UDANAVARGA.

(In the Language of India,1 "Udânavarga;" in the Language of Tibet, "Tched-du brjod pai tsoms.")

GLORY be to Him who knows all!2 Let there be happiness!

I.

The Victorious one spoke these verses (udâna 1); Hearken unto me while I tell them; what I say is to dispel sleep and torpor, and to bring gladness to the mind.

2.

The All-wise, the Protector, the Mighty one, the Very compassionate one, He who had finished with corporeal existence,5 Bhagavat, spoke (or has spoken) thus:

1 The numbers in brackets refer to the verses of the Dhammapada. Notes followed by the letter P. (Pradjnâvarman) are translations from the Commentary.

2 Sanskrit, Sarvadjna, epithet of the Buddha.'

3 Djina, epithet of the Buddha. 4 The Commentary explains this word thus: "Udâna are sayings such as are found in this work."

5 For the Sanskrit equivalents of all these names of the Buddha, see

the Buddhist terminological dictionary, Mahâvyutpatti, chap. i.

He is called Bhagavat, says P., because he has conquered pain, passions, hatred, ignorance, sin; for this is he "victorious." I was at first inclined to consider these two verses as an introduction, and to call No. 3 the first; but I have thought it best to adopt the commentator's arrangement. These verses, however, are not supposed to be udânas, but are by Dharmatrâta.

A

3.

Alas! the impermanency of created things (samkâra); what is created is subject to decay. As what has been born must come to destruction, happy they who are at rest! 1

4 (146).

To one who is being burnt,2 what joy can there be, what subject of rejoicing? Ye who dwell in the midst of darkness, why seek ye not a light?

5 (149).

Those pigeon-coloured bones are thrown away and scattered in every direction; what pleasure is there in looking at them?

6.

One who has heretofore been subject to the misery 5 of birth from the womb may go to the highest place and come no more back again (into the world).

One sees many men in the forenoon, some of whom one will not see in the afternoon; one sees many men in the afternoon, some of whom one will not see in the (next) forenoon.

8.

Many men and women do die even in their prime;

though men then be called young, what reliance can they place in life?

9.

Some die in the womb, some die at the birth,1 some gradually decay, some pass away in the vigour of their manhood.

IO.

Some are old, and some are young, some are grown up; by degrees they all do disappear, like ripe fruit falling.2

II.

As the ripe fruit is always filled with the dread of falling, so likewise he who has been born is filled with the fear of death.3

12.

It is with the life of mortal man as with the shining vases made from clay by the potter-they all finish by being destroyed.*

13 (347).

It is with the life of mortal man as with the spider, who, stretching hither and thither its web, is enclosed in it.

14.

It is with the life of mortal man as with (the spider), who, though it would free itself from its trap, finds, whichever way it takes a step, the abode of death before it.5

15.

As a river that is always running swiftly by and never returns are the days of man's life-they depart and come back no more.

1 Btsas-pai sar. "The child dies after birth, while the mother is still in the house where she has been delivered." P. distinguishes four periods of life-(1.) in the womb, (2.) childhood, (3.) youth, (4.) manhood.

2 Comp. Sallasutta (Sutta Nipâta), 5. 3 Comp. Sallasutta, 3. 4 Comp. Burnouf, Lotus de la Bonne Loi, p. 86; and Sallasutta (Sutta Nipâta), 4.

5 Comp. this and preceding verse with Beal, loc. cit., p. 152.