Toh 345 — The Exemplary Tale About a Sow

Notes

1. The Sanskrit text as preserved in the Divyāvadāna collection does not have this introduction (nidāna) which states the location of the teaching. It also lacks the following sentence that describes the Buddha addressing the monks, and it immediately begins, without the vocative “Monks,” with the listing of the five portents as being “in the nature of things” (dharmatā). Dharmadeva’s Chinese translation does contain the nidāna component in which the location is set at Śrāvastī, but like the Sanskrit, it lacks the following narrative phrase, which makes it seem as though it is the narrator, the venerable Ānanda, who lists the five portents and who relates the events and the subsequent dialogue between Śakra and the Buddha.

   back

2. We have followed the list as it is given in the Tibetan. In the Sanskrit and Chinese versions, the portent of a bad smell precedes that of sweat. In the related Pali text on the five portents, the Pañca­pubbanimitta­sutta (Iti 76), the fourth portent is that his body becomes lackluster (kāye dubbaṇṇiyam okkamati), and this portent is also mentioned in the Chinese as the first in the list here. The Chinese translation, however, omits the sign of not finding satisfaction in one’s seat, which is vividly described at the start of the following narration.

   back

3. The Sanskrit and Chinese versions here lack the phrase “beating his chest.”

   back

4. This must be referring to the lake called Manda at the foot of Mount Meru, from which the Mandākinī River flows. The Chinese translation lacks an equivalent for the Sanskrit puṣkiriṇī and the Tibetan rdzing.

   back

5. The Chinese translation adds 不復更遊戲 (“No longer will I amuse myself in them”).

   back

6. The Chinese translation adds 永不採摘 (“Never again will I pick its flowers”).

   back

7. The Tibetan sdug pa could be a rendering of the Sanskrit priya or kānta. The extant Sanskrit, however, lacks any equivalent here. The Chinese translation mentions 妓女 (“courtesans”) after 天眾 (“the assembly of the gods”), so perhaps the Tibetan sdug pa (“lovely one”) refers to the heavenly nymphs (apsaras) in Trāyastriṃśa heaven.

   back

8. The Chinese translation adds 永不履踐 (“Never again will I walk on it”).

   back

9. The Chinese translation adds 常所侍衛, 今相捨離 (“What was always cherished must now be left behind”).

   back

10. In the Chinese version it is a fellow god who first witnesses this scene and who, pained by the sight, then informs Indra about it.

    back

11. The Chinese version first describes how the god got up, arranged his clothes, and folded his hands in reverence to Indra.

    back

12. The Sanskrit reads slightly differently: “After enjoying heavenly bliss (divyaṃ sukham anubhūya), seven days from now I will be reborn in the city of Rājagṛha in the womb of a sow.” The Chinese translation lacks any phrase about the god’s heavenly bliss.

    back

13. The Sanskrit lacks this last sentence, but the Chinese translation reads 我觀此苦, 是故愁憂 (“I see this suffering, therefore I am in distress”).

    back

14. The Tibetan lacks this entire narrative sentence. We have supplied it here from the extant Sanskrit version for the sake of the narrative. The Chinese version also contains this sentence, including the phrase “out of compassion” (kāruṇyatayā).

    back

15. In the extant Sanskrit, as well as the Chinese translation, the god is here described as “terrified of being born in the womb of an animal and terrified of dying” (tiryagyony­upapatti­bhayabhīto maraṇabhayabhītaś ca), which in the Tibetan is stated only later in the narrative, when Śakra recounts this dialogue to the Buddha.

    back

16. Where the Tibetan has grogs po (“friend”), both the Sanskrit and the Chinese have the more formal “Kauśika.”

    back

17. The Chinese version does not have this disclosure of the god’s rebirth here, which obviously raises the narrative suspense in what follows.

    back

18. The extant Sanskrit is more elaborate in listing the places where Śakra could not find the god: after he had looked among animals and hungry ghosts, Śakra also failed to see him among humans, among the groups of the four great heavenly kings of the cardinal directions, and among the Trāyastriṃśa gods. The Chinese version reads like the Sanskrit, except that it does not mention hell beings.

    back

19. In the Sanskrit and Chinese versions this sentence is placed at the beginning of this passage, before describing Indra’s search for the god. The statement comes with the implication that, in contrast to the Buddha whose vision extends to all realms, gods have only a limited vision, yet often deem themselves as standing at the apex of the world.

    back

20. We have followed the Tibetan rendering the tsom skyes nas, but the Sanskrit kutūhalajāto can also be translated as “Having become curious.” In the Chinese translation this has been rendered as 心生疑慮 (“His mind gave rise to doubt”), which is similar to the Tibetan interpretation.

    back

21. The Sanskrit here reads bhadanta (“Venerable Sir”), the standard form of address for a monk, but both the Tibetan and the Chinese have renderings of the vocative bhagavan (“Lord”).

    back

22. We have followed the reading in the Comparative Edition here (dogs la), but Stok Palace reads “on the ground” (dog sa la).

    back

23. The extant Sanskrit adds sammoham āpadyase (“[Why] have [you] fallen into bewilderment?”), but this phrase is absent in both the Tibetan and the Chinese.

    back

24. The Sanskrit here adds the vocative “Kauśika.” The Chinese translation lacks any form of address.

    back

25. As in the earlier dialogue, the Tibetan translation here again lacks a narrative phrase to indicate that it is Indra who says the following. We have therefore adopted the phrase as found in the extant Sanskrit. The Chinese version adds that he said this “with a heart full of compassion” (心極悲愍).

    back

26. The Sanskrit version lacks this mention of the god’s fear here, even though it mentions it in the actual dialogue earlier in the narration. In the Chinese translation it is mentioned in both places.

    back

27. Also, here the Sanskrit has the vocative “Kauśika” instead of “Friend.” The Chinese lacks any form of address.

    back

28. The Sanskrit reads: “It is among the gods of Tuṣita, Kauśika, whose heavenly desires are all fulfilled. There, that god enjoys himself, having taken the Three Refuges here” (tuṣitā nāma kauśika devāḥ sarvakāmasamṛddhayaḥ / tatrāsau modate devo gatveha śaraṇatrayam). The second sentence does not have an equivalent in the Tibetan and Chinese translations, but it seems that at some stage it was interpreted as applying to Indra, which then led to the expanded description of Indra’s gladness, as seen in the following sentence in both the Tibetan and the Chinese.

    back

29. This is the verse that is cited by Śāntideva in his Śikṣāsamuccaya (Toh 3940) (Bendall 1897: 177.11). The citation has the variant reading labhanti te whereas the Sanskrit text in the Divyāvadāna collection has the singular upāsate which, incidentally, is also the verb in the parallel verse in the Mahāsamāja Sūtra (Waldschmidt 1989: 152; the Tibetan rendering in Toh 653, folio 138.ahttps://read.84000.co/translation/toh653.html and Toh 1062, folio 206.bhttps://read.84000.co/translation/toh1062.html also lacks the plural pronoun). It is the plural labhanti te which underlies the Tibetan de dag . . . thob par ’gyur here, so the Tibetan translation must be based on a Sanskrit text that was closer to what was known by Śāntideva.

    back

30. The extant Sanskrit does not contain the last three verses, but they are present in both the Tibetan and the Chinese translation. The Tibetan translators have here translated the Sanskrit lābha as rnyed pa che, “great gain,” which we have followed, since it brings out the right connotation, but in the parallel verse in the Udānavarga (Toh 326, folio 222.a)https://read.84000.co/translation/toh326.html and in Vasubandhu’s Gāthāsaṃgraha (Toh 4102, folio 223.a) https://read.84000.co/translation/toh4102.html this is simply rendered as rnyed pa yin (“there is gain”). The Chinese translation here also has no equivalent for the Tibetan che (“great”).

    back

31. The Sanskrit reads, “Thereupon, approving of what Śakra, lord of the gods, had spoken (śakrasya devānām indrasya bhāṣitam anusaṃvarṇayan), the Blessed One said, ‘So it is, Kauśika, so it is. . . .’ ” The Chinese does not mention the Buddha’s approval, because it has rendered the first part of the Sanskrit as 爾時帝釋天主, 說伽陀已 (“When Śakra, lord of the gods, had spoken the verses”).

    back

32. In the Chinese translation, these three verses are condensed into one verse, followed by three other verses spoken by the Buddha:

    When the two syllables Buddha

    Come to reach one’s tongue,

    And with them I take refuge and so on,

    One has not passed a life in vain.
    When the two syllables Dharma

    Come to reach one’s tongue,

    And with them I take refuge and so on,

    One has not passed a life in vain.
    When the two syllables Saṅgha

    Come to reach one’s tongue,

    And with them I take refuge and so on,

    One has not passed a life in vain.

    And then a concluding verse:

    When the words Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha are not known,

    It is due to the lowermost states that the person did not acquire them,

    Wandering through cyclic existence for a long time,

    Like a kāśa flower through the air.
    back

33. The Sanskrit text in the Divyāvadāna collection (as edited by Cowell and Neil [1886]) lacks this standard sūtra ending, just as it also lacked a beginning. The Chinese does contain such an ending, but it runs differently, having apparently combined it with the preceding passage about Indra leaving: “This is what the Blessed One said. The assembly of monks, Śakra, and so forth—the entire gathering—were elated. In veneration they paid homage and withdrew.”

    back