'Body' for khandha is a free translation, but it is difficult to find any other rendering. The Chinese translation also has 'body.' According to the Buddhists each sentient being consists of five khandhas (skandha), or aggregates, the organized body (rupakhandha) with its four internal capacities of sensation (vedana), perception (sangna), conception (samskara), knowledge (vignana). See Burnouf, Introd. pp. 589, 634; Lotus, p. 335.

203. Samskara is the fourth of the five khandhas, but the commentator takes it here, as well as in , for the five khandhas together, in which case we can only translate it by 'body.' See also . Childers proposes 'organic life'. (Notes on Dhammapada, p. 1). There is, however, another samskara, that which follows inimediately upon avidya, 'ignorance,' as the second of the nidanas, or 'causes of existence,' and this too might be called the greatest pain, considering that it is the cause of birth, which is the cause of all pain. Samskara seems sometimes to have a different and less techninal meaning, being used in the sense of conceptions, plans, desires, as, for instance, in , where sankharanam khayam is used much like tamhakhaya. Again, in his comment on verse 75, Buddhaghosa says, upadhiviveko sankharasanganikam vinodeti; and again, upadhiviveko ka nirupadhinam puggalanam visankharagatanam.

For a similar sentiment, see Stanislas Julien, Les Avadanas, vol. i. p. 40, 'Le corps est la plus grande source de souffrance,' &c. I should say that the khandhas in verse 202 and the sankharas in verse 203 are nearly, if not quite, synonymous. I should prefer to read gigakkha-parama as a compound. Gigakkha, or as it is written in one MS., digakkha (Sk. gighatsa), means not only 'hunger,' but 'appetite; desire.']

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204. Health is the greatest of gifts, contentedness the best riches; trust is the best of relationships, Nirvana the highest happiness.

205. He who has tasted the sweetness of solitude and tranquillity, is free from fear and free from sin, while he tastes the sweetness of drinking in the law.

206. The sight of the elect (Arya) is good, to live with them is always happiness; if a man does not see fools, he will be truly happy.

207. He who walks in the company of fools suffers a long way; company with fools, as with an enemy, is always painful; company with the wise is pleasure, like meeting with kinsfolk.

208. Therefore, one ought to follow the wise, the intelligent, the learned, the much enduring, the dutiful, the elect; one ought to follow a good and wise man, as the moon follows the path of the stars.

[204. Childers translates, 'the best kinsman is a man you can trust.'

205. Cf. .

208. I should like to read sukho ka dhirasamvaso.]

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