The Mahavastu (great story)

by J. J. Jones | 1949 | 502,133 words | ISBN-10: 086013041X

This page describes conversion of bimbisara which is Chapter XLV of the English translation of the Mahavastu (“great story”), dating to the 2nd-century BC. This work belongs to the Mahasanghika school of early Buddhism and contains narrative stories of the Buddha’s former lives, such as Apadanas, Jatakas and more..

Chapter XLV - The conversion of Bimbisāra

Note: Cf. the account in the Mahāvagga 1.22. The circumstances related by way of introduction are peculiar to the Mhvu. Verbal parallelism with the Pali version begins only with p. 441.

The Exalted One, perfectly enlightened and having realised the aim he had set himself, was staying, not long after his enlightenment, at Uruvilvā, at the foot of the Goatherd’s Banyan-tree on the banks of the river Nairañjanā.

(437) Now it happened that King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra’s brahman household-priest and tutor had at daybreak gone up to the upper terrace of the palace and was reading the detailed description of the thirty-two marks of a Great Man. King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra heard him,[1] and there came to him then the recollection of the Buddha. “Ah!” said he, “may the exalted Buddha appear in my realm once more, and may I once more see him. And when I have seen him may he approve of my way of life. May I with trustful heart pay homage[2]  to the Exalted One. And may he teach me the dharma, and may I listen to and understand the dharma.”

And when the night was past King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra gave instructions to a certain man, saying to him, “Go, man, and quickly hitch the fine carriages, and let me know when it is done.” “So be it, your majesty,” said the man in obedience to King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra. Quickly he hitched the fine carriages, and when he had done so he reported. “Your majesty,” said he, “the fine carriages are ready and at your disposal.”[3]

Then King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra mounted a fine carriage, and with great royal majesty and splendour and to the accompaniment of shouts of “bravo” and “hurrah” and the noise of drums, tabours, cymbals and trumpets he left the city of Rājagṛha and came to a certain park. He drove on as far as the ground allowed, and then proceeded on foot. He roamed and wandered through the park, and then sat down on a golden palanquin with his face to the east, surrounded by his women and attended by his council of ministers.

When King (438) Bimbisāra looked towards the city of Rājagṛha, its hills and lotus-pools, and remembered the nobles of old who were dead and gone, there came to him the forthright understanding[4] of one who is disgusted[5] with pleasures of sense.

He who brought increase to the realm of the Aṅgas[6] left the park and sat down on his splendid throne of gold.

The fair blossoming sāl-trees, rustling as with sound of music,[7] and just then duly bursting into bloom,[8] were laden with flowers.

He gazed on the hills that were filled with wild beasts, the haunts of monkeys and numerous lions.

The king sat down with his face to the east and thought of the days of old. With tear-dimmed eyes he recited these verses;

Though I now stand in glory like snow-white mount Kailāsa, yet my father and my grandfather are dead and gone, their craving still unsatisfied.[9]

To what regions are they now gone, who spent their lives among these fair and bright and happy glades, these lotus-pools and crags?

To what regions are they now gone, who spent their lives among these wide-spread domains?

To what regions are they now gone who, when they lived, enjoyed these clothes and necklaces and earrings?

To what regions are they now gone, who bathed in these delightful lotus-fools which echo to the songs[10] of various birds and (439) are covered with fragrant white lotuses?

To what regions are they now gone, who spent their lives among these delightful and heavenly resorts, with their green grass nestling by the water, shady and cool and pleasant?

Today, I see no life in these abodes where hundreds used to live, nor in these mountains over which I used to roam. These places which I used to haunt I now deem emptiness. So what, verily,[11] is life but death, a mere fleeting moment[12] full of ill?

Death, certain death, inevitably follows life. A man that is born cannot but die—this is the lot of living things.

Wherever a living man goes wearily along his way, there Yama’s messengers come night and day bearing his commands.

Then one of the king’s counsellors thought, “Verily, melancholy has got hold of King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra. What means is there whereby I can shake off his melancholy?” He then reflected, “Of a truth, the city of Rājagṛha is dear to and beloved of King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra. (440) What now if I were to recite the praises of the city of Rājagṛha in his presence?” So the king’s counsellor addressed King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra in a verse:

These well-watered hills and these charming crags of Rājagṛha, drenched by water from heaven. . .[13]

But King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra reproached the counsellor, saying, “You are indeed a stupid man when you think that you should praise what I have despised.” And in King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra there all the more arose a loathing[14] for the pleasures of sense, a dejection of heart and deep reflection.

Then the brāhman household priest and royal tutor thought, “Verily, distress and dejection have got hold of King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra. What means is there whereby I can dispel this distress and dejection?” And he reflected, “The exalted Buddha is dear to and beloved of King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra.

What now if I were to recite the Buddha’s praise in his presence?” So he addressed King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra in a verse:

O lord of this realm, O glorious king of Aṅga and sovereign of Magadha, great gain is yours in that there has appeared in your land a Tathāgata whose fame is wide-spread like that of the Himalaya mountain. (441) Endued with morality, forbearance and austerity, he has lived the brahma-life and is at the end of all worldly things.

He gathers hundreds of thousands of nayutas of beings and enables them to attain immortality, the calm and the matchless peace.

King Bimbisāra replied to his brahman priest and tutor in a verse:

Dear brāhman, you have praised[15] him who is dear to me. You have praised him who is dear to my kingdom, the dear Buddha[16] who lives for the good of the world.

I give you sixteen villages of your choice, ten chariots with thoroughbred steeds harnessed to them, a hundred female slaves, and a hundred cows, because[17] you have celebrated[18] the glory of the dear Buddha.

Now[19] it happened that the Exalted One was touring Magadha with a great company of monks to the number of one thousand two hundred and fifty. He made for Rājagṛha, the city of the Magadhans, reached it and stayed there. And King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra heard from his brāhman priest and tutor that the Exalted One, while touring Magadha with a great company of monks to the number of one thousand two hundred and fifty, had made for Rājagṛha, the city of the Magadhans, reached it, and was staying there in the park Yaṣṭīvana on the hill Antagiri. When he heard this[20] he gave instructions to a certain counsellor, saying to him, “Ho there, counsellor, I am going to meet the exalted Buddha. Have Rājagṛha gaily bedecked. Fit out fine carriages, for all the brahmans and householders and all the craftsmen and guildsmen of Rājagṛha are to go with me to meet the exalted Buddha.”

(442) “So be it,” said the royal counsellor in obedience to King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra. Quickly he hitched the fine carriages, and at the cross-roads and entrances to bazaars in the city of Rājagṛha, he caused proclamations to be made, announcing, “The exalted Buddha has arrived at the park Yaṣṭīvana on the hill Antagiri near Rājagṛha, and thither all must go along with King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra to meet the Exalted One.”

On hearing this proclamation there assembled at the gates of the palace the council of princes and counsellors, the brāhmans with the household priest at their head, the townsmen with the guild-president at their head, the community of traders with the chief merchant at their head, and all the eighteen guilds of Rājagṛha. There were[21] jugglers, court-bards,[22] musicians, actors, dancers, athletes, wrestlers, tambourine-players, clowns, tumblers, tam-tam players, buffoons, dvistvalas, reciters, pañcavaṭukas, singers, guṇavartas[23], dancers, cetayikas,[24] courtesans,[25] jesters, performers on the drum, trumpet, kettle-drum, tabour, flute, cymbal, guitar, the lute and the yella(?)—these and many other musicians gathered at the gates of the palace. All the guildsmen were there, to wit, goldsmiths, bankers, cloaksellers, workers in jewels and stones,[26] perfumers, kośāvikas, oil-dealers, hawkers of jars of butter, factors of sugar, of curds, of cotton, of dried treacle, of sweetmeats and kaṇḍukas, factors of wheat-flour and of barley-meal, hawkers of fruit, of roots, perfumed oil from ground powder, aṭṭavānijās,[27] āviddhakas, makers of confectionery from sugar, dealers in honey and candied sugar—these and other business people were there. And all the the craftsmen were there, to wit, brass-founders, coppersmiths, goldsmiths, bowl-makers,[28] praccopakas,[29] (443) roṣyaṇas,[30] tinsmiths, makers of lead sheets, machine-makers,[31] garland-makers, vegetable-growers,[32] potters, tanners, makers of iron pans,[33] makers of mail armour, dyers, cleaners, cotton-spinners, painters, carpenters, carvers, masons,[34] modellers, barbers, hairdressers, woodcutters, decorators, builders, barnmakers, miners, hawkers of fragrant earth, and of wood, traders in bark, shrubs and twigs, sailors, boatmen, washers of gold, and tricksters[35]—these and other people of various classes, lower, upper and middle, all assembled at the gates of the palace.

When the royal counsellor saw that the great crowd had assembled and the fine carriages hitched, he went to King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra and said to him, “Your majesty, the fine carriages are hitched and the great crowd has assembled. Sire, now let it be as you wish.”[36] Then King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra mounted his fine carriage, and escorted by twelve nayutas of the brāhmans and householders of Magadha, in great royal splendour and to the accompaniment of shouts of “bravo” and “hurrah” from the people, and the noise of kettledrums, tabours, drums,[37] cymbals and trumpets, left the city of Rājagṛha and came to the park Yaṣṭīvana on the hill Antagiri. He rode in his carriage as far as the ground allowed, and then alighted and proceeded on foot to where the Exalted One was. He bowed at his feet and sat down to one side. Some exchanged expressions of friendliness and courtesy with the

Exalted One, and sat down to one side; others called out their personal and clan names to the Exalted One, and sat down to one side; others stretched out their joined hands to the Exalted One, (444) and sat down to one side; others, again, the brahmans and householders of Magadha, remained silent and sat down to one side.

Now it happened that at that time Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa was sitting down not far from the Exalted One. And the thought occurred to those brahmans and householders of Magadha, “Does Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa live the brahma-life under Gotama the recluse, or does Gotama the recluse live the brahma-life under Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa?”

But the Exalted One, aware that there was such a thought in the minds of those brāhmans and householders, addressed Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa in a verse:

What did you see, O dweller in Uruvilvā, that, renowned as you were for your penances,[38] you abandoned the sacred fire? I ask you, O Kāśyapa, the meaning of this. How did you come to abandon the fire-sacrifice?

When this had been spoken, the venerable Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa replied to the Exalted One in a verse:

In the sacrifice men speak of food and drink[39] and sweet things, of sensual pleasures and women. But I am aware of what is dross among attachments and I therefore take no delight in sacrifice and offering.

The Exalted One spoke to the venerable Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa in a verse:

But if you do not set your heart on these things, on food and drink and sweet things, there must be something better in the world of devas and of men in which your heart delights.

(445) And the venerable Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa replied to the Exalted One in a verse:

When I had seen the Sage,[40] calm, free from all substrate of rebirth,[41] possessing nothing,[42] rid of all attachments to existence,[43] unchanging, and not led by others, then I lost all delight in sacrifice and offering.

The Exalted One said to the venerable Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa in a verse:

In vain did you offer the fire-sacrifice; in vain did you make your penance, since at the last you abandoned them as a snake its cast-off skin.

Then the venerable Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa replied to the Exalted One in a verse:

Yea, in vain did I offer the fire-sacrifice; in vain did I make my penance, since at the last I abandoned them as a snake its cast-off skin.[44]

“Man is freed by fire-sacrifice and offerings,” so in my ignorance I formerly believed, as I blindly followed after birth and death, unable to see the perfect immovable state.

But now do I see that pure state, for it has been so clearly revealed to me by the mighty[45] noble Nāga. I have attained that complete and perfect state, and have escaped the round of birth and death.

Many men are lost though they perform divers austerities. They do not reach perfection because they have not passed beyond doubt.

(446) Long was I soiled, bound in the chains of wrong belief. But the clear-sighted Exalted One has set me free from all my fetters.

“The Exalted One is my Master, and I am a disciple of the Sugata.”[46] Then Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa rose up from his seat, arranged his robe over one shoulder, and bending his right knee to the ground he bowed his head at the feet of the Exalted One. After going round him thrice from the right, he stood behind the Exalted One and fanned him with a peacock’s tail-feathers.[47] It then occurred to those brahmans and householders of Magadha that it was Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa who was living the brahma-life under Gotama the recluse.

The Exalted One then delivered a discourse[48] on dharma to the brāhmans and householders of Magadha. “O brāhmans and householders,” said he, “Body arises and ceases to be. Feeling arises and ceases to be. Perception arises and ceases to be. The saṃskāras arise and cease to be. Consciousness arises and ceases to be. Noble disciples, brāhmans and householders, regarding body as subject to arising and ceasing to be, one regards feeling, perception, the saṃskāras and consciousness as impermanent. Regarding body as impermanent, and feeling, perception, the saṃskāras and consciousness as impermanent, regarding body as ill, and feeling, perception, the saṃskāras and consciousness as ill, one regards body as being not the self, and feeling, perception, the saṃskāras and consciousness as being not the self. Regarding body as being not the self, and feeling, perception, the saṃskāras and consciousness as being not the self, (447) one understands that body appears and disappears. Understanding this, one understands that feeling, perception, the saṃskāras and consciousness appear and disappear. Understanding this, one understands that body is impermanent. Understanding this, one understands that feeling, perception, the saṃskāras and consciousness are impermanent. Understanding this, one understands that body is ill. Understanding this, one understands that feeling, perception, the saṃskāras and consciousness are ill. Understanding this, one understands that body is not the self. Understanding this, one understands that feeling, perception, the saṃskāras and consciousness are not the self. When one understands this one does not grasp at anything in the world. And when one does not grasp one personally[49] wins complete release.[50] One knows that one can say ‘Rebirth is ended for me. I have lived the brahma-life and done what was to be done. There is for me no further life here.’”[51]

Then those brahmans and householders of Magadha thought, “Now since body is not the self, and since feeling, perception, the saṃskāras and consciousness are not the self, who is it that acts, or causes the act, prompts or instigates it, or rejects it?[52] Who is it that appropriates or rejects these saṃskāras, since these saṃskāras are void, without a self, or what is possessed of self?”

But the Exalted One, aware that there was such a thought in the minds of those brahmans and householders, said to his monks, “The foolish man, though it is admitted that he is without a self,[53] avers that body,[54] feeling, perception, the saṃskāras and consciousness are his self. But not so do I say that I am the one that acts, or causes the act, or prompts it, or appropriates[55] it, or rejects it, the one that rejects the saṃskāras here or appropriates others elsewhere. For the saṃskāras arise and cease to be, and they do so from a cause. The Tathāgata, monks, teaches that the self is a reconstitution[56] of the saṃskāras through a cause; (448) it is what appropriates[57] the saṃskāras.[58] I assert the passing away and coming-to-be of beings. With my deva sight, which is more penetrating than the sight of men, I perceive beings passing away and coming to be. I perceive beings fair and foul, happy and unhappy, mean and exalted according to karma. Again, monks, I do not say that I am the one that acts, or causes the act, or prompts it, or appropriates it, or rejects it, the one who rejects these saṃskāras here and appropriates others elsewhere. The saṃskāras rise and they cease to be, and they do so from a cause.

“There is the erroneous view of becoming and not-becoming without a cause.[58] But, monks, he who perceives with true perfect insight that it is from a cause that the saṃskāras arise, will have none of this erroneous view of becoming, this heresy of eternalism.[59] He, monks, who perceives with true perfect insight that it is from a cause that the saṃskāras cease to be, will have none of this erroneous view of ceasing to be, this heresy of annihilation.[60] And so, monks, the Tathāgata, avoiding[61] these two extremes,[62] teaches a dharma that is a mean between them.

“The saṃskāras are the result of ignorance;[63] consciousness is the result of the saṃskāras; individuality is the result of consciousness; the six spheres of sense are the result of individuality; touch is the result of the six spheres of sense; feeling is the result of touch; craving is the result of feeling; grasping is the result of craving; coming-to-be is the result of grasping; birth is the result of coming-to-be, and the result of birth is old age, death, grief, lamentation, ill, despair and tribulation.[64] In such a way there comes to be the arising of all this great mass of ill. But from the cessation of ignorance there comes the cessation of the saṃskāras; from the cessation of the saṃskāras comes that of consciousness; from the cessation of consciousness comes that of individuality; from the cessation of individuality comes that of the six spheres of sense; from the cessation of the six spheres of sense comes that of touch; from the cessation of touch comes that of feeling; from the cessation of feeling comes that of craving; (449) from the cessation of craving comes that of grasping; from the cessation of grasping comes the cessation of coming-to-be; from the cessation of coming-to-be comes the cessation of birth; from the cessation of birth comes that of old age and death; from the cessation of old age and death comes that of grief, lamentation, ill, despair and tribulation. In such a way there comes to be the cessation of all this great mass of ill.”

Thus did the Exalted One speak when he was staying in Rājagṛha, in the park Yaṣṭīvana on the hill Antagiri. And while this exposition was being given King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra won the spotless, pure and clear dharma-insight into things, as also did the eleven nayutas.[65] And the twelve nayutas of teamsters and coachmen afterwards came to the refuge of the Buddha, dharma and Saṅgha. The enraptured King Śreṇiya Bimbisāra, monks, and the brāhmans and householders of Magadha applauded the words of the Exalted One.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The text repeats the whole previous statement.

[2]:

Paryupāseyam, opt. of paryupāsayati, a BSk. formation of paryupāste. Cf. Pali payirupāsati.

[3]:

Yasyedāniṃ kālaṃ manyase. See vol. 1, p. 269, n. 1.

[4]:

Yoniso manasikāro.

[5]:

Jugutsuno (-as), gen. sg. of jugutsu, “unhistorical hyper-Sk. for MIndic *jugucchu = Sk. jugupsu” (B.H.S.D.)

[6]:

Sc. Bimbisāra.

[7]:

Tantrighoṣābhinādita. But Senart, with reason, doubts the correctness of tantri, and suggests dvija or pakṣi or other term for “bird”.

[8]:

Samyakkālaprabodhana, “waking up at the right time.”

[9]:

Avītatṛṣṇā.

[10]:

Nikūjita, past. part. of kūjati. But this compound seems to be unknown to the dictionaries.

[11]:

Kiṃsya, where sya (also asya) is BSk. for the Sk. emphatic particle svid, Pali su, assu and assa. See Senart’s note in vol. 1, p. 412, B.H.S.D. and P.E.D.

[12]:

“A mere trifle”, parīttam, BSk. and Pali.

[13]:

Lacuna of practically a whole stanza.

[14]:

Vyākutsanā. Only here and on p. 451 (text). See B.H.S.D., where it is misplaced.

[15]:

Kīrtaye, opt., in sense of aor., 2 sg., of kīrtayati.

[16]:

Buddhasya, gen. obj. of kīrtaye (understood); the preceding obj., priyam, “him who is dear” is, however, acc.

[17]:

The text, however, has no causal particle here.

[18]:

Prakīrtaye, opt. = aor. 2 sg.

[19]:

What has just been related is obviously a fragment of another version or tradition of the story of Bimbisāra’s conversion. But it is cut short and recourse is had instead to the same tradition as that embodied in the Mahāvagga (V. 1.35f.). Anyhow, from this point the account is closely parallel with that in the latter text, although there is also considerable and interesting variation in circumstantial detail.

[20]:

These details are not in the Mahāvagga.

[21]:

Cf. the list on p. 113 (text), p. 111ff. (trans.), with the notes there. The two lists are not, however, quite identical.

[22]:

Reading vaitālikā as on p. 113, for tālikā.

[23]:

Not on p. 113. Cf. guṇa, “string”, of a musical instrument.

[24]:

Not on p. 113.

[25]:

Gaṇikās. Not on p. 113.

[26]:

Maṇiprastārikā. On p. 113 we have maṇikārā and prastārikā, two separate words. Of prastārika itself B.H.S.D. says “perh. jewel-merchant?”

[27]:

Corresponding to the equally inexplicable āgrīvanīyā on p. 113. More than 18 guilds, it will be noticed, are mentioned, which is evidently the result of later elaboration.

[28]:

Reading, as Edgerton (B.H.S.D.) suggests, taṭṭukāra or -kāraka for Senart’s emendation of the MS. tadva into taddhu.

[29]:

Pradhvopaka, on p. 113.

[30]:

Roṣiṇas on p. 113.

[31]:

Yantrakāraka. But p. 113 has jantukāraka,? “workers in grass.” But see p. 113, n. 1.

[32]:

Purimakāraka. But see p. 112, n. 15.

[33]:

Kandukāraka. Not on p. 113, but cf. kaṇḍuka there and on p. 442.

[34]:

Reading śelālaka for peśalaka of text. See Edgerton, B.H.S.D.

[35]:

Moṭṭhika for mauṣṭika on p. 113.

[36]:

Yasedāni kālaṃ manyasi. See p. 439, n. 4.

[37]:

Maru, “a kind of drum” (B.H.S.D.). The word occurs also at 1. 259; 2, 180, 410, but nowhere outside the Mhvu. It is always found in this stock enumeration of drums and similar instruments, and it cannot be certain whether or not the word forms a compound with the preceding word mṛdaṅga or the following paṭaha.

[38]:

Literally, “known as emaciated,” kṛśako vadāno. See Vin. Texts, 1, p. 138, n. 1.

[39]:

Annāni pānāni. V. 1.36 has rūpe ca sadde ca, “forms and sounds”.

[40]:

V. has, for munim, padam, which practically makes of each of the succeeding adjectives śāntam, etc., a substantive synonymous with nirvana.

[41]:

Anupadhika.

[42]:

Akiñcana. VA. 973 says that this word means “without the stain of passion.” See I. B. Horner, Book, of Disc., 4, p. 48, n. 4.

[43]:

Sarvabhaveṣvasakta. V. has kāmabhave asattam, “not attached to sensations’ becoming” (I. B. Horner, l.c.).

[44]:

This and the preceding verse are not in V., and are repeated here from p. 431. The compiler has also overlooked the fact that the Buddha’s reply is said to be given in a single verse (gāthāye), and has added from his memory some verses which he considered apposite here. These latter verses bear some resemblance to Thag. 1.34.1.

[45]:

Tāyin. See vol. 2, p. 318, n. 2. The explanation of the word there given is now found confirmed by Edgerton’s remarks in B.H.S.D., although the translation “mighty” i.e. “such”, “so great”, is still preferred to Edgerton’s “holy In other instances, e.g., 3. 397, 400, 402, the word is not an epithet of the Buddha, and has been taken as equivalent to tādṛś.

[46]:

In the Mahāvagga (V. 1.36), this sentence comes after the account of Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa’s getting up and bowing to the Buddha, as related in the next paragraph, where, of course, its obviously correct place is.

[47]:

Morahasta = mayūrahasta, Pali morahattha. See B.H.S.D. These details are not in V.

[48]:

The subject of the discourse differs from that in V.

[49]:

Pratyātmam, BSk., Pali paccattam.

[50]:

Or “extinction”, parinirvāyati.

[51]:

“The being here,” itthatvam. Senart, following the MSS., has elsewhere in the Mhvu. printed icchatva, but Edgerton (B.H.S.D.) is of opinion that this is a “mere graphic corruption”.

[52]:

Literally, “(though) he has been admitted (to be) without a self”,? abhyupagato anātmā.

[53]:

Rūpam to be inserted in the text according to Senart. But the whole argument of this passage is obscure, and the order of the opening words, prajñapeti bhikṣavo bālā abhyupagato anātmā, is unnatural. Edgerton (B.H.S.D. s.v. prajñapeti) would prefer prajñapti, as in MSS., “There is a declaration.” But even this would not render the sentence more readily construable.

[54]:

Ādīyaka, the verbal substantive corresponding to ādīyati above.

[55]:

Or “reunion” “new connexion”, “rebirth”, pratisaṃdhi Pali paṭisandhi. Cf. paṭisandheti, p. 65 (text).

[56]:

Ādīyaka.

[57]:

Supplied from the context.

[58]:

Reading, as the context seems to demand, ahetu, for sahetu.

[59]:

Śāśvatadṛṣṭi, Pali sassatadiṭṭhi.

[60]:

Ucchedadṛṣṭi, Pali ucchedadiṭṭhi.

[61]:

Reading anupagamya, “not approaching”, as on p. 331 (text) for anugamya.

[62]:

Sc. of eternalism and annihilationism. Possibly, as Senart suggests, there is here an allusion to the doctrine of the sect known as Mādhyamikas, “those of the middle.” The allusion is not, of course, to the doctrine of the moral “mean” between the two extremes of sensuality and asceticism, enunciated on p. 331 (text). For the two theories of nihilism and annihilationism see S. 2.17 (= S. 3.135).

[63]:

See vol. 2, p. 267, n. 9.

[64]:

Upayāsa, for upāyāsa, Pali id. Is the form an inadvertence? It is spelt so also on the next page.

[65]:

Presumably, of the brāhmans and householders. But the number of these is given on p. 443 (text) as “twelve nayutas”.

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