One more question (fwd)

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Thu, 8 Feb 2001 04:18:30 -0800 (PST)

Swami Tyagananda <tyag

risa-l

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Re: One more question

 

At 02:11 PM 02/05/2001 -0800, Brad Clough wrote:

>The term predates the 19th century by a long time. There may be even

>earlier references (the Vedic corpus?), but the earliest I know of is from

>the Buddhist DHAMMAPADA(Pali)/DHARMAPADA(Sanskrit) The dates of the Buddha

>and of early Buddhst literature remain the subject of much debate, but I

>think it is safe to follow John Ross Carter's and Mahinda Palihawadana's

>assertion that the text arose 2-3 centuries after the Buddha's passing,

>which would put it somewhere between the fifth and second centuries BCE,

>depending on where you place the Buddha's life. Tradition insists that

>this work is the direct word of the Buddha, in which case it originated

>around the 7th-5th centuries BCE. The reference is found in DHAMMAPADA 1.5

>and the verse (in Pali) goes as follows:

>

>na hi verena veraani sammantiidha kudaacanam

>averena ca sammati esa dhammo sanatano

>

>In Sanskrit, the last two words would be "dharmah. sanatanah."

 

Interestingly, there is the following reference in Manu Smriti 4.138:

 

Satyam brUyAt, priyam brUyAt, na brUyAt satyam-apriyam,

Priyam ca nAnRtam brUyAt, eSa dharmah sanAtanah.

 

A simple translation of this might be: "Speak the truth; speak pleasant

words. Don't speak an unpleasant truth and don't also tell a pleasant lie.

This is the ancient/eternal dharma."

 

Swami Tyagananda

Ramakrishna Vedanta Society

58 Deerfield St.

Boston, MA 02215