Dhammapada

SR No.: 007674
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Max Muller
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1881
Total Pages: 2540
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 45 MB

Page 496

II.
MAHA-PARINIBBANA-SUTTA.
39
bhikkhus, who shall reach the very topmost Height!-but they must be anxious to learn1.'
End of the Second Portion for Recitation.
1 Tamatagge me te Ânanda bhikkhu bhavissanti ye keki sikkhâkâmâ. The Burmese MSS. for me te read p'ete, which is a little easier. Buddhaghosa says, Tamatagge ti tamagge. Magghe takâro padasandhivasena vutto. Idam vuttam hoti ime aggatamâ ime aggamâ ti: evam sabbam tamayogam khinditvâ ativiya agge uttama-bhâve te Ânanda mamam bhikkhu bhavissanti. Kesam ati-agge bhavissanti? Ye keki sikkhâkâmâ sabbesam te katu-sati-ppa/thâna-gokarâ ka bhikkhu agge bhavissantî ti. Arahattatikutena desanam ganhati, 'Tamatagge is for tamagge. The t in the middle is used for euphony. This word means, "these are the most pre-eminent, the very chief." Having, as above stated, broken every bond of darkness (tama) those bhikkhus of mine, Ânanda, will be at the very top, in the highest condition. They will be at the very top of whom? Those bhikkhus who are willing to learn, and those who exercise themselves in the four ways of being mindful and thoughtful, they shall be at the top of all (the rest). Thus does he make Arahatship the three-peaked height of his discourse' (compare on this last phrase Nibbânena desanâkutam ganhati, Gâtaka I, 275, 393, 401; and see also I, 114). Uttama, the highest (scil. bhâva, condition), is used absolutely of Arahatship or Nirvâna at Gâtaka I, 96; Aggaphala occurs in the same sense at Gâtaka I, 114; and even Phalagga at Mah. 102. The last words, 'but they must be anxious to learn,' seem to me to be an after thought. It is only those who are thoroughly determined to work out their own salvation, without looking for safety to any one else, even to the Buddha himself, who will, whilst in the world, enter into and experience Nirvâna. But, of course, let there be no mistake, merely to reject the vain baubles of the current superstitious beliefs is not enough. There is plenty to learn and to acquire, of which enough discourse is elsewhere. For aggamâ in the comment we must read aggatamâ. If one could read amatagge in the text, all difficulty would vanish; but this would be too bold, and neither do I see how the use of anamatagge can help us.
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