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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1a separate thing or being, whether conscious or unconscious. It is more usually used, with special reference to their origin from pre-existing causes, and with allusion to the wider class denoted by the same word, of the mental con- fections only, of all sentient beings generally, or of man alone. In this sense it forms by itself one of the five classes or aggregates (khandhi) into which the material and mental qualities of each separate individual are divided in Buddhist writings— the class of dispositions, capabilities, and all that goes together to make what we call character. This class has naturally enough been again divided and subdivided ; and a full list of the Confections in this sense, as now acknowledged by orthodox Buddhists, will be found in my manual 'Buddhism.' At the time when the P41i Pi/akas reached their present form, no such elaborate list of Confections in detail seems to have been made ; but the INTRODUCTION. 243 general sense of the word was, as is quite clear from the passages in which it occurs, the idea which these details together convey. It is this second and more usual meaning of the term which is more especially emphasised in the concluding verse of the above stanza. I have ventured to dwell so far on the word Confections, because the commentator here says that the cessation of these Confections is the same thing as NirvA«a ; and the question of Nirv£#a engrosses so large a share of the attention of those who are interested in Buddhism. Whether it is entitled to do so is open to serious question. The Buddhist salvation was held to consist in a change of heart, a modification of personal character, to be attained to in this world, and forming the subject of Gotama's first discourse, ' The Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteous- ness V When looked at from different points of view this state of mind was denoted, in the very numerous passages in which it is mentioned or referred to, under a great variety of different names or epithets, suggestive of the different points of view from which it could be regarded. The term Nibb&na, or NirvA«a, is only one of those epithets ; and it is a most significant fact, to which I would invite especial attention, that it is an epithet comparatively very seldom employed in the Pdli Pi/akas themselves. It is to the state of mind itself, the salvation which every Arahat has reached while yet alive, in a word, to Arahatship, that importance ought to be attached, rather than to that particular conno- tation of it suggested by the word Nirv&wa. One of the many ideas involved in Arahatship was the absolute dissolution of individuality. Gotama, whether rightly or wrongly is here of no importance, held that freedom from pain, absolute ease, happiness, was incom- patible with existence as a distinct individual (whether animal, god, or man).
2. One of the many ideas involved in Arahatship was the absolute dissolution of individuality. Gotama, whether rightly or wrongly is here of no importance, held that freedom from pain, absolute ease, happiness, was incom- patible with existence as a distinct individual (whether animal, god, or man). The cessation of the Confections, so far from being a thing to be dreaded, was the inevitable result of the emancipation of heart and mind in Arahatship. 1 The Dhamma-£akka-ppavattana Sutta, translated below. 244 mahA-sudassana sutta. But it was not a thing to be desired, and could not, in fact, be brought about apart from all the other things involved in Arahatship. The formation of these Confections ceases in Nirv&«a, and in Nirvct#a alone ; and when the poet declares that their cessation is blessed, he is saying the same thing as if he had said ' Nirvdtf a is blessed V Turning now to the Sutta itself, we find that the portion of the legend omitted in the G&taka throws an unexpected light upon the tale ; for it commences with a long descrip- tion of the riches and glory of MahA Sudassana, and reveals in its details the instructive fact that the legend is nothing more nor less than a spiritualist's sun-myth. It cannot be disputed that the sun-myth theory has become greatly discredited, and with reason, by having been used too carelessly and freely as an explanation of religious legends of different times and countries which have really no historical connection with the earlier awe and reverence inspired by the sun. The very mention of the word sun-myth is apt to call forth a smile of incredulity, and the indubitable truth which is the basis of the theory has not sufficed to protect it from the shafts of ridicule. The ' Book of the Great King of Glory ' seems to afford a useful example both of the extent to which the theory may be accepted, and of the limitations under which it should always be applied. It must at once be admitted that whether the whole story is based on a sun-story, or whether certain parts or details of it are derived from things first spoken about the sun, or not, it is still essentially Buddhistic. A large pro- portion of its contents has nothing at all to do with the worship of the sun ; and even that which has, had not, in 1 In this respect it should be noticed that the very word here used for cessa- tion, upasamo, is used as one among a string of epithets of Arahatship at Dhamma-£akka-ppavattana Sutta, § 3, = Cataka I, 97, and again in Dharama- pada, verses 368, 381. In this last passage the whole of the phrase in the last verse in our stanza recurs in the accusative case as an equivalent to Arahatship, and the comma inserted by Mr. Fausboll between sankharupasamanf and sukhaw is, in both verses, unnecessary. INTRODUCTION. 245 the mind of the author, when the book was put fogether.
3e of the phrase in the last verse in our stanza recurs in the accusative case as an equivalent to Arahatship, and the comma inserted by Mr. Fausboll between sankharupasamanf and sukhaw is, in both verses, unnecessary. INTRODUCTION. 245 the mind of the author, when the book was put fogether. Whether indebted to a sun-myth or not, it is therefore perfectly true and valid evidence of the religious belief of the people among whom it was current ; and no more shows that the Buddhists were unconscious sun worship- pers than the story of Samson, under any theory of its possible origin, would prove the same of the Jews. 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 Sutta) on the basis of the corresponding passage in the later Buddhist Sanskrit poem called the Lalita Vistara. The descriptions of the royal city and of its wondrous Palace of Righteousness have 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 poem in which a Jewish author, some three 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 metaphy- sical speculation, and had forgotten all about the Noble Path, their goal was no longer a change of heart in the Arahatship to be reached on earth, but a life of happiness, under a change of outward condition, in a heaven of bliss 246 MAHA-SUDASSANA SUTTA. 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 Sukhdvati-vyuha, the ' Book of the Happy Country/ the Sanskrit text of which has been just published by Professor Max Muller in the volume of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for the present year.
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.
1a separate thing or being, whether conscious or unconscious. It is more usually used, with special reference to their origin from pre-existing causes, and with allusion to the wider class denoted by the same word, of the mental con- fections only, of all sentient beings generally, or of man alone. In this sense it forms by itself one of the five classes or aggregates (khandhi) into which the material and mental qualities of each separate individual are divided in Buddhist writings— the class of dispositions, capabilities, and all that goes together to make what we call character. This class has naturally enough been again divided and subdivided ; and a full list of the Confections in this sense, as now acknowledged by orthodox Buddhists, will be found in my manual 'Buddhism.' At the time when the P41i Pi/akas reached their present form, no such elaborate list of Confections in detail seems to have been made ; but the INTRODUCTION. 243 general sense of the word was, as is quite clear from the passages in which it occurs, the idea which these details together convey. It is this second and more usual meaning of the term which is more especially emphasised in the concluding verse of the above stanza. I have ventured to dwell so far on the word Confections, because the commentator here says that the cessation of these Confections is the same thing as NirvA«a ; and the question of Nirv£#a engrosses so large a share of the attention of those who are interested in Buddhism. Whether it is entitled to do so is open to serious question. The Buddhist salvation was held to consist in a change of heart, a modification of personal character, to be attained to in this world, and forming the subject of Gotama's first discourse, ' The Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteous- ness V When looked at from different points of view this state of mind was denoted, in the very numerous passages in which it is mentioned or referred to, under a great variety of different names or epithets, suggestive of the different points of view from which it could be regarded. The term Nibb&na, or NirvA«a, is only one of those epithets ; and it is a most significant fact, to which I would invite especial attention, that it is an epithet comparatively very seldom employed in the Pdli Pi/akas themselves. It is to the state of mind itself, the salvation which every Arahat has reached while yet alive, in a word, to Arahatship, that importance ought to be attached, rather than to that particular conno- tation of it suggested by the word Nirv&wa. One of the many ideas involved in Arahatship was the absolute dissolution of individuality. Gotama, whether rightly or wrongly is here of no importance, held that freedom from pain, absolute ease, happiness, was incom- patible with existence as a distinct individual (whether animal, god, or man).
2. One of the many ideas involved in Arahatship was the absolute dissolution of individuality. Gotama, whether rightly or wrongly is here of no importance, held that freedom from pain, absolute ease, happiness, was incom- patible with existence as a distinct individual (whether animal, god, or man). The cessation of the Confections, so far from being a thing to be dreaded, was the inevitable result of the emancipation of heart and mind in Arahatship. 1 The Dhamma-£akka-ppavattana Sutta, translated below. 244 mahA-sudassana sutta. But it was not a thing to be desired, and could not, in fact, be brought about apart from all the other things involved in Arahatship. The formation of these Confections ceases in Nirv&«a, and in Nirvct#a alone ; and when the poet declares that their cessation is blessed, he is saying the same thing as if he had said ' Nirvdtf a is blessed V Turning now to the Sutta itself, we find that the portion of the legend omitted in the G&taka throws an unexpected light upon the tale ; for it commences with a long descrip- tion of the riches and glory of MahA Sudassana, and reveals in its details the instructive fact that the legend is nothing more nor less than a spiritualist's sun-myth. It cannot be disputed that the sun-myth theory has become greatly discredited, and with reason, by having been used too carelessly and freely as an explanation of religious legends of different times and countries which have really no historical connection with the earlier awe and reverence inspired by the sun. The very mention of the word sun-myth is apt to call forth a smile of incredulity, and the indubitable truth which is the basis of the theory has not sufficed to protect it from the shafts of ridicule. The ' Book of the Great King of Glory ' seems to afford a useful example both of the extent to which the theory may be accepted, and of the limitations under which it should always be applied. It must at once be admitted that whether the whole story is based on a sun-story, or whether certain parts or details of it are derived from things first spoken about the sun, or not, it is still essentially Buddhistic. A large pro- portion of its contents has nothing at all to do with the worship of the sun ; and even that which has, had not, in 1 In this respect it should be noticed that the very word here used for cessa- tion, upasamo, is used as one among a string of epithets of Arahatship at Dhamma-£akka-ppavattana Sutta, § 3, = Cataka I, 97, and again in Dharama- pada, verses 368, 381. In this last passage the whole of the phrase in the last verse in our stanza recurs in the accusative case as an equivalent to Arahatship, and the comma inserted by Mr. Fausboll between sankharupasamanf and sukhaw is, in both verses, unnecessary. INTRODUCTION. 245 the mind of the author, when the book was put fogether.
3e of the phrase in the last verse in our stanza recurs in the accusative case as an equivalent to Arahatship, and the comma inserted by Mr. Fausboll between sankharupasamanf and sukhaw is, in both verses, unnecessary. INTRODUCTION. 245 the mind of the author, when the book was put fogether. Whether indebted to a sun-myth or not, it is therefore perfectly true and valid evidence of the religious belief of the people among whom it was current ; and no more shows that the Buddhists were unconscious sun worship- pers than the story of Samson, under any theory of its possible origin, would prove the same of the Jews. 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 Sutta) on the basis of the corresponding passage in the later Buddhist Sanskrit poem called the Lalita Vistara. The descriptions of the royal city and of its wondrous Palace of Righteousness have 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 poem in which a Jewish author, some three 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 metaphy- sical speculation, and had forgotten all about the Noble Path, their goal was no longer a change of heart in the Arahatship to be reached on earth, but a life of happiness, under a change of outward condition, in a heaven of bliss 246 MAHA-SUDASSANA SUTTA. 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 Sukhdvati-vyuha, the ' Book of the Happy Country/ the Sanskrit text of which has been just published by Professor Max Muller in the volume of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for the present year.
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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