Indian stream·Pāli Tipiṭaka·Dhammapada·Chapter XIV. The Buddha (The Awakened).

Source context

Theme

qualities and signs of the fully awakened one (Buddha) — the liberated mind beyond attachment, craving, and delusion

Soul-faculty

Consciousness Soul

Steiner

not engaged in the GA corpus

Cross-tradition

• Theravāda Buddhism — arahant doctrineThe chapter's enumeration of the Buddha's marks — passionlessness, cessation of craving, unobstructed cognition — corresponds structurally to the Theravāda description of the arahant as one in whom the āsavā (mental fermentations) are permanently extinguished.
• Advaita Vedānta — jīvanmuktaThe liberated sage who acts in the world without being bound by karma presents a cross-tradition congruence with the Advaita concept of jīvanmukti, liberation while still embodied, as described in the Vivekacūḍāmaṇi.
• Stoic philosophy — sage (sophos)The Stoic ideal of the sage who has fully extirpated the passions and acts from pure rational virtue shows a cross-tradition congruence with the Dhammapada's portrait of the Buddha as one untouched by desire or aversion.

Chapter XIV. The Buddha (The Awakened).

CHAPTER XIV.

THE BUDDHA (THE AWAKENED).

179He whose conquest is not conquered again, into whose conquest no one in this world enters, by what track can you lead him, the Awakened, the Omniscient, the trackless?

180He whom no desire with its snares and poisons can lead astray, by what track can you lead him, the Awakened, the Omniscient, the trackless?

181Even the gods envy those who are awakened and not forgetful, who are given to meditation, who are wise, and who delight in the repose of retirement (from the world).

182Difficult (to obtain) is the conception of men, difficult is the life of mortals, difficult is the hearing of the True Law, difficult is the birth of the Awakened (the attainment of Buddhahood).
[179, 180. Buddha, the Awakened, is to be taken as an appellative rather than as the proper name of the Buddha (see v. 183). It means, anybody who has arrived at complete knowledge. Anantago*k*aram I take in the sense of, possessed of unlimited knowledge. Apadam, which Dr. Fausböll takes as an epithet of Buddha and translates by 'non investigabilis,' is translated 'trackless,' in order to show the play on the word pada; see Childers, s.v. The commentator says: 'The man who is possessed of even a single one of such conditions as râga, &c., him ye may lead forward; but the Buddha has not even one condition or basis of renewed existence, and therefore by what track will you lead this unconditioned Buddha?' Cf. Dhp. vv. 92, 420; and *G*âtaka, vol. i. pp. 79, 313.

182Mr. Beal (Dhammapada, p. 110) states that this verse occurs in the Sûtra of the Forty-two Sections.]

183Not to commit any sin, to do good, and to purify one's mind, that is the teaching of (all) the Awakened.

184The Awakened call patience the highest penance, long-suffering the highest Nirvâ*n*a; for he is not an anchorite (pravra*g*ita) who strikes others, he is not an ascetic (*s*rama*n*a) who insults others.

185Not to blame, not to strike, to live restrained under the law, to be moderate in eating, to sleep and sit alone, and to dwell on the highest thoughts,--this is the teaching of the Awakened.
[183. This verse is again one of the most solemn verses among the Buddhists. According to Csoma Körösi, it ought to follow the famous Âryâ stanza, 'Ye dhammâ' (Lotus, p. 522), and serve as its complement. But though this may be the case in Tibet, it was not so originally. The same verse (ascribed to Kanakamuni) occurs at the end of the Chinese translation of the Prâtimoksha. (Beal, J. R. A. S. XIX, p. 473; Catena, p. 159); in the Tibetan translation of the Gâthâsa n graha, v. 14 (Schiefner, Mél. Asiat. I VIII, pp. 568, 586; and Csoma Körösi, As. Res. XX, p. 79). Burnouf has fully discussed the metre and meaning of our verse on pp. 527, 528 of his 'Lotus.' He prefers sa*k*ittaparidamanam, which Csoma translated by 'the mind must be brought under entire subjection' (sva*k*ittaparidamanam), and the late Dr. Mill by 'proprii intellectus subjugatio.' But his own MS. of the Mahâpadhâna-sutta gave likewise sa*k*ittapariyodapanam, and this is no doubt the correct reading. (See D'Alwis, Attanugaluvansa, p. cxxix.) We found pariyodappeya in verse 88, in the sense of purging oneself from the troubles of thought. From the same verb, (pari) ava + dai, we may derive the name Avadâna, a legend, originally a pure and virtuous act, an {Greek: *aridteia*}, afterwards a sacred story, and possibly a story the hearing of which purifies the mind. See Boehtlingk-Roth, s.v. avadâna.

184Childers, following the commentator, translates, 'Patience, which is long-suffering, is the best devotion, the Buddhas declare that Nirvâ*n*a is the best (of things).'

185Cf. Suttanipâta, v. 337. Pâtimokkhe, 'under the law,' i.e. according to the law, the law which leads to Moksha, or 'freedom.' Prâtimoksha is the title of the oldest collection of the moral laws of the Buddhists (Burnouf, Introduction, p. 300; Bigandet, The Life of Gaudama, p. 439; Rhys Davids, Buddhism, p. 162), and as it was common both to the Southem and the Northem Buddhists, pâtimokkhe in our passage may possibly be meant, as Professor Weber suggests, as the title of that very collection. The commentator explains it by ge*tth*akasîla and pâtimokkhasîla. Sayanâsam might stand for *s*ayanâ*s*anam, see Mahâbh. XII, 6684; but in Buddhist literature it is intended for *s*ayanâsanam; see also Mahâbh. XII, 9978, *s*ayyâsane. Fausböll now reads pânta instead of pattha*ñ*.

187There is a curious similarity between this verse and verse 6503 (9919) of the *S*ântiparva:
Ya*k* *k*a kâmasukha*m* loke, ya*k* *k*a divyam mahat sukham, T*ri*sh*n*âkshayasukhasyaite nârhata*h* sho*d*a*s*i*m* kalâm. 'And whatever delight of love there is on earth, and whatever is the great delight in heaven, they are not worth the sixteenth part of the pleasure which springs from the destruction of all desires.' The two verses 186, 187 are ascribed to king Mandhât*ri* shortly before his death (Mél. Asiat. VIII, p. 471; see also *G*âtaka, vol. ii. p. 113).]

186There is no satisfying lusts, even by a shower of gold pieces; he who knows that lusts have a short taste and cause pain, he is wise;

187Even in heavenly pleasures he finds no satisfaction, the disciple who is fully awakened delights only in the destruction of all desires.

188Men, driven by fear, go to many a refuge, to mountains and forests, to groves and sacred trees.

189But that is not a safe refuge, that is not the best refuge; a man is not delivered from all pains after having gone to that refuge.

190He who takes refuge with Buddha, the Law,
[188-192. These verses occur in Sanskrit in the Prâtihâryasûtra, translated by Burnouf, Introduction, pp. 162-189; see p. 186. Burnouf translates rukkha*k*etyâni by 'arbres consacrés;' properly, sacred shrines under or near a tree. See also *G*âtaka vol. i. p. 97.

190Budda, Dharma, and Sa n gha are called the Tri*s*ara*n*a (cf. Burnouf, Introd. p. 630). The four holy truths are the four statements that there is pain in this world, that the source of pain is desire, that desire can be annihilated, that there is a way (shown by Buddha) by which the annihilation of all desires can be achieved, and freedom be obtained. That way consists of eight parts. (See Burnouf, Introduction, p. 630.) The eightfold way forms the subject of Chapter XVIII. (See also Feer, Journal As. 1870, p. 418, and Chips from a German Workshop, 2nd ed. vol. i. p. 251 seq.)]
and the Church; he who, with clear understanding, sees the four holy truths:--

191Viz. pain, the origin of pain, the destruction of pain, and the eightfold holy way that leads to the quieting of pain;--

192That is the safe refuge, that is the best refuge; having gone to that refuge, a man is delivered from all pain.

193A supernatural person (a Buddha) is not easily found, he is not born everywhere. Wherever such a sage is born, that race prospers.

194Happy is the arising of the awakened, happy is the teaching of the True Law, happy is peace in the church, happy is the devotion of those who are at peace.
195., 196. He who pays homage to those who deserve homage, whether the awakened (Buddha) or their disciples, those who have overcome the host (of evils), and crossed the flood of sorrow, he who pays homage to such as have found deliverance and know no fear, his merit can never be measured by anybody.

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