SADDHARMA-PUNDARÎKA.

khalv ayam, Mahâbrahman Great Brahma, mayâ dharmo 'bhisam-
buddhah sûkshmo nipunah. What follows, api ka me,
Brahman, ime gâthe abhîkshnam pratibhâsatah1,
is but a slight, not very felicitous modification of what we
read in the Mahâvagga l. c. : api 'ssu bhagavantam imâ
anakkhariyâ gâthâyo patibhamsu pubbe assuta-
pubbâ.
Evidently from the same source are the verses in Trishṭubh a specific Vedic meter uttered by the god Brahma, Mahâvagga I, 5, 7, and
those found in Lalita-vistara, p. 517, 3 seq. The former text
has :

pâturahosi Magadhesu pubbe
dhammo asuddho samalehi kintito,
apâpur' etam amatassa dvâram
sunantu dhammam vimalenânubuddham2.
Translation: "It appeared in Magadha before, a Law impure, thought of by those with stains. Open this door to the deathless; let them hear the Law awakened by the stainless one."

The other runs thus :

vâdo babhûva samalair vikintito
dharmo hy3 asuddho Magadheshu pûrvam ;
amritam mune tad vivrinîshva dvâram
srinvanti4 dharma vipulam5 vimalena buddham.
Translation: "A doctrine was thought of by those with stains, a Law indeed impure in Magadha formerly; O Sage, open that door to the deathless; they hear the vast Law, awakened by the stainless one."

On comparing the two texts we may infer that the Pâli
version is purer, that vâdo babhûva is a corruption of
pâdû babhûva or something like it, answering to a
Sanskrit prâdur babhûva it appeared, but we cannot deny that the
stanzas have the same origin.
In Mahâvagga I, 5, 12, the Lord addresses the god
Brahma with the following Trishṭubh :

apârutâ tesam amatassa dvârâ
ye sotavanto, pamuñkantu6 saddham.
Translation: "Open are the doors to the deathless for them who have ears; let them release/offer faith."

1 Obviously an unhappy attempt to Sanskritise a Pâli or Prâkrit patibhamsu; it ought to have been pratyabhâsishtâm.
2 The text is corrupt; we have either to read vimalânubuddham, a Tatpurusha compound expressing the same as what the text exhibits, or vimalena buddham.
3 Hi is meaningless, and only a clumsy device to satisfy the exigency of Sanskrit phonetical rules, which are not applicable to Prâkrit.
4 Read srinvantu.
5 Read dharmam vimalena. Vipula probably owes its origin to a dittography.
6 I do not understand this pamuñkantu, i. e. let them cast off, loose or emit. Perhaps we have to read payuñgantu, let them practise.