[XVI.

MAHA PARINIBBANA SUTTANTA.

THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE.

CHAPTER I.

1. [72] Thus have I heard. The Exalted One was once dwelling in Râjagaha, on the hill called the Vulture's Peak. Now at that time Ajàtasattu, the son of the queen-consort of the Videha clan', the king of Magadha, had made up his mind to attack the Vajjians; and he said to himself, 'I will strike at these Vajjians, mighty and powerful though they be, I will root out these Vajjians, I will destroy these Vajjians, I will bring these Vajjians to utter ruin!'

2

2. So he spake to the brahmin Vassakâra (the Rainmaker), prime-minister of Magadha, and said:

1 Ajâtasattu Vedehiputto. The first word is not a personal name but an official epithet, 'he against whom there has arisen no (worthy or equal) foe' (so already in the Rig Veda but Sum. 131 different). The second gives us the maiden family, or tribal (not personal) name of his mother. Her name, according to a Tibetan authority quoted by Rockhill, Life of the Buddha,' p. 63, was Vâsavî.

Persons of distinction are scarcely ever mentioned by name in Indian Buddhist books, a rule applying more especially to kings, but extended not unfrequently to private persons. Thus Upatissa, the disciple whom the Buddha himself declared to be the second founder of the kingdom of righteousness,' is referred to either as Dhammasenâpati or as Sâriputta; epithets of corresponding origin to those in the text. See above, Vol. I, pp. 193-5.

By the Jains Ajâtasattu is called Kûnika or Konika, which again is probably not the name given to him at the rice-eating (the ceremony corresponding to infant baptism), but a nickname acquired in after-life.

2 Evammahid dihike evammahânubhâve. There is nothing magical or supernatural about the iddhi here referred to. Etena tesam samagga-bhâvam kathesi says the commentator simply: thus referring the former adjective to the power of union, as he does the second to the power derived from practice in military tactics (hatthisippâdîhi). See above, Vol. I, p. 273.

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'Come now, brahmin, do you go to the Exalted One, and bow down in adoration at his feet on my behalf, and inquire in my name whether he is free from illness and suffering, and in the enjoyment of ease and comfort and vigorous health. Then tell him that Ajâtasattu, son of the Vedehî, the king of Magadha, in his eagerness to attack the Vajjians, has resolved, "I will strike at these Vajjians, mighty and powerful though they be, I will root out these Vajjians, I will destroy these Vajjians, I will bring these Vajjians to utter ruin!" And bear carefully in mind whatever the Exalted One may predict, and repeat it to me. For the Buddhas speak nothing untrue!'

3. [78] Then the brahmin Vassakâra, the Rainmaker, hearkened to the words of the king, saying, 'Be it as you say.' And ordering a number of state carriages to be made ready, he mounted one of them, left Râjagaha with his train, and went to the Vulture's Peak, riding as far as the ground was passable for carriages and then alighting and proceeding on foot to the place where the Exalted One was. On arriving there he exchanged with the Exalted One the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy, sat down respectfully by his side (and then delivered to him the message even as the king had commanded 1).

4. Now at that time the venerable Ananda was standing behind the Exalted One, and fanning him. And the Blessed One said to him :- Have you heard, Ânanda, that the Vajjians foregather often and frequent the public meetings of their clan?'

'Lord, so I have heard,' replied he.

'So long, Ânanda,' rejoined the Blessed One, 'as the Vajjians foregather thus often, and frequent the public meetings of their clan; so long may they be expected not to decline, but to prosper.'

(And in like manner questioning Ânanda, and receiving a similar reply, the Exalted One declared

1 The wording of § 2 is here repeated.

as follows the other conditions which would ensure the welfare of the Vajjian confederacy 1.)

[74] So long, Ananda, as the Vajjians meet together in concord, and rise in concord, and carry out their undertakings in concord-so long as they enact nothing not already established, abrogate nothing that has been already enacted, and act in accordance with the ancient institutions of the Vajjians, as established in former days-so long as they honour and esteem and revere and support the Vajjian elders, and hold it a point of duty to hearken to their words-so long as no women or girls belonging to their clans are detained among them by force or abduction-[75] so long as they honour and esteem and revere and support the Vajjian shrines 2 in town or country, and allow not the proper offerings and rites, as formerly given and performed, to fall into desuetude-so long as the rightful protection, defence, and support shall be fully provided for the Arahants among them, so that Arahants from a distance may enter the realm, and the Arahants therein may live at ease-so long may the Vajjians be expected not to decline, but to prosper.' 5. Then the Exalted One addressed Vassakâra the brahmin and said :

'When I was once staying, O brahmin, at Vesâlî at the Sârandada Shrine, I taught the Vajjians these conditions of welfare; and so long as these conditions shall continue to exist among the Vajjians, so long as the Vajjians shall be well instructed in those conditions, so long may we expect them not to decline, but to prosper.'

'We may expect then,' answered the brahmin, the welfare and not the decline of the Vajjians when they are possessed of any one of these conditions of welfare, how much more so when they are possessed of all

In the text there is a question, answer, and reply with each clause. 2 Cetiyâni, which Sum. Vil. explains as Yakkha-cetiyâni.

3 The commentator adds that this was a vihara erected on the site of a former shrine of the Yakkha Sârandada. The teaching referred to is set out in full at A. IV, 16, but the persons taught are there called Licchavis.

the seven. [76] So, Gotama, the Vajjians cannot be overcome by the king of Magadha; that is not in battle, without diplomacy or breaking up their alliance1. And now, Gotama, we must go; we are busy and have much to do.'

'Whatever you think most fitting, O brahmin,' was the reply. And the brahmin Vassakâra, the Rainmaker, delighted and pleased with the words of the Exalted One, rose from his seat, and went his way.

6. Now soon after he had gone the Exalted One addressed the venerable Ânanda, and said :—‘Go now, Ânanda, and assemble in the Service Hall such of the brethren as live in the neighbourhood of Râjagaha.' And he did so; and returned to the Exalted One, and informed him, saying :

'The company of the brethren, lord, is assembled, let the Exalted One do as seemeth to him fit.'

And the Exalted One arose, and went to the Service

1 'Overcome' is literally 'done' (karanîya), but the word evidently has a similar sense to that which 'done' occasionally has in colloquial English. Upalâ pana, which I have only met with here, must mean 'humbug, cajolery, diplomacy;' see the use of the verb upa-lâ peti, at S. I, 102; Vin. II, 119; IV, 139; Jât. II, 266, 267; IV, 56. Sum. Vil. explains it, at some length, as making an alliance, by gifts, with hostile intent, which comes to much the same thing. The root, I think, is lî.

2 The word translated brethren' throughout is in the original bhikkhu, a word most difficult to render adequately by any word which would not, to Christians and in Europe, connote something different from the Buddhist idea. A bhikkhu, literally 'beggar,' was a disciple who had joined Gotama's order; but the word refers to their renunciation of worldly things, rather than to their consequent mendicancy; and they did not really beg in our modern sense of the word. Hardy has 'priests;' I have elsewhere used 'monks' and sometimes 'beggars' and 'members of the order.' This last is, I think, the best rendering; but it is too long for constant repetition, as in this passage, and too complex to be a really good version of bhikkhu. The members of the order were not priests, for they had no priestly powers. They were not monks, for they took no vow of obedience, and could leave the order (and constantly did so and do so still) whenever they chose. They were not beggars, for they had none of the mental and moral qualities associated with that word. 'Brethren' connotes very much the position in which they stood to one another; but I wish there were a better word to use in rendering bhikkhu.

Hall; and when he was seated, he addressed the brethren, and said :

'I will teach you, O mendicants, seven conditions of the welfare of a community. Listen well and attend, and I will speak.'

'Even so, lord,' said the brethren, in assent, to the Exalted One; and he spake as follows:

'So long, O mendicants, as the brethren foregather oft, and frequent the formal meetings of their Orderso long as they meet together in concord, and rise in concord, and carry out in concord the duties of the Order [77] so long as the brethren shall establish nothing that has not been already prescribed, and abrogate nothing that has been already established, and act in accordance with the rules of the Order as now laid down-so long as the brethren honour and esteem and revere and support the elders of experience and long standing, the fathers and leaders of the Order, and hold it a point of duty to hearken to their words— so long as the brethren fall not under the influence of that craving which, springing up within them, would give rise to renewed existence-so long as the brethren delight in a life of solitude-so long as the brethren so train their minds in self-possession that good men among their fellow-disciples shall come to them, and those who have come shall dwell at ease-so long may the brethren be expected, not to decline, but to prosper. So long as these seven conditions shall continue to exist among the brethren, so long as they are wellinstructed in these conditions, so long may the brethren be expected not to decline, but to prosper.

7. Other seven conditions of welfare will I teach you, O brethren. Listen well, and attend, and I will speak.'

And on their expressing their assent, he spake as follows:

[78] 'So long as the brethren shall not engage in, or be fond of, or be connected with business-so long as the brethren shall not be in the habit of, or be fond of, or be partakers in idle talk-so long as the brethren