Reading section 48

[Footnote 569: But the Vetulyakas were important in Ceylon.]

[Footnote 570: See Paramârtha's _Life of Vasabandhu_, Toung Pao, 1904, p. 290.]

[Footnote 571: See Rhys Davids in _J.R.A.S._ 1892, pp. 8-9. The name is variously spelt. The P.T.S. print Sammitiya, but the Sanskrit text of the Madhyamakavritti (in _Bibl. Buddh._) has Sâmmitîya. Sanskrit dictionaries give Sammatîya. The Abhidharma section of the Chinese Tripitaka (Nanjio, 1272) contains a śâstra belonging to this school. Nanjio, 1139 is apparently their Vinaya.]

[Footnote 572: Kern (_Versl. en Med. der K. Akad. van Wetenschappen Letterk._ 4. R.D. VIII. 1907, pp. 312-319, cf. _J.R.A.S._ 1907, p. 432) suggested on the authority of Kashgarian MSS. that the expression Vailpulya sûtra is a misreading for Vaitulya sûtra, a sûtra of the Vetulyakas. Ânanda was sometimes identified with the phantom who represented the Buddha.]

[Footnote 573: It is remarkable that this view, though condemned by the Kathâ-vatthu, is countenanced by the Khuddaka-pâṭha.]

[Footnote 574: The Kathâ-vatthu constantly cites the Nikâyas.]

[Footnote 575: Pali Sabbatthivâdins.]

[Footnote 576: Cf. the doctrine of the Sânkhya. For more about the Sarvâstivâdins see below, Book IV. chap. XXII.]

[Footnote 577: See especially Le Nord-Ouest de L'Inde dans le Vinaya des Mûlasarvâstivâdins by Przyluski in _J.A._ 1914, II. pp. 492 ff.]

[Footnote 578: See articles by Fleet in _J.R.A.S._ of 1903, 1904, 1908-1911 and 1914: Hultzsch in _J.R.A.S._ 1910-11: Thomas in _J.A._ 1910: S. Lévi, _J.A._ 1911.]

[Footnote 579: Asoka's statement is confirmed (if it needs confirmation) by the Chinese pilgrim I-ching who saw in India statues of him in monastic costume.]

[Footnote 580: For a bibliography of the literature about these inscriptions see Vincent Smith, _Early History of India_, 3rd ed. 1914, pp. 172-4.]

[Footnote 581: The dialect is not strictly speaking the same in all the inscriptions.]

[Footnote 582: Piyadassi, Sanskrit Priyadarsin. The Dîpavaṃsa, VI. 1 and 14, calls Asoka Piyadassi and Piyadassana. The name Asoka has hitherto only been found in one edict discovered at Hyderabad, _J.R.A.S._ 1916, p. 573.]

[Footnote 583: The principal single edicts are (1) that known as Minor Rock Edict I. found in four recensions, (2) The Bhâbrû (or Bhâbrâ) Edict of great importance for the Buddhist scriptures, (3) Two Kalinga Edicts, (4) Edicts about schism, found at Sarnath and elsewhere, (4) Commemorative inscriptions in the Terâi, (5) Dedications of caves.]

[Footnote 584: Asoka came to the throne about 270 B.C. (268 or 272 according to various authorities) but was not crowned until four years later. Events are generally dated by the year after his coronation (abhisheka), not after his accession.]

[Footnote 585: I must confess that Law of Piety (Vincent Smith) does not seem to me very idiomatic.]

[Footnote 586: See Senart, _Inscrip. de Piyadassi_, II. pp. 314 ff.]

[Footnote 587: The Second Minor Rock Edict.]

[Footnote 588: Râjûka and pradesika.]

[Footnote 589: I.e. Syria, Egypt, Macedonia, Cyrene and Epirus.]

[Footnote 590: Kingdoms in the south of India.]

[Footnote 591: The inhabitants of the extreme north-west of India, not necessarily Greeks by race.]

[Footnote 592: Possibly Tibet.]

[Footnote 593: Or Nâbhapamtis. In any case unknown.]

[Footnote 594: All these appear to have been tribes of Central India.]

[Footnote 595: Dîpav. VIII.; Mahâv. XII.]

[Footnote 596: Pillar Edict VI.]

[Footnote 597: Perhaps meant to be equivalent to 251 B.C. Vincent Smith rejects this date and thinks that the Council met in the last ten years of Asoka's reign. But the Sinhalese account is reasonable. Asoka was very pious but very tolerant. Ten years of this regime may well have led to the abuse complained of.]

[Footnote 598: Jâtaka, no. 472.]

[Footnote 599: See for instance the _Life of Hsüan Chuang_; Beal, p. 39; Julien, p. 50.]

[Footnote 600: I consider it possible, though by no means proved, that the Abhidhamma was put together in Ceylon.]

[Footnote 601: For the Burmese Canon see chap. XXVI. Even if the Burmese had Pali scriptures which did not come from Ceylon, they sought to harmonize them with the texts known there.]

[Footnote 602: Pali Tipiṭaka.]

[Footnote 603: So in Maj. Nik. xxi. a man who proposes to excavate comes Kuddalapiṭakam âdâya, "With spade and basket."]

[Footnote 604: The list of the Vinaya books is:

Pârâjikam } together constituting the Sutta-vibhanga. Pacittiyam}

Mahâvagga } together constituting the Khandakas. Cullavagga}

Parivâra-pâtha: a supplement and index. This book was rejected by some schools.

Something is known of the Vinaya of the Sarvâstivâdins existing in a Chinese translation and in fragments of the Sanskrit original found in Central Asia. It also consists of the Pâtimokkha embedded in a commentary called Vibhâga and of two treatises describing the foundation of the order and its statutes. They are called Kshudrakavastu and Vinayavastu. In these works the narrative and anecdotal element is larger than in the Pali Vinaya. See also my remarks on the Mahâvastu under the Mahayanist Canon. For some details about the Dharmagupta Vinaya, see _J.A._ 1916, ii. p. 20: for a longish extract from the Mülasarv. Vinaya, _J.A._ 1914, ii. pp. 493-522.]

[Footnote 605: I find it hard to accept Francke's view that the Dîgha should be regarded as the Book of the Tathâgata, deliberately composed to expound the doctrine of Buddhahood. Many of the suttas do not deal with the Tathâgata.]

[Footnote 606: The Saṃyutta quotes by name a passage from the Dîgha as "spoken by the Lord": compare Sam. Nik. XXII. 4 with Dig. Nik. 21. Both the Anguttara and Saṃyutta quote the last two cantos of the Sutta-Nipâta.]

[Footnote 607: It appears that the canonical book of the Jâtaka consists only of verses and does not include explanatory prose matter. Something similar to these collections of verses which are not fully intelligible without a commentary explaining the occasions on which they were uttered may be seen in Chândogya Up. VI. The father's answers are given but the son's questions which render them intelligible are not found in the text but are supplied in the commentary.]

[Footnote 608: The following ia a table of the Sutta Pitaka:

I. Dîgha-Nikâya } II. Majjhima-Nikâya } Collections of discourses mostly attributed III. Samyutta-Nikâya } to the Buddha. IV. Anguttara-Nikâya }

V. Khuddaka-Nikâya: a collection of comparatively short treatises, mostly in poetry, namely: 1. Dhammapada. 2. Udâna } Utterances of the Buddha with explanations 3. Itivuttakam } af the attendant circumstances. 4. Khuddaka-pâtha: a short anthology. 5. Sutta-nipâta: a collection of suttas mostly in verse. *6. Thera-gâthâ: poems by monks. *7. Therî-gâthâ: poems by nuns. 8. Niddesa: an old commentary on the latter half of the Sutta-nipâta, ascribed to Sâriputta. *9. The Jâtaka verses. 10. Paṭisambhidâ. *11. Apadâna. *12. Buddha-vaṃsa. *13. Vimâna-vatthu. *14. Peta-vatthu. *15. Cariyâ-piṭaka.

The works marked * are not found in the Siamese edition of the Tripiṭaka but the Burmese editions include four other texts, the Milinda-pañha, Petakopadesa, Suttassanigaha, and Nettipakaraṇa.

The Khuddaka-Nikâya seems to have been wanting in the Pitaka of the Sarvâstivâdins or whatever sect supplied the originals from which the Chinese Canon was translated, for this Canon classes the Dhammapada as a miscellaneous work outside the Sutta Pitaka. Fragments of the Sutta-nipâta have been found in Turkestan but it is not clear to what Pitaka it was considered to belong. For mentions of the Khuddaka-Nikâya in Chinese see _J.A._ 1916, pp. 32-3.]

[Footnote 609: See _J.R.A.S._ 1891, p. 560. See too _Journal P.T.S._ 1919, p. 44. Lexicographical notes.]

[Footnote 610: Mrs Rhys Davids' _Translations of the Dhamma-sangaṇi_ give a good idea of these books.]

[Footnote 611: The works comprised in this Pitaka are:

1. Dhamma-sangaṇi. 2. Vibhanga. 3. Kathâ-vatthu. 4. Puggala-paññatti. 5. Dhâtu-kathâ. 6. Yamaka. 7. Paṭṭhâna.

The Abhidhamma of the Sarvâstivâdins was entirely different. It seems probable that the Abhidhamma books of all schools consisted almost entirely of explanatory matter and added very little to the doctrine laid down in the suttas. It would appear that the only new topic introduced in the Pali Abhidhamma is the theory of relations (paccaya).]

[Footnote 612: Maj. Nik. XXII. and Angut. Nik. IV. 6.]

[Footnote 613: Pali means primarily a line or row and then a text as distinguished from the commentary. Thus Pâlimattam means the text without the commentary and Palibhâsâ is the language of the text or what we call Pali. See _Pali and Sanskrit_, R.O. Franke, 1902. Windisch, "Ueber den sprachlichen Character des Pali," in _Actes du XIV'me Congrès des Orientalistes_, 1905. Grierson, "Home of Pali" in _Bhandarkar Commemorative Essays_, 1917.]

[Footnote 614: It is not easy to say how late or to what extent Pali was used in India. The Milinda-Pañha (or at least books II. and III.) was probably composed in North Western India about the time of our era. Dharmapâla wrote his commentaries (c. 500 A.D.) in the extreme south, probably at Conjeevaram. Pali inscriptions of the second or third century A.D. have been discovered at Sarnath but contain mistakes which show that the engraver did not understand the language (_Epig. Ind_. 1908, p. 391). Bendall found Pali MSS. in Nepal, _J.R.A.S._ 1899, p. 422.]

[Footnote 615: Magadha of course was not his birth-place and the dialect of Kosala must have been his native language. But it is not hinted that he had any difficulty in making himself understood in Magadha and elsewhere.]

[Footnote 616: E.g. nominatives singular in _e_. For the possible existence of scriptures anterior to the Pali version and in another dialect, see S. Lévi, _J.A._ 1912, II. p. 495.]

[Footnote 617: Cullavag. V. 33, chandaso âropema.]

[Footnote 618: Although Pali became a sacred language in the South, yet in China, Tibet and Central Asia the scriptures were translated into the idioms of the various countries which accepted Buddhism.]