Part 15 - Gāthās in the Buddhavacana

According to the Mahāyāna literary tradition Nava Dharma Paryāya nine excellences of truth, are a significant. Mahāyāna Buddhist's have priority to several moral precepts with self-realization for the cause of welfare service to all sentient beings. It is to further note that the Mahāyāna Sūtras, otherwise named Bodhisattva Pitaka holds both Vaipulya Sūtra and ancillary text. Ārya Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra with its greater little Avalokiteśvara is describing the merits of Avalokiteśvara in details may be regarded as an ancillary part of Sūtra texts Ārya Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra.

Literary Kāraṇḍavyūha^[1] means a casket composed the wonders of merits of Avalokitaśvara. About Avalokitaśvara the scholars vary in opinions Lokeshchandra has focused in this regard that Saddharma^[2] Puṇḍarīka from Kashgar manuscript describe the usual form of Abalokiteśara where as Chinese and other rendering read three form Abalota, Ablokitaśvara and

Avalokiteśvara.According to the Buddhist tradition preserved in Pāli and Sanskrit Buddhavacana may be of either nine kinds or twelve kinds.

1. Sutta, (apnoristic...., in prose and yatha),
2. Geyya, (eachings in meters for recitation),
3. Veyyākaraṇa (vyākaraṇa), explanations, commentaries,
4. Gāthā, stanzas,
5. Udāna, pithy sayings,
6. Itivuttaka, short speeches beginning with iti words e.g., ' Thus spores the Buddha '
7. Jātaka, stories of former births of Buddha,
8. Abbhuta-dhamma, reports of Splendid deeds,
9. Vedalla, teachings in form of questions and answers.

Sanskrit and Tibetan rendering are:

1. (b) Sūtram-mdo'i sde,
2. Gey(y)am-dbyaṇs kyis bsñad pa ' i sde,
3. Vyākaranam-luṇ bstam pa ' i sde,
4. Gāthā-tshigs su bcad pa ' i sde,
5. U(d)dānam-ched du brjod pa ' i sde,
6. Nidānam-glen bzhi ' i sde,
7. Avadānam-rtogs par brjod pa ' i sde,
8. Itivrittakam-de 1ta bu byuṇ ba ' i sde,
9. Jātakam-skyes pa ' i babs kyi sde,
10. Vāipulyam-Śin tu rgyas pa ' i sde,
11. Adbhūtadharmae,-rmad du byuṇ ba ' i chos kyi sde,
12. Upadeśa,-glan la phab pa ' i bab par bstan pa ' i sde.

In the present study Mixed Sanskrit is used instead of Gāthā Sanskrit. The gāthā verses studied here are the specimen of the Mixed Sanskrit with non-Sanskrit Prākṛt (s), Apabhraṃśa and Pāli (specifically). The nomenclature is the Mixed Sanskrit because Sanskrit words are used move than non–Sanskritic ones. Later on, the Sarvāstibādin preferred the Pure Sanskrit in preservation of the Buddhavacana after the advent of eminent Buddhist teachers like Nāgarjuna^[3] (1st century AD) and his disciple Āryadeva.

They composed their works like Prajña nāma mūla-mādhyamika kārikā and catuḥ śataka respectively.

laghu tñdbhaajati sarvasṃskratṃ acirasthāyi nabheva bidyuath Ī/
ayu kālu tabā ipasthitḥ samayo niṣkramanaya subrata Ī//I^[4]

Tr.—“All conditioned things break easily, they are momentary like the lightning in the sky. Your moment has arrived; this is the time for your departure, O Suvrata!”

Whereas some gāthās have more non-Sanskrit words.

puri tum naravara sutu nrpu yadabhū
narū tava abhimukha ima girimabacī / I
ada mama ima mahi sanagaranigamāṃ
tyagi tada pramudituna ca manu śrubhitu // II^[5]

Tr.—“Previously, when you were a king and the son of a king, men before you spoke these words: "Give me this earth along with its numerous cities" you gave them away, untroubled in mind.”

The above specimens go to support the belief that Mixed Sanskrit may be an alternative nomenclature. It should be borne in mind that the early gāthā metres, followed in early Iranian and Vedic languages, are not always observed shown in the above two specimen verses.^[6]

The Buddhist Nikāya and fragments of the Agama, have come down to us in the Mixed composition. Gāthā is both metrical and prose. In the metrical composition gāthā is precise in expression and condensed in substance. The metrical compositions are presumed to be of an earlier period for the following reasons:

1. Easy to keep in memory.

2. Easy to detect error in recitation of a verse on account of metrical structure.

3. Phonograms in different meters are popularly elegant and pleasant to listeners for their lucidity.

4. A gāthā as the Buddha-saying is believed to be spontaneous outburst having both nītārtha and neyārtha.

5. The language with less Sanskrit grammatical orderliness is elegant to listen and melodious in short presentation.

6. Simplification in expression for usage.

It may be assumed that Goutama the Buddha dealt with metrical compositions in a novel process that had been invoked by the Vedic seers and other intelligent exponents of the pre-Buddhist days.^[7]

"It is altogether difficult to fix any definite period for the Saddharma-Puṇḍarīka as it contains sections belonging to various epochs. The prose in pure Sanskrit, and the Gāthās in "Mixed Sanskrit" could not possibly have originated at the same time, because, in contents, they often diverge from one another. Both the prose and the Gāthās several times mention the work as a metrical composition. Probably it originally consisted only of verses, with short prose passage inserted by way of introduction and as a means of connecting the verses. The short prose passage was later enlarged, especially as the dialect of the verses had become obsolete. Without being actually a commentary, the prose served as an explanation. It is significant that precisely those chapters, which contain no Gāthās, have, on other grounds too, proved to be later additions."

(Winternitz 1927: 29).

ramanīyāni araññāni, yattha na ramato jano /
vītarāgā ramissanti, n ate kāmagavesino // 10 //

gang du skye bo mi dga' ba'i / Dgon pa rnams ni names Dga' ste/ 'dod pa rzes su mi' tshol b't /
'dod chags bral ba de rnams dga' / Dg hra bcom p't snge tshn te / le'i bdun p'o//

Tr.—“Delightful are the forests where worldings finds no joy. There the passionless will rejoice, for they seek no sensual pleasures.”^[8]

As adequate Apabhraṃśa material other than fragments manuscript leaves of the Sanskrit from Central Asian excavation are available now Apabhraṃśa gāthās from the Tripiṭakas cannot be examined.

But a large number of dohā, vajragiti, caryāgiti, sahajagiti composed by the Siddhācāryas in between the 8th century to the 12th century are samples of metrical composition of Apabhraṃśa of the later Buddhism.

sasu ghare ghali¹ koñcā² tāla³/
canda suja veṇi pakhā phāla⁴/

1. Ghali < Prākṛit root ghalla = Shipa 'throw'. Ghāla—in Bengali means 'to injure'; in Hindi it has two meanings 'to put ' and 'to kill'. Tibetan rendering 'go', 'understand', 'to perceivemently'.

2. Koñcā < kushc 'crooked ' has been rendered in Tibetan as 'lde kyog ' which is very literal.

3. tāla—'a bolt' is in Tibetan version 'lde mig; 'a key or a lock'.

4. phāla < Prākṛit phādra or phāla < pathaya causative of patha 'tear'; compare Hindi phādhana, phathanā., Bengali roots phath, phadha., Tibetan rendering 'gleg can' phalaka 'a board ' is to be corrected as 'bregs can' 'to cut asunder'..^[9]

In the Pāli Tipitaka several gāthas are found in the Suttrapitaka consisting of five Nikāyas. Among them, Suttranipāta, Jātakani, Dharmapada may represent older status of Pāli having their lien to old Vedic speech. Therogāthā and Trerigāthā although hold 'gāthā' in title but do not represent old gāthā style. In this respect, Winternitz attributes greater credit of the gāthā portion in the Jātakas and also in the old Jaina's gāthās of Prākṛt.

The gāthā in this concern refer to the metrical composition of precised sayings by the Buddha and expression leading to linguistic peculiarities.

नेनाज्जरापम् भगवा उरुवेलवस् सपम् जतिनम् अवोच |
स च ते कस्सप अगरु विहरेमु अज्जुणहो अग् गिसालम् हि ||

nenājjarāpam bhagavā uruvelavas sapam jatinam avoca |
sa ca te kassapa agaru viharemu ajjuṇaho ag gisālam hi ||

Mahavagga (Pāli Pub. Board, Nalanda, 1956) pp. 26.^[10]

In the Vedic culture the presentation of literal composition in meter had been discriminated with tone and melody and musical instruments among the commoners of the villages. This fact substantiates that preference of metrical composition had been accepted by the then society since the pre-Buddhist period.^[11]

Now let us examine how far gāthās in the Buddhist literature in Pāli, Sanskrit and Prākṛt generated.

In this regard Winternitz observes:

"As generally recognized as the hoary past of this poetry is also its significance for the knowledge of the old doctrine of Buddha. And the Suttanipāta is, besides the Dhammapada, perhaps the most frequently quoted text in all works on Buddhism. In short, the Suttas of this collection are esteemed generally also as works of poetic art."

(Winternitz 1929: 90-91)

He further adds:

"The Book of the Udānas contains only a selection of the 'Pithy sayings' ascribed to Buddha. In other books of the Tipitaka also, there are utterances of this kind, called "Udāna", which are not always attributed to Buddha, but sometimes to a king, a deity or some other personage. Quite a number of Suttas as well as of separate Udānas (without the Suttas belonging to them) are common to the Udāna and other collections. In particular, it contains several Suttas relating to the life of the Buddha, which are in agreement with the biographical texts of the Vinayapitaka and the Maha-Parinibbāna-Sūtta. However, they were probably not borrowed from these collections, but were based on earlier traditions on which the various collections have drawn.

We are safe, however, in granting that most of these and beautiful utterances certain bear the stamp of antiquity and had many of them are possibly the actual words of Buddha himself or of his most prominent disciples. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that the utterances themselves are as a rule older, than the narratives into which they are inserted."

(Winternitz 1929: 82).

As adequate Apabhraṃśa materials, other than fragments of the Sanskrit manuscript of Sanskrit from Central Asian excavation, are not available now. Apabhraṃśa gāthās from the Tipiṭakas cannot be examined. But a large number of dohā, vajragīti, caryāgīti, sahajagīti composed by the Siddhācāryas between the 8th century to the 12^th century are examples of metrical composition in Apabhraṃśa of the later Buddhist period.

In the Pāli Tipitaka several gāthā are found in the Suttapiṭaka consisting of five Nikāyas. Among them, Suttranipāta, Jātakani, Dhammapada may represent the older status of Pāli because of links with old Vedic speech. Theragāthā and Therigāthā, though having ' gāthā ' in title, do not represent the old gāthā style.

Again as Winternitz remarks,

"Even the tradition of the names of the theras and theris as the authors of the verses does not in general deserve any credibility. Yet tradition is right in assuming that these poems were written not by one but by many authors and certainly also in this that it lets the songs be composed partly by monks and partly by nuns."

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The Kāraṇḍya Vyūha Nāma Mahāyāna Sūtra narrates the glory of Avalokiteśvara with his mantra O MAṆIPADME HŪM. The first chapter deals with Buddha's assembly at the Jetavana Arama, which was donated by Anathapinda (mkhonmed zs bsyain -He was chief house holder and a devotee of Buddha), at Sravasti (mnauyad -A city in Kosala where Buddha resided for many years). In the assembly a large number of monks together with Bodhisattva, Nāgarāja, Jandharvarāja, Debaputra, Nāgakannyā, Kinnirarāja, Kinnirakannyā, Jandharava Kannyā and many other assembled. In comparison similar lists are also mentioned in the Buddhist text Ārya Mañjuśrī Mūlakalpa Tantra (MMK). It is observed that two lists regarding Bodhisattva, Jandharava, and Kinnira do not tally. For instance Ārya Kāraṇḍya Vyūha enumerates twenty Bodhisattva, while MMK mention ninety. Similar variations are notice about the Davaputra and other beings.

[2]:

Saddharma; Saddharma is one of the Vaipulya text. Its title means the teaching of Buddha. Saddharma is like a white lotus, puṇḍorika. A lotus is growth out of mud but its purity and fragrance and colour spread allover. That attracts bees in quest of sweet honey. The text therefore deals with the merits of the Buddha saying saddharma.

[3]:

There are probably just as many (non -Buddhist) readers who will see a profound meaning in such utterances, as there are those who will regard them as pure nonsense. In reality, they are probably neither one nor the other, but views which frequently crop up in the history of philosophy, and which only become intelligible if we distinguish between a higher, transcendental, and a lower, empirical truth, as expressly taught by the Mahāyāna philosopher Nāgārjuna. The great philosophers of the Mahāyāna, Nāgārjuna, Vasubandhu and Asaṇga, wrote bulky commentaries on the Prajñāpāramitās, which have, however, only come down to us in the Chinese Tripitaka and in the Tibetan Tanjur. Nevertheless it is very difficult for us to imagine that the immense sanctity, which is attributed to these texts, can really be due to a valuation and an understanding of the metaphysical doctrines, which they pro -pound. It is more probable that it is precisely the dark and incom -prehensible element in the doctrines taught by these texts, which has contributed to make them sacred. Omne obsurum pro magnifico. Edgerton's Grammar of Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit: A brief study. By Dr. Janaki Prasad Dwivedi. Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath.

[4]:

Ārya Lalitavistara Nāma Mahāyāna Sūtra: Lefmann Edn. New York, Halle, 1901.p - 175.v.9.

[5]:

Ārya Lalitavistara Nāma Mahāyāna Sūtra: Lefmann Edn. New York, Halle, 1901.p- 165.v.4.

[6]:

In the 14th century a certain Dhammakiti wrote the Pāramita -mahāśataka, a Pāli poem on the ten Pāramitās. The Saddhammo -pāyana, "Means and Ways of the Good Religion" deals in 629 verses with the basic teachings of the Buddhist religion in general and especially the ethical teachings. A small poem in praise of the Buddha is the Pajjamadhu, "the Verses -honey" that was composed by Buddhappiya by about 1100 A. D. In 104 beautiful stanzas of Sanskritised Pāli the magnificence of Buddha is described here and his wisdom praised. An ornate poem on the god religion of Buddha is also the Telakatāhagāthā, "the Oil -Cauldron Verses." The poet was supposed to have been a monk who was unjustly suspected by King Tissa of Kalyānī of an affair with his wife and was condemend to be thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil. This was done, but the monk rose from the cauldron and sang the 100 verses. Before dying he recollected his earlier existence when he was a herdsman and had thrown a fly into a pot of boiling milk. The ''Hundred Verses "are in our poem 98 verses in artistic, Sanskritzed Pāli in which however there is no allusion to the legend. King Tissa of Kalyānī reigned in the 3rd century B.C. but the poem might be, judging from its language, scarcely older than the 12th century A. D.

[7]:

It can undoubtedly be said that Edgerton has done a lot of linguistic work on the Pāli and Prākṛit languages. He says that words of BHS are related to these languages. Perhaps he entered into this project on seeing the similarities. In this regard Edgerton said that the words of Mahāvastu are not Sanskrit but BHS. He also added that the language of the Mahābhārata is said to be Sanskrit, but it is a peculiar type of Sanskrit, as it is more related to Middle Indo -Aryan. Edgerton believes that the basis of the language of BHS texts was Old Middle Indic, which would have been the prevalent language of that time. Thus the language in the Mahāvastu is related to Middle Indic. He believes the Mahāvastu to be the oldest, most important, as well as most difficult text. It is worth considering whether the text would be difficult if it was in the common tongue of the general public. However, even though the Mahābhārata's language does not function completely according to the Pāṇinian Grammar, contemporary scholars would hesitate to call it a peculiar type of Sanskrit language.

[8]:

Dhammapada -Arahantavagga -ed. Chimada Rigajin Lama. C.I.H.T.S. Sarnath, 1982. The Dalai Lama Tibeto -Indological Studies Series, Vol.IV.

[9]:

Gundari Pada verse, caryagiti -kosa of Buddhist siddhas, ed. Prabodh Chandra Bagchi and Santi Bhiksu Shastri, Visva Bharati, 1956.

[10]:

Mahāvagga, Pāli, Publication Board, Nalanda, 1956, pp.26 and S. K. Pathak: The Language of the Ārya Manjusrimulakalpa (-tantra). SAMYAG -VAK SERIES VI, Aspect of Buddhist Sanskrita, ed. Kameshwar Nath Misha, CIHTS, Sarnath Varanasi, 1993.

[11]:

A. L. Basam: The Wonder that was India, Grove Press Inc. New York 1954, p.394.