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The Chinese translators in making new translations of foreign texts, often give as their reason for doing so that the former translation or translators could not be understood or relied on. But in explanation of this we must remember that the originals themselves in the hands of successive translators, though bearing the same name, were not always copies of the same works. For instance, in the case of the work Fo-pan-ni-pan-king, that is, the Parinirvâna Sûtra, translated into Chinese by Pih-fă-tsu, between 290 and 306 A.D. We cannot doubt that the text used by this translator was another form of the Mahâ-parinibbâna-Sutta embodied in the Southern Canon 1.
But how widely another work bearing the same title, viz. Mahâparinirvâna Sûtra, and translated into Chinese by Dharmaraksha, the same priest who turned the Buddhakarita into that language, differs from the simple Sûtra just named, the following brief extract will show. We will select the incident of Kunda's offering, which is thus expanded in the last work:
'At this time, in the midst of the congregation, there was a certain Upâsaka (lay-disciple) of the city of Kusinagara, the son of a blacksmith, whose name was Kunda; this man, with his whole family, fifteen persons in all, had devoted himself to a religious life. At this juncture then it was that Kunda, rising from his seat, addressed Buddha
in the orthodox way and said: "Oh that the world-honoured (Tathâgata) and the members of this great assembly would receive our poor offering, the very last to be presented, for the sake of bringing the benefit thereof to innumerable creatures! World-honoured one! from this time we are without a master, without a friend, with no means of advance, no helper, no refuge. Oh that Tathâgata would of his great compassion deign to receive this offering of ours before he enters Nirvâna. World-honoured! it is as though a Kshatriya, or a Brahman, or a Vaisya, or Sûdra were to be reduced by poverty so far as to be compelled to go to another land, and there by industry prepare a piece of ground for cultivation. He procures a serviceable ox for the plough, and carefully roots up all the noxious weeds, and removes all stones and broken vessels from the ground, and then only awaits the grateful rain from heaven to crown his endeavours--so it is with me, the ox yoked to the plough is this body of mine, the cleared land (is the work of) supreme wisdom, the impediments and weeds removed are all the sources of sorrow which I have put away, and now we only await the rain of the sweet dew of the law! Look upon us, we are poor and perishing from want, without a friend, no help, no refuge; oh that Tathâgata would pity us even as he had compassion on his son Rahula!"
'Then Tathâgata replied: "Well said! well said! Kunda. For your sake I will relieve the poverty of the world, and cause the rain of the insurpassable law to descend upon the field, and bring forth abundant fruit. Whatever your request, it shall be granted and I receive your offering. For as I accepted the gift of the shepherd girls before arriving at supreme wisdom, so now will I accept your corresponding gift before entering Nirvâna, and thus enable you to accomplish fully the Pâramitâ of charity." Kunda replied: "Let not Tathâgata say that the merit of these two gifts is the same, for surely when the shepherd girls offered their food, the world-honoured one had not entirely got rid of all the sources of sorrow, or completed every growth of the seeds of wisdom; nor was he able at that time to cause others to complete the Pâramitâ of charity by accepting their gifts; but this last offering is like a God in the midst of gods.
[paragraph continues] The first offering was made for the support of the body of Tathâgata still suffering from human wants: this last offering is made to Tathâgata possessing an eternal, sorrowless, and unchangeable (vagra) body, the body of the law; everlasting, boundless. In these (and other) respects, then, it seems to me the two offerings differ in character and in merit." Tathâgata answered: "Illustrious youth! for ages innumerable (countless asaṅkhyeyas of kalpas) Tathâgata has possessed no such body as that you named, as suffering from human wants or necessities--nor is there such an after-body as that you describe as eternal, illimitable, indestructible. To those who as yet have no knowledge of the nature of Buddha, to these the body of Tathâgata seems capable of suffering, liable to want (but to others it is not so). At the time when Bodhisattva received the offering of food and drink at the hands of the shepherd girls, he entered into the Samâdhi known as vagra, and beheld the nature of Buddha, and so obtained the highest and most complete enlightenment (and thus was supposed to have eaten the food); so now as he receives your offering he enters the same condition; in this (and other respects) the offerings differ not in character. But principally for this reason, that as he then began to declare his law and preach it for the good of men, but did not completely exhaust the twelve portions of it, so now, having received your offering, he will preach the law in its entire form (i.e. including the Vaipulya, or last section) for the good of the assembly. But still, as in the former case, he ate not, so neither does he now eat."
'At this time the congregation having heard that the world-honoured would preach the law in its fulness after receiving the offering of Kunda, rejoiced with exceeding joy, and opened their mouths with one accord in these words of praise: "Well done! well done! exceedingly fortunate Kunda! Thy name is now established (in meaning), well art thou called Kunda, for thou hast established a most excellent method of deliverance, and, therefore, thou art well named. Now shall your name be much honoured among men. Well done, Kunda! it is indeed seldom that a Buddha appears in the world, and to be born when he is
born is exceedingly difficult; to believe in him and listen to his law is difficult; but how much more so to have the privilege of offering to him the last gift before he enters Nirvâna. Glory to Kunda! Glory to Kunda! Like the autumn moon on the 15th day of the month, your merit is full, and as all men look up to the cloudless moon with admiration and reverence, so do we reverence thee. Glory to Kunda! Now then Buddha has received from you his very last offering! thus have you completed the Pâramitâ of charity! Glory to Kunda!" &c. Then the assembly uttered these verses:
'At this time Kunda, overjoyed as a man whose father or mother, after having been conveyed to the tomb, suddenly re-appears alive, again prostrated himself before Buddha and repeated the following verses:
'Then Buddha replied to Kunda: "Even so! even so! it is as you, say--the birth of a Buddha in the world is rare as the appearance of the Udumbara flower, and to be able to believe in him is also a matter of extreme difficulty; but infinitely more difficult is it to be selected as the one to present a last offering to him before he enters Nirvâna. What room, then, O Kunda, is there for sorrowful thoughts? your heart should rather dance for joy! for you are the one thus selected to offer the last offering, and so complete your work of charity. Make not, then, such a request that Buddha should remain longer in the world, for you should now be able to realise (kwan°) even the highest truth [the province or domain (keng kiai) of all the Buddhas], the impermanency of all things, that all systems of religion (or, elements of being)--(hing°) both as to their nature and attributes--are also impermanent. And then for the sake of Kunda he repeated these Gâthâs:
365:1 See some remarks on this point in the eleventh volume of the Sacred Books of the East, p. xxxvi.
368:1 That is, in any inferior position in the animal creation.