Mahâ-Parinibbâna-Suttanta: The Book of the Great Decease

[1. Indian Antiquary, vol. iv. p. 90.] p. xxxviii the circumstances of his cremation, and the subsequent disputes, between the Mallas and others, for his ashes.' There is a curious echo here of some of the sections translated below; though each particular item of the summary is really in contradiction with the corresponding part of the Pâli book. There is perhaps another Chinese work on the death of Buddha, of the existence of which I have been informed, through the kind intervention of Professor Max Müller, by Mr. Kasawara. It was translated by Po-fa-tsu between 290 and 306 A. D. It seems to be the same as the first mentioned above, but it contains a good deal of matter not found in the Mahâ-parinibbâna-Sutta (notably an account of the Râgagaha Council, the mention of which is so conspicuously absent from the Pâli work); and it omits many of the sections found in the Pâli. Mr. Kasawara has been kind enough to send me the following details regarding those omissions, and they are of peculiar interest as compared with the table given above[1]: Chapters in the Pâli Sections wanting in Chinese. 1st Chapter 15-18. 3rd Chapter 21-42. 4th Chapter 53-56. 5th Chapter 4-6; 16-23; 27-31; 48-51. 6th Chapter 27; 48-50. There is no evidence to show that any of the above works are translations of our Sutta, or in any sense the same work. No reliance, in fact, can be placed upon the mere similarity of title in order to show that a Chinese work and an Indian one are really the same: and I regret that attempts should have been made to fix the date of Indian works by the fact that Chinese translations bearing similar titles are said to have been made in a certain period. But the above-mentioned works on the Great Decease will, when published, throw valuable light on the traditions of different, though no doubt later, schools of Buddhist thought; and a detailed comparison would probably throw a very interesting light on the way in which