Texts from the Buddhist canon : commonly known as Dhammapada

INTRODUCTION. 7
this more fully, the World-honoured One added the
following stanzas :
"o
—
' Lusti or carnal desire, this is the Mother,
" Ignorance," this is the Father,
The highest point of knowledge, this is Buddha,
All the " Kleshas " these are the Rahats,
The five Ska'ndhas, these are the Priests,
To commit the five unpardonable sins
Is to destroy these five
And yet not suffer the pains of hell.'
»
These comparisons will be sufficient to show the plan
of the ^ork under consideration, and to confirm the
statement of the writer of the preface, " that these
stanzas are but choice selections from the various
Sutras."! WTg shall now understand the remark that
" there are various arrangements or editions of the Dham-
mapada " (Chinese Preface^, for it seems plain that these
selections from the canonical books were not made at any
one time, or generally accepted in their present form,
until a much later period than the compilation of the
Sutras themselves. The language of the Preface is
equally distinct on this point, " It was from these works,
viz., the Canonical Scriptures, that the Shamans in after
ages copied out various G&thas, some of four lines, and
some of six lines,2 and attached to each set of verses
a title accordiug to the subject therein explained." We
may thus account for the various editions of the work
which exist in China, compiled from original versions in
India, shewing that there existed in that country also not
one, but several copies of these "excerpta." We must
accept Dhammapada then in its present form, simply as a
redaction made at an early period from canonical books,
for the purpose of ready reference, or as a religious " vade-
mecum!'
1 Which Sfttras form the second of ^ These lines probahly correspond
the three baskets of the Buddhist to those named by Spenoe
(Eastern Monach, p. 28).
Hardy,
Canon.
"
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