THE BUDDHA'S
'WAY OF VIRTUE'
MVISDOM^
/7
Ube Misfcom of tbe East Series
EDITED BY
L. CRANMER-BYNG
Dr. S. A. KAPADIA
THE BUDDHA'S
WAY OF VIRTUE
THE BUDDHIST IDEAL
" ' Eschew all evil : cherish good : cleanse your inmost
thoughts 'this is the teaching of Buddhas."
Dhammapada, 183.
" Everything has two handles, the one by which it may
be carried, the other by which it may not. ... Lay hold
of the handle by which it can be carried."
EPICTETUS (Encheiridion xliii).
WISDOM OF THE EAST
THE BUDDHA'S
WAY OF VIRTUE"
A TRANSLATION OF THE DHAMMAPADA
FROM THE PALI TEXT
BY W. D. C. WAGISWARA
K. J. SAUNDERS
MEMBERS OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, CEYLON BRANCH
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY
1912
TO
N. P. C.
2005505
CONTENTS
NOTE
. 19
EDITORIAL NOTE .....
. 20
1-
THE TWIN TRUTHS
. 21
II.
ZEAL ......
. 24
III.
THE MIND .....
. 26
IV.
FLOWERS
. 28
V.
THE FOOL
. 30
VI.
THE WISE MAN ....
. 32
VII.
THE ARAHAT ....
. 34
VIII.
THE THOUSANDS ....
. 36
IX.
VICE
. 38
X.
PUNISHMENT ....
. 40
XI.
OLD AGE
. 42
XII.
SELF
. 44
XIII.
THE WORLD ....
46
XIV.
48
XV.
BLISS .
. 51
7
CONTENTS
XVI. AFFECTION .....
. 53
XVII. ANGER
. 55
XVIII. SIN
. 57
XIX. THE RIGHTEOUS
. 60
XX. THE PATH ....
. 62
XXI. MISCELLANY ....
. 66
XXII. HELL
. 68
XXIII. THE ELEPHANT . . .
. 70
XXIV. DESIRE . . . .
. 72
XXV. THE BHIKKHU ....
. 76
XXVI. THE BRAHMIN ....
79
NOTES .......
. 85
ILLUSTRATIVE SAYINGS OF THE DISCIPLES
OF
THE BUDDHA .....
. 100
APPENDIX: THE BUDDHIST IDEAL .
. 102
INTRODUCTION
1
THE Dhammapada was accepted at the Council
of Asoka in 240 B.C. as a collection of the sayings
of Gautama ; yet it was not put into writing
until some generations had passed, and probably
contains accretions of later date.
However that may be, there is no doubt that
it breathes the very spirit of the Teacher, and
it has always been used in Buddhist lands as
a handbook of " devotion " or meditation, in
whose solemn precepts men hear the voice of
Sakyamuni summoning them to the life of con-
templation, of strenuous mind-culture. The
world, it tells them, is without permanence or
purpose, other than that of expiation ; the
body is "a nest of disease " and the seat of
" desire " ; the mind itself is subject to decay,
and capricious, easily led away after false pursuits.
Yet here, in the mind of man, lies his hope
of salvation : he may make it a strong tower
of defence. Though the world is out of gear,
10 INTRODUCTION
yet, like the Stoic, he may build within himself
a kingdom and be at peace.
-And so the call to " play the man " rings out
with sturdy confidence. All men may attain, if
they will, to happiness and serenity, for, with a
modern Stoic, the Buddhist proclaims :
" I am the master of my fate ;
I am the captain of my soul."
Gautama then was no thoroughgoing pessimist ;
that such a nature was pessimistic at all is due
to the age in which he lived. It was the
" sub-conscious mind " of his nation, and not
his own brave spirit, that shut him in to the
belief in a ceaseless flux of " becoming," a weary
round of pain and retribution. For, by the
sixth century B.C., India had passed from the
sunny paganism of the Rig Veda into a more
thoughtful and more gloomy phase of her
religious development.
There were not wanting heroic spirits who
offered a way of escape, urging men to plunge
into asceticism or to court the mystic trance.
These were the religious leaders of the day, at
whose feet Gautama sat. Others, the great ma-
jority, were not ready for such heroic measures.
They tried to square the gods, and to live un-
molested, or to forget all in the pleasures of
sense or the more subtle joys of the intellect.
To Gautama, all alike seemed " to follow
INTRODUCTION 11
Wandering fires." How degrading this thraldom
to immoral and capricious gods ! How empty
and unsatisfying this mysticism when shorn of all
ethical content ! Which is more to be pitied, the
grasping priest or the foolish worshipper ? Which
more deluded, the worldling or the devotee ?
To all alike the Dhammapada has a message
of warning and encouragement : to the worldling
it holds out the promise of a truer wealth and
fame (75, 303) and a more blessed family life
(204-7, 302) ; to the warrior it offers a higher
" chivalry " (270) and a more heroic contest
(103, 104) ; to the philosopher a deeper wisdom
than much speaking (28, 100, 258) ; to the
mystic a purer and more lasting bliss (197-200) ; to
the devotee a more fruitful sacrifice (106-7) ; and
to the Brahmin a more ennobling service ( xxvi)
and a more compelling authority (73, 74). It is,
in fact, possible largely to reconstruct the religious
life of Gautama's day from the stanzas of the
Dhammapada.
For all classes the Buddha has the same
message : the great reality is character ; all
else are shadows not worth pursuing, for none
of them strengthens moral fibre, and all alike
are tainted with " desire."
Like Socrates, he saw in himself a physician of
the soul, and at times he resorted to surgery
to " stab the spirit broad awake," to call men
from superstition on the one hand and materialism
12 INTRODUCTION
on the other. With Epictetus he would have
said, " A philosopher's school, my friends, is
a surgery, on leaving which you look to have
felt, not pleasure but pain."
Men needed above all things a moral tonic ;
there lies the secret at once of his stoicism and
his agnosticism ; luxury here, a barren mysticism
there these were sapping men's strength, and
all the energy they could command was needed
in the fight for character. They must strive
and agonise to " cut out desire," to push their
way " against the stream," to cross life's stormy
" ocean " and reach the haven of peace. And
they must do it alone, not trusting to priest,
or sacrifice, or the help of Heaven.
For this insistence upon morality to the
exclusion of " religion " Gautama is often labelled
" atheist." Nothing could be more unfair :
agnostic he may have been or seemed to be ;
but his was no irreligious spirit : the man who
scoffs at the " other world " he condemns in
uncompromising terms, and Ethics so lofty as
this " Way of Virtue " never emanated from
any but a reverent spirit. It is one of the
puzzles of Psychology that so pure a soul ever
stopped short at Ethics ; yet we must remember
that he was a reformer, that reformers are apt
to be one-sided, and that during long and painful
years he had suffered at the hands of a false
" religiosity " ; the iron had entered into his soul.
INTRODUCTION 13
" If Buddhists admit neither judge norcreator,"
says Professor de la Vallee Poussin, "at least
they recognise a sovereign and infallible justice
a justice of wonderful insight and adaptability,
however mechanically it acts. ... In my opinion
it is a calumny to accuse Buddhists of atheism :
they have, at any rate, taken full cognisance
of one of the aspects of the divine." *
Gautama believed above all things in a moral
order, which, if it is inexorable, is also too righteous
to yield to sacrificial bribes :
" Not in the sky, nor in mid-ocean, nor in mountain-cave,
can one find sanctuary from his sin. . . . Often do men in
terror seek sanctuary in mountains and in jungles, by sacred
groves or trees : in them there is no safe sanctuary."
(Dhammapada, 127, 188-9.)
So too the Psalmist cries, "Whither shall I
flee from Thy presence ? If I ascend into
heaven, Thou art there: if I go down to hell,
Thou art there also."
Like the Hebrew prophet, too, he strikes a
note of strenuous endeavour, of profound dis-
satisfaction with the actual, and of aspiration
after the ideal : unlike the Hebrew and the
Christian, he sees in the actual no promise of
the ideal. His " way of salvation " is therefore
monastic ; men are to leave the world if they
would escape suffering and be truly happy :
the layman may one day attain the far-off goal,
* Bouddhisme, p. 70.
14 INTRODUCTION
but for him remains a long and weary pilgrimage,
many revolutions of the wheel of existence.
It is to Bhikkhus then that these stanzas are
in the main addressed. They are comments
made by the Teacher to his disciples as occasion
arose ; and to study them in a sympathetic
spirit we of the West must for a time forget
our impatience with " cloistered virtue." The
saintly life in the world is no doubt a truer
ideal than the saintly life out of it, yet saintliness
of any type is not to be despised.
The Buddhist holds that in contemplative
activity a man may best serve the world : is
i not true that " we need reservoirs of every
kind of excellence " ? We read in the Dhamma-
pada of the fragrance of holy deeds which
pervades the high heavens, and of the light
that such a life may cast athwart a dark world.
The " religious " is more to be envied than
kings or even gods, and more fruitful.
" Good is kingship of the earth ;
Good attaining heavenly birth :
World-conquest's good, but better far
The fruits of true conversion are."
(Dhammapada, 178.)
These fruits are " self -reverence, self-knowledge,
self-control " (c/. 261) ; self-culture is in the
end the truest benevolence, says the Buddhist,
and the deepest wisdom. That " wisdom " of
which we shall hear so much in the following
INTRODUCTION 15
pages, is "a certain over-mastering principle
or power, that lays hold, primarily indeed, of the
intellect, but through the intellect of the entire
personality, moulding and disciplining the will
and the emotions into absolute unison with
itself, a principle from which courage, temperance,
justice, and every other virtue inevitably flow." *
" A man is not wise by much speaking. , . . He is the
wise man who is forgiving, kindly, and without fear."
(Dhammapada, 258.)
For Gautama sees in ignorance not merely a
calamity, but also a moral fault ; he agrees
with the Darwinians in recognising in man the
ape and the tiger, but adds, with Dr. Creighton,
that " when the ape and the tiger go, there still
remains the donkey, a far more formidable
beast." f
Moha, infatuation, and Avijjd, ignorance, are
everywhere, and " Ignorance is the greatest of
taints, more destructive than avarice and im-
purity." (Ibid., 242, 243.)
He himself was the " enlightened," " the
seer " who by insight had won emancipation,
and he teaches that if men will only see things
as they are, then they cannot but eschew evil
and do good ; but the great multitude are
* Dr. J. Adam, The Religious Teachers of Greece, p. 329.
f Tibetan Buddhism illustrates these three cardinal vices
by pictures of the cook (lust), the snake (anger), and the hog
(stupidity).
16 INTRODUCTION
fools and blind. To give them new ideals and
to lift the veil off their darkened hearts this
was the work of Gautama, and in attempting it
he revealed a sturdy optimism and a magnetic
personality which went far to energise his ideal.
These qualities place him high amongst ethical
teachers.
H
And what shall we say of his system as religion ?
The student of these pages will find himself in
a moonlit world, beautiful yet cold :
" A common greyness silvers everything."
Here is no " sunset touch," no mystic hint of
Him " whose dwelling is the light of setting
suns " ; our hearts are not stirred as we read
by any assurance of the reality of the Unseen.
Mysticism in short finds no entrance here a
fact which makes the Dhammapada almost
unique amongst the great things of religious
literature. Instead we find " common sense "
supreme, mathematical, and a little cold, yet
confident of itself and of its firm grasp of all
the factors in life's equation. Instead of passion
and romance we shall find self-mastery and a
half- humorous sweet reasonableness. Every-
where Law is at work, and there is nothing
besides : no hint of whence law emanates, of
how it works, or why. These are questions alike
INTRODUCTION 17
unprofitable and unanswerable. It is enough,
the Buddha would say, that the world makes for
righteousness, that sin is punished, and that
goodness does not go unrewarded. " As you
sow, so shall you reap." Happiness is the bloom
upon virtue ; sorrow is the blight upon sin :
and this is the ultimate motive to the strenuous
life.
" Is such a world worth while ? " asks full-
blooded Youth. " And is a calm like this
enough ? " " The world," comes the serene
answer, " is worth nothing at all : it has no
reality and no purpose, save that of retribution :
man's only happiness is to escape. The calm
and peaceful frame of mind is the only happy
one, the promise of a Rest hereafter, ineffable
and placid : to this man can and must attain."
K. J. S.
TEINITY COLLEGE, KANDY.
atte/'tide, 1912.
NOTE
AN accurate and sympathetic knowledge of
Buddhism and of the spirit of the Buddha is
best got from such a book as the Dhammapada,
which contains the concentrated essence of the
religion. In view of widespread misinterpreta-
tion, a literal and accessible translation of this
book, therefore, needs no apology. I have
worked at the translation throughout with my
friend Mr. Wagiswara, himself a Buddhist, and
for many years a Bhikkhu ; that fact and the
appearance of our translation in this series will
vouch for sympathetic treatment in the rendering.
It is notoriously difficult to find the exact English
equivalents of Eastern terms, yet we trust that
the spirit has been truly reproduced, and our
version aims rather at accuracy than at elegance.
Great thoughts are best " plain-set," and more-
over it is impossible to reproduce the music of
the old slokas of Indian poetry. We have
referred frequently to Dr. Fausb oil's Latin
version, and occasionally to Professor Max
Miiller's edition in "The Sacred Books of the
East." Only where the Sinhalese and Chinese
commentaries are really illuminating have I
referred to them in the notes, for which I am
chiefly responsible.
K. J. S.
19
EDITORIAL NOTE
THE object of the Editors of this series is a
very definite one. They desire above all things
that, in their humble way, these books shall be
the ambassadors of good-will and understanding
between East and West the old world of Thought
and the new of Action. In this endeavour, and
in their own sphere, they are but followers of the
highest example in the land. They are confident
that a deeper knowledge of the great ideals and
lofty philosophy of Oriental thought may help
to a revival of that true spirit of Charity which
neither despises nor fears the nations of another
creed and colour.
L. CRANMER-BYNG.
S. A. KAPADIA.
NOHTHBROOK SOCIETY,
21 CROMWELL ROAD,
KENSINGTON, S.W.
THE BUDDHA'S
"WAY OF VIRTUE"
i
THE TWIN TRUTHS
FOR the proper understanding of Buddhism
these opening stanzas are all-important. One
of the Buddha's key-thoughts was what modern
psychologists call the "law of apperception":
the value of things depends upon our attitude
to them.
Part of Gautama's work of reform was a "trans-
valuation of values," a shifting of emphasis ;
and, like the Stoics, he taught the indifference of
the things of sense. " Men are disturbed," said
Epictetus, " not by things, but by the view they
take of things."
1 . Mind it is which gives to things their quality,
their foundation, and their being : whoso speaks
or acts with impure mind, him sorrow dogs, as
the wheel follows the steps of the draught-ox.
2. Mind it is which gives to things their quality,
21
22 THE TWIN TRUTHS
their foundation, and their being : whoso speaks
or acts with purified mind, him happiness accom-
panies as his faithful shadow.
3. "He has abused me, beaten me, worsted
me, robbed me " ; those who dwell upon such
thoughts never lose their hate,
4. " He has abused me, beaten me, worsted
me, robbed me " ; those who dwell not upon
such thoughts are freed of hate.
5. Never does hatred cease by hating ; by not
hating does it cease : this is the ancient law.
6. If some there are who know not by such
hatred we are perishing, and some there are who
know it, then by their knowledge strife is ended.
7. As the wind throws down a shaky tree, so
Mara [Death] o'erwhelms him who is a seeker
after vanity, uncontrolled, intemperate, slothful,
and effeminate.
8. But whoso keeps his eyes from vanity, con-
trolled and temperate, faithful and strenuous,
Mara cannot overthrow, as the wind beating
against a rocky crag.
9. Though an impure man don the pure
yellow robe [of the Bhikkhu], himself unindued
with temperance and truth, he is not worthy of
the pure yellow robe.
10. He who has doffed his impurities, calm and
clothed upon with temperance and truth, he
wears the pure robe worthily.
11. Those who mistake the shadow for the
MIND DISCIPLINE 23
substance, and the substance for the shadow,
never attain the reality, following wandering
fires [lit. followers of a false pursuit].
12. But if a man knows the substance and
the shadow as they are, he attains the reality,
following the true trail.
13. As the rain pours into the ill-thatched
house, so lust pours into the undisciplined mind.
14. As rain cannot enter the well-thatched house,
so lust finds no entry into the disciplined mind.
15. Here and hereafter the sinner mourns :
yea mourns and is in torment, knowing the
vileness of his deeds.
16. Here and hereafter the good man is glad:
yea is glad and rejoices, knowing that his deeds
are pure.
17. Here and hereafter the sinner is in torment :
tormented by the thought " I have sinned " ;
yea rather tormented when he goes to hell.
18. Here and hereafter the good man rejoices ;
rejoices as he thinks " I have done well " : yea
rather rejoices when he goes to a heaven.
19. If a man is a great preacher of the sacred
text, but slothful and no doer of it, he is a hire-
ling shepherd, who has no part in the flock.
20. If a man preaches but a little of the text
and practises the teaching, putting away lust
and hatred and infatuation ; if he is truly wise
and detached and seeks nothing here or here-
after, his lot is with the holy ones.
11
ZEAL
ZEAL or earnestness (appamado) plays an im-
portant part in Buddhist Ethics. The way is
steep, therefore let the wayfarer play the man.
Zeal may be displayed either in strenuous
mind-culture or in deeds of piety these are
the equivalents of "Faith" and "Works" in
the Buddhist system.
21. Zeal is the way to Nirvana. Sloth is the
day of death. The zealous die not : the slothful
are as it were dead.
22. The wise who know the power of zeal
delight in it, rejoicing in the lot of the noble.
23. These wise ones by meditation and reflec-
tion, by constant effort reach Nirvana, highest
freedom.
24. Great grows the glory of him who is
zealous in meditation, whose actions are pure
and deliberate, whose life is calm and righteous
and full of vigour.
25. By strenuous effort, by self-control, by
24
REACHING SUPREMACY 26
temperance, let the wise man make for himself
an island which the flood cannot overwhelm.
26. Fools in their folly give themselves to
sloth : the wise man guards his vigour as his
greatest possession.
27. Give not yourselves over to sloth, and to
dalliance with delights : he who meditates with
earnestness attains great joy.
28. When the wise one puts off sloth for zeal,
ascending the high tower of wisdom he gazes
sorrowless upon the sorrowing crowd below !
Wise himself, he looks upon the fools as one
upon a mountain-peak gazing upon the dwellers
in the valley.
29. Zealous amidst the slothful, vigilant among
the sleepers, go the prudent, as a racehorse out-
strips a hack.
30. By zeal did Sakra reach supremacy among
the gods. Men praise zeal ; but sloth is always
blamed.
31. A Bhikkhu who delights in zeal, looking
askance at sloth, moves onwards like a fire,
burning the greater and the lesser bonds.
32. A Bhikkhu who delights in zeal, looking
askance at sloth, cannot be brought low, but is
near to Nirvana.*
* Better, perhaps, " in the very presence of Nirvana."
m
THE MIND
33. THIS trembling, wavering mind, so difficult
to guard and to control this the wise man
makes straight as the fletcher straightens his
shaft.
34. As quivers the fish when thrown upon
the ground, far from his home in the waters,
so the mind quivers as it leaves the realm of
Death.
35. Good it is to tame the mind, so difficult
to control, fickle, and capricious. Blessed is the
tamed mind.
36. Let the wise man guard his mind, in-
comprehensible, subtle, and capricious though
it is. Blessed is the guarded mind.
37. They will escape the fetters of Death
who control that far-wandering, solitary, in-
corporeal cave-dweller, the mind.
38. In him who is unstable and ignorant of the
law and capricious in his faith, wisdom is not
perfected.
39. There is no fear in him, the vigilant one
THE SWORD OF WISDOM 27
whose mind is not befouled with lust, nor em-
bittered with rage, who cares nought for merit
or demerit.
40. Let him who knows that his body is brittle
as a potsherd, make his mind strong as a fortress ;
let him smite Mara with the sword of wisdom,
and let him guard his conquest without dalliance.
41. Soon will this body lie upon the ground,
deserted, and bereft of sense, like a log cast
aside.
42. Badly does an enemy treat his enemy,
a foeman his foe : worse is the havoc wrought
by a misdirected mind.
43. Not mother and father, not kith and kin
can so benefit a man as a mind attentive to the
right.
iv
FLOWERS
44. WHO shall conquer this world, and the
realm of Death with its attendant gods ? Who
shall sort the verses of the well-preached Law,
as a clever weaver of garlands sorts flowers ?
45. My disciple shall conquer this world and
Death with its attendant gods : it is he who
shall sort the verses of the well-preached Law
as a clever garland-maker sorts flowers.
46. Let him escape the eye of Mara, regarding
his body as froth, knowing it as a mirage, plucking
out the flowery shafts of Mara.
47. He who is busy culling pleasures, as one
plucks flowers, Death seizes and hurries off, as
a great flood bears away a sleeping village.
48. The Destroyer treads him underfoot as he
is culling worldly pleasures, still unsated with
lusts of the flesh.
49. As a bee taking honey from flowers,
without hurt to bloom or scent, so let the sage
seek his food from house to house.
50. Be not concerned with other men's evil
28
THE FRAGRANCE OF GOOD DEEDS 29
words or deeds or neglect of good : look rather
to thine own sins and negligence [lit. " sins of
commission and omission " : things done and
undone].
61. As some bright flower fair to look at,
but lacking fragrance so are fair words which
bear no fruit in action.
52. As some bright flower, fragrant as it is fair,
so are fair words whose fruit is seen in action.
53. As if from a pile of flowers one were to
weave many a garland, so let mortals string
together much merit.
54. No scent of flower is borne against the
wind, though it were sandal, or incense or jasmine :
but the fragrance of the holy is borne against
the wind : the righteous pervade all space
[with their fragrance].
55. More excellent than the scent of sandal
and incense, of lily and jasmine, is the fragrance
of good deeds.
56. A slight thing is this scent of incense and
of sandal- wood, but the scent of the holy pervades
the highest heaven.
57. Death finds not the path of the righteous
and strenuous, who are set free by their perfect
wisdom.
58. 59. As on some roadside dung-heap, a
flower blooms fragrant and delightful, so amongst
the refuse of blinded mortals shines forth in
wisdom the'follower of the true Buddha.
v
THE FOOL*
60. LONG is the night to the watcher, long is
the league to the weary traveller : long is the
chain of existence to fools who ignore the true
Law.
61. If on a journey thou canst not find thy
peer or one better than thyself, make the. journey
stoutly alone : there is no company with a fool.
62. " I have sons and wealth," thinks the
fool with anxious care ; he is not even master
of himself, much less of sons and wealth.
63. The fool who knows his folly is so far
wise : but the fool who reckons himself wise
is called a fool indeed.
64. Though for a lifetime the fool keeps
company with the wise, yet does he not learn
righteousness, as spoon gets no taste of soup.
65. If but for a moment the thoughtful keep
company with the wise, straightway he learns
righteousness, as tongue tastes soup.
66. Fools and dolts go their way, their own
* cf. Introduction, pp. 14, 15.
30
EVIL FRUIT 31
worst enemies : working evil which bears bitter
fruit.
67. That is no good deed which brings remorse,
whose reward one receives with tears and
lamentation.
68. But that is the good deed which brings
no remorse, whose reward the doer takes with
joy and gladness.
69. Honey-sweet to the fool is his sin until
it ripens : then he comes to grief.
70. If once a month the fool sips his food
from a blade of the sacred grass his is no
fraction of the Arahat's worth.
71. Evil does not straightway curdle like
milk, but is rather like a smouldering fire which
attends the fool and burns him.
72. When the fool's wisdom bears evil fruit
it bursts asunder his happiness, and smashes
his head.
73. 74. If one desire the praise of knaves,
or leadership amongst the Bhikkhus, and lordship
in the convents, and the reverence of the laity,
thinking "Let layman and religious alike appre-
ciate my deeds ; let them do my bidding and obey
my prohibitions," if such be his fond imaginings,
then will ambition and self-will wax great.
75. One is the road leading to gain, another
is that leading to Nirvana : knowing this, let
the Bhikkhu, the follower of Buddha, strive in
solitude, not seeking the praise of men,
vi
THE WISE MAN
76. LOOK upon him who shows you your faults
as a revealer of treasure : seek his company
who checks and chides you, the sage who is
wise in reproof : it fares well and not ill with
him who seeks such company.
77. Let a man admonish, and advise, and
keep others from strife ! So will he be dear to
the righteous, and hated by the unrighteous.
78. Avoid bad friends, avoid the company
of the evil : seek after noble friends and men
of lofty character.
79. He who drinks in the law lives glad, for
his mind is serene : in the law preached by the
Noble the sage ever finds his joy.
80. Engineers control the water ; fletchers
straighten the arrow ; carpenters fashion their
wood. Sages control and fashion themselves.
81. As some massive rock stands unmoved
by the storm-wind, so the wise stand unmoved
by praise or blame.
THE WAY OF THE LAW 33
82. As a deep lake, clear and undefiled, so
are sages calmed by hearing the law.
83. Freely go the righteous ; the holy ones
do not whine and pine for lusts : unmoved by
success or failure, the wise show no change of
mood.
84. Desire not a son for thyself nor for another,
nor riches nor a kingdom ; desire not thy gain
by another's loss : so art thou righteous, wise,
and good.
85. Few amongst men are they who reach
the farther shore : the rest, a great multitude,
stand only on the bank.
86. The righteous followers of the well-preached
law, these are the mortals who reach the far
shore. But hard is their journey through the
realm of Death.
87. 88. Leaving the way of darkness, let the
sage cleave to the way of light : let him leave
home for the homeless life, that solitude so
hard to love [Nirvana]. Putting away lust
and possessing nothing, let the sage cleanse
himself from every evil thought.
89. They are serene in this world, whose
mind is perfected in that clear thought which
leads to Arahatship, whose delight is in re-
nunciation, free from taints, and lustrous.
VII
THE AEAHAT
90. No remorse is found in him whose journey
is accomplished, whose sorrow ended, whose free-
dom complete, whose chains are all shaken off.
91. The mindful press on, casting no look
behind to their home-life ; as swans deserting
a pool they leave their dear home.
92. Some there are who have no treasure
here, temperate ones whose goal is the freedom
which comes of realising that life is empty and
impermanent : their steps are hard to track as
the flight of birds through the sky.
93. He whose taints are purged away, who
is indifferent to food, whose goal is the freedom
which comes of realising life's emptiness and
transciency, is hard to track as the flight of
birds in the sky.
94. Even the gods emulate him whose senses
are quiet as horses well-tamed by the charioteer,
who has renounced self-will, and put away all
taints.
95. No more will he be born whose patience
34
PLACES OF DELIGHT 35
is as the earth's, who is firm as a pillar and
pious, pure as some unruffled lake.
96. Calm is the thought, calm the words
and deeds of such a one, who has by wisdom
attained true freedom and self-control.
97. Excellent is the man who is not credulous,
who knows Nirvana, who has cut all bonds,
destroyed the germs of rebirth, cast off lust.
98. In the village or the jungle, on sea or
land, wherever lives the Arahat, there is the
place of delight.
99. Pleasant are the glades where the herd
come not to disport themselves : there shall the
Holy take their pleasure, who seek not after lust.
VIII
THE THOUSANDS
100. BETTER than a thousand empty words is
one pregnant word, which brings the hearer
peace.
101. Better than a thousand idle songs is a
single song, which brings the hearer peace.
102. Better it is to chant one verse of the
law, that brings the hearer peace, than to chant
a hundred empty songs.
103. If one were to conquer a thousand
thousand in the battle he who conquers self
is the greatest warrior.
104, 105. Self-conquest is better than other
victories : neither god nor demi-god, neither
Mara nor Brahma, can undo the victory of such
a one, who is self -controlled and always calm.
106. If month by month throughout a hundred
years one were to offer sacrifices costing thou-
sands, and if for a moment another were to
reverence the self-controlled this is the better
worship.
107. If one for a hundred years tended the
36
THE BETTER PART 37
sacred fire in the glade, and another for a moment
reverenced the self-con trolled, this is the better
worship.
108. Whatsoever sacrifice or offering a man
makes for a full year in hope of benefits, all
is not worth a quarter of that better offering
reverence to the upright.
109. In him who is trained in constant courtesy
and reverence to the old, four qualities increase :
length of days, beauty, gladness, and strength.
110. Better than a hundred years of impure
and intemperate existence is a single day of
moral, contemplative life.
111. Better is one day of wise and contem-
plative life than a thousand years of folly and
intemperance.
112. Better one day of earnest energy than
a hundred years of sloth and lassitude.
113. Better one day of insight into the fleeting
nature of the things of sense, than a hundred
years of blindness to this transiency.
114. Better one day of insight into the deathless
state [Nirvana], than a hundred years of blindness
to this immortality.
115. Better one day of insight into the Supreme
Law, than a hundred years of blindness to
that Law.
VICE
116. CLING to what is right : so will you keep
the mind from wrong. Whoso is slack in well-
doing comes to rejoice in evil.
117. If one offends, let him not repeat his
offence ; let him not set his heart upon it. Sad
is the piling up of sin.
118. If one does well, let him repeat his well-
doing : let him set his heart upon it. Glad is
the storing up of good.
119. The bad man sees good days, until his
wrong-doing ripens ; then he beholds evil days.
120. Even a good man may see evil days
till his well-doing comes to fruition ; then he
beholds good days.
121. Think not lightly of evil "It will not
come nigh me." Drop by drop the pitcher is
filled : slowly yet surely the fool is saturated
with evil.
122. Think not lightly of good "It will not
come nigh me." Drop by drop the pitcher is
DEEDS MAKE DESTINY 39
filled : slowly yet surely the good are filled with
merit.
123. A trader whose pack is great and whose
caravan is small shuns a dangerous road ; a
man who loves his life shuns poison : so do
thou shun evil.
124. He who has no wound can handle poison :
the unwounded hand cannot absorb it. There
is no evil to him that does no evil.
125. Whoso is offended by the inoffensive
man, and whoso blames an innocent man, his
evil returns upon him as fine dust thrown against
the wind.
126. Some go to the womb ; some, evil-doers,
to hell ; the good go to heaven ; the sinless to
Nirvana.
127. Not in the sky, nor in mid-ocean, nor
in mountain-cave can one find sanctuary from
his sins.
128. Not in the sky, not in mid-ocean, not
in mountain-cave can one find release from the
conquering might of death.
PUNISHMENT
129. ALL fear the rod, all quake at death. Judge
then by thyself, and forbear from slaughter, or
from causing to slay.
130. To all is life dear. Judge then by thyself,
and forbear to slay or to cause slaughter.
131. Whoso himself desires joy, yet hurts
them who love joy, shall not obtain it hereafter.
132. Whoso himself desires joy and hurts
not them who love it, shall hereafter attain to
iy-
133. Speak not harshly to any one : else will
men turn upon you. Sad are the words of
strife : retribution will follow them.
134. Be silent as a broken gong : so wilt
thou reach peace ; for strife is not found in thee.
135. As the herdsman drives out his cows
to the pasture, so Old Age and Death drive out
the life of men.
136. Verily the fool sins and knows it not :
by his own deeds is the fool tormented as by fire.
137. He who strikes those who strike not
40
EVIL RETURNS TO EVIL 41
and are innocent will come speedily to one of
these ten states :
138. To cruel torment, loss, accident, severe
illness, and madness he will come :
139. To visitation from the King, grievous
slander, loss of kith and kin, and perishing of
his wealth he will come :
140. Ravaging fire will destroy his houses,
and after death the poor wretch will go to hell.
141. Not nakedness, nor matted hair, not
dirt, nor fastings, not sleeping in sanctuaries,
nor ashes, nor ascetic posture none of these
things purifies a man who is not free from doubt.
142. If even a fop fosters the serene mind,
calm and controlled, pious and pure, and does
no hurt to any living thing, he is the Brahmin
he is the Samana, he is the Bhikkhu.
143. Is there in all the world a man so modest
that he provokes no blame, as a noble steed
never deserves the whip ? As a noble steed
stung by the whip, be ye spirited and swift.
144. By faith, by righteousness, by manliness,
by meditation, by just judgment, by theory and
practice, by mindfulness, leave aside sorrow no
slight burden.
145. Engineers control the water, fletchers
fashion their shafts, carpenters shape the wood :
it is themselves that the pious fashion and
control.
xi
OLD AGE
146. WHERE is the joy, what the pleasure, whilst
all is in flames ? Benighted, would ye not seek
a torch ?
147. Look at this painted image, wounded
and swollen, sickly and full of lust, in which
there is no permanence ;
148. This wasted form is a nest of disease
and very frail : it is full of putrid matter and
perishes. Death is the end of life.
149. What delight is there for him who sees
these grey bones scattered like gourds in autumn ?
150. Here is a citadel of bones plastered with
flesh and blood, and manned by old age and
death, self-will and enmity.
151. As even the king's bright chariot grows
old, so the body of man also comes to old age.
But the law of the holy never ages : the holy
teach it to the holy.
152. The simpleton ages like the ox : his
weight increases, but not his wisdom.
153. Many births have I traversed seeking
42
BROKEN THY HOUSE LIES 43
the builder ; in vain ! Weary is the round of
births.
154. Now art thou seen, Builder. Never-
more shalt thou build the house ! All thy
beams are broken ; cast down is thy cornerstone.
My mind is set upon Nirvana ; it has attained
the extinction of desire.
155. They who have not lived purely nor
stored up riches in their youth, these ruefully
ponder, as old herons by a lake without fish.
156. They who have not lived purely nor
stored up riches in their youth, are as arrows
that are shot in vain : they mourn for the past.
XII
SELF
157. IF a man love himself, let him diligently
watch himself : the wise will keep vigil for one
of the three watches of the night.
158. Keep first thyself aright : then mayest
thou advise others. So is the wise man un-
blameable.
159. If one so shapes his own life as he directs
others, himself controlled, he will duly control
others : self, they say, is hard to tame.
160. A man is his own helper : who else is
there to help ? By self-control man is a rare
help to himself.
161. The ill that is begun and has its growth
and its being in self, bruises the foolish one, as
the diamond pierces its own matrix.
162. As the creeper overpowers the tree, so
he whose sin is great, works for himself the havoc
his enemy would wish for him.
163. Ill is easy to do ; it is easy to do harm :
hard indeed it is to do helpful and good deeds.
164. Whoso fondly repudiates the teaching
44
RESOLVE TO BE THYSELF 45
of the noble and virtuous Arahats, following
false doctrine, is like the bamboo which bears
fruit to its own destruction.
165. Thou art brought low by the evil thou
hast done thyself : by the evil thou hast left
undone art thou purified. Purity and impurity
are things of man's inmost self ; no man can
purify another.
166. Even for great benefit to another let no
man imperil his own benefit. When he has
realised what is for his own good, let him pursue
that earnestly.
XIII
THE WORLD
167. LET no man foster evil habits ; let no man
live in sloth : let none follow false doctrines,
none prolong his sojourn in this world.
168. Up ! Idle not, but follow after good.
The good man lives happy in this world and
the next.
169. Follow after virtue, not after vice. The
virtuous live happy in this world and the next.
170. The king of Death sees not him who
regards the world as a bubble, a mirage.
171. Come then, think of the world as a painted
chariot of the king a morass where fools are
sinking, where the wise take no pleasure.
172. He who in former days was slothful,
and has put off sloth, lights up the world as the
moon freed of the clouds.
173. He who covers his idle deeds with goodness
lights up the world as the moon freed of clouds.
174. Blinded are the men of this world ; few
there are who have eyes to see : few are the
46
THE FRUIT OF CONVERSION 47
birds which escape the fowler's net ; few are
they who go to heaven.
175. Through the sky fly the swans : Rishis
too pass through the air. The wise leave the
world altogether, deserting Mara and his hosts.
176. There is no wrong he would not do who
breaks one precept, speaking lies and mocking
at the life to come.
177. Misers go not to the realm of gods :
therefore he is a fool who does not delight in
liberality. The wise delighting in liberality come
thereby with gladness to the other world.
178. Good is kingship of the earth ; good is
birth in heaven ; good is universal empire ;
better still is the fruit of conversion.
XIV
THE BUDDHA
179. INTO his victory which is never reversed
there enters no element of weakness : through
what fault can you lead captive the faultless
one, the Buddha whose sphere is Nirvana ?
180. By what fault will you lead captive the
faultless Buddha, whose sphere is Nirvana ?
In him are no clinging meshes of desire to lead
him captive.
181. The gods themselves emulate the truly
wise and mindful, who are busy in meditation
and prudent, delighting in the peace of Nirvana.
182. Arduous is human birth : arduous is
mortal life : arduous is hearing of the Law :
arduous the uprising of Buddhas.
183. " Eschew all evil : cherish good : cleanse
your inmost thoughts " this is the teaching of
Buddhas.
184. " Patience and fortitude is the supreme
asceticism : Nirvana is above all," say the
Buddhas. He is no recluse who harms others :
nor is he who causes grief an ascetic [samana].
48
THE SUPREME SANCTUARY 49
185. Hurt none by word or deed, be consistent
in well-doing : be moderate in food, dwell in
solitude, and give yourselves to meditation this
is the advice of Buddhas.
186. Not by a shower of gold is satisfaction
of the senses found: "little pleasure, lasting
pain," so thinks the sage.
187. The follower of the true Buddha finds no
delight even in divine pleasures : but his joy is
in the destruction of desire [tanha].
188. Often do men in terror seek sanctuary in
mountains or jungles, by sacred groves or trees ;
189. In them is no safe sanctuary ; in them is
not the supreme sanctuary ; in them is not
that sanctuary whither a man may go and cast
aside his cares.
190. But he who goes for sanctuary to the
Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha looks
in his wisdom for the four noble truths :
191. " Sorrow, the arising of sorrow, the
cessation of sorrow, and the noble eightfold
path which leads to their cessation."
192. Here truly is the gure sanctuary : here
is the supreme sanctuary : here is the sanctuary
where a man may go and cast aside his care.
193. Hard to find is the Exalted One : he is
not born in every place : happy dwells the
household into which he, the wise one, is born :
194. A blessing is the arising of Buddhas, a
blessing is the true preaching. Blessed is the
4
60 THE BUDDHA
unity of the Sangha, blessed is the devotion of
those who dwell in unity.
195, 196. Immeasurable is the merit of him
who does reverence to those to whom reverence
is due, Buddha and his disciples, men who
have left behind them the trammels of evil,
and crossed beyond the stream of sorrow and
wailing, calmed and free of all fear.
xv
BLISS
197. JOY ! We live in bliss ; amongst men
of hate, hating none. Let us indeed dwell among
them without hatred.
198. Joy! In bliss we dwell; healthy
amidst the ailing. Let us indeed dwell amongst
them in perfect health.
199. Yea in very bliss we dwell : free from
care amidst the careworn. Let us indeed dwell
amongst them without care.
200. In bliss we dwell possessing nothing :
let us dwell feeding upon joy like the shining
ones in their splendour.
201. The victor breeds enmity ; the conquered
sleeps in sorrow. Regardless of either victory
or defeat the calm man dwells in peace.
202. There is no fire like lust ; no luck so bad
as hate. There is no sorrow like existence :
no bliss greater than Nirvana [rest].
203. Hunger is the greatest ill : existence is
the greatest sorrow. Sure knowledge of this
is Nirvana, highest bliss.
51
52 BLISS
204. Health is the greatest boon ; content is
the greatest wealth ; a loyal friend is the truest
kinsman ; Nirvana is the Supreme Bliss.
205. Having tasted the joy of solitude and
of serenity, a man is freed from sorrow and from
sin, and tastes the nectar of piety.
206. Good is the vision of the Noble ; good
is their company. He may be always happy
who escapes the sight of fools.
207. He who consorts with fools knows lasting
grief. Grievous is the company of fools, as that
of enemies ; glad is the company of the wise,
as that of kinsfolk.
208. Therefore do thou consort with the wise,
the sage, the learned, the noble ones who shun
not the yoke of duty : follow in the wake of
such a one, the wise and prudent, as the moon
follows the path of the stars.
XVI
AFFECTION
209. HE who gives himself to vanity and not
to the truly profitable, shunning the true pursuit,
and grasping at pleasure, will come to envy him
who has sought the true profit.
210. Let no man cleave to what is pleasant
or unpleasant : parting with the pleasant is pain,
and painful is the presence of the unpleasant.
211. Take a liking to nothing ; loss of the
prize is evil. There are no bonds for him who
has neither likes nor dislikes.
212. From attachment comes grief, from
attachment comes fear. He who is pure from
attachment knows neither grief nor fear.
213. From affection come grief and fear.
He who is without affection knows neither grief
nor fear.
214. From pleasure come grief and fear.
He who is freed from pleasure knows neither
grief nor fear.
215. From* lust come grief and fear. He who
is freed from lust 'knows neither grief nor fear,
53
54 AFFECTION
216. From desire come grief and fear. He
who is free of desire knows neither grief nor fear.
217. The man of counsel and insight, of
righteousness and truth, who minds his own
affairs, him the crowd holds dear.
218. If a man's heart be set upon the In-
effable [Nirvana], his mind brought to per-
fection, and every thought freed from lust, he
is called the strong swimmer who forges his way
against the stream.
219. When, after long voyaging afar, one
returns in safety home, kinsfolk and friends
receive him gladly ;
220. Even so his good deeds receive the good
man, when he leaves this world for the next,
as kinsfolk greet a dear traveller.
XVII
ANGER
221. PUT away anger, eschew self-will, conquer
every bond ; no suffering touches him who does
not cling to phenomenal existence, but calls
nothing his own.
222. Whoso controls his rising anger as a
running chariot, him I call the charioteer : the
others only hold the reins.
223. By calmness let a man overcome wrath ;
let him overcome evil by good ; the miser let
him subdue by liberality, and the liar by truth.
224. Speak the truth, be not angry, give of
thy poverty to the suppliant : by these three
virtues a man attains to the company of the gods.
225. The innocent, the sages, those whose
action is controlled, these go to the eternal state
where they know not sorrow [Nirvana].
226. All taints pass away from them who are
ever vigilant and active day and night, with
faces set towards Nirvana.
227. This is an ancient law, O Atula, not the
law of a day : men blame the silent and they
55
56 ANGER
blame the talker ; even the man of few words
they blame. No one in the world gets off
unblamed.
228. There never was, nor will be, nor is
there now to be found, one wholly blamed or
wholly praised.
229, 230. But who is worthy to blame him
whom the wise praise after daily scrutiny, who
is himself wise and without blemish as a medal
of purest gold ? Even the gods seek to emulate
such a one ; even Brahma praises him.
231. Guard against evil deeds : control the
body. Eschew evil deeds and do good.
232. Guard against evil words ; control the
tongue. Eschew evil words and speak good ones.
233. Guard against evil thoughts ; control
the mind. Eschew evil thoughts and think
good ones.
234. The wise, controlled in act, in word, in
thought, are well controlled indeed.
XVIII
SIN
235. THOU art withered as a sere leaf : Death's
messengers await thee. Thou standest at the
gate of death, and hast made no provision for
the journey.
236. Make to thyself a refuge ; come, strive
and be prudent : when thy impurities are purged,
thou shalt come into the heavenly abode of the
Noble.
237. Thy life is ended ; thou art come into
the Presence of Death : there is no resting-
place by the way, and thou hast no provision
for the journey.
238. Make for thyself a refuge ; come, strive
and play the sage ! Burn off thy taints, and thou
shalt know birth and old age no more.
239. As a smith purifies silver in the fire,
so bit by bit continually the sage burns away
his impurities.
240. It is the iron's own rust that destroys
it : it is the sinner's own acts that bring him
to hell.
57
68 IMPURITY
241. Disuse is the rust of mantras ; laziness
the rust of households ; sloth is the rust of
beauty ; neglect is the watcher's ruin.
242. Impurity is the ruin of woman ; and
avarice the ruin of the giver : ill-deeds are the
rust of this world and the next.
243. More corrosive than those is the rust of
ignorance, the greatest of taints : put off this
rust and be clean, Bhikkhus.
244. Life is easy for the crafty and shameless,
for the wanton, shrewd, and impure :
245. Hard it is for the modest, the lover of
purity, the disinterested and simple and clean,
the man of insight.
246. 247. The murderer, the liar, the thief,
the adulterer, and the drunkard these even in
this world uproot themselves.
248. Know this, man, evil is the un-
disciplined mind ! See to it that greed and
lawlessness bring not upon thee long suffering.
249. Men give according to faith or caprice.
If a man fret because food and drink are given
to another, he comes not day or night to serene
meditation [i.e. Samadhi].
250. He in whom this [envious spirit] is
destroyed and wholly uprooted, he truly day
and night attains serene meditation.
251. There is no fire like lust, no ravenous
beast like hatred, no snare like folly, no flood
like desire.
THE CENSORIOUS ONE 59
252. To see another's fault is easy : to see
one's own is hard. Men winnow the faults of
others like chaff : their own they hide as a
crafty gambler hides a losing throw.
253. The taints of this man are ever growing.
He is far from the purification of taints [Arahat-
ship], the censorious one who is ever blaming
others.
254. There is no path through the sky : there
is no " religious " apart from us. The world
without delights in dalliance : the Blessed Ones
are freed from this thrall.
255. There is no path through the sky ; there
is no " religious " apart from us. Nothing in
the phenomenal world is lasting ; but Buddhas
endure immovable.
XIX
THE BIGHTEOUS
256, 257. HASTY judgment shows no man just.
He is called just who discriminates between
right and wrong, who judges others not hastily,
but with righteous and calm judgment, a wise
guardian of the law.
258. Neither is a man wise by much speaking :
he is called wise who is forgiving, kindly, and
fearless.
259. A man is not a pillar of the law for his
much speaking : he who has heard only part
of the law and keeps it indeed, he is a pillar of
the law and does not slight it.
260. No man is made an " elder " by his grey
locks : mere old age is called empty old age.
261. He is called "elder" in whom dwell
truth and righteousness, harmlessness and self-
control and self-mastery, who is without taint
and wise.
262. Not by mere eloquence or comeliness is
a man a " gentleman," who is lustful, a miser,
and a knave.
60
THE TRUE SAGE 61
263. But he in whom these faults are uprooted
and done away, the wise and pure is called a
gentleman.
264. Not by his shaven crown is one made a
" religious " who is intemperate and dishonour-
able. How can he be a "religious" who is
full of lust and greed ?
265. He who puts off entirely great sins and
small faults by such true religion is a man
called "religious."
266. Not merely by the mendicant life is a
man known as a mendicant : he is not a mendicant
because he follows the law of the flesh ;
267. But because, being above good and evil,
he leads a pure life and goes circumspectly.
268. 269. Not by silence [mona] is a man a
sage [muni] if he be ignorant and foolish : he
who holds as it were the balance, taking the
good and rejecting the bad, he is the sage : he
who is sage for both worlds, he is the true sage.
270. A man is no warrior who worries living
things : by not worrying is a man called warrior.
271, 272. Not only by discipline and vows,
not only by much learning, nor by meditation
nor by solitude have I won to that peace which
no worldling knows. Rest not content with
these, O Bhikkhus, until you have reached the
destruction of all taints.
xx
THE PATH
HAPPINESS is for Gautama, as for Aristotle, " the
bloom upon virtue." The path which leads to
the Supreme Bliss is the path of morality defined
as the Noble Eightfold Path. If a man follow
this, he is happy here and hereafter.
It consists of :
Right Views,
Right Aspirations,
Right Speech,
Right Action,
Right Livelihood,
Right Effort,
Right Mindfulness,
Right Contemplation.
This is described by Gautama as a Middle Path
between the extreme of sensuality on the one
hand and asceticism on the other ; or between
superstitious credulity and sceptical materialism.
It is a truly noble ideal : yet one must never
forget that " Righteousness " throughout is
Buddhistically denned : e.g. " Right Views "
62
IMPERMANENCE, SORROW, UNREALITY 63
means a correct grasp of the Buddhist teaching
that all is transient, all is sorrowful, all is unreal.
Again, " Right Contemplation " is the practice
of Samadhi, concentration of the mind upon
Buddhist ideas, such as the above. The highest
"Livelihood," again, is to live upon the alms of
the faithful.
273. Best of paths is the Eightfold ; the four
truths are the best of truths : purity is the best
state ; best of men is the seer.
274. This is the way ; there is none other
that leads to the seeing of Purity [Nirvana.]
Do you follow this path : that is to befool
Mara.
275. Travelling by this way you'll end your
grief : it is the way I preached when I learnt
to throw off my bonds.
276. 'Tis you who must strive : the Blessed
Ones are only preachers. They who strive and
meditate are freed from Mara's bonds.
277. "All is passing " : when one sees and
realises this, he sits loose to this world of sorrow :
this is the way of purity.
278. " All is sorrow " : when one sees and
realises this, he sits loose to this world of sorrow :
this is the way of purity.
279. "All is unreal " : when one sees and
realises this, he sits loose to this world of sorrow {
this is the way of purity.
64 THE PATH
280. He who fails to strive when 'tis time to
strive, young and strong though he be, slothful
and enmeshed in lust, the sluggard, never finds
the path to wisdom.
281. Whoso guards his tongue and controls
his mind and does nothing -wrong : keeping
clear these three paths, he will achieve the way
shown by the wise.
282. From meditation springs wisdom ; from
neglect of it the loss of wisdom. Knowing this
path of progress and decline, choose the way
that leads to growth of wisdom.
283. Cut down the jungle (I do not mean
with an axe!). For from the jungle of lust
springs fear, and if you cut it down,, you will
be disentangled, Bhikkhus !
284. Whilst the entanglement of a man with
a woman is not utterly cut away, he is in bondage,
running to her as a sucking calf to the cow.
285. Pluck out the bond of self as one pulls
up an autumn lotus. Forge thy way along the
path of safety, Nirvana, shown by the Blessed.
286. " Here will I pass the wet season ; here
the winter and summer," thinks the fool,
unmindful of what may befall.
287. Then comes Death and sweeps him away
infatuated with children and cattle, and en-
tangled with this world's goods, as a flood carries
off a sleeping village.
288. There is no safety in sons, or in father,
TOWARDS NIRVANA 65
or in kinsfolk when Death overshadows thee :
amongst thine own kith and kin is no refuge :
289. Knowing this clearly, the wise and
righteous man straightway clears the road that
leads to Nirvana.
XXI
MISCELLANY
290. IP at the cost of a little joy one sees great
joy, he who is wise will look to the greater and
leave the less.
291. Whoso seeks his own pleasure by another's
pain, is entangled in hate and cannot get free.
292. Duty neglected ; evil done : the taints
of the proud and slothful wax ever more and
more.
293. But those who are ever pondering the
nature of the body, who run not after evil, who
are constant in duty in these, the vigilant and
wise, taints come utterly to an end.
294. Having destroyed Mother and Father
and two noble Kings, with the whole Kingdom
and its Vizier, innocent goes the Brahmin !
295. Innocent goes the Brahmin having de-
stroyed Mother and Father and two Brahmin
Kings, and the five Roads and their fierce
guardians.
296. The followers of Gautama are ever vigilant ;
their thought day and night is set upon Buddha .
66
THE LIFELONG VIGIL 67
297-301. The followers of Gautama are ever
vigilant ; day and night is their thought set
upon the Dhamma, the Sangha, the body, com-
passion [not harming], mind-culture.
302. Hard it is to leave home as a recluse !
hard also to live at home as a householder ;
hard is the community life ; the lot of the
wanderer in the world is also hard.
303. The faithful, upright man is endowed
with [the true] fame and wealth, and is honoured
wherever he goes.
304. Far off are seen the Holy Ones, like the
Himalayas : the unholy pass unseen as arrows
shot in the darkness.
305. Alone when eating, alone when sleeping,
alone when walking, let a man strongly control
himself and take his pleasure in the forest glade.
xxii
HELL
306. THE liar goes to hell, and the villain who
denies his crime ; these mean ones are alike in
the world beyond.
307. Though clad in yellow robe, the man of
many sins who is uncontrolled is born in hell :
the sinner is punished by his sin.
308. Better to swallow a ball of red-hot iron
than to live uncontrolled upon the bounty of
the faithful.
309. Four evil consequences follow the sluggard
and the adulterer : retribution, broken slumber,
an evil name, and in the end hell.
310. That way lie retribution and an evil
character, the short-lived joy of trembling
sinners, and a heavy penalty from the ruler.
Therefore run not after thy neighbour's wife.
311. As pampas-grass clumsily handled cuts
the hand, so is the community life : abused, it
brings a man to hell.
312. All duties carelessly performed ; all vows
A TASK WELL DONE 69
slightingly observed ; the recluse life that is
open to suspicion these bear no great fruit.
313. If a duty is to be done, do it with thy
might : a careless recluse scatters contagion
broadcast.
314. Better leave undone a bad deed ; one
day the doer will lament : good it is to do the
good deed which brings no remorse.
315. As a fortress guarded within and without,
so guard thyself. Leave no loophole for attack !
They who fail at their post mourn here, and
hereafter go to hell.
316. Some are ashamed at what is not shame-
ful, and blush not at deeds of shame : these
perverse ones go to hell.
317. They who see fear where there is no fear,
and tremble not at fearful things : these perverse
ones go to hell.
318. They who think evil where there is no
evil, and make light of grievous sin : these
perverse ones go to hell.
319. But whoso calls sin sin, and innocence
innocence : these right-minded ones go to
happiness.
XXIII
THE ELEPHANT
THE elephant is the symbol in Buddhism of
endurance and solitary strength.
320. I will endure abuse as the elephant en-
dures the arrow in the battle : evil is the crowd.
321. Men lead the tamed elephant into battle ;
upon his back the king rides : he who is tamed
and endures abuse patiently is praised of men.
322. Noble are the tamed mules ; noble the
blood-horses of Sindh, and the great elephants
of war : better is he who has tamed himself.
323. Not by bridling them will one journey
to the unknown shore [Nirvana], but by bridling
himself.
324. Dhanapalako, the great elephant, is hard
to control in the time of rut : he will not taste
his food in captivity, but longs after the elephant-
grove.
325. If one becomes a sluggard or a glutton,
rolling over in gross sleep like a stall-fed hog,
70
GUARD YOUR THOUGHTS 71
again and again does he come to the womb,
the foolish one !
326. This mind of mine would wander in days
of old whither desire and lust and caprice led
it : now will I control it as a mahout controls
the elephant in rut.
327. Be ye zealous : guard your thoughts.
As an elephant sunk in the mud extricate your-
selves from the clutches of evil.
328. If you can find a dutiful friend to go
with you, a righteous and prudent man not
caring for hardships, go with him deliberately.
329. If you cannot find such a one, travel
alone as a king leaving a conquered realm, or
as the elephant in the jungle.
330. It is better to be alone ; there is no
companionship with a fool : travel alone and
sin not, forgetting care as the elephant in the
jungle.
331. Good are companions in time of need ;
contentment with thy lot is good ; at the hour
of death, merit is a good friend, and good is the
leaving of all sorrow.
332. Good is reverence for mother and father :
good, too, reverence for recluses and sages.
333. Good is lifelong righteousness ; and
rooted faith is good : good is the getting of
wisdom, and good the avoiding of sin.
XXIV
DESIRE
(desire) is defined as the hankering after
pleasure, or existence, or success (or all three).
(Mahavagga xvi. 20.) It is the germ from which
springs all human misery : birth, old age, and
suffering. To be rid of Tanha is to be free of
pain, to pass into the Beyond, the painless
dream-world of Nirvana.
334. As the " maluwa " creeper, so spreads
the desire of the sluggard. From birth to birth
he leaps like a monkey seeking fruit.
335. Whoso is subdued by this sordid clinging
desire, his sorrows wax more and more, like
" birana " grass after rain.
336. But his sorrows drop off like water from
the lotus leaf, who subdues this sordid, powerful
desire.
337. I give you this good counsel, all ye who
are gathered here : cut out desire as one digs
up the grass to find the fragrant root. Let
72
THE ROOTS OF EVIL 73
not Mara break you again and again as the
river breaks the rushes.
338. A tree, though it be cut down, yet springs
up again, if its roots are safe and firm : thus
sorrow, if it be not uprooted, springs repeatedly
to birth.
339. If man's desires flow unchecked, the waves
of his lust and craving bear him off misguided
one !
340. Everywhere flow the streams ; every-
where the creeper sprouts and takes hold. If
thou seest this creeper growing, be wise ! pluck
it out by the roots.
341. Men hug delights ; they foster some
pet sin, hankering after which they suffer birth
and old age.
342. Dogged by lust, men double like a hunted
hare. Fast bound in its fetters, they go through
long ages to misery.
343. Dogged by lust, they double like a hunted
hare. Throw off thy lust, O Bhikkhu, if thou
wouldst be free.
344. Whoso has left the tangle of home-life
for the solitude of the jungle, and goes back to
it, regard him thus : " Lo, one who was freed,
and ran back to his chains."
345. Iron and wood and hemp these sages
call not heavy bonds, but rather love of bejewelled
women, and the care for children and wives.
346. This is a heavy bond indeed : light
74 DESIRE
though it seem, it drags men down, and is not
easily cut off. Yet some there are who cut
even this asunder, and leave behind them pleasure
and lust, with no backward glance.
347. Some again there are who fall into the
meshes of their own lust as the spider falling
into her own net : even this the wise cut through,
leaving sorrow behind, with no backward glance.
348. Lay aside past, future, and present,
escaping the world : wholly freed in mind, thou
shalt not again return to birth and old age.
349. Desire waxes great in him who is oppressed
by wandering thoughts, fired with lust and
seeking after pleasure. So doth he make his
fetters strong.
350. Whoso delights in calming his thoughts
and looks askance at the things of sense, will
thus come to an end, and cut the bonds of Mara.
351. This will be his last body, who has reached
the goal, who is fearless, detached, and un-
blameable : who has pulled out the rivets of
existence.
352. He who is detached and not grasping,
a clever student of the law and its meaning,
knowing the words and their order, he is called
the enlightened ; this is his last birth.
353. " All conquering and all knowing am
I, detached, untainted, untrammelled, wholly
freed by destruction of desire. Whom shall I
call Teacher ? Myself found the way."
THE LAW SURPASSES ALL THINGS 75
354. The gift of the Law surpasses every
gift ; the savour of the Law surpasses every
savour ; the pleasure of the Law surpasses
every pleasure. The destruction of desire con-
quers all sorrow.
355. Wealth kills the fool if he look not to
the Beyond : for greed of wealth fools kill each
other.
356. Weeds are the bane of fields, and lust
the bane of the crowd. Therefore a gift given
where there is no lust bears much fruit.
357-9. Weeds are the bane of fields ; wrath,
infatuation, and avarice are the bane of the
crowd. A gift given where there is neither
wrath, nor infatuation, nor avarice bears much
fruit.
xxv
THE BHIKKHU
360. GOOD is restraint of eye and ear : of smell
and taste.
361. Good is restraint of action and of speech ;
restraint of mind and of every sense is good.
The Bhikkhu restrained in all things casts aside
every care.
362. Best amongst the temperate is he who
is temperate in hand and foot and tongue : the
man of inward joy and calm, him I call Bhikkhu.
363. The Bhikkhu who is temperate and moder-
ate in speech, not puffed up, but a wise preacher
and interpreter sweet are his words !
364. He who abides in the law and takes
his pleasure therein, revolving it in his mind
and pondering it, he is a Bhikkhu who falls not
away from the Law.
365. Let him neither make much of his own
gain, nor envy that of others : the Bhikkhu who
envies others attains not the true meditation.
366. Even the gods praise that Bhikkhu whose
76
WHOM THE GODS PRAISE 77
own gain is slight, yet who covets not the gain
of other men, but lives pure and strenuous.
367. He who clings not to self-hood and to
existence, but mourns at the vanity of this
fleeting world, he is called Bhikkhu.
368. The Bhikkhu who lives kindly and trusts
in Buddha's Teaching he approaches Nirvana,
the calm and blissful end of rebirth.
369. Bale out the ship, O Bhikkhu, then will
it go lightly ; cut the thongs of lust and hate ;
so wilt thou come to Nirvana.
370. Cut the five bonds, leave other five,
and take in their place five more : he who has
got beyond the five evil states is said to have
crossed the flood.
371. Keep vigil, Bhikkhu, be not slothful,
let not your mind dally with delights : suffer
not the pangs of hell, and wail not as the flames
devour you, " O day of woe " !
372. There is no meditation apart from wisdom ;
there is no wisdom apart from meditation. Those
in whom wisdom and meditation meet are not
far from Nirvana.
373. Divine pleasure is his who enters into
solitude, the Bhikkhu who is calmed and sees
the law with the seeing eye :
'374. Whenever he ponders the beginning and
the end of the elements of being, he finds joy
and bliss ; nectar it is to those who know.
376. This is the beginning in my teaching for
78 THE BHIKKHU
a wise Bhikkhu ; self-mastery, contentment, and
control by the precepts : to cultivate those who
are noble, righteous, and zealous friends ;
376. To be hospitable and courteous, this is
to be glad and to make an end of sorrow.
377. As jasmine sheds its withered blossoms
so, O Bhikkhus, do you put away lust and hatred.
378. He who is controlled in act, in speech,
in thought, and altogether calmed, having purged
away worldliness, that Bhikkhu is called calm.
379. Come, rouse thyself ! Examine thine own
heart. The Bhikkhu who is thus self-guarded
and mindful will live in happiness.
380. Each man is his own helper, each his
own host ; therefore curb thyself as the merchant
curbs a spirited horse.
381. The glad Bhikkhu who puts his trust in
Buddha's Preaching goes to Nirvana, calm and
blissful end of rebirth.
382. Let the young Bhikkhu apply himself
to Buddha's Preaching : so will he light up the
world as the moon escaped from the clouds.
XXVI
THE BRAHMIN
383. PLAY the man and stem the flood of passion !
Cast off your lusts, Brahmin ; having known
the ending of the perishable, thou knowest the
imperishable, Brahmin.
384. When the Brahmin has travelled the
twofold path of meditation, then indeed his
chains fall off him, for he knows the truth.
385. Him I call the Brahmin whom desire
assails not from within nor from without, in
whom is no fear, he is indeed free.
386. Him I call Brahmin who is meditative,
clean of heart, solitary, who has done his duty
and got rid of taints, who has reached the goal
of effort.
387. The sun shines by day, the moon lights
up the night ; radiant is the soldier in his panoply,
radiant the Brahmin in his meditation ; but
the Buddha in his brightness is radiant day
and night.
388. By Brahmin I mean one who has put
79
80 THE BRAHMIN
away evil ; for his serenity is a man called
Samano ; for excluding his own sin is a man
called recluse.
389. Do no evil to a Brahmin ; let not the
Brahmin return evil for evil. Woe to him who
kills a Brahmin ; yea, rather, woe to that Brahmin
who loses his temper !
390. It is no slight benefit to a Brahmin when
he learns to hold his impulses in check ; from
whatever motive evil temper is controlled, by
that control grief is truly soothed.
391. By whomsoever no evil is done in deed,
or word, or thought, him I call a Brahmin who
is guarded in these three.
392. As the Brahmin honours the burnt-
sacrifice, so do thou honour him, from whomso-
ever is learnt the law of the true Buddha.
393. Not by matted locks, nor by lineage,
nor by caste is one a Brahmin ; he is the
Brahmin in whom are truth and righteousness
and purity.
394. What boots your tangled hair, fool,
what avails your garment of skins ? You have
adorned the outer parts, within you are full of
uncleanness.
395. A man clothed in cast-off rags, lean,
with knotted veins, meditating alone in the
forest, him I call a Brahmin.
396. Not him do I call Brahmin who is merely
born of a Brahmin mother ; men may give him
WHO IS THE BRAHMIN 81
salutation as a Brahmin, though he be not
detached from the world : but him I call a
Brahmin who has attachment to nothing.
397. Him I call a Brahmin who has cut the
bonds, who does not thirst for pleasures, who
has left behind the hindrances.
398. Whoso has cut the cable, and the
rope and the chain with all its links, and has
pushed aside the bolt, this wise one I call a
Brahmin.
399. Whoever bears patiently abuse and injury
and imprisonment, whose bodyguard is fortitude,
he is the Brahmin.
400. He is the Brahmin who does not give
way to anger, who is careful of religious duties,
who is upright, pure, and controlled, who has
reached his last birth.
401. He who clings not to pleasures as water
clings not to the lotus leaf, nor mustard-seed
to the needle-point, him I call Brahmin.
402. He is the Brahmin who in this very
world knows the end of sorrow, who has laid
the burden aside and is free.
403. Whoso is wise with deep wisdom, seeing
the right way and the wrong, and has reached the
goal, him I call Brahmin.
404. He is the Brahmin who is not entangled
either with householders or with recluses, who
has no home and few wants.
405. He who lays down the rod, who neither
82 THE BRAHMIN
kills, nor causes the death of creatures, moving
or fixed, he is the Brahmin.
406. Not opposing those who oppose, calm
amidst the fighters, not grasping amidst men
who grasp, he is the Brahmin.
407. He is the Brahmin from whom anger,
and hatred, and pride, and slander have dropped
away, as the mustard-seed from the needle-
point.
408. If one were to preach gentle, and in-
structive, and truthful words by which no man
is offended, he is the Brahmin.
409. Whoso takes nothing small or great,
good or bad, unless it be given him, he is the
Brahmin.
410. In whom are found no longings, who
is free and detached from this world and the
next, he is the Brahmin.
411. Him I call a Brahmin in whom lust is
not found, who has cast off doubt, who knows
the path that leads to Nirvana [the deathless
state] and reaches it.
412. Who in this life has passed from the
grip of either merit or demerit, free of sorrow,
cleansed and purified, him I call Brahmin.
413. W T ho is clear as the moon, pure, and
limpid, and serene, who has quenched his thirst
for life ;
414. Who has passed through this impassable
quagmire of rebirth, and infatuation, has waded
THE LEADER SUPREME 83
through it and got beyond it, who is meditative
and supplies no fuel to the fires of lust and
doubt, him I call a Brahmin.
415. Who in this life, deserting his lusts, goes
from home into solitude, and has quenched lust,
and with it the desire to be reborn ;
416. Who in this life deserts craving, and goes
from home into solitude, who has quenched
craving, and with it the desire to be reborn,
him I call Brahmin.
417. Who has left behind him human pleasures
and passed beyond heavenly ones, and is freed
from all entanglement of delight ;
418. Who has left aside both gusto and dis-
gust, who is cooled and has in him no spark of
rebirth, victor in all worlds, and hero, him I call
Brahmin.
419. He is the Brahmin who fully knows the
perishing of living things and their uprising,
who is detached and happy and wise.
420. He is the Brahmin whose way is not
known to gods, nor heavenly minstrels, nor
immortals ; the Arahat pure of all taint, him I
call the Brahmin.
421. Whoso has nothing left, of past or future
or present states, who is poor and grasps at
nothing, him I call Brahmin.
422. The Leader Supreme, the heroic, the
great Rishi, the Victor without lust and purified,
the Buddha, he i$ the Brahmin.
84 THE BRAHMIN
423. He is the Brahmin indeed who knows
his former lives, and who knows heaven and
hell, who has reached the end of births, the sage
whose knowledge is perfect, and who is perfect
with all perfection.
THE END
OF
THE DHAMMAPADA
NOTES
1, 2. THESE stanzas contain two ideas which are of the
very warp and woof of Buddhism :
(a) The view depends upon the point of view ;
(b) Thought is potent in influencing man's destiny.
The Chinese Commentary illustrates both these ideas :
Two merchants listened to the Buddha's preaching ; one
was delighted, the other angry : men hear what they are
prepared to hear. Soon after one was killed, the other
became King : so potent is thought !
8. Cf. Luke vi, 48.
9, 10. The Buddha often used a play upon words to
arrest men's attention and help their memory. The Pali
of these stanzas contains a pun of this kind, which cannot
be imitated in English : Kasavam means either the yellow
robe of the mendicant, or impurity, stain, sin.
11, 12. The work of Gautama as a preacher lay largely
in this directing of men's efforts : the great reality is char-
acter ; this and this alone is man's business upon earth.
All else are " shadows " not worth pursuing. Cf. St.
John's words : " Little children, flee idols " (i.e. " shadows "),
1 John v, 21. So St. Paul speaks of covetousness as " idola-
try " the pursuit of the great " shadow," Mammon
(Col. iii, 5).
When the Buddhist puts on the yellow robe, he symbolises
his belief that " virtue is the truest wealth " : the gold of
character is alone worth striving after. (Cf. Dhammapada, 75
and note.) On the day of his ordination (upasampada)
the candidate adorns himself with all the jewellery he can
obtain, and doffs it only to don the yellow robe.
15-18. Here and Hereafter : i.e. hi this birth and the
next. Man may be, reborn upon earth, or in one of the
85
86 NOTES
hells or in one of the heavens. A demon who does well
may become a man or a god : a god who lives unworthily
may become a man or a demon.
Tormented when he goes to hell. The Buddhist Temples
are full of frescoes of these torments : men who have killed
animals are being slowly devoured by them ; other sinners
are being forced by demon torturers to climb spiky trees,
or burnt in fires most realistically drawn, or made to swallow
balls of red-hot iron; low-caste men who have offended
the high castes are being crushed by great rocks !
The Buddha's own discourses contain minute detail of
such torments. It is not clear whether he was using an
argumentum ad hominem, or really believed in a hereafter
of physical torment. In any case his moral code has been
strangely perverted hi modern Buddhism.
18. The reward for virtue is twofold the approval of
conscience and a good rebirth.
19. Cf. Matt, xxiii, 2 ; John x, 12.
20. The holy ones : Arahats, those who have attained.
The sentence means : " he is on his way to Nirvana."
21. Amatapadam : lit. " The endless or deathless state"
(Fausboll). Nirvana is defined by many such phrases in
the Dhammapada sometimes negative, as here ; sometimes
positive, as in 23 " highest freedom." Whatever the
Supreme Bliss be, it is unlike all human experience save
that of the Arahat.
Rhys Davids translates " ambrosia, or nectar."
As it were dead : i.e. spiritually or morally dead. Cf.
"Let the dead bury then: dead," Matt, viii, 22, and "The
life of the fool is worse than death," Ecclus. xxii, 11.
22. The lot of the Noble. The word " Aryo " meant in
Gautama's day Nobleman, or Aryan. He defined the noblem an
anew, making nobility consist not in birth, but in conduct.
Then he developed the meaning till it stood for Arahats
the experts in his system, those who have attained.
23. Meditation: jhanam that ecstatic contemplation in
which the mind, rapt from the sounds and sights of the
NOTES 87
ordinary world, concentrates itself upon some single object
or idea ; this leads to serenity and a unique bliss, an-
ticipation of Nirvana.
Highest freedom. Nirvana is complete freedom from : (1)
The body and suffering : (2) Desire and other taints.
25. An island : i.e. Nirvana.
Self-control, temperance. Buddhism makes much of the
" cardinal virtues."
26. The Buddhist motto may be said to be " Strive without
ceasing."
27. The joy which is born of meditation plays a great
part in Buddhist psychology and ethics. (Cf. Rhys Davids'
Early Buddhism, pp. 62-5.)
28. Contrast this somewhat Epicurean attitude with St.
Paul's exhortation " Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and
weep with them that weep " (Rom. xii, 15).
The Buddhist position is in reality midway between the
Epicurean and the Christian ; it is stoical : the attitude
to be assumed towards the " crowd " is either mettam,
benevolence if (one's own salvation being certain) one can
help them : or it is upekhd, detachment. " What can't
be cured must be endured." Mudita, sympathy, and
Karund, pity, are also duties, but it is no use wasting these
upon the blinded and foolish crowd. (Cf. 61, 64.)
30. Sakra: i.e. Indra, a high god of Hinduism whom
Buddhism has relegated to the rank of an archangel, ruling
the Tavatimsa heaven. He is said to have been a young
Brahmin who for his 7eal in doing good was reborn as Sakra.
His human name was Magha. He is regarded by Buddhists
as a kind of recording angel. (Childers;)
31. Bhikkhu. The "religious" of Buddhism is neither
" priest " nor " monk " in the strict sense, for he offers no
sacrifice, and he lives not alone, but either with one or two
others, or with the " community." The word " bhikkhu "
means " mendicant."
The greater and the lesser bonds: all those "trammels" which
bind him to the phenomenal world ; all that affects his senses.
88 NOTES
33. In his doctrine of the mind, Gautama was no pessimist ;
it is by nature fickle and difficult to control : yet nurture
can make it stable and obedient. (Cf. especially 40, where
Gautama's optimistic attitude to the mind is thrown into
strong relief by his pessimistic attitude to the body ; if the
body be brittle and of slight value, yet the mind may be
made strong and precious.) His pessimistic attitude to the
body is partly assumed with intent " to wean men from it,"
and this view is borne out by the genial attitude he takes
towards asceticism : once a man has learnt to sit loose to
the things of sense he is free to enjoy them. Gautama laid
himself open to the name of worldling, and the immediate
cause of his death was his courteous acceptance of the rich
meal prepared for him by Cunda the smith.
34. The simile is obscure : it is apparently only intended
to make one point clear the palpitating effort needed
to escape Mara.
39. Merit. The desire for merit is almost universal in
Buddhist lands ; yet Buddha teaches that man should act
with his eye fixed not upon " merit," but upon Nirvana.
(But cf. 53.) By "merit" is meant the credit balance
in the bank of character procuring rebirth to a happy
life on earth, or in a heaven.
46. The flowery sliafts of Mara : the insidious advances
of the King of Death. Cf. Ps. v, 9 : " They flatter with
their tongue."
49. The mendicant is to take what is given him by the
faithful, doing them no harm, and taking nothing but what
they freely give.
51. Cf. Matt, xxiii, 3: "They say and do not."
54. Natural law is not universally valid in the spiritual
world !
56. Certain " rishis," having neglected cleanliness in
their pursuit of holiness, were ashamed to come into the
presence of the gods : " Never fear," said the gods,
" our nostrils are filled with the fragrance of your good
deeds."
NOTES 89
Cf. our phrases : " The odour of sanctity " ; " The beauty
of holiness."
61. According to Buddhism neither will profit by such
companionship. (Cf. 64.)
64. Cf. Ecclus. xxii, 7 : "He that teacheth a fool is as
one that glueth a potsherd together."
70. i.e. extreme asceticism and religious observance
are not worth a tithe of goodness.
73-4. Ambition and self-will are the besetting faults of
the Brahmin.
75. Cf. " Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."
76. The wise will value a candid friend.
79. A better draught than the soma juice, which led to
ecstasy !
89. That leads to Arahatship. SambSdhi (Arahatship)
has seven component parts, which may be taken to represent
the Buddhist ideal of character : mindfulness, wisdom,
energy, joyousness, serenity, concentrated meditation, and
equanimity.
Whose delight is in renunciation. Cf. Bhagavad-Gita xii :
" Near to renunciation very near
Dwelleth eternal Peace."
92, 93. Whose goal is the freedom ... A definition of Nirvana.
The Commentator explains the simile as expressing the
mysterious freedom of Arahats in the spiritual sphere.
(Cf. " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest
the sound of it, but canst not tell whence it cometh and
whither it goeth : So is every one that is born of the Spirit."
John iii, 8.)
94. Even the gods. The true Buddhist is above all gods !
Charioteer. Cf. Plato's famous simile of the Charioteer
Reason and the two horses of Sensibility and Spirit : one
rebellious, the other docile. Cf. also " The spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak."
95. Whose patience is as the earth's : the earth does not
shrink or protest whatever is laid upon it.
97. This is one of those curious enigmas or puzzles which
90 NOTES
occur in the Buddha's teaching. It can be translated in a
sense opposed to that here given : viz. " Best of men is the
faithless, the ungrateful, the rebel, who has lost his chance of
salvation, who has given up all hope." It was spoken by
Gautama to some thirty recluses who accused Sariputto of
these faults, because he told his master not to preach to
him, but to them, " I already know the truth by experience ;
these others need it on authority : therefore preach to
them." Buddha's words express with great skill the two
ways in which he and the recluses looked upon his disciple's
sturdy confidence. It is of course quite impossible in an
analytic language like English to reproduce the puns.
100. Cf. St. Paul : " I had rather speak five words with
my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than
ten thousand words in a tongue." (1 Cor. xiv, 19.)
103-5. Cf. Prov. xvi, 32 : " He that is slow to anger
is better than the mighty : and he that ruleth his spirit
than he that taketh a city."
104, 105. Buddhist ethics make much of the truth that
external forces cannot harm the true man: man cannot
be hurt except by himself. (Cf. 124.)
106. Cf. 1 Sam. xv, 22 : " To obey is better than sacrifice."
109. Cf. Manu, II, 121 : and Asoka's Rock Edict, II :
" Father and mother must be hearkened to ... this leads
to length of days." Cf. also the fifth commandment of
the Decalogue : " Honour thy father and thy mother that
thy days may be long in the land."
110, 111. Cf. the Psalmist: "One day in Thy courts
is better than a thousand."
125. Gautama again and again insists that natural law
holds good in the spiritual world, though there are ex-
ceptions. (Cf. 54.)
126. Oo to the womb : i.e. are born upon earth.
127-8. Cf. Introduction, p. 13.
129-32. Cf. Luke vi, 31 : The Golden Rule.
141. Doubt : one of the deadly sins in Buddhism. The
Buddha claimed omniscience, and though he did not dis-
NOTES 91
courage investigation and inquiry, from the great mass of
men, who are ignorant and foolish, he demanded the plunge
of faith.
Matted hair, etc. The Sumagadha-avadana relates that
Sumagadha, seeing the naked and unkempt ascetics of
Brahminism, exclaimed : " O Mother, if these are saints,
what must sinners be like ? " (Cf. Max Miiller's Dham-
mapada, p. 38.)
142. Buddhism so often labelled pessimistic is striking
in the genial attitude it takes towards asceticism. It en-
courages fasting only as a means to self-control and con-
centration of mind: for the rest the only kind of fasting
it urges is " fasting from sin." Even the " man of the
world " may be a true " Brahmin " though it is very
difficult. (Cf. Asoka's Minor Rock Edict, I : " Even by the
small man, who chooses to exert himself, immense heavenly
bliss may be won.")
The Samana : lit. " the calmed " (see note on 264).
144. By faith Buddhism means the calm acceptance of all
Gautama taught : after his death it ceased to be an attitude
to his person and became a conviction that his claims to
omniscience were well founded, and that his system is the
true interpretation of the world and of human life.
But Buddhism is nothing if not psychological, and faith
(saddha) came to mean a subjective state of consciousness
akin to serenity (passadhi), consequent upon acceptance of
Buddha's teaching.
146. Fire is for the Buddhist the synonym of suffering :
all is regarded as a flux the world dissolving " with fervent
heat." There is no meaning or permanence in this world :
all the more need to seek salvation. In the burning heat of
India the metaphor is a very vivid one for weariness and pain.
147-51. The Body too is a poor thing : in these ways
Buddhism is distinctly pessimistic as compared with
Christianity, which sees in the world a potential Kingdom
of God, and in the human body a " temple of the Holy
Spirit " : yet, be it noted, Gautama painted this lurid picture
92 NOTES
with intent to awaken men to the powers of their mind and
character.
150. A citadel of bones. There are occasional gleams of
grim humour in the Buddhist books : the following story
illustrates both the " law of apperception " and the Buddhist
attitude to the body. The hermit Maha-Tissa was walking
near Anuradhapura meditating upon the transiency of life.
A woman who had quarrelled with her husband passed him,
gaily dressed and bejewelled, and smiled at him, showing
her pearly teeth. When the husband, who was in pursuit,
came up with him he called to him : " Reverend Sir, did
you see a woman pass this way ? " "I saw only a skeleton,"
replied the sage ; " whether it was man or woman I know
not " (Visuddhi-Maggai).
151. Cf. " My words shall never pass away."
152. Like the ox. So the prophet Amos addresses the
fat and sensual women of his day: "Ye kine of Bashan"
(Amos iv, 1) : " massive in body but small in mind " (cf.
Deut. xxxii, 15).
153. 154. These famous words are held by Buddhists to
have been those uttered by Gautama at the moment of en-
lightenment.
The allegory that underlies them is this : The Builder
is Desire (Tanha) the cause of rebirth : the seeker tried
long to find this cause ; at the moment of his enlightenment
it flashed into his mind, " If desire be dead, then there is
nothing to bind man to the wheel of existence." The Builder
causes the body to be built : its " corner-stone " (or ridge-
pole) is ignorance (avijja), and its " beams " are bad states
of consciousness.
Admirably rendered by Sir Edwin Arnold :
" Many a house of life
Hath held me seeking ever him who wrought
These prisons of the senses, sorrow-fraught ;
Sore was my ceaseless strife.
But now,
Thou Builder of this tabernacle Thou !
NOTES 93
I know Thee ! Never shall Thou build again
These walla of pain,
Nor raise the roof -tree of deceits ; nor lay
Fresh rafters on the clay ;
Broken Thy house is, and the ridge-pole split !
Delusion fashioned it !
Safe pass I them deliverance to obtain."
155. Cf. " Like a pelican of the wilderness " (Ps. cii, 6).
157. This is a practice enjoined in the Books : the passage
may mean also " for one of the three periods of life."
158. Cf. Matt, vii, 1-5 : " Judge not, that ye be not
judged," etc.
164. Bears fruit ... It dies down after flowering.
166. The hedonistic note in Buddhism cannot be denied :
" Ethics," says Dr. Martineau, " must either perfect them-
selves in religion, or disintegrate themselves in hedonism."
Buddhist ethics, seeing no great social purpose being worked
out in the world, fails to reconcile the claims of self-culture
and benevolence, falling back upon the monastic com-
promise that in the long run self-culture is the highest
benevolence. (Cf. Introduction, p. 14)
171. It looks gay and splendid : it is an engine of de-
struction ; it is treacherous as a morass.
174. Cf. Matt, vii, 14 : " Narrow is the way which leadeth
unto life, and few there be that find it."
Ps. cxxiv, 7 : " Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the
snare of the fowler."
175. The East has always held that holy living gives
miraculous power. Arahats were said to possess this power
(jddhi) of flying through the air, or " levitation." There are
still Hindus who claim these powers : but southern Buddhism
does not take them seriously. I asked several Buddhists if
this power were now attainable. "Possibly in Thibet,"
they answered.*
176. Cf. Jas. ii, 10 : " Whosoever shall keep the whole
* " The Buddhist," vol. i, No. 9, contains an account by
an eye-witness of a self -levitated lama.
04 NOTES
law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of all."
But the underlying idea in St. James, of loyalty to the
King, is of course not present to the Buddhist mind.
178. Universal empire : the height of worldly ambition.
Conversion : i.e. the first step towards Nirvana, when
the attention is fixed upon the Supreme Bliss. " Sotdpatti "
means " entering the stream," up which the convert has
to forge his way. After this ethical change he may have
to undergo seven more births before he attains the goal.
182. The Buddha, being free of all taints or germs of
rebirth, has no crack in his armour through which he may
be wounded : i.e. he has no cause of rebirth.
183. The ideal is not, as is often said, merely negative :
it is also positive and inward. Cf. St. Paul's more emphatic
words : " Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which ia
good" (Rom. xii, 9).
The Buddhas. According to the Books there are many
Buddhas : some in the dim past, others in the distant future.
In Ceylon, Buddhists look wistfully for the coming Buddha
Metteyya or Maitri the Loving One. In Japan they
worship Amida Buddha an ideal.
184. The word translated " fortitude " is " kantibalam,"
patience-strength, that blending of great qualities, passive
and active, Eastern and Western, which is as rare as it is
beautiful.
194. Cf. Ps. cxxiii, 1 : " Behold how good and pleasant it
is for brethren to dwell together in unity."
197-200. This section may be regarded as the Buddhist,
analogue of the Beatitudes of Christ : it depicts the blessed
life as a life of calm and peace ; either solitary or in the
company of Buddha's true followers, a man may enjoy that
bliss which is the bloom upon virtue in this life : and here-
after the Rest of the Ineffable.
207. Like Jesus, Gautama offers his followers a family life
whose ties are more intimate and tender than those of blood.
In the Sangha they are to find their kinsfolk and a better
family life than they have left. [C/. " Who is My mother
NOTES 06
or My brethren ? . . . Whosoever shall do the will of God,
the same is My brother and My sister and mother." Mark
iii, 35.] Yet it must be borne in mind that to enter this
company a man must be a celibate : and that perfect
solitude is held up as the safer ideal.
208. The cold clear moonlight of this simile is symbolic
of the Buddhist ideal.
212, 213. Buddhism teaches benevolence to all, attach-
ment to none. It is a monastic ideal, and may be paralleled
from such books as the Imitatio Christi. Cf. Bk. I,
chap, viii : " We must have charity towards all, but
familiarity is not expedient."
There is, however, a vital difference : the Buddhist
Bhikkhu is to shun society that nothing may mar his self-
culture : the Christian monk that he may be " familiar
with God alone, and with His Angels." When Prince
Siddhartha (afterwards the Buddha) heard of the birth of
his son Rahula, and they tried to bring him back, he is said
to have remarked : " That is one more bond to be cut."
The " Great Renunciation " involved no less than this.
218. The Ineffable. The Buddha describes Nirvana
probably from his own experience of that ecstatic joy which
is said to be the reward of deep meditation.
This word " ineffable " is one used all by who have known
this experience. Cf. Myers' St. Paul :
" Oh could I tell, ye surely would believe it !
Oh could I only say what I have seen !
How should I tell, or how can ye receive it,
How till He bringeth you where I have been ? "
and St. Paul's words of his own experience in 2 Cor. xii, 2-4.
Against the stream. The fight for character is one against
long odds. Nature has at times to be "pitchforked."
(Cf. Mrs. Rhys Davids' Buddhist Psychology, p. Ixvii.)
Man is not at the mercy of the " stream " of natural impulse ;
but swimming against i,t is hard work. (Cf. 244, 245.)
96 NOTES
221. Phenomenal existence : Pali namd rupa, " name and
form," i.e. things mental and material.
227. Atida : according to the Commentator, one of
Gautama's disciples : he is not mentioned elsewhere. If
we read " atulam " the meaning is " an incomparable saying."
241. Disuse . . . mantras : i.e. if the words are not used
they are forgotten.
251. Lust . . . hatred . . . folly. The three inveterate foes
of the good life. Buddhism sees that man has in him ape,
tiger, and ass. (Cf. Introduction, p. 15.)
252. Or "as the fowler hides his snare."
254, 255. We have followed the Sinhalese scholar, Mr.
James D'Alwis, in this translation : he is supported by the
Commentary. Another possible rendering is: "No one
outside the Buddhist community can walk through the air,
but only a samana" (Fausboll). But this taxes the
construction too severely, and as Professor Max Miiller
says, Buddha did not encourage the display of miraculous
power.
264. Cf. Imitatio Christi, bk. I, chap, xvii : " The habit
and the shaven crown do little profit : but change of manners,
and perfect mortification of passions make a true religious
man."
Samano, before Gautama's day, meant " ascetic," being
derived from the root "sram" to work hard, to do penance.
He gave a new derivation and a new significance to the
word sam, meaning " calm."
264-9. These stanzas contain a play on the words :
Gautama is giving new definitions of current terms. It is
hardly possible to render these in English : perhaps in 264-5
the use of the word " religious " as both noun and adjective
is a fair analogy from Christian monasticism. The pun in
270 is only to be permitted as illustrating the spirit of the
section.
268-9. So Asoka says of impiety and piety : " The one
course avails me for the present life, the other avails me
also for the life to come." (Pillar Edict, III) ; and Thomas
NOTES 97
& Kempis, quoting Phil, iii, 8 : " He is truly prudent,
that regards all earthly things as dung, that he may gain
Christ."
270. Meekness is the true heroism : " Blessed are the
meek, for they shall inherit the earth " ; " Fight the good
fight." As in mediaeval Europe, so in ancient India, all
"nobles" (Aryans) were warriors. Gautama gives a new
definition of the true knight. (Cf. the history of the words
"chivalry," "gentle," and "generous," under Christian
influences.)
273. The four truths : suffering : its cause : its cure :
the eightfold path of escape.
The seer : cakkhumd, the man who has the eye for truth :
the man of insight.
274. The " seeing of Purity." The phrase may mean
equally well the " purification of vision." The man of insight
is the pure man ; to one who ventured to dispute Gautama's
judgment he exclaimed : "Shall he whose mind is dominated
by passion surpass the Blessed One in wisdom ? " (Cf.
Christ's words : " My judgment is just, because I seek not
Mine own will.")
276. Blessed Ones : Tathagata, " those who have arrived,"
or reached Nirvana.
277-9. " All is passing " : one of the leading tenets
of Heraclitus and the Orphists, who belong to the same
century as the Buddha (sixth century B.c). Their teaching,
so far as it has survived, has many points of similarity
with his.
" All is passing . . . all is sorrow . . . all is unreal."
The words ring out again and again like the solemn tolling
of some cloister bell, summoning men away from the pursuit
of shadows, to that only worthy object " the path of Purity "
Nirvana.
283. Vanam means either " lust " or a " forest " : English
cannot reproduce the play upon words.
284. Even married love is regarded by Buddhism as an
" entanglement " of this kind.
7
98 NOTES
286. Cf. the parable of the Rich Fool, and St. James :
" Go to now, ye that say to-day or to-morrow we will go
into the city, and spend a year there . . . whereas ye know
not what shall be on the morrow " (iv, 13, 14).
294. The Commentator explains this curious verse as
follows : The Mother is lust : the Father self-will : the
Kings are heresies two extremes on either side of the
middle path (cf. Introductory Note, xx) ; the Kingdom is
sensuality (cf. 97).
295. The five roads are lust, hatred, disturbance of mind,
sloth, and doubt.
301. The principal objects of meditation.
302. Hard is the community life : reading samanasamvaso
with Max Miiller and the Chinese version, instead of
'samanasamvaso (= asamanasamvaso) with Fausboll and
the Sinhalese.
The wanderer in the world : i.e. the layman.
307. Suffering is the blight upon sin.
310. Therefore ... Cf. the simple authority of the seventh
commandment, " Thou shalt not commit adultery," and
of Christ's words to the woman taken in adultery, " Go
and sin no more."
311. " Corruptio optimi pessima."
324. Dhdnapalako : i.e. guardian of wealth.
340. The streams : sensations.
The creeper : passion.
344. The pun on the word vanam (forest and lust) is re-
peated here : " tangle " perhaps expresses both meanings.
353. Spoken, according to the Commentary, when the
Buddha was on the way to Benares, and the Brahmin Upaka
sceptically asked him who was his Teacher, and what the
cause of his serenity and joy. Here Gautama claims om-
niscience : elsewhere he claims to be the only Teacher :
"Non seulement Cakyamuni est source de verite, mais il
est la source unique " (De la Vallee Poussin, Bouddhisme,
p. 138). (Cf. Mahavagga i, 6, 8.)
356-9. As weeds spoil a good harvest, so these passions
NOTES 99
spoil the good harvest of character. Seed sown in clean
soil is fruitful : so are gifts to the Noble.
370. The five bonds to be cut are egoism, doubt, false
asceticism, lust, and hatred. The five to be left off are
longing for higher states of birth, for still higher ones, self-
will, want of purpose, and ignorance. The five to be taken
are faith, manliness, mindfulness, deep meditation, and
wisdom. (Commentary.)
" He who has crossed the flood " = Oghatinna.
Take five more. Man is destined to be yoked, if not by
sin, then by duty. (Cf. " Whose service is perfect freedom.")
373. Divine pleasure : the joy of the unified will.
384. Meditation may be either special or general : i.e.
upon any of the forty objects which lead to Samadhi, or
upon the transiency, sorrow, and unreality of things.
For he knows ... Cf. " Ye shall know the Truth, and the
Truth shall make you free" (John viii, 32).
385. Lit. " In whom is found neither near bank nor
far " : i.e. neither noticing external objects by attending
to them, nor letting his desires go out to seek them. (Com-
mentary.)
387. The face of the seer is said to shine.
388. Deriving Brahmano from the root vah or bah to
put away.
394. Cf. Luke xi, 39 ; Matt, xxiii, 27.
398. The cable is D5sa, hatred ; the chain with its links
is Tanha, desire in all its forms ; the bolt is Moha, infatuation,
or folly.
395. This stanza seems to have a Brahminical origin:
unless we lay all the stress on meditating.
405. Fixed or moving creatures, according to the Sinhalese
Commentary, refers either to men or to animals. In a
metaphorical sense, fixed creatures are Arahats, moving
ones are common men. In a literal sense fixed creatures
may be such things as molluscs.
ILLUSTRATIVE SAYINGS OF THE
DISCIPLES OF THE BUDDHA
THE following are selections from another book
which bears the impress of a very early date,
and gives us vivid glimpses of the Buddhist
Ideal : the Thera-Theii-Gatha, or Songs of
the Elders and Sisters. The Psalms of the
Sisters, Mrs. Rhys Davids' fine translation of
the latter portion of this book, is a valuable
commentary on the Dhammapada, and reveals
the great power of Buddhism (whilst the en-
thusiasm for Buddha was still alive) over the
human heart.
SAYINGS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE BUDDHIST
IDEAL
Its asceticism :
" Gold-bedecked and bejewelled, carrying her son upon
her hip and followed by attendants, came my wife.
" Beholding her, the mother of my son, I beheld a snare
set by the Evil One [Mara]." Thera-gatha, 299.
" Where a man dwells alone, he is as Brahma ; where two
dwell, they dwell as gods ; where three dwell, it is as a village ;
where there are more, it is a rabble." (The fewer the safer !)
Ibid., 245.
100
ILLUSTRATIVE SAYINGS 101
Its stoicism :
" The rain pours gurgling down : alone dwell I in dreadful
cave. Yet for me it holds not dread nor fear ; I am one who
knows them not." Ibid., 189.
" As the elephant calmly endures the battle, so this lean
one, with limbs gnarled as tree-trunks, endures the sting of
insects as he bathes." Ibid., 243.
" The cold dark nights of winter chap the skin and freeze
the thoughts, O Mogharaja ! What shall the Bhikkhu do ?
" The men of Magadha have taken in their harvest. I,
too, like others who delight in life, will lie down and take
my rest in the straw."
" Home have I left ; for I have left my world !
Child have I left, and all my cherished herds !
Lust have I left, and Ill-will too is gone,
And Ignorance have I put far from me ;
Craving and root of craving overpowered,
Cool am I now, knowing Nibbana's peace."
Theri-gdtha, 18.
(MRS. RHYS DAVIDS' Translation.)
Its earnestness :
" Xot for sleep is the star-spangled night, but for work to
him who is wise." Thera-gathd, 192.
" When disease assailed my body, then my mind awoke
and cried, ' The sickness is upon me ! It is high time to
play the man.' " Ibid., 30.
" Happy freedom ! Happy freedom ! Good it is to be freed
from three crooked things, from scythe and plough and hoe.
There they stand ; no use have I for them ! Let me meditate
again and again ; let me lead the strenuous life [of thought]."
Ibid., 43.
" Of yore my mind would wander whither caprice and
desire led it. To-day I hold it in check as the mahout can
hold with his prod the elephant in rut." Ibid., 76.
" They who have lost their foothold fall. But they can,
if they will, arise again and yet again. I have won up the
steep slope : loving what is lovely I have easily attained."
Ibid., 62.
APPENDIX
THE BUDDHIST IDEAL
(ARAHATSHIP OR NIRVANA)
AS DEPICTED IN THE DHAMMAPADA
THE " ambrosial [or deathless] path," Nirvana,
is the prize which these stanzas hold out to
the strenuous : this is at once the goal of effort
and its cessation, a calm haven after strenuous
voyaging.* The seer speaks with a quiet rapture
and a serene assurance which convince us as we
read, that whether it is Gautama himself who
speaks, or whether it is the collective voice of his
followers, here is in any case the utterance of
a real experience of the soul. Can it be that
these men entered behind the veil of sense and
time, and that their voices ring down the ages
from that mysterious Beyond to which the
mystics of all ages have aspired ?
We cannot say ; yet it is very clear that if
the metaphysical Nirvana is a fantasy, the
ethical Nirvana is real enough : and Gautama
was above all things an ethical teacher. That
* Upasama implies both the idea of Peace and the idea
that there has been a struggle to win it.
102
NIRVANA HERE AND NOW 103
we shall understand Nirvana from a perusal of
those pages is not likely ; that it will attract
Western thinkers is not wholly to be desired ;
but we can at least study the ethical experience
of which Nirvana is but the description and the
attempted explanation : and a grasp of what
Arahatship means is essential to the under-
standing of Buddhism. The Arahat is one who,
through obedience to the preaching of Buddha,
has reached that calm state when the will no
longer struggles, but is unified and at rest.
As the eagle, after long strain of upward flight,
stays poised in mid-air, so the seer reaches the
calm and severe heights of character. This is
Nirvana in the present world : and Nirvana
hereafter may be more mysterious, but it must
be of the same kind.
Very much as the Christian, experiencing
" the peace that passes understanding," interprets
in the light of this experience the serenity and
calm of the Hereafter, so the Buddhist " saint,"
having known the quiet and serenity of the
unified will, projects this experience into the
future.
To both alike this future is " ineffably sublime " ;
words fail men when they attempt to speak of
the Beyond : and yet we can piece together a
picture of their inmost thoughts from such
fragmentary descriptions of their experience as
they let fall.
104 THE BUDDHIST IDEAL
Arahatship and Nirvana, then, form one ideal,
and it is with this that the Dhammapada is
concerned.
We have seen that Nirvana is ineffable
(stanza 218 and note) ; but we have also to
remember that it can be experienced here and
now. In stanza 402 we read;
" He is the Brahmin who in this very world knows the
end of sorrow, who has laid the burden aside and is free." *
For whilst " the burden " is ultimately bodily
existence, yet it is the sinfulness and egoism
and pride of the flesh which make that burden
so intolerable : the body is in fact a good servant
but a bad master, and he who masters his body
is already as it were freed from it.
" Happy is he," says the Digha Nikaya, " who is free of
lust and beyond its power : the highest bliss is freedom
from pride and self-will."
" There is no sorrow like existence, no bliss like Nirvana,"
says the Dhammapada.
" 'The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against
the flesh,' cries St. Paul. . . . ' Unhappy man that I am !
Who shall deliver me from this body of death ? ' "
These and similar passages are a cry for deliver-
ance ; and both teachers insist upon the same
great truth, that man's bodily life, in so far as
it is dominated by self-will and lust, is an evil
* c/. stanza 32 : where " near to Nirvana " should
probably be rendered "in the very presence of Nirvana."
(RHYS DAVIDS.)
THE IDEAL OF ESCAPE 105
to be escaped at any cost. Neither is Manichean :
it is not the body that is evil, but the body
enslaved by the tyranny of evil desires.
And for both teachers it is the perversity of
the " flesh " that shapes the ideal of escape ;
though the one longs after the life of dissolution,
and the other believes that he will be " clothed
upon " with a " glorified body " hereafter.*
The salient feature of the Buddhist ideal is
freedom :
" Him I call Brahmin who has cut the bonds, who thirsts
not for pleasure, who has left behind the hindrances."
(See 397 and note on 398.)
The phrase "highest freedom" occurs more
than once in these stanzas as a synonym for
Nirvana, and, as Mrs. Rhys Davids has shown,
it is this aspect of Nirvana which is most fre-
quently hymned in the Psalms of the Sisters,
that remarkable collection of verses attributed
to the women-elders of the Sangha.f (Cf.
Dhammapada, 90, 92, 93, 96, etc.)
Inasmuch as this " highest freedom " is
escape from lust and other " bonds," it is an
* From a more positive point of view we may say that
for the Buddhist, Peace is an ideal of equilibrium now and
of unconsciousness hereafter : for the Christian, Peace is
an ideal of conscious fellowship with God begun now and
hereafter consummated.
t This collection, published by the Pali Text Society, will
go far to prove how real and deep was the ethical experience
of the early Buddhists.
106 THE BUDDHIST IDEAL
ideal for this life : inasmuch as it is escape from
the round of rebirths it is an ideal for the future :
here Arahatship passes over into Nirvana.*
And in both alike the way of escape lies in
the mind of man :
" All that we are by Mind is wrought,
Fashioned and fathered by our Thought." *
The Arahat has mastered his mind (that " frail
and fickle thing " that in the worldling " leaps
hither and thither, like a monkey seeking fruit) " ;
and therefore he is already free from the tyranny
of the flesh (c/. 89). For it is the mental " bonds "
lust, pride, self-will which have bound him
through the long waste of years to one body
after another ; and it is " knowledge " which
sets him free :
" He is the Brahmin indeed who . . . has reached the
end of rebirths, the sage whose knowledge is perfect, and
who is perfect with all perfection."
This freedom of Nirvana is envisaged as Rest :
and there is in these stanzas a cry for rest which
runs through all the Buddhist books like some
pathetic fugue : a desire so passionate as to be
almost unintelligible to Western minds.
But to men obsessed heart and spirit with the
* In technical phraseology the ethical Nirvana is called
Savupadisesanibbanam, or Nirvana, in whicli the five skandhas
or elements of being remain ; and the metaphysical Nirvana
is called Anupadisesanibbanam, or Nirvana, in which they
cease to exist. (See Note at end.)
AN IDEAL OF KINDLINESS 107
" weary weight of the intolerable years," life after
life of suffering and care, it is a real longing
which here finds rhythmic expression :
" All is fleeting, all is unreal, all is sorrowful." (277-9.)
" There is no sorrow, like to existence : no bliss like
Nirvana, the Supreme Best." (202.)
Worldly existence is wholly evil ; but every
man is free to cultivate the " otherworldly "
frame of mind, and be at peace. For Buddhism
is in a sense eudaemonistic ; it does not flout
man's desire to be happy : only it defines this
happiness in terms of inward peace and self-
control.
Section XV of the Dhammapada is the Bud-
dhist analogue of the Beatitudes of Jesus, and,
as an ideal of the Happy Life, ranks high indeed.
It is an ideal of kindliness and serenity, of
peace and unity, which is very winsome ; it
would be hard to pick a quarrel with the ex-"
ponents of such a life !
To the Christian it seems none the less an
ideal more passive and stoical, less loving and
mystical than that of Jesus ; and yet we cannot
but rejoice that the East has had this ideal
so long before it. To the Karma-haunted
millions of India it has shone with a steady
and alluring radiance, in time past more potent
than to-day, but even now embedded in their
subconsciousness.
Its calm and cool attractiveness is beautifully
108 THE BUDDHIST IDEAL
symbolised in the poetic imagery of the Dhamma-
pada :
" The good man shines like the moon escaped from clouds,
he is pure as some unruffled lake." (95.)
And the company of such a leader with his
disciples is
"As the moon following the path of the stars." (208.)
Another lovely moonlit scene embodies and
symbolises the spirit of this ideal :
The Buddha's six chief disciples are in a
park, and as they sit in the tropical moonlight
they ask one another what quality in the Bhikkhu
could add to the beauty of the scene. Amongst
the answers are three which throw light upon
the meaning of Arahatship :
" The peace and insight of moral victory," says one,
" The joy and insight of Emancipation," says another ;
and Sariputta wins the Master's approval by his
reply:
" When a Bhikkhu masters his heart [cittam] and does not
let it master him."
" Hear from me," says Gautama. " Hear from
me what kind of Bhikkhu could add a lustre to
the wood ; one who, sitting serene and controlled,
resolves : * Till my heart is freed from the ferments
of lust I shall not quit my seat.' "*
This scene is most suggestive, for it throws
* Majjhima Nikaya, 32.
SOLITUDE IS ESSENTIAL 10&
into strong contrast Buddhist and Christian
Ethics, and further it leads us into the heart
of a vexed and difficult problem.
With regard to the first point, it is sufficient
to say here that Buddhism teaches a rigorous
and calm self-mastery, Christianity demands a
passionate self-surrender.
With regard to the second, we may state the
problem thus : Is Nirvana a social ideal ? Or
is it an ideal of solitude and forgetfulness ? The
answer seems to be that Buddhism holds out
no promiseof the reunion of emancipated "souls ";
Nirvana is the cessation of all personal existence :
yet the experience of the peace and joy of Noble
Companionship such companionship and com-
munion of soul as is here depicted is too good
not to be desired. And this desire has tinged
the ideal picture of the Beyond : in spite of
metaphysics the ethical asserts itself :
" Good is the Vision of the Noble " (i.e. Arahats).
" Good is their company." (206.)
" A loyal friend is the truest kinsman :
Nirvana is the greatest Bliss." (204.)
To sum up the Buddhist position upon the
question of " Society and Solitude " is no easy
task ; but we may express it tentatively thus :
At first solitude is essential :
" Alone man lives like Brahma : in twos men live like
gods : in threes they are as a village. More than this is a
mob."
110 THE BUDDHIST IDEAL
And as the Dhammapada says,
" Even for great benefit to another let no man imperil
his own benefit." (166.)
But if an Arahat is to be found, his society can
do nothing but good : let the Bhikkhu resort
to him. If there are a company of Arahats, let
them rejoice in communion and fellowship.
And hereafter
Nirvana is "the unknown shore." (323.)
It is "the solitude which it is hard to love." (88.)
With all his kindliness and even geniality Buddha
does not disguise the fact that victory will be
purchased at a heavy cost :
" One is the road leading to wealth : another is that
leading to Nirvana."
To win to the goal will mean asceticism all along
the line :
" Cut out the bonds. . . .
Play the man. . . .
Travel stoutly alone. ..."
Such are his rallying-cries.
For the " Path of Safety " is beset with " evil
beasts." And to win across " the torrent " to
the safety of the " other side " needs courage
and strenuous effort. And, having won through,
men will find a great solitude, a peace, a freedom,
only to be purchased by ceasing to be. Such is
Nirvana in the fullest sense.
Freedom ; Safety ; Rest : Calmness ; Kindli-
ETHICAL AND ATTAINABLE 111
ness ; Self-control : Solitary effort or the company
of the select few. Above all, Bliss, ineffable yet
traceable to its seat in the unified will. Such is
Arahatship, or Nirvana in this present life.
It is a lofty ideal, and though no Buddhist
now strives to realise Nirvana, yet there are men
in all Buddhist lands gazing into the remote
future to see Arahatship shining afar off like
some dim yet lovely star. Arid because it
is ethical, therefore it is attainable :
" I ought, therefore I can."
In the days of Gautama it is clear that men
reached the goal of Arahatship, and knew the
peace and joy of a mind and conscience at rest.
For the contagion of his enthusiasm and the
magnetism of his personality went far to energise
ideals which are real enough beneath a tropic
sun, and, in so far as they are ethical ideals,
vital enough in all lands. And to-day Buddhists
look wistfully to a Coming One, Maitri, who
shall spur them on to victory : or they put
their trust in the grace of an Amida who demands
only faith in his saving power.
The Christian will see in these aspirations
and yearnings the promise of a speedy fulfilment,
when men see the Majesty and the Love of God
revealed in Christ : and he will welcome the
teachings of Gautama the Buddha as the utterance
of a prophet and a seer.
112 THE BUDDHIST IDEAL
NOTE
Nirvana is thus explained in the Abhi-
dhammattha-Sangaha, translated by Mr. Shwe
Zan Aung, and published by the Pah' Text Society
under the title Compendium of Philosophy.
OF NIBBANA
Now Nibbana, which is reckoned as beyond
these worlds, is to be realised through the know-
ledge belonging to the Four Paths. It is the
object of those Paths, and of their Fruits. It
is called Nibbana, in that it is a " departure "
from that craving which is called Vana, lusting.
This Nibbana is in its nature single, but for
purposes of logical treatment it is twofold,
namely, the element of Nibbana, wherewith is
yet remaining stuff of life, and the element
without that remainder. So, too, when divided
into modes, it is threefold namely, Void, Sign-
less, and Absolute Content.
MNEMONIC
Great Seers, wholly from Vana lust set free,
Declare Nibbana such a path to be :
Past death, past end (it goes, this blessed way),
Uncaus6d, having no beyond, they say.
Thus, as fourfold, Tathagatas reveal,
The ultimate kinds of things we know and feel :
Mind first, and next, concomitants of mind,
Body as third, Nibbana last in kind.
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