300.

The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, and their mind day and night always delights in compas

sion.

301.

The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, and their mind day and night always delights in meditation.

302.

The hard parting, the hard living alone, the uninhabitable houses are painful; painful is the company with men who are not our equals; subject to pain are the travelling friars; therefore let no man be a travelling friar, and he will not be subject to pain.

(302.) Unless this verse formed part of a miscellaneous chapter, I should hardly have ventured to translate it as I have. If the verse means anything, it means that parting with one's friends, living in the wilderness, or in wretched hovels, or travelling about from place to place, homeless and dependent on casual charity, is nothing but pain and grief, and, we should say, according to the author's opinion, useless. In other verses, on the contrary, this very life, this parting with all one holds dear, living in solitude, and depending on alms, is represented as the only course that can lead a man to wisdom, peace, and Nirvâna. Such contradictions, strange as they sound, are not uncommon in the literature of the Brahmans. Here, too, works are frequently represented as indispensable to salvation, and yet, in other places, and from a higher point of view, these very works are condemned as useless, nay, even as a hindrance in a man's progress to real perfection. It is possible that the same view found advocates even in the early days of Buddhism, and that, though performing the ordinary duties, and enjoying the ordinary pleasures of life, a man might consider that he was a truer disciple of Buddha than the dreamy inhabitant of a Vihâra, or the mendicant friar who every morning

303.

Whatever place a faithful, virtuous, celebrated, and wealthy man chooses, there he is respected.

304.

Good people shine from afar, like the snowy mountains; bad people are not seen, like arrows shot by night.

305.

He who, without ceasing, practises the duty of eating alone and sleeping alone, he, subduing himself, alone will rejoice in the destruction of all desires, as if living in a forest.

called for alms at the layman's door (cf. v. 141-142). The next verse confirms the view which I have taken.

Should it not be 'asamânasamvâso,' i. e. living with people who are not one's equals, which was the case in the Buddhist communities, and must have been much against the grain of the Hindus, accustomed, as they were, to live always among themselves, among their own relations, their own profession, their own caste? Living with his superiors is equally disagreeable to a Hindu as living with his inferiors. Asamâma,' unequal, might easily be mistaken for samâna,' proud.

(305.) I have translated this verse so as to bring it into something like harmony with the preceding verses. Vanânte,' according to a pun pointed out before (v. 283), means both in the end of a forest,' and 'in the end of desires.'

CHAPTER XXII.

THE DOWNWARD COURSE.

306.

He who says what is not, goes to hell; he also who, having done a thing, says I have not done it. After death both are equal, they are men with evil deeds in the next world.

307.

Many men whose shoulders are covered with the orange gown are ill-conditioned and unrestrained; such evil-doers by their evil deeds go to hell.

308.

Better it would be to swallow a heated iron ball,

(306.) I translate niraya' the exit, the downward course, the evil path, by ‘hell,' because the meaning assigned to that ancient mythological name by Christian writers comes so near to the Buddhist idea of 'niraya,' that it is difficult not to believe in some actual contact between these two streams of thought. (See also Mahâbh. xii. 7176.) 'Abhûtavâdin' is mentioned as a name of Buddha, 'sarvasamskârapratisuddhatvât' (Lal. Vist. p. 555.)

like flaring fire, than that a bad unrestrained fellow should live on the charity of the land.

309.

Four things does a reckless man gain who covets his neighbour's wife,-a bad reputation, an uncomfortable bed, thirdly, punishment, and lastly, hell.

310.

There is bad reputation, and the evil way (to hell) there is the short pleasure of the frightened in the arms of the frightened, and the king imposes heavy punishment; therefore let no man think of his neighbour's wife.

311.

As a grass-blade, if badly grasped, cuts the arm, badly-practised asceticism leads to hell.

312.

An act carelessly performed, a broken vow, and hesitating obedience to discipline, all this brings no great reward.

(308.) The charity of the land, i.e. the alms given, from a sense of religious duty, to every mendicant that asks for it.

(309-10.) The four things mentioned in verse 309 seem to be repeated in verse 310. Therefore, apuññalâbha,' bad fame, is the same in both: 'gatî pâpikâ' must be 'niraya;' danda' must be nindâ,' and 'ratî thokikâ' explains the 'anikâmaseyyam.' Buddhagosha takes the same view of the meaning of 'anikâmaseyya,' i.e. 'yathâ ikkhati evam seyyam alabhitvâ, anikkhitam parittakam eva kâlam seyyam labhati,' not obtaining the rest as he wishes it, he obtains it, as he does not wish it, i e. for a short time only.

313.

If anything is to be done, let a man do it, let him attack it vigorously! A careless pilgrim only scatters the dust of his passions more widely.

314.

An evil deed is better left undone, for a man repents of it afterwards; a good deed is better done, for having done it, one does not repent.

315.

Like a well-guarded frontier fort, with defences within and without, so let a man guard himself. Not a moment should escape, for they who allow the right moment to pass, suffer pain when they are in hell.

316.

They who are ashamed of what they ought not to be ashamed of, and are not ashamed of what they ought to be ashamed of, such men, embracing false doctrines, enter the evil path.

317.

They who fear when they ought not to fear, and fear not when they ought to fear, such men, embracing false doctrines, enter the evil path.

318.

They who forbid when there is nothing to be forbidden, and forbid not when there is something to be

(313.) As to raga' meaning 'dust' and 'passion,' see 'Parables,' pp. 65 and 66.

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