Matrceta's Hymn to the Buddha English Rendering of the Satapancasatka

Abstract

For centuries people have stood in awe of the Buddha and his attainments and have strived to express their feelings in stone and bronze and with brush and ink. Some have been moved by what the Buddha said, its logical consistency, its scope and its humanism. Others have been inspired by the personality of the Lord himself, his manner and conduct, and even his physical form. The joyful faith and appreciation that is evoked on recollecting the Buddha’s personality and singing his praise gives such people the strength they need to walk the Path. For them the Dhamma comes alive through the life and example of the Buddha. Such a person was the poet Màtr. ceña. He was born in India in about the first century A.D., and was converted from Hinduism to Buddhism by the great philosopher âryadeva. He wrote about a dozen works, some of such beauty that he came to be regarded as one of India’s greatest poets.1 I-tsing, the Chinese pilgrim who travelled through India in the seventh century A.D., says of Màtr. ceña’s poems: These charming compositions are equal in beauty to the heavenly flowers and the high principles which they contain rival in dignity the lofty peaks of a mountain. Consequently in India all who compose hymns imitate his style, considering him the father of literature. Even men like Bodhisattvas Asaïga and Vasubandhu admire him greatly. Throughout India everyone who becomes a monk is taught Màtr. ceña’s two hymns as soon as they can recite the five and ten precepts. I-tsing also recounts a beautiful legend that was told about the poet indicating his wide popularity: While the Buddha was living, he was once, while instructing his followers, wandering in a wood among the people. A nightingale in the wood, seeing the Buddha, ... began to utter its melodious notes, as if to praise him. The Buddha, looking back at his disciples, said: “That bird transported with joy at the sight of me unconsciously utters its melodious notes. On account of this good deed, after my passing away this bird shall be born in human form, and named Màtr. ceña, shall praise my virtues with true appreciation.” Other than these few scraps of information we know nothing of Màtr.ceña and today his name is remembered only for its association with his greatest work, the S´atapa¤ càs´atka. The name S´atapa¤càs´atka literally means “Hymn in a Hundred and Fifty Verses,” although there are actually a hundred and fifty-two, or in some versions, a hundred and fifty-three verses in the work. It lies very much within the bhakti or devotional genre of Indian literature but is refreshingly free from the florid style that so often characterises such works. Shackleton-Bailey notes that the “style of the Hymn is simple and direct, free from swollen compounds and elaborate conceits.”2 Warder says that “the restraint of these verses is that of complete mastery of the medium, able to express rich meaning with a few carefully chosen words and without the support of outward display.” He goes on to say that the verses “are handled with a kind of reticence suggestive of the poet’s humility and detachment, both of which are probably sincere.” 3 Certainly all who are familiar with the Hymn in its original Sanskrit acknowledge the great beauty of both its language and meaning. In ancient India numerous commentaries were written on the Hymn. It was popular with the followers of all schools of Buddhism and was translated into several different languages. Tàranàtha, the great Tibetan historian, says the Hymn had an important part to play in the spread of Buddhism outside India, and should it become as well known as it once was it may continue to create an interest in the Buddha and his teachings.4