A MONTHLY MAGAZINE
Translated from the Originals by ALBERT J. EDMUNDS.
(Fifth Series.)1
APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION.
Matthew xvi. 17-19. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
{1} MIDDLING COLLECTION, DIALOGUE CXI.
MONKS, it is only of Sâriputto that one can truly say: He is a lawful son of the Blessed One, born of his mouth, born of his religion, spiritually created, a spiritual kinsman, not a carnal one. Sâriputto, O monks, keeps up the incomparable empire of religion set going once for all by the Tathâgato.
{2} NUMERICAL COLLECTION I. 13.
Monks, I do not perceive another single individual who keeps up the incomparable empire of religion set going once for all by the Tathâgato, excepting Sâriputto.
Sâriputto, O monks, keeps up the incomparable empire of religion set going once for all by the Tathâgato.
{3} NUMERICAL COLLECTION V. 132.
Monks, the eldest son of a king who is a world-ruler (Cakkavatti) is endowed with five attributes, and keeps up the empire (lit., keeps the wheel rolling) set going by his father by righteousness alone: that is the wheel which cannot be turned back by any human being, by any hostile hand.
What are the five attributes?
In this world, monks, the eldest son of a king who is a world-ruler p. 44 is worldly-wise, and spiritually wise, temperate, wise in the times, and wise in the assemblies.
Monks, the eldest son of a king who is a world-ruler is endowed with these five attributes, and keeps up the empire set going by his father by righteousness alone: that is the wheel that cannot be turned back by any human being, by any hostile hand.
Exactly thus, monks, does Sâriputto, with five qualities (dhammas) endowed, keep up the incomparable empire of religion, set going once for all by the Tathâgato: that is the wheel that cannot be turned back by philosopher or brahmin, angel or Tempter, arch-angel, or any one in the world.
What are the five qualities?
In this case, monks, Sâriputto is worldly-wise, spiritually wise, temperate, wise in the times and wise in the assemblies.
With these five qualities endowed, monks, does Sâriputto keep up the incomparable empire of religion set going once for all by the Tathâgato: that is the wheel that cannot be turned back by philosopher or brahmin, angel or Tempter, archangel, or any one in the world.
| The wheel set rolling by me-- Religion's incomparable wheel-- Sâriputto keeps rolling, [He] the fellow of the Tathâgato. |
SAVING POWER OF BELIEF.
Mark ix. 23. Jesus said unto him, If thou canst! All things are possible to him that believeth.
Cf. John iii. 18, and the New Testament throughout.
{5} NUMERICAL COLLECTION I. 17.
Monks, I do not perceive another single quality whereby beings, upon the dissolution of the body after death, rise again in states of suffering, woe, destruction and hell, to be compared, O monks, to false belief.
Beings, possessed of false belief, O monks, upon the dissolution of the body after death, rise again in states of suffering, woe, destruction and hell.
Monks, I do not perceive another single quality whereby beings, upon the dissolution of the body after death, rise again in the world of weal and paradise, to be compared, O monks, with Right Belief.1
Beings, possessed of Right Belief, O monks, upon the dissolution of the body after death, rise again in the world of paradise.
THE LOGIA.
JESUS SAITH is the formula in the Egyptian Logia-fragment found in 1897 {Greek fragments of The Gospel of Thomas}, and of frequent occurrence in the Gospels. The ancient Christian Logia-Book, or primitive Gospel of Matthew mentioned by Papas (Eusebius, H. E. iii. 39) is lost; but the Buddhists are more fortunate in having their Logia-Book extant. It is called the ITIVUTTAKA, that is, the Thus-Said. Its antiquity is attested not only by the internal evidence of terseness and simplicity, but by the external evidence that the name itself is one of the ancient Nine Divisions of the Scriptures which antedate the present arrangement of the Pâli Canon. The formulæ of the Itivuttaka are the following:
1. This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Holy One, and heard by me:
2. This is the meaning of what the Blessed One said, and here it is rendered thus [in verse].
3. Exactly thus is the meaning spoken by the Blessed One, and thus it was heard by me.
These three formulæ accompany each of the first 79 paragraphs (suttas) of the Itivuttaka; No. 80 has the first two formulæ only; Nos. 81-88 have none of them; Nos. 89 and 90 have all; Nos. 91-98 have none; Nos. 99 and 100 have all; Nos. 101-111 have none; the closing sutta, No. 112, has all three. Five of the suttas that want the formulæ (Nos. 101, 105, 108, 110, 111) are found in the Numerical Collection, as well as two where they have been supplied (Nos. 90 and 112). It is therefore probable that the original Itivuttaka has been added to, and this is borne out by the fact that the suttas increase in length towards the end. Moreover, the suttas borrowed from the Numerical Collection all occur after No. 80, where the formulæ cease to be regular.1
The earlier part of the Itivuttaka appears to be of great antiquity. Its themes are found all through the Canon in a more developed form, but they are here expressed with a terse simplicity and with the solemn deposition in each case that Buddha spoke them.
1. Counting The Penitent Thief (October) as the Fourth Series.
1. The first step in the Noble Eightfold Path of Gotamo's famous Sermon in the Deer Park near Benâres. The doctrine of the saving power of Belief is thus fundamental in Buddhism. p. 45 See also Itivuttaka, 32, 33. The word Belief is literally Sight and can also be rendered View or Speculation.
1. If it be said that the Anguttara borrowed certain suttas because they were numerical, the fact confronts us that Nos, 108 and 110 to 112 are not numerical; while Nos, 1-6, which are not borrowed at all, one would expect to find in the Eka-Nipâto.