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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1We will select the incident of Kunda’s offering, which is thus expanded in the last work : MAHAPARINIRVAWA SOTRA, TRANSLATED BY DHARMARAKSHA. Kioven II, § 1. ‘At this time, in the midst of the congregation, there was a certain Up4saka (lay-disciple) of the city of Kusinagara, the son of a blacksmith, whose name was Kunda ; this man, with his whole family, fifteen persons in all, had devoted himself to a religious life. At this juncture then it was that Kunda, rising from his seat, addressed Buddha 1 See some remarks on this point in the eleventh volume of the Sacred Books of the East, p. xxxvi. 366 NOTE III. in the orthodox way and said : “ Oh that the world-honoured (Tathagata) and the members of this great assembly would receive our poor offering, the very last to be presented, for the sake of bringing the benefit thereof to innumerable creatures! World-honoured one! from this time we are without a master, without a friend, with no means of advance, no helper, no refuge. Oh that Tathagata would of his great compassion deign to receive this offering of ours before he enters Nirvaza. World-honoured ! it is as though a Kshatriya, or a Brahman, or a Vaisya, or SQdra were to be reduced by poverty so far as to be compelled to go to another land, and there by industry prepare a piece of ground for cultivation. He procures a serviceable ox for the plough, and carefully roots up all the noxious weeds, and removes all stones and broken vessels from the ground, and then only awaits the grateful rain from heaven to crown his endeavours—so it is with me, the ox yoked to the plough is this body of mine, the cleared land (is the work of) supreme wisdom, the impediments and weeds removed are all the sources of sorrow which I have put away, and now we only await the rain of the sweet dew of the law! Look upon us, we are poor and perishing from want, without a friend, no help, no refuge; oh that Tathagata would pity us even as he had compassion on his son Rahula!” ‘ Then Tathagata replied : “ Well said! well said! Aunda. For your sake I will relieve the poverty of the world, and cause the rain of the insurpassable law to descend upon the field, and bring forth abundant fruit. Whatever your request, it shall be granted and I receive your offering. For as I accepted the gift of the shepherd girls before arriving at supreme wisdom, so now will I accept your corresponding gift before entering Nirvaza, and thus enable you to accomplish fully the Paramita of charity.’ Munda replied: “Let not Tathagata say that the merit of these two gifts is the same, for surely when the shepherd girls offered their food, the world-honoured one had not entirely got rid of all the sources of sorrow, or completed every growth of the seeds of wisdom ; nor was he able at that time to cause others to complete the Paramita of charity by accepting their gifts ; but this last offering is like a God in the midst of gods. THE SAME TITLE GIVEN TO DIFFERENT WORKS. 367
2THE SAME TITLE GIVEN TO DIFFERENT WORKS. 367 The first offering was made for the support of the body of Tathagata still suffering from human wants: this last offering is made to Tathagata possessing an eternal, sorrowless, and unchangeable (vagra) body, the body of the law; everlasting, boundless. In these (and other) respects, then, it seems to me the two offerings differ in character and in merit.” Tathagata answered: “Illustrious youth! for ages innumerable (countless asankhyeyas of kalpas) Tathagata has possessed no such body as that you named, as suffering from human wants or necessities—nor is there such an afterbody as that you describe as eternal, illimitable, indestructible. To those who as yet have no knowledge of the nature of Buddha, to these the body of Tathagata seems capable of suffering, liable to want (but to others it is not so). At the time when Bodhisattva received the offering of food and drink at the hands of the shepherd girls, he entered into the Sam4dhi known as vagra, and beheld the nature of Buddha, and so obtained the highest and most complete enlightenment (and thus was supposed to have eaten the food) ; so now as he receives your offering he enters the same condition; in this (and other respects) the offerings differ not in character. But principally for this reason, that as he then began to declare his law and preach it for the good of men, but did not completely exhaust the twelve portions of it, so now, having received your offering, he will preach the law in its entire form (i.e. including the Vaipulya, or last section) for the good of the assembly. But still, as in the former case, he ate not, so neither does he now eat.” ‘At this time the congregation having heard that the world-honoured would preach the law in its fulness after receiving the offering of Kunda, rejoiced with exceeding joy, and opened their mouths with one accord in these words of praise: “ Well done! well done! exceedingly fortunate Kunda! Thy name is now established (in meaning), well art thou called Aunda, for thou hast established a most excellent method of deliverance, and, therefore, thou art well named. Now shall your name be much honoured among men. Well done, Kunda! it is indeed seldom that a Buddha appears in the world, and to be born when he is 368 NOTE IIt. born is exceedingly difficult ; to believe in him and listen to his law is difficult; but how much more so to have the privilege of offering to him the last gift before he enters Nirvaza. Glory to Kunda! Glory to Kunda! Like the autumn moon on the 15th day of the month, your merit is full, and as all men look up to the cloudless moon with admiration and reverence, so do we reverence thee. Glory to Kunda! Now then Buddha has received from you his very last offering! thus have you completed the Paramita of charity! Glory to Kunda!” &c. Then the assembly uttered these verses :
3Glory to Kunda! Now then Buddha has received from you his very last offering! thus have you completed the Paramita of charity! Glory to Kunda!” &c. Then the assembly uttered these verses : * Although born in the réle of men, Already hast thou overleapt the six heavens, And therefore this united congregation With supreme reverence make this request (of thee) ; The most adorable amongst men Is now about to enter Nirvana! You then, we pray, to pity us, And respectfully entreat Buddha (on our behalf) For a longer period to remain in the world, To bring profit and advantage to countless assemblies ; And to declare fully the treasures of wisdom, The sweet dew of the most exalted law. If you consent not to make this request, Our destiny will be yet incomplete; We therefore, on this account, and with this view, Respectfully entreat thee as our leader.” ‘ At this time Xunda, overjoyed as a man whose father or mother, after having been conveyed to the tomb, suddenly re-appears alive, again prostrated himself before Buddha and repeated the following verses : “‘Oh! fortunate one that I am—to have gained such distinction, To have been born thus happily as a man! To have cast away covetousness and folly, To have got rid for ever of the three evil ways of life,— Ob! fortunate one that I am, to have gained this! To have found such a treasure of gold and gems, To have met with such a distinguished teacher, To have rescued myself from birth as a beast’. The appearance of Buddha in the world is like that of the Udumbara flower ; It is difficult to have faith in him when born, 1 That is, in any inferior position in the animal creation. THE SAME TITLE GIVEN TO DIFFERENT WORKS. 369 And having met with him, to sow the seeds of virtue, Whereby for ever to escape the sorrows of hell (Pretas), And to destroy and put to rout The combined power of all the Asuras (this also is difficult). Truly to attain this when Buddha is born Is as difficult as to cast a mustard seed on the point of a spear. But now having completed (the Paramita) of charity, It is my happy privilege to deliver both Devas and men from life an death, The law of Buddha is an uncontaminated law, Like the pure flower on the surface of the water, Able to deliver to the utmost (those highest in existence), Able to rescue eternally from the waters of birth and death. It is difficult when born to be born as a man, To meet with Buddha in the world is difficult, Even as it is hard for a blind turtle To find the hole in a piece of wood floating on the great ocean. And now on the ground of this offering of food, I aspire to attain the highest recompense, Deliverance from the whole concourse of sorrows, To destroy them and be held by them no more. I desire not as my aim in this To be born as a man or a Deva, Like others who look only for this recompense: And when obtained find no real delight. But now Tathagata, by receiving my offering, Has inspired me with true and lasting joy,
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.
1We will select the incident of Kunda’s offering, which is thus expanded in the last work : MAHAPARINIRVAWA SOTRA, TRANSLATED BY DHARMARAKSHA. Kioven II, § 1. ‘At this time, in the midst of the congregation, there was a certain Up4saka (lay-disciple) of the city of Kusinagara, the son of a blacksmith, whose name was Kunda ; this man, with his whole family, fifteen persons in all, had devoted himself to a religious life. At this juncture then it was that Kunda, rising from his seat, addressed Buddha 1 See some remarks on this point in the eleventh volume of the Sacred Books of the East, p. xxxvi. 366 NOTE III. in the orthodox way and said : “ Oh that the world-honoured (Tathagata) and the members of this great assembly would receive our poor offering, the very last to be presented, for the sake of bringing the benefit thereof to innumerable creatures! World-honoured one! from this time we are without a master, without a friend, with no means of advance, no helper, no refuge. Oh that Tathagata would of his great compassion deign to receive this offering of ours before he enters Nirvaza. World-honoured ! it is as though a Kshatriya, or a Brahman, or a Vaisya, or SQdra were to be reduced by poverty so far as to be compelled to go to another land, and there by industry prepare a piece of ground for cultivation. He procures a serviceable ox for the plough, and carefully roots up all the noxious weeds, and removes all stones and broken vessels from the ground, and then only awaits the grateful rain from heaven to crown his endeavours—so it is with me, the ox yoked to the plough is this body of mine, the cleared land (is the work of) supreme wisdom, the impediments and weeds removed are all the sources of sorrow which I have put away, and now we only await the rain of the sweet dew of the law! Look upon us, we are poor and perishing from want, without a friend, no help, no refuge; oh that Tathagata would pity us even as he had compassion on his son Rahula!” ‘ Then Tathagata replied : “ Well said! well said! Aunda. For your sake I will relieve the poverty of the world, and cause the rain of the insurpassable law to descend upon the field, and bring forth abundant fruit. Whatever your request, it shall be granted and I receive your offering. For as I accepted the gift of the shepherd girls before arriving at supreme wisdom, so now will I accept your corresponding gift before entering Nirvaza, and thus enable you to accomplish fully the Paramita of charity.’ Munda replied: “Let not Tathagata say that the merit of these two gifts is the same, for surely when the shepherd girls offered their food, the world-honoured one had not entirely got rid of all the sources of sorrow, or completed every growth of the seeds of wisdom ; nor was he able at that time to cause others to complete the Paramita of charity by accepting their gifts ; but this last offering is like a God in the midst of gods. THE SAME TITLE GIVEN TO DIFFERENT WORKS. 367
2THE SAME TITLE GIVEN TO DIFFERENT WORKS. 367 The first offering was made for the support of the body of Tathagata still suffering from human wants: this last offering is made to Tathagata possessing an eternal, sorrowless, and unchangeable (vagra) body, the body of the law; everlasting, boundless. In these (and other) respects, then, it seems to me the two offerings differ in character and in merit.” Tathagata answered: “Illustrious youth! for ages innumerable (countless asankhyeyas of kalpas) Tathagata has possessed no such body as that you named, as suffering from human wants or necessities—nor is there such an afterbody as that you describe as eternal, illimitable, indestructible. To those who as yet have no knowledge of the nature of Buddha, to these the body of Tathagata seems capable of suffering, liable to want (but to others it is not so). At the time when Bodhisattva received the offering of food and drink at the hands of the shepherd girls, he entered into the Sam4dhi known as vagra, and beheld the nature of Buddha, and so obtained the highest and most complete enlightenment (and thus was supposed to have eaten the food) ; so now as he receives your offering he enters the same condition; in this (and other respects) the offerings differ not in character. But principally for this reason, that as he then began to declare his law and preach it for the good of men, but did not completely exhaust the twelve portions of it, so now, having received your offering, he will preach the law in its entire form (i.e. including the Vaipulya, or last section) for the good of the assembly. But still, as in the former case, he ate not, so neither does he now eat.” ‘At this time the congregation having heard that the world-honoured would preach the law in its fulness after receiving the offering of Kunda, rejoiced with exceeding joy, and opened their mouths with one accord in these words of praise: “ Well done! well done! exceedingly fortunate Kunda! Thy name is now established (in meaning), well art thou called Aunda, for thou hast established a most excellent method of deliverance, and, therefore, thou art well named. Now shall your name be much honoured among men. Well done, Kunda! it is indeed seldom that a Buddha appears in the world, and to be born when he is 368 NOTE IIt. born is exceedingly difficult ; to believe in him and listen to his law is difficult; but how much more so to have the privilege of offering to him the last gift before he enters Nirvaza. Glory to Kunda! Glory to Kunda! Like the autumn moon on the 15th day of the month, your merit is full, and as all men look up to the cloudless moon with admiration and reverence, so do we reverence thee. Glory to Kunda! Now then Buddha has received from you his very last offering! thus have you completed the Paramita of charity! Glory to Kunda!” &c. Then the assembly uttered these verses :
3Glory to Kunda! Now then Buddha has received from you his very last offering! thus have you completed the Paramita of charity! Glory to Kunda!” &c. Then the assembly uttered these verses : * Although born in the réle of men, Already hast thou overleapt the six heavens, And therefore this united congregation With supreme reverence make this request (of thee) ; The most adorable amongst men Is now about to enter Nirvana! You then, we pray, to pity us, And respectfully entreat Buddha (on our behalf) For a longer period to remain in the world, To bring profit and advantage to countless assemblies ; And to declare fully the treasures of wisdom, The sweet dew of the most exalted law. If you consent not to make this request, Our destiny will be yet incomplete; We therefore, on this account, and with this view, Respectfully entreat thee as our leader.” ‘ At this time Xunda, overjoyed as a man whose father or mother, after having been conveyed to the tomb, suddenly re-appears alive, again prostrated himself before Buddha and repeated the following verses : “‘Oh! fortunate one that I am—to have gained such distinction, To have been born thus happily as a man! To have cast away covetousness and folly, To have got rid for ever of the three evil ways of life,— Ob! fortunate one that I am, to have gained this! To have found such a treasure of gold and gems, To have met with such a distinguished teacher, To have rescued myself from birth as a beast’. The appearance of Buddha in the world is like that of the Udumbara flower ; It is difficult to have faith in him when born, 1 That is, in any inferior position in the animal creation. THE SAME TITLE GIVEN TO DIFFERENT WORKS. 369 And having met with him, to sow the seeds of virtue, Whereby for ever to escape the sorrows of hell (Pretas), And to destroy and put to rout The combined power of all the Asuras (this also is difficult). Truly to attain this when Buddha is born Is as difficult as to cast a mustard seed on the point of a spear. But now having completed (the Paramita) of charity, It is my happy privilege to deliver both Devas and men from life an death, The law of Buddha is an uncontaminated law, Like the pure flower on the surface of the water, Able to deliver to the utmost (those highest in existence), Able to rescue eternally from the waters of birth and death. It is difficult when born to be born as a man, To meet with Buddha in the world is difficult, Even as it is hard for a blind turtle To find the hole in a piece of wood floating on the great ocean. And now on the ground of this offering of food, I aspire to attain the highest recompense, Deliverance from the whole concourse of sorrows, To destroy them and be held by them no more. I desire not as my aim in this To be born as a man or a Deva, Like others who look only for this recompense: And when obtained find no real delight. But now Tathagata, by receiving my offering, Has inspired me with true and lasting joy,
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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