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UI.1451 .M74 1889 ^„ftf Bf/anLnrs™ ana
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«jji«i.iju-:i9;;pnaimnM
Jilt ASS IMAUK OF GAUTAMA UrDDHA FBOM CEYLON.
He U mmUxl on llio Muailiiuln Sorjieiit (sco p. 480), in an attitude of profound meditation, witli eyea lialf chwctl, ami five rny» of ligiit emerging from the crown of liis head.
[Frontispiece.
BUDDHISM,
IN ITS CONNEXION WITH BRAHMANISM AND HINDUISM,
AND
IN ITS CONTRAST WITH CHRISTIANITY,
SIR MONIER MONIER-WILLIAMS, K.C.I.E.,
M.A., HON. D.C.L. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, HON. LL.D. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
CALCUTTA, HON. PH.D. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GOTTINGEN, HON. MEMBER OF
THE ASIATIC SOCIETIES OF BENGAL AND BOMBAY, AND OF THE ORIENTAL
AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETIES OF AMERICA, BODEN PROFESSOR
OF SANSKRIT, AND LATE FELLOW OF BALLIOL
COLLEGE, OXFORD, ETC,
k
NEW YORK:
MACMILLAN AND CO.
1889.
\All rights reserved. ^
PREFACE.
The ' Duff Lectures' for 1888 were delivered by me at Edinburgh in the month of March. In introducing my subject, I spoke to the following effect : —
' I wish to express my deep sense of the responsibility which the writing of these Lectures has laid upon me, and my earnest desire that they may, by their useful- ness, prove in some degree worthy of the great mis- sionary whose name they bear.
' Dr. Duff was a man of power, who left his own foot-print so deeply impressed on the soil of Bengal, that its traces are never likely to be effaced, and still serve to encourage less ardent spirits, who are striving to imitate his example in the same field of labour.
' But not only is the impress of his vigorous per- sonality still fresh in Bengal. He has earned an en- during reputation throughout India and the United Kingdom, as the prince of educational missionaries. He was in aU that he undertook an enthusiastic and indefatigable workman, of whom, if of any human being, it might be truly said, that, when called upon to quit the sphere of his labours, " he needed not to be ashamed." No one can have travelled much in India
vi PEEFACE.
without having observed how wonderfully the results of his indomitable energy and fervid eloquence in the cause of Truth wait on the memory of his work every- where. Monuments may be erected and lectureships founded to perpetuate his name and testify to his victories over difficulties which few other men could have overcome, but better than these will be the living testimony of successive generations of Hindu men and women, whose growth and progress in true enlighten- ment will be due to the seed which he planted, and to which God has given the increase.'
I said a few more words expressive of my hope that the ' Life of Dr. Duff' ^ would be read and pondered by every student destined for work of any kind in our Indian empire, and to that biography I refer all who are unacquainted with the particulars of the labours of a man to whom Scotland has assigned a place in the foremost rank of her most eminent Evangelists.
I now proceed to explain the process by which these Lectures have gradually outgrown the limits required by the Duff Trustees.
When I addressed myself to the carrying out of their wishes — communicated to me by Mr. W. Pirie Duff — I had no intention of undertaking more than a concise account of a subject which I had been studying for many years. I conceived it possible to compress into
' ' Life of Alexander Duff, D.D., LL.D., by George Smith, C.I.E., LL.D.' London: Hodder and Stoughton ; published first in 1879, and a popular edition in 1881.
PREFACE. vii
six Lectures a scholarly sketch of what may be called true Buddhism, — that is, the Buddhism of the Pitakas or Pali texts which are now being edited by the Pali Text Society, and some of which have been translated in the ' Sacred Books of the East.' It soon, however, became apparent to me that to write an account of Buddhism which would be worthy of the great Indian missionary, I ought to exhibit it in its connexion with Brahmanism and Hinduism and even with Jainism, and in its contrast with Christianity. Then, as I pro- ceeded, I began to feel that to do justice to my subject I should be compelled to enlarge the range of my re- searches, so as to embrace some of the later phases and modern developments of Buddhism. This led me to undertake a more careful study of Koeppen's Lamaismus than I had before thought necessary. Furthermore, I felt it my duty to study attentively numerous trea- tises on Northern Buddhism, which I had before read in a cursory manner. I even thought it incumbent on me to look a little into the Tibetan language, of which I was before wholly ignorant.
I need scarcely explain further the process of ex- pansion through which the present work has passed. A conviction took possession of my mind, that any en- deavour to give even an outline of the whole subject of Buddhism in six Lectures, would be rather like the effort of a foolish man trying to paint a panorama of London on a sheet of note-paper. Hence the expansion of six Lectures into eighteen, and it will be seen at
viii PREFACE.
once that many of these eighteen are far too long to have l)een delivered in extenso. In point of fact, by an arrangement with the Trustees, only a certain portion of any Lecture was delivered orally. The present work is rather a treatise on Buddhism printed and published in memory of Dr. Duff.
I need not encumber the Preface with a re-statement of the reasons which have made the elucidation of an intricate subject almost hopelessly difficult. They have been stated in the Introductory Lecture (pp. 13, 14).
Moreover the plan of the present volume has been there set forth (see p. 17).
I may possibly be asked by weary readers why I have ventured to add another tributary to the too swollen stream of treatises on Buddhism ? or some may employ another metaphor and inquire why I have troubled myself to toil and plod over a path already well travelled over and trodden down ? My reply is that I think I can claim for my own work an indi- viduality which separates it from that of others — an individuality which may probably commend it to thoughtful students of Buddhism as helping to clear a thorny road, and introduce some little order and coherence into the chaotic confusion of Buddhistic ideas.
At any rate I request permission to draw attention to the following points, which, I think, may invest my researches with a distinctive character of their own.
In the first place I have been able to avail myself of
PREFACE. IX
the latest publications of the Pali Text Society, and to consult many recent works wliicli previous writers on Buddhism have not had at their command.
Secondly, I have striven to combine scientific ac- curacy with a popular exposition sufficiently readable to satisfy tlie wants of the cultured English-speaking world — a world crowded with intelligent readers who take an increasing interest in Buddhism, and yet know nothing of Sanskrit, Pali, and Tibetan.
Thirdly, I have aimed at effecting what no other English Orientalist has, to my knowledge, ever ac- complished. I have endeavoured to deal with a com- plex subject as a whole, and to present in one volume a comprehensive survey of the entire range of Buddhism, from its earliest origin in India to its latest modern develojDments in other Asiatic countries.
Fourthly, I have brought to the study of Buddhism and its sacred language Pali, a life-long preparatory study of Brahmanism and its sacred language San- skrit.
Fifthly, I have on three occasions travelled through the sacred land of Buddhism (p. 21), and have carried on my investigations personally in the place of its origin, as well as in Ceylon and on the borders of Tibet.
Lastly, I have depicted Buddhism from the stand- point of a believer in Christianity, who has shown, by his other works on Eastern religions, an earnest desire to give them credit for all the good they contain.
In regard to this last point, I shall probably be told
PREFACE.
by some enthusiastic admirers of Buddhism, that my prepossessions and predilections — inherited with my Cliristianity — have, in spite of my desire to be just, distorted my view of a system with which I have no sympathy. To this I can only reply, that my con- sciousness of my own prepossessions has made me the more sensitively anxious to exhibit Buddhism under its best aspects, as well as under its worst. An atten- tive perusal of my last Lecture (see p. 537) will, I hope, make it evident that I have at least done everything in my power to dismiss all prejudice from my mind, and to assume and maintain the attitude of an im- partial judge. And to this end I have taken nothing on trust, or at second hand. I have studied Pali, as I have the other Indian Prakrits, on my own account, and independently. I have not accepted unreservedly any man's interpretation of the original Buddhist texts, and have endeavoured to verify for myself all doubtful statements and translations which occur in existing treatises. Of course I owe much to modern Pali scholars, and writers on Buddhism, and to the translators of the ' Sacred Books of the East ; ' but I have frequently felt compelled to form an independent opinion of my own.
The translations given in the ' Sacred Books of the East' — good as they generally are — have seemed to me occasionally misleading. I may mention as an instance the constant employment by the translators of the word * Ordination ' for the ceremonies of admis- sion to the Buddhist monkhood (see pp. 76-80 of the
PKEFACE. XI
present volume). I have ventured in such instances to give what has appeared to me a more suitable equivalent for the Pali. On the same principle I have avoided all needless employment of Christian termin- ology and Bible-language to express Buddhist ideas.
For example, I have in most cases excluded such words as ' sin,' ' holiness,' ' faith,' ' trinity,' ' priest ' from my explanations of the Buddhist creed, as wholly un- suitable.
I regret that want of space has compelled me to curtail my observations on Jainism — the present repre- sentative of Buddhistic doctrines in India (see p. 529.) I hope to enter more fully on this subject hereafter.
The names of authors to whom students of Bud- dhism are indebted are given in my first Lecture (pp. 14, 15). We all owe much to Childers. My own thanks are specially due to General Sir Alexander Cunningham, to Professor E. B. Cowell of Cambridge, Professor Bhys Davids, Dr. Oldenberg, Dr. Kost, Dr. Morris, Dr. Wenzel, who have aided me with their opinions, whenever I have thought it right to consult them. Dr. Bost, C.I.E., of the India Office, is also entitled to my warmest acknowledgments for having placed at my disposal various subsidiary works bearing on Buddhism, some of which belong to his own Library.
My obligations to Mr. Hoey's translation of Dr. Oldenberg's ' Buddha,' to the translations of the travels of the Chinese pilgrims by Professor Legge, Mr. Beal, M. Abel Eemusat, and M. Stanislas Julien, to M. Hue's
XI 1 PREFACE.
travels, and to Mr. Scott's 'Burman,' will be evident, and have been generally acknowledged in my notes. I am particularly grateful to Mr. Sarat Chandra Das, C.I.E., for the information contained in his Keport and for the instruction which I received from him personally while prosecuting my inquiries at Darjiling.
I have felt compelled to abbreviate nearly all my quotations, and therefore occasionally to alter the phraseology. Hence I have thought it right to mark them by a different type without inverted commas.
With reo;ard to transliteration I must refer the student to the rules for pronunciation given at p. xxxi. They conform to the rules given in my Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary. Like Dr. Oldenberg, 1 have preferred to substitute Sanskrit terminations in a for the Pali o. In Tibetan I have constantly consulted Jaschke, but have not followed his system of transliteration.
In conclusion, I may fitly draw attention to the engravings of objects, some of which were brought by myself from Buddhist countries. They are described in the list of illustrations (see p. xxix), and will, I trust, give value to the present volume. It has seemed to me a duty to make use of every available appliance for throwing light on the obscurities of a difficult subject ; and, as these Lectures embrace the whole range of Buddhism, I have adopted as a frontispiece a portrait of Buddha which exhibits Buddhism in its receptivity and in its readiness to adopt serpent-worship, or any other superstition of the races wdiich it strove to convert.
PREFACE. Xlll
On the other hand, the Wheel, with the Tri-ratna and the Lotus (pp. 521, 522), is engraved on the title-page as the best representative symbol of early Buddhism. It is taken from a Buddhist sculpture at Amaravati engraved for Mr. Fergusson's 'Tree and Serpent- worship ' (p. 237). The portrait which faces page 74 is well worthy of attention as illustrating the connexion ^ between Bud-
^ A reference to pages 74, 226, 232 of the following Lectures will make the connexion which I wish to illustrate clearer. In many images of the Buddha the robe is drawn over both shoulders, as in the portrait of the living Sannyasi. Then mark other particulars in the portrait : — e.g. the Rudraksha rosary round the neck (see ' Brahmanism and Hinduism,' p. 67), Then in front of the raised seat of the Sannyasi are certain ceremonial implements. First, observe the Kamandalu, or water-gourd, near the right hand corner of the seat. Next, in front of the seat, on the right hand of the figure, is the Upa-patra — a sub- sidiary vessel to be used with the Kamandalu. Then, in the middle, is the Tamra-patra or copper vessel, and on the left the Panca-patra with the Acamani (see 'Brahmanism and Hinduism,' pp. 401, 402). Near the left hand corner of the seat are the wooden clogs. Fiqftlly, there is the Danda or staff held in the left hand, and used by a Sannyasi as a defence against evil spirits, much as the Dorje (or Vajra) is used by Northern Buddhist monks (see p. 323 of the present volume). This mystical staff is a bambu with six knots, possibly symbolical of six ways (Gati) or states of life, through which it is believed that every being may have to migrate — a belief common to both Brahmanism and Buddhism (seep. 122 of this volume). The staff is called Su-darsana (a name for Vishnu's Cakra), and is daily worshipped for the preservation of its mysterious powers. The mystic white roll which begins just above the left hand and ends before the left knot is called the Lakshmi- vastra, or auspicious covering. The projecting piece of cloth folded in the form of an axe (Parasu) represents the weapon of Parasu-Earaa, one of the incarnations of Vishnu (see pp. no, 270 of 'Brahmanism and Hinduism ') with which he subdued the enemies of the Brahmans. With this so-called axe may be contrasted the Buddhist weapon for keeping off the powers of evil (engraved at p. 352).
xiv PREFACE.
dliism and Brahmanism. It is from a recently-taken photograph of Mr. Gauri-Sankar Uday-Sankar, C.S.I. — a well-known and distinguished Brahman of Bhau- nao-ar — who (with Mr. Percival) administered the State during the minority of the present enlightened Maha- raja. Like the Buddha of old, he has renounced the world — that is, he has become a Sannyasi, and is chiefly engaged in meditation. He has consequently dropjoed the title C.S.I., and taken the religious title — Svami Sri Sadcidfinanda-Sarasvati. His son, Mr. Vijay-Sarikar Gauri-Sahkar, kindly sent me the photograph, and with his permission I have had it engraved.
It will be easily understood that, as a great portion of the following pages had to be delivered in the form of Lectures, occasional repetitions and recapitulations were unavoidable, but I trust I shall not be amenable to the charge of repeating anything for the sake of 'padding.' I shall, with more justice, be accused of 'cramming,' in the sense of attempting to force too much information into a sino'le volume.
o January i, 1889.
POSTSCRIPT.
Since writing the foregoing prefatory remarks, I have observed with much concern that a prevalent error, in regard to Buddhism, is still persistently propagated.
EREOE, IN REGARD TO PREVALENCE OF BUDDHISM. XV
It is categorically stated in a newspaper report of a quite recent lecture, that out of the world's popula- tion of about 1500 millions at least 500 millions are Buddhists, and that Buddhism numbers more adherents than any other religion on the surface of the globe.
Almost every European writer on Buddhism, of late years, has assisted in giving currency to this utterly erroneous calculation, and it is high time that an attempt should be made to dissipate a serious misconception.
It is forgotten that mere sympathizers with Bud- dhism, who occasionally conform to Buddhistic prac- tices, are not true Buddhists. In China the great majority are first of all Confucianists and then either Taoists or Buddhists or both. In Japan Confucianism and Shintoism co-exist with Buddhism. In some other Buddhist countries a kind of Shamanism is practically dominant. The best authorities (mcluding the Oxford Professor of Chinese, as stated in the Introduction to his excellent work ' The Travels of Fa-hien ') are of opinion that there are not more than 100 millions of real Buddhists in the world, and that Christianity with its 430 to 450 millions of adherents has now the nu- merical preponderance over all other religions. I am entirely of the same opinion. I hold that the Bud- dhism, described in the following pages, contained within itself, from the earliest times, the germs of disease, decay, and death (see p. 557), and that its present condition is one of rapidly increasiug disinte- gration and decline.
xvi ERROR IN REGARD TO PREVALENCE OF BUDDHISM.
We must not forget that Buddhism has disappeared from India proper, although it dominates in Ceylon and Burma, and although a few Buddhist travellers find their way back to the land of its origin and sojourn there.
Indeed, if I were called upon to give a rough comparative numerical estimate of the six chief re- ligious systems of the world, I should be inclined, on the whole, to regard Confucianism as constituting, next to Christianity, the most numerically prevalent creed. We have to bear in mind the immense populations, both in China and Japan, whose chief creed is Confucianism.
Professor Legge informs me that Dr. Happer — an American Presbyterian Missionary of about 45 years standing, who has gone carefully into the statistics of Buddhism — reckons only 20 millions of Buddhists in China, and not more than 72 J millions in the whole of Asia. Dr. Happer states that, if the Chinese were re- quired to class themselves as Confucianists or Buddhists or Taoists, 44ths, if not -yV-g-ths, of them would, in his opinion, claim to be designated as Confucianists.
In all probability his estimate of the number of Bud- dhists in China is too low, but the Chinese ambassador Liii, witli whom Professor Legge once had a conversa- tion on this subject, ridiculed the view that they were as numerous as the Confucianists.
Undeniably, as it seems to me, the next place after Christianity and Confucianism should be given to Bnlhmanism and Hindiiism, which are not really two systems but practically one; the latter being merely
ERROR IN REGARD TO PREVALENCE OF BUDDHISM, xvii
an expansion of the former, modified by contact with Buddhism.
Brahmanism, as I have elsewhere shown, is nothing but spiritual Pantheism ; that is, a belief in the univer- sal diffusion of an impersonal Spirit (called Brahman or Brahma) — as the only really existing Essence — and in its manifesting itself in Mind and in countless material forces and forms, including gods, demons, men, and animals, which, after fulfilling their course, must ulti- mately be re-absorbed into the one impersonal Essence and be again evolved in endless evolution and dissolution.
Hinduism, with its worship of Vishnu and Siva, is based on this pantheistic doctrine, but the majority of the Hindus are merely observers of Brahmanical insti- tutions with their accompanying Hindu caste usages. If, however, we employ the term Hindu in its widest acceptation (omitting only all Islamized Hindfis) we may safely afiirm that the adherents of Hinduism have reached an aggregate of nearly 200 millions. In the opinion of Sir William Wilson Hunter, they are still rapidly increasing, both by excess of births over deaths and by accretions from more backward systems of behef.
Probably Buddhism has a right to the fourth place in the scale of numerical comparison. At any rate the number of Buddhists can scarcely be calculated at less than 100 millions.
In regard to Muhammadanism, this creed should not, I think, be placed higher than fifth in the enu- meration. In its purest form it ought to be called
b
xviii ERROR TN REGARD TO PREVALENCE OF BUDDHISM.
Islam, and in that form it is a mere distorted copy of Judaism.
The Empress of India, as is well known, rules over more Muhammadans than any other potentate in the world. Probably the Musalman population of the whole of India now numbers 55 millions.
As to the number of Muhammadans in the Turkish empire, there are no very trustworthy data to guide us, but the aggregate is believed to be about 14 millions ; while Africa can scarcely reckon more than that number, even if Egypt be included.
The sixth system, Taoism (the system of Lao-tsze), according to Professor Legge, should rank numerically after both Muhammadanism and Buddhism.
Of course Jainism (p. 529) and Zoroastrianism (the religion of the Parsis) are too numerically insignificant to occupy places in the above comparison.
It is possible that a careful census might result in a more favourable estimate of the number of Buddhists in the world, than I have here submitted ; but at all events it may safely be alleged that, even as a form of popular religion. Buddhism is gradually losing its vitality — gradually loosening its hold on the vast popu- lations once loyal to its rule ; nay, that the time is rapidly approaching when its capacity for resistance must give way before the mighty forces which are destined in the end to sweep it from the earth.
88 G.NSLow Gardens, London. ■"!• -IM-" W.
January jj, 1889.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Preface .......... v
Postscript on the common error in regard to the comparative
prevalence of Buddhism in the world ..... xiv
List of Illustrations ........ xxix
Rules for Pronunciation ....... xxxi
Pronunciation of Buddha, etc. Addenda and Corrigenda . xxxii
LECTUEE I. Intkoductoey Observations. Buddhism in its relation to Brahmanism. Various sects in Brahmanism. Creed of the ordinary Hindu. Pise of scepticism and infidelity. Materialistic school of thought. Origin of Buddhism and Jainism. Manj-sidedness of Buddhtsm. Its com- plexity. Labours of various scholars. Divisions of the subject. The Buddha, his Law, his Order of Monks. Northern Buddhism 1-17
LECTURE II.
The Buddha as a Personal Teacher.
The Buddha's biography. Date of his birth and death. His names, epithets, and titles. Story of the four visions. Birth of the Buddha's son. The Buddha leaves his home. His life at Eaja-griha. His study of Brahmanical philosophy. His sexennial fast. His temptation by j\Iara. He attains perfect enlighten- ment. The Bodhi-tree. Buddha and Muhammad compared. The Buddha's proceedings after his enlightenment. His first teaching at Benares. First sermon. Effect of first teaching. His first sixty missionaries. His fire-sermon. His eighty great disciples. His two chief and sixteen leading disciples. His forty- five years of preaching and itineration. His death and last words. ^ Character of the Buddha's teaching. His method illustrated by an epitome of one of his parables ..... 18-52
b2
XX CONTENTS.
LECTURE III. The Dhaema or Law axd Sceiptuees of Buddhism.
PAGE
Origin of the Buddhist Law (Dharma). Buddhist scriptures not like the Veda. First council at Raja-griha. - Kasyapa chosen as leader. Recitation of the Buddha's precepts. Second council at Vaisall. Candra-gupta. Third council at Patna. Composition of southern canon. Tri-pitaka or three collections. Rules of discipline, moral precepts, philosophical precepts. Commentaries. Buddha-ghosha. Asoka's inscriptions. His edicts and proclamations. Fourth council at Jalandhara. Ka- nishka. Tlie northern canon. The nine Nepalese canonical scriptures. The Tibetan canonical scriptures (Kanjur) . . 53-70
LECTURE IV.
The Sang ha oe Buddhist Order of Monks.
Nature of the Buddhist brotherhood. Not a priesthood, not a hierarchy. Names given to the monks. Method of admission to the monkhood. Admission of novices. Three-refuge formula. Admission of full monks. Four resources. Four prohibitions. Offences and penanees. Eight practices. The monk's daily life. His three garments. Confession. Definition of the Saugha or community of monks. Order of Nuns, Lay-brothers and lay- sisters. Relation of the laity to the monkhood. Duties of the laity. Later hierarchical Buddhism. Character of monks of the present day in various countries . . . , 71-92
LECTURE V.
The Phllosophical Doctrines of Buddhism.
The philosophy of Buddhism founded on that of Brahmanism, Tlirce ways of salvation in Brrdimanism. The Buddha's one way of salvation. All life is misery. Indian pessimistic philosophy. Twelve-linked chain of causation. Celebrated Buddhist formula. Tlie Buddlia's attitude towards the Sankhya and Vedanta philo- sophy of the Biahmaus. The Buddha's negation of spirit and of a
CONTENTS. Xxi
PACK
Supreme Being. Brahmanical theory of metempsycliosis. The Buddhist Skandhas. The Buddhist theory of transmigration. Only six forms of existence. The Buddha's previous births. Examples given of stories of two of his previous births. Destiny of man dependent on liis own acts. Re-creative force of acts. Act-force creating worlds. No knowledge of the first act. Cycles of the Universe. Interminable succession of existences like rota- tion of a wheel. Buddhist Kalj^as or ages. Thirty-one abodes of six classes of beings rising one above the other in successive tiers of lower worlds and three sets of heavens . . . 93-122
LECTTJRE VI.
The Moeality of Buddhism and its chief aim — Arhatship or Nirvana.
Inconsistency of a life of morality in Buddhism. Division of the moral code. First five and then ten chief rules of moral conduct. Positive injunctions. The ten fetters binding a man to existence. Seven jewels of the Law. Six (or ten) transcendent virtues. Examples of moral precepts from the Dharma-pada and other works. Moral merit easily acquired. Aim of Buddhist morality. External and internal morality. Inner condition of heart. Four paths or stages leading to Arhatship or moral per- fection. Three gi'ades of Arhats. Series of Buddhas. Gautama the fourth Buddha of the present age, and last of twenty-five Buddhas. The future Buddha. Explanation of Nirvana and Pari-nirvana as the true aim of Buddhist morality. Buddhist and Christian morality contrasted . . . . .123-146
LECTURE VII.
Changes in Buddhism and its disappearance from India.
Tendency of all religious movements to deterioration and disin- tegration. The corruptions of Buddhism are the result of its own fundamental doctrines. Re-statement of Buddha's early teaching. Recoil to the opposite extreme. Sects and divisions in Bud- dhism. The first four principal sects, followed by eighteen, thirty-two, and ninety-six. Maha-yana or Great Method (vehicle).
XXU CONTENTS.
PAGE
HTiia-jTina or Little Method. The Chinese Buddhist travellers, Fa-hien and Hiouen Thsang. Reasons for the disappearance of Buddhism from India. Gradual amalgamation -with surrounding systems. Interaction between Buddhism, Vaishnavism, and Saivisni. Ultimate merging of Buddhism in Brahmanism and Hinduism 147-171
LECTURE VIII.
EisE OP Theistic and Polytheistic Buddhism.
Development of the ^laha-yana or Great Method. Gradual deification of saints, sages, and great men. Tendency to group in triads. First triad of the Buddha, the Law, and the Order. Buddhist triad no trinity. The Buddha to be succeeded by Mai- treya. Maitreya's heaven longed for. Constitution and gradations of the Buddhist brotherhood. Headship and government of the Buddhist monasteries. The first Arhats. Progress of the Maha- yfina docti'ine. The first Bodhi-sattva Maitreya associated with numerous other Bodhi-sattvas. Deification of ]Maitreya and eleva- tion of Gautama's great pupils to Bodhi-sattvaship. Partial deification of great teachers. Nagarjuna, Gorakh-nath. Bar- laam and Josaphat ........ 172-194
LECTURE IX.
TuEisTic AXD Polytheistic Buddhism.
Second Buddhist triad, Manju-srI, Avalokitesvara or Padma- pani and Vajra-pani. Description of each. Theory of five human P.uddhas, five DIiyani-Buddhas 'of meditation,' and five Dhyani- liodlii-sattvas. Five triads f jrmed by grouping together one from each. Theory of 7Vdi-Buddha. AVorship of the Dhyani-Buddha Ainitabha. Tiers of heavens connected with the four Dhyanas or htagi'S of meditation. Account of the later Buddhist theory of lower worlds and three groups of heavens. Synopsis of the twenty- .>si.\ heavens and their inhabitants. Hindu gods and demons adopted by Buddhism. Hindu and Buddhist mythology . 195-222
CONTENTS. xxiii
LECTUEE X.
Mystical Buddhism in its connexion with the Yoga Philosophy.
PACK
Growth of esoteric and mystical Buddhism. Dhyani-Buddhas. Yoga philosophy. Svami Dayilnanda-Sarasvati. Twofold Yoga system. Bodily tortures of Yogis. Fasting. Complete absorp- tion in thought. Progressive stages of meditation. Samadhi. Six transcendent faculties. The Buddha no spiritualist. Nature of Buddha's enlightenment. Attainment of miraculous powers. Development of Buddha's early doctrine. Eight requisites of Yoga. Six-syllabled sentence. Mystical syllables. Cramping of limbs. Suppression and imprisonment of breath. Suspended animation. Self -concentration. Eight supernatural powers. Three bodies of every Buddha. Ethereal souls and gross bodies. Buddhist Mahatmas. Astral bodies. Modern spiritualism. Modern esoteric Buddhism and Asiatic occultism . .223-252
LECTrKE XL
Hieeaechical Buddhism, especially as developed in Tibet and Mongolia.
The Safigha. Development of Hierarchical gradations in Ceylon and in Burma. Tibetan Buddhism. Northern Bud- dhism connected with Shamanism. Lamism and the Lamistic Hierarchy. Gradations of monkhood. Avatara Lamas. Vaga- bond Lamas. Female Hierarchy. Two Lamistic sects. Exj^la- uation of Avatara theory. History of Tibet. Early history of Tibetan Buddhism. Thumi Sambhota's invention of the Tibetan alphabet. Indian Buddhists sent for to Tibet. Tibetan canon. Tibetan kings. Founding of monasteries. Buddhism adopted in Mongolia. Hierarchical Buddhism in Mongolia. Invention of Mongolian alphabet. Birth of the Buddhist reformer Tsong Khapa. The Bed and Yellow Cap schools. Monasteries of Galdan, Brepung, and Sera. Character of Tsong Khapa's refor- mation. Kesemblance of the Roman Catholic and Lamistic systems. Death and canonization of Tsong Khapa. Development of the i?.vatara theory. The two Grand Lamas, Dalai Laraa and
xxiv CONTENTS.
PAGE
Panclion Lama. Election of Dalai Lama. Election of tlie Grand Lamas of Mongolia. List of Dalai Lamas. Discovery of present Dalai Lima. The Lama or Khanpo of Galdan, of Kurun or Kurcn, of Kuku khotun. Lamism in Ladak, Tangut, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim. In China and Japan. Divisions in Japanese Buddhism. Buddhism in Eussian territory . . . 253-302
LECTURE XIL
Ceremonial and Ritualistic Buddhism.
Opposition of early Buddhism to sacerdotalism and ceremonial- ism. Reaction. Religious superstition in Tibet and Mongolia. Accounts by KoeiDpen, Schlagintweit, Markham, Hue, Sarat Chandra Das. Admission-ceremony of a novice in Burma and Ceylon. Boy-pupils. Daily life in Burmese monasteries, accord- ing to Shvvay Yoe. Observances during Vassa. Pirit ceremony. Maha-bana Pirit. Admission-ceremonies in Tibet and Mongolia. Dress and equii:)ment of a Lamistic monk. Dorje. Prayer-bell. Use of Tibetan language in the Ritual. A. Csoma de Koros' life and labours. Form and character of the Lamistic Ritual. Hue's description of a particular Ritual. Holy vratei', conse- crated grain, tea-drinking. Ceremonies in Sikkim and Ladak. Ceremony at Sarat Chandra Das' presentation to the Dalai Lama. Ceremony at translation of a chief Lama's soul. Other ceremonies. Uposatha and fast-days. Cir cum ambulation. Comparison with Roman Catholic Ritual ....... 303-339
LECTURE XIIL
Festivals, Domestic Rites, and Foemulaeies of Peatees.
New Year's Festivals in Burma and Tibet. Festivals of Buddha's birth and death. Festival of lamps. Local Festivals. Chase of the spirit-kings. Religious masquerades and dances. Religious dramas in Burma and Tibet. AVeapons used against evil Hi)irifs. Dorje. Phurbu. Tattooing in Burma. Domestic rites and usages. Birth-ceremonies in Ceylon and Burma. Name-giving ceremonies. Horoscopes. Baptism in Tibet and
CONTENTS. ' XXV
PAGE
Mongolia. Amulets. Marriage-ceremonies. Freedom of women in Buddhist counti'ies. Usages in sickness. Merit gained by saving animal -life. Usages at death. Cremation. Funeral- ceremonies in Sikkim, Japan, Ceylon, Burma, Tibet, and Mon- golia. Exposure of corpses in Tibet and Mongolia. Prayer- formularies. Monlam. Mani-padme or 'jewel-lotus ' formulary. Prayer-wheels, praying-cylinders and method of using them. Formularies on rocks, etc. Man Dangs. Prayer-flags. Mystic formularies. Rosaries. Damaru. Manual of daily prayers . 340-386
LECTURE XIV.
Sacked Places.
The sacred land of Buddhism. Kapila-vastu, the Buddha's birth-place. The arrow-fountain. Buddha-Gaya. Ancient Temple. Sacred tree. Restoration of Temple. Votive Stupas. Mixture of Buddhism and Hinduism. Hiouen Thsang's descrip- tion of Buddha-Gaya. Sarnath near Benares. Ruined Stupa. Sculpture illustrating four events in the Buddha's career. Raja-griha. Scene of incidents in the Buddha's life. Deva- datta's plots. Satta-panni cave. Sravastl. Residence in Jeta- vana monastery. Sandal-wood image. Miracles. VaisalT, place of second council. Description by Hiouen Thsang and Fa-hien. Kausambi. Great monolith. Nalanda monastery. Hiouen Thsang's description. Sankasya, place of Buddha's descent from heaven. Account of the triple ladder. Saketa or Ayodhya. Miraculous tree. Kanya-kubja. Siladitya. Patali-putra. Asoka's palace. Founding of hospitals. First Stupa. Kesa- riya. Ruined mound. Stupa. Kusi-nagara, tbe place of the Buddha's deatli and Pari-nirv5na . . . . • 387-425
LECTURE XV.
Monasteries and Temples.
Five kinds of dwellings permissible for monks. Institution of monasteries. Cave-monasteries. Monasteries in Ceylon, Burma, and British Sikkim. Monastery at Kllang in Lahul; at Kunbum; at Kuku khotun ; at Kuren ; at Lhassa. Palace-
XXVI CONTENTS.
PAGE
inonasteiy of Potala. Residence of Dalai Lama, and Mr. Manning's interview with him. Monasteries of La brang, lianioclie, Moru, Gar Ma Khian. Tliree mother-monasteries of the Yellow Sect, Galdan, Sera, and Dapung. Tashi Lunpo and the Tashi Lama. Mr. Bogle's interview with the Tashi Lama. Turner's inter\aew with the Grand Lama of the Terpaling monastery. Sarat Chandra Das' description of the Tashi Lunpo monastery. Monasteries of the Red Sect, Sam ye and Sakya. ilouastery libraries. Temples. Cave-temples or Caityas. . The Elora (^'aitya. The Karle Caitya, Village temples. Temples in Ceylon. Temple at Kclani. Tooth - temple at Kandy. Burmese temples. Eangoon pagoda. Temples in Sikkim, Mongolia, and Tibet. Great temple at Lhassa ; at Eamoche ; at Tashi Lunpo ......... 426-464
LECTURE XVL
Images and Idols.
Introduction of idolatry into India. Ancient image of Buddha. Gradual growth of objective Buddhism. Development of image- worshiji. Self-j)roduced images. Hiouen Thsang's account of the sandal-wood image. Form, character, and general characteristics of images. Outgi-owth of Buddha's skull. Nimbus. Size, height, and different attitudes of Buddha's images. ' Meditative,' ' Wit- ness,' 'Serpent-canopied,' 'Argumentative 'or 'Teaching,' 'Preach- ing,' ' Beuedictive,' ' jMeudicant,' and ' Recumbent ' Attitudes. Representations of Buddha's birth. Images of other Buddhas and Bodhi-sattvas. Images of Amitabha, of Maitreya, of Manju- srl, of Avalokitesvara, of Kwan-jan and Vajra-pani. Images of other Bodhi-sattvas, gods and goddesses .... 465-492
LECTURE XVIL Sacred Objects.
Sung-Yun's description of objects of worship. Three classes of Buddhist sacred objects 493-495
Relics. IlindQ ideas of impurity connected with death.
CONTENTS. XXVI 1
PAGE
Hindu and Buddhist methods of honouring ancestors compared. Worship of the Buddha's relics. The Buddha's hair and nails. Eight portions of his relics. Adventures of one of the Buddha's teeth. Tooth-temple at Kandy. Celestial light emitted by relics. Exhibition of relics. Form and character of Buddhist relic-receptacles. Caityas, Stupas, Dagabas, and their develop- ment into elaborate structures. Votive Stupas . . . 495-506
Worship of foot-prints. Probable origin of the worship of foot-prints. Alleged foot-prints of Christ. Vishnu-pad at Gaya. Jaina pilgrims at Mount Parasnath. Adam's Peak. Foot-prints in various countries. Mr. Alabaster's descrijDtion of the foot- print in Siam. Marks on the soles of the Buddha's feet . 506-514
Sacred trees. General prevalence of tree-worship. Belief that spirits inhabit trees. Offerings hung on trees. Trees of the seven principal Buddhas. The Asvattha or Pippala is of all trees the most revered. Other sacred trees. The Kalpa-tree. Wishing-tree. Kabir Var tree . ..... 514-520
Sacred symbols. The Tri-ratna symbol. The Caki-a or Wheel symbol. The Lotus-flower. The Svastika symbol. The Throne symbol. The Umbrella. The Sankha or Conch-shell . 520-523
Sacred animals. Worship of animals due to doctrine of metempsychosis^ Elephants. Deer. Pigs. Fish . . 524-526
Miscellaneous objects. Bells. Seven precious substances. Seven treasures belonging to every universal monarch . 526—528
SUPPLEMENTAEY EeMAEKS ON THE CONNEXION OF BuDDHISM WITH JaINISM.
Difference between the Buddhist and Jaina methods of obtaining liberation. Niganthas. Two Jaina sects. Dig-am- baras and Svetambaras. The three chief points of difference between them. Their sacred books. Characteristics of both sects as distinguished from Buddhism. Belief in existence of souls. Moral code. Three-jewels. Five moral prohibitions. Prayer-formula. Temples erected for acquisition of merit . 529-536
XXVni . CONTENTS.
LECTURE XVIIL Buddhism contrasted with Christianity.
PAGE
True Buddhism is no religion. Definition of the word 'religion.' Four characteristics constitute a religion. Gautama's claim to be called ' the Light of Asia ' examined. The Buddha's and Christ's first call to their disciples. The Christian's reverence for the body contrasted with the Buddhist's contempt for the body. Doctrine of storing up merit illustrated, and shown to be common to Buddhism, Brahmanism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, and IMuhammadanism. Doctrine of Karma or Act-force. Buddhist and Christian doctrine of deliverance com- pared. Buddhist and Christian moral jirecepts compared. The many benefits conferred upon Asia by Buddhism admitted. Reli- gious feelings among Buddhists. Buddhist toleration of other religions.
Historic life of the Christ contrasted with legendary biography of the Buddha. Christ God-sent. The Buddha self-sent. Miracles recorded in the Bible and in the Tri-pitaka contrasted. Buddhist and Christian self-sacrifice compared. Character and style of the Buddhist Tri-pitaka contrasted with those of the Christian Bible. Various Buddhist and Christian doctrines contrasted. Which doctrines are to be preferred by rational and thoughtful men iu the nineteenth century ? . . . 537-563
OBSERVE.
The prevalent error in regard to the number of Buddhists at present existing in the world is pointed out in the Postscript at the end of the Preface (p. xiv).
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
WITH DESCRIPTIONS.
PAGE
1. Brass Image of Gautama Buddha obtained by the Author
from Ceylon ..... Frontispiece
He is seated on the Mudalinda Serpent (see p. 480), in an attitude of
profound meditation, with eyes half closed, and five rays of light
emerging from the crown of his head.
2. Vignette, representing the Cakra or 'Wheel' Symbol with
Tri-ratna symbols in the outer circle and Lotus symbol in the centre (see pp. 521-522) . . .On Tith-2)age
Copied from the engraving of a Wheel supported on a column at
Amaravati (date about 250 A. d.) in Mr. Fergusson's 'Tree and
Serpent Worship.'
3. Map illustrative of the Sacred Land of Buddhism To face 21
4. Portrait of Mr. Gaurl-Sarikar Uday-Saukar, C. S. I., now
Svami Sri Saccidananda-SarasvatI . . . To face 74
See the explanation at p. siii. of the Preface.
5. Magical Dorje or thunderbolt used by Northern Buddhists . 323
6. Prayer-bell used in worship . . . . . .324
7. Magical weapon called Phur-pa, for defence against evil spirits 352
Used by Northern Buddhists. Brought from Darjiling in 1SS4.
8. Amulet worn by a Tibetan woman at Darjiling in 1884 . 358
Purchased at Darjiling and given to the Author by Mr. Sarat Chandra Das.
9. Hand Prayer- wheel brought by the Author from Darjiling . 375
10. Damaru, or sacred drum, used by vagabond Buddhist monks 385
11. Ancient Buddhist temple at Buddha-Gaya, as it appeared
in 1880 To face 391
Erected about the middle of the 2nd century on the ruins of
Asoka's temple, at the spot where Gautama attained Buddhahood.
From a photograph by Mr. Beglar enlarged by Mr. G. W. Austen.
12. The same temple at Buddha-Gaya, as restored in 1884 To face 393
From a photograph by Mr. Beglar enlarged by Mr. G. W. Austen.
XXX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
13. Bronze model dug up at Moulmein, representing triple
ladder by which Buddha is supposed to have descended from heaven (from original in South Kensington Museum) 418
14. Remains of a colossal statue of Buddha . . To face 467
Probably in ' argumentative ' or ' teaching ' attitude (see p. 481). It was found by General Sir A. Cunningham close to the south side of the Buddha-Gaya temple. The date (Samvat 64 = a. D. 142) is inscribed on the pedestal.
15. Terra-cotta image of Buddha dug up at Buddha-Gaya . 477
Half the size of the original sculpture. Buddha is in the attitude of meditation under the tree, with a halo or aureola round his head. Probable date, not earlier than 9th century.
16. Sculpture found \y^ General Sir A. Cunningham at Sarnath,
near Benares . ...... To face 477
Illustrative of the four principal events in Gautama Buddha's life — namely, his birth, his attainment of Buddhahood under the tree, his teaching at Benares, and his passing away in complete Nirvana (see p. 387). Date about 400 a. d.
17. Sculpture of Buddha in 'Witness-attitude' on attaining
Buddhahood, under the tree (an umbrella is above) . 478
Found at Buddha-Gayii. Date about the 9th century. The original is remarkable for its smiling features and for the circular mark on the forehead. The drawing is from a photograph belonging to Sir A. Cunningham.
1 8. Sculpture of Buddlia in ' "Witness-attitude ' on attaining
Buddhahood under the tree ...... 480
From a niche high up on the western side of the Buddha-Gaya temple. It has the ' Ye dliarnia ' formula (p. 104") inscribed on each side. It is half the size of the original sculpture. Probable date about the nth century,
19. Sculpture found at Buddha-Gayil representing the earliest
Triad, viz. Buddha, Dharma, and Saiigha . . . 485
The drawing is from a photograph belonging to Sir A. Cunningham, described at p. 484.
20. Votive Stupa found at Buddha-Gaya , , . To face 505
Probable date about 9th or loth century of our era.
21. Clay model of a small votive Stiipa ..... 506
Selected from several which the author saw in the act of being made by a monk outside a monastery in British Sikkim in 1884. This model probably contains the ' Ye dharmil' or some other formula on a seal inside. Tlie engraving is exactly the size of the original.
RULES FOR PRONUNCIATION.
VOWELS.
A, a, pronounced as in rural, or the last a in America ; A, a, as in tar, father ; /, ^, as in fill ; /, ^, as in police ; U, u, as in bwll ; U, i2, as in rwde ; Ki, ri, as in merrily ; Rl, ri, as in marine ; U, e, as in prey; Ai, ai, as in oisle ; 0, o, as in go; Au, au, as in HaMs (pronounced as in German).
CONSONANTS.
K, k, pronounced as in ^-ill, see^- ; Kh, kh, as in iuMoi-n ; G, g, as in ^un, Aog ; Gh, gh, as in Aoglivii ; N, n, as 7ig in sing (si/5).
C, c, as in dolce (in music), ;= English ch in chxxvch, lurch (luro') ; CJiy ch, as in churcMill (curc/ull) ; J, j, as in ^'et ; Jh, jh, as in hedge- hog (hej/iog) ; N, n, as in singe {sinj).
T, t, as in true (fru) ; Th, th, as in anthWl (antJiill) ; D, d, as in cZrum (fZrum) ; I)h, dh, as in recZAaired (rec?Aaired) ; JV, n, as in none {nun).
T, t, as in water (as pronounced in Ireland) ; Th, th, as nui-7iook (but more dental) ; D, d, as in dice (more like th in this) ; Dh, dh, as in acZ/iere (more dental) ; N, n, as in not, in.
P, J), as in ^ut, si]) ; Ph, 2>h, as in u/;/iill ; B, b, as in bear, rub ; Ph, bh, as in abhor ; M, m, as in «iap, jam.
Y, y, as in yet ; ^, r, as in red, year ; L, I, as in Zie ; V, v, as in vie (but like to after consonants, as in twice).
S, s, as in sure, session ; Sh, sh, as in s7mn, husA ; S, s, as in sir, hiss. H, h, as in Ait.
In Tibetan the vowels, including even e and o, have generally the short sound, but accentuated vowels are comparatively long. I have marked such Avords as Lama Avith a long mark to denote tlris, but Koeppen and Jaschke write Lama. Jaschke says that the Tibetan alphabet was adapted from the Lancha form of the Indian letters by Thumi (Thonmi) Sambhota (see p. 270) about the year 632.
OBSERVE.
It is common to hear English-speakers mispronounce the words Buddha and Buddhism. But any one who studies the rules on the preceding page will see that the u in Buddlvd, must not be pronounced like the u in the English word ' hud,' but like the u in hiil\.
Indeed, for the sake of the general reader, it might be better to write Booddha and Booddhism, provided the 00 be pronounced as in the words ' wood,' ' good.'
ADDENDA and COERIGENDA.
Page 21, line 15. One hundred is given as a round number. The actual distance is about one hundred and twenty miles.
Page 138, line 16. It must not be inferred that the episode of the Bhagavad-glta is of great antiquity. This point I have made clear in ' Brahmanism and Hinduism ' (p. 63) as well as in ' Indian Wisdom.' My object at p. 138 is simply to show that Nirvana is an expression common to Buddhism, Brahmanism, and Hinduism.
Page 161, line 2. Sang Yun is properly written Sung Yun or Sung-Yun.
Page 178, line 16. Probably all the images of Dharma are meant to be female, as described in the note on the same page, and at p. 485.
Page 296, line 2. ' Cloven-headed ' seems a misprint for eleven- headed ; but the account of the creation of Avalokitesvara at p. 487 of this volume justifies ' cloven-headed.'
Page 440, line 10 from bottom, /or Lhasta read Lhassa. It is feared that the long-mark over the letter A may have been omitted in one or i\^o cases or may have broken off in printing.
BUDDHISM.
LECTURE I.
Introductory. Buddhism in relation to Brdlimanism.
In my recent work ^ on Brahmanism I have traced the progress of Indian religious thought through three successive stages — called by me Vedism, Brahmanism, and Hinduism — the last including the three subdivi- sions of Saivism, Vaishnavism, and Saktism. Further- more I have attempted to prove that these systems are not really separated by sharp lines, but that each almost imperceptibly shades off into the other.
I have striven also to" show that a true Hindu of the orthodox school is able quite conscientiously to accept all these developments of religious belief He holds that they have their authoritative exponents in the successive bibles of the Hindu religion, namely, (i) the four Yedas — Rig-veda, Yajur-veda, Sama-veda, Atharva- veda — and the Brahmanas ; (2) the Upanishads ; (3) the Law-books — especially that of Manu ; (4) the Bhakti- sastras, including the Ramayana, the Maha-bharata, the Puranas — especially the Bhagavata-purana — and the Bhagavad-gita ; (5) the Tantras.
^ ' Braliraanism and Hiuduism.' Third Edition. John Murray, Albemarle Street.
fC --^ B
2 INTRODUCTOKY.
The chief works under these five heads represent the principal periods of religious development through which the Hindu mind has passed.
Thus, in the first place, the hymns of the Vedas and the ritualism of the Brahmanas represent physiolatry or the worship of the personified forces of nature — a form of religion wdiich ultimately became saturated with sacrificial ideas and with ceremonialism and asceticism. Secondly, the Upanishads represent the pantheistic conceptions which terminated in philoso- phical Brahmanism. Thirdly, the Law-books represent caste-rules and domestic usages. Fourthly, the Eama- yana, Maha-bharata, and Puranas represent the principle of personal devotion to the personal gods, Siva, Vishnu, and their manifestations ; and fifthly, the Tantras re- present the perversion of the principle of love to polluting and degrading practices disguised under the name of religious rites. Of these five phases of the Hindu religion probably the first three only prevailed when Buddhism arose; but I shall try to make clear hereafter that Buddhism, as it developed, accommodated itself to the fourth and even ultimately to the fifth phase, admitting the Hi/idu. gods into its own creed, while Hinduism also received ideas from Buddhism.
At any rate it is clear that the so-called orthodox Brah- man admits all five series of works as progressive expo- nents of the Hindu system — although he scarcely likes to confess openly to any adoption of the fifth. Hence his opinions are of necessity Protean and multiform.
The root ideas of his creed are of course Pantheistic, in the sense of being grounded on the identification of
BUDDHISM IN RELATION TO BRAHMANISM. Q
o
the whole external world — which he believes to be a mere illusorv appearance — with one eternal, impersonal, spiritual Essence ; but his religion is capable of present- ing so many phases, according to the stand-point from which it is viewed, that its pantheism appears to be continually sliding into forms of monotheism and poly- theism, and even into the lowest types of animism and fetishism.
We must not, moreover, forget — as I have pointed out in my recent work — that a large body of the Hindus are unorthodox in respect of their interpreta- tion of the leading doctrine of true Brahmanism.
Such unorthodox persons may be described as sec- tarians or dissenters. That is to say, they dissent from the orthodox pantheistic doctrine that all gods and men, all divine and human souls, and all material appear- ances are mere illusory manifestations of one imjjer- sonal spiritual Entity — called Atman or Purusha or Brahman — and they believe in one supreme personal god — either Siva or Vishnu or Krishna or Eama — who is not liable (as orthodox Brahmans say he is) to lose his personality by subjection to the universal law of dissolution and re-absorptiort into the one eternal im- personal Essence, but exists in a heaven of his own, to the bliss of which his worshippers are admitted ^
And it must be borne in mind that these sectarians are very far from resting their belief on the Vedas, the Brahmanas, and Upanishads.
Their creed is based entirely on the Bhakti-sastras
^ The heaven of Siva is Kailasa, of Vishnu is Vaikuntha, of Krishna is Goloka.
B 2
4 INTRODUCTORY.
— that is, on the Ramfiyana, Maba-bliarata, and Puranas (especially on the Bhagavata-purana) and the Bhagavad- glta, to the exclusion of the other scriptures of Hinduism.
Then a^ain it must always be borne in mind that tlie terms ' orthodox ' and ' unorthodox ' have really little or no application to the gieat majority of the inhabitants of India, who in truth are wholly innocent of any theological opinions at all, and are far too apathetic to trouble themselves about any form of religion other than that which has belonged for centuries to their families and to the localities in which they live, and far too ignorant and dull of intellect to be capable of inquiring for themselves whether that religion is likely to be true or false.
To classify the masses under any one definite deno- mination, either as Pantheists or Polytheists or Mono- theists, or as simple idol-worshippers, or fetish-wor- shippers, would be wholly misleading.
Their faculties are so enfeebled by the debilitating effect of early marriages, and so deadened by the drudgery of daily toil and the dire necessity of keeping body and soul together, that they can scarcely be said to be capable of holding any definite theological creed at all.
It would be nearer the truth to say that the religion of an ordinary Hindu consists in observing caste-cus- toms, local usages, and family observances, in holding what may be called the Folk-legends of his neighbour- hood, in propitiating evil spirits and in worshipping the imnge and sufjerscription of the Empress of India, impressed on the current coin of the country.
As a rule such a man gives himself no uneasiness
BUDDHISM IN RELATION TO BRAHMANISM. 5
whatever about his prospects of happiness or misery in the world to come.
He is quite content to commit his interests in a future life to the care and custody of the Brahnians; while, if he thinks about the nature of a Supreme Being a,t all, he assumes His benevolence and expects His good will as a matter of course.
What he really troubles himself about is the neces- sity for securing the present favour of the inhabitants of the unseen world, supposed to occupy the atmo- sphere everywhere around him — of the good and evil demons and spirits of the soil — generally represented by lucle and grotesque images, and artfully identified by village priests and Brahmans with alleged forms of Vishnu or Siva.
It follows that the mind of the ordinary HindO, though indifferent about all definite dogmatic religion, is steeped in the kind of religiousness best expressed by the word Seia-iSaifxoi'la. He lives in perpetual dread of invisible beings who are thought to be exerting their mysterious influences above, below, around, in the immediate vicinity of his own dwelling. The very winds which sweep across his homestead are believed to swarm with spirits, who unless duly pro- pitiated will blight the produce of his fields, or bring down upon him injury, disease, and death.
Then again, besides the orthodox and besides the sectarian Hindu and besides the great demon-wor- shipping, idolatrous, and superstitious majority, another class of the Indian community must also be taken int(; account— the class of rationalists and free-thinkers.
6 INTRODUCTORY.
These have been common in India from the earliest times.
First came a class of conscientious doubters, who strove to solve the riddle of life by microscopic self- introspection and sincere searchings after truth, and these did their best not to break with the Veda, Yedic revelation, and the authority of the Brahmans.
Earnestly and reverently such men applied them- selves to the difficult task of trying to answer such questions as — What am I ? Whence have I come ? Whither am I going 1 How can I exjDlain my con- sciousness of personal existence 1 Have I an imma- terial spirit distinct from, and independent of, my material frame 1 Of what nature is the world in which I find myself'^ Did an all-powerful Being create it out of nothing "? or did it evolve itself out of an eternal protoplasmic germ ? or did it come together by the combination of eternal atoms ? or is it a mere illu- sion ? If cic?^fed by a Being of infinite wisdom and love, how can r^ account for the co-existence in it of o-ood and evil ha(^piness and misery? Has the Creator form, or is He foiWless ? Has He qualities and affec- tions, or has He no»ne ?
It was in the eflu^rt to solve such insoluble enigmas by their own unaidt^d intuitions and in a manner not too subversive of tnWitional dogma, that the systems of philosophy foundecU on the Upanishads originated.
These have been described in my book on Brahman- ism. They were gradjially excogitated by independent thinkers, who claimed W be Brahmans or twice-born men, and nominally accepted the Veda with its Brahmanas,
\
BUDDHISM IN RELATION TO BRAHMANISM. 7
while they covertly attacked it, or at least abstained from denouncing it as absolutely untrue. Such men tacitly submitted to sacerdotal authority, though they reallv propounded a way of salvation based entirely on self- evolved knowledge, and quite independent of all Vedic sacrifices and sacrificing priests. The most noteworthy and orthodox of the systems propounded by them was the Vedanta ^, which, as I have shown, was simply spiritual Pantheism, and asserted that the one Spirit was the only real Being in the Universe.
But the origin of the more unorthodox systems, which denied the authority of both the Veda and the Brah- mans, must also be traced to the influence of the Upani- shacls. For it is undeniable that a spirit of atheistic infidelity grew up in India almost ^ari i^assu with dogmatic Brahmanism, and has always been prevalent there. In fact it would be easy to show that periodical outbursts of unbelief and agnosticism have taken placa in India very much in the same way as in Europe ; but the tendency to run into extremes has always been greater on Indian soil and beneath the glow and glamour of Eastern skies. On the one side, a far more unthinking respect than in any other country has been paid to the authority of priests, who have declared their supernatural revelation to be the very breatli of God, sacrificial rites to be the sole instruments of salvation,
^ The Saiikhya system, as I have shown, was closely connected with the Vedanta, though it recognized the separate existence of countless individual Purushas or spirits instead of the one (called Atman). Both had much in common with Buddliisni, though the latter sub- stituted Siinya ' a void ' for Purusha and Atman.
8 INTRODUCTORY.
and tbemselves the sole mediators between earth and heaven ; on the other, far greater latitude than in any other country has been conceded to infidels and atheists who have poured contempt on all sacerdotal dogmas, have denied all supernatural revelation, have made no secret of their disbelief in a personal God, and have maintained that even if a Supreme Being and a spiritual world exist they are unknowable by man and beyond the cognizance of his faculties.
We learn indeed from certain passages of the Veda (R,ig-veda II. 12. 5 ; VIII. 100. 3, 4) that even in the Vedic age some denied the existence of the god Indra.
We know, too, that Yaska, the well-known Vedic commentator, who is believed to have lived before the grammarian Panini (probably in the fourth century B. c), found himself obliged to refute the sceptical ai'guments of Kautsa and others who pronounced the Veda a tissue of nonsense (Nirukta I. 15, 16).
Again, Manu — whose law-book, according to Dr. Bllhler, was composed between the second century b. c. and the second a. d., and, in my opinion, possibly earlier — has the following remark directed against sceptics: —
' The twice-born man who depending on rationalistic treatises (hetu-sastra) contemns the two roots of law (sruti and smriti), is to be excommunicated (vahish- karyah) by the righteous as an atheist (nastika) and despiser of the Veda' (Manu II. 1 1).
Furthermore, the Maha-bharata, a poem which con- tains many ancient legends quite as ancient as those of early Buddhism, relates (Santi-parvan 1410, etc.) the stoiy of the infidel Carvaka, who in the diso-nise of a
BUDDHISM IN RELATION TO BRAHMANISM. 9
mendicant Braliman uttered sentiments dangerously heretical.
This Carvaka was the supposed founder of a materi- alistic school of thought called Lokayata. Kejecting all instruments of knowledge (pramana) except percep- tion by the senses (pratyaksha), he affirmed that the soul did not exist separately from the body, and that all the phenomena of the world were spontaneously produced.
The following abbreviation of a passage in the Sarva- darsana-sahgraha ^ will give some idea of this schools infidel doctrines, the very name of which (Lokayata, ' generally current in the world ') is an evidence of the poj^ularity they enjoyed : —
No heaven exists, no final liberation,
No soul, no other world, no rites of caste,
No recompense for acts ; let life be spent,
In merriment ^ ; let a man borrow money
And live at ease and feast on melted butter.
How can this body when reduced to dust
Revisit earth 1 and if a ghost can pass
To other worlds, why does not strong affection
For those he leaves behind attract him back 1
Oblations, funeral rites, and. sacrifices
Are a mere means of livelihood devised
By sacerdotal cunning — nothing more.
The three composers of the triple Veda
Were rogues, or evil spirits, or buffoons.
The recitation of mysterious words
And jabber of the priests is simple nonsense.
Then again, the continued prevalence of sceptical opinions may be shown by extracts from other portions
1 Freely translated by me in Indian Wisdom, p. 133, and literally translated by Prof. E. B. Cowell.
^ ' Let us eat and drink for to-morrow we die.' i Cor. xv. 32.
lO INTRODUCTORY.
of tbe later literature. For example, in the Ramayana (II. 1 08) the infidel Brahman Javali gives utterance to similar sentiments thus : —
' The books composed by theologians, in which men are enjoined to worsliip, give gifts, offer sacrifice, practise austerities, abandon the world, are mere arti- fices to draw forth donations. Make up your mind that no one exists hereafter. Have resrard onlv to what is visible and perceptible by the senses (pratyaksham). Cast everything be^'ond this behind your back.'
Furthermore, in a parallel passage from the Vishnu- purana, it is declared that the great Deceiver, practising illusion, beguiled other demon-like beings to embrace many sorts of heresy ; some reviling the Vedas, others the gods, others the ceremonial of sacrifice, and otheis the Brahmans\ These were called Nastikas.
Such extracts prove that the worst forms of see j)ticism prevailed in l^oth early and mediseval times. But all phases and varieties of heretical thought were not equally offensive, and it would certainly be unfair and misleading to place Buddliism and Jainism on the same level with the reckless Pyrrhonism of the Cilrvakas who had no code of morality.
And indeed it was for this very reason, that when Buddhism and Jainism began to make their presence felt in tlie fifth century B. c. they became far more for- midable than any other phase of scepticism.
Whether, however, Buddhism or Jainism be entitled to chronological precedence is still an open question,
^ See Dr. John Muir's Article ou Indian Materialists, Journal of Eoyal Asiatic Society, N. S. xix, p. 302.
BUDDHISM IN RELATION TO JAINISM. I I
about which opmions may reasonably differ. Some hold that they were always quite distinct from each other, and were the products of inquiry originated by two independent thinkers, and many scholars now consider that the weight of evidence is in favour of Jainism being a little antecedent to Buddhism. Possibly the two systems resulted from the splitting up of one sect into two divisions, just as the two Brahma-Samajes of Cal- cutta are the product of the Adi-Samaj.
One point at least is certain, that notwithstanding much community of thought between Buddhism and Jainism, Buddhism ended in gaining for itself by far the more important position of the two. For although Jainism has shown more tenacity of life in India, and has lingered on there till the present day, it never gained any hold on the masses of the population, whereas its rival, Buddhism, radiating from a central point in Hindustan, spread itself first over the whole of India and then over nearly all Eastern Asia, and has played — as even its most hostile critics must admit — an im- portant role in the history of the world.
To Buddhism, therefore, we have now to direct our attention, and at the very threshold of our inquiries we are confronted with tin's difficulty, that its great popu- larity and its wide diffusion among many peoples have made it most difficult to answer the question : — What is Buddhism "? If it were possible to reply to the inquiry in one word, one might perhaps say that true Buddhism, theoretically stated, is JIumanitarianism, meaning by that term something very like the gospel of humanity preached by the Positivist, whose doctrine is the eleva-
1 2 INTRODUCTORY.
tion of man throiigli man — that is, through human intellect, human intuitions, human teaching, human experiences, and accumulated human efforts — to the higliest ideal of perfection ; and yet something very different. For the Buddhist ideal differs toto cselo from the Positivist's, and consists in the renunciation of all personal existence, ev^en to the extinction of humanity itself. The Buddhist's perfection is destruction (p. 123).
But such a reply would have only reference to the truest and earliest form of Buddhism. It would cover a very minute portion of the vast area of a subject which, as it grew, became multiform, multilateral, and almost infinite in its ramifications.
Innumerable writers, indeed, during the past thirty years have been attracted by the great interest of the inquiry, and have vied with each other in their efforts to give a satisfactory account of a system whose de- velopments have varied in every country ; wdiile lecturers, essayists, and the authors of magazine articles are constantly adding their contributions to the mass of floating ideas, and too often propagate crude and erroneous conceptions on a subject, the depths of which they have never thoroughly fathomed.
It is to be hoped that the annexation of Upper Burma, while giving an impulse to Pali and Buddhistic studies, may hel]) to throw light on some obscure points.
Certainly Buddhism continues to be little understood by the great majority of educated persons. Nor can any misunderstanding on such a subject be matter of surprise, when writers of high character colour their descriptions of it from an examination of one part of
MANYSIDEDNESS OF BUDDHISM. I''
the system only, without due regard to its other phases, and in this way either exalt it to a far higher position than it deserves, or depreciate it unfairly.
And Buddhism is a subject which must continue for a long time to present the student with a boundless field of investigation. No one can bring a proper capa- city of mind to such a study, much less write about it clearly, who has not studied the original documents both in Pali and in Sanskrit, after a long course of prepara- tion in the study of Vedism, Brahmanism, and Hinduism. It is a system which resembles these other forms of Indian rehgious thought in the great variety of its aspects. Starting from a very simple proposition, which can only be described as an exaggerated truism — the truism, I mean, that all life involves sorrow, and that all sorrow results from indulging desires which ought to be suppressed— it has branched out into a vast number of complicated and self-contradictory propositions and allegations. Its teaching has become both negative and positive, agnostic and gnostic. It passes from apparent atheism and materiahsm to theism, polytheism, and spiritualism. It is under one aspect mere pessimism ; under another pure philanthropy ; under another monastic communism ; under another high morality; under another a variety of materialistic philosophy ; under another simple demonology ; under another a mere farrago of superstitions, including necromancy, witchcraft, idolatry, and fetishism. In some form or other it may be held with almost any religion, and embraces something from almost every creed. It is founded on philosophical Brali-
14 INTRODUCTORY.
manism, lias much in common with Siiiikliya and Vedanta ideas, is closely connected with Vaishnavism, and in some of its phases with both Saivism and Saktism, and yet is, properly speaking, opposed to every one of these systems. It has in its moral code much common ground with Christianity, and in its mediaeval and modern developments presents examples of forms, ceremonies, litanies, monastic communities, and hierarchical organizations, scarcely distinguishable from those of Koman Catholicism; and yet a greater contrast than that presented by the essential doctrines of Buddhism and of Christianity can scarcely be imagined. Strangest of all, Buddhism — with no God higher than the perfect man — has no pretensions to be called a religion in the true sense of the word, and is wholly destitute of the vivifying forces necessary to give vitality to the dry bones of its own morality ; and yet it once existed as a real power over at least a third of the human race, and even at the present moment claims a vast number of adherents in Asia, and not a few sympathisers in Europe and America.
Evidently, then, any Orientalist wdio undertakes to give a clear and concise account of Buddhism in the compass of a few lectures, must find himself engaged in a very venturesome and difficult task.
Happily we are gaining acquaintance with the Southern or purest form of Buddhism through editions and translations of the texts of the Pali Canon by Fausboll, Childers, Ehys Davids, Oldenberg, Morris, Trenckner, L. Feer, etc. We owe much, too, to the works of Tumour, Hardy, Clough, Gogerly, D'Alwis,
NORTHERN BUDDHISM. 1 5
Burnouf, Lassen, Spiegel, Weber, Koeppen, Minayeff, Bigaiidet, Max Mtiller, Kern, Ed. Miiller, E. Kuhn, Piscliel, and others. These enable us to form a fair estimate of what Buddhism was in its early days.
But the case is different when we turn to the Northern Buddhist Scriptures, written generally in tolerably correct Sanskrit (with Tibetan translations). These continue to be little studied, notwithstanding the materials placed at our command and the good work done, first by the distinguished ' founder of the study of Buddhism,' Brian Hodgson, and by Burnouf, Wassiljew, Co well, Senart, Kern, Beal, Foucaux, and others. In fact, the moment we pass from the Buddhism of India, Ceylon, Burma, and Siam, to that of Nepal, Kashmir, Tibet, Bhutan, Sikkim, China, Mongolia, Manchuria, Corea, and Japan, we seem to have entered a labyrinth, the clue of which is continually slipping from our hands.
Nor is it possible to classify the varying and often conflicting systems in these latter countries, under the one general title of Northern Buddhism.
For indeed the changes which religious systems under- go, even in countries adjacent to each other, not unfre- quently amount to an entire reversal of their whole character. We may illustrate these changes by the variations of words derived from one and the same root in neighbouring countries. Take, for example, the Ger- man words selig, ' blessed,' and knabe, ' a boy,' which in England are represented by ' silly' and ' knave.'
A similar law appears to hold good in the case of religious ideas. Their whole character seems to change by a change of latitude and longitude. This is even
1 6 INTRODUCTORY.
true of Christiainty. Can it be maiiitainecl, for instance, that the Christianity of modern Greece and Kome has mucli in common with early Christianity, and would any casual observer believe that the inhabitants of St. Petersburg, Berlin, Edinburgh, London, and Paris were followers of the same religion?
It cannot therefore surprise us if Buddhism developed into apparently contradictory systems in different countries and under varying climatic conditions. In no two countries did it preserve the same features. Even in India, the land of its birth, it had greatly changed during the first ten centuries of its prevalence. So much so that had it been possible for its founder to reappear upon earth in the fifth century after Christ, he would have failed to recognize his own child, and would have found that his own teaching had not escaped the operation of a law which experience jDroves to be universal and inevitable.
It is easy, therefore, to understand how ditficult it wiU be to give any semblance of unity to my present subject. It will be impossible for me to treat as a consistent whole a system having a perpetually varying front and no settled form. I can only give a series of somewhat rough, though, I hope, trustworthy out- lines, as far as possible in methodical succession.
And in the carrying out of such a design, the three objects that will at first naturally present themselves for delineation will be three which constitute the well- known triad of early Buddhism — that is to say, the Buddha himself. His Law and His Order of Monks.
Hence my aim will be, in the first place, to give such
DIVISIONS OF THE SUBJECT. 1 7
a historical account of the Buddha and of his earliest teaching as may be gathered from his legendary bio- graphy, and from the most trustworthy parts of the Buddhist canonical scriptures. Secondly, I shall give a brief description of the origin and composition of those scriptures as containing the Buddha's 'Law' (Dharma) ; and thirdly, I shall endeavour to explain the early con- stitution of the Buddha's Order of Monks (Sangha). After treating of these three preliminary topics, I shall next describe the Law itself; that is, the philosophical doctrines of Buddhism, its code of morality and theory of perfection, terminating in Nirvana. Lastly, I shall attempt to trace out the confused outlines of theistic, mystical, and hierarchical Buddhism, as developed in Northern countries, adding an account of sacred objects and places, and contrasting the chief doctrines of Chris- tianity. In regard to the Buddhism of Tibet, I shall chiefly base my explanations on Koeppen's great work — a work never translated into English and now out of print — as well as on my own researches during my travels through the parts of India bordering on that country.
And here I ought to state that my explanations and descriptions will, I fear, be wholly deficient in picturesqueness. My simple aim will be to convey clear and correct information in unembellished language ; and in doing this, I shall often be compelled to expose my- self to the reproach contained in the expressions, carvita- carvanam, ' chewing the chewed,' and pishta-jyesJianam, 'grinding the ground.' I shall constantly be obliged to tread on ground already well trodden.
To begin, then, with the Buddha himself.
LECTURE II.
Tlie Buddha as a personal Teacher.
It is much to be regretted that among all the sacred books that constitute the Canon of the Southern Bud- dhists (see p. 6i) — the only true Canon of Buddhism — there is no trustworthy biography of its Founder.
For Buddhism is nothing without Buddha, just as Zoroastrianism is nothing without Zoroaster, Confu- cianism nothing without Confucius, Muhammadanism nothing without Muhammad, and I may add with aU re- verence, Christianity nothing without Christ,
Indeed, no religion or religious system which has not emanated from some one heroic central personality, or in other words, which has not had a founder whose strongly marked personal character constituted the very life and soul of his teaching and the chief factor in its effectiveness, has ever had any chance of achieving world-wide acceptance, or ever spread far beyond the place of its origin.
Hence the barest outline of primitive Buddhism must be incomplete without some sketch of the life and character of Gautama Buddha himself. Yet it is diffi- cult to find any sure basis of fact on which we may con- struct a fairly credible biography.
In all likelihood legendary histories of the Founder of
THE BUDDHA S BIOGRAPHY. 1 9
Buddhism were current in Nepal and Tibet in the early centuries of our era ; but unhappily his too enthusiastic and imaginative admirers have thought it right to testify their admiration by interw^eaving with the pro- bable facts of Gautama Buddha's life, fables so extrava- gant that some modern critical scholars have despaired of attempting to sift truth from fiction, and have even gone to the extreme of doubting that Gautama Buddha ever lived at all.
To believe nothing that has been recorded about him, is as unreasonable as to accept with unquestioning faith all the miraculous circumstances which are made to encircle him as with a halo of divine glory.
We must bear in mind that when Gautama Buddha lived — about the fifth century b. c. — the art of writing was not common in India ^ We may point out, too, that in all countries, European as well as Asiatic — notably in Greece (witness, for example, the familiar instance of Socrates) — men have thought more of pre- serving the sayings of their teachers than of recording the facts of their lives.
And we must not forget that in India — where the imaginative faculties have always been too active, and anything like real history is unknown — any plain matter-of-fact biography of the most heroic personage would have few charms for any one, and little chance of gaining acceptance anywhere.
Hence it has happened that the ballads (gatha) and legends current about Gautama among Northern
^ It is difficult to accept the theory of those who niaiutain that writing had not been invented.
C 2
•*-*
20 THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER.
Buddhists, bristle with the wildest fancies and the most absurd exaggerations.
Yet it is not impossible to detect a few scattered historical facts beneath stories, however childish, and legends, however extravagant. We shall not at least be far wrong, if, in attempting an outline of the Buddha's life, w^e begin by asserting that intense indi- viduality, fervid earnestness, and severe simplicity of character, combined with singular beauty of counten- ance, calm dignity of bearing, and above all, almost superhuman persuasiveness of speech, were conspicuous in the great Teacher.
The earliest authorities, however, never claim for him anything extraordinary or suijerhuman in regard to external form. It was only in later times that Bud- dhist writers pandered to the superstitions of the people, by describing the Buddha as possessed of various miraculous characteristics of mind and body. He is said to have been of immense stature — accordino; to some, eighteen feet high — and to have had on his body thirty-two chief auspicious marks (maha-vyanjana), re- garded as indications of a Supreme Lord and Universal Euler, eighty secondary marks (anu-vyanjana), besides one hundred and eight symbols on the sole of each foot, and a halo extending for six feet round his person.
All that can be said with any degree of probability about his personal appearance is, that he was endowed with certain qualities, which acted like a spell, or with a kind of irresistible magnetism, on his hearers. These must have formed, so to speak, the foundation-stone on which the superstructure of his vast influence rested.
BIRTH AND DEATH OF THE BUDDHA. 21
Unhappily, no authoritative Buddhist scripture gives any trustworthy clue to the exact year of the Buddha's birth. The traditions which refer back his death to a date corresponding to 543 B.C. are now rejected by modern European scholars. Nor can we as yet accept as infallible the results of the latest researches, which making use of various other data, such as the inscrip- tions on coins, rocks, and columns, place his death more than a century later. We shall not, however, be far wrong if we assert that he was born about the year 500 B.C. at Kapila-vastu (now Bhuila) — a town situated about half-way between Basti and Ajudhya (Ayodhya) in the territory of Kosala (the modern Oudh, see pp. 29, 48), about sixty miles from its capital city Sravasti (a favourite residence of Gautama), and about one hundred miles north-west of Benares, and near the borders of the kingdom of Magadha (now Behar).
His father, named Suddhodana, was a land-owner of the tribe of the Sakyas (a name possibly connected with the Sanskrit root Sak, ' to be powerful'), whose territory in the Gorakh-pur district extended from the lower Nepalese mountains to the river Kapti in Oudh. It has been conjectured that the Sakyas may have been originally a non-Aryan tribe, connected perhaps with certain nomad immigrants from Tibet or Northern Asia, who may have immigrated into India at various periods; but even if this could be proved, it would have to be admitted that the Sakyas had become Aryanized. It is said that the chief families claimed to be Rajputs, tracing back their origin to Ikshvaku, the first of the Solar race. It appears, too, that though belonging to the
\
2 2 THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHEE.
Kshatriya caste, tliey were agriculturists, and mainly engaged in the cultivation of rice. It is also asserted that Sakya families were in the habit of taking the name of the family of the Brahmans who were their spiritual guides and performed religious offices for them, and that the family of Suddhodana took the name Gautama, that is, descendant of the sage Gotama. It does not, how- ever, seem necessary to account for the name in this manner. It was an auspicious name, which in ancient times might have been given to the child of any great land-owner as a proof of orthodoxy, or with the view, perhaps, of pleasing the Brahmans and securing their prayers and good wishes on its behalf.
The father of the Founder of Buddhism was simply / a chief of the Sakya tribe — certainly not a king in our sense of the term — but rather a great Zamindar or landlord, whose territory was not so large in area as Yorkshire. His name Suddhodana, ' one possessed of pure rice,' probably indicated the occupation and ordinary food of the peasantry inhabiting the district belonging to him and subject to his authority. Those who have travelled much in India must often have met great land-owners of the Suddhodana type — men to whom the title Maha-raja is given much as ' Lord ' is to our aristocracy. For example, the Maha-raja of Darbhanga is probably a more important personage tlian Gautama's father ever was, and his territory larger than that of Suddhodana ever was.
The name Gautama (in Pali spelt Gotama) was the personal name corresponding to that given to all children at the name-giving ceremony. It was not till
NAMES OF THE BUDDHA. 23
liis supposed attainment of perfect wisdom that Gau- tama assumed the title of Buddha, or 'the enUghtened one.' But from that time forward this became his re- cognized title. Every other name besides Gautama (or Gotama), and every other title except Buddha (or to- gether, Gautama Buddlia), are simply epithets ; for example, Sakya-muni, ' sage of the tribe of the Sakyas;' Sakya-sinha, ' lion of the Sakyas ; ' Sramana (Samano), 'the ascetic;' Siddhartha, 'one who has fulfilled the object (of his coming);' Sugata, 'whose coming is auspicious;' Tathagata, 'who comes and goes as his predecessors;' Bhagavan (Bhagava), 'the blessed lord;' Sasta (Sattha), 'the Teacher;' Asarana-sarana, 'Befuge of the refugeless ; ' Aditya-bandhu, ' Kinsman of the Sun;' Jina, ' conqueror ; ' Maha-vira, ' great hero ; ' Maha- purusha, ' great man ; ' CakravartI, ' universal monarch.' Devout Buddhists call him ' Lord of the World,' ' the Lord,' ' World-honoured One,' ' King of the Law,' ' the Jewel,' etc. ; and prefer to use the titles rather than the personal name Gautama, which is thought too familiar.
The names of previous Buddhas, supposed to have existed in previous ages, are given at p. 136.
Little of the story of the miraculous birth of Buddha is worthy of repetition. Since, however, a white ele- phant is reckoned among the sacred objects of Bud- dhism, as something rare and precious, it is worth while mentioning the fable, that when the time came for the Bodhi-sattva to leave the Tushita heaven (p. 120) and be born on earth as Gautama Buddha, he descended into the womb of his mother in the form of a white elephant. He was bom under a Sal tree and the god Brahma
24 THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER,
received him from his mother's side. His mother, Maya, died seven days afterwards, and the infant was com- mitted to her sister (Maha-prajapati), a second wife of Suddhodana.
It is not related of Gautama that, as he grew up, any efforts were made to imbue him with sacred learning ; though, as a Kshatriya, he was privileged to receive instruction in certain portions of the Veda.
Nor are we told of him that as a Kshatriya he was trained to the profession of a soldier. It is more pro- bable, that his love of contemplation developed itself very early, and that from a desire to humour this not uncommon Oriental propensity, he was allowed to pass most of his time in the open air.
There is a weU-known legend, which relates how Gautama's relations came in a body to his father and complained that the youth's deficiency in martial and athletic exercises would incapacitate him, on reaching manhood, from taking part in warhke expeditions. This might be reckoned among the few trustworthy historical incidents, were the story not marred by the legendary addition, that on a day of trial being fixed, the youth, without any previous practice, and of course to the surprise of all present, proved his superiority in archery and in ' the twelve arts.'
One statement may certainly be accepted without much qualification. It is said that Gautama was made to marry early, according to the universal custom throughout India in the present day. No son of any respectable person in modern times could remain un- married at the age of sixteen or seventeen, without, so
STORY OF THE FOUR VISIONS. 25
to speak, tarDishing the family escutcheon, and exposmg the youth himself to a serious social stigma, likely to cling to him in after-life. In ancient times marriage was equally universal, and there is no reason to suppose that among Kshatriyas it was delayed to a much later period of life.
No doubt, therefore, the future Buddha had at least one wife (whose name was Yasodhara, though often called Eahula-mata, ' Eahula's mother '), and probably at least one son, named Bahula. It is said that this son was not born till his father was twenty-nine years of age, or not tiU the time when a sense of the vanity of all human aims, and a resolution to abandon all worldly ties, and a longing to enter upon a monastic life had begun to take possession of bis father's mind.
The story of the four visions, which led to his final renunciation of the world, is profusely overlaid with fanciful hyperbole, but, however slight the basis of fact on which it may reasonably be held to rest, it is too picturesque and interesting to be passed over without notice. I therefore here abridge the account given in Mr. Beal's translation of the Chinese version of the Abhi- nishkramana-sutra, varying (for the sake of brevity) the phraseology, but retaining the exjoression ' prince ' : —
One day the prince Gautama resolved to visit the gardens in the neighbourhood of his father's city, desir- ing to examine the beautiful trees and flowers.
Then there appeared before his eyes in one of the streets the form of a decrepid old man, his skin shrivelled, his head bald, his teeth gone, his body infirm and bent. A stafi" supported his tottering limbs,
26 THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER.
as he stood right across the path of the prince's advanc- ing chariot.
Seeing this aged person, Siddhartha inquired of his cha- rioteer:— 'What human form is this, so miserable and so distressing, the like of which I have never seen before V
The charioteer replied : — ' This is what is called an old man.'
The prince again inquired : — ' And what is the exact meaning of this expression " old " V \
The charioteer answered : — ' Old age implies the loss of bodily power, decay of the vital functions, and failure of mind and memory. This poor man before you is old and approaching his end.'
Then asked the prince : — '' Is this law universal 1 '
' Yes,' he replied, 'this is the common lot of all living creatures. All that is born must die.'
Soon afterwards another strange sight presented itself — a sick man, worn by disease and suffering, pale and miserable, scarcely able to draw his breath, was seen tottering on the road.
Then the prince inquired of his charioteer : — 'Who is this unhappy being 1 '
The charioteer replied : — ' This is a sick man, and such sickness is common to all.'
Soon afterwards there passed before them a corpse, borne on a bier.
Then asked the prince: — 'Who is this borne onwards on his bed, covered with strangely-coloured garments, surrounded by people weeping and lamenting 'i '
' This,' replied the charioteer, ' is called a dead body ; he has ended his life; he has no further beauty of
STORY OF THE FOUR VISIONS. 27
form, and no desires of any kind ; he is one with the stones and the felled tree ; he is like a ruined wall, or fallen leaf; no more shall he see his father or mother, brother or sister, or other relatives ; his body is dead, and your body also must come to this.'
Next day on his going out by a different gate there appeared advancing with measured steps a man with a shaven crown, and monk's robe — his right shoulder bare, a religious staff in his right hand, and a mendicant's alms-bowl in his left.
'Who is this,' the prince inquired, 'proceeding with slow and dignified steps, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left, absorbed in thought, with shaven head and garments of reddish colour 1 '
'This man,' said the charioteer, 'devotes himself to charity, and restrains his appetites and his bodily desires. He hurts nobody, but does good to all, and is full of sympathy for all.'
Then the prince asked the man himself to give an account of his own condition.
He answered : — ' I am called a homeless ascetic ; I have forsaken the world, relatives, and friends ; I seek deliverance for myself and desire the salvation of all creatures, and I do harm to none.'
After hearing these words, the prince went to Ijis father and said, ' I wish to become a wandering ascetic (parivrajika) and to seek Nirvana ; all worldly things, 0 king ! are changeable and transitory.'
Such is an epitome of the legendary story of the ' four visionary appearances,' so called because they are supposed to have been divine visions or appearances.
28 THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER.
miraculously produced. The remainder of the legen- dary life of Gautama Buddha is interesting and here and there not without some historical value, and por- tions of it I now add in an abridged form.
Very shortly after the occurrences just described, Gautama receives intelligence of the birth of his son Rahula. This is the first momentous crisis of his life, and Gautama remains for a long time lost in pro- found thought. He sees in his child the strongest of all fetters, binding him to family and home. But his mind is made up. He must fly at once, or be for ever held in bondage. Around him gather the beautiful women of his father's household, striving by their blandishments to divert him from his purpose ; but in vain. He seeks the chamber of his wife, and finds her asleep with her hand on the head of his infant son. He longs for a last embrace ; but fearing to arouse her suspicions hurries away. Outside, his favourite horse is waiting to aid his flight. He ac- complishes the first stage of what Buddhists call with pride the Mahabhinishkramana, 'the great going forth from home ; ' but not without overcomino- other still more formidable trials. For Mara, the evil deity who tempts men to indulge their passions (see p. 120), makes himself visible, and promises the prince all the glories of empire if he will return to the pleasures of worldly life.
Finding all his allurements disregarded, Mara alters his method of attack; he fills the air with mighty thunderings, and creates on the road before the youthful fugitive's eyes apparitions of torrents, lofty mountains, and blazing conflagrations. But nothing alarms or
LIFE AT RAJA-GRIHA. 29
deters him. 'I would rather/ he exclaims, 'be torn to pieces limb by limb, or be burnt in a fiery furnace, or be ground to pieces by a falling mountain than forego my fixed purpose for one single instant/
Arrived at a safe distance from his father's territory, he exchanges garments with a passing beggar, cuts off his own hair with a sword, and assumes the outward aspect and character of a wandering ascetic. The hair does not fall to the ground but is taken up to the Trayas- trinsas heaven (p. 120), and worshipped by the gods.
His first halting-place is Eaja-griha (now Raj-gir), the chief city of Magadha, which, with Kosala (Oudh, pp. 21, 48), afterwards became the holy land of Bud- dhism. There he attaches himself as a disciple to two Brahmans named Alara (in Sanskrit Arada, with epithet Kalapa or Kalama) and Uddaka (Udraka, also written Kudraka, and called Rama-putta, Maha-vagga I. 6. 3), who imbue him with their own philosophical tenets and theory of salvation. Sufficient evidence exists to warrant a belief in this part of the story.
No place in India abounds in more interesting Buddhistic remains than Eaja-griha (about 40 miles south-east of Patna), proving that it was one of the most sacred places of Buddhism, consecrated by some of its most cherished associations. Its Pali name is Eaja- gaha. It may be conjectured that the connexion between the metaphysics of Buddhism and those of Brahmanism was due to Gautama's intercourse with the Brahmans of this district, and to the ideas he thus imbibed at the earliest stage of his career.
But to resume our story. Gautama fails to find in
30 THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER.
Brahmanical philosophy that rest and peace for which his soul was craving when he left his home.
Still there was another way of emancipation and union with the Universal Soul, taught by the Brahmans. This was the way of Tapas\ or self-inflicted bodily pain and austerity.
From the earUest times a favourite doctrine of Brahmanism has been, that self-inflicted bodily sufier- ing is before all things efficacious for the accumula- tion of religious merit, for the acquirement of super- natural powers, and for the spirit's release from the bondage of transmigration and its re-absorption into the One Universal Spirit.
Among other forms of self-inflicted pain, religious devotees (Tapasvis) sometimes went through the process of sitting all day long unmoved during the hottest months on a prepared platform or plot of ground, surrounded by five fires, or by four blazing fires, with the burning sun above their heads as a fifth ^. Even gods (and notably Siva) are described as mortifying themselves by bodily, austerities [tapas), so as not to be outdone by men ; for according to the theory of Hinduism, the gods themselves might be supplanted and even ousted from their rank and position as
^ Tapas is a Sansl<rit word, derived from the root tap, ' to burn, torment.' It is connected with Lat. tepeo, Gi'eek BdnTo), wliich last originally denoted ' to burn,' not ' to bury' dead bodies. Tapas ought not to be translated by ' penance,' unless that word is restricted to the sense poena, ' pain.'
^ Such men are called Panca-tapas (Manu YI. 23). A good repre- sentation of this form of Tapas may be seen in the Museum of the Indian Institute, Oxford.
SEXENNIAL FAST. 3 1
divinities by the omnipotence acquirable by human devotees througli a protracted endurance of severe bodily suffering.
Hence we are not surprised to find it recorded of Gautama Buddha, that seeking in vain for rest in the teaching of Brahmanical philosophy, and eager to try the effect of a course of self-mortification, he wandered forth from Eaja-griha to a wood in the district of Gaya, called Uruvilva (or Uruvela).
There, in company with five other ascetics, he began his celebrated sexennial fast. Sitting down with his legs folded under him on a raised seat in a place un- sheltered from sun, wind, rain, dew, and cold, he gradually reduced his daily allowance of food to a single grain of rice. Then holding his breath, he harassed and macerated his body, but all in vain. No peace of mind came, and no divine enlightenment. He became convinced of his own folly in resorting to bodily austerity as a means of attaining supreme en- lightenment, and delivering himself from the evils and sufferings of life.
Bousing himself, as if from a troubled dream, he took food and nourishment in a natural way, thereby incurring the temporary disapproval of his five com- panions in self-mortification. Then, when sufficiently refreshed, he moved away to another spot in the same district. There, under the shelter of a sacred fig-tree (Asvattha, Ficus religiosa, known as the Pippala or Pipal), in a village, afterwards called Buddha-Gaya, he gave himself up to higher and higher forms of medi- tation (Jhana = Dhyana). In this he merely conformed
2,2 THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER.
to the Hindu Yoga, — a method of attaining mystic union witli the Deity, which although not then for- mulated into a system, was already in vogue among the Brfihmans. There can be little doubt that the Dharana, Dhyana (see p. 209), and Samadhi of the li^oga were resorted to, even in Gautama's time, as a means for the attainment of perfect spiritual illumina- tion, as well as of final absorption in the Deity.
In Manu YI. 72 it is said : — 'Let him purge himself from all taints (doshan) by suppression of breath, from sin by restraints of thought (dharanabhih), from sensual attachments by control, and from unspiritual qualities by meditation (dhyanena).'
In the later work called Bhagavad-gita (see p. 95 of this volume) it is declared: — 'holding his body, head, and neck quite immovable, seated on a firm seat in a pure spot with Kusa grass around, the devotee (Yogi) should look only at the tip of his nose, and should meditate on the Supreme Being' (YI. 11, 12). Further on he is directed to meditate so profoundly as to think about nothing whatever (YI. 25).
The very Gayatri or ancient Yedic prayer (Big-veda III. 62. 10, see p. 78 of this volume) — which is to Hindus what the Lord's Prayer is to Christians, and is still repeated by millions of our Indian fellow-subjects at their daily devotions — was originally an act of meditation, performed with the very object Gautama had in view — supreme enlightenment of mind : — ' Let us meditate (Dhimahi, root dliyai) on the excellent glory of the divine vivifying Sun, may he enlighten our understandings.' Even the selection of a seat under
TEMPTATION BY MAE A. 33
an Asvattha tree was in keeping with Brahmanical ideas (see 'Brahmanism and Hinduism,' p. 335).
The first result, however, of his engaging in abstract meditation, was that he seemed to himself to be as far as ever from the emancipation which was the one aim of his great renunciation. Why not then return to the world? Wliy not indulge again in the pleasures of sense ? Why not go back to home, wife, and child ? Thoughts of this kind passed through his mind, while all his old aftections and feelings seemed to revive with tenfold intensity. Then on one particular night, during this mental struggle, Mara, the Destroyer and personification of carnal desire, seized his opportunity. The spirit of evil had bided his time ; had waited to assail the sage at the right moment, when protracted self-mortification had done its work — when with ex- hausted strength he had little power of resistance.
It is certainly remarkable that a great struggle be- tween good and evil, right and wrong, truth and error, knowledge and ignorance, light and darkness, is recognized in all religious systems, however false. (See a notable allusion to this in Saiikara's Commentary to Chandogya Upanishad, p. 26, U. 2-8.)
The legendary description of the Buddha's temptation, and of the assault made upon him by Mara (the deadly spirit of sensuous desire ^), and by all his troop of attendants, is so interesting and curious, notwith- standing its extravagance, that I here abridge it : —
Fiends and demons swarmed about him in the form
^ According to Dr. Oldenberg, the Miityu of the Kathopanishad.
D
34 THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER.
of awful monsters, furies, vampires, hobgoblins, armed to the teeth with every implement of destruction. Their million faces were frightful to behold, their limbs encircled by myriads of serpents, their heads enveloped in a blaze of fire. They surrounded the saint and assailed him in a thousand different ways. Missiles of all kinds were hurled against him ; poison and fire were showered over him — but the poison changed into flowers, the fire formed a halo round his head.
The bafEed evil one now shifted his ground. He summoned his sixteen enchanting daughters, and sent them to display their charms in the presence of the youthful saint. But the resolute young ascetic was not to be lured by their wiles. He remained calm and impassive, and with a stern face rebuked the maidens for their boldness, forcing them to retire dis- comfited and disgraced.
Other forms of temptation followed, and the debili- tated ascetic s strength seemed to be giving way. But this was merely the crisis. After rising to higher and higher stages of abstract meditation at the end of a long night he shook off his foe. The victory was won, and the light of true knowledge broke upon his mind. A legend relates that in the first night-watch he gained a knowledge of all his previous existences ; in the second — of all present states of being ; in the third — of the chain of causes and effects (p. 102) ; and at the dawn of day he knew all things.
The dawn on which this remarkable struggle ter- minated was the birthday of Buddhism. Gautama was at that time about thirty-five years of age. It was
THE BODHI-TEEE. 35
then, and not till then, that his Bodhi-sattvaship (see p. 135) ended and he gained a right to the title Buddha, * the Enlightened.' No wonder that the tree under which he sat became celebrated as 'the tree of knowledge and enlightenment.' It is remarkable, too, that just as the night on which the Buddha attained perfect enlightenment is the most sacred night with Buddhists, so the Bodhi-tree (in familiar language, Bo-tree) is their most sacred symbol — a symbol as dear to Buddhists as the Cross is to Christians.
And what was this true knowledge, evolved out of a mind sublimated by intense meditation'?
This is, perhaps, the strangest point of all in this strange story. It was after all a mere partial one-sided truth — the outcome of a single hne of thought, dwelt upon with morbid intensity, to the exclusion of every other line of thought which might have modified and balanced it. It was an ultra-pessimistic view of the miseries of life, and a determination to ignore all its counterbalancing joys. It was the doctrine that this present life is only one link in a chain of countless transmigrations — that existence of all kinds involves suffering, and that such suffering can only be got rid of by self-restraint and the extinction of desires, espe- cially of the desire for continuity of personal existence.
For let it be made clear at the outset, that whatever may be said of the Christian-like self-renunciation enjoined by the Buddhist code of morality, the only self it aims at renouncing is the self of personality, and the chief self-love it deprecates is the self-love which consists in craving for continuous individual life.
D 2
36 THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER.
To those who have never travelled or resided much in the East, indulgence in such a morbid form of pes- simism, under glowing skies and amid bright surround- ings, may seem almost an impossibility. But those who know India by personal experience are aware that its climate is not conducive to optimistic views of life, and that even in the present day men of the Buddha type, w^ho seek in various ways to impress their pessi- mistic theories of existence on their fellow-men, are not uncommon.
In the course of my travels I frequently met ascetics who had given up family and friends, and were leading a life of morose seclusion, and pretended meditation, undergoing long courses of bodily mortification. Nay, I have even seen men who, to prove their utter contempt for the pleasures of worldly existence, and to render themselves fit for the extinction of all personality by absorption into the Universal Soul, have sat in one posture, or held up one arm for years, or allowed them- selves no bed but a bed of spikes, no shelter but the foliage of trees ^ Gautama's course of protracted cogi- tation therefore had in it nothing peculiar or original.
Nor need we doubt that certain historical facts underlie the legendary narrative. We cannot admit with the learned Senart and Kern that the life of Gautama w'as based on a mere solar myth. To us it is more difficult not to believe than to believe that there lived in the fifth century B.C. the youthful son of a petty Kaja or land-owner in Oudh, distinguished from ordinaiy
^ In the same way the Cibterciau monks of Fountain's Abbey lived under certain trees while the Abbey was building.
THE BUDDHA AND MUHAMMAD COMPARED. 37
men by many remarkable qualities of mind and body — notably by a thoughtful and contemplative disposition ; that he became impressed with a sense of the vanity of all earthly aims, and of the suffering caused by disease and death ; that he often said to himself, ' Life is but a troubled dream, an incubus, a nightmare,' or, like the Jewish sage of old, 'All the days of man are sorrow,' ' Man walketh in a vain shadow and disquieteth himself in vain;' and that like many other of the world's philo- sophers, instead of acquiescing in the state of things around him, and striving to make the best of them, or to improve them, he took refuge from the troubles of life in abandoning all its ties, renouncing all its joys, and suppressing all its affections and desires.
And ao-ain, it is more difficult not to believe than to believe that in such a man introspection and absti- nence, protracted for many years, induced a condition of mind favourable to ecstatic visions, which were easily mistaken for flashes of inner enlightenment.
We know, indeed, that eleven centuries later another great thinker arose among the Semitic races in Western Asia, who went through the same kind of mental struggle, and that Muhammad, like Gautama, having by his long fasts and austerities brought himself into a highly wrought condition of the nervous system, became a fanatical believer in the reality of his own delusions and in his own divine commission as a teacher.
But the parallel between the Buddha and Muhammad cannot be carried on much further. And indeed, in point of fact, no two characters could be more different. For the Buddha never claimed to be the channel of
38 THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER.
a supernatural revelation ; never represented the know- ledge that burst on his mind as springing from any but an internal source ; never taught that a divine force operating from without compelled him to communicate that knowledge to mankind ; never dreamed of propa- gating that knowledge to others by compulsion, much less by the sword. On the contrary, he always main- tained that the only revelation he had received was an illumination from within — due entirelj^ to his own intuitions, assisted by his reasoning powers and by severe purgatorial discipline protracted through countless pre- vious births in every variety of bodily form.
But how did this internal self-enlightenment^ — the great distinguishing feature of Buddhism — first find expression 1 It is said that the first words uttered by the Buddha at the momentous crisis when true know- ledge burst upon him, were to the following effect : —
' Through countless births have I wandered, seeking but not discovering (anibbisan) the maker of this my mortal dwelling-house (gaha-karaka), and still again and again have birth and life and pain returned. But now at lenojth art thou discovered, thou builder of this house (of flesh). No longer shalt thou rear a house for me. Eafters and beams are shattered and with destruction of Desire (Tanha) deliverance from repeated life is gained at last' (Dhamma-pada 153, 1 54, Sumahgala 46).
^ The Bhagavad-glta (V. 28) asserts: — 'The sage (Yogi) who is interna'ly happy, internally at peace, and internally illumined, attains extinction in Brahma.' This is pure Buddhism if we substitute Cessation of individual existence for Brahma.
PROCEEDINGS AFTER ENLIGHTENMENT. 39
Contrast with these first utterances of Gautama Buddha the first words of Jesus Christ : —
' Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business % ' (St. Luke ii. 49.)
The Buddha's first exclamations, as well as the account of his subsequent sayings and doings, are the more worthy of credit as taken from the Southern Canon.
The Maha-vagga (I. i) tells us that after attaining complete intelligence, the Buddha sat cross-legged on the ground under the Bodhi-tree for seven days, ab- sorbed in meditation and enjoying the bliss of enlighten- ment. At the end of that period, during the first three watches of the night, he fixed his mind on the causes of existence. Then having thought out the law of causation (p. 102), he exclaimed: 'When the laws of being become manifest to the earnest thinker, his doubts vanish, and, likB the Sun, he dispels the hosts of Mara.'
Next he meditated for another seven days under a banyan tree, called the tree of goat-herds (aja-pala). It was there that a haughty Brahman accosted him with the question, ' Who is a true Brahman % ' and was told, ' One free from evil and pride ; self- restrained, learned, and pure.'
Then he meditated under another tree for a third period of seven days. There the serpent (Naga) Mucalinda (or Mucilinda) coiled his body round the Buddha, and formed a canopy to protect him from the raging of a storm — this being one of the trials he had to go through. When it was over the Buddha ex- claimed, 'Happy is the seclusion of the satisfied man (tushta) who has learned and seen the truth.'
40 THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER.
A fourth period of meditation was passed under the tree Kajayatana, making four times seven days. May not these symbolize the four stnges of meditation (p. 209) 1 Later legends, however, reckon seven times seven days.
Durins: the whole of the interval between the first acquisition of knowledge and the setting forth to proclaim it, the Buddha fasted, being too elated to seek food, and only once receiving it from two merchants, named Tapussa (Trapusha) and Bhallika. These be- came his first lay-reverers (p. 89) by repeating the double formula of reverence for the Buddha and for his doctrine (the Sangha not being then instituted, Maha-v° I. 4. 5). A later legend relates that they received in return eight of his hairs which they preserved as relics.
In connexion with the legend, of a forty-nine days' fast, I may mention that an ancient carving of Gautama was pointed out to me at Buddha-Gaya, tvhich represents him as holding a bowl of rice-milk divided into forty- nine portions, one for each day.
With these legends we may contrast the simple Gospel narrative of Christ's forty days' fast in the wilderness.
The Buddha's first resolution to come forth from his seclusion and proclaim his gospel to mankind is of course a great epoch with all Buddhists.
And here it should be observed, that, strictly, accord- ing to Gautama's own teaching he ought to have ceased from all action on arriving at perfect enlightenment. For had he not attained the great object of his ambition — the end of all his struggles — the goal of all his efforts — carried on through hundreds of existences ? He had, therefore, no more lives to lead, no more misery to
FIKST TEACHING AT BENARES. 4I
undergo. In short lie had achieved the siimmum bonum of all true Buddhists — the extinction of the fires of passions and desires — and had only to enjoy the well-earned peace (nirvriti) of complete Nirvana. Yet the love of his fellow-men impelled him to action (pravritti). In fact it was characteristic of a supreme Buddha that he should belie, by his own activity and compassionate feelings, the utter apathy and indifference to which his own doctrines logically led (p. 128).
But he did not carry out his benevolent design with- out going through another course of temptation (which it is usual to compare with the temptation of Christ). Evil thouD^hts arose in his mind, and these were suggested, according to later legends, by Mara (p. 33), thus: — 'With great pains, blessed one, hast thou ac- quired this doctrine (dharma). Why proclaim it ? Beings lost in desires and lusts will not understand it. Kemain in quietude. Enjoy Nirvana' (Maha-v° I. 5. 3).
To counteract these malevolent suggestions, the god Brahma Sahampati (Pali Sahampati, p. 2 co) presented himself and exclaimed : — 'Arise, 0 spotless one, open the gate of Nirvana. Arise, look down on the world lost in suffering. Arise, wander forth, preach the doctrine.'
First the Buddha thought of his two teachers, Alara and Uddaka (p. 29), but found they were dead. Next he thought of the five ascetics whom he had offended by his abandonment of the method of gain- ing true knowledge through painful austerities. They were at that time prosecuting their bodily mortifications at Benares in the Deer-park called Isipatana. It was only natural that the Buddha should think of wending
42 THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER.
his way in the first instance to Benares, even if special considerations had not drawn him there ; for that city was the great centre of Eastern thought and life, the Indian Athens, where all peculiar .doctrines were most likely to gain a hearing.
On his way thither, Upaka, a member of the Ajivaka sect of naked ascetics, met him and inquired why his countenance was so bright (parisuddha) ? He replied, * I am the all-subduer, the all-wise, the stainless, the highest teacher, the conqueror (p. 135) ; I go to Benares to dis- sipate the world's darkness' (Maha-vagga I. 6. 7).
The five ascetics (Kaundinya = Kondanno, Asvajit = Assaji,Vashpa, Mahanama, and Bhadrika) were soon con- verted by his words, and by merely repeating the triple formula were admitted at once to his Order of monks. They constituted, with Gautama, the first six members of the Sangha, or fraternity of men seeking release from the misery of existence by coenobitic monasticism.
And of what nature were Gautama Buddha's first didactic utterances 1 His first sermon, delivered in the Deer-park at Benares, is held in as much reverence by Buddhists as the first words of Christ are by Christians. It is called Dhamma-cakka-ppavattana-sutta, or in Sanskrit Dharma-cakra-pravartana-sutra, ' the discourse which set in motion the wheel of the law,' or * of the universal dominance of the true belief
The following is the substance of it, as given in the Maha-vagga (I. 6. 17). It is important to note that the Buddha spoke in the vernacular of Magadha (now called Pali), and not to men generally, but to the first five would-be members of his Order of monks : —
FIRST SERMON. 43
' There are two extremes (anta), 0 monks (Blnkkhus), to be avoided by one who has given up the world — a life devoted to sensual pleasures (kama), which is degrad- ing, common, vulgar, ignoble, profitless; and a life given to self-mortification (atma-klamatha) — painful, ignoble, profitless. There is a middle path, avoiding both ex- tremes— the noble eightfold path discovered by the Buddha (Tathagata) — which leads to insight, to wisdom, to quietude (upasama), to knowledge, to perfect en- lightenment (sambodhi), to final extinction of desire and suffering (Nirvana).'
So far there is nothing very explicit in the discourse. Doubtless such precepts as 'virtue is a mean' and that 'medio tutissimus ibis' are useful, though trite, truths ; but the difficulty is to prove that the Buddha's eightfold path is really a middle course of the kind described; for the most fanatical enthusiasts will always regard their own creed, however extravagant, as moderate.
The Buddha, therefore, goes on to propound what he calls the four noble truths (ariya-saccani = arya-satyani), which are the key to his whole doctrine. They may be stated thus : —
I. All existence — that is, existence . in any form, whether on earth or in heavenly spheres — necessarily involves pain and suffering (dukkha). 2. All suffering is caused by lust (raga) or craving or desire (tanha = trishna, ' thirst ') of three kinds — for sensual pleasure (kama), for wealth (vibhava), and for existence (bhava). 3. Cessation of suffering is simultaneous with extinction of lust, craving, and desire (p. 139). 4. Extinction of lust, craving, and desire, and cessation of suffering are
44 I'HE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER.
accomplished bv perseverance in the noble eightfold path (ariyo atthangiko maggo), viz. right belief or views' (samma ditthi), right resolve (sankappo), right speech, right work (kammanto), right livelihood (ajivo), right exercise or training (vayamo = vyayama), right mindful- ness (sati, p. 50), right mental concentration (samadhi). And how is all life mere suffering (I. 6. 1 9) '? —
' Birth is suffering. Decay is suffering. Illness is suffei'ing. Death is suffering. Association with (sampi-ayogo) objects we hate is suffer- ing. Separation from objects we love is suffering. Not to obtain what we desire is suffering. Clinging (upadana) to the five elements. (p. 109) of existence is suffering. Complete cessation of thirst (tanha) and desires is cessation of suffering. This is the noble truth of suffering.'
This sermon (called in Ceylon the first Bana = Bhana, * recitation,' p. 70) was addressed to monks, and however unfavourably it must compare with that of Christ (St. Luke iv. 18), addressed not to monks but to suffering sinners — and however obvious may be the idea that pain must result from giving way to lust and the desire for life through countless existences — is of great interest because it embodies the first teaching of one, who, if not worthy to be called ' the Light of Asia,' and certainly unworthy of comparison with the ' Light of the World,' was at least one of the world's most successful teachers.
Bear in mind that, as the result of his earliest medita- tion (pp. 39, 56, 102), the Buddha made ignorance precede lust as the primary cause of life's misery.
Of course the real significance of the whole sermon depends on the interpretation of the word 'right' (samma = samyak) in describing the eightfold path, and the plain explanation is that 'right belief means believing in the Buddha and his doctrine; 'right re-
EFFECT OF FIRST TEACHING. 45
solve ' means abandoning one's wife and family as the best method of extinguishing the fires of the passions ; right speech is recitation of the Buddha's doctrine ; right work (Karmanta) is that of a monk ; right livelihood is living by alms as a monk does ; right exercise is suppres- sion of the individual self; right mindfulness (Smriti) is keeping in mind the impurities and impermanence of the body ; right mental concentration is trance-like quietude.
Mark, too, that in describing the misery of life, associa- tion with loved objects is not mentioned as compensating for the pain of connexion with hateful objects.
The Buddha's early disciples were not poor men ; for the sixth to be admitted to the Sangha was a high-born youth named Yasa. Then this youth's father, a rich merchant, became the first lay-disciple by repeating the trifle formula (pp. 40, j'^), and his mother and wife became the first lay-sisters. Next, four high-born friends of Yasa, and subsequently fifty more became monks. Thus, not long after the first sermon, Gautama had sixty enrolled monks ; all from the upper classes.
In sending forth these sixty monks to proclaim his own gospel of deliverance, he addressed them thus : —
' I am delivered from all fetters (p. 1 2 7), human and divine. You too, 0 monks, are freed from the same fetters. Go forth and wander everywhere, out of com- passion for the world and for the welfare of gods and men. Go forth, one by one, in difierent directions. Preach the doctrine (Dharmam), salutary (kalyana) in its beginning, middle, and end, in its spirit (artha) and in its letter (vyanjana). Proclaim a life of perfect restraint,
46 THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER.
chastity, and celibacy (bralimacariyam). I will go also to preach this doctrine ' (Maba-vagga I. 1 1. i).
When bis monk-missionaries bad departed, Gautama himself followed, though not till Mara (p. 4 1 ) had again tempted him. Quitting Benares he journeyed back to Uruvela, near Gaya. There he first converted thirty rich young men and then one thousand orthodox Brah- mans, led by Kasyapa and his two brothers, who main- tained a sacred fire (' Brahmanism,' p. 364). The fire- chamber was haunted by a fiery snake-demon ; so Buddha asked to occupy the room for a night, fought the serpent and confined him in his own alms-bowl. Next he worked other miracles (said to have been 3500 in number), such as causing water to recede, fire-wood to split, fire- vessels to appear at his word. Then Kasyapa and his brothers, convinced of his miraculous powers, were admitted with the other Brahmans to the Sangha. Thus Buddha gathered round him about a thousand monks.
To them on a hill Gayasisa (Brahma-yoni), near Gaya, he preached his ' burning ' fire-sermon (Maha-v° I. 21): 'Everything, 0 monks, is burning (adittam = adiptam). The eye is burning ; visible things are burning. The sensation produced by contact with visible things is burning — burning with the fire of lust (desire), enmity and delusion (ragaggina dosaggina mohaggina), with birth, decay (jaraya), death, grief, lamentation, pain, dejection (domanassehi), and despair (upayasehi). The ear is burning ; sounds are burning ; the nose is burning, odours are burning ; the tongue is burning, tastes are burning; the body is burning, pbjects of sense are burning. The mind is burning ;
riRE-SEEMON. 47
thoughts are burning. All are burning with the fire of passions and lusts. Observing this, 0 monks, a wise and noble disciple becomes weary of (or disgusted with) the eye, weary of visible things, weary of the ear, weary of sounds, weary of odours, weary of tastes, weary of the body, weary of the mind. Becoming weary, he frees himself from passions and lusts. When free, he realizes that his object is accomplished, that he has lived a life of restraint and chastity (brahma- caiiyam), that re-birth is ended.'
It is said that this fire-sermon — which is a key to the meaning of Nirvana — was suggested by the sight of a conflagration. It was Gautama's custom to impress ideas on his hearers by pointing to visible objects. He compares all life to a flame; and the gist of the discourse is the duty of extinguishing the fire of lusts, and with it the fire of all existence, and the importance of monk- hood and celibacy for the attainment of this end.
Contrast in Christ's Sermon on the Mount the words addressed to the multitude (not to monks), ' Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.'
The Buddha and his followers next proceeded to Kaja- griha. Among them were two, afterwards called 'chief disciples' (Agra-sravakas), Sariputta and Moggallana (or Maudgalyayana), who died before the Buddha, and six- teen leaders among the so-called eighty '^rea^ disciples' (Maha-sravakas) ; the chief of these being Kasyapa (or Maha-kasyapa), Upali, and Ananda (a cousin), besides Anuruddha (another cousin), and Katyayana. Of course among the eighty are reckoned the five original Benares converts. At a later time two chief female disciples
48 THE BUDDHA AS A PERSONAL TEACHER.
(Agra-sravikas) named Khema and Uppala-vanna (Ut- pala-varna) were added (see p. 86). Each leading disciple was afterwards called Stliavira, ' an elder,' or Maba-sthavira, ' great elder ' (Pali Tliera, Maliathera ; fem. Then). Mark, too, that Bimbi-sara, king of Magadba, and Prasenajit (Pasenadi), king of Kosala, were Gautama's lay-disciples and constant patrons.
It was not long before the Buddha's followers were more formally incorporated into a monastic Order (Sangha), and rules of discipline drawn up (see pp. 61, 72, ']'^, 83). And doubtless the success of Buddhism was due to the carrying out of this idea of establishing a brotherhood offering a haven of rest to alb
About forty-five years elapsed between Gautama's attainment of Buddhahood and his death. During that period he continued teaching and itinerating with his disciples ; only going ' into retreat ' during the rains. A list of 45 places of residence is given. He seems to have resided oftenest at Sravasti (p. 21) in the monas- tery Jetavana given by Anatha-pindika ; but the wdiole region between Sravasti and Eaja-griha (p. 29), for nearly 300 miles, was the scene of his itineration. Favourite resorts near Kaja-grilia were the ' Vulture -peak' and Bambu-grove (Ve]u-vana) ; but continual itineration was one chief means of propagating Buddhism.
It is said that his death occurred at Kusi-nagara^ (Kusinara), a town about eighty miles east of Kapila-
^ Or Knsa-nagara, identified by Gen. Sir A. Cunningham with Kasia, 35 miles east of Gorakh-pore ou au old channel of the Cliota Gandak.
DEATH AND LAST WORDS. 49
vastu — the place of his birth — when he was eighty years of age, and probably about the year 420 b. c.^
The story is that Gautama died from eating too much pork (or dried boar's flesh ^). As this is somewhat dero- gatory to his dignity it is not likely to have been fabri- cated. A fabrication, too, would scarcely make him guilty of the inconsistency of saying ' Kill no living thing,' a.nd yet setting an example of eating flesh-meat.
These were his words when he felt his end near : —
' 0 Ananda, I am now grown old, and full of years, and my journey is drawing to its close ; I have reached eighty years — my sum of days — and just as a worn-out cart can only with much care be made to move along, so my body can only be kept going with difficulty. It is only when I become plunged in meditation that my body is at ease. In future be ye to yourselves your own light, your own refuge ; seek no other refuge. Hold fast to the truth as your lamp. Hold fast to the truth as your refuge; look not to any one but yourselves as a refuge' (Maha-parinibbana-sutta II. 32, 33).
Afterwards he gave a summary of every monk's duties, thus: — 'Which then, 0 monks, are the truths ( = the seven jewels, p. 127) it behoves you to spread abroad, out of pity for the world, for the good of gods and men? They are : i. the four earnest reflections (Smriti, Sati-patthana, on the impurities of the body, on the impermanence of the sensations, of the thoughts, of
^ I give 420 as a round number. Rhys Davids has good reasons for fixing the date of Gautama's death about B.C. 412, Oldenberg about 480, Cunningham 478, Kern 388. The old date is 543.
'^ See Book of the great Decease, translated by Ehys Davids, p. 72.
E
50 THE BUDDHA AS A PEKSONAL TEACHER.
the conditions of existence, p. 127); 2. the four right exertions (Sammappadhana, viz. to prevent demerit from arising, get rid of it when arisen, produce merit, increase it) ; 3. the four paths to supernatural power (Iddhi-pilda, viz. will, effort, thought, intense thought) ; 4, the five forces (Paiica-bala, viz. faith, energy, recollec- tion, self-concentration, reason) ; 5. the proper use of the five organs of sense; 6. the seven 'limbs' of knowledge (Bodhy-anga, viz. recollection, investigation, energy, joy, serenity, concentration of mind, equanimity); 7. the noble eightfold path' (p. 44), See Maha-parinibbana TIT. 65.
Then shortly before his decease, he said, ' It may be, Ananda, that in some of you the thought may arise : — The words of our Teacher are ended ; we have lost our Master. But it is not thus. The truths and the rules of the Order, which I have taught and preached, let these be your teacher, when I am gone' (VI. i).
' Behold now, 0 monks, I exhort you : — Everything that Cometh into being passeth away ; work out your own perfection with diligence ' (TIT. 66).
Not long after his last utterances the Buddha, who had before through intense meditation attained Nirvana or extinction of the fire of desires, passed through the four stages of meditation (p. 209) till the moment came for his Pari-nirvana, whereby the fire of life also was ex- tinguished. A couch had been placed for him between two Sal trees (p. 23), with the head towards the north. In sculptures he is represented as lying on his right side at the moment of death, and images of him in this position are highly venerated.
The chief men of Kusi-nagara burnt his body with
CHARACTER OF TEACHING. 51
the ceremonies usual at the death of a Cakravartin or Universal Kuler, which the Buddha claimed to be.
Then his ashes were distributed among eight princes, who built Stiipas over them (Buddha-vansa 28).
A legend states that when the Buddha died there was an earthquake. Then the gods Brahma and Indra appeared and the latter exclaimed : ' Transient are all the elements of being; birth and decay are their nature; they are born and dissolved ; then only is happiness when they have ceased to be' (Maha-p° VI. 16).
Contrast with Buddha's last words the last words of Christ : ' Father, into Thy haads I commend my Spirit.'
A greater contrast than that presented by the account of the Buddha's death and the Gospel narrative of the death of Christ can scarcely be imagined.
Of course as a result of discourses during forty-five years, a large number were gathered into Gautama's monastic Order. His first aim was the founding of this Order, and his chief sermons were to his monks ; but he accepted all men and ultimately multitudes attached themselves to him as lay-brethren (p. Sj).
In fact Gautama's doctrine of a universal brother- hood, open to all, constituted the corner-stone of his popularity. He spoke to them in their own provincial dialect, which could not have differed much from the PaH of the texts — and he enforced his words by dialogues, parables, fables, reiterations, and repetitions. Probably he was the first introducer of real preaching into India, and by his practical method he seemed to bring down knowledge from the clouds to every man's door.
The following parable is an example : ' As the
E 2
52 THE BUDDHA AS A PEESONAL TEACHER.
peasant sows the seed but cannot say : the grain shall swell to-day, to-morrow germinate, so also it is with the disciple ; he must obey the precepts, practise meditation, study the doctrine ; he cannot say to-day or to-morrow, I shall be delivered. Again: as when a herd of deer lives in a forest a man comes who opens for them a false path and the deer suffer hurt ; and another comes who opens a safe path and the deer thrive ; so when men live among pleasures the evil one comes and opens the false eightfold path. Then comes the perfect one and opens the safe eightfold path of right belief, etc' (p. 44, Oldenberg, 191, 192).
Six rival heretical teachers are alluded to. His chief opponent was his cousin Devadatta, who set up a school of his own, and is said to have plotted against the Buddha's life. His efforts failed (CuUa-vagga VII), and he himself came to an untimely end. Possibly he may have belonged to the rival Jaina sect (Nigantha) of naked ascetics, of which the great leader was Var- dhamana Mahavira Nata-putta ( = Jnati-putra).
Gautama's teaching gained the day. It claimed uni- versality, and was aptly symbolized by a wheel rolling among all alike. Yet at first it had no attractions for the poor and the child-like.
By degrees, a fuller system, adapted in an ascending scale to laymen, novices, monks, nuns, and Arhats, was developed — a system which had its abstruse doctrines suited to men of philosophical minds, as well as its plain practical side. This constituted the Buddhist Dharma, which was ultimately collected in certain sacred books to be next described.
LECTUKE III.
The Law {DJiarma) and Sacred Scr{j)tures of Buddhism.
Probably most educated persons are aware that Bud- dhists have their own sacred scriptures, like Hindus, Parsis, Confucianists, Muhammadans, Jews, and Chris- tians. It is not, however, so generally known that in one important particular these Buddhist scriptures, con- stituting the Tri-pitaka (p. 6i), differ wholly from other sacred books. They lay no claim to supernatural in- spiration. Whatever doctrine is found in them was believed to be purely human — that is, was held to be the product of man's own natural faculties working naturally.
The Tri-pitaka was never hke the Veda of the Brah- mans, believed to be the very ' breath of God '^ ; the same care, therefore, was not taken to preserve every sound ; and when at last it was written down the result was a more scholastic production than the Veda.
Moreover, it was not composed in the Sanskrit of the Veda and Sastras — in the sacred language, the very
^ The Satapatha-brahmana (p. 1064) and the Brihad-aranyaka Upanishad (p. 455) affirm that the Rig- Yajur- Sama- and Atharva- veda, the Upanishads, Itihasas, and Puranas were all the breath (nihsvasitani) of the Supreme Being. And Sayana, the well-known Indian Commentator on the Rig-veda, speaking of the Supreme Being in his Introduction, says, Yasya nihsvasitam Vedah, ' whose breath the Vedas were.'
54 THE LAW AND SACRED SCRIPTURES OF BUDDHISM.
grammar and alphabet of which were supposed to come from heaven — but in the vernacular of the part of India in which Buddhism flourished. Indeed, it is a sigDificant fact that while the great sages of Sanskrit literature and philosophy, such as Vyasa, Kumarila, and Sankara, in all probability spoke and taught in Sanskrit ^ the Founder of Buddhism preferred to communicate his precepts to the people in their own vernacular, afterwards called Pali. Nevertheless, he never composed a single book of his own. In all probability he never wrote down any of his own precepts ; for if writing was then invented, it was little practised, through the absence of suitable materials. This is the more remarkable as Buddhism ultimately became an instrument for intro- ducing literary culture among uncivilized races.
All that Gautama did was to preach his Dharma,'Law,' during forty-live years of itineration, and oral teaching. It was not till some time after his death that his say- ings were collected (p. 97), and still longer before they were written down. Itineration, recitation of the Law, and preaching were the chief instruments for the pro- pagation of Buddhism.
At present the Buddhist Canon is about as extensive as the BrahmanicaP, and in both cases we are left in
^ How else can we accouut for Panini's applying the term Bbashfi to colloquial Sanskrit 1 Professor E. B. Cowell holds that Panini's Btandard is the Brahmana language as opposed to the Samhita of the Veda and to Loka or ordinary usage.
^ According to Professor Rhys Davids, the Pali text of the whole Tri-pitaka, or true Canon of Buddhist Scripture, contains about twice as many words as our Bible ; but he calculates that an English trans- lation, if all repetitious were given, would be about four times oa
FIRST COUNCIL. 55
doubt as to the date when the books were composed. How, then, did their composition take place ?
All that can be said is that at three successive epochs after the Buddha's death, three gatherings of his followers were held for the purpose of collecting his sayings and settling the true Canon, and that a fourth assembly took place much later in the North.
The first of these assemblages can scarcely with any fitness be called a Council. Nor can the fact of its meeting together in any formal manner be established on any trustworthy historical basis. It is said that a number of monks (about five hundred, called Maha- sthavirah, 'the great elders/ Pali Maha-thera) assembled in a cave called Sattapanni, near the then capital city of Magadha — Eaja-griha, now Eaj-gir — under the sanction of king Ajata-satru, during the rainy season immediately succeeding the death of Gautama, to think over, put together, and arrange the sayings of their Master, but not, so far as we know, to write them down.
There, in all likelihood, they made the first step towards a methodical arrangement. But even then it is doubtful whether any systematic collections were composed. The assembled monks chose Kasyapa (or Maha-kasyapa, p. 47), the most esteemed of all the Buddha's surviving disciples, as their leader, and chanted the Thera-vada (Sthavira-v°), ' words of the elders,' or precepts of their Founder preserved in the memory of the older men ; the rules of discipline (Vinaya) being- long. I should state here that in this chapter Koeppen, Childers, Rhys Davids, and Oldenbei-g have all been referred to, though I have not failed to examine the original Pali documents myself.
56 THE LA.W AND SACRED SCRIPTURES OF BUDDHISM.
recited by Upfili ^ and the ethical precepts (Sutra), which constituted at first the principal Dharma- (jiar excellence, in contradistinction to the Vinaya), being imparted by Gautama's favourite Ananda (p. 47) ; while the philo- sophical doctrines — then undeveloped — were communi- cated by the president, Kasyapa. If any arrangement was then made it was probably in two collections — the Vinaya and Dharma (say about 400 B.C.)
In regard to the Dharma, two main lines were, in all likelihood, laid down as the basis of all early teaching:. The first consisted of the four sublime veri- ties, as they are called — that is, of the four fundamental truths originally taught by the Founder of Buddhism, namely, the inevitable inherence of suffering in every form of life, the connexion of all suffering; with indnl- gence of desires, especially with craving for continuity of existence, the possibility of the cessation of suffering by restraining lusts and desires, and the eightfold course leading to that cessation (see p. 44).
The second line of doctrine probably consisted of an outline of the twelve-linked chain of causality (nidana), which traced back all suffering to a still deeper origin than mere lusts and desires — namely, to ignorance (p. 103).
It is not, however, at all likely that any philosophical
' Upali is said to have been origiually the family barber of the Sakyas. Professor Oldcnberg rightly remarks that this did not make him a man of low position, though he was probably the lowest in rank of all the early disciples of Gautama.
^ Professor Oldenberg, in his preface to his edition of the Maha- vagga, shows that in early times there were only two divisions of the Pitaka, one called Vinaya and the other Dharma (Dhamma), which were often contrasted.
SECOND COUXCIL. 57
or metaphysical doctrines were clearly and methodically formulated at the earliest assembly which took place soon after Gautama's death. It is far more probable that the first outcome of the gathering together of the Buddha's disciples was simply the enforcing of some strict rules of discipline for the Order of monks, and this may have taken place soon after 400 B.C.
After a time, certain relaxations of these rules or unauthorized departures from them (ten in number, such as reception of money-gifts, eating a second meal in the afternoon, drinking stimulating beverages, if pure as water in appearance^), began to be common. The question as to whether liberty should be allowed in these points, esjJeciaUy in the first, shook the very founda- tions of the community. In fact the whole society be- came split up into two contending parties, the strict and the lax, and a second Council became necessary for the restoration of order. All ten points were discussed at this Council, said to have consisted of 700 monks and held at Yaisali (Vesali, now Besarh), 27 miles north of Patna, about 380 B.c.^ The discussions were protracted for eiglit months, and all the ten unlawful relaxations were finally prohibited.
^ The ten usually enumerated are the three above-named and seven others, viz. power of admitting to the Order and confession in private houses, the use of comfortable seats, relaxation of monastic rules in re- mote country places, power of obtaining a dispensation from the Order after the infringement of a rule, drinking whey, putting salt aside for future use, power of citing the example of others as a valid excuse for relaxing discipline.
^ According to Professor Oldenberg's calculation. The date is doubtful. A round number (say 350 B.C.) might be given.
58 THE LAW AND SACKED SCRIPTURES OF BUDDHISM.
It has been observed that this second Council stands in a relation to Buddhism very similar to that which the Council of Nicsea bears to Christianity.
The exact date, however, of either the first or second assembHes cannot be determined with precision.
Not long afterwards occurred the political revolution caused by the well-known Candra-gupta { = Sandra- kottus) — sometimes called the first Asoka (or disparag- ingly, Killasoka). This man, who w^as a low-born Sudra, usurped the throne and founded the Maurya dynasty, after kilhng king Nanda and taking possession of Pataliputra (or Palibothra, now Patna, the then me- tropolis of Magadha or Behar), about 315 B.C. He extended the kingdom of Magadha over all Hindustan, and became so powerful that when Alexander's successor, Seleukos Nikator (whose reign commenced about 312 B. c), invaded India from his kingdom of Bactria, so eflfectual was the resistance offered by Oandra-gupta, that the Greek thought it politic to form an alliance with the Hindu king, and sent his own countryman, Megasthenes, as an ambassador to reside at his court.
To this circumstance we owe the earliest authentic account of Indian customs and usages, by an intelligent observer who was not a native; and Megasthenes' narrative, preserved by Strabo, furnishes a basis on which a fair inference may be founded that Brah- manism and Buddhism existed side by side in India on amicable terms in the fourth and third centuries B.C. There is evjen ground for believing that king Candra- gupta himself favoured the Buddhists, though outwardly he never renounced his faith in Brahmanism.
THIRD COUNCIL. 59
Candra-gupta's reign is thought to have lasted until 291 B.C., and that of his son and successor, Vindusara, from 291 to (say) about 260 B.C. Then came Candra- gupta's grandson, the celebrated Asoka (sometimes called Dharmasoka), who, though of Sudra origin, was perhaps the greatest Hindu monarch of India.
It was about this period that Gautama Buddha's followers began to develope his doctrines, and to make additions to them in such a w^ay that the Abhi-dharma or ' further Dharma ' had to be added to the Sutra which constituted the original Dharma (p. 56). Even in Gautama's time there were great dissensions. Afterwards differences of opinion increased, so that before long eighteen schools of schismatic thought (p. 158) were established. The resulting controversies were very disturbing, and a third Council became necessary. It consisted of a thousand oldest members of the Order, and was held in the 1 6th or 1 7th year of Asoka's reign at Patua (Patah-putra), about 244-242 B.C.
This third Council was, perhaps, the most important ; for through its deliberations the decision was arrived at to propagate Buddhism by missions. Hence mis- sionaries, supported by king Asoka (see p. 66), were sent in all directions ; the first being Mahinda (Mahendra), the king's son, who carried the doctrine into Ceylon.
Dr. Oldenberg has shown that in a part of the Tri-pitaka now extant, the first and second Councils are mentioned but not the third. The plain inference is that the portion of the Buddhist Canon in which the second Council is described cannot be older than that Council. Yet in all likelihood a great part of
6o THE LAW AND SACRED SCRIPTURES OF BUDDHISM.
the Yinaya (including the Patimokkha and the Khan- dhaka, p. 62) was composed before the second Council — possibly as early as about 400 B.C. — and the rest of the Canon during the succeeding century and a half before the third Council — that is, from 400 to 250 B.C. It was composed in the then vernacular language of Magadha (Magadhi), where all three Councils were held. It seems, however, probable that in each district to which Buddhism spread the doctrine of its founder was taught in the peculiar dialect understood by the inhabitants. It even appears likely that when Gau- tama himself lived in Kosala (Oudh) he preached in the dialect of that province just as he taught in Magadhi when he resided in Matradha. The Culla- vagga (V. 33. i) makes him direct that his precepts should be learnt by every convert in the provincial dialect, which doubtless varied slightly everywhere. In time it became necessary to give fixity to the sacred texts, and the form they finally assumed may have represented the prevalent dialect of the time, and not necessarilv the original Maoadhi Prakrit \ This final form of the language was called Pali ^ (or Tanti), and no
^ Professor Oldenberg places the locality of the Pali on the eastern coast of Southern India in the northern part of Kalinga (Purl in Orissa), and would therefore make it an old form of Uriya. That country he thinks had most frequent communications with Ceylon.
^ Professor Childers thought that Pali merely meant the language of the line or series of texts, the word pali like tanti meaning ' line.' Pali differs from the Prakrit of the Inscriptions, and from that of the dramas, and from that of the Jainas (which is still later and called Ardha-mugadhI), by its retention of some consonants and infusion of Sanskrit. The Gatha dialect of the northern books is again different.
COMPOSITION OF THE SOUTHEEN CANON. 6 1
doubt diflers from the earlier Asoka inscription dialect, and from Magadhi Prakrit as now known.
Some think that the Pali resulted from an artificial infusion of Sanskrit. It is said that nearly two-fifths of the Pali vocabulary consists of unmodified Sanskrit.
At any rate, it was in this language that the Buddhist Law was carried (probably by Mahendra) into Ceylon, and the whole Canon is thought by some to have been handed down orally till it was written down there about 85 B.C. Oral transmission, we know, was common in India, but if edicts were written by Asoka (p. 67), why should not the Law have been written down also ?
As, however, Pali was not spoken in Ceylon, the Pali commentaries brought by Mahendra were translated by him into Sinhalese, and the Pali originals being lost, were not retranslated into Pali till about the beginning of the fifth century of our era.
Turning next to the final arrangement of the Pali Canon, we find that it resolved itself into three col- lections (called Tri-pitaka, Pali Tipitaka, 'Three baskets,' the word pitaka, however, not occurring in the early texts), namely : i. Vinaya, 'discipline' for the Order; 2. Sutra (Pali Sutta), 'precepts,' which at first consti- tuted the principal Dharma, or moral Law (p. 56); 3. Abhi-dharma (Abhi-dhamma), ' further Dharma,' or addi- tional precepts relative to the law and philosophy.
This division was not logical, as each collection may treat of the subjects belonging to the others.
Taking, then, in the first place, the Vinaya or dis- cipline portion of the Buddhist bible, we ought to observe that a portion of it (the Patimokkha) is not only
62 THE LAW AND SACRED SCRIPTURES OF BUDDHISM.
the oldest, but also the most important m its bearing on the whole theory of Buddhism. For, as we shall point out more fully hereafter, the Buddha's paramount aim was to convince others that to get rid of ignorance, gain knowledge, practise morality, and obtain deliver- ance, it was incumbent on a wise man to renounce married life and become a member of a monastic Order.
Pure Buddhism, in fact, was pure monachism — imply- ing celibacy, poverty, and mendicancy — and this could not be maintained without rules for discipline and out- ward conduct, which, as adopted by the Buddha, were simply a modification of the rules for the two religious orders of the Brahma-carl and SannyasI, already existing in Brahmanism.
With regard to the classification of the Vinaya rules, they were divided into three sets : a. the Khandhaka, in two collections called Maha-vagga (Maha-varga), 'great section,' and Culla-vagga, 'minor section' (vagga = varga) ; h. the Vibhaiiga (including the two works called Parajika and Pilcittiya), or a systematic arrange- ment and explanation of certain ancients' release-pre- cepts' (pratimoksha-sutra, Pali Pfitimokkha) for setting free, through penances, any who had offended against the Order ; c. Parivara-patha, or a comparatively modern summary of the above two divisions.
Mark, however, that the Vinaya abounds in details of the life and teaching of Gautama.
The second Pitaka, called Sutta (Sutra), ' precepts,' contains the ethical doctrines which at first constituted the whole Buddhist Law. It consists of five Nikayas, or collections, viz. a. the Digha, or collection of 34 long
COMPOSITION OF THE SOUTHERN CANON. 63
snttas, among which is the Maha-parinibbana-sutta (one of the oldest parts of the Canon after the Patimokkha) ; h. the Majjhima, or collection of 152 suttas of middling length; c. the Sarnyutta, or collection of 55 groups of joined suttas, some of them very short ; d. the Ahgut- tara, or miscellaneous suttas in divisions, which go on increasing by one (anga) ; e. the Khuddaka, or minor collection, consisting of fifteen works.
According to one school, this fifth Nikaya is more cor- rectly referred to the Abhi-dhammaPitaka. In character, however, it conforms more to the Sutta. Of its fifteen works, perhaps the most important are the following six: —
The Khuddaka-patha, ' short readings ;' the Dhamma- pada, * precepts of the Law ' (or ' verses of the Law,' or 'footsteps of the Law'); the Jataka (with their commen- taries), a series of stories relating to about 550^ previous births of the Buddha (p. iii), which have formed the basis of many stories in the Panca-tantra, fables of ^sop, etc.; the Sutta-nipata, 'collection of discourses ; ' the Thera-gatha ( = Sthavira-g°), 'verses or stanzas by elder monks ;' Theri-gatha, ' verses by elder nuns.'
The other nine are the Udana, containing 82 short suttas and joyous utterances of the Buddha at crises of his life; the Itivuttaka, 'thus it was said' ( = ity ukta), no sayings of the Buddha; the Vimana-vatthu, on the mansions of the gods (which move about at will and sometimes descend on earth) ; the Peta-vatthu ( = Preta-vastu, Peta standing for Preta and Pitri),
^ 550 is a round number. The text of the Jatakas has been edited by Fausboll and translated by Rhys Davids and others. See a specimen at p. 112.
64 THE LAW AND SACRED SCRIPTURES OF BUDDHISM.
on departed spirits ; the Niddesa, a commentary on the Sutta-nipata ; the Pati-sambhida, on the super- natural knowledge of Arhats; the Apadana (Sanskrit Avadana), 'stories about the achievements' of Arhats ; the Buddha-vansa, or history of the 24 preceding Bud- dhas (the Digha mentions only six) and of Gautama ; the Cariya-pitaka, 'treasury of acts,' giving stories based on the Jatakas, describing Gautama's acquisition of the ten transcendent virtues (p. 128) in former births.
The works included in this Sutta-pitaka frequently take the form of conversations on doctrine and morality^ between Gautama, or one of his chief disciples, and some inquirer. As constituting the ethical Dharma, they are the most interesting portion of the Canon.
With regard to the third Pitaka, called Abhi-dhamma (Abbhi-dharma, ' further dharma '), which is held by modern scholars to be of later origin and supple- mentary to the Sutta (p. 62), it contains seven prose works ^ Moreover, it was once thought to relate en- tirely to metaphysics and philosophy ; but this is now held to be an error, for all seven works treat of a great variety of subjects, including discipline and ethics. Meta- physical discussions occur, but it is probable that origin- ally Buddha kej^t clear of metaphysics (see p. 98).
Besides the numerous works w^e have thus described as constituting the Tri-pitaka or three collections of
' The geven are called: i. Dhamma-saiigani, 'enumeration of con- ditions of existence,' edited by Dr. E. Miiller; 2. Vibhaiiga, ' explana- tions ; ' 3. Katba-vatthu, ' discussions on one thousand controverted points;' 4. Puggala-paiiuatti, ' explanation of personality ;' 5. Dhatu- katha, 'account of elements ; ' 6. Yamaka, 'pairs;' 7. Patthuna, 'causes.'
COMMENTAKIES. BUDDHA-GHOSHA. 65
works of the Southern Buddhists, there are the Pali commentaries called Attha-katha (Artha-katha, ' telling of meanings^'), which were translated into Sinhalese, according to tradition, by Mahendra himself. Afterwards the original Pali text was lost and some of the com- mentaries were retranslated into Pali by Buddha-ghosha, * he who had the very voice of Buddha,' at the end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth century of our era.
The Maha-vansa or ' history of the great families of Ceylon,' a well-known work (written in Pali by a monk named Maha-nama in the fifth century and translated by Turnour), gives an account of this writer^. It says that a Brahman youth, born near Buddha-Gaya in Magadha, had achieved great celebrity as a disputant in Brahmanical philosophy. This youth was converted by a Buddhist sage in India, and induced to enter the Buddhist monastic Order. He soon became renowned for his eloquence, and was on that account called Buddha-ghosha. He wrote a commentary, called Attha- salinT, on the Dhamma-sangani, a work belonging to the Abhi-dharma. He also wrote a most valuable Pali compendium of Buddhist doctrine called Visuddhi- magga, 'path of purity,' and a commentary on the Dharma-pada containing many parables. He went to Ceylon about a.d. 430 for the purpose of retranslating the Sinhalese commentaries into Pali. His literary reputation stands very high in that island, and he was instrumental in spreading Buddhism throughout Burma.
^ A list of these is given iu Childers' Dictionary. 2 See Introduction to Buddha-ghosha's Parables, by Professor Max Miiller; Tumour's Maha-vanta, pp. 250-253.
F
66 THE LAW AND SACRED SCEIPTURES OF BUDDHISM.
It may be noted that the two important Pali works, Maha-vansa and Dipa-vansa (Dvipa-vansa), perhaps the oldest extant histories of Ceylon, are also fairly authentic sources for Buddhistic history before Christ.
Turn we now to the Mahayana or ' Great Vehicle.' This cannot be said to possess any true Canon distinct from the Tri-pitaka, though certain Nepal ese Sanskrit works, composed in later times, are held to be canonical by Northern Buddhists.
To understand this part of the subject we must revert to the great king Asoka. It is usual to call this second and more celebrated Asoka the Constantino of Buddhism. Being of Sudra origin he was the more inclined to favour the popular teaching of Gautama, and, as he was the first king who adoj)ted Buddhism openly (about 257 B.C.) he doubtless did for Buddhism veiy much what Constantine did for Christianity.
The Buddhist system then spread over the whole kingdom of Asoka, and thence over other portions of India, and even to some outlying countries. For grad- ually during this period most of the petty princes of India, from Peshawar and Kashmir to the river Kistna, and from Surat to Bengal and Orissa, if not actually brought under subjection to the king of Magadha, were compelled to acknowledge his paramount authority.
This is proved by Asoka's edicts, wliich are inscribed on rocks and stone pillars ^ (the earliest dating from
' They are in two quite distinct kinds of writing. That at Kapurda- garhi — sometimes called Northern Asoka or Ariano-Pali — is clearly Semitic, and traceable to a Phoenician source, being written from right to left. That at Girnrir, commonly called Southern Asoka or
asoka's inscriptions. 67
about 251 B.C.), and are found in frontier districts separated from each other by enormous distances.
These inscriptions are of the greatest interest and value, as furnishing the first authentic records of Indian history. They are written in a more ancient language than the Pali of Ceylon, and in at least three different dialects. Ten of the most important are found on six rocks and five pillars (Lats), though numerous other monuments are scattered over Northern India, from the Indian Ocean to the Bay of Bengal, from the Vindhya range on the south to the Khaibar Pass on the north ^
Inclo-Pali, is read from left to right, and is not so clearly traceable. If it came from the west it probably came through a Pahlavl channel, and gave rise to Devanagai'I. General Cunningham and others be- lieve this latter character to have originated independently in India. James Prinsep was the first to decipher the inscription character.
^ See Dr. R, N. Gust's article in the ' Journal of the National Indian Association' for June, 1879, and one of his Selected Essays, and General Sir A. Cunningham's great work, 'The Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum.' The General reckons thirteen rock inscriptions, seventeen cave inscriptions, and six inscribed pillars.
The eight most important rock inscriptions are those on (i) the Rock of Kapurda-garhi (at Shahbaz-garhi),in British Afghanistan, forty miles east-north-east of Peshawar — this is in the Ariauo-Pali character ; (2) the Rock of Khalsi, situated on the bank of the river Jumna, just where it leaves the Himfdaya mountains, fifteen miles west of the hill- station of Mussourie ; (3) the Rock of Girnar, half-a-mile to the east of the city of Junagurh, in Kathiawar ; (4) the Rock of Dhauli, in Kuttack (properly Katak), twenty miles north of Jagau-nath ; (5) the Rock of Jaugada, in a large old fort eighteen miles west-north-west of Ganjam in Madras ; (6) Bairat ; (7) Rupnath, at the foot of the Kaimur range ; (8) Sahasaram, at the north-east end of the Kaimur. The second Bairat inscription is most important as the only one which mentions Buddha by name.
The five most important pillars are : (i) the Pillar at Delhi known
F 2
68 THE LAW AND SACRED SCraPTURES OF BUDDHISM.
In these proclamations and edicts (one of which was addressed to the third Buddhist Council), king Asoka, who calls himself Priya-darsi (Pali Piya-dassi), issues various orders. He prohibits the slaughter of animals for food or sacrifice, gives directions for what may be called the first hospitals, i, e. for treating men and even animals medically, appoints missionaries for the pro- pagation of Buddhist doctrines, inculcates peace and mercy, charity and toleration, morality and self-denial, and what is still more remarkable, enjoins quinquennial periods of national humiliation and confession of sins by all classes, accompanied by a re-proclamation of the Buddha's precepts. Asoka, in fact, became so zealous a friend of Buddhism, that he is said to have maintained 64,000 Buddhist monks in and around the country of Magadha, which was on that account called the land of monasteries (Vihara = the modern Bihar or Behar).
No doubt it was Asoka's propagation of Buddhism by missions in various countries — where it came in contact with and partly adopted various already exist- ing indigenous faiths and superstitions — that led to the ultimate separation of the Buddhist system into the two great divisions of Southern and Northern.
Indeed, the formation of a Northern School, as distinct from a Southern, became inevitable after the conversion of Kanishka, the Indo-Scythian king of Kashmir, who
as Firoz Shah's Lat ; (2) another Pillar at Delhi, which was removed to Calcutta, but has recently been restored; (3) the Pillar at Alla- habad, a single shaft without capital, of polished sandstone, thirty-five feet in heiglit ; (4) the Pillar at Lauriya, near Bettiah, in Bengal ; (5) the Pillar at another Lauriya, seventy-seven miles north-west of Patna.
FOUETH COUNCIL. KANISHKA. NOETHERN CANON. 69
came from the North, and became a zealous Buddhist, He probably reigned in the second half of the first century (a. d.), and extended his dominions as far as Gujarat, Sindh, and even Mathura (see p. 167, note 2).
It was during Kanishka's reign that a fourth Council^ was held at Jalandhara in Kashmir, under Parsva and Vasu-mitra. It consisted of 500 monks, who composed three Sanskrit works of the nature of commentaries (Upadesa, Vinaya-vibhasha, Abhidharma-vibhasha) on the three Pali Pitakas. These were the earliest books of the Maha-yana or Northern School, which afterwards formulated its more developed doctrines on the Indus, while the Pali Canon of the South represented the true doctrine promulgated on the Ganges.
Kashmir was a centre of Sanskrit learning, and Kan- ishka, who was a patron of it, became to Northern Buddhism what Asoka had been to Southern. Hence in process of time other Northern Buddhist books were written in Sanskrit, with occasional Gathas or stanzas in an irregular dialect, half Sanskrit, half Prakrit.
It is usual to enumerate nine Nepalese canonical scriptures (Dharmas) : — i.Prajna paramita, 'transcen- dent knowledge,' or an abstract of metaphysical and mystic philosophy ; 2. Ganda-vytiha ; 3. Dasa-bhiimis- vara (describing the ten stages leading to Buddha- hood); 4. Samadhi-raja; 5. Laiikavatara; 6. Saddharma- pundarika, ' Lotus of the True Law ; ' 7. Tathagata- guhyaka (containing the secret Tantric doctrines) ; 8. Lalita-vistara (giving a legendary life of Buddha) ;
^ Hioueu Tlisang states that the three commentaries were engraved on sheets of copper and buried in a Stupa. Beal, I. 152-156.
70 THE LAW AND SACRED SCEIFTCRES OF BI'DDHISM,
9. Suvarna-prabhasa. The eighth is probably as old as the 2nd century of our era, and next comes the sixth. Tibetan translations were made of all of them. These extend to 100 volumes and are collectively called Ka'gyur or Kan'gyur (Kanjur), We owe our knowledge of these to the indefaticjable Huno-arian traveller, Alex- ander Csoma de Koros.
Copies of the Sanskrit works were brought to Eng- land by !Mr. B. H. Hodgson. The sixth has been trans- lated by Burnouf and recently by H. Kern. Dr. Ea- jendra-lala-mitra has edited the eighth. As to the non- canonical works M, Senart has edited part of the Maha- vastu, and Professor E. B. Cowell and !Mr. E. A. Neil, the Divyavadana. They contain interesting old legends — some about the achievements of Asoka, some about Buddha himself, some perhaps from lost Yinaya books. As to the PaK written character, it is a question whether that current in the holy land of Buddhism, or in Ceylon, or in Siam (Kambodia), or in Burma — that is, Devanagari, Sinhalese, Kambodian, or Burmese — should be used. Many think Burmese most suited to it, Slid in Europe the Eoman character is preferred.
It should be added that the recitation (Bhana, Sanskrit root Bhan, 'to speak;' in Sinhalese spelt Bana) of the Law is one of the principal duties of monks, the reciter being called Bhanaka. A peculiar mode of intoning is called Sara-bhaiina (sara = svara). The Buddha, they say, is not extinct, for he lives in the Dharma and in the Saiigha, in the Law and in the monks who recite it. Hence the importance of recita- tion in the Buddhist system (p. 84).
LECTUEE lY.
Tlie Sauglia or Buddhist Order of Monks.
Pee HAPS the first point made clear by the study of the Buddhist Scriptures is, that the Buddha never seriously thought of founding a new system in direct opposition to Brahmanism and caste. Even his Order or fraternity of IMonks, which attained a world-wide celebrity and spread through a great part of Asia, was a mere imitation of an institution already established in India. He himself was a Hindu of the Hindiis, and he remained a Hindu to the end. His very name, Gautama, connected him with one of the most cele- brated Hindu sao'es, and was sisfnificant of his original connexion with orthodox Brahmanism. It is true he was a determined opponent of all Brahmanical sacer- dotalism and ceremonialism, and of all theories about the supernatural character of the Yedas (see p. 53) ; but, being himself a Hindu, he never required his adherents to make any formal renunciation of Hinduism, as if they had been converted to an entirely new faith ; just as, if I may say so with all reverence, the Founder of the Christian Church, being Himself a Jew, never required His followers to give up every Jewish usage.
Nor had the Buddha any idea of courting popu- larity as a champion of social equaHty and denouncer of aU distinctions of rank and ancient traditions —
72 THE BUDDHIST ORDER OF MONKS.
a kind of Tribune of the people, whose mission was to protect them from the tyranny of the upper classes.
There was, no doubt, at one time a prevalent opinion among scholars that Gautama aimed at becommg a great social reformer. It was generally supposed that he began by posing before his fellow-countrymen in a some- what ad captandum manner as a popular leader and liberator, whose mission was to deliver them from the tyranny of caste. But such an opinion is now known to be based on mistaken assumptions. What ought rather to be claimed for him is that he was the first to establish a universal brotherhood (Sangha) of coenobite monks, open to all persons of all ranks. In other words, he was the first founder of what may be called a kind of universal monastic communism (for Buddhist monks never, as a rule, lived alone), and the first to affirm that true enlightenment — the knowledge of the highest path leading to saintship — was not confined to the Brahmans, but open to all the members of all castes. This was the onlv sense in which he abolished caste. His true followers, however, constituted a caste of their own, distinguished from the laity. From the want of a more suitable term we are forced to call them 'monks \'
And this Order of monks was not a hierarchy. It liad no ecclesiastical organization under any centralized authority. Its first Head, Gautama, appointed no suc- cessor. It was not the depository of theological learning. Nor was it a mediatorial caste of priests, claiming to
^ Our word monk (derived from fxovaxos, ' one who lives alone,') is not quite suitcable unless it be taken to mean ' one who withdraws from worldly life.' See p. 75.
NATUEE OF THE MONKISH BROTHERHOOD. JT)
mediate between earth and Leaven. It ought not to be called a Church, and it had no rite of ordination in the true sense. It was a brotherhood, in which all were under certain obligations of celibacy, moral restraint, fasting, poverty, itineration and confession to each other — all were dominated by one idea, and pledged to the propagation of the one doctrine, that all life was in itself misery, and to be got rid of by a long course of discipline, as not worth living, whether on earth or in heaven, whether in present or future bodies. The founding of a monastic brotherhood of this kind which made personal extinction its final aim, and might be co-extensive with the whole world, was the Buddha's principal object.
In point of fact, the so-called enlightenment of mind which entitled him to Buddhahood, led him at the early stage of his career into no abstruse or transcendental region of thought, but took a very practical direction. It led him to see that an association of monks offering equality of condition to high and low, rich and poor, and a haven of refuge to all oppressed by the troubles of life, would soon become popular. His Order started with first ten, then fifty, then sixty original members (see p. 45), but its growth soon surpassed all anticipa- tions, and its ramifications extended to distant countries, where, like the branches of the Indian fig-tree, they sent down roots to form vigorous independent plants, even after the decay of the parent stem. On this account it was called the fraternity of the four quarters (Catuddisa, Maha-vagga VIII. 27. 5) of the globe.
In brief, a carefully regulated monastic brotherhood, which opened its arms to all comers of all ranks, and
74 THE BUDDHIST OEDER OF MONKS.
enforced on its members the duty of extending its boundaries by itinerancy, and by constantly rolling onward the wheel of the true doctrine (Law), constituted in its earliest days the very essence, the very backbone of Buddhism, without which it could never have been propagated, nor even have held its own.
But we repeat that in this, his main design, Gautama was after all no innovator ; no introducer of novel ideas.
Monachism had always been a favourite adjunct of the Brahmanical system, and respect for monastic life had taken deep root among the people. Thus we find it laid down in its most authoritative exponent, Manu's Law-book (Book VI), that every twice-born man was bound to be first an unmarried student (Brahma-cari), next a married householder, and then at the end of a long life he was to abandon wife and family and be- come a Sannyasi, ' ascetic,' or Bhikshu, ' mendicant,' wandering from door to door. In fact, it was through these very states of life that Gautama himself, as a Kshatriya, was theoretically bound to have passed.
Hindu monks, therefore, were numerous before Bud- dhism. They belonged to various sects, and took various vows of self-torture, of silence, of fasting, of poverty, of mendicancy, of celibacy, of abandoning caste, rank, wife and family. Accordingly they had various names. The Brahman was called a Sannyasi, ' one who gives up the world.' Others were called Vairagi, ' free from afiec- tions ; ' Yogi, ' seeking mystic union with the Deity ; ' Dig-ambara, 'sky-clothed,' 'naked;' Tapasvi, 'practising austerities ;' Yati, * restraining desires ; ' Jitendriya, 'conquering passions ; ' Sramana, ' undergoing discipline ;'
PORTRAIT OF MR. GAIJRI-SANKAR TJDAT-SANKAR, C.S.I, NOW STAMI SEI SACCIDANANDA-SAEASTATI.
Seated, as a Bvahnian SannyasT, in iiiedit.-xtic.n (described at p. xiii uf tlie Preface).
[To face pafie 74.
NA:NrES GIVEN TO THE MONKS. 75
Bhikshu, 'living by alms;' Xirgrantha, 'without ties.' Such names prove that asceticism was an ancient in- stitution. The peculiarity about Gautama's teaching in regard to monachism was that he discouraged ^ soHtary asceticism, severe austerities, and irrevocable vows, though he enjoined moral restraint in celibate fraterni- ties, conformity to rules of discipline, upright conduct, and confession to each other.
His usual mode of designating his monks was by the old term Bhikshu (PaU Bhikkhu), ' living by alms,' to in- dicate their poverty. They were also called Sramanera and Sramana (Pali Samanera, Samana), as subject to monastic discipline-. Those who entered the stream leading to Arhatship (p. 132) were called Arya.
The term Sravaka, ' hearers,' seems to have been used in the Hina-yana system to denote great disciples only, and especially those 'great disciples' (p. 47) of Gautama w^ho heard the Law from his own lips, and were after- wards called Sthaviras and became Arhats (p. 133). They had also the title Ayushmat, ' possessing life.'
"We perceive again the close connexion between Brahmanism and Buddhism ; for clearly the Brahma- cari and Sannyasi of the one became the Sramanera or junior monk, and Sramana or senior monk of the other.
As to the name Sramana (from root Sram, ' to toil '), bear in mind that, although Buddhism has acquired
^ Although he discouraged, he did not prohibit monks from living solitary lives. See p. 132 as to the Pratveka-Buddha, and note, p. 72.
- Some prefer to derive the Pali Samano from the Sanskrit root Sam, ' to be quiet.' Smasanika, ' frequenting burning grounds,' is a later name, life being to monks a kind of graveyard.
76 THE BUDDHIST ORDER OF MOKKS.
the credit of being the easiest religious system in the world, and its monks are among the idlest of men — as having no laborious ceremonies and no work to do for a livelihood — yet in reality the carrying out of the great object of extinguishing lusts, and so getting rid of the burden of repeated existences, was no sinecure if earnestly undertaken. Nor was it possible for men to lead sedentary lives, whose only mode of avoiding starvation was by house to house itinerancy.
As to the form of admission, there was no great strictness in early times, when all applicants were ad- mitted without inquiry. It was only when the Order increased that murderers, robbers, debtors, soldiers and others in the King's service, lepers, cripples, blind, one- eyed, deaf and dumb, and consumptive persons, and all subject to fits were rejected \
Originally it was enough for the Buddha to have said, ' Come (ehi), follow me.' This alone conferred discipleship. In time, however, he commissioned those he had himself admitted to admit others. Then the form of admission to the brotherhood was divided into two stages, marked by two ceremonies, which have been ver}- unsuitably compared to our ordination services for deacon and priest. At any rate the term ' ordination ' is wholly misleading, if any idea of a priestly commission or gift of spiritual powers be implied.
The youthful layman who desired admission to the first degree, or that of a novice, had to be at least
' We may note that in the ' Clay-Cart,' a Sanskrit drama written in an early century of our era, a gambler becomes a Buddhist monk.
ADMISSION TO THE MONKHOOD. 77
fifteen years old ^ (Maha-v° I. 50) ; and such novices had to be at least twenty (from conception) before the second rite or admission to the full monkhood.
The first rite was called pravrajya (pabbajja), ' going forth from home ' (Maha-v° I. 1 2). Persons admitted to this first deofree of monkhood were called Sramanera (Samanera), 'novices,' though they were also called 'new' or 'junior monks' (Navako Bhikkhu). They might be admitted by a senior monk without appearing before any formal conclave ; but not without the con- sent of their parents, and not without attaching them- selves to a religious teacher (upadhyaya) after their admission. It is said that Gautama was urged by his father Suddhodana to require the sanction of parents, in rather touching and remarkable words, to the follow- ing effect : —
' The love for a son cuts into the cuticle (chavi) ; having cut into the cuticle, it cuts into the inner skin (camma) ; having cut into the inner skin, it cuts into the flesh ; having cut into the flesh, it cuts into the tendons (nharu or naharu) ; having cut into the tendons, it cuts into the bones ; having cut into the bones, it reaches the marrow (atthi-miiija), and abides in the marrow. Let not Pabbajja, therefore, be performed on a son without his father's and mother's permission ' (Maha-vagga I. 54).
The admission ceremony of a novice was extremely
^ I hear from Dr. Oldenberg that the mention in his ' Buddha ' of twelve yeai-s as the minimum is a mistake. The age of eight men- tioned by Prof. Ehys Davids as the minimum, must be a modern rule peculiar to Ceylon, if it be admissible at all.
78 THE BUDDHIST ORDER OF MONKS.
simple, and confined to certain acts and words on tlie part of the candidate, witnessed by any competent monk. The Sahgha, as a body, took no part in it. The novice first cut off his hair, put on three yellow ragged garments (tri-civara), adjusted the upper robe so as to leave the right shoulder bare, and then before a monk repeated three times the three-refuge formula :
' I go for refuge to the Buddha (Buddham saranam gacchami).' ' I go for refuge to the Law (Dharmam saranam gacchami).' ' I go for refuge to the Order (Saiigham saranam gacchami).'
Very remarkably, this, the only prayer of true Bud- dhism, resembled the Gayatri or sacred prayer of the Veda (repeated by the Brahma-cari) in consisting of three times eight syllables. But if the Buddhist novice had a right to the Brahma-cari' s sacred cord (upavita), this was probably abandoned on admission. He was then instructed in the Ten Precepts (Dasa-sila or sikkha- pada), which were really ten prohibitions (Maha-vagga
1. 56), requiring ten abstinences (veramani) : —
I. from destroying life (panatipato = pranatipata) ;
2. from taking anything not given (adinnadana) ; 3. from unchastity (abrahmacariya) ; 4, from speaking falsely (musa-vada = mrisha-vada) ; 5. from drinking strong drinks (sura) ; 6. from eating at forbidden times (vikala-bhojana) ; 7. from dancing, singing, music, and worldly spectacles (visfika) ; 8. from garlands, scents, unguents or ornaments ; 9. from the use of a high or broad bed ; i o. from receiving gold or silver. The prohibition not to receive money, even in return for re- ligious teaching or any suppjosed spiritual benefits con- ferred, was held to be most important, and was for a
ADMISSION TO THE MONKHOOD. 79
long time obeyed, though in the end monasteries be- came owners of large property and landed estates.
Of course the Upasampada, or admission to full monkhood (described Maha-vagga I. 76), was a more formal ceremony. A conclave (Sangha) of at least ten monks was required. The candidate had to appear before them, but was first instructed by some competent and learned monk as to the nature of the rite and the questions he would have to answer. This instructor also directed him to choose some other monk competent to act as his Upadhyaya (upajjhaya) or teacher for five years after his admission, and made him provide himself with an alms-bowl and with the usual yellow monkish vestments. Then his first instructor presented himself before the conclave and informed them that the candidate was ready to be admitted. Thereupon the novice came forward, adjusted his upper garment so as to cover the left shoulder, bowed down before the feet of the assembled monks, seated himself on the ground, and, raising his joined hands, asked three times for admission to the full monkhood, thus : — ' I entreat the Sangha for full monkhood (Upasampada), have com- passion on me and uproot me (uUumpatu mam) from the world,' repeated thrice.
Thereupon he was questioned [not, as in our Ordi- nation Service : 'Are you inwardly moved by the Holy Spirit to take upon you this office 1 ' Not : ' Will you apply all your diligence to frame and fashion your own life and that of your family so as to be wholesome examples'?' but] thus: — Are you free from leprosy, boils, consumption, fits, etc. ^, Are you a male 'i Are
8o THE BUDDHIST ORDER OF MONKS.
you a free man and not in the royal service 1 Are you free from debts ? Have you the consent of your parents'? Are you full twenty years old ? Have you an alms-bowl and vestments "? What is your name 1 What is your teacher's name ?
If the answers were satisfactory the candidate was admitted. After admission no prayer was pro- nounced [such as in our Ordination Service : ' We be- seech Thee, merciful Father, send on Thy servant Thy heavenly blessing that he may be clothed with righteousness'^] ; but he was informed that he was to trust to only four Eesources (nissaya), and to abstain from four chief forbidden acts (akaraniyani). These four Eesources and four Prohibitions were then com- municated to him thus : —
First the four Eesources as follow : — (i) Broken morsels given in alms for food ; (2) Eags from a dust- heap for clothes ; (3) Roots of trees for an abode ; (4) Liquid putrefying excreta of cows for medicine. Note, however, that, in practice, indulgences (atirekha- labha) were in all four cases allowed ; such as, better food when it happened to be given, or when invited to dinner by rich laymen ; linen, cotton, or woollen gar- ments, if dyed yellow and in three pieces (but only one change was allowed) ; houses, huts, or caves to dwell in, when not itinerating ; ghee, honey, or molasses when out of health (Maha-v° I. 30. 4).
Next the four chief Prohibitions (compare the Ten Prohibitions, p. 78), viz. : — (i) Unchastity and sexual acts
^ I give these quotations to show the uusuitableness of the term * Ordination ' applied to Pabhujja and Upasampada in the S. B. E.
ADMISSION TO THE MONKHOOD. 8 1
of any kind ; (2) Taking anything not given, even a blade of grass ; (3) Killing any living thing, even an ant, or worm, or plant ; (4) Falsely claiming the extra- ordinary powers of a perfected saint (uttarimanussa- dhamma. Maha-v° I. 78. 2).
Clearly there were great temptations to gain celebrity by claiming such powers, or else this fourth prohibition would not have terminated the ceremony.
So soon as a man was admitted to full monkhood, he went through a five years' course of instruction in the entire doctrine and discipline, under the preceptor (Upadhyaya, Acarya) who had been previously chosen and was required to be of at least ten years' standing.
This was a modification of the Brahmanical rule that a student (Brahma-cari) should study under his preceptor for thirty- six years, or less, until he knew the Veda.
The full Buddhist monk had in theory to dwell under trees or in huts formed of leaves (pan-sala = panna-sala = parna-sala) ; but practically he resided in collections of simple mud or brick tenements, in cells, or in rows of caves hewn out of rocky hills. At any rate, collections of monastic dwellings, called Viharas \ were his usual abode during Vassa (or the rainy season, see p. 82) ; and at such times he had fellow-monks (saddhiviharika) living in companies around him, or in the same monastery.
Strict discipline was supposed to be enforced, and yet
^ In Malia-vagga I. 30. 4, five kinds of dwellings are named besides ti-ees, viz. Viharas, Addhayogas (a kind of house shaped like Garuda), storied dwellings (prasada), mansions (harmya), and caves (guha).
G
82 THE BUDDHIST OEDEE, OF MONKS.
there was no central authority, no Chief Hierarch, no Archbishop whom he was bound ' reverently to obey.'
Offences against the four forbidden acts were called Parfijika apatti, ' offences meriting expulsion from the community of monks (Saiigha).'
Then there were thirteen Saiighadisesa apatti, as well as certain Dukkata or less serious offences, re- quiring only confession before the Sarigha, and dealt with by a Saiigha-kamma, or act of a conclave of monks imposing some penance. There were penances (Prayas- citta) for lying, prevarication, abusive language, de- stroying vegetable or animal life, etc. (see Patimokkha, Padittiya dhamma, and pp. 62, 84). The following practices were also incumbent on all monks : —
(i) The wearing vestments given by laymen (not purchased) and consisting of three lengths of yellow- coloured rags ; or, if entire lengths of cotton cloths were given, the saleable value had to be destroyed by tearing them into at least three pieces, and then sewing them together; (2) The owning no possessions except the three cloths, a girdle, bowl, razor, needle, and water- strainer to prevent the swallowing of animalculae ; (3) The living only on food collected in a wooden bowl by dail}' going from house to house, but without ever asking for it ; (4) The eating at mid-day the one meal so collected and at no other time ; (5) The fasting on four prescribed days ; (6) The abiding in one spot for three or four months during Vassa, ' the rains ' (from middle of June to middle of October), when itineration %vould involve trampling on vegetable and insect life ; (7) The refraining from a recumbent posture under all
monk's daily life. 83
circumstances ; (8) The visiting cremation-grounds for meditation on the corruption of the body.
In truth it might almost be said that in every movement and action, in waking and sleeping, in dressing and undressing, in standing and sitting, in going out and coming in, in fasting and eating, in speaking and not speaking, the Buddhist monk had to submit to the most stringent regulations.
It was a noteworthy feature in Buddhist monachism that monks were never allowed to appear in public in a state of even semi-nudity. ' Properly clad,' says the Sekhiya dhamma (4), ' must the monk itinerate.' * Not nakedness,' says the Dhamma-pada (141), 'can purify a mortal who has not overcome desires.' The monk's three garments (ticlvara = tri-clvara) were an inner one (antara-vasaka), another wound about the thighs (sanghati) and an upper robe (uttarasaiiga) worn loosely and brought round over the left shoulder. This consti- tuted an important distinction between the Buddhist monks and the Jaina and other naked ascetics whose want of decency the Buddha condemned.
The Buddhist monk's daily life probably began by meditation and by his reciting or intoning (Bhana, Sara- bhanna) portions of the Law, or by hearing it recited, followed perhaps by lessons in doctrine, or by discussions or by confessions. Next came itineration for food, fol- lowed by the one noon-day meal. Then came rest and further meditation and recitation, while possibly the senior monks preached to laymen. Such preaching took place especially during Yassa. In later times the daily duties included offering flowers, etc., at sacred shrines,
G 2
84 THE BUDDHIST ORDER OF MONKS.
and repeating so-called prayers, which were merely forms of words used as charms.
To illustrate the immensely meritorious efficacy of constant recitation of the Law, a story is told of five hundred bats that lived in a cave where two monks daily recited the Dharma. These bats gained such merit by simply hearing the sound that when they died they were all re-born as men and ultimately as gods.
Doubtless quarrels and faults of omission and commis- sion occurred among the monks, especially during their residence together in Vassa (miscalled the Buddhist Lent). We read of six monks named Chabbaggiya who were con- stantly committing offences. Hence a day called Pava- rana (Pravarana), ' invitation,' was kept at the end of Vassa, when all were invited to assemble for confession and for felicitation, if harmony had been preserved.
An important part of every monk's duties was confes- sion on Uposatha (Upavasatha) or fast-days (miscalled the Buddhist sabbaths) — wliich were kept at first on two days in each month, at full and new moon (correspond- ing to the Darsaand Paurnamasa days of Brahmanism), and afterwards also at the intermediate days of quarter- moon. On these four Uposatha days the Patimokkha or general confession (p. 62) was recited. The confes- sion was by monks to each other, not by laymen to monks, though the four days were also observed by laymen, and w^e know that Asoka enjoined periodical ceremonies, and expression of sorrow for sins on the part of all his subjects. Such confession did not cause remission of sin or absolution in our sense, but only release from evil consequences by penances (p. 62).
THE SANGHA OR COMMUNITY OF MONKS. 85
We have learnt, then, that Buddhist monks were not under irrevocable vows. They undertook to obey rules of discipline, but took no actual vows — not even of obedience to a superior. Buddhist monkhood was purely voluntary, so that all were free to come and go. It had nothing hereditary about it like the rank of a Brahman.
We have also learnt, that the term ' priest ' is not suitably applied to Buddhist monks. For true Bud- dhism has no ecclesiastical hierarchy, no clergy, no priestly ordination ; no divine revelation, no ceremonial rites, no prayer, no worship in the proper sense of these terms. Each man was a priest to himself in so far as he depended on himself alone for internal sanctificaiion.
Evidently, too, all Buddhist monks were integral parts of one organic whole. It is true that in the end they were collected in various monasteries, each of which practically became an independent Saiigha (each under one Head). But in theory all were parts of one and the same brotherhood, which was republican and communistic in its constitution. And this word Sarigha cannot be correctly rendered by ' church,' if by that term is meant an ecclesiastical body with legislative functions, embrac- ing clergy and laity united in a common faith and under one Head ; for as founded by the Buddha, it was not this. It was simply a vast fraternity intended to em- brace all monks of the four quarters (caturdisa) of the world, from the Buddha himself and the perfected Arhat (p. 133), to every monk of the lowest degree, but not a single layman. Indeed in its highest sense the Sahgha comprised only true Nirvana-seeking monks who had entered the paths of true sanctification (p. 132).
86 THE BUDDHIST ORDER OF MONKS.
And here observe that, notwitlistanding the stigma attached to unmarried women in India, Gautama in the end permitted an Order of Nuns (Pali Bhikkhuni) and female novices (Samanerl, p. 47). The CuUa-vagga (X. I. 3) relates how women were indebted to the intercession of a monk, Gautama's cousin Ananda, for permission to form an Order, and how Maha-prajapati, the Buddha's nurse (p. 24), became the first nun ; yet when Ananda first asked : ' How are we monks to behave when we see women ?' G-autama replied : ' Don't see them.' ' But if we should see them, what are we to do ? ' ' Don't speak to them.' ' But if they speak to us, what then?' 'Let your thoughts be fixed in deep meditation' (Sati upatthapetabba. Maha-parin° V. 23).
Clearly the Buddha was originally a misogynist as well as a misogamist, and wished his followers to be misogynists also. Even when he had been induced to admit the justice of the plea for women's rights, he placed his nuns under the direction of monks. They could only be admitted by monks, and were subject to the male Order in all matters of discipline. They were under eight special obligations, one of which was to rise up in the presence of a monk, even if a novice.
The Buddha's exhortation to the first nun is note- worthy : — ' Whatsoever, 0 Gotami (Maha-prajapati), conduces to absence of passion, to absence of pride, to wishing for little and not for much, to seclusion and not to love of society, to earnest effort and not to indolence, to contentment and not to querulousness, verily that is the true doctrine' (CullaV X. 5).
It was certainly a great gain for a woman when she
LAY-BRETHREN. 8 7
was permitted to become a nun (or a Theri) ; for, as a nun, she could even attain Arhatsliip. This is clearly laid down in Culla-vagga X, i. 3. 4. No woman, how- ever, could attain to Buddhahood without being born as a man, so that it could scarcely be said that in Buddha there is ' neither male nor female.'
Such, then, was the monachism which constituted the very pith and marrow of Buddhism. All truly en- lightened disciples of Buddha were monks or nuns.
Let us not forget, however, that in practice Buddhism admitted lay-brothers, lay-sisters, married householders and working-men, as necessary adjuncts.
Yet they were only appendages. Of course the Buddha knew very well that it was not possible to enforce celibacy on all his followers. He knew that having prohibited his monks from making or taking money or holding property, they would have to depend on lay-associates and householders for food, clothing, and habitation, and that, if every layman were to become a monk, there would be no work done, no food produced, no children born, and in time no humanity — nay, no Buddhism — left.
Universal monkhood, in short, might have been a con- summation to be aimed at in some Utopia ; but was practically unattainable. In fact Gautama had to take the world as he found it, and the very idea of a world perpetuating itself — according to his own theory of a constant succession of birth, decay, and reproduction — implied that a youth, on reaching manhood, married, had children, worked and earned a livelihood for their support. He could not impose this burden on others.
88 THE BUDDHIST OKDEK OF MONKS.
Besides, the generality of people were in Gautama's day what they are in India now-a-days — bent on early marriage, and resolute in working hard for a livelihood. Even Manu only enjoined celibacy on young religious students and on old men, though there were occasional cases of perpetual (naishthika) Brahma-carins.
Without dovibt, ceUbacy in instances of extraordinary sanctity has always commanded respect in India ; but in no country of the world has married life been so universally honoured. It is not very likely, then, that the following sentiments, enunciated by the Buddha, could have met with general approval : —
'A wise man should avoid married life (abrahma- 6ariyam) as if it were a burning pit of live coals' (Dharamika-Sutta 21).
' Full of hindrances is married life, defiled by pas- sion. How can one who dwells at home live the higher life in all its purity 1 ' (Tevijja-Sutta 47).
And in reality Buddha's anti-matrimonial doctrines did excite opposition. The people murmured and said, ' He is come to bring childlessness among us, and widow- hood, and destruction of family-life.' Indeed, the two facts — first, that the foundations of Buddhism were not laid (as those of Christianity notably are), on the hallowed hearth of home and on the sacred rock of family-life with its daily round of honest work ; and — secondly, that the precept enjoining monkhood and abstinence from marriage was not combined with any organized ecclesiastical hierarchy under a central govern- ment, are sufficient to account for the circumstance that Buddhism never gained any real stability in India.
DUTIES OF LAY-BRETHREN. 89
No doubt lay-brethren were always welcomed ; but they were bound to Buddhism by very slender ties in regard to dogma, and were only expected to conform to the simplest possible code of morality.
Probably the only form of admission for a layman was the repetition of the 24 syllables of the three-refuge (tri-sarana) formula : — ' I go for refuge to the Buddha, his Law and his Order ' (p. 78). It was of course understood that he was to abstain from the five gross sins (p. 126), but he was already bound to do so by the rules of Hindu caste and family-religion. The chief test of his Buddhism was his readiness to serve the monks. It was for this reason, I think, that lay- adherents were not called, as might have been ex- pected, Sravakas, ' Hearers,' but simply Upasakas, ' Ser- vers,' and in the case of women Upasikas. They could not be called disciples of Buddha in the truest sense, unless they entered his monastic Order.
Of course the majority of Buddhist householders never cared to do this. Their chief religion consisted in giving food and clothing, earned by daily toil, to the monks ^ If they failed in this, there was only one punishment. They were forbidden the privilege of giving at all, and so of accumulating a store of merit. No monk was allowed to ask them for a single thing. Of course, too, the majority of Buddhist householders
^ Comparing "Western with Eastern Monacliism, I may remark that the chief duty of the lay-brethren attached to the Cistercian monastery at Fountain's Abbey was to wait upon the monks, procure food and cook it for them ; and we learn from the Times of December 24, 1885, that the same duty devolved on the Carthusian lay-brothers.
90 THE BUDDHIST ORDER OF MONKS.
were worldly-minded ; they were no believers in ultra- pessimistic views of life. They looked for a life in some heaven, not Nirvana. Yet in theory all laymen might enter the paths of sanctification (p. 132), and thousands of earnest men are said to have done so \
A layman's progress, however, towards Arhatship, ex- cept through monkhood and abandoning the world, was almost hopelessly barred. At page 264 of the Milinda- panha it is implied that an earnest layman might be- come an Arhat, even while still a layman, but he had either to enter monkhood or else to pass away in Pari-nirvana (p. 140) at the moment of becoming so.
The best proof of the truth of this view of the matter is, that after a layman had attached himself to the Buddha, the Law, and the Order, he was not required to undergo any initiatory ceremony, like bap- tism, or to receive any stamp of membership, or to assume a peculiar dress, or to give up all belief in his family religion, or caste-customs. In short, he did not as a lay-brother break entirely with Hinduism.
That universal tolerance was of the very essence of Buddhism is indicated by Asoka's twelfth edict: — 'The beloved of the gods honours all forms of religious faith — there ought to be reverence for one's own faith and no reviling of that of others.' Compare p. 126.
Nor did Gautama himself ever set an example of intolerance. He never railed at the Brahmans. He treated them with respect, and taught others to do so ;
^ The Chronicles of Ceylon state that 80,000 laymen entered the paths in Kashmir. Compare Divyfivadana, p. 166, line 12 ; jj. 271, 12.
LATER HIERARCHY. 9 1
and even adopted the title Brahmana foi' his own saints and Arhats (Dhamma-pada 383-423).
What he opposed was priestcraft and superstition, not Brahmanism ; as indeed other reformers had done before him. Probably the great receptivity of Buddhism was one of the causes that led to its decay in India.
Yet Gautama's victory over one of the most inveterate propensities in human nature — the tendency to seek salvation through a mediatorial caste of priests — was a wonderful achievement. This is proved by the fact that his followers in other countries became re-entan- gled in a network of priestcraft, even more enslaving than that out of which he had rescued them.
Koeppen, Khys Davids, and other writers have well shown that the Buddhism of Tibet, with its Pope- like grand Lamas — its cardinals and abbots, monks and mendicant friars, nuns and novices, canonized saints and angelic hosts, temples and costly shrines, monas- teries and nunneries, images and pictures, altars and relics, robes and mitres, rosaries and consecrated water, litanies and chants, processions and pilgrimages, confes- sions and penances, bell-ringing and incense — is in every- thing, except doctrine, almost a counterpart of the Romish system. How little could the Buddha have fore- seen such a development of his brotherhood of monks, whose chief duties were meditation and itineration !
And what is to be said of the present condition of the Buddhist monkhood'? Do we see anywhere evi- dences of that enlightenment of mind which Buddhism claims as its chief characteristic 1
When I was travelling in Ceylon, I met a few learned
92 THE BUDDHIST ORDER OF MONKS.
monks, but the majority seemed to me idle, ignorant, and indifferent.
In Burma the monks are called Pungis (Phongies), and are a little more active. Every youth in Burma is supposed for a time to inhabit a monastery.
In Tibet the monks are called Lamas (a lower title being Gelong) and constitute a large proportion of the population. They are slaves to gross superstitions. Some are mere devil-charmers, a belief in the power of evil spirits being the chief religion of the people.
In China the monks are called Ho-shang (or Ho-sang) . They constitute the only section of the population who have a right to be called Buddhists, though, after all, they are mere pseudo-Buddhists. Professor Legge in- forms me that he has known a few learned men among them, and learned works have been written by them. But the general testimony of Europeans in China is that the mass of the monks there are simply drones, or aimless dreamers, who go through their repetitions by rote. Almost all are conspicuous for apathy, inertness, and a vacant idiotic expression of countenance.
Clearly we have in their condition an example of the fact that even moral restraint, if carried to the extreme of extinguishing all the natural affections and desires, must inevitably be followed by a Nemesis. Surely we have in these monkish fraternities an illustration of the truth that any transgression of the laws of nature, common-sense, and reason — any suppression of the primaiy instincts of humanity, must in the end incur the penalty attached to every violation of the eternal ordinances of God.
LECTUEE y.
The Philosophical Doctrines of Buddhism.
One of the most noteworthy points in the early history of Buddhistic thought is that while Gautama Buddha denied the existence of Brahma as a personal Creator, and repudiated the Veda and all Vedic sacrifices and ceremonial observances, he at the same time made the philosophical teaching of the Brahmans the point of departure for his own peculiar philosophical teaching.
Another noteworthy point is that while Buddhism was undoubtedly a modification of philosophical Brah- manism, the latter was also modified by an interchange with Buddhistic ideas.
It may certainly be questioned whether Gautama himself, in the early stages of his career, ever caused much offence to the most orthodox Brahmans by the free expression of his opinions. He did not spare either his criticism or sarcasm, but it is well known that the Brahmans were not only tolerant of criticism; they w^ere equally critical themselves, and delighted in con- troversial discussions, as they do to this day.
In the Tevijja-Sutta an account is given of a dis- cussion in which, though Gautama expressed himself strono-lv, he does not seem to have excited any wrath in his opponent — a Brahman named Vasettha.
94 THE rniLOSOPHICAL DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM.
The argument attributed to the Buddha is so re- markable that a portion of it may be given here : —
* Then you say, Vasettha, that not one of the Brah- mans, or of their teachers, or of their pupils, even up to the seventh generation, has ever seen Brahman (the God of the Brahmans) face to face. And that even the Rishis of old, the utterers of the ancient verses, which the Brahmans of to-day so carefully intone and recite precisely as they have been handed down — even they did not pretend to know or to have seen where or whence or whither Brahman is. So that the Bralimans versed in the three Vedas have forsooth said thus : " To a state of union with that which we know not and have not seen, we can show the way and can say : * This is the straight path, this is the direct way which leads him who acts according to it, into a state of union with Brahman ^' "
* Now what think you, Vasettha 1 Does it not follow, this being so, that the talk of the Brahmans, versed though they be in the three Vedas, is foolish talk 1
' Verily, Vasettha, that Brahmans versed in the three Vedas should be able to show the way to a state of union with that which they do not know, neither have seen — such a condition of things has no existence.
' As when a string of blind men are clinging one to the other, neither can the foremost see, nor can the middle one see, nor can the hindmost see, just so is the talk of the Brahmans versed in the three Vedas \'
These no doubt were trenchant words, but it might easily be shown that the Brahmans themselves did not
» Sec Tevijja-Sutta, S. B. E. §§ 14, 15.
THREE WAYS OF SALVATION IN BRAHMANISM. 95
scruple to use almost as strong language against their own revelation. For instance, the Chandogya Upani- shad (p. 473) speaks of the Veda as ' mere name' (nama eva). The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad declares that when a man is in a condition of knowledge, ' the gods are no gods to him, and the Veda no Veda ;' and the Mundaka describes the sacrificial Veda as ijiferior to Brahma-vidya.
And in truth every Hindu was allowed to choose one of three ways of securing his own salvation.
The first was 'the way of works' (Karma-marga), that is to say, of sacrifices (Yajna), of ceremonial rites, of lustral washings, penances and pilgrimages, as enjoined in the Mantra and Brahmana portion of the Veda, in Manu, the Law-books and parts of the Puranas.
The second was * the way of faith ' (bhakti), meaning by that term devotion to one or other of certain com- monly worshipped personal deities, — a way leading in later times to the worship of Siva and Vishnu (un- folded in the Puranas), and involving merely heart- devotion, without sacrificial or ceremonial acts.
The third was ' the way of knowledge' (Jnana), as set forth in the Upanishads.
The mediaeval Brahman Kumarila — a really historical teacher — advocated the first way ; another teacher of less note, Sandilya, advocated the second ; another cele- brated historical teacher, Sankara, advocated the third.
Even in Gautama's time any one of these ways or all three together might be chosen, so long as the authority of the Brahmans was not impugned.
This, at least, is the general teaching of the Bhagavad-
96 THE PHILOSOPHICAL DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM,
gita — an eclectic work which is the most popular ex- ponent of the Hindu creed \
Yet even the Author of the Bhagavad-glta had a preference for the way of knowledge. In one passage (IT. 42) he describes the Veda as ' mere flowery doc- trine' (pnshpita vac), and is careful to point out that works must be performed as acts of devotion leading to absorption into the Supreme (Brahma-nirvanam).
Indeed there can be no doubt that it was generally held by the Brahmans of Buddha's time that the way of knowledge was the highest way. But this way was not open to all. It was reserved for the privileged few — for the more intellectual and philosophically- minded Brahmans. The generality of men had to content themselves with the first and second ways. ; What the Buddha then did was this: — First he stretched out the right hand of brotherhood to all mankind by inviting all without exception to join his fraternity of celibate monks, which he wished to be co-extensive with the world itself. Then he abolished the first and second ways of salvation (p. 95), that is, Yajiia, ' sacrifices,' and Bhakti, ' devotion to personal gods,' and substituted for these meditation and moral conduct as the only road to true knowledo^e and emanci- >' pation. And then, lastly, he threw open this highest way
^ The venerable SvamI Sri Saccidananda SarasvatT, in sending me a copy of the Bhagavad-glta with a metrical commentary, says, ' It is the best of all books on the Hindu religion, and contains the essence of all kinds of religions philosoiihy.' I find in the Madras Times for October 29, 1886, the following : ' At a meeting of the " Society for the Propagation of True Religion," at 6 j)-m. to-day, tlie Bhagavad- glta will be read and explained.'
THE Buddha's one way of salvation. 97
of true knowledge to all who wished to enter it, of whatever rank or caste or mental calibre they might be, not excepting the most degraded.
Without doubt the distinguishing feature in the Buddha's gospel was that no living being, not even the lowest, was to be shut out from true enlightenment.
And here it will be necessary to inquire more closely into the nature of that knowledge which the Buddha thus made accessible to every creature in the universe.
Was it some deep mystery ? Some occult doctrine of physical or metaphysical science 1 Some startling revelation of a law of nature never before imparted to the world 1 Was the Buddha's open way very different from the old, well-fenced-off Brahmanical way ?
Of one point we may be certain. He was too sensible to cast aside all ancient traditions. Nor was he a mere enthusiast claiming to be the sole possessor of a new secret for regenerating society.
Unhappily, however, we are here met by a difficulty. The Buddha never, like Muhammad, wrote a book, or, so far as we know, a line. He was the Socrates of India, and we are obliged to trust to the record of his sayings (see p. 38). Still we have no reason to doubt the genuineness of what was for some time handed down orally in regard to the doctrines he taught, and we are struck with the fact that Gautama called his own knowledge Bodhi (from hudh, 'to understand'), and not Veda (from vid, ' to know '). Probably by doing so he wished to imply that his own knowledge was attainable by all through their own intuitions, inner consciousness, and self-enlightening intellect, and was
H
98 THE PHILOSOPHICAL DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM.
to be distingiusheJ from Veda or knowledge obtainable through the Brahnians alone, and by them through supernatural revelation only. Hence, too, he gave to every being de.^tined to become a Buddha the title Bodhi-sattva (Bodhi-satta), 'one having knowledge derived from self-enlightening intellect for his essence.'
But it should be noted, that even in the choice of a name derived from the Sanskrit root hudli, the Buddha only adopted the phraseology of the Sahkhya philo- sophy and of the Brahmanas. The Sankhya system made Buddhi, ' intellect,' its great principle (Mahat), and the Satapatha-bralimana called a man who had attained to perfect knowledge of Self prati-buddha \ It may be pointed out, too, that Manu (IV. 204) uses the same root when he calls his wise man Budha.
Moreover, the doctrines which grew out of his own special knowledge Gautama still called Dliarma (Dham- ma), ' law,' using the very same term employed by the Brahmans — a term expressive of law in its most com- prehensive sense, as comprising under it the physical laws of the Universe, as well as moral and social duties.
In what, then, did the Buddha's Dharma differ from that of the Brahmans 'i One great distinction certainly was that it contained no esoteric (rahasya) and meta- physical doctrines in regard to matter and spirit, reserved for the privileged few ; yet some of its root- ideas were after all mere modifications of the Sankhya, Yoga, and Vedanta systems of philosophy. His way of knowledge, though it developed into many paths, had
^ XIV. 7, 2. 17. This was first pointed out by Professor A. Weber.
ALL LIFE IS MISERY. jqj
the same point of departure. It was a knowledge -al the truth, tliat all life was merely one link in a series of successive existences, and inseparably bound up witli misery. Moreover as there were two causes of that misery — lust and ignorance — so there were two cures.
The first cure was the siifiwession of lust and desire, especially of all desire for continuity of existence.
Tlie second cure was the removal of ignorance. Indeed Ignorance was, according to Gautama, the first factor in the misery of life, and stands first in his chain of causation (p. 102). Not, however, the Vedantist's ignorance — not ignorance of the fact that man and the universe are identical with God, but ignorance of the four truths of Buddhism (p. 43) : — ignorance that all life is misery, and that the misery of life is caused by in- dulging lusts, and will cease by suppressing them.
It would be easy to show how all Indian philosophy was a mere scheme for getting rid of the bugbear of metempsychosis, and how common was the doctrine that everything is for the worst in the worst of all possible worlds. This was taught by the Brahmans five centuries B.C., and continued to be a thoroughly Hindu idea long after the disappearance of Buddhism. Wit- ness the following from the Maitrayani Upanishad : —
In this weak body, ever liable
To wrath, ambition, avarice, illusion,
To fear, grief, envy, hatred, separation