Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1the well-known verse discussed below 2 : 'How transient are all component things 1 Their nature's to be born and die ; Coming, they go ; and then is best, When each has ceased, and all is rest!' Then the Unn&nsfis let go the roll of white cloth, and whilst water is poured from a goblet into a cup placed on a plate until the cup is full to the brim 3 , they again chaunt three times in Pali the following verses : — c As rivers, when they fill, must flow, And reach, and fill the distant main ; 1 Buddha** sara.na.rn gaJkkksLad Dhamma** sarawaw g&kkk&mi Sa.mgha.rn saianam ga£££&mi. 3 Anikki vata sawkhara uppadavaya-dhammino Uppa£gitv& nirqggvianti tes&m vfipasamo sukho. See ' Book of the Great Decease,* VI, 16, and the * Legend of the Great King of Glory,' II, 42. 3 This ceremony is called Fxm wadanawa. INTRODUCTION. xliii So surely what is given here Will reach and bless the spirits there! If you on earth will gladly give Departed ghosts will gladly live! As water poured on mountain tops Must soon descend, and reach the plain ; So surely what is given here Will reach and bless the spirits there 1 !' The relations then place the coffin in the grave, and each throws in a handful of earth. The Unn&ns&s then go away, taking the roll or rolls of cloth, one end of which was placed upon the coffin. The grave is filled in. Two lights, one at the head of it, and one at the foot, are left burning. And then the friends and relations return to the house. The funeral now being over, is followed by a feast; for though nothing may be cooked in a house or hut in which there is a corpse, yet plenty of food has been brought in from neighbouring tenements by the relations of the deceased. There is, however, yet another very curious ceremony to be gone through. Three or seven days — whichever, according to the rules of astrology, is a lucky day — after the deceased person died, an Unn&ns6 is duly invited to the house in which the deceased died. He arrives in the evening ; reads bana (that is, the Word, passages from the sacred books) throughout the night ; and in the morning is presented with a roll of white cloth, and is asked to Partake of food, chiefly of course curries, of those different kinds of which the deceased had been most particularly fond. Yatha varivaha punt paripGrenti sagaraw Evam eva ito dinnaw petanam upakappati. Ito dinnena yapenti peta kalakata tahia*. Unname udakaw vsJfam yatha ninnaw pavattati Evam eva ito dinna?,? petanaw upakappati. These verses occur in the Tiroku<&a-Sutta of the Khuddaka-Pa/Aa, but in * different order. xliv THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE.
2m eva ito dinnaw petanam upakappati. Ito dinnena yapenti peta kalakata tahia*. Unname udakaw vsJfam yatha ninnaw pavattati Evam eva ito dinna?,? petanaw upakappati. These verses occur in the Tiroku<&a-Sutta of the Khuddaka-Pa/Aa, but in * different order. xliv THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. This ceremony is called Mataka D&naya (Gift for the Dead), and the previous feast is called Mataka Bhatta (Feast in honour of the Dead) : the two combined taking the place of an ancient rite observed in pagan, pre-Buddhistic, times, and then also called Mataka Bhatta, in which offerings were made to the Petas ; that is, to the manes, or departed ghosts, of ancestors and near relations. Such offerings are of course forbidden to Bud- dhists \ and it is a very instructive instance of a survival in belief, of the effect of the natural reluctance to make much change in the mode of paying the customary funeral respect to deceased friends, that the kind of food supposed to be most appreciated by the dead should still be used in the Buddhist funeral rites. Another part of the ceremony, that part where one end of a roll of cloth is placed on the coffin while the other end is held by all the assembled Unn&ns£s 2 , is a fragment of ritualistic symbolism which deserves attention. The mem- bers of the Buddhist Order of Mendicants were enjoined to avoid all personal decoration of any kind ; and to attire themselves in cloths of no value, such as might be gathered from a dust heap (Pa^su-kula), or even from a cemetery. This was a principle to be followed, not a literal rule to be observed ; and therefore from the first presents of strips of plain white cotton cloth, first torn in pieces to deprive them of any commercial value, then pieced together again and dyed a dull orange colour to call to mind the colour of old worn out linen, were the material from which the mendicants' clothing was actually made. But the duty of contempt for dress (called Pa^su-kulikanga, from the dust heap) was never lost sight of, and advantage was taken of the gifts given by the faithful at funerals to impress this duty upon the minds of the assembled Bhikkhus. Nothing is known of any religious ceremony having been performed by the early Buddhists in India, whether the person deceased was a layman, or even a member of the 1 Compare the Mataka-Bhatta- G&taka (No. 18), translated in 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' vol. i. pp. 226 and following. 2 See p. xlii. INTRODUCTION. xlv Order. The Vinaya Pi/aka, which enters at so great length into all the details of the daily life of the recluses, has no rules regarding the mode of treating the body of a deceased Bhikkhu. It was probably burnt, and very much in the manner described in the last chapter of our Sutta — that is to say, it was reverently carried out to some convenient spot, and there simply cremated on a funeral pyre without any religious ritual, a small tope being more often than not erected over the ashes.
3was probably burnt, and very much in the manner described in the last chapter of our Sutta — that is to say, it was reverently carried out to some convenient spot, and there simply cremated on a funeral pyre without any religious ritual, a small tope being more often than not erected over the ashes. Though funerals are, naturally, not unfrequently mentioned in the historical books, and in the Birth Stories, there is nowhere any reference to a recognised mode of performing any religious ceremony \ The date of the Great Decease is not quite certain. The dwellers in the valley of the Ganges, for many genera- tions after Gotama's death, were a happy people, who had no need of dates ; and it was only long afterwards, and in Ceylon, that the great event became used as the starting- point for chronological calculations, as the Buddhist era. The earliest use of the Buddha's Parinibbdna as such an era is in an Inscription of King Nissanka Malla's, of the twelfth century A. D., published by me in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1875. Both in the historical records of Ceylon, and in those passages of the Pur&zsas which are the nearest approach to historical records in India, the chronology is usually based on the lists of kings, just as it is in the Old Testament. Only by adding to- gether the lengths of the reigns of the intermediate kings is it possible to calculate the length of the time that is said to have elapsed between any two given events. If these lists of kings had been accurately kept from 1 Compare Mahavaw/sa, pp. 4, 125, 129, 199, 223-225, and Chap. 39, verse 28 ; <7ataka I, 166, 181, 402; II, 6; Dasaratha 6&taka, pp. 1, 21, 22, 26, &c; Dhammapada Commentary, pp. 94, 205, 206, 222, 359; Hatthavana-galla- vihara-vawsa, Chap. IX; Hardy, ' Eastern Monachism,' pp. 322-324. The words Saddhaw, Uddhadehikazw, and Niv&po, given in Childers, refer to pagan rites. On funerals among Buddhists in Japan, sec Miss Bird's 'Unbeaten Tracks/ vol. i. xlvi THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. Gotama's time to the time when the existing chronicles were compiled, we should be able, if we could fix the date of any one of the kings, to calculate the date of the Buddha's death. This last we can do ; for the date of ATandragupta, and the date of his grandson Asoka, can be independently fixed within a few years by the aid of the Greek historians. But unfortunately the earlier parts of the otherwise reliable Ceylon chronicles are, like the earlier parts of Livy's otherwise reliable history of Rome, full of inconsistencies and impossibilities. According to the Rd^a-parampard, or line of kings, in the Ceylon chronicles, the date of the Great Decease would be 543 B.C., which is arrived at by adding to the date 161 B.C. (from which the reliable portion of the history begins) two periods of 146 and 236 years. The first purports to give the time which elapsed between 161 B. C.
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.
1the well-known verse discussed below 2 : 'How transient are all component things 1 Their nature's to be born and die ; Coming, they go ; and then is best, When each has ceased, and all is rest!' Then the Unn&nsfis let go the roll of white cloth, and whilst water is poured from a goblet into a cup placed on a plate until the cup is full to the brim 3 , they again chaunt three times in Pali the following verses : — c As rivers, when they fill, must flow, And reach, and fill the distant main ; 1 Buddha** sara.na.rn gaJkkksLad Dhamma** sarawaw g&kkk&mi Sa.mgha.rn saianam ga£££&mi. 3 Anikki vata sawkhara uppadavaya-dhammino Uppa£gitv& nirqggvianti tes&m vfipasamo sukho. See ' Book of the Great Decease,* VI, 16, and the * Legend of the Great King of Glory,' II, 42. 3 This ceremony is called Fxm wadanawa. INTRODUCTION. xliii So surely what is given here Will reach and bless the spirits there! If you on earth will gladly give Departed ghosts will gladly live! As water poured on mountain tops Must soon descend, and reach the plain ; So surely what is given here Will reach and bless the spirits there 1 !' The relations then place the coffin in the grave, and each throws in a handful of earth. The Unn&ns&s then go away, taking the roll or rolls of cloth, one end of which was placed upon the coffin. The grave is filled in. Two lights, one at the head of it, and one at the foot, are left burning. And then the friends and relations return to the house. The funeral now being over, is followed by a feast; for though nothing may be cooked in a house or hut in which there is a corpse, yet plenty of food has been brought in from neighbouring tenements by the relations of the deceased. There is, however, yet another very curious ceremony to be gone through. Three or seven days — whichever, according to the rules of astrology, is a lucky day — after the deceased person died, an Unn&ns6 is duly invited to the house in which the deceased died. He arrives in the evening ; reads bana (that is, the Word, passages from the sacred books) throughout the night ; and in the morning is presented with a roll of white cloth, and is asked to Partake of food, chiefly of course curries, of those different kinds of which the deceased had been most particularly fond. Yatha varivaha punt paripGrenti sagaraw Evam eva ito dinnaw petanam upakappati. Ito dinnena yapenti peta kalakata tahia*. Unname udakaw vsJfam yatha ninnaw pavattati Evam eva ito dinna?,? petanaw upakappati. These verses occur in the Tiroku<&a-Sutta of the Khuddaka-Pa/Aa, but in * different order. xliv THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE.
2m eva ito dinnaw petanam upakappati. Ito dinnena yapenti peta kalakata tahia*. Unname udakaw vsJfam yatha ninnaw pavattati Evam eva ito dinna?,? petanaw upakappati. These verses occur in the Tiroku<&a-Sutta of the Khuddaka-Pa/Aa, but in * different order. xliv THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. This ceremony is called Mataka D&naya (Gift for the Dead), and the previous feast is called Mataka Bhatta (Feast in honour of the Dead) : the two combined taking the place of an ancient rite observed in pagan, pre-Buddhistic, times, and then also called Mataka Bhatta, in which offerings were made to the Petas ; that is, to the manes, or departed ghosts, of ancestors and near relations. Such offerings are of course forbidden to Bud- dhists \ and it is a very instructive instance of a survival in belief, of the effect of the natural reluctance to make much change in the mode of paying the customary funeral respect to deceased friends, that the kind of food supposed to be most appreciated by the dead should still be used in the Buddhist funeral rites. Another part of the ceremony, that part where one end of a roll of cloth is placed on the coffin while the other end is held by all the assembled Unn&ns£s 2 , is a fragment of ritualistic symbolism which deserves attention. The mem- bers of the Buddhist Order of Mendicants were enjoined to avoid all personal decoration of any kind ; and to attire themselves in cloths of no value, such as might be gathered from a dust heap (Pa^su-kula), or even from a cemetery. This was a principle to be followed, not a literal rule to be observed ; and therefore from the first presents of strips of plain white cotton cloth, first torn in pieces to deprive them of any commercial value, then pieced together again and dyed a dull orange colour to call to mind the colour of old worn out linen, were the material from which the mendicants' clothing was actually made. But the duty of contempt for dress (called Pa^su-kulikanga, from the dust heap) was never lost sight of, and advantage was taken of the gifts given by the faithful at funerals to impress this duty upon the minds of the assembled Bhikkhus. Nothing is known of any religious ceremony having been performed by the early Buddhists in India, whether the person deceased was a layman, or even a member of the 1 Compare the Mataka-Bhatta- G&taka (No. 18), translated in 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' vol. i. pp. 226 and following. 2 See p. xlii. INTRODUCTION. xlv Order. The Vinaya Pi/aka, which enters at so great length into all the details of the daily life of the recluses, has no rules regarding the mode of treating the body of a deceased Bhikkhu. It was probably burnt, and very much in the manner described in the last chapter of our Sutta — that is to say, it was reverently carried out to some convenient spot, and there simply cremated on a funeral pyre without any religious ritual, a small tope being more often than not erected over the ashes.
3was probably burnt, and very much in the manner described in the last chapter of our Sutta — that is to say, it was reverently carried out to some convenient spot, and there simply cremated on a funeral pyre without any religious ritual, a small tope being more often than not erected over the ashes. Though funerals are, naturally, not unfrequently mentioned in the historical books, and in the Birth Stories, there is nowhere any reference to a recognised mode of performing any religious ceremony \ The date of the Great Decease is not quite certain. The dwellers in the valley of the Ganges, for many genera- tions after Gotama's death, were a happy people, who had no need of dates ; and it was only long afterwards, and in Ceylon, that the great event became used as the starting- point for chronological calculations, as the Buddhist era. The earliest use of the Buddha's Parinibbdna as such an era is in an Inscription of King Nissanka Malla's, of the twelfth century A. D., published by me in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1875. Both in the historical records of Ceylon, and in those passages of the Pur&zsas which are the nearest approach to historical records in India, the chronology is usually based on the lists of kings, just as it is in the Old Testament. Only by adding to- gether the lengths of the reigns of the intermediate kings is it possible to calculate the length of the time that is said to have elapsed between any two given events. If these lists of kings had been accurately kept from 1 Compare Mahavaw/sa, pp. 4, 125, 129, 199, 223-225, and Chap. 39, verse 28 ; <7ataka I, 166, 181, 402; II, 6; Dasaratha 6&taka, pp. 1, 21, 22, 26, &c; Dhammapada Commentary, pp. 94, 205, 206, 222, 359; Hatthavana-galla- vihara-vawsa, Chap. IX; Hardy, ' Eastern Monachism,' pp. 322-324. The words Saddhaw, Uddhadehikazw, and Niv&po, given in Childers, refer to pagan rites. On funerals among Buddhists in Japan, sec Miss Bird's 'Unbeaten Tracks/ vol. i. xlvi THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE. Gotama's time to the time when the existing chronicles were compiled, we should be able, if we could fix the date of any one of the kings, to calculate the date of the Buddha's death. This last we can do ; for the date of ATandragupta, and the date of his grandson Asoka, can be independently fixed within a few years by the aid of the Greek historians. But unfortunately the earlier parts of the otherwise reliable Ceylon chronicles are, like the earlier parts of Livy's otherwise reliable history of Rome, full of inconsistencies and impossibilities. According to the Rd^a-parampard, or line of kings, in the Ceylon chronicles, the date of the Great Decease would be 543 B.C., which is arrived at by adding to the date 161 B.C. (from which the reliable portion of the history begins) two periods of 146 and 236 years. The first purports to give the time which elapsed between 161 B. C.
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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