254. I have translated this verse very freely, and not in accordance with Buddhaghosa's commentary. Dr. Fausboll proposed to translate, 'No one who is outside the Buddhist community can walk through the air, but only a Samana;' and the same view is taken by Professor Weber, though he arrives at it by a different construction. Now it is perfectly true that the idea of magical powers (riddhi) which enable saints to walk through the air, &c., occurs in the Dhammapada, see , note. But the Dhammapada may contain earlier and later verses, and in that case our verse might be an early protest on the part of Buddha against the belief in such miraculous powers. We know how Buddha himself protested against his disciples being called upon to perform vulgar miracles. 'I command my disciples not to work miracles,' he said, 'but to hide their good deeds, and to show their sins' (Burnouf, Introd. p. 170). It would be in harmony with this sentiment if we translated our verse as I have done. As to bahira, I should take it in the sense of 'external,' as opposed to adhyatmika, or 'internal;' and the meaning would be, 'a Samana is not a Samana by outward acts, but by his heart.' D'Alwis translates (p. 85): 'There is no footprint in the air; there is not a Samana out of the pale of the Buddhist community.'

Prapanka, which I have here translated by 'vanity,' seems to include the whole host of human weaknesses; cf. , where it is explained by tamhaditthimanapapanka; in our verse by tamhadisu papankesu: cf. Lalita-vistara, p. 564, analayam nishprapankam anutpadam asambhavam (dharmakakram). As to Tathagata, a name of Buddha, cf. Burnouf, Introd. p. 75.]

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delights in vanity, the Tathagatas (the Buddhas) are free from vanity.

255. There is no path through the air, a man is not a Samana by outward acts. No creatures are eternal; but the awakened (Buddha) are never shaken.

[255. Sankhara for samskara; cf. note to . Creature does not, as Mr. D'Alwis (p. 69) supposes, involve the Christian conception of creation.]

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