..續本文上一頁is evil.

　　On one”s own accord one should not resort to evil,

　　For mortals have kamma as their kinsmen.

　　One is not a thief by another”s word,

　　One is not a sage by another”s word;

　　It is as one knows oneself

　　That the devas also know one.

　　Others do not understand

　　That we all come to an end here.

　　But those wise ones who understand this

　　Thereby settle their quarrels.[24]

　　The wise man lives indeed

　　Even despite the loss of his wealth.

　　But if one does not obtain wisdom,

　　Then even though rich one is not alive."

　　The last two stanzas (500-501) were spoken by the elder when the king came to him one day and informed him of a disturbing dream he had seen the previous night:

　　"One hears all with the ear,

　　One sees all with the eye,

　　The wise man should not reject

　　Everything that is seen and heard.

　　One with eyes should be as if blind,

　　One with ears as if deaf,

　　One with wisdom as if mute,

　　One with strength as if feeble.

　　Then, when the goal has been attained,

　　One may lie upon one”s death bed."

　　The commentary explains the purport of the verses thus: A wise person should not reject everything, but should first investigate virtues and faults and then should reject whatever should be rejected and accept whatever is acceptable. Therefore, in regard to what should be rejected, though one possesses vision one should be as if blind, and though able to hear, one should be as if deaf. One who is intelligent, able to speak well, should be as if dumb when tempted to speak what is unfit to be uttered; and one who is strong should be as if feeble in regard to what should not be done.

　　The last line is ambiguous, in the Pali as well, and is interpreted in two different ways by the commentary: (1) When a task that should be done has arisen, one should investigate it and not neglect it even if one is lying on one”s death bed. (2) Or alternatively, if a task that one should not do has arisen, one should prefer to die — to lie down on one”s death bed — rather than do it. Neither explanation sounds convincing, and the sense consonant with the spirit of the Theragatha as a whole would seem to be: One should die as one who has attained the goal, i.e., as an arahant.

　　8. The Exegetical Treatises

　　Before concluding this survey of the Venerable Maha Kaccana”s contribution to the Buddha”s Dispensation, we should briefly take note that the Theravada tradition ascribes to him two exegetical treatises — the Petakopadesa and the Nettippakarana — and an influential grammar of the Pali language called the Kaccayana-Vyakarana. The two treatises are not included in the Pali canon (except in Burma, where they were lately incorporated into the Sutta Pitaka), but have exerted a major influence on the evolution of exegetical method.

　　Bhikkhu Ñanamoli, who translated both treatises into English, holds that the Netti is a later, more refined version of the Petakopadesa.[25] Both deal with essentially the same method of exegesis, which in the Netti is clearer and more concise. The method described there is designed to elicit from the Buddha”s discourses the unifying principles that underlie the variegated expressions of the Dhamma. It is founded on the assumption that beneath the many perse utterances of the Master, adapted according to the temperament and situation of the auditors, there runs a single consistent system, which with the right exegetical techniques can be extracted from the particular statement under investigation and displayed in its unadorned essence. The Netti, as Ven. Ñanamoli has explained, is not itself a commentary but a guide for commentators. It explicates, not so much the teachings themselves (except by way of exemplification), but the tools that are to be used to elicit the structural elements that underlie and shape the expression of the teaching…

《Maha Kaccana - Master of Doctrinal Exposition》全文未完，請進入下頁繼續閱讀…