The Saddharma- Pundarika or The Lotus of The True Law

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The Saddharma- Pundarika is one of the nine Dharmas which are known by the titles of-I. Ashtasahasrika Pragnaparamita; 2. Ganda-vyuha; 3. Dasabhumisvara; 4. Samadhi-raga; 5. Lankavatara; 6. Saddharma- pundarika; 7. Tathagata-guhyaka; 8. Lalita-vistara; 9. Suvarna-prabhasa. These nine works, to which divine worship is offered, embrace (to use the words of the first investigator of Nepalese Buddhism). As to the form, it would seem that all the Dharmas may rank as narrative works, which, however, does not exclude in some of them a total difference in style of composition and character. The Lalita- vistara c.g. has the movement of a real epic, the Saddharma-pundarika has not. The latter bears the character of a dramatic performance, an undeveloped mystery play, in which the chief interlocutor, not the only one, is Sakyamuni, the Lord. It consists of a series of dialogues, brightened by the magic effects of a would-be supernatural scenery. The phantasmagorical parts of the whole are as clearly intended to impress us with the idea of the might and glory of the Buddha, as his speeches are to set forth his all-surpassing wisdom.

Johan Hendrik Caspar Kern (1833- 1917) was a Dutch linguist and orientalist. In the professional literature he is usually referred to as H. Kern or Hendrik Kern; there are some other scientists with the same last name. Kern, together with Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk, is regarded as one of the founders of Eastern studies in the Netherlands. His great interest in languages had already become apparent at grammar school, when he decided to add English and Italian to his curriculum. He displayed an extraordinary ability to study and thoroughly master a wide variety of languages. He also showed his versatility in his cultural studies. His History of Buddhism in India (1881-83) showed that he had a thorough command of the field, although his incomplete understanding of Eastern astrology and mysticism has been criticized. His positivist approach to the material may have been partly to blame for this.

THE Saddharma-pundarika is one of the nine Dharmas which are known by the titles of-1. Ashfasahasrika Pra- gaparamita; a. Ganda-vyûha; 3. Darabhamirvara; 4. Sa- madhi-raga; 5. Lankávatára; 6. Saddharma-pundarika; 7. Tathagata-guhyaka; 8. Lalita-vistara; 9. Suvarna-pra- bhâsa.

These nine works, to which divine worship is offered, embrace (to use the words of the first investigator of Nepalese Buddhism") 'in the first, an abstract of the philosophy of Buddhism"; in the seventh, a treatise on the esoteric doctrines; and in the seven remaining ones, a full illustration of every point of the ordinary doctrine and discipline, taught in the easy and effective way of example and anecdote, interspersed with occasional instances of dogmatic instruction. With the exception of the first, these works are therefore of a narrative kind; but interwoven with much occasional speculative matter."

As to the form, it would seem that all the Dharmas may rank as narrative works, which, however, does not exclude in some of them a total difference in style of composition and character. The Lalita-vistara e.g. has the movement of a real epic, the Saddharma-pundarika has not. The latter bears the character of a dramatic performance, an undeveloped mystery play, in which the chief interlocutor, not the only one, is Sakyamuni, the Lord. It consists of a series of dialogues, brightened by the magic effects of a would-be supernatural scenery. The phantasmagorical parts of the whole are as clearly intended to impress us with the idea of the might and glory of the Buddha, as his speeches are to set forth his all-surpassing wisdom. Some affinity of its technical arrangement with that of the regular Indian drama is visible in the prologue or Nidâna, where Mangusrl at the end prepares the spectators and auditors-both are the same-for the beginning of the grand drama, by telling them that the Lord is about to awake from his mystic slumber and to display his infinite wisdom and power.

In the book itself we find it termed a Sûtra or Sâtrânta of the class called Mahâvaipulya. In a highly instructive discussion on the peculiar characteristics and comparative age of the different kinds of Satras, Burnouf arrives at the conclusion that the Mahavaipulya Sûtras are posterior to the simple Sutras in general¹. As there are two categories of simple Sutras, 1. those in which the events narrated are placed contemporary with the Buddha, 2. those which refer to persons living a considerable time after his reputed period, e.g. Asoka", it follows that the composition of the Mahavaipulya Sûtras must be held to fall in a later time than the production of even the second category of simple Sutras. Now in one of the latter, the Asoka-Avadana, we read of Asoka using the word dinara, which leads us to the conclusion that the said Avadana was composed, not only after the introduction of dinára from the West, in the first century of our era or later, but at a still more modern time, when people had forgotten the foreign origin of the coin in question.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages