Tibetan Citations Of Bhartaharis Verses And Problem Of His Date

Author(s): Hajime Nakamura
Publisher: Hajime Nakamura

Page 8

128
HAJIME NAKAMURA
(a..."
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(fr. 19) lon ba rkan pahi tshod dpags kyis /
ñam nahi lam du rgyug pa Itar / rjes su dpag pa gtsor hdsin pa / rnam par Itun ba mi dkaho //
***........a) shes bya ba lta bur hgyur ro she na / de ni rigs pa ma yin te /
Avalokita vrata comments upon this as follows: don de ñid bsal bar bya bahi phyir slob dpon bha ndri ha ris rjes su dpag pa sun phyun bahi khuns bstan pahi phyir/a ... a) shes bya ba smras te/dper na lon ba rkan pahi tshod dpag gis lam bde ba spans te ñam nahi lam du rgyug pa sin la sogs pa dag gis brdos pa la rdeg ḥchaḥ śin rnam par ltun ba mi dkaḥ ba de bshin du/yid ches pași lun spans pa rjes su dpag pahi tshod dpag gis rtog ge skam pohi lam du rgyug pa dag kyan tshe ḥdi la yan ḥkhrul pahi gcod par hgyur la/tshe phyi ma la yan hbras bu mi hdod par rnam par Itun bar hgyur ro shes zer ro / The Sanskrit original of the cited verse səems to have been the following:
“hastasparsādibādhena visame (=girimārge, Comm.) 'py abhid hāvatā /
anumānapradhānena vinipāto na durlabhaḥ//” (Vākyap. I, 42.) "Just as a (blind) man who is running quickly on a dangerous pass in the mountains) may fall down if he fails to cling by hand, so it is not impossible for a man who chiefly relies upon his own reasoning (lit. inference)
to fall down into a hell)." The Tibetan version seems to have a free translation for the first quarter of the verse. Bhartphari asserted that the knowledge derived from scriptures alone is of absolute value, whereas that derived from other sources is of relative value. He denounced the validity of reasoning. (cf. Vākyap. I, 30; 31; 41, etc.)
Among the above-mentioned verses, fr. (1) and fr. (12) are nearly identical to each other. It is likely that the same original verse was.cited in a slightly different way, as was mentioned, by the two scholars Asvabhāva and Jñānaśribhadra, who lived in different periods. It is note-worthy that we can find the apparent Sanskrit originals of some of the fragments in the Vakyapadīya of Bhartphari. As for some other fragments, also we find in this work verses of similar purport, as has been pointed out by the writer.
Moreover, we should add that a verse which might be regarded as the original of fr. (11) is cited in the Tattvasamgrahapañjikā° of Kamalasila. In the Sabdabrahmapariksā of the Tattvasamgraha by Sāntiraksita, the doctrine which admits sabda-brahman as the world-principle is attacked. Kamalasila, the commentator, explains that the author attacks Bhartshari's doctrine in the verses beginning with v. 128, and that he attacks "the doctrine of the opponent"
. Ad v. 144, p. 72 (ed. by Embar Krishnamacharya, Baroda 1926, GOS, 30).