NO. 29. — 1884.] BCJDDHISTICAL CEKEMONIES. 



235 



NOTE. 



Sakkaccam. — When a priest receives food he should repeat 

 to himself the following grace (sakkaccaih refers to its 

 repetition): — 



Patisankha yoniso pindapatam. patisevami n'eva davaya na 

 madaya na mandanaya na vibhusanaya yavad eva imassa kayassa 

 thitiya yapanaya vihimsuparatiya brahmaeariyanuggahaya iti 

 puranan ca vedanam patihankhami navan ca vedanaih na uppa- 

 dessami yatra ca me bhavissati anavajjata ca phasu viharo cati. 



[In real wisdom I take my food ; not for amusement, not for 

 sensual enjoyment, not that my skin may be soft, not for beauty — ■ 

 only to keep life in this body, for the subjugation of the passions 

 and as a help to a holy life. Thus I overcome my former pains 

 (i.e., the pains of hunger), and give not rise to new (i.e., those 

 which come from indulgence of the appetites ). Thus will my 

 journey (i.e., on the way to Nirvana) be blameless and my 

 dwelling happy.] 



This grace is an elaboration of the sentiment expressed 

 in the homely phrase " eat to live, do not live to eat." As 

 Charles Lamb observes in his essays of Elia, " the proper 

 object of the grace is sustenance, not relishes ; daily bread, 

 not delicacies ; the means of life, and not the means of pam- 

 pering the carcass." 



The Buddhists do not confine the custom of saying grace 

 to dinner : they have a grace for each of the four requisites 

 of a priest. For robes : — 



Patisankha yoniso civararh patisevami yavadeva sitassa pati- 

 ghataya unhassa patighataya daihsamakasa vatatapasiriih sapa- 

 samphassanam patighataya yavad eva hirikopinapaticchadanat- 

 thaih. 



[In wisdom I wear my robes, as a protection against cold, as 

 a protection against heat, as a protection against gadflies and 

 mosquitoes, wind and sun,, the touch of serpents, to cover 

 nakedness.] 



21—86 c 



