Reviews Of Diffeent Books

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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REVIEWS
73
résultera du tort pour une grande foule de peuple et pour le pays" (p. 379). For the relics of the Buddha, Aśoka gives eighty-four thousand urns and eighty-four thousand pieces of cloth or silk (patta) to the yakṣas (Divyavadana 381.3; Mukhopadhyaya 54.1). Strong interprets patta as an 'inscription plate' (p. 219). Burnouf has 'bandelette' (p. 373). Strong's translation is absurd as he could easily have discovered by reading Przyluski's translation of the A-yü-wang-chuan: "84.000 bandelettes de soie de diverses couleurs" (op. cit., p. 243).
In all these cases mentioned above Burnouf's translation (published in 1844!) is to be preferred to Strong's interpretation. Of course, Burnouf has also made some mistakes and it would have been helpful if Strong had corrected them. However, when Burnouf makes a mistake Strong does the same. Aśoka offered only one kākaṇī to the stupa of Vatkula because "he had so few desires that he did not act as others did for the benefit of all mankind" (Strong, p. 255). The Sanskrit text continues as follows: sã pratyahata tasyaiva rajñaḥ pādamule nipatitāyāvad amātyā vismitā ucuḥ / aho tasya mahatmano Ipecchata / babhuvanayapy anarthi (Divyāvadāna 396.13-15; Mukhopadhyaya 91.8-9): "It [the kakani], being rejected, fell at Aśoka's feet. Amazed the ministers said: 'Ah! How few desires has this magnanimous being. He does not want even this [kākaṇī. Strong translates: "The ministers were amazed. They fell at Aśoka's feet and said in awe: "Aho! Although this magnanimous being lacked desires, he unfortunately also lacked purpose" (p. 255). Burnouf has: "A ces mots les ministres furent frappés d'étonnement, et tombant aux pieds du roi, ils s'écrièrent: Ah! la modération des désirs de ce sage magnanime a été inutile, puisqu'il n'a pas rencontré de difficultés" (p. 392).
In the index of Strong's book one finds gatis instead of gatis (p. 331). Alas, this is not a simple printing error because it occurs persistently throughout the book (pp. 137, 144, 145, 146, 160 and 331). Strong remarks patronizingly that Burnouf's translation was a remarkable achievement notwithstanding the mistakes which are to be found in his work. It is an even more remarkable achievement to produce so many mistakes in 1983, 139 years after the publication of the Introduction à l'étude du buddhisme indien.
NOTES
1 La légende de l'empereur Açoka dans les textes indiens et chinois. Paris, 1923.
2 Yamazaki Gen'ichi, Ashoka-o densetsu no kenkyu [The legend of Aśoka. A Critical Study]. Tōkyō, Shunjusha, 1979.
3 Kingship and Community in Early India, Stanford, 1962, p. 203.
4 A Note on the Sanskrit Phrase devānām priya', Indian Linguistics 30, 1969, pp. 13-26.
5 Cf. The Eastern Buddhist, N.S., Vol. XV No. 1 (1982), pp. 149-150; Gustav Roth, 'Notes on Inscriptions of Aśoka', Prajñā-Bhārati 2 (Patna, 1982), pp. 37-38; Yamazaki, op. cit., pp. 93-94 and 99-100.
6 'Einige Fragen der Religionssoziologie und Struktur des südasiatischen Buddhismus', Beiträge zur religionssoziologischen Forschung 4, 1968, pp. 251-295.
7 L'Abhidharmakosa de Vasubandhu, troisième chapitre, Paris-Louvain, 1926, p. 197.
8 Abhidharmakośabhāṣya, ed. by P. Pradhan, Patna, 1967, pp. 185.24-186.2.
9 'Le partage des reliques du Buddha', Mélanges chinois et bouddhiques 4, 1936, pp. 341–367. 10 'La Lokapaññatti et la légende birmane d'Aśoka', JA 1976, pp. 97-116.
11 See also Yamazaki, op. cit., pp. 75-77 and 87-88.
12 Cf. p. 150, n. 1, in which Strong refers to Surendranath Dasgupta, A History of Indian Philosophy, vol. 1, p. 115.
13 See our review, IIJ 12 (1969-1970), pp. 269-274. On p. 270, line 21, read Memyo for Mamyō. On p. 271, line 20, read 382.4-384.23 for 382.4-383.23.