' Certainly not, Gotama ! '
18. 'So you say, V£se///&a, that the Br£hmans [are not able to point out the way to union with that
holding each the other, and vainly, and with tears, seeking both their guide and the path — came to a miserable end 1
1 The words of the question are repeated in the text in this and the following answers. It must be remembered, for these sections, that the sun and moon were Gods just as much as BrahmS,
which they have seen], and you further say that
[neither any one of them, nor of their pupils, nor
of their predecessors even to the seventh generation
has ever seen Brahma]. And you further say that
even the i?zshis of old, [whose words they hold in
such deep respect, did not pretend to know, or to
have seen where, or whence, or whither BrahmS, is.
Yet these Brihmans versed in the Three Vedas say,
forsooth, that they can point out the way to union
with that which they know not, neither have seen!] 1
Now what think you, Vdse/Ma ? Does it not follow
that, this being so, the talk of the Br&hmans, versed
though they be in the Three Vedas, is foolish talk ? '
' In sooth, Gotama, that being so, it follows that
the talk of the Brihmans versed in the Three Vedas
is foolish talk ! '
19. ' Very good, Vdse/^a. Verily then, V&se//£a,
that Brdhmans versed in the Three Vedas should
be able to show the way to a state of union with
that which they do not know, neither have seen —
such a condition of things has no existence.
'Just, Vdse/Afca, as if a man should say, "How
I long for, how I love, the most beautiful woman
in this land!"
1 And people should ask him, " Well ! good friend !
this most beautiful woman in the land whom you
thus love and long for, do you know whether that
beautiful woman is a noble lady or a Brdhman
woman, or of the trader class, or a .Sildra ? "
' But when so asked he should answer " No."
' And when people should ask him, " Well ! good
1 The text repeats at length the words of §§ 12, 13, 14.
friend! this most beautiful woman in all the land,
whom you so love and long for, do you know what
the name of that most beautiful woman is, or what
is her family name, whether she be tall or short,
dark or of medium complexion, black or fair, or
in what village or town or city she dwells ? "
' But when so asked he should answer " No."
' And then people should say to him, " So then,
good friend, whom you know not, neither have seen,
her do you love and long for ? "
'And then when so asked he should answer "Yes/"
' Now what think you, V&se/Ma ? Would it not
turn out, that being so, that the talk of that man
was foolish talk ? '
' In sooth, Gotama, it would turn out, that being so, that the talk of that man was foolish talk ! '
20. 'And just even so, V£se#>£a, though you say
that the Br&hmans [are not able to point out the
way to union with that which they have seen], and you
further say that [neither any one of them, nor of their
pupils, nor of their predecessors even to the seventh
generation has .ever seen Brahmd]. And you further
say that even the i?/shis of old, [whose words they
hold in such deep respect, did not pretend to know,
or to have seen where, or whence, or whither Brah-
m£ is. Yet these Brihmans versed in the Three
Vedas say, forsooth, that they can point out the
way to union with that which they know not,
neither have seen !] Now what think you, Vfise/Ma ?
Does it not follow that, this being so, the talk of
the Brdhmans, versed though they be in the Three
Vedas, is foolish talk ? '
' In sooth, Gotama, that being so, it follows that
the talk of the Brdhmans versed in the Three Vedas is foolish talk ! '
'Very good, V£se#yfca. Verily then, V&se//>fca,
that Brihmans versed in the Three Vedas should
be able to show the way to a state of union with
that which they do not know, neither have seen —
such a condition of things has no existence/
21. 1 Just, V&se/A£a, as if a man should make a stair-
case in the place where four roads cross, to mount
up into a mansion. And people should say to him,
" Well, good friend, this mansion, to mount up into
which you are making this staircase, do you know
whether it is in the east, or in the south, or in the
west, or in the north ? whether it is high or low or
of medium size ? '
' And when so asked he should answer " No." '
1 And people should say to him, " But then, good
friend, you are making a staircase to mount up into
something — taking it for a mansion — which, all the
while, you know not, neither have seen ! "
* And when so asked he should answer " Yes." '
' Now what think you, Vise/Ma ? Would it not
turn out, that being so, that the talk of that man
was foolish talk ? '
' In sooth, Gotama, it would turn out, that being so, that the talk of that man was foolish talk ! '
22. 'And just even so, V£se#^a, though you say
that the Brahmans [are not able to point out the
way to union with that which they have seen], and
you further say that [neither any one of them, nor
of their pupils, nor of their predecessors even to the
seventh generation has ever seen Brahmi]. And
you further say that even the ^"shis of old, [whose
words they hold in such deep respect, did not
pretend to know, or to have seen where, or whence,
or whither BrahmS, is. Yet these Br&hmans
versed in the Three Vedas say, forsooth, that they
can point out the way to union with that which
they know not, neither have seen!] Now what
think you, Vise/Ma ? Does it not follow that, this
being so, the talk of the Br£hmans versed in the
Three Vedas is foolish talk ? 9
' In sooth, Gotama, that being so, it follows that
the talk of the Brihmans versed in the Three
Vedas is foolish talk!'
23. 4 Very good, V£se#^a. Verily then, V&se/Ma,
that Brihmans versed in the Three Vedas should
be able to show the way to a state of union with
that which they do not know, neither have seen —
such condition of things has no existence/
24. 'Again, V£se//^a, if this river A&ravati
were full of water even to the brim, and over-
flowing 1 . And a man with business on the other
1 Samatittika k&kapeyy&, a stock phrase used of a river in flood time. Buddhaghosa says, Samatittika* ti samaharita* (sic ?sam£harit£i): kikapeyyi ti yatthakattha^i tire Mitena k&kena sakka patun ti kakapeyyd, which does not seem to me to solve the question as to the origin and history of these difficult terms. With respect to the right form of samatittika* it should be noticed that the northern Buddhist spelling is samatirthaka (Sukhavativyuha, ed. Max Mttller in J. R. A. S. for 1880, p. 18a), and that both Childers and Oldenberg have read samatitthika* in the Burmese MSS. of Mah&parinibMna Sutta I, 33 = MahA Vagp VI, 28. Now the difference in Burmese letters between tt and tth (gg and gg) is so very small that the copyists frequently write one for the other; and even in good MSS. where the two are not confounded, it is sometimes difficult to tell which is really meant When talking of rivers the mention of titthas seems so appro-
side, bound for the other side, should come up, and
want to cross over. And he, standing on this bank,
should invoke the further bank, and say, " Come
hither, O further bank ! come over to this side ! "
priate that a copyist, and especially a Burmese copyist, would naturally read a doubtful combination as tth; so that even if all Burmese MSS. spell this word with tth (which is by no means certain), very little reliance should be placed upon the fact. On the other hand, the distinction in Sinhalese between tt and tth is very marked and d(3), and the Sinhalese MSS. all read tt. I think therefore that Childers was right in finally adopting sama- tittika as the correct Pali form. In the numerous words in which Buddhist Sanskrit has a form differing in a way which sets philological rules at defiance from the corresponding Pali form, Childers thought (see Diet. p. xi, where the list of words might be greatly extended) that the Sanskrit was always derived from the Pali, and the Sanskrit writers had merely blundered. I venture, with great diffidence, to doubt this. It seems more likely that, at least in many instances, both P&li and Sanskrit were alike derived from a previous Prakrit form, and that in differently interpreting a difficult word, both Sanskrit and Pali authors made mistakes. That may be the case here; and it is almost certain that the original word had nothing to do with tirtha. How easily this idea could be adopted we see from the fact that Childers when first editing the MSS. (in the J. R. A. S. for 1874), and when he had only Sinhalese MSS. then before him, altered their reading into samatitthika, and put this form into his Dictionary; though he afterwards (in the separate edition), and after noting that reading in the Phayre MS., chose the other. But what, after all, does ' having equal or level tfrthas or landing-places ' mean, when spoken of a river? Comp. Samatittikaw* bh\i%g&m\ (Mil. 213, 214) ; Sabbato tittaw pokkharawi/w (Gat. I, 339, text titthajrc) ; and Samatittiko telapatto (ibid. 393, text c iyo, but see p. 400). The root perhaps is trip.
Kikapeyya, according to Buddhaghosa, would mean 'crow- drinkable/ Crows do not drink on the wing ; and they could stand to drink either when a river actually overflowed its banks and formed shallows on the adjoining land ; or when in the hot season it had formed shallows in its own bed. ' Crow-drinkable ' might mean therefore just as well ' shallow ' as ' overflowing/ Had the word originally anything to do with kdka after all ?
l8o ON KNOWLEDGE OF THE VEDAS. CH.
6 Now what think you, V£se//>&a ? Would the
further bank of the river A^iravati, by reason of
that man's invoking and praying and hoping and
praising, come over to this side ? '
1 Certainly not, Gotama ! '
25. 'In just the same way, V&se#^a, do the
Brihmans versed in the Three Vedas — omitting
the practice of those qualities which really make a
man a Brihman, and adopting the practice of those
qualities which really make men not Brihmans — say
thus : " Indra we call upon, Soma we call upon,
Varu#a we call upon, tsdna we call upon, Paf&pati
we call upon, BrahmA we call upon, Mahiddhi we
call upon, Yama we call upon 1 ! " Verily, Vksettfa,
that those Br&hmans versed in the Three Vedas,
but omitting the practice of those qualities which
really make a man a Brdhman, and adopting the
practice of those qualities which really make men
not Br&hmans — that they, by reason of their in-
voking and praying and hoping and praising, should,
after death and when the body is dissolved, become
united with BrahmA — verily such a condition of
things has no existence!'
26. 'Just, Vase/Afca, as if this river A^iravatt
were full, even to the brim, and overflowing. And
a man with business on the other side, .bound for
the other side, should come up, and want to cross
over. And he, on this bank, were to be bound
tightly, with his arms behind his back, by a strong
1 The Sinhalese MSS. omit Mahiddhi and Yama, but repeat the verb ' we call upon ' three times after Brahma\ It is possible that the Burmese copyist has wrongly inserted them to remove the strangeness of this repetition. The comment is silent.
TEVIGGA SUTTA. l8l
chain. Now what think you, Vise/^a, would that
man be able to get over from this bank of the river
A&ravatl to the further bank ? '
' Certainly not, Gotama ! '
27. * In the same way, V&se/Ma, there are five
things leading to lust, which are called in the
Discipline of the Noble One a " chain" and a a
"bond."'
'What are the five?'
' Forms perceptible to the eye ; desirable, agree-
able, pleasant, attractive forms, that are accom-
panied by lust and cause delight. Sounds of the
same kind perceptible to the ear. Odours of the
same kind perceptible to the nose. Tastes of the
same kind perceptible to the tongue. Substances
of the same kind perceptible to the body by touch.
These five things predisposing to passion are called
in the Discipline of the Noble One a "chain" and
a "bond." And these five things predisposing to
lust, V£se///£a, do the Brdhmans versed in the
Three Vedas cling to, they are infatuated by them,
guilty of them, see not the danger of them, know
not how unreliable they are, and so enjoy them.
28. ' And verily, Vdse//^a, that Brahmans versed
in the Three Vedas, but omitting the practice of
those qualities which really make a man a Br&h-
man, and adopting the practice of those qualities
which really make men non-Brclhmans — clinging to
these five things predisposing to passion, infatuated
by them, guilty of them, seeing not their danger,
knowing not their unreliability, and so enjoying
them — that these Brahmans should after death, on
the dissolution of the body, become united to Brahm&
— such a condition of things has no existence/
29. ' Again, Vise/Ma, if this river A^iravatt were
full of water even to the brim, and overflowing.
And a man with business on the other side, bound
for the other side, should come up, and want to
cross over. And if he covering himself up, even to
his head, were to lie down, on this bank, to sleep.
* Now what think you, Vdse^a ? Would that
man be able to get over from this bank of the river
A^iravati to the further bank ? '