________________
Juni, 1887.]
A
.
NAGARJUNA'S SUHRILLEKHA.
169
SOME REMARKS ON THE SUHRILLEKHA OR FRIENDLY COMMUNICATION OF NAGARJUNA-BODHISATVA TO KING SHATOPOHANNA.
BY THE REV. S. BEAL. W HATEVER NAgarjuna's speculative true methods of salvation (The four Truths P)
views were, he seems to have held fast and to aim at the perfect condition of love to the groundwork of Buddha's moral doctrine. and purity, like that of Avalokitėávara and Of the twenty-four works in the Chinese Tripi- | Amitabha." taka ascribed to him, the Êka-släka-sástra (Nan- 1 Such is the summary of the letter given us jio's Catalogue, No. 1212) has been translated by I-tsing; and he adds that this letter is by Dr. Edkins; and I have partly translated learned by heart by children in India, as the the Prinyamúla-sústra (No. 1179). Of the "1000-letter classic" is in China. others, so far as I know, there have been no | There are three translations of the "Friendly accounts given ; except a notice by Dr. Müller Writing" found in the Chinese Tripitaka. respecting a work (No. 1440) called Arya- They are numbered 1464, 1440, and 1441, Nágárjuna-Bodhisattva-Sukrillékha, or "the respectively, in Mr. B. Nanjio's Catalogue. friendly letter of Nagarjuna-Bôdhisattva." I The first was done by Gunavarman, now purpose to speak of this letter, in which, - native of Cophene or Kubha, said to have addressed to his old patron (Dánapati) Shi- been the younger son of the king of that yen-tek-kia, whose regal title was Sha-to-po- country. He came to China A.D. 431. His han-na, there are found many admirable translation bears the title “Lung-shu-pu-saprecepte, in keeping with the original teaching wei-shan-to-lia-wang-shroo-fa-yau-kie; that is, of Buddhism.
"Nagarjuna-Bodhisattva delivers some choice I-tsing in his summary of the letter says, religious verses for the sake of king Jan. "It may be regarded as an elegant composition, the object of which is to encourage and The second translation was made, according exhort to earnest diligence, and to point out to the copy in the India Office (No. 1440), the true middle path of right behaviour in by the same Shaman Guņavarman; but, acrelationship with friends and kindred. The cording to the authority cited on p. 23 of my leading thoughts are these" (he adds) :--| Abstract of Four Lectures, it was done by "First, the writer exhorts the king to faith the Shaman Sanghavarman, A.D. 434. Mr. in the three honourable ones (Buddha, Dharma, Nanjio, I observe, also attributes it to this and the Saragha): to nourish and cherish latter translator;" so that we may suppose the father and mother: to hold by the moral pre- India Office copy is wrong. The title of the cepts, and to avoid the society of those who translation is Kiun-fa-chu-wang-yau-kie; that is, practice evil and are immersed in the pleasures " choice verses, exhorting the king." of life: to free himself from the bonds of The third translation is by I-tsing, who family complications : to meditate rightly on worked as a translator in China about A.D. impermanence; to search into the character of 700. This copy is called Lung-shu-pu-sz-kiunthe future life, whether that life be under the kiai-wang-sung: that is, "verses by Nagarjuna - form of a wandering spirit (préta), or in the Bodhisattva, exhorting and warning the king." higher grades, as a man or déva; or in the lowest He tells us that these verses were composed by condition, as born in hell; and thus to seek Lung-shu, i.e. Nagarjuna, and were sent to deliverance (from such conditions) with all the Southern India to a friend of his, a cerheart. He then exhorts to the practice of the tain king of the Shing-tu country. It would three species of Wisdom (the Trividya), and seem as if this king was & native of illustrates the character of the eight branches Sindh, who had established his authority of the holy way of Buddha (the eight-fold in South India. Tarinatha calls him Udapath). He urges the king to learn the four yana or Antivahana, and adds that his
See "The Times," Sept. 20, 1883; printed with additional notes in the Transactions of the Pali Text Society, 1883
• I-tsing, Nan-hai, &o. K. IV. p. 5b. * Cutalogue, No. 14-10.
Schiefner, pp. 73, 808.
