..續本文上一頁ff, but his own fault he hides, as a cheat hides the bad die from the gambler.
253. If a man looks after the faults of others, and is always inclined to be offended, his own passions will grow, and he is far from the destruction of passions.
254. There is no path through the air, a man is not a Samana by outward acts. The world
[249. This verse has evidently regard to the feelings of the Bhikshus or mendicants who receive either much or little, and who are exhorted not to be envious if others receive more than they themselves. Several of the Parables illustrate this feeling.
251. Dr. Fausböll translates gaho by ”captivitas,” Dr. Weber by ”fetter.” I take it in the same sense as grâha in Manu VI, 78; and Buddhaghosa does the same, though he assigns to grâha a more general meaning, viz. anything that seizes, whether an evil spirit (yakkha), a serpent (agagara), or a crocodile (kumbhîla).
Greed or thirst is represented as a river in Lalita-vistara, ed. Calc. p. 482, trishnâ-nadî tivegâ prasoshitâ me gñânasûryena, ”the wild river of thirst is dried up by the sun of my knowledge.”
252. See Childers, Notes, p. 7; St. Matthew vii. 3.
253. As to âsava, ”appetite, passion,” see note to verse 39.
254. I have translated this verse very freely, and not in accordance with Buddhaghosa”s commentary. Dr. Fausböll proposed to translate, ”No one who is outside the Buddhist community can walk through the air, but only a Samana;” and the same view is taken by Professor Weber, though he arrives at it by a different construction. Now it is perfectly true that the idea of magical powers (riddhi) which enable saints to walk through the air, &c., occurs in the Dhammapada, see v. 175, note. But the Dhammapada may contain earlier and later verses, and in that case our verse might be an early protest on the part of Buddha against the belief in such miraculous powers. We know how Buddha himself protested against his disciples being called upon to perform vulgar miracles. ”I command my disciples not to work miracles,” he said, ”but to hide their good deeds, and to show their sins” (Burnouf, Introd. p. 170). It would be in harmony with this sentiment if we translated our verse as I have done. As to bahira, I should take it in the sense of ”external,” as opposed to adhyâtmika, or ”internal;” and the meaning would be, ”a Samana is not a Samana by outward acts, but by his heart.” D”Alwis translates (p. 85): ”There is no footprint in the air; there is not a Samana out of the pale of the Buddhist community.”
Prapañka, which I have here translated by ”vanity,” seems to include the whole host of human weaknesses; cf. v. 196, where it is explained by tamhâditthimânapapañka; in our verse by tamhâdisu papañkesu: cf. Lalita-vistara, p. 564, anâlayam nishprapañkam anutpâdam asambhavam (dharmakakram). As to Tathâgata, a name of Buddha, cf. Burnouf, Introd. p. 75.]
p. 63
delights in vanity, the Tathâgatas (the Buddhas) are free from vanity.
255. There is no path through the air, a man is not a Samana by outward acts. No creatures are eternal; but the awakened (Buddha) are never shaken.
[255. Sankhâra for samskâra; cf. note to verse 203. Creature does not, as Mr. D”Alwis (p. 69) supposes, involve the Christian conception of creation.]
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