Dialogues of the Buddha, Part II — trans. T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids (1910)

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THE

SACRED BOOKS OF THE BUDDHISTS

SACRED BOOKS OF THE BUDDHISTS

TRANSLATED

BY VARIOUS ORIENTAL SCHOLARS

AND EDITED BY

T. W. RHYS DAVIDS

LL.D., Ph.D., D.Sc, F.B.A.

PROFESSOR OF COMPARATIVE RELIGION AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF
HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF SIAM

VOL. Ill

Bonbon
HENRY FROWDE

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
AMEN CORNER, E.C.

I91O

TO
THE MEMORY OF

F. MAX MULLER

WHO FOUNDED THIS SERIES OF THE SACRED

BOOKS OF THE BUDDHISTS AND WHO DID IN

SO MANY OTHER WAYS SO MUCH FOR THE

CAUSE OF ORIENTAL LEARNING

THIS VOLUME

IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED

BY THE TRANSLATORS

DIALOGUES OF THE BUDDHA

TRANSLATED FROM THE PALI
OF THE DIG HA NIK A YA

BY

T. W. and C. A. F. RHYS DAVIDS

PART II

Bonbon

HENRY FROWDE

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
AMEN CORNER, E.C.

19IO

6<p , £ : Z 5

PRINTED IN ENGLAND,

CONTENTS.

14. Mahapadana Suttanta PAGE

Introduction (Buddhas, Bodhisats, and Arahants) . 1 4

X iLA I » a • > • • • • > • -|

15. Maha Nidana Suttanta

Introduction (The doctrine of natural causation) . 42 I
Text 50 I

16. Maha Parinibbana Suttanta

Introduction (Passages in this Suttanta compared with others) 71

Text .......... 78

17. Maha Sudassana Suttanta

Introduction (Comparison with other versions) . .192
Text. . . . . . . . . 199

18. Jana-vasabha Suttanta

Introduction (Buddhist irony. Two expressions discussed) .........

Text 23,

233 (
237 1

19. Maha-Govinda Suttanta

Introduction (More irony. Other versions compared) 253
Text 259

20. Maha-Samaya Suttanta

Introduction (A glimpse of the evolution of gods) . 282
Text .......... 284

21. Sakka-Panha Suttanta

Introduction (The conversion of a god. The Sakka myth) 294

Text 299

Vlll DIALOGUES OF THE BUDDHA.

22. Maha Satifattjjana Suttanta page

Introduction (Discussion of the title) . . . .322
Text. ......... 327

23-

Payasi Suttanta

Introduction (Teaching of the Community after the

Buddha's death. Doctrine of Dana) . . . 347

Text 349

Index of Principal Subjects and Proper Names. . . 375

Index of Pali Woris 381

INTRODUCTION

TO THE

mahApadAna suttanta.

We find in this tract the root of that Bira;/a-weed which, growing up along with the rest of Buddhism, went on spreading so luxuriantly that it gradually covered up much that was of value in the earlier teaching, and finally led to the downfall, in its home in India, of the ancient faith. The doctrine of the Bodhisatta, of the Wisdom-Being, drove out the doctrine of the Aryan Path. A gorgeous hierarchy of mythological wonder-workers filled men's minds, and the older system of self-training and self-control became forgotten.

Even at its first appearance here the weed is not attractive. The craving for edification is more manifest in it than the desire for truth. We have legends of six forerunners of the historical Buddha, each constructed with wearisome iteration, in imitation of the then accepted beliefs as to the life of Gotama. So exactly do these six legends follow one pattern that it has been possible, without the omission of any detail, to arrange them in parallel columns.

The main motive of this parallelism is revealed in the constantly repeated refrain Ayam ettha dhammata: 'That, in such a case, is the rule,' the Norm, the natural order of things, according to the reign of law in the moral and physical world. Precisely the same idea is emphasized in the doctrine of dependent origination, the Padcca-samuppada, placed here in the mouth of Vipassi, the most ancient of these six teachers of old. The fact that it is so placed shows that the early Buddhists, when our Suttanta was composed, believed this doctrine to have been pre-Buddhistic.