Book VI: The Solving of Dilemmas: Chapter 4

289:1 This is the 357th Gâtaka (Fausböll, vol. iii, pp. 174) and which is one of those illustrated on the Bharhut Tope (Cunningham, Plate 109). 289:2 In the Gâtaka text (No. 457, Fausböll, vol. iv, pp. 100 and foll.), there are both devaputtâ, 'gods,' not yakkhâ. This is by no means the only instance of the term yakkha being used of gods. 289:3 I cannot trace this story in the printed text of the Gâtakas. 289:4 This is the Apannaka Gâtaka (No. i, vol. i, pp. 98 and foll. in Professor Fausböll's edition), translated in the 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' vol. i, pp. 138-145. 289:5 The Nigrodha Miga Gâtaka (No. 12, vol. i, pp. 145 and foll. in Fausböll), translated in 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' vol. i, pp. 198 and following. 290:1 The Nigrodha Gâtaka (No. 445, Fausböll, vol. iv, pp. 37 and foll.). 290:2 I cannot trace this story among the published Gâtakas. 290:3 This is the Mahâ Paduma Gâtaka (No. 472, Fausböll, vol. iv, pp. 187-195). It was a case of Joseph and Potiphar's wife. 290:4 This tragical story is No. 358 in the Gâtaka collection (Fausböll, vol. iii, pp. 177-182). 291:1 The Buddhist Sabbath, on which see my 'Manual of Buddhism,' pp. 139-141. 291:2 So also above, IV, 2, 64, and IV, 3, 28. 292:1 That is 'father's younger brother.' The Pâli has no word for uncle generally, the whole scheme of relationship being different from ours, and the various sorts of uncles having, in the Pâli scheme, different and distinct names.

292:1 That is 'father's younger brother.' The Pâli has no word for uncle generally, the whole scheme of relationship being different from ours, and the various sorts of uncles having, in the Pâli scheme, different and distinct names. 292:2 'Fifty-seven kotis and sixty hundreds of thousands of years,' says the text, with touching accuracy. 293:1 So Hînati-kumburê, who takes sabbadhamme as accusative to bugghitvâ, and understands the phrase as above translated. 293:2 This discussion is very interesting, both as a specimen of casuistry, and as an exposition of orthodox Buddhist belief. And it is full of suggestion if taken as a statement of the kind of reason which led the Buddhist editors of the earlier folk-lore to identify Devadatta with the characters referred to by king Milinda. But the facts are that those editors, in using the old stories and legends for their ethical purposes, always identified Devadatta with the cruel person in the story, and paid no heed to the question whether be was superior or not in birth or in the consideration of the world, to the person they identified with the Bodisat. In searching through the four volumes of the published Gâtakas, and the proof-sheets of the fifth volume with which Professor Fausböll has favoured me, for the purpose of tracing the stories referred to by our author, I find that Devadatta appears in sixty-four of them, and that in almost every one of these sixty-four he is either superior in birth, or equal to the character identified with the Bodisat. This is not surprising, for it is not unusually the superiors in birth who are guilty of the kind of cruelty and wickedness which the Buddhist editors would ascribe to Devadatta. So that our author, had he chosen to do so, might have adduced many other instances of a similar kind to those he actually quotes. I add in an appendix the full list of the Devadatta stories in the Gâtakas. It is clear our author had before him a version of the Gâtaka book slightly different from our own, as will be seen from the cases pointed out in the notes in which, as to names or details, the story known to him differs from the printed text. And also that here (as at III, 6, 2) he would have been able to solve his own dilemma much better if he had known more of the history of those sacred books on the words of which it is based.

294:1 It is not meant that men would not. But that is too clear to be even worthy of mention, whereas with regard to women the question is worth discussion. Our author is mistaken in ascribing this verse to the Buddha. It is only found (as has been pointed out by Mr. Trenckner) in a Gâtaka story, No. 536, and is a specimen, not of Buddhist teaching, but of Indian folk-lore. There is a very similar sentiment in Gâtaka, No. 62 (vol. i, p. 289). 294:2 This story will be found in the Ummagga Gâtaka, No. 546. 295:1 Fairies, nayad, dryads, &c. &c.--not gods. 295:2 Adhammena raho na labheyya. I am in great doubt as to the real meaning of these words, which Hînati-kumburê (p. 286) renders merely adharmayen rahasak no labannê. They look very much like a kind of personification of Karma. The phrase is really very parallel to the saying in Numbers xxxii. 23, 'Be sure your sin will find you out'--namely, in its results--and is as true ethically as it is difficult grammatically. 296:1 Sokeyya-sampanno, which Hînati-kumburê renders suvaka gunayen samanwibawa: that is, 'compliant, attentive to what is said.' But I prefer to take the expression in the sense explained at length in Anguttara III, 119. See also Gâtaka I, 214; Milinda, p. 115. 296:2 Anusuyyako. See Gâtaka II, 192, and Milinda, p. 94. 296:3 Âyûhako. Hînati-kumburê (p. 286) renders this word, which is only found here, by Dhana piris rœs kirîm œtteya, 'one who has heaped up goods and men.' But see Milinda, p. 181, and Dr. Morris in the Pâli Text Society's journals for 1885 and 1886.

296:3 Âyûhako. Hînati-kumburê (p. 286) renders this word, which is only found here, by Dhana piris rœs kirîm œtteya, 'one who has heaped up goods and men.' But see Milinda, p. 181, and Dr. Morris in the Pâli Text Society's journals for 1885 and 1886. 296:4 Sakhilo, 'kindly in speech,' says the Simhalese. 296:5 This is all very well, but it does not confirm, it explains away, the supposed quotation from the Buddha's words. 297:1 The position of women in India, at the time when Buddhism arose, was, theoretically, very low. The folk tales are full of stories turning on the wiles of women, and the Hindoo law-books seem never tired of the theme of her uncleanness, her weakness, and her wickedness. But, except in matters of property, the bark was I think worse than the bite. Among the people, in the homes of the peasantry, the philippics of the Brahmin priests were not much regarded, and the women led lives as pleasant as those of their male relations, and shared in such mental and physical advantages as their male relations enjoyed. The influence of Buddhism must have been felt in two directions. In the first place the importance attached to the celibate life must have encouraged the kind of view taken of women among Catholics in mediaeval times (the Brahmin view being much akin to those that were promulgated by Luther). On the other hand the fact that women were admitted to the Order, and that the still higher aim of Arahatship was held to be attainable by them, must have helped to encourage a high esteem for women. We have many instances of women who were credited with the insight of Arahatship. A whole treatise in the Buddhist sacred books, the Theri Gâtha, is devoted to hymns and poems ascribed to them, and many of these reach a very high level of intelligent and spiritual emotion.

297:2 I do not know the exact passage referred to, but there are many of similar tendency in the sacred books. See, for instance, Dhammapada, verses 39, 188, 214, 351, and 385; and Sutta Nipâta, verses 15, 70, 212, 621, and 965. 298:1 Here again we have a variation between our author's words and those of the Pitakas. In the Kullavagga VII, 3, 11, 12 (translated in pp. 247-250 of vol. iii of the 'Vinaya Texts' in the 'Sacred Books of the East'), we have the oldest versions of this story; and there the elephant is called, not Dhana-pâlaka, but Nâlâgiri, and the number of attendant disciples (who are not called Arahats) is not given as five hundred. The Buddha is simply said to have entered Râgagaha 'with a number of Bhikkhus.' Nothing also is said, either of their running away, or of Ânanda's remaining behind. It is, no doubt, an easily explicable and very pretty alteration of the story, which exhibits Ânanda, the beloved disciple, as acting in this way. But it is none the less an alteration. It should be added that Nâlâgiri (it should be Nâlâgiri) in the Vinaya text is a personal name of the elephant, but may be derived from its place of origin. (See the references to a famous elephant named Nâlâgiri in the Megha Dûta and Nadâgiri in the Kathâ Sarit Sâgara XI, 42, XII, 10, XIII, 7, 29. But Pânini VI, 3, 117, gives the latter as the name of a mountain.) So while there may be a variation in the legend, it may also be that we have only two names for the same elephant, just as one might speak of the Shetland pony (named) Brownie. And the stanza quoted below (p. 410 of the Pâli text) shows that the name Dhana-pâlaka was given already in older texts to the Nâlâgiri elephant.

298:2 Paññâyissati sakena kammena, 'It will be plain to the Buddha (that is, he will be able to judge of our motives) from his own kindness and goodness,' according to the Simhalese (p. 287). But the expression is a very strange one, and perhaps, after all, it merely means, 'The matter will turn out according to his Karma.' 300:1 Literally, 'In the hundreds of thousands of world systems.' 300:2 Atthânam-anavakâsataya, Because of the absence of condition and opportunity.' 301:1 This question is also discussed above, III, 6, 2. 301:2 This episode has already been referred to above, and will be found set out in full in the Kâtumâ Sutta, No. 67, in the Magghima Nikâya (pp. 456-462 of Mr. Trenckner's edition for the Pâli Text Society). 301:3 Nigghattam akamsu. Compare Gâtaka, vol. i, p. 495. 301:4 Okassa pasayha, which the Simhalese (p. 289) renders âkaddhanaya kola abhibhavanaya karanâ. See Dr. Morris in the 'Journal of the Pâli Text Society,' 1887, p. 148. 302:1 This is quite correct. They are in the fourth book of the Anguttara Sutta, No. 13. 302:2 Panaka, a word only found in this passage. Hînati-kumburê (p. 280 at the end) renders it ran panâwen. 302:3 Other cruxes arising out of the dogma of the Buddha's omniscience are discussed above, III, 6, 2.