411. Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who has no interests, and when he has understood (the truth), does not say How, how? and who has reached the depth of the Immortal. 412. Him I call indeed a Brahmana who in this world is above good and evil, above the bondage of both, free from grief, from sin, and from impurity. 413. Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who is bright like the moon, pure, serene, undisturbed, and in whom all gaiety is extinct. 414. Him I call indeed a Brahmana who has traversed this miry road, the impassable world and its vanity, who has gone through, and reached the other shore, is thoughtful, guileless, free from doubts, free from attachment, and content. 415. Him I call indeed a Brahmana who in this world, leaving all desires, travels about without a home, and in whom all concupiscence is extinct. 416. Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who, leaving all longings, travels about without a home, and in whom all covetousness is extinct. 417. Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who, after leaving all bondage to men, has risen above all 411. Akathankathi is explained by Buddhaghosa as meaning, 'free from doubt or hesitation.' He also uses kathańkathâ in the sense of doubt' (verse 414). In the Kâvyâdarsa, III, 17, the commentator explains akatham by kathârahitam, nirvivâdam, which would mean, 'without a kathâ, a speech, a story without contradiction, unconditionally.' From our passage, however, it seems as if kathankatha was a noun derived from kathańkathayati, 'to say How, how?' so that neither the first nor the second element had anything to do with kath, 'to relate;' and in that case akatham, too, ought to be taken in the sense of 'without a Why.' 412. See verse 39. The distinction between good and evil vanishes when a man has retired from the world, and has ceased to act, longing only for deliverance. bondage to the gods, and is free from all and every bondage. 418. Him I call indeed a Brahmana who has left what gives pleasure and what gives pain, who is cold, and free from all germs (of renewed life), the hero who has conquered all the worlds. 419. Him I call indeed a Brahmana who knows the destruction and the return of beings everywhere, who is free from bondage, welfaring (Sugata), and awakened (Buddha). 418. Upadhi, if not used in a technical sense, is best translated by passions or affections.' Technically there are four upadhis or substrata, viz. the kandhas, kâma, desire,' kilesa, sin,' and kamma, 'work.' The Brâhmana may be called nirupadhi, as being free from desire, misery, and work and its consequences, but not yet of the kandhas, which end through death only. The commentator explains nirupadhi by nirupakkilesa, free from sin.' See Childers, s. v. nibbâna, p. 268 a. 419. Sugata is one of those many words in Buddhist literature which it is almost impossible to translate, because they have been taken in so many acceptations by the Buddhists themselves. Sugata etymologically means 'one who has fared well,' sugati means 'happiness and blessedness.' It is wrong to translate it literally by welcome,' for that in Sanskrit is svâgata; and we cannot accept Dr. Eitel's statement (Handbook, p. 138) that sugata stands incorrectly for svâgata. Sugata is one of the not very numerous technical terms in Buddhism for which hitherto we know of no antecedents in earlier Brahmanism. It may have been used in the sense of 'happy and blessed,' but it never became a title, while in Buddhism it has become, not only a title, but almost a proper name of Buddha. The same applies to tathâgata, lit. 'thus come,' but used in Sanskrit very much like tathâvidha, in the sense of talis, while in Buddhism it means a Buddha. There are of course many interpretations of the word, and many reasons are given why Buddhas should be called Tathagata (Burnouf, Introduction, p. 75, &c.) Boehtlingk s. v. supposed that, because Buddha had so many predicates, he was, for the sake of brevity, called 'such a one as he really is.' I think we may go a step further. Another word, tâ drisa, meaning 420. Him I call indeed a Brâhmana whose path the gods do not know, nor spirits (Gandharvas), nor men, whose passions are extinct, and who is an Arhat (venerable). 421. Him I call indeed a Brahmana who calls nothing his own, whether it be before, behind, or between, who is poor, and free from the love of the world. 422. Him I call indeed a Brâhmana, the manly, the noble, the hero, the great sage, the conqueror, the impassible, the accomplished, the awakened. 423. Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who knows his former abodes, who sees heaven and hell, has reached the end of births, is perfect in knowledge, a sage, and whose perfections are all perfect. talis, becomes in Pâli, under the form of tâdi, a name of Buddha's disciples, and afterwards of Buddha himself. If applied to Buddha's disciples, it may have meant originally' such as he,' i. e. his fellows; but when applied to Buddha himself, it can only mean 'such a one,' i. e. 'so great a man.' The Sanskrit mârsha is probably the Pâli mâriso, which stands for mâ diso, Sk. mâdrisa, 'like me,' used in Pâli when a superior addresses others as his equals, and afterwards changed into a mere title of respect. |