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. 11
BUDDHISM
, W. RHYS DAVIDS
mon*Cbrfstfan IRelfafous
U D D H I S M
A SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS
OF GAUTAMA, THE BUDDHA,
BY
T. W. RHYS DAVIDS, PH.D., LL.D.,
OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW ',
AUTHOR OF " BUDDHIST BIRTH STORIES," " BUDDHIST SUTTAS," ETC. ;
PROFESSOR OF PALI AND BUDDHIST LITERATIRK IN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE,
LONDON; SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY.
tihous.miX
A NEW AND REVISED EDITION. WITH MAP.
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE GENERAL LITERATURE
COMMITTEE.
LONDON :
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,
NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, w.c. ; 43, QI-KEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.
NEW YOKK : E. & J. B. YOUNG & CO.
1894.
PREFACE TO THE FIFTEENTH THOUSAND.
WHEN this little manual of Buddhism was first
written in 1877, the number of European books on
the subject was indeed not small, but the number of
accessible authorities or texts by the Buddhists them-
selves was very small indeed. It was therefore a
very venturesome undertaking to attempt to give an
account of a system on which its European interpreters
differed irreconcilably, at a time when they could not
be brought to bar before the original authorities.
There were two points especially, which to have mis-
understood would have meant to have failed in the
attempt the actual facts of the life of the Buddha him-
self, and the real meaning of his ideal of life, of what
in other words was always called, in the European
books, Nirvana. Seventeen years have now elapsed.
Nearly half the original authorities have since appeared
in texts or translations, or both, and ample opportunity
has been afforded to scholars to point out any errors
that had been committed. The result is very encour-
aging. The conclusions arrived at in 1877 have been
throughout confirmed by the more recent publications
of ancient texts, and have even been adopted and cir-
culated by authors who have not deemed it necessary
IV PREFACE.
to refer to the manual in which these conclusions
were for the first time stated.
Had the manual been written now it would doubt-
less have assumed a different form. The European
authorities would have been altogether ignored, and
the original texts only have been used as the authorities
referred to. In the present edition the notes have
been altered so as to give the older authorities, where
they have since become accessible, instead of the
later ones originally referred to ; but in several places
it has been thought better to retain the references to
the later books, as they enable the reader to see the
course of development of Buddhist belief (more es-
pecially as regards the ever-growing legendary additions
to the life of Buddha). The principal cases where
the references to the later authorities have been thus
retained will be found on pp. 13, 51, 56, 81, 82.
The only other change of importance which I have
ventured to. adopt is with regard to the division of
Buddhist literature (universally accepted when I first
wrote) into so-called "Northern" and "Southern"
Buddhism. This nomenclature is misleading. The
oldest books, whether Pali or Sanskrit, were neither
North rn nor Southern, but were alike composed in
the valley of the Ganges. The use of the terms in ques-
tion had its origin in the fact that our MSS. of those
books had come respectively from Ceylon and Nepal ;
and the term " Northern Buddhism' was extended to
the very different systems prevailing in Tibet, China,
and Japan, notwithstanding the fact there is no such
unity as "Northern Buddhism." The use of the
PREFACE. V
terms " Northern " and " Southern " leads to mis-
conceptions so serious that I trust it will disappear
from all works on Buddhism written by scholars. In
the present edition these loose and misleading ex-
pressions, though rendered so popular by the influence
of Burnouf, have therefore been throughout replaced
by more accurate and more useful descriptions.
The progress of time has rendered necessary a few
verbal changes, and the alteration of some of the
figures in the statistical tables given on pp. 4 6. And
owing to the important work of the Pali Text Society,
the lists on pp. 18 21 have required reconstruction.
With these exceptions the little volume remains as it
was. No one is more sensible than its author of its
many imperfections. But no one is more surprised
than himself to fiffrj that a work written originally
under so many difficulties requires now so few alter-
ations. He ventures to indulge the hope that it may
have contributed somewhat to the interest which is
now increasingly taken in one of the most instructive
chapters in the history of human thought. The
Dialogues of Gautama ought indeed to rank, in all our
schools of learning, with the Dialogues of Plato ; and
the study of the evolution of ideas in the valley of
the Ganges may be justly expected to throw a welcome
light on some of the most important problems in the
history of our race.
T. W. RHYS DAVIDS.
TABLE OF CONTENTS,
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION.
Statistics of Buddhism, 3 ; of other religions, 6 ; extent of the
subject and limits of this work, 8 ; sources of information,
9; authorities relating to the life of Gautama, II ; estimate of
their value, 15.
APPENDIX : List of the Pitakas, 18 ; size of the Pitakas, 19.
CHAPTER II. THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA (PART I.).
The Aryans in the sixth century B.C., 22; the Sakyas, 25;
Gautama's birth, 26 ; his names, 27 ; his marriage, 28 ; the
four visions, 29; birth of his son Rahula, 30; he abandons
his home, 31 ; studies under the Brahmans, 33 ; his self-
mortification, 34; he gives up penance, and his disciples
desert him, 35 ; the temptation, 36 ; the victory, the attain-
ment of Buddha-hood, 39 ; the after-doubt, 41 ; his meeting
with Upaka, 42 ; reception by his former disciples, 43 ; the
foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness, 45 ; the first
sermon, 47 ; the first converts, 49.
APPENDIX : Gautama's wife and relations, 50.
CHAPTER III. THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA (PART II.).
The first lay disciples, 53 ; sending out the sixty, 55 ; the
season of was, 57 ; conversion of Kasyapa, 58, sermon on
fire, 59 ; return to Rajagriha, 61 ; Bimbisara's gift of Velu-
vana, 62 ; the Savaka Sannipata, 63 ; discontent of the people,
63 ; return home, 64 ; interview with his father, 65 ; inter-
view with his wife, 66; Rahula admitted to the Order, 67;
other accessions to the Order, 68 ; the gift of Jetavana, 69 ;
chronicle of the ministry, 70 ; Dewadatta, 75 ; Gautama's
last days, 77 ; Buddhism and Brahmanism, 83.
CHAPTER IV. THE ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM
The Pitakas, our oldest authority, 86 ; ultimate facts, 87 ; the
Skandhas, 90 ; Buddhism denies the existence of the soul,
93; transmigration, 99 ; Karma, loi ; the Four Truths, 106;
the Four Paths, 108 ; the Ten Fetters, 109 ; Nirvana, 1 10.
APPENDIX: Passages in which Nirvana is mentioned, 120.
Viii TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER V. BUDDHIST MORALITY.
The Fruit of the Noble Path, 124; Buddhist Beatitudes, 125 ;
the true treasure, 127; Scripture verses, 128; parable of the
mustard-seed, 133 ; parable of the sower, 134 ; other para-
bles, 135 ; summary of lay duty from the Dhammika Sutta,
137; the Ten Sins, 142; the Sigalovada Sutta, 143; con-
cluding remarks, 148.
CHAPTER VI. THE ORDER OF MENDICANTS.
Cause of the foundation of the Order, and its re? ults, 1 50 ;
Scripture verses, 153; form of admission to the Order, 158;
rules of the Order as to food, 163 ; residence, 164 ; clothing,
165 ; poverty, 166 ; obedience, 168 ; daily life of the mendi-
cants, 169; summary, 170; jhana, 174.
CHAPTER VII. THE LEGEND OF THE BUDDHA.
The Buddhas, 179; miraculous birth of Gautama, 182; pro-
phecies regarding the child, 183; the holy child, 184; the
Chakravartl parallel, 188 ; wonders at Gautama's death, 189;
the legend as sun-myth, 190 ; local legends, 194 ; the Buddha
as Catholic saint, 196 ; the Buddha as the Man in the MOOR,
197.
CHAPTER VIII. TIBETAN BUDDHISM.
Theory of the Buddhas, 199 ; Manjusri, 201 ; Avalokitesvara,
203; Vajrapanl, 203; the Dhyani-Buddhas, 204; Adi-Bud-
dha, 206 ; the Tantra system, 208 ; praying wheels and
flags, 210.
CHAPTER IX. SPREAD OF BUDDHISM.
Date of Gautama's death, 212; the First Council, 213; the
Second Council, 215; Chandragupta, 220; Asoka, 222; the
Third Council, 224 ; Asoka's missionaries, 226 ; Mahinda,
228; Sanghamitta, 230; the Bo tree, 231 ; the Pitakas re-
duced to writing, 233 ; Buddhaghosha, 235 ; Java and Suma-
tra, 236; Kanishka, 237; Kanishka's Council, 238; Chi-
nese Buddhism, 240 ; the Korea and Japan, 241 ; Chinese
pilgrims, 242 ; Buddhism expelled from India, 245 j the
Lamaism of Tibet, 246.
TRANSLITERATION OF PALI WORDS,
THE earliest form of the Pali language for which an alphabet
was made, was written in the square letters of which the earliest
forms preserved to us are found in Asoka's inscriptions. But
Pali writers learnt very early to distinguish between the language
and its alphabet, and the square letters fell out of use, the lan-
guage being written in the alphabets in use in the different
countries Ceylon, Burma, and Siam where the language was
still studied. European writers on Pali have in like manner
followed the excellent practice of printing Pali texts in European
characters ; disregarding, of course, the peculiarities of the pre-
sent unscientific, and unpractical English system. 1 In this work
Pali words are accordingly printed in English letters, subject to
the following remarks on pronunciation :
VOWELS. A, when the accent falls upon it, represents the
sound of short a in the French or German : when the accent
docs not fall upon it, the sound of the u in our word kut.
A represents the former sound doubled our a in father.
I represents our i in hit ; I, the same sound doubled.
U represents our oo in foot ; u, the same sound doubled.
E and O are always long when they close a syllable, always
short when they do not. Hence the long mark is needless, and
is not used. Short e is pronounced as our e in met ; long e, as
our a in mate ; short o, as our o in lot ; long o, as our oa in boat.
Ai and au, as in our words ' eye ' and ' how. 1
CONSONANTS. The h is always fully audible ; for instance
kh, as in ' seek him ' ; th, as in ' at home.'
rh is our ng. It is a pity there is not a more distinct sign for
this sound, which contains neither an m nor an , nor a^-.
c is our ch (tsh).
5 is the Spanish n, our ny.
1 See the strongly-expressed opinion of Mr. Fausboll at the
end of the preface to his edition of the Jatakas an opinion* with
which I heartily concur. Also Weber, 'Ind. Stud.,' iii. 185.
2 TRANSLITERATION OF PALI WORDS.
I represents the first part of the compound sound represented
bye. The th, d, dh, n and s follow it ; i. e. , they are all pronounced
by placing the tongue against the point where the palate passes
into the gum, a quarter of an inch or more behind the teeth.
t, th, d, dh, n, and 1 are pure dentals ; that is, they are
pronounced by placing the tongue at the root of the teeth, or
against the teeth, so that t and d are very slightly aspirate. We
do not in English make this distinction between t and t, but our
t is much more often t than t, and care is therefore necessary in
pronouncing all the dentals.
v (or rather the corresponding native character) is always pro-
nounced w by native scholars. Formerly it may have been
v or either v or w, except after a consonant, when it was cer-
tainly w, as in dve (pronounced dwe).
The other consonants call for no remark ; but it should be
noticed that double consonants are pronounced double, one of
the chief beauties of Pali, as of Italian. Patta is pat-ta not pata.
If the double consonant already represents a compound sound,
only the former of the two can be doubled, saSna = san-nya ;
kukucca, pronounced, koo-koot-tsher.
There is great difficulty in choosing between the use of the
Sanskrit and the Pali forms of proper names' and technical
terms. I have much doubt, for instance, whether I have done
right to use the Sanskrit form Gautama 1 instead of the Pali
Gotama. When either of the forms would be particularly un-
couth, or difficult for Englishman to pronounce, I have chosen
the other : writing, therefore, Moggallana, not Maudgalyayana ;
and Karma, not Kamma ; which Englishmen would inevitably
pronounce Kama. I have kept the Pali forms of a few words
distinctively Pali, and have used forms neither Sanskrit nor
Pali for one or two words (Nirvana and Pitaka for instance)
which may be considered to have become English.
1 Pronounce the first syllable as in ' how,' the second and
third exactly as in 'handsomer.' The accent falls on the first
syllable.
BUDDHISM,
CHAPTER L
INTRODUCTION.
SEVERAL writers have commerced their remarks on
Buddhism by reminding their readers of the enor-
mous number of its adherents ; and it is, indeed, a
most striking fact, that the living Buddhists far out-
number the followers of the Roman Church, the
Greek Church, and all other Christian Churches put
together. From such summary statements, however,
great misconceptions may possibly arise, quite apart
from the fact that numbers are no test of truth, but
rather the contrary. Before comparing the numbers
of Christians and Buddhists, it is necessary to decide,
not only what Christianity is, and what is Buddhism ;
but also, as regards the Buddhists, whether a firm
belief in one religion should or should not, as far as
statistics are concerned, be nullified by an equally firm
belief in another. The numbers are only interesting
in so far as they afford a very rough test of the in-
fluence which Buddhism has had in the development
of the human race ; and for this purpose they err both
by excess and by defect. In the following tables no
allowance has been made for India, which has been
and is profoundly influenced by the results of the rise
ana fall within it of the Buddhist church. And too
4 INTRODUCTION.
much allowance has been made for China, where three
religions hold to one another an anomalous relation
quite unexampled in history ; for almost every China-
man would probably profess himself a believer in the
philosophy of Konfucius, while he would also worship
at both Buddhist and Tao temples. It would, how-
ever, be as impossible to express numerically the in-
fluence of Buddhism in India, as it would be to
subtract from the Chinese numbers so as to show
how much of the average Chinaman was Buddhist,
and how much Taossean or Konfucian. Perhaps the
deficiency is balanced by the excess ; in any case, we
must leave the numbers as they are. The following
are the tables referred to, giving the nearest approxi-
mation possible to the actual number of living Bud-
dhists as compared with the number of the adherents
of other religions :
Southern Buddhists.
In Ceylon 1 2,000,000
,, Burma 2 6,888,076
,, Other parts of India 2 243,677
,, Siam 3 10,000,000
,, Anam 3 12,000,000
Total about 31,000,000
1 According to the Ceylon census, 1891. The total number
of inhabitants was 3,008,546. The rest are Hindus and
Muhammadans.
2 From the Indian census of 1891. Out of Burma the
majority are in Bengal, where there are about 185,000. In
this edition people entered as Jains in the census have been
omitted from my table. Their number in 1891 was 909,715.
3 According to native military returns, which give only the
number of males. The totals are therefore conjectural.
STATISTICS.
Northern Buddhists.
Dutch possessions and Bali ' 50,000
British possessions 2 500,000
Russian possessions 3 600,000
Lieu Khen Islands 4 1,000,000
Korea 4 8,000,000
Bhutan and Sikhim 5 1, 000,000
Kashmir 6 200,000
Tibet 4 6,000,000
Mongolia 4 2,000,000
Mantchuria 4 3,000,000
Japan 7 40,453,461
Nepal 8 500,000
China proper 9 (18 prov.) 414,686,994
Total about 479,000,000
1 The Javanese are now Muhammadans. The Buddhists in the
island are from China or Siam. For Bali, see Dr. Friedrich's
paper in the Journal of the R. A. Soc., 1876, viii. p. 196.
* Chiefly in Spiti, Assam, Further India, and Hong Kong.
There are rather more than 200,000 Kirghis and Kalmuk
Tartars on the lower banks of the Volga in Europe, and an
increasing number of Burials and others in South Siberia, where
Buddhism is still extending (Schlagintweit, ' Buddhism in Tibet,'
p. 12; Keith-Johnston, 'Physical Atlas,' pi. 34).
4 Keith-Johnston, ' Physical Atlas,' ed. 1856, estimates these
states tributary to China to contain 35,000,000 inhabitants. So
far as I can gather, this seems to be too much. The total of
the above estimate is 20,000,000.
* The 'AllgemeineZeitung,' Jan. 1862, apud Schlagintweit ioc.
tit., gives one and a half million.
6 The inhabitants of Kashmir proper are almost entirely
Muhammadans. The Buddhists are nearly confined to Li-dak.
7 From a census, year not stated, quoted in Whitaker's
Almanac, 1894.
8 The total population is about two and a half millions, of
whom the majority are now Hindus.
9 Schopenhauer says (' Parerga et Paralipomena,' p. 128),
BUDDHISM.
The following table will show at a glance the rela-
tive numbers of the different religions, and the per-
centage each bears to the whole :
Parsees *
150,000
1,894,723
7,000,000 \ >e
( ce
75,000,000 ah
152,000,000
100,000,000
200,000,000
155,000,000
500,000,000
103,000,000
ng about per
it. of the total.
:>ut 6 per cent.
12
8
13
12*
40
8
Sikhs'
Jews 3
Greek Catholics*
Roman Catholics*
Other Christians *
Hindus 5
Muhammadans *
Btuldhists
Not included in the above 4
Total about 1,300,000,000
that according to the 'Moniteur de la Flotte,' May, 1857, the
allied armies found, on taking Nanking in 1842, returns which
gave the population at 396,000,000, and that the ' Post Zeitung '
of 1858 contains a report from the Russian mission in Peking
giving the numbers, on authority of state papers, at 414,687,000.
The numbers above are those of the Chinese census of 1842, and
their large total has caused some doubts. They give, however,
a smaller number to the square mile than the English census
gives to Bengal ; while all accounts agree in representing the
population as in many parts extremely dense, and the Chinese
are quite capable of taking a census. I should fancy there has
been very little increase, taking the eighteen provinces together,
during the quarter of a century since 1842.
1 Dosabhoi Framjee, 'The Parsees,' 1858, pp. 52, 56, and
the Indian census.
1 Indian census. It would be incorrect to include them under
Hindus. See my article on Trump's Adi Granth. Acad., 1878.
3 The Rev. Hugh Miller 'On the Numbers of the Jews in all
Ages ' (Trans, of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, vol. iv.
part 2, 1876, pp. 325-331), where full details may be seen.
4 Comp. Berghaus, Atlas : Haeckel, Creation, ii. 333.
* By the Indian census of 1892 there were 189, 195,061 Hindus
STATISTICS. 7
Looked at solely as statistics of actual religious
belief, the foregoing calculations may be utterly mis-
leading, unless used with great care ; they are vitiated
by the attempt to class each man's religion under
one word. In point of fact, each item lies open to
an objection similar to that made above against the
Chinese figures : many of the Ceylonese so-calied Bud-
dhists, for instance, take their oaths in court as Chris-
tians, and most of them believe also in devil-worship,
and in the power of the stais. Their whole belief is
not Buddhist ; many of their ideas are altogether out-
side of Buddhism ; their minds do not run only on
Buddhist lines. On the other hand, such statistics
are full cf value if they enable us to realize in any
degree the enormous numbers of those who are born
and live and die without even once experiencing those
thoughts which make up so much of oui life, and
afford us so much of guidance and support. Not one
of the five hundred millions who offer flowers now
and then on Buddhist shrines, who are more or
less moulded by Buddhist teaching, is only or alto-
gether a Buddhist. But these tables cannot fail to
show how great is the claim on our attention of that
system whose influence over living men they roughly
express.
It is not incorrect to say ' that system.' It may
be true that Buddhism having been adopted by very
savage and very civilized peoples the wild hordes
on the cold table-lands of Nepal, Tartary, and Tibet;
the cultured Chinese and Japanese in their varying
in British India. There must he about 11,000,000 more in the
native states, Nepal, Further India, Bali, Ceylon, Mauritius,
the West Indies, and elsewhere.
8 BUDDHISM.
climes ; and the quiet Sinhalese and Siamese, undei
the palm groves of the South it has been so modi-
fied by the national characteristics of its converts,
that it has developed under these different conditions
into strangely inconsistent, and even antagonistic
beliefs. But, nevertheless, each of these beliefs
breathes more or less of the spirit of the system out
of which they all alike have grown, and can only be
rightly understood by those who have first realized
what that system really was.
To trace all the developments of Buddhism, from
its rise in India in the fifth century B.C., through
its various fortunes there, and its progress in the
countries to which it spread, down to the present
time, would be to write the history of nearly half the
human race during the greater part of that period
within which anything worthy of the name of history
is possible at all. To prepare even the materials for
such a history, the labours of many scholars will be
required for many years to come ; and without a clear
knowledge of the earliest phase of the religion, those
labours would run great danger of being wrongly
directed, and would certainly be constantly spent in
the dark. The following pages will, therefore, be
chiefly devoted to a consideration of Buddhism as it
appears in its earliest records ; with a rapid summary
of the principal lines along which in after-times the
most vital changes, and the most essential develop-
ments took place.
It may, perhaps, be doubted whether our know-
ledge is sufficiently advanced to be stated in that
clear and precise way which a popular treatise
requires. Happily or unhappily, however, there is
li OF THIS INQUIRY. y
aheady a by no means small quantity of popular
literature on the subject; and it will be seen that
enough at least, is known, to correct several of the
most popular conceptions, both about Buddhism, and
about the person of Gautama. Of early Buddhism,
indeed, it is already possible to form an idea, which
in its main features is certainly accurate ; and as
regards Gautama himself, though we know very little,
we know, perhaps, nearly as much regarding the prin-
cipal crises in his life as we are ever likely to ascertain.
Future investigations will give us fuller details regard-
ing early Buddhism, and both greater exactness and
greater certainty regarding the life of its founder, and
they will above all enable us to follow clearly the
development of Buddhism, which runs so remarkably
parallel with that of Christianity.
As to the two former subjects our information is at
present derived from the same ultimate sources the
three Pitakas or Collections, as the canonical books
of the Indian Buddhists are called; the Commen-
taries on the Pitakas ; and the sacred books of the
other Buddhists, which have hitherto received no
inclusive name. It will be seen hereafter that Gautama
Buddha left behind him no written works, indeed, it
is very doubtful whether at the time when "he lived
the art of writing was known in the southern valley
of the Ganges ; but the Buddhists believe that he
composed works which his immediate disciples learned
by heart in his lifetime, and which were handed
down by memory in their original state until they
were committed to writing. This is not impossible :
it is known that the Vedas were handed down in this
manner for many hundreds of years, and none would
B
10 BUDDHISM.
nou dispute the enormous powers of memory to which
Indian priests and monks attained, when written books
were not invented, or only used as helps to memory :
when they could calmly devote their lives to learning
and repeating one or more of those scriptures which
they held to be sacred ; and round which all their
other meagre knowledge centred. 1 But it is quite
clear from internal evidence alone, that this cannot
have been the case with any of the books of the
Chinese Buddhists as yet known to us, or with those
parts of the Pitakas which relate to the life of
Gautama. Tiie orthodox Buddhist belief therefore
falls to the ground, and we are left to our own researches
to ascertain the time when their sacred books were
composed. This has as yet been very imperfectly
done, but it may be stated generally that some of the
Sanskrit books are known to have been translated
into Chinese shortly after the commencement of our
era, and that there is every reason to believe that the
Pitakas now extant in Ceylon are substantially iden-
tical with the books of the Orthodox Canon, as settled
at the Council of Patna about the year 250 B.C. 2
As no works would have been received into the canon
which were not then believed to be very old, the
Pitakas may be approximately placed in the fourth cen-
tury B.C., and parts of them possibly reach back very
nearly, if not quite, to the time of Gautama himself.
1 Even though they are well acquainted with writing, the
monks in Ceylon do not use books in their religious services,
but repeat, for instance, the whole of the Patimokkha on
Uposatha (see p. 140) days by heart.
- On this council, see below, p. 224. A list of these scrip-
tures is given at the end of this chapter.
AUTHORITIES. II
But of this canon, only a very small part has been
published ; and we have as yet to rely a good deal on
later works. Those, both Pali, and Sanskrit, treating
of Buddhist ethics and philosophy, will be considered
further on ; those relating to the life of Gautama are
more especially the following :
I. The ' Lalita Vistara,' the standard Sanskrit work of the
Indian Buddhists on this subject, which, however, only carries
the life down to the time when Gautama came openly for-
ward as a Teacher. It is partly in prose, and partly in verse,
the poetical passages being older than the others. M. Foucaux
has published a translation into French of a translation of this
work into Tibetan. He holds the Tibetan version to have ex-
isted in the 6th century A.D. How much older the present
form of the Sanskrit work may be is quite uncertain. 1 The
Sanskrit text and part of an English translation by Rajendra
Lai Mitra has been published at Calcutta, and Professor
Lefmann, of Heidelberg, is now publishing a translation into
German. The ' Lalita vistara ' is full of extravagant poetical
fictions in honour of Gautama, some of which are not without
litera-ry value ; and it is just as much a poem on the birth and
temptation of Gautama, based on earlier lives of the Teacher,
as Milton's ' Paradise Regained ' is a poem on the birth and
temptation of Christ, based on the accounts found in the
Gospels. Such historical value as it possesses is derived there-
fore from the comparison which it enables us to draw between
the later Sanskrit and the earlier Pali traditions, and from
the light which it throws on the development of the religious
beliefs which sprang up regarding the person of ' the Buddha.'
It is much to be regretted that the earlier Northern accounts
are not at present accessible.
II. The Tibetan accounts, which have been analyzed by two
scholars ; by Alexander Csoma in his ' Notices on the Life of
1 M. Foucaux's work was published in 1847, under the title
'rGyaTcher Rol Pa,' (the r is silent). Foucaux, without any
evidence whatever, assigns the Sanskrit original to Kanishka's
Council (see below p. 239). For other opinions see Senart
496, and Feer, * Journal Asiatique,' 1866, p. 275.
1 2 AUTHORITIES
Shakya extracted from the Tibetan authorities,' 1839, J and, at
greater length, by Anton Schiefner, in his abridged translation 2
of awork written in Tibetan in 1734 A.D., by a Buddhist monk
named Ratna-dharma-raja: Both these accounts are based
chiefly on the ' Lalita Vistara,' the conclusion only of the latter
being drawn from the Sanskrit work mentioned below (No.
III.) [See now Rockhill's 'Life of the Buddha,' 1884, which
is much the fullest and most reliable summary of the Tibetan
traditions.]
III. An abbreviated translation into English of a translation
into Chinese of a Sanskrit work called ' Mahabhinishkramana
Sutra' (the Book of the Great Renunciation, referring to
Gautama's having renounced his home in order to become an
ascetic). The date of the Sanskrit work is unknown ; the trans-
lation into Chinese was made in the sixth century A.D. ; the
English version by the Rev. Samuel Beal was published in 1875,
under the title 'Romantic Legend of Sakya Buddha.' 3
IV. A translation into English of a translation into Burmese
of a Pali work called by Bigandet ' Mallalinkara Wouttoo.'
Neither date nor author is known of the Pali work. The
Burmese translation was made in 1773 A.D. Two editions of the
English version by Bishop Bigandet have appeared at Rangoon in
1858 and 1866, under the title 'The Life or Legend of Gaudama,
the Budha of the Burmese.' This life agrees not only throughout in
its main features, but even word for word in many passages with
the Jataka commentary, to be mentioned below, written in Ceylon
1 In vol. xx. of the 'Asiatic Researches,' pp. 285-296, to
which notes are added.
* Read 3ist May, 1848, before the Academy at St. Petersburg,
and published in the ' Memoires presentes par divers Savants a
1' Academic Imperiale de St. Peterbourg,' vol. vi. livraison 3,
1851, pp. 231-332, 410. Also published separately, under
the title ' Eine Tibctische Lebensbeschreibung Cakyamuni's.
St. Petersburg. 1849, 8vo.'
3 It is based on Chinese amplified versions of Sanskrit texts,
giving a very legendary account of Gautama's life down to the
time when, in his thirty-sixth year, he revisited his father's homo
after openly coming forward as a Teacher.
FOR THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA. 13
in the fifth century. It follows that its original author usually
adhered very closely to the orthodox books and traditions of
early Indian Buddhism ; which were introduced into Burma
from Ceylon in the fifth century.
V. The account published in 1 860 by the Rev. Spence Hardy
in his ' Manual of Buddhism,' based on various Ceylonese books,
most of which date after the twelfth century of our era. As
might be expected, this account is more ample and less reliable
than the last.
VI. The original Pali text of the 'Commentary on the
Jatakas,' written in Ceylon probably about the middle of the
fifth century of our era. The first part of this commentary,
translated into English in my ' Buddhist Birth Stories,' contain;
a life of Gautama down to the time when he revisited his home
after his appearance as a public teacher ; and down to that time
it is the best authority we have. It contains word for word
almost the whole of the life of Gautama given by Tumour, in
his ' Pali Buddhistical Annals,' 1 from the 'Madurattha-vilasinI,'
a commentary on the ' Buddhavansa,' which is the account of
the Buddhas contained in the second I'itaka. The light it throws
on the other accounts is often exceedingly interesting and in-
structive, especially as showing the gradual growth of the super-
natural parts of the biography.
The following instance is a fair sample of the value of the
different authorities. When his relations complain of the future
Buddha that he is remiss in martial and manly exercises, the
Jataka says, that on a day fixed by him he showed his proficiency
in the twelve arts, and his superiority over other archers.
Bigandet's account is equally simple, but the number of ' arts
and sciences ' is eighteen. The later Sinhalese books make him
do wonders with a bow which 1,000 men could not bend, and
1 'Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Soc.,' vol. vii. pp. 797,
et sci]. The Jataka omits only a few very unimportant words in
eleven places ; it gives slightly different versions of six short
passages, and a-lds other paragraphs throughout. The solitary
discrepancy is in the account of the 'competition* referred to
below, p. 29. (Jataka, 58, 19-30, compared with Tumour,
J. 15. A. S. vii. 803, 4.)
14 AUTHORITIES
the twang of whose string was heard for 7,000 miles, and they
say, " The prince also proved that he knew perfectly the eighteen
arts, though he had never had a teacher, and he was equally
well acquainted with many other sciences." Lastly, the
Chinese Buddhists place the whole occurrence at a different
time. Beal has eight pages full of the miracles ascribed to
Gautama on that occasion, and the account in the ' Lalita
Vistara,' in M. Foucaux's translation, is more lengthy and more
miraculous still.
VII. The account in Pali of the death of Gautama from the
second Pitaka. Is is called the ' Mahaparinibbana Sutta.' A
complete edition of it has been published in the 'Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society' (vols. vii. and viii., N. S.) by Prof.
Childers, and a complete English translation in the volume en-
titled ' Buddhist Suttas' by the present writer. 1
This, the oldest and most reliable of all our authorities, can-
not be dated later than the end of the fourth century B.C., nor
earlier than the time when Patna had become an important
town, and relic-worship had become general in the Buddhist
church. It exaggerates the events which are said to have hap-
pened after the death took place, and most of the long sermons
it ascribes to Gautama just before he died are probably com-
positions of the author, including much that was said at other
times, rather than what Gautama then actually said : but in its
main facts the recital bears the impress of truth.
VIII. The above is the only elaborate work contained in the
Pali Pitakas themselves, which is devoted to an account of any
portion of Gautama's life. There are, however, numerous inci-
dental references on which the above later accounts (Nos.
i.-vi.) are more or less based. Of these incidental references
those relating to the period before the day on which Gautama
attained nirvana 2 under the Bo Tree have now been collected
together in Prof. Oldenberg's able and valuable work on
1 In the 'Sacred Books of the East,' Oxford, 1881, vol. xi.
* It is a common blunder to suppose that Gautnma attained
nirvana when he died. The texts distinctly state that he did so
after the mental struggle described below, pp. 36-41.
FOR THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA. 15
' Buddha, sein Lcben, seine Lehre, und seine Gemeinde.'
The opening chapters of the Maha Vagga 1 give a connected
recital of the events following Gautama's attainment of Nirvana,
down to the inauguration of his afterwards celebrated order at
Rajayaha, as described below, p. 63. Another Pali account of
the First Sermon has also been translated by the present writer
in his 'Buddhist Suttas,' pp. 140-155. The publications of the
Pali Text Society will doubtless bring to light other ancient
passages relating to subsequent periods in Gautama's life.
The first three of these accounts depend ultimately
on the Sanskrit works of the later Buddhists, the
last five on the Pali text of the original canon.
These are much the more reliable and complete ; the
former being inflated to a greater length by absurd
and miraculous legends, shorter forms of which occur
in the earlier books. The basis of fact underlying
all the various accounts is sometimes clearly enough,
and sometimes not at all, and more often doubtfully,
recognizable. 2 As there has been very little com-
munication between the two bodies since the third
century B.C., great reliance may reasonably be
placed on those statements in which they agree ;
not indeed as to the actual facts of Gautama's
life, but as to the belief of the early Buddhists con-
cerning it. The following account is based on that
belief, as far as it can be at present ascertained by
1 Now translated by Rh. D. and H. O. in their ' Vinaya
Texts,' Oxford, 1882, vol. i. pp. 73-151.
* M. Senart, in his interesting work 'La Legende du
Buddha,' attempts to trace the origin of many of the latter
legends of both churches, as also of the stories about Vishnu
and Krishna, with which he compares them in the old worship
of the powers of nature, and especially of the sun.
1 6 AUTHORITIES.
a critical comparison of the different authorities.
In endeavouring by such comparison to arrive at
in approximation to the truth, it has not seemed
necessary to me to reject entirely the evidence of
any witness who believes in the miraculous. It is
true that these early writers were not capable of
making due distinction between that which they
thought ought to have happened and that which
actually occurred ; it is true, even, that what they
thought highly edifying is often miraculous, and not
seldom absurd or childish. But it is no less ab-
surd to lose all patience with them on that account ;
and to imagine that the life of Gautama is all a fiction,
and that the Buddhist philosophy, or the still powerful
Order of Buddhist mendicant friars, could have arisen
from the misunderstood development of some solar
myth.
There was certainly an historical basis for the
Buddhist legend ; and if it be asked whether it is at
all possible to separate the true from the false, I
would reply, that the difficulty, though great, is
apt to be exaggerated. The retailers of these
legends are not cunning forgers, but simple-minded
men, with whose modes of thought we can put our-
selves more or less en rapport ; we are getting to
know what kind of things to expect from their hero-
worship, and religious reverence, and delight in the
physically marvellous ; and we are not without infor-
mation as to what was, and what was not, historically
possible in the fifth century B.C. in the eastern valley
nt the Ganges. Scholars will never become unani-
RULES OF CRITICISM. 17
mously agreed on all points ; but they will agree in
rejecting many things, and after allowing for all reason-
able doubts they will agree that there still remain small
portions of the narrative whose existence can only be
explained on the hypothesis that they relate to actual
events. I would maintain, therefore, that some parts
of the story few indeed, but very important, and
sufficient to throw great light on the origin of Buddhism
may already be regarded as historical ; other parts
may be as certainly rejected ; and many episodes
remain, which may be altogether or partly fictitious.
The legends group themselves round a number of
very distinct occurrences ; and, properly speaking,
each such episode should be judged separately, though
of course by the same general rules of criticism. A
complete work on the life of Gautama would thus
compare the different versions of each episode so as
to arrive at its earliest form : it would then discuss
that account in order to ascertain whether all, or if
not, how much of it, could be explained by religious
hero-worship, mere poetical imagery, misapprehension,
the desire to edify, applications to Gautama of pre-
viously existing stories, or sun myths, and so on. It
would be in this, the most difficult part of the inquiry,
that there would always be much difference of opinion;
but some substantial progress could certainly be made.
The size and aim of this little work quite preclude
any such thorough examination. I shall therefore
pass over almost in silence the later forms of the
legend, and such portions of the earlier accounts as
are in my opinion certainly due to one or other of the
causes just referred to.
1 8 LIST OF THE PITA K AS.
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER I.
LIST OK THE THREE PITAKAS, THE SACRED BUCKS OF THE
SOUTHERN BUDDHISTS. 1
Vinaya Pit oka (Discipline, for the Order).
The Pali text has been edited by Prof. Oldenberg: It con-
tains I. The Sutta-vibhangya ; that is, the Patimokkha with
commentary and notes. II. The Khandhakas. III. The
Parivara-patha.
1T. The Patimokkha and the Khandakas are translated into
English by Rh. D. and H. O. in their ' Vinaya Texts.' For
the contents see Rh. D.'s 'Hibbert Lectures, 1881,' pp. 38-44,
and below, p. 162.
Sutta Pitaka (Discourses, for the Laity).
1. Dlgha-nikaya. The collection of 34 long treatises ; one of
which is the Maha-Parinibbana Sutta (see p. 14), now
being edited, with its commentary, by Prof. Rhys Davids'
and J. Eskin Carpenter for the Pali Text Society. Vol.
I. of each has already appeared.
2. Majjhima-nikaya. The collection of 152 treatises of mode-
rate size. Vol. I. edited by Dr. Trenckner.
3. Samyutta-nikaya. Connected Sutras. Vols. I. V. edited.
4. Anguttara-nikaya. Miscellaneous, the largest book in the
three Pitakas. Vols. I. and II. edited by Dr. Morris.
Khuddaka-nikaya. The collection of short treatises. This
is added by one school to the next Pitaka. It contains
I. Khuddaka-patha.. 'Short passages,' published by Mr.
Childers, with English translation, in the 'Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society for 1869.'
1 This list of the Pitakas may be compared with that given
on pp. xxxii xxxviii in the Introduction to my ' Questions of
King of Milinda." An estimate of the number of pages in each
work, and of the number of pages already edited, is there added.
LIST OF THE PITAKAS. 19
2. Dhamma-pada. 'Scripture verses,' published by Mr.
Fausboll in Copenhagen, 1855, with Latin translation.
Translated into German by Professor Weber, ' Zeit-
schrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Geselischaft,'
vol. xiv. 1860; reprinted in ' Indische Streifen,' vol. i.
Translated into English by Professor Max Miiller, as
vol. xi. of the ' Sacred Books of the East,' 1881. A
few verses are re-translated below. See the Index
under Dhainma-pada.
3. Udana. ' Songs of exultation.' Eighty-two short lyrics,
supposed to have been uttered by Gautama under strong
emotion, at important crises in his life. [This book,
as also Nos. 4 9 in this list, has now been edited for
the Pali Text Society.]
4. Iti-vuttaka. One hundred and ten extracts beginning,
" Thus it was spoken by the Blessed One."
5. Sutta-nipata. A collection of 70 didactic poems, all
of which have been translated by Prof. Fausboll in his
'Sutta Nipata,' 1881.
6. Vimana-vatthu. On the celestial mansions.
7. Petavatthu. On disembodied spirits.
8. Thera-gatha. Poems by monks. ) Edited for the Pali
9. Theri-gatha. Poems by nuns. ] Text Soc.
10. Jataka. Five hundred and fifty old stories, fairy tales,
and fables, the most important collection of ancient
folk-lore extant. The Pali text and commentary is
now being edited by Mr. Fausboll, of Copenhagen,
with an English translation by the present writer called
' Buddhist Birth Stories.'
11. Niddesa. A commentary ascribed to Sariputra, on the
latter half of Sutta Nipata (No. 5).
12. Patisambhida. On the powers of intuitive insight
possessed by Buddhist Arahats.
13. Apadana. Stories about Buddhist Arahats.
14. Buddha-vahsa. Short lives of the 24 preceding Bud-
dhas and of Gautama, the historical Buddha. Dr.
Morris has edited this work for the Pali Text Society.
15. Cariya-pitaka. Short poetical versions of some of the
20 BUDDHISM.
Jataka stories, illustrating Gautama's virtue in formei
births. Edited for the Pali Text Society.
i Abhidhamma}-
1. Dhamma-sangani. On qualities of mind. This work has
been edited for the Pali Text Society.
2. Vibhanga. Eighteen treatises of various contents.
3. Katha-vatthu. On controverted points. A summary of
this book has been published by Prof. Rhys Davids in
the 'Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,' 1893.
4- Puggala-pannatti. Explanations of common personal
qualities. The shortest book of this Pitaka, consisting
of about IO,OOO words.
5. Dhatu-katha. On correlations of character. Edited for
the Pali Text Society.
6. Yamaka. 'The Pairs,' that is, on apparent contradictions
or contrasts.
7. Patthana. 'The Book of Origins.' On the causes of
existence.
Great misconceptions have prevailed with regard to the sup-
posed enormous extent of the scriptures contained in the above
list. Thus Spence Hardy says, 2 "in size the Pitakas surpass
all Western compositions," and Sir Coomara Swamy 3 talks of
"the vast mass of original writings, irrespective of the com-
mentaries, in which the doctrines of Buddhism are embodied."
This is much exaggerated, and as it tends to discourage research,
I have made such calculations as will, I hope, settle the point.
By counting the words in ten pages of our Bible I find that it,
exclusive of the Apocrypha, contains between 900,000 and
950,000 words. The number of words in the first 221 verses of
the Dhamma-pada, which are a fair sample of the whole, is
3,001 ; the 431 verses of that book ought therefore to contain
rather less than 6,000 words. Now, the Dhamma-pada, accord-
1 See Rh. D.'s 'Hibbert Lectures, 1881,' p. 49.
2 'Eastern Monachism,' p. 190.
8 ' Sutta Nipata,' p. 10.
NOTE ON THE PITAKAS. 21
ing to Tumour's list, 1 is written on fifteen leaves, and the whole
three Pitakas, exclusive of Nos. 10 and n of the Khuddaka
Xikllya, whose extent is uncertain, are written on 4,382 leaves
of about the same size. This would give 1,752,800 words for
the whole text. To ascertain the relative number of words
required to express the same ideas in English and Pali, I have
also counted the words in Professor Childers's edition of the
Khuddaka Patha, and in his translation. They are respectively
1,242 and 2,344. The Buddhist scriptures therefore, including
all the repetitions, 2 and all those books which consist of extracts
from the others, contain rather less than twice as many words
as are found in our Bible ; and a translation of them into English
would be about four times as long. Such a literature is by no
means unmanageable ; but though the untiring genius and self-
sacrificing zeal of the late Professor Childers, whose premature
death has inflicted so irreparable a loss on Pali scholarship, gave
a new start to Pali philology, no one in England seems to follow
in his steps. Considering the importance of the inquiry, and
the ease with which a student in this department can add to the
sum of existing knowledge, I venture to express a hope that
some of that passionate patience with which older and well-worn
studies are pursued may soon be diverted to this most promising
field.
1 Mahavansa, p. Ixxv.
2 These are so numerous, that without them the Buddhist
Bible is probably even shorter than ours. Thus the whole
of the Dhamma-pada and the Sutta-nipata are believed to be
taken from other books ; and even in the Nikayas whole para-
graphs and chapters are repeated under different heads (the
Subba Sutta, for instance, contains almost the whole of the
Samanfia-phala Sutta, and a great part of the Brahmajala Sutta).
(Compare Rh. D.'s 'Buddhist Suttas,' pp. xxxiv -xxxvi.)
THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
CHAPTER II
THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA, DOWN TO THE TIME OF HIS
APPEARANCE AS A TEACHER.
AT the end of the sixth century B.C. those Aryan
tribes, sprung from the same stem as our own ances-
tors, who have preserved for us in their Vedic songs
so precious a relic of ancient thought and life, had
pushed on beyond the five rivers of the Panjab, and
were settled all along the plains far down into the
valley of the Ganges. Their progress had been very
gradual, and though they had doubtless displaced
many of the Dravidian tribes who previously half-
occupied the land, they had also absorbed many of
the foreigners into their own social organization as
slaves or servants. They had meanwhile given up
their nomadic habits ; they dwelt in villages, here
and there large enough to be called towns ; and their
chief wealth was in land and agricultural produce, as
well as in cattle. They were still divided into clans ;
but the old democratic spirit which made each house-
holder king and priest in his own family, had long
ago yielded to the inroads of class feeling. Their
settled life had given rise to customs which had
hardened into unwritten laws ; and with them, as
elsewhere, these early institutions, though most useful,
even necessary to society, were often productive of
THE ARYAN CLANS. 23
great personal hardship, and always a restraint on
individual freedom.
The pride of race had put an impassable barrier
between the Aryans and the conquered aborigines ;
the pride of birth had built up another between the
chiefs or nobles and the mass of the Aryan people.
The superstitious fears of all yielded to the priest-
hood an unquestioned and profitable supremacy;
while the exigences of occupation, and the ties of
family had further separated each class into smaller
communities, until the whole nation had become
gradually bound by an iron system of caste.
The old childlike joy in life, so manifest in the
Vedas, had died away. The worship of nature had de-
veloped or degenerated into the worship of new and
less pure divinities. And the Vedic songs themselves,
whose freedom was little compatible with the spirit of
the age, had faded into an obscurity which did not
'lessen their value to the priests. The country was
politically split up into little principalities, each
governed by some petty despot, whose interests were
not often the same as those of the community. The
inspiriting wars against the enemies of the Aryan
people, the infidel deniers of the Aryan gods, had
given place to a succession of internecine feuds be-
tween the chiefs of neighbouring clans. And in litera-
ture, an age of poets had long since made way for an
age of commentators and grammarians, who thought
that the old poems must have been the work of gods.
The simple feeling of awe and wonder at the
glorious battles of the storm, and the recurring
victories of the sun, had given way before a debasing
24 THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
ritualism; before the growing belief in the efficacy of
carefully conducted rites and ceremonies, and charms,
and incantations; before the growing fear of the
actual power of the stars over the lives and destinies
of men ; before the growing dependence on dreams,
and omens, and divinations. A belief in the existence
of a soul was probably universal. And the curious
doctrine of transmigration satisfied the unfortunate
that their present woes were the result of their own
actions in some former birth, and would be avoided
in future ones by present liberality to the priests.
Every man's position and occupation were decided
for him by his birth. There was plenty for all of the
few necessaries of life ; and the struggles and hopes
and grinding poverty of a crowded country with the
social arrangements of other times, were quite un-
known. The village lands were usually held in
common by an irrevocable tenure, and the thoughtless
peasantry led, on the whole, quiet and not unhappy
lives under the influence of a social despotism irre-
sistible but not unkindly.
The priests were mostly well-meaning, well-con-
ducted, ignorant, superstitious, and inflated with a
sincere belief in their own divinity; and they in-
culcated a sense of duty, which tempered the des-
potism of the petty rajas, while it bound all the
community in an equal slavery to the ' twice-born '
Brahmans. A few of them also were really learned,
a still smaller number earnestly thoughtful, and there
was no little philosophical or sophistical discussion
in the schools where the younger priests were trained.
The religious use of the Vedas, and the right to
sacrifice, were strictly confined to the Brahmans ; but
THE SAKYAS. 25
they were not the exclusive possessors of such secular
knowledge as could then be acquired, and they divided
the odour of sanctity with ascetics from other castes.
Here and there travelling logicians were willing to
maintain theses against all the world ; anchorites had
their schemes of universal knowledge and salvation ;
ascetics with unwavering faith practised self-torture
and self-repression, in the hope of becoming more
powerful than the gods ; and solitary hermits sought
for some satisfactory solution of the mysteries of
life. The ranks of the officiating priesthood were
for ever firmly closed against intruders ; but a man of
lower caste, a Kshatriya or a Vaisya, whose mind re-
volted against the orthodox creed, or whose heart
was stirred by mingled zeal and ambition, might
find through these irregular openings an entrance to
the career of religious teacher and reformer.
Under some such conditions as these, thus rudely
sketched in outline, an Aryan tribe, named the
Sakyas, were seated, about 500 years before the birth
of Christ, at a place called Kapila-vastu, on the
banks of the river Rohini, the modern Kohana,
about 100 miles north-east of the city of Benares.
That insignificant stream rose thirty or forty miles
to the north of their settlement, in the spurs
of the mighty Himalayas, whose giant peaks loomed
up in the distance against the clear blue of the
Indian sky. The Sakyas had penetrated further
to the east than most of their fellow-Aryans, but
beyond them in that direction was the powerful con-
federation of the Lichchavis, and the rising kingdom
i)f Magadha. To their north were rude hill tril>
Mongolian extraction; \vhile behind them to the
c
26 THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
west lay those lands which the Brahmans held most
sacred. Their nearest neighbours to be feared in
that direction were the subjects of the king of Sra-
vasti, 1 the rival of the king of Magadha. It was this
rivalry of their neighbours more than their own
strength which secured for the Sakyas a precarious
independence ; but their own hand was strong enough
to protect them against the incursions of roving
bands from the hills, and to sustain them in their
quarrels with neighbouring clans of the same standing
as themselves. They lived from the produce of their
cattle and their rice-fields ; their supplies of water
being drawn from the Kohana, on the other side of
which stream lived the Koliyans, a kindred tribe.
With them the Sakyas sometimes quarrelled for the
possession of the precious liquid, but just then the
two clans were at peace, and two daughters of the
raja or chief of the Koliyans were the wives of Sud-
dhodana, the raja of the Sakyas. The story tells us
that both were childless ; a misfortune great enough
in other times and in other countries, but especially
then among the Aryans, who thought that the
state of a man's existence after death depended
upon ceremonies to be performed by his heir. The
rejoicing, therefore, was great when in about the
forty-fifth year of her age the elder sister, 2 promised
her husband a son. In accordance with custom,
she started in due time with the intention of
being confined at her parents' house, but it was
on the way under the shade of some lofty satin-
trees in a pleasant grove called Lumbini, that hei
' See below, p. 69.
* On the names, see Appendix to Chapter II., p. 51.
NAMES OF GAU1AMA. 37
son, the future Buddha, was unexpectedly born. The
mother and child were carried back to Suddho-
dana's house, and there, seven days afterwards, the
mother died ; but the boy found a careful nurse in
his mother's sister, his father's other wife.
As with other men who afterwards became famous,
many marvellous stories have been told about the
miraculous birth and precocious wisdom and power
of Gautama; and these are not without value, as
showing the spirit of the times in which they arose
and grew. It is probable that his having been an
only child, born, as it were, out of due time, the
subsequent death of his mother, and other details of
the story may be due to this instinctive feeling that
his birth must have been different from that of ordi-
nary men.
Even the name Siddhartha, said to have been
given him as a child, may have been a subsequent
invention, for it means ' he who has accomplished his
aim.' But parents of Suddhodana's rank have never
shown much aversion for grand names, and other
Siddharthas are mentioned l who were not at all
peculiarly successful in accomplishing their desires.
However this may be, his family name was certainly
(lautama, and as this was the name by which he was
usually known in after-life, we shall use it throughout
this book. 2 Any other names given to the founder of
1 Perhaps only in post-Buddhistic writings. The name occurs
in various Buddhist works, and in Jaiiia books; but also in the
Ramayana and Mahabharata.
2 Pronunciation, n. I, p. 2. It is a curious fact that Gautama
is still the family name of the Rajput chiefs of Nagara, the vil-
iiieh has been identified with K.ipil.iv.isiu (Cunningham's
'Am. Go'g.,' i. 417). Gautama is often called simply 'the
28 THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
Buddhism are not names at all, but titles. To the
pious Buddhist it seems irreverent to speak of Gau-
tama by his mere ordinary and human name, and he
makes use, therefore, of one of those numerous epithets
which are used only of the Buddha, the Enlightened
One. Such are Sakya-sinha, ' the lion of the tribe
of Sakya;' Sakya-muni, 'the Sakya sage; 5 Sugata,
' the happy one ; ' Sattha, ' the teacher ; ' Jina, ' the
conqueror ;' Bhagava, ' the blessed one ; ' Loka-natha,
' the Lord of the world ; ' Sarvajna, ' the omniscient
one ; ' Dharma-raja, ' the king of righteousness,' and
many others. These expressions, like the Swan of
Avon, may have had very real significance in moments
of poetic fire. But their constant use among the Bud-
dhists tended, not to bring into clearer vision, but to veil
the personality of Gautama, and their constant use as
names by modern writers arises simply from mistake.
There seems to be no reason to doubt that Gau-
tama was very early married to his cousin the daughter
of the raja of Koli (see p. 50) ; but the next episode
in the biographies is probably due to the influences
just referred to. According to most of the southern
accounts, his relations soon after complained in a body
to the raja Suddhodana that his son, devoted to home
pleasures, neglected those manly exercises necessary
for one who might hereafter have to lead his kinsmen
in case of war. Gautama, being told of this, is said
to have appointed a day by beat of drum to prove his
skill against all comers, and by surpassing even the
cleverest bowmen, and showing his mastery in ' the
twelve arts,' to have won back the good opinion of
Rujput' in the earlier portions of the Northern biographies
(Klaproth's note in ' Foe Koue Ki.' p. 203).
FOUR VISIONS. 29
the complaining clansmen. 1 The Sanskrit accounts
and the Madhurattha-vilasim make this competition
take place before his marriage, and for the hand of
his wife ; ami there are other discrepancies. No re-
liance can therefore be placed on the actual occur-
rence of this episode, the rise of the story being
easily explicable, as suggested above, by the universal
desire to relate wonderful things of the boyhood of
men afterwards famous. It is instructive to notice
that we find most discrepancies in the accounts of
those parts of the story which are most improbable,
a consideration which confirms, I think, the authority
of those other parts, in themselves not improbable, in
which all the accounts agree.
This is the solitary record of his youth. We hear
nothing more until in his 2Qth year, Gautama sud-
denly abandoned his home to devote himself entirely
to the study of religion and philosophy. All our
authorities agree in the reason they assign for this
momentous step. A deity appeared to him in four
visions, under the forms of a man broken down by
age, of a sick man, of a decaying corpse, and lastly,
of a dignified hermit the visions appearing only to
Gautama and his attendant Channa, who was each
time specially inspired to explain to his deeply moved
master the meaning of the sight. The different ver-
sions of this story contain various discrepancies
in minor details; and the mere sight of an old
or diseased stranger, or even of a dead body, would
be insufficient of itself to work so powerful an effect
on the mind of one who was not already keenly
1 On the later versions of the story see above, p. 13.
30 THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
sensible to the mysteries of sorrow and of death.
But we find in this ancient tradition an expression
inadequate it may be, and even childish of what in
the main we must ourselves believe to be the true
explanation of the cause which induced Gautama to
abandon his family and his home. He was probably
not the first he was certainly not the last who, in
the midst of prosperity and comfort, has felt a yearn-
ing and a want which nothing could satisfy, and which
have robbed of their charm all earthly gains and hopes.
This vague dissatisfaction deepens with every fresh
proof of the apparent vanity of life, and does not lose
but gains in power when, as is reported in the case of
Gautama, it arises more from sympathy with the
sorrows of others than from any personal sorrow of
one's own. At last, the details of daily life become
insupportable; and the calm life of the hermit troubled
with none of these things seems a haven of peace,
where a life of self-denial and earnest meditation may
lead to some solution of the strange enigmas of life.
Such feelings must have become more and more
ascendant in Gautama's mind, when about ten
years after his marriage, his wife bore him their only
child, a son named Rahula ; and the idea that this
new tie might become too strong for him to break,
seems to have been the immediate cause of his flight.
According to the oldest authorities of the Southern
Buddhists, the birth of his son was announced to him
in a garden on the river-side, whither he had gone
after seeing the fourth vision, that of the hermit.
The event was not then expected, but he only said
quietly, ' This is a new and strong tie I shall have to
break/ and returned home thoughtful and sad. But
THI-: GREAT RENUNCIATION. 3 1
the villagers were delighted at the birth of the child,
their raja's only grandson. Gautama's return became
an ovation, and he entered Kapilavastu amidst a
crowd of rejoicing clansmen. Among the sounds of
triumph which greeted his ear, one especially is said
to have attracted his attention A young girl, his
cousin, sang a stanza, " Happy the father, happy the
mother, happy the wife of such a son and husband." 1
In the word 'happy' lay a double meaning; it meant
also ' freed,' delivered from the chains of sin and of
transmigration, saved. 2 Grateful to one who at such a
time reminded him of his highest thoughts, he took
off his necklace of pearls, and sent it to her, saying,
' Let this be her fee as a teacher.' She began to build
castles in the air thinking ' Young Siddhartha is fall-
ing in love with me, and has sent me a present,' but
he took no further notice of her, and passed on.
That night at midnight he sent his charioteer
Channa for his horse, and whilst he was gone he
went to the threshold of his wife's chamber, and
there by the light of the flickering lamp, he watched
her sleeping, surrounded by flowers, with one hand
on the head of their child. He had wished for
the last time to take the babe in his arms before
he left, but he now saw that he coirfd not do so
without awaking the mother. As this might frus-
trate all his intentions, the fear of waking Yasodhara
at last prevailed ; he reluctantly tore himself away,
and, accompanied only by Channa, left his father's
home, his wealth and power, his young wife and only
1 For authorities, see Rh. D.'s ' Hibbert Lectures, 1881,'
pp. 149, 150.
J Nibbuta, said to be used in Pali as the participle of the verb
from which the word Xihl ana is derived.
2 THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
child, behind him ; and rode away into the night to
become a penniless and despised student, and a home-
less wanderer. This is the circumstance which has
given its name to the Sanskrit original of the Chinese
work, of which Mr. Beal has given us the translation
mentioned above the ' Mahabhinishkramana Sutra/
or ' Sutra of the Great Renunciation.'
How much of this graceful story is historically true
it is as yet impossible to say ; but it certainly belongs
to the very earliest form of Buddhist belief.
We next find another endeavour to relate, under
the form of a real material vision, what is supposed to
have passed in Gautama's mind. Mara, the spirit of
Evil, appears in the sky, and urges Gautama to stop,
promising him in seven days a universal kingdom over
the four great continents, if he will but give up his en-
terprise. When his words fail to have the desired effect,
the tempter consoles himself with the hope that he
will still overcome his enemy, saying, ' Sooner or later
some hurtful or malicious or angry thought must arise
in his mind ; in that moment I shall be his master.'
' And from that hour,' adds the Jataka chronicler, ' he
followed him, on the watch for any failing, cleaving to
him like a shadow, which follows the object from
which it falls.' 1 Gautama rode a long distance that
night, not stopping till he reached the bank of the
river Anoma, beyond the Koliyan territory. There,
laking off his ornaments, he gave them and the horse
in charge to his charioteer, to take them back to Ka-
pilavastu. Channa asked, indeed, to be allowed to
stay with his master, that becoming an ascetic, he
might continue to serve him ; but Gautama would not
1 Rh. D.'s ' Buddhist 13irth Stories,' p. 84.
YEARS OF STUDY AND PENANCE. 33
hear of it, saying, ' How will my father and my rela-
tions know what has become of me unless you go back
and tell them?' Gautama then cut off his long hair,
and exchanging clothes with a poor passer-by, sent
home the dejected and sorrowing Channa, while he
himself hurried on towards Rajagriha, to begin his
new life as a homeless mendicant ascetic.
Rajagriha, the capital of Magadha, was the seat of
Bimbisara, one of the then most powerful princes in
the eastern valley of the Ganges ; and was situated in
a pleasant valley, closely surrounded by five hills, the
most northerly offshoot of the Vindhya mountains. 1 In
the caves on these hill-sides, free from the dangers of
more disturbed districts, and near enough to the town
whence they procured their simple supplies, yet at
the same time surrounded by the solitude of nature,
several hermits had found it convenient to settle.
Gautama attached himself, first, to one of these Brah-
man teachers, named Alara, and, being dissatisfied
with his system, afterwards to another named Udraka,
learning under them all that Hindu philosophy had
then to teach about this world or the next.
It may be noticed, in passing, that the question of
the relations between Buddhism and the different
systems of Hindu philosophy is as difficult as it is
interesting. Six such systems are accounted orthodox
among the Hindus ; but the history of their rise and
development has yet to be written. Only the fully-
1 For a detailed description of the ruins at Rajagriha (modern
Rajgir), see General Cunningham's 'Ancient Geography of India,
Buddhist Period,' pp. 462-468. The ruins of the walls of the
new citadel, built by Bimbisara are still traceable.
34 THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
developed systems are now extant in their different
sutras or aphorisms : but though it is doubtful whether
any of these were pre-Buddhistic or not, it is certain
that, long before Gautama's time, the Brahmans had
paid great attention to the deepest questions of
ontology and ethics, and were divided into different
schools, in one or other of which most of Gautama's
metaphysical tenets had previously been taught.
Such originality as can be claimed for him arises
more from the importance which he attached to moral
training above ritual, or metaphysics, or penance;
and to the systematized form in which he presented
ideas derived from those of various previous thinkers.
Like all other leaders of thought, he was the creature
of his time, and it must not be supposed that his phi-
losophy was entirely of his own creation. One of the
Chinese authorities gives long accounts of the discus-
sions he held with Bhagava, Alara, and Udraka, 1 which-
are interesting as being probably founded on ancient
tradition. Professor Monier Williams in his ' Indian
Wisdom ' has given an excellent popular sketch of the
six systems just referred to, 2 and the most important
authorities on the subjectwill be found mentioned there.
One of the most frequently inculcated tenets of the
Brahmans was a belief in the efficacy of penance as a
means of gaining superhuman power and insight ; and
when Gautama, after studying the systems of Alara
and Udraka, was still unsatisfied, he resolved to go
apart, and see what progress he could himself make
Beal, ' Romantic Legend,' pp. 152-177.
Lectures, iii.-vi., pp. 48-126.
HE IS DESERTED. 35
by this much-vaunted method. He withdrew ac-
cordingly into the jungles of Uruvela, near the present
temple of Buddha Gaya, 1 and there for six years, at-
tended by five faithful disciples, he gave himself up
to the severest penance, until he was wasted away to
a shadow by fasting and self-mortification. Such
powerful self-control has always excited the wonder
and admiration of weaker men, and we need not be
surprised that his fame is said to have spread round
about ' like the sound of a great bell hung in the
canopy of the skies.' 2 If by these means he could
have won that certitude, that peace of mind for which
he longed, the gain might have been worth the cost.
But the more he thought, the more he examined him-
self and denied himself, the more he felt himself a
prey to a mental torture worse than any bodily suffer-
ing ; a fear lest all his efforts should have been
wasted, and that he should die, having gone wrong,
and, after all his weary efforts, only failed. 3 At last one
day, when walking slowly up and down, lost in thought,
he suddenly staggered and fell to the ground. Some
of the disciples thought he was actually dead ; but he
recovered, and, despairing of further profit from such
penance, began again to take regular food, and gave
up his self-mortification. Then, when he was most in
need of sympathy, when his wavering faith might
have been strengthened by the tender trust and re-
1 Deal's 'Travels of Fa Hian,' p. 120.
1 Bigandet, p. 49 (first edition) ; compare Jataka, 67, 27.
1 Gautama's doubts and disquietudes at this juncture are
Kjain represented as temptations of the visible Tempter, the
Arch-enemy Mara. Alabaster 'Wheel of the Law,' p. 140.
36 THE LtFE OF dAUl'AMA.
spect of faithful followers, his disciples forsook him,
and went away to Benares. To them it was an axiom
that mental conquest lay through bodily suppression.
In giving up his penance he had to give up also their
esteem ; and in his sore distress they left him to bear,
alone, the bitterness of failure.
There now ensued a second struggle in Gautama's
mind, described in both the Pali and the Sanskrit
accounts with all the wealth of poetic imagery of
which the Indian mind is master. The crisis culmi-
nated on a day each event of which is surrounded in
the Buddhist lives of their revered Teacher with the
wildest legends, in which the very thoughts passing
through the mind of Gautama appear in gorgeous
descriptions as angels of darkness or of light. Un-
able to express the struggles of his soul in any other
way, they represent him as sitting sublime, calm, and
serene during violent attacks made upon him by a
visible Tempter and his wicked angels, armed by all
kinds of weapons; the greatness of the temptation being
shadowed forth by the horrors of the convulsion of
the powers of Nature. ' When the conflict began
between the Saviour of the world and the Prince of Evil
a thousand appalling meteors fell ; clouds and dark-
ness prevailed. Even this earth, with the oceans and
mountains it contains, though it is unconscious,
quaked like a conscious being like a fond bride
when forcibly torn from her bridegroom like the
festoons of a vine shaking under the blasts of a whirl-
wind. The ocean rose under the vibration of this
earthquake ; rivers flowed back towards their sources ;
peaks of lofty mountains, where countless trees had
grown for ages, rolled crumbling to the earth ; a fierce
THE TEMPTATION. 37
storm howled all around ; the roar of the concussion
became terrific ; the very sun enveloped itself in awful
darkness, and a host of headless spirits filled the air.'
It may be questioned how far the later Buddhists
have been able to realise the spiritual truth hidden
under these material images ; most of them have
doubtless believed in a real material combat, and a
1 Madhurattha Vilasinlapud Tumour, J. 15. A. S., vii. 812,813;
with which may be compared several passages of Milton's
'Paradise Regained,' though the Christian poet, as might be
expected, uses much simpler images :
.... And either tropic now
'Can thunder, and both ends of heaven ; the clouds
From many a horrid rift abortive pour'd
Fierce rain with lightning mix'd, water with fire
In ruin reconciled : nor slept the winds
Within their stony caves, but rush'd abroad
From the four hinges of the world, and fell
On the vex'd wilderness; whose tallest pines
Tho' rooted deep as high, and sturdiest oaks,
Bow'd their stiff necks, loaden with stormy blasts
Or torn up sheer. Ill wast thou shrouded then,
O patient Son of God, yet stood'st alone
Unshaken ! Nor yet staid the terror there ;
Infernal ghosts and hellish furies round
Fnviron'd thee ; some howl'd, some yell'd, some shriek'd,
Some bent at thee their fiery darts, while thou
Sat'st unappall'd in calm and sinless peace !
Par. Reg., bk. iv.
A curious point of resemblance between Milton and the
ISuddllUt pi >ets is, that the former makes ' Paradise' to have been
'regained' not on Calvary, but in the \Yikleniess; just as the
Buddhists regard Gautama's mental struggle under the Bo-tree
AS the must impoitanl event in his career, and the act by which
he regained freedom for mankind. Hence the Buddhists look
upon the Bo-tree -is most Christians have looked upon the Cross.
38 THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
real material earthquake. But it is not in India alone
that the attempt to compress ideas about the imma-
terial into words drawn from tangible things has
failed, and has produced expressions which have
hardened into false and inconsistent creeds. To us,
now, these legends may appear childish or absurd, but
they are not without a beauty of their own ; and they
have still a depth of meaning to those who strive to
read between the lines of these, the first half-inarticu<
late efforts the Indian mind had made to describe the
feelings of a strong man torn by contending passions.
Comparing the different accounts of the events of that
decisive day in the light of the past and future history
of Gautama, the meaning sought to be conveyed by
the exuberant imagery of the Buddhist writers seems,
in its principal features, unmistakable.
Disenchanted and dissatisfied, Gautama had given
up all that most men value, to seek peace in secluded
study and self-denial. Failing to attain this object
while learning the wisdom of others, and living the
simple life of a student, he had devoted himself
to that intense meditation and penance which all
philosophers then said would raise men above the
gods. Still unsatisfied, longing always for a certainty
that seemed ever just beyond his grasp, he had
added vigil to vigil, and penance to penance, until,
when to the wondering view of others, he had be-
come more than a saint,- his indomitable resolution
and faith had together suddenly and completely
broken down. Then, when sympathy would have
been most welcome, he found his friends falling
a way, and his disciples leaving him. Soon after, if
not on the very day when his followers had gone, he
THE VICTORY. '39
wandered out towards the banks of the Nairanjara,
receiving his morning meal from the hands of Sujata,
the daughter of a neighbouring villager, and sat him-
self down to eat it under the shade of a large tree
(a Jjcus religiosa\ to be known from that time as the
sacred Bo-tree, or tree of wisdom. 1 There he re-
mained through the long hours of that day, debating
with himself what next to do.. The philosophy he
had trusted in seemed to be doubtful ; the penance
he had practised so long had brought no certainty,
no peace ; and all his old temptations came back upon
him with renewed force. For years he had looked
at all earthly good as vanity, worthless and transi-
tory. Nay, more, he had thought that it contained
within itself the seeds of evil, and must inevitably,
sooner or later, bring forth its bitter fruit. But now
to his wavering faith the sweet delights of home and
love, the charms of wealth and power, began to show
themselves in a different light, and to glow again with
attractive colours. They were within his reach, he knew
he would be welcomed back, and yet, would there
even then be satisfaction ? Were all his labours to be
' This tree came to occupy much the same position among Bud-
dhists as the cross among Christians. Worship was actually paid
to it, and an offshoot from it is still growing on the spot where the
Buddhist pilgrims found it, and where they believed the original
tree had grown in the ancient temple at Bodh Gaya, near Kajgir,
built about 500 A.I)., by the celebrated Amara Sinha. A branch
of it planted at Anuradliapura in .Ceylon, in the middle of the
third century B.C., is still growing there the oldest historical
tree in the u<orlJ. See below p. 237 ; and for plans and
history of the temple of the Bo-tree at Bodh Gaya, Cunning-
ham's 'Archaeological Reports,' vol. i. pp. 6 ft .uy.
40 THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
lost ? Was there no sure ground to stand on ? Thus
he agonised in his doubt from the early morning until
sunset. But as the day ended the religious side of
his nature had won the victory ; his doubts had cleared
away ; he had become Buddha, that is, enlightened ;
he had grasped, as it seemed to him, the solution of
the great mystery of sorrow, and had learnt at once
its causes and its cure. He seemed to have gained
the haven of peace, and in the power over the human
heart of inward culture, and of love to others, to rest
at last on a certitude that could never be shaken.
But his victory had not been won without a loss.
The works of penance and self-mortification he had
f .x> long and so resolutely carried out had been tried
in the fire and found wanting ; from that day he not
only claimed no merit on account of them, but took
every opportunity of declaring that from such penances
no advantage at all could be derived, a renunciation
greater, probably, to one in his position, than that
which the Buddhists call the ' Great Renunciation.'
Gautama had now arrived at those conclusions re-
garding the nature of man, and of the world around
him, at that psychological and moral system to which
he in the main adhered during his long career. But,
as before the apparent simplicity and power of this
new system the efficacy of sacrifice and penance
seemed to him to fade away into nothingness, so did
Gautama feel more and more intensely the immen
shy of the distance which separated him from the
beliefs of those about him. That feeling of utter
loneliness which is often the lot of the leaders of
men, especially in moments of high exaltation nod
insight broke upon him with such force that it
THE AFTER-DOUBT. 41
seemed to him impossible to go to his fellow-country-
men with a doctrine to them necessarily so strange,
so even incomprehensible. How could men subject to
the same temptations as those whose power he had just
so keenly experienced, but without that earnestness
and insight which he felt himself to possess, how
could such men grasp the reality of truths so funda-
mental and so far-reaching in fact, but so simple and
so powerless in appearance, as those of his system
of salvation salvation merely by self-control and
love, without any of the rites, any of the ceremonies,
any of the charms, any of the priestly powers, any of
the gods, in which men love to trust ?
That such a thought should, under the circum-
stances, have occurred to him, is so very natural, that
we need not be surprised at the account of his hesi-
tation as given in the books. And the reason which
they assign as the motive for his final determination
is worthy of notice : it is said to have been love
and pity fur humanity, the thought of mankind,
otherwise, as it seemed to him, utterly doomed
and lost, which made Gautama resolve, at what-
ever hazard, to proclaim his doctrine to the world.
To the pious liuddhist it is a constant source of joy
and gratitude that ' the Buddha,' not then only, but
in many former births, when emancipation from all the
i arcs and troubles of life was already within his reach,
should again and again, in mere love for man, have
condescended to enter the world, and live amidst
the sorrows inseparable from finite existence. To
those who look upon Gautama in a less mystic light,
as a man of mixed motives and desires, it will sug-
gest itself that other considerations of a less lofty
42 THE LIFE OF GAU1AMA.
kind must have tended, half-unconsciously perhaps,
in the same direction. For silence would be taken
as a confession of failure ; and, even apart from what
had happened, there is always a sweetness in declar-
ing the unknown, or being the bearer of good news.
It is at least certain that Gautama, like Muhammad,
had an intense belief in himself; a confidence that
must have been peculiarly strong in that moment of
clearness when he had seemed at last to stand face to
face with the deep realities or rather unrealities of
life ; and his sense of isolation yielded soon before his
consciousness of power, and his prophetic zeal.
At first, it is said, he intended to address himself to
his old teachers, Alara and Udraka, but finding that
they were dead, he walked straight to Benares,
where his former disciples were then living. On
the way he meets with an acquaintance named
Upaka, an 1 from him receives his first rebuff. The
account of the conversation is only preserved to us in
one of the less authentic biographies, 1 but is so
striking that it is deserving of notice. The Brahman
surprised at Gautama's expression and carriage, asks
him, ' Whence comes it that thy form is so perfect,
thy countenance so lovely, thy appearance so peace-
ful ? What system of religion is it that imparts to
thee such joy and such peace ? '
To this question Gautama replies, in verse, that he
has overcome all worldly inllucnces and ignorance,
and error, and passionate craving.
Then the Brahman asks whither he is going ; and
on hearing he was going to Benares, asks him for
in BeaPs ' komanuc Legend/ from the Chinese, p. 2.4.5.
HE IS DESPISED BY UPAKA. 43
what purpose ; to this the ' World-honoured ' replies
:n the following verses :
' I now desire to turn the wheel of the excellent Law.
For this purpose I am going to that city of Benares
To give Light to those enshrouded in darkness,
And to open the gate of Immortality to men.'
To further questioning he then informs Upaka that
having completely conquered all evil passion, and for
ever got rid of the remnants of personal being, he
desires by the light of his religious system to dispense
light to all, even as a lamp enlightens all in the house.
On this the Brahman, unable apparently to brook
any longer such high-flown pretensions, says curtly,
' Venerable Gautama, your way lies yonder,' and turns
away himself in the opposite direction.
Fortunately, we have now this episode in its Pali
form, in the Vinaya Pitaka, and the older account, 1 as
might be expected, puts the matter in a different
light. As I have pointed out in my ' Buddhist Suttas '
(pp. 140, 141), the expression turning the wheel of
the excellent Law means, I think, ' To found a king-
dom of righteousness ' ; and the expression ' to open
the gate of Immortality to men,' being quite unbud-
dhistic, has probably arisen from a misunderstanding
of the word amata, ambrosia, or nectar. This is a
name applied to Nirvana, as being the heavenly drink
of the wise (who are above the gods) ; it never means
immortality, and could not grammatically have that
sense. So that the striking parallel between the
Chinese verses and 2 Tim. i. 10, falls to the ground. 2
1 Translated in Rh. D. and H. O.'s ' Vinaya Text*,' i. 89.
Compare on turning the wheel belnw, p. 45, on 'Amata,'p. in.
44 THE LIFE. OK GAUTAMA.
Nothing daunted, the new prophet goes on tc
Benares, and in the cool of the evening enters the
Deer park, about three miles north of the city, where
his five former disciples were then living. 1 They,
seeing him coming, resolve not to recognize as a
master one who has broken his vows, and to address
him simply by his name ; but, on the other hand, as
he was of high caste descent, to offer him a mat to sit
down upon. They respect him still, but a strong
sense of duty prevents their receiving igain as an
authoritative teacher one whom they are forced to
regard as fallen from orthodoxy. One of them only,
the aged Kondanya, held aloof from this design ; but
Gautama noticed the change of manner in the others,
and told them they were wrong to call him ' Venerable
Gautama,' that they were still in the way of death
where they must reap sorrow and disappointment,
whereas he had found the way of salvation, which
had so long remained hidden ; and having become a
Buddha, could show them also how to escape from the
evils of life. They object, naturally enough, from a
Hindu ascetic point of view, that he had failed before
when he kept his body under, and how can his mind
1 This place, now called Dhamek, was held by the Buddhists
only less sacred than that where the holy Bo-tree grew. Asoka,
in the third century B.C., built a memorial tower there, which
was seen by the Chinese pilgrims, and the remains of which,
and of numerous later buildings, still exist. A great deal has
been written on the discoveries at Dhamek, the fullest descrip-
tion, with plans, facsimiles of the inscriptions, &c., being by
General Cunningham, 'Archaeological Reports,' 1862, vol. i.
pp. 103-130. See also chapter xviii. of the Rev. M. A.
Shcrring's 'Sacred City of the Hindus,' pp. 250 ct se<j.
THE FIRST DISCOURSE. 45
have won the victory now when he serves and yields
to his body ? Gautama replied by explaining the funda-
mental truths of his system, an exposition preserved
in the Dhammacakka-ppavattana Sutta, the Sutra of
the Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness.
This expression is usually translated ' Turning the
wheel of the Law,' which, while retaining the Buddhist
figure of speech, fails to represent the idea the figure
was meant to convey ; the rendering in the text gives
up the figure in order to retain the underlying
meaning. The ' cakra' (Pali cakka) is no ordinary
wheel ; it is the sign of dominion ; and a ' cakravarti '
is ' he who makes the wheels of his chariot roll un-
opposed over all the world' 1 a universal monarch.
Dhanna (Pali Dhamma) is not law, but that which
underlies and includes the law, a word often most
difficult to translate, and best rendered here by truth or
righteousness ; whereas the word ' law ' suggests cere-
monial observances, outward rules, which it was pre-
cisely the object of Gautama's teaching to do away
with. Pravartana (Pali ppavattana) is ' setting in
motion onwards,' the commencement of an action
which is to continue. The whole phrase means,
therefore, ' To set rolling the royal chariot-wheel of a
universal empire of truth and righteousness ' ; but
this would sound more grandiloquent to us than the
original words can, have done in the ears of Buddhists,
to whom the allusion to the chakra was familiar
through its connection with ancient Hindu mythology.
As we cannot, therefore, make use of this figure
without adding explanatory words which spoil its
' BShtlingk-Roth in their Sanskrit Dictionary.
46 THE LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
simplicity, it is necessary to choose another; and the
one used above is at once exact and appropriate.
The oldest form of this Sutra is in Pali, and the
later accounts are poetical versions of the ancient
tradition. The devas throng to hear the discourse
until all the heavens are empty ; and the sound
of their approach is like the noise of a storm, till
at the blast of a heavenly trumpet they become as
still as a waveless sea. All nature is moved ; the
everlasting hills, on which the world is built, leap
for joy, and bow themselves before the Teacher ,
while the powers of the air dispose all things as is
most meet ; gentle breezes sigh, and delicious flowers
fill the air with their scent. ' The evening was like
a lovely maiden ; the stars were the pearls upon her
neck, the dark clouds her braided hair, the deepening
space her flowing robe. As a crown she had the
heavens where the angels dwell ; these three worlds
were as her body ; her eyes were the white lotus
flowers, which open to the rising moon ; and her
voice was, as it were, the humming of the bees. To
worship the Buddha, and hear the first preaching of
the word, this lovely maiden came.' When Gautama
spoke, though he spoke in Pali, each one of the
assembled hosts thought himself addressed in his
own language, and so thought the different kinds of
animals, great and small. 1 Only the Chinese life and
1 Chiefly from the Sinhalese. Hardy, ' Manual of Buddhism/
186. Compare Beal, ' Romantic Legend,' 244-254 ; Gya Tclic:
Kol Pa., ch. 26 ; Bigandet, p. in ; Jataka, pp. 81, 82 ; Gogerly,
Journal of the Ceylon Asiatic Society,' 1845, P- 2 4 ; 1865,
pp. 118 122; Leon Peer, 'Journ. As.,' 1866 and 1870.
THE FIRST DISCOURSE. 47
the Lalita Vistara gave any lengthened account of
what was actually said, and they differ almost en.
tirely, as might be expected, in the miraculous and
poetical details ; but they agree on the whole, as to
the course of Gautama's argument, with the actual
words of the Pali text as translated by the present
writer in his ' Buddhist Suttas.'
The discourse/raid stress on the necessity of ad-
hering to the>'Middle Path ' ; that is to say, in being
free, on tji^one hand, from " devotion to the enervat-
ing pleasures of sense which are degrading, vulgar,
sensual, vain, and profitless"; and on the other, from
any trust in the efficacy of the mortifications practised
by Hindu ascetics, " which are painful, vain, and use-
less." 1 This Middle Path was summed up in eight
principles or parts (angas}~ found in all schools of
Buddhism :
1. Right Belief. 5. Right means of Livelihood.
2. Right Aims. 6. Right Endeavour.
3. Right. Speech. 7. Right Mindfulness.
4. Right Actions. 8. Right Meditation.
The necessity of adhering to this ' path,' this
middle course of a virtuous life, resulted from four
' The claim to be in the Middle Path, inferring or suggesting
that all others are at one of two extremes, is a very common one ;
and among religious teachers naturally assumes the form of the
belief that one's own sect alone is defending the centre of Truth
against Superstition on the one side, and Worldliness or Infidelity
on the other. The figure was a favourite one also with Gautama,
and he uses it again (teste the Sanyutta Nikaya, as quoted by
Gogerly,J. C. A. S., 1867, 125), when describing his view of
Karma.
* A less literal, and, I think, better version of these anas will
l-c found in my ' Buddhist Suttas,' p. 144.
48 THE LIKE OF GAUTAMA.
fundamental truths, called ' the four Noble Truths, 1
as the path is called ' the Noble Eightfold Path.'
The four truths are, Suffering, the Cause of suffering,
the Cessation of suffering, the Path which leads to the
cessation of suffering.
1. Suffering or sorrow. Birth is sorrowful ; growth,
decay, illness, death, all are sorrowful ; separation
from objects we love, hating what cannot be avoided,
and craving for what cannot be obtained, are sorrow-
ful. Briefly, such states of mind as co-exist with the
consciousness of individuality, with the sense of sepa-
rate existence, are states of suffering and sorrow.
2. The cause of suffering. The action of the out-
side-world on the senses excites a craving thirst for
something to satisfy them, or a delight in the objects
presenting themselves, either of which is accompanied
by a lust of life. These are the causes of sorrow.
3. The cessation of sorrow'. The complete conquest
over and destruction of this eager thirst, this lust of
life, is that by which sorrow ceases.
4. The path leading to the cessation of sorrow is the
Noble Eightfold Path briefly summed up in the above
description of a virtuous life. 1
Lastly, the Buddha declared that he had arrived at
these convictions, not by study of the Vedas, nor from
the teachings of others, but by the light of reason and
intuition alone.
It will be difficult for the reader to realise all the
1 On theTruths, compare 'LalitaVistara,' Foucaux, p. 392, with
the Pali text, translated in my ' Buddhist Suttas,' pp. 148-150.
A'l other accounts are derived from these. See also below, p. 106.
THE FIRST CONVERTS. 49
meaning that is carefully condensed into these short
phrases ; and, on the other hand, to avoid putting a
Christian interpretation on these Buddhist expressions;
but they will be further considered later on, and to at-
tempt to deal with them now would interrupt too
much the course of the narrative. Such classified
statements of moral truth seem to us forced and
artificial. But it must be remembered that they were
addressed to Brahmans skilled in the dialectics of the
time, accustomed to put all their knowledge into
short aphorisms to assist their memory, and quite
free from that impatience which is so marked a
characteristic of our modern modes of thought. To
them time was no object, and they would sit under
the trees listening with grave politeness, whilst their
former teacher, earnest and dignified, laid down the
principles of his system; and then, doubtless at some
length, and not without repetitions, explained and com-
mentated upon them. It may even be open to ques-
tion whether the completeness of the form and the
manner of its presentation would not weigh more
with them than the truth of the principles which were
thus presented. When we also remember the relation
which these men had long borne to him, and that
they already held very strongly beliefs nearly allied to
those parts of his doctrine that are most repugnant
to us the pessimist view of life, and the doctrine of
transmigration it is not difficult to believe that his
persuasions were successful, and that, after a time of
hesitation, his old disciples were the first to acknow-
ledge Gautama in his new character. It was the aged
Kondanya, ready for his release from life, who first
5<5 I5UDDHISM.
openly gave in his adhesion ; but the others also,
after many talks with the Buddha, sometimes sepa-
rately, sometimes together, soon accepted in its en
tirety his plan of salvation. 1
1 Hardy, 'Manual,' 187 ; and Tumour, J. B. A. S., vii. 815,
only mention here the conversion of Kondanya, which all the
accounts put first. Foucaux, p. 396, and Bigandet, 1st edit.,
p. 97, convert the other four on the same day ; the Jataka, p. 82,
on the four subsequent days ; and Beal ' Catena,' 134, during the
succeeding three months. Beal ' Rom. Leg.,' 255, is doubtful,
but allows some interval. Comp. also p. 186 below.
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER II.
GAUTAMA'S WIFE AND RELATIONS.
GAUTAMA is said to have been related to his wile and to
several of his principal disciples in the manner appearing in the
following table. It is taken chiefly from the ' Mahavansa,' p. 9,
where, after tracing the descent of Jayasena from the mythical
first king among men, the authot gives the list [on p. 52] of the
immediate ancestors of Gautama and Yasodhara. '
The early authorities agree in stating that Gautama had only
one wife ; they give her different names, but mean the same
person. She is called Yasodhara by Bigandet (24, 34, 124);
and the same by Spence Hardy, who adds that she was the
daughter of Suprabuddha (Manual of Buddhism, 146, 152, 206) ;
but she is usually called simply Rahula-mata, the mother of
Raluila, in the Pali authorities (Jataka, 54, 6; 58, 18 ; 90, 24;
'Vinaya Texts,' vol. i. p. 208). The name of Buddhakacana
given by Tumour (loc. cit., 816) is a mere mistake for Subhadra-
kancana, and is there stated to be the same as Yasodhara.
' On the general question of the value of these genealogies,
compare Senart, 357, 369, 511; Koppen, ' Religion des Buddha,'
I, 76; Lassen, ' Ind. Alterth.,' vol. ii. app. ii.
APPENDIX. 5 1
The Chinese life gives three wives, Yasodhara. (the mother
of Rahula), GotamI, and Manohara. 1 The Chinese editor signi-
ficantly adds concerning the last, ' Some Doctors of the Law
say that the attendants on Manohara only knew her name, but
never saw her presence,' and this evidently mythical person is
never mentioned elsewhere. GotamI is the name used only in
one story (Beal, p. 96), which does not occur in any other
authority, and the epithet would be applicable of course to
every member of the Gautama clan, as Prajapati, for instance,
is also called GotamI. GotamI is made the daughter of Danc'a-
panl, whilst Yasodhara, the only wife who appears throughout
the book, is made the daughter of Mahanama.
The Lalita Vistara speaks only of one wife Gopa, the daughter
of Dandapam, and relates of her the stories which are related
elsewhere of Yasodhara; but Foucaux in a note to p. 152, says
that Gautama had three other wives, Yasodhara, Mrigaja or
Gopa, and Utpalavarna. Of the last, he gives one detail which
identifies her with Yasodhara, namely, that she and Prajapati
were the first Buddhist nuns.
Finally, Alexander Csoma, the great authority on Tibetan
Buddhism, mentions three wives, and names them Gopa, Yaso-
dhara, and Utpala Varna, 2 but states elsewhere 3 that the first
two are the same ; and in another place that the name of the
third is Mrigaja. 4
All this seems to be explicable on a very natural hypothesis.
The oldest accounts agree in giving to Gautama only one wife,
whom they call ' the mother of Rahula. ' As the legends grew
she was surrounded with every virtue and grace, and was spoken
of as the Lotus-coloured, the Attractive, the Illustrious, and so
on. Still later, thes&epithets were supposed to refer to different
individuals; but the curious confusions in the later accounts in
which they are used as names, show that they can be traced
back to the one wife of the older story.
1 Deal's 'Romantic Legend,' p. 101, where the word is spelt
Manodara, but explained 'who seizes the mine!,' for which the
Sanskrit can only be as given above.
f Asiatic 'Researches,' xx. p. 308, n. 21.
' 'Tibetan Grammar,' p. 162, note.
1 ' As. Res.' xx. 290.
, : n
P
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-1.
TEACHING IN THE DLfiK-PARK..
CHAPTER III.
LIFE OF GAUTAMA FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF
HIS PUBLIC MINISTRY TILL HIS DEATH.
GAUTAMA now remained for some time in the
Migadaya wood, 1 teaching his new doctrines, quietly
it is true and only to those who came to him, but
in a manner which shows us at once how great was
the gulf which divided him from the professional
teachers of the time. 2 His was no mere scho-
lastic system, involved like those of the Brahmans
in a mysterious obscurity ; and even in that half-
incomprehensible form offered to the considera-
tion of only a few selected adepts. He joined to
his gifts as a thinker a prophetic ardour and mis-
sionary zeal, which prompted him to popularize
1 Gen. Cunningham, 'Arch. Reports,' I. p. 107, says, ' The
Mrigadawa' or "Dew Park," is represented by a fine wood,
which still covers an area of about half a mile, and extends from
the great tower of Dhamek on the north, to the Chaukundi mound
on the south.'
* It may be interesting to notice how many of the modern
. of metaphysical thought have similarly been private,
non-professorial men ; the names, among others, of Spino/a,
Descartes, Berkeley. Hobbes, Locke, Comte, Mill, and Spencer
will at once suggest themselves. It is true that among the pro-
fessional men in Germany and Scotland there are many great
nanio. but Leibnit/, Hume, Schopenhauer, and Hartmann are
sinking exceptions.
5/t LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
his doctrine, and to preach to all without exception,
men and women, high and low, ignorant and learned
alike. 1 Thus all of his first disciples were laymen,
and two of the very first were women. The first con-
vert was a rich young man named Yasa, who joined
the small company of personal followers ; the next
were Yasa's father, mother, and wife, who, however,
remained lay disciples. It was not till some time
afterwards that Gautama established an order of
female mendicants, the evils inseparable from which
he estimated as very great ; and though he held the
life of a mendicant to be necessary to rapid progress
towards deliverance from that ' thirst ' which was the
cause of all evil, yet he highly honoured the believing
householder. A lay disciple, though not yet able or
willing to cast off the ties of home or of business,
might yet ' enter the paths/ 2 and, by a life of recti-
tude and kindness, ensure for himself in a future
existence more favourable conditions for his growth
in goodness. There is no magic in any outward act ;
every one's salvation consists of and depends entirely
on a modification and growth in his own inner nature,
to be brought about by his own self-control and dili-
gence, and thus the earnest layman will advance
further in ' the paths ' than the mendicant who is
wanting in self-control and energy. The subject
will be further discussed below when we come to
1 See on this point the admirable remarks of Bishop Bigandet,
note 63, p. 117, which have suggested some of the above. Some
of the details of Yasa's conversion (Mahavagga, i. 7, 2 ; trans-
lated in 'Vinaya Texts.' vol. i. p. 103) were afterwards trans-
ferred to the story of Gautama's own conversion.
2 See below, pp. 108, 148, and Dhammapada, 142.
SENDING OUT THE SIXTY. 55
treat more fully of the 'paths': it is sufficient to
state here that Gautama's whole teaching resolved
itself into a system of intellectual and moral self-
culture, and that the fruitless cares and empty
hopes of ordinary life were considered incompati-
ble with the highest degree of this self-culture, while
they would become distasteful to those who had
reached in it even a lower stage.
Five months after the crisis under the Bo-tree, and
three months after Gautama's arrival at the Migadaya
wood, he called together all his disciples, who are
represented to have numbered already sixty persons,
and sent them in different directions to preach and
teach, Yasa only remaining at Benares, near his
parents. 1
The Burmese account puts on this occasion the
following curious speech into Gautama's mouth :
' Beloved Rahans, I am free from the five great
passions which, like an immense net, encompass
men and nats* ; you too, owing to the instruc-
tions you have received from me, enjoy the same
glorious privilege. There is now incumbent on us a
great duty, that of labouring effectually on behalf of
men and jiats, and procuring to them the invaluable
blessing of the deliverance. To the end of securing
more effectually the success of such an undertaking,
let us part with each other and proceed in various
and opposite directions, so that not two of us should
follow up the same way. Go ye now, and preach the
most excellent Law, expounding every point thereof,
1 Jatak.i, 82; Hauly. ' Maii;i;il,' iSS ; !'.i^;mdet, 122.
'Rom. Log . * i.f. Gods (devas).
56 LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
and unfolding it with care and attention in all its
bearings and particulars. Explain the beginning, the
middle, and the end of the law, to all men without
exception : let everything respecting it be made
publicly known and brought to the broad daylight.
Show, now, to men and nats the way leading to the
practice of pure and meritorious works. You will
meet, doubtless, with a great number of mortals not
as yet hopelessly given up to their passions, and who
will avail themselves of your preaching for re-con-
quering their hitherto forfeited liberty, and freeing
themselves from the thraldom of passions. For my
part, I will direct my course to the village of Sena,
situate in the vicinity of the solitude of Uruwela.'
I have retained the quaint phraseology of Bishop
Bigandet's translation, which will well represent the
quaintness of the original. 1 Rahans are mendicants,
the five passions I presume to be those arising from the
five senses; nats are deities; the most excellent Law
is, doubtless, the Dharma, the Buddhist religion. Of
course, these cannot have been the actual words
spoken by Gautama. He cannot have thought his
followers already perfect, and, whatever his opinions
about supernatural beings (an interesting question we
cannot here discuss), it is at least certain that they
were inconsistent with the expressions put into his
mouth. To the Burmese author they would seem
quite natural, but whence did he derive the idea of
the duty of proclaiming to all men alike the whole of
' the most excellent law,' living as he did in a country
where the missionary spirit had long died out? Not,
1 The Pali lias since Leon published. Mahavng^a, T. n.
PREACHING AT ' WAS ' TlME, 57
certainly, from Hinduism ; nor is any other source
conceivable except a genuine survival of the spirit of
early Buddhism.
Throughout his career, Gautama was in the habit
of travelling about during most of the line part of
the year, teaching and preaching to the people ; but
during the four rainy months, from June to October,
he remained in one place, devoting himself more
particularly to the instruction of his declared fol-
lowers. This custom has survived down to the
present day in Southern countries ; but in a form
which is a curious instance of the way in which the
letter of such religious ordinances can be observed,
and turned to real use, long after the reason of their
original institution has ceased to operate. The
wandering mendicants have become settled celibate
parochial clergy; but every year, during those months
which were the rainy season in Magadha in the time
of Gautama, they leave their permanent homes ; and,
living in temporary huts, put up by the peasantry of
some district who specially invite them, hold a series of
public services, in which they read and explain the
Pali Pitakas to all of any age or sex or caste who
choose to listen. This period, called was (from the
Sanskrit varsha, rain), is in Ceylon the finest part of
the year; and as there are no regular religious services
at any other time, the peasantry celebrate the reading
of bana (or the Word) at was time as their great
religious festival. They put up under the palm-trees
a platform, roofed, but quite open at the sides, and
ornamented with bright cloths and flowers ; and round
it they sit in the moonlight on the ground, and listen
through the night with great satisfaction, if not with
58 LIKE OK GAUTAMA.
great intelligence, to the sacred words repeated by
relays of shaven monks. The greatest favourite at
these readings of bana is the 'Jataka' book, which
contains so many of the old fables and stories common
to the Aryan peoples, sanctified now, and preserved
by the leading hero in each, whether man, or fairy, or
animal, being looked upon as an incarnation of the
Buddha in one of his previous births. To these
wonderful stories the simple peasantry, dressed in
their best and brightest, listen all the night long with
unaffected delight ; chatting pleasantly now and again
with their neighbours ; and indulging all the while in
the mild narcotic of the betal leaf, their stores of
which (and of its never failing adjuncts, chunam, that
is, white lime, and the areka nut), afford a constant
occasion for acts of polite good fellowship. The first
spirit of Buddhism may have passed away as com-
pletely as the old reason for was; neither hearers
nor preachers may have that deep sense of evil in
the world and in themselves, nor that high resolve to
battle with and overcome it, which animated some of
the early Buddhists ; and they all think themselves to
be earning ' merit ' by their easy service. But there
is at least at these festivals a genuine feeling of
human kindness, in harmony alike with the teachings
of Gautama, and with the gentle beauty of those
moonlight scenes. 1
The importance afterwards attached to the acces-
sion of Gautama's next convert is shown by the
number of miraculous events which are said to have
preceded it. Of these, the only possible historical
1 Bigandet, p. 127 ; Hardy ' Manual,' 101 ; ' Eastern Mona-
chisin,' 232-237.
SERMON ON FIRE. 59
basis is that in the solitudes of Uruwela there were
then three brothers named Kasyapa, fire worshippers
and hermit philosophers, whose high reputation as
teachers had attracted a considerable number of
scholars ; and that after Gautama had remained some
time among them, the elder brother adopted his
system, and at once took a principal place in the
small body of believers. His brothers and their
scholars followed his example, and the first set dis-
course preached by Gautama to his new disciples is
preserved in the Pitakas under the title Aditta-pariyaya
Sutta (Sermon on the Lessons to be drawn frorr
Burning).
This Sutta affords an excellent example of the
method so often adopted by Gautama of inculcat-
ing his new doctrines by putting a new meaning
into the religious ceremonies of the time, or into
the common occurrences of life. The new disciples,
who had been worshippers of Agni, the sacred fire,
were seated with Gautama on the Elephant Rock,
near Gaya, with the beautiful valley of Rajagriha
stretched out before them, when a fire broke out
in the jungle on the opposite hill. 1 Taking the fire
as his text, the Teacher declared that so long as men
remained in ignorance they were, as it were, consumed
by a fire by the excitement produced within them
by the action of external things. These things acted
upon them through the five senses and the heart
(which Gautama regarded as a sixth organ of sense).
The eye, for instance, perceives objects : from this
1 For the site of the Elephant Rock, see Gandhahasti, at the
foot of Map, PL iii., Cunningham's' 'Archaeological Reports,'
vol. i. On the sentiment comp. below, p. 155.
60 LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
perception arises an inward sensation, producing
pleasure or pain. Sensations produce this misery
and joy, because they supply fuel as it were to the
inward fires, concupiscence, anger, and ignorance, and
the anxieties of birth, decay, and death. The same
was declared to be the case with the sensations
produced by each of the other senses. But those
who follow the Buddha's scheme of inward self-
control, the four stages of the Path whose gate is
purity and whose goal is love, have become wise ;
the sensations from without no longer give fuel to the
inward fire, since the fires of concupiscence, &c.,
have ceased to burn l ; true disciples are thus free from
that craving thirst which is the origin of evil ; the
wisdom they have acquired will lead them on, sooner
or later, to perfection ; they are delivered from the
miseries which would result from another birth ; and
even in this birth they no longer need the guidance of
such laws as those of caste and ceremonies and sacri-
fice, for they have already reached far beyond them !
One may well pause and wonder at finding such a
sermon preached so early in the history of the world,
more than 400 years before the rise of Chris-
tianity, and among a people who have long been
thought peculiarly idolatrous and sensual ; a sermon
remarkable enough for what it says, but still more
remarkable for what it leaves unsaid. Its meaning
is perhaps scarcely clear without a knowledge of the
1 In a passage from Jina Alankara, given by Burnouf (Lotus,
332), the Buddha is described as ' that great man who, unaided,
works out salvation for all the world ; and extinguishes by the
rainfall of the nectar of his teaching, the fires of lust, and anger,
and error ; of birth, old age, disease, and death ; of pain,
lamentation, grief, disappointment, and despair.'
WELCOME AT RAJAGRIHA. 6l
' paths,' and of the ' senses,' but to explain them
here would detain us too long, and the general
spirit which it breathes is sufficiently unmistakable.
From Gaya, Gautama and his new disciples walked
on towards Rajagriha, then the capital of Bimbisara,
the most powerful chieftain in the eastern valley of
the Ganges, whose kingdom of Magadha extended
about too miles south from the river Ganges, and 100
miles east from the river Sona. Both Gautama and
Kasyapa were well known in the town, and when the
raja came out to welcome the teachers, the crowd
was uncertain which was the master and which the
disciple. Gautama therefore asked Kasyapa why
he had given up sacrificing to Agni. The latter saw
the motive of the question, and replied that, while
some took pleasure in sights and sounds and taste
and sensual love, and others in sacrifice, he had
perceived that all these alike were worthless, and had
tfiven up sacrifices whether great or small. Nirvana
was a state of peace unattainable by men under the
guidance of sense and passion ; a rest destructive of
transmigration, birth, decay, and death : a happy state
to be reached by inward growth alone. 1 Gautama is
then said to have told the people a Jataka story about
Kasyapa's virtue in a former birth ; and seeing how
impressed they were, to have gone on to explain to
them the four Noble Truths. At the end of this
sermon the raja professed himself an adherent of the
new system ; and the next day all the people in the
place, excited by the conversion of Kasyapa and
1 For the story of the conversion of Kasyapa, see ' Vinaya
Texts,' pp. 118-140; Jataka, p. 82; Rh. D., ' Buddhist Birth
Stories,' p. 115, and 'Hibbert Lectures, 1881,' p. 159 ; Bigandet,
130-144.
62 LIFE OK GAUTAMA.
Bimbisara, crowded to the Yashtivana grove, where
Gautama had rested, to see him and hear what new
thing he had to say ; and when Gautama went towards
midday to the city to the raja's house to receive his
daily meal, he was surrounded by an enthusiastic
multitude. The raja received him with great respect,
and, saying that Yashtivana was too far off, assigned
to him as a residence a bamboo grove (veluvami)
close by, which became celebrated as the place
where Gautama spent many rainy seasons, and de-
livered many of his most complete discourses. 1
There he stayed for two months, and during that
time two ascetics, named Sariputra and Moggallana,
afterwards conspicuous leaders in the new crusade,
joined the Sangha or Society, as the little company of
Buddhist mendicants was called. The high position
which Gautama soon after assigned these new dis-
ciples created some ill-feeling among the older mem-
bers of the Sangha, which Gautama, however, allayed
by calling together his followers and addressing them
at some length on the means requisite for Buddhist
salvation, which he summed up in the celebrated verse.
' To cease from all wrong-doing,
To get virtue,
To cleanse one's own heart,
This is the religion of the Buddhas.'
At the same time he laid down the first rules for the
' Curiously enough while Yashtivana has been identified by
General Cunningham ('Ancient Geography of India,' p. 461,
and map xii. ), the site of Veluvana has not yet been discovered :
it must have occupied about the position where the ancient
basements, marked K. K. K. and G. in Cunningham's map of
kajagriha (PL xiv. Reports, vol. i.), were found by him. See
above, p. 33.
THE FICKLE MULTITUDE. 63
guidance of the society, the simple code being called
' Patimokkha,' that is ' the Disburdenment,' a
word afterwards applied to a book containing a sum-
mary of the more complex system of laws, as it had
been elaborated at the time of Gautama's death. This
meeting of mendicants at which the Society was first,
so to speak, incorporated, is known as the ' Savaka-
sannipata,' or assembly of the disciples. 1
The enthusiasm of the people seems to have cooled
down as rapidly as it arose, for we hear of no other
conversions besides those of Sariputra and Moggal
lana, and their pupils ; and the members of the society
began even to complain to Gautama that, when they
went out to beg their daily food, they were received
with abuse and ridicule ; on the ground that the new
teaching would deprive households of their support,
and depopulate and ruin the country. This they did
not know how to answer, which is not surprising, for
the charge was unfortunately true. The Brahmans,
indeed, held celibacy in high honour, but only in
youth and old age ; and the tapasas or ascetics, so far
from seeking imitators, added such penance to their
celibacy as they hoped, rightly enough, would be un-
attainable by ordinary men ; whereas the Buddhists
painted in glowing colours the contrast between the
miseries of life in the world, and the sweet calm of
life in the Order, and wanted every one for his own
sake to share at once in their salvation. Gautama's
1 Jataka, p. 85 ; Hardy, M. B., 198 ; Tumour, J. B. A. S.,
vii. 816. Hardy says that the verse above quoted (v. 183 of
the Dhammapada), 'constitutes the discourse,' called Pati-
mokkha. Compare my ' Ancient Coins and Measures of
Ceylon,' p. 5, and below p 162.
64 LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
answer, perhaps the best possible, does not dispute
the charge, but simply reasserts that what the people
called ruin he called good. He advised his followers
to say that the Buddha was only trying to spread
righteousness, as former Buddhas had done ; that he
used no weapons except persuasion ; those whom he
gained, he gained only by means of the truth, which
he proclaimed for the benefit of all.
While the new teacher was laying the foundations
of his order, and experiencing first the devotion
and then the attacks of the multitude, his relations
at Kapilavastu had not remained ignorant of the
change in his life ; and Suddhodana had sent to him
asking him to visit his native city, that his now
aged father might see him once more before he
died. Gautama, accordingly started for Kapilavastu,
and on his arrival there stopped, according to his cus-
tom, in a grove outside the town. There his father,
uncles, and others came to see him ; but the latter at
least were by no means pleased with their mendicant
clansman ; and though it was the custom on such
occasions to offer to provide ascetics with their daily
food, they all left without having done so. The next
day, therefore, Gautama set out, accompanied by his
disciples, carrying his bowl to beg for a meal. As
he came near the gate of the little town, he hesitated
whether he should not go straight to the raja's resi-
dence, but at last he determined to adhere to a rule
of the Order, according to which a Buddhist mendi-
cant should beg regularly from house to house. It
soon reached the raja's ears that his son was walking
through the streets begging. Startled at such news,
he rose up, and holding his outer robe together with
VISIT TO HIS FATHER. 65
his hand went out quickly, and hastening to the place
where Gautama was, he said, ' Why, master, do you
put us to shamo ? Why do you go begging for your
food ? Do you think it is not possible to provide food
for so many mendicants ? '
' Oh, Maharaja/ was the reply, ' this is the custom
of all our race.'
' But we are descended from an illustrious race of
warriors, and not one of them has ever begged his
bread.'
' You and your family,' answered Gautama, ' may
claim descent from kings ; my descent is from the pro-
phets (Buddhas) of old, and they, begging their food,
have always lived on alms. But, my father, when a
man has found a hidden treasure, it is his duty first
to present his father with the most precious of the
jewels ;' and he accordingly addressed his father on
the cardinal tenet of his doctrine, his words being
reported in the form of two verses given in the Dham-
ma-pada: 1
' Rise up ! and loiter not !
Practise a normal life and right !
Who follows virtue rests in bliss,
Both in this world. and in the next.
Follow after the normal life !
Follow not after wrong !
Who follows virtue rests in bliss,
Both in this world and in the next.'
Suddhodana made no reply to this, but simply
taking his son's bowl, led him to his house, where the
members of the family and the servants of the house-
1 Verses 168, 169 ; and comp. p. 148, below.
66 LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
hold came to do him honour, but Yasodhara did not
come. ' If I am of any value in his eyes, he will him-
self come,' she had said ; ' I can welcome him better
here.' Gautama noticed her absence, and attended by
two of his disciples, went to the place where she was;
first warning his followers not to prevent her, should
she try to embrace him, although no member of his
Order might touch or be touched by a woman. When
she saw him enter, a recluse in yellow robes with
shaven head and shaven face, though she knew it
would be so, she could not contain herself, and falling
on the ground she held him by the feet, and burst into
tears. Then remembering the impassable gulf between
them, she rose and stood on one side. The raja
thought it necessary to apologize for her, telling
Gautama how entirely she had continued to love him,
refusing comforts which he denied himself, taking but
one meal a day, and sleeping, not on a bed, but on a
mat spread on the ground. The different accounts
often tell us the thoughts of the Buddha on any par-
ticular occasion; here they are silent, stating only that
he then told a Jataka story, showing how great had
been her virtue in a former birth. She became an
earnest hearer of the new doctrines ; and when, some-
time afterwards, much against his will, Gautama was
induced to establish an order of female mendicants,
his widowed wife Yasodhara became one of the first of
the Buddhist nuns. 1
1 For Gautama's journey to Kapilavastu, and interviews with
his father and his wife, compare Jataka, 87-90, with the com-
mentary on Dhammapada, w. 168, 169 ; Bigandet, 156-168 ;
Spence Hardy, 'Manual,' 198-204; and Bcal, pp. 360-364.
THE SPIRITUAL INHERITANCE. 67
About a week afterwards, Yasodhara dressed
Rahula, her child and Gautama's, in his best, and
told him to go to his father to ask for his inheritance. 'I
know of no father, but the raja,' said the boy, mean-
ing Suddhodana ; ' Who is my father ? ' Yasodhara
holding him up to the window, pointed out to him the
Buddha, and saying, ' That monk, whose appearance
is so glorious, is your father, and he has great wealth,
which we have not seen since the day when he left us ;
go to him and ask for your rights ; say, "I am your son,
and shall be the head of the clan, and shall want my in-
heritance. Give it to me."' 1 Rahula went up to Gautama
and said,without fear, and with much affection, 'Father,
how happy I urn to benear you.' Gautamasaid nothing,
but presently having finished his meal, rose up to go
to the Nigrodha grove, where he was staying. Rahula
followed him, asking for his inheritance. The Buddha
was still silent, but as he did not stop his son's asking,
so neither did his disciples interfere. When they
reached the Nigrodha grove, Gautama thought, ' This
wealth that he is seeking from his father perishes in the
using, and brings vexation with it : I will give him the
sevenfold nobler wealth I acquired under the Bo-tree,
and make him the heir of a spiritual inheritance.' 3
Then turning to Sariputra, he told him to admit
Rahula into the Order, which was accordingly done.
1 If this legend be founded on fact, it would seem to show
that Yasodhara was of a grasping disposition, inconsistent with
the lofty love for her prophet-husband, with which she is credited
in the preceding episode ; but the Jataka there also suggests
that she acted from pride, rather than from love.
Rh. D., 'Buddhist Birth Stories,' p. 129.
68 LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
f
When Suddhodana heard of this he was exceeding
sorrowful ; for Nanda, Gautama's half-brother, had
already become a mendicant, so that his two sons were
lost to him as far as all earthly hopes were concerned,
and now his grandson was taken from him. He there-
fore went to the Buddha and asked him to establish
a rule that no one should in future be admitted to
the Order without the consent of his parents. Gau-
tama granted this request, and after some more inter-
views with his father returned towards Rajagriha.
On his way he stayed for some time at Anupiya, on
the banks of the Anoma, in a mango grove, near the spot
where he had sent Channa back on the eventful night
of the 'Great Renunciation'; and whilst he was there
the society received several important accessions,
chiefly from his own clan, or from that of his relatives,
the Koliyans. Among these Ananda, Dewadatta,
Upali, and Anuruddha deserve especial mention. The
first became the most intimate friend of his cousin,
Gautama, as will especially appear in the account of
the teacher's death. The second, also his cousin,
became afterwards his rival and opponent, and is
accordingly represented as a most wicked and de-
praved man. 1 The third, Upali, was a barber by caste
and occupation, whose deep religious feeling and
great intellectual powers made him afterwards one of
1 The Chinese account even says that Gautama refused to
admit him to the Order, on the ground that his mind was not
in a proper condition ; telling him first to go home and bestow
all his wealth in charity, so as to make himself fit to become a
mendicant. Beal, p. 378 ; but the commentary on the Dhamma-
pada, p. 139, confirms Hardy, p. 231, andBigandet, pp. 174, 175
SRAVASTI. 69
the most important leaders in the Order a striking
proof of the reality of the effect produced by
Gautama's disregard of the supposed importance of
caste. The last, Anuruddha, became the greatest
master of Buddhist metaphysics.
After spending his second was at Rajagriha with
his new disciples, ' Gautama visited Sravasti, on the
river Rapti, a town about as- far N.W. of Benares
as Rajagriha is E. of that place. Sravasti has been
identified without a doubt by General Cuningham
with the ruins of Sahet-Mahet, in Oudh; 1 it was in
Gautama's time one of the most important cities in
the valley of the Ganges, and the capital of Prase-
najit, King of Kosala. Gautama visited this place
in acceptance of an invitation given him by a mer
chant, Anathapinclika, who had heard his preaching
in Rajagriha, and who presented to the society a
wood called Jetavana. There Gautama afterwards
often resided, and many of the discourses and Jataka
stories are said to have been first spoken there.
The accounts of Buddha's life in the Jataka com-
mentary and that of the Chinese work translated by
Mr. Beal come here to a close. From this time to
a few days before his death we have only a few pas-
sages in the Pali commentary on the Dhamma-pada,
and certain tales recorded by Bigandet and Spcnce
Hardy, which are probably derived from the above
or other commentaries on the different utterances of
the Buddha therein related. Those of these stories
' Ancient Geography of India, 407 et seq.
70 LIFE OF GATJTAMA.
which can be arranged chronologically refer only to
the next seventeen years of Gautama's ministry ; the
first w as having been spent in Benares, the two fol-
lowing at Rajagriha.
In the i\th year Gautama admits the rope-dancer,
Uggasena, 1 to the Order, and then, crossing the Ganges
into Wesali, lives for a time in the Mahavana grove.
Whilst there he hears of a quarrel between the
Sakyas and the Koliyans about the water in the boun-
dary river Kohana, and, flying to Kapilavastu through
the air, he reconciles the two clans, and then returns
to Mahavana, and prepares to spend the rainy season
there.
5/7* year. In the middle of was, however, he hears
of the illness of Suddhodana, and again returns to
Kapilavastu, and is present at the death of his father,
then ninety-seven years old, at sunrise of Saturday,
the full-moon day of the month of August in the year
of the Eetzana era, 107. 2 After comforting his rela-
tives, and carrying out the cremation of the body with
due ceremony, Gautama returns to the Kutagara
Wihara at Mahavana. He is there followed by his
father's widow, PrajapatI, Yasodhara, and other Sakya
and Kolyan ladies, who earnestly ask to be allowed
to take the vows. He is very unwilling to admit
them to the Order, but at last yields to the earnest
advocacy of Ananda, and lays down certain rules for
female mendicants. He then retires to the hill
Makula, at Kosambi, near Allahabad.
1 Dhamma-pada, v. 348 is said to have been addressed o: this
occasion to Uggasena.
2 Bigandt, p. 197.
CHRONICLE OF THK MINISTRY. 7 I
6/// year. After spending the rainy season at Ma-
kula, Gautama returns to Rajagriha, and whilst there
admits Kshema, the wife of Raja Bimbisara, to the
Order. One of his disciples gaining a patra, or alms-
bowl, by the display of miraculous powers, the
Buddha had the patra broken to pieces, and forbids
any miracles ; but, on Bimbisara telling him that his
opponents think this arises from fear, he himself
works some mighty miracles at Sravasti, at a place
and time appointed ; and then goes to heaven to
teach the law to his mother, who had died seven days
after his birth. 1
1th year. He descends from heaven at Sankissa,
and walks to Sravasti, to the Jetavana Wihara. While'
there the opponent teachers induce a woman named
Chincha to accuse him of a breach of chastity, but her
deceit is exposed. 2
S//i year. The rainy season was spent at the rock
Sansumara, near Kapilavastu. Conversion of the
father and mother of Nakula, and of the father and
mother of Moggali. Gautama returns to Kosambi,
near Allahabad.
qfh year. Moggali stirs up enmity against Gau-
tama, and Ananda urges him to go elsewhere, but he
refuses. A dissension then breaks out in the Order,
and Gautama in vain exhorts the two parties to pa-
tience, union, and charity, and then sorrowfully leaves
1 The Buddha is never said to have descended into hell, but
there is a later legend among the northern Buddhists of Avalo-
kiteswara (see p. 205) having done so. Compare Prof. Cowell
in the "Journal of Philology," vol. vi. p. 222 et seq.
* Fausboll's Dhamma-pada, pp. 338-340.
72 LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
his disciples and goes, alone, to the forest of Pa-
rileyyaka.
io/7; year. There, in a hut built by the villagers, he
spends his loth rainy season. The refractory men-
dicants seek him out to ask pardon, are well received,
and forgiven ; Gautama addressing to them a kind of
half-apology (with a sting in it) ' outsiders who knew
not the littleness of all things might indeed quarrel,
but they should have been wiser. He who has found
prudent, sober, and wise companions, may walk
happy, if he be considerate ; but rather than be with
the unwise let him walk alone, without sin, and with
few wishes, like the lonely elephant.' 1 With the re-
pentant disciples he returns to Sravasti, and thence
goes on to Magadha.
1 \th year. In a village near Rajagriha, he converts
the Brahman Bharadwaja by the parable of the
sower. 2 After spending the rainy season there, he
returns to Kosala to a town called Satiabia.
i zth year. Thence he goes to the neighbouring
town of Weranja, where he spends the i2th rainy
season. 3 After it is over, he undertakes the longest
journey he had yet made, penetrating as far as
Mantala (to the south ?), returning via Benares, and
Vesali, to Sravasti in Kosala, preaching in all the
places he visited. On his return he preached the
Maha Rahula Sutta to his son Rahula, then eighteen
years old.
1 Comp. Bigandet, 224, with the commentary on Dhamma-
pada, w. 328-330, and especially p. 105.
1 The parable is given below, p. i ; \.
* I'ausboll's Dhamma-pada, p. 275.
CHRONICLE OF THE MINISTRY. 73
\$th year. Gautama then went to Chaliya, where
he spent the i3th rainy season, and then returned to
Sravasti.
i ^th year. In this year Gautama ordained at the
Jetavana Wihara in Sravasti his son Rahula, de-
livering on this occasion the Rahula Sutta, of which
a summary in verse has been translated by Sir
Kumara Swami in his Sutta Nipata. He then
travelled to Kapilavastu.
15/7* year. The i5th season was spent at the
Nigrodha grove near that town. Gautama addressed
to his cousin Mahanama, who had succeeded Bha-
draka, the successor of Suddhodana, in the headship
of the Sakya clan, a discourse summarized by
Bigandet (p. 230). Suprabuddha, the raja of Koli,
who was angry with Gautama for deserting his
daughter, Yasodhara, curses him publicly, and is
shortly afterwards swallowed up by the earth. The
Buddha then returned to the Jetavana Wihara, where
he delivered a discourse on the superiority of
righteousness (Dharma) to almsgiving in answer to
four questions propounded by a Deva. 1
1 6th year. Gautama next goes to Alawl, where he
converts a mythical monster who ate the children of
the district ; a story which in its present shape seems
to include a sun myth.
17 1 7i year. During the iyth rainy season which he
spent at Rajagriha, Gautama preaches a sermon on
1 It is instructive to notice that these very questions (I'.ig.
232) are in the Sutta Nipata, p. 47 (comp. Hardy M. B. 265) put
into the mouth of Alawaka, whom Bigandet only mentions; in
the following year.
74 LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
the occaion of the death of Sirimati, a courtezan ;
and in the fine weather, returns through Sravasti to
Alawi, preaching in all the places he passed through.
At Alawi he refuses to preach to a hungry man until
he has been well fed.
iSfh year. The rainy season is again spent at
Chaliya, near Sravasti, where the i3th had been spent ;
and while there, the teacher comforts a weaver who
had accidentally killed his daughter. Gautama then
returned to Rajagriha.
igt/i year. After spending the rainy season in the
Weluvana Wihara, Gautama travelled through Ma-
gadha preaching in all the villages. On one occasion,
finding a deer caught in a snare, he releases it, and
sitting down under a tree near by, becomes absorbed
in meditation. The angry hunter tries to shoot
him, but is restrained by a miracle, and the Buddha
recovering from his trance, preaches to him and his
family, who become lay disciples. Gautama then
goes on to Sravasti.
ZQthycar. There he spends the rainy season, and
having been twice treated contemptuously by the
mendicant who had carried his alms-bowl, he appoints
Ananda to be his constant companion. Then he
goes to a forest near Chaliya, and succeeds in over-
coming by kindness a famous robber, named Anguli-
mala, whom he persuades to become a mendicant.
As neither the Sinhalese nor the Burmese authors
from whom Spence Hardy and Bigandet translate
give any account of the sources from which they draw
their information, it is not possible to say whether
these details depend upon the authority of the three
CHRONICLE OF THE MINISTRY. 75
Pitakas themselves, or only upon the commentary.
The chronological order in which the stories are
arranged is .due to a later hand, and it is not unlikely
that in the course of compilation discrepancies have
been smoothed over, and lacunae filled up. As the
stories are full of legendary matter, of which we have
not as yet the earliest forms before us, I have not
given them at length ; but the general picture they
give of Gautama's mode of life is probably not inac-
curate, and many of them may well have had some
real foundation in fact. Had there been any desire to
make the chronology complete, the remaining years
of the life might easily have been filled up by other
events which are now related without a time being
fixed for them, especially as some of these are of
great importance. Among them are the stories of
certain women who devoted their lives and their sub-
stance to the new movement, notably one Wisakha
of Sravasti, who presented the society with a grove
to the east of the town, and built there a Wihara
called the Pubbarama, or Eastern Garden. 1
Another event of the greatest importance in the
history of the Order was the schism created by
Gautama's cousin Dewadatta ; who, having been
offended with certain slights put upon him by the
people of Kosambi, during one of the Buddha's
visits to that place, had returned to Rajagriha, where
he settled in a home built for him by the raja Bimbi-
sara's son, Ajatasatru. Some years afterwards, Gau-
tama came to Rajagriha to spend the rainy season in
1 Big. 247 ; Hardy's Manual, 220. et seq.
j6 LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
the Veluvana Wihara, and Dewadatta still professing
himself a Buddhist, asked permission to found a new
Order under his own leadership, the rules of which
should be much more stringent than those adopted
by Gautama. The refusal of this is said to have
determined him to break with Buddhism altogether,
and to found a new religion of his own. When,
soon after (in the 3yth year of Buddha's mission), 1
Ajatasatru put to death his father, Bimbisara, this act
is said to have been instigated by Dewadatta, who
hoped to profit by the change. Three times attempts
were then made on the life of Gautama, and these
failing, Dewadatta went with due solemnity to Velu-
vana, and formally called upon Gautama to insist on
the stricter rules which he advocated. These were,
that the mendicants should live in the open air, and not
close to towns ; should dress in cast-off rags ; should
always beg their food from door to door (that is never
accept invitations, or food sent to the Wiharas) ; and
should eat no meat. Gautama answered that his pre-
cepts could be kept in any place, that he had no ob-
jection to such members of the Order as wished to
do so keeping stricter rules, but that they were not
necessary, and could not be kept at all by the
young or delicate. As to food, the members of
the Order might eat whatever was customary in
the countries where they were, so long as they
ate without indulgence of the appetite. It was pos-
1 Mahavansa, p. 10 ; Bigandet, p. 249. Hardy, M.B., 193,
says, 'he rendered assistance to Buddha during thirty-six years,'
which comes to the same thing.
DEWADATTA. 77
sible to become pure at the foot of a tree, or in
a house ; in cast-off clothes, or in clothes given by
laymen ; whilst abstaining from flesh, or whilst using
it. To establish one uniform law would be a hind-
rance in the way of those who were seeking Nirvana ;
and it was to show men the way to Nirvana which
was his sole aim. Dewadatta upon this returned to
his own Wihara, and founded a new and stricter
Order, which gradually grew in numbers, and was
openly supported by Ajatasatru. Dewadatta, how-
ever, did not live long, and Ajatasatru soon after
became, in name at least, a supporter of the Buddha ;
though in the year before Gautama's death he not
only took Sravasti, the head-quarters, as it were, of
Buddhism, but totally destroyed Kapilavastu. 1
While the accounts of Gautama's life since his first
visit to Kapilavastu are only available at present in
imperfect and fragmentary notices found in Hardy
and Bigandet, confirmed by a few passages in the
commentary on the Dhamma-pada, we have in the
Pitakas themselves the Maha-parinibbana Sutta, a
portion of which gives a detailed description of the
events of the last three months before his death. 2
1 Compare the Commentary on Dhamma-pada, vv. 90, 162,
163, with Hardy, 315-329, Bigandet, 248-253, Burnouf, Lotus,
448, Beat's Fa Hian, 87. The relation in which Dewadatta stood
to Gautama seems to have resembled, in some essential points,
the relation in which the Judaizing Christians stood to St. Paul.
* Translated under the title, ' Book of the Great Decease,' in
my ' Buddhist Suttas,' Oxford, 1881
78 LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
Gautama spent the 44th rainy season after his
Buddhahood in the Jetawana Wihara at Sravasti,
and then returned to the Vulture's Peak, a cave on
the side of the loftiest of the five hills, overhanging
the beautiful valley of Rajagriha. 1 Ajatasatru was
then planning an attack on the confederation of the
Wajjian clans, who occupied the plains on the
northern shore of the Ganges, opposite to Magadha.
Gautama declared that as long as they were united
in their adherence to their ancient customs they
would be able to retain their independence; and he
took occasion to inculcate very earnestly on the men-
dicants, whom he assembled for that purpose, the
absolute necessity of union, in obedience to the
precepts and customs of the Order. It is, perhaps,
needless to add that agreement on such a basis was
found impossible. The history of Buddhism is the
history of the struggles of so-called heretics against
the continual additions made to the Rules and Beliefs
of the Order by the majority who called themselves
orthodox; and new sects of reformers are at this
moment rising both in Siam and Ceylon.
The teacher then crossed the Ganges at a spot
where, on the site of the modern city of Patna,
Ajatasatru was then building a fort to keep the
Wajjians in check, the beginning of a town which
soon began to rival Rajagriha, and afterwards became
the capital of the enlarged kingdom of Magadha.
Bigandet, 253. The site of the cave is given by Cun-
ningham ; ' Archaeological Reports,' map xiv. Compare
pp. 20, 21 ; and . Julien's Hwen Thsang III. 20; Besl's Fa
Hian, p. 114.
THE LAST DAYS. 79
He went on to Ambapali, where he became the
guest of the leading courtesan of the place, to the
great offence of the Wajjian nobles. 1 Thence he pro-
ceeded to Belu-gamaka, where he spent the 45th
rainy season, during which he was attacked by a
severe and painful illness, and openly declared that
he could not live long. After the season of was was
over he went slowly through the villages of Wesali,
everywhere collecting the members of the Order, and
exhorting them to adhere to his doctrine.
' O Mendicants ! thoroughly learn, and practise,
and perfect, and spread abroad the Law, thought out
and revealed by me, in order that this religion of
mine (literally, this purity) may last long, and be per-
petuated for the good and happiness of the great
multitudes, out of pity for the world, to the advantage
and prosperity of gods and men. 3 .... Now,
alas, O mendicants, in a little while the Tathagata
(he who is like others) will pass away. In three
months from now the Tathagata will die. My age is
accomplished, my life is done ; leaving you, I depart,
having relied on myself alone. Be earnest, O mendi-
cants, thoughtful, and pure ! Steadfast in resolve, keep
watch over your own hearts ! Whosoever shall adhere
unweariedly to this Law and Discipline, 3 he shall
cross the ocean of life, and make an end of sorrow ! '
1 ' Book of the Great Decease,' loc. fit., ii. 16-21.
* Then followed an enumeration of the divisions of the Law.
See below, p. 171.
1 Dharma and Vinaya : perhaps older recensions of the pre-
sent Pitakas are here referred to ; but I think the words only
signify generally the doctrines taught by the Buddha. Parinib-
bana Sutta, loc. tit., p. 227; and below, pp. 18, 45, 82.
8o LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
On reaching Pava he is entertained by a goldsmith
of that place named Chunda (a man therefore of one
of the lower castes), who prepares for him a meal of
rice and young pork and it may be noticed in pass-
ing how improbable it is that the story of the Bud-
dha's death having been due to such a cause should
be a mere invention. In the afternoon he started for
Kusi-nagara, a town about 120 milesN.N.E. of Benares,
and about 80 miles due East of Kapila-vastu. About
half-way between the two places flows the river Ku-
kushta ; before reaching it, however, he was obliged
to rest, and being thirsty he asks Ananda to bring
him some water from the river. Thus refreshed he
is able to bathe in the river, and resting many hours
reaches in the evening a grove outside Kusinagara,
where he rests for the last time.
At the river, feeling that he was dying, and afraid
that Chunda should reproach himself or be re-
proached by others, he says to Ananda, ' After I
am gone tell Chunda that he will in a future birth
receive very great reward ; for, having eaten of the
food he gave me, I am about to pass away. Say it
was from my own mouth that you heard this. There
are two gifts that will be blest above all others, that
of Sujata before I attained Buddhahood under the
Bo-Tree, and this gift of Chunda's before I finally
pass away.' While in the grove of trees he talked
long and earnestly with Ananda about his burial and
about certain rules (mostly relating to intercourse
with female disciples), to be observed by the Order
after his death.
At the close of this conversation Ananda broke
THE LAST DAYS. 8 1
down, and went aside to weep ' I am not yet perfect,
and my teacher is passing away : he who is so kind.'
But Gautama missed him, and sending for him com-
forted him with the hope of Nirvana, repeating what
he nad so often said about the impermanence of
all things. ' O ! Ananda ; do not let yourself be
troubled, do not weep. Have I not told you that
we must part from all we hold most dear and plea-
sant? No being soever born, or put together, can
overcome the dissolution inherent in it; no such
condition can exist. For a long time, Ananda, you
have been very near to me by kindness in act, and
word, and thoughtfulness. You have always done
well : persevere, and you too shall be quite free from
this thirst of life, this chain of ignorance ' ; and, turn-
ing to the rest of the disciples he spoke to them
at some length on the insight and kindness of
Ananda. 1
As the night wore on, Subhadra, a Brahman philo-
sopher of Kusinagara, came to ask some questions
of the Buddha, but Ananda, fearing that this might
lead to a longer discussion than the sick teacher
could bear, would not admit him. Gautama heard
the sound of their talking, and asking what it was,
told them to let Subhadra come. The latter began
by asking whether all the six great teachers 2 knew
things as they said they did, or whether some knew
1 ' Book of the Great Decease,' loc. tit., v. 32-40.
2 By these are meant the six Brahman teachers, a sketch of
whose systems is given in the Samafma-phala Sutta, Burnouf,
Lotus, 449-498 ; with which compare Hardy, Manual, 290-292.
The Burmese corruptions of the Indian names are often curious,
82 LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
them, or none. ' This is not the time for such dis-
cussions,' was the answer ; ' listen and I will preach
to you my law ' ; and Gautama went on to declare
that salvation could not be found in any system which
ignored the virtuous life, the eight stages of the Path
of Holiness, which begins with purity and ends in
love. By this discourse Subhadra is said to have
been converted.
Soon after the dying teacher says to Ananda, ' You
may perhaps begin to think, " the word is ended now,
our Teacher is gone " : but you must not think so.
After I am dead let the Law and the Rules of the
Order, which I have taught, be a Teacher to you. 3 1
He then gave instructions as to the mode in which
the elder and younger members of the Order should
address one another ; and laid a penalty on one
Channa, who spoke indiscriminately whatever oc-
curred to him. Then addressing all the disciples, he
called upon anyone who had any doubt or misgiving
as to any matter of the law, or regarding the paths,
or virtuous conduct, to ask him and he would resolve
the doubt : ' lest they should afterwards regret not
having asked when they had opportunity.' When
Ananda expressed his astonishment that none came
forward in response to this appeal, Gautama said
but the most remarkable instance is that of these six names
which are given by Bigandet, at p. 150, as Mekkali, Gow, Sala,
Thindzi, Jani, and Ganti. The first name is in Pali Makkhali
Gosala, the last is Nigantha, son of Natha ; so that the syllables
Thindzi Ja are all that is left in Burmese of the other four names !
1 Dharma and Vinaya, 'Book of the Great Decease,' loc. at.,
vi. i. Compare the note above, p. 79.
THE LAST DAYS. 83
that the very least of all those present who had once
been converted (who had entered ' the paths ') could
not entirely fall, but was certain eventually to arrive
at complete enlightenment. 1
After another pause he said, ' Mendicants ! I now
impress it upon you, decay is inherent in all com-
ponent things; work out your salvation with dili-
gence ! ' These were the last words the Teacher
spoke : shortly afterwards he became unconscious,
and in that state passed away.
In concluding this sketch of the early Buddhist
accounts of the life of Gautama, I shall make no
attempt to sum up his personal character ; a such
opinions as we may fairly allow ourselves to have on
that subject will be more safely derived from the
record of his teachings, than from the record of his
life. But the foregoing account will be sufficient, I
hope, to remove at least one misconception the
prevalent notion that Gautama was an enemy to
Hinduism, and that his chief claim on the gratitude
of his countrymen lies in his having destroyed a
system of iniquity and oppression and fraud. This is
not the case. Gautama was born, and brought up,
and lived, and died a Hindu. Asoka, the most dis-
tinguished of the lay followers of Gautama, is now
most often thought of as the philanthropic and
righteous Buddhist Emperor. But he loved to
1 'Book of the Great Decease,' loc. cit., vi. 6-ro.
2 See the remarks of the Rev. M. A. Sherring, ' Sacred City
of the Hindus,' pp. 12, 13; St. Hilaire, ' Le Bouddha,' p. v;
Polo, Yule's e<l, II. 255 ; Baring Gould, 'Development
of Christianity,' i. 357.
84 LIFE OF GAUTAMA.
call himself, ' Asoka, the delight of the gods ' ; l
and though he was an earnest Buddhist, it would
be more exact to call him a Hindu of the Bud-
dhist sect. There was not much in the meta-
physics and psychology of Gautama which cannot
be found in one or other of the orthodox systems,
and a great deal of his morality could be matched
from earlier or later Hindu books. Such origi-
nality as Gautama possessed lay in the way in
which he adopted, enlarged, ennobled, and system-
atized that which had already been well said by
others ; in the way in which he carried out to their
logical conclusion principles of equity and justice
already acknowledged by some of the most prominent
Hindu thinkers. The difference between him and
other teachers lay chiefly in his deep earnestness and
in his broad public spirit of philanthropy. Even
these differences are probably much more apparent
now than they were then, and by no means deprived
him of the support and sympathy of the best among
the Brahmans. Many of his chief disciples, many of
the most distinguished members of his Order, were
Brahmans : he always classed them with the Buddhist
mendicants as deserving of respect, and he used the
name Brahmans as a term of honour for the Buddhist
Arahats or saints. 2 Doubtless, his abolishing caste
within the limits of his Order, and his declaring the
1 His contemporary, the pious Buddhist king of Ceylon, also
called himself by the same epithet, viz., Devdnam piya. Com-
pare the Rock Pali inscription, published by me in the ' Indian
Antiquary' for May, 1872.
2 See below, pp. 251 and following, and above, p. 34.
BRAHMANISM AND BUDDHISM. 85
road to Nirvana to be as open to the lowest outcast
as it was to the proudest of the ' twice born ' occa-
sioned no little discontent ; while his contempt for
ritualism, and his belief in the capacity of every man
to work out here, in this life, his own salvation,
seemed to the conservative party to be dangerous
doctrines : it is even true that in the long run the
two systems were quite incompatible. But neither
Gautama nor the great body of the Brahmans be-
lieved them probably to be so then. We hear
of no persecutions till long after the time of Asoka,
when Buddhism had become corrupt ; and Bud-
dhism grew and flourished within the fold of the
orthodox belief. So far from showing how depraved
and oppressive Hinduism was, it shows precisely the
contrary : for none will deny that there is much that
is beautiful and noble in Buddhism ; and Buddhism
was the child, the product of Hinduism. Gautama's
whole training was Brahmanism ; he probably deemed
himself to be the most correct exponent of the spirit,
as distinct from the letter of the ancient faith ; and it
can only be claimed for him that he was the greatest,
and wisest, and best of the Hindus.
86 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
CHAPTER IV.
THE ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM, THE
SKANDHAS, TRISHNA, KARMA AND NIRVANA.
WITH regard to Gautama's teaching we have more
reliable authority than we have with regard to his
life. It is true that none of the books of the
Pali Pitakas can at present be satisfactorily traced
back before the Council of Asoka, held at Patna
about 250 B.C., that is to say, at least 130 years
after the death of the teacher; but they undoubt-
edly contain a great deal of much older matter.
And Gautama Buddha did not leave behind him
a number of deeply simple sayings, from which his
followers subsequently built up a system or systems
of their own. He had himself thoroughly elaborated
his doctrine, partly as to details, after, but in its
fundamental points even before, his mission began.
During his long career as teacher, he had ample
time to repeat the principles and details of the
system over and over again to his disciples, and to
test their knowledge of it. And further, his leading
disciples were, like himself, accustomed to the sub-
tlest metaphysical distinctions, and trained to that
wonderful command of memory which Indian
ascetics then possessed. When these facts are
recalled to mind, it will be seen that much more
IMPERMANENCE OF ALL THINGS. 87
reliance may reasonably be placed upon the doctrinal
parts of the Buddhist Scriptures, than upon corre-
spondingly late records of other religions, or on the
biographical parts of the Buddhist canon itself. It
may be possible, hereafter, when the Pitakas shall
have been published, to ascertain which parts of them
are older than the rest, and whether they contain an
older system hidden under a later one ; at present it
can only be said that of difference in age there is
already sufficient evidence, but of growth or change
in fundamental ideas none of any certainty, except,
indeed, as regards the person of Gautama himself.
Postponing, therefore, this last question for con-
sideration later on, let us first endeavour to give a
brief outline of the explanation which early Buddhism
has to offer of the nature of man, and of his relation to
the world around him.
Buddhism does not attempt to solve the problem
of the primary origin of all things. ' When Malunka
asked the Buddha whether the existence of the world
is eternal or not eternal, he made him no reply ; but
the reason of this was, that it was considered by the
teacher as an inquiry that tended to no profit.' ] Bud-
dhism takes as its ultimate fact the existence of the
material world and of conscious beings living within it;
and it holds that everything is subject to the law of
cause and effect, and that everything is constantly,
though imperceptibly, changing. There is no place
where this law does not operate ; no heaven or hell,
therefore, in the ordinary sense. There are worlds
1 Hardy's 'Manual of Buddhism,' p. 375. [The original
1'ali has since been published. Majjhima, I. 430.]
ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
where devas live, whose existence is more or less
material, according as their previous lives were more
or less good ; but the devas die, and the worlds they
inhabit pass away. There are places of torment where
the evil actions of men or devas produce unhappy
beings ; but when the active power of the evil that
produced them is exhausted, they will vanish, and
the worlds they inhabit are not eternal. The whole
kosmos earth, and heavens, and hells is always
tending to renovation or destruction ; is always in a
course of change, a series of revolutions, or of cycles,
of which the beginning and the end alike are un-
knowable and unknown. To this universal law of
composition and dissolution, men and gods form no
exception ; the unity of forces which constitutes a
sentient being must sooner or later be dissolved ; and
it is only through ignorance and delusion that such a
being indulges in the dream that it is a separate and
self-existent entity.
A watchman on a lofty tower sees a charioteer
urging his horse along the plain : the driver thinks
he is moving rapidly, and the horse in the pride of
life seems to scorn the earth from which it thinks
itself so separate ; but to the watchman above, horse
and chariot, and driver, seem to crawl along the
ground, and to be as much a part of the earth
as the horse's mane, waving in the wind, is a part
of the horse itself. As a child grows up, its mind
reflects as in a dim mirror the occurrences of the sur-
rounding world; and practically, though unconsciously,
it regards itself as the centre round which the universe
turns. Gradually its circle widens somewhat, but the
BUDDHIST PSVCHOI.or.Y. 89
grown man never escapes from the delusion of self,
and spends his life in a constant round of desires and
cares, Iccging for objects which when attained, pro-
duce not happiness, but fresh desires and cares,
always engaged in the pursuit of some fancied good.
For the majority of men these cares are mean, petty,
and contemptible ; but even those whose ambition
urges them to higher aims, are equally seeking after
vanity, and only laying themselves open to greater
sorrows and more bitter disappointment.
Such teachings are by no means peculiar to Bud-
dhism, and similar ideas lie at the foundation of earlier
Indian philosophies. They are to be found, indeed,
in other systems widely separated from these in time
and place ; and Buddhism in dealing with the truth
which they contain, might have given a more decisive
and more lasting utterance, if it had not also borrowed
a belief in the curious doctrine of transmigration a
doctrine which seems to have arisen independently,
if not simultaneously, in the valley of the Ganges and
the valley of the Nile. The word transmigration has
been used, however, in different times and at differ-
ent places, for theories similar, indeed, but very
different ; and Buddhism in adopting the general idea
from post-Vedic Brahmanism, so modified it as to
originate, in fact, a new hypothesis.
The new hypothesis, like the old one, related to life
in past and future births, and contributed nothing to
the removal, here, in this life, of the evil whose origin
it was supposed to explain. To this end Buddhism
teaches that there is a way, the ' noble eightfold path.'
We shnl! endeavour tl'erefore, first to make clear the
G
9 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
Buddhist metaphysical explanation of the originof evil,
and shall then discuss the Buddhist way of salvation.
The modification which Buddhism introduced into
the idea of transmigration was necessitated by the
early P-"ddhist theories of the nature of sentient
beings. According to these, man consists of an assem-
blage of different properties or qualities, none of
which corresponds to the Hindu or modern notion
of soui. These are material qualities, sensations,
abstract ideas, tendencies of mind, and mental
pMversJ- and as the point is a matter of great im-
portance for a right appreciation of Buddhist teaching,
and the enumeration is not without interest for its
own sake, a few word? may* be devoted to the details
of each of these Skandhas or Aggregates.
i. The Material Properties or Attributes (Rfipa) are
twenty-eight in number :
Four elements ; earth, water, fire, air. 2
Five organs of sense ; eye, ear, nose, tongue, body.
Five attributes of matter ; form, sound, smell, taste,
substance. 3
Two distinctions of sex ; male, female.
Three essential conditions ; thought, vitality, space.
Two means of communication ; gesture, speech
Seven qualities of living bodies ; buoyancy, elas-
1 See Childfix's Pali Dictionary, s. v. Riipn, Vedana, Sanfia,
Sankhara, and Vinnana, and my 'Buddhist Suttas,' p. 242.
* According to Colebrooke, the Buddhists think that these
elements of matter consist of atoms, and deem compound bodies
to be conjoint primary atoms. Essays, i. 4. 6.
3 In some lists this is omitted, and 'food' added later on.
Visuddhi Mngga apud Childers, .r. v. Rupa ; and Alabaster,
' Wheel of the Law,' p. 237.
THE SANSKARAS. 91
ticity, power of adaptation, power of aggre-
gation, duration, decay, change.
2. The Sensations (vedana) are divided into six
classes, according as they are received immediately
by each of the five senses, or sixthly, by the mind
(through memory) ; and further, into eighteen classes,
as each of these six classes may be either agreeable,
disagreeable, or indifferent.
3. The Abstract Ideas (sanna) are divided into six
classes corresponding to the six classes of sensations ;
for instance, the ideas blue, a tree, are classed under
sight ; the idea sweetness, under taste, and so on.
4. The Tendencies or Potentialities (literally con-
fections, sankhara), are in fifty-two divisions, which
are not, however, mutually exclusive. Some of these
include, or are identical with, items in the previous
classes ; but whereas the previous groups are ar-
ranged as it were from an objective, this group is
arranged as it were from a subjective point of view :
1. Contact (Phassa).
2. The resulting sensation (Vedana).
3. Abstract ideas, formed on sensation (Sanna).
4. Thought, the regrouping of ideas (Cetana).
5. Reflection, turning these groups over and over
(Manasikara).
6. Memory (Sati).
7. Vitality (J Ivitindriya ; also in Group i ).
8. Individuality (Ekaggata).
9. Attention (Vitakka, which may cause contact
No. i).
10. Investigation (Vicara ; continued attention).
11. Effort (Viriya, which assists all other faculties).
1 2. Steadfastness (Adhimokkha, continued effort).
92 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
( '3- Joy (Piti).
14. Impulse (ChandaV
( 15. Indifference (Majjhattata).
1 6, 17. Sleep and torpor (Thina and Middha, the
opposites of attention, No. 8; and of mind-
lightness, No. 34).
1 8, 19. Stupidity and intelligence (Moha and Parma).
20, 21. Covetousness and content (Loblia and
Alobha).
22, 23. Fear and rashness (Ottappa and Anotappa).
24, 25. Shame and s-hamelessness (Hiri and Ahirika).
26, 27. Hatred and affection (Dosa and Adosa).
28-30. Doubt, faith, and delusion (Vicikiccha,
Saddha, Ditthi).
31, 32. Repose of body or mind (Pasiddhi).
33, 34. Lightness, activity ; of body or mind (Lahuta) ;
also in Group i.
35, 36. Softness, elasticity; of body or mind (Mu-
duta) ; also in Group i.
37, 38. Adaptability, pliancy ; of body or mind
(Kammanfiata) ; also in Group r.
39, 40. Dexterity; of body or mind (Pagurmata).
41, 42. Straightness ; of body or mind (Ujjukata)
43-45. Propriety ; of speech, action, or life (Samma).
f 46. Pity ; sorrow for the sorrow of others (Karuna).
47. Gladness ; rejoicing in the joy of others
(Mudita).
48. Envy; sorrow at the joy of others (Issa).
49. Selfishness ; dislike to share one's joy wif.)i
[_ others (Macchariya).
f 50. Moroseness (Kukkucca)
< 51. Vanity (Uddhacca).
C 52. Pride (Mano).
THE SKANDHAS. 95
5. Thought, Reason (Vinnana), is the last skandha,
ana is really an amplification from another point of
view of the fourth of the last group (sankhara) which
is inherent in all the others. It is divided from the
point of view of the merit or demerit resulting from
different thoughts into eighty-nine classes; a division
which throws no light on the Buddhist scheme of the
constituent elements of being, and does not, therefore,
concern us here. 1
The above enumeration includes all the bodily and
mental parts and powers of man, and neither any one
of them, or any group of them, is permanent. ' The
first group, material qualities, are like a mass of foam,
that gradually forms, and then vanishes. The second
group, the sensations, are like a bubble dancing on the
face of the water. The third group, the ideas, are
like the uncertain mirage that appears in the sun-
shine. The fourth group, the mental and moral
predispositions, are like the plantain stalk, without
firmness or solidity. And the last group, the thoughts,
are like a spectre or magical illusion.' 2
It is repeatedly and distinctly laid down in the
Pitakas that none of these Skandhas or divisions of the
qualities of sentient beings is the soul/' 5 The body
itself is constantly changing, and so of each of the
1 The seat of vinnana is supposed to be the heart, mentioned
in the 1st group. Gogeri}, J. C. A. S., 1867, p. 122.
2 From Spence Hardy's Manual, p. 424. He gives his autho-
rities for the chapter at p. 399. Comp. below, p. 171.
3 See the passages quoted by Gogerly in the Journal of the
Ceylon Asiatic Society, 1867, 118, 121. Such Sanskrit Bud-
dhist books as are known say exactly the same : see Burnoufs
quotations, Intr. 507, 510.
94 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
other divisions, which are only functions of the livne
body, produced by the contact of external objects
with the bodily organs. Man is never the same for
two consecutive moments, and there is within him no
abiding principle whatever.
So important is this doctrine, and so difficult is it
for a mind impregnated with Christian ideas to recog-
nize it fully and freely as a fundamental tenet of the
widely-adopted religion of Gautama, that I must ask
attention to the following passages and authorities.
The first is from the Sutta Pitaka, and is also found
in a Sanskrit Buddhist work from which Burnouf
drew a great deal of his information. 1 Gautama is
there reported to have said :
"Mendicants, in whatever way the different teachers
(Samanas and Brahmanas) regard the soul, they
think it is the five skandhas, or one of the five.
Thus, mendicants, the unlearned, unconverted man
who does not associate either with the converted or
the holy, or understand their law, or live according
to it, such a man regards the soul either as iden-
tical with, or as possessing, or as containing, or as
residing in the material properties (rupa), or as
identical with, or as possessing, or as containing, or
as residing in sensation (vedana)," and so on of each
wf the other three skandhas (ideas, propensities, and
taind). " By regarding soul in onr of these twenty ways,
: The Abhidharma Kosha VyaKnya : part is quoted by Bur-
nouf, Introduction a 1'histoire du Buddhisme Indien, p. 263,
n. 2. The original Pali is in the 5th Sutta of the Khandha
Vagga, of the Sanyutta Nikaya in the Sutta Pitaka, quoted by
Alwis, Buddhist Nirvana, p. 71. Compare Dhp., p. 420.
'HIE SKANDHAS. 95
he gets the idea ' I am.' Then there are the five organs
of sense, and mind, and qualities, and ignorance.
From sensation (produced by contact and ignorance),
the sensual unlearned man derives the notions ' I am.'
' This I, exists,' 'I shall be,' 'I shall not be,' ' I shall or
shall not have material qualities,' ' I shall or shall not
have, or shall be neither with nor without, ideas.' But
now, mendicants, the learned disciple of the converted,
having the same five organs of sense, has got rid of
ignorance and acquired wisdom ; and therefore (by
reason of the absence of ignorance, and the rise of
v sdom) the ideas 'I am' (&c., as above) do not
occur to him."
This belief in self or soul is regarded so distinctly
as a heresy that twO well-known words in Buddhist
terminology have been coined on purpose to stigma
tise it. The first of these is sakkdy adit tin, the 'heresy
of individuality,' the name given to this belief as one
of the three primary delusions (the others being
doubt, and belief in the efficacy of rites and cere-
monies) which must be abandoned at the very first
stage of the Buddhist path of freedom. * The other
is attavdda, ' the doctrine of soul or self,' which is the
name given to it as a part of the chain of causes
which lead to the origin of evil. It is there classed
with sensuality, heresy (as to eternity and annihila
tion), and belief in the efficacy of rites and cere
monies as one of the four upadanas, which are the
immediate cause of birth, decay, death, sorrow, la-
mentation, pain, grief, and despair.
1 On these delusions, called sariyojunas, see p. 108.
96 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
Another proof of the prominence of this doctrine
of the non-existence of the soul is the fact that the
Brahmans, who have misunderstood many less im-
portant or less clearly-expressed tenets of Buddhism,
recognise this as one of its distinctive features. 1
It is expressed in a more popular manner in the
Milinda, a book most popular among the Buddhists
themselves, and full of interest to the European
reader. It is a series of riddles or puzzles put into the
mouth of Milinda (wlio is the Greek king Menander
of Sagala in Baktria), and answered by Nagasena, a
Buddhist sage. Full particulars of the curious history
of this important old work will be found in the Intro-
duction to my translation of it, now published at
Oxford under the title of The Questions of Milinda.'
The very first riddle may be summarised as follows
The king said, ' How is your reverence known ?
What is your name ? '
Nagasena replied, ' I am called Nagasena by my
parents, the priests, and others. But Nagasena is not
a separate entity.'
To this the king objected, very much as a modern
Christian might, that in that case there could be no
\irtue, nor vice ; no reward, nor retribution (in other
words, no ' sanction '). He then mentioned one after
another all the parts of the body, and mind, and the
Skandhas just described, and asked of each whether
it was Nagasena. All these questions were answered
in the negative. ' Then,' said the king, ' I do not see
Nagasena. Nagasena is a sound without meaning.
You have spoken an untruth. There is no Nagasena.'
1 See Colebrooke's Essays I, 417, of 1'rof. Cowell's edition.
THi: SKANDHAb. 97
The mendicant asked, ' Did your majesty come
here on foot, or in a chariot?'
' In a chariot,' was the answer.
' What is a chariot ? ' asked Nagasena. ' Is the
ornamental cover the chariot ? Are the wheels, the
spokes of the wheels, or the reins, the chariot ? Are
all these parts together (in a heap) the chariot ? If
you leave these out, does there remain anything
which is the chariot ? '
To all this the king said, ' No.'
' Then I see no chariot, it is only a sound, a name.
In saying that you came- in a chariot you have uttered
an untruth. I appeal to the nobles, and ask them if
it be proper that the great king of all Jambudwipa
should utter an untruth ? '
Rather neat, doubtless, and not undeserved. But
the king is not convinced. ' No untruth have I
uttered, venerable monk. The cover, wheels, seat,
and other parts all united or combined (chariot-wise)
form the chariot. They are the usual signs by which
that, which is called a chariot, is known.'
' And just so,' said Nagasena, ' in the case of man ' ;
and he quoted the words of the Teacher, where he
had said, 'As the various parts of a chariot form,
when united, the chariot, so the five Skandhas, when
united in one body, form a being, a living existence.'
Whatever we may think of the argument it is at
least clear that a soul is just as much and just as little
acknowledged in man as a separate sub-stance is ac-
knowledged in a chariot. It shows also that this
doctrine is not drawn from Buddhism by implication,
but must have been clearly and consciously held,
9# ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
with some apprehension, more or less correct, of the
possible objections to it.
This will, however, appear still more clearly from a
curious passage in the Brahmajala Sutta. 1 To quote
the whole of it would be impossible, but, in short,
Gautama discusses sixty-two different kinds of wrong
belief; among which are those held by men who
think ' The soul and the world are eternal ; there
is no newly-existing substance ; but these remain as
a mountain peak unshaken, immovable. Living
beings pass away, they transmigrate ; they die and
are born; but these continue, as being eternal.'
After showing how the unfounded belief in the
eternal existence of God or gods arose, Gautama
goes on to discuss the question of the soul ; and
points out thirty-two beliefs concerning it, which he
declares to be wrong. These are, shortly, as follows :
' Upon what principle, or on what account, do these
mendicants and Brahmans hold the doctrine of future
existence ? They teach that the soul is material, or
is immaterial, or is both, or neither ; that it is finite,
or infinite, or both, or neither; that it will have one
or many modes of consciousness ; that its perceptions
will be few or boundless ; that it will be in a state of
joy or of misery, or of neither.' 2 These are the six-
teen heresies teaching a conscious existence after death.
Then there are eight heresies teaching that the soul,
1 In the Digha Nikaya of the Sutta Pitaka (now edited by
me and Mr. J. E. Carpenter, Pali Text Society, 1890).
a There is an omission somewhere, as we have only fifteen
views actually stated. I think it is here, and we ought to add,
'or of mixed joy and misery.'
TRANSMIGRATION. 99
material or immaterial, or both or neither, finite or
infinite, or both or neither, has an unconscious exist-
ence after death. And, finally, eight others which
teach that the soul, in the same eight ways, exists
after death in a state of being, neither conscious nor
unconscious.' ' Mendicants,' concludes the sermon,
'that which binds the Teacher to existence (viz.
tanha, thirst) is cut off; but his body still remains.
While his body shall remain he will be seen by gods
and men, but after the termination of life, upon the
dissolution of the body, neither gods nor men will see
him.'
Would it be possible in a more complete and cate-
gorical manner to deny that there is any soul any
entity, of any kind, which continues to exist, in any
manner, after death ?
But Gautama had not been able to give up the
belief in transmigration. He, like some other seekers
after truth who are at the same time deeply religious,
had gradually formed his belief not by working up
from the simple to the complex, from the well known
to the less known, and pausing humbly where un-
certainty begins but by gradually rejecting those
parts of his earliest creed which could be proved (to
his mind) to be inconsistent with what he held to be
actual fact. In such cases every surrender causes a
wrench ; each standpoint is defended more strongly
than the last ; and the ultimate belief is not neces-
sarily more true than those which have been aban-
doned ; but only less easily proved false.
It is natural, moreover, for the mind to resist the
longest the disproof of those hypotheses which satisfy
00 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES
i most completely by the explanation they afford of
o:fierwise inexplicable mysteries. Now the doctrine of
transmigration, in either the Brahmanical or the
Buddhist form, is not capable of disproof; while it
affords an explanation, quite complete to those who
can believe it, of the apparent anomalies and wrongs
in the distribution here of happiness or woe. A
child, for instance, is blind ; this is owing to his eye-
vanity, lust of the eye, in a former birth : but he has
also unusual powers of hearing ; this is because he
loved, in a former birth, to listen to the preaching of
the Law. The explanation can always be exact, for
it is scarcely more than a repetition of the point to be
explained ; it may always fit the facts, for it is derived
from them ; and it cannot be disproved, for it lies in
a sphere beyond the reach of human inquiry.
It is probable that the idea of transmigration first
originated in that curious trick of the memory, by
which we sometimes feel so sure that sensations we
are experiencing have been experienced by us before,
and yet we know not how or .when. 1
However this may be, the belief was retained in
Buddhism as providing a moral cause for the suffering
condition of men in this birth ; and as Buddhism
does not acknowledge a soul, it has to find the link
of connection, the bridge between one life and an-
other, somewhere else. In order to do this, and thus
save the moral cause, it resorts to the desperate ex-
1 Several interesting instances of this are given by scientific
psychologists. See the cases quoted by Dr. Carpenter, 'Mental
Physiology,' pp. 430, ct seq., and Sir B. Brodie, 'Psychological
Inquiries,' second series, p. 55.
KARMA. IO1
pedient of a mystery .one of the four acknowledged
mysteries in Buddhism (which are also the four points
in which it is most certainly wrong) 1 the doctrine
namely of ' karma? This is the doctrine that, as soon
as a sentient being (man, animal, or angel) dies, a
new being is produced in a more or less painful and
material state of existence, according to the ' karma,'
the desert or merit, of the being who had died. The
cause which produces the new being is ' trishna,' thirst,
or ' upadana,' grasping ; which are expressions for
nearly similar states of mind, and will be explained
further on. Sensations originate in the contact of
the organs of sense with the exterior world ; from
sensation springs a desire to satisfy a felt want, a
yearning, a thirst (trishna) ; from trishna results a
grasping after objects to satisfy that desire (upa-
dana) ; that ' grasping state of mind' 2 causes the new
being (not, of course, a new soul, but a new set of
skandhas, a new body with mental tendencies and
capabilities). The ' karma ' of the previous set of
skandhas, or sentient being, then determines the
locality, nat:re, and future of the neiv set of skan-
dhas, of the new sentient being.
The reader will now be prepared to agree with the
Buddhist dogma, that this is an incomprehensible
1 These are I. The effects of karma. 2. The supernatural
powers attained by iddhi. 3. The size, age, and first cause of
the kosmos (loka}. 4. The omniscience, &c., of the Buddha.
1 It is divided into four classes : sensuality (kama), delusion
(about the soul, uccheda-vada and sassata-vada), ritualism
(silabbata),and the delusion of self (attavada). (Alabaster, 'Wheel
of the Law,' 239.) Those are like the straws which a drowning
man catches at. Oi; Trishna comp. below p. 106.
102 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
mystery. It has been also the most stable doctrine
of Buddhism ; the one which, in all the different
systems developed out of the original teaching of the
Pitakas, has been most universally accepted, and has
had the greatest practical effect on the lives of its
believers.
Though, however, the mode of action of karma is
an incomprehensible mystery (not as the Buddhist
thinks, because the Teacher said so, but simply because
the force itself is a nonexistent fiction of the brain),
it is possible to throw some light on the hypothesis,
and even to find the foundation of truth on which it
rests ; the same truth which lies at the bottom of the
widely prevalent beliefs in fate and predestination.
I do not intend to say that fate and karma are the
same ; the difference is very obvious. Fate is un-
moral (neither moral nor immoral), and is an inter-
ruption to the law that effects are due to causes;
the doctrine of karma finds a moral cause for the
effects it seeks to explain. But both depend on a
perception of the fact that happiness and misery in
this life are apportioned with an utter disregard of
the moral qualities of men according to the current
notions of good and bad.
When the innocent is oppressed, and his persecutor
prospers in the world, the sufferer, if he believed in
fate, would think, ' This was preordained, I must sub-
mit ' ; and he would try to rectify the balance of jus-
tice by assuming a result, beyond what he sees, in the
darkness of the future. If he believed in karma, he
would think, 'This is my own doing, I must bear no
malice,' and would try to rectify the balance of justice
KARMA. 103
bv assuming a cause, beyond what he sees, in the dark-
ness of the/>ast.
Karma, from a Buddhist point of view, avoids the
superstitious extreme, on the one hand, of those who
believe in the separate existence of some entity called
the soul ; and the irreligious extreme, on the other,
of those who do not believe in moral justice and retri-
bution. Buddhism claims to have looked through
the word soul for the fact it purports to cover ; and
to have found no fact at all, but only one or other of
twenty 1 different delusions which blind the eyes of
men. Nevertheless, Buddhism is convinced that if a
man reaps sorrow, disappointment, pain, he himself,
and no other, must at some time have sown folly, error
sin ; and if not in this life, then in some former birth.
Where then, in the latter case, is the identity between
him who sows and him who reaps? /;/ that which
alone remains when a man dies, and the constituent
parts of the sentient being are dissolved ; in the re-
sult, namely, of his action, speech, and thought, in
his good or evil karma (literally his ' doing '), which
does not die.
We are familiar with the doctrine, ' Whatever a
man soweth that shall he also reap ' ; and can there-
fore enter into the Buddhist feeling, that whatever a
man reaps, that he must also have sown ; we are
familiar with the doctrine of the indestructibility of
force, and can therefore understand the Buddhist
dogma (however it may contravene our Christian
<!"u r mas), that no exterior power can destroy the fruit
1 See above, p. 94.
IO4 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
of a man's deeds, that they must work out their full
effect to the pleasant or the bitter end. But the pecu-
liarity of Buddhism lies in this, that the result of what
a man is or does is held, not to be dissipated, as it
were, into many separate streams, but to be concen-
trated together in the formation of one new sentient
being, new, that is. in its constituent parts and
powers, but the same in its essence, its being, its
doing, its karma.
As one generation dies and gives way to another
the heir of the consequences of all its virtues and all
its vices, the exact result of pre-existing causes; so each
individual in the long chain of life inherits all, of
good or evil, which all its predecessors have done or
been ; and takes up the struggle towards enlighten-
ment precisely there, where they have left it. But it
is never conscious (except in a few rare instances,
when it has risen above the possibility of pleasure
and of pain) of what its predecessors were, or of
what its successors shall be. And so the true
Buddhist saint does not mar the purity of his self-
denial by lusting after a positive happiness, which he,
himself, shall enjoy hereafter. His consciousness
will cease to feel, but his virtue will live and work
out its full effect in the decrease of the sum of the
misery of sentient beings.
Most forms of Paganism, past and present, teach
men to seek for some sort of happiness here.
Most other forms of belief say that this is folly,
but the faithful and the holy shall find happiness
hereafter, in a better world beyond. Buddhism
maintains that the one hope is as hollow as the
KARMA. 105
other ; that the consciousness of self is a de-
lusion ; that the organized being, sentient existence,
since it is not infinite, is bound up inextricably with
ignorance, and therefore with sin, and therefore with
sorrow. ' Drop then this petty foolish longing for
personal happiness,' Buddhism would say ! ' Here it
comes of ignorance, and leads to sin, which leads to
sorrow; and there the conditions of existence are the
same, and each new birth will leave you ignorant and
finite still. There is nothing eternal ; the very kosmos
itself is passing away ; nothing is, everything becomes ;
and all that you see and feel, bodily or mentally, of
yourself will pass away like everything else ; there will
only remain the accumulated result of all your actions,
words, and thoughts. Be pure then, and kind, not
lazy in thought. Be awake, shake off your delusions,
and enter resolutely on the ' Path ' which will lead
you away from these restless, tossing waves of the
ocean of life ; the Path to the Joy and Rest of the
Nirvana of Wisdom and Goodness and Peace !'
Strange is it and instructive that all this should
have seemed not unattractive these 2,300 years and
more to many despairing and earnest hearts that they
should have trusted themselves to the so seeming
stately bridge which Buddhism has tried to build
over the river of the mysteries and sorrows of life.
They have been charmed and awed perhaps by the
delicate or noble beauty of some of the several stones
of which the arch is built ; they have seen that the
whole rests on a more or less solid foundation of fact ;
that on one side of the keystone is the necessity of
justice, on the other the law of causality. But they
H
106 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
have failed to see that the very keystone itself, the
link between one life and another, is a mere word
this wonderful hypothesis, this air}' nothing, this
imaginary cause beyond the reach of reason the in-
dividualized and individualizing force of Karma. 1
The Excellent Way.
We have seen that in the first explanation which
Gautama gave of his system he laid down the ' four
Noble Truths ' concerning Sorrow, its Cause, its Sup-
pression, and the Path leading to its extinction.
Briefly explained, these four Truths come to this : *
1. That (those events which are distinctive of indi-
vidual existence, such as) birth, the five Skandhas,
decay, disease, death, and (those which bring forcibly
into mind the sense of separate existence, such as)
contact with disagreeable objects, separation from
pleasant ones, unfulfilled desire of possession, are
precisely those states which are full of suffering or
sorrow.
2. The kind of craving excitement, which follows on
sensation, and causes the delusion of self and the lust
of life creating either delight in the objects that
present themselves, or an eager desire to supply a felt
want this eager yearning thirst (Trishna, Pali tanha)
1 Individualized, in so far as the result of a man's actions is
concentrated in the formation of a second sentient being ; indi-
vidualizing, in so far as it is the force by which different beings
become one individual. In other respects the force of karma is
real enough.
3 The authorities are quoted above, p. 48
THE FOUR TRUTHS. JOJ
growing into sensuality, desire of future life, or love
of the present world, is the origin of all suffering. 1
3. Sorrow and suffering will be overcome, extin-
guished, if this ' thirst ' be quenched, this lust of life
destroyed. " He who overcomes this contemptible
thirst (difficult to be conquered in this world), sufferings
fall off from him, like water drops from a lotus leaf." 2
4. To accomplish this end there is only one way,
the ' Noble Path ' of a virtuous and thoughtful life :
'' Enter on this Path and make an end of sorrow :
verily the Path has been preached by me, who have
found out how to quench the darts of grief. You
yourselves must make the effort : the Buddhas are
only preachers : the thoughtful who enter the Path
are freed from the bondage of the deceiver, Mara.' 3
And this means of salvation is not a mere vague ad-
monition to ' be good ' ; it is worked out into detail,
expressed in. the Eight Divisions and Four Stages.
1 As tanha may be produced by sensations received through
either of the five senses, or through the memory, it is said to be
six-fold ; and as each of these may grow in the three ways men-
tioned in the text, it is eighteen-fold ; and by further dividing
each of these into two (outward and inward), it is thirty-six-fold ;
and, again, by dividing each of these into three (past, present,
and future), we have, finally, 108 different kinds of 'thirst.'
' And thus the little tanha becomes a hydra-headed monster pos-
sessed of one hundred and eight modes of inflicting suffering on
humanity,' (Vijesinha Mudaliar, in Childers's Pali Dictionary,
under the word tanha.) 'The man whom this contemptible
thirst that poison in the world overcomes, that man's sorrows
grow, like the blrana-weed when it is spreading,' 'Dhamma-
pada,' verse 335).
1 ' Dhammapada,' verse 336. and compare w. 342, 354.
Compare v. 285, below, p. 128 * Ibid., verses 275, 276
1O8 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
The Eight Divisions as already mentioned (p. 47)
are as follows :
1. Right views. 5. Right mode of livelihood.
2. Right aims. 6. Right exertion.
3. Right words. 7. Right mindfulness.
4. Right behaviour. 8. Right meditation and tran-
quillity.
The four Paths or Stages of the Path are l :
1. The ' entering upon the stream,' Conversion;
which follows on, (i) companionship with the good,
(2) hearing of the law, (3) enlightened reflection, or
(4) the practice of virtue. The unconverted man is
unwise, under the influence of sin, enmity, and im-
purity ; but if by one or more of the means just
mentioned he has arrived at a perception of the ' four
Noble Truths,' he has become converted, and has
entered the first Path. While in this path he becomes
free successively, (i) from the delusion of self, (2) from
doubt as to the Buddha and his doctrines, and (3)
from the belief in the efficacy of rites and ceremonies.
' Better than universal empire in this world, better than
going to heaven, better than lordship over all worlds
is (this three-fold) fruit of the first Path.' 2
2. The path of those who will only return once to this
world. The converted man free from doubt and the
delusions of self and ritualism, succeeds in this path
in reducing to a minimum, lust, hatred and delusion.
3. TJie path of those who will never return to this
world : in which the last remnants of (4) sensuality and
1 See 'Book of the Great Decease,' ii. 1-7, translated in
my 'Buddhist Suttas,' pp. 23 and foil.
a ' Dhammapada,' verse 178.
THE FOUR PATHS. 309
(5) malevolence, being destroyed, not the least low
desire for oneself, or wrong feeling towards others can
arise in the heart.
4. The path of the Arahats, the men set free by
insight, in which the saint becomes free from (6, 7)
desire for material, or immaterial, existence; from
(8, 9, 10) pride and self-righteousness, and ignorance.
He is now free from all error ; he sees and values
all things in this life at their true value ; evil desires
of all kinds being rooted up from his mind, he only
experiences right desires for himself, and tender pity
and regard and exalted spiritual love for others. " As
a mother, even at the risk of her own life, protects
her son, her only son : so let him cultivate goodwill
without measure among all beings. Let him culti-
vate goodwill without measure toward the whole
world, above, below, around, unstinted, unmixed
with any feeling of differing or opposing interests.
Let a man remain steadfastly in this state of mind
all the while he is awake, whether he be standing,
walking, sitting, or lying down. This state of heart is
the best in the world." l
The ten errors or evil states of mind thus conquered
in the course of the four paths are the ten Sangyo-
janas or Fetters, 3 which with their Pali names are :
i. Delusion of self (Sakkaya-ditthi).
I 'Metta Sutta,' from Childers's text, J. R. A. S., 1869, de-
scribing the state of the Arahats.
II With numbers I, 2, 5, 8, 9, compare numbers 28, 30, 26,
51, 52, of the Sanskaras : above p. 92. On No. I see also
p. 95 ; and on all the Fetters, Dhp. v. 221. Bandhana a;
Dhp. 345, 346, is quite different.
13O ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
2. Doubt (Vicikiccha).
3. Dependence on works (Sllabbata-paramasa). 1
4. Sensuality, bodily passions (Kama).
5. Hatred, ill-feeling (Patigha).
6. Love of life on earth (Ruparaga).
7. Desire for life in heaven (Aruparaga).
8. Pride (ManoX
9. Self-righteousness (Uddhacca).
10. Ignorance (Avijja).
When the first five fetters are completely broken,
the converted Buddhist has become an Arahat, and
has entered the fourth path ; when the other five are
broken, he has become Asekha, and thus put an end
to all delusion and to all sorrow.
One might fill pages with the awe-struck and
ecstatic praise which is lavished in Buddhist writings
on this condition of mind, the Fruit of the fourth
Path, the state of an Arahat, of a man made perfect ac-
cording to the Buddhist faith. But all that could be
said can be included in one pregnant phrase THIS is
NIRVANA.
" To him who has finished the Path, and passed
beyond sorrow, who has freed himself on all sides,
and thrown away every fetter, there is no more fever
of grief." " He whose senses have become tranquil,
like a horse well broken-in by the driver ; who is free
from pride and the lust of the flesh, and the lust of
existence, and the defilement of ignorance him even
the gods envy. Such a one whose conduct is right,
remains like the broad earth, unvexed ; like the pillar
1 Compare the first few lines of p. 24. Modern Buddhists
class Christianity under this Fetter. Alabaster, ' Wheel of the
Law,' p. 237.
NIRVANA. Ill
of the city gate, unmoved ; like a pellucid lake, un-
ruffled. For such there are no more births. Tran-
quil is the mind, tranquil the words and deeds of him
who is thus tranquillized, and made free by wisdom." l
" They who by steadfast mind have become exempt
from evil desire, and well trained in the teachings of
Gautama ; they, having obtained the fruit of the fourth
Path, and immersed themselves in that ambrosia,
have received without price, and are in the enjoyment
of Nirvana. Their old karma is exhausted, no new
karma is being produced ; their hearts are free from
the longing after future life ; the cause of their exist-
ence being destroyed, and no new yearnings springing
up within them, they the wise, are extinguished like
this lamp." 2 "That mendicant conducts himself well,
who has conquered error by means of insight, from
whose eyes the veil of error has been removed, who
is well-trained in religion ; and, who, free from yearn-
ing, and skilled in the knowledge of, has attained
unto, Nirvana." 3
What then is Nirvana, which means simply going
out, extinction ? (it being quite clear, from what has
gone before, that this cannot be the extinction of a
soul). // is the extinction of that sinful, grasping
condition of mind and heart, which would otherwise,
according to the great mystery of Karma, be the cause of
1 ' Dhammapada,' verses 90, 94-96.
2 'Ratana Sutta,' 7, 14. Of Amata, it should be noted that
when it was first used of Nirvana, it had acquired the sense
of ambrosia, and always alludes to it. Thus we have the Lake
of Ambrosia, Fausboll's ' Jataka,' v. 25, and ' Sweet food and
heavenly drink' at Rat. Sutta, v. 4. See also below, pp. 60, 184.
8 ' Sammaparibbajanlya Sutta,' 14.
112 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
reneived individual existence. That extinction is to be
brought about by, and runs parallel with, the growth of
the opposite condition of mind and heart ; and it is
complete when that opposite condition is reached. Nir-
vana is therefore the same thing as a sinless, calm state
of mind ; and if translated at all, may best, perhaps,
be rendered ' holiness ' holiness, that is, in the Bud-
dhist sense, perfect peace, goodness, and wisdom.
To attempt translations of such pregnant terms is
however always dangerous, as the new word part of a
new language which is the outcome of a different
tone of thought while it may denote the same or
nearly the same idea, usually calls up together with it
very different ones. This is the case here ; our word
holiness would often suggest the ideas of love to, and
awe in the felt presence of, a personal creator ideas
inconsistent with Buddhist holiness. On the other
hand,Nirvana implies the ideas of intellectual energy,
and of the cessation of individual existence ; of which
the former is not essential to, and the latter is quite
unconnected with, our idea of holiness. Holiness
and Nirvana, in other words, may represent states of
mind not greatly different ; but these are due to differ-
ent causes, and end in different results ; and in using
the words, it is impossible to confine one's thought
to the thing expressed, so as not also to think of its
origin and its effect.
It is better, therefore, to retain the word Nirvana
as one name of the Buddhist summum bonum, which
is a blissful mental state, a moral condition, a modifi-
cation of personal character ; and we should allow the
to remind us, as it did the early Buddhists,
NIRVANA. 113
both of the ' Path ' which leads to the extinction of
sin, and also of the break in the transfer of Karma,
which the extinction of sin will bring about. That this
must be the effect of Nirvana is plain ; for that state
of mind which in Nirvana is extinct (upadana, klesa,
trishna) is precisely that which will, according to the
great mystery of Buddhism, lead at death to the for-
mation of a new individual, to whom the Karma of
the dissolved or dead one will be transferred. 1 That
new individual would consist of certain bodily and
mental qualities or tendencies, enumerated, as already
explained, in the five Skandhas or aggregates. A com-
prehensive name of all the five is upadi, a word derived
(in allusion to the name of their cause, upadana),
from upada, to grasp, either with the hand or the
mind. Now, when a Buddhist has become an Arahat,
when he has reached Nirvana, the fruit of the fourth
Path, he has extinguished upadana, and klesa ( error ),
but he is still alive ; the upadi, the Skandhas, his
body with all its powers, that is to say, the fruit of his
former error remain. These, however, are imper-
manent, they will soon pass away. There will then be
nothing left to bring about the rise of a new set of
skandhas, of a new individual. The Arahat will be
no longer alive or existent in any sense at all. He
will have reached Parinibbana, complete extinction,
or Nir-upadi-sesa-nibbana-dhatu, 2 extinction not only
1 See above, p. 101.
* Parinibbana Sutta, J. R. A. S., vol. viii. p. 238. In con-
tradistinction, Nirvana is called sa-upadi-sesa-nibbana (' Vanglsa
Sutta,' vense 14). Comp. Julien's Hiouen Thsang II. 58.
1 14 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
of Tanha, and of the fires of passion, but also of the
upadi and of the five skandhas.
The life of man, to use a constantly recurring
Buddhist simile or parable, is like the flame of an
Indian lamp, a metal or earthenware saucer in which
a cotton wick is laid in oil. One life is derived from
another, as one flame is lit at another ; it is not the
same flame, but without the other it would not have
been. As flame cannot exist without oil, so life, in-
dividual existence, depends on the cleaving to low
and earthly things, the sin of the heart. If there is
no oil in the lamp, it will go out, though not until the
oil which the wick has drawn up is exhausted : and
then no new flame can be lighted there. And so the
parts and powers of the perfect man will be dissolved,
and no new being will be born to sorrow. The wise
will pass away, will go out like the flame of a lamp,
and their Karma will be individualized no longer. 1
Stars, long ago extinct, may be still visible to us by
the light they emitted before they ceased to burn ; but
the rapidly vanishing effect of a no longer active cause
will soon cease to strike upon our senses ; and where
the light was, will be darkness. So the living, moving
body of the perfect man is visible still, though its
cause has ceased to act : but it will soon decay, and
die, and pass away ; and as no new body will be
formed, where life was, will be nothing.
Freedom from the imperfections of finite being is,
then, a result of, but it is not Nirvana. The Buddhist
heaven is not death, and it is not on death but on
1 Compare Ratana Sutta, v. 14, quoted above, p. in, and
the parable of the Tree, below, p. 137.
NIRVANA. US
a perfect life here and now, that the Pitakas lavish
those terms of ecstatic description which they apply to
Arahatship, the goal of the Excellent Way, and to
Nirvana as one aspect of it.
Thus of the Dhamma-pada Professor Max Miiller,
who was the first to point out the fact, says, 1 "If we
look in the Dhamma-pada at every passage where
Nirvana is mentioned, there is not one which would
require that its meaning should be annihilation, while
most, if not all, would become perfectly unintelligible
if we assigned to the word Nirvana " that signification.
The same thing may be said of such other parts of
the Pitakas as are accessible to us in published
texts. Thus the commentator on the Jatakas quotes
some verses from the Buddhavansa, or History of
the Buddhas, which is one of the books of the
Second Pitaka. In those verses we have (inter alia)
an argument based on the logical assumption that if
a positive exists, its negative must also exist ; if there
is heat, there must be cold ; and so on. In one of
these pairs we find existence opposed, not to Nirvana,
but to non-existence ; whilst, ih another, the three
fires (of lust, hatred, and delusion) are opposed to
Nirvana. 2 It follows, I think, that to the mind of the
composer of the Buddhavansa, Nirvana meant not
the extinction, the negation, of being, but the extinc-
tion, the absence, of the three fires of passion. To
quote here all the passages in the Pitakas in which
the word Nirvana occurs would be tedious, but they
will be found in the appendix to this chapter, together
1 ' Buddhaghosha's Parables,' p. xli.
1 Fausboll, Jataka text, p. 14.
Il6 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
with the most important passages from the Ceylon
fifth-century commentators, and from other later books,
both Sanskrit and Pali. From those passages it would
seem that the word was used in its original sense
only, even as late as the time of Buddhagosha ;
after that time we occasionally (but very seldom,
and only when the context makes the modification
clear) find Nirvana used where we should expect
anupadisesanibbana or parinibbana, just as bow is
actually used for rainbow, where ' in the heaven,' or
some such expression, is in the context ; and it is
conceivable that ' phrase ' might come to be used
for ' paraphrase.' In these cases tne general sense
of the context has the same force as the qualifying
prefix, or prefixed word, would otherwise have had ;
and so far from this usage being a proof that Nirvana,
without the qualifying prefix, meant the same as Pari-
nirvana, it is very striking that such a use of the word
should not occur in books even much earlier than
those in which it is actually found.
So little is known of the Sanskrit and Tibetan
Buddhist books, that it is difficult to discover their
doctrine on any controverted point ; but so far as it
is possible to judge, they confirm that use of the
word Nirvana which we find in the Pitakas. In the
Lalita Vistara the word occurs in a few passages, in
none of which the sense of annihilation is necessary,
and in all of which I take Nirvana to mean the same
as the Pali Nibbana. 1 The Tibetan rendering of the
word is a long phrase, meaning, according to Burnouf,
1 Foucaux, pp. 1 06, 235, 262, 290, 340, 364-8, 391. Bur-
nouf, ' Lotus,' 404.
NIRVANA. 117
' the state of him who is delivered from sorrow,' or,
' the state in which one finds oneself when one is so
delivered ' (affranchi)}- This is confirmed by Mr.
Beal's comprehensive and valuable work on Chinese
Buddhism, where the Chinese version of the Sanskrit
Parinirvana Sutra has the following passages : "Nir-
vana is just so. In the midst of sorrow there is no
Nirvana, and in Nirvana there is no sorrow." " I "
(Gautama) " devote myself wholly to moral culture,
so as to arrive at the highest condition of moral rest
(the highest Nirvana)." 2
And so again, in the verse quoted from the Pra-
timoksha. 3
1 The Heart, scrupulously avoiding all idle dissipation,
Diligently applying itself to the Holy Law of Buddha,
Letting go all lust, and consequent disappointment,
Fixed and unchangeable, enters on Nirvana.'
If we can trust these translations through the
Chinese, and I think we moy, as far as our purpose
requires, the early Sanskrit texts of the later Bud-
dhists, like the Pali texts of the Pitakas, look upon
Nirvana as a moral condition, to be reached here, in
this world, and in this life.
In the later Sanskrit books the notices of Nirvana
are so meagre that no conclusion can be drawn as
to the views of their authors ; but it is clear that they
use Parinirvana and Anupadhisesha Nirvana-dhatu in
the sense of death with no life to follow. 4
1 'Introduction a 1'histoire clu Buddhisme Inclien,' p. 19.
1 ' Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese,' 174, 183.
Compare 247, 250, 263, 283. 3 7A/</., p. 159.
4 Nirvana is mentioned at pngei 114, 116, 118, 120, of the
Il8 ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
The reader will not, I trust, think that the few
pages devoted to the discussion of the meaning of
Nirvana have been, nevertheless, too many. It has
seemed to me of the first importance to make my
views on this point quite clear, and I have attempted
to state them as shortly as possible, consistently with
clearness. For controversy there has been no space,
and even had there been, I should have avoided it.
It only remains for me to express my obligations to
others. No one has written a work on Buddhism
without touching on this great question; each one
has thrown some light upon it, and if my view of
it bt- correct, has had foundation for his explanation
of the term ; but thanks are especially due to Pro
fessor Max Miiller and Professor Childers. These
distinguished scholars alone have sought to define
the meaning of the word by a strict comparison of
the passages in which it had been found to occur. 1
I hive followed their method, and though in my
conclusion I have ventured to differ somewhat from
them, it seems to me to derive its chief confirmation
' Lotus de la bonne Loi.' Where Burnouf has Nirvana com-
plft, the original has, I presume, Parimrvana. Compare the
quotations from the Avadana Sataka and Panca-krama, at pp.
'/8, 83, 590, 591, of the 'Introduction.' Upadhi-sesha is a
blunder of the Sanskrit Buddhist writers for the Pali upadi-sesa.
See Childers's Diet. s. v. It was re-introduced into Ceylon in
the I2th century, and is found in Parakrama Bahu's inscription
at the Gal Wihare in Pulastipura.
1 Professor Max Miiller discusses the passages in the ' Dhanr
ma-pada' (Nos. i-n below); Professor Childers added those in
the ' Khuddaka Patha ' (Nos. 12-14 and 16 below).
NIRVANA. IIQ
from the fact that it reconciles, and removes the diffi-
culties involved in, both of theirs. 1
1 The argument in this chapter is taken from an article by
the present writer in the ' Contemporary Review ' for Jan.,
1877. On Nirvana, besides the passages quoted above and
in the notes, see Gogerly, 'Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society,' Ceylon Branch, 1867-1870, part I., p. 130 ; the Rev.
G. Scott, ibid. p. 89; Spence Hardy's 'Eastern Monachism,"
pp. 280-309, and 'Legends and Theories of the Buddhists,'
pp. 169-174; Bigandet, 'Legend of Guadama,' 143, 320-323;
BurnouJ, Introduction, pp. 516-522, 'Lotus' 519; James
(TAlwis, ' Buddhist Nirvana ' (a pamphlet full of information,
which has been too little read) ; Wassilief, ' Der Buddhismus,'
pp. 84, 93-101, Kbppen, ' Die Religion des Buddha,' i. pp.
306-309 ; Alabaster, ' Wheel of the Law,' p. xxxvii. et seq.
and 165 ; Remusat, 'Foe Koue Ki,' pp. 80, 156 ; Sir Coomara
Sivamy> ' Sutta Nipata,' xxiv. ; Max Mutter, ' Chips, ' i.
247-250, 280-290 ; and ChilderJ Diet., under Nibbanarh,
Parinibbanarh, and Upacliseso. A number of references to
other writers will be found in Obrjfs *Du Nirvana Boud-
dhique,' Paris, 1863.
120 BUDDHISM.
APPENDIX TO CHAPTER IV.
PASSAGES IN THE PUBLISHED PARTS OF THE PITAKAS IN
WHICH THE WORD NIBBANA (PALI FOR NIRVANA) OCCURS.
I. Dhamma-pada, v. 23. These wise people (speaking of
Arahats) meditative, persevering, ever full of strength, attain to
Nirvana, the highest bliss.
2* Dhp. v. 32. The mendicant who delights in diligence, and
looks with terror on sloth, cannot fall away, he is in the very
presence of Nirvana.
3. Dhp. v. 134. If thou keepest thyself as silent as a broken
gong, thou hast attained Nirvana ; no angry clamour is found in
thee. (The preceding verse condemns harsh speaking.)
4. Dhp. v. 184. The Buddhas declare the best self-mortifica-
tion to be patience, long-suffering ; the best (thing of all) to be
Nirvana ; for he is no (true) monk who strikes, no (true) mendi-
cant who insults others.
5. Dhp. w. 202, 203. There is no fire like lust, there is no
sin like hate, there is no misery like the Skandhas, there is no
happiness like peace. Hunger is the worst disease, the Sans-
karas the worst suffering : knowing this as it really is, is Nirvana,
the highest bliss. 1
6. Dhp. v. 226. Those who are ever on /he watch, who study
day and night, whose heart is set on Nirvana, their infulness
dies away (literally, their Asavas 2 go to an end).
1 On the Skandhas and Sanskaras see above, pp. 89-90.
'Hunger' surely alludes to tanha (thirst).
3 The Asavas are 4 ; sensual pleasure, lust aftei life, delusion
(about the soul), and ignorance (of the four ' Noble Truths ').
Burnouf, ' Lotus,' 823, says they are three, and omits delusion ;
but this is probably a slip, for his authority is the Parinibbana
Sutta ; and the text itself (Childers's ed. J. R. A. S., 1876,
pp. 228-230, &c. ) gives the same four as Hardy, Manual, 496,
E. M., 290. Anasava is a synonym for the Arahat, who has
entered the fourth Path.
APPENDIX OX NIRVANA. 121
7. Dhp. v. 283. Cut clown lust, not a tree ; from lust spring;
fear : having cut down with (all) its undergrowth (vanatha),
the forest of lust (vana) become Nir-vana'd, (dis-lusted, free
from yearning,) oh! mendicants. 1
8. Dhp. v. 285. Cut off the love of self, as (you might) an
autumn lotus with your hand devote yourself to the ' Path ' of
peace alone, (for) by the Blessed One, Nirvana has been revealed. 2
9. Dhp. v. 289. The wise man, restrained according to the
Precepts, 3 seeing the force of this truth, should at once clear the
' Path ' leading to Nirvana.
10. Dhp. v. 369. Bail out, O ! mendicant, this boat ; 4 when
bailed out it will go quickly : when you have cut off lust and
hatred, thou shalt go to Nirvana.
11. Dhp. v. 372. There is no meditation (Dhyana), 5 without
wisdom, no wisdom without Dhyana ; he who has both wisdom
and Dhyana, is in the presence of Nirvana.
12. Ma again Sntta, v. II. Temperance and chastity, to
discern the Noble Truths, to experience Nirvana, that is the
greatest blessing.
1 This curious pun is repeated at v. 344, almost exactly
in the same form. As there is a doubt about the reading, how-
ever, I do not quote the latter verse.
2 The idea, perhaps, is that though Gautama revealed the
'Noble eight- fold Path' leading to Nirvana, yet only personal exer-
tion can bring one to it. Compare v. 276, quoted above, p. 107.
3 The Precepts (Silas) are the ten commandments (Hardy,
E. M., 23). See below p. 141.
4 At Kama Sutta, v. 6, the same figure is used. I take the
water as the Asavas ; the water-logged boat to be the sinful
man ; the sea to be Sansara, transmigration ; and Nirvana to be
the island, the other shore, having reached which one is safe
from being tossed about again in future births, the waves of the
ocean of transmigration. Compare Nava Sutta, 4 (below, p. 155).
4 The four Dhyanas are four stages of religious meditation,
whereby the believer's mind is gradually purged from all earthly
emotions. See Childers's Diet s. v. Jhanam, and below,
p. 176.
122 APPENDIX ON NIRVANA.
13. Ratana Sntta, v, 12. (Beautiful) as groves and thickets
covered with blossoms in the first hot month of summer (the
Buddha), preached for the good of all his glorious Law, which
leads to Nirvana.
14. Nidhikanda Sittta, v. 13. All earthly glory, and heavenly
joy, and the gain of Nirvana, can be procured by this treasure,
(charity, piety, and self-control).
15. The passage quoted above, p. 1 18, from the Bnddhavan<;a.
' And as where heat is, there is also cold ; so where the three-
fold fire (of lust, hatred, and ignorance) is, there Nirvana must
be sought.'
1 6. Lastly, the passage quoted from the Maha Vagga of the
first Pitaka, by Gogerly, ' on Buddhism,' p. 6. ' This is a mat-
ter hard to understand, the suppression of all the Sanskaras, the
forsaking of all sin, the destruction of yearning (tanha), the
absence of lust, the cessation (of sorrow), Nirvana.'
The above are all the passages in which Nirvana is mentioned
in published texts from the Pitakas. It would lie possible to
strengthen the case by quoting all those passages in which the
moral condition called, in those just quoted, Nirvana, is ex-
pressed by some other figure. Such are the Heavenly Drink
(by which the wise are nourished), the Tranquil State, the
Unshaken Condition (alluding to the ' final perseverance '
theory), Cessation (of sorrow), Absence (of sin, the four Asavas),
Destruction (of tanha), and other expressions. It would also be
possible to strengthen the case by quoting all passages men-
tioning Parinibbana, which is also something that takes place
here on earth, viz. the 'going out,' the death, of an Arahat, of
a man without the Asavas, of one who has attained Nirvana.
" Some people are reborn as men ; evil doers in hell ; the well-
conducted go to heaven, but the arahats go out altogether "
(' Parinibbanti Anasava,' Dhp., v. 126). But I will only mention
the important fact that in the Maha Parinibbana Sutta, giving a
long account of Gautama's death, the word Nibbana standing
alone in its ethical or figurative sense, does not once occur.'
1 It occurs once in its literal sense (like tlie going out of n
lamp, pajjotass' eva nibbanarh, J. R. A. S., 1876, viii. 252).
APPENDIX TO NIRVANA. 123
Some passages in the later books in which the word Nibbana
occurs are as follows :
' Patimokkha,' pp. 3.. 4. 5.
'Jinn Alankara,' apud Burnouf, 'Lotus,' pp. 332, 516, 545,
831. Compare 376.
' Rasavabini,' p. 29.
' Mahavansa,' p. 22, and also ch. xxx. (J. R. A. S., 1874)1
verse 30. Compare Pari-nibbana, pp. 15, 118.
' Dhamma-pada Commentary,' the passages referring to the
-quoted verses, and compare pp. 118, 282.
'Jataka' (Commentary), pp. 4, 14, 61, 393, 401. Compare
Vimutti, pp. 77, 78, 80. Also Ten. Jat., 91.
' Madurattha Vilasini ' J. Bengal A. S. vii. 796-797.
The word Nirvana occurs in ' Saddharma Pundarika,' Bur-
noufs translation, pp. n, 45, 63, 69, 73, 76, 77, 80, 8S, 108,
109, 120.
'Saddharma Lankavatara,' apud Barnouf, Introduction, &c.,
516, 520.
'Avadana Sataka,' ibid., 509.
[I have preferred to leave the above note as it stood. For
passages on Nirvana in the Pali Pitakas, published since the
note was written, see my 'Buddhist Suttas,' pp. 311, 312, and
'Hibbert Lectures, 1881,' p. 260. They confirm in every
instance the views above expressed.]
124 LAY MORALITY.
CHAPTER V.
THE GKNERAL MORAL PRECEPTS OF BUDDHISM.
IN the last chapter an attempt has been made to put
into clear and distinct language the principles of the
intricate and obscure system of Buddhist metaphy-
sics. The task has been no easy one ; not only on
account of the inherent difficulty of the subject, but
because of the confusion arising from the utter
strangeness of ideas, which are nevertheless expressed
in words capable of being used in a Christian sense.
Our present object, to give a sketch of Buddhist
morality, will be more easily attained.
In the Buddhist age the humility of confessed
ignorance was as yet impossible. To use a Buddhist
expression, there was an upadana, or grasping state
of mind, which was the standing cause of a ' delu-
sion ' the grasping, the lust, namely, after certainty,
after absolute knowledge. From this upadana the
Buddha never freed himself, and it produced in him
the ' delusion ' of the great theory of Karma. To
free himself and the world from the supposed effects
of this non-existent hypothetical cause, he thought he
had discovered a ' Path ' which he called ' Noble,' an
epithet it most assuredly deserves. Never in the
whole history of the world has the bare and barren
tree of metaphysical inquiry put forth, where one
would least expect it, a more lovely flower the
IJUUDHIST UKATITUDKS. 125
flower that grew into the Fruit which gave the nectar
of Nirvana. The Fruit of the fourtli Path was not,
indeed, for ordinary hands to pluck, for it was first
necessary to extinguish much evil in the heart by the
cultivation of the opposite virtue. Though laymen
could attain Nirvana, we arc told of only one or two
instances of their having done so ; J and though it
was more possible for members of the Buddhist
order of mendicants, we only hear, after the time of
Gautama, of one or two who did so. No one now
hears of such an occurrence ; but the Buddhist
hopes to enter, even though he will not reach the
end of, the paths in this life ; and if he once enters
them, he is certain in some future existence, perhaps
under less material conditions, to arrive at the goal
of salvation, at the calm and rest of Nirvana.
There are, accordingly, many directions of a much
more general, and less metaphysical nature than
those we have been discussing ; precepts applicable
to all men, not only to those who have devoted
themselves to the religious life. Such, for instance,
are the precepts laid down in the now well-known
Buddhist Beatitudes.
A deva speaks
I. Many gods and men
Have held various things blessings,
When they were yearning for happiness.
Do thou declare to us the chief good.
1 Sucldhodana, Gautama's father, reached Arahatship on his
death-bed, Jat. I. 64. Santati, a prime minister, attained
Nirvana, Dhp. p. 308. Comp. Hardy, E. M. 14, and Jat. I.
148 ; II. 229.
126 LAY MORALITY.
Gautama answers
2. Not to serve the foolish,
But to serve the wise ;
To honour those worthy of honour :
This is the greatest blessing.
3. To dwell in a pleasant land,
Good works done in a former birth,
Right desiies in the heart :
This is the greatest blessing.
4. Much insight and education,
Self-control and pleasant speech,
And whatever word be well-spoken :
This is the greatest blessing.
5. To support father and mother,
To cherish wife and child,
To follow a peaceful calling :
This is the greatest blessing.
6. To bestow alms and live righteously. 1
To give help to kindred,
Deeds which cannot be blamed :
These are the greatest blessing.
7. To abhor, and cease from sin,
Abstinence from strong drink,
Not to be weary in well-doing,
These are the greatest blessing.
8. Reverence and lowliness,
Contentment and gratitude,
The hearing of the Law at due seasons,
This is the greatest blessing.
9. To be long-suffering and meek,
To associate with the tranquil (i.e. Buddhist
monks),
Religious talk at due seasons,
This is the greatest blessing.
1 Quoted in the ' Dhamma-pada ' Commentary, p. 317, as
having been n well-known verse in the time of Gautama '.
SCRIFI'URE VERSES. 127
10. Self-restraint and purity,
The knowledge of the Noble Truths,
The realization of Nirvana,
T>jis is the Greatest blessing.
1 1. Beneath the stroke o~ life's changes,
The mind that shaketh not,
Without grief or passion, and secure,
This .is the greatest blessing.
12. On every side are invincible
They who do acts like these,
On every side they walk in safety,
And theirs is the greatest blessing. 1
Again, the Nidhikanda Sutta (Treasure Chapter),
after saying that what men call treasure, when laid
up in a deep pit, profits nothing, and may easily be
lost, goes on
The (real) treasure is that laid up by man or woman
Through charity and piety, temperance and self-control,
In the sacred shrine, or the Buddhist Order,
In individual man, in the stranger and sojourner,
In his father, and mother, and elder brother.
The treasure thus hid is secure, and passes not away;
Though he leave the fleeting riches of this world, this a mar.
takes with him
A treasure that no wrong of others, and no thief, can steal
Let the wise man do good deeds the treasure that follow*
of itself.
H;\ld and literal translations like the above lose,
of course, all the rhythm and beauty of the Pali
1 ' Mangala Sutta.' The text in Childers's ' Khuddaka Patha.'
Translated from the Pali by the editor, ioc. cit., by Professor
Fausboll, in his 'SuttaNipata,' p. 43 ; and by the Kev. J. Gogerly,
in the 'Ceylon Friend' for June, 1839. Translated from the
Burmese by Bigandet, p. 115, note 62.
f28 LAY MORALITY.
verses, but it has been thought a less evil to convey
a wrong impression of the grace of the original, than
to convey a wrong impression of its thought. 1
Of the same general nature, appealing to all men,
are the following extracts from the Dhamma-pada or
' Scripture verses/ a collection common to both
schools of Buddhism, though the Chinese collection
is somewhat larger than the Pali. 2
5. For never in this world does hatred cease by hatred ;
Hatred ceases by love ; this is always its nature.
13. As rain breaks in upon an ill-thatched hut,
So passion breaks in upon the untrained mind.
26. The foolish follow after vanity ; deluded men !
While the wise guards earnestness as his richest treasure.
27. Follow not after vanity, nor familiarity with the delighl
of lust,
For the earnest and the thoughtful obtain ample joy.
2&. When by earnestness he has put an end to vanity,
And has climbed the terraced heights of wisdom,
The wise looks down upon the fools ;
Serene he looks upon the toiling crowd,
As one standing on a hill looks down
On those who stand upon the plain. 3
1 In the last extract the idea is simply that good deeds don*
in one birth will be the very thing that will determine the ma
terial and spiritual lot of the individual in the next birth, o!
another individual, from our point of view ; of the same, ac-
cording to the Buddhist theory. Passages like these have
naturally been understood by Europeans to refer to a soul pass-
ing from a tempoicvry state to an eternal one ; but such an idea
was never present to the mind of a Buddhist reading them.
Compare Dhp., v. 176, quoted below, p. 130.
8 Beal's ' Buddhist Tnpitaka, as known in China and Japan,'
p. 113.
* Childers's Diet, Preface, p. xiv. Kctherj compares Lucre
tins, lib. ii. 7-14.
SCRIPTURE VERSES. 129
29. Earnest among the heedless ;
Wide awake among the sleepers ;
The wise makes progress, leaving those behind
As the swift steed the horse who has no strength.
35. It is good to tame the mind,
Difficult to hold in, and flighty ;
Rushing where'er it listeth ;
A tamed mind is the bringer of bliss.
42. Whatever an enemy may do to an enemy,
Or an angry man to an angry man,
A mind intent on what is wrong
Works evil worse.
49. As the bee injuriiig not
The flower, its colour, or scent -
Flies away, taking the nectar ;
So let the wise man dwell upon the earth.
50. Not where others fail, or do or leave undone,
The wise should notice what himself has done or left undone.
52. Like a beautiful flower full of colour, without scent,
The fine words of him who does not act accordingly are
fruitless.
Like a beautiful flower full of colour and full of scent,
The fine words of him who acts accordingly are full of
fruit.
6 1. As long as the sin bears no fruit,
The fool, he thinks it honey ;
But when the sin ripens,
Then, indeed, he goes down into sorrow.
103. One may conquer a thousand thousand men in battle,
But he who conquers himself alone is the greatest victor.
121. Let no man think lightly of sin, saying in his heart, 'It
cannot overtake me.'
Comp. ' Sigalovada Sutta,' in 'Sept Suttas Palis,' p. 305.
T30 LAY MORALITY.
As the waterpot fills by even drops of water falling,
The fool gets full of sin, ever gathering little by little.
146. How is there laughter? How is there joy?
While the fire of passion, and hatred, and ignorance is
always burning,
Ye, surrounded by darkness,
Why seek ye not a light ?
159. Let a man make himself what he preaches to others ;
The well-subdued may subdue others ; one's self, indeed,
is hard to tame.
172. He who formerly was heedless, and afterwards becomes
earnest,
Lights up this world, like the moon escaped from a cloud.
1 76. The man who has transgressed one law, and (speaks) lies,
And scoffs at the next world, there is no evil he will not do.
197. Let us live happily, then, not hating those who hate us !
Let us live free from hatred among men who hate !
198. Let us live happily, then, free from ailments among the
ailing !
Let us dwell free from afflictions among men who are sick
at heart !
199. Let us live happily, then, free from care among the busy !
Let us dwell free from yearning among men who are anxious!
200. Let us live happily, then, though we call nothing our own !
We shall become like the bright gods who feed on happiness !
201. Victory breeds hatred, for the conquered is ill at ease.
The tranquil live well at ease, careless of victory and defeat.
222. He who holds back rising anger as (one might) a rolling
chariot,
Him, indeed, I call a driver : others only hold the reins.
223. Let a man overcome anger by kindness, evil by good ;
Let him conquer the stir.gy by a gift, the liar by truth. 1
1 This verse occurs also in the ' Mahubharata,' v. 1518.
SCRIPTURE VERSES. 131
224. Let him speak the truth ; let him not yield to anger ;
Let him give when asked, even from the little he has !
By these three things he will enter the presence of the gods.
292. What ought to be done is neglected ; what ought not to be
done is done.
Those who are proud and slothful their asavas (delusions)
increase. '
354. The gift of the Law exceeds all gifts,
The sweetness of the Law exceeds all sweetness ;
The delight of the Law exceeds all delight ;
The extinction of thirst overcomes all grief.
Vasala Sutta, 27 :
Not by birth does one become low caste,
Not by birth does one become a Brahman j
By his actions alone one becomes low caste,
By his actions alone one becomes a Brahman. 7
Amagandha Sutta, 7, n. "Anger, drunkenness,
obstinacy, bigotry, deception, envy, self-praise, dis-
paraging others, high-mindedness, evil communica-
tions, these constitute uncleanness ; not verily the
eating of flesh.
" Neither abstinence from fish or flesh, nor going
naked, nor shaving the head, nor matted hair, nor
dirt, nor a rough garment, nor sacrifices to Agni
(fire), will cleanse a man not free from delusions.
" Reading the Vedas, making offerings to priests, or
sacrifices to the gods, self-mortifications by heat or
cold, and many such-like penances performed for the
sake of immortality, these do not cleanse the man
not free from delusions. "
1 On the Asnvas, see above, p. I2O.
1 The same idea occurs in the 'Mahabharata,' iii. 14,075,
17,392. See Dr. Muir, in the 'Indian Antiquary,' Nov. 1876,
p. 312 ; and compare Koppen, i. 129.
132 LAV MORALITV.
Kinsila Sutta, 5. " Live ye freed from lascivious-
ness, firm-minded, abandoning inordinate laughter ;
not recounting worthless stories of kings and others ;
not lamenting, fretting, deceiving; without hypocrisy,
greediness, malice, harshness, and rusty ignorance."
Utthdna Sutta, i, 4. "Rise! sit up! what advan-
tage is there in your sleeping? To men ailing,
pierced by the darts of sorrow, what sleep indeed
can there be? Sloth is defilement, to be ever heed-
less is defilement ! By earnestness and wisdom root
out your darts of sorrow ! "
It would be very interesting to know to whom we
owe the actual composition of these and similar
verses. They purport to be the real words spoken,
or answers given by Gautama on certain specified
occasions, on which it is gravely reported that he
uttered such and such a stanza. It is believed that
they occur in the midst of prose throughout the
Pitakas, and the Dhamma-pada is confessedly merely
a collection of such verses culled from the other
scriptures. On the other hand, in later Buddhist
books in modern languages the stories are often
found without the verses. These stories are always
very instructive, as showing the way in which Bud-
dhism looks at human affairs, and some of them are
not without charm when read merely as tales. One
of these is the story of Kisagotami, given by Captain
Rogers in his translation from the Burmese of some
of these stories. 1
1 ' Buddhaghosha's Parables,' chap. x. There are three
verses of the 'Dhamma.pada' said to have been spoken about a
Kisagotami, but they are all quite inapplicable to this story
(vv. 114, 287, 395).
PARABLES.
Parable of the Mustard-seed.
KisSgotamI is the name of a young girl, whose
marriage with the only son of a wealthy man was
brought about in true fairy-tale fashion. She had
one child, but when the beautiful boy could run
alone, it died. The young girl in her love for it
carried the dead child clasped to her bosom, and
went from house to house of her pitying friends
asking them to give her medicine for it. But a
Buddhist mendicant, thinking ' She does not under-
stand,' said to her, ' My good girl, I myself have
no such medicine as you ask for, but I think I know
of one who has.' ' O tell me who that is,' said
Kisagotami. ' The Buddha can give you medicine ;
go to him,' was the answer. She went to Gautama,
and doing homage to him, said, ' Lord and master,
do you know any medicine that will be good for my
child ? ' ' Yes, I know of some,' said the Teacher.
Now it was the custom for patients or their friends to
provide the herbs which the doctors required, so she
asked what herbs he would want. ' I want some
mustard-seed,' he said ; and when the poor girl
eagerly promised to bring some of so common a
drug, he added, ' You must get it from some house
where no son, or husband, or parent, or slave has
died.' ' Very good,' she said, and went to ask for it,
still carrying her dead child with her. The people
said, ' Here is mustard seed, take it ' ; but when she
asked, ' In my friend's house has any son died, or a
husband, or a parent or slave ? ' they answered, ' Lady !
134 LAY MORALITY.
what is this that you say ; the living are few, but the
dead are many.' Then she went to other houses,
but one said, ' I have lost a son ' ; another, ' We have
lost our parents ' ; another, ' I have lost my slave.' At
last, not being able to find a single house where no
one had died, her mind began to clear, and summon-
ing up resolution, she left the dead body of her child
in a forest, and returning to the Buddha paid him
homage. He said to her, ' Have you the mustard-
seed?' ' My Lord,' she replied, 'I have not; the
people tell me that the living are few, but the dead
are many.' Then he talked to her on that essential
part of his system the impermanency of all things,
till her doubts were cleared away, and, accepting hei
lot, she became a disciple and entered the first Path.
The Parable of the Sower.
In another of these stories, which is before us in
three versions, from the Pali, Sinhalese, and Burmese
respectively, 1 we find the processes of agriculture
worked out into an elaborate allegory. A wealthy
Brahman, named Bharadvaja, was holding his harvest-
home when the Teacher comes and stands by with
his bowl. Some of the people went up and paid him
reverence, but the Brahman was angry, and said,
'Professor Fausboll, ' Sutta Nipata,' ' Kasi Bharadvaja
Sutta,' pp. 10-13; Hardy, 'Manual of Buddhism,' 214-216;
and Bigandet, ' Life of Guadama,' 226, 227. The allegory in
each differs in such essential points from the others that it is L
pity we have not the Pitaka text. I have followed chiefly the
version in 'Sutta Nipata' [the Pali text of which has since
been published, Pali Text Society, 1884].
PARABLES. 135
' Srnmana (i.e. mendicant), I plough and sow, and
having ploughed and sown, I eat ; it would be better
if you were in like manner to plough and sow, and
then you would have food to eat.'
' O ! Brahman,' was the answer, ' I too plough and
sow, and having ploughed and sown, I eat.'
' You say you are a husbandman ; but we see no
signs of it,' said the Brahman. ' Where are your
bullocks, and the seed, and the plough ? '
Then the Teacher answered, ' Faith is the seed I
sow, and good works are as the rain that fertilizes it ;
wisdom and modesty are the parts of the plough, and
my mind is the guiding rein. I lay hold of the
handle of the Law ; earnestness is the goad I use ;
and diligence is my draught ox. Thus this ploughing
is ploughed, destroying the weeds of delusion. The
harvest that it yields is the ambrosia fruit of Nirvana,
and by this ploughing all sorrow ends.'
Buddhist Similes.
Parables similar to the above are constantly re
ferred to in the verses of the ' Dhamma-pada,' and are
used indeed as standing similes or poetical figures, so
well known that there is no- need to mention the
thing signified, but only to suggest it. Agriculture
naturally plays a great part in these parables. Thus
gifts are looked upon as seed which should be sown
in the field of humanity, and especially in that part
of the field where there are fewest weeds, that is in
the field of the Order where the weeds of hate, and
passion, and vanity, and yearning have been de-
stroyed. The crop in this case will be Kusala, meii-
136 LAY MORALITY.
torious Karma which will produce great rewaid in
some future birth. 1 This is a parable which the
yellow-robed members of the Order would not
willingly let die ; and it has become a received truth
that the Karma resulting from good or bad deeds is
more efficacious both for good or bad, according to
the spiritual advancement of those who were affected
by the corresponding acts. One of the worst weeds
to have in rice- fields is the Irirana-grass, whose roots
go very deep into the ground, the smallest piece of
root left in the ground propagating itself very rapidly.
It is therefore most difficult to get rid of, and springs
up again when the industrious peasant thinks he has
quite got rid of it. This is a standing figure of
Trishna, the yearning grasping state of mind, to have
extinguished which, is to have reached Nirvana. 2
Another allegory is that of the flood (ogha), which
comes down suddenly and carries off the careless
sleeper ; against which the wise must constantly be
on the watch until he is safe on some bank or island
which no flood can reach. The flood is of four kinds,
lust, sin, transmigration, and delusion ; and the
Arahat who has reached the island of Nirvana is
called Oghatinna, safe from the floods. 3
Transmigration itself is also constantly called the
ocean .- its ever-tossing waves are births ; the foam at
! On the theory of Karma see my ' Hibbert Lectures, 1881,'
chapter III. Comp. 'Dhp. ,'pp. 356-359; Bigandet, p. 21 1;
Beal, 'Catena,' 194.
1 'Dhp.,' verse 335. See the second 'Noble Truth,' p. 106.
* ' Dhp.,' verses 25, 47, 251, 287, 370 ; and ' Buddhaghosha/
nf ?. 432.
PARABLES. 137
the crest of the waves is this perishable body ; the
other shore is Nirvana; having reached which, one
does not again enter the great ocean of Sang-sara. 1
Again the five Skandhas, the bodily and mental
properties and tendencies, are like a tree. The tree
produces a seed, a fruit, from which will spring an-
other tree ; but if the tree be cut off at the root,
it will be visible a little while only whilst it decays,
and will not produce any further seed.
Again, Trishna, the yearning thirst, is compared to
a creeper which grows like a parasite on the sala
trees, and eventually destroys that on which it was
nourished. 2
A very large number of these similes or parables
will be found in those passages quoted from Milinda
Prashnaya by Spence Hardy, in his ' Manual of Bud-
dhism ' ; and it is evident that the early Buddhists
regarded such allegories, when they fitted well into
any argument, as not only useful to make clear the
speaker's meaning, but also of great value in proving
the truth of what he said.
Dhammika Sutta
The duties of a lay disciple are distinctly and
clearly laid down in the latter part of the ' Dhammika
Sutta,' of which the following verses are quoted from
Sir Coomara Swamy's translation. 3 Gautama himself
1 Comp. p. 121, note 4. 2 'Dhp.,' 162, 334, 340.
3 'Sutta Nipata,' ch. 107. I have allowed myself a few
alterations, such as 'mendicant' for 'priest,' in v. 18, and ir
v. 19, according to the commentary on ' Dhp.,' v. 405.
K
138 LAY MORALITY.
is supposed to be speaking ; and has already described
the duties of a mendicant, which will be considered
separately below (p. 156) :
1 8. ' Now I tell you of the life which a householder
should lead, of the manner in which a disciple should
conduct himself well. Such duties as are peculiar to
the mendicants cannot be fulfilled by one who has a
family.
19. ' Let him not destroy, or cause to be destroyed,
any life at all, or sanction the acts of those who do so.
Let him refrain from even hurting any creature, both
those that are strong, and those that tremble in the
world.
20. 'A disciple then knowing (the law) should re
frain from stealing anything at any place ; should not
cause another to steal anything, should not consent
to the acts of those who steal anything, should avoid
every kind of theft.
21. 'A wise man should avoid inchastity as if it were
a burning pit of live coals. One who is not able to
live in a state of celibacy should not commit adultery.
22. 'When one is come to a royal assembly or
gathering, 1 he should not tell lies to any one, or cause
any to tell lies, or consent to the acts of those who
tell lies ; he should avoid every kind of untruth.
23. 'The householder who delights in the law
should not indulge in intoxicating drinks, should not
cause others to drink, should not sanction the acts of
those who drink, knowing that it results in insanity.
24. ' The ignorant commit sins in consequence of
1 That is, at any official inquiry ; so that the command here
given is not to bear false witness.
THE FIVE, EIGHT, TEN COMMANDMENTS. 139
drunkenness, and also make others drink. You
should avoid this : it is the cause of demerit, insanity,
and ignorance though it be pleasing to the ignorant
25, 26. The Eight Precepts.
1. ' One should not destroy life.
2. ' One should not take that which is not given.
3. ' One should not tell lies.
4. 'One should not become a drinker of intoxi-
cating liquors.
5. ' One should refrain from unlawful sexual inter-
course an ignoble thing.
6. ' One should not eat unseasonable food at nights. 1
7. ' One should not wear garlands or use perfumes. 1
8. 'One should sleep on a mat spread on the
ground. 1
' Such, they say, 2 is the eight-fold fast (Uposatha) de-
clared by Buddha, who came amongst us to put an
end to sorrows.
27. ' Moreover, being of a pious mind, one should
observe Uposatha on the i4th, i5th, and 8th day of
the lunar fortnight, and Pati-haraka pakkha (p. 141)
should also be duly observed.
28. 'In the next place, a wise man who has kept the
fast-day (Uposatha) should in the morning, being of
a pious mind, and taking constant delight in so doing,
1 On these three commands see below, pp. 140, 160.
* From this expression it seems that, while verses 18-24 are
put into Buddha's own mouth, the rest of the verses are sup-
posed to be spoken by some one else. The order of the com-
mandments in v. 25 is also different from that of the preceding
verses.
140 LAY MORALITY.
provide the members of the order with food and
drink according to his ability.
29. ' He should maintain his father and mother in
a just manner, and should practise a just trade -, the
householder observing this with diligence reaches the
self-shining gods.' l
With regard to these commandments, the first five,
placed above in the mouth of Gautama himself, re-
quire no commentary. They are called the five com-
mandments, par excellence (pancha-sila ; Sinhalese,
pan-sil), and are binding on every Buddhist.
The other three are not obligatory ; but the pious
layman is recommended to take the vow of the eight
precepts (atthangasila, in Sinhalese ata-sil). This he
may do for any length of time, or for his whole life ;
and during the time he is under the vow, he should
(at least according to Spence Hardy's Manual, p.
488), live apart from his family. But whether the
vow has been taken or not, it is considered irreligious
to break any of the eight precepts on Sabbath days ;
and it is, or was, considered especially meritorious to
take the vows during the periods of ' extra Lent,'
referred to in v. 26.
The Uposatha days are the four days in the lunar
month when the moon is full, or new, or halfway
between the two. Uposatha is, therefore, a weekly
festival, and may well be rendered Sabbath. The
numbers given in v. 27 must be understood as the
i4th day from the new moon (in short months);
1 It would be a curious fact if this should be the only com-
roan^ment with promise ; but, perhaps, the ' this ' refers to all
that has been said.
THE SABBATH. 141
and the i5th day from the full moon (in the long
months) ; and the 8th day from each of these. The
corresponding Sanskrit word is upavasatha, the fast-
day previous to the offering of the intoxicating soma,
connected with the worship of the .moon. Instead of
worshipping the moon, the Buddhists were to keep
the fast-day by special observance of the moral
precepts ; one of many instances in which Gautama
spiritualized existing words and customs. To place
reliance on any sacrificial rite, or have anything to do
with the intoxicating soma, would have been quite
unbuddhistic. Modern Buddhists have now the same
week as we have ; and the days are similarly named,
after the sun, moon, and five anciently known planets;
Monday being Moonday, and so on. But this they
derived from the Greek astronomers, probably as late
as the sixth century of our era.
The Patiharaka-pakkha, or ' extra fortnights,' is an
epithet of three distinct periods. i. The three
months of Was, or Rain, which have been explained
above (p. 57). 2. The month succeeding Was, called
Chivara masa, or Robe-month, because it is then
customary to provide mendicants, who require them,
with new sets of robes. 3. The first half of the
Robe-month ; and it is to this third period that the
term more particularly applies. During these periods,
the observance of the eight precepts (ata-sil) is more
common than at other periods.
These eight precepts (p. 139), together with two
others viz. 9, to abstain from dancing, music, sing-
ing, and stage plays; and, 10, to abstain from the
use of gold and silver are the ten Moral Rules
142 LAY MORALITY.
(Dasa-slla) binding on the mendicants. It is curious
that the former of these two, in other parts of the
Pitakas, 1 is not No. 9, but No. 7 ; so that it is one of
the eight precepts, while the precept concerning beds
(which usually runs not to use a high or large bed) is
excluded from the eight. Where the Pitakas con-
tradict themselves, it is perhaps presumptuous to
attempt to decide between them ; but the above
poetical list from the ' Dhammika Sutta,' seems to be
less reasonable, as it is also less well supported by
authority than the usually received order.
The Ten Sins.
Besides the above division of moral duties into
the five obligatory and three permissive precepts,
there is another division into ten sins, which are : 2
Three of the body.
Taking life.
Theft (taking what has not been given).
Unlawful sexual intercourse.
Four of speech.
Lying.
Slander (includes ' saying here what one hears
there').
Abuse (swearing).
Vain conversation.
1 For instance, in the ' Vinaya Pitaka,' as quoted in the
'Kammavaca' (edit. Dickson, p. 8 ; see also below, p. 1 60),
and in the ' Khuddaka Pa';ha ' (edit. Childers, p. 3).
* Hardy, 'Manual of Buddhism,' p. 460. Compare the
Sanskrit ' Sutra of the 42 Sayings ;' Beal, 'Catena,' p. 192.
THE TEN SINS. M3
Three of the mind
Covetousness.
Malice.
Scepticism.
Each of these is explained at some length ; but
the explanations are mostly those which would occur
to any moralist on those points. Scepticism, however,
is applied to a particular class only, those who roundly
deny everything, this world and the next, the Buddha
and the law, the effect of moral causes, birth, trans-
migration, and existence, here or hereafter.
The favourite prose Sutra or chapter, on the dudes
of every-day life, is one that is common to both the
Northern and Southern schools of Buddhism, and
known as
The Sigalouiada
The Teacher was staying at the bambu grove near
Rajagriha ; and going out as usual to beg, sees the
householder Sigala bowing down, with streaming
hair, and wet garments, and clasped hands, to the
four quarters of the heaven, and the nadir, and the
zenith. On the Teacher asking the reason why, Sigala
says that he does this, ' honouring, reverencing, and
holding sacred the words of his father.' Then the
Teacher, knowing that this was done to avert evil from
1 Translated from the Pali, by Gogerly, 'Journal of the
Roy. As. Soc.,' Ceylon Branch, 1847, and by Childers, 'Con-
temporary Review," Feb. 1876. Compare the Rev. S. Seal's
Report on ' The Buddhist Tripitaka known in China and
Japan,' p. 112. The text in Grimblot's ' Sept Suttas Palis,'
144 LAY MORALITY.
the six directions, points out to him that the best
way to guard the six quarters is by good deeds to
men around him, to his parents as the east, 1 his
Teachers as the south, his wife and children as the
west, his friends and relatives as the north, men
devoted to the religious life (whether Brahmans or
Buddhist mendicants) as the zenith, and his slaves
and dependents as the nadir. Then in an orderly
arrangement, evidently intended to assist the me-
mory, after some general precepts and a description
of true friendship, the chief duties men owe to one
another are thus enumerated under the above six
heads :
i. Parents and Children.
Parents should
1 . Restrain their children from vice.
2. Train them in virtue.
3. Have them taught arts or sciences.
4. Provide them with suitable wives or husbands.
5. Give them their inheritance.
The child should say
1. I will support them who supported me.
2. I will perform family duties incumbent on them.
3. I will guard their property.
4. I will make myself worthy to be their heir.
5. AVhen they are gone, I will honour their memory
1 Turning to the East is a very ancient Buddhist practice.
Seal's Fs Kian, 87, 178, 189. Burnouf, ' Lotus,' 451.
S1GALOWADA SUTTA. 145
2. Pupils and Teachers.
The pupil should honour his teachers
1. By rising in their presence.
2. By ministering to them.
3. By obeying them.
4. By supplying their wants.
5. By attention to instruction.
The teacher should show his affection to his pupils
1. By training them in all that is good.
2. By teaching them to hold knowledge fast
3. By instruction in science and lore.
4. By speaking well of them to their friends and com-
panions.
5. By guarding them from danger.
3. Husband and Wife.
The husband should cherish his wife
i. By treating her with respect.
?. By treating her with kindness.
3. By being faithful to her.
4. By causing her to be honoured by others.
5. By giving her suitable ornaments and clothes.
The wife should show "her affection for her husband.
1. She orders her household aright.
2. She is hospitable to kinsmen and friends.
3. She is a chaste wife.
4. She is a thrifty housekeeper.
5. She shows skill and diligence in all she has to do.
146 LAY MORALITY.
4. Friends and Companions.
The honourable man should minister to his friends
1. By giving presents.
2. By courteous speech.
3. By promoting their interest.
4. By treating them as his equals. 1
5. By sharing with them his prosperity.
They should show their attachment to him
1. By watching over him when he is off his guard.
2. By guarding his property when he is careless.
3. By offering him a refuge in danger.
4. By adhering to him in misfortune.
15. By showing kindness to his family.
5. Masters and Servants.
The master should provide for the welfare of his
dependants
1. By apportioning work to them according to their
strength.
2. By supplying suitable food and wages.
3. By tending them in sickness.
4. By sharing with them unusual delicacies.
5. By now and then granting them holidays.
They should show their attachment to him as
follows :
i. They rise before him.
1 This is Gogerly's rendering. Childers has 'By doing to
them as he would be done by.' Compare Max Miiller's note to
'Dhp.,' verse 129.
SIGALOWADA SUTTA. 147
2. They retire later to rest.
3. They are content with what is given them.
4. They work cheerfully and thoroughly.
5. They speak well of him (or perhaps properly to
him).
6. Laymen and those delated to Religion.
The honourable man ministers to mendicants and
Brahmans
1. By affection in act.
2. By affection in words.
3. By affection in thoughts.
4. By giving them a ready welcome.
5. By supplying their temporal wants.
They should show their affection to him
1. By dissuading him from vice.
2. By exhorting him to virtue.
3. By feeling kindly towards him.
4. By instructing him in religion.
5. By clearing up his doubts.
6. By pointing the way to heaven.
The whole is then summed up in a few general
phrases, such as ' By thus acting the six quarters are
each preserved in peace and free from danger.' ' He
who worships these six quarters will be competent
to the duties of a householder, and shall be exalted.'
' Liberality, courtesy, kindliness, and unselfishness
these are to the world what the linchpin is to the
rolling chariot.' Sigala then acknowledges himself
converted, and becomes an upasaka (a lay disciple).
148 LAY MORALITY
Many of the ideas in the ' Sigalovada Sutta' are only
suitable to a state of society which we, in this anxious
time of social struggle, have for ever left behind ; but
we can, at least, realize how happy would have been
the village or the clan on the banks of the Ganges,
where the people were full of the kindly spirit of fellow-
feeling, the noble spirit of justice, which breathes
through these na'ive and simple sayings.
Before closing this slight sketch of the general
principles of Buddhist morality, it should be pointed
out that these precepts are apart from, and run (as
far as they go) parallel to, those of the ' Noble Path.'
One might obey many, if not most, of them without
entering the Paths at all ; and obedience to many of
them is considered a necessary preliminary l to that
pilgrimage, which leads to the ' heavenly land of the
Arahats,' to the ' Lake of Ambrosia which washes
away all sin,' to the ' glad City of Peace,' Nirvana. By
observing these first steps in morality,- the character
will be ennobled and purified ; much misfortune
will be avoided, much social honour will be gained in
this world ; and in the next birth a happy entrance
will be secured to some less material existence in those
heavenly mansions where the bright gods feed on joy.
But even good men will not thus escape from the
troubled ocean of transmigration ; when their good
Karma shall be exhausted, they will fall again to a
1 In this sense the ordinary morality is called Adi-brahma-
cariya, while the righteousness of the Paths is Magga-brahma-
cariytv.
DISTINCT FROM 1HE PATHS. 149
lower life. The happiness of the gods themselves,
men or animals or plants, 1 perhaps, in some former
birth, is temporary, and marred by the conscious-
ness that it soon must end. But the very gods envy
the blessed state of those who, here on earth, escaped
from the floods of passion, have gained the fruit of
the Noble Path, and have become cleansed from all
defilement, free for ever from all delusion and all
sorrow, in that Rest which cannot be shaken, the
Nirvana of Arahatship, which can never be lost.
Thus it was that while most of the superstition and
folly which had encrusted the ancient faith was re-
pudiated or ignored, its beauty, and poetry, and truth
were first ennobled and spiritualized, 2 and then made
subservient to that life of self-control, and wisdom,
and universal charity, which Gautama declared to be
the highest aim and the highest happiness of man.
1 Malia Nidana Sutta ; Grimblot, ' Sept Sutta Palis,' p. 245.
1 E. g. Fire-worship (above, pp. 59, 155); Soma- worship
(above, p. 141); the worship of the six directions (above,
p. 144) ; Caste (Vasala Sutta, quoted p. 131). Ceremonial
Bathing (Childers tinder Nahataka). So the seven worldly
treasures of the CakravartI become in Buddhism seven virtues
(AriyaJhaniini). Unclean food is spiritualised into wrong
actions in the Amagandha Sutta, above, p. i;jl.
150 THE ORDER,
CHAPTER VI
THE SANGHA, THE BUDDHIST ORDER OF MENDICANTS.
IT will seem strange to many that a religion which
ignores the existence of God, and denies the exist-
ence of the soul, should be the very religion which
has found most acceptance among men. They should
consider that Buddhism has never been the only
belief of the mass of its adherents, who have always
also revered the powers of nature under the veil of
astrology, or devil-worship, or witchcraft, or the belief
in tantras and charms. One school of Buddhists
has also developed a mythology of its own, and a
sect of this school had even gone so far in the tenth or
eleventh century as to evolve (not, perhaps, without
Christian influence) a personal First Cause out of Bud-
dhist metaphysics. Chinese Buddhism still condemns
this sect as heretical, and the orthodox Buddhists
would condemn the whole mythology ; but the purest
adherent of the old Asoka Buddhism would believe
firmly in Karma, which, from one point of view, has
much analogy with soul ; and, from another, is a
name given to the moral power working in the uni-
verse.
It is probable, however, mat the absence or pre-
sence of any particular belief had less to do with the
spread of Buddhism than the organization of its
THE ORDER. l$l
Order. Had the Buddha merely taught philosophy,
he might have had as small a following as Comte.
It is true that Gautama's power over the people arose
in great measure from the glow of his practical
philanthropy, which did not shrink in the struggle
with the abuses most peculiar to his time. It is true
that the equalizing tendencies of his teaching must
have been attractive to the masses, from whose hands
it struck off the manacles of caste. It is true also
that his psychology and his ethics became a reli-
gion as soon as they had been addressed, not to a
school only, but to the world. But there is no reason
to believe that Gautama was conscious of this, or
that he intended, either at the beginning or the end
of his career, to be the founder of a new religion.
He seems to have hoped that the new wine would go
into the old bottles, by all men, Brahmans included,
being gradually won over to his, the only orthodox
form of the ancient creed. However the question
of the historical succession or connection between
the different systems of Hindu philosophy be ulti-
mately settled whether any of them, as we now
possess them, were pre-Buddhistic or not they
afford at least sufficient evidence that beliefs, very
inconsistent with the practical creed of the masses,
met with little opposition if they were taught only in
schools of philosophy ; and Buddhist morality was
not calculated to excite anger, or envy, or alarm.
But the very means which Gautama adopted to ex-
tend and give practical effect to his teaching, while
giving it temporary success, led to its ultimate expul-
sion from India. It was his Society rather than his
152 THE ORDER.
Doctrine the Sangha rather than the Dharma, which
first insured for his religion its great vitality and its
rapid spread, and which afterwards excited the hos-
tility of the Brahmans.
It was a logical conclusion from the views of life
held by Gautama, that any rapid progress in spiritual
life was only compatible with a retired life, in which
all such contact with the world as would tend to
create earthly excitement and cravings should be
reduced as much as possible ; and accordingly, from
the first he not only adopted such a mode of life for
himself, but urged it on his more earnest disciples.
He contemplated no such division between clergy and
laity as obtains in Christian countries, and constantly
maintained that there was no positive merit in out-
ward acts of self-denial or penance. But holding
that family connections and the possession of wealth
or power were likely to prolong that mistaken esti-
mate of the value of things, that yearning thirst, that
clinging to life, which were the origin of evil, he taught
that to forsake the world was a necessary step towards
the attainment of spiritual freedom.
Little by little, as occasion arose, he laid down rules
for the guidance of those who thus devoted them-
selves to the higher life ; and insensibly as he did so,
the Society became more and more like one of the
monkish orders which sprang up afterwards in the
West. But not even now has the Order become a
priesthood : its members lay claim indeed, often with
little ground, to superior wisdom and sanctity,
but not to any spiritual powers ; and its doors
are always open, alike to those who wish to
THE ORDER. 153
enter, and to those who wish to leave it. In a
system which acknowledged no Creator, the monks
could never become the only efficient intercessors
between man and his Maker. Their help was not
required to avert by their prayers the anger of gods
whose deity was temporary, and who had no power
over men. And since salvation was held to be and
to depend upon a radical change in man's nature,
brought about by his own self-denial and his own
earnestness, the monks could never obtain control
over the keys of heaven and hell.
When successive kings and chiefs were allowed to
endow the Society, not indeed with gold or silver, but
with the ' necessaries ' of the monkish life (including
lands and houses), it gradually ceased in great mea-
sure to be the school of virtue and the most favourable
sphere of intellectual progress, and became thronged
with the worthless and the idle ; but in the time of its
founder it was undoubtedly purer, and contained few
beside .those who, in their better moments, longed,
under his guidance, to train themselves in Buddhist
wisdom and virtue.
In attempting a sketch of the rules under which
they lived, we shall first, as in the chapter on lay
morality, quote some general precepts from the
Pitakas, and then descend to more minute particulars.
Dhp. v. 9. He who, himself not stainless,
Would wrap the yellow-stained robe around him,
He, devoid of self-control and honesty,
Is unworthy of the yellow robe.
10. But he who, cleansed from stains,
Is well grounded in the Precepts,
L
J54 THE ORDER.
And full of honesty and self-restraint,
'Tis he who's worthy of the yellow robe.
362. The restrained in hand, restrained in foot,
Restrained in speech, the best of the self-controlled ;
He whose delight is inward, who is tranquil,
And happy when alone him they call mendicant.
363. The mendicant who controls his tongue, speaking wisely
and is not puffed up,
Who throws light on worldly and on heavenly things-
His word is sweet.
366. The mendicant who, though receiving little,
Thinks not his alms are less than he deserves,
Him the very gods will magnify,
Whose life is pure, who is not slothful.
368. That mendicant whose life is love,
Whose joy the teachings of the Buddha,
He will enter the tranquil lot,
Nirvana's bliss, where the Sanskaras end.
374. As soon as ever he comprehends
The origin and end of the Skandhas,
He then receives joy and gladness,
That ambrosia of the wise (i.e. Nirvana).
376. Let his livelihood be kindliness,
His conduct righteousness,
Then in the fulness of gladness,
He will make an end of grief.
377. As the Vassika plant casts down its withered blossoms,
So cast out utterly, O mendicants, ill-will and lust.
1 On the robes, see below, p. 165. On the precepts see
above, p. 139. The two verses are full of puns, 'stain 'being
kasava, while the reddish-yellow of the robe is kasava. ' Is
worthy ' is arahati, which is meant to suggest Arahats.
SCRIPTURE VERSES 155
389. Do no violence to a Brahman, 1
But neither let him fly at his aggressor.
Woe to him who strikes a Brahman !
More woe to him who strikes the striker I
392. He who has understood the Law
Revealed by the Omniscient One,
Let him worship that continually,
As the Brahman does the sacrificial fire.
393. Not by platted hair or family does a man become a Brahman,
In whom is truth and righteousness is joy and Brahman-
ship.
394. What is the use of platted hair, O fool !
What of a garment of skins ?
Your low yearnings are within you !
And the outside thou makest clean.*
399. He who, though he has committed no offence,
Endures reproaches, bonds and stripes
And out of much endurance
Makes for himself a mighty army
He it is I call a Brahman.
ffiri Su//a, 5. ' Drinking of the water of a life of
seclusion, of the water of the subjection of his
passions, drinking also of the pleasant beverage called
the perception of the truth, he becomes free from
excitement and wrong-doing.'
Ndva Sutta, 4. ' When a man has fallen into an
overflowing river, whose waters are unfathomable and
1 The idea underlying this and the following verses is that the
Arahat is the true Brahman. See above, p. 84.
* Nee tcnsura facit monachum, nee horrida vestis,
Sed virtus animi, perpetHusque vigor.
Max Miiller translates the third line 'Within thee there is
ravening,' with allusion to Matt, xxiii. 27, Luke xi. 39 ; and the
analogy is indeed curiously exact. I retain the expression I
have used in Chapter IV.
56 THE ORDER.
flow swiftly down, how can he in the torrent, and
carried with it, cause others to escape ' ? l
Muni Sutta, 15. ' He who maintains a wife, and is
at the head of a household ; and that other who lives
righteously, possessing nothing, these are not equals.
The head of the house lives unrestrained, and brings
about the destruction of men ; but the wise and re-
strained is a protection to all living beings.'
Dhammacariya Sutta, 3. 'A mendicant who is fond
of disputes, is walled in by ignorance, and under-
stands neither religion nor the law of Gautama.
5. ' Such a mendicant going first to calamity, will
flit from womb to womb, from darkness to darkness,
meeting everywhere affliction ! '
Samma-paribbajaniya Sutta, 2. ' That mendicant
does right to whom omens, meteors, dreams, and
signs are things abolished ; he is free from all their
evils.
8. ' That mendicant does right who is not found
thinking " People should salute me " ; who, though
cursed by the world, yet cherishes no ill-will to
wards it.
13. ' That mendicant does right who is tranquil,
and has completed his course, who sees truth as it
really is, but is not partial when there are persons of
different faith (to be dealt with), who with firm mind
overcomes ill-will and covetousness which injure
men.'
The above passages will exemplify the general
spirit which ought to animate the Buddhist mendi-
1 See above, p. 136.
SCRIPTURE PRECEPTS. 157
cant. The following summary mentions certain
curious particulars, and should be compared with the
summary given above (from the same Sutta) of a
layman's duties.
Dhammika Sutta.
10. ' Hear me, O priests ! and I will declare the
sin-destroying law all ye bear it in heart !
' The sage seeking after good should practise the
Iriyapatha suited to the Order (i.e., should always
carry himself with propriety and dignity).
11. 'A mendicant should not go to the village for
food at unseasonable times; let him not go in the night
time. As temptations cling to the mendicant doing
so, the wise go not out at unseasonable times.
1 2. ' Form, sound, taste, smell, touch, these in-
toxicate beings ; l cut off the yearning which is
inherent in them. A mendicant should take his
noonday meal in time.
13. 'A mendicant having received in right time his
meal, returning alone, should sit in private, reflecting
within himself; he should not spread out his mind;
his mind should be well controlled. 2
14. ' Should he speak with a follower of the Buddha
or another mendicant, he should speak of the ex-
cellent Law, and not backbite or speak ill of another.
15. ' Some fortify themselves for controversy. We
praise not those small-minded persons. Temptations
from this source and that are made to cling to them,
1 By causing vedand, sensation, which causes trisiind, thirst
See above, pp. 101, 106.
* Compare ' Dhamma-pada,' v. 35, above, p. 129.
158 THE ORDER.
and they certainly send their minds very far away
when they engage in controversy.
1 6. 'One who follows the Buddha, in seeking for
food, lodging, bed, seats, and water for cleaning robes
or personal ablutions, should attend to the Law as
preached by the Buddha.
17. 'Nevertheless he should not be anxious about
these things, food, bed, seats, clean robes, and water,
but should be like a water-drop which adheres not to
the lotus-leaf.' ]
Admission to the Order.
For admittance to the Society no other credentials
were at first required than the mere wish of the
applicant ; afterwards, as occasion arose, 2 a few
necessary conditions were imposed. The applicant
was obliged to state that he was free from contagious
disease, consumption, and fits ; that he was neither
a slave nor a debtor, nor a soldier; that is, that he
was sui juris, and that he had obtained the consent
of his parents. At first, also, the candidate was
admitted without any ceremony, merely having his
head shaved, putting on the orange-coloured robes
peculiar to the Order, and leading a retired life.
Afterwards a simple ceremony was adopted, prob-
ably identical with that now in use in Ceylon, the
earliest and most complete account of which is given
1 This is a standing metaphor. Compare ' Khagga-visana
Sutta,' v. 17, and ' Dhp.,' v. 401, where the Arahat is to be as
unpolluted by low desires as the lotus-leaf untouched by water.
At 'Dhp.,' v. 336, quoted above, p. 107, the application is
somewhat different.
* The instance of Rahula will be found above, p. 65.
ORDINATION. 159
n the Vinaya Pitaka, in the portion translated, for
the first time, by the present writer, and by Prof.
Oldenberg, in their ' Vinaya Texts.' l At first, also,
there is no mention of any distinction within the
ranks of the Society ; but the preparatory rank of
novice was very early introduced, and later on, in
some countries, as the religion became more and
more corrupted, the Order became more and more
subflivided, until, in Tibet, in the twelfth century, we
find a complete episcopal hierarchy.
The initiatory service just referred to as now held
in Ceylon in accordance with the Pitakas, is briefly
as follows :
The layman who wishes for entrance to the Order
must be at least eight years old before obtaining the
noviciate, and at least twenty before receiving full
initiation. On the day appointed, a chapter is held
of not less than ten monks, the president being of at
least ten years' standing. The monks forming the
chapter sit on mats in two rows facing each other,
the president being at the head of one row. The
candidate, in lay dress, but carrying the three yellow
robes of a mendicant, is introduced by his proposer
(always a monk), makes salam to the president, and
offers him a small present as a token of respect. He
then three times asks for admission as a novice.
' Have pity on me, lord, take these robes, and let
me be initiated, that I may escape from sorrow, and
1 'Sacred Books of the East,' vol. xiii. pp. 230-236. Sir
J. F. Dickson has given an account of the way in which the
ceremony is still performed in Ceylon in the ' Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society ' for 1873.
l6o THE ORDER.
experience Nirvana.' The president then takes the
bundle of robes and ties them round the candidate's
neck, repeating meanwhile a formula of meditation
on the perishable nature of the human body. The
candidate then retires and changes his dress, repeat-
ing the while a formula to the effect that though he
wears robes he does so only out of modesty, and as a
protection from heat, cold, &c. When he reappears
clad as a mendicant, he kneels before the president,
and repeats after him three times two well-known
Buddhist formulas. The first of these is that called
the Three Refuges.
' I go for refuge to the Buddha.
I go for refuge to the Law.
I go for refuge to the Order.'
The other is called the Ten Precepts, 1 which are as
follows :
1. 'I take the vow not to destroy life.
2. ' I take the vow not to steal.'
3. ' I take the vow to abstain from impurity.'
4. ' I take the vow not to lie.'
5. ' I take the vow to abstain from intoxicating
drinks, which hinder progress and virtue.'
6. ' I take the vow not to eat at forbidden times.'
7. ' I take the vow to abstain from dancing, singing,
music, and stage plays.'
8. ' I take the vow not to use garlands, scents,
unguents, or ornaments.
9. I take the vow not to use a high or broad bed.'
10. ' I take the vow not to receive gold or silver.'
1 See also above, p. 139.
ORDINATION. l6l
The candidate then rises, pays respect to the pre-
sident, and retires a novice. Here, for the noviciate,
the ceremony ends.
A novice applying for full admission has to put off
the robes, and again, as a layman, to go through
the above forms. The candidate now returns, again
makes his salam to the president, and gives his
present, and three times respectfully asks him to
become his ' superior.' This, the full signification
of which will be noticed presently, being granted,
the candidate retires to the end of the hall, where
his begging-bowl is fastened round his neck. His
proposer then goes down and leads him up again,
placing him before the president, whilst another
monk from the chapter rises and stands by the
candidate, who is thus placed between two monks,
who proceed to act as it were as examiners. Having
been taken apart, he tells them his name and that of
his superior ; that he is provided with the alms-bowl
and the robes ; that he has none of the disqualifying
diseases ; that he is a male twenty years old, and sui
juris, and that he has the consent of his parents.
The examiners then report to the chapter the
satisfactory result of their inquiries, and, on leave
granted, the candidate, coming forward again, and
kneeling, asks three times for ordination. ' Mendi-
cants, I ask the chapter for admission ; have pity on
me, and lift me up.' The examiners then repeat the
examination in the hearing of the chapter, and three
times ask the chapter if any one objects to the candi-
date's admission. No one objecting, they bow to the
president, and soy, ' M. has been admitted by the
1 62 THE ORDER.
Society, N. being his superior. The chapter agrees
to this, and therefore is silent. So we understand.'
This ends the ordination of that candidate, and
after the same form has been observed with each of
the other candidates, one 01 the chapter reads a short
summary of the regulations of the Order, and the
service is over.
The new member of the Order is supposed to re-
side at first in the same monastery with his superior ;
the latter advising and instructing him, and acting
towards him, in sickness and in health, as among lay-
men a father would to a son ; he, in return, treating
his superior with the respect due to a father, and
acting towards him as his personal attendant. In
fact, however, this is not always carried out, the new
monk living at some other place ; but wherever that
may be, a similar relation naturally springs up be-
tween the older and younger members of the Sangha.
The most usual names applied in the sacred books
to the senior members of the Order are Sumana and
Bhikshu, and to the novices Samanera. The first,
from which the third is derived, means one who exerts
himself, controls himself; the second means simply
a beggar. Self-conquest and poverty, these were to
be the distinguishing characteristics of the ' sons of
Sakya.' But it was not left to them to decide for
themselves how far this self-suppression and absti-
nence were to be carried. The Teacher gave a number
of rules and directions which have been handed down
to us more or less correctly in the Khandakas (see p.
15); while the offences they were to avoid were
summed up in the Patimokkha, literally ' The Dis-
PATIMOKKHA. 163
burdenment.' 1 An Old Commentary on this list of
offences, together with an introductory story to each
(giving the occasion on which it was supposed to
have been declared by the Buddha himself to be an
offence), were combined before the date of the
Council of Vesali that is before B.C. 350 into the
work now known as the Sutta-vibhanga (see p. 15.)
It is probable that the Old Commentary was com-
posed for that work, but it may possibly have existed
before it And in either case the Patimokkha itself
must be older than the Old Commentary upon it, so
that it almost certainly dates from the fifth century
B.C. Since that time during a period that is of
nearly 2,300 years it has been regularly repeated,
twice in each month, in formal meetings of the
stricter members of the Order. It occupies there-
fore a unique position in the literary history of the
world ; and no rules for moral conduct have been
for so long a time as these in constant practical use,
except only those laid down in the Old Testament,
and in the works of Konfucius.
Food.
No monk can eat solid food except between sun-
rise and noon, and total abstinence from intoxicating
drinks is obligatory. The usual mode of obtaining
food is for the monk to take his begging-bowl, a
brown earthenware vessel, in shape nearly like a soup-
tureen without its cover, and holding it in his hands,
to beg straight from house to house. He is to say
nothing, but simply stand outside the hut, the doors and
1 Translated into English by Rh. D., in ' Vinaya Texts/ vol. i.
164 THE ORDER.
windows of which in hot countries will usually be large
and open. If anything is put into his bowl, he utters a
pious wish on behalf of the giver, and passes on ; if
nothing is given, he passes on in silence, and thus
begs straight on without going to the houses of the
rich or luxurious rather than to those of the poor
and thrifty. 1 As the food of all classes consisted
almost exclusively of some form of curry, the mixture
was not so very incongruous. When enough had
been given, the monk retired to his home to eat it,
thinking the while of the impermanence and worth-
lessness of the body which was thus nourished, and
of the processes through which the food would have
to pass. To quote a Buddhist idea in the quaint
words of Herbert : ' Take thy meat, think it dust,
then eat a bit, and say with all Earth to earth I com-
mit.' From the first it was permitted to a wealthy or
pious layman to invite one or more monks to take
their midday meal at his house ; and this was fre-
quently done, especially on full-moon days ; it was
also allowed to the laity on special occasions to bring
food to the monastery. But the practice of the Order
possessing rice-fields, letting them out to be cultivated
on condition of receiving a share of the produce, and
then having their meals cooked at home by some lay
follower, is of modern growth.
For the stricter devotees further vows are men
tioned of abstinence from animal food ; of eating the
whole meal without rising ; of refusing all invitations
and all food brought to them ; of eating everything
in the bowl without leaving or rejecting anything, and
1 See 'Metta Sutta,' v. 2 ; ' Khaggavisana Sutta,' v. 31.
RESIDENCE. 165
so on ; but it is doubtful whether they are ever ob-
served now : and they were formerly taken only for
a time, and very rarely even so.
Residence.
Gautama considered a lonely life in the forest to
be the most conducive to self-conquest. But as he
himself, after having lived apart from the world, spent
his life, from the commencement of his prophetic
career, among men, so from the first the lonely life
was adopted only by the most earnest, and that only
for a time. The majority of the monks lived in com-
panies in groves or gardens, and very soon the piety of
laymen provided for them suitable monasteries, several
of which were built even in the lifetime of Buddha.
During the fine weather the monks often travelled
from place to place as their Teacher did ; but during
the rainy season they settled in one spot, in or
near a town : l and near the ancient cities of India
have lately been discovered extensive ruins on the
site of the monasteries mentioned in the Pali books.
On the other hand, there have been found numerous
rock caves, many of which, especially in Ceylon, were
evidently meant for solitary hermits, and often bear
inscriptions in the old Pali alphabet brought by
Asoka's son, Mahinda, to Ceylon in the third cen-
tury B.C. 2
Clothing.
As regards clothing, the monks were to be habited
in cloths of no value, put. together from cast-off rags ;
1 On this custom, as now observed, see above, p. 57.
* I have published a specimen of these in the ' Indian Anti-
quary' for May, 1872.
1 66 THE ORDER.
but here again, the practice of Buddha himself, and
that followed by the large majority of the brethren,
was to dress in simple robes of dull orange-colour,
first torn to pieces and then sowed together again, so
as to deprive them of commercial value. They formed
two under garments, and one loose robe to cover the
whole of the body, except the right shoulder. All
three are simply lengths of cotton cloth ; the two
under ones, the antara-vasaka and the sang/idti, being
wrapt round the middle of the body, and round the
thighs and legs, respectively ; and the upper one, the
uttarasanga, being first wrapt round the legs, and
then drawn over the left shoulder. The colour was
probably at first chosen as the one regarded with
most contempt, being nearly the same as that of very
old rags of the common white cotton cloth, and be-
cause clothes of that colour were of no value at all
for ordinary purposes ; but the orange-coloured robes,
from their very peculiarity as a sign of the members
of the Sangha, soon became looked upon as an honour,
and craved as such; so that the Dhamma-pada, as we
have seen, has to give a warning that those who are
not free from sin (kasava), are not worthy of the orange
colour (kasava). 1 In Buddhist countries men's ordi-
nary dress was merely a cloth wrapt round the loins,
whereas the monks are to cover the whole body, and
are not permitted at any time to lay their robes aside.
To do so would be to lay aside their membership of
the Order ; ' to put on,' or ' to put off, the robes/ being
current expressions for joining or leaving the Society.
Of course, no ornaments are allowed, and even the
1 See the verse quoted above, p. 153 ; Blip. v. 9.
CHASTITY, POVERTY, OBEDIENCE. 1 6?
natural ornament of hair is not permitted ; complete
tonsure being obligatory on all. No monk should
possess more than one change of robes, and minute
rules in detail are laid down to guard against any
brother, even by indirect methods, taking any steps
to procure himself new robes to provide them spon-
taneously is the duty and privilege of the laity.
Chastity, Poverty, Obedience.
It is scarcely necessary to state that sexual inter-
course, theft, and murder, entail upon the culprit
irrevocable expulsion from the Order. On the vow
of poverty, a few words ought to be said. In his
individual right no monk is to possess more than the
following eight articles : i, 2, 3, the three robes
mentioned above ; 4. a girdle for the loins ; 5. an
alms-bowl ; 6. a razor ; 7. a needle ; 8. a water-
strainer, through which he is to strain all he drinks,
not only to remove impurities, but also, and chiefly,
to prevent the accidental destruction of any living
creatures. It is to be a cubit square, and to be care-
fully kept in serviceable repair.
This individual vow of poverty has, however, been
swallowed up by the permission given to the commu-
nity to possess not only books and other personal
property, but even lands and houses. Gautama him-
self is related to have received such gifts on behalf of
the Sangha, which, at the time of its expulsion from
India, must have rivalled in wealth the most powerful
orders of the Middle Ages ; and in Buddhist countries
at the present day the church is often as wealthy as it
is among ourselves.
Otherwise, however, the individual vows have, in
1 68 THE ORDER.
Burma, Siam, and Ceylon been pretty well observed,
and water-drinking celibates, who take only one meal
a day, and dress in a simple uniform, could never in-
dulge in unbounded personal luxury. The members
of the Order are secured from want ; some of them
enjoy the fascinating power of wealth, so completely
contrary to all the principles of their religion, and to
the precepts laid down by their Teacher, for the attain-
ment of spiritual progress ; they are often lazy, and
not seldom avaricious. But in the Southern Church,
at least, they are not, as a body, disgraced by gluttony
or drunkenness, and have never given way to the
weak vanity of dress, or of the pomp and pride of
ritual. There is no place in the Buddhist scheme for
churches ; the offering of flowers before the sacred
tree or image of the Buddha takes the place of wor-
ship. Buddhism does not acknowledge the efficacy
of prayers, and in the warm countries where Bud-
dhists live, the occasional reading of the law, or preach-
ing of the word, in public, can take place best in the
open air, by moonlight, under a simple roof of trees
or palms.
The vow of obedience was never taken by the
Buddhist monks or nuns, and in this may be noticed
a fundamental difference between them and the mem-
bers of monastic orders in the West : mental culture,
not mental death, was the aim set before the Buddhist
ascetic by the founder of his Order. Each one is to
conquer self by himself; and the observance of no
ceremony, the belief in no creed, will avail him who
fails in obtaining this complete mastery over himself.
Outward respect and courtesy to his superiors is ex-
acted from the novice ; but his own salvation and his
DAILY LIFE. 169
usefulness as a teacher depend on his self-culture ; he
is to obey not his brother but the Law; his superior
has no supernatural gifts of wisdom or of absolution,
and by himself must the ascetic stand or fall.
A few simple rules of discipline are laid down : but
the highest punishment is to compel the fallen brother
to retract his vows, and return to the world, which he
has not sufficient self-control to reject. Twice a
month, when the rules of the Order are read, a monk
who has broken them is to confess his crime : if it be
slight, some slight penance is laid upon him, to sweep
the courtyard of the wihara or sprinkle dust round
the sacred Bo-tree; but no inquisitorial questions
are to be put to any one. Charges may be brought
against a monk for breach of the ordinances laid
down in the Pitakas, and must then be examined into
by a chapter ; but no one can change or add to the
existing law, or claim obedience from any novice,
however young.
Daily Life of the Mendicants.
The daily life of the novice should, according to a
manual called ' Dina Chariyawa,' a be about as follows.
He shall rise before daylight and wash ; then sweep
the wihara or ' residence,' as the clean little hut
where the mendicant lives is called, then sweep
round the Bo-tree, fetch the drinking water for the
day, filter it, and place it ready for use. Retiring to a
solitary place, he shall then meditate on the regula-
1 Mr. Beal has analysed a corresponding work of later Chi-
nese Buddhism ( ' Catena, ' p. 239 et seq. ), and it is instructive
to notice how much the moral standard has been lowered in the
lapse of time. Comp. Hardy, E. M. 24-28; and Big., p. 190.
M
170 THE ORDER.
tions. Then he shall offer flowers before the sacred
dagaba the solid dome-shaped shrine in which relics
of the Buddha are buried or before the Bo-tree ;
thinking of the great virtues of the Teacher and of
his own faults. Soon after, taking the begging-bowl,
he is to follow his superior in his daily round for food,
and on their return is to bring water for his feet and
place the alms-bowl before him. After the meal is
over, he is to wash the alms-bowl ; then again to wor-
ship Buddha, and meditate on kindness and affection.
About an hour afterwards he is to begin his studies
from the books, or copy one of them, asking his
superior about passages he does not understand. At
sunset he is again to sweep the sacred places, and,
lighting a lamp, to listen to the teaching of his supe-
rior, and repeat such passages from the canon as he
has learnt If he finds he has committed any fault
he is to tell his superior ; he is to be content with
such things as he has ; and keeping under his senses,
to grow in grace without haughtiness of body, speech,
or mind.
The superiors, relieved by the novices from any
manual labour, were expected to devote themselves
all the more earnestly to intellectual culture and
meditation.
There are five principal kinds of meditation, which
in Buddhism takes the place of prayer. The first is
called ' Metta-bhavana,' or meditation on LOVE, in
which the monk thinks of all beings and longs for
happiness for each. Firstly, thinking how happy he
himself could be if free from all sorrow, anger, and
evil desire, he is then to wish for the same happiness
for others, and lastly to long for the welfare of his
SUMMARY. i; t
foes. Remembering their good actions only, and
that in some former birth his enemy may have been
his father or his friend, he must endeavour in all
earnestness and truth to desire for him all the good
he would seek for himself. \
The second meditation is ' Karuna-bhavana ' or
meditation on PITY, in which the mendicant is to
think of all beings in distress, to realize as far as he
can their unhappy state, and thus awaken the senti-
ment of pity, or sorrow for the sorrows of others.
The third meditation is Mudita-bhavana, or the
meditation on JOY, the converse of the last, in which
he is to think of the gladness and prosperity of others,
and to rejoice in their joy.
The fourth is Asubha-bhavana, the meditation on
IMPURITY, in which the mendicant thinks of the vile-
ness of the body, and of the horrors of disease and
corruption ; how it passes away like the foam of the
sea, and how by the continued repetition of birth and
death mortals become subject to continual sorrow.
The fifth is Upeksha-bhavana, the meditation on
SERENITY, wherein the mendicant thinks of all things
that worldly men hold good or bad ; power and op-
pression, love and hate, riches and want, fame and
contempt, youth and beauty, decrepitude and disease,
and regards them all with fixed indifference, with utter
calmness and serenity of mind. 1
Summary of the Ditty of the Order.
When Gautama, just before his death, took his last
1 Hardy, 'Eastern Monachism,' p. 243. On the duties of a
novice see also ' Vinaya Texts,' I. pp. 157163.
1}2 THE ORDER.
formal farewell of the assembled Order at the
Kutagara Hall, he is said to have charged them as
follows : ' Oh, mendicants ! thoroughly learn, and
practise, and perfect, and spread abroad the law
thought out and revealed by me, in order that this
religion of mine (literally this purity) may last long,
and be perpetuated for the good and happiness of
the great multitudes, out of pity for the world, to the
advantage and prosperity of gods and men. What is
that law? It is the four earnest Meditations, the
four great Efforts, the four roads to Iddhi, the five
moral Powers, the seven kinds of Wisdom, and the
Noble Eightfold Path.' 1
It will be of great interest to determine more
exactly what it was upon which Gautama is be-
lieved, in that last and solemn moment, to have
laid stress, as the summary at once of his religion, and
of the duty of the mendicants of his Order. To be
made quite clear and intelligible, each one of the
items would require, perhaps, as much space as we
have devoted above to the fundamental ideas of Bud-
dhist metaphysics ; but the general spirit, at least, will
be apparent from the following short descriptions.
The four Earnest Meditations (Sati-pattjidna) are
meditations
* On the impurity of the body.
2. On the evils which arise from sensation.
3. On the impermanence of ideas.
4. On the conditions of existence.
The four Great Efforts (Sammappadhdna) are the
effort or exerti jn
x Rh. D., 'Buddhist Suttas,' pp. 61-63.
BUDDHISM. 1 73
1. To prevent bad qualities from arising.
2. To put away bad qualities which have arisen.
3. To produce goodness not previously existing.
4. To increase goodness when it does exist.
The four bases of Saintship (Iddhipdda) are four
means by which saintship (Iddhi, on which see below,
p. 174) is obtained.
1. The will to acquire it.
2. The necessary exertion.
3. The necessary preparation of the heart.
4. Investigation.
The five Moral Powers (JBaldni), also called mental
organs (Indriydni), are
i. Faith; 2. Energy; 3. Recollection; 4. Con-
templation; 5. Intuition.
The Seven Kinds of Wisdom (Bodhi-anga) are the
second, third, and fourth of the last set, and also
Investigation of Scripture, Joy, Repose, and Serenity.
The Noble Eightfold Path has been explained
above in Chapter IV. These, and a few other
similar technical terms formed as it were the catch
phrases of early Buddhism, and the numerical
arrangement was adopted merely to assist the
memory. Some of these aggregates were as well
known, and their names called up as distinct ideas to
the Buddhists, as the words Ten Commandments, or
Four Gospels, or Five Senses, do to us. Of other
enumerations, doubtless, though the names were
familiar enough, and called up a general idea, the
details were known only to the more learned, very
much as the Nine Muses, or the Three Graces, or the
Seven Deadly Sins in England now.
174 THE ORDER.
Jhana and Samadhi.
There remains to be considered one very obscure,
but very instructive side of Buddhist teaching, viz.,
the belief that it was possible by intense self-absorp-
tion and mystic meditation to attain to a mental state
by which six kinds of supernatural wisdom, called
Abhinna, and ten supernatural powers, called Iddhi,
were acquired. So far as I am aware, no instance is
recorded of any one, not either a member of the
Order or a Brahman ascetic, acquiring these powers.
A Buddha always possessed them ; whether Arahats,
as such, could work the particular miracles in question,
and whether, of mendicants, only Arahats, 1 or only
Asekhas, 1 could do so is at present not clear. They
adhere, however, to the Karma, so that a person who
has practised mystic ecstasy, or been very wise or
very virtuous in one birth, may have extraordinary
(supernatural) good fortune or powers in the next.
This throws, perhaps, some light on the origin of the
belief. Ordinary Karma was held sufficient to pro-
duce ordinary continuous states ; but when some
quite unexpected and extraordinary piece of good
luck happened to some one who had evidently done
nothing to deserve it, some quite extraordinary
religious exaltation in the last birth was postulated to
explain it. Thus, we are told of a child who was left
1 Arahats are those who have entered the Fourth Path, and
are clear from the first five Fetters. Asekhas are those who
have finished the Fourth Path and are free from all the Fetters
(see above, p. 109).
MYSTIC TRANCE. 175
by mistake, alone, on a dark night, outside the city
gate in a cart. During the night he saw many devils
and ghosts come out of the shut gate of the city on
the way to the cemeteries to procure nourishment ;
but they did the child no harm. 1 To him and the
friends who heard of it these creatures of darkness
were very real beings indeed ; the child's delivery from
such fearful enemies was clearly a miracle ; but clearly,
also, he had in this life acquired no miraculous powers.
As every good or evil event in life has a moral cause
in the former actions of the same individual, it was
clear, therefore, that the child must have acquired
some extraordinary goodness or wisdom in a former
birth, of which this extraordinary good fortune was the
result. It would be difficult to point out where else
the orthodox Buddhist could find his deus ex ma-
china for the solution of such knotty points ; but no
example of Iddhi has yet been found in the Pitakas
themselves, and the Iddhipadas referred to in the
above passage from the Parinibbana Sutta 2 may have
nothing miraculous about them after all. 3
The mental condition by which these powers were
apparently acquired is called in Pali Jhana, in Sanskrit
Dhyana, of which there are four stages. It is only
by the completion of the fourth Jhana that Abhinna
is acquired, and the four are thus described in identical
terms in northern and southern texts :
'The first Jhana is a state of joy and gladness
born of seclusion, full of reflection and investigation,
1 Hardy, ' Manual,' p. 502.
a Above, p. 173.
3 Compare Rh. D., ' Buddhist Suttas, 1 pp. 2, 40, 259.
176 THE ORDER.
the mendicant having separated himself from all
sensuality and all sin.
' The second Jhana is a state of joy and gladness
born of deep tranquillity, without reflection or investi-
gation, these being suppressed ; it is the tranquilliza-
tion of thought, the predominance of intuition.
' In the third Jhana the mendicant is patient by
gladness and the destruction of passion, joyful and
conscious, aware in his body of that delight which
the Arahats announce, patient, recollecting, glad.
' The fourth Jhana is purity of equanimity and re-
collection, without sorrow and without joy, by the
destruction of previous gladness and grief, by the
rejection of joy, and the rejection of sorrow.' l
In the first Jhana the mendicant, holy, pure, and
alone, applies his mind to some deep subject of reli-
gious thought ; reasoning upon it, investigating it.
Gradually his mind becomes clear, reasoning vanishes,
intuition has been reached this is the second Jhana.
Then the consciousness of the subject thought of
vanishes, and a state of enduring gladness is reached,
wherein the whole body is lifted up with ecstasy this
is the third Jhana. This felt ecstasy, however, soon
passes away, and there is only left equanimity and
memory, without either joy or sorrow. So at least I
understand this difficult and very ancient passage,
which seems to me to be describing a state which has
been reached by others besides Buddhists a moment
of unusual conviction and insight, followed by exalted
religious ecstasy, and ending in abiding religious peace. 1
1 Burnouf describes the four Jhanas in the ' Lotus,' pp. 8or,
et seq. The Pali text as given in Childers's Diet. s. v. Jhana,
BUDDHISM. 177
Samddhi on the other hand was, at least among
later Buddhists, a self-induced mesmeric trance, sup-
posed to be a proof of superior holiness. It seems
almost incredible that such a trance should be pos-
sible, but its occurrence has been well authenticated
in modern times. Buddhism, it thus appears, has
not been able to escape from the natural result of the
wonder with which abnormal nervous states have
always been regarded during the infancy of science.
It has mistaken the temporary cessation of the outward
signs of life for an actual victory of mind over matter,
and has regarded the loss of mental power as the
highest form of mental activity. But it must be added,
to its credit, that the most ancient Buddhism despises
dreams and visions ; and that the doctrine of Samadhi
is of small practical importance compared with the
doctrine of the Noble Eight fold Path. l
occurs in the Maha Siidassana Sittta, and at intervals in
Stimailfla-phala Sutta in Grimblot's ' Sept Suttas Palis,' pp.
139, et sey. The Sanskrit text in Lalita Vistara, ch. xxii. Calc.
Ed. p. 439 ; comp. also ch. vi. In the Parinibbdna Sutta in
Childers's separate edition, p. 6l, it is stated that Gautama
attained them when on his death-bed. Comp. Gogerly, ' Jour.
Ceylon As. Soc.,' 1846, p. 14 ; and below, p. 204.
1 For an actual instance of Indian ascetics having voluntarily
entered into a lasting trance resembling the hybernation of bears
and other animals, see Dr. Carpenter's interesting paper (in
the ' Contemporary Review ' for December, 1873), entitled ' The
Psychology of Belief.' Instances of Jhana and Samadhi are
found, 'Jat.,' p. 75 ; ' Mahavansa,' pp. 90, 262. A description
how to attain Samadhi is given in Beal's ' Catena,' 269, et seq.
LEGEND OF THE BUDDHA
CHAPTER VII.
DEVELOPMENTS IN DOCTRINE.
I. The Legend of the Buddha.
THE supposed immovability of the institutions and
beliefs of the East has become almost a proverb ;
but as our knowledge of the East increases, the pro-
verb will be likely to fall into disuse. There have
been times, not far remote, when the rate of progress
in India or China has been so slow, that, compared
with the progress in England or America, it has
seemed as nothing ; but there have been times when
Eastern Asia has moved faster than Europe. Except
in a much more limited sense than the expression is
usually meant to convey, 'the immovability of the
East' is a delusion. As well might the Japanese
talk of the unchangeable customs and beliefs of
Russia or of Spain.
Though but little is known of the religious and
political history of India in the centuries immediately
following the death of Gautama, enough is known to
make it certain that this period was full of movement,
both inside and outside of the Buddhist church.
Outside that church the ideas and beliefs of Brah-
manical Hindus were being modified by Buddhism ;
while inside the church Buddhism itself was being
THE BUDDHAS. 1 79
profoundly altered both by the reaction which must
immediately have set in against the high standard of
Gautama's morality, and by the growth of the legends
which sprang up rapidly regarding his personal
history. These latter changes are sufficiently evident
from the books of the Pitakas themselves ; but it is
very difficult, if not impossible, at present to come to
any definite conclusion as to what change took place
in Buddhist doctrine, apart from the beliefs regarding
the person of the Buddha, previous to the date of the
recension of the Pitakas which we now possess.
Thus of the doctrine of the Buddhas it is impossi-
ble to say how early, before the settlement of the
Pitakas in their present form, that doctrine arose ;
for it contains no internal evidence sufficient to
show that it could not have existed, as is represented,
in the time of Gautama himself, and have formed
part of his actual teaching : and yet it is not so
necessarily implied in, or closely connected with, the
most important and original parts of his scheme of
salvation as to exclude the possibility of its having
arisen, or been largely developed, after his death.
In the Pali and Sanskrit texts the word Buddha is
always used as a title, not as a name. The historical
Buddha, the Gautama of this little work, is repre-
sented to have taught that he was only one of a long
series of Buddhas, who appear at intervals in the
world, and who all teach the same system. After
the death of each Buddha his religion flourishes for a
time, and then decays, till it is at last completely for-
gotten, and wickedness and violence rule over the
earth. Gradually then the world improves ; until at
I So LEGEND OF THE BUDDHA.
last a new Buddha appears who again preaches the
lost Dharma or Truth. The names of twenty-four
of these Buddhas who appeared previous to Gautama
have been handed down to us ; and when, after 5,000
years shall have elapsed since his re-discovery of the
Truth under the Bo Tree, the religion of Gautama shall
be forgotten, a new Buddha will again open the
door of Nirvana to men, his name being Maitreya
Buddha, the Buddha of kindness. The Buddhavansa
or ' History of the Buddhas,' the last book of the Khud-
daka Nikdya in the second Pitaka, gives the lives
of all the previous Buddhas before commencing its
account of Gautama himself; and the Pali comment-
ary on the Jatakas gives certain details regarding
each of the twenty-four. 1
It is sufficiently evident that nearly all these
details are merely imitated from the corresponding
details of the legend of Gautama ; and it is, to say
the least, very doubtful whether the tradition of
these legendary teachers has preserved for us any
grains of historical fact. If not, the list is probably
later than the time of Gautama, for while it is
scarcely likely that he should have deliberately in-
vented these names, it may well have seemed to later'
Buddhists very edifying to give such lists, and very
reasonable to include in them the names held in
highest honour by the Brahmans themselves. In the
Sutta Pitaka, one of the books of the second Pitaka,
we have actually some sayings attributed to Kasyapa
1 Fausboll's ' Jataka,' pp. 2-44. [The full text of the Buddha-
vansa has now been edited by Dr. R. Morris for the Pali Text
Society.]
THE FORMER BUDDHAS. l8l
Buddha, the last of the twenty-four ; but the passage
in question, the Amagandha Sutta, is quite in the
manner and spirit of all the teaching ascribed to
Gautama himself. In it, it is declared that it is not
the eating of unclean food (Amagandha) which defiles
a man, but rather evil deeds, and the practice of evil
habits ; the argument being strikingly similar to that
of the well known passages in the Gospels enunciating
the same principle. 1 This putting of new wine into
old bottles, this spiritualising, but still making use of
an existing belief seems to me to be quite character-
istic of Gautama's teaching; 2 and though nearly all
Oriental reformers adopt, more or less frequently, the
same method, they seldom carry it so far as he seems
to have done. Yet, in the fourth century A.D., there
was certainly near to Sravasti a sect of Buddhists who
rejected Gautama, reverencing only the three previous
Buddhas, and especially Kasyapa, whose body they
believed to be buried under one of the dagabas, at
which they, as well as the orthodox, worshipped,
while another was said to be built over the spot where
he had died. To them, at least, there was some
difference between the teachings of Gautama and
those of Kasyapa ; but Fa Hian, the Chinese pilgrim,
to whom they showed their dagabas, tells us nothing
of their creed except that they claimed to be followers
of Devadatta, that special object of the odium theolo-
1 Professor Fausbbll's 'Sutta Nipata,' p. 40. Compare
St. Matthew xv. 10-21, and St. Mark vii. 14-23. See above,
P- 131-
2 A few striking examples of this are given above in the note
to p. 149.
1 82 LEGEND OF THE BUDDHA.
gicum of orthodox Buddhist _ turn
from the discussion of such doctrines 'as th
those regarding Gautama himself, we stand at once
on firmer ground; for it is clear that many of the
most prevalent beliefs on this point can never have
formed part of the teaching of Gautama himself. A
few of these have been already noticed in the chapters
on the life of Gautama, but the subject is too inter-
esting not to deserve more special consideration.
Gautama himself was very early regarded as
omniscient, and absolutely sinless. His perfect
wisdom is declared by the ancient epithet of Sam-
md-sambuddha, 'the completely enlightened one,'
found at the commencement of every Pali text: and at
the present day in Ceylon, the usual way in which
Gautama is styled is Sanvajnan-waJianse, ' the venera-
ble omniscient one.' From his perfect wisdom, ac-
cording to Buddhist belief, his sinlessness would
follow as a matter of course. He was the first, and
the greatest of the Arahats. As a consequence of
this doctrine the belief soon sprang up that he could
not have been, that he was not, born as ordinary men
are ; that he had no earthly father : that he descended
of his own accord into his mothers womb from his
throne in heaven ; and that he gave unmistakable signs,
immediately after his birth, of his high character and of
1 ' Fa Hian' (Beal's translation), pp. 82, 83 ; ' Foe Koue Ki,'
p. 176; 'Hiouen Thsang,' p. 126. On Devadatta, see above,
p. 74 ; and compare ' Mah.,' pp. 90, 93, 96 ; 'As. Res,,' xvL 280.
On KIsyapa Buddha, Hardy's ' Manual,' pp. 87, 97. A da-
gaba is a solid dome, built over the relics of a saint, a develop-
ment of the earliest form of sepulchral monument.
MIRACULOUS BIRTH. 183
his future greatness. Earth and heaven at his birth
united to pay him homage : the very trees bent of their
own accord over his mother, and the angels and arch-
angels were present with their help. His mother was
the best and the purest of the daughters of men, and
his father was of royal lineage, and a prince of wealth
and power. It was a pious task to make his abnega-
tion and his condescension greater by the comparison
between the splendour of the position he was to
abandon, and the poverty in which he afterwards
lived ; and in countries distant from Kapilavastu the
inconsistencies between such glowing accounts, and
the very names they contain, passed unnoticed by
credulous hearers.
After seven days of fasting and seclusion the pure
and holy Maya 1 dreams that she is carried by arch-
angels to heaven, and that there the future Buddha
enters her right side in the form of a superb white
elephant. 2 On her relating her dream to her husband
lie calls together sixty-four chief Brahmans to inter-
pret it. Their reply is, that the child will be
a son who will be a Chakrawarti, a universal mon-
arch ; or, if he becomes a recluse, will be a Buddha,
' who will remove the veils of ignorance and sin ' from
1 Cooma Korosi refers in a distant way to a belief of the later
Mongol Buddhists that Maya was a virgin (As. Res. xx. 299) ;
but this has not been confirmed. St. Jerome says (contra
Jovian, bk. l) : 'It is handed down as a tradition among the
Gymnosophists of India, that Buddha, the founder of their
system, was brought forth by a virgin from her side.'
1 Fausboll's ' Jataka," p. 50. In the ' Lalita Vistara '
(Foucaux, 61) this dream so far becomes reality that the
Buddha actually descends from heaven in the form referred to.
184 LEGEND OF THE BUDDHA.
the world (or as the Lalita Vistara has it, ' who will
make all the worlds glad by the sweet taste of the
Ambrosia of Nirvana'). 1 In the alternative thus pro-
phesied we may find a key to much of the legend ;
which has simply transferred to the Buddha, some-
times in a spiritual sense, and sometimes without
change, many of the beliefs which had clustered round
the idea of a Chakrawartl. (See below, p. 220.)
Many of these beliefs again were borrowed from the
older sun-worship ; the white elephant, for instance,*
like the white horse, being an emblem of the sun,
the universal monarch of the sky. M. Senart, in his
learned work, 'La Legende du Buddha,' has attempted
to trace many of these coincidences, and has certainly
established enough to show that in this direction an
explanation may be found of much that appears at
first sight bizarre and unnecessary in our legend of
the Buddha. The idea that a man should enter his
mother's womb in the form of a white elephant seems
a most grotesque folly, until the origin of the poetical
figure has been thus ascertained. 2
At the conception of the Buddha, thirty-two signs
take place ; the 10,000 worlds are filled with light,
the blind receive their sight, the deaf hear, the dumb
speak, the crooked become straight, the lame walk,
the imprisoned are set free, and so on, all nature
blooming, and all beings in earth and heaven being
filled with joy ; while by a bold figure of speech even
1 'Jataka,' p. 51; Foucaux, p. 63.
* This form was deliberately chosen by the future Buddha
because it was the form indicated by a deva who had in a
previous birth been one of the Rishis, the mythical poets of the
Rig Veda ! (Foucaux, 52.)
THE WONDERFUL CHILD. 185
the fires of hell are extinguished, and the tortures of
the damned are mitigated. During the ten months
of his life in the womb the child is distinctly visible,
sitting cross-legged, unsoiled, and dignified ; and he
preaches to the angels who guard him, stretching out
his hand to do so without wounding his mother. 1
As a dagaba holding sacred relics cannot be used
to guard any less sacred object, so his mother can
bear no other child, and on the seventh day after his
birth she dies. When the child is born it takes seven
steps forward, and exclaims with lion's-voice ' I am
the chief of the world, this is my last birth,' 2 and
again the thirty-two signs of joy appear in the earth
and heaven.
An aged saint, who had retired for meditation to
the Himalaya mountains, seeing these signs is guided
to Kapilavastu, and the child is brought in to do him
reverence ; but instead of doing so its feet were
miraculously placed on the matted locks of the ascetic.
The sage then explains the wonder to the astonished
father, and (this time without any reference to uni-
versal monarchy) prophesies that the child will be-
come a Buddha, and weeps that he himself will not
live to see the day. 3
On the fifth day the ' name-choosing ' festival takes
place, when 108 Brahmans learned in the three Vedas,
' ' Jataka,' 51, 52 ; Foucaux's ' Lalita Vistara,' 73-75.
* Madhurattha Vilasim; Tumour, J.B.A.S. vii. 798. The
' Lalita Vistara ' makes him take seven steps in each of the six
directions, and makes a speech for each (Foucaux, 89) ; but at
p. 91 we have seven steps only.
3 'Jataka,' 54; 'Lalita Vistara' (Foucaux, 103-110). The
Pali name is Kala-devala j the Sanskrit Asita. Both Kala and
Asita mean 'black.'
1 86 LEGEND OF THE BUDDHA.
of whom eight were especially learned in divination,
are feasted at the ' palace.' Seven of the eight, after
examining the marks on the child's body, hold up two
fingers, and prophesy that he will become either a
ChakrawartI or a Buddha ; but one, Kondanya, after-
wards Gautama's first disciple, holds up one finger,
and prophesies that he will assuredly become a
Buddha, who will remove the veils of sin and igno-
rance from the world. The other four of the first
converts were sons of four of these prophets ; and the
whole story is in glorification rather of these five dis-
ciples than of the child. The Jataka commentator is
so engrossed with the prophets that he forgets to give
the child's name ! l
This episode is wanting in the ' Lalita Vistara/ but
in its place (chap, viii.) are stanzas describing how
the infant was presented at the temple, and how all
the gods of the then Hindoo Pantheon rose up and
did obeisance to him. The two following episodes in
the Sanskrit poem (the child's ornaments, and its
miraculous knowledge of sixty-four alphabets, chaps,
ix. and x.) are also wanting in the Pali books.
Then comes the curious story of the ploughing
festival, found both in the Nepalese and Ceylonese
accounts. The ' great king ' Suddhodana goes out
to celebrate the opening of the season, and the
' prince ' is taken with him. In the rejoicing, the
baby is neglected. It then seats itself cross-legged
on the couch, and falls into the mystic trance of
Dhyana. Though the shadows of all other trees had
1 'Jataka,' p. 56 ; ' Madhurattha Vilasini, 5 foe. cit.
SONG OF THE FIVE RISHIS. l8/
turned, the tree under which it sat still shaded the child.
The ' Lalita Vistara,' which differs in all the details,
adds that five rishis (p. 184, n. 2), flying through the air,
were miraculously stopped as they passed above him.
They sing stanzas in his praise, saying that by him, the
Water appearing in the midst of the Fires of sin de-
vouring the world, the Light appearing in the Dark-
ness of the world's ignorance, the Ship appearing
amidst the perils of the Ocean of human misery, the
Liberator of those enchained in the bonds of sin,
the Physician of those tormented by decay and dis-
ease by him would be obtained the truth which
would be the salvation of sentient beings. 1
To the same category as the legends of the infancy
of the Buddha belongs the story of his surpassing all
others in youthful prowess, and teaching even his
masters in the arts and sciences. 2 So the splendid
accounts of his equipages, and servants, and harems,
and palaces (one for each of the three seasons), are
all invented to harmonize with the notion that if he
had not become a Buddha, he would have become
a universal monarch ; and the horse Kanthaka, on
which he finally rides away from his father's house,
is the sun-horse of the ancient mythology. 3 It is
otherwise, I think, with the four visions, and the
temptation of Mara ; though many of the details of
the latter are doubtless derived from the ancient
myths arising from the victories of the sun over the
clouds of darkness. These episodes seem to me to
' 'LaL Vist,' chap. xi. ; ' Jataka,' 57, 58. See 'SutUNip.,'
p. 119. * See above, pp. 13, 29.
3 Compare Senart, 27-31, and 428.
1 83 LEGEND OF THE BUDDHA.
rest on a substratum of fact, and to relate, in the
language of the time, those mental struggles which I
have endeavoured to translate into the language of
the nineteenth century. 1
The title given to the first sermon, the rolling on-
ward of the royal chariot-wheel of righteousness, 2 may
be derived from, or it may be the origin of, the
Chakrawarti parallel, which has had so marked an
influence on the legend of the Buddha's early life.
Very few of the miraculous incidents during the
forty-five years' ministry seem to be explicable from
the same source. They have mostly the appearance
of being due entirely to the love of exaggeration and
of mystery universal among rude peoples. Gautama's
display of miraculous power, and his journey to heaven
to preach the law to his dead mother, related at the
end of the sixth year after his enlightenment, form
perhaps an exception ; but these episodes cannot be
discussed with profit till we have much more authentic
accounts of them than are at present accessible.
The ' Parinibbana Sutta,' the Pali account in the
Pitakas of the Buddha's death, contains much less
of the miraculous. The prophecy concerning the
future greatness of Pataliputra, the modern Patna, 3
shows that the book as we have it is later than
the time when the capital of Magadha was moved
from Rajagriha to the banks of the great river. The
temptations of Mara 4 are merely the form in which
1 Above, pp. 30, 36-38.
2 Above, p. 45. Compare Senart, 413-422.
3 Rh. D., ' Buddhist Suttas,' p. xv.-xvii.
4 Ib., loc. cit., p. 53.
WONDERS AT BUDDHA'S DEATH. 189
Gautama's thoughts of his approaching death are ex-
pressed. The timely purifying of the stream from
which he wished to drink, with the connected story, 1
is an ordinary exaggeration. The episode of the
transfiguration 2 would fit in very well with Senart's
idea of the last glow of the setting sun ; but I do not
think it at all necessary to call in the aid of sun myth
to explain the rise of so graceful and probable a tra-
dition. Sala-trees also assisted at his birth, and sala-
trees render him homage at his death, letting fall
upon him fragrant flowers out of season, and bending
lovingly over him their branches which gave him
shade ; and who can wonder that angels in the sky
drop heavenly flowers and sing heavenly songs to
strengthen him ? After his death the miracles and
exaggerations increase, and the former especially are
evidently influenced by the desire to make the Bud-
dha's funeral rites as splendid as those of a Chakra-
warti king. The body refuses to be moved until the
wish of the gods as to the direction in which it should
be carried is ascertained and followed ; and it refuses
to burn till the venerable Kasyapa, the old and faith-
ful head of the Order of mendicants, arrives. 3 Three
times with his monks he paces reverently round the
pile on which the dead body of his master lies, and
stands with bent head opposite the feet. Then the
pile takes fire of itself ; and when everything except
the bones has been consumed, showers from heaven
extinguish it. 4
The latter accounts relate that as Kasyapa stood
1 Rh. D., 'Buddhist Suttas,' p. 74. * Tb., p. Si.
1 Ib., pp. 128, 129. * Ib., p. 130.
1 90 LEGEND OF THE BUDDHA.
by the feet of the revered teacher, he fell into the
mystic trance of Dhyana ; and when he recovered
from the trance prayed to see once more the sacred
feet on which the thirty-two signs of a Chakrawarti
were visible. He had scarcely uttered his prayer,
when the coverings unrolled themselves, the coffin
opened, and the feet came out like the full moon
emerging from the bosom of a dark cloud. The whole
assembly burst into loud applause on seeing this
matchless prodigy. Kasyapa and his monks rever-
ently placed the feet on their heads, after which the
feet withdrew, the coverings replaced themselves, and
the coffin and the pile resumed their natural position. 1
This legend seems to M. Senart to have arisen from
the myth of the last glow of the dying sun ; and he
derives from the Krishna myth the statements that
the Buddha's death took place among the ' wrestlers '
of the town of Kusi, on the bank of a river, among
trees, and soon after the destruction of the Sakya clan. 2
As M. Senart's theory of the almost complete de-
pendence of the Buddhist legend on these myths is
most interesting and ingenious, I here add his sum-
mary, though it will be seen from what has been
written above that I can only accept it to a certain
modified extent. Dividing the legend, according to
old tradition, into twelve divisions, M. Senart thus
sums up the history of the Sun-Buddha : 3
' i. Resolution to quit Heaven. The Buddha, before
his birth, is a god, the chief of the gods ; to speak
1 Bigandet, 337; Hardy's 'Manual,' 348.
7 ' La Legende du Buddha,' p. 389.
Jb. pp. 504-507.
THE LEGEND AS SUN-MYTH. 19 1
correctly, he is not born, he incarnates himself among
men for their good and their salvation.
' 2. Conception. His conception is altogether mira-
culous. He has no mortal father ; his descent from
heaven takes place under the symbols of a god of
light, veiled in the cloud-womb of his mother; his
presence reveals itself there by his first rays, which
call all the gods to prayer and awaken them to life.
' 3. Birth. He is born, as hero of light and fire,
from the fire-producing tree, by the aid of Maya. That
virgin-mother, representative of the sovereign creative
power, and at the same time half-obscure goddess of
the vapours of the morning, dies away from the first
hour in the dazzling radiance of her son. In reality,
she survives under the name of the creatress, the
nurse of the universe and of its god. Her son, powerful,
irresistible from his birth, advances in space, illu-
minating the world, and proclaiming his supremacy,
to which all the gods form a retinue and render
homage.
' 4. Trials. Growing up amidst the ' young daugh-
ters ' of the air, among whom his power and his
splendour are hidden and unknown, or only reveal
themselves at rare intervals, the day comes when he
makes himself known, tries himself in his first battles
against his gloomy foes, and shines without a rival.
' 5. Marriage and pleasures of the harem. With
him the young nymphs have grown up; the com-
panions of his games become now his wives and
lovers ; the god delays and forgets himself in his
heavenly palaces, amidst the delights of his cloudy
harem.
192 LEGEND OF THE BUDDHA.
' 6. Departure from his father's house. But his hour
has come ; he tears himself violently, miraculously
away from his splendid prison ; the heavenly charger
leaps over the walls of the demon fortresses, and
traverses the river of the air.
' 7. Austerities. From that moment begins the
struggle. The hero first appears tried and enfeebled,
wandering as he is in the forests of space. Soon he
regains his might in the heavenly pastures, where he
drinks ambrosia, and bathes in the water of immor-
tality.
' 8. Defeat of the Demon. He is ripe for his destined
mission, the conquest of ambrosia and of the wheel,
fertilising rain and light. He takes possession of the
divine tree ; the demon of the storm runs to dispute
it with him in the duel of the storm ; in this struggle
against darkness the beneficent hero remains the con-
queror ; the gloomy army of Mara, broken and rent,
is scattered ; the Apsaras, daughters of the demon,
the last light vapours which float in heaven, try in vain
to clasp and retain the vanquisher ; he disengages
himself from their embrace, repulses them ; they
writhe, lose their form, and vanish.
' 9. Perfect Enlightenment. He appears then in all
his glory, and in his sovereign splendour ; the god
has attained the summit of his course : it is the mo-
ment of triumph.
' 10. Putting the Wheel in motion. Free from every
obstacle, and from every adversary, he sets in motion
across space his disk with a thousand rays, having
avenged the attempts of his eternal foe.
' TI. Nirvana. A little later, he reaches the end of
THE LEGEND AS SUN-MYTH. 193
his career ; he is on the point of extinction, victim in
his turn of the demon, the glowing wild boar ; but
first he sees all his race, his retinue of light, disappear
in the sanguinary mele'e of the clouds of evening.
' 12. Funeral rites. He himself disappears in the
west, glowing with his last rays, as on a huge pyre ;
and only the milk of the clouds is able to extin-
guish on the horizon the last flames of these divine
funereal rites.'
In M. Senart's hands, at least, the myth has mar-
vellous grace and beauty ; but the reader would do
wrong to conclude from the above poetical language
that M. Senart regards the whole story of Gautama's
life as a sun-myth debased into prose, or the whole of
Buddhism, though its adherents knew it not, as a
worship of the sun. He propounds no theory of the
rise of Buddhism, and only strives to show that much
of the old sun-myth has been incorporated into the
legend of the Buddha, and has almost driven out the
historical basis on which it rests. But that the
historical basis, is, or once was, there, he does not
doubt ; and he holds that Buddhism, like every other
system, must have had a human founder, and an
historical origin.
In this chapter only the earlier forms of the legend
have been considered. The principles which have
guided us in their interpretation are sufficient, if we
add the influence of local and sectarian jealousies, to
explain all the later developements ; and it would be
impossible in the space at our command to point out
in any detail the differences between the older and any
one of the later forms of the biography. The general
194 LEGEND OF THE BUDDHA.
relation of the various accounts to one another has
been already illustrated by the examples given above,
at pp. 13, 50 ; and it may be laid down as a general
rule that the later forms of each episode differ chiefly
from the former in the way in which they further
exaggerate the details of the stories so as to make
them more consistent either with the imperial wealth
and power ascribed to Gautama or his father by the
ChakrawartI parallel ; or with the belief in Gautama's
omniscience and omnipotence.
As an instance of the effect of local prejudice may
be cited the legend of the Buddha's three visits to
Ceylon, one of the few new episodes which have been
invented. The fullest account of this visit is given in
the Rev. Cornells Alwis's translations of the 24th
chapter of the Sarwagnya Gunalankara, 1 a Sinhalese
work classed by Mr. James Alwis among ' ancient
books.' l The tradition has not at present been traced
further back than the Dipavansa, a history of Ceylon,
written about the end of the fourth century A.D. ;
but the account given in the opening chapters of that
work shows that the tradition must have then been old.
The same conclusion is forced upon us by the short
reference made to the Buddha's visit by Fa Hian,
who was in Ceylon about 410 A.D. ; but he seems to
know only of two instead of three visits. 2 From the
nature of the legend it seems very probable that it has
merely been adapted to the Buddha from myths pre-
The translation is printed in Skeen's 'Adam's Peak,' pp.
301-325. Compare Jas. Alwis, in the ' Sidat Sangarawa,'
p. 191, note.
Seal's' Fa Hian,' p. 150.
LOCAL LEGENDS. 195
viously current of the sun-god Sumana, worshipped
both on Adam's Peak, and at the great cave of
Dambulla, whose ancient name was Sumana Lene. 1
The worship of local relics has also brought about
local additions to the legend. Thus the worshippers
of the supposed Buddha's tooth in Ceylon have added
to the account of Gautama's death the incident of the
Arahat Kshema having taken the tooth from the ashes
of the funeral pile. 2 So the Burmese have related
that the Brahman Drona, who divided the relics,
stole another tooth ; 3 and the Sinhalese who pre-
tend that the Buddha's neck relic is still preserved
under the Mahiyangana Dagaba, add that the elder
named Sarabhu abstracted that relic on the same
occasion. 4 None of these incidents are given in the
Parinibbana Sutta, though Drona's division of the
relics is described at length, and it is evident that
relic-worship was already in full favour when that
book assumed its present shape. 5
It is a curious part of the history of the Legend of
the Buddha, that it should have been adapted into a
Christian form by a father of the Christian Church,
and have been found so agreeable to the Catholic
lovers of saints, that the hero of it has been entered in
the Roman Calendar, and is ordered to be worshipped
as a saint on every ayth of November, under the title
1 See the inscription published by me in the ' Indian Anti-
quary' for May, 1872.
' Dathavansa,' ii. 5 2 -
3 Bigandet, p. 343 (second edition).
' 'Dathavansa,' ii. 51.
* Rh. D., 'Buddhist Suttas,' pp. 133-135.
196 LEGEND OF THE BUDDHA.
of St. Josaphat. 1 How this came about has been
told by the present writer in the introduction to
his 'Buddhist Birth Stories or Jataka Tales,' pp.
xxxvi.-xli. A certain St. John of Damascus, who
wrote in the eighth century, was the son of Sergius,
minister at the Court of Khalif Almansur. St. John
became a monk, and wrote many books. Among
other works ascribed to him is a religious romance
called the ' Life of Barlaam and Jdasaph,' which has
been distinctly proved - to be derived as to the narra-
tive part of it from the story of Buddha, as told in
the Jataka commentary, or the Lalita Vistara. The
Greek text of St. John's romance will be found in
Migne's Patrology, with a Latin translation. The
bulk of the work consists of long theological and
moral instructions to the Prince Joasaph byhis teacher,
Barlaam, in the course of which some Buddhist
Jataka stories are inserted. As the moral tone of
the book, which here and there seems to betray
Buddhist influence, was so popular in the Middle
Ages that the romance was translated into several
European languages, we need not wonder that the
hero was subsequently canonized.
To have been made a Christian saint is not the only
1 He is not mentioned by Butler in his standard work on the
saints (under St. Balaam of the iQth of November is given quite
another story) ; but see the ' Bibliotheque Sacree ' of Fathers
Richard et Giraud, Paris, 1822, s.v. Barlaam.
8 See especially Liebrecht 'Jahrbuch der Romanischen und
Englischen Literatur,' vol. ii. He compares the Catholic
romance with the 'Lalka Vistara,' and the likeness to the
1 Jataka' story is still closer.
THE BUDDHA AS MAN IN THE MOON. 1 97
curious fate which has befallen the great Teacher.
He takes his place also in the ' Dictionnaire
Infernel ' of M. Collin de Plancy, 1 a quaintly illus-
trated dictionary of all matters relating to devils,
fairies, mag/.c, astrology, and so on. There he ap-
pears in a curious woodcut as 'Sakimuni, ge'nie
ou dieu,' in the character of the Man in the Moon ;
or, rather of the Hare in the Moon. M. de Plancy
quotes as his authority a Kalmuk story given in the
'Travels' of Pallas, 2 that after the hare had given
himself to be eaten by a hungry man, ' the spirit of
the earth (!) pleased with the beautiful action, placed
the soul of that hare in the moon where he is still
to the Kalmucks plainly visible.'
I think I can trace the origin of this legend,
which is very old. In one of the Jataka stories
the future Buddha is a holy hare, who keeps the
Sabbath, and exhorts his friends, carnivorous
animals, to charity and piety. One Sabbath day
after exhorting them to give to any hungry person
part of their food, and recollecting that men cannot
eat his food, which is grass, he resolves, if the oppor-
tunity arises, to give away his own body. The god
Sakra becoming aware of this high resolve comes in
the form of a Brahman, and begs ; but when the hare
really offers himself, and jumps into the fire, the fire
does not burn him. Then Sakra saying, ' O wise hare,
let your virtue be known through all the Kalpa ' (the
period till the world will be next destroyed), splits
1 Paris, 1863 (sixth edition).
* ' Reisen durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russische
Reich's, 3 vols. 4to. St. Petersburg, 17711776.
198 LEGEND OF THE BUDDHA.
open a mountain, and taking the sap of the moun-
tain (!) draws a picture of the hare on the disk of the
moon. If Mr. Fausboll had not published the text
of this Jataka l we might have found it difficult to
discover the connection between our Gautama and
the Man in the Moon !
1 It is given both in Pali and Sanskrit in the ' Five Jatakas,'
pp. 51-68. On the subsequent history of this story, compare
Benfey, ' Paiica Tantra,' i. 349, and Tawney's English version of
the ' Katha Sarit Sagara,' vol. ii. p. 66.
DEVELOPMENTS IN DOCTRINE. 199
CHAPTER VIII.
DEVELOPMENTS IN DOCTRINE (continued}.
Tibetan Buddhism.
APART from the legend of the Buddha, there is
little evidence of any development from the doctrines
of the Pitakas in Burma, Siam, or Ceylon ; but the
case is very different with Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan,
and Mongolia.
The development of the Buddhist doctrine which
has taken place in the Panjab, Nepal, and Tibet is
exceedingly interesting, and very valuable from the
similarity it bears to the development which has taken
place in Christianity in Roman Catholic countries.
It has resulted at last in the complete establishment
of Lamaism, a religion not only in many points dif-
ferent from, but actually antagonistic to, the primitive
system of Buddhism ; and this not only in its doc-
trine, but also in its church organization. The hier-
archical system of Lamaism will be briefly considered
in the next chapter ; its doctrinal system, with which
we have now to deal, has been chiefly modified by
the gradual additions to its theory of the Buddhas,
in which the legends regarding Gautama play little or
no part.
200 TIBETAN BUDDHISM.
The development starts from the theory as given
at the beginning of the last chapter. According to
it, the spirit of kindness out of which all virtues rise,
and by the strength of which the Buddhist church will
once more triumph throughout the world and conquer
all sin and unbelief, 1 has been personified as Maitreya
Buddha, the future Buddha of kindness. This doc-
trine already forms part of the system of the Little
Vehicle (Hlnayand), the name by which the later
school, not without some contempt, calls the doctrine
of the Pitakas, as distinguished from the Great Ve-
hicle (JSfaMyana), the name it gives to itself. The
Little Vehicle already talks also of the Pacceka
Buddhas (Sanskrit Pratyeka), the Personal Buddhas ;
and of the Bodhisativas, the Buddhas Elect, or future
Buddhas. The first are those who have sufficient
wisdom and holiness not only to become Arahats and
attain Nirvana, but also to attain Buddhahood them-
selves ; while they are not able to explain the truth to
others. Bodhi-satwa, or Buddha Elect, is the title given
to each of the beings (man, angel, or animal) who, in
each of the 550 Jataka stories, is held to be the future
Buddha in one of his former births ; and generally
Bodhisatwa is the name given to a being whose Karma
will produce other beings in a continually-ascending
scale of goodness, until it becomes vested in a Buddha.
Now, as the Buddha himself has reached Parinir-
vana, has passed completely away, the pious Buddhist
1 Maitreya is therefore also called Ajita, the Unconquerable
One a name also given to the second of the twenty-four saints
or Tirthakara's of the 'Jainas.' Compare Koppen, ii. 17.
MANJUSRI, AVALOKITESVARA. 2OI
naturally turned with peculiar reverence and longing
to those Bodhisatwas supposed to be now living as
angels in heaven, who are the present result of the
Karma which will produce the Buddhas of the future.
Thus, in southern Buddhist temples the pure white
image of Maitreya is sometimes found by the side of
Gautama's idol ; and among the followers of the Great
Vehicle, at least as early as the time of Fa Hian,
400 A.D., the worship of two Bodhisatwas, named
Manjn-srl and Avalokitesvara, had already become
general.
It is difficult at present to explain the origin of the
belief in these hypothetical beings, who are not even
mentioned in the Pitakas, or in the ' Lalita Vistara,'
or in the older Nepalese and Tibetan books. They
will probably be found to be the invention of Bud-
dhists, whose minds were steeped in Brahman philo-
sophy and mythology ; and who were so imperfectly
converted to Gautama's system of salvation by self-
control and moral culture, that their hearts craved
after Buddhist gods to fill the place of the dead gods
of the Hindu Pantheon, or to make them live again
in their descendants.
Manju-s % rl is the personification oi Wisdom, 1 and
especially of the mystic religious insight which has
produced the Great Vehicle. Avalokitesvara is the
personification of Power, the merciful protector and
preserver of the world and of men. Both are fre-
quently mentioned in the ' Saddharma-pundarika,' ' the
Lotus of the good Law ' (which is a mystic name for
1 ' Csoma Korosi, 'Tibetan Grammar,' p. 193.
202 TIBETAN BUDDHISM.
this kosmos) translated by Burnouf, the only one
of the nine great books of the Great Vehicle as yet
accessible, except in MS. Manjusri is the mythical
author of the ' Saddharma-pundarika,' T and a whole
chapter of that work (the 24th) is devoted to a glori-
fication of the character, the power, and the advan-
tages to be derived from the worship of Avaloki-
tesvara. 2
It is not impossible that the name of the Bodhi-
satwa Manjusri may be derived from that of the Indian
mendicant, who, according to tradition, introduced
Buddhism, and with it civilisation, into Nepal. The
former part of the name, at least, sounds more human
than divine, manju meaning ' charming, lovely,' while
sn, ' good luck, prosperity, glory,' is a common part
of names of gods and men. Manjusri, the missionary,
seems to have lived about two hundred and fifty years
after the Buddha attained Parinirvana ; and as he is
looked upon as the founder of that school of thought
which ended in the Great Vehicle, it is quite likely
that his name may have been preserved as that of the
mystic wisdom by which the world was created and
organized. Burnouf has, at least, clearly shown that
in the books of all sects of Nepalese Buddhists there
rules the greatest confusion between the metaphysical
Being and the legendary civiliser and teacher of
Nepal.
The name Avalokitesvara, which means 'The
1 So says the work itself, p. 160 of Burnouf's translation.
* Ib., pp. 261-268 ; also translated by Beal through the Chi-
nese (' Catena,' pp. 389-396). For other details as to his power,
ee Burnouf's ' Introduction a 1'Histoire, ' &c. , pp. 220-224.
VAJRAPANT. 203
Lord who looks down from on high,' is a purely
metaphysical invention. 1 The curious use of the
past participle passive avalokita in an active sense is
clearly evident from the translations into Tibetan and
Chinese. 2
Somewhat later the power of Avalokitesvara was
separated from his protecting care and providence ;
and the former more specially personified as the
Bodhisatwa Vajradhara, ' the bearer of the thunder-
bolt,' or Vajrapani, ' the thunderbolt-handed,' both
formerly used as epithets of the god Indra ; and this
new being, together with the other two Bodhisatwas,
forms the earliest Trinity of northern Buddhism. 8 In
this Trinity Vajrapani is the Jupiter Tonans, Manjusri
is the deified teacher, and Avalokitesvara, as we shall
presently see, is the Spirit of the Buddhas present in
the church. These beings, and one or two other less
conspicuous Bodhisatwas, had become practically
gods ; and it need not be pointed out how utterly con-
trary their worship was to the original teaching of
Gautama, which knew nothing of God, taught that
Arahats, holy men, were better than gods, and
acknowledged no form of prayer. But Fa Hian
prays to Avalokitesvara just as a Hindu might to
Indra or to Siva. 4
And Northern Buddhism did not stop here. There
1 Beal's 'Fa Hian,' p. 167. ' Catena,' p. 374.
1 See BurnouPs learned note, ' Lotus de la bonne Loi,' pp.
493-5"-
* Bumouf, ' Introduction,' p. 226.
4 Compare ' Foe Koue Ki,' p. 21, on the Trinity ; w<\ pp.
56, 121, on the images of these gods.
204 TIBETAN BUDDHISM.
is one step still further removed from Gautama's doc-
trines the step from polytheism to monotheism, and
this step it also afterwards took. I have spoken above
(pp. 174-177) of the four stages of Dhyana, or mystic
meditation. The Great Vehicle teaches five instead
of the four stages found in the Pitakas and the Lalita
Vistara. The earlier Buddhism teaches that above
the worlds of the gods are 'sixteen worlds of Brahma '
(Brahma-loka's), one above another; those who attain
on earth to the first, second, or third Dhyana, are
reborn in the lower of these worlds, three worlds being
assigned to each Dhyana. Those who attain the fourth
Dhyana enter the tenth or eleventh Brahma-lokas ; the
remaining five being occupied by those who attain to the
third path here on earth, and who will reach Nirvana
in this new existence. To each of these five groups
of worlds the Great Vehicle assigns a special Buddha,
called Dhyani Buddha : these five Buddhas corre-
sponding to the last four Buddhas, including Gautama,
and the future Buddha Maitreya the five Buddhas,
that is, who belong to the present Kalpa, the age
since the Kosmos was last destroyed.
The idea seems to be that every earthly mortal
Buddha has his pure and glorious counterpart in the
mystic world, free from the debasing conditions of
this material life ; or rather that the Buddha under
material conditions is only an appearance, the reflec-
tion, or emanation, or type of a Dhyani Buddha
living in the ethereal mansions of those worlds of idea
and mystic trance. 1 The number of Dhyani Buddhas
is accordingly, in theory, infinite, like the number of
1 Compare Koppen, il 26.
THE FIVE TRINITIES. 205
the Buddhas, but only the five are practically acknow-
ledged. These Dhyani Buddhas, like their types or
antitypes the Buddhas, must have their Bodhisat
was also, and the following three sets of five are thus
co-ordinated. 1
The Dhyani Buddhas :
1. Vairochana.
2. Akshobya.
3. Ratna-sambhava.
4. AMITABHA.
5. Amogasiddha.
Their Bodhisatwas :
1. Samanta-bhadra.
2. Vajrapani.
2. Ratnapani.
4. PADMAPANI AVALOKITESVARA.
5. Visvapani.
The Manushi (human) Buddhas :
1. Kraku-chanda.
2. Kanaka-muni.
3. Kasyapa.
4. GAUTAMA.
5. Maitreya.
This theory of the Dhyani Buddhas is unknown,
not only to the Pitakas and the Lalita Vistara, and
even to the Saddharma Pundarika, 2 but also, if we may
judge from negative evidence, to the Chinese Buddhist
1 Burnouf, ' Introduction,' p. 117.
1 Two of them, however, the first and fourth, are mentioned
in that work. Burnouf, p. 113.
206 TIBETAN BUDDHISM.
pilgrims, Fa Hian and Hiouen Thsang, who visited
India in the beginning of the fifth and in the seventh
century respectively. Among these hypothetical
beings, the creations of a sickly scholasticism, hollow
abstractions without life or reality, the fourth,
Amitdbha, ' Immeasurable Light,' whose Bodhisatwa
is Avalokitesvara, and whose emanation is Gautama,
occupies, of course, the highest and most important
rank. Surrounded by innumerable Bodhisatwas, he
sits enthroned under a Bo Tree in SukhavatI, i.e.,
the Blissful, 1 a paradise of heavenly joys, whose
description occupies whole tedious books of the so-
called Great Vehicle. 2 By this theory, each of the
five Buddhas has become three, and the fourth of
these five sets of three is the second Buddhist Trinity,
the belief in which must have arisen after the seventh
century of our era.
But all this was not enough to satisfy the Tibetan
and Nepalese hankering after gods many, and lords
many. In the tenth century A.D., 3 a new being
this time infinite, self-existent, and omniscient was
invented, and called Adi-Buddha, the Primordial
Buddha. He was held to have evolved out of him-
self the five Dhyani Buddhas by the exercise of the
five meditations ; while each of these evolved out of
himself by wisdom and contemplation the corre-
1 Guna Karanda Vyuha, in Burnouf, ' Introduction,' p. 222.
* e.g. 'SukhavatI Vyuha,' analysed by Burnouf, ib., pp. 99-
101 ; and ' Kumarajlva,' translated by Beal through the Chinese
' Catena,' pp. 378 et seq.
1 For this date, see Csoma Korbsi, 'Tibetan Grammar,' p.
192; 'Asiatic Researches,' vol. xx. p. 488.
THE EMANATIONS. 2OJ
spending Bodhisatwas, and each of them again evolved
out of his immaterial essence a kosmos, a material
world. Our present world is supposed to be the
creation of the fourth of these, that is of Avaloki-
tesvara.
It will be noticed that these emanations bear a dis-
tant resemblance to the Eons or Emanations of the
Gnostic Schools ; and it is not impossible that these
gods owe their existence to the influence of Persian
Christianity. In any case the whole theory, though
in some sense based upon the teachings of Gautama,
is the greatest possible contradiction to the ethical
culture, which is the characteristic of his system of
philosophy; and, indeed, the Adi Buddha Theism
has never been considered orthodox even in Tibet.
It is needless to add, that under the overpowering
influence of these sickly imaginations the moral teach-
ings of Gautama have been almost hid from view.
The theories grew and flourished; each new step,
each new hypothesis demanded another; until the
whole sky was 'filled with forgeries of the brain, and
the nobler and simpler lessons of the founder of the
religion were smothered beneath the glittering mass
of metaphysical subtleties.
As the stronger side of Gautama's teaching was
neglected, the debasing belief in rites and ceremonies,
and charms, and incantations, which had been the
especial object of his scorn, began to live again, and
to grow vigorously, and spread like the Birana weed
'.vanned by a tropical sun in marsh and muddy
soil. As in India after the expulsion of Buddhism
the degrading worship of Siva and his dusky bride
208 TIBETAN BUDDHISM.
had been incorporated into Brahmanism from the
wild and savage devil-worship of the dark non-Aryan
tribes ; so as pure Buddhism died away in the
north, the Tantra system, a mixture of magic and
witchcraft and Siva-worship, was incorporated into
the corrupted Buddhism.
The founder of this system seems to have been
Asanga, an influential monk of Peshawar, in the
Panjab ; who lived, and wrote the first text book of
the creed, the Yogdchara Bhumi Sdstra, about the
sixth century of our era. Hiouen Thsang, who
travelled in the first half of the seventh, found the
monastery where Asanga had lived in ruins, and says
that he had lived 1,000 years after the Buddha. 1 He
managed with great dexterity to reconcile the two
opposing systems by placing a number of Salvite
gods or devils, both male and female, in the inferior
heavens of the then prevalent Buddhism ; and by re-
presenting them as worshippers and supporters of the
Buddha, and of Avalokitesvara. He thus made it
possible for the half-converted and" rude tribes to
remain Buddhists while they brought offerings, and even
bloody offerings, to these more congenial shrines ; and
while their practical belief had no relation at all to the
Truths or the Noble Eightfold Path, but busied itself
almost wholly with obtaining magic powers (Siddki),
by means of magic phrases (Dharai}i), and magic
circles (Maydala).
Asanga's happy idea bore but too ample fruit. In his
1 R^musat's translation, ' M&noires sur les Contrees Occi-
dentales,' i. 270; and ' La Vie de Hiouen Thsang,' p. 94.
THE TANTRA SYSTEM. 2 09
own country and Nepal the new wine, sweet and
luscious to the taste of savages, completely disquali-
fied them from enjoying any purer drink ; and now in
both countries Saivism is supreme, and Buddhism is
even nominally extinct, except in some outlying dis-
tricts of Nepal. But this full effect has only been
worked out in the lapse of ages ; the Tantra literature
has also had its growth and its development, and some
unhappy scholar of a future age may have to trace its
loathsome history. The nauseous taste repelled even
the self-sacrificing industry of Burnouf, when he found
the later Tantra books to be as immoral as they are
absurd. ' The pen,' he says, ' refuses to transcribe
doctrines as miserable in respect of form, as they are
odious and degrading in respect of meaning.' l
I have only to add, that as the Dhyani and Tantra
systems grew, the idols of the Dhyani Trinities and
the Tantra gods and goddesses took their place in the
monasteries and the temples, and their hideous figures
with many eyes, and heads, and hands are painted
in the books and on the walls, and put up on the
sides of roads. The belief in mystic charms and phrases
also re-acted even on the purer Buddhism ; for the
supposed efficacy of endless repetitions is one of the
most striking features of the modern religion of Tibet.
Every Tibetan has a rosary of 108 beads, that he may
keep a reckoning of his good words, which supply to
him the place of good deeds ; and in both public and
private worship the greatest importance is attached to
'Introduction, &c.,' g. 558, speaking of Panca-krama.
Comp. pp. 553, 554 ; and Csoma, As. Res. xx. 488.
210 TIBETAN BUDDHISM.
the multitude of words. Though we know something
of such doctrines nearer home, the Tibetan carries
them out with a fearless logic which may gain our
wonder, if not our admiration. Perhaps the most
marvellous invention which he has devised for draw-
ing down blessings from the hypothetical beings with
which his childish fancy has filled the heavens, are
".he well-known praying wheels, those curious ma-
chines which, filled with prayers, or charms, or pas-
sages from holy books, stand in the towns in every
open place, are placed beside the footpaths and the
roads, revolve in every stream, and even (by the help
of sails like those of windmills) are turned by every
breeze which blows o'er the thrice-sacred valleys of
Tibet. 1 So in the public divine services the hymns
and anthems are sometimes chanted in unison, some-
times antiphonally one verse by one choir, one by
the other. But this takes time ; and occasionally the
hymns are actually chanted in a quite original manner,
each monk intoning a different line ; so that the whole
body can chant an entire chapter in the time it takes
to chant a single verse, a plan which has its manifest
advantages when the object is to get through as many
holy words as possible.
So, also, these simple folk are fond of putting up
what they call ' Trees of the Law,' that is, lofty flag-
staffs with silk flags upon them emblazoned with that
mystic charm of wonder-working power, the sacred
words, ' Otn Mani padme hum] 'Ah, the jewel is in
1 Hue et Gabet, 'Voyages,' i. 324; General Cunningham's
Ladak,' p. 374; Davis, 'Transactions of the Royal Asiatic
Society,' ii. 494; Klaproth, ' Reise in den Kaukasus,' i. 181 ;
Ferguson, 'Tree and Serpent Worship,' pi. xhi.
PRAYING FLAGS. 211
the lotus' (i.e. the Self-creative force is in the Kosmos).
Whenever the flags are blown open by the wind, and
' the holy six syllables ' are turned towards heaven, it
counts as if a prayer were uttered; a prayer which brings
down blessings not only upon the pious devotee at
whose expense it was put up, but also upon the whole
country-side. Everywhere in Tibet these praying flag-
staffs meet the eye ; and one may be glad in closing
this outline of the theological doctrines which have
smothered Buddhism, to have met with a custom which,
however foolish, is not without its graceful side. 1
1 On Lamaism may be compared also the few remarks below,
pp. 248-250.
312 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
CHAPTER IX.
ON THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
THE first question that arises in giving a sketch of the
history of Buddhism is that of the date of Gautama's
death a question so intricate and uncertain that I
have decided not to enter upon it at any length in
this little work; partly, because it would be impos-
sible to discuss it with that fulness which is necessary
to make a chronological discussion of much value ;
partly, because it would be difficult in any case to
make the subject clear. * Similar objections apply,
perhaps, with almost equal force to the sketch of
Gautama's life, and to the sketch of Buddhist meta-
physics, which I have above attempted to give. In
both cases I have been compelled to state the results
to which I have been led, without combating the
possible objections to them, and without giving at
sufficient length the processes by which they have
been reached : and in the constant endeavour to
make the discussion of these abstruse matters as
clear and simple as I possibly could, I must have
omitted to touch upon points which ought to have
been noticed. But there is not sufficient space at
our disposal to make the question of the Buddhist
era even clear. I can only refer, therefore, to the
FIRST COUNCIL. 213
full statement of the argument which will be found in
my 'Ancient Coins and Measures of Ceylon,' and
merely state here the final conclusion that the
Buddha died in the fifth century u.c.
After Gautama's death, the Buddhist society, that
is, the members of the Order, did not at once
fall asunder into numerous sects ; though doubtless
from the very first there must have been some among
them who retained more than the rest the influence
of the Brahmanism in which they were brought up.
This was owing to the wisdom of the older members,
who, as both Pali and Sanskrit texts agree, deter-
mined immediately after the death of the Teacher to
hold a council in order to settle the rules and doc-
trines of their Order the first, as it has been the most
abiding and influential, and by far the largest in numbers
of all the religious orders which the world has seen.
The first council was accordingly held near Raja-
griha in the season of was following the death of the
Buddha, and under the presidency of the aged
Maha Kasyapa, one of the first members of the
Order, with whom the Buddha had once exchanged
robes as a symbol of the unity of feeling between
them. 1 The council consisted of 500 members of
the Order, and was held in the Sattapanni cave,
which still exists in the Vaihara hill, near Rajagriha,
and which was prepared for the occasion by King
1 On Kasyapa, see above, pp. 89, 189, and ' Mahavansa,' p. II
On the first council, see the ' Vinaya Texts,' vol. iii. book xi.,
and the authorities there quoted. It is possible that further
knowledge may throw doubt on the fact of its having been really
held.
214 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
Ajatasatru of Magadha. There the whole council is
said to have chanted together l the words of their
revered Teacher, preserved in the Theravada or
doctrines of the Elders ; following Upali when the
subject was the rules of the Order (Vinaya), and
Ananda when the subject was those more general
precepts applicable to the Order and the laity alike
(Dharma).
The orthodox Buddhists believe that the Thera
Vada is identical with the Three Pitakas as now
existing in Ceylon. This cannot, however, be the
case. Some parts of the Pitakas, however much of
the Thera Vada other parts may contain and this
question cannot even be discussed until the Pitakas
are published bear evident marks of later composi-
tion. But that at the time of the Council of Raja-
griha the doctrines of Buddhism had already been
formulated into treatises which could be, and which
had been, learnt by heart, is not only not impossible
but highly probable. 2 There is a very ancient division
of the Scriptures found in some of the oldest books, 3
which shows that though the division into Pitakas
is of later date, yet that from the earliest times the
contents of the first two of our three Pitakas was well
known. 4 It is as follows :
1 Hence the Pali word for council is Sangtti, 'the chanting
together. '
2 Compare the remarks above, p. 36, and below, p. 235.
3 Parajika, Majjhima, and Anguttara.
4 See Childers, Diet. s. v. ; Burnouf, Introd., pp. 51-63;
' Lotus,' pp. 355, 356 ; Alwis, Pali Grammar, pp. 60, 61 ; Hardy,
'Manual,' p. 175; Hodgson, 'Essays' (1874), p. 15; ' Dlpa-
vansa,' canto iv. sloka 17 ; Sadd. Pund. 29.
SECOND COUNCIL. 21 S
1. Sutta; Discourses.
2 . Geyya ; Mixed prose and verse.
3. Veyyakarana ; Exposition.
4. Gatha ; Verse.
5. Udana ; (see above p. 20).
6. Itivuttaka ; (see above p. 20).
7. Jataka ; (see above p. 21).
8. Abbhuta; Mysteries.
9. Vedalla ; l Long treatises.
The Nepal pandits attempt to bring all the later
works of Sanskrit Buddhism under the above and
three other 2 heads, and Buddhaghosha attempts to
bring all the Pitakas within these divisions ; but both,
as it seems to me, with very little success. Both the
Ceylon chronicles say that the first council lasted
seven months, and the Dlpavansa (iv. 4, 5) gives the
names of eight of its principal members.
After this we have no details of the history of the
Order till the time of the second council of Vaisali,
about 100 years after the first. 3 Some of the monks
1 Means the same as Vaipulya in Sanskrit. Burnouf, 'Lotus,'
PP- 754-757- Comp. Par. S., p. 238.
* The three others are Nidana, Avadana, and Upadesa
(Hodgson, loc. '/.). Apadana is one of the divisions of the
second Pitaka. See above, p. 19.
3 On the second Council, see ' Dlpavansa,' canto iv. end, and
v. ; Mahav., ch. iv. ; and Rh. D. in the ' Vinaya Texts,' voL
iii., Book XII. Short notices of it are given by the Chinese
Buddhists, ' Fa Hian,' chap. xxv. (Beal, p. 99); Julien's 'Vie
de Hiouen Thsang,' p. 158; 'Voyages,' i. 397-399; Sanang
Setsen, in Remusat's 'Foe Koue Ki,' p. 248; by the Mon-
golians (ibid., p. 248) ; and by the Tibetans, Schiefner, p. 310;
Taranatha's ' History of Buddhism,' p. 41.
.21 6 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
at Vaisali maintained what are called the Ten indul-
gences, which were opposed by others. They were :
1. That salt might be preserved in horn, whereas
salt like other edibles might not according to the
Winaya be laid aside for use.
2. That solid food might be taken, not only up till
noon, but till the sun threw shadows two inches long.
3. That the rules of the Winaya might be relaxed
in the country, away from the conveniences of the
monasteries.
4. That ordination, confession, &c., might be
performed in private houses, and not only in the
uposatha halls attached to the monasteries.
5. That where the consent of the Order was
necessary to any act, that consent might be obtained
after, and not only before the act.
6. That conformity to the example of others was a
good excuse for relaxing rules.
7. That whey might be taken after noon, and not
only liquids such as water or milk.
8. That fermented drinks, if they looked like
water, were allowed to be drunk.
9. That seats covered with cloths were allowed, so
long as the cloths had no fringes.
10. That gold and silver might be received by
members of the Order. 1
After a severe struggle, the more orthodox party
succeeded in getting these indulgences condemned ;
and forthwith under the leadership of Yasa, son of
Kakandaka, and of Revata, a second council, this
1 Taranatha's list differs, especially as to Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
THE 'GREAT COUNCIL.' 217
time of 700, was held during eight months at Vaisali,
and the rules of the Order and the doctrines of the
Faith 1 again settled and vindicated. But the decisions
of the council were not universally acknowledged.
The other party also held a council, much more
numerous than that of their stricter opponents, and
hence called the Maha Sangiti, the Great Council.
It is to be regretted that we have not as yet any
detailed account of this struggle from the side of the
seceders ; for it is difficult without such assistance to
decide how much truth there may be in the partial
descriptions before us. The Dipavansa 2 says of the
'heretics,' as the Southern Church calls them :
The monks of the Great Council overturned religion,
They broke up the old Scriptures and made a new recension,
A discourse put in one place they put in another,
And distorted the sense and the doctrine of the five Nikayas
These monks who knew not what had been spoken at length,
And what had been spoken concisely,
What was the obvious and what the higher meaning.
Attached new meaning to new words, as if spoken by the Buddha,
And destroyed much of the spirit by holding to the shadow of
the letter.
They partly rejected the Sutta and Vinaya so deep,
And made a different Sutta and Vinaya and text,
The Parivara 3 commentary, and the six books of the Abhid-
hamma,
The Patisambhida, 4 the Nidesa, 4 and a portion of the Jataka 4
So much they put aside, and made othe rs in their place !
1 The whole of the ' Sasana,' the '.Dharma' and 'Vinaya'
(Bhuddhaghosha, loc. at.). ' Bhanavara V.
3 The last book in the ' Vinaya Pitaka.' See p. 20.
4 These are Xos. 10-12 in the ' Khuddaka Nikaya.' See
p. 21.
' r>
2l8 HISTORY OK THE ORDER.
This was the first open and declared schism.
Both the Ceylon chronicles go on to give the
names of 18 sects (or rather of 17 besides the ortho-
dox) into which these two afterwards divided ; but the
lists differ as to five or six names from one another,
and from the list of eighteen sects given by the
Tibetans. 1 We know almost nothing at present of
the differences which divided these sects from one
another ; but they all belonged to the Little Vehicle
in contradistinction to the Great Vehicle of the
later debased Buddhism. 2 It is doubtful whether
the eighteen sects were sects in the modern sense,
whether, that is, they formed different church
governments, and their adherents lived apart from
one another in different monasteries. Some of
them at least, must have differed only slightly from
the rest; and though the dispute between the two
great divisions of the laxer and the stricter bodies
may have been bitter, they each and all acknowledged
that the others could attain the same salvation as
themselves. In the words of the learned Chinese
Buddhist Hiouen Thsang 3
"The schools of philosophy are always in conflict, and the
noise of their passionate discussions rises like the waves of the
sea. Heretics of the different sects attach themselves to par-
ticular teachers, and by different routes walk to the sarru goal."
1 Csoma in As. Res., xx. 298.
2 On the 18 sects, see my articles in the Journal of the Royal
Asiatic Society, 1892-93. Fa Hian (Heal, p. 96) mentions 96
sects. Conip. the 32 heresies above, p. 98.
8 Julien, ' Memoires,' &c., i. 77. Thsang, himself an ad-
herent of the Great Vehicle, calls all the others heretics. In
the next paragraph he gives the number of the sects as eighteen.
POLITICAL CHANGES. 2 I )
It is instructive to notice that this rapid growtn of
the Buddhist sects is placed just at the time when me
political history of the Eastern valley of the Ganges
would have been most likely to favour and strengthen
it. The old Aryan civilisation had begun even at
the time of Gautama to yield to changing circum-
stances. The influence of the priesthood was
becoming more exclusively spiritual, while the tem-
poral power of the chiefs was growing. Some of the
latter had even then become kings, and the oligarchies
of the clans were more and more merging into
despotisms. Shortly after Gautama's death Ajata-
satru, king of Magadha, destroyed the Confederation
of the Wajjian clans on the opposite side of the
Ganges ; and then ensued a series of struggles
between Magadha and the neighbouring kingdoms of
Kosambi and Sravasti. The lesser chiefs had to
take sides with one or other of the powerful com-
batants, while each country became the scene of
intrigues for the coveted possession of the throne.
These struggles gave a chance to men of the lower
castes which they could never have in the old system
of the clans a system which, at the time of the
Councils of Vaisali, must almost have ceased to exist.
The kingdom of Magadha had by that time
become supreme, and either just before or just after
the councils had assembled in the old capital of the
Wajjians, that important revolution took place, which
raised a low-caste adventurer to be the first king of
all India or as both Buddhists and Brahmans would
call it, to be the first Chakravarti, the first Universal
Monarch. To them India was ' the world,' just as
220 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
European writers till quite recently talked com-
placently of ' the world,' while they were ignoring
more than three-fourths of the human race. Is it
surprising that this unity of power in one man made
a deep impression upon them ? Is it surprising that
like Romans worshipping Augustus, or Greeks adding
the glow of the sun-myth to the glory of Alexander,
the Indians should have formed an ideal of their
Chakravarti, and transferred to this new ideal many
of the dimly sacred and half-understood traits of the
Vedic heroes ? Is it surprising that the Buddhists
should have found it edifying to recognise in their
hero the Chakravarti of Righteousness, and that the
story of the Buddha should be tinged with the
coloring of these Chakravarti myths ?
It was in 325 B.C. that Alexander stopt his vic-
torious career on the banks of the Hyphasis, and
there a defeated rebel escaping from the hands of the
king of Magadha visited his camp. When Alexander
had turned away, that despised and rude adventurer,
whom he had almost determined to kill, gathered
round him the tribes of the Panjab, and gradual!)
extended his power till, about 315 B.C., 1 when
Nanda, the Raja of Magadha, was murdered in his
palace, the low-born robber chief stept into the
vacant throne ; and shortly afterwards, under the
title or name of Chandragupta, drove the Greeks
out of India, defeating Seleukos, the Greek ruler
of the Indus provinces. Is it possible that he was
1 He began to count his reign seven or eight years before,
when he became king of the western provinces.
CHANDRAGUPTA. 221
the Asoka in whose reign both our Pali and San-
skrit books place the Vaisali Councils ? It is
certain that the Ceylonese are wrong in identify-
ing this Asoka with Kakavarna ; Chandragupta, the
moon-protected like Piyadasi, the name by which
his grandson the great Asoka, invariably styles
himself is not a name at all, properly speaking, but
an epithet, adopted probably after the rise of his
power ; and probability is also in favour of the name
Asoka being twice found rather in one family than in
two. This would seem to be confirmed by Taranatha,
who, while placing the Vaisali Council in the time of
Asoka, adds that its members were supported by
King Nanda. However this may be, it is clear
that it was just when Chandragupta and his low caste
followers from the Panjab came into power, just when
the old order of things had given place to new, that
the Buddhists, the party of reform, the party who
made light of caste distinctions, began to rise rapidly
in numbers and in influence.
Neither Chandragupta nor his son Bindusara 1 were
Buddhists ; but the third of the race, Piyadasi, best
known under the name of Asoka (in Pali Asoka),
openly adopted the now popular creed. His name
is honoured wherever the teachings of the Buddha
have spread, and is reverenced from the Volga
1 If any proof were wanted that Indian, like other Oriental,
kings had an official epithet which often took the place of their
more proper name, it would be found in the fact that the Greeks
only know Bindusara as Amitrochates a difference unexplained
till Lassen pointed out that Amitrochates is the Sanskrit Amitra-
ghata, ' Foe-slayer,' doubtless the official epithet of Bindusara.
22 2 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
to Japan, from Ceylon and Siam to the borders
of Mongolia and Siberia. ' If a man's fame/ says
Koppen, ' can be measured by the number of hearts
who revere his memory, by the number of lips who
have mentioned and still mention him with honour,
Asoka is more famous than Charlemagne or Csesar.'
Like his Christian parallel Constantine, he was
converted by a miracle, so highly do the Buddhist
scribes estimate his adhesion to their cause. And yet
it cannot be doubted that it was the first great step
on the downward path of Buddhism, the first step to
its expulsion from India; not, of course, that the
conversion itself injured the church, but Buddhist
writers have cause to use, without much change, the
words of Dante : 1
Ah ! Constantine, of how much ill was cause,
Not thy conversion, but those rich domains
That the first wealthy Pope received of thee.
After his conversion, which took place in the loth
year of his reign, he became a very zealous supporter
of the new religion. He himself built many monas-
teries and dagabas, and provided many monks with
the necessaries of life; and he encouraged those
about his court to do the same. He also established
gardens and hospitals for man and beast, and pub-
lished edicts throughout his empire, enjoining on all
his subjects morality and justice.
Within the last 50 years a most important and
interesting discovery has been made of several of
' Inferno,' canto xix. ; 'Paradise,' canto xx. The transla-
tion is Milton's.
ASOKA'S EDICTS. 223
these edicts, engraven in different Prakrit dialects on
pillars or rocks, whose wide distance from one another
is sufficient to show the great extent of Asoka's
empire. The pillars are at Delhi and Allahabad ; the
rooks at Kapur da Gin near Peshaur, at Girnar in
Guzerat, at Dhauli in Orissa, and at Babra, on the
road running S.W. from Delhi to Jayapura. 1 They
were first published and translated by James Prinsep,
then republished by Wilson, and have been since
then further explained by Burnouf and Biihler and
by Emile Senart. Their general sense is not at
all doubtful, but the facsimiles which have hitherto
reached Europe have been imperfect, and the text is
by no means settled. It were much to be wished
that the Indian Government would have a correct
edition published of these noble memorials of a
byegone time, records unique of their kind in the
history of the world.
It is clear from these most valuable inscriptions
that Buddhism in the time of Asoka was still com-
paratively pure. We hear nothing of metaphysical
beings or hypothetical deities, nothing of ritual, or
ceremonies, or charms ; the edicts are full of a lofty
spirit of tolerance and righteousness, reminding us
often of the wise and simple teachings of the Siga-
lovada Sutta. 2 Obedience to parents ; kindness to
children and friends ; mercy towards the brute
creation ; indulgence to inferiors ; reverence towards
Brahmins and members of the Order ; suppression
1 In the edicts themselves he claims to rule also over South
India and Ceylon.
See above, pp. 143-148.
224 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
of anger, passion, cruelty, or extravagance; generosity,
and tolerance, and charity such are the lessons
which ' the kindly king, the delight of the gods,'
inculcates on all his subjects.
One of these edicts is addressed to the Buddhist
Order in Magadha, just before the council held at
Patna in the i8th year of Asoka's reign. The
increased respect paid to the Order had attracted to
its ranks many unworthy members ; and ' heretics,'
says the Mahavansa, ' assumed the yellow robe in
order to share in its advantages ; whenever they had
opinions of their own they gave them forth as doc-
trines of the Buddha, they acted according to their
own will, and not according to what was right.' 1
Accordingly, a formal council of 1,000 elders, lasting
nine months, was held under the presidency of
Tissa, son of Moggali ; and once more the rules of
the Order and the doctrines of the Faith were
solemnly rehearsed and settled. The edict referred
to, that of Babra, says as follows : a
King Piyadasi (the kind-hearted), of Magadha, greeting
the Order, wishes it health and happiness. You know, reve-
rend sirs, how great is my respect and reverence for the Buddha,
the Law, and the Order. All those things, reverend sirs, which
were spoken by the Blessed Buddha, were well spoken ; by
looking upon them, reverend sirs, as authority, the true Law
will long endure. I honour, reverend sirs, as such, the follow-
1 Pp. 38, 39-
- Captains Burt and Kittoe, J. of the Bengal As. Soc., ix.
616. Burnouf, 'Lotus,' pp. 718-730. Kern, Jahrtelling, pp.
32-43-
COUNCIL OF PATNA. 225
ing Scriptures of the Law : The substance of the Vinaya, 1 the
State of the Just,* the Fears of the Future,* the Poems on (or
of) the Wise, 4 the Discourse on Conduct Befitting the Wise,*
the Questions of Upatissa, 8 the Exhortations to Rahula regard-
ing Falsehood 7 spoken by the Blessed Buddha. These scrip-
tures of the Law, reverend sirs, I hope that the honourable
monks and nuns may constantly learn and reflect upon ; and so
also the laity of either sex. To that end, reverend sirs, I cause
this to be written, and have uttered my desire.
I think it would be evident from this inscription
alone, that the belief of the Ceylonese Buddhists, that
the whole of the Three Pitakas was spoken by
Buddha, is quite unfounded ; for a comparison of it
with the list given above pp. 18-21, will show the
reader that the list is far shorter than that of the
Pitakas. Asoka's list, moreover, shows us that books
agreeing to these descriptions were then extant, and
if we do not find them somewhere in the present
Pitakas, the conclusion is inevitable that these cannot
have preserved to us the recension made by the
Council of Patna. The pious editors may have
described them by other titles, or may have inserted
them in other later books which they regarded as
sacred, but they never could have omitted them from
their canon.
1 Vinaya-Samukase=V.-samutkarsha, the excellency, sum-
mary of the Vinaya. See ' Vinaya Texts,' vol. i. p. xxvi.
* Aliya (=ariya) vasani. There is much doubt about the real
meaning of vasani.
3 Anagata-bhayani.
4 Muni-gatha. Comp. Thera- and Therl-gatha above, p. 21.
* Moneya-suta=moneyya-sutta. Com. Child. Diet., p. 617.
6 Upatissa is the name of the monk usually called Sari-putta,
the son of Sari. See Vinaya Texts,' vol. i. p. 149.
7 Rahula was Gautama's son. Above, pp. 30, 50, 72.
226 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
The Vinaya-samukasa is perhaps the same as the
Patimokkha, which is the foundation of the first part
of the ist Pitaka ; and the Muni-gatha, possibly the
same as the Thera-gatha, the 8th Book of the 5th Divi-
sion of the 2nd Pitaka, and it may also have included
the Qth. The differences in the names need not sur-
prise us. We should expect to find slight differences, as
the two lists are in different dialects. It must be borne
in mind that we only know the contents of a few of the
books in one division of the Sutta Pitaka; and the sub-
jects of those books in Asoka's List, which we cannot
at present trace, are such that we should expect to find
them, if we find them at all, in those Divisions, the
Book's of which are at present unknown. The
Ariyavasani seems to be a description of Nirvana, the
Ariyas being the same as the Arahats who have
entered the 4th Path. The Terrors of the Future
seems to be a description of the different worlds of
purgatory, one of which is described in the Peta-
vatthu, the yth Book of the 5th Division of the 2nd
Pitaka. More than one Sutta purports to have been
delivered by Gautama in answer to questions by
Sariputta; and several purport to have been addressed
to Rahula, but nothing has yet been heard of one on
the subject of Falsehood. 1
At the close of the Council of Patna, of which,
it should be noticed, the Nepalese Buddhists are
perhaps ignorant, 2 -missionaries were sent into
1 [Since found. It is Majjhima No. 71.]
2 It is not known to be mentioned in any Sanskrit Buddhist
work ; but it is mentioned, with both the former ones, in
BUDDHIST MISSIONARIES. 227
different countries ; and the 8th chapter of the
Dipavansa and the i2th chapter of the Mahavansa
give us the details comprised in the following table :
To Kashmir and G.imlhiira went Mnjjhantika.
,, MahTsa 1 ,, Mahadeva.
,, Vannvasi* ,, Rakkhita.
,, Aparantaka 3 ,, the BactrianDhammarakkhita.
,, Maharattha 4 ,, Maha Dhammarakkhita.
,, Yonaloka 4 ,, Maha Rakkhita.
,, Himavanta* ,, Majjhima.
,, Suvanna-bhumi 7 ,, Sena and Uttara.
,, Lanka (Ceylon) ,, Mahinda and others.
In the time of the Ceylon chronicles it was no
uncommon thing for boats to cross the Indian Ocean,
even at its broadest part; 8 whether this could have
Palladji's ' Historische Skizzen des alien Buddhismus,' in Erman's
' Archiv,' pp. 206 and following, teste Koppen, i. 139. Palladji
drew his materials from Chinese sources.
1 The most southerly settlement of the Aryans, south of Oe
Godavari, in the Nizam's dominions (Lassen, i. A. I, 681).
1 That is, the Wilderness. It surely cannot mean Tibet (see
Childers, 'Diet.'). Perhaps it was on the borders of the Great
Desert in Rajputana.
3 The Border land ; that is, the west of the Panjab.
4 The ancient seat of the Mahrattas at the sources of the Go-
davari, 150 miles north-east of Bombay.
* Bactria.
6 The central Himalayas. Majjhima returned to India, and
was burned under one of the Sanchi Topes, where his relics were
lately discovered ! (Cunningham, J.R.A.S., xiii. ui).
7 The Golden Land. Perhaps the Malay Peninsula is meant,
which the classical geographers, teste Lassen, ii. 249, call the
Golden. More probably the whole coast from Rangoon to Sin-
capore, which is still so called in Ceylon.
8 Parakrama the Great, of Ceylon, actually sent an army
228 HISTORY OP THE ORDER.
been thought of in the time of Asoka is doubtful. The
other items are not improbable; and it is certainly
very curious that the inscription in the same characters
as those used in most of the Asoka Edicts found on
the tomb of Majjhima, should so entirely confirm
that one of them which would, if unconfirmed, have
been least likely to be true.
In the same year, Asoka founded an office, that of
Dharma Mahdmdtra, chief Minister of Justice or
Religion, whose duty it was to preserve the purity of
religion, and to overlook and care for the right treat-
ment and the progress of the aborigines and the
subject races a striking conjunction of duties.
Similar officials were appointed in the dependent
courts, and others to promote the education of the
women in the harems and elsewhere in the principles
of the religion of Gautama ; and these appointments
were also recorded in the edicts.
The Edicts also show us that Asoka was not
content with spreading the precepts of Buddhism
within his own territories, large as they were. He is
stated in them to have established in neighbouring
lands hospitals for man and beast ; to have planted
medicinal plants and fruit-bearing trees where such
did not naturally grow ; and to have dug wells and
planted trees on the roadsides for the use of man and
beasts. 1 As the foreign countries where these orders
across to Cochin China about A.D. 1180. See 'Coins and
Measures of Ceylon,' p. 24.
1 For similar acts by Buddhist kings of Ceylon, see my article
"On Two Old Sinhalese Inscriptions," J.R.A.S., p. 3, 1875;
Mah., ch. Ixxx. si. 25 ; Tumour, Mah., pp. 242, 245.
MAHINDA S MISSION TO CEYLON. 229
were carried out are mentioned Chola, l Pandya, 2
Satyaputra, 3 Kerala, 4 Ceylon, and the land of the
Greek king Antiochus. In another edict, Asoka
claims to have sent embassies to four Greek kings
whose names enable his date to be fixed within a few
years and to have ' won from them a victory, not by
the sword, but by religion.'
The most important of Asoka's embassies or mis-
sions was, undoubtedly, as far as our present purpose
is concerned, that which he sent to Ceylon. The
king of Ceylon at that time was Tissa (250-230 B.C.),
called in the chronicles ' Tissa, the delight of the
gods,' a title he probably adopted from his great con-
temporary. To him, as we have seen above, Asoka's
own son Mahinda, 5 who had been admitted into the
Order 1 2 years before, was sent immediately after the
council to introduce Buddhism into that island. He
did not, however, start till the next year. When he
did so, he took with him a band of monks, 6 and also, in
Tanjiir. The Koromandel coast is the mattddala, or province
of Chola. Chola, Pandya, and Kerala together are used in later
Ceylon inscriptions to describe all South India. See my articles
in the J.R.A.S. for 1874 and 1875.
3 Madura and Tinnivelli. I read Pada in accordance with
Kern, ' Jahrtclling,' p. 89.
3 The modern Satpura mountains (Ilolkar's dominions), south
of the Narmada. 4 The Malabar coast.
* Mahinda and his sister Sanghamitta were born at Wessa-
nngar, the modern Besnagar, close to which are the Bhilsa
Topes, where General Cunningham has made such interesting
discoveries.
8 Four of the names are given ('Mahav.,' p. 71) Itthiya,
Uttiya, Sambala, and Bhaddasala ; and two others, Sumana
and Bhandu, pp. 76, 77.
236 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
the memory of himself and of his followers, the Pitakas
as just settled at the Council of Patna, together with
the commentaries upon them. These commentaries
he subsequently translated from the Pali into the Sin-
halese Prakrit.
He was received with great favour by king De-
vanam Piya Tissa, who became a very zealous ad
herent and supporter of the new religion probably
because it was the religion of Asoka. He had already
sent an embassy to Asoka, and had received an em-
bassy in return, and had even allowed himself to be
crowned by Asoka's ambassador. The king was per-
suaded by Mahinda to build the Thuparama Dagaba,
which is still one of the glories of the ruined city of
Anuradhapura. Under it both the chronicles say that
the right collar-bone of Gautama was buried, but the
details prove that the relic is fictitious. Close by it
the king also erected a monastery for the Indian
monks, and another on the beautiful hill of Mihintale,
eight miles to the east of the city.
It was on this hill, the three peaks of which, each
now surmounted by a Dagaba, form so striking an
object from. the central trunk-road which runs along
its side, that the famous missionary spent most of his
after years. Here on the precipitous western side
of the hill, under a large mass of granite rock, at a
spot which, completely shut out from the world,
affords a magnificent view of the plains below, he
had his study hollowed out, and steps cut in the rock
over which alone it could -be reached. There also the
stone couch which was carved out of the solid rock
still exists, with holes either for curtain rods, or for
MAHINDA'S STUDY. 231
a protecting balustrade beside it. The great rock
effectually protects the cave from the heat of the
sun, in whose warm light the broad valley below lies
basking. Not a sound reaches it from the plain, now
one far-reaching forest, then full of busy homesteads;
there is only heard that hum of the insects which never
ceases, and the rustling of the leaves of the trees which
cling to the side of the precipice. 1 shall not easily
forget the day when I first entered that lonely, cool,
and quiet chamber, so simple and yet so beautiful,
where more than 2,000 years ago the great teacher of
Ceylon had sat, and thought, and worked through the
long years of his peaceful and useful life. 1 On that
hill he afterwards died, and his ashes still rest under
the Dagaba, which is the principal object of the
reverence and care of the few monks who still
reside in the Mahintale Wihare.
Shortly after the building of the Thuparama Dagaba
had commenced, some of the king's female relations
expressed a wish to become nuns. Mahinda accord-
ingly sent for his sister Sanghamitta, who had entered
the Order at the same time with himself. Taking
leave of her father, she brought over with her a
band of nuns,- and instructed the new disciples
in the precepts of Buddhism, their principal occupa-
tion being the hearing and repeating of the sacred
books.
Sanghamitta also brought over with her a branch
of the sacred Bo Tree, the tree then growing at
1 Compare ' Mahav.,' p. 123.
* The names of nine of them, and of several of their most
learned pupils are yiven in the Dipav, th. 18.
232 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
Buddha Gaya on the site of the present temple, and
then believed, not, perhaps, without reason, to be the
very tree under which Gautama had experienced that
mental conflict which is called his attainment of
Buddha-hood. That precious memorial of their re-
vered teacher was planted at Anuradhapura, a little
to the south of the Ruwanwaeli Dagaba ; and, strange
as it may seem, there it still grows. Sir Emerson Ten-
nent says of it :
" The Bo Tree of Anuradha-pura is, in all probability,
the oldest hisfo) ical tree in the -world. It was planted 288 '
years before Christ, and hence is now 2,147 years old.
Ages varying from one to four thousand years have been
assigned to the Baobabs of Senegal, the Eucalyptus of Tas-
mania, the Dragon tree of Orotava, the Wellingtonia of
California, and the chestnut of Mount Etna. But all these
estimates are matter of conjecture ; and such calculations, how-
ever ingenious, must be purely inferential : whereas the age of the
Bo Tree is matter of record, its conservancy has been an object
of solicitude to successive dynasties, and the story of its vicissi-
tudes has been preserved in a series of continuous chronicles,
among the most authentic that have been handed down by man-
kind. Compared with it the Oak of Ellerslie is but a sapling,
and the Conqueror's Oak in Windsor Forest barely numbers
half its years. The Yew trees of Fountain's Abbey are be-
lieved to have flourished there 1,200 years ago; the Olives in
the garden of Gethseinane were full grown when the Saracens
were expelled from Jerusalem ; and the Cypress of Sorna, in
Lombardy, is said to have been a tree in the time of Julius
Ccesar : yet the Bo Tree is older than the oldest of these by a
century ; and would almost seem to verify the prophecy pro-
1 This should be 245 ; Terment adhered to the now-rejecte-d
chronology. The Bo Tree is now (1877) 2,122 years old.
THE BO TREE. 233
nounced when it was planted, that it would "flourish, and be
green for ever." '
The tree could scarcely have lived so long had it
not been for the constant care of the monks. As it
showed signs of decay terraces were built up around
it, so that it now grows more than twenty feet above
the surrounding soil ; for the tree being of the fig
species its botanical name is fans religiosa its living
branches could then throw out fresh roots. Where
its long arms spread beyond the enclosure, rude pillars
of iron or masonry have been used to prop them up ;
and it is carefully watered in seasons of drought. The
whole aspect of the tree and its enclosure bears evi-
dent signs of extreme age ; but we could not be sure
of its identity were it not for the complete chain of
documentary evidence which has been so well brought
together by Sir Emerson Tennent. 2
Dewanam-piya Tissa, who reigned for 20 years, 3
died just before Mahinda; and soon after his death
Ceylon was for the first time overrun by the Tamils,
who for some 60 years retained the Northern pro-
vinces and the kingly power in their hands. They
were driven out, about B.C. 164, by Dushta Gamini,
a grandson of Tissa's brother, who had fled to
the south of the island. This king also was a
zealous supporter of Buddhism. He built two of the
large Dagabas at Anuradhapura, the Miriswceti, 150
1 Ceylon, ii., pp. 613, and foil. The italics are his own.
* In the appendix to the chap, quoted . See also above, p. 39,
note.
1 Not 40. See Westergaard ' Ueber Buddha's Todesjahr,'
p. 105. The whole discussion here on this period of Sinhalese
history is most valuable.
Q
234 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
feet high, and the Maha Thupa, 200 feet high ; and
also the huge monastery (called the Great Brazen
Palace, from its having been roofed with metal,) whose
i, 600 granite pillars still stand just outside the sacred
enclosure round the Bo Tree.
Thirty-four years after his death the Dravidians
again conquered the island, but were a second
time driven out by VVatta Gamini, a son of Dushta
Gamini's brother, in about 88 B.C. He built the
largest Dagaba in Ceylon, called the Abhaya-giri
Dugaba, 250 feet in height ; and it was in his reign, about
1 60 years after the Council of Patna, and 330 years
after the death of Gautama, that the Three Pitakas
were for the first time reduced into writing. 1 The
Mahavansa relates this important event in a stanza,
which it quotes from the Dlpavansa :
' The wise monks of former days handed down by word of mouth
The text of the Three Pitakas, and the Commentary upon them;
Seeing the destruction of men, the monks of this time assembled,
And, that the Faith might last long, they wrote them in books.'*
To understand the real significance of this record it
is necessary, in the first place, to get rid of the European
notion that books can only be preserved in writing.
The Indian opinion is just the other way. Even at
the present time, if all the printed copies of the Vedas
were destroyed, the Vedas would still be preserved in
the memory of the priests, as they have been for cer-
tainly more than 3,000 years; and those priests look
1 At Alu Lene, 3 m. S. of the modern town of Matale, a cave
still well-known, which lies close to the great central road, and
is well worth a visit.
* .Mahav, p. 207. Dlpav, ch. xx, verses 19, 20.
THE PITAKAS. 23$
upon the Veda, thus authenticated, as the test to which
all printed or written copies must give way. If you
depend upon written copies, they would argue, you
are sure to make, and to perpetuate mistakes ; but the
text as handed down by word of mouth is preserved,
not only by being itself constantly repeated, but by
the assistance of the commentaries, in which every
word of the text is carefully enshrined. 1 So long as
reliance can be placed on the succession of teachers
and pupils this argument may not be so far wrong;
but when a text has to be preserved in a small country
liable to be overrun by persecuting enemies, the con-
dition of things is changed, and it becomes necessary
to preserve it also in writing. Mahinda could have
written the texts had he so chosen. We know that
the square alphabet which Asoka used was at least
known in Ceylon, if it did not originate there. 2 That
he did not choose to do so ought to throw no doubt
upon the identity of the existing version of the text with
that which he brought to Ceylon. On this question,
as on so many others, we must wait for the publica-
tion of the Pitakas before we form a definite conclu-
sion ; but probability is in favour of our present text
having been handed down correctly during the 160
years between Mahinda's arrival, and the time when
it was reduced to writing ; and since that time it has
been preserved in the same manner as the classical
writings of whose authenticity there is no doubt. 3
1 Compare the remarks above pp. 10, 86.
* See Dr. Goldschmidt's letter to the Actnieiny, ijth February,
1877-
? I once tried in vain to persuade my friend and tutor, the
learned and high-minded monk Yatranuille Unnansc, that it
236 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
As this is the last place in which the text will be
discussed, it may be of interest to add that a Revision
Committee of the most learned monks met at Ratna-
pura during 1875, under the presidency of the learned
Chief Priest, Sumangala, and went carefully through
the whole of the Pitaka Texts.
The only other event in the history of Ceylon
Buddhism which we need here record, is the work of
Buddhaghosa. This celebrated monk was born near
the Bo Tree, at Buddha Gaya. and rame to Ceylon
about 430 A.D. There by his great work, the Visuddhi
Magga or Path of Holiness, a cyclopaedia of Buddhist
doctrine, he quickly proved himself to be a master of
all Buddhist knowledge ; and he was employed by
the rulers of the Order in Ceylon to rewrite in
Pali the commentaries which had till then been
handed down in Sinhalese. 1 Almost all the com-
mentaries now existing are ascribed to him, and
his work was at least complete enough to drive the
Sinhalese version so completely out of use, that every
trace of it has now been lost, unless, as Alwis thinks,
two very ancient Sinhalese works, the Kudusika and
Mulusika, should turn out to be as early as this period. 2
would be a good thing to print the Pitakas. He said they would
be no longer copied ; and he would not be convinced that books
printed on our flimsy paper were safer than those written on
substantial palm leaves. Other influential Buddhists thought
differently, but since my departure from Ceylon the project has,
I am afraid, been quite neglected.
1 Mahav, p. 250-253.
* Sidat Sangarawa p. cl. This seems to me highly improb-
able. Compare my paper on Pali and Sinhalese literature in the
4th Annual Report of the Philological Society (1875), p. 75.
THE COMMENTARIES.
2 37
The following is a list of the Pali commentaries
now extant l :
Samanta-pasadika
Kankha-vitaram
Sumangala-vilasim
Papanca-siidam
Sarattha-ppakasini
Manoratha-puranI
Paramattha-jotika
Dhamma-pada Atthakatha
Paramattha-dipanI
Abhidhammattha-dlpanI
Jataka Atthakatha
Saddhamma-ppajotika
Saddhamma-ppakasim
Visuddha-jana-vilasinI
Madhurattha-viliisini
Cariya-pitaka Atthakatha
Attha-salinI
Sammoha-vinodanI
Paiica-ppakarana Atthakatha
on the Vinaya.
,, Patimokkha.
,, Digha Nikaya.
,, Majjhama Nikaya.
,, Samyutta Nikaya.
,, Anguttara Nikaya.
,, Khuddaka Pat ha and
Sutta Nipata.
,, Dhamma-pada.
Udana, Vimana-vat-
thu, Peta-Vatthu
Theragatha, and
Theri-gatha.
Iti-vuttaka
,, Jataka.
,, Niddesa.
,, Patisambhida.
,, A pad an a.
,, Buddhavansa.
,, Cariya Pitaka.
,, Dhamma-sanganl.
,, Vibhanga.
,, Five last books cf the
Abhidhamma Pitaka.
The other missions sent out after Asoka's Council
have left few traces behind them, though there is
every reason to believe that those sent to parts of the
peninsula of India itself were not unsuccessful. Both
Burma and Siam were first really converted to Bud-
dhism from Ceylon ; the former about 450 A.D.,
when Buddhaghosa wont there after his stay in that
1 Childers' ' Pali Diet." s. v. Atthakatha.
238 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
island, the latter in 638 A.D. 1 Java seems to have
received its first missionaries from Kalinga in the sixth
or seventh century; but the point is still uncertain 2 ; it
is only clear that Buddhism was the prevailing religion
in the thirteenth century, when the great Temple at
Boro Budor was built. About this time also Buddhism
penetrated from Java into the adjoining islands Bali
and Sumatra, but in the latter it never took firm hold.
Of the success of the missions towards the north
we have more certain knowledge. It is clear from
the coins of Huvishka and Kanishka that .Buddhism
became the State religion of the north-westerly parts
of India at about the commencement of our era.
Huvishka first reigned in Kabul, and when driven out
from there founded a new kingdom in Kashmir, and
subsequently conquered the adjacent countries as far
down as Mathura, where he built a monastery. 3 His
successor, Hushka, also built a Vihara, but both of these
kings seem also to have been fire-worshippers. His
successor, however, Kanishka, the third of the three
brothers, who began to reign about 10 A.D., was a
very zealous Buddhist.
Kanishka's dominions extended from Kabul to the
Hindu-kush and Bolor Mountains; over Yarkand
and Khokan ; throughout Kashmir. Ladak, and the
1 Crawfurd 'Journal of the Embassy to the Courts of Siam and
Cochin China,' p. 615.
* See Lassen's Indische Alterthumskunde, ii. 1076, iv. 711.
' Cunningham, 'Archaeological Reports,' i., p. 238. Dawson,
'Ancient Inscriptions from Mathura, J.R.A.S. New Series v.,
p. 182. Alexander Polyhistor, who wrote 80-60 B.C., confirms
this by stating that monks (Samanaioi) 'philosophised in Baktria '
(see tbe passage in Lassen, ii. 1092).
KAMISHKA'S COUNCIL. 239
Central Himalayas (Himavanta) ; down over the
plains of the Upper Ganges and Jamna as far as Agra ;
over Rajpatana, Gu/arat, and Sindh ; and through
the whole of the Panjab a magnificent empire, un-
equalled in extent from the time of Asoka to that of
the Moguls.
On the recommendation of his tutor, Parsvika,
Kanishka held a council of 500 learned monks, under
the presidency of Vasubandhu. l At this council,
unfortunately, nothing was done towards settling a
canon of scripture which might have prevented the
subsequent changes which so entirely reformed the
character of Northern Buddhism. The monks satis-
fied themselves with drawing up three Commentaries.
i. Upadesa on the Sutra Pitaka ; 2. Vinaya-ribasha-
sasfra on the Vinaya ; and, 3. Abliidharma-ribashd-
sastra on the Abhidharma Pitaka, each, according to
Hiouen Thsang, in 100,000 couplets.
These three works Kanishka is said to have had
engraven on plates of copper, and sealed up in a
stone box, over which he built a Dagaba. If the tradi-
tion preserved by Hiouen Thsang be correct, there they
probably still lie buried; but that learned traveller wrote
nearly seven centuries afterwards, and his account of
the council contains incredible details. 2 None of the
1 The only account of this council is in Hiouen Thsang's
'Travels' (Jdicn's trans., vol. i., pp. 173-178). That in the
Chinese Life of H. T. (Julien's trans., pp. 95, 96), is taken from
ihe 'Travels.' The council is referred to by Csoma, 'As. Res.'
xx., pp. 41, 297. Schmidt 'Geschichte der Ost Mongolen,
pp. 17,315. Schiefner, 'Lebensbeschreibung,' p. 310 oil from
sources independent of H. T.
* He tells a story of the miraculous completion of Vasu-
240 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
three works are mentioned in Hodgson's long list of
Sanskrit Buddhist works extant in Nepal, 1 or were
known to Burnouf or Csoma, or are included in the
Hodgson MSS. sent to Europe ; 2 and Fa Hian says 3
that in his time, through the whole of Northern
India, the various masters handed down the doctrines
by word of mouth, and had no written copies of them.
The Upadesa mentioned above (p. 215) is evidently
a different and older work. Hiouen Thsang had the
Abhidharma-vibasha-sabtra explained to him during
his residence in Kashmir, 4 though he does not
mention the others. The same work is still extant in
China and Japan, and a copy is in the India Office. 5
This council is unknown to the Ceylonese Bud-
dhists. As it was held before the rise of the school
of the so-called Great Vehicle, the works then held
sacred, many of which are still extant, must preserve
the ancient Buddhism ; and from the meagre accounts
of them, from which, and from the Lalita Vistara,
all our knowledge of early Sanskrit Buddhism is
derived, it would seem that there was but very little
difference between it and the Buddhism of the Pitakas.
When at his death Kanishka's empire fell to pieces,
bandha's Arahatship just after the council met, and before it
sat, evidently due to a reminiscence of the similar story about
Ananda; and the detail about the 100,000 slokas sound s
legendary.
1 Essays (1874 Edition), pp. 36-39, com. 49.
* See the catalogue drawn up by Professors Co\vell and
Eggeling, J.R.A.S., 1876.
3 Ch. 36. 4 Life, p. 164.
Beal's Catalogue, p. 79, 80.
BUDDHISM IN CHINA. 24!
succeeding dynasties again favoured Brahmanism, till
Megha-vahana became King of Kashmir, A.D. 104-
144, and extended his power down the valley of the
Ganges as far as Kalinga and Orissa. 1
Buddhism had long before this penetrated to
China, along the fixed route from India to that
country, round the north-west corner of the Himalayas
and across Eastern Turkestan. Already in the 2nd
year B.C., an embassy, perhaps sent by Huvishka,
took Buddhist books to the then Emperor of
China, A-ili ; 2 and the Emperor Ming-Ti, 62 A.D.,
guided by a dream, is said to have sent to
Tartary and Central India, and brought Buddhist
books to China. ' From this time Buddhism rapidly
spread there. Monks from Central and North-Western
India frequently travelled to China ; and the Chinese
themselves made many journeys to the older Buddhist
countries to collect the sacred writings, which they
diligently translated into Chinese. In the fourth
century Buddhism became the state religion ; and
there have been, and still are, monks in China
belonging to most of the different schools of later
Nepalese Buddhism, though no new sects seem to
have been formed. 4
1 He is also said in the Raja Tarangini, iii., 29-79, to have
conquered Ceylon, but the native histories know nothing of
this. An inscription by him, very Buddhistic in its morality,
has been found in Orissa.
5 Remusat's ' Foe Koue Ki,' p. 41.
1 Beal's 'Fa Hian,' pp. xx.-xxii. ' Foe Koue Ki.,' p. 44..
4 A valuable sketch of the history of Chinese Buddhism is
given by Beal in the introduction to his translation of Fa Hian.
242 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
Into -the Korea Buddhism was introduced from
China as early as 372 A.D. ; l and thence into Japan
in 552, in the thirteenth year of King Kin Mei Teno. 2
The old religion of Japan was a worship of the
powers of nature, the latest development of which
has been preserved in the work on Sin To, by a learned
Japanese woman of the twelfth century ; and in the
thirteenth century, a monk named Sin Ran, who died
in 1262, founded a new Buddhist sect, which incor-
porates into its belief much of the old creed, and the
monks belonging to which wear the ordinary dress,
and marry. 3 Many of them are thus allied to noble
and even to the royal family, and all the Buddhists
in Japan that is, the great mass of the people
belong to this sect ; but the fashionable religion of
the chiefs is still the system of Sin To.
Kochin China and Ava, the island of Formosa, and
Mongolia, probably received their Buddhism from
China, during the fourth and fifth centuries ; and
before that it had spread westwards and northwards
from Kabul and Yashkand to Balk, Bokhara, the
Balkash or Dengis Lake, and into China again by
way of Jungaria (Hi) and Kobdo. In the course of the
twelfth century Muhammadamisrn drove Buddhism
out as far as the west frontiers of China and India ;
but even before then it had become weak and corrupt.
In India itself, Brahmanism, from the commence-
ment of our era, carried on a continual struggle
against Buddhism. The latter gained ground all
1 Remusat, ' Foe Koue Ki,' p. 43,
3 Klaproth, ' Annales des Empereurs de Japan,' p. 25.
8 Ibid., p. 255.
CHINESE PILGRIMS. 243
down the Ganges valley and in Central India, till the
fifth century, and for some time longer in the south
of the peninsula. Almost all that we know of it i?
derived from the accounts of the Chinese pilgrim?
Fa Hian, 400 A.D., Sung Yun, 518 A.D., and
Hiouen Thsang, 629-648 A.D. From Indian coins
and inscriptions we can only gather a few vague data,
as, for instance, that the later kings of the Gupta
dynasty, whom Lassen 1 places from 435-540, and
Thomas, 2 two centuries earlier, were supporters ot
Buddhism.
It is impossible here to compare at any length the
data of the Chinese travellers. Fa Hian found
Buddhist monks belonging to both Vehicles, and
monasteries, and dagabas in great numbers, all the
way from Kabul down to Magadha; but Brahman
priests and Hindu temples were scarcely less
numerous, and princes and people honoured both.
Sung Yun's account is very short. 3 He came by
the usual route, and mentions that the king of
Khoten was not a Buddhist, though monks from
India had visited the country. Balk was Buddhist ;
but in Kaferistan, west of the Indus, a heathen Tartar
conqueror was persecuting the believing people.
East of the Indus all was Buddhist, and Sung Yun
did not penetrate further than Peshawur.
Hiouen Thsang found the powerful Buddhist king
Kapisa, ruling over ten kingdoms in Afghanistan ; but
1 iii. p. 657, and iv. pp. 654, 660.
1 Records of the Gupta Dynasty (1876), p. 55.
' It \vil' je found translated in Beal's Fa Ilian, pp. 174-208.
244 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
many of the monasteries that he saw were in ruins,
owing to constant wars and the shifting of the popu-
lation, never very dense in those regions. Gandhara
was in much the same state, and in the ancient capital,
Peshawar, the great monastery built by Kanishka was
deserted ; but the people were Buddhists still, and
mostly adherents of the Great Vehicle. This was also
the case in Kashmir, where king and people were zeal-
ous Buddhists, and where Hiouen Thsang found 500
monasteries, and 5,000 monks. In Sindh the Little
Vehicle was still the favourite.
On the Upper Ganges and Jamna also the Bud-
dhists adhered to the old school, but Brahmanism
was also in great favour. At Kanoj there reigned
the then most powerful monarch in all India,
Slldditya, who was a zealous Buddhist, and him-
self well read in the holy books ; but in his
capital there were 100 Hindu temples, as well as 100
Buddhist monasteries. Whilst he staid in this country
Hiouen Thsang was present at the great council of
Kanoj (Kanyakubja), held under Slladitya in 634
A.D., 1 at which the teachings of the Little Vehicle
were formally condemned.
In Sravasti and Kapilavastu all was in ruins ; the
few monks remaining only followed the Little Vehicle ;
Brahmans were flourishing, and heretics numerous.
Even in Benares there were only four monasteries
against 100 idol temples. In Magadha and Vaisali,
however, especially in the former, the true belief was
1 On this council see the ' Life of Hiouen Thsang ' (Julien's
transl. , pp. 242, and foil.).
KUDDHISM IN INDIA. 245
still by far the most flourishing, and 50 monasteries
sheltered 1,000 monks. The principal seat of learn-
ing was Nalanda, at the east end of the Rajagriha
valley, to which students from all parts of India, and
even from Ceylon, were attracted. Hiouen Thsang
gives the names of the principal teachers, and himself
studied there for years. He also describes at great
length the dagabas, the holy places, the legends,
and the relics of which the Buddhist Holy Land
was full. Here both Vehicles were equally honoured,
and at Nalanda all the sacred books of all the sects
were repeated and explained.
Further down the Ganges and in Orissa Buddhism
was in full life ; and on the west-side of the peninsula
the powerful Vallabhi king, Dhruvasenall., ruled over
a Buddhist country, which included Guzerat, Khan-
desh, and the south-west half of Rajputana. Nagpur,
then called Kosala, was also Buddhist ; but in
Kalinga, of which the Godavari was the south bound-
ary, and throughout Telugu it was in little favour ;
further south, however, in Dravida, it was again in the
ascendant.
On the whole Buddhism appears in Hiouen Thsang
to have fallen very far below the point at which it
stood in Fa Hian's time ; to have been equal in
power with Brahminism only where it was supported
by powerful kings, and to have been generally ac-
cepted as the one religion of the country only in
Kashmir, and the upper Panjab, in Magadha, and in
Guzarat.
Shortly after he left India the Buddhists are said
10 have been cruellj persecuted and oppressed by
246 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
the Hindus, especially under the instigation of '.he
learned Brahmins Khumarlla Bhatta, and afterwards
Sankaracharya ; but the details of their extermination
are not known ; and in the eleventh century Harshadeva,
king of Kashmir, and Sthlrapala, king of Orissa, still
supported the religion of Gautama. The tradition of
the persecution is certainly not devoid of foundation 1 ;
but it seems also certain that Buddhism had in the
eighth and ninth centuries become so corrupt that it no
longer attracted the people, and when it lost the
favour of the kings, it had no power to stand against
the opposition of the priests. In the twelfth century,
when Kashmir was conquered by the Moslems, there
were no Buddhists left in India, except a few who
preserved an ignoble existence by joining the Jain sect,
and by adopting the principal tenets, as to caste
and ceremonial observances, of the ascendant Hindu
creeds. 2
A few words must be added on the Lamaism of
Tibet, the only country where the Order has become
a hierarchy, and acquired temporal power. Here, as"
in so many other countries, civilisation entered, and
history began with Buddhism. When the first mis-
sionaries went there is not, however, accurately
1 The discoveries at Samath show that ' all has been sacked
and burnt priest, temples, idols, altogether, and this more
than once.' Major Kitto in Cunningham's Reports, I, 126. See
also pp. 121, 123, and Thomas, J.B.A.S. 1854, 472, quoted on
p. 128. Wang Pu translated by Beal, Catena, p. 139, says
' The end was the streams of the Sweti (in Kabul) overflowing
wjth blood.'
1 The best account of the Jains is by S. Warren. ' Over de
godsdienstige en wijs geerige Begrippender Jainas,' 18/6.
LAMAISM. 247
known ; but Nepal was becoming Buddhist in the sixth
century, and the first Buddhist king of Tibet sent to
India for the holy scriptures in 632 A.D. A century
afterwards an adherent of the native devil-worship
drove the monks away, destroyed the monasteries,
and burnt the holy books ; but the blood of the
martyrs was the seed of the church it returned
triumphant after his death, and rapidly gained in
wealth and influence. I have already sketched above
the development which took place in doctrine ; and
have noticed the rise of the belief in Avalokitevsara,
the Spirit of the Buddhus, present in the church. This
belief did much to hasten the downward course. He
is supposed to be present in the chittuktus, who occupy
much the same position as the cardinals in the Romish
church ; and to be especially incarnate in the Dalai
Lama, the infallible Head of the Church, the repre-
sentative on earth of Adibuddha, the Buddhist pope.
But before the doctrine was thus carried out to its
logical conclusion, long and severe struggles had
taken place. As the Order became wealthy, rival
abbots had contended for supremacy; and the chiefs
had first tried to use the church as a means of bind-
ing the people to themselves, and then, startled at its
progress, had to fight against it for their own privilege
and power. When in the long run, the crozier proved
stronger than the sword, the Dalai Lama became in
1419 sole temporal sovereign of Tibet.
However interesting and instructive the study of
the rise of Lamaism may be, as throwing light on the
natural causes and the intimate connection of super-
stitious dogma, gorgeous ritual, and priestly power, it
248 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
would be quite outside our purpose to enter upon it
here. The following sketch of the high service in
Lhassa cathedral will show the reader the stage to
which Lamaism has now reached ; and the learned
work of Koppen l will give him, should he so desire
it, a full account of its rise or fall :
The entrance to the chief Temple of the holy
city is through a large hall where holy water and
rosaries are sold, and in which stand four statues of
the Archangels. The walls are covered with rude
paintings of scenes from the legends of the Buddha,
and its roof is supported by six massive pillars covered
with beautiful carving, spoilt by gorgeous paint
and gilding. The church itself is a long nave divided
by rows of pillars from two aisles, and by silver
screens of open trellis-work from two large chancels.
Into the aisle on each side open fourteen chapels. At
the end is the holy place, containing fifteen jewelled ,
tablets, with mystic symbol s of Sang-sara and other crea-
tions of Buddhist metaphysics; and in the furthest niche
in a kind of apse is the magnificent golden statue of the
now deified Gautama Buddha. On the left is the
throne of the Dalai Lama; on the right that of the
Pantshen Lama; and in order on either side, gradually
decreasing in height and splendour, the seats of the
Chutuktus, the abbots, and the eighteen orders of in-
ferior clergy. In front of the idol is the high altar, or
table of offerings, raised by several stages above the
floor ; on the upper levels being images of gold, silver,
and clay; on the lowerthe bells,and lamps, and censers,
Vol. ii. of his 'Religion des Buddha.'
SERVICE AT I.1IA 249
and other vessels used in the holy service. At the
sound of a horn or trumpet the clergy assemble in the
entrance hall, wearing the cloak and cap ; and at its
third blast the procession, with the living Buddha at
its head, marches down the aisle. When he is seated
on his throne each Lama bows three times before
him, and then seats himself cross-legged on the divan
according to his rank. A bell is then rung, and all
murmur the Three Refuges, the Ten Precepts, 1 and
other formulas. After silence is restored the bell
sounds again, and the priests now sing in choir 2
longer pieces from the sacred books. If it be a feast
day, the highest point of the service is reached in the
Tuisol, or prayer for sanctification, when the offerings
are blest. A bell is rung, and all the monks burst
out into a hymn of prayer for the presence of the Spirit
Df all the Buddhas. One of them raises aloft over
his head a looking-glass the idea of which seems to
be to catch the image of the spirit as it comes ; a
second raises aloft a jug ; a third a mystic symbol of
the world : a fourth a cup ; and others other sacred
vessel or mystic symbols. Meanwhile the voices of
the singers, and the sound of the bells and drums
and trumpets grows louder and louder, and the church
is filled with incense from the sacred censers. The
monk with the jug pours several times water mixed
with sugar and saffron over the mirror, which another
wipes each time with a napkin of silk. The water
flows over the mirror on to the symbol of the world,
and is caught in the cup beneath. Thence the holy
: Sec above, p. 160. * Above, p. 210.
25 HISTORY OF THE ORDER.
mixture is poured on to another jug, and a drop or
two is allowed to trickle on to the hands of each of
the worshipping monks, who marks the crown of his
shaven head, his forehead, and his breast with the
sacred liquid. He then reverently swallows the re-
maining drops ; and, in so doing, believes himself to
be mystically swallowing part of the Divine Being,
whose image has been caught in the mirror over which
the water has past. 1
Lamaism, indeed, with its shaven priests, its bells,
and rosaries, its images, and holy water, and
gorgeous dresses ; its service with double choirs, and
processions, and creeds, and mystic rites, and incense,
in which the laity are spectators only ; its abbots and
monks, and nuns of many grades ; its worship of the
double Virgin, and of the saints and angels ; its fasts,
confessions, and purgatory ; its images, its idols, and
its pictures ; its huge monasteries, and its gorgeous
cathedrals, its powerful hierarchy, its cardinals, its
Pope, bears outwardly at least a strong resemblance
to Romanism, in spite of the essential difference of its
teachings, and of its mode of thought. 2
1 Schlagintweit, 'Buddhism in Tibet,' pp. 227, 239. Hue et
Gabot, 'Voyages,' I, p. 29. Moorcroft and Trcbeck 'Travels,'
I, pp. 344, and foil. Klaproth ' Reise in den Kaukasus,' i, p. 203.
Pallas ' Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen
Reichs,' ii., 160-190.
* Father Bury in Kerson's ' The Cross and the Dragon, '
(1854) p. 185.
INDEX
OF THE PRINCIPAL
PROPER NAMES AND TECHNICAL TERMS.
ADAM'S Teak, 195.
Acli-biKhlhn, 206.
Ajatasatru, 75.
Alain, 33, 42.
Aroagnndha Sutta, 131, iSi.
Amitablia, 205.
Anam, 2.
Ananda, 32, 68, So, 214.
Anathapindika, 69.
Anoma river, 32, 68.
Anfipiya, 68.
Ammuldha, 52, 68.
Arahats, 109, 120, 154, 158, 174,
176, 203.
Asanga, 208.
Asoka, 83, 220-228.
Asava, 120.
Avalokitesvara, 201, 203.
BAI.ANI, 173.
Bali, 3, 237.
Benares, 25, 35, 42.
Bodhi-anga, 1 73.
Bodhi-satwa, 200.
Bo tree, 37, 39, 169, 231.
Burma, 3, 237.
Burials, 3.
ClIAKRAVAKTI, iSj, 222.
Chandragupta, 219.
Channa, 29-33, 82.
China, 2, 3, 4, 240, 242.
Chunda, '/<).
Council of Rajagriha, 213.
, ; Vaisuli, 215.
Patna, 224.
Council of Kanishkn, 238.
,, Kanoj, 244.
DAGAIU, 169, 182, 185.
Deer-park, 43, 53.
Devadatta, 52, 6.S, 75, 181.
Dhamma-cakka-ppavattana Sut-
ta, 45.
Dliamma-pada, 19, 31, 62, 65,
72, 107, ioS, 120, 122, 153.
Dhammika Suita, 137, 156.
Dharani, 208.
Dharma, 45, 79.
Dhyana v. J liana,
Dhyani-Buddlias, 204.
Dina-cariyawa, 169.
EUROPE, Buddhists in, 5.
FOUR Truths, 4,X, 106.
,, Paths, 108.
GHANOHAIIASTI, 59.
MIRI SUTTA, 155.
IDDHI, 173, 174.
Iriyapatha, 157.
JAINS, 4, 245.
Japan, 5, 242.
Jataka, 12, 21, 58, 180, 197.
Java, 5, 236.
Tet&vaaa, 69.
J liana, 175, 204.
KAI.PA, 197, 204.
Kama Sulla, 121.
Kammavaca, 158.
Kanishka, 238.
Kapilavastu, 25, 27, 29, 243
Karma, 101-103, 150, 175.
INDEX.
Kashmir, 5, 236, 238.
Kajyapa, 59, 61, 189, 214.
Khagga-visana Sutta, 158, 163.
KisagotamT, 133.
Kohana, 25, 70.
Koliyans, 26, 52, 70.
Kondanya, 44, 49, 186.
Kusala, 135.
Kusi-nagara, 80.
LAUAK, 5.
Lalita Vistarn, 9, n, 185.
Lamaism, 199, 246.
MAD-URATTHAVilasinT, II, 29.
Mahabhinishkramana Sutra, II.
Maha Parinibbana Sutta, II, 13,
78, 81, 82, 113, 117, 120, 172,
177, 188-190.
Maha-Nidana Sutta, 149.
Mahinda, 228.
Maitreya, I So, 200.
Malla lingara Watthu, 1 1.
Manchuria, 5
Mangala Sutta, 127.
Manju-srT, 201.
Mandala, 208.
Mara, 32, 35, 107, 187.
Metta Sutta, 109.
Milinda Prasnaya, 96, 137.
Moggallana, 62.
Mongolia, 5.
NAGASENA, 96.
Nanda, 52, 68.
Nava Sutta, 121, 155.
Nepal, 5.
Nirvana, 41, in, 120, 125, 149.
PACCEKA-BUDDHA, 2OO.
Pathama Sambodhiya, 14.
Pati-harika-pakkha, 139, 141.
Patimokkha, 162.
Pava, 79.
Pitakas, 8, 9, 18, 20, 233, 234.
RAIIULA, 30, 50, 67, 72.
Rajagriha, 33, 50.
Ratana Sutta, 122.
Ratna-dharma-raja, II.
Rohini, 25, 26.
Rupa, 90.
SAMADHI, 177.
Samaiina-phala Sutta, 21, 177
Sainma-sambudtllia, 182.
Sammappadhana, 172.
Sankhara, 91.
Sang-yojana, 109.
Sang-sara, 121, 137.
Saniia, 91.
Sariputta, 62.
Sati-patthana, 172.
Siam, 2, 237.
Siddhi, 208.
Sigalovada Sutta, 129, i4'<.
Sikhim, 5.
Sila, 121, 141.
Skandha, 93.
Spiti, 3.
Sravasti, 26, 69.
Subhadra, 8l.
Subha Sutta, 21.
Suddhodana, 26, 28, 64, 65.
SukhavatT, 206.
Sutta Nipata, 19, 20.
TIBET, 3, 199-210, 246.
Tooth, 195.
Trishna, 101, 107, 113, 136.
UDRAKA, 33, 47.
Upadana, 95, 101, 113.
Upadi, 113.
Upali, 68.
Uposatha, 139, 140, 164.
Uruvela, 34.
VAJJIAN clans, 78.
Vedana, 91.
Vehicle, 200, 218, 243.
Veluvana, 62.
Vihara, 169.
\ f inaya, 18, 79,
Vindhya Mountains, 33.
Vinfiiina, 93.
YASA, 54, 215.
Yasodhara, 50, 52, 6'3.
Yashtivana, 62.
Richard CLiy ^~' Ssxs, Limited, Lcud.'ii <S-= Buiigay.
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