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सप्तमं परिशिष्टम् ।
१५९. Publication of Peking edition of the Tibetan Tripataka scaffan Dr. Susumu Yamaguchi, President of Otani University farsfaa निबन्धे विस्तरेण वर्णितमिति तत एवोपयुक्तोऽश इहोदध्रियते
In any attempt to say a few words on the Tibetan Canon, one must first enquire how the Buddhist Canon itself came into existence. To do this, one 5 must go back to the time of King Asoka some three centuries before the Christian era.
The great Emperor Asoka was the grandson of the renowned Candragupta, founder of the Mauryan dynasty, and reigned from 274 to 232 B. C. At first he was the ruler of Central India only, but eventually conquered almost 10 the whole country. During this campaign of conquest, the sight of the grievous suffering he had caused to thousands of innocent people particularly by his victory over the Kalingas, made him realize that force is not the final arbiter. He became disgusted, on reflection, with his own conduct, and this produced in its turn a revolution in his whole character. He was converted to Buddhism 15 and resolved henceforth to put "dharma” into practice in both his personal and public life, feeling moral conquest to be far more valuable and enduring than conquest by arms. The effect of his conversion was truly remarkable, and his dynamic personality was felt in every corner of the Empire. He called not only upon his subjects but upon the neighbouring countries also to accept this 20 'greatest of gifts' and sent imperial messengers and missionaries to various parts of Asia to spread the teaching of the Buddha. As a result a number of countries embraced Buddhism and in due course there developed in each district a collection of literature, known later as Tripitaka' or Buddhist Canon. Among these collections there are at least three the contents of which are 25 sufficiently comprehensive and systematized to merit being called the Sacred Canon of Buddhism. First and foremost, there is the Pāli Tripitaka. These scriptures of the Theravāda School are used principally in the Southern School in Ceylon, Burma, Siam and Cambodia. Next come the scriptures written in the Chinese Language, and used in China, Korea and Japan. The third is the 30* voluminous collection of works known as the Tibetan Tripitaka.
. With regard to the Pāli Canon, it is well known how, thanks to the scholarly and indefatigable efforts of Dr. & Mrs. T. W. Rhys Davids and others, the Pāli Text Society was founded, and nearly all the books ef the Canon published in modern form, the more important ones having, further, 35 been translated into English, French and German. In Japan, under the editorship of the late Dr. Takakusu Junjiro, the Pāli Tripitaka or Nanden Daizokyo (the Tripitaka of the Southern Transmission ) was translated into Japanese
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