A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t1.19

Language: English

v2.c19.s3.t1.19.1

[^1) This conclusion is absent in the Satipaṭṭhāna-Sutta of the Majjhimanikāya (No. 10). F. *Heiler*, Die buddhistische Versenkung, 2nd Ed., München. 1923, p. 13, calls this Sutta "the exercise manual of the Buddhist monk." [^2) Cf. R. C. *Childers*, Ind. Ant. 12, 1883, p. 23 ff.; T. W. *Rhys Davids*, Buddhism (SPCK), p. 143 ff., and Mrs. *Rhys Davids*, SBB, Vol. IV, p. 168 ff. [^3) Translated by *Rhys Davids*, SBE, Vol. 11 and SBB, Vol. II, 78 ff., into German by J. *Dutoit*, Leben des Buddha, p. 221 ff., K. E. *Neumann*, München, 1911, R. O. *Franke*, in the Vinayapiṭaka,¹ and partly in the Suttapiṭaka. It is quite comprehensible that the memory of the latter part of the Master's life and of his last speeches was most firmly impressed on the minds of the disciples of Buddha, and that these have been preserved and handed down with loving fidelity. I do not hesitate to see the beginnings of a Buddha biography in the oldest parts of this Sutta, though there are only few passages in the Mahā-Parinibbāna-Sutta which can be regarded as really ancient and original. For, the Sutta is by no means a unified work, but is composed of parts which belong to different ages.

v2.c19.s3.t1.19.2

At a very early period—probably soon after the death of Buddha—there must already have been a short “Sutta of the perfect Nirvāṇa (of the Buddha),” which, by means of interpolations and additions, grew longer and longer in course of time, till it became the “*great* Sutta of the perfect Nirvāṇa” which we now have in our Pāli Canon. Such passages as those in the second section, where the story is related of the first illness of Buddha, which befell him at Beḷuva, and which he overcame by the strength of his will, where he assures Ānanda that he is not one of those teachers “with the closed fist,” who keep something for themselves, but that he has proclaimed the whole truth, and where he disclaims the idea that he should ever have wished to pose as a leader of the community, are surely ancient and original. The order, he says, had never been dependent upon him and would therefore not be “without a leader” even after his departure, if it would only be guided by the religion he had proclaimed. “Therefore, Ānanda, be your own lights! Be your own refuge!

v2.c19.s3.t1.19.3

Hold steadfastly to the religion as your light, hold steadfastly to the religion as your refuge!” Equal antiquity and originality can most probably be claimed for the passage in the fifth section, in which we read how Ānanda, no longer able to control his grief at the approaching departure of the Master, goes out and stands weeping, leaning against the doorpost, whereupon the Buddha has him called back, and tells him the most kindly words of consolation and of recognition of his loving attachment. The verses, too, which are scattered in the Sutta, bear the stamp of the greatest antiquity. Some of them contain significant sayings of the Buddha and his disciples, and others effectively emphasize the most striking events of the narrative.[^1) While, in all these passages, Buddha speaks entirely as man to man, we see him, in other parts of the same text, performing miracles like a demigod or a magician; indeed, he boasts of his magic power, by means of which he could, if he only desired it, prolong his life till the end of an age of the world, and reproaches Ānanda because the latter had not understood the hint at the given time and implored him, Buddha, to live on (III, 34-47). Buddha's resolve to die causes an earthquake, and he avails himself of the opportunity to enumerate the eight causes of an earthquake, and to follow it up by the enumeration of other things, likewise eight in number (III, 11-33).

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These are additions and insertions of epigones, who no longer felt even a breath of the spirit which had inspired the authors of the ancient record. In most cases, moreover, it is not difficult to point out the sources whence the additions came; for large portions of the Sutta, all together amounting to almost the whole Sutta, recur in other texts of the Tipiṭaka and are obviously borrowed from them.[^2) Nevertheless all the