Reviews Of Different Books

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

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REVIEWS
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Dvāv.2 and L. Feer who studied the relationship of the Dvāv. with other collections of Avadānas.? According to Zimmermann (p. 8, n. 1) reference is always made to one of these three scholars or to Sylvain Lévi in connection with the SRKK or the Dvāv. This is not quite correct with reference to Speyer who himself inspected the manuscript of the Dväv. in Paris (cf. his introduction to his edition of the Avadānaśataka).
In his analysis of the SRKK Zimmermann shows that the text consists of two parts: chapters 1-22 which conclude with three samgrahasloka-s, and chapters 23-27 which deal with five of the six paramita-s: sila, kşanti, vīrya, dhyāna and prajñā. The author of this supplement appears to have considered chapters 1-22 to be dealing only with the first of the pāramitā-s: dāna. Zimmermann remarks that although these 22 chapters have as a common theme punya in its manifold forms, many verses have no direct relation to the concept of dāna. According to him, however, even these 22 chapters do not constitute a unified whole. He considers chapters 1-4 to contain the oldest form of the SRKK. Consequently, Zimmermann is of the opinion that there must have been at least three different authors. He does not exclude the possibility that Aryaśūra was the author of the first four chapters even though four verses of the third chapter are to be found in the Bodhicaryāvatāra. Zimmermann points out that of these four verses a half-verse is also found in the Satapañcāsatka (5b: mahārnavayugacchidrakūrmagrīvārpanopamam). Zimmermann writes: “Dann wenn Santideva in diesem einen Falle als der Entleiher dasteht, so kann er sich auch den Rest der fraglichen Str. aus dem Schatz seiner bekanntlich ungewöhnlichen Literaturkenntnisse geholt haben." This argument has not much weight. D. R. Shackleton Bailey has rightly remarked that the simile of the tortoise and the yoke-hole was common property among Buddhist writers. To the references, given by him, others can be added. Recently this simile has been discussed by W. Bollée and K. R. Norman but without reference to the literature mentioned by Shackleton Bailey and myself. The simile is also found in the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvānasūtra.' There is no doubt that this half-verse was very popular and its occurrence in Säntideva's Bodhicaryävat ära does not prove anything with regard to his authorship of the other verses which are also found in the SRKK. There is therefore no conclusive argument to prove the existence of the SRKK before the time of Santideva. As to the terminus ad quem, Zimmermann mentions the ninth century since one of the two translators, the Tibetan monk Sākya 'od, is said to have lived in the ninth century. He refers for this date to W. Zinkgräf who stated that there have been two translators of the same name, an Indian and a Tibetan, but that both lived in the ninth century. This is not correct. The Indian Säkya 'od (Säkyaprabha) is mentioned as one of the translators of the Vinayasamgraha.' One of the two other translators is Sīlendrabodhi who is well-known as one of the compilers of the Mahāvyutpatti in the first quarter of the ninth century. The Tibetan monk Sakya 'od, however, is a contemporary of Rin-chen bzan-po (985-1055) as has been shown by Tucci." He must have been active in the middle of the eleventh century as can be shown by an examination of the many colophons in
2 'Notes on the language of the Dvavimśatvavadanakatha', JRAS (1913), pp. 289-304. 3 "Le livre des cent légendes', JA (1879), II, pp. 293-297, 305-306; Avadānaçataka (Paris, 1891), Introduction; Fragments extraits du Kandjour (Paris, 1883), pp. 544-552. * The Satapancasat ka of Matrceta (Cambridge, 1951), pp. 12-13. 5 Compte rendu de The Satapañcāsatka of Mātrceta, T'oung Pao, 42 (1954), p. 404. 6 Review of K. R. Norman, The Elders' Verses II. Therīgātha (London, 1971), JAOS, 93 (1973), p. 603; K. R. Norman, 'Middle Indo-Aryan Studies LX. The blind turtle and the hole in the yoke', JOIBaroda, XXI (1972), pp. 331-335. 7 The Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvanasastra. Transl. by Kosho Yamamoto. Vol. I (The Karibunko, 1973), p. 34. 8 Vom Divyāvadāna zur Avadānakalpalatā (Heidelberg, 1940), pp. 61-62. · P. Cordier, Catalogue du fonds tibétain de la Bibliothèque Nationale. Ille partie (Paris, 1915), p. 401. 10 Indo-Tibetica, II (Roma, 1933), p. 50.