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INTRODUCTION
TO THE
MAHÂ-SUDASSANA SUTTA.
The following translation is made from a text based on three MSS. from the same sources as those referred to at the commencement of the Tevigga Sutta, and referred to in my notes by the same letters.
This Sutta follows in the Digha Nikâya immediately after the Book of the Great Decease, and is based on the same legend as the Maha-Sudassana Gâtaka, No. 95 in Mr. Fausböll's edition. As the latter differs in several important particulars from our Sutta, it is probably not taken directly from it, but is merely derived from the same source. To facilitate comparison between the two I add here a translation of the Gataka, which has not been reached as yet in my 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' and which is very short.
The part enclosed in brackets [] is the comment, which was probably written in Ceylon in the fifth century of our era, and I have included that part of the comment which is explanatory of the words in the verse, as it is of more than usual interest. There is every reason to believe, for the reasons given in the Introduction to the Buddhist Birth Stories,' that the stories themselves belong to a very early period in the history of Buddhism; and we may be sure that if this particular story had been abstracted by the author of the commentary from our Sutta, he would not have ventured to introduce such serious changes into what he regarded as sacred writ.
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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 |