A Budha Legend a Footnote From an Arabic Source

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The Buddha Legend: A Footnote from an Arabic Source

Author(s): Zeina MatarSource: Oriens, Vol. 32 (1990), pp. 440-442Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1580639

Accessed: 06/11/2010 00:20

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THE BUDDHA LEGEND: A FOOTNOTE FROMAN ARABIC SOURCE

byZeina Matar

FrankfurtmMain

The kitdbBa/ilawharwa-Buddsafells the storyof the Buddhaand his teacher.Adiscussionof the sources,existingversionsof the work and its transmissiono theWest appears in Stern and Walzer's Three Unknown Buddhist Stories in an ArabicVersionwhichwaspublishedn London n 1971.Thestoryor-in the words of Sternand Walzer-a "form of the legend"was translated irst into Persian,then intoArabic,GeorgianandfinallyGreek,as the legendof BarlaamandJoasaph page 1).Althoughthe secondaryiteraturedealingwithas populara subjectas the legendofthe Buddha s rich andplentiful,SternandWalzer ntroducemportantnewmaterialin Arabicby reproducing ndcarefully ditingthreestorieswhichoccur in the kitdbKamdl al-dTnwa-tamdm al-ni'mafi ithbdt al-ghayba wa-kashf al-hayra (lithographyTehran1301/1883)by the well-known3/10thcenturyauthorIbn Babuya F. Sezgin,GAS 1/1967/548ff.; Agha Buzurg Tihrani, al-Dharr'aild tasdnlf al-ShT'a,Beirut 1983,2/283and 18/137 orvariantsn title).Sternand Walzeralso usedthe Manchester ndBerlinMss. (seepage 12).In theirIntroduction, ternandWalzer race the develop-ment of the Buddhalegend and describethe historicalbackgroundof its varioustranslations nd the extantmanuscripts.Theyalso list a numberof other studiesonthe topic (see pages 1-3; in addition the followingreferences re also useful:D.M.Lang, n: El2 s.n.; id., in: BSOAS20/1957/389-407,nd id.: TheWisdomf Balavhar:a Christian legend of the Buddha, London/New York 1957, reviewed by S.M. Stern,in: BSOAS22/1959/149-152).The Buddha egendalso appears n the celebratedkitdbBilawharwa-Buddsfsic!)which has been edited by D. Gimaret in Beirut in 1972 on the basis of fourmanuscriptso whichhe hadaccess, ncluding he BibliothequeNationalemanuscriptof Ibn Babiya's kitdbKamtl al-dTn ited above (see his Introductionpages 11-20).Gimaretalso refers o an extensive ection whichdeals with the legendof Balawharand Budasaf n the Bihdral-anwdrlithographyTehran1304/1886-87, 7/220-244) ythe 11/17thcenturyPersian cholaral-MajlisT.In the course of research on the kitdb Faraj al-mahmum t ta'rlkh 'ulama'al-nujum,atreatiseon astrologyand astrologerswrittenby the well-respected hFl scholarIbnTawis (d. 664/1266),I cameacross a shortenedversionof the story(fols. 126a-bofthe Mashhadmanuscriptistedby A. Ma'ani n his Fihrist-ikitdbkhdna-i ubdrak-iAsitdn-iquds-iRizavi,8, Mashhad1350/1971,pages250-251,section318) quotedinIbn Babiiya'skitdb Kamdlal-dmnpage 352 = Stern & Walzerpages 28f.). Thisversionpresents triking imilaritieswith the accountwhich SternandWalzerentitled"Theprincewho flees his home and then refuses o marrya princess"pages28-37).Indeed,the likeness s such that, save a few words and expressions,one can safely


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The Buddha legendstate that the two texts are identical. Stern and Walzer (page 11) have themselves quiteappropriately described the style of the Arabic used in the stories. In their words:"One is struck by the awkward Arabic style; there are phrases so strange that someconcentration is needed before the meaning can be grasped. It is a far cry indeed fromthe fluent Arabic of Ibn al-Muqaffa"s version of the Kalila wa-Dimna which rightlybecame a classic of Arabic style."The excerpt quoted by Ibn Tawus is new neither in form nor in content, and it doeslittle to further our knowledge, historical or philological of the Buddha legend; it doeshowever represent a modest but valuable contribution to this subject as a witness tothe Arabic text.

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441


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Z. Matar,TheBuddhaegendThe translation f ourversionreadsas follows:Ibn Babuyaalso said the following n the kitdbal-Ghayba,.e. kitdb Kamdlal-dFn

wa-tamdm l-ni'ma ithbt al-ghaybawa-kashf l-hayra: n thebeginning,herewas akingwho longed(kanaharTsan)or a son. Not once did he refrain rombringingormakinganytreatmentwhichpeopleused.A longtimepassedbeforeone of his wivesbecamepregnantand gave birth to a son (ghuldm).As the boy was growingup, hetook a stepone day and said: "Yourdestiny mT'add)s thatyou willgrowup."Thenhe took another tepand said: "Youwillbecomeold." Then he took a thirdstepandsaid:"Youwilldie,"andhe went back to behaving ike a littleboy.The king assembled he scholarsand the astrologers.He said to them:"Tell meabout this son of mine." They looked into his stars and destiny but their efforts werein vain; they knewnothingabout the matter.When he realized heir ignorance, hekingpushed hechild overto the wet-nurses ndthey began o feed him.Howeveroneastrologer aid: "Hewill be an imam."Guardswereassigned o himandtheyneverpartedfrom him. As he grew up, the boy left his wet-nurseand guardsand he wentthrough he market.He suddenly ameacrossa funeralprocessionand asked:"Whatis this?"They (people?)replied:"A man who died." He said:"Whatcaused him todie?"Theyanswered:"He becameold, his daysdwindled faniyat)and his end grewnear(dand), hen he died." He asked:"Washe healthy,did he walk,drinkand eat?"Theyreplied:"Yes!" So he went furtherand suddenlycame across an old man; helooked at him in wonderand asked: "Whatis this?" He answered:"An old manwhosedaysdwindledand who becameveryold." He asked: "Was he a youngmanwhogrewold?"Theyreplied:"Yes!"He kepton walkingand encountered sickmanlying on his back; he looked at him and wondered, hen he asked them: "What isthis?"Theyreplied:"A sickman."He asked:"Washe oncehealthyand thenbecamesick?"Theysaid: "Yes!" So he uttered:"By God, if you are tellingthe truth,thenpeopleareindeed nsane."I say: Then Ibn Babuyaexplainedhow the fortunesof the said prince changedaccording to the correct prediction made by the astrologer and indicated by the signssentby God Almighty.

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A Budha Legend a Footnote From an Arabic Source