for
theological discussion. The vocabulary on the other hand is copious and
for special purposes admirable. The translator has to struggle
continually with the difficulty of finding equivalents for words which,
though apparently synonymous, really involve nice distinctions and much
misunderstanding has arisen from the impossibility of adequately
rendering philosophical terms, which, though their European equivalents
sound vague, have themselves a precise significance. On the other hand
some words (e.g. _dhamma_ and _attho_) show an inconveniently wide range
of meaning. But the force of the language is best seen in its power of
gathering up in a single word, generally a short compound, an idea which
though possessing a real unity requires in European languages a whole
phrase for its expression. Thus the Buddha bids his disciples be
_attadipa atta-sarana, ananna-sarana: dhammadipa dhammasarana_[619]. "Be
ye lamps unto yourselves. Be ye a refuge unto yourselves. Betake
yourselves to no external refuge. Hold fast to the truth as a lamp. Hold
fast to the truth as a refuge." This is Rhys Davids' translation and
excellent both as English and as giving the meaning. But the five Pali
words compel attention and inscribe themselves on the memory in virtue
of a monumental simplicity which the five English sentences do not
possess.

But the feature in the Pali scriptures which is most prominent and most
tiresome to the unsympathetic reader is the repetition of words,
sentences and whole paragraphs. This is partly the result of grammar or
at least of style. The simplicity of Pali syntax and the small use made
of dependent sentences, lead to the regular alignment of similar phrases
side by side like boards in a floor. When anything is predicated of
several subjects, for instance the five Skandhas, it is rare to find a
single sentence containing a combined statement. As a rule what has to
be said is predicated first of the first Skandha and then repeated
_totidem verbis_ of the others. But there is another cause for this
tedious peculiarity, namely that for a long period the Pitakas were
handed down by oral tradition only. They were first reduced to writing
in Ceylon about 20 B.C. in the reign of Vattagamani, more than a century
and a half after their first importation in an oral form. This
circumstance need not throw doubt on the authenticity of the text, for
the whole ancient literature of India, prose as well as verse, was
handed d