Source: http://dhammapada.tripod.com/t_intro_words.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 23:47:21+00:00

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The DhammaPada , the earliest portion of the Pãli Scriptures to become known in the West, gives us the "Words of the Truth", that is, of the Dhamma. The whole Doctrine taught by the All-Enlightened One. This is the sense in which the name is used in the work itself, where (v. 102) we are told how great is the value of "one single word of the Dhamma". Further analysis of the meaning will be found in the Preface of the translator.
In one respect the DhammaPada differs greatly from most of the Master's utterances. It is not a continuous discourse, but consists of single verses or sometimes several combined, which have been uttered by the Master on the occasion of some special event during the forty -five years of his ministry.
We are fortunate in possessing a large commentary on the verses, which not only explains each verse grammatically, but also gives an account of the persons and circumstances that led to its utterance. The connection of the circumstances with the verses may often be only traditional, but the incidents have a quite independent value, as they frequently record events in the life of the Master, and also present some of the important principles of his teaching. They give us a picture of the daily life of the Master as it was understood in the early days of the community.
The verses which come first in importance are (v. 153, 154) the first words uttered by the Buddha on his attaining Enlightenment. No real story is given here, but we are told that the words were repeated at a later time to Ãnanda, his favourite disciple and attendant, at Ãnanda's request. After spending seven weeks at or near the Bodhi tree after his Enlightenment, he journeyed to Benares to find and convert his five disciples, who had deserted him when they thought that on his abandoning the wrong methods of meditation he had given up striving. On the way he was met by an ascetic, Upaka, who asked him who was his teacher. His reply (v. 353) was to declare his omniscience and his independence of any teacher.
Two of his earliest disciples were Sãriputta and Moggallãna. They were two Brahmin students, who had promised each other that whichever of them should first find "The Immortal", the permanent state as opposed to the world of change, would tell the other. Sãriputta was the first to learn of it from Assaji, one of the five disciples. He revered Assaji so much that afterwards he would bow with clasped hands in the direction where he knew Assaji was living. The other monks thought that he was performing a heathen spell known as "worshipping the quarters". They complained to the Master, but he, knowing Sãriputta's real intention, replied to them in the words of (v. 392).
Some years after his Enlightenment the Buddha paid a visit to his native city, Kapilavatthu, where he converted many. The next day his father found him going from house to house for alms, and when his father protested that this was not the conduct for one born in the lineage of kings, his son pointed out that his true lineage was that of former Buddhas, who had gained their living in the same way, and he repeated v. 168, 169. He also induced his half-brother Nanda to enter the Order. But Nanda was so infatuated by his bride that he wished to return to lay life. The Master then took him to the heaven of the thirty-three gods, and showed him the celestial nymphs, so superior to his own bride that he decided to stay in the Order in order to gain them, as the Master promised that he should. It was this state of mind that the Buddha described in v. 13. Nanda was afterwards completely converted, when v. 14 was uttered.
Even as a useless log.
The tale of Gatamì the lean (Kisã Gotamì) also refers to the inevitability of death. It is given here as an example of the style of the stories.
As soon as the verse was ended, Kisã Gotamì was established in the Fruit of Entering the Stream, and many others also attained the Fruit of Entering the Stream and the other Fruits. She then asked the Master for admission to the Order. He sent her to the nuns and caused her to be admitted, and on being ordained she was known as the Theri Kisã Gotamì.
The commentary adds a later incident in her life, which illustrates v. 114.
For him who sees the Deathless State.
Gotamì became known as "the chief of the nuns who wear rags", and it is of her that v. 395 was spoken.
The Deathless or Immortal State of Nibbãna is the state of the disciple at any time when full knowledge is attained. Then all his fetters and corruptions are extinguished. Hence the commentators speak of two attainings of Nibbãna. The latter attained at death is called Nibbãna without a remainder of substrate of rebirth. When the DhammaPada first came to be studied in the West there were scholars who declared Nibbãna to imply annihilation at death. Yet not only is there no such doctrine in all the Scriptures, but the view of a monk who appeared to hold it is decisively rejected.
In v. 277-279 are taught the doctrines of the impermanence of all compound things, their painfulness (the first of the four Truths), and the doctrine of non-self (anatta). There is here no real narrative connected with the verses, but only incidents of the Master prescribing these subjects for meditation. The fact of the impermanence of all compound things was the truth realized by Sãriputta when he first heard the doctrine stated by Assaji. The term anatta, "selfless", has raised difficulties, because attã, "self" (Skt. ãtmã), is used in two senses. When it is used of the self of actual experience it is never denied. In this sense it occurs over and over again in the Scriptures. This self (not the merely mental part but the whole individual) is analysed into five parts, the body, feeling, perception, the other mental and volitional activities known as the sankhãras, and consciousness. But the Jains and the Hindus held that besides these ever-changing elements there was something permanent, which transmigrates unchanged. It was this supposed unchanging reality behind everything transitory that is denied by the doctrine of non-self. The self as experienced is always changing, but the changes are continuous from birth to birth, and enough personal identity remains for one with the proper training to be able to remember his former lives. Rebirth indeed takes place under the form of rebirth-consciousness. This is no unchanging element, but only one form of the stream of being (bhavanga), which the individual assumes at the time of conception, and its further changes are enumerated in the twelve-fold Chain of Causation.
Still more he laments, when he has gone to a state of woe.
A long and complicated legend tells of the destruction of the Sakya clan, followed by the destruction of the destroyers. Thereupon the Master repeated v. 47, showing the vanity of human efforts overwhelmed like a flood of death.
And is an eater of vomit, is a supreme man.
One without faith may be a misbeliever, but Sãriputta means one who has left mere faith behind and has reached full knowledge. Akata-ññu is "knowing the unmade", i.e. Nibbãna, but if divided as a-kataññu it means "not grateful".
The death of Moggallãna illustrates another important doctrine. The Jains hold that Nibbãna is attained when all kamma (the result of all deliberately willed action) is exhausted. But this is not the Buddhist view, for we find cases where disciples have attained enlightenment, but who are still suffering the fruits of their previous deeds. What is to be removed is not the kamma, but the evil tendencies in the individual that cause bad kamma. This is shown in the fate of Moggallãna, who in a previous life had been tempted to kill his parents. In verses 137-140 the Master explains to the monks the cause of Moggallãna's death at the hands of robbers.
The donation of a vihãra?
With flavouring of pure meat?
Ought to do much good.
Several events of the Master's last years receive mention. The Sakyas, members of the Buddha's own clan, quarrelled with their neighbours the Koliyas about the use of the water of the river Rohinì. The Master went and dissuaded both clans from fighting, finally uttering the words of v. 197-199.
There are two instances mentioned of calumnies, attempts by the heretics to discredit the Master morally. The heretics induced a wandering nun Sundarì to pretend to pay nightly visits to the Buddha. Then they caused her to be murdered and accused the Buddhists, but the murderers on getting drunk revealed the truth. Another wandering nun was Cincã, who made similar charges, and it required the help of the god Sakka to discover the truth. In both cases the words of the Master condemn the vice of lying (v. 306), (v. 176).
One of the most striking events both as showing the Master's method of teaching as well as emphasizing his fundamental principles is the conversion of Subhadda. He was an aged wanderer who came, when the Master lay on his death-bed, to have certain questions solved that were being discussed in other schools. The reply of the Master was to put aside all these questions and to point out what are the only things essential for a true ascetic. All that matters for the Buddhist is that the true ascetic must hold and realize the four Noble Truths and follow the Eightfold Path (v. 254-255). Subhadda then became the last disciple to be admitted by the Lord to the ordination of a monk (bhikkhu).
These four Truths (pain or sorrow, its origin, its cessation, and the Noble Eightfold path) were set forth by the Master on another occasion, when he was discussing various paths along which the monks had been travelling (v. 273-276).
The ãsavas: this is a term sometimes translated "corruptions" or "depravities", but this gives no idea as to what quality or feature of the individual is meant. As, however, they are described in detail, we know exactly what they mean. They are the three (or four) inherent tendencies in the individual which must be eradicated in order to attain the full knowledge of an arahat, namely, sensual desire (kãma), desire for becoming in any form of sensitive existence (bhava), and ignorance (avijjã) to which, as a form of ignorance, is added false view (micchãditthi).
Many other points of doctrine are discussed in the learned notes of the translator that accompany this text.

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