Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch Volume I Part 37

[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 Piyada.s.si_, II. pp. 314 ff.]

[Footnote 587: The Second Minor Rock Edict.]

[Footnote 588: Rajuka 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 Nabhapamtis. In any case unknown.]

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

[Footnote 595: Dipav. VIII.; Mahav. 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: Jataka, no. 472.]

[Footnote 599: See for instance the _Life of Hsuan 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 Tipi?aka.]

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

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

Parajikam } together const.i.tuting the Sutta-vibhanga.

Pacittiyam}

Mahavagga } together const.i.tuting the Khandakas.

Cullavagga}

Parivara-patha: a supplement and index. This book was rejected by some schools.

Something is known of the Vinaya of the Sarvastivadins existing in a Chinese translation and in fragments of the Sanskrit original found in Central Asia. It also consists of the Patimokkha embedded in a commentary called Vibhaga 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 Mahavastu under the Mahayanist Canon. For some details about the Dharmagupta Vinaya, see _J.A._ 1916, ii. p. 20: for a longish extract from the Mulasarv. Vinaya, _J.A._ 1914, ii. pp. 493-522.]

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

[Footnote 606: The Sa?yutta quotes by name a pa.s.sage from the Digha as "spoken by the Lord": compare Sam. Nik. XXII. 4 with Dig. Nik. 21. Both the Anguttara and Sa?yutta quote the last two cantos of the Sutta-Nipata.]

[Footnote 607: It appears that the canonical book of the Jataka 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 Chandogya 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. Digha-Nikaya } II. Majjhima-Nikaya } Collections of discourses mostly attributed III. Samyutta-Nikaya } to the Buddha.

IV. Anguttara-Nikaya }

V. Khuddaka-Nikaya: a collection of comparatively short treatises, mostly in poetry, namely: 1. Dhammapada.

2. Udana } Utterances of the Buddha with explanations 3. Itivuttakam } af the attendant circ.u.mstances.

4. Khuddaka-patha: a short anthology.

5. Sutta-nipata: a collection of suttas mostly in verse.

*6. Thera-gatha: poems by monks.

*7. Theri-gatha: poems by nuns.

8. Niddesa: an old commentary on the latter half of the Sutta-nipata, ascribed to Sariputta.

*9. The Jataka verses.

10. Pa?isambhida.

*11. Apadana.

*12. Buddha-va?sa.

*13. Vimana-vatthu.

*14. Peta-vatthu.

*15. Cariya-pi?aka.

The works marked * are not found in the Siamese edition of the Tripi?aka but the Burmese editions include four other texts, the Milinda-panha, Petakopadesa, Sutta.s.sanigaha, and Nettipakara?a.

The Khuddaka-Nikaya seems to have been wanting in the Pitaka of the Sarvastivadins or whatever sect supplied the originals from which the Chinese Canon was translated, for this Canon cla.s.ses the Dhammapada as a miscellaneous work outside the Sutta Pitaka. Fragments of the Sutta-nipata have been found in Turkestan but it is not clear to what Pitaka it was considered to belong. For mentions of the Khuddaka-Nikaya 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-sanga?i_ give a good idea of these books.]

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

1. Dhamma-sanga?i.

2. Vibhanga.

3. Katha-vatthu.

4. Puggala-pannatti.

5. Dhatu-katha.

6. Yamaka.

7. Pa??hana.

The Abhidhamma of the Sarvastivadins 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.]