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 653

196
ON KNOWLEDGE OF THE VEDAS.
CH.
THE LONG PARAGRAPHS ON CONDUCT.
THE MAHẬ SÎLAM.
1. Or whereas some Samana-Brahmans, who live on the food provided by the faithful, continue to gain a livelihood by such low arts, by such lying practices as these: that is to say, by divination from marks on the body; by auguries ; by the interpretation of prognostics, of dreams, and of omens, good or bad; by divinations from the manner in which cloth and other such things have been bitten by rats; by sacrifices to the god of fire, offerings of Dabba grass, offerings with a ladle, offerings of husks, of bran, of rice, of clarified butter, of oil, and of liquids ejected from the mouth; and by bloody sacrifices; by teaching spells for preserving the body, for determining lucky sites, for protecting fields, for luck in war, against ghosts and goblins, to secure good harvests, to cure snake bites, to serve as antidotes for poison, and to cure bites of scorpions or rats; by divination, by the flight of hawks, or by the croaking of ravens; by guessing at length of life; by teaching spells to ward off wounds; and by pretended knowledge of the language of beasts.
'He, on the other hand, refrains from seeking a livelihood by such low arts, by such lying practices.
This, too, (&c., see S II, 2.) 2. Or whereas some Samana-Brâhmans, who live on the food provided by the faithful, continue to gain a livelihood by such low arts, by such lying
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