p. 16

　　CHAPTER IV.

　　FLOWERS[1].

　　 44. Who shall overcome this earth, and the world of Yama (the lord of the departed), and the world of the gods

　　 Who shall find out the plainly shown path of virtue, as a clever man finds out the (right) flower

　　 45. The disciple will overcome the earth, and the world of Yama, and the world of the gods. The disciple will find out the plainly shown path of virtue, as a clever man finds out the (right) flower.

　　[1. See Beal, Dhammapada, p. 75.

　　44, 45. If I differ from the translation of Fausböll and Weber, it is because the commentary takes the two verbs, vigessati and pakessati, to mean in the end the same thing, i.e. sakkhi-karissati, ”he will perceive.” I have not ventured to take vigessate for viganissati, though it should be remembered that the overcoming of the earth and of the worlds below and above, as here alluded to, is meant to be achieved by means of knowledge. Pakessati, ”he will gather” (cf. vi-ki, Indische Sprüche, 4560), means also, like ”to gather” in English, ”he will perceive or understand,” and the dhammapada, or ”path of virtue,” is distinctly explained by Buddhaghosa as consisting of the thirty-seven states or stations which lead to Bodhi. (See Burnouf, Lotus, p. 430; Hardy, Manual, p. 497.) Dhammapada might, no doubt, mean also ”a law-verse,” and sudesita, ”well taught,” and this double meaning may be intentional here as elsewhere. Buddha himself is called Mârga-darsaka and Mârga-desika (cf. Lal. Vist. p. 551). There is a curions similarity between these verses and verses 6540-41, and 9939 of the Sânti-parva:

　　 Pushpânîva vikinvantam anyatragatamanasam,

　　 Anavâpteshu kâmeshu mrityur abhyeti mânavam.

　　”Death approaches man like one who is gathering flowers, and whose mind is turned elsewhere, before his desires have been fulfilled.”

　　 Suptam vyâghram mahaugho vâ mrityur âdâya gakkhati,

　　 Sañkinvânakam evainam kâmânâm avitriptikam.

　　”As a stream (carries off) a sleeping tiger, death carries off this man who is gathering flowers, and who is not satiated in his pleasures.”

　　This last verse, particularly, seems to me clearly a translation from Pâli, and the kam of sañkinvânakam looks as if put in metri causâ.]

　　p. 17

　　 46. He who knows that this body is like froth, and has learnt that it is as unsubstantial as a mirage, will break the flower-pointed arrow of Mâra, and never see the king of death.

　　 47. Death carries off a man who is gathering flowers and whose mind is distracted, as a flood carries off a sleeping village.

　　 48. Death subdues a man who is gathering flowers, and whose mind is distracted, before he is satiated in his pleasures.

　　 49. As the bee collects nectar and departs without injuring the flower, or its colour or scent, so let a sage dwell in his village.

　　 50. Not the perversities of others, not their sins

　　[46. The flower-arrows of Mâra, the tempter, are borrowed from Kâma, the Hindu god of love. For a similar expression see Lalita-vistara, ed. Calc. p. 40, l. 20, mâyâmarîkisadrisâ vidyutphenopamâs kapalâh. It is on account of this parallel passage that I prefer to translate marîki by ”mirage,” and not by ”sunbeam,” as Fausböll, or by ”solar atom,” as Weber proposes. The expression, ”he will never see the king of death,” is supposed to mean Arhatship by Childers, s.v. nibbâna, p. 270.

　　47. See Thiessen, Die Legende von Kisâgotamî, p. 9.

　　48. Antaka, ”death,” is given as an explanation of Mâra in the Amarakosha and Abhidhânappadîpika (cf. Fausböll, p. 210).

　　49. See Beal, Catena, p. 159, where vv. 49…

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