Subhāṣita

subhāṣita (“well-spoken” or “well-turned” verses). Wise sayings or adages that set forth fundamental truths about life and offer practical moral advice.

The subhāṣita texts are one of two genres of nīti treatises (nītiśāstra), the other being rājanīti (“ethics for kings”).

John Davenport states:

A subcategory of this Indian nītiśāstra literature is folk wisdom expressed as "wise sayings" that "contained not only beautiful thoughts, but were also drawn and set down in beautiful language." As such this subcategory is known as subhāṣita (good or eloquent speech, witty saying, counsel).

José Ignacio Cabezón states:

A subhāṣita is a stand-alone verse. Other types of verses—for example, those found in narrative or philosophical literature—are part of storylines or arguments, and to understand their meaning requires an understanding of their context. But a subhāṣita can generally be understood on its own. There are tens of thousands of Sanskrit subhāṣitas. These verses floated freely, being passed down from one generation to the next, often orally. Erudition in classical India was measured, at least in part, by a person’s ability to recite a subhāṣita appropriate to a given situation. Later, the verses were compiled into anthologies (saṃgraha), which often grouped them into chapters according to themes: women, friends, food, learning, love, worthy people, villains, and so on. One of the most famous subhāṣita anthologies, The Jewel Treasury of Elegant Verse (Subhāṣitaratnakoṣa), was compiled by Vidyākara, a Buddhist monk (perhaps a hierarch) of the Jagaddala monastery in Bengal during the latter half of the eleventh century. Some anthologies (or their commentaries) identify the poets who composed specific verses, although there is often disagreement regarding who wrote which verses. More often than not, however, the authorship of individual verses was lost to time.

The dividing line between the nīti and subhāṣita literature is blurry at best, and many texts are referred to under both rubrics. Most of this literature was written in Sanskrit, but nīti and subhāṣita texts also exist in Prakrit, Tamil, Pāli, and other Indic languages. From India, the literature spread to Sri Lanka, Burma, and the rest of Southeast Asia, and of course to Tibet and Mongolia. None of the Indian subhāṣita anthologies were translated into Tibetan. But two important subhāṣita texts attributed to single authors—Ravigupta’s Treasury of Stanzas (Gāthākośa) and Vararuci’s Hundred Stanzas (Śatagāthā)—made their way into Tibetan.

Sources

• Jamgon Mipham (2017), The Just King: The Tibetan Buddhist Classic on Leading an Ethical Life, translated by José Ignacio Cabezón, Snow Lion 
• Sakya Pandita (2000), Ordinary Wisdom: Sakya Pandita's Treasury of Good Advice, translated by John T. Davenport, Boston: Wisdom . Archive version