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Amitabha, A Story of Buddhist Theology, by Paul Carus, [1906], at sacred-texts.com


p. 119

NOTES.

Page 1.

1 For details of the pabbajja (or initiation) and the upasampada (or ordination) see Mahâvagga, first khandaka (S.B.E., Vol. XIII).

Page 3.

2 The time of our story is the fifth century after the Buddha's enlightenment, which corresponds to the first century of the Christian era.

Page 6.

3 Cf. 'Buddhist Chants and Processions," Journal of the Buddhist Text Society of India, Vol. III, Part II.

Page 10.

4 Dhammapada, 21.

5 Dhammapada, 223.

Page 11.

6 Dhammapada, 134.

7 Dhammapada, 313.

8 Dhammapada, 258; 240.

Page 12.

9 Dhammapada, 254.

Page 31.

10 Kevaddha's story is an abbreviated account of an ancient Buddhist Pali text. The verses as well as other details are almost literally translated. Cf. Henry Warren's Buddhism in Translations, pp. 308-313.

p. 120

Page 32.

11 Uposatha, or confession, was held regularly on the days of the full and the new moon. For a detailed account of the ceremony see Mahâvagga, second Khandhaka (S.B.E., Vol. XIII).

Page 40.

12 The Greeks.

Page 56.

13 Padhâna sutta, 16. S.B.E., X, p. 71.

Page 64.

14 Dhammapada, 151.

Page 74.

15 Cf. T. Suzuki's translation of Açvaghosha's Discourse on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana, pp. 101, 142 et seq. The term "highest truth" is called by Açvaghosha in Sanskrit paramârthasatya.

16 Compare Samuel Beal's Abstract of Form Lectures on Buddhist literature in China, p. 177, where we read: "He who is possessed of the highest self, he is able to see Buddha. Buddha, although he dwell in the world, can be seen by none but those possessed of this highest self. Mahârâja! Most true it is that though Buddha has attained Nirvâna, yet may you behold him."

Page 87.

17 Dhammapada 5.

Page 89.

18 For full accounts of Prince Long-life see Mahâvagga, X, 3-20. (Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XVII.)

Page 96.

19 The Saddharmapundarîka, chapter 7.

p. 121

Page 98.

20 Amitâbha (and with him Buddha) is never called Creator, but he is frequently addressed as "Father." See the Saddharmapundarîka, III, 97, 104, and the Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king, III, 15, 1231.

Page 106.

21 The simile of the blind leader of the blind occurs in the same connection in the Tevijja Sutta, 15.

Page 108.

22 For the details of Açvaghosha's doctrine of the triple aspect of the highest truth (so similar to the Christian trinity) as the Kâya (i.e., body or personality) of (1) the good law, (2) transformation, (3) bliss, see T. Suzuki's translation of Açvaghosha's Discourse on the Awakening of Faith, Chicago, 1900, pp. 99-101.

Page 113.

23 The Udâna, VI.

Page 114.

24 Dhammapada, 183

Page 116.

25 Dhammapada, 332-333.