The Dhammapada
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| The Dhammapada Translated from the Pali by P. Lal To Isaac Bashevis Singer & Phil Ribet without whose help in different ways this book could not have seen print Copyright @ 1967 by P. Lal. All rights reserved. Library of Congress catalog card number: 67-13413. Published simultaneously in Canada by Ambassador Books, Ltd., Rexdale, Ontario. Designed by Marshall Lee. Printed in the United States of America. First printing, 1967 Preface
This translation- in places at least, I hope, a transcreation- has a story behind it. Perhaps there is a moral in the story somewhere. It happened in July 1966. I was in New York as an invited delegate from India to the XXXIVth International P.E.N. Congress. Glenway Wescott, with exceeding courtesy and hospitality, took it upon himself to introduce me to American writers and intellectuals. He gave a small cocktail party in the uptown Manhattan apartment of Monroe Wheeler, Director of the Museum of Modern Art, another unfailingly helpful and grace-imbued American. The others invited were Marianne Moore, Isaac Bashevis Singer and his wife, and Robert Phelps. It was at the request of Miss Moore, who wanted to "hear some poetry from India," that I read out from my version of the Dhammapada, a few chapters of which I had in my briefcase. (Luckily, for ancient religious texts are not what one takes to cocktail parties.) Miss Moore and the others were impressed by the Buddha's words, and Mr. Singer arranged to cable for the rest of the typescript to be airmailed from Calcutta. A contract was drawn up a week later by Mr. Robert Giroux, who has also helped by supplying friendly criticism and, whenever asked, by rushing Xerox copies of printed material hard to come across in India. The introduction could not have been written without his help. I am grateful to Father Bayart, S.J., of St. Xavier's College, Calcutta, for allowing me the use of the excellent Oriental Collection in Goethals' . Library; to Jai Ratan, for liking the first draft of this translation and thereby encouraging me to polish and improve; and to I. M. Rana, for typing the entire manuscript at very short notice. P.L.
Calcutta, December, 1966 The Buddha: His Life and His Teaching The Buddha 2 His Teaching 16 THE DHAMMAPADA Ten Twin Verses 38 Clear Thinking 44 Mind 48 Flowers 52 The Fool 58 The Wise Man 64 The Saint 70 The Thousands 74 Evil Conduct 78 Punishment 82 Old Age 88 Your Self 92 The World 96 The Enlightened One 100 Happiness 106 Pleasure 110 Anger 114 Impurity 120 The Disciple of Dhamma The Path 132 Varied Advice 138 The Downward Path 144 The Elephant 150 Craving 156 The Bhikku 164 The Brahmin 170 Selected Bibliography I. Translations of the Dhammapada 178 II. Books on Buddhism 180 The Buddha: His Life and His Teaching The Buddha One of the many legends that circle around the Buddha's life says that his mother Maya left for her parents' house during the last days of her pregnancy, for this was the custom in India. On the way she asked her sister Prajapati to help her reach the flowering branch of a sal tree she had admired from her couch. As she reached for the branch, the tree bent graciously. Soft breezes blew in the scented forest. Her attendants hastily devised a curtain around her. She was still gazing with love at the beauty of the flowering bough when the Buddha was born, in springtime, on the full-moon day of the month of Vaisakh 563 B.C. His father was Raja Suddhodana. Maya and Prajapati were Suddhodana's wives. Maya was forty-five when the Buddha was born. He was named Siddhartha Gautama. . It was decreed that the nurse for Siddhartha, "the Blessing of the World," should be neither too tall, for in that case the neck of the infant would get strained; nor too short, for that would bend his body; nor too large, for that would constrict his legs; nor too weak, for that would not give his body the firmness it needed. Her breasts should not be too full, for then her hot milk would flush his skin; nor too dark, for then her milk would be cold, and cause hard and soft lumps on his growing body. After much searching, one hundred princesses were chosen. . Raja Suddhodana's Brahmin astrologer predicted that the special marks on Siddhartha's body indicated that he would forsake the world and become a Buddha. "He will see the Four Visions-an old man, a diseased man,
"Let such sights be forbidden in the palace," ordered Suddhodana. ' Siddhartha was married to his beautiful cousin Yasodhara when he was sixteen. Three palaces-nine stories, seven stories, and five stories high-were built for their pleasure. Forty thousand dancing girls were provided for Siddhartha's delight. Nothing displeasing or offensive to the senses was brought before him.
As the chariot, pulled by four resplendent horses, entered the gardens, Siddhartha saw an old bent man passing by. "Who is this, charioteer,
"An old man, sire. He is weak and helpless. His friends and family have left him, As birds leave a withered tree." "Tell me the truth, charioteer - Did he become this himself, Or does it happen to all?" "Sire, this is the law of nature. It happens to all. Men, women, and children grow old. Your parents, your friends, you too will grow old." Angry and disturbed, Siddhartha ordered the charioteer to drive him back to the palace. A few days later, not far from the spot where he had seen the old man, he found a sick man abandoned beside a road. "And this man, charioteer, This skeleton, groaning in pain, Fouled by his own filth?" "A sick man, sire: he suffers, There is no cure for him, He will die soon." Still later, he saw a procession of men carrying a body on a coir cot. "These men, charioteer, carrying That man on a coir cot,
"Sire, the man is dead. Hs parents, friends and relatives mourn. He is more in this world." "So this is life! Youth into old age, Health into disease. Learned fools miscall it pleasure!" Siddhartha locked himself up for many days in the palace. When he went again to the pleasure gardens, he saw a monk passing by. "Charioteer, this gracious man
"A holy man, sire, a bhikku. He has no desires, no possessions. He looks on all with equal eyes." "Good. He is a happy man. The learned praise such a man. I would like to be such a man." For the first time he returned to his palace with a steady mind. As he descended from his chariot, runners from his father greeted him with a message from the palace. His wife Yasodhara had given birth to a son, and the message of his father was: "Announce my joy to my son." Siddhartha listened, paused, and said:
(Rahula in Sanskrit means"obstacle.") So the boy was named Rahula.
Nibbhuta nuna samata Nibbhuta nuna sapita Nibbhuta nuna sanari Yasya yana i disa patio Blessed the father Blessed the mother Blessed the wife Of a man so glorious!" Siddhartha listened to the beautiful lines and wondered how he should achieve the state of blessedness (for nibbhuta meant both "fortunate" and "serene in Nirvana". He unclasped a pearl necklace worth a hundred thousand gold coins, and sent it to her. When told it was for her, Kisha Gautami thought he had fallen in love with her. Inside the palace, hundreds of elegantly dressed dancing and singing women, instructed by his father, surrounded him. Exquisite music and laughter, designed to chase away the loneliness of luxury, filled the rooms. He looked at them and was not pleased. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
He woke at midnight with a start. The oil-filled lamps were sputtering out. Around him he saw wild and violent women, some foaming at the mouth, some grinding their teeth, some mumbling, some yawning, some spitting, some drooling. A room full of living corpses. "Horrible! 0 horrible!" he whispered to himself. He went quickly to the door, opened it, and shouted, "Any one there ?" "I, Sire, Channa, keeper of the stables." "Good Channa, saddle me a horse. I am leaving the palace
Outside the stables stood the magnificent steed Kantaka. His sleek black flanks glistened in the light of Channa's lamp. Saddling Kantaka, Channa brought him to the would-be Buddha. * In the meantime, Siddhartha went to the inner apartment of the palace where his wife Yasodhara was sleeping on a flower-strewn bed, her left hand resting lightly on the infant Rahula. He stood at the door, silent, looking intently at mother and son, thinking. Then, quickly, he went out to the courtyard, where Channa was waiting for him. *
"Tell them they must not feel sorry for me." * Siddhartha walked to Rajagriha, capital of Magadha, a city famous for its Brahmin sages and philosophers. The king of Magadha, Bimbisara, informed by his guards about the arrival of a handsome and dignified mendicant in saffron (for Siddhartha had cut off his hair with his sword and exchanged his royal robe with a beggar), offered him wealth and invited him to stay in the palace. Siddhartha declined and proceeded to the Magadhan hill where the wise men lived. First he studied under Alara, the great Brahmin teacher. But Alara was learned only in the scriptures. Next he went to Udraka. But Udraka was learned only in metaphysics. He went to the forest of Uruvela near Bodh Gaya with five disciples, Kandanya, Bhaddaj, Mahanama, Vappa, and Assaji. There he joined the ascetics in severe self-mortification for six years. He took food daily equal to the size of a sesamum seed. His flesh grew dark; his ribs showed; the thirty-two holy signs appeared on his body. One night, after the third watch, he collapsed. A villager's daughter Sujata brought him food. He said later, "No food tasted better than the one brought to me by Sujata." The ascetics knew only asceticism. Picking up his staff and begging bowl, he left them-and his five disciples, disillusioned, left him. With Sujata's food in his hands, he sat down under the sacred Bo-tree. For he wanted to eat it undisturbed. There he was assailed by Mara the temptress. "She came to me," he said later, "with these words: " 'Lean, suffering, ill-favored man, Live!
"Why do you pick on me, Mara? What will I do with goodness, I who have faith? I struggle in faith, evil one, My faith is my life. For look, my faith, like a burning wind drying up rivers, will dry up my blood, will dry up everything that flows. Till blood, bile, and phlegm dry up, I shall sit here, with tranquil mind, and steady wisdom. Faith is my weapon. Powerless against it is your army, 0 temptress. Bring Lust and Restlessness, Hunger and Thirst, Sloth, Cowardice, Doubt, Hypocrisy – All powerless." He sat under the Bo-tree, unmoved, while Mara assailed him incessantly. Around him danced a host of fierce soldiers, with spears, swords, clubs, and diamond maces. They had heads of hogs, of fish, asses, horses, snakes, tigers, and dragons. Some had one eye only, others many. They flew and leapt, striking at each other, howling and hooting and whining till the earth shook. The earth shook like a loving bride abducted from her husband. That evening, from sunset onwards, till the next dawn, wisdom slowly came to Siddhartha. He achieved Nirvana at dawn, and as the full experience of truth flashed on him, he exclaimed: "Anekajati samsaram sandha ism an anibhisam gahakarakanga visanta dukhayati punah punam . . . How many births have I known Without knowing the builder of this body! How many births have I looked for him. It is painful to be born again and again. But now I have seen you, 0 builder of this body! All desire is extinct, Nirvana is attained!
You will not build them again." He was now the Buddha.
A voice inside him kept repeating: "Why reveal to the world your hard-won truth? Can the lustful and selfish ever grasp this truth? Inexplicable and profound is the truth now yours; How can he know it whose mind is full of the world?" But the Buddha rose like a lotus from stagnant water whose petals are unsullied by muddy drops, and saw the world clearly, with a Buddha's serene eyes. He saw the pure men, and the impure, the noble and the ignoble, the good listeners and the wicked ones, the seekers of immortality and those contemptuous of it. And he was moved to pity. Because he saw mankind drowning in the sea of samsara, of birth, death, and sorrow, And because there stirred in his heart the desire to save them, He was moved to pity. Because he saw them lost in false doctrine, with none to guide them, And because they wallowed in the five lusts, and suffered, He was moved to pity. Because they clung to their wealth, their wives, and their children, And because they did not know how to leave them, though they wanted to leave them, He was moved to pity. Because he saw them afraid of birth, old age, and death, And because they continued to act in ways that brought birth, old age, and death, He was moved to pity. Because it was a time of war and pestilence, killing and maiming, And because they had hatred in their hearts, for which they would
Because some were rich, and clung to riches, Because some were born, and would not find the Dhamma, Because some plowed and sowed, and bought and sold, And the fruit they reaped was the bitter one of suffering, He was moved to pity. His Teaching "You who follow me, consider this carefully. Keep an eye open, seekers of truth. Weigh rumor, custom, and hearsay. Don't let anyone's excellence in the Scriptures mislead you. Logic and argument, supply of elaborate reasons, approval of considered opinion, plausibility of ideas, respect for the leader who guides you- beware of too much trust in them. Only when you know, and are sure that you know- this is not good, this is erroneous, this is censured by the intelligent, this will lead to loss and grief- only when you know, should you reject or accept it." *
"What do you think, friends? Are there more simsapa leaves in my hand than in the simsapa grove?" "Very few in your hand, lord; many more in the grove." "Exactly. So you see, friends, the things that I know and have
because they do not lead from knowledge to wisdom and Nirvana. "That is why I have not revealed them." , "I will teach you Dhamma. Here is Dhamma: if this is, that also is; if this is reborn, that is reborn; if this is not, that also is not; when this stops, that stops too." * "No matter whose the teachings, my friend, if you are sure of this -'These doctrines conduce to passion, not serenity; bondage, not freedom; increase, not loss, of material gain; greed, not thrift; restlessness, not calm; noisy company, not solitude; sloth, not energy; delight in evil, not performance of good'- well, rest assured that is not the Dhamma, that is not the Discipline, that is not the Master's Way. "But if there are teachings, no matter whose, you are sure will conduce to serenity, not passion; freedom, not bondage; loss, not increase, of material gain; thrift, not greed; calm, not restlessness; solitude, not noisy company; energy, not sloth; performance of good, not delight in evil- that is the Dhamma, that is the Discipline, that is the Master's Way." * "The ocean has only one taste, the taste of salt. Dhamma has only one taste, the taste of Nirvana." * "Consider, Malunkyaputta, this story of a man wounded by a poisoned arrow. His friends, relatives, and well-wishers gather around him and a surgeon is called. But the wounded man says, 'Before he takes out this arrow, I want to know if the man who shot me was a Kshatriya, a Brahmin, a merchant, or an untouchable.' "Or he says, 'I won't let this arrow be removed until I know
"What do you think would happen to such a man, Malunkyaputta? Let me tell you. He will die. "And that is what happens when a man comes to me and says, 'I will not follow the Dhamma until the Buddha tells me whether the world is eternal or not eternal, whether the world is finite or infinite, whether the soul and the body are the same or different, whether the liberated person exists or does not exist after death, or both exists and does not exist after death, whether he neither exists nor does not exist after death.' He will die, Malunkyaputta, before I get a chance to make everything clear to him. "Being religious and following Dhamma has nothing to do with the dogma that the world is eternal; and it has nothing to do with the other dogma that the world is not eternal. For whether the world is eternal or otherwise, birth, old age, death, sorrow, pain, misery, grief, and despair exist. I am concerned with the extinction of these. "Therefore, consider carefully, Malunkyaputta, the things that I have taught and the things that I have not taught. What are the things I have not taught? "I have not taught that the world is eternal. I have not taught that the world is not eternal. I have not taught that the world is finite. I have not taught that the world is infinite. I have not taught that the soul and the body are the same. I have not taught that the soul and the body are different. I have not taught that the liberated person exists after death. I have not taught that he does not exist after death. I have not taught that he both exists and does not exist after death; that he neither exists nor does not exist after death. "Why, Malunkyaputta, have I not taught all. this? Because all this is useless, it has nothing to do with real Dhamma, it does not lead to cessation of passion, to peace, to supreme wisdom, and the holy life, to Nirvana. That is why I have not taught all this. "And what have I taught, Malunkyaputta? I have taught that suffering exists, that suffering has an origin, that suffering can be ended, that there is a way to end suffering. "Why, Malunkyaputta, have I taught this? Because this is useful, it has to do with real Dhamma, it leads to the cessation of passion, it brings peace, supreme wisdom, the holy life, and Nirvana. That is why I have taught all this. "Therefore, Malunkyaputta, consider carefully what I have taught and what I have not taught." * "Tell me, 0 Enlightened One, is there a Self?" The Buddha kept silent. "Is there, then, no Self ?". He did not reply. Vacchagotta rose and left. The noble Ananda asked the Buddha, "Why, lord, did you not answer Vacchagotta's questions?"
"Supposing, Ananda, I had replied that there is a Self; that would have meant siding with those ascetics and Brahmins who describe themselves as Eternalists. If I had replied there is no Self, that, Ananda, would have meant siding with those ascetics and Brahmins who class themselves as Annihilationists. I have constantly held that all things are not-Self -would it have been right on my part then to have told Vacchagotta that there is a Self? And if I had replied that there is not a Self, wouldn't this have confused him even more? He would have gone away saying to himself, 'I believed in a Self. What is there left for me now?' " * "All things, 0 monks, are on fire. And what are these things which are on fire? "The eye is on fire. Things seen are on fire. Eye vision is on fire. Impressions received by the eye are on fire. Whatever sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, is connected with the eye, is on fire. "With what are these on fire?
"All things are burning. "The ear is on fire; sounds are on fire. . . The nose is on fire; odors are on fire. . . The tongue is on fire; tastes are on fire . . . The body is on fire; things touched are on fire. . . The mind is on fire; ideas are on fire. . . Mind-awareness is on fire; impressions received by the mind are on fire. . . whatever sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, is connected with the mind is also on fire. . . "With what are these on fire? "With the fire of desire, with the fire of hate and delusion; with birth, old age, death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief, and despair. "All things are burning. "Cultivate aversion, 0 monks, and be free of the fire of desire. . . * "Avoid these two extremes, monks. Which two? On the one hand, low, vulgar, ignoble, and useless indulgence in passion and luxury; on the other, painful, ignoble, and useless practice of self-torture and mortification. Take the Middle Path advised by the Buddha, for it leads to insight and peace, wisdom and enlightenment, and to Nirvana. "What, you will ask me, is the Middle Path? It is the Eightfold Way. Right views, right intentions, right speech, right action, right profession, right effort, right watchfulness, right concentration. This is the Middle Path, which leads to insight, peace, wisdom, enlightenment, and Nirvana. Yüklə 206 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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