Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2Eliot, Charles
Religion
Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2
Eliot, Charles
Asia -- Religion; Buddhism; Hinduism
[Footnote 163: Translated by Schiefner, 1869. Târanâtha informs us (p.
281) that his chief authorities were the history of Kshemendrabhadra,
the Buddhapurâna of Indradatta and Bhaṭaghaṭî's history of the
succession of the Âcâryas.]
[Footnote 164: The Tibetans generally translate instead of
transliterating Indian names. It is as if an English history of Greece
were to speak of Leader of the People instead of Agesilaus.]
[Footnote 165: They place Kanishka, Vâsishka, Huvishka and Vasudeva
before Kadphises I and Kadphises II.]
[Footnote 166: _E.g._ Staël Holstein who also thinks that Kanishka's
tribe should be called Kusha not Kushan. Vincent Smith in his latest
work (_Oxford History of India_, p. 130) gives 120 A.D. as the most
probable date.]
[Footnote 167: My chief difficulty in accepting 78-123 A.D. as the
reign of Kanishka is that the Chinese Annals record the doings of Pan
Ch'ao between 73 and 102 in Central Asia, with which region Kanishka
is believed to have had relations, and yet do not mention his name.
This silence makes it _primâ facie_ probable that he lived either
before or after Pan Ch'ao's career.
The catalogues of the Chinese Tripitaka state that An-Shih-Kao
(148-170 A.D.) translated the Mârgabhûmi-sûtra of Sangharaksha, who
was the chaplain of Kanishka. But this unfortunately proves nothing
except that Kanishka cannot have been very late. The work is not a
scripture for whose recognition some lapse of time must be postulated.
An-Shih-Kao, who came from the west, may very well have translated a
recent and popular treatise.]
[Footnote 168: In this connection we may remember Târanâtha's
statement that Kanishka's Council put an end to dissentions which had
lasted about a century. But he also states that it was after the
Council that Mahayanist texts began to appear. If Kanishka flourished
about 50 A.D. this would fit in with Târanâtha's statements and what
we know of the history of Buddhism.]
[Footnote 169: _B.E.F.E.O._ 1911, 339-390. Satiśchandra Vidyâbhûshana
arrived at the same conclusion in _J.A.S.B._ 1905, p. 227.]
[Footnote 170: Chap. IV.]
[Footnote 171: Mahâparinib. Sut. III.]
[Footnote 172: Majj. Nik. 72.]
[Footnote 173: Udâna. VIII. 1-4.]
[Footnote 174: Accariyabbhutasuttam. Majj. Nik. 123.]
[Footnote 175: Chap. XVI.]
[Footnote 176: That of Rudradaman at Girnar, dated 72 in the Saka Era,
has hitherto been considered the oldest, but it is now said that one
discovered at Isapur near Muttra is older. See _J.R.A.S_ 1912, p.
114.]
[Footnote 177: _E.g._ Kadphises II and Vasudeva.]
[Footnote 178: Chaps. XII, XIII.]
[Footnote 179: The last section (42) as translated by Teitaro Suzuki
in the _Sermons of a Buddhist Abbot_ may seem an exception, for it
contains such statements as "I consider the doctrine of sameness as
the absolute ground of reality." But the translation seems to me
doubtful.]
[Footnote 180: Sec. 11.]
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