Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

This paper deals with some questions arising from the translation of attadīpa and dhammadīpa in the Pāli Canon. That is, it is an attempt to research thoroughly into the Buddha's original intention, when attadīpa and dhammadīpa are put into local languages. This seemingly trivial matter of translation is actually a very important subject because it has been the cause of misunderstanding the Doctrine of No-Self(Anattavāda) in Buddhism.Not only modern translators, but the Chinese translators of the Tripiṭaka in the past as well, translated attadīpa and dham -madīpa revealed in the Pāli Nikāya into various versions, con -siderably different from each other. The fundamental reason for the different interpretations of the text lies in the term dīpa in the Pāli language. The word dīpa has two distinctive senses of island and lamp(light). Comparative investigations into the Buddhist Scriptures in the Pāli Nikāya, the Chinese Āgamas and several other translations are made to reveal how the Buddha used the word in question, either in the sense of island or of lamp. It is confirmed as the result of the comparative study that the Buddha here used the term in the meaning of island.The scriptural evidence is that the word 'dīpa' was used with the synonyms such as shelter(tāna), cave(leṇa), destiny(gati), goal (parāyaṇa), and refuge(saraṇa) in the Saṃyutta Nikāya and its Com -mentaries. And the more apparent proof is in the representation of the word 'dīpa' as island not lamp in the Sanskrit Scriptures, the Tibetan Scriptures, and even in the Dharmapada written in Gāndhārī corresponding to the Pāli Nikāya which deals with attadīpa and dhammadīpa. It is inferred from the examined data that the Buddha almost certainly used the term in the meaning of an island when he preached the set-form verse of attadīpa and dhamma -dīpa for the first time. Therefore, it is made clear that attadīpa and dhammadīpa are translated into 'live ye as islands unto yourselves' and 'live with the doctrine, as your island', but not into 'be ye lamps unto yourselves' and 'hold fast to the Truth as a lamp'. On the other hand, the Buddha's atta-saraṇā and dhamma-sara- ṇā discourse was delivered on an extremely difficult occasion that he must endure suffering as a human being. At that time, the Buddha gave with great emphasis to his disciplines the lesson that 'be ye a refuge to yourselves and a refuge to the Truth'. And in the Saṃyutta Nikāya, the Buddha presented to his followers the way of practicing concretely on taking refuge in themselves and the Truth, as an island, shelter, cave, goal, etc. That is the four satipaṭṭhānas. Every one can achieve an arhantship or attain nibbāna through practices of the four satipaṭṭhānas(kāya, vedanā, citta, dhamma).