The Fo-Sho-Hing-Tsan-King, a Life of Buddha
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X Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/foshohingtsankin19asvauoft THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST [19] Hontrott HENRY FROWDE OXPOED UNIVBBSITY PKESS ATO'AKEHOUSE 7 PATERNOSTEB ROW THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST TRANSLATED BY VARIOUS ORIENTAL SCHOLARS AND EDITED BY F. MAX MULLER VOL. XIX AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1883 [Afi rights reserved] THE FO-SHO-HING-TSAN-KING A LIFE OF BUDDHA A^VAGHOSHA BODHISATTVA TRANSLATED FROM SANSKRIT INTO CHINESE BY DHARMARAKSHA, A.D, 420 AND FROM CHINESE INTO ENGLISH BY SAMUEL BEAL AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1883 "^ I All rights reserved ^€3 CONTENTS. PAGE Introduction ix BOOK I. SECT. 1. The Birth i 2. Living in the Palace . 20 3. Disgust at Sorrow 29 4. Putting away Desire .38 5. Leaving the City . 47 BOOK n. 6. The Return of KMndaka. 59 7. Entering the Place (Wood) of Austerities 70 8. The General Grief of the Palace 81 9. The Mission to seek the Prince 94 BOOK IIL 10. Bimbisira Ra^a invites the Prince III 11. The Reply to Bimbisara Ra^a 119 12. Visit to Ara</a Udrarama . 131 13. Defeats Mara .... 147 14. 0-wei-san-pou-ti (Abhisambodhi) 156 15. Turning the Law-wheel 168 BOOK IV. 16. Bimbisara Ra^a becomes a Disciple . .180 17. The Great Disciple becomes a Hermit . .192 18. Conversion of the 'Supporter of the Orphans and Destitute' (Anathapi«t/ada) . .201 19. Interview between Father and Son . .218 Vlll CONTENTS. PAGE 20. Receiving the 6^etavana Vihara ... 21. Escaping the Drunken Elephant and Devadatta 241 22. The Lady Amra (Amrapali) sees Buddha . 249 BOOK V. 23. By Spiritual Power fixing his (Term of) Years 257 24. The Differences of the Likk/ia,vis 268 25. Parinirvawa 277 26. Mahaparinirvawa 290 27. Praising Nirvana 309 28. Division of the -Sariras 325 NOTES. I. Comparative List of 17 Chapters of the Sanskrit and Chinese Copies of the Buddha/^arita . .340 II. Example of the Style of the Expanded Sutras, as trans- lated into Chinese 344 III. The same Title given to different Works . .365 Index 373 Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Translations of the Sacred Books of the East . -377 INTRODUCTION Having been asked by the Editor of ' the Sacred Books of the East' to contribute to the series a volume from the Buddhist literature of China, I undertook, with some dis- trust, to translate from that language the Phd-yau-king, which is the second version of the Lalita Vistara, known in China, and dated A. D. 308. After some months of rather disappointing work I found the text so corrupt and imperfect, and the style of the composition so inflated, that I gave up my task, having completed the translation of six chapters (kiouen) of the text, out of eight. The editor being still desirous to have one book at least from the Chinese Tripi/aka in his collection of translations (and more especially a translation of some Life of Buddha, the date of which could be fixed), kindly renewed his request, and proposed that the Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king, which pro- fessed to be a translation of Aj-vaghosha's Buddha^arita, made by an Indian priest called Dharmaraksha (or Dharma- kshara), about the year 420 A. D., should be substituted for the work first selected. This is the work here translated. The difficulties have been many, and the result can only be regarded as tenta- tive. The text itself, and I have had only one Chinese text to work on, is in many places corrupt, and the style of the composition, especially in the metaphysical portions of it, is abstruse and technical. The original Sanskrit, I am told, differs considerably from the Chinese translation, and except in the restoration of proper names, in which the editor of these books has most readily helped me, the assistance derived from it has been very little. I offer the FO-SHO-HING-TSAN-KING. result of my work, therefore, with some mistrust, and yet with this confidence, that due allowance will be made for imper- fections in the preparation of a first translation of a text comprising nearly 10,000 lines of poetry, printed in the original without stops or notes of any sort, and in a diffi- cult style of Chinese composition. Northern Buddhism. This term is now well recognised. It is used to denote the Buddhism of Nepal, Thibet, China, Japan, and Mongolia, as distinguished from the Buddhism of Ceylon, Burmah, and Siam. The radical difference between the two schools is this, that Northern Buddhism is the system developed after contact with Northern tribes settled on the Indus, while the Southern school, on the contrary, represents the pri- mitive' form of the Buddhist faith as it came (presumably) from the hands of its founder and his immediate successors. We might, without being far wrong, denote the developed school as the Buddhism of the valley of the Indus, whilst the earlier school is the Buddhism of the valley of the Ganges. In China there is a curious mixture of the teaching of both schools. The books of the contemplative sect in Southern China are translations or accommodations from the teaching of men belonging to the South of India, whilst in the North we find the books principally followed are those brought by priests from the countries bordering on the Indus, and therefore representing the developed school of the later complex system. Northern Buddhism, again, may be divided into two, if not three, distinct periods of development, or epochs. The earliest includes in it the period during which the teaching of the immediate followers of Buddha, who brought their books or traditions northward and there disseminated them, ' generally prevailed ; this is called the teaching of the little vehicle' (Hinayana), or 'imperfect means of conveyance' (across the sea of sense). The second period is that during which the expanded form of belief denoted as the ' great INTRODUCTION. XI vehicle ' (Mahiydna) was accepted ; here the radical idea is * that the teaching of Buddha provides * universal salvation ' for the world. Thirdly, the indefinitely expanded ' form, known as Vaipulya, which is founded on the idea of a uni- versal nature, to which all living things belong, and which, by recovering itself in each case, secures for the subject complete restoration to the one nature from which all living things have wandered. This is evidently a form of pure Pan- theism, and denotes the period when the distinctive belief of Buddhism merged into later Brahmanism, if indeed it did not originate it. We cannot lay down any sharp line of division (either as to time or minute difference of doctrine) between these forms of thought as they are found in the books ; but they may be traced back, through the teaching of the sects into which the system became separated, to the great schism of the primitive Buddhist church at Vai^ali, loo years after the Nirva^^a. With respect to this schism the statement made in the Dt- ^ ' pava;;2sa is this : The wicked Bhikkus, the Va^^iputtakas (i.e. the Vaij-ali Buddhists), who had been excommunicated by the Theras, gained another party ; and many people, holding a wrong doctrine, ten thousand, assembled and (also) held a council. Therefore this Dhamma Council is called the Great Council (Mahasangiti),' (Oldenberg's translation, p. 140.) Turning now to the Mahasarighika version of the Vinaya, which was translated into Chinese by Fa-hien (circ. 420 A. D.), who brought it from Pa/aliputra (chap. XXXVI), we read (K. 40, fol. 23 b), ' After the Nirva;2a (Ni-pan, i. e. Nibbana) of Buddha the Great Kai-yapa, collecting the Vinaya Pi/aka, was the (first) Great Master (Mahasthavira), and his collec- tion of the Dharmapi/aka was in 80,000 divisions. After the death (mih to, destruction) of the great Karyapa the next master (lord) was Ananda, who also held the Dharma- pi/aka in 80,000 (divisions). After him the honourable (lord) Mo-yan-tin (Madhyantika) was chief, and he also held the Dharmapi/kka in 80,000 (divisions). After him came ^ The Dipavamsa, an early historical record of Buddhism compiled in Ceylon between the beginning of the fourth and the first third of the fifth century a. d. Xll FO-SHO-HING-TSAN-KING. ^Sanav^sa (she-na-po-sa), who also held the Dharmapi/aka in 80,000 (divisions). After him came Upagupta, of whom the lord of the world (Buddha) predicted that as "a Buddha " without marks (alaksha;^ako Buddha//^ ; see Burnouf, I ntrod. p. 378, note i) he should overcome Mara, which is related in the Avadanas (yin iin). This (master) could not hold the 80,000 divisions of the Dharmapi/aka. After him " there were five schools (the school of the " Great Assembly being the first of the five) to which the following names were given : (i) Dharmaguptas, (2) Mahii-asakas, (3) K^jyapiyas, " (4) Sarvastivadas. This last is also called the school that holds the existence of all," because it maintains the distinct nature of (things existing in) past, present, and future time. Each of these schools had its own president and distinctive doctrine. Because of this in the time of Ajokara^a, when the king was in doubt what was right and what was wrong, he consulted the priests as to what should be done to settle the matter. They replied, " The law (dharma) ought to be settled by the majority." The king said, " If it be so, let the matter be put to the vote (by lots or tokens of wood), and so let it be seen who is right (in the majority)." On this they cast lots, and our sect (i.e.