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

What we really have is a kind of wonderful fairy tale, a gorgeous poem, in which an attempt is made to describe in set terms the greatest possible glory and majesty of the greatest possible king, in order to show that all is vanity, save only righteousness — just such a poem as a Jewish prophet might have written of Solomon in all his glory. It would have been most strange, perhaps impossible, for the author to refrain from using the language of the only poets he knew, who had used their boldly figurative language in an attempt to describe the appearance of the sun.

To trace back all the rhetorical phrases of our Sutta to their earliest appearance in the Vedic hymns would be an interesting task of historical philology, though it would throw more light upon Buddhist forms of speech than upon Buddhist forms of belief. In M. Senart's valuable work, ' La Legende du Bouddha,' he has already done this with regard to the seven treasures (mentioned in the early part of the Suttanta) on the basis of the corresponding passage in the later Buddhist Sanskrit poem called the Lalita Vistara. The description of the royal city and of its wondrous Palace of Righteousness has been probably originated by the author, though on the same lines ; and it reminds one irresistibly, in many of its expressions, of the similar, but simpler and more beautiful

I98 INTRODUCTION.

poem in which a Jewish author, some three or four centuries afterwards, described the heavenly Jerusalem.

When the Northern Buddhists, long afterwards, had smothered the simple teaching of the founder of their religion under the subtleties of theological and metaphysical speculation, and had forgotten all about the Aryan Path, their goal was no longer a change of heart in the Arahantship to be reached on earth, but a life of happiness, under a change of outward condition, in a heaven of bliss beyond the skies. One of the most popular books among the Buddhists of China and Japan is a description of this heavenly paradise of theirs, called the Sukhavati-vyuha, the ' Book of the Happy Country.' It is instructive to find that several of the expressions used are word for word the same as the corresponding phrases in our much older ' Book of the Great King of Glory.'

Incidentally the details given in this Suttanta enable us to judge as to what was considered, at the time when it was put together, to be the greatest possible luxury and glory of the mightiest and most righteous king. In spite of the exuberance of some of the language used, the luxury is after all curiously simple, and mostly of an out-of-door kind. A summary of the conclusions which can be drawn from the sacred books of the Buddhists as to the social and economic condition of the Ganges valley, at the time when those books were composed, will be found in my ' Buddhist India,' ch. IV-VI. The very simple character of the luxury here depicted is in accordance with the evidence there given.

[XVII. MAHA-SUDASSANA-SUTTANTA.

The Great King of Glory1.

CHAPTER I.J

1. [169] Thus have I heard. The Exalted One was once staying at Kusinara in the Upavattana, the Sala grove of the Mallas, between the twin Sala trees, at the time of his death.

2. Now the venerable Ananda went up to the place where the Exalted One was, and bowed down before him, and took his seat respectfully on one side. And when he was so seated, the venerable Ananda said to the Exalted One : —

' Let not the Exalted One die in this little wattle-anddaub town, in this town in the midst of the jungle, in this branch township. For, lord, there are other great cities, such as Champa, Rajagaha, Savatthi, Saketa, Kosambi, and Benares. Let the Exalted One die in one of them. There there are many wealthy nobles and brahmins and heads of houses, believers in the Tathagata, who will pay due honour to the remains of the Tathagata.'

3. ' Say not so, Ananda ! Say not so, Ananda, that this is but a small wattle-and-daub town, a town in the midst of the jungle, a branch township. Long ago, Ananda, there was a king, by name Maha-Sudassana, a king of kings, a righteous man who ruled in righteousness, an anointed Kshatriya 2, Lord of the four quarters

1 Sudassana means ' beautiful to see, having a glorious appearance/ and is the name of many kings and heroes in Indian legend.