Texts from the Buddhist canon : commonly known as Dhammapada

INTRODUCTION. 25
Pali form by the addition of a simple adjunct "Wou;"
instead of " Fong-min " (carelessness) as in the former
copies, we have here " wou-fong-min," i.e., "absence of
Carelessness," or "Eefiection," as in the Southern copy.
This may perhaps show that the original used by Fo-
nien was not altogether uncanonical. We may add that
the whole number of chapters in this work is thirty-three,
and that the last is, like the Pali, on "the Br§,hmana."
There are ample commentaries attached to many of the
verses, so that, after all, this work is of considerable value,
and deserving of close examination.
With respect to the last version of the Dhammapada in
Chinese, I can only say that it is still assigned to Dhar-
matr§,ta as its author,'— ^but there is no resemblance in it to
the earlier translation. I shall not attempt, therefore, to
institute any comparison between it and the Southern
copy, agreement with which alone could make any notice
of it in the present work interesting or useful.
I have selected the second Chinese version for transla-
tion in preference to the first, because of its completeness.
If my object had been to institute a comparison between
the Pali and Chinese copies of Dhammapada, the earlier
version would doubtless have been the one to select for
the purpose. But such is not the aim of the present book.
Its purpose is to show the method adopted by the early
Buddhist teachers and preachers who were mainly instrumental
in diffusing a knowledge of this religion through
the Eastern world. The simple method of Parable was the
one used; Doubtless it was this method which, in the
first place, contributed to the wide prevalence of the system,
and has since enabled it to keep its hold on the minds of
so many millions of people. And when we consider the
peculiar simplicity of these tales, and the truth contained
' i Vide Catalogue of the Chinese Sung dynasty (800 or 900 A.D.), and
Tripitaka, Case LXXVII., p. 95. The is, therefore, very corrupt,
translation Tras made so late as the