Cariyapitaka

The Cariyapitaka (IAST|cariyāpiṭaka; where "cariya" is Pali for "conduct" or "proper conduct" [Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 263, entry for "Cariya" (retrieved 2008-08-19 from "U. Chicago" at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.1:1:1423.pali), provides the following translation: "conduct, behaviour, state of, life of.... Very freq. in dhamma [cariya] & brahma [cariya] , a good walk of life, proper conduct, chastity...."] and "pitaka" is usually translated as "basket" [Horner (2000), pp. iii-iv.] ; abbrev. Cp [Horner (2000), p. iii.] ) is a Buddhist scripture, part of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. It is included there in the Sutta Pitaka's Khuddaka Nikaya, usually as the last of fifteen books. [See, for instance, Horner (2000), p. iii, in which she writes: "Cp ... is usually regarded as the fifteenth and last book in the Khuddakanikaya. The Digha-bhanakas (reciters) excluded it, however, from the Sutta-pitaka though conceding that the Majjhima-bhanakas accepted it together with Bv and Ap...." Horner's sources for this are the Digha Nikaya's (DN) and Vinaya's commentaries and DN's subcommentary.] It is a short verse work that includes thirty-five accounts of the Buddha's former lives (similar to Jataka tales) when he as a bodhisattva exhibited behaviors known as "perfections," prerequisites to buddhahood. This canonical text, along with the Apadana and Buddhavamsa, is believed to be a late addition to the Pali Canon [Horner (2000), p. vi, for instance, writes that the Cariyapitaka is " [c] onsidered to be post-Asokan...."] and has been described as "hagiographical." [Hinüber (2000), p. 43. See also, Horner (2000), p. iii, where Barua (1945), p. 72, is cited as referring to the Apadana, Buddhavamsa and Cariyapitaka as "the three legendary chronicles."]

Overview

In the first story (Cp. I), the Buddha says he will illustrate his practice of the perfections (Pali, "pāramitā" or "pārami") by stories of his past lives in this current age. [Cp I.1.2. The current age is known as "Bhadda-eon" (see Horner, 2000, "Cp", p. 50 n. 7).] The text contains 35 such stories, spanning 356 [356 verses are enumerated in the ChaIAST|ṭṭha Saṅgāyana (CSCD) edition of the Pali Canon. See, e.g., retrieved 08-19-2008 from "Vipassana Research Institute" at http://www.tipitaka.org/romn/cscd/s0512m.mul2.xml (where vagga I has 143 verses, vagga II has 91, and vagga III has 122), and from "Dhamma Society" at http://tipitakastudies.net/tipitaka/21Cp/3/3.5/3.5.1. Note that the CS edition does "not" include in this verse count the 10 envoi verses (labeled "TassuddānaIAST|ṃ") at the collection's end.] to 371 verses. [371 verses are enumerated in the Sri Lanka Tripitaka Project (SLTP) edition of the Pali Canon. See, e.g., retrieved 08-19-2008 from "Bodhgaya News" at http://www.bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=sutta%20pitaka&action=next&record=10662, and from "MettaNet" at http://www.mettanet.org/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/5Khuddaka-Nikaya/15Cariyapitaka/7-upekkhaparamita-p.html. Note that the SLTP edition "does" include in this verse count the 10 envoi verses (labeled "Uddāna gāthā") at the collection's end]

The body of the Cariyapitaka is broken into three divisions ("vagga"), with titles correlated to the first three of the ten Theravada "pāramitā":
* Division I ("dāna pāramitā"): [Parenthetical Pali vagga title based on the SLTP edition of the Pali Canon, retrieved 08-19-2008 from "Bodhgaya News" at http://www.bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=&record=10624.] 10 stories for the perfection of offering ("dāna")
* Division II ("sīla pāramitā"): [Parenthetical Pali title based on SLTP text, retrieved 08-19-2008 from "Bodhgaya News" at http://www.bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=&record=10638.] 10 stories for the perfection of conduct ("sīla")
* Division III ("nekkhamma pāramitā"):"Nekkhamma pāramitā" is the title for the third division's ("vagga") first set of stories and is thus used as the basis for the entire division itself although the division includes stories illustrative of multiple paramitas. See, e.g., the SLTP text, retrieved 08-19-2008 from "Bodhgaya News" at http://www.bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=&record=10648.] 15 stories distributed among five other perfections, as follows:
** renunciation ("nekkhamma pāramitā"): five stories
** resolute determination [The translation of "adhiṭṭhāna" as "resolute determination" is based on Horner (2000), "passim".] ("adhiṭṭhāna pāramitā"): [Parenthetical Pali title based on SLTP text, retrieved 08-19-2008 from "Bodhgaya News" at http://www.bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=&record=10653.] one story
** truth ("sacca pāramitā"): [Parenthetical Pali title based on SLTP text, retrieved 08-19-2008 from "Bodhgaya News" at http://www.bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=&record=10655.] six stories
** loving-kindness ("mettā pāramitā"): [Parenthetical Pali title based on SLTP text, retrieved 08-19-2008 from "Bodhgaya News" at http://www.bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=&record=10660.] two stories
** equanimity ("upekkhā pāramitā"): [Parenthetical Pali title based on SLTP text, retrieved 08-19-2008 from "Bodhgaya News" at http://www.bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=&record=10661.] one story The three remaining Theravada perfections — wisdom ("paññā"), energy ("viriya"), patience ("khanti") — are mentioned in a closing stanza [Cp III.15.9: "Having inquired of the learned ["paññā"] . having engaged in supreme energy ["viriya"] , having gone to the perfection of patience ["khanti"] , I attained supreme Self-Awakening." (Horner, 2000, p. 49.)] but no related Cariyapitaka stories have come down to us. [See Horner (2000), p. 49 n. 5.] Horner suggests that these latter three perfections are "implicit in the collection," referenced in both story titles and contexts. [Horner (2000), p. vi: "Indeed they [wisdom, energy and patience] are implicit in the collection: Wisdom, as implied by the term "pandita", in the titles of Cp.I.10, III.5.6, 8; Energy in II.2.3, II.10.2 when the Bodhisatta resolutely determined on the four factors of energy, that great instrument for Awakening, since without it nothing can be achieved; and Patience is recognizable in the story of Wise Temiya, III.6, and in others." Regarding the "four factors of energy," Horner (2000), p. 19 n. 11, identifies them in this canonical passage: "gladly would I be reduced to "skin, sinews, bone" and let my body's "flesh and blood" dry up" (A.i.50, S.ii.28, M.i.481, identified as "fourfold energy" in MA.iii.194).]

Translations

* "The collection of the ways of conduct", in "Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon", volume III, 1st edition, tr B. C. Law, 1938
* "Basket of conduct", in "Minor Anthologies" III (along with "Chronicle of Buddhas (Buddhavamsa)"), 2nd edition, tr I. B. Horner, 1975, Pali Text Society [http://www.palitext.com] , Bristol

See also

* Jataka
* Paramita

Notes

Sources

* Barua, B.M. (1945). "Ceylon Lectures." Calcutta. Cited in Horner (2000), p. iii, n. 5.
* Hinüber, Oskar von (2000). "A Handbook of Pāli Literature". Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-016738-7.
* Horner, I.B. (trans.) (1975; reprinted 2000). "The Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon (Part III): 'Chronicle of Buddhas' (Buddhavamsa) and 'Basket of Conduct' (Cariyapitaka)". Oxford: Pali Text Society. ISBN 0-86013-072-X. (All references in this article to "Horner, 2000" use page numbers associated with this volume's Cariyapitaka, not the Buddhavamsa.)
* Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). "The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary". Chipstead: Pali Text Society. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.