10. Chapter 10 - The Leaf of the Tree

1As the fallow leaf of the tree falls to the ground, when its days are gone, even so the life of men (will come to its close); Gautama, be careful all the while! (1)

2As a dew-drop dangling on the top of a blade of Kuśa-grass lasts but a short time, even so the life of men; Gautama, be careful all the while! (2)

3As life is so fleet and existence so precarious, wipe off the sins you ever committed; Gautama, &c. (3)

4A rare chance, in the long course of time, is human birth for a living being; hard are the consequences of actions; Gautama, &c. (4)

5When the soul has once got into an earth-body[1], it may remain in the same state as long as an Asaṃkhya[2]; Gautama, &c. (5)

6When the soul has once got into a water-body, &c. (all as in verse 5). (6)

7When a soul has once got into a fire-body, &c. (all as in verse 5). (7)

8When the soul has once got into a wind-body, &c. (all as in verse 5). (8)

9When the soul has once got into a vegetable-body, it remains long in that state, for an endless time, after which its lot is not much bettered[3]; Gautama, &c. (9)

10When the soul has once got into a body of a Dvīndriya (i.e. a being possessing two organs of sense), it may remain in the same state as long as a period called saṃkhyeya[4]; Gautama, &c. (10)

11When the soul has once got into a body of a Trīndriya (i.e. a being possessing three organs of sense), it, &c. (all as in verse 10). (11)

12When the soul has once got into a body of a Caturindriya (i.e. a being possessing four organs of sense), it, &c. (all as in verse 10). (12)

13When the soul has once got into a body of a Pañcendriya (i.e. a being possessing five organs of sense), it may remain in the same state as long as seven or eight births; Gautama, &c. (13)

14When the soul has once got into the body of a god or of a denizen of hell, it may remain in that state one whole life; Gautama, &c. (14)

15Thus the soul which suffers for its carelessness, is driven about in the Saṃsāra by its good and bad Karman; Gautama, &c. (15)

16Though one be born as a man, it is a rare chance to become an Ārya; for many are the Dasyus and Mlecchas; Gautama, &c. (16)

17Though one be born as an Ārya, it is a rare chance to possess all five organs of sense; for we see many who lack one organ or other; Gautama, &c. (17)

18Though he may possess all five organs of sense, still it is a rare chance to be instructed in the best Law; for people follow heretical teachers; Gautama, &c. (18)

19Though he may have been instructed in the right Law, still it is a rare chance to believe in it; for many people are heretics; Gautama, &c. (19) Though one believe in the Law, he will rarely practise it; for people are engrossed by pleasures; Gautama, &c. (20)

20When your body grows old, and your hair turns white, the power of your ears decreases; Gautama, &c. (21)

21When your body grows old, and your hair turns white, the power of your eyes decreases; Gautama, &c. (22)

22When your body grows old, and your hair turns white, the power of your nose decreases. (23)

23When your body grows old, and your hair turns white, the power of your tongue decreases. (24)

24When your body grows old, and your hair turns white, the power of your touch decreases. (25)

25When your body grows old, and your hair turns white, all your powers decrease. (26)

26Despondency, the king’s evil, cholera, mortal diseases of many kinds befall you; your body wastes and decays; Gautama, &c. (27)

27Cast aside from you all attachments, as the (leaves of) a lotus let drop off the autumnal[5] water, exempt from every attachment, Gautama, be careful all the while! (28)

28Give up your wealth and your wife; you have entered the state of the houseless; do not, as it were, return to your vomit; Gautama, &c. (29)

29Leave your friends and relations, the large fortune you have amassed; do not desire them a second time; Gautama, &c. (30) There is now no Jina[6], but there is a highly esteemed guide to show the way; now being on the right path, Gautama, be careful all the while! (31)

30Now you have entered on the path from which the thorns have been cleared, the great path; walk in the right path; Gautama, &c. (32)

31Do not get into an uneven road like a weak burden-bearer; for you will repent of it afterwards; Gautama, &c. (33)

32You have crossed the great ocean; why do you halt so near the shore? make haste to get on the other side; Gautama, &c. (34)

33Going through the same religious practices as perfected saints[7], you will reach the world of perfection, Gautama, where there is safety and perfect happiness; Gautama, &c. (35)

34The enlightened[8] and liberated monk should control himself, whether he be in a village or a town, and he should preach to all[9] the road of peace; Gautama, &c. (36)

35Having heard the Buddha’s[10] well-delivered sermon, adorned by illustrations, Gautama cut off love and hatred and reached perfection. (37) Thus I say.

36Verses 5-9 treat of the ekendriyas or beings which possess but one organ of sense, that of touch. A full description of them as well as of the dvīndriyas, &c. is given in the last lecture.

37The periods called asaṃkhya are measured by utsarpiṇīs and avasarpiṇīs which correspond to the kalpas of the Hindus, but greatly exaggerated. An asaṃkhya is the longest time (ukkosaṃ = utkarṣaṃ) which a soul may be doomed to live in earth-bodies; see below, XXXVI, 81 ff.

38This is, according to the commentary, the meaning of duranta.

39A saṃkhijja, i.e. saṃkhyeya, is a period which can be measured by thousands of years.

40This attribute is here given to 'water,' because in autumn the water becomes pure, and even the purest water has no hold upon the leaves of a lotus; thus a saint should give up even the best and dearest attachment.

41As this assertion cannot be put in the mouth of Mahāvīra, this verse must be set down as a later addition--or perhaps as a blunder of the poet similar to that noted before, in IX, 42.

42This seems, according to the commentary, to be the meaning of the phrase akalevaraseṇim ūsiyā. Akalevaraśreṇī is said to mean as much as kṣapakaśreṇī.

43Būhae = vrimhayet; literally, propagate.

44Here the word b u d d h a is used as a title; but its use is very restricted, scarcely going beyond that of a common epithet. This is just what we otherwise should have to assume in order to explain the use by the Bauddhas of that word to denote the founder of their sect. In the Sūtrakṛtāṅga II, 6, 28 Buddha, in the plural, actually denotes the prophets of the Buddhists.