The Brahmajāla Sutta
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The Brahmajala Sutta is the first of 34 suttas in the Digha Nikaya. The sutta discusses three main topics: 1) the elaboration of the Ten Precepts (Cula-sila), 2) the Middle Precepts (Majjhima-sila), 3) and the Great Precepts (Maha-sila)....
Chapter I - Morality
Brahma-Jāla Sutta: The Perfect Net [1]
1. Thus have I heard. The Blessed One was once going along the high road between Rājagaha and Nālandā [2] with a great company of the brethren, with about five hundred brethren. And Suppiya the mendicant [3] too was going along the high road between Rājagaha and Nālandā with his disciple the youth Brahmadatta. Now just then Suppiya the mendicant was speaking in many ways in dispraise of the Buddha, in dispraise of the Doctrine, in dispraise of the Order. But young Brahmadatta, his pupil, gave utterance, in many ways, to praise of the Buddha, to praise of the Doctrine, to praise of the Order. Thus, they two, teacher and pupil, holding opinions in direct contradiction one to the other, were following, step by step, after the Blessed One and the company of the brethren.
2. Now the Blessed One put up at the royal rest-house in the Ambalaṭṭhikā pleasance [4] to pass the night, and with him the company of the brethren. And so also did Suppiya the mendicant, and with him his young disciple Brahmadatta. And there, at the rest-house, these two carried on the same discussion as before.
3. And in the early dawn a number of the brethren assembled, as they rose up, in the pavilion; and this was the trend of the talk that sprang up among them, as they were seated there. 'How wonderful a thing is it, brethren, and how strange that the Blessed One, he who knows and sees, the Arahat, the Buddha Supreme, should so clearly have perceived how various are the inclinations of men! For see how while Suppiya the mendicant speaks in many ways in dispraise of the Buddha, the Doctrine, and the Order, his own disciple young Brahmadatta, speaks, in as many ways, in praise of them. So do these two, teacher and pupil, follow step by step after the Blessed One and the company of the brethren, giving utterance to views in direct contradiction one to the other.'
4. Now the Blessed One, on realising what was the drift of their talk, went to the pavilion, and took his seat on the mat spread out for him. And when he had sat down he said: 'What is the talk on which you are engaged sitting here, and what is the subject of the conversation between you?' And they told him all. And he said:
Minor Details Of Mere Morality
5. 'Brethren, if outsiders should speak against me, or against the Doctrine, or against the Order, you should not on that account either bear malice, or suffer heart-burning, or feel ill will. If you, on that account, should be angry and hurt, that would stand in the way of your own self-conquest. If, when others speak against us, you feel angry at that, and displeased, would you then be able to judge how far that speech of theirs is well said or ill?'
'That would not be so, Sir.'
'But when outsiders speak in dispraise of me, or of the Doctrine, or of the Order, you should unravel what is false and point it out as wrong, saying: "For this or that reason this is not the fact, that is not so, such a thing is not found among us, is not in us."'
6. 'But also, brethren, if outsiders should speak in praise of me, in praise of the Doctrine, in praise of the Order, you should not, on that account, be filled with pleasure or gladness, or be lifted up in heart. Were you to be so that also would stand in the way of your self-conquest. When outsiders speak in praise of me, or of the Doctrine, or of the Order, you should acknowledge what is right to be the fact, saying: "For this or that reason this is the fact, that is so, such a thing is found among us, is in us."'
7. 'It is in respect only of trifling things, of matters of little value, of mere morality, that an unconverted man, when praising the Tathāgata, would speak. And what are such trifling, minor details of mere morality that he would praise.
The Moralities Part I [5]
8. '"Putting away the killing of living things, Gotama the recluse holds aloof from the destruction of life. He has laid the cudgel and the sword aside, and ashamed of roughness, and full of mercy, he dwells compassionate and kind to all creatures that have life." It is thus that the unconverted man, when-speaking in praise of the Tathāgata, might speak [6].
'Or he might say: "Putting away the taking of what has not been given, Gotama the recluse lived aloof from grasping what is not his own. He takes only what is given, and expecting that gifts will come [7], he passes his life in honesty and purity of heart."
'Or he might say: "Putting away unchastity, Gotama the recluse is chaste. He holds himself aloof, far off, from the vulgar practice, from the sexual act[8]."
9. 'Or he might say: "Putting away lying words, Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof from falsehood. He speaks truth, from the truth he never swerves; faithful and trustworthy, he breaks not his word to the world."
'Or he might say: "Putting away slander, Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof from calumny. What he hears here he repeats not elsewhere to raise a quarrel against the people here; what he hears elsewhere he repeats not here to raise a quarrel against the people there. Thus does he live as a binder together of those who are divided, an encourager of those who are friends, a peacemaker, a lover of peace, impassioned for peace, a speaker of words that make for peace."
'Or he might say: "Putting away rudeness of speech, Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof from harsh language. Whatsoever word is blameless, pleasant to the ear, lovely, reaching to the heart, urbane [9], pleasing to the people, beloved of the people--such are words he speaks."
'Or he might say: "Putting away frivolous talk [10],Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof from vain conversation. In season he speaks, in accordance with the facts, words full of meaning, on religion, on the discipline of the Order. He speaks, and at the right time, words worthy to be laid up in one's heart, fitly illustrated, clearly divided, to the point."
10. 'Or he might say:
Gotama the recluse holds himself aloof from causing injury to seeds or plants [11].
He takes but one meal a day, not eating at night, refraining from food after hours (after midday).
He refrains from being a spectator at shows at fairs, with nautch dances, singing, and music.
He abstains from wearing, adorning, or ornamenting himself with garlands, scents, and unguents.
He abstains from the use of large and lofty beds.
He abstains from accepting silver or gold.
He abstains from accepting uncooked grain.
He abstains from accepting raw meat.
He abstains from accepting women or girls.
He abstains from accepting bondmen or bondwomen.
He abstains from accepting sheep or goats.
He abstains from accepting fowls or swine.
He abstains from accepting elephants, cattle. horses, and mares.
He abstains from accepting cultivated fields or waste.
He abstains from the acting as a go-between or messenger.
He abstains from buying and selling.
He abstains from cheating with scales or bronzes [12] or measures.
He abstains from the crooked ways of bribery, cheating, and fraud.
He abstains from maiming, murder, putting in bonds, highway robbery, dacoity, and violence."
'Such are the things, brethren, which an unconverted man, when speaking in praise of the Tathāgata, might say.'
Here ends the Cūla Sīla [the Short Paragraphs on Conduct]
11. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the injury of seedlings and growing plants whether propagated from roots or cuttings or joints or buddings or seeds[13]—Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such injury to seedlings and growing plants."
12. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of things stored up; stores, to wit, of foods, drinks, clothing, equipages, bedding, perfumes, and curry-stuffs[14]—Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such use of things stored up."
13. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to visiting shows[15]; that is to say,
(1) Nautch dances (naccaṃ)[16].
(2) Singing of songs (gītaṃ).
(3) Instrumental music (vāditaṃ).
(4) Shows at fairs (pekkhaṃ)[17].
(5) Ballad recitations (akkhānaṃ) [18].
(6) Hand music (pāṇissaraṃ)[19].
(7) The chanting of bards (vetālaṃ)[20].
(8) Tam - tam playing (kumbhathūnaṃ)[21].
(9) Fairy scenes (sobhanagarakaṃ)[22].
(10) Acrobatic feats by Caṇḍālas (caṇḍāla-vaṃsa-dhopanaṃ)[23].
(11) Combats of elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls, goats, rams, cocks, and quails.
(12) Bouts at quarterstaff[24], boxing, wrestling[25].
(13-16) Sham-fights, roll-calls, manoeuvres, reviews[26]."
'Gotama the recluse holds aloof from visiting such shows.'
14. 'Or. he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to games and recreations[27]; that is to say,
(1) Games on boards with eight, or with ten, rows of squares [28].
(2) The same games played by imagining such boards in the air[29].
(3) Keeping going over diagrams drawn on the ground so that one steps only where one ought to go[30].
(4) Either removing the pieces or men from a heap with one's nail, or putting them into a heap, in each case without shaking it. He who shakes the heap, loses[31]
(5) Throwing dice[32]
(6) Hitting a short stick with a long one[33].
(7) Dipping the hand with the fingers stretched out in lac, or red dye, or flower-water, and striking the wet hand on the ground or on a wall, calling out 'What shell it be?' and showing the form required—elephants, horses, &c.[34]
(8) Games with balls[35]
(9) Blowing through toy pipes made of leaves[36]
(10) Ploughing with toy ploughs[37]
(11) Turning summersaults[38].
(12) Playing with toy windmills made of palm-leaves[39].
(13) Playing with toy measures made of palm-leaves.
(14, 15) Playing with toy carts or toy bows[40]
(16) Guessing at letters traced in the air, or on a playfellow's back[41]
(17) Guessing the play fellow's thoughts.
(18) Mimicry of deformities."
'Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such games and recreations.'
15. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of high and large couches; that is to say[42],
(1) 'Moveable settees, high, and six feet long (āsandi)[43]
(2) Divans with animal figures carved on the supports (pallanko)[44].
(3) Goats' hair coverlets with very long fleece (gonako)[45].
(4) Patchwork counterpanes of many colours (cittakā). (5) White blankets (Paṭikā). (6) Woollen coverlets embroidered with flowers (paṭalikā). (7) Quilts stuffed with cotton wool (tūlikā). (8) Coverlets embroidered with figures of lions, tigers, &c. (vikatikā). (9) Rugs with fur on both sides (uddalomī). (10) Rugs with fur on one side (ekantalomī). (11) Coverlets embroidered with gems(kaṭṭhissaṃ). (12) Silk coverlets (koseyyaṃ). (13) Carpets large enough for sixteen dancers (kuttakaṃ). (14-16) Elephant, horse, and chariot rugs. (17) Rugs of antelope skins sewn together (ajina-paveṇi). (18) Rugs of skins of the plantain antelope. (19) Carpets with awnings above them (sauttara-cchadaṃ). (20) Sofas with red pillows for the head and feet."
16. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of means for adorning and beautifying themselves; that is to say,
Rubbing in scented powders on one's body, shampooing it, and bathing it,
patting the limbs with clubs after the manner of wrestlers[46].
The use of mirrors, eye-ointments, garlands,
rouge, cosmetics, bracelets, necklaces,
walking-sticks, reed cases for drugs, rapiers,
sunshades, embroidered slippers, turbans, diadems,
whisks of the yak's tail, and long-fringed white robes,"
'Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such means of adorning and beautifying the person[47]."'
17. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to such low conversation as these:
Tales of kings, of robbers, of ministers of state, tales of war, of terrors, of battles; talk about foods and drinks, clothes, beds, garlands, perfumes; talks about relationships, equipages, villages, town, cities, and countries; tales about women, and about heroes; gossip at street corners[48], or places whence water is fetched; ghost stories[49]; desultory talk[50]; speculations about the creation of the land or sea[51], or about existence and non-existence[52]."
'Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low conversation.'
18. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to the use of wrangling phrases[53] such as
"You don't understand this doctrine and discipline, I do.
"How should you know about this doctrine and discipline?
"You have fallen into wrong views. It is I who am in the right.
"I am speaking to the point, you are not[54]
"You are putting last what ought to come first, first what ought to come last[55].
"What you've excogitated so long, that's all quite upset.
"Your challenge has been taken up[56]
"You are proved to be wrong.[57]
"Set to work to clear your views[58]
"Disentangle yourself if you can.[59]
'Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such wrangling phrases.'
19. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to taking messages, going on errands, and acting as go-betweens; to wit, on kings, ministers of state, Kshatriyas, Brahmans, or young men, saying: "Go there, come hither, take this with you, bring that from thence."
'Gotama the recluse abstains from such servile duties.'
20. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, are tricksters[60], droners out (of holy words for pay)[61], diviners[62], and exorcists[63], ever hungering to add gain to gain.[64]" - Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such deception and patter.'
Here ends the Majjhima Sīla [the Longer Paragraphs on Conduct].
21. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood, by low arts, such as these:
(1) Palmistry & prophesying long life, prosperity, &c from marks on child's hands, feet. &c.[65]
(2) Divining by means of omens and signs.[66]
(3) Auguries drawn from thunderbolts and other celestial portents.[67]
(4) Prognostication by interpreting dreams.[68]
(5) Fortune-telling from marks on the body.[69]
(6) Auguries from the marks on cloth gnawed by mice.[70]
(7) Sacrificing to Agni.[71]
(8) Offering oblations from a spoon.[72]
(9-13) Making offerings to gods of husks, of the red powder between the grain and the husk, of husked grain ready for boiling, of ghee, and of oil.[73]
(14) Sacrificing by spewing mustard seeds, &c., into the fire out of one's mouth.[74]
(15) Drawing blood from one's right knee as a sacrifice to the gods.[75]
(16) Looking at the knuckles, &c., and, after muttering a charm, divining whether a man is well born or lucky or not.[76]
(17) Determining whether the site, for a proposed house or pleasance, is lucky or not.[77]
(18) Advising on customary law.[78]
(19) Laying demons in a cemetery.[79]
(20) Laying ghosts.[80]
(21) Knowledge of the charms to be used when lodging in an earth house.[81]
(22) Snake charming.[82]
(23) The poison craft.[83]
(24) The scorpion craft.[84]
(25) The mouse craft.[85]
(26) The bird craft.[86]
(27) The crow craft.[87]
(28) Foretelling the number of years that a man has yet to live.
(29) Giving charms to ward off arrows.[88]
(30) The animal wheel."[89]
'Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.'
22. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood, by low arts, such as these:
Knowledge of the signs of good and bad qualities in the following things and of the marks in them denoting the health or luck of their owners: to wit, gems[90], staves, garments, swords, arrows, bows, other weapons, women[91], men[92], boys[93], girls[94], slaves, slave-girls, elephants, horses, buffaloes, bulls, oxen, goats[95], sheep[96], fowls[97], quails[98], iguanas[99], earrings[100], tortoises, and other animals."
'Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.'
23. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood, by low arts, such as soothsaying, to the effect that:
The chiefs will march out.
The chiefs will march back.
The home chiefs will attack, and the enemies' retreat.
The enemies' chiefs will attack, and ours will retreat.
The home chiefs will gain the victory, and the foreign chiefs suffer defeat.
The foreign chiefs will gain the victory, and ours will suffer defeat[101]
Thus will there be victory on this side, defeat on that."
'Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.'
24. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood, by such low arts as foretelling
(1) There will be an eclipse of the moon.
(2) There will be en eclipse of the sun.
(3) There will be en eclipse of a star (nakshatra)[102].
(4) There will be aberration of the sun or the moon.
(5) The sun or the moon will return to its usual path.
(6) There will be aberrations of the stars.
(7) The stars will return to their usual course[103].
(8) There will be a fall of meteors[104].
(9) There will be a jungle fire[105].
(10) There will be an earthquake.
(11) The god will thunder.
(12-15) There will be rising and setting, clearness and dimness, of the sun or the moon or the stars[106], or foretelling of each of these fifteen phenomena that they will betoken such and such a result."
25. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood, by low arts, such as these:
Foretelling an abundant rainfall.
Foretelling a deficient rainfall.
Foretelling a good harvest
Foretelling scarcity of food.
Foretelling tranquillity.
Foretelling disturbances.
Foretelling a pestilence.
Foretelling a healthy season.
Counting on the fingers[107].
Counting without using the fingers[108].
Summing up large totals[109].
Composing ballads, poetising[110].
Casuistry, sophistry[111]."
'Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.'
26. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood, by low arts, such as
(1) Arranging a lucky day for marriages in which the bride or bridegroom is brought home[112].
(2) Arranging a lucky day for marriages in which the bride or bridegroom is sent forth[113].
(3) Fixing a lucky time for the conclusion of treaties of peace [or using charms to procure harmony][114].
(4) Fixing a lucky time for the outbreak of hostilities [or using charms to make discord][115].
(5) Fixing a lucky time for the calling in of debts [or charms for success in throwing dice][116].
(6) Fixing a lucky time for the expenditure of money [or charms to bring ill luck to an opponent throwing dice][117].
(7) Using charms to make people lucky[118].
(8) Using charms to make people unlucky.
(9) Using charms to procure abortion.
(10) Incantations to bring on dumbness.
(11) Incantations to keep a man's jaws fixed.
(12) Incantations to make a man throw up his hands.
(13) Incantations to bring on deafness[119].
(14) Obtaining oracular answers by means of the magic mirror[120].
(15) Obtaining oracular answers through a girl possessed[121].
(16) Obtaining oracular answers from a god[122].
(17) The worship of the Sun[123].
(18) The worship of the Great One[124].
(19) Bringing forth flames from one's mouth.
(20) Invoking Siri, the goddess of Luck[125]."
'Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.'
27. 'Or he might say: "Whereas some recluses and Brahmans, while living on food provided by, the faithful, earn their living by wrong means of livelihood, by low arts, such as these:
(1) Vowing gifts to a god if a certain benefit be granted.
(2) Paying such vows.
(3) Repeating charms while lodging in an earth house[126].
(4) Causing virility[127].
(5) Making a man impotent[128].
(6) Fixing on lucky sites for dwelling[129].
(7) Consecrating sites[130].
(8) Ceremonial rinsings of the month.
(9) Ceremonial bathings [131].
(10) Offering sacrifices.
(11-14) Administering emetics and purgatives.
(15) Purging people to relieve the head (that is by giving drugs to make people sneeze).
(16) Oiling people's ears (either to make them grow or to heal sores on them).
(17) Satisfying people's eyes (soothing them by dropping medicinal oils into them).
(18) Administering drugs through the nose[132].
(19) Applying collyrium to the eyes.
(20) Giving medical ointment for the eyes.
(21) Practising as an oculist.
(22) Practising as a surgeon.
(23) Practising as a doctor for children.
(24) Administering roots and drugs.
(25) Administering medicines in rotation[133]"
'Gotama the recluse holds aloof from such low arts.'
'These, brethren, are the trifling matters, the minor details, of mere morality, of which the unconverted man when praising the Tathāgata, might speak.'
Here end the Long Paragraphs on Conduct.
28. 'There are, brethren, other things profound, difficult to realise, hard to understand, tranquillising, sweet, not to be grasped by mere logic, subtle, comprehensible only by the wise[134]. These things the Tathāgata, having himself realised them and seen them face to face, hath set forth; and it is of them that they, who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with the truth, should speak.
'And what are they?
29. `There are recluses and Brahmans, brethren, who reconstruct the ultimate beginnings of things, whose speculations are concerned with the ultimate past[135], and who on eighteen grounds put forward various assertions regarding it. And about what, with reference to what, do those venerable ones do so?
30. 'There are, brethren, some recluses and Brahmans who are Eternalists[136], and who, on four grounds, proclaim that both the soul and the world are eternal. And about what, with reference to what, do those venerable ones do so?
31. 'In the first place, brethren, some recluse or Brahman by means of ardour, of exertion, of application, of earnestness, of careful thought, reaches up to such rapture of heart that, rapt in heart, he calls to mind his various dwelling-places in times gone by—in one birth, or in two, or three, or four, or five, or ten, or twenty, or thirty, or forty, or fifty, or a hundred, or a thousand, or in several hundreds of thousands or laks of births—to the effect that "There I had such and such a name, was of such and such a lineage[137] and caste[138], lived on such and such food, experienced such and such pains and pleasures, had such and such a span of years. And when I fell from thence I was reborn in such and such a place under such and such a name, in such and such a lineage and caste, living on such and such food, experiencing such and such pains and pleasures, with such and such a span of years. And when I fell from thence I was reborn here." Thus does he recollect, in full detail both of condition and of custom, his various dwelling places in times gone by. And he says to himself: "Eternal is the soul; and the world, giving birth to nothing new, is stedfast as a mountain peak, as a pillar firmly fixed, and though these living creatures transmigrate and pass away, fall from one state of existence and spring up in another, yet they ale forever and ever. And why must that be so? Because I, by means of ardour of exertion of application of earnestness of careful thought, can reach up to such rapture of heart that, rapt in heart, I can call to mind, and in full detail both of condition and of custom, my various dwelling-places in times gone by—by that is it that I know this—that the soul is eternal; and that the world, giving birth to nothing new, is stedfast as a mountain peak, as a pillar firmly fixed; and that though these living creatures transmigrate and pass away, fall from one state of existence and spring up in another, yet they are forever and ever."
'This, brethren, is the first state of things on account of which, starting from which, some recluses and Brahmans are Eternalists, and maintain that both the soul and the world are eternal.
32. [The second case put is in all respects the same save that the previous births thus called to mind extend over a still longer period up to ten world aeons[139].]
33. [The third case put is in all respects the same save that the previous births thus called to mind extend over a still longer period up to forty world aeons.]
34. 'And in the fourth place, brethren, on what ground is it, starting from what, that those venerable ones are Eternalists, and maintain that the soul and the world are eternal.
'In this case, brethren, some recluse or Brahman is addicted to logic and reasoning. He gives utterance to the following conclusion of his own, beaten out by his argumentations and based on his sophistry[140]; "Eternal is the soul; and the world, giving birth to nothing new, is steadfast as a mountain peak, as a pillar firmly fixed; and these living creatures, though they transmigrate and pass away, fall from one state of existence and spring up in another, yet they are forever and ever.
"'This, brethren, is the fourth state of things on the ground of which, starting from which, some recluses and Brahmans are Eternalists, and maintain that the soul and the world are eternal.
35. 'These, brethren, are those recluses and Brahmans who are Eternalists, and in four ways maintain that both the soul and the world are eternal. For whosoever of the recluses and Brahmans are such and maintain this, they do so in these four ways, or in one or other of the same, and outside these there is no way in which this opinion is arrived at.
36. `Now of these, brethren, the Tathāgata knows that these speculations thus arrived at, thus insisted on, will have such and such a result, such and such an effect on the future condition of those who trust in them. That does he know, and he knows also other things far beyond (far better than those speculations)[141]; and having that knowledge he is not puffed up, and thus untarnished he has, in his own heart[142], realised the way of escape from them[143], has understood, as they really are, the rising up and passing away of sensations, their sweet taste, their danger, how they cannot be relied on; and not grasping after any (of those things men are eager for) he, the Tathāgata, is quite set free[144].
37. 'These[145], brethren, are those other things, profound, difficult to realise, hard to understand, tranquillising, sweet, not to be grasped by mere logic,. subtle, comprehensible only by the wise, which the Tathāgata, having himself realised and seen face to face, hath set forth; and it is concerning these that they who would rightly praise the Tathāgata in accordance with the truth, should speak.'
Here ends the First Portion for Recitation.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
The whole of this Sutta was translated into English by the Rev. Daniel Gogerly, Wesleyan missionary in Ceylon, in the journal of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1846 (reprinted by P. Grimblot in his `Sept Suttas Palis,' Paris, 1876).
[2]:
Nālandā, afterwards the seat of the famous Buddhist university, was about seven miles north of Rājagaha, the capital of Magadha, the modern Raj-gir (Sum. p. 35).
[3]:
Suppiya was a follower of the celebrated teacher Sañjaya, whose views are set out and controverted in the next Sutta.
[4]:
Ambalaṭṭhikā, 'the mango sapling.' It was, says Buddhaghosa (pp. 41, 42), a well-watered and shady park so called from a mango sapling by the gateway. It was surrounded with a rampart, and had in it a rest-house adorned with paintings for the king's amusement.
[5]:
These titles occur, in the MSS., at the end of the sections of the tract that now follows. It forms a part of each of the Suttas in the first division, the first third, of this collection of Suttas. The division is called therefore the Sīla Vagga or Section containing the Sīlas. The tract itself must almost certainly have existed as a separate work before the time when the discourses, in each of which it recurs, were first put together. Certain paragraphs from this tract occur also elsewhere. So in Majjhima I, 179 we have the whole of the short paragraphs; in Majjhima, Nos. 76 and 77, and in Mahāvagga V, 8, 3, we have Section 17; in Majjhima II, 3 we have most of Section 18; and so on. The whole of this tract has been translated into English by Gogerly (in Grimblot, see page 1, note), into French by Burnouf (also in Grimblot, pp. 212 foll.), and into German by Dr. Neumann (in his Buddhistische Anthologie, pp. 67 foll.).
[6]:
This refrain is repeated at the end of each clause. When the Sīlas recur below, in each Sutta, the only difference is in the refrain. See, for instance, the translation of p. 100 in the text.
[7]:
Neumann has 'waiting for a gift' which is a possible rendering: but pātikankhati has not yet been found elsewhere in the sense of 'waiting for.' The usual meaning of the word expresses just such a trifling matter as we have been led, from the context, to expect.
[8]:
Gāma-dhammā, 'from the village habit, the practice of country folk the "pagan" way.' One might render the phrase by 'pagan' if that word had not acquired, in English, a slightly different connotation. It is the opposite of porī, urbane (applied to speech, below, Section 9). Neumann misses the point here, but has 'höflich' below.
[9]:
Porī. See note above on Section 8.
[10]:
Sampha-ppalāpa. Sampha occurs alone in the Hemavata Sutta, and at Jāt. VI, 295; A. 11, 23.
[11]:
Samārambhā cannot mean 'planting' as Dr. Neumann renders it.
[12]:
Kaṃsa-kūṭa. The context suggests that kaṃsa (bronze) may here refer to coins, just as we say in English 'a copper,' and the word is actually so used in the 11th and 12th Bhikkhunī Nissaggiya Rules--the oldest reference in Indian books to coins. The most ancient coins, which were of private (not state) coinage, were either of bronze or gold. Buddhaghosa (p.79) explains the expression here used as meaning the passing off of bronze vessels as gold. Gogerly translates 'weights,' Childers sub voce has `counterfeit metal,' and Neumann has 'Māss.' Buddhaghosa is obliged to take kaṃsa in the meaning of `gold pot,' which seems very forced; and there is no authority for kaṃsa meaning either weight or mass. On the whole the coin explanation seems to me to be the simplest.
[13]:
Buddhaghosa gives examples of each of these five classes of the vegetable kingdom without explaining the terms. But it is only the fourth which is doubtful. It may mean 'graftings,' if the art of grafting was then known in the Ganges valley.
[14]:
Āmisa. Buddhaghosa (p. 83) gives a long list of curry-stuffs included under this term. If he is right then Gogerly's 'raw grain' is too limited a translation, and Neumann's 'all sorts of articles to use' too extensive. In its secondary meaning the word means something nice, a relish, a dainty.'
[15]:
Visūka-dassanaṃ. This word has only been found elsewhere in the phrase diṭṭhi-visūkaṃ, `the puppet shows of heresy' (Majjhima I, pp. 8, 486; and Serissaka Vimāna LXXXIV, 26). The Sinhalese renders it wiparīta-darsaṇa.
[16]:
Dancing. cannot mean here a dancing in which the persons referred to took part. It must be ballet or nautch dancing.
[17]:
Literally `shows.' This word, only found here, has always been rendered `theatrical representations.' Clough first translated it so in his Sinhalese Dictionary, p. 665, and he was followed by Gogerly, Burnouf, myself (in `Buddhist Suttas,' p. 192), and Dr. Neumann (p. 69),-and Weber (Indian Literature, pp. 199, 319) seems to approve this. But it is most unlikely that the theatre was already known in the fifth century B. C. And Buddhaghosa (p. 84) explains it, quite simply, as naṭa-samajjā. Now samajjo is a very interesting old word (at least in its Pāli form). The Sanskrit, according to the Petersburg Dictionary, has only been found in modern dictionaries. The Pāli occurs in other old texts such as Vinaya 11, 107; IV, 267 (both times in the very same context as it does here); ibid. II, 150; 1V, 85; Sigālovāda Sutta, p.300; and it is undoubtedly the same word as samāja in the first of the fourteen Edicts of Asoka. In the Sigālovāda there are said to be six dangers at such a samajjo; to wit, dancing, singing, music, recitations, conjuring tricks, and acrobatic shows. And in the Vinaya passages we learn that at a samajjo not only amusements but also food was provided; that high officials were invited, and had special seats; and that it took place at the top of a bill. This last detail of `high places' (that is sacred places) points to a religious motive as underlying the whole procedure. The root aj (??greak??agw??, ago, whence our `act') belongs to the stock of common Aryan roots, and means carrying on. What was the meaning of this `carrying on together'? Who were the people who took part? Were they confined to one village? or have we here a survival from old exogamic communistic dancings together? Later the word means simply fair,' as at Jātaka III, 541:`Many the bout 1 have played with quarterstaves at the fair,' with which Jātaka I, 394 may be compared. And it is no doubt this side of the festival which is here in the mind of the author; but `fair' is nevertheless a very inadequate rendering. The Sinhalese has rapid movement in dance-figures' (ranga-maṇḍalu).
[18]:
These ballad recitations in prose and verse combined were the source from which epic poetry was afterwards gradually developed. Buddhaghosa has no explanation of the word, but gives as examples the Bhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa. The negative anakkhānaṃ occurs Majjhima I, 503.
[19]:
Buddhaghosa explains this as `playing on cymbals'; and adds that it is also called pāṇitāëaṃ. The word is only found here and at Jātaka V, 5o6, and means literally `hand-sounds.'
[20]:
Buddhaghosa says `deep music, but some say raising dead bodies to life by spells.' His own explanation is, I think, meant to be etymological; and to show that he derives the word from vi + tāëa. This would bring the word into connection with the Sanskrit vaitāëika, `royal bard.' The other explanation connects the word with Vetāla, `a demon,' supposed to play pranks (as in the stories of the Vetāla-pañca-viṃsati) by reanimating corpses. Dr. Neumann adopts it. But it does not agree so well with the context; and it seems scarcely justifiable to see, in this ancient list, a reference to beliefs which can only be traced in literature more than a thousand years later. Gogerly's rendering funeral ceremonies,' which I previously followed, seems to me now quite out of the question.
[21]:
It is clear from Jātaka V, 5o6 that this word means a sort of music. And at Vinaya IV, 285 kumbhathūnikā are mentioned in connection with dancers, acrobats, and hired mourners. Buddhaghosa is here obscure and probably corrupt, and the derivation is quite uncertain. Gogerly's guess seems better than Burnouf's or Neumann's. The Sinhalese has `striking a drum big enough to hold sixteen gallons.'
[22]:
Buddhaghosa seems to understand by this term (literally `of Sobha city') the adornments or scenery used for a ballet-dance. (Paṭibhāṇa-cittam at Vinaya 11, 151; IV, 61, 298, 358; Sum. 1, 42 is the nude in art.) Weber has pointed out (Indische Studien, II, 38; III, 153) that Sobha is a city of the, fairies much given to music and love-making. It is quite likely that the name of a frequently used scene for a ballet because a proverbial phrase for all such scenery. But the Sinhalese has `pouring water over the heads of dancers, or nude paintings.'
[23]:
Buddhaghosa takes these three words separately, and so do all the MSS. of the text, and the Sinhalese version. But 1 now think that the passage at Jātaka IV, 390 is really decisive, and that we have here one of the rare cases where we can correct our MSS. against the authority of the old commentator. But 1 follow him in the general meaning he assigns to the strange expression `Caṇḍāla-bamboo washings.'
[24]:
See Jātaka III, 541.
[25]:
Nibbuddhaṃ. The verbal form nibbujjhati occurs in the list at Vinaya III, 180 (repeated at 11, 10); and our word at Milinda 232.
[26]:
All these recur in the introductory story to the 50th Pācittiya (Vinaya IV, 107). On the last compare Buddhaghosa on Mahāvagga V, I, 2 9.
[27]:
All these terms recur at Vinaya III, 180 (repeated at II, 10).
[28]:
Chess played originally on a board of eight times ten squares was afterwards played on one of eight times eight squares. Our text cannot be taken as evidence of real chess in the fifth century B. C., but it certainly refers to games from which it and draughts must have been developed. The Sinhalese Sanna says that each of these games was played with dice and pieces such as kings and so on. The word for pieces is poru (from purisa)—just our men.'
[29]:
Ākāsaṃ. How very like blindfold chess!
[30]:
Parihāra-pathaṃ. A kind of primitive `hop-scotch.' The Sinhalese says the steps must be made hopping.
[31]:
Santikā. Spellicans, pure and simple.
[32]:
Khalikā. Unfortunately the method of playing is not stated. Compare Eggeling's note as in his Satapatha-Brāhmaṇa 11I, 106, 7. In the gambling-scene on the Bharhut `Tope (Cunningham, PI. XLV, No. 9) there is a board marked out on the stone of six times five squares (not six by six), and six little cubes with marks on the sides visible lie on the stone outside the board.
[33]:
Jhaṭikaṃ Something like `tip-cat.' Siṃ - kelīmaya in Sinhalese.
[34]:
Sa1āka-hatthaṃ. On flour-water as colouring matter, see Jātaka I, 220.
[35]:
Akkhaṃ. The usual meaning is `a die.' But the Sinhalese translator agrees with Buddhaghosa. Neither gives any details.
[36]:
Pangacīram. The Sinhalese for this toy is pat-kulal. Morris in J. P. T. S., 1889, p. 205, compares the Marathīpungi.
[37]:
Vankakaṃ. From Sanskrit vrika. See journal of the Pāli Text Society, 1889, p. 206.
[38]:
Mokkhacikā,. So the Sinhalese. Buddhaghosa has an alternative explanation of turning over on a trapeze, but gives this also. See Vinaya I, 275, and J. P. T. S., 1885, p. 49.
[39]:
Cingulikaṃ. See Morris in the J. P. T. S., 1885, p. 5o, who compares cingulāyitvā at Aïguttara III, 15, 2.
[40]:
All these six, from No. 10 inclusive, are mentioned in the Majjhima, vol. 1, p. 266, as children's games.
[41]:
Akkharikā. it is important evidence for the date at which writing was known in India that such a game should be known in the fifth century B. C.
[42]:
The following list recurs Vinaya I, 192 = 11, 163 = Aïguttara 1, 181, &c.
[43]:
Āsandī. Buddhaghosa merely says `a seat beyond the allowed measure,' but that must refer to height, as the only rule as to measure in seats is the 87th Pācittiya in which the height of beds or chairs is limited to eight `great' inches (probably about eighteen inches). The Sinhalese Sanna adds `a long chair for supporting the whole body.' At Jāt. I, 208 a man lies down on an āsandī so as to be able to-look up and watch the stars. At Dīgha I, 55 = Majjhima 1,515 = Saṃyutta 111, (where the reading must be corrected), the Āsandī is used as a bier. The Āsandī is selected as the right sort of seat for the king in both the Vājapeya and Inauguration ceremonies because of its height (Eggeling, Sat.-Brāh. III, 35, 105). It is there said to be made of common sorts of wood, and perforated; which probably means that the frame was of wood and the seat was of interlaced cane or wickerwork. The diminutive āsandiko, with short legs and made square (for sitting, not lying on), is allowed in the Buddhist Order by Vinaya 11, 149. And even the āsandī is allowed, if the tall legs be cut down, by Vinaya II, 169, 170 (where the reading chinditvā seems preferable, and is read in the quotation at Sum. 1, 88). The renderings `large cushion' at `Vinaya Texts,' II, 27 and `stuffed couch' at 111, 209 must be accordingly corrected. Gogerly translates `large couch,' Burnouf une chaise longue,' and Neumann bequeme Lehnstuhl.'
[44]:
Pallanko. It is noteworthy that, in spite of the use of a divan with animals carved on its supports being here objected to, it is precisely the sort of seat on which the Buddha himself, or Buddhist personages of distinction, are often, in later sculptures, represented as sitting (Grunwedel, `Buddhistische kunst,' pp. III, 124, 137; Mitra, `Budh Gayā,' Plates XI, XX, &c. &c.). At Mahāvaṃsa 25 sīhāsana and pallanko are used of the same seat (Asoka's throne), and sīhāsana is used of Duṭṭha Gamini's throne, ibid. 157. But the Lion throne of Nissanka Malla, found at Pollonnaruwa, is not a pallanko, but an actual stone lion, larger than life size ('Indian Antiquary,' vol. 1, p. 135. Compare the similar seat in Grunwedel, p. 95). By Vinaya 11, 170 the possession of a pallanka was allowed to the Order if the animal figures were broken off (the translation in `Vinaya Texts,' III, 209, must be altered accordingly, reading vāle for vale, as at Vinaya IV, 312). By Vinaya II, 163 it is laid down that members of the Order were not to use a complete pallanko even in laymen's houses, so that Nigrodha's action in the passage just quoted (Mahāvaṃsa 25) was really a breach of the regulations.
[45]:
The words from gonako down to kaṭṭhissaṃ inclusive, and also kuttakaṃ, are found only in this list, and Buddhaghosa seems to be uncertain as to the exact meaning of some of them. All except No. 7 might be used in laymen's houses ('Vinaya Texts,' III, 197), and all might be possessed by the Order if used only as floor coverings (ibid. 111, 209); except again No. 7, the cotton wool of which might be utilised for pillows. As there is a doubt about the spelling it may be noticed that the Sanna reads goṇakaṃ and uddalomiṃ: and the MS. in the R. A. S. (which repeats each sentence) has gonakaṃ and uddalomiṃ both times.
[46]:
Sambāhanaṃ. Perhaps rubbing the limbs with flat pieces of wood. See Buddhaghosa here and at `Vinaya Texts,' III, 60.
[47]:
This is not quite accurate. Out of the twenty items here objected to, three (shampooing, bathing, and the use of sunshades) were allowed in the Order, and practised by Gotama himself. Bathrooms, and halls attached to them, are permitted by `Vinaya Texts,' III, 189; shampooing by ibid. III, 68, 297. There are elaborate regulations for the provision of hot steam baths and the etiquette to be observed in them; and instances of the use of the ordinary bath in streams or rivers are frequent. The use of sunshades is permitted by `Vinaya Texts,' 111, 13 2-3, and is referred to ibid. 111, 88, 274.
[48]:
Visikhā-kathā. Buddhaghosa (p.90) takes this word (literally 'street-talk') in the sense of talk about streets, whether ill or well situate, and whether the inhabitants are bold or poor, &c.
[49]:
Pubba-peta-kathā. The commentator confines this to boasting talk about deceased relatives or ancestors.
[50]:
Nānatta-kathaṃ, literally `difference-talk.' The expression seems somewhat forced, if taken as meaning 'desultory'; but I see no better explanation.
[51]:
Lokakkhāyikā. Buddhaghosa refers this specially to such speculations as are put forth according to the Lokātyata system by the Vitaṇḍas (also called Lokāyatikas). These are materialistic theorisers, of whose system very little is, so far, known. See the note at 'Vinaya Texts', vol. iii, p. 151. I have collected other references to them in my 'Milinda,' vol. i, p.7; and to these Dīgha I, 11 114,120, and Attha Sālinī, p.3, may now be added. They are probably referred to below in chap. iii of this Sutta, Section 10, 20.
[52]:
This list of foolish talks recurs in Suttas 76-78 in the Majjhima, and at Vinaya I, 188.
[53]:
These expressions all recur at Majjhima II, 3.
[54]:
Sahitaṃ me, literally 'the put together is to me,' &c. The idiom is only found here, and may mean either as rendered above, or 'the context is on my side,' or 'the text (of the Scriptures) is on my side,' or merely 'that which is of use is on my side.' This last, given by the Sanna, amounts to the same as the version adopted above.
[55]:
Putting the cart before the horse.
[56]:
Āropito te vādo. On the use of this idiom compare the Commentary on the Therī Gāthā, p. 101. There is a misprint here in the text, aropito for āropito. 'Issue has been joined against you' would be a possible rendering. It is the phrase used, when some one has offered to hold debate (maintain a thesis) against all corners, by an opponent who takes up the challenge.
[57]:
Niggahīto si. On this idiom compare the opening paragraphs of the Kathā Vatthu and the Commentary on them (especially pp. 9, 10). It is literally 'you are censured.'
[58]:
Cara vāda-pamokkhāya. So Buddhaghosa. But Gogerly renders, 'Depart, that you may be freed from this disputation and the only parallel passage seems to support this view.' It is Majjhima 1, 133, where it is said to be wrong to learn the Scriptures for the sake of the advantage of being freed from discussion or debate where texts are quoted against one. Pamokkha occurs besides at Saṃyutta I, 2, Jātaka V, 30, 31, and Mahāvaṃsa 158, but not in this connection.
[59]:
So the author of Milinda in making his hero Nāgasena use just such a phrase (Mil. P. 27) is making him commit a breach of propriety.
[60]:
Kuhakā. 'Astonish the world with the three sorts of trickery,' says Buddhaghosa. These are also referred to without explanation at Jātaka IV, 297 (where we should, I think, read kuhana).
[61]:
Lapakā. Compare Itivuttaka, No. 99 = Aïguttara I, 165, 168; and also Milinda 228, Jātaka III, 349.
[62]:
Nemittakā, 'interpreters of signs and omens.' See the note on nimittaṃ in the next paragraph. Compare Milinda 299; Jāt. IV, 124.
[63]:
Nippesikā, 'scarers away' (? of ghosts, or bad omens). But the Commentary and Sanna give no help, and the word has only been found in this list.
[64]:
All the five words in this list recur at A. III, iii but the context there is as undecisive as it is here, and the Commentary (fol. di of the 'Turnour MS. at the India Office'), though slightly different, gives no better help.
[65]:
Aïgaṃ, literally `limbs.' Buddhaghosa distinguishes this from lakkhaṇaṃ (No. 5 in this list), and from anga-vijjā (No. 16). It is not found, in this sense, anywhere in the texts.
[66]:
Nimittaṃ, literally `marks,' or ,signs.' Buddhaghosa tells a story in illustration. King Paṇḍu, they say (Pāṇḍi in the Sanna), took three pearls in his closed hand, and asked a diviner what he had in it. The latter looked this way and that for a sign; and seeing a fly which had been caught by a house-lizard (the Sanna says `by a dog,' perhaps the meaning is simply `in sugar') getting free (ṃuttā), said at once `pearls' (also muttā in Pāli). `How many.û says the king. The diviner, hearing a dog bark thrice, answered `three.' Compare Mil. 178, and the note to the last section on nemittikā, and the story at Mahāvaṃsa 82.
[67]:
Uppādo, `the portents of the great ones, thunderbolts falling, and so on,' says Buddhaghosa. The Great Ones here mean, 1 think, the spirits or gods presiding over the sun, moon, and planets (see the note on Section 26). The word corresponds to the Sanskrit Utpāta, though the d is vouched for by overwhelming authority. But this is only another instance of a change not infrequent (as Ed. Mller has shown, Pāli Grammar, p. 37); and the one or two cases where Burmese scribes have (wrongly) corrected to uppāta is another instance to be added to those referred to in the Introduction to Sum. 1 of their habit of putting an easier reading where the more difficult one is really right. Childers should therefore have kept this word separate from the other uppādo. Comp. Jāt. 1, 374.
[68]:
Supinaṃ. On the theory of dreams compare Mil., pp. 297-301. At Jāt. I, 374 the word is masculine. Perhaps charms to avert bad dreams (Ath.-veda VI, 46; XVI, 5 and 6) are included in this low art.' Jāt. No. 77 mocks at the dream interpreters.
[69]:
Lakkhaṇaṃ. The commentator on this word as used in the very same connection at Jāt. I, 374 adds that it means also the knowledge of good and bad marks on such persons and things as are mentioned here in our next paragraph. Buddhaghosa confines its meaning to that given above. This contradiction is another confirmation of the opinion expressed by me in 1880 in `Buddhist Birth Stories,' pp. lxiii foll., that Childers was wrong in ascribing the Jātaka Commentary to Buddhaghosa. The word occurs in Buddhaghosa's sense at D. I, 114, 120= A. 1, 163, &c.; Jāt. I, 56.
[70]:
Musikācchinnaṃ. The allied superstition of thinking it unlucky to wear clothes gnawed by mice is laughed out of court in the Mangala Jātaka, No. 87.
[71]:
Aggi-homaṃ. Telling people that a sacrifice, if offered in a fire of such and such a wood, will have such and such a result.
[72]:
Dabbi-homaṃ. Telling people that an oblation of such and such grains, butter, or so on, poured into the fire from such and such a sort of spoon, will have such and such a result.
[73]:
See Hillebrandt, `Neu und Vollmondsopfer,' pp. 31, 171, and Ritual-literatur' in Bhler's `Grundriss,' pp. 71, 72, 114, 176. The nine homas here objected to may also be compared with the seven at Ath.-veda VIII, 9, 18.
[74]:
No instance of this can be traced in the books of the Brahmans.
[75]:
Compare the passage in Hillebrandt, in Bhler's Grundriss,' p. 176, on the use of blood for sorcery. In one passage, Rig-vidh. III, 18, 3, it is one's own blood that is to be used. But the specific interpretation given here by Buddhaghosa cannot be paralleled from the Brahmanical books.
[76]:
Anga-vijja. Buddhaghosa thus separates this from the aïgaṃ of No. 1. In both the passages Jāt. 11, 200, 250 the knowledge is simply that of judging from a man's appearance that he is rough or bad. and it is the good man in the story (in the second case the Bodisat himself) who is the anga-vijjā-pāṭhako. So at Jāt. V, 458 it is by anga-vijjā that the Bodisat prophesies that a man will be cruel.
[77]:
Vatthu-vijjā. Childers (Dict., p. 559) has `pool' instead of `house,' having misread sara for ghara (s and gh are nearly alike in Sinhalese). The craft is further explained by Buddhaghosa in his comment on the Mahā-parinibbāna Sutta I, 26. Its success depended on the belief that the sites were haunted by spirits. See further below, Section 27.
[78]:
Khatta-vijjā,. The Burmese MSS. correct the rare khatta into the familiar khetta. Khetta-vijjā indeed occurs at Ud. III, 9, and may just possibly there (in connection with writing, arithmetic, tables, &c.) be correct in the meaning- of `land-surveying, mensuration.' Buddhaghosa, though his explanation is corrupt, evidently understands the phrase in a sense similar to that of khatta-dhamma at Jāt. V, 489, 490; Mil. 164 (see also 178); and his gloss nītisatthaṃ is probably nearer the mark than Saïkara's (on Chānd. Up. VII, 1, 2), which is dhanur-veda. It is the craft of government, then lying in great part in adhering- to custom. The Sutta only follows the Upanishad in looking at all these crafts as minor matters, but it goes beyond it in looking upon them as a `low' way, for a Brahman, of gaining a livelihood.
[79]:
Siva-vijjā. It is clear that siva is used euphemistically, and we may here have an early reference to what afterwards developed into the cult of the god Siva. Buddhaghosa gives an alternative explanation as knowledge of the cries of jackals.
[80]:
Bhūta-vijjā. Also in the Chāndogya list (lac. cit.)
[81]:
Bhūri-vijjā. It is the same as bhūri-kammaṃ, explained in the same way by Buddhaghosa on Section 27 below.
[82]:
Ahi-vijjā. One method is described at Jāt. IV, 457, 8, Perhaps such charms against snake-bite as Ath.-v. V,13; VI, 12, 56; VII, 88, are included.
[83]:
Buddhaghosa says curing or giving poison, or poison spells (compare Ath.-v. VI, 90, 93, 100).
[84]:
These are explained to mean simply curing the bites of these creatures.
[85]:
These are explained to mean simply curing the bites of these creatures.
[86]:
Understanding their language.
[87]:
Divining- by the appearance and the cawings of crows.
[88]:
Compare the Ambaṭṭha-vijjā at Sum. 255 and below, p. 96 of the text, Section 23.
[89]:
Miga-cakkaṃ. Understanding the language of all creatures.
[90]:
The whole of this `low art' as applied to gems has been collected in a series of manuals now edited by L. Finot in his 'Lapiddires Indiens,' Paris, 1896.
[91]:
The art in these four cases is to determine whether the marks on them show they will bring good (or bad) luck to the houses in which they dwell.
[92]:
The art in these four cases is to determine whether the marks on them show they will bring good (or bad) luck to the houses in which they dwell.
[93]:
The art in these four cases is to determine whether the marks on them show they will bring good (or bad) luck to the houses in which they dwell.
[94]:
The art in these four cases is to determine whether the marks on them show they will bring good (or bad) luck to the houses in which they dwell.
[95]:
The art in these five cases is to determine whether it is unclean or not to eat them.
[96]:
The art in these five cases is to determine whether it is unclean or not to eat them.
[97]:
The art in these five cases is to determine whether it is unclean or not to eat them.
[98]:
The art in these five cases is to determine whether it is unclean or not to eat them.
[99]:
The art in these five cases is to determine whether it is unclean or not to eat them.
This comes in here very oddly. But the old commentator had the same reading, and takes the word in its ordinary senses, not even as amulet.
Throughout these paragraphs the plural is used. This cannot be honorific, as the few great kings of that time are always spoken of in the singular. Yet all the previous translators, except Burnouf, translate by the singular-'the king will march out,' &c. It is evident that we have to understand `chiefs,' and not the `king `: and that not absolute monarchies, but republican institutions of a more or less aristocratic type, were in the mind of the composer of the paragraph.
Nakkhatta, translated by Gogerly and Neumann a 'planet.' Buddhaghosa explains it by `Mars and so on.' This may apply to planets, but also to stars in general, and I know no other passage where the meaning of the word is confined to planets. Burnouf has 'constellation,' but what can the eclipse of a constellation mean?
Patha-gamana and uppatha-gamana. Prof. Kielhorn says (in a note he has been kind enough to send me on this section): What the author means by these words I do not know. But uppatha-gamana would be literally "aberration, the going away from one's proper path"; and patha-gamana therefore should be "following one's proper course." I am sure the two words could not mean conjunction and opposition; nor, I think, ascension and declension. It is curious that Buddhaghosa has not explained them.'
Ukkā-pāto. See Jāt. 1, 374; Mil. 178.
Disā-dāho. Thunder and lightning,' according to Neumann; fiery corruscations in the atmosphere,' according to Gogerly, whom Burnouf follows. But Buddhaghosa's words are only explicable of a jungle fire. Compare Jāt. 1, 212, 213, 374.
Burnouf takes these four words to refer to four occurrences. Gogerly and Neumann take them as only two. Buddhaghosa seems to imply four.
Muddā. There has been great diversity in the various guesses made at the meaning in this connection of muddā, which usually means 'seal' or 'seal-ring.' Gogerly has 'conveyancing,' and so also Childers; Burnouf takes this word and the next as one compound in the sense of 'foretelling the future by calculating diagrams'; and Neumann has 'Verwaltungsdienste,' administrative services. Buddhaghosa is very curt. He says only hattha-muddāgaṇanā Hatthamuddā is found elsewhere only at Jāt. III, 528, where hattha- muddaṃ karoti means `to beckon,' and at Vin. V, 163, where it is said of the polite member of the Order that he makes, no sign with his hand, nor beckons. (On hattha-vikāra compare Mil. 1, 207, 547 = Vin. I,157 = Vin. II, 216.) Both these passages are much later than our text, and the sense of beckoning is here impossible. But muddā is mentioned as a craft at Vin. IV, 7 (where it is called honourable), at M. I, 85, and several times in the Milinda (pp. 3, 59, 78, 178 of the Pāli text), and muddiko as the person who practises that craft at D. I, 51 and Vin. IV, 8. The Sinhalese comment on this (quoted in my translation of the Milinda, 1, 91) shows that the art there was simply arithmetic, using the joints or knuckles of the fingers as an aid to memory. And this is no doubt the meaning in our paragraph.
Gaṇanā. Buddhaghosa's comment on this is acchiddakā-gaṇanā, in contradistinction to the last. It is evidently calculation not broken up by using, the fingers, mental arithmetic pure and simple. The accountant who uses this method is called gaṇako (D. I, 51; Vin. IV, 8). Buddhaghosa's comment on the latter passage is given by Minayeff at Pat. 84, but with a wrong reading, akkhiṃṭaka.
Saṃkhānaṃ, literally 'counting up.' He who has the faculty of doing this can, on looking at a tree, say how many leaves it has, says Buddhaghosa. But the first words of his comment are doubtful. He may perhaps mean calculating masses by means of the rosary. Burnouf skips this word, and Neumann has simply 'counting.'
Kāveyyaṃ. The word recurs, in a bad sense, at A. 1, 72= III, 107, and also at S. I, 110 in the phrase kāveyya-matto, `drunk with prophecy, inspired.' Buddhaghosa enumerates, in the words of A. II, 230, four kinds of poetry, and explains them in nearly the same words as found in the Manoratha Pūranī on that passage. None of the four refer to sacrificial hymns. Impromptu rhyming, ballad singing, and the composition of poems are meant.
Lokāhyataṃ. Usually rendered 'materialism.' But it is quite clear that this meaning is impossible in this connection. See Milinda 174.
Compare the Sinhalese bīna (binna) marriage in which the bridegroom is brought into the house of the bride's family.
Compare the Sinhalese dīga marriage in which the bride is sent out to live in the bridegroom's family. We have no words now in English to express this difference between marrying and giving in marriage.
Saṃvadanaṃ. Childers calls this a magic art, following Burnouf who calls it sorcery. Buddhaghosa explains it as astrology. The fact is all these expressions are technical terms for acts of astrology or sorcery, they none of them occur elsewhere either in Pāli or Sanskrit, and the tradition preserved by Buddhaghosa may be at fault in those cases in which the use of the word had not survived to later times. The general sense may be sufficiently clear, but for absolute certainty of interpretation we must wait till examples are found in Indian books of the actual use of the words, not in mere lists, but in a connection which shows the meaning. Ath-v III, 30 is a charm to secure concord in a family, compare VII, 52; and there are several charms in the Athara-veda for success in gambling.
Saṃvadanaṃ. Childers calls this a magic art, following Burnouf who calls it sorcery. Buddhaghosa explains it as astrology. The fact is all these expressions are technical terms for acts of astrology or sorcery, they none of them occur elsewhere either in Pāli or Sanskrit, and the tradition preserved by Buddhaghosa may be at fault in those cases in which the use of the word had not survived to later times. The general sense may be sufficiently clear, but for absolute certainty of interpretation we must wait till examples are found in Indian books of the actual use of the words, not in mere lists, but in a connection which shows the meaning. Ath-v III, 30 is a charm to secure concord in a family, compare VII, 52; and there are several charms in the Athara-veda for success in gambling.
Saṃvadanaṃ. Childers calls this a magic art, following Burnouf who calls it sorcery. Buddhaghosa explains it as astrology. The fact is all these expressions are technical terms for acts of astrology or sorcery, they none of them occur elsewhere either in Pāli or Sanskrit, and the tradition preserved by Buddhaghosa may be at fault in those cases in which the use of the word had not survived to later times. The general sense may be sufficiently clear, but for absolute certainty of interpretation we must wait till examples are found in Indian books of the actual use of the words, not in mere lists, but in a connection which shows the meaning. Ath-v III, 30 is a charm to secure concord in a family, compare VII, 52; and there are several charms in the Athara-veda for success in gambling.
Saṃvadanaṃ. Childers calls this a magic art, following Burnouf who calls it sorcery. Buddhaghosa explains it as astrology. The fact is all these expressions are technical terms for acts of astrology or sorcery, they none of them occur elsewhere either in Pāli or Sanskrit, and the tradition preserved by Buddhaghosa may be at fault in those cases in which the use of the word had not survived to later times. The general sense may be sufficiently clear, but for absolute certainty of interpretation we must wait till examples are found in Indian books of the actual use of the words, not in mere lists, but in a connection which shows the meaning. Ath-v III, 30 is a charm to secure concord in a family, compare VII, 52; and there are several charms in the Athara-veda for success in gambling.
Subhaga-karanaṃ. Many such charms are preserved in the Atharva-veda (for instance, X, 3:; 5; XVI, 4; 9)
It would be useless to seek in the Atharva-veda, which (with the one exception mentioned in the notes to the next section) gives only the charms which are supposed to bring benefits, for instances of these malevolent practices. But we have here direct evidence that black magic, as was indeed inevitable was as fully trusted in the sixth century B. C. in the valley of the Ganges as white. We need not be surprised that the malevolent charms are not recorded.
Adāsa-pañho. Buddhaghosa says they made a god appear in the mirror and answer questions put. It is a later conception to discard the god, and make the mirror itself give pictures of the hidden events. The mirror is of metal (Par. Dip. 235).
Kumāri-pañho. Through a girl of good family and repute.
Deva-pañho. Also obtained through a girl, but this time a deva-dāsī or temple prostitute. It is instructive to find, even under the patriarchal regime of the sixth century B. C., that men thought they could best have communications from the gods through the medium of a woman.
Ādiccupaṭṭhānam. Such sun-worship is ridiculed in the Jātaka of the same name, No. 173.
Buddhaghosa explains the Great One as Mahā Brahma. This seems to me very doubtful. It is at least odd to find Brahma introduced in this connection. We may grant that the Buddhists might have put sun-worship into a list of sorceries, but there was no ceremonial cult of Brahma and little or none of Brahmā. And however much the new gospel might hold the speculations of the dominant theosophy in contempt, that would scarcely explain their being ranked as privates in this regiment. Burnouf avoids this by rendering the phrase generally `serving the great,' and Neumann has `practising sorcery.' Neither of these guesses seems happy. Mahat in composition is elsewhere always mahā in Pāli, and we possibly have here a sandhi for mahatī-upaṭṭhānam, in the sense of worship of the Great Mother, the Earth, with covert allusion to Mahī. This would give excellent sense, as the worship of the Mother Earth was closely associated in the popular mind with witchcraft. A god or goddess is certainly meant, and one so associated would be best in place here. It is perhaps worthy of note that in the oldest portion of the Taittirīya Upanishad, Sun, Moon, Earth, and Srī occur together in a set of mystic groups, and Sun, Moon, Brahma, and food are all identified by a word-play with Mahas (Sīkrā-vallī" 4-7).
See Milinda 191, and Jāt. II, 410.
Bhūri-kammaṃ. Is this a place sacred to Mother Earth? The ceremony referred to is the carrying out of the vijjā or craft mentioned in the list at Section 21.
Vassa- and vossa-kammaṃ. Morris discusses the etymology of these words, only found in this list, in the J. P. T. S., 1889, p. 208. The idea of the second is not, of course, castration, but making a man's desire to fail by a spell. Several such are preserved in the Atharva (IV, 4; VI, 1 0 1 to give virility; VI, I 3 8; VII, 1 I 3 to cause impotence).
Vassa- and vossa-kammaṃ. Morris discusses the etymology of these words, only found in this list, in the J. P. T. S., 1889, p. 208. The idea of the second is not, of course, castration, but making a man's desire to fail by a spell. Several such are preserved in the Atharva (IV, 4; VI, 1 0 1 to give virility; VI, I 3 8; VII, 1 I 3 to cause impotence).
Vatthu-kammaṃ and -parikiraṇaṃ. These constitute the vatthu-vijjā of Section 21.
Vatthu-kammaṃ and -parikiraṇaṃ. These constitute the vatthu-vijjā of Section 21.
Bathings, that is, of other people.
See Mil. I, 511 and the rules laid down in `Vinaya Texts, II 53-55.
The Buddhist view of Nos. 11-25 must not be mistaken. It is sufficiently clear from the numerous examples in the Vinaya (see especially 'Vinaya Texts,' II, pp. 41-144), and from the high praise accorded to Jīvaka and other physicians, that the objection was to recluses and Brahmans practising medicine as a means of livelihood. They might do so gratis for themselves or for their coreligionists, and laymen might do so for gain. The use of paṭimokkha in No. 25 is curious. It is when, for instance, a purgative is first given and then a tonic to counteract the other, to set free from its effect. Compare Jāt. V, 25.
The corresponding Sanskrit terms occur at Divyāvadāna, p. 492. No doubt the reading there ought to be nipuṇo.
These phrases recur S. III, 45. On anuddiṭṭhi see also Gogerly in the, Ceylon Friend, 1875, p. 133, and Morris in the J. P. T. S., 1886, p. 113; and compare , attānuddiṭṭhi at Mil. 146, 160, 352 S. N. 1119. As in our colloquial expression a 'viewy man,' diṭṭhi almost always, and anudiṭṭhi in all the seven passages where it occurs, have a connotation of contempt—a mere view, an offhand ill—considered opinion, a delusion. The Greek greak.Øæøa has had a similar history, and dogma or speculation is a better rendering than view or belief.
Sassata-vādā.
Gotra, literally `cow-stall.' The history of this word has yet to be written. It probably meant at the time this Sutta was written a family or lineage traced through the father. On the meaning of gotraja (the gentiles of Roman Law) in the later law-books see West and Bhler, 'Hindu Law of Inheritance,' p.171.
Vaṇṇa, literally 'colour.' Gogerly renders it 'appearance,' and Neumann 'Beruf.' I have chosen caste (though it is not caste in its strictest sense) because it no doubt refers to the cattāro vaṇṇā mentioned so often in the Suttas. It is true that these—Khattiyas, Brahmans, Vessas, and Suddas—were not castes, but four divisions of the people, each consisting of many subdivisions (by customs as to connubium and commensality) which afterwards hardened into castes. ,,See J. R. A. S., 1897, PP. SO-,90.
Saṃvaṭṭa - vivaṭṭaṃ (rolling up and evolution, from vaṭṭ, to turn). It is the period of the gradual disintegration and conformation of a world. Needless to add that the length of this period cannot be expressed in figures. Neither the idea nor the word occurs in books known to be before the Buddha. But both are Indian rather than Buddhist. Saṃvarta is found in the Mahā Bhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa; and the later Sāïkhya notion of pralaya is closely allied.
This phrase recurs below, chap. iii SectionSection 14, 20.
Sīla, for instance, and samādhi, and all the other things known to a Buddha, says Buddhaghosa, p. 108.
Paccattaṃ. See the common phrases A. II, 198=S. I, 9, 10, 117; M. I, 188=422; M. I, 251, 252 = S. III, 54, &c.; and S. N. 611,906; Mil. 96, 347; Sum. 182. `Without depending on anyone else, himself by himself,' says Buddhaghosa.
Nirvana, says Buddhaghosa.
Gogerly (PP. 77, 78 in Grimblot) has made a sad mess of this paragraph misunderstanding the grammatical construction of the first clause, and misinterpreting parāmasati in the second, and nissaranaṃ in the third.
Not of course the four speculations, but the higher knowledge which has led him to reject them.