(Ebook, Occult, Philosophy, Religion) Buddhism Mahayana Texts.pdf

Buddhist Mahayana Texts

Translated by E. B. Cowell, F. Max Müller and J. Takakusu

Oxford, the Clarendon Press

[1894]

Vol. XLIX of The Sacred Books of the East

pdf version by desolution

desolution@nibirumail.com

INTRODUCTION

THE Sanskrit text of the Buddha- k arita was published at the beginning of last

year in the 'Anecdota Oxoniensia,' and the following English translation is now

included in the series of 'Sacred Books of the East.' It is an early Sanskrit poem

written in India on the legendary history of Buddha, and therefore contains

much that is of interest for the history of Buddhism, beside its special importance

as illustrating the early history of classical Sanskrit literature.

It is ascribed to A s hvaghosha; and, although there were several writers who

bore that name, it seems most probable that our author was the contemporary

and spiritual adviser of Kanishka in the first century of our era. Hiouen Thsang,

who left India in A. D. 645, mentions him with Deva, Narga r juna, and

Kumarâlabdha, 'as the four suns which illumine the world [1];' but our fullest

account is given by I-tsing, who visited India in 673. He states that A s hvaghosha

was an ancient author who composed the Ala m kâra- s âstra and the Buddha-

k arita-kâvya--the latter work being of course the present poem. Beside these two

works he also composed the hymns in honor of Buddha and the three holy

beings Amitâbha, Avalokite s vara, and Mahâsthâma, which were chanted at the

evening service of the monasteries. 'In the five countries of India and in the

countries of the Southern ocean they recite these poems, because they express a

store of ideas and meaning in a few words [2].'

[1. Julien's Translation, vol. ii, p. 214.

2. See M. Fujishama, Journal Asiatique, 1888, p. 425.]

A solitary stanza (VIII, 13) is quoted from the Buddha- k arita in Râyamuku t a's

commentary on the Amarakosha I, I. I, 2, and also by U gg valadatta in his

commentary on the U n âdi-sûtras I, 156; and five stanzas are quoted as from

A s hvaghosha in Vallabhadeva's Subhâshitâvali, which bear a great resemblance

to his style, though they are not found in the extant portion of this poem [1].

The Buddha- k arita was translated into Chinese [2] by Dharmaraksha in the fifth

century, and a translation of this was published by the Rev. S. Beal in the present

series; it was also translated into Tibetan in the seventh or eighth century. The

Tibetan as well as the Chinese version consists of twenty-eight chapters, and

carries down the life of Buddha to his entrance into Nirva n a and the subsequent

division of the sacred relics. The Tibetan version appears to be much closer to the

original Sanskrit than the Chinese; in fact from its verbal accuracy we can often

reproduce the exact words of the original, since certain Sanskrit words are

always represented by the same Tibetan equivalents, as for instance the

prepositions prefixed to verbal roots. I may here express an earnest hope that we

may still ere long have an edition and translation of the Tibetan version, if some

scholar can be found to complete Dr. Wenzel's unfinished labor. He had devoted

much time and thought to the work; I consulted him in several of my difficulties,

and it is from him that I derived all my information about the Tibetan

renderings. This Tibetan version promises to be of great help in restoring the

many corrupt readings, which still remain in our faulty Nepalese MSS.

Only thirteen books of the Sanskrit poem claim to be A s hvaghosha

composition, the last four books are an attempt by a modern Nepalese author to

supply the loss of the original. He tells us this honestly in the colophon --'having

searched for them everywhere and not found them, four cantos have been made

by me, Am ri tânanda--the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth.'

[1. Professor Peterson has remarked that two stanzas out of the five occur in Bhart ri hari's Nîti-

s ataka.

2. We have for the present classed the Buddha- k arita with the Mahayana Sutras in default of

more exact information.]

He adds the date 950 of the Nepalese era, corresponding to 1830 A. D.; and we

have no difficulty in identifying the author. Râ g endralâl Mitra in his 'Nepalese

Buddhist Literature' mentions Am ri tânanda as the author of two Sanskrit

treatises and one in Newârî; he was probably the father of the old Pa nd it of the

Residency at Ka t ma nd u, Gu n ânanda, whose son Indrânanda holds the office at

present. Dr. D. Wright informs me that the family seems to have been the

recognized historians of the country, and keepers of the MS. treasures of sundry

temples. The four books are included in this translation as an interesting literary

curiosity. The first portion of the fourteenth book agrees partly with the Tibetan

and Chinese, and Am ri tânanda may have had access to some imperfect copy of

this portion of the original; but after that his account is quite independent, and

has no relation to the two versions.

In my preface to the edition of the Sanskrit text I have tried to show that

A s hvaghosha’s poem appears to have exercised an important influence on the

succeeding poets of the classical period in India. When we compare the

description in the seventh book of the Raghuva m sa of the ladies of the city

crowding to see prince A g a as he passes by from the Svaya m vara where the

princess Bho g yâ has chosen him as her husband, with the episode in the third

book of the Buddha- k arita ( s lokas 13-24); or the description of Kâma's assault on

S iva in the Kumârasa m bhava with that of Mara’s temptation of Buddha in the

thirteenth book, we can hardly fail to trace some connection. There is a similar

resemblance between the description in the fifth book of the Râmâya n a; where

the monkey Hanumat enters Râva n a's palace by night, and sees his wives asleep

in the seraglio and their various unconscious attitudes, and the description in the

fifth book of the present poem where Buddha on the night of his leaving his

home for ever sees the same unconscious sight in his own palace. Nor may we

forget that in the Râmâya n a the description is merely introduced as an

ornamental episode; in the Buddhist poem it is an essential element in the story,

as it supplies the final impulse which stirs the Bodhisattva to make his escape

from the world, These different descriptions became afterwards commonplaces

in Sanskrit poetry, like the catalogue of the ships in Greek or Roman epics; but

they may very well have originated in connection with definite incidents in the

Buddhist sacred legend.

The Sanskrit MSS. of Nepal are always negligently transcribed and abound

with corrupt passages, which it is often very difficult to detect and restore. My

printed text leaves many obscure lines, which will have to be cleared up

hereafter by more skilful emendations. I have given in the notes to the translation

some further emendations of my own, and I have also added several happy

conjectures which continental scholars have kindly suggested to me by letter;

and I gladly take this opportunity of adding in a foot-note some which I received

too late to insert in their proper places [1].

I have endeavored to make my translation intelligible to the English reader, but

many of the verses in the original are very obscure. A s hvaghosha employs all the

resources of Hindu rhetoric (as we might well expect if I-tsing is right in

ascribing to him an 'ala m kâra- s âstra'), and it is often difficult to follow his subtle

turns of thought and remote allusions; but many passages no doubt owe their

present obscurity to undetected mistakes in the text of our MSS, in the absence of

any Commentary (except so far as the diffuse Chinese translation and occasional

reference to the Tibetan have supplied the want) I have been necessarily left to

my own resources, and I cannot fail to have sometimes missed my author's

meaning but I have tried to do my best, and no one will welcome more cordially

any light which others may throw on the passages which I have misunderstood.

Prâ ms ulabhye phale mohâd udbâhur iva vâmana h ;

[1. Dr. von Boehtlingk suggests 'sau g â vi k a k âra' in VIII, 3, and 'vila m bake s yo' in VIII, 21--two

certain emendations. Professor Kielhorn would read 'nabhasy eva' in XIII, 47 for 'nayaty eva,' and

'tatraiva nâsînam ri shim' in XIII, 50. Professor Bühler would read 'priyatanayas tanayasya' in I,

87, and 'na tatyâ g a k a' in IV, 80.]

The edition of the original text was dedicated to my old friend Professor F. Max

Muller, and it is a sincere gratification to me that this translation will appear in

the same volume with similar translations from his pen.

E. B. C.

CAMBRIDGE:

Feb. 1, 1894.

The Buddha- k arita

A s hvaghosha

BOOK I

1. That Arhat is here saluted, who has no counterpart--who, as bestowing the

supreme happiness, surpasses (Brahman) the Creator--who, as driving away

darkness, vanquishes the sun--and, as dispelling all burning heat, surpasses the

beautiful moon.

2. There was a city, the dwelling-place [1] of the great saint Kapila, having its

sides surrounded by the beauty of a lofty broad table-land as by a line of clouds,

and itself, with its high-soaring palaces [2], immersed in the sky.

3. By its pure and lofty system of government it, as it were, stole the splendor

of the clouds of Mount Kailâsa, and while it bore the clouds, which came to it

through a mistake, it fulfilled the imagination, which had led them thither [3].

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