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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1' The combined patriarchates of Saunaka and Siggava are given as 99 by the Dipavamsa. INTRODUCTION, xlv Siggava died in the fourteenth year of Kandragupta, i.e. 315—14= 301 B.C. Tishya died in the twenty-sixth or twenty-seventh year of Asoka, i.e. 259 —27=233 B.C. This general and more than general agreement between dates taken from the history of the kings and the history of the patriarchs leaves on my mind a decided impression of a tradition which, though not strictly historical, in our sense of the word, represents at all events the result of such enquiries as could be made into the past ages of Buddhism at the time of Asoka. There are difficulties in that tradition which would certainly have been avoided, if the whole chronology had been simply made up: but there is no doubt a certain method too perceptible throughout, which warns us that we must not mistake a smooth chronology for solid history. THE TITLE OF DHAMMAPADA. The title of Dham mapada has been interpreted in various ways. It is an ambiguous word, and has been accepted as such by the Buddhists themselves) Dhamma has many meanings. Under one aspect it means religion, particularly the religion taught by Buddha, the law which every Buddhist should accept and observe. Uftter another aspect dhamma is virtue, or the realisation of the law. Pada also has many meanings. In the Abhidhanapadipiké it is explained by place, protection, Nirvaza, cause, word, thing, portion, foot, footstep. Hence dhammapada may mean ‘footstep of religion,’ and thus the title was first rendered by Gogerly, only that he used the plural instead of the singular, and called it ‘The Footsteps of Religion,’ while Spence Hardy still more freely called it ‘The Paths of Religion.’ It may be quite true, as pointed out by Childers, that pada by itself never means path. But it means footstep, and the footstep towards a thing is much the same as what we call the path toa thing. Thus we read, verse 21, ‘appamddo amatapadam,’ earnestness is the step, i.e. the path that leads to immor- xlvi DHAMMAPADA. tality. Again, ‘pamado ma#kuno padam’ can hardly mean anything but that thoughtlessness is the path of death, is the path that leads to death, The commentator, too, rightly explains it here by amatasya adhigamupaya, the means of obtaining immortality, i.e. Nirvaza, or simply by up4yo, and even by maggo, the way. If we compare verses 92 and 93 of our text, and verses 254 and 255, we see that pada is used synonymously with gati, going. In the same manner dhammapada would mean the footstep or the footpath of virtue, i.e. the path that leads to virtue, and supply a very appropriate title for a collection of moral precepts. In verses 44 and 45 ‘path of virtue’ seems to be the most appropriate meaning for dhammapada_, and it is hardly possible to assign any other meaning to it in the following verse (K undasutta, v. 6): Yo dhammapade sudesite Magge givati sazzato satimé, Anavagga-padani sevamano
2In verses 44 and 45 ‘path of virtue’ seems to be the most appropriate meaning for dhammapada_, and it is hardly possible to assign any other meaning to it in the following verse (K undasutta, v. 6): Yo dhammapade sudesite Magge givati sazzato satimé, Anavagga-padani sevamano Tattyam bhikkhum 4hu maggagivim, ‘He who lives restrained and attentive in the way that has been well pointed out, in the path of the law, cultivating blameless words, such a Bhikkhu they call a Maggagivi (living in the way).’ I therefore think that ‘ Path of Virtue,’ or ‘Footstep of the Law,’ was the idea most prominent in the mind of those who originally framed the title of this collection of verses. It seems to me that Buddhaghosa also took the same view, for the verse which D’Alwis? quotes from the introduction of Buddhaghosa’s commentary,— Sampatta-saddhammapado satthé dhammapadam subham Desesi, and which he translates, ‘The Teacher who had reached. the very depths (lit. bottom) of Saddhamma, preached this holy Dhammapada,—lends itself far better to another translation, viz. ‘The Teacher who had gained a firm 1 Cf. Dhammapada, v. 285, nibbanam sugaten. desitam. ? Buddhist Nirvana, p. 62." INTRODUCTION. xlvii footing in the Good Law, showed (preached) the holy Path of the Law.’ Gogerly, again, who may generally be taken as a faithful representative of the tradition of the Buddhists still preserved in Ceylon, translates the title by the ‘ Footsteps of Religion,’ so that there can be little doubt that the priests of that island accept Dhammapada in the sense of ‘ Vestiges of Religion,’ or, from a different point of view, ‘The Path of Virtue.’ M. L. Feer? takes a slightly different view. and assigning to pada the meaning of foot or base, he translates Dhammapada by Loi fondamentale, or Base de la Religion.
3L. Feer? takes a slightly different view. and assigning to pada the meaning of foot or base, he translates Dhammapada by Loi fondamentale, or Base de la Religion. But it cannot be denied that the title of Dhammapada was very soon understood in a different sense also, namely, as ‘ Sentences of Religion.’ Pada means certainly a foot of a verse, a verse, or a line, and dhammapadam actually occurs in the sense of a ‘ religious sentence.’ Thus we read in verse 102, ‘Though a man recite a hundred Gath4s made up of senseless words, one dhammapadam,, i.e. one single word or line of the law, is better, which if a man hears, he becomes quiet.’ But here we see at once the difficulty of translating the title of ‘dhammapadam’ by ‘religious sentences. Dhammapadam means one law verse, or wise saw, not many. Professor Fausbdéll, who in his excellent edition of the Dhammapada translated that title by ‘a collection of verses on religion,’ appeals to such passages as verses 44 and 102 in support of his interpretation. But in verse 42 dhammapadam sudesitam, even if it does not mean the path of the law, could never mean ‘versus legis bene enarratos,’ but only versum legis bene enarratum, as Dr. Fausbdéll himself renders ekam dhammapadam, in verse 102, by unus legis versus. Buddhaghosa, too, when he speaks of many law verses uses the plural, for instance’, ‘Be it known that the Gath consists of the Dhammapadani, Theragatha, Therigath4, and those unmixed (detached) Gatha not comprehended in any of the above-named Suttanta.’ 1 Revue Critique, 1870, p. 378. ? D’Alwis, Pali Grammar, p. 61. xlviii DHAMMAPADA. The only way in which Dhammapada could be defended in the sense of ‘Collection of Verses of the Law,’ would be if we took it for an aggregate compound. But such aggregate compounds, in Sanskrit at least, are possible with numerals only; for instance, tribhuvanam, the three worlds; faturyugam, the four ages. It might therefore be possible in Pali, too, to form such compounds as dasapadam, a collection of ten padas, a work consisting of ten padas, a decamerone, but it would in no wise follow that we could in that language attempt such a compound as Dhammapadam, in order to express a collection of law verses*, Mr. Beal® informs us that the Chinese seem to have taken Dhammapada in the sense of ‘ stanzas of law,’ ‘law texts,’ or ‘scripture texts.’
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1' The combined patriarchates of Saunaka and Siggava are given as 99 by the Dipavamsa. INTRODUCTION, xlv Siggava died in the fourteenth year of Kandragupta, i.e. 315—14= 301 B.C. Tishya died in the twenty-sixth or twenty-seventh year of Asoka, i.e. 259 —27=233 B.C. This general and more than general agreement between dates taken from the history of the kings and the history of the patriarchs leaves on my mind a decided impression of a tradition which, though not strictly historical, in our sense of the word, represents at all events the result of such enquiries as could be made into the past ages of Buddhism at the time of Asoka. There are difficulties in that tradition which would certainly have been avoided, if the whole chronology had been simply made up: but there is no doubt a certain method too perceptible throughout, which warns us that we must not mistake a smooth chronology for solid history. THE TITLE OF DHAMMAPADA. The title of Dham mapada has been interpreted in various ways. It is an ambiguous word, and has been accepted as such by the Buddhists themselves) Dhamma has many meanings. Under one aspect it means religion, particularly the religion taught by Buddha, the law which every Buddhist should accept and observe. Uftter another aspect dhamma is virtue, or the realisation of the law. Pada also has many meanings. In the Abhidhanapadipiké it is explained by place, protection, Nirvaza, cause, word, thing, portion, foot, footstep. Hence dhammapada may mean ‘footstep of religion,’ and thus the title was first rendered by Gogerly, only that he used the plural instead of the singular, and called it ‘The Footsteps of Religion,’ while Spence Hardy still more freely called it ‘The Paths of Religion.’ It may be quite true, as pointed out by Childers, that pada by itself never means path. But it means footstep, and the footstep towards a thing is much the same as what we call the path toa thing. Thus we read, verse 21, ‘appamddo amatapadam,’ earnestness is the step, i.e. the path that leads to immor- xlvi DHAMMAPADA. tality. Again, ‘pamado ma#kuno padam’ can hardly mean anything but that thoughtlessness is the path of death, is the path that leads to death, The commentator, too, rightly explains it here by amatasya adhigamupaya, the means of obtaining immortality, i.e. Nirvaza, or simply by up4yo, and even by maggo, the way. If we compare verses 92 and 93 of our text, and verses 254 and 255, we see that pada is used synonymously with gati, going. In the same manner dhammapada would mean the footstep or the footpath of virtue, i.e. the path that leads to virtue, and supply a very appropriate title for a collection of moral precepts. In verses 44 and 45 ‘path of virtue’ seems to be the most appropriate meaning for dhammapada_, and it is hardly possible to assign any other meaning to it in the following verse (K undasutta, v. 6): Yo dhammapade sudesite Magge givati sazzato satimé, Anavagga-padani sevamano
2In verses 44 and 45 ‘path of virtue’ seems to be the most appropriate meaning for dhammapada_, and it is hardly possible to assign any other meaning to it in the following verse (K undasutta, v. 6): Yo dhammapade sudesite Magge givati sazzato satimé, Anavagga-padani sevamano Tattyam bhikkhum 4hu maggagivim, ‘He who lives restrained and attentive in the way that has been well pointed out, in the path of the law, cultivating blameless words, such a Bhikkhu they call a Maggagivi (living in the way).’ I therefore think that ‘ Path of Virtue,’ or ‘Footstep of the Law,’ was the idea most prominent in the mind of those who originally framed the title of this collection of verses. It seems to me that Buddhaghosa also took the same view, for the verse which D’Alwis? quotes from the introduction of Buddhaghosa’s commentary,— Sampatta-saddhammapado satthé dhammapadam subham Desesi, and which he translates, ‘The Teacher who had reached. the very depths (lit. bottom) of Saddhamma, preached this holy Dhammapada,—lends itself far better to another translation, viz. ‘The Teacher who had gained a firm 1 Cf. Dhammapada, v. 285, nibbanam sugaten. desitam. ? Buddhist Nirvana, p. 62." INTRODUCTION. xlvii footing in the Good Law, showed (preached) the holy Path of the Law.’ Gogerly, again, who may generally be taken as a faithful representative of the tradition of the Buddhists still preserved in Ceylon, translates the title by the ‘ Footsteps of Religion,’ so that there can be little doubt that the priests of that island accept Dhammapada in the sense of ‘ Vestiges of Religion,’ or, from a different point of view, ‘The Path of Virtue.’ M. L. Feer? takes a slightly different view. and assigning to pada the meaning of foot or base, he translates Dhammapada by Loi fondamentale, or Base de la Religion.
3L. Feer? takes a slightly different view. and assigning to pada the meaning of foot or base, he translates Dhammapada by Loi fondamentale, or Base de la Religion. But it cannot be denied that the title of Dhammapada was very soon understood in a different sense also, namely, as ‘ Sentences of Religion.’ Pada means certainly a foot of a verse, a verse, or a line, and dhammapadam actually occurs in the sense of a ‘ religious sentence.’ Thus we read in verse 102, ‘Though a man recite a hundred Gath4s made up of senseless words, one dhammapadam,, i.e. one single word or line of the law, is better, which if a man hears, he becomes quiet.’ But here we see at once the difficulty of translating the title of ‘dhammapadam’ by ‘religious sentences. Dhammapadam means one law verse, or wise saw, not many. Professor Fausbdéll, who in his excellent edition of the Dhammapada translated that title by ‘a collection of verses on religion,’ appeals to such passages as verses 44 and 102 in support of his interpretation. But in verse 42 dhammapadam sudesitam, even if it does not mean the path of the law, could never mean ‘versus legis bene enarratos,’ but only versum legis bene enarratum, as Dr. Fausbdéll himself renders ekam dhammapadam, in verse 102, by unus legis versus. Buddhaghosa, too, when he speaks of many law verses uses the plural, for instance’, ‘Be it known that the Gath consists of the Dhammapadani, Theragatha, Therigath4, and those unmixed (detached) Gatha not comprehended in any of the above-named Suttanta.’ 1 Revue Critique, 1870, p. 378. ? D’Alwis, Pali Grammar, p. 61. xlviii DHAMMAPADA. The only way in which Dhammapada could be defended in the sense of ‘Collection of Verses of the Law,’ would be if we took it for an aggregate compound. But such aggregate compounds, in Sanskrit at least, are possible with numerals only; for instance, tribhuvanam, the three worlds; faturyugam, the four ages. It might therefore be possible in Pali, too, to form such compounds as dasapadam, a collection of ten padas, a work consisting of ten padas, a decamerone, but it would in no wise follow that we could in that language attempt such a compound as Dhammapadam, in order to express a collection of law verses*, Mr. Beal® informs us that the Chinese seem to have taken Dhammapada in the sense of ‘ stanzas of law,’ ‘law texts,’ or ‘scripture texts.’
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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