Pali Text Society

·期刊原文
Pali Text Society

Shwe Zan Aung and Davids, Rhys
The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
1917
pp.403--406

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

p.403

POINTS OF CONTROVERSY OR SUBJECTS OF DISCOURSE,
being a translation of the 'Katha Vatthu' from the
Abhidhamma Pitaka. By SHWE ZAN AUNG, B.A., and Mrs
RHYS DAVIDS, M.A. 1915.

The title Points of Controversy, though less
literal a translation than the sub-title of this
work, is well chosen to indicate the nature of the
text translated. The 'Katha-Vatthu, ' classed as
canonical, represents Buddhist orthodoxy at a later
stage than the 'Pali Suttapitaka' and under a
different aspect. Even from the rest of the
'Abhidhammapitaka', to which it belongs, the 'Katha-
Vatthu' stands apart, not only by the presence of
certain elements particular to itself, but by the
label that orthodox opinion attached to it. It alone
of the canonical Pali books has a traditional author
and date. By generally received tradition the author
is the learned and energetic Moggaliputta Tissa, and
his work is a production associated with the Council
of Patna held under 'Asoka's' patronage about B.C.
246. About that time, as is well known, the influence
of the Buddhist school known as the 'Theravadins' was
strong enough in India to bring about a historical
Confession of the Faith and proclaim as orthodox the
canon of scripture to which Ceylon and Further India
have adhered down to the present day.

The particular feature of the 'Katha-Vatthu' just
mentioned is the preservation in extremely brief form
of the theses of certain schools, within the general
Buddhist community, which had come to a more or less
marked departure from orthodoxy. The text is thus

p.404
405
a sort of manual of controversy for Buddhist
teachers. It looks, on a first glance into the Pali,
both dull and difficult. The dullness and difficulty
have nevertheless yielded to work that may be
compared to patient restoration of an old and
curious picture--cleaned and restored the picture
reveals a group of disputatious monks that interest
the true student profoundly, little as he may expect
it, in their cherished common tradition, their
serious or fantastic differences, and the language
and terms, most important to their doctrine, on which
they cross-examined each other. As to the way in
which the text assumed its present form there are
some helpful observations in Mrs. Rhys Davids'
Prefatory Notes. She considers that there is inner
evidence in the 'KathaVatthu' of slow growth by
accretions. No work put together for a special
occasion or to meet an entirely new need could
conceivably have assumed the "patchwork quilt
appearance" of the 'Katha-Vatthu.' Probably there was
some sort of plan in it, but the series of debates
"never exhaustive" on the views of various schools
are not continued systematically. Then the disputes
return, naturally enough, to single doctrines of
importance, e.g. concerning the Buddha or arahants,
several times. Mrs. Rhys Davids thinks it possible
that "(1) each 'Katha' (or at times at two or more
'Kathas') was framed by or by order of the heads of
the Sangha at the time when each seceding school
newly systematized and taught this and that heresy or
gave it occasional and special prominence, and that
(2) such a new 'Katha' or sub-group of them was added
by memorial or scriptural registration to the
existing stock of 'Kathas'".

There are of course puzzles in these disputations
for us who plunge into them centuries after they were
recorded, and recorded, as we must remember, for
those who were certainly familiar with many matters
on which we have no information unless we can wring
it from the

p.405

commentaries. This we cannot always do. The com-
mentator of the 'Katha-Vatthu' was not liberal with
information as to matters of fact. In this case it
was only the discussion of ideas and terms, as Mrs.
Rhys Davids observes, that interested the many-sided
Buddhaghosa; the translator must make the most of
his threadbare details as to the external history of
these early schools. We are left to speculate on most
of the names adopted by eighteen distinct communities
claiming to adhere to particular persons or doctrines
or receiving their name from some particular
locality. Their connexion, or the connexion of some
of them, with the Council of Patna is re-stated in
the commentator's introductory chapter, which serves
as a prologue to the translated text. According to
this the venerable Tissa arrayed 500 orthodox and 500
heterodox statements in a certain order and dealt
with them all " to avert all bases of heresy that had
arisen and that might in the future arise ". With so
much condensed into one canonical work we might
expect a perfect example of the " Short Way with
Dissenters"; but in regard to many questions the
argument is turned various ways and the heterodox
thinker pursued without haste from his position,
cornered with logic and overborne by long quotations
from the Suttapitaka. From this very brief
description it will be seen how impossible it would
be to give an intelligible translation of a work of
this kind without a thorough knowledge of the
Suttapitaka, the remaining books of the Abhidhamma,
and the Commentary on the Katha- Vatthu. Mrs. Rhys
Davids' record of work has but to be recalled, and
when we rank this lately completed task with the
others it is paying a high but only a just tribute to
the volume before us. With respect to the translation
Mrs. Rhys Davids speaks plainly: "We were not com-
piling a crib for learners of Pall," but her name and
that of her collaborator are sufficient guarantee of
the serious

p.406

value of this version for the student of the
original language. The expression quoted occurs with
reference to a rather bold re-arrangement of the
catechism or dialogues, so that the questions,
answers,and repetitions could be condensed into one
volume of translation. (Mr. Arnold C. Taylor's
excellent edition makes two fullsized P.T.S.
volumes.)

The re-arrangement, of course, calls for that
close attention on the part of the student which the
use of a crib is rather apt to undermine. It only
means a little more exercise with the dictionary and
a few salutary difficnlties. On the other hand, the
translators have spared no pains to throw a clear
light on their text. They have added explanatory
paragraphs from the Commentary and abundance of
footnotes giving exact references to the canonical
works quoted. The text is also supplemented by tables
of contents so arranged as to show the grouping of
subjects of controversy and the grouping of opinions
under the names of such of the dissenting schools as
here appear in the lists against the Theravadins.
There are also Indexes and Supplementary Notes on
certain important terms of the Abhidhamma. In the
study of this terminology and in discussion of the
logical method employed in the Katha-Vatthu Mr. Shwe
Zan Aung contributes generously of his learning and
special knowledge as a Buddhist of Burma trained in
the West. Critical treatment of a translation so full
of difficulties could only be attempted by a critic
able to claim competence in the matter at least
approaching that of these experienced fellow-workers.
Their crities in this branch of Pali studies will
probably be.just ready to begin when the present work
and its predecessor, the Compendium of Philosophy,
have become, like Buddhist Psychology, the classics
on the subject.