Mahàparinibbànasuttaü Home Page First Section
Establishment of the Text
In establishing this text I have followed certain principles which relate to choosing the correct reading, and how to record the variants. Wherever possible I have attempted to explain why I have taken certain readings in preference to the alternatives (or pointed it out when the choice necessarily is arbitrary). Some of the considerations I have used to establish the text include the rules of Pàëi grammer and metre, and idiom; and other guides like context and consistency of reading and presentation. I give some examples below:
Grammer:
29: àgatà ca Arahanto vijite phàsuü (accusative, ChS: phàsu, nominative) vihareyyun?'-ti
161: ßKo nu kho ânanda Pàñaligàme nagaraü màpetã (singular)?û ti (BJT: màpentã, plural)
193: dukkhasamudayo (nominative) Ariyasaccaü anubuddhaü pañividdhaü (BJT, Thai: dukkhasamudayaü, accusative, but nominative is needed with the past participle)
339: Ossaññhe ca Bhagavatà (PTS: Bhagavato, which is the dative or genitive, when an instrumental is required, this is possibly a printing error) àyusaïkhàre mahàbhåmicàlo ahosi
Idiom:
252: Bhagavà kira Vesàliü anuppatto (BJT, PTS: Vesàliyaü, locative, but the normal idiom is that anupatto takes the accusative rather than the locative)
401: Evaü vutte ahaü (BJT: vuttohaü = vutto ahaü. Normally the locative in used in these constructions, this may be a printing error) ... Màraü Pàpimantaü etad-avocaü
Metre:
183: in a Vetàlãya line: Kullaü hi jano pabandhati, (Thai: kullaü jano ca bandhati, probably an attempt to conform the metre to a Siloka as the last line can be scanned as either Vetàlãya or Siloka)
195: in a Siloka line: saüsitaü Thai: saüsaritaü, an alternate form of the verb, but one that ruins the metre)
340: in a Opaccandasaka line: Bhavasaïkhàram-avassajã Muni, (Thai, ChS: avassaji, which spoils the metre, PTS: Munã, but there is no reason for a long vowel here)
Morphology:
49: Text: ponobhavikàya, BJT, Thai, ChS: ponobbhavikàya, but there is no reason for gemination here.
149: Text: brahmacàrino, BJT, ChS, PTS: brahmacàrayo, but the correct form for plural masculines in -ã is -ino.
180: Text: sammiÿjeyya, ChS: samiÿjeyya, similarly throughout. Although there is no historical reason for the doubling of the consonant it appears this is the normal way the form is written in Pàëi.
288: Text: Vihàrapacchàyàyaü (Thai: Vihàrappacchàyàyaü, but gemination is not warranted in this word)
Context:
52: bhikkhå sandississanti (future, which context demands, BJT, PTS: sandissanti, present)
138: Thai has the Buddha going to the rest house (àvasathàgàraü) pubbaõhasamayaü, in the morning time, which from the context we can see is the wrong time; text has sàyanhasamayaü, in the evening time (PTS omits the time)
230: tasmiÿ-ce kàlakate (Thai: tasmiü tasmiü kho; ChS: tasmiü yeva; but we need a conditional statement here) Tathàgataü upasaïkamitvà
263: Atha kho te Licchavã aïgulã poñhesuü (plural, BJT, ChS: aïguliü poñesuü, singular, here and below. It would seem a plural is required as one finger is hard to snap)
286: Atha kho Bhagavato ... kharo àbàdho uppajji ... Bhagavà sato sampajàno adhivàsesi (aorist, BJT, PTS: adhivàseti, present tense)
290: (ânanda speaking): diññhaü (singular, Thai: diññhà; PTS diññhà me, plural, but a singular is required by the context) me ... Bhagavato khamanãyaü
301: Gaõhàhi ânanda nisãdanaü yena Càpàlaü Cetiyaü tenupasaïkamissàma (plural, PTS: tenupasaïkamissàmi, singular, however a plural is needed as they were going together)
352: Tathàgato anuttaraü Dhammacakkaü pavatteti (when the Realised One sets the unsurpassed wheel of the Teaching rolling, present tense, Thai: pavattesi, aorist form which doesn't fit here) ... tadàyaü Pañhavã kampati
Consistency:
3: Ajàtasattu Vedehiputto Vajjã (plural, Thai: Vajjiü singular, not wrong, but uses the plural form everywhere else) abhiyàtukàmo hoti
10: BJT, Thai: vãjiyamàno, but below BJT and Thai write vãjamàno.
14: ChS, PTS: Vajjã- in Vajjãkaraõãyàni here, and PTS below, but not 3rd time.
45: PTS omits bhikkhave here but has it elsewhere in this position.
49: bhikkhå uppannàya taõhàya ponobhavikàya na vasaü gacchissanti, (will not come under the influence of craving which has arisen for continued existence, hypothetical future, consistent with others in the list, BJT, PTS: gacchanti, present tense)
141: BJT: sãlaü vipattiyà, parsed form here sãlavipattiyà eslewhere.
There are three variants which completely reverse the meaning of the text, and so are worth pointing out here:
Other differences occur, such as PTS always writes kàmàsavà bhavàsavà diññhàsavà avijjàsavà whereas the sequence appears as kàmàsavà bhavàsavà avijjàsavà here. Both sequences are known to the texts, but none of the other editions include it, and I have therefore not included it in the text here.
Another class of variants are those of words that show gemination, where many times there appears to be no rule we can call upon to establish which is the correct reading. Examples include Text: upaññhitassatã, where BJT, PTS prefer upaññhitasatã; Text: supatiññhitacittà where BJT has suppatiññhitacittà.
Variants
As the text is, in places, very repetitious, when recording variants I have preferred to summarise them rather than list them individually, so that they are normally noted by saying `here and below', `throughout', `always', etc. If a variant occurs only at a certain place I mark it as `here', or `here, but below (otherwise)'.
When I have gone against the reading taken in PTS I have many times shown that PED was also in disagreement, and presumably therefore the Editor had changed his mind between preparing the text and the Dictionary. Even a glance at the text established here will show that there are many hundreds of variant readings recorded. This despite the fact that I have summarised the variants rather than spelt them out one by one. However, the vast amount of variants recorded are, in fact, trivial.
They mainly consist of either variant spellings, such as paÿÿàpenti/paÿÿapenti, acchiddàni/ àchiddàni; or variant forms, such as disvà/disvàna (alternate forms of the absolutive) mama/mamaü (alternate forms of the genitive). We many times see that words that appear in the text in parsed form are in compound in the variants, e.g. pacchimaü bhittiü/pacchimabhittiü; or, conversely, are compound forms of the variant reading: garukaronti/garuü karonti.
Unfortunately many others are simply printing errors, like: BJT writing parihàpenti ti; or PTS writing Koñhigàme (elsewhere correctly written Koñigàm-). BJT 1 and PTS are very bad in this regard, but ChS and Thai also have their fair share of errors.
Other variants include spelling variations where we again have no real way of establishing what the correct reading should be, such as the name of the river that the Buddha drank from and bathed in on the last leg of his tour, should it be Kakutthà (as in the Text and PTS), Kukutthà as in BJT, or Kakudhà as in Thai and ChS? Is it Càpàla as Text, BJT, ChS and PTS have it, or Pàvàla as Thai records? In fact, we have no real way of knowing, and can only examine the manuscripts to find out what the bhàõakas thought the word was.
Very often the editions show assimilation of the nasal to the following consonant, so that what is written here as evaü me, sutaü metaü, evaü pasanno, etc. may appear in the printed editions as evam-me, sutam-metaü, evam-pasanno. Many times I feel these simply represent scribal preferences, and not wishing to multiply the variants unnecessarily, I have not recorded them.
Additions to the Text
The text of Mahàparinibbànasuttaü is divided into six sections for recitation (bhàõavàraü). A bhàõavàra is calculated as being the same as 250 Siloka verses in length. As a Siloka is normally considered to have 4 lines of 8 syllables each, that would give 32 syllables to the verse. 2 A bhàõavàra therefore is 250 x 32 syllables long, which is equal to 8,000 syllables in length. In fact, of course, as the prose is not so definite in length as a verse, it follows that many times this is only an approximate length. Generally in prose we find that a bhàõavàra is in fact somewhat shorter than the ideal.
To anyone reading the text as it stands today it is clear at once, that certain sections seem to be much longer than others. It therefore seemed worthwhile to count the syllables and compare their length against the ideal in the hope that this would throw light on the text as it is currently being passed down. Here is a table showing the length of the 6 sections:
We can immediately see from this that the 4th and 6th Chapters approximate very closely to the ideal. The 2nd Chapter is somewhat shorter than expected, but perhaps not unusually so. The remaining Chapters (1st, 3rd & 5th) are longer than we would expect them to be, especially the 3rd Chapter.
If we examine these more closely now we find that certain Teachings seem to interrupt the flow of the narrative. In the first section the Buddha talks about the seven conditions which will prevent decline in the Vajjãs. This is followed by applying the same teaching to the Saïgha. That the Buddha would apply the teaching in the way seems quite natural, as throughout the discourse he shows concern that the Sàsana should be stable now that he is approaching his Final Emancipation.
It is followed however, by another seven conditions, and then another seven, and then another seven, and then another seven, and then another six. The interesting thing here is when we remove these 5 Teachings from the syllable count we find the Chapter is then 8,115 syllables in length (101%), which is very close to the expected syllabic count.
In the Aïguttaranikàya (7.24-27) we see that the first four of these Teachings occur there also in exactly the same order. 3 It seems to me that there are two possibilities here. Either these Teachings have been brought in from the Aïguttara text, because they were found to be further conditions that the Buddha (at one time or another) stated were true and proper conditions for the Saïgha to develop to prevent decline. Or they were linked in the oral tradition by number and theme.
The 3rd Chapter is the most extraordinary, as at present it contains no less than 12,869 syllables, which is more than 50% longer than we would expect for a bhàõavàra. In this Chapter the Buddha gives up the will to live on, at which point there is an earthquake, which is followed by the Buddha explaining to ânanda the eight conditions which cause an earthquake. Rhys-Davids questioned the genuiness of this Teaching, 4 but it seems to me to follow on quite naturally from what is happening in the narrative, and also serves to prepare the ground for the rest of the story.
It is then followed, however, by three further sets of eights, the eight assemblies, the eight means of mastery and the eight liberations, which appear to be completely unrelated to what is happening and arbitrarily inserted at this point. It is not quite arbitrary though, because as we saw above, material may come into the text through numerical association, and that seems to be the case again here. It may come of no surprise then that we find in the Aïguttaranikàya that these Teachings occur in the same vagga. 5 When we remove them from the syllabic count though we have 9,730 syllables, which although much closer to what is expected is still long.
In section 22 the Buddha tells ânanda how he has now given up the will to live, and will attain Final Emancipation in 3 months time. ânanda then begs the Buddha three times not to pass away so soon, but the Buddha asks why ânanda is insisting on this? ânanda explains that he had heard the Buddha say that whoever had mastered the Four Paths to Power would be able to live on for the completion of his lifespan.
The Buddha blames him for not asking sooner, and says that if he had done so he may have rejected it the first couple of times, but not the 3rd time, but now the Buddha has made up his mind and he is unable to go back on his word. So far the story, though drawn out, seems genuine enough. But then there are 2 sections where exactly the same explanation, questioning and recrimations are repeated in regard to other times and places where ânanda had a similar opportunity and failed to make the request. 6 These sections simply repeat what has gone before, and do not seem to add anything to the narrative. When we remove those also from the syllable count, we find the Chapter now has 8,374 syllables which would be about the right length (104%).
The 5th Chapter is also much longer than we would expect, but the arguments here are by no means so clear-cut. It does seem to me that there is evidence of additions to the text, though exactly where they begin and end is not so straightforward. Section 37 begins: ßAfter this was said, venerable ânanda addressed the Gracious One, (saying): `Reverend Sir, may the Gracious One not attain Final Emancipation in this small town (of Kusinàrà).'û This seems to follow on from the Buddha's announcement that he would attain Final Emancipation in Kusinàrà, which occurred towards the end of section 34.
The intervening sections 35 and 36 on the four places for devotional worship, ânanda's marvellous qualities, the Universal Monarch's marvellous qualities, and those considered worthy of a Shrine, interrupt the flow of the narrative, and introduce much matter that may be late in origin. It may come as no surprise then that most of the material that occurs here also occur as discourses in Aïguttaranikàya. 7 Again when we remove the two sections and check the syllabic count we find we have a more reasonable 7,196 syllables (90% of the ideal).
I believe that the quantative analysis made above establishes that there have been additions to the text. Just what material is additional also seems clear in Chapters 1 and 3, but it is less so in Chapter 5. In any case by suggesting that these Teachings are additional to the text I am not suggesting that they are in any way alien to the teaching of the Buddha, indeed I do not think this is so, and most of the Teachings also appear elsewhere. I only wish to point out that the text we now receive very much looks like it has been supplemented in various ways as it was passed down in the oral tradition.
Some of the additions must have been made very early indeed, as they occur in the Sanskritised Mahàparinirvàõasåtra also, a comparative edition of which I will prepare soon and which will hopefully throw more light on the textual tradition by which this material has come down to us.
ânandajoti Bhikkhu
May, 2008