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88
THE BOOK OF THE GREAT DECEASE.
CH.
been in close personal attendance and service on the Blessed One. And now, at the last moment, the Blessed One is not pleased with Upâvana, and has said to him, "Stand aside, O brother, stand not in front of me!" What may be the cause and what the reason that the Blessed One is not pleased with Upâvana, and speaks thus with him?'
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10. In great numbers, Ânanda, are the gods of the ten world-systems assembled together to behold the Tathagata. For twelve leagues, Ânanda, around the Sâla Grove of the Mallas, the Upavattana of Kusinârâ, there is no spot in size even as the pricking of the point of the tip of a hair which is not pervaded by powerful spirits'. And the spirits, Ânanda, are murmuring, and say, "From afar have we come to behold the Tathagata. Few and far between are the Tathagatas, the Arahat Buddhas who appear in the world: and now to-day, in the last watch of the night, the death of a Tathagata will take place; and this eminent brother stands in
1 Buddhaghosa explains that even twenty to sixty angels or gods (devatâyo) could stand âragga-koti-nittûdana- (MS. nittaddana-) matte pi, 'on a point pricked by the extreme point of a gimlet,' without inconveniencing one another (aññam aññam avyâbâdhenti). It is most curious to find this exact analogy to the notorious discussion as to how many angels could stand on the point of a needle in a commentary written at just that period of Buddhist history which corresponds to the Middle Ages of Christendom. The passage in the text does not really imply or suggest any such doctrine, though the whole episode is so absurd that the author of the text could not have hesitated to say so, had such an idea been the common belief of the early Buddhists. With these sections should be compared the similar sections in Chapter VI, of which these are perhaps merely an echo.
There is no comment on nittûdana, but there can be little doubt that Childers's conjectural reading is correct.'
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| SR No. | 007674 |
| Book Title | Dhammapada |
| 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 |