Texts from the Buddhist canon : commonly known as Dhammapada

INTRODUCTION. n
they are faithful versions of works everywhere known ia
India, not only duriag the early period of its history, but
also throughout its development—or, to put it into plain
figures, the books found in China afford us a consecutive
catena of writings dating from at least lOO B.C. to 600 A.D.,
that is, during a period of 700 years. More than this can
scarcely be desired for a perfect study of any religious
system.
We come now to a comparison of this earliest transla-
tion with that from the P§,li. The Fa-kheu-king contains
thirty-nine chapters against the twenty-six of the Southern
edition, and 760^ stanzas against 423. "We are told, how-
ever, in the preface that the original work consisted of
twenty-six chapters and 500 stanzas ; and as in Buddhist
calculations the next highest round number is frequently
used to denote the exact number intended, we have in this
statement sufficient Evidence to show that the original
from which our translation was made consisted of the
same chapters, and probably the same number of verses,
as that known in the South— in other words, that they
were identical. If so, the question arises. Who added the
thirteen additional sections? It would appear from the
wording' of the preface that this was the work of the
Indian missionary (or refugee) Tsiang-im, who added
these sections after due consultation \tsze wan], tak-
ing care , to verify them from ancient sources. If this
be so (the passage is confessedly obscure), it would, lead
us to suppose that the original manuscript brought
to China was the same as that known ia Ceylon, the
differences which occur between the two being attri-
butable to special reasons existing at the time of the
translation.
^ In the preface it is stated that summary of stanzas—there are five
there are only 752 stanzas. The verses more in the text than in the
difference between this and the sum index in that version, and in the
of the headings of each chapter must Chinese eight more {Vide Mas Miilbe
accidental. It is carious that a ler's Sh. ix. n.
similar discrepancy occurs in the F&li
)