Chapter XI, Section 1b

In the Rudrâya n âvadâna of the Divyâvadâna this verse appears as, Yânîmâny apariddhâni vikshiptâni di s o di s a h , Kapotavar n âny asthîni tâni d ri sh t vaiha kâ rati h . See Schiefner, Mél. Asiat. VIII, p. 589; G âtaka, vol. i. p. 322. 150. The expression ma m salohitalepanam is curiously like the expression used in Manu VI, 76, mâ m sa s o n italepanam, and in several passages of the Mahâbhârata, XII, 12462, 12053, as pointed out by Dr. Fausböll. 153, 154. These two verses are famous among Buddhists, for they are the words which the founder of Buddhism is supposed to have uttered at the moment he attained to Buddhahood. (See Spence Hardy, Manual; p. 180.) According to the Lalita-vistara, however, the words uttered on that solemn occasion were those quoted in the note to verse 39 . In the commentary on the Brahma g âla this verse is called the first speech of Buddha, his last speech being the words in the Mabâparinibbâna-sutta, 'Life is subject to age; strive in earnest.' The words used in the Mahâparinibbâna-sutta, Chap. IV, 2, K atunna m dhammânam ananubodhâ appa t ivedhâ evam ida m dîgham addhâna m sandhâvita m sa m sârita m mama ñ k ' eva tumhâka ñ k a, answer to the anticipation expressed in our verse. The exact rendering of this verse has been much discussed, chiefly by Mr. D'Alwis in the Attanugaluvansa, p. cxxviii, and again in his Buddhist Nirvâ n a, p. 78; also by Childers, Notes on Dhammapada, p. 4, and in his Dictionary. Gogerly translated: 'Through various transmigrations I must travel, if I do not discover the builder whom I seek.' Spence Hardy: 'Through many different births I have run (to me not having found), seeking the architect of the desire-resembling house.' Fausböll: 'Multiplices generationis revolutiones percurreram, non inveniens, domus (corporis) fabricatorem quaerens.' And again (p. 322): 'Multarum generationum revolutio mihi subeunda esset, nisi invenissem domus fabricatorem.' Childers: 'I have run through the revolution of countless births, seeking the architect of this dwelling and finding him not.' D'Alwis: 'Through transmigrations of numerous births have I run, not discovering, (though) seeking the house-builder.' All depends on how we take sandhavissam, which Fausböll takes as a conditional, Childers, following Trenckner, as an aorist, because the sense imperatively requires an aorist. In either case, the dropping of the augment and the doubling of the s are, however, irregular. Sandhavissam is the regular form of the future, and as such I translate it, qualifying, however, the future, by the participle present anibbisan, i.e. not finding, and taking it in the sense of, if or so long as I do not find the true cause of existence.