and re-tie after use.
Ctass Book
University of Chicago Library
GIVEN BY
Besides the jitain topic this look also treats of
*
Subject No. On page Subject No. On page
Vv
WITH
HIS HIGHNESS' KIND PERMISSION
THIS WORK
13 MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
TO
H. H. FARZAND-I-KHAS-I-DQULAT INGUSHlA
MAHARAJA SAYAJI RAO GAEKWAR SENA KHAS
**
KHEL SHAMSER BAHADUR G u b i
AS A TOKEN OF
HIGHEST ESTEEM AITO ADMIKATIOK
FOR
S HIGHNESS' MANY VIRTUES, ACCOMPLISHMENTS
AND
SCHOLARLY ATTAINMENTS
BY
THE AUlliOK-
f
BUDDHA/
HIS LIFE, HIS TEACHINGS, HIS ORDER
[TOGETHER WITH THE HISTORY OF THE BUDDHISM.]
DU7
/I
* ~
' MANMATHA NATH(SHASTEI, M.A., M.R.A.S.
. ' \- '-. -" '
PCBLISHfiD BY :
THE SOCIETY FOR THE RESUSCITATION OF
INDIAN LITERATURE,
CALCUTTA: j
1901. ' [
\
LIBRARIES-
-5-
/ d jjfu' ' ~''\
PREFACE.
^; ' IN this work I have attempted to place before ray readers
all the researches relating, to the life, teachings and Order
gof the Lord Goutama, in a condensed form so that they may
fvform an idea of what the scholars have said and written on the
|great life and work of the Buddha. In presenting this sketch
|of the life and teachings of this Great Teacher I_haye consul-
in Sanskrit or Pali.
d in this respect I may assure -my readers that the infor-
finations they will meet with in this volume are_ all culled
jfrom original sources- and supported by the researches of
. erudite scholars of both the East and West.
in compiling this handy volume I had three objects in
: Firstly, to present before the English-knowing public
a- short but continuous history of Buddhism describing the
i*-,:.--j .... * - cf
in which the Lord Buddha was born, his family, his life,
Eis teachings and his Order: Secondly, to place before my
readers a complete summary of what the Eastern and West-
era savants have said and written on Buddha and Buddhism
and .thus save them the trouble of rambling over number-
less-volumes written on this subject: thirdly, to prove that
Buddha's religion is in no way antagonistic to the pure
faith of the Rishis, it being a mighty protest^against the
prevailing corruptions and superstitions with whicfcu-the. JHin-
duism of his agejyas steepest ...
far I have succeeded in my objects is to be judged
bj^the perusal of the following pages. But one thing I may
i say that like many I have not started with an opinion of my
IOWJQ. I have always attempted to keep self in the back
Igrpund and pourtray the life and teachings of the Great
rathagata in the light of the contemporaneous accounts that
- * '" find in many eminent Sanskrit works as: well as
C -
11 ]
/
in that of many Pali works written by his disciples under
his immediate inspiration. In interpreting these sacred
records I have not distorted their sense to support my own
theory pre-conceived and formed before but have simply
arranged them to present the Great Teacher and his religion
In their true colours before the English-knowing world.
The Buddha's religion still claims a greater number of
followers than any it has given salvation to thousands and
Inspiration' to many faiths of the civilized worldit is the
glory of India and 'the Indians. It is indeed a- pity if any
misc^eption r is 'formed "against such
religion^nd.philospphy.. If any for that we are to blame
aiid not the Great Teacher who has left for us a gajthjo
emancipation a road open to the king and peasant to the-
learned and illiterate alike, if only we wish to avail of it.
; I cannot-conclude my prefatory remarks without offering
Vrateful thanks on behalf of myself and my countrymen to
the eminent scholars of the West who have devoted their
leisure and : talent to the propagation of Buddhism. I am
personally more grateful to them for the valuable help that
their learned volumes have afforded me in the execution of
this work, more specially to Dr. Hoey, the translator of Olden
ber^s-" Buddha" and Professor Rhys Davids from whos<
works I have taken the liberty of making quotations with a
view to popularize their erudition and scholarship in the East
We owe them a debt of endless gratitude for what they hav<
done for India, her literature and religion
.ELYSIUM BOWER ~) -
Barnagore, Calcutta, I ' ' '''' M. N.- D.
June 1901.
CONTENTS.
v , : INTRODUCTION.
;:;;;:. * CHAPTER I. Page.
Is BUDDHA A MYTH ... ... .., i 10
Emile Senart's Theory Buddha's life, the history of
> . Sun-hero p. I. Dr. Oldenberg's refutation of the theory
K p. 5. History of the origin of Gatha dialect p. 8. Dr. .
Barnouf's theory p. 8. Dr. Rajendra Lala Mitra's re-
i'v marks on it p. 7. Dr. IVfuir's remarks p. 8. . .. . '
lp; - :; - : ' CHAPTER II.
AUTHORITIES ON THE LIFE OF BUDDHA... ... ... | 10 18
; ; The two Schools p. n. Nine divisions of Theraveda p. n.
J|i. 1 Tripitakas p. it. Sutta or original discourses p. 12.
^'; : ;- Vinaya or discipline for the order p. 13. Abhidhamma
iVl'V' (*'*'. ' '
?>i ; : or psychology of Buddhism p. 13. . Dipavansa and
|/;;'v Mahavansa p. 14. Other Buddhist works p. 14. The
?$',. two great branches of the Buddhists p. 14. Northern
Buddhism p. 16. Lalita Vistara 16. Buddha Charita
or a biography of Buddha p. 17. Other Sanskrit works
on Buddha's life p. 18.
V CHAPTER III.
AGE OF BUDDHA ... ... ... ... .... 1824
j^'Rhys Davids' opinion on the age of Buddha p. 18.
&;: Samuel Johnson's remarks p. 19. Six different means
[$. for ascertaining the date of Buddha's birth p. 19. . The
& ;/ Pali accounts p. 19. The Sanskrit accounts p. 20. The
%: Pauranic accounts p. 21. The Jaina accounts p. 21.
p> ; . The Greek accounts p. 23. .
|f'', : ' : ';';','/ . CHAPTER /V. . ; ''
. IN THE SIXTH CENTURY B.C ... ... 24 32
The Aryan Settlement p. 25. Their life p. 27. The Aryan
Civilisation p. 28. The Vedas p. 29. The three distinct
classes of the Aryans p. 30. Their simple religion p. 30.
CHAPTER V. Pap
BRAHMANISM, VRS., THEISM ... ... ... ... 32 t
The development of caste p. 33. Supremacy of the Brah-
mans and their religion p. 34. The struggle between
the Brahmans and the Kshatriyas p. 34. Dr. Olden-
berg's remarks on the Brahmans p. 36. The monastic
life amongst the Aryans p. 37. An account of the
Upar.ishad p. 38. An account of the God and Soul p. 38.
CHAPTER VI.- -
THEISTS, VRS. PHILOSOPHERS ... ... ... ... 41 <
Hindu system of Philosophy p. 41. Ashwa Ghosa's ac-
count of the various sects p. 45. ..':.
; CHAPTER VII. _
i
THE BUDDHAS ... ' ... ... ... ... ... 47 ;
Buddha's opinion 'about the Buddhas p. 48. The lives of
the previous Buddhas p. 49. The birth of Siddhartha
Goutama p. 55. Genealogical table of the Buddha's
family p. 57.
PART I.
- CHAPTER I. v
THE BIRTH OF SIDDHARTHA ... ..." ..." "... ' " i~
The birth of Buddha p. I. Buddha's mother p. 2. .'',"'
Buddha's father p. 2. A miracle before his birth p. 3.
The prediction of Brahmanas p. 6. That of the rela- ; ~:
lives p. 6. ' : .i'."- ; :...'..
CHAPTER II. ;i 'c
- VOTTTH *. ... ' ... ... ... . /^"'
The astrologer's prediction that he would become a Bud-
dha p. 7. His precaution p. 8. Buddha's, wife p. 8. ;.vf
Buddha shows his personal strength p. 9. Various ac- .' y;
counts on Buddha's wife p. 9. ' : - H-':
( 3 )
CHAPTER III. Page.
FOUR VISIONS ... ... ... ... ... n *6
The first vision of "an old man p. n. His question to the
charioteerp.il. The charioteer's reply p. 12. Buddha
returns p. 12. Buddha sees an ill man p. 13* The third
vision of a dead body p. 14. The fourth vision of a
monk p. 15.
CHAPTER IV.
KlSAGOTAMI AND THE DANCING GlRLS ... ... ... IJ 2O
A son. is born to him p. 17. Buddha calls him Rahula
p. 17. Kisagotami's son p. 18. Dancing girls go to
Buddha and he feels disgust on seeing them asleep p. 19.
CHAPTER V.
HlS THOUGHTS ... ... ... ... .... 2023
His thoughts before he left the house p. 20. Oldenberg's
opinion p. 20. Rhys Davids' opinion p. 21. Buddha's
own account p. 21.
CHAPTER VI.
THE GREAT RENUNCIATION ... ... ... ... 23 2$
Siddhartha leaves his house p. 23. He becomes an ascetic
and goes to Magadha p. 24.
CHAPTER VII.
THE GREAT STRUGGLE ... ... ... ... 25 29
Buddha finds out the teachers and becomes dissatisfied
with the teachings p. 26. Sujata helps him with food
p. 27. Buddha goes to Gaya and sits under the sacred
Bo-tree p. 27.
CHAPTER VIII.
MARA ... ... ... ... ... ... 3034
Buddha's disappointment p. 30. His temptations 30. The
evil one's address to Buddha p. 32.
CHAPTER IX.
THE BUDDHA ... ... ... ... ... ... 3439
Buddha overcomes Mara p. 34. He receives wisdom and
divine eyes p. 34. He becomes Buddha p. 35. The
temptation offered by the evil one p. 37.
( 4 )
CHAPTER X. Page.
HlS FIRST SERMON ... ... ... ... ' 4~~45
Buddha preaches his first sermon in the city of Benares
to his five old companions p. 41. Buddha assumes the
name of Tathagatha p. 42. The two extremes which an
ascetic should avoid p. 43. The noble eight-fold paths
p. 43. His first follower p. 45.
CHAPTER XI.
His FIRST CONVERTS ... ... ... ... ... 46 50
The conversion of Jasa the son of a banker p. 46. The
conversion of Jasa's family p. 47. The conversion of
his four friends p. 48. The expedition of his sixty
Bhikhus p. 49. Jasa remains in Benares p. 49. Buddha
goes to Uruvilla p. 49. Buddha's injunction to his fol-
lowers p. 50.
CHAPTER XII.
KASSYAPA, UPTISSA, SARAIPUTRA ... , ... 50 53
The three famous men of Magadha p. 50. The conver-
sion of the eldest Kassyapa p. 51. The conversion of
two other brothers p. 51. The conversion of Sariputra
and Uptissa in Rajagriha p. 52.
CHAPTER XIII.
HlS POPULARITY AND UNPOPULARITY ... ... ... 53 56
Buddha's great popularity in Magadha p. 53. The king
invites him to his palace p. 54. Many distinguished and
noble youths of Magadha join him p. 55. His un-
popularity p. 55.
CHAPTER XIV.
ARRIVAL AT KAPILAVASTU ... ... ... ... 57 59
Accompanied by his followers Buddha goes to Kapila-
vastu to his father p. 57. Buddha goes out a begging
p. 58. His father remonstrates with him p. 58. His
father and wife become his followers p. 59.
( 5 )
CHAPTER XV. Page.
CONVERSION OP HIS SON AND RELATIVES ... ... 60 62
Buddha goes to the festival of Nanda p. 60. Nanda's
conversion p. 60- Conversion of Buddha's son Rahula
p. 61. His father requests him not to convert a son with-
out the consent of his parents p. 62. He makes conver-
sion from amongst the Kolyans p. 62.
CHAPTER XVI.
His MISSION WORK ... ... ... ... ... 62 69
A Summary of his mission works from the fourth year
P 63.
CHAPTER XVII.
HlS FRIENDS ... ... ... ... ... 70 74
The great merchant Anathpinda p. 70. Visaka the rich
lady of Sravasti p. 72.
CHAPTER XVIII.
His ENEMIES ... ... ... ... ... ... 74 76
Davadatta his own cousin p. 74. His attempt to obtain
the leadership p. 75. His end p. 76.
CHAPTER XIX.
His MODE oy LIFE ... ... ... ... ... 77 78
His daily life p. 77.
CHAPTER XX.
HlS MODE OF PREACHING ... ... ... ... 7Q 8l
Buddha's dialect p. 79. An extract from his discourse on
fire p. 79. Conversation and dialogue p. 80. His teach-
ing by similes p. 81.
CHAPTER XXI.
HlS LAST TOUR ... ... ... ... ... 82 86
Buddha's return to Rajagriha p. 82. He goes to Nalanda
with his followers p. 83. Buddha's address to Pataliputra
disciples p. 83. His prediction of the city p. 84. Bud-
dha's arrival at Kotigrama p. 85. He goes to Vesali
and lives at a mango grove belonging to a courtezan
Ambapalli p. 85. Buddha honours her p. 86.
( 6 )
CHAPTER XXII. Page.
HlS LAST DAYS ... ... 879*
Buddha falls ill p. 87. Ananda asks for instructions for
the order p. 87. Buddha's last injunction p. 89. His
serious illness p. 91.
CHAPTER XXIII.
His LAST ACT ... ... ... .... ..... 9-1 95,
Ananda requests him not to die in jungles p. 92. He asks
Buddha how to dispose of his remains p. 93. Conver-
sion of Subhadra p. 94.
CHAPTER XXIV.
HlS DEATH ..... ... ... ... .... ... 94 99
The last word of Tathagatha p. 97. He enters into medi-
tation p. 97. His death p. 99.
CHAPTER XXV.
His REMAINS ... ... ... ..... ... ... 100 103
Ananda informs the Mallas of Kushinagore of the death of
Buddha p. 100. The cremation ceremony p. 101. The
distribution of remains p. 102-.
PART II.
DHARMA.
CHAPTER I.
BUDDHIST METAPHYSICS ... ... ... ... 105116
The five different properties or qualities p. 106. The Bud-
dhist conception of a soul p. 108. The Buddha's answer
about the existence of atma p. 113.
CHAPTER II.
KARMA AND TRANSMIGRATION ... ... ... ... 116123.
The Buddha's description of the birth of a man p. 116.
The Buddhistic interpretation of ignorance p. 117.
Karma p. 118. The Buddhistic scriptures on Karma
and Transmigration p. 121.
f ( -7 .) : ' ; :, , .
CHAPTER III. ! Page.
NIRVANA ... ... ... ; ... ,^,r..; ... 123 143
':."' Rhys Davids' interpretation of Nirvana p. 124.; Spence
Hardy's interpretation p. 126. The properties of Nirvana
p. 127. Oldenberg and Max Muller p. 128. The Bud-
dha's idea of Nirvana p. 132.
CHAPTER IV.
THE PATH OF NIRVANA... .... ... ... ... 144151
The four stages of Nirvana p. 144. The five gradations
of beings p. 145. The supernatural powers p. 148. The
ten things that accompany the body p. 150.
CHAPTER V.
How TO ATTAIN RAHATSHIP ... ... ... ... 152 157
The five principal modes of meditation p. 152. The five
^principles of Dhyana p. 155. The five divisions .;; of
':. Dhyana p. 155. The two kinds of $aniadhip;; 150". V
;i CHAPTER VI. ?:? :>
BUDDHIST MORALITY BEATITUDE ;::' ;.. ; ... 158 167
The distinction between the laity and monks p. 158.
Buddha's moral teachings p. 159. '?
CHAPTER VII.
PRECEPTS TEN SINS ... ... ... ... ... 167171
Three sins of the body p. 167. Four of the speech p. 168.
Three of the mind p. 168. The taking- of life p. 168.;
Thefts p. 168. Adultery p. 169. Lying p. 169. Slander
p. 169. Unprofitable conversation p. 169. Covetousness
p. 170. Scepticism p. 170. General p., 170.
CHAPTER VIII.
MUTUAL RELATIONS ... .... ... ... ...171174
Parents and children p. 172. Pupils and Teachers p. 172.
Husband and wife p. 172. Friends and companions
p. 173. Masters and servants p. 173. Laymen and
monks p. 174.
(8 )
; CHAPTER ix.
THE BUDDHIST RITES AND CEREMONIES...
The deification of the Buddha and the Bo-tree p.
conversation between Nagasena and king Malinda on
this subject p. 175.
PART III.
SANGHA.
CHAPTER I. ,;:j|j|
WHAT is SANGHA ... ... ... ... ... 179 iSafffl
The formation of the Sangha p. 180. The laws regulating
their conduct p. 181.
I- .: :.''''
CHAPTER II.
ADMISSION INTO THE ORDER ... ... ... ... 182 193 iff
Those debarred from the order p. 182. The vow taken ||:
before entering into the order p. 183. The ten precepts if
p. 183. The noviciate p. 183. The principal duties of if
of a . Sramenara p. 184. The fifteen precepts for the 1
Sramenara p. 186. The works to be read by them ft
' i ^"v
p. 186. The eight benefits of a recluse p. 186. The ten f|
temptations of a Sramenara p. 187. The four great rules
p. 188. The four great prohibitions p. 189. The order
of monks p. 190. The order of Nuns p. 191.
"
CHAPTER III. , 1
.,
CELEEACY AND AUSTERITIES ... ... - ... . "... 193
The fifteen forbidden practices p. 194; " The injunctions to
the monks p. 195. The thirty -two forbidden subjects of I
talk p. 196. .The various states^bi linen p, 196. The
manifestations thereof p. 197.
( 9 )
CHAPTER IV. Page,
POVERTY AND MENDICANCY ... ... ... ... 199 203
The eight articles to be possessed by a Bhikshu before his
ordinations p. 199. Prohibitions : p. 200. Forbidden
places p. 200. Two ways of seeking alms p. 201. The
four great virtues p. 202. The rewards of gifts p. 203.
CHAPTER V.
THE DIET ... ... ... ... ... ... 204 208
The regulations for diet p. 204. The ten modes of defile-
ment p. 206. A few strict regulations for superior
Bhikshus p. 208.
CHAPTER VI.
DRESS AND DWELLING ... ... ... ... ... 208 214
Injunctions for the dress of the Bhikshus p. 208. The
advantages of the ascetic yellow robe p. 210. Eight
objections to reside in a house p. 211. Advantages of
residing under a tree p, 212. Regulation for the dwelling
of the members of the Sangha p. 212.
CHAPTER VII.
THE THIRTEEN ORDINANCES ... ... ... ... 21$ 22O
The thirteen ordinances p. 215. The first ordinance p. 216.
The second ordinance p. 216. The third ordinance p. 216.
The fourth ordinance p. 217. The fifth ordinance p. 217.
The sixth ordinance p. 217. ; The seventh ordinance
p. 217. The eighth ordinance p. 218. The ninth ordi-
nance p. 218. The trees under which a Bhikshu should
lie p. 218. The tenth ordinance p. 219. The eleventh
ordinance p. 219. The twelfth ordinance p. 219. The
thirteenth ordinance p. 220.
CHAPTER VIII.
REGULATIONS AND THEIR ORIGIN ... ... ... 220 227
Sleep p. 220; Tonsure p. 221. Obedience p. 221. Dis-
cipline p. 222. The origin of the regulations p. 224.
CHAPTER IX.
THE CULTUS ... ... ... ... ... ... 227231
The fast day p* 228- The enumeration of transgressions
p. 229.
CHAPTER X. Page.
SRAMANAS, PAST AND PRESENT ... ... ... ... 231 238
The life of the Sramanas as described in the Theragatha
p. 232. Life of the Great Master p. '232. His most
important head quarters p. 233. The Ceylon Bhikshus
p. 234. The Burmah Sramanas p. 235. Nepal Sramanas
p. 236. Thibet Sramanas p. 237. Japan Sramanas
P- 238.
PART IV.
THE HISTORY OF BUDDHISM.
CHAPTER I.
THE FIRST BUDDHIST COUNCIL ... ... ... 239244
The Council at Rajagriha p. 239. Theraveda and its
subjects p. 240. The ten indulgences of the Buddhists
p. 241. The second Buddhist Council p. 242. The divi-
sion into the Northern and Southern Schools p. 242.
The Dipavansa account of the Northern School p. 243.
CHAPTER II.
.ASOKA AND BUDDHISM ... ... ... ... ... 244 251
Life of Asoka p. 246. Asoka's conversion into Buddhism
p. 247. Asoka's zeal for the new religion p. 250. The
great council at Pataliputra p. 251. The edict em-
bodying the deliberations of the council p. 251.
CHAPTER III.
SPREAD OP SOUTHERN BUDDHISM ... ... ... 252256
The Buddhism of Ceylon as contained in Mahavansa and
Dipavansa p. 252. King Tissa p. 252. The Buddhist
stupa in the city of Anuradhpura p. 252. The mis-
sionary work of Mahendra in Ceylon p. 252. The
conversion of Tissa's queen and female relations into
Buddhism p. 253. King Dasta Gamini p. 254. Walta
Gamini p. 254. The largest Dagoba in Ceylon p. 254.
The work of Buddha Ghosha p. 254.
( II )
CHAPTER IV. Page.
NORTHERN BUDDHISM ... ... ... ... ... 256 264
The conception of the Northern School p. 259. Mythology
of Buddhism p. 260. Buddhist Trinity p. 261. Dhyani
Buddhas p. 262. Adi Buddha p. 263. Tantrik system
p. 263. Esoteric Buddhism p. 264,
CHAPTER V.
RITUALISTIC BUDDHISM ... ... ... ... 264 272
The increase of stupas p. 265. The images of the Buddha
p. 265. Images of the Buddhist triad p. 266. Lamaism
p. 267. Mongolian mode of the election of the Grand
Lama p. 268.
CHAPTER VI.
SPREAD OP NORTHERN BUDDHISM ... ... ... 272 279
Spread of Buddhism beyond the borders of India p. 273.
King Kanishka of Kashmir p. 273. Buddhism in Thibet
p. 274. Buddhism in Mongolia p. 276. Buddhism in
China, Japan, Corea p. 278.
INTRODUCTION.
*<-
CHAPTER I.
IS BUDDHA A MYTH?
THAT great French student of Indian antiquity, Emile
Senart, asks, " Has Buddha ever lived ? There are innumer-
able legendary narratives which the Buddhist Scriptures
relate concerning the Great Founder of their faith, but has
that Buddha ever lived whom these narratives seem to pre-
sent to us, though in a superhuman form and in miraculous
surroundings ?"* And Emile Senart answers this question
with an absolute No. Like many other great oriental scholars
of Europe, who seem to take a peculiar pleasure in seeing
allegories and myths in everything found in the Scriptures of
the Hindus, M. Senart, after laborious study, stupendous re-
searches and ingenious methods, seeks to trace step by step
in the history of Buddha's life the history of the Sun-Hero.
Dividing the legend into twelve divisions, M. Senart thus
sums up the history of the Sun-Buddha.f
/. Resolution to quit heaven : The Buddha, before his
birth, is a hero, the chief of the gods ; to speak correctly, he
is not born ; he incarnates himself among men for their good
and for their salvation.
* See Senart's Essai Sur le legende on Buddha, p. 504,
f Ibid, pp. 504507.
C a ]
2. Conception /His conception is altogether miraculous.
He has no mortal father ; his descent from heaven takes place
under the symbol 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.
j. Birth : He is born, as the. 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 the half-obscure Goddess of the Vapours of
the morning, dies away from the first hour in the dazzling radi-
ance 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,
illuminating the world and proclaiming his supremacy, to-
which all the gods form a retinue and render homage.
4. Trials: Growing up amidst the "young daughters"
of the air, among whom his power and splendour are hidden 1
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 : With him the young
nymphs have grown up ; the companions of his games become
now his wives and sweet-hearts. The god delays and forgets
himself in his heavenly palaces amidst the delights of his-
cloudy harem.
6. Departure : But his hour has come. He tears him-
self violently, miraculously, away from his splendid prison ;
the heavenly charger leaps over the walls of the demon for-
tresses and traverses the river of the air.
7. Austerities: : From that moment begins the struggle.
The hero first appears tired and enfeebled, wandering as he
is in the forest of space. Soon does he regain his strength in;
E... -I
111 ]
the heavenly pastures, where he drinks ambrosia and bathes
in the water of immortality.
8. Defeat of Mara : 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 his struggles against darkness the benificent
hero remains the conqueror. The gloomy army of Mara,
broken and rent, is scattered. The Apsaras, the daughters
of the Demon, the last light vapours which float in heaven,
try in vain to clasp and retain theVanquisher. He disengages
himself from their embrace, repulses them. They writhe,
Jose their form, and vanish.
p. Buddhahood : He appears then in all his glory and
in his sovereign splendour. The god has attained the summit
of his course. It is the moment of triumph.
10. The Wheel : Free from every obstacle and from
every adversary, he sets in motion across space his disc with
a thousand rays having avenged the attempts of his eternal
foe.
//. Nirvana : A little later he reaches the end of 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 melee
of the clouds of evening.
The famous Buddhistic scholar, Rhys Davids, remarks,
" At M. Senart's hand the myth has marvellous grace and
beauty, but the reader would do wrong to conclude from the
above poetical language that M. Senart regards the whole
story of Goutama's life as a Sun-myth debased into prose, or
the whole of Buddhism, though its adherents know it not, r
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 in
[ iv ]
which it rests."* In M. Senart's opinion a real Buddha
did exist, but the fancy of his followers has attached to his
person the great allegorical ballad of the life of the Sun-God
in human guise the life of the man Buddha is thus com-
pletely forgotten.
Is then the life of the great Buddha, who is even now
adored by the three fourths of the human race,t really fallen
living in various
number of the
Total
Comparative Table.
Parsees
Jews ... . ... .
Hindus
Muhammidans
Christians ... ... ...
Buddhists ...
See Rhys Davids' Buddhism, pp. 4 6.
* See Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 193.
f We give below the number of Buddhists now
countries, as well as a Comparative Table showing the
followers of other religions.
Ceylon ... ... ...
Burmah
Siam
Anam
China ... ... ...
Japan ... ... ... ...
Tibet
Mongolia ...
Manchuria ...
Nepal ...
Kashmir
Bhutan and Sikim
Koria
Lieu Khen Isles
British Possessions
Russia ,,
Dutch
5,447.831
... 10,000,000
... 12,000,000
... 414,686,994
... 32.794.897
6,000,000
... 2,000,000
3,000,000
500,000
200,000
1,000,000
8,000,000
1,000,000
5,000,000
600,000
50,000
... 500.000,000
150,000
1,200,000
... 160,000,000
... 155,000,000
... 327,000,000
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into oblivion without the least chance of its ever coming again
before the world ? Fortunately for the cause of history and
truth, another great scholar, Dr. Oldenberg of Germany, took
the trouble of refuting the formidable array of arguments and
researches put forward by M. Senart. Dr. Oldenberg has
proved beyond all doubt that the life of the great Buddha still
exists in the legends and fables now extant amongst the
Buddhists, both of the Southern as well as of the Northern
Schools }* specially in those traditions which are now pre-
served, and were evidently written only a few years atfer
the death of the Great Master, in the Gatha and Pali lan-
guages. We would rather quote our author's own words
which he has used to prove the historical basis on which the
story of the Buddha stands. He writes : t " One cannot
read the ingenious efforts of M. Senart without admiring the.
energy with which the French scholar constrains the Veda as
well as the Indian Epic, the literature of the Greeks as well
as that of the Northern races, no small constraint was neces-
sary here to bear witness to his Solar Buddha. But one is
astonished that this so extensive reading has not availed itself,
when dealing with the legends of Buddha, of one field, which
would have presented not less important sources of infor-
mation than the Homeric hymns and the Edda, the oldest
available literature of Buddhism itself, the oldest declaration
of the body of the Buddha's disciples regarding the personality
of their Master. Senart bases his criticism almost wholly on
* From the very early days of Buddhism, it is found that it branched
off into two distinct branches now known as the Northern School and
the Southern School of Buddhism ; the former followed by the northern
people, i.e., of Tibet, Tartary, China, Japan, &c., the latter by the
Singhalese, Burmese, Siamese, &c. The story of the Buddha's life and
his teachings are found in the Pali language amongst the Southern
Buddhists and that in the Gatha dialect and Sanskrit language amongst
the Northern Buddhists.
f See Oldenberg's Buddha, His Life, His Doctrine, his Order, pp.
7475-
the legendary biography, Lalita Vistara, current amongst ;
the Northern Buddhists in Tibet, China and Nepal. But
would it be allowable for any one who undertook to write a
criticism on the life of Christ, to set aside the New Testament
and follow solely the apocryphal gospels or any legendary
works whatsoever of the Middle ages ? Or does the law of
criticism which requires us to trace back tradition to its oldest
form before forming an opinion on it, not deserve to be
so closely observed in the case of Buddhism as in that of
Christianity?"
" The most ancient traditions of Buddhism are those pre-
served in Ceylon and studied by the monks of that island up
to the present day. While in India itself the Buddhist texts
experienced new fortunes from century to century, while the
ceremonies of the original Church were vanishing continually
more and more behind the poetry and fiction of later genera-
tions, the Church of Ceylon remained true to the simple,
homely Theraveda, the word of the Ancients.* It is to
the Pali traditions we must go in preference to all other
sources, if we desire to know whether any information is
obtainable regarding the Buddha and his life."
After completely refuting the arguments of M. Sanart,
Dr. Oldenberg remarks : " If we now abstract from the
traditions those of the catagories indicated, which are wholly
unhistorical, or are at least suspected to be of unhistorical
character, we then have left us the very pitch of these stories
regarding the Buddha, a thread of facts which we may claim to
* Immediately after the Buddha's death, a Council .of the Buddhist
Monks, numbering 500, was held near Rajgriha. Kasyapa, the most
revered of Goutama's disciples, presided. There did they all recite their
great Scriptures, Thera Veda., following Upali, when the subject was
the Rules of the Order, following Ananda when the subject was the
general rules for the Buddhists. In this Council Buddhistic Philosophy
was also propounded by Anurudha. See Venaya Texts, Vol, HI,
Book XI.
[ vfi ]
be a perfectly reliable) though it may be a Very meagre,
historical acquisition."
Further more to refute the arguments of these learned
savants, who do not unfortunately see any thing historical in
the story of Buddha, we have now found some writings written
in the very language which is now dead, but which was the
vernacular of the people amongst whom Buddha lived and
preached. In this language has been left Written some works
relating to the Great Master's life and teachings. If they
were not written when he was actually living, they must have
been written immediately after his death; for we know this
language, which is called Gatha, became dead and changed
into a new language, which is now known by the name of
Pali,* soon after tfre Buddha's death.
Burnouf describes the Gatha language " to be a barbarous
Sanskrit, iri which the forms of ages, of Sanskrit, Pali and
. Prakrit, appear to be confounded." He attributes it to the
ignorance of the Sanskrit language of the writers of these
ballads, t
Dr. Rajendra Lala Mitra remarks : " The more reason-
able conjecture appears to be that the Gatha is the produc-
tion of bards, Who were contemporaries or immediate succes-
sors of Sakya and who recounted to the devout congregations
of the Prophet of Magadha the sayings and doings of their
great Teacher in popular and easy flowing verses, which in
* This new dialect which is called Gatha is found in the Sanskrit
Buddhist Literature of Nepal, the discovery of which is due to Mr. B. H.
Hodgson. He collected three sets of the manuscripts of this literature,
one of which he presented to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, another to
the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain, and the third to the Asiatic
Society of Paris. The first of these remains intombed, the second has
been catalogued, but the third fell into the hands of Burnouf, who drew
from it the materials for his invaluable work named Histoire du Bud-
disme Indien. We shall describe some of these works in the next
chapter.
f See Histoire du Buddisme Indien, p. 105.
I- ^1
t vni ]
course of time came to be regarded as the most authentic
source of all informations connected with the founder of Bud-
dhism."*
Proiessor Max Mullerf and Dn Weber J has adopted
this theory of the Gatha dialect. Professor Lassen thinks
otherwise. He has supported Burnouf's hypothesis. Dr.
Muir remarks: "The peculiarities of the Gatha dialect
are so anamolous that it is very difficult to explain them.
In any case it is clear that, if not a spoken language,
it was at least a written language, in a remote age."||
Professor Benfey supports Dr. Rajendra Lala.^f But all
the oriental scholars however have agreed in saying that it is
an intermediate dialect between the Pali and the pure Sans-
krit. Now as the Pali was the vernacular language of India
within three hundred years after the death of Buddha,
i.e. when great Asoka was holding his sovereign sway all over
India,** it would not be unreasonable to say that the Gatha,
* See Indo-Aryan Vol. II. p. 290.
f See MaxMuller's Chips, Vol. II. p. 290.
J See Indesche Studien Vol. III. pp. 139 140.
See Indischi Alt II. p. 9.
|| See Muir's Sanskrit Texts II. p. 126.
^f See Gottengen Geleherte Auziegen for 1861, p. 134.
** We get the vernacular of Asoka's time from his inscriptions found
in various {-places of India. Regarding Asoka's inscriptions, which were
written in the vernacular language of his time, Professor H. H. Wilson
says : " The language itself is a kind of Pali, offering for the greater
portion of the words formsi analogous to those which are modelled by the
rules of the Pali Grammer still in use. There are, however, many differ-
ences, some of which arise from a closer adherence to Sanskrit, others
from possible local peculiarities, indicating a yet unsettled state of the
language." (See Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society XII. pp. .236
238.) Mr. Prinsep remarks, " The language differs from every written
idiom and is, as it were, intermediate between Sanskrit and Pali."
We shall quote below a few specimens of these different languages, so
that our readers may compare one with the other.
Which preceded it, was the dialect of the people at the time
of the Great Prophet's advent. From what has been stated
above, it must be obvious that the Gathas are the earliest
works on the life of the Founder of Buddhism, and they were
compiled immediately after his death, if not during his life-
time.
Dr. Oldenberg asks : " Who would admit it possible for
the memory of Joseph and Mary, of Peter and John, of Judas
and Pilate, of Nazareth and Golgotha to be forgotten or sup-
planted by inventions in the early Christian Churches of the
first Century?"* If so, we ask, who will not admit that
what is written about the great Buddha in the Gatha and Pali
dialects, -languages one of which he himself spoke and the
Sanskrit :
?ra cr ^ i
<TT
Gatha :
Asoka's Inscription :
IrIT H^*T ^WfT ^^HR ^TTrTr ^TPff
Pali :
n
Readers will mark how gradually Sanskrit turns into the vernacular.
* See Oldenberg's Buddha, p. 92.
2
other of which his countrymen spoke within three hundred
years after his death ; is much historically based ?"
It is natural that every word that fell from" the lips of the
Great Master was, as it were, devoured by his disciples. They
got it by heart and repeated it by day and by night, in their"
begging excursions, in their public preachings, and in their
private discourses. It is natural that the beloved disciples of
the great Buddha would put into colloqual verse the chief
events of his life and every word of his lips, and sing them
from house to house. Such things do even now take place
in India, it must have taken place at the time of the Great
Prophet.
We have then the chief events of the great Buddha's life
and every word that fell from his lips in these original Gathas
and Pali Sutras. We can, therefore, write the story of his
life on a sure basis and give his teachings as they were really
delivered by him.- But what are these original Gathas and
Pali Sutras ? We shall discuss them in the next Chapter.
CHAPTER II.
AUTHORITIES ON THE LIFE OF BUDDHA.
What are then the authorities on the life of Goutama ?
We do not possess now the Theraveda which was recited
by the monks in the First Council immediately after the
death of their great Master.* We have now two sets of the
* Rhys Davids in his Buddhism, p 214 says: "The Southern
Buddhists believe that the Theraveda is identical with the Three Pitakas
as now exist in Ceylon. This cannot, however, be the case. Some
parts of the Pitakas however much of the Theraveda may contain, other
parts bear evident marks of later composition.
Buddhist Sacred Books, one belonging to the Northern School
and the other belonging to the Southern School. The South-
erners have their Tri-Pitakas and the Northerners have their
Maha Vaipulya* and both claim that the Theraveda remains in
their respective Sacred Books. The Dipavansa, the celebrated
Pali work, gives the following divisions of the Theraveda.^
1. Sutta (discourses).
2. Geyya (mixed prose and verse).
3. Veyyakarana (exposition).
4. Gatha (verse).
5. Udana (songs of exultation).
6; Itivathaka (words of the Blessed One),
7. Jataka (stories).
8. Abhuta (mysteries).
9. Vedalla (long treatises).
We now give a complete list of the three Pitakas which
are considered to be sacred by all the Southern Buddhists of
Ceylon, Burma, Siam, Assam etc. Readers will find they are
quite, different from the above.
Pitakas are three in number and therefore they are called
Tri-Pitakas^ namely (i) Sutta, (2) Vinaya, and (3) Abhi-
dharma. They are all in Pali.J
* They are also called Nava Dharma. See Aitihasika Rahasya by
Ramdas Sen.
f Dipavansa, Canto IV. Sloka 17. See also Hardy's Manual of
Bhuddhism, p. 175. Childer's Dictionary, Alma's Pali Grammar
pp. 60-61., Barnouf pp. 51-63.
J Professor MaxMuller in his Introduction to the translation of the
Dhammapada thus speaks of the Tri-Pitakas. " The Pitaka consists
of five Nikayas, the Digha-Nikaya, the Majjhima-Nikaya, the Sam-
yutta Nikaya, the Anguttara Nikaya and the Khuddaka Nikaya. The
fifth or the Khuddaka Nikaya comprehends the following works : (i)
Kuddakapatha (2) Dhammapada (3) Udana (4) Itivattaka (5) Sutta
Nipata (6) Vimanvattu (7) Petavattu (8) Theragatha, (9) Theri-
gatha (ro) Jataka (n) Niddesa (12) Patisambhida (13) Apadana
(14) Buddhavansa (15) Chariya Pitaka."
A. SOTTA : GENERAL DISCOURSES.
1. Digha Nikaya contains a collection of 34 long trea-
tises, one of which is Maha Parinibbana Sutta. It gives a
detailed description of the events of the last three months
before Buddha's death.*
2. Majjhima Nikaya contains 152 treatises.
3. Samyutta Nikaya contains some connected Sutras.
4. Amguttara Nikaya is the largest book in the three
Pitakas, dealing on miscellaneous subjects.
5. Khuddaka Nikaya contains
(a) Khuddakapatha, containing short passages.f
(b) Dhammapada, containing scripture verses. J
(c) Udana contains songs of Exultation, sung by Buddha.
(d) Itivathuka contains one hundred ten sayings of the
great Master.
(e) Sutta Nipata contains 70 religious poems.
(f) Viman Vattu describes the celestial mansions,
(g.) Petavattu describes the Spirits.
(k) Thera-Gatha contains poems composed by the monks.
(i) Theri-Gatha contains poems composed by the Nuns.
(/ ) Jataka contains 550 stories of Buddha, ff
(k) Nidesa is a commentary on Sutta Nipata.
"According to another division, however, the whale Buddhist Canon
consists of five Nikayas, the Digha Nikaya, the Majjhima Nikaya^
the Samyutta Nikaya, the Auguttara Nikaya and the fifth Khuddaka
Nikaya, which Khuddaka Nikaya is then made to comprehend whole
of the Vina3'a and Abhidhamma together with the fifteen books begin-
ning: with the Khuddaka patha."
* M. Burnouf, M. Gogerly and Made Grimblot have translated in
French these Suttas.
f This has been translated into English by Mr. Childers.
% This has been translated into English by Professor Max Muller
as Vol. XI of the Sacred Books of the East.
This has been translated into German by Professor Fousboll.
|| This has been translated into English by Rhys Davids as
" The Buddhist Birth Stories."
[ xiii ]
(/) Patisambhida describes the intuitive sights possessed
by the Buddhist monks.
(m) Apadana contains stories about the Buddhist monks.
(n) Buddha- Vansa contains short Life of the 24 previous
Buddhas along with that of the Goutama Buddha.
(o) Cariya Pitaka contains poetical versions of some of
the Jataka stories.
B. VINAYA DISCIPLINE FOR THE ORDER.
1. Sutta Vibhangya contains Patimokha with commen-
tary ; it narrates all the hard rules and regulations fixed for
the monks of the Buddhist Order.
2. The Khandakas.*
3. The Parivarsapatha.
C. ABHIDHAMMA PSYCHOLOGY OF BUDDHISM.
1. Dhamma-Sangani describes the conditions in different
worlds.
2. Vibhanga contains eighteeen treatises on different
subjects.
3. Kathavattu contains arguments on one thousand
controverted points.
4. Paggala-Pannati contains explanations of personal
qualities.
5. Dhatu-Khatha contains discourses on elements.
6. Jamaka deals on apparent contradictions found in the
world.
7. Patthana deals on the course of existence.f
It is needless to say this stupendous mass of literature
cannot possibly be the Theraveda which was recited in the
Buddhist Council just after Buddha's death, though no doubt
the subjects, dealt in the Theraveda as they existed, now lie
* Many of these Pali Texts have now been published by the Pali
Text Society.
f See Bhanavara V. .
[ xiv ]
buried in them. Besides these there are two most notable
Books in the Pali language, namely Divavansa and Maha-
vansa, which may be termed the Histories of Buddhism.
From them we know that the Sacred Books of the Buddhists
went through many additions and alterations in course of
time. Even one hundred years did not pass after the death
of the Great Master before his followers fell out amongst
themselves. We find that just one hundred years after the
great Buddha's death two Councils were successively held
by the monks at Vaisali, and the result was that two distinct
branches were created of the Buddhists then living, the
branches which later on took the name of the Northern and
Southern Buddhists. The author of Dipavansa thus re-
marks* :
" The monks of the Great Council* overturned religion.
They broke up the old Scriptures and made a new Recen-
sion. A Discourse put in one place they put in another.
They distorted the sense and the doctrine of the five
Nikayas. These monks knew not what had been spoken
at length,
And what had been spoken concisely,
What is the obvious and what is the higher meaning.
They attached new meanings to new words as if spoken
by the Buddha.
They destroyed much of the law by holding to the shadow
of the letter.
They partly rejected Sutta and Vinaya and Text,
The Parivaraf and the Commentary and the six books
of the Abhidamma,
* When the Orthodox Party held a Council (who later on became
the Southern Buddhists), the others in number larger than they held
another Council which became known by the name of the Maha Sangiti,
(Great Council).
t The last book of the Vinaya text.
- The Patisambhida, the Nidesa and the portion of the
jataka.*
So much they put aside and made others in their placed
The Mahavansa says :
"Heretics assumed the yellow robe in order to share in its
advantages ; whenever they had opinions of their own, they
gave them forth as the doctrines of the Buddha ; they acted
according to their own will and not according to what was
right"
All this evidently shows that the Buddhist Sacred Books
passed through many additions and alterations, but at the
same time it is certain the followers of the Buddha never
lost sight of their Master, His Life, his Preachings and his
invaluables Discourses. Whatever changes might have come
over the Buddhists, they always fondly cherished their Great
Master's words. Thus his two great followers, through long
after, have given us two elaborate Histories of Buddhism in
the two famous books, Dipvansa and Mahavansa. We get a
complete history of the last three months oLthe Buddha's life
in Mahaparinibbana Suita. We get many stories about him
in the Jatakas ; we know much of him from the Dhammapada.
The opening chapters of the Mahavagga in Vinaya Sutta
give us a connected recital of the events following Goutama's
attainment of Nirvana down to the inauguration of his great
Order. We also get his complete first sermon in the Dhamma
Chakka Pabbitana Sutta.f
* These are the three well-known books of Khuddaka Niyaka, the
number fifth of the Sutta Pitaka.
f The Revd. Spence Hardy has written his " Manual of Bud-
dhism" based on various Singhalese works, which took their inspiration
from these Pali Buddhistic Records. These original Pali Records,
however, contain but incidental references relating to the period before
the day on which Goutama attained Nirvana. These fragments of the
Buddha's life have also been collected together in Dr. Oldenberg'a
"Buddha, His Life, His Doctrine, His Order.
C xvi 3
Let us now see what We can get of the history of the great
Gautama from the Sacred Books of the Northern Buddhists;
The Northern Buddhism may be divided into three distinct
periods of development. The earliest includes the period
during which the teachings of Buddha are brought north-
wards, and there dessiminatedi This is called the " Little
Vehicle" (Hinayana). The seemed period is that during
which the expanded form of belief denoted as the "Great
Vehicle," (Mahayana) was accepted^ Thirdly was the infi-
nitely expanded form (Vaipulya) which finally triumphed over
the others. These books were . all originally written in the
Sanskrit and the Gatha languages from which they were tran-
slated into Tibetan, Chinese and Japanese.
Amongst the Sacred Books of the Northern Buddhists ori-
ginally written in the Sanskrit and the Gatha languages, from
which in course of time they were translated into Tibetian,
Chinese and Japanese, there is a complete Biography of
Buddha named the Lalita Vistara. This is what Rhys Davids
says of Lalita Vistara.
" The Lalita Vistara is the standard Sanskrit work of
the Northern Buddhists which carries the life of Goutama
down to the time when he came openly forward 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 existed
in the 6th century A.D. How much older the present form
of the Sanskrit work may be is quite uncertain.* The Sans-
krit text and part of a English translation by Rajendra Lala
Mittra has been published at Calcutta and Professor Lefmaun
of Hedelberg has published a translation into German."f
There is another complete Biography of Goutama Buddha
* See Senart, page 497 -and Journal Asiatique, 1866, p. 275.
f See Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. n.
called Buddha Charita written in poetry by Ashwaghosha
Bodhisatta who flourished about one thousand years after the
great Nirvana. It was originally written in Sanskrit, but was
afterwards translated into Tibetian, Chinese and Japanese as
well as in Pali> Shinghalese, Burmese &c. The Chinese trans"
lation was done by Dharmaraksha in about 400 A. D. It has
now been translated into English by Samuel Beal in the Sacred
Books of the East* Mr. Beal says : ^"The most reliable of
the lives of this Buddha known in China is that translated in
the present volume, the Buddha Charita. It was no doubt
written by the Bodhisatta Ashwaghosha who was the twelfth
Buddhist Patriarch and a contemporary of Kaniska. Tran-
slators in China attribute both this book and the work which
I have called the " Sermons of Ashwaghosha" (Chinese : Fa-
Chwang-yan-king-leen) to him, and there is no reason to
question it. Kumaragiva who translated the latter work was
too familiar with Indian subjects to be mistaken in this
particular, and Dharmaraksha was also a native of India and
deeply versed in Buddhist literature. Both these translators
lived in about 400 A.D^'t
Besides these two complete biographies of Buddha in the
Sanskrit language, there are many other works in the Sans-
krit Whence translated into Tibetian, Chinese and Japanese,
which are considered as their Scriptures by the Northern
* Besides this work which is called in the Chinese " Fo-Sho-
Hing-Tsan-king," there are no less than 14 other biographies of Buddha
in the Chinese. But they are all either translations or adaptations of
the original Latzta Vistara or Buddha Charita. We give below the
Chinese names of these 14 Works. (I) Fo-pen-hing-king, (2) Sin-hing-
pen-ki-king, (3) Sian-pen-ke-king, 1(4) Ta-Tsen-sni-ying-pen-ku-
king, (5) Kung-pen-ki-king, (6) Phee-yan-king, (7) Kwo-hu-yin-
ko-king, (8) Kwo-hu-hien-tsai-yin-ko-king, (9) Fo-pen-hing-king, (10)
Fang-kwang-tai-Kwang-yan-king, (n) Sang-kia-Io-cha-sho-tsih-fo-
hing-king, (12) Fo-pen-hing-tsih-king, (13) Fo-shwo-chang-hu-mo-ho-
ti-ktng and (14) Shin-lung-yaon-hi-king.
| See Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XIX, pp. XXX--XXXI.
3
r * T"
I XVU1 ]
i
Buddhists. We can find many incidents of great Gouta'ma's
life scattered through all these works. We mention below
some of their names;
(i) Asta Sahasrika, (2) Ganda Buha, (3) Dashavumishwarav
(4) Samadhiraja, (5) Lankavatara, (6) Sadharma Pundarika,
(7) Tathagatha-Gujhaka, (8) Suvarna Pravasha y (9) Prajna-
paramita, (10) Abhidharma, (n) Sariputra Sutra, (12) Karan-
dabuha, (13) Dharmaskandapada, (14) Dhafmabodha, (15)
Dharma Sangraha, (16) Venoya Sutra, (17) Mahanya Sutra,
(18) Mahanya Sutralankara, (19) Jatakamala, (20) Anuman-
khanda, (21) Chaitya Mahatma, (22) Buddha-Sikkhasamuchaya,
(23) Buddhapala Tantra, (24) Sankirna Tantra, etc.
We need not say, so far as it is possible, we have
taken the help of all these works to write this biography of
Goutama Buddha. We have Consulted each and every one of 1
them and accepted those portions which stand on undisputed
historical basis.
CHAPTER III.
THE AGE OF BUDDHA,
RHYS DAVIDS writes : " The first question that arises in
giving a sketch of the history of Buddhism is that of the date
of Goutama's death, a question so intricate and uncertain
that I have decided not to enter upon it at any length. There
is not sufficient space at our disposal to make the question
of the Buddhist era clear. I can only refer, therefore, to the
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 within a few
years of 412 B.C."*
* Rhys Davids' Buddhism p. p. 212-213*
[ xix ]
Samuel Johnson remarks : " The Tibetians have as many
as fourteen accounts of the time of Goutama's death, ranging
from 2422 B.C. and 546 B.C. The Chinese and Japanese
insist on the tenth century and the Singhalese on the sixth
century B.C. This last date 543 B.C., substantiated by an
agreement among the Southern Buddhists, has been generally
accepted by European scholars (Lassen, St. Hillaire, Burnouf
Weber and Max Muller) as approximately correct."*
We thus find ourselves in a great difficulty to fix the date
of the Buddha's birth and death. We further find there are
altogether six different means to come, at least approximate-
ly, 'to the date of the great Prophet's death, namely :
(1) The Pali accounts, to be found in Ceylon, Burma,
Siam, &c.
(2) ^The Sanskrit accounts, translations of which to
be found in Tibet, China, Japan, &c.
(3) The Pouranick accounts, as mentioned in the
various Hindu Puranas.
(4) The Jain accounts,^-as found in their Sacred Books.
(5) The Greek accounts, as mentioned in their an-
cient histories.
(6) The Inscriptions, as found in many parts of India.
The Pali accounts, unanimously fix 544 or 43 B.C.,
as the year in which the great Buddha entered Nirvana.
Ceylon was converted to Buddhism during -Asoka's reign,
and Asoka was reigning in Magadha in the third century
B.C.f The Singhalese must have learnt the date of the
* Samuel Johnson's Oriental Religion p. p. 683-684.
f According to the Greek accounts 264 B.C., and those of the
Singhalese 330 B. C.
According to Mahavansa, Mahendra was ordained a missionary in
the 6th year of Asoka's reign and in the i8th year of that king's reign.
Just 236 years after the great Master's Nirvana, he went to .Ceylon.
According to "Mahavansa" Asoka ascended the throne 218 years after
the, Nirvana.
[ XX ]
Buddha from Asoka's missionaries, one of whom was his
own son Mahendra. If Mahendra told them that their great
Master had acquired Nirvana in 544 B.C., i.e., just 236 years
ago, one can reasonably accept his word, for the date of
such a great man's death, the day of his entering Nirvana
the summtm bonum of his religion, could not possibly have
been forgotten by his disciples within three hundred years.
after his death.*
But why are then so many discrepancies to be found in the
Chinese accounts? A little discrepancy in these dates is
naturally expected, but the great discrepancies pointed out by
the Oriental scholars of Europe are mainly due to their in-
clination to lower down the age of every thing Indian.
In the Asoka Avadana of the Northern Buddhists predic~
tion is attributed to Buddha in which he says, " 100 years;
after his Nirvana, Asoka will distribute his relics. "t Hiwen
Thsang, the Chinese pilgrim, mentions the same.J But in the
Avadana Sataka, another Northern Buddhistic work, we find
Asoka's date of ascension to the throne is mentioned as 200
years after the Nirvana of Buddha. Sanag-Setsen as quoted
In Fo-Kwi-ki, page 249, gives Asoka's ascension as 210 years
after the Nirvana. According to the Southern Pali accounts
it took place 218 years after Buddha's death, a difference of
only 8 years, which should not be much taken account of.
As for the Asoka Avadana's 100 years, we have Kala Asoka
who held the 2nd Buddhist Council exactly one hundred years
after Buddha's death. || Thus we find there is substantially
not a very great difference between the two accounts.
* See Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 227.
f Burnout's Histoire on Buddhism p. 370.
J Julian's Hiwen Thsang. II. p. 170.
Csoma De-Koros, Asiatic Researches, XX 297.
|| In the reign of Kala Asolca, the second Council was held. Rhys
Davids says : " Under the leadership of Tasa, son of Kakandaka and
of Revata, a second Council, this time of 700, was held during eight
According to the Puranas? Sisunga dynasty reigned
for 362 years. Bimbasara, the contemporary of Buddha,
comes after 6 kings of this line. Calculating 20 years for
each reign of these 6 kings, we get 120 years. We shall
add to it 5 years of the reign of Ajatasatru when Buddha
died. Then the total for this line would be 125 years.
Chandragupta ascended the throne about 321 B.C., one
hundred years after the Susanga dynasty. Thus the date
of Buddha's death would be 125+1 00 = 225 years before
Chandra Gupta. Then we get Buddha's date according to
the Puranas 225 + 321 =546 B.C., almost the very dates of
the Singhalese or the Chinese Books.
According to the Jains, the chief disciple of their Thir-
thankara, Mahavira, was called Goutama Swamif or Goutama
Indrabhuti,J whose identity with Goutama Buddha was sug-
gested by both Dr. Hamilton and Major Delamaine and was
accepted by Colebrooke.
months at Vaisali, and the rules of the Order and the Doctrines of the
Faith were again settled and vindicated (see "Mahavansa" by Buddha
Ghosha).
* Visnu Parana, Book IV, Sec. XXIV, Says : "Thereupon Sisunga
shall be the king. His son shall be Kakavarna, whose son shall be
Khatrauj, whose son shall be Bimbasara (contemporary of Buddha),
whose son shall be Ajatasatru (in whose reign Buddha died), whose son
shall be Udayashwa, whose son shall be Nandivardana and whose son
shall be Mahananda ; these ten Sisunga kings will reign for 362 years.
Mahanada's son on a Sudra woman was Nanda and his sons will reign
for loo years. Then Chandragupta Mourja would ascend the throne with
the help of Koutilya. He shall have a son named Vindusara whose son
shall be Asokavardhana.
f Ward's Hindus, H. p. 247 and Colehrooke's Essays Vol. II.
p. 279.
J Stevenson's Kalpa Sutra, p. 92.
This is what Colebrooke says in his Essays, Vol. II. p. 276. " In
.the Kalpa Sutra and in other books of the Jainas, the 1st of Mahavira's
disciples is mentioned under the name of Indrabhuti, but in the inscrip-
tions under that of Goutama Swami. The names of the other te<i precisely
C
: If we admit the identity of Goutama Swami, the chief
disciple of Mahavira, with Goutama Buddha, the founder of
Buddhism, the date of the Nirvana would be about the year
545 B.C. Mahavira died in 527 B.C. according to the testi-
mony of the Jaina records in all parts of India. In about 500
B.C., Goutama was a student, a seeker after the Nirvana, -
because the last 42 or 43 years of his life he past as a preacher
of Buddhism. It is therefore very probable that in 500 B.C.,
or thereabouts he was a disciple of Mahavira, the last Jaina
Thirthankara, and 44 years after i.e., in 1544 B.C., he died. r ,1iji
From inscriptions General Cunningham calculates the date
of the Nirvana 66 years less than 544 B.C. He says : -* " I
was fortunate enough to discover at Gya a Sanskrit inscrip-
tion dated in the year 1873 of the Nirvana of Buddha on
Wednesday, the i st of waning moon of the Kartika. Here
the week days being given, we have a crucial test for deter-
mining whether the Northern Buddhists reckoned the date of
the Nirvana from B.C. 547 in accordance with the Singhalese
Calender or whether they had a separate and independent
chronology of their own. According to -the former, reckoning
the date of the inscription would be 1873 less 544, i.e., 126^
A.D., in which year the ist of Kartika fell on Sunday,
the 27th October. But by adopting my proposed correc-
tion of 66 years, the date of the inscription will fall on the
4th of October 1335 A.D., which day was Wednesday as
mentioned in the inscription." But General Cunningham
agree ; whence it is to be concluded the Goutama, first one of the list,
is the same with the Indrabhuti, first of the second list. It is certainly
probable, as remarked by Dr. Hamilton and Major Delamaine, that the
Goutama of the Jainas and the Goutatfta of the Buddhas is the same
personage." Two out of eleven disciples of Mahavira survived him vis.
Sudharma and Goutama. Sudharma's spiritual successors are the Jain
priests ivhereas the Goutama's followers are the Buddhists.
* See General Cunningham's Corpas Incriptionum Indicarum, Vol. I.
Introduction, p. V.
See. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol. I, p. v. Introduction. , .
[ xxiii
first read iri the' inscription 1819 instead of 1813 which rid
now reads. (See Archaeological Survey of India, Vol. L
p. I.) -"So (1819) was read," says he^ " by learned men of
Bengal." But perhaps it did not strike' him that if the figures
be 1819; then the date of the NirVana falls exactly in the
544 B.C. There is exactly 66 years between 1879+1813.
The figure seven if obliterated looks very like i. Therefore
we believe the figure in the inscription is 1819 instead of 1813
or 1816. Instead of reducing the date of the Nirvana by
66 years, -making it 478 B.C., in the place of 544 B.-C., which
we find in the Puranas, in the Jaina sacred books^ in the
Singhalese and Chinese records, is it not better to consider
that in an old inscription a 7 has been so obliterated as
it has looked like a i ? If General Cunningham reads 7
instead of i in the Gya inscription, then he will find the date
of the Nirvana is exactly 544 B.C.
Lastly we come to the Greek accounts, and we find the
date of the Nirvana according to them also falls approximately
in the year 544 B.C. Alexander came to India in B.C. 325.
Alexander II ascended the throne of Eperus in 272 B.C.
Many years before he came to the throne, Asoka assumed the
sovereignty of Magadha. When he came across Alexander II
and Antiochus, it was in the i8th year of his reign,* There-
fore it would be about the year 290 B.C., that he came to
be the king of Magadha. We know from various sources
I that just 236 years before his ascension, the great Buddha
entered Nirvana. Then according to the Greek accounts
the date of Nirvana falls 2364-290 = 526 B.C., a difference of
only 1 8 years from those of the Pali accounts.
Whatever accounts regarding Goutama Buddha we take
into our consideration they lead us to the sixth century B.C.,
for his birth and death. It is long way off from our own
time, ; it is more than two thousand five hundred years ago
*.'See Asoka's Edicts in Cunningham's Inscriptions of Asoka.
[ xxiv ]
that the first seed of Buddhism was sown in India, which
three hundred years later spread all over this country. Five
hundred years later " every nation inhabiting lands stretching
from the Pacific Ocean to the Mediteranean sea, from the
North sea to the Indian Ocean, have adopted it. Very
savage and very civilised people the wild hordes in the
cold tablelands of Nepal, Tartary and Tibbet, the cultured
Chinese and Japanese in their varying climes, and the quiet
Singhalese and Siamese under the palm groves of the South
have all adopted it," a phenomenon never witnessed in the
history of the world.*
CH AFTER IV.
INDIA IN THE 6TM CENTURY B.C.
IN the sixth century before Christ there must have hap-
pened in India something very important, some very great
social, moral, political and religious changes, that brought
about the birth of Buddha, the Enlightened* He himself
said : t
" I am one of a long series of Buddhas, Many Were born,
before and many will be born in future. When the wicked-
ness and violence rule over the earth, Buddha takes his birth \
to establish the kingdom of righteousness on earth."
* See Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 227.
f See Latita Vistara and Mahavansa. So- said Srikrishna in
Bhagavata Gita, chap. IV. 7-8.
So said Jesus in St. Mathew, chap. XXIV. 7-27.
J Rhys Davids in his Buddhism p. 179 says: The historical
Buddha, the Goutama, of this later work, is represented to have taught
that he was only one of a long series of Buddhas who appear at intervals
/ [ XXV ]
What is it then ? We must go more than one thousand
.years b;
.ck from the date of the Buddha's birth to see how
the Aryans first settled in India, how they lived, how they
prayed, 'and how these Aryans passed through many social
and moral, political and religious changes in the course of
these fifteen centuries, how their sublime religion rose higher
and higher till it developed into the grandest of all religions*
that Goutama Buddha preached.
The jAryanst entered the land of the five rivers, tending
their sheep and cattle and singing their sweet songs of
Nature,J a race robust and handsome, strong and healthy,
innocent and simple, pure and holy, the real children of
Nature, ^the true handicrafts of God. They sang :
" Risen in majestic blaze,
Lo ! the Universe's eye.
Vast and wonderous best of rays,
Shineth brightly in the sky.
Tl_. - _ .!-.._. ._ -_. __ -
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 forgotten, and wickedness and violence roll over the
earth. Gradually then the world improves, until at last a new Buddha
appears who again preaches the lost Dharma or Truth.
* Rhys Davids in his Buddhism p. 85 says : " Buddhism was the
child, the product of Hinduism. Goutama's whole training was Brah-
manism ; 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." Dr. Oldenberg in his " Buddha" p. 18 remarks : "We now
proceed to trace step by step the process of thatjself-destruction of the
Vedic religious thought which has produced Buddhism as its positive
outcome."
f See Rig Veda. For Rig Veda our readers may consult (i) Prof.
Wilson's English translation of the Rig Veda, (2) French version of
M. Longlois, (3) Dr. Rosen's Latin version (4) MaxMuIler's English
translation.
$ See Muir's Sanskrit Texts II. p. p. 306-332.
See Griffith's Specimen of Old Indian Poetry. .
4
[ XXVI ]
Soul of all that moveth not,
Soul of all that moves below, :
Lighteth the earth's gloomiest spot f
And all the heavens are aglow ?
Hear us, Ye Gods, this day, ;
Hear us graciously we pray ;
As the sun his state begins,
Free us from all hineous sins I !
Mitra, Varuna, Aditi, {
Hear, O hear us graciously \ (
Power of ocean, earth and air, '
Listen, listen to our prayer !" x
And again,
" We have quaffed the Soma bright,
And are immortal grown ;
We have entered into light,
And all the gods have known I
What mortal can harm,
Or foemati vex us more";
Through Thee, beyond alarm,
Immortal God we soar."*
They settled down in the fertile plains of the Punjab,
no longer to struggle for existence as they had to do iff the
foggy cold of the North, where the sun is rare, cultivation
impossible, fire is God. Here over them floated the clear
blue sky like a magnificient canopy, at their feet rolled five
beautiful rivers onwards to sea scattering plenty through the
land they passed. The sun shone in splendour in day, and.
the moon shed her silvery beam in night.
While others of their race were struggling in the cold,
frost and fogs of the wilds of Europe, they settled down to
* Atharva Veda VIII. 48.3, also Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts
Vol. III. p. 162 and Journal, Royal Asiatic Society, New series I. p. 94.
f xxvii ]
agriculture ; the wealth of Nature was at their door ; they
multiplied in numbers and rose in civilization.*
All this brought a great change over them. Their simple
settlements gradually became big villages and they soon grew
to be towns and cities. They had tasted the sweets of com-
fort and plenty, they had been filled with the unconquerable
desire for wealth. They began to extend their holdings
and came face to face with the original inhabitants of the
country, a black race who were living in the land from time
immemorial. They drove them back and pushed onward.
There were bloodsheds and hard-fightings and severe struggles
to retain and extend their possessions. The weaker abori-
genes were hurled back into the jungles and hills, those
that fell into their hands were made slaves. The victori-
ous Aryans daily rose in wealth and civilization. But the
aborigenes, bitten though they were at every step, did
not surrender their father's and forefather's land without a
]iard struggle.*They harrassed the Aryans at every step, looted
their settlements at every opportunity and carried away
their women by stealth and stratagem whenever they could
do it.t
Thus the Aryans to protect themselves as well as to ex-
tend their possessions had to set apart some of their strongest
and boldest young men to fight their battles of offence and
defence. The duties of these young men became fighting
and their sole occupation was war. They tried to better theni-
* See Pictet's Origines Indo-Europeenes ; Spiegel's Avesta II.
Einteist CX. CXV,; Weber's Indiseha Studien I. p.p. 321363;
Lassen's Indische Alterthumskunde I. p. 527, MaxMuller's Science of
Languages p. p. 234236 ; Duncker's Gesch. d. Alterthums III. p. 9 ;
ShoebePs Recherches sur la Religion Prem de la race Indo-Europe;
Whitney's Study of Language, Sec. V ; Muir's Sanskrit Texts II.
f See Muir's Sanskrit Texts Vol. III.p. p. 220 230 ; also Bunsen's
Philosophy of History, Vol. I. p. 84*3. The Story of Ravana's taking
away Sita in the Ramayana speaks in support of this.
r*w -v
XXVT11 J
selves In every way in the Science of War. One set being
occupied jn fighting and another in agriculture, the spiritual
affairs of the race were delegated to the few old and learned
men amongst the various Aryan clans.*
Thus days went on. The Aryans daily grew powerful,
wealthy and mighty. They were resourceful and intelligent
and energetic, they improved themselves in every depart-
ment in agriculture, architecture, science, literature and
philosophy .t Of their civilisation European scholars and
others thus speak : J
" The historian of the Maccedonian Emperor relates that
after his victory over Porus, Alexander in his harrangue to
his troops assured them * that they were now going to enter
those famous countries so abundant in riches that even what
they had found and seen in Persia would appear as nothing
In comparison to them.' Herodotus, Deodorus and Arrian
describe the strength of the Hindu armies, the number of
their war-chariots, the excellence of their arms and appoint-
ments and the strength of their fortress, showing them to
have made great progress in arts and arms."
But wealth brings happiness and comfort as well as misery
and dissension at their heels. As the Aryans- grew wealthy,
internal dissensions slowly and silently entered into their
happy homes. The fighting-class became predominent and
began to lord over the others. They protected the country,;
they extended their lands by shedding their precious blood,
why should they not be the rulers ? The others demurred,
but what could they do? They dared not oppose, nay
offend the mighty warriors. Those that tilled the land,r-r-
those that brought wealth and happiness in the country, those
* See Muir's Sanskrit Texts Vol. I.
\ See Crenzer Religious de !' Antiquite, Tom I, p. 133.
$ See History of Hindu Medicine.by Dr. Wise, p, VI VII.
See Johnson's Oriental Religions,
[ xxix ]
that were the mainstay of the race, became mere servitors
of the warrior-class, they played but the second fiddle in the
plutocracy of the Aryan race.*
But those, to whom the spiritual affairs of the race
were delegated as a matter of not much concern, who were
silently performing the simple religious ceremonies of the
race for the trifling renumeration which the other two classes,
the warriors and the earners of wealth, condescendingly
paid them, did not yield to the warriors so easily, nor did
they yield at all, as did the. agriculturists and traders. They
had the Vedas, the old religious songs the traditions of their
forefathers, the old religious ceremonies of their race,
the learning and knowledge of ages, all solely and wholly
in their hands. The others in search of wealth and power,
had completely given up all thought of religion and learning,
which was Once every one's own daily avocation in their
primitive age. Thus they had become the soul property of
this priestly clan, the others having forgotten them alto-
gether. Religion and learning reign supreme everywhere.
The warriors, though they lorded over all, could not but show
some respect and reverence to the men who were the custo-
dians of their religious affairs and who had on their side
learning and knowledge which they had not, nor had they
time to acquire them. Thus gradually were formed four
castes , amongst the Aryans ; the first the warriors or the
Kshatriyas ; second the priests or the Brahmanas, third
the agriculturists and traders or the Vyasas, and lastly the
conquered black slaves, or the Sudras. They sang : f
" The wielder of the thunder-bolt, the render of the. rain-
cloudj' Indra, had destroyed with his bolt the mighty Susena,
the wrath-born son : of the Danava, the walker in darkness,
* See Dutt's Civilization in Ancient India.
f See Rig Veda, V. 32.
[ XXX ]
the protector of the showering cloud, exhilarating himself
with the food of these living creatures."
" When Indra raised his powerful irresistible weapon
against the mighty Danava K when he struck him with the
blow of the thunder-bolt, he made him the lowest of all
creatures"
" The fierce Indra seized upon Kim that vast moving
Vritra, when slumbering after having drunk the Soma, subdu-
ing his foes and enveloping the world, and then slew him
with his great weapon in battle footless, measureless,
speechless."
" I hear of thee influencing creatures according to the
season and giving riches to the pious, but what do thy devot-
ed friends obtain who have entrusted their desires, Indra, to
thee."*
fWhen the Aryan races were passing lh rough these
changes, when they had become three distinct classes, though
they had not yet formed into distinct and exclusive castes,
when the warriors were becoming wealthy kings and the priests
were trying to hold a position greater than those kings,
there were a few very few indeed, amongst all these three
classes of the Aryans, who were not in search of either the
sovereignty, or the priestly superiority, or wealth or posi-
tion or power ; -they were the poets and the philosophers of
the race, f- Even in those early days, some four thousand
years ago, they were the seekers after the mysterious
Nature and Nature's God.f These Aryan poets and philo-
^_ . . .'- - _- -__-_!_.,__ -'- _ ' _- L . - L _ .- - '...-
* Indra worship is the latest feature of the Vedic religion. Indra
was not originally the chief God of the Aryans. Varuna was the chief
God. See Royal Asiatic Society's Journal, Vol. I., Part I., p. p. 85 86
and Part II, p. 389 and MaxMuller's Science of Language p. p. 208-210.
f Dr. Oldenberg in his " Buddha" p. 1 6 says : " The rudiments
of Indian speculation extend back to the lyric poetry of the Rig Veda.
Here, in the oldest monument of Vedic Poetry, among songs at sacrifices
and prayers to Agni and Indra for protection, prosperity and victory, we
[ xxxi ]
sophers, seeking not kingly majesty and priestly dignity,
sang : *
" He who gives breath, He who gives strength,
Whose commands all the bright Gods revere ;
Whose shadow is immortality, whose shadow is death ;
Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?"
11 He through whose greatness, these snowy moun-
tains are,
And the sea they say, with the distant river,
He of whom these regions are the two arms ;
Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?"
" He through whom the sky is bright and the earth firm,
He through whom the heaven was established, nay the
highest heaven ;
He who measured out the space in the sky ;
Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?"
" He who by His might looked even over the waters,
Which held power and generated the sacrificial fire,
He who alone is God above all Gods ;
Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice?"
And again :
" There was not death, -yet there naught immortal,
There is no confine betwixt day and night,
The only one breathed breathless by itself,
Other than It there nothing since has been."
" Darkness there was and all at first was veiled
In gloom profound an ocean without light,
The germ that still lay covered in the husk
discover the first bold efforts of a reflecting mind, which turns its back in
the spheres of holy words of Gods and myths and in conscious reliance
on its own power, approaches the enigmas of being and resignation.'
* Veda,
xxxii ]
Burst forth, one nature, from the fervent heats.
Who knew the secret ? Who proclaimed it here."
And again : *
" Nor aught nor naught existed yon bright sky
Was not, nor heaven's broad roof outstretched above.
What covered all ? What sheltered ? what concealed ?
Was it the water's fathomless abyss ?
Whence, whence this manifold creation sprang !
The Gods themselves came later into being,
Who knows from whence this great creation sprung !
He from whom all this great creation came,
Whether His will created or was mute,
The most high Seer that is in highest heaven,
He knows it or perchance even He knows not.
CHAPTER V.
BRAHMANISM vrs. THEISM.
By this time the Aryan possessions had extended down
the fertile valley of the Ganges and the Jamuna. Two very
great 'kingdoms had been established, 'the lands of the Kuru
Panchala and the Koshalas were no longer the mere settle-
ments of sturdy Aryans, but great centres of wealth and
civilisation as well as of learning and education. Within
a few centuries the simple and innocent Aryan-settlers have
become a great nation, great in wealth and power, in civiliza-
tion and refinement, in education and learning.
- _ i. . _- _. . -"--_, __-r 3- -.---. JL-ll f-
* Rig Veda, 121.
r ...:> *
xxxin I
the one hand the Aryan Warriors, the Khatryas, had
become great kings and chiefs^vastly wealthy and powerful ;
on the other hand the Aryan priests, ^the Brahmanas, had
formed a complicated system of religion, hard to master and
harder to understand.* The quiet Vasyas had fallen far-
away from both these classes and were engaged in silently
tilling the land and selling its produce. The -quieter Sudras
existed uncomplainingly serving their masters, the three
classes of the Aryans.f The Kshatryas, Vasyas and Sudras,
partly because they very little cared for it and partly because
the Bramhanas did not allow them to meddle with it, had com-
pletely lost all touch with their forefathers' religion, once their
daily avocation, and had thus been thrown out of the pale of
all education and learning. Ignorance, however graced
with wealth and power, is bound to bow down its head
before learning and knowledge. Thus had now the Brahmanas
become, from mere paid priests, the spiritual masters, temporal
guides and supreme lords of all the other three classes
of the Aryan race. If the Kshatryas are now kings and
* See Dr, Haug's Translation of Aitareya Brahmana Vol I.
Rhys Davids in his Buddhism p. 23-24 says : "The simple feeling of
awe and wonder at the glorious battles of the storms and the recurring
victories of the sun had given way before a debasing ritualism ; before
the growing belief in the efficacy of carefully conducted rites and cere-
monies 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."
f The following is the Hindu version of the origin of caste. "Brahma
created a son from his mouth and named Brahmana and bade him study
and teaqh the Veda. But fearing the attack of wild beasts, he prayed
for help and a second son was created from his arms and named
Kshatrya to protect him. But employed as he was in defence, he could
not provide the necessaries of life, so a third son Vaisya was sent to
till the soil, and finally to serve the .other three classes a fourth son
was created and was named Sudra." See Manu I. 31., Yagnavalka III.
and Rig Veda go. 6. 7.
5
princes, the Brarifilafias are the chief ministers and judges i , -
the real meri of power in the land. They had formed a
religion with so many dogmas and with so many and so greatly
complicated sacrifices that the other classes of the Aryans
looked at them in wonder and admiration. They had been
completely deprived of all spiritual affairs,T all Inowledge
and learning, nay of all religion. The wealthy of the
Kshatryas and Vaisyas only could venture to perform those
sacrifices, so costly had they grown. Thus had the- middle
and the poor classes of the people fallen completely away
from all religion. The Brahmanas held the reign tightly with
an iron hand and did not allow any one to enter the sacred
preccints of religion where they reigned supreme. The majo-
rity, nay except the Brahmanas all others had became com-
pletely religion-less* They obeyed like slaves the dictates of
the Brahmanas and acted as it were automatically under the
guidance of their spiritual masters. To them it was morat
what was termed moral by these Brahmanas, right what was
called right by them, religion what was pointed' out by them-
as religion. Living as the poorest of the poor- these learned
Brahmanas were the richest of the rich, the mightiest of
the mighty <
But '.the Khastryas did not allow the Brahmanag to
become all supreme without a struggle. Often Khastrya
youths aspired to be great Brahmans and often did they
The following is the version of the origin of caste given by the Bud-
dhists. " When outrages on society began, a ruler was elected to
preserve order who received for such service a portion of the produce.'
He was called Khattiya or Khastrya. Then by reason of the increase
of crimes the people appointed: from among themselves Bahmanas or
Brahmanas. Other persons who distinguished themselves as artificers
were called Vessa or Vaisya, and others engaged in hunting became
Suddas or Sudras." See Turner's Buddhistic Legends, Colonel Syke's
Notes OB Ancient India and Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, Vol VI.
For Castes also See Muller's Chips II. 308. Muir's Sanskrit Texts I. 160.
[ XXXV ]
succeed.* So again were sometime the Brahmana youths
tempted to throw away the Vedas and to take up arms.
They too often succeeded in becoming great warriors, and de-
feated the valiant Kshatryas.t Such struggles went on
for centuries after centuries till Goutama Buddha came and
established in the world the kingdom of Righteousness,
of Peace, of Contentment, of Kindness towards ,men and
beasts.
But how did this come about? When the Kshatryas were
becoming mighty in arms and the Brahmanas in spiritualism,
'there were working a silent class, hailing from amongst the
Brahmanas, Kshatryas, Vasyas, nay Sudras, the Aryan poets
and philosophers, the seekers after God, who saw distinctly
and felt keenly the bane of all civilization, vice and sin,
which were daily taking a strong hold of the ever-innocent
and ever- virtuous Aryan race A There grew up wealth, com-
fort and luxury on all sides, but these silent children of
Nature were not dazzled by their tempting splendour. They
saw before .them poverty, disease, decrepitude and death,
the four fearful monsters that devour humanity. Even in. the
Veda we find the cry of these poets who piteously sang :J
"Let- me not yet, O Varuna, enter into the house of clay,
Have mercy, Almighty^ have mercy !
If I go along trembling like a cloud driven by wind,
Have mercy, Almighty, have mercy.
Tjirough want of strength, Thou strong One,; have I gone
to the wrong shore ;
Have mercy, Almighty,: have mercy !
Thirst came on the worshipper in the midst of .waters,
* The story of Vishwamitra illustrates this. He was originally
3 Kshatrya, but finally became a great Brahmana.
f Read the story of Parashurama. Though t he was a Brahman,
yet he faught with the Kshatryas. It is said he annihilated the Kshatryas
for twenty one times.
| See Rig Veda, .
[ xxxvi J
Have mercy, Almighty, hav emercy ! ;
Wherever we men, O Varuna, commit an offence before
the heavenly host,
Whenever we break the law through thoughtlessness,
Have mercy, Almighty, have mercy."
When the Brahmanas were formulating complicated sacri-
fices and more complicated rituals and rites, these poets and
philosophers were seeking after God, the Supreme Lord of all
creatures, the God of all gods, and searching for the means by
which humanity would be able to get rid of poverty, disease
and decripitude and to master death.* Dr. Oldenberg
thus graphically describes the Brahmanas : "He passed his
youth in hearing and learning the sacred words, for a true
Brahmana is he alone "who has heard." And if he acquired
the reputation "of having heard," his adult life passed in'
teaching in the village or out in the solitude of the forest
in the consecrated circle, on which the sun shone in
the East, where alone the most secret instruction could-
be imparted openly to the muffled scholar. Or he was
to be found at the place of sacrifice, performing for himself
and for others the sacred office which with its countless
observances demanded the most painful minuteness and
the most laborious proficiency, or he fulfilled the life-long
duty of Brahmana, offering, that is, the daily prayer from the
Sacred Veda. Well might riches flow into his hands by the
remuneration of sacrifices which kings and nobles gave- to
the Brahmanas, but he passed as most worthy who lived not
by offerings for others, but by the gleaning of the field which
he gathered or by alms for which he had not asked, or such
charity as he has begged as a favour. Still living as a -
beggar he looked on himself as exalted above earthly poten-
tates and subjects made of other stuff than they. The Brah-'
mans called themselves Gods and in treaty with the Gods of .
* We find this all through thp various Upanishadas,
[ xxxvii J
heaven ; they were the Gods of earth, knew themselves possess-
ed of weapons of the Gods, weapons of spiritual power, -
before which all earthly weapons snap powerless."*
He thus speaks of the origin of the monastic life amongst
the Aryans :
" These speculations which represented the phenomenal
world to be unstable and worthless as compared with the
world's base, the Atma, had at one blow deprived of the value-
all those aims of life which appear important to the natural
consciousness of ordinary men. Sacrifice and external ob-
servances are unable to raise the spirit to the Atman, to dis-
close to the individual Ego his identity with the universal Ego.
Man must separate himself from all that is earthly, must
fly from love and hate, from hope and fear ; man must live
as though he lived not. The Aryan Rishis said, 'the intelli-
gent and wise desire not posperity ; what are descendants
to us whose home is the Atma?' They relinquish the desire
for children, the struggle for wealth, the pursuit of worldly
weal and go forth as mendicants." t Both these Brahmanas
and poet-philosophers, the latter of whom we name Theists,
have left behind them long treatises expounding their res-,
pective views. The Brahmanas of the Brahmanas deal with the
awe-inspiring rites, rituals and sacrifices J and the Aranyakas.
* See Oldenberg's Buddha, p.p. 15 14.
f Thus we find mendicants and monks there were in India before the
birth of Goutama Buddha, but he was the first to create an Order of
Monks. :
J Dr. Haug in his Translation of the Aitreya Brahman, Vol. I.
Introduction p. 73 says :-*" The sacrifice is regarded as the means for
obtaining power over this and the other world, over visible as well as
invisible beings, animate as well as inanimate creatures. Who knows
its proper application and has it duly performed is in fact looked upon
'as the real master of the world; for any desire he may entertain, if it
be the most ambitious, can be gratified, any object he has in view can
be obtained by means- of it. The Yajna -(sacrifice) taken as a whole
.is considered to be a kind of machinery in which every, piece must tally
[ xxxviii ]
and the Upanishads of poet-philosophers are full of the search
for God and origin of the creation. We quote a few passages
below. i
" Maitreyi," said Yajnavalka," I am going away from this;
my house into the forest. I must make a settlement between
thee and my other wife Katyayani. "My Lord," replied
Maitreyi, " if this whole world, full of wealth, belonged to me,,
should I be immortal by it ?"
"No," said Yajnavalka, "like the happy life of, the rich
people will be your life. But there is no hope of immortality
by wealth."
Then Maitreyi said, " What shall I do with that by which
I do not become immortal? What nay lord knoweth of .im~
mortality, may he tell that to me."
. Yajnavalka replied, "Thou, who. art .truly dear to me,,
thou speakest dear words, sit down ; I will explain .it to thee-
and listen well to what I say." Yajnavalka.thus went on, "A
husband is loved, not because you lave the husband, but
because you will love in him the Atroa, the .Supreme. Soul.
A wife is loved, not because we love the wife, but we love
in her the great Soul. Children are laved, not because we
love the children, but because we lave in them the Divine
Spirit. This great Atroa it is which we love when we lave
wealth, Brahmaftas, Kshatriyas r this world, the gods, all beings,
this universe. The divine Atma, Q my wife* is to be seen,
to be heard, to be perceived and ta he meditated upon. If
we see, hear, perceive and know him, O Maitreyi, then this
whole universe is knawn ta us."*
with the other or a sort of chain in which no link is allowed to he wanting,
or a staircase by which one ? may ascend to, heaven ; or as a personage
endowed with all the characteristics of Che human body. Ik exists from
eternity and proceeded from the Supreme Being (Brahma) along with
the Trividya (Threefold Science). The creation of the world was even
regarded as the fruit of a sacrifice, performed by the Supreme B* 5 -^."
* Brihad Aranyaka. .
[ xxxix ]
Anil again r -*
'" Think that which is Manifested by speech and by which
speech is manifested as Brahma."
"Know that which does not see by the eye, but by which
the eyes see as Brahma."
" Know that which does not breathe by breath, but that by
which the breath is breathed as Brahma."
And again rf
" The indestructible Brahma is the place where all fear
disappears, the refuge of those who are desirous of crossing
the ocean of this world.
Know the (human) soul as the rider, the body as the car,
kn'O.w intellect as the charioteer and mind as the reins.
They say the senses are the horses and their objects are
the roads., the enjoyer is the (human) soul endowed with
body, s^nse and mind-.
Whoever is unwise with reins never applied, has the senses
unsubdued like the wicked horses of the charioteer-
But whosoever is wise with mind always applied, has
these senses subdued like the good horses of the charioteer.
'Whoever is unwise, unmindful^ always impure, does not
g ; ain that goal, but descends to the world again.
But whosoever is wise, mindful, always pure> gains the
goal from whence he is not born again."
And lastly : J
| " All this verily is Brahma ; for therefrom doeth it proceed
therein doeth it merge and thereby it is maintained. With
a 'quite and controlled mind should it be adored. Man is
a creature of reflection ; whatever he reflects, he reflects upon
in! this life, he becomes the satiid hereafter ; therefore he
should reflect upon Bfahttia, saying-
* Kena Upanishada.
-j- Kota Upanishada.
:J Chhandogya Upanishada.
t xl
''That which is nothing but mind, Whose" body is its life.
Whose figure is a mere glory, Whose will is truth) is the Soul
within me.'
' That which performeth all things, and willeth all things,
to which belongs all sweet colours and all grateful juices,
which envelopes the whole of this world, which neither
speaketh nor respecteth any body, is the Soul within me
It is Brahma, I shall obtain Him after my transition from
this world.' He who beloveth this, and hath no hesitation,
will verily obtain the fruit of his reflection.'
Thus we find there was a class of Aryan poet-philosophers
side by side with the Aryan ' Ritualistic Brahmanas. Thus
did the Aryans rise step by step from the grand Vedic
Nature worship, to Nature herself and from Nature to Nature's
Great God. They found out the origin of creation and some
of them really reached the Great Goal. I
Though the Brahmanas monopolised all religioiis func-
tions, and 1 scruplously kept others off from the preccints of
learning and knowledge, yet they could not prevent the
births and growths of these Aryan poet- philosophers who
rose from all ranks of society, from Kshatrya kings and
heroes, from Vaisyas traders and peasants, and even from
Sudra servants. Some of these poet philosophers went away
into the forests, roved as beggars and monks and searched for
God. The Brahmanas formed an oligarchy and a Society
whereas u these "poet-philosophers thought and meditated in
solicitude, and formulated and expounded each his individual
opinion .and discovery, But like the Brahmanas they remained
attached to the holy Vedas, believed in their sacredness and
knew them as the words of God.
CHAPTER VI.
THEISTS, vrs. PHILOSOPHERS.
"" SOON teachers appeared in more than one place who pro-
; fessed to have discovered independently of Vedic Tradition
a. new and the only true path of deliverence, and such teachers
failed not to attract scholars who attached themselves to
them in their wanderings through the land. Under the pro-
tection of most absolute liberty . of conscience which ever
existed, sects were added to sects."*
And who are they ? The most prominent amongst them
. was Rapila. .He was followed successively by many others.
Thus did various systems of Philosophy come into -existence;
. "some of them were considered to be orthodox as consistent
. "with the theology and metaphysics dt the Vedas, and the others
heretical as compatible with 'their doctrines. The two Minansas
"are emphatically orthodox. The Prior (Purva Minansa) one,
"which has Jaimani for its founder, teaches the art of reasoning
-with the express view of aiding the interpretation of the
Vedas, specially their Brahman or Sacrificial and the Ritua-
listic portions. The latter Uttara Mirnansa, which is also
known by the name of Vedanta and which is supposed to
be written by Vyasa, deduces from the text of the Vedas,
specially their Upanishada portions, a refined Psychology
Which denies the existence of a material world.
The Nyaya of Goutama furnishes a philosophical arrange-
ment with strict rules of reasonings a sort of Logic. Next
comes another course of Philosophy connected with the Nyaya
called Vaisesika. Its author is Kanada and it deals with
-atoms.
Then comes another system of Philosophy, partly heterodox
and partly orthodox, namely Sankhya of Kapila and Yoga of
* See Ql-dentyerg's Buddha p <56,
;Patan jali. Though Sankhya and Yoga, Nyaya and Vaisesika
:are not strictly orthodox, yet they are respected and studied
by the rigid adherents of the Vedas. In fact all these six
systems of Philosophy have "been always considered as ortho-
-dox and a part and parcel of the Vedic Brahmanism,*
But besides these six philosophical systems, there arose
at this time many other teachers -and philosophers whose
doctrines were emphatically heterodox, who completely
-overthrew the rites and rituals of the Vedas, denied their
-sanctity and divine origin, and formulated new theories quite
apart from the Vedas and the Vedangas. We have no less than
fourteen such heterodox systems, of which that of Charvaka
-stands first ; then come successively Jainas, Nigranthas,
Achalakas, Nastikas, &c. &c.f
We have seen that at the time of which we are speaking as
a matter of fact, two distinct religions flourished amongst th
Aryan races of India, one Brahmanism, the religion o
rites, rituals and sacrifices based on the traditional sanctit
of the Vedas with Theism as their moto, and another,
religion of Psychology, with a search for the origin
of the creation and freedom from the wordly miseries.
***"^
These Philosophers went a step farther. Sankhya put
aside the consideration of God altogether, said nothing
about the Vedas and attempted to find out by Knowledge
the means of cutting the bonds of rebirths and of free-
dom from all miseries. The Yoga did exactly the same,
but by means of practising austerities and by believing in a
Supreme Lord of the Universe.
* See Colebrooke's Miscellaneous Essays Vol. I. pp 239-401 ; also
Maxmuller's Six Hindu Darsanas; also Manning's Medseival India
Vol. I.
| See Sarua Darsar.a Sangraha by Madhavacharya ; and also
Colebrooke's Essays, Vol. I, p 402-460.
[ xfiii ]
Later than- Sankhya is' the Nyaya, of which the very name-
seems to' imply that it is its counter-part. Sankhya means"
something analogous to speculation or synthetic reasoning.
The 1 word comes from Sankhya (Sam together khya reason-
ing,) indicating that it is a philosophy, based on synthetic'
reasonings. The Nyaya, however, takes- the other course and
gives- a philosophy founded on analytical reasonings. And thus-
while the' Sankhya builds up a system of the Universe, the
Nyaya dissects it into categories and enters into its compo-
nent parts.* " Entering into" appears to be the literal render-
ing of Nyaya, a word which aptly describes a system which
enters into the whole contents of the Universe. Goutama, the-
author of this system, to'ok special' note of man's mental
powers and the uses to which such powers may be applied.
The Vaisesika system, attributed to Kanada, is a fuller and
probably later development of the Nyaya. It is remarkable
for its peculiar doctrine of atomic individualities or Viseshasa
from which its name is derived.f The Mimansas are but
mere supporters in a philosophical' way of the Brahmanas
and the Upanishadas. Charvakas and others, on the other
hand, are emphatically the overthrowers of the Vedic ritualism
as well as of the Vedic.Theism. Thus did both orthodox philo-
sophers' and religious preachers with their sects increase in.
scores all over the country.
" The paths of deliverance by which these masters led
their believers in quest of salvation were a legion ; there were
ascetics who lived in self-mortification,, denied themselves
nourishment for long periods, did not wash themselves, did not
sit down, rested on beds of thorns ; there were adherents
of faith in the purifying efficacy of water, who were intent
on purging by continued ablutions all guilt which clung to
them, others aimed at conditions of spiritual abstraction,
* See Goldstucker's Panini.
f See Miss Manning's Medseival India, Yol ( i, pp 152-153.
and' sought while separating themselves from all' perceptiorsr
of external" realities to combine themselves with the feeling
of the "Eternity of Space"' or of the- "Eternity of Reason,"'
of " not anything whateverness" and! whatever else- these-
conditions are called;"* -
Ashwa Ghosa, the great biographer of the Bud'dh'a, thus des--
cribes the various sects that were flourishing in India when?
Goutaina left his home to search for the great teuth.'T
* See Oldenberg's Buddha, pp. "67-68!
f This is of course the version from the sides- of the Buddhists and'
therefore they cannot reasonably be called impartial. It would 1 be in--
tersting to know what the Vedic H'indus thought of the non-Vedicr
Buddhists and others. We therefore quote a passage from the Vishnu?
Puranay Parfe. ITI. See XVII XVIIT. "The Rig, Yayus and'.
Sama Vedas- are the three-fold covering of the several castes, and the-
sinful wretch' who- throws off this is called' Nagna (naked; appostate)..
There took place in> the- days of yore a battle between the gods and^
the demons in which the- gods were- defeated. The celestials Who were-
defeated fled away to the nothern shore of the milky ocean where-
they engaged in austerities and prayed to Vishnu; .: They then saw Harb
and asked him to save them from the demons-. When the. glorious-
Vishnu heard their prayers, he emitted from his body an. illusory form
which he gave to the celestials and said, "This illusory form shall'
so deceive the Daityas, that being astray from the path of the Vedas*.
they shall ; be slain ; for those gods,, demons- and 1 others- who shall)
transgress the authority of the Vedas- shall- perish." Shaven^ and!
carrying a bunch of peocock's feathers, the illusory figure- then'
went to the Asuras^ and thus ad-dressed them-, gently, " O r lords-
of Daitya race, why do you practise these devout penances ? Do-
you expect rewards in this world 1 or in the next ?' The A-suras said,.
"O thou of great mind, we have been- engaged in-' these penances with'
a view to reap fruits in the next world. Do thou- tell us if thou hast
got anything to say on this." The deceptive figure said, " If you are-
desirous of final emancipation, hear my words, for }'0u will obtain'
the revelation which is the door to final happiness. The instructions,,
superior to which there is nothing, that I will give you, are the secret
path to fi-nal emancipation'. I-f you follow them,. you< shall either obtain*
[ ' xl'v ]'
" The Brahmacharins, holding the rules- of" deer, follbwihg;
the deer Wandering through the mountain glades, deer course-./
of nature with flushing; eyes, regard' the prince with fixed gaze. .-
heaven or exemption from future births. O ye gifted with mighty
strength, you are worthy of these instructions."'
Thus did the illusory figure mislead the Daityas from the teach-
ings of the Vedas by various- pursuasions and many spacious arguments,
teaching that the same thing might be for the sake of' virtue and oF
vice; might be and might not be; might or might not lead to final'
emancipation ; might be the supreme object and not the supreme-
object ; might be effect and not be effect ; might be manifest and not
be manifest;, might be the duty of those who go naked and' who go-
richly dressed. And thus were the Daityas led astray from the path
of their duties by the continued teachings of their iffusory teacher, keep.-,
ing up the equal truth of contradictory teachings. And those were
called Arhatas from the phrase he had employed of "Ye are-
worthy (A rhatha> of this great teaching," that is of the false teachings
which he induced them to follow. Thus did the illusory figure lead-
away the Asuras from the teachings of the Vedas. And being im- ;
pressed by those teachings the Asiwas initiated others in all those ...
doctrines. They in (.heir turn became teachers of the same false doc-
trines and converted others. And thus communicating their doctrines ;
to each other, they were all led away from the teachings of the Vedas.
; Then putting on garments of red colour, .with colfy'riiim in his'
eyes, the illusory figure addressed others of the : same family in sweet?
and mild accents, " O ye demons, gifted with strength, if ye wish for
heaven or final rest, desist from the sinful massacre of animals and:
hear from me what you should do. The whole universe is com- ;
posed of discriminative knowledge; understand ray words well for they .
have been uttered by the wise. The world is without stay and is-
perpetually revolving in the straits of existence being engaged rin-
the pursuit of erroneous knowledge and sullied by passions and others."
In this wise exclaiming to them " Know (Budhyadwam). and they
saying (Budhyate) it is known," those Dakyas were led away from,
their own religion. They thus renounced there respective duties-
being impressed by the reasonings and arguments of that illusory figure.
O Maitreya, the}', thus impressed, pursuaded others to- do the same and
thus the Jieresy spread, and many abandoned the practices laidt
dawn by the Vedas and Smritis. O twice -born one, with various..
[ xlvi ]
That twice-born in reply to Buddha explained in' suc-
cession all the modes of painful discipline and the fruits :
as their results.
How some ate nothing brought from inhabited places'
but that produced from pure water, edible roots and tender
twigs, fruits and flowers fit for food,
Each according to the rules of his- sect, clothing and' food
in each case different ; some living amongst bird kind and
like them capturing and eating food ;
Others eating as the deer the grass and herbs ; others
living like serpents inhaling air, others eating nothing found-
ed in wood or stone ; some eating with two teeth till a wound-
be formed ;
Others again begging their food and giving it in charity
taking only the remnants for themselves ; others again who"
other erroneous teachings, the illusory figure converted many other
Daityas. Deluded, the Asuras, in no time abandoned the doctrines
and rites laid down by the three Vedas. Some of them, O twice-born- '<
one, spoke ill of the Vedas and others villified the celestials. Some-
spoke against the Vedic rites and sacrifices, and others calumniated'
the Brahmans. "The precepts', they preached, " that lead' to the sacri-
fice of animals, are highly culpable. To say that throwing clarified
butter in fire produces rewards is simply childishness. IF any one,
after having obtained god'head by multiplied ceremonies, is fed along
with Indra upon the wood used as fuel in holy fire, he is lower than-
a brute which feeds upon leaves. If a beast, being sacrificed, attains-
to heaven, why does not sacrificer slay his father in a sacrifice ?' If a
dead person is satisfied if another is fed at a Sraddha, then why does
not the food offered by his son reach him who resides at a distance ?
All these words therefore depend upon individual respect, so it is
better for\you to neglect them and appreciate mire. The words of
authority, O mighty Asuras, do not fall from heaven ; reasonable words
only are to be accepted by persons like yourselves. "By these and
similar reasonings, the Daityas were led away, and none of them any-
longer acknowledged the authority of the Vedas."
After the Daityas were thus led away, the celestials easily defeated
them,
[ xlvii ]
let water continually drip on their heads ; and those who offer
up with fire.
Others who practise water-dwelling like fish. Thus there
are Brahmacharins of every sort, who practise austerities that
they may at the end of life obtain a birth in heaven.
Goutama then beheld their rites in connection with sacri-
fice to fire, the drilling for sparks and the fanning into flame ;
Also the sprinkling of the butter libations ; also the chan-
ting of the mystic-prayers (the Veda) till the sun went down.*
Oldenberg says :
"At this time of deep and many sided intellectual move-
ments which had extended from the circles of Brahmanical
thinkers far into the people at large, when amateur studies
of the dialectic routine had already given up out of the
arduous struggles of the past age over its simple profound
thoughts, when dialectic scepticism began to attack moral
ideas, at this time, when a painful longing for deliverance
from the burden of being, was met by the first signs of moral
decay, Goutama appears upon the scene."
CHAPTER VII.
THE BUDDHAS.
BUT Siddharta Goutama was not the only Buddha that was
ever born in this world. He was neither the first nor the
last Buddha ; there were many Buddhas that came before
him, and there will be many more who will come after him.f
* This is a quotation from the Chinese work Fo-Sho-Hing-Tsan-
King which is a translation of the Sanskrit Buddha Charita by Ashwa
Ghosa.
f In the Bhagavad Gita, Chap IV. Slokas 7-8. ; Srikrishna said :
When-soever, O Bharata, virtue languishes and sin predominates I
create myself.
I take birth age after age for the protection of the good and the des-
truction of the wicked and the establishment of true religion.
[ xlviii ].
BUDDHA said : " The all-subduing, the all-knowing am \
'in everything, that I am without a spot, I have given up every
tting. I am without a desire, a Delivered One. By my own
power 1 possess Knowledge; whorn should I. call master 1 ?
I have no teacher ; no one is to be Compared to me. In the
'world including heavens there is no one like r u'n'to me. I am
? the Holy Owe in the world ; I am the 'Supre'ifte Master. 1
; alone am 'the perfect Buddha ; 'the flames are 'extinct in me.
'I have attained the Nirvana.''^
HlS <F0L'LG\vR$ say> " The e'xalted Owe is 'the bringef
"of joy, the dispenser of joy, whose organs of life are placcid
\vhose spirit is at rest, the Supreme Self-subduer and Peace-
.possessor, the Her who has conque'fed self aftd watches
himself, who he>!ds his desires in check."
" H-e appears in the World for salvation fro many -people,
for joy to many people) out f compassion for the world^
for the blessing, the salvation, the joy of gods and men."f
Thtes have the Baddhas tjf by-gone ages appeared ; thus
-shall the Buddhas of coming ages appear, " The names of
"twenty-four of these Buddhas who appeared previous to
^Ooutama have been handed down to us ; and when after 5000
yearsj shall have elapsed since his re-discovery of the
Truth under the Bo-tree, the religion of Goutama shall be
forgotten, a new Buddha will again open the door of Nirvana
to men, his name being Maitreya Buddha the Buddha of
Kindness-."
* See Mahavagga I. 6'8.
f See Anuguttara Nilcaya, Vol.- 1.
J Buddha said to his beloved disciple : -" Five hundred years,
Anarida, will the doctrine of the Truth abide." See Cullavagga X'. i. 6.
Dr. Oldenberg remarks, " Later on, when his prophecy was contradicted
by events, the numbers were naturally made greater." See Oldenberg^s
'Buddha p. 327, and also Koppen, I. 327.
See Rhys. David's Buddhism, p. 180.
[ xlix ]
We shall now briefly sketch the lives of these previo us
Buddhas*
Dipanker was the First Buddha.f Next to the Dipanker
Buddha, after the lapse of one Asankheyyd, the teacher
Kondanna appeared. The city of Kondanna Buddha was Ram-
mavati ; the Kshatriya Sunada was his father ; his mother was
queen Sujata; Bhadda and Subhadda were his two chief
disciples. Anumaddha was his servitor ; Tissa and Upatissa
his chief female disciples. His Budhi-tree was the Salakalyain ;
his body was eight cubits high, and the duration of his life
was a hundred thousand years.
After him at the end of one Asankheyya, in one and the
same cycle, four Buddhas were born, namely Mangala,
Sumana, Revata and Sobhita.
* The Buddhavansa, the last book of the Kliuddaka Nikaya in the
second Pitaka, gives the Jives of all the previous Buddhas. The Pali
commentary on the Jatalcas also gives certain details of these 24
Buddhas. See Fansboll's Jataka p.p. 2-44, and Sutta Nipata p. 40 ;
also Turner's Mahavansa p. I, and Hardy's Manual of Buddhism
p. 49. We give here the accounts of the Buddhas from the Nidana
Katha as translated by Rhys Davids.
f We find the following 55 names of the previous Buddhas in Lalita
Vistara, Chap. I.
I. Padmauttara ; 2. Dharmaketu; 3. Dipankara ; 4. Gunaketu ;
5. Mahakara;6. Rishideva; 7. Sretaja ; 8. Satyaketu ; 9. Vajra-
sanhat; 10. Sarvavion ; u. Hemvarna ; 12. Attuchagami ; 13.
Probahsaya; 14. Puspaketu ; 15. Vararupa ; 16. Sulocliona ; 17.
Rishigupta; 18. Ginabaktra ; 19. Unnata ; 20. Puspita ; 21, Urni-
taja ; 22. Puskara ; 23. Sarasrni ; 24. Mangala ; 25. Sudarsana ;
26. Maha Sinhataja ; 27. Sthitabudhidatta ; 28. Basantagandhi ; 29.
Satwadharmabipulakirti ; 30. Pushya ; 31. Visternavida ; 32.
Ratnakirti ; 33. Ugrataja ; 34. Brahmataja ; 35. Sugosha ; 36. Supu-
shya;37- Sumanagnaghosa ; 38. Suchastarupa ; 39. Prahasitanatra ;
40. Gunarashi ; 41. Maghaswara ; 42. Sundarvarna ; 43. Ayustaja ;
44. Salilagajagemi ; 45. Lokavilasita ; 46. Jitasatru ; 47. Sampujita ;
48. Bipaschita ; 49. Shikhi ; 50. Vislnvavu ; 51. Krukuchhanda ; 52.
Kanakmuni ; 53. Sumana Kashyapa. 55. iSidharta Goutama.
7
[1 ]
The city of Mangala Buddha was called Uttara ; his father
was the Kshatriya Uttara ; his mother was Uttara. Sudeva,
and Dhamasena were his two chief desciples ; Palita was his
servitor ; Sivali and Asoka his two chief female disciples.
The Naga was his Bodhi-tree; his body was eighty-eight
cubits high. When his death took place, after he had lived
ninety thousand years, at the same instant ten thousand
worlds were involved in darkness, and in all worlds there was
a great cry and lamentation of men.
And after the Mangala Buddha had died, shrouding in
darkness ten thousand worlds, the Teacher Sumana appeared.
The city of this Buddha was named Khema ; Sudatta was his
father ; Srimana his mother ; Sarana and Bravitatta his chief
disciples ; Adina his servitor ; Sona and Upasona his chief
female disciples. The Naga was his Boodhi tree ; his body
was ninety cubits high and his length of his life ninety thousand
years.
After him the Teacher Revata appeared. The city of
this Buddha was called Sudhannavati ; his father was the
Khattrya Vipula ; his mother Vipula ; Varuna and Brahmadeva
his chief disciples ; Sambhava his servitor ; Bhadra and Subadra
his chief female disciples, and the Naga-tree his Bo-tree.
His body was eighty cubits high and his age sixty thousand
years.
After him appeared the Teacher Sobhita. Sudharma
was the name of the city of this Blessed One ; Sudhamma the
kfng was his father ; Sudhama was his mother ; Asama and
Suneta his chief disciples; Anoma his servitor; Nakula and
Sujata his chief female disciples, and the Naga-tree his Bo-
tree. His body was eighty cubits high and his age sixty
thousand years.
After him when an Asankheyya had elapsed, three Buddhas
were born in one Kalpa Anomadarsin, Padama, and Narada.
The city of Anomadarsin, the Blessed One, was called Canda-
vati ; Yasana, the king, was his father ; Yosodhara was his
r H i
mother ; Nisabha and Anima his chief disciples ; Varuna his-
chief servitors ; Sundari and Sumana his chief female disciples ;
the Arjuna tree his Bo-tree ; his body was fifty-eight cubits
high, and his age a hundred thousand years.
After him 1 appeared the Teacher named' Padama.. Now
the city of Padama, the Blessed One, was called Champaka ;
his father was Paduma the king ; his mother Asama ; Sala
and Upasala were his chief disciples ; Varuna was his servitor ;
Rama and Uparama his- chief female disciples ; the Crimson
tree his Bo-tree ; his body was fifty-eight cubits high, and
his age was a hundred thousand years:
. After him appeared the Teacher named Narada. The
city of the Blessed One was called Dhamavati ; his father was
Sumedha, the warrior ; his mother Anomabuddasala ; and.
Jittamila his chief disciples. Vissetta his servitor ; Uttava and
Peggumis his chief female disciples ; the great Crimson tree
his Bo-tree ; his body eighty-eight cubits high and his age
was ninety thousand years.
After Narada the Buddha, a hundred thousand cycles ago,
there appeared in one Kalpa only one Buddha called Padu-
muttara. His city was called Hansavati; his father was
Ananda the warrior ; his mother Sujata ; D'evala and Sujata
his chief disciples ; Sumana his servitor ; Amita and Asama
his chief female disciples ; the Sala tree his Bo-tree ; his body
was eighty-eight cubits high ; the light from his body ex-
tended twelve leagues ; and his age was a hundred thousand
years.
After him when thirty thousand world cycles had elapsed,
two Buddhas, Sumeda and Sujata, were born in one Kalpa.
The city of Sumedha, the Blessed One, was called Sudasana :
Suddatta the king was his father ; Sudatta was his mother ;
Sarana and Sabbakama his two chief disciples ; Sagara his
servitor ; Rama and Surama his chief two female disciples ; the
great Champaka tree his Bo-tree ; his body was eighty-eight
cubits high, and his age was ninety thousand years.
After him appeared the Teacher Sujatta. The city of
this Blessed one was called Sumangfala ; Uggata the king was :
his father; Pabhavati his mother; Sudarsana and Deva his
chief disciples ; Nanda his servitor ; Naga and Nagasamala
his chief female disciples ; and the great Bambu tree his Bo-
tree. This tree, they say, had smaller hollows and thicker
wood than ordinary bamboos have, and in its mighty upper
branches it was as brilliant as a branch of a peacock's tails.
The body of this Blessed one was fifty cubits higb, and his
age was ninety thousand years.
After him, when eighteen hundred world cycles had elapsed^
three Buddhas, namely Piyadassin, Atthadassin and Dhamma-
dassin were born in one Kalpa. The city of Piyadassin 1
was called Anoma ; his father was Suduma the king ; his
mother Canda ; Palita and Subbadassin his chief disciples ;
Sobhita his servitor ; Sujjata and Dhammadasin his chief
female disciples, and the Priyangu tree his Bo-tree. His body
was eighty cubits high, and his age ninety thousand years.
After him appeared the Teacher Athadassin. The city
of this Blessed One was Sobhita ; Sagara the king was his"
father ; Sudassana his mother ; Santa and Apasanta his chief
disciples ; Abhaya his servitor ; Dhamma and Sudhamma his
chief female disciples; and the Champaka his Bo-tree. His-
body was eighty cubits high ; the glory from his body always
extended over a league, and his age was a hundred thousand
years.
After him appeared the Teacher named Dhammadassin',
The city of this Blessed One was called Sarana ; his father
was Sarana, the king, ; his mother Sunanda ; Paduma and
Phussadeva his chief disciples ; Sunetta his servitor ; Khema and
Subbanama his chief female disciples ; and the red Kuravatra,
tree his Bo-tree. His body was eighty cubits high, and his
age a hundred thousand years.
After him ninety-four world cycles ago, only one Buddha r
by name Siddhattha appeared in one Kalpa. The city of this
C Im ].
Blessed One was called Vebhara : Jayasena the king was his
father ; Suphassa his mother ; Sambala and Sumitta his chief
female disciples ; and the Kanikar tree his Bo-tree. His body
was sixty cubits high, and his age was a hundred thousand
years.
After him, ninety-two world cycles ago, two Buddhas,
namely Tissa and Phussa by name, were born in one Kalpa.
The city of this Blessed One was called Khema ; Janasandha
the warrior-chief was his father ; Paduma his mother ; the
God Brahma and Udaya his chief disciples ; Sambhava his
servitor ; Phussa and Sudatta his chief female disciples ; and
the Asana tree his Bo-tree. His body was sixty cubits high,
and his age a hundred thousand years.
After him appeared the Teacher named Phussa. The
city of this Blessed One was called Kasi ; Jayasena the king
was his father ; Suma his mother; Surakkhita and Dhammasena
his chief disciples ; Sabhiya was his servitor ; Cala and Upacala
his chief female disciples ; and the Amalaka tree his Bo-tree.
His body was fifty cubits high, and his age ninety thousand
years.
After him ninety world cycles ago, appeared the Blessed 1
One named Vipasin. The city of this Blessed One was called
Bandhumati ; Bandhuma the king was his father ; and Bandhu-
mati his mother ; Khanda and Tissa his disciples ; Asoka his
servitor ; Canda and Candamitta his chief female disciples ;
and the Bignonia his Bo-tree. His body was eighty cubits
high ; the effulgence from his body always reached a hundred
leagues ; and his age was a hundred thousand years.
After him, thirty-one world cycles ago, there were two Buddhas
called Sikhim and Vessabhu. The city of that Blessed One was
Arunavati ; Aruna the warrior chief was his father ; Parbhavati
his mother ; Abhibhu and Sambhava his chief disciples ; Khe-
mankara his servitor ; Makhila and Paduma his chief female
disciples; and the Pundanha tree his Bo-tree. His body
was thirty-seven cubits high; the effulgence from his body
reached three leagues ; and his age was thirty-seven thousand:
years.
After him appeared the Teacher named Vessabhu ; the
city of this Blessed One was called Anopama ; Supatila the
king was his father ; Yasavati his mother, Sona and Uttara
his chief disciples ; Upasanta his servitor ; Dama and Sumala
his chief female disciples ; and the Sal-tree his Bo-tree. His
body was sixty cubits high ; and his age was sixty thousand
years.
After him in this world cycle, four Buddhas have appeared,
namely Kakusanda, Konagamana, Kassapa, and one other.
Buddha. The city of Kukusanda the Blessed One was called
Khema ; Aggidalla the Brahman was his father ; Visaha the
Brahman woman his mother ; Vidura and Sanjivas his chief dis-
ciples ; Bhisodhya his servitor ; Sama and Champaka his chief
female disciples ; and the great Sirisa tree his Bo-tree. His
body was forty cubits high, and his age forty thousand years.
After him appeared the Teacher Konagammana. The city
of this Blessed one was called Sobhavati ; Yannadatta the
Brahmana was his father ; Uttara the Brahman woman was his
mother ; Bheyyesa and Uttara his chief disciples ; Silthija his
servitor ; Samudda and Uttara his chief female disciples ; and
the Udumbara tree his Bo-tree. His body was twenty cubits
high, and his age was thirty thousand years.
After him the Teacher named Kassapa appeared in the
world. The birth place of this Blessed One was called
Benares ; Brahmadatta the Brahman was his father ; Dhanavati
of the Brahmana caste his mother ; Tissa and Bharadwaja
his chief disciples ; Sobbamitta his servitor ; Anula and Uruvila
his chief female disciples; and the Nigradha tree his Bo-tree.
His body was twenty cubits high, and his age was twenty
thousand years.*
* Shambhu Purana, a Sanskrit work much revered by the Nepalese
Budhists, gives in brief the accounts of the last six Buddhas as follows.
i. Bipaschita : It is said that Nepal was originally a marshy
Now after Kassapa, there is- no other Buddha beside the
present Supreme Buddha. The Bodisat received a profi-
ciency from each of the twenty-four Buddhas beginning at
Dipankara.*
The last Buddha, Sidhartha Goutama, was born in the family
of the Sakyas. Rhys Davids says : " They were seated, about
500 years before the birth of Chirist, at a place called Kapila-
vastuf on the banks of the river Rohini, the modern Kohana,
waste; but the Buddha Bipaschita came here with a large number of
followers and made it a beautiful and fertile land.
2. Sikhi the Buddha also came here and entered Nirvana.
3. Vishwavu, the Buddha, did exactly what the No. 2 did.
4. 5. 6. are almost the same as the three others. For fear of re-
petition we do not give any details of their life.
* Dr. Oldenberg says : " It could scarcely be otherwise than that
the historical form of the one actual Buddha multiplied itself under
dogmatic treatment to a countless number of past and coming Buddhas."
Rhys Davids says : " It is sufficiently evident that nearly all these
details are merely imitated from the corresponding details of the legend
of Goutama ; and it is to say the least, very doubtful whether the tradi-
tion of these legendary teachers has preserved for us any grains of
historical fact. If not, the list is probably later than the time of Goutama,
for while it is scarcely likely that he should have deliberately invented
these names, it may well have seemed to later Buddhists very ediying
to give such lists and very reasonable to exclude in them the names
held in the highest honour by the Brahmans themselves."
f Dr. Oldenburg in his Buddha pp 95-96 says : " We can point
out the native land of Buddha in the map of India with tolerable
accuracy. Between the Nepalese lower range of the Himalaya and the
middle part of the course of the Rapti, which runs through the north-
eastern part of the province of Oudh there stretches a strip of level,
fruitful land, some thirty English miles broad, well watered by the
numerous streams that issue from the Himalayas. Here lay the not very
extensive territory over which the Sakyas claimed supremacy and
dominion. On the east the Rohini separated their lands from their
neighbours ; to this day this stream has preserved the name which it
bore more than two thousand years ago. On the west and south the
rule of the Sakhyas extended quite up, or nearly so, to the Rapti."
t Ivi
labout'ioo miles north-east of the city of Benares. That insigni-
ficant 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 Sakhyas had penetrated further to the
East than most of their fellow Aryans, but beyond them in
that direction was the powerful confideration of Lichchavis
and the rising kingdom of Magadha. To their north were
rude hill tribes of Mongolian extraction, while behind them
to the west lay those lands which the Brahmanas held most
sacred. Their nearest neighbours to be feared in that direc-
tion were the subjects of the king of Sravasti (Kosala), the
rival of the king of Magadha. It was this rivalry of their neigh-
bours more than their own strength which secured for the
Sakhyas a precarious independence ; but their own hand was
strong enough to protect them against the incursions of
The territory of the Sakhyas included, as far as it appears, according
to the present divisions of the land, approximately the following circles
belonging to the Gorukpur districts; Binayakpur, Bacsene and the
western half of pergunnah Havili.
See Cunningham's Geography of Ancient India ; also Dr. Waddell's
Note in I. R. A. S.
The city of Kapilavastu (in Pali, Kapilavastu), was long soarched for
by archaeologists in vain, but is now identified by General Sir A. Cunning-
ham and Mr. Carlleyle with Bhuila, a village surrounded by buried brick-
work in the Basti district under the Nepal mountains about twenty five
miles northeast from Faizabad, twelve northwest from Basti, and one
hundred and twenty north of Benares. Both Fa-hien (Legge, 67) and
Hiouen Thsang describe the neighbouring Lumbini (Lavani) garden where
theBuddha was born from the right side of his mother. They also men-
tion the Arrow-fountain where Goutama contended with others of his
tribe in a shooting-match. The legend is that he gained the victory
by shooting an arrow which passed through the target, buried itself in the
ground and caused a clear spring of water to flow forth (Legge, 65 67 ;
Beal II. 23 24). This name Sarakupa "Arrow fountain" has now
been corrupted into Sar-kina, and the spot has been identified.
Sir M. William's Buddhism, p. 388 389.
[ Ivii ]
roving bands from the hills and to sustain them in their
quarrels with neighbouring class 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 some-
* The Kailyans and the Sakhyas were united by marriage,
before the birth of Goutama, for his mother was a Kailyan lady. We
give below the Genealogical tables of these two clans.
Genealogical Tables of the Sakhyas and Koliyans.
FATHER'S SIDE.
Jayasena of the Sakh}'as.
Sinhahaun Yosadhara.
Su
dhadhana. Sukladhana Amritad
1
bana. 2 ethers.
1
Devdatta
(monk).
Ananda
(monk).
Nanda. Rupananda. Sidhartha Buddha. Mahavansa. Anuruddha
son of Maya of
the Koliyans).
RAHULA.
MOTHER'S SIDE,
Devadaha of the Kolyans.
I
Anjana Anusuha. Kausana.
Suprabudha. Dandapani. MAYA. PRAJAPATI.
(wives of Sudhadhana).
Yosadhara. Devdatta.
(wife of Goutama Buddha).
RAHULA.
[ Iviii ]
times quarreled 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 Kailyans were the wives of
Sudhadhana, the Raja of the Sakhyas."*
* Sudhadhana was the father of Goutama Buddha. Dr. Oldenberg
does not admit that he was a "king." He says, "A widespread tradi-
tion represents Buddha as having been a king's son. At the head of this
aristocratic community there must certainly have been some one having
been appointed we know not by what rules with the title of king, which
can have indicated more than the position of puinus inter pases. But
the idea that Buddha's father Suddhadhana enjoyed this royal dignity is
quite foreign to the oldest forms in which the traditions regarding the
family are presented to us ; rather we have nothing more or less to con-
template in Sudhadhana than one of the great and wealthy landowners
of the Sakhya race, whom later legends transformed into the great
King Suddhadhana."
THE LIFE, TEACHINGS AND ORDER OP
BUDDHA.
PA.RT I.
CHAPTER I.
THE BIRTH OF SIDDHARTHA.
Some two thousand and five hundred years ago in the Full-
Moon-Day/ in the beautiful season of Spring, Siddhartha
Goutama, the great Buddha, was born.* His father, Sudha-
dhanat was ever unhappy for the want of a child who would
* We shall try as much as possible to follow the original chroni-
clers of Buddha's life both in style and form in narrating the biographi-
cal portion of his life ; for we believe it would be more interesting than
what we can give in our own language. In describing the early portion of
the great Prophet's life, we shall principally follow "Mahabiniskramana
Sutra," (the Book of the Great Renunciation), of which Rhys Davids
says : " The date of this Sanskrit work is unknown ; the translation
into Chinese was made in the sixth century A. D. The English
version by the Reverend Sameul Beal was published in 1875 under
the title " Romantic Legend of Sakhya Buddha." It gives an ac-
count of Goutama's life down to the time when in his 30th year, he
revisited his father's home after openly coming forward as a teacher."
f See Lalita Vistara, Chapter I.
6
2 BUDDHA.
be a glory to his clan and joy to his home.* His two wives, Maya
and Prajapati, two affectionate sisters, t grew old, but did not
show any sign of giving birth to a child. At last in the
* Following is Dr. Oldenberg's authority for his saying that
Sudhadhana was not a king. He says, "The following leads me to deny
the antiquity of the tradition which makes Buddha's father a king. When
(as in the Sonadanda Sutta of Digha Nikhya) the external claims of
Buddha to respectful consideration are* discussed it is always admitted
merely that he has come of an "Uckakula,Bhatteyakula, Addha-
kula." It is emphasized that he, when he entered on a spiritual career,,
forsook relatives and friends, gold and silver, the kingly dignity of the
family is not alluded to. If any where, it is with reference to a circum-
stance of this kind, which assuredly could not have been suppressed.
To this another consideration must be added. Any one, who knows the
uniform care with which the titulary appellation of persons appearing in
the Pitakas is observed, will also find this difference decisive that
Buddha's father is there merely Suddhadana Sakka (See Mahavagga I.
54 ; also Mahasakha Sutta) ; just as mention is made of Anuruddha-
Sakka, Upananda Sakkaputta &c., while Bhaddika who was really the
king of the Sakkas if we may call this petty Raja a king is regularly
introduced as Bhaddika Sahkaraja (Cullavagga VII. I. 3). Moreover
Sudhadhana is addressed "Gotama" (Mahavagga I. c.), as the Mallas
are called Vasettha, the Koliyas Byagghapajja, but no one says to hint
"Maharaja" as to Bindasara or Pasanadi. The oldest evidence which
attributes to Suddhadhana the kingly dignity, as far as I know, the only
passage of the kind in the Tipitaka occurred in the Mahapadhana Sutta
(Digha Nikaya), where a series of notices of the lives of the last seven
Buddhas is thrown together. In a systematic manner, exactly as in-
the passage apparently modelled on this Sutta (Dipavansa XVII. 3%
th.ere is recorded the length of life, the parentage, home, tree of know-
ledge, Savaka Yaga &c., of these Buddhas. The three first were king's
sons, the following three Brahmana's sons, the last is again a king's ;
son, the son of Sudhadhana raja. Possibly similar is the statement
also in the concluding portion of the Buddhavansa, it would be quite
in . keeping with the character of these texts : I regret not to be able ta
make any statement on this part of the said texts as it is not accessible
to me at present. There is no need of enlarging to show that in any
case evidence of this description must retire before the momenta previ-
ously brought to bear on this question."
j- See our note in p. 9 Introduction, Chapter VII.
' HIS LIFE,
forty-fifth year of her age, Maya promised her husband a
son. The news flew from house to house all over the good
chieftain's domain, and every one was very happy.
Maya, in accordance to custom,* started for her parent's
house. The ancient chronicler saysf; The king ordered
that the whole extent of the road between Kapilavastu and
Koli should be perfectly levelled and lined on both sides with
plantain trees and adorned with the finest ornaments. Jars 1 ,
full of the purest water, were to be deposited all along
the road at short intervals. A chair of gold was made ready
for conveying the queen ; and a thousand noblemen, attended
by an innumerable retinue, were directed to accompany her
during her journey. Between the two countries an immense
forest of lofty Engyin trees extended to a great distance. As
soon as the cortege reached it, five water lilies shot forth
spontaneously from the stems and the main branches of each
tree, and innumerable birds of all kinds, by their melodious
tunes, filled the air with the most ravishing music. Trees,
similar in beauty to those growing in the seats of gods,
apparently sensible of the presence of the incarnated
Buddha, seemed to share in the universal joy.
On beholding this wonderful appearance of all the lofty
trees of the forest, the queen felt a desire to approach nearer '
and enjoy the marvellous sight offered to her astonished'
eyes. Her noble attendants led her forthwith a short
distance into the forest. Maya, seated on her couch, along
with her sister Prajapati, desired her attendants to have it
moved closer to an Engyin tree which she pointed out. Her
wishes were immediately complied with. She then rose
.* See Rhys Davids' Buddhism p. 26. But Lalita Vistara says that
she went to a beautiful garden-house with the permission of her husband
to pass some time there. See Lilata Vistara, Chap. I.
f We quote this description from the Burmese Mallalinkava Woniho
as translated by Bishop Bigandet See " The Life and Legends of
Goudama, the Buddha of the Burmese" pp. 32 33.
4 BUDDHA.
gently on her couch ; her left hand, clasped round the neck of
her sister, supported her in a standing position. With the
right hand she tried to reach and break a small branch which
she wanted to carry away. On that very instant as the
slender ratten, heated by fire, bent down its tender head, all
the branches bowed their extremities, offering themselves, as
it were, to the hand of the queen who unhesitatingly seized
and broke the extremity of one of the young boughs. By
virtue of a certain power inherent in her dignity, on a sudden
all the winds blew gently throughout the forest. The atten-
dants, having desired all the people to withdraw to a
distance, disposed curtains all round the place the queen
was standing on. Whilst she was in that position, admiring
the slender bough she held in her hands, the moment of her
confinement happened, and she was delivered of a son.
Five days after the birth of Buddha,* a great festival was
* It is needless to say that all the ancient chroniclers, that write
anything about the life of the great Buddha, have narrated innumerable
miracles all through his life. They are too numerous to be quoted
in this book. But to givean example we quote the following from Bishop
Bigandet's excellent work.
'Four chief Brahmanas received the new born infant in a golden
net-work and placed him in the presence of the happy mother, saying
"Give yourself up, O queen, to joy and rejoicing, here is the precious and
wonderful fruit of your womb."
"From the hands of the four chiefs of Brahmanas four chiefs of gods
received the blessed child, whom they handed over to men who placed
him in a beautiful white cloth. But to the astonishment of all, he freed
himself from the hands of those attending upon him and stood in a firm
and erect position on the ground ; when casting a glance towards the east
niore than one thousand worlds appeared like a perfectly levelled plain.
All the gods inhabiting those worlds made offerings of flowers and per-
fumes exclaiming with exultation : 'An exalted personage has made his
appearance, who can ever be compared to him, who has ever equalled
him ? He is indeed the most excellent of all beings." Phralong
(Buddha) looked again towards the three other directions. Raising his
eyes upwards and then lowering them down, he saw that there was no
HIS LIFE. 5
appointed in order that his name might be given ; and 1 08
learned Brahmans were invited to attend ; to each of whom the
being equal to him. Conscious of his superiority, he jumped over a
distance of seven lengths of a foot in a northern direction exclaming
"This is my last birth ; there shall be to me no other state of existence.
I am the greatest of all beings." He then began to walk steadily in the
same direction."
Rhys Davids thus gives a summary of these miracles: "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."
"After seven days of fasting and seclusion, the pure and holy Maya
dreams that she is carried by archangels to heaven and that there the
future Buddha enters her right side in the form of a superb white
elephant. On her relating her dream to her husband, he calls together
five chief Brahmanas to interpret it, Their reply is that the child will
be a son who will be a Chakravarti, a universal monarch ; or if he be-
comes a recluse, he will be a Buddha, who will remove the veils of igno-
rance and sin from the world."
"At the conception of Buddha thirty -two signs take place ; the 10000
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 the fires of hill are extinguished and the tortures of the dammed
are mitigated. During the ten months of his life in the womb, the child
is distinctly visible, sitting crosslegged unsoiled and dignified, and he
preaches to the angels who guard him, stretching out his hand to do so
without wounding his mother.
"As a dagoba holding sacred relics cannot be used to guard any less
sacred objects, 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 ; and again the thirty 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
O BUDDHA.
king gave an offering of food.* The Brahmans collected at
the festival said, " This prince will hereafter be a blessing to
the world (Siddhartha)," in consequence of which he was called
" Siddhartha."t
The 80000 relatives of the prince, who were present on
the day he was named, reflected that if he were to become a
Chakravati,{ he would require a retinue, and that if he were to
become a Buddha, he would be attended by royal priests ; so
that in either case, their children might through him obtain great
explains the wonder to the astonished father and prophesies that the
child will become a Buddha, and weeps that he himself will not live to
see the day."
"On the fifth day the name-choosing festival takes place when 108
Brahmans learned in the three Vedas of whom eight were specially
learned. in divination, are feasted at the palace. Seven of the eight,
after examining the marks in the child's body, hold up two fingers and
prophesy that he will become either a Chakravarti or a Buddha, but
one Kondanya, afterwards Gotamas' first disciple, holds up one finger and
prophesies that he will assuredly become a Buddha, who will remove the
veils of sin and ignorance from the world."
"Then comes the story of the ploughing festival. The great king
Suddhadhana 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 turned,
the tree under which the child sat still shaded it."
* This is quoted from Hardy's Manual of Buddhism pp. 148 151.
f Rhys Davids says : "Even the name Sidhartha, said to have been
given him as a child, may have been a subsequent invention. His family
name was certainly Gotama." See his Buddhism, pp 27. But we do not
understand why such a common name as Sidhartha should have been an
invention. We find in the Pali works, there were many others who
were called Sidhartha. The followers of the great master gave him
many other names, such as Sakhya Singha, Sakhya Muni, Sugata, (the
happy are) Satha, (the teacher^ Jina (the conqueror), Bhagava (the
blessed one) Lokenath (the Lord of the world), Sarvajna (the omniscient)
Dharmaraja (the king of righteousness) and many more too numerous to
mention.
J Chakravarli means the king of all the kings.
HIS LIFE. 7
advantage. They therefore sent their sons to be educated
with him as his companions.
In order to procure a proper nurse for his son, Suddhadhana
assembled the princesses of the two cities of Kapilavastu and
Koli. "She was not to be tall, or else the neck of the infant
would be stretched ; nor too short, or his body would be bent ;
nor too large, or his legs would be contracted ; nor too weak,
or his body would not acquire firmmess ; nor of too full a
habit, or her milk would be hot and cause his skin to become
red ; nor of too dark a complexion, or her milk would be cold
and cause his flesh to be in lumps in some parts hard and in
others soft." One hundred princesses were at last chosen free
from these faults.
CHAPTER II.
HIS YOUTH.
liie great astrologers said, " The lot of one possessed of
these marks will not be cast amidst the cares of household
life. Verily he will become a Buddha."
And the king asked, " After seeing what, will my son for-
sake the world ?"
" The four Visions," was the reply.
" What are they ?" asked the King.
" A man worn-out by age," replied the Brahman/' a man
ill, a dead body, and a monk."
The King thought, " From this time let no such things
come near my son. There is no good my son's becoming
a Buddha. I should like to see my son exercising rule and
sovereignty over the four great continents and the two
thousand islands that surround them." So saying, he placed
9
5 BUDDHA.
guards two miles apart in the four directions to prevent men
of these four kinds coming to the sight of his son.*
The king went further. As soon as Siddhartha grew to
manhood, he got him married to Yasodhara, the princess of
Koli.f He made for him three royal palaces, "one nine storeys,
high, one seven storeys high, and one five storeys high." St>
..that his mind be immersed in pleasures, he provided him with
forty thousand beautiful dancing girls. J And Siddhartha
Goutama, surrounded by this troop of beauties, lived in the
enjoyment of great luxury.
The ancient chronicler says : " The King appointed
Yasodhara to be the principal queen of Siddhartha ; and plac-
ing the prince and the princess upon a throne of silver, he
placed the veil of consecration upon them from three conchs,
one of gold, another of silver and the third of shell. After-
wards he bound upon their head the royal diadem and
delivered on to them the whole of his kingdom. He then sent
for all his relatives, commanding them to bring their princess-
es so that they, might be the inferior wives of Siddhartha.
The relatives replied : " The prince is very delicate, he is
also young. Even to this day he has not learnt a single science.
If hereafter there should be any war, he would be unable to
contend with the enemy. He has not the means of main-
taining our daughters. We cannot, therefore, consent to send
them to one who is so utterly destitute of every endowment
that he ought to possess."
" When the prince heard this, he resolved to exhibit his
real strength, and asked it to be proclaimed throughout the
city by beat of drum, that whosoever might be wishful to
see his powers was invited to come to the palace in seven
* See Nidankatha as translated by Rhys Davids in his "Buddhist
Birth Stories" pp. 73 74.
f See Hardy's Manual of Buddhism pp. 152 153.
J They are called Nataka-Stri, literally dancing-woman, but it is
evident that they were considered as inferior wives.
HIS LFFE. g
days from that time. On the day appointed, an immense
pavilion was erected and a vast multitude assembled in the
court of the palace. Surrounded by a countless retinue and
in the presence of 160000 of his relations, he took a bow
that required the strength of a thousand men to bend it, and
placing the lower end in the nail of the great tow of his right
foot, without standing up, he thrummed the string of the bow
with his finger nail easily, as if it were merely the bow by
which cotton is cleansed. The sound produced by the
vibration of the strain was so loud that it rolled to the
distance of a thousand Yoyanas and the terror seized hold
upon the inhabitants of Jamvudwipa as they supposed that
it thundered, though it was not the season of rain. After this
he placed four plantain trees at the corner of a square. By one
flight of the arrow he pierced them all. Even in the dark
he could send the arrow with so steady an aim as to split
a hair from which any thing was suspended. The prince also
proved that he knew perfectly the eighteen Shilpas though he
never had a teacher* and that he was equally well acquainted
with many other Sciences. The relatives were thus con-
vinced by what they saw and heard that he was no ordinary
being, and soon afterwards 40,000 princesses were sent to>
remain in the apartments of the palace."f
*' It is said in the Malinda Prasna that Sudanta became the pre-
ceptor of the Prince and that he was succeeded in his office by the
learned Brahman Subbamitta upon whose hands the king poured water
when he delivered him into his charge as a token that he was entirely
resigned to his care until he had acquired the knowledge it was neces-
sary for him to know ; while in other works it is said that he had no>
teacher at the time of his marriage. Nagasena says he had five pre-
ceptors. (Hardy's Manual of Buddhism p. 153,) It is evident Buddha
was under some Teacher or Teachers when he was a boy.
f Dr. Oldenberg says : " We are told that the coming Buddha
was married, but whether to one or to several wives is not known."
But we find no reason to disbelieve the fact that he had but only one
ic
wife. As Rhys Davids agrees with our views, we quote his noje
on the point in extenso.
"The Southern Buddhists agree in saying that Goutama had only
one wife ; they give different names, but mean the same person. She
is called Yasodhara by Bigandet (see his Life and Legend of Buddha
p. p. 24*54* 1 24) and the same by Hardy who adds that she was the
daughter of Suprabindha (See his Manual of Buddhism p.p. I46'i52"
206), but she is usually called simply Rahula Mata, the mother of
Rahula, in the oldest authorities (see Jatakas 54, 6' 58, 1.8 go, 24'
Venaya Texts Vol. I, p. 108). The name of Subhadracansana is a
mere mistake for Subhadrasansana and is there stated to be the same
.as Yasodhara.
" The Chinese Life gives three wives, viz. Yasodhara, the mother of
Rahula, Goutami and Monohara. The Chinese editor significantly adds
concerning the last, "Some Doctors of the Law say that the attendants on
Monohara only knew her name, but never saw her presence," and this
evidently mythical person is never mentioned elsewhere. Goutami is
the name used only in one story which does not occur in any other
authority and the epithet would be applicable of course to every member
of the Goutuma clan, as Prajapati for instance is also called Goutami.
Goutami is made the daughter of Dandapani, while Yasodhara, the only
wife who appears throughout the book, is made the daughter of Maha-
nama.
" The Lalit Vistara speaks only of one wife Gopa, the daughter of
Dandapani, and relates of her the stories which are related elsewhere of
Yasodhara, but Fancaux in a Note to p. 152 of his work says that
Goutama had three wives, namely Yasodhara, Mrigaya or Gopa and
Utpalvarna ; of the last he gives one detail which identifies her with
Yasodhara, namely that she and Prajapati were the first Buddhist
nuns.
CHAPTER ML
FOUR VISIONS.
One day Siddhartha Goutama, wishing to go to his pleasure-
gardens, told his charioteer to harness his chariot. The latter
accordingly decked the gloriously beautiful chariot with all
its. trappings and harnessed to it four State horses; The
future Buddha then ascended the chariot and went towards-
the beautiful gardens.
When he had gone a few steps, he saw before him 1 an old
man passing by with difficulty, borne down as he was- by old,
age and decrepitude.* Seeiing him, he thus asked the-
charioteer: f
" O charioteer; who is this weak and lean man ? His
flesh has been withered away, his bones and arteries are-
visible under the covering of his skins, his hair is white, his-
teeth are gone, he goes tottering bent on his stick ?"
" Finally Alexander Cosma, the great authority on Tibetian Bud-
dhism, mentions three wives and' names them Gopa, Yasodhara, and'
Utpalvarna, but states elsewhere that the first two are the same, and
in another place that the name of the third was M'rigaya.
"All this seems to be explicable on a very natural hypothesis. The
oldest accounts agree in giving to Goutama, one wife. . (See Bud-
dhism, pages 50 51); For the Genealogy of Yasodhara see page 57 Int.
* We give this chapter from Lalita Vistara. We shall quote the
Gathas (verses) which Buddha said and the charioteer uttered in reply-
12. BUDDHA.
The charioteer thus replied : *
"Sire, this is an old man. His body has grown debilated,
his senses have become weak. He is now quite unfit for
work and is thoroughly helpless. His friends and relatives-
have abondoned him as a withered tree by the birds and
beasts."
The prince then said in great sorrow : f "O charioteer,
tell me truly, is this state his own individual occurrence, or
is it the universal law ? Tell me soon its real cause, so that
I can think over this matter."
The charioteer replied : J " Sire, it is the universal Law
of Nature. Every man, woman or child would come to this
state. Your parents, your relations, you yourself, all must
come to it."
" Shame then to life I" Saying this, he ordered his chario-
teer to turn back towards home. He did not that day go to
the pleasure gardens.
*
HIS LIFE. 13
When the king his father heard this, he asked, " Why does
my son turn back so hurriedly ?"
" He has seen an old man ;" they said, " and having seen
him, he has come back,"
" By this you ruin me !" exclaimed the king, " Quickly get-
ready concerts and plays. So long as he continues in the
enjoyment of pleasure, he will not turn his thoughts to for-
saking the world."
A few days later, Siddhartha again started for his pleasure
gardens and again turned back. He saw before him a man
lying ill on the way-side forsaken and abandoned by all.
Seeing him he thus asked his charioteer : *
" Charioteer, who is this man, who is a mere skeleton,
in appearance lying in his own excreta, groaning so in
pain ?"
The charioteer replied : t
" Sire, this man is ill ; he' is at the point of death and is
now in great sufferings. There is no cure for him, and no
hope for him ; he will soon die ?"
The prince came back to his palace morose and sad. A
few days after he again went out and saw a large body
fas?dl
f%
14 ~ BUDDHA.
of men carrying a dead body. On seeing it he asked: *
" Charioteer, what is this ? Why are they carrying a man
on a cot ? Why are the people following him with dishevel-
led hair ? Why are they weeping and crying striking
their breast ?'
The charioteer replied : t
" Sire, this man is dead ! He will never again see his
parents, sons, friends and relations. He is gone for ever from
this world. 1 '
On hearing this the prince sighed and said ; J
ct Shame to youth which will end in old age ! Shame to
*
i Pi
t ^ ff
HTH
J
HIS LIFE; l3
health which is surrounded by innumerable; diseases ! Shame
to the learned man who plunges in pleasure !
He came back to his palace and did not see any one for
days together. He then once more came out and went to-
wards his pleasure gardens, but saw a morik passing by. On
seeing him, he thus asked his charioteer.*
" Charioteer, who is this man clad in yellow clothes walk-
ing by peaceful, calm and gentle, never looking up or to any
thing ?"
The charioteer replied : t
" Sire, he is a mendicant. He has abandoned all desires;
He has left the world. He looks every one with equal eyes;
He lives upon alms."
The prince said: J-.
" Yes, I like this. The learned men always praise such a
life. This is the happiest of all lives,"
t
10'
16 BUDDHA.
He asked his charioteer to turn back/ and he returned to
his palace.*
* Dr. Oldenberg does not believe that the four visions as narrated
by the ancient chroniclers did really take place. He says : "A later
age desired to see illustrated in concrete occurrences, how for the first
time and with impressive power the thoughts of old age, disease and
death crept over the young man, healthy and in the freshness of life/
and how he was directed by some insignificant example to that path
which leads away beyond the power of all suffering. Thus was in-
vented or rather transferred to the youth of Goutama, a legend which
was narrated of one of the legendary Buddhas of by-gone ages the
familiar history of the four drives of the youth, to the garden outside
the town, during which the pictures of the impermanence of everything
earthly presented themselves to him one after the other in the form
of a helpless old man, a sick person and a dead body and at last a
religious mendicant with shaven head wearing yellow garment meets
him a picture of peace and deliverance from all pain of impermanence.
In that way later tradition concocted this narrative preparatory to the
flight of Goutama from his home."
To substantiate his theory, Oldenburg quotes the following from the
Pali Texts.
fir rl
(See Anuguttara Nikaya Vol. I).
Dr. Oldenberg then remarks: "Now follows the narrative, how
the thought of old age, disease and death is awakened in him, there-
with ends the part of that text bearing in this matter. Let it be observed
that the origin of these thoughts is not here attributed to an external
occurrence like the well-known four excursions. The history of these
excursions has been transferred to the later legends as is almost
expressly stated in the Jataka in page 59 t from the Mahapadhanasutta
CHAPTER IV.
KISAGOTAMI AND THE DANCING GIRLS.
The ancient chronicler says : Arrayed in all his
splendours the musicians exhibiting each one his peculiar
skill, the Brahmans honouring him with words of joy and
victory^and the men of lower castes with festive cries and
shouts of praise/ Siddhartha Goutama ascended his superbly
decorated car in order to return to the city from his pleasure
grounds.
At that time Suddhadhana the king heard that Yasodhara
had given birth to a son, and sent . a message to him saying
" Make known my joy to my son." The future Buddha, as
he was ascending the chariot, heard this news aud said sadly,
" An impediment has come into being a new bond has
come into existence 1"
When the messenger returned, the king eagerly asked
" What did my son say ?" ' And the messenger replied, ' ' The
Prince said, "a Rahula (impediment) has come into being."
On hearing this, the king gave this command, " Hence-
forth let Rahula be my grandson's name."
But young Goutama returned home thoughtful and sad.
The villagers were delighted at the birth of the child, their
Icing's only grandson. Goutama' s return therefore became an
^ovation, and he entered Kapilavastu amidst a crowd of rejoicing
clansmen. Among the sounds of triumph which greeted his
ear, one specially is said to have attracted his attention !*
(Digha Nikaya) where it is introduced as referring to the Buddha
Vipassi. Of Gotama Buddha the excursions are as far as I know
never narrated in the Tripitaka."
* See Nidan Katha, Buddhist Birth Stories, pages, 8082.
The original of the song is the following :
l8 BUDDHA.
A noble vergin, his causin, Kisa Goutami by name, had
gone to the upper storey of her palace to see the prince
pass by, and she beheld the beauty and majesty of Goutama.
Pleased and delighted at the sight, she burst forth into this
song of joy.
;T
" Blessed indeed is that mother, ^
Blessed indeed is that father,
Blessed indeed is that wife,
Who owns this Lord so glorious !*.
Hearing this, the young prince thought to himself, " On
seeing such a one, the heart of his mother is made happy, the
heart of his father is made happy, the heart of his wife is
made happy. This is what she says ! She speaks of HAPPI-
NESS ! But by what means this HAPPINESS and PEACE are
gained ? Sweet is the lesson this song makes me hear ! M
Then taking from his neck a string of pearls worth a hun-
dred thousand, he sent it to Kisa Goutami. Delighted at this
she thought, " Prince Siddhartha has fallen in love with me."
But the prince took no further notice of her and went to his,
palace.
4lfijfil
Nibbhuta means Nirvana as well as happiness,
* Rhys Davids thus comments on the verse recited by Kisa Goutami.
"The force of the passages is due to the fullness of meaning which
tP the Buddhist, the words Nibbuta and Nibbana convey. No words
in western languages cover exactly the same ground or conote the same
ideas. To explan them fully to any one unfamiliar with Indian modes
of thought would be difficult any where and impossible in a note; but
their meaning is pretty clear from the above sentences. See Buddhist
Birth stories page So.
HIS LIFE. 19
Thereupon women, clad in beautiful attires, skillful in
dance and song and lovely as heavenly virgins, brought their
musical instruments, and ranging themselves in order danced
and sang and played delightfully. But the Prince, his heart
being estranged from all worldly matters, took no pleasure in
them and fell asleep.
The women on seeing him asleep said, (( He for whose
sake we were performing is gone to sleep ? Let us sleep
too." They then laid aside their musical instruments and lay
down to sleep.
At dead of night Siddhartha Goutama awoke and sat up ;
the lamps, fed with sweet-smelling oil, were just burning out.
He saw before him a scene which filled him with disgust. He
saw the women lay asleep scattered all over the room, their
hair dishevelled, their dress in disorder ; some foaming at the
mouth, some grinding their teeth, some yawning, some mut-
tering in their sleep, and some gaping.
Seeing this woful change in their appearance, he became
very much disgusted with lust and luxury. To him that
magnificent appartment seemed to be a charnel-house full of
loathsome corpses. Life, whether in the worlds subject to
passions, or in the worlds of form, or in the world formless,
seemed to him like staying in a house that had become
the prey of devouring flames. An utterance of intense
feeling broke out from him. ~ (( It all oppresses me ! It is
intolerable !"
He got up and went to the door and called out, ' Who is
there ?"
Channa, who had been sleeping in the ante-room, answered.
'It is I, Sir, Channa."
" I am resolved, beloved Channa, to accomplish today the
great renunciation saddle me a horse."
Finding from his appearance that it was useless to stop
him, Channa went to the stable yard and saw by the light
20 BUDDHA.
of the lamp he carried the mighty steed named Kantaka
standing quietly at a splendid spot. " This is the very steed
I should saddle today," thought he and saddled Kantaka.
CHAPTER V.
HIS THOUGHTS.
What is the reason that led Goutamato abondon his home,
his wife and child ? Are the four visions, the words of Kisa
Goutami and the disgusting appearance of the dancing girls
the sole causes of his great renunciation ? What were his
thoughts before he left the house. Oldenberg says : * " We
can very readily understand how in the oppressive monotony
of idle ease and satiated enjoyment, there may have come
directly over an earnest and vigourous nature a mood of
restlessness, the thirst for a career and a struggle for the
highest aims and the despair at the same time to find any-
thing to assuage that thirst in the empty world of transitory
pleasure. Who knows anything of the form which these
thoughts may have assumed in the mind of the youth and
how far the impulse which pervaded that age and led men
and women to leave house for an ascetic life, acting from
without upon these inner predispositions may have influenced
him also ?"
Rhys Davids says : t " The mere sight of an old man,
diseased stranger, or even of a dead body, would be insuffi-
cient of itself to work so powerful an effect on the mind of
* See Oldenberg's Buddha, page 101.
f See his Buddhism pages 2930.
HIS LIFE. 21
one who was not already keenly sensible to the mysteries of
sorrow and of death. But we find in this ancient tradition
an expression of what in the main we must ourselves - believe
to be the true explanation of the cause which induced
Goutama to abandon his family and his home. He was pro-
bably not the first, 4ie was certainly not the last, who in
the midst of prosperity aud comfort has felt a yearning and
a want which nothing could satisfy and which has robbed
of their charm all earthly gains and hopes. This vague dis-
affection deepens with every fresh proof of the apparent
vanity of life and does not lose but gain in power when, as
is reported in the case of Goutama, it arises more from sym-
pathy with the sorrows of others than from any personal
sorrow of one's own. At last the details of daily life became
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."
Now let us see what Buddha himself said about his"
thoughts before his great renunciation. He thus spoke to
his disciples after describing the luxuries that surrounded him
in his palaces :
" My disciples, with such wealth was I endowed and in
such great magnificence did I live. Then these thoughts
arose within me : A weak minded, every day man, although
he himself is liable to decay and is not free from the power
of old age, feels horror, revulsion and disgust if he sees
another person in old age ; the horror he then feels recoils
on himself. I also am subject to decay and am not free from
the power of old age. Should I also who am subject to decay
and am not free from the power of old age, feet horrors,
revulsion and disgust if I see another in old age ? This
would not be becoming to me ?' Whilst I thus reflected,
my disciples, in my own mind, all that buoyancy of youth
which dwells in the young $ank within me. While I, my
21 BUDDHA;
disciples, thus reflected in my mind all that spirit of life which"
dwells in life, sank within me."
We who believe in Karnia say that Buddha was led td:
the renunciation by the Karma of ' his previous births. He'
left home, because his Karma destiried him to be the great
Buddha- -At the time when Buddha was born, India was pass-
ing through a great religious revolution.* The Vedic religion
of the Brahmans had been much weakened by the meta-*
physics of the Uplnishads. The Brahmans were engaged in
Vedic Sacrifices, but there was another class of men, front
all the four castes, who passed by these sacrifices, ^engaged
in meditation and found out the cause of the Universe
I and the nature of man. Various men of the class promul-
gated various means fof salvationj for the cessation of pain
and misery, and for the final emancipation from the bonds of
rebirths. Amongst these the abandonment of home and
family and renunciation of the world were the most promi-
nent. Merij young as as Well as old> fled from their homes
and passed their times ift the recesses of the deep forests
or in the caves of inaccessible hills and mountains. They
passed their life either in meditation or in austerities in the'
hope of finally acquiring Salvation.
Buddha was not the only prince of his time who left
luxury and pleasure behind and lived the life of a beggar
to get eternal Peace. In fact when Buddha was born, it was
the rage of the time ; it had almost grown to be a fashion
for men to don the garb of an ascetic and roam over the
country. When Siddhartha Goutama left his wife and child,
his palace and abundance, he had no idea, no ambition,
to be the Buddha, to be the Saviour of Mankind. He was
disgusted with worldly luxuries and pleasures, he felt keenly
the existence of the miseries that visit man at every step.
He was alarmed of the old age, disease and death, and fled
* See Introduction.
HIS LIFE. 23
from his house to escape, and if possible, to get rid of them.
And he met with disappointment after disappointment in his
search for Eternal Peace. It was then that his thoughts
turned towards Buddhahood which he finally attained.
Thus it was that circumstances led him to what he became.
Thus it was that Karma of his previous births made him
in this birth the great Buddha which he was in course of be-
coming through many previous births.
CHAPTER VI.
THE GREAT RENUNCIATION.
Whilst Channa was absent in the stable preparing the
horse, Siddhartha thought of seeing his wife and child for the
last time. He went to the apartment of Yasodhara, and
opening the door he saw his beloved wife lying on a couch
surrounded by flowers. She was asleep, her hand embracing
the infant. The prince saw that in order to take up his son,
he must remove the mother's arm which would cause her to
awake. He knew if she awoke, she would beseach him, tears
in her eyes, not to abandon her. This might shake his
resolution. He therefore remained on the threshhold, took a
last loving look of his wife and child, and withdrew his foot
from the door. He then descended to the courtyard of
the palace.
Riding on the steed Kantaka, he left the city at the dead
of night, Channa accompanying him. He did not stop till
he arrived at the bank of the Aroma. At this place, he
presented the horse .together with all his ornaments to
Channa and gave him permission to return. But Channa
ii
24 BUDDHA.
expressed his desire to accompany him and to abandon the
world. Siddhartha promised to fulfill his wishes at some
future date and strongly urged him to go back to Kapila-
vastu. " Go, Channa," said he, " and inform my father, my
mother Prajapati, my wife, and the people of the city that
I have become an ascetic. Ask them not to be sorry for me."
The noble Channa began to weep, but he was at last pre-
vailed upon by the prince to return to the city, and he went
away weeping.
The prince then cut off his hair by his own sword, and
meeting a poor man on the road exchanged his robe with him.
Then as a beggar and a mendicant he walked on towards the
city of Rajagriha.*
Round this city, the Capital of the kingdom of Magadha,
one of the biggest and most important city then in India,
were many hills, f on which lived some of the most famous
Brahman philosophers and learned men, men who knew all
about religion, and professed to point out the path of Salvation.
When he arrived at Rajagriha, his appearance created a great
sensation. He was every inch a prince, both in look and in
* For the description of Rajagriha, See General Cunningham's Ancient
Geography of India pp. 462 468. Hamilton's Gazetteer says : " This
place is still known by the name of Rajgir and is situated about
sixteen miles south of the town of Behar. It was abandoned by Asoka,
and when visited by Fa Hian was entirely desolate and uninhabited,
though a few Buddhistical remains could be traced. The surrounding-
country is covered with a great variety of ruins. It is a celebrated place
of Hindu pilgrimage and is also honoured by the Jains who every year
resort thither in great numbers, and have built temples in the five hills
by which the valley is surrounded. In 1811 there was a Hindu hermit
here who had seated himself in the open gallery of a thatched hut
where he sat all day in the posture in which Buddha is represented,
without motion or speech."
f The city of Rajagriha was surrounded by'five hills which were called
ni the Mahabharata Vaihara, Varaba, Vrishava, Rithi-Giri, and
Chaitaka.
HIS LIFE. 25
mem. However meanly garbed he was, the attention of the
people was naturally drawn towards him.
The people talked among themselves ; some said, "he was
Indra, the king of gods ;" the others said, " How do you talk ?
How could he be Indra ? Where are his elephant and discus ?
He must certainly be the Maha Brahma"*
The citizens then went to their king Bimbasara and
informed him that a mysterious being had arrived in the
city. The king went to the place where Buddha was then
staying and asked him who he was. When he was in-
formed that he was but a poor mendicant ascetic, he offered
him immense wealth and invited him to live in his city. But
Buddha declined his kind offer with thanks, and leaving the
city he went to the hill where the learned Brahman philo-
sophers lived.f
CHAPTER VII.
THE GREAT STRUGGLE.
HE attached himself first to one of these great Brahman
Teachers, named Alara ; but soon finding that he had only
learning, and not salvation to give away to his pupils, he went
to another named Udraka. He learned under him all that the
* See Hardy's Manual of Buddhism, pp 161 162.
f When Goutama left home to lead a hermit's life, he was 29 years
of age. His chroniclers says :
" The ascetic Goutama has gorie from home into homelessness while
still young, young in years, in the bloom of youthful strength, in the
first freshness of life. The ascetic Goutama, although his parents did
not wish it, although they shed tears and wept, has had his hair and
beard shaved, has put on yellow garments and has gone from his
home into hopelessness."
26 BUDDHA. -
Brahman Philosophy had to teach about this world 1 or the
next.
RHYS DAVIDS writes : " One of the most frequently in-
culted tenets of the Brahmans was a belief in the efficacy of'
penance as a means of gaining superhuman power and in-"
sight, and when Goutama, after studying the systems of Alara'
and Udraka, was still unsatisfied, he resolved to go apart
and see what progress he could himself make by this much-'
vaunted method. He withdrew accordingly into the jungles
of Uru vela,* and there for six years, attended by five, faithful
disciples, t he gave himself up to the severest penances until
he was wasted away to a shadow by fasting and self-morti-
fication.'^
The ancient chronicler says : The prince reflected that
by living in this easy manner, he was not taking the proper
course and that he must endure hardships of a kind much
more severe. " If I receive/' he thought, " as much food as
a Sessamum seed in size, it would be sufficient. I require
nothing "more." By rejecting all solid food, his body
became of a dark colour and the thirty-two signs disappeared.
From the same cause, though he had previously the strength
of ten kotis and ten thousand elephants, he was now so
reduced as to be unable to stand ; and one night, after walking
and meditating until the third watch, he fell senseless to the
ground.
He then gave up all penances. He found that penances
and austerities could not lead a man to Salvation. Dis-
appointed and disgusted, with pain and sorrow, he gave up
his hard penances ; and tjie labours of six long years came
to naught.
* Uruvela is near modern Buddha Gaya.
f Their names were Kowdanya, Bhaddaj, Mahanama, Wappa,
and Assaji.
J See Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p. 34 35.
HIS LIFE. 27
'When he 'was almost dying of starvation, a villager's
daughter named Sujata came to him and nursed him with
food. Buddha never forgot her kindness and said in his
dying moment that her food was the best that was ever
offered to him, for after pertaking of her food, he attained to
Buddhahood.
When he regained his strength, he again took up his
bowl and robes. Seeing this, his five followers, who stuck
to him for the last six years, left him in disgust, saying among
themselves, Go.utama has fallen from the path of righteous-
ness ; he has become a heretic.
" When sympathy would have been most welcome, he
found his friends falling away, his disciples leaving him. On
the very day when his followers had gone, he wandered out
towards the banks of the Niranjana,* receiving his morning
meal from the hands of good Sujata. He sat himself down
to eat it under the shade of a large treef to be known from
that time as the Sacred Bo-tree. '
* This river is now called Falgu,
f Ficus religious &c.
J See Rhys David's Buddhism pp. 38 39. It stood in modern
Buddha Gya. Hamilton's Gazetteer says : "This country was after-
wards called Buddha Gya. It was completely deserted when visited
by Fa Hian who calls it Kia Ye. Hieung Thsang says that the
town is situated in a very strong position, but he found very few
inhabitants. A few hundred yards west of the Niranjana river in a
plain of . great extent, about five miles from Gya proper, there are
remarkable remains, that now consist of confused heaps of brick and
stone exhibiting traces of having been once regularly arranged. There
is a building called the temple of Buddha, built of brick and lofty, re-
sembling at a distance a huge glass-house (probably a dagoba) and now
so honey-combed with age as to excite surprise that it continues erect.
The religion of Buddha may be considered as completely extinct in this
neighbourhood, but a few pilgrims came occasionally from distant
countries to visit its monuments. On the terrace behind the temple, a
Pipul tree is growing which the Hindus suppose to have been planted
28 BUDDHA.
by Brahma. It is supposed by the Buddhists that it Is exact[y in the
centre of the earth. In 1812 this tree was in full vigour and appeared to
be 100 years of age, but a similar one may have existed in the same place
when the temple was entire ; a circular elevation of brick has been
raised round its root in various eccentric circles, and on one end of these
has been placed a confused heap of images and carved fragments of stone
taken from the rivers. Indeed the number of images scattered about
this place for 15 or 20 miles in all directions is almost increditable, yet
they all appear to have originally belonged to the great temple or its vicinity
which seems to have been the grand quary for the whole, and carried
from thence to different places. Many of these are now worshipped by
the Brahmanical Hindus. Besides inscriptions establishing the Buddhist
origin of many of these images, they may be distinguished by the
enormous size and destension of their ears and also by a mark on the
palm of the hand and soles of the feet."
Asiatic Researches Vol. X X writes . " In 1833 Buddha Gya was
visited by two Burmese Envoys from the king of Ava accompanied by
Captain G. Burney. In the 2oth Vol of the Asiatic Researches there is
a translation of an inscription in the Burmese language discovered at
that time in the court of the monastry called Guru Mat. The transla-
tion is by Captain Burney who transmitted it to the Bengal Asiatic
Society with a translation of the Report made by the Vakils to the king
together with a copy of a picture representing the Pipul tree and the sur-
rounding scenery made by a Burmese painter in the suite of the Vakils.
Afac simile of the inscription appears in the Researches, but the picture
is not given. The Vakils write to the king thus : " Proposing to
invite a piece from the western branch of Buddha's excellent tree to pro-
ceed to the Burmese kingdom to the spot where religion shines and the
protector of religions dwells, your Majesty's slave Mengyee-Maha-tsee-
thoo, walked round the tree from the right to the left and poured out
some rose-water, when owing to the great virtues of your Majesty,
worthy to be styled the Protector of Religion, your slave beheld within
the brick platform of five gradations which surround the body of the tree
as high up as the branches strike off, what was wonderful, having never
happened before, most curious and most excellent, and what contradicts
the common saying that a small Pipul tree does not grow under a large
one ; it was a Buddha's adorable tree, of the size of a Chinese needle,
with only four leaves and evidently produced by and of the same consti-
tuent part as the large Buddha's excellent tree. Delighted with joy,
your Majesty's slave repeated his solemn appeal and carefully gathered
this plant. It is growing in your slave's possession, but in consequence
HIS LIFE. 2Q
of the stem and leaves being very tender, it cannot now be forwarded to
your Majesty." The Junior Envoy says in his Journal : "The principal
guardian of the tree, Mahunt Jogee, told me that the Engliish Chief has
given him 27 villages contiguous to Buddh's tree and that he lives on the
revenue derivable from the same. He occupied a three storeyed brick
house all his disciples and subordinate Jogees living in the lawn and
uppermost portions of it. On asking him how many disciples and fol-
lowers he had, he said upwards of 500, some near him and some at a dis-
tance. The circumference of Buddh's tree on a line with the top of the
encircling brick platform of five gradations which forms its throne and
and is 35 cubits high, measured 19 cubits and 10 finger's breadh. The
tree rises 44 cubits above the brick platform. From the top of the
tree to the terrace on the ground on the eastern side may be 80 cubits or a
little more, apparently the boughs and small branches which once grew
upwards, have in consequence of the great age of the tree spread out
, literally, and this is the reason why the present height of the tree does
not correspond with that mentioned in the Scriptures." Rhys Davids thus
writes about the great Bo-Tree : "This Tree came to occupy much the
same position among the Buddhists as the Cross among the Christians.
Worship was actually paid to it. 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 Buddha Gya, built about
500 A. D. by the celebrated Amarsinha. A branch of it planted at
Anuradhpura in Ceylon in the middle of the third century B. C. by
the daughter of Asoka and sister of Mahendra is still growing there."
Of the Bo-tree at Anuradhapura Sir Emerson Tennent writes thus :
"The Bo-tree of Anuradhpura is in all probability the oldest historical
tree in the world. It was planted 288 years before Christ and hence is
now 2167 years old. Ages varying from one to four thousand years
have been assigned to the Boabas of Senigal, the Eucalyptus of Tasma-
nia, the Dragon tree of Orotava, the Willingtonia of California and the
Chestnut of Mount Etna. But all these estimates are matter of conjecture
and such calculations, however ingenious, must be purely inferential,
whereas the ages of the Bo-tree is matter of record. Its conservency has
been an object of solicitude to successive dynasties and the story of its
vicisitudes has been preserved in a series of continuous Chronicles among
the most authentic that have been handed down by mankind."
CHAPTER VIII.
MARA.
DISENCHANTED and dissatisfied Goutama had given up
all that men value most to seek Peace in secluded study and
Self-denial. Failing to attain his object by 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 the philosophers of the time 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 5
view of others, he had become more than a Saint. His indomi-
table resolution and faith had suddenly and completely
broken down. Then when sympathy would have been most
welcome he found his friends falling away and his disciples
leaving him. , The philosophy he had trusted 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/*
Thus sitting underneath the great Bo-tree, disappointed
and dejected, Siddhartha Goutama was overwhelmed with
temptations, temptations to go back to his kingdom, to live in
pleasures and luxuries, to be a king of all kings. These were
the thoughts that filled his mind. It was indeed a great
struggle to get rid of these thoughts, to avoid these tempta-
tions, to defeat and to destroy the great Temptor, Mara,
the Evil Tendency of the mind.f
* See Rhys Davids' Buddhism p. p. 38 39.
} Rhys Davids thus speaks of Mara: "There now ensued a
second struggle in Goutama's mind, described in both the Southern and
the Northern accounts with all the wealth of Poetic imagery of which the
Indian mind is master. The crisis culminated on a day, each event of
HIS LIFE. 31
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 Goutama appear in gorgeous descriptions as angels of darkness or of
light. Unable to express the struggle of his soul in any other way, they
represent him 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," (See Buddhism, p 36.)
Oldenberg writes : "The toil by which the spirit seeks purity, rest
and deliverance, pictures itself to the religious consciousness of Buddhism
as a struggle against a hostile power. This power of the evil, of the
sorrow which opposes a resistance to man's escape from its shackles-
whence comes it ? Buddhist thought holds aloof from this problem.
To be curious about the origin of evil and of sorrow would amount to
nothing less than prying into the origin of the Universe, for the inner-
most essence of the world according to Buddhism consists in this that it
is subject to evil, that it is a state of continual sorrow.
It is not, therefore, as the one by whom evil has come into the
world, but rather as the Supreme Lord and as the chief sources of evil
thought, word and deed, that the creed of the Buddhas looks upon Mara
as the Evil One, the Prince of Death, for Mara means Death. The.
kingdom of this world with its pleasures is the kingdom of death. In
the highest of the spheres of the universe which are given over to the
dominion of pleasure, he rules with his hosts as a powerful god ; thence
he comes down to earth, when it is his object to attack the kingdom of
Buddha and his saints. To simple faith Mara is a personal existence,
a personality limited by the confines of time and space every one of
which is as real as Buddha, as all men and all gods."
This is what Buddha himself said of Mara. (See Mahavagga,
Sutta Nipata, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. X. p 69 71.)
"To me whose mind was intent upon exertion near the river Niran-
jana, having entered myself and given myself to meditation for the sake
of acquiring Nibbana, came Namuchi (Mara) speaking words full of
compassion: " Thou art lean, ill-favoured ; Death is in thy neighbour-
hood. A thousandth part of thee is the property of Death ; only one
part belongs to life. Living life, O thou venerable one, is better. Living
thou wilt be able to do good works. When thou livest a religious life
and feedest the sacrificial fire, manifold good works are woven to thee.
What dost thou want with exertion ? Difficult is the way of exertion,
difficult to pass, difficult to enter upon." Saying these verses Mara stood
near me."
12
32 BUDDHA;
His poet-biographers then describe in glowing tefrilS
his great battle with the Evil One.* Mara thus addressed
Buddha, "O Kshatriya, rise up quickly, for you may well
fear; your death is at hand." But Bodhisattwa's heart
remained unmoved j no fear was there. Mara instantly dis-
charged his arrows, but the Bodhisattwa regarded not the
To Mara thus spoke I : "Go, O thou friend of the indolent, thou
wicked one, for what purpose hast thou come here ? Even the least good
work is no Use to me, and what good works are required, Mara ought to
tell. I have faith and power, and understanding is found in me. While
thus exerting myself, why do you ask me to live ? This burning wind
will dry up even the current of the rivers : should it not by degrees dry
up my blood while I am exerting myself? While the blood is drying up,
the bile and the phlegm are dried up, while the flesh is wasting away,
the mind gets more tranquil and my attention, understanding and
meditation get more steadfast.
While I am living thus, having felt the extreme sensations, my
.mind does not look for sensual pleasures. Behold a being's Purity.
Lust thy first army is called, Discontent thy second, thy third is
called Hunger and Thurst, thy fourth Desire, thy fifth is called Sloth,
and Drowsiness, thy sixth Cowardice, thy seventh Doubt, thy eighth
Hypocrecy and Stupor, Gain, Fame Honour and what Celebrity has
been falsely obtained, 'and he who exults himself and despises others,
this O Namuchi, is thine, the black one's, fighting army." (This evi-
dently shows that by Mara Buddha meant not a separate Being as
Satan, but simply a mental state, the Tendency of the Mind to evil.)
None but a hero conq uering it and after conquering it obtains joy."
Radha, one of Buddha's disciples, asks : "Mara, Mara, thus people
say, O Sire. Wherein, O Sire, consists the Being of Mara ?" To him
Buddha thus replied : Where there is corporal from, O Radha,- there
is Mara, or he who kills or he who is dying. Therefore, O Radha,
look upon corporal form as being Mara, or that it is he who kills,
or he who is dying, or sickness, or an abscess, or a wounding dart, or
impurity, or impure existence. Whoever regards it thus understands
it correctly. (See Samyutta Nikaya, Vol. II.)
* See Buddha Char ita, I3th Sarga, and Fo-Sho-Hing-Tsan-King
as translated by Samuel Beal in the Sacred Books of the East,
Vol. XIX. pages 147 156,
HIS LIFE. :33
arrows. "Now I must assemble my army host and press him
sore by force"; he having thus thought, Mara's army suddenly
assembled round. "Each assumed his own peculiar form ; some
were holding spears, others grasping swords, others snatch-
ing up trees, others wielding diamond maces, thus were
they armed with every sort of weapon. Some had heads like
hogs, others like fishes, others like asses, others like horses,
some with forms like snakes, or like the ox, or the savage
tiger, some lion-headed and some dragon-headed and some
like other kinds of beasts. Some had many heads on one
body-trunk, with faces having but single eye, and then
again with many eyes ; some great-bellied, mighty-bodied,
and others thin and skinny, belly-less, others long-legged,
mighty-kneed, others big-shanked and fat-calved ; some
dancing and shrieking, some jumping [onwards with their
feet together; some striking one another as they went;
others flying and leaping between the trees ; others howling,
or hooting or screaming or whining with their evil noises
shaking the great earth. Thus did this wicked goblin troop
encircled on its four sides the Boddhi Tree. Some were bent
on tearing his body to pieces, others in devouring it whole.
But not a hair of Buddha's head was moved, and Mara's
host was filled with sorrow. Filled with fear, Mara took
his way to his own abode, and all his host overwhelmed with
grief and disappointment fled away. The mind of Bodhi-
sattwa remained peaceful and quiet."*
When the conflict began between the Saviour of the
world and the Prince of Evil, a thousand appalling meteors
fell ; clouds and darkness prevailed. Even this earth, with
the oceans and mountains it contains, though it is uncon-
scious, 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 whirled-wind. The ocean
V
* See the Madhuratha Vilasini.
34 BUDDHA.
rose under the vibration of this earth-quake ; rivers flowed
back towards their sources ; peaks of lofty mountains, where
countless trees had grown for ages, rolled crumbling down to
the earth ; a fierce 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."*
CHAPTER IX.
THE BUDDHA.
THE sun had not gone down when the Prince overcame
Mara. At the tenth hour, he received the Wisdom by which
he knew the exact circumstances of all the beings who have
ever existed in the endless and infinite worlds. At the
twelvth hour, he received the Divine Eyes by which he saw
all things within the space of the infinite Sakwalas as clearly
as if they were close at hand. At the tenth hour again, he re-
ceived the Knowledge that unfolds the causes of the repitition
of existence, and at that time he received also the knowledge,
by which he was enabled to investigate these causes from
their end to their source, and from their source to their end ;
the great earth of the ten thousand Sakwalas called out in
approbation by sections of twelve and twelve, a hundred and
twenty thousand times, and said "Sadhu !" After this Buddha
obtained in order the privileges of the Four Paths and their
* We purposely quote in extenso in this Chapter and in the next
the form of the narrations as the immediate followers of Buddha left
us, so that our readers may have an idea of their quaint style and
phraseology.
HIS LIFE. 35
fruition. Then at the dawn of the next day, every remain
of evil desire being destroyed, the beings in the endless and
infinite worlds, who had not before possessed this previlege,
saw a supreme Buddha, and as they manifested great satis-
faction, the six coloured rays from his body were extended to
them. Then the rays, without staying for so short a period -
as the snapping of the finger and thumb, passed onward from
Sakwala to Sakwala, resembling as they proceed (for they
.continue to spread, rejoicing the beings that see them in
their beauty) a blue cloud, rock rose, a white robe, a red
garland and a pillar of light. Those who see the rays ex-
claim, " See what splendid colours !" and from their satisfac-
tion merit is produced, from which they obtain birth in this
favoured world, and having the opportunity of seeing a
Buddha, they are released from the repetition of existence.
The thirty-two wonders that presented at his conception and
birth were this day repeated. Not even a hundred thousand
mouths could innumerate the offerings now made to Buddha
or repeat the wonders that were performed !
At the moment the Prince became Buddha, like a vessel
overflowing with honey, his mind overflowed with the Am-
brosia of the Dharma, and he uttered the following verse.
This various transmigrations
I must travel, if I do not discover
The Builder whom I seek.
Painful are repeated transmigrations !
I have seen the Architect, (and said,)
" Thou shalt not build me another house,
Thy rafters are broken,
Thy roof timbers scattered ;
My mind is detached (from all existing objects,}
I have attained to the non-existence of desire.*
* See Harvy's Manual of Buddhism, pages 179 180.
This is M. Gorgerly's translation. M. Tumour translates the
verse thus : " Performing my pilgrimage through the eternity of count-
36 BUDDHA.
Thus under that great Bo-Tree Siddhartha Goutama be-
came the great Buddha. He had tried all existing religious
paths to reach the goal where there is no death, no rebirth, no
disease, old age, pain or misery ; but he had not been suc-
cessful. Disappointed and disgusted, he gave up the means
less existences, in sorrow have I unremittingly sought in vain the Arti-
ficer of the abode. Now, O Artificer, art thou found ? Henceforth no
receptacle of sin shalt thou form thy frames are broken, thy ridgepole
shattered ; my mind, emancipated from liability to transmigration, has
annihilated the dominion of passion."
The following is the original of the verse supposed to have been
uttered by Buddha
<aii.irn
WRIT
The Reverend Spence Hardy translates it thus
"Through many different births
I have run (to me not having found)
Seeking the Architect of the desire-resembling house,
Painful are repeated. births ,
House-builder, I have seen this.
Again a house thou canst build for me,
1 have broken thy rafters,
Thy central support is destroyed,
To Nirvana my mind is gone,
I have arrived at the extinction of evil desire.
HIS LIFE. 37
Which the teachers of those days called the path of salvation.
He sat there under that tree, passed the whole day in
thought and meditation, through many temptations, through
severe mental struggles. Was he to go to his wife and child,
to wealth and luxury ? Is there no hope for him to discover
the Path of Salvation ? He thought and thought till at last
the Light suddenly doomed upon him, he found the true path
to Nirvana. He became the great Buddha.
Even then he was not safe. He was tempted to die at
that moment, thus depriving the world of the great Ambro-
sia which he discovered. He thus spoke of the state of his
mind at that time.
"Then came Mara, the wicked one, unto me. Coming up
to me, he placed himself at my side. Standing at my side
Mara, the wicked one, spoke unto me saying " Enter now
into Nirvana, Exalted One, enter Nirvana, O Perfect One."
As he thus spoke, I replied to Mara, the wicked one, " I shall
not enter Nirvana, thou wicked one, until I shall have gained
monks as my desciples who are wise and instructed, intelli-
gent hearers of the Word, acquainted with the Doctrine, ex-
perts in the Doctrine and the second Doctrine, versed in the
Ordinances, walking in the Law, to propagate, teach, promul-
gate, explain, formulate, analyse what they have heard from
their Master, to annihilate and exterminate by their know-
ledge any heresy which arises, and preach the Doctrine with
wonder-working. I shall not enter Nirvana, O wicked one,
until the life of holiness, which I point out, has been success-
ful, grown in favour, and extended among all mankind and
is in vogue and thoroughly made known to all men."
Then again this thought appeared in the mind of the
Buddha. Into the mind of the Exalted One while he retired
in solitude came this thought.* " I have penetrated this
deep Truth which is difficult to perceive and difficult to
* See Mohavagga, i, 5, 2*
3 BUDDHA.
understand, peace-giving, sublime, which transcends all
thought, deeply significant, which only the wise can grasp.
Man moves in an earthly sphere ; in an earthly sphere he has
his place and finds his enjoyment. For man who moves in
an earthly sphere and has his place and finds his enjoyments
in an earthly sphere, it will be very difficult to grasp this
matter, the Law of Casualty, the Chain of Causes and
Effects, and thus also will be very difficult for him to grasp the
extinction of all confirmations, the withdrawal from all that
is earthly, the extinction of desire, the cessation of longing,
the end, the Nirvana. Should I now preach the Doctrine,
and mankind not understand me, it would bring me nothing
but fatigue ; it would cause me nothing, but trouble."
And there passed unceasingly through the mind of the
Exalted One this voice which no one had ever before heard.
Why reveal to the world what
I have won by a severe struggle ?
The truth remains hidden from him
Whom desire and hate absorb.
It is difficult, mysterious, deep,
Hidden from the coarse mind.
He cannot apprehend it, whose mind
Earthly vocations surround with might.*
When the Exalted One thought thus, his heart was inclined to
abide in quietitude and not to proclaim the Doctrine.
Thus the Great Truth, though discovered, was at the point
of remaining buried in the bosom of the great Buddha, but
it is said Brahma Sahampati, the chief of the gods, came
down from heaven and entreated him to preach the Doctrine
* It is said the following verse was sung by Brahma Sahampati.
" In the land of Magadha, there arose before
A doctrine of impure beings, sinful men,
Open thou, O Wise One, the door of eternity.
Let be heard what thou, O sinless one, discovered,
Who stands above high in the mountains' roc ky summit,
HIS LIFE. 39
Brahma repeated his request three times, and at last Buddha
granted it.
As on a lotus-stalk some water rises, and the water damps
not their blossoms, so likewise when the Exalted One survey-
ed the universe with the glance of a Buddha, he saw beings
whose souls were pure, and whose souls were not pure,
with noble natures and with ignoble natures, good hearers
and wicked hearer's, many who lived in fear of the world td
come and of sin. When he saw this, he uttered this verse.
Let opened be to all the Door of Eternity,
He who hath ears let him heir the Word and believe;
I thought of affliction to myself, therefore have I
Not yet proclaimed the Noble Word td world.*
His eye looks afar over all people,
So mount thou also, O Wise One, up where on high,
Far over the land stand out the battlements of Truth.
And look down, Painless One, on mankind,
The suffering creatures whom birth and old age torture*
.Rise, rise, thou valiant hero, rich and victorious,
Go through the world, sinless preacher of the path,
Raise thy voice, O Sire, many shall understand thy Word.
* The quotations in this Chapter are generally made from Maha- 5
vagga as translated by Dr. Oldenberg.
'3
'CHAPTER X.
HIS FIRST SERMON.
" To whom shall I preach the Doctrine first ?" thought the
Great Buddha, "Who will understand this Doctrine easily?"*
And the Blessed One thought, there is Alarakama ;t he
is clever, wise and learned. He will easily understand the
Doctrine. But he learnt, Alarakama was dead. He then
thought of Uddaka Ramaputra,J but he too was dead. He
then thought of his five old companions in austerities^ and
and directed his steps towards the holy city of Benares where
'they now lived. || Upaka, the naked ascetic, ^[ saw the Blessed
* From the day on which the Buddha, after attaining Buddhahood,
started for Benares till he left Rajgriha, as his doctrines became'unpoputar
there, we have a connected narrative in the Vinaya Pitaka, namely
in the first portion of Mahavagga. Dr. Oldenberg and Mr. Rhys
Davids say : " It contains the oldest version accessible to us now, and
most probably for ever, of what the Buddhist fraternity deemed to be the
history of their master's life in its most important period." (See Sacred
Books of the East.,|vol. xiii). We give the translation of Mahavagga i.n
this portion of the biography of the Buddha.
f Alarakama was the teacher to whom Goutama first attached him-
self after he left his home.
Uddaka was the next teacher to whom Goutama went.
These five ascetics were his companions in austerities. They left
him when he gave up austerities.
|| It is probable that Goutama first went to Benares to preach his reli-
gion, because Benares was the chief seat of Brahmanism. The Mrigadvva
wood or Deer Park is represented by a fine wood, which still covers an area
of about half a mile and extends from the great town of Dhameh on
the north to the Chaukundi mound on the south. See Cunningham's
Archeological Reports, vol. I, p. 107.
^[ We have seen that when Buddha appeared, there was a sect of
ascetics who roamed over the country completely naked,
HIS LIFE. 41
One travelling on the road between Gya and the Bodhi
Tree ; and when he saw him, he said to the Blessed One,
' Your countenance, friend, is serene. Your complexion is pure
and bright. In whose name, friend, have you retired from
the world ? Who is your teacher ? Whose doctrine do you
profess ?"' " I have overcome all foes," replied Buddha, " I
am the Enlightened. I am free from stains in every way ; I
have left every thing and have obtained Emancipation by the
destruction of Desire. Having myself gained knowledge,
whom shall I call my Master ? I have no teacher ; no one is
equal to me ; in the world of men and of gods, no one is
equal to me. I am the Holy One in this world ; I am the
highest Teacher; I alone am the absolute Sambuddha. I
have gainedlPeace and have obtained Nirvana. To found the
Kingdom of Rightiousness, I go to the holy city of Benares.
I will beat the Drum of Immortality in the darkness of this:
world."
" You profess then, friend," said Upaka, " to be the holy,
absolute Jina?"*
"All Jinas," replied Buddha, "who have reached the
extinction of Asawas are like myself. I have conquered all
states of sinfulness ; therefore, friend, I am the Jina." "It may
be so, friend," said Upaka. He shook his head, took another
road and went away.
Then the Blessed One, wandering from place to place,
came to Benares, and went to the Deer Park where the five
ascetics, his old companions, lived. They saw the Blessed One
coming from a distance. When they saw him, they thus spoke
to one another, " Friends, there comes the Sramana Goutama
who now lives in luxury and who has given up his austerities.
Let us not salute him, nor rise from- our seats, nor take his
bowl and his robe from his hands. But let us put here a seat.
If he likes, let him sit down."
* Jina literally means " the Victorious One/'
4'2 BUDDHA.
But when the Blessed One gradually approached near unto
these five ascetics, they would not stick to their promise ;
they went forth to meet the Blessed One. One took his bowl
and his robe, another prepared a seat ; another brought water
for the washing of his feet, the fourth a footstool, and the fifth
a towel. Then the Blessed One sat down and washed his
feet. Then they asked, "Whence are you coming, friend
Goutama?" "Do not address, O ascetics," said Buddha,
" the Tathagatha* by his name and as a friend. The Tatha-
gatha is the holy absolute Sumbuddha. Listen to what I say,
O ascetics. I have acquired Immortality. I will teach you,
to you I will preach the Doctrine. If you walk in the way I
show you, you will soon acquire the Truth, having you your-
selves known it and seen it face to face."
"By those observances you performed," said they, "by
those practices, O friend Goutama, by those austerities, you
have not been able to obtain power surpassing that of men,
nor the superiority of ^ full and holy knowledge and insight.
Hew will you now living in luxury, having given up your
austerities, be able to obtain power surpassing that of men
and the superiority of full and holy knowledge and insight ?"
" The Tathagatha," replied Buddha, " does not live in
luxury'; he has not given up exertion ; he has not turned to an
* "The term Tathagatha is in the Buddhistical. literature exclu-
sively applied to Sammasambuddhas, and it is more specially in the
Pitakas when the Buddha is represented as speaking of himself in the
third person as the Tathagatha. The meaning "sentient being" which
is given to the word in the Abhidhanapindeha and in Childer's Dic-
tionery is not confirmed, as far as we know, by any passage of the
Pitakas. This translation of the word is very possibly based merely
on a misunderstanding of the phrase often repeated in the Sutta
Pitakas. Note Tathagatha Parem Marana, means " Does a Buddha
exist after death ?" In the Jaina Books we sometimes find the term
Tathagatha (he who has attained the world of emancipation) applied
to the Jinas as opposed to other beings who are Johagitha (he who
lives in this world).
HIS LIFE. 4'3
abundant life. Do you think, O ascetics, I ever spoke to you
in this way before this day?" "No, you have not," they said.
" Then, O ascetics," said he, " listen to me." There are two .
extremes which the man who has given up the world ought
not to follow: * (i) the habitual practice, on the one hand, of
those things whose attraction depends upon the passions and
specially of sensuality a low and pagan way of seeking satis-
faction, unworthy, unprofitable, and fits only for the worldy-
minded ; (2) and the habitual practice, on the other hand, of
asceticism or self-mortification which is painful, unworthy and
unprofitable.
There is a Middle Path avoiding these two extremes dis-
covered by the Tathagatha, a path which opens the eyes
and bestows understanding which leads to Peace of Mind, to
the Higher Wisdom, to Full Enlightenment and to Nirvana.
What is then that Middle Path ? Verily it is this noble
Eight-fold Path ; that is to say
i. Right Views.
2.. Right Aspirations.
3. Right Speech.
4. Right Conduct.
5. Right Livelihood.
6. Right Effort,
Considering the close relation in which the dogmatical terms of the
Jamas stand to those of the Buddhas, it is difficult to believe that
Tathagatha and Tathagya should not originally have conveyed very
similar ideas. We think that on the long way from the original
Magadhi to the Pali and Sanskrit the term Tathagatha (he who has
arrived where there is emancipation) may very easily have undergone the
change into Tathagatha which would have made it unintelligible were-
we not able to compare its unaltered form as preserved by the Jainas."
Rhys Davids and Oldenberg in the Sacred Books of the East. vol. xiii,
pp. 82-83.
* We possess the complete version' of Buddha's first sermon in
the Pali Sutra called Dhamma-Chakka-Pavattana-Sutta or Dharma-
Chakra-Pra'varthana.-SulYa; the translation of some passages from this.
44 BUDDHA.
7. Right mlndfulness.
8. Right Contemplation.
Birth is painful ; decay is painful ; disease is painfuC ; deatfr
is painful. Union with the unpleasant is painful; the separa-
tion from the pleasant is painful. In brief, the five aggre-
gates which spring from attachment (the conditions of indivi-.
duality and their causes) are painful.
This is the Noble Truth concerning Suffering. Now this
(namely the following) is the Noble Truth concerning the
Origin of Suffering.
Varily it (the origin of suffering) is that thirst or craving;
causing the renewal of existence, accompanied by sensual
delight, seeking satisfaction now here and now these, that is
to say, the craving for the gratification of the passions, or
the craving for a future life, or the craving for success in the
present life.
Now this (the following) is the Noble Truth concerning
the Destruction of Suffering.
Verily it is the Destruction of this very thirst in which
no passion remains, the laying aside of, the getting rid of
and being free from the harbouring no longer of this
thirst.
Now the Noble Truth concerning the means which lead to
the destruction of sorrows is the Eight-fold Path.*
Sutra is given here. Rhys Davids says: "It would be difficult to
estimate too highly the historical value of this Sutra. There can be
no reasonable doubt that the very ancient tradition accepted by aU
Buddhists as to the substance of the discourse is correct, and that we
really have in it a summary of the words in which the great Indian
Thinker and Reformer for the first time successfully promulgated his
new ideas. And it presents to .us in a few short and pithy sentences,
the very essence of that remarkable system which has had so profound
an influence in the religious history of so large portion of the human
race."
* See Rhys David's Buddhism pp. 49-50. Hardy, (Manual p. 187)
and Tumour (Journal, Bombay Asiatic Society vii p. 815) only men-
HIS LIFE. 45
That this was the Noble Truth concerning Sorrow, the
'"Origin of Sorrow, Destruction of Sorrow and the Means of
Destruction of Sorrow, were not arn^ong the Doctrines handed
down, but there arose within me the eye to perceive them,
there arose the knowledge of their nature, there: arose the
understanding of their cause, there arose the wisdom to
.guide in the path of tranquility, and there arose the light to
dispel darkness.
So long as my knowledge and insight were not quite clear
regarding each of these four Noble Truths, in this Triple Order,
in this Twelve-fold Manner, so long was I uncertain whether
I had attained to the full insight of that wisdom which is-
unsurpassed in the heavens or in earth among the whole rate
of Sramanas and Brahmanas, or of gods and men.
But as soon as my knowledge and insight were quite clear
regarding each of these four Noble Truths, in this Tiiple Order,
in this Twelve-fold Manner, then did I become certain that
I had attained to the full insight of that wisdom which is
unsurpassed in the heavens or in earth among the whole race
of Sramanas and Brahmanas, or of gods and men.
And now this knowledge and this insight has arisen within
me. Immoveable is the Emancipation of my Heart. This is
my last existence. There will now be no re-births for me."
It was the aged Kondanya who first openly gave in
his adhesion to Buddha ; but the others also, after many talks
with him, sometimes separately and sometimes together,
soon accepted in its entirity his Plan of Salvation.*
lion here the conversation of Kondanya which all the accounts agree,
Foncaun p. 396 and Bigandet p. 97.
* See Maha Pari Nibbana Sutra II, 2, 3 and IV, 7, 8, and Dham-
mapada, verse 191.
CHAPTER XI.
HIS FIRST CONVERTS.
THE next man who accepted the religion of the great
Buddha was the son of the richest Banker of the holy city
of Benares. Thus did the ancient chronicler describe this
event-.*
" There was in Benares a noble youth, Jasa by name, the
son of a great Banker. He had three palaces, ^one for the
winter, and one for the summer, and one for the rainy
-season. In the palace for the rainy season he lived during the
four months of rains surrounded by female musicians.
Now one day Jasa fell asleep, and the females also fell
asleep. But Jasa awoke sooner than the others and saw his
attendants sleeping. One had her lute leaning against her
armpit, one had her tabor leaning against her neck, one
had her hairs dishevelled ; one had her saliva flowing from
her mouth ; and they were all muttering in their sleep. One
would think it was a cemetery into which he has fallen.
When Jasa saw this scene before him, he felt the evil of
the life he led. He exclaimed, " AlaSj what distress ! Alas,
what danger!" He immediately left his palace and went
straight to the Deer Park where the great Buddha lived. He
had heard of him ; he was told that the Goutama of the Sakya
race had found the means of salvation ; he was the man
who could save one from the sufferings of the world. He
met him and exclaimed, " Alas, what distress ! Alas, what
danger !" " Here is no danger," said the Blessed One, " here
is no distress ! Come hero, friend, and sit down ; I will teach
you the Truth."
* See Mahavagga-^-as translated in the Sacred Books of the
East, vol. xiii.
Mis LIFE:. 47
And Jasa, the noble youth, became glad and joyful. He
Went near the place where the Blessed One was. Having
respectfully saluted him, he sat near him. Then did the
Blessed One preach to him the Truth. He spoke of the
merits obtained by alms-giving, and of the duties, of morality,
of heaven, of the evils, of the vanity and sinf ulness, of desires,
and of the blessings of the abandonment of desires.
When the Blessed One saw that the mind of Jasa was
prepared, then he preached the principal Doctrines of the
Buddha, namely Suffering, the Cause of Suffering, the
Cessation of Suffering, and the Path to obtain Nirvana. The
noble youth Jasa was then ordained a Bhikshu.*
Very soon after, Jasa's father, the rich Banker, also his
mother and his wife, accepted the religion of Buddha and
were ordained as lay-disciples.f Four of Jasa's best friends
* Those that accepted the Path of Salvation preached by the
Buddha had to cut off all connections with the world. He had to give
up his home and earthly possessions, his wife, children, relatives and
friends; strict "chastity and Poverty" were the great Moto of the
Order. He had to live on alms and outside of towns and villages. When
a man was thus ordained he was called a Buddha. See the particulars
later on in the description and history of the Order.
f Many men became lay-members of Buddha's religion, and
were called Upasdka (Male votaries). And Upasika (female votaries).
We shall here quote what Dr. Oldenberg says about these men and
women (see Buddha, p. 382 384). " Without a laity which proposed
a faith in Buddha and Buddha's teachings and evinced this faith in
pious offices, above all in works of helpful beneficence, an Order of
Bhikshus could not be thought of. But while there was framed
from the beginning for the Monastic Church an organization,
clothed with strict forms of spiritual procedure, there was no
attempt made at creation of similar kind for the quasi-church of
lay-brothers and lay-sisters. Certain custom of spiritual life and
practical benificence must obviously have risen even here, if definite
institutions have not followed. There was not so much as any sharply
drawn line between the laity who are to be regarded as adherents of
the Order of Buddha and those who stood aloof .therefrom. Entry into
48 BUDDHA.
Vimala, Subahu, Punnaji, and Gavurpati, followed his example
and became Buddhist Monks. In the course of three months
fifty others, receiving the Truths from the Blessed One, shaved
their head, took the yellow robe and turned Bhikshus. Thus
the circle of votaries was dependent on no qualification and followed
regularly upon a form fixed by custom, but not determined by law,
namely upon the person taking the step declaring in the presence of a
monk, either on his own behalf alone or jointly with wife, children,
and servants, that he takes his refuge in the Buddha, in the Dharma
and in the Sangha. Then there was also, it is true, inculcated on the
lay disciples in the part of the Order the observance of certain duties of
temperence and rectitude, but neither was the profession of a formal
vow by them insisted upon, nor dfd the Church keep watch in any way
whatever over the actual fulfilment of these duties. A formal excommu-
nication of unbelieving unworthy or scandalously living lay -brothers
there was not, and as a result of circumstances, there could not be.
The only procedure prescribed in the regulations of the Church against
laity, who had given cause of complaint, shows clearly how little the
ideas of admission and expulsion had been applied to this relation,
namely the order might resolve to withdraw the alms-bowl from such
a layman and "refuse their company to him at table." If after
this he reformed and conciliated the Order, then by a new
resolution the alms-bowl would be again presented to him and the
company of the Order at table be granted to him. It is entirely
in keeping with the manner and method in which the position Of
the lay-brothers has been treated, that regular spiritual gatherings
were not instituted for them, and much less were they admitted to be
present at the ceremonious proceedings of the Order, or even to a
share of any kind whatsoever in the administration of the business
affairs of the Order.' The daily begging excursions of the monks main-
tained the usual contact between them and the believing laity and gave
a natural opening for attentions of a pastoral kind. The laity also on
their part came to the parks of the community, near the gates of the
town with gifts of every kind, with food and medicine, with garlands and
: and perfumes ; there they paid their respects to the monks and listened
to the exposition of the sacred discourses and sayings. Or they erected
buildings for the uses of the Order and invited the monks to the dedica-
tory and opening celebrations."
HIS LIFE. 49
at that time there were sixty-one Arahats* (including the
Buddha) in. the world.
The Blessed One, one day, thus spoke to his sixty Bhikshus,
" I am delivered, O Bhikshus, from all fetters, human and
divine. Go ye now and roam over the country for the welfare
of the many, for the good, for the gain and for the benefit
of gods and men. Let not two of you go the same way.
Preach, O Bhikshus, the Doctrine which is glorious in the begin-
ning, glorious in the middle, glorious at the end, in the spirit
and in the letter. Proclaim a consummate, perfect and pure
life of holiness."
Thus ordered the first missionaries of the great master
scattered over the country. Jasa remained in Benares and
the Buddha directed his steps towards Uruvela. But a
difficulty soon arose. The Bhikshus had to take long journeys
to find out the great Buddha, so that he might ordain the
man whom they had converted. Therefore he thus addressed
the Bhikshus one day, " I grant you, O Bhikshus, this permis-
sion. Confer henceforth in the different regions and coun-
* There are four classes of saintly men in the Buddhist Order.
The lowest is Sotapanna. Of them it is said, 'By the annihilation of the
three ties, they have attained the path, they are not liable to rebirth in
the lower world such as hills, spirit worlds, world of lower animals &c.
They are sure of deliverence, they shall attain the highest knowledge."
The next higher class is that of Sakadaga.mi. Of them it is said, "By
the annihilation of the three ties, by the suppression of desire, hatred and
frivolity, they have become once-returning. When they have returned
once only to this world they shall attain the end of sorrow." The next
higher class is Anagami. Of them it is said, "By the annihilation of
the five first ties they have come to be beings, who originate of themselves
(i. e. who enter upon the state of being without being begotten or born ;
this is the case of the higher worlds of the gods) ; they attain the Nirvana
up there (in the worlds of the gods) ; they are not liable to return
from that world." The highest : _of the four stages is that of the
Arahats.
50 BUDDHA,
tries the Pabbajya and Upasampada* Ordinations yourselves
on those who desire to receive them. And you ought,.
O Bhikshus, to confer the Pabbajya'and Upasampada Ordina-
tions in this way. Let him first have his hair and head shaved
off ; let him put on yollow robes ; adjust his upper robe so as
to cover one shoulder ; salute the feet of the Bhikshus present
with his head and sit down squatting. Then let him raise
his joined hands, and thus tell him to say :
/ take my refuge in the Buddha.
I take my refuge in the Dharma^
I take my refuge in the Sangha.\
Let him repeat this three times.
When the Bhikshus departed, the great master went away
towards the kingdom of Magadha and reached Uruvela irs
due time.
CHAPTER XII.
KASSYAPA, UPATISSA, SARIPUTRA.
THESE were the three famous men in the kingdom of
Magadha, famous as great ascetics, vast scholars, and respec-
ted teachers; each had a large following of disciples. Kassya-
pas were three brothers. The eldest of them was known as
* Pabbajya is going out from a prior state, from the lay life or
from a monastic sect holding another faith.
The Upasampada is the entry into the circle of the Bhikshus, the
fully accredited members of the Buddhist Order. See Buddha, page
347-
f The Order of Bhikshus that Buddha established was called the
HIS LIFE. 51
Jatila Uruvela Kassyapa,* the second; one asNadi Kassyapaf
and the third as Gaya Kassyapa. J
Goutama lived with the eldest all through the winter and
at the end the venerable Kassyapa asked the Buddha to ordain
him as one of his monks. " You Kassyapa," said Buddha, "are
chief, leader, foremost, first and highest of five hundred Jatilas.
Go first and inform them of your intention, and let them do
what they think fit."
The Jatila Kassyapa then went to his disciples and said,
" I wish, Sirs, to lead a religious life under the direction of
the great Sramana Goutama; you may do, Sirs, what you
think fit."
" If you," replied they, " will lead, Sir, a religious life
under the great Sramana's direction, we will also lead a
religious life under the great Sramana's direction."
Then the Jatilas shaved their hair and beard, flung the
things for the Agrtihotra Sacrifice into the river, and went
to the place where the Blessed One was. "Lord," said they,
" let us receive Pabbajya and Upasampada Ordination from
the Blessed One."
" Come, O Bhikshus," said Buddha, " lead a holy life for
the complete extinction of suffering."
Thus those venerable persons were all ordained. Their
example was soon followed by the Nadi Kassyapa and Gaya
Kassyapa with all their followers. Thus within a very short
* Jatila means matted lock. Jatila Uruvela Kassyapa means
Kassyapa who had matted locks on his his head and who lived in the
village of Uruvela. After Buddha's death Kassyapa was elected in his
place to become the chief of the Order.
f Nadi Kassyapa means one who lived on the banks of the river.
Gaya Kassyapa means Kassyapa who lived in the village of Gaya.
Every Aryan used to keep a fire always burning in his home.
Every morning anc^ evening it was his duty to worship this fire. This
fire was his God aftd the Emblem of his religion. This was called
Agnihotra.
52 BUDDHA.
time Buddha became the leader of more than one thou-
sand monks. With them all a grand and majestic proces-
sion, he went on towards Rajagriha, the capital of the king-
dom of Magadha.
In Rajagriha lived the other two very celebrated men,
Sariputra and Upatissa,* two great religious devotees and
scholars, men of brilliant parts and extraordinary abilities.
Though they had not as yet assumed the position of teachers,
they being still then the disciples of one Sanjaya, yet they
had a large following, in fact only for their sake Sanjaya
had innumerable disciples.
One day, Sariputra met one of the Bhikshus of the great
Buddha named Assagi and said, " Your complexion is pure
and bright. In whose name, friend, have you retired from
the world ? Who is your teacher ? Whose Doctrine do you
profess ?"
" There is, friend," replied Assagi, "the Sramana Goutama,
an ascetic of the Sakya race. In His, the Blessed One's name,
have I retired from the world. He is my Teacher and His,
the Blessed One's, Doctrine do I profess."
" And," , asked Sariputra, "what is the doctrine, Sir, which
your Teacher holds and preaches to you ?"
"I am only a young disciple, friend," replied Assagi, '"I
have but recently received the Ordination, and I have newly
adopted this Doctrine and Discipline. I cannot explain to
you the Doctrine in detail, but I will tell you in short what it
means" " Well, friend," said Sariputra," "tell me much, or tell
me little as you like, but tell me the spirit of the Doctrine."
* Sariputra and Upatissa were both Brahmans. They soon became
most prominent members of the Order founded by the Buddha.
Upatisa Sutra and Sariputra Sutra are still now trie-two most sacred
books of the Buddhist Canon. These two books containing the teachings
of the great master were most probably edited by these two gifted
monks. After Buddha's death Sariputra and Upatissa_ had places in
the Order next to Kassyapa.
HIS LIFE. 53
Then the Venerable Assagi said, "Of all objects which
proceed from a Cause, the Tathagatha has explained their
Cessation also. This is the Doctrine of the great Buddha."
Then Sariputra went to his frend Upatissa and told him
of his meeting with the Bhikshu Assagi. They made up their
mind to place themselves under the teaching of the
great Sramana Goutama. When they took the yellow robe,
all the followers of their late master San jay a followed their
example. This created a great sensation all over the country.
Monks, ascetics, learned Brahmans, as well as lay men,
poor and rich, all flocked to see the great Buddha who was
then living with thousands of followers in the Jastivana.*
CHAPTER XIII.
HIS POPULARITY AND UNPOPULARITY.
The popularity of the great Buddha was extreme all over
the Magadha country. The king himself came and paid the
highest respect to him. The ancient chronicler says : The
Magadha king, Bimbasara, surrounded by twelve myriads
of Magadha Brahmans and householders, went to the place
where the Blessed One was. Having approached him he
respectfully saluted him and sat down near him.
Now these twelve myriads of Brahmans and house-
holders thought, " Has the great Sramana Goutama placed
himself under the spiritual direction of Uruvela Kassyapa, or
has Uruvila Kassapa placed himself under the spiritual
direction of the great Sramana ?"
* See Cunningham's Archaeological Reports Vol I pi XIV.
54 BUDDHA.
And the Blessed One, who understood in his mind the
reflection which had arisen in the minds of those twelve
myriads of Brahmans and householders, addressed the
venerable Kassyapa thus : " What knowledge have you
gained that has induced you, who were renowned for your
penances, to forsake your sacred fire ?"
" It is visible things, and sounds, and also tastes, pleasures,
and women that the Sacrifice speaks of ;" replied Kassyapa.
" Because I came to know that whatever exists is filth, I took
no more delight in sacrifices and offerings."
" But," said Buddha, " if your mind found no delight
either in visible things or sounds or tastes, what is in the
world of men and gods in which your mind now finds delight ?
Tell me that."
" I have seen," replied " Kassyapa, the state of peace
(Nirvana) by which the basis of existence (Upadhi) and the
obstacles to perfection (Kinchana) have ceased."
Then the venerable Uruvela Kassyapa rose from his seat,
adjusted his upper robe so as to cover one shoulder, prostrated
himself inclining his head to the feet of the Blessed One
and said : " My teacher, lord, is the Tathagatha ; I am his
pupil." Then the Blessed One delivered a discourse.
The king most respectfully invited the Blessed One to
his palace with all his followers, and served and offered with
his own hands excellent food to the Bhikshus with the Buddha
at their head. When the Blessed One had finished his meals
and cleansed his bowl and hands, the king sat down near him
and thus spoke : " I give up my Veluvana Garden* to the
* Rhys Davids says : Curiously enough while Jastivana has been
identified by General Cunningham in his 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. I. G. in Cunningham's map of Rajagriha (PL XIV
Reports Vol. I) were found by him.
HIS LIFE. 55
Bhikshus with the Buddha at their head." The Blessed
One accepted the gift.
" This enthusiasm of the people seems to have cooled
down as rapidly as it rose, for there were na other conver-
sions besides those of Sariputra and Uptissa and their pupils.
The members of the Society began even to complain to
Goutama that when they went out to beg their daily food,
they were received with abuse and redicule on the ground
that the new teaching would deprive householders of their
supports and depopulate and ruin the country."*
The ancient chronicler says :
" At this time many distinguished and noble youths of the
Magadha territory joined themselves to the Buddha to lead a
pure life.
The people were annoyed, murmured and became
angry ; They. said :-^ a The Sramana Goutama causes fathers
to beget no sons ; he causes wives to become widows and
families to become extinct. Already he has turned thousands
of hermits into his disciples, and he has made two hundred
and fifty mendicant followers of Sanjaya his disciples, and
now these distinguished and noble youths of the Magadha
kingdom are betaking themselves to the ascetic Goutama to
lead religious life/'
The people taunted the Bhikshus with this couplet, when
they saw them walking by their houses.
"The great Bhikshu came in his travels to the capital of
Magadha.
Seated on a hill he has converted all Sanjaya's followers.
Whom will he draw after him to-day?"
When the great Buddha learnt the state of the public
feelings from his followers^ he said : "This excitement, O
disciples, will not last long. But, if they taunt you, O
Bhikshus, answer them with these words."
* See Rhys Davids' Buddhism, p 63.
15
56 BUDDHA.
" The Heroes, the Perfect Ones, convert by their true
discourse.
Who will reproach the Buddha who converts only by
the power 1 of truth ?"*
But this was not all the unpleasantness that the great
'Master had to meet at the very start of his righteous work.
The high position which Goutama assigned to Sanjaya
and Upatissa created some ill-feeling among the older mem-
bers of the Sangha, which Goutama 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-doings to get virtue.
To cleanse one's own heart, this is the religion of the
Buddha.f ...
At the same time he laid down the first rules for the
guidance of the Society, the simple law being called Pati-
mokha, that is the Disbursement, a word afterwards applied
to a book containing a summary of the more complex system
of laws, as it had been elaborated at the time of Goutama' s
death. This meeting of mendicants, at which the Society
was first so to speak, incorporated, is known as the Sava-
kasamipata or the assembly of the disciples.J
* See Oldenberg's Buddha. He asks. "Have we really here a
pair of those rhymes before us such as they were probably bandied at
that time fys\ ween the friends and the foes of the young teachers among
the gossiping- populace of the streets of the capital of Magadha ?"
j- This verse is tlie verse 183 of the Dhammapada. Hardy says,
" The verse above quoted constitutes the discourse called Patimokha.
We have now a complete Buddhistic sacred book named Patimokha,
the first portion of the Vinaya."
% See Buddhism, page 62, also Jataka page 85, Hardy, p. 198,
Tumour, Journal Bombay Asiatic Society, VII. page 106.
CHAPTER XIV.
ARRIVAL AT KAPILAVASTU.
When the great Goutama was residing in the Velubana
Mat near Rajgriha,* a messenger came from Kapilavastu
with an urgent request from his father to go and see him and
his dear relatives only for once. The messenger thus spoke
the words of his father : " It is my wish to see you, therefore
come to me. Others have the benefit of the Dharma, but not
your father and your other relatives. It is now seven years
since we saw you ?"
Buddha thought of once going to see his parents and
relatives. When Buddha commenced his journey, he was
attended by 10000 priests of Anga and Magadha and by
10000 priests of Kapilavastu. Each day he proceeded
sixteen miles, and as it was sixty yoyanas' distance between
Rajgriha and Kapilavastu, he accomplished the whole in two
months.
The King prepared the garden called Nigrodha for the
reception of Buddha. In the procession appointed by the
king to receive Buddha on his approach to the city,
there were first 500 princes and princesses about 12 years
of age and afterwards the King with 16,000 attendants carry-
ing perfumes and flowers. On reaching the garden, Buddha
sat upon a throne surrounded by the 20,000 priests.
The next day all the members of the royal family being
beside themselves from joy, no one remembered that food was
to be provided for Buddha. In the morning he cleansed his
teeth and washed his face ; after which he went to a retired
place and performed the exercise of Dhyana. At the time
at which it was proper to set out to receive alms, he took
* We follow Hardy's translation in this chapter and the next.
58 BUDDHA.
his bowl and set out from the Nigrodha garden surrounded
by the 20,000 priests. He then went a-begging from house
to house,
When the king, his father heard this, he went to him in
haste. "Why do you disgrace me thus?" Exclaimed he.
" If you had been accompanied even by all the kings of
Jambudwipa, could I not have supplied the whole with food !
BOW much easier thus is it for me to supply you and your
20,000 priests!" "It is the custom of my race." Buddha
replied. But the king said, " How can this be ? You are
descended from Mahasamanta ; none of your race ever acted
in this manner. Some of your ancestors could stamp for
food, and they received whatever they wished." Buddha
then informed his father that he spoke not of the race of
Samanta, but of the race of the Buddhas. He continued :
" When any one found a hidden treasure, it was his duty to
make an offering of the most precious of the Jewels to his
father in the first instance." He then therefore opened the
mine of Dharma.'* He who listens to the Dharma will attain
prosperity." On hearing this, the king entered into the
Second Path.
The king then sent to inform Yasodhara that she also
might come and worship Siddhartha ; but she replied, " Surely
if I am deserving of any regard, he will come and see me,
I can then worship him." Buddha went to her apart-,
ments. As he was going, he told Maggalan and others, "I am,
free from evil desire, though the princess is not so. From
not having seen me for so long a time, she is exceedingly
sorrowful. Unless this sorrow be allowed its course, her
breast will cleave. She will take hold of my feet, but as the
* That is, he delivered to him a discourse. " Do-not procrastinate ;
listen to the excellent Dharma. He who thus listens will attain prosperity.
The king, whilst listening to this discburse, entered the first path.
Buddha then repeated another stanza. Practice that which is enjoined
in the Dharma. Avoid that which is forbidden in the Dharma."'
HIS LIFE. 59
result will be that she and the other princesses will embrace
nunhood, you must not prevent her."
When Yasodhara heard that the Buddha was coming to
see her, she was, from the abundance of her affection, like
an overflowing vessel unable to contain herself. And forget-
ting that she was a mere woman and that Buddha was the
Lord of the world, she held him by the feet and wept. But
remembering that Suddhadhana was present, she felt ashamed
and rose up ; after which she reverently remained at a little
distance. It is not permitted even to Maha-Brahma to touch
the body of Buddha. The king apologised for the princess
and said, "This arises from her affection ; nor is it a momen-
tary display. For seven years that you were absent from
her, she had lamented for you thus. .When she heard that
you had shaved your head, she did the same. When
she heard that you had put on mean garments, she
put on the same. When she heard that you had left
off the use of perfumes and ornaments,, she left off the
same. Like you she has eaten only at appointed times
and from an earthen bowl, and like you she has renounced
high seats. Therefore grant her forgiveness."
Buddha gave his blessings to his wife .and went away to
the place outside the town where his. followers were en-
camped.*
* A few years after Yasodhara became a Buddhist nun and the
head of the Order of Female Bhikshunis. See below.
CHAPTER XV.
. CONVERSION OF HIS SON AND RELATIVES.
THE next day* Buddha went from the Nigrodha garden
to a festival that was held in honour of Nanda, the son of
Maha Prajapatif the sister of Maya Devi and the wife
of Sudhadhana. It was a three-fold festival as on this
day he was to be elevated to a new office, to enter upon a
new residence, and to be married. Buddha went with
his ArhatasJ to the festival hall that he might release Nanda
from the sorrows of existence. When seated upon the throne
that had been prepared for him, he repeated the following
stanza.
" The destruction of evil desire, the keeping of the
Brahmacharja, the knowing of the Four Truths, and the
comprehending of Nirvana, these constitute the greatest
festival." -..:.-
Having in this manner made him willing to follow the
the advice he received, Buddha put his alms bowl in his hand
which he took, though at that time he was arrayed in the
richest ornaments. Buddha then rose from the throne and
went to the Vihara, and Nanda followed him. The betrothed
princess, Janapada-kalyani, called out to him from the window
to enquire where he was going,. but he gave her no reply.
On arriving at the Vihara, Buddha said to Nanda, " Re-
gard not the honors of the Chakravati ; become a priest like
me." The thoughts of the prince, however, still wandered
after his betrothed wife, but the great master drove away those
evil thoughts from his mind and Maggalan admitted him to
the Monkhood.
* We follow Hardy's translation,
f Nanda was Buddha's step-brother.
% Buddhist monks.
HIS
On the seventh 4ay after the arrival of Buddha at Kapila-
vg,stu, Yasodhara arrayed her son Rahula, now seven . years
old, in all the splendour of a prince, and said to him pointing
out to Buddha who wa,s passing by the palace in his usual
daily rounds for alms : -"This monk, whose appearance is so
glorious, so that he looks like Maha-Brahma, is your father.
He possesses four great mines of wealth. Since he went away,
I have not seen them. Go to him and entreat him to put
you in ppssession of these mines of wealth and the seven
treasures of the Chakravati. The son ought to inherit the
property of his father." Rahula said : " I know of no
father, but the king Sudhadhana. Who else is my father ?"
The princess took him in her arms and from the window
pointed to Buddha and said, "That monk is your father."
Rahula then went to Buddha, and looking up in his face
said without fear and with much affection, " My father, my
father !" Buddha was then engaged in taking his meals. When
he finished his repast and given his blessings to his host,
he went away, and Rahula followed him, calling him "father"
and asking him to have his inheritance. None of the people
did anything to stop him, nor did Buddha himself.
At last Buddha reached the Vihara. So long he did say
nothing, not a word to his son. Now he suddenly turned
towards Sujat and said, " My son asks for his inheritance.
I will not give him that which is connected with the sorrows
of existence. I will give him the inheritance of Buddhahood,
the benefit arising from which does never perish. Sujat,
shave this boy's head and take him into the Order."
The princely costume of Rahula was taken away, the
yellow robe of the monk was given to him, and his head
was shaved; and Rahula was greatly blessed.* When Sudha-
dhana heard what had been done, he became excessively
* Rahula was taken as an apprentice in the Order, for he was
then a minor. When he grew to be eighteen years of age, he was for-
mally ordained a member of the Order.
62 BUDDHA.
sorry. By Buddha's renunciation he lost his one son, by
Nanda's conversion the other. Now he lost his only grandson.
He hastened to Buddha weeping ; he prayed that henceforth
Buddha should not ordain a son without the consent of
his parents ; and Buddha gave his word.
On his way he stayed for sometime at Anu'piya on the
banks of the Aroma in a mango grove near the spot where he
had sent Channa back on the eventful night of the Renuncia-
tion. And whilst he was there, the Order received several
important accessions, chiefly from his clan, or from that of his
relatives the Kolyans. Among those Ananda, Devadatta
Upali and Anuruddha deserved especial mention. The first
became the most intimate friend of his cousin, Goutama, as
will specially appear in the account of the Teacher's death.
The second, also his cousin, became afterwards his rival arid
opponent The third Upali was a barber attached to the
household of Sudhadhana. His deep religious feelings and
great intellectual powers made him afterwards one of the
most -important leaders in the Order. The last Anurtiddha
became the greatest master of Buddhist metaphysics.
CHAPTER XVI.
HIS MISSION WORK.
rest of the long life of the great master was spent
from year's end to years' end in mission works, in preaching
his great religion, in increasing the number of his Order,
and in promulgating the laws of humanity and peace. Thus
did Tie establish the Kingdom of Righteousness.*
* We have no connected, nor authenticated history of Buddha from
the 4th to the 2oth year of his mission. We can gather a -few facts only
HIS LIFE. 63
The following is a short summary of his mission works
from the 4th year of his Buddhahood till the 2oth year.
4th year : In the fourth year Goutama admitted the rope-
dancer Ugrasena* to the Order, and then crossing the Ganges
into Vesali, he lived for a time in the Mahavana grove.
Whilst there he heard of a quarrel between the Sakhyas and
Kolyans about the water in the boundary river Kohana. He
went to Kavilvastu, reconciled the two clans, returned to
Mahavana and spent the rainy season there.
$th year : In the middle Was, he heard of the illness
of Sudhadhana and again returned to Kapilavastu and was
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 Ectzana Era loy.f After comfortr
ing his relatives and carrying out the cremation of the body
with due ceremony, Goutama returned to the Kutagara Vihara
at Mahavana. He is there followed by his father's widow
Prajapati, his wife Yasodhara and other Sakhya and Kolyan
ladies who earnestly asked to be allowed to take the vow.
He. was very unwilling to admit them to the Order, but at last
yielded to the earnest advocacy of Ananda and laid down
certain rules for female mendicants. J He then retired to the
hill Makula at Kusambi near Allahabad.
from the Dhammapada and Jataka Commentaries, but how far they are
historically based cannot be confidently said. Bigandet and Hardy
record certain tales, but do not mention their sources. They are proba-
bly derived from the Jatakas or from the different Commentaries on the
utterances of the Buddha. The summary given here is after Rhys
-Davids. See Buddhism.
* Told by Bigandet in his Manual.
f Bigandet's Manual of Buddhism,' page 19. >
J The queen mother Prajapati said to Buddha that as Sudha->
dhana was dead and Rahula and Nanda (her son) were priests, she had
no wish to reside alone in Kapilavastu, and therefore requested that with
Jasodhara and 'Other princesses she might be admitted into the Order.
He replied, "Ladies, do not seek to enter my Order." Then did she
16
64
6th Year. After spending the rainy season at Makula,
Goutama returned to Rajgriha, and whilst there admitted
Kshema, the queen of Bimbasara, to the Order. One of his
disciples, gaining a patra (bowl) by the display of miraculous
powers, Buddha had the patra broken to pieces and forbade
any miracles.
7th Year. While he was living in the Jituvana Vihara
near Sarvasti, his opponents induced a woman named
Chincha to accuse him of a breach of chastity, but her
deceipt was exposed.*
pray to be admitted into the Order, and thrice were they refused.
Buddha then left Kapilavastu and went away to Vesali. \
Prajapati then said to the other princesses, "The great Buddha has
thrice refused to admit us into the Order. Let us take it upon ourselves,
and then go to him, and he cannot but receive us." On hearing this
advice, they were pleased ; and then all of them cut off their hair, put \
on the yellow robe and taking earthen alms-bowls in their hands
departed from their homes. They went walking, those that never
knew what walking meant. In consequence of their extreme tender-
ness, their feet were soon covered with blisters. The distance from
Kapilavastu to Vesali was fifty one Yoyauas. It was evening when
they arrived at the Vihara in which Buddha was residing. They did
not enter within, but remained outside. When Ananda saw them
with bleeding feet, his eyes were filled with tears ; and he said, " Why
have you come?" Prajapati replied, " We have become nuns in the
name of the great Master." On hearing this Ananda requested them
to remain there whilst he went and (informed Buddha of their arrival.
To the sage he described all that he had seen, but the great Bnddha
merely said, "Ananda, seek not to have women admitted into the
Order."
After repeated requests from Ananda and pressure from many of his
disciples, the great Master at last reluctantly agreed to-admit the prin-
cesses into the Order, and thus a new Order of Female Mendicants was
created, at the head of which was placed Prajapati. /After Prajapati's
entering Nirvana, Yasodhara, the wife of Buddha, became the head of
the Order, but she too died long before Buddha's death.
* Regarding this matter, the following story is narrated. There
were certain Thirthakas who were envious when they saw the
HIS LIFE. 65
8th Year. He spends the Was on the rock Sansumara
near Kapilavastu. Conversion of the father and mother of
Nakula of Moggali took place here.* Goutama then returned
to Kusambi near Allahabad.
numbers who received the instructions of Goutama. They therefore
thus cried out to the people in the corners of the streets, "What is it that
you are doing ? Is Goutama the only Buddha ? Are not we also
Buddhas ? If he imparts Nirvana, do not we enable you to receive the
same?" They then consulted together to see if they could not destroy
the influence of the sage by a stratagem. There was at that time in
Sewet a young female, named Chinchi, an ascetic. One day she went to
the residence of the Thirthikas and worshipped them, but they remained
silent. At this she became fearful, thinking that she must have done
something wrong ; and after worshipping them thrice, she asked what
fault she had committed. The Thirthikas informed her that they
wished to hinder the success of Buddha in which she would be able to
assist them. She enquired in what way, and they told her what to
do. Chinchi was well-versed in all kinds of female devices. The
people of Sewet were accnstomed to resort to Buddha in the evening
that they might hear bana. She proceeded from her residence just
at that time, arrayed in a crimson robe with flowers and perfumes.
The people asked her .where she was going at that time and she
said it was no business of theirs. She passed the night near the
place where Buddha was residing. In the morning when the Upasakas
were coming at an early hour that they might worship Buddha, she
returned towards the city. When they enquired where she had slept,
she told them that she had spent the night in the appartment of
Goutama.
One day when Buddha was saying bana, she entered the hall making
a big belly with a piece of wood as if she were in advanced pregnancy.
She said, "! am with child by you; you have appointed no place for my
confinement." At this time a sudden gust of wind removed her cloth
and exposed the piece of wood. The assembled people, when they
saw the falsity of the accusation she had brought against Buddha,
took her by the hands and feet and drove her away. fSee Hardy's
Manual, p 276.^
* Buddha generally converted men and women by parables. Here
is a beautiful one.
Kisagotami is the name of a young girl whose marriage with the
66 BUDDHA.
,qth year :- Moggali stirred up enmity against Goutama,
and Ananda urged him to go elsewhere, but he refused. A
dissension then broke out in the Order and Goutama in vain
exhorted the two parties to patience, union and charity, and
then sorrowfully left his disciples and went alone to the
Pareleyaka.
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 medicines for it. But a Buddhist mendicant, thinking 'she
does not understand 1 , said to her, " My good girt, 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," cried Kisagotami. "Buddha can give you medi-
cine, go to him," was the answer. She went to Goutama and doing
homage to him said, " Lord and master, do you know of 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, husband, or parent, or ser-
vant has died." "Very good," said the girl and went to ask for it still
carrying the dead child with her. The people said, "Here is mustard
seed, take it;" but then she asked, "In my friend's house has any son
died or a husband or a parent or a servant? " They answered," Lady,
what is this 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," and another, "We have lost our
servants." At last not being able to find a single house where no one
had died, her mind began to clear and then naoving up resolution, she
left the dead body of her child in a forest and returning to Buddha paid
him homage. He said to her, "Have you the mustard seed?" "My
Lord," she said, "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, impermanency of all things. Then her doubts were
cleared away and accepting her lot she became a disciple and entered
the First Path. (See Buddhism, pp. 133-34).
HIS LIFE. 67
ioth year : There in a hut built by the villagers, he
spent his ioth rainy season. The refractory medicants sought
him out to ask pardon, and were well received and forgiven.
He told them, " Outsiders who know not the littleness of
all things might indeed quarrel, but they should have been
wiser. He who has found prudent, sober, 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 lovely elephant." He then wished the
repentant desciples to return to Sravasti, and he then went
on to Magadha.
nth year : In a village near Raj agriha he converted the
Brahmana Bharadwaja by the parable of the sower.*
After spending the rainy season there, he returned to Kosola
to a town called Satiabia.
i '2th Year :- Thence he went to the neighbouring town
of Veranja and spent the rainy season. After it was over, he
* This is the parable referred to.
A wealthy Brahmana named Bharadwaja was looking his harvest
home when the Teacher came and stood by with his bowl. Some of
the people went by and paid him reverence, but the Brahmana was
angry and said, "Sramana, I plough and sow, and having ploughed and
sowed, 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," replied Buddha, "I too plough and sow, and having
ploughed and sown, I eat."
"You say you are a husbandman," said the Brahman, "but we see
no signs of it. 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 deligence 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.
68 BUDDHA.
took the longest journey he had yet made, penetrating as far
as Mantala returning via Benares and Vesali to Sarvasti m
Kosala preaching in all the places he visited. On his return
he preached the Maharahula Sutra to his son Rahula.
1 3th Year : Goutama then went to Chaliya where he
spent the rainy season and returned to Sarvasti.
1 4th Year; In this year Goutama ordained at the
Jituvana Vihara in Sarvasti his son Rahula, delivering on
this occasion the Rahula Sutra. He then travelled to
Kapilavastu.
i$th Year: He spent the i5th year at the Nigradha
grove near Kapilavastu. He addressed to his cousin
Mahanama who had succeded Badraha, the successor of
Sudhadhana, in the headship of the Sakhya clan, a discourse.
He then returned to the Jituvana Vihara. He dilivered here a
discourse on the superiority of righteousness to alms-giving.
1 6th Year : Goutama next went to Alawi where he con-
verted a mythical monster who used to eat all the children of
the district.
ijth Year : During the I yth rainy season which he spent
at Rajagriha, Goutama preached a Sermon on the occasion of
the death of Srimati, a courtezan, and in the fine weather
returned through Sravasti to Alwi, preaching in all the places
he passed through. At Alawi he refused to preach to a.
hungryman until he had been well-fed.
T$th Year. He spent the Was at Chaliya near Sravasti
and while there the Teacher comforted a weaver who had
accidently killed his daughter. Goutama then went to
Rajagriha.
igth Year.- After spending the rainy season in the Velu-
vana Vihara, Goutama travelled through Magadha preaching
in all the villages, On one occasion, finding a deer caught
in a net he released it, and sitting down under a tree near
by became absorbed in meditation. The angry hunter tried
to shoot him, but failed. Buddha then preached to him and
HIS LIFE; 69
Jto his family who all became his lay-disciples. He then went
on to Sravasti.
2oth Year. Here he spent the rainy season, and having
been twice contemptuously treated by mendicants who
used to carry his alms-bowl he appointed Ananda to be his
constant companion. Then went he to a forest near Chalya
and succeeeded in overcoming by kindness a famous robber,
named Angulimala who became a monk.*
* This is the story of Angulimala as given by Hardy in his
Manuel of Buddhism, pp. 250-252.
The priest of the king of Kosala had a son named Ahingsaha, but
by the freak of fate he became a great robber who murdered every one
he got hold of and cut off his fingures, thus getting the name Anguli-
mala (the garland of fingures). At this time Buddha was residing in
Jetuvana Vihara. he had to make a journey through the country in
which the terrible robber lived. The herdsmen informed him that no one
could pass that way alone, that men were obliged to go in companies
in forty and fifty and that even then they were sometimes murdered.
Buddha went on and soon he was seen by the robber. He hastened
towards him and ran after him, but ran as much as he could, he failed to
come to the great Prophet. "I have run after elephants, horses, cha-
riots," thought the robber, "and have overtaken them, but this priest
outstrips me." He then called out to the priest to stop, and Buddha
did so.and commanded him to remain where he was and not come
nearer. He then gave him good advice, telling him to be kind to all
beings, by which he would be able to save himself from hell. His words
so impressed the robber that he fell at his feet and prayed to be taken
into his order. Buddha ordained him a monk, and thenceforth he be-
came one of the holiest of holy monks of the Buddhist Order.
From the 2ist year till the year of his death, we have no records of
Buddha's mission.
CHAPTER XVII.
HIS FRIENDS.
EVERY great man that had been ever born in this world
had friends innumerable as well as enemies countless. The
great Buddha was no exception. He was adored and wor-
shipped by thousands of men and women ; and thousands
again were jealous of him ; they slandered him, they tried in
various ways to injure him. Amongst his friends and sup-
porters, two prominently stood over all, namely the great
merchant Anatpinda of Sravasti' and the wealthy lady Visaka
of Visali. Amongst his enemies none was so bitter as his
own cousin and disciple Devadatta. We shall give the story
of Anatpinda and Visaka as well as Devadatta.
There resided in Rajagriha a rich merchant; Anatpinda
the great merchant of Sravasti was his friend, and every year
he used to visit him when the merchant of Rajagriha went
out many miles from the city to receive him. One day
Anatpinda approached Rajagriha, but there was no friend to
meet him. He came to the city, but saw no one to welcome
him . as had been usual. When he entered the house, his
friend was there, but his greeting was hurried and brief. At
night, however, he came to him to inform him of the reason
of his conduct. He expected Buddha and his monks the
next day to receive an alms-offering at his dwelling, and he
had been too much engaged in making the necessary pre-
paration to show him the accustomed courtesy.
Anatpinda determined to see Buddha, but he thought,
" There are many now who say that they are the Buddha and
I may be deceived. There was a name given to me Sudatta
by my parents which is known only to them and me. If
Goutama tells me what it is, I will believe in him." Early
HIS LIFE. 71
In 'the morning Buddha himself went to meet him and on
seeing him said, " Sudutta, come hither." On. hearing his
words, the faith of Anatpinda became firm, and he promised
to stick to his teachings to the end of his life. '
He returned to Sravasti inviting Buddha to honour his
house with a visit and the great master promised to do it.
On returning to Sravasti, Anatpinda bought the best garden
in the suburbs of the city by paying an immense amount of
money to the prince to whom it belonged. He then began
the erection of the Vihara. Round it were houses for the
monks, offices that were suitable for the day and others for
the night, an ambulatory, tanks and gardens of fruits and
flower trees, and round the Whole extending 4,000 cubits was
a wall 18 cubits high. The whole of these erections cost
1 8 kotis of mas-fir aus fgold coins).
When all was furnished, Buddha was invited to visit the
place ; and he set off by easy stages, sixteen miles each day,
so that he was forty-five days in travelling from Rajgriha
to Sravasti. On his approach to the city, he was met by a
splendid procession composed of different companies with
800 persons in each, carrying appropriate vessels and em-
blems of the most cos.tly descriptions. One company was
headed by Anatpinda' s two daughters. Anatpinda escorted
Buddha to the Vihara, and there enquired of the sage
unto whom it should be offered, and Buddha said, "Let it be
offered to the Sangha (Order)." Then Anatpinda poured
water from a golden vessel upon the hands of Buddha in
token that he dedicated the Vihara to all the monks from
whichever of the four quarters they might come.
Buddha passed many years of his life in this great Vihara,
that Anatpinda dedicated to the Buddhist Order. Anat-
pinda spent his whole fortune an immense one to the
cause of Buddhism, and so long the great Religion of the
great Master would exist in the world, the name of the noble
Anatpinda will be ever associated with his name.
17
72 BUDDHA.
The next great friend and supporter of Buddha's religiori
was the very wealthy lady of Sravasti, named Visaka. Olden-
berg says : " She is a rich citizen-commoner at Sravasti,
the chief town of Kosala, the mother of many blooming'
children, the grand-mother of countless children. Every one
invites Visaka to sacrificial ceremonies and banquets, and
the dishes offered first to a guest like her brings luck to'
the house. It is Visaka who is represented to have made
the first liberal preparations in a large scale to provide for
Buddha's disciples who came to Sravasti, the chief neces-
saries of life."
Buddha is one day dining with his disciples at Visaka's
home. After dinner Visaka approaches him and says : " Eight
requests, Sire, I 'make of Exalted One." Buddha replied,
" The Perfect One, O Visaka, is too exalted to be able to
grant you every wish."
Visaka said, " I pray to have what is allowable, Sire, and
what is unblamable.
" Then, said Buddha, "speak, Visaka."
" I desire," said Visaka, " as long as I live, Sire, to give
the Brotherhood clothes' for the rainy season, to give food to
the stranger-monks who arrive here, to give to monks food
who are passing through, to this great city of Sravasti, to give
food to the attendants on the sick, to give medicine to the
sick, to distribute a daily dole of boiled rice, to give bathing-
dresses to the sisterhood of nuns."
"What object," said Buddha, "hast thou in view, Visaka,
that thou approachest the Perfect One with these eight
wishes ?"
"A monk," said Visaka, "who comes from foreign parts does
not know the streets and lanes of this city and he goes about
weary to collect alms. When he has partaken of the food
which I shall provide for the monks who arrive, he may then,
when he has enquired the ways and the streets, go about re-
freshed to collect alms. This end, Sire, I have in view. .
HIS LIFE. 73
Therefore, I desire as long as I live to give food to monks
when they arrive. And again, Sire, a monk who is travelling
through, if he has to seek for food for himself, falls be-
hind his caravan or arrives late when he intends to rest,
and he walks on his journey wearily. If he has partaken
of the food which I shall have provided for monks who are
passing through, he will not fall behind his caravan, and he
will arrive in proper time at the place where he intends to
rest and he will walk on his journey refreshed. This object
I have in view, Sire. Therefore I desire as long as I live to
give food to the monks who are passing through. It has
happened, Sire, that nuns were bathing naked together in
the river Asiravati at the same bathing place with the
prostitutes. The prostitutes, Sire, mocked the nuns saying,
" Most respected ones, what do you need of your holy life as
long as you are young ? Is it not proper to gratify desire ?
When you are old you may begin a holy life, so both will be
yours ; this life and that which is to come !" When the nuns,
Sire, were thus mocked by the prostitutes, they were put out of
temper. Improper, Sire, is nakedness for a woman, obscene
and objectionable. This, Sire, I consider. Therefore I desire,
as long as I live, to provide bathing-dresses for the sisterhood
of nuns."
And Buddha said, " Good, Visaka ? Thou doest well that
thou, seeking this reward, askest the Perfect One for these
eight wishes. I grant thee these eight wishes, Visaka." Then
the Holy One praised Visaka in these words.
Who gives food and drink with generous readiness,
The follower of the Holy One, rich in virtues,
Who, without grudging, gives gifts for the reward of
heaven,
Who puts an end to pain, is ever intent on bringing joy,
Obtains the reward of a heavenly life.
She walks $ie shining, commendable path ;
Free from pain, she joyfully reaps for a long period
74 BUDDHA.
The reward of good deeds in the happy realm of heaven
above.*
CHAPTER XVIII.
HIS ENEMIES.
THERE was no lack of enemies of Buddha, though per-
fectly good he was. The chief of them was Devadatta, his
own cousin. Dr. Oldenberg writes : "Stimulated by ambition .
he seems to have aimed at stepping into the place of Buddha
who had already grown old and at getting the management
of the community into his own hands. When Buddha does
not permit this, he attempts in conjunction with Ajatsatru r
the son of King Bimbasara of Magadha, who was then aim-
ing at his father's throne, to .put the Master out of the way.
Their projects failed.f Miracles are related by which the holy
one is preserved. The defeated murderers are attacked by fear
and trembling. When they came near Buddha, he speaks
gently to them and they are converted to the faith ; the piece
of rock which is intended to crush Buddha is interrupted by
two converging mountain peaks so that it merely grazes
Buddha's feet ; the wild elephant which is driven against
Buddha in a narrow street remains standing before him para-
lized by the magic power of his friendly thought and then
turns back."
Failing to destroy the great Master, Devadatta attempted
to obtain the leadership of the Order in another way. Deva-
* See Mahavagga, VIII. 15.
t See Kulavagga. VII.
HIS LIFE. 75
datta, still professing himself a Buddhist, went with due
solemnity to Veluvana Vihara where Buddha was then resi-
ding, and formally called upon him 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 Viharas, and should eat no meat. Buddha answered that
his precepts could be kept in any place, that he had no objec-
tion to such members of the Order as wish to do so keeping
stricter ' rules, but that they were not necessary, and could
not be kept at all by the young or the 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 possible to be-
come 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 hinderance in the way of those who were seeking^
Nirvana which was his sole aim. Devadatta upon this re-
turned to his own Vihara and founded a new and stricter
Order which gradually grew in numbers and was openly sup-
ported by Ajatsatru.*
The ancient chroniclers thus describe the end of
Devadatta.
" The requests made by Devadatta being all refuged, he
retired to his own Vihara at the head of the river Gaya,
with his four companions and was soon joined by other
dissatisfied monks, so that the number of his disciples again
amounted to 500. When Buddha saw that the time to
reclaim the 500 monks had arrived, he commanded "Sariputra
and Magyalana to visit their Vihara and exert their influence
for this purpose. On their arrival, Devadatta was in the
* Rhys Davids' Buddhism pp. 7677.
76 BUDDHA.
midst of the followers saying bana in imitation of Buddha ';
and when he saw them, he gladly gave them permission to enter
as he supposed they had come to join his party. But Kokilaka,
his chief disciple, said that it would be better to require them
to keep at a distance as it was most probable they had come
to do him injury. The one was placed on the right hand of
Devadatta and the other on his left, and Kokilaka occupied
the place of Anyakondanya according to the arrangement
when bana was said by Buddha. After he had proceeded a
little, Sariputra said that he must be fatigued and began
to say bana in his stead, but in such a manner that all the
monks became Rahats with the exception of Devadatta who
who had fallen asleep. When he awoke and found that all
his followers were gone, he regretted that he had not followed
the advice of Kokilaka and was so affected by this event,
that he fell seriously ill and continued so for nine months.
After this period he resolved to'go to Buddha and to entreat
his forgiveness ; and though his disciples tried to persuade him
not to go as they said that Buddha would not see him, yet they
were unable to induce him to alter his intention, as he knew
that the great Master felt no enemity towards him. When
they saw that he was determined, they took him in a litter
as he was quite unable to rise, and conveyed him to Jetuvana
Vihara.
When near the Vihara, the disciples put the litter upon
the ground whilst they washed themselves in the tank. The
eagerness of Devadatta to see Buddha was so great that he
rose from the litter, though he had been unable to move for
sometime past.* But when he put his foot to the ground,
flames came from the hill and enrapped his body in their
folds. He cried, " O Buddha, though I have done wrong to you,
yet for the sake of my relationship, save me."f
* Most likely he died in his attempt to run towards Buddha.
f See Hardy pp. 328329.
CHAPTER XIX.
HIS MODE OF LIFE,
CAN we gather any idea of how Buddha lived? Th
great disciples, who clustered round the master, such as
Ananda, Upali, Sariputra Maggalana and others, completely
resemble each other in the old narratives that have come to
us in the Buddhist Sacred Texts. Their pictures are nothing
else, but the invariably uniform copy of Buddha himself, only
in a reduced scale. Thus we can very well form a picture
in our mind of the great Teacher as he lived and preached
2500 years ago.
As the picture of the daily life of Buddha has been 1 most
magnificiently drawn by Oldenberg, we make no apology
to quote him in extenso*
"From year to year the change from a period of wandering
to a period of rest and retirement repeated itself for Buddha
and his disciples. In the month of June when after the
dry scorching heat of the Indian summer, clouds came up
in towering masses and the rolling '.thunders heralded the ap-
proach of the rain-bearing monsoon, Buddha every year
kept Vana (rainy-season) for three months surrounded by
his disciples who flocked together to pass the rainy season
near their Teacher. Kings and wealthy men contended for the
honour of entertaining him and his disciples who were with
* Buddha in his sojourn usually resided in the various Viharas,
that were presented to the Order by the wealthy Upasakas; the most
celebrated of them were the Veluvana Vihara in Rajgriha, presented
by king Bimbasara of Magadha and Jetuvana Vihara in Sravasti, pre-
sented by the wealthy merchant Anatpinda. These were the two
most favourite places of residence of the great Master. In fact he past
most part of his long life in those places, sometimes alone and some-
times surrounded by his numerous disciples.
78 BUDDHA.
him as guests during this season' in the Viharas and gardens
which they had provided for the community ."
The rain being over, the itinerating began. Buddha
went from town to town and village to village, always at-
tended by a great concourse of disciples.* The territory
through which these Wandering excursions generally extended
was the circuit of the Eastern Land, i.e., chiefly the old
kingdoms of Kasi, Kosala and Magadha with the neighbour-
ing free states and territories known at the present day by the
name of Oudh and Behar.
In these frequent journeying, Buddha and his disciples
were often invited to dinner by wealthy laymen. He permit-
ted his consent by silence and attended it dressed in his long
coat with alms bawl in his hand. After dinner he addressed
the host and his assembled friends and relatives with a few
words of spitritual admonition and instruction.
If the day be not filled by an invitation, Buddha, accord-
ing to the rules of his Order, went round the village or town
in quest of alms, He went from house to house and stood,
alms bawl in hand, silently waiting until a morsel of foo.d
was thrown into it.
After taking his repast he passed a few hours in silent
meditation, either within a cloister or underneath the shady
branches of a banian tree. Thus did pass his life from
years' end to years' end till at last he attained to the final
Nirvana.
* See Cakkavatti Suitanta.
CHAPTER XX,
HIS MODE OF PREACHING.
BUDDHA always preached orally written discourses he did
not deliver. He spoke not in Sanskrit, but in the Vernacular
of the land through which he journeyed.*
In the evening almost every day, if he was residing in
a place and not journeying, he used to deliver his bana before
his disciples and all those that came to hear him. These were
long discourses, such as have come down to us in Pali Texts.
We give below an extract from his celebrated Discourse
on Fire.
" Every thing, O disciples, is in flames. And what every-
thing, O disciples, is in flames ? The eye, O disciples, is in
flames, the visible is in flames, the knowledge of the visible is
in flames, the contact with the visible is in flames, the feeling
which rises from the contact with^the visible, be it pleasure, be
it pain, be it neither pleasure nor pain, this also is in flames.
By what fire is it kindled ? By the fire of desire, by the fire
of hate, by the fire of fascination, it is kindled; by birth, old
age, death, pain, lamentation, sorrow, grief and despair, it is
kindled, thus I say. The ear is in flames, the audible is in
flames, the knowledge of the audible is in flames, the contact
with the audible is in flames, the feeling which arises from the
contact with the audible, be it pleasure, be it pain, be it neither
pleasure nor pain, this also is in flames. By what fire it is
kindled ? By the fire of desire, by the fire of hate, by the
fire of fascination, it is kindled ; by birth, old age, death, pain,
lamentation, sorrow, grief, despair, it is kindled ; thus I say,"
and so forth.t
* See Introduction,
f Se Mahavagga, V. I 15.
18
So BUDDHA.
If a man came to him to be. con verted or to know what his
Doctrine was, he began by admonishing him to the practice of
virtues in worldly vocations, to generosity, to rectitude in
every earthly occupation ; he spoke of the heavens with their
rewards which await him, who has led a life of earnest pur-
pose here below. And as soon as he knew that his hearer
or hearers was or were fit to receive some thing deeper, he
proceeded to speak to them of that which, as the Text says,
" is pre-eminently the revelation of the Buddhas," namely,
the Doctrines of Sufferings and Deliverance."
The third mode of Buddha's teaching was by conversa-
tion and dialogue. We give an example.
" Buddha comes in his begging excursion to the house of
his wealthiest and his most liberal admirer, the great merch-
ant Anatpinda. He hears loud conversation and wrangling,
and asks, " Why are the people screaming and crying in thy
house? One would think fishermen had been robbed of
their fish." And Anatpinda pours out his grief to Buddha :
a daughter-in-law of a rich house has come into his family
who will not listen to her husband and her parents-in-law
and declines to show due reverence to Buddha. Buddha says
to her. "Come, Sujata." She answers, "Yes sire/' and
comes to Buddha. He says to her, " There are seven kinds
of wives which a man may have, Sujata. What seven are they ?
One resembles a murderer, another a robber, another a mis-
tress, another a mother, another a sister, another a friend,
another a servant. These, Sujata, are the seven kinds of
wives which a man have. Which kind .art thou ?"
And Sujata has forgotten all obstinacy and pride, and says
defferentially, "O Sire, I do not understand the full meaning
of that which the Exalted One has stated in brief; therefore,
may the Exalted One so expound to me his doctrine that I
may be able to understand the full meaning of that which the
Exalted One has stated briefly." " Hearken, O Sujata, and
take it well to heart ; I shall state it to thee." And Buddha
HIS LIFE. 8 1
described the seven kinds of wives. " These, Sujata, are the
seven kinds of wives which a man may have. What kind
among these art thou?" "From this day forward," says
Sujata, " Sire, I may be esteemed as one who is to her hus-
band a wife who resembles a servant."
Another mode of Buddha's teaching was by similes. Here
is an example. Buddha said,
" As when, O disciples, in the forest on a mountain slope,
there lies a great tract of low-land and water where a great
herd of deer lives, there comes a man who devises hurt,
distress and danger for the deer, who covers over and shuts
up the path which is safe, good, and pleasant to take, and
opens up a false path, a swampy path, a marshy track ; thence-
forward, disciples, the great herd of deer incurs hurt and
and diminishes. But now, O disciples, if a man comes, who
devises prosperity, welfare and safety for this great herd of
deer, who clears and opens up the path which is safe, good
and pleasant to take, and does away with the false path and
abolishes the swampy and the marshy track, thenceforward,
O disciples, the great herd of deer thrives, grows and in-
creases. I have spoken to you, O disciples, in a parable, to
make known my meaning. But the meaning is this. The
great low land and the water, O disciples, are pleasures.
The great herds of deer, O disciples, are living men. The
man, O disciples, who devises hurt, distress, and ruin is
Mara, the Evil One. The false path, O disciples, is eightfold
path, to wit, false path, false resolve, false speech, false
action, false living, false effort, false thought, false concep-
tion. The swampy way, disciples, is pleasure and desires.
The swampy track is ignorance.*
* See Devdhavitaka Sutta. As we shall have to deal with Buddha's
preachings and doctrines in extenso in Parts II and III, we do not
dilate upon them here. We refer our readers to these Parts of the
work.
CHAPTER XXI.
HIS LAST TOUR.
In the 8oth year of his age and 45th year of his mission*
the great Buddha returned to Rajgriha from Sravasti and
dwelled for sometime on the hill called Vulture Peak.t
And whilst the Blessed One stayed there at Rajgriha on
the Vulture's Peak, he held those comprehensive relegious
discourses with the Bhikshus, namely the discourses on the
nature of upright conduct and of earnest contemplation and
of intelligence.
And now when the Blessed One had sojourned at Raja-
griha as long as he pleased, he addressed the venerable
Ananda and said, "Come, Ananda, let us go to Ambali-
thiha.
From this place the great Goutama with his followers
* From this Chapter till the end of the Chapter XXV., we give the
incidents as we find them in the Pali work Maha-Pari-Nibbana-Sutta.
We have tried to keep up the quaintness of the original, therefore
we follow here the translations of Rhys Davids as he has done it
in his Buddha Suttas,VoL XI. of the "Sacred Books of the East."
He says : " At the time when our Book of the great Decease
(Maha-Pari-Nibbana Sutta) was put into its present shape and still
more so when a Book of the Great Decease was first drawn up,
there may well have been some reliable traditions as to the events
that took place and as to the subjects of his various discourses, in
the Buddha's last journey."
Dr. Oldenberg says : " Regarding the last months of his life on
his last great journey from Rajgriha to Kusanagara, the place of his
death, we possess a detailed account in a Sutta of the Sacred Pali
Canon, i.e., Maha-Pari-Nibbana Sutta. The external feature of this
narrative bears for the most part, though perhaps not in every particular,
the stamp of trustworthy traditions."
f Maha-Pari-Nibbana Sutta.
HIS LIFE. 83
went to Nalanda and lived in the Pavarika mango grove.
Then the Blessed One proceeded with a great company of
mendicants to Pataligama which afterwards became world-
renowed by the name of Pataliputra.
Now the disciples at Pataligama heard of his arrival
there, went to the place where he was, took their seats
respectfully beside him, and invited him to their village
rest-house, and the Blessed One consented. They then went
away to their house, bowing to the Blessed One and keeping
him on their right as they passed him. On arriving at the
rest-house, they made it fit in every way for occupation, placed
seats in it, set up a water-pot and fixed an oil lamp. Then
they returned to the Blessed One and bowing stood beside him
and said, "All things are ready now. It is time for you to do
what you deem most fit."
And the Blessed One robed himself, took his bowl and
other things, went with the Bhikshus to the rest-house, washed
his feet, entered the hall and took his seat against the center
pillar with his face towards the east.
Then the Blessed One addressed the Pataliputra dis-
ciples and said, " Five fold, O house-holders, is the loss of
the wrong-doer through his want of rectitude. In the first
place the wrong-doer, devoid of rectitude, falls into great
poverty through idleness ; in the next place his evil repute
gets noised abroad; thirdly whatever society he enters,
whether of Brahmans, nobles, heads of houses, or Sramanas,
he enters shyly and confused : fourthly he is full of anxiety
when he dies, and lastly on the dissolution of body after
death, he is reborn into some unhappy state of suffering
and woe. This, O house-holders, is the five-fold loss of the.
evil-doer ?"
" Five-fold, O house-holders, is the gain of the well-doer;-
strong in rectitude, he acquires great wealth through his
industry ; in the next place, good reports of him are spread
abroad ; thirdly whatever society he enters, whether of nobles,
84 BUDDHA.
Brahmanas, heads of houses, or members of the Order, he
enters confident and self-possessed ; fourthy he dies without
anxiety ; and lastly, on the dissolution of body after death,
he is reborn into some happy state in heaven. This, O house-
holders, is the five-fold gain of the well-doer."
When the Blessed One had thus taught the disciples and
and incited them and roused them and gladdened them far
into the night with religious discourses, he dismissed them
saying, " The night is far advanced, O house-holders ; it is
time for you to do what you deem most fit."
Buddha rose early in the morning and saw a fortress in
course of construction in the village of Pataligrama. " Who
is it, Ananda," asked he, "that is building a fortress in
Pataligrama?" The venerable Ananda replied, " Sunidha and
Vaisakara, my Lord, the chief ministers of Magadha, are
building a fortress here to keep back the Vajjias."
And the Blessed One said, " Among famous places of
residence and haunts of busy men will become the chief) this
city of Pataliputra, a centre for the interchange of all sorts
of merchandise. But three dangers will hang over Patali-
putra, that of fire, that of water and that of dissension."*
On hearing the arrival of the great Buddha, the two chief
ministers of the king of Magadha hastened to him and.
bowing said, " May the venerable Goutama do us the honour
of taking his meal together with his disciples at our house
to-day." The Blessed One signified his consent by silence.
That day he took his meal in their house and then passed
out of the village. The ministers followed him as he went,
and when he departed, they said, " The gate the Sramana
Goutama goes out by to-day shall be called Goutama? *s Gate
and the ferry at which he crosses the river shall be called
Gautama's Ferry."
# This prophecy was afterwards fulfilled.
HIS LIFE. 8$
Crossing the Ganges,* Goutama went on and reached
Kotigrama. Thence he went to the village of Nadika where
he stayed for some time. He then went to Vesali and took
his stay at a mango grove belonging to a courtezan, named
Ambapalli.
Now the courtezan Ambapalli heard that the Blessed One
had arrived at Vesali and was staying at her mango grove.f
She went in a carriage as far as the. ground was passable
for carriage; there she alighted, and she proceeded on foot
to the place where the Blessed One was and took her seat
respectfully on one side. And when she was thus seated,
the Blessed One instructed, incited and gladdened her with
religious discourses. Then she addressed the Blessed One and
said, " May the great Lord do me the honour of taking his
meal together with the brethren at my house to-morrow."
The Blessed One gave his consent by silence.
The noblesj of Vesali, when they heard that the Great
One had arrived in their city, they hastened towards the
mango grove to invite him to dine at their place. But on
their way they heard that the courtezan Ambapalli had
secured that honour. They therefore went to her place and
said, " O Ambapalli, give up this meal to us for a hundred
thousand." But Ambapalli replied, " My Lords, were you to
offer all Vesali, I would not give up this feast." Saying "we
* Here a miracle has been narrated in the Maha Pari Nirvana
Sutta. We quote the passage. " The Blessed One went into the
river. And at that time the river Ganges was brimful and overflowing,
and wishing to cross to the opposite bank, some began to seek for
boats, some for rafts of wood, while some made rafts of basket works.
Then the Blessed One as instantaneously as a strong man would
stretch forth his arm or draw it back again when he stretched it forth,
vanished from this side of the river and stood on the further bank
with the company of the brethren."
f This portion of the Maha Parinibbana Sutta is word for word
the same as Maha Vagga Vol. VI. 30. i to VI. 30. 6.
J The nobles of Vesali were the Lichhavis,
86 BUDDHA.
are outdone by this Mango girl," they went to meet the
Blessed . One with depressed hearts. Bowing at his feet
they said, " May the Blessed One do us the honour of taking
his meal together with his disciples at our house." And the
Blessed One replied, " I have promised to dine with
Ambapalli the courtezan." The nobles went away disappoint-
ed and sad.
The Blessed One robed himself early in the morning
and took his bowl and went with the brethren to the place
where Ambapalli's dwelling house was, and when he had
come there, he seated himself in the seat prepared for him.
And Ambapalli, the courtezan, placed the sweet rice and cakes
before the Order, with the great Buddha at their head, and
waited upon them, and pressed food till they refused.
And when the Blessed One had quite finished his meal,
the courtezan had a low stool brought and sat down at his
side and addressed the Blessed One and said, " Lord, I pre-
sent this mansion to the Order ;" _and the Blessed One accep-
ted the gift.
When the great Buddha was in Vesali, the rainy season
set in. He then thus addressed his followers, " O mendi-
cants, do you take up your abode round about Vesali, each
according to the place where his friends, intimates, and close
companions may live for the rainy season of Was. I shall
pass the rainy season at Beluva."
" So be it, Lord," said the Bhikshus. And they entered
upon the was round about Vesali, each according to the place
where his friends or intimates or close companions lived.
When his followers thus scattered round Vesali, the
Blessed One said, " Come, Ananda, let us go to Beluva."
And they two, the great master and the great disciple lived
all through the rainy season alone at Beluva.
CHAPTER XXII.
HIS LAST DAYS.
DURING the rainy season, when the great Buddha was
quietly staying at Beluva with his beloved Ananda only as
his companion and attendant, he for the first time fell ill.
He grew daily worse and was almost at the point of death.
Then he thus thought, " It would not be right for me to
pass away without addressing the disciples. Let me now,
by a strong effort of will, subdue this illness. 5 '* Very soon
after he began to recover. When he grew quite strong
again, he came out of the monastry and sat on a seat which
Ananda spread out for him. None of them talked for some
time, till at last, the venerable Ananda thus spoke, "I have
beheld, Lord, how the Blessed One was in health, and I have
beheld how the Blessed One had to suffer. And though at
the sight of the sickness of the Blessed One, my body became
weak as a creeper and the horizon became dim to me and
my faculties were no longer clear, yet notwithstanding I
took some little comfort from the thought that the Blessed
One could not pass away from existence until at last he had
left instructions for the Order."
"What then, Ananda," said the great Goutama, " Does
the Order expect of me? I have preached the Truth
without making any distinction between exoteric and esoteric
doctrine ; for in respect of the truths, Ananda, Thathagata
(Buddha) has no such thing as the close*d fist of a teacher
yrho keeps something back. Surely Ananda, should there
be any one who thinks, " It is I who will lead the Brother-
hood; the order is dependent upon me," it is only he
who should lay down instructions concerning the Order.
* See Maha-Pari-Nibbana Sutta, Chap. II.
19
88 BUDDHA.
Now the Buddha, Anaiida, does never think that it is he who
should lead the Brotherhood or that the Order is dependent
upon him ; why then should he leave instructions concern-
ing the Order ? I, too, Ananda, am now grown old and full
of years ; my journey is drawing to its close ; I have reached
my sum of days ; I am turning eighty years of age. Just as
a worn-out cart, Ananda, can only with much additional care,
be made to move along, so the body of the Buddha can
now be kept going only with much additional care. There-
fore, O Ananda, be ye yourselves lamps unto yourselves.
Be ye yourselves a refuge to yourselves. Hold fast to the
Truth as a lamp. Hold fast as a refuge to the Truth. Look
not for refuge to any one besides yourselves. And now,
Ananda how, is a brother to be. lamp unto himself, a refuge
unto himself? It is by' betaking himself to no external refuge.
It is by holding fast to the Truth as a lamp, holding fast as a
refuge to the truth, looking not for refuge to any one besides
himself."
The Great Master stayed a few days more in Vesali r
living in various charming Chaityas.* One day he said
to his beloved cousin and disciple. " Go, Ananda, assemble
all the Bhikshus that now reside in the neighbourhood of
Vesali." Ananda immediately called them all together, and
when they all assembled, the great Goutama addressed them
thus.t " Brethren, I have made known to you the truths
* The Chaifyas were places where the Bhikshus lived. There were
many such places round about VesaTi. The Buddha himself said, " How
delightful a spol, Ananda, is Vesali: and the Udena Chetiya, and the
Gotamaka Chetiya, and the Sattambaka Chetiya and the Bahtiputta
Chetiya, and Sarandada Chetiya. and the Kapali Chetiya." See Maha-
Pari-Nibbana Sutta, Chap. III.
f This is the last sermon he delivered to his followers. Rhys David
says : "It is of great interest to notice what are the points upon which
Gotama in this last address to his disciples and at the solemn time when
death was near at hand, is reported to have Iain such emphatic stretch-.
Unfortunately we have only a fragment of the address, and as it would
HIS LIFE, 89
that I have perceived. Having thoroughly made yourselves
masters of them, practice them, meditate upon them, spread
them abroad, so that pure religion may last long and be
perpetuated for the good and for the happiness of gods
and men.
Which then, brethren, are the truths that I have made
known to you ? They are these
The four earnest meditation,
The four-fold great struggle against sin,
The four roads to saintship,
The five moral powers,
The five bargains of spiritual sense,
The seven kinds of wisdom,
The noble eight-fold path."
After a few minutes' silence the" Great Master said, " Be-
hold now, Brethren, I exhort you, saying "All component
things must grow old. Work out your salvation with dili-
gence. The final extinction of 'the Tathagatha will take
place before long. At the end of three months from this
time, the Tathagatha will die.
My age is now full ripe, my life draws to its close.
I leave you, I depart, relying on myself alone.
Be earnest then, Brethren, full of holy thought ;
Be steadfast in resolve, keep watch over your own
hearts."
He then/lbidding them all adieu, left Vesali and went with
Ananda towards Pava, a few of his most devoted followers
accompanying him. When he arrived at Pava, a Smith
named Chanda of that place came to him and said, "May
the Blessed One do me the honour of taking his meal at my
house." The Blessed One consented.
seem from its commencement, only the closing fragment. This summary
of the Buddha's last address may fairly be taken as a summary of
Buddhism which thus appears to be simply a system of earnest self-
culture and self-control. See Sacred Books of the East, Vol xi, p. 62.
go BUDDHA.
Chanda made ready in his house sweet rice and cakes
and a quantity of dried boar's flesh, On seeing this, the
Great Master said, " As to the dried boar's flesh you have
made ready, serve me with; it, Chanda. Give the sweet rice
and cakes to the Bhikshus."
Leaving Pava, the Great Master went towards Kusinara,
but on his way there fell upon him a dire sickness, the
disease of dysentry, and sharp pain came upon him even unto
death. But the Blessed One, mindful and self-possessed,
bore it without complaint.*
The Great Master gradually grew worse. The Blessed One
went aside from the path to the foot of a certain tree ; and
when he had come there, he addressed the venerable Ananda
and said, " Fold the robe, I pray you, Ananda, and spread
it out for me. I am weary, Ananda, and must rest a while."
After little rest he said, "Fetch me some water I pray you,
Ananda ; I am thirsty, Ananda, and would drink."
He again rose and dragged himself to the bank of the
Kukustha river,f went down into water and bathed and
* Dr. Oldenberg apparently does not find much historical basis
concerning this cause of the Buddha's last illness. He quotes from the
Maha-Pari-Nibbana Sutta the following Gatha,
" Travel-worn came Buddha to the river Kukuotha
Peaceful, pure with clear waters ;
Down into the water went the Master weary,
The supreme perfect one, without equal.
When he had bathed, the Master drank of the river,
And went up out of it with the bands of his disciple,
The holy master, the preacher of the truth,
The sage went on to the mango grove."
Then he remarks . " These very old verses, which plainly and truly
depict a plain situation, belong beyond all doubt to the most trustworthy
reminiscences, which we have of Buddha's life.' 1 See Oldenberg's
Buddha, p. 200.
f Kukustha is the small stream called Barhi, which flows to the
Chota Gondak eight miles below Kasik. See Cunnigham's Ancient
Geography, p. 435.
HIS LIFE. 91
drank. Thus refreshed he again walked on and reached a
Sal grove on the outskirts of Kushimaga.*
He said, "Go, Ananda, and prepare a bed for me between
two twin trees with my head to the north. I am tired,
Ananda, I shall lie down."
The Blessed One laid himself down on his right side,
with one foot resting on the other ; calm and self-possessed.
Then thus spoke Tathagatha to the venerable Ananda,
" Although this is not the time of flowers, Ananda, yet there
are two twin trees decked with blossoms, and the flowers are
falling, showering down on the body of the Tattagatha. But
to him belongs another honour, another glory, another reward,
another homage, another reverence. Whosoever, Ananda,
male or female Bhikshu or follower,.lay brother, lay-sister, lives
in the Truth, in matters both great and small, and lives accord-
ing to the ordinance and also walks in the Truth in details,
these bring to the Tattagatha the highest honour, glory,
praise and credit."
As night came on, it became evident to the followers that
their Great Master was passing away. They silently began to
weep all around apart from the place where their dying
master lay.f
* Now Kasia, east of Gdrrukpur on the Chota Gundak. See Cun-
ningham's Ancient Geography of India p. 430.
f Of his principal followers the following were present at the time
of his death, Ananda, Anurudha, Sariputra etc.
The great Kassyapa arrived when the Great Master had already
passed away.
CHAPTER XXIII.
HIS LAST ACT,
The poor Ananda exclaimed : " Vouchsafe, Lord, to
live during the Kalpa. Live on, O Blessed One, through the
the Kalpa for the good and the happiness of the great
multitudes, out of pity for the world, for the good and the
gain and the weal of gods and men."
The Great Master smiled. The venerable Ananda then
said : " Let not the Blessed One die in this place in the
midst of jungles. There are, O Lord, such great cities as
Champa, Rajgriha, Sravasti, Saketa and Baranasi. Let the
Blessed One die in one of them. There are in them many
wealthy nobles, believers in the Tatatgatha, who will pay
due honour to the remains of the Tattagatha."
The Great Master again smiled. The venerable Ananda
then exclaimed : " What are we to do, Lord, with the
remains of the Tattagatha ?"
The Great Master spoke : " Trouble not yourselves, O
Ananda, by honouring the remains of the Tattagatha. Be
zealous, I beseach you, Ananda, in your own behalf. Be
earnest, be zealous, be intent on your own good. There
are wise men, Ananda, among the nobles who are firm
believers in the Tathagatha, they will do due honour to the
remains of the Tattagatha."
After a few minutes, silence, the great Goutama then
spoke to Ananda, " After I am gone, tell Chanda 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, you heard it. There are two gifts
that will be bjest above all others, that of Sujata before
HIS LIFE. 93
I attained Buddhahood and this of Chanda before I finally
pass away/ '*
The venerable Ananda could no longer hold himself ; he
completely broke down and went aside to weep. Not seeing
him by his side, the Great Master said : " Where is Ananda,
" Brethren ?" " The venerable Ananda, O Lord," replied they,
"has gone aside and is weeping." " Go, bretheren," said the
Master, " and call him to me."
Ananda came and sat by his side. Then the great
Tattagatha slowly began : "Do not let yourself be troubled,
Ananda, do not weep. Have I not on former occasions told
you that it is in the very nature of all things most, dear and
near unto us that we must separate ourselves from them,
leave them, sever ourselves from them. Nothing can for ever
exist, no such condition is possible. For a long time,
Ananda, have you been very near to me by acts of love,
kind and good that never varied and was beyond all
measure. You have done well Ananda. Be earnest in
effort and you too shall soon be free from the great
evils, from sensuality, from individuality, from delusion,
from ignorance."
As the night wore on, the great master gradually began
to sink. At this time came there a Brahman, a philosopher
of Kusinagara named Subhadra, He met Ananda and said ;
I have heard that Sraman Goutama will pass away this night.
Now a certain feeling of uncertainty '.has- sprung up in my
mind, and this faith have I in Sraman Goutama that he is
* These are the words spoken by the Great Master : " Now it may
happen, Ananda, that some one should stir up remorse in Chanda tire
smith by saying ' This is evil to thee, Chanda and loss to thee in that
when the Tathagata had eaten his last meal from thy provision, then
he died !" Any such remorse, Ananda, in Chanda, should be checked
by saying, ' This is good to thee Chanda and gain to thee in that when
the Tathagatha had eaten his last meal from thy provision, then he
died," See Maha-Parinibbana Sutta, Chap. IV.
94 BUDDHA.
able so to present the Truth that I may get rid of this feeling
of uncertainty. O Ananda, allow me to see the Sramana
Goutama." " Friend Subhadra," said Ananda, "trouble not
the Tattagatha. The Blessed One is weary." But Subhadra
again and again pressed the venerable Ananda. The
Blessed One overheard this conversation and said to Ananda,
" Beloved cousin, do not keep out Subhadra. Allow him to
see the Tattagatha. Whatever Subhadra may ask of me,
he will ask from a desire for knowledge and not to annoy me."
The Brahman Subhadra came and sat by the .side of
the dying Prophet. "The Brahmanas of saintliness,
Goutama" asked he, " who are heads of various sects such as
Purana Kasyapa, Makhali, Ajita, Kachayana, Sangaya,
Belathic and Nigrantha* have they all, according to their
own assertion, throughly understood things, or have they not ?
Are then some of them who have understood and some who
have not ?"
" Subhadra," replied Buddha, " let this matter rest whether
they according to their own assertion, have throughly
understood things or not. This is not the time for such
discussions. I will teach you, Subhadra, the Truth ; pay
attention to it."
Goutama then 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.*
" Most excellent, O Lord," said Subhadra, " are the
words of your mouth. May the Blessed One accept me as
a disciple, as a true believer from this day, as long as life
endures."
" Whosoever, Subhadra " said Buddha" that has formerly
been a follower of another dectrine and then desires to be
* Goutama fgave Subhadra a summary of liis teachings as given in
Dhamma-Chakka-pavathana Sutta,
HIS LIFE. 95
received into the higher or the lower grade in this doctrine
and discipline, remains on probation for the space of four
months."
" I too then," replied Subhadfa, "will remain, on probation
for the space of four months."
The Blessed One called the venerable Ananda and said,
" Ananda, receive Subhadra into the Order." Then Ananda
took him on one side, poured water over his head, made him
repeat the formula of meditation on the impermancy of all
things. He then shaved off his hair and beard, clad him in the
yellow robes, made him repeat the three refuges, Buddha,
Dharma and Sangha and led him back to the Blessed One.
The Blessed One himself admitted him then into the higher
rank of the Brotherhood and pointed out to him a subject for
meditation."* This was the last act of the Great Master.
* This Subhadra or some other Subhadra was the man who first
raised dissensions in the Order ? We find in the Maha-Pari-Nibbana
Sutta, Chap, vi, the following passage. " And Subhadra the old ad-
dressed the^.brethren and said, "Enough, brethren. Weep not, neither
lament. We are well rid of the great Sramana. We used to be an-
noyed by being told, " This beseems you, this beseems you not."
But now we shall be able to do whatever we like ; and what we do not
like, that we shall not have to do."
Rhys Davids remarks : " At p. xxxi of the Introduction to his edi-
tion of Mahavagga, Dr. Oldenberg identifies this Subhadra with Su-
bhadra the last convert mentioned in Chap. V. of the Maha-Pari-
Nibbana Sutta. They are different persons; the last convert being
represented as a young man of high character incapable of the conduct
here ascribed to this Subhadra. The last convert was a Brahman, tradi-
tionally supposed to be the younger brother to Anna Kondanna, the
first convert. This Subhadra, however, had been a barber in the
village Atuma."
20
CHAPTER XXIV.
HIS DEATH.
As the last watch of the night drew nigh, the Blessed
One addressed the venerable Ananda and said : * " It may
be, Ananda, that in some of you the thought may arise, the
the word of the Master is ended, we have no teacher more.
But it is not thus, Ananda, that you should regard it. Let
the truths and the rules of the Order which I have set forth
and laid down for you all, be the teacher to you, after I
am gone."
After a pause the dying Master thus again spoke to
Ananda : " when I am gone, Ananda, let the Order, if it so
wish, abolish all the lesser and minor precepts."t
Then the'Blessed One addressed the Bhikshus and said :
" It may be, bretheren, that there may be doubt or misgiving
in the mind of some brother as to the Buddha, or the Truth,
or the Path or the Way. Enquire, brethren, freely. Do not
have to reproach yourselves afterwards with the thought,
"Our teacher was face to face with us and we could not
bring ourselves to enquire of the Tattagatha when we were
face to face with him."
And when he had thus spoken, the brethren were all
silent. And again the second and the third time the Blessed
* As it would be more interesting to read what the immediate
disciples and followers of the great Buddha wrote about their Master's
death in their own language than what we can possibly write ourselves,
we quote in this chapter the whole of the 6th chapter of the Moha-
Pari-Nibbana Sulta. We have followed Rhys Davids' translation.
f In Chula-Vagga XI. 1,9, 10, is related how the Brotherhood
formally considered the permission thus accorded to 'them and resolved
to adhere to all the precepts laid down in the Buddha's life-time.
See Sacred Bjoks of the Edst, Vol. XI. page 112.
HIS LIFE. 97
One addressed the brethren and asked them to enquire
freely. And even the third time the brethren were silent.
Then the Blessed One addressed the Bhikshus and said :
"It may be, brethren, that you put no questions out of
reverence for the teather. Let one friend communicate to
another."
And when he thus spoke, the brethren remained silent.
Then the venerable Ananda said to the Blessed One :
" Verily I believe that in this great assembly of the Bhikshus,
there is no one brother|who has any doubt or misgiving as to
the Buddha, or the Truth or the Path."
" It is out of the fullness of faith thou hast spoken,
Ananda," said the Blessed One.
Then after a pause the Great Master half rose and said :
" Behold now, brethren, I exhort you, saying, Decay is
inherent in all component things. Work out your salvation
with deligence."
These were the last words of the Tattagatha.
Then the Blessed One entered into the first stage of
deep meditation (Dhyana). And rising out of the first stage,
he passed into the second. And rising out of the second,
he passed into the third. And rising out of the third stage,
he passed into the fourth. And rising out of the fourth stage
of deep meditation, he entered into the state of mind to
which the infinity of space is alone present. And passing
out of the mere consciousness of the infinity of space, he
entered into the state of mind to which the infinity of
thought alone is present. And passing out of the mere
consciousness of the infinity of thought, he entered into a
state of mind to which nothing at all was specially present.
And passing out of the consciousness of no special object, he
fell into a state between consciousness and unconsciousness.
And passing out of the state between consciousness and
9 BUDDHA.
unconsciousness, he fell into a state in which the conscious-
ness both of sensation and of ideas had wholly passed away.
Then the venerable Ananda said to the Venerable
Anurudha, " Oh, my Lord, O Anurudha, the Blessed One is
dead I" " Nay, brother Ananda/' said Anurudha, " the Blessed
One is not dead. He has entered into that state in which
both sensations and ideas have ceased to be."
Then the Blessed One, passing out of the state in which
both sensations and ideas have ceased to be, entered into th e
state between consciousness and unconsciousness. And
passing out of the state of consciousness and unconscious-
ness, he entered into the state of mind to which nothing at
all is specially present. And passing out of the conscious-
ness of no special object, he entered into the state of mind
to which the infinity of .thought is alone present. And
passing out of the mere consciousness of the infinity of
thought, he entered into the state of mind to which the
infinity of space is alone present. And passing out of the
mere consciousness of the infinity of space, he entered into
the fourth stage of deep meditation. And, passing out of the
fourth stage, he entered into the third. And passing out of
the third stage, he entered into the second. And passing
out of the second, he entered into the first. And passing
out of the first stage of deep meditation, he entered into the
second. And passing out of the second stage, he entered
into the third. And passing out of the third stage, he
entered into the fourth stage of deep meditation. And
passing out of the last stage of deep meditation, he
immediately expired.
When the Blessed One died, there arose at the moment of
HIS LIFE. 99
his passing out of existence a mighty earth-quake, terrible and
awe-inspering : and the thunders of heaven burst forth.*
When the Blessed One died, of those of the Bhikshus, who
were not yet free from the passions some stretched, out
their arms and wept, and some fell headlong on the ground,
rolling to and fro in anguish at the thought, " Too soon has
the Blessed One died ? Too soon has the Happy One passed
away from existence ! Too soon has the light gone out in the
world."
But those of the brethren who were free from the
passions bore their grief collected and composed at the
thought, " Impermanent are all component things."
* Maha-Pari-Nibbana Sutta says that the following two Gathas
were respectively recited by Brahma the Supreme One and by Sakra
the Lord of the Gods at the moment the great Buddha passed away.
"They all, all beings that have life, shall lay
Aside their complex form that aggregation,
Of mental and material qualities,
That gives them, or in heaven or in earth,
Their fleeting individuality !
E'ven as the Teacher being such a one
Unequalled among all the men that are
Successors of the prophets of old time,
Might by wisdom and in insight clear h
Hath died.
They 're transient all, each being's parts and powers,
Growth is their nature and decay.
They are produced, they are dissolved again,
And then is best, when they have sunk to rest.
CHAPTER XXV.
HIS REMAINS.
Then the venerable Anurudha said to the venerable
Ananda, " Go now, brother Ananda, into Kusinagara and
inform the Mallas* of Kusinagara that the Blessed One is
dead,"
The venerable Ananda went to the Mallas and said :
" The Blessed One is dead. Do whatever seemeth to you
fit."
And when they had heard this saying of the venerable
Ananda, the Mallas with their young men and their maidens
and their wives were grieved and sad and afflicted at heart.
And some of them wept, dishevilling their hair, and some
stretched forth their arms and wept, and some fell prostrate
on the ground, and some reeled to and fro in anguish at the
thought : " Too soon has the Blessed One died. Too soon
has the Happy One passed away. Too soon has the light
gone out in the world."
Then the Mallas of Kusinagara gave orders to their
attendants saying, " Gather together perfumes and garlands
and all the musical instruments and five hundred suits of
apparel ;" and went to the Sala grove where the body of the
Blessed One lay. There they past the day in paying honour,
reverence, respect, and homage to the remains of the
Blessed One with dancing and hymns and music, with gar-
lands and perfumes, and in making canopies of their garments
preparing decoration-wreathes to hang thereon.t
* The people xvho lived in Kusinagara were called the Mallas.
f It is mentioned that the Mallas went on honouring the remains
of the Blessed One for seven days. This was how s they burnt the
body. \
\
HIS LIFE. 101
The body of the Great Master was then burnt in due
honour.* Then the Mallas of Kusinagara surrounded the
bones of the Blessed One in their council Hall with a lattice
"Then the Mallas of Kusinagara wrapped the body of the Blessed
One in a new cloth. And when that was done, they wrapped it in
cotton and wool. And when that was done, they wrapped it in a new
doth, and so on till they had wrapped the body of the Blessed One
in five hundred layers of both kinds. And then they placed the body
in an oil vessel of iron and covered that close up with another vessel
of iron. And they built a funeral pile of all kinds of perfumes, and
upon it they placed the body of the Blessed One."
As usual some miracles are narrated here.
* The-following story is given.
Some years after the deatli of the great Master, a very great internal
dissension broke out amongst the various clans that took possession of the
Great Master's remains and built stupas over them. There was every
likelihood, amidst these terrible wars and rapines, of these sacred stupas
being destroyed and the remains of the great Buddha scattered to
the winds. Therefore the old Kassapa went from one clan to the other
who possessed these stupas and begged for the, sacred remains. They
could not refuse the venerable monk and handed him the remains
keeping almost nothing for themselves.
Kassapa took them away and in the interior of the deep forest near
Gya, he dug a deep well and built a temple within it. In this temple
in a golden vessel covered with several silver and other metallic vessels,
he placed the sacred remains, covered over the whole with mud and
and went away. It is said he left an inscripion on a gold-plate hefe on
which he said, "One Asoka, king of Magadha, will scatter the sacred
remains all over the world^and build holy stupas over them all."
When Asoka became the great supporter of the religion, he became
desirous to build one million stupas, but where could he get the sacred
remains of the Great Master? He made many searches without any
, result, till at last a very old Bhikshu said, " When I was a boy, my old
Teacher took me to a place in the deep forest and asked me to bow
down my head there, saying " Do not forget this place." I believe the
sacred remains are there." Asoka at once went to the place, dug up
the whole forest, discovered the holy temple underneath the earth and
took away the sacred remains. He raised innumerable stupas over
them before he died.
102 BUDDHA.
work of spears and with a rampart of bows, and there for
seven days they paid honour and reverence and respect and
homage to them with dance and song and music and with
garlands and perfumes.
Then the King of Magadha Ajatasatru sent a messenger
to the Mallas saying, "The Blessed One belonged to the
soldier caste ; I too am of the soldier caste. I am worthy
to secure a portion of the remains of the Blessed One.
Over the remains of the Blessed One, will I put up a sacred
cairn and in their honour will I celebrate a feast."
The Lichhaves of Vesali sent a messenger to the Mallas
with the same proposal. The Sakhyas of Kapilavastu did
the same. The Bulis of Allakappa, the Koliyas of Ramgrama,
the Brahmans of Vethadipa and the Mallas of Pava, all sent
messengers praying for the remains of the Blessed One.
But the Mallas of Kusinagara spoke to the messengers
thus : " The Blessed One died in our village. We will not
give away any part of the remains of the Blessed One/'
When they had thus spoken, Drona, the Brahman, addressed
the Mallas thus :
" Hear, reverend Sirs, one single word from me ;
Forbearance our Buddha was wont to teach.
Unseemly it is that over the division
Of the remains of him who was the best of beings
Strife should arise and wounds and war.
Let us all, Sirs, with one accord unite
In friendly harmony to make eight portions.
Wide spread let Sthupas rise in every land
That in the Buddha mankind may trust.
"Do thou then," said the Mallas, " O Brahman, thyself
divide the remains of the Blessed One equally into eight parts
with fair divisions."
And the Drona the Brahman divided the remains of the
Blessed One equally into eight parts and gave each to the
different messengers. Then he said: (C Give me Sirs, this
HIS LIFE. I0 3
vessel and I will set up over it a sacred cairn, and in its
honour will I establish a feast." And they gave the vessel to
Drona.
Then the Moriyas of Pipphalivana sent a messenger to
the Mallas praying for a portion of the remains of the
Blessed One. When they heard, " there is no portion of the
remains of the Blessed One left over," they took away the
embers.
The ancient chronicler thus concludes : " Then the
king of Magadha, Ajatsatru, the son of the queen of Videha,
made a mound in Rajagriha over the remains of the Blessed
One and held a feast.
And "the Koliyas of Ramgrama made a mound in Ram-
grama over the remains of the Blessed One and held a feast.
And Vithadipa, the Brahman, made a mound in Vithadipa
over the remains of the Blessed One and held a feast.
And the Mallas of Pava made a mound in Pava over the
remains of the Blessed One and held a feast.
And the Mallas of Kasinagara made a mound in Kasi-
nagara over the remains of the Blessed One and held a feast.
And Drona, the Brahman, made a mound over the vessel
in which the remains of the Blessed One were kept and
held a feast.
And the Moriyas of Pipphalivana made a mound over
the embers and held a feast.
Thus were there eight Stupas (mounds) for the remains,
and one for the vessel and one for the embers. This was
how it used to be."
21
PART II.
D H A R M A,
CHAPTER I.
BUDDHIST METAPHYSICS.
IT is'generally believed that the great Buddha did not re-
cognise the existence of God and Soul, or more appropriately
of. Paramatma and Atma, as the then Brahman philosophers
used to term them.* All through the Buddhist Sacred
Scriptures, there is not a single place in which Goutama has
ever mentioned^of God, or Paramatma, or the Supreme Cause
of the Universe. There is the mention of Brahma, but He is
described as the Chief of Gods, a mortal being, as all the
Buddhist gods are mortal like man. Though there is no
mention of a .Supreme One, yet the Soul or Atma has been
mentioned in more than one place, and the great Buddha im-
pressed upon his followers that the Soul is not immortal, neither
has it a separate existence. Notwithstanding Buddha's silence
about the Supreme One and his difference of opinion
about Atma with the Brahmanical idea of Atma, the great
Goutama was not an atheist, t We shall show later on that he
* We are sorry we cannot agree with the views of those great
oriental scholars who have written upon the doctrine and religion of the
great Buddha. Our readers will find as we prftceed where we have
to differ from them.
f See Chapter III, of this Part.
I06 BUDDHA.
believed in a Supreme Cause of the Universe, and he believed
in the existence of man after death.
According to the Buddhist philosophy, man consists of an
assemblage of different properties, or qualities. These are :
(i) Rupa, material qualities, (2)- Vedana, sensations (3) Sanna
abstract ideas, (4) Sankhara, tendencies of mind and (5)
Vinana, mental powers. All these are called Skandhas.
i. The Rupa i. e. the material qualities, are twenty eight
in number, namely
(a) Four elements ;/. e. Earth, Water, Fire and Air.
(b) Five organs of sense, i. e. ear, eye, nose, tongue,
body.
(c) Five attributes of matter i. e. form, sound, smell,
taste and substance.
(d) Two distinctions of sex, i. e. male and female.
(e) Three essential conditions i.e. thought, vitality and
space.
(f) Two means of communications e. i. gesture and
speech.
(g) Seven qualities of living bodies i. ^."buoyancy,
elasticity, power of adaptation, power of aggregation, dura-
tion, decay and change.
2. The Vedana (sensations) 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 decrees, as each of these six classes
may be either agreeable, disagreeable or indifferent.
3. The Sanna, (abstract ideas j are divided into six classes
corresponding to-tlie six classes of sensations, for instance,
ideas blue and a tree are classed under sight; the idea
sweetness under taste and so on.
4. The Sankharas, (the tendencies or potentialities) are in
fifty two divisions which are .not however mutually exclusive.
Some of them include, or are identical with, items in the
previous classes, but whereas the previous groups are arranged
HIS DHARMA OR tQEAC KINGS. 107
as It were from an objective, this groupjs arranged as it were
from subjective point of view : . .
1. Contest (phana). . .
2. The resulting sensation (Vedana).
3. Abstract ideas formed on .sensation (Sanna). .
4. Thought, the regrouping of ideas (Chit ana).
5. Reflection, turning these groups over and over
(Manasikara).
6. Memory (Sati).
7. Vitality (Jivitendrya).
8. . Individuality (Ekaggata).
9. Attention (Vitaka).
10. Investigation/Fzomz,/.
11. Effort (Viriya).
12. Steadfastness (Adhimohha) .
13. Joy (Piti).
14. Impulse (Chanda).
15. Indifference (Majjhattata).
16-17. Sleep and torper (Thina and Midha).
18-19. Stupidity and intelligence (Moha and Panna).
20-21. Covetousness and content (Lobha and Alobha).
22-23. Fear and Rashness (Ottapa and Anotappa).
24-25. Shame and Shamelessness (Hiri and Ahirika).
26-27. Hatred and affection (Dwesa and Adwesa).
28-30. Doubt, faith and delusion (Vicikiccha, Sadha, and
Ditthi).
31-32. Repose of body and mind (Pasidhi}.
33-34. Lightness and activity of body and mind (Lahuta).
35-36. Softness and elasticity of body and mind (Maduta).
37-38. Adaptability and pliancy of body and mind
(Kammanata).
. 39-40. Dexterity of body and mind (Pagunnala).
41-42. Straightness of body and mind {AjjuJita}'.
43-45. Propriety of speech, action and life (Saunma).
46. Pity (Karuna). ...--.-
10,8
- *
47.
48. Envy (Irsa).
49. Selfishness (Machareya).
50. Moroseness (Kakucca).
51. Vanity (Udohacea).
52. Pridi (Mano).
5. Thought (reason) is the last Skandha and is an ampli-
fication from another point of view of the fourth of the last
group which is inherent in all the others. It is divided from
the point of view of the mind or demerit resulting from
different thoughts into eight or nine classes."*
All these constitute the human body, but is there a Soul ?
The following conversation would give a clear idea of what
the Buddhists thought about Soul.f
King Malinda says to the great sage Nagasena, " How art
thou known, venerable Sire ? What is thy name, Sire" ?
The sage replied, " I am named Nagasena, O great king,
but Nagasena, O great king, is only a name, an appellation,
a designation, an epethet, a mere word. Here there is no
subject"
Then said the king Malinda, " Well to be sure. Let this
five hundred Yavanas and eighty thousand monks hear it.
This Nagasena says,-*~here there is no subject. Can :any one
assent to this ? "
And king Malinda went on to say to the venerable
Nagasena, " If, O venerable Sire, there is no subject : , who is
it then that provides you with what you need, cloths and
food, lodging and medicines for the sick? Who is it that
enjoys all these things ? Who walks in virtues ? Who expends
labour upon himself ? Who attains the path and the fruits of
nobleness ? Who attains Nirvana ? Who kills ? Who steals ?
* Rhys Davids' Buddhism page 90 93.
f See Milindapasha page 25. We follow Oldenberg in translating
the passages quoted in this chapter.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 109
Who walks in~pleasures ? Who deceives ? Who drinks ? Who
commits ^the^five deadly sins? Thus there is then no good
and no evil ? ^.There is no doer and no dfiginator of good
and evil actions, good action and evil action bring no reward
and bear no fruits. If any one to kill thee, i.e. } venerable
Nagasena, even [he would commit no murder. Sire, then
asked the king, " are the hairs in your head Nagasena ?"
" No, great king," replied*the sage.
"Are nails, or teeth, skin or flesh, or bone Nagasena?"
" No, great king."
" Is the bodily form Nagasena ?"
" No, great king."
" Are the sensations', Nagasena?"
" No, great king."
" Are the perceptions, the conformations, the consciousness
Nagasena ?"
"No, great king."
" Or, Sire, the^combination of corporeal form, sensations,
the perception, conformations and consciousness, is this
Nagasena ?
" No, great king,"
"Or, Sire, apart from the corporeal form and the sensations,
the perceptions, conformations, and consciousness, is there a
"Nagasena?"
" No, great king."
" Wherever I look then, I nowhere find a Nagasena.
', What is then |Nagasena ? Thou speakest false then, O
venerable sage. There is no Nagasena at all."
Then thus spoke the venerable Nagasena to king Malinda :
" Thou art accustomed, great king, to all the comforts of
a princely life ; to the greatest comfort. If then, O great king,
thou goest out on foot at midday on the hot earth, on the burn-
ing sand and treadest on the sharp stones, gravel and sand, thy
feet are hurt, thy body is fatigued, thy mind is upset ; there
arises a consciousness of bodily condition associated with
MO BUDDHA.
dislike. Hast them, O great King, come on foot, or on a
charioteer ?"
"I do not travel on foot, O Sire," replied the king, " I
have come on a chariot/'
" If thou hast come on a chariot, O king, then define the
chariot. Is the pole the chariot, O great king ?"
" No, Sir."
" Is the ornamented cover the chariot ? And the wheels the
chariot ? Are the reins the chariot ? Are all these together
the chariot ? If you leave all these out, does there remain
any thing of the chariot ?"
"No, Sire."
" Wherever I look then, O great king, I nowhere find the
chariot ? A mere word, O great king, is the chariot ; -what
then is the chariot ? Thou art, O great king, the suzereign of
all India. Whom dost thou fear that thou speakest falsehood ?
Well to be sure ? Let the five hundred Javanas and eighty
thousand, monks hear it: This king Malinda has said, ' I have,
come in a chariot.' " Then," I said, " If thou hast come in a
chariot, O great king, then define the chariot." And he could
not point out the chariot. Can any one assent to this ?"
But king Malinda said, " I do not speak untruly, O vener-
able Nagasena. In reference to pole, axle, wheel, body and
bar, the name, the appellation, the designation, the epithet,
the word chariot, is used."
" Good indeed, O great king ; thou knowest the chariot.
And in the same way, O king, in reference to my hair, my
skin, and bones, to corporeal form, sensations, perceptions,
conformations and consciousness, the word Nagasena is used,
but the subject in the strict sense of the word there is none.
As in the case where the parts of a chariot come together
the word chariot is used, so also where the five groups of
S'kandhas are come together, there is a person, a man,
a human being. . . *' -
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. Ill
The following incident would show that Buddha deliberate-
ly and intentionally avoided the discussion of God and SouL
King Pasinada of Kosala on one occasion* in a journey
between his two chief towns, Saketa and Savatthi fell in with
a nun named Khema a female disciple of Buddha, renowned
for her wisdom. The king paid his respects to her and
enquired of her concerning the Sacred Doctrine.
" Venerable lady," asked the king, " does the Perfect One
(Buddha) exist after death ?"
" The Exalted One," replied Khema, " O great king, has
not declared whether the Perfect One exists after death."
" Then does the Perfect One exist not after death, O
venerable Lady ?"
" This also, O great king, the Exalted One has not declared."
" Thus, O venerable lady, the Perfect One does not
exist after death and at the sametime does exist after
death? Thus, O venerable lady, the Perfect One neither
exists after death, nor does he not exist after death."
" O great king, the Perfect One has not declared whether
he exists after death, or he does not exist after death."
"What is the reason, O venerable lady, what is ihe
ground on which the Exalted One has not revealed this?"
' " Permit me," answer the Bhikshuni, " now to ask a
question, O great king ; and do you answer me as the case
to you stands. How think you thou, O great king? Have
you an accountant, or a mint-master, or a treasurer wjio.
could count the sands of the Ganges, who could say there
are so many grains of sand or so many hundreds or thousands
or hundreds of thousands of grains ?"
" No, venerable lady, I have not."
" Or have you an accountant, a mint-master or a treasurer
who could measure the water in the great ocean, who could
say there are therein so many measures of water or so many-
* See Samyutta Nikaya Vol. II.
22
112 BUDDHA,
" *
hundreds or thousands or hundreds of thousands of measures
of water?"
" No, venerable lady, I have not."
" And why not, O great king ? Because the great ocean is
deep, immeasurable, unfathomable. So also, O great king, if
the existence of the Perfect One, be measured by the predi-
cates of the corporeal form these predicates of the corporeal
form are abolished in the Perfect One ; their root is
severed, they are hewn away like a palm tree and laid
aside so that they cannot germinate again in the future. Re-
leased, O great king, is the Perfect One from this, that his
being should be gauged by the measure of the corporal world j
he is deep, immeasurable, unfathamable, as the great ocean.
4 The Perfect One exists after death/ this is not apposite.
" The Perfect One does not exist after death : this also is
not apposite. The Perfect One exists and at the sametime
does not exist is not also apposite. The Perfect One
neither does nor does not exist, this is also not apposite."
On one occasion* the Bhikshu Vachagotta thus spoke to
the Exhalted One. " How does the matter stand, O vene-
rable Goutama? Is there the Atma 'Ego or Soul) ?" When
he said this, the Exalted One was silent.
" How then," asked the Bhikshu, is there then not the
Atma?"
And still the Exalted One remained silent. Then the
Bhikshu Vachagotta rose from his seat and went away.
But the venerable Ananda soon said to the Exalted One,
" Wherefore, O Sire, has the Exalted One not given an answer
to the question put by the Bhikshu Vachagotta?"
" If I, Ananda," replied Buddha, when Vachagotta
asked me " Is there the Atma ?" had answered, " there is
Atma," then that, Ananda would have confirmed the doctrine
* I bid.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 1 13
of the Sramans and Brahmans who believe in Permanence.*
If I, Ananda, when the Bhikshu Vachagotta asked me "Is
there not the Atma," had answered, " there is no Atma,"
then that Ananda would have confirmed the doctrine of the
Sramanas and Brahmans who believe in annihilation.f If I
Ananda, when Vachagotta asked me, " Is there Atma," had
answered " there is Atma," that would have served my end
Ananda, by producing in him the knowledge that all exis-
tences are non-ego ?
" That it would not, Sire."
" But if, Ananda, when Vachagotta asked me " Is the$e
not the Atma," I had answered "There is no Atma," then that
Ananda, would only have caused the wondering monk Vacha-
gotta to be thrown from one bewilderment into another."
One one occasion the venerable MalukyaJ came to the
Master and expressed his astonishment that the Great Master's
discourse left a series of the very most important and
deepest questions unanswered. He said, " Is the world eternal
or is it limited by the bonds of time? Does the Buddha live
beyond death, does the Perfect One not live beyond death ? It
pleases me not that all this should remain unanswered, and
I do not think it right; therefore I have come to the Master to
ask him about these doubts. May it please the Buddha to
answer them if he can. When any one does not understand a
matter and does not know it, then a straightforward man
says, " I don't understand this, I do not know that."
" What have I said to you before now Malukya," said the
* At the time when the Buddha was born, there was a class of
Brahman philosophers who said the Supreme One was eternal, ever-
existing, undying &c. &c. and the human soul is none else but the
Supreme Soul. See Upanishadas.
j- There were also another class of Brahman philosophers who
declared that there remains nothing after death ; complete annihilation
comes as soon as a man passes away. See Charvaka Darsana.
J See Cula Malukya Oveda in Majjhima Nikaya.
114 BUDDHA.
great Master, "Have I said, come, Malukya, and be my
disciple ; I shall teach you whether the world is everlasting or
not everlasting, whether the world is finite or infinite,
whether the vital faculty is identical with the body or separate
from it, whether the Perfect One lives on after death or does
not live on, or whether the Perfect One lives on and at the
same time does not live on after death, or whether he neither
lives on, or does not live on ?"
"Thou hast not said this, Sire.-"
"If a man were struck by a poisoned arrow and his
friends and relatives called in a skillful physician, what if
the wounded man said, I shall not allow my wound to be
treated until I know who the man is by whom I have been
wounded, whether he is a Kshatrya, Brahman, Vaisya or
Sudra, or if he said, I shall not allow my wound to be
treated until I know what they call the man who has wounded
me, and of what family he is, whether he is tall, or small or of
middle stature, and how his weapon was made with which he
struck me, what would the end of his care be ? The man
would die of his wound."
It is evident the great Buddha avoided the discussion of
all these crude points of metaphysics, for he considered them
useless and mere waste of time. But at the same time he
never meant that after death the Perfect One would meet
with annihilation. We will later on find that so long a man
is not the Perfect One, he must pass through many births and
deaths. Even when he becomes a Perfect One he does not
meet annihilation. Those that believe in this were considered
as heretics. The following incidents would clearly show this.
On one occasion* a Bhikshu named Yamaka had
adopted the following heretical notion. " I understand the
doctrine taught by the Exalted One to be this that a Bhikshu
who is free from sin, who has become perfect, when his body
* SeeSamyuttaNikaya. Vol. I.
-HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 11$
dissolves is subject to annihilation, that he passes away, that
he does not exist beyond death."
The venerable Sariputra removed his this heretical view.
How thinkest thou, friend Yamaka, asked he, " that the
Perfect One is identical with the corporeal form ? Does the
body of the Buddha represent his Ego ? Dost thou hold
this ?"
" I do not, my friend."
" Is the Perfect One identical with the sensations, the
perceptions, the conformations, the consciousness ? Dost
thou hold this ?"
" I do not, my friend."
" Is the Perfect One separate from the corporeal form ?
Dost thou hold this ?"
" I do not, my friend."
"Dost thou' think, friend Yamaka, the corporeal form,
sensations, perceptions, conformations and consciousness are
the Pefect One. Dost thou hold this ?"
" I do not, my friend."
"Dost thou think, friend Yamaka, is the Fc-.oct One
separate from corporeal forms, sensations, perceptions, con-
formations, and consciousness ? Dost thou hold this ?"
" I do not, my friend."
"Thus then, friend Yamaka, even here in this world the
Perfect One is not to be apprehended by thee in truth.
Hast thou therefore a right to speak, saying, " I understand
the doctrine taught by the Exalted One to be this that a monk
who is free from sin, when his body dissolves is subject to
annihilation, that he passes away, that he does not exist
beyond death."
In one place the great Buddha thus spoke :
" There is, O disciples, a state where there is neither
earth nor water, neither light nor air, neither infinity of
space nor infinity of reason, nor absolute void, nor the co-
extinction of perception and non-perception, neither this
Il6 BUDDHA.
world nor that world, both sun and moon. That, O disciples,
I term neither coming nor going, nor standing, neither death
nor birth. It is without basis, without procession, without
cessation, that is the end of sorrow. There is, O disciples, an
Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed. Were there not,
O disciples, this Unborn, Unoriginated, Uncreated, Unformed,
there would be no possible exit from the world of the born,
originated, created, formed." Is this atheism ?
CH AFTER II.
KARMA AND TRANSMIGRATION,
We " thus fiind the great Buddha avoided all discussions
about the disputed metaphysical matters as useless and profit-
less. But he said, all the visible universe is impermanent ;
every thing movable and immovable, mobile and immobile, is
liable to change, decay and death ; gods and men are both
mortal, all would die, nothing would remain for ever. Thus
he described the birth of. man : *
"From Ignorance comes conformations (Sankhara}; from
conformations comes consciousness ( Vinnana) ; form cons-
cious come name and corporeal form ; from name and cor-
poreal form come the six fields i. e. (five senses an 4 mind) ;
from six fields comes contact between the senses and their
objects; from contact comes sensation ; from sensation comes
thirst or desire; from, thirst comes clinging to existence
(Upadana] ; from clinging to existence comes being (Bhava}\
from being comes birth ; from birth comes old age and death,
* See Anguttara Nekaya.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 117
pain and lamentations, suffering, anxiety and despair. This
is the origin of the whole region of suffering."
The original cause of our being, according to the great
Buddha, is Ignorance. What is this Ignorance then ?
What did the great Master mean by Ignorance. Sariputra
says : * " Not to know suffering, O friend, not to know the
origin of suffering, not to know the extinction of suffering
and not to know the path to the extinction of suffering, this
O friend, is called Ignorance." Another great Bhikshu says : t
" Not seeing the four truths as they are I have wandered on
the long path from one birth to another, nor have I seen
them ; the current of being is stemmed. The root of suffering
is destroyed; there is henceforward no rebirth.'
' '
* See Sammaditthesunta.
f See Mahavagga VI 29.
J Dr. Oldenberg thus speaks of the Buddhist Ignorance (see his
Buddha pp. 237 238). " If Ignorance be designated the ultimate
source of suffering, the question must arise: who is here the ignorant?
What is that of which this Ignorance is ignorant. It is tempting, by
the place assigned to the category of Ignorance at the beginning of
the whole line of causality, to allow one's self to* be carried away by
interpretations which see in this idea, as it were, a cosmogonical power
working at the primitive foundation of things. Or one might be tempt-
ed to read in it the history of a crime preceding all time, an unlucky
act by which nonbient had doomed itself to be bient, that is to suffer.
..The philosophy of the later Brahmanical schools speak in similar
fashion of Maya, that power of delusion which causes the decep-
tive picture of the created world to appear to one, the uncreated
as if it were beent. " He the knowing, gave himself up to confused
fancies and when he fell into the slumber prepared for him by Maya,
he beheld in amazement multiform dreams : I am, this is my father,
this my mother, this my field, this my kingdom." Some have compared
the Ignorance of Buddhism with this Maya of the Brahmanical
theosophy; only with this note that as the Maya is the deceptive
reflection of the true everlasting bient, so Ignorance is the reflection of
that which, as they thought, took the place of the everlasting bient for
the Buddhist, that is nothing".
IlS BUDDHA.
Then it comes to this Ignorance of the means of stop-
ping rebirths is the cause of our births after births. Igno-
rance is the cause of our various births. The great Master
said " It is Karma, our actions and doings of one birth
cause our subsequent births. Thus it goes on till we can
destroy our Ignorance and get rid of the bonds of rebirths."
He said : * " If ignorance be removed by the complete
extinction of desire, this brings about the removal of confor-
mations ; by the removal of conformations, consciousness
is removed;; by the removal of consciousness, name and cor-
poreal form are removed ; by the removal of the fields, con-
tact is removed ; by the removal of contacts, sensation is
removed ; by the removal of sensation, thirst is removed ; by
the removal of thirst, the clinging to existence is removed ; by
the removal of the clinging to existence, being is removed ;
by the removal of being, birth is removed ; by the re'moval of
birth, old age and death, pain and lamentation, suffering,
anxiety and despair are removed. This is the whole realm
of suffering."
Dr. Oldenberg beautifully describes the Buddhist idea of
"being." We could do. no better than quote him.f " No
other picture was so perfectly adapted for Buddhism to
express the nature of " being" as the figure of " flame"
which remaining in apparently restful invariability is yet only
a continuous self-production and self-consumption and in
which at the same time is embodied with still more impres-
sive reality for the Indians than for us, the tormenting power
of heat, the enemy of blissful coolness, the enemy of happi-
ness and peace. As where there is heat, coolness is also
found, so also where there is the three-fold fire the fire of
love, hate and infatuation, the Nirvana extinction of fire
must be sought." J Again "every thing, O disciples, is in
* See Anguttara Sutta.
| Oldenburg's. Buddha pp. 260 262.
% See Buddhavansa.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 119
flames. By what fire is it kindled ? By the fire of desire>
by the fire of hate, by the fife of infatuation it is kindled ;
by truth, old age, death, pain, lamentation) sorrow> grief,
despair, it is kindled." And again " the whole world is in
flames ; the whole world is wrapped in smoke; the whole world
is wasted by fire, the Whole world quakes."* " Beings"
resemble a flame ; their state of being, their becoming, their
re-born is a flaming cleaving of self) a feeding of self upon
the fuel which the world of impefmanence supplies. As the
flame, clinging to the wind) borne by the wind, inflames dis-
tant things, so the flame like the existence Of beings presses
on in the moment of re-birth into far distances ; here the
being puts off the old body, there it clones itself with a new
body. As the wind carries on the flame, so the thirst which
clings to being carries on the flame, so the thirst which
clings to beings carries on the soul from one existence to
others.
In the " Questions of Malinda,"t the conversation turns
upon the problem of the identity or non-identity of the
several existences. The sage Nagasena says : " It is not
the same being, and yet they are not separate beings which
relieve one another in the series of existences."
" Give an illustration," says the king.
"If a man were to light a light, O great king," replies
the sage, " would it not burn on through the night. ?"
" Yes, Sire, it would burn through the night."
" How then, O great king, is the flame in the first watch
of the night identical with the flame in the midnight watch ?"
" No, Sire."
" And the flame in the midnight watch, is it identical
with the flame in the last watch of the night ?"
" No, Sire."
._ - tin -^ *
* See Samjutta Nikaya Vol. I.
t See Malindapaniha,
23
120 . BUDDHA.
" But how then, O great king, was the light in the first
watch of the night another, in the mid-night watch another,
and in the last watch of the night another ?"
" No Sire, it has burned all night long feeding on the
same ftiel."
"So also, O great king, the chain of elements of beings
completes itself ; the one comes and the other goes. With-
out beginning, without end, the circle completes itself ; there-
fore it is neither the same being, nor another being', which
presents itself last to the consciousness."
Being is the procession, regulated by the law of causality
of continuous being, at every moment self -consuming and
anew begetting. What we term a souled being is one in-
dividual member in the line of this procession, one flame
in this sea of flame. As in consuming, the flame is always
seeking fresh fuel for itself, so also this ' continuity of
perception, sensation and- suffering, which seems to the
deluded gaze, diversed by the appearance of unbroken
invariability, to be a being, a subject, maintains itself in the
general influx of ever fresh elements from the domain of the
objective world.
Thus we find Karma and Transmigration are the two
great pillars on which the doctrine and religion of the Great
Master stand.* Most probably Buddha borrowed the two
principal stand-points of his religion from the philosophies
of the Brahmans, for in fact even now the religion of the
* We are sorry no oriental scholar of Europe was able to induce
himself to believe in Karma and Transmigration. All of tfiem say that
these two are the most weak points of Buddhism nay also of Hinduism.
Every one of them considers the belief in Karma and Transmigration
as but superstitious. We'do not venture to say that we shall be able in
thjs little book to remove their this great misconception, but we
humbly submit he who does not believe in Karma and Transmigration
can by no means understand the true import of the teachings of the
great Buddha.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 121
Hindus stands on the strong foundations of Karma and
Transmigration..
We shall now quote a few passages from the Buddhist
Sacred Scriptures concerning Karma and Transmigration.
Buddha said : " It happens, my disciples, that a Bhikshu,
endowed with faith, endowed with righteousness, endowed
with knowledge of the Doctrine, with resignation, with
wisdom, communes thus with himself. " Now then could
I, when my body is dissolved in death, obtain rebirth in
a powerful princely family?" He thinks this thought, dwells
on this thought, cherishes this thought. The Sankharas
and Viharas (internal condition) which he has thus cherished
within him and fostered, lead to his rebirth in such an
existence. This, O disciples, is the avenue, this the path,
which leads to rebirth in such an existence."
"The Bhikshu communes thus to himself : ;f 'Now then were
I but able, by the destruction of sinful existence, to discover
and behold for myself the sinless state of deliverence in
action and knowledge even in this present life and find in it
my abode!". He will, by the destruction of sinful existence,
discover and' behold for himself the sinless state of
deliverence in action and in knowledge even in this present
life, and will find in it his abode. That Bhikshu, O disciples,
will never be reborn."*
The king Yama (Death) thus spoke : " Hast thou, O man,
when thou reachedst riper years and becamest old, not
thought within thyself, { I also am subject to 'birth, old age
and death. I am not exempt from the dominion of birth,
old age and death. Well then I will do good in thought
word and deed ?'
The man answers, " I was unable to do it, Sire. I neglec-
ted it, Sire, in my frivolity."
Then king Yama says :" These thy evil deeds thy mother
* Sankharuppati Suttanta in Majjhima Nikaya.
122 BUDDHA.
hath not done, nor thy father, nor thy brother, nor thy sistery
nor thy friends and advisers, nor thy connections and blood
relations, nor ascetics, Brahmans and Gods. It is thou alone
that hast done these evil actions. Thou alone shalt gather
their fruits."*
"Whatsoever one does,, to a corresponding state he attains.
My action (Karma) is my possession, my action is my inheri-
tance, my action is the womb which 'bears me. My action
is the race to which I am akin ; my action is my refuge." t
" i What appears to man to be his body is in truth the
action of his past state, which then assuming a form, realized
through his endeavour, has become endowed with a tangible
existence." J
" Not in the heavens, not in the midst of the sea, not if
thou hiddest thyself away in the clefts of the mountains, wilt
thou find a place on earth where thou canst escape the fruits
of thy evil actions.
Karma you can never avoid. The Gita says :-
" Man does not attain freedom from action by not perfor-
ming action. By asceticism also, he does not attain to final
emancipation. None can remain for a moment without per-
forming some actions. All perform' actions impelled by the
Laws of Nature. The deluded man who controlling mVorgans-
of actions ponders in his mind over the objects of senses is
a hypocrite. But he who restraining his senses by his mind
performs actions by the organs of actions is superior to all.
Therefore always perform actions, for action is better than in-*
action and your body cannot be supported'- without performing;
action. The world is bound in by the laws of action; there^
fore being free from attachment, perform actions."
* See Devaduta Sutta.
f See Anguttara Nikaya in Panchaka Nipata..
| See Samyutta Nikaya Vol. I.
See Dhammapada, 127. . . ,
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 123.
Every action (Karma) produces a result, visible or invisi-
ble. That again produces effects, and so on it goes in a cycle.
After the dissolution of the physical body, it remains as if in
a dormant state which is called Samaskaras* From this
Samskaras new births are produced till Nirvana is attained.
CHAPTER III.
NIRVANA.
What is then this Nirvana ? It is not annihilation, as those
Bhikshus that held such a view were considered as heretics.
Then what did the Great Buddha mean by Nirvana ? He
said: "Difficult will it be for men to grasp the Law of
Causality the chain of causes and effects. And this also
will be very hard for them to grasp, the coming of all confor-
mations to an end, the loosing from every thing earthly, the
extinction of desire, the cessation of longing, the end, the
Nirvana."*
All the European scholars have unfortunately misunder-
stood the real import of Nirvana. It is quite natural, as
none of them could believe in Karma and Transmigration.
He who does not understand what Karma and Transmigration
really mean, and who does not believe that Karma and its
result Transmigration are realities, can not possibly form any
idea of the Nirvana. Let us first see what the great oriental
scholars of Europe say about the Nirvana.
Rhys Davids says: f "What then is Nirvana which
* See Maha Dharmachakra Parivartana Sutra,
f See Rhys David's Buddhism.
134 BUDDHA.
means simply going but, extinction ; it being quite clear,
from what has gone before, that this cannot be the extinction
of a soul ? It is the extinction of that sinful grasping condi-
tion of mind and heart which "would otherwise^ according to
the great mystery of Karma> be the cause of renewed indivi-
dual 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 condi-
tion is reached. Nirvana 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.
Our word 'holiness' would often suggest the ideas of love
to and awe in the full presence of a personal Creator, ideas
inconsistent with Buddhist's 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, and in other words,
may represent states of mind not greatly different, but they
are due to different 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
state, moral condition, a modification of personal character,
and we should allow the world to remind us, as it did the
early Buddhists, both of the Path which leads to the extinc-
tion of sin and also of the break in the transfer of Karma
which tke 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 is precisely that which will,
according to the great mystery of Buddhism, lead at
death- to the formation of a new individual to whom
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 125
the Karma of the disolved or dead one will be transferred.
That new individual would consist of certain bodily and
mental qualities or tendencies enumerated in the five
Skandhas or aggregates. A comprehensive 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 mind, Now when a Buddhist has become Arahat,
when he has reached Nirvana, the fruit of the fourth ' Path,- 7
he has extinguished Upadana and Klesa, 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 impermanent, 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 and the Arahat will be no
longer alive or existent in any sense at all ; he will have
reached Parinibhana complete extinction.
The life of man, to use a constantly recurring Buddhist
simile or parable, is like the flame of an Indian lamp, a
metal or earthern ware 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-individual existence depends in the cleaving to low and
costly things, the sin of the heart. If there is no fire 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.
Stars long ago extinct may be still visible to us by the
light they emitted before they ceased to burn, but the
rapidly vanquishing 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
126 BUDDHA.
man, is visible still, thus 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 nothings
' O
Freedom from the imperfections of finite being is then a
result of but is not Nirvana. The Buddhist heaven is not
death and it is not on death but on a virtuous life here and
now, that the Pitakas lavish these terms of ecstatic
description which they apply to Arahat ship the goal of the
excellent way and to Nirvana as one aspect of it."
Spence Hardy says : " Nirvana is the destruction of all
the elements of existence. In this way. The unwise being
who has not yet arrived at a state of purity or who is subject
to future birth, overcome by the every evil desire rejoices
in the Organ of sense, Ayatana and their relative object and
commends them. The Ayatanas therefore become to him
like a rapid stream to carry him onward towards the sea of
repeated existence and they are not released from old age,
decay, death, sorrow &c. But the being who is purified,
perceving the evils arising from the sensual organs and their
relative objects, does not rejoice therein, nor does he com-
mend them or allow himself to be swallowed up by them.
By the destruction of the 108 moons of evil desire he has
released himself from birth, as from the jaws of an alligator ;
he has overcome all attachment to outward objects ; he does
not regard the unauthorised precepts, nor is he a sceptic and
he knows that there is no Ego, no Self. By overcoming these
four errors, he has released himself from the cleanging to
existing objects. By the destruction of the cleaning to
existing objects, he is released from birth whether as a
Brahma, man or any other being. By the destruction of
birth he is released from old age, decay, death sorrow &c.
All the afflictions connected with the repetition of existence
are overcome. Thus all the principles of existence are
annihilated and that annihilation is Nirvana.
In the Asangkala Sutra, Goutame has set forth the
H$S DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 127
|?roperties of Nirvana. It is the end of Sangsara or
successive existence, the arriving at its opposite shore, its
completion. Those who attain Nirvana are few. It is very
subtle, and is therefore called Suksma ; it is free from decay
and therefore called Ajaraya. It is free from delay, the
gradual development of events, and therefore called
Niprapancha ; it is pure, and therefore called Visudhi ; it is tran-
quil, and therefore called Kshanta ; it is firm and stable, and
therefore called Sthira ; it is free from death, and therefore
called Amrita ; its blessedness is great, and it is therefore called
Siva ; it is not made or created, but supernatural, and there-
fore called Arbhuta ; it is free from Government or order
and therefore called Aniti ; it is free from sorrow, and there-
fore called Awyapaga ; it is free from the evils of existence,
aud therefore called Tana.
It cannot be predicted of Nirvana, that it has ceased to
be or that its existence is past ; it is not a thing accomplished
or a relation to past time : nor is it a substance.
The man who has not obtained Nirvana may neverthe-
less become acquainted with its character. That those
who have their ears, noses, hands and feet cut off suffer
great pain, may be known by those who have not undergone
the same amputation of the limbs from their tears and from
the cries that they utter. In like manner, from the joyful
exclamations of those who have seen Nirvana, its character
may be kno\vn by those who have not made the same at-
tainment.
All sentient beings will not receive Nirvana. But if
any one attain the knowledge that is proper to be acquired ;
if he learn the universality of sorrow ; if he overcome that
which is the cause of sorrow and if he practise that which
is proper to be observed, by him the possession of Nirvanjt,
Nirvana Sampati, will be secured. Nirvana is Dharma
24
I2S BUDDHA.
Bhisamaya, the end, or completion of religion; its entire
accomplishment."*
Dr. Oldenberg says : t Does this end of the earthly-
existence imply at the same time the total cessation of
beirig? Is it the nothing which receives the dying Perfect
One into its dominion ?
Some have thought to find the answer to this question
contained in the word Nirvana itself, i.e., extinction. It
seemed the most obvious construction that extinction is an
extinction of being in the Nothing. But doubts were soon
expressed as to the propriety of so summary a disposal of
this question. It is quite allowable to speak of an extinction
in the case and the term was most incontrovertibly used
by the Indians in the case where being was not annihilated,
but where it, freed from the glowing heat of suffering, had
found the path to the cool repose of painless happiness.
Max-Muller has above all others maintained with warm
eloquence the notion of Nirvana as the completion, but not
as an extinction of being. His position is, that although
later Buddhist metaphysicians have undoubtedly regarded
the Nothing as the supreme object of all efforts, yet the
original teaching of Buddha arrd the ancient Order of his
disciples was different ; for them the Nirvana was nothing
more than the entry of the Spirit upon its rest ; an eternal
beatitude, which is as highly exalted above the joys as it
is above the sorrow of the transitory world. "Would not,"
* See Eastern Monachism, pages 291 292. As the author, Spence
Hard}', bases his explanation of Nirvana solely on Buddhist Sacred
Texts, he approaches nearer to the true import of Nirvana. See below.
Burnouf, Goltlstuclter, M*x Muller, Beal and the other scholars who
have studied Buddhism have all defined Nirvana almost in the same
way as is done by Hardy, Oldenburg and Rhys Davids as quoted above*
See Bijrnouf's Introduction to the Histore Le Buddhism, also Golds-
tucicer's Literary Remains. Max Muller's Selected Essays.
f See Oldenberg's Buddhism.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. I2Q
asks Max-Muller, " a religion which lands us at last in the
Nothing cease to be a religion ? It would no longer be what
every religion, ought to be and purports to be a bridge from
the temporal to the eternal, but it would be a delusive gang-
way which suddenly breaks off and shoots a man, just when
he fancies he has reached the goal of the eternal, unto the
abyss of annihilation.
We cannot follow the famous enquirer when he attempts
to trace the limits between the possible and the impossible
in the development of religion. In the sultry, dreamy still-
ness of India, thoughts spring and grow, every surmise and
every sensation grows, otherwise than in the cool air of the
West. Perhaps if any thing here appears beyond the com-
prehensible and if we reach a point which is to us a limit
of the comprehensible, we shall permit much to pass and stand
as incomprehensible and await the future which may bring
us nearer the solution of the enigma.
Max Muller's researches, which were under the then cir-
cumstances of the case, based on only a portion of the
authentic texts bearing on this branch of the subject, did not
fail to attract the attention of the native literate of Ceylon,
the country which has preserved to the present day Buddhist
temperament and knowledge in its purest form. And by the
joint labours of eminent Singhalese students of Buddhist
literature such as the late James d'Alwis and European en-
quirers among whom we may mention specially Childers,
Rhys Davids and Trenckner, literary materials for the elucida-
tion of the dogma of the Nirvana have been amply unearthed
and ably treated. I have endeavoured to complete the col-
lection for which we have to thank these learned scholars,
and in that attempt I have submitted all the testimony of the
sacred Pali Canon, that contained the discourses of Buddha
as well as that in the writings upon the rights of the Order, to
a detailed examination, so that I believe I am in a posi-
tipn to hope that no essential expression of the ancien
130 BUDDHA.
dogmatic and doctrinal poets has been omitted. Before I
undertook this task, it was my conviction that there is in
the ancient Buddhist literature no passage which directly
decides the alternative whether the Nirvana is eternal felicity
or annihilation. So much the greater therefore was my
surprise, when in the course of these researches I hit not
upon one passage, but upon very numerous passages which
speak as expressly as possible upon the point regarding which
the controversy is waged, and determine it with a clearness
which leaves nothing to be desired. And it was no less a
cause of astonishment to me when I found that in that alter-
native which appeared to have been laid down with all possible
cogency viz., that the Nirvana must have been understood
in the ancient Order to be either the Nothing or a supreme
felicity, there was finally neither on the one side nor on the
other perfect accuracy.
We shall now endeavour to state the question as It mvst
have presented itself to the dogmatic Buddhist on its own pre-
mises and then the answer which the question has received,
A doctrine, which contemplates a future of eternal per-
fection behind transitory being, cannot possibly admit of the
kingdom of the eternal first beginning only at the point
where the world of the transient ends, cannot conjure it up
immediately as it were out of the Nothing. In the kingdom
of the transient itself there must be contained, vieled per-
haps like a latent germ, but still present, an element which
bears in itself the pledge of everlasting being stretching out
beyond origination and decease. It is possible that, where
the claims of strict dialectic sequence are opposed by motives
of another kind, thought pauses before accepting this so
obvious a conclusion ; but it is important before we examine
these deviations from the logical sequence which we may
possibly expect to find, to obtain a view of the form in which
the logical consequences must have presented themselves to
the -Buddhist thought.-
HIS DHAKMA OR TRACKINGS. 131
The finite would appear in the dogmas of Buddhis^n
to rest wholly upon itself. Whatever we see, whatever
we hear, our senses as well as the objects which
are presented to them, every thing is drawn within
the cycle of origination and decease, everything is only a
Dhamma, a Sankhara, and all Dhammas and Sankharas are
transitory. Whence this cycle? No matter whence; it is
there from a past beyond ken. The existence of the condi-
tional is accepted as a given fact ; thought shrinks from
going back to the unconditional.
We see, the finite world bears in itself no traces which
point to its connection with a world of the eternal. How
could it possibly be otherwise ? Where the opposition of the
transient and eternal is carried to the point which Indian
thought nas ever reached, there can in fact be no union
O J
conceived between the two extremes. Had the eternal
any share whatsover in the occurences of the world of the
changeable, a shadow of the changeable would fall in its own
unchangeability. The conditional can only be thought of as
conditioned through another conditional. If we follow the dia-
lectic consequence sole'y, it is impossible on the basis of this
theory of life to conceive how, where a series of conditions
have run out, annihilating itself, anything else is to be recog-
nized as remaining but a vacuam.
This is the view that the oriental scholars of Europe
have formed of the Nirvana of the great Buddha. Now let
us see what the Great Master himself and his immediate fol-
lowers and his great disciples said about Nirvana. They say :
" 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 defilement of
ignorance him even the gods envy. Such a one Avhose
conduct is right remains like the broad earth unvexed ; like
the pillar of the city gate unmoved, like a pellucid lake un-
ruffled. For such there are no more births, tranquil is the
132 BUDDHA.
mind, tranquil are the words and deeds- of him who is thus
tranquillized and" made free by wisdom."
"The disciple who has put off lust and desire, rich in
wisdom has here on earth attained the deliverance from
death, the rest, the Nirvana, the eternal state."
"He who has escaped from the trackless, hard mazes
of the Sansara, who has crossed over and reached the shore,
self-absorved without stumbling and without doubt, who has
delivered himself from the earthly and attained Nirvana,
him I call as true Nirvana."
" Nirvana, Nirvana, so they say, friend Sariputra," said a
Brahman monk, "" but what is Nirvana, friend?" "The sub-
jugation of desire," replied Sariputra," the subjugation of
hatred, the subjugation of perplexity; this, O friend, is
called Nirvana."
" The body of the Perfect One, O disciples, subsists, cut
off from the stream of becoming. As long as his body sub-
sists, so long will gods and men see him. If his body be
dissolved, his life runs out, gods and men shall no more be-
hold him.
" Dissolved is his body," said Buddha at the death of one
of his disciples, " extinct is perception, the sensations have all
vanished away. The confirmations have found their repose,
the consciousness has sunk to its rest."
"That mendicant conducts himself well who has conquered
e'rror by means of insight ; from whose eyes the evil of error
has ; been removed, who is well trained in religion and who
is free from yearnings and skilled in the knowledge has
attained unto Nirvana.
" They who by steadfast mind have become exempt from
evil desire and well-trained in the teachings of Goutama,
they having obtained the fruit of the fourth path and
immersed themselves in that ambrosia have received without
price and are in the enjoyment oi Nirvana. Their old Karrna
'is exhausted^ ho new Karma is being produced,- their heartfs
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 131
are free from the longing after future life, the cause of their
existence being destroyed and no new yearning springing up
within them, they the wise are extinguished like this
lamp."
"They plunged into meditation, the immovable one who
valiantly struggles ever more, the wise grasp the Nirvana, the
gain which no other gain surpasses."
" Hunger is the most gredious illnesss, the Sankharas are
the most grevious sorrow ; recognizing this of a truth, man
attains the Nirvana, the supreme happiness."
" The wise who cause no suffering to any being, who keep
their body in check, they walk to the everlasting state; he
who reached that knows no sorrow."
" He who is permeated by goodness, the monk who
adheres to Buddha's teachings, let him turn to the land of
peace, where transientness finds an end to happiness."
" 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 Sankharas the worst
suffering. Knowing this as it really is, Nirvana is the best
Bliss."
The colloque between king Malinda and Nagasena gives
a clear idea of Nirvana as understood by the immediate
followers of the Great Master. We give below the trans-
lation of this celebrated conversation.*
King Malinda said: "There are some things in the world
that are called Karmaja, as they come into existence because
of Karma ; others that are called Rituja as they come into
existence because of the season of time ; and others that are
called Hetuja, as they come into existence because of Hetu
(cause). Now is there anything that is neither Karmaja,
Rituja or Hetuja?"
* Se.e. Malinda- Prasna.
134 & DDHA.
Nagasena replied : " Space and Nirvana are neither
Karmaja, Rituja or Hetuja-."
Malinda said : " Do not say that which is contrary to
the teachings of Buddha, nor reply without thought."
Nagasena asked : " Why do you speak to me thus ?"
King Malinda replied: "You say that Nirvana is neither
Karmaja, Rituja or Hetuja. But has not Buddha in hundred
thousand different ways declared to the Bhikshus that an
entrance into the path of Arhats secures the attainment of
Nirvana ? Then how is it you say that Nirvana is neither.
Karmaja, Rituja, nor Hetuja ?"
Nagasena replied : " Budha has said this. But he has not
said that for the production of Nirvana there is any Hetu."
King Malinda said: "Venerable Sir, you say that the
Buddha has declared that the path of Arahatship is the cause,
Hetu, of the attainment of Nirvana, and yet you say also that
Nirvana is without cause, Hetu. I am confounded; I go from
darkness to deeper darkness. If there is a cause for the
attributes or accompaniments of Nirvana, there must also be
a cause for the production of Nirvana. The son must have
a father, the father must have had another father. The
pupil must have a teacher ; that teacher must have had another
teacher. In like manner, if there is a cause for the attain-rnent
of Nirvana, there must also be a cause for its production."
Nagasena said : " Nirvana is not a thing that can be
produced, and therefore it has not been said by Buddha that
it has a cause."
Malinda said : "This may be true, but explain to me
how it is."
Nagasena replied : " Then lend you ear in a proper
manner and pay attention. .Can a man, by his' natural
strength, go from this city of Sagal to the forest of Hima-
laya?"
Malinda replied : *" Yes."
Nagasena said : " In like manner though the fruition of
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 135
the paths may cause the attainment of Nirvana; no cause by
which Nirvana is produced can be declared. A man may,
by his material strength, go in a ship to the other side of the
sea, but he cannot in the same manner bring the sea to the
shore. In like manner the path that leads to Nirvana may be
pointed out, but not any cause for its production. Why ?
Because that which constitutes Nirvana is beyond all com-
putation ; it is a mystery not to be understood."
King Malinda asked : " Is it because Nirvana is
produced by neither merit nor demerit that it is beyond
comprehension ?"
Nagasena said : " Yes, as Nirvana is not produced by
either merit or demerit, as it is not produced from any Hetit
like trees and other similar -things, as it is not caused by
Ritu (season) like the rocks &c, it is called asankhyata (a
mystery). As it is entirely free from evil desire, it is called
Nirvana. It is not caused by Sakra, Malm Brahma or any
other being. It cannot be said it is produced, nor that it is
not produced ; that it is past or future, or present ; nor cannot
be said that it is the seeing of the eye, or the hearing of the
ear, or the smelling of the nose, or the tasting of the tongue,
or the feeling of the body."
Malinda said : " Then you speak of a thing that is not.
You merely say that Nirvana is Nirvana ; therefore there is
no Nirvana."
Nagasena replied : " Great king, Nirvana is. It is a
perception of the mind. The pure, delightful Nirvana, free
from avidya (ignorance) and trishna (desire), is perceived by
the Rahats who enjoy the fruition of the Paths."
King Malinda said : " If there be any comparison -by
which the nature or properties of Nirvana can be apparent,
be pleased thus to explain them."
Nagasena replied : " There is the wind, but ,can its color
be told ? Can it be said that it is blue, or any other colour ?
25
136 BUDDHA.
Can it be said that it is in such a place, or that it is small, or
great, or long, or short ?
Malinda said: "We cannot say that the wind is thus ;
it cannot be taken into the hand and squeezed. Yet the
wind is, we know it, because it pervades the heart, strikes the
body and bends the trees of the forest, but we cannot explain
its nature or tell what it is."
Nagasena said : " Even so Nirvana is destroying the
infinite sorrow of the world and presenting itself as the
chief happiness of the world, but its attributes and properties
cannot be described."
King Malinda asked : " Will all who obey the precepts
attain Nirvana, or are there some who are not able ?
Nagasena replied : " The following cannot attain
Nirvana.
(1) Quadrupeds, pretas and sceptics.
(2) Those who commit five great sins.
(3) Who do not follow the doctrines of the Buddhas.
(4) Those who force a priestess.
(5) Those who do not hear bana, having opportunities to
hear it.
(6) Those who are carried away by the objects of sense.
(7) Children under seven years,
King Malinda asked : " Why cannot children attain
Nirvana? Are they not free from the three evils, Raga,
Dwesa and Moha as well as from pride, scepticism, passion
and evil reasoning ? Then why are they excluded ?"
Nagasena replied : : " If the child were able to under-
stand that which is right and reject that which is wrong, he
might attain Nirvana ; but his faculties of thought are weak ;
he cannot with a mind so limited comprehend that which
is vast and endless. In like manner, no man, by his natural
strength, can root up Maha-meru ; nor can the whole of the
extended earth be irrigated by a few drops of water, nor the
whole world be illuminated by a fire-fly/'
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 137
Malinda asked r- " Is the joy of Nirvana unmixed, or is it
associated with sorrow ?"
Nagasena replied : " It is unmixed satisfaction, entirely
free from sorrow."
Malinda replied : " The dangers of the warfare are not
an enjoyment, but its trials are ended in seeking the kingdom
or in defending it. Princes seek the kingdom in sorrow and
when it is attained receive the enjoyment of royalty; on this
account it is that the enjoyment of royalty is mixed
satisfaction. The toil of the warfare is one, the enjoyment
of its result another."
Nagasena said : " In the same way, the happiness of
Nirvana is unmixed though those who seek it are subject to
sorrow; the sorrow is one, the happiness another, i he two
states are entirely distinct. Or you may receive another
comparison to the same effect. A disciple sets himself to
the attainment of knowledge, and for this purpose places
himself under the care of a preceptor ; the knowledge he
acquires is an unmixed good, but he has great pain and
sorrow in acquiring it ; it is the same with those who seek
the happiness of Nirvana." '"
The King said : " You speak of Nirvana, but can you
show it to one, or explain it to me by colour, whether it be
blue, yellow, red or any other colour; or by sign, locality,
length, manner, metaphor, cause or order ; in any of these
ways, or by any of these ways, or by any of these means,
can you declare it to me ?
Nagasena said : " I cannot declare it by any of these
attributes or qualities."
Malinda said : " This I cannot believe."
Nagasena said : " There is the great ocean ; were any
one to ask you how many measures of water there are in it
or how. many living creatures it contains, what would you
say?"
138 BUDDHA.
Malinda said : " I should tell him that it was not a
proper question to ask as it is one that no one can answer."
Nagasena said : '- In the same way, no one can tell
the size or shape, a colour or other attributes of Nirvana ;
it has its own proper and essential character. A Rishi might
answer the question to which I have referred, but he could
not declare the attributes of Nirvana, neither a deva could do*
it."
The King" said : " It may be true that Nirvana is happi-
ness and that its outward attributes cannot be described, but
cannot its excellence or advantages be set forth by some
mode of comparison ?"
Nagasena said : " It is like the lotus as it is free from
Klesha, as the lotus is separated from the mud out of which
it springs. It is like water as it quenches the fire of Klesha,
as water cools the body ; it also overcomes the thirst for that
which is evil as water overcomes the natural thirst. It is
like a medicine as it assists those who are suffering from the
passion Klesha, as medicine assists those who are suffering
from sickness ; it also destroys the sorrow of renewed
existence."
Malinda said : " This declaration I cannot believe and
for this reason. He who seeks Nirvana is subject to pain,
both of body and mind ; in all situations he is pursued by
sorrow ; pain is communicated by every organ of sense, and
he sees tha't he has to leave much wealth and many re-
latives and friends. Those who possess the advantage of this
world are thereby rendered joyful ; there are things pleasant
to the sight and other senses ; and in this way regret is
caused when they have to be left ; on which account I think
that the joy of Nirvana cannot be unmixed."
Nagasena said : " It is nevertheless true that the joy of
Nirvana is unmixed. Is there not such a thing as the
enjoyment of royalty and is it not unmixed with sorrow?"
Malinda replied, " Yes, there is."
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 139
Nagasena said : " But a king is displeased with his
people who live on the limit of his domains ; he persues them ',
whilst thus engaged he suffers much from flies, mosquitos,
cold, wind, sun and air ; he must fight ; his life will be
exposed to danger. How then is it you say that the enjoy-
ment of royalty is as medicine destroys disease ; and it is
immortal, as medicine wards off death. It is like the sea, as
it is free from every kind of defilement ; it is vast, infinite
so that countless beings do not fill it, as the sea is unfathom-
able, and is not filled by all the waters of all the rivers ; it is
filled with the perfume of emancipation from existence as
the surface of the sea is covered with the flowers resembling
waves. It is like food as it promotes age, as food increases
the length of life ; it increases the power of the Rishis as
food increases the strength of men ; it increases the
virtues of those who receive it, as the reception of food adds
beauty to the body ; it overcomes the weariness produced by
Klesha, as food destroys the weariness of the body and it
drives away sorrow and pain as food destroys hunger. It is
like space as it is not produced by any exterior cause ; it has
no living existence, it does not die, it does not pass away, it
is not reproduced ; it cannot be collapsed, it has no locality,
it is the abode of the Rahats and Buddhas as the space is the
habitation ' of birds ; it cannot be hidden and its extent is
boundless. It is like the magical jewel as it gives whatever
is desired ; it also imparts joy and by the light it gives is a
benefit and assistance. It is like red sandal wood, as it is
difficult to be procured ; its perfume is also peerless and it is
admired by the wise. It is like ghee as it increases the
beauty of the colour ; its perfume is universally diffused and
its taste is delightful. It is like Mahameru, as it is higher
than the three worlds ; it it also firm ; its summit is difficult to
approach ; and as seeds will not vegetate on the surface of the
rock so Klesha can never flourish in Nirvana, and it is free
from enmity and wrath."
140 , BUDDHA;
King Malinda said : " You declare that Nirvana is
neither past, nor future, nor present, and that it cannot be
said that it is produced, then does the being who acquires it
attain something that has previously existed, or is it his own
product, a formation peculiar to himself 1"
Nagasena said : " Nirvana does not exist previously to
its reception, nor is it that which was not brought into exis-
tence ; still to the being who attains it there is Nirvana."
Malinda said : " There is much doubt about Nirvana in
the world. Therefore I trust you will answer my questions
in a clear and decisive manner that my mind may be no
longer agitated respecting it-"
Nagasena said ; " It is free from danger, without fear,
happy, peaceful, the source of enjoyment, refreshing, pure,
delightful. When a man who has been boiled before a heap
of fire is released therefrom and goes quickly into some open
space, he feels the most agreeable sensation ; it is the same
with the man who, released from ignorance, hatered and other
coils, attains Nirvana. The fire is ignorance, hatred etc. The
man exposed to the fire is he who seeks to attain Nirvana,
and the open space is Nirvana. Again, when a man who
has been confined in a filthy place where there are the dead
bodies of snakes and dogs is released therefrom and goes
without delay to some open space, he also feels the most
agreeable sensation. The filth is Pancha karma ; the man
confined in the filthy place is he who is seeking Nirvana and
the open space is Nirvana. And again when a man is in
danger from a band of enemies armed with swords, he is in
great fear and struggles violently to release himself, and then
goes to some place where he can be free from fear and at
rest. The place that is free from fear is Nirvana."
Malinda said : " How does the monk who seeks Nirvana
obtain it ? How is it effected or brought about ?"
Nagasena said : "The man who seeks Nirvana carefully
investigates the properties of Sanskaras; by this he sees that
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS.
they are connected with decay, sorrow and death. Thus
he discovers that there is no satisfaction attached to succes-
sive existence ; that there is no such thing as permanent hap-
piness. The man who sees a bar of iron that has been heated
to the highest possible degree can discover no way whatever
in which it will be desirable to hold it, and it is the same
with him who contemplates the evils of successive existence,
he can see no form whatever in which it is to be desired.
Like a fish cob in a net, like a frog when attracted to the
mouth of a serpent, like a bird in the claws of a cat, like a
Naya in the beak of Jarenda, like the moon in the mouth
of Rahu, he struggles to obtain release from existence.
As the man who has gone to a distant country, when he
sees the road that leads to his native land, thinks it will be
well if he returns by that road, so the wise monk tries to
gain entrance unto the Fourth Path, that he attains Nirvana."
The king asked : " Is Nirvana in the East, South, West
or North, above or below ? Is there such a place as Nirvana ?
If so, where is it ?"
Nagasena replied : " Neither in the East, West, North,
or South, above or below, nor in the infinite Sakwalas is such
a place as Nirvana."
Malinda said : " Then if Nirvana has no locality, there
can be no such thing. When it is said that any one attains
Nirvana, that declaration is false. For the production of
grain there is the field, for the production of f perfume there
is the flower, for the production of the flower there is the
forest, for the production of fruit there is the tree, for the
production of gold there is the mine. If any one wishes
for flowers or fruits, he goes to the place where they be pro-
cured, and there meets with them ; therefore if there were
such a thing as Nirvana it would have a locality ; and if
there be no such place, there can be no Nirvana. The
devas and men who are expecting it will be deceived."
Nagasena replied : " There is no such place as Nirvana,
142 BUDDHA.
yet it exists. The monk who seeks it in a right manner will
attain it. Fire may be produced by rubbing two pieces of
sticks, though previously it had no locality and it is the same
with Nirvana,"
The king said : " Be it so ; but when Nirvana is attained,
is there such a place ?"
Nagasena : " When a monk attains Nirvana, there is
such a place."
Malinda asked : " Where is that place ?"
Nagasena replied : " It may be any where."
The king asked : " Does the all-wise Buddha still exist ?"
Nagasena replied : " Yes, Bhagavata still exists."
Malinda asked : " Can you point me out the place where
he exists ?"
Nagasena said : " Our Lord has attained Nirvana, where
there is no repetition of birth. We cannot say, he is here,
he is there. When a fire is extinguished, can it be said that
it is here and it is there ?"*
Thus we find Nirvana is not annihilation ; it is the door
to enter a Stats which .a man can attain both when alive
and when dead. " But this is a matter hard to understand ;"
as says the Mahavagga, "the suppression of all the Sanskaras,
the forsaking of all sins, the. destruction of yearning, the
absence of desire, the extinction the Nirvana."
Buddha said " the Life is mortal ; where there is life there
is death, there is suffering, &c. The fire of life can be
extinguished ; thus a man can go beyond life, beyond
death, old age, sufferings &c. This extinguishing the fire of
life, the great Buddha called the Nirvana. Beyond Nirvana
is a state, a state where there is no life and no death,
no sufferings, and no sorrows. But Buddha intentionally
- - - _
* See Molindaprasna. Nagasena, without admitting the existence of
the Supreme Source of the universe, says virtually the same thing.
Nirvana is the State which is in fact the state of the Supreme One
according to the Brahmana Philosophy.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 143
and deliberately avoided the discussion about this state.
He never attempted to describe it, for he said it is beyond
all human descriptions. But he firmly believed that such an
indescribable state exists, and that man can attain to
(Nirvana.)
Then Nirvana is extinguishing the fire of this life by which
Buddha does not mean death or annihilation, he means the
achievment of a state which no man can describe. He said
also that the original cause of this life is Ignorance. As a
man does not know the means by which this Nirvana is
achieved, he goes on taking births after births. This
Ignorance is the cause of all his miseries. The knowledge
of the means to achieve Nirvana leads him to a state in
which there are no more births.
Is this atheism ? Could there be any grander idea of
Theism ? The great Buddha believed in the existence of a
Supreme State which is beyond all description or conception
possible by man. Therefore he did not name it, nor did he
make an attempt to describe it. It is the indescribable State
beyond Nirvana, that is all. Man can attain to it, man
can rise beyond the reach of life and death, pleasure and
pain. Buddha pointed out the Great Path to it to the
entire human race. No body in the world is or even was a
greater Theist than Siddhartha Goutama, the great Buddha of
the world. No body preached a higher religion than He.
26
CHAPTER IV.
THE PATH OF NIRVANA.
Now how is this Nirvana to be attained, and by whom ?
There are four Stages or Paths (Sans Marga, Pali Magga)
to it, namely :
1. So wan.
2. Sakradagami.
3. Anagami.
4. Arya.
Each Path is divided into two grades, namely :
(i). The Perception of the Path.
(2). Its Fruition (Margaphala).
An entrance into any of these four Paths secures, either
immediately or more remotely, the attainment of Nirvana.
1. The Path Sowan or Srotapatti is so called, because
it is the first stream that is entered before Nirvana. It is
divided into twenty four sections. After one enters in this
Path, there can be to him only seven births in any world but
the four hells.
2. The Path Sakradgami is so called, because he who
enters it will receive only one naore birth. It is divided into
twelve sections and one may enter this path from the world of
men and have one birth in Devaloka, or he may enter it from
Devaloka taking afterwards one birth in the world of men.
3. The Path Anagami is so called, because he who enters
it will not be born again in a Karmaloka, i. e. either in the
world of men or devas. But he may be born in Brahmaloka
whence he will enter Nirvana. This Path is divided into
forty eight sections.
4. The Path Arya or Arahat is so called, because he who
enters it has overcome all Kleshas or miseries. He has gone
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 145
beyond all births. This Path is divided into twelve sections.
When the fruit tree is cut down, the latent fruit that is in it,
which has not yet appeared, but which would appear in due
time if it were permitted to remain, is destroyed. In like
manner by this path all miseries are destroyed that otherwise
would continue to exist and would have brought forth births.
The following are the five gradations of beings.*
1. There is the unwise being, who is under the influence
of Kleshas or evil desire and of anxiety, ignorance and
impurity, who has not attained to the fruition of the Path. He
has not attended to the precepts, by which he might over-
come inpurity ; his mind is not disciplined to the exercise
of the tranquility of Samadhi ; he has not secured the
wisdom produced by abstract meditation. The mind of
such a being is gross and slow, because he is not accustomed
to the more profound exercises of abstraction. Thus there is
a clump of bamboos' which as they grow embrace each other
and become entangled; they have many knots, and thin
branches are twisted together into one mass. Now if one
of these trees be cut down at the root, the process of felling
it away will be slow. Why ? Because the leaves, knots and
branches are all entangled together in such a confusion that
they cannot be extricated. In the same way when any one
is under the influence of the errors that characterise the
unwise man, his mind is heavy and slow. Why ? Because
it is entangled in the meshes of evil desire. This is the first
gradation.
2. There is the being who has entered the First Path, to
whom the doors of the four hells are shut. He has main-
tained the true profession and entirely approves the doctrines
of the Great Master. He has thus arrived at the frontier of
the First of the Paths. He has rejected the error called
Sakkya dristiti which teaches " I am, this is mine." He has
* See Malinda Prasna.
BUDDHA.
no doubts as to the reality of Buddhas. He sees clearly
that if he desires to obtain Nirvana, he must follow the
practices enjoined by the Buddhas. As for these then his
mind is free, not bound, but light and quick, but as to the
other Paths, it is stale, slow, gross and entangled. Thus in
these degrees it is pure, in all others, it is still under the
influence of impurity. How ? When the bamboo that has
been cut down is cleared for the space of three knots, it might
be felled away to this distance with ease, were it not that it is
entangled by the upper branches that yet remain. In the
same way, the being that has entered the First Path is free as
to the three doctrines, but he is slow, heavy and entangled as
to the rest which he has not yet. embraced. This is the second
gradation.
3. There is the being who has entered the Second
Path. He has rejected the three errors overcome by the
man who has entered the First Path ; he is also saved from
Kama-raga and the wish for doing evil to others. Thus in
five degrees his mind is pure, but as to the rest his mind is
slow and entangled. How ? When five knots of the bamboo
have been cleared, it might easily be drawn thus far, were it
not held by the upper bamboos that are yet entangled. In
the same way the man who has entered the Second Path is
free as to the five particulars, but as to the rest he is still
bound, heavy and dull. This is the third gradation.
4. There is the being who has entered the Third Path.
He is free from the five errors overcome by the man who has
attained to the Second Path. He is also free from the five
S any aj anas > evil desire, ignorance, doubts, the precepts of the
sceptics and hatred. Thus in ten degrees his mind is pure,
but as to the Path he has not yet entered, namely Rahatship,
it is still slow, heavy, dull and entangled, Irlow ? It is like
the tree that has ten knots cleared, but the rest remain en-
tangled. This is the fourth gradation.
5. There is the being who has entered the Fourth Path
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 147
and has become a Rahat. He has destroyed the four asrayas
namely Kama) Bhava, Dristi and Avidya. He is free from
the impurity of Klesha and has arrived at the fruition of the
Four Paths. He has vomitted up Klesha, as if it were an
undigested mass. He has cast it away, as if it were a burden.
He has arrived at the happiness which is obtained from the
sight of Nirvana. He is no longer subject to the repetition of
existence ; he is endowed with the four supernatural powers
of the Rahats ; he has arrived at the most exalted state of
Srawakas, and in consequence of these attainments, his mind
is light, free, quick towards Rahatship, and all that precedes
it, but heavy, bound, dull, as to that which is peculiar to the
Pratakya Buddhas. This is the fifth gradation.
6. There is the being called Pratakya-Buddhas. He
has 'attained the high state of privilege that he enjoys, by
his own unaided exertions, as he has had no teacher, no one
to instruct him. He is called Pratakya, severed, or separated,
and is solitary, alone, like the unicorn. Thus his mind is
light, pure, free towards the Pratakya Buddhaship, but dull,
heavy, bound towards the state of the Supreme Buddhas.
He has learnt that which belongs to his own, but he
understands not the five kinds of knowledge that are perceived
by the Supreme Buddhas, and by no other being. He knows
not the thoughts of others, he has not the power to see all
things nor to know all things. In these respects his mind is
heavy. Thus a man whether by day or night arrives at the
bank of a small stream into which he descends without fear
in order that he may pass to the other bank. But at another
time he comes to a river which is deep and broad ; there
is no bridge by which he can cross, he cannot see the oppo-
site bank. In consequence of these obstacles he is afraid
to venture into the water ; he cannot cross the stream. In
the same way, the Pratakya Buddha is free as to that which
is connected with his own order, but bound as to all that is
peculiar to the Supreme Buddhas. This is the sixth gradation.
148 BUDDHA.
7. There is the being who knows all things, he is endowed
with the ten powers. He has attained to the Supreme Bud-
dhaship, he has entirely overcome evil desire ; he has ascer-
tained all the hinderances to the reception of Nirvana, but
he knows fully all that is excellent and good ; he has the
eighteen properties of the Buddhas, he has destroyed the
infinite Klesha, he can perform the wonderful Pratiharyas.
This is the seventh gradation.*
Entering into the Paths brings in innumerable super-
natural powers. They who have entered into any of the
Paths can fathom the thoughts of all in the same or the
preceding Paths. Thus he who has entered the first Path
can know the thoughts of any being in the same Path, but
not of those of any -other Paths, and so forth.
There are five great powers (abhijnanas] which a Rahat
obtains. Namely :
(1) Idhividyajnana (power ,of idhi.)
(2) Dewyasrotajnana (the power of hearing all sounds,
whether distant or near, whether of men or of Devas.)
(3) Chitopariyajnana (the power to know the thoughts
of other beings.)
(4) Purweniwasunusmertijnana (power to know the pre-
vious births.)
(5) Satwayangechatuppatijnana (the power to know the
future births.)
* About Pacceka Buddhas and the Supreme Buddhas Oldenberg
thus remarks : " High above these four stages (the 1st tour of the above)
stand these perfect Ones who have of themselves alone become partakers
of the Buddhahood (have become Pacceka or Pratakya Buddhas) ; they
have won the knowledge that brings deliverence not as disciples of one
of the holy, universal Buddhas, but of their own power, yet their per-
fection does not extend so far that they could preach it to the world."
" Above the four grades of believers and saints, there stand, last of
all, embodying in themselves the essence of every supreme perfection,
the exalted, holy, universal Buddhas." See Buddha pp. 321 322.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 149
The divine eye of the Rabat can see that which cannot
be perceived by the eye of flesh, as it can see any beings
whatever, whether in hell, upon earth, or in Devaloka. It
is not possessed to the same extent by all the Rahats, but
differs in degree and proportion to the attainments of its pos-
sessors. There are many things that are too subtle to be
perceived by one with this power but may be seen by another
who is endowed with it in a superior degree. The lowest
power is to be able to see things that are in existence at the
time when it is exercised; but one who is endowed with this
power may not be able to see that which has only existed at
some previous period and has passed away or been destroyed,
or he may not be able to discern objects at the very instant
of their formation from their being so exceedingly minute.
The following conversation, between king Malinda and;
the monk Nagasena will give an idea what Buddhists meant
by a Rahat.
King Malinda said : " You have declared, reverend Sir,
that when a layman becomes a Rahat, he must on the same
day either become a monk or attain Nirvana. Now we shall
suppose that a layman becomes a Rahat, but there is no
one qualified present to ordain him as a monk, could such a
one admit himself as a monk, or would he remain as a layman,
or would he attain Nirvana ; how would it be ?"
c
Nagasena replied : " He could not ordain himself, as this
would be contrary to the rule, nor could he remain a layman,
so that either some one must come to admit him to the boon
or he must attain Nirvana."
King asked : " Why is it so ?"
Nagasena said : " There are many evils connected with
the state of a layman ; it is therefore a state of weakness,
and on this account a Rahat must at once either become a
monk or attain Nirvana."
King Malinda asked : " Can any one who has this body
go to Utterkuru or to the Develokas and Brahmalokas ?"
150 BUDDHA.
Nagasena replied : "It is possible for one who has a
body composed of the four elements to visit the places you
have named."
King Malinda asked : " In what way can this be done ?"
Nagasena said : "Can you at your will leap from the
ground, say to the height of a space of a cubit ?"
Malinda said : " With ease I can leap eight cubits
high." ^ .
Nagasena said : "How do you do this ?"
Molinda said : I determine to leap, through this deter-
mination my body becomes as it were buoyant, and I rise
from the ground."
Nagasena said : " Just so the monk who has the power
of idhi determines to go to such a place ; by the determina-
tion of his mind his body becomes as it were imponderous,
and he is enabled thereby to pass through the air."
Malinda said : "You have declared that the Rahats feel
no pain of mind, though they are still subject to pain of
body, but does not the mind subsist, because of the body ?
Is the Rahat without authority, mastery, or supremacy over
the body ?"
Nagasena replied : " It is even so."
Malinda said : This does not appear to be right. Even
a bird has authority over its nest."
Nagasena said : "There are s ten things that in every
birth accompany the body, namely,
1. Varna (colour.)
2. Tapa (heat.)
3. Khuda (hunger.)
4. Thrisna (thirst.)
5. Mala (facass.)
6. Mutra (urine.)
7. Nidra (sleep.)
8. Vadi (disease.)
9. Khaya (decay.)
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 151
to. Mrityu (death.)
Over these ten a Rabat exercises no power."
Malinda said : " Will you kindly explain to me how it is
that this occurs ?"
Nagasena said : "Because of the earth all beings exist,
the earth cannot be commanded by all these beings. In like
manner, because of the body the mind exists, the mind can-
not command or control the body."
Malinda said : " How is it then that others have pain
both of body and mind ?"
Nagasena said : " Because there has been no accom-
plishment of Vidarsana and other exercises by which the
mind is brought into subjection. There is a hungry bull
that is tied only by a small withe which it breaks in its anger
and then runs away. In the same way, when the mind is
not under discipline, it becomes irritated, breaks away from
restraint and disturbs the body, and then there is crying,
fear and the voice of sorrow ; thus there is pain both of
body and mind. But the mind of the Rahat is under proper
discipline ; it does not disturb the body ; it is bound as to a
pillar by Samadhi and other exercises ; it is filled with the
pleasure of Nirvana, and the Rahat is therefore free from the
pain of mind, whilst he is still subject to the pain of body."
Malinda said : But would it not be a thing to be esteem-
ed as a wonder if when the body is , quieted or agitated,
the mind were to remain tranquil ? Kindly explain to me
how this can be."
Nagasena said : "The branches of a tree are shaken by
the wind but the trunk remains unmoved. In like manner
as the mind of the Rahat is bound to the firm pillar of
Samadhi by the cord of the Four Paths, it remains unmoved
even when the body is suffering pain."*
* See Malinda Prasna.
2?
CHAPTER V.
HOW TO ATTAIN RAHATSHIP.
THE means of attaining Rahatship is Bhavana (medita-
tion) and Samadhi. There is hardly any difference between
Brahmanic Dhyana, Dharana and Samadhi with the Buddhis-
tic Bhavana, Dhyana and Samadhi.
There are five principal modes of Bhavana (meditation),
namely :
(1) Maitri.
(2) Mudita.
(3) Karana.
(4) Upakesha.
(5) Asubha.
No one can enter properly upon the exercise of the
Bhavana who has not previously kept the Precepts.*
If there be such a man, let him at the cjose of the day
or at the dawn of day sit in such a place where he will be free
from interruption with his body in a suitable posture.f Let
him meditate on the glory of the Buddhas, the excellence of
bana% and the virtues of the monks.
i . Maitri-Bhavana : When the monk has arrived at
a convenient spot and placed himself in a proper position,
let him exercise this wish : May all the superior orders of
beings be happy. May they all be free from sorrow, disease,
and evil desire. May all men, whether they be monks or
* Moral disciplines as mentioned in the Sutras. They are equivalent
to the Yama and Niyama of the Yoga of the Brahmans. It is in short
the acquirement of the complete control over one's own mind. As in
the case of an adept of Yoga, so no Bhiskhs can enter upon the exercise
of Bhavana without first being a moral hero.
f This almost corresponds with the Asana of the Hindu Yoga.
Bana Is the Sermons that Buddha used to deliver'jo his disciples.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 153
laymen, all the Devas, all who are suffering the pains of hell,
be happy. May they be free from sorrow, disease and evil
desire." Then the same wish must be exercised relative to
all sentient beings in the four cardinal points, all the four-
half-points, all above and all below, taking pach of these four
directions separately and in order, or if they cannot be taken
separately, it will suffice if the wish be exercised to all
sentient beings.
1. Maitri Bhavana: In the exercise of this mode of
meditation, the thoughts must not at first be fixed upon one
whom the.monk dislikes, nor on any particular friend, .nor on
any one that is indifferent to him neither liked and disliked, nor
on any enemy. The thoughts must not at this time be fixed
upon any individual in particular, nor on any one that is dead.*
2. Karuna Bhavana: In the practice of .this mode of
meditations the priest must exercise the wish " May the poor
be relieved from their indigence and receive abundance,"
Karuna is thus produced. When we see any objects in dis-
tress, we feel agitation in the mind, and from this arises
karuna (conpassion). It is said that when we see distress of
any kind, we feel the wish to relieve it, and this feeling is
karuna.
3. Mudita Bhavana : In the exercise of this mode of
meditation the priest must express the wish " May the good
fortune of the prosperous never pass away, may each one
receive his own appointed reward." The principal meaning
of mudita is joy, but it is not the joy arising from earthly
possessions. It feels indifferent to individuals.
As the husbandman first portions out a certain plot of
ground and then ploughs it, so the priest who exercises any
of the above three modes of meditation may first direct his
attention to a certain number of persons, then to the inhabi-
tants .of a street and. so on in order to the whole villaee,
O J
the kingdom, the Sakwalas and the Out-Sakwalas.
* Maitri is Sneha (affection, love). It is opposite of Kfoda (anger.)
154 BUDDHA.
4. Asubha Bhavana : The principal meaning of the word
asubha is inauspicious, that which is the opposite of good
fortune or that which produces dissatisfaction, aversion and
disgust. In this exercise the priest must reflect that the
body is composed of thirty-two impurities, that as the worm
is bred in the dunghill, so it is composed, conceived in the
womb, that is the receptacle of filth, that disgusting se'cre-
tions are continually proceeding from its nine apertures,
that, .it sends forth an offensive smell.
The ascetic who would practise Asubha Bhavana must
apply to some one who is able to instruct him, who must
take him to the cemetry and point out to him the offensive
parts of a dead body, but if he hears that there is a body in
the forest, he must not go there, as he may be in danger
from the wild' beasts that are attracted to the same spot, nor
must he go to any place that is very public, as in such a
spot his mind would be distracted by the various scenes that
he would witness and he would meet with women.
5. Upeksha Bhavana : In the exercise of this mode
of meditation all sentient beings are regarded alike, one is
not loved more than another ; towards all there is indiffer-
ence. This exercise is superior to all the other and is prac-r
tised by the Rahats.
The four modes of meditation, Maitri, Karuna, Mudita,
.Upeksha are called Brahma Vehara Bhavana.
The three reflections in the impermanency, suffering, and
unreality of the body are as the gates leading to the city
of Nirvana.*
Dhyana means that which burns up evil desire or the
cleaving to existence. It is sometimes used in the sense of
meditation and at other times is allied to Samadhi.*
There are five principles connected with the Dhyanas ;
with these five they are perfect as when we speak of the four
* The above is quoted from the two celebrated Buddhist Sacred
woiks, namely, Salugya Sutra and Visudha Marga Sutra.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 155
divisions of the army or five kinds of musical instruments
or eight directions, they are
1. Vitarka (attention).
2. Vichara (reasonings).
3. Priti (joy).
4. Sepa (comfort).
5. Chitta Ekagrata (mental restraint).
Dhyanas are divided into five sections, namely :
1. Pratamadhyana.
2. Dwitayadhyana.
3. Thritiya Dhyane.
4. Chaturtaobyana.
5. Panchamadhyana.
(a) To the First Dhyana belongs Vitarka f attention.)
(b) To the Second Dhyana belong Priti (joy), Sepa
(comfort) and Chitta Ekagrata (mental restraint.)
(c) When the Third Dhyana is accomplished, Upeksha is
attained.
(d) When the Fourth Dhyana is accomplished, there is
an entire destruction of the cleaving to- existence.
In the exercise of the first Dhyana the mind is like the
waves upon the water, when there is some large and some
small, there is no clearness, that which is the subject of
contemplation is like a fish seen in the water and the
Samadhi that is attained is of an inferior order.
In the Second Dhyana the Samadhi becomes more pure
as the mind recedes further and further from Vitarka and
Vichara. There is a degree of Upeksha possessed in the
ist and 2nd Dhyanas, but it is not perfect. They are like a
man who walks in a place covered with sharp stones, whilst
the 2nd Dhyana is like a man who walks in a plain and
even road.
When the Third Dhyana is entered, the mind, if not
properly controlled, goes out after the prita it has abandoned
and as the calf that is tied at a distance from the cow con-
156 BUDDHA,
i
tinually seeks to break away from its confinement that it
may reach the udder it has been accustomed to draw milk.
With the Fourth Dhyana this is connected with Vedana.
When the husbandman wants to catch a refractory bull, he
drives the whole herd into the fold, and then letting the
animals out one by one, he catches the bull. In like manner
in order to discover this form of Vedana, all the sensations
must be .collected together and examined one by one, when
it will be perceived. It is exceedingly small and scarcely
to be discerned, as it is not connected with either pleasure
or pain. When the mind is thus cleansed by Upeksha, it
becomes exceedingly pure.*
The state of mind that is produced by Dhyanas is called
Parikrama. According to its character will be the power of
the divine eyes that will be received as they will be more or
less clear, strong, extensive in the circle of their vision and
parmanent in their existence.
There are two kinds of Samadhi, namely Upachari and
Arppana. They cause the destruction of those things that
act as an enemy to the Dhyanas.
i. In Upachari Samadhi the mind is not rightly firm, not
entirely at rest or calm. It is like a child that is unable to
walk properly and is continually falling, as the nimitta i s
sometimes received and sometimes lost.
* There is some difference between the Buddhistic and Brahmanic
Dhyanas. According to the latter the 5th Dhyana is entered but
according to the former the 5th is avoided.
After the accomplishment of the Dhyanas, the Buddhists seek to
enter the Paths.
At the life-time of Buddha, there were strict rules of life but hardly
any rites, worship or ceremonies. The only ceremony or festival was
liana and his invitations in the houses of rich men when he used to-
deliver his grand sermons. But now Buddhism is full of rites and ritu-
alism. Seethe history and developement of Buddhism as narrated in
Part IV. of this work. Its justification will be found in the arguments of
the monk Nagasena as put forward by him before the king Malinda.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 157
2. Arpana Samadhi is more powerful. It is like a man
who rises from his seat and walks steadily for the space of
whole day, as when it is received, the mind continues in one
even frame undisturbed and unshaken. He who would re-
ceive Arpana Samadhi must be careful in the following
matters.
1. Residence must be free from all disagreeables.
2. Road must be within 750 bows.
3. Conversation must not treat of the thirty-two forbid-
den topics.
4. Company he must not keep company with improper
persons.
5. Food must be agreeable.
6. Season must also be agreeable.
7. The position of the body the posture must be
pleasant.
Samadhi is that which keeps the thoughts together.
Samadhi is the principal root of all the other virtues. All
others are inferior to it, come after it and bind towards it.*
* Oldenberg thus remarks on the Buddhistic ideas of Dhyana and
Samadhi : " Budddhism, following a common feature of all Indian
religious life which preceded it, regards as stages prepatory to the
victory is won, certain exercises of spiritual abstraction, in which the
religiux withdraws his thoughts from the external world with its motley
crowd of changing forms, to anticipate in the stillness of his own Ego,
afar from pain and pleasure, the cessation of the impermanent. The
devotion of abstraction is to Buddhism what prayer is to other religions."
See Buddha, pp. 314 3 T 5-
CHAPTER VI.
BUDDHIST
THE disciples of the Buddha were divided into two chief
classes, namely ordained monks who were called Bhikshus
-4.
and lay members who were called Upashakas.
But who were the Upasakas ? They were Buddha's lay-
followers. Oldenberg says : " While there was framed from
the beginning for the monastic church an organization,
clothed with the strict forms of spiritual procedure, there
was no attempt made of creations of a similar kind for the
quasi church of lay-brothers and lay-sisters. Certain custom
of spiritual life and practical beneficience must obviously
have arisen ; even here definite institutions have not followed.
There was not so much as any sharply drawn line between
the laity who were to be regarded as adherents of the Order
of Buddha and those who stood aloof therefrom. Entry into
the circle of votaries was dependent on no qualification and
followed regularly upon a form fixed by custom, but not
determined by rule, namely upon the person taking the step
diclaring in the presence of a monk, either on his own
behalf alone of jointly with wife, children and servants, that
he takes his refuge in Buddha, Dharma and the Order."
There were very hard and fast rules for the members of
the Order, there were no such hard rules for the lay-mem-
bers. As we shall separately deal with the Buddha's Great
Order, we shall here mention the moral precepts that the
Great Masters enjoined on all.
The Religion of Buddha pre-eminently stands at a very
high altar ia respect of moral teachings. We quote a few
* See Oldenberg's Buddha, pp. 382383.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 159
passages from various Buddhist works to give an idea of the
high ideal in which the Buddhist morals were always held.
In Mangulla Sutta a Deva asks Buddha thus :
Many Gods and Men
Have held various things blessings
When they were yearning for happiness.
Do thou declare to us the chief good.
The Buddha replies :
t -
i
Not to serve the foolish,
But to serve the wise,
To honour those worthy of honour,
This is the greatest blessing.
2
To dwell in a pleasant land,
Good works done in a former birth,
Right desires in the heart,
This is the greatest blessing.
3
Much insight and .education,
Self-content and pleasant speech,
And whatever word be well-spoken,
This is the greatest blessing.
4
To support father and mother,
To cherish wife and child,
To follow a peaceful calling,
This is the greatest blessing.
5
To bestow alms and live righteously,
To give help to kindred,
Deeds which cannot be blamed,
These are the greatest blessings.
28
160 BUDDHA,
6
To abhor and cease from sin,
Abstinence from strong drink,
Not to be weary in well-doings,
These are the greatest blessings.
7
Reverence and lowliness,
Contentment and gratitude,
The hearing of the Law in due seasons,
This is the greatest blessing.
8
To be long-suffering and meek,
To associate with the tranquil,
Religious talk at due seasons,
This is the greatest blessing.
9
Self-restraint and purity,
The knowledge of the Noble Truths,
The realization of Nirvana,
This is the greatest ^blessing.
10
Beneath the stroke of life's changes,
The mind that shaketh not,
Without grief or passion,
This is the greatest blessing.
ii
On every side are invincible,
They who act like these,
On every side they walk in safety,
And these are the greatest blessings.
We shall now quote a few general precepts from various
Buddhist Sutras.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS, l6l
I
As the bee injuring not
The flower, its color or scent,
Flies away taking the nectar,
So let the wise man dwell upon earth.
. 2
One may conquer a thousand men in battle.
But he who conquers himself alone is the greatest
. victor.
3
It is good to tame the mind,
Difficult to hold in and flighty,
Rushing whereon it listeth ;
A tamed mind is the origin of bliss.
4
For never in this world hatred ceases by hatred.
Hatred ceases by love. This is always its nature,
5
Let a man overcome anger by kindness, evil by good.
Let him conquer the stingy by gifts, the liar by truth.
6
Not by birth one becomes low caste,
Not by birth one becomes a Brahman,
By his actions alone one becomes low caste.
By his actions alone he becomes a Brahman.
7
Anger, drunkenness, obstinacy, bigotry, deception, envy,
self-praise, disparaging others, evil communications, these
constitute uncleanliness, not verily the eating of flesh.
8
Neither abstinence from fish or flesh, nor going naked,
nor shaving the head, nor matted hair, nor a rough garment)
nor sacrifices to Agni, will cleanse a man, not free from
delusions,
162 BUDDHA.
Regarding the Vedas, making offering to priests, or
sacrifices to gods, self-mortifications by heat or cold and
many such penances performed for the sake of immortality,
these do not cleanse the man, not free from delusions.
ro.
Mind precedes action. The motive is chief ; actions
proceed from mind. If any one speak or act from a corrupt
mind, suffering will follow the action, as the wheel follows
the lifted foot of the ox.
ii.
Their anger is not subdued who recall to mind he abused
me, he struck me, he plundered me. Anger will never be
appeased by anger, but by gentleness. This is the doctrine
of the ancients.
12.
Persons do not reflect, we shall speedily die ; if any do
thus reflect, their quarrels speedily terminate.
J 3-
He who lives regarding the pleasures of existence, with
unrestrained passions, immoderate in food, indolent, un-
preserving Mar ay a (lust) will certainly subdue him, as the
feeble tree is overturned by the blast. He who lives medita-
ting on the evils of existence with restrained passions,
temperate in food, religious and preserving, Maraya will
certainly not overpower him, as the solid rock stands unmoved
by the storm.
14.
Those who regard evil as good, or good as evil, will
never attain to excellence ; but are nurtured in errors.
Those who know good to be good and evil to be evil will
attain to excellence ; being nourished by truth.
15-
As the rain completely penetrates the ill-thatched roof,
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 163
so will lust completely subdue the unmeditative mind. As
the rain cannot penetrate the well-covered roof, so lust
cannot overcome the contemplative mind.
1 6.
The sinner mourns in this world, and he will mourn in
the next world. In both worlds, he has sorrow ; he grieves,
he is tormented, perceiving his owri impure actions. The
virtuous man rejoices in this world, and he will rejoice in the
next world. In both worlds he has joy. He rejoices, he
exalts, perceiving his own virtuous deeds.
The sinner suffers in this world, and he will suffer in
the next world. In both worlds he suffers, knowing sin
has been counted by him and dreadfully will he suffer in
the regions of torment. The virtuous man is happy in this
world, and he will be happy in the next world. In both
worlds he is happy knowing he has acted virtuously and
greatly will he rejoice in heaven.
18.
The worldly minded man who understands much of
religion and talks much concerning it without keeping its
precepts is like a herdsman of other man's cattle who is
riot a partaker of the flock he tends. The pious man, who
though he understands but little and talks but little of
religion, is an observer of its precepts, who removes lust,
wrath, and folly far from him, who is considerate, possessed
of a mind free from evil and without attachments, he in
this world and that to come is a partaker of the fruits of
piety.
19.
Earnestness is the path of Nirvana ; thoughtlessness th
path of death. Those who are in earnest db not die, those
who are thoughtless are as if dead already..
164
BUDDHA.
20.
Those who are advanced in earnestness, having under-
stood this clearly, delight in earnestness and rejoice in the
knowledge of the Aryas.
21.
Follow not after vanity, nor after the enjoyment of love
and lust. He, who is earnest and meditative, obtains ample
joy.
22.
It is good to tame the mind which is difficult to hold in,
flighty, rushing wherever it listeth ; a tamed mind brings
happiness.
23.
Let the wise man guard his thoughts, for they are
difficult to perceive, very artful, and they rush wherever they
list ; thought well-guarded brings happiness.
24.
Before long, alas, this body will lie on the earth, despised
without nnderstanding like a useless log. Not a mother,
not a father will do so much, nor any other relative. A well-
directed mind will do us great service. ,
25-
The fool who knows his folishness is wise at least so far.
But a fool who thinks himself wise is called a fool indeed.
If a fool is associated with a wiseman all his life, he will
perceive the truth as little as a spoon perceives the taste of
soup.
26.
If a man would hasten towards the good, he should keep
his thoughts away from evil. If a man does what is good
slothfully, his mind delights in : evil. If a man commits a sin,
let him not do it again. Let him not delight in sin ; pain is
the outcome of evil. If a man does what is good, let him do it
again ; let him delight in.it; happiness is the outcome of good.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 165
An evil-doer sees happiness as long as his evil deed has not
ripened, but when his evil deed has ripened, then does the
evil-door see evil. A good man sees evil deeds as long as his
good deed has not ripened, but when his good deed has
ripened, then does the good man see happy days. Let no
man think lightly of evil, saying in his heart, It will not
come nigh unto me. Even by the falling of water-drops, a
water-pot is filled ; the fool becomes full of evil even if he
gathers it little by little. Let no man think lightly of good,
saying in his heart, ' It will not come nigh unto me.' Even
by the falling of water-drops a water-pot is filled, the wise
man becomes full of good, even if he gathers it little by little.
27-
All men tremble at punishment ; all men love life ; remem-
ber that thou art like unto them and do not kill nor cause
slaughter. Do not speak harshly to any body ; those who
are spoken to, will answer thee in the same way. Angry
speech is painful ; blows for blows will touch thee.
28.
How is there laughter, how is there joy, as this world is
always burning ? Why do you not seek light, ye who are
surrounded by darkness ? This body is wasted of sickness ;
frail ; this heap of corruption breaks to pieces ; life indeed
ends in death.
29.
Self is the Lord of Self ; who else could be the Lord ?
With self-will subdued, a man finds a lord, such as few can
find.
30-
Let us live happily then, not hating those who hate us.
Among men who hate us, let us dwell free from hatred. Let
us live happily then, free from ailments among the ailing.
Among men who are ailing, let us dwell free from ailments !
Let us live happily then, free from greed among the greedy ? :
l66 BUDDHA.
Among men who are greedy, let us dwell free from greed.
Let us live happily then, though, we call nothing our own.
We shall be bright gods feeding on happiness.
3 1 :
Let no man ever look for what is pleasant, or what is
unpleasant. Not to see what is pleasant is pain, and it is
pain to see what is unpleasant. From pleasure comes grief,
from pleasure comes fear. He who is free from pleasure,
knows neither grief nor fear. From affection, from lust, from
love, from greed, comes grief and fear. He who is free from
affection, lust, love or greed knows neither grief nor fear.
32-
Let a man overcome anger by love, let him overcome
evil by good, let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the
liar by truth. Beware of bodily anger and control thy body.
Beware of the anger of the tongue and control thy tongue.
Beware of the anger of the mind .and control thy mind.
Being of a pious mind, one should observe Upastha* on the
1 4th, 1 5th and the day of the lunar fort-night and Pati
Haraka Pakkhat should also be duly observed.
In the next place a wise man who has kept the fast day
should in the morning, being of a pious mind and taking con-
stant delight in doing so, provide the members of the Order
with food and drink according to his ability.
* Upastha means fasting. Rhys Davids thus explains it. The
Upastha days are the four days in the lunar month ; when the moon is
full or new or half way between the two. Upastha is therefore a weekly
festival.
f The Patihara Pakkha or Extra Fort-night is an epithet of three
distinct periods : (i) the three months of Was or rain, (2) the month
succeeding Was called Chivara month 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. See Rhys David's
Buddhism page 141.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 167
He should maintain his father and mother in a just
tnanner and should practice a just trade; the householder,
'observing all this with diligence, reaches the self-shin-
ing gods.
The thirst of a thoughtless man grows like a creeper; he
runs from life to life, like a monkey seeking fruit in the
forest. Whomsoever this fierce thirst overcomes, full of
poison, in this world, his sufferings increase like Buana
grass. He who overcomes this fierce thirst, difficult to be
conquered in this world, sufferings fall from him, like water
drops from a lotus leaf,*
CHAPTER VII,
PRECEPTS TEN SINS,
Ten Sins are :
(a) Three of the body namely
(1) One should not destroy life.
(2) One should not take what is not given>
(3) One should not commit adultery.
* In chapters I. to V., we have briefly sketched the Buddhist meta-
physics and written all that is worth knowing of the Buddhist philo-
sophy. In the following chapters we have spoken of the Buddhist Ethics
and morals to be followed both by the monks as-well as by the lay-mem-
bers. The precepts have been culled from the various Suttras ; the
latter a few from the Dhammapada. We quote these verses from the
Buddhistic Book Dhammapada as translated by Professor Max Muller
in the Sacred Books of the East, Vol. X. The Professor says : " I can-
not therefore see any reason why we should not treat the verses of the
Dhammapada, if not as the utterances of Buddha, at least as what
were believed by the members of the Council under Asoka in 242 B.C.,
to have been the utterances of the founder of their religion."
29
l68 BUDDHA.
(b] Four of the speech namely-^-
(1) One should not tell lies.
(2) One should not slander others.
(3) One should not abuse another.
(4) One should not hold vain conversations.
(c] Three of the mind namely
(1) Coveteousness.
(2) Malice.
(3) Scepticism.
THE TAKING OF LIFE.
There are five things necessary to constitute the crime of
taking life, (i) There must be the knowledge that there is
life. (2) There must be the assurance that a living being is
present. (3) There must be the intention to take life. (4)
With this intention there must be something done as the
placing of a bow or spear or the setting of a mace, and there
must be same movement towards it as walking, running or
or jumping. (5) Life must actually be taken.
There are six ways in which life may be taken, (i) By
the person himself with a sword or lance. (2) By 'giving the
command to another. (3) By the use of projectiles such as
a spear, an arrow, or stone. (4) By treachery as the digging
of pits and covering them slightly over, setting spring or
poisoning ponds. (5) By magical rules. (6) By the instru-
mentality of demons.
There are eight causes of the destruction of life, (i) evil
desire, (2) anger, (3) ignorance, (4) pride, (5) coveteousness,
(6) poverty, (7) wantonness, (8) Law.
THEFTS.
There are five things necessary to constitute the crime of
theft, ( i ) the article taken must belong to another, (2) there
must be something taken that belongs to another, (3) there
must be inte.ntion to steal, (4) there must bs some acts done
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 169
or efforts to obtain possession, (5 there must be actual
acquirement.
ADULTERY.
There are twenty-one descriptions of women whom it is
forbidden to' approach. Among them is a woman protected
by her relatives, or bought with money, or who is cohabiting
with another of her own will, or works for another person
for wages though she is not a slave, or who is betrothed, or
a slave living with her owner, or working in her own house,,
or taken as a spoil in war. All these are to be regarded as-
the property of another and are therefore not to be ap-
proached.
Four things are necessary to constitute this crime.
(1) There must be some one that it is unlawful to approach.
(2) There must be the evil intention. (3) There must be
some act or effort to carry the intention into effect. (4) There
must be the accomplishment of the intention.
LYING.
Four things are necessary to constitute a lie. (r) There
must be the utterance of the thing that is not. (2) There must
be the knowledge that it is not. (3) There must be some en-
deavour to prevent the person addressed from learning the
truth. (4) There must be the discovery by the person deceived
that what has been told to him is not true.
SLANDER.
When any one attempts to put friends at enmity, or to sow
dissension between men, says here what he heard there, or
there what he heard here, it is slander. If he speaks evil of
persons and places that are esteemed by others, or if by insi-
nuation he leads to question the sincerity of each other's
profession, it is also slander.
UNPROFITALBE CONVERSATION.
When things are said out of the proper time, or things,
1 70 BUDDHA.
that cannot in any way tend to profit, are spoken, the precept
that forbids unprofitable conversation is broken.
COVETOUSNESS.
When any one sees that which belongs to another and
desires to possess it, or thinks it would be good were this to
belong to him, he transgresses the precept that forbids cove-
to usness.
SCEPTICISM.
One who does not believe the Law and has no faith in any
thing, and one who is always questioning all religious matters,
induces others to be like him and prevents others to be
devotional is a sceptic.
GENERAL.
Intoxication : When any intoxicating liquor has been
taken with the intention that it shall *be drunk and some-
thing is actually done to procure the liquor, and it has passed
down the throat, the precept is broken that forbids the use
of toddy and other intoxicating drinks.
Gambling : There are six evil consequences that result
from frequenting the places of gambling (i) The man who
loses is angry with him who wins. (2) He is sorrowful, be-
cause another has seized his substance. (3) His property is
wasted. (4) When the gambler gives evidence in a Court of
Justice, his testimony is not believed even though he should
speak the truth. (5) He is not trusted either by his friends or
superiors. (6) He cannot procure a wife from being unable to
provide the proper ornaments and jewels.
Idleness : He who says it is too hot or too cold or too
early, and on this account refuses to work is an idle man and
will be deprived of the means of existence.
Bad company : The man who has sinful friends, unwise
associates, and frequents the company of those who follow
evil practices will come to destruction both in this world
and in the next.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 17 1
Places of amusement : There are six evil consequences
that arise from frequenting places of amusement : The mind
is ensnared by the following practices: (i) dancing, (2) sing-
ing? 3) tne beating of drums, (4) gambling, (5) the clapping
of hands, (6) The game of water jars.*
CHAPTER VIII.
MUTUAL RELATIONS.
The most favourite Sutra on the duties of e very-day-life
common both to the Northern and Southern Schools of
Buddhism is the Sigalowada Sutra. We give a summary
of it.
The teacher was residing in the Jastivana Vihara near
Rajgriha, and one day going out as usual to collect alms, he
saw a house-holder named Sigala bowing down with stream-
ing hair and wet-clothes and elapsed hands to the four
quarters of heaven and the Nadir and the Zenith. "Why,"
asked the Holy One, " Sigala, are you doing all this ?" "Good
monk," replied Sigala, "I am honouring, reverencing and hold-
ing sacred the words of my father, and to avert evil from the
six directions."
"Siyala," said the Buddha, "the best way to guard the
six quarters is by good deeds to men round him, to his
parents as the east, his teachers as the south, his wife and
children as the west, his friends and relations as the north,
men devoted to the religious life, Brahmanas and Sramans,
as the Zenith, and his slaves and dependents as the Nadir.
" How this could be done, sire ?" asked Sigala.
The Buddha replied.
* The above summary is made following the way of Hardy & Rhys
Davids, See Buddhism and Manual 'of Buddhism.
IJ2 BUDDHA.
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 children 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 heirs.
5. When they are gone, I will honour their memory,
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.
31 By instruction in science and lore.
4. By speaking well of them to their friends and com-
panies-.
5. By guarding them from danger.
HUSBAND AND WIFE,
The husband should cherish His wife,
1 . By treating her with respect.
2. By treating her with kindness.
3. By being faithful to her.
4. By causing her to be honoured by others.
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. I?3
5. By giving her suitable ornaments and clothes.
The wife shows her affection for her husband,
1. When she orders her household aright.
2. When she is hospitable to kinsmen and friends.
3. When she is a chaste wife.
4. When she is a thrifty house-keeper.
5. When she shows skill and diligence in all she has
to do.
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.
5. By sharing with them his prosperity.
They should show his 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.
5. By shov.ing kndness to his family.
MASTERS AND SERVANTS.
The master should provide for the welfare of his servants
and dependants,
1. By apportioning work to them according to their
stength.
2. By supplying suitable food and wages.
3. By tending them in sickness.
4. By sharing with them delicacies.
5. By now and then granting them holidays.
They should show their attachment to him,
1. By rising before him.
2. By retiring later to rest.
174 BUDDHA:
3. By working cheerfully and thoroughly.
4. By being content with what is given them.
5. By speaking well of him.
LAYMEN AND MONKS.
The honourable man ministers to mendicants and Brah
mans,
1. By affection in acts.
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.
" By thus acting," said Buddha, " 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 house-holder and shall be exalted."
Sigala then acknowledged himself converted and became
a Upasaka.
CHAPTER IX.
THE BUDDHIST RITES AND CEREMONIES.
DURING the lifetime of Buddha there were no prayers, no
worship, rites, ceremonies and festivals amongst the Bud-
dhist monks or lay-disciples. Buddha was dead against all
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 175
this. His religion was based on self-development and self-
culture and had nothing to do with external ceremonies. If
there was anything like a religious meeting, it was bana, which
was sermons delivered by him or by any other prominent
Bhikshu to a congregation of monks and lay-Buddhists.
After his death, the Bo-tree under which he attained
Nirvana grew to be a great place of pilgrimage. Hundreds
of thousands of men from all parts of the country came and
paid respects to the Bo-tree at Gya by throwing at its foot
flowers and all sorts of offerings. Thus in time Gaya became
a great pilgrimage and a big city.
His remains were originally buried in ten places, and
mounds were erected over them. They were called Dagobas.
Along with the secred Bo-tree, these ten Dagobas were also
considered to be great places of pilgrimage.
But in a few years Buddha was diefied ; his statues or
idols were made and worshipped as gods. Temples were raised
over them. Buddha became a god, a god of gods that he
drove away from the tenet of his great religion, This is not
all. Many others of his great followers were also diefied and
worshipped as gods ; many more imaginary geds were created,
and temples were built in their honour. Thus Buddism became
full of idolatry and ceremonies*
How is it possible for Buddhism to tolerate this ? This
subject was argued at length between Nagasena and king
Malinda.f
King Malinda : " Unbelievers argue in this manner :
If Buddha now receives the offerings of men, he has not
attained Nirvana, as in that state all cleaving to existing
objects is destroyed. He is then still connected with the world,
he is yet existent, he is in the world and has the same attri-
butes as other beings ; therefore the assistance that he can
* See Part IV.
f See Malinda Prasna*
30
176 BUDDHA.
render is imperfect, vain and worthless. But if he has attaift-
ed Nirvana, he is not connected with the world, he is not
existent, he cannot receive the offerings that are made to him ;
there is therefore no benefit from presenting them, as he has
no life, no being, no prana. None but a Rahat can answer
this argument of the Thirtakas ; therefore be pleased,
venerable Sir, to set aside this difficulty.
Nagasena replied : " Buddha has attained Nirvana in
which there is no cleaving to existence ; he does not receive
the offerings that are presented at the foot of the Bo-tree.
When he became a Supreme Buddha, all evil desire was
destroyed ; he has attained Nirvana. Who is it that affirms
that Buddha now recieves the offerings ? Buddha receives the
offerings without any earthly cleaving towards them.
Malinda said : " The father magnifies the son and the
son the father ; therefore this is not an argument that we
can bring before the unbelievers. Each one praises his
own. Be pleased, therefore, to bring forward some other
argument that will convince the sceptics."
Nagasena said : " Buddha has attained Nirvana ; he does
not receive the offerings that are made to him by .the people
of the world ; neverthless those who make offerings to the
relics of the Buddhas, or listen to their Bana will receive the
three great favours, viz,
\. The happiness of the world.
2. That of the Devalokas.
3. That of Nirvana.
Thus when grass or fuel has been thrown into a fire that
has been kindled, is there any desire to receive them on the
part of fire ?"
King Malinda said : " The fire has no mind, and there-
fore cannot receive them on account of desire."
Nagasena said : " When that fire, although it has no
mind, receives the grass, and fuel is extenguished, is the
world without fire ?" -
HIS DHARMA OR TEACHINGS. 177
Malinda said : " No, any one who wishes to have fire,
can produce it by the friction of two pieces of wood".
Nagasena said : " Therefore those who say that no benefit
can be received from the making of offerings to Buddha, utter
that which has no foundation in truth. Whilst Buddha was in
the world, the glory that he possessed may be compared to a
brilliant flame ; now that he has attained Nirvana, his passing
away is like the extinguishing of that flame ; but as the flame
receives the grass and the fuel that are thrown in it, though
without desire on its part, or although Buddha does not
receive the offerings of the faithful, the rewards of those
offerings are certain ; for as a man may procure a flame by
rubbing together two pieces of wood, by the light of which
he will be able to carry on whatever work he has in hand, so
the faithful, by making offerings to Buddha and reflecting on
the excellences of Dharma will reap the reward for which
these exercises are practised. There is another comparison
which you may listen to. There is a high wind, it shakes the
trees and causes them to fall and then dies away. After
thus passing away, is it from desire that it again returns."
King replied : " This cannot be, because it has got no
mind."
Nagasena said : " Does the wind that passes away make
some sign to the wind that is to come ?"
Malinda said :- No, any one may cause wind by means of
a fan. When he is warm, he can cool himself in this way."
Nagasena said : " Therefore the unbelievers that say
there is no benefit from the making of offerings to Buddha
speak falsely. As the wind spreads itself in every direction,
so is the virtue of Buddha everywhere diffused ; as the wind
that passed away is not again produced, so there is no recep-
tion of the offerings in the part of Buddha. As men are
subject to be annoyed by heat, so are Devas and men afflicted
by the three-fold fire of evil desire, enmity and ignorance ;
and as men when thus annoyed cause a wind to refresh their
-1 78 BUDDHA.
persons by means of some other instrument, so are they
assisted who seek the protection of Buddha; and the three-
fold fire is extinguished, although Buddha has attained
Nirvana and does not receive the offerings that are presented,
Another comparison may be given. A man strikes the drum
and causes a sound to be produced ; the sound dies away.
Is it afterwards again produced ?"
Malinda gsaid : " No, the sound has passed away, but the
same man can cause a repetition of the sound by again
striking the drum."
Nagasena said : Cf In like manner though Buddha has at-
tained Nirvana, the benefit to be received from the making
of offerings and meditating on the bana is still certain. This
benefit is gained, though Buddha does not. receive the offer-
ings. Buddha foresaw the things that would happen in the
future and he said to Ananda: "Ananda, when I am gone,
you must not think there is na Buddha ; the discourses I have
delivered and the precepts I have enjoined, must be very
successors and representatives and be to you as Buddha."
Therefore the declaration of the Thirthakas that there is now
no benefit from the presenting of offerings to Buddha is
utterly false. Though he does not receive them, the benefit
to the giver is the same as if he did."
I>A.RT III.
S A N G H A,
CH AFTER I.
THE most important of Buddha's works was his SANGHA,
the O ; RDER of BHIKSHUS. He preached a religion which was :
based on the religious and philosophical belief then ex-
tant. He believed in the Transmigration and Karma,
the two most important foundations on which the religion of
the Hindus stood. He avoided the discussion of the existence
or non-.existence of God, which was done by Kapila in his
Sankhya long before him. In fact, in his philosophical, ethi-
cal and moral teachings, there was very little which was new,
or which was not believed or known amongst the people of
India. If there was anything new that he did it was his
Sangha, his great Order of Monks.
What is then this Sangha? Long before the birth of
Buddha, there were innumerable monks and ascetics, believing
in various philosophical theories and observing many hard
austerities, but each was independent of the other. At
best they followed a particular leader, but each leader, with
his followers and pupils, was perfectly independent, having
nothing to do with any other leader, philosopher or teacher.
Such was the scattered state of the monkhood in India.
iSo BUDDHA.
Buddha promulgated a new idea. He formed a Society,
an Order, the member of which became a Bhikshu, a monk,
renouncing home and hearth, and giving up Kamini and
Kanchana, i.e., woman and wealth. They gave up the
world in order to work out their own salvation. But they
were not independent of each other, they were each a part
of a whole, member of an organised body. None can fol-
low the great religion of Buddha unless he takes refuge in
BUDDHA, DHARMA, and SANGHA. He must be the member
of the Order. Buddha created a Society, a new race of men,
a race of moral heroes, a race of salvation-workers, a race
of Buddhas, the Enlightened.
Thus did Buddha's great SANGHA exist in the world,
the SANGHA containing a race of holy men, a race of moral
heroes, a race of the Enlightened. It stood before man
as a light-house which guided the mariners to lead their ship
to the port of salvation. It stood before the world as a great
bonfire that lighted the benighted men to their home of peace.
As there arose from day to day the great luminary that
lightened the world and gladdened the heart of men, so stood
the great Sangha of Buddha, the Enlightened.
If there was any thing new that Buddha did, it was this.
Dr. Oldenberg says : " It appears from the very beginning
to have been a society governed by law. The completion of
procedure prescribed by law was necessary to the reception
of a postulant into the Society. The law of the Order pointed
out to him his course of action and omission. The society
itself as a court of discipline seemed conformly to the
ecclesiastical rules by keeping up a regular judicial proce-
dure."
Thus the Sangha was guided by strict laws. But who
made the laws which the members of the Sangha were
bound to obey? On this point Dr. Oldenberg thus
remarks : " Although the Order of ^Buddha's disciples or
members thereof specially called on and qualified to do so,
HIS SANGHA. 181
have virtually acted as law makers, yet in theory the commu-
nity has distinctly disclaimed all legislative functions. The
authority to frame a law for the.cpmmunity belongs to Buddha
alone according to Buddhist theory. All commands and
prohibitions received their character as binding rules from the
fact that Buddha has enunciated or is supposed to have
enunciated them. With his death both the possibility and the.
necessity for creating new laws has become extinct."
All these laws were collected into the great book
PATIMOKHA. Were they all enunciated and promulgated by
Buddha in one day ? Or did he write a book on them and
place them before his disciples ? No. They were promul-
gated as the occasion arose. The following is an outline of
the way in which these laws were made.
" When the Exalted Buddha was staying in such and such
a place, this and that irregularity occured. The people who
came to know of this were irritated, murmured and com-
plained. How can monks, who follow the son of the Sakhya
house, commit such offences like wanton worldlings or, like
unbelieving heretics as the case in point has occurred. The
spiritual brothers hear the whisperings of the people, they
too are irritated, murmer and complain. How can the
venerable so and so be guilty of the like? They mention
the matter to Buddha. He calls his disciples together, delivers
to them an admonitary address, and then issues the order. " I
order, O disciples, that this or that shall or shall not be done.
Who so does this is liable to such and such a punishment."
Thus the Order was formed and thus the laws were promul-
gated. The Order began its eventful career with sixty monks
and expanded into thousands. Its members scattered over
the earth preaching the noble gospel of Buddha to innumer-
able races. At last three fourths of the human race followed
the noble path to which the great Buddha led.
The Sangha was a power. The power did not lay in
Buddha or in any of the Bhikshus, prominent or insignificant,
l82 . BUDDHA.
but it lay in the Sangha as a body-corporate. The Sangha
was a great Republic. The united voice of the members,
and the unnanimously passed laws were all supreme. It jwas
in fact the ruling voice* -the supreme controlling power,
the great moral force of Buddha's great religion. He
who took refuge in Sangha^ became a superior being ; he
was on his way to the Eternal Peace.
CHAPTER II.
ADMISSION INTO THE ORDER.
Entry into the SANGHA was open to every one. Buddha at
the commencement of the Order thus spoke :
" Open thou, O wise one, the door of Eternity ;
Let be heard what thou, O sinless one, hast discovered."
Though every one could enter into the Order, yet as a
necessity some restrictions were imposed. The following
were debarred.
(i). Men afflicted with serious bodily deformities and
sickness.
(2). Confirmed criminals.
(3). Persons in the royal service, specially soldiers.
(4). Debtors and slaves.
(5). Sons having no consent of their parents.
(6). Children under twelve years. Above twelve years,
boys boys .admitted as " novice/' but unless he was twenty
years of age, he could not be taken into the Order.
ORDINATION.
The ceremony of initiation was completed in two grades :
namely (i) Prababjja and (2) Upasampada.
HIS SANGHA.
The Prabbajja is the going away from a prior state, i.e.
from the lay-life, or from a monastic sect holding 'another
faith.
The Upasampada is the entry into the circle of the
Bhikshus, the fully accredited member of the Buddhist Order.*
The Prabajja was a very simple ceremony. The candi-
date put on the yellow garment, had his hair and beard
shaved off and uttered three times in reverential attitude to
the monk or monks present the three great Buddhist Formula
namely,
" I take my refuge in Buddha/'
" I take my refuge in Dharma."
" I take my refuge in Sangha."
Then he repeated the Ten Precepts, namely-?-
(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 not to take intoxicating drinks.
(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 take high or broad bed.
(10) I take the vow not to take gold or silver.
From that day he became an attachee to the Buddhist
Order, but not a full member. That he became after the
Upasampada ceremony.
THE NOVICIATE.
At the life-time of Buddha, almost every body, if he liked,
could at once become a Sramenara or noviciate for the
* See Malinda Prasna, page 76; Mahavasna Vol. I, page 3, Maha-
vagga I, 38, Maha Pariniban Sutta page 59, Prabbajja is equivalent to
Brahmacharyea and Upasampada to Sanyasa.
31
184 BUDDHA.
Buddhistic Order. But after his death, the rules were made
stricter. " *
The principal duties that were to be attended to by a
Sramenara are set forth in a work named Dinacharya or the
daily observances. We quote it below :
" He who, with a firm faith, believes in the religion of
truth, rising before day-light, shall clean his teeth and shall
then sweep all the places that are proper to be swept, such
as the court-yard, approaches to the Vihara, &c. When this
is done, he shall retire to a solitary place and for the space
of three Dandas meditate on the Obligations. When the bell
will ring, he will go to the Dagoba and offer flowers, just
as if Buddha was present in person. He will, before it,
meditate on the nine virtues of Buddha with a fixed and
determined mind.
The next act that he is required to perform, is to 'look at
his Ufa or calendar, in order that he may learn Avachwa.*
It will now be time for him to take the alms-bowl, and
when going his round, he is to bear in mind the four
Karmastkanas, not to go too near, nor to keep at too great a
distance from his preceptor. At a convenient distance from
the village, having swept a small clean space, he is to adjust
his robe properly. If going with the preceptor, he is to give
the book into his hands and accompany him to the villages,
carefully avoiding the sight of women.
According to the rules contained in the Sikhya, he is
to proceed along the road, and after the alms have been
received, he is to retire from the village in a manner pre-
viously declared. Taking the bowl and outer robe of his
superior, he shall then proceed to his Vihara.
If there be a place appointed for the robe, he shall put
it there after folding it ; then place a seat, wash his feet,
* The length of the shadow by which the age of the moon may be
known.
' HIS SANGHA. 185
I enquire if he is thirsty, place before him the tooth-cleaner
and bring the alms-bowl. The Gathas must be repeated
before eating and after eating, and the food is to be taken in
the manner laid down in the Sikhya. Then taking the bowl
of his superior, he will wash it,. put it in the sun to dry and
then keep it in. its proper place. This done, he is to wash
his own face, and putting his robe, he is first to worship his
superiors and then Buddha.
The next act is to go again to a solitary place, and there
repeat the Gathas, considering whether he has omitted the
practice of any Obligations or in any way acted contrary to
them. After which he must practice Maitri Bhavana.*
About an hour afterwards, when his weariness is gone, he
is to read one of the sacred books, or write out a portion of
one ; and if he has any thing to ask from his preceptor, or any
thing to tell him, this is the time at which it should be done.
In some convenient place, the bana is to be read, one by one
each day in regular order. The Samenara Novices shall kindle
a fire, light a lamp, make all arrangements for the reading of
the bana, call the Bhikshu who is to recite it, wash his feet and
sit down in an orderly manner, and listen to the bana.
With the four articles that he has received as a novice
of whatsoever kind they may be, whether good or bad, he
must rest contented ; nor must he covet to have any thing
more than the allowed requisites of the priesthood. Maintain-
ing a course of good behaviour, he must keep under control the
five senses, with matured wisdom and without any haughtiness
of either body, speech or mind. He must associate with
those who are not ascetics, nor follow their customs, and
he must be careful to avoid the commission of the least
crime.""*
The following ten precepts should be observed by the
Sranienara.
* See Devachara Sutra.
3 86 BUDDHA.
1. The speaking disrespectfully of Buddha.
2. The speaking disrespectfully of the Truths
3. The speaking disrespectfully of Sangha.
4. The entertaining heritical notions.
5. Sexual intercourse With a nun.
6. The eating of food after midday.
7. Seeing of dances or the hearing of music or singing,
8. The use of ornaments and perfumes.
9. The use of a. seat or couch more than a cubit high.
10. The receiving of gold, silver, or money.
11. Practising some deception to prevent another monk
from receiving that to which he is entitled.
12. Practising some deception to injure another monk.
13. Pratising some deception in order to. cause expulsion
of a monk from the Sangha.
14. Speaking evil of another monk,
15. Uttering slanders.
The Sramenaras are enjoined to read the following works,
1. Sramana-Sikhya,
2. Dina-achariya.
3. Chutura-kamastahana (four meditations),
4. Dhammapada.
5. Piruvana pota (Manual of Exorcism),
6. Sikhya (containing 70 rules).
7. Pilillul Bhavana.
8. Chatura Sangwara Sila.
The Sramenara is taught that there are eight benefits to
be derived from becoming a recluse.
( i). Deliverance from the love of wealth and the love
of pleasure.
(2). The reception of food in a proper manner.
(3). The custom of eating any food that comes to hand
of what kind soever it may be.
(4). Deliverance from the oppression of wicked men and
kings,
HIS SANGHA.
(5). Freedom from all anxiety about such things as
gardens, fields and cattle.
(6). Deliverance from the dread of theives.
(7). Deliverance from the dread of persons in authority,
(8). Deliverance from fear in whatever place.*
There are also ten things that tempt the Sramenaras
to cast the yellow robe off after it has been assumed.
1. The mother.
2. The father.
3. The wife.
4. The Children.
5. The Poor relations.
That is, the thought will come that these relatives ought
to be provided for which cannot be done by the recluse,
6. The Friends.
7. The Property.
8. The desire of obtaining wealth,
9. The desire of worldly honour,
10. The love of pleasure.f
After a month, and in many cases after years, the candi-
date for the full membership of the Order, he who desired
to be the Bhikshu, made a formal application, on which, if the
monks thought that he was fit to be taken into the Order,
they assembled in a meeting and ordered the applicant to
appear before them. Bowing reverently on the ground before
the assembled monks and raising his joined hands to his
forehead, the applicant thus spoke : " I entreat the Order,
reverned Sirs, for initiation. May the Order, reverend Sirs,
raise me up to Itself. May it have pity on me. Arid for the
second and for the third time I entreat the Order, reverend
Sirs, for initiation. May the Order, reverend Sirs, raise
me up to Itself. May it have pity me." Then one of the
See Pujuwalia.
See Malinda Parsna.
l88 BUDDHA.
monks thus questioned him : " Hearst thou, so and so, now
is the time come for thee to speak truly and to speak honestly.
I ask thee, how things are. What is thou must say thereof,
It is. What is not, thou must say there of, It is not. Art thou
afflicted with any of the following diseases, namely leprosy,
white leprosy, consumption, epilepsy ? Art thou a human
being, or something else (demon, ghosts &c) in human shape ?
Art thou a man ? Art thou thine own master ? Hast thou
no debts ? Art thou not in the royal service ? Hast thou the
permission of thy father and mother ? Art thou full twenty
years of age ? Hast thou alms-bowl and the garments ?
What is thy name ? What is thy Teacher's name ? "
When the applicant had given answers to all these
questions satisfactorily, then the monk thus addressed the
Order : "Reverend Sirs, let the Order hear me. So and so
here present desires as the pupil of the venerable so and so
to receive ordination. He is free from the obstacles to ordi-
nation. He has the alms-bowl and garments; so and so
entreats the Order for ordination. Whoever of the venerable
monks is for granting so and so ordination, let him remain
silent, whoever is against it, let him speak out."
This was told thrice, and if no one spoke against the
proposal, then it was declared, So and so has from the Order
received ordination. The Order is in favour of this, there-
fore, it is silent.
Then the Four Rules of Buddhistic austerity were re-
peated, namely.
(1) The food of him who has gone from home into
homelessness shall be the morsels which he receives by
begging.
(2) His clothing shall be made out of the rags which
.he collects.
(3) His resting place shall be under the trees of the
forest.
(4) His medicine shall be the urine of cattle.
HIS SANGHA. 189
a
Then the four great Prohibitions were administered to him.
(i) An ordained monk may not have sexual intercourse,
not even with an animal. The monk who has sexual inter-
course is no longer a monk, he is no disciple of the son of
the Sakya house. As a man, whose head is cut off, cannot
live with the trunk, so also a monk who practises sexual in-
tercourse is no longer a monk, he is no disciple of the son
of the Sakhya house. Thou must abstain therefrom all
thy life.
(2) An ordained monk may not take what has not been
given to him, what is called a theft not even a blade of
grass. The monk who takes ungiven a pada or ^pada's
worth, or more than a pada, commits what is called a theft,
he is no longer a monk ; he is , no disciple of the son of the
Sakya house. As a dry leaf which has separated itself
from the stalk cannot again become green, so also a monk;
who takes ungiven a pada or z.pada } s worth, or more than a
pada, wfcat is called a theft is no longer a monk ; he is no
disciple of the son of ^the Sakya house. Thou must abstain
thereform all thy life.
(3) An ordained monk may not knowingly deprive any
creature of life, not even a worm or an ant. The monk, who
knowingly deprives a human being of life, even by the des-
truction of a foetus, is no longer a monk ; he is no disciple
of the son of the Sakya house. As a great stone, which has
been split into two parts, cannot again be made into one, so
also a monk, and so on.
(4) An ordained monk may not boast of any superhuman
perfection, be it a condition of abstraction, or of rupture, or,
of concentration, or of elevation, or of the path of deliverance,
or of the fruit of deliverance, he is no longer a monk ; he is
no disciple of the son of the Sakya house. As a palm tree,
the top of which has been destroyed, cannot again grow, so
also a monk and so on. :
O/O . BUDDHA.
THE ORDER OF MONKS.
From that day, he is an ordained Bhikshu of the Buddhist
Sangha* There was nothing however to prevent the ordain-
ed monk or the Order to break off from their mutual relation.
A Bhikshu could give up his alms-bowl and his yellow robe
and returned to worldly life whenever he liked it.f
THE ORDER OF NUNS.
The Order of the Buddhist Nuns (Bhikshuni Sangha}%
was under the guardianship of the Order of the monks
{Bhikshu Sangha}.\ If a maiden or a woman wishes to be
* The assertion often made that the person entering the Order
changes his family name for a cloister name (as was the custom with
the Brahmanic monks) is erroneous, or at any rate supported only by
solitary cases. Ananda, as a member of ; the brotherhood, is called "the
Venerable Ananda," Kassapa of Uruvila is called "the Venerable
Kassapa of Urruvila." See Buddha, pages 352 353.
f Dr. Oldenberg says :-^-" If the monk be guilty of any serious
transgression, specially if he infringes the four great prohibitions,
imposed on him at Ordination, it becomes the right and the duty of the
Order to renounce him."
And again : "The monk \vho has a lingering fondness for a worldly
life, the exit from the Order is always open. The Order makes no
effort to detain him. He can do so silantly, but the proper way for him
is to declare before a witness (not necessarily a Bhikshu) that he re-
nounces Buddha, Dharma and Sangha."
Koppen (in page 338) says : It happens every day that monks who
have entered the cloister under the compulsion of parents or to avoid the
service of the king, or from poverty, from laziness, from a love of solici-
tude or of study, or from any other worldly motive, again quit the
cloister to succeed to an inheritance, to marry &c."
% The two Orders of Monks and Nuns were called Ubhato Sangha.
The two Orders had equal shares in all Gifts. Mahavagga, VIII, 32
says :" Even if there be many monks and only one nun, she obtains
the half."
See Oldenberg's Buddha, page 377.
HIS SANGHA. I9 1
ordained as a Bhikshukini, she will have to keep the vows of
six rules for two years, namely
(1) Not to kill any living creatures.
(2) Not to steal.
(3) Not to commit unchastity.
(4) Not to tell a lie.
(5) Not to drink any intoxicating beverages.
(6) Not to eat at the forbidden hours.
If she could pass two years strictly sticking to these six
vows, . she is then "ordained on one side" before the Order
of Nuns.* But even then she is not a full Bhikshukini ;
she would have to appear before the Chapter of Monks and
in its presence go '.through the whole ceremony of Ordina-
ion. The Chapter then administered upon her the follow-
ing " Eight High Ordination."t
1. "A nun, if she have been ordained even a hundred
years ago, must _bow most reverentially before every monk,
even though he be ordained even on this day, rise in his pre-
sence, raise her clasped hands and duly honour him. This
rule shall -she observe, esteem sacred, keep, respect and
through her whole life not transgress.
2. A nun is not permitted to pass the rainy season in
any district in which monks are not residing. This ^rule also
shall she observe, esteem sacred, keep, respect and through
her whole life not transgress.
3. The nuns are to go once in the half month to the
monks for two things ; they are to ask for the confessional
ceremony and to apply to the monks for the preaching of the
Sacred Word. This rule also shall she observe, esteem sacred,
keep, respect, and through her whole life not trangress.
4. At the end of the rainy season, the nuns are to give
the threefold invitation to both sides of the Order. This rule
* The procedure was the same as that of the monks,
f See Cullavagga X, i. 4-
32
ig2 BUDDHA,
also shall she observe, esteem sacred, keep, respect and
through her whole life not transgress.
5. A nun who has been guilty of a grave offence must
submit herself to a half monthly discipline of penance before
both sides of the Order. This rule also shall she observe,
esteem sacred, keep, respect, and through her whole life not
transgress.
6. Ordination is to be applied for from both sides of the
Order only when the applicant has lived for a probationary
period of two years in the six rules. This rule also shall she
observe, esteem sacred, keep, respect and through her whole
life not transgress.
7. Under no circumstances is a nun to revile or scold
a monk. This rule also shall she observe, esteem sacred,
keep, respect and through her whole life not transgress.
8. From this day forward is the path of speech against
the monks closed to the nuns. Yet is not the path of speech
against the nuns closed to the monks. This rule also shall
she observe, esteem sacred, keep, respect and through her
whole life not transgress."
From the day of Ordination the following were the rules
they had always to observe strictly.
1. Every half month the nuns were to betake themselves
to the monks who had been named to them by the resolution
of the Order to receive spiritual instruction and admonition.*
2. A nun was never allowed to associate with a monk
who was also not allowed to set foot to a nunnery. He was
* Dr. Oldenberg remarks: In* the presence of another monk, this
monk sits waiting the nuns ; and when they have made their appearance,
bowed themselves to the ground and sat down before him, he speaks to
them of the Eight High Ordinances'and expounds to them, either by way
of sermon or by question and answer, what he deems profitable of the
teachings and maxims of Buddha.
Dipavansa, Chapter XVIII and also Cullavagga X, 8,
HIS SANGHA. 193
allowed to see a nun only when she fell ill and required his
consolation.
3. To make a journey with a monk, to go abroad in the
same boat with him, to sit with him alone, and without wit-
nesses, was strictly forbidden.
4. To live in the forest hermitages was forbidden to the
nuns. They were to live within the walls of the village or
in huts or nunneries ; but never alone. They were to live
by two or in greater numbers.
5. The daily life and religious exercise of the nuns were
the same as those of the monks.
CHAPTER III.
CELEBACY AND AUSTERITIES.
The life of a Buddhist Bhikshu is a life of strict celebacy
and severe austerities.* The following practices are forbidden
and transgressing any of them means severe penances.
* The rules and practices that a Bhikshu is to observe are laid
down in the celebrated Pali work, called Patimokha, translated in the
Sacred Books of the East. We have mainly followed this work in the
following Chapters. Patimokha or the Book of Penances is the chief
part of Vinaya Pitaka, a Pitaka which contains the rules that are to
be observed by the members of the Sangha. (See Introduction, chap iii.)
This is the story told how Vinaya Pitaka was recited and promul-
gated by the [immediate followers of Buddha. Soon after his death, a
Council was held under the presidency of Kasyapa who said : " Which
shall we repeatifirst the Vinaya, Sutra or^Abhidharma ?"
The Bhikshus replied : " The Vinaya is the life of Buddhism. If
Vinaya is properly defined, the religion of our Great Master will continue
to exist. Let us therefore first define the Vinaya Pitaka."
Mahakassyapa said : " Whom shall we appoint as the principal
person- to recite and define this Pitaka ?"
194 BUDDHA.
(1) Sexual intercourse with any being of whatever
kind or form.
(2) Wilful pollution.
(3) Contact with the person of a woman.
(4) Commendation of acts of impurity before a woman.
(5) Acting the part of a procurer.
(6) Sitting with a man in any private place.
(7) Giving the robe to a nun to smooth e or wash it-.
(8) Receiving a robe from a nun.
(9) Sleeping with one who is not a priest for more than
three times.
(10) Preaching more than five or six sentences to a
nun or a woman in private.
(n) Preaching to a nun after sunset or without the
sanction of the Sangha.
The Bhikshus replied : " When Buddha was alive, he declared that
Upali was most perfectly acquainted with the Vinaya, and that no one
has clearer understanding of the Divine Words than he; therefore let
it be Upali."
Accordingly with the permission of the Sangha, Upali rose with
reverence from his seat, made obeisance to the assembly, rose on the
Vedi (altar) in the midst of the hall and remained with his face towards
the East.
Mahakassyapa then asked: "What is the first section of the
Vinaya? When was it spoken? On whose ^behalf ? On account of
what transgression ?"
Upali replied : " The first section was spoken by Buddha in Vesali
on account of Sudidema who had transgressed the precept of chastity."
In this manner, the investigation was carried on regarding all the
other sections of the Vinaya and the cause, the person, the fault, the 1
rule or ordinance established in consequence and the additional rule
were declared. The enquiry in all cases was made by Mahakassyapa
and answered by Upali who repeated all things to the assembly in a
full and perfect manner, so that not a single letter or the least particle
of the Vinaya Pitaka was lost. When the whole was recited, Upali did
obeisance to the assembly and retired to his own seat. (See Hardy's
Eastern Monachism.)
HIS SANGHA. IQ5
(12) Except in case of illness to go to see a nun.
(13) Except in a caravan or in danger to travel with a nun,
(14) To mix with any woman in any place.
(15) To converse with a woman without special cause.
Every Bhikshu is enjoined at his Ordination that when the
head is taken off, it is impossible that life can be retained in
the body and that in like manner the monk who holds
sexual intercourse with any one is thereby incapacitated from
continuing to be a son of Sakya.*
A Bhikshu is directed to live in a state of entire abstrac-
tion from the world, so that when in the midst of temptations
all impurity may be avoided. The door of the eye is to be
kept shut. It is better to have a red hot piece of iron run
through the eye, than for the eye to wander, as by this means
evil desire will be produced.
The true Bhikshu is enjoined to renounce all carnal in-
dulgences, but this is but an inferior mode of celebacy. There
must be a complete annihilation of all affections. He must
forget that he has now or ever has had any connection with
the world of men.
The Bhikshu is forbidden to dig the ground or to cause it
to be dug, he is not to cut grass or trees, he is not to sprinkle
water in that in which there are insects, or cause it to be
sprinkled : he is not to go to view an army.
The Bhikshu is to remain as clean as possible. He is to
use a tooth^cleaner every morning.
The Bhikshu may not enter the village or sit down in it
laughing loudly, but speaking in a low tone with a steady
gait, not swinging the arms about or turning the head- or
with his arms placed on his hips or with his head covered..
He may not sit on his heels in the village and sit lolling.
And he is not to perform the offices of nature standing, nor
upon any growing vegetable substance or in water.
* See Kamachana.
ig6 BUDDHA.
It is forbidden for a Bhikshu to attend dancing, singing
music or drama, nor to take part in them.
He is forbidden the use of high, honourable, rich or
luxurious seats or couches. He is not allowed to take even
as little as a blade of grass, when it is not given. If he takes
a sandal or any thing of the same value or above that value r
he ceases to be a Sramana.
He is not allowed knowingly to deprive any animal of life
though it be even so insignificant as an ant. And if he de-
prives any human being of life, he ceases to be a Sramana.
No monk is allowed to make pretensions to the possession
of Rahatship ; and if any Bhikshu acts contrary to this pre-
cept, he ceases to be a son of Sakya.
There are thirty-two subjects in which the Bhikshus are
forbidden to talk :
(i) About kings, (2) robbers, (3) royal guards, (4) armies,
(5) narrations that cause fear, (6) wars, (7) harrangues, (8)
food, (9) drinks, (10) garments, (n) vehicles, (12) couches,
(13) garlands, (14) perfumes, (15) music, (16) villages, (17)
towns, (18) cities, (19) provinces, (20) relatives, (21) women,
(22) intoxicating liquors, (23) streets, (24) ghosts, (25) de-
ceased relatives, (26) wealth, (27) origin of the earth, (28) the
origin of the seer, (29) the sayings of sceptics, (30) mental
error (31) sexual enjoyments, (32) their imaginations.
How a Bhikshu is to be ^known how .far he is advanced
in the path of Nirvana ? Visudhi Marga Sutra answers :
There are sixty-three Charitas (states of mind) of which the
principal are Raga, Diaesa and Moha.
1. Raga is complaccency, pride or evil desire.
2. Dwesa is anger of which hatred is a component part,
3. Moha is the ignorance of truth.
The manifestation of these principles is diversified as seen
in the conduct of different priests, according to
1. The position of the body.
2. The work that is performed.
HIS SANGHA. IQ7
3. The manner of eating.
4. The objects that are seen.
5. The general conduct.
(a) The position of the body : The Bhikshu, who is under
the influence of the first principle, when he walks, puts his
foot down gently; both his feet are put down and lifted up
in an uniform manner and they are peacefully bent when
moved. The monk, under the influence of the second, seems
to plough the ground under his feet or to dig it ; he walks
hurriedly and lights his foot with violence^ The Bhikshu,
under the influence of the third, has no uniformity in his gait ;
he puts his foot down as if he were doubtful or afraid and
walks as if fatigued.*
In like manner when the first sits down or reclines,
it is done gently ; his feet and hands are placed in the proper
place and he rises in a quiet manner. The second sits down
quickly and rises as if in displeasure. The third sits him-
self down in any way, puts his hands and feet in any posture ;
and when he rises he does so as if with reluctance.
(b) The -work that is 'performed: The first, when he
prepares to sweep any place, takes hold of the broom
in a proper way, neither too firmly nor too loosely and
sweeps evenly. The second seizes the broom with violence,
sends the dust here and there and sweeps without any unifor-
mity. The third holds the broom loosely, throws the dust
away carelessly and does not sweep clean. It is with all
other things. The first does them in the best manner, the
second indifferently, and the third negligently.
(c) The food that is eaten : The first likes food with deli-
cious flavour ; he makes the rice into neat round balls and
throws it into his mouth gently. The second likes sour things
or those that are highly seasoned ; he fills his mouth and
eats in haste. The third has no partiality for any particular
* Magandhiya Sutra.
igS BUDDHA.
kind of food ; he lets it fall whilst he is eating and throws it
into his mouth without care.
(d) The objects that are seen : The first, when he sees any
common thing, looks at it as if it were some-thing wonderful.
If it is only good in a trifling degree, his attention is arrested.
He looks over any faults thai there may be and is loth to
leave that which pleases him. The second, when he sees
any thing that is not pleasing, turns away from it at once.
If there be only a trifling fault, he is angry, he does not
acknowledge the good that there may be, and he turns away
as if it were unworthy of regard. The third looks at all things
without manifesting any emotion. If any thing is deprecir-
ated, he commends it, or if it is praised, he commends that
also.
(e) The general conduct : The first does not see his own
fault ; he boasts t to others of things, he does not possess ; he
is deceptive, proud and covetous ; he likes his bowl, robe and
person to appear to the best advantage. The second cannot
endure the faults of another ; he seeks to destroy the good
name of the other Bhikshus, envies their prosperity and goes
about to injure their possessions. The third goes on without
diligence or care ; his mind is in doubt, he is never settled,
without discrimination and does not perceive errors.
There are three other states namely :
(1) Sraddha (confidence.)
(2) Buddhi (wisdom.)
. (3) Vitarka (reasonings.)
The Bhikshu who is under the influence of the first may be
known by his being always cheerful. He delights in hearing
Bana ; he does not associate with the world, he does
not hide his own faults and he seeks the assistance of the
Three Gems, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha.
The second is kind and tractable ; he eats his food slowly
and is thoughtful ; he avoids much sleep and does not pro-
crastinate, he reflects on impermanency and death.
HIS SANGHA. IQ9
The third talks much ; he ''delights in being where there
are many people ; his mind is never settled]; at night he thinks
he will do this and that, but he does not attempt to do in the
day what he has resolved in the night.
CHAPTER IV.
POVERTY AND MENDICANCY.
Poverty is the glory of every Buddhist Bhikshu. Previous
to his Ordination, he must possess eight articles called
At-Pirikara. (i, 2, 3) Robes of different descriptions,
(4) a girdle for the loins, (5) an alms-bowl. (6) a razor,
(7) a needle, (8) a water stainer. The last is to be used
whenever a Bhikshu is to drink water, lest he destroys any
insects.
These are the only properties that a monk can possess
or receive as alms. But the Buddhistic Order or Sangha can
accept every kind of property, from land, buildings, Viharas
to chairs and couches.* A Bhikshu, however, is to renounce
: 1 ;
* Dr. Oldenberg remarks : "That the Order was allowed to have
any kind of possession whatever, which was forbidden to the individual
brethren has been often asserted, but as far as I can see quite ground-
lessly. The more important items of property which belonged to the
Order could not indeed by gift or division pass into the possession of
individual monks. (See Cullavagga vi. 15 16). But it was not unal-
lowable for a monk to possess things of this description (See Mahavagga
viii. 27 5). Then after- his death they fell into the property of the
Order of monks of the four quarters of the world, present or absent,
while smaller articles of a deceased monk were divided among the
brethren with a special regard for those who had attended to him during
his sickness. Whether any other heirs but the Order of the monks or
nuns could be nominated is not known."
33
200 BUDDHA.
every kind of property and stick to the severest poverty.
Money, wealth and property are his greatest enemies.
A Bhikshu is not allowded to eat any food not given in alms
unless it be water. When in 'health, the food must be pro-
cured by his own exertions by carrying his alms-bowl from
house to house in the village or city, near which for the time
being he resides. When going to receive alms, the bowl is
slung across his shoulder and is covered by the outer robe.
It may be made of either iron or clay, but of no other material.
It must first be received by the Order, and then formally
presented to the Bhikshu, when it is found that his old alms-
bowl could not be used any longer. No monk gets a new
bowl so long as his old one has not been bound by five lega-
tures to prevent it from falling to pieces.
When passing from place to place, a Bhikshu must not
look to a greater distance before him than the length of a
yoke, nor must he look on one side or upwards, nor bend his
body to look at any thing on the ground. He is not to look
at elephants, chariots, horses, soldiers, and women.
He must not call a woman by name, nor for what kind of
food there is in the house and what kind is to be given.
It is forbidden to proclaim his purity or attainments to
the house-holders, male or female, in order that he may gain
honour and gifts. He must not do any thing to induce others
to present him with anything or honour him.
There are some places where a Bhikshu is allowded to go
when seeking alms and where he is not. To the following
places he is forbidden to go.
(1) Houses of ill fame.
(2) Houses of widows.
(3) Houses of women whose husbands have gone to a dis-
tant place.
(4) Houses where there are unmarried young girls.
(5) Houses or shops where there is intoxicating liquor.
(6) Palaces of kings.
HIS SANGHA. 2QI
(7) Houses of noblemen.
(8) Dwellings of unbelievers.
(9) Places where the unbelievers frequent.
A Bhikshu is allowed to go to those places only ;where he
will be well received.
There are two ways of seeking alms, one is called Kaya-
Vinapati, that which belongs to the body, and the other
Vachi-Vinapati, that which belongs to the speech. Of each of
these two modes of seeking alms, there are two kinds, the
one proper and the other improper. Thus when the priest
approaches a house with the alms-bowl injhand, he must re-
main as if unseen, he must not hear, nor must he make any
other sign indicating his presence. He must not go too
near to a house. If he does any thing contrary to these
rules, he transgresses the precepts. The proper way is to
take the alms-bowl in a becoming manner. If any thing is
given, he stands in silence to receive it ; if not, he quietly
passes on.
Buddha said : "A Bhikshu should never ask for any thing,
he disdains to beg. He carries the alms-bowl, that indi-
cates that he solicits food. He should never speak a word
asking any thing."
A Bhikshu must go from house to house without passing
over even the meanest one. He is not required to go more
than three times to a house. If he does not get any thing
there, but if he perseveres, it is considered a merit. The
monk who keeps the superior rule receives food as 'he passes
on, standing for a moment only before each house. He, who
keeps the middle rule, may remain before the house for a
short time and must then pass on. He, who keeps the inferior
rule, waits until the food is given, though there is delay.
When the members of the Order of Buddha had to main-
tain their life on the gifts of laymen, it was necessary to
promulgate some rules for almsgiving (dana). The lav-
followers of Buddha were required to give in alms only what
202 BUDDHA.
they had honestly earned, and that too with a willing mind.
There must be no regret for what had been given. It was
necessary that the thing given, the intention of the giver, and
the receiver of the gift all must be pure.
There are four divisions of alms-giving, namely :-:
(1) Chira dana (gifts of robes.)
(2) Ahara-dana (gifts of food.)
(3) Sayanasana dana (gifts of bed.)
(4) Gilanapatya dana (gifts of medicines and sick-
diet.)
There is another sbrt of dana, called Sanghika. It is
divided into seven kinds, namely :
1. The gifts of robes, food, &c., to a supreme Buddha
or his immediate disciples.
2. The gifts of the above to the monks and iiuns as-
sembled together.
3. The above gifts to a monk when alone.
4. The above gifts to a nun when alone.
5. The gifts of above to a monk or nun wfren permission
has been asked before.
6. The giving of any thing to a monk when permission
has been received from the Sangha.
7. The giving of any thing to a nun under similar cir-
cumstances.
The Buddhistic Scriptures say : Of all the modes of ac-
quiring merit, that of alms-giving is the highest. It is the
principal virtue of all virtues that is necessary to acquire
Buddhahood. It is the first of the four great virtues, namely
(1) Alms-giving.
(2) Affability..
(3) Promoting the prosperity of others.
(4) Loving others like his own-self.
When the gift-givers and the receivers are all pure, the
reward is proportionately great.
HIS SANGHA. 203
When the giver possesses that which is good, but presents
in alms that which is bad, it is called dana dasee.
When he gives according to that which he has, whether
it be good or bad, it is called dana sahaya.
When he himself retains that which is bad, but presents
that which is good, it is danapatl.
The following are Ihe rewards of Dana :
1. When any one gives that which has been procured by
his own labour, he will get wealth, but no retinue.
2. When ne gives what he has received from others, he
Will have attendants, but no wealth.
3. When he gives both kinds, he will get both the above
rewards.
4. Kala Dana (proper gifts) is the giving of alms to
strangers, travellers, and sick persons, and in times of famine
and ith'e giving : of the first fruit of the garden or field. This
Dana brings in immense rewards.
5. When alms are given without thought or 'affection, or
by 'the hand of others, and when they are thrown to the
receiver disdainfully, or given after long intervals, it is called
Asat purusha dana. There is no reward for him who
gives intoxicating liquor, or alms to musicians, dancers,
songsters ; &c.
He who gives alms in a proper manner will have continued
joy ; he will be admitted to the society of the wise ; his fame
will spread on all sides and feach as high as Brahmaloka, and
; after -death : he will be born in one of the Devalokas. Alms
given in the proper manner promotes long life, persona 5 !
beauty, agreeable 'sensations, strength and knowledge.
Buddha said : " There is ho 'reward, either in this woTlcl or
the next that may not be fecieved by tne amis-giving. By
means ; of it the glories 'o ; f Sakfa and Maha Brahma, of the
Chakravarti, the 'Ra'hats, Pasi-Buddhas and the Supreme
Buddha are received."
CHAPTER V.
THE DIET.
The following regulations are enjoined regarding the diet
of a Bhikshu.
1. A monk is never to drink intoxicating liquor.
2. He is not prevented to avoid animalhood altogether,
but there are many regulations to guard against the abuse of
this previlege.
3. A monk must not take food after the sun has passed
the meridian.
4. When ghee, butter, oil, honey, sugar or other articles
used as sick-diet are received, they must not be kept in store
more than seven days.
5. Except in case of sickness, he must not take food
more than one day in a place where food is made for many.
6. Except on authorised occasions, he must not take
food expressly provided for a number of monks.
7. Except on authorised occasions, he must not take his
ordinary meal before going by invitation to any place to
receive an offering of food.
8. Except where he will share with other monks, he must
not accept more than one bowl of food.
9. When a meal is given in a house, he must not take
any food from any one else.
10. A monk must not take food of the previous day.
11. Except in sickness, he must not take ghee, butter, oil,
honey,'Sugar, fish, ffesh, milk or curds.
12. The food given in alms must be received by him
meditatively. It is not to be recieved carelessly, so that
when receiving, a portion may not fall to the ground.
13. The liquor and the solid food are to be taken
HIS SANGHA. 205
together; they must not be taken separately. The alms-
bowl must not be taken to the mouth.
14. The food is to be eaten meditatively, with care, so
that it is not scattered about. That which will come first to
the -hand must be taken.
15. The liquor and the solid food must be eaten
together.
1 6. Except in sickness, a monk must not ask for rice
and curry.
17. He must not look at another's food.
1 8. He must not eat mouthful, larger than a pigeon's
eggs, but in small round balls.
19. He must not fill his mouth, nor put his hand into his
mouth when taking food.
20. He must not talk when his mouth is full, nor allow
particles to drop from his mouth, nor swallow his food with-
out being properly musticated. He must swallow one mouth-
ful before another is taken.
21. He must not shake his hand to free it from the food.
He must not put out the tongue, nor smack his lips, nor suck
or eat with noise.
22. He must take up a vessel of water when his hand
is soiled from eating.
23. He must sit to eat his meal.
Sadharmaratnakara says : " The hours in which food is
forbidden to be eaten are called Vikala. The appointed
hours are from sun-rise to the end of the fifteenth hour, i.e.,
until the sun has passed the meridian. The food that is taken
in any other hour of the day or night is called Vikala-
bhojana,
The Bhikshus were commanded by .the Great Master to
be contented with as much as is necessary to appease his
hunger."
Visudhi Marga Sutra says: "The priest is not to eat
as a pastime, nor for pleasure, nor to make the body strong,
206 BUDDHA.
nor to render it beautiful. As the hunger is the most power-
ful of all appetites, he may eat to ward: it off. As a man and
woman, when crossing a vast desert with a child, if their
food fails them, eat the flesh of their own child in their anxiety
to escape from the desert, with similar disgust must the
priest eat his food, that he may escape from the evils of
existence."
It is said in the Visudhi Marga that there are ten modes
of defilement produced by food, namely,
(1) In going to the place where it is to be received.
(2) Its reception.
(3) The act of eating.
(4) The ingredients in which it is made.
(5) Its place of deposit.
(6) Before it is digested.
(7) After it is digested.
(8; The fruit it produces.
(9) Its discharge.
(10) The pollution from its touch.
(a) As regards the first : In the journey tftat the monk
must go to procure his food, he will have to pass along roads
that are difficult, dangerous, dirty ; he will be exposed to
wind and cold, and he will see many disagreeable objects,
such as filths of all kinds.
(b) As regards the second : As he waits in different
places to receive fo.od, insects will come from dirty places and
settle on his robes, and in his bowl. Some persons 'will tell
him to go away, while others will take no notice of him,
and in passing from place to place, he will have to encounter
foul smell and tread on many kinds of refuge.
(c) As regards th.e third : In eating the food, there will
be many things to cause shame. The tongue must do .the
work of the hand, and before the food is swallowed it must
be made of the consistence of the vomit thrown up by a dog.
HIS SANGHA. 207
(d) As regards the fourth : When the food has passed
into the stomach, it becomes foul and corrupt. Even in the
bodies of the Buddhas, there are bile, phlegm and blood.
If the bile be too abundant, the food that has been eaten
will become like oil. If the phlegm be too abundant, it will
be like the juice of a fruit. And if the blood be too abun-
dant it will become like red dye.
(e) As regards the fifth : The place to which the food
descends is not a vessel of gold. In a child, ten years of
age, it is like a privy that has been used for many years
without being cleaned, increasing in loathsomeness with the
age of the individual.
(f) As regards the sixth : When a shower in the hot
season falls upon a village inhabited by low people, it runs
into the cess at the extremity of the place, abounding with
all kinds of filth, and when the sun arises froth and bubbles
are formed upon the surface of this compass. In like manner
when food is taken into the body, in a little time it is
mixed with all kinds of impure secretions, and the digestive
fire, working upon the man, causes it to appear with a surface
, like that of the compass.
(g) As regards the seventh : When the food is digested,
it does not become gold or gem, but is changed into excreta
and urine.
(h) As regards the eighth : The food passes away from
the body by nine apertures, but principally by the intestinal
passage, and a part of it is ejected by pores of the skin.
(i) As regards the ninth : When the food is eaten, it
soils the fingers, teeth and tongue ; and even by continual
washing, it is not possible to take away the defilement and
smell.
There were a few strict regulations which superior Bhikshus
used to observe. A Bhikshu who kept these Ordinances never
received food given under any of the following circums-
tances.
34
208 BUDDHA.
(1) For the sake of an assembly of monks.
(2) That which has been given at an appointed time.
(3) That which is given to a certain number of priests.
(4) Food given on a certain number of days.
(5) Food given on the day of pooja.
(6) Food prepared for monks who are strangers.
(7) For priests who are going on a journey.
(8) For sick monks.
(9) For those Bhikshus who minister to their sick com-
panions.
(10) Food given to a temple.
CHAPTER VI.
DRESS AND DWELLING.
The following regulations were enjoined for the dress of
the Bhikshu.
1. He is permitted to wear three robes, called (a)
Sanghatiya, (b) Uttarasanggaya and (c) Anatara-Vasakaya.
2. He is not allowed to keep an extra robe for more than
ten days.
3. The whole of all the three robes he must always keep
with him.
4. When cloth is received for a new robe, it must be
made up without delay.
5. Except, in case a robe has been stolen or accidently
destroyed, he is not to ask robe from another.
6. No Bhikshu is to induce any one to collect or to pay
money for the purchase of his robes.
HIS SANGHA. 209
7. The monk must not accept money from the messenger
of a king or other noble personages for the purchase of a
robe.
8, When the Bhikshu wants a robe, he may go thrice to
a person and remind him of his want, but it is preferable to
try to get it in silence.
g. A monk must not seek the extra robe allowed for the
rainy season before the last month of the hot season.
10. When a monk has given a robe to another, he must
not afterwards try to regain it or have it taken away.
11. He must not la.sk for cotton thread, and then give it
to a weaver to be made into cloth.
12. The time for offering a robe being at the end of the
rainy season, the monk must not receive a robe more than
ten days before that period.
13. When a monk receives a new robe, he must not
disfigure it.
14. He must not give his robe to another.
15. No cloth shall be used as a covering for a sore that
is more than two spans in breadth and four in length.
1 6. The monk must not use in the rainy season a robe
larger than six spans in length and two and half in breadth.
17. He is never to use a robe as large or larger than the
robe of Buddha.
. 1 8. He must wear the under-garment in such a way as it
covers the body completely from the navel to the knee.
With the upper-robe the body is to be covered from the
shoulder to the heels.
19. When a monk has forfitted a robe on account of
having kept it beyond the prescribed period, he is to deliver
it up to a Sangha.
The following are the nine objections to the dress of the
aymen that the great master thought of in his mind.*
* See Pujawaliya Sutta.
210 BUDDHA,
1. It is too magnificent.
2. It must be got from others,
3. It soon becomes soiled.
4. It is soon worn away.
5. It cannot be procured at wilL
6. It is a thing of value.
7. It may be stolen.
8. It enervates the body of the wearer.
9. It gives rise to evil desire.
The following are the twelve advantages in wearing the
ascetic yellow robe.
1. It is plain.
2. It can be got without applying to others.
3. It can be made by a monk with his own hands,
4. It does not soon become soiled,
5. Thieves will not notice it.
6. It can be easily procured in any place,
7. It becomes the wearer.
8. It does not give rise to evil desire,
9. It does not cause covetousness,
10. It can be easily put on.
11. It requires no trouble to procure it.
12. When evil desire has been destroyed, it does not
cause its reproduction.
Visudhi Marga Sutra says : " The robe is to be put on by
the priest as if it were a bandage to cover a sore, or a cloth to
cover a skeleton, and he must carry the alms-bowl as if it
were viand of medicines. There are some priests who put
on the robe as young men or even as lewd women to attract
attention, but this is contrary to the precepts. It may be put
on to keep off the snow, as by extreme cold disease is pro-
duced and the mind is prevented from exercising continued
thought. Its principal advantage, however, is to cover the
shame of the priest ; other benefits are occasional, but this is
without intermission."
HIS SANGHA. 211
So much for the dress of a Bhikshu. For the dwelling,
residence in a forest was never insisted upon by Buddha, and
his Bhikshus lived in Viharas, and when on tour in camps in
great numbers together. In fact, it was rather insisted that
Buddhist Bhikshus should never live alone.
The apparent contradiction between the command given
to the people to build Viharas and the advice given to the
priests to dwell in solitude struck king Malinda, and he asked
Nagasena to explain it.* The great monk said : " The beast
of the forest has no settled dwelling ; he eats his food here
and there, and lies down to sleep in whatever place he may
happen to be, and the faithful priests must in these respects
be like him. But still from the building of Viharas, there
are two advantages, namely, (i) It is an act that has been
praised by all the Buddhas, and they who perform it will be
released from sorrow and attain Nirvana ; (2) when Viharas
are built, the priestesses have an opportunity of seeing the
priests for receiving instructions. Thus there is a reward
for those who build dwellings for the Bhikshus, but the faith-
ful monk will not prefer such a place for his residence.
It is said in the Pujawaliya Sutta that Buddha once re-
flected that there were the following eight objections to reside
in a house :
1. It causes much trouble in its creation.
2. It requires continual repair.
3. Some more exalted personages may require it.
4. The persons living in it may be numerous.
5. It causes the body to become tender.
6. It affords opportunity for the commission of evil
deeds.
7. It brings in the coveteous thought, namely " This is
mine."
8. It hurbours lice, bugs and other vermin.
He then reflected that there were the following ten ad-
vantages in residing under a tree :
212 BUDDHA.
1. Such a place can be found with ease.
2. It can be found in any locality.
3. On seeing the decay of the leaves, the Bhikshu is
reminded of other impermanences.
4. It does not cause any covetous thought.
5. It does not afford any opportunity for evil deeds.
6. It is not received from another.
7. It is the residence of the Devas.
8. It requires no fence around it.
9. It promotes health.
10. As the Bhikshu can meet with it any where, it is not
necessary for him to think that he will have to return to the
place he previously occupied.
Patimokha lays down the following regulations for the
dwelling of the members of the Sangha :
1. That the residence of the Bhikshu, if it be built for
himself alone, shall be of twelve spaces in length and seven
in breadth.
2. The site must be chosen in a place that is free from
vermin, snakes, insects, wild beasts, &c.
3. There must be a path around it wide enough for the
passage of a cart.
4. Before possession is taken, a Chapter of monks must
see that it is not larger than the prescribed limits.
Oldenbergh thus summarises the regulations that were
enjoined to the Bhikshus as regards their diet, dress and
dwelling* :
'' The dwelling, food, and clothing of the monks are laid
down in detailed regulations. The character of these rules
is very decided : the abstaining from every thing which im-
plies comfortable enjoyment, being at one's ease in worldly
possessions, is just as urgently demanded as on the other
side excesses of ascetic practice are wholly eschewed. Here
* Buddha, p. 358 360.
HIS SANGHA. 213
we find none of those strange features with which a fanciful
enquirer has recently made up the picture of what he calls
original Buddhism ; a society of ascetics who were allowed
to live under no roof, but to pass their whole life under the
open heavens sitting in cremationy rounds or under trees,
whose whole appearance bears upon it the stamp of deformity,
impurity, * in truth all negligence in outer appearance, speci-
ally in clothing, is most strictly tabooed. In the case of younger
monks, who are placed under the superintendance of an elder
brother, the latter has to pay attention to those committed
to his care ; he is required to see that they make their clothes
right, dye them, and wash them properly. The sanitation
and ventilation of the quarters occupied by the monks, the
cleaning of furniture, the washing of all articles that require
it are prescribed with the greatest minuteness in the works
on the rules of the Order. Touching the greater or lesser
degree of abstinence from the necessities and comforts of
regular life, a certain freedom is allowed to the individual tx>.
allow scope for his individual likes and dislikes. Whoever
wished might take a vow to live on the food which he might
obtain on his begging-expedition from house to house, but
no one was forbidden to accept the invitations of pious lay-
men to dine, and we read that Buddha himself accepted such
invitations on numberless occasions. Whoever wished might
patch together rags, which he had collected, to make himself
a monk's yellow garment ; wondering monks who happened
to come to a cremation ground used perhaps to gather there
the shreds from which they made their clothes. But no one
was forbidden to dress himself in the garments which laymen
presented to the monks. Buddha said, " I grant you, O
monks, that he who wears clothes given by the laity may
also wear clothes made up from gathered rags. If you have
a fancy for both, O monks, I have no objection to it. I>
* See Wassiljew page 15.
214 ' BUDDHA.
Whoever wished might dwell in a forest or in the caves of
the mountains, but no one was forbidden to take up his abode
near a village or a town. With sticks and grass, gathered
in a forest, every monk could easily construct a hut for
himself, and laymen not unfrequently even lent assistance
or caused building operations to be carried on at their ex-
pense for the Order, so that monks' houses i.e., Viharas,
detached dwellings or a complex whole with assembly rooms,
council-chambers, dining halls, structures for worm-baths
and ablutions, as well for the Order in its entirety as for the
members individually, were at their disposal. On the whole
we have undoubtedly to picture to ourselves monks, those
even who had chosen a life in the forests,* dwelling rather in
huts or houses than under the open sky, perchance under the
shade of a tree. Even wanderer had as a rule a shelter at
their disposal. Novices and scholars used generally to go on
ahead and see that quarters were prepared for their teachers
among the communities whose places of residence they passed
through."
* Cullavaga VIII. 6. Describes the poor ^dwellings of the monks
living in the forest. In Suttavivanga II. I. we read the description
of the stately^Vihara that the monk Udayi built in the forest. There
were monks in rags living under the canopy of heaven, as well as hand-
somely robed monks living in palatial Viharas even during the life time
of Buddha.
CHAPTER VII.
t
THE THIRTEEN ORDINANCES.
Every Bhikshu, every Sramana, every member of the
Sangha, was expected to obey strictly the observances laid
down in the celetrated Thirteen Ordinances. They are as
follows:
The FIRST ORDINANCE: It is called Punsukulikanga.
Pansu means earth, kula means heap, anga means body, that
is one who wears clothes picked up from earth. A Bhikshu
who keeps this Ordinance must resolve, " I will not receive
the^'garment given by a house-holder. I will receive it only
according to Precepts." The Precepts forbid using clothes
that are not found under any of the following circums-
tances :
1. The cloth that has been thrown into a burial ground,
or thrown away in the bazar, or thrown out of a window.
2. The cloth used for the purification of woman at child
birth.
3. The cloth thrown away by a person after bathing.
4. The cloth thrown away by persons who have carried
a corpse.
5. The cloth eaten by cattle, white ants or rats.
6. The cloth that has been partially burnt and thrown
away.
7. The cloth that is torn at the end.
8. The shred and remnant of a cloth.
9. The cloth that has been put up as flags by persons
who have sailed away in a vessel.
10. The flag tied in a battle-field after the fight is over.
.11. The cloth put on an ant-hill with an offering to a
demon.
35
2l6 ' BUDDHA.
12. The cloth that once belonged to a monk, or that has
*
been used at the anointing of a king.
13. The cloth that has been left on a wayside, the claim-
ant being no where.
14. The cloth cast on shore by the waves.
15. The cloth given by the Devas.
All the Thirteen Ordinances can be kept in three ways,
namely (i) superior, (2) middle and (3) inferior.
The superior way of the first Ordinance allows the cloth
placed in any place by another monk. The inferior allows
the cloth placed at his feet by another monk. The cloth
given by a householder makes a Bhikshu transgress this
Ordinance,
The SECOND ORDINANCE ; It is called Techiwarakanga,
meaning one who uses three robes. The three robes are the
one under-cloth, one upper-cloth, one that covers whole of
the body. He who observes this Ordinance connot possess
more than three robes at one time. If he possesses a fourth,
this Ordinance is broken.
He who keeps the superior Ordinance may put on one
robe when the other two are being dyed if he be in a village,
but if he be in a forest, he must remain naked. The middle
Ordinance allows one robe to be worn when the other two
are being dyed ; the inferior allows the robe of another to be
put on when his robe is being dyed.
The THIRD ORDINANCE : It is called Pindapatikanga
meaning one who supports himself by morsels of food. He
who keeps this Ordinance cannot receive food which has
been given under any of the following circumstances : For
the sake of an assembly of monks, that which, has been given
at an appointed time or by invitation, that which has been
given to a certain number of monks, food given on a certain
number of days in each half-moon, food prepared for monks
who are strangers.
HIS SANGHA. 217
The FOURTH ORDINANCE ; It is called Sapandanachari-
kanga, meaning pne who does not pass over any house at his
begging excursions. He who keeps this Ordinance is forbid-
den to pass by any house however mean or poor when he
goes out with his alms-bowl in hand.
The FIFTH ORDINANCE : It is called Eakasanakanga,
meaning one who eats at one place. He who keeps this
Ordinance must not eat food in two three different places ;
he must remain on one seat till he finishes his meal. It is
not proper to rise until the meal is finished. If the monk has
sat down, but not begun to eat, he may rise ; but if he has
begun to eat, he must not rise ; and if he rises, he must not sit
down to eat again. He who keeps its superior Ordinance
cannot receive more food than what he had when he first sat
down, whatever be the quantity. He who keeps the middle
Ordinance may receive any thing given to him as long as he
eats. The inferior Ordinance allows one to receive more
food, even when he has finished, provided he has not risen.
The SIXTH ORDINANCE : It is called Pattapindikanga,
meaning one of one vessel. He who keeps this Ordinance
must eat from one vessel only. If he has liquid and solid
food, he must take first the one and then the other, but he
must not put two in two separate vessels. He, who keeps
the superior Ordinance, may throw away the refuse of sugar-
cane when he has sucked the juice, but all other things that
are in the bowl he must eat. He must not break flesh,
cakes or any other eatables either with his teeth, hands, or
an instrument in order to divide it. He, who keeps the
middle Ordinance, may break his food with one hand whilst
holding the bowl with the other. He who keeps the inferior
Ordinance may break any thing put into his alms-bowl.
The SEVENTH ORDINANCE : It is called Khalapachha-
bhattikanga, meaning one who does not eat after a fixed
time. He, who keeps this Ordinance, cannot eat any more
after he has met with that which is Akapa, i.e., if he has
2l8 BUDDHA.
any reason to refuse that which is brought to .him, when he
is eating ; or if he be presented with that which is improper
to be eaten from its loathsomeness or otherwise. He who
keeps the superior Ordinance may only eat that which is in
his mouth and nothing more, although even the first hand-
ful of food that he takes is Akapa. He who keeps the
middle Ordinance may eat that which is Akapa and nothing
more. He who keeps the inferior Ordinance may eat as long
as he remains on the seat.
The EIGHTH ORDINANCE: It is called Aranyakanga,.
meaning one living in the forest. He, who keeps this Ordi-
nance, must not live near a village, but must remain in the
forest. If there be a boundary to the village or a wall, he
must remain as far from it as a strong man can throw a stone.
And if there be no boundary, he must reckon from the
place where the women of the last house are in the habit
of throwing water. If there be a single waggon or a single
house, that must be considered as a village. If there be men
or men who are intending to come, all the same it is the village.
If a superior monk be ill and what is necessary for him can-
not be procured in the forest, he may be taken to a village,,
but the monk, who accompanies him, must return before the:
sun rises next morning, even if his superior be dangerously
ill. He who keeps the superior Ordinance must always live
in the forest. He who keeps the middle Ordinance may re-
main in a village during the was. He who keeps the inferior
Ordinance may live four months of the hot and four months
of the rainy season in a village.
The NINTH ORDINANCE : It is called Rukhamulikanga,
meaning living under a tree. He who keeps this Ordinance
must not live under a roof, but always at the root of a tree.
But he must not live under the following trees :
1. A tree at the limit of a country.
2. A tree in which a Deva resides and who receives
fferings from the people.
HIS SANGHA. 219
3." A tree " from which gum is taken or eatable fruits are
gathered.
4. A tree in which there are owls.
5. A hollow tree.
6. A tree in the midst of a Vihara.
He, who keeps its superior Ordinance, must not live in a
place that is pleasant or agreeable. He, who keeps the
middle Ordinance, may live in a place prepared by others.
He who keeps the inferior Ordinance may call a Sramanera
to help him in preparing the place. None of these can live
in a house.
The TENTH ORDINANCE: It is called Abhokasikanga,
meaning living in an open space. He, who keeps this Ordi-
nance, must live under the canopy of heaven ; he must not
live under a house or even a tree. He may enter a Vihara
to hear bana or to say bana\ he must not live Ihere. He who
keeps its superior Ordinance must not live near a tree or
rock or a house, but in the open space ; he can put up his
robe as a screen. He, who keeps the middle Ordinance, may
live under an overhanging rock. He who keeps the inferior
Ordinance may live in a cave.
The ELEVENTH ORDINANCE: It is called Sesanikanga,
meaning leaving in a cemetery. He who keeps this Ordi-
nance' must always live in a cemetery, and it must not be
near a village. He must not construct there a dwelling place.
He must not stay away from the place even for a single
night. He must always be there at mid-night. He must not
enter a village or a house. He who keeps its superior Ordi-
nance must always live in a place where there is the burning
of corpses, the stench, the weeping for the dead. He who
keeps the middle must remain in the place where there is
any of the above three. He who keeps the inferior may live
in a place which was a cemetery for sometime.
The TWELFTH ORDINANCE : It is almost the same as the
above.
220 BUDDHA.
THE THIRTEENTH ORDINANCE : It is called Nesajjakanga,
meaning one who always remains in a sitting posture. He
who keeps this Ordinance must not lie down to sleep. He
must not recline at full length, but may walk, stand or sit. He
who keeps the superior Ordinance may not lean on any place
or make his robe into a seat or take hold of a piece of cloth
fastened to a tree. He who keeps the middle Ordinance
may take recourse to any of the above. He who keeps the
inferior Ordinance may sit to his convenience. But none is?
allowed to lie.
The above will clearly indicate how austere was the life
of a Buddhist Sramana, but none was compelled to do any
of the above. All were free.
CHAPTER VIII.
REGULATIONS AND THEIR ORIGIN.
The" life of a Bhikshu, the life of a Buddhist Sramana is 3
life of long discipline. The great Order of Buddha is full of
Regulations. They were too numerous to mention here. In
fact the minutest detail about the way how a Bhikshu should
lead his life has been elaborately laid down. We have
mentioned in the previous chapters only a few of the import-
ant and will conclude by mentioning a few more in this 1
chapter. .How they were originated would be dwelt with-
later on.
Sleep : According to Dinachariya, a Bhikshu is to arise
before day-light. Every monk is enjoined to follow the
example of the great Master. Buddha slept during one-third
: of the third watch. In the first watch he preached or talked
HIS SANGHA. 221
With his followers on religious topics. In the second watch
be answered the questions put to him by the Devas ; in the
first division of the third he slept, in the second he used to
be in meditation, and in the third he looked abroad with his
divine eye to find out whom to preach the Truth.
Tonsure : A Bikshu from the commencement of his
Sramana life must shave his head. He is provided with a
razor as one of the eight articles he can possess, so that he
can regularly keep his head shaved. According to the
Precepts he cannot allow his hair to grow to a greater
length than two inches, but the custom is to shave once a
week.
Obeidience : The following rules have been laid down in
the Patimokha.
1. A monk must not bring a groundless charge against
another monk.
2. He must not charge another monk for trifling matter.
3. He is charged not to create dissensions or to perpe-
tuate dissensions amongst the monks.
4. He is not to assist any other in any dissension.
5. He must not refuse admonitions.
6. If spoken to on account of any evil conduct, he must
not quarrel and impute personality.
7. He must not use contemptuous speech, or slander any
monk,
8. Unless empowered by the Sangha, he must not
(declare to others the crimes of any monk.
9. He is not to go to a place to annoy a monk and
for him to leave that place.
10. He must not from anger expel a monk or cause him
to be expelled.
n. He must not act unkindly or do any thing that
would give the least pain or cause the least displeasure to any
monk.
2.22 BUDDHA.
12. He must not hide or cause to be hidden even in sport
any article belonging to any monk.
13. He is not to bring forward a matter already decided.
14. He must implicitly obey the Laws binding on all the
monks.
15. He is not to be angry with. another monk and push
him away.
1 6. He is not to suggest doubts against another monk.
17. He. must not listen, to other's conversations or
quarellings.
18. A young monk in company with an elder one must
always show him proper respect.
. 19. He must not jostle him or go in front of him.
20. He must not sit on a higher seat, or talk when
near him, or move his hands and feet when talking \vith
him.
. . 20. He must not walk before him with his sandals on,
or to walk in the same place at the sametime.
21. The Superiors must not be harsh with theyoungers.
None should interfere in any way with any others.
Discipline : No Sangha could be formed if the monks
present are all under censure for the same crime. In that
case they must be absolved by some one who is not
guilty. But if they are guilty of different faults, they can
absolve each other and then form the Sangha.
When a monk has been guilty of any of the thirteen'
crimes that involve suspension and penance and shall [conceal
the fact, upon its discovery he is placed under restraint as
many days as he has concealed it ; then for six nights he is
subjected to a kind of penance; and after this period he may
be absolved by a Sangha in which at last twenty monks must
be,.present.
The matters brought before a Sangha must be deliberately
Investigated and the sentence is to be determined . by the
HIS SANGHA. 223
majority. The punishments are reprimand, forfeiture,
penance, suspension and exclusion.
Such was the grand way in which the Great Order of the
Greatest Man of the world was conducted. But were all
these Regulations made by Buddha in a day or in a month ?
H-OW did they originate ?
King Malinda asked the celebrated monk Nagasena
thus : " Sire, if the Rishis, by their own intuitive know-
ledge, could tell at once the nature of all diseases and to
prescribe remedies for them, why did not Buddha, who by
his divine eyes must have seen beforehand the faults of his
disciples, forbid the commission of such 'and such things
previous to their occurence."
In fact when Buddha first preached his great religion in
Benares, he had not established any thing about the Sangha.
It was formed and established long afterwards, and at its
first inception all these rules and regulations were not laid
down. The reason thus explains the great monk
Nagasena : " It was foreseen by Buddha at the commence-
ment that there were 150 Precepts it would be proper to
enforce. But he reflected thus : " If I at once enforce the
observance of all these Precepts, the people will say In this
religion there are a great number of things that .it 'is
necessary to observe. It is indeed a most difficult thing to
be a Bhikshu ; thus they would be afraid. Those who would
think of becoming a monk would hesitate, they will not
accept the Truth. Thus will they be born in a place of tor-
ment. It will therefore be better to issue a Precept forbid-
ding an act when that fault has been committed."
And the Great Master thus, when a fault came to his
notice, forbade it. Thus were laid down one after the
other all the rules and regulations ef the great Order. Each
particular incident brought about a Precept. We shall give a
few examples,
36
224 BUDDHA.
i. There was a Bhikshu named Sudina. He, at the-
earnest solicitation of his mother-in-law, lay with the Woman
who was his wife before he became a monk in order to give
birth to a child. There was at that time no Precepts prohi-
biting such an act. When this came to the notice of Buddha,
he reproached the monk and enacted the following law, de-
claring it to be universally binding upon those who would
renounce the world.
fl What priest soever shall have intercourse with a woman
is overcome and excluded"
2. Under the impression that intercourse with a woman
is prohibited, a Bhikshu named Amita acted improperly in a
forest infested with monkeys. He was removed from the
Order and Buddha declared :-
" Intercourse of any and every sort is prohibited "
3. At one time some Bhikshus without formally cutting
their connection with the Order lived as house-holders. After-
wards on account of many afflictions and domestic bereave-
ments, they desired to be re-admitted. Buddha thus
enacted :
"Any Bhikshu who has engaged to live according to the Laws
given to the Sangha, if he shall without having made
confession of his weakness, become a lay, hold inter-
course with females of what kind so ever, is overcome
and excluded." '
Except such, all others if they again desired were permit-
ted to rejoin.
4. On one occasion when Goutama Buddha and his
monks were in Viranja, a famine prevailed so extensively
that the Bhikshus were not able to procure any food when
going from house to house. The monk Maggalayana asked
HIS SANGHA. 225
permission to exert his supernatural powers in order to ob-
tain food, but Buddha declared :
" Supernatural powers should never be attempted or ex-
hibited by any Bhikshu"
5. At one time Jivaka, the physician of the king of
Magadha, presented to Buddha two magnificent robes, but
Buddha thought of thieves and so told Ananda, who cut them
into thirty pieces and then sewed them together in five
divisions. On seeing this Buddha made the following Law.
"Bhikshus should have only three robes at a time and they
should always be made of thirty pieces of cloth."
6. Once a Bhikshu lived at a place called Isigilla near
Rajgriha. Having his hut thrice broken down by the people,
he made a house entirely of clay, he originally being
a potter. Collecting grass, &c., he burnt it thoroughly. But
when Buddha saw it, he reproved him and declared :
"Burnt houses are never to be made by a Bhikshu."
7. A certain monk wishing to ruin another Bhikshu
named Dabo was unable to accomplish his object without
resorting to a mean trick, for Dabo's conduct was blameless.
He one day saw a flock of goat and named a he-goat Dabo
and a she-goat Nittya, who was excluded from the Order.
Then he declared that he saw Dabo and Nittya engaged in an
improper act. An enquiry was made, and his meanness was
found out. Whereupon Buddhai enacted :
"No Bhikshu should take hold of trifles and found a
direct or Indirect charge against any monk."
8. At one time there was a monk who was under the in-
fluence of passion. As he was unable to maintain his purity,
he thought it better to die than to continue his life. He
therefore threw himself from the precepice near the rocfc
Gyakuta. But it so happened that he fell upon a man who
226 BUDDHA.
was cutting bamboos at the foot of the Jiill. The monk eseapeef
but the man was killed. He then went and told Buddha
what had happened. Buddha reproved him, but declared
that he had not transgressed by killing the man, as his act
was unintentional. But he enacted this Law :
" No Bhiksku should ever think of committing suicide, for
it is a great sin."
9. In the city of Vesali, there was a monk who one day,,
on going to beg, sat down upon a chair that was covered
with a cloth underneath which there was a child who was'
killed. About the sametime there was a Bhikshu who re--
ceived food mixed with poison which he gave to another
monk not knowing that it was poisoned. That monk died.
Both of these two Bhikshus went to Buddha, and in mucft
sorrow informed him what had happened. The Great Teacher
declared that the monk who gave poisoned food to another
monk was innocent, as he knew not it was poisoned, but he
who sat on the chair and killed the child was excluded from-
the Order, because he did not take proper care to know what
was on the chair underneath the cloth and also because he
sat down without being asked by the house-holder.
Thus were laid down the Laws one after the other as each
incident came to the notice of Buddha. They were multipled
till they grew numerous during his long life and forty years
of his mission. All these rules and regulations, all these
Laws and Precepts, were collected and recited by Upali in-
the first Council of the monks which was held immediately after
the death of the Great Master. They became known by the
name of Vinaya, one of the Three Pitakas. Of the five sec-
tions into which the Vinaya Pitaka is divided, the first and
second, namely Parajika and Pachita contain a code of
Ordinances relative to crimes and misdemeanors for the
members of the Order. The third and the fourth, namely
Mahavagga and Kulavagga> contain miscellaneous rules and
HFS SANGHA,
regulation's relative to Ordination, Was &c. The fifth* Pari-
vanapata contains' a summary of the whole..*
CHAPTER IX,
THE CULTS.
Colts In its proper sense Buddhism- has none. Olden-
berg says : " For a faith which looks- upon man's own heart
as the sole place in which decision between- happiness and
ruin can be caried into effect, what the lip utters and what the
hand does can have a value only in so far as it is concomit-
ant of a symbol corresponding to that internal process."
* The Precepts and Prohibitions contained fn the Parajjka and
Pachitta 227 in number ar,e collected together in a work called Pati-
mokha. The subjects of investigation are arranged in the book in the
following Order.
1. Parajika, 4 in number referring to crimes that are punished by
permanent expulsion.
2. Sanghadisesa, thirteen in number that require suspension and
penance, but not permanent expulsion.
3. Aniyata-dhamma, two in number that require expulsion, suspen-
sion, or penance according to circumstances.
4. Nirsagiva-Pachittiya Dhamma, thirty in number requiring for-
feiture of such articles as the monks are permitted to possess.
5. Pachittiya Dhamma, ninety-two in number requiring confession
and absolution.
6. Patidesani Dhamma t four in number involving reprimand.
7. Sikhya Dhamma, seventy five in number, containing various
prohibition s, inculcating certain observances and proprieties.
8. Adhikarana Samata Dhamma, seven in number, the rules to b&
observed in conducting judicial investigations relative to the conduct"
of monks. See Gogerlys 1 Essays.
228 - BUDDHA. :
Rites and Ritualism therefore Buddhism has none. Bud-
dhism is a religion without prayer. What then were their reli-
gious acts ? If there were any, they were extremely few. The
most prominent being the " Fast Day." Twice in the month,
at Full-moon and at New-moon day, the monks of each
district, wherever they might happen to be, came together to
celebrate the " Fast Day."
The eldest Sramana among the monks of a district called
the meeting, and every monk residing within its jurisdiction
was bound to be present. Under no circumstances, the Fast
Day could be celebrated in the absence of even one monk.
Only in the case of insanity, a monk can be excused. If
a Bhikshu was ill and he could not send a monk to give an
assurance of his purity from the transgressions, the Sangha
zV e. all the monks assembled, must go to his bed-side.
By the light of a torch, the monks took their seats, no lay
man, no novice, no women could be present on any pretence
When all were seated, the oldest of the monks recited in a
loud voice :
" Reverend Sirs, let the Sangha hear me. To day is the.
Fast Day, the fifteenth of the half month. If the Sangha is
ready, let the Sangha keep Fast Day and have the formula of
confession recited. What must the Sangha do first ? Report
the declaration of .purity, reverend Sirs, I shall recite the
formula of Confession."
All the members of the Sangha present replied : " We all
who are here present, hear and-consider it well."
The oldest of the monks said : " Whoever has commited
a transgression, let him confess it. Where there is no
transgression, let him be silent. From your silence I shall
infer that you are clear, reverend Sirs. As an individual man,
to whom a question is put, is supposed to answer, so is it in
the case of an assembly like the present, when a question has
been put three times. A Bhikshu, who on the question being
put three times, does not confess a fault which he has com-
HIS SANGHA, 22g
mitted and which he remembers is guilty of an intentional
lie. But intentional lying, reverend Sirs, brings in annihila-
tion, thus has the Exalted One said. Therefore, a Bhikshu,
who has committed a fault, remembers it, and seeks to be
pure therefrom, is to confess his fault. For what he confesses
will be light in him."
If every body remained silent, the leader said again, "If
a monk who has chosen the exercises and the fellowship of
the Bhikshus, has carnal intercourse with any creature what-
ever, down even to a beast, without renouncing these exer-
cies and without admitting his weakness, then this involves
a defeat and expulsion from the Order."
After a silence, he turned thrice towards all the monks
present and said :
" Here now I ask the venerable so and so :^-r-Are you free
from this transgression ? And for the second time I ask, are
you free ? And for the third time, I ask, are you free ?"
If all remained silent, he said : " Free are the venerables
from this,^-therefore they are silent. So I take it."
Next in similar terms he mentioned of the three other
gravest sins, namely theft, murder, and false assumption of
Rahatship and asked the same questions.
Then in similar terms he went on enumerating other
minor transgressions, for example :
" The monk who lowers himself to touch a woman's
person with corrupt thoughts while he clasps her hand or
clasps her hair or touches one part or other of her body, the
Sangha inflicts upon him degradation."
" The monk who in any house belonging to the Sanghay
knowingly so arranges his quarters that he thereby incom-
modes a monk who has come before him and says within,
himself, who finds it too narrow, may go out, having just this
and nothing else in view, he is guilty of sin."
Thus the Elder went on asking guilty or not guilty on
every precept and regulation of Patimokha, and each monk
4230 BUDDHA.
3iad to confess if lie was guilty. These Fast Days were held
twice every month.
Beside these Fast Days, there was another annual cere-
mony called Pavarana (invitations). When the three months
of the rainy seasons (was} were over, the monks of each district
who had passed this time in common retirement assembled one
day all 'in a meeting in which every one from the oldest to
the youngest sitting in a reverential posture, raising his
-clasped hands, asked his fellow monks ;
"Reverend Sirs, I invite the Order, if ye have seen any
thing on my part or have heard any thing or have any suspi-
cion about me, have pity on me, Reverend Sirs, and speak,
if I see it I shall atone for it"
These are all the public ceremonies that the Buddhist
Bhikshus knew. Whatever went beyond this, the keeping
up of instructive meditation and religious concentration is
left wholly an unfettered action of the individual monk.
But for the lay disciples, visiting Holy places, worship-
ping the Bo-tree and adoring the relics of Buddha with
flowers and other offerings were allowed. In fact, a lay-
Buddhist had no Buddhist Religion to follow. He was asked
to lead a good life, that is all. For religious ceremonies, or
-festivals, he had the entertainments of Buddha and his Sangha ;
for his religious acts, he had the alms-giving to the monks.
Buddha's religion was not for lay-men ; but lay-men found
in it some thing that they never found any where and flocked
in thousands to become Buddhists. What was the mystery ?
It was nothing else but that the simple teaching of great
Buddha made all men good.
Four places are mentioned in the Maha-Pari-Nibban
Sutta as deserving of honour and worship by the believing
lay-men, namely, ( i ) the place where Buddha was born, (2)
the place where he attained Nirvana, (3) the place where he
set in motion the Wheel of Law, and (4) the place in which
he breathed his last.
HIS SANGHA. 23 r
Buddha said : "For he, O Ananda, who dies in the Faith
on the pilgrimage to such holy places, when his body
dissolves, is beyond death, walks the good road, and is born
again in the heavenly place."
How these pilgrimages were honoured and worshipped^
we got a glimpse from the Sacred Suttas. "At the great
Tree of Knowledge (Bo-tree at Buddha Gaya) of the Buddha,
there was a festival celebrated. Then I took vessels of
many kinds and offered sweet-smelling water. When the
Tree of Knowledge was to be bathed, a great rainfall began.
At the supremely holy foot of the Tree of Knowledge of the
Buddha, I planted carefully with a cheerful heart a banner."
Even the body of the Great Master he did not leave as a
burden or a relic to his monks. On his death-bed he said : -
"Let not the honours due to the body of Tathagatha trouble
you, O Ananda. There are wise men among the nobles, the
Brahmans and the citizens who believe in Tathagatha ; they
will do honours to the body of the Tathagatha,"
IOC-
X.
SRAMANAS, PAST AND PRESENT.
We have briefly sketched the great Order of Buddha ;
we have given an idea what it was like; we have men-
tioned some of its precepts and laws, rules and regula-
tions ; but what sort of men were its members, and how did
they live and work? What sort of men were the Sra-
manas of old, and again what sort of men are they now ?
During the lifetime of the great Master and many years
after his death, the Sramanas, the Bhikshus of the Buddhist
37
232 BUDDHA..
Order, the followers of Buddha, diligently attempted to
follow the foot-steps of their, illustrious Teacher. They lived
as he lived,, they worked as he worked; in fact the best and
the greatest of them were but the prototypes of Buddha.
Theragatha thus graphcally describes the life of a Sramana
who adhered to the stricter Ordinances :-. " In solitude and
quiet where the wild beasts have their dwelling there
let the abode of the monk, be, that he may be able to
dwell in retirement and .seclusion. On dung-hills, on cre-
mation grounds, and on the streets, let him seek wherewith
he may prepare for himself clothing ; rough let the garment
be which he wears. With submissive air let him move,
watching the doors of his senses and keeping himself in
check, from house to house in order to beg for food. Let
him be content also with poor food, let him not desire any
thing else, many savoury things. He who is fond of savoury-
things, his spirit is not fond of abstraction. Needing con-
tent, apart from the world, let the wise man live; lay men
and anchorites both let him avoid. Like a dumb or a deaf
man let him not speak, who is wise, at an unseasonable
moment in the Order."
But this Law was for those only who lived an austere life.
Their number was a few, and Buddha never asked any body
to lead such a strict and severe life. His life was simple,
and not austere and severely ascetic. The majority of his
followers also like him lived a simple, honest, pure and
virtuous life.
This was the life of the great Master : " From year to
year the change from a. period of wandering to a period of rest,
and retirement repeated itself for Buddha and his disciples.,
In the month of June, when after the dry scorching. heat, .o
the Indian summer, clouds came up in towering masses, and
the rolling thunders heralded the approach of the rain-bearing,
monsoon, Buddha and his disciples prepared .for retirement
aud ipass.ed the was. in solitude and meditation." ..':
HIS SANGHA. 233.
The rains being over, the itinerant began. Buddha went
from town to town and village to village, always attended
by a great concourse of disciples. In the main streets
through which the religious pilgrims passed, the believers, who
dwelt near, had taken ample care to provide shelter to which
Buddha and his disciples might resort, or where monks who
professed the doctrine dwelt. There was sure to be found
lodging for the night in their abodes, and even if no other
cover was to be had, there was no want of mango or banyan
trees at the foot of which the band might halt for the
night.
The most Important head-quarters during these wander-
ings in which Buddha's pilgrim life was passed, are the Capital
cities of the kings of Kosala and Magadha, Sravasti, and
Rajgriha. In the immediate neighbourhood of these towns,
the community possessed numerous pleasant gardens in which
Viharas have been built. Here the masses of the population,
lay as well as monastic, flocked together to see him and to
hear him preach. Here were held the combats of the dialecti-
cians, and theological disputants, here were given the bans.
If the day be not filled up by an invitation, Buddha under- .
took his circuit of the village or town in quest of alms. He .
as well as his disciples rose early, when the light of dawn .
appeared in the sky, and spent the early moments in spiritual ,
exercises or in conversation with the disciples. He thea
proceeded with his companions towards the town.
When he had returned from his begging excursions and
had eaten his meal, there followed, if not sleep, at any rate
peaceful retirement. Resting in a quiet chamber, or better
still in the co'ol shades of dense foliage, he passed the sultry
close hours of the afternoon in solitary contemplation, until
the evening came on and drew him once more from holy
silence to the bustling concourse of friend and foe."*
* Oldenberg's Buddha, pages 141150.
234 BUDDHA.
Such, was the life of the great Master and such was" the
life of his great followers who. carried his religion across moun- s
tains and seas and made his name adored and worshipped
in the distant Tibet and Tartary, China, and Japan, in Ceylon,
Siam and Burma.
Do they still exist? The time was when the religion of
Buddha spread over the major portion of the earth, but
in course of time, his religion either disappeared or was
merged in other religions, such as those of Persia,
Afganistan, Palestine and India. But still he is adored
in Nepal, Bhutan, Tartary, Mongolia, Manchuria, China>
Japan, Siam, Burma, Ceylon, and many other countries.
Still he is adored and worshipped by no less than one-third -
of the human race. But do his Bhikshus, the Sramanas
of his great Order, still exist ?
CEYLON : Spence Hardy writes : " In nearly all the
villages and towns of Ceylon that are inhabited by the
Singhalese or Kandians, the priests of Buddha are frequently
seen, as they have to receive their food by taking the alms-
bowl from house to house. They usually walk along the road
at a measured space, without taking much notice of that
which passes around. They have no covering for the head
and are generally bare-footed. In the right hand they carry
a fan, which they hold up before the face when in the pre-
sence of women so that the existence of evil thoughts into the
mind may be prevented. The bowl is slung from the neck and
is .covered by the robe, except at the time when alms are
received. When not carrying the bowl, they are usually fol-
lowed by an attendant with a book or a small bundle.
The explanation of the Sacred Texts to the pupils
occupies a considerable portion of thie superior priests. In
some parts of the island medicine is practised by the priests
to a considerable extent,, and they are much in repute for
their skill. Under the native monarchies the priests possess-
ed many privileges and received the most distinguished
HIS SANGHA. 235
honours. There are many of the Viharas that have no lands
attached, but in many instances, the temples are rich in
lands, and some of the most productive valleys in the interior
belong to the Vihara in Kandi called Malagawa.
The priests cannot possess lands as their own personal
property, nor can they make over to others the property of
the temples, but in many cases the revenues of the temples
are scattered, the sacred buildings are allowed to fall into
ruins."*
This is how a Sramana is burnt after death in Ceylon.
The body is placed in a planquin and then carried to the
spot where it is to be burnt, preceded by banners and
tomtoms. About twenty priests follow in procession. It
marches once round the pile which is composed of a great
heap of wood, laid in regular lairs. The body, divested of its
robes, is placed with its face downwards in the centre of
the pile to which the head priest applies the torch and the
whole is soon in a blaze. Pieces of cloth ar~ distributed
to the poor, but no form is read, nor is any address deli-
vered to the people. A rude monument is generally made
over the ashes of the priests on the summit of which a
Bo-tree is generally planted.f
BURMAH : Throughout Burmah, monasteries are seen
near every village, and generally in situations that are beauti-
ful and romantic in their character. These secluded sites
may have been chosen by the monks for study and medita-
tion. The Buddhisms of Ceylon and Burma are almost
identical,: for Burmah was converted to Buddhism by Ceylon,
missionaries.
In Burmah there is a large number of monks who maintain!
that there is an Eternal God. They deny the doctrine of
transmigration and affirm that at death the future state of
* See Hardy's Eastern Monarchisms, pages 310 322.
f As for this ceremony amongst the Burmese Bhikshus called
Pungees, see below.
236 -BUDDHA.
every human being is eternally fixed. They worship the
images of Buddha and conform to Ceylon usages. But
they are rejected as heretics by their other countrymen.*
About one hundred years ago, a class of metaphysicians
arose in Ava called Paramats who respected only the Abhidhar-
mana and rejected the other books that the Buddhists consider
sacred, saying that they were only a compilation of fables
and allegories. The founder of the sect, Keran, with about
fifty of his followers, was put to death by the order of the
king.
NEPAL : Hodgson says: "All Buddhas (of Nepal) are
properly ascetics, some solitary, mostly house-holders.
Their convents are called Viharas. The rule of these Vihara
is a rule of freedom and the door of every Vihara is always
open, both to the entrance of the new comers and the
departure of such of the old inmates as are tired of their
vows. Each Vihara has a titular superior, whose authority
over his brethren depends only in their voluntary difference
to his superior learning or piety. Women are held equally
worthy of admission with men and each sex has its Viharas.
The old Buddhist Scriptures enumerate four sorts of Bandyas,
namely Arhan, Bhikshu, Sravaka and Chailaka, who are cor-
rectly described in the Text, and from that description it will
be seen that there is no essential distinction between them.
The Arhan being only segregated from the rest by his supe-
rior proficiency in Bodhi-jnana. Of the proper Institutes of
Buddhism, there remains hardly a trace in Nepal. The very
names of Arhan and Chailaka have passed away the names
only of the other two exist ; and out of the gradual and now
total disuse of monastic Institutes, an exclusive minister of the
altar, denominated Vajra-acherjea, has derived his name, office,
and existence in Nepal not only without sanction from the
Scriptures, but in direct opposition to their spirit and
* See Crawford, Sangermano, Buchanon and Judson's works ; also
[Howard Malcolm's Travels in South East Asia.
HIS SANGHA. 237
tendency. Nepal is still covered with Viharas, but these
ample and comfortable abodes have long resounded with the
hum of industry and the pleasant voices of men and women.
The superior ministry of religion is now solely in the hands
of Bandyas entitled Vajra-acherjeas in Sanskrit and Gubhal
in Newari. And these professions of Vajra-acherjea and of the
Bhikshus have become by usage heriditary as have all other
avocations and pursuits, whether civil or religious, in Nepal.
And as- in the modern corrupt Buddhism of Nepal there are
exclusive ministers of religion or priests, so are many
Buddhists who retain the lock on the crown of the head and
\
are not Bandyas, These improper Buddhists are called
Udas, They never dwell in. the Viharas, look up to the
Bandyas with a reverential respect and follow their trade and
avocations which are disreputable."
TlBHET : The Superior priests who are called Lamas
are regarded as incarnations of Buddha and possess so large
a share of political authority that they can depose the
sovereign of the country and substitute another in his
stead, The dress of the grand Lama is yellow; that of the
other Lamas of superior rank red ; they wear broad-brimmed
hats.
Moorcofts says :- " Nearly two thirds of the productive
lands are approprieted to the support of the priesthood."
Athenasum says :- "The sacred cradle of Shamanism (the
religion of the Sramanas) Tibhet is governed by a Hierearchy
possessed of the most absolute sway and supported by an
army, not of soldiers but of monks. In every habitable spot
throughout the country, monasteries andnuneries rear up their
heads in stately grandeur, while the mass of the people seem
contented with- the honour of contributing towards this
support of this priestly system. The capital of Tibhet, Lasha,
the principal residence of Dalai Lama, with a population of
30,000 souls, contains many splendid monastic establish-
ments."
238 BUDDHA.
Csoma Korosi writes : " The different systems of
Buddhism derived from India and known now to the Tibetians
are the following four, namely (i) Vaibhasika, (2) Sautrantika,
(3) Yogachara, (4) Madhyanika* They originated with the
four chief disciples of Buddha, i, e. Rahula, Kassyapa, Upali,
and Katyana.
(a) The followers of Rahula were divided into four sects
and wore on their religious garb from 25 to 9 narrow pieces of
cloth. The distinctive mark of this class was a water-lily,
jewel and tree-leaf put together in the form of a nosegay.
(3) The followers of Upali were divided into three sects.
They wore on their religious garb from 21 to 5 pieces of
narrow cloth. They carried . a flower as a mark of their
School and were styled 'the class which is honoured !'
(d) The followers of Kassyapa were divided into three
sects and wore the same number of narrow pieces of cloth
as the former class. They had as their mark the figure of
wheel and were styled " the class that have fixed habi-
tations."
JAPAN : The Buddhism of Japan, in having an incarna-
tion of Buddha, possessing unlimited power, resembles that
of Tibhet. The palace of the Dairi or the Supreme Pontiff
in the Spiritual Metropolis Meako, is said to form in itself a
town of considerable size. The temples are built upon
eminences that command the most delightful prospects.
In the largest, called the temple of Dai-Bud or the great
Buddha, resting on ninety-six columns, there is a great
statue of the Sage of the usual form and appearance,
but so immensely large that according to the Japanese, six
persons can squat without inconvenience on the palm of his
hand, and his shoulders reach, pillar to pillar, a space from
30 to 32 feet.
IV.
THE HISTORY OF BUDDHISM.
CHAPTER I.
THE FIRST BUDDHIST COUNCIL.
The great religion of Buddha is no longer the same
religion that he preached. It has passed through innumerable
changes. When Buddha died, his religion was accepted
and followed by only a few thousands of men. But it is now
the religion of millions of men and of innumerable races.
How did all this come about ?.
Immediately after Buddha's death, his beloved followers
all assembled together and held a Council at Rajgriha under
the presidency of the venerable Maha Kassyapa, the oldest and
the' most revered of all his followers.* It was held in the
Sattapanin cave and consisted of 500 members of the Order, f
There did they settle the Vinaya, z. e., the Rules for the
Sangha and Dharma, and the general precepts and moral
laws preached and ordained by their great master. It is said
the whole Council chanted together the words of their
* We get a complete history of the development and spread of Bud-
dhism in Mahavansa and Dipavansa. For the account of this Council,
see Mahavansa p. n and Vinaya Texts. Vol. III. Book XI.
| The cave still exists in the Vaihara hill near Rajgriha. It is said
the place was prepared for the Council by . King Ajatasatru,
38
240 BUDDHA.
exalted Teacher, following Upali when the subject was Vinaya,
and following Ananda when it was Dharma.* All these teachi-
ings were then named Thera-Veda, i.e. Three Vedas or know-
ledge. They consisted of
1. Sutta Discourses.
2. Geyya Mixed Prose and Verse.
3. Vayakarana Exposition.
4. Gatha Verse.
5. Udana.
6. Itivrittaka.
7. Jataka.
8. Abbhuta Mysteries.
9. Vedalla Treatises.f
For one hundred years after the sitting of this Council, the
doctrines of Buddha, as chanted by the members of the Sangha,
were silently and reverently followed by hundreds of men
and women all over the country. Their number daily grew
larger, races after races and tribes after tribes accepted
it as a national religion. " The old Aryan civilisation had
begun even at the time of Goutama to yield to changing
circumstances. The influence of priesthood was becoming
more exclusively spiritual, while the temporal 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 verging on despotisms. Shortly after Goutama's
death, the King of Magadha, Ajatsatru, destroyed the
confederation of the Wajjian clans on the opposite side. of the
Ganges, and then ensued a series of straggles between
Magadha and the neighbouring kingdoms of Kosambi and
Sravasti. The lesser chiefs had to take sides with one or the
other of the powerful combatants, 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,
* See Dipavansa.
f These names are given by the Dipavansa.
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. 241
which they could never have in the old system of the clans,
a. system which must almost have ceased to exist when the
second Buddhist Council was held at Vaisali.
The kingdom of Magadha had by that time become supre-
me and either just before or just after the Buddhist Council
had assembled in the old capital of the Wajjians, Vaisali, a
low caste Sudra by name Chandra Gupta became the king of
all kings in India. When thus the old order of things had
given place to new, the Buddhists began to rise rapidly in
number and influence."*
But as India was then passing through a great political
change, so did she pass through many social and religions
changes. Buddhism was no exception ; many changes liad
already taken place both in the rules of the Sangha and in
the general percepts and morals. Some of the Buddhist
monks at Vaisali maintained what were called the Ten Indul-
gences which were opposed by the others. These indulgences
were as follows :
1. That salt might be preserved in horns, whereas salt
like other edibles might not according to the Vinaya be laid
aside for use.
2. That solid food might be taken not only up till noon,
but till the sun threw shadow two inches long.
3. That the rules of the Vinaya might be relaxed in the
country, away from the convenience of the monastaries.
4. That ordination, confession, etc., might be performed
in private houses, and not only in the Upastha halls attached
to the monastaries.
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.
* See. Rhys Davids' Buddhism p. 219220,
242 BUDDHA.
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
the cloths have no fringes.
10. That gold and silver might be received by the mem-
bers of the Order.
Though the majority of the Buddhist monks were in
favour of these indulgences, yet there was a minority which
strongly condemned them. They held a Council the second
Buddhist Council consisting of 700 monks under the presi-
dency of Jasa, the son of Khandaha. The Council continued its-
sitting for eight months at Vaisali and settled and vindicated
the rules of the Order and the Doctrines of the Faith. But the
decisions of the Council were not accepted by the majority of
the monks. They too held a Council, much more numerous
than that of their stricter opponents, and hence this Council
was called Maha-Sangiti or Great Council.*^
Thus we find within a hundred and fifty years after the
death of the great master, his followers were divided into
two great parties, one following strictly the original teachings;
of their preceptor, and the other becoming more liberal and
adopting various new innovations. The former in latter days ;
became known by the name of the Southern School and the
former by the Northern School. The Dipavansa, the author
of which belonged to the Southern School, thus speaks of the-
other party.
"The monks of the Great Council overturned religion.
They broke up the old Scriptures and made a new recen-
sion.
A Discourse put in one place they put in another ;:
% On the second Council, see Mahavansa, chap; IV ; Dipavansa-
eanto IV. Vinaya Texts Vol. III. Book XII, and Taranath's History
of Buddhism p. 41.
' HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. 243
And distorted the sense and 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 Parivasa, the Nidesa, and a portion of the Jataka.
So much they put aside and made others in their place."
We have no records of what the more liberal monks-
thought of their brethern in minority. However from the-
records of the Southern School we find that the latter of these-
two great parties were again subdivided into eighteen distinct
sects, fr*
But as time went on sects were added to sects ;*c many
men added many things to the original grand teachings of the-
Buddha, many rites and rituals, charms and incantations-
were introduced, and amongst the Buddhists of the Northern.
School inhabiting Thibet, China,. Japan, and Mongolia, the-
religion of Buddha now exists under a mass of superstitions-
Amongst the Buddhists of the Southern School, now inhabi-
ting Ceylon,, Burmah, Siam &c., the original teachings of the-
great Prophet are even, now strictly adhered to> and. much*
superstitions,, dogmatic rites and rituals, or magical charms,,
and incantations have been kept away ;, yet even amongst .
them the religion of Buddha is much changed^ We shalk
first follow the Southern School and describe the develop-
ment that Buddhism met with under it, and. we shall then,
* On these 18 Sects, see Burmah " Lotus" p.p-. 356 359. and Kop-
pen " Religion Des Buddha" p;. p; 150- 159*
c* Fa Hian mentions 96 sects.
244 BUDDHA.
see how the Northern School proceeded and what changes
they went through and what new innovations they made.
CHAPTER II.
ASOKA & BUDDHISM.
Up to the time of which we are speaking, the religion of
Buddha was but the religion of pious men and a few of
the wise men : it never became the national religion or the
State Religion. The chiefs and kings and sovereigns pat-
ronized the Buddhist monks and supported them as they did
the learned Brahmanas. There was no enmity or rivalry
between the Brahmans and Buddhist Sramanas. They both
unobstructedly practised the different tenets of their religions
under the catholic and benign protection of the kings who -
were generally and mostly the followers of Brahmanism.
The first king who publicly assumed the religion of the
Buddha and made it the State Religion was Asoka, the grand-
son of the celebrated Chandragupta. The great empire
founded by Chandragupta was in its zenith when Asoka
ascended the throne of Magadha. Its sovereign sway extended
from Assam in the East to the banks of the Indus in the West,
When Asoka made Buddhism his State Religion, it became at
one stroke virtually the religion of whole of Northern India.*
* The following Edict of king Asoka now discovered at Shahabazgari
clearly shows that he was originally a. Hindu.
"Formerly in the great Refectory and temple of the heaven -beloved
king Piyadasi, daily were many hundred thousand animals sacrificed for
the sake of meat (food). So even at this day while this religious edict is
under promulgation from the sacrifice of animals for the sake of food,
some two are killed, or one is killed, but now the joyful chorus resounds
again and again that from henceforward not a single animal shall be put
to death." (See Cunningham's.) ,
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. 245
The following quotation from Asoka Avadhana, a Sanskrit
Work of Northern Buddhism, will clearly show that the Brah-
manas made strenuous efforts to prevent Asoka from
"Beholding this (Asoka's zeal for Buddhism), these arrogant
Tirthikas, oppressed by the fire of envy, collected together and said to
each other : 'Should this king Asoka continue a worshipper of Buddha,
all other persons encouraged by him would likewise become followers
of Buddha. None among the people would be devout, none of the good
Sravakas will listen to us with respect. We should therefore for the
promotion of honour and fame always adopt such means as will make
us fully trusted/' Excited by this speech, the arrogant Tirthikas came
to the resolution of adopting immediate action. Then these Tirthikas
went trom house to house of well-disposed people and blessing them thus
addressed them. "Hon'ble sirs, listen to us if you wish for your own
good. Should you wish for a blessed life hereafter, devote yourself to true
religion. Ours is the true religion, and therefore attend to it with all
respect. The religion of the Buddha is not the true one, for it provides
no Moksha" Hearing these words, some were convinced, others vacillated,
and some would not believe them at all. Thus those Tirthikas, wish-
ing for honours, daily seduced credulous people. Then those arrogant
ones longing for fame and respect, proceeded to visit Vitasoka, the
brother of Asoka. Appearing before Vitasoka, son of Vindusara, they
blessed him and stood in front of him. Vitasoka seeing them in front
of him, saluted them and enquired the object of their visit. ' Reved.
Sirs, what has brought you so anxious to this place. You are always
welcome to relate whatever you wish." Thus encouraged, those arrogant
Tirthikas, looking at each other, thus addressed the prince ? " May
success always attend you, great king, may you always prosper ! May
you be free from all fear. Since we have come to advice you for your
good it is meet that we should tell you all. Should you wish for a
blessed life hereafter, listen to our advice. Ours is the true religion, alike
salutary here and hereafter. Those who know best declare it to be the
best of all religions. Therefore O beloved king, believe in it, listen to
our religion and follow it with ardour. Then every thing will prosper
about you ; and consuming all your enemies, you will become a
Chak-va-varti. The religion of the Buddha is not true, for it offers no
Moksha. Therefore that religion should not be listened to. Since these
shaven-^headed, vile destroyers of their family preach a false religion
overthrowing all' castes and all duty, men devoid of the religion of
246 BUDDHA,
becoming a Buddhist. But Mr. Thomas says, Asoka was
originally not a Hindu but a Jain.
The mother of Asoka was Subhadrangi,*a the daughter of
a poor Brahman of Champa.*b The astrologers told the
Brahman that his daughter would be the queen of a great king.
He therefore took her with him and came to Pataliputra, the
capital of Magadha. With good deal of difficulty, he was
successful in seeing Vindusara, the great king. He then
the Vedas, unBrahminical in their conduct and vilely passionate, they
should, O king, on no account, be respected by you. No Buddha
should be revered, nor seen, nor touched, nor worshipped, nor spoken to,
nor dwelt with in the same house, nor visited by any one. You should
on no account eat with them nor present anything to a Buddhist
Sanctuary. Even when by mistake men listen to the doctrines of the
Buddha with regard, they suffer from various calamities, and at last go
to hell. Hence, O king, should you wish for a blessed life here-
after, never listen to the doctrines of the Buddhas with respect.
Should one by delusion, looking at the merits of their religion, accept
it, fallen here, he will be translated to hell hereafter. For these
reasons, O great king, accept not the doctrine of Buddha but
abiding by our cannons, follow the true religion with devotion. By
so doing you will here and hereafter enjoy great blessings. No evil will
ever befall you, and you will proceed by the true path. Listening to our
words, weigh well which is good and which is evil, and for your own
-advantage follow the path of duty." Vitosoka heard this address of the
Tirthikas, but remained unconvinced of their truth. The Tirthikas
addressed him again and again and at last brought him convinced under
their control.*
* See;. Journal R. A. S. Vol IX p 171.
*a Amongst the Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts found in Nepal by
.Mr. Hodgson are two books, one named Divya Avadhana and Asoka
Avadhana, both containing the life of Asoka. Burnouf has translated
Divya Avadhana. Dr. Rajendra Lall Mittra thus speaks of Asoka.
Avadhana. " Its author's name is not given, but it professes to have
been related by one Jayasri to his desciples at the Kukkuta Vihara in
a. garden named Upakanthikarana on the right bank of the Ganges
near Pataliputra. The authority quoted is that of a saint named Upa
Gupta, the spiritual guide of the king." See Indo-Aryan vol. II, p. 408.
*D Champa was situated near the modern Bhagulpur.
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM, 247
presented him his beautiful daughter and \vcnt away to his
own country.
The other queens became jealous of her and employed her
iti mean works. She was ordered to be a female barber.
Thus did she pass her life in great misery having got no
opportunity to see the king even for once.
At last her opportunity came. One day she had the good
fortune to be called to shave the king. He was so pleased
with her work that he asked her to pray for a boon. She told
him her history and asked him to make her his queen. Her
prayer was granted and soon she rose to be the chief queen.
She then gave birth to a son whom she named Asoka,
for with his birth her miseries ended. She had another son
who was called Vitasoka or Vigatasoka.
Asoka was ugly and unruly, therefore the people gave
him the name of Chanda (terrible). He became so 'wild that
he was sent far off to Taxila to quell a mutiny or to be killed
in the attempt. Asoka was wild, but he was a man of great
parts and heroism. He was able to quell the mutiny within
a very short time, and the king was so pleased that he was
re-called.
Soon after king Bindusara fell ill ; his eldest son Susima
was away in Taxila. The ministers induced the king to
appoint Asoka his Regent. But as soon as the king died,
Asoka was however formally installed as the great king of
Magadha. His half-brothers rebelled, but they were defeated
and taken prisoners. It is said Asoka himself cut off their
heads. He ruled -the country with an iron hand.
A very rich merchant by name Sumudra had become a
Buddhist monk. He fell into the hands of the fierce moun-
taineer who was Asoka's right-hand man. This bad man
tried to kill the Bhikshu by various means, but failed. He
then informed the king what had happened. The king ordered
the Bhikshu to be brought before him. When he heard every
39
248 BUDDHA.
thing from that Buddhist monk, he cut off the head of the
mountaineer and declared his intention to be a follower of
his great religion.
Asoka became quite a changed man. He built a Chaitya
at Kukkut Vana, one at Ramgrama, and many others at
various other places. He was then called Dharmasoka.*
"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 monasteries and dagobasf
and provided many monks wilh the necessaries of life, and he
encouraged those about his court to do the same. He also
* Asoka had 3 or 4 wives, namely, (i) Padmavati (mother of Kunala),
(2) Asandhimitfa, (3) Kichhigain (4) Tishyarakhita.
The 2nd and the 3rd are mentioned in the inscriptions. The Asoka
Avadhana mentions Pavishyarakhita who tried to destroy the Bo-tre
through a sorcerress, because the king spent much money for it.
The most celebrated son was Kunala. Through evil machinations
of one of his step mothers, the prince became blind and adopted the
life of a Bhikshu.
Asoka's brother Vitasoka also became a Buddhist monk. But he
was killed by a man who wished to secure the reward proclaimed by
Asoka to be given for the head of a Hindu rrionk of Pandravardhana
who painted Buddha at his feet.
Asoka's son Mahendra and daughter Sangarnitra both took the holy
robe and became Bhikshu and Bhikshuni. (See Asoka Avadhana).
f This is the story told about the remains of Buddha. Just after his
death the country was overrun by intercine wars. Therefore old Kassyapa
collected all his remains from the ten Stupas made by the various clans
and buried them in the deepest forest.
When Asoka began to search for the remains of the Great Prophet,
one old venerable monk told him that when he was a boy, his preceptor
one day took him in a deep forest, and showing a place, ordered him to
bow there and remember well the place. He thought the remains of the
Great Master might be found there.
Asoka hastened to the place, and after a search, he found what he
was in search of. He then distributed the relics all over India and
erected Stupas on them.
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. 249
Iai4 out ; gardens and constructed hospitals for men and beasts
and published Edicts throughout his empire* enjoining on all
his subjects morality and justice.
* Rhys Davids, says : " Within the last 50 years a most important
and interesting discovery has been made of several of these Edicts
engraven in different Prakrit dailects 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 rocks at
JCapada Giri near Peshwar, at Girnar in Guzrat, at Dhauli in Orrissa
and at Bubra on the road running south-west from Delhi to Jayapura.
They were first published and translated by James Prinsep, then
republished by Wilson, and have been .since then further explained by
Burnouf and Professors Watergard and Kern. Their 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." (See Rhys David's
Buddhism pp. 222-23).
The following is James Prinsep's summary of the contents of these
edicts which are 14 in number.
The ist Edict prohibits the sacrifice of animals both for food and in
religious assemblies and enjoins more attention to the practice of this
first of Buddhist virtues than seems to have been paid to it even by the
Raja himself, at least prior to the sixteenth year of his reign.
The 2nd Edict provides a system of medical aid for men and animals
throughout Piyadasi's dominions, and orders trees to be planted along
the sides of the principal public roads.
The 3rd Edict enjoins the republication every 5th year of the great
moral maxims, inculcated in the Buddhist creed, viz, honour to parents,
charity to kinderds and.neighbours, humanity to animals &c.
The 4th Edict draws a comparison between the former state of things,
perhaps lawless .and .uncivilised and the state of regeneration of the
country under the Ordinances of the beloved king.
The 5th .Edict proceeds to record the appointments of ministers of
religion and missionaries . enumerating niany . of the countries to which
they are to be deputed for the conversion of the young and old, the rich
and the poor, the native and the foreigner.
The 6th Edict appoints in like manner Pativedahas (informers) who
are to take cognizance of the , conduct of the people in their meals,
domestic life, &c. :
The 7th Edict expresses not an order, but an earnest desire on the
part of the king that all the diversities of religious opinion may be
250 BUDDHA.
He also founded an office, that of Dharma Mahamafra,
chief minister of Justice and Religion whose duty it was to-
preserve the purity of religion and to look over and care for
the right treatment and the progress of the aborigines and
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 the principles of the religion of Goutama.*
obliterated, that every distinction in rank and in tastes may be harmo*
nized into one system Bhava-sudhi, that peace of mind or repose of
conscience which proceeds from knowledge, from faith and entire assent.
The 8th Edict contrasts the mere sexual amusements patronised by
former Rajas with the more harmless and pious enjoyments prescribed
by himself.
The gth Edict continues the thread of the same discourse by capitulat-
ing on the sources of true happiness.
The loth Edict comments upon the glory and renown which attend
merely the vain and transitory deeds of the world.
The nth Edict upholds that the imparting of Dharma itself is the
chiefest of charitable devotions, &c.
The I2th Edict is addressed to all non-believers.
The I3th Edict enjoins principal moral precepts.
The I4th Edict is a kind of summing up of the foregoing. (See
Journal, Bengal Asiatic Society, vol. vii, p. 220).
To give our readers an idea what these Edicts are like, we (quote
below the I4th Edict.
" This Religious Edict is caused to be written by the heaven-beloved
king Piyadasi. It is (partly written) with abridgment ; it is (partly) with
ordinary extent; and it is (partly) with an amplification not incoherent
(or disjointed) but throughout continuous (and united), it is powerful ta>
overcome the wise ; and it is. much written and caused to be written, yet
it is always but the same thing repeated over and over again.
" For the persuasive eloquence which is lavished on each separate
subject shall men tender obedience thereto.
" Furthermore, at one time even unto the conclusion is this written,
incomparable with the "copy by Relachpu, the scriber and Pundit (See
Cunningham's Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Vol I. Inscriptions o
Asoka p 126).
* See Rhys David's Buddhism p 222 and p. 228.
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. 251
In the 1 8th year of Asoka's reign he'convened a great
Council of the Buddhist monks to be held at Pataliputra. There
had arisen innumerable heretics and false Bhikshus, there
had arisen much disagreements about the Buddhist Sacred
Books, therefore it became absolutely necessary to hold a
Council and settle all disputed points. Accordingly a Council
was held of rooo monks with Tissa as its president. The
Council held its sitting for nine months, and once more the
rules of the Order and the Doctrines of the Faith were solemnly
rehearsed and settled. The result was thus declared
by king Asoka in an Edict which has been found inscribed
at a place called Babra.
" King Piyadasi of Magadha, greeting the Order, wishes
it health and happiness. You know, reverend Sirs, how
great is my respect and reverence for the Buddha, the Dharma
and the Sangha. All these things, reverend Sirs, ^ which were
spoken by the blessed Buddha were well spoken ; by looking
upon them, reverend Sirs, as authority, true Law will long
endure. I honour, reverend Sirs, as such the following
Scriptures of the Law : The substance of the Vinaya, the
state of the guest, the fears of the Future, the Poems of the
wise, the discourse on conduct befitting the wise, the questions
of Upatissa, the exhortations to Rohula about falsehood,
spoken by the blessed Buddha. The Scriptures 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."*
At the close of the council many missionaries were sent
all over the country to preach the great religion. t
* See Mahavansa and Dtpavansa.
f See Ibid chap. I2lh and chap 8lh.
CHAPTER IIL
SPREAD OF SOUTHERN BUDDHISM.
We know very little of the works done by the Missionaries
of Buddhism sent by the great king Asoka of Magadha. But
we have a continunal narrative of the introduction and spread
of Buddhism in Ceylon in two most celebrated Pali works,
namely the Mahavansa and Dipavansa r in which we find it
was converted to Buddhism by Mahendra, Asoka' s own son,,
who went to Ceylon in the i8th year of his reign accompa-
nied by a band of Buddhist monks.*
Tissa, whom the Buddhists called Dev-awampiya, beloved
of the gods, was then the king of Ceylon. He welcomed
the celebrated missionary not only because he was sent by
the great king Asoka of India, but because he was a man :
extraordinarily learned and pious. He built at the request of
the venerable monk the great Buddhist Stupa called Tkafa-
ranaDoga&amthecityoi Anuradhpura, the ancient capital
of Ceylon, which still stands as one of the glories of that
celebrated ruined city. Under this Dagoba, it is said, the
right collar bone of the Great Prophet was buried. Close by
it, he erected a monastery for Mahendra and his companions on
the beautiful hill of Mohintale eight miles to the east of the
city.
"It was on this hill," says Rhys Davids, f "the three -peaks
of which, each now surmounted by a Dagoba, 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
* Four of the names of these Monks are given in Mahavansa,
p. 71, namely, Itthiya, Athiya, Sambala, and Bhaddasala. And two-
more, i.e., Samana and Bhandu in pp. 76-77.
t See Rltys David's Buddhism pp. 230-31.
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. 253
world, affords a magnificant 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 soild rock still exists with holes
either for curtain rods or for 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: plains, now one
Car reaching forest then full of busy homesteads : there is
only heard that hum of the insects which never ceases and
the rusting of the leaves of the trees which cling to the side
of the precipice. I 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 2000 years ago the
great teacher had sat and thought and worked through the long
years of his peaceful and useful life. On that hill he afterwards
died and his ashes still rest under the Dagoba which is the
principal object of reverence and care of the few monks who
still reside in. the Mahintale Wihaw (Mahendra Vihara)."
Only a year after, the queen and the female relations of
the king Devanam Piya Tissa expressed a wish to be
converted into Buddhism. Mahendra accordingly sent words
to Magadha whence his own sister Sangamitra, already a
Buddhist nun, started for Ceylon along with a band of
nuns.* She brought over with her a branch of the sacred
Bo-tree from the Buddha Gya under which the great Goutama
achieved Nirvana. This precious branch was planted at
Anuradhpura where it still grows.f
* The names of nine of these nuns and of several of their celebrated
pupils are given in Dipavansa, ch. 18.
f Rhys David who saw the tree in Anuradhpura thus speaks of it :
The tree could scarcely have lived so long had it not been for the. con-
stant care of the monks. As it showed the 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 fecus religiosa> its living branches could then throw
254 auoDHA.
Tissa reigned for 20 years and died just before the death
of the great missionary Mahendra, Just after the death of
king Tissa, Ceylon was overrun by the Tamils who retained
the kingly power in their hands for 60 years. They were
at last driven out about B.C. 164 by Dasta Gamini a grand-
son of Tissa' s brother.
This king was a zealous supporter of Buddhism. He
built two of the largest Dagobas at Anuradhpura, namely
Miriswali 150 feet high and the Maha Thupa 200 feet high.
He also built a huge monastery called the great Brazen Palace
as it was roofed with metal. Its 1,000 granite pillars still
stand just outside the sacred enclosure round the Bo-tree.
Thirty-four years after his death the Tamils again con-
quered Ceylon, but they were again driven out by Watta
Gamini, a son of Dasta Gamini' s brother in about 88 B.C.
This king built the largest Dogoba in Ceylon. It is called
Agni Giri Dogoba and is 290 feet high. It was in his reign
330 years after the great Nirvana that the sacred Tripitakas
for the first time were reduced into writing.*
The next great event were the works of Buddha Ghosa.
He was born near Buddha Gya and came to Ceylon in
430 A.D. By this great man was written Visuddhi Marga a
Cyclopaedia of Buddhist Doctrines. He became famous and
out fresh roots. Where its long arms spread beyond the enclosure, wide
pillars of iron or masonry have been used to prop them up, and it is
carefully watered in seasons of draught. The whole aspect of the tree
and its enclosure bears evident 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
Tennet.
* The Mahavansa relates this important event in a stanza which it
quotes from the Dipavansa : "The wise monks of former days handed
down by words of mouth, the text of the three Pitakas and the com-
mentary upon them. Seeing the destruction of men, the monks of this
time assembled, and so that the faith might last long, they wrote them
in books."
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. 255
Was Employed by the chiefs of the Sangha in Ceylon to
write in Pali the commentaries which had till then been
handed over in Singhalese.*
Buddha Ghosa about 450 A. D. went to Burma and stayed
there for some years. The country of the Mugs was ; con-
verted by him and made his followers. Siam soon followed
the example of its sister country and was converted in about
93-8 A,D. Java was visited by the Buddhist missionaries in
the sixth and the seventh centuries A.D. In the thirteenth
* According to the dictates of their great master Mahendra wrote
in Singhalese, the vernacular of the island, the doctrines of the Order
and all the other sacred books. Buddha Ghosa re-wrote them in Pali,
the sacred language of Buddhism. He wrote tnany commentaries*
The following is a list of the Pali commentaries now extant.
1. Samante Pasadika-on the Vinaya.
2. Kankha Vitaravi on the Patimokkha.
3. Sumangala Vilasini on the Digha Nikaya.
4. Papanca Sudani on the Majjhama Nikaya.
5. Sarattha Ppakasini oh the Sannyutta Nikaya,
6. Monoratha-Suravi on the Augultara Nikaya.
7. Paramattha-Jotina on the Khuddaka Patha atlo! Sfrlta Nipata.
8. - Dhammapada Althakatha on the Damapada.
9. Paramattha-Dipani on the Udana> Vimana Valthu, Peta-Valthu
Ifheragatha and Trigatha.
10. Abhidhammaltha-EMpant on the Iti-Vattaha.
it. jataha Althakatha on the Jataha.
12. Saddhammappajotiha on the Niddesa.
13. Saddhamma-ppahasini on the Patisambhida.
14. Visuddha-Jana-Vilasini on the Apadana.
15. Madhuraltha Vilasini on the Apadana.
16. Madhuraltha- Vilasini on the Buddhavanso.
17. Cariya-pitaka-Althakatha on the Cariya Aitaka.
' 18. Attha-Salini on the Dhamma-Sangin.
ig. Sammoha-Vinddani on the Vibhariga.
'20. Panca-ppakarana Althakatha on the five last books of the
Abhidhamma Pitaha.
See Childers' Pali Dictionary S. V. Atthakatha and also Rhys
David's Buddhism in p. 227. .
40
256 BUDDHA.
century A.D. Buddhism was the prevailing religion in Java
when the great temple at Boro Badu was built. About this?
time Buddhism also penetrated from Java into the adjoining
islands of Bali and Sumatra. All these countries adopted
Buddhism of the Southern School.
CHAPTER IV.
NORTHERN BUDDHISM. ' ;
We have already said that within one hundred years of
Buddha's death, his religion was split up into two distinct
branches, thereafter known as the Southern and Northern
Buddhism. The cause is not far to seek.
The great Buddha formulated a religion of Complete;
Knowledge a Religion of Philosophy pure and simple, arid hef
intended this for those only who would be members of his
Sangha, who Would live for religion and for religion only,
and who would aspire to achieve the final Salvation the
cessation of more births, the great Nirvana. For others^
for the majority of people, for the house-holders arid worldly
men, he did not formulate any special religion, he allowed
them to remain as they were, ^he never cabled them heretics
or followers of a false religion,"-nhe rather asked them to
stick to the religion of their forefathers. Nowhere we find, -he
had any quarrel with the Brahmans. To the Ordained Monks
of the Sangha only,; there is no God, no worship, no rituals,
not because there is no God, but because it is an unknowable
mystery and therefore not necessary for the achievment of
Salvation.* But the case of worldly men is separate. It isi.
* BUDDHA SAID : " There is, O disciples, an unborn, unoriginaled,
uncreated, unformed. Were there not, O d'rsciples, this unborn,
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. '257
'not' for them to acquire Nirvana in this life, they are
creatures of Karma, they must, and they are bound to follow
the Karma of their previous births, '-therefore they are to
worship a God or gods, they must have rituals and rites,
household and social duties, and so forth, the best that the
Buddha found had already been formulated by the great
Brahmans. Therefore bis religion was not at all a new reli-
gion ; he himself was a Hindu and his religion was but k .a
mere development of Hinduism-* His lay-followers were
Hindus in all respects,t and his monks were but Hindus
unoriginated, uncreated, unformed, there would be no possible exit from
the world of the born, originated, created, formed." See also Dhamma-
pada, V. 383. See also Maxmuller's Introduction, Dhammapada I. c.
p. xliv. But the Great Master did not reveal this. Dr. Oldenberg
asks : " Why: has Buddha not taught his disciples, whether the world
is finite or infinite, whether men live on beyond death or not? Because
the knowledge of these things does not conduce to progress in holiness,-^-
Jbecause it does not contribute to peace and enlightenment i" See his
Buddha p. 276.
- * Rhys Davids irt his Buddhism p. 85 says: "Buddhism was
the child, the product of Hinduism." Sir Monier Williams in his Bud-
dhism p. 75 says :-^" We perceive again the close connection between
Brahmanism and Buddhism, for'clearly the Brahmacharin and Sannyasin
of the one became the Sramanera or Junior monk and Sramana, or
senior monk of the other."
Dr. Oldenberg in. his Buddha p. p. 170 171 says : " People are
accustomed to speak of Buddhism as opposed to Brahmanism, somewhat
in the way that it is allowable to speak of Lutherism as an opponent of
Papacy. But if they mean, as they might be inclined from this
parallel to do, to picture to themselves a kind of Brahmanical hierarchy
which is assailed by Buddha, which opposed its resistance to its opera,
tions like the resistance of the party in possession to an upstart, they are
mistaken."
f '' But as in the history of Jesus, Lazarus and Necodemus, Mary
and Martha stood side by side with Peter and John, so Buddhism also,
side by side with the male and female mendicants, recognises male and
female votaries (upasaka and upasika) of Buddha and his lay-believers
who honour Buddha as the holy preacher of Deliverance and his word
258 BUDDHA.
with the Hindu Philosophical views highly developed in
them.*
But after his death, as is the case with every religion and
philosophy, his disciples differred. Some strictly followed
the rules formulated by the great Master for the members
of the Order, ignoring completely the liberal views enter-
tained by their great Preceptor as regards the religion
for his lay followers. By this time there arose many
powerful lay-followers, who secured the co-operation of
as the word of Truth, but who remain in their worldy position, in wed-
lock, in the possession of their property, and make themselves useful to
the Church as far as they can by gifts and chanties of every kind." See
Oldenberg's Buddha p. p. 161 162.
" Lay-brethren were always welcomed, but they were bound to
Buddhism by very slender ties in regard to dogma, and were only
expected to conform to the simplest possible Code of Morality. Probab-
ly the only form of admission for a layman was the repetition of the
'24 syllables of the three refuge formula "I go for refuge to the
Buddha, to the Dharma and to the Sanga." It was of course understood
-that he was to abstain from the five gross sins, but he was already bound
to do so by the rules of Hindu caste and family religion." t
* Rhys Davids in his Buddhism p. 87 says : " There was not much 1
: in the Metaphysics and Psychology of Goutama which cannot be found
in one or other of the orthodox systems, and a great deal of his morality
could be collected from earlier or later Hindu books. Such originality
'as Goutama possessed lay in the way in which he adopted, enlarged,
ennobled and systematised 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 and philanthrophy. Even these differences are probably much 1
more apparent now than they were then, and by no means deprived him
of the. support and sympathy of the best among the Brabmans, : 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 deserviug of respect, and hejjsed the. name Brahraans : a&;
a term of honour for the Buddhist Arhats. and Saints. .. ; : . ...
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. 259
many great monks. These men wanted to be more asso-
ciated with the lay-followers they publicly and openly
accepted the religion of the lay-followers, i. e., Hinduism then-
extant as a part and parcel of their religion with little varia-
tions and changes. Thus the Monks of the Southern School
remained strictly the Bhikshus as were originally designed
by Buddha, whereas the monks of the Northern School
became more and more the priests and religious guides,
of the lay-followers.
It is evident the lead of the Northern School fell into the
hands of the Brahmans, the old religious teachers, guides,
and priests of the people. They entered into the Buddhist
Sangha in order to achieve Salvation which they ever sought,
but they could not, though they tried their best, to cut them-
selves off completely from the laymen, they had to remain,,
willingly or unwillingly, the guides and priests of the people.
Thus the religion of the people as a matter of course became"
a part and parcel of their own religion.
The schism openly took place from the time of the Second
Council which took place at Vesali. The minority stuck to
the strict Doctrine of the Order, but the majority adopted
new innovations, or rather openly accepted the religion of the
people as a part and parcel of the Order.
The first and the most important innovation was the adop-
tion of the sacred language Sanskrit as the medium of their
religious doctrines, whereas the Southern School stuck to the
Vernacular Pali. Thus all the religious books of the Northern
School were written in the Sanskrit language, the Southern
School writing in Pali.
The Northern School adopted the Hindu mythology almost
entirely with little or no changes, whereas the Southern
school gave it only a partial recognition. The following is
the mythology* of the Northern Buddhists.
* As regards the adoption of Hindu gods and goddesses by the
Buddhists, Sir M, William in his .Buddhism says :--Maba-Brahnia >&
26o ." BUDDHA.
MYTHOLOGY OF BUDDHISM.
In the centre of the world system stands the mountain
Meru. On its upper portion above the eight chief hills and
the worlds of animals, ghosts, demons and men, is situated
the lowest heaven of gods where abide the four Maharajas,
the guardian-angels of the world who protect it from the
demons. These four are represented in full armour with
drawn swords, one quarter of the heavens being assigned to
the guardianship of each, namely the East to Dhritarastra,
king of Gandharvas, the west to Virudhaba, the king of
Kavandas, the west to Virupaksa, the king of the Nagas and
the North to Kuvera, the king of the Yakshas.
Above this lowest heaven and on the highest summit of
Meru is the heaven of Indra and his thirty three gods, ile.,
eleven Rudras, eight Vasus, and twelve Aditywas.
Above this is the third heaven, that of Yamas ; then is the
fourth heaven, that of Tashitas (Boddiasatwas). The fifth is
inhabited by Nirmanirati Devali. The seventh heaven is the-
heaven of Mara or Kamadeva (god of desire).*
Now above these six heavens the chief gods of which are
on the one hand Indra, on the other hand Mara there are
often named, whereas Vishnu, the popular God of the Hindus is, we
have seen, represented by Padmapani (Avolokitaswara) who seems to
have taken his place.
Turning to God Siva, we may note that he was adopted by Buddhism
in his character of Yogi or Maha Yogi. Then as the Buddhism of the
North very soon became corrupted with Saivism and its accompani-
ments Sactism, Tantrism and Magic, so in the Northern countries
various forms of Siva such as Mahakala, Bhairava, Bhima, and of his
wife Parvati, Durga &c are honoured and their images are found
in temples. Sometimes bloody sacrifices are offered. Amongst the
Female Deities the forms of Tara are chiefly worshipped and regarded
as Saktis of the Buddhas."
* This is almost a prototype of the Hindu mythology. VThe Hindu
mythology does not speak of Mara, But mentions Kama, who is a
member of Indra's heaven.
HiSTORV OF BUDDHISM. 261
heavens for those who are successful in the first Dhyana,
then for the second Dhyaria, then for the third Dhyana,
then for the fourth or the last Dhyana. All three Dhyana
heavens are inhabited by Brahma gods presided over by
Maha-Brahma or Brahma Saharripati, but above all these
is the fourth Dhyana heaven which is the place for the
Arhats arid Buddhas. Thus a Buddha is greater than Indra
or Mara, greater than even Maha-Brahma.*
BUDDHIST TRINITY,
Buddha did hot speak of Trinity, but his " Buddha,
Dharma and Sangha" was a sort of Trinity as that of the
.Hindu Triad. Soon after his death, his followers of the
School made this "Buddha, Dharma and Sangha" a living
Northern Triad with representations^ They went further.
They brdught in those great gods, the personifications of:
faculties of deification of saints whom they began to wof-
ship as did the Hindus their Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. They
called these three, Manju Sree, (tfe of beautiful glory),
Avalokiteswara (the Lord that looks down) whom they alsor
called Padmapani (lotus-handed) and Vajrapani (the weildef
of thunderbolt.):}: Virtually these were the Brahma, Vishnu
* Maha-Brahma is the Supreme, Infinite^ unknowable One of the
Hindus.
f Often two other images ate associated with that of Goutama
Buddha hiniseif. And first of all, his image was joined with the other
two persons of the earlier Triad, vis Dharma and Sangha. A.sculpture,
in a broken arid imperfect condition} representing this earliest Triad)
and dating from the nineth and tenth century, was found at Buddh
Gya. The image of Buddha, under an umbralla-like tree, is in the
centre. That of the Sangha is on his right with a full blown lotus and
having one leg hanging down, while that of Dharma (a female) is on 1
his left with a half blown lotus. See Sir M. William's Buddhism p. p.
484-485- .
j Manju Sree is evidently Brahma, the god of knowledge ; Avalokite-
swar is Vishnu, and Vajrapani is Siva. Exactly by these names these
Hindu gods are sometimes mentioned in the Puranas.
and Siva., or Indra, or Rudra, of the Hindus accepted by
the Buddhist. monks in other names.*
DHYANI BODDHAS.
The Northern Buddhists believed that each Dhyani heaven
is presided over by a Dhyani Buddha. They gave the follow-
ing names of these Dhyani Buddhas with their Bodisatwas
and three incarnations i. e. Human Buddhas,
The Dhyani Buddhas ; -
1. Verochana.
2. Akshobya.
3. Ratna Sambhava.
4. Amitabha.
5. Amogasidha.
Their Bodhisatwas :
i. Samanta Vadra*
2* Vajrapani.
3, Ratnapahi.
4> Padmapani (Avalokiteswar.)
5. Viswapani.
Their human Buddhas.
1 . Kraku chanda.
2. Kanaha Munh
3. Kasyapa.
4. . Goutama.
5. Maitriya (to be born).
The Northern Buddhists worship all these Buddhas as. so
ftiany gods. They have their temples and dagobas all over
the Northern Buddhist countries. f
* Trinity or Triad is a belief of the Hindus from the tirne of the
Vedas. (See Sir M. William's Brahmanism and Hinduism).
f "As the Dhyani and Tantra systems grew, the idols of the Dhyani
Trinities and the Tantra gods and goddesses took their place, in the
monastaries and the temples of the Buddhists, and their figures with
many eyes and heads and hands are painted in the books and on the
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. 263
A;Di BUDDHA.
They also accepted the Hindu Infinite One and called
Him Adi-Buddha, a subject the great Master always avoided
discussing, but never prevented his lay-followers from
believing.
TANTRIK SYSTEM.
This system has always beeii a part of Hinduism from
the time of the Vedas, though in later days its rituals and
rites have been made mystic and ununderstandable. It is the
worship of the Great Force of Nature, the Wife of the Creator.
In Hinduism it is worshipping Durga, Kali, or Tara, the wife
of Siva;. It has been bodily taken from Hinduism into the
Buddhism of all the countries of the northern Asia.*
Rhys Davids remarks : "The founder of this system seems
to have been Asanga> an influential monk of Peshwar in the
Punjab who lived and wrote the first Text Book of the creed,
the Yogachara Dharma Sastra^ about the sixth century of.
our era. Hiouen Thsang who travelled in the first half of the
seventh century found the monastery where Asanga had lived
and says that he had lived 1000 years after the Buddha. He
managed with great dexterity to reconcile the two opposing
systems by placing a number of Saiva gods, both male and
.female, in the inferior heavens of the prevalent Buddhism,
representing them as worshippers and supporters of the
Buddha and Avolokiteshwara. He thus made it possible for
the half converted and rude tribes to remain Buddhists while
they brought offerings to their more congenial shrines,
and while their practical belief had no relation at all to
the Truths or the Noble Eight Fold Paths. They busied
walls and put up in the sides of roads." See Rhy Davids' Buddhism,
page 209.
* In Tibet, Mongolia and Manchuria, she is worshipped in the Hindu
names of Tara, Vairavi etc. In China she is worshipped as Kwan- Yin
Kwan-noh, both meaning goddess of mercy.
41
264 BUDDHA.
themselves almost wholly with obtaining magic powers (sidhi)
by means of magic phases (Dharanis) and magic (chakras.)*
ESOTERIC BUDDHISM.
It is nothing but the Yoga System of Hinduism.f All
over the northern Buddhist countries, it forms the most essen-
tial part of Buddhism. The Yoga of the Brahmans and the
yoga of the Buddhists are almost identical. J
CHAPTER V,
RITUALISTIC BUDDHISM.
FOR the monks of his Sangka, Buddha prescribed little
or no rituals. For them he discarded all Vedic Rituals and
Sacrifices ; for them he prescribed only self-culture, virtuous
* Buddhism p. 208. The principle of Tantricism is not so bad as
represented and generally believed by the European scholars. This is
not the place to discuss this important matter, but Tantric Occultism is
a subject which requires a careful study to pass an opinion -upon. [See
Introduction of M. N. Dutt's English Translation of Mahanirvana
Tan tram.]
f See Raj Yoga by Swami Vivekanand.
J Sir M. Williams writes: "The subject of mystical Buddhisna
ought not to be brushed aside as unworthy of consideration. It furni-
shes, in my opinion, a highly interesting topic of enquiry, especially in
its bearing on the "neo- Buddhism" and Theosophy of the present day.
At all events it is -clear from what we have advanced in the present
lecture that the practices connected with spiritualism, mesmerism , animal
magnetism, telepathy, clairvoyance, thought-reading &c have their
counterparts in the Yoga System prevalent in India more than 2000
years ago, and in the practices of mystical Buddhism prevalent in Tibet
and the adjacent countries for many centuries.
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. 265
and good conduct, and meditation. There were no prayers,
no worship, no Pujah of any sort, they were to depend upon
themselves, and upon their own exertion for final achievement
of Nirvana.
But to become a Bhikshu, we have seen, a candidate
had to utter a formula, which ran as follows :
" I take Refuge in Buddha
I take Refuge in Dharma
I take Refuge in Sangha."
It meant that a Buddhist monk was bound to- believe in a
Buddha, a great Enlightened One, he was to. follow strictly
the dictates of Dharma all moralities and virtuous and good
acts and he was also to become body and soul a part and
parcel of the Sangha.
These were all the rituals and rites of the great Buddhist
Sangha when Buddha founded it, but as soon as he was
dead, he was canonised and deified ; his remains were buried
in ten different Stupas which became the pilgrimages to, his
devoted followers and places of worship for his layity. He
asked his followers to put faith in a Buddha ; virtually
Buddha was the God of the Buddhists. And his followers,
after his death, made him a true God. Buddha ordered them
to do it when he enjoined his disciples to say at the time of
their Ordination " I take refuge in the Buddha."
The number of his Stupas increased from ten to lacs: at
the time of Asoka, and thus the Buddhist places of worship
and pilgrimages became innumerable. Along with Buddha
the Buddhists, or specially those of the Northern School, went
on worshipping the Hindu gods and goddesses which
Buddha, when living, never prevented his lay-followers; to
worship. Thousands and thousands, of Buddha's figures made-
in stone, wood or clay were worshipped and adored a.H over
India, nay all over Asia.
Next came the Images of the Buddhas who proceeded
Goutama Buddha, specially Kasyapa 5 Kanaha. Muni and
266 BUDDHA.
Karaka-Cchanda, Then followed the images, of the five
Dhyani Buddhas. The images of Maitra Buddha who was
to be born became the most desired object of worship in all
the Buddhist countries.*
Then were introduced the images of the Buddhist Triad
mamely, Manju Sri, Avolekiteswar, and VajrapanL " ; In
general Manju Sri is represented in a sedent attitude with his
left hand holding a lotus and his right hand holding a sworrl
of wisdom with a shinning blade to dissipate the darkness
of ignorance."t
Avoloketeswar had eleven heads and one thousand hands
and one thousand eyes. His female counterpart is repre-r
sented as a woman (called Kwan-yin IB China and Kwon-nore
in Japan) with a thousand arms and thousand eyes.
The image of Vajrapani is represented as holdiug a thunder-
bolt in one hand. With regard to the image of Tara or Sakti r
she is represented as a green sedent figure, with her right hand
on her knee, her left holding a lotus. Besides these, there-
are innumerable images of smaller gods and goddesses now-
worshipped by the Buddhists of Tibet, Mongolia, China,.
Japan, &c.
The third member of Buddha's great religion Sangha,
also soon became personified and deified. Its images were
made and worshipped ; besides it grew to be a gigantic In-
stitution with " its shaven priests, its bells, and rosaries-, its;
images and holy water, and gorgeous dresses, its service witfo
double choirs and processions, and creeds and mystic rites
* Fa-Hien records that he saw in Northern India a wooden- image-
of Maitrya Bodhisattwa which on fast days emitted a brilliant light
(See Legge, p. 23) Hiouen Thsang also describes this image of Maitrya
Buddha. (See Beal, I. 134). " In the present day the images of
Maitrya often represent him with both hands raised, the fingers forming-,
the lotus shaped Mudra, the body yellow or gilded " and the hair short-
and curly. Sir M. W.'s Buddhism, p. 486.
t See Sir M. William's Buddhism p. 486. .
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM, 267
and incense, in which the laity are spectators only, i
abbots and monks and nuns of many grades, its worship of
the double virgins, and of the saints and angels - T its fasts
confessions and purgatory, its images and idols and its pic-
tures, its huge monasteries and its gorgeous Cathedrals, its
powerful heirarchy, its Cardinals, its Pope." This is now-
known by the name of Lamaism.
The following quotations from various sources would give
a clear idea of Lamaism in all the Buddhist countries. Sarat
Chander Dass in his " Narratives" thus describes the dis-
covery of the present Dalai Lama.
" After the death of an incarnate Lama, his soul is said
ordinarily to remain in the spirtiual world for a space
of at least forty nine days. In 1875, one year after
the demise of the late Dalai Lama, Thinle-Gya-tsho
the Regency and the College of Cardinals at Lassa consulted
the celebrated oracle of Wachung bho/skyoog about the
re-appearance of the Dalai, The oracle declared that the
grand Lama could only be discovered . by a monk of the
purest morals. Accordingly the Shar-tse-khanpo of the
Golden monastery, who was well-known for his virtuous
character and his profound knowledge of the sacred . books,
proceeded to Chhoikhor Gya where he sat in profound medi-
tation for full seven days. On the night of the last day, he
saw a vision in which a voice from heaven directed him to-
go and see a miraculous sight in the Ya-tsho lake of Chhoik-
hor Gya. . Awakening from his sleep, the Khampo went to?
the lake, where in the crystal-like water, he saw the incar-
nate grand Lama sitting on the lap of his mother and .cares-
sed by his father. The house with its furniture was^ also*
* See Rhys David's Buddhism p. 250. He remarks "these bear a
strong resemblance to Romanism." We could have shown if space per-
mitted us tbat Christianity as it was -originally was but a child of
Buddhism. . ......
268 " BUDDHA.
visible. All on a sudden this image-like appearance dis-
appeared, and he heard the neighing of a horse. So much
of his dream being fulfilled, he proceeded on the horse to
the province of Kongpo ; and on the way, he happened to
call at the house of a rich and respectable family of the dis-
trict of Tag-po. He recognised the house, the family and
the child he had seen in the lake and at once declared
that the real end of his jo-urn ey was obtained. On his re-
port the Government officials and the College of Cardinals
headed by the Regent visited Tag-po- and escorted the infant
and its parents in great pomp to the palace of Rigyal near
Lassa. The princely child was only one year old when he
was discovered. He is now ten and bears the name of Nag-
Wang Lo-Ssang-Thub-dan-Gya-tsho. (The Lord of Speech
and the powerful Ocean of Wisdom)-
M. Hue thus speaks of the Mongolian mode of election
of fhe Grand Lama.* :
" The election and enthroning of the living Buddhas is
extremely curious. When a Grand Lama is "gone away," i.e.,
is dead, the event is by no means made a matter of mourning
in the convent. There are no tears or regrets, for every one
knows that the living Buddha will soon re-appear. The appar-
ent death is only the commencement of a new existence, a
new link added to a boundless and uninterrupted chain of suc-
cessive lives. When the saint is in Chrysalis state, his disciples
are in the greatest anxiety, and the grand point is to discover
the place where their Master has returned to life. If a
rain-bow appears, they consider it as a sign sent to them from
their grand Lama to assist them in their searches.
Every, one then goes to prayers, and especially the
convent which has been widowed of its Buddha is incessant
in its fastings and orisons, and a troop of chosen Lamas
set out to consult the Churchen or the diviner of hidden
things. They relate to him the time, the place, and circums-
tances under which the rainbow has appeared, and he then,
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. 269
after reciting some prayers, opens his book of divination and
at length pronounces his oracle, while the Tartars who have
come to consult him, listen on their knees with the most
profound devotion.
"Your grand Lama,, "says he," has returned to life in Tibet
at such a place in such a family ; and when the poor Mongols
have heard the oracle, they return full of joy to their convent
to announce the happy news. Sometimes the living Buddha
announces himself at an age when other infants cannot
articulate a word ; but whether his place of abode be found
by means of the rainbow or by his spontaneous revelation,
it is always at a considerable distance and in a country
difficult of access. A grand procession is then made, headed
by the king or the greatest man in the country to fetch the
young living Buddha. The Mongols often go through incredit-
able fatigue and hardships, traverse frightful deserts, and
sometimes after being plundered by robbers, stripped of every
thing and compelled to return, set out again with undiminished
courage. When the living Buddha is found, however, he is
not saluted as the Grand Lama without examination. Doubt-
less the simple Mongols are in this matter often the dupes of
those who have an interest in making a Grand Lama of the
baby. The tittle of living Buddha having been confirmed,
he is conducted in triumph to the monastery of which he is to
become the Grand Lama, and as he passes along, the Tartars
eome in great troops and prostrate themselves before him.
As soon as he arrives at the convent^ he is placed on the altar,
and every Tartar from the highest to the lowest in the land
bows down before the child."
The following sketch of the high service in Lassa Cathe-
dral is given by M. Koppen. It will show the reader the
present stage of Lamaism.
" 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 archangels. The walls are
270 BUDDHA.
covered with rude paintings of scenes from the. legends of
Buddha, and its roof is supported by six massive pillars
covered with beautiful carvings spoilt by gorgeous paint arid
gilding. The church itself is a long nave divided by rows of
pillars from two aisles and by silvetf screens of open trilis
works from two chancels.. Into the aisle on each side open
fourteen chapels. At the end is the holy place, containing
fifteen jewelled tablets, with mystic symbols of Sangsara and
the other creation's of Buddhist metaphysics ; and in the
furthest niche is a magnificent golden statue of the now die-
fied Goutama Buddha. On the left is the throne of the Dalai
Lama ; in the right that of the Pantshen Lama, and in order
on either side, gradually decreasing in night and splendour,
the seats of Chutuktus, the abbots and the eighteen orders
of inferior clergy. In front of the idol is the higher altar or
table of offerings, raised by several stages above the floor;
in the upper levels being images of gold, silver, and clay ;
on the lawn the bell and lamps and other vessels used in the
holy service. At the sound of the horn or trumpet,/ the clergy
assemble in the entrance hail 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 th'ert
seats himself cross-begged on the divans according to rank.
A bell is then rung and all murmur the Three Refuges, the
Ten Precepts and other formulas. After silence is restored,
the bell sounds again; and the priests now sing in choir larger
pieces from the sacred books. It it be a fast day, the highest
point of the service is reached in the Tuisob or prayer for
sarictification 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 of 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 conies ; a
second raises aloft a jug; a third a mystic symbol of the world
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. 271
a fourth a cup and other other sacred vessels or mystic sym-
bols. Meanwhile the voices of the singers and the sound of
the bells and drums and trumpets grow louder and louder,
and the church is filled with incense from the sacred urns. The
monk with the jug pours several times water mixed with sugar
and saffron over the mirror which another monk wipes each
time with a napkin of silk. The water flows over the mirror
into the symbol of the world and is caught in the cup beneath.
Thence, the only mixture is poured on to another jug and a
drop or two is allowed to trickle into 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 reverentially swallows the remaining 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."*
The ceremonial observances are not confined only amongst
the Buddhists of the Northern School. They are now more
or less prevalent in Burma and Ceylon ; the Buddhists of
the Southern School also have adopted much of the Maha-
yana system. We shall, therefore, to give an idea of the
ceremonials prevalent amongst the Southern Buddhists, quote
two passages from Sir Williams' work describing the ordi-
nation of monks in Burmah and Ceylon.
"On the day appointed for the induction ceremony, the
young neophyte dresses in his gayest clothes, and mounted
on a pony, passes at a foot's space through the town or village.
A band of .music goes before him, and all his friends dressed
in. their best garments of yellow in a crowd, the young men
dancing and singing, the girls smiling and laughing. Thus
he proceeds in procession to the houses of his relations, to
bid them farewell. Of course, the introductory observance
'
.. * See Sir M.. William's Buddhism p. 306. It is a summary of the
description given in the Burman by Shway Yoe, ne Scott.
42
272 BUDDHA.
is intended as a kind of dramatic imitation oi Goutama
Buddha's celebrated abandonment of his own family and
worldly associates.
The monks, seated in a row, carefully hold up their
fan-like screens to shut out the female portion of the assem-
blage from their view. Portions, of a Vinaya are then recited,
after which the would-.be novice, is made to throw off all his
fine clothes and bind a pieqe of white cloth round his loins.
Then his hair is cut off close and his, bead is carefully shaved
and washed. Next he is taken to a bath and after immersion
in pure water is brought once more, partially clothed, before
the assembled monks. Prostrating himself three times before
them, he raises his hand in reverence, and using the regular
Pali form of words, asks to be admitted to the holy brother-
hood. Upon that, the head of the monastery presents him with
the yellow monastic garments. They are duly put on, and
the mendicant's bowl is hung round his neck. The ceremony
concludes by the funeral announcement of his having become
a member of the monastery.
The present ceremony in Ceylon is of a simple form. It
differs from the ancient form."*
CH AFTER VI.
SPREAD OF NORTHERN BUDDHISM.
We have said that one hundred years after Buddha's
death, the Northern Buddhism became more powerful and
influential than the Southern Buddhism. Their Council was
called the Great Council, their doctrines were called Maha-
yana or Great Path, whereas the doctrines of the Southern
* See Hardy's Eastern Monarchism p. 23
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. 273
Buddhists were called Hina-yana or Lower Path. Except in
Magadha and its eastern dependencies, the religion of the
Hina-yana had no place in India. The religion of the Maha-
yana spread all over India as far west as modern Afganistan.
The reason is not far to seek. The religion of Maha-yaha
was nothing else, but the religion then prevalent in India, i.e.,
Brahmanical Hinduism, with some changes and alterations.
It was but Hinduism reformed Or expanded.
In the beginning of the Christian Era, it spread beyond
the borders of India, for at that time a great king rose in the
Northern India as Asoka was in the Eastern India ; and this
king was a zealous Buddhist. He sent missionaries to China,
Mongolia and Tibet and did much for the propagation of
the religion of the great Prophet. This king Was the cele-
brated Kanishka of Kashmir.
The grand-father of Kaniska was Haviska. He Was the
king of Kabul, and when driven out from there, he founded
a new kingdom in Kashmir. He was a Buddhist* and founded
a monastery at Mathura.f He was succeeded by tiaska who
also built a Vihara.J
"Kaniska's dominion extended from Kabul to the Hindu-
kush and Bolor mountains, over Yarkhand and Khokan ;
throughout Kashmir, Ladhaka, and the Central Himalayas,
down over the plains of the 'Upper- Ganges and Janiuna as far as
Agra, over Rajputana, Guzrat and Sindh, and thus the whole
of the Punjab, a magnificient empire equalled in extent
from the time of Asoka to that of the Mogul."
* It is clear from the coins of Haviska and Kaniska Ihat Buddhism
became k the state religion of the north western parts of India at about
the commencement of our Era:- Rhys David's Buddhism, page 238.
f See Cunningham's Archaeological Reports, Vol. I., page 238 and
also Dawson's "Ancient Inscriptions from Mathura, J. R. A. S. New
Series Vol. V. page 182.
J Rhys David says that they were also fire-worshippers. See
Buddhism page 238.
See Rhys David's Buddhism pages 238- L -
274, BUDDHA.
At the advice of his tutor, named Parsvika, king Kaniska
held a Council of 500 monks under the presidency of Vasu-
bandhu.* These monks drew up three great commentaries
namely (r) Upadesa on the Sutra Pit&ka, (2) Vinya Vivasha
Shastra on the Vinaya, and (3) Abhidharma Vivasha Shastra
on the Abhidharma Ritaka. These three works Kaniska
said to have had engraven on copper plates and sealed up in
a stone box over which he built a dogoba.f
BUDDHISM IN TIBET.
Nya Khri Tsanpo was the first king of,. Tibet.! He was
succeeded by several kings till at last came Srong Tsan
Gampo who was born in 617. In the year 632, he began the
work of civilising his subjects. With this intention he sent
his minister Thumi Sambhota to India to learn Buddhist
sacred books. This great man designed Jhe Tibetan alpha-
bet called Laucha .on the model of the Indian letters then,
in use.
The first Tibetan author was this great -minister Thumi
Sumbhota. He composed a grammer and many other works.
An important work that he translated was a Tantra work
named Mani Kambum. This book describes the introduc-
tion of Buddhism into Tibet as well as the origin of the well-
known six syllabled prayer of Tibet, namely Om Mani
Padma Hum. This book contains 100,000 precepts. The
teachincr of Thumi Sumbhota was of an orthodox character ;
he was the founder of the strict school of Tibetan Buddhism
* This council is not mentioned in any of the books of Southern
Buddhists as Asoka's council is also not mentioned by the Northern
Buddhists. It is mentioned in the Hionen Thsang's Travels'. See
Julien, pages 9598, Cosma, Asiatic Researches XX. pages 41 297.
f This is what is told by Hiouen Thsang in his travels. See Julien's
Translation.
\ This portion is a summary of Tibetan history as given by M.
William in his Buddhism from Koeppen's great work.
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. 275
called Kadampa which finally diveloped into the yellow robed
sect as distinct from the red robed sect.
After the death of Thumi Sumbhota, the propagation of
Buddhism in Tibet was carried on by two princesses the
two queens of king Srong Tsan Gampo, named Dolkar and
Doljang*
After the death of king Srong-Tsan-Gampo, Bud-
dhism declined in Tibet. One of his successors named
Khri-Srong-De-Tsan who reigned from 740 786 tried to
restore it. For this purpose he brought from India a large
number of religious teachers. First came Santa Rakshita
with twelve companions from Bengal. Then came the cele-
brated Padmasamvava from the lands of Udyana.t It was
under his direction the great monastery of Samye was built.
He was remarkable for his great learning. He it was who
first furthered the translation of the whole of the Buddhist
Cannon into Tebetan.J He was the founder of the Red Sect
* "The first two Lama Monasteries in Tibet called La-brang. and
Ra-mo-che t founded about A.D., 650, were erected at Lhassa by them
or in theirhonour and each monastery contained a renowned wonder-
working image which each princess had brought with her."
The great monastery La~brang is in the very centre of Lhassa and
is regarded as the centre of the whole country. AH the main roads of
Tibet converge towards it. Doubtless the area of the monastery has been-
enlarged by occasional additions in the course of one thousand years,-
but not since it was partly rebuilt and restored in the i/th century.-
Its magnificient temple, Cho-Khang, is of the St. Peter's Lamaism.
The immense number of monks inhabiting this monastery is proved by
the fact that a huge cauldron is shown which holds more than 1,200
gallons of tea for the Lamas who perform the daily services." See Sir"
M. William's Buddhism pages 271 & 441.
f Dardistan.
J The Tibetan Canon commonly called Kanjur consisted of at least
108 vols. The present Tanjur of Tibet consists of 225 folio vols. of
translations, commentaries and treatises, embracing works on all sub-
jects, such as grammar, logic, rhetoric, poetry, medicine, astrology,
alchemy, magic, &c. . , :
276 BUDDHA*
in Tibet. A sect called Urgyenpa^ a sect called Brugpa or
Dugpa, and a sect called Sankyapa all belonged to the fed
sect and follow the doctrines of Padmasamvava. They are
found in large numbers in Nepal, Bhutan, Sikim, Tibet and
Ladak.
After the death of this king, Buddhism was in a declining
state for many centuries, but in the second half of the nth
century the kings again tried to give it life and strength.
Many learned men were brought from India, of whom Atisha
was the most celebrated. This monk was a supporter of the
stricter rules of Thumi Sumbhota, and his well-known Tibetan
pupil named Brom Tom was also a great upholder of the yelleW
sect. Three great monasteries were built under them, namely
(i) Raseng, (2) Sakya and (3) Brikheng. Raseng monastery
monks belonged to the yellow sect, whereas those of the Bri-
kheng were of the red sect. A great rivalry was bred between
these two monasteries and each tried to claim supremacy over
the other, till at last the Chinese Emperor declared the Red
Sect to possess the highest authority.
BUDDHISM IN MONGOLIA.
Mongolia received much of Buddhism from Tibet, and
Tibet received much from Mongolia. Both the countries
received Tantricism mixed with Buddhism from India which
was known by the name of Samanism or Sramanism. Sir M.
William writes : " It is well-known that the great Mongolia
conqueror Jenghiz Khan conquered Tibet at about A. D.
1206. Before that period Mongolia had come in contact
with various religious cults, for example with Zoroastrism,
Buddhism and Islamism. They had even had some experience
of 4 Christianity, for Nestorian Missions existed in Central Asia
in the 6th and yth centuries of our era, and penetrated into
China in the seventh century. All these religions strove to
convert the Mongolians, who soon became an important
nation through the conquest of Jenghiz Khan. That conqueror
HISTORY OF BUDDHISM. 27.7
however had a very simple religion of his own. He believed
in one God in heaven and one king on earth ; that is, he
believed that God had given him the dominion of the whole
world and he set himself to conquer .. the world. Yet he
tolerated all religions. " As the hand," he said, "has many
fingers, , so there are many ways to show men how they may
reach heaven."*
Khublai,f the greatest of all the descendants of Jenghiz
was the first to elevate his people above a mere life of rapine -
and plunder, and it struck him that the best method of
civilising them would be by adopting and promoting
Buddhism, which the greater number of the races subject to
him already possessed. Khublai first appointed Phaspa of
of the Sakya monastery as the Head of the Buddhist herearchy
all over his Empire. It was Rhaspa Lama who invented the
Mongolian Alphabet. He then undertook a new revision of
the Buddhist Sacred Books comparing the Tibetan Sacred
Texts (Kanjur) with the Chinese. Twenty nine learned men,
versed in the Tibetan, Ugrian, Chinese, and Sanskrit lan-
guages were occupied with the task of collation, and a few
years later the first Mongolian translation of the Sacred Texts
was begun by the Sakya Lama named, Choskyi Odser.
The greatest name amongst the Mongolian Buddhist
monks is that of Tsong Khapa. Sir M. William thus speaks
of him : " Tsong Khapa, whose name is as much celebrated
in Mongolia and Tibet and among the Kalmuk Tartars as
that of the founder of Buddhism, is said to have been born
in the year 1355 or 1357 of our era, in the land of Amdd
where the celebrated monastery of Kunbum was situated north
of Tibet on the borders of China.
In process of time, Tson Khapa set out on a journey from
Amdo to Tibet, his object being to acquire the knowledge of
* See Buddhism, pages 274 275.
f Khublai reigned fron> 1259 1294 A.D.
27$ BUDDHA.
the doctrine from the original sources. He is said to have
studied the Law of Buddha at Sakya, Bhrikheng and
Lassa. It was in this way that he became, impressed with
the necessity of purifying and reforming the Discipline of
Tibetan Buddhism, which the red sect had corrupted by
allowing the marriage of monks and by laxity in other
matters. Innumerable pupils gathered round him, all of
whom adopted as their distinguishing mark, the orthodox
yellow garments of primitive Buddhism.
Tsong Khapa soon acquired vast influence, and in the year
1409 was able to build on a hill about 30 miles from Lassa,
the celebrated monastery called Galdan of the Yellow School,
Of this Tsong. Khapa was the first Abbot. His followers how-
ever rapidly became too numerous to be comprehended within
so limited an area. Hence there arose in the immediate
neighbourhood of Lhassa two other great monasteries namely
Brepung3cs\& Sera] these monastries once held 30000 monks
of the yellow sect, but now have only 16500."*
BUDDHISM IN CHINA, JAPAN KORIA Ac-
Buddhism had long before this penetrated into China,t
along the fixed route from India to that country, round the
north-west corner of the Himalayas and across Eastern
Turkistan. Already in the second year B. C. an embassy,
perhaps sent by Haviska, took Buddhist books to the then
emperor of China A-ili and the Emperor Ming-Ti (62 A. D.)
guided by a dream is said to have sent men 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
* See Sir M. William's Buddhism p.p. 277-278.
f See Rhys David's Buddhism p.p. 24! -242V
HISTORY OF. BUDDHISM, 279
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 Norther Buddhism, though no new
sect seems to have been formed.
Into Koria, Buddhism was introduced from China as
early as 372 D. D. and thence into Japan in 552, in the
1 3th year of king Kin Mei Teno. The old religion of Japan
was a worship of the powers of Nature, the latest develop-
ment of which has been preserved in the work on Sin To,
by a learned Japanese woman of the twelfth century; and in
the 1 3th century a monk, named Sin Ran, who died in 1262,
founded a new Buddhistic sect, which incorporates into its
belief much of the old creed and the monks belonging to
which wear the ordinary dress and marry. Many of them are
thus allied to the noble and even to the royal family.
Kochin China and Ava, the Island of Formosa and Man-
golia, probably received their Buddhism from China during
the fourth and fifth centuries, and before that it had spread
westwards and northwards from Kabul and Yarhkhand to
Balk, Bokhara, the Balkash or Deugor Lake, and into China
again by the way of Junguria and Kobdo.
THE END.
43
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