[Great Western Vehicle] [Vedic & Buddist Studies] [Pali-English Dictionary] [Pali Language Resource Guide] [Ecstatic Meditation Archive]
[Great Western Vehicle] [Vedic & Buddist Studies] [Pali-English Dictionary] [Pali Language Resource Guide] [Ecstatic Meditation Archive]
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PUNISHMENT.
129. All men tremble at punishment, all men fear death; remember that you are like unto them, and do not kill, nor cause slaughter.
130. All men tremble at punishment, all men love life; remember that thou art like unto them, and do not kill, nor cause slaughter.
131. He who seeking his own happiness punishes or kills beings who also long for happiness, will not find happiness after death.
[129. One feels tempted, no doubt, to take upama in the sense of 'the nearest (der Nächste), the neighbour,' and to translate, 'having made oneself one's neighbour,' i.e. loving one's neighbour as oneself. But as upamäm, with a short a, is the correct accusative of upamâ, we must translate, 'having made oneself the likeness, the image of others, having placed oneself in the place of others.' This is an expression which occurs frequently in Sanskrit; cf. Hitopadesa I, 11:
Prânâ yathâtmano 'bhîshtâ bhûtânâm api te tathâ,
Âtmaupamyena bhûteshu dayâm kurvanti sâdhavah.
'As life is dear to oneself, it is dear also to other living beings: by comparing oneself with others, good people bestow pity on all beings.'
See also Hit. I, 12; Râm. V, 23, 5, âtmânam upamâm kritvâ sveshu dâreshu ramyatâm, 'making oneself a likeness, i.e. putting oneself in the position of other people, it is right to love none but one's own wife.' Dr. Fausböll has called attention to similar passages in the Mahâbhârata, XIII, 5569 seq.
130. Cf. St. Luke vi. 31.
131. Dr. Fausböll points out the striking similarity between this verse and two verses occurring in Manu and the Mahâbhârata:--
Manu V, 45:
Yo 'himsakâni bhûtâni hinasty âtmasukhekkhayâ,
Sa givams ka mritas kaiva na kvakit sukham edhate.
Mahâbhârata XIII, 5568:
Ahimsakâni bhûtâni dandena vinihanti yah,
Âtmanah sukham ikkhan sa pretya naiva sukhî bhavet.
If it were not for ahimsakâni, in which Manu and the Mahâbhârata agree, I should say that the verses in both were Sanskrit modifications of the Pâli original. The verse in the Mahâbhârata presupposes the verse of the Dhammapada.]
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132. He who seeking his own happiness does not punish or kill beings who also long for happiness, will find happiness after death.
133. Do not speak harshly to anybody; those who are spoken to will answer thee in the same way. Angry speech is painful, blows for blows will touch thee.
134. If, like a shattered metal plate (gong), thou utter not, then thou hast reached Nirvâna; contention is not known to thee.
135. As a cowherd with his staff drives his cows into the stable, so do Age and Death drive the life of men.
136. A fool does not know when he commits his evil deeds: but the wicked man burns by his own deeds, as if burnt by fire.
137. He who inflicts pain on innocent and harmless persons, will soon come to one of these ten states:
[133. See Mahâbhârata XII, 4056.
134. See Childers, s.v. nibbâna, p. 270, and s.v. kâmso; D'Alwis, Buddhist Nirvâna, p. 35.
136. The metaphor of 'burning' for 'suffering' is very common in Buddhist literature. Everything burns, i.e. everything suffers, was one of the first experiences of Buddha himself. See v. 146.]
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138. He will have cruel suffering, loss, injury of the body, heavy affliction, or loss of mind,
139. Or a misfortune coming from the king, or a fearful accusation, or loss of relations, or destruction of treasures,
140. Or lightning-fire will burn his houses; and when his body is destroyed, the fool will go to hell.
141. Not nakedness, not platted hair, not dirt, not fasting, or lying on the earth, not rubbing with dust,
[138. 'Cruel suffering' is explained by sîsaroga, 'headache,' &c. 'Loss' is taken for loss of money. 'Injury of the body' is held to be the cutting off of the arm, and other limbs. 'Heavy afflictions' are, again, various kinds of diseases.
139. Upasarga means 'accident, misfortune.' Dr. Fausböll translates râgato va upassaggam by 'fulgentis (lunae) defectionem;' Dr. Weber by 'Bestrafung vom König;' Beal by 'some governmental difficulty.' Abbhakkhânam, Sanskrit abhyâkhyânam, is a heavy accusation for high treason, or similar offences. Beal translates, 'some false accusation.' The 'destruction of pleasures or treasures' is explained by gold being changed to coals (see Buddhaghosha's Parables, p. 98; Thiessen, Kisâgotamî, p. 6), pearls to cotton seed, corn to potsherds, and by men and cattle becoming blind, lame, &c.
141. Cf. Hibbert Lectures, p. 355. Dr. Fausböll has pointed out that the same or avery similar verse occurs in a legend taken from the Divyâvadâna, and translated by Burnouf (Introduction, p. 313 seq.) Burnouf translates the verse: 'Ce n'est ni la coutume de marcher nu, ni les cheveux nattés, ni l'usage d'argile, ni le choix des diverses espèces d'aliments, ni l'habitude de coucher sur la terre nue, ni la poussière, ni la malpropreté, ni l'attention à fuir l'abri d'un toit, qui sont capables de dissiper le trouble dans lequel nous jettent les désirs non-satisfaits; mais qu'un homme, maître de ses sens, calme, recueilli, chaste, évitant de faire du mal à aucune créature, accomplisse la Loi, et il sera, quoique paré d'ornements, un Brâhmane, un Çramana, un Religieux.' See also Suttanipâta, v. 248.
Walking naked and the other things mentioned in our verse are outward signs of a saintly life, and these Buddha rejects because they do not calm the passions. Nakedness he seems to have rejected on other grounds too, if we may judge from the Sumâgadhâ-avadâna: 'A number of naked friars were assembled in the house of the daughter of Anâtha-pindika. She called ber daughter-in-law, Sumâgadhâ, and said, "Go and see those highly respectable persons." Sumâgadhâ, expecting to see some of the saints, like Sâriputra, Maudgalyâyana, and others, ran out full of joy. But when she saw these friars with their hair like pigeon wings, covered by nothing but dirt, offensive, and looking like demons, she became sad. "Why are you sad?" said her mother-in-law. Sumâgadhâ replied, "O mother, if these are saints, what must sinners be like?"
Burnouf (Introduction, p. 312) supposed that the Gainas only, and not the Buddhists, allowed nakedness. But the Gainas, too, do not allow it universally. They are divided into two parties, the Svetambaras and Digambaras. The Svetambaras, clad in white, are the followers of Parsvanâtha, and wear clothes. The Digambaras, i.e. sky-clad, disrobed, are followers of Mahâvîra, resident chiefly in Southern India. At present they, too, wear clothing, but not when eating. See Sâstram Aiyar, p. xxi.
The gatâ, or the hair platted and gathered up in a knot, was a sign of a Saiva ascetic. The sitting motionless is one of the postures assumed by ascetics. Clough explains ukkutika as 'the act of sitting on the heels;' Wilson gives for utkatukâsana, 'sitting on the hams.' See Fausböll, note on verse 140.]
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not sitting motionless, can purify a mortal who has not overcome desires.
142. He who, though dressed in fine apparel, exercises tranquillity, is quiet, subdued, restrained, chaste, and has ceased to find fault with all other beings, he indeed is a Brâhmana, an ascetic (sramana), a friar (bhikshu).
143. Is there in this world any man so restrained by humility that he does not mind reproof, as a well-trained horse the whip?
144. Like a well-trained horse when touched by
[142. As to dandanidhâna, see Mahâbh. XII, 6559, and Sutta-nipâta, v. 34.
143, 144. I am very doubtful as to the real meaning of these verses. If their object is to show how reproof or punishment should be borne, my translation would be right, though alpabodhati in the sense of parvi facere is strange.]
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the whip, be ye active and lively, and by faith, by virtue, by energy, by meditation, by discernment of the law you will overcome this great pain (of reproof), perfect in knowledge and in behaviour, and never forgetful.
145. Well-makers lead the water (wherever they like); fletchers bend the arrow; carpenters bend a log of wood; good people fashion themselves.
[145. The same as verse 80. According to Fausböll and Subhûti we ought to render the verses by, 'What man is there found on earth so restrained by shame that he never provokes reproof, as a good horse the whip?' See Childers, s.v. appabodhati.]