of her good deed. Soon
after, she is found by a passing king who falls in love with
her and carries her home his queen. It is not to be doubted
that the Buddhist narrative in the form in which we know it in
the Chinese translation of Ashvaghosha's Sutralankara
stands, as regards time, far behind the Gospel story, so
wonderfully beautiful in all its simplicity, of the two pennies
of the widow. Here too it is not impossible that the
Buddhists may have learnt it from Christian missionaries. It
is also not inconceivable that an older and better shape of the
Buddhist legend has been lost to us. The concord in respect
of such a minor detail as the " two pennies " makes it in the
128
highest degree probable that the Buddhist and Christian
stories have not arisen independently of each other.
Less probable it is that the parable of the " lost son " in
the Saddharmapundarika is connected with that in Luke.
Even Seydel says, '* the simile of theLotus has in truth nothing
to do with Christianity except that a son returns in poverty,
and above all the motive of comparison in each of the parallels
is wholly and entirely different." The similarity between the
legend of Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John, and that of
Ananda and the Pariah maiden in the Divyavadana is not very
great. In both the cases, moreover, we have to deal with the
Buddhist texts of post-Christian times.
The death of Christ has also been compared with the
entry of the Buddha into nirvana. Seydel
Resurrection has indicated that the events are accom-
and Nirvana.
panied by an earthquake ; while Edmunds
points out that Jesus as well as the Buddha die in the open
air. And yet the differences in both the religious texts are
nowhere so great. What a dissonance between the
Mahaparinibbanasutta and the XXVIIth Chapter of Matthew !
Here is the moving tragedy of a martyr and a victim of
fanaticism, there the tranquil passing of a sage — a glorious
euthanasia. In the gospel of Matthew there is an earthquake
and graves open in horror of the misdeed 5 in the Mahaparinib-
banasutta the earthquake is to announce its approbation of the
beautiful consummation of the complete ntrvan a of the Lord
Less probable still in respect of the legends is the connection
between the isolated expressions and similes employed by
Jesus and the Buddha. It is mostly only a matter of such
general similarity or such generality of thought that the same
might as well occur, and in fact does occur, in the sacred books
of all the religious *, as, for instance, in the M ajjhimanikaya
110 where there is a mention of the seed and the harvest of
129
good works which is comparable to the similitude of the
sower in Matthew (XII 18 f) •, or in the sutta of the "true
treasure " where similar thought is expressed as in Matthew
VI 19. " Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth,
where moth and rust doth consume, &c."
And when we put together the results of comparison of
the four gospels with the Buddhistic texts
Results of we gee that the discordances are much
comparison.
greater than the harmonies. In the entire
character itself of the legends which bear comparison there
is a vast divergence. While in Buddhism all the miracles are
explained by Karma, by the act continuing to operate through
re-birth, the Christian miracles are only a manifestation
of God's grace and omnipotence. Very pertinently re-
marks Edv. Lehmann •. " For the taste of the Indians the
occurrences in the Christian narratives have always an
insufficient motive, and to us Christians, the Indian narratives
— even from pure aesthetical standpoint — strike as almost
unsupportably well-motived." Accordingly it is out" of the
question that the Buddhist literature should have exercised
direct influence on the Gospel. On the other hand it is
certain that since the period of Alexander the Great and
especially in the times of the Roman Caesars there were both
numerous commercial links and spiritual relationship between
India and the West, so that a superficial acquaintance with
the Buddhistic ideas and solitary Buddhist legends was
quite possible, even probable, in the circles in which the
Gospels originated. Positive proof of the knowledge of
Buddhism in the West, however, we possess only from the
second or third century after Christ. And this is also the
period of the rise of apocryphal Gospels in which we are able
to demonstrate quite a series of undoubted loans from
Buddhistic literature.
130
Equally certain it is that one of the favourite books
of Christianity in the Middle Ages, the romance or
Barlam and Josaphat, was composed by a pious Christian
on the basis of the Buddhist legend with which he was
acquainted, may be, through the Lalitavistara. For the
framework of this romance, in other respects wholly and
entirely breathing a Christian spirit, is Buddhistic and the
main features of the Buddhistic legend in it are reproduced,
for instance, the three occasions on which the Bodhisattva
went out and made his acquaintance with age, disease and
death. A few of the interpolated parables are well known in
Indian literature, like the " man in the well," and in
the story itself there are references to India. In Eastern Iran
or in Central Asia, where as we now learn from the discoveries
at Khotan and Turfan by Stein, Grunwedel and Le Coq, for
centuries Zoroastrians, Buddhists, Christians and Manichians
lived in close contact with each other, a Christian monk
might easily have learnt the Buddhistic legend and been
inspired thereby to a poem for the propagation of the
Christian doctrine. This poem was, as we conjecture, com-
posed in the sixth or seventh century in the Pahlavi language
and later translated into Arabic and Syriac. Georgian and
Greek translations must have been based on the Syriac text.
From the Greek text are derived the several recensions in
Arabic, Hebrew, Ethiopian, Armenian, Slav and Ruminian.
The numerous European translations and redactions— Lope
de Vaga has treated the material dramatically— can be traced
to a Latin text translated from the Greek. There have been
adaptations of the romance in German since 1220. In course
of centuries the actors in this poem became so familiar to
the Christian peoples that they were regarded as pious
Christian folk who had actually lived and taught, so that
finally the Catholic Church made saints of the two heroes
of the narrative, Barlaam and Josaphat. Josaphat, however,
is no other than the Bodhisattva.
131
And as in the Middle Ages so also down to our days the
Jndian Buddha legend has shown vitality
Vitality of an(j has inspired poet after poet to eoic
Buddhism.
and even dramatic presentments. Thus the
'' Light of Asia " by the English poet Edwin Arnold could
even in the nineteenth century arouse such enthusiasm that it
went through sixty editions in England and one hundred in
America and thoroughly established the poet's fame.
We have already seen that a Buddhist legend survives
in Richard Wagner's poetry. In the last days of his life the
personality of the Buddha occupied him and it is not to be
wondered at that after Wagner's death the rumour was afloat,
no doubt without warrant, that the poet had worked upon a
musical drama called « Buddha. "
The neo-Buddhistic movement of our day has shown
itself less fruitful in respect of literary creations. Apart from
translations it has hardly gone much beyond anthologies,
catechisms, and shallow propagandist^ writings. But if we
see in this neo-Buddhism spreading in Europe and America
only one of the many paths of error in which the struggle
for a new philosophy has conducted us, nevertheless we must
admire the vitality of Buddhism and the Buddhist literary
works which have inspired again and again the minds of
thinkers and poets of all nations and still continue to so
inspire. And I hope to have shown in this chapter that
there is still a good deal hidden in Buddhist literature which
is worthy of being transferred to the literature of Europe and
to be made the common property of the world-literature.
133
CHAPTER XL
ANCIENT INDIAN NATIONAL LITERATURE.
The history of Indian literature is the history of the
Importance mental work °* at least three thousand
and extent of 7ears expressed in speech and script.
Indian liter- And the theatre of this mental operation
of hundreds of years almost uninterrupted
continuance is the country which stretches from the
Hindukush to Cape Comorin and covers a surface of a
million and a half square miles, that is to say,
comprises an area equivalent to the whole of Europe
minus Russia, — a country which extends from the eighth to
the thirty-fifth degree of north latitude, in other words, from
the hottest regions of the equator deep into the temperate
zone. The influence which this literature exercised already
in ancient days on the mental life of other nations reaches far
beyond the frontiers of India down to Farther India, Tibet,
China, Japan, Korea and in the south over Ceylon and the
Malaya Archipelago and the group of islands in the Indian and
the Pacific Oceans, while in the west traces of Indian mental
culture are observable deep into Central Asia, and east to
Turkestan where buried in sandy deserts Indian manuscripts
have recently been discovered. (See Appendix IV.)
In its contents the Indian literature comprises all that
the word-literature includes in its wider connotation, —
religious and profane, epic and lyric, dramatic and didactic,
poetry as well as story-literature and scientific treatises in
prose.
In the foreground stands religious literature* Not only
the Brahmans in the Veda and the Buddhists in the Tripitaka
but also many others of the numerous religious sects which
have appeared in India own an enormous mass of literary
product,— hymns, sacrificial litanies, magic charms, myths and
134
legends and sermons, theological treatises, polemical writings^
manuals of ritual and religious ordinance. In this literature
there are accumulated for a history of religions inestimable
material which no investigator of the religious phenomenon
can afford to inattentively pass by. Alongside of this
activity in the region of religious writings going back to
thousands of years and perpetuated down to this day there
have appeared in India, since earliest times, heroic poems which
in the course of centuries have been composed into two great
national epics,— the Mahalharata and the Ramayana. From
the material of these two epics for centuries Indian poets of
the Middle ages shaped their creations and there arose epic
poems which are, in contrast with the national poems, design-
ated artistic epics. If, however, this artistic ministrelsy owing
to its excessive artificiality hardly answer to our taste the
Indian poets have bequeathed to us lyrical and dramatic
compositions which in their tenderness and insight, partly
also in their dramatic portrayal, challenge comparison with
the finest products of modern European literature. And in
one branch of fine letters, that of poetic maxims, the Indians
acquired a supremacy unattained as yet by any other nation.
India is also the land of stories and fables. The Indian
collections of tales, anecdotes and prose narratives, have
played no insignificant role in the history of the literature of
the world. In fact, the researches into the story literature,
the fascinating study of folklore and the pursuit of their
motifs and migrations from nation to nation, have become
a science in itself as a continuance of the fundamental work of
Benfey on Panchatantra, the Indian collection of fables.
It is a peculiarity of Indian genius that it never drew a
Peculiar rigid line of demarcation between the purely
traits of Indian artificial products and methodical creations
so that a differentiation between polite
literature and scientific writing is, properly speaking, not
135
possible in India. What appears to us as a collection of
stories and fables passes for the Indian as a manual of politics
or ethics. On the other hand, history and biography in India
are nothing less than themes to be treated by bards as a
variety of epic poetry. Besides, properly speaking, a difference
between the forms of poetry and prose does not exist in India.
Every subject can be handled in verse or in prose equally well.
We find romances which are distinguished from epics only in
this that they are devoid of metrical mould. A particular pre-
dilection is evinced since the most ancient days for an admix-
ture of prose and verse. And for what we call strictly scientific
literature India uses only partly the prose form, verse being
employed in a much larger volume. This applies to works of
philosophy and jurisprudence just as well as mathematics,
astronomy, architecture and so forth. The Indians, indeed,
have composed their grammars and dictionaries in verse, and
nothing more perhaps is characteristic of the Indian genius
than that a voluminous epic of the artificial kind in twenty-^
two cantos has been devoted to the express object of
illustrating and emphasising rules of grammar. From
early times philosophy has been at home in India. At first it
appeared conjointly with religious literature. Later on it
became independent of the latter, and it has always been a
theme of literary labour. Similarly already in remote antiquity
law and custom, — likewise in connection with religion — have
been made the subject of legal literature composed partly in
prose and partly in verse. The importance of these legal
writings for comparative jurisprudence and sociology is to-
day fully appreciated by eminent jurists and leaders of social
science. Centuries before the birth of Christ, in India was
studied grammar, a science in which the Indians surpassed
all nations of antiquity. Lexicography also goes back to
high antiquity. The artificial poets of India of later days
sang not what was bestowed upon them by the gods, but
136
they studied the rules of grammar and searched into diction-
aries tor rare and effective poetic expressions. They
composed poetry according to the canon laid down in
scientific treatises on metre and prosody. From the first the
Indian mind had a particular penchant for devising schemes
and for pedantically scientific treatment of all possible sub-
ects. We find accordingly in India not only a rigid and
partly ancient literature on mathematics, astrology, arith-
metic and geography but also music, singing, dancing,
theatricals, soothsaying, sorcery, nay, even erotics
reduced to a system and treated in special manuals,
Each individual branch of literature here enumerated in the
course of centuries accumulated a mass of uncontrollably
immense productions. Not the least contributions came
from commentators who displayed a diligent activity on
almost every province of religious literature as well as poetry
and science. Thus it comes about that some of the most
momentous and at the same time ponderous works on
grammar, philosophy and law represent merely commentaries
on more ancient books; On these scholia were composed
further supercommentaries. In India, indeed, it is not seldom
that an author supplies annotations to his own works. It is
no wonder therefore that the entire body of Indian literature
is well nigh of overpowering extent, and in spite of the cata-
logues of Indian manuscripts which are to be found in Indian
and European libraries and which contain several thousands
of titles of books and names of authors, numberless works of
Indian literature have perished and many names of ancient
authors have either been known only by means of quotations
in later writers or have been totally lost to us.
All these facts, — the age, the wide geographical
Aryan unity of expanse, the volume and the wealth, the
speech. aesthetic and still more the cultural
value of Indian literature, — would completely suffice to
justify our interest in its vast, peculiar and ancient litera-
ture. And there is something more which lends special
interest to the national books of India. The Indo-Aryan
languages together with the Iranian tongues composed the
eastern branch of the great family of languages to which be-
longs the English speech and the idioms of most countries of
Europe and which is denominated the Indo-Aryan group. It
was just this Indian literature the investigation of which led
to the discovery of the science of languages,— a discovery
which was truly epoch-making in that it throws such
surprising new light on prehistoric international relations.
For, from the affinity of the languages we are led to linguistic
unity in ancient times, and from these latter again we deduce
an intimate connection between the peoples employing these
Indo-Aryan tongues. No doubt serious errors are common
relating to the affinities of the Indo-Aryan peoples even to
this day* People talk of an " Indo-Aryan Race " which simply
does not exist and has never existed. Again we sometimes
hear that the Indians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Germans and
Slavs are of one and the same blood,— the descendants of
the self-same Indo-Aryan " primitive people/' All these are
unwarranted and hasty anticipations. If, however* it is more
than doubtful whether the people who spoke the Indo-Aryan
languages were derived from the same aboriginal septs,
it is beyond question that the unity of language, the import-
ant instrument of all mental activity, pre-supposes a spiritual
affinity and a unity of culture. If the Indian is not the
flesh of our flesh and the blood of our blood we can
discover in the Indian world of thought our own mentality.
For recognition, however, of the "Indo-Aryan spirit,"
that is, to attain to what is claimed as peculiar in the
Indo-Aryan thought and mind and poetry of these people,
it is imperatively necessary that our insular acquaintance
with Indo-Aryan essentials such as we have acquired
13$
by a study of European literatures should be supplemented
by a knowledge of the Indo-Aryan spirit such as has
been developed in the Far East. Therefore Indian litera-
ture constitutes a necessary complement to the classics
of ancient Greece and Rome for every person who
would eschew a one-sided consideration of Indo-Aryan
essentials. True, Indian literature in its artistic value
cannot be compared with that of Greece. It is certain
that the thought-world of India has not in the remotest
degree exercised such influence on European spiritual
life as Greek and Roman culture has done. But should
we desire to learn the origins of our own culture and
should we wish to understand the most ancient Indo-Aryan
civilization we must go to India where are preserved for
us the most ancient writings of the Indo-Aryan people. For in
whichever way the problem of the antiquity of Indian
literature is decided, this stands firmly established that the
remotest literary monuments of India are at the same time the
oldest Indo-Aryan written records in our possession. But
even the intermediate influence which the literature of India
has exercised on European thought is not altogether trivial.
We shall see in the course of our further investigations that
the story literature of Europe is by no means insignificantly
indebted to India. And as regards the literature of the Ger-
mans and their philosophy both of them from the beginning
of the nineteenth century have been affected by Indian
thought and it is highly probable that its influence will tend
to intensify and develop in the course of future centuries.
For a mental relationship, which is deducible from the
Indo-Aryan speech unity, is still clearly
Indian genius discernible and is no where more so as
on German between the Indian and the Teutonic races.
thought. The surprisjng points of contact between
the two have often been indicated, for instance, by G. Brarides
189
and Leopold von Schroeder. Critics have before now called
attention to the common predeliction of both for abstract
speculation and a tendency to pantheism but in many other
respects also the two approach each other in a remarkable
degree. Some of the European poets have sung of the
" sorrows of the world." And the " sorrows of existence " is
the basic idea on which is constructed the doctrine of the
Buddha. More than one poet have bewailed the tribulations
and misery of the world, the transitoriness and nullity of all
that is terrestrial in words which forcibly remind the reader of
the melancholy verses of Nikolus Lenau. When Heine says : —
Sweet is sleep, death is better
It were best of all not to have been born,
he gives expression just to those sentiments beloved
of the Indian philosophers who know of no effort more
passionate than for a death which knows of no re-birth.
Kven the sentimentality and the feeling for nature have
identical peculiarities for the two peoples while to
both the Hebrew and the Greek poesy sounds foreign.
The Germans love delineation of nature just as well
as the Indians and both love to bring into close rela-
tionship the joys and sorrows of man with his natural
surroundings. In a totally different province the
similarity between German and Indian fables asserts
itself. We have already spoken of the tendency of the
Indians towards the devising of scientific schemes and we can
assert with justification that the Indians were the learned
nation of antiquity. Just as the Indians in the gray dawn of
the remotest past philologically analysed their oldest sacred
scriptures and reduced linguistic phenomena to a systematic
science and advanced in grammar so far that modern science
of languages to this day leans on their early achievements, just
iu the same way the Germans of to-day are incontestably
140
leaders in the domains of philology and science of languages.
In the region of Indian philology and in the investigations
of Indian literature the Germans have been pioneers. We
owe it to the British that as the rulers of India they were
compelled by practical necessity to the study of Indian
languages and literature. Much' has been done for the
literature and culture of old India by eminent Frenchmen,
Italians, Dutch, Danes, Americans, Russians and— let it not
be forgotten— indigenous Indian scholars. The Germans have
participated in the publication of texts, commentaries,
exegesis, in the editing of dictionaries and grammars. This
leads us to a brief survey of the history of beginnings of
European researches into Indian linguistic archaeology.
141
CHAPTER XII.
BEGINNINGS OF INDIAN STUDIES IN EUROPE.
The immense mass of Indian literary works which could
scracely be now controlled by a single scholar has been
made accessible for research purposes in the course of a
little more than a century.
In the 17th and still more in the 18th century individual
travellers and missionaries acquired a certain knowledge of
Indian languages and made themselves familiar with some one
or another book pertaining to Indian literature. Their efforts,
however, were not sown in a fertile soil. In the year 1651
Abraham Roger, a Dutch, who had lived as a missionary in
Policat, north of Madras, reported on the Indian Brahmanic lite-
rature of India and published a few of the sayings of Bhartrihari
translated into Portuguese for him by a Brahman, a collection
upon which later on Herder drew for his " Voices of Nations in
Song ". In the year 1699 the Jesuit father, Johann Ernst
Hanxleden, went to India and worked there for over thirty
years in the Malabar mission. He himself used Indian
vernaculars and his " Grammatica" was the first Sanskrit
grammar written by a European. It has never been printed
but was used by Fra Polino de St. Bartholomeo. This Fra
Polino, — an Austrian Carmelite, whose real name was J. Ph.
Wessdin, — is undoubtedly among the most eminent
evangelists who were the pioneers in the field of Indian
literature. He was a missionary to the Coast of Malabar
from 1776-1789 and died in Rome in 1805. He wrote two
Sanskrit grammars and several learned treatises and books,
His " Systema Brahmanicum " published in Rome in 1792
and his " Travels in the East Indies " displayed an extensive
knowledge of India and Brahmanic literature and at the same
time a deep study of Indian tongues and particularly the
essentials of the Indian religion. Even his works have left
few traces behind.
142
About this time, however, the British commenced to be
Great Britain interested in the languages and literature
and Brahmanic of India. It was no less a personage than
learning. Warren Hastings, the real founder of
British domination in India, who gave the first fruitful impetus
to a study of Indian literature which has since continued
without interruption. He recognised (this the British since
have never forgotten) that the British rule in India could not
be consolidated unless the rulers agreed to conciliate, as far
as possible, the social and religious tenets of the indigenous
people. At his suggestion, therefore, it was decided in the
council responsible for the Government of India that native
scholars should co-operate with judicial officials to enable
British judges to take cognizance of the ordinances of Indian
jurisprudence in their decisions. When Warren Hastings
was appointed Governor-General of Bengal and was entrusted
with supreme powers relating to the entire British possessions
in India he had, with the help of a number of Brahmans
learned in ancient Hindu law, composed a work based on old
Sanskrit sources in which under the title of " l-wo*
Janiavase/ut " or the " Bridge across the Ocean of
Disputations," were incorporated all the important elements of
Indian law on inheritance, succession and the like. But when
the work was accomplished there was found no one in a
position to transalate directly its Sanskrit text into English.
Recourse was therefore had to the prevailing imperial tongue
of the time. The Sanskrit work was first rendered into
Persian and from the latter an English version was prepared by
Nathaniel Brassey Halhed. This translation was published
at the expense of the East India Company under the name of
" A Code of Genteoo Law " in 1776 (Gentoo is the Portuguese
for Hindu). A German translation of- this law book appeared
at Hamburg in 1778.
143
The first Englishman to acquire a knowledge of Sanskrit
was Charles Wilkins, who was encouraged
b>r Warren Hastings to study with the
Pandits at Benares, the principal seat of
Indian learning. As the first fruit of his Sanskrit studies he
published in 1785 an English translation of the philosophical
poem of Bhagavadi*ita which was thus the first Sanskrit
book to be directly translated into a European language.
Two years later followed a translation of the Fables of
Hitopadesha and in 1795 a translation of the Shaknntahi
episode from the Mahabharata* For his Sanskrit grammar
which appeared in 1808 for the first time Sanskrit types were
cast in Europe. These were cut and prepared by himself
personally. This Englishman, Charles Wilkins, was also the
first who laboured on Indian inscriptions and translated some
of them into English.
Still more important for the development of European
efforts in the vast domain of Indian litera-
CJo°lebrooke ture was the activit>' of the celebrated
Orientalist William Jones (1746-1794)
who started for India in 1783 to take up the situation of a
superior writer in Fort William. Jones had already in his
younger years busied himself with Oriental poetry and
rendered into English, Arabic and Persian poems. Xo
wonder therefore that arrived in India, he turned with enthu-
siasm to the study of Sanskrit and- Indian literature.
Exactly a year after his arrival he became the founder of the
Asiatic Society of Bengal, which developed an extraordinarily
valuable career by the publication of periodicals and
especially the printing of numerous Indian texts. In 1789 he
published his English translation of the celebrated drama of
Shakun/ala by Kalidasa. This English translation was
turned into German in 1791 by Forster and kindled to the
highest degree the enthusiasm of celebrities like Herder and
144
Goethe. Another work of the same poet Kalidasa, the lyric
of Ritusamhara, was brought out in Calcutta in 1792 by
Jones and this was the first Sanskrit text to be published in
print. Of still greater moment was it that Jones translated
into English the most celebrated law book of Manu which
commands the supreme position in Indian legal literature.
The translation appeared in Calcutta in 1794 and was called
" Institutes of Hindu Law or the Ordinances of Manu." A
German translation of this book appeared in 1797 at Wiemar.
Again, William Jones was the first to aver with certainty the
genealogical connection of Sanskrit with Greek and Latin and
to surmise it for the German, Celtic and Persian languages.
He also called attention to the analogy between ancient
Indian and the Graeco-Roman mythology.
While the enthusiastic Jones, owing to the spirit which
he brought to bear upon the treasures of Indian literature, and
bringing them to light, provided a powerful stimulant, the
more sober Thomas Colebrooke who continued the labours of
Jones was the actual founder of Indian philology and antiquity.
Colebrooke had entered upon an official career as a lad of
sixteen in Calcutta in 1782 without troubling himself about
Sanskrit and its literature for the first eleven years of his stay
in India. But when Jones died in 1784 Colebrooke had
already picked up Sanskrit and undertook to translate from
Sanskrit into English a digest of Indian law^prepared from
Sanskrit text-books on inheritance and contract under the
direction of Jones. This translation saw the light in 1797-98
and its exact title was " A digest of Hindu Law of Contracts
and Successions." It covered four folio volumes. Hence-
forward he devoted himself with indefatigable zeal to the
investigation of Indian literature and he was interested — in
contrast to Jones — not so much in poetry as in the scientific
works in Sanskrit. We owe him accordingly not only more
works on Indian law but also pioneer dissertations on the
145
philosophy of religion, grammar, and ancient mathematics of
the Hindus. It was he who in 1805 in his celebrated essays
on the Vedas supplied for the first time precise and reliable
information on the ancient sacred books of the Indians. For
the so-called translation of the Yajurveda which appeared
under the title of Ezour Vedam, in 1778 in French, and in
1779 in German, was only a literary fabrication, a pious fraud,
which originated probably with the missionary Robert de
Nobilibus. The French poet Voltaire received from the hands
of an official returned from Pondicherry this suppositions
translation and presented it to the Royal Library of Paris.
The poet considered the book to be an ancient commentary
on the Vedas, which was translated into French by a vener-
able Brahman hundred years old and he frequently relied upon
this Esoif Vedam as a source of Indian antiquity. As early,
however, as 1782 Sonnerat proved the work to be spurious.
Colebrooke was also the editor of the Amnrakosha and other
Indian lexicons, the celebrated grammar of Panini, the Fables of
Hilopadesha and the artistic poem of Kimiarjuniya. He was
also the author of a Sanskrit grammar and studied and
translated a number of inscriptions. Finally he had treasured
an extraordinarily rich collection of Indian MSS. which is
reported to have cost him ;£ 10,000 and which on his return
to England he presented to the East India Company. This
valuable mass of manuscripts is among the most precious
treasures of the India Office Library in London. Among the
Englishmen, who like Jones and Colebrooke, studied Sanskrit
at the close of the 18th century in India was Alexander
Hamilton. He returned to Europe in 1802 and travelling
through France sojourned at Paris for a brief while. There
an accident occurred disagreeable to himself., but unusually
favourable to the cause of science. For the hostilities inter-
rupted only for a short period by the Peace of Amiens broke
out afresh between England and France and Napoleon issued
146
an order that all the British who were staying at the outbreak
of the war in France should be prohibited to return to their
home and detained in Paris. Alexander Hamilton was among
these English detenus. Now, in 1802 the German poet
Friedrich Schlegel also happened to go to Paris to stay there
with a fe-.v interruptions down to the year 1807, -just the period
covered by the involuntary sojourn of Hamilton. In Germany
interest had already been awakened in the work of the
English. A sensation was created, especially by the English
translation of Shakuntala by Jones which was immediately
done into German in 1791. Between 1795 and 1797 the pro-
ductions of Jones were translated into German ; so also was
Jones' " Digest of Hindu Law " in 1797. Nor were the
works of Fra Polino de St. Bartholomeo unknown in
Germany. It was above all the romantic school
at the head of which stood the brothers Schlegel on
which the literature of India exercised especial fascina-
tion. It was indeed the time when people were growing
enthusiastic over foreign literatures. Herder had already with
his "Voices of Nations in Songs" and his "Ideas on the History
of Mankind " (1784-1791) called attention to the Orient. The
Romantists threw themselves heart and soul into everything
connected with foreign and distant lands and were particularly
partial to India. As Fr. Schlegel said, from India was expected
nothing less than a key to the hitherto obscure history of the
primitive world, and the friends of poetry hoped, since the
publication of Shakuntala for many similar charming idylls
of the Asiatic soul, instinct like it, with animation and love.
Small wonder therefore, that Fr. Schlegel, when he became
acquainted in Paris with Alexander Hamilton, immediately
seized the occasion to study Sanskrit with him.During 1803 and
1804 he had the benefit of his instruction and the further years
of his stay in Paris he employed in study in the library there,
which even then possessed about two hundred Indian manu-
147
scripts. A catalogue of this was published by Haton in Paris
in 1807. In collaboration with Langles he translated Hamil-
ton's Notes from English into French. Fr. Schlegel's great
work came out in 1808, " On the language and the wisdom of
the Indians 5 a contribution to the foundation of the knowledge
of antiquity." This book was written with enthusiasm and was
calculated to be an inspiration. Besides, it contained ren-
derings of extracts from the Ramayana, Manu's law book, the
B/nigavudgita, and episode from the Mahalharata bearing on
Skakunikia. These were the first direct translations from
Sanskrit into German. All that had appeared in Germany
prior to this on Indian literature was borrowed from English
publications.
But while Friedrich Schlegel gave an impetus to
Sanskrit studies it was his brother August
Sanskrit w Schlegel who was the first to develop
learning and
Germany. extensive activity in Germany by means of
the publication of the editions of texts,
translations and similar philological works. He was, more-
over, the first professor of Sanskrit in Germany and as
such was appointed to the chair founded at the university
of Bonn in 1818. Like his brother in Paris who commenced
his studies in 1814, he started his investigations in Paris.
His teacher was the French savant A. L. Chezy, the
first French scholar who learnt and taught Sanskrit. He
was also the first professor of Sanskrit at the College
de France and had rendered service to Oriental literature
as an editor and translator of Indian books. In the year
1823 appeared the first volume of the periodical " The
Indian Library'' founded and mostly written by August
Schlegel. It contains numerous essays on Indian philology „
In the same year he published also a good edition of the
Bho.gavadgiia with a Latin translation, while in the year 1828
148
came out the first part of the most important work of Schlegel,
his edition of the Ramayana which has remained incomplete.
A contemporary of August Schlegel was Franz Bopp.
Born in 1791, he proceeded to Paris in 1812 to occupy himself
with Oriental languages and there sat along with Schlegel at
the feet of the French scholar Chezy and acquired Sanskrit.
But while the brothers Schlegel enthused over India as
romantic poets and regarded the study of Indian literature as
a kind of" adventure," Bopp entered upon the subject through-
out as a prosaic investigator and it was he who by means of
his essays on the " Conjugation system of the Sanskrit
language in comparison with that of Greek, Latin, Persian
and German languages," which appeared in 1816, became the
founder of a new science, the science of comparative philology
which had such a great future before it. But even to
researches in Indian literature Bopp made unusual contribu-
tions. In his " Conjugation system " he gave as an appendix
several episodes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharaia in
metrical rendering from the original text and a few extracts
from the Veda taken over from the English translation of
Colebrooke. With rare fortune he seized upon the marvellous
history of king Nala and his faithful consort Damayanti out
of the colossal epic of the Mahalharata and made it generally
accessible by means of a critical edition accompanied by a
Latin translation. It was just the one out of the numerous
episodes in the Mahalharata which approaches nearest to a
complete whole and does not merely belong to the finest
pieces in the great epic but as one of the most fascinating
efforts of Indian poetic genius is specially calculated to arouse
vivid interest for Indian letters and a fondness for Sanskrit
study. It has since then grown into quite a tradition at all
the universities where Sanskrit is taught to select the Nala
episode as the first reading text-book for the students, for
149
whom it is eminently suitable owing to its simplicity of style.
Bopp for the first time edited and translated into German quite
a series of legends from the ^lahabharata. His Sanskrit
grammars which saw light of day in 1837, 1832, 1834 and his
«' glossarium Sanscritum " have powerfully advanced the
study of Sanskrit on the continent.
It was a piece of good fortune for the young science and
for the study of Sanskrit which long thereafter was connected
with it that the gifted, many-sided and influential W. Hurrr
boldt became enamoured of it. He started to learn Sanskrit
in 1821 since, as he wrote in a letter to August Schlegel, he
had seen " that without sound grounding in the study of
Sanskrit not the least progress could be made either in the
knowledge of languages nor in that class of history which is
connected with it." When Schlegel in the year 1828 indulged
in a retrospect of his Indian studies, he gave prominence as a
special piece of luck for the new science, to the fact that it
had found in Humboldt a warm friend and patron. Schlegel's
edition of the Bhagavadgita had called Humboldt's attention to
this theosophical pcem. He dedicated to him some treatises
and wrote about it at the time, 1827, to Gentz, " it is the most
profound and loftiest yet seen by the world." And when later
on in 1828 he sent to his friend his study on the Bhagavadgita
which had meanwhile been criticised by Hegel, he declared
that the greater the apathy betrayed in Hegel's judgment, the
greater was the value he attached to the philosophical poem
of India. " When I read the Indian poem," he wrote, " for the
first time and ever since then my sentiment was one of
perpetual gratitude for my luck, which had kept me still alive
to be able to be acquainted with this book."
Another great name in German literature connected with
India was, to the good fortune of our science, a poet inspired
with the romance of India. This was Friedrich Ruckert, the
150
incomparable master of the art of translation. It was he who
made some of the choicest portions of Indian epical and lyrical
treasures the common property of the German people.
Up to 1839 it was almost exclusively the so-called
classical Sanskrit literature which attracted the attention of
the European scholar. The drama of Shakuntala^ the philo-
sophical poem of Bhagavadgita, the law book of Manu,
maxims by Bhartrhari, the fables of Hitopadesha and stray
passages from the great epics \ this was nearly the sum total
of the principal works with which scholars were occupied and
which was regarded as the stock-in-trade of Indian literature.
The great and all-important region of the Indian literature,
that of the Vedas, was next to unknown and people were not
yet aware of the existence of the entire great Buddhist
literature.
The little triat up to 1830 was known of the Vedas
D Sh k h' was confined to the miserable and inaccu-
Persian rate data furnished by the early writers
Upanishad. on India. Colebrooke gave the first reliable
information in the essays we noticed above on the
Vedas in 1805. It took several years before a German
translation of the English rendering was prepared in 1847.
Comparatively the most that people became acquainted with
was in the province of the Upanishads, the philosophical
treatises belonging to the Vedas. These Upanishads were
translated from their original Sanskrit into Persian early in the
seventh century by the ill-starred brother of Aurangzeb,
Prince Mohammed Dara Shukoh, the son of the great
Moghul Shah Jehan. From the Persian it was rendered
into Latin under the title of Upnekhat in the beginning
of the nineteenth century by the French scholar Anquetil
Duperron, the founder of the revival of Parsi learning
in India. Imperfect and strewn with errors as the latter
151
was, it was important for the history of science in that
the German philosopher Schelling, and more particularly
Schopenhauer, were inspired by Indian philosophy on
its basis. It was not the Upanishads which we understand
and elucidate to-day with all the material and our exact
knowledge of the philosophical system of India at our
disposal but the Upnekhat, the altogether faulty rendering
of Anquetil Duperron which Schopenhauer declared to be
" the issue of supreme human wisdom." And about the same
time when in Germany Schopenhauer was delving into the
Upanishads of the Indians for his own philosophical
speculations, there was living in India one of the
sanest and noblest of men ever produced by this
country, Ram Mohan Roy, the founder of Brahmo
Samaj, a new sect which sought to amalgamate the best in
the religions of Europe wjth the faith of the Hindus. This
Indian construed the same Upanishads so as to read in them
purest belief in God and endeavoured to instruct his people
that the idolatry of modern Indian religions was to be rejected
but that in its stead Indians need not necessarily adopt
Christianity but that in their own holy writ, in the ancient
Vedas, if they could only understand the latter, was to be
found a pure doctrine of monotheism. With a view to pro-
claim this new tenet which was, however, contained in the
old scriptures and propagate it by means of the sect which
he had founded, the sect of Brahmo Samaj or the Church of
God, and at the same time in order to prove to the Christian
theologians, and missionaries whom he highly esteemed that
the finest of what they believed in was already embodied in
the Upanishada, in the years 1816 to 1819 he rendered into
English a large number of Upanishads and issued editions of
a few of them in the original texts.
152
But the real philological investigation of the Vedas
commenced only in 1838 after the appear-
Beginnings ance of the edition in Calcutta of the first
oi Vedic . r . , „ . , . , _.
studies. section ol the Rigveda by rnednch Rosen
who was prevented from the completion of
his task by premature death. And it was above all the great
Frenchman of learning, Eugene Burnouf, who at the com-
mencement of the forties was professor at theCollege de France,
who gathered round him a circle of pupils, the future eminent
Vedic scholars. Burnouf laid the foundation of Vedic studies
in Europe. One of his pupils was Rudolph Roth who, with his
Essay on the literature and history of the Vedas in 1846
inaugurated the study of the Vedas in Germany. Roth him-
self and a number of his disciples devoted themselves
in the following years and decades with passionate zeal to the
exploration of the diverse ramifications of the most ancient
literature of India. F. Max Muller was the most celebrated pupil
of Burnouf familiar to us. He was initiated into the study of
the Vedas by the French master . at the same time with
Roth. Urged by Burnouf, Max Muller conceived the plan of
editing the hymns of the Rigveda with the voluminous com-
mentary of Sayana. This edition, which is indispensable for
any further research, appeared in 1849-1875. A second and
an enlarged edition appeared in 1890-1892. But before this
was completed, Thoomas Aufrecht, with his handy print of
the complete texts of the hymns of the Rigveda rendered
signal service to this branch of Indian research.
The same Eugene Burnouf, who rocked the cradle of the
Leader of Vedic studies, laid the foundation stone of
re-search in Pali reasearch and investigation of Bhud-
three great dhist literature with his " Essai sur le Pali"
published in collaboration with Chr.
Lassen in 1826 and his " Introduction a Ihistoire de Bouddhisme
mdien? still a mine of information, in 1844. The
153
Parsis too owe the savant pioneer labour in Avesta exegesis.
He was the teacher of K. R. Kama, father of Parsi antiquarian
studies.
With the invasion of the immense province of Vedic
literature and with the introduction into the writings of the
Bhuddists the gospel of infancy of Indian philology came to
its termination. It has grown into a great science, the
devotees of which increase from year to year. One after
another now saw the light of day critical editions of the
most important texts and the learned of all the countries
vied with each other in their attempts at interpreting them.
The achievements of the last sixty years in the province of
Indian literature have been described in detail in several
special chapters. Here we have only to survey the principal
landmarks along the path of Indology, and the most important
events in its history.
Before all mention has to be made of a pupil of Aug. Sch-
legel, Christian Lassen, who in his broad-
k*| based German " Indian Antiquary '," which
began to appear in 1843 and comprised
four thick volumes, the last appearing in 1862, strove to en-
compass the entire knowledge of his day about ancient India.
That this work has now become antiquated is no reproach to
the author but only a brilliant testimony to the immense
progress which our science has made in the second half of the
nineteenth century.
Perhaps the greatest impetus to this advancement and
probably a capital event in the history
The great of Sanskrit research was the appearance
ary' of the Sanskrit lexicon by Otto Bohtlingk
and Rudolph Roth. It was published by the Academy of
Science of St. Petersburg* The first part came out in
154
1852 and in 1875 the entire work in seven folio volumes was
given to the world.
And in the same year 1852 in which the great St. Peters-
Histories of burg dictionary started to appear,
literature. A. Weber made the first attempt to write
a complete history of Indian literature. The second edition
of the work appeared in 1876. It does not merely represent
a landmark in the history of Indology but to this day, despite
its shortcomings in style, which renders the book indigestible
to the layman, it remains the most reliable and the most
complete handbook of Indian literature possessed by us.
If, however, we desire to have an idea of the almost
Catalogues of amazing progress which research in Indian
Mss. literature has made in the comparatively
brief period of its existence we should read the essay of Aug.
Schlegel, written in 1819, " on the present condition of Indian
philology," in which little more than a hundred Sanskrit works
are enumerated as known to the world in editions or transla-
tions. Let us then cast a glance at the " Literature of the
Sanskrit Language," published in 1839 at St. Petersburg by
Friedrich Adelung, in which not less than three hundred and
fifty diverse Sanskrit works are registered. Next let us com-
pare with the latter Weber's " History of Indian Literature "
which in 1852 discussed and appraised well nigh five hundred
books of Indian Sanskrit. Furthermore, let us examine the
" Catalogue Catalogorum ", brought out in parts in 1891>
1896, and 1903 by Theodore Aufrecht, which contains an
alphabetical list of all the Sanskrit books and others based on
the examination of all the existing catalogues of manuscripts.
This is truly a monumental work. Aufrecht laboured for
forty years over it. He studied the catalogues of Sanskrit
manuscripts in all the great libraries of India and Europe.
And the number of the Sanskrit manuscripts noticed in this
155
catalogue amounts to several thousands. Yet this catalogue
includes neither the immense Bhuddist literature nor the
literary productions embodied in Indian languages other than
Sanskrit. Research into Bhuddist literature has powerfully
advanced since the great English scholar T. W. Rhys
Davids established in 1882 the Pali Test Society. A. Weber
again, with his great treatise on the sacred scriptures of the
Jains in 1883 and 1885, annexed to science the new branch of
cexts which is not lower in antiquity to the writings of
the Bhuddists.
Such is the enormous mass that has gradually accumu-
Encyclopaedia ^ate(^ °f Indian literature that now-a-days
Sanskrit it is hardly possible for a single scholar
knowledge to control the whole province. It is now
some years since it was found necessary to publish in a
comprehensive work a general survey of all that has been
achieved in the individual branches of Indology. The plan of
the work which 'began to appear since 1897 under the title of
" Grundriss " of Indo-Arian philology and antiquity, was
devised by George Buhler, the most eminent Sanskrit scholar
of the last decades. Thirty scholars from Germany, England,
Holland, America and, last but not least, India have set to
work in co-operation under Buhler, and since his death under
Kielhorn, to prepare the individual volumes of this work.
The appearance of this Grundriss is at once the latest and the
most delightful event in the development of the history of
Indology. When we survey the knowledge on ancient India
and its literature brought together here in a series which
is not yet completed we can only compare it with what Lassen,
only a few decades ago, was in a position to give in his great
work on Indian Antiquity and regard with justifiable
pride the progress which the science has made in a relativeley
brief period.
156
CHAPTER XIII.
THE CHRONOLOGY OF INDIAN LITERATURE.
Considerable as has been the advancement in the study
of Indian literature its history proper remains yet in many
ways obscure and unexplored. In the first place the chrono-
logy of Indian literature is shrouded in almost painful
obscurity and there are yet remaining unsolved most of the
connected problems for the investigator. It would be
convenient and desirable to group Indian literature into three
or four great periods confined within stated number of years
and to reduce the various literary events to one or another
of these definite epochs. But every attempt of this kind
must prove abortive in the present condition of our knowledge
and the suggestion of hypothetical number of years would
only be a blind venture which would do more harm than good.
It is much better to be perfectly clear regarding the fact that
we have no exact chronological data whatever as regards the
most ancient period of Indian literary history and only a few
definite ones for the later ages. It was years ago that the
famous American Orientalist W. D. Whitney declared what
has since been repeatedly stated : " All the data given in the
literary history of India are like nine pins to be set up again."
And for the most part the dictum is true to this day. Even
now the views of the most eminent scholars on the age of the
most important Indian literary works diverge from one
another, not by years or decades but, by centuries if not by
one or two thousand years. What can be established with
some certainty is at the most a species of tentative chronology.
We can often say, " This or that work, this or that class of
literature, is older than a given other " •, but on the actual age
of it we can only make surmises. The most reliable
criterion for this relative chronology is still the
language. Less trustworthy are peculiarities of style •,
because in India it is a matter of frequent occurrence that
157
younger books imitate the diction of an older category of
literature in order to assume an appearance of antiquity. But
frequently even this relative chronology is vitiated by the
circumstance that many works on Indian literature, and just
those which are most popular and which are accordingly of
the greatest moment to us, have undergone a multiplicity of
redactions and have reached our hands through many trans-
formations. If we find, for instance, in a book which is
tolerably " datable " extracts from the l\amayana or the
Mahalharala, the first question that arises is whether this
citation refers to the particular epic as we possess it or to an
older shape of it. Uncertainty is intensified by the fact that
for the great majority of the books of the ancient literature
the names of the authors are next to unknown. They have
been transmitted to us as the works of principal families., or
schools, or monastic orders, or the production is attributed to
a legendary personage of prehistoric times. When finally we
come to the age where we have to deal with books of authors
of ascertained individuality, the latter as a rule are quoted
only by their family names, which help the literary historian
of India just as much as if an investigator of English literature
were to have to struggle with names like Smith, Jones or
William. If, for instance, an author appears under the name
of Kalidasa, or if the name of Kalidasa is mentioned any-
where, it is by no means certain that the great poet of that
name is necessarily meant. It might as well be some other
Kalidasa.
In this sea of uncertainty there are only a few fixed
points which may be stated here in order
nOt tO frighten away the student fro™ the
research as utterly hopeless.
Now here in the first place there is the evidence of
language which shows that the hymns and the litanies, the
prayers and the magical formulae in the Veda are incontestably
158
the most ancient portion of our possession of Indian literature.
Certain also it is that about 500 B.C., Buddhism arose in
India and that it pre-supposes the entire Vedic literature as
completed and closed in its main lines, so that we may affirm
that the Vedic literature is, excepting for its latest ramifi-
cations, on the whole pre-Buddhistic *, in other words, that it
was closed prior to 500 B.C. To be more accurate, the death
of the Buddha is assigned with tolerable certainty to the
year 477 B.C. Besides the chronology of the Buddhistic and
the Jain literature is happily not so vague as the Brahmanic.
The traditions of the Buddhists and the Jains relating to the
origin and the conclusion of their canonical works have been
proved sufficiently reliable. And the inscriptions preserved
in the ruins of the temples and topes of these faiths supply us
with considerable clue to the history of their literature.
But the most definite data in Indian history are those
which we have issued not from the Indians
EXthel 's*11*" themselves- Thus the invasion of Alexander
the Great of India in 326 B.C. is a positive .
landmark which is of importance also for the Indian literary
history, especially when it is a question to decide whether
in a given Indian literary production Greek influence
is to be assumed. Further, we learn also from the Greeks
that about 315 B. C. Chandragupta, the Sandrakottos
of the Greek writers, successfully led a revolt against the
satraps of Alexander, took possession of the throne
and became the founder of the Maurya dynasty in Patali-
putra, the Palibothra of the Greeks and the Patna of
to-day. About the same time or a few years later it was that
the Greek Megasthenes was deputed as Ambassador to the
court of Chandragupta by Seleucus. The fragments which
we own of his description of India, which he called the indict
give us a picture of the standard of the Indian civilisation of
those days and afford us a clue to the chronological cassifica-
159
tion of many Indian literary works. A grandson of
Chandragupta was the celebrated king Asoka, who in 259
B.C. was crowned king and from him are derived the most
ancient datable Indian inscriptions yet discovered. These
inscriptions chiselled partly into rocks and partly on columns
are at the same time the most ancient testimony to Indian
writing at our command. They show the mighty king as a
patron and protector of Buddhism who utilised his sovereignty,
extending from the northernmost border to the southernmost
limit of India, to spread the doctrine of the Buddha over the
country and who in his edicts on rocks and pillars recounts
not, like other rulers, his victories and deeds of glory but
exhorts his people to virtuous conduct, warns them
of the perils of sin, and preaches love of neighbour
and tolerance. These unique edicts of king Asoka
are themselves valuable literary monuments hewn
in stone, but they are of moment also, being suggestive of a
literary history on account of their script, their, idiom, and
their religious historical connections. In the year 178 B.C.,
one hundred and thirty-seven years after the coronation of
Chandragupta, the last scion of the Maurya dynasty was
hurled from the throne by King Pushyamitra. The mention
of this Pushyamitra for instance in a drama of Kalidasa is an
important indication for the determination of the age of
several works in Indian literature. The same remark holds
good of the Grseco-Baktrian king Menander who reigned about
144 B.C. He appears under the name of Milinda in the
celebrated Buddhist book Milindapanha. Next to the
Greeks it is the Chinese to whom we owe some of the most
important time-data m Indian literature. Beginning with the
first century of Christianity we hear of Buddhist missionaries
going to China and translating Buddhist books into Chinese
and of Indian embassies to China as well as Chinese pilgrims
who visited India to pay homage to the sacred places of
160
Buddhism. Books belonging to Indian, that Is Sanskrit,
literature were translated into Chinese and the Chinese supply
us precise dates as to when these renderings were achieved.
It is espicially three Chinese pilgrims, whose itineraries are
preserved, that give us much instructive information on
Indian antiquity, and literary productions. They are Fa-hian
who came to India in 399, Hiuen-Tsiang who made his great
journey to India in 630—635 and Using who sojourned in
India during 671-695. The chronological data of the Chinese
contrast with those of the Indian being remarkably precise
and trustworthy. As regards the Indians, the remark is only
too true which was made by the Arab traveller Alberuni,
who in 1039 wrote a very valuable work on India, namely,
" The Indians unfortunately do not pay much attention to the
historical sequence of events •, they are very negligent in the
enumeration of the chronological succession of their Kings and
when we press them for explanation they do not know what
to say and are ever ready to relate fables."
Nevertheless we need not believe what is so often asserted
that the Indians have been entirely deficient
in the historical sense- In India to° there
was a historical literature and at all
events we come across numerous inscriptions with exact
dates which would hardly have been the case if the Indians
lacked all appreciation of history. It is true that in their writing
of history the Indians have never learnt to distinguish
between poetry and historical veracity, that to them the
events were always more important than the chronological
sequence, and that in literary matters they laid no stress on
the difference between the earlier and the later. What
appears to the Indian as sound, true and correct he thrusts
back to the remotest antiquity 5 and when he wishes to invest
with particular sanctity a given doctrine or when he desires
the widest circulation and repute for his book, he disguises
161
his name in a modest incognito and gives out some ancient
sage as the author of his book. This process is noticed in
modern times and it was not otherwise in bygone centuries.
Thus it comes about that so many entirely modern books pass
under the respectable ancient names of Upanishads and
Puranas. They are so much sour wine in old bottles. The
intention, however, of a deliberate fraud is as a rule not general.
Only as regards literary property utmost indifference is pre-
valent. It is only in later centuries that authors give their
names with greater accuracy, with the names of their parents,
grandparents, teachers and patrons and adding necessary
biographical information about themselves. The authors of
astronomical works are wont to give the exact date of the day
on which their book was completed. From the fifteenth
century, finally, the inscriptions give us the key to the age of
many authors. And Indian epigraphy which has made great
progress in decipherment in the last twenty years with their
"Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum " and the periodical
" Epigraphia Indica " are witnesses to exact dates of Indian
records supplying suggestive contributions to the solution
of the chronological problems.
162
APPENDIX I.
CONSTITUTION OF THE BUDDHIST CANON
BY
SYLVAIN LEVI.
All the organized religions are compelled at a certain
stage of their development to constitute a Canon, that is to
say, a definite collection of texts which are enjoined upon the
faithful as the rule of orthodoxy and which is adduced against
the adversary as indisputable authority. Judaism has the
Law and the Prophets. Christianity has the Gospel and
Epistles. Islaam has its Ouran. The Brahmans have the
Veda. Buddhism has its Three Baskets, called the Tripitaka>
which comprise in their entirety " the Word of the Buddha."
Let us rapidly survey these Three Baskets, that of the
Sutras, the Vinaya^ the Abhidliatma. The choice of the
texts admitted into the canon instructs us about the .spirit of
the religion which expresses itself in them.
The Basket of Vinaya is the rules ol the monastic life,
for the use of the monks as well as the nuns. From this
circumstance the Vinaya is double, Ubhato. Each rubric
in it appears twice, one for men and one for women. The
sections are five in number : — Fatimokkha, Mahavagga
Cullavaggay Suttavibhafiga, Pvrivara. The Patimokkha, in-
tended to be publicly read on recurring stated days of
confession, is hardly anything else but a catalogue of sins
and the regulations pertaining to them. The Mahavagga
and the Cullavagga give the detailed code of duties, daily or
otherwise. Each of these prescriptions is introduced by the
narrative of the events which gave rise to justify it, giving
in fact the raison d'etre of each rule. The narrative moves
sluggishly. The Mahavagga opens with a piece of biography
of the Buddha. The Cullavagga comprises the history of the
councils summoned after the death of the Buddha, The
Suttavibhanga is an actual commentary on the Patimokkha
of which it describes the origin, interprets the sense and
discusses the application. The Parivara is a kind of Deutero-
nomy, recapitulation and catechism at the same time.
The Basket of Sutras comprises an enormous mass of
sermons and instructive anecdotes introduced with the
stereotyped formula: "This have I heard. One day the
Master was residing at .... It is divided into four
sections : The long collection of Digha Nikaya-, composed
of the longest texts, thirty-four in number-, the Medium
Collection or Majjhima Nikaya which embodies texts of
medium size, one hundred and fifty-two in number 5 the
Miscellaneous Collection or Samyutta Nikaya^ a kind of
potpourri in which are thrown collections of all kinds, seven
thousand five hundred and sixty-two in number ; the Numeri-
cal Collection or Anguttara Nikaya in which the texts
relating to the numerical rubrics are gathered together and
classified in ascending order from one to eleven, totalling in
all nine thousand five hundred fifty-seven texts.
To these four collections we have to add a fifth,
admittedly artificial, including all that which has not been
thrown into any of the previous groups. It is called the
Minor collection or the Khuddaka Nikaya. The works
nominally attributed to the disciples of the Buddha have even
come here to be incorporated, without giving offence, into the
body of texts reverenced as " the Word of the Buddha." The
components of the Minor Collection are : —
Khuddaka-patha, a small group of texts partly in-
corporated also in other sections •,
Dhammapada, SL treasure of utterances of the Buddha
in verse f,
164
Udana> a series of brief edifying stories each concluding
with an apophthegm ;
Itwuttakdy small sermons introduced by a set of
formula (Vuttamhetam) \
Sutta Nipata, an admirable body of certainly ancient
pieces and already previously grouped into sub-sections ;
Vimana Vatthu and Ptta Vatthu, narratives in verse of
the acts of the good and evil beings respectively, which
have earned for their authors heaven or hell.
Theragatha and Therigatha, poems composed by
ascetics and nuns of eminent merit •,
Jataka, 547 tales of the anterior existences of the
Buddha 5
Niddesd) commentary on the 33 pieces of the Sutta
Nipata, and attributed to Shariputa *,
Patisambhidamagga, a series of scholastic notes on
the path of sacred knowledge •,
Apadanci) biographies in verse of saints, male and
female ;
The Buddhcwamsa,) a history of the succession of the
Buddhas •,
The Cariya Pitaka, a versified narrative of the previous
births of the Buddha.
The third Basket is that of the Abhidharma* Classed
as the equal of the two other Baskets, in reality it occupies an
inferior rank. It consists of seven books of metaphysics
Dhammasamgani, Vibhanga, Kathavatthii^ Puggalapannatti
Dhatukathat Yamaka, Patthana*
165
Such is the whole canon. Now we shall see how it was
constituted. Immediately after the death of the Buddha one
of the principal disciples, Kashyapa, called a council of 500
monks, all of them saints, at Rajagraha. Ananda the cousin
and favourite disciple of the Master, recited the Sutras. Upali
who was before initiation a barber, and who was known as
the most competent authority in the matter of discipline, recited
the Vinaya. Mark that there is no mention of Abhidharma
yet. It remained the exclusive property of gods to whom the
Buddha preached it. It was only at a later period that it was
brought down to the earth. A century after the Nirvana a
second council was assembled at Vaishali, to settle ten ques-
tions of monastic discipline which were exercising the church.
The assembly proceeded to recite once again the canon. One
more century elapsed. Now was reigning the powerful king
Ashoka at Pataliputra and the whole of India confessed his
authority. The Buddhist community was rent by schisms.
A new council, this time official and convoked by imperial
authority *, fresh recitation of texts under the presidency of
Tissa Moggaliputta, who communicated to the council the
last text embodied in the A bhidharma Basket. It is called
the Kathavatthu. Now missions were sent out to carry the
word of the Buddha to the extreme limits of the empire and
even beyond. Mahendra, the son of Ashoka converted Ceylon
and carried there the Three Baskets about 250 B.C. For two
centuries old tradition preserved them with scrupulous fidelity,
but political troubles at last appeared to threaten their pre-
servation. About SOB. C. Vatta Gamani, the king of Ceylon,
convoked a Singhalese council which fixed the sacred books in
writing. Since then copies piously prepared in monasteries
assured the perpetuity of the texts.
We have uptq now spoken the language of the most
faithful adepts of the Pali canon. The monks or laymen of
166
Ceylon, Siam, Burma and Cambodia could subscribe without
reservation to the history of the canon as traced by us so far.
But let us change the territory and the dogma also gets
modified.
In India itself Buddhism has disappeared. Only extreme
north, Nepal, sees it vegetating, decrepit and moribund. The
Gurkhas, the masters of the country, have adopted Brahmanism
and the Nevars, subjugated and impoverished, look with
indifference at the crumbling ruins of centuries. The degene-
rated convents no longer preserve anything except fragments
of the Buddhist literature. The ancient canon has vanished.
The church has substituted for it the nine dharmas or Laws :
The Prajna-paramita in 8,000 lines, the Gandavyuha. the
Dashabhumishvara, the Samadhiraj'a^ the Lankavatara, the
Saddharmapundarika « the Lotus of the Good Law," the
Tathagata Guhyaka, the Lalitavistara and the Suvarnapra-
bhasa. To these sacred books we have to add others which
are certainly ancient, the Mahavastu, the Divyavadana &c.
All these texts are written either in Sanskrit or in a language
which is a neighbour of Sanskrit but different from Pali. The
want of arrangement and the gaps in the Nepali collection,
however rich otherwise, has injured it in the opinion of scholars
who are seduced by the orderly beauty of the Pali canon. For
a long time these texts were represented to us as later recensions
of the original Pali, ill-understood by incompetent translators.
As a radical blemish in Sanskrit Buddhism we are pointed to
the absence of the Vinaya in this collection. But the Maha-
vastu represents this Vinaya, as a part of the Vinaya of the
Lokottaravadis, comprised in the school of the Mahasanghikas.
Besides the Divyavadana has recently been recognised as
composed to a great extent of fragments of the Vinaya of the
Mulasarvastivadis. An impartial examination has also dis-
covered in other Nepale'se texts independent recensions of
texts admitted otherwise in the Pali canon.
167
Tibet converted to Buddhism at the commencement of
the seventh century, has an immense sacred literature, falling
into two groups : the Kanjur, originally written Bka-gyur and
the Tanjur, originally written Bstangyur. The Kanjur is
the canon in the narrowest sense of the word. It is the word
of the Buddha. The Tanjur contains the Fathers of the
church, exegetic literature and the technical manuals. The
Kanjur is divided into seven sections : Dulva, Sherphyin,
Phat-chen, Dkon-brtsegs, Mdo, Myan-das and Rgyud.
The Dulva, that is to say the Vinaya, is an enormous
compilation in 13 volumes. In fact it is the Vinaya of the
School of the Mulasarvastivadis, which was drawn up in
Sanskrit and of which Nepal has preserved to us long extracts.
This colossal Vinaya, written with art, overflows with
miscellaneous matter of all kinds. The rules often have the
appearance of being mere pretexts for relating long histories,
heroic, comic, fabulous and romantic. The Tibetan Vinaya
is a complete canon in itself.
The five succeeding sections are collections of Sutras :
The Sher-phyn in 28 volumes contains all the numerous
recensions of the Perfection of Wisdom (Pragmaparamita) ;
the most expanded equals in extent a hundred thousand verses,
The Phal-chen (Avatamsaka) in 6 volumes, the Dkon-brtsegs
(Ratnakuta) in 6 volumes, the Myan-das (Nirvana) in two
volumes are collections of Sutras grouped by the analogy of
the doctrine or the subject treated. The fifth section, the
Mdo (Sutra), in 30 volumes has absorbed all the Sutras which
have not found admittance into the three other groups.
Finally the Rgyud (Tantra) in 22 volumes is the magical
literature, held in such high esteem in Tibet.
Excepting thirty Sutras, incorporated as an appendix to the
last volume of the section on Mdo and which are themselves
168
represented as translation from Pali, the texts of the Kanjur
have no exact correspondence with the canon of the Pali
church. The Pali church claims to be the inheritor of the
Elders, the Sthaviras, called in Pali Theras. Its doctrine is
called Theravada. It only aims at arresting the wheel of
transmigration and anchoring men at the port of Nirvana.
The saved are the Arhats. The Tibetan collection like the
Nepalese has attached itself to another doctrine which calls
itself the Great Vehicle, Mahayana. The Great Vehicle takes
hold of the saint in his position of Nirvana, just as the Little
Vehicle, Hinayana, terminates his endless birth. It leads him>
purified and rendered sublime, to a life of activity to achieve
the salvation of the entire universe.
China made docile by the Buddhist apostles, since the
first century of the Christian era has not ceased to absorb
during more than 10 centuries with a serene impartiality, all the
texts imported into it by missionaries, adventurers, pilgrims.
They came from India, Ceylon, Burma, from the world of the
Iranian and the Turk. The Three Baskets of China have
nothing of the canon except the name. All the doctrines have
found place in them. From 518 to 1737 the canon of the
Buddhist books has been drawn up in China not less than 12
times. Further we have to refer to the collection of Korea
which with original texts borrowed from China, was con-
stituted in 1010 and which is transmitted to us in a unique
copy preserved in Japan.
The cadre of the Chinese canon indicates its spirit. It
preserves the traditional division of the Three Baskets. But
under each rubric it opens two sections : Mahayana and
Hinayana, the Mahayana being at the head. The Basket of
the Sutras of the Mahayana reproduces in part some classics
of the Tibetan Kanjur : Prajna-paramita Ratnakuta,
Avatamsaka> Nirvana. It adds also the Mahasamnipata and
169
finally opens a special series of Sutras remaining outside
of these groups. It distributes them into two sections
according as they have been translated once or more than
once.
The Chinese Basket of the Sutras of the Hinayana
essentially consists of four collections or Agamas which are
denominated the Long, the Medium, the Mixed, the One-and-
More. Under these designations we recognise the counter-
part of the four Pali Nikayas. The resemblance is really
striking but it does not amount to identity. For the most
part it is the same texts which are found in the two diverse
spheres but the arrangement and the details differ. The
development of the same Sutra shows notable divergences.
The transcription of proper names leads us to a Sanskrit
original or at least a quasi Sanskrit. Did there then exist in
one of the sacred languages proper a redaction of these four
collections, independent of the Pali, preserved by an indige-
nous tradition ?
The Basket of Vinaya includes in the class of the Maha-
yana a series of manuals on the discipline of the Bodhisattva.
Thus there are as many monastic rules as there are monas-
taries and philosophical and moral dissertations removed far
from the Vinaya and having no connection with it. But the
class of Hinayana contains no less than five Vinayas related
more or less intimately to the Pali. Here we come across in
its entirety the monastic code of the Dharmaguptas, the
Mahishakas, the Mahasanghikas, the Sarvastivadis and finally
that of the Mulasarvastivadis of which the Tibetan Kanjur
also possesses a version and of which the Nepalese com-
pilation has preserved fragments in the original Sanskrit
language. Other unconnected texts give us information on
the Vinaya of still other schools, that of the Kashyapiyas,
and the Sammatiyas. We have here quite obviously to do,
170
in all these Vinayas, with independent redactions based on a
common tradition connecting '. the somewhat insipid Pali
Vinaya with the almost epic Vinaya of the Mulasarvastivadis.
The Basket of Abhidharma in its two sections offers a
contrast by its richness to the dry sobriety of the Pali
Abhidhamma. Here we meet, in a faithful though somewhat
incomplete image, with the active intensity of philosophic
thought and controversy in the diverse schools of Buddhism.
Among the seven treatises of the canonical Hinayanist
Abhidharma at least two remind us by their title of the
answering Pali ones, the Prajnapti-shastra and the Dhatukaya,
corresponding to the Puggala-pannati and Dhatukatha.
In continuation of the Three Baskets the Chinese have
admitted one more category analogous to the Tibetan Tanjur.
It comprises the Fathers of the church, Indian and Chinese.
For the last twenty years the inventory of the Buddhist
canon has been enriched by an important accession and which
continues to enlarge it. The researches and the excavations
in Central India have brought to light the original texts
which were believed to have irrevocably perished and rather
unexpected translations. The discovery by Dutremil de
Rhins and by Petrovsky, of the two halves of a Dhammapada
written in a very ancient alphabet and composed in a Sanskrit
dialect has opened a series of sensational finds. Stein,
Grunwedel, Von Lecoq, Pelliot have one after another brought
materials which remain yet for the most part undeciphered.
But from now we possess authentic fragments of that Sanskrit
Samyukta Agama which the Chinese translations led us to
surmise and upto now we have three Sanskrit redactions of
the Dhammapada which the Pali canon used to be proud
alone to have possessed. We see announced quite a
Buddhistic literature in Turki translations and also renderings
171
in Tokhari, a language entirely unknown till yesterday and
which has just been added to the family of Indo-European
tongues.
From now on we stand no longer in the presence of a
unique canon and a privileged one such as the Pali canon has
too often been represented to us. We now know of other
canons equally rich, equally comprehensive, equally well
arranged with the Pali canon, either in original texts or in
translations in very diverse tongues. How to make now our
choice between the rival claimants ? To which must be
assigned the palm of authenticity claimed by each with equal
confidence ?
Pali, to believe its literature, is the language of the
Buddha. But Pali is only an incorrect designation. Its true
name is Maghadhi, the language of Maghadha. And the
Buddha lived in Maghadha and preached to the people of it.
He addressed himself to all without distinction of caste. He
would have nothing to do with Sanskrit, the sacred language
of the Brahmans. Pie must have spoken the current verna-
cular, the Maghadhi. But the Maghadhi is known to
us from epigraphical records from grammars, and from
literary texts. It has two fundamental and salient
characteristics. It invariably substitutes " 1 " for " r."
Raja in Maghadhi is Laja. Secondly, the nominative
singular of masculine of words ending in " a " which in other
Sanskrit dialects is found to end in " o," terminates in
Magadhi with an " e." Instead of devo^ God, in Maghadhi we
have de-oe. Now Pali keeps the letter tl r " and also the
flection in " o." Therefore it is foreign to Maghadha. The
cradle of Pali is yet to be discovered. Ujjayini, Gujarat,
Orissa have all been suggested. But Maghada is outside
this. If the Buddha spoke Maghadhi, the Pali canon could in
no case represent his direct teaching.
172
The Pali canon vaunts that it was « sung " for the third time
during the reign of Ashoka at the special invitation of the
king. Ashoka then must have had to employ Pali texts and
we possess a rescript of Ashoka to the clergy of Maghadha
engraved in rock. In it the king selects seven texts the study
of which he recommends to the monk and the layman. They
are Vinaya samukase-, Aliyavasani> Anagatabhayani,
Munigathd) Moneyasute^ Upatissapasine, Laghulo-vade
musavadam adhigicya Bhagavata Budhena bhasite. Of
these seven titles only the last is found in the Pali collection.
It is No. 61 in the Majjhimanikaya. The Sanskrit canon also
has it since we meet with it in the Chinese translation of the
corresponding collection, which is No. 14 of the Madhyma
Agama. But the linguistic peculiarities of the words which
occur in this simple title suffice to prove that the Sutra in
question was not composed in Pali, — nor in Sanskrit, nor in any
of the epigraphical dialects of Ashoka. For the titles of the
other works we have suggestions of ingenious identifications
with other texts in the Pali canon, but none of the proposed
identifications is satisfactory. Besides the Buddhistic
monuments grouped round the reign of Ashoka,— at Bharhut
and Sanchi — bear inscriptions votive or explanatory which
are drawn up in dialects none of which is Pali.
The guarantee ot the three councils is not more
serious. The first council is a pious invention which will
deceive no one. The second council remains suspended in the
air without any historic connection and is supposed to be
accounted for by a petty controversy about monkish
discipline. Moreover all the Buddhistic schools appropriate
the same story, even the Mahasanghikas against whom the
second council was convened, if we credit the Pali tradition.
The legend does not come to history till the time of Ashoka.
But the saint again who presides over the third council is
entirely unknown outside of this episode. The meagre legend
173
formed around the personality of this strange leader is too
much reminiscent of the legend of another saint named
Upagupta, who is delineated in the other accounts as the
spiritual preceptor of king Ashoka. The first positive
date starts with the first century before Christ. For the
council which then fixed the sacred texts by reducing them
to writing was a local convocation which, at the most, con-
cerned certain monasteries of Ceylon. But the tradition of
the Sarvastivadi school places in the same period a council
summoned for the same object and of considerable importance.
The king Kanishka, whose Scythian hordes subjugated
Northern India, wanted, moved either by politics or by
devotion, to fix the dogma. A council held in Kashmir
settled the Sanskrit canon and prepared a commentary on the
Three Baskets. A writer of genius, Ashvaghosha, lent the
resources of a brilliant style to the lucubratious of the theolo-
gian. Whilst the Pali canon remained yet for a long time
confined to the island of Ceylon, where -its powerful enemies,
the Mahishasakas, held it in check, the Sanskrit canon of the
Sarvastivadis propagated itself along the trade routes to
Turkestan and China, and the ships of Hindu colonists
carried it to Indo-China and Indian archipelago. Other schools,
less prosperous, but still living, elaborated also about the
same epoch their canon in the neo-Sanskrit dialects, —
Prakrit and Apabhramsha.
To sum up : the constitution of the canon is a late
event which probably occurred in the various schools at
about the same time a little before the Christian era»
Without doubt its causes are to be saught in the political
and economical history. The sudden diffusion of writing and
specially the materials of writing gave rise to an upheaval
comparable to that of the discovery of printing. But if the
formation of the canon is a late event, that is not to say
that certain at least of its elements are not of an ancient date*
1T4
No one can yet write an exact history of the canon but we
are in a position to figure to ourselves with tolerable
approximation the successive stages of its elaboration.
The tradition, too complacently accepted, assumes the
primitive unity of the church and expresses it by the first
council. The facts however protest against the supposition.
The head of an important group arriving just at the close of
the session of this council and called upon to recognise the
canon fixed by it replies : " The law and the discipline have
been well chanted. Nevertheless, I would preserve them as
I have heard them myself and collected them from the mouth
of the Master himself." It could not well be otherwise. The
personal prestige of the Buddha, ambition, and interest had
brought into the community of the brethren men from all
classes. Ascetics, barbers, sweepers, jostled with princess
merchants, philosophers. Reduced by the death cf the
Master to their original inclinations, each endeavoured with
perfect sincerity to suit himself to the doctrine that had been
received. Against these menaces of disorder and anarchy
the church had but one safeguard. Every fortnight the
monks whether travelling or sojourning in a place have to
gather together by groups and hear the recitation of the
fundamental rules of the order (Pratimokshv) and confess the
transgressions they have committed. The institution of
each of the rules was connected, or it was alleged that it was
connected, with an actual occurrence during the Buddha's life
time. The recital of these episodes and the biography of the
persons concerned gave as many themes to the exercise of
imagination and style. Add to this that the life in the
monastery, which was constantly developing, was also always
giving rise to practical problems which had to be solved in
the name of the Founder of the Order. - The monasteries,
which were the richest and the most frequented, thus came to
make collections which were perpetuated and which were
175
growing. The wandering anchorites, who were always on the
move visiting cloister after cloister, maintained a constant
communication which tended to level too sharp divergences.
Reduced by process of pruning to their common elements the
Vinayas of all the schools conformed without effort to a kind
of archtype, which did not represent any primitive Vinaya,
but which was the average of all the Vinayas.
Outside the monastic prescriptions, the literary invention
of the monks was exercised on their recollections, real or
imaginary, and on the biography of the Buddha. Carried
about by the same medium of intercourse, the best of the
literary pieces did not take long to assume concrete form,
hardly altered by accidents of travelling or by local taste or
local idiom. In proportion as the number of these biographies
multiplied the necessity was felt of classifying them. The
Sanskrit and Pali texts have ' perpetuated the memory of one
of these ancient classifications divided into 9 (Pali) or 10
(Sanskrit) rubrics : Sutra,* Geya, Vyakarana, Gatha, Udana.
Ityukta, Jataka, Adbhuta dharma, Vaipulya (Pali Vedella)
and further, only in Sanskrit, Nidana, Avadana, Upadesha.
The classical usage has preserved several of these denomina-
tions. The others have no doubt disappeared at the time of
the constitution of the canon so that their sense had been
condemned to perpetual obscurity. The canon itself has
preserved to us one of the collections which had preceded it,
the admirable Suttanipata, the whole of which is to be found
in Pali and evidences of which are not wanting in Sanskrit.
But in its turn the Suttanipata is only a group of sub-
collections which in Sanskrit preserve their individual
existence like the Arthavarga, Parayana, etc. Several of the
texts recommended by Ashoka in his edicts of Bhabra
seem to belong to this Suttanipata. As is manifestly
176
evidenced by all the canons poetry, or at least the metrical
form, remained at first the indispensable apparel of the
literary compositions intended to be transmitted. Later on,
when the invading prose found in the art and material for
writing a useful auxiliary, it became necessary to create
fresh cadres.
177
APPENDIX II.
SUTRALANKARA.
A Romance of Literature,
Truth is often stranger than fiction. The following
romantic story is entirely based on facts.
It is common knowledge that some time
about the fourth Christian century Buddhism was introduced
from India into China. A number of sacred Hindu books,mostly
Buddhistic but some of them containing most interesting
fragments of Brahmanic literature by way of refutation, were
translated into Chinese. One of these books is the
Sutralamkara. It comprises a series of Buddhistic sermons
in the guise of anecdotes and stories terminating with a moral
inculcated by Buddhism. The original was in Sanskrit
Along with a vast number of Sanskrit books that perished in
India this book also was considered lost. To the credit of
French philological science the Chinese translation of it,
which is extant, was identified by the late lamented scholar,
Eduard Huber, who died a premature death in French Cochin .
China, about a couple of years ago. The author of the
Sanskrit book of sermons was Ashvaghosha. Being a Bud-
dhist he was more or less completely ignored by Brahmanic
writers, except a few who mentioned only to combat his
compositions. Thanks to the late professor Cowel of Cam-
bridge, it is now established that Ashvaghosha was not only
a great poet and a master of style, whose brilliant diction
popularised Buddhism, but was also a model and a pattern
which the better known Kalidasa was not loth to imitate.
From Sylvain Levi in J, A., July August-1908.
178
Only twenty years ago Ashavaghosha figured as no more
than a memory in the history of Sanskrit
literature- The Progress of our studies
has suddenly brought him to the front in
the premier rank among the masters of Hindu style and
thought. Hodgson, who discovered in Nepal the remnants
of a Sanskrit Buddhist literature, was acquainted since 1829
with the work of Ashvaghosha called the Vajrasuci or the
Diamond Needle. He prepared an English translation of it
with the help of an educated Indian which he published in
1831. It appeared in the Transactions of the Royal
Asiatic Society under the title of Disputation respecting
Caste by a Buddhist. Hodgson had vainly searched
for information on the age and the country of the
author. All that people knew about him in Nepal was
that he was a Mahapandit and that he wrote, besides this
little tract, two Buddhist works of greater compass, the
Buddha-carita Kawya and the Nandi-Mukhasughosa
Avadana, both highly reputed, and other works. In 1839,
Lancelor Wilkinson, the British Agent at Bhopal, printed the
Sanskrit text of the Vajrasuci enriched at the same time
with an amusing addition. It was called the Wujra Soochi
or Refutation of the Argument upon which the Brahmanic
institution of caste is founded by the learned Boodhist
Ashwa Ghosha 5 also the Junku, by Soobaji Bapoo, being
a reply to the Wujra Soochi in 1839. Indignant at the
attacks by Ashvaghosa against the system of castes, the
Brahman Soobaji Bapoo in the service of Wilkinson could
not bring himself to consent to attend to the Buddhist text
except on condition of adding a refutation of it. Ashva-
ghosha might well be proud of it The point of the Diamond
Needle which he flattered himself he had prepared was by no
means dulled by the attack of the offended Brahman. Thus
the violent Buddhist polemist who had so frequently and so
179
cruelly humiliated the pride of the Brahman once more enters
the scene after centuries of silence in the shock of religious
controversy.
Burnouf, to whom Hodgson had generously handed over
along with other manuscripts the copy of
Buddhist and Vajra-suci and the Buddha-canta indi-
Brahmanic
controversy. cated in his Introduction to the History of
Indian Buddhism the interest of these two
works. He proposed himself to revert to the question of the
identity of the author " later on. " The Chinese Buddhistic
documents analysed by Remusat had meanwhile taught that
one of the patriarchs of the Buddhist Church, the twelfth
since the death of Shakyamuni, had borne the name of
Ashvaghosha. With his strong commonsense Burnouf
declined to see in one single personage the patriarch and the
author on the faith of a resemblance of names. He was
inclined rather to consider the two productions as the work
of an ascetic or religious writer of more modern times. Next
to Burnouf, the Vajrasuci had the good fortune to interest
another Indianist of equal erudition, Albrecht Weber. In a
memoir submitted to the Berlin Academy in 1859, Weber
pointed to a Brahmanic recension of the Vajasuci. It was
classed in the respectable category of Upanishads and
attributed to the most fortunate and most fierce adversary
of the moribund Buddhism of those days, the great Shankara
Acharya. Weber believed himself justified in affirming
the priority of the Brahmanic recension 5 Ashvaghosha had
carried the war into the territory chosen by the advocates of
the Brahmanic institution of castes. In an appendix to his
memoir Weber grouped together valuable information on the
patriarch Ashvaghosha, extracted from Tibetan and Chinese
sources which had been communicated to him by the learned
Schiefner. The figure of Ashvaghosha began to appear in
180
more precise lineaments. He now emerges as a doctor,
musician, stylist and an ingenious controversialist. Above
all Ashvaghosha seemed to range himself among the entou-
rage of another no less enigmatical celebrity, the great king
Kanishka, the barbarous ruler who subjugated India about
the beginning of the Christian era and who so profoundly
affected the historic destinies of the country.
In 1860 an anonymous German translation, which was in
reality made by Benfey, rendered accessible
Chinese aid,
to Indiamsts the admirable work of the
Russian scholar Wassilieff on Buddhism. As familiar with
the doctrines as with the languages of China and Tibet,
Wassilieff was able to write vigorously on the influence of
Ashvaghosha on Buddhist philosophy. In 1869 the History
of Buddhism in India by the Tibetan Pandit Taranath,
translated from the Tibetan by Schiefner, enriched the
biography of Ashvaghosha with details which were, how-
ever, of a legendary character. But it confirmed the literary
importance of the celebrated doctor. The Tibetan tradition,
faithful heir to the Hindu tradition, recognised in Ashva-
ghosha an exceptional personage endowed with such varied
gifts that the European critic preferred to divide him into
several persons bearing the same name. It is to the English
scholar Beal that belongs the honour of resuscitating the
literary glory of Ashvaghosha. Beal himself has suffered
real injustice. Pioneer in bringing to light the immense
collection which is incorrectly called the Chinese Tripitaka,
he succeeded in extracting from it a mass of facts, documents,
abstracts, and legends by which have profited the science
of archaeology, history and Indian literature and the whole
of which has not been to this day arranged sufficiently
systematically to attract the attention it deserves. The
Chinese experts have ignored the labours of Beal because he
1*1
laboured with reference to Indian antiquities. The Indiamsts,
on the other hand, have looked upon him with suspicion
because he looked for authentication at the hands of Sinolo-
gists alone. People have pointed out his mistakes and
blunders. But those only who have tackled Buddhist
Chinese know the difficulties which the best of scholars
have to encounter. They were rather amazed, let it be
said, to Beal's honour, to see that without the know-
ledge of Sanskrit and without the help of another Indianist he
had committed so few faults. Above all they admire the
surety of his grasp which directed his choice in the Chinese
chaos. He was only officially called upon to classify the
collection of Chinese Buddhism in the India Office and he was
struck by the interest of the book Sutralankara and its author
Ashvaghosha. He singled out its merits and even translated
several of its stories in a brief series of lectures delivered at
the London University in 1882. A little later he published in
the Sacred Books of the East (volume XIX) a translation from
the. Chinese version of the Sanskrit Buddha-carita. Burnouf
at the very beginning of the studies which he founded was
mistaken, as regards the value of the Sanskrit original. But as
soon as new theories on the development of Sanskrit literature
and the formation of the Buddhist legends were elaborated,
the epic of Ashvaghosha on the life of the Buddha did not
take long in attracting attention. Fresh indexes came in a
little later, to corroborate the attribution of the work to the
great Ashvaghosha which had remained so doubtful in
Burnouf s judgment.
A Japanese scholar whom Sylvain Levi considers it an
honour to count among his pupils, Rayauon
co^opemtlon. Fujishima, translated in the Journal Asia-
tique 1888 two chapters, dealing with hymns
and the state of Buddhism in India from the memoir of Yi-tsing,
182
The Chinese pilgrim Yi-tsing had passed twenty-five
years in western countries from 671 to 695, passionately
occupied in study, especially the religious discipline of
the school of Buddhism to which he belonged, viz., the
Mula-Sarvastivadis. His testimony deserves our confidence.
Yi-tsing knows only one Ashvaghosha whom he classes, as
does also Hiuan-tsang, another renowned Chinese traveller,
among the Suns of the World alone with Nagarjuna and
Deva. This Ashvaghosha is the author of " numerous
hymns, the Sutalankara, and of the poem on the life of the
Buddha.". . . Yi-tsing even gives a summarised analysis of
this poem and records that it is studied everywhere in the
Five Indias as well as in the Southern Seas (Indo-Asia),
because to read Ashvaghosha is to be at once educated,
instructed and delighted. Now how was a Western scholar
to resist such a tempting promise ? Here was a unique
opportunity for research, Sylvain Levi knew it was the eve
of a momentous literary discovery.
The National Library of Paris possesses a manuscript of
the Buddha-carita. Sylvain Levi copied it and prepared an
able edition and translation of it, publishing as a specimen the
first canto in the Journal Asiatique. Subsequently he learned
that an English scholar of repute, Cowell, professor at the
University of Cambridge, had commenced to print in the
Anecdota Oxoniensia a complete edition of the same text.
With rare chivalry Sylvain Levi effaced himself before the
English scholar. The entire text appeared in England in
1893, soon followed by an English translation. Cowell
familiar alike with the classics of India had no hesitation in
recognising in Ashvaghosha a precursor and even a model
ofKalidas. He suggested striking similarities to prove that
the Ennius of India, as he called him, had more than once
183
lent his treasures to the Vigil. He further established that
the authentic work of Ashvaghosha stopped with the four-
teenth canto and that a later compilator has clumsily fabric-
ated the last three songs with a view to giving a kind of '
integrity to the mutilated poem. Like the Vajrasuci, the
Biidha-carita became soon the object of close study on the
part of the most eminent Indianists, Buhler, Kielhorn,
Boehtlingk, Leumann, Lueders, who exercised their ingenuity
on the restoration of the corrupted text.
The fundamental problem of Hindu chronology led the
great French scholar, Sylvain Levi, a little
thl"trSsure.0f later' to the Sutralancara. In his quest
of documents -on the Indo-Scythian king
Kanishka he came upon in the Chinese version two
stories which extolled the orthodoxy and the piety of this
great king. (Journal Asiatique, 1896-97.) Mastered by the
beauty of the work in the Chinese rendering, Levi did. not
despair to recover the original Sanskrit in Nepal and he set
out on a long and costly voyage from Paris in search of this
lost treasure of India. His great efforts, however, ended
only in the discovery, in the Himalayan Valley, of another
work bearing the same name, of a much later date and of an
altogether different nature. Next the indefatigable scholar
proceeded to Japan. Here he found no Sutralankara in Sans-
krit but was surprised to see a fresh work of Ashvaghosha
which was till then unknown in Europe, namely, the Mahayana
Shraddhotpada, widely read in the schools and monasteries of
Japan where it passed for the historic basis of the doctrine of
the Great Vehicle. Under the guidance of eminent Buddhist
priests of Japan, Sylvain Levi studied it, comparing with the
two Chinese versions and he prepared a French translation of
the whole which he brought to Europe. There he had no
opportunity of printing it yet. Meanwhile a Japanese scholar,
Teitara Suzuki, of the Seminary of Kyoto, drawn to America
184
by the movement of neo-Buddhism, published in 1900 at
Chicago, under the patronage of Dr. Paul Karus, a faithful
translation of this Japanese rendering of the Shraddhotpada.
In this tract the polemist of the Vajrasucii the story-teller of
the Sutralankara, and the poet of the Budha-carita, reveals
himself to us in a fresh capacity. Ashvaghosha here is a pro-
found metaphysician, the bold originator of a doctrine
called into being for the regeneration of Buddhism.
Such a great man could not possibly traverse the stage of
this world without leaving in the memory of man unforgettable
traces. Shorn of fantastic ornamentation and reduced to its
essential lineaments the traditional biography of Ashva-
ghosha may be summed up thus.
Ashvaghosha appeared a hundred years after the
Life of Nirvana of the Buddha according to one
Ashavaghosha. Chinese authority 5 three hundred years
after it, according to another 5 and five or six hundred years
after it, according to two other Chinese sources. One source
makes it as late as eight hundred even. His birthplace seems
to have been Gangetic India, the ancient district of Sake ta
or Ayodhya in the Kingdom of Sharavasti. According to the
colophon to the Tibetan version of the Buddha-carita his
birthplace was Pataliputra or Benares. As regards his
lineage he was born in a Brahman family, acquiring all the
specific education of his caste as well as instruction in
general literary arts. According to Hiuen-tsang his know-
ledge comprised all that was known. As a musician he
invented melodies which were so moving that they had to be
proscribed by the government of the day. As a dialectician
he triumphed over all his adversaries. A zealous devotee of
the Brahmanic gods, especially Maheshvara, he was converted
to Buddhism by Parshva who especially came down from
Northern India to win him over to the Buddhist faith.
According to others it was Purna, otherwise known as
185
Punyashas. A third source ascribes the honour of his con-
version to Aryadeva. Now his fame extended to the limits
of India. The King Kanishka pushed his arms as far as
Saketa to carry away with him the matchless doctor.
Ashvaghosha thus became his spiritual adviser and the
physician of his soul. If we follow the later version he
refused to repair to the court of the Indo-Scythian himself
sending him one of his disciples instead.
The literary remains of Ashvaghosha are preserved partly
in original Sanskrit, partly in Chinese and partly in Tibetan
translation. In Sanskrit we have Buddha-carita which was
translated into Chinese between 414 and 421 by Dharmarak-
sha. We have also the Vajrasuci which was translated into
Chinese between 973 and 981 by Fahien. In passing, the
Chinese translation describes the Vajrasuci as a work
of Dharmakirti. The ascription is not improbable,
Dharmakirti, like Ashvaghosha, had received first his
Brahmanic education. The Tibetan translation has a special
interest for Indians in that it has preserved the memory of the
important religious controversy against Shankaracharya. The
Upaniskad placed under the name of Shankara marks a phase
in this religious struggle. It is possible that Dharmakirti
published a new edition, revised and completed, of the treatise
originally composed by Ashvaghosha. The problem is
highly important for the literary history of India, because
Vajrasuci cites passages from Manu and the Mahabharata.
We can imagine the important consequences of discovering,
if we can, the authentic text of Ashvaghosha in the original
Sanskrit.
The works of Ashvaghosha, which remain to us both
Chinese m Chinese and Tibetan translations, are
reverence for the Gurupancashat ika, the Dashakushala-
Sanskrit texts, - and lastly the exceed-
ingly curious Ghantistotra, which owing most probably to its
18*
secret character was not translated but phonetically trans-
cribed in Chinese characters. The complete Tibetan title of
the Gurupancashatika indicates the Tantric character of this
work which is evident from its introductory stanzas. Besides,
the whole work is replete with references to the mystical
symbols and doctrines of Tantra, the Vajra Mandate, and
Abhisheka. The Chinese version is presented to us as a
simple small compilation by the Bodhisattva Ashvaghosha.
In fact, in the age of Hiuen-tsang the reputation of
Ashvaghosha as a magician was established. The Tibetan
Tanjur in addition to this contains two tracts which obviously
form two halves of a single work, the Sanskrit title of which
must have \>QQ].\Samvatibodnicittabhavrnanopadeshasamgraha
and the Shokavinodanaashtakshanakata. The Chinese have
preserved several other works of Ashvaghosha translated by
Paramartha. Among these the Mahay anashraddhortada-
shastra, translated first by Paramartha in 553 and then again
by Shikshanada between 695 and 700, deserves mention.
Finally we have in Chinese the celebrated Sutralankarashastra
translated from Sanskrit by Kumarajiva about 405. Besides
these we have other productions of Ashvaghosha of minor
import and doubtful authenticity. Such are the hymns in 150
verses called Shatatapancashatika-Namastotra, which is
attributed by the Tibetan collection of Tanjur to Ashvagho-
sha, but which Yi-tsing, the author of the Chinese translation,
expressly ascribes to Matriceta. In his memoirs Yi-tsing
mentions Ashvaghosha and Matriceta as two entirely different
personages. The celebrated hymn was translated by him from
Sanskrit into Chinese at Nalanda, the centre of Buddhistic
learning. The Nandimukhishva^hosha A vadana, imputed by
Hodgson to the poet Ashvaghosha, has nothing in common
with him, except the name of one of the personages, a devotee
of the goddes Vasundhara.
187
The variety of the classes of literature cultivated by
Ashvaghosha is perfectly in keeping with
Was he a king? ... , r ,.
the tradition, which makes of this author a
contemporary of the king Kanishka. As regards the question of
the relation between the times of Ashvaghosha and Kanishka
it is not without interest to show that the excavations at Sar-
nath have brought to light two documents, issued by a king
Ashvaghosha. One of these is engraved just on the pillar
which bears the edict of Ashoka and is placed immediately
after the edict. The other is a simple fragment of a stele.
Vogel, who has published the two inscriptions, infers from
the paleographic and linguistic characters that thisAshvagho-
sha Raja is a contemporary of Huvishka who succeeded
Kanishka. We cannot think of an identity, but the name
was current in the Indo-Scythian period and the form of the
name furnishes a chronological index too often neglected in
India. Cunningham found at Kosam, the site of the ancient
Kaushambi, a coin of Ashvaghosha, and Vincent Smith has
described another in the collection of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal, on the reverse of which the name of the king is
inscribed in the ancient Brahmi characters, and on the obverse
occurs the bull.
Ashvaghosha, therefore, must have appeared at one of
those critical periods when there occur political, econo-
mical, and social transformation] and upheaval in the
ideas currently received, and men receive new aspirations,
new formalities and new tests. The invasion of Alexander
confined to the basin of the Indus sufficed to create by a
counter-stroke an imperial India under the sceptre of Mauryas
on the ruins of the ancient principalities. The invasion of the
Scythian hordes, the intrusion of Chinese, Greek and Parthian
adventurers carried to the heart of Brahmanic India unknown
cults, rites and usages. Buddhism operated upon by contrary
forces must have been cleaved intc two halves. One section,
faithful to the ideal, common to Hindu asceticism, took refuge
in the pursuit of personal salvation. The other attracted by
the promises of an apostolate, which might extend to the limits
of the world, desired an open, active, instructed, and so to say,
secular church. The title itself of the Sutralankara of
Ashvaghosha sounds as a programme and the programme of
a revolution. Would not the old patriarchs of the past have
shuddered at the idea of embellishing a Sutra, of remodelling
the work of the Master who « has well said all that he has
said " ? Ashoka proclaims and perpetuates this belief in the
perfection of the Buddha's speech in the Bhabra edict. Cen-
turies after Ashvaghosha, Asanga had still more an excuse to
adopt the bold expression in his Mahayana Sutralankara and
in his Yogacaryabhumi-shastra. There is no question here
of equivocation. Alankara denotes the flowers of rhetoric
which India has cultivated with scientific thoroughness and
which it has catalogued with the passion of an amateur devoted
to the tulips. The Sutralankara is the Sutras or Buddhist
doctrinal discourses placed in a literary form. It is, as we
should say, the Bible for the ordinary people. In this attempt,
which was bound to have scandalized the simple souls of the
monks, Ashvaghosha acquired such reputation that the church
ended by soliciting his assistance. The biography of Vasu-
bandhu reports that the president of the council convoked by
Kanishka sent envoys to find out Ashvaghosha, so that he
might embellish the Vibhasha or commentary on Buddhist
Gospel submitted to the deliberations of the Holy Synod. At
that time Ashvaghosha was living in Kashmir and when the
import of the principles of the commentary was fixed he
turned it section by section into literary shape. The com-
position was completed at the end of twelve years. The
literary merits of the Sutralankara justify the flattering
encomium. They suffice to guarantee the authenticity of the
189
work. Through two successive translations into two such
diverse languages as Chinese and French, so far removed
from the Hindu genius, the Sutralankara preserves its im-
perishable qualities, the narrative art, the vigorous
imagination, the lyrical power and the suppleness of style.
To describe Ashvaghosha in worthy terms we have only to
borrow the beautiful words which he lends to a Bhikshu in the
presence of the emperor Ashoka :
" When I speak of the good acts of the Buddha the crowd
listen to me with joy. Their faces beam with happiness.
Exalting the virtues of the Buddha I have destroyed the here-
tics. In the front of all men I have expounded the true path,
the joy universal. As in the full autumnal moon all delight
in me. To exalt the virtues of the Buddha all the centuries
are not sufficient. But I will not stop doing it till my tongue
turns dry. For the art of speaking well is my father and I
regard eloquence as my mother. "
It was a dangerous undertaking. The literature of
instruction borders on the nauseating and
and theme«f Ashvaghosha wanted to instruct at all
costs. He did not attempt either to sur-
prise the conscience or to disguise the lesson. This is his
process. At first he proposes a moral theme. He illustrates
it by a story. If necessary he adds another moral and finally
the conclusion. The truths which he inculcates run in a
narrow circle. They relate to the power of previous acts or
karma, the importance of charity, the respect for observances,
the vanity of the world, the errors of heresies, the perfection
of the Buddha and the sanctity of the Law. But Ashvaghosha
was not afraid of rehearsing the same themes. Sure of
his art and sustained by an ardent faith he renewed
himself without effort. Take only the stanzas on
death which are strewn about in profusion over the book.
190
It is doubtful whether a Tertullian or a Bossuet could have
spoken with greater grandeur or with a more noble realism.
If it is the moral which above all counts for Ashvaghosha
he is too much of an artist to sacrifice the narrative. He
chooses his subject in every direction. He treats of all
the strata of tradition and every class of society. Sometimes
the Buddha himself is a hero of his story. Sometimes it is
one of his disciples or a simple monk or an outcast chandala
or a courtesan or a servant or a robber or an emperor. How
can one read without emotion the conversion of Niti, the
scavenger, in the 43rd story ? He sees the Buddha coming
into a street in the town of Sharavasti, and seized with shame
at the sight of his superhuman majesty, flies from street to
street and everywhere the Buddha appears before him
collected and serene ! At last he is caught in a blind
alley. Here the Buddha calls him by his name. Could
the Buddha call by his name a vile creature like himself ?
Could it not be that there was another person of the
same name with himself? Perhaps the Buddha called the
other one. His doubts are set at rest by the Master himself
calling upon him to enter religious life which he does and the
scene ends with the powerful king Prasenajit prostrating
himself at the feet of the Buddha and the lowly sweeper, the
new convert to Buddhism. Equally powerful dramatic effect
is produced by the 20th story. Frightened and menaced by
the success of a Buddhist preacher who captivated crowds
and who preached against the joys of the world, " a daughter
of Joy " goes with a sumptuous retinue to exercise her
charms upon an assembly that had gathered together
to hear an exposition of the Law. At her sight the
attention of the listeners relaxes. They waver. The
preacher, the master of the law, espies the courtesan.
No sooner does his glance fall on her than the skin and the
flesh of the woman drop from her. There remain only
191
white bones and discovered intestines. Disgust seizes hold
of the spectators. The skeleton joins its ghastly hands to
implore pardon. The lesson goes home to the heart of the
audience, and the fallen woman is converted. On another
occasion, in the 40th story a robber finishes by blessing
the Law. He was passing by the door of a Bhikshu.
He knocks at the door. The Bhikshu does not
open it. " Pass thy hand," he shouts to him, " through
this small hole and I will give you something." The robber
puts his unsuspecting hand through. The Bhikshu catches
hold of it and ties it to a post, takes a stick and starts
vigorously belabouring the thief. With the first blow he
repeats the first Buddhist formula, " refuge in the Buddha."
The robber hastens to repeat the formula •, similarly u refuge
in the Law " and " refuge in the community." Then the thief
thinks within himself: How many formulas of refuge are
there with this holy man ? If there are many I shall not be
able to see any more this India. Assuredly it will mean the
end of my life." When the Bhikshu is satisfied that the
transgressor has repented he initiates him. " The perfect One,
the sublime One is really omniscient. If he had taught four
formulas of Refuge to his disciples that would have done for
me. But the Buddha probably foresaw my case and it was to
prevent my death that he has taught his disciples three
refuges and not four." We see that the ardour of faith did
not exclude humour from the monastery of the Buddhist.
We have upto now spoken only of the merits of the
contents of the translated work of Ashva-
ghosha. A fortunate accident enables us
to appreciate at least to some extent the
shape of the Sanskrit original. Now we have a large collection
of Buddhist tales preserved in Sanskrit. It was discovered in
Nepal. It is called the Divyavadana. Huber has been able
192
to trace the origins of three of the stories in our Chinese
translation of the Sutralankara to this Sanskrit Divyavadana.
All the three stories have for their hero either Ashoka or his
spiritual adviser Upagupta. They have found admittance
into the Divyavadana through the A shokavadana which
embodied all the stories of the Ashoka cycle. These frag-
ments in the original Sanskrit sufficiently establish that " the
style and the versification of the Sutralankara are not un-
worthy of the author who was the first to compose a
Mahakavya." Our investigations might proceed further in
this direction if it was necessary to confirm the authorship of
the Sutralankara. But Ashvaghosha has taken the care to
put his signature, so to say, to his handiwork after the
Hindu fashion. The Sutralankara twice cites the Buddhz-
canta. In the 43rd story Ashvaghosha represents the
Buddha in one of his begging rounds in Shravasti. Here
Ashvaghosha cannot resist the temptation of recalling a
similar scene touching the entrance of the Buddha into
Rajagrha, " as has been related in the Buddhacarita" The
descriptions in the story and in the Buddhacarita correspond
in detail.
In the forty-seventh story, the subject of which is the
conversion of Upali, Ashvaghosha again begins by recalling
without apparent reason, the conversion of the three
Kashyapas and their companions, about a thousand people,
who followed the Buddha to Kapilavastu " as has been related
at length in the Buddhacarita." The reference has no justifi-
cation except as a pretext to bring in the quotation. For the
Buddhacarita relates in fact at length the conversion of the
Kashyapas and the arrival of the Master with a following of one
thousand men at his natal city. A third time the author
follows his own Life of the Buddha, which we know in the
original Sanskrit as the Buddhacarita and which in the
Chinese is called Fo-pen-hing. The occasion was the lamen-
m
tation of Sudatta when the Buddha is about to leave
Sharavasti. The Chinese version of the Buddhacari'a is the
-only one which could be used with reference to this part of
the Buddha's career. But it has nothing in connection with
this episode. It is to be noted here that the translator of the
Chinese rendering, Kumarajiva, in referring to the Life of the
Buddha here does not use the title Fo -pen-king which he had
employed in the two other references we mentioned above.
Evidently he has probably in mind another Sanskrit work
dealing with the life of the Buddha which also was translated
into Chinese.
With Ashvaghosha begins the list of the literary
writers of India. The only names of authors which to our
knowledge preceded him are connected with technical works.
And none of them permits of being assigned even an
approximately correct date. Hence we can measure the im-
portance of his work, the Siitralankara, as the first chronolo-
gical landmark along with the sister compilation of the
Buddhacarita in the nebulous chaos of the literary history of
India. The least reliable data which we can extract from
them are of inestimable value. Some of the events and facts
which we can thus establish with certainty are the following :
The geographical horizon of the Sutralankara embraces
the whole of India since it stretches as far as Ceylon, but it is
the north-western India which alone is placed in full light.
In the Gangetic province the author mentions Pataliputra and
Mathura. But in the basin of the Indus he mentions Shakala,
Takshashila, Avanti, Ashmaka, Gandhara and Pushkalavati.
Two other names are hard to restore to their original shapes
from the Chinese translation. The country of Ki-pin, which
has so often embarrassed Indologists because it answers at
once to Kashmir and to the country of Kapisha, permits of
being localised in our book with some chance of certainty.
194
For in the seventy-sixth story, the Vihara or the monastery
of Revata is situated in this territory. Now the Sanskrit
text of the Mahaprajnaparamita Shastra which passes for a
compilation of the patriarch Nagarjuna, and which was
translated from Sanskrit into Chinese between 402 and 405 by
Kumarajiva, gives the following description of this
monastery : —
« The Buddha Shayamuni resided in Jambudvipa. He
was born in the country Kippi-lo. He travelled much about
the six great cities of eastern India. Once upon a time, he
started from here for southern India. He lived in the house of
the house-holder Kotikarna who received his homage. Once
he proceeded for a short time to northern India to the country
of the Yuetche to subjugate the Dragon King Apalala, and
finally he went to the west of the Yuetche to conquer the
Rakshasi. The Buddha here passed the night in a cave, and
to this day the shadow of the Buddha is preserved here. If
you enter into it to have a look you see nothing. When you
come out of the hole and are at a distance from it you see
brilliant signs as if the Buddha himself were there.
He proceeded wishing to visit the King of Ki-pin
on the mount of the Rishi Revata. He lived there
for a time. He mastered the Rishi. Said the Rishi: 'I
am happy at your arrival. I wish that the Buddha may give
me a hair and a nail of his in order to raise a s tupa over it for
worshipping.' These have been preserved to this day."
The Chinese author here adds a note to the effect that
at the foot of the mountain is situated the monastery and
reproduces what he calls the exact pronunciation.
From the accounts of the Chinese pilgrims who visited
India we learn of the miracles performed by the Buddha in the
countries beyond the Indus. These are recorded in the
Vinaya or the disciplinary code of the Mula Saravastivadis
195
in the section devoted to medicinals herbs. The Divya-
vadana, one of the important Sanskrit Buddhist texts, twice
refers to them in the episodes belonging to the cycle ofAshoka,
first in the classic story of Pamshupradana, and secondly, in
the still more celebrated account which has much more of
history than legend of Prince Kunala. In Chinese we have
several versions and they reproduce faithfully the catalogue
of the miraculous conversions. One of these which dates
from 281-3ftfi fixes also the locality of the occurrence :
" The Bhagavat subjugated and converted the Naga
Apalala in Udayana *, the head of the Brahmacharis in Kipin \
Chandala in Kien-to-wei (which we are unable to trace to the
Sanskrit original) •, and Gopala in Gandhara." In fact, we
know from the accounts of the Chinese voyagers that the
Dragon Apalala lived near the source of the Svat and that the
cavern of the shadow of the Buddha, which was a witness to
the victory of the Buddha over Gopala, was in the neigh-
bourhood of Nagarahara near modern Jalalabad, to the west
of the confluence of the Svat and the Kabul-rud. The third
stage, therefore, has to be looked for in the continuation of the
same direction, that is in the country of Kapisha. According
to Hieun-tsang by the side of the shadow cavern there was a
stnpa enclosing the hair and nails of the Tatathagata, a
frequent appellation of the Buddha. The Kunalavadana
mentions mount Revataka alongside of Mahavana which is
skirted by the Indus on its right bank below Attok.
The unidentified kingdom of Siu-ho-to, the scene of
Story 39, takes us to the same region. It was there that,
according to the narrative of the traveller Fa-hien,KingShibi
purchased a dove at the price of his own flesh. The touching
occurrence is recounted at length in the 64th Story and we
know by the researches of Sir Aurel Stein that this is the
country which corresponds to the modern Bunner. A further
198
addition to our knowledge of ancient geography is furnished
by Story 45. The Chinese //arc. is undoubtedly the Sanskrit
China which takes us to the north of the Himalayas, the
tracts subject to Chinese influences. Similarly the Ta-tsin
of Story 90 continues the geographical horizon of ancient
India towards Hellenic Asia, Ta-tsin being the transl ation of
the Sanskrit Yavana of the Indians. If Ashvaghosha was
a native of Central India there is no doubt that at the time
when he composed his Sutralankara he was living on the
confines of North Western India.
The personages of the Sutralankara are most frequently
The personae anonymous. They are Brahmans, ascetics,
of the Story monks, merchants, painters, jewellers,
Book. washermen, iron-smiths and so on giving a
clue to the inner life of the great Indian public as it lived and
died in those days about whom we hear so little in the
voluminous religious books of the Brahmans. Sometimes in
our collection of sermons the Buddha and his disciples are
brought on the scene. Some of the heroes are easily
identifiable as historical personages. A.soka, the great
Maurya emperor, is the hero of three tales. He is referred to
in a fourth. His spiritual adviser Upagupta, one of the
patriarchs of Buddhism, is the hero of another story. Both
the ruler and his guide are placed definitely a hundred years
after the Buddha. Upagupta became a monk " a hundred
years after the disappearance of the Buddha." Elsewhere we
are told that a master of the Law who had lived in the time of
Buddha Kashyapa reappeared " a hundred years after the
Pariniroana of the Buddha Shakyamuni under the reign of
King Asoka." This interval of one century we find to be
also fixed by a prophesy occurring in the Vmaya or the
disciplinary code of the Mula Sarvastivada in which we are
told that Asoka must take birth a hundred years after the
Parinirvana,
197
Kanishka himself is the hero of two of the stories (14 and
31). In these he plays an instructive and honourable part. In
the first he addresses a lofty lesson of charity to his
minister Devadharma. In the second, deceived by his piety
he salutes what he considers to be a stupa of the Budha, but
in reality pays homage to a Jain one, which immediately
breaks to pieces " because it did not deserve the homage of
a king." The first episode takes place when Kanishka pro-
ceeds to the city which bears his name, the city of Kanish-
kapura founded by the Indo-Sythian king in Kashmir. To
this day it bears the name in a scarcely altered form Kanispore.
It is situated to the south-west of Lake Woollar in the
Baramula defile (Stein, Raja-Tarangini, vol. II, p. 22.).
The presence of Kanishka in the Sutralankar does not seem
to contradict the unanimous tradition which attaches
Ashvaghosha to the court of Kanishka. It is permissible
to recognise in these two stories a delicate homage, which is
by no means flattery addressed by the Buddhist doctor to the
protector of his church. Story 15 is founded on the traditional
avarice of King Nanda, who ruled over Gangetic India at the
time of the invasion of Alexander and who preceded the
Maurya dynasty. He had for his minister Vararuci whom
we find in the introduction to the BraJiatkatha, It is not
without interest for literary history to see the tradition fixing
the epoch of Ashvaghosha. Vararuci is in fact one of the
great names of the literary tradition of India. He is the
reputed author of a number of books of diverse classes, but
especially of a grammar of the Prakrit languages called
Pratt ita-Prakashn. The Brahatkatha identifies him with
Katyuyana and mixes up in his adventures two other per-
sonages connected with ancient Hindu grammar, Vyadi and
Pannini. The Tibetan Tanjur preserves a collection of a
hundred stanzas called the Shcttagntha under the name of
Vararuci. Finally, Sylvain Levi has found in the Mahar
198
y.intoatarashastra , which was translated into Chinese
between 397 and 439, several stanzas of a Buddhacarita as
composed by the Bhikshu Vararuci. By the way, these
stanzas refer to a transcendent Mahayana. One of them tells
us that all the Shakyas, including not only disciples like
Annanda and Aniruddha, but the inveterate enemy of the
Buddha. Devadatta, are everyone of them Bodhisattvas.
Another stanza speaks of the two kinds of avivyda or ignor-
ance, the one mundane and the other supermundane. Our
anthologies quote a dozen of the stanzas as the work of Vara^-
ruci and the Mahabhashya mentions a poem by Vararuci,
Vararucha Kavya (Pannini 4, 3, 101). It is most significant
to find in this story of the Sutralankara that Vararuci
addresses these stanzas to the King Nanda which have a
great resemblance to the style of Ashvaghosha, with his
favourite regular refrain The princes mentioned in our
story-book which remain unidentified are Induvarma and
vSuryavarma of Avanti with their ministers Baudhayanamitra,
Sudravarma of Shakala, Vatlabha of Mathura, and a prince
whose name cannot be successfully retraced from the Chinese
to the original Sanskrit, a prince who belonged to Takshashila
which the Greeks called Taxila, the spot marked by to-day's
village of Sarai-kala, one hour's journey from Rawalpindi,
which has yielded to the archaeologicall excavators magnificent
specimens of Grajco^Buddhistic art.
The social condition of India, as represented in the
Sutralankarn) had attained a high stand-
ard of civilisation. There was intense
intellectual activity throughout the
country. The great Brahmanic epics were already known.
Ashvaghosha's other work, the Buddhacarita, is also familiar
with both the Kamayana and the Mahabharata. There are
references to the Kings Nahusha, Yayati, Sagara, Dilipa, The
199
edifying importance of this Brahmanic poems seems to be
taken as admitted. A simple headman of an Indian village in
what are Central Provinces listens to the recital of the Maha-
bharata and the Ramayana delivered by the Brahmans.
Attracted by their promise which guarantees the heaven to
the brave who die in the battle as well as to the pious men
who burn themselves he prepares at once to mount a burning
pile of wood. Fortunately for him a Buddhist Bhikshu
turns up and demonstrates to him the futility of the promise
of the Brahmans and eventually succeeds in converting him
to Buddhism. The philosophical doctrines of the Samkhya
and the Vaisheshika schools have already been constituted
in their manuals. Ashvaghosha combats these Brahmanical
dogmas with incisive vigour. He attacks the gods of the
Brahmans and exposes their weaknesses with remorseless
vigour. He shows them up as violent and cruel. Their
power is only due to their good karma. The tradition
that Ashvaghosha himself was a worshipper of Mahesha and
latterly turned a Buddhist is derived probably from the first
story in the collection in which an adherent of the sect of
Mahesha renounces it for Buddhism. Among the religious
sects of non-Buddhistic persuasion are the Nirgranthas or
Jainas, the adversaries whom Ashvaghosha detests with
greater virulence than Brahmans. In one story the King
Kanishka is made to be enraged against the Jaina rivals of the
Buddhists. From the inscriptions at Mathura we learn that
the Jainas were flourishing under the Indo-Scythian kings.
The number of the sects which were considered heretic
attests the religious activities of the times. Ashvaghosha
enumerates quite a number of them. The ornate diction
which Ashvaghosha was the first to venture to apply to the
otherwise insipid sutras of the Buddhists no doubt flourished
amongst the non-Buddhistic creeds. In one place the king
Asoka is made to say : " The heretics are able exponents of
200
literary adornment and rhetoric." The Brahmans still love to
preserve the monopoly of grammar and writing, but already
i: the other castes also possess the science." Literature seems
to have entered into daily life. " The teaching of the Buddha
has spread through writing over the world." It is most re-
markable that the civilisation of India could boast of the use
of palimpsests. One of the most charming stories mentions
them. Up to now we had no other indication from any source
whatever that the Hindus like the Greeks used this material
for writing. This is an indication which will have to be
reckoned with in our study of ancient manuscripts of India.
The arts were fully flourishing at the period. Comedians
are frequently mentioned. In one story a
pathetic instance of a painter's piety is
afforded. He belonged to Pushkalavati and had gone on
business to the country of Ashmaka where he was decorating
a monastery. In one story we meet with an inebriated artist
who, on coming to his senses, destroys the lamentable produc-
tion of his hour of drunkenness and proceeds to produce
some excellent work. In one place the king Shibi, who had
disfigured and mutilated himself with his own hands to offer
the members of his own body in charity, is compared to a
beautiful statue disfigured by rain. In another place we have
an exhaustive catalogue of the number of sciences which an
accomplished heir to the throne was expected to possess.
The list differs from the sixty-four classical arts mentioned in
another place. It is of particular interest and may be repro-
duced in full.
"The Veda, archery, medicine, sacrifices, astronomy,
grammar, the origin of writing, the performance of sacrifices,
eloquence, rhetoric, the art of love, interest, purity of families,
the ten names, computation, chess, dice, the study of origins,
music and song, the art of playing on the conch, dancing and
201
laughter, the art of the prestidigitarian, education, the making
of garlands of flowers, massage, the science of precious stones
and valuable materials for clothing, silk, sealing, weaving,
wax work, strategy, sewing, sculpture, painting, literature,
arrangement of garlands, interpretation of dreams, interpreta-
tion of the flight of birds, horoscopes of boys and girls, the
training of elephants, the art of playing on the tambourine,
the rules of battle array, the domesticating of horses, the
carrying of the lance, jumping, running, and fording a
river."
Whatever the interest of the Sutralankara in connection
with its title, it is as a Buddhistic docu-
of^nl^lected ment that it is of capital importance. The
School. study of Buddhism is even to this day un-
consciously vitiated by the rivalry of two
traditions, that of the north and of the south ; the one found-
ed on Sanskrit, quasi-Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan texts, the
other based on the Pali texts. The genius of Burnouf knew
how to maintain an equilibrium between the two competitors.
Since his days all manner of factors have conspired to
disturb the equipoise. In spite of worthy resistance Pali
orthodoxy has usurped the science of Buddhism. Ceylon,
the cradle of Pali, has bsen regarded as the authentic heir
to the Master's doctrine disfigured by the rival tradition. The
work of Ashvaghosha brings forward fresh information for a
process of revision of our judgment. Expressly inspired by the
original sutras, nourished by the words of the Buddha which
he quotes on every page, he places before us in full light the
condition of the Buddhist canon at the court ot the barbarian
prince, under whose auspices the text of the northern canon
is alleged to have been settled about the beginning of the
Christian era. It is therefore proper that we should analyse
one by one the stories in this collection of sermons for the
purposes of our enquiry.
202
With the invocation with which according to the Bud-
dhistic usage he opens his Sntralankara.
ChTna Though ^ shvaghosha makes his profession of faith,
lost in India. Like all the Buddhists in the first place he
adores the Three Jewels, viz., the Buddha,
the Law and the Community. Next he addresses his homage
to the assembly of the Sa-po-che-po, which is the
transcription in Chinese symbols of the Hindu term
Sarvastivadi, which means " those who believe in the
existence of everything." This transcription differs some-
what from the more usual and more correct one. But
we have to remember that the monk who translated the
original Sanskrit into the Chinese, Kumarajiva, was an
inhabitant of Karashar, in Chinese Turkestan, and that
he had never been to India so that his Sanskrit pronun-
ciation was naturally not of the best. Sylvain Levi carefully
explains the process by which the Indian, Central Asian and
Chinese Buddhists evolved a system of transliteration of
Hindu names in the terms of the Chinese symbols. The
Sarvastivadi school was one of the most prosperous in the
world of Buddhism. It was powerful throughout India, but
the Chinese pilgrims found it equally flourishing in Central
Asia and in the Indian Archipelago. The Vinaya, or the dis-
ciplinary code of this school which is generally known as the
Vinaya of the Ten Recitations, was translated into Chinese as
early as 404. The translator was just our Kumarajiva who
had a collaborator in Punyatara. We may note in passing
that another branch of the same school which was called the
primeval Sarvastivadis, Arya-mula-Sarvastivadis, possessed
an enormous Vinaya in Sanskrit which was translated into
Chinese under the direction of the famous Yi-tsing between
70S and 710 and a century later into Tibetan. It is a note-
worthy coincidence in the history of Buddhistic researches
that Eduard Huber and Sylvain Levi, both French scholars,
at one and the same time working independently, discovered
fragments of this Vinaya in their original form in the Sanskrit
Divyavadatia.
Ashvaghosha mentions some of his illustrious pre-
decessors and pays homage to them along
His renowned with the Sarvastivadi samgha. He invokes
« the Bhikshus Fou-na and Pafshava, the
masters of the sastras Mi-tche ". Sylvain Levi corrects this
translation of Huber's and brings to light some of the
renowned among Ashvaghosha's predecessors* The Chinese
symbols Fou-na might represent the Sanskrit Purna, the
fuller transcription of which in Chinese is Fou-lou-na. It
frequently occurs in the name of Purna Maitrayaniputra*
Further the same symbols in the same Sulralankara serve to
transcribe the name, in an authentic and incontestible manner,
of the disciple Purna (p. 325). Now Purna is not an unknown
personage. Both the Sanskrit and the Tibetan tradition
regard Purna as the author of the Dhatukayapada, one of the
seven classics ot the Abhidharma of the Sarvastivadis. The
work was translate! into Chinese by Hiuan-tsang who
attributes it to Vasumitra, the president of the Council
convoked by Kanishka (Takakusu, p. 75,108). This substitu-
tion is significant. For thus Purna enters into the group of
the doctors patronised by the Indo-Scythian school. On the
other hand, the learned Tibetan Bu-ston mentions Purnica
assisted by Vasumitra and five hundred arhats,a.\. the head
of the redactors of the canon fixed by the Council of Kanishka
(Schiefner, p. 298). Purnika is another form of the name Purna.
The two doctors, therefore, again come in contact. *But
Wassilief who translated this passage from Bu-ston added in
parenthesis next after the name of Purnika ; (Parshivika).
Slyvain Lev! not having the text of Bu-ston is
unable to state whether Bu-ston or Wassilief is re-
sponsible for this. However, this time again we meet Purna
204
and Parshva associated as in the Sutralankara. Hiuan-
tsang mentions in Kashmir a convent where Purna,
the master of the Sastras, composed a commentary on the
Vibhishasastra. The Vibhi shasatfra was the principal work of
the Council of Kanishka. It was for the editing of it that
Ashvaghosha was officially requisitioned. We are still in
the same circle of authors and their works •, but we might go
further and take a more decisive step. A learned
Chinese in a compilation of about 520 drew up two lists
slightly divergent representing the filiation of the Sarvasti-
vadi doctrine. Ashvaghosha figures in both. In one list he
occurs twice. List No. 1 has Kattyayana, Vasumitra,
.Krishna. Parshva, Ashvaghosha, Kumarata, Vira, Ghosha.
Purna, Ashvaghosha. List No. 2 comprises Kattyayana,
Vasumitra, Krishna, Parshva, Ashvaghosha, Ghosha,
Purna.
Thus we meet with Purna in the authentic tradition of
the Sarvastivadis alongside of Ashvaghosha either as the
second successor of the first Ashvaghosha or as the
predecessor of the second. And he occurs again in a similar
disguise which has thrown sinologists off the scent. Since
the beginning of Chinese and Buddhist studies Remusat
drew up a list of thirty-three primeval patriarchs which he
had abstracted from a Japanese cyclopaedia (Melanges
asiatiques Ijll3).
This list having become classical has been reproduced
by ' Lassen in his Indian Antiquity (vol. 2, supplement 2).
Since then the Sanskrit transcriptions of Chinese names
communicated by Stanislas Julien to Lassen have been
regarded as authoritative. The best of the Sanskrit-Chinese
scholars Eitel, Edkins, Nanjio have tamely copied them. This
list has ; Parshvika, Punyayashas, Ashvaghosha.
205
The original Chinese from which Julien restored
Punyayashas is Fou-na-yache. This is in fact the name
of the eleventh patriarch mentioned in a history of Buddhism
written in 1345. But we have a list of patriarchs of a much
more ancient date in a Sanskrit work translated into Chinese
in 472. Here the person placed between Parshiva and
Ashvaghosha is Fou-na-che. In this Fou-na is quite positive.
The transcription proposed by Julien is inadmissible. Punya-
yashas will not do. The correct restoration is Purna which
is a customary abbreviation of a type known in grammar as
Bhimavat, of either Purnasha or Purnashayas. Now both
the Chinese works just mentioned attribute the conversion of
Ashvaghosha to Purna while the biography of Ashvaghosha
ascribes it to Parshva. Once more we find Purna and
Parshva in close association just as in the invocation in the
Sutralankara. They are so closely allied in fact that one of
them is substituted for the other.
Parshva or Parshvika is better known. There is no
equivocation regarding his personality. Both the Chinese
Hiuan-tsang and the Tibetan Taranath attest the preponderat-
ing influence which he exercised on Kanishka and the part
which he took in the convocation of the Council as well
as in the compilation of the works. He was a native
of Gandhara. The convent built for him by Kanishka where
he resided in Kashmir was shown to the pilgrim. It had a
commemoration tablet. He frequently bears the title of
Bhikshu which is also attache d to his name in the Sutralan-
kara. Further he is also styled the Elder as in the biography
of Ashvaghosha.
As regards Mi-tche, Sylvain Levi again differs from
Huber. According to the former it is derived from the Sans-
krit Mecha. He is designated as the sixth patriarch. Lassen
on the authority of Julien establishes the hypothetical Sans-
206
krit name Micchaka, but this word is not known in Sanskrit.
Wassilief has corrected the transcription in Mechaka.
Mechaka is the predecessor of Vasumitra, the president of
the Council of Kanishka and Vasumitra is separated from
Parshva by two patriarchs, namely, Buddha Nandi and
Buddha Mitra. In the lists of the Sarvastivadi filiation
Mechaka occupies quite a different rank. In both the lists
Mechaka floats in the neighbourhood of Ashvaghosha. Thus
the name is proved to be Mechaka and the invocation may be
established to be addressed to Puma, Parshva, and Mechaka,
the master? of the Sastras. These three predecessors of
Ashvaghosha are all of them glorious adepts of the Sarvasti-
vadi school. Reverence to them shown by Ashvaghosha
further evinces that the author of the Sutralankara was an
adherent of the samejschool.
207
APPENDIX IIL
MOST ANCIENT BUDDHIST RECORDS.
BY M. WlNTERNITZ.
The Pali Cation : The Lamp.post of Indian Chronological
Records.
The Vedic literature leads us directly to pre-historic
times. And even as regards the beginnings of epic poetry of
India we despair of all time data. Only with the Buddhist
literature we enter into clear daylight of history. Even the
obscurity of the history of the Vedas and the epic literature
is to a certain extent lightened by this illumination. . The age
of the Buddha lends itself to determination and it provides us
with a certain point from which we can reckon the rise of the
Buddhist literature. Gautama, the Buddha, was born about
480 B. C. and a well authenticated tradition makes him die at
the age of eighty. As a young man of twenty-nine he is
believed to have embraced the life of a roaming ascetic and
commenced to seek the way to salvation. After severe inner
struggle, he started as a man of ripe age to proclaim the
doctrine discovered by him. In the period between 525 and
480 B. C., therefore, the literary production of the Buddha
must have issued, —the founding and the propagation of that
Indian creed which was destined to be one of the three great
world religions. The land of the Ganges in North- Western
India was the seat of his activity. Here, in wealthy Magadha
or modern Bihar and Kosala or modern Oudh, he went forth
from place to place preaching his doctrine and winning to
himself an increasing number of adherents.
Does a written record belong also to these operations
extending for several decades? Decidedly not. In the
Tipitaka, the Pali canon of the Buddhists, most of the
203
speeches and maxims are put in the mouth of the Buddha
himself. It is also precisely and circumstantially related
where and on what occasion the Master held a particular
dialogue or made a certain speech. How much of all these is
traceable to the Buddha himself will perhaps never be defi-
nitely determined, for Gautama Buddha left behind as little in
the shape of written record as did the Brahmanic sages
Yajnavalkya, Shandilya or Shaunaka. But just as the
speeches and dicta of these wise men have been to a great
extent actually embodied as tradition in the Vpanishads-, so
also undoubtedly many of the discourses and utterances of
the Buddha were accurately preserved in their memory by
the disciples and bequeathed to posterity. Deliverances
like the celebrated sermon at Benares on the " four noble
truths " and the " noble eight- fold path, " which occur not
only in many places in the Pali canon, but also in Buddhist
texts, composed in Sanskrit in self-same words ; much of the
parting exhortation delivered by the Master to his disciples
preserved in the Mahaparinibbanasutta, many of the verses
and brief dicta in the Dhawmapada, in the Udana, in the
Itivuttaka and in more or less similar Sanskrit texts of Nepal
as well as in Tibetan and Chinese translations, — these we
can look upon as emanating from the Buddha himself, without
exposing ourselves to the charge of undue credulity. Gautama
Buddha not only preached his new doctrine of sorrow and the
end of sorrow but founded a regular Order. He gathered
round himself a body of monks who led a holy life in the
sense taught by the Master and according to settled pres-
criptions in the hope of reaching the end of all sorrows, the
coveted Nirvana* Accordingly- many of the rules and ordi-
nances enacted for this order of monks, for instance, the ten
prohibitions for the mendicant friars technically called the
dasasita, and probably also the well-known confessional
litany, the Patimokkha, are derived directly from the Buddha,
209
From the age of the Buddha, therefore, no written record
has reached us appertaining to the Buddhist literature known
to us. On the other hand, individual texts incorporated in
this literature may with justification be regarded as the word
of the Buddha. Moreover, among the earliest disciples of the
Buddha there were doubtless several eminent leaders and
many of the discourses, dicta and poems embalmed in our
collection probably had for their author some one or other of
these prime acolytes.
Almost the entire oldest literature of the Buddhists
consists of collections of discources or dialogues, of dicta, of
songs, of stories and of a disciplinary code. And the Pali
Tipitaka is nothing but an enormous corpus of these collec-
tions. It is manifest that such collected records can represent
only the close of a literary activity spread over a long
anterior period and that the components must necessarily be
assigned to diverse periods of time. According to the
Buddhist tradition one such final redaction of Buddhist
records took place at a very early period in the his-
tory of Buddhism. Indeed, it is reported that a few weeks
after the decease of the Buddha, in the city of Rajagraha,
modern Rajgir, one of the personal disciples of the Buddha
summoned together an assembly of monks, known as the first
Buddhist Council, with a view to establish a canon of the
religion (dhamma) and the disciplinary code (vinaya). Now
against the trustworthiness of this report in its earliest shape,
as descended to us in the Tipitaka itself, speaks the circum-
stance that it makes too gross a demand on our credulity. In a
word, we are asked to believe that the two great sections of the
Tipitaka relating to the doctrine and discipline of the Buddha
entitled the Suttapitaka and the Vinayapitaka were composed
essentially in the form and shape as we find them to-day in
our Pali canon shortly after the demise of the Buddha,— a
proposition impossible in itself. Nevertheless we have no
210
right to assume that this tradition rests on no basis whatever.
Probably it is reared on a reminiscence of the not unlikely fact
that the elders of the faith gathered together soon after the
passing of the Master with a view to unity on the main
points of his doctrine and discipline. But for a composition
of a canon of the sacred texts of the kind of our Tipttaka
immediately after the death of the Buddha the period elapsed
was certainly too brief.
More credible is the tradition regarding the second
Council which is reported to have taken place a hundred years
after the death of the Buddha at Vesali. To follow our most
ancient account, the only object of this assembly was to
condemn the ten errors which had crept into the disciplinary
code. It is only in later reports of the Council that we are
told that a revision of the doctrine was accomplished at a
session which was held for eight months. If we rely on the
older report we must assume iras a historical fact that about
a hundred years after the decease of the Buddha a schism had
arisen which had occasioned so much perturbation that a
large council of monks had to be convened to arrive at a
decision as regards the legality of certain disputed points.
This, however, presumes that at that early date there were
already established definite regulations for the solution of
questions of this nature and those could only be a canon of
rescripts for the conduct of life of the monks of a character
and nature corresponding to those of the Vinayatitaka
now extant. Thus in the course of the first century
after the Buddha there must have been built up at
least a fundamental basis for the text of a regular
canon, if not a canon itself. An actual canon of the
sacred texts was probably established only at the third coun-
cil which was summoned at the time of the celebrated king
Asoka, to follow the account of the Ceylonese chroniclers,
Whose narrative, if embellished with legends, is in the main
211
entirely deserving of credence. That, as these chronicles
relate, at the time the Buddhist Order had already split into
numerous sects which necessitated an established canon for
the orthodox believers, that is to say, for those who wanted to
pass for adherents of the original doctrine, — this is antecedently
and sufficiently probable. Not less likely is it that this
redaction took place at the time of king Asoka, the greatest of
patrons and adherents of the Buddhist Order. Asoka himself
turns against the schismatics in one of his rock edicts. He
must, therefore, have found it incumbent on himself to deter-
mine what was the real religion of the Buddha. On the other
hand, however, he was so impartial,— tolerance of other creeds
he especially enjoins in his other edicts— that he did not sum-
mon the council for the establishment of the canon himself but
left it to the spiritual leaders. Accordingly, to follow the
tradition, it was not the king but the learned and venerated
monk Tissa Moggliputta who, in 236, after the death of the
Buddha, called an assembly of a thousand monks at the city
of Pataliputra, modern Patna, to fix a canon of the texts of the
pristine religion. Now the " true religion " was for him One
represented by the Theravada^ which is to say, " the doctrine
of the elders," the immediate disciples of the Buddha,- the
school to which the sect of the Vibhajjavadis professed to
adhere. Tissa, who was the president of the council, was a
member of this sect and it was his canon which in the ses-
sions lasting for nine months was determined at the council of
Pataliputra. Credible likewise is the tradition that the same
Tissa composed and incorporated with the canon the book of
Kathavatthu in which the heretical doctrines of the period are
repudiated.
Again it was Tissa, at least if we give credence to the
chronicles of Ceylon, who sent out the first missionaries to the
north and south and paved the way for the propagation of
212
Buddhism in foreign lands. A pupil of Tissa was the great
Mahinda, the younger brother, or according to another
tradition, the son of Asoka, who brought to Ceylon Buddhism
and the Buddhist texts from Northern India. We can easily
understand that legends grew round the person of this apostle
to Ceylon. Should we, however, decline to believe the
chroniclers who assert that Mahinda and the monks who
accompanied him flew straight from India to Ceylon in the air
like flamingoes, we need not reject the tradition en bloc, but
must assume that at the root of the many legends lay the
historical fact that Mahinda actually was the introducer of
Buddhism into Ceylon and that emigrating into the island he
brought with him the texts of the canon. These texts were,—
and this sounds entirely trustworthy, — at first only orally
communicated and were not committed to writing till in the
first Christian century under the Singalese king Vattagamini.
Now according to the view of the Buddhists of Ceylon the
canon which was composed at the third council imported by
Mahinda to Ceylon and committed to record under Vattaga-
mani was identical with our Pali canon or the Tipitaka, which
we possess to this day. This Tipitaka-,— the term means
three baskets— consists of what are called the three pitakas
or " baskets," namely ;
1. Vtnayapitaka, the basket of ecclesiastical discipline.
This section consists of that which relates to the monastic
order (Sangha), the regulations of the order, prescriptions for
the daily life of the monks and nuns and the like.
2. Sutfapitakay ".the basket of Suttas." The Pali word
sutta corresponds to the Sanskrit su/rat but among the
Buddhists it lost its ancient connotation of " brief rules " and
here it is equivalent to doctrinal text or doctrinal exposition,
very one of the larger or smaller expositions, often in the
213
form of a dialogue on one or more aspects of the religion,
" Dhamma," is designated sutta. This Suttapitaka consists
of five nikayast that is to say, large groups of such sutlas.
3. Alhidhammabitakat " basket of scholastics." The
texts comprised in this section, treat as well as those of the
Suttapitaka, of the religion, Dhamma. But they do so in a
more scholastic method and the form of dry enumerations,
and divisions which have principally reference to the
psychological basis of Buddhist ethics.
The Kathavattu ascribed by tradition to Tissa is found in our Pali canon
as a section of the Abhidhainmapilaba. But the latter is demonstrably the
youngest component of our Tipital-a, for it repeatedly presupposes the texts
of the Suttapitaka as is well known. Besides the more ancient texts, for
instance, in the reports regarding the Council of Rajagaha speak invariably
only of Dhamma and Vinaya and never of an AbJtidltamma. It was, therefore,
Per se quite conceivable that the members of the third Council when
they prepared a codex of' the existing texts relegated to the end the
texts of Abkidhamttiapitttka as those which were composed the last and
added to them as a supplement the work of Tissa,
Nevertheless we cannot concede it offhand to the believ-
ing Buddhists of Ceylon that the canon established at the
third Council is quite the same as the one now before us in
the Pali Tipitaka.
In the first place the language of the Tipitaka is scarcely
the same as that of the canon of the third century B.C. The
latter could only be the Magadhi, the dialect of the province
of Magadha, modern Behar. It was the home tongue of the
Buddha who doubtless first preached in this idiom. Likewise
the monks who fixed the canon in Pataliputra, the capital of
Magadha, employed the Magadhi idiom. Traces of this
Magadhi canon can still be perceived in our Pali corpus. But
Pali, the ecclesiastical language of the Buddhists of
Ceylon, Siam and Burma is designated by the latter
themselves as Magadhi, although it essentially differs
214
from the latter which is otherwise known to us from
inscriptions, literary works, and grammars. At any rate
it corresponds equally little with any other dialect
known to us. Pali is just a language of literature which has
been exclusively employed as such only by the Buddhists and
has sprung like every literature language more or less from
an admixture of several dialects. Obviously such a literary
tongue, although it represents a kind of compromise between
diverse vernaculars, is ultimately derived from one definite
dialect. And this the Magadhi can very well be, so that the
tradition which makes Pali and Magadhi synonymous is not
to be accepted literally, but at the same time it rests on a
historical basis. In the early period of Buddhism very little
weight was attached to the linguistic form of texts. The
tradition has handed down to us the wording of the Buddha
that he was concerned only with the sense and not with the
phraseology and in the Vinayapitaka the Buddha declines to
have his word translated into a uniform sacred tongue like the
Sanskrit. On the contrary he holds it necessary that each one
should learn the holy word in the exposition composed in his
own tongue. The literary language, Pali, could accordingly
have developed only gradually and was probably fixed only
when it was reduced to writing in Ceylon under Vattagamini.
The monks of Ceylon at all events attached importance to the
conserving of the texts in the language once for all determined
and to transmit the same to posterity. And as regards the
language, these monks have with rare fidelity preserved for,
and bequeath to, us the contents of the texts of the Tipitaka
recorded in the Pali tongue for the last two thousand years.
But prior to this being given a definite shape in Pali and its
arrival in Ceylon it is possible that it was subjected to
alteration even as regards its contents. Both as regards the
language and the contents, therefore, our Pali Tipitaka
approaches very near to the canon established under Asoka
215
but is not identical with the latter. For we must concede
that in the period from the third to the first century B.C.
when the commitment to writing took place and possibly at a
still later date the texts underwent transformation, and
possibly commentaries have invaded the texts and got mixed
up with the latter. The original corpus as well as the
components have probably grown since then in volume.
Centuries have indeed not passed over them without leaving
a mark. And it is only in this way that we can explain the
numerous contradictions in the body of the canon as well as
the repeated occurrence of older and younger tradition in
juxtaposition and the frequent appearance of the same texts
in more than one collection.
With these reservations and limitations, however, we can
affirm that the body of our Paliiipitaka as a whole cannot be
so very divergent from the Magadhi canon of the third
century B.C. For this above all we have a warrant in the
inscriptions of the king Asoka. It is not only that his edicts
preach the same spirit as the oldest of the Suttas in our Pali
canon, but in them there are verbal echoes of the texts of our
canon and quotations which with trifling divergence are
to be found in our texts. There is still something more. In
the edict of Bairat or Bhabra dating from 249 B. C, the king
says to the monks of Magadha :
« All that the Buddha, the Lord, has spoken he has
spoken well."
He proceeds to especially recommend for their study
seven texts of which he mentions titles. These texts partly
bear the same title and are partly referable to similar headings
in our Sultapitaka.
From the second century B.C. and partly from the period
of Asoka himself date moreover the celebrated stupas or
216
Topes of Bharhut and Sanchi, the stone sculptures of which
are embellished with valuable reliefs and inscriptions. On the
reliefs we find representations of Buddhist legends and
stories the titles of most of which are also there subscribed.
And these titles leave no doubt whatever that the reliefs
represent illustrations to the Book of Jataka or the history of
the previous births of the Buddha,— a book which forms a
section of the Tipitaka. On the monuments of Sanchi, how-
ever, we find votive tablets in which monks are assigned the
distinction of Panchanikayika or the master of the ftieNikayas,
Petika or the master of the Pitakas, and Dhamnmkathika
the preacher of religion and to a nun is applied the designation
of Sutlatikini which means one who knows or teaches the
mitas. It follows, therefore, that about the middle of the
third century B.C. there was a corpus of Buddhist texts which
was designated Pitakas and divided into five nikayas, that
there were sit I /as in which the Dhamma or the religion of the
Buddha was promulgated, that many of these suttas coincided
with those in our Tipitaka, that besides, Jalakai exactly of
the kind perpetuated in our Tipitaka appertained to the Bud-
dhist literature as a component,— in brief, that in the time of
king Asoka there must have existed a Buddhist canon which
at least so far as the Suttapitaka is concerned could not
have been dissimilar to our Pali canon.
The most ancient literary testimony of the existence of
the three baskets or a triad of pit okas (pitakattyam) and of
the nikayas is to be found for the first time in the Milinda-
punha, a work the genuine portion of which may be surmised
to belong to the commencement of the first Christian century.
But the entire remaining Buddhist literature outside the Pali
canon in our possession shows that the texts incorporated in
the latter reach back to an age of great antiquity not widely
separated from the age of the Buddha himself and may be
217
regarded at all events as the most genuine evidence of the
original doctrine of the Buddha and of Buddhism of the first
two centuries after the passing away of the Buddha.
This is demonstrated in the first place by the non-canonic
Pali literature which comprises the dialogue of Milindapanha,
the chronicles of Ceylon called Dipavansa and Mahhvansa and
a rich literature of scholastic commentaries related to the
Tipitaka. All these books pre-supposes the existence of the
Tipitaka at least in the first Christian century.
But the Buddhist Sanskrit literature also witnesses to
the antiquity and the authenticity of the Pali tradition. To
this belonged a literature of diverse varieties and different
sects composed partly in classical Sanskrit and partly in a
" mixed Sanskrit." One of these sects had also a canon of
its own in Sanskrit of which most recently fragments have
been made known. It is seen that this canon has not been
translated from Pali but that it most brilliantly corroborates
the authenticity of the Pali canon. For notwithstanding
numerous deviations in the texts and in the arrangement
there is such an amount of verbal agreement between the
Sanskrit and Pali canons that we are compelled to assume a
unity of tradition underlying both the records. But even
Sanskrit works of the Buddhists of Nepal as well as the
books of various Buddhist sects known to us only from
Tibetan and Chinese versions enable us not only to
determine a common stock of doctrine but also of original
texts which are in accord with the tradition of the Pali canon
in all essentials. The more this Buddhist Sanskrit literature
becomes available to us and the more deeply we institute
comparisons between it and the Pali canon the more it
becomes evident that Oldenberg is only right when he claims
that " the Pali replica which is naturally not immaculately
correct must however be adjudged as eminently good,"
218
Moreover, no canon and no Buddhist text has come down to
us from antiquity as remote as that of the Pali canon, of the
first Christian century before Christ, in which the great
Buddhist king Asoka is yet nowhere referred to. In language,
style and contents the Pali texts are in harmonious continua-
tion of the Upanishadt) while the Buddhist Sanskrit literature
much rather reminds us of the Puranas. Finally the fact
that in these traditional texts committed to writing in Ceylon
there is no allusion to the island further confirms it that
therein we have to deal with '' no canon of the Buddhists of
Ceylon " but a canon of that Buddhist sect of India which
has in fact preserved the most of ancient Buddhism 5 and this
doctrine can with some justice be designated as the
Theravada or the teaching of the first disciples of the
Buddha. But not only as a source of our knowledge of
Buddhism but also,— and this appeals to us directly— from a
purely literary standpoint the Pali texts surpass all other
evidences of Buddhist literature, and this will be manifest only
from a survey of these writings.
219
APPENDIX IV.
BUDDHIST DRAMA.
By M. WINTERNITZ.
According to the Majjhimasila section, a certain ancient
tract in the Buddhist canon, which is preserved in the
Bra^majalasutta and in the Tevijjasutta of the Dighanikaya,
the Buddhist monks were forbidden to participate in all
varieties of public entertainments including dancing, singing,
recitation, animal fights and similar shows. Here is also
interdicted the pekkha by which generally a dramatic perform-
ance is understood. It is doubtful, however, whether pekkha,
which is the Sanskrit preksha, actually indicated a dramatic
performance. In the Vinayapitaka also (Suttavibhanga to
Sanghadisesa 13, Cullavagga 1, 13, 1-2) the enjoyment of
dances, sport and music is forbidden to the monks, although
there is no reference to theatrical performances. Accordingly
it is at best questionable whether at the period when the
Buddhist canon was compiled there already existed a theatre
and the exhibition of dramatic pieces was carried out.
(The Natas who are frequently mentioned in our Jataka
Book are wandering minstrels and dancers and not dramatic
performers. Jataka No. 212,291,432-, Pick Social Division
in North-Eastern India in Buddha's time p. 188.)
In the Jatakas as well as in the Sagathavagga of the
Samyuttanikaya, in the Suttanipata> and in the Thera and
Therigathas there is not an insignificant number of ballads in
the form of dialogues. They consist partly of gathas and
partly of a combination of gathas and brief prose pas-
sages. The best known examples are the Padhanamtta
and the Pabajjasutta in the Suttanipata (Windisch, Mara
220
and Buddha, p. 1 and p. 245). But versification of entirely
similar kind is represented by the poems in the Mara-
samyutta and Bhikkhunisaniyalta, the Chaddanta Jataka
(No. 5U), the Ummadanti Jataka (No. 527), the Maha-
janaka Jataka (No. 533), the Candakinnara Jataka (No. 485),
the ballads of the. robber chieftain Angulimala in the
Theragatha (866 ff) and also in Majjhimanikaya (86), the
ballads of the nun Sundari in the Therigatha (312 ff) and
many others. All these poems are uncommonly dramatic.
Leon Peer calls the Chaddanta Jaraka a veritable drama
( JA 5 p. 47) and I have myself said of the Ummadanti Jataka
that we might as well designate it a small drama (my
history of Indian Literature ii, p. 114). However, to my mind,
there is nothing which would justify our classing this species
of poems as " small dramas," as is done by J. Charpentier in
consonance with the theories of L. von Schrceder and J.
Hertel (WZKM 23,33). It is quite possible, perhaps probable,
that these varieties were sung to the accompaniment of
a string instrument but that they were executed as real
dramas and that in their dramatic performance action and
imitation were brought into play, — for this we have no
evidence in the entire Buddhist tradition.
On the other hand, it is conceivable that there are such
dialogues, epic and lyrical poems to which nothing was wanting
to make them dramas except the action ; and a real theatre
may easily take its rise here. Nevertheless we have the
first positive testimony to the existence of Buddhist dramas in
the Arculinashaiaka which belongs to the second Christian
century. In Avadana No. 75 it is actually related how
actors performed a Baudlnmnakatam before a king, in which
the director (natacarya) appeared in the costume of
the Buddha. Sylvain Levi long ago called attention
to this passage as well as to the performance of
Buddhistic dramas in the present times in Tibet, China,
221
Ceylon and Burma. (Le Theatre Indian p. 319). In Burma of
to-day as a solemn preliminary to the initiation of a Buddhist
novice the Vessantarajataka is performed as a theatrical
piece and the initiation itself is a formal drama.
We have preserved to us a complete Buddhist drama in
the original Sanskrit which dates from the seventh century.
It is the drama of Nagananda ascribed to king Shri Harsha.
During the same period was issued the drama of Lokananda
by the poet and grammarian Candragomi of which we have
only the Tibetan translation. Perhaps it is identical with the
adaptation of the Vishvantara Jataka mentioned by I-tsing
(Sylvain Levi DEFEO, 1903, p. 41 5 I-tsing, a Record of the
Buddhist Religion translated by Takakusu p. 164). We can
only conjecture that in a much earlier age Buddhist legends
were turned into dramatic pieces. When I-tsing (p. 165)
immediately after the mention of the dramatic poems of
Shiladitya (Shri Harsha) and of Candragomi goes on to say
Ashvagosha also wrote " lyrical poems " : we are to under-
stand thereby similar lyrical dramatic pieces. That appears
at least to be so from the context. At any rate, in the Sutrcr
lankara ot Asavagosha, in the piece relating to Mara, who
appears in the costume of the Buddha and like a consummate
artist represents the Buddha so true to life that the holy
Upagupta sinks down in adoration before him, we have a poem
which is so uncommonly dramatic that it is evidently a
recapitulation of a drama. Ed. Huber (DEFEO, 1904, p. 414)
has established that this poem which is to be found in the
Divyavadana (p. 356) and which has been translated by
Windisch (Mara and Buddha, p. 161) originally belonged
to the Sutralankara of Ashvagosha. From this we can
surmise that in Ashvagosha's time a species of dramatic
poems must have flourished. This conjecture is turned into
proved fact by the discovery which Luders has made. It is
now demonstrated that not only a variety of dramatic poesy,
but actual dramas,which in their technique hardly differed from
those of Kalidasa, used to be performed in the second century.
Among the valuable manuscript treasures recovered from
Turfan there is a palm leaf which on paleographical grounds
seems to belong to the Kushana period. Luders, to whom
belongs the credit of bringing it to light, is inclined to agree
with Fleet and Franke that the Vikrama era of 57 B.C. was
founded by Kaniska. If we admit even the second century
as the time of Kaniska which would seem to be more accurate
—then the Luders' Fragments are the oldest Indian
manuscripts yet discovered. If they are of extraordinary
importance on that score, they are almost of epoch-making
significance in virtue of their contents in the literary history
of India. For they contain fragments of a regular Indian
drama. Luders has separated pieces of two different dramas.
In the first appear three allegorical figures Buddhi, Dhriti,
Kirti, which remind us of the Probodhacandrodya of
Krishnamishra and the Buddha himself appears surrounded by
a brilliant halo (prabhamandalena diptena). Now since the
halo was first introduced into India by Greek artists (Foucher
JA 1903 p. 298 and L'art greco-bouddhique du Gandhara p.
622), this drama must appertain to the age of the Gandhara art,
which synchronises with the first Christian century, and must
therefore flourished at the latter age, (Grunwedel Buddhist
Art in India, German edition, p. 81 ', Foucher ibid p. 49).
The second drama is in such a fragmentary condition
that it does not permit of its being completely
identified. But it is of vast importance on account
of the person^, among whom we notice Vidushaka
and other typical figures that remind us of the
Mricchakatika. That the technique of the drama had
completely developed is shown by the division into acts which
are preceded by a prelude by the co-mingling of prose and
verse, the latter in the meter of classical Sanskrit and the
223
alternation of Sanskrit with Prakrit. Luders has devoted a
penetrating examination to the Prakrit of the fragments,
which leads to the conclusion important to the history of
Indian languages that here alongside of Sanskrit stand three
dialects which are of the same phonetic stage as Pali and the
vernaculars used in the older inscriptions and which may be
regarded as the precursors of the well-known three Prakrit
idioms, Magadhi, Ardhamagadhi, and Shauraseni. Thus the
language likewise testifies here to an older stratum of the
classical drama. On the other hand, so far as we can judge
from the fragments, the technique of the scenic art is so
developed that we cannot regard them as the beginnings of
dramatic composition, but must assume a preceding course
of tolerably long evolution.
As regards the authors of the drama, Luders surmises
that they belong to the circle of which the propelling centre
was Ashvaghosha. This conjecture has been apparently con-
firmed. Hardly had the surmise been in print when Luders
discovered three passages in the palm leaves of Turfan in
which he came across the fragment of a drama by Ashva-
ghosha. It represents fortunately the concluding portion of
a nine-act drama with its colophon which bears the title of
Sharifiutraprakarana and which exhibits" the name of the
author Ashvaghosha in an unequivocal way. Ashvaghosha,
who is known as the prominent poet among the Buddhists,
here works into a drama the legend of the initiation into the
order of Shariputra and Maudgalyayana, — a legend which is
already so beautifully related in the Mahavagga of the
Vinayapitaka*
APPENDIX V.
TREASURE TROVE OF ANCIENT LITERATURES.i
/. The discovery — Scientific expeditions.
The country of East Turkestan has been one of eternal
unrest since the beginning of the second century before Christ.
Historical notices especially by the Chinese, supplemented by
our finds, show that it had as guests one after another Indian
clans, Tocharians, Huns, Scythians, East Iranians, Tibetans,
Turks, the people of Kirgez and Mongols. The picture of the
country as it was in the seventh century, that is, at a time
when the majority of the MSS. now discovered were written, is
drawn for us by Hiuen-tsang. He went on a pilgrimage to
India in 629. His object was to see the cities between which
the Founder of his faith travelled, and to acquire some of the
holy books. He chose the northern route and passed through
Chotjo, the capital of modern Turfan. On his return he
traversed Kashgar, Yarkand, and Khotan. On the
eastern confines of Khotan begins the desert, where the sand
is kept shifting by the perpetual movement of the wind. The
only landmarks visible are the whitened bones of pack-
animals. Hereabout lay the ancient kingdom of Tokhara—
already in ruins— and beyond was the silence of death.
Flourishing life was, however, visible towards Khotan. All
along, Buddhism was the dominant religion. Many thousands
of monks lived in the monasteries of the countries, the
northern side belonging to the school of the Sarvastivadis,
Yarkand and Khotan being Mahayanists. The Chinese
traveller has noted for us the various characteristics of the
people who had nothing in common, except their religion.
1 This paper is mostly a translation of Luder's Uber die literarischen
Fundevon Ottlurkestan,
They were various as regards dress, customs, manners!
languages and modes of writing. The last was borrowed no
doubt from India in each .case. A new period .. of culture
began for the country with the appearance of the Turkish
clan of the Uigurs. They absorbed the inhabitants and
united them into a people known to this day by their name.
East-Turkestan in the matter of religion was only a province
Of India. Then side by side with Buddhism appeared
Nestorian Christianity and Manichaeism. The ruler of
Turfan was the first to embrace it. Soon after came upon
the scene a new arrival which showed itself to be stronger
than Buddhism, Christianity, or the doctrine of Manes. The
first conversions to Islam took place in Kashgar and the first
Islamic dynasties took their rise there. The older faiths
continued their existence, but there was no stemming the tide
of Islam. From the fourteenth century onwards Turkestan
became definitely Muhammadan. China acquired the country
in 1758 without altering its religion.
The words of the Buddha, of the Christ, and of
Manes ceased to be heard •, yet the works which embody
them survived. Ruins of monasteries, which are proved
to be Christian from wall-paintings, inscriptions, and the
find of MSS., have come to light in the capital of
Turfan. In the centre of the city there was a large
Manichaean colony. In this part was discovered a wall-
painting, which is the most valuable find of an original fresco
in the Berlin collection. It is the picture of a Manichaean
priest, surrounded by believers, men and women, in their
characteristic dress. The building was ransacked by the
peasants in search of buried treasures when the German
scientific expedition arrived. It appeared just at the moment
when the real treasure would have been destroyed. The
place abounds in traces of Buddhistic monuments. Without
the help of illustrations it is difficult to gain an idea of the
architecture of the times— the temples, the stupas, the
monasteries. The art of Gandhara was transferred from its
home in India to Central Asia. Over all a strong Iranian
influence is noticeable. The further we come down the
stream of time, the more mixed and complex becomes the
style and the problems of civilisation studied by Stein,
Grunwedel and Le Coq. It will require several decades to
study the entire collection of finds. Philologists and
archseologists will not be the least interested investigators.
The first find of MSS. by a European, which gave the
impetus to further archaeological search in Central Asia, was
a bark MS. which was found by two Turks in 1890 in a ruined
stupa. They sold it to Lieut. Bower, who was then the
British Resident at Kucha. Bower presented the find to the
Asiatic Society of Calcutta. The next year, Dr. Hoernle, the
Secretary of the Society, published a report on the MS. which
evoked considerable interest. The antiquity of the MS. was
noteworthy. Indian MSS., according to the western standard,
are relatively young. The destructive effect of climate and
the pest of insects require their continual renovation. The
oldest MSS., preserved in Nepal on palm leaves, date back to
the beginning of the eleventh century. Only two palm leaves
were hitherto known which had crossed the Indian border in
609 and reached Japan through China. They were preserved
there in the celebrated monastery of Horiuzi, as venerable
relics. The Bower MS. however was a considerable and
complete one. It was written in the Gupta character, and
hence had come undoubtedly from North-West India, and
dated at the latest from the fifth century. Later investigations
have proved that it must date from the second half of the
fourth century. The possibility of such a discovery incited
to further research. The Russian Archaeological Society
asked the Russian Consul-General in Kashgar, and the
British Government commissioned the political agents in
227
Kashmir, Ladak, and Kashgar, to look out for similar MSS,
Thus have been acquired the MSS. which are known as the
Petrovski, the Macartney and the Weber. They are housed
either at Petrograd or Calcutta. They belong to a large find
made soon after the discovery of the Bower MS. by Turkish
peasants in Kucha. For a long while the collection had
remained in the house of the local Kazi, as a plaything which
amused his children !
Meanwhile there was another discovery in 1892. The
French traveller Dutrenil de Rhins found three MSS.
in Khotan which he despatched to Paris. In 1897
Senart made known their contents and value. By now
we are quite used to surprises from Central Asia.
At that time, however, Senart's communication created a
sensation in the Aryan section of the Oriental Congress held
in Paris. The find represented a Kharoshti MS. The
Kharoshti character till then had been known only from
inscriptions in the outermost boundary of North- West India.
Epigraphical comparison proved the date of the MS. to be the
second century. As to its contents, it was a recension of the
Pali Dhammapada in a Prakrit dialect, which was till then un-
known in literary compositions. The manuscript was only a
fragment. Another portion of the same MS. was brought to
Petrograd.
The impetus given by an accident transformed itself into
systematic research. The Russians were first on the scene.
In 1898 Klementz set to work on this spot and the next year
Radloff started the initiative which formed an International
Association for Investigation in Central and Eastern Asia.
What surprise awaited the seeker was shown by the results
of the labours of Sir Aurel Stein supported by the British
Government in the country round Khotan in 1901. Stein's
personal travels led to a secondary discovery. He found out
228
and exposed the manufacture and sale by Turks of fabricated
MSS.
Stein's success led to the German expedition under
Grunwedel and Huth to Turfan in 1902. Meanwhile with the
exertions of Pischel there was formed a German Committee of
Research which, with State help, in 1904 and 1907 sent out
two expeditions under the leadership of Le Coq and Grun-
wedel. And Kucha and Turfan were thoroughly searched.
The result was brilliant. In 1906-1908 Stein set out on his
second journey. His most beautiful discoveries he made in
the territory of Tun-huang. He came across a portion,
altogether forgotten till then, of the great wall built by the
Chinese as a protection against the incursions of the Huns.
Here a windfall awaited him in the shape of a literary treasure.
A few years before Stein's arrival, a Taoist priest in the hall
of the Thousand Buddhas, or Tun-haung as it is called, dis-
covered among the caves a cellar which had been walled
up. It contained a huge library of thousands of MSS. To
judge by the date of the MSS., the cellar must have been
closed up in the beginning of the eleventh century. Stein
secured a considerable portion of the treasure. A portion fell to
the lot of the French scholar Pelliot, who journeyed to Turkes-
tan in 1906-07. Even Japan was not behindhand. In 1902
it sent a Buddhist priest who made excavations with some
success. To preserve the remains of the Tun-huang library
from destruction, he despatched them to the National Library
of Peking. Thus, in addition to archaeological discoveries,
there has been collected a huge mass of MSS. and block-prints
in the libraries and museums of Petrograd, London, Oxford,
Calcutta, Berlin, Paris, Tokio and Peking. Almost every
material used for writing purposes is represented — palm-leaf,
birchbark, wood, bamboo, leather, paper and silk. The
number of alphabets represented is very large. The languages
in which these MSS. are written are counted by the
229
dozen, including several of which, till the other day, we had
no knowledge.
Among the first finds which reached Calcutta and
Petrograd, there were fragments of MSS. written in a
variety of the Indian Brahmi character. The language,
however, was not Samskrit. The writing was tolerably
clear and Hoernle succeeded in deciphering Indian
names and expressions of Buddhistic terminology and Indian
medical terms. Next Leumann proved that we had here to do
with two different tongues. The merit of discovering the
exact nature of the first of these belongs to Sieg and
Siegling, who in 1907 proved its Aryan character from the
names of domestic animals, parts of the body, terms of
relationship, and figures. The name of this language was
the Tocharian. It was mentioned in the colophon of a MS.
deciphered by F. W. K. Muller. The manuscript represented
the Turkish version of a Tocharian translation from a
Samskrit original. One dialect of it seems to have been widely
common. Caravan passes written in it have been discovered,
and dated and deciphered by Pelliot and Sylvain Levi.
Further results may be expected from the studies of Mironov
and Meillet. There is a vast number of MSS. which represent
translation and redaction of Samskrit works relating to
Buddhism and medicine. There are also some Buddhistic
dramas •, they can be traced to Indian models, as is shown by
the mention of the Vidushaka.
The second new language is represented by two groups
of texts, and is studied especially by Staiel-Holstein and
Konow. The first represents business papers, mostly dated,
though the current era is not known. The second group
embodies Buddhist texts, partly dated. While the Tocharian
fragments are of works belonging to the Sarvastivadi school,
the texts of the second language belong to the later
230
Mahayanist literature — for example the Vajrachedika, the
Aparimitayu-sutra, the Suvarna praphasa Sutra, Samghata Sutra,
and the Adhyardhashatika prajnaparamita.
II. New-old Tongues — Resurrection of dead languages — The
lost creed of Manes — Pahlavi the religious and secular
idiom of mediaeval Iran-
la 1904, F. W. K. Muller succeeded in deciphering a
couple of fragments of paper, letter, and silk, originating from
Turfan. He declared the alphabet to be a variety of the
Estrangelo, the language as Middle Persian or Pahlavi, and
the contents as pieces from Manichsean literature believed to
have been lost. This was the commencement of a long series of
brilliant discoveries, the results of which have been registered
in contributions to learned journals. A heap of dogmatic and
liturgical works has been recovered of the religion of Manes,
which spread from further Asia to China, and in spite of
sanguinary persecutions of centuries asserted itself on the
coast of the Mediterranean as a rival to Christianity. It is,
though but debris, a priceless possession, because for the first
time we perceive here from its own books the doctrine, for a
representation of which, up to now, we had to rely on the
hostile writings of Augustine, the Ada Archelai, the formula
of abjuration of the Greek Church and the celebrated Fihnst^
a kind of detailed catalogue of contemporary Arabic literature
by an-Nadhim. So far as can be ascertained the principles of
the doctrine have been correctly characterised : here the ethical
and physical elements have been indissolubly united in a
fantastic fashion. Kessler was inclined to see in it a
preponderating influence from Babylonian sources, and
now it can be asserted as certain that at least the
immediate basis of Manichzeism was the religion of
Zoroaster. Apart from the pronounced dualism which
is common to both the religions, the names bear
2S1
witness to this. Here we find the whole mythology of the
A-aesta reproduced. A fragment from the Shapurakan, com-
posed by Manes himself, makes mention of Mihir, and the
demons Az, Ahriman, the Parikas and the 'Azhidahaka. In a
fragment which according to the superscription belongs to a
hymn of Manes himself, he is named as a son of God Zarvan,
who represents Time in Zoroastrianism and who in later times
is exalted as the highest Principle. In a hymn, Fredon is
invoked together with Mihir. Fredon is the Thraetaona of the
A vesta and the Faridun of the Shahname. Many of the
Zoroastrian angels like Srosh and Vohumano occur side by
side with Jesus. For Manes claimed to be -the perfector of
Christianity. In the fragment discovered by Muller, Manes
calls himself the apostle of Jesus, as has already been told us
by Augustine. To judge, however, from the fragments, the
syncretism of the Christian elements has not been perfectly
achieved. There has been no complete amalgamation. The
different layers of belief lie one over another. Thus the de-
scription of the end of the world in the Shapurakan presup-
poses the Day of Judgment and has a close connection with
the words of the Gospel of Matthew. Further Christian
influences are evidenced by reference to the history of the
crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.
Manes acknowledged the Buddha as also a predecessor
of his. Clear evidences of Buddhistic influence, however, only
appear in the fragments belonging to later times, like the con-
fession of sins. It is quite possible, therefore, that what we
meet with here is a later development of Central Asian
Manichaiism. Probably here in the ancient soil of Buddhism
it took the Buddhist colour, just as in the West it assumed a
Christian tinge.
In their exterior get-up Manichaean MSS. are distinguished
by the great care bestowed on them. Many are adorned
232
with pictures, which must be regarded as magnificent
specimens of miniature-painting. This taste for artistic book
ornament was a legacy from old Iran. Augustine, as we
know, turned with flaming wrath against the bibliophiles.
Manes' name has been connected from ancient times with
painting, and legend ascribes to him the knowledge of secret
signs. In Persian he is always known as Manes the
painter.
From the philological standpoint the Iranian writings fall
into three groups. The first group is composed in a dialect
which comes very near to the Pahlavi, the official language of
the Sasanian empire. We know this language from a few
inscriptions and texts of the Zoroastrian religion, and especially
from a translation in it of the Avesta. Accordingly, the texts
from Turkestan published by Muller and Salemann indicate an
infinite advance of our knowledge. The writings on the
monuments known up to now are wholly uncommon. They
do not give back the pronunciation of the time, and they
employ Aramaic cryptograms for ordinary words, so that, for
example, people wrote Malka while they read Shah or King.
In the script of the fragments recently discovered this method
is avoided, so that here for the first time we find an actual
presentment of the proper Middle Persian language.
The second group is composed in the dialect of Xorth-
Western Persia, which no doubt was the language of the
Arsacides who proceeded from these regions and who
preceded in sovereignty the Sasanians. Andreas surmises
that the so called Chaldeo-Pahlavi, which appears in the
inscriptions of the Sasanian kings, is identical with this
tongue. He has now in hand a rich amount of inscription
material for the investigation of the question, and w"e may
hope in the near future to hear from himself the confirmation
of this theory.
233
The third group occupies the premier position in import-
ance, if not in number. It is written partly in the Manicheean
and partly in a younger alphabet, called the Uigurian.
Andreas sees in this the Soghdian dialect. It was only an
accident which has preserved for us in al-Beruni the names
of the months current in this language. The discovery of
the Soghdian has led to another important discovery.
F. W. K. Muller has ingeniously succeeded in showing that
in the celebrated polyglot inscription of Kara-Balgassum,
which informs us of the introduction of Manichaeism into the
land of Uigurs, the difficult text in a character which was up
to now regarded as Uigurian is in reality composed in
Soghdian. He also demonstrates that the Iranian terms in
Chinese astronomical writings of the eighth century do not
belong to modern Persian but to the Soghdian idiom.
Another find furnishes a proof to the fact that Soghdian
was used not only by the Manichseans, but was the common
language of intercourse of all the Iranian inhabitants of
Turkestan, while to Pahlavi was assigned the role of a written
language.
Among the MSS. which are acquired in the northern
parts are found pages in Syriac writing ;and language, which
have been published by Sachau. They are connected with
the hymns of Nestorian Christianity. The activity of the
Nestorian missions, which starting from Assyria and
Babylonia spread into the interior of China, is attested further
by 12 leaves from a charming little book, the Pahlavi
translation of the Psa Im s with the canon of Mar-Abba which
to this day is in use in the Nestorian church. The MS., to
judge from the characters, must date from the middle of
the sixth century. But the translation lies some 150 years
before the oldest MS. of the Peshita Psalter, and promises to
prove of the greatest importance for the history of the text
criticism of the Syriac originals. Then, in Syriac writing,
234
but in a language which owing to certain peculiarities can be
designated as a younger phase of Manichaean Soghdian, con-
siderable fragments relating to Christian confessions of faith,
legends, and acts of the martyrs are found. The major
portion has been edited by Muller. They show that the
Christians employed the Pahlavi and the Soghdian languages
for the spread of their doctrine quite as much as their
Manichaean rivals.
Also the third religion, Buddhism, made use of the
Soghdian for its propaganda. The Berlin collection
possesses fragments of the Vajrachedika the Suvarnaprahasa,
etc. The cave of Tun-huang is, however, a peculiar treasury
of Buddhistic Soghdian texts which are written in a particular
alphabet of Aramaic origin. Among the texts published by
Gouthiot, the most interesting is that of the Vesantarajataka,
the gem of didactic story-literature (forgotten in India but
known to every child in Burma and Ceylon), which we find here
in a new version. Gouthiot has deciphered also the oldest form
of this writing as well as language, which was found by Stein
in the desert between Tung-hung and Lop-nor, along with
Chinese documents of the beginning of the first century.
Above all there can be no doubt as to the character of the
Soghdian. It was the language of the Iranian population of
Samarkand and Ferghana, and was spoken as a kind of
lingua franca from the first to the ninth centuries in
Turkestan and farther in Mongolia and China. From a
Buddhist -MS. of Stein's, it appears that it was written in
Singangu. An echo of the Soghdian is still found in certain
modern dialects in the higher valleys of the Pamir. Especially
the Yaghnobi can lay claim to the designation of modern
Soghdian.
When it is further mentioned that the Stein collection
also contains a document in Hebrew letters, and written,
285
according to Margoliouth, in the year 100 of the Hegira, the
most ancient Judo-Persian piece of writing, which at the same
time is also the most ancient piece of writing in modern
Persian, it must suffice to measure the importance of the
Turkestan finds for the Iranist 5 and yet Turkish philology is
in greater debt to the country. Up to now there was almost an
entire dearth of its ancient literature. The earliest Turkish
book known to us was the Kutadgu-lilig^ written at Kashgar
in 1069. Now we have acquired an ample collection of MSS.
and block-prints in the land of the Uigurs, which is 200
years older in language and in character than that book. A
splendid number of old Turki texts which, however, represent
only a small portion of what we possess, have been edited by
Radloff, Thomsen, Muller, Le Coq, and Stonner.
///. Enormous Buddhist Samskrit literature in criminal and
vernacular versions — Great discovery of the century ; Pali
not the mother tongue of Buddhism ; Pali represents
translation from perished vernacular.
The varieties of scripts employed in these manuscripts are
as curious as their contents. We meet with a Manichajan
Estrangelo, the Uigurian alphabet, the Brahmi, the Runes of
a particular kind, (which the genius of Thomsen was able to
read twenty years ago for the first time on the stones at
Orkhon and Jenissei). From the standpoint of their contents
the texts fall into three divisions. The Christian literature
has up to now been very sparsely encountered, the largest
document dealing with the adoration the Magi who are here
described after the manner of the Apocrypha. Among Buddhist
texts, those of a comparatively later date occupy a large
place — the Saddharma pundarika, the Suvarna prahasa Sutra,
(of which both Berlin and Petrograd boast of complete texts),
passages from the diaries of travellers, from the peculiar
species of literature, not always of a cheerful nature, the
Dharanis, and the penitential formulas with their lively
portraiture of all manner of imaginable sins. They bear a
strong resemblance to the Zoroastrian Patets. Then there are
again fragments of works with interlineal versions, which are
not without value for the originals, since though they are
somewhat younger in age they reflect the oldest accessible
texts. From the standpoint of history and literature the most
interesting of our acquisitions are the miscellania of Indian
legends. Who could have ever conceived an expectation of
coming across in Turfan the old legends of the Mahabharata
related by Bimbasena or more correctly Bhimasena and his
fight with the demon Hidimba, or of the svayamvara of Indian
princesses? We have confessional formulas of the
Manichaans which are without doubt framed after the
Buddhist exemplars, like the Khuastuanift which is valuable
even in its dogmatic contents, and another which witnesses to
a considerable tolerance of Buddhism. In this text, in the
same breath, are enumerated the sins committed by one
against one's own brother in religion as well as the sins
shared in Viharas dedicated to Shakyamuni ! Further, our
inventory of the treasure trove has to notice fragments of
hymns, sermons, divine judgments, and dogmatic transactions 5
next, a small complete book of prognostications or a dream
book in the Rune script. It bears resemblance to similar pro-
ducts of China, but is of Manichsean origin. A special value
is to be ascribed to two leaves from Berlin which from their
exterior can be marked as Manichcean and not Buddhistic.
The first relates to the setting out of the Bodhisattva or as
he is here called, the Bodisav, on the path of renunciation, and
those who meet him. The other contains the revolting story of
the youth who in his intoxication embraces the dead body
of a woman. It is of Buddhistic origin and S.
Oldenburg has shown that it occurs as the first
parable in the Persian version of the legend of Balaam
237
and Joasath. This discovery as good as confirms tha
conjecture of Muller and Le Coq, to which the peculiar name
Bodisav had led them, that here we have to do with the
vestiges of the Manichsean version of the celebrated Buddhist
romance. But it is not at all impossible that the original
was a Manichaan work possibly in the Soghdian language. It
would constitute a remarkable instance of involuntary
syncretism if the Manichaeans had contributed to the
turning of the founder of Buddhism into a Christian saint.
There is hardly a single nation among those of the East
Asiatic continent possessing any civilisation of its own, which
has not left literary traces in Turkestan. Muller has in certain
fragments recognised the script employed by the Hephthalites
or White Huns on their coins. We have Mongolian letters
and xylographs in the enigmatical Tangutian written language.
Tibetan manuscripts are numerous of which only a few, the
fragment of a sutra and a couple of religious songs, have
been brought out by Barnett and Francke. The number of
Chinese writings is enormous. The oldest of these excavated
from the sand by Stein are now before the public in a
magnificent work by Chavannes. Of the paper manuscripts
a few go back to the second Christian century. They are at
any rate the oldest paper documents in the world. A large
majority of the documents are on wooden tablets. Some are one
bamboo chips : they mark the condition of the oldest Chinese
books. The wooden pieces, the oldest of which date from 98
B. C., come from the archives of the garrisons stationed here
in the outermost west of the empire on the Great Wall. Here
are gathered the detailed particulars regarding the daily life
of the military colonies in the first centuries of Christ. They
deal with the duties, the wages, the equipments of the
soldiers, an optical telegraphic service, a postal department ;
and, a complement to the picture of the realities of the day, a
poem of later days describing the miseries and dangers of
the frontier legions guarding against the barbarians of the
West. The mass of later Chinese manuscripts seems to
belong to works of the Buddhist canon and to business
documents. A stranger has sometimes strayed into the
collection as is shown by the "Lost Books in the Stone
Chamber of Tun-huang," published five years ago in Peking.
It is a pleasant sign that China is willing not merely to guard
the ancient literary treasure entrusted to her, but also to
make it useful.
For us, in India, the manuscripts in Indian languages are
of supreme importance. Historic interest is claimed before
all by documents on leather and wood discovered by Stein on
the Niya river. They contain, as is evidenced by the
publications of Rapson and Boyer, dispositions and reports of
local authorities, instructions, regulations, official and private
correspondence — all inscribed in the Kharoshti script and
drawn up in a Prakrit dialect. The date of the Prakrit documents
is fixed by the Chinese wooden tablets which have been
mixed with the latter, and one of which is dated A. D. 269. In
the third century, therefore, there were Indians in Khotan
of Gandhara origin who were living mixed with a Chinese
population. It is, therefore, not improbable that an
historic fact lies at the basis of the legend according to
which Khotan in the days of Ashoka was colonised by Chinese
emigrants under the banished son of the Emperor as well as
by the inhabitants of Takshashila whom the Indian king
wounded over the blinding of his son Kunala which they
had not prevented, had ordered to be banished to the
deserts to the north of the Himalayas. In the circle of these
Indian colonies lies also the Kharoshti manuscript of the
Dhammapada which is known after Detrenil de Rhins. Pro-
fessor Luder thinks that it is by no means a private antho-
logy? but the remnant of a particular tradition of the word of
239
the Buddha which up to now has undoubtedly remained the
only one of its kind.
Since the time of Pischel, who deciphered the first pages
of the xylograph of the Samyukta^ama^ the remnants of the
Buddhist canonical literature in Samskrit have been infinitely
multiplied. What up to now has been placed before the public
out of the 1/inaya and Dharma of the Buddhist Samskrit canon
by Sylvain Levi, Finot and de la Vallee Poussin is only a
small portion of the salvage. Of the Udanavarga-t which seems
to have been unquestionably the most favourite Samskrit
Buddhist work, 500 leaves are preserved in the Berlin collec-
tion alone, out of fragments and leaves belonging to some 100
manuscripts, so that the text is almost completely restored.
Pischel recognised that these vestiges belong to the canon of
the school of the Sarvastivadis lost in the original Samskrit.
He already noticed that the Samskrit texts were not transla-
tions from the Pali canon, which is the only canon preserved
intact to us. A penetrating research has revealed that both
the Samskrit and Pali canon are traceable to a common source
which, as is proved by mistakes in the translations, was
drawn up in the Eastern dialect which was spoken as the
common idiom in the territory of the Buddha's activity. THIS
IS AN EVENT WHICH IS OF DECISIVE CONSEQUENCE
IN THE HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. We are now in a
position to restore the Samskrit canon from the debris of
tradition. It existed in the pre-Christian centuries in
Magadha. That, however, is not equivalent to saying that
we have come upon the original word of the Buddha. What
the Buddha himself exactly taught will always remain a sub-
ject of speculation although Professor Luder believes we are
not yet justified in resigning ourselves to the position of
ignorabimus. That, however, which the Church thought He
taught at a time to which no direct documents go back, is now
in our hands, thanks to the Turkestan discoveries.
240
Another region in literature has now been made accessible
from this quarter— the pre-classical Samskrit poetry. Thirty
years ago the Kavya appeared to begin with Kalidasa who
was placed in the sixth century. Before that seemed to lie
centuries of complete sterility and Max Multer coined the
phrase about " Sanskrit renaissance." To-day we are positive
that Kalidasa lived in the beginning of the fifth century, that
his name signifies the zenith of courtly poetry, and that it
was preceded by a spring. Inscriptions and a couple of lucky
discoveries in India have given us an idea of the beginnings of
the Kavya. Turkestan intimates to us the existence of an
unsuspected wealth of hymns, epics, romances and anthologies
which in the majority belong probably to this period. The
material is always religious but the form is that of the secular
Kavya. This differentiates the poetry from the old Buddhistic,
though the old Church did not by any means stand hostile to
poetry.
[ The present writer may be allowed to dwell for a
moment — a moment only — on the brilliant confirmation of the
discovery of the Buddhist canon in Samskrit. A short eight
years ago his refusal to look upon Pali as the prime word of
the Buddha, and Samskrit Buddhist books as later fabrications,
drew on him a storm of indignation from Burmese monasteries.
Unfortunately for the time being the excavator's spade is left
for the shrapnel ; else it were easy to make a present to the
Shwe-da-gon shrine of an anthology of Samskrit Buddhism as
voluminous as any in Pali issued from Leipzig or New York.]
/F. The hiatus in classical Samskrit literature supplied — Buddhist
poetry or drama in Samskrit — Matriceta and Ashvaghosha the
forerunners of Kalidasa — Authenticity and verification of
Tibetan treasures*
People appropriated the popular species of poetry called
the Gathas by putting over it a Buddhistic veneer. The
241
first age of profound religious passion gave rise to a number
of poets who, however, had not the ambition to hand down
their names to posterity. Many of the strophes which were
placed in the mouth of the Buddha himself or his disciples are
among the finest produced by the literature of any age. But
only when Samskrit was given the position of a church
language, instead of the popular dialect, doubtless with a
view to a wider spreading of the doctrine, it was
that poetry began to be composed according to the rules of
the Samskrit court singers. Our manuscripts prove how
much under the influence of this artificial poetry gradually
the ear of the monk himself in the Turkestan monasteries was
refined. Scholars were constantly at work improving upon
the old translations of canonical works which were in many
ways crude and unpolished. They laboured to reduce the
text in language and metre to the stricter requirements of
later ages.
Two names belonging to this early period are mentioned
in the Middle Ages with enthusiastic admiration, Matriceta
and Ashvaghosha. Both belong as it seems to the beginning
of the second century. Matriceta's fame is based on his two
hymns to the Buddha, which according to I-tsing in the
seventh century every monk in India learnt by heart, whether
he was attached to the Hinayana or the Mahayana, and gave
rise to the legend that the author in his previous birth had
rejoiced the Buddha with his songs as a nightingale. They
were up to now known only from Tibetan and Chinese trans-
lations. From the fragments in the Berlin collection about
two-thirds of their text has been restored. The work of
Matriceta has great value in the history of the Samskrit
literature as the earliest example of Buddhistic lyrics 5
although the enthusiasm with which the Chinese Buddhist
scholar and translator I-tsing speaks thereof is not altogether
intelligible to us. Dogmatic punctiliousness can scarcely
242
compensate us for the monotony with which synonym after
synonym has been heaped. Also the alankatas which constitute
the regular decoration of a kavya are only sparingly employed.
Incomparably higher as a post at any rate stands Ashva-
ghosha. Fragments of his epic, the Buddha carita and the
Saundarananda in the original Samskrit are found in
Turkestan. Here we have also palm leaves eaten up
and ruined on which was inscribed the Sutra alankara
which is at present known only from its Chinese translation.
A French version of the Chinese rendering was done by
Huber. The ruined remains, however, give us an idea of the
style of Ashvaghosha. We likewise possess a wholly un-
expected fund of remnants of dramas of which at least one in
the colophon is expressly designated as Ashvaghosha's work.
One of the two palm leaf writings in which it is preserved to
us is a palimpsest prepared in central Asia. The other was
probably written in northern India during the lifetime of the
poet. It represents the oldest Brahmi manuscript we
know. One leaf has come out of a dramatic allegory in
which Wisdom, Endurance, and Fame entertained them-
selves on the virtues of the Buddha. Probably it is an
epilogue or an interlude. A fragment represents a comic
piece in which the principal part seems to have been
played by a courtesan. The drama which undoubtedly
is a production of Ashvaghosha treats of the story of the
two chief disciples of the master, Shariputra and Maudgalya-
yana, up to the time of their conversion to Buddhism. The
fragments do not suffice to enable us to judge of the indivi-
duality of Ashvaghosha although they furnish valuable
suggestions for a general history of the Indian theatre. We
here come across, apart from divergences of little consequence,
forms as in the classical period. The speeches are in prose
intermixed with verse. The women and the inferior dramatis
personae speak a Prakrit dialect which undoubtedly stands here
243
on a more ancient phonetic level. The comic person of the
piece, the Vidushaka, is also here a Brahman perpetually
suffering from hunger in the company of the hero, and the
manner of his jokes is the same as in Shakuntala, All this
demonstrates that the Indian drama at the close of the first
Christian century was fully developed in all its characteristics
and this has been completely established by the discovery in
Southern India of the dramas of Bhasa, by Ganapati Shastri.
Bhasa is one of the poets mentioned by Kalidasa as his
predecessor.
It is a variegated picture this, presented to us by research
in Turkestan. It is all still almost in confusion, the flickering
light of accident. It will require years of labour before we
are able to judge of the whole huge collection. The question
with some is whether the results will be commensurate to the
labour. There are many in the West who have hardly any
appreciation for the work of scholars engaged on the investi-
gation of peoples and speeches of Southern and Eastern Asia.
But the sinologues' views at least must count. Chinese is a
" colonial language." The Samskritist, however, is something
more 'than a tranquil man who worships dead deities worlds
apart. These gods are not dead. The knowledge which
Gautama Buddha acquired in the holy night under the Bodhi
tree is still the credo of millions of mankind, and thousands
and thousands of lips still repeat the prayer at sunrise com-
posed by a Rishi thousands of years ago. Nor are those
countries far from us. Only 18 days' journey divides the heart
of Europe from Colombo, in whose harbour steamers from
their journey to the ends of the earth take shelter. The world
has become narrower, the people of Asia have been brought
close to us and will be brought still closer. Whether this
will be peaceful or will lead to strife, this nobody knows. It is
nevertheless our duty to endeavour to study hte ancient
244
systems of culture, to endeavour to appreciate them in the
only possible way — that of historical research. In the history
of this research the discovery of the Ancient and Middle Ages
of Turkestan constitutes only a single chapter but that
happens to be one of the most important.
245
APPENDIX VI.
THE INSCRIPTION OF ARA.i
BY PROF. H.' LUDERS, PH.D., (BERLIN.)
The Kharoshthi inscription treated of here was discovered
in a well in a nala called Ara, 2 miles from Bagnilab. It is
now in the museum at Lahore. Mr. R. D. Banerji was the
first to bring it to our notice. In publishing it (ante,
vol. XXXVII, p. 58),3 he expressed the expectation that 1
should succeed in completely deciphering the text. 1 regret
that I am not able wholly to respond to the expectation. The
last line of the inscription remains obscure though the script
is here partly quite clear. I believe, however, to have been
able to read so far the remaining portion of the inscription
with the help of the impression which I owe to the kindness of
Dr. Fleet, that at the most there will remain doubt as regards
the two names in the fourth line.
In order to show what I owe to my predecessor I repro-
duce here his reading of the text of the inscription. I consider
it superfluous to go into every point in detail in which I differ
from him : in most cases an inspection suffices to determine
the text. Let me, however, make one observation : Banerji
believes the inscription to be broken towards the left end, and
that the final words of all lines except the first are missing.
This assumption is wholly without foundation. Only the
last line is incomplete at the end. Banerji reads :—
1. Maharajasarajatirajasa devaputrasa pa(l) thadharasa . . .
2. Vasishpaputrasa Kanishkasa samvaltarae eka chatari
to) • . . .
1 Translated by Mr. G. K. Nariman from the Sitzungtberichte der Preussis-
chen Al-ademie der Wissenschaften, 1912, pp. 824 ff., and revised by the author,
: Indian Antiquary,
3. sam XX, XX, 1, Chetasa maiasa diva 4, 1 atra 'divasami
Namikha. . . .
4 ..... na pusha pttria pumana mabarathi Ralakha-
puta ....
5. atmanasa sabharva putrasa anugatyarfhae savya ....
6 ..... rae himachala. Khipama ....
I read;—
1. Maharajasa rajatirajasa devapnlrasa \kd\ i [so] rasa\
"2. Vajheshkaputrasa- Kanishkasa samba/saraer ekachapar\_i\
8. [sae^ sam 20 L;0 1 Jethasa masasa di 20s 41 j [se] divasach-
hunami fc/ia[>i]e6
4. kupe \.Dd\shav(rana> Poshapuriaputrana matarapitarana
puya-
5. e Namda[sa sa]t>/iarya[sa9 so] putrasa anngraharthae san/a
6. [fa] tisha hitae^ ima chala\khiyama^ . . .
1. To the reading of this word we shall revert later on.
2. The second akshara can in my opinion be only jhe \
the reading si is at all events excluded. As regards the read-
ing of the third akshara, there may be different views at first
sight. As shka occurs in the name of Kanishka, Vasishka,
Huvishka, and as exactly the same symbol occurs in the Zeda
inscription in the name Kanishkasa, one might feel tempted to
read shka. On the other hand 5hpa is suggested by the fact
that in the ligature shka> in the word Kanishkasa which follows
immediately after, the ka is joined to the sha in a different way.
But, I think, we shall decide for shka when we take it into
consideration that in the Kharoshthi script the same symbol
on the same stone shows often widely different forms.
3. I have already given the correct reading of the date
of the year in Jour. /?. As. Sec., 1909, p. 652. The liga-
ture tsa is not new as Banerji thinks. It occurs, not to
mention uncertain cases, in the word samvaisataye in the Taxila
inscription of Patika (Ep. 2nd. 4, 54 ] Buhler : samvatsaraye),
and in the Mahaban inscription (jou". />s. IX, 4, 514 •, Senart :
samvatsaray}, and in bhetsiti and matsana in the MS. Dutreuil
de Rhins, as was shown ten years ago by Franke (Pali und
Sanskrit, P. 96 f.)
4. The i of ri is not clear.
5. After the symbol for 20 there is a hole in the stone,
6. The n has crumbled away. The sign for e is attached
below as in de in line 1, in e generally, and probably also in
ve in line 4.
7. The da is uncertain.
8. The sa at the end of the word and the following sa are
not quite distinct, but perfectly certain.
9. The akshara after sarva is totally destroyed, and the
pa is uncertain. Shall we read sarvasapana ?
10. The hi is not certain.
11. After khiyama there are three or four illegible
aksharas*
" (During the reign) of Maharaja, Rajatiraja^ Devaputra,
Kaisara Kanishka, the son of Vajheshka, in
Translation. , f „ .
the forty-first year, — m the year 41, — on
the 25th day of the month of Jetha (Jyaishtha), in this
moment of the day, the dug well of the Dashaveras, the Posha-
puria sons, for the worship of father and mother, in order to
248
show favour to Nanida together with his wife and his son, and
to all beings (?). For the welfare of these (?)... ."*
The inscription reports the sinking of the well in which it
was found, by a number of persons who called themselves
Dashaveras, if that name has been correctly read, and who
are further characterised as Poshapuriaputra. Since it is said
later on that the work was undertaken for the worship of
father and mother, Dashavera can only be the family name
indicating htre a number of brothers belonging to it. The
expression ' Poshapuriaputra" one would be at first sight
inclined to understand as " sons of Pqshapuria " ; but
Poshapuria would be a very strange personal name. I
therefore believe that putra is here employed in the frequently
occurring sense of ' member of,' ' belonging to,' •* and that
Poshapuria is derived from the name of the city of Poshapura,
which is equal to Purushapura, the modern Peshawar. As
for the form posa it can be authenticated from Pali writings.
Khanr is no doubt derived from khan in the sense of
" dug " •, whether it is an adjective or a participle (Sk. khatah}
should be left an open question. Khane kupe seems to have
been used as a contrast to the natural fountains. The ex-
pression is of interest inasmuch as it enables us to explain a
passage in the enigmatical inscription of Zeda. There occur
after the date Sam 10 1 Ashadasa masasa di 20 Utaraphaguna. ise
cMunami, the characters which Senarte reads : " \bhd\ nam u\_ka}
,. ".- • . chasa ma . • kasa Kanishkasa raja[nti] . . •
[dadabhai] da[nd]mukha" 3 and which are read by Boyer" as:
3 The final portion is not clear to me.
*- Compare e.g., niva.ma.puta in the Bhattiprolu inscriptions and other
instances, ZDMG. 58, p. 693 f.
1 I adhere to the usual transcript of the two «« signs without expressing'
that I consider them as absolutely correct.
fl Jo. As. VIII. 15,137.
' JbidX. 3,466.
249
"khanam usphamu . . chasa mardakasa Kanishkasa rajam^to\
yadalabhai danamukha." Now the impression before me
clearly shows that the three first aksharas of this passage are
exactly the same as those following the date in our inscrip-
tion. Even the e of ne is joined to the matrika in exactly the
same way as here.8 That the fourth character is neither ka
nor spha but *, can. now hardly be disputed.! The words
thereafter I read as : Veradasa mardakasa. They are pretty
clear in the impression except the second akshara which may
as well be ro» As regards the five aksharas coming after
rajami, I can for the present only say that they can in no case
be read as toyadalabha- Therefore the reading that we get is :
khane kue Veradasa mardakasa Kanishkasa rajami. «...
i danamukha. The form kue instead of kupe is found also in
the Paja inscription^ and in the Muchai inscription.!!
Much more important than the contents proper of the
inscription is its date. Until now the numerous dates of the
inscriptions of the Kushana period presented no difficulty at
least in so far as the succession of the kings is concerned.
They yielded for Kanishka the years 3-11, for Vasishka
24-28, for Huvishka 38-60, for Vasudeva 74-98. Here we
suddenly find Kanishka in the year 41.
To explain this contradiction it may be alleged that in
the text of the inscription we find nothing to show that
Kanishka was on the throne in the year 41. Kanishkasa sambat-
sarae ekachaparisae literally means " in the year 41 of Kanishka,'
and one might find in it the sense, " in the year 41 of the era
8 It seems that both Senart and Boyer have regarded the right hook of ku
as a portion of the preceding symbol. Otherwise I am unable to explain the
reading nam u,
9 See my remarks Jour, R» As. Soc. 1909, pp, 647 ff.
10 Ante, 37, 65.
11 Ibid, 37, 64; Jour.Jt, As, Soc. 1909, 664.
250
founded by Kanishka. " Now it is self-evident that the com-
bination of the number of a year with the name of a king in the
genitive case originally indicated the year of the ceign of that
king but I need cite no instance to show that later on in a
similar way people combined the names of the reigning king
with the number of the year of the current era-, and
that must be also the case here. Kanishka receives here his
whole title, and even a statement about his descent is added-
And people generally do not speak in this fashion about a
king that was long dead especially when they are silent as
regards the name of the reigning king. That explanation,
therefore, seems to me out of the question. Another possi-
bility is afforded by the assumption that Kanishka was a
contemporary ruler of Vasishka and Huvishka. Banerji has
expressed this view. Accordingly Kanishka, between the
years lO^ and 24, would have handed over the rule of India to
Vasishka, who afterwards was succeeded by Huvishka, and
himself confined his rule to the northern part of his empire.
This does not appear to be probable, because all other sources
are silent We should above all expect that in the titles of
Vasishka and Huvishka there should appear an indication of a
certain relation of dependence. But in the inscription oflsapur
and Sanchi, Vasishka bears the title of maharaja rajatiraja
devapulra shahi.™ That for Huvishka up to the year 40 only
the title of Maharaja devapulra can be ascertained as far as
the inscriptions go, is probably a matter of accident. In the
inscription of the Naga statue of Chargaon of Sam 40^ and in
the inscription of the Wardak vase of Sam 51i •>, we find that
he is called maharaja rajatiraja^ and in the Mathura inscription
of Sam 60ifi maharaja rajatiraja devaputra. Under these circum-
stances, it seems to me more probable that the Kanishka of
'- This is the date of an inscription in the British Museum which
Apparently was found in the country about Mathura, (see Ep. Ind. IX. 239 ff.)
13 Jour. K. As. Soc., 1910, 1313 ; Ep. Ind. II. 369.
14 VOGEL, Catalogue of t/ie Archaological Museum at Mathura, p. 88.
" Jour. R. As. Soc., XX. 255 ff, ls Ep. Ind. 1,386.
251
our inscription is not identical with the celebrated Kanishka. I
lay no stress on the fact that Kanishka here bears a title
which is not applied to him anywhere else. But the
characterisation as the son of Vajheshka, which too does not
appear anywhere else, gives an impression, to me at least,
that it was added with a view to differentiate this Kanishka
from the other king, his name-sake. Now the name
Vajheshka or Vajheshka sounds so near Vasishka that I look
upon both forms only as an attempt to reproduce in an Indian
alphabet one and the same barbaric name.iT These two forms
at any rate are closer to each other than, for instance, the
various shapes in which the name of Huvishka occurs in
inscriptions and on coins. Now, cannot the Kanishka of our
inscription be the son of the successor of the great Kanishka ?
He would be probably in that case his grandson, which would
well agree with the name, because grandsons are, as is well
known, often named after the grandfathers. The course of
events then would be something like this. Kanishka was
followed by Vasishka between the years 11 and 24.
After Vasishka's death, which occurred probably soon
after Sam 28L?, there was a division of the empire.
Kanishka II took possession of the northern portion
of the kingdom. In India proper, Huvishka made himself
king. The reign of Kanishka II endured at least as far as
Sam 41, the date of our inscription. But before Sam 52
Huvishka must have recovered the authority of the northern
portion of the empire, for in this year he is mentioned as king
in the Kharoshthi inscription which was found at Wardak to
the south-west of Kabul.
l' Jh and s may have been used to express a 2 ; compare the writing
JhoilaSa in Kharoshthi by the ride of ZQlAOY on the coins of Zoilos
(Gardner, Coins of Greek and Scythic Kings in Bactria and India, p. 52f
170). It need hardly be noted that the notation e or / before the shka make's
no difference.
18 In case the Mathura inscription (Ep. Ind, II. 206, No. 26) is dated in
Sam 29 and in the reign of Huvishka.
252
I do not misapprehend the problematic nature of the
construction I have proposed : whether it is correct will
depend on further discoveries for which we are fortunately
justified in entertaining hopes.
The Ascription which presents us with so many new
difficulties carries us, however, in my opinion, by means of one
word further towards the solution of a question which for the
last few years has considerably occupied Indian historical
research. This word is the fourth title of Kanishka which
I read as kaisarasa* This reading appears to me to be
absolutely certain, although the upper portion of some letters
on the stone have been injured. Banerji read \tpa (?) thadarasa*
I must at once concede that the first akshara can be/*. But
it is equally possible that the upper portion of the symbol has
been broken away, just as has been the case with the preced-
ing symbol which undoubtedly is sa* In that case the akshara
can only be ka- The second akshara can be nothing but /'.
The hook at the top of the symbol is perfectly visible in the
impression and makes the reading that impossible. Of the
third akshara only the lower portion has been preserved. Com-
paring the remnant with the last sa of the word, one can have
no doubt but that it was a sa» The lection dha is simply
impossible. The two last aksharas are manifestly rasa. Thus
we can either read patsarasa or kaisarasa ] and it is obvious
that only the latter can be the right reading.
The title of kaisara has not up to now been traced to
Indian soil, and it would be incredible if we had to deal with a
national dynasty. But the Kushana kings drew their titles
from all parts of the world. They call themselves maharaja :
this is the genuine Indian title. They call themselves
rajaliraja: this obviously is the translation of the Middle
Persian royal designation shaonano shao which we meet with on
the coins of Kanishka, Huvishka, and Vasudeva. The third
253
title dwaputra is, as has been long known, the rendering of
the Chinese tlien-tzu, ' son of heaven.' And now to these has
been added the Roman appellation of Caesar. It may be
asked ; why this heaping up of epithets ? For this too we
have an answer : These were calculated to mark the monarch
as ;the lord of the whole world. Maharaja is the king of
India, the ruler of the South. As against him we have
rajaiiraja, the king of the Northern country. That properly
speaking Iran lies to the North- West of India, and not exactly
to the North, need not be considered as prejudicial to our
explanation, inasmuch as we have to deal here with the
cardinal points in a general way only. The term devaputra
marks the ruler of the East. To him is opposed the kaisara
or sovereign of the West. Thus the Kushana king is a
sarvalo%aisvara, as runs the title on the coins of the two
Kadphises. This idea appears to be an Indian one. I need
only call to mind the digvijaya which was the ideal and
aspiration of every Hindu ruler. In this connection there is
an interesting passage in the Chinese translation of the
Dasaviharanasutra of A. D. 392. I quote it according to
the version of Professor Sylvain Levi.w In the len-feou-ti
(Jambudvipa) there are. . . . four sons of heaven (fien-tzeu).
In the East there is the son of heaven of the Tsin (the
Eastern Tsin 3 17-420)-, the population is highly prosperous.
In the South there is the son of heaven of the kingdom of
T*ien-tchou (India)-, the land produces many celebrated
elephants. In the West there, is the son of heaven of the
Ta-ts'in (the Roman Empire)-, the country produces
gold, silver, and precious stones in abundance. In theNorth-
West there is the son of heaven of the Yue-tchi ; the land
produces many good horses." This passage is almost a
commentary on the significance of the royal titles in our
inscription.
19 Jour. As, IX 9, 24, note.
25*
We have seen above that there is some doubt as regards
the personality denominated here as kaisara. It is immaterial
to the chronological inference which we may draw from the
use of these titles. No one will deny that this inscription
dates from the Kushana period and its date Sam 41 belongs
to that series of dates which run from 3 to 98. The beginning
of the era which the reckoning has for its basis is uncertain.
The theory which was advanced first by Cunningham that
the Khushana era is identical with the Malava-Vikrama
era of 57 B. C. has found in Dr. Fleet an energetic defender.
Professor O. Franke has attempted to support and I too
have agreed to it. But the word kaisara overthrows this
hypothesis. The idea that so early as in the year 16 B.C.
a Central Asian or Indian ruler should have assumed the
title of Cajsar is naturally incredible. With the possibility
of transferring the beginning of the era, and consequently
Kanishka, to pre-Christian times falls likewise the possi-
bility of placing the succession of kings from Kanishka
to> Vasudeva" before Kujala-Kadphisesso, whose conquests,
according to Professor Chavannes^ and Professor Franke,^1
took place in the first post-Christian century. In these re-
spects I am now entirely at one with Professor Oldenberg, who
has recently treated the whole problem in a penetrating way.?-
The exact determination of the era however depends before all
on the question whether we should identify the king of the
Ta-Yue-chi, Po-t'iao, who sent in the year 229 A.D. an
embassy to China, with Vasudeva, the successor of
Huvishka.2* In that case the era would start at the earliest
with 130 and at the latest with 168 A.D. None of, the
311 Fleet, Jour. R. As. SoC. 1903, p. 334, 1907, p. 1C48'; Franke. Beitrage
auS Chines ischenquellen snr Kenntnis der. Turkvolker, &c., p. 93 ff.
-%l T'oting Poo, S. II, Vol. VIII, p. 191, note 1. ~ Beitrage, p. 7*.
^ZurFrage nach der Ara des Ranishl'a., N, G. GW. Phil. Hist. KL.
1911, pp. 427 ff.
-* Toung Pao, S, II. Vol. V., p. 489.
255
grounds which Oldenburg has adduced against this supposi-
tion is decisive. On the other hand, the identification of
Po-t'iao with Vasudeva is, as observed by Chavannes, merely
permissible and not necessary ; besides there still remains
the possibility that a later and another Vasudeva is meant.
Accordingly a consensus omnium can hardly be attained at once,
and final decision will vary according to the evidential value
attached to the Chinese data. Our inscription has, however
perceptibly narrowed the bounds of the possible, a fact the
value of which, under the prevailing circumstances, is not to
be underestimated.
After I had already written the above paper, I received
the July number of Jour. R. As. Soc. con-
Postscript, taining the first half of the essay by
J. Kennedy, on the "Secret of Kanishka." The author
supports the theory of Fleet and Franke. So far as I
see there is nothing in the essay which invalidates the
clear evidence of our inscription. This is not the place to enter
into details ; only one word I shall say regarding the argu-
ment upon which Kennedy seems to place chief reliance.
Kennedy argues thus (p. 667) :— « We must date Kanishka
either 100 years before 50 A. D. or after 100 A. D. (strictly
speaking after 120 A. D.). Now the legends on his coin are in
Greek. The use of Greek as a language of every-day life
however ceased in the country to the East of the Euphrates
partly before and partly soon after the close of the first
Christian century. Hence Kanishka cannot be placed in the
second century, but must belong to a period prior to the
Christian times."
Now before me lie a pair of foreign coins : a nickel coin
from Switzerland of 1900 and a penny of 1897. The inscription
on the former reads : Confederate Helvetica. On the penny
256
stands Victoria. Dei. Gra. Britt. Regina. Fid. Def. Ind. Imp.
I pity the historian of the fourth millennium who will draw
from the coins the conclusion that about the year 1900 Latin
was the languge of daily life in the mountains of Switzerland
and in the British Isles.
257
APPENDIX VII.
THE SOURCES OF THE DIVYAVADANA.
Chinese Translations of Sanskrit-Buddhist Literature.
The Dwyavadma is a collection of pious tales which
differ too considerably in style and language from each other
to be attributed to a single author. Ed. Huber and Sylvain
Levi more or less simultaneously established the sources of
these tales collected together in the Divyavadana. By an
examination of three of the tales, namely, Mara and Upagupta
(p. 357), Yashas (p. 382) and the Gift of the Half Mango
(p. 430) Huber conies to certain definite conclusions. The
negligence with which these sources have been put together
was noted so long ago as by Burnouf in his Introduction
to ike History of Indian Buddhism. The story of Mara and
Upagupta is translated also by Windisch in his Mara und
Buddha (pp. 163-176). Already here Windisch noted the
characteristics of a drama. " The legend is," he says,
"prettily and didactically related with dramatic circumstance.
But the dialogue between Upagupta and Mara is not in the
simple verse of the Pali legends, but is partly in the more
artistic meters such as are employed in the Sanskrit drama.
Along with the shloka and arya we find such meters as
Praharshini, Vasantalilaka, Shardulavikridita and even
Suvadana. We are reminded of a drama also by the
theatrical show, especially the manner in which Mara
appears in the costume of the Buddha." Speyer had
also noted that the form sahiya in place of the
usual sahaya<) which is found in the Asoka legends
in the Divyavadana, is also to be met with in the
Buddhacarit '. This was a particularly happy discovery of
Speyer's (WZKM 16, p. 2). As a matter of fact, Ashvaghosha,
258
the author of the B^^ddhacarita, has composed, as we know,
another work called the Sutralankara, which is preserved
only in a Chinese translation made by Kumarjiva about 495.
And the three stories of the Dwyavadana under examination
are precisely found there. The importance of the Chinese
translation consists in this : that with its help we can correct
the Sanskrit text of the Dwyavadana as we shall see later on.
Now the question is: Did the stories originally belong to
Sutralankaro, or did there exist a third work upon which both
Ashvaghosha and the editor of the Divyavadana could draw ?
Ashvaghosha was a learned poet. His Buddhacarita is
perhaps the first in date as a kavya, and both I-tsing and
Taranatha agree in pointing to him as a peerless poet. In the
story of Mara and Upagupta, the Elder asks Mara to show
him the features of the Buddha •, Mara agrees to do this : «' I
will show him to you in the same form which I created in
order to shuram vancayitum"
Windisch not being acquainted with the Chinese, trans-
lates the last phrase as " in order to deceive the hero." But
the real sense of the passage is recovered only when we place
back the story of Mara and Upagupta in the book from which
it was drawn, namely, the Sutralankara. There it is preceded
by another story where also Mara plays a great part. It is the
story of the householder Shura. Shura is a miserly man of
wealth, who refuses to give alms to the disciples of the
Buddha. The Buddha personally goes to his house, preaches
him the Law and makes him see the sacred Truths. Mara is
thereby put to shame. As soon as the Buddha has
withdrawn, Mara himself puts on the guise of the Buddha
and appears before Shura. Next follows a de-
scription in verse of the majestic appearance of the
false Buddha, who thus addresses Shura : " While I
was explaining to you the Law, I made mistakes in certain
points." He proceeds then to deliver a sermon which is
259
anything but orthodox. Shura makes him out. " You are the
Wicked One. It is in vain that you hide the jackass in the
skin of a tiger 5 although his appearance may deceive the eye
he is found out as soon as he begins to bray." It is evident,
then that in the Divyavadana we should take Shura as a
proper name, and not as a common name meaning hero.
Further on, in his comparison of the Sanskrit text with the
Chinese, Huber notes that the Chinese translator has noticed
the play on the word " Asoka," which signifies the name of an
emperor and the name of a tree, a pun, which has escaped
both Burnouf and the English editors of the Divyavadana,
Thus at least three of the tales in the Divyavadana have
been borrowed from the Sutralavkara of Ashvaghosha. But
the latter is far from being the principal source upon which
the anonymous compiler of the Divyavadana had drawn.
Already the English editors notice that the collection was a
part of a Vin*yupitaka. They saw that the stories related to
a school of Buddhism different from Pali. According to a
Tibetan authority quoted by Barth (RHR 41, p. 171), of the
^bur schools of Buddhism only one, that of the Sarvastivadi,
employed Sanskrit in its liturgy 5 the Mahasanghikas used
corrupt Sanskrit, the Sthaviras or Theravadis employed
Paishaci and the Mahasammatiyas used the Apabhramsha.
And since the fragments of the Vinoyapitaka recently found
are in Sanskrit, a priori they must belong to the
Vinayapitaka of the Sarvastivadis, and this is in fact
the conclusion which Huber establishes. Now the
Chinese canon, which has preserved the ''basket of
discipline" of several schools, furnishes a means of verifying
the hypothesis. The result of Huber's researches is that
at least eighteen out of the thirty-eight stories of
the Divyavadana are taken from the Sarvastivadi vinaya.
260
The compiler has treated, in fact, the Vinayapitaka of the
Sarvastivadis in the same manner in which the author of the
Mahavastu has dealt with the Vinayapitaka of the Maha-
sanghikas. Only the redactor of the Div^avadana had not
the grace, like the author of the Mahavastu, to acknowledge
his debt. On the other hand, in taking his loans the com-
piler has been faithful, rather too faithful. He wrenches
sometimes the stories along with the ligatures preceding and
following them in the original Sanskrit Vinayapitaka. The
divergence between the Sanskrit and the Chinese lies only in
two points. In the first place, the translator, who was the
celebrated I-tsing and who rendered the original Sanskrit
into Chinese, commits minor mistakes. Consequently when
he comes to one of the numerous cliches or the stereotyped
series of phrases, I-tsing sometimes loses his patience and
instead of reiterating the passage in Chinese, contents himself
with a brief "and so on". Less frequently he uses the term
corresponding to the Sanskrit Puruavadvavat. With these
two exceptions the two tally completely. We can easily
see the utility of the existence of a Chinese version, which
so exactly corresponds to the Sanskrit, when we think of
undertaking a translation of the Divyavadana into a European
language. Now we shall see below some examples of how
I-tsing's Chinese version helps us to restore the sometimes
corrupt text of the Sanskrit Di-vyavadana.
Huber first analyses the stories of Makandika and
of Rudrayana corresponding to stories
3G and 37 in the Divyavadana. These
two Ai'adanas were originally the section
Prayashcittika 82 in the Vinayapitaka of the Sarvativ.adis
corresponding to the Paccittya 83 of the Pali Suttavibhanga.
The regulation in question referred to the prohibition on
the Buddhist monks against entering the royal palace
on certain occasions, In this section, the Pali makes of
261
Chattapani a proper name whereas from the Chinese it is
evident that it is an adjective phrase meaning " carrying an
umbrella in the hand," qualifying the monk which follows.
As Huber notices it is strange that the great Buddhaghosha,
the Pali commentator, has repeated the mistake more than
once. In one place the Chinese translator I-tsing cannot
tolerate the interminable monotony of certain repetitions and
notes: "The Sanskrit text has the entire enumeration. I
am afraid of wearing the reader and abridge the portion."
In the light of the Chinese, Huber establishes that the
kharam at page 577 in the Divyavadana renders a whole
sentence senseless, and that judging by I-tsing's Chinese
version the original Sanskrit should be khaladhana which
restores sense to the corrupt sentence. At page 579 the same
Chinese rendering helps us to restore kamshi in place of the
unintelligible kashika» Similarly the first shloka in the
Makandika tale (p. 515) is restored to sense with the help of
the Chinese. In the same story the upanasthaniyo should
now be read apadasthaniya. Further down Sasambhramena
is a corruption for Udakabhramena. In the story ofSvagata
(Dit* PP. 167-193) the proper name Asvatirtha is certainly
a mistake. The corresponding Pali is Ambattitha which is
confirmed by the Chinese which this time, instead of
translating as it often does, here transcribes the proper
name of An-po. At page 191 of the Divyavadana the
Sanskrit text should be altered into tnamudishyadbhir.
The avadana at page 483 has an erroneous title, Cuda-
paksha. It should be Cudapantha. Verses produced at
page 497 are massacred in Sanskrit, but are restorable by
a reference to the Chinese. At page 512 mathurayam
must yield place to the sensible mandurayam- With these
plenteous examples and a faithful rendering of several
stories, Huber avers that I-tsing's translation testifies to the
existence in India in the eighth century of the Sanskrit
262
canon of the Sarvastivadis. " The disproportion," he pro-
ceeds, " between the dry brevity of the Pali text and the
redundant prolixity of the Sanskrit recension may prove
repulsive at first to the reader and might make the Sanskrit
appear suspicious to him." As a matter of fact, nevertheless,
the compilers of the Sanskrit canon invented nothing in the
sense that they were as faithful translators as those of the
Theravadi canon. The only difference is this : Whilst the
Pali school habitually leave out or throw into the commen-
taries the pious tales which serve to illustrate the precepts of
the rules, in the Sanskrit school these avadanas have
completely invaded the text itself of the Sarvastivadi canon.
Although we have not yet received from Ceylon Buddha-
ghosa's commentary of the Vinaya, we have already shown
that there is not one of these stories which cannot be found
again in the Pali A tthakathas. Windisch with his accustomed
penetration, saw long ago that Buddhaghosa must be familiar
with the literature of the North (Mara und Buddha p. 800).
To these important discoveries by Huber we may add a
few notes from the accidentally simultaneous research on the
same problem by Sylvain Levi(Tcnng Pao, March 1907). The
Vinaya of the Mulasarvastivadis is also the same as the
Tibetans have admitted into their canon. It constitutes the
Dul-va of the Kanjur. The various parts cf the Dul-vci,
according to Csoma, were translated frcm Sanskrit into
Tibetan in the course of the ninth century. I-tsing's Chinese
translation was made in the ninth. It is interesting to note
that Using expressly states that his work accords with the
Mulasarvastivadi principle and should not be confounded with
the teachings of any other school. The Mulasarvastivadis
are to be distinguished from the simple Sarvastivadis whose
Vinaya was translated into Chinese as early as 494 by
Kumarajiva and Punyatara, under a Chinese title which is
equivalent to Dashadhyayavinaya as distinct from the Vinaya
263
of the Dharmaguptas which was called the Vinaya of the
Four Sections, and from the Vinaya of the Mahishasakas
which was entitled the Vinaya of the Fivefold Sections.
According to I-tsing, the Mulasarvastivadi was a sister school
to the Sthavira, the Mahasamghika and the Sammitiya, and
the school itself was subdivided into four branches, vis., the
Sarvastivadis, the Dharmaguptas, the Mahishaskas and the
Kashyapiyas. The Dharmagupta Vinaya was translated into
Chinese in 495 by Buddhayashas •, the Mahasamghika in 416
by the Indian Buddhabhadra and the celebrated Chinese
Fahien •, the Mahishasaka in 424 by Buddhajiva. The Chinese
translation of the Vinaya of the Sthaviras was made between
483 and 493 and has been lost. But a portion of even the
Pali Samanlapasadika of Buddhaghosa was done into
Chinese in 489 by Sanghabhadra. Among the translators
there were some who had migrated from Persia, one of whom
rendered into Chinese two tracts on the Vinaya between 148
and 170.
264
APPENDIX VIII.
INSCRIBED FRESCOS OF TURFAN.
By ED. HUBER.
The Buddhist art of India in Gandhara as well as in the
south has preserved from early days the legend of the
Brahaman Sumedha, who is subsequently to be the
Shakyamuni and who receives from the Buddha Dipankara
the prophecy of his future career. We come across this
episode with the same features in the scriptures of the
different Buddhist fraternities and that is an index which
leads us to suppose that it forms a part of the ancient
elements of the canon. This beautiful legend has not been
excluded by posterior literature. The hagiographies of the
church of Ceylon have extended their activity to the
Pranidhicaryas of the Bodhisattva under each Buddha of the
preceding Kalpas. They inform us of the spiritual progress
even of the chief disciples of the Master during the age of
any one of his remote forerunners. In the Pali canon the
Mahavazga and the Theragatha have been continued into
the Buddhavamsa and the Therapadana* We shall
presently see what corresponds to these two Pali works in
the northern canon in Sanskrit. For the paintings at Turfan
in Central Asia, recently brought to Europe, refer to legends
in this Sanskrit canon. One of these grottos there has a kind
of a gallery of Nakshatras or the lunar mansions, each of
which is surmounted by its name and diagram. They were
probably intended to serve as mangala or auspicious marks.
The Vinayas of the north like that of the Mahasanghikas have
prescribed stanzas of good omen which the superior of
265
monasteries had to address to visitors and who had specially
to invoke upon them the protection of the 28 mansions which,
in groups of 7, preside over the 4 cardinal points. These are
the same stanzas which in the Mahavasiu (iii, 305) and in
Laliiavistara (p. 387) the Buddha addresses to Trapusa and
Bhallika at the time of their departure. It is significant that
it is the Mahavasiu and not the Lalitaz istara which accords
with the recension of the Mahasanghikas which has come
down to us only through the Chinese translation of Fa-hien.
These pages of the Mahavastu by the way offer an exceptional
opportunity to test the knowledge of Sanskrit possessed by
this chronologically first Chinese pilgrim and his Indian
collaborator. As regards- the subjects which the religious
painter has to represent in the different parts of the
monastery from the verandah to the kitchen we have minute
descriptions of them in the Vinaya of the Mulasarvastivadis.
These texts would be useful in a translation prepared with a
comparison with other Chinese and Tibetan renderings.
It was, in fact, reserved for the Buddhist art of
Turkestan to employ its beautiful technical skill in the
methodical utilization of the source of inspiration provided by
the texts. The mission of Donner and Klementz brought
some of these pictures which were discussed by Senart in
1900 in the Journal Asiatique, especially with reference to the
Sanskrit stanzas written in the Brahmi script found on the
frescos in the neighbourhood of Turfan, explanatory of the
paintings which depict the Pranidhicaryas.
More frescos have been discovered by Grunwendel and
the finest amongst them found in the temple of Bazaklik have
been reproduced in the magnificent Chotscho by Von le Coq.
Each of them, except one, has a Sanskrit shloka to identify the
individual scene.
266
Luders has studied these stanzas. He started with
the hypothesis that the shlokas formed part of a whole
poem which has perished. He supposes that the original
from which these bits of verse have been drawn could be
recovered from two texts which have been already indicated
in his exploration of the blahawstu by Earth (Journal dt>s
Savants, August-October, 1899.) These texts are the Pali
Bitddliavamsa and the Bahubuddhasutra in the Mahavastu
(iii, 224-250). However, the texts and the stanzas in the
frescos have nothing common between them except the
general narrative. The proper names and the circumstances
which have led each time to the Pranidhana or solemn vow
of the future Buddhas are different in the Mahavastu, in the
llodd'ia'oamsa and in the frescos. Starting with the fact that
on the frescos of Turkestan the Ft an idhanas of the Bodhisattva
are distributed over three Asamkheyakalpas, and that, on the
other hand, the monasteries to the north of th.e Tarim desert
belonged since the days of the visit of Hiuan-tsang to the
Sarvastivadi school, Luders concludes that the third recension
of the shlokas which we have in the frescos must be
related also to this school. And this arrangement of the
distribution over three Asamkheyakalpas is noticeable only
in the Divyavadana. However, considering the corrupt
composition of the stanzas, Luders doubts whether they were
actually borrowed from a canonical work of the Sarvastivadis,
and is inclined to think that here we have to deal with a
debased Sanskrit which was current at a latter period in the
barbarous monasteries of Turfan. As a matter of fact, at
this period there was no barrier between the church of
Turkestan and that of nothern India. I have already shown
that the geographical horizon of the text from which the
compilators of the Divyavadana have borrowed extended
beyond the Pamirs and the same holds good of the redactors
of the Mahavastu. However, the stanzas on the frescos of
267
Turfan are not much farther removed from the Sanskrit of
Panini than the language of the Divyavadana. If really
there is no difference between them it can be explained on the
assumption that the shlokas have been inscribed by an
illiterate painter who did not understand them and actually
this seems to have been the case, because as Luders has
indicated more than once, the subject represented is quite
different from the shloka which is expected to explain it.
These stanzas then have issued from the same work on
which is based the Divyavadana itself, namely, the Vinaya
of the Mula Sarvastivadis. They are followed by the
beautiful tale of Sudhana and the Kinnari which is retained
by the compilator of the Divyavadana chrestomathy. The
stanzas are addressed to Ananda and the subject is divided
into three Kc.lpas just as in the fragments of Turfan. At the
close of the fragments it is stated in prose, " Here are the
names of the Buddhas," analogous to the samaptam
bahubuddhasulram of the filahavasiii. The next chapter
contains also in verse a recension of the Therapadana. Here
also, as in the case of the Buddharamsa, the proper names
in the stories of the past and the other circumstances do not
agree with the Pali version.
The interest which it has for the iconography of Central
Asia would justify a translation of this Buddhavamsa of the
Mula Sarvastivadis. But it would be better to produce the
translation from the Tibetan text. For the Chinese transla-
tors of the Tang dynasty have rarely succeeded in comprising
into their stanzas the whole expression of the Sanskrit verse
even when they were able to understand the latter. Besides
the proper names which they translated in their own fashion
are difficult of reproduction.
(Huber gives here a striking illustration of the important service which
Chinese renders to Buddhistic studies. With the Chinese renderings of the
original texts before him he corrects the errors of the scribes and painters who
have preserved the scriptural verses in the frescos of Turfan.)
268
Every section of the Sanskrft Vinaya, when closely
examined, reveals the same features. There are few
fundamental differences with the Pali. As Barth has put it,
the Triple Basket of the Mula Sarvastivadis had no cover and
that it continued to absorb material from outside. The same
conclusion can be arrived at by a comparison of the three
diverse translations of the Vinaya of this school, namely, the
portions borrowed by the Divyavadana, the Tibetan transla-
tion of the 9th century and the Chinese of the 8th. The
divergencies can be illustrated by an example. The long
story of Simhala, which is given in its entirety by the
Tibetan and the Chinese translators, has been abridged in the
Divyavadana (p. 524.) into a simple reference to the
Rakshisasutra. Again where the manuscript of the Tibetans
gives the whole history of Rashtrapala that of I-tsing quotes
only the title. On the other hand, numerous tales in Chinese
and Tibetan are thus disposed of: "Place here such and
such sutra and such and such chapter of this or that
Nikaya" This problem, although it is more in the domain
of the literary history than theology, attracted the attention
of the doctors of the old Indian church. Thus Vasubandhu
in his Gathasamgraha has no hesitation in placing the
Avadanas and the Jatakas in the Vinayapitaka. One more
important piece of information we gather from a work of
Nagarjuna translated by Kumarajiva about 400 A.D. which
was a voluminous commentary on the Mahapranaparamita
and which lays down, " There are two recensions of the
Vinaya, the Vinaya of Mathura which contains the
Avadanas and the Jataka and has eighty chapters; the
Vinaya of Kashmir which rejects the Jatakas of the
Avadana and preserves only what is essential which is
divided into ten chapters." But what were these Vimyas
of Kashmir and Mathura? Here we enter only upon the
domain of hypothesis.
269
A BHARHUT SCULPTURE.
II.
The identification, one by one, of the archaeological
monuments of India every day proves with greater certainty
that all Buddhism, even of the ancient epochs, has not been
included within the limited scope of the canonical texts.
Oldenberg has already indicated that two scenes in the legend
of the Buddha, which are depicted at Bharhut, are strangers
to the Pali canon, namely, the ascension to the heaven of the
Thirty-three gods, — a scene which is represented also at
Sachi, — and the great miracle of Shravasti. It is possible to
add one more scene of this class.
One of the bas-reliefs at Bharhut represents a group of
musicians accompanying with their instruments the move-
ments of a troupe of dancers in the front of two edifices : one
on the right, the palace of Indra, from the balcony of which
the god looks down upon the festival, surrounded by his
women, while from the upper stories the servants show their
heads from the windows ; the other to the left of the chaitya
through the open door of which we notice laid on the altar the
tuft of hair -of the Bodhisattva.
The dome of the chaitya bears an inscription in the
Ashoka characters which reads thus : Sudhammadeva sabha
Bhagavato chudamaha. Cunningham taking the word
" maha " in the sense of "great," translated it to be "the
great headdress (relic) of Buddha in the Assembly-hall of the
Devas." (The Stupa of Bharhut) p. 126XV, and it does not seem
that this translation in spite of its queerness has been
criticised. This inscription on the slupa of Bharhut does not
bear the solitary instance of the expression Chudamaha in
Buddhist literature, The same term is employed in the
270
Lalitavistara when, after having described how the Bodhi-
sattva cut off his hair and threw it up in the air where it was
received by the Thirty-three gods, it adds : "And to this day,
among the Thirty-three gods, the festival of the tuft of the
hair is celebrated," which the Tibetan translates word for
word including the term " festival " leaving no room for
doubt for the meaning of the expression (Foucaux, Part I,
p. 195). And, as fortune would have it, it is a case where
I-tsing has for once at the same time correctly understood, and
entirely translated, the passage in the Vinaya of the Mula
Sarvastivadis. The Chinese affords final confirmation :
"Shakra Devanamindra seizes in the air the hair of the
Bodhisattva and carries it to the Thirty-three gods 5 the
Thirty-three gods are gathered together who all do homage to
the hair circumambulating it." (Tripitaka, Tokyo xvii, 3, 16
b. 14).
On the other hand, the Mahavastu uses the same
expression when it relates almost in the same phraseology as
the Lalitavistara that the tuft of the hair, cut off by the
Bodhisattva having been received by Indra, the Thirty-three
gods celebrate a festival in its honour (II, pp. 165-166).
Finally, the festival of the tuft of the hair of the Bodhisattva
among the Thirty-three gods is further mentioned expressly
in the A binhishkramana Sutra, which is a long life of the
Buddha translated into Chinese towards the sixth century by
Jnanagupta (Tripitaka, Tokyo xiii, 7, 69b 19-20). It is here
related that the Bodhisattva cut with his sabre his hair which
was taken up by Indra, then the Bodhisattva was shaved by
the Shuddhavasas and that Indra again gathered up the
hair which fell under the razor. " Shakra received it and
carried it to the heaven of the Thirty-three gods where it was
worshipped. Since this day he commanded all the gods to
celebrate this occasion as a festival for the adoration of
the tuft of hair of the Buddha, the observance of
271
which has not been interrupted to this day."
Further, the word ". maha ", although it appears rare in the
vocabulary of Buddhist Sanskrit, is not otherwise absolutely
unknown. The Divywadana supplies an instance (p. 579).
We may remember the long description of the voyage of
Katyayana beyond India and the Oxus. At the place which
is called Lambaka, the apostle leaves behind at his departure
his copper goblet kamshika, as a souvenir to the goddess of
Roruka, who raises a stupa and celebrates a festival in which
the inhabitants of the place take part. The English editors
of the Divyc'Vadana hesitate between kashika and kushi\ but
the true reading is kamshizs I have already indicated (BEFEO
vi, p. 15). The Chinese and Tibetan translations support
this correction of the Sanskrit text. The Chinese translator
of the Mula Sarvastivadis has slightly altered the order of -the
text, and in doing so, has omitted the passage relating to the
piece which probably he had not sufficiently understood
(Tripitaka, Tokyo xvii,98b 15). But the Tibetan, always
faithful to the letter of the text which he translates, exactly
follows the Sanskrit (Kanjur red edition Vinqy a, viii, 120 b).
The Tibetan word Bn.-ston shows the meaning which the
translator attached to the Sanskrit maka, namely, that of a
festival.
This scene has been discovered by Foucher among the
bas-reliefs of Boro-Boudour at Java and it affords archaeo-
logical confirmation to the identification which is proposed
here for the bas-relief of Bharhut. At Boro-Boudour also we
see the men in gaiety, the musicians and dancers who enter
the sanctuary. It is in brief, allowance being made for the
differences of technique, an exact counterpart of the bas-
relief of Bharhut.
Thus we find at Bharhut a figure representation
of the annual festival observed by the Thirty- three
gods to commemorate the cutting of the topmost hair
272
of the Bodhisattva. But the legend is unknown in the
Pali canon. Besides we know how sober the latter is in details
as regards the life of the Bodhisattva. Not only have I not
discovered myself this legend in the canonical text, but it has
not been mentioned in the two great Buddhistic compilations
of Indo-China belonging to a later period— compilations which
have been made so conscientiously and carefully and in which
are embodied not only the cononical texts but also the com-
mentaries and the super-commentaries of these texts and in
which minor variants are invariably noted. Neither the Bur-
mese Jinathapakasani nor the Siamese Pathamasambodhi make
mention of it. In fact, in the Pali canon itself the later texts
like Nidanakatha are not aware of it. According to it the
hair of the Buddha, when it was cut off and tossed up into the
air, was immediately seized by Indra who conveyed it to
heaven where a stupa for it was erected •, but it has no know-
ledge of the festival annually celebrated in commemoration
of this event in the abode of the Thirty-three gods.
It is, therefore, a subject exclusively appertaining to the
tradition of the north which is represented at Bharhut. " But
the tradition of the north " is a vague term under which are
hidden a number of diverse things. We shall get at some-
thing more precise when we succeed in determining the
schools to which these legends appropriately belong. Un-
fortunately this is not easy to achieve. The Lalitavistara
takes us to the Sarvastivadis, the other texts have been
extracted from the Vinaya of the Mula Sarvastivadis ; the
Mahavastu is attached to the school of the Mahasanghikas.
Finally, the Abhinishkrzmana Sutra has issued from the
Dharmagupta school. The festival of the tuft of the
Buddha's hair is mentioned in no other Vinaya of the diverse
schools translated into Chinese. So all the great sects of
Northern India are cognisant of this legend. Since, on the
273
other hand, the Abhinishkramana Sutra which almost always
indicates in detail the divergencies of the principal schools
makes no mention of it, it appears that its author held the
festival to be common to all the schools known to him. But
on the other hand we have to note that the Gandhara school
seems not to have known much, or at least not to have
represented the scene of the shearing of the hair (Foucher
I' A rt greco-bouddhigue, p. 365).
We need not draw a general conclusion from such
uncertain circumstances. However, it is the accumulation of
details of this class which alone will perhaps permit us one day
to substantiate all the a priori discussions, so complicated,
regarding the subject of the relative age of the traditions of
the different schools by more precise knowledge. For the
present, all that can be said is that our opinion confirms what
other indices lead us to suspect in the fragmentary
state of our knowledge of Indian Buddhism. The recent date
of a document which acquaints us with a legend does not by
any means lead to the conclusion of the recentness of the
formation of the legend itself.
274
KINO KANISHKA AND THE MULA SARVASTIVADIS,
IJL
It is well known that the canon of the Pali
Theravadis was crystallised at a sufficiently early
period ; their Vinaya, after it was drawn up in Pali, could
hardly receive any new elements except in the shape of
commentaries 5 but that of the Mula Sarvastivadis remained
long after it had been drawn up in Sanskrit open to all
the extraneous influences and did not cease being amplified
till it grew into the enormous compilation which lost in
Sanskrit has been preserved to us only in Chinese and
Tibetan translations. Now, up to what date did the Vinaya
of the Mula Sarvastivadis continue to enrich itself with
fresh texts ? The Chinese translation dates from the seventh
century" and the Tibetan from the ninth. Both are too late
in date to give us any information on the point. Their
constant exact harmony demonstrates that there was a limit
to their expansiveness ani that from a certain period a
definite text of the Vinaya was substituted which thenceforth
remained identical till the date of its disappearance. This
period was prior to the seventh century, but prior by how
much ? The problem remains yet unsolved.
In the section treating of medicaments (Tripitaka, Tokyo
xvii,4) there is placed in the mouth of the Buddha a prediction
concerning king Kanishka. Unfortunately I have not got
with me the Tibetan translation. The Buddha goes to the
abode of the Yakshas, to the city of Rohitaka, which is
described at such length in the Divyavad«na (pp. 107-108).
From there, accompanied by Vajrapani, he proceeds to subju-
gate Apalala the Naga and to show his prowess otherwise.
" Bhagavat having again arrived at the village of Dry-tree,
he sees in this village a young boy playing at the making
275
of an earthen siupa." Bhagavat sees him and speaks to
Vajrapani, " Do you see this young boy who is at play
making a stupa ?" Vajrapani replies, « I see him". The
Buddha says " After my Nirvana, this child who is playing
at the building of a stupa, of earth, will be the king
Kanishka and he will found a great stupa which will be
designated the stupa of Kanishka 5 and he will spread the
religion of the Buddha."
As we may observe, the basis of the legend has nothing of
originality. It is hardly anything beyond a clumsy repetition
of the prophecy touching the king Ashoka ; the handful of
dust which the future Ashoka offers to the Buddha
is here replaced by the earthen stupa on account
of the stupa which in his future life the child who is to be
Kanishka is to build. The only interest which it
possesses beyond the mention of king Kanishka is
the connection with a well-known monument which the
Buddhist pilgrims visited and which was actually built by
Kanishka, namely, the temple now discovered in the ruins of
Shajikidheri.
This little fact, added to a certain number of others, tend
to show that the Vinaya of the Mula Sarvastivadis underwent
a kind of re-handling about the beginning of the Christian era.
The word " dinara " which implies Graeco-Roman influence,
has been already pointed out. I have also shown in the
incorporation in the Vinaya of some of the stories of
Ashvaghosha. When discussing the actual date of the
king Kanishka we may say that the mention of his name
carries us to the same period.
APPENDIX IX
THE MEDICAL SCIENCE OF BUDDHISTS.
The celebrated Bower manuscripts were found in a
Buddhist stupa in Kashgaria. They were probably written
by Hindu emigrants. They are in the Indian Gupta characters.
On paleographical grounds they should date from 450 A. D.
The material on which they are written is birch-bark which is
cut into long strips like the palm leaves of southern and
western India. The manuscripts embody seven Sanskrit
texts, three of which are purely of medical contents. The
first medicinal work contains an eulogy on garlic and various
recipes especially for eye diseases. The second, which is
a much more voluminous work and is entitled the Navanitaka
or the quintessence, treats in fourteen chapters of powder
butter decoctions, oil, mixed recipes, clyster, elixirs, aphro-
disiacs, ointments for the eye, hair dyes, of terminalia chebnla,
bitumen, plumbago, and care of children. The third work
contains fourteen prescriptions in seventy-two verses.
The sixth text, which is a charm against the bite of a cobra,
has also a medicinal character. The language of these
books is more archaic than that of Charaka and Sushruta.
We owe the decipherment and translation to Hoernle. The
same scholar has been busy with another work relating mostly
to Indian prescriptions or medical formulae and which is even
more ancient than the Bower manuscripts. In the text
represented by the Macartney manuscript, written in 350, and
which is a paper manuscript unfortunately in a bad state of
preservation, we come across several familiar herbs like arka,
privangu and also gold, silver, iron, copper and tin. The
great importance of the Bower manuscripts for the history of
Indian medicine lies in this : that they positively establish the
existence of the medical science of the Indians as early as in the
277
fourth and fifth centuries and puts an end to the scepticism
regarding the trustworthiness of the Arabic sources touching
upon them. The principles of the three fundamental humours,
that of digestion, that of the influence of the seasons, the
forms of medicinal remedies, the names of the diseases all
appear here just as in the later works, while many of the
longer prescriptions in the Bower manuscripts appear in their
entirety in the better known medical Samhitas. It is note-
worthy that quicksilver, opium and small-pox are not yet
mentioned.
These Bower manuscripts come to us from the Buddhist
source as is most clearly shown by the sixth and the seventh
texts which several times make mention of Bhagava,
Tathagatha, Buddha and so on. Vagabata has traces of
Buddhistic propensities which explain its transplantation
to Tibet as well as the complete absorption of the
Indian science of medicine by that country. The Tibetan
system of the science of healing can be traced back
only to Buddhist medicine. The exhaustive accounts of the
Buddhist pilgrim I-tsing (671-695) on the then condition of
Indian therapeutics including medicinal herbs, the three
fundamental principles, diagnosis, fasts, etc., accord not only t
with the contents of our standard works like Charaka and
Sushruta as well as the Bower manuscripts 5 but the Chinese
traveller's account includes extracts from a sermon which is a
sutra dealing with medicine ascribed to the Buddha himself.
The Buddhist king Buddhasa of Ceylon in the 4th century
cured the sick, appointed physicians with fixed stipends,
established hospitals and wrote the medical manual called
Saratthasangaha. Charaka is reputed to be the body-physician
of Kanishka, but whether it was the celebrated physician or a
namesake of his is hard to determine. Nagarjuna too lived
about the same time. Besides being credited with several
278
medical treatises he is the reputed compiler of an edition of
Sushruta to whom also is ascribed a medical formula on a
pillar in Pataliputra. The hospitals with physicians for men
and animals founded by King Asoka in the third century
are well known. A good deal of medical knowledge is
revealed by the Pali Makavagga. It refers to eye ointments,
nose cures, oils, butter decoctions, lotus stalks, myrabolams,
salts, assafoetida, cupping, diaphoretics and even to laparatomy
cf the later works, but to no metal preparations as yet.
279
APPENDIX X.
THE ABHIDHARMA KOSHA VYAKHYA.
It is a striking testimoay to the genius of Engene
Burnouf who examined with profundity the three great
religions of the world simultaneously, Brahmanism, Buddhism
and Zoi oastrianism, that since 1844 when he wrote his
Introduction to the History of Indian Buddhism, still a mine
of unantiquated information, very little fresh light has been
thrown on* the magnum opus of Vasubandhu,- the author of
Abhidharma kosha and on Yashomitra, his commentator.
MinayefT, Sylvain Levi, Max Walleser and Vallee Poussin
have excavated extracts from Yashomitra's Vyakhya or
commentary which still exists in the Sanskrit original, the
kosha itself having survived to us only in Chinese and Tibetan
translations. Manuscripts of the Vyakhya are to be found at
least in Cambridge and Paris and it would be worthy of any
patron of Indian learning to secure the services of an erudite
scholar like Sylvain Levi to prepare a critical edition with an
illuminating introduction similar to his prefixed to the
Alankarasutra of Asanga.
Burnouf calls the Abhidharma kosha an inexhaustible
mine of valuable information on the speculative side of
Buddhism. As regards Yashomitra's expository art, an
example may be interesting : " This is the view of those who
follow the Abhidharma, but it is not that of ourselves, the
Sautrantikas. The tradition informs us, in fact, of the
existence of other works on the Abhidharma like, for instance,
the Jnana prasthana of Katyayaniputra 5 Prakaranapada of
the Elder Vasumitra 5 Vijnana kaya of the Elder Devasharma ;
the Dharmaskandha of Shariputraj Prajnapti Shastra of
Maudgalyayana 5 Dhatukaya of Purna, Sangitiparyaya of
280
Maha Kushthila. Now what is the meaning of the word
Sautrantikas ? This is the appellation of those who take for
their authority the sutras and not the books. But if they
do not take for their authority the books how do they admit
the triple division of the text into sutra, vinaya and Abhidharma
pitakas ? In fact, the Abhidharma is spoken of in the sutras
in connection with the question of a monk familiar with the
Tripitakas. And this is not surprising since there are several
sutras like the arthavinishcaya and others under the heading
of Abhidharma in which Abhidharma is defined. To reply to
this objection our author (Vasubandu) says : Abhidharma
was expounded by Bhagavad along with other subjects."
The text leaves no doubt as to the meaning of the term
Sautrantikas. It is a designation of those who follow the
doctrine according to which the authority of the sutra is
paramount.
The designation of Vaibhashika is not less familiar to
our author. The commentary also cites the Yogacaras.
Yashomitra is also acquainted with the Madhyamikas, one of
the four great sects of which we have detailed information of
a historical nature, the three others' being Sautrantikas,
Vaibhashikas and Yogacaras.
The Abhidharma kosha enjoys considerable authority
among all the religious sects of the Buddhists since it is
considered to be the corpus of a large number of elucidated
texts and its author Vasubandhu was called a sage like unto
the second Buddha. Yashomitra's commentary or Vyakhaya
is known as the Sphutartha. In a cursory analysis of the
work our attention is directed to- three principal points. First,
the system of the commentator 5 secondly, the indications
which he gives of works not connected with the subject of his
commentary 5 and thirdly, his treatment of the subject itself.
281
As regards the system of Yashomitra, he belongs to the
superior school of Indian exegetics. Pie possesses all the
resources of the Sanskrit language of which he makes an
excellent use for the elucidation of Vasubandhu's text. His.
glosses are grammatically correct, and philosophically acute.
In his diction he follows the grammatical school of Panini.
In his philosophy he pursues the canonical sutra texts. He
expressly denominates himself " Sautrantika." We do not
naturally possess all the authorities on which he relies.
Yashomitra's labours represent that service to Buddhism
which is rendered by the philosophical treatises of the
Brahmanas to the Vedas which they cite at every step.
Yashomitra assumes the triple division of the Buddhist
scriptures,— the three Baskets or Tripitakas. He refers pretty
frequently to lost works. To the more eminent of his
authorities he prefixes the epithet Arya (noble) or Sthavira
(Elder). They were the apostles or the early fathers of the
Buddhist Church according to the sanctity of their dicta.
The quotations of Yashomitra are sometimes exhaustive at
others brief. They witness to his immense reading and
orthodoxy. A fascinating study is afforded by the com-
parison of texts of the authorities quoted by Yashomitra with
the Pali scriptures. Vallee Poussin has unearthed a number
of passages of verbal identity. That the strict definition of
the primitive body of Buddhist scriptures was not rigidly
adhered to but that the expounders of the Vinaya Sutra and
Abhidharma proceeded more or less in a general way is
established by the legend of Sumagadha which in the Tibetan
is incorporated with the sutra literature, whereas according
to Yashomitra it related to the Vinaya. The concord,
however, between the Sanskrit and the Tibetan is perfect.
Among the noteworthy Elders alluded to is Ashvajit, so
generally to be met with in the Sanskrit texts from Nepal. We
also come across Dharmatrata and Buddhadeva, Further, we
encounter more frequently Gunamati and his disciple
Vasumitra who both preceded out Yashomitra as expositors
of Vasubandhu's Abhidharma khosha. Next we notice
Samghbhadra, Bhadanta Shrilabaha, Arya Dharmagupta,
Acharya Manoratha and Bhadanta Ghoshaka. Bhandanta
signifies that the name following it belongs to a Buddhist
particularly respectable for his learning. And Yashomitra
thus comments on the specific Buddhist term :
" Bhandanta, says the text •, this is a certain Elder of the
school of sutras or it was his own name. But Bhagavad-
vishesha alleges that this title is a designation of the Elder
Dharmatrata. To this we on our part reply : The Elder
Dharmatrata maintains the existence of things past and
future, he belongs neither to the school of the sutras nor to
the school of Darshtantikas •, (after further elaborate argument
Yashomitra concludes) all this goes to show that Bhandanta
of our text means to suggest a person of the sutra school
other than Dharmatrata. It suggests a certain Elder or a
monk whose name has not been specified."
There are two or three titles of books which
seem to be of non-Buddhistic origin, e. g.> Nirgrantha
sastra, which was probably a Jaina work. There is also an
allusion to the Shatarudriya of Vyasa, no doubt a Brahmanical
treatise.
Among the heretical sects mentioned by Yashomitra are
Pandaras, Pashupatas, and Kapalikas. Moreover he refutes
the Vaisheshikas. He admits that the Buddhists were by no
means agreed on a number of disputed philosophical questions.
At the same time he mentions its existence where unanimity
among the Buddhists prevailed. He states, for example, that
the hemanta or winter (November-December) is the first of
the seasons for all Buddhists. Those schools which he cites
the most often either for the purpose of refutation or for
entering his own doctrinal protest are the Buddhists of
Kashmir and Ceylon and the Vatsiputriyas. The Kashmiras
are of frequent occurrence. They are stigmatised as Out-
siders. They are described as recent arrivals from Kashmir.
But the expression here used is ambiguous, for it may as
well mean the Westerners. Any way it is clear that our
book was produced in India and probably in a province to the
east of Kashmir. In one passage the Ceylon Buddhists are
thus referred to : " The text (of Vasubandhu) says in all the
other books, which means to say, that in the books of the
Buddhists of Ceylon and others." From this it is evident that
the Ceylon nikayas were known to the Buddhists of the north
and that they were of sufficient importance in the eye of the
latter to be cited by them. It appears that there were certain
Vatsiputriyas who were also Madhyamikas. From the fact
that Yashomitra mentions and combats the views of
Nagarjuna or Nagasena it is clear that he lived posterior to
the times of the founder of the new school. The third
Buddhist Council is referred to as the Tritiyam
Dharmasamgitam*
The method of Yashomitra does not lend itself to a
reconstruction of the text of Vasubandhu, his own exposition
being so co-mingled with • the words of the author whom he
interprets. Vasubandhu's own work was itself in the nature
of a commentary for Yashomitra states : " Many of the Sutras
have been omitted because the exegesis of the texts has
been lost and, accordingly, the Master has written no
commentary." The Master is obviously Vasubandhu.
At the lowest estimate Yashomitra's Vyakhya is a
compilation of texts and philosophical interpretations. The
contents of the volume are: The chief characteristics of
284
beings, of conditions or of laws,— for the word " Dharma "
signifies all these things ; the senses, the elements, sensation
and perception 5 the sequence of acts and effect •, the
affections, hatred, error and other moral modifications ; human
birth, destiny, the fruit of works, and the passage of man
along diverse paths of existence1, the various degrees of
virtue and intelligence to which man can attain in this world •,
the action of the organs of sense in respect of perception and
the conditions which accelerate or retard the said action 5 man
and woman considered from the physical standpoint 5 passions
and the necessity of suppressing them 5 on pleasure and pain
and the necessity of breaking away from them for the
attainment of Nirvana which is the perfection of absolute
repose 5 the conditions of human existence and the
functions of the organs 5 pruvritti) or action and nirvirtii or
quiescence •, the various degrees of humanity with regard to
education and the -relative perfection of human senses, super-
natural faculties -, the passage of superior intelligence through
the various degrees of existence \ thedevas and the numerous
classes into which they are divided •, the infernos and the
worlds. These subjects, none of which is examined in
a consecutive method nor in a dogmatical manner, are
jumbled up and the same matter is discussed in several
connections in the work. The doctrine of the book is
manifestly that of the most ancient school of Buddhism
which was atheistic. On the question of the existence of
God it has a very striking passage which leaves no doubt
as to the tendency of the work or at least the belief of the
commentator Yashomitra. It illustrates how the celebrated
critic discusses questions when he permits himself the
liberty to digress :—
" The creatures are created neither by Ishvara, nor by
Purusha (spirit) nor by Pradhana (matter). If God was the
285
sole cause, whether that God was Mahadeva, Vasudeva or
another, whether spirit or matter, owing to the simple fact of
the existence of such a primordial cause the world would
have been created in its totality at once and at the same time.
For it cannot be admitted that there should be a cause
without an effect1, but we see the creatures coming into
existence not simultaneously but successively, some from
wombs, some from buds. Hence we have got to conclude
that there is a series of causes and that God is not the sole
cause. But it is objected that this diversity of causes is due
to the volition 'of the Deity, who says, " Let now such and
such a creature be born, let another creature be born in such
and such a way." It is in this way that is to be explained
the phenomenon of the appearance of creatures and that it is
proved that God is the cause of them all. To this we reply
that to admit several acts of volition in God is to admit
several causes and that to make this admission is to destroy
the first hypothesis according to which there is one primordial
cause. Moreover this plurality of causes could not have been
produced except at one and the same time since God, the
source of the distinct acts of volition which have produced
this variety of causes, is Himself alone and indivisible. The
sons of Shakya hold that the evolution of the world has no
beginning."
This passage is remarkable in many ways. It shows
how far removed was the theory which it expresses from the
pantheistic naturalism of the Brahmanic creeds. The fact
that Yashomitra cites the Shaivites, the Vaishnavites, and
other theistic schools, but does not combat the later
analogous Buddhistic creed of the Adibuddha which was
tantamount to a sort of monotheism, demonstrates the non-
existence of the said sect in Buddhism in his time. " These
considerations lead me to think," concludes Burnouf, that the
286
work of Vasubandhu (Vasumitra is obviously an oversight
on Burnouf s part) with the commentary of Yashomitra which
accompanies it, are both anterior in time to the period when
was established in Buddhism the creed of a Supreme God."
(For attack on theists see Shantideva's Bodhi, c. v. p. 135.)
Bendall (Catalogue of Buddhist Manuscripts, p. 25)
describing the Cambridge Manuscript of Abhidharma kosha
Vyakhya by Yashomitra, says that it is an accurate copy.
The accuracy and the great value of the work may be judged
from the fact that, firstly, it was the only copy of the work
existing in Nepal, and secondly, that the owner before parting
with it had a copy made for himself. The Abhidharma kosha
was translated into Chinese in 1553 and again in 654.
The contents of the Vyakhya are somewhat differently
set forth by Rajendralal Mitra (Nepal. Bud. p. 4.)
287
APPENDIX XI.
REFERENCE TO BUDDHISM IN BRAHMANICAL
AND JAIN WRITINGS.
References to the Buddha and his Order are very rare in
Sanskrit literature, so scarce are they that though Holtzmann
(Geschichte und Kritik des Mahabharata, p. 103) has collected
a few passages in which Buddhism is referred to, he ia
inclined to believe that the Brahmans deliberately effaced all
memory of the Buddha, appropriating to themselves all that
was convenient in his particular teaching. In all Ramayana
the Buddha is mentioned in one place only which, however, is
regarded as an interpolation by Schlegel and Weber. There
is scarcely anything specially Buddhistic in the 20th chapter
of Shankaravijaya which is devoted to Buddhamatanirakarana.
The Sarvadarshana Sangraha gives but a belated version of
Gautama's doctrine.
The Harshacarita (p. 265-6) has naturally more references
to Buddhism because king Harsha was partial to the faith.
But the particular passage which I have in mind I am inclined
to look upon (with all diffidence) more as a derisive allusion than
appreciation of the doctrine. The three refuges are mentioned
as having been resorted to by monkeys •, the law as being
expounded by Mayanas, and it is the owls which repeat the
Bodhisatvajataka while the explaining of the Kosha is left to
mere parrots. Here and there, however, we must not omit to
mention some glimpses of unaffected admiration. " The
doctrine of Shakya Muni is the family home of pity," (p. 244).
'< Calm in mind like Buddha himself," (p. 56). The Buddha
doctrine which " drives away worldly passions " (text p. 288).
There is also a reference to the Sarvastivadi school in Bana's
Kadambari (text p. 106, Translation p. 112). It may be
incidentally noted that it is difficult to see why Professor
K, B, Pathak contends that " Bana is misunderstood and
288
mistranslated by Professor Macdonnell " , when he speaks of
<< pious parrots expounding the Buddhist dictionary." The
text has " piramopasakaihiskukaihiapi shaky a shaskana
kushalaih koshvm samupiadishadbhihi (Harshacarita p, 317).
The Kosha is undoubtedly the Abhidhaima kosha of Vasu-
bandhu as the learned professor has himself noticed. The
Buddha is referred to in the Bhagavata purana (1, 3, 24) and
Vishnu purana (III, 17, 18) derogatorily. However, there is one
book in Sanskrit which treats of the Buddha and his doctrine
without hostility or derision. It is the Buddhavatara of
Kshemendra. The Sotapatti, the Sakkadagami, the Anagami
and the Arahat of the Pali are enumerated and the Saddharma
described without animus and the Buddha is spoken of in his
favourite role of spiritual healer " bhavabhishag Bhagavan
babhashe." (63). I came across more than one MS. of
interest in this respect in the numerous catalogues of Sanskrit
irlSS. in the various Indian libraries. Among the books
acquired for Government by the late Dr. Peterson we notice
three Buddhist tracts including the Nyayabindu tika (407.) As
regards Dharmottar's commentary on the Nyayabindu there
is the pathetic note by the Professor. Examining the Jain
bhandar he says with reference to the book : " It is the only
Buddhist work in the old library (of Shantinath at Cambay).
I have already tried to convey to tha reader something of that
sense of ruin and desolation which must flow into the mind of
him who, in this empty temple, turns over these records of
human faith and love and sorrow. Here in the midst of it all is
One solitary survival of a still older shade of a yet greater
religion," a remark as true to-day as it was when Peterson noted
that the recovery of this book was a new justification of the
importance which has been attached to these records, as " it
is a fresh pledge of the inestimable wealth which still lies
buried below the surface in India." (p. 33). In the same report
there is a notice of a Jaina work called the Darsana safa
289
containing a virulent attack on the Buddhists charging them
not only with consumption of animal food— not a groundless
accusation— but also of spirituous liquor which is a calumny
" idi loe chhorita paktiyam sangha savajam." A Buddhashatra
is mentioned by Oppert in his Sanskrit MSS. in Southern India
(I, 2914) and a Baudhadhikara of which unfortunately
there are no details. The Xlth volume of notices of Sanskrit
MSS, Calcutta, has a Buddhist work in the index. The
reference to Volume III, p. 332, shows it to be a book which
seems to have four commentaries and super-commentaries on
it. In the same catalogue there is an Arya Vasundhara which
is in the form of a complete Mahayana Sutra beginning with
evam maya shrutam and ending with the inevitable Bhagavato
bhashiiam abhyanandan (Notices of Sanskrit MSS. 2nd series
Volume III, p. 19). See further the note by Vallee Poussin
(JRAS 1901, 307) on the Buddhist sutras quoted by
Brahmana authors.
The following are further stray references : —
" Here now come forward the Madhyamikas who teach
that there is nothing but a universal Void. This theory of
universal " Nothing " is the real purport of Sugata's doctrine •,
the theories of the momentariness of existence, etc. which
employ the acknowledgment of the reality of things, were set
forth by him merely as suiting the limited intellectual
capacities of his pupils." Ramanuja on Vedanta Sutras, (SBE
48,514).
Kshemendra in Vallabhadeva, Peterson's edition,
(pp. 26-27.)
The Buddhist mendicant Divakaramitra in Harshacarita,
Mudrarakshasha, (Telang's edition 175.)
Ashvaghosha is cited by Vallabhadeva in his Sub-
hashitavali (p. 8) where he is called Bhadanta.
290
According to Peterson the Chandragopi in Vallabhadeva
may be Chandragomi (p. 36.)
Vallabhadeva has many verses attributed to Dharmakirti
who is called Bhadanta (p. 47). There is another Bhadanta
called Dhiranaga (p. 49.) •, and another still Bhadanta
Prajashanti (p. 60). There is a poet called Bodhisattva (p. 543),
Rahulaka (p. 104), and Bhadanta Sura who may be our
Aryashura of the Jatakamala (p. 131.)
The Sharnga-dhara-paddhati quotes Kshemendra (p. 95.)
Also Dharmakirti's one shloka of a Buddhistic flavour (p. 150),
Bhadanta Jnana-varma (p. 155), Vararuci (p. 473) and (p. 515),
Bhadanta-varma (p. 522) and Rahulaka (p. 587).
The following Buhdhist works occur in the Catalogus
Catalo%orum of Aufrecht : Bauddha dushana^ Bauddha
Dhikkara-i Bauddha mata^ Baudda ntata dtishana*
" References to Buddhist authors in Jaina Literature,"
by G. K. N. Ind. Ant. 1913, (p. 241.)
According to Telang Buddhists are not found in Sanskrit
literature because they are confounded with Jainas, (Telang's
Mudrarakshasa, XVI, XVII).
A palm leaf MS. of Vararuci's work is still preserved in
the Jain Matha at Kolhapur in which the grammarian laments
the rejection of Buddhism (See Pathak's papers read before
B. B. R. A. S., Bhamaha's attacks on Jinendrabuddhi, &c.)
Vinashvara-nandi is another writer whose work is
also preserved in the same Matha and who salutes
the Buddha in the commencement of his work.
For reconstructions of Sanskrit Buddhist texts from Chinese
transcriptions see " One more Buddhist hymn" by G. K.
Nariman, Ind. Ant., 1913, (pp. 240-1.)
291
<f A new list of Buddhistic Sanskrit words," by Lev? and
Nariman, Ind. Ant. 1913, (p. 179).
For Buddhism in Brahmanic literature see the Bhamati
ofVacaspati Misra. It is curious that the views regarding
Buddhism as cited and combated by these Brahmanical
writers accord with Japanese Buddhism of to-day. Max
Walleser is inclined to identify the Sangiti paryaya with the
Dhammasangani according to the tradition of the Japanese
sect of Kou-Cha-Shu which is based on the Abhidharma
Kosha of Vasubandhu. (Die Philosoph Grundlage des
Buddhismus p. 5).
For Shankara's refutation of Buddhism see his
commentary on the Badarayana sutras, II, 2, 18-32,
corresponding to pp. 546-581 in the Calcutta edition. On the
doctrine of non-ego (see page 74 ) For doubts regarding the
consistency of the Buddha's doctrine (see page 77). For a
literal concord of the Sanskrit Abhidharma kosha with Pali
sources (p. 77) see especially the passages noted by Vallee
Poussin, Dogmatique Bouddhique J A., Sept.— Oct. 1902. In
Hiuen-tsang's time the Mahayana was considered identical
with Shunyavada (p. 102). Specific Mahayanistic influences
were already at work in the later Pali literature (p. 115.) The
Jnana prasthana of Katyayani is cited by the Pali school as
Mahapakarana, e. g.> by Buddhaghosa in his attha salini
(P. U6).
Buddhist material is at time to be met with in the Sanskrit
Koshas or lexicons.
The following has been gleaned from the Abhidhana
Sangraha of .-the Nirnaya Sargra Press. The Amara Kosha
naturally has a good deal Buddhistic because the author was
most probably not a Jaina, but a Buddhist. He refers to
mithya drishti, ashrava sanshraya, chaitya, pravachana,
paryaya, Maskari. Trikanda shesha is also rich in Buddhist
terminology. It mentions karanda vyuha prajna paramita,
magadhi, agama, nikaya, sutra. The Abdhidhana Cintamani
refers to the thirty-four jatakas, ten paramitas, ten bhumis
(stages) ; bhadanta, bhattaraka, Maskari, shunyavadi, caitya,
vihara. The Anekartha Sangraha has avadana (1528)-,
Katyayana and Vararuci (1639) •, Avalokita as a synonym of
the Buddha (1733).
293
APPENDIX XII,
NOTES ON THE DIVYAVADANA.
(By G. K. N.)
The Divyavadana when closely studied will be found to
abound in expressions, ideas and principles identical with
those in the Pali Pitakas. This .store-house of information
has been thrown open to us by various scholars in connec-
tion with the several problems of Buddhism. And I will give
here a few points that have struck me in my own study of the
work. As is well-known and has been proved by means of
the Chinese version, the Divyavadana is the Vinaya of
Sarvastivadi school. The language of the Divyavadana
though Sanskrit offends now and then against classical rules
of Panini, but " these inaccuracies, like those which occur in
the Mahabharata" may be interesting for the history of the
language. Udanam udanayati is often found in Pali (p. 2).
The component parts of the work are of unequal age. That
portions of the Divyavadana are not very old is evident from
the frequent mention in it of the art of writing, e.g.t aksharani
abhilikhitani (p. 6). In this work we often find a record of
the attacks on Buddhism' and the great disfavour with which
the Buddhistic monks were held among the Brahmans, and
more especially the Jainas. The general abusive epithets
are mundakah shramanakah (p. 13), and amangalah (p. 39).
Whether the^body of the Buddhistic scripture was originally
divided into Nikayas as in the Pali canon is doubtful. The
older term seems to be agama but the latter does not appear
after the.fifth century as alleged by Rhys Davids. We find it
in the- Abhidharma-kosha'Vyakhya of Yashomitra, side by
side with the term Nikaya. The Divyavadana more than
once speaks of the agama catusthaya (p. 17). Of frequent
294
occurrence is the term as at page 16. Several important texts
corresponding to the Pali are mentioned-, shailagaiha,
munigatha and the arthavargiyani (p. 20). According to
the Abhidharma-kosha-vyakkyci) ' arthavargiyant ' sutrani
kshudrake pathyantd whereas the corresponding Pali
Mahavagga (V. 13, 9) refers to the Book of Eighths (see
JRAS 1906, p. 946 ; but see now the illuminating recitation
primitive by Sylvain Levi J A. 1915, p. 418). The celebrated
verse which puzzled some scholars turns up in the
Divyavadana, ' samyoga viprayoganam maranantashca
jimtam.' (p. 27). Another set of books is quoted at page 35,
viz., sthcwiragathct) to which corresponds no doubt the
Pali Iheragatha and the Shailagatha, munigatha and the
arthavargiyani. The corresponding Pali of Ehl bhikkhu cara
brahmacaryam is obvious (p. 36). That not only nivirana as in
Pali but also the parinirvana was to be atttained in this life
is seen from the exhortation to Puma-, Gacch* I warn Purn*
makto tnocaya tirnastaraya ashvasta ashvasaya parinirvapaya
(p. 39). Was the service of the Buddha with flowers and
incense so early as is described at page 43 ? A glimpse
of social life, mansions corresponding to the three
seasons and the conventional mode of bringing up of a wealthy
house holder's child can Jbe had at page 58. As regards
Kashyapa it is Said: Shaky a muneh parinivrittasva'anena shasana
sangitihi krita (p. 61) which reference to the first Council may
give us some clue as to the date of the work. The usual
formula in invitation to the Buddha to dinner and his
acceptance of it by silence corresponds exactly to the
Pali and is of frequent occurrence in this book ( e. g- pp.
64-65), The Pali rules, however, strictly prohibit the asking
for alms, but in our book the no uncommon phrase is yadi
te bhagini parityakiam akiryatam asmin patre (pp. 67,
82, 88). The formula, adyagrena yavajjivanam pranopetam
sharanam, gatam, strictly speaking, prohibits the return of the
295
Bhikshu to the world, which is, however, permitted both in
practice and theory in the Pali canon. That the Divyavadana
is a vinaya is seen again from etat prakaranam bhikshavo
bhagavata arocayabti (p. 84). Bhagavan aha : tasmat
anujanami, &c. (p. 89). This has an exact counterpart in
Pali almost in every sutta. The Buddha was given various
offerings during his lifetime including lamps of which we do
not meet any mention in the Pali (p. 90), tailasya stokam
yacayitva pradipam prajvalya bhagavatah cankrame dattah
(p. 90). Cankrama, of course, is the path in the monastery up
and down which the monks walk for exercise. Civarapinda~
patashayana asana glana pratvaya bhaishajya parishkara
are the same as in Pali (p. 91). In Buddhistic text as a rule
the Kshatriya takes precedence of the Brahmana, but in one
place in our book we find : Bhagavan bhikshugana
parivnto bhikshusangho Puraskritah sambahulaisca shravasti
nivasibhirbanig Brahmana grihctpati bhihiscasardham (p. 93).
Bhagavata iesham ashayanushyam prakritinca jnatva iadrishi
dharmadeshana krita yam shrutva, &c. is a literal translation
of the original stock on which Pali also has faithfully
drawn. We have some passages about the arts and
crafts of old India and the general culture of a wealthy youth is
described at page 100. The great influence of the tenets of
the Buddha and the corresponding fear among the Brahmans
of the spread of his doctrine of celibacy is perpetuated at
page 126. Here is the clear echo of the opposition effered to
the Buddha whose gospel was not promulgated so smoothly
and without restraint as may be inferred from the majority of
the Pali books, in which sermon after sermon ends in the
conversion of thousands of human and non-human beings :
Kimlyushmakam shramano Gautamah karoii, sopi pravrajito
yuyam api pwrajitah bhikihacarah (p. 126). We also see
further the door being closed in the Buddha's face. Once
more the Vinaya rule : Bhagavato dram dharmam deshayato ,
296
bhojanakalo atikrantah, Mendhako grihapatih kafhayati Bhagavan
kim akale kalpatt' Bhagwan aha, ghrita, guda sharkara, panakani
ceti (p. 130). Thus we find here that there were certain akala
khadaniyas, and akola panakas. The peculiarity of Pratyeka
Buddhas is mentioned (p. 133). The Buddha's smile and
its significance (p. 138). There is the complete list of
the six leaders of philosophy who were the contemporaries
of the Buddha .whom we so often meet with in Pali, (for
instance, in the Brahmajala sutta)t Purana kashyapa Maskari
goshaliputra, Sanjayi vairattipuira, Ajita keshakambali, Kakudha
katyayana and Nngrantha, Jnatiputra (p. 143).
There is an express repudiation of any desire to teach the
occult spiritualism or miracles. Aham evam shravakanam
dharmam deshayami, &c. (p. 150). On the same page we find
the dasha avashya karaniyani. A clear polemical tone of the
times is found in the^aMa placed in the mouth of the Buddha :
Tavat avabhasate krimir yayan nodayate divakarah, &c. (p. 163.)
Note the degraded sense in which tarkikas are used as sophists.
The same story gives an amusing description of the discom-
fiture of the opponents of the Buddha who, when they had
heard the challenging gatha, anyonyam vighatayanta event ahu,
tvam uttishtha tvam uttistha iti (p. 163). Buddha's creed is
summed up in the following : Yestu Buddhanca dharmanca
sanghanca sharangataht arya satyani catvari pashyanti, &c.
(p. 164). There is a slight reference to the Jainas at page
165, which breathes of odium theologicium. Asthanan anavaksho,
&c. (p. 175), is pure Palism. The ten balas^ the four vaishradays,
&c., as in Pali at page 182. That the generality of
people were not free from the use of intoxicants is attested to
by the 13th story where a sermon is preached against madya-
pana and its effects on the unfortunate victim, (p. 190).
Akalpam va tishtheta kalpavascsham va. (p. 201). This is a
reference to the now celebrated passage in Pali which.
297
according to Edmonds, has a parallel to the Eon of the New
Testament, But the whole passage beginning with yasmtn
Bodhisatya at page 204 has a parallel in the Mahavastu
(1,240) and in the Majjhima nikaya (III, 252) mmatinaca
trim pitakani adhttani, (p. 253). The ninth story is
specially worth studying because of its delineation of
20-7-19 Jaina hostilities. At page 258 we have a list of the
Buddha's principal disciples, most of whom are to be found in
Pali, viz., Anyata kaundinya, Ashvajit, Kashyapa Mahanama
Fthadikd) Shariputra, Maudgalyayana, Kashyap^i Yashas,
Purna. The stock passage describing the up-bringing of a
noble child found so often in the Avadana shataka as well as
in the Pali occurs again at page 271. A testimony to the
terror of social excommunication occurs in the threat : Nocet
vayam t-vam jnatimadhyat utkshipamaha, (p, 272). There is a
highly important reference to the sthavira or Theravada
school and to their Sutrantas* In fact there seems to be a
direct quotation from the Pali work. Tat ha sthaviratrapi
upanibbhadham (read so with Oldenberg as against the
meaningless " upanirbadham " of the text p. 274), There is
a distinct prohibition of cultivation of miraculous powers as is
laid down in Pali: Na bhikshuna agarikaiya purastat rdhir
vidarshayitavycti darshdyati satisaro bhavatit (p. 270). That the
Divyavadana is not the original book but a compilation from
various sources is evident from many places especially from
esha eva grantho vistarena karfavjah) (p. 285)t Almost every
Pali Suttanta begins with the formula evant me sutant^ about the
suspected antiquity of which attention has been drawn by
Kern, The 20th chapter in fact commences with evatn maya
shrutam, (p. 290). More reference to writing and /#/,
(pp, 300-301,) An easy way to salvation seems to have
already taken root in the minds of the Buddhist community
even in the lifetime of the Buddha. A candidate for salvation
being advised to undergo the pravrajya inquires, arya kirn
298
tatra prairajyayam kriyate, and is told, yayatjivam brahmacaryam
carvate. The candidate objects, arya, na shakyam elai, anyosti
uapayah ? Bhadramukha, asti, Upasako bhava, Arya kirn kriyate ?
Bhadramukha, yavat jivam pranatipate prativiratih samrakshya*
&c. Arya etadapi nashakyate, anya upayah kathaya
Bhadramukha- Budhapramukham bhikshusangham bhojaya, &C€,
(p. 303). The beginning of the 23rd story is unfortunately
missing. But it is clear that it contains allusion to the
Anguttaranikaya The principal divisions of the Buddhist
canon are described in the same story, and mention is made
of sutra, matrika, besides samyukta Madhyama, dirgha and
ekottarika agamas, (p. 333). The Brahmanavarga of which
Sangharakshita makes svadhyaya, evidently refers to a portion
of the scripture, probably the chapter in the Dhammapada.
The celebrated Nagaropama sutra is referred to at page 340,
How far the old tradition of the acts of the Buddha was faith-
fully preserved upto and after the times of Ashoka is
illustrated by the 27th story. As Foucher has shown the
sacred spots of Buddhism were then common knowledge of
both Pali and non-Pali schools. The passage beginning with
vivikatam papakaih akushslaih dharmaih is a clear reproduction
of the original text of which Pali version is of too frequent
occurrence to be specified (p. 391). The " middle path" of
the Buddha was ridiculed by his opponents as impossible to
lead to salvation, being too worldly and luxurious. People
were in fact scandalised and the hostile satire is again
characteristic of the objection to the practices of Buddhism
which were considered to be not sufficiently rigid to suit an
ascetic life ; bhuktva annam saghratam prabhutapishilarn dadhuyl-
tamalankratam Shakyeshu indriya nigrahoyadibhavd Vindhyah
plavetsagare (p. 420), The important point to be observed is
that they are, even at this comparative remote period, accused
of eating flesh which is clearly in conformity with indifference
on this point shown by the Buddha (p. 420), Buddha and Jaina
animosities are further attested to in the 20th story, where we
are told that a certain Jaina scandalised the Buddha by drawing
the picture of the Buddha in the act of making obeisance
to the Nirgrantha (p. 427). That India was not altogether free
from religious persecution is evident from . some of these old
legends themselves. About Pushyamitra it is stated that he
proclaimed ; yo no sffamanashiro dusyati tasyaham dinara
shashtam datyami (p. 434.) The Shadvargiyas, who are the
constant instigators of mischief in Pali, occur in our book at
page 489. The 36th story furnishes another example of the
difficulties which the Buddha had to encounter in the
propagation of his gospel. A certain Bhikshu repudiates the
teaching and the discipline which he had received from the
Buddha and severs bis connection with Buddhism in these
terms: Idancha /e patram, idancha civararn imanca shifts' am
sv.iyameva dhuraya (p. 520) Though the first line does not
seem to have come down to us correctly, the manner of the
Brahman and his contemptuous repudiation of Buddhism
leave us no doubt of his meaning. There is another sutra
viz , Rakshaii su^a, quoted at page 524. Certain portions
of Divyavadana are of late origin, one of which is the 36th
story. There we find the Buddha's discourses were not only
committed to books, but that even women, ratrau prcdipena
Buddhavacanam pathanti (p. 532). The several portions of the
scripture and the doctrines mentioned in the 37th story are
interesting in that some at least of them have no
correspondence in Pali (p. 549). In the same story we have
reference to " sharirapuja " or relic worship and the erection
of stupa over the relics, (p. 551). The general Pali formula is
"anaityam, dukham and anatma," but we find in the
Divyavadana the fourth factor added, viz., li shunyata ''
(p. 568).
NOTES.
301
Note to p. i.
Formerly the mixed Sanskrit was called the Gatha
dialect. Senart JA 1882, xix, 238 ; 1886 viii, 318 ', Kern SBE
21, xiv 5 Buhler Ep. fed. 1, 1892, 239, 377 5 Ep. Ind. II, 34 •,
Hoernle and Bhandarkar, Ind. Ant. 12, Ind. Ant. 17, 1883,
p. 36 •, J. Wackernagel Alt. indische Grammatik, xxxix.
We owe our first knowledge about this literature which
is principally found in Nepal to Brian Houghton Hodgson
who lived in Nepal from 1821 to 1843 and distinguished
himself equally as a statesman, geographer, zoologist,
ethnographist and investigator of Indian languages and
antiquities. Through his instrumentality numerous Buddhist
manuscripts were deposited in the Indian and European
libraries especially in Paris, where they were examined by the
eminent scholar Eugene Burnouf (Introduction a la histoire du
Buddhisme Indian, 1876). About the time (1874) he was
making such important discoveries relating to our knowledge
of Buddhist literature, the celebrated Hungarian Alexander
Csoma de Koros who had made the journey from Hungary
to Tibet on foot, started his enquiries into the Buddhist
literature of the latter country. Shortly after him George
Tumour attacked the Pali literature of Ceylon. Rajendralal
Mitra reported on the contents of numerous Buddhist-
Sanskrit manuscripts in his Sanskrit-Buddhist Literature of
Nepali 1882. C. Bendall gave us his catalogue of Buddhist
Manuscripts in Cambridge, 1883.
The Tibetan translations of Sanskrit books are described
by Koros in the Asiatic Researches, volume 20, 1836, and
by L. Feer Annales du Musee Guimet, 1883. The principal
work on Chinese translations from Sanskrit is Bunio Nanjio's
Catalogue of the Chinese translation of the Buddhist
Tripitaka, 1887. (Winternitz.)
302
Note to p. 5.
"OUTLINES OF MAHAYANA BUDDHISM."
(BY T. SUZUKI.)
" The first Shiksha forbids the killing of any living being
but the Bodhisattva does not hesitate to go to war, in case
the cause he espouses is right and beneficient to humanity at
large (p. 71)."
The two kinds of knowledge or truth distinguished by
the madhyamika philosophy (p. 95, p. 97, p. 101).
The completely neglective nature of madhyamika is
illustrated by the opening Sutra :
There is no death, no birth, no destruction, no persistence,
no oneness, no multitude, no coming, no departing (p. 103).
The emperor of China in 535, having become a devout
Buddhist, turned to the founder of the Dhyana school in
China and asked, " I have dedicated SD many monasteries,
copied so many sacred books and converted so many paople •,
what do you think my merits amount to ?" Tha master of
Dhyana replied " no merit whatever " (p. 104).
The Surangamasutra was translated twice into Chinese
and once entirely transliterated (p. 157).
Note to p. 5.
The Atmavada or the theory of the soul is sometimes
proclaimed by the Buddhists themselves apparently without
their being conscious of the gross contradiction which it
involves to their cardinal principle of philosophy. It is related
in our Tibetan sources derived from India (Vassilief p. 57)
that towards his end Dhitika convened the priests in the
303
kingdom of Mar u to an assembly to condemn the doctrine of
a certain Vatsa who asserted the reality of the soul. It is
the same Dhitika who came from Ujjayini and succeeded as a
teacher Upagupta, the renowned contemporary of Asoka and
the head of the elders at the Council of Pataliputra and a
contemporary of King Milinda of Baktria. Hence the
recognition of the anatmavada as decisive for adherence to
Buddhism must have been set up. — N.
Note to p. 5.
DIE PHILOSOPHISCHE GRUNDLAGE DBS ALTEREN
BUDDHISMUS.
(By MAX WALLESER.)
Walleser divides the development of Buddhism into three
stages ; the first is the primitive realistic indifferentism, the
second is idealism or nihilism, that is the Shunyavada, which
is associated with the name of Nagarjuna, and the third
subjective idealism of the Vijnanavadis which is attributed to
Asanga, the brother of Vasubandhu.
The passage which yields this remarkable information is
found in the fifth chapter of the Sandhi Nirmocana (Tibetan
and Chinese translations) (p. 4).— N.
Note to p. 7.
Lalitavistara translated by Foucaux. Senart has
discovered a bark manuscript in the Punjab containing an
arithmetical treatise in the gatha dialect which shows that it
was at one time a literary language (p. 3). Accordin g to
the Mahavansa the original scriptures of Buddhism were in
verse, (p. 4).-— N.
304
Note to p. 8.
International Congress of Orientalists, Paris 1894.
Sanskrit-Buddhist manuscript from Burma describing
Buddhist cosmology according to the Mahayana school by
Herbert Baynes (p. 127).
Notes on the Pancakrama by Vallee Poussin (p. 137) and
the same book report Pali inscriptions from Magadha or Behar
by Cecil Bendall. The Ashatamahashri Chaitaya stotra of the
King Harsha Shiladitya is given in the Chinese text and the
reconstructed original Sanskrit by Sylvain Levi (p. 189).— N.
Notej to p. 8.
Le bouddhisme au Japon by J. Dautremer, RHR p.
121, 256, 1916.
Kashmir and the neighbouring countries are probably
the home of the Mula Sarvastivada literature. See Sylvain
Levi in the foreword to a very interesting study of his pupil
Przyluski on the Buddha in the North West India (JA 1914,
p. 494).
On Pancaraksha see the geographical list in the
Mahamayuri JA 1915, 19. For an Ouigour version of the
story of the Wise man and the fool, see JA 1914 ; Pelliot
proves that the Chinese Mo-ni is Mani. He ;makes further a
most interesting observation, namely, that there is a sufficient
number of Chinese texts which concern the Nestorians and
the Mazdians. (JA 1914, p. 461). Shall we ever get at any of
these Zoroastrian texts in Chinese in a European translation ?
For the Sanskrit text of the Pratimoksha of the Sarvastivadi
school see Finot and Huber JA 1913, p, 465.— N.
305
Note to p. ii.
MAHAVASTU, VOLUME I.
The full title of the book is given at page 2 which may
be translated : —The Mahavastu section of the Vinayapitaka
of the recension of the branch of the Mahasamghikas called
the Lokottaravadis of the Madhyadesha. Brahman hospita-
lity, the story of Malini (p. 307). Example of the Sanskrit
restitution of a Pali form (p. 2, line 15.) Textual resemblance
with LaUtavistara (p. 229, line 6).— N.
MAHAVASTU, VOLUME II.
Shady side of Buddhist character, history of Shyama
(P. 68).-N.
MAHAVASTU, VOLUME III.
Example of superiority of the Sanskrit (Mahavastu) texts
to the Pali, (p. 191). Example of Pali tradition interfering
with the text (p. 401). Example of the Sanskrit (Mahavastu)
text being superior to the Pali (p. 417).— N.
MAHAVASTU.
Professor Windisch has discussed the sources of
Sanskrit Mahavastu (Ed. Senart) in a special monograph
Die komposition des Mahavastu (Leipzig, 1909) which furnishes
us with a series of Pali parallels to Sanskrit Buddhistic
writings. The Mahavastu is a portion of Vinayapitaka
according to the recension of the Madhyadeshikas belonging
to the Lokottaravadi sect of the Mahasangikas (Arya
Mahasanghikanam Lokottaravadinam Madhyadeshikanam
306
pathena vinaya pitakasya mahavastuyeadi, Vol. I , p. 2).
The Madhyadesha comprises the sixteen countries of
Northern India from Kamboja and Gandhara in the West to
Magadha and Anga in the East. (Anguttaranikaya Tikanipata
70, 17). In this monograph we find a number of interesting
parallels. The usual Pali formula of admission to the Order
as in the Mahavagga (1, 6, 32) runs as follows :
" Labheyyaham bhante bhagavato santike pabhajjam,
labheyam upasampadan ti, hi bhikkhu ti bhagava avoca,
svakkhato dhammo, cara brahmacariyam samma dukkhassa
antakiriyaya ti."
Identical phraseology is found in the corresponding
Sanskrit canon as represented in the Divyavadana at p. 48,
while the Mahavastu differs but little from both.
In the course of the work Professor Windisch establishes
that the Mahavastu issued from the Mahavagga. This he
proves by a comparison of the first twenty-four chapters of
the Mahavagga with the Mahavastu which presents a
number of passages of verbal identity. It may be noted
that in this respect the Lalitavistara also betrays close
correspondence, but it is farther removed from the Mahavagga
than the Mahavastu.
In 'his Studies in the Mahavastu (Gotingen 1912)
Oldenberg gives further illustations of Pali gaps supplied by
Sanskrit, and interestingly points out how the transcriber of
the manuscript omitted a line owing to two lines beginning
with the same word (p. 131). His conclusion on comparing
the Pali and Sanskrit sources of the Mahavastu seems to be
that the Pali copy of the Sutras discussed is not always the
more correct one when it differs from the Northern version.
But the Northern text has undergone a revision, and has
307
invested the text in numerous places with minor, and in a few
places with larger, accretions and finally that where the
positive standard for deciding is wanting the Pali form may be
adopted as the more probably correct (p. 141). — N.
Nets to p. 19.
Winternitz calls attention to a most remarkable passage
in the Lalitavistara (p. 142 of translation) where Gopa the
Shakya princess is expected to observe what we should call
the purdah system. — N.
The Lalitavistra was translated into Chinese in 587 by
Janana Gupta ; but an earlier translation existed since 308.
BEFEO 1905.— N.
Note to p. 23.
BUDDHA'S QEBURT. (Birth.)
Example of Pali and Sanskrit parallels.
An instance of words latterly put into the mouth of the
Buddha which were not uttered by himself (p. 17). Vishnu,
Shiva and other gods in the older Buddhist texts (p. 32). Pali
original of portions of Mahavastu and Lalitavistara (p. 157).
Here we see the influence of the doctrine of Bhakti with
which we are familiar in the Bhagavad Gita and it is prob-
able that it was the latter work which influenced the develop-
ment of the Mahayana. Kern's Manual of Buddhism
p. 122. (p. 4). The expression agami occurs also in the
308
Pali canon, Mahaggava •, x, 1, 2 ; 6 and Cullavagga 1, 11, 1,
(p. 9.) Jataka Mala, edited by Kern, Harvard Oriental Series,
Boston, 1901, translated by J. S. Speyer, 1895. Kern in the
Fest Gruss to Bohtlingk, 1888. S. d'Oldenburg, JRAS 1893,
308 •, Barth, RHR 1893, 260 : Watanabe, JPTS 1909, 263. JJ.
Meyer has reproduced four tales of the Jataka Mala, Lotus
Verlag, Leipzig, (p. 41.)— N.
Note to p. 23.
MARA AND BUDDHA.
The Northern books presume the existence of the Pali
texts (p. 1). Pali Padhanasutta translated into the Sanskrit
Lalitavistara. Probability of Sanskrit version being older
than Pali (p. 40). Though the theme may be the same the
Divyavadana, Lalitavistara and Mahaparinibbanasutta are not
interdependent but mutually independent (p. 41). Most ancient
form preserved by Lalitavistara and not by Mahaparinibbana
(p. 66). Example of the correct reading preserved in Sanskrit
and the currupt in Pali (p. 108). Example of a complete
Sanskrit translation from Pali (p. 330).— N.
Note to p. 30.
I-tsing jn his dictionary of a thousand Sanskrit-Chinese
words translates the Sanskrit Parvata by po-fa-to. (BEFEO
1905 p. 301.)— N.
Note to p. 39,
AWAKENING OF FAITH IN THE MAHAYANA.
By T. SUZUKI.
Beal thought that Ashvaghosha's writings when
examined would probably be found to be much tinged with a
pseudo-Christian element (p. 42.)
309
Suzuki thinks that there is an abundance of similar
thoughts and passages in Ashvaghosha and the Bhagavad-
gita, (p. 44.)
Kern in his history of Buddhism (German vol. 2, p. 500
foot-note) has indicated coincidences between the Bhagvadgita
Saddharma-pundarika, (p. 44.)
According to Suzuki Ashvaghosha refers to Sukhavati-
sutras so that the latter must at least be a couple of centuries
prior to Ashvaghosha, (p. 50.)
The Lankavatarasutra was translated first into Chinese
by Bhumibhadra, A. D. 443 ; then by Bodhiruchi A. D. 513
and lastly by Shikshananda, A. D. 700-704, (p. 65.)
An example of a great solemn vow maha-prc.nidhana,
occurs in Ashvaghosha, see Suzuki (p. 142) :
" May my mind be freed from all contradictions, may I
abandon particularisation, may I personally attend on all
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, whom I shall pay homage to,
make offerings to, revere and praise, and to whose instructions
in the good doctrine (saddharma) I shall listen •, may I
truthfully discipline myself according to their teachings, and
to the end of the future never be negligent in self-discipline 5
may I with innumerable expediencies (upaya) (of salvation)
deliver all beings who are drowned in the sea of misery, and
bring them to the highest bliss of Nirvana ". — N.
Note to p. 39.
Some critical notes on Ashvaghosha's Buddhacarita by
J. S. Speyer (p. 105, JRAS 1914.)
310
Note to p. 39.
Saundarananda of Ashvaghosha by Vidyushekhara
bhattacharya (p. 747, JRAS 1914.)
Note to p. 39.
Uddyotakara, a contemporary of Dharmakirti by S. C.
Vidyabhushana (JRRS p. 601, 1914.)
Note to p. 47.
AVADANASHATAKA.
The Chinese translation is not of much use being rather
free, abridged and with many omissions. The Tibetan
translation is very literal and has proved of great value to
Peer in his translation of the Sanskrit text into French.— N.
Note to p. 60.
Notes on the language of the Dvavimshatya vadana katha
by Turner (JRAS 289, 1913.)
Note to p. 62
AVADANA-KALPALATA.
This work was translated into Tibetan in 1272 under
the auspices of the spiritual guide of the Mogal Emperor
Kublai Khan, the Tibetan version being executed with utmost
literal accuracy. — N.
311
Note to p. 64.
L'INFLUENCE DU BOUDDHISME.
(By NYANATILOKA.)
Do not be guided by rumours, by that which is written
in sacred books, by reason or deductions which appear to be
reasonable or logical simply because of their external
appearance, by visions and reveries, by the appearance of the
possible •, do not believe because it is the ascetic or teacher
who speaks, but when by your personal conviction you
recognise that such and such things are bad and to be
rejected, that they are blameworthy and that they are fit to be
discarded, that they lead to evil and to suffering, then you
must reject them. (Anguttara Nikaya Tikanipta 65) (p. 7.)
Offerings to the dead and the Paritta service in Japanese
Buddhism, Khuddaka-Patho by K. Siedenstucker (p. 35.)
Classical example of ancient Buddhist adjuration hymn
(p. 29.)-N.
Note to p. 65,
SAMGITI SLTTA.
There are three sorts of weapons : — The weapon of what
is heard of the Tipitaka, the weapon of quietness
(Kayaviveka : Solitude, Cittaviveka : detachment of the mind
from passions, and upadhiviveka : nirvana) and the weapon
pertaining to wisdom. — N.
(Note to p. 79.)
On the Avatamsanka and the Mahasannipatta see
Sylvain Levi Notes Chinoises sur L'Inde, (BEFEO 1905.)— N.
312
Note to p, 81,
On the Patra or the Bowl of the Buddha destroyed by
Hun Mihira Kula, (BEFEO 1905,.p. 297.)— N.
Note to p, 89.
MADHYAMAKAVATARA.
(By CHANDRAKIRTI.)
Translated from 'the Tibetan by Vallee ?Poussin Le
Museon, volume II, No. 34.
The celebrated shloka nanyabhasaya mlecchah shakyo
grahayitumyathana lankikam rte lokah cakyo grahayitum
tatha is here traced to Aryadeva. Professor K. B. Pathak in
his paper on Vasudeva and Patanjali (p. 2) cites a remarkably
clear definition of Nirvana by two Buddhist writers Jayaditya
and his commentator Jinendrabuddhi. — N.
Note to p, 90.
MADHYAMIKASUTRAS.
With Candrakirtis Commentary.
Comparison of the Chinese and the Pali versions of the
Brahmajalasutra (p. 3). Agreements of Mahavastu and
Majjhima (p. 9). The dangers of Shunyavada (p. 248).
Inconsistency of the permission and prohibition regarding free
thought (p. 268). Rejection even of the middle path (p. 270).
Vallee Poussin consistently searches for parallels which are
sometimes of verbal agreement in Sanskrit and Pali. The
instances I have noted are at pp. 1, 6, 9, 40, 41, 47, 63, 90, 145,
313
166, 297, 246, 263, 270, 292, 296, 297, 303, 306, 314, 331,
(complete), 335, 348, 349, 354,355,361,362,366,443,451,
454, 486, 492,498, 501,. and 504.— On Jatakas in the Avadana
literature see S. d'Oldenburg, JRAS, 1893, 304, and Peer les
Avadanas Jatakas, JA 1884, 332. Vyakarana or exposition
is the term used for the prophetic future histories. The
Avadana Shataka has been edited by Speyer and translated
into French by Peer who in a series of essays (JA 1878-1884)
translated and discussed a number of the Avadanas.
(Speyer Vol. II, Preface p. XV.) Books in which the Roman
Dinarius is mentioned as the Dinara could not have
been composed prior to the second Christian century, since
this coin came to India only through the Greeks. See Jolly
Recht. und Sitte (p. 23.)— N.
Not to p. 90,
MADHYAM1KASHASTRA OF NAQARJUNA.
(Translated from Tibetan by Max Walleser.)
The older Buddhism was positive interwoven with
scepticism and a goodly share of indifferentism, but the new
phase which introduced itself as Mahayana, that is the great
vehicle in contrast with the older or smaller vehicle of
Hinayana, has by no means all the inner development which
is easily understood as advanced to the denial of all
phenomena, p. 3. According to Walleser the Akutobhaya
commentary supplies a cue to the terminology and the dog-
matics of the preceding and contemporary Hinayana texts
throwing light on the obscure relation between the Pali
Abhidharma and the Abhidharma Kosha of Vasubandhu,
(p. IV)
314
Owing to the perfect precision of the Tibetan translation
and the systematic persistence with which it has been
adhered to, the technical expressions being invariably
translated by the same equivalents, it is possible almost to
reconstruct in its literal entirety the original Sanskrit text of
Nagarjuna, (p. V.)— N.
(Note to p. 95.)
MAHAYANA SUTRALAMKARA OF ASANQA.
The text and translation of the book are a magnificent
illustration of French scholarship. The author's familiarity
with Chinese and Tibetan enables him to deal with the text
much more efficiently than an authority acquainted with
Sanskrit alone would be in a position to do. All the gaps in
the Sanskrit manuscripts are supplied from the Chinese
translation which was made by the Hindu Prabhakara Mitra
between 630 and 633 A.D. A noteworthy vindication of
Devnagari character will be found at page 3. As I have
maintained before, the Cambridge edition of the Divyavadana
and other texts would have gained in popularity in India had
they not been printed in the Roman character. As Sylvain
Levi says the Devnagari editions reach a class of readers who
are generally not taken into consideration by European
scholars and yet who merit attention. The example of
European editors might stimulate emulation among the lamas
and save from destruction or bring to light the texts which
are in danger. For Indianism, as Levi contends, is by no means
an empty exercise of dilettantism. Beyond our linguistic,
philological, political, religious and social problems we have to
have regard for the hundreds of millions of living creatures who
are affected by these problems and whose lot is connected
with the success of their solution.
315
Throughout the text Sylvain Levi notes the numerous
new words in Sanskrit unknown to our lexicons, indigenous
or European, which he has encountered in this work. The
future Asanga was first of all known under the name of
Vasubandhu and his two younger brothers also were
so called (p. 2). The Tibetan translation of the
Sutralankara was also prepared by an Indian called
Shakyasimha assisted by Tibetan Lotsavas or interpreters.
In the text there are traces of influence of the spoken
vernacular or of some language in which the epithet follows
the qualifying noun (p. 12). Here as in the Divyavadana the
language bristles with solecisms and barbarous phrases as
judged by the standard of Panini. But the fact seems to be that
Buddhist Sanskrit constantly tends to emancipation from the
innumerable rules laid down by the grammarians and to make
nearer approach to the spoken idiom. Two or three centuries
after Asanga the Sanskrit grammar prepared by Candragomi
marks the capitulation on the part of Buddhism to Brahmanic
purism (p. 13). As regards the scriptural texts drawn
upon by Asanga the Samyukta Agama seems to have been
his favourite. Next comes the Anguttara (p. 15). Sylvain
Levi holds that Asanga was influenced by the currents of
foreign religious beliefs having come into contact with the
professors of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and
Manicheism (p. 18). .
Definition of Buddhavachana (p. 10 note). The
concord of the Sanskrit texts with Pali is constantly esta-
blished reference being made to the Pali canon (e. g. page
186 where the agreement is perfectly literal). How far a
thorough knowledge of Buddhism is unattainable without
Chinese and Tibetan may be judged from the French-
Sanskrit, Sanskrit-French, Chinese-Sanskrit, and Tibetan-
Sanskrit vocabularies appended to this book.— N.
318
Note to p, 97i
Bana in his Harshacharita (p. 265-6) gives a detailed
description of the various religious persuasions in his time.
The monkeys who had taken the three refugees of Buddhism
occupied themselves with the rituals of the Chaitya. Devout
parrots versed in the Shakyashastras expounded the Khosha,
which was no doubt the Abhidharma Khosha of Vasubandhu,
while some Mainas after their monastic exercises, the ten
Shikshapadas, lectured on the Law, and the owls recited the
history of the previous births of the Buddha and the tigers
under the restraining influence of the teachings of the Buddha
renounced flesh food.— N.
Note to p, 97,
Ettinghausen in his Harshavardhana gives the Supra-
bhata-stotra (p. 172) which illustrates the type of inspiring
poetry not often to be met with in classical Sanskrit literature
and which is an index to the piety and fervour of the
Mahayanistic authors. — N.
Note to p. ioi,
SHIKSHASAMUCCAYA.
The form of the book represents a type fam'liar to
students of Indian literature. It is an author's commentary
on Karikas or memorial verses written by himself. Bandall's
view is that the Mahayana writers used passages which are
neither translated nor adapted from the corresponding Pali
text but represent the Mahayanist's handling of the common
tradition of Buddhism. " A curious instance of the
conscientiousness of something else than Sanskrit as the
real underlying sacred language is found in the charm
occurring at p. U2, 15, quoted from the Vidyadharapitaka
317
where the conclusion is practically a sentence of Pali, " (p.
14). Bandall believes in the expertness of the Tibetan
translators. " When I find how wonderfully well even as
late as the IXth century the Pandits who translated the
Prakrit Dohakoshas into Tibetan understood the extremely
difficult forms of that work, I must unhesitatingly reject
Childer's supposition that the northern Buddhists were
misled by ignorance of Pali (p. 14). It will be found
that the confusion of forms is sometimes on the side
of Pali tradition and that the Sanskrit writing
Buddhism preserves the etymological one " (p. 15). Duties of
married life (p. 78). Medicine includes use of spells (p. 142).
Certain shastras to be avoided (p. 192.'. On faith (p. 5). A
precept which has no parallel in the Pratimoksha as known
from Pali or as yet translated from Chinese ; it illustrates a
familiar posture for kings and other laymen found in Buddhist
art as in the Amaravati sculptures (p. 125). Discussion u on
animal food prohibited with reserve (p. 131 and 137).
Example of the Sanskrit text transcribed and not translated
in the Tibetan version (p. 139). Snake charms (p. 141).
Example of a Dharani (p. 142). Buddhist confession of sins
(pp. 160-161). Traditional list of tortures in Sanskrit and
Buddhist writers (p. 181). Parallel between Sanskrit and
Pali enumeration of heretic schools (p. 331). Example of
Mantra transliterated not translated into Sanskrit (p. 355).
The number of works consulted by Shantideva is 108.— N.
Note to p. 101.
BODH1CARYAVATARA.
TRANSLATED BY
VALLEE POUSSIN.
Against the theory of extreme self-sacrifice see the Atma-
bhava-raksha.
318
The legends of the surrender of his eyes and his children
by the Buddha are not to be imitated by others, I-tsing
Records, 198, (p. 43). Buddhist Confession of Sins, (pp. 27-66.)
Shantideva speaks at the most with reserve regarding
the magical formulas which may be held to include Tantra,
Bodhi, c. v. 5, 90, (p. 45). Vallee Poussin differing from
Bendall attributes only one text, sulra samuccaya* to Nagarjuna
(P. 48.)
For the authority on which the Mahayana enjoins
marriage upon the monks and the future Buddhas and
ultimately leads to the excesses of the Tantras, see p. 51.
The value of force, which does not seem to exclude
physical force, virya paramita^ chapter 7 of Bodhi c. v.
(p. 70).— N.
BODHICARYAVATARA SANSKRIT TEXT.
The author has composed his book not because he has
anything new to convey, nor because he is an expert writer or
he is officiously solicitous about others but only to please
himself, (1, 2.)
On the costliest of material gifts being surpassed by a
single act of devotion, (p. 33.)
Example of touching devotional hymns, (p. 48.)
Instance of the incorporation of six stanzas in the Bodhi-
caryavatara into the Svayambhu-purana, (p. 58.)
Buddhist confession of sins, (p. 69 et seg.)
319
Parallels between Bodhicaryavatara and Svayambhu-
puran, (p. 72.)
The aspirant's desire to be the protector of the poor ,
leader of the caravan, to be a ship or bridge to those desiring
to cross the ocean, (p. 83.)
Instead of subjugating all sensations it is easier and
more desirable to control the mind just as it is infinitely more
easy to protect oneself against thorns etc., by a piece of
leather required to make the sole of your shoes than to cover
the whole earth with leather, (p. 102). Prohibition against
suffering discomfort for others, (p. 142). On the theory of
atityaga, the contrast with the doctrine of the Hinayana,
(p. 288).
Respect for Hinayana, (p. 146). The familiar posture for
laymen found in Buddhist art and not prescribed in the
Pratimoksha, (p. 148).
Anxiety to gain popular favours (p. 146).
Kalyanamitra, (p. 156).
Recommendation to study the sutras, (p. 159).
Insistence on the study of Shikshasamuccaya, (p. 163).
Authority of Nagarjuna (p. 164).
To act upto and not merely to read the scriptures •, the
mere reading of pharmaceutical works will not effect a
patient's cure, (p. 1667).
Duty of cheerfulness, (p. 172-3).
Diverse tortures, (p. 177 et seq-)
320
Non-resistance of attacks on images, stupas and the
religion itself, (p. 2C4). Causes of want of energy, (p. 244).
Pride in being a follower of the Buddha, (p. 273).
Longing for wandering without unnatural restraint in
foreign lands, (p. 267).
The vulgar, fatigued with the day's business, come home
in the evening to lie down in bed like the dead, (p. 318). The
two varieties of truth, (p. 341). Explanation of the doctrine
of Maya or Shunyata as in the Bhagavati, (p. 379.) — N.
Note to p. 104.
LANMAN ON PALI BOOK-TITLES.
Buddhaghosa in explaining 22, how the Tipitaka
as an aggregation of collections (nikayas) may be
regarded as five-fold, says that it consists of the Digha,
Majjhima, Sanyutta, Anguttara, and Khudaka, and
proceeds : — Apart from the four Nikayas, all the rest, namely
the entire Vinaya and Abhidamma and the fifteen aforesaid
works, Khuddaka patha etc. are the words of Buddha. Then,
continuing with a verse of " the ancients " he says : " And
apart from these four Nikayas, Digha and so forth, the words
of Buddha other than those, are held to be the Khuddaka-
nikaya." (p. 685).
Different names for the same thing — Polyonymy. We have
heard of the student who, undergoing examination on the
Homeric question, answered that " The Iliad was not written
by Homer, but by another man of the same name." In India
the trouble is often the other way, it is the same man with
another name. " The Hindus, even in historical documents
and works, had the bad habit of designating one and the same
person by different names of the same significance. Thus
Vikrama-arka-Vikrama-aditya ; Surya-mati-Surya-vati. " So
321
one of the three Elders at whose request Buddhaghosa wrote
the Ja. cm., is called by him (I. 1) Buddha-deva, but by the
Gnvn., p. 68, Buddhapiya.— Unfortunately, this is true not
only of men, but also of texts. The Dhammasangani is
called Dhamma-sangaha by the great Buddhaghosa himself at
D. cm. 1 . 17 5 while in the Rangoon (Mundyne ed. of Attha-
salini, p. 408, lines 18-19 and 26, we read Atthasalini nama
Dhammasangah-atthakatha, but in line 27, Dhammasangani-
atthakatha.
The titles of such texts are justly the despair of
Occidental librarians and bibliographers, who are inevitably
at their wit's end in trying to perform the well-nigh impossible
task of making these Oriental books available to Orientalists
Perhaps we ought not to blame the Hindus. With their
erudition, profound in many ways, but narrow, they had no
more conception of the many-sided knowledge indispensable
for a modern librarian than they had of aerial automobiles or
wireless telegraphy, (pp. 693, 694).— N.
Note to p. 104
The Maharatanakuta Dharmaparyaye Kashyapa Parivartah
has been edited with notes by Baron von Steel-Holstein.
(Bulletin of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburgh, 1909
p. 739.)— N.
Note to p. no.
BULLETIN de L'ACADEMIE des SCIENCES.
ST. PKTERSBURGH
June 75, /p//.
Notes on the Trikayastava by Baron A. von Stael-Holstein
(p. 837). The Hymn has been reconstructed into its original
Sanskrit form from the Chinese transcription.— N.
Note to p. 122.
SUBHASITA-SANQRAHA.
Although as Bandall impartially puts it a considerable
portion of the contents of the book is objectionable and even
sometimes repulsive to modern readers, its publication was
necessary and appropriate for the right understanding of the
history of Buddhism in India, dttamatramjagat sarvam as
a dictum of Nagarjuna, quoted (p. 20). Contrasting with the
original doctrine of Buddhism to conquer hatred by love stands
a recommendation to conquer passion by passion (p. 50-55).
Bandall styles the whole second part as an extraordinary
phase of soi-disant Buddhism and publishes it " thinking it
well that scholars at least should know the worst. " It reads
like an obscene caricature of the teaching both of earlier
Buddhism and of the legitimate Yoga. Our doubt still
remains unsolved, the doubt suggested by M. Barth,
whether such teachings were among those officially accepted
by Buddhism. Possibly in these writings we have a
clue as to how Buddhism came to be discredited in India
and finally disappeared. One must proclaim the law (dharma)
to fulfil the highest aspirations of men (95), but a knowledge
of charms (mantra, sadhana) is also necessary. These may
check sin even in great sinners (96-98).— N.
Note to p 125.
(Albert J. Edmund's work on Buddhist and Christian
Gospels is invaluable, also 'for the indirect light thrown on
the relationship between Buddhism and Zoroastrianism,
Volume I, 136 ff. For the Parthian contacts see p. 68 ff :
p. 150, Volume II, pp. 158, 263, 266, 273, etc., G.K.N.)
Besides Seydel, Bergh van Eysinga and Edmunds the
dependence of the Christian Gospel upon the Buddhist text
323
is assumed also by O. Pfleiderer, Die Enlstehung des
Christ entumus, second edition, Munich 1907, p. 198 ; also
Ernst Kuhn in a postcript to the book of Bergh van Eysinga
(p. 102) and R. Pischel (Deutsche Litztg. 1904 September
Sp. 2938 ff.) who states " the question whether Indian
influences are to be found in the narrative literature of the
Gospels can now no longer be denied." In diverse points K. E.
Neumann is of similar views, Reden Gotamo Bnddhos HI, 112,
256A, 258A, 259A, 260A, 364A. A sort of primitive Christian
connection is supposed by H. Kern (Deutsche Litztg, 1882,
Sp. 1276) and R. O. Franke (Deutsche Litztg, 1901. Sp. 2757,
ff.). A. Weber (The Greeks in India, SBA 1890, p. 928 f.),
and H. Oldenberg. (Theolog. Litztg. 1905 Sp. 65 ff. Aus dem
Alien Indien (p. 47 f.) still leave the question open. Wholly or
almost repudiating is the attitude of T.W. Rhys Davids, SBE
xi, 165 f. ; J. Estlin Carpenter, The First Three Gospels, their
Origin and Relations, 1890, p. 130 ff., 161, 174, 203, 237;
E. Hardy, der Buddhismus* p. HO; E. W. Hopkins India Old
and New, p. 120 ; E. Windisch Mara and Buddha, p. 60, 214,
312 and Buddha's Geburh p. 195; La Vallee Poussin Revue
bilique 1906, 353 and Bouddhisme p. 5 ; S. Levi Revue critique*
1908, volume 65, p. 382 ; A. B. Keith, JRAS 1910, 213 ; R.
Garbe, Deutsche Rundschu Volume 144, 1910, p. 73, and
Volume 149, 1911, p. 122, and Contributions of Buddhism to
Christianity, Chicago, 1911 ; Edw. Lehmann Buddhism as an
Indian sect and World Religion Tubingen, 1911, p. 78. Some
of these authorities deny all similarities others explain them
without assuming mutual dependence. — Winternitz.
Note to p. 126.
Edmunds I, 107, 167 ; Luke I, 35 Majjhima Nikaya, 38,
123. Edmunds I, 198 and Pischel, Life and Teachings of the
Buddha p. 26, see no dependence here. Edmunds II, 123,
324
Mark IX,: 2 •, Luke IX, 30. Rhys Davids Dialogues of the
Buddha II, 146 5 Dutoit Life of the Buddha, p. 283. Bergh van
Eysinga 21 5 Edmunds I, 181. The Buddhist legend was
undoubtedly known in the third century B.C., consequently
borrowing on the part of the Buddhists is out of question.
Luke II, 41. The similarity is greater with Lalitavistara
XI than with the Nidanakatha (Rhys Davids Buddhist Birth
Stories, p. 75 •, Jataka p. 58). See Kern Der Buddhisrmis I, 39,
Bergh van Eysinga, p. 26.
Jataka volume I, p. 60 •, Rhys Davids Buddhist Birth
Stories, p. 79 •, Seydel, p. 26 5 Bergh van Eysinga, p. 41. It is
true that this kind of benedictions occurs also in the chants
(Neumann, Songs of the Monks and Nuns, p. 309 note) ;
Lehmann Der Buddhismus, p. 85). However, the similarity in
detail is striking in as much as the Buddha as well Jesus
remark upon what in their opinion blessedness consists of. —
Winternitz.
Note to p. 127.
Matth IV, 2 5 Mark I, 13 5 Majjhima nikaya 36 \ Edmunds
1, 192.
Matth XIV, p. 16 f. •, Jataka Nr. 78 •, Edmunds II, 253.
The Rasavahani in which similar legends occur (Lehmann
p. 90) is altogether a late work.
Edmunds II, 257 •, Jataka Nr. 190, Matth. XIV, 24 5 Bergh
van Eysinga, p. 45 5 Carpenter First Three Gospels, p. 2C3 ;
Garbe Contributions, p. 12 •, Lehmann, p. 88. Sutralankara
W. Huber, p. 119, Mark, XII, 41 ; Luke XXI, 1 ; Bergh van
Eysinga 23, Lehmann, p. 88.
Seydel p. 230 5 J. M. Carter, JRAS 1893, 393 ; Bergh van
Eysinga, 57 •, Edmunds II, 260 ; Seydel 232 compares the
metaphor of the born blind (John IX) with the Saddharma.
325
Neumann, Songs of the Monks and Nuns, p. 359. There
is a greater similarity between Matth, XVII, 19, where there
is mention of the removal of the mountains by faith and
Angattara nikaya, VI, 24, where it is said that the monk by
means of his meditation can split the Himalaya. Edmunds
11, 40,- Winternitz.
Note to p. 128.
BUDDHIST TEXTS IN JOHN BY EDMUNDS.
On the 26th of August in the Eastern Communion and
on the 27th of November in the Western we have the singular
spectacle of Catholic priests commemorating the Hindu
thinker as a Christian saint. — N.
Note to p. 129.
Khuddakapatho VIII translated by Winternitz, Rel.
Lesebuch, p. 270, see Edmunds I, 222. Lehmann Der
Buddhismus, (p. 92.)
Bergh van Eysinga, p. 77 5 Edmunds I, iii to 164. On the
other hand it is less probable that already in the first century
Christian ideas should have penetrated India. J. Dahlmann
(Indische Fahrten, Volume II, 100, 129, 152 5 The Thomas
legend) would have it that the Acts of Thomas rest on a
historical basis, that already in the first century a Christian
mission was operating in northern India and that the
Mahayanistic Buddhism developed under Christian influences.
Winternitz is inclined as little to agree with that argument
as with that of Garbe (Deutsche Rund Buddhismus, 38, p. 76.)
According to Winternitz the Acts of Thomas only demon-
strate that at the time of their composition, i. e., the third
century A. D., Christians had penetrated to Gandhara.
Bergh van Eysinga, p. 64, and Garbe Contributions, p. 19.
Already in 1762 the Augustine monk Georgias indicated that
there were reports about the Buddha in Tibet similar to those
relating to the five year old Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas,
see L. Conrady, the Gospel of Thomas, Theological Studies
and Criticism, Gotha 1903, (p. 403.)
Max Muller, Essays III, p. 538, (Foucaux Lalitavistara
II, 43) cites a few passages from which it would appear that
the author had received the stories not only from the mouths
of the people who had brought them from India but that he
had even the text of the Lalitavistara before him.
Already in 1612 the Portuguese Diogo do Conto com-
pared the Barlam-Josephat legend with the Buddha legend
(Indian Antiquary XII, p. 288). But Laboulayein the Journal
des Debats, July 16, 1859, asserted for the first time the
Buddhist origin of the legend. The entire history of the
romance has been studied by E. Kuhn, Munich 1897.
Kuhn is of opinion that the author utilises in a free way the
general Buddhist tradition and not the principal texts like
the Lalitavistara. See V, Chauvin Bibliographic des ouvrages
Arabs, volume III, 1898, (p. 83.)
That it was not the Christians but Manichians who first
brought the Buddha legend into Europe is surmised by
LeCoq. (SBA, 1909, p. 1205), but the real author of the
romance must have been only a Christian since the doctrines
contained in the book are Christian. The Christians could as
well have gathered the material as the Manichians.
The Prince is called in Greek Joaseph, in Arabic Judsaf,
which goes back to Budasaf, /.,., Bodhisattva. In Arabic,
Syriac and Palhavi j and b are easily confused. The sage
Barlam is called in Arabic Balauhar which according to Kuhn
327
is traceable to Bhagavan. Barlam and Josaphet already
appear as saints in the Catalogus Sanctorum of Peter de
Natalibus who died about 1370.
Angelo de Gubernatis and A. Oblonsky (Le Prince
Siddhartha, a drama in five acts, 1899) have dramatised the
life of the Buddha. Max Koch, Studies in comparative
literary history, volume III, p. 412. Most remarkable are
Buddhist tales by Paul Dahlke, 1904.— Winternitz.
Note to p. 130.
A note on Balauhar wa Budasef by G. K. Nariman, Ind.
Ant. 1913, 252.— N.
Appendix I, p. 162.
To Professor Hermann Oldenberg we owe a Study in the
History of the Buddhist Canon (Gottingen 1912) in which the
comparative value of Pali and Sanskrit sources is examined
in most minute detail, parallels between the two being
instituted at every step. He admits that the Pali text is a
translation from the Magadhi original (p. 61). He examines
the Divyavadana, Avadanashataka and the recently discovered
fragments of the Sanskrit Canon. He is unable to decide
whether some of the divergences manifest between the
several recensions go back to the Pali redactors of the
Magadhi original.
Although Oldenberg is inclined to the Pali school and his
two masterly dissertations are partly directed against Sylvain
Levi's essay, he impartially indicates the passages where
Pali is corrected by the Sanskrit-Chinese tradition. An
instructive illustration is given at p. 172. It is a question of
the four Brahmana-saccani. The Pali has " all the creatures
are ignorant hence the compassion," the Chinese on the
other hand gives " do harm to no creature." The Pali text
is Sabbe panna Avijja* Evidently we see that the correct text
should be Avaj jha •, and as a matter of fact this reading is to
be found in the Siamese edition as against the edition of the
Pali Text Society. Further, on the basis of the Chinese
translation by Levi he corrects the Sanskrit of the recently
discovered fragments (pp. 176, 177). The conclusion to which
Oldenberg arrives is that the Northern texts in their contents
and in their form approach right near to the Pali texts, partly
they coincide with them, but in other places there are wide
divergences. " If the infallibility of the Pali tradition cannot
be asserted in every set of circumstances, still it is evidently
on the whole essentially the more ancient one " (p. 179). The
artists of Bharhut and Sanchi to all appearances were
acquainted with the legend of the Buddha's life in a more
modern form than we meet with in the great Pitaka texts. The
latter do not contain the miraculous descent of the Buddha
from the heavens of the thirty-three gods which is represented
both at Bharhut and Sanchi •, nor do these Pali texts contain
the miracle of Shashravasti which is delineated at Bharhut
(p. 202). " It goes without saying that the original canon
was composed in Magadhi." — N.
Note to p. 172.
Walleser is inclined also to identify the Questions of
Upatishya (Upatisa-pasine) of the Bairat inscription with the
Dhammasangani, and the latter to his mind is the Southern
equivalent of the Dharma Skhandha, since Upatishya is only
another name for Shariputra whom we know to be the author
of the Dharma Skhandha (p. 25). To sum up, « in the title of
329
Upatisa-pasine, the sixth among the tracts recommended by
Asoka to his Buddhist subjects, we find the oldest designation
of the scripture which was called Dhammasangani, or Dharma
Skhanda, or Dharma Sangraha after the tradition was com-
mitted to writing (p. 26).— N.
Note to p. 174,
PRATIMOKSHA.
Although it was published so long ago as 1869 with
translation and commentary in Russian it is of standing
importance because of the use which Minayeff makes of the
Pali commentaries. The Pali text is edited in the Nagari
character. — N.
For Sanskrit Pratimoksha of the Sarvastivadi school. See
Finot & Huber, J. A 1913 (p. 465.)
Tokharian Pratimoksha JRRS, (p. 109, 19 IS.)
Note to Appendix II.
SOME CRITICAL NOTES ON SUTRALANKARA
OF ASHVAQHOSHA.
From the Sutralankara Sylvain Levi traces to the Chinese
version of the Tripitaka a number of passages and produces
from the Pali canon their exact parallels. There are
thus identified in the Pali canon seven passages from the
Anguttara Nikaya, two from the Digha, nine from Majhima,
330
seventeen from the Samyutta, two from Pali Vinaya, two from
Pali Apadana, two from the Dhammapada, six from the
Jataka, two from the sutta nipata, three from the
Theragatha.
To the original Sanskrit now surviving only in Chinese the
same savant traces four passages, one to Dirgha, seven to
Madhyama, eight to Samyukta, eleven to the Sanskrit
(Chinese) Mulasarvastivadi Vinaya, three to the Sarvastivadi
Vinaya, one to the Mahasanghika Vinaya, seven to the
Divyavadana, three to the Tibetan Dulva, four to the
Chinese of original Sanskrit Buddha Carita, one to the Chinese
of the original Sanskrit Dharmapada, one to the Tibetan
of the original Sanskrit Karmashataka, six to the Sanskrit
Mahavastu, and several passages to various other Sanskrit,
Pali, Chinese and Tibetan extant scriptures.
We shall glance at only the most important of these.
The 8rd story, or sermon, has several parallels. It
represents a sutia which is given in its entirety in the Chinese
Samyuktagama. It is transmitted broken up in the Pali
canon.
In the 9th sermon the text, so to say, is well known :
"Absence of all desires is the basis of conduct of a
Shramana." This is to be found in the 40th sutta of Majjhima
nikaya, "Yassa kassaci bhikkhuno abhijjhaluna abhijjha
pahina hoti samana samici pati padam patipannoti vadami."
The Dharmapada shloka 204 is the text of the 10th
sermon.
The 16th sermon is in fact in the original Sanskrit as
surviving in the Divyavadana (BEFEO 1904, p. 194).
331
-
The 18th sermon contains the story of Koti»karna, A
study of it shows that Kshemendra, the compiler of Avadanq
kalpalatai had for his source the document of the
Mulasarvastivadi school. Parenthetically it may be noted
that the Svayambhu Purana is closely connected with the
Divyavadana. The text of the $utra quoted in the 19th story
refers to the Samyuklanikaya, (Vol. V. p. 91.)
The 35th s.ory has a parallel in the Mahavqstu (Vol. Ill,
pp. 50-52). A parallel passage is to be found in the Samyukta
nikaya (Vol. 21, p. 219). The Sanskrit redaction of the
Samyuktagama has been lost, but a portion of it has been
discovered in Chinese Turkestan by the Grunwedel mission
(Toung pao, July 19C4). From this story Prof. Sylvain Levi
comes to the conclusion that Ashvaghosha preferred the
canonical text of the Sanskrit redaction to the Pali.
The 42nd story contains a hymn to Shariputra sung by
two monks, which is of historical importance. An almost
verbal identity of expression is to be found with Divyavadana
(p. 394).
The story of Panthaka appears in the 43rd story. The
sermon is a highly interesting tale of the Divyavadana. This
story also mentions a number of names which have been
traced through the Chinese to their original Hindu shape.
The 48th story has its reflex in the Sanskrit Dharmapada.
It is the story of Shura whose proper name was misunderstood
by previous scholars.
The stanzas collected in the 49th story are to be found
in the Samyutta Nikaya, Vol. I, (p. 57).
The simile of the four varieties of mangoes as given in
the 58th story is to be found in the Anguttara Nikaya,
Vol. II, p. 106. (Cattarome ambupama puggala).
832
•
The 51st story gives interesting account regarding the
details of the life of the Buddha and the quarrels which some
monks were notorious in exciting. At times the sage had to
quit his turbulent disciples and seek retreat to a forest.
The Majjhimana nikaya has two suttas on the principle of
establishing harmony among the brethren. (Vol. I, 320,
Vol. Ill, 152). We have corresponding Suttras in the
Chinese version though the differences between Pali and
Chinese are quite palpable.
The 52nd story is perhaps the most instructive in the
whole collection. Here the author refers directly to the
discourse, or the Buddhistic sutra* on which his sermon is
based. It is the 65th of the Majjhim nikaya (Vol. I, 435).
The Sanskrit Madhyamagama has the same identical Sutra.
A careful comparative study of the Pali and Sanskrit sources
as represented by the Chinese translation leads Sylvain Levi
to the conclusion that while there is order and regularity in
the arrangement of the Madhyamagama there is disorder in
the corresponding Majjhim nikaya of Pali. This sutta conclu-
sively shows that Ashvaghosha materially followed the
Sanskrit collection.
The 53rd story is also popular, and has been utilised by
Kshemendra in his Avadana kalpalata. He agrees entirely
with the Sutralankara. Hence it is once more clear that
Kshemendra worked on the materials provided by the
Sarvastivadi school.
The 54th story has its counterpart in the Divyavadana
as has been exhaustively shown by M. Huber (B E F E O
1904).
For the purposes of a comparative study of the various
sources of Buddhism the 61st story is of peculiar significance.
333
It is based on the text which we find in the Anguttara
Nikaya, (Vol. V, 437). Here ten qualifications of the Bhikshu
are compared to the ten qualities of the ox.
In the 62nd story there is a reference to the contents of
the Theri Gathas (verses 236-251) which are illustrated in
the Apadana.
A detailed study of the 68th story leads Levi to the
conclusion that the Pali apadana has utilised a passage of
the Sanskrit Sutralankara.
The 73rd story presents verbal identity with the Pali.
The shloka in Huber's book at p. 423 is a faithful presenta-
tion of Anguttaranikaya, (Vol. II, 275).
" Gunnam ce taramananam ujum gacchati pungavoj
Sabbata ujum gacchanti nette uju gate sati,
Evam eva manussesu yo hoti settha sammato,
So ceva dhammam carati pag eva itara paja.
The Sutralankara contains, as a work of aggressive
Buddhism may be expected to do, many flings at the
Brahmanic institutes and their ritual, their castes, and their
general habits, which are totally opposed to the Buddhistic
principles. The 77th story illustrates this.— N.
Note to Appendix 111, p, 207.
Grierson holds that the Paishaci prakrit was a vernacular
language of the country around Taxilla and that it is closely
allied to Pali. We have a strong reason for holding that
literary Pali is the literary form of the Magadhi language
which was used as a medium of literary instruction in the
Takshashila University. (Bhandarkar's Commemorative
Essays, Home of Pali).
Note to Appendix V, p, 224,
An important contribution to the Iranian influence on
Central Asia in general is by Paul Pelliot, see Revue d'
Historic et de Litterature Religieuses, March-April 1912,
(p. 97).-N.
Central Asian Studies by Sylvain Levi, (p. 953 JRAS,
1914).
MONI ET MANICHBENS, by Paul Pelliot, J. A., 1914,
461, proves Moni to be Mani ; he says ;
lf il ya des textes chinois aseez nombreaux on
Mazdeens.
When shall we get these Zoroastrian texts in
Chinese in a European translation ?
Note to p. 227.
BULLETIN DE L'ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES.
ST. PETERSBURG.
/*/ Marrt, /pop.
Fragments of the manuscripts discovered by Bcrazovshi
at Kucha.(p. 547).— N.
Note to p. 227.
Khotan is derived by Sylvain Levi from Cos tana.
BEFEO, 1905.— N.
335
Note to p. 229.
BULLETIN DE L'ACADEMIE DBS SCIENCES.
ST. PETERSBURG.
ist April, 1909.
Tokharian and language I, by Baron A.*' von Stael-
Holstein, p. 479.— N.
Note to p. 229.
BULLETIN DE L'ACADEMIE DBS SCIENCES.
ST. PETERSBURG.
December 75, 1908.
Tokharian and language II, by Baron A. von Stael-
Holstein.— N.
Note to p. 229.
For a Tokharian Pratimoksha see JRAS, p. 109, 1913.
On Uddyotakara a contemporary of Dharmakirti see Vidya-
bhushana JRAS p. 601, 1914.— N.
Note to p. 235
For references to the Magians see Uigurica by T. W. K.
MuIIcr, (p. 9)._N.
Note to p. 248,
HAND BOOK TO THE SCULPTURES IN THE
PESHAWAR MUSEUM.
(Bv B. D. SPOON ER.)
In the Peshawar Museum there are sculptures in
which the young Buddha is represented as at school
336
where he astonished his teacher by enumerating more
scripts and modes of writing than the teacher knew (p. 9).
Sculpture No. 152 in the Peshawar Museum depicts the
scene of the ordination of Nanda and half brother of the
Buddha against his will. Most people will agree in hoping
with Dr. Spooner that there is a story of forced conversion
somewhere but certainly at present it is obscured if at all
existing. It may be that the extraordinary love and pity of
the Buddha urged him to save humanity even at the price of
being temporarily cruel (p. 23).
Gandhara is the present Peshawar district with some
adjoining territories (p. 34).
The art represented by the Gandhara sculptures
according to Dr. Spooner is the result of the union of the
older.Indian or Perso-Indian art and Hellenistic art as it was
known in Baktria (p. 34).
The older Indian monuments never show any representa-
tion of the Master, his presence in any good composition
being indicated by some sacred symbol (p. 37).
The delineation of the first writing lesson in sculpture
No. 347 at Peshawar had an added interest in that the writing
board shows a few Kharoshthi characters, which the infant
Buddha is supposed to have written (p. 54).— N.
Note to p. 274.
STUDIES OF BUDDHISM IN JAPAN
(BY A. LLOYD.)
Kanishka became a convert to Buddhism after a period
ot religious hesitation and vacillation which may have been
837
the cause of the sending of the Magi. Kanishka puts on his
coins sometimes Hindu and sometimes Zoroastrian symbols.
His conversion to Buddhism is said to have been due to an
accidental meeting with an aged sage who, supposing St.
Luke's story to be historical, may very well have been one of
the Wise Men (p. 6). The Japanese name for the
Saddharmapundarika is Hokke or Hoke (p. 7).
The Chinese text translated from Sanskrit often
represents an earlier version than the Pali (p. 8). It is curious
that the true Buddhist propaganda in China was headed by a
prince from Parthia in 148 A. D. who had resigned his throne
in order to become a monk (p. 37). It is noteworthy that of
the earlier Buddhist missionaries to China nearly all came not
from India but from Central Asia, Irom Parthia and Afghanistan
and that India proper took no share in the work until much
later (p. 38).
According to Lloyd the Shingon doctrine is simply
Manichaeism (p. 43). When a Manichaean became a
Christian he was required to make the following abjuration :
tl I anathematise Terebinthus who is called the Buddha,
Zoroaster whom Manes called a god who had, so he said,
appeared in former times to the Indians and Persians and
whom he named the. sun, etc." (p. 44). St. Augustine was
himself at one time a Manichaean (p. 45). According to
Lloyd, Saddharma pundarika, so strangely Christian in every
point as well as in its imagery, was inspired by Alexandrian
thought and lay at the basis of the Manichaean heresy
(p. 113). The name of the Parthian prince was Anshikao
who was apparently a nephew of Khosroes and who resided
at Rome as a hostage for several years until released by
Hadrian (p. 126).— N.
338
Note to Appendix X, p 279,
RESEARCHES SUR BOUDHISME.
(BY MlNAYEFF.)
According to the Kathavathu the law was expounded by
Ananda and not by the Buddha (p. 24). Satire against
Buddhists (p. 48).— N.
Note to Appendix X p. 279.
Bendall, (Catalogue of Buddhist Manuscripts p. 25)
describing the Cambridge Manuscript of Abhidharma kosha
Vyakhya by Yashomitra says that it is an accurate copy.
The accuracy and the great value of the work may be judged
from the fact that firstly it was the only copy of the work
existing in Nepal, and secondly that the owner before parting
with it had a copy made for himself. Yashomitra mentions
two of his predecessors Gunamati and Vasumitra.
The Abhidharma Kosha was translated into Chinese in
563, and again in 654.
According to Waddell (proceedings Asiatic Bengal 1899
p. 70) Tissa Moggaliputta described by the Pali chroniclers of
the Mahavamsa is identical with Upagupta of the Northern
tradition (p. 22).— N.
Note to Appendix x> p. 279.
On the Vibhasha shastra drawn up by Kanishka see
BEFEO, 1905, (p. 286).— N,
339
Note to Appendix p. 279.
J. R. A. S. 1910.
Vallee Poussin evidently shows that vedanta so far from
refuting Buddhism in its entirety has been itself influenced by
the latter. According to Sukhtankar Shankar himself is
indebted to Nagarjuna (p. 129). — N.
Note to Appendix XI, p. 287.
BULLETIN DE L'ACADEMIE 1MPERIALE DES
SCIENCES.
ST. PETERSBURG.
75 th April 79/7.
Jain Notes by M. B. Mironov, p. 501.
J. A. Sur la recitation primitive des textes bouddhiques
by Sylvain Levi.
Example of I-tsing's abbreviated Chinese translation of
the Mulasarvastivadi (p. 412.)
Sylvain Levi proves that the Atthaka vagga which
Rhys Davids calls the Book of the Eights (JPTS 1897) is
really speaking the equivalent of Sanskrit artha and not
attha p. 413.
Vasubandhu in his Abhidharma Kosha refers to the
arthavargiyesuktam (p. 414.)
The Arthavarga is quoted as a particular collection by
Vasubandhu and Asanga (p. 415.)
340
The Arthavarga counts among the most ancient portions
of Buddhist literature (p. 417.)
The Tibetan corrects the Sanskrit titles of some of the
texts mentioned in the Divyavadana (p. 418.)
On Chanda and its meaning (see p. 445). — N.
Note to Appendix XII, p 293,
Critical remarks on the text of the Divyavadana, WZKM,
volume 16, by J. S. Speyer (p. 104.)
Some of the tales abound in Prakriticisms and a good
many of the metrical compositions are obviously Sanskritised
reproductions of stanzas in some popular dialect. It is clear,
for instance, that in the famous two shlokas which began
with arabhadhvam nishkramata and occurring so frequently
the genitive mrtyunah rests on an original maccuno and that
anadagara, iva kunjarah is a clumsy transposition of the
Prakrit nadagarova kunjaro. — N.
341
INDEX
PAGE.
Abhidharmas, Seven ... ... ... ... 10
Abhinishkramana ... ... ... 13
Abibuddha in Karandavyuha 74, V, Poussin on ... 75
Abhidharma Kosha of Vasubandhu, translated
by Hiuen Tsiang, belongs to Sarvastivada ... 97, 279
Abhidharma Kosha Vyashy a of Yashomitra ... 97, 291, 293
Abhidharma Kosha, translation into Chinese ... 286
Abhidhamma pitaka ... ... ... ... 2 IP
Abhidharma Chintamani „. ... ^. ... 292
Abhidharma Sangraha ... ... 291
Abhinishkramana 13 sutra 19, 270
Adbhutadharma ... ... .., ... ... 175
Adibuddha ... ... ... ... ... ... 285
Adi karma pradipa ... ... ... ... ... 113
Adhyardha shatika prajna paramita ... ... 232
Agamas 9 ... ... ... ... ... ... 292
Ahriman ... ... ... ... ... ... J26
Ajanta caves and Jatakamala scenes with Arya-
shura's strophes ... ... ... ... ... 44
Ajatashatru ... ... 51
Ajt ayata Kaundinya ... ... ... ... 297
Akashagarbha Sutra 103
Akutobhaya, Nagarjuna's own commentary ... 89
Alankara Sutra ... ... ... ... ... 279
Alms ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 294
Alexander the Great, his invasion... "... ... 158
Amritamanda, Copyist, Additions to Buddha
charita by ... ... ... ... 31
Amitayurdhyana Sutra ... ... ... ... 71,78
342
PAGE.
Amitabha, Sukhavativyuha dedicated to glorifi-
cation of, alias Amitayus 77
Amritananda, author of hymn ... ... ... 110
Amara Kosha 145
Andreas " 234
Ananda, dialogue between '22, 165
Anguttara Nikaya 9, 163
Ananda and Pariah maiden ... ... ... 128
Ananda ... ... ... ... ... ... 22
Anathapindada ... ... ... ... ... 19, 62
Anekartha Sangraha 292
Auesaki 8, on Sutralankara ... ... ... 28
Apalala 274
Aparimitayu-sutra ... ... ... ... ... 232
Apalala 1£4
Apadana 164
Apadanas *.. ... ... ... 45
Ardha Magadhi 225
Arhat 48 35
Arsacides 234
Arts sixty-four ... 202
Artha varga ... ... ... ... 175
Artha vargiyani ... ... ... ... ... 244
Artha vinishcaya ... ^ 280
Arya Deva 185
Arya, epithet prefixed 281
Arnold Edwin ... ~. 131
Aryan Unity of Speech ... ^ 137
Aryashura or Shura, poet 41, his verses at Ajanta. 44
Arya tara nama shtottara shataka stotra Ill
Arya tara srag dhara stotra, hymn to goddess Tara
by Kashmirian poet Sarvajnamitra 11
Aryadeva or Deva 94
Arya vasundhara ... 289
Arka, King 15
343
PAGE.
Arhatship ... ... 3
Arhat, ideal of 4
Aditya 25
Ashvaghosha, Relation to Lalitavistara 27, 28 ;
Life of in Tibetan 28 •, More a poet than monk. 32
Ashvajit 297
Ashoka ... ... ... ... 51
Ashokavadana ... ... ... 57
Asanga ... ... ... ... ... ... 94
Ashvaghosha, embellishes Vibhashas 97
Ashvaghosha, erotic art, statecraft and warfare,.. 33
Asanga ... «* ... ... 41
Asuras , .*• ... ... ,.. ... 48
Ashtami vrata vidhana ..7 ... ... ... 118
Asoka ... ... ... ... ... ... 159
Asoka, texts prescribed by *.. - ... 172
Ashvashisha on eloquence ... ... ... ... 189
Ashmaka 193
Ashtasahasrika Pragnaparamita 64
Ashvaghosha 243
Ashvaghoaha 257
Ashvajit 281
Asoka, play on the word brought out by Chinese.. 259
Asvarittha 261
Asamkheya Kalpas .« ... ... ... ... 266
Asita episode... ... 25
Atthasalini 291
Atharvaveda, charms in ... „ ... ... 112
Attok 195
Atmamoha, delusion of ego 108.
Aufrecht 152, 154
Augustine and Mani ... ..<. 232, 233, 234
Avesta, its mythology in the writings of Maui ... 233
Avadana Shataka 222
344
PAGE.
Avanti ... 193
Avadana literature 45 175
Avatamsaka ... ... ... ... ... ... 167
Avadana shataka ... ... ... ... ... 46, 47
Avadanamala ... ... ... ... ... 45
Avatamsakasutra ... ... ... ... ... 79
Avolokita 292
Avalokiteshwara, His potency according to
Saddharma pundarika 72, Fahien on 75, in
Karanda ... ... ... ... ... 75
A valokanasutra in Mahavastu ... ... ... 104
Avadana Kal pal ata 62
Avadana Shataka, Its minute details 49, Mirror of
Social life 50
Avadana 12, in Chinese 62
Avadana, meaning of ... ... ... ... 45
Ayodhya 29
B.
Badarayana .,. ... ... ... ... ... 291
Earth 14, 18, on Divyavadana 55
Bastian, on Ashvaghosha's Saundarananda ... 34
Barlaam and Josaphat ... 130
Bartholomeo st Fra Polendo ... ... ... 141
Bapoo, Soobaji 178
Bairat or Bhabra 217
Bauddham Natakam 222
Barlaam and Joasaph ,.. ... ... ... 238-9
Barnett 239
Earth ... ... 17, 259, I
Bauddhadhikkara 289
Bazalik ... ' 265
Barth on Mahavastu 266
Bahu buddha sutra 266
345
PAGE.
Bauddha dushana ... ... ... ... ... 290
Baudd a dhikkra ... ... 290
Bauddha mata ... ... ... ... ... 290
Bauddhamata dushana ... ... ... ... 290
Beal 180
Bendall, his MSS. of Saddharma-pund ; on Abhi-
dharmakosha vyakhya MSS ... 286
Benares '29, Sermon 14*25
Bendall, Sanskrit Vinaya 8, catalogue 60
al Beruni ... ... -... ... ... ... 135
Bhumis, ten ... 17
Bhagvadgita ... ... . ... ... ... 2'2
Bhagvadvishesha ... ... ... ... ... 282
Bhadrakalpavadana ... ... ... ... 61
Bhamaha .. ... ... ... ... ... 290
Bhandarkar, R. G., '28, on Kanishka 28
Bhaishajyaraja ... ... ... 112
Bhavavivekaj lost commentator on Nagarjuna ... 89
Bhagvadgita 143, 147
Bhagvadpurana and Buddha ... ... ... 288
Bhartrihari ... ... ... ... ... . 150
Bhamati ... ... 291
Bhriti ... 224
Bhadanta^ meaning of ... ... ... ... 282
Bhasa ... ... ... ... 245
Bhallika 265
Bharhut, reliefs of 26 ... 269
Bhabta texts 175
Bhabra edict 188
Bhotlingk Otto 153
Bija or core of Dharanis unintelligible syllables ... 117
Bimbisara, King ... 24, 51
Bibliotheca Buddhica 65
Blonay on goddess Tara ... ... 112
346
PAGE.
Bodhisattva, 14, 17, 20, 24, ideal of 4, innumerable 42, 5, 290
Boro-Budur, temple of ... 26
Boyer, on Kanishka ,« 28
Bournouf ... ... .„ ... 53, 64
Bodhisattvabhumi, only section of Yogacarabhumi
sastra extant in Sanskrit ... ... ... 95
Bodhicaryavatara of Shantideva ... ... ... 101
Bodhicaryavatara contrasted with Shikshasamuc. 105
Bodhicitta in Shantideva ... 106
Bodhi Tree ... ... 12
Bopp 148
Bower, Lt. his MS 288
Boyer ... 240
Boro-Bodur 271
Brandes, G 139
Brahmana varga ... .; ... 298
Brahmo Samaj ... .,, ... ... ... . 151
Brihat Katha 197
Brahma Jala sutta ... ... .. ... ... 221
Brahma, god ... ... ... ... ... 21
Brahmadatta, the story of 16
Buddha, the acts of 298
Buddhashastra 289
Buddhavansa 264, 266
Buddhajiva ..< 263
Buddhabhadra 263
Buddhavatara ... .,, 288
Buddhayashas ... ... ••• ••• ... 263
Buddhaghosha 261,262,291
Buddhacarita 258
Burnouf, Expounder of Three Religions w ... 257, 279
Buddha carita by Ashvaghosha 27 ... *~ 244
347
PAGB.
Buddhist Canon in Sanskrit 241
Buddhi '224
Buddhism, Japanese 291
„ Satire against 298
„ and Fleshfbod 298
,, and spirituous liquor ... ... ... 299
Buddha Nandi 208
Buddha Mitra ... 208
Buddhacarita ... ... ... 192
Buddhavacana ... ... ... 299
Buner t 195
Buddhavamsa 164
Buhler 155
Burnouf ... ... 152
Buddha deva ... «. ... 282
Buddha-vacana .... , 48
Buddha, his selfless love 42
Budh'a-bhakti, example of ... ... ... ... 37, 73
Buddha and the rejected candidate «. ... 37
Buddhapalita, lost commentator on Nagarjuna ... 99
Buddhavatamsaka sutra ... ... 79
BuddMsts of Ceylon 283
Buddhists of Kashmir ... 283
Buddhist Text Society 60
Buddhist Art in India by Grunwendel 27
Buddha-charita, 27, Chinese translation 30,
translated by Dharmaraksha 30, Tibetan
translation ... ... ... 39
Buddha, smile of 17, at school 23, no image of in
early epoch 26, his smile 49, his prophecies 50,
his disease 51
Buddhavamsha 10, 14
Buddha-bhakti ... ... 5, 26
Buddhas, millions of 5
S48
PAGE.
Buddhanusmriti 17
Burnouf » 23
C.
Caste, criticised ... ... ... ... ... 56
Candrapradipa sutra alias Samadhiraja ... ... 104
Candraprabha ... 82
Candrakirti, his Prasannapada ... ... ... 89
his Madhyamakavatara ... ... 89
his date — first half of 7th century ... 90
contemporary of Sankara ... ... 90
confused with Aryadeva ... ... 94
Candragomi, rival of Candrakirti and disciple of
Sthiramati 90, 100, devotee of Tara 112,290
Cariyapetaka ... ., 42
Caiustava of Nagarjuna ... ... ... ... 93
Caryatantra 117
Candala maidens, intercourse with recommended
inTantrism 119
Cankrama 295
Caryapitka ... ... ... ... ... ... 42
Carya tantra 117
Catalogues of MSS 154
Cariya pitaka ... ... .,, ... ... 164
Carus, Dr. Paul 184
Canda Kinnara Jataka 222
Candragomi ... ... ... ... ... ... 223
Chandalagirl 55
Ceylon, Buddhists of 283
Chatta pani, example of Chinese restoring
Sanskrit text 261
Chattravastu... ... ... ... 16
Chavannes 239
Choischo, of Le Cog 265
Christianity, Nestorian 235
Christianity, Nestorian 227
349
PAGE.
Charpentier, J 222
Chaddanta Jataka ... ... ... ... ... 222
Chezy Ad 147
Charm, snake 1L4
Chinese, earliest translation into ... ... ... 93
Chinese script in Lalita ... ... ... ... 28
Chinese language in Mahavastu ... ... ... 18
Charpentier ... ... ... ... ... ... 14
Civilisation ... ... ,..- ... 200
Cliches ... ... 239
Council, Third Buddhist ... 283
Co well, translation of Kuddha-charita ... itt 32
Cowell, Christo-Buddhist parallel 75
Code of Gentoo Law ... ... ... ... 142
Colebrooke ... ... ... ... ... ... 143
Corpus Inscription uin Indicarum ... ... ... 161
Cowell 182
Coinmedians ... ... ... ... ... 202
Compassion, extreme ... ... ... ... 50
Csoma 262
Cunningham ... ... ... ... ... 269
Cudapautha ... ... ... ... 261
Cullavagga Ig2
Culture, evidences ... ... ... ... ... 49
D.
Davids (Rhys), on Buddha-carita 30, Jain
persecution ,., ... 57
Das Mahendra Lai ,.. ... ... ... ... 60
Das Sarat Chandra 62
Dashabhutmshvara Mahay ana Sutra ... ... 81
Dakini ... " ... • ... ... ... ... 119
Dara Shukoh ... 150
Darshtantikas
350
PAGE.
Davids Rhys, T. W , 155
Dashabhumishvara ... 64, 166
Dasabhumikasutra 104
Dashadhyaya-Vinaya 262
Darshanasara Jain work ... ... ... ... 288
Dasasila ... 210
Deuteronomy ... ... ... 163
Democratic spirit of Vajrasuci
Deva or Aryadeva ... ' ... 93
Devasharma 279
Deeds, white or dark 49
Deva 29
Dharanis, from Central Asia ... 238
Dhammapada, Kharoshti 229
Dhamma Kathika — 218
Dhatu kaya pada 205
Dharma, significations of 290
DharmaKirti 185
Dharmagupta Vinaya ... ... — ••• 263
Dharmaguptas ... 272
Dharmaskandha 9, 279
Dhatu Katha ~ 170
Dhatu Kaya « ... 170
Dharmaguptas ... ... ... ... ' ••• 169
Dharmas, the Nine 166
Dhamma-pada ... ... • ... ••• •«• 163
Dharma Sangani
Dharanis in Saddharma Pundarika and Lanka-
vatara 117
Dharmaparyaya 641
Dharmakirti and Vajrasuci 39
Dharanipitaka of Mahasanghikas . , ... ... . 116
Dharanis ...' ... HO
Dharmasangiti sutra
351
PAGE.
Dharmasarira Sutra, discovered in Central Asia. 91
Dharmasangraha ... ... ... ... ... 91
Dhjarmapala ... .. „,, ... ... ... 90
Dharmatrata... '282
Dharanis 72, in Suvarnaprabhasa ...
Dharmas, the Nine 64
Dharmagupta '282
Dharmaguptas ... 9
Dharmatras' Udanavarga 7, Buddha's life ... 19
Dharmapada ... , ... ... 7
Dhiranaga 290
Dhatukaya of Puma 279
Divyavadana 7, 53, relation to Sutralankara 54,
legends in common with Pali ... ... ..r 58
Dighanikaya 91, 14
Dighanakhasutta 14
Dinara , 46, 55
Disciples of Buddha 297
Dirghagama ... ... ... ... ... ... 9
Dishasvastika sutra discovered in Chinese Turkes-
tan 114
Digha nikaya 163
Diamond Needle 178
Divyavadana 191
Dilipa 201
Dipavansa ... 219
Divyavadana 257, 271
Dipankara 12, 264
Dinara 275
Divyavadana borrows tales from Sutralankara ... 36
d'Oldenberg Serge 14,61,62
Donner 265
Dsanglun, Tibetan story of Wise man and Fool ... 53
Duperron Anquetil ... ... ..* ... ••• 150, 151
352
PAGE.
Duoit 24
Dutreuil de Rhins 7
Dvavimshatyavadana, Avadana of VI sections ... 60.
E.
Edmunds, Albert J. 125
Ego, denied ... ... ... ... ... 5
Ekavimshati stotra ... ... ... ... ... 112
Ekottaragama ... ... ... ... ... 7
Epigraphia Indica ... ... ... ... ... 161
Estrangelo ... ... ... ... ... ... 232
Exaggeration 69, of figures 70
Exorcisms, formula? of ... ... ... ... 115
Ex-communication, Social .. ... ... ... 297
Eysingha, Bergh van 124
Ezour Vedam ... ... ... ... ... 145
F.
Fahien on Avalokitishwara ... ... ... 75
Fa-hien 160
Fa-hien' ... ... ... ... ... ... 195
Fahien 263
Faucaux, Lalitavistara tr 19
Feer _ 60, 61, 62
Fick, social division in India in Buddha's time .. 221
Fihrist, of Nadhim 232
Finot 241
Fleet 224
Flesh, of elephant, horse and dog recommended
in Tantrism 119
Fo-pen-King 192
Foucaux 19, 270
Foucher, Gandhara Art 18,26,271
Foucher, on the sacred spots of Buddhism ... 224, 298
353
PAGE.
Franke,H 63
Franke 224
Franke ... - .. 233, 249
Fredon in Mani 233
Fujishima, R 181
G,
Ganapati hridaya dharani revealed by Buddha .. 116
Ganapati Shastri 245
Gandavyuha, identical with Avatansaka 80, 79
Gandavyuha 104, 166
Gandhamadana, Maiden disciple of Buddha ... 50
Gandhara ... 193
Gandhara, art, age of 224
Gandhara school ... ... ... ... ... 273
Garudas ... 48
Gathas (Pali) 15, (Pali and Sanskrit) 18, 25
Gathas of Lalita, more ancient than Pali... ... 22
Gathasamgraha of Vasubandhu ... ... ... 98
Gatha 175
Gathasamgraha 268
Gautama 24
Gautama ... ' 37
Gauthiot ... ..„ .. 236
Geburt, Buddha's \ 21
Genius, Indian ... .. ... 135
Geya ... ... 175
Ghanti stotra, transliterated into Chinese ... L85
Ghoshaka 282
Gridhrakuta, peak ... ... ... 65
Gunamati ... .,. ... ... ... ... 282
Grundriss ... ... ... ... 155
Grunwedel 7, 130, 230
Grunvvendel's Buddhist Art in India ... ... 26, 265
354
PAGE
Guhya samaja, one of the Nine Dharmas of Nepal 119
Gujarat, home of Pali 171
Guru panca shatika . . . ... ... ... ... 185
Guru Puja Kaumudi, by E. Kuhn 24
H.
Halo ... 224
Hamilton, Alexander 145, 146
Hanxleden ... 141
Haraprasad Shastri... .» 31
Harshacharita and Buddhism 287
Hastings, Warren 142
Hebrew 236
Hegel 149
Heine 139
HertelJ ... 222
Hieun-tsiang 30, 184, 185, 160
Hinayana ... ... ... ... ... ... 3
Hinayana 3, 4, Divyavadana belongs to ... ... 53
History of Indian Literature Weber's 154
Hitopadesha... 143
Hodgson 64
Hodgson, translation of Vajrasuci... • 38
Hoernle 228
Hoey W 7
Holstein, St. ... 114
Holtzmann, on Buddhism in Sanskrit Literature. 287
Horapathaka 18
Horintze, Monastery in Japan 228
Horiuzi, Japan Monastery 116
Huber 8, 111
Huber '257
Huber on Sutralankara „ 36, 37
Humbolt „ 149
355
PAGE.
Hymns ... - 1LO
Humour, Buddhist ... 98
Humour, Buddhist ... t* 191
Huns in Mahavastu 18, their script '23
Huns, White, their script • . 289
Huth 280
Huvishka 248
I
Idykutsari 7
Initiation, forcible of Nanda, half brother of
Buddha 34
Indica ... -. ... 159
Introduction a 1'histoire de Bouddhisme Indian. 152
Iranian Influence ... ... ... 228
Ishwara in Lalitavistara, in Vasubandhu... ... 284,20
Ishvarakrishna, his Samkhya Saptati attacked by
Vasubandhu in his own Paramartha Saptati ... 99
Itivuttaka 164
I-tsing ... 29, 268
I-tsing on Hinayana and Mahayana 44,45
I-tsing on Matriceta 40, translated Hymn of 150
verses of Matriceta from Sanskrit 41, speaks
highly of Jatakamala ... ... 44
I-tsing, translation of Sanskrit Vinaya into
Chinese 8, 29, On Buddha-charita 30
I-tsing tr. of Suhrillekha 92, on Asanga and
Vasubandhu ... ... ... 93
Ityukta 175
Ivanovski, Chinese Jatakamala ... ... ... 44'
J.
Jain, attack on Buddhists 289
Jainas, persecuted 57
353
PAGE.
Jainendra-buddhi ... ... ... ... ^.., 290
Jains or Nirgranthas ... ... ... ... 201
Jana-varma ... ... ... ... ... ... 290
Jataka 164
Jataka .:. ... 175
Jataka , 164
Jataka (Kinnari) 15
•Jataka (Kusha) 15
Jatakamala of Shura ... ... ... ... 41
Jataka (Marakata) 15
Jataka (Mittavindaka) - 50
Jataka (No. 387) 15
Jatakas in Mahavastu ... ... ....... 14
Jataka (Shyamaka) ,.. ... ... ... ... 14
Jeta Park, in Sharvasti 19
Jesus and Samaritan woman, parallel to in
Buddhist Literature 55
Jesus, transfiguration of .. 126
Jimutavahana, story of 63
Jinatthapakasini 272
Jnanagupta 270
Jnanaprasthana ... ... ... ... ... 279
Jodesshu, Japanese Buddhist sect ,. 79
John, the Samaritan woman in ... ... ... 55
John 128
Jones 143
Julien, Stanislaus 206,207,208
K.
Kabul rud 195
Kadphipes 255
Kaisara, title of Kanishka 249
Kalachakra.., 120
357
PAGE.
Kalacakra mentions Mecca and Islam 120
Kalidasa, 31, Imitates Ashvaghosha 32, 144, 157, 177, 182, 242
Kalpadrumavadana Mala ... ... ... ... 59,60
Kalyanapancavimshatika ... ...... ... 110
Kama, K. R •. 153
Kandeva or Aryadeva ... ... ... ... 94
Kanishka ... ... 180, 187, 197
Kanishka ... ... ... ... ... ... 28, 224
Kanishka 37, 274, '275
Kanishka 246, as Kaiser 249,251,252
Kanishka 28, his counsel ... 64
Kanishka in Sutralankara ... ... ... ... 37
Kanjur 167
Kanjur, Tibetan ... ... ... ... ... 9
Kanispor ... '. 197
Kapilavastu, founding of described by Ashva-
ghosha ... ... ... ... ... ... 34
Kapaikas 282
Kapisha 193
Kara-Belgassum inscription... ... ... ... 235
Karandavyuha, its Brahmanic gods 74-75, its
Chinese tr. 75, on Avalokiteshvara ... ... 75
Karma, doctrine of ... ... ... ... ... 63
Karma-Shataka 52
Karunapundarika sutra 80, in Tokharian ibid ... 104
Karyamoha is beneficent 108
Kashgar %. 226
Kashmir, Buddhists of 283 * ... 193
Kashmir, Vinaya of ... 268
Kashyapa 163, 297
Kashyapiyas ...
Kashyapiyas ... ... ... ... ••• ••• 169
Kashyapiya 263
358
Page.
Kassapa Matanga translates first Sanskrit text
into Chinese ... 93
KathaVatthu 165, 213
Katyayana... ... ... ... ... ... 198
Katyayaniputra 23, '279
Kaushambi, modern kosatn 187
Kaushikasutra of Atharvaveda ... 55
Ke-gon, Japanese Buddhist sect 79
Keilhorn 122, 155
Kern 35, 65, 73
Kern's manual of Buddhism .. 11
Kessler . 232
Khadgavishna Sutra ... ... ... ... 18
KhaggavisanaSutta... ... ... ... ... 18
Kharishti 240
Kharoehthi MSS 7
Khotan ' 227
Khotan, its Kharoshthi MSS 7
Khauastanif 238
Khuddaka nikaya ... ... ... ... ... 9, 163
Khuddaka patha 14, 163
Kinnarijataka ... ... ... ••• ••• 15
Kipin 193
Kiratarjuniya ... ... ... ... ... 145
Klementz ... •>.. ... 229, 265
Kirti 224
Konow ... «. 231
Kosha ' 288
Kriki (King) 15, his dreams 62
Krishna, Buddha compared to 2
Krishna Mishra j/j>4
Kriyatantra 117
Kriyatantra revives old Brahmanic ritual ... 117
Kshemendra 61, 62
359
Page.
Kshudraka ... ... ... ... ... ... 9
Kuhn... ... ... ... ... • 2, 24
Kumara jiva 198, 258, 262
Kumarajiva, his biography of Ash vaghosha ... 28
Kumarajiva, tr. of Sukhavati 79, tr. of
Nagarjuna's life ... ... ... ... ... 92
Kumarajiva. translator of Sutralankar a ... ... 36
Kumarajiva, translation ... ... ... ... 186
Kumarlabdha ... ... ... . 30
Kunala 58, 51
Kushajataka ... ... ... ... ... 15
Kutadgu-bilig, earliest Turkish book 237
L.
Lalitavistara .., ... ... 123, 130
Lalita Vistara 265,270,272
Lalitavistara 7, a Vaipulyasutra 19, Tibetan
translation 25, 26, Boro-Budur's sculptures
relation to 26, Not a reliable source 27,
Importance as literature 27, relation to
Buddha-charita . . ... ... 28
Lalitavistara in Shikshasamuc ... ... ... 104
Language, figurative and exaggerated 69
Langles 147
Lankavatara 80, in Shantideva 104, Dharanis in.. 117
Lankavatara teaching in Mahay ana Shraddhot-
pada 40
Lassen Christian 153, 155, 206
Lefmann, S ... ... 19
Le Coq ~ 7, 130, 230
Lehmann ... ... ... ... 129
Leumann ... ... ... ... ... ... 231
Levi,Sylvain 9, 231, 279
Levi, Sylvain - 28, 257
360
Page.
Levi, Sylvain on Matriceta .. ... ... ... 41
Lr>vi, Sylvain, Sanskrit Udana 7, 8, 28
Lipi 297
Lokananda ... ., 22
L -kapannatti and The Mara and Buddha legend. 58
Lokeshvara shataka hymn ... ... ... ... 110
Lokottaravadn 4, their Vinaya ... ... ... 11
Lope de vega ... ... ... ... ... 130
Lotus de la Bonne Loi ... ... ... ... 23
Lotus of the Good Law (Religion) ... ... 70
Luders 223, 224, 225, 241
Luders, hb Sanskrit Udanavarga 7, on
Kshemendra ... ... ... ... ... 63
Luders, his Sanskrit fragments of Buddhist
drama 36, 44
Luke 12 "5 ; XI, 27 f 126
Lumbini park ... ... ... .. ... 21
M.
Macartney MS. ... , ... ... 229
Madhyamagama .. ... ... ... ... 9
Malhyadesha in Mahavaitu 12
Madhyamaka-karika of Nagarjuna ... ... 89
Madhyamakavatara of Candrakirti 89
Maihariikas 283
Magadhi 171
Magadhi 213,217,292
Magadhi . .; ... 225
Mahakushthila 280
Mahayana 3, Hindu influence 5, concrete ideal ,.. .'59
Mahtmya, Buddhist 61
Mahavastu 7, 11, Earth, Windisch and R. Mitra
011 11, no work of art 13, Pali concords 14,
Avalckanusutra in 104
331
PAGE.
Mahishaaakas 9
Mahasanghikas ... ... ... 11
Mahaparinibbana sutta ... 51,126,128
Mahakashyapa ... ... ... ... .., 52
Mahagovinda Sutta ... ... .. 14
Mahapurusha ... ... ... 22
Mahakavya ... ... ... ... ... ... 31
Mahadevi in Suvarnaprabhasa ... ... .., 83
Mahayana Sutraiamkara ... ... ... ... 95
Mahasanghikas, their Dharanipitaka 116
Maha kala tantra, its potency 119
Maheshwara in Karandavyuha ... ... ... 74
Mahabharta iu Larikavatara ... ... ... 81
Mahayana leaning; in Saundarananda ... ... 35
Mahabhatra cited by Vajrasuci ... ... ... 38
.Mahay ma 5>hr(iddkotpida. Ashvaghosha improba-
ble author of 39, Chinese translations of 40,
Suzuki affirms Takakusu denies Aohvaghosha's
authorship ... ... ... ... ... ... 40
Mahanama 297
Maharaja Kanikalekha of Matriceta ... ... 40
Mahamegha sutra translated into Chinese ... 115
Mahasanghika canon ... ... ... ... 116
Maha kala tantra 119
Mahabharta 134, 147, 148
Mahavagga 22, 162
Mahendra 165
Mahasannipata ... ... ... ... ... 168
Mahasanghikas 11,169,263
Mahavana ... ... ... ... 195
Mahivyu patti tJ. ... ... ... ... I.
Mahayana shraddhotpada ... ... ... ... 183
Maha prajna oaramita ... ... ... ... 194
Mahajiinaka Jaiaka ... ... ... ... ••• 25:2
362
PAGE.
Mahabharata, in Turfan 238, 293
Mihaban inscription ... ... ... ... 249
Mahishasaka Vinaya ... ... 263
Mahavagga 12,264
Mahasanghika Vinaya ... ... ... ... 264
Mahavastu ^65, 266
Mahaprajna paramita „. ... ... ... 268
Mahavastu 11, 270
Mahayana ... ... ... ... ... ... 3
Maitrakanyaka, legend of ... 50
Maitri, Pali Metta, benevolence 114
Maitreya and Shaky amuni 60, Bodhisattva ... 66
Maitri, benevolence 113
Maitrayani putra ... - ... ... ... 205
Majjhima Nikaya 13, 9, 128
Majjhima Sila 221
Makandika ... ~. 260
Matthew 124, 128, 129
Manjuahri Mula tantra predicts appearance of
Nagarjuna... ... ... ... «*. ••* 120
Manjushri 79
Manjushri, invocation to in Bodhicary avatar a
later 109
Manu cited by Vajrasuci ... ... ... ... 38
Maudgalayayana 16, 47
Manjuahri mula tantra ... ... ... ... 120
Manoratha 282
Manu 144
Manichaeism ... 227
Mani or Manes, doctrine of 227
Manichanan tracts t». 232
Manes, his religion based on Zoroastrianisro ... 232
Mangala marks ... ... ... 264
363
PAGE.
Mara and Buddha ..„ ... 23
Mara 12, personates Buddha 57
Markatjataka 15
Mark 124
Mara sam yutta 222
Mar-Abba 235
Margoliouth ... ... 237
Mara and Upagupta ... ... 258
Matha, Jain at Kolhapur ... ... ... ... 290
Matriceta and Ashvaghosha ... 40
Mat riceta fragments from Turfan ... 41
Matriceta fragments, Siegling, Levi and Poussin
on > 41
Matriceta's Varnanarthavarnana, translated by F.
W. Thomas „ 41
Matriceta 186
Matriceta 243
Mathura, Vinaya of. 268
Maskari 292
Matrika 298
Maurya ... 195
Maudgalyayana 16, 297
MaxWalleser 5
Max Muller, edist and translates Sukhavativyuha. 152
Maya, Buddha's mother, Queen 19,12,21
Mdo, sutras 167
Meghasutra, its magical object 123
Mecca mentioned by Ratacakra 120
Megha sutra ... 113
Megasthenes, 158
Mecaka 208
Meillet 231
Mid-Indian 3
Minayeff .. ... ... 279
364
PAGB.
Mixed Sanskrit S, 13, 17, 25, 71
Miraces ... ... 4
Miraculous powers prohibited 297
Mitra Rajendralal on Mahavastu 11, on Divya-
vadana Mnla ... ... ... ... ... 53
Mitra Nep. Bud. Literature... ... ... ... 11
Miracles of the Buddha 12
Mihiraku'a in Lankavatara ... 81
Middle doctrine ... ... 87
Miracles 127
Milindapanha ... ,. 159,218
Mironow ... ... 231
MihirinMani 233
M'ecchas in Linkavatara 81
Mograliputta Ti-sa ... ... ... ... ... 165
Mri^ashtakastuti, hymn in MS; ... ... ... Ill
M's. fivetantrik 119
Mulasarvastivadis ... ... ... ... ... 8
Muller, F. W. K. ... 231, 232, 235, 236
Mudrarakshasa ... ... ... 290
Mundaka 293
Munigatha 294
N.
Nagananda ... ... ... ... ... ... 223
Nagarahara ... , ... ... ... 195
Na^arjuna 29, 89, 92, 120
Nagarjuna, his rise predicted in Manjushri Mula
tantra 120, reputed author of 5 out of 6 sections
of Pancakrama ... ... ... ... ... 120
Nagas ... 48
Na^ar-^pama sutra ... ... ... ... ... 298
Nahiuha ... ,,t ... ... ... ... 201
365
PAGE.
Nakshatras „ 264
Nanda half brother of Buddha, initiated against
his will by latter 34, S5
Nanda & Upananda 113
Nandi Mukha Sughosavadana .. ... ... 178
Nanjio, B 44
Nanjio, B. ... ... 65, 74
Nanjio, B ... < 122
Narayana in Karandavyuha ... ... ... 74
Nariman G K 290
Nariman and Levi ... ... ... ... ... 291
Natas 221
Nazareth ... ... ... 126
Needle Diamond 178
Neo-Buddhism 131
Nidana „. 175
Nidanakatha ... 12, 20
Nidana katha ... ... ... ... ... 127
Nidana katha .., ... ... ... ... 272
Niddesa ... 164
Nikayas in Pali correspond to Agamas in
Sanskrit 9,283,294
Nil anetra, epithet of Aryadeva .„ Ql
Nirgranthashastra ... ... ... ... ... 282
Nirvana 3, 65, 299
Nirvana, Shantideva implores Bodhisattvaa to
postpone 106
Nirvana ... .,. ... ... ... 167
Nirgranthas ... ... ... ... ... 201
Nitishastra or statecraft ... ... 34
Nyayabindutika ... ... ... ... ... 288
O.
Oldenberg (Hermann) on Kanishka ... ... 28
Mystic Tibetan formula ... 54
Oxus ... ... 271
PAGE.
P.
Pabajja sutta ... ... ... ... ... 14
Pababasutta '221
Padhana sutta ... ... ... ... ... 14
Padmavati avadana ... ... ... ... 63
Padhana sutta 221
Pahlavi language 130
Pahlavi 232, 234, 235
Pahlavi used by Christians 236
Pali 3
Palism 296
Pal a dynasty ... ... ... ... ... 121
Pali essai sur le 15'2, 170
Palibothra 158
Palimpsest 244
Pancaraksha, collection of five Dharanis in
Nepal . 115
Pancakrama largely ascribed to Nagarjuna ... 120
Pancharaksha 115, 116
Pancakramopadesha ... ... ... ... 121
Panca tautra ... 134
Pandaras 282
Panca nikayika ... ... ... 218
Pamirs , 266
Paramitas, perfections
Pari Nirvana sutra ... ... ... ... ... 51
Parables, Buddhist 67, 68
Paramartha, biographer of Vasubandhu and
Asanga ... ... ... ... ... ... 97
Paramartha saptati of Vasubandhu to confute
Samkhya philosophy 99
Parittas or Pirits, charms of Ceylon 112
Paratmasamata 108
367
PAGE.
Paratmaparivartana ... 108
Paramarhtanama Samgiti, hymns 110
Paramitas illustrated in Jatakamala ... ... 42
Parittas, Pali, un Buddhistic 117
Parallel texts 126
Parsi learning, revival of ... ... ... ... 150
Parivara 162
Parayana ... ... ... ... ... ... 175
Paryaya * 292
Paramartha ... ' 186
Parshra 206
Pashupatas in Lankavatara, 282 ... 81
Pathak, Proff. on Bana 287,290
Patiliputra 158
Patimokkha 162
Patisambhida Magga ... 164
Patimokkha 210
Patets, Zoroastrian 238
Patna ... 29
Pathamasambodhi ... 272
Peliyaksha, King ... ... ... 15
Peri on Vasubandhu ... ... 94
Petavatthu ... ... 47, 164
Peters Dn, on Jain bhandars ... 288
Petrovsky ... 170
Pelliot ... ... 170
Persecution, religious, in India 299
Petika 218
Petkha 221
Petrovsky MS 229
Pelliot 230
Peshawar, Purushapura 248
Persia, translates from Buddhism ... , 263
363
PaSe.
Phu-yau-king, alleged second translation of Lali-
tavistara ... ... ... ... ... ... 25
Pischel, fragments of Sanskrit canon ... ... 7,241
Pitaka Vinaya in Sanskrit ... ... ... ... 8
PitakaAbhidharma LO
Pilgrims, Chinese ... ... ... ... ... 159
Pleyteon Eore-Budur's sculptures... ... ... 26
Polemics ... 296
Poussin Vallee ... e 7
Poussin Vallee, 36, on Matriceta ,41,279
Poussin, on Dharanis ... .. 115, 120, 122
Poussin 241
Poshapuria putra ... 251
Prajashanti 290
Pratitnokha sutra, Sanskrit 8
Pratyeka Buddhas ... 18
Prasanajit king ... ... ... ... ... 56
Prakriti, Chandala maiden falls in love with
Ananda ... ... ... ... ... ... 55
Pranidhana, prayer...
Prophecy about Mahabharata 81, degeneracy of
religion ... ... ... 84
Prajnaparsamita sutras ... ... ... 85, 104, 116, 166
Prajnaparamita-hriadaya ...
Prasannapada of Candrakirti ... ... ... 89
Prajnaparamita hridaya sutras enshrined in
Japan since 609 A. D 116
Prakaranapada 279
Pratyeka Buddha 47, 196
Pratimoksha 174
Prajnapii-Shastra, of Maudgalyayana 279,170
Prasenajit ... ... ... ... ... ... 190
Pramshu pradana ... ... ... ... ... 195
PAGE.
Prakrita-Prakasha ... .. 198
Pratimokshasutra ... ... -..». ... ... 8
Prabodha Candrodaya ... .., ... ... 224
Pradhana (matter) ... «. 284
Prayash cittika ... ... ... ... ... 260
Pranidhicaryas ... ... ... ... ... 264
Pranidhana ... 266
Pretavastu ... ... ... ... ... ... 47
Psalms in Pahlavi 235
Purana, Maikandeya 16, Language and style in
Mahayana Literature ... ... ... ... 60
Puranic influence ... ... ... ... ... 71
Purusha (spirit) ... ... ... ... ... 284
Pushyamitra 55, intolerance of Buddhist monks... 57, 299
Purna, the apostle ... .. ... ... ... 58
Pushya mitra, king ... ... ... ... ... 159
Purna alias Purna Yashas ... ... ... ... 184
Pushkalavati ., 193
Purna 206, 294, 297
Purusha pura Peshwar 250
Purvavad Yavat ... ... ... ... ... 260
Punyatara 262
R.
Radloff 114
Raghuvansha ... ... ... ... ... 32
Rakshasisutra ... ... ... 299
Ra:nanuja 289
Ramayana, the Buddha mentioned in 134, 147, 287
Rapson ... 240
Rashtrapala legend... ... ... 52
Rashtrapalaparipriccha ... ... $3
Rashtrapala sutra ... ... ... ... ... 83
370
PAGE.
Rashtrapala ... ... ... 264
Ratnakuta 104, 167
Ratnamegha sutra quoted by Shantideva 103, 104
Ratnavadana Mala ... ... ... ... 59
Ratnolkadharani ... ... ... 104
Ratthapala sutta ... 52
Ravana of Ceylon visited by Buddha 80
Relics , 4
Ramanuja » ' 289
Relic worship ... ... 299
Remusat 206
Renegades Buddhist 299
Repetitions, excessive 86
Repetitions, too much for I-tsing ... ... ... 261
Revata 194
Rhins, Dutreuil de, Kharoshthi MS 7
Rhins, Dutriel de 170
Rhins, Dutreul de ... 229,249
Rigveda .» 152
Rishyashringa legend ... ... ... ... 63
Ritusamhara ... ... ... ... 144
Rockhill, Udanavarga „. ... ... ... 7
Roger Abraham ... ... ... ... ... 141
Rohilaka 274
Roth 152
Roy Ram Mohan 151
Rudrayana 260
Runes 237
Rupavati Avadana 59
Sachau . 235
Sadharma-pundarika 64
371
PAGE.
Saddharma-pundarika praised 70, its age 71, its
appendices 73, Vasubandhu's commentaries on . . 99
Sadharma-pundarika in ditto ... ... ... 104
Saddharma pundarika, Dharanis in ... ... L17, 128
Sadhanas, published by F. W. Thomas ... ... 132
Saddharma pundarika 123, 237
Sagara ... ... 201
Sagathavagga 221
Sahassavagga ... .,, «-» ... ... 14
Salemann, his Pahlavi studies ... ... .,. 234
Sangitiparyaya ... ... ... 279
Salvation, easy way to ... ... ... .-. 298
Samadhiraja ... ... ... ... ... 64
Samkhya saptati of Jshvarakrishna 99
Samantabhadra pranidhana, hymn in MSS. ... Ill
Samaritan woman ... ... ... ... 128
Samyutta Nikaya 163
Samadhiraja 166
Sammitiyas 169, 268
Samyuktagama, Sanskrit ... ... ... ... 170
Samkhya , 38, 201
Samghata sutra 232
Samyuktagama in Sanskrit ... ... ... 241
Samyuttanikaya ,„ ... 9
Samanta pasadika Pali ... ... 263
Sanskrit canon 6, in Buddhism 18, barbarous ... 61
Sankhya referred to in Sutralankara 38
Sanskrit at courts ... , ,.. .« 42
Sank hy as in Lankavatara 81
Sanchi reliefs of 26. 252
Sanghabhadra 263,282
Sangiti paryaya , 291
Saptabuddha stotra, hymn in MS Ill
Sarvadarshanasangraha and Buddhism ... 287
372
PAGB.
Sarvastivada school in Bana 287 _ ...... 6, 19, 2
SarduJakarna, story of, in Divyavadana _
Sarasvad in Karandavyuha 755, in Suvarnapra-
bhasa .................. 83
Samadhiraja .................. 82
Sarvajna Mitra, author of Sragdhara stotra ... Ill
Sarvasukhamdada dharani ...... ... 114
Sarvasiivadi school „ ....... ... 6,231, 241
Sarvasticadis, their Sanskrit canon ...... 262
Sasanians .. _ ...... ...... '234
Saiire against Buddhism ............ 298
Sau^idiranuMda, kavya of Ashvaghoaha 34, its
Mahayana leanings ... ... ... ... 36
a ... 244
Saatrantikas ............... 279
Sayana ............... 152
Schism ................. 3
Schismatics «. ... ............ 11
Schroeder, Leopold von ............ 139,222
Schlegd brothers ... „ .......... 146
Schlegel,Fr. ... ............ 146
SchlegeUW. _ ......... _ 147
Schopenhauer ... _ ......... 151
ScheJling ... _ ............ 151
Schiefner ...... ... ... ...... 179
Scripts, sixty-four ............... 23
Senart .................. 26, 3, 229
Seydd, Rudolf ............... 124, 128
Senart on the Turfan paintings ... ^. ... 2615
ShadakBhara^idya ............ 53
Shadvargiyas ...............
Shaivaitea ..................
Shailagatha ...............
Shankaravijaya ........ ......
373
PAGE.
Sharnga-dhara-paddhati ^
Shakyamuni, his predecessors, dynasty 16 ... 5
Shiva, cycle of gods in Mahayana 5
Shunyata ... 299
Shunyavada ... ... 5
Shrimati, disobedient devout queen «. 5i
Shravasti „. 19
Shuddhodana, father of Buddha « 21
Shastri (Haraprasada) 28, 31
Shibi, King 36, 50
Shakra, Indra 50
Shariputraprakarana ... 28
Shariputra rejects a monk candidate 37, 297
Shatapancashatika narna stotra ... 40
Shura or Aryashura, poet 41
Shatapathabrahmana, compared 71, fragments
from Central Asia 7
Shinshu, Japanese Buddhist sect 79
Shishyalekhadharma kavya, of Candragomi ... 100
Shunyata in Samadhiraja ... ... 82
Shunyata in Prajnaparamitas ... ... «» 85
Shatasahasrika quoted as Bhagavati ... ... 86
Shantideva 100
Shardulakarna
Shikshasamuccaya of Shantideva ... ... ^. 101
Shikshasamuccaya contrasted with Bodhicarya-
vatara ... ... 105
Shalistamba in Shikshasamuc ... 104
Shunga dynasty 55
Shunyata in Shantideva 104
ShakyaMuni - ... 119
Shin-gon 122
Shakuntala ... ... ... 143
Shatarudriya ... .« 282
3*4
Page.
Shibi, king ... '^ ., 195
Shankara Acharya 179,183,291
Shikshananda 186
Shakala 193
Shatagatha 198
Shandilya 210
Shaunaka ... ~ 210
Shri Harsha 223
Shrimati ... ... ... ... ... ... 51
Shiladitya, Shri Harsha ... 223
Shauraseni ... ... ... ... ... ... 225
Shari putra prakarana ... 225
Shapurakan, work of Mani... ... „. ... 233
Shravarti, city of ... ... ... ... 16
Shuddhodana, king 19
Shrilabha 282
Shura, instance of how Chinese helps restoration
of Sanskrit 258
Shuddhavasas 270
Shyamaka jataka ... ... ... ... ... 14
Siegling reconstructs Matriceta ... ... ... 41,231
Siddhartha, Prince 13
Siddhi m
Sieg 231
Simhala 268
Smith V. A ' 8
Svagata ... ... ... ... ... ... 261
Somendra, son Kshemendra 63
Soobaji Bapoo 178
Soghdin language ... ... ... ... ... 235
Soghdian 236
Speyer 60, 257
Sphutartha, name of Yashomitra's commentary
or Vyakhya 280
875
Page.
Sragdhara stotra, hymn to Tara Ill
Srighanta . ... li'l
Srosh in Mani 233
Stein 7
Spiritualism repudiated ... ... ... ... 296
Sthavira ... ... ... ... ... ... 281
Statecraft or nitishastra 34,84
Sthaviragatha 10,294
Stotras 17, 110
Stein 773
Stein 130, 195, 229, 236
St. Petersburgh Dictionary ... 154
Stonner ... 237
Stael-Holstein 231
Superman, in Pali canon ... ... ... ... 4
Sumagadha, legend of 281
Sumagadhavadana ... ... .. ... ... 62
Sutras, Buddhist in Sanskrit 8
Sutta Nipata ... .*. ... 18, 9
Sundara 52
Sundari 34
Suvarnakshi, mother of Ashvaghosha ... ... 28
Sutralankara 28, relation to Divyavadana . . 54
Sutralankara of Ashvaghosha 36
Sutralankara original Sanskrit fragments treated
ofbyLuders 36
Sutralankara story of Shariputra 37
Sutralankara refers to the great epics, to Sankhya
and Vaisheshika schools, to Brahmans and Jains
Suttanipata, Sutranipata
Suzuki, holds Ashvaghosha to be author of
Shraddhotpada 40
Sukhavativyuha ... ...
376
PAGE.
Suvarnaprabhasa 64, 82, fragment from Central
Asia ... sg
Suhrillekha of Nagarjuna ... ... ... ... 9L
Sutra of 42 articles, first translation from Sanskrit
into Chinese in 67 A. D. ... ... ... 93
Sutra samuccaya, of Shantideva ... ... ... 101
Suvarnaprabhasa in Shantideva ... ... ... 104
Suprabhatastava ... ... ... ... ... 110
Sukhavati, charm for birth in ... ... ... 115
Subhashita samgraha 122
Sutta vibhanga ... 162
SuttaNipata 163
Sutrantas of Sthaviras 297
Sutta nipata 18, 175
Suzuki, T ... 40, 183
Sutralamkara cites Buddhacarita ... ... .. 192
Surya Varma of Avanti ... ... ... .. 198
Sutta pitaka 214
Suvarna-prubhasa-sutra ... ... • ... ... 232
Sutralankara 244
Sutta vibhanga 260
Sumedha 264
Suvarnakshi ... ... ... ... ... ... * 29
Svayambhu Buddha . ... ... ... ... 65
Svadhyaya 298
Svayambhu in Karandavyuha 74
Svayambhu Purana - 110
Svat 195
Systema Brahmanicum 141
T.
Takakusu denies Ashvaghosha's authorship of
Mahayana Shraddhopada 40
Takflhaahila 193, 199
877
PAGB.
Takshashila, Taxila 240
Tanjur and Ashvaghosha ... ... ... ... 40
Tanjur 167
Tantras ... ... ... 110
Tantras, barborous Sanskrit of ... .. ... 122
Tantras of three kinds, Kriya, Carya and Yoga .. 117
Tantras and Tantra Buddhism ... Hv,
Tantras testify to total decadence of Buddhism... 117
Tarkikas 296
Tara .111
Taranatha 89, on Sarvajnamitra ... ... ... Ill
Tara sadhana shataka attributed to Candragomi.. 112
Taranath 121, 122
Tathagatagyhya sutra ... ... 104
Tathagataguhyaka, one of the 9 Dharmas of
Nepal 64. 119
Tathagatagarbha doctrine in Mahayana Shrad-
dhotpada ... ... ... ... ... ... 40
Telang 290
Tathagataguhyaka 119
Tertullion of Buddhism 190
Tevijja sutta... ... ... ... ... ... 221
Theists, attacked by Buddhists 286
Theragatha ... ... ... ... ... ... 10
Theragatha ... ... ... ... 164
Theragatha ... 264, 294
Theravagga ' 213
Therapadana ... ... ... 264
Theravada 17, 3
Therigatha 164
Thomas, F. W., on Ashvaghosha's Saundarananda 34, 40
Thomas, F. W., translated Matriceta's Varna-
narthavarnana ... ... >t ... ... 41, 44
Thought, speech, word , 113
378
PAGE.
Thomsen 237
Three Jewels 42
Tipitaka 211, 121
Tissa Moggaliputta alias Upagupta preceptor of
Ashoka ... ... ... ... ... ... 60
Tokhara, kingdom of ... ... ... ... 226
Tokharian language.. ... ... ... ... 229
Tokharian, vinaya of Sarvastivada ... ... 8
Tokwai, Tsuru Matsu, studies in Sumagadha
vad.ana ... ... ... ... ... ... 62
Poramana in Lankavatara... ... ... ... 81
Topes... 74
Transliteration, Chinese of Hindu names '204
Trapusa '265
Trikanda Shesha 292
Tripitaka, Chinese 9
Trishanku, story of related by Buddha 56
Truths, the Four Nobles 56
Tunku, the 178
Tun-huang 230
Turfan 224, 225, 226
Turkestan, eastern MSS. discovered in ... ... 7
Turkish ... 237
Tushitagods 20
U
Udana 9
Udana 164
Udana 175
Udanavarga ... 7
Udana varga, in Sanskrit ... ... ... ... 241
Ugraparipriccha ... ... ,,. ... ... 104
Uigurian 235
379
PAG*.
Ummadanti Jataka 222
Untouchable and Ananda 55
Upadesha 175
Upagupta 52, 173, 196
Upali 165
Upaliparipriccha ... ... ... ... ... 104
Upanishads 150
Upgupta, Elder 52, Dramatic legend 57, 60
Upnekhat 150
Ushnishavijayadharani 116
V.
Vaipulya sutra 19,64,71
Vaipulya ... 175
Vaibhashikas ... ... ... ... ... 280
Vaisheshikas in Lankavatara ... ... ... 81
Vaisheshika, referred to in Sutralankara 38
Vaisheshika 201, 282
Vaishnavaites . ... ... ... ... ... 285
Vajrasuci, attributed to Ashvaghosha condemns
caste 38
Vajrasuci and Dharmakirti... ... ... ... 39
Vajracchedika ... ... ... ... ... 232
Vajra suci 178, cites Manu and Mahabharata ... 185
Vajrapani 274
Vallabha, of Mathura ... ... ... ... 198
Vallabhdeva's Subhashitavati ... ... ... 289, 292
Vallee Poussin (see- Poussin) ... ... ... 7
Vararuci ... ... ... ... ... ... 197
Varnanarthavarnana of Matriceta translated by
Thomas ... .,. ...- ... ... ... 41
Vasishka ... ... ... ... ... ... 248
Vasubandhu ... ... ... ... ... ... 279, 29
Vasubandhu ... ... ... ... t<> iit 41
380
PAGE.
Vaaubandhu ... ... ... .... ... ... 268
Vasumitra 205, 208, 282
Vatsiputriyas... ... ... ... ... ... 283
VattaGamani 165
Veda cited by Vijrasuci ... ... ... ... 38
Vedalla 175
Vedas 152
Vehicle, Buddha 66, the three 66, 67
Vesantara Jataka 232,235
Vibhasa 188
Vibhasa shastra 206
Vibhaja vadis ... ... ... ... ... 213
Vicitrakarnikavadana 61
Vidushaka 224, 245
Vidyabhushana, Hari Mohan ... ... ... 62
Vidyabhushana, Sh. Ch 40
Vidyadhara pitaka ... ... ... ... ... 115
Vijayadharma-suri ... ... ... ... ... I
Vijnanakaya 279
Vijnanvada ... ... ... ... ... ... 5
Vijnanavada in Mahay ana-Shraddhotpada ... 40
Vimalakirtinirdesha... ... ... ... ... 104
Vimana Vatthu 164
Vinaya 8
Vinaya in Sanskrit ... ... ... ... ... 241
Vinaya pitaka ... ... ... ... ... 8,214
Vinashvara-nandi 290
Vimana Vastu (Vatthu) ... ... ... ... 10, 14
Vidhnupurana and Buddha... ... ... ... 288
Vishvantara Jataka ... ... ... ... ... 223
Vivadarnava setu ... ... ... ... ... 142
Vohumano in Mani 233
Void 289
Vratavadanamala ... ... ... ... ... 61
381
PAGE.
Vyadi 198
Vyakarana 175
Vyakhya; abhidharmakosiha ... 279
w.
Waddell 60
Wagner Richard 131
Wallesser Max 279,291
WardakVase 252
Wassilief 205
Weber A 154, I
Weber A 179
Weber MS 229
Whitney, W. D. on Indian chronology 156
Wilkinson 178
Windisch 221, 223
Windisch * ... 257, 162
Winternitz 24
Women, students 299
Writing, art of 297
Y.
Yaghnobi 236
Yajnavalkya 210
Yakshas 274,297
Yarkand 226
Yashomitra 279
Yayati 201
Yi-tsing (see I-tsing) 181, 182
Yogacara bhumi shastra 188
Yogachara ... ... ... 18
Yogatantra 188
Yogacara 280
Yogini ... 119
Yogi5Tantrik ... 121
Yue-tchi 194, 255
382
PAGE.
Z.
Zarvan, the god of time 133
Zeda inscriptions ... 248
Zoroaster, his religion basis of Mani 232
Zoroaster, temptatoin of 126
Zoroastrians ... ... ... ... ... ... ISO
Zoroastrian patets 283
CORRIGENDA
The following corrigenda have been most kindly prepared by
Mr. Rustam N. Munshi, Superintendent, Kama Oriental Research
Institute, Bombay : —
FOR
READ
LINE
PAGE
J. A. R. S.
JR AS
11
8
betrayes
betrays
12
9
Mahavastu V. 1, 1.
...
27-28
11
p. 159-2.
Mahastu
Mahavastu
5
12
JA 1933
JA 1903
19
18
Mahayavastu
Mahavastu
last 35
18
850-200
850-900
4
26
principle
principal
31
26
5153 B.C.
52-53 B.C.
28
28
SBEV, XLIV, p. IX
Vol. 49, p. 9
3
30
JASBVV, 1909
Vol. 5, p. 47
8
31
Sastr
Sastri
30
35
medicant
mendicant
33
65
tram-carts
toy-carts
16
67
then
than
17
67
principle
principal
last 33
86
the
he
11
96
maggnum
magnum
15
97
Biblotheca
Bibliotheca
8
102
practice
practise
22
102
mroe
from
8
108
Bodhein
Bodleian
6
111
ethymology
etymology
21
116
sections
section
15
121
religious
religions
32
128
Thootnas
Thomas
25
152
and
was
18
165
princess
princes
15
174
nivirana
nirvana
15
294
effered
offered
26
295
20-7-19
delete
7
297
positive
positive,
18
313
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