Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/159

Rh dhaṁmadesanâ, a phrase which recalls the title given to the text No. 1 by Asoka (J. R. A. S., 1913, p. 387).

The list of passages 2-7, originally drafted by Rhys Davids, J. R. A. S., 1898, p. 639, and amended by Professors Dharnnananda Kosambi and Lanman, ''Ind. Ant.'', vol. xli (1912), pp. 37-40, now stands thus:—

(2) Aliya-rasâni = Ariya-vaṁsâ ( Aṅguttara, vol. ii, p. 27);

(3) Andâata-bhayâni = Anâata-bhayâni (Aṅguttara, vol. iii, p. 103, Sutta 78);

(4) Muni-gâthâ = Muni-sutta (Sutta-nipâta, i, 12, p. 36);

(5) Moneya-sûte = Nâlaka-sutta (ibid.. iii, 1 1, pp. 131-4);

(6) Upatisa-pasine = Sâriputta-sutta (ibid., iv, 16, pp. 176-9);

(7) Lâghvalovâde, &c. = Râhulo-vâda-sutta (Majjhima-nikâya, ii, 2. 1, vol. i, p. 414). The word translated 'beginning' is adhigiḍhya, not adhigichya (Michelson, Indo-germ. Forsch, Strassburg, 1910, p. 194).

The references are to the Pâli Text Soeiety's editions.

It is needless to explain the importance of such a list, approximately dated, for the history of the Buddhist Canon.

The reader will not fail to note Asoka's anxiety that the moral law as expounded in the Buddhist scriptures should obtain the utmost possible publicity. Women as well as men concerned him.

A collection of the seven passages cited, including both text and translation, would be of much interest as constituting an authoritative compendium of the Law of Duty or Piety as conceived by Asoka. The inscriptions are all devoted to the exposition, exaltation, and dissemination of that Law. Such a collection would serve as a commentary on the whole series. One form of No. 3 has been rendered into English in 'J. Pâli Text Soc., 1896. M. Senart has printed the text of No. 7. A Chinese version of the same has been translated by M. Sylvain Lévi (J. As., 1896, mai—juin) and an English rendering by Beal will be found in Sec. xxxi of Texts from the Buddhist Canon, commonly known as Dhammapada (London, 1902). The substance of the First Sermon is given in Buddhism (American Lectures, first series, 1896), pp. 135-9, by Rhys Davids, who believes that the very words of the preacher have been transmitted.