'Poojavaliya' as an enhancement of the Buddha's Word

BY LAKSHMAN Jayawardhana

CHARACTERISTICALLY with no fanfare of any sort, the Department of Cultural Affairs has brought out yet another part of its very valuable English translation of the Poojavaliya - a Sinhala classic of the 13th century - in its translation project initiated in 2000 with the publication of Part I i.e. Chapters I to VII.

In 2002, Part VI, i.e. Chapter XXXIII and XXXIV was issued as it contained a summary of the country's history, the reigns of rulers and their achievements. And we have Part II i.e. Chapters VIII to XIV now, dated 2004.

Poojavaliya is held in high esteem not merely because it is one of the oldest extant prose narratives in Sinhala, but also because apart from its historical content, it deals comprehensively with the main events of the Buddha's life.

For instance, Chap 8: Conception, Chap 9: Birth, Chap 10: Great Renunciation, Chap 11: Enlightenment, Chap 12: Post-Enlightenment, Chap 13: First sermon, Chap 14: At Rajagaha.

Each Chapter is rich with appropriate diversions well within its scope as can be illustrated, say from Chap XIV which is unusually long for the reason of these very same diversions.

This Chapter is named 'Veluvanarama Pooja Katha' i.e. the story of the offering of the monastery of the bamboo-grove to the Buddha and begins at page 135. The first event is the attaining to Arahanthood of the first five monks at Isipatana.

Then the entering to the Order of Yasa and his fifty-four friends; next, the despatch of these sixty monks severally on their mission to convey the news: Beings, a huge lotus flower named Sarvajna (omniscient) has appeared and is scattering the pollen of the Noble Doctrine.

The celestial river named Saddharma (pure doctrine) is flowing down in torrents in the sky of omniscience. A great treasure named Sarvajna has appeared and is all a-glitter with the nine gems of the pure doctrine. A celestial wish-conferring tree named Sarvajna has sprung up and is providing the glorious comforts of the true doctrine.

A sun named Sarvajna has dawned dispelling the darkness of delusion and spreading the multiple beams of the pure doctrine...." Then, thirty youngsters enter the order. The circumstances of that as well as their past merit are described.

From page 142 to 152 is a very detailed anecdote of the taming of 'Uruvela Kasyapa', a strong disbeliever, who ultimately joins the order with a thousand followers. This is a momentous event leading to the glory of the Buddha and is marked by the first sermon containing a Jataka Tale - the Narade-Kasyapa Jataka which runs into ten pages.

This is a soul-stirring story aimed against bigotry and upholding the virtues of merit. The Sinhala version of the Jataka Tales must have been fresh in the mind of the author, for he quotes freely from them.

Next, we are treated with the delights of the Buddha's visit to King Bimbisara's realm, the overwhelming reception and the offering of the Veluvanarama to the Buddha.

This bamboo-grove was also called "squirrel's feeding-ground" through its legendary past. We read about King Bimbisara's encounter with a host of his erstwhile relations, now born in the world of goblins (pretas).

Then, follows the episode of the two Chief Disciples - Sariyut and Mugalan with evidence from the Jataka Tales to establish their claims to this high honour. This last section takes twelve pages.

This detailed analysis was provided to show the variety of content and the versatility of the author-monk. He has rambled in many areas but with the main theme in mind and not losing track of the sequence of events.

The "Poojavaliya" is a Most Venerated book like a compendium of Buddhism, a literary masterpiece lavishly ornamented with figures of speech, especially extra-long metaphors, both classical and homely. Just one instance may be quoted:

".... At that moment, the Maid of Night stood gracefully adorned with her neck decked with the pearl necklace of rows of stars, with her tresses set like thick dark clouds, putting on her divine robes of moon-beams which had been spread out with the hands of the directions, wearing the jewelled coronet which was the Brahma-world, shook her body which was the three worlds, opened her eyes which were lilies, spread the songs of buzzing bees expecting to hear my Master's first offering of his maiden sermon...." (Pt II, P. 126).

It is one long sustained metaphor churning out nature, knowledge, customs, human habits and classical allusions.

One prominent feature of the Poojavali author's style is his flair for long winding metaphors that call for careful analysis to appreciate their meaning. Even the example quoted above is one such. To present one more from a different field:

".... One who has destroyed all enemies known as Keles (defilements); one who, standing on his feet of effort on the solid earth of Morality at the terrace of the Tree of Enlightenment, and there itself, taking in his hand of Faith the axe of Karma-ending wisdom, split asunder, shattered to bits and eradicated both proper and improper actions which are the spokes of the wheel of transmigration, which has as its hub the element of ignorance, and as its rim both decay and death and which is fitted on to the Chariot of the Three Worlds by boring with the crowbar of the origin of passion." (Pt I, p.2)

This is a combination of metaphors housed in a broad homely simile summing up the substance of the Dhamma with echoes of the crucial first sermon of the Buddha wherein He introduced the powerful over-arching simile of the wheel in relation to the doctrine.

Though the intention of this article is to highlight part II of the 'Poojavaliya' with a word of praise for the Department of Cultural Affairs, the above extract was from part I, the first few pages of which alone are proof of the author-monk's intensity of faith and religious fervour in undertaking the work.

One cannot estimate how long the work would have taken him; He has spared no pains in expounding the virtues and 'worthiness; of the Buddha as an object of veneration and offerings - Pooja.

Profusely illustrated with references to the Jataka stories which had been compiled by then and supported by quotations of 'Gathas' at appropriate situations and detailed description of events in the life and times of the Buddha as well as the past lives of many Arahants, kings etc., the 'Poojavaliya' is the culmination of a process of religious narrative which has become exemplary for later authors.

The facility with which the author shifts from the present to the past, from the doctrine to the narrative, from anecdote to philosophy, from discussion to explanation can be noted from the English version.

The thematic Gatha of the Poojavali taken from the famous 'Visuddhimagga' has been rendered (as also all other Gathas herein) into English by the translator as:

"By reason of offerings diverse,

The Lord of the world received;

As means the word "worthy" is he,

Our victor-Lord to be called 'Arhat'".

He states His aim thus:

"There are eight worldly benefits resulting from compiling commentaries and exegeses in the native language for the Noble Dharma, known couched succinctly in the Magadhi langauge..... It should be now that expositions written for the Dharma in the native language would yield eight great worldly benefits...."

The Poojavali is not a mere commentary or even an exposition; it is much more. Though the preacher's diction is traceable the author wants it to be "read" even in seclusion by kings, nobles, courtiers, queens, ladies, Maha Theras and Monks, scholars and preachers, pious and virtuous men and women and many others of the land.

Judging by these comments, one could conclude that the level of understanding the Dharma at that time had not been very high, particularly because the books available at the time were "succinct" and "couched in the Magadhi langauge".

There is an anecdote featuring King Sadatissa (77-59 B.C.) and a Maha Thera named Kalu-Buddharakshita, where the king admits:

".....Sir, I had never heard a tenet of the Daham (doctrine) like this; nor did I know that the Buddha's doctrine was so vast a teaching."

And though it was after a night-long sermon, one is sad to hear the King ask:

"..... Sir, is there much more to preach than what You did preach now".

To convince the King, the Thera had to use many similies such as the vastness of the ocean, the soil of the earth, an elephant's body, a seven-day storm, flood waters, heaps of grain and the wide expanse of the sky.

This is only a bland list; its force and worth are appreciated only by reading how they are presented. We ought to be struck by the stark fact of the meagreness of even Royalty's knowledge of the Dhamma. But its converse, the immensity of the Buddha-virtues is also depicted in a fragment of dialogue between two Maha Theras:

One Maha Thera says: The Buddha-virtues are immense. If books were compiled to give the details, I fear that the books would reach up to the Brahma-worlds!" To which, the other Maha Thera comments: "The Buddha-virtues are immense. Is the Brahma-world such a lofty place?"

Imparting to the wide populace extending from Royalty through clergy, devotee etc. down to the peasant, the magnificence of the Buddha, the immensity of the Buddha-virtues and the profundity of the Buddha-Dhamma in a grandiloquent strain has been the aim of the Poojavali author: and he has been equal to the talks displaying a rich vibrant style that holds the reader captive.

He appears to have had recourse to many writings available at the time for further elucidation and illustration. He has added many an embellishment of his own to enrich the Kernel of an event or incident.

For example, the story of the taming of Uruvela Kassapa given briefly in the Pali version has been almost dramatised at length in the Poojavaliya to run into twelve pages (pp. 142-154) of the English version.

The completion of this magnificent, mammoth literary creation has been close to the end of the reign of Pandita Parakarama Bahbu II (1234-69) as the book refers to the "thirty-fifth year" of the king in its last pages in recounting the felicitous reverence of the book....",

"Then, the great king was transported to heights of joy on seeing this Poojavaliya, as if he received a second kingdom, and desisting from all other royal duties, listened with rapt attention for a fortnight. He was so enthraled by the infinite virtues of the Buddha that in sublime exhilaration, he would nearly have offered his kingdom.

He showed the book to various wise men of Lakdiva, got the Queen to place it on the royal elephant with Sesat (white parasols) and held a festival with diverse offerings in the city. He showered many other honours to perpetuate the fame of the Buddha and of his own that men of piety who listened to this would love for years to come." (Pt VI. p. 88)

This praise, this veneration is, indeed, richly deserved for the piety with which the work has been undertaken, and for the piety which the author-monk transfers to the reader.

Coming on to the English verson itself: to me, the learned translator H.D.H. Gunawardhana has faced the boldly and without calibration.

His great regard for accuracy in translation, conveying of the correct meaning, maintaining the correct diction with utmost concord with the original, not missing any of the decorative flashes resorted to by the author nor adding any extraneous matter on his own as some translators tend often to do solely for their own convenience.

I would like to end this appreciation of the 'Poojavaliya' with an extract from Chapter XIV:

"..... And on that Full Moon Day of the month of Durutu (January) when the moon was in the asterism of Phussa, having ensured four factors; namely, that it was a Full Moon Day; that all disciples were present on their own; that all disciples had been ordained under the formula,"

Come higher, Bhikkhu," and that all disciples were Rahat, the boundless, measureless Buddha sat among those one thousand two hundred and fifty great Arahants like a pearl necklace worn by immense numbers of royal entourages and declared the Pamok embellished by this gem of a Gatha which itself was embellished by being declared by the Noble Buddha:

"Avoidance of all sins,

The gathering of merit,

Cleansing one's own mind -

The message of the Buddha lies there." (Pt II p. 177)

In this way, the richness of religious content that has enhanced the nobleness of the Buddha Word over centuries has been made an 'offering' of delight to English readers by the translator, H.D.J. Gunawardhana and the publisher, the Department of Cultural Affairs.

(The writer is the Media Advisor of the Maha Bodhi Society of Sri Lanka.)