Sutta Nipāta — Anonymous (Pāli Buddhist canon)
p. v THE SUTTA-NIPÂTA A COLLECTION OF DISCOURSES BEING ONE OF THE CANONICAL BOOKS OF THE BUDDHISTS TRANSLATED FROM PÂLI BY V. FAUSBÖLL Oxford, the Clarendon Press [1881] {scanned, proofread, and formatted by Christopher M. Weimer, March 2002} Vol. X Part II of The Sacred Books of the East translated by various Oriental scholars and edited by F. Max Müller p. xi INTRODUCTION TO THE SUTTA-NIPÂTA. THE Collection of Discourses, Sutta-Nipâta, which I have here translated [1] , is very remarkable, as there can be no doubt that it contains some remnants of Primitive Buddhism. I consider the greater part of the Mahâvagga, and nearly the whole of the A tth akavagga as very old. I have arrived at this conclusion from two reasons, first from the language, and secondly from the contents. 1. We not only find here what we meet with in other Pâli poetry, the fuller Vedic forms of nouns and verbs in the plural, as avîtata m hâse, pa nd itâse, dhammâse, sitâse, upa tth itâse, pavâdiyâse, &c., and k arâmase, asmase, sikkhissâmase; the shorter Vedic plurals and the instrumental singular of nouns, as vini kkh ayâ, lakkha n â for vini kkh ayâni, lakkha n âni, mantâ, pari ññ â, vinayâ, lâbhakamyâ for mantâya, &c.; Vedic infinitives, as vippahâtave, sampayâtave, u nn ametave; contracted (or sometimes old) forms, as santyâ, g a kk â, dugga kk â, sammu kk â, titthyâ, thiyo, parihîrati for santiyâ, g âtiyâ, sammutiyâ, titthiyâ, itthiyo, parihariyati, by the side of protracted forms, such as âtumâna m ; but also some unusual (sometimes old) forms and words, as apu kkh asi, sagghasi [2] = sakkhissasi, sussa m = su n issâmi (Sansk. s roshyâmi), pâva and pâvâ = vadati, pave kkh e = paveseyya, parikissati = parikilissati, vineyya, vi k eyya, ni kkh eyya, pappuyya, = vinayitvâ, &c., da tth u = disvâ (S. d ri sh t vâ), atisitvâ = atikkamitvâ, anuvi kk a = anuviditvâ, paribbasâna = vasamâna, amhanâ (S. a s manâ) = pâsâ n ena, vâ k îbhi, k atubbhi, rattamahâbhi, ise (vocative), suvâmi = sâmi, maga = miga, [1. Sir M. Coomâra Swâmy's translation of part of the book has been a great help to me. I hope shortly to publish the Pâli text. 2. C reads pagghasi.] p. xii tumo = so, parovara = parâvara, bhûnahu = bhûtihanaka, upaya, âmagandha, dhona, vyappatha, vyappathi, vevi kkh â, visenibhûta, visenikatvâ, pa t iseniyanti. Sometimes we meet also with difficult and irregular constructions, and very condensed expressions. All this proves, I think, that these parts of the book are much older than the Suttas in which the language is not only fluent, but of which some verses are even singularly melodious. 2. In the contents of the Suttanipâta we have, I think, an important contribution to the right understanding of Primitive Buddhism, for we see here a picture not of life in monasteries, but of the life of hermits in its first stage. We have before us not the systematizing of the later Buddhist church, but the first germs of a system, the fundamental ideas of which come out with sufficient clearness. From the A tth akavagga especially it is evident where Buddha takes his stand in opposition to Philosophy (di tth i = dar s ana). Indian society at the time of Buddha had two large and distinguished religious sects, Sama n as and Brâhma n as. This is apparent from several passages where they are mentioned together; for instance, Vinaya, ed. Oldenberg, II, p. 295; Grimblot, Sept Suttas Pâlis, p. ix, 8 &c., 118 &c., 158 &c., 306 &c., 309; Dhammapada, p. 392; Suttanipâta; vv. 99, 129, 189, 440, 529, 859, 1078; Sabhiyasutta, at the beginning; the Inscriptions of Asoka; Mahâbhâshya, II, 4, 9 (fol. 398 a); Lalita Vistara, pp. 309, l. 10, 318, l. 18, 320, l. 20; and lastly, Megasthenes (Schwanbeck, p. 45), {Greek: dúo génh figodófwn, wn toùs mèn Braxmanas kalei, toùs dè Sarmanas }. Famous teachers arose and gathered around them flocks of disciples. As such are mentioned Pûra n a-Kassapa, Makkhali-Gosâla, A g ita-Kesakarnbali, Pakudha-Ka kk âyana, Sa ñg aya-Bela tth iputta, and Nigan tha -Nâtaputta [1] ; see Suttanipâta, p. 86; Mahâparinibbânasutta, ed. Childers, p. 58; Vinaya II, p. 111; Grimblot, Sept Suttas Pâlis, p. 114, &c.; Milindapa ñ ha, ed. Trenckner, p. 4. Besides these there is Bâvari (Suttanipâta, p. 184), and his disciples A g ita, Tissametteyya, Pu nn aka, Mettagû, Dhotaka, Upasîva, Nanda, [1. Cf. Indian Antiquary, 1880, p. 158.] p. xiii Hemaka, Todeyya, Kappa, G atuka nn in, Bhadrâvudha, Udaya, Posâla, Mogharâ g an (Pi n giya, vv. 1006-1008; Sela, p. 98), and, K a n kin, Târukkha, Pokkharasâti, G ânusso n i, Vâse tth a, and Bhâradvâ g a, p. 109. We learn that there were four kinds of Sama n as, viz. Magga g inas, Maggadesakas (or Maggadesins, Magga ggh âyins), Magga g îvins, and Maggadûsins, vv. 83-88. Among these Sama n as disputes arose, vv. 828, 883-884; a number of philosophical systems were formed, and at the time of Buddha there were as many as sixty-three of them, v. 538. These systems are generally designated by di tth i, vv. 54, 151, 786, 837, 851, &c.; or by di tth igata, vv. 834, 836, 913; or by di tth asuta, v. 778; or by di tth a, suta, and muta, vv. 793, 813, 914; or by di tth a, suta, sîlavata [1] , and muta, vv. 790, 797-798, 836, 887, 1080. The doctrines themselves are called di tth inivesa, v. 785; or nivesana, vv. 209, 470, 801, 846; or vini kkh aya, vv. 838, 866, 887, 894; and he who entertains any of them, is called nivissavâdin, vv. 910, 913. What is said of the Sama n as seems mostly to hold good about the Brâhma n as also. They too are called disputatious, vâdasîla, v. 381, &c., p. 109; and three kinds of them are mentioned, viz. Titthiyas, Â g îvikas, and Niga nth as, vv. 380, 891-892. ln contradistinction to the Sama n as the Brâhma n as are designated as Tevi gg as, vv. 594, 1019; they are Padakas, Veyyâkara n as, and perfect in G appa, Nigha nd u, Ketubha, Itihâsa, &c., v. 595, p. 98. They are called friends of the hymns, v. 139; well versed in the hymns, v. 976; and their principal hymn is Sâvitti [2] ,