The Udānavarga is an early Buddhist collection of topically organized chapters (Sanskrit: varga) of aphoristic verses or "utterances" (Sanskrit: udāna) attributed to the Buddha and his disciples. While not part of the Pali Canon, the Udānavarga has many chapter titles, verses and an overall format similar to those found in the Pali Canon's Dhammapada and Udāna. At this time, there exist one Sanskrit recension, two Chinese recensions and two or three Tibetan recensions of the Udānavarga.[1]
Content
editThe Udānavarga has around 1100 verses in 33 chapters. The chapter titles[2] are:
- Anityavarga
- Kāmavarga
- Tṛṣṇāvarga
- Apramādavarga
- Priyavarga
- Śīlavarga
- Sucaritavarga
- Vācavarga
- Karmavarga
- Śraddhāvargas
- Śramaṇavarga
- Mārgavarga
- Satkāravarga
- Drohavarga
- Smṛtivarga
- Prakirṇakavarga
- Udakavarga
- Puṣpavarga
- Aśvavarga
- Krodhavarga
- Tathāgatavarga
- Śrutavarga
- Ātmavarga
- Peyālavarga
- Mitravarga
- Nirvāṇavarga
- Paśyavarga
- Pāpavarga
- Yugavarga
- Sukhavarga
- Cittavarga
- Bhikṣuvarga
- Brāhmaṇavarga
Comparatively, the most common version of the Dhammapada, in Pali, has 423 verses in 26 chapters.[3] Comparing the Udānavarga, Pali Dhammapada and the Gandhari Dharmapada, Brough (2001) identifies that the texts have in common 330 to 340 verses, 16 chapter headings and an underlying structure.[4]
History
editThe Udānavarga is attributed by Brough to the Sarvāstivādins.[5]
Hinüber suggests that a text similar to the Pali Canon's Udāna formed the original core of the Sanskrit Udānavarga, to which verses from the Dhammapada were added.[6] Brough allows for the hypothesis that the Udānavarga, the Pali Dhammapada and the Gandhari Dharmapada all have a "common ancestor" but underlines that there is no evidence that any one of these three texts might have been the "primitive Dharmapada" from which the other two evolved.[4]
The Tibetan Buddhist and Chinese Buddhist canons' recensions are traditionally said to have been compiled by Dharmatrāta.[7][note 1]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ While acknowledging the traditional view, Brough also refers to a statement by Nāgārjuna that might suggest that this work was initially collected at "the time of the original compilation of the canon ... immediately after the Nirvāṇa of the Buddha" while Dharmatrāta contributed the commentaries.[8]
References
editCitations
edit- ^ Ānandajoti (2007), pp. vi, n. 5, vii-viii.
- ^ Bernhard (1965).
- ^ See, e.g., Ānandajoti (2007), p. 1.
- ^ a b Brough 2001, pp. 23–30.
- ^ Brough 2001, pp. 38–41.
- ^ Hinüber (2000), pp. 45 (§89), 46 (§91).
- ^ Brough 2001, pp. 39–40.
- ^ Brough 2001, p. 40.
Sources
edit- Ānandajoti Bhikkhu (2nd rev., 2007). A Comparative Edition of the Dhammapada, Pali text with parallels from Sanskritised Prakrit
- Bernhard, Franz (ed.) (1965). Udānavarga. Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht. Retrieved 2008-09-18 in an expanded format by Ānandajoti Bhikkhu (version 2.1, January 2006) from "Ancient Buddhist Texts" at http://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/Buddhist-Texts/S1-Udanavarga/index.htm.
- Brough, John (2001). The Gandhari Dharmapada. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited.
- Hinüber, Oskar von (2000). A Handbook of Pāli Literature. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-016738-7.
Further reading
edit- Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, trans. (2008). Udāna (Khuddakanikāya 3) Exalted Utterances, 2nd rev.
- Rockhill, William Woodville, trans. (1883). Udānavarga: a collection of verses from the Buddhist canon compiled by Dharmatrāta being the Northern Buddhist version of Dhammapada / transl. from the Tibetan of the Bkah-hgyur, with notes and extracts from the commentary of Pradjnāvarman. London: Trübner
- Willemen, Charles (1974), Dharmapada: a concordance to Udānavarga, Dhammapada, and the Chinese Dharmapada literature, Publications de l'Institut Belge des hautes etudes bouddhiques, Bruxelles
External links
edit- "The Dhammapada (translation)". Theosophy Library.
- "The Comparative Dhammapada". The Pāḷi Dhammapada and all the parallels in Middle Indo-Aryan
- "The Udanavarga". The Udānavarga (Sanskrit)
- Multilingual edition of Udānavarga in the Bibliotheca Polyglotta