Buddha : sein Leben, seine Lehre, seine Gemeinde / von Hermann Oldenberg.
| Main Author: | Oldenberg, Hermann, 1854-1920. |
|---|---|
| Language(s): | German |
| Published: | Stuttgart : J. G. Cotta, 1906. |
| Edition: | 5. Aufl. |
| Subjects: | Gautama Buddha. |
| Physical Description: | viii, 445 p. ; 23 cm. |
| Locate a Print Version: | Find in a library |
Buddha: his life, his doctrine, his order, by Dr. Hermann Oldenberg ... Tr. from the German by William Hoey ...
| Main Author: | Oldenberg, Hermann, 1854-1920. |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | Hoey, William, 1849-1919, |
| Language(s): | English |
| Published: | London, Williams and Norgate, 1882. |
| Subjects: | Buddhism. |
| Physical Description: | 2 p. ℓ., [iii]-viii, 454 p. 23 cm. |
| ISBN: | 0524023557 (microfiche) |
올덴베르크, 붓다.hwpBUDDHA:
HIS LIFE, HIS DOCTRINE, HIS ORDER,
BY
DR. HERMANN OLDENBERG,
IMIOFESSOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OP BERLIN, EDITOR OP THE VINAYA PITAKAM%
AND THE DIPAVAMSA IN PALI.
fount fbe (Sernurr
BY
WILLIAM HOEY, M.A., D.LlT,,
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL, ETC.
OF HER MAJESTY S BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE.
WILLIAMS AND NOEGATE,
14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON j
AND 20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH.
1882.
LONDON :
. NOKMAN AND SON, PKINTEES, HAST STRKET,
COVKKT GARDEN.
6 a.
X
BUDDHA:
EIS LIFE, HIS DOCTRINE, HIS ORDER.
.
TRANSLATOR S PREFACE.
THIS book is a translation of a German work, Buddha, Sein
Leben, seine Lehre, seine G-emeinde, by Professor Hermann
Oldenberg, of Berlin, editor of the "Pali Texts of the
Vinaya Pitakam and the Dipavamsa." The original has
attracted the attention of European scholars, and the name
of Dr. Oldenberg is a sufficient guarantee of the value of
its contents. A review of the original doctrines of Buddhism,
coming from the pen of the eminent German scholar, the
coadjutor of Mr. Ehys Davids in the translation of the Pali
scriptures for Professor Max Miiller s " Sacred Books of the
East/ and the editor of many Pali texts, must be welcome as
an addition to the aids which we possess to the study of
Buddhism. Dr. Oldenberg has in the work now translated
successfully demolished the sceptical theory of a solar Buddha,
put forward by M. Senart. He has sifted the legendary
elements of Buddhist tradition, and has given the reliable
residuum of facts concerning Buddha s life : he has examined
the original teaching of Buddha, shown that the cardinal
tenets of the pessimism which he preached are "the truth
of suffering and the truth of the deliverance from suffering :"
he has expounded the ontology of Buddhism and placed the
Nirvtma in a true light. To do this he has gone to the roots
of Buddhism in pre-Buddhist Brahmanism : and he has given
Orientalists the original authorities for his views of Buddhist
dogmatics in Excursus at the end of his work.
To thoughtful men who evince an interest in the comparative
iv TRANSLATOR S PREFACE.
study of religious beliefs, Buddhism, as the highest effort of
pure intellect to solve the problem of being, is attractive. It
is not less so to the metaphysician and sociologist who study
the philosophy of the modern German pessimistic school and
observe its social tendencies. To them Dr. Oldenberg s work
will be as valuable as it is to the Orientalist.
My aim in this translation has been to reproduce the thought
of the original in clear English. If I have done this, I have
succeeded. Dr. Oldenberg has kindly perused my manuscript
before going to press : and in a few passages of the English
I have made slight alterations, additions, or omissions, as
compared with the German original, at his request.*
I have to thank Dr. Eost, the Librarian of the India Office,
at whose suggestion I undertook this work, for his kindness
and courtesy in facilitating some references which I found it
necessary to make to the India Office Library.
W. HOEY.
BELFAST, October 21, 1882.
* At p. 241-2, Dr. Oldenberg refers to the impossibility of Buddhist
terminology finding adequate ｅxpression in the German language. I may
make a similar complaint of the English tongue, and point in proof to
the same word which occasioned his remark : Sankhara. This term is
translated in the German by " Gestaltungen," which would be usually
rendered in English by " shapes " or " forms :" but the " shape " or
" form," and the " shaping " or " forming," are one to Buddhist thought :
hence I have used for " sankhara " an English word which may connote
both result and process, and is at the same time etymologically similar
to, though not quite parallel to, " sankhara." The word chosen is
"conformations." The selection of the term is arbitrary, as all such
translations of philosophical technicalities must be until a consensus of
scholars gives currency to a fixed term.
The conception intended to be conveyed by the term " sankhara " has,
as far as I know, no exact parallel in European philosophy. The nearest
approach to it is in the modi of Spinoza. Buddhist Sankhara are modi
underlying which, be there substance or be there not, we do not
know.
CONTENTS,
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTEE I.
INDIA AND BUDDHISM 1 15
India and the West, p. 1. The Triad of Buddha, the Doctrine,
the Order, p. 6.
Western and Eastern India The Brahman-castes, p. 7. The
Aryans in India and their extension, p. 9. Aryan and Vedic
culture, p. 10. The Indian peoples, p. 11. The Brahman-
castes, p. 13.
CHAPTEE II.
INDIAN PANTHEISM AND PESSIMISM BEFORE BUDDHA . 1660
Symbolism of the offering The Absolute, p. 16. Eudiments of
Indian speculation, p. 17. Sacrifice and the symbolism of
sacrifice, p. 20. The Atman, p. 25. The Brahma, p. 27.
The Absolute as Atman-Brahma, p. 29.
The Absolute and the External world, p. 32. Earlier and later
forms of the Atman idea, p. 34. Conversation of Yajnavalkya
with Maitreyi, p. 35. The non-ego, p. 38.
Pessimism, Metempsychosis, Deliverance, p. 42.
The Tempter Brahman, p. 54. The Ka^aka-Upanishad,
Naciketas and the God of Death, p. 54. The God of Death
and Mara the Tempter, p. 58. Brahman, p. 59.
CHAPTEE III.
ASCETICISM. MONASTIC ORDERS ..... 61 71
Beginning of Monasticism, p. 61. Advance of asceticism from
Western India to the East : formation of monastic orders,
p. 63. Sects and heads of sects, p. 66.
Sophistic, p. 68.
> i CONTENTS.
PART I.
BUDDHA S LIFE.
CHAPTER I.
THE CHAEACTER OF TRADITION. LEGEND AND MYTH . 7291
Doubt of the historical reality of Buddha s personality ; Buddha
and the Sun-hero, p. 73. Basis of the traditions regarding
Buddha : the sacred Pali literature, p. 75. Character of the
memoranda regarding Buddha s person, p. 76. Want of an
ancient biography of Buddha, p. 78. Biographical fragments
handed down from ancient times, p. 81. Legendary elements,
p. 82. Examination of the history of the attainment of
delivering knowledge, p. 86. Character of the statements
regarding the external surroundings of Buddha s life, p. 91.
CHAPTER II.
BUDDHA S YOUTH ... . 95 H~-
The Sakyas, p. 95. Buddha not a king s son, p. 99. Child
hood, marriage, p. 100. Departure from home, p. 103.
Period of fruitless search, p. 105. Decisive turning-point of
his life, p. 107.
CHAPTER III.
BEGINNING OF THE TEACHER S CAREER. . . . 113137
The four-times seven days, p. 114. History of the Temptation,
p. 116.
The sermon at Benares, p. 123. The first disciples, p. 130.
Further Conversions, p. 131.
CHAPTER IV.
BUDDHA S WORK 138105-
Buddha s work, p. 140. Daily Life, p. 141. Rainy season and
season of Itinerancy, p. 142. Allotment of the day, p. 149.
Buddha s disciples, p. 150. Lay adherents, p. 162.
Women, p. 164. Dialogue between Buddha and Visakha, p. 167.
Buddha s opponents, p. 170. Brahmanism, p. 171. Buddha s
criticism of the sacrificial system, p. 172. Relations with
other monastic orders, Criticism of self-mortifications, p. 175.
Buddha s method of teaching, p. 176. Dialect, p. 177. His
discourses, their scholastic character, p. 178. Type of the
histories of conversions, p. 184. Dialogues, p. 188. Analogy,
Induction, p. 189. Similes, p. 190. Fables and Tales, p. 193.
Poetical sayings, p. 193.
CHAPTER V.
BUDDHA S DEATH
CONTENTS. vii
PART II.
THE DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM.
CHAPTEE I.
THE TENET OF SUFFERING 204222
Buddhism a doctrine of suffering and deliverance, p. 204. Its
scholastic dialectic, p. 207. Difficulty of comprehension, p. 208.
The four sacred truths. The first and Buddhist pessimism,
p. 209. The Nothing and Suffering, p. 212. Dialectic founda
tion of pessimism; discussion of the non-ego, p. 213. The
tone of Buddhist pessimism, p. 221.
CHAPTEE II.
THE TENETS OF THE ORIGIN AND OF THE EXTINCTION
OF SUFFERING 223285
The formula of the causal nexus, p. 223.
The third link in the chain of causality. Consciousness and
corporeal form, p. 227.
The fourth to the eleventh link in the chain of causality, p. 231.
The first and second links of the causal chain, p. 237. Ignorance,
p. 237. The Sa?>ikharas, p. 242. Kamma (moral retribution),
p. 243.
Being and Becoming. Substance and Formation, p. 247.
Dhamma, Sawikhara, p. 250.
The Soul, p. 252.
The Saint. The Ego. The Nirvana, p. 263. The Nirvana in
this life, p. 264. The death of the Saint, p. 266. Is the
Nirvana the Nothing? p. 267. Buddha s conversation with
Vacchagotta, p. 272 ; with Malukya, p. 275. Disallowing the
question as to the ultimate goal, p. 276. Veiled answers to the
question: the conversation between Khema and Pasenadi,
p. 278. Sariputta s conversation with Yamaka, p. 281.
CHAPTEE III.
THE TENET OF THE PATH TO THE EXTINCTION OF
SUFFERING . . . 286-330
Duties to others, p. 286. The three categories of uprightness,
self -concentration, and wisdom, p. 288. Prohibitions and
commands, p. 290. Love and compassion, p. 292. Story of
Long-life and Long-grief, p. 293. Story of Kunala, p. 296.
Beneficence : the story of Vessantara, p. 302. The story of
The Wise Hare, p. 303.
Moral self-culture, p. 305.
Mara, the Evil one, p. 309.
The last stages of the path of salvation. Abstractions. Saints
and Buddhas, p. 313.
iii CONTENTS.
PART III.
THE ORDER OF BUDDHA S DISCIPLES.
The constitution of the Order and its codes of laws, p. 332.
The Order and the Dioceses. Admission and withdrawal, p. 336.
Property. Clothing. Dwelling. Maintenance, p. 354.
The Cultus, p. 369.
The Order of Nuns, p. 377.
The spiritual Order and the lay-world, p. 381.
EXCUESUS.
FIEST EXCUESUS.
on THE RELATIVE GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OP VEDIC
AND BUDDHIST CULTURE ..... 391 411
Separate demarcation of Aryan and Vedic culture, p. 391. The
enumeration of peoples in the Aitareya Brahmana Texts,
p. 392. Ditto in Manu, p. 393. The stocks mentioned in the
Brahma??a Texts, p. 395. The Kurus, p. 396. Yajnavalkya
and the Videhas, p. 397. The legend of Agni Vaicvanara,
p. 399. The Magadhas, p. 400. The stocks named in the
Eik-Sawhita, p. 401. The Turvapas, p. 404. The Tntsu-
Bharatas, p. 405.
SECOND EXCUKSUS.
NOTES AND AUTHORITIES on THE HISTORY OF BUDDHA S
YOUTH . 411-42(>
The Sakyas, p. 411. The name Gotama, p. 413. Buddha not a
king s son, p. 416. His youth and departure from Kapilavatthu,
p. 417. The period from Pabbajja to Sambodhi, p. 420. The
Sambodhi, p. 424.
THIED EXCUESUS.
APPENDICES AND AUTHORITIES on SOME MATTERS OF
BUDDHIST DOGMATIC . .... 427 450
1. The Nirvana, p. 427. Upadhi, p. 427. Upadana, p. 429.
Upadisesa, p. 433. Passages bearing on the Nirvana, p. 438.
Nirvana and Parinirva?ia, p. 444.
2. Namarupa, p. 445.
3. The Four Stages of Holiness, p. 448.
INTBODTJCTION.
CHAPTER I.
INDIA AND BUDDHISM,
THE history of the Buddhist faith begins with a band of
mendicant monks who gathered round the person of Gotama,
the Buddha, in the country bordering on the Ganges, about
fiye hundred years before the commencement of the Christian
e,ra. What bound them together and gave a stamp to their
Simple and earnest world of thought, was the deeply felt and
clearly and sternly expressed consciousness, that all earthly
existence is full of sorrow, and that the only deliverance from
sorrow is in renunciation of the world and eternal rest.
An itinerant teacher and his itinerant followers, not unlike
those bands, who in later times bore through Galilee the
tidings: " the kingdom of heaven is at hand/ went through
the realms of India with the burden of sorrow and death, and
the announcement : " open ye your ears; the deliverance from
death is found."
Vast gaps separate the historical circle, in the middle of
which stands the form of Buddha, from the world on which we
1
2 INDIA AND BUDDHISM.
are wont next to fix our thoughts, when we speak of the
history of the world.
Those upheavals of nature which partitioned off India from
the cooler lands of the west and north by a gigantic wall
of vast mountains, allotted at the same time to the people,
who should first tread this highly favoured land, a role of
detached isolation. The Indian nation, in a manner scarcely
paralleled by any other nation in the civilized world, has
developed its life out of itself and according to its own. laws,
far removed alike from the alien and the cognate peoples,
who in the west, within the compass of closer mutual relations,
have performed the parts to which history called them. India
took no share in this work. For those circles of the Indian
race, among whom Buddha preached his doctrine, the idea of
non-Indian lands had hardly a more concrete signification than
the conception of those other worlds, which, scattered through
infinite space, combine with other suns, other moons and other
hells, to form other universes.
The day was yet to come, when an overpowering hand broke
down the partition between India and the west the hand of*
Alexander. But this contact of India and Greece belongs to a
much later period than that which formed Buddhism : between
the death of Buddha and Alexander s Indian expedition there
elapsed perhaps about one hundred and sixty years. Who can
conceive what might have been, if, at an earlier epoch, when
the national life of the Indians might have opened itself more
freshly and genially to the influences of a foreign life, such,
events had overtaken it as this incursion of Macedonian
weapons and Hellenic culture ? For India Alexander came too
late. When he appeared, the Indian people had long since
come, in the depth of their loneliness, to stand alone among
nations, ruled by forms of life and habits of thought, which
INDIA AND THE WEST. 3
differed wholly from the standards of the non-Indian world.
Without a past living in their memory,, without a present,
which they might utilize in love and hate, without a future, for
which men might hope and work, they dreamed morbid and
proud dreams of that which is beyond all time, and of the
peculiar government which is within these everlasting realms.
on scarcely any of the creations of the exuberant culture of
India, do we find the stamp of this Indian characteristic so
vsharply, and therefore, too, so enigmatically impressed, as on
Buddhism.
But the more completely do all external bonds between these
distant regions and the world with which we are acquainted, as
far as they consist of the intercourse of nations and the inter
change of their intellectual wealth, seem to us to be severed, so
much the more clearly do we perceive another tie, which holds
closely together internally what are outwardly far apart and
apparently foreign: the bond of historical analogy between
phenomena, which are called into being in different places by
the working of the same law.
Invariably, wherever a nation has been in a position to
develop e its intellectual life in purity and tranquillity through
a long period of time, there recurs that phenomenon, specially
observable in the domain of spiritual life, which we may venture
to describe as a shifting of the centre of gravity of all supreme
human interests from without to within : an old faith, which
promised to men somehow or other by an offensive and defen
sive alliance with the Godhead, power, prosperity, victory and
subjection of their enemies, will, sometimes by imperceptible
degrees, and sometimes by great catastrophes, be supplanted
by a new phase of thought, whose watchwords are no longer
welfare, victory, dominion, but rest, peace, happiness, deliver
ance. The blood of the sacrificial victim no longer brings
1*
4 INDIA AND BUDDHISM.
reconciliation to the dismayed and erring heart of man : new-
ways are sought and found, to overcome the enemy within the
heart, and to become whole, pure, and happy.
This altered condition of the inner life gives rise externally
to a new form of spiritual fellowship. In the old order of
things nature associated religious unity with the family, the
clan, and the nation jointly, and inside these unity of faith and
worship existed of itself. Whoever belongs to a people has
thereby the right to, and is bound to have a share in, the
worship of the popular gods. Near this people are other
people with other gods ; for each individual it is determined as
a natural necessity by the circumstances of his birth, what
gods shall be to him the true and for him the operative deities.
A particular collective body, which may be denominated a
church, there is not and there cannot be, for the circle of all
worshippers of the popular gods is no narrower and no wider
than the people themselves.
The circumstances under which the later forms of religious
life come to the surface are different. They have not an
antiquity co-eval with the people among whom they arise.
When they come into existence they find a faith already rooted
in the people and giving an imprint to popular institutions.
They must begin to gather adherents to themselves from
among the crowds of professors of another faith. It is no
longer natural necessity, but the will of the individual, which
determines whether he hopes to find his salvation on this side
or on that. There arise the forms of the school, the society, and
the noly order. From the narrow social circle of teacher and
disciples there may eventually grow a church, which, exceeding
the limits of the nation, the limits of all seats of culture, may
extend to distances the most remote.
Were it allowable to borrow from one particular instance
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY RELIGIONS. 5
of those cases which illustrate this, a designation for this
revolution of universal occurrence, which transforms the
religious life of nations internally as well as externally, we
might describe it as the transition from the Old Testament
dispensation to the New Testament dispensation. The honour of
Laving given the most unique and most marked ｅxpression to
this transition in forms unequalled in history, belongs to the
Semitic race. Somewhere about five hundred years earlier
than in Palestine, analogous occurrences took place among the
Indo-G-ermanic nations in two places, widely separated in
locality, but approximate in time, in Greece and in India.
In the former case we find the most eccentric among the
Athenians, the defining explorer of the bases of human action,
who, in the market and over the wine-cup, to Alkibiades as
well as to Plato, demonstrates that virtue can be taught and
learned, in the latter case there steps out as the most
prominent among the world 7 s physicians, who then traversed
India in monastic garb, the noble Gotama, who calls himself
the Exalted, the holy, highly Illuminated one, who has come
into the world to show to gods and men the path out of the
sorrowful prison of being into the freedom of everlasting
rest.
What can be more different than the relative proportions in
which in these two spirits and historical treatment will permit
us to add as a third their great counterpart in his mysterious
majestic form of suffering humanity the elements of thought
and feeling, of depth and clearness, were arranged and mixed ?
But even in the sharply-defined difference of that which
was, and still is, Socratic, Buddhistic, and Christian vitality,
historical necessity holds good. For it was a matter of
historical necessity that, when the step was attained at which
this spiritual reconstruction was required and called for, the
G INDIA AND BUDDHISM.
Greeks were bound to meet this demand with a new philosophy,
the Jews with a new faith. The Indian mind was wanting in
that simplicity, which can believe without knowing, as well as
in that bold clearness, which seeks to know without believing,
and therefore the Indian had to frame a doctrine, a religion
and a philosophy combined, and therefore, perhaps, if it must
be said, neither the one nor the other; Buddhism. Our
sketch is intended to keep in view, at every step in detail, the
parallelism of these phenomena. While it obtains from the
similar historical pictures of the western world a light which
enables it in many a dark place within its own province to
descry outlines and forms, it hopes on its part in return to aid
thereby in suggesting bases founded on facts, sifted and
assured, for the discovery of those universally valid rules,
which govern the changes in the religious thought of nations.
The course which our sketch will have to follow, is clearly
indicated by the nature of the case. Obviously, our first task
is to describe the historical national antecedents, the ground
and base on which Buddhism rests, above all the religious
life and philosophical speculation of pre-Buddhist India ; for
hundreds of years before Buddha s time movements were in
progress in Indian thought, which prepared the way for
Buddhism and which cannot be separated from a sketch of the
latter. Then the review of Buddhism will naturally divide
itself into three heads, corresponding to that Triad, under
which even in the very oldest time the Buddhist society in
their liturgical language, distributed the whole of those matters
which they esteemed sacred, the trinity of Buddha, the Law,
the Order. Buddha s own person stands necessarily in our
sketch also, as it did in that ancient formula, in the foreground.
We must acquaint ourselves with his life and his death, with
his debut as teacher of his people, with his band of disciples,
BUDDHA, THE LAW, THE CHURCH. 7
who gathered round him, and with his intercourse with rich
and poor, high and low. We shall then turn, in the second
place, to the dogmatic thought of the oldest Buddhism, above
all to that which stands evermore as a focus in this world of
thought, to the doctrine of the sorrow of all that is earthly, the
deliverance from this sorrow, the goal of all effort to escape,
the Nirvana. There then remains the characteristic feature of
Buddhism, as well as of Christianity, that which externally
binds together all who are united by a common faith, and
a common effort for deliverance, in bonds of a common church
fellowship. In that formula of the Buddhist trinity we find the
order named after Buddha and the Law as the third member.
We shall follow this course and, when we have spoken of
Buddha and his Law, we shall keep in view, in the third place,
the Order and their corporate life. We shall come to under
stand the organization which Buddhism has given to the
narrower circle of believers, who have taken their vows as
monks and nuns, as well as to the lay community, who accept
the doctrine of Buddha. With this will end the investigation
of the most ancient Buddhism ; or, more accurately expressed,
the sketch of Buddhism in that form, which is to us the
oldest; and to this investigation only will our sketch be
confined.
. *
WESTERN AND EASTERN INDIA THE BRAHMAN-CASTES.
The stage upon which antecedent history as well as the
most ancient history of Buddhism was enacted, is the
Gangetic valley, the most Indian of Indian lands. In the
times of which we have to speak, the Gangetic valley, almost
alone in the whole peninsula, comprised within itself all
centres of Aryan state-government and culture. The great
8 WESTERN AND EASTERN INDIA THE BRAHMAN-CASTES.
natural divisions of this territory, which, coincide with stages
in the distribution of the Indian family-stock, and with stages
in the extension of old-Indian culture, correspond also to
stages in the course of development which this religious
movement has taken.
At the outset we are carried into the north-west half of the
Gangetic valley, to those territories where the Gangetic tracts
and the Indus tracts approach each other, and to those
through which the two twin streams of the Ganges and
Yamuna flow as they converge to their conjunction. Here,
and for a long period here alone, lay the true settlements of
Brahmanical culture; here first, centuries before the time
of Buddha, in the circles of Brahman thinkers, at the place
of sacrifice and in the solitudes of forest life, those thoughts
were thought and uttered, in which the transition from the
old Yedic religion of nature to the doctrine of deliverance
began and ultimately found development.
The culture fostered in the north-west, and with it these
thoughts, following the course of the Ganges, flowed on to
the south-east through those powerful veins in which from of
old beat most strongly the life of India. Among new peoples
they assumed new -forms, and when Buddha himself at last
appeared, the two greatest kingdoms in the south-eastern half
of the Gangetic valley, the lands of Kosala (Oude) and Magadha
(Bihar), became the chief scenes of his teaching and labours.
Thus there lie broad strips of land between the tracts in
which, long before Buddha, Buddhism began its preparatory
course of development, and those in which Buddha himself
gathered round him his first believers; and this change of
scenery and actors has had, it could not have been otherwise,
an appreciable effect in more than one respect on the course
of the play.
THE ARYANS IN INDIA. 9
We next take a glance at the tribes,, which, successively
meet us, some as the originators and others as the promoters
of this religious movement.
The Aryan population of India came into the peninsula, as
is well known, from the north-west. This immigration lay
already in the remote past at the time to which the oldest
monuments which we have of religious poetry belong. The
Indians had as completely lost the memory of this as the
corresponding events had been forgotten by the Greeks and
Italians. Fair Aryans pressed on and broke down the strong
holds of the aboriginal inhabitants, the " black-skinned," the
" lawless," and "godless." The enemy was driven back,
annihilated, or subjugated. When the songs of the Yeda were
sung, Aryan clans, though perhaps only as adventurous,
solitary pioneers, had already pressed on to where the Indus in
the west, and possibly also to where the Ganges in the east,
empty their mighty waters into the sea ; inexhaustibly rich
regions in which the flocks of the Aryans grazed and the
Aryan deities were honoured with prayer and sacrifice.
Probably the first immigrants, and, therefore, the farthest
forward to the east, whether confederate or disassociated we
know not, are those tribes which meet us later on east of the
junction of the Ganges and Yamuna, settled on both banks of
the Ganges, the Anga and Magadha, the Videha, the Kaci and
Kosala.
A second wave of the great tide of immigration brought with
it new groups of Aryans, a number of tribes closely intercon
nected, who, . surpassing their brothers intellectually, have
produced the most ancient great monuments of the Indian
mind which we possess, and which we call by the name of the
Vedas. We find these tribes at the time of which the hymns of
the Eig Veda give us a picture, near the entrances of the Indian
10 WESTERN AND EASTERN INDIA THE BRAHMAN-CASTES.
peninsula,, at the Indus and in the Panjab ; later on they are
driven to the south-east and have founded on the upper stream
of the Ganges and on the Yamuna those kingdoms, which are
called in "Manu s Institutes" the land of the " Brahmarshis," the
home and the type of holy, upright living : " By a Brahman
who has been born in this land/ says the Law (of Manu),
" shall all men on earth be instructed as to their conduct."
The names of the Bharata tribe, Kuru, Pancala, stand; out
among the peoples of this classic land of Yedic culture, which
lies before our gaze in clear illumination as a land rich in
advanced intellectual creation, while the destinies of the other
tribes, who had immigrated at an earlier date, remained in
darkness until the period when they came into contact with the
culture of their brother tribes.*
In a Yedic work, the " Brahmana of the hundred paths," we
have a remarkable legend, in which is clearly depicted the
course which the extension of the cult and culture of the Yeda
took. The naming god Agni Yai9vanara, the sacrificial fire,
wanders eastward from the river Sarasvati, beyond the old
sacred home-land of the Yedic Sacra. Eivers cross his path,
but Agni burns on across all streams, and after him follow the
prince Mathava and the Brahman Gotama. Thus they came to
the river Sadanira, which flows down from the snowy moun
tains in the north : Agni does not cross it. " Brahmans crossed
it not in former ages for Agni Yaisvanara had not burned
beyond it. But now many Brahmans dwelt beyond it to the
east. This was formerly very bad land, inundated soil, for
Agni Yaic.vanara had not made it habitable. But now it is
very good land, for Brahmans have since made it enjoyable
* Further proofs in support of the view here taken of the separation of
the western Yedic and the eastern non- Yedic tribes, are advanced at the
close of this work in Excursus I.
ARYAN AND VEDIC CULTURE. 11
through, offerings ; " in India bad land is not converted into
good, as in the rest of the world, by peasants who plough and
dig, but by sacrificing Brahmans. Prince Mathava takes up
his abode to the east of the Sadanira, in the bad land, which
Agni had not essayed to enter. His descendants are the rulers
of Yideha. The opposition is clear in which these legends
place the eastern tribes to the western, among whom Agni
Yaigvanara, the ideal champion of Yedic life, is from of old at
home. Whoever pursues an inquiry into the beginning of the
extension of Buddhism, must remember that the home of the
oldest Buddhist communities lies in the tracts or near the
limits of those tracts, into which Agni Yai9vanara did not cross
in his flaming course when he travelled to the east.
We are unable to fix any graduated series of dates, either
by years or by centuries, indicating the progress of this
victorious campaign, in which Aryans and Yedic culture over
ran the Gangetic valley. But, what is more important, we are
able from the layers of Yedic literature which overlie each
other, to gather some idea of how, under the influences of a
new home, of Indian nature and Indian climate, a change came
over the life of the people first and foremost of the Yedic
peoples, the tribes of the north-west and how the popular
mind received that morbid impression of sorrow and disease,
which has survived all changes of fortune, and which will last
as long as there is an Indian people.
In the sultry, moist, tropical lands of the Ganges, highly
endowed by nature with rich gifts, the people who were in the
prime of youthful vigour when they penetrated hither from the
north, soon ceased to be young and strong. Men and peoples
come rapidly to maturity in that land, like the plants of the
tropical world, only just as rapidly to fall asleep both bodily
and spiritually. The sea with its invigorating breeze, and the
12 WESTERN AND EASTERN INDIA THE BRAHMAN- CASTES.
school of noble national energy, play no part in the life of the
Indians. The Indian has above all, at an early stage, turned
aside from that which chiefly preserves a people young and
healthy, from the battle and struggle for home, country, and
law. The thought of freedom with all the quickening, and, it
is trne, also with all the deadly powers which it brings in its
train, has always been unknown and incomprehensible in
India. The free will of man may not chafe against the system
of Brahma, the natural law of caste, which has given the
people into the power of the king and the king into the power
of the priest. Well might it awaken the astonishment of the
Greek to see in India the peasant calmly go forth between
opposing armies to till his fields:* "He is sacred and inviolable
for he is the common benefactor of friend and foe." But in
what the Greeks mention as a beautiful and sensible feature in
Indian national life, there lies something more than mere soft
mildness. When Hannibal came, the Roman peasant ceased
to sow his fields. The Indians are wholly strangers to the
highest interests and ideals which are at the basis of all
healthy national life. Will and action are overgrown by
thought. But when once the internal balance is disarranged
and the natural relationship between the spirit and the reality
of the world is disturbed, thought has no longer the power to
take a wholesome grasp of what is wholesome. Whatever is,
appears to the Indian worthless compared to the marginal
illuminations with which his fancy surrounds it, and the images
of his fancy grow in tropical luxuriance, shapeless and dis
torted, and turn eventually with terrific power against their
creator. To him the true world, hidden by the images of his
own dreams, remains an unknown, which he is unable to trust
* This fact mentioned by Megasthenes is also confirmed by modern
writers, cf. Irving, " Theory and Practice of Caste," p. 75.
THE INDIAN PEOPLE. 15
and over which he has no control : life and happiness in this
world break down under the burden of excessively crushing
contemplation of the hereafter.
The visible manifestation of the world to come in the midst
of the present world is the caste of the Brahmans, who have
knowledge and power, who can open and shut to man the
approach to the gods, and make friends or enemies for him
above. Those powers, which were excluded from development
in political life, could find in the case of the Brahmans alone a
sphere for creation, but verily for what a creation ! Instead of
a Lykurgus or a Themistokles, whom fate peremptorily denied
to the Indians, they have had all the more Arunis and
Yajnavalkyas, who knew how to found with masterly hand
the mysteries of fire-offering and soma- offering, and to give
currency in not less masterly fashion to those claims which are
advanced against the secular classes by the champions of the
kingdom which is not of this world.
No one can understand the course which Indian thought has
taken, without keeping in view the picture, with its lights and
shadows, of this order of philosophers, as the Greeks named the
Brahmanical caste. And above all it must be remembered
that, at that time at least, which has shaped the determinative
fundamental thoughts for the intellectual efforts of a subsequent
age and for Buddhism also, this priestly class was something
more than a vain and greedy priestcraft, that it was the necessary
form in which the innermost essence, the evil genius, if we may
so call it, of the Indian people has embodied itself.
The days of the Brahman passed in solemn routine. At
every step those narrow, restraining limits held him in, which
the holy dignity that he represented imposed on the inner and
outer man. He passed his youth in hearing and learning the
sacred word, for a true Brahman is he alone c who has heard. "
And if he acquired the reputation "of having heard/ his
14: EASTERN AND WESTERN INDIA TEE BRAHMAN-CASTES.
adult life passed in teaching, in the village or out in the
solitude of the forest in the consecrated circle, on which the
sun shone in the east, where alone the most secret instruction,
could be imparted openly to the muffled scholar. Or he was
be found at the place of sacrifice, performing for himself
and for others the sacred office, which, with its countless
observances, demanded the most painful minuteness and the
most laborious proficiency, or he fulfilled the life-long duty of
Brahma-offering, that is, the daily prayer from the sacred
Yeda. Well might riches flow into his hands by the re
muneration for sacrifice, which kings and nobles gave to the
Brahmans, but he passed as most worthy, who lived, not by
offerings for others, but by the gleanings of the field, which he
gathered, or by alms for which he had not asked, or such
charity as he had begged as a favour. Still, living even as
a beggar, he looked on himself as exalted above earthly
potentates and subjects, made of other stuff than they. The
Brahmans call themselves gods, and, in treaty with the gods
of heaven, these gods of earth know themselves possessed of
weapons of the gods, weapons of spiritual power, before which
all earthly weapons snap powerless. " The Brahmans," says a
Vedic song, ( carry sharp arrows : they have darts ; the aim,
which they take, fails not. They attack their enemy in their
holy ardour and their fury, they pierce him through from afar."
The king, whom they anoint to rule over their people, is not
their king ; the priest, at the coronation, when he presents the
ruler to his subjects, says : " This is your king, people ; the
king over us Brahmans is Soma." They, the Brahmans,
standing without the pale of the State, bind themselves
together in a great confederacy, which extends as far as the
ordinances of the Veda are current. The members of this
confederacy are the only teachers of the rising youth. The
young Indian of Aryan birth is as good as out-caste, if he be
THE BRAHMAN- CASTES. 15
not brought at a proper age to a Braliman teacher, to receive
from Mm the sacred cord, the mark of the spiritual twice-born,
and to be inducted into the wisdom of the Vedas. " Into my
control," then says the teacher, "I take thy heart, let thy
thought follow my thought, with all thy soul rejoice in my
word." And through the long years, which the pupil passes
in the master s house, he is coerced by his fear and obedience
to him. The house of the Brahman is, like the army in the
modern State, the great school, which demands of every one a
share of the best part of his life, to discharge him eventually
with the indelibly implanted consciousness of subordination to
the idea embodied, in the one case in the State, in the other
case in the Brahman-class.
In the strength and the weakness of the forms of life of this
class of thinkers lies also, as it were in a germ, the strength
and weakness of their thought. They were, so to speak,
banished into a self-made world, cut off from the refreshing
atmosphere of real life, by nothing shaken in their unbounded
belief in themselves and in their unique omnipotence, in
comparison with which all that gave character to the life of
others, must have appeared small and contemptible. And
thus, therefore, in their thought also the utmost boldness of
world-disclaiming abstraction shows itself, which soars beyond
all that is visible into the regions of the spaceless and timeless,
to caper in sickly company in baseless chimeras, without limit
or aim, in fancies such as can be conceived only by a spirit
which has lost all taste for the sober realities of fact. They
have created a mode of thought in which the great and
profound has joined partnership with childish absurdities so
uniquely that the history of the attempts of humanity to
comprehend self and the universe affords no parallel. To
study this thought in its development is our next task.
CHAPTER II.
INDIAN PANTHEISM AND PESSIMISM BEFORE
BUDDHA.
SYMBOLISM OF THE OFFERING THE ABSOLUTE.
THE rudiments of Indian speculation extend back to the
lyric poetry of the Rig Yeda. Here, in the oldest monument of
Vedic poetry, among songs at sacrifice and prayers to Agni
and Indra for protection, prosperity, and victory, we discover
the first bold efforts of a reflecting mind, which turns its back
on the spheres of motley worlds of gods and myths, and, in
conscious reliance on its own power, approaches the enigmas
of being and origination :
" Nor Auglit nor Naught existed, yon bright sky
Was not, nor heaven s broad roof outstretched above.
"What covered all ? What sheltered ? What concealed ?
Was it the water s fathomless abyss ?
" There was not death yet was there naught immortal,
There was no confine betwixt day and night ;
The only one breathed breathless by itself,
Other than It there nothing since has been.
" Darkness there was, and all at first was veiled
In gloom profound an ocean without light
The germ that still lay covered in the husk
Burst forth, one nature, from the fervent heat.
RUDIMENTS OF INDIAN SPECULATION. 17
" Who knows tlie secret ? who proclaimed it here,
Whence, whence this manifold creation sprang ?
The gods themselves came later into being
Who knows from whence this great creation sprang ?
" He from whom all this great creation came,
Whether His will created or was mute,
The Most High Seer that is in highest heaven,
He knows it or perchance even He knows not."*
And in another song 1 a poet speaks, who, estranged from the
faith in the old deities, seeks after the one God, " who alone
is Lord over all that moves : "
" He who gives breath, He who gives strength ;
Whose command all the bright gods revere,
Whose shadow is immortality, whose shadow is death ;
Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
" He through whose greatness these snowy mountains are,
And the sea, they say, with the distant river (the Rasa)
He of whom these regions are the two arms ;
Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
" He through whom the sky is bright and the earth firm
He through whom the heaven was stablished, nay the highest
heaven
He who measured out the space in the sky ?
Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
" He who by His might looked even over the waters
Which held power and generated the sacrificial fire,
He who alone is God above all gods ;
Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?f"
Each strophe of the lyric ends in these words : who is
the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? " The gap is
clearly perceptible which lies between inquiring hymns like
this and the positive faith of an earlier age, which knew, but
* Rig Veda, x. 129. Translated by Max Miiller.
t Ibid., x. 121. Translated by Max Miiller.
2
18 SYMBOLISM OF SACRIFICE THE ABSOLUTE.
inquired not regarding the gods to whom they should make
sacrifice.
We can only touch with brief comment this first flash of:
conscious thought o the Indians regarding the fundamental
questions of the universe and life. The development of
speculation or, rather, its self-development out of a world of
phantasms first assumes a connected progressive form, at a
time which is later probably much later than that to which
these hymns, quoted from the Rig Veda, belong. It was that
period of widely ramified and exuberant literary production
which has given birth to the endless mass of sacrificial works
and mystic collections of dogmas and discourses, written in
prose, which are usually named Brahmana, Aranyaka, and
Upanishad. The age of these works, upon which alone we
can rely for this portion of our sketch, we can determine only
approximately and within uncertain limits. We shall scarcely
be much in error, if we place their origin somewhere between
the ninth and seventh centuries before the Christian era. The
development of thought, which was progressing in this period,
while resting apparently on the basis of the old faith, in gods,
had really undermined that faith, and, forcing its way through
endless voids of fantastic chimeras, had at last created a new
ground of religious thought, the belief in the undisturbed,
unchangeable universal-Unity, which reposes behind the world
of sorrow and impermanence, and to which the delivered,
leaving this world, returns. on this very foundation, moreover,
centuries after the Brahmanical thinkers had laid it, were the
doctrine and the church built, which were named after the
name of Buddha.
We now proceed to trace step by step the process of that
self-destruction of the Vedic religious thought, which has
produced Buddhism as its positive outcome.
RUDIMENTS OF INDIAN SPECULATION. 19
At the time when this process begins, all spiritual exercises
which are performed in India are concentrated round one focus,
the sacrifice. The world, which surrounds the Brahmans, is
the place of sacrifice ; the matters, of which, above all others,
he has knowledge, are those relating to sacrificial duties. He
must understand the sacrifice with all its secrets, for under
standing is all-subduing power. By this power the gods have
chained the demons " mighty," so runs the promise for those
who have knowledge, fc doth he himself become, and powerless
becomes his enemy and controverter, who possesses such
knowledge."
The elements, of which this knowledge of the meaning of
the sacred sacrificial rites consists, are twofold; some spring
from the spiritual bequests of the past, and others are a newly-
acquired possession.
on the one side, the legacy inherited from the time of the
simple belief in Agni and Indra and Yaruna, and all the hosts
of gods, before whom fathers and ancestors had bowed them
selves in prayer and sacrifice. Every halid laid on the offering
points to these. When the offerer seizes the sacred implement,
he says, " I grasp thee at the call of god Savitar, with the
arms of the Acvins, with Pushan s hands." If the sacrificial
object is to be consecrated with sprinkling of water, he says to
the waters, Indra hath chosen you as his associates at the
conquest of Yritra; ye have chosen Indra as your associate
at the conquest of Yritra." And from early morn until evening
there resound at the place of sacrifice praises and songs to
Ushas, the redness of dawn, the divine maiden, who, with her
glistening steeds, approaches the dwellings of man, dispensing
blessings; to Indra, who, fired by the soma-draught, breaks
in wild battle the legions of demons with his thunderbolt;
to Agni, the benign god, the heavenly guest, who beams in
2*
20 SYMBOLISM OF SACRIFICE TEE ABSOLUTE.
the habitations of men, and bears their sacrificial gifts to
heaven.
But the world of the old gods, the living gods of flesh and
blood, can no longer of itself alone satisfy the mind of the
later age. Ever stronger becomes the tendency to name by
their proper names the powers which govern the wide world
and the life of man. There is space ; the Indians named it
" the regions of the world." There is time, with its creating
and destroying power ; the Indians named it " the year."
There are the seasons, the moon, day and night, earth and air,
the sun " he who burns," and the wind " he who blows."
There are the breath-powers, which pass through the human
body. There are thought and speech, "which are one with
each other and yet separate." The movements and operations
of these powers govern the course of the universe, and bring
men weal and woe.
And now men look for an answer, in the new language of
their own age, to the question which the sacrifice and the
world of gods, to whom sacrifice is made, suggest to the
thought. Then the atmosphere assumes a state in which
mysteries and symbols increase. In all the surroundings of
the Brahman at the altar of sacrifice, and above all in the
sacred office which he there performs, the god Agni and the
god Savitar will no longer be present alone, but there shall be
there all the hidden powers which move to and fro in the
universe, "for the universe," it is said, "is swayed by the
movement of sacrifice." What meets the eye in the offering
is not merely what it is or appears to be, but there is something
further that which it signifies. Speech and action have a
double signification, the apparent and the hidden; and, if
human knowledge follows the apparent, yet the gods love the
hidden and abhor the apparent.
ELEMENTS OF THE SYMBOLISM OF SACRIFICE. 21
Numbers have mysterious power, words and syllables have
mysterious power, rhythms have mysterious power. There is
an imaginary play between imaginary forces which is subject
to no law of perceptibility. Consecration (diksha) escapes from
the gods ; they search for it through the months ; they find
it neither with summer nor with winter, but they find it with
the months of the cool season (c^ira) ; therefore man must
consecrate himself when the months of the cool season have
come round. The metra fly up to heaven to bring the soma-
draught ; the voice speaks standing in the seasons.
The system of offering is a type of the year, or, briefly, the
.sacrifice is the year ; the officiating priests are the seasons of
the year ; the objects offered up are the months. We should
import something foreign into these plays of thought if we
attempted to trace in them any sharply-defined line of demar
cation between the being and the signifying, between the
reality and its representative; the one overlaps the other.
"Prajapati (the Creator) created as his image that which is
the offering. Therefore people say the offering is Prajapati.
For he created it as his image. "
Morning after morning, and evening after evening, two
offerings are placed in the sacred fire ; the one is the past, the
other the future; the one is to-day, the other the morrow.
To-day is certain ; therefore, the first of both offerings will be
made with an utterance of sacrificial formula, for speech is
certainty. The morrow is uncertain; therefore, the second
offering will be made in silence, for silence, as the Indian says,
is the uncertain.
In the confused cloud-world of these mysteries, there lurk,
concealed from the eye of the ignorant, countless enemies of
the destinies of the children of men ; days and nights roll on,
and bear away with them the blessings which the good deeds.
22 SYMBOLISM OF SACRIFICE THE ABSOLUTE.
of men had won for them ; above the realm of changing days
and nights the sun, "who shines/ is enthroned; and "he who
burns is death. Since he is death, therefore the creatures
who dwell below him die ; those who live beyond him are the
gods ; therefore are the gods immortal. His rays are the
traces, wherewith all these creatures are yoked to life. Whose
soever life he wishes, he draws to himself and he departs he
dies." But the wise man knows formulas and offerings, which
exalt him above the region of rolling days and nights, and
above the world, in which the sun, with his heat, has power
over life and death. Day and night rob not him of the reward
of his works ; he sets his life free from death " that is the
deliverance from death, which is in the Agnihotra offering.""
The world thus darkens down for the fancy of this race to a
dismal arena for the movement of unlimited lifeless shapes.
Symbols are heaped unceasingly on symbols ; wherever thought
turns, new gods and new miraculous powers confront it, each
as formless as the rest. That God, it is true, who was before
all gods and all existences, the creator of worlds, Prajapati,
who was alone in the beginning and desired " might I become
a plurality, might I produce creatures," stands out above all >
and in the hot work of toilsome creation he gave forth from
himself the worlds, and gods and men, and space and time, and
thought and speech. But even the thought of Prajapati, the
lord of beings, evoked no louder response from the breast of
the believer; the image of the Creator floats hazily among
others in the great, gray, shapeless mist, which surrounds the
world of creatures.
Wherever we look in the vast mass of monuments, which the
strange activity of that age has bequeathed to us, there is-
nowhere to be seen an operation of the inquiring mind, pro
ceeding from the depths, nowhere that effort of bold thought,
EMPTINESS OF THE SYMBOLISM. 23
which plays for a heavy stake and wins. That imbecile wisdom
which knows all things and declares all things, sits enthroned
in self-content in the middle of its absurd images, and not even
quakes before the spectral hosts which it has conjured up ;
wherefore should the wise tremble, who knows the word before
which spirits and demons bow ? one generation after another
grows up under the ban of confused thoughts, and one after
another unwearied adds its quota to the contributions of
departed races, and then it also passes away.
Our eyes must accustom themselves, until they have learned
to see in the dim light of this shadow-land, in which the fanciful
images of those ages move, crowding formlessly together.
But then even here there reveals itself a kind of natural law
operating in the region of the spiritual. Let us first on our
part trace what is preserved to us in the oldest monuments of
those speculations, and then the work of later generations
successively, and thus as we mount up layer by layer, the
picture which we see changes, and the changes have
connection and meaning.
The more important of these conceptions of the fancy grad
ually emerge from the confused mass, press into the foreground,
trample down the weak, and step triumphantly into the centre
of every circle. The powers and symbols, on whose working
the Indian thinker fancies the system of the universe to rest,
are what they are, not in and by themselves alone, but the
farther thought goes, the more clearly do they appear to rest
on great fundamental forces, from which their existence is
principally derived, or in which they are again merged, when
the goal of their being is reached. From the surface, where
each phenomenon presents itself as something different from
every other, the speculative imagination strives to pierce into
the depths below, in which lies the unifying bond of all diver-
24 SYMBOLISM OF SACRIFICE -THE ABSOLUTE.
sity. Man looks for the essence in things, and the essence of
the essence,* for the reality, the truth of phenomena, and the
truth of the true. This quest of the substance is necessarily a
search for unity in all diversity. And thus thought lays hold
separately upon one single group of phenomena, connected by
a common feature, and regards them as united in a common
root, and ere long thought passes all bounds and boldly declares,
so and so is the universe. And then it lets go what it laid hold
of ; that one phenomenon which had just now been declared to be
the universe is lost again in the floating crowd of all the powers,
which hold sway in man and the world, in space and time, in
word and speech.
In none of the Yedic texts can we trace the genesis of the
* Cf. " Chandogya Upanisliad," i. 1, 2 : " The essence of all beings is
tlie earth, the essence of the earth is water, the essence of water the plants,
the essence of plants man, the essence of man speech, the essence of
speech the Eig Veda, the essence of the Eig Yeda the Sama Veda, the
essence of the Sama Veda the TJdgitha (which is Om). That Udgitha
(Om) is the best of all essences, the highest, deserving the highest place,
the eighth."
The conception which lies at the bottom of this eight-fold series of
essence, essence of the essence, and so on, is (in the words of Max
Miiller) something like this : " Earth is the support of all beings, water
pervades the earth, plants arise from water, man lives by plants, speech
is the best part of man, the Eig Veda the best part of speech, the Sama
Veda the best extract from the Rile, Udgitha, or the syllable Om, the
crown of the Sama Veda."
Later on, where the idea of the Brahma will claim our attention, we
shall have to speak of the symbolical relation or of the hidden intrinsic
identity, which the Indian fancy detects between nature and the world of
language, especially the sacred word. This passage has an important
bearing on this, inasmuch as it shows how, in the mind of the Indian, the
objects of nature point back through a series of middle terms, to the
word of the Veda, and finally to the Om, the most suitable ｅxpression of
the Brahma, as it were to the life-giving power in them.
EMERGING OF CENTEAL POINTS. 25
conception of the unity in all that is, from the first dim indi
cations of this thought until it attains a steady brilliancy, as
clearly as in that work, which, next to the hymns of the Rig
Veda, deserves to be regarded as the most significant in the
whole range of Yedic literature, the " Brahmana of the hundred
paths."
The " Brahmana of the hundred paths " shows us first and
foremost how from these confused masses of ideas the notion
of the (c ego " presses to the front of all others, and will
domineer over them, in the language of the Indians : the
Atman, the subject, in which the forces and functions of human
life find root and footing. The breath-powers penetrate the
human body and give it life ; the Atman is lord over all breath-
powers ; he is the central power, which works and- creates in
the basis of personal life, the innominate breath-power," from
which the other ec nominate " breath-powers derive their being.
ff A decade of breaths truly," so says the Brahmana, dwells in
man; the Atman is the eleventh, on him are dependent the breath-
powers." "From the Atman come all these members (of the
human body) into being," " of all that is, the Atrnan is the first."
A central point is here found for the domain of human
personality, with its limbs and its faculties, that power which
is the intrinsic and essential, working in all forms of life. And
what the Indian thinker has conceived in the particular " ego"
extends in his idea, by inevitable necessity, to the universe at
large beyond him ; according to him microcosm and macrocosm
continuously play corresponding parts, and here and yonder
similar appearances point significantly to each other. As the
liuman eye resembles the cosmic eye, the sun, and as the gods,
resembling in the general system the human breath-powers, act
as the breath-powers of the universe, so also the Atman, the
central substance of the " ego," steps forth on the domain of
2G SYMBOLISM OF SACRIFICE THE ABSOLUTE.
the bare human individual, and is taken as the creating power
that moves the great body of the universe. He, the lord of
the breath-powers, the firstling, from whom the limbs of the
body were formed, is at the same time the lord of the gods, the
creator of creatures, who has caused the worlds to proceed
from his " ego " the Atman is Prajapati. Yea, the very
ｅxpression occurs, " the Atman is the universe." At this stage
this phrase is only one play of the fancy among a thousand
others, not the thought grasped in its fulness, that the bound
less universe and the restricted " ego," which contemplates it,
are in truth one. A crowd of other figures pushes to the
front and diverts the attention from the Atman, who is the
universe; but the ｅxpression once uttered, though it die
away, works on in secret and awaits the time when he who
once uttered it, will turn his thoughts back to it.
Meanwhile from another train of conceptions another power
not less potent pushes itself forward, with a claim to be
recognized as the great cosmic energy. The sacred word, the-
established guide in sacrifice, is preserved in its three forms
of hynm, formula, and song,* making up the "threefold
knowledge " of those who knew the Vedas. The spiritual fluid,,
which bears the sacred word and its supporters, the Brahmans,
floating above the profane word and the profane world, is the
Brahma :f it is the power which dwells in hymn, formula, and
song, as the power of holiness ; " the truth of the word is the-
Brahma/
* That is Eic (hymn of the Eig Veda), Yajus (sacrificial formula of the
Yajur Veda), Saman (songs contained in the Sama Veda). Translator.
f It will not be superfluous to bear in mind that the times, of which we
are speaking, know nothing of the god Brahman. While " brahman,"
"brahmana" occur frequently enough in the oldest texts in the
signification of " Priest," the god Brahman appears first only in the very
latest parts of the Veda.
THE EGO, THE ATMAN. 27
The world of the word is to the Indian another microcosm.
In the rhythm of the sacred song he hears the echoes of the
rhythm of the universe resound.* Thus must that substance
from which the sacred word derives its being, also be a power
which operates at the basis, of all things. The fanciful
subtleties^ regarding the enigma of the Brahma reposing in the
* Of the countless passages which could be quoted in illustration of
this, let us merely refer to one, to the working out by the theologians of
the Sama Veda of the idea of the symbolic relation of the Saman-
(song-) diction with its five parts (" Chandogya Upanishad," ii. 2, etc.).
"Let a man meditate on the fivefold Saman as the five worlds. The
hinkara is the earth, the prastava the fire, the udgitha the sky, the pratihara
the sun, the nidhana heaven. Let a man meditate on the fivefold Saman,
as rain. The hinkara is wind (that brings the rain) ; the prastava is the
cloud is come ; the udgitha is it rains ; the pratihara, it flashes, it
thunders ; the nidhana it stops. There is rain for him and he brings
rain for others, who, thus knowing, meditates on the fivefold Saman as
rain."
And then it goes on through a series of other comparisons ; the Saman
with its five parts represents the waters, the seasons, the animals, and
more of the like. Often these symbolizings rest upon nothing more than
the most meaningless superficialities, as when the matter treated of is the
three syllables of the word udgitha (sacred song), "ut (ud) is breath, for
by means of breath a man rises (ut-tishthati) ; gi is speech, for speeches
are called girah; tha is food, for by means of food all subsist (sthita)."
[" Chand. Up.," i. 3, 6. To this passage Max Miiller furnishes from
Irish sources interesting parallels in the fanciful conceits of the Christians
of the Middle Ages.] However senseless such fancies may appear to us,
they cannot be overlooked as precursors of the most important event in
the religious development of India. In the symbolical interpretation or
mystical identification, which the individual word or the individual sacred
song furnishes, of the individual phenomenon in the life of nature or of
the ego, the ultimate tendency of this development is being shaped : the
identification of the central power in the whole range of the ^sacred
word (Brahma), with the central power of the human person (Atman),
and with the life-centre of nature : the genesis of the idea of the universal
one.
28 SYMBOLISM OF SACRIFICE THE ABSOLUTE.
Yedic text, and the priestly pride of the human supporters of
the Brahma, combine to elevate this entity to a dominant
position in the Indian s world of thought. He makes," it is
said of the priest who completes a specific sacrificial operation,
" the Brahma the head of this universe j therefore the Brahman
is the head of this universe." There was an ancient Vedic ode
which began : ee on truth is the earth founded, on the sun is the
heaven founded. By the right do the Adityas (the supreme
gods, the sons of the Aditi, the infinite) consist." Now it is said
" the Brahma is the word, the truth in the word is the Brahma."
" The Brahma is the right." " By the Brahma are the heavens
and the earth held together."
Here is an example furnished more illustrative than anything
else of the peculiarities of Indian thought. This gradual,
persistent pressure of an idea, which arises not from the
contemplation of visible nature, but from the speculation about
the sacredness of the holy Vedic text the pressure of this idea
and of this word until all the loftiest and deepest conceptions
which the mind can grasp are associated with this word.
This stage is not attained at one bound. When it is said,
fe The Brahma is the noblest among the gods," it is also said
in another place in proximity to this, " Indra and Agni are the
noblest among the gods." Well, the power of sacred truth,
which the Indian calls the Brahma^ has stepped into a position
among the most prominent forces of the universe ; it is
recognized as the power which holds the heavens and the earth
together, but it is not yet the first and last the one and all.
The young upstart among the ideas is not yet sufficiently
powerful to push the ancient creator and ruler of the worlds,
Prajapati, from his throne ; but he is become the nearest to
this throne. The spirit, Prajapati," thus says the Br&hmana
of the hundred paths, " wished : May I become a plurality
THE BRAHMA. 29
may I propagate myself/ He exerted himself lie took on
himself severe pangs. When he exerted himself, when he had
endured severe pangs, he created the Brahma first, the three
fold knowledge. That became a support for him; therefore
people say, "The Brahma is the support of this universe."
Therefore, he who has learned (the sacred word) has gained
a support, for what is the Brahma is the support. " The
Brahma/ it is also said, ""is the first-born in this universe."
It is not yet the everlasting unborn, from which everything
that is has been born, but it is the first-born among the
children of Prajapati, the father of worlds.
There is something of the calm uncontrollable necessity of
a natural process in this emerging or growth of both these
notions, the Atman and the Brahma, each of which first gains
the dominant position in its own circle, and is then carried
forward by the progress of thought into the expanse of worlds ;
and there also plays an ever-widening part. Though the
images which were originally associated with each, in the mind
of the Indian, were so different, yet it could not but be that,
in the course of such a development, the thought of the Atman
should assimilate itself continually more and more to that of
the Brahma, and that of the Brahma to that of the Atman.
The first-born in this universe is the Brahma," as has been
said. And of the Atman it is said in another place, " Of all
that exists, the first existent is the Atmaii." The Brahma is
the face of the universe, and the firstling of this universe " is
the Atman. The Brahma displays himself in hymn, formula,
and song; "the nature of the Atman consists," it is further
said, of hymn, formula, and song." The definite, obviously
presented, and limited meaning, which simple consciousness
had at one time attached to the idea of the Atman, and to the
idea of the Brahma, extends itself to unlimited ranges, and
30 SYMBOLISM OF SACRIFICE THE ABSOLUTE.
then the difference between the two ideas gradually vanishes.
The imagination of the Indian, eager to grasp the unity
underlying thiugs, is wanting in the power to preserve the
images of the different notions within their several limitations,
and in their separation from each other.
And the remaining barriers are passed at last. What here
tofore emerged momentarily, and was again lost in the current
of an erratic imagination, is grasped anew by the mind, to be
lost no more again : the conception of the great everlasting
and eternal one, in which all diversity vanishes, from which are
spirit and universe, and in which they live and move. It is
called the Atrnan, it is called the Brahma ; Atman and Brahma
converge in the one, in which the yearning spirit, wearied of
wandering in a world of gloomy, formless phantasms, finds its
rest. " That which was," it is written, that which will be,
I praise, the great Brahma, the one, the Imperishable, the wide
Brahma, the one Imperishable." "To the Atman let man
bring his adoration, the spiritual, whose body is the breath,
whose form the light, whose soul the aether, who assumes what
forms he will, quick as a thought, full of right purpose, full of
right performance, the source of every vapour, of every essence,
who extends to all the regions of the world, who pervades this
universe, silent and unmoved. Small as a grain of rice, or
barley, or hirse, or a millet-seed, this spirit dwells in the ego ;
golden, like a light without smoke, is he; wider than the
heavens, wider than the asther, wider than this earth, wider
than all the range of being ; he is the ego of the breath, he is
my ego (Atman) ; with this Atman shall I, when I separate
from this state, unite myself. Whosoever thinketh thus truly,
there is no doubt. Thus said (^andilya."
A new centre of all thought is found, a new god, greater
than all old gods, for he is the All; nearer to the quest of
ATM AN AND BRAHMA IDENTICAL. 31
man s heart, for lie is the particular ego. The name of the
thinker who was the first to propound this new philosophy, we
know not ;* the circle of people in which it found response
must have been at that time very narrow. But they were the
most enlightened of the Indian people, and we see how for
them all other thoughts fade, and all other quests are merged
in the one quest, the quest of the Atrnan, the foundation of
things. The parting words of the wise man, who leaves his
home and speaks for the last time with his wife, have reference
to the Atman. The debates of the Brahmans, who come
together at the gorgeous sacrificial solemnities at the courts of
kings, deal with the Atman. Many a lively description has
come down to us, showing how Brahmans eager for the fray,
and Brahman females not less eager for the contest, have
crossed lances in argument regarding the Atman. The wise
Gargi says to Yajnavalkya, " As an heroic youth from Kaci or
"Videha bends his unbent bow, and takes two deadly arrows in
his hand, I have armed myself against thee with two questions,
which solve for me." And another of those opponents, whom
the legend of the "Brahmana of the hundred paths " represents
as confronting Yajnavalkya in this great tournament of debate,
and as being conquered by him, says to him, When anyone
says that is an ox, that is a horse/ it is thereby pointed out.
* The names of the teachers in whose mouths our texts put the
discourses regarding the Atman cannot be regarded otherwise than with
distrust. In the " Qatapatha Br." Yajnavalkya appears as the one who has
most successfully advocated the new doctrines at the court of the Videha
king. But while the first books of the said text, which must have been
compiled at a not inconsiderable length of time before the development
of these speculations, frequently quote Yajnavalkya as an authority, the
role which he plays in the later books must be a fabrication. The
traditions, which give Candilya a similar place in the history of Indian
thought, are hardly deserving of greater credence.
32 THE ABSOLUTE AND THE EXTERNAL WORLD.
Point out to me the revealed, unveiled Brahma,, the Atman,
which dwells in everything : the Atman, which dwells in
everything, what is that,, Yajnavalkya ? " Thus the com
batants commence, and the princes listen to the debate, to see
which has the deeper knowledge of the Brahma ; and he who
conquers in the fight gains the Brahmani cows, with horns
hung with gold. And side by side with these highly-coloured
court scenes, where renowned masters from all lands, who have
knowledge of the Atman, contend with each other for fame,
patronage, and reward, the same text gives us another very
different picture : " Knowing him, the Atman, Brahmans
relinquish the desire for posterity, the desire for possessions,
the desire for worldly prosperity, and go forth as mendicants."
This is the earliest trace of Indian monasticism; from those
Brahmans who, knowing the Atman, renounce all that is
earthly, and become beggars, the historical development
progresses in a regular line up to Buddha, who leaves kith and
kin, and goods and chattels, to seek deliverance, wandering
homeless in the yellow garb of a monk. The appearance of
the doctrine of the eternal one and the origin of monastic life
in India, are simultaneous; they are two issues of the same
important occurrence.
THE ABSOLUTE AND THE EXTERNAL WORLD.
We must more closely examine the various meanings attached
by the Indian mind to the idea of the Atman, the Brahma, alone
and in its connection with the material world, for it is in and
by these thoughts that those tendencies, which have given to
the Buddhist world its characteristic stamp, were, at first
imperceptibly but subsequently more decidedly, developed.
TEE PEOFESSOE8 OF THE ATMAN FAITH. 33
The doctrines of the Brahmans regarding the Atman do not
form a system : their mind has, it is true, the courage and
strength for a great venture -, but how could it, in the excite
ment of this creation, preserve at the same time the cool
equanimity, necessary for arranging and harmonizing its
creation ? While the mind is ever seeking new paths, ever
making new comparisons, which shall explain the enigma of
the Atman ; while, no matter whether man s inquiry be as to
the remote past of the world s beginning, or as to the future
of the human soul in a world to come, the first and last word
is invariably the Atman, who can be astonished if often, in the
accumulated masses of these notions, the most irreconcilable
differences remained in juxtaposition, probably without their
inherent contradictions having been even noticed ?
I shall now abstract from one of the most important
monuments which have come down to us from those times,
from the concluding sections of the " Brahmana of the hundred
paths," a passage which seems to be connected with the first
rude efforts of speculation regarding the Atman. If the being
who created the worlds out of himself, here also bears that
name, which later times have given him, Atman, one may well
be tempted to believe that the thoughts themselves with their
antique and crude stamp belong to the preceding age.
"The Atman/ it says, "existed in the beginning, in a
spirit form ; he looked round him and saw nothing else but
himself; he spoke the first word: I am ; hence comes the
name I / therefore even now also, whoever is addressed by
another, says first : It is I/ and then he names the other name
which he bears. ... He was afraid ; therefore whoever is
alone is afraid. Then he thought : There is nothing else but
I, of what then am I afraid ? So his fear vanished. Of what
had he to be afraid ? Man experiences fear of another. But he
3
34: THE ABSOLUTE AND THE EXTERNAL WORLD.
did not feel content ; therefore whoever is alone does not feel
content. He desired another. He combined in himself the
natures of female and male which are locked in each other s
embrace. He divided this nature of his into two parts : by
this came husband and wife ; therefore each of us alike, is a
half, says Yajnavalkya ; therefore is this void (of a man s
nature) filled up by the woman. He joined himself to her;
thus were men born."
It is then further narrated, how the two halves of the
creating Atman, as sire and dam, assume all animal forms after
the human, and produce the animal kingdom, and how then
the Atman produces from himself fire and moisture, or the
divinities Agni and Soma. " This is Brahma s creation
superior to himself. Inasmuch as he has created gods greater
than he himself is, inasmuch as he, a mortal, has created
immortals, therefore it is a creating of the superior to himself.
"Whosoever has this knowledge, finds his place in this, his
superior creation."
As the foregoing text may apparently resemble those ancient
cosmogonies which begin : " In the beginning was Prajapati "
so, internally also, this naive conception of the highest being
or of the original being, for it is not the highest yet
scarcely differs from that which a preceding age had conceived
in Prajapati, the creator and ruler of the world. The Atman
here resembles a powerful first man more than a god, not to
say the one great beent, in whom all other being lives and
moves. This Atman is afraid in his loneliness, like a man;
he feels desire, like a man; he begets and brings forth like
human beings. It is true, gods are among his creatures, but
these creatures are higher than the creator ; creating greater
than himself, he, a mortal, produces from himself immortal
deities.
EARLIER AND LATER FORMS OF THE ATM AN IDEA. 35
Side by side with this cosmogony we place other fragments
of the same text, which are of an age probably not much later
than the passage quoted.
Yajnavalkya, the renowned Brahman, is about to leave his
home, to wander as a mendicant. He divides his property
between his two wives. Then his wife Maitreyi says to him as
lie is departing, "If my property included the whole earth,
would I therefore be immortal ?" He replies, fc Thy life
would be like the life of the rich : but of immortality riches
bring no hope." She says, " If I cannot be immortal, what
use is all this to me ? Tell me, exalted one, whatever thou
knowest." And he addresses her regarding the Atman.
" As when the drum is beaten, a man cannot prevent its
sound going forth, but if he seize the drum or the drummer,
the sound is stayed ; as when the lute is played, a man cannot
prevent its sound going forth, but if he seize the lute or the
lute-player, the sound is stayed ; as when the trumpet is
blown, a man cannot prevent its sound going forth, but if he
seize the trumpet or the trumpeter, the sound is stayed ; as
from a fire, in which a man places damp wood, clouds of smoke
issue here and there, so truly is the exhalation of this great
being; he is Big Veda, he is YajurVeda, he is SamaVeda,
the Atharvan and Angiras songs, tale and legend, knowledge
and sacred doctrine, verses, rules, he is the explanation and
the second explanation ; all this is his exhalation. As a lump
)f salt, which is thrown into the water, dissolves and cannot be
ithered up again, but wherever water is drawn, it is salty,
so truly it is with this great being, the endless, the unlimited,
the fulness of knowledge : from these (earthly) beings it
ime into view and with them it vanishes/ There is no
msciousness after death ; hearken, thus I declare unto thee."
Thus spoke Yajnavalkya. Then Maitreyi said, "This speech
3*
36 1HE ABSOLUTE AND THE EXTERNAL WORLD.
of thine, exalted one, perplexes me; there is no consciousness
after death." Then said Yajnavalkya, " I tell thee nothing
perplexing; it is quite comprehensible ; where there is a
duality of existences, one can see the other, one can smell the
other, one can speak to the other, one can hear the other, one
can think of the other, one can apprehend the other. But
where for each everything has turned into his ego (the Atman),
by whom and whom shall he see, by whom and whom shall he
smell, by whom and to whom shall he speak, by whom and
whom shall he hear, think and apprehend ? By whom shall he
apprehend him through whom he apprehends this universe ?
Through whom shall he apprehend him, the apprehender ?"
This is the farewell conversation of Yajnavalkya with his wife.
Between this and those cosmogonic speculations, which we
have already described, there lies a development of thought,
which is not much less than a revolution. There is the Atman,
who is afraid, who soliloquizes, who experiences desire, who can
be compared with his creatures, as to whether he or they be the
greater, and who must fall back behind the highest of his
creatures. Here is the Atman, who is free from all limits of
personal, human-like existence. Can there, man now inquires,
be perception, thought, consciousness, in the Universe-Being ?
No, for all perception rests upon a duality, on the opposition
of subject and object. In the external world with its unlimited
plurality there is everywhere a field for this opposition, but
in the absolutely existent all plurality ceases, and with it
necessarily all perception, and all consciousness, which have
their origin in a plurality. The Atman is not blind and deaf
he is on the contrary the one great seer and hearer, who does
all the seeing and hearing in the external world but in his
own domain he sees not and hears not, for in the unity, which
there prevails, the opposition of seeing and seen, of hearing
PLURALITY AND UNITY. 37
and heard, is removed. Like the ultimate supreme one of the
Neoplatonics, which cannot be regarded as intellect nor yet as
intelligible,, but transcends the reason (v7rep/3e/3?jKb$ rqv vov
fyvG-iv), the Atman also, as these farewell words of Yajnavalkya
represent him, transcends the personal, is the root of all
personality, the comprehensive fulness of all those powers, in
which personal life finds its termination : but these powers
come into operation only in this phenomenal world, not in the
domain of the everlasting one, the everlasting unchangeable
itself.
The one be&nt is neither great nor small, neither long nor
short, neither hidden nor revealed, neither within nor without ;
the " No, No " is his name, inasmuch as he cannot be com
prehended by any epithets, and yet his representative is the
syllable of affirmation, Orn ;* he is the ens realissimum.
There yet remained for Indian speculation the task of finding
its way back from this ultimate ground of all being to the
empirical state of being, to define the relation which subsists
between the Atman and the external world. Is the external
world something separate, side by side with the Atman ; such
that, apart from that which the Atman is or works in it, some
thing else, howsoever it have to be apprehended, may yet be
left, which is not Atman ? or is the world of plurality absolved
without residuum in the Atrnan ?
It was necessary to approach this question in some form,
more or less definite, as soon as men came to speak at all of
the Atman and the material world; but the question is hinted
at by the Indian thinkers of these ancient times, rather than
put directly or point blank. In their estimation, this alone is
* In Sanscrit the same ｅxpression (ekam aksliaram) has the same
double meaning, "the one imperishable," namely, the Atman; and "the
one syllable," namely, the Om.
38 THE ABSOLUTE AND TEE EXTERNAL WORLD.
of all tilings most important, that the Atman may be recog
nized as the sole source of life in all that lives,, and as the
thread in which all plurality finds its unity; but where the
attempt is made to show how the problem of the co-existence
of that plurality and this unity, or of their existence in each
other, finds a solution, they speak in the vague language of
similes and symbols, rather than in ｅxpressions which admit of
their signification being sharply defined.
The Atman, theyjsay, pervades things, as the salt, which has
dissolved in water, pervades the water; from the Atman things
spring, as the sparks fly out from the fire, as threads from the
spider, as the sound comes from the flute or the drum. te As
all the spokes are united together in the nave and the felly of
a wheel, so in" this Atman are united all breath-powers, all
worlds, all gods, all beings, all these ego-ities/ J
There is great danger, in interpreting such similes, of not
keeping within the faint line which separates that which it
was intended they should convey and that which lies in them
beyond this, accidentally and unintentionally; yet he who
would avoid this danger altogether must simply forbear to lift
the veil which lies over the Indian world of thought, shrouded
in types and symbols. And we, for our part, think we can
detect behind these similitudes, by which men strove to bring
the living power of the Atman in the universe near to his
understanding, a conviction, though at the same time but a
half-conscious conviction, of the existence of an element in
things separate from the Atman. The Atman, says the Indian,
pervades the universe, as the salt the water in which it has
dissolved ; but we may easily go on to add, as a complement to
this, although no drop of the salt water is without salt, the
water continues, notwithstanding, to be something separately
constituted from the salt. The spokes of the wheel are all
fitted into the nave and the felly, and fastened in, and still the
THE NON-EGO. 39
spoke is something which the nave and the felly are not. And
thus we may infer, the Atman is to the Indian certainly the
sole actuality,, light-diffusing, the only significant reality in
things ; but there is a remainder left in things, which he is
not. " He who dwells in the earth/ it is said of the Atman,
" being within the earth, whom the earth knows not, whose
body is the earth, who operates within the earth, that is the
Atman, the in-dwelling ruler, the immortal. He who dwells in
the water, who dwells in the fire, who dwells in the aether, who
dwells in the wind, who dwells in the sun, moon, and stars,
who dwells in space, who dwells in lightning and thunder, who
dwells in all worlds, who is illatent in all Yedas, all offerings,
all beings, whom all beings know not, whose body all beings
are, who operates within all beings, that is the Atman, the
in-dwelling ruler, the immortal.-" And in another part of
the same dialogue, from which these propositions have been
excerpted: "by the command of this unchangeable being
heaven and earth stand fast; by the command of this
unchangeable being sun and moon stand fast, days and nights,
half months and months, seasons and years stand fast ; by the
command of this unchangeable being some rivers flow from the
snowy mountains to the east, and others to the west and other
points of the heavens ; by the command of this unchangeable
being men commend the giver, the gods the offerer, and the
libation made with the spoon is the proper part belonging to
the Manes."
Though thus varied is the garb in which thought wraps itself
in all these ｅxpressions, yet it is always the same, viz., that the
Atman, as the sole directing power, is in all that lives and
moves, but that the world of creatures operated on stands side,
by side with the directing power, pervaded by his energy, and
yet separate from him.
40 TEE ABSOLUTE AND THE EXTERNAL WORLD.
Though here and there, by all means, the language seems
more free, and ｅxpressions are found which convey a hint that
the Atman is everything which lives and moves, yet, I take it,
the contradiction lies more in the words employed than in the
thought. Is it not allowable, for the bold language in which
these hazardous ventures of young thought clothe themselves,
to say that the Atman is the universe, even where the thought,
if it were accurately expressed, is only this, that in the universe
the Atman is the only valuable, the source of all life and all
light ?
Since, then, there remains in things a residue which is not
Atman, we ask : in what light was this residue viewed ? whence
comes it ? what significance has it ? Naturally comes the
expectation that it was conceived to be matter, or dark chaos,
which, formless in itself, receives its form from the Atman,
the source of forms and light. Our texts have preserved for
us but few hints on this subject. The knowledge of the
Atman itself, which was inseparably associated with the ideas
of the deliverance of the spirit from the domain of sorrow-
fraught impermanence, had such unlimited value for the Indian,
that the other side of the problem receded in speculative
importance before it into the background. But where
utterances bearing on these questions are found, they do
actually point to the notion of a chaos, a world of potentialities,
from which the operation of the Atman produces realities.
The beent, that was in the beginning alone, Uddalaka thus
instructs his son,* thought : may I become a plurality. It sent
forth fire from itself : the fire sent forth water from itself : the
water produced food. Then thought this being : let me now
enter these three beings with this living self and let me then
* " Chandogya Upan.," vi. 2, etc. Similar but much more involved
is " 9at. Br.," xi. 2, 3.
THE NON-EGO. 41
reveal names and forms." And it enters with its breath of
life into the fire, into the water, and into the food, mixes the
elements of the one with those of the other, and thus the real
world is prepared from the three original existents by the
demiurgic operation of the Atman.
It is clear that those three oldest existents, those original
creations of the Atman, in which he then reveals name and
form by his breath of life, are treated before this act of
revealing as a chaotic something, which is there, but is not as
yet anything precisely determinate, older than the world of
things we see, and not eternal like the Atman, but the Atman s
first creation. But these attempts to demonstrate what in
things is matter, bear very perceptibly the marks of immaturity.
one would expect to find in the chaos, before the breath of life
of the demiurgus produces in it " name and form/ a nameless
and formless, an absolute, indeterminate something, and yet it
is in the very beginning organic, of the threefold nature, of fire,
water, and food, and thus it has thereby originally in itself an
element of distinctness and nomination. And similarily, on
the other hand, is the Atman, the creator and vivifier of the
chaotic, less firmly maintained in that paramount position
resulting from the abstraction which we found attained in the
farewell discourse of Yajnavalkya. It is not the simple one,
from whose nature, for his unity s sake, all reflection and pro
jection must be excluded, as involving the duality of subject
and object; he thinks, an<J this, indeed, is his thought : may
I become a plurality. Those thinkers who have pursued the
idea of the unity in the nature of the Atman to its ultimate
consequence, would scarcely have ventured to attempt, in the
way entered upon here, a solution of the problem of matter
and its evolution from the Atman ; it is surely no mere accident
that those passages in our texts also, which accentuate those
42 PESSIMISM, METEMP8TCH08I8, DELIVERANCE.
consequences with the most marked emphasis, are silent on
these problems: men may have felt that thought had here
reached a chasm, over which to throw a bridge was not in
their power.
PESSIMISM, METEMPSYCHOSIS, DELIVERANCE.
This is the place in which to speak of the inferences which
the speculation of the Indians drew from the doctrine of the
universal one side by side with and in the world of plurality,
bearing on the estimate of the value of the world, life and
death, and the ethical questions so closely connected therewith,
We stand here at the birthplace of Indian pessimism.
When thought, liberal to itself, had laden the idea of the
Atman with all attributes of every perfection, of absolute
unity, of unlimited fulness, the world of plurality, measured
by the standard of the everlasting one, must have necessarily
appeared a state of disruption, restriction and pain. The
unconstrained feeling of being at home in this world is
destroyed at one stroke, as soon as thought has weighed it
against its ideal of the supreme one, and found it wanting,
and thus the glorification of the Atman becomes involuntarily
an ever increasingly bitter criticism of this world. If the
Atman be commended " who is far above hunger and thirst,
above sorrow and confusion, above old age and death/ who is-
there who does not detect in such words a reflection, though it
be not openly expressed, on the world of the creature, in which
hunger and thirst, sorrow and confusion are at home, and
in which men grow old and die ? " The unseen seer," thus
Yajnavalkya speaks to Uddalaka, "the unheard hearer, the
unthought thinker, the unknown knower; there is no other
seer, no other hearer, no other thinker, no other knower.
That is thy Atman, the mover within, the immortal ; whatever
TEE RUDIMENTS OF PESSIMISM. 4S
is besides him, is full of sorrow." And ifc is said on another
occasion : f as the sun,, the eye of the universe, remains far off
and unaffected by all sickness that meets the (human) eye, so
also the one, the Atman, who dwells in- all creatures, dwells
afar and untouched by the sorrows of the world." Here-
occurs for the first time the ｅxpression " Sorrow of the world."
That the one, the happy Atman, has chosen to manifest him
self in the world of plurality, of becoming and decease, was
a misfortune : this is not openly stated, for men are shy of a
thought, which would trace to the happy one Being the roots
of the sorrow of earth or even any fault, but they cannot have
been very far from this thought when they proposed to man as
the highest aim of his effort, the undoing in his case of this-
manifestation, and the finding for himself a return from the-
plurality to the one.
The place which Indian speculation allots to man, in and
between the two worlds of the happy Atman and the sorrowful
state of the present life, is intimately connected with the
conceptions of metempsychosis, the first traces of which appear
in the Vedic texts not long before the doctrine of the ever
lasting one comes to the surface.
The thought that new wanderings, new repetitions of death
and re-birth await the soul after death, are wholly foreign to
the ancient times in which the hymns of the Eig Veda are
sung. Men can talk of the habitations of the happy, where in
Yama s kingdom those who have trodden the dark way of
death enjoy everlasting pleasures
" Where joy and pleasure and gladness
And rapture dwell, where the wish
Of the wisher finds fulfilment "
and men speak also of the deep places of darkness, and of the
horrors which await the evil-doer in the world to come. But
44: PESSIMISM, METEMPSYCHOSIS, DELIVERANCE.
men have no other thought but the one, that on the entry into
the world of the blessed, or into the world of everlasting
darkness, destiny is for ever fixed.
We have shown how the age which followed the period of
the Eig Veda created a new scheme . of the universe. on all
sides men descried gloomy formless powers, either openly
displayed or veiled in mysterious symbols, contending with
each other, and, like harassing enemies, preparing contretemps
for human destiny. The tyranny of death also is enhanced in
the estimation of the dismal mystic of this age ; the power of
death over men is not spent with the one blow which he inflicts.
It soon comes to be averred that his power over him, who is
not wise enough to save himself by the use of the right words
and the right offerings, extends even into the world beyond,
and death cuts short his life yonder again and again; we soon
meet the conception of a multiplicity of death-powers, of whom
some pursue men in the worlds on this side, and others in the
worlds beyond. " Whoever passes into that world without
having made himself free from death, will become in that world
again and again the prey of death, in the same way that death
shows no respect in this world and kills him when he wills."
And in another place, "Through all worlds truly death s
powers have dominion; if he offered to these no libations,
death would pursue him from world to world if he offers
libations to the powers of death, he repels death through world
after world."*
* "We must refrain from asking the question, whether the influences of
the belief of non- Aryan peoples in India have had any share in the origin
of this idea of new existences and recurrences of the fate of death. This
idea is quite capable of explanation, if we regard it as the outcome of the
progressive course which the thought or imagination of the Brahmans has
taken, entirely independent of the co-operation of extraneous impulses,
the existence of which is as incapable of proof as of disproof.
METEMPSYCHOSIS. 45
In the texts of the times., in which these plays of a cheerless
fancy first appear, there is little said of the idea of re-birth, or,
as it first meets us in characteristic form, of that of re-dying.
And yet the influence, which these ideas must have had on
the aspirations of religious life, cannot have been small. The
spirit can bear the thought of a decision of its destiny once for
all, determined for all eternity ; but the endless migration from
world to world, from existence to existence, the endlessness of
the struggle against the pallid power of that ever-recurring
destruction a thought like this might well fill the heart even
of the brave with a shudder at the resultlessness of all this
unending course of things. When other associations directed
the thought to the opposition of a happy world of unity, of
rest, to a second world of plurality, of change, the appalling
prospect of re-birth that is, of re-death will have had no
small share in causing men to paint the domain of plurality in
those dark colours, as unhappy and desolated by sorrow.
But a thought such as that of more and still more deaths,
which await the mortal in future forms of being, cannot be
entertained without evoking its complement or, we should
rather say, perhaps, its neutralizer the thought of the
deliverance from death : without this the end would be
despair. From the beginning, therefore, the idea of metem
psychosis was not so conceived, as though there were in it an
unavoidable fatality, to which every human life is subject
without hope of escape. At the same time, with the belief in
the transmigration of the soul, and as its necessary com
plement, the conception is formed that from the limitless
change of birth and death a way out stands open ; the thought
and the word "deliverance" are now ready to step into the
foreground of religious life.
The phases, both of style and matter, through which
46 PESSIMISM, METEMPSYCHOSIS, DELIVERANCE.
Brahmanical thought passes at this time, in rapid succession,
are reflected successively in the way in which the thought of
deliverance is embodied.
So long as the way out of that confused maze of grotesque
and formless symbolical conceptions to the idea of the Atman,
the universal one, had not been found, the notions of deliver
ance also bear the same stamp of an arbitrary fantastic
externality, which is characteristic of the spiritual creations of
that age. The offering, the great fundamental power, and the
fundamental symbol of all being and of all procession of being,
is also the power by which man bursts the bands of death ;
^and next to the offering itself, the sacred knowledge of the
\ sacrificial rites has the power to set free. Above all, the daily
, offering to the two luminaries of the day and the night : the
morning offering to the sun, and the evening offering to Agni,
the sun of the night, both accompanied by a silently-performed
offering to Prajapati, the lord of the created. In the sun
dwells death ; the sun s rays are the cords by which death has
power to draw man s life-breath to himself. "If in the
evening, after sunset, he makes the two offerings, he takes
his stand with the two fore- quarters (of his being) in that
death s power (i.e., in the sun); if in the morning, before
sunrise, he makes the two offerings, he takes his stand with
the two hind- quarters (of his being) in that death s power.
When he rises, then, he bears him with him as he rises ; thus
lie delivers himself from that death. This is the deliverance
from death which is inherent in the Agnihotra offering. He
delivers himself from the recurrence of death who thus under
stands this deliverance from death in the Agnihotra." And in
another place, " Those who Jhave this knowledge, and perform
this offering, will after death be born again ; they will be born
again to die no more. But those who have not this knowledge,
METEMPSYCHOSIS AND THE ABSOLUTE. 47
or do not perform this offering, will after^death be born again, l
and will become the prey of death anew, over and over again
for ever."
These are the earliest appearances of the belief in the trans
migration of sonls and the deliverance from death, dressed in
fanciful miraculous shapes. When these thoughts came to the
front, events were in process which were to give a new aspect
to the Brahmanical world of ideas; at that very time specu
lation directed itself to detect in the Atman, or the Brahma, the
everlasting, imperishable Being, the source of every state of
existence, the unity resting at the back of all plurality. As
soon as this step was taken, a ground was gained on which
those thoughts of death and deliverance could be planted out,
and from which they could derive new intrinsic value. The
different elements of speculation of themselves here fitted
together into a whole which left no joinings to be seen. on
the one side a dualism the everlasting Brahma, the ground
of all being, the true nature also of the human spirit (Brahma
= At man), and opposed to him the world of becoming and of
decease, of sorrow and of death. on the other side a similar
opposition the undelivered soul, which death holds in his
bonds, and ever anew hurries from one state of being into
another, and the delivered soul, which has overcome death,
and attained the goal of wayfarers. The result of the union
of the two trains of thought could only be this : the wandering
of the soul through the domains of death is the fruit of its
non-union with the Brahma: the deliverance is the attained
unity of the soul with its true mode of being, the Brahma.
Unity there is not, as long as the human soul conducts itself
in thought and will as a citizen of the world of plurality; so
long does it remain subject to the law which operates in this
world, the law of origination and decease, of birth and death.
\
4:8 PESSIMISM, METEMPSYCHOSIS, DELIVERANCE.
But where the look and longing fixed on plurality have been,
vanquished, the soul, freed from the dominion of death, returns
to the home of all life, to the Brahma. c As a weaver," says
the Brahmana of the hundred paths, " takes away a piece of a
many-coloured cloth and weaves another, new, more beautiful
pattern, so also the spirit (in death) shuffles off this body, and
allows consciousness to be extinguished, and takes upon itself
another, new form, of Manes or Grandharvas, of Brahma s
or Prajapati s nature, of divine or human or other manner of
being As he acted and as he walked, so he
becomes: he who does good becomes a good being, he who
does bad a bad ; he becomes pure by pure action, evil by evil
action So with him who is in the net of desire.
But he who desires not ? He who is without desire, who is
free from desire, who desires the Atman only, who has attained
his desire, from his body the breath-powers do not escape (into
another body), but here draw themselves together ; he is the
Brahma, and he goes to the Brahma. The following couplet
speaks of this :
When lie has set himself free from every desire of liis heart,
The mortal enters immortal into the Brahma here below. "
Desire (kama) and action (karman) are here named as
the powers which hold the spirit bound within the limits
of impermanence. Both are essentially the same. "Man s
nature," it is said in the same treatise from which we have
taken the passage quoted, " depends on desire. As his desire,
so is his aspiration ; as his aspiration, so is the course of action
(karman) which he pursues j whatever be the course of action
he pursues, he passes to a corresponding state of being."
The form in which the idea of a moral retribution here
appears, and in which, through long ages, it has constituted
a fundamental principle of religious thought, with Buddhists
MORAL RETRIBUTION DESIRE. 49
as well as with Brahmans, is the doctrine of the Jsarman
(action) as the power which pre-determines the course of the
migration of the soul from one state of being to another. Our
sources of information show us that this new doctrine did not
at first meet with general acceptance among the circles of
philosophizing Brahmans ; whoever knows it, has the feeling of
possessing in it a mysterious -secret, of which one should speak
only covertly and in private. So in the great debate, of which
the Brahmana of the hundred paths gives an account, among
the opponents who seek to trip up the wise Yajnavalkya with
their questions, Jaratkarava Artabhaga comes forward. He
puts a question: "Yajnavalkya, when man dies, his voice goes
into the fire, his breath into the wind, his eye to the sun, his
thought to the moon, his ear to the quarters of heaven, his
body to earth, his personality to the aether, his hairs to the
plants, the hair of his head to the trees; his blood and his
semen find a place in the waters. But where, then, remains
the man himself ? " " Give me thy hand, my friend," is the
answer. c Artabhaga ! we two alone must ~be privy to this ;
not a word on that subject where people are listening." c And
they two went out and conversed together. What they then
said, they said regarding action (karman) ; and what they
then propounded, they propounded regarding action : by pure
action man becomes pure (fortunate), by evil action evil
(unfortunate)."
But no action can lead into the world of deliverance and
happiness. Even good action is something which remains
confined to the sphere of the impermanent; it receives its
reward, but the reward of the impermanent can only be an
impermanent one. The everlasting Atman is highly exalted
alike above reward and effort, above holiness and unholiness.
" He, the immortal, is beyond both, beyond good and evil ;
4
50 PESSIMISM, METEMPSYCHOSIS, DELIVERANCE.
what is done and what is left undone, cause him no pain ; his
domain is affected by no action." Thus, action and the being
delivered are two things, quite separate from each other ; the
dualism of impermanence and permanence, which influences all
thought in this age, here imposes from the first on the idea
of deliverance, and on the ethical postulates which flow from
it, this negative character: morality is not a form of active
participation in - the world, but a complete severance of self
from the world.
The felicity of the perfection which has divested itself of all
action and dealing, good and evil, has its prefiguration and
illustration in the state of the deepest sleep, when the world,
which surrounds the mind in its waking hours, has vanished
from its view, and not even a dream is seen ; when it sleeps
" like a child, or like a great sage, when he, wrapt in sleep, feels
no desire and sees no vision, that is the condition in which he
desires only the Atman, when he has attained his desire, when
he is without desire."
The succeeding age turned, with a special predilection, to
the description of conditions of the deepest self-contained
abstraction, in which perception and feeling, space and all
objectivity, vanished from the mind, and it hangs, as it were,
in the middle, between the transient world and the Nirvana.
Disquisitions on these ecstasies of contemplation are among
the pet themes of the discourses which the Buddhist Church
have put in their master s mouth. We shall not be wrong if
we here recognize the preliminary traces of these ideas. When
man seeks for an earthly prefiguration of the return to the
universal one, he must, before he lights upon those sickly
conditions of semi- or complete unconsciousness, picture to
himself the rest of deep, dreamless sleep as the most natural
and readiest image.
IGNORANCE AND KNOWLEDGE. 51
Up to this point we have found the opposition of the
delivered and undelivered associated with the opposition of
desire and non-desire. The same thought is often expressed,
with a slight alteration of such a turn that, instead of desire,
knowledge and absence of knowledge are set up as the deter-
minators of the ultimate destiny of the soul : the knowledge,
on the one hand, of the unity, to which the individual ego and
all beings draw together in Brahma ; and, on the other hand,
the being absorbed in the contemplation of the finite as a
plurality. " Where all beings have become one s self, for the
knowing how can there be delusion how can there be pain
for him who has his eye on the unity ? " " He who has
discovered and understood (pratibuddha) the Atman dwelling
in the darkness of this corporeity, he is all-creating, for he is
the creator of the universe : his is the world, he is himself the
world. They who know the breath of the breath, and the eye
of the eye, the ear of the ear, the food of food, the thought of
thought, they have comprehended the Brahma, the ancient, the
supreme, attainable by thought alone ; there is not in it any
diversity. He attains the death of death who here detects
any diversity ; thought alone can behold it, this Imperishable,
Everlasting."
If then deliverance be based at one time on the conquest of
all desire, and at another on the knowledge of the Brahma,
both may be regarded merely as the ｅxpression of one and the
same thought. " If a man knows the Atman :* that am I
myself wishing what, for the sake of what desire, should he
cling to the bodily state ?" The main thing is knowledge ; if
it be obtained, all desire vanishes of itself. In other words,
the deepest root of the clinging to the impermanent, is the
absence of knowledge.
* These words also mean : " If a man knows himself."
4*
52 PESSIMISM, METEMPSYCHOSIS, DELIVERANCE.
Here we stand wholly in those very ranges of thought
with which Buddha s teaching dealt. The question, which has
suggested the Buddhist views on deliverance, is here already
put exactly in the same form as afterwards, and the same two
fold answer is given to this question. What keeps the soul
bound in the cycle of birth, death, and re-birth ? Buddhism
answers : desire and ignorance. Of the two, the greater evil is
ignorance, the first link in the long chain of causes and effects,
in which the sorrow- working destiny of the world is fulfilled.
Is knowledge attained, then is all suffering at an end. Under
the tree of knowledge, Buddha, when he has obtained the
Knowledge that gives deliverance, utters these words :
" When the conditions (of existence) reveal themselves
To the ardent, contemplating Brahman,
To earth he casts the tempter s hosts,
Like the sun, diffusing light through the air."
Here Brahmanical speculation anticipates Buddhism in diction
as well as in thought. Language even now begins to make
use of those phrases, which have received at a later time from
the lips of Buddha s followers, their established currency as an
ｅxpression of the tenets of the Buddhist faith. When he who
has come to know the Atman, is mentioned in the Brahmana
of the hundred paths/ as delivered, the word then used for
"knowing" is that word (pratibuddha) which also signifies
" awaking," the word which the Buddhists are accustomed to
use, when they describe how Buddha has in a solemn hour
under the Asvattha tree gained the knowledge of the delivering
truth, or is awake to the delivering truth : the same word from
which also the name (< Buddha," i.e., " the knowing/ "the
awake," is derived.
Of all the texts in which the Brahmanical speculations as to
the delivering power of knowledge are contained, perhaps not
THE TONE OF RELIGIOUS LIFE. 53
even one was known except by hearsay to the founder of
the Buddhist community of believers. But, for all that,
it is certain that Buddhism has acquired as an inheritance
from Brahmanism, not merely a series of its most important
dogmas, but, what is not less significant to the historian, the
bent of its religious thought and feeling, which is more easily
comprehended than expressed in words.
If in Buddhism the proud attempt be made to conceive a
deliverance in which man himself delivers himself, to create a
faith without a god, it is Brahmanical speculation which has
prepared the way for this thought. It has thrust back the idea
of a god step by step ; the forms of the old gods have faded
away, and besides the Brahma, which is enthroned in its
everlasting quietude, highly exalted above the destinies of the
human world, there is left remaining, as the sole really active
person in the great work of deliverance, man himself, who
possesses inherent in himself the power to turn aside from this
world, this hopeless state of sorrow.
Every people makes for itself gods after its own ideal, and
is not less made what it actually is by the reflex influence of
what its gods are. A people with a history make themselves
gods who shall show their power in their history, who
shall fight their battles with them, and join in the adminis
tration of their state. The god of Israel is the Holy one,
before whose flaming majesty the heart of man bows in
adoration and supplication, and to whom it draws near in
prayer as to a father with the confidence of a child; whose
wrath causes men to disappear, whose tender mercy worketh
good to children, and children s children even unto the
thousandth generation. And the god of the Brahmanical
thought ? The Great one, before whom all human movement is
stilled, where all colours pale and all sounds expire. No song
64: THE TEMPTER. BRAHMAN.
of praise, and no petition, no hope, no fear, no love. The gaze
of man is nnmoved, is turned upon himself and looks into the
depths of his own being, expecting his ego to disclose itself to
him as the everlasting one, and the thinker, for whom the veil
has risen, discovers as an enigma of deep meaning, the mystery
of the Unseen Seer, the Unheard Hearer, to find out whom
Brahmans leave goods and chattels, wife and child, and move
as mendicants, homeless through the world.
THE TEMPTER. BKAHMAN.
Tradition enables us to gain but a very imperfect idea of
how the remaining notions, images, ｅxpressions, which passed
to Buddhism as an inheritance from Brahmanical speculation,
ranged themselves one after another round the central point of
the religious thought, with which our sketch has been dealing.
If we except the oldest, fundamental texts of the doctrine of
the Atman, from which we have drawn material for our sketch
up to the present, we are driven to conjectures of the most
uncertain kind, when we ask what works may be received as
pre -Buddhist and what not. Internal evidence, on which alone
we are thrown in this case, is sufficient in very few instances
to render it possible to form even a probable estimate, as to
whether what is connected in these texts in thought or form of
ｅxpression with the Buddhist, belongs to the stages preparatory
to the Buddhist phase of thought, or has on its part been
influenced by that phase. I might claim a pre-Buddhist origin
for the Kathaka Upanishad, a poem which in the rude grandeur
of its composition reflects all the earnestness and all the
singularity of that age of self-study. If I am correct in my
surmise as to the time of the production of this Upanishad, it
NACIKETAS AND THE GOD OF DEATH. 55
contains an important contribution to the history of thought
preparatory to Buddhist thought : namely, we here find the
Satan of the Buddhist world, Mara, the Tempter, the demon
death-foe of the deliverer, in the form of Mrityu, the God of
Death. The identity of the conception is most unmistakably
apparent notwithstanding the difference of the clothing, and
indeed the Brahmanical poem has preserved that image, which it
has in common with the Buddhist legends, in a form assuredly
far more original.
" "U"9ant, son of Vajacravas," the Upanishad begins, " gave
away all that he had.* He had one son, named Naciketas.
In this youth faith was awakened, when the ofleringsf were
being carried away. He then reflected :
" Water- drinking, grass- eating, milked-out (creatures) whose strength
is exhausted
Cheerless are the worlds called, to which lie tends, who offers such
gifts."!
He said to his father: " Father, to whom wilt thou give
me 1" And a second and a third time (he asked this). Then
his father said : "I give thee to Death."
THE SON.
" Many come after me : many have before me trodden the path of
death.
The Prince of Death, the god Yama, what need can he have of me ?"
THE FATHEE.
" Look forward, look backward ; a like fatality rules here and yonder.
The destiny of man resembles the grain, which ripens, falls, and
again returns."
The poem passes over what now happens : Naciketas
* He divided these out to the priests as sacrificial remuneration.
t All his father s gifts, especially cows.
J The rewards for earthly gifts, such as those cows, are vain.
56 TEE TEMPTER. BRAHMAN.
descends to the kingdom of Death. Yama, the God of Death,
does not see him : so he remains three days unhonoured in the
realms of the departed.
THE SEBVANTS OP THE GOD OF DEATH.
A flaming fire is the Brahman who approaches the house as a
guest. Yama presents water to the guest, thus the heat of the fire is
allayed.
" Hope and wish, friendship and every joy,
The fruit of his actions, children and fruitfulness of the flock,
These the Brahman takes away from the foolish man
In whose house he tarries unfed."
YAMA (THE GOD OF DEATH).
" Unfed within my house three nights,
Brahmana, a worthy guest, hast thou tarried.
Honour to thee, let prosperity attend me ;
Three wishes shall be granted thee ; choose !"
Naciketas chooses as the first wish, that his father may receive
him without ill will on his return from the realms of the dead;
as the second, that the God of Death may teach him the hidden
knowledge of the sacrificial fire, by the help of which man
wins the heavenly world. Death imparts to him the mystic
knowledge of this fire and guarantees that it shall be called
among men after his name the Naciketas-fire. Naciketas has
now to express his third wish.
NACIKETAS.
" Inquiry is made regarding the fate of the dead :
They are/ says one ; they are not, says another.
This I wish to know, resolve this (doubt) for me.
This is the third wish, which I choose."
THE GOD OF DEATH.
" The gods themselves sought after this long since ;
Hard to fathom, dark is this secret.
Choose some other boon, Naciketas,
on this insist not ; release me from my promise."
THE TEMPTER. 57
NACIKETAS.
" From the gods themselves is this hidden, thou sayest ;
Hard to fathom hast thou, O Death, declared it.
There is no other who can reveal this to me as thou canst,
There is no other wish which I can choose instead of this."
THE GOD OF DEATH.
" Fulness of years, and children s children,
Choose gold, herds, elephants, horses,
Choose widely-extended rule upon the earth,
Have thy life long as thou desirest.
If this appear to thee acceptable instead of that other wish,
Then choose wealth, choose long life ;
Rule broad realms, Naciketas ;
I give thee the fulness of all pleasures.
What mortal men obtain but with difficulty,
Choose every pleasure on which thy heart is set.
Maidens here, with harps, with carriages,
Fairer than men may hope to gain,
These give I thee, that they may do thee service ;
Ask not of death, Naciketas."
KACIKETAS.
" The lapse of days causes, O Lord of Death,
The power of the organs of life to fail in the children of men ;
The whole life swiftly passes away ;
Song and dance, chariot and horse, thine are they.
Riches cannot give contentment to man ;
What is wealth to us when we have beheld thee ?
We shall live as long as thou biddest us ;
Still this wish alone is that which I choose.
Tell us of the far-reaching future of the world to come,
Whereon, O Death, man meditates in doubt.
The wish, which penetrates into hidden depths,
That alone it is which Naciketas chooses."
The reluctance of the God of Death is overcome, and he
grants to the importunate inquirer his request. The two paths
of knowledge and ignorance diverge widely from each other.
58 TEE TEMPTER.
Naciketas lias chosen knowledge ; the fulness of pleasures has
not led him astray. They who walk in the path of ignorance,
endlessly wander about through the world beyond, like the
blind led by the blind. The wise man who knows the one,,
the Everlasting, the ancient God, who dwells in the depths, has
no part in joy and sorrow, becomes free from right and wrong,
free from the present, and free from hereafter. That is Yama s-
answer to Naciketas s inquiry.
A strange picture coming from this great period of old
Indian thought and poetry : the Brahman who descends to*
Hades, and, unmoved by all promises of transient pleasures,
wrings from the -God of Death the secret of that which lies-
bey ond death.
We now turn from this Yedic poem to Buddhist legend.
Through many a long age, he who is destined to the
Buddhahood pursues his quest of the knowledge which is to
deliver him from death and re-birth. His enemy is Mara, the
Evil one. As the god Mrityu promises Naciketas dominion
over extended realms, if he will forego the knowledge of the-
hereafter, so Mara offers Buddha the sovereignty of the whole
earth, if he will renounce his career of Buddha; as Mrityu
offers Naciketas nymphs of more than earthly beauty, so-
Buddha is tempted by Mara s daughters, named Desire,
Unrest, and Pleasure. Naciketas and Buddha alike withstand
all temptations, and obtain the knowledge which delivers them
from the hand of death. The name Mara* is no other than
* Both words signify " death," and are derived from the same root,
mar, " to die." The mode of ｅxpression in many places of the Dhamma-
pada makes the identity of Mara and Mrityu (Pali maccu) clearly evident.
Compare ver. 34, "Maradheyyam pahatave," with. ver. 86, " maccudheyyam,
suduttaram ; v. 46 : chetyana Marassa papupphakani adassanam maccu-
rajassa gacche." Cf. also ver. 57 with 170. See also " Mahavagga," I, ii. 2.
BRAHMAN. 59
Mrityu; the God of Death is at the same time the " Prince
of this world/ the lord of all worldly enjoyment, the foe of
knowledge ; for pleasure is in Brahmanical, as it is in Buddhist
speculation, the chain which binds to the bondage of death,
and knowledge is the power which breaks that chain. This
aspect of the God of Death, as the tempter to pride and worldly
pleasures, steps in the Buddhist legend in the shape of Mara
so prominently into the foreground that the original character
of that god thereby almost disappears ; the older poem of the
Kathaka-Upanishad preserves clearly the original nature of
Mrityu, but it shows us at the same time in it the point from
which the conception of the Prince of Death could be trans
formed into that of the Tempter.
Together with Mara, we find in the Buddhist texts very
frequently mentioned another spiritual being, the conception of
whom had likewise been first formed in the later Vedic age,
Brahman. The god Brahman s figure is an outcome of that idea
of the Brahma, the development of which has occupied our
attention in a previous passage. It is exceedingly characteristic
of the influence which the most abstract speculation of the
schools exercised in India over the notions of the people
generally, that the Brahma, the colourless, formless absolutum,
has become an important element in the popular faith; of
course, not without the thought in its original purity having
been modified or, more accurately speaking, lost sight of. The
thing in the abstract would have been rather too unconcrete a
god even for the Indians. So the neuter personified itself, and
became masculine ; the Brahma turned into the god Brahman,,
the " progenitor of all worlds," the first-born among beings.
We cannot here attempt to give a more detailed picture-
of this peculiar invasion of the popular consciousness by the-
speculative idea; our sources of information completely forbid
CO BRAEMAN.
it. This mucli only we know with certainty, that the process
of which we speak had not only completed itself in the age of
earlier Buddhism, but that a considerable period must have
elapsed since its completion. Scarcely any divine being is
so familiar to the imagination of the Buddhists as Brahma
Sahampati ; at all important moments in the life of Buddha
and his followers, he is wont to leave his Brahma-heaven and
to appear on earth as the profoundly humble servant of
holy men. And from this one principal Brahman the Buddhist
imagination has created whole classes of Brahma-gods,
who have their place in different Brahma-heavens: one
more finger-post in addition to many others, indicating the
impossibility of those Yedic texts, in which the origin of the
doctrine of the universal one is exhibited, coming at all near
the Buddhist period, in which the god Brahman has already
developed himself from the Brahma, and the whole system of
the Brahma-divinities from the god Brahman.
CHAPTER III.
ASCETICISM MONASTIC ORDERS.
WE now proceed to describe the forms of religious, monastic
life which have sprung up in close connection with the already
discussed speculations regarding the universal one and
deliverance. As in those philosophical ideas the way was
prepared for the dogmatics of Buddhism, so in those begin
nings of monastic life the foundation of the outward forms
of the Buddhist Church was laid.
The two lines of development, that of the inner side and
that of the outer side of religious life, run how could it be
otherwise ? in close harmony.
Those speculations which represented the phenomenal world
to be unstable and worthless as compared with the world s
base, the Atmau, had at one blow deprived of their value all
those aims of life which appear important to the natural
consciousness of ordinary men. Sacrifice and external
observance are unable to raise the spirit to the Atman, to
disclose to the individual ego his identity with the universal
ego. Man must separate himself from all that is earthly, must
fly from love and hate, from hope and fear; man must
live as though he lived not. The Brahmans, it is said, "the
intelligent and wise desire not posterity : what are descendants
2 ASCETICISM MONASTIC ORDERS.
to us, whose home is tlie Atman ? They relinquish the desire
for children, the struggle for wealth, the pursuit of worldly
weal, and go forth as mendicants."
Many content themselves with a less strict renunciation ;
they go forth, it is true, from their houses, and give up
their property and all the comforts and enjoyments of their
customary mode of living, but they do not wander about
homeless ; they build themselves half-covered huts in the
forest and live there, alone or with their women, on the roots
and berries of the forest ; their sacred fire also accompanies
them, and they continue as before to perform at least a part of
the duties of the sacrificial cult.
It is probable that there were from the beginning persons,
chiefly Brahmans, who as beggars or forest hermits sought
their deliverance in retirement from worldly concerns. But
an exclusive right of Brahmans only to those spiritual treasures,
to obtain which men parted with all earthly treasure, was not
asserted in early times ; we have no trace that before Buddha s
time, or in Buddha s own time, the Brahman caste had come
forward with claims of such a kind, or that there was need of
any struggle whatever to win for prince and peasant, as well as
Brahman, the right to leave wife and child, goods and chattels,
in order to seek, as mendicant monks, in poverty and purity
of life, the deliverance of their souls. Side by side with the
Brahmans, who appear in the old philosophical dialogues
speaking of the mysteries of the Atman, we find in more than
one place princes, and even wise women are not wanting in
these circles ; why should men desire to forbid those, whose
discourses on deliverance they listened to and applauded, an
entry on that life of holy renunciation, which leads man to this
deliverance ?
A point which seems highly characteristic of the religious
THE BEGINNING OF HERMIT LIFE. 63
tone of this Vedic monasticism, is the strongly maintained
esoteric character of the faith. There was a consciousness of
possessing a knowledge which could and must belong to but
a few, to chosen persons, a sort of select doctrine, which was
not intended to penetrate the national life. The father might
impart the secret to his son, and the teacher to his pupil, but,
in the circle of the believers in the Atman, there was wholly
wanting that warm-hearted enthusiasm which holds that it
then, and then only, properly enjoys the possession of its own
goods, when it has summoned all the world to participate in
their possession.
Our sources of information are quite too incomplete for us
to be able, while resting on the sure ground of transmitted
facts, to trace even the most prominent only of the landmarks
in the further development of Indian monasticism. Conjectural
constructions must here come to our aid, which, even where
they show with tolerable certainty something like what must
have taken place, yet utterly fail us if we seek for those
touches, which could impart to the picture of this evolution an
appearance of life.
Two events, which stand apparently in close connection
with each other, must have played a prominent part in the
development of this monasticism from its beginning up to the
stage in which Buddha found it : the cohesion of monks and
ascetics into organized fraternities, and therewith the emanci
pation of numbers, or even of a majority and the paramount,
among these fraternities, from the authority of the Yedas.
It appears that these two important occurrences, were
materially influenced by a change of geographical scene. We
spoke in the beginning of this sketch of the difference of
culture in the western and eastern parts of the Gangetic tract :
the holy land of the Yeda, the home of Vedic poetry and Vedic
64: - ASCETICISM-MONASTIC ORDERS.
speculation lies in the west : the east has acquired the Veda
and the Brahmanical system from the intellectually more
advanced west, but this foreign element was not wholly
assimilated, converted into flesh and blood. A different air
blows in the east ; like the language which gives a preference
to the weak Z above the rough r of the west, the whole being
is more relaxed ; the Brahman is here less, the king and the
people more. The movement, which had its origin in the west,
here loses much of the fantastically abstruse which was in
it, probably also something of the bold vastness and clear
sequence of ideas, and thereby gains in popularity ; questions,
which it was chiefly the schools and the intellectual aristocracy
of the nation had touched in the west, change in the east into
vital questions for the people. Here men trouble themselves
but little about the mystic universal one of Brahmanical
speculation;* so much the more decidedly into the foreground
come the ideas of the sorrow of every state of being, of moral
retribution, of purification of the soul, of deliverance.
It cannot be ascertained whether any political convulsions
or social revolutions were also in play at that time, to direct
people s minds with particular earnestness and energy to
thoughts and questions such as these. Christianity founded
its kingdom in times of the keenest suffering, amid the death
struggles of a collapsing world. India lived in more settled
peace ; if the government of its small states was the evil
despotism of the Oriental, men knew of no other government
* It is significant that, although the speculations of the Upanishads
regarding the Atman and the Brahma must, in Buddha s time, have
been long since propounded, and must have become part of the standing
property of the students of the Vedas, the Buddhist texts never enter
into them, not even polemically. The Brahma, as the universal one, is
not alluded to by the Buddhists, either as an element of an alien or of
their own creed, though they very frequently mention the god Brahma.
MONASTIC ORDERS. G/>
and made no complaint ; was the gulf between poverty and
wealth, between knight and yeoman, a wide one and it has
always been so in that land by natural necessity still it was
by no means the poor and oppressed alone, or even chiefly, who
sought in monastic robes freedom from the burdens of the
world.
Voices are raised full of bitter lamentations over the
degeneracy of the age, the insatiable greed of men, which
knows no limit, until death comes and makes rich and poor
alike : " I behold the rich in this world," says a Buddhist
Sutra ;* "of the goods which they have acquired, in their
folly they give nothing to others; they eagerly heap riches
together and farther and still farther they go in their pursuit of
enjoyment. The king, although he may have conquered the
kingdoms of the earth, although he may be ruler of all land
this side the sea, up to the ocean s shore, would, still insatiate,
covet that which is beyond the sea. The king and many other
men, with desires unsatisfied, fall a prey to death ; . . . .
neither relatives nor friends, nor acquaintances, save the dying
man ; the heirs take his property ; but he receives the reward
of his deeds ; no treasures accompany him who dies, nor wife
nor child, nor property nor kingdom." And in another Sutra
it is said :f " the princes, who rule kingdoms, rich in treasures
and wealth, turn their greed against one another, pandering
insatiably to their desires. If these act thus restlessly,
swimming in the stream of impermanence, carried along by
greed and carnal desire, who then can walk on the oarfch in
peace ?"
But from passages like these, current as they are among the
* Batthapala-Suttanta in the " Majjhima-Nikaya," fol. nri of the
Tumour MS.
f " Samyuttaka-Nikaya," vol. i, fol. ku of the Phayre MS.
5
66 ASCETICISM MONASTIC ORDERS.
moral preceptors of all ages and all lands, we cannot infer that
at that time there was an atmosphere prevalent something like
that prevailing at Eome in the sultry period of the early days
of the empire. No such period was necessary for the Indian
to strike him with sudden terror at the picture of life which
surrounded him, to bring to his notice the traces of death in
that picture. From the unprofitableness of a state of being
to which they had not learned to give stability by labours
and struggles for ends worthy of labour and struggle, men
fly to seek peace for the soul in a renunciation of the world.
The rich and the noble still more than the poor and humble ;
the young, wearied of life before life had well begun, rather
than the old, who have nothing more to hope from life ;
women and maidens, abandon their homes and don the garb
of monks and nuns. Everywhere we meet pictures of those
struggles, which every day must have brought in that period,
between those who make this resolution, and the parents, the
wife, the children, who detain those eager for renunciation ;
acts of invincible determination are narrated of those who,
in spite of all opposition, have managed to burst the bonds
which bound them to a home-life.
Soon teachers appeared in more than one place who pro
fessed to have discovered independently of Vedic tradition a
new, and the only true path of deliverance, and such teachers
failed not to attract scholars, who attached themselves to them
in their wanderings through the land. Under the protection
of the most absolute liberty of conscience which has ever
existed, sects were added to sects, the Niggantha " those freed
from fetters,"* the Acelaka "the naked," and by whatever
* This sect, founded by one of the older contemporaries of Buddha,
has maintained its ground to this day under the name of Jaina, especially
in the south and west of the Indian peninsula. The view of it, which we
THEIR INCREASING POPULARITY. G7
other name those communities of monks and nuns named
themselves, into whose midst the young brotherhood of Buddha
entered. The name which people gave to these persons of
self-constituted religious standing in contradistinction to the
Brahinans, whose dignity rested on their birth, was "Samana/ J
i.e., Ascetic ; thus Buddha was called .the Samana Grotama ;
people called his disciples ( the Samanas who follow the son of
the Sakya house." It is probable also that already one and
another among the older Samana-sects had gone so far as to
attribute to the teacher round whom they gathered, dogmatic
attributes in a way similar to that in which the Buddhists
acted at a later time with reference to the founder of their
Church ; the man of the Sakya race is not the only, and
probably not even the first, who has been honoured in India
as " the enlightened one " (Buddha) or as fe the conqueror "
(Jina) ; he was only one among the numerous saviours of the
world and teachers of gods and men who then travelled
through the country, preaching in monastic garb.
The paths of deliverance, by which these masters led their
believers in quest of salvation, were legion; for us, who
possess on this subject only the hardly impartial reports of the
Buddhists and Jainas, their serious thought is, it must be
allowed, covered deeply over with dull or abstruse conceits.
There were Ascetics who lived in self-mortification, denied
themselves nourishment for long periods, did not wash them
selves, did not sit down, rested on beds of thorns ; there were
adherents of the faith in the purifying efficacy of water,
who were intent on purging by continued ablutions all guilt
which clung to them; others aimed at conditions of spiritual
get from its otherwise comparatively modern sacred literature, corresponds
in many essential points with Buddhism. one point of difference lay in
the great importance which the Niggantha attached to penances.
5*
68 SOPHISTIC.
abstraction, and sought, while separating themselves from
all perception of external realities, to imbue themselves with
the feeling of the " eternity of space," or of the " eternity of
reason," or of " not-any thing- whatever-ness," and whatever
else these conditions were called. It may easily be imagined
that, among this multiplicity of holy men, the whimsical were
not unrepresented : we are told of a hen-saint," whose vow
consisted in picking up his food from the ground like a hen
and, as far as possible, in all matters acting like a hen;
another saint of a similar type lived as a " cow-saint," and
thus the Buddhist accounts give a by no means short list of
different kinds of holy men in those days, few among whom
seem to have always been lucky enough to preserve their
holiness from the fate of ridicule and from dangers more
serious than ridicule.
SOPHISTIC.
Certain phenomena which developed themselves in the busy
bustle of these ascetic and philosophizing circles, may be
described as a species of Indian sophistic j wherever a Socrates
appears, sophists cannot fail to follow. The conditions under
which this sophistic arose are in fact quite similar to those
which gave birth to their Greek counterpart. In the footsteps
of those men, such as the Eleatics and the enigmatic Ephesian,
who opened up the highways of thought with their simple
and large ideas, there followed Gorgiases and Prot^gorases,.
and a whole host of ingenious, specious, somewhat frivolous
virtuosi, dealers in dialetic and rhetoric. In exactly the
same way in India there came after the earnest thinkers of the
masculine, classical period of Brahmanical speculation, a younger
SOPHISTIC. 69
generation of dialecticians, professed controversialists with an
overweening materialist or sceptical air, who were not deficient
in either the readiness or the ability to show up all sides of
the ideas of their great predecessors, to modify them, and to
turn them into their opposites. System after system was
constructed, it seems, with tolerably light building material.
We know little more than a series of war-cries : discussions were
raised about eternity or transitoriness of the world and the
ego, or a reconciliation of these opposites, eternity in the one
direction or transitoriness in the other, or about infiniteness
and finiteness of the world, or about the assertion of infiniteness
and finiteness at the same time, or about the negation
of infiniteness as well as finiteness. Then spring up the
beginnings of a logical scepticism, the two doctrines, of which
the fundamental propositions run, " everything appears to me
true," and everything appears to me untrue/ and here
obviously the dialectician, who declares [ every thing to be
untrue, is met forthwith by the question whether he looks
upon this theory of his own also, that everything is untrue, as
likewise untrue. Men wrangle over the existence of a world
beyond, over the continuance after death, over the freedom of
the human will, over the existence of moral retribution. To
Makkhali Gosala, whom Buddha is represented as having
declared to be the worst of all erroneous teachers,* is ascribed
the negation of free will: ee there is no power (of action),
there is no ability ; man has no strength, man has no control :
all beings, everything that breathes, everything that is,
* "As, O ye disciples, of all woven garments which there are, a garment
of hair is deemed the worst a garment of hair, my disciples, is in cold
weather cold, in heat hot, of a dirty colour, has a bad smell, is rough to
the touch so, my disciples, of all doctrines of other ascetics and Brahmans.
the doctrine of Makkhali is deemed the worst." Anguttara Nikdya.
70 SOPHISTIC.
everything that has life is powerless, without power or ability
to control (its own actions); it is hurried on to its goal by fate,
decree, nature 3" every being passes through a fixed series
of re-births, at the end of which the fool as well as the
wise " puts a period to pain." And the existence of a moral
government is also denied ; Purana Kassapa teaches : " If a
man makes a raid on the south bank of the Ganges, kills and
lets kill, lays waste and lets lay waste, burns and lets burn, he
imputes no. guilt to himself ; there is no punishment of guilt.
If a man crosses to the north bank of the Ganges, distributes
and causes to be distributed charity, offers and causes to be-
offered sacrifices, he does not thereby perform a good work ;
there is no reward for good works/ And another ｅxpression
of similar doctrines : the wise and the fool, when the body is
dissolved, are subject to destruction and to annihilation ; they
are not beyond death." In disputations before adherents,
opponents, and great masses of people, these professional
wranglers and " hair-splitters " this word was even then in
use in India made propaganda for their theories ; like their
Greek counterparts, though a good deal coarser, they caused
swaggering reports of their dialectic invincibility to go before
them. Saccaka says : I know no Samana, and no Brahman,
no teacher, no master, no head of a school, even though he
calls himself _the holy supreme Buddha, who, if he face me in
debate, would not totter, tremble, quake, and from whom the
sweat would not exude. And if I attacked a lifeless pillar with
my language, it would totter, tremble, quake ; how much more
a human being \" Possibly, the Buddhists, on whose reports
we are here dependent, may in their animosity against this
class of dialecticians have drawn them in darker colours than
was fair ; the picture of such a sophistic is certainly not all a
fabrication.
SOPHISTIC. 71
At this time of deep and many-sided intellectual movements,
which, had extended from the circles of Brahmanical thinkers
far into the people at large, when amateur studies of the
dialectic routine had already grown up out of the arduous
struggles of the past age over its simple profound thoughts,
when dialectic scepticism began to attack moral ideas at this
time, when a painful longing for deliverance from the burden
of being was met by the first signs of moral decay, Gotama
Buddha appears upon the scene.
PART I.
BUDDHA S LIFE.
CHAPTER I.
THE CHARACTER OF TRADITION LEGEND AND MYTH.
THERE is no lack of current legendary narratives which the
Buddhists relate concerning the founder of their faith. Can
we learn anything of the life of Buddha from them ? Some
have gone farther, and have asked : has Buddha ever lived ?
Or at least, as Buddhism must have had a founder : has that
Buddha ever lived whom those narratives seem to present
to us, though in a superhuman form and in miraculous
surroundings ?*
That ingenious student of Indian antiquity who has occu
pied himself most closely with this question, Emile Senart,-f
answers it with an absolute NO. A Buddha may have lived
somewhere at some period, but that Buddha, of whom Buddhist
tradition speaks, has never lived. This Buddha is not a man :
his birth, the struggles he undergoes, and his death, are not
those of a man.
And what is this Buddha? From the earliest age the
* In the second Excursus at the end of this work the chief authoritative
sources relative to Buddha s life are collected from the sacred Pali texts
and discussed.
t Senart, "Essai sur la legende du Buddha," Paris, 1875.
FORMATION OF RA . ! VON. LEGEND AND MYTH. 73
allegorical poetry of the Indians, like that of the Greeks and
the Germans,, treats of the destinies of the sun-hero : of his
birth from the morning-cloud, which, as soon as it has given
him being, must itself vanish before the rays of its illuminating
child ; of his battle with and victory over the dark demon of
the thunder-cloud ; how he then marches triumphantly across
the firmament, until at last the day declines and the light-hero
succumbs to darkness.
Senart seeks to trace step by step in the history of Buddha s
life, the history of the life of the sun-hero : like the sun from
the clouds of night, he issues from the dark womb of Maya ;
a flash of light pierces through all the world when he is born ;
Maya dies like the morning-cloud which vanishes before the
sun s rays. Like the sun-hero conquering the thunder- demon,
Buddha vanquishes Mara, the Tempter, in dire combat, under
the sacred tree ; the tree is the dark cloud-tree in heaven,
round which the battle of thunderstorm rages. When the
victory is won, Buddha proceeds to preach his evangelium to
all worlds, " to set in motion the wheel of the Law j" this is
the sun-god who sends his illuminating wheel revolving across
the firmament. At last the life of Buddha draws to a close ;
he witnesses the terrible destruction of his whole house, the
Sakya race, which is annihilated by enemies, as at sunset the
powers of light die away in the blood-red tints of the evening
clouds. His own end has now arrived: the flames of the
funeral pile, on which Buddha s corpse is burnt, are extin
guished by streams ^of water, which come pouring down from
heaven, just as the sun-hero dies in the sea of fire kindled by
his own rays, and the last flames of his divine obsequies die
out on the horizon in the moisture of the evening mist.*
* Cf. Senart s work already referred to, especially the resume , p. 504,
seq.
74: SENART AND THE MYTHOLOGICAL
In Senart s opinion, Buddha, the real Buddha, did exist, it
is true : his reality, he admits, is a logical necessity, inasmuch
as we see the reality of the Church founded by him; but
beyond this bare reality there is nothing substantial. The
fancy of his followers attached to his person the great
allegorical ballad of the life of the sun-god in human guise,,
the life of the man Buddha had been forgotten.
one cannot read the ingenious efforts of Senart without
admiring the energy with which the French scholar constrains
the Veda as well as the Indian epic, the literature of the
Greeks as well as that of northern races no small constraint
was here necessary to bear witness for his solar Buddha.
But one is astonished that this so extensive reading has not
availed itself, when dealing with the legends of Buddha, of
one field, which would have presented not less important
sources of information than the Homeric hymns and the Edda :
the oldest available literature of Buddhism itself, the oldest
declarations of the body of Buddha s disciples regarding the
personality of their master. Senart bases his criticism almost
wholly on the legendary biography, the "Lalita-Vistara," current
among the northern Buddhists in Tibet, China and Naipal.
But would it be allowable for any one, who undertook to write-
a criticism on the life of Christ, to set aside the New Testament,
and follow solely the apocryphal gospels or any legendary works
whatsoever of the Middle Ages ? Or does the law of criticism,
which requires us to trace back tradition to its oldest form,
before forming an opinion on it, not deserve to be as closely
observed in the case of Buddhism as in that of Christianity ?
The most ancient traditions of Buddhism are those preserved
in Ceylon and studied by the monks of that island up to the
present day.
While in India itself the Buddhist texts experienced new
CONCEPTION OF BUDDHA. 75
fortunes from century to century, and while the ceremonies of
the original Church were vanishing continually more and more
behind the poetry and fiction of later generations, the Church
of Ceylon remained true to the simple, homely, " Word of the
Ancients" (Theravada). The dialect itself in which it was
recorded contributed to preserve it from corruptions, the
language of the southern Indian territories, whose Churches
and missions had naturally taken the largest share, if not the
initiative, in the conversion of Ceylon.* This language of the
texts (" Pali ""), imported from the south of India, is regarded
in Ceylon as sacred : and it is there supposed that Buddha
himself, and all Buddh as of preceding ages, had spoken it.
Though the legends and speculations of later periods might
find their way into the religious literature produced in the
island and written in the popular tongue of Ceylon, the sacred
Pali texts remained unaffected by them.
It is to the Pali traditions we must go in preference to all
other sources, if we desire to know whether any information
is obtainable regarding Buddha and his life.
There we see first and foremost that from the very begin
ning, as far back as we can go to the time of the earliest
utterances of Buddhist religious consciousness, there is a firm
conviction that the source of saving knowledge and holy life is
the word of a teacher and founder of the Church, whom they
designate the Exalted one (Bhagava), or the Knowing, the
Enlightened one (Buddha). Whoever proposes to enter the
* According to the Church history of the island which has attained a fixed
canonical status in Ceylon, and which first meets us in texts of the fourth
and fifth century after Christ, but which must be based on considerably
older memoranda, Mahinda, the son of the great Indian king Asoka
(circ. 260 B.C.), was the converter of Ceylon. The tradition is in some
essential parts obviously a concoction ; how much or how little truth it
contains, cannot for the present be determined with certainty.
76 THE PALI WRITINGS A8 BASIS OF BUDDHIST TRADITION.
spiritual brotherhood, repeats this formula three times : " I take
my refuge with Buddha ; I take my refuge in the Doctrine : I
take my refuge in the Order. 3 At the fortnightly confession,
the liturgy of which is among the oldest of all the monuments
of Buddhist Church life, the monk, who leads in the confession,
charges the brethren who are present, not to conceal by silence
any sins which they have committed, for silence is lying,
fl And intentional lying, brethren, brings destruction ; thus
hath the Exalted one said." And the same liturgy of con
fession describes monks, who embrace heresies, by putting in
their mouths these words : " Thus I understand the doctrine
which the Exalted one hath preached," etc. Throughout it is
not an impersonal revelation, nor is it the individual s own
thought, but it is the person, the word of the Master, the
Exalted one, the Buddha, which is regarded as the source of
the truth and holy life.
And this master is not regarded as a wise man of the dim
past, but people think of him as of a man, who has lived in a
not very remote past. A century is said to have passed from
his death to the council of the seven hundred fathers at Vesali
{about 380 B.C.), and it may be taken as a fact that the great
bulk of the holy texts, in which from beginning to end his
person and his doctrine are the central points, in which his life
and his death are spoken of, had been already compiled before
this council of the Church assembled : the oldest components
of these texts, such as the liturgy of the confession to which
we have referred, belong in all probability much rather to the
beginning than to the end of this first century after Buddha s
death. The period, therefore, which separates the deponent
witnesses from the events to which they undertake to depose,
is short enough : it is not much longer, probably not at all
longer; than the period which elapsed between the death of
THE HISTORIC f I RACTER OF THE TRADITION. 77
Jesus and the compilation of our gospels. Is it credible that
during the lapse of such a time in the Church of Buddha, all
genuine memory of his life could be extruded by ballads of the
sun-god, transferred to his personality? crushed out in a
brotherhood of ascetics, in whose circle of ideas, according to
the evidence of the literature which they have bequeathed to
us, everything else possessed a higher value than these very
ballads of nature ?
Let us now examine more closely how far the collective
picture of the age of which the sacred texts speak, bears on
the question of Buddha s personality. The Pali books give
us an exceedingly concrete picture of the movements of the
religious world of India at the period in which Buddha, if
he really lived, must have played a part in it; we possess
the most minute details of all the holy men who, sometimes
standing alone and sometimes surrounded by communities
of adherents, with and without organization, some in more
profound and some in more shallow terms, preached to the
people salvation and deliverance. There are mentioned, among
others, as contemporaries of Buddha, six great teachers, to the /
Buddhists naturally false teachers, the heads of six sects holding
other faiths; and we find one of them, Nataputta, according
to Buhler s and Jacobus learned researches, mentioned in the
texts of the Jaina sects, still numerously represented in India
at the present day, as the founder of their faith and the saviour
of these sects, with whom he occupies a place analogous to that
which is given to Buddha in the Buddhist texts. As regards
this Nataputta, we are, therefore, in such a position that we N
possess two groups of accounts those of his own followers, to \
whom he is the holy, the enlightened one, the victor (Jina), the
Buddha the texts of the Jainas also use this last ｅxpression
and the statements of the Buddhists, who stigmatize him /
73 THE HISTORICAL CHARACTER OF THE TRADITION.
as an ascetic leader, teacliing an erroneous doctrine as a
pretender, claiming the dignity which properly belongs to
Buddha. The Buddhists, as well as the Jainas, casually men
tion the place where Nataputta died ; both name the same
place, the town of Pava a small but by no means insignificant
contribution to the value of these traditions. The harmony of
the testimony regarding a collateral fact of this description
makes us conscious that we are here treading on the sure
ground of historical reality.
It is evident that Buddha was a head of a monastic order of
the very same type as that to which Nataputta belonged ; that
he journeyed from town to town in the garb and with all the
external circumstance of an ascetic, taught, and gathered round
himself a band of disciples, to whom he gave their simple
ordinances, such as the Brahmans and the other monastic
brotherhoods possessed.
I hold that, even under the most unfavourable circumstances,
we can lay claim to the possession of this much at least of
reliable information, as reliable as any knowledge of such
things can ever be.
But does all that we can gather end here ? Are there not,
in the masses of fable which tradition places at our disposal,
some further, more specific traces of historical truth to be
found, which contribute to give life to that first outline ?
In order to be able to answer this question, we shall next
describe the aspect of the tradition as regards its details.
Here it must be premised as a cardinal statement : a
biography of Buddha has not come down to us from ancient
times, from the age of the Pali texts, and, we can safely say,
no such biography was in existence then.* This is, moreover,
* This assertion is supported as well by what the Pali texts contain, as
by what they do not contain. They do not contain either a biography
WANT OF AN ANCIENT BIOGRAPH T OF BUDDHA. 79
very easily understood. The idea of biography was foreign to
the mind of that age. To take the life of a man as a whole,
its development from beginning to end, as a unified subject
for literary treatment, this thought, though it appears to us
natural and obvious, had not occurred to any one yet in
that age.
To this was added that in those times the interest in the life
of the master receded entirely behind the interest attached to
his teaching. It was exactly the same in the circles of the
early Christian Church and in the circles of the Socratic
of Buddha, or even the slightest trace of such a thing having been in
existence before, and this alone is conclusive. The loss of texts, which
were once possessed, and a fortiori the loss of all memory of them, is
wholly unmentioned in the literary history of the Tipitaka. on the
contrary, the texts contain here and there unconnected fragments of the
history of Buddha s life, in a form which our Excursus II. will exemplify,
and which cannot be construed as if the complete life of Buddha had at
that time already found a connected literary exposition. Senart (p. 7, 8)
has not overlooked the fact that in the sacred literature of the southern
Buddhists there is no work like the "Lalita Vistara" in the north, in
which there is a connected narrative of Buddha s life up to the beginning
of his career as a teacher. But the explanation which the French scholar
gives of this fact will scarcely gain acceptance with many. The legend
of Buddha, with its popular character, he says, " a du demeurer particu-
lierement vivace parmi les populations dont elle etait reellement 1 ceuvre,
et qui, des le debut, avaient activement collabore a 1 etablissement et aux
progres de la secte nouvelle. A Ceylan au contraire, ou le buddhisme,
s introduisit surtout par une propagande theologique et sacerdotale, des
recits de ce genre n avaient ni pour les predicateurs ni pour leurs
neophytes un interet si sensible ni si vivant." It will not be easy to
prove this alleged difference between the dogmatic tendency of the
Ceylonese, and the leanings of the northern Church to popular legend.
In fact, the greater antiquity of the Pali version of the sacred texts,
compared with the northern editions, infected throughout by later literary
currents, is the sole and completely satisfactory means of explaining the
fact in question.
80 CHARACTER OF THE TRADITION.
schools. Long before people began to commit to writing the
life of Jesus in the manner of our gospels, there was current
in the young communities a collection of discourses and
sayings of Jesus (\6yia /cvpia/cd) ; to this collection was
appended just so much precise narrative matter as was
necessary to call to mind the occasion when, and the external
surroundings amid which, the several discourses were delivered.
This collection of the sayings of Jesus laid no claim to any
historical arrangement or sequence whatever, or to any chrono
logical accuracy. Similarly the Memorabilia Socratica of
Xenophon. The method and manner of Socratic action are
here illustrated by a rich profusion of the individual utterances
of Socrates. But neither Xenophon nor any other of the old
Socratics has given us the life of Socrates. What should
induce them to do so ? The form of Socrates was memorable
to the Socratics for the words of wisdom which came from the
lips of that great, eccentric man, not for the poor external
fortunes of his life.
The development of the traditions of Buddha corresponds as
closely as possible to these parallel illustrations. His disciples
had begun at an early date to fix those discourses which the
great teacher had preached, or at any rate, discourses after the
method and manner in which he had delivered them, and to
deliver these to the Church. They did not omit to note
where and to whom he had uttered or was supposed to have
uttered each word; this was necessary in order to fix in
concrete the situation, and thereby to place the authenticity
of the respective words of Buddha beyond all doubt. But,
when Buddha said so and so, they did not ask. The narratives
begin : At one time or : at this time the exalted Buddha was
tarrying at such and such a place ; as far as dates go, this is
worthless. People in India have never had any organ for the
WANT OF AN ANCIENT BIOGRAPHY OF BUDDHA. 81
when of things : and in the life of an ascetic, such as Buddha
was especially, year after year rolled by so very uniformly that
it must have appeared to them superfluous to ask : When did
this or that happen ? When was this or that word uttered ?
provided any one had ever thought at all of the possibility of
such a question arising.*
Special events in the course of his wandering life, meetings
with this and that other teacher, with this and that worldly
potentate, were associated with the memory of one or other
authentic or invented discourse ; the first stages of his public
career, the conversion of his first disciples, and then again the
end, his farewell address to his followers, and his death, stand
out, as may be readily understood, most prominent of all in
the foreground of these memories. Thus there were bio
graphical fragments, but a biography was compiled from them
for the first time at a much later period.
Comparatively few are the memoranda preserved in the older
authorities regarding the early life of Buddha, the years
preceding the beginning of his professional career, or, to put
it as the Indians are wont to do, the period prior to the attain
ment of the Buddhahood, when he had not yet acquired, but
was still seeking, that saving knowledge, which constituted
him the teacher of the worlds of gods and men. That we hear
less of these days than of others, is explicable. The interest
of the Church was fixed not so much on his worldly character
* At a later time, indeed, this question was actually put, and then
obviously there was no embarrassment felt for a moment in answering it.
Then were drawn up those great lists of what Buddha had said and done
in the sixth, seventh, eighth, etc., year of his Buddhahood (e.g., vide
Bigandet, "Life of G-audama," p. 160, etc.). The utter worthlessness of
these later-produced lists is obvious, when we bear in mind the absolute
silence of the sacred texts as to matters of chronology.
6
82 FORMATION OF TRADITION.
as the child and heir of the Sakya house, as on the person of
the " exalted, sacred, universal Buddha." People desired to
know what he had uttered from that time forward, when he
had become the Buddha; behind that vanished the interest in
everything else, even the interest in this struggle for the
Buddhahood.* It is later centuries which have built up a
history of Buddha with wonders piled on wonders on a scale
quite different from older times, and which first devoted
themselves with special zeal to surrounding the form of the
blessed child with the extravagant creations of a boundless
imagination.
Let us now examine the tradition, meaning, of course, the
older tradition continued in the sacred Pali texts, to define-
accurately of what kind are the fabulous elements contained
in them.
It is obvious that the appearance of the deliverer of the-
world on earth, must have presented itself to the believer s
mind as an event of incomparable importance ; to the Indian,,
who was and is accustomed, in the most trivial incidents of
his own daily life, to pay attention to concomitant omens,,
it would have been the most impossible contingency if the
conception of the exalted, holy, universal Buddha had not
* Moreover, there is in the external form of the Sutra, and Vinaya texts
a point which essentially contributes to explain this receding of narratives
of Buddha s youth. Inasmuch as these texts, with inconsiderable
exceptions, do not contain arbitrary communications, couched in a
freely chosen form, but always an instructive speech of Buddha or an
ordinance prescribed by Buddha for his disciples, it was only occurrences-
in his career as Buddha which could be chosen for the introductory
narratives on the occasions which called for these utterances of Buddha ;
Ms youth could only be touched on in occasional allusions or by
putting in his own mouth communications regarding that period of
liis life.
DIFFERENT GROUPS OF LEGENDARY ELEMENTS. S3
been already announced by the mightiest wonders and signs,
and if the whole universe had not joined in its celebration.
An inconceivably bright flash of light pierces through the
universe ; the worlds quake ; the four divinities, who have in
their protection the four quarters of the heavens, combine to
keep guard over the pregnant mother. The birth is attended
by wonders in no less a degree. The Brahmans possessed lists
of bodily signs which import good and bad fortunes to men ;
the infant Buddha must obviously bear on his person all
auspicious marks in the highest perfection, in the same
perfection as a world-ruling monarch ; the soothsayers declare :
" if he choose a worldly life, he will become a ruler of the
world; if he renounce the world, he will become the
Buddha."
We need not cite any more fabulous embellishments of this
description : their character cannot be mistaken. As it seemed
to the Christian Church an obvious necessity, that all power
and excellence, which the prophets of the Old Testament
possessed, must have dwelt with enhanced glory in the person
of Jesus, it was in the same way natural that the Buddhists
should attribute to the founder of their Church all wonders
and perfections, which, in the Indian mind, were attributed to-
the most powerful heroes and sages. Among the foundations,
on which Indian intuitions rest, regarding that which pertains
to an all-powerful hero and conqueror of the world, the ancient
nature-myth, the original signification of which had long since
ceased to be understood, is obviously not wanting ; and thus it
is not a matter of surprise, if one and another of the traits
which were mentioned in the circles of monks and lay-disciples
as indicating the nobility of Buddha, comes at last through
many media to be connected with that which many centuries
before, among the herdsmen and peasants of the Yedic age,.
6*
84: FORMATION OF TRADITION.
and much earlier still among the common forefathers of the
Indian, Grecian, and German stocks, popular fancy had
associated in song with the sun-hero, the beaming type of all
earthly heroism. This is the element of propriety which
cannot be denied to Senart s theory of the solar Buddha.
As regards another group of legendary touches, it may well
be in part doubted whether we have not in them historical
memories. The elements of the tradition regarding Buddha
hitherto mentioned flowed from the universal belief in
Buddha s all-overpowering might and nobility, but the much
more important and more prominent characteristics, of which
we shall now have to treat, have their origin partly in the
special theological predicates which Buddhist speculation
affirmed of the holy, knowing, Delivered one, and partly in
the external events which regularly occurred in the life of
the Indian ascetic, and which consequently, according to an
inference so naturally drawn by legend, cannot have been
wanting in the life of Buddha, the ideal ascetic.
What makes a Buddha a Buddha is, as his name indicates,
his knowledge. He does not possess this knowledge, like
a Christ, by virtue of a metaphysical superiority of his nature,
surpassing everything earthly, but he has gained it, or, more
strictly speaking, won it by a struggle. The Buddha is at the
same time the Jina, i.e., the conqueror. The history of the
struggle for the Buddhahood must therefore precede the
history of the Buddha.
Battle involves an enemy, a victor the vanquished. The
Prince of Life must be opposed by the Prince of Death. We
have seen how the Indian mind had settled for itself the
identity of the kingdom of death, and the kingdom of this
world. We call to mind the role of the Death-god in the
Yedic poem of Naciketas, to whom he promises long life and
HISTORY OF ATTAimiENT OF DELIVERING KNOWLEDGE. 85
fulfilment of all desire, in order that he might abandon the
pursuit of knowledge. So also there comes to the ascetic
seeking Buddhahood, as his opponent, Mara, Death, the lord of
all worldly desire, which indeed is nothing else than veiled
death. Mara follows his enemy step by step, and watches
for a moment of weakness to overpower his soul. No such
moment comes. Amid many failures and desperate fights
within, Buddha remains throughout unshaken.
When he is on the point of reaching the saving knowledge,
the purchase of all his efforts, Mara approaches him to divert
him by tempting words from the path of salvation. In vain.
Buddha attains the knowledge <( that bringeth salvation " and
the supreme peace.
We choose the narrative of this last struggle and victory,
to illustrate by it the difference between Senart s and our
conception of the nature of these legends.
How does the primitive Church narrate the history of the
attainment of the knowledge which "maketh free ? " What are
the real facts of the occurrence as accepted by them ? This,
and only this, that Buddha, passing through a series of stages
of esctasy, sitting under a tree through the three watches of a
certain night, obtains the threefold sacred knowledge, that his
soul becomes free from all sinful taint, and he becomes partaker
of deliverance with a knowledge of his deliverance.* These
purely theological elements far transcend in importance, in
the opinion of the primitive Church, the struggle with Mara ;
wherever in the sacred Pali texts the attainment of Buddha-
hood is described, there is not a word spoken of Mara.
Some few passages in the textsf narrate distinct encounters
* Vide references to the sacred texts in Excursus II.
t The texts compiled in a verse form are here especially referred to, in
which the legendary element as compared with the purely dogmatic always
86 FORMATION OF TRADITION.
of Buddha with Mara : sometimes they are referred to a timo
not long before and sometimes to a time not long after the
attainment of Buddhahood. Mara endeavours by seductive
speeches to turn him from the path of holiness; mention is
also made of temptresses, who, when the tempter has given up
all for lost, renew the fight ; the daughters of Mara, named
Desire, Unrest, and Pleasure. Buddha remains unmoved in
his peaceful quietude.
These are the unadorned representations of the primitive
Church. The simple thoughts, from which these have been
constructed, are, it seems, so very evident, that it would be no
easy task even for the keen intellect of Senart, to show that
this is the old myth of the victory of the sun-hero over the
cloud-demons. Senart does not even attempt this, but he
leaves this cast of the legends wholly untouched.
He bases his criticism instead on that romance of wonders
into which the grotesque tastes of later ages have transformed
this primitive story.* Buddha sits down under the tree of
knowledge with the firm resolve not to rise until he has
attained the knowledge which " maketh free." Then Mara
advances with his forces ; hosts of demons assail him (Buddha)
with fiery darts, amid the whirl of hurricanes, darkness, and the
downpour of floods of water, to drive him from the tree;
Buddha maintains his position unmoved ; at last the demons fly.
Whoever wishes to give a complete picture of Senart s
mythological fancies, must reproduce the history of this
struggle of Buddha and the demons in much greater detail
comes more into the foreground, than in the prose Sutras. Vide references
in Excursus II.
* The chief sources of this later form of the legend, wholly foreign to
the sacred Pali texts, are the commentary of the " Jataka" (i, p. 69, seq.)
and the "Lalita Vistara" (cap. 19, seq.).
HISTORY OF ATTAINMENT OF DELIVERING KNOWLEDGE. 87
than I can make up my mind to do for this wild and coarse
tableau of miracles and sensations, wholly foreign to ancient
Buddhism. I shall confine myself to the discussion of a few
characteristic points.
The tree under which Buddha sits. Mara is determined to
drive him from it, i.e., naturally, he will defeat his resolve not
to rise until he has attained deliverance. The demon says :
" this place does not belong to you, it belongs to me/
Thus, Senart concludes, the true object of the fight is the
tree. The tree belongs to Mara : Buddha has taken possession
of it. Contesting with him the possession of the tree and
contesting with him the possession of deliverance are the same.
How does the tree come to have this importance ? What is the
tie which connects the possession of the knowledge that brings
deliverance, to which Buddha s efforts are directed, with the
possession of the tree ?
The Veda mentions the heavenly tree which the lightning
strikes down ; the mythology of the Fins speaks of the heavenly
oak which the sun-dwarf uproots. Yama, theVedie god of
death, sits drinking with bands of the blessed under a leafy
tree, just as in the northern Saga Hel s place is afc the root of
the ash Yggdrasill.
The tree is the cloud-tree : in the clouds the heavenly fluid
is stored, and it is guarded by the dark demons ; in the hymns
of the Veda the powers of light and the powers of darkness
fight their great battle for the clouds and the ambrosia which
they contain : this is the identical battle of Buddha with the
hosts of Mara. In the cloud-battle the ambrosia (amrita),
which is in the clouds, is won ; the enlightenment and deliver
ance, which Buddha wins, are also called an ambrosia (amrita) ;
the kingdom of knowledge is the land of immortality (padam
amritam).
88 FORMATION OF TRADITION.
This is Senart s explanation.
Would this acute scholar have ventured it, had he had before
him the old account of the occurrence under the tree which is
composed solely of dogmatic elements such as the description
of the four ecstasies and the threefold knowledge attained by
Buddha ? If he had been aware that Buddha and Mara in the
older texts do not fight under the tree, still less for the tree ?
That the only reference we hear of, made to the tree of
knowledge, the supposed cloud-tree and ambrosia-tree, is this,
that Buddha sat at its foot, when he fell into those trains of
thought, which led him to the highest knowledge ?* Where-
else sat in India in Buddha s time, where else even down to
our days do ascetics, who have no sheltering roof, and all
vagrant folk, sit, but at the foot of a tree ?f We are not com
parative mythologists and we cannot forget that, besides these
cloud-trees which are shattered by lightning or uprooted by
* It is exceedingly characteristic of tlie method of Senart s criticism,,
that he quotes a text of the stamp of the " Saddharmapunda Rika" (p. 247,
note 1), to show the inseparability of the notions, Buddha and a tree of
knowledge ; he should have quoted the sacred Pali texts to show the
complete non-essentiality of the tree.
f Buddha tarries seven days at the foot of the banyan tree Ajapala
(" Mahavagga/ i, 2 and 5), and for the same length of time at the foot of
the Mucalinda tree (i, 3) and of the Bajayatana tree (i, 4). on the
way from Benares to Uruvela he leaves the street to sit down at the foot
of a tree in a grove. Similarly the monk Kassapa (" Cullavagga," xi, 1, 1)^
Ananda, urged by Buddha to leave him alone for awhile, " set himself
down at the foot of a tree not far off" ("Maha ParinibbanaS.,"p.24)*
In a description of the ascetic exerting himself, it is said (in the
" Culahatthipadopamasutta ") : " He dwells in a lonely spot, in a grove,
at the foot of a tree, on a mountain, in a cave, in a mountain grotto, in a
burial-place, in the wilderness, under an open sky, on a heap of straw. 5
(Cf. also " Cftllavagga/ vi, 1, 1.) The number of these instances of the
tarrying of ascetics under trees may be multiplied ad libitum, if there
be any necessity.
HISTORY OF ATTAIN31ENT OF DELIVERING KNOWLEDGE. SO 1
the sun-dwarf, there grow other trees also on the earth, and
we go so far as to surmise, that the trees, at the foot of which
Gotama Buddha was wont to sit and meditate, belonged to this-
latter, much less deep-meaning but more widely extended, class
of trees.
Nor are we more successful in the effort to persuade ourselves
of the mythical character of the remaining elements of the narra
tive,* than we have been in the case of the Tree of Knowledge.
The demons, who make an assault on Buddha, fling mountains,
of fire, trees with their roots, glowing masses of iron, and
" as if these so evident and obvious -symbols did not Suffice,,
rain, darkness and lightning complete the picture, and figure
* But not so regarding the mythological significance of the person of
Mara himself as a thunder-demon. It is entirely misleading to call up,,
in order to explain so simple and transparent a conception as that of
Mara, the whole host of Vedic mythology and symbolical conceptions
from the first-born Kama (Love) to the airy Agni and the demon jNamuci.
The original and prevailing idea which finds ｅxpression in the personifica
tion of Mara, is that of death ; the name indicates this clearly enough
(" Mara, in loc. Antaka ;" cf. antea, p. 58, note). But that the prince of
death is at the same time the ruler of the kingdom of earthly pleasure,
the tempter to this pleasure, and is thus connected with Kama, is
adequately accounted for in the course of development, which pre-
Buddhist as well as Buddhist speculation has taken (vide antea, p. 58).
Least of all can it cause astonishment, when Buddhist poetry occasionally
gives to Mara, the evil enemy, the name of Namuci, a demon, who is
named in the Veda as an enemy of Indra (the " Qatapatha Br," xii, 7, 3, 4,.
also observes in a discussion on Rig V. viii, 14, 13 : papma vai Namucih).
The nature of the case forbids us seeking to draw my thological inferences
from such uses of names as do not flow from the nature of the being
of whom they are used, but are purely secondary. If we speak of the
Titanic nature of a Faust, who would venture to build thereon mytho
logical theories as to the origin of the Faust legend ? The identity of
the Buddhist Mara with the Mairya (epithet of Ahriman, who tempts
Zoroaster) of the Avesta is considerately waived by Senart (p. 244, note)
and after his example by Darmesteter (" Ormazd et Ahriman," p. 202).
90 FORMATION OF TRADITION.
as the most characteristic touches of the whole scene."* It
does seem to us as if nothing can be less characteristic than
these very touches ; nothing presents itself to the fancy as
more natural or necessary for the assaults of bands of demons
than the accessories of lightning, thunder and darkness.f Or
are those spirits also, by whom Caliban is tormented on the
magic island, thunder-demons ?
The vanquished Mara is compared to a trunk without hands
.and feet,J and precisely in the same way the cloud-demon
Vritra, whom Indra crushes with his thunderbolt, is styled in
ihe Yeda " footless and handless." But what is thus said of
Mara is nothing more than one in a hundred similes used
regarding him, and therefore means very little ; and, further
more, can one not lose hands and feet in any other battles
beside the battle of the thunder-storm ?
But enough of these vagaries of the sunshine theory. We
may say in a word : the components which go to make up the
history of the attainment of the Buddhahood, and, we may
;-add, countless similar narratives in the legends of Buddha, are
not to be explained by reference to the mythology of the Yeda,
and still less to that of the Edda, but by the dogmatics of the
Buddhist doctrine of deliverance and the external conditions
-and habits of Buddhist monastic life.
one class of doubts, however, and this is evident, cannot be
fully resolved by this method of explanation. In each indi
vidual instance in which we have succeeded in showing that
* Senart, p. 200.
f It is, perhaps, possible that one or other of these touches may have
first received its concrete form in the fables of the battle of the clouds,
and may thenceforward have kept its place before the fancy; but that
would do very little for Senarl s theory.
J Senart, p. 202.
EXTERNAL SURROUNDINGS OF BUDDHA S LIFE. 91
occurrences narrated of Buddha are frequent, or even constant,
events in the life of Indian ascetics generally, one may pro
ceed to reason further in two different ways. Either, here we
!have before us credible memoranda, for we see that things
were wont to take this course ; or, here we have not credible
memoranda before us, for, inasmuch as this course is the
Tegular course which things took in the period succeeding
Buddha s death, the legends of Buddha s life must have been
concocted so as to suit this precise course of events and no
other.
To decide with certainty which of the two lines of reasoning ,
is proper to pursue in each case is absolutely impossible.
He who has arrived at this stage of the investigation must
unreservedly acknowledge the limits which are here placed to
inquiry, or, at all events, he must acquiesce in making up his
mind as to the greater or less degree of probability in the one
or the other of the two alternatives, and, in doing so, it will
be impossible, of course, quite to exclude the momentum of
subjective feeling from the momenta determining this decision.
If we now abstract from the traditions those of the categories
indicated, which are wholly unhistorical, or are at least sus
pected to be of unhistorical character, we then have left as
the very pith of these stories regarding Buddha a thread of
facts, which we may claim to be a perfectly reliable, though, it
may be, a very meagre, historical acquisition.
We know about Buddha s native country and about the i
family from which he came. We know about his parents, the
Dearly death of his mother, and about her sister, who brought up
the boy. We know a number of other facts which extend over
the several parts of his life. It would indeed be quite incon
ceivable, even in India, if the Church which called itself by the
name of the son of the Sakya house had, within a century
92 FORMATION OF TRADITION.
after his death, ceased to preserve, even though veiled in
legend, a correct memory of the most important names of the
persons round Buddha, and of certain leading public events in
his life. Who would admit it possible for the memory of
Joseph and Mary, of Peter and John, of Judas and Pilate,,
of Nazareth and Golgotha, to be forgotten or supplanted by
inventions in the early Christian Churches of the first century ?
Here, if anywhere, it is fair to accept simple facts as such.
Or are we in error, and is that criticism in the right which
even here discovers gross deception ? Must not even the
name of Buddha s native town, Kapilavatthu, excite suspicion ?
The abode of the Kapila, the mythical primitive philosopher
Kapila, the founder of the Sankhya school ?* Why should we
not seek, aye, and find, arcana of mythology, allegory and
literary history in such a name ? Especially when of opinion,,
as Senart is,-}- that the very existence itself of such a town is
not guaranteed to us on any satisfactory evidence whatever.
Is the evidence really unreliable ? The Chinese pilgrims,,
who travelled in India in the fifth and seventh centuries after
Christ, saw the ruins of the town. J But, interposes Senart, no
* The alleged derivation of Buddhism from the Sankhya philosophy
plays an important part in many sketches of this as well as of other
philosophies. I know nothing hetter to say on this subject than what
Max Miillerhas already said (" Chips from a German Workshop," i, 226):
" We have looked in vain for any definite similarities between the system
of Kapila, as known to us in the Sankhyasutras, and the Abhidarma, or
the metaphysics of the Buddhists."
t P. 512, Cf. p. 380, sec., and also Weber, " Indische Literatur
Geschichte " (2 Auflage), p. 303. Senart finds, as was to be expected, in
Kapilavatthu, " la ville, la fortresse de I atmosphere."
J It is much to be regretted that General Cunningham, when he
travelled the districts concerned for his archaeological researches, allowed
himself to be so far led astray by his geographical theories, which are on
this point decidedly erroneous, as to look for the ruins of Kapilavatthu
EXTERNAL SURROUNDINGS OF BUDDHA S LIFE. 03
one can tell by looking at the ruins whether the town to which
they belong, was called Kapilavatthu. Unfortunately, most
assuredly no one can tell by a look, although there is always
some weight to be attached to the local traditions connected
with the place, and in this case also to the monuments still
extant in the time of those Chinese pilgrims. The strongest
Confirmation, however, of what the Chinese pilgrims state,
lies in the fact that, on the one hand, the occasional direct
statements and indirect hints of the sacred Pali works
regarding the site of the town, and, on the other hand, the
route of the pilgrims who looked for it, if both be traced
on the map of India, coincide exactly : in addition to this,
-at the very place where, according to this evidence, Buddha s
home must have been, there is a small stream which, even in
the present day, bears the same name (Rohim) as was borne by
a stream in the territory of the Sakyas often mentioned in
the Buddhist traditions. I hold, stronger indications it is
impossible to expect of an early demolished town in a country
in which systematic excavations have not yet been made.*
Buddha s mother Maya (i.e., "miraculous power ) has also
become a mark for criticism because of her significant name.
To Senart, Maya, who dies a few days after the birth of her
in a wrong place ; a fresh search in the regions clearly indicated by the
texts would be most desirable.
* When Senart feels the want of a positive authority for the existence
of .Kapilavatthu, he has in his mind the silence of the Brahmanical
literature, especially the great epic poems. Whoever considers at once
what the epics, which were composed in the more westerly parts of India
and the subject-matter of which lies chiefly in tlie more westerly lands,
do yield for the geography of the east of the peninsula, and what they do
not yield, will find their silence very explicable in the matter of this
certainly not very important, and moreover very early destroyed, town of
Kapilavatthu.
94: FORMATION OF TRADITION.
son, is the morning vapour, which vanishes before the rays of
the sun. Weber,* who thought at an earlier period that he had
discovered in Maya s name a reference to the cosmic power of
Maya in the Sankhya philosophy, has himself revoked this
opinion elsewhere at a later period, remembering that the-
notion of the Maya belongs, not to the Sankhya school, but to
the Vedanta system ; it may be added, that every philosophico-
mystical idea of the Maya is wholly foreign to the ancient
Buddhist texts throughout, and consequently the name of
Buddha s mother cannot have been invented out of deference-
to any such idea.f
We must admit that we place greater reliance on tradition.
We believe that the town of Kapilavatthu had once an
existence, that Buddha passed his youth there, and that the
sacred texts name his mother Maya, not because of any
mythical or allegorical secrets, but because she was so called.
Having unfolded our estimate of the value of the tradition,
we now proceed to sketch the history of Buddha s life.
* " Literaturgescliichte," I.e. Cf. Koppen, " Die Religion des Buddha,"
i, 76.
f Even Maya s sister, Mahaprajapati, does not escape the fate, that
curious secrets have been supposed to be veiled in her significantly
sounding name. (Senart, p. 339, note 1.) Senart translates Prajapati
* : creatrix," not without himself seeing that this is contrary to gram
matical rule. Did the variante Prajavati (in the " Lai. Vist.") rightly
noticed by him, not remind the distinguished Pali scholar, that the word
does not mean "creatrix" at all, but stands for Prajavati, "prolific
in descendants?" In Pali pajapati (=prajavati) is a very common
appellation for " wife." See Childers, sub. verb, and " Mahavagga," i, 14,.
1, 2 ; x, 2, 3, 8. The meaning of the proper name is therefore quite
of a harmless nature.
CHAPTEK II.
BUDDHA S YOUTH.
THE noble boy Siddhattha was born in the country and the
tribe of the Sakyas ("The Powerful") somewhere about the
middle of the sixth century before Christ. Better known than
this name which he seems to have borne in the family circle,,
are other appellations. As a preaching monk wandering
through India he was to his contemporaries "The ascetic
Gotama " this surname the Sakyas had, in accordance with
the custom of Indian noble families, borrowed from one of the
ancient Yedic bard-families ; to us no name for this renowned
of all Indians is so familiar as that with which the disciples
who accepted his faith have expressed his authoritative position
as the overthrower of error, as the discerner of the truth which
gives deliverance, the name Buddha, i.e., "the enlightened/
"the knower."
We can point out the native land of Buddha on the map of
India with tolerable accuracy.
Between the Nepalese lower range of the Himalaya and the
middle part of the course of the Rapti,* which runs through the
north-eastern part of the province of Oudh, there stretches
a strip of level, fruitful land,f some thirty English miles broad,
* This river often appears in the Buddhist literature as Aciravati.
t The Chinese pilgrim Hiouen Thsang (about 650 A.C.) says of
Buddha s native state (St. Julien s Translation, ii, 130): "La terre
est grasse et fertile ; les semailles et les recoltes ont lieu a des epoques
regulieres ; les saisons ne se derangent jamais ; les moeurs des habitants
sont douces et faciles."
W BUDDHA S YOUTH.
well-watered by the numerous streams tliat issue from the
Himalayas. Here lay the not very extensive territory over
which the Sakyas claimed supremacy and dominion. on the
east the Rohini separated their lands from their neighbours ; to
this day this stream has preserved the name which it bore
more than two thousand years ago.* on the west and south
the rule of the Sakyas extended quite up, or nearly so, to the
Rapti.f
Scarcely anywhere does the appearance of a country depend
so completely on the activity or sloth of its inhabitants, as in
these parts of India adjoining the Himalayas. The mountains
send forth year by year inexhaustible volumes of water :
whether for the benefit or for the destruction of the country
depends solely on man s activity. Tracts of land which in
times of unrest and thriftlessness are a swampy wilderness,
the homes of pestilential vapours, may by a few years of
regular and steady industry pass into a state of high and
prosperous culture, and, if the causes of decline set in anew,
return still more quickly to the state of a wilderness.
In the time of Sakya sovereignty this land must have been
highly cultivated, a condition which it again attained under
the government of the great emperor Akbar, and which, after
long periods of protracted disquiet and sore decay, it is just
now beginning once more to approach under the beneficent
* The Rohini falls into the Rapti near Goruckpore, some hundred
English miles north of Benares.
f The territory of the Sakyas included, as far as it appears, according
to the present divisions of the land, approximately the following circles
(pergunnahs) belonging to the Goruckpore district: Binayakpore,
Bansee, and the western half of pergunnah Haveli. For an exact
estimate of tke extent of this territory the data at hand are obviously
insufficient; I might quite roughly estimate it at nine-tenths the area of
Yorkshire.
LAND OF THE SAKYAS. 1)7
hand of the British administration, which is intent on sup
plying the land with the necessary working power.*
Between tall forests of sal trees yellow rice-fields spread
out in uniform richness. The rice plant,, which the Buddhist
texts here mention, constitutes to-day, as in ancient times, the
chief crop of this country, where the water of the rainy season
and of inundations remains long standing on the rich soil of
the low lying flats, and renders in great measure superfluous
that excessively troublesome artificial irrigation which is else
where necessary for rice.f Between the rice-fields we may here
and there place villages in the days of the Sakyas such as exist
to-day, hidden among the rich, dark-green foliage of mangos
and tamarinds, which surround the village site. In the back
ground of the picture, over the black masses of the mountains
of Nepal, rise the towering snow-capt summits of tie Hima
layas.
The kingdom of the Sakyas was one of those small
aristocratic governments, a number of which had maintained
themselves on the outskirts of the greater Indian monarchies.
We shall not be far astray if we picture to ourselves the
Sakyas as the forerunners in some fashion of such Eajput
families as have in later times, by the aid of armed bands, held
their ground against neighbouring rajas. J Of these greater
* Cf. the descriptions of Buchanan, who travelled in the country about
1810 (Montgomery Martin, ii, 292, 402, etc.), with A. Swinton s " Manual
of Statistics of the district of Goruckpore " (Allahabad, 1861), and the
new official "Statistical description and historical account of the
Gorakhpore district" (Allahabad, 1880), pp. 287-330.
t Inter alia, the importance of rice cultivation to the Sakyas is evident
from the name of Buddha s father, " pure rice," probably also from the
otherwise seemingly fictitious names of his four brothers : clear-rice,
strong-rice, white-rice, and immeasurable-rice.
t An instructive picture of these occurrences is given by Sir W. H.
Sleeman, in his " Journey through the Kingdom of Oude," for inst.
vol. i, p. 240.
98 BUDDHA S YOUTH.
monarchies there stood in closest proximity to the Sakyas, the
powerful kingdom of Kosala (corresponding pretty nearly with
the Oudh of to-day), adjoining it on the south and west. The
Sakyas looked on themselves as Kosalas, and the kings of
Kosala claimed certain rights over them, though probably
merely honorary rights ; later on they are said to have brought
the Sakya-land wholly within their power, and to have
exterminated the ruling family.*
But though the Sakyas occupied but an insignificant
position in respect of military and political power among their
neighbours, the haughty spirit which prevailed in their ancient
family was characteristic of the Sakya line. Brahmans who
had entered the council chamber of the Sakyas could testify
to the little notice which these worldly nobles, who derived
their nobility from the king Okkaka (Ikshvaku), renowned in
song, were inclined to take of the claims of spiritual digna-
taries.
Of the wealth also of the Sakyasf our authorities speak
frequently. They talk of them as "a family blessed with
prosperity and great opulence/ and mention the gold which
they possess, and which the land they rule produces. The
chief source of their wealth was undoubtedly rice cultivation ;
* The Kosala king to whom this act is ascribed, is Vidudabha, the son
of Buddha s contemporary and patron, Pasenadi. Though later legends
represent the Sakyas as having been destroyed during Buddha s life-time,
this is not, as far as I know, supported by any proof contained in the
sacred Pali texts. Moreover the history of Buddha s relics (" Mahaparin,"
S. p. 68) clearly states that the Sakya dynasty survived Buddha.
f Indeed, it must not be forgotten that the value of these statements
is not quite indisputable; inasmuch as the object was to represent
Buddha s separation from his kin, as being, from a worldly point of view,
a very great sacrifice, the wealth which he renounced must have been
painted in the strongest colours possible. Tliis is to be noticed also in
the biography of Mahavira, Buddha s contemporary, the founder of
the Jaina sect.
FAMILY OF THE SAKYAS. 09
and the advantageous position of their territory, commercially,
which had been formed, as it were, for a medium of communi
cation between the mountain range and the Gangetic plains,
cannot have been unavailed of.
A widespread tradition represents Buddha as having been a
king s son. At the head of this aristocratic community there
must certainly have been some one leading man, appointed,
we know not by what rules, with the title of king, which can
scarcely in this case have indicated more than the position
of primus inter pares. But the idea that Buddha s father,
Suddhodana, enjoyed this royal dignity is quite foreign to
the oldest forms in which the traditions regarding the family
are presented to us : rather, we have nothing more or less to
contemplate in Suddhodana than one of the great and wealthy
landowners of the Sakya race, whom later legends first trans
formed into the " great king Suddhodana."
The Triof.hftrnfJjifijMdj Maya, also a member of the Sakya
stock, died soon seven days, it is said after the birth ^oJLthe.
boy. Her sister, Mahapajapati, another wife of Suddhodana,
filled for him the place of mother.
Traditional story represents with apparent truth that the
young noble passed his youth in the capital of the Sakya realm,
in Kapilavatthu ("red place," or red earth).* This town,
wholly unknownf to Brahmanical literature, cannot have been
of much importance, although in an old Buddhist dialogue it is
* Montg. Martin, i, 293, says of Goruckpore district : " No soil of a
red colour was observed on the surface, although earths of this kind may
be procured by digging." This is quite sufficient, if we consider the
changes caused in the earth s surface by inundations in the course
of more than two thousand years, to explain the name Kapilavatthu.
Swinton (p. 33) mentions " red spots resembling carbonate of iron,"
in the sandy beds under the surface of the yellow earth.
f Antea, note p. 93.
100 BUDDHA S YOUTH.
spoken of as a densely populated place, in the narrow streets
of which were thronging elephants, carts, horses, and men.
We know scarcely anything of Buddha s childhood. We
hear of a step-brother and of a step-sister renowned for her
beauty, children of Mahapajapati. What was the difference-
of age between them and their brother, is not known.
In the training of nobles in those lands which were but
slightly attached to Brahmanism, more attention was paid to
martial exercises than to knowledge of the Teda. Buddhists
have not attributed Yedic scholarship to their master. Many
a day may have been passed by the boy out of doors on his
father s estate, indulging in meditations, as an old text describes
him to us, in a field under the cool shade of a fragrant jamb 12
tree (rose-apple).
Among the opulent and gentle youth of that age, it was
indispensable to the comfort of a style of life in keeping with
their dignity, to have three palaces, which were constructed to
be occupied by turns corresponding to the changes of winter,
summer, and rains. Tradition states that the coming Buddha
passed his early years in three such palaces, a life the back
ground of which was the same scenery, the wonderful
splendour of which then surrounded, and, still unchanged, now
surrounds, the habitations of Indian nobles; shady gardens
with lotus-pools on which the gently waving, gay-coloured
lotus-flowers gleam like floating flower beds, and in the evening
diffuse their fragrance afar, and outside the town the pleasure
grounds to which the walks or elephant-rides lead, where rest
and solitude await the comer, far from the bustle of the town,
beneath the shade of tall and thick foliaged mango, pipal
and sal-trees.
We are told that the coming Buddha was married but
whether to one or several wives is not known and that he had
a son, Bahula, who afterwards became a member of his religious
CHILDHOOD AND MARRIAGE. 101
Order, These statements we can the less regard as concoctions,
the more casually and incidentally they meet us in the older
traditions, the person of Rahula or of his mother* being there
employed neither for didactic purposes nor to introduce pathetic
situations. If one takes into account the part which the
obligation of austere chastity plays in the ethical views and
the monastic rules of the Buddhists, he will understand that
had we before us here not facts but gratuitous inventions, the -
tendency of the fabricators of the history must have been
rather to throw a veil over a real existing marriage of Buddha
than to invent one which had no existence.
These scanty traces exhaust all that is handed down to us,
credible concerning Buddha s early life. We must forbear
asking the question, from what quarter and in what form the
germs of those thoughts entered his soul which drove him to
change home for exile and the plenty of his palaces for the
poverty of a mendicant.
We can very readily understand how, in the oppressive
monotony of idle ease and satiated enjoyment, there may have
oome directly over an earnest and vigorous nature a mood of
restlessness, the thirst for a career and a struggle for the
highest aims, and the despair at the same time to find anything
to assuage that thirst in the empty world of transitory pleasure.
Who knows anythingjof the form which these thoughts may
have assumed in the mind of the youth, and how far the
impulse which pervaded that age, and led men and women to
leave home for an ascetic life, acting from without upon these
inner pre-dispositions, may have influenced him also ?
* Her name appears to have been unknown to the ancient Church.
Copious inventions of later times first filled up these gaps in various ways.
Cf. Davids and my notes to our English translation of the Mahavagga,"
i, 54.
102 BUDDHA S YOUTH.
We have in one of the holy texts a description which shows-
in bare simplicity, how the early disciples represented to them
selves the awakening of the fundamental ideas of their faith in
the mind of their master.
Buddha is speaking to his disciples of his youth, and after
he has spoken of the abundance which surrounded him in his
palaces, he goes on to say :
"With such wealth was I endowed, my disciples, and in
such great magnificence did I live. Then these thoughts arose
within me. A weak-minded, everyday man, although he is
himself liable to decay and is not free from the power of old
age, feels horror, revulsion and disgust, if he sees another
person in old age : the horror which he then feels recoils oil
himself. I also am subject to decay and am not free from the
power of old age. Should I also, who am subject to decay
and am not free from the power of old age, feel horror,
revulsion, and disgust, if I see another in old age ? This
would not be becoming to me/ While I thus reflected, my
disciples, in my own mind, all that buoyancy of youth, which
dwells in the young, sank within me. A weak-minded every
day man, though he be himself liable to sickness, and is not
free from the power of disease," and so on then the same
train of thought, which has been stated regarding old age and.
youth, follows in reference to disease and health, and then in
regard to death and life. " While I, my disciples," thus ends
this passage, " thus reflected in my mind, all that spirit of life
which dwells in life, sank within rne."
A later age desired to see illustrated in concrete occurrences,
/ how for the first time and with impressive power the thoughts
of old age, disease, and death crept over the young man,,
healthy and in the freshness of life, and how he was directed
by some significant example to that path which leads away
DEPARTURE FROM HOME. 103
beyond the power of all suffering. Thus was invented, or
rather transferred to the youth of Gotama, a legend which was
narrated of one of the legendary Buddhas of bygone ages the
familiar history of the four drives of the youth to the garden
outside the town, during which the pictures of the imper-
manence of everything earthly presented themselves to him
one after the other, in the form of a helpless old man, a sick
person, and a dead body; and at last a religious mendicant
wTth^shavenlbLead and wearing yellow garments meets him, a
picture of peace and of deliverance from all pain of imper-
manence. In that way later tradition concocted this narrative
preparatory to the flight of Gotama from his home. Of all this
the early ages knew nothing.
When Gotama left home to lead a religious life, he was,
according to good tradition, twenj}yj-nine_ygars old.
He must have been no mean poet in whose hand the history
of this flight grew into that poem, rich in the splendour of
Indian colouring, as we read it in the later books of legends. ^
The king s son returns from that drive during which, by the ^
appearance of a religious mendicant, thoughts of a life of
peaceful renunciation had come home to him. When he
mounts his chariot, the birth of a son is announced to him. --^
He says : " Bahula* is born to me, a fetter has been forged for
me "_a fetter which tries to bind him to the home-life from
which he is struggling to part. A princess, who is standing on-
the balcony of the palace, beholds him as he approaches the
city on his chariot, diffusing a beaming radiance. She breaks
out at the sight of him into these words : " Happy the repose
of the mother, happy the repose of the father, happy the
repose of the wife, whose he is, such a husband !" The young
* In the name Kahula there seems to be an allusion to Eahu, the sun
and moon subduing (darkening) demon.
BUDDHA S YOUTH.
man hears her words and thinks to himself: " well might she
say that a blessed repose enters the heart of a mother, when
she beholds such a son, and blessed repose enters the heart of
a father and the heart of a wife. But whence comes the repose
which brings happiness to the heart?" And he gives the
answer himself : " when the fire of lust is extinguished, when
the fire of hatred and infatuation is extinguished, when
-ambition, error, and all sins and sorrows are extinguished, then
the heart finds happy repose/
In hisjpalace the prince was surrounded by beautiful, gaily-
attired handmaids, who sought to dissipate his thoughts with
music and dance : but he neither looks upon nor listens to them,
and soon falls into sleep. He wakes up at night and sees by
the light of the lamps those dancing-girls wrapt in slumber,
some talking in their sleep, some with running mouths, and of
others again the clothes have become disarranged and exposed
repulsive deformities of the body. At this sight it was to him
as if he were in a burial-place full of disfigured corpses, as
if the house around him were in flames. "Alas! danger
surrounds me/ he cried, "alas ! distress surrounds me ! Now
is the time come for me to go on the great pilgrimage."
Before hastening away, he thinks of his new-born son : "I will
see my child." He goes to his wife s chamber, where she is
sleeping on a flower-strewn couch, with her hand spread over
the child s head. Then the thought occurs to him: "If I
move her hand from his head to clasp my child, she will awake.
When I shall have become Buddha, I shall return and see
TEi5D^ :;rr: H^^ outside, and
thus the prince flies^^een_by^o_human_eye, away from wife
and child and from-Ms kingdon, out int^the~^ight, to find rest
for his soul and for the world and the gods, and behind him
follows Mara, the tempter, shadow-like, and watches till
LEPARTURE FROM HOME. 105
perchance a moment may come, when a thought of lust or
iunrighteousness, entering the struggling soul, will give him
power over the hated enemy.
That is poetry ; now listen to the bare prose, in which an
older age speaks of the flight, or rather of the departure of
Gotama, from his home :
" The ascetic Gotama has gone from home into hornelessness,
while still young, young in years, in the bloom of youthful
strength, in the first freshness of life. The ascetic Gotama,
although his parents did not wish it, although they shed tears
and wept, has had his hair and beard shaved, has put on yellow
garments, and has gone from his home into homelessness."
Or, as it is put in another place : " Distressing is life at home,
.a state of impurity: freedom is in leaving home: while he
reflected thus, he left his home."
It is necessary, in the face of the highly coloured poetical
form into which later ages have thrown the history of Buddha s
departure from Kapilavatthu, to remember these unadorned
fragments of the little which older generations knew or desired
to know of these things.
After the early life passed at home comes the period of
homelessness, of wandering ascetic life. only in his case who
has severed the ties of home and family, can the effort to attain
eternal blessings lead to success ; such was the conception of
that age.
Seven years of inquiry are stated to have passed from the
day when Gotama left bisnative town, till the consciqusness_of
realizatio^TwaTlmparted to him, till he felt himself to be the
Buddha, the" deliverer, and the preacher of deliverance to the
worlds"of gods and men.
HelmsTed~HSself during this period of seven years at first
to the guidance of two successive spiritual teachers, to find
106 BUDDHA S YOUTH.
what the language of that time termed " the highest state of
sublime repose/ the " unoriginated, the Nirvana, the eternal
state." The path, in which, these teachers directed him, must
have been grounded on the production of pathological conditions
of self-concentration, such as have in later Buddhism played a
not unimportant part : conditions in which, by a long-continued
observance of certain bodily discipline, the spirit seeks to divest
itself of all concrete subject-matter, of every entity, of every
conception, and, as is added, even of conceptionlessness.
Then he left these teachers unsatisfied, and travelled
through the land of Magadha until he came to the town o
Uruvela.* An old narrative puts these words into his mouth
when he speaks of this wandering : " Then, disciples, I
thought within myself : truly this is a charming spot of earth,
a beautiful forest : clear flows the river, with pleasant bathing-
places, and fair lie the villages round about, to which one can
go : here are good quarters for one of high resolve, who is in-
search of salvation."
Then in the woods of Uruvela Gotama is said to have lived
many years in the sergre^juiiscinlme. It is described how ho
sat there, his tongue pressed against his palate, resolutely
"checking, repressing, chastening^ his aspirations, waiting
the moment, when the supernatural illumination should come
upon him. It comes not. He struggles for a still more
perfect performance by imposing the greatest strains on his
physical frame : he holds his breath : he denies himself
nourishment. Five -other ascetics are living in his neighbour
hood : in astonishment at the resolution with which he pursues
his mortifications, they wait to see will he be made partaker of
* Buddha Gaya, south of Patna. The oft -mentioned river Neranjara,
is there called Phalgu now. Cf. Cunningham, " Ancient Geography of
India," p. 457.
HERMIT LIFE. 10T
the longed-for enlightenment, in order that they may tread^as;
his" disciples tEe~path of deliverance indicated by him. His
body becomes attenuated by self-inflicted pain, but he JjMg
himself no nearer the goal. He sees that self -mortifications
cannot lead to enlightenment : so he takes nourishment again
freely to regain his former strength. Then his five companions
abandon him : he seems to them to have deserted his own
cause, and there appears to be nothing more to hope for or of
him. So Grotama remains alone.
one rngTit, the oldjraditipns jnarrate, the decisive turning
point^came, the moment wherein wasjyouchsafed to the_seeker
the certainty of discovery. Sitting under the tree, since then
named the Tree of Knowledge, he went through successively
purer and purer stages of abstraction of consciousness, until
the sense of omniscient illumination "Came over him : in all-
piercingTntmtron he pressed on to apprehend the wanderings
of spirits in the mazes of transmigration, and to attain the
knowledge of the sources whence flows the suffering of the
world, and of the path which leads to the extinction of this
suffering.
" When I apprehended this/ he is reported to have said of
this moment, "and when I beheld this, my soul was released
from the evil of desire, released from the evil of earthly
existence, released from the evil of error, released from the
evil of ignorance. In the released awoke the knowledge of
release : extinct is re-birth, finished the sacred course, duty
done, no more shall I return to this world ; this I knew."
This moment the Buddhist regard as the great turning-
point in his life and in the life of the worlds of gods and men :
the ascetic Gotama had becomejtlie Buddha, the awakened, the
enlightened. That night which Buddh^mssed under the tree-
108 BVDDHA 8 YOUTH.
of knowledge,* on the banks of the river Neranjara, is the
rsacred night of the Buddhist world.
Thus the holy text narrates the history of the inner struggles
of Gotama and his untiring pursuit of knowledge and peace.
Is there any historical fact in this narrative ?
We are here face to face with a question, on which the
analysis of the historical critic is unable to return a clear and
bold verdict, a decisive Yes or No.
The character of the sources does not of itself determine
whether we here have historical fact or legend before us. r ln
the authorities unquestionable truth is mixed up with just as
unquestionable romance : the history of the attainment of
Buddhahood does not bear any direct traces of being either the
one or the other.
So much is clear that, granted even that Buddha had not
experienced, and had not even professed to have experienced,
something analogous to this, sfcill the existence of this narrative
among the groups of his disciples can be readily understood.
If he was the Buddha, if he possessed sacred knowledge, he
must at some place and at some definite moment have become
the Buddha, have attained that sacred knowledge, and before
this moment there must have been legend- weaving fancy
could scarcely have overlooked this conclusion a period in
which the consciousness that he was still far from his goal,
dominated strongly and painfully. What can this period of
* Cunningham ("Archseol. Reports," i, 5) says of the pipal tree
(Ficus religiosa) at Buddha Gaya, which is looked upon as being this tree :
" The celebrated Bodhi tree still exists, but is very much decayed ; one
large stem, with three branches to the westward, is still green, but the
other branches are barkless and rotten. The tree must have been
renewed frequently, as the present pipal is standing on a terrace at
least thirty feet above the level of the surrounding country."
TURNING POINT OF LIFE. 101>
bootless search have been like ? At every step the disciples
of Buddha had to contend against the tendencies of ascetics,
who expected to attain quietude through fasting and severe
bodily discipline. It is not surprising that this opposition in
which they felt themselves to be to these tendencies should have
influenced the belief of the early Church regarding Buddha s
own previous history: he, too, must, before he became par
taker of the imperishable treasure of true deliverance, have
sought for salvation in the mazes of bodily discipline ; he must
have surpassed all that Brahmans and devotees had accom
plished before him in the way of self-mortification, and he
must have realized for himself the fruitlessness of such a
course, until he at last, turning from the false to the true path,
became the Buddha.
It is, therefore., evident that the narrative concerned may be
a myth : the conditions, which suffice to make the concoction
of such a myth comprehensible, certainly exist. And this
possibility of a purely mythical conception gains further
support by the undoubted mythical character of the occurrences
yet to be discussed, which followed on the attainment of
Buddhahood.
But showing that a thing may be a myth is not equivalent
to showing that it is a myth, and I am inclined to think that
that which can be urged in favour of an opposite conception is
by no means without weight.
The coming of such a sudden turning-point in Buddha s
inner life "corresponds "mucITtoo closely with what in all times
similar natures have actually experienced under similar con
ditions, for us not to be inclined to believe in such an
occurrence. In the most widely different periods of history
the notion oF"a revolution or change of the whole man
perfecting itself in one moment meets us in many forms :
110 BUDDHA S YOUTH.
a day and hour it must be possible to determine, in which
the unsaved and unenlightened becomes a saved and enlightened
man : and if men hope and look for such a sudden, and pro
bably also violent, breaking through of the soul to the light,
they realize it in fact. Within the Christian Church we have
the Methodists especially, but not they alone, who bear testi
mony to this. Furthermore, phenomena of this kind are not
confined by any means to persons of a vulgar type, living in a
dull religious atmosphere. on the contrary, natures which are
endowed with the keenest spiritual sensibility, with the most
versatile power of imagination, are especially susceptible of
such experiences. A flash of thought, a sudden excitement of
warm emotion or vivid imagination, or a moment of tranquil
breathing-time following on times of internal strife, is meta
morphosed for them into that opening of the heart, or that call
by divine omnipotence, for which they were consciously or
unconsciously waiting, and which is sufficient to give a new
turn to their whole life.
In the age of which the sacred writings of the Buddhists
give us a picture, and, we may add with probability, in
Buddha s own time, the belief in a sudden illumination of the
soul, in the fact of an internal emancipation perfecting itself
in one moment, was universally prevalent : people looked for
the "deliverance from death/ and told one another with
beaming countenance that the deliverance from death had
been found : people asked how long it was till one striving
for salvation is able to attain his goal, and gave one another to
understand, with and without figure or parable, that of course
the day and hour, in which the fruit of immortality will be
given to man, are not in his power, but still the Master
promised to his follower that, if he trod the right path,
" after a short time that for which noble youths leave their
TURNING POINT OF LIFE. Ill
3iomes to lead a pilgrim life, the highest achievement of
religious effort, would be vouchsafed to him, that he would
yet in this life apprehend the truth itself, and see it face to
face." This visionary grasp of truth some pursued by morti
fication, others by abstraction of the mind, pushed to the
utmost limit and accompanied by long-protracted retention
of the body in fixed postures, all waiting the moment in which
the attainment of their aim would be clearly realized by them
with absolute certainty. When any one came to regard his
natural state as impermanent and dark, that to which he
aspired, and which he, therefore, expected finally to actually
realize, could not but appear to him to be a condition of purer
internal illumination and self-knowledge, and with this con
dition of pure internal illumination was combined the
consciousness of his own power to look, by visionary
intuition, through the whole concatenation of the universe.
We can scarcely doubt that such a mode of viewing things
prevailed among religious inquirers at Buddha s time. r 5Via=
ever left his home and became a mendicant did so looking for
the coveted fruit of enlightenment. May we not also surmise
that similar expectations filled the heart of the Sakya youth,
when he left his native town? That he then experieiicficl
within himself those struggles, those combats between hope
and doubt, of which the history of those who have paved new
paths for religious feeling and thought have so much to say ?
That after periods of intense mental, and why not also bodily,
:anguTsh therelirose in him at a particular moment the feeling
of clearer rest and internal certainty, and he laid hold on this
as the longed-for illumination, as a token of deliverance come ?
That he thenceforward felt himself to be the Buddha, the one
called by a universal law to be a follower of the Buddhas of
112 BUDDHA S YOUTH.
bygone ages, and determined to bring to others the blessing
which had been imparted to him ?
If the process was anything like this, it cannot but have
followed that Buddha at a later time communicated to the
disciples, to whom he pointed out the path to holiness, these
inner experiences also, through which he was conscious of
having himself attained his goal : and though the memory of
these communications may have received in the Church in the
course of time a stamp of scholastic dogmatism, yet their
original character must always have shone through. In this
sense it is quite possible that this narrative may cover actual
fact.
The historical inquirer cannot create certainties where there
are only potentialities. Let each individual come to a con
clusion, or refrain from coming to a conclusion, as he thinks
porper ; let me be allowed, for my part, to declare my belief
that, in the narrative of how the Sakya youth became the
Buddlia, there is really an element of historical memory.
CHAPTER III.
BEGINNING OF THE TEACHER S CAREER.
WITH this decisive turning-point begins in our authorities
a long-connected narrative.* This gives us a picture of how
the early Church represented to itself Buddha s first public
appearance, the winning of the first converts, and the triumph
over the first opponents. They were still far from thinking of
an attempt to delineate a continuous sketch of Buddha s life,
but these first days of his public life, as well as his last days,
were invested with an especial interest, and therefore this part
of his life has already in very ancient times for the narrative
bears unmistakably the stamp of high antiquity assumed the
form of a fixed tradition. Who has not experienced in his
own case that in long, monotonous periods of time, in which
reminiscences float promiscuously and blur one another, the
early beginnings, the days of freshness and self-adjustment,
usually preserve themselves clear in the memory ?
We cannot read the beginning of the narrative referred to
without calling to mind the story in our gospels. There Jesus,
before He begins openly to teach, spends forty days fasting in
the wilderness, and was tempted of Satan ; and He was wit.
* "MaUvagga," i, 1-24 (pp. 1-44 of my Edition).
8
114: BEGINNING OF THE TEACHER S CAREER.
the wild beasts ; and tlie angels ministered unto Him." So
Buddha also, before lie sets out to propagate his doctrine,
remains four times seven days* fasting in the neighbourhood
of the tree of knowledge, " enjoying the happiness of deliver
ance." The idea which underlies this is readily understood :
after a severe struggle the victory has been won : it is natural
that the victor, before he betakes himself to new conflicts,
should pause to enjoy what he had won, that the delivered,
before he preaches deliverance to others, should himself taste
its happiness.
Buddha spends the first seven days, wrapt in meditation,
under the sacred tree itself. Daring the night following the
seventh day, he causes his mind to pass through the
concatenation of causes and effects, from which the pain of
existence arises : fc From ignorance come conformations ;f
from conformations comes consciousness " and so on through
* The oldest form of the tradition in the " Mahavagga." Later narratives
give seven times seven days. The oldest tradition specifically states that
Buddha at the end of the seventh day went from tlie tree of knowledge
to the fig-tree Ajapala (" tree of the goat-herds ") ; the later narrative
liere inserts three periods of seven days. The patristic commentator
J3uddhagosha is naturally anxious to explain away the difference between
the two narratives. " It is as when one says : after he has eaten, he lays
himself down to rest. Thereby it is not implied that he lies down without
first washing his hands, rinsing out his mouth, having gone to his couch,
liaving indulged in any conversation whatever but it is only meant to
convey : after dinner-time he lies down, he does not omit to lie down.
So here also it is not meant : after he had risen from this meditation he
immediately went forward, but it merely means : after he had risen, he
went forward later on, he did not omit to go forward. But what did the
Exalted one do immediately before he went forward ? He tarried other
three times seven days in the neighbourhood of the tree of knowledge,"
and so on.
t We shall have to return later on to these propositions, in the review of
the Buddhist doctrine.
THE FOUR-TIMES SEVEN DAYS. 115
a long series of intervening links, until, " from desire comes
clinging (to existence) ; from clinging (to existence) comes
being : from being comes birth : from birth come old age and
death, pain and mourning, suffering, sorrow, and despair."
But if the first cause be removed, on which this chain of effects
hangs, ignorance becomes extinct, and everything which arises
from it collapses, and all suffering is overcome. " Realizing this
the Exalted one at that time spoke these words :
When the conditions (of existence) reveal themselves
To the ardent, contemplating Brahman,
Then must every doubt give way,
WJien the origin of all becoming is revealed to him.
:f Three times, in the three watches of the night, he caused
liis mind to pass through all this series of causes and effects :
at last he spoke thus :
When the conditions (of existence) reveal themselves
To the ardent, contemplating Brahman,
He casts to earth the tempter s hosts,
Like the sun, which sheds its light through space.
Then Buddha rose, when the seven days had passed, from
the meditation in which he had been absorbed, left the spot
under the tree of knowledge, and went to the fig-tree Ajapstla
(tree of the goat-herds)."
Another and probably later cast of this tradition here inserts
an account of a temptation : just as on Jesus also Satan made
an attack, when He spent those forty days in the wilderness,
trying, before He should enter on His career, to make Him
unfaithful to His calling as the Saviour.*
* It seems scarcely necessary to observe that in both cases the samo
obvious motives have given rise to the corresponding narratives ; the
notion of an influence exerted by Buddhist tradition on Christian cannot
8*
116 BEGINNING OF THE TEACHER S CAREER.
It would be going too far if we were to suppose that there
is preserved to us in the Buddhist tradition the memory of
single and specific visions of good and evil spirits, with which
Buddha professed to have had intercourse : but it is beyond
doubt that he himself and his disciples shared the beliefs of all
the Indian world in such appearances, and that they were
convinced that they had seen the like.
Mara, the tempter, knows that fear or lust can have no
further influence over Buddha : he had vanquished all earthly
thoughts and emotions under the tree of knowledge. To undo
this victory is impossible, but there is one thing still left
which the tempter may effect : he may induce Buddha to turn
his back at this stage on earthly life and to enter into Nirvana.
Then he alone would be delivered from Harass power: he
would not have proclaimed the doctrine of deliverance to
men.
" Then came " thus Buddha afterwards relates the history
of this temptation to his disciple Ananda " Mara, the wicked
one, unto me. Coming up to me, he placed himself at my side :
standing at my side, Ananda, Mara, the wicked one, spake
unto me, saying : Enter now into Nirvana, Exalted one,
enter Nirvana, Perfect one : now is the time of Nirvana arrived
for the Exalted one/ As he thus spake, I replied, Ananda,
to Mara, the wicked one, saying : I shall not enter Nirvana,
thou wicked one, until I shall have gained monks as my
disciples, who are wise and instructed, intelligent hearers of
the word, acquainted with the doctrine, experts in the Doctrine
and the second Doctrine, versed in the ordinances, walking in
the Law, to propagate, teach, promulgate, explain, formulate,
be entertained. The Buddhist history of the temptation is to be found
in the " Mahaparinibbana Sutta," p. 30, seq., and is inserted in the context
of the whole continuous narrative in the " Lalita Vistara," p. 489.
HISTORY OF THE TEMPTATION. 117
analyze, what they have heard from their master, to annihilate
and exterminate by their knowledge any heresy which arises,
and preach the doctrine with wonder-working. I shall not enter
Nirvana, thou wicked one, until I shall have gained nuns as
my disciples, who are both wise and instructed (and here,
after the fashion of the Buddhist ecclesiastical style, what .has
been said of monks follows about nuns, lay brothers, and
lay sisters). I shall not enter Nirvana, thou wicked one,
until the life of holiness which I point out, has been successful,
grown in favour, and extended among all mankind, and is in
vogue and thoroughly made known to all men/ ;
We return to the older version of the narrative.*
Buddha still tarries thrice seven days in various places in
the neighbourhood of the tree of knowledge " enjoying the
happiness of deliverance." A sort of overture is here played
to the great drama of which he is to be the hero : significant
typical occurrences foreshadow the future. The meeting with a
" Brahman of haughty air," causes us to think of a struggle
with and conquest of Brahmanism. We hear nothing of the
taunt with which that Brahman may have accosted Buddha : it
* In addition to the external ground of the history of this temptation
being wanting in the " Mahavagga," there is still another deeper con
sideration which determines me to believe that it was excluded from tho
older traditions. We shall afterwards come to the history of Buddha s
internal struggle whether he should preach his doctrine and not rather
enjoy the acquired .deliverance himself alone : Brahma s appearance
solved the doubt. This history conveys no other thought but the same
which underlies the narrative of Mara: Buddha s struggle with the
possibility of permitting the sacred knowledge which he had won, to
benefit himself only and not humanity at large. Had he repelled Mara s
tempting suggestion to do this, by saying that the time to enter Nirvana
would not come until he had gained disciples, male and female, and
preached his doctrine to all the world, there would have been no opening
left for the whole account of the dialogue with Brahma.
118 BEGINNING OF THE TEACHER S CAREER.
is only reported that lie puts this question to him : " wherein,
O Gotama, consists the nature of the Brahman,, and what are
the qualities which make a man a Brahman ?" Buddha had,
thinking of himself, spoken in that speech under the tree of
knowledge of the Brahman, to whose ardent mind the pro
cession of destiny reveals itself : a Brahman now disputes with
him, the heir of worldly rank, the right to claim the title of
a Brahman. Buddha tells him : he is a true Brahman who has
put away all evil from himself, who knows nothing of contempt,
nothing of impurity, a conqueror of self.
Human attacks have no power against Buddha: but the
raging of the elements is also unable to disturb the abiding
peaceful repose which is his. Storms arise; for seven
continuous days rain falls in torrents; cold, tempest, and
darkness surround him. Mucalinda, the serpent-king, comes
from his hidden realm, enfolds Buddha s body in a sevenfold
covering with his serpent coils, and protects him from the
storm. "And after seven days, when the serpent-king,
Mucalinda, saw that the sky had become clear and cloudless,
he loosed his ^oils from the body of the Exalted, concealed
his serpent form, assumed the guise of a young man, and
stepped before the Exalted one, worshipping him with folded
hands. Seeing this, the Exalted one at this time spoke these
words :
Happy the solitude of the peaceful, who knows and beholds truth ;
Happy is he who stands firmly unmoved, who holds himself in check at
all times.
Happy he whose every sorrow, whose every wish is at an end.
The conquest of the stubbornness of the ego-ityis truly the supreme
happiness. "
A genuine Buddhist picture : the deliverer of the world,
who, amid the raging of tempests, wrapped in a seven-fold
FIRST MEETING WITH HEN. 119
casing by a serpent s body, enjoys the happiness of solitary
repose.
Here follows the first meeting with men who honour him
as Buddha. Two merchants come passing that way on a
journey : a deity, who had been in earthly life related to
the merchants, announces to them the nearness of Buddha,
and prompts them to feed Buddha. The deities, who rule
over the four quarters of the earth, present to him a bowl
for the perfect Buddhas accept no food except in a bowl
and he partakes of what the merchants give him, the first
nourishment which he takes after long fasting.
" But the merchants, Tapussa and Bhallika, when they saw
that the Exalted one, when his repast was over, had washed
his bowl and his hands, bowed their heads to the feet of the
Exalted one, and spake to the Exalted one, saying : we who
are here, sire, take refuge in the Exalted one and in his
Doctrine : may the Exalted one accept us as his adherents*
from this day forward throughout our life, we who have taken
our refuge in him/ These were the first persons in the world
who made their profession of the faith with the two words "-
namely, the faith in the Buddha and his Doctrine, for as yet,
the third member of the Buddhist triad, the Order, had not
come into existence.
In this overture to the history of Buddha s labours we miss
one element: a typical adumbration of the most prominent
task of his life, the preaching of the doctrine of deliverance,
and of the coming out of persons from among all classes to
follow him in mendicant attire. Those two merchants take
I refuge in Buddha and the Doctrine, and nevertheless the
Doctrine has not yet been preached to them. The narrative
* That is as lay-followers, not as monks.
120 BEGINNING OF THE TEACHER S CAREER.
which now follows has to do with the motive, in which all
this seeming inconsistency finds its explanation. It is one
thing to have realized for one s self the truth of deliverance,
and another to proclaim it to the world. Buddha has
accomplished the first : the resolution to do the second is
not yet firmly fixed within him : apprehensions and doubt
remain to be overcome before he adopts this resolve.*
I shall here let the textf speak for itself.
"Into the mind of the Exalted one, while he tarried,
retired in solitude, came this thought: I have penetrated
this deep truth, which is difficult to perceive, and difficult
to understand, peace-giving, sublime, which transcends all
thought, deeply-significant, which only the wise can grasp.
Man moves in an earthly sphere, in an earthly sphere he has
his place and finds his enjoyment. For man, who moves in an
earthly sphere, and has his place and finds his enjoyment in an
earthly sphere, it will be very difficult to grasp this matter,
the law of causality, the chain of causes and effects : and this
also will be very difficult for him to grasp, the extinction of
all conformations, the withdrawal from all that is earthly, the
extinction of desire, the cessation of longing, the end, the
Nirvana. Should I now preach the Doctrine and mankind not
understand me, it would bring me nothing but fatigue, it
would cause me nothing but trouble! And there passed
unceasingly through the mind of the Exalted one, this voice,
which no one had ever before heard.
* In the language of Buddhist dogmatic, a Paccekabuddha (a Buddha
for himself only) is not a Sammasambuddha (universal Buddha and
a teacher of the world). For Buddha s appearance as a Sammasambuddha
a special deliberation was necessary, which the legend gives in the
narrative now following.
f " Mahavagga," i, 5, 2, seq.
RESOLVES TO. PREACH TEE DOCTRINE. 121
" Why reveal to the world what I have won by a severe struggle?
The truth remains hidden from him whom desire and hate absorb.
It is difficult, mysterious, deep, hidden from the coarse mind;
He cannot apprehend it, whose mind earthly vocations surround with
night.
"When the Exalted one thought thus, his heart was
inclined to abide in quietude and not to proclaim the Doctrine.
Then Brahma Sahampati* with his thought perceived the
thought of the Holy one and said thus to himself: Truly
the world is lost, truly the world is undone, if the heart of the
Perfect one, the holy, highest Buddha, be bent on abiding in
quietude and not preaching the Doctrine/
Then Brahma Sahampati left the heaven of Brahma as
quickly as a strong man stretches out his bent arm or bends
his outstretched arm, and he appeared before the Exalted one.
Then Brahma Sahampati made bare one of his shoulders from
"under his robe,f bowed his right knee to the earth, raised his
folded hands to the Exalted one, and spake to the Exalted
one thus : < May it please, sire, the Exalted one, to preach
the Doctrine, may it please the Perfect one to preach the
Doctrine. There are beings, who are pure from the dust of
the earthly, but if they hear not the preaching of the Doctrine,
they are lost: they will be believers of the Doctrine/
.spake Brahma Sahampati; when he had spoken thus, he went
on to say :
In the land of Magadha there arose before
A doctrine of impure beings, sinful men.
* Sahampati is with the Buddhists the standing surname of the
Supreme Brahma (of. antea, p. 60) ; the word is not to be explan,
certainty.
t A mark of respect.
122 BEGINNING OF THE TEACHER S CAREER.
Open thou, O Wise one, the door of eternity,
Let be heard what thou, O Sinless one, hast discovered.
Who stands above high on the mountain s rocky summit,,
His eye looks afar over all people.
So mount thou also, O Wise one, up where on high
Far over the land stand out the battlements of truth,
And look down, Painless one, on mankind,
The suffering (creatures), whom birth and old age torture,
Else, rise, thou valiant hero, rich in victories,
Go through the world, sinless preacher of the path,
Raise thy voice, O sire ; many shall understand thy word. "
(Buddha sets the solicitation of Brahma against the doubts;
and apprehensions,, which made the preaching of the trutL
appear to him to be a fruitless undertaking. Brahma repeats
his request three times : at last Buddha grants it : ) j
As on a lotus stalk some water-roses, blue lotus flowers,
white lotus flowers, generated in the water, growing up in the;
water, rise not out of the water, but bloom in the deep other-
water roses, blue lotus flowers, white lotus flowers, generated)
in the water, growing up in the water, rise up to the surface of
the water and other water roses, blue lotus flowers, white
lotus flowers, generated in the water, growing up in the water,
rise up out of the water and the water damps not their
blossoms : so likewise, when the Exalted one surveyed the
universe with the glance of a Buddha, he saw beings whose
souls were pure, and whose souls were not pure, from the
dust of the earthly, with sharp faculties and with dull faculties,
with noble natures and with ^ignoble natures, good hearers
and wicked hearers, many who lived in fear of the world
to come and of sin. When lie saw this, lie spake to Brahma
Sahampati these words :
* Let opened be to all the door of eternity ;
He who hath ears, let him hear the word and believe.
THE SERMON AT BENARES. 123-
I thought of affliction* for myself, therefore have I, Brahma,
Not yet proclaimed the noble word to the world.
" Then Brahma Sahampati perceived : The Exalted one has
answered my prayer. He will preach the Doctrine. Then he
bowed before the Exalted one, walked round him respectfully
and vanished/
Thus has the legend conducted its hero to victory over the
very last obstacle which stood between him and his calling
as a deliverer, to victory over all doubt and dismay: the
resolution to proclaim to the world the knowledge, in which he
had himself found peace, now stands unshaken.
THE SEEMON AT BENAEES.
Who should be the first to hear the new gospel ? Legend;
makes Buddha think first of all of the two teachers, to whose
guidance he had first confided himself as a disciple. If he-
were to preach his doctrine to them, they would understand
him. A deity brings him the intelligence that they are both
dead. Perhaps they were really so ; in any case the meaning
of this touch in the legend is clear. No one could have a
higher claim than those two to be the first hearers of the
gospel. It would have been ingratitude if Buddha had not
made them before all others participators of his self-acquired
treasure. But no one knew anything of his having done so :
and others were known to be or said to be the first converts.
These two were therefore represented as being no longer alive
when Buddha began to preach his doctrine.
* Fruitless toil, if the doctrine found no hearers.
124: THE SERMON AT BENARES.
Could those, who had once been Buddha s teachers, not turn
to him as his first disciples, yet the quondam partners of his
quest and struggle, those five ascetics, could, who had long
vied with him in penances, and had forsaken him when they
saw that he gave up the pursuit of salvation by self-mortifica
tion (vide antea, p. 107). They are staying at Benares, and
our narrative represents Buddha as now wandering thither.
It is quite possible that tradition here rests on old and
trustworthy memories.* Benares has at all times been
* It is a natural supposition that Buddha directed his first ministra
tion to his quondam associates and admirers, in whom he could hope
most surely to find -willing hearers. Criticism has no means of determining
absolutely, whether we are here to find in the internal probabilities of
the case, a mark of genuineness, or of fiction. But, in my opinion, it is
a priori probable that the recollection of where and to whom Buddha s
first discourse, or at any rate his first successful discourse, was delivered,
had not been lost. That some preceding unsuccessful attempts on Buddha s
part to gain adherents, have been passed over in silence by tradition, is
quite possible; but Mons. L. Feer s attempts ("Etudes Bouddhiques,"
i, p. 1-37) to point out traces of such events in the tradition, seem
to me unsuccessful ; the nature of these traditions does not admit of
calculating from Buddha s proceedings any such pragmatic consecutive
order of things, as this scholar has sought to make out therefrom, not
without some violence towards the tradition in many places. If we
follow the victorious march of Buddha, as we find it described in the
4t Mahavagga," i, 1-24, on the map, there is not much to be said against the
itinerarium : this to-and-fro movement is quite in accordance with the
customs of these pious wanderers. When we call to mind the sharply
defined analogy, which the imagination of the Buddhists traces between the
victorious career of their master and the victorious progress of a world-
subduing king, we can scarcely avoid opining that the former, if pure
invention had here had full swing, would have been constructed
-according to the standing geographical scheme of the latter (vide " Lalita
Vistara," p. 16, seq.). The direct contradiction in which the narrative
of the " Mahavagga " finds itself to this scheme, demonstrates essentially
that it contains authentic matter.
THE SERMON AT BENARES. 125
regarded by the Buddhists as the town in which the gospel
of deliverance was first heard and believed.
We reserve for a later passage the attempt to give a
connected description of the manner in which Buddha preached
his doctrine, what chords he was wont to strike in his hearers.
In this place we merely give the old narrative. It shows us its
hero now, at the beginning of his career, already wholly the
same as it makes him appear to be throughout his long life.
The monks, to whom we owe. these notices, could not depict
internal becoming, nor could they invent internal becoming,
for they did not know what internal becoming is ; and, even
had they known it, how could they admit internal becoming in
the case of the Perfect one, who had discovered for himself
the path from the world of sorrowful becoming into the world
of happy being ?
The history of the first discourse of Buddha at Benares runs,
in the solemn circumstantial narrative style which is peculiar
to the sacred writings of the Buddhists, thus : *
"And the Exalted one, wandering from place to place,
came to Benares, to the deer-park Isipatana, where the five
ascetics dwelt. Then the five ascetics saw the Exalted one
approaching from a distance: when they saw him, they said
to one another : Friends, yonder comes the ascetic Gotama,
who lives in self-indulgence, who has given up his quest, and
returned to self-indulgence. We shall show him no respect,
not rise up before him, not take his alms-bowl and his cloak
from him : but we shall give him a seat, and he can sit down,
if he likes/
"But the nearer and nearer the Exalted one came to the
five ascetics, the less could the five ascetics abide by their
* " Malaavagga," i, 6-10, seq.
126 THE SERMON AT BENARES.
resolution : they went up to the Exalted one : one took from
the Exalted one his alms-bowl and cloak : another brought him
a seat, a third gave him water to wash his feet and a footstool.
The Exalted one sat down on the seat which was set for him :
when he had sat down, the Exalted one washed his feet.
"Now they addressed the Exalted one by his name and
called him Friend/ When they addressed him thus, the
Exalted one said to the five ascetics: f Ye monks, address
not the Perfect one* by his name and call him not " Friend."
The Perfect one, monks, is the holy, supreme Buddha.
Open ye your ears, monks ; the deliverance from death is
found : I teach you, I preach the Law. If ye walk according
to my teaching, ye shall be partakers in a short time of that
for which noble youths leave their homes and go into horne-
lessness, the highest end of religious effort : ye shall even in
this present life apprehend the truth itself and see face to
face/
" When he spake thus, the five ascetics said to the Exalted
one : If thou hast not been able, friend Grotama, by that
course, by those mortifications of the body, to attain super
human perfection, the full supremacy of the knowledge and
contemplation of sacred things, how wilt thou now, when
thou livest in self-indulgence, when thou hast given up thy
effort, and returned to self-indulgence, attain superhuman
perfection, the full supremacy of the knowledge and con
templation of sacred things ?
" When they said this, the Exalted one spake to the five
.ascetics : c monks, the Perfect one liveth not in self-
* The word, which we translate " the Perfect one " (Tathagata) is
;that which, most probably, Buddha was wont to use, when he was
speaking of himself.
THE SERMON AT BENARES. 127
indulgence : lie has not given up his effort and returned to
self-indulgence. The Perfect one, O monks, is the holy,
supreme Buddha. Open ye your ears, ye monks ; the
deliverance from death is found : I teach you, I preach the
Law. If ye walk according to my teaching, ye shall be
partakers in a short time of that for which noble youths
leave their homes and go into homelessness, the highest end
of religious effort : ye shall even in the present life apprehend
the truth itself and see face to face/ "
(They repeat the same dialogue a second and a third
time.)
"When they said this, the Exalted one spake to the five
ascetics : Tell me, ye monks, have I ever before addressed
you in these terms ?
" Sire, thou has not.
" The Perfect one, monks, is the holy, highest Buddha.
Open ye your ears, ye monks, the deliverance from death is
found/ etc.
" Then the five ascetics hearkened once more to the Exalted
one. They opened their ears and directed their thoughts to
knowledge.
r ll ^ Then the Exalted one spake to the five ascetics, saying :
4 There are two extremes, monks, from which he who leads
a religious life must abstain. What are those two extremes ?
one is a life of pleasure, devoted to desire and enjoyment :
that is base, ignoble, unspiritual, unworthy, unreal. The
other is a life of mortification : it is gloomy, unworthy, unreal.
The Perfect one, monks, is removed from both these
extremes and has discovered the way which lies between
them, the middle way which enlightens the eyes, enlightens
the mind, which leads to rest, to knowledge, to enlightenment,
to Nirvana. And what, monks, is this middle way, which
128 THE SERMON AT BENARES.
the Perfect one has discovered, which enlightens the eye and
enlightens the spirit, which leads to rest, to knowledge, to
enlightenment, to Nirvana ? It is this sacred, eight-fold path,
as it is called: Right Faith, Eight Resolve, Right Speech,
Right Action, Right Living, Right Effort, Right Thought,
Right Self-concentration. This, monks, is the middle way,
which the Perfect one has discovered, which enlightens the
eye and enlightens the spirit, which leads to rest, to know
ledge, to enlightenment, to Nirvana.
" This, monks, is the sacred truth of suffering: Birth
is suffering, old age is suffering, sickness is suffering, death
is suffering, to be united with the unloved is suffering, to be
separated from the loved is suffering, not to obtain what one
desires is suffering, in short the five-fold clinging (to the
earthly*) is suffering.
" This, monks, is the sacred truth of the origin of suffering r
it is the thirst (for being), which leads from birth to birth,
together with lust and desire, which finds gratification here
and there : the thirst for pleasures, the thirst for being, the-
thirst for power.
" This, O monks, is the sacred truth of the extinction of
suffering.: the extinction of this thirst by complete annihilation
of desire, letting it go, expelling it, separating oneself from it,
giving it no room.
" f This, monks, is the sacred truth of the path which leads
to the extinction of suffering : it is this sacred, eight -fold path,
to wit: Right Faith, Right Resolve, Right Speech, Right
Action, Right Living, Right Effort, Right Thought, Right
Self-concentration.
* The clinging to the five elements, o which man s body-cum-spirit
state of being consists : corporeal form, sensations, perceptions, con
formations (or aspirations), and consciousness.
THE SERMON AT BENARES. 12 J
" This is tlie sacred truth of suffering ; thus my eye,
monks, was opened to these conceptions, which no one had
comprehended before, and my judgment, cognition, intuition,
and vision were opened. " It is necessary to understand
this sacred truth of suffering." " I have comprehended this
sacred truth of suffering." Thus, monks, my eye was opened to
these conceptions, which no one had comprehended before, and
my judgment, cognition, intuition, and vision were opened/ "
(Then follow similar passages regarding the other three
truths.)
" And as long, monks, as I did not possess in perfect
clearness this triple, twelve-part,* trustworthy knowledge and
understanding of these four sacred truths, so long, monks,
I knew that I had not yet attained the supreme Buddhahood
in this world, and the worlds of gods, of Mara and of Brahma,
among all beings, ascetics and Brahmans, gods and men.
But since, monks, I have come to possess in perfect clearness
this triple, twelve-part, trustworthy knowledge and under
standing of these four sacred truths, since then I know,
monks, that I have attained the supreme Buddhahood in this
world, and in the worlds of gods, of Mara and of Brahma ;
among all beings, ascetics and Brahmans, gods and men. And
1 have seen and know this : the deliverance of my soul is
secured : this is my last birth : henceforth there is for me no
new birth/
"~"Thus spake the Exalted one: the five ascetics joyfully
received the words of the Exalted one.-"
This is the sermon at Benares, which tradition gives as the
* Of each of the four truths Buddha possesses a tri-partite knowledge,
e.g. of the first : " this is the sacred truth of suffering ; " " one must
understand this sacred truth of suffering;" "I have understood this
sacred truth of suffering."
9
130 THE SERMON AT BENARES.
opening of the ministry of Buddha, by which he, as his
disciples expressed themselves, has set in motion the wheel
of the law." one may entertain whatever opinion he pleases
regarding the historical truth with which this sermon is
reported I am inclined, for my part, to entertain no very high
opinion of it but even the more freely concocted one may
take this discourse to be, only the more highly must he rate its
fundamental importance, for he is so much the more certain
here to find, if not the words actually spoken on the occasion
of a definite occurrence, at any rate the ideas which the ancient
Church regarded, and certainly not improperly regarded, as
the real lever in the preaching of their master. Clearly and
sharply defined are the leading thoughts, which stand in the
middle of the contracted solemn thought- world, in which the
Buddhist Church lived : in the centre of all one sole idea, the
idea of deliverance. Of deliverance, of that from which we are-
to be delivered, of the way in which we shall be delivered, of
this and of nothing else does this sermon of Buddha s, and, we
may add, do the sermons of Buddha as a rule, treat. God and
the universe trouble not the Buddhist : he knows only one
question : how shall I in this world of suffering be delivered
from suffering ? We shall have to return to the answer which
the sermon at Benares gives to this question.
When Buddha finishes his discourse, there rises from earth
through all the worlds of gods the cry, that at Benares the
Holy one has set in motion the wheel of the law. The five
ascetics, headed by Kondaima, who has hence obtained the
name of Kondaiifia, the Knower, beg Buddha to initiate them
as students of his doctrine, and he does so in these words :
" Come near, monks - } well preached is the doctrine : walk in
purity to make an end of all suffering.-" Thus is founded the
Church of Buddha s followers : the five are its first, as yet
SENDING OUT FIRST DISCIPLES. 131
its only, members. A fresh discourse of Buddha s, on the
instability and impermanence of everything earthly, causes the
souls of the five disciples to obtain the condition of sinless
purity. " At this time/ thus ends this narrative, " there were
six holy persons in the world "Buddha himself and these five
disciples.
FUETHEE CONVERSIONS.
The number of believers soon increases. The next convert
is Yasa, a scion of a wealthy house at Benares : his parents
and his wife likewise hear Buddha s discourses and become
adherents of the faith as a lay-brother and lay-sister. Nume
rous friends of Yasa, youths of the most prominent houses in
Benares and the country roundabout, adopt the monastic life.
The company of the faithful soon reaches sixty members.
Buddha sends them forth to preach the law throughout the
country. In nothing did the secret of the great power of
rapid increase, which existed in the young Church, so much
lie as in its itinerancy: here anon, there anon, appearing,
vanishing, simultaneously at a thousand places. " O dis
ciples/ thus in our authorities run the words with which
Buddha sends out his followers, " I am loosed from all bands,
divine and human. Ye also, O disciples, are loosed from all
bands, divine and human. Go ye out, O disciples, and travel
from place to place for the welfare of many people, for the
joy of many people, in pity for the world, for the blessing,
welfare, and joy of gods and men. Go not in twos to one
place. Preach, O disciples, the law, the beginning of which is
noble, the middle of which is noble, and the end of which is
noble, in spirit and in letter : preach the whole and full, pure
9*
132 FURTHER CONVERSIONS,
path of holiness. There are beings, who are pure from the
dust of the earthly, but if they hear not the gospel of the
law, they perish: they shall understand the law. But I,
O disciples, go to Uruvela, to the village of the general, to
preach the law."
At Uruvela there reside Brahman hermits, a thousand in
number, who keep alight the sacred fire of sacrifice according
the rites of the Yedas, and perform their ablutions in the
river Neranjara. Three brothers, Brahmans, of the Kassapa
family, are the leaders of these ascetics. Buddha comes to
one of them and overcomes with miraculous power the terrible
serpent-king, who dwelt in Kassapa s sacrificial chamber.
The Brahmans wonder-struck persuade him to spend the
winter with them. He stops there, dwelling in the forest near
Kassapa s hermitage, in which he takes his food every day.
Miracle after miracle convinces the Brahmans of his greatness :
gods come to listen to his discourses; they shine like naming
fire all night long. Kassapa, overcome with wonder, admits the
superhuman greatness of his guest, but he cannot bring himself
to submit to him. " Thus the Exalted one/ as our old
narrative states in this connection, " thought within himself :
this simpleton will long continue thinking : " the great
Sumana is very powerful and mighty, but he is not holy as I
am." So then, I shall work on this hermit s heart/ There
fore the Exalted one spake to the hermit Kassapa of Uruvela :
Thou art not holy, Kassapa, nor hast thou found the path of
holiness : and thou knowest nothing of the way by which thou
canst be holy and mayest reach the path of holiness/ Then
the hermit Kassapa, of Uruvela, bowed his head to the feet of
the Exalted one, and said to the Exalted one : Grant me,
sire, to receive the degrees of initiation, the lower and the
higher/ "
PROCEEDS TO JtAJAGAHA. 133
All narratives of conversions in the Buddhist scriptures
resemble this narrative more or less. Where any attempt at
individuality is made, it turns out clumsy and poor. That
earnest, deep feeling, and the impulse of strong emotion was
not denied to these minds, is amply proved by the poetry of
the Buddhists. But describe they could not, and what they
were least capable of understanding was individual life.
Kassapa s two brothers and all the bands of hermits round
them turn to Buddha and adopt monastic garb. Thus the
number of believers is at one stroke raised to a thousand.
They now wander from Uruvela to Rajagaha, the near-lying
capital of the Magadha kingdom. The halting-place is in a
bambu-thicket outside the town. The young king Bimbisara
hears of Buddha s arrival, and goes out with a vast following*
of citizens and Brahmans to make the acquaintance of the
teacher who had acquired sudden fame. When the people saw
Buddha and Kassapa together, doubts arose as to which of the
two is master and which is the disciple. Kassapa rises from
Ms seat, bows his head to Buddha s feet and says : " Sire, my
master is the Exalted one : I am his pupil. Sire, my master is
the Exalted one : I am his pupil. Buddha preaches before
the king and his retinue : Bimbisara, with a great number of
his people, declares himself a lay convert of Buddha s Church.
Thenceforth throughout his long life he became one of the
truest friends and patrons of Buddha and his doctrine.
Tradition informs us that on that occasion at Rajagaha
* The text says that " twelve myriads of Brahmans and citizens of
Magadha" surrounded the king. These extravagantly high figures
differ far too widely from the statements regarding the number of
disciples accompanying Buddha (a few hundreds, at most thousands), for
us to be in a position to draw conclusions from them with any certainty
whatever as to the excessive character of the latter, in themselves very
credible, numbers.
134: FURTHER CONVERSIONS.
Buddha also gained as disciples those two men, Sariputta and
Moggallana, who came later on to be honoured as the first in
rank after their master in the Circles of the Church. These
two young men, bound to each other by close ties of friend
ship, sons of a Brahman family, were at that time residing at
Rajagaha as pupils of Sanjaya, one of the itinerant medicants
and teachers so numerous in that age. In their common
pursuit of spiritual possessions, they had, as is related, given
each other this promise, that he who would first obtain the
deliverance from death, should tell the other. one day
Sariputta saw one of Buddha s disciples, Assaji, walking the
streets of Rajagaha to collect alms, peaceful and dignified, with
downcast look. "When he saw him/ 3 our narrative* here
informs us, (( he thought : truly this is one of those monks who
are already sanctified in this world, or have attained the path
of purity. I shall go up to this monk and I shall ask him :
" Friend, in whose name hast thou renounced the world ? and
who is thy master ? and whose doctrine dost thou recognize ?"
But then Sariputta, the mendicant, reflected : Now is not the
time to ask this monk. He is going from house to house and
is collecting alms. I shall approach this monk, as one
approaches a person from whom he desires something/ But
when^ the venerable Assaji had collected alms at Rajagaha, he
took the contributions he had received and turned back.
Thereupon the mendicant, Sariputta, approached the venerable
Assaji : arrived near him, he saluted the venerable Assaji.
After he had exchanged words of friendly salutation with him,
* The passage which I here translate is one of those which king
Asoka, in the Bairat inscription (circ. 260 B.C.), commanded the monks
and nuns, the lay-brothers and lay-sisters, intently to hear and learn.
The text is there described as " the question of Upatissa," but Upatissa
is a name of Sariputta.
SARIPUTTA AND MOGGALLANA. 135
lie placed himself near him. Standing near him, the mendi
cant, Sariputta, addressed the venerable Assaji, saying : Thy
visage, friend, is luminous, thy colour is pure and clear. In,
whose name, friend, hast thou renounced the world ? and who
is thy master ? and whose doctrine] dost thou recognize ? It
is the great Samana, my friend, the Sakya s son, who comes
from the Sakya s house and has renounced the world. In his
name, the Exalted one s, I have renounced the world, and he,
the Exalted one, is my master, and his law, the Exalted one s,
I recognize. And what, friend, does thy master say, and
what does he teach ? Friend, I am but a novice ; it is not
long since I left the world ; I have only recently conformed to
this doctrine and this order. I cannot expound the doctrine
to thee in its fulness, but I can tell thee its spirit briefly/
Then the mendicant, Sariputta, said to the venerable Assaji :
4 Be it so, friend. Tell me little or much, but tell me its spirit :
I have a longing to know the spirit only : what great care
canst thou have for the letter ? Then the venerable Assaji
addressed to the mendicant, Sariputta, this statement of the
doctrine :
" Existences which flow from a cause, their cause the Perfect
one teaches, and how they end : this is the doctrine of tlio
great Samana. "*
* This sentence has become in later ages the briefly-expressed con
fession of faith of Buddhism ; it is to be met inscribed on numerous
monuments. Undoubtedly it refers to the doctrine of the concatenation
of causes and effects, on which doctrine tradition, as we have seen
(p. 114) represents Buddha s thoughts as being fixed, when he sits under
the sacred tree of the Buddhahood. The painful destiny of the world
works itself out in the chain of operations, which flow from ignorance;
the doctrine of Buddha tells us what these existences are, dependent one
on another, springing from ignorance, and how they come to an end, i.e.,
how the suffering of the world is removed.
13G FURTHER CONVERSIONS.
And when the mendicant Sariputta heard this statement of
the doctrine, he obtained the clear, imdirnmed vision of the
truth, and he perceived : " Whatever is subject to the law of
beginning, all that is also subject to the law of decay " (And
he said to Assaji :) " If the doctrine be nothing else but this,
thou hast at any rate attained the condition in which there is
no suffering. That which hath not been seen by many myriads
of bygone ages, hath in these days come near unto us."
Sariputta now goes to his friend, Moggallana. " Thy visage,
friend/ says Moggallana, " is luminous, thy colour is pure and
clear. Hast thou found the deliverance from death ?" " Yes,
friend, I have found the deliverance from death ! " And he
tells him of his meeting with Assaji, and on Moggallana also
" the clear, unditnmed light of truth " dawns. Sanjaya, their
instructor, in vain begs them to remain with him. They go
with great crowds of ascetics into the wood where Buddha is
resting : but a hot stream of blood bursts from Sanjaya s
mouth. Buddha sees the two coming : he announces to those
around him that those are now approaching who should be the
foremost and noblest among his disciples. And the two of
them receive the initiation from Buddha himself.
"At this time," continues our narrative, ff many distin
guished and noble youths of the Magadha territory joined
themselves to Buddha, to lead a pure life. on this the
populace became displeased, murmured, and were angry,
saying: The ascetic Gotama is come to bring childlessness:
the ascetic Gotama is come to bring widowhood : the ascetic
Gotama is come to bring subversion of families. Already hath
he turned the thousand hermits into his disciples, and he hath
made the two hundred and fifty mendicant followers of Sanjaya
his disciples, and now these many distinguished and noble
youths of the Magadha kingdom are betaking themselves
POPULAR FEELING. 137
to the ascetic Gotama to lead a religious life/ And whenever
the people saw any of the disciples they taunted them with
t hese words :
The great monk came in his travels to the capital of Magadha, seated
on a hill.
He has converted all Sanjaya s followers, whom will he draw after
him to-day ?
tf The disciples then learned how the populace was displeased,
murmured, and was angry : and the disciples told the Exalted
one. This excitement, disciples/ said the Exalted one,
will not last ]ong. Seven days will it last : after seven days
will it vanish. But ye, my disciples, if they taunt you with
the saying :
The great monk came in his travels to the capital of Magadha, seated
on a hill.
He has converted all Sanjaya s followers, whom will he draw after
him to-day ?
answer them with these words :
The heroes, the perfect ones, convert hy their true discourse ;
Who will reproach the Enlightened one who converts by the power
of truth ? "
Have we really here a pair of those rhymes before us, such
as they were probably bandied at that time between the
friends and foes of the young teacher among the gossiping
populace of the streets of the capital ?
CHAPTER IV.
BUDDHA S WOKK.
WITH tlie history of the conversion of those two most
prominent of his disciples, and the account of the soon-allayed
discontent of the people at Kajagaha, the connected narrative
of Buddha s career breaks off, again to unite but once more,
where the memory had to be fastened on the last wanderings
of the aged teacher, on his parting utterances and his death.
For the long period which lies between that beginning and the
end, a period, as we are told, of more than four decades, there
is in our tradition, at least in that which deserves this name,
nothing in the way of a continuous description, but merely
collections of countless real or feigned addresses, dialogues,
and sayings of Buddha, to which is annexed a short note
regarding the external circumstances of place and company,
which led to these utterances.
To outward view it is a uniform life which lies before us in
this uni-coloured tradition, and that wherein alone the true
history of this life lay, the inner current of being with its ebb
and flow, its coming and its going, is hidden from us. When
and how the picture of the world and life comes to assume in
Buddha s mind the form in which it presented itself to his
followers, in what order above all his convictions regarding
UNIFORMITY OF LATER LIFE. 139
himself and his mission developed themselves within him, how
far the prejudices of the Indian people and the criticism of the
Indian schools eventually reacted on Buddha s thought and
inclination,, even to ask these questions nobody who looks to
our authorities will be bold enough. Of this we shall never
learn anything : we cannot.
What we can do is, without attempting to draw any distinc
tion of early and later periods, merely to unite the different
features which tradition places at our disposal, so as to form
.a connected picture, a picture of Buddha s teaching and life,
of his intercourse with high and low, of the .circle of disciples
gathered round him, and of the wider circles of partizans and
antagonists.
Can we hope to attain historical truth in such a picture ?
Yes and no.
No : for this picture shows us only the type of ancient
Buddhist life, but not the individual characteristics which
belonged to Buddha and him only, as peculiarly his own, in
the sense that we have a picture of Socrates which truly
resembles Socrates only and no one else, even no Socratic.
Still this, which 011 the one hand indicates a want in our
knowledge, gives us on the other hand, however, a ground for
trusting it.
India is altogether a land of types, not of individualities
stamped with their own dies. Life begins and passes away
there, as the plant blooms and withers, subject to the dull
rule of the laws of Nature; and the laws of Nature can
produce nothing but typical forms. only where the breath of
freedom floats are those proud forces of manhood unfettered,
which enable man to become, and dare to become, something
individual, like himself alone. Thus on all pictures in the
Indian epics, despite their splendid colouring, there lies that
14:0 BUDDHA S WORK.
strange torpor which makes men look like spectres, to which
the draught of vivifying blood had been denied : and this
effect is owing to this cause above all others, that the domain
of this poetry does not extend to the point where the par
ticularly characteristic life of the individual begins. This
range was closed to Indian poetry because the Indian peoples
themselves were denied the power to develope individualties.
And in the same way in the history of Indian thought, there
also the power at work is not the individual mind, but always
merely the great Indian folk-mind, that which the Indians,
if questioned regarding the origin of their sacred writings,
denominate the sacred Yedic spirit. Through all there operates
an unindividual universal, and the individual bears only those
marks with which the universal mind has endowed him.
Are we not to believe that this same law has also governed
the beginnings of Buddhist life ? The great disciples, who
clustered round the Master, Sariputta and Moggallana, Upali,.
and Ananda, completely resemble each other in the old
narratives, and their picture is nothing else but the invariably
uniform copy of Buddha himself, only on a reduced scale. The
reality was hardly much otherwise : the individual was little
more than a specimen, which the general spirit disclosed to
view, and this general spirit again was, with reference to the
forms in which it outwardly displayed itself, scarcely intrinsically
different from the spirit of Buddha himself and the forms
among which Buddha s life was passed.
Furthermore, the period between Buddha and the fixing
of our traditions regarding him was in nothing so deficient
as in minds capable of giving a new direction to the great
movement, or of stamping it with the impress of their own
life : the ancient Buddhist Church had not a Paul. But in
this we have a guarantee that this movement, as it is sketched
BUDDHA S PERSON AND THE BUDDHISTIC TYPE. 141
for us, is in its essence the same as Buddha and his first
disciples made it. True, Buddha may have had many a noble
mark of intellect and of creative power, which the puny
natures, by which his picture has been preserved to us, have
reduced to their own lower level, but a form like his can
certainly not be fundamentally misconceived.
Thus, though only a few touches of the picture presented
to us by tradition can be said to be absolutely reliable, in the
sense of historically exact, still we shall have a right to look
upon this picture itself in its entirety as reliable in a higher
sense.
BUDDHA S DAILY LIFE.
From year to year the change from a period of wandering
to a period of rest and retirement repeated itself for Buddha
and his disciples. In the month of June when, after the dry
scorching heat of the Indian summer, clouds come up in
towering masses, and the rolling thunders herald the approach
of the rain-bearing monsoon, the Indian to-day, as in ages past,
prepares himself and his house for the time during which
all usual operations are interrupted by the rain : for whole
weeks long in many places the pouring torrents confine the
inhabitants to their huts, or at any rate to their villages, while
ommunication with neighbours is cut off by rapid, swollen
streams, and by inundations. "The birds/ says an ancient
Buddhist work, "build their nests on the tops of trees: and
there they nestle and hide during the damp season." And
thus also it was in those days an established practice with the
members of monastic orders, undoubtedly not first in Buddha s
time, but since ever there was a system of religious itinerancy
14:2 BUDDHA S DAILY LIFE.
in India, to suspend itinerant operations during the three rainy*
months and to spend this time in quiet retirement in the
neighbourhood of towns and villages, where sure support was
to be found through the charit}^ of believers. To this custom
they adhered all the more strongly because they could not,
during the rainy season, which, after the scorching heat of
summer, calls everywhere into being an infinite variety of
vegetable and animal life, travel about, without infringing
at every step the commandment which forbids the destruction
of even the lowest form of life.
Buddha also every year for three months ""kept vassa
(rainy reason)/ surrounded by groups of his disciples, who
flocked together to pass the rainy reason near their teacher.
Kings and wealthy men contended for the honour of enter
taining him and his disciples, who were with him, as guests
during this season in the hospices and gardens which they
had provided for the community.
The rains being over, the itinerating began : Buddha went
from town to town and village to village, always attended by a
great concourse of disciples : the texts are wont to speak in
one place of three hundred, and in another of five hundred, who
followed their master.* In the main streets, through which
the religious pilgrims like travelling merchants used to pass,
the believers who dwelt near had taken ample care to provide
shelter, to which Buddha and his disciples might resort : or,
where monks who professed the doctrine dwelt, there was sure
to be found lodging for the night in their abodes, and even "if
* on the occasion of a prophecy of Buddha s regarding Metteyya, the
next Buddha, who will in the far future appear upon the earth, it is said :
" He will be the leader of a band of disciples, numbering hundreds of
thousands, as I am now the leader of bands of disciples, numbering
hundreds." Cakkavattisuttanta.
RAINY SEASON AND SEASON OF ITINERANCY. H3-
no other cover was to be had, there was no want of mango or
banyan trees, at the feet of which the band might halt for the
night.
The territory through which these wandering excursions
generally extended was the circuit of the " Eastern Land/*
i.e., chiefly the old kingdoms of Kasi-Kosala and Magadlia,
with the neighbouring free states, the territories known to-day
as Oudh and Bihar. Contrasted with this were the kingdoms
of " Western Hindostan," the ancient seat of Vedic culture
and of the exclusive power of a Brahman order strongly
opposed to the religious influences of the East, affected, it is
true, if tradition rightly inform us, by the itinerant ministra
tions of Buddha, but still only seldom and superficially. The
most important headquarters during these wanderings, at the
same time the approximately extreme points, to the north
west and south-east, of the area, in which Buddha s pilgrim-life
was passed, are the capital cities of the kings of Kosala and
and Magadha, Savatthi (now Sahet Mahet on the Eapti) and
Kajagaha (now Eajgir, south of Bihar).* In the immediate
neighbourhood of these towns the community possessed
numerous pleasant gardens, in which structures of various
kinds were erected for the requirements of the members.
"Not too far from, nor yet too near the town," thus runs
the standard description of such a park given in the sacred
texts, "well provided with entrances and exits, easily accessible
to all people who inquire after it, with not too much of the
bustle of life by day, quiet by night, far from commotion and
the crowds of men, a place of retirement, a good spot for
solitary meditation." Such a garden was the Yeluvana
("Bambu-grove"), once a pleasure ground of king Bimbisara
* Tlie distance between these two capitals is about the same as between
London and Edinburgh.
144 BUDDHA S DAILY LIFE.
and, presented by him to Buddha and the Church : anothei
was the still more renowned Jetavana (at Savatthi), a gift
made by Buddha s most liberal admirer, the great merchant
Anathapindika. Not alone the sacred texts, but equally also
the monumental records, the reliefs of the great Stupa of
Bharhut, recently explored, show how highly celebrated this
gift of Anathapindika s was from the earliest days in the
Buddhist Church. It is narrated how Anathapindika was
in search of a spot which should be worthy to serve as a place
of sojourn for Buddha and his disciples : the garden of the
prince Jeta alone appeared to him to unite in itself all require
ments, but the prince declined to sell it to him. After
protracted negotiations Anathapindika obtained the garden
for as much gold as sufficed to cover the surface of the ground
of the whole Jetavana. He gave it to Buddha, whose favourite
place of sojourn it thenceforward was. Numberless passages
of the sacred texts, in which the subject-matter consists
of addresses and sayings of Buddha, begin : At this time the
holy Buddha was sojourning at Savatthi, in the Jetavana, the
garden of Anathapindika.^
If it is possible to speak of a home in the homeless,
wandering life of Buddha and his disciples, places like the
Veluvana and Jetavana may of all others be so called, near the
great centres of Indian life and yet untouched by the turmoil
of the capitals, once the quiet resting places of rulers and
nobles, before the yellow-robed mendicants appeared on the
scene, and ff the Church in the four quarters, present and
absent/ succeeded to the possession of the kingly inheritance.
In these gardens were the residences of the brethren, houses,
halls, cloisters, storerooms, surrounded by lotus-pools, fragrant
mango trees, and slender fan-palms that lift their foliage high
over all else, and by the deep green foliage of the Nyagrodha
SOJOURN IN GARDENS NEAR CHIEF TOWNS. M5
19
tree, whose roots dropping from the air to earth become new
stems, and with their cool shady arcades and leafy walks seem
to invite to peaceful meditation.*
These were the surroundings in which Buddha passed a
great part of his life, probably the portions of it richest in
effective work. Here masses of the population, lay as well as
monastic, flocked together to see him and to hear him preach.
Hither came pilgrim monks from far countries, who have
heard the fame of Buddha s teaching and, when the rainy
season is past, undertake a pilgrimage to see the master face
to face. " It is customary," runs an oft-recurring passage in
our texts, "for monks, when they have passed the rainy
season, to set out to see the Exalted one. It is the custom of
the exalted Buddha to welcome monks who come from afar."
tf Is it well with you, monks ?" Buddha is accustomed to ask
the arrivals. " Are you able to live ? Have you passed the
rains in peace and unity, and without discord, and have you
experienced any want of support ? "
We hear, for instance, of one of the faithful named Sona,
in the land of Avanti (Malwa), far from the country in which
Buddha lived, whom the fame of the new doctrine had reached,
and there arose in him the desire to be received among its
professors. Three long years he had to wait until he
succeeded in bringing together in this distant land the ten
monks, whose presence was indispensable to conferring the
orders on a new member. once, when he was in solitude,
there occurred to him the thought: "I have, it is true,
* The Chinese pilgrim Fa Hian (in the beginning of the fifth century
after Christ) writes regarding the Jetavana (according to Seal s trans
lation, p. 75) : " The clear water of the tanks, the luxuriant groves, and
numberless flowers of variegated hues, combine to produce the picture of
what is called the Viliara of Chi-un (Jeta)."
10
146 BUDDHA S DAILY LIFE.
heard of the Exalted one, lie is so and so, but I have not seen
him face to face. I will go to behold him, the exalted, holy,
highest Buddha, if my teacher allows me to go." And his
teacher, to whom he expressed his wish, answered him :
fc Good, Sona, good : go, Sona, to behold him, the exalted,
holy, supreme Buddha. Thou shalt see him, Sona, the Exalted
one, the bringer of joy, the dispenser of joy, whose organs of
life are placid, whose spirit is at rest, the supreme self-subduer
and peace-possessor, the hero who has conquered self and
watches himself, who holds his desires in check." And Sona
prepares for the journey to Savatthi, where Buddha is
tarrying in the Jetavana, the garden of Anathapiiidika.
Pilgrims of this class come together where Buddha is
sojourning, and the meetings and greetings of the arriving
groups with the clerical brothers who live on the spot, the
interchange of news, the arrangement of lodging-places for
the itinerant monks, then not unfrequently caused those
noisy clamours so strange to western ears, which seem to be
inseparable from such occasions in the East, and which are
most earnestly deprecated more than once in the sacred texts.
The fame of Buddha s person also drew together from far
and near crowds of such as stood without the narrower circles
of the community. " To the ascetic Gotama," people remarked
to one another, " folks are coming, passing through kingdoms
and countries, to converse with him." Often, when he
happened to halt near the residences of potentates, kings,
princes, and dignitaries, came on waggons or on elephants,
to put questions to him or to hear his doctrine. Such a
scene is described to us in the opening of the " Sutra on the
fruit of asceticism," and reappears in pictorial representation
among the reliefs at Bharhut. The Sutra relates how king
Ajatasattu of Magadha in the " Lotus-night," that is in the
MEETINGS WITH LAITY AND MONKS. 147
full moon of October, the time when the lotus blooms, is sitting
in the open-air, surrounded by his nobles on the flat roof of his
palace. "Then/ as it is recorded in that text, " the king of
Magadha, Ajatasattu, the son of the Videha princess, uttered
this exclamation : ( fair in sooth is this moonlight night, lovely
in sooth is this moonlight night, grand in sooth is this moon
light night, heart-enchanting in sooth is this moonlight night,
happy omens in sooth giveth this moonlight night. "What
Samana or what Brahman shall I go to hear, that my soul may
be cheered when I hear him ? one counsellor names this
and another that teacher : but Jivaka, the king s physician,
sits. on in silence. "Then the king of Magadha, Ajatasattu,
the son of Vedehi, spake to Jivaka Komarabhacca : Why
art thou silent, friend Jivaka ? Sire, in my mango grove
he resteth, the exalted, holy, supreme Buddha, with a great
band of disciples, with three hundred monks. Of him, the
-exalted Gotama, there spreadeth through the world lordly
praise in these terms : He, the Exalted one, is the holy,
supreme Buddha, the wise, the learned, the blessed, who
knoweth the universe, the highest, who tameth man like an
ox, the teacher of gods and men, the exalted Buddha. Sire,
go to hear him, the Exalted one : perchance, if thou nearest
him, the Exalted one, thy soul, sire, may be refreshed
&nd the king orders elephants to be prepared for himself
and the queens, and the royal procession moves with burning
torches on that moonlight night through the gate of Kajagaha
to Jivaka s mango grove, where Buddha is said to have held
with the king the famous discourse on the fruits of
asceticism," at the end of which the king joined the Church
as a lay-member.
The pictures, which the sacred texts give us of meetings and
scenes like these, are very numerous : no doubt, the concourse
10*
14:8 BUDDHA S DAILY LIFE.
which moved round Buddha s person is faithfully reflected in
them. If Buddha comes to the free towns, we hear of his
meetings with the noble families who exercise rule there : at
Kusinara the Mallas, the ruling family of that town, go out to
meet him and issue an edict : ( whosoever goeth not to meet the
Exalted one is liable to a penalty of five hundred pieces." From
the gayest of the Indian free towns, the dissolute and wealthy
Yesali, the distinguished youths of the Licchavi house drive
out to Buddha with their splendid teams, some in white
garments with white trimmings, and others in yellow, black, or
red. Buddha says to his disciples, when he sees the Licchavi
youths coming in the distance : who ever, my disciples, among
you hath not seen the divine host of the thirty-three gods, let
him gaze on the host of the Licchavis, let him behold the host
of the Licchavis, let him view the host of the Licchavis. " And
besides the noble youth of Vesali, there comes driving with
not less pomp, to see Buddha, another celebrity of the town,
the courtesan Ambapali. She invites Buddha and his disciples
to dine in her mango grove, and when they assemble there and
dinner is over, she makes a gift of the grove to Buddha and
the Church.
To complete the picture of the society which existed round
Buddha, the class of dialecticians and theological disputants of
all shades already flourishing prosperously in India at this
period, must not be allowed to pass unnoticed: the distinguished
Brahman, endowed by the king with the revenues of a
village, who comes conducted by a great following, the young
Brahmanical scholar, who is sent forth by his teacher, to bring
him tidings of the much-spoken-of Gotama, and who is eager
to win his spurs in a logical dispute with the renowned
adversary, countless sophistic hair-splitters, persons of religious
as well as worldly standing, who have heard that the Samana
ALLOTMENT OF THE DAY. Ill)
<rotama is staying in the neighbourhood, and who prepare to
lay traps for him with two-edged questions and to entangle
him in contradiction, whatever be the answer he may give.
A frequent end of these dialogues is of course that the
vanquished opponents or the partisans of Buddha invite him
and his disciples to dine on the following day : " Sire, may
it please the Exalted one and his disciples to dine with me
to-morrow." And Buddha permits his consent to be inferred
from his silence. on the following day about noon, when
dinner is ready, the host sends word to Buddha : " Sire, it is
time, the dinner is ready -," and Buddha takes his overcoat
and alms-bowl and goes with his disciples into the town or
village to the residence of his host. After dinner at which
well-to-do hosts offer, except meat dishes, the best which the
not-very-luxurious cooks of those days could provide, and at
which the host himself and his family serve the guests, when
the customary hand washing is over, the host takes his place
with his family at Buddha s side, and Buddha addresses to
them a word of spiritual admonition and instruction.
If the day be not filled by an invitation, Buddha, according
to monastic usages, undertakes his circuit of the village or
town in quest of alms. He, as well as his disciples, rises early,
when the light of dawn appears in the sky, and spends the early
moments in spiritual exercises or in converse with his disciples,
and then he proceeds with his companions towards the town.
In the days when his reputation stood at its highest point, and
his name was named throughout India among the foremost
names, one might day by day see that man before whom kings
bowed themselves, walking about, alms-bowl in hand, through
streets and alleys, from house to house, and without uttering
any request, with downcast look, stand silently waiting until a
morsel of food was thrown into his bowl.
BUDDHA S DISCIPLES.
When he had returned from his begging excursion and
had eaten his repast, there followed, as the Indian climate
demanded, a time, if not of sleep, at any rate of peaceful
retirement. Eesting in a quiet chamber, or better still in the-
cool shades of dense foliage, he passed the sultry, close hours
of the afternoon in solitary contemplation, until the evening
came on and drew him once more from holy silence to the
bustling concourse of friend and foe.
BUDDHA S DISCIPLES.
From the exterior aspect of that which we must be satisfied
to accept as a picture of this life, our description now turns to
the interior. We have yet to acquaint ourselves with the circle
of those to whom Buddha s teaching was especially directed,
the disciples who endeavoured by following him to find for their
souls the path to rest.
To all appearance this circle of disciples was even in the
earliest days by no means a free society, bound together by
merely internal cords,- something like the band of Jesus*
disciples. We can scarcely doubt that it was from the
beginning much more of a community of ascetics organized
according to fixed rules, a formal monastic order with Buddha
at its head. The forms and external technic of a religious life of
this class had been already established in India long before the
age of Buddha : a monastic order appeared then to the religious
consciousness to be the reasonable, natural form, in which alone
the life of those who are associated in a common struggle
for release could find ｅxpression. As there was nothing in
Buddha s attitude generally which could be regarded by his
contemporaries as unusual, he had not to introduce anything
ORGANIZED COMMUNITY OF DISCIPLES. 151
fundamentally new ; on the contrary, it would have been an
innovation if he had undertaken to preach a way of salvation,
which did not proceed on a basis of monastic observances.
The standing formula with which Buddha is supposed to
have received the first believers into this circle has been
preserved to us : " Come hither, monk ; well preached is the
doctrine, walk in purity, to make an end of all suffering."
We know not whether this tradition rests on any authentic
memory, but the thought which here finds ｅxpression seems
quite correct, that the circle of Buddha s disciples was from
the very beginning a monastic brotherhood, into which the
postulant had to be admitted by an appointed step, with the
utterance of a prescribed formula.
The yellow garment of the monk and tonsure are the visible
tokens of separation from the world and worldly life; the
severance of the family bond, the renunciation of all property,
rigorous chastity, are the self-evident obligations of the
" ascetics who adhere to the son of the Sakya house"
(Samana Sakyaputtiya), the oldest term with which the
people designated the members of the young Church.
We know not how far the forms of that corporate life, of
which we shall give a fuller description later on, severally
extend back to Buddha s own time, of which we are now
speaking. It is possible, those half-monthly confessional
gatherings, to which so great significance is attached in the
simple cult of ancient Buddhism, may have been observed
by Buddha himself with the disciples who were with him.
The tone which prevailed in the assembly of the believers
was calm, composed, one might say, ceremonious. Were we
permitted to judge by the impression conveyed to us by the
sacred writings, we might opine that the sense of tranquil good
ness and the quiet self-conscious joy, by which the associated
152 BUDDHA S DISCIPLES.
life of these monks was pervaded, were not sufficient to
compensate the lack of liveliness in ｅxpression and interchange
of the experiences and emotions of each individual. Occasions
of rapture were not unfrequent, and were desired as a high
spiritual good : they consisted rather in quiet transport than
in ecstatic excitement. Each aspired to them for himself
alone ; they knew nothing of that popular enthusiasm which
seizes on whole assemblies, where one carries the others away
and common emotion excites similar visions in the imagination
of hundreds. To boast before the brothers of experiences of
ecstasy was strictly forbidden.
The distinction of caste had no place in this band. Whoso
ever will be Buddha s disciple renounces his caste. In one of
the speeches which the sacred writings put in Buddha s mouth,
it is said on this subject: "As the great streams, disciples,
however many they be, the Ganga, Yamuna, Aciravati, Sarabhu,
Mahi, when they reach the great ocean, lose their old name
and their old descent, and bear only one name, the great
ocean/ so also, my disciples, these four castes, Nobles,
Brahmans, Vai$ya and (Judra, when they, in accordance with
the law and doctrine which the Perfect one has preached,
forsake their home and go into homelessness, lose their old
name and old paternity, and bear only the one designation,
< Ascetics, who follow the son of the Sakya house. " And in
the discourse " on the fruit of asceticism/ in which Buddha
answers king Ajatasattu s question regarding the reward of
him who leaves his home and devotes himself to the religious
life, Buddha speaks of this matter : if a slave or servant of the
king puts on the yellow garment, and lives as a monk without
reproach in thought, word and deed, " wouldest thou, then,"
asks Buddha of the king, "say:, well, then, let this man still
bo my slave and servant, to stand in my presence, bow before
ATTITUDE TOWARDS CASTE. 153
me, take upon himself to perform my behests, live to minister
to my enjoyments, speak deferentially, hang upon my word?/
And the king answers, (< No, sire ; I should bow before him,
stand before him, invite him to sit down, give him what he
needed in the way of clothing, food, shelter, and of medicine,
when he is ill, and I should assure him of protection, watch
and ward, as is becoming."
Thus the religious garb of Buddha s disciples makes lords
and commons, Brahmans and ^udras equal. The gospel of
deliverance is not confined to the high-born alone, but is given
" to the welfare of many people, to the joy of many people, to
the blessing, welfare and joy of gods and men."
We can quite understand how historical treatment in our
times, which takes a delight in deepening its knowledge of
religious movements by bringing into prominence or dis
covering their social bearings, has attributed to Buddha the
role of a social reformer, who is conceived to have broken the
chains of caste and won for the poor and humble their place in
the spiritual kingdom which he founded. But any one who
.attempts to describe Buddha s labours must, out of love for
truth, resolutely combat the notion that the fame of such an
-exploit, in whatever way he may depict it to himself, belongs
to Buddha. If any one speaks of a democratic element in
Buddhism, he must bear in mind that the conception of any
reformation of national life, every notion in any way based on
the foundation of an ideal earthly kingdom, of a religious
Utopia, was quite foreign to this fraternity. There was
nothing resembling a social upheaval in India. Buddha s
spirit was a stranger to that enthusiasm, without which no
one can pose as the champion of the oppressed against the
oppressor. Let the state and society remain what they are;
the religious man, who as a monk has renounced the world,
154: BUDDHA S DISCIPLES.
has no part in its cares and occupations. Caste has no value
for him, for everything earthly has ceased to affect his interests,
out it never occurs to him to exercise his influence for its
abolition or for the mitigation of the severity of its rules for
those who have lagged behind in worldly surroundings.
"While it is true that Buddhism does not reserve to Brahmans
only the right of entry into a spiritual life, we must not fall
into the error of supposing that Buddha was the first to stand
up for this cause and do battle for it. Before his time,
probably long before his time, there were religious orders,
which received members of all castes, both males and females. 5 ^
Side by side with the first exclusive religious order of ancient
times, the Brahmans, there existed long ere this period, equal
to the Brahmans in public estimation, the second religious
order of the Samana, i.e., ascetics, admission to whose ranks
was open to every one who was resolved to renounce a worldly
career, whether he was high born or low born. This fact is
recognized in the Buddhist traditions as indisputable, as
something of which there is no recollection that it had ever
been otherwise. There is no need of overrating the value of
these traditions, to find in them a guarantee that Buddha did
not deem it necessary to undertake a struggle against the-
leaders of society and thought in behalf of the spiritual rights
of the poor and humble : and least of all is it possible that in
such a struggle lay the essential character of his life.
This by no means ends all that might be said against the
historically untrue conception of Buddha as the victorious
champion of the lower classes against a haughty aristocracy
of birth and brain.
If one speaks of the equality of all within the pale of Buddha s
* Vide antea, p. 63.
SOCIAL POSITION OF THE DISCIPLES.
confraternity, it is not altogether superfluous to contrast the
theory, which was prevalent on this subject among Buddhists,,
with the actual facts.
It is the case, as we have seen, that the Buddhist theory
acknowledged the equal right of all persons without distinction
to be received into the order, and it could not but acknow
ledge it, or it would have given up the consequences of its own
principles. And indeed it does not appear to have been likely
to occur that postulants should be rejected contrary to the law,
on the score of caste.* Nevertheless it seems as if the actual
composition of the band, which surrounded Buddha s person,
and the composition of the early Church especially, was by no
means in due keeping with the theory of equality : if even
Brahman exclusiveness was not maintained in its full extent,,
still a marked leaning to aristocracy seems to have lingered in
ancient Buddhism as an inheritance from the past. The sacred
writings, in what they openly record as well as in what they
imply between the lines, give us sufficient means of drawing a
conclusion as to these matters. In the first great address
which tradition puts in Buddha s mouth, the sermon at Benares,
there occurs an ｅxpression, which unwittingly characterizes,
and withal criticizes, as briefly as it did sharply, the state of
the early Church. Buddha speaks on that occasion of the
highest consummation of religious aspirations, for the sake of
which "the sons of noble families (kulaputta) leave their
homes and go into homelessness." The disciples who gathered
* Otherwise we should expect to find in the Vinaya, the codex of
ecclesiastical law, in which the section treating of the reception into the
order is especially detailed, distinct regulations directed against this-
abuse. The Vinaya shows clearly that necessity existed much more to
prevent improper concessions of admission (i.e., in the case of persons
by whose entry into the order the rights of the Third might have been,
infringed), than to guard against improper refusals of admission.
156 BUDDHA S DISCIPLES.
round the teacher coming from the noble house of the Sakyas,
the descendant of king Ikshvaku, were themselves for the
most part " sons of noble families." If we review the ranks of
personages, whom we are accustomed to meet in the texts, we
find it clearly indicated, that the real situation was by this
phrase described conformably to fact ; here are young Brah-
mans like Sariputta, Moggallana, Kaccana, nobles like Ananda,
Rahula, Anuruddha, sons of the greatest merchants and highest
municipal dignitaries, like Yasa, invariably men and youths of
the most respectable classes of society, and with an education
in keeping with their social status.* Besides there were the
numerous ascetics of other sects, converts to the faith of Buddha,
who undoubtedly occupied, by birth and breeding, the same
social position. t I am not aware of any instance in which a
* Among the disciples who surrounded Buddha, the barber Upali is
picked out as being a man of low position. Not quite correctly : as
barber of the Sakyas he was a courtier, and appears in the tradition as
the personal friend of the Sakya youths. Vide " Cullavagga," vii, 1-4,
and, as to the courtly standing of kings barbers, cf. " Jataka," i, p. 342.
f It may be observed in this connection that, according to Buddhist
dogmatic, a Buddha can be born only as a Brahman or as a noble : in this
we have it clearly indicated, that the distinctions of caste have by no
means vanished or become worthless to the Buddhist consciousness.
There is still much else which points in this direction with characteristic
significance. In the narrative of a respected young Brahman who appears
in the cloister-garden and asks after Buddha, it is recorded : " Thus the
disciples communed among themselves, saying : this youth Ambattha is
respected and of high, family, and he is the pupil of a respected Brahman,
Pokkharasati. Truly not undesired hy the Exalted one is such an
interview with such noble youths" (Ambuttliasutta) . And Buddha s
beloved disciple, Ananda, says to his master with reference to a man of
the noble house of the Mallas, the rulers over Kusinara : " Sire, this
Malla Roja, is a respected, well-known person. The good will of such
a respected and well-known person towards this doctrine and ordinance
is of the highest importance. So then, sire, may the Exalted one be
SOCIAL POSITION OF THE DISCIPLES. 157
Candala the Pariah, of that age is mentioned in the sacred
writings as a member of the order. For the lower order of
the people, for those born to toil in manual labour, hardened
by the struggle for existence, the announcement of the con
nection of misery with all forms of existence was not made,*
nor was the dialectic of the law of the painful concatenation of
pleased to bring it about that the Malla Eoja shall be won to this doc
trine and ordinance." And Buddha willingly complies with this request
of his disciple (" Mahavagga," vi, 36). If the texts permit any person at
random, not specified by name, to come to Buddha and to be taught by
him, they describe such a person as a rule as " a certain Brahman "
(especially numerous instances occur in the " Anguttara-Nikaya, Tika-
Nipata"). The text of the Jamas also furnish similar cases. In the simile
of the lotus flower, which is to be delivered from the miry earth (in the
Sutrakridanga), the flower is not any man at large in need of deliverance,
but " a king."
* By this it is not meant to imply that people of humble origin in no
case appear in the old texts as members of the order. Interesting, but
standing quite alone, is the narrative which is attributed to the Thera
(Elder) Sunita in the collection of " Sayings of the Elders " (Theragatha) :
" I have come of a humble family, I was poor and needy. The work
which I performed was lowly, sweeping the withered flowers (out of
temples and palaces). I was despised of men, looked down upon and
lightly esteemed. With submissive mien I showed respect to many.
Then I beheld the Buddha with his band of monks, as he passed, the
great hero, into the most important town of Magadha. Then I cast
away my burden and ran to bow myself in reverence before him. From
pity for me he halted, that highest among men. Then I bowed myself
at the Master s feet, stepped up to him and begged him, the highest
among all beings, to accept me as a monk. Then said unto me the
gracious Master, the compassionator of all worlds : * Come hither, O
monk; that was the initiation which I received." (Sunita further
relates how he withdrew to the forest, and there wrapt in contemplation,
longed for deliverance. The gods came to him and paid him reverence.)
" Then the Master saw me, how the host of the gods surrounded me.
A smile broke over his features, and he spake these words : " By holy
zeal and chaste living, by restraint and self -repression, thereby a man
becomes a Brahman : that is the highest Brahmanhood."
158 BUDDHA S DISCIPLES.
causes and effects calculated to satisfy "the poor in spirit."
" To the wise belongeth this law/ it is said, "not to the
foolish." Very unlike the word of that Man, who suffered
<e little children to come unto him, for of such is the kingdom
of God." For children and those who are like children, the
arms of Buddha are not opened.
Of the several personages in the narrower circle of disciples
we cannot expect to have a life-like individual portrait. Here,
^as everywhere else in the literature of ancient India, we always
meet" merely with types, not individualities. We have already
touched on this peculiarity : each >of the chief disciples re
sembles every other, so that one might be taken for the other,
the same conglomerate of perfect purity, perfect internal peace,
perfect devotion to Buddha. These are not real individuals
but the incarnated esprit de corps of the pupils of Buddha.
The names and the more important surroundings in the life
of the individual disciples are undoubtedly authentic. Tradi
tion accords the foremost place among them to those two
Brahmans, bound to each other from youth up in bonds of
closest friendship, viz., Sariputta and Moggallana, who meet
us among the converts gained by Buddha in the outset of his
career (p. 134, seq.). Throughout his and their long life
they followed him faithfully, and they died within a short
interval of each other in extreme old age, not long before
Buddha s death. It is Sariputta whom Buddha is believed to
have declared to be the most prominent among his followers :
he is, it is said,* like the eldest son of a world-ruling monarch,
who, following the king, helps him to put in motion the wheel
<of sovereignty, which he sets rolling over the earth. f Nearest
* " Anguttara Nikaya, Pancaka-Nipata."
f By this description of Sariputta as " eldest son of tlie Church," it
was not contemplated, however, that he might be called to be Buddha s
SARIPUTTA, MOGGALLANA, ANANDA. Wj
to these two Brahmans, among those who stand closest to
Buddha,, is his own cousin, Ananda, who, when still a youth,
adopted the garb of a monk in company with a whole group of
young nobles of Sakya family;* his brother Devadatta, whom
we shall discover to be the apostate and traitor in the band,
was likewise among these Sakyas. The care of Buddha s person
and the ordinary necessities of his daily life, were committed
to Ananda s hands : often, when Buddha had left all the other
disciples behind, it is Ananda alone who accompanies him,
and the narrative of Buddha s last journeyings and of his fare
well address gives, as we shall see, to Ananda a role, which
may well entitle him to be above all others known as the
disciple " whom the Master loved." Another member of this
select circle was Upali, who had formerly served the noble
Sakyas as a barber, and who entered Buddha s order at the
same time with his masters. He is frequently mentioned in
the sacred writings as the first propounder of the ecclesiastical
law of the young Church ; it is not improbable that he had a
special share in the framing and the scholastic transmission of
the old confessional liturgy, from which has sprung the whole
ecclesiastical literature of Buddhism. Buddha s own son,
Kahula, whom he had begotten before leaving his father s roof,
also entered the order, and is not unfrequently mentioned with
the great disciples already named ; a prominent part, however,
he does not seem to have played in this band.
successor, the head of the Church after the Master s death. The notion
of any head of the Church but Buddha himself is, as we shall see, foreign
to Buddhism, independently of the fact that tradition could not have
-chosen a person more ill-adapted to give ｅxpression to this idea, than a
disciple, who died before Buddha.
* one of the few chronological statements contained in the sacred texts
states that this happened twenty-five years before Buddha s death
{" Theragatha," fol. gai of the Phayre MS.).
160 BUDDHA S DISCIPLES.
The Judas Iscariot among Buddha s disciples except that
his machinations were unsuccessful is, as narrated, Buddha s
own cousin, Devadatta.* Stimulated by ambition he seems to
have aimed at stepping into the place of Buddha, who had
already grown old, and at getting the management of the
community into his own hands. When Buddha does not
permit this, he attempts, in conjunction with Ajatasattu, the son
of king Bimbisara, who is aiming at his father s throne, to put
the Master out of the way. Their projects fail : miracles are
related, by which the life of the Holy one is preserved : the
defeated murderers are attacked by fear and trembling, when
they come near Buddha ; he speaks gently to them, and they
are converted to the faith ; the piece of rock which is intended
to crush Buddha, is interrupted by two converging mountain
peaks, so that it merely grazes Buddha s foot : the wild
elephant, which is driven against Buddha in a narrow street,
remains standing before him, paralyzed by the magic power of
his friendly thought," and then turns tamely back. At last
Devadatta is said to have attempted to obtain the leadership of
the Church in another way. He makes five propositions, of
which we possess an account seemingly quite above suspicion.f
on a number of points which affect monastic life, on which
Buddha allowed a certain amount of freedom of action at the
discretion of the individual member, Devadatta attempted to
substitute a more rigorous ascetic praxis for these liberal
* The oldest form of the narratives regarding Devadatta is to be found
in the seventh book of the " Cullavagga."
f " Cullavagga." It is possible, but naturally it cannot be demonstrated,
that the history of these five propositions and the schism brought about
by Devadatta are the only historical kernel of these narratives, and that
the attempts at murder are an invention, which the orthodox Buddhist
tried to tack on to the memory of the hated heretic.
UPALI, RAHVLA, DEVADATTA. 161
regulations : for instance, he insisted that a monk should have
his camping-place all his life long in the jungle, while Buddha
permitted him to live in the neighbourhood of towns and
villages, and was himself accustomed to live there; a monk
was, furthermore, to live only on the contributions which he
collected on his begging excursions, and was not to accept any
invitations to dine with the pious laity; he was to dress
himself only in clothes made up of gathered rags ; and more
of the like. Whoever acted otherwise, would be punished
with expulsion from the community. Devadatta proposed
these rules as the fundamental principles of a true and rigid
spiritual life, in opposition to Buddha s arrangements as a
lax concession to human frailties, and he tried to draw off
to himself the monks around Buddha : if we may believe
tradition, with a transient success, which then turned into
total discomfiture. Devadatta is said to have come to a
deplorable end.*
These are the most prominent figures in the band of Buddha s
disciples ; but disciples in deed and in truth those alone are
who give up all that is earthly to, as the formula puts it,
ff walk in holiness, to put an end to all suffering : " monks and
nuns, with the Indian designations, "bhikkhu" (beggar, M.)
and " bhikkhuni " (beggar, /.). But, as in the history of Jesus,
Lazarus and Nicodemus, Mary and Martha, stand side by side
with Peter and John, so Buddhism also, side by side with the
male and female mendicants recognize male and female votaries
(upasaka, m. ; upasika,/.) of Buddha and his law, believers,
who honour Buddha as the holy preacher of deliverance and his
* According to the later wide-spread version of the narrative, the
jaws of hell opened and swallowed him alive ; the narrative of the
" Cullavagga," as a matter of course, represents him going to hell, but
says nothing of this departure to hell in living form.
11
162 BUDDHA S DISCIPLES.
word as tlie word of truth, but who remain in their worldly
position, in wedlock, in the possession of their property, and
make themselves useful to the Church, as far as they can, by
gifts and charities of every kind. Yet the monks alone, not
the lay-adherents, are exclusively members of the Church.*
The formation of this wider circle of worldly believers
has been regarded as an inconsistent relaxation of original
Buddhism, as a concession on the part of clear and rigorous
thought to practicability and the weakness of human nature.
It has also been supposed that in the oldest texts the distinc
tion to be found is only between professed believers, i.e., monks,
and non-believers , i.e., the laity, but not that of believing
monks and believing laity. This is wholly erroneous. The
oldest traditions which we possess speak of the laity, who
* A close examination of the relations between the monks proper and
lay-associates must obviously he reserved for the sketch of " Church
Life " (part iii). It will suffice in this place to point out that the idea of
lay-members (upasaka) in Buddhist Church-law cannot be taken in the
same sense as a technical term as that of monks (bhikkhu) : in the latter
idea there is involved a definite de jure relationship, in the former the
relationship is rather de facto than inherently de jure. For anyone
to become a hhikkhu a special procedure is necessary on the part of the
Church to complete the fact ; the case of a person who desires to be
considered an upasaka expresses this, of course, and the texts have
in this case also, as for everything that occurs with frequency, a
definite formula (" I take, sire, my refuge with the Exalted one, and
with the Doctrine, and with the Order of the disciples ; may the
Exalted one accept me as his votary [upasaka] from this day forward
through my life, me who have taken refuge with him"), but no special
procedure follows, no recognition of the upasaka as such on the part
of the Church. Furthermore there were no ties which prohibited the
Buddhist upasaka from being at the same time the upasaka of another
Church (cf. "Cullav.," v, 20, 3), so that it appears in every way
impossible to identify the position of the upasaka with anything we
understand to be among the components of a Church.
LA7-AB80CIATE8, BDIBISAEA, ETC. 1G3
profess to be friends and votaries of Buddha and the order,
and the nature of the case compels us to attach credit to those
traditions. There must in fact, since ever there were mendi
cant monks in India, have also been pious laymen, who gave
something to these religious beggars, and there must also soon
have grown up, whether with or without recognized forms and
names, it is quite immaterial, a certain relationship between
definite monks or monastic orders and a definite laity, who
felt themselves bound to each other, the one class to receive
spiritual instruction, the other to obtain the little that they
needed for their maintenance. And more than a connection
of this class, the relation which subsisted between Buddha s
order and the lay-believers has not been.
Princes and nobles, Brahmans and merchants, we find
among those who " took their refuge in Buddha, the Law, and
the Order/ i.e., who made their profession as lay-believers ;
the wealthy and the aristocrat, it seems, here also exceeded
the poor ; to reach the humble and wretched, the sorrowing,
who endured yet another sorrow than the great universal
sorrow of inpermanence, was not the province of Buddhism.
Prominent among the " adherents" stand the two royal
friends of Buddha, Bimbisara, the ruler of Magadha, and
Pasenadi, the ruler of Kosala, both approximately of the same
age as Buddha, and throughout their lives true protectors of his
Church. Then comes Jivaka, the renowned physician-in-
ordinary to Bimbisara,* who was appointed by the king to
undertake medical attendance, not on him and his women only,
but also on Buddha and Buddha s order; next, the merchant
Anathapindika, who had presented to the order the garden of
Jetavana, Buddha s favourite place of resort. In all important
* The story of Jivaka and the wonderful cures which lie effects is
related in the Eighth Book of the " Mahavagga."
11*
164: . WOMEN.
places which Buddha touched in the course of his wanderings,
he found bands of such lay-believers, who went out to meet
him, arranged for assemblies, in which Buddha spoke, who
gave him and his companions their naeals, who placed their
residences and gardens at their disposal, or made them over to
the order as Church property. If he went wandering about
vith hundreds of his disciples, pious votaries were sure to
accompany him on his journey with carts and waggons, and
they brought necessaries of life, salt, and oil with them, for
each in his turn to prepare the wanderer a meal, and crowds of
needy folk followed in their train to snatch the remains of
these provisions.
WOMEN.
Buddha and his disciples did not and could not fail to come
into contact with women: every begging excursion,* every
repast at the house of a lay-member, at which the female
members of the household appeared with the master of the
house and listened after the repast to spiritual instruction,
necessarily involved such meetings. The seclusion of women
from the outer world, which later custom has enjoined, was
quite unheard of in ancient India ; women took their share in
the intellectual life of the people, and the most delicate and
tenderest of the epic poems of the Indians show us how well
they could understand and appreciate true womanhood.
But was it possible for a mind like Buddha, who in the severe
determination of renunciation had torn himself away from all
* It was, as a rule, women who, in the houses of tlie laity, answered
the monks who went on begging excursions, and handed them food into
their bowls. Cullavagga, viii, 5, 2.
FEMALE DISCIPLES. 165
that is attractive and lovely in this world, was he given the
faculty to understand and to value woman s nature ? And were
those ideals, which evoked the exertions of Buddha s disciples,
calculated in their impersonal transcendentalism, to kindle
and satisfy women s hearts, to be even realized in their rigorous
and stern consequences by womanly feeling ?
Women are to the Buddhist of all the snares which the
tempter has spread for men, the most dangerous ; in women
are embodied all the powers of infatuation, which bind the
mind of the world. The ancient story books of the Buddhists
are full of narratives and illustrations of the incorrigible
artifice of women. " TJnfathomably deep, like a fish s course
in the water/ the moral of one such history runs, "is the
character of women, robbers with many artifices, with whom
truth is hard to find, to whom a lie is like the truth and the
truth like a lie." " Master," Buddha is asked by Ananda,.
"how shall we behave before women ? "- " You should shun
their gaze, Ananda." " But if we do see them, master, what
then are we to do ? " " Not speak to them, Ananda." " But
if we do speak to them, master, what then ? " Then you
must watch over yourselves, Ananda."
We are told, and some trustworthy memory may possibly
be at the bottom of this tradition, that for a long time only
men were permitted to be received into Buddha s order, and
that it was only with grave misgiving that Buddha yielded
to the pressure of his foster-mother, Mahapajlpati, to Deceive
women also as his disciples.* "As in a field of rice, Ananda,.
* Cullavagga," x, 1. Agreeably to this, nuns do not appear as disciples
in the narratives of Buddha s first experiences as a teacher. The con
fessional formulary, Patimokkha," notably one of the oldest literary
monuments of Buddhism, mentions the nuns at every step, and king
Asoka also remembers them in the Edict of Bairat.
166 WOMEN.
which is in full vigour, the disease breaks out which is called
mildew, then the vigour of that field of rice continues no
longer, so also, Ananda, if women be admitted in a doctrine
and to an order to renounce the world and go into home-
lessness, holy living does not last long. If, Ananda, in the
doctrine and the order, which the Perfect one has founded,
it were not conceded to women to go out from their homes
into homelessness, holy living would re.main preserved,
Ananda, for a long time; the pure doctrine would abide
for a thousand years. But now, Ananda, that, in the doctrine
and order, which the Perfect one has founded, women
renounce the world and go into homelessness, under these
circumstances, Ananda, holy living will not be long preserved;
only five hundred years, Ananda, will the doctrine of the truth
:abide."
The narratives of the sacred writings, accordingly, unmis
takably keep the female disciples, who have donned the garb
of nuns, at a certain distance from the master, both in spiritual
offices and in daily life. Buddhism has not had a Mary of
Bethany. Buddha announces the rules, which he lays down
for the order of nuns, to the monks and merely causes them
to reach the nuns through them : and these regulations keep
the nuns as regards the monks in perfectly submissive sub
jection : throughout they are treated merely as a tolerated,
and reluctantly tolerated, element in the Church. Not one
of the female disciples is near the master when he is dying,
and it is made a matter of reproach to Ananda, that he has
granted access to Buddha s corpse to women, whose tears
bedewed the corpse. " Kriton, let some one lead this woman
home/ says Socrates, when Xanthippe appears in his prison
to take a last farewell of him.
Thus, between the spirit, which animated Buddha and
BUDDHA S CONVERSATION WITH VISAKHA. 167
Buddha s disciples., and that which woman s nature is and
gives and seeks, there was a fundamental difference, which
could not be reconciled. But instead we find the women of
India all the more zealously engaged as fellow-labourers
through charity, assistance, and service, in those practical
spheres which the young Church opened up for religious
usefulness. The stupendous munificence, which met the
Buddhist order at every step, proceeded in great measure,
perhaps in the greatest measure, from women.
In the sacred texts the type of a female votary of Buddha,
as she ought to be, with her indefatigable zeal as a giver and
as a helper, is the honourable matron Visakha. She is a rich
citizen commoner at Savatthi, the chief town of Kosala, the
mother of many blooming children, the grandmother of
countless grandchildren. Every one invites Visakha to
sacrificial ceremonies and banquets, and has the dishes
offered to her first; a guest like her brings luck to tlie
house. It is Visakha, who is represented to have made
the first liberal preparations on a large scale to provide for
Buddha s disciples who came to Savatthi, the chief necessaries
of life. I here insert the narrative in point;* it gives at
once an intelligible picture of what people in the young
brotherhood thought as to giving and receiving and as ^
which of the two is the more blessed: the only benefactor,
who must be thanked, is not he who gives anything to Buddha
and his order, but Buddha who accepts the gift and thereby
puts the giver in the position to practice the virtue of charity
.and to become partaker of that reward, which is promised to
this virtue.
Buddha is one day dining with his disciples at Visakha s.
* " Mahavagga," viii, 15.
168 WOMEN.
After dinner Visakha approaches him and says : " Eight
requests, sire, I make of the Exalted one" "The Perfect,
Visakha, are too exalted to be able to grant every wish."
"What is allowable, sire, and what is unblamable/ "Then
?peak, Visakha."
"I desire as long as I live, sire, to give the brotherhood
clothes for the rainy season, to give food to stranger monks
who arrive here, to give food to monks who are passing
through, to give food to sick brethren, to give food to the
attendants on the sick, to give medicine to the sick, to
distribute a daily dole of cooked rice, to give bathing dresses
to the sisterhood of nuns."
tf What object hast thou in view, Visakha, that thou
approachest the Perfect one with these eight wishes ?"
(Visakha now explains her several wishes. So she says :)
" A monk, sire, who comes from foreign parts, does not
know the streets and lanes and he goes about weary to collect
alms. When he has partaken of the food which I shall provide
for the monks who arrive, he may then, when he has inquired
the ways and the streets, go out refreshed to collect alms.
This end, sire, I have in view : therefore I desire as long as
I live to give food to monks when they arrive. And again,
sire, a monk who is travelling through will, if he has to seek
for food for himself, fall behind his caravan, or will arrive late
when he intends to rest, and he will walk on his journey
wearily. If he has partaken of the food which I shall have
provided for monks who are passing through, he will not fall
behind his caravan, and he will arrive in proper time at the
place where he intends to rest, and he will walk on his journey
refreshed. This object I have in view, sire ; therefore I desire,
as long as I live, to give food to the monks who are passing
through. It has happened, sire, that nuns were bathing naked
BUDDHA S CONVERSATION WITH VISAKHA. 169
together in the river Aciravati (Rapti) at the same bathing-
place with prostitutes. The prostitutes,, sire, mocked the
nuns, saying: Most respected ones, what do you need of
your holy life, as long as you are young ? Is it not proper to
gratify desire ? When you are old you may begin a holy life,
so both will be yours, this life and that which is to come/
When the nuns, sire, were thus mocked by the prostitutes,
they were put out of temper. Improper, sire, is nakedness for
a woman, obscene and objectionable. This, sire, I consider;
therefore I desire, as long as I live, to provide bathing-dresses
for the sisterhood of nuns."
And Buddha says : " Good, Yisakha ! thou doest well, that
thou, seeking this reward, askest the Perfect one for these
eight wishes. I grant thee these eight wishes, Yisakha."
Then the Holy one praised Yisakha, the mother of Migara,
in these words :
" Who gives food and drink with generous readiness,
The follower of the Holy one, rich in virtues,
Who, without grudging, gives gifts for the reward of heaven,
Who puts an end to pain, is ever intent on bringing joy,
Obtains the reward of a heavenly life.
She walks the shining, commendable path,
Free from pain, she joyfully reaps for a very long period
The reward of good deeds in the happy realm of heaven above."
Pictures like this of Yisakha, benefactresses of the Church,
with their inexhaustible religious zeal, and their not less
inexhaustible resources of money, are certainly, if anything
ever was, drawn from the life of India in those days : they
cannot be left out of sight, if we desire to get an idea of the
actors who made the oldest Buddhist community what it
was.
8170 BUDDHA S OPPONENTS.
BUDDHA S OPPONENTS.
Now that we have made the acquaintance of disciples and
friends, our next inquiry is about the enemies and about the
battles in which the new gospel had to prove its strength. If
we might believe the Buddhist texts on this subject, Buddha s
career was nothing but one great uninterrupted victorious
march. Wherever he comes, the masses, it is told us time
after time, flock to him. The other teachers are deserted ;
they are silent if he " raises his lion voice in the assemblies."
Whoever hears his discourse, is converted.
This picture certainly does not wholly correspond with the
<truth, and we can, on some points at least, learn the actual
facts tolerably well.
Above all it must be borne in mind that Buddha did not
find himself like other reformers face to face with a great,
united power, capable of resistance, and determined to resist,
in which was embodied the old which he attacked and desired
to replace by the new.
People are accustomed to speak of Buddhism as opposed to
Brahmanism, somewhat in the way that it is allowable to speak
of Lutheranism as an opponent of the papacy. But if they
mean, as they might be inclined from this parallel to do, to
picture to themselves a kind of Brahmanical Church, which is
assailed by Buddha, which opposed its resistance to its
operations like the resistance of the party in possession to an
upstart, they are mistaken. Buddha did not find himself in
the presence of a Brahmanical hierarchy, embracing the whole
people, overshading the whole popular life. In the eastern
districts religious movement, allowing itself free play, had
ramified in many separate directions : sects upon sects exist
side by side, at peace or at war as circumstances determined.
The champions of the Veda, of Brahmanism, are really not
BUDDHA AND BRAHMANISM. 171
more than one among many parties, and, indeed, to all appear-
ance, by no means an especially powerful one. They wanted
altogether compact organization ; least of all did they, at any
rate in the territories in which Buddha s work was prosecuted,
represent a state-Church or had they power to enforce their
commands by the assistance of worldly power. Their personal
.prestige was by no means undisputed there. From the great
Brahman, who as an officer of high rank oppressed the people
in the king s name and then deceived the king in turn, down
to the small clerics, who, if invited to dine, made themselves
disagreeably conspicuous by their behaviour at table, their
personal appearance and manner of life provoked criticism, and
.men did not withhold that criticism. Long since a Samana
,(an ascetic) had come to be not a hair lighter in popular
estimation than a Brahman. The Veda, the great patent of
nobility of the Brahman class could not possibly give them a
^claim to power and popularity, such even as that the Pharisees
had in the Mosaic law. Who among the people cared for the
Veda, for the abstruse theories of sacrifice, the language of
which no one understood, or for the ancient hymns, the
language of which was still less understood, the hymns to
forgotten deities, the heirlooms of grammarians and antiquaries?
The propitiatory sacrifice with its plain external conception of
.guilt and purification, behind which the greedy exaction of
a priestcraft lay concealed, must have kept alive in earnest
and clear thinking natures, ill-will towards this priesthood.
Thus Brahmanism was not to Buddha an enemy whose
conquest he would have been unable to effect. He may often
have found the local influence of respected Brahmans an
obstacle in his path,* but against this a hundred other
* The insignificant part which the western portions of Hindostan (the
-countries of the Kuru-Pancala, and so forth) play in the narration of
172 BUDDHA S OPPONENTS.
Brahmans stood by him as his disciples or had declared for
him as lay members.* Here no struggle on a large scale has
taken place. The Brahmans had not the weapons of the world
without at their disposal in such a warfare, and where the
arbitrament was of intellectual weapons, they were sure to
lose.
Buddha discredited the sacrificial system ; he censured with
bitter irony the knowledge of Yedic scribes as sheer folly, if
not as shameless swindle ; Brahmanical pride of caste was not
more gently handled. He who repeats the lays and sayings of
the poetic sages of antiquity and then fancies himself a sage,
is like a plebeian or a slave, who should mount up to the place
from which a king has addressed his retinue, and speak the
same words and then fancy himself also a king.f The pupil
believes what the teacher has believed, the teacher what he has
received from the teachers before him. "Like a chain of
blind men, I take it, is the discourse of the Brahmans : he who
is in front sees nothing, he who is in the middle sees nothing,,
he who is behind sees nothing, what then ? Is not, if this be
so, the faith of the Brahmans vain ?" J
The classical ｅxpression of the views of the old Buddhist
Buddha s wanderings arises not only from their remoteness, but also in
a not less degrees from the more powerful position which the Brahmans
occupied there, in the old home of the Yedic faith. When the law of
Manu (9, 225) gives authority for expelling all heretical people from the
state, there is in this a claim of Brahmanism which a code framed in the
east could scarcely have dared to advance.
* It is worthy of observation that the usage of the Buddhist texts in no
way connects with the word " Brahman " the notion of an enemy to the
cause of Buddha, in the way that in the New Testament Pharisees and
Scribes appear as the standing enemies of Jesus.
f Sic Ambattasutta (Digha-Nikaya).
% Cankisuttanta (Majjhima !N".).
CRITICISM OF SACRIFICIAL SYSTEMS. 173
Church, and, we may say, of Buddha, regarding the value of
the Yedic sacrificial cult, is contained in a conversation of
Buddha with a Brahman of position, who had asked Buddha
about the essentials of a proper sacrifice.*
Buddha then narrates the story of a powerful and successful
king of bygone days, who, after splendid victories and the
-conquest of the whole earth, formed the resolution of making
a great offering to the gods. He summoned his family priest
and asked his instructions, as to how he should set about his
project. The priest admonishes him before offering a sacrifice,
to establish first of all peace, prosperity, and security in his
kingdom. Not until all injustices in the land are repaired,
does he proceed to sacrifice. And at his sacrifice no life of
sentient creature is taken ; no cattle and sheep are killed ; no
trees are hewn down; no grass is cut. The servants of the
king perform their work in connection with the sacrifice, not
under pressure and in tears, in fear of the overseer s verge ;
each works willingly, as his own inclination prompts him.
Libations of milk, oil, and honey are offered, and thus the
king s sacrifice is performed. But there is, Buddha goes on
to say, yet another offering, easier to perform than that, and
yet higher and more blessed : where men make gifts to pious -
monks, where men build dwelling-places for Buddha and his
order. And there is yet a higher offering : where a man with
believing heart takes his refuge with Buddha, with the Doctrine,
with the Order, when a man robs no being of its life, when a
man puts far from him lying and deceit. And there is yet a
higher offering : where a man separates as a monk from joy and
sorrow and sinks himself in holy repose. But the highest
offering, which a man can bring, and the highest blessing of
* Kutadantasutta of the Digha-Nikaya.
174 BUDDHA S OPPONENTS.
which he can be made participator, is, when he obtains
deliverance and gains this knowledge : I shall not again return
to this world. This is the highest perfection of all offering.
Thus speaks Buddha; the Brahman hears his discourse
believingly, and says : " I take my refuge with Buddha, with
the Doctrine and with the Order." He had himself intended
to perform a great sacrifice, and had hundreds of animals
ready for it. " I let them loose and set them free/ he says,
" let them enjoy green grass, let them drink cool water, let
the cool wind fan them."
The ｅxpressions which we here find need no commentary to
clearly elicit from them the attitude of the Buddhists towards
the ancient cult. We do not hear how the Brahmans on their
part fortified their position, what procedure they adopted
against the new faith; but, if we possessed Brahmanical
sketches of Buddha s appearance, our conviction would
hardly be thereby destroyed, that from the very beginning
the intrinsic superiority as well as the external advantage in
this struggle was on the side of Buddha s disciples.
Buddha found in the rival ascetic leaders and their monastic
orders more subtle and dangerous opponents than in the
champions of the ancient faith. The spirit which animated
many of these communities was allied to the spirit on which
Buddha s own work was based. If we read the sacred books
of the Jainas, it seems as if we heard Buddhists speaking.
"We have no quite reliable opinion as to the terms upon
which the monks of the rival communities mixed with each
other. Openly expressed enmity appears to have not always
prevailed ; it was not unusual for members to visit each other
in their hermitages, to exchange civilities, to speak to each
other coolly and temperately on dogmatic subjects. That
there was notwithstanding an incessant play of intrigue in
RELATIONS WITH OTHER MONASTIC ORDERS. 175
progress will be obvious ; where the object in view was to
deprive each other of the protection of influential personages
no trouble was spared. King Asoka found occasion in his
edicts to point out to the spiritual brotherhoods, that he is
only doing an injury to his own faith who thinks to set it in
a clear light by abusing the adherents of another faith. But
whether Buddha himself and the disciples immediately round
him descended from the heights of holy meekness, on which
the orthodox tradition enthrones them, to this religious
scramble, is a point on which we are forbidden to hazard
a conjecture.
What more than anything else distinguished Buddha from
the most of his rivals was his dissentient attitude towards the
self -mortifications, in which they saw the path to deliverance.*
We saw how, according to tradition, Buddha himself in the
period of search through which he passed when a young man,
had endured self-mortifications in their most rigorous severity,
and had found out their fruitlessness in his own case. What
drives earthly thoughts out of the soul is not fasting and
bodily agony, but self-culture, above all the struggle for
knowledge, and for this struggle man derives the power only
from an external life, which is far removed alike from luxury
and from privation, and still more from self-inflicted pain. In
* I take the following passages from one of the sacred texts of the
Niggantha- or Jaina-sect, founded by Buddha s contemporary Nata-
putta : " By day motionless as a statue, the countenance turned to the
sun, permitting himself to burn on a place exposed to the sun s rays, by
night cowering, unclothed ... by this conspicuous, great, intense,
prominent, precious, efficacious, rich, promising, noble, exalted, high,
supreme, conspicuous, very potent exercise of penance he appeared very
debilitated . . . with penance richly covered, but impoverished in
flesh and blood like a fire covered over with heaps of ashes, shining
brilliantly through penance, through radiance, in nobleness of the
radiance of penance, there he stands."
176 BUDDHA S VIEWS AS TO PENANCES.
the sermon at Benares, in which tradition has undertaken to
draw up something- like a programme of Buddha s operations,*
polemic directed against those errors of gloomy ascetics is not
.absent ; the way which leads to deliverance keeps itself as far
from all self-mortification as it steers clear on the other side of
earthly pleasure ; the one as well as the other is there termed
unworthy and vain. The true spiritual life is once compared
to a lute, the strings of which must not be too loose nor
stretched too tensely, if it is to give a correct sound. The
balance of the faculties, the internal harmony, is that which
Buddha commands his followers to aim at securing.
So far as moral living can maintain a healthy development
on the ground and within the limits to which Indian monasti-
ism is once for all by its nature confined, so far we must claim
for Buddha s work the merit of such inherent soundness. He
has seen through the enveloping husks which conceal the
kernel of the ethical more clearly than his contemporaries,
and has bequeathed to the community of his followers this
knowledge of the subject, the clear rejection of everything
which is foreign thereto. It may be chance that has given his
doctrine the victory over the doctrines of his rival contem
poraries centuries after the deaths of all; but possibly the
more the darkness which covers these centuries for us is
dissipated, this game of chance may the more resemble the
operation of a law of necessity.
BUDDHA S METHOD OP TEACHING.
Our task is now to give some idea of the form of Buddha s
teaching ; we reserve the attempt to unfold its purport for
the following Part. Buddha s whole work was carried on by
* See above p. 127.
THE DIALECT WHICH HE SPOKE. 177
oral communication ; written he has not. Writing itself was
in all probability not unknown in his day, but certainly book-
writing was unheard of. Brief written communication s, brief
written notifications, appear to have been common in India even
at that time : books were not written, but learned by rote and
taught from memory. Those extensive treatises, such as were
addressed by the apostles in the form of letters to the early
Christian Churches, and which cast so rich a light on the
history of those Churches and circles of thought, are wholly
wanting in Buddhist literature.
Buddha spoke, not Sanscrit, but, like every one around him,*
the popular idiom of eastern Hindostan. We can by inscrip
tions and the analogies of a closely allied, probably South
Indian popular dialect, the Pali, obtain an adequate picture of
this dialect : a soft and agreeably-sounding language, which is
distinguished from the Sanscrit by the same smoothing down
of the conjoined consonants, the same tendency to vocalic
terminations, which gives the Italian its character as opposed
to the Latin language. People said mutte for muUas (" free "),
vijju for vidyut (" the lightning "), as the Italian says fatti for
facti, ama for amat. The syntax was simple and not very well
suited to express fine and sharp shades of dialectic.
* The Brahmans also of this eastern land spoke undoubtedly in their
daily intercourse the popular dialect ; had the Sanscrit been here, as we
find it later in the dramas, the language of the upper classes, some trace
of this circumstance must have shown itself in the sacred Pali texts.
But, as far as I know, there is no reference to be found in them (except,
perhaps, at " Cullavagga," v, 33) to the Sanscrit, which to all appear
ances was not, setting aside the Brahman schools, known in wider circles.
And this is not at all difficult to account for, as the Sanscrit belongs
originally to the western parts of Hindostan ; its universal employment
as the language of the educated classes through all India, it has, as also-
the inscriptions teach us, first acquired at a much later period.
12
178 BUDDHA S METHOD OF TEACHING.
In the early Church, moreover, no special importance was
attached to the dialect in which the doctrine of deliverance
had been first preached. Buddha s words are confined to no
language. " I direct, disciples," tradition* makes him say,
" that each individual learn the words of Buddha in his own
tongue."
Anyone who reads the lectures which the sacred texts put
in Buddha s mouth, can scarcely refrain from asking whether
the form, in which he himself taught his doctrine, can possibly
have resembled these self-same panoramas of abstract and
often abstruse structures with their endless repetitions piled
high upon each other. Should we not like to see in the picture
of those early times something else beside merely a living spirit
operating with the fresh vigour of youth in the circle of master
and pupils, and should we not for that reason be inclined to
eliminate from this picture all that imparts to it an air of
tension and fiction ? And at the same time is it natural, when
we endeavour to obtain a representation of Buddha s teaching
and preaching, for us to resort to another source beside
the tradition of the Buddhist Church, that is, when thought,
consciously or unconsciously, recurs to the teaching of Jesus ?
Those homely sentences with their totally unstudied external
setting and their deep internal wealth, seem to wear that very
form, from which we may infer that it, or some similar form,
may have accompanied the dissemination of the Buddhist
doctrine, as long as the spirit of the early ages survived.
Eeflections such as these are not easy to repress, but
historical treatment, before committing itself to them, will do
well not to leave untested the ground and foundation on which
they rest.
It cannot be forgotten that the fundamental differences of
* " Cullavagga," v, 33, 1.
SCHOLASTIC CHARACTER OF HIS DISCOURSES. 179
the thoughts and the dispositions with which the early
Christian and early Buddhist communities dealt, were such
that these differences must also find ｅxpression in the method
of religious instruction.
Where the pure sentiment of the simple, believing heart is
supreme, where there are children to whom the Father in
heaven has given His kingdom to possess, there the brief and
homely language, which comes from the depth of a pure heart,
may touch the proper chords more effectually than the highly
organized development of a system of ideas. But the mode of
thinking of the world in which Buddha lived, moves in other
paths : for it all weal and woe, depend on knowledge and
ignorance ; ignorance is the ultimate root of all evil, and the
sole power, which can strike at the root of this evil, is
knowledge. Deliverance is, therefore, above all, knowledge ;*
and the preaching of deliverance can be nothing less or more
than the exposition of this knowledge, which means the
unfolding of. a series of abstract notions and abstract
propositions.
* This mode of viewing things is not capable of a more significant and
at the same time naive ｅxpression than that which it has found in the
narrative of the Singhalese Church records of the first conversation of
Mahinda, the converter of Ceylon, with the king Devanampiya Tissa
(circ. 250 B.C.). The Thera (elder) proceeds to a formal examination of
the king in logic, "to find out: does the king possess a clear under
standing ? " There is a mango tree near. The Thera asks : " What is
this tree called, O great king?" "It is called mango, sire." Are
there, O great king, beside this mango tree yet other mango trees or
are there not?" "There are, sire, many other mango trees." "Are
there, O great king, beside this mango tree and those mango trees still
other trees ? " " There are, sire ; but they are not mango trees."
there beside those other mango trees and non-mango trees yet another
tree?" "Yes, sire, this mango tree here." "Well done, great king,
thou art clever." The Thera proceeds to apply another test which the
12*
180 BUDDHA S METHOD OF TEACHING.
If, therefore, we do not wish, out of deference to a universal
feeling of probability, which has based its standard on a
ground other than Indian, to destroy the singularity and
continuity of Indian developments, we must be on our guard
against making a fanciful picture of Buddha, as if he were one
of those aboriginal natures living only amid the concrete and
tangible, to whom the spirit is everything, the letter nothing.
His thought drew its nourishment from the long course of
metaphysical speculation which preceded him ; he shares the
delight in the metaphysical which is inherent in the Indian
blood, the taste for abstraction, classification, and construction,
and viewing him from this aspect, we should compare him not
so much to the founder of Christianity, as to its theological
champions, something such as Origen was. Thus we cannot
refuse credence to the tradition which, in however many forms
it makes Buddha speak, yet represents the particular weight
of his teaching as lying in great lectures, beside which dialogue
and parable, fable and sententious sayings, appear to be some
thing merely adventitious or marginal.
The Yedic literature gives us a picture of the forensic style
of dogmatic teaching and debate, which had established itself
long before Buddha s time in the Brahmanical schools and on
the sacrificial ground. The word which is to convey holy
things, needs a fitting garb : the setting of spiritual discourse
bears a solemn, sacred character, the stateliness of which soon
changes to ponderous gravity. The personal bearing of the
king stands as successfully. " Beside thy relatives and the non-relatives,
is there any other man, O great king ? " " Myself, sire." " Well done,
great king, a man is neither relative nor non-relative to himself." " There
upon the Elder said," the narrative proceeds, " that the king is clever and
that he will be able to understand the doctrine, and he propounded to him
the parable of the elephant s foot." BuddhagJiosa, in the Vinaya PitaJca,
vol. iii, p. 324.
HIERATIC TYPE. 181
speaker also is not a matter of indifference : a strict ceremonial
regulates his appearance and his movements. Thus men were
wont to think in Brahman circles long before Buddha s time,
thus they were wont to think in the Buddhist Church at the
time in which our texts were compiled. Are we to suppose
that Buddha and the circles around him, standing in the
middle between this epoch and that, felt differently from
both? However widely form, tone, and movement in the
didactic lectures, which we find in the sacred texts, may differ
from what appears to us the natural and necessary manner
of living, spoken language, anyone who knows how to apply
different standards to things differing in their conditions, will
find it not impossible to believe that the solemnly earnest style
of address of Buddha was much more nearly allied to the type
of the addresses preserved to us by tradition, than to that
which our feeling of the natural and the probable might be
tempted to substitute for it.
The periods of these addresses in their motionless and rigid
uniformity, on which no lights and shadows fall, are an accurate
picture of the world as it presented itself to the eye of that
monastic fraternity, the grim world of origination and decease,
which goes on like clockwork in an ever uniform course, and
behind which rests the still deep of the Nirvana. In the words
of this ministry, there is heard no sound of working within,
no voice of yearning, nothing which-passing from person to
person with the power which the utterance of a superior man
possesses, and with all the relentlessness which is inseparable
from that power-may fasten on the hearers. No impassioned
entreating of men to come to the faith, no bitterness for the
unbelieving who remains afar off. In these addresses, one
word one sentence, lies beside another in stony stillness,
whether it expresses the most trivial thing or the most
182 BUDDHA S METHOD OF TEACHING.
important. As worlds of gods and worlds of men are, for the
Buddhist consciousness, ruled by everlasting necessity, so
also are the worlds of ideas and of verities : for these, too,
there is one, and only one, necessary form of knowledge
and ｅxpression, and the thinker does not make this form but
he adopts what is ready to hand as Buddha speaks, so
countless Buddhas in countless ages of the world have spoken
and will speak. Therefore, everything which resembles a free
or arbitrary dealing ^of the mind with the material, must be
absent from the diction of this ministration of salvation;
every idea, every thought, has the same right to be heard
in full and uncurtailed at the place which belongs to it, and
thus those endless repetitions accumulate which Buddha s
disciples were never tired of listening to anew, and always
honouring afresh as the necessary garb of holy thought, as
something which should be so and not otherwise. one might
often fancy that at Buddha s time the human mind had not
yet discovered the magic word which joins together the
lengths of disconnected co-ordinates into one compact whole,
the insignificant but powerful word "and." Hear how one
of the most renowned discourses expresses the thought that
all man s senses and the world, which they apprehend, are
attacked and wasted by the sorrow-bringing powers of the
earthly and the impermanent as by a flaming fire.*
Then said the Exalted one to the disciples : " Everything,
O disciples, is in flames. And what Everything, disciples,
is in flames ? The eye, disciples, is in flames, the visible
is in flames, the knowledge of the visible is in flames, the
contact with the visible is in flames, the feeling which arises
from contact with the visible, be it pleasure, be it pain, be
it neither pleasure nor pain, this also is in flames. By what
* " Mahavagga," i, 21.
DISCOURSE on THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE SENSES. 183
fire is it kindled ? By the fire of desire,, by the fire of hate,
by the fire of fascination, it is kindled; by birth, old age,
death, pain, lamentation, sorrow, grief, despair, it is kindled :
thus I say. The ear is in flames, the audible is in flames, the
knowledge of the audible is in flames, the contact with the
audible is in flames, the feeling which arises from contact
with the audible, be it pleasure, be it pain, be it neither
pleasure nor pain, this also is in flames. By what fire is
it kindled ? By the fire of desire, by the fire of hate, by
the fire of fascination, it is kindled ; by birth, old age, death,
pain, lamentation, sorrow, grief, despair, it is kindled: thus
I say. The sense of smell is in flames and then follows for
the third time the same series of propositions ; the tongue
is in flames ; the body is in flames ; the mind is in flames ;
each time the same detail follows unabridged." Then the
address goes on :
"Knowing this, disciples, a wise, noble hearer of the
word becomes wearied of the eye, he becomes wearied of
the visible, he becomes wearied of the knowledge of the
visible, he becomes wearied of contact with the visible, he
becomes wearied of the feeling which arises from contact
with the visible, be it pleasure, be it pain, be it neither
pleasure nor pain. He becomes wearied of the ear, and
then follows one after the other the whole series of ideas
as above." The address concludes :
"While he becomes wearied thereof, he becomes free from
desire; free from desire he becomes delivered ; in the delivered
arises the knowledge: I am delivered; re-birth is at an end,
perfected is holiness, duty done; there is no more return
to this world ; he knows this."
The address on the flames of the conflagration of the sen
purports to have been delivered by Buddha to the thousanc
184: BUDDHA S METHOD OF TEACHING.
hermits of Uruvela,* when they had already confessed the
faith and received initiation, when in them, as the texts are
wont to express it, the pure and moteless eye of the truth
was awakened : whatever is subject to the law of origination,
every such thing is also subject to the law of decease." But if
the object be to bring the doctrine of suffering and of deliver
ance near to a novice, who is still far from the revelation of
Buddha, the variations of the sacred writings assume a some
what different form. As a specimen of their type, place may
here be given to the narrative of the village-fathers of the
eighty thousand villages of the Magadha kingdom, who were
assembled round the king of Magadha, and at the end of their
deliberations were sent by him to Buddha. f
" But when the king of Magadha, Seniya Bimbisara, had
instructed the eighty thousand village elders in the laws of
the visible world, he dismissed them and said : Friends, ye
have now been instructed by me in the rules of the visible
universe ; go now and approach him, the Exalted one ; he,
the Exalted one, will instruct you in the things of the here
after." Then the eighty thousand village elders went to
the mountain Gijjhakuta (vulture peak). At that time the
venerable Sagata was 011 duty with the Exalted one. The
eighty thousand village elders went on to where the venerable
Sagata was ; when they had come up to him, they said to
the venerable Sagata : " Here come eighty thousand village
elders, sire, to see the Exalted one. Come, sire, vouchsafe
to us to see the Exalted one." " Tarry here a while, my
friends, that I may announce you to the Exalted one." Then
vanished the venerable Sagata from the steps (at the entrance
to the monastery) in the presence of the eighty thousand
village elders, and before their eyes rose up in the presence of
* Vide antea, p. 132. t " Mahavagga," v, 1.
TYPE OF HISTORIES OF CONVERSIONS. 185
the Exalted one and spoke to the Exalted one : " The eighty
thousand village elders are come hither, sire, to see the Exalted
one. Sire, let the Exalted one be pleased to do what he now
thinks right for the occasion." " Then place a seat for me,
Sagata, in the shadow of the monastery." " Yes, sire," replied
the venerable Sagata to the Exalted one, took a stool, vanished
before the face of the Exalted one, came np again before the
face of the eighty thousand village elders and before their
eyes on the steps, and prepared a seat in the shadow of the
monastery. Then the Exalted one went out of the monastery
and took a seat on the stool which had been set for him in the
shadow of the monastery. Then the eighty thousand village
elders approached to where the Exalted one was ; when they
had come up to him they bowed themselves before the Exalted
one and sat down near him. But the eighty thousand village
elders directed their thoughts to the venerable Sagata alone,
and therefore not to the Exalted one. Then the Exalted one
knew in his mind the thoughts of the eighty thousand village
elders, and said to the venerable Sagata : " Come, Sagata, show
yet greater marvels of superhuman ability." :f Yes, sire," the
venerable Sagata answered the Exalted one, rose up into the
air, and walked on high in the atmosphere, stood, descended,
sat down, emitted smoke and flames, and vanished. When
the venerable Sagata had exhibited in various ways, on high
in the atmosphere, such marvels of superhuman power, he
bowed his head at the feet of the Exalted one, and said to the
Exalted one : " My master, sire, is the Exalted one ; I am his
disciple; my master, sire, is the Exalted one; I am his
disciple." Thereupon thought the eighty thousand village
elders: "truly this is glorious, truly it is wonderful: if the
disciple is so exceedingly mighty and exceedingly powerful,
what will the Master be \ and they directed their thoughts to
186 BUDDHA S METHOD OF TEACHING.
the Exalted one alone and not to the venerable Sagata. Then
the Exalted one knew in his mind the thoughts of the eighty
thousand village elders, and preached to them the word
according to the law, as it is : the discourse on giving, the
discourse on uprightness, the discourse on the heavens, the
corruption, vanity, impurity of desires, the glory of being free
from desire. When now the Exalted one perceived that their
thoughts were prepared, susceptible, free from obstructions,
elevated, and directed towards him, he preached to them what
is pre-eminently the teaching of the Buddhas, suffering, the
origin of suffering, the removal of suffering, the way to the
removal of suffering. As a clean garment, from which all
impurity is removed, wholly absorbs within itself the dye, so
opened in these eighty thousand village elders, as they sat there,
the pure nioteless eye of the truth : whatever is subject to the
law of origination, all such is subject to the law of decease.
And discerning the doctrine, having pierced through to the
doctrine, knowing the doctrine, sinking themselves in the
doctrine, overcoming doubt, free from vacillation, having
penetrated to knowledge, needing nothing else in their faith
in the Master s doctrine, they spoke to the Exalted one thus :
" Excellent, sire, excellent, sire ; as a man, sire, straightens
that which is bowed down, or uncovers the hidden, or shows the
way to one who has gone astray, or shows a light in the dark
ness, so that he who has eyes may be able to see the forms of
things, even so has the Exalted one proclaimed the doctrine
in manifold discourses. We, sire, take our refuge with the
Exalted one, and with the Doctrine and with the Order
of his disciples : may the Exalted one receive us as his lay
disciples, for from this day henceforth we have taken our
refuge with him as long as our life endures."
This narrative of the visit of the elders to Buddha may be
TYPE OF HISTORIES OF CONVERSIONS. 187
taken as a typical one, the features of which reappear in the
sacred texts on all similar occasions. Buddha does not speak
at starting of the things which constitute the scope and kernel
of his teaching, but he begins by admonishing to the practice
of virtues in worldly vocations, to generosity, to rectitude in
every earthly occupation : he speaks of the heavens with their
rewards which await him who has led a life of earnest purpose
here below. And as soon as he knows that his hearers are
fitted to receive something deeper, he proceeds to speak to
them of that which, as the texts say, "is pre-eminently the
revelation of the Buddhas," the doctrines of suffering and
deliverance. These are always the same subjects of Buddha s
preaching, and we over and over again meet the same expres
sions of joy and gratitude on the part of the converted, then
finally the formula with which they take their refuge as lay
brothers or lay sisters in the ancient trinity of the Buddhist
Church, the Buddha, the Doctrine, and the Order. Here and
there there is inserted a story of some wonder which rises in
no way above the level of quaint and tedious miracle. All
these narratives are absolutely wanting in individuality; we
seek in vain to gather something therefrom as to how Buddha
penetrated and operated on the private, personal life of the
individual among his disciples. Whenever we open our
gospels, we find portrayed the most delicate and deepest
traces of the work of Jesus, which, providing, consoling,
healing, and building up, passes from man to man : very
different from the picture which the Buddhist Church has
preserved to us of its master s work ; the living human, the
personal hides itself behind the system, the formula; no one
to seek out and to console the suffering and the sorrowing; it
is only the sorrow of the whole universe of which we again and
again hear.
188 BUDDHA S METHOD OF TEACHING.
Here and there the outward garb of such narratives is
somewhat altered ; instead of a sermon we find a dialogue ;
Buddha questions or is questioned. In the task of producing
a life-like picture of such conversations as took place in
Buddha s time/ or in their own circles, the compilers of our
sacred texts, who had not many things to go upon, but had
nothing less than a dramatic vein, have certainly in their mode
of treatment failed most signally. Those who converse with
Buddha are good for nothing else but simply to say " yes,"
and to be eventually converted, if they have not yet been
converted.* But any one who does not suffer himself to be
* An amusing illustration of the manner in which the sacred texts deal
with the claims of character of the speakers arid the other requirements
of description by dramatic dialogue, is to be found in the history of
Buddha s conversation with Anathapiudika s daughter-in-law (in the
" Anguttara-Nikaya," Sattakanipata). Buddha comes in his begging
excursion to the house of his wealthiest and most liberal admirer, the great
wholesale merchant Anathapindika. He hears loud conversation and
wrangling, and asks : " Why are the people screaming and crying in thy
house ? one would think fishermen had been robbed of tlieir fish." And
Anatliapindika pours out his grief to Buddha : a daughter-in-law of a
rich family has come into his house, who will not listen to her husband
and her parents-in-law, and declines to show due reverence to Buddha.
Buddha says to her : " Come, Sujata," She answers : " Yes, sire," and
comes to Buddha. He says to her : " There are seven kinds of wives
which a man may have, Sujata. What seven are they ? one resembles
a murderess, another a robber, another a mistress, another a mother,
another a sister, another a friend, another a servant. These Sujata, are
the seven kinds of wives which a man may have. Which kind art thou?"
And Sujata has forgotten all obstinacy and pride, and says deferentially :
Sire, I do not understand the full meaning of that which the Exalted
one has stated in brief; therefore, sire, may the Exalted one so expound
to me his doctrine, that I may be able to understand the full meaning of
that which the Exalted one has stated briefly." " Hearken, then, Sujata,
and take it well to heart: I shall state it to thee." "Yes, sire," said
Sujata. And Buddha describes to her then the seven kinds of women,
from the worst who goes after other men, despises her husband, and tries
DIALOGUES. 189
deterred by this want of living concrete reality from following
up the logical train of these conversations, will here find more
than one trace, though dim and unskilful, of the same maieutic
method of dialectic, which history has properly denominated
Socratic, after the name of the man who has practised it
incomparably more perfectly, among a more brilliantly-gifted
p e0 pl e _the same sifting of spiritual truths by argument from
analogies which daily life supplies, the same rudiments of the
inductive method.
Thus is related to us the conversation of Buddha with Sona,*
a young man, who had imposed on himself an excess of ascetic
observances, and now, when he becomes aware of the fruit -
lessness of his practice, is on the point of turning to the
opposite extreme, and reverting to a life of enjoyment.
Buddha says to this disciple: "How is it, Sona, were you
able to play the lute before you left home ?" " Yes, sire."
" What do you think then, Sona, if the strings of your lute
are too tightly strung, will the lute give out the proper tone
and be fit to play?" "It will not, sire." "And what do you
think, Sona, if the strings of your lute be strung too slack ;
will the lute then give out the proper tone and be fit to play?"
" It will not, sire." "But how, Sona, if the strings of your
lute be not strung too tight or too slack, if they have the
proper degree of tension, will the lute then give out the
proper sound and be fit to play ?"-" Yes, sire."- "In the
same way, Sona, energy too much strained tends to excessive
to take his life, up to the best who, like a servant, is always submissive to
her husband s will, and bears without a murmur all he says and does.
"These, Sujata, are the seven kinds of wives which a man may have.
What kind among these art thou? "-" From this day forward, sire, may
the Exalted one esteem me one who is to her husband a wife who
resembles a servant."
* " Mahavagga," v, 1-15, seq.
190 BUDDHA S METHOD OF TEACHING.
zeal, and energy too much relaxed tends to apathy. Therefore,
Sona, cultivate in yourself the mean of energy, and press on
to the mean in your mental powers, and place this before you
as your aim."
Another conversation,* carried on between Buddha and a
Brahman, deals with the relation between the four castes and
the claim to service and obedience which the Brahmans advance
against all other castes, and each higher among other castes
advances against the lower castes. Buddha couches his
criticism in the form of a dialogue, with question and answer.
t( If anyone were to ask a Kshatriya (noble) as follows : f To
whom wouldst thou render service : to him with whom, if thou
doest him service, thou wilt fare worse for thy service, not better;
or to him with whom, if thou doest him service, thou wilt fare
better for thy service, not worse ? The Kshatriya would, if he
answers properly, answer thus : Him with whom, if I did him
service, I should fare worse for my service, not better, him
would I not serve ; but him with whom, if I did him service,
I should fare better for my service, not worse, to him would
I render service/ " And then the induction goes on in its
stiff consecutive course : ( If anyone were to ask a Brahman
as follows if anyone were to ask a Vai9ya as follows if
anyone were to ask a (Judra as follows." The answer is
naturally every time the same, and the exposition eventually
yields this result : " Where by the service which anyone
renders to another, his faith increases, his virtue increases,
his understanding increases, his knowledge increases, there,
I say, it is that he should render him service."
Here and there, as in our gospels, parables alternate with
doctrine and admonition : " I shall show you a parable," Buddha
says, <f by a parable many a wise man perceives the meaning of
* PKasutari Suttanta (Majjhima Nikaya).
PARABLES. 191
what is being said." The operations of man as well as the life
of nature are the fields of observation, with which these similes
for spiritual life and effort, for deliverance, and the company
of the delivered, deal. Buddha s preaching of deliverance
is compared to the work of the physician, who draws the
poisoned arrow from a wound, and overcomes the power of the
poison with remedial herbs. The company of disciples, the
gathering of noble spirits, in whom all worldly differences
of high and low cease, resembles the sea with its wonders, in
the depths of which lie pearls and crystals, in which gigantic
creatures have free play, into which the rivers flow, and lose
their names, and make up the ocean, so many of them there
are. As the lotus flower raises its head out of the water,
unaffected by the water, so the Buddhas born in the world, rise
above the world, unaffected by the impurity of the world. As
the peasant ploughs his fields and sows the seed and irrigates,
but has not the power to say : the grain shall swell to-day,
to morrow it shall germinate, next day it shall ripen, but
must wait till the proper time comes and brings growth
and ripeness of his corn, so also it is with the disciple who
seeks deliverance: he must regulate his course according to
strict discipline, practise religious meditation, study diligently
the doctrine of salvation, but he has not the power to say :
to-day or to-morrow shall my spirit be delivered from every
impure habit, but he must wait until his time comes for
deliverance to be vouchsafed to him. For the tempter who
tries to shut up against man the path of salvation and to lure
him to false paths, and the deliverer, who leads him back
to the right path, this simile is employed:* "As when,
disciples, in the forest, on a mountain slope, there lies a great
tract of low land and water, where a great herd of deer lives,
* Dvedliavitakka Sutta (Majjh. N.).
192 BUDDHA S METHOD OF TEACHING.
and there comes a man, who devises hurt, distress and danger
for the deer ; who covers over and shnts np the path which is
safe, good, and pleasant to take, and opens up a false path, a
swampy path, a marshy track. Thenceforward, disciples, the
great herd of deer incurs hurt and danger and diminishes.
But now, disciples, if a man comes, who devises prosperity,
welfare, and safety for this great herd of deer : who clears and
opens up the path which is safe, good and pleasant to take,
and does away with the false path, and abolishes the swampy
path, the marshy track. Thenceforth, disciples, will the
great herd of deer thrive, grow, and increase. I have spoken
to you, disciples, in a parable, to make known my meaning.
But the meaning is this. The great lowland and the water,
disciples, are pleasures. The great herds of deer, disciples,
are living men. The man, disciples, who devises hurt,
distress, and ruin, is Mara, the Evil one. The false path,
disciples, is the eight-fold false path, to wit : false faith, false
resolve, false speech, false action, false living, false effort,
false thought, false self -concentration. The swampy way,
disciples, is pleasure and desire. The swampy track is igno
rance. The man, disciples, who devises prosperity, welfare,
salvation, is the Perfect one, the holy, supreme Buddha. The
safe, good way, disciples, in which it is well to walk, is the
holy eight-fold path, to wit : right faith, right resolve, right-
speech, right action, right living, right effort, right thought,
right self-concentration. Thus, disciples, has the safe, good
path, in which it is well to walk, been opened up by me ; the
false path has been done away, the swampy path, the swampy
track has been abolished. Everything, disciples, that a
master, who seeks the salvation of his disciples, who pities
them, must do out of pity for them, that have I done for you."
Such similes run through the discourse on sorrow and
FABLES AND ROMANCES. 193
deliverance. Through the measured formality of the monastic
church-diction, we constantly feel the breath of intelligent
sympathy with life and nature, that genuine human desire to
observe this motley world, and see whether it cannot by its
figurative language throw some light on the spirit world and
its secrets.
From similes to fable and romance is not a long way ; the
Buddhist mendicant monks were sufficiently Indian to have an
abundant share of the old Indian delight in romance. Some
times the sacred writings make Buddha tell his disciples a
fable of animals, sometimes a history of strange occurrences,
and all kinds of human actions, thoughtful or amusing : " There
were once two wise brothers/ or " there was once at Benares
a king, called Brahmadatta," the history of the banished king
Long-grief, and his sagacious son Long-life, or the fable, how
the partridge, the ape, and the elephant have learned to live
together in virtue and harmony ; at the end of every history
came, as is fitting, a moral.*
But the most beautiful embellishments of Buddha s preaching
are those poetical sentences in which all the most delicate
powers of light and warmth, which dwell within the Buddhist
mind, are concentrated as it were in a focus. Here we need
not by any means see merely a poetic embellishment which the
Church has attributed to its master s teaching ; sentences of
this kind, short improvisations, to which the pliant nature of
* Some of these stories hardly all are so applied that tlieir leading
liero is identified with Buddha in one of his previous existences, and the
other personages who appear with persons in Buddha s society or in the
circles of his opponents. Later on new stories, but always with the
same points, were invented by the hundred, or even old legendary matter
has been wrought up in majorem Buddha gloriam ; these make up a parti
cular book of the sacred writings, the collection of the Jataka (stories of
earlier births), cf ., however, also my note to Suttavibhaiiga, Pacittiya, 2, 1.
13
191 BUDDHA S METHOD OF TEACHING.
the Qloka-metre readily adapted itself, may very well have
"been actually a feature of Buddha s mode of speech, and of
that specially-gifted among his disciples.* These apothegms
are so unlike the dry numbness of the prose lectures, that we
may be tempted to ask whether they were really the same
spirits which have composed the one and the other. We feel
how that prose confined and bound up those who spoke in it ;
but when the domain of prose ceases, where men are expressing
not dry, subtle systems of ideas, but the simple emotions,
the sorrows and hopes of their own hearts, life is roused and
the blood of life, poetry. Thoughtful feeling, clad in the
grand and rich attire of Indian metaphor, looks out upon us,
and the Qlokas with their gently measured rhythms, so pecu
liarly combining uniformity and diversity, flow up and down
like the surging billows of the sea, 011 which the clear sky is
reflected amid variegated, fragrant lotus flowers. The soul of
this poesy, too, is nothing else but what the soul of the Buddhist
faith itself is, the one thought, which rings out in sublime
monotony from all these apothegms : Unhappy, imperrnanence,
happy he who has the eternal. From this thought there per
vades the proverbial wisdom of the Buddhist, that tone of deep,
happy repose, of which that proud sentence says that the gods
themselves envy it, that repose which looks down upon the
struggling world, stoops to the most distressed and quietly
extends to him the picture of absolute peace. For the elucida-
* Tradition allots specially the task of improvisation (patibhana)
among Buddha s disciples to Yangisa ("Dip.," iv, 4), who is the hero of one
particular section in the holy texts, tlie Vangisathera-Samyutta. There
it is often said: this and that thought " dawned on Vangisa" (patibhati),
and then he utters a verse in which he gives ｅxpression to the collateral
circumstances, praises Buddha, and so on. He then says of these verses,
they are not prepared beforehand (pubbe parivitakkita) but "they
suddenly dawned on me " (thanaso mam patibhanti).
POETICAL 8EN1ENCES. 195
tion of Buddhism nothing better could happen than that, at the
very outset of Buddhist studies, there should be presented to
the student by an auspicious hand the Dhammapada,* that
most beautiful and richest of collections of proverbs, to which
anyone who is determined to come to know Buddhism, must
over and over again return, and to which we shall often have
to allude in our sketch of the Buddhist teaching.
* Here a few sayings of the Dliammapada (60, 153 seq. 383, 82) may
find a fitting place ; I have avoided attempting to reproduce the metrical
form:
" Long is the night to Mm who keeps watch, long is the road to the
weary, long is the wandering path of re -births for the foolish, who know
not the word of truth."
" A path of many re-births have I vainly traversed, seeking the builder
of the house (of corporeity) ; full of suffering is birth (recurring) over
and over again. Now have I seen thee, O builder of the house ; thou
shalt not again build the house. Thy rafters are all broken, the battle
ments of the house are demolished. The soul, having escaped change
ability, has attained the end of desire."
" Stem the current with might, banish from thee all desire, O Brahman j
if thou hast sighted the end of the changeable, thou art a knower of the
uncreated, O Brahman."
" A rest like that of the deep sea, calm and clear, the wise find, who
hear the truth."
13*
CHAPTER V.
BUDDHA S DEATH.
BUDDHA is said to have reached the age of eighty years ;
forty-four years of this term belong to his public career, to
what his followers term his Buddhahood. The year of his
death is one of the most firmly fixed dates in ancient Indian
history ; calculations, by which the sum of possible error is
confined within tolerably narrow limits, give as a result, that
he died not long before or not long after 480 B.C.
Kegarding the last months of his life and his last great
journey from Kajagaha to Kusinara, the place of his death, we
possess a detailed account in a Sutra of the sacred Pali Canon.*
The external features of this narrative bear for the most part,
though perhaps not in every particular, f the stamp of trust
worthy tradition ; in the utterances and addresses of Buddha,
most of which convey a clear or covert intimation of his
approaching end, fancy has undoubtedly allowed itself freer
range. A portion at any rate of the narrative may here be
* The " Mahaparinibbana Sutta," by which the northern Buddhist
versions of this narrative are rendered superfluous.
f It especially excites distrust, to find that the occurrences at
Pataliputta and the meeting with Ambapali (" Childers Ed.," p. 10 seq.)
are narrated at another place in quite a different connection (" Mahavagga,"
vi, 28 seq.).
BVDDHA 8 DEATH. 197
reproduced, partly in resume, and partly in a verbal trans
lation.
From Kajagaha, the chief town in the Magadha territory,
Buddha goes northward. He crosses the Ganges at the place
where the new capital, Pataliputta (Ha\l/3o0pa), is then being
built, the chief city of India in the following centuries. Buddha
foretells the coming greatness of this town. Then he journeys
on to the opulent and brilliant free-town Vesali. Near Vesalf, in
the village of Beluva, he dismissed the disciples who were with
him, to pass in solitary retirement the three months at the
damp period of the year, the last rainy season of his life. At
Beluva he was attacked by a severe illness ; violent pains
seized him, he was near dying. He then bethought him of his
disciples. " It becomes me not to enter into Nirvana, without
having addressed those who cared for me, without speaking to
the community of my followers. I shall conquer this illness
by my power, and hold life fast within me." Then the Exalted
one subdued the sickness by his power and held the life fast
within him. And the illness of the Exalted one vanished.
And the Exalted one recovered from his sickness and soon after,
when he had recovered from his sickness, he went out of the
house and sat down in the shade of the house, on the seat which
was prepared for him. Thereupon the venerable Ananda went
to the Exalted one : when he was near him and had made his
salutations to the Exalted one, he sat down beside him;
sitting by his side, the worthy Ananda spake to the Exalted
one thus : " Sire, I see that the Exalted one is well ; I see,
sire, that the Exalted one is better. All nerve had left me,
sire ; I was faint ; my senses failed me because of the sickness
of the Exalted one. But still I had one consolation, sire : the
Exalted one will not enter Nirvana, until he has declared his
purpose concerning the body of his followers." " What need
198 BUDDHA S DEATH.
hath the body of my followers of me now, Ananda ? I have
declared the Doctrine, Ananda, and I have made no distinction
between within and without ; the Perfect one has not, Ananda,
been a forgetful teacher of the Doctrine. He, Ananda, who
says : I will rule over the Church, or let the Church be subject
to nre, he, Ananda, might declare his will in the Church.
The Perfect one, however, Ananda, does not say : I will rule
over the Church, or let the Church be subject to me. What
shall the Perfect one declare, Ananda, to be his purpose
regarding the Church ? I am now frail, Ananda, I am aged,
I am an old man, who has finished his pilgrimage and reached
old age ; eighty years old am I Be ye to yourselves,
Ananda, your own light, your own refuge ; seek no other refuge.
Let the truth be your light and your refuge, seek no other
refuge whosoever now, Ananda, or after my
departure shall be* his own light, his own refuge, and shall seek
no other refuge, whosoever taketh the truth as his light and
his refuge and shall seek no other refuge, such will henceforth
Ananda, be my true disciples, who walk in the right path."
Buddha now goes on to Vesali and makes his usual begging
excursion through the town. Here Mara comes to him and
calls on him to enter at once into Nirvana. Buddha repels him,
saying, give thyself no trouble on that score, thou evil one.
After a short time the Nirvana of the Perfect one will be
accomplished ; three months hence will the Perfect one enter
Nirvana." And Buddha dismisses the volition which atttached
life to himself : earthquakes and thunderings accompany his
resolution to enter into Nirvana.
In the evening Buddha sends for all the monks, who are
tarrying in the neighbourhood of Vesali, and he seats himself
in the midst of them and he addresses them :
" Learn ye then fully, my disciples, that knowledge which
BUDDHA S DEATH. 199
I have- attained and have declared unto you, and walk ye in it^
practice and increase, in order that this path of holiness may
last and long endure, for the blessing of many people, for the
joy of many people, to the relief of the world, to the welfare,
the blessing, the joy of gods and men. And what, disciples,
is the knowledge which I have attained and have declared unto
you, which you are to learn fully, walk in it, practice and
increase, in order that this path of holiness may last and long
endure, for the blessing of many people, for the joy of many
people, to the relief of the world, to the welfare, the blessing,
the joy of gods and men? It is the four-fold vigilance, the
four-fold right effort, the four-fold holy strength, the five
organs, the five powers, the seven members of knowledge, the
sacred eight-fold path. This, disciples, is the knowledge
which I have attained, and have declared unto you/ etc.
And the Exalted one spake further to the monks : " Hearken,
ye monks, I say unto you: all earthly things are transitory ;
strive on without ceasing. In a short time the Perfect one
will attain Nirvana ; three months hence will the Perfect one
enter Nirvana."
Thus spake the Exalted one: when the Perfect one
thus said, the Master further spake as follows :
My existence is ripening to its close, the end of my life is near.
I go hence, ye remain behind ; the place of refuge is ready f<
Be watchful without intermission, walk evermore in holiness ;
Aye resolute and aye prepared keep ye, O disciples, your mm,
He who evermore walks without stumbling, true to the word of
Struggles into freedom from birth and death, presses through 1
end of all suffering."
on the following day Buddha once more makes a begging
excursion through Vesalt, then looks back upon the town f
the last time and sets out with a large concourse of
200 BUDDHA S DEATH.
for Kusiiiara,* which he had chosen as the place for his entry
into Nirvana. on the way that sickness, which was to
terminate his life, attacked him at Pava. Our text, with a
naivete far removed from modern affectation, has in the
course of the narrative of Buddha s last addresses, preserved
to us the information that his illness was brought on by eating
pork, which Cunda, the son of a goldsmith at Pava, put before
him.
Buddha journeys on, sick and weary, to Kusinara. A few
verses, of which this journey is the subject, have come down
to us :
" Travel-worn came Buddha to the river Kakuttha,t
Peaceful, pure, with clear waters,
Down into the water went the Master, weary,
The supreme Perfect one, without equal.
When he had bathed, the Master drank of the river
And went up out of it with the bands of his disciples,
The holy Master, the preacher of the truth,
The sage went on to the mango grove.
Then spake he to Cunda, the monk : Fold me
My robe in four folds, that I may lay me down.
And Cunda did cheerfully as the Master bade him;
He quickly spread out the robe folded in four folds.
There the Master laid himself down, the weary one,
And Cunda also sat down beside him."J
* Now Kasia, east of Goruckpore, on the Chota G-andak. Cunningham,
" Ancient Geography of India," 430.
f on the way between Pava and Kusinara. According to Cunningham
(1. c. 435) the Kakuttha is the small stream Badhi or Barhi, which flows
into the Chota Gandak, eight English miles below Kasia.
J These very old verses, which plainly and truly depict a plain
situation, belong beyond all doubt to the most trustworthy reminiscences,
which we have of Buddha s life. In the face of the wild phantasms of
later works like the "Lalita Vistara," they should not be forgotten by those,
who are in doubt as to whether the biography before them is that of a
man or of a sun-hero.
BUDDHA S DEATH. 201
At last Buddha arrives at Kusinara. There lay on the bank
of the river Hiranyavati (Chota Gandak) a grove of sal trees.
"Go, Ananda," says Buddha, "and prepare a bed for me
between two twin trees, with rny head to the north. I am
tired, Ananda ; I shall lie down."
It was not the season for sal trees to bloom, but these two
twin trees were covered with blossoms from crown to foot.
Buddha laid himself down under the blooming trees, like a
lion taking his rest, and blossoms fell down on him ; a shower
of flowers fell from heaven; and heavenly melodies sounded
over head, in honour of the dying saint.
" Then spake the Exalted one to the venerable Ananda :
Although this is not the time for flowers, Ananda, yet are these
two twin trees completely decked with blossoms, and flowers are
falling, showering, streaming down on the body of the Perfect
one, . . . heavenly melodies are sounding in the air, in
honour of the Perfect one. But to the Perfect one belongeth
another honour, another glory, another reward, another
homage, other reverence. Whosoever, Ananda, male disciple
or female follower, lay -brother, or lay-sister, lives in the truth
in matters both great and small, and lives according to the
ordinance and also walks in the truth in details, these bring to
the Perfect one the highest honour, glory, praise, and credit.
Therefore, Ananda, must ye practise, thinking : Let us live in
the truth in matters great and small, and let us live according
to the ordinance and walk in the truth also in details."
But Ananda went into the house and wept, saying : "I am
not yet free from impurities, I have not yet reached the goal,
and my master, who takes pity on me, will soon enter into
Nirvana," Then Buddha sent one of the disciples to him,
saying : " Go, disciple, and say to Ananda in my name ; the
Master wishes to speak with thee, friend Ananda." Thereupon
202 BUDDHA S DEATH.
Ananda went in to the Master, bowed himself before him, and
sat down beside him. But Buddha said to him : " Not so,
Ananda, weep not, sorrow not. Have I not ere this said to
thee, Ananda, that from all that man loves and from all that
man enjoys, from that must man part, must give it up, and
tear himself from it. How can it be, Ananda, that that which
is born, grows, is made, which is subject to decay, should not
pass away ? That cannot be. But thou, Ananda, hast long
honoured the Perfect one, in love and kindness, with cheerful
ness, loyally and unwearyingly, in thought, word and deed.
Thou hast done well, Ananda ; only strive on, soon wilt thou
be free from impurities."
When night came on, the Mallas, the nobles of Kusinara,
went out in streams to the sal grove with their wives and
children, to pay their respects for the last time to the dying
Master. Subhadda, a monk of another sect, who had desired
to speak with Buddha, turned to him as the last of the
converts who have seen the Master in the flesh.
Buddha, shortly before his departure, said to Ananda : " It
may be, Ananda, that ye shall say: the Word has lost its
master, we have no master more. Ye must not think thus,
Ananda. The law, Ananda, and the ordinance, which I have
taught and preached unto ye, these are your master when I am
gone hence."
And to his disciples he said : " Hearken, disciples, I
charge ye : everything that cometh into being passeth away :
strive without ceasing." These were his last words.
His spirit then rose from one state of ecstasy to another,
up and down through all the stages of rapture, until he passed
into Nirvana. The earth quaked and thunders rolled. At the
moment when Buddha entered Nirvana, Brahma spake these
words :
BUDDHA S DEATH. 203.
"In the worlds beings all put off corporeity at some time,
Just as at this present time Buddha, the prince of victory, the
supreme master of all worlds,
The mighty, Perfect one, hath entered into Nirvana."
Towards sunrise the nobles of Kusinara have burned
Buddha s body before the city gates with all the honours that
are shown to the relics of universal monarchs.
PART II.
THE DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM.
CHAPTER I.
THE TENET OF SUFFERING.
1 AT one time/ as we read,* t( the Exalted one was staying
at Kosambi in the Sinsapa grove. And the Exalted one took
a few Sinsapa leaves in his hand and said to his disciples :
"what think ye, my disciples, whether are more, these few
Sinsapa leaves, which I have gathered in my hand, or the
other leaves yonder in the Sinsapa grove ? "
" The few leaves, sire, which the Exalted one holds in his
hand are not many, but many more are those leaves yonder in
the Sinsapa grove."
"So also, my disciples, is that much more, which I have
learned and have not told you, than that which I have told
you. And, wherefore, my disciples, have I not told you that ?
Because, my disciples, it brings you no profit, it does not
conduce to progress in holiness, because it does not lead to
the turning from the earthly, to the subjection of all desire,
to the cessation of the transitory, to peace, to knowledge, to
illumination, to Nirvana : therefore have I not declared it unto
* In the " Saniyuttaka JN"ikaya," at the end of the work (vol. iii, fol. as
of the Phayre MS.).
THE DOCTRINE OF DELIVERANCE. 205
you. And what, disciples, have I preached unto you?
e This is suffering * thus, disciples, have I proclaimed unto
you. This is the origin of suffering thus have I proclaimed
unto you. This is the cessation of suffering thus have I
proclaimed unto you. This is the path to the cessation of
suffering thus have I proclaimed unto yon ."
This passage states briefly and clearly what the doctrine of
Buddhism is and what it is not. It does not purport to be a
philosophy, which inquires into the ultimate grounds of things,
unfolds to thought the breadths and depths of the universe.
It addresses itself to man plunged in sorrow, and, while it
teaches him to understand his sorrow, it shows him the way to
exterminate it, root and all. This is the only problem with
which Buddhist thought is concerned. " As the vast ocean,
disciples, is impregnated with one taste, the taste of salt, so
also, my disciples, this Law and Doctrine is impregnated with
but one taste, with the taste of deliverance."*
Yet this deliverance is not an inheritance for the poor in
spirit but only for the wise. And therefore the Buddhist
doctrine of deliverance is by no means content with merely
those simple ethical reflections, which appeal more to the
sensation of a pure heart than to the intellectual faculty of a
trained mind. The main outlines of the doctrine might be
grasped by every one endowed with a lively feeling among the
members of the Church ; the more detailed dialectical deduc
tions, however, the proficiency in which was by no means
regarded as an unnecessary accomplishment, can have been
within the grasp of but comparatively few individuals, even
among a people so exceptionally highly endowed with a
capacity for dealing with abstract thought as the Indians,
and among men who devoted their whole life exclusively to
* " Cullavagga," ix, 1, 4.
206 THE TENET OF SUFFERING.
these very thoughts. In the circles of the ancient Church
also they were fully conscious of this. " To men concerned with
worldly pursuits, who have their occupation and find their
pleasure in worldly pursuits, will this matter be difficult
to comprehend, the law of causality, the chain of causes
and effects ;" thus Buddha is said to have remarked to
himself, before he took upon himself to preach his doctrine
(p. 120). And so we find, when we open the sacred writings
of the Buddhists, side by side with those simple, beautiful
apothegms, such as are contained in the Dhammapada, those
most abstruse dogmatic expositions also, those circuitous,
much-involved systems of ideas, comprehensive classifications,
long lists of categories, which are held together by a causal
nexus or some other logical tie. " If this be, that also is ; if
this arises, that also arises; if this be not, then that also
is not j if this perishes, that also perishes : "* thus they were
accustomed to reason in the period in which the sacred writings
originated, and we have already (p. 182) seen that it is probable,
that Buddha s own mode of thought and speech moved in
these very paths of abstract discussion, of technical, often
scholastic ｅxpression and of a, it may be, not very dexterous
dialectic.
on the whole we shall be authorized to refer to Buddha
himself f the most essential trains of thought which we find
* Culasakuludayi Suttanta, in the Majjhima Nikaya.
f A distinction of earlier and later can as yet be drawn. in but few
cases, and only with tolerable accuracy, in the collection of Buddha s
didactic discourses (the " Sutta-Pitaka") . This affects the greater and lesser
antiquity of dogmatic notions and doctrines as well as that of the texts.
one of the oldest, if not the. oldest, of these texts is the " Sutta-Nipata,"
frequently quoted in other works. We find in it already all the more
important dogmatic categories and tenets enumerated or alluded to. In
fact when we think what the mental labours of Brahmanism and the
SCHOLASTIC DIALECTIC. 207
recorded in the sacred texts, and, in many places, it is probably
not too much to believe -that the very words, in which the
ascetic of the Sakya house couched his gospel of deliverance,
have come down to us as they fell from his lips. We find that
throughout the vast complex of ancient Buddhist literature
which has been collected, certain mottoes and formulas, the
ｅxpression of Buddhist convictions upon some of the weightiest
problems of religious thought, are expressed over and over
again in a standard form adopted once for all. Why may not
these be words which have received their currency from the
founder of Buddhism, which had been spoken by him hundreds
and thousands of times throughout his long life, devoted to
teaching ?
The meaning which he conveyed by such words we can often
only approximately determine. Here, as in every case where
the word has a preponderant importance over the thought,
where it does not smoothly fit the thought, but compresses
it within its own straight form, the inquirer who desires to
reconstruct remote and foreign forms of thought, has not
that surest key which consecutive progression, the inherent
necessity of the thought, can give him. Those hundred-fold
repetitions, those permutations and combinations of every
kind, in which dogmatic technicalities meet us, but through
which a living current of dialectic movement does not flow,
hardly render the meaning of those ｅxpressions more compre
hensible to us. Moreover, we find the same technical term
older sects have transmitted to Buddhism ready made, it does not seem
improbable that the latter started at the very beginning with a very
comprehensive and very definitely formulated dogmatic apparatus. It is
not impossible, but not quite probable, that, if the Sutta texts be given
to the public in their full extent, we may be able to go farther in the
process of eliminating later elements than we can go at present.
208 THE TENET OF SUFFERING.
used often in distinctly different meanings,, or we find the
same thought expressed in different settings, which can be
only partially harmonized with each other. The most serious
obstacle, however, which stands in the way of our compre
hending Buddhist dogmatics is the silence with which
everything is passed over whicli does not lead "to the
separation from the earthly, to the subjection of all desire,
to the cessation of the transitory, to quietude, knowledge,
illumination, to Nirvana." We remarked that an extensive
stock of metaphysical, and especially psychological techni
calities, was esteemed anything but superfluous for him who
seeks a^ter quietude and illumination ; but advance in this
direction was made only up to a certain point, and no farther.
Speculations like those which were proposed can only be
thoroughly comprehensible when they present themselves as
a complete, self-contained circle. But here we have a fragment
of a circle, to complete which, and to find the centre of which, is
forbidden, for it would involve an inquiry after things which
do not contribute to deliverance and happiness. When we try
to resuscitate in our own way and in our own language the
thoughts that are embedded in the Buddhist teaching, we can
scarcely help forming the impression that it was not a mere
idle statement which the sacred texts preserve to us, that the
Perfect one knew much more which he thought inadvisable to
say, than what he esteemed it profitable to his disciples to
unfold. For that which is declared points for its explanation
and completion to something else, which is passed over in
silence for it seemed not to serve for quietude, illumination,
the Nirvana but of which we can scarcely help believing that
it was really present in the minds of Buddha and those disciples,
to whom we owe the compilation of the dogmatic texts.
GAPS IN THE SYSTEM. 20 ,)
THE FOUR SACRED TRUTHS. THE FIRST, AND BUDDHIST
PESSIMISM.
Ancient tradition, like Nature, provides us with a starting-
point, equally commended to us by ancient tradition and by
the natural condition of the question itself, from which we
must begin our sketch of Buddhist teaching. At the basis of
the whole body of Buddhist thought lies, like a permeating
and leavening principle, the contemplation of the suffering of
every form, of life here on earth.* The four sacred truths of
the Buddhists treat of suffering, of the origin of suffering, of
the removal of suffering, and of the path to the removal of
suffering : it is evermore the word and the idea of suffering
which gives the key-note to Buddhist thought.
In these four truths we have the oldest authentic ｅxpression
of this thought. "We may describe this as the Buddhist creed.
While most of the categories and propositions which we find
imbedded in Buddhist teaching are treated, not as something
peculiar to this faith, but as the obviously common property of
all reflecting religious xninds,t the four sacred truths always
appear to us as something which the Buddhists hold beyond
* If Buddhism he treated strictly as philosophical doctrine, it must
indeed be admitted that it looks upon the suffering of the universe not as
an ultimate hypothesis, but as the product of deeper-lying factors. We
might therefore be tempted in reviewing the system to begin preferably
with the latter, with the fundamental metaphysical y notions of Buddhism.
Ifc appears to me, however, more in keeping with the subject to follow the
course laid down by our authorities themselves, and to state the result
first, instead of the premises, the former being foremost and most
important for the religious consciousness, though probably not so in
strict dialectic.
t E.g., the doctrine of metempsychosis, of ecstatic conditions, the idea
of the saint (Arhat), etc.
14
210 THE FOUR SACRED TRUTHS.
all non-Buddhists,* as the kernel and the pole of the Dhamma
(the Doctrine). Many were the steps of knowledge which
Buddha had taken on his long and toilsome journey to the
Buddhahood: yet evermore was there something wanting to
his attainment of the knowledge that gives deliverance. on
that night, under the Agvattha tree at Uruvela, the four truths
at last dawn on him; they become the key-stone of his
knowledge; now he is the Buddha. And when he goes to
Benares to preach to the five monks what he has himself
learned "Open ye your ears, ye monks; the deliverance from
death is found : I instruct you, I preach the Law " again
there are those very four sacred truths which constitute the
gospel of the newly-discovered path of peace (p. 128 seq.).
And throughout the long career of Buddha as a teacher, as it
is depicted for us in the sacred texts, the discourse on the four
truths is constantly coming to the front as that " which is the
most prominent announcement of the Buddhas." The Buddhists
describe ignorance as being the ultimate and most deeply-
hidden root of all the suffering in the universe : if anyone
inquires the ignorance of what is regarded as this fatal power,
the uniform answer comes : the ignorance of the four sacred
truths. And thus we find these propositions times without
number in the canonical texts repeated, discussed, and their
importance magnified in extravagant terms. It is difficult
to avoid the presumption that the thoughts they convey and
the wording in which they are expressed go back to Buddha
himself, or at any rate to Buddha s first circle of followers.
* To give hut one proof out of many : if sun and moon do not shine,
it is said in the " Samyuttaka Nikaya" (vol. iii,fol. am), darkness prevails
in the world ; day and night, months and years are not observable. So
also darkness prevails in the world, if perfect, saintly Buddhas do not
appear in it; then the four sacred truths are not preached, taught,
proclaimed, revealed, etc.
VERSION OF THE FOUR TRUTHS. 211
"We here repeat these propositions, as they have already met
us in the sermon at Benares, in order to lay them as a founda
tion for our sketch of the Buddhist teaching.
" This, monks, is the sacred truth of suffering : Birth is
suffering, old age is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is
suffering, to be united with the unloved is suffering, to be
separated from the loved is suffering, not to obtain what one
desires is suffering, in short the five-fold clinging (to the
earthly*) is suffering.
" This, monks, is the sacred truth of the origin of suffering :
it is the thirst (for being) which leads from birth to birth,
together with lust and desire, which finds gratification here
and there : the thirst for pleasures, the thirst for being, the
thirst for power.
"This, monks, is the sacred truth of the extinction of
suffering : the extinction of this thirst by complete annihilation
of desire, letting it go, expelling it, separating oneself from it,
giving it no room.
" This, monks, is the sacred truth, of the path which leads
to the extinction of suffering : it is this sacred, eight-fold path,
to wit: Eight Faith, Right Eesolve, Eight Speech, Eight
Action, Eight Living, Eight Effort, Eight Thought, Eight
Self-concentration."t
* The hankering after corporeal form, after sensations, perceptions,
conformations, and after consciousness. Koppen (i, 222, n. I) finds quite
groundlessly in these last words a "metaphysical postscript" to the
original text of the four truths. Buddhism has at all times possessed
as much of metaphysical terminology as is comprised in these words.
t " Koppen," i, 225, n.2: " These eight divisions or branches also do
not belong originally to the simple dogma." We cannot enter a strong
enough protest against this setting aside of everything which militates
against this gratuitous conceit of a peculiar simplicity of the earliest
Buddhism. It cannot count up to eight without it being suspected of
" metaphysical postscripts !"
14*
212 THE FIE8T OF THE FOUR SACRED TRUTHS.
\
The four truths give ｅxpression to Buddhist pessimism in its
characteristic singularity.
They teach us first of all to direct attention to what this
pessimism is not.
A widespread opinion finds the ultimate ground of this
pessimism in the thought that, of all that is, the true existence
is the Nothing. The Nothing is alone certain. And if the
world which surrounds us, or appears to surround us, is not
wholly unreal, if it contains a certain, though ever so hollow a
degree of existence, which cannot be ignored, this is a misfortune;
*md it is wrong, for right is only the Nothing. The wrong-
must be removed ; we must remove it. Being, which originated
in and from nothing, must again go to nothing, for it is
essentially nothing.*
A strange error is this picture of what Buddhism is repre
sented to have been. Whoever looks, not into the metaphysical
speculations of later centuries, but into what the oldest tradi
tions disclose to us of the teaching of Buddha, of the belief of
that order of wandering mendicants, will not find therein one
tenet of these all lucubrations regarding the Nothing. Neither
openly expressed nor otherwise, neither in the foreground, nor
in the farthest background of the religious thought, does the
idea of the Nothing find a place. The tenets of the sacred truths
show us clearly enough that, if this world has been weighed by
the Buddhists and found wanting, the ground of this is not, that
it, an illusory, specious something, is in reality a mere nothing,
but the sole ground is that it consists of suffering and nothing
but suffering.
All life is suffering : this is the inexhaustible theme, which,
;~- -.. .
* Adolf Wuttke has made by far the most clever and intelligent efforts
to evolve Buddhism from these fundamental thoughts, vide " G-escMchte
des Heidenthums," ii, 520 seq., especially pp. 55, 535. Cf. also "Koppen,"
, 214 seq.
THE NOTHING AND SORROW. 21o
now in the strict forms of abstract philosophical discussion
and now in the garment of poetical proverb, evermore comes
ringing in our ears from Buddhist literature. We may take
as the standard dialectic ｅxpression of this thought one of
those discourses which Buddha, according to tradition, held at
Benares soon after his first sermon, before those five earliest
disciples, to whom he first proclaimed the four sacred truths.*
" And the Exalted one," so the tradition narrates, "spake
to the five monks thus :
" The material form, monks, is not the self. If material
form were the self, monks, this material form could not be
subject to sickness, and a man should be able to say regarding
his material form : my body shall be so and so ; my body shall
not be so and so. But inasmuch, monks, as material form is
not the self, therefore is material form subject to sickness, and
a man cannot say as regards his material form : my body shall
be so and so ; my body shall not be so and so.
"The sensations, monks, are not the self" and then
follows in detail regarding the sensations, the very same
exposition which has been given regarding the body. Then
comes the same detailed explanation regarding the remaining
three component elements, the perceptions, the conformations,
the consciousness, which in combination with the material
form and the sensation constitute man s sentient state of being.
Then Buddha goes on to say :
" How think ye then, monks, is material form permanent
or impermanent ?"
" Impermanent, sire."
< < But is that which is impermanent, sorrow or joy ?"
" Sorrow, sire."
* This discourse is usually described as the " Sutta of the tokens of
not-self " (of the non-ego). The text is to be found in the Mahavagga,
i, 6, 38 seq.
214: THE FIRST OF THE FOUR SACRED TRUTHS.
" But if a man duly considers that which is impermanent,
full of sorrow, subject to change, can he say : that is mine, that
is I, that is myself ?"
f( Sire, he cannot."
Then follows the same exposition in similar terms regarding
sensations, perceptions, conformations, and consciousness :
after which the discourse proceeds :
Therefore, monks, whatever in the way of material form
(sensations, perceptions, etc., respectively) has ever been, will
be, or is, either in our cases, or in the outer world, or strong
or weak, or low or high, or far or near, it is not self : this
must he in truth perceive, who possesses real knowledge.
Whosoever regards things in this light, monks, being a
wise and noble hearer of the word, turns himself from material
form, turns himself from sensation and perception, from
conformation and consciousness. When he turns therefrom,
he becomes free from desire; by the cessation of desire he
obtains deliverance ; in the delivered there arises a consciousness
of his deliverance : re-birfch is extinct, holiness is completed,
duty is accomplished ; there is no more a return to this world,
he knows."
The characteristic fundamental outlines of Brahmanical
speculation turn up again in this discourse of Buddha s with
dominant force. We have shown how that speculation works
in the conception of a dualism. on one side the eternal
immutable, which is endowed with the predicates of supreme
freedom and happiness : that is the Brahma, and the Brahma is
nothing else but man s own true self (Atman). on the other
side the world of origination and decease, birth, old age, death,
in a word, of suffering. From this very dualism flow the
ground-axioms, on which Buddha s discourse on the not-self
proceeds : that proposition, which needed no proof for the
DIALECTIC FOUNDATION OF PESSIMISM. 215
Buddhists, that refuge can only be had where origination and
decease have no dominion, the identity of the ideas of change
and sorrow, the conviction that the self of man (atta =
sansk. atman) cannot belong to the world of evolution. The
elements, in which the empirical state of man matures itself,
are liable to continual change; the bodily as well as the
spiritual life flows on, while one event is linked to another and
closes up with another. Man stands helpless in the middle of
this stream, the waves of which he cannot keep back or control.
He cannot attain happiness or peace ; how can happiness and
peace be thought of, where there is no continuance, but only
uncontrollable change holds sway ? But if he cannot press
this impermanence into his service, he can sever himself
from it : where all contact with the earthly ceases, there are
deliverance and freedom.*
At one point this discourse on the transitory nature of the
earthly, shows a gap in its train of thought; to fill up which
was, as we shall see later on, with a definite purpose omitted.
one portion of the old Brahrnamcal dualism, the belief in an
external world involving origination, decease and suffering, is
adopted without reservation. What is the attitude of Buddha s
doctrine with reference to the other side of this dualism^?
What does it teach regarding the eternal, the Atman ? It is
said that whatever is subject to change and suffering cannot
be the self. Is, then, the self something raised above this
phenomenal world, separated from it, or has it no existence at
all ? Is deliverance a return of the self which is involved in
change to itself, to its freedom ? or is there nothing left, which
* "What is inconstant, is sorrow ; what is sorrow, is not-self; what is
not-self, that is not mine, that am not I, that is not myself." " Samyut-
taka Nik&ya," vol. ii, fol. ka, where the equivalence of the cate;
here indicated is carried out to a great length in repetitions of all kinds.
216 THE FIRST OF THE FOUR SACRED TRUTHS.
in the- disappearance of the transitory, shows itself real and
permanent ? We note for the present that the sermon at
Benares leaves these questions open. The answer to them, so
far as Buddhism has given any answer at all to them, can
claim our attention only in another connection.
We return to the Buddhist thoughts of the irnperina-
nence and sorrow of earthly things. The abstract and ideal
development of these thoughts has been unfolded to us
in the discourse quoted. But this is only a one-sided,
imperfect ｅxpression. In a form, the most concrete, with
the convincing and overwhelming force of a painful reality,
there is ever present to the vision of the Buddhist, the picture
of the universe and man enveloped in suffering. There are
not shadows only, not clouds, which sorrow and death cast
over human life, but sorrow and death pertain inseparably
to every state of being. Through the delusion of happiness
and youth the Buddhist looks on to the sorrow into which
happiness and youth must soon turn. Behind the sorrowful
present lies an immeasurable sorrowful past, and there
extends equally immeasurably through the endless distance,
which the belief in the transmigration of souls discloses to the
awe-struck imagination, a future full of sorrows for him who
does not succeed in attaining deliverance, " putting an end
to sorrow."
"The pilgrimage (Samsara) of beings, my disciples/
Buddha says,* " has its beginning in eternity. No opening
can be discovered, from which proceeding, creatures, mazed in
ignorance, fettered by .a thirst for being, stray and wander.
What think ye, disciples, whether is more, the water which
is in the four great oceans, or the tears which have flown
from you and have been shed by you, while ye strayed and
* " Samyuttaka Is T ikaya," vol. i, fol. tho.
BIRTH, OLD AGE, DEATH. 217
wandered on this Jong" pilgrimage, and sorrowed and wept,,
because that was your portion which ye abhorred and that
which ye loved was not your portion ? A mother s death,,
a father s death, a brother s death, a sister s death, a son s
death, a daughter s death, the loss of relations, the loss of
property, all this have ye experienced through long ages.
And while ye experienced this through long ages, more tears
have flown from you and have been shed by you, while ye
strayed and wandered 011 this long pilgrimage, and sorrowed
and wept, because that was your portion which ye abhorred
and that which ye loved was not your portion, than all the
water which is in the four great oceans."
Birth, old age, death, are the leading forms in which the
sorrow of earthly existence is depicted. " If these things were
not in the world, my disciples, the Perfect one, the holy,
supreme Buddha, would not appear in the world, the law and
the Doctrine, which the Perfect one propounds, would not
shine in the world. What three things are they ? Birth and
old age and death."* Impermanence holds sway with the
pitiless, inexorable power of natural necessity. " There are
five things which no Samana, and no Brahman, and no god,
neither Mara, nor Brahma, nor any being in the universe, can
bring about. What five things are these? That what is
subject to old age, should not grow old, that what is subject
to sickness, should not be sick, that what is subject to death,
should not die, that what is subject to decay, should not decay,
that what is liable to pass away, should not pass away this can
no Samana bring about, nor any Brahman, nor any god, neither
Mara, nor Brahma, nor any being in the universe/ f
* " Anguttara Nikaya," vol. iii, fol. thai.
t From the discourse with which the monk ]N T arada consoled the king
Munda at Pataliputta on the death of the Queen Bkadda. Anguttara
Nikdya, vol. ii, fol. khai.
218 THE FIRST OF THE FOUR SACRED TRUTHS.
The actions of men who pursue earthly pleasures, are under
the curse of impermanence, illusion, vanity. Paining, deceiv
ing, sweeping, destroying, turning hoped-for enjoyments into
sorrow and death, the inexorable necessity of progression
holds dominion over all life and hopes. Whoever seeks to
acquire worldly goods, the merchant, the farmer, the shepherd,
the soldier, the civil servant of the crown, must expose himself
to the inconveniences of heat and cold, the bite of serpents, to
hunger and to thirst.* If he does not gain the object of his
pursuit, he laments and grieves : in vain did I exert myself,
in vain was all my labour. If he attains his object, he must
guard his gains with anxiety and trouble, that kings or
robbers may not wrest them from him, that fire may not burn
them, that floods may not sweep them away, that they may
not fall into the hands of hostile relations. To gain property
and gratify desire, kings wage war, father or mother quarrels
with son, brother with brother, warriors make their arrows fly,
and their swords flash, and they brave death and mortal
agonies. To gain pleasure, men break their word, commit
robbery, murder, adultery : they endure excruciating tortures
as human punishments, and when their bodies succumb in
death, they go the way of evil-doers ; in the kingdoms of hell
they will be born again to new torments.
And these same powers of decadence and sorrow, to which
human life is subject and which extend through all hells, have
also power over heaven. The gods may have assured to them
an incomparably longer and more happy state of being than
earthly humanity : still even they are not immortal or free
from sorrow. "The three and thirty gods, and the Yama-
gods, the happy deities, the gods who joy in creation, and the
ruling gods, bound by the chain of desire, return within the
* I here paraphrase briefly a part of the " Maliadtikkliakkliandha
Suttanta " (in the Majjhima Nikaya).
BIRTH, OLD AGE, DEATH. 210
power of Mara. The whole universe is consumed with flames,
the whole universe is enveloped in smoke, the whole universe
is on fire, the whole universe trembles ."*
The proverbial wisdom of the Dhammapada " gives the
truest picture of all of Buddhist thought and feeling, how the
disciples of Buddha saw in everything earthly the one thing,
vanity and decay.
"How can ye be gay,"t i* is sa >id, "how can ye indulge
desire ? Evermore the flames burn. Darkness surrounds
you : will ye not seek the light ? "
" Man gathers flowers ; his heart is set on pleasure. Death
conies upon him, like the floods of water on a village, and
sweeps him away."
" Man gathers flowers ; his heart is set 011 pleasure. The
Destroyer brings the man of insatiable desire within his
clutch/
" Neither in the aerial region, nor in the depths of the sea,
nor if thou piercest into the clefts of the mountains, wilt thou
find any place on this earth where the hand of death will not
reach thee."
" From merriment cometh sorrow : from merriment cometh
fear. Whosoever is free from merriment, for him there is no
sorrow : whence should come fear to him ? "
" From love cometh sorrow : from love cometh fear : whoso
ever is free from love, for him there is no sorrow : whence
should come fear to him ? "
" Whoso looketh down upon the world, as though he gazed
on a mere bubble or a dream, him the ruler Death beholdeth
not."
" Whosoever hath traversed the evil, trackless path of the
* From the "Bliikkhuni Samyutta," vol. i, fol. gliai.
t " Dhammapada," v, 146, 47, 48, 128, 212, 213, 170, 414.
220 THE FIR8T OF THE FOUR SACRED TRUTHS.
Sans&ra, of error, who hath pushed on to the end, hath
reached the shore, rich in meditation, free from desire, free
from irresolution, who, freed from being, hath found rest,
him I call a true Brahman."
Is it dialectic only with its comparison between the notions
of becoming, decease, sorrow, which causes the world to
appear to the Buddhist that immeasurable, painful waste ?
It is true, indeed, that wherever the popular mind cannot
obtain a sure anchorage for itself in the firm and clear realities
of practical life, where it is under the overpowering influence
of thought, of dreamy fancy without any counterpoise, there
speculation, with its real or supposed logical conclusions,
gains an incalculable influence as to which shall be the
answer given by individuals as well as collective masses, to
the question whether life is worth living. But it is not merely
the speculation of the Indian which furnishes the answer.
Speculation is bound up with his wishes and hopes ; it shares
with them the character of impatient impetuosity, untrained to
deal with realities. Thought, which passes over everything,
and arrives with one bound at the absolute, finds its counter
part in a craving whose impatience pushes from itself all
goods, which are not the supreme, everlasting good. But
what is the supreme good ? As the glow of the Indian sun
causes rest in cool shades to appear to the wearied body the
good of goods, so also with the wearied soul, rest, eternal
rest, is the only thing for which it craves. Of this life, which
promises to the cheerful sturdiness of an industrious, struggling
people, thousands of gifts and thousands of good things, the
Indian merely scrapes the surface and turns away from it in
weariness. The slave is tired of his servitude, the despot is
still sooner and more completely wearied of his despotism, its
unlimited enjoyment. The Buddhist propositions regarding
THE TONE OF BUDDHISM NOT RESIGNATION. 221
the sorrow of all that is transitory are the sharp and trenchant
ｅxpression, which these dispositions of the Indian people have
framed for themselves,, an ｅxpression, the commentary to which
is written not alone in the sermon at Benares and in the
apothegms of the " Dhammapada/ but in indelible characters
in the whole of the mournful history of this unhappy people.
In some of the sayings, which we have quoted from the
" Dhammapada," the thought of the impermanence and unsub-
stantialifcy of the earthly world is blended with the praise
of him who has succeeded in breaking the fetters which bind
him to the prison-house. And this brings us to fill in a
necessary part without which our sketch of the Buddhist
pessimism would be very incomplete. Some writers have
often represented the tone prevailing in it, as if it were
peculiarly characterized by a feeling of melancholy which
bewails in endless grief the unreality of being. In this they
have altogether misunderstood Buddhism. The true Buddhist
certainly sees in this world a state of continuous sorrow,
but this sorrow only awakes in him a feeling of compassion
for those who are yet in the world; for himself he feels no
sorrow or compassion, for he knows he is near his goal which
stands awaiting him, noble beyond all else. Is this goal
annihilation ? Perhaps it is. We cannot here answer this
question yet. But be this as it may, the Buddhist is far
from bewailing as a misfortune, or as an injury, to which he
must submit with sad resignation as to an unalterable destiny,
the constitution of things, which has provided just this goal
and only this goal for man s existence. He seeks Nirvana
with the same joyous sense of victory in prospect, with
which the Christian looks forward to his goal, everlasting life.
The following sayings also of the Dhammapada " reflect
this spirit*:
* Verse 94, 197 seq. 373.
222 THE FIRST OF THE FOUR SACRED TRUTHS.
"He whose appetites are at rest, like steeds thoroughly
broken in by the trainer, he who has put away pride, who is
free from impurity, him thus perfect the gods themselves
envy."
" In perfect joy we live, without enemy in this world of
enmity; among men filled with enmity we dwell without
enmity. "
"In perfect joy we live, hale among the sick; among sick
men we dwell without sickness."
" In perfect joy we live, without toil among toilers ; among
toiling men we dwell without toil."
tc In perfect joy we live, to whom belongeth nothing. Our
scrip is pleasantness, as of the effulgent gods."
" The monk who dwells in an empty abode, whose soul is
full of peace, enjo}^s superhuman felicity, gazing solely on the
truth."
It is not enough to say that the final goal to which the Buddhist
strives to pass as an escape from the sorrow of the world, is
Nirvana. It is also necessary to any delineation of Buddhism
to note as a fact assured beyond all doubt, that internal
cheerfulness, infinitely surpassing all mere resignation, with
which the Buddhist pursues this end.
CHAPTER II.
THE TENETS OE THE ORIGIN AND THE EXTINCTION
OE SUEFEBING,
THE FOEMULA OF THE CAUSAL NEXUS.
IN order to understand the first of the four sacred truths,
the tenet of suffering, we needed to acquaint ourselves only
with the criticism which Buddha s discourses give of the events
of daily life, the dispositions and inclinations which govern our
actions, and the consequences which follow from them. The
tenets of the origin of suffering and its extinction bring us out
of the domain of the popular speculative view of life, into the
realms of abstract notions of Buddhist dogmatic, and therewith
into a region where the ground vanishes from beneath our feet
at every step.
l This, monks, is the sacred truth of the origin of suffering :
it is the thirst (for being), which leads from birth to birth,
together with lust and desire, which finds gratification here
and there : the thirst for pleasures, the thirst for being, the
thirst for power.
This, O monks, is the sacred truth of the extinction of
suffering : the extinction of this thirst by complete annihilation
of desire, letting it go, expelling it, separating oneself from it,
giving it no room."
.224 ORIGIN AND EXTINCTION OF SORROW.
The state of being, as it surrounds us in this world, with its
restless oscillation between orighiation and decease, is our
misfortune. The ground of our existing is our will. This is
our besetting sin, that we will to be, that we will to be our
selves, that we fondly will our being to blend with other being
and extend. The negation of the will to be, cuts off being,
for us at least. Thus the two tenets of the origin of suffering
and its cessation, comprise the sum of all human action and all
human destiny.
But the sum must be resolved into the elements of which it
is composed. The former tenet, as we have quoted it, speaks
of the thirst for being, which leads from one birth to another.
Whence this birth ? It, the ground of our being, on what
ground does it itself rest ? And what law, what mechanism is
there, what intermediate links are there, by which the repeti
tion of our being, re-birth with its sorrows, is connected with
it?
The very oldest traditions from which we draw our account
of Buddhist speculations, show that these questions had been
asked. People found the brief and concise setting of the
sacred truths obviously inadequate and two formulas, or, more
correctly speaking, a bipartite formula was drawn up, which
. was intended to supplement, or rather strengthen, the tenets
regarding the origin of suffering and its cessation, the formula
of the <( Causal Nexus of being " (paticcasamuppada).*
Tradition assigns to this formula the next place in sacredness
to the four truths. The knowledge of the four verities is what
makes Buddha Buddha; the formula of the causal nexus,
which had occurred to him already before the attainment of
* This is frequently designated in later literature the formula of the
twelve nidanas (Bases of Existence), an ｅxpression which, as far as I
know, occurs neither in Buddha s discourses nor in the Vinaya texts.
THE FORMULA OF THE CAUSAL NEXUS. 225
Buddhahood had been vouchsafed to him, occupied his mind
while he sits under the tree of knowledge, " enjoying the
happiness of deliverance."* And when he combats the fear
that his gospel will not be comprehended on earth, it is
especially the law of the causal nexus of being, to which this
fear attaches : " Men who move in a worldly sphere, who have
their lot cast and find their enjoyments in a worldly sphere,
will find this matter hard to grasp, the law of causality, the
chain of causes and effects.^f
Occasionally the sacred texts make the formula of the causal
nexus actually an integral portion of the sacred truths them
selves, by omitting the second and third truths and. inserting
in their stead this formula in its two branches. J
The propositions of the causal nexus of being, in the form
which is most commonly met with in the traditions, and
which may be regarded as the most ancient form, with their
double, their positive and negative, arrangement " forwards
and backwards," as the texts express themselves are worded
as follows :
" From ignorance come conformations (sankhara) ; from
conformations comes consciousness (vinnana) ; from conscious
ness come name and corporeal form ; from name and cor
poreal form come the six fields ; from the six fields comes
* " Mahavagga," i, 1 (supra, pp. 116, 117). In the " Samyutta Nikaya "
(Phayre MS., vol. i, fol. ja) Buddha says that, in his case as in the case
of the prior Buddhas, the knowledge of this hitherto unheard-of wisdom
dawned on him before the attainment of the Buddhahood (pubbeva me
bhikkhave sambodha anabhisambuddhassa).
f Vide supra, p. 120.
J So in the " Anguttara Nikaya " (Tikanipata, Phayre MS., vol. i, fol.
ce ).
The fields of the six senses and their objects. In addition to the
five senses the Indians reckoned understanding (mano) the sixth.
15
226 THE FORMULA OF THE CAUSAL NEXUS.
contact (between the senses and their objects) ; from contact
comes sensation ; from sensation comes thirst (or desire) ; from
thirst comes clinging (to existence : upadana) ; from clinging
(to existence) comes being (bhava) ; from being comes birth ;
from birth come old age and death, pain and lamentation,
suffering, anxiety and despair. This is the origin of the whole
realm of suffering.
" But if ignorance be removed by the complete extinction of
desire, this brings about the removal of conformations; by
the removal of conformations, consciousness is removed ; by
the removal of consciousness, name and corporeal form are
removed ; by the removal of name and corporeal form, the six
fields are removed ; by the removal of the six fields, contact
(between the senses and their objects) is removed ; by the
removal of contact, sensation is removed ; by the removal of
sensation, thirst is removed; by the removal of thirst, the
clinging (to existence) is removed; by the removal of the
clinging (to existence), being is removed; by the removal of
being, birth is removed ; by the removal of birth, old age and
death, pain and lamentation, suffering, anxiety, and despair
are removed. This is the removal of the whole realm of
suffering."
The attempt is here made by the use of brief pithy phrases
to trace back the suffering of all earthly existence to its most
remote roots. The answer is as confused as the question was
bold. It is utterly impossible for anyone who seeks to find
out its meaning, to trace from beginning to end a connected
meaning in this formula. Most of the links of the chain, taken
separately, admit of a passable interpretation ; many arrange
themselves also in groups together, and their articulation may
be said to be not incomprehensible ; but between these groups
there remain contradictions and impossibilities in the consecu-
CONSCIOUSNESS AND CORPOREAL FORM. 227
tive arrangement of priority and sequence, which an exact
exegesis has not the power, and is not permitted to clear up.
Even the ancient Buddhist theologians, who were by no means
accustomed to construe too strictly in every case the require
ment that ff ein Begriff muss bei dem Worte sein,"* found
here a stumbing-block ; the variations, with which the formula
of causality is found in the sacred writings, afford unmis
takable evidence of this.
THE THIRD LINK IN THE CHAIN OF CAUSALITY.
It seems advisable for the explanation of the formula of
causality not to begin at the beginning. The first links of the
series the ultimate ground of earthly existence, ignorance,
and the "conformations" which develop themselves from
ignorance are in their nature much more difficult of compre
hension by concrete explanation than the following categories.
We shall return later on to the attempt here made to denomi
nate the cause of causes ; at present we begin where con
sciousness appears in the chain of categories and with it we
step upon the ground of conceivable reality. The sacred texts
also apparently justify us in proceeding thus, as they them
selves often begin the chain of causality with the category of
consciousness, omitting the first members. " Ignorance " and
"conformations" are evidently among the things, of which
Buddhist dogmatists have, as far as possible, omitted to speak.
"From consciousness" runs the third proposition in the
series " come name and corporeal form."
* Gothe s "Faust," Dialogue of Mephistopheles and the Student.
Anglice : " A meaning must underlie words." [Translator. ]
15*
228 THE THIRD LINK IN THE CHAIN OF CAUSALITY.
one of the dialogues on this subject in the collection of the
sacred texts, in which Buddha unfolds to his beloved disciple,
Ananda, the greater part of the formula of causality,* gives
us a very concrete explanation of this proposition, which
undoubtedly expounds the original meaning. " If conscious
ness, Ananda, did not enter into the womb, would name and
corporeal formf arise in the womb ? " " No, sire."" And
if consciousness, Ananda, after it has entered into the womb,
were again to leave its place, would name and corporeal form
be born into this life ?" " No, sire." "And if consciousness,
Ananda, were again lost to the boy or to the girl, while they
were yet small, would name and corporeal form attain growth,
increase, progress ? " " No, sire."
Thus the proposition, " From consciousness comes name and
corporeal form," leads us to the moment of conception. We
shall, when treating of the Buddhist notions of soul and
metempsychosis, come to understand from another point of
view still more completely the ideas which meet us here ; here
we must only state this much, that in death the other elements,
which constitute the body-cum-spirit state of being of a man,
are dissolved; the body, the sensations, the perceptions vanish,
but not the consciousness (vinnana). Consciousness forms, so
long as the existent is bound in metempsychosis, the connecting
* The Mahanidanasutta (Digha Nikaya).
f I reserve for the Excursus the more particular statements which the
acred texts make regarding this double notion of " name and corporeal
form," derived from older Brahmanical speculation. Originally in this
ｅxpression undoubtedly the Name, in so far as it expresses what is only
this person and no other, is regarded as a peculiar element annexed to the
body, somehow connected with the body, and this interpretation has not
wholly disappeared from the Buddhist texts. Meanwhile another view
grew up, by which " name " was understood to include the more subtle
immaterial functions connected with the body in contradistinction to the
body formed of earth, water, fire, and air.
CONSCIOUSNESS AND CORPOREAL FORM. 22 J
link which connects the old existences with the new ; not till
the bourne of deliverance, the nirvana is reached, does the
consciousness also of the dying perfect one vanish into nothing.
As the human body is formed out of the material elements, so
consciousness also is regarded as consisting of an analogous
spiritual element. " There are six elements, my disciples/
says Buddha, " the element of earth, the element of water, the
element of fire, the element of air, the element of aether, the
element of consciousness." The stuff of which consciousness
is made is highly exalted above the other elements ; it dwells,
as it were, in its own world. " Consciousness," it is written,
" the indemonstrable, the everlasting, the all-illuminating ; it
is where nor water nor earth, nor fire nor air, finds a place, in
which greatness and smallness, weakness and strength, beauty
and non- beauty, in which name and material form cease
altogether."
That which in the dying man is constructed of this highest
of earthly elements, the consciousness-element, becomes at the
moment when the old being dies the germ of a new being ;
this germ of consciousness seeks and finds in the womb tho
material stuffs, from which it forms a new state of being coined
in name and material form. .
But as name and material form rest on consciousness, so also
the latter rests on the former. Those passages in the texts,
which do not carry back the line of causality to the ultimate
end, to Ignorance, are wont to make it run in a circle with
these two categories interchangeably dependent on one another
We have already quoted from Buddha s and Ananda s dialogue
the passage bearing on the one side of this subject, on tho
allegation that name and material form rest on consciousness.
on the other side, then, it is said in the same conversation :
"If, Ananda, consciousness were not to find name and matena
230 THE THIRD LINK IN THE CHAIN OF CAUSALITY.
form as its resting-place, would then birth,, old age, and death,
the origin and development of sorrow, reveal themselves in
succession?" " No, sire, they would not." " Therefore,
Ananda, is this the cause, this the ground, this the origin, this
the basis of consciousness : name and material form." And
thus comprehensively are the bases on which all nameability
and all existence of the existent, their birth, death, and re-birth,
rest, described as "name and material form combined with
consciousness."
We extract from other texts some more characteristic
passages for the elucidation of this subject :
<e What must there be, in order that there may be name and
material form? Whence come name and material form?
Consciousness must be in order that there may be name and
material form; from consciousness come name and material
form. What must there be in order that there may be
consciousness ? Whence comes consciousness ? Name and
material form must be, in order that there may be con
sciousness ; from name and material form comes consciousness.
Then, my disciples, the Bodhisatti Vipassi* thought :
consciousness conversely depends on name and material form :
the chain goes no farther."t
And in another place f the following simile is put into the
mouth of Sariputta, the greatest authority among Buddha s
disciples : " My friend, as two bundles of sticks leaning
against each other stand, so also, my friend, consciousness
grows out of name and material form, and name and material
* Vipassi is one of the mythical Buddhas of the past, to whom are
attributed these reflections on the chain of casuality, while he was still
Bodhisatta (pursuing the path to the Buddhahood).
f Mahapadhanasutta (Digha Nikaya), second Bhanavara.
" Samyatta K" vol. i, fol. iiah .
THE SIX FIELDS- CONTA CT SENSATION. 231
form out of consciousness." It " grows out of" it this is not
intended to convey that consciousness is the element, out of
which name and material form are made : it is merely tantamount
to saying, that consciousness is the forming power, which
originates from the material elements or being, which bears
a name and is clothed with a body.
THE FOUETH TO THE ELEVENTH LINK IN THE CHAIN OF
CAUSALITY.
When the spirit has found its body and the body found
the spirit and united itself to it, this being compounded of
spirit and body, provides itself with organs to put itself
into communication with the external world. "From name
and material form," runs the fourth term of the formula,
"come the six fields"* the " six fields of the subject
(ajjhattika ayatana), eye, ear, nose, tongue, body (as organ for
sensations of touch), understanding^ and the six corresponding
fields of the object world, corporeal forms as the object of the
eye, and so on sounds, odours, taste, tangibility, and last, as
the object of the understanding, thoughts (or ideas, notions,
"dhamma"), which are represented evidently as something
standingpresent before the thinking faculty in quite an objective
* The version contained in the Mahanid^inasutta " (Dialogue between
Buddha andAnanda) skips the categories of the six fields," and goes
on from " name and material form " straight to the next fi
category of contact. (Vide infra.)
f "Understanding" (mano) and " consciousness " (viiinana) are always
quite distinct in the sacred texts, wherever they express themselves strictly.
Turns such as these: "What people are accustomed to call thought (cit
or understanding (mano) or consciousness (viiinana) " occur, as far as
I know, only in such a connection that they may be described as an
intentional accommodation to customary modes of speech.
THE FOURTH TO TEE ELEVENTH LINK.
.existence and realized by it, in the same way as visible bodies
before the eyes.
The organs of the subject now step into communication with
the objective world. "From the six fields comes contact.
From contact comes sensation." We meet also with a
certainly not very clearly expressed, and at the same time
scarcely well-thought-out, attempt, to still further analyze these
processes. Before the organ of sense grasps the object, an
operation of the central organ, consciousness, on the organ of
sense in requisition, gives it the command to join communication
with .the object, apparently in such a way that the former
sets the latter in a certain manner to work. And when this
communication follows, then by means of it, besides the two
elements primarily concerned, the organ of sense and the
object, the third element, consciousness, the author and super
visor of this communication, is at the same time in play. It is
somewhat in this way, I believe, that we must understand the
following proposition which recurs not unfrequently in the
sacred texts : From the eye and visible bodies comes
consciousness, directed] to the eye (cakkhuviiinana), the
conjunction of the three, the contact." And similarly in that
address of Buddha s already quoted (p. 185 seq.), the series
of ideas and processes treated of in this connection, is expressed
in tHe following fashion : " Eye body consciousness directed
to the eye contact of the eye (with the objects) the sensation,
which arises from the contact of the eye (with the objects), be
it pleasure be it pain, be it neither pain nor pleasure."* Of
course similar processes take place in the case of the other
organs of sense to those which occur in the case of the eye.
* Pleasure, pain, and what is neither pleasure nor pain : a classification
of sensations under three heads found frequently repeated in the sacred
texts.
THIEST-CLING1NG. 233
Tlie formula goes on : " From sensation arises thirst."
Here the point is reached, which the tenets of the origin and
the extinction of suffering had made a starting-point, " the thirst
which leads from re-birth to re-birth," not the ultimate but
the most powerful cause of suffering. We be, because we
thirst for being; we suffer, because we thirst for pleasure.
" Whomsoever it holds in subjection, that thirst, that con
temptible thing, which pours its venom through the world, his
suffering grows as the grass grows. Whosoever holds it in
subjection, that thirst, that contemptible thing, which it is
difficult to escape in this world, suffering falls off from him as
the water-drops from the lotus flowers."* " As, if the root be
uninjured, even a hewn tree grows up anew mightily, so, if the
excitement of thirst be not wholly dead, suffering ever and
anon breaks out again/ " The gift of the truth transcends all
other gifts; the sweetness of the truth transcends all other
sweetness ; joy in the truth surpasses all other joy ; the
extermination of thirst, this subdues all suffering."
The idea of thirst, usually divided by scholastic teaching
into six heads, according to whichever one or other of the six
senses it is that has caused the sensation which generates the
thirst, is usually met in close connection with the category,
which follows next in the formula of causality, that of clinging,
to wit, clinging to the external world, to existence.f " From
* " Dliammapada," v. 335 seq. The following quotations are taken
from the same text, v. 338, 354.
f Scholastic terminology specially distinguishes four classes of clinging :
clinging by desire, clinging by (mistaken) intentions, clinging by building
on virtue and monastic observances (as though these were alone sufficient
to obtain salvation), and clinging by thinking of the ego. We shall not
be able to explain the last point, the attitude of Buddhist teaching as to
the idea of the ego, until we reach a later stage.
234: THE FOURTH TO THE ELEVENTH LINK.
thirst/* says the formula., te comes clinging. " The Pali word
for fc clinging }) (upadana) involves a metaphor which is highly
descriptive of the idea which is here underlying. The flame
which, as a scarcely material existence, freely urges its way on,
spreading and rising, " clings " still to the fuel (upadana) :
it cannot be contemplated without fuel. Even if the flame
be carried into the distance by the wind, there is still a
fuel there to which it clings, the wind. The existence of every
being is like the flame ; like the flame, our being is to a certain
extent a continuous process of burning. Deliverance is the
extinction (nirvana) of the flame ; but the flame is not
extinguished so long as it is supplied with fuel to which it
" clings/* And as the flame clinging to the wind presses on
into far off distance, so also the flame of our existence is not
laid on the spot, but presses on in transmigration to far off
distances, from heaven to hell, from hells to heaven. What is
it, to which the flame-resembling process of our being clings
in the moment of such transmigration, like the flame to the
wind ? {{ Then, say I, (the being of the existent) has thirst as
the substratum to which it clings ; for this thirst, Vaccha, is
at that time (at the moment of transmigration) its (the being s)
clinging.***
Even the slightest residue of clinging prevents deliverance.
"Whosoever separates from everything that is transitory, who-
* From a dialogue between Buddha and a monk of another persuasion
named Vaccha (" Samyutta JNTikaya," vol. ii, fol. tau). Here may be
seen an illustration of the disconnectedness of the sacred texts already
animadverted on, as regards the succession of the categories appearing in
the formula of causality. We pointed out, that the proposition " from
consciousness come name and material form " refers to the moment of
conception, that is of transmigration of the soul. And here the categories
of thirst and clinging, which appear much later in the formula, are
carried back to the very same moment.
BECOMING BIRTH AND DEATH. 235
soever attains the most perfect quietude, but clings with his
thought even to this very quietude and is glad of this quietude,
he is still in bondage. The best, but still the minimum of
clinging is the clinging to the condition of deepest self-
suppression where consciousness and non-consciousness are
alike overcome ; complete deliverance has overcome even this
last clinging.* "By the cessation of clinging his soul was
delivered from all sinful existence" this is the standing
phrase with which the texts intimate that a disciple of Buddha
has become a partaker of holiness, of deliverance.
Up to this point the connection of the causes and effects in
our chain of categories was tolerably clear. The impression
will have been formed that the being whose conception ("from
consciousness come name and material form") was the starting-
point of the series, has long since, in the later terms of the
formula, entered on real life, struggles with the outer world,
the clinging to its goods. In this light also the oft-mentioned
dialogue between Buddha and Ananda puts it ; to the pro
position ; " from sensation comes thirst/ it appends a picture
of human toil and struggles for pleasure and gain : there are
met the words seek, obtain, possession, guard, envy, quarrel,
strife, backbiting, lying. It is therefore very surprising, when
the formula of causality, which in its theory of the world
seemed to have already arrived at the dealings of social life,
at the struggle of egoism against egoism, suddenly turns back
and causes that being whom we have already seen taking part
in the transactions of the world to be born. The formula runs
thus in its three last terms : " From clinging (to existence)
comes becoming (bhava) ; from becoming comes birth; from
birth come old age, and death, pain and lamentation, sorrow,
anxiety and despair."
* " Ananjasappaya Suttanta" (Majjh. N.).
I
236 THE FOURTH TO THE ELEVENTH LINK.
It seems to me evident that there is here a gap in the train
of thought which our efforts of elucidation cannot, and are not
even permitted to bridge over. What was more ready than
to recognize in birth the sources from which come old age and
death ? "If three things were not in the world, my disciples,
the Perfect one, the holy, supreme Buddha, would not
appear in the world, the Law and the Doctrine, which the
Perfect one propounds, would not shine in the world. What
three things are they ? Birth and old age and death."* Thus
these so closely associated ideas were thrown together in the
two last terms of the causal- chain, but it was omitted to weld
these new groups of categories with those preceding, so as to
form a harmonious whole. The idea of te becoming," which
was thrust into the middle, inevitably creates by its very
vaguenessf which you may regard as you like, as either of
very little or of very great import the impression as if it
were intended for a shift or sleight to get over the break in
continuity.
We close with some proverbs of the " Dhammapada," J which
translate these last terms of the formula of causality from the
language of ideas into that of emotion and poetry.
"Behold this painted picture, the frail, scarred form of
corporeity, wherein many an aspiration dwells, which has no
happiness and no stability."
" To age comes as its lot this form, frail, a nest of diseases :
the perishable body fails : life in it is death."
* Vide supra, p. 217.
t This is not removed by the explanation frequently occurring in the
sacred texts, that there is a triple becoming : the becoming in desire, the
becoming in form, the becoming in formlessness, according as a being is
born again in the lower worlds ruled by desire, or in the higher states,
the worlds of form and formlessness.
J Yers 147-149, 46.
IGNORANCE. 237
" Those bleached bones, which are thrown out yonder like
gourds in the autumn when anyone sees them, how can he
be happy ? "
"Esteeming this body like a bubble, regarding it as a
mirage, breaking the flower-shafts of the tempter, press on to the
bourne where the monarch Death shall gaze no more on thee."
But death is not the end of the long chain of suffering : upon
death follows re-birth, new sorrow, another death.
THE FIRST AND SECOND LINKS OF THE CAUSAL-CHAIN.
From the end of the formula of causality we must turn back
to its beginning, to speak of the two first members of the
series.
"From ignorance (avijja)," the formula begins, "come
conformation s (sankh ara) .
<e From conformations comes consciousness."
If ignorance be designated the ultimate source of suffering,
the question must arise : Who is here the ignorant ? What
is that of which this ignorance is ignorant ?
It is tempting, by the place assigned to the category of
" ignorance/ at the beginning of the whole line of causality,
to allow one s self to be carried away by interpretations which
see in this idea, as it were, a cosmogonical power working
at the primitive foundation of things. Or one might be
tempted to read in it the history of a crime preceding all.
time, an unlucky act by which the non-bcent had doomed
itself to be leent, that is to suffer. The philosophy of later
Brahmanical schools speaks in similar fashion of Maya, that
power of delusion, which causes the deceptive picture of the
created world to appear to the one, the uncreated, as if it
were leent. "He, the knowing, gave himself up to confused
238 THE FIRST AND SECOND LINKS.
fancies, and when he fell into the slumber prepared for him by
Maya, he beheld in amazement multiform dreams : I am, this
is my father, this my mother, this my field, this my kingdom."
Some have compared the ignorance of Buddhism with this
Maya of the Brahrnanical theosophy ; only with this note
that, as Maya is the deceptive reflection of the true everlasting
beent, so ignorance is the reflection of that which, as they
thought, took the place of the everlasting beent for the
Buddhists, that this, the Nothing.
Interpretations of this kind, which find in the category of
ignorance an ｅxpression for the deceptive Nothing appearing
as a beentj completely correspond in fact with the explicit
utterances of later Buddhist texts. The construction alluded
to is met with in the great standard text-book of mystic-
nihilistic speculation, which was an authority among Buddhist
theologians in the first century after Christ. In this most
sacredly esteemed text, the " Perfection of Knowledge "
(Prajnaparamita), we read as follows: *
Buddha said to Sariputra : " Things, Sariputra, do not
exist as ordinary and ignorant men, clinging closely to them,
fancy, who are not instructed on the subject." Sariputra
said : " How then, sire, do they exist ? * Buddha answered :
" They exist, Sariputra, in so far that they do not exist
in truth. And inasmuch as they do not exist, they are
called Avidya, that is, the non-existent, or ignorance.f To
this ordinary, ignorant men, who are not instructed on the
matter, cling closely. They represent to themselves all things,
of which in truth not one has any existence, as existent."
* The passage is quoted by Burnouf, " Introduction a I histoire du
Buddhisme indien," p. 473 seq. 478.
t This is the same term which occurs at the beginning of the formula
of causality (avidya = Pali, avijja).
IGNORANCE. 239
Then Buddha asks the holy disciple Subhuti : " What thinkest
thou now, Subhuti, is illusion one thing and material form
another ? Is illusion one thing and sensations another ?
perceptions another ? conformations another ? consciousness
another ? " Subhuti answered : " Nay, Master, nay ; illusion
is not one thing and material form another. Material form
is itself the illusion and the illusion itself is material form,
sensations, perceptions, conformations, and consciousness." And
Buddha says : " It is in the nature of the illusion that that lies
which makes beings what they are. It is, Subhuti, as if
a clever magician, or the pupil of a clever magician, caused a
vast concourse of men to appear at a cross road, where four
great thoroughfares meet, and, having caused them to appear,
caused them again to vanish."
Thus the speculations contained in the treatise on the
" Perfection of Knowledge," make ignorance the ultimate
cause of the appearing of the world and at the same time
the essential character of its state of being, which is in truth
rather not-being : ignorance and not-being here coincide.
We have taken this glance at this later phase of the develop
ment of Buddhist thought merely with the intention of being
put on our guard against assigning any of these ideas to
ancient Buddhism and against framing any interpretation of
the old texts, especially of the formula of causality, influenced
by such a process. Inquirers, who had access to the propositions
of the chain of causes and effects only in the garb of that
later period, found themselves in fact in a not very different
position from that in which a historian of Christianity would
be placed, if he were directed to string together some account
of the teaching of Jesus from the phantasms of the Gnostics.
The course, which we must follow, is clearly enough indi
cated : we have only to inquire from the oldest tradition of
24:0 THE FIRST AND SECOND LINKS.
Buddhist dogmatics, obtainable in the Pali texts, what is that
ignorance, the ultimate ground of all suffering.
Wherever in the sacred Pali literature this question is
mooted, as well in the addresses which Buddha himself and
his chief disciples are said to have delivered, as in the systema
tizing compilations of a later generation of dogmatists, the
answer is invariably the same. The ignorance is not declared
to be anything in the way of a cosmic power, nor anything
like a mysterious original sin, but it is within the range of
earthly, tangible reality. The ignorance is the ignorance of
the four sacred truths.. Sariputta says :* " Not to know suffer
ing, friend, not to know the origin of suffering, not to know
the extinction of suffering, not to know the path to the extinction
of suffering : this, friend, is called ignorance." " Not seeing
the four sacred truths as they are, I have wandered on
the long path from one birth to another. Now have I
seen them : the current of being is stemmed. The root of
suffering is destroyed : there is henceforward no re-birth."f
The method and procedure of old-Buddhist dogmatic is here
clearly exemplified : when it tracks personality back on its
way through the world of sorrow beyond that moment when
consciousness clothes itself with e( name and material form,"
that is, to the moment of conception, their thought is not on
that account lost in the arcanum of pre-existence prior to
all consciousness, but it makes this empirical existence take
root in another equally empirical conceivable existence. That
ignorance, which is stated to be the ultimate ground of your
present state of being, involves that, at an earlier date, a being
who then occupied your place, a being who has lived in not
* " Sammaditthisuttanta " (Majjhima Nikaya). Similar passages occur
frequently,
f " Makavagga," vi, 29.
IGNORANCE AND CONFORMATIONS. 241
less tangible reality than you now do, on earfch or in a heaven
or in a hell, has failed to possess a specific knowledge,
definable in certain words, and bound for that reason in
the bonds of transmigration, must have brought about your
present state of being. We saw (p. 52) that old-Brahman
speculation, in reply to the question, what is the power which
holds the spirit bound in impermanence, what enemy must
be overcome in order that deliverance may be obtained, has
answered with the very same conception, that of ignorance.
With the Brahmans this ignorance was the ignorance of the
identity of the particular ego with that great ego, which is the
source and the snm of all egoity. Buddhism has given up
these thoughts and all metaphysical hypotheses which rendered
them possible, but still the word proved itself more lasting
than the thought : now, as before, the ultimate root of all
suffering continues to be called "ignorance. 5 And there it
was natural, when inquiry was made as to the illatent
import of this idea of " ignorance/ it should be described as
non-possession of that knowledge, the possession of which
appeared to the Buddhist the highest aim of every struggle for
deliverance, the knowledge of suffering, of the origin of suffer
ing, of the extinction of suffering, and of the path to the
extinction of suffering. The ultimate root of all suffering is the
delusion which conceals from man the true being and the true
value of the system of the universe. Being is suffering : but
ignorance totally deceives us as to this suffering : it causes us
to see instead of suffering a phantom of happiness and pleasure.
And the next consequence of this delusion ? The formula of
causality expresses it in its first proposition : " From ignorance
come conformations (Sankhara)."
Here the impossibility of Buddhist terminology finding
adequate ｅxpression in our language makes itself keenly felt.
16
242 THE FIRST AND SECOND LINKS.
The word Sankhara is derived from a verb which signifies
to arrange, adorn, prepare. Sankhara is both the preparation
and that prepared ; but these two coincide in Buddhist
conceptions much more than in ours, for to the Buddhist mind
we shall have more to say on this point later on the made
has existence only and solely in the process of being made ;
whatever is, is not so much a something which is, as the process
rather of a being, self -generating and self -again- consuming
being. Now, nothing can be imagined at any time any how
coming under observation in this world of becoming and
decease, to which the idea of forming or of becoming formed
does not attach, and thus we shall farther on meet with the
word Sankhara as one of the most general ｅxpressions for
everything that is in it. In our formula, however, which has
not to do with the universe, but with the origin and decease of
personal life, the idea of Sankhara suitable to the connection
is a much narrower one : here a forming is meant which is
consummated in the domain of the personal body-cum-spirit
(. xistence. We might translate Sankhara directly by actions,"
if we understand this word in the wide sense in which it
includes also at the same time the internal " actions," the will
and wish. The old scholastic teachers divide "conformations"
or actions " under two heads, always in three classes, either
viewing them as corresponding to the three categories of thought,
word, and deed, or proceeding on the basis of a moral principle
of division, into conformations which have a pure end in view
(good actions), those which have an impure end in view, and
those which have a neutral end in view. "Pure" and "impure,"
in the language of Indian theology, are nothing more than
moral merit, which will be rewarded hereafter, and guilt,
which, finds its punishment hereafter. Thus the category of
1 conformations " brings us to the doctrine of Kamma., i.e.,
KAMMA (MORAL RETRIBUTION"). 213
tlie law of moral retribution, which traces out for the wandering
soul its path through the world of earthly being, through
heaven and hell.
What we are, is the fruit of that which we have done. As an
acquisition of pre-Buddhist speculation we have already come
across the proposition : ee whatsoever he does, to a corresponding
state he attains ;"* and Buddhism teaches : " My action is my
possession, my action is my inheritance, my action is the womb
which bears me. My action is the race to which I am akin,
my action is my refuge."t What appears to man to be his
body is in truth " the action of his past state, which then
assuming a form, realized through his endeavour, has become
endowed with a tangible existence.":]; The law of causality,
substantially regarded by Buddhist speculation as a natural
law, here assumes the form of a moral power influencing the
universe. No man can escape the effect of his actions. Not
in the heavens/ it is said in the Dhammapada, " not in the
midst of the sea, not if thou hidest thyself away in the clefts of
the mountains, wilt thou find a place on earth where thou canst
escape the fruit of thy evil actions." j| " Him, who has been long
* Vide supra, p. 49.
t " Anguttara Nikaya," Paiicaka Nipata.
I " Samyutta Nikaya," vol. i, fol. jhe .
Verses 127, 219 seq.
|| He who obtains deliverance does not thereby escape punishment for
the evil which he has not yet expiated. Yet this punishment assumes a
form for the delivered, in which none of its terrors remain for them. The
history of the robber Angulimala gives an illustration. This man, who
had on his conscience countless deeds of robbery and murder, is converted
by Buddha and obtains sanctity. Whenhe goes into the city of Savatthi
to collect alms, he sustains injuries from the populace by stone-throwing
and the hurling of other objects at him. Covered with blood, with
broken alms-bowl and torn garments, he comes to Buddha. The latter
says to him : Seest thou not, O Brahman ? The reward of evil actions,
1C*
24:4: THE FIRST AND SECOND LINKS.
travelling and who returns home in safety, the welcome of
relatives, friends and acquaintances, awaits. So him, who
has done good works, when he passes over from this world into
the hereafter, his good works welcome, like relatives a home-
returning friend." Through the five regions of transmigration,
through divine and human existence, and through the realms of
goblins, of animal-life and hells, the power of our actions leads
us. The exaltation of heaven awaits the good. The warders of
hell bring up the wicked before the throne of king Yama ; who
asks him, whether he, when he lived on earth, did not see the
five messengers of the gods who are sent for the admonition of
men, the five visions of human weakness and human suffering ;
the child, the old man, the sick man, the criminal suffering
punishment, and the dead man. Of course he has seen them.
And hast thou, man, when thou reachedst riper years and
becamest old, not thought within thyself : e I also am subject
to birth, old age, and death ; I am not exempt from the
dominion of birth, old age, and death. Well, then ! I will do
good in thought, word and deed ? But he answers : " I was
unable to do it, sire; I neglected it, sire, in my frivolity."
Then king Yama addresses him : " These thy evil deeds thy
mother hath not done, nor thy father, nor thy brother, nor thy
sister, nor thy friends and advisers, nor thy connections and
blood-relations, nor ascetics, nor Brahrnans, nor gods. It is
thou alone that hast done these evil actions ; thou alone shalt
gather their fruit." And the warders of hell drag him to the
places of torment. He is riveted to glowing iron, plunged in
for which, thou shouldst otherwise have had to suffer for long years and
many thousands of years in hell, that thou art now receiving already in
this life." (Angalimala Suttanta, Majjh. Nikaya. The extract given in
Hardy s Manual, p. 260 seq., does not fully meet the theological points of
the narrative.)
KAMMA AND CONFORMATIONS. 245
glowing seas of blood, or tortured on mountains of burning
coals, and he dies not until the very last residue of his guilt
has been expiated.* ,:
It is quite in keeping with the spirit of the old dogmatic,
when a later textf compares the cycle of ever-recurring
existence, connected throughout by Kamma, by merit and
demerit, to a wheel which recoils upon itself, or with the
reciprocal generation of the tree from the seed, of the seed
corn from the fruit of the tree, of the hen from the egg, and of
the egg from the hen. Eye and ear, body and spirit, move
into contact with the external world; thus arises sensation,
desire, action (kamma) ; the fruit of the action is the new eye,
and the new ear, the new body and the new spirit, which will
go to make up the being in the coming existence.
It is this group of thoughts, associated with the idea of
Kamma, which we must next take up in order to render
intelligible the role which the category of the Sankharas plays
in the formula of causality. Yet the sacred texts point also to
another more distinct interpretation of this category, which lies
somewhat in another direction.
In one of the great collections of Buddha s addresses, we
meet a sermon " on re-birth according to the Sankharas." J
Now this very "re-birth according to the Sankh&ras" is that
with which the formula of causality has to do at the place,
where we are now arrived, for this formula speaks here
precisely of the Sankharas, in so far as they cause the con-
sciousness of the dying being to become the germ of a new
being ("from the Sankharas comes consciousness. From
consciousness come name and material form "). We are thus
entitled to expect in the expositions of this Sutra a com-
* Devaduta Sutta. t " Milinda Panha," seq., etc.
J Sanldiaruppati Suttanta in the Majjhima Nikaya.
24:6 FIRST AND SECOND LINKS.
mentary upon this part of the formula of causality : and in
fact we find it.
It runs as follows :-.
" It happens, my disciples, that a monk, endowed with faith,
endowed with righteousness, endowed with knowledge of the
doctrine, with resignation, with wisdom, communes thus with
himself : f Now then, could I, when my body is dissolved in
death, obtain re-birth in a powerful, princely family/ He thinks
this thought, dwells on this thought, cherishes this thought.
These Sankharas and internal conditions (vihara), which he has
thus cherished within him and fostered, lead to his re-birth in
such an existence. This, disciples, is the avenue, this the
path, which leads to re-birth in such an existence."
The train of thought is then similarly repeated in detail
with reference to the several classes of men and gods. The
believing and righteous monk, who has in his lifetime directed
his thoughts and wishes to these forms of existence, will be
re-born in them. So on up to the highest classes of gods, who
are separated from Nirvana by a diminishing residuum of the
earthly, the " gods of the spheres, in which there is neither
perception nor absence of perception. " And finally, in the last
place, the Sutra speaks of the monk " who thus reflects : Now
then, were I but able by the destruction of sinful existence, to
discover and behold for myself the sinless state of deliverance
in action and in knowledge even in this present life, and find in
it my abode/ He will, by the destruction of sinful existence,
discover and behold for himself the sinless state of deliverance
in action and in knowledge even in this present life, and will
find in it his abode. This monk, disciples, will never be
re-born."
We see what are here the Sankharas, which have a
decisive influence on the re-birth of man : the inner form of
CONFORMATIONS AND RE-BIRTH.
the spirit, which, anon readily contents itself with the aspira
tions of the spheres of earthly greatness, raises itself anon with
purer energy to the worlds of the gods, even to the highest
altitudes, and soars in re-birth to existence actually in these
altitudes. Still, however, sorrow pushes even into the most
exalted regions. The wise man, therefore, aspires neither to
human nor divine happiness; his self -forming directs itself
only to the cessation of all conformations. The ignorant, on
the contrary, led astray by lies, ignorance of the suffering of
all states of being, becomes a settler in the world of imperma-
nence. As the fuel will not permit the flame to be extinguished,
so this inner forming of one s self, this hankering after an
impermanent object, holds the dying being fast bound to
existence. The spirit clothes itself with a new garment of
name and material form, and in a new existence repeats the
old cycle of birth and old age, of sorrow and death.
BEING AND BECOMING. SUBSTANCE AND CONFORMATION.
We have attempted to explain the several elements of the
line of causality : it remains for us, viewing it as a whole,^ to
point out what view of the structure of being, if the ｅxpression
be admissible, what answer to the question : what it amounts to,
and what is implied by, anything being stated to be, is given in
the formula itself and in the elsewhere-occurring utterances
connected therewith in the Buddhist texts. First of all, how
ever, we must here insert a proviso : we have only to deal wit
that which in this material transient realm of things, in which
we live, constitutes being. The question whether there
for Buddhism, beyond this form of being, another realn
of life, existing under peculiar laws, whether there is beyond
the temporal an everlasting, cannot yet be grappled.
As a suitable starting-point for our inquiry there is a
24:8 BEING AND BECOMING SUBSTANCE AND CONFORMATION.
discourse put into Buddha s mouth in sacred tradition,
concerning the reflections by which a monk striving for
deliverance is led to dissociation from joy and pain. It is
therein recorded :
"In this monk, disciples, who thus guards himself and
rules his consciousness, who is immovably intent thereon in
holy effort and is steadfast in self-culture, there arises a
sensation of pleasure. Then he knows as follows : In me
has arisen this pleasurable sensation ; this has arisen from a
cause, not without a cause. Where lies this cause ? It lies
in this body of mine. But this body of mine is impermanent,
has become (or, been formed), been produced by causes. A
pleasurable sensation, the cause of which lies in the imper
manent, originated, cause-produced body, how can it be
permanent ? Thus, as well with regard to the body as
to the pleasurable sensation, he commits himself to the
contemplation of imperinanence, transitoriness, evanition,
renunciation, cessation, resignation. While he commits
himself to the contemplation of impermanence, etc., as well
with regard to the body as to the pleasurable sensation, he
desists from all yearning propensity based on the body and
on pleasurable sensation."
He who is not repelled by the tedious minuteness of this
discursive style, will here find a view very important for the
thought- fabric of Buddhism: the association of the imper
manent and transitory with that which is produced by an
operation of causality. Causality, or, to translate more
accurately the Indian word (paticcasamuppada), the origin (of
one thing) in dependence (from another thing), represents a
* " Samyuttaka Nikaya," vol. ii, fol. jhu of the Pliayre MS.
f Later on follows an exactly identical soliloquy regarding painful
sensations, and sensations which are neither pleasurable nor painful.
CAUSALITY BEING AND NON-BEING. 24:9
relation existing between two members, of which the one, and
because of it necessarily the other, is at no moment unaltered.
There is no being subject to the law of causality, that does not
resolve itself, when analyzed, into a process of self -changing,
of becoming. In the continuous oscillation, ruled by the
natural law of causality, between being and not-being, consists
alone the reality of the things which make up the contents of
this world. " This world, Kaccana," as we read,* generally
proceeds on a duality, on the * it is and the ( it is not/ But,
Kaccana, whoever perceives in truth and wisdom how things
originate in the world, in his eyes there is no it is not in this
world. Whoever, Kaccana, perceives in truth and wisdom how
things pass away in this world, in his eyes there is no it is in
this world. . . Sorrow alone arises where anything arises ;
sorrow passes away where anything passes away. Everything
is/ this is the one extreme, Kaccana. Everything is not/
this is the other extreme. The Perfect one, Kaccana,
remaining far from both these extremes, proclaims the truth in
the middle: From ignorance come conformations " and here
follows the wording of the formula of causality. The world is
the world s process, the formula of causality is the ｅxpression
of this process of the world, or at least of that side of the
process with which alone man, bound in sorrow and seeking
deliverance, has anything to do. The conviction of an absolute
law, which rules the world s process expressed in this formula,
deserves to be set out in bold relief as one of the most essential
elements of the body of Buddhist thought.f
* " Samyuttaka Nikaya," vol. i, fol. dhi.
t In another department, as may here be incidentally remarked, there
is evinced this same thoroughly rationalistic mode of thought of Buddhism
in its interesting attempts to explain on the principle of cause and ^con
sequence, the origin of the state and classes (Aggannasutta, Digha Kikaya) .
Of a primeval difference of castes, rooted in mystic depths, as Brahmanism
250 BEING AND BE COMING -SUBSTANCE AND CONFORMATION.
Things or substances, in the sense of a something existing
by itself, as we are accustomed to understand these words,
cannot, according to all we have stated, be at all thought of by
Buddhism. As the most general ｅxpression for those things,
the mutual relation of which the formula of causality explains,
the being of which, one might almost say, is their standing in
that mutual relation, the language of the Buddhists has two
terms : Dhamma* and Sankhara : we may give an approximate
rendering of them by " order " and " formation " (p. 247).
Both designations are really synonymous; both include the
idea that, not so much something ordered, a something formed,
as rather a self-ordering, a self-forming, constitutes the subject-
matter of the world ; with both there is inseparably associated
in the feeling of the Buddhist the thought that every order
must give place to another order, and every formation to
another formation. Bodily as well as spiritual evolutions, all
sensations, all perceptions, all conditions, everything that is,
i.e.) all that passes, is a Dhamma, a Sankhara. While older
speculation had confined all being to the Atman, the great
unchangeable {{ I, 33 it was now laid down as a fundamental
regarded it, we do not now speak. In old times beings possessed the
rice, on which they lived, in common. Later on they divided it among
them. one being encroached on the share of another. The others at first
punished the evil-doer on their own responsibility. Then they resolved :
" We desire to appoint one being, who shall reprimand for us him who
deserves reprimand, censure him who deserves censure, banish him
who deserves banishment ; therefore we desire to give him a share of our
rice." Thus was the first king chosen on earth. The origin of the
priestly class is described in similar fashion.
* The word Dhamma (Sansk. dharma, in the oldest form dharman),
" order, law," usually signifies in- Buddhist terminology " essence, idea,"
in so far as the essence of anything constitutes its own immanent law.
Thus the word is also used as the most general designation of the doctrine
or truth preached by Buddha.
DHAMMA SANKHARA. 251
proposition : all Dhammas are " iiot-I "* (an-atta, Sansk.
an-atman) ;t they are all transitory. Time after time the
words uttered by the god Indra when Buddha entered Nirvana
recur in the sacred texts : " Impermanent truly are the Sank
haras, liable to origination and decease ; as they arose so they
pass awayj their disappearance is happiness."
Some have expressed the difference between the Brahman
and the Buddhist conceptions of the existence of things, as
if, of the component parts which together form the idea of
becoming (being and not-being), the former had laid hold of
the idea of being only, and the latter of non-being only. We
prefer to avoid every ｅxpression which would make Buddhism
regard non-being as the true substance of things, and to
express ourselves thus. The speculation of the Brahmaiis
apprehended being in all becoming, that of the Buddhists
becoming in all apparent being. In the former case substance
without causality, in the latter causality without substance.
Where the sources lie, from which this causality derives its
sanction and its power, Buddhism does not ask. It is as little
* JSM5. It is not said, " there is no ego," but merely : " the Dhammas
i.e., all things which go to make up the contents of this world are
non-ego."
f Verses 277-279 of the "Dhammapada " are very significant as the most
general ｅxpression of these propositions. In them at the same time the
synonymousness of Dliamma and Sankhara is characteristically evidenced.
In the two first of these three exactly similarly constructed verses mention
is made of the Sankhara ; in the third verse, where a syllable must be
curtailed for metrical reasons, Pnamma is used instead of Sankhara :
" All Sankharas are impermanent : when he perceives this in truth, he
turns from sorrow ; this is the path of purity.
" All Sankharas are full of sorrow : when he perceives this in truth, he
turns from sorrow ; this is the path of purity.
" All Dhammas are non-ego : when he perceives this in truth, he turns
from sorrow ; this is the path of purity."
252 THE SOUL.
concerned whether the world was created by a god, or whether
it was evolved by an absolute substance or by a creative natural
sub-stratum out of its own interior. He accepts its presence
and the working of the law of the world as facts. Should any
one wish to express, though by no means in full accord with
Buddhist habits of thought, what is the absolute within this
domain of impermanence we should, perhaps, rather say the
most absolute he might name as such the controlling law of
the universe, that of causality. Where there is no being, but
only becoming, it is not a substance, but only a law, which can
be recognized as the first and the last.
A beginning of time from which the working of this law takes
effect, and a limit of space, which encloses the world in which
it operates, cannot be discovered. Is there in fact no such
limit ? " This has the Exalted one not revealed." " dis
ciples, think not such thoughts as the world thinks : ( The
world is everlasting, or the world is not everlasting. The
world is finite, or the world is not finite/ . . . If ye think,
disciples, thus think ye : c This is suffering ; thus think ye :
This is the origin of suffering ; thus think ye : This is the
extinction of suffering ; thus think ye : This is the path to
the extinction of suffering/ "*
THE SOUL.
It is only now, in this connection, that we are in a position
to thoroughly understand a much-talked-of dogma of Buddhism :
the negation of soul.
It is not incorrect to say that Buddhism disaffirms the
existence of soul, but this cannot be understood in a sense
* " Samyutta N.," vol. iii, fol. kya.
TEE SOUL. 253
which would in any way give this thought a materialistic
stamp. It might be said with equal propriety that Buddhism
denies the existence of the body. The body, as well as the
soul, exists only as a complex of manifold inter-connected
origination and decease; but neither body nor soul has^
existence as a self-contained substance, sustaining itself per
se. Sensations, perceptions, and all those processes which
make up the inner life, crowd upon one another in motley
variety; in the centre of this changing plurality stands
consciousness (vimlana), which, if the body be compared to
a state, may be spoken of as the ruler of this state.* But
consciousness is not essentially different from perceptions and
sensations, the comings and goings of which it at the same
time superintends and regulates : it is also a Sankhara," and *
like all other Sankharas it is changeable and without substance.
We must here divest ourselves wholly of all customary modes
of thinking. We are accustomed to realize our inner life as
a comprehensible factor, only when we~are allowed to refer its
changing ingredients, every individual feeling, every distinct
act of the will, to one and an ever identical ego, but this mode
of thinking is fundamentally opposed to Buddhism. Here as
everywhere it condemns that fixity which we are prone to give
to the current of incidents that come and go by conceiving
a substance, to or in which they might happen. A seeing,
a hearing, a conceiving, above all a suffering, takes place : but
* "Samyutta Nikaya," vol. ii, fol. jo; " Milindapaiiha," p. 62.
Compare also the following passage, often repeated in the sacred texts
(e.g. in the " Samafinaphala Sutta") : " This is my body, the material, framed
out of the four elements, begotten by my father and mother . . . , but
that is my consciousness, which clings firmly thereto, is joined to it. Like
a precious stone, beautiful and valuable, octahedral, well polished, clear
and pure, adorned with all perfection, to which a string is attached, blue
or yellow, red or white, or a yellowish band," &c.
254: THE SOUL.
an existence, which may be regarded as the seer, the hearer,
the sufferer, is not recognized in Buddhist teaching.
It may be allowable in this place to go beyond the range of
the sacred texts, and here insert those very clear ｅxpressions
which we find on this group of problems in a later and in many
respects exceedingly remarkable dialogue, the " Questions of
Milinda." In the centuries which followed Alexander s
invasion of India, which was so highly important an event in
Indian history in those times, the traces of which meet our
eyes in the Greek coins struck in India, and the half-Hellenic
figures of ancient Buddhist reliefs there cannot but have
been in the Indus territory meetings of argumentative Greeks
with Indian monks and dialecticians, and Buddhist literature
has preserved one record of such encounters in that dialogue,
which bears the name of the Yavana king Milinda, that is, the
Ionian or Greek prince Menander (ca. 100 B.C.).
King Milinda* says to the great saint Nagasena: "How
art thou known, venerable sire ; what is thy name, sire ? "
The saint replies: "I am named Nagasena, great king;
but Nagasena, great king, is only a name, an appellation,
a designation, an epithet, a mere word; here there is no
subject."
Then said the king Milinda : Well to be sure ! let only
the five hundred Yavanas and the eighty thousand monks
hear it: this Nagasena says: Here there is no subject/
Can anyone assent to this ? "
And king Milinda went on to say to the venerable Nagasena :
"If, O venerable Nagasena, there is no subject, who is it
then that provides you with what you need, clothes and food,
lodging and medicine for the sick ? Who is it that enjoys all
* " Milmdapaiiha," p. 25 seq. I take the liberty of omitting a few
unnecessary repetitions in my translation.
THE SOUL. 255
these things ? Who walks in virtues ? Who expends labour
upon himself ? Who attains the path and the fruits of holiness ?
Who attains Nirvana ? Who kills ? Who steals ? Who walks
in pleasures ? Who deceives ? Who drinks ? Who commits
the five deadly sins ? Thus there is then no good and no evil ;
there is no doer and no originator of good and evil actions ;
good action and evil action bring no reward and bear no fruit.
If anyone were to kill thee, venerable Nagasena, even he
would commit no murder.
f Sire, are the hairs Nagasena ? "
" No, great king."
" Are nails or teeth, skin or flesh or bone Nagasena ? "
" No, great king."
" Is the bodily form Nagasena, sire ? "
" No, great king.-"
" Are the sensations Nagasena ? "
"No, great king/
" Are the perceptions, the conformations, the consciousness
Nagasena ? "
" No, great king."
" Or, sire, the combination of corporeal form, sensations,
perceptions, conformations, and consciousness, is this Naga
sena ? "
" No, great king."
" Or, sire, apart from the corporeal form, and the sensations,
the perceptions, conformations, and consciousness, is there
a Nagasena ? "
" No, great king."
" Wherever I look then, sire, I nowhere find a Nagasena.
A mere word, sire, is Nagasena. What is Nagasena then?
Thou speakest false then, sire, and thou liest; there is no
Nagasena."
256 THE SOUL.
Then spoke the venerable Nagasena to king Milinda thus :
" Thou art accustomed, great king, to all the comfort of a
princely life, to the greatest comfort. If then, great king,
thou goest out on foot at midday on the hot earth, on the
burning sand, and treadest on the sharp stones, gravel, and
sand, thy feet are hurt ; thy body is fatigued, thy mind upset ;
there arises a consciousness of a bodily condition associated
with dislike. Hast thou come on foot or on a chariot ? "
"I do not travel on foot, sire : I have come on a chariot."
" If thou hast come on a chariot, great king, then define the
chariot. Is the pole the chariot, great king ? "
And now the saint turns the same course of reasoning
against the king which the king himself had used against him.
Neither the pole, nor the wheels, nor the body, nor the yoke is
the chariot. The chariot, moreover, is not the combination of
all these component parts, or anything else beyond them.
" Wherever I look then, great king, I nowhere find the
chariot. A mere word, king, is the chariot. What then is
the chariot ? Thou speakest false then, king, and thou liest ;
there is no chariot. Thou art, great king, suzerain of all
India. Of whom, therefore, hast thou any dread, that thou
speakest untruth? Well to be sure! let the five hundred
Yavanas and the eighty thousand monks hear it. This king
Milinda has said : I have come here in a chariot/ Then I
said, f lf thou hast come on a chariot, great king, then
explain the chariot ? And he could not point out the chariot.
Can anyone assent to this ?"
When he spoke thus, the five hundred Yavanas shouted
approval of the venerable Nagasena and said to king ^Milinda :
" Now, great king, speak, if thou canst."
But king Milinda said to the venerable Nagasena :
" I do not speak untruly, venerable Nagasena. In reference
THE SOUL. 257
to polo, axle, wheels, body and bar, the name, the appellation,
the designation, the epithet, the word chariot is used."
" Grood indeed, great king, thou knowest the chariot. And
in the same way, king, in reference to my hair, my skin and
bones, to corporeal form, sensations, perceptions, conforma
tions, and consciousness, the word Nagasena is used : but here
subject, in the strict sense of the word, there is none. Thus
also, great king, has the nun Yajira explained in the presence
of the Exalted one (Buddha) :
" As in the case where the parts of a chariot come together
the word chariot is used, so also where the five groups* are,
there is a person ; that is the common notion/
" Well done, venerable Nagasena ! wonderful, Nagasena !
Many questionings indeed arose in my mind and thou hast
resolved them. If Buddha were alive, he would applaud thee.
Bravo ! bravo ! Nagasena ; many questionings arose in my
mind and thou hast resolved them."
We have selected for quotation this passage of the " Ques
tions of Milinda," because it controverts the idea of a soul-
substance more fully and clearly than is done in the canonical
texts. But the old texts themselves virtually rest on the same
ground and the dialogue does not omit to authenticate it, by
expressly quoting the canonical books. Although the " Milinda-
panha" was written apparently in the north-west of the Indian
peninsula, and the sacred texts lie before us in the form in
which they were preserved, and still are preserved, in the
cloisters of Ceylon, nevertheless the words of the nun Vajira
quoted in the dialogue are actually to be found in these texts.
* The five groups of the elements, which make up the being of any one
that exists : material form, sensations, perceptions, conformations, con
sciousness.
17
258 THE SOUL.
I have succeeded in finding them there,* and the connection in
which they occur is a guarantee that the conversation of the
saint Nagasena and the Greek king Menander truly reflects the
old Church teaching on the subject. Mara, the tempter, who
seeks to confuse men by error and heresy, appears before a
nun and says to her : " Thou art that by which personality is
constituted, the creator of the person ; the person that has an
origin, that thou art; thou art the person that passes away/
She answers : " What meanest thou, Mara, that there is a
person ? False is thy teaching. This is only a heap of
changeful conformations (Sankhara) ; here there is not a person.
As in the case where the parts of a chariot come together the
word chariot is used, so also where the five groups are, there
is a person ; that is the common notion. Pain alone it is that
comes, pain that exists and that passes away; nothing else
but pain arises, nothing else but pain vanishes again."
Thought has smitten down the stony, unvarying entity of
Brahmanism ; here it realizes in full consciousness the ultimate
consequences of its act : if it is the absolutely restless move
ment of things which creates suffering, it cannot be said any
more, " I suffer, thou sufferest ; " there is left alone the
certainty that, there is suffering, or better still, that suffering
keeps on coming and going. For the stream of Sankharas
appearing and again vanishing admits no " I " and no " thou/
but only a phenomenon of the " I " and thou/ which the many
in their hallucination address with an appellation of personality .f
* In the Bhikkhuni Samyutta, " Samy. Nik." vol. i, fol. ghai -gho.
t The difficulty of bringing this doctrine [of the non-existence of a
subject in the complex of the body-cum- spirit attributes of man into
harmony with the doctrine of moral retribution of our actions, has been
keenly felt. " If material form be not the ego, if sensations, perceptions,
formations, consciousness be not the ego, what ego is there to be affected
THE SOUL. 259
Imagination, which in the service of inquiring thought seeks
for types and symbols of formless ideas in the form-world of
nature, has at all times when its object was to represent a being,
the characteristic of which is movement, chosen with decided
preference two images : the flowing stream of water and the
self -consuming flame. In the dark sayings of Buddha s great
contemporary, Heraklitos, who in his theory of the being of
beings more nearly approaches Buddha than does any other
Greek thinker, both comparisons are constantly recurring in
the foreground : " Everything flows on ; " the universe is " an
ever-living fire." The figurative language of Buddhism also
employs both the stream and the flame as symbols of the
restless movement involved in every state of being. But in
this the Buddhist figure differs from that of the Ephesian, that
Buddhism, ignoring every metaphysical interest which has not
its root in an ethical interest, does not in ifis view of the water
and the flame contemplate the mere movement, the bare
becoming only, but above all the to-human-life-so-momentous
and destructive power of this movement, this becoming.
There are four great currents which break in with destructive
force upon the human world : the stream of desire, the stream
of being, the stream of error, the stream of ignorance. " The
by the work, which the non-ego now performs ?" Thus a monk asks.
Buddha answers the question : " With thy thoughts, which are under the
dominion of desire, dost thou dream tliou canst overhaul the teaching of
the Master " (" Samyutta Nikaya," vol. i, fol. du). In fact Buddhism does
not allow itself to be confused by metaphysical questions as to the
identity of the subject, in its belief that the reward and punishment of
our actions overtakes us. If in our present state of being this or that
happens to us, it is a result of the fact, that we have done this or that
in a previous existence : in this simple belief, universally comprehensible,
this idea is firmly kept in view, heedless of theoretical difficulties, that
he who performs an evil action, and he who suffers the punishment
thereof, are one and the same person.
17*
260 THE SOUL.
sea, the sea : thus, disciples, saith a child of this world, who
hath not received the Doctrine. But this, disciples, is not
that which is called the sea in the Doctrine of the Holy one ;
this is only a great mass of water, a great flood of water. The
eye of man, disciples, is the sea ; things visible are the foam
of this sea. He who hath overcome the foaming billows of
visible things, of him, disciples, it is said : That is a
Brahman who hath in his inner man outridden the sea of the
eye, with its waves and whirlpools, with its depths profound
and its prodigies ; he hath reached the shore ; he stands on
firm earth." (The same follows regarding the sea of hearing
and the other senses.) " Thus spake the Exalted one ; when
the Perfect one had thus spoken, the Master went on to say :
" If thou this sea with its abyss of waters,
Pull of waves, full of deeps, full of monsters,
Hast crossed, wisdom and holiness are thy portion ;
The land hast thou, the goal of the universe hast thou reached. "*
But no other picture was so perfectly adapted for Buddhism
to express the nature of being as the figure of flame, which,
remaining in apparently restful invariability, is yet only a
continuous self-production and self-consumption, and in which
at the same time is embodied, with a still more impressive
reality for the Indians than for us, the tormenting power of
heat, the enemy of blissful coolness, the enemy of happiness
and peace. " As, where there is heat, coolness is also found,
so also where there is the threefold fire the fire of love, hate
and infatuation the extinction of the fire (Nirvana) must be
sought. "f " Everything, disciples, is in flames. And what
Everything is in flames ? The eye is in flames, and so on.
By what fire is it kindled ? By the fire of desire, by the fire of
V
* " Samyutta Nikaya," vol. ii, fol. chi. f " Buddhavamsa."
THE SOUL. 261
hate, by the fire of fascination, it is kindled ; by birth, old age,
death, pain, lamentation, sorrow, grief, despair, it is kindled :
thus I say. ;:> * " The whole world is in flames ; the whole
world is wrapped in smoke, the whole world is wasted by fire ;
the whole world quakes/ t
But to us in this connection more important than the
employment of the metaphor of fire, from an ethical point of
view, is its introduction to illustrate the metaphysical nature
of being as of a continuous process. It is reserved to later
texts to work up this metaphor to perfect clearness ; but it
already exists in the sacred writings, although we feel how
thought has here to struggle with ｅxpression. Beings
resemble a flame ; their state of being, their becoming
re-born is a flaming cleaving of self, a feeding, of self upon
the fuel which the world of impernianence supplies. As the
flame, clinging to the wind, borne by the wind, inflames even
distant things, so the flame-like existence of beings, presses
on in the moment of re-birth into far distances; here the
being puts off the old bod}^, there it clothes itself with a new
body. As the wind carries on the flame, so the thirst which
clings to being carries on the soul from one existence to
another. J
In the previously quoted dialogue " The Questions of
Milinda,"|| the conversation turns upon the problem of the
identity or non-identity of the being in his several existences.
The saint Nagasena says : it is not the same being and yet
they are not separate beings which relieve one another in the
* " Mahavagga," i, 21, vide supra, p. 182, seq.
f " Samyutta Nikaya," vol. i, fol. ghai.
J Cf. the above (p. 234) quoted dialogue of Buddha and 1
Vaccha.
II P. 40.
262 THE SOUL.
series of existences. "Give an illustration," says king
Miliiida. "If a man were to light a light, great king,
would it not burn on through the night?" "Yes, sire, it
would burn through the night." " How then, great king,
is the flame in the first watch of the night identical with the
flame in the midnight watch ?" " No, sire." " And the flame
in the midnight watch, is it identical with the flame in the last
watch of the night ?" -"No, sire." " But how then, great
king, was the light in the first watch of the night another,
in the midnight watch another, and in the last watch of the
night another ? " " No, sire, it has burned all night long
feeding on the same fuel." " So also, great king, the
chain of elements of being (Dhamrna) completes itself: the on&
comes, the other goes. Without beginning, without end,
the circle completes itself : therefore it is neither the same
being nor another being, which presents itself last to the
consciousness."
Being is, we may say, the procession regulated by the
law of causality of continuous being at every moment self-
consuming and anew begetting. What we term a souled
being, is one individual member in the line of this procession,
one flame in this sea of flame. As in consuming the flame is
always seeking fresh fuel for itself, so also this continuity
of perception, sensation, action and suffering, which seems to
the deluded gaze, deceived by the appearance of unbroken
invariability, to be a being, a . subject, maintains itself in
the general influx and evanescence of ever fresh elements
from the domain of the objective world.
CAU8ALIT7 AND ITS CESSATION. 263
THE SAINT THE EGO THE NIRVANA.
Sitting under the tree of knowledge Buddha says to him
self : " Difficult will it be for men to grasp the law of
causality, the chain of causes and effects. And this also will
be very hard for them to grasp, the coming of all conformations
to an end, the loosening from everything earthly, the
extinction of desire, the cessation of longing, the end, the
Nirvana/ These words divide the circle, which Buddhist
thought describes, into its two natural halves. on the one
side the earthly world, ruled by the law of causality. on
the other side is it the eternal ? Is it the Nothing ? We
may doubt. We know this much only to begin with, that it
is the domain over which the law of causality has no power.
Our sketch will follow this clearly indicated division.
From the flames of becoming, decease, and suffering, the
believer, he who has knowledge, saves himself in the world
of "extinction" (Nirvana), in the cool quiet of everlasting
peace. He overcomes ignorance and thereby sets himself
free from the painful fruits which are bound up with it
through the natural necessity of the law of causality. He
knows the four sacred truths, and " while he thus knows
and apprehends, his soul is freed from the calamity of desire,
freed from the calamity of becoming, freed from the calamity
of error, freed from the calamity of ignorance. In the
delivered there arises the knowledge of his deliverance
ended is re-birth, fulfilled the law, duty done, there is no
more any returning to this world : this he knows."
Buddha s disciple hopes to attain this happiness not merely
in the hereafter. He who has conquered ignorance and got
rid of desire enjoys the supreme reward already in this life.
26i 1HE SAINT TEE EGO THE NIRVANA.
His outer man may still be detained in the world of suffering ;
lie knows that it is not he himself whom the coming and
going of the Sankharas affects. Buddhist proverbial philo
sophy attributes in innumerable passages the possession 01
Nirvana to the saint, who still treads the earth :
" The disciple who has put off lust and desire, rich in wisdom,
has here on earth attained the deliverance from death, the rest,
the Nirvana, the eternal state."
" He who has escaped from the trackless, hard mazes of the
Sansara, who has crossed over and reached the shore, self-
absorbed, without stumbling and without doubt, who has
delivered himself from the earthly, and attained Nirvana, him
I call a true Brahman."*
It is not an anticipation in parlance, but it is the absolutely
exact ｅxpression of the dogmatic thought, when not merely
the hereafter, which awaits the emancipated saint, but the
perfection which he already attains in this life, is called the
Nirvana. What is to be extinguished has been extinguished,
the fire of lust, hatred, bewilderment. In unsubstantial dis
tance lie hope and fear; the will, the hugging of the halluci
nation of egoity is subdued, as a man throws aside the foolish
wishes of childhood. What matters it whether the transitory
state of being, the root of which is nipped, lay aside its
indifferent phenomenal life instantaneously or in after ages ?
If the saint will even now put an end to his state of
* " Suttasangaha," fol. cu ; " Dlianirnapada," 414. The prose texts
contain very numerous similar ｅxpressions. For instance, a Brahmanical
ascetic addresses to Sariputta this question : "Nirvana, nirvana, so they say,
friend Sariputta. But what is the Nirvana, friend ? " " Tlie subjugation
of desire, the subjugation of hatred, the subjugation of perplexity; this,
O friend, is called Nirvana." Thereon follows in the same way the
question: "Holiness, holiness (arahatta), so they say," &c. The answer
is word for word similar to the preceding (" Samy. Nik." ii, nam).
THE NIRVANA IN THIS LIFE. 2G5
"being lie can do so, but the majority stand fast until nature
has reached her goal : of such may those words be said which
are put in the mouth of the most prominent of Buddha s
disciples : I long not for death, I long not for life ; I wait till
mine hour come, like a servant who awaiteth his reward. I
long not for death, .1 long not for life ; I wait till mine hour
come, alert and with watchful mind."*
If we are to indicate the precise point at which the goal is
reached for the Buddhist, we must not look to the entry of the
dying Perfect one into the range of the everlasting be this
either everlasting being or everlasting nothing but to that
moment of his earthly life, when he has attained the status of
sinlessness and painlessness ; this is the true Nirvana. If the
Buddhist faith really make the saint s state of being disembody
itself into nothingness we shall come directly to the question
whether it does so still entry into nothingness for nothingness
sake is not at all the object of aspiration which has been
set before the Buddhist. The goal to which he pressed was,
we must constantly repeat this, solely deliverance from the
sorrowful world of origination and decease. Religious
aspiration did not purposely and expressly demand that this
deliverance should transport to nothingness, but when this
was taught at all ｅxpression was merely given thereby to the
indifferent, accidental consequences of metaphysical reflections,
which prevent the assumption of an everlasting, immutable,
happy existence. In the religious life, in the tone which
prevailed in the ancient Buddhist order, the thought of
annihilation has had no influence. " As the great sea,
disciples, is permeated by but one taste, the taste of salt, so
also, disciples, this Doctrine and this Law are pervaded by
but one taste, the taste of deliverance."
* " Milindapaiiha," p. 45, cf. Therag. fol. ko.
266 THE SAINTTHE EGO THE NIRVANA.
Our speculations must not seek to discover what is the
essence of a faith; we must permit the adherents of each
faith themselves to determine this, and it is for historical
inquiry to point out how they have defined it. If any one
describes Buddhism as a religion of annihilation, and attempts
to develope it therefrom as from its specific germ, he has, in
fact, succeeded in wholly missing the main drift of Buddha and
the ancient order of his disciples.
Has the saint attained the goal of his earthly life, then is true
of him what an old text says of Buddha :* " The body of the
Perfect one, disciples, subsists, cut off from the stream of
becoming. As long as his body subsists, so long will gods
and men see him ; if his body be dissolved, his life run out,
gods and men shall no more behold him." While in the case
of beings who are committed to the path of metempsychosis,
consciousness (vifiiiana), escaping from the dying, becomes the
germ of a new state of being, the consciousness of the dying
saint is extinguished without residuum. "Dissolved is the
body/ says Buddha, when one of the disciples has entered
into Nirvana, " extinct is perception; the sensations have all
vanished away. The conformations have found their repose : the
consciousness has sunk to its rest.^-j-
When the venerable Godhika has brought about his own
death by opening a vein, the disciples see a dark cloud of
smoke moving to and fro on all sides round his corpse. They
ask Buddha what the smoke means. " That is Mara, the
wicked one, disciples/ says Buddha : " he is looking for
the noble Godhika s consciousness : f where has the noble
Godhika s consciousness found its place ? But the noble
* " Brahmajalasutta " (at the end),
f " Udana" (Phayre MS.), fol. mi.
THE SAINTS DEATH. 267
Godhika has entered into Nirvana ; his consciousness nowhere
remains."*
Does this end of the earthly existence imply at the same
time the total cessation of being ? Is it the Nothing which
receives the dying Perfect one into its dominion ?
Step by step we have prepared the ground so as now to be
able to face this question.
Some have thought to find the answer to this question con
tained in the word Nirvana itself, i.e., " Extinction." It seemed
the most obvious construction that extinction is an extinction
of being in the Nothing. But doubts were soon expressed as
to the propriety of so summary a disposal of this question. It
was quite allowable to speak of an extinction in the case and
the term was most incontrovertibly used by the Indians in the
case where being was not annihilated, but where it, freed
from the glowing heat of suffering, had found the path to the
cool repose of painless happiness.t Max Mliller has above all
others maintained with warm eloquence the notion of Nirvana
as the completion but not as an extinction of being. J His
position is, that although later Buddhist metaphysicians have
* " Samyutta Nikaya," vol. i, fol. gM . The story is also narrated in
the commentary to the " Dhammapada," p. 255.
f How universally in the language of that age the word Nirvana
denoted the summum lonum, without any reference to the close^ of
existence, is clearly shown by the following passage, in which the view
considering earthly enjoyments as the highest good is spoken of: " There
are, O disciples, many Samanas and Brahmans, who thus teach and thus
believe : If the ego moves, gifted and endowed with the pleasure of all
the five senses, then has this ego, tarrying in the visible world, attained
the highest Nirvana." Brahmajdlasutta.
J Introduction to Rogers, " Buddhaghosha s Parables," p. xxxix, seq.
268 THE SAINT THE EGO THE NIRVANA.
undoubtedly regarded the Nothing as the supreme object of all
effort, yet the original teaching of Buddha and the ancient
order of his disciples was different : for them the Nirvana was
nothing more than the entry of the spirit upon its rest, an
eternal beatitude, which is as highly exalted above the joys, as
it is above the sorrow of the transitory world. Would not,
asks Max Miiller, a religion, which lands us at last in the
Nothing, cease to be a religion ? It would no longer be what
every religion ought to be and purports to be, a bridge from the
temporal to the eternal, but it would be a delusive gangway,
which suddenly breaks off and shoots a man, just when he
fancies he has reached the goal of the eternal, into the abyss of
annihilation.
We cannot follow the famous inquirer, when he attempts
to trace the limits between the possible and the impossible in
the developement of religion. In the sultry, dreamy stillness
of India, thoughts spring and grow, every surmise and every
sensation grows, otherwise than in the cool air of the west.
Perhaps what is here beyond comprehension may there be
comprehensible, and if we reach a point which is to us a limit
of the comprehensible, we shall permit much to pass and stand
as incomprehensible, and await the future, which may bring us
nearer the solution of the enigma.
Max Miiller s researches, which could under the then circum
stances of the case be based on only a portion of the authentic
texts bearing on this branch of the subject, did not fail to
attract the attention of native literati in Ceylon, the country
which has preserved to the present day Buddhist temperament
and knowledge in its purest form. And by the joint labours
of eminent Singhalese students of Buddhist literature, such
as the late James d Alwis, and European inquirers, among
whom we may mention especially Childers, Rhys Davids, and
HAPPINESS OR ANNIHILATION. 2GO
Trenckner, literary materials for the elucidation of the dogma
of Nirv&na have been amply unearthed and ably treated.
I have endeavoured to complete the collections, for which
we have to thank these learned scholars, in that I have
submitted all the testimony of the sacred Pali canon, that
contained in the discourses of Buddha as well as that in the
writings upon the rights of the Order, to a detailed examina
tion, so that I believe I am in a position to hope that no
essential ｅxpression of the ancient dogmatics and doctrinal
poets has been omitted.* Before I undertook this task, it
was my conviction that there is in the ancient Buddhist litera
ture no passage which directly decides the alternative whether
the Nirvana is eternal felicity or annihilation. So much the
greater therefore was my surprise, when in the course of
these researches I lit not upon one passage, but upon very
numerous passages, which speak as expressly as possible
upon the point, regarding which the controversy is waged,
and determine it with a clearness which leaves nothing to be
desired. And it was no less a cause of astonishment to me
when I found that in that alternative, which appeared to have
been laid down with all possible cogency, viz., that the Nirvana
must have been understood in the ancient Order to be either
the Nothing or a supreme felicity, there was finally neither on
the one side nor on the other perfect accuracy.
We shall now endeavour to state the question as it must
have presented itself to Buddhist dogmatic on its own premises,
and then the answer which the question has received.
A doctrine which contemplates a future of eternal perfection
behind transitory being, cannot possibly admit of the kingdom
* In Excursus iii, further quotations are given from the materials
here mentioned, and the dogmatic terminology is discussed in detail at
greater length than appeared expedient in this place.
270 THE SAINT THE EGO THE NIRVANA.
of the eternal first beginning only at the point where the
world of the transient ends, cannot conjure it up immediately,
as it were out of the Nothing. In the kingdom of the transient
itself there must be contained, veiled perhaps like a latent
germ, but still present, an element which bears in itself the
pledge of everlasting being stretching out beyond origination
and decease. It is possible that, where the claims of strict
dialectic sequence are opposed by motives of another kind,
thought pauses before accepting this so obvious conclusion;
but it is important before we examine these deviations from the
logical consequence, which we may possibly expect to find, to
obtain a view of the form in which the logical consequence
mast have presented itself to Buddhist thought.
The finite world appears in the dogmatic of Buddhism to rest
wholly upon itself. Whatever we see, whatever we hear, our
senses as well as the objects which are presented to them,
everything is drawn within the cycle of origination and decease;
everything is only a Dhamma, a Sankhara, and all Dhammas,
all Sankharas are transitory. "Whence this cycle ? No matter
whence; it is there from a past beyond ken. The existence
of the conditional is accepted as a given fact ; thought shrinks
from going back to the unconditional.
This is specially evident in the question as to the soul, the
personality. This is only a heap of Sankharas ; here there is
not a person " (p. 258).
We see : the finite world bears in itself no traces which
point to its connection with a world of the eternal. How could
it possibly be otherwise ? Where the opposition of the
transient and eternal is carried to the point which Indian
thought has here reached, there can in fact be no union
conceived between the two extremes. Had the eternal any
share whatsoever in the occurrences of the world of the
HAPPINESS OR ANNIHILATION. 271
changeable, a shadow of the changeable would fall on its own
unchangeability. The conditional can only be thought of as
conditioned through another conditional. If we follow the
dialectic consequence solely, it is impossible on the basis of
this theory of life to conceive how, where a series of conditions
has run out, annihilating itself, anything else is to be recog
nized as remaining but a vacuum.
This is the consequence. Does Buddhism actually admit
this?
We must here insert a few remarks upon the standard
technical terms, which our texts are wont to use in dealing
with these questions.
The word which we have translated " Person " (Satta) in the
passages quoted, is not the precise technical term which the
Brahmanical speculation, discussed by us at an earlier stage,
had coined as the most exact and special ｅxpression for the
eternal in man : Atman, " the self/ c( the ego." The Buddhist
texts deal with the Atman (in Pali : Atta) also. If the demands
of dialectic alone be regarded, it cannot be understood how the
question regarding the "ego" was to be answered otherwise
than the question as to the (( person " it seems clear enough
that both words are only different names for the same idea, and
that he who denies the existence of the " person," cannot
maintain the existence of the " ego " or even admit it possible.
Beside the ｅxpression Atman (atta) we place another, of
which the same may be said, the name Tathagata, " the Perfect
one." Buddha is in the habit of calling himself Tathagata in
his Buddhahood (p. 126). If a question be raised as to the
essentiality and everlasting continuance of the Tathagata, this
is altogether parallel to the question regarding the essentiality
and continuance of the ego ; if there be an ego, the sacred
perfect personality of the Tathagata must undoubtedly be the
272 , THE SAINT THE EGO THE NIRVANA.
ego, which deserves this name in the highest sense, which bears
in itself the greatest claim to everlasting being. But as we
might expect, with the lot of the person " (satta) the lot of
the Tathagata, as well as that of the ego (atta), is cast.
Let us see whether the ｅxpressions of the Buddhist texts are
in accordance with this view.
"Then the wandering monk* Yacchagotta went to where
the Exalted one was staying. "When he had come near him,
he saluted him. When, saluting him, he had interchanged
friendly words with him, he sat down beside him. Sitting
beside him the wandering monk Yacchagotta spake to the
Exalted one, saying : " How does the matter stand, venerable
Gotama, is there the ego (atta) ?"
When he said this, the Exalted one was silent.
" How then, venerable Gotama, is there not the ego ?"
And still the Exalted one maintained silence. Then the
wandering monk Yacchagotta rose from his seat and went
away.
But the venerable Ananda, when the wandering monk
Yacchagotta had gone to a distance, soon said to the Exalted
one : " wherefore, sire, has the Exalted one not given an
answer to the questions put by the wandering monk
Yacchagotta ?"
"If I, Ananda, when the wandering monk Yacchagotta
asked me : Is there the ego ? had answered : the ego is/
then that, Ananda, would have confirmed the doctrine of the
Samanas and Brahmanas who believe in permanence.f If I,
Ananda, when the wandering monk Yacchagotta asked me :
* A monk of a non-Buddhist sect. The dialogue here translated is
to be found in the " Samyuttaka Nikaya," vol. ii, fol. tan.
t " A few Samanas and Brahmanas, who believe in permanence, teach
that the eo-o and the world are permanent." Brahmajdlasutta.
THE EGO. 273
is there not the ego ? had answered : the ego is not/ then
that,, Ananda, would have confirmed the doctrine of the
Samanas and Brahmanas, who believe in annihilation.* If I
Ananda, when the wandering monk Vacchagotta asked me :
is there the ego ? had answered : the ego is/ would that have
served my end,, Ananda, by producing in him the knowledge :
all existences (dhamma) are non-ego ? "
" That it would not, sire."
te But if I, Ananda, when the wandering monk Vacchagotta
asked me : Is there not the ego ? had answered : The ego is
not/ then that, Ananda, would only have caused the wandering
monk Yacchagotta to be thrown from one bewilderment into
another : My ego, did it not exist before ? but now it exists
no longer V "
We see : the person who has framed this dialogue, has in
his thought very nearly approached the consequence, which
leads to the negation of the ego. It may almost be said,
that, though probably he did not wish to express this
consequence with overt consciousness, yet he has in fact
expressed it. If Buddha avoids the negation of the existence
of the ego, he does so in order not to shock a weak-minded
hearer. Through the shirking of the question as to the
existence or non-existence of the ego, is heard the answer,
to which the premises of the Buddhist teaching tended : The
ego is not. Or, what is equivalent : The Nirvana is
annihilation.
But we can well understand why these thinkers, who
.* " A few Samanas and Brahmans, who believe in annihilation, teach
that the person (satta) is, and that it undergoes annihilation, destruction,
and removal" (ibidem). It is meant, that the ego, even without being
purified from sins, undergoes no transmigration, but becomes extinct in
death.
18
274 THE SAINT THE EGO THE NIRVANA.
were in a position to realize this ultimate consequence and
to bear it, abandoned the erection of it as an official dogma
of the Buddhist order. There were enough, and more than
enough, of hopes and wishes, from which he who desired to
follow the Sakya s son, had to sever his heart. Why present
to the weak the keen edge of the truth : the victor s prize of
the delivered is the Nothing ? True, it is not permissible to
put falsehood in the place of truth, but it is allowable to
draw a well-meant veil over the picture of the truth, the sight
of which threatens the destruction of the unprepared. What
harm did it do ? That which was alone of intrinsic worth and
essential to excite the struggle for deliverance was maintained
in unimpaired force, the certainty that deliverance is to be
found only where joys and sorrows of this world have ceased.
Was the emancipation of him, who knew how to free himself
from everything transitory, not perfect enough ? Would it
become more perfect, if he were driven to acknowledge that
beside the transitory there is only the Nothing ?
Therefore the official teaching of the Church represented
that on the question, whether the ego is, whether the perfected
saint lives after death or not, the exalted Buddha has taught
nothing.*
From the texts, in which this shirking of the question is
inculcated, the following epitomized dialogue may be given. f
The venerable Malukya comes to the Master and expresses
his astonishment that the Master s discourse leaves a series of
* The first scholar, who has given the correct interpretation of a text
having an important bearing on this connection and has directed
attention to this disallowing of the question as to continuance in the
hereafter, is, as far as I know, V. Trenckner ("Milinda P." 424). I
am glad to find my independently formed conclusion confirmed by the
opinion of this able Danish scholar.
f " Cula-Malukya-Ovada " (Majjhima Nikaya).
DISALLOWING THE QUESTION AS TO THE ULTIMATE GOAL. 275
the very most important and deepest questions unanswered.
Is the world eternal or is it limited by bounds of time ? Does
the perfect Buddha (Tathagata) live on beyond death ? Does
the Perfect one not live on beyond death ? It pleases me not,
says that monk, that all this should remain unanswered, and I
do not think it right ; therefore I am come to the Master to
interrogate him about these doubts. May it please Buddha
to answer them if he can. "But when anyone does not
understand a matter and does not know it, then a straight
forward man says : I do not understand that, I do not know
that."
We see : the question of the Nirvana is brought before
Buddha by that monk as directly and definitely as could ever
be possible. And what answers Buddha? He says in his
Socratic fashion, not without a touch of irony :
" "What have I said to thee before now, Malukyaputta ?
Have I said : Come, Malukyaputta, and be my disciple ; I
shall teach thee, whether the world is everlasting or not
everlasting, whether the world is finite or infinite, whether
the vital faculty is identical with the body or separate from it,
whether the Perfect one lives on after death or does not live
OB, or whether the Perfect one lives on and at the same time
does not live on after death, or whether he neither lives on
nor does not live on ? "
" That thou hast not said, sire."
Or hast thou, Buddha goes on, said to me : I shall be thy
disciple, declare unto me, whether the world is everlasting or
not everlasting, and so on ?
This also must Malukya answer in the negative.
If a man, Buddha proceeds, were struck by a poisoned
arrow, and his friends and relatives called in a skilful
physician : what if the wounded man said : " I shall not
18*
276 THE SAINT THE EGO THE NIRVANA.
allow my wound to be treated until I know who the man is-
by whom I have been wounded, whether he is a noble, a
Brahman, a Yai9ya, or Qudra " or if he said : " I shall not
allow my wound to be treated, until I know what they call the
man who has wounded me, and of what family he is, whether
he is tall, or small, or of middle stature, and how his weapon
was made, with which he has struck me." What would the
end of the case be ? The man would die of his wound.
Why has Buddha not taught his disciples, whether the
world is finite or infinite, whether the saint lives on beyond
death or not ? Because the knowledge of these things does
not conduce to progress in holiness, because it does not
contribute to peace and enlightenment. What contributes
to peace and enlightenment, Buddha has taught his own :
the truth of suffering, the truth of the origin of suffering, the
truth of the cessation of suffering, the truth of the path to the-
cessation of suffering.* " Therefore, Malukyaputta, whatso
ever has not been revealed by me, let that remain unrevealed,
and what has been revealed, let it be revealed."
Our researches must accept this clear and decisive solution
of the question, recurring often in the sacred texts, as it is
given ; it needs no interpretation, and admits of 110 strained
construction. Orthodox teaching in the ancient order of
Buddhists inculcated expressly on its converts to forego
the knowledge of the being or non-being of the perfected
saint.
But, besides the question as to what was recognized as the
orthodox dogma, there is yet another which we have to take
up. Who would believe that he has fathomed the faith and
* The wording of the passage of which an epitome is here given is
identical with that given before at p. 204.
EVASION OF QUESTIONS AS TO ULTIMATE GOAL. 277
liope of the devout heart, when he knows the dogma, which
the Church prescribed and to which the believer subscribed ?
Was the waiving of the question which the religious con
sciousness cannot cease altogether to put to itself over and
over again, sufficient to eliminate from the spirits of Buddha s
disciples the craving for a Yes or No ? Certainly the Yes or
the No might not be declared as doctrine; this would be
heretical disobedience of Buddha s injunction. But it might
make itself perceptible like a vibration, like a gentle nutter
of light or shadow, something felt rather than definable;
it might, even where the honest purpose to faithfully enunciate
the dogma existed, betray itself between the lines, in an
incautious ｅxpression, in a word too many or too few. In
the dialogue between Buddha and Ananda (p. 272, seq.),
a trace seemed to show itself of how some resolute spirits
in the order were not far from perceiving that the conclusion
of the doctrine involves the negation of the ego, the negation
of an eternal future. But this very circumstance, that the
official dogmatic abstained from answering these questions, was
sure to lead to greater liberty and variety in the solutions
which individual thought worked out, than could be the case
with regard to problems, for which a recognized orthodox
solution had been furnished. Could not that negative answer,
which we have come to recognize as the true answer of close
dialectic, be met by an affirmative also ? Might not hearts,
that quailed before the Nothing, that could not relinquish the
hope of everlasting weal, gather from Buddha s silence above
^11 this one response, that it was not forbidden to them to
hope ?
It appears to me that among the many utterances on these
questions, which are bound up together in the great complex
278 THE SAINT THE EGO THE NIRVANA.
of the sacred writings, traces of such agitations, as I have here
described, are unmistakably enough to be seen.
King Pasenadi of Kosala, we are told,* on one occasion on
a journey between his two chief towns, Saketa and Savatthi,
fell in with the nun Khema, a female disciple of Buddha,
renowned for her wisdom. The king paid his respects to her,
and inquired of her concerning the sacred doctrine.
Venerable lady," asked the king, does the Perfect one
(Tathagata) exist after death ? "
" The Exalted one, great king, has not declared : the
Perfect one exists after death. "
" Then does the Perfect one not exist after death, venerable
lady ? "
" This also, O great king, the Exalted one has not declared :
the Perfect one does not exist after death."
"Thus, venerable lady, the Perfect one does exist after
death, and at the same time does not exist after death ? thus,
venerable lady, the Perfect one neither exists after death, nor
does he not exist ? "
The answer is still the same : the Perfect one has not
revealed it. We see how great pains are taken, with that
somewhat clumsy subtlety which is characteristic of thought
at every step in this stage of development, not merely to
exhaust the two alternatives immediately confronting each
other, but in the most careful manner to close up all joinings
and loopholes, by which the true facts of the case might
escape being caught in the logical net. But it is in vain ; the
Exalted one has not revealed this.
The king is astonished. " What is the reason, venerable
- * " Samyutta Nikaya," vol. ii, fol. no, seq.
EVASION OF QUESTIONS AS TO ULTIMATE GOAL. 279
lady, what is the ground, on which the Exalted one has not
revealed this ? "
" Permit me," answers the nun, "now to ask thee a
question, great king, and do thou answer me as the case
seems to thee to stand. How thinkest thou, great king,
hast thou an accountant, or a mint-master, or a treasurer, who
could count the sands of the Ganges, who could say : there
are there so many grains of sand, or so many hundreds, or
thousands, or hundreds of thousands of grains of sand ? "
" No, venerable lady, I have not."
" Or hast thou an accountant, a mint-master or a treasurer,
who could measure the water in the great ocean, who pould
say : there are therein so many measures of water, or so many
hundreds or thousands, or hundreds of thousands of measures
of water ? "
" No, venerable lady, I have not."
"And why not? The great ocean is deep, immeasurable,
unfathomable. So also, great king, if the existence of the
Perfect one be measured by the predicates of corporeal form :*
these predicates of the corporeal form are abolished in the
Perfect one, their root is severed, they are hewn away like
a palm-tree, and laid aside, so that they cannot germinate
again in the future. Released, great king, is the Perfect
one from this, that his being should be gauged by the
measure of the corporeal world : he is deep, immeasurable,
unfathomable as the great ocean. < The Perfect one exists
after death/ this is not apposite; the Perfect one does not
exist after death/ this also is not apposite; the Perfect one
at once exists and does not exists after death/ this also is not
* Afterwards, what is here said of corporeal form, will be repeated in
detail regarding the four other groups of elements, of which earthly being
is constituted (sensations, perceptions, conformations, conscio
280 THE SAINT THE EGO-THE NIRVANA.
apposite; the Perfect one neither does nor does not exist
after death/ this also is not apposite."
"But Pasenadi, the king of Kosala, received the nun
Khema s discourse with satisfaction and approbation, rose
from his seat, bowed reverently before Khema the nun,
turned and went away."*
We shall scarcely be astray in supposing that we discover
in this dialogue a marked departure from the sharply defined
line to which the course of thought confines itself. in the
previously quoted conversation between Buddha and Malukya
(p. 274, seq.). True, the question as to the eternal duration of
the Perfect one is as little answered here as there, but why
can it not be answered ? The Perfect one s existence is
unfathomably deep, like the ocean : it is of a depth which
terrestrial human thought with the appliances at its command,
cannot exhaust. The man who applies to the strictly uncon
ditional predicates such as being and non-being, which are
used properly enough of the finite, the conditional, resembles
a person who attempts to count the sands of the Ganges or the
drops of the ocean.
When such a reason is assigned for the waiving of the
question as to whether the Perfect one lives for ever, is not
this very giving of a reason itself an answer ? And is not this
answer a Yes ? No being in the ordinary sense, but still
assuredly not a non-being: a sublime positive, of which
thought has no idea, for which language has no ｅxpression,
which beams out to meet the cravings of the thirsty for immor
tality in that same splendour, of which the apostle says : Bye
* Tlie texts relates then how the king at a later opportunity addressed
the same questions to Buddha and obtained from him word for word the
same answers wliieli lie had received on this occasion from the nun
Khema.
EVASION OF QUESTIONS AS TO ULTIMATE GOAL. 281
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them
that love Him.""
We here proceed to insert another passage,* which adopts a
position on this question similar to that last quoted.
"At this time a monk named Yamaka had adopted the
following heretical notion : e I understand the doctrine taught
by the Exalted one to be this, that a monk who is free from
vsin, when his body dissolves, is subject to annihilation, that he
passes away, that he does not exist beyond death/ y
Whoever names the absolute Nothing as the goal, in which,
according to the Buddhist creed, the life of the Perfect one
ends, may learn from the opening words of this passage, that
the monk Yamaka advocated this very interpretation and that
he had thereby been guilty of heresy.
The venerable Sariputta undertakes to instruct him.
"How thinkest thou, friend Yamaka, is the Perfect one
{Tathagata) identical with the corporeal form (i.e., does
Buddha s body represent his true ego) ? Dost thou hold
this ? "
" I do not, my friend."
"Is the Perfect one identical with the sensations? the
perceptions ? the conformations, the consciousness ? Dost
thou hold this ?"
" I do not, my friend."
" How thinkest thou, friend Yamaka, is the Perfect one
comprised in the corporeal form ( . .the sensations, and so
on) ? Dost thou hold this ?"
" I do not, my friend."
"Is the Perfect one separate from the corporeal form?
Dost thou hold this ?
* " Samyutta Nikaya," vol. i, fol. de, seq.
282 THE SAINT THE EGO THE NIRVANA.
" I do not, my friend/
" How tliinkest thou, friend Yamaka, are the corporeal form,
sensations, perceptions, conformations, and consciousness (in
their aggregate) the Perfect one ? Dost thou hold this ?
" I do not, my friend."
" How thinkest thou, friend Yamaka, is the Perfect one
separate from corporeal form, sensations, perceptions, con
formations, and consciousness ? Dost thou hold this ?
" I do not, my friend."
"Thus then, friend Yamaka, even here in this world the
Perfect one is not to be apprehended by thee in truth. Hast
thou therefore a right to speak, saying, I understand the
doctrine taught by the Exalted one to be this, that a monk
who is free from sin, when his body dissolves, is subject to
annihilation, that he passes away, that he does not exist beyond
death ?"
" Such, indeed, was hitherto, friend Sariputta, the heretical
view which I ignorantly entertained. But now when I hear
the venerable Sariputta expound the doctrine, the heretical
view has lost its hold of me, and I have learned the doctrine."
Thus are all attempts to define dialectically the ego of the
Perfect one, repelled. The idea is certainly not that some
other attempt might prove successful, but is kept in conceal
ment by Sariputta ; no more does the unavailingness of all
these attempts to find a solution imply that the Perfect one
does not exist at all. Thought, Sariputta means to say, has
here reached an unfathoniably deep mystery, on the solution of
which it must not insist. The monk, who seeks the happiness
of his soul, has something else to pursue.
one who clearly and indefinitely renounced an everlasting
future would speak in another strain ; behind the veil of the
mystery there flies the longing for escape from opposing
EVASION OF QUESTIONS AS TO ULTIMATE GOAL. 283.
reason, which declines to admit the conceivableness of ever
lasting existence, the hope for an existence, which is beyond
reason and conception.
The terms, which can be applied to such an existence, are
obviously exclusively negative. te There is, disciples, a
state, where there is neither earth nor water, neither light nor
air, neither infinity of space, nor infinity of reason, nor abso
lute void, nor the co-extinction of perception and non-percep
tion, neither this world nor that world, both sun and moon.
That, disciples, I term neither coming nor going nor standing,,
neither death nor birth. It is without basis, without pro
cession, without cessation : that is the end of sorrow."*
" There is, disciples, an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated,
unformed. Were there not, O disciples, this unborn, mi-
originated, uncreated, unformed, there would be no possible
exit from the world of the born, originated, created, formed." 1 !?
These words seem to sound as if we heard Brahmanical
philosophers talking of the Brahma, the unborn, intransient
which is neither great nor small, the name of which is " No,,
No," for no word can exhaust its being. Yet these expres- .
sions, when viewed in the connection of Buddhist thought,,
convey something wholly different. To the Brahman the
uncreated is so veritable a reality, that the reality of the
created pales before it ; the created derives its being and life
solely from the uncreated. For the Buddhist the words
" there is an uncreated " merely signify that the created can
free himself from the curse of being created:):- there is a path
* " Udana," fol. ghau.
t " Udana," fol. ghau .
J In the "Dhammapada" it is said (v. 383) : " If thou hast learned the
destruction of the Sankhara, thou knowest the uncreated." Max Miiller
(Introduction. I.e., p. xliv) adds to these words the remark : " This surely
shows that even for Buddha a something existed which is not made, and
284: THE SAINT THE EGO THE NIRVANA.
from the world of the created out into dark endlessness. Does
the path lead into a new existence ? Does it lead into the
Nothing? The Buddhist creed rests in delicate equipoise
between the two. The longing of the heart that craves the
eternal has not nothing, and yet the thought has not a
something, which it might firmly grasp. Farther off the
idea of the endless, the eternal could not withdraw itself
from belief than it has done here, where, like a gentle flutter
on the point of merging in the Nothing, it threatens to evade
the gaze.
I close with a few sentences from the collections of aphorisms
of ancient Buddhist literature. These aphorisms may add
nothing new to what has been said, but they will show more
clearly than all abstract treatment, what melodies were
awakened in the circle of that ancient monastic order, when the
chord of the Nirvana was touched.
;f Plunged into meditation, the immovable ones who valiantly
which, therefore, is imperishable and eternal." It appears to me, that we
can find in the ｅxpression another meaning, and if we consider it in
connection with the Buddhist theory of the world, we must find another
meaning : Let thine own aim be, to discover the cessation of imperma-
nence. If tliou knowest that, thou hast the highest knowledge. Let
others pursue the uncreated by their erroneous paths, which will never
carry them beyond the realm of the created. As for thee let the attain
ment of the uncreated consist in this, that thou readiest the cessation of
the created. In the " Alagaddupama Sutta" (Majjh. 1ST.) we read: "The
belief wliicli says : This is the world, this is the self (atta), this shall I
-dying become, firm, durable, everlasting, unchangeable ; so shall I be
3 r onder in eternity is not that, O disciples, merely sheer folly?"
" How can it be, sire, aught else but sheer folly ?" " How think ye then,
O disciples, is corporeal form everlasting or impermanent?" and then
there follow the familiar doctrines of the impermanence of the five
.complexes (vide supra, p. 218), a significant commentary to the allegation,
that the Buddhist asking after the eternal is the same as asking after the
cessation of the impermanent.
THE UNCREATED. 285
struggle evermore, the wise, grasp the Nirvana, the gain which
no other gain surpasses."
" Hunger is the most grievous illness ; the Sankhara are the
most grievous sorrow ; recognizing this of a truth man attains
the Nirvana, the supreme happiness."
" The wise, who cause no suffering to any being, who keep
their body in check, they walk to the everlasting state : he who
has reached that, knows no sorrow/
et He who is permeated by goodness, the monk who adheres
to Buddha s teaching, let him turn to the land of peace, where
transientness finds an end, to happiness."*
* "Dhammapada," 23, 203, 225, 368.
CHAPTER III.
THE TENET OF THE PATH TO THE EXTINCTION OF
SUFFERING.
DUTIES TO OTHERS.
FOLLOWING the course which, the rule of faith (i.e. the four
sacred truths) marks out for us, we have delineated, as corre
sponding with the second and third of these tenets, what may
be described as the metaphysic of Buddhism : the picture of
the world bound in the chain of causality, of the sorrow-fraught
present, and the picture of the hereafter, in which origination
and decease have come to a pause, the flame of sorrow has been
extinguished. The fourth tenet of the sacred truths teaches
us to know the path which leads out of that world into the
domain of deliverance ; the group of thoughts which it covers,
may be termed the ethic of Buddhism.*
* If the sketch of Buddhism be divided according to the two categories
on which the division of the sacred texts proceeds, Dhamma and Vinaya,
i.e., Doctrine and Ordinance, ethic must be referred, according to the
Buddhist view, to the head of " Doctrine," for not only does that briefest
ｅxpression of the Doctrine, the sacred truths, include within itself ethic
in the last of the four tenets, but the matters falling under the scope of
ethic have throughout found their place in the " Basket of the Doctrine,"
?:.e.,in the complex of the sacred texts dealing with Dhamma. " Ordinance,"
as opposed to " Doctrine," is not to be understood in an ethical, but in a
legal sense ; it is ordinances to govern the associated life of the monastic
order.
ETHICAL SCHOLASTIC. 287
" Tliis,, monks/ so runs this tenet, " is the sacred truth of
the path to the extinction of suffering : it is this sacred, eight
fold path, to wit : Eight Faith, Eight Eesolve, Eight Speech,
Eight Action, Eight Living, Eight Effort, Eight Thought,
Eight Self-concentration."
The ideas here placed before us gather significance and
colour from the many discourses of Buddha, in which the path
of salvation leading to deliverance is described. That scholastic
apparatus, from which Indian thought can never shake itself
wholly free, is employed in no sparing manner. Everything
has its established, ever recurring ｅxpression. Virtues and
vices have their number : there is a fourfold onward effort ;
there are five powers and five organs of moral life.
Heretics and unbelievers also know the five impediments and
the seven elements of illumination, but Buddha s disciples
alone know, how that cinq becomes a dix, and this seven a
fourteen.*
More valuable than this scholastic, as an aid to understanding
how the moral presented itself to the Buddhist view, are the
beautiful utterances of the poetical collections, as well as fables
.and parables, above all the ideal form of Buddha himself as
the religious fancy of his disciples has sketched him. Not only
in his final stage of earthly existence, but in hundreds of
preceding existences has he unintermittingly arrived at all
those perfections which were bringing him nearer and nearer
to the supreme Buddhahood, and has in numberless displays of
invincible strength of will and devoted self-sacrifice created an
example for his believers. The components, which go to
make up this ethical ideal, obviously disclose at every step the
monastic character of Buddhist morality. The true holy life,
is the life of the monk; the worldly life is an imperfect,
necessarily unsatisfying life, the preliminary step of the weak.
* " Samyutta Nikaya," vol. iii, fol. pi , seq.
288 DUTIES TO OTHERS.
The primary demand made upon the monk is not : thou shalt
live in this world and make this world a something which is
worthy of life but it is : thou shalt separate thyself from this
world.
It is hardly necessary to say that any attempt to deduce
from these enumerations of moral notions and sayings and
narrations a connected code of morals, would be not less
opposed to scientific truth than to scientific taste. Still, we
find in the sacred texts ｅxpressions which point to a definite
path of thought traversing the wide range of moral action
and passion, a distribution of all that tends to happiness and
deliverance under certain leading heads. Above all there
recur continually three categories, to some extent like the
headings of three chapters on ethic : uprightness, self-con
centration, and wisdom.* In the narrative of Buddha s last
addresses, the discourse in which he places before his followers
the doctrine of the path of salvation, is time after time couched
in the following words : " This is uprightness. This is self-
concentration. This is wisdom. Pervaded by uprightness,
self-concentration is fruitful and rich in blessing; pervaded
by self- concentration, wisdom is fruitful and rich in blessing ;
pervaded by wisdom, the soul becomes wholly free from all
infirmity, from the infirmity of desire, from the infirmity of
becoming, from the infirmity of error, from the infirmity of
ignorance." These three ranges of moral living are compared
to the stages of a journey : the end of the journey is deliver
ance. The base of all is uprightness of walk, but inversely
outward righteousness receives its finish only through wisdom.
1 As hand washes hand and foot washes foot, so uprightness
is purified by wisdom, and wisdom is purified by uprightness.
"Where there is uprightness, there is wisdom : where there is
wisdom, there is uprightness. And the wisdom of the upright
* The Pali ｅxpressions are : sila, samadhi (or citta), paniia.
UPRIGHTNESS, SELF-REPRESSION, AND WISDOM. 289
and the uprightness of the wise, have of all uprightness and
wisdom in the world the highest value/ 7 *
The will of a supreme lawgiver and ruler in the realm of
the moral world, as the ground on which the fact and force
of a moral command rest, is no more a factor of Buddhist
thought than any bold claim, based on inherent necessity,
of the universal,, that the individual should be subordinate
thereto. Nay more, the decided advantage of moral action
over immoral arises wholly and solely from the consequence
to the actor himself, which is naturally and necessarily
attached to the one course of action or the other. In the
one case reward in the other punishment. He who speaks
or acts with impure thoughts, him sorrow follows, as the wheel
follows the foot of the draught horse. He who speaks or acts
with pure thought, him joy follows, like his shadow, which
does not leave him."t " A peasant who saw a fruitful field
and scattered no seed there, would not look for a crop. Even
so I, who desire the reward of good works, if I saw a fine field
for action and did not do good, should not expect the reward
of works."" J Thus morality has its sole weight in this, that it
is the means to an end, in the lower degree the means to the
humble end of happy life here on earth and in the forms of
being yet to come, in the higher degree the means to the
supreme and absolute end of happy deliverance.
We now pause in the next place to consider the requirement
which Buddhism makes the precursor and preliminary of all
higher moral perfection, the precept of " uprightness," and
we find its purport expressed in a series of uniformly negative
propositions. Upright is he, who keeps himself from all
* " Sonadanda Sutta " (" Digha Nikaya ").
f " Dhammapada," ], 2.
J " Cariya Pitaka," 1, 2.
19
290 DUTIES TO OTHERS.
impurity in word and deed. In. the different series of pro
hibitions,, into which this precept is analyzed in the sacred
texts, a complex of five commandments takes a special place
in the foreground, the regular observance of which constitutes
the " five-fold uprightness." Their substance is :
1. To kill no living thing ;*
2. Not to lay hands on another s property;
3. Not to touch another s wife ;
4. Not to speak what is untrue ;
5. Not to drink intoxicating drinks.
For monks the injunction of absolute chastity was inserted
instead of the third of these propositions, and there is added
for them a long series of further prohibitions in which
abstinence from worldly comforts and enjoyments, from all
worldly intermeddling as well as self-indulgence, is laid down
as their duty. In the detailed expositions, which we find
appended to the several prohibitions, the limits of the pure
negative are not unfrequently transgressed. f It could not
but happen that, whether the fundamental principle of
Buddhist ethic admitted of morality being conceived as a
* It is well known to what an extreme Buddhism, and Indian habits
of thought generally, tends to push the regard for the life of even the
smallest creature. This regard lies at the bottom of numerous
regulations for the daily life of monks. A monk may not drink water
in which animal life of any kind whatever is contained, and must not
even as much as pour it out on grass or clay (" Pacittiya," 20, 62).
When monks wish to have silk cloths made for themselves, silkweavers
murmur and say : " It is our misfortune, it is our ill-fate, that we are
obliged to kill many little creatures for the sake of our living, for our
wives and children s sake." And Buddha forbids the monks on this
account the use of silk cloths (" Vinaya Pitaka," vol. iii, p. 224).
f Cf. the extensive section bearing on this subject in the " Samannaphala
Sutta " (the Discourse on the Eeward of Ascetism).
PROHIBITION AND COMMAND. 291
positively constituted power or not, the " tliou shalt not "
should gradually transform itself for the lively moral con
sciousness into " thou shalt." In this way we find the first
of these prohibit} ons, that of killing, construed in a manner
which scarcely falls short of the Christian version of that
command, which " was said by them of old time : thou shalt
not kill. " (f How does a monk become a partaker of
uprightness ?" asks Buddha,, and then proceeds himself to
furnish the answer in the following sentences : " A monk
abstains from killing living creatures ; he refrains from
causing the death of living creatures. He lays down the
stick ; he lays down weapons. He is compassionate and
tender-hearted : he seeks with friendly spirit the welfare of
all living things. That is part of his uprightness/ From
the prohibition of backbiting a positive course is deduced
in the same speech of Buddha s in the following way : " He
abstains from calumnious conversation ; he refrains from
calumnious conversation. What he has heard here he does
not repeat there, to separate this man from that ; what he has
heard there he does not repeat here, to separate that man from
this. He is the uniter of the separated, and the confirmer
of the united. He enjoys concord; he seeks to promote
concord; he takes delight in concord ; he is a speaker of
concord-producing words. This also is a part of his upright
ness."
In every case it is quite true that the prohibition is far more
comprehensive than the command ; the range of the command
goes in but few cases beyond what is of itself implied in the
gentle influence which good men exercise by their mere
presence without action. As it is peculiarly characteristic of
woman s nature to diffuse such an influence silently around
her, we shall perhaps be justified in attributing a trace of the
19*
292 DUTIES TO*OTHER8.
feminine to that type of morality to which Buddhism has given
birth.
Some who have endeavoured to bring Buddhism up to
Christianity, have given compassionate love of all creatures
as the kernel of the Buddhist s pure morality. In this there is
something of truth. But the inherent difference of the two
moral powers is still apparent. The language of Buddhism has
no word for the poesy of Christian love, of which that hymn of
Paul s is full, the love which is greater than faith and hope,
without which one, though he spake with the tongue of men or
of angels, would be a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal; nor
have the realities, in which that poetry assumed flesh and
blood within the Christian world, had their parallel in the
history of Buddhism. We may say that love, such as it
displays itself in Buddhist morality, oscillating between
negative and positive, approaches Christian love without
actually touching it, in a way similar to that in which the
beatitude of the Nirvana, though fundamently wholly different
from the Christian idea of happiness, does to a certain extent,
as we saw, swing towards it. Buddhism does not so much
enjoin on one to love his enemy, as not to hate his enemy ; it
evokes and cherishes the emotion of friendly goodness and
tender-heartedness towards all creatures, a feeling in which the
motive power is not the groundless, enigmatic self-surrender
of love, but rather intelligent reflection, the conviction that
it is thus best for all, and not least the expectation, that the
natural law of retribution will allot to such conduct the
richest reward.
"He who keeps the angry passion/ thus we read in the
Dhammapada,* " within his control, like a rolling waggon, him
* Verses 222, 223, 3 seq. (" Maliavagga," x, 3).
LOVE AND COMPASSION, 293
I call the real waggon-driver ; any other is only a rein-holder."
<( Let a man overcome anger by not becoming angry : let a man
overcome evil with good ; let a man overcome the parsimonious
by generosity, let a man overcome the liar with truth." He
has abused me, he has struck me, he has oppressed me, he has
robbed me they who do not entertain such thoughts, in such
men enmity comes to an end. For enmity never comes to an
end through enmity here below ; it conies to an end by non-
enmity ; this has been the rule from all eternity."
The last of these verses is connected with a narrative, which
is to be found irt >ne of the canonical books,* and is worthy of
the consideration of him who desires to know whether and how
far the Christian thought, that " there is no fear in love, but
perfect love casteth out fear/ recurs in the ground of the
Buddhist moral intelligence.
on .one occasion when a dispute arises in the band of his
disciples, Buddha narrates to the discontented the history of
King Long-grief, whom his powerful neighbour Brahmadatta
had driven from his kingdom and deprived of all his possessions.
Disguised as a mendicant monk the vanquished king fled with
his wife from his home and sought safety in concealment at
Benares, the capital of his enemy. There the queen bore him
a son, whom he named Long-life : who became a clever boy,
proficient in all arts. one day Long-grief was recognized by
one of his quondam courtiers and his place of concealment
betrayed to the king, Brahmadatta: thereupon the king
ordered him and his wife to be led bound through all
streets of the town, and then hewn into four pieces outside the
town. But Long-life saw how his father and mother were
being led in chains through the town: And he went up to his
father, who said to him: "My son Long-life, look not
* " Mahavagga," x, 2.
294: DUTIES TO OTHERS.
far and not too near. For enmity comes not to an end by
enmity, my son Long-life; by non-enmity, my son Long-life,
enmity comes to an end. 33
Thereupon king Long-grief and his wife were put to death.
But Long-life made the guards who were placed over the
corpses drunk, and when they had fallen asleep, he burnt both
the dead and walked with folded hands three times round
the funeral pile. Then he went into the forest and wept and
wailed to his heart s content, then washed away his tears, went
into the town, and took service in the king s elephant-stalls.
By his beautiful singing he won the favour of Brahinadatta,
who made him his trusted friend. one day he accompanied
the king out hunting. They two were alone : Long-life had so
managed that the retinue took another road. The king became
tired, laid his head in Long-life s lap, and soon fell asleep.
Thereupon thought the youth Long-life : " this King Brahma-
datta of Benares has done us much evil. He has taken away
our army and baggage, and land, and treasure, and stores, and
has killed my father and mother. Now is the time come for
me to satisfy my enmity." And he drew his sword from the
scabbard. But just then this thought occurred to the youth
Long-life : " My father has said to me, when he was being
led away to execution : My son Long-life, look not too far and
not too near. For enmity comes not to an end by enmity, my
son Long-life ; by non-enmity, my son Long-life, enmity comes
to an end. It would not be right for me to transgress my
father s words.-" So he put his sword back in the scabbard
again. The desire for revenge comes over him three times :
three times the recollection of his father s last words overcomes
his hatred. Then the king starts up from sleep : an evil dream
has awakened him ; he has dreamed about Long-life, that he is
taking his life with the sword. " Then the youth Long-life
seized with his left hand the head of King Brahmadatta of
STORY OF LONG-LIFE AND LONG-GRIEF. 295
Benares, and with his right he drew his sword, and he said to
Brahmadatta, the king of Benares : I am the boy Long-life,
king, the son of King Long-grief, of Kosala. Thou hast
done us much evil; thou hast taken away our army and
baggage, and land, and treasure, and stores, and hast killed
my father and mother. Now is the time come for me to
satisfy my enmity/ Then the King Brahmadatta of Benares,
fell at the feet of the youth Long-life, and said to the youth
Long-life : Grant me my life, my son Long-life : grant me
my life, my son Long-life ! How can I grant thee thy life,
O king ? It is thou, king, who must grant me life/ Then
grant thou me life, my son Long-life, and I will also grant
thee life/ Then, the King Brahmadatta of Benares and the
boy Long-life granted each other life, gave each other their
hands, and swore to do each other no harm. And King
Brahmadatta of Benares said to the youth Long-life : My
son Long-life, what thy father said to thee before his death,
Look not too far and not too near. For enmity comes not
to an end by enmity : by non-enmity enmity comes to an end "
-what did thy father mean by that? What my father
O king, said to me before his death : Look not too far/
signifies: "Let not enmity long continue;" that was what
my father meant when he said before his death: "Look not
too far/ And what my father, king, said to me before his
death: "Not too near/ signifies: Fall not out too readily
with thy friends ;" that was what my father meant when
he said to me before his death : Not too near/ And what
my father, king, said to me before his death : For enmity
comes not to an end by enmity ; by non-enmity enmity comes
to an end," signifies this : Thou, king, hast killed my father
and my mother. Were I now, king, to seek to take thy
life, then those who are attached to thee, king, would take
DUTIES TO OTHERS.
my life, and those who are attached to me, would take their
lives ; thus our enmity would not come to an end by enmity.
But now, king, thou hast granted me life and I, king,
have granted thee life : thus by non-enmity has our enmity
come to an end. This is what my father meant when he said
to me before his death : " For enmity comes not to an end
by enmity; by non-enmity enmity comes to an end." Then
King Brahmadatta of Benares reflected: < Wonderful! Astonish
ing ! What a clever youth is this Long-life, that he can expound
in such detail the meaning of what his father has so briefly
said/ And he gave him all that had belonged to his father,
army and baggage, and land, and treasure, and store, and gave
him his daughter to wife."
While Buddhism enjoins the forgiveness of the wrongs
which others have done us, we ought not to overlook the
thought which incidentally peeps out from this moral, that in
the dealings of the world forgiveness and reconciliation are
a more profitable policy than revenge. The proposition that
enmity comes not to an end by enmity is verified in a very
substantial way in the case of the clever lad Long-life :
instead of losing his life, he obtains a kingdom and a king s
daughter to wife.
The lesson of forgiveness and love of enemies finds a deeper
and more beautiful ｅxpression in the pathetic narrative of
prince Kunla,* the son of the great Buddhist king Asoka
(circ. 250 B.C.). Kunala this name was given to him on
account of his wonderfully beautiful eyes, which are as
beautiful as the eyes of the bird Kun&la lives far from the
bustle of the court, devoted to meditation on impermanence.
one of the queens is burning with love for the beautiful
* The narrative is only known from northern Buddhist sources, which
are scarcely of very ancient origin. Burnouf, Introduction, p.. 403, seq.
STORY OF KUNALA. 297
youth, but her solicitation and the menaces of disdained
beauty are alike in vain. Thirsting for revenge, she contrives
to have him sent to a distant province, and then issues an
order to that quarter, sealed with the slyly stolen ivory seal of
the king, for the prince s eyes to be torn out. When the
order arrives, no one can be prevailed upon to lay hands on the
noble eyes of the prince. The prince himself offers rewards
to any one who should be prepared to execute the king s
order. At last a man appears, repulsive to look on, who
undertakes the performance. When, amid the cries of the
weeping multitude, the first eye is torn out, Kunala takes it
in his hand and says : "Why seest thou no longer those forms
on which thou wast just now looking, thou coarse ball of
flesh ? How they deceive themselves, how blamable arc those
fools, who cling to thee and say : " This is I." And when
his second eye is torn out, he says : " The eye of flesh, which
is hard to get, has been torn from me, but I have won the
perfect, faultless eye of wisdom. The king has forsaken me,
but I am the son of the highly exalted king of truth : whose
child I am called/ He is informed that it is the queen,
by whom the command concerning him was issued. Then
he says : " Long may she enjoy happiness, life, and power
who has brought me so great welfare." And he goes forth
a beggar with his wife ; and when he comes to his father s
city, he sings to the lute before the palace. The king hears
Kunala s voice ; he has him called into him, but when he sees
the blind man before him, he cannot recognize his son. At
last the truth comes to light. The king in the excess of grief
and rage is about to torture and kill the guilty queen. But
Kunala says : " It would not become thee to kill her. Do
.as honour demands and do not kill a woman. There is no
higher reward than that for benevolence : patience, sire, has
298 DUTIES TO OTHERS.
been commanded by the Perfect one. 3 And he falls at the
king s feet, saying : " king, I feel no pain, and notwith
standing the inhumanity which has been practised on me,
I do not feel the fire of anger. My heart has none but a
kindly feeling for my mother, who has given the order to
have my eyes torn out. As sure as these words are true,
may my eyes again become as they were " and his eyes shone
in their old splendour as before.
Buddhist poetry has nowhere glorified in more beautiful
fashion, forgiveness, and the love of enemies than in the
narrative of Kunala. But even here we feel that cool air
which floats round all pictures of Buddhist morality. The wise
A man stands upon a height to which no act of man can approach..
He resents no wrong which sinful passion may work him, but
he even feels no pain under this wrong. The body 5 over
which his enemies have power, is not himself. Ungrieved by
the actions of other men, he permits his benevolence to flow
over all, over the evil as well as the good. " Those who cause
me pain and those who cause me joy, to all I am alike ; affection
and hatred I know not. In joy and sorrow I remain unmoved,
in honour and in dishonour ; throughout I am alike. That is
the perfection of my equanimity."*
The Buddhists had a peculiar penchant for systematic and
methodical devotion at fixed times to certain modes and
meditations, for which they previously put themselves with due
precision in appropriate postures. So we have rules which
are highly characteristic of this almost extravagant, quaint
peculiarity of Buddhist praxis, regarding the art and method
by which a man is to foster within himself the disposition of
kindly benevolence to all beings in the universe, following the
course of the four-quarters of the heavens. Buddha says :
* " Cariya Pitaka," iii, 15.
BENEVOLENCE TO ALL BEINGS. 29$
" After reflection, when I have returned from the begging
excursion, I go into the forest. There I heap together the
blades of grass or the leaves which are there to be found, and I
sit down on them, with crossed legs, upright body, surrounding
my countenance with vigilant thought (as with an aureola).
Thus I remain, while I cause the power of benevolence, which
fills my mind, to extend over one quarter of the world ; in the
same way over the second, the third, the fourth, above, below,
across ; on all sides, in all directions over the whole of the
entire universe I send forth the power of benevolence, which
fills my spirit, the wide, great, immeasurable (feeling) which
knows naught of hate, which doeth no evil."*
Whoever bears benevolence within him, possesses therein
as it were a magical power; men and beasts, when he lets fall
on them a ray of this power, are thereby wondrously subdued
and attracted. Devadatta, the Judas Iscariot among Buddha s
disciples, lets loose on Buddha a wild elephant in a narrow
street (p. 160). " But the Exalted one exercised on the
elephant Nalagiri the power of his benevolence. Then the
elephant M%iri, struck by the Exalted one with the power
of his benevolence, lowered his trunk, went up to where the
Exalted one was, and stopped before him."t on another
occasion Ananda entreats the Exalted one, to be pleased to
convert to the faith Koja, one of the stranger noblemen of the
* There follow several repetitions of the same passage, in which
instead of "power of benevolence," there occur: power of pity, power
of cheerfulness, power of equanimity (" Anguttara Nikaya," vol. i, foL
cam. ; cf. vol. ii, f ol. chu, where the same spiritual exercises are atti ited
to Brahmanical ascetics also; " Samyutta Nikaya," vol. n, f<
" Guilder s Dictionary," p. 624).
f Cullavagga," vii, 3, 12. The using of the power of benevol
over the different kinds of snakes as a protection against si
described previously in v, 6.
300 DUTIES TO OTHERS.
house of the Mallas, inimical to the doctrine of Buddha. " It
is not difficult, Ananda, for the Perfect one to cause the
Malla, Koja, to be won to this faith and this order/ Thereupon
the Exalted one extended to Roja, the Malla, the power of his
benevolence,, rose from his seat and went into the house. And
Roja, the Malla, struck by the Exalted one through the power
of his benevolence, went, like a cow that seeks her young calf,
from one house to another, from one cell to another, and asked
the monks: "Where, venerable men, is he now dwelling,
the Exalted one, the holy, supreme Buddha ? I desire to see
him, the Exalted one, the holy, supreme Buddha."*
Place may be given in this connection to one of those brief
sketches, in which the fancy of the faithful loved to portray
the conception of Buddha s previous existences. We possess a
collection of such sketches and short stories, admitted into the
sacred canon, which are arranged to illustrate the perfections
or cardinal virtues of the later Buddha.f The following brief
passage is devoted to the virtue of benevolence :
" I lived under the name of Sama, J in a forest on the mountain
slope . . . , I drew to myself lions and tigers through the
power of my benevolence. I lived in the forest surrounded by
lions and tigers, by panthers, bears, and wild buffaloes, by
gazelles and boars. No creature is in terror of me, and I have
no fear of any being. The power of benevolence is my footing,
therefore I dwell on the mountain slope."
It appeared important to follow up the idea of benevolence,
* " Mahavagga," vi, 36, 4.
t The usual enumeration of these perfections, which are, however,
not all represented in that text (the " Cariya Pitaka ") by illustrative
narratives, comprises ten virtues ; beneficence, uprightness, wishlessness,
wisdom, power, patience, sincerity, steadfastness, benevolence, equa
nimity.
J The narrator is Buddha himself.
BENEVOLENCE TO ALL BEINGS. 301
of forgiveness, of goodness even towards enemies, in the many
various forms in which it meets us, now in the garment of
sober reflections, again in the noble robe of pure and childlike
poesy, and anon veiled in the surroundings of a quaint
fantastic Methodism. It was not the emotion of a world-
embracing love, but this peaceful feeling of friendly harmony,,
which gave its stamp to the common life of Buddha s disciples,
and if the Buddhist faith permits even the animal world to
participate in the blessing of this peace and this goodwill, this
may serve to remind us of the charming tales which Christian
legend has woven round a form like that of the saint Fran-
ciscus, the friend of all animals, and of all inanimate nature.
Among the remaining emotional virtues, which are wont
to be named in conjunction with those of uprightness and
benevolence, the virtue of beneficence occupied the most
prominent place in the didactic poetry of the Buddhists.
It is significant how completely, in the conception of this poetry,
the picture of the highest ideal beneficence melts away into
that of renunciation, of self-sacrificing endurance. Whoever
sets perfection before him as his goal, must be prepared to
unconditionally surrender everything, even what is dearest
to him. The limits, which our conception would set to the
inherent propriety of the gift, are not here applicable; without
any regard to what is the measure of the real benefit thereby
extended to the recipient of the gift, the legends sefc before
us as a duty, the most unbounded generosity, pushed even to
the extreme of self-destruction* Though penances, as they
* on the question, as to what, apart from the moralistic poetic of
legends, was the practical performance of beneficence in the actual
of the early order, we refer on the one hand o the remarks , on the
- subject in the First Part (p. 143, 166, *), and on the other to the Par
on the Life of the Order. We cannot refrain from thinking, that the-
302 DUTIES TO OTHERS.
were then practised among the ascetics of India, were discarded
by Buddha as " vexatious, unworthy, unprofitable, " yet motives
of the most closely kindred character maintained their place
in Buddhist moral poetry : if Brahmanical poems tell of
marvellous self -mortifications, by which the sages of the past
obtained a power portentous to the gods themselves, it is
not far to go from them to the Buddhist narratives of those
displays of unlimited generosity, crowned with immeasurable
heavenly reward, in which the proper element of beneficence
vanishes into nothing behind that of ascetic self-sacrifice.
Thus, for instance, in the narrative of Prince Vessantara,
i.e., the later Buddha in the last but one of his earthly
existences.* The king s son was unjustly driven from the
kingdom by the people by a mistake. He gave his last
treasures, even the waggon on which he rode, and the horses
to beggars, and he went on with wife and children through the
burning heat on foot. " When the children saw trees bearing
fruit in the forest, they wept, longing for the fruit. When
they saw the weeping children, the lofty, mighty trees bowed
down of themselves and came down to the children." At last
they came to the Yanka mountain ; there they lived as hermits
in a leaf -hut. I and the princess Maddi, and the two children,
Jali and Kanhajina, dwelt in the hermitage, each dissipating
the sorrow of the others. I remained in the hermitage to
guard the children ; Maddi gathered wild fruits and brought
them to us there for food. When I was there dwelling in the
forest, there came a beggar, who asked me for my children,
the two, Jali and Kanhajina. When I saw the beggar who
treatment of beneficence in Buddhist morals would have been more sound
and less prolix, if it were not that here a virtue was being handled, in
a position to practise which, the pauper monk could scarcely ever be.
* " Cariya Pitaka," i, 9. Cf. Hardy, Manual, 118.
BENEFICENCE THE STORY OF VE8SANTARA. 303
liad come, I smiled, and I took my two children and gave
them to the Brahman. When I made over my children to
Jujaka the Brahman, the earth quaked, the forest-crowned
Meru shook. And again it came to pass, that the god
Sakka came down from heaven in the form of a Brahman;
he asked me for Maddi, the princess, the virtuous and true.
Then I took Maddi by the hand, filled her hands with water,*
and I gave Maddi to him with cheerful heart. When I gave
him Maddi, the gods in heaven were glad, and again the
earth quaked, and the forest-crowned Meru shook. Jtili and
Kanhajina, my daughter, and Maddi, the princess, the true
wife, I gave away, and I counted it not loss so that I might
win the Buddhahood."
Another of these narratives of Buddha s past existences is
the following " Story of the wise hare."f
(C And again in another life I was a hare, that lived in a
mountain forest : I ate grass and vegetables, leaves and fruits,
and did no being any harm. An ape, a jackal, a young otter,
and I, we dwelt together and we were seen together early and
late. But I instructed them in duties and taught them what
is good and what evil : abstain from evil, incline to good. on
holy days when I saw the moon full, I said to them : to-day
is the holy day ; have alms in readiness that ye may dispense
them to the worthy. Give alms according to merit and spend
the holy day in fasting. Then said they : So be it/ and
according to their power and ability they got their offerings
ready and looked for one who might be worthy to receive
them. But I sat down and sought in my mind for a gift,
which I was to offer : < If I find a worthy object, what is my
* For the solemn surrender of Maddi, with a libation of water as for
the completion of a dedication.
t The narrator is Buddha himself .Cariyd Pi^aka, i, 10.
304: DUTIES TO OTHERS.
gift to be ? I have not sesame, nor beans, nor rice, nor
butter. I live on grass only; one cannot offer grass. If a
worthy person comes to me and asks me to give him food,
then I shall give him myself; he shall not go hence empty-
handed/ Thereupon Sakka (the king of gods) discerned my
thoughts, and came in the form of a Brahman to my cover to
put me to the test and see what I would give him. When I
saw him, I spake to him joyfully these words : Tis well that
thou comest to me to seek food. A noble gift, such as hath
not erst been given, shall I give thee this day. Thou
observest the duties of uprightness ; it is not thy character
to inflict pain on any creature. But go gather wood and
kindle a fire; I will roast myself; roasted thou mayest
consume me. He said : So be it/ and he gladly gathered
wood and stacked it in a great heap. He put living coals in
the middle and a fire was soon kindled ; then he shook off
the dust, which covered his powerful limbs, and sat down
before the fire. When the great heap of wood began to send
up flame and smoke, I leaped into the air and plunged into
the midst of the burning fire. As fresh-water quenches the
torment of heat for him who dives into it, as it gives vitality
and comfort, so the flaming fire into which I leaped, like fresh
water, quelled all my torment. Cuticle and skin, flesh and
sinews, bones, heart and ligaments, my whole body with all
its members, I have given to the Brahman."
Buddha s last existence, the days of attained sanctity, of
itinerancy and teaching, are not adorned in the narratives of
the order with any such marvels of self-sacrifice. Good works
are for him to do, who is pressing on to perfection. The
Perfect one himself " hath overcome both shackles, good and
evil."*
* " Dhammapada," 412. Buddhism here stands wholly on the ground
of the Brahmanical philosophy which preceded it, vide, supra, p. 48.
MORAL SELF-CULTURE. 305
MOEAL SELF-CULTUEE.
The most important part of moral action does not lie
according to Buddhist notions in duties which are owing
externally, from man to man, or more correctly speaking,
from each being to the being nearest him, but in the scope
of his own inner life, in the exercise of incessant self-
discipline : " Step by step, piece by piece, moment by
moment, must he who is wise, cleanse his ego from all
impurity, as the goldsmith refines silver."*
The ego, whose reality remained to metaphysics an unsolved
enigma, here becomes for ethical speculation a determinate
power, before which everything external to it vanishes into
the background as something foreign. To find the ego is
acknowledged to be the worthiest object of all search, to make
a friend of the ego the truest and highest friendship. " By
thine ego spur on thy ego ; by thine ego explore thine ego ;
so shalt thou, monk, well guarding thine ego and vigilant,
live in happiness. For the protection of the ego is the ego ;
the refuge of the ego is the ego ; therefore keep thy ego in
subjection, as a horse-breaker a noble steed/ 3 " First of all let
a man establish his own ego in the good ; then only can he
instruct others ; thus shall the wise remain free from misery ."t
We have already (p. 288) touched those three leading notions,
constituting in a certain manner a succession of steps, into-
which Buddhist ethic has divided the different ranges of moral
action : uprightness, self-concentration, and wisdom. To tho
duties of internal watchfulness, self-education, and self-purifi
cation, on the part of the ego, the scholastic system allots a-
* "Dhammapada," 239.
f "Dhammapada," 379, seq., 158.
20
306 MORAL SELF- CULTURE.
middle place, between tlie first and second of these ranges.
External rectitude is the foundation, from which alone
proceeding, can those internal and deeper tasks of morality
be performed, and these tasks again occupy a preparatory
position as the regards the last, finishing forces of spiritual effort,
self-concentration and wisdom. The standard ｅxpressions,
by which the language of the schools describes the class of
moral duties in question and inserts them in the described
manner in that threefold class, are the headings : government
of the senses, vigilance and attention, to which is further
added the idea of contentment (absence of the feeling of
want).* We must keep the eye and all other senses in
subjection, so that they may not, by dwelling on external
objects, find pleasure in them and convey to the ego impres
sions which endanger its peace and purity. We are to direct
all our movements with vigilant consciousness ;f whether we
walk or stand, whether we sit or lie down, whether we talk or
* In the Pali : indriyasamvara, satisampajanna, santutthi. The closer
examination of these notions is to be found in the Samannapliala Sutta
and recurs elsewhere very frequently in the sacred texts.
f With this are connected several half-bodily, half- spiritual exercises,
fostered by Buddhism with such great fondness, which, it seems
probable, occupied a very prominent place in the monks allotment
of time. We here select only one of them, "vigilance in inhaling
and exhaling." "A monk, O disciples, who dwells in the forest,
or dwells at the foot of a tree, or dwells in an empty chamber, sits
down with legs crossed, body bolt upright, surrounding his coun
tenance with watchful thought. He inhales with consciousness, he
exhales with consciousness. If he draws in a long breath, he knows :
* I am drawing in a long breath. If he exhales a long breath, he knows :
I am exhaling a long breath. If he draws in a short breath he knows :
* I am drawing in a short breath, and so on. Buddha calls this exercise
profitable and enjoyable; it drives away the evil that rises in man
(" Vinaya Pitaka," vol. iii, p. 70, seq.). If the disciples are asked, how
INTERNAL WATCHFULNESS. 307
*
be silent, we are to think of what we are doing, and take care
that it be done becomingly. We should need nothing, but
what we carry on our persons, like the bird in the air which
has no treasure, and carries nothing with it but its wings,
which bear it whithersoever it wishes.
In contact with people of worldly occupation the most
scrupulous caution must be observed. " As one, who has no
shoes, walks over thorny ground, watchfully picking his steps,
so let the wise man walk in the village."* " As the bee
damages not the colour or perfume of the flower, but sucks its
juice and flies on, so let the wise man walk in the village."f
When a man has completed his begging excursion through the
village, he is to examine himself, whether he has remained free
from all internal dangers. Buddha says to SariputtaiJ "A
monk, Sariputta, must thus reflect : on my way to the village,
when I was going to collect alms, and in the places where I
solicited alms, and on my way back from the village, have I in
the forms which the eye perceives, experienced pleasure, or
desire, or hatred, or distraction, or anger in my mind ? If
the monk, Sariputta, 011 thus examining himself, discovers :
on my way to the village, etc., I have in the forms which
the eye perceives, experienced pleasure, etc./ then must this
monk, Sariputta, endeavour to become free from these evil,
Buddha spends the rainy season, they are to answer, Buried in watch-
fulness of inhaling and exhaling, O friends, the Exalted one is wont to
spend his time during the rainy season. "Samyutta Nikdya, vol. iii,
fol. vi.
* " Theragatha," fol. gu.
f " Dhammapada," 49.
J Pindapataparisuddhisutta (Majjhima Nikaya).
There follow after this repetitions of the same question in reference
to " the sounds which the ear hears/ and the other senses with their
objects.
20*
308 MORAL 8ELF-CULTURE.
treacherous emotions. But if the monk Sariputta, who submits
himself to this test, finds : ( I have not experienced pleasure,
etc./ then should this monk, Sariputta, be glad and rejoice :
Happy the man who has long accustomed his mind to good ! "
" As a woman or a man/* it is said in another Sutta,* " who is
young and takes a delight in being clean, looks at his face in a
bright, clear mirror, or in a clear stream of water, and, if he
discovers therein any smudge or spot, takes pain to remove
this smudge or spot, but if he sees therein no smudge or spot,
is glad : That s good ! I am clean I so also the monk, who
sees that he is not yet free from all those evil, treacherous
emotions, must endeavour to become free from all those evil,
treacherous emotions. But if he sees that he is free from all
those evil, treacherous emotions, this monk is to be glad and
rejoice : Happy the man, who has long accustomed his mind to
that which is good \"
Incessantly and ever in new forms, we find the admonition
repeated, not to take the show of moral action for the reality,
not to remain clinging to the external, when salvation can
come alone from within. It is all very well to guard the
eye and ear from evil, but mere not-seeing and not-hearing
avail nothing ; else were the blind and deaf the most perfect. f
The purpose, with which we speak and act, is decisive of the
value of word and action ; the word alone is worthless, where
acts are wanting : " Our whole existence depends on our
thought; thought is its noblest factor; in thought its state
consists. He who speaks or acts with impure thoughts, him
sorrow follows, as the wheel follows the foot of the draught
animal. Our whole existence depends on our thought ;
thought is its noblest factor; in thought its state consists.
* Anumanasutta (Majjhima Nikaya).
f. Indriyabliavauasutta (Majjk. ]ST.).
MARA, THE EVIL onE. 300
He who speaks or acts with pure thoughts, him joy follows,
like the shadow which never forsakes him." " He who speaks
many wise words, but does not act up to them, the fool is like
a herd who counts the cows of others ; he has no share in the
nobility of the monks. He who speaks only a few wise words,
but walks in the law of truth, who gets rid of love and hate,
and of infatuation, who has knowledge and whose mind has
found deliverance, who hankers after nothing in heaven or on
earth, he has part in the nobility of the monks."*
MARA, THE EVIL onE.
The toil, by which the spirit seeks purity, rest, and deliver-
.ance, pictures itself to the religious consciousness of Buddhism
,as a struggle against a hostile power. This power of the evil,
of the sorrow, which opposes a resistance to man s escape from
its shackles, whence comes it ? Buddhist thought holds
alo of from this problem. If the question of the origin of
sorrow "f ^ e asked, this question merely directs itself to ascer
taining how sorrow originates in us, by what sluice the world-
deluging stream of sorrow-fraught impermanence finds its
way into our existence. But if one were to seek to know,
whence it comes that there is sorrow at all, Buddhism would
.add this to the too inquisitive questions, on which the Exalted
one has revealed nothing, because they are not profitable to
happiness. To be curious about the origin of evil and of
sorrow would amount to nothing less than prying into the
origin of the universe, for the innermost essence of the world
* " Dhammapada," 1, 2, 19, 20.
t Remember the second of the four sacred truths and the formula of
.causality.
310 MARA, TEE EVIL onE.
according to Buddhism consists in this, that it is subject to
evil, that it is a state of continual sorrow.
It is not, therefore, as the one by whom evil has come into
the world, but rather as the supreme lord of all evil, as the-
chief seducer to evil thought, word and deed, that the creed
of the Buddhas looks upon Mara, the Evil one, the Prince of
Death, for Mara means death.* The kingdom of this world
with its pleasures is the kingdom of death. In the highest of
the spheres of the universe, which are given over to the
dominion of pleasure, he rules with his hosts as a powerful
god ; thence he comes down to earth, when it is his object to
attack the kingdom of Buddha and his saints.
To simple faith Mara is a personal existence, a personality,
limited by the confines of time and space, every whit as real
as Buddha, as all men and all gods. But philosophic thought,,
which sees the enemy of peace and happiness in the impersonal
power of a universal law swaying the external world, regu
lating origination and decease, has naturally a tendency either
to push this conception of Mara into the background or to
amplify his personal existence into a universal. Without
Mara s actually ceasing to be looked upon as a person, the
limits of his being become so wide as to have room to embrace
the contents of the whole universe subjected to sorrow.
Wherever there is an eye and form, wherever there is an ear
and sound, wherever there is thinking and thought, there is
Mara, there is sorrow, there is world. f Radha says to
Buddha : J " Mara, Mara, thus people say, sire. Wherein,
sire, consists the being of Mara ? " " Where there is cor-
* Concerning the mythological elements, which have supplied the
materials for the conception of Mara, we refer to p. 54 seq., note p. 89.
t " Samyntta Nikaya," vol. ii, fol. khu.
J Ibid, vol. i, fol. no.
MARA, THE EVIL onE. 311
poreal form*, Radha, there is Mara (Death), or lie who kills,
or he who is dying. Therefore, Kadha, look upon corporeal
form as being Mara, or that it is he who kills, or he who is dying,
or sickness, or an abscess, or a wounding dart, or impurity, or
impure existence. Whoever regards it thus, understands it
correctly/
Mara is not everlasting, as there is nowhere in the domain of
origination and decease an everlasting permanent. But as
long as worlds revolve in their orbits and beings die and are
born again, new Maras are evermore appearing with ever new
hosts of gods, who are subject to them ; and thus we may say
that the existence of Mara is actually eternal in that sense in
which alone eternal existence can be conceived by Buddhist
speculation.
In those discourses and legends which speak of Mara, the
tempter, we meet with none of that gloomy tragedy with
which we are accustomed to fancy the diabolical, deadly foe
of good surrounded. The colours and grand outlines for the
dark form of a Lucifer were not at the command of the
Buddhist monk-poets. They narrate petty, often poorly
enough conceived, legends of the attacks of Mara on Buddha
and his pious followers, how he appears at one time as a
Brahman, and at another as a husbandman, at another as an
elephant-king, and in many other different forms comes to
shake their sanctity by temptations, their faith and their
knowledge by lies.f
If a holy man makes his excursion for alms in vain and
* Then similarly : where sensation is where perception is where
formation is where consciousness is.
f A few such narratives have already been touched upon, supra*
p. 116, 258. The " Samyutta Nikaya" gives a whole collection of them
in the Marasamyutta.
312 MARA, THE EVIL onE.
nowhere obtains a gift, it is Mara s work ; if the people in
a village ridicule pious monks with derisive gestures, Mara
has entered into them ; when Ananda in the critical moment
before Buddha s death neglected to ask the Master to prolong
his earthly existence to the end of this mundane period, it so
happened because Mara had bewildered his mind. (< At one
time," as we read,* f the Exalted one was living in the land of
Kosala, in the Himalaya, in a log-hut. When the Exalted
one was thus living retired in hermitage, this thought entered
his mind : f It is possible really to rule as a king in righteous
ness, without killing or causing to be killed, without practising
oppression or permitting oppression to be practised, without
suffering pain or inflicting pain on another/ Then Mara, the
Evil one, perceived in his mind the thought which had arisen
in the mind of the Exalted one, and he approached the Exalted
one and spake thus : May the Exalted one, sire, be pleased
to rule as a king, may the Perfect one be pleased to rule
as a king in righteousness, without killing or causing to be
killed, without practising oppression or permitting oppression
to be practised, without suffering pain or inflicting pain on
another/ Buddha challenges him : What dost thou see in me,
thou Evil one, that thou speakest thus to me ? Mara says :
The Exalted one, sire, has made the fourfold miraculous
power his own : if the Exalted one, sire, desired, he
could ordain that the Himalaya, the king of mountains, should
become gold, and it would turn to gold/ Buddha motions
him away : what would it profit the wise man, if he possessed
even a mountain of silver or of gold ? c He who has com
prehended sorrow, whence it springs, how can he bend himself
to desire ? He who knows that earthly existence is a fetter in
* " Samyuttaka Nikaya," vol. i, fol. glia .
THE LAST STAGES OF THE PATH OF SALVATION, ETC. 313
this world, let him practise that which sets him free therefrom/
Then Mara, the Evil one, said, The Exalted one knows me,
the Perfect one knows me/ and disconcerted and disheartened
he rose and went away " the invariable obvious conclusion
of these narratives : Buddha looks through the Evil one and
turns his temptations to naught.
Of the precautions which the religious should adopt with
constant vigilance against the machinations of Mara, Buddha
speaks in the fable of the tortoise and the jackal.* There was
once a tortoise, that went in the evening to the bank of a river
to seek her food. And there went also a jackal to the river to
seek for prey. When the tortoise saw the jackal, she hid all
her limbs in her shell and dived quietly and fearlessly into the
water. The jackal ran and waited until she should put forth
one of her limbs from her shell. But the tortoise did not
move; so the jackal was obliged to give up his prey and
go away. " Thus, O disciples, Mara also is constantly and
evermore lurking for you and cogitating : I shall gain
access to them by the door of their eye or, by the door
of their ear, or of their nose, or of their tongue, or of their
body, or of their thought, I shall gain access to them/
Therefore, disciples, guard the doors of your senses . . .
then will Mara, the Evil one, give it up and forsake you,
when he finds he cannot find any access to you, as the jackal
was obliged to depart from the tortoise/
THE LAST STAGES OF THE PATH OP SALVATION ABSTRACTIONS-
SAINTS AND BUDDHAS.
Thus is the inimical purpose of Mara in league with the
inimical natural law of the sorrow-causing chain of causes and
* " Samyuttaka Nikaya," vol. ii, fol. ja.
314: THE LAST STAGES OF THE PATH OF SALVATION, ETC.
effects. In the wilderness of the sanMaras, of restless,
substanceless procession,, in ever surging and undulating
darkness,, the solitary combatants stand, who struggle to
find the exit from this labyrinth of sorrow. The struggle
is neither slight nor brief. From that moment forward, when
first the conviction dawns upon a soul, that this battle must be
fought, that there is a deliverance which can be gained from
that first beginning of the struggle up to the final victory,
countless ages of the world pass away. Earth worlds and
heavenly worlds, and worlds of hells also, states of torment,
arise and pass away, as they have arisen and passed away from
all eternity. Gods and men, all animated beings, come and
go, die and are born again, and amid this endless tide of all
things, the beings who are seeking deliverance, now advancing
and victorious, and anon driven back, press on to their goal.
The path reaches beyond the range of the eye, but it has an
end. After countless wanderings through worlds and ages
the goal at last appears before the wanderer s gaze. And in
his sense of victory there is mingled a feeling of pride for the
victory won by his own power. The Buddhist has no god to
thank, as he had previously no god to invoke during his
struggle. The gods bow before him, not he before the gods.
The only help, which can be imparted to the struggle, comes
from those like himself, from those who have gone before, the
Buddhas and their enlightened disciples, who have wrestled as
he now wrestles, and who cannot, it is true, grant him the
victory, but can show him the path to victory.
Buddhism, closely following a common feature of all Indian
religious life which preceded it, regards as stages preparatory
to the victory which is won, certain exercises of spiritual
abstraction, in which the religieux withdraws his thoughts
from the external world with its motley crowd of changing
I
THE STRUGGLE FOR HAPPINESS.
forms, to anticipate in the stillness of Ms own ego, afar from
pain and pleasure, the cessation of the impermanent. The-
devotion of abstraction is to Buddhism what prayer is to other
religions.
It cannot be doubted that protracted and methodically
pursued efforts to superinduce states of abstraction have
actually formed a very prominent element in the spiritual
life of the monks. The prose as well as the poetry of the
sacred texts bears ample testimony to this. Monks who by a
noisy manner disturb their brothers at moments of abstraction
are reprimanded ; a careful housekeeper, when he assigns the
brothers their resting places, does not omit to arrange for those
of them who are endowed with the gift of abstraction, a separate
lodging, so that they may not be disturbed by others.* And
also through the poems of the monk-poets there runs a vein
of delight in the solitude of the forest cheered by the blessing
of holy abstraction. " If before me, if behind me, my eye
sees no other, it is truly pleasant to dwell alone in the forest.
Come, then ! Into solitude will I go, into the forest, which
Buddha praises : therein it is good for the solitary monk to
dwell, who seeks perfection. In the stia forest rich in blossoms,.
in the cool mountain cave, will I wash my body and walk
alone. Alone without comrades in the lovely forest when
shall I have gained the goal? when shall I be free from sins?"t
"When the thunderclouds in heaven beat the drum, when the
floods of water choke the paths of the air, and the monk in a
mountain cave surrenders himself to abstraction, he can have
no greater joy. .On banks of flower-bestrewn streams, which
* " MaUvagga," v, 6 ; " Cullavagga," iv, 4, 4.
f Theragatha; saying of the Ekavih&riya Thera (fol. klie).
SI 6 THE LAST STAGES OF THE PATH OF SALVATION, ETC.
are garlanded with motley forest-crowns, lie sits joyfully wrapt
in abstraction : he can have no higher joy."*
The descriptions in the prose Sutras which deal with these
conditions of the mind, although the scholastic accessories
of doubtful or imaginary psychological categories materially
impair the objectivity of the picture, leave no room to doubt
that here circumstances of a pathological kind also, as well as
qualities which a sound mind is in a position to induce, must
have played a part. The predispositions to these were super
abundantly at hand. In men who were by the power of a
religious idea torn from existence in the regular relations of
home-life, the physical consequences of a wandering mendicant
life, combined with spiritual over-excitement, exhaustion of
the nervous system, might easily produce a tendency to morbid
phases of this kind. We hear of hallucinations of the sight
as well as of the hearing, of (C heavenly visions" and fc heavenly
sounds. "f From the days when Buddha aspired to enlighten
ment, it is related how he sees (C a ray of light and the vision
of forms," or even a ray of light alone and again forms only.J
The appearances of deities also, or of the tempter of whom
the legends have so much to relate, betray the existence of
hallucinations. Still, visions of this kind are, comparatively
speaking, isolated occurrences. The normal type of " self-
concentration " was that which appears in the " four stages of
abstraction (jhana)," mentioned and described times without
number. In a quiet chamber, but oftener in the forest, a man
sat down, "with, crossed legs, body erect, surrounding his
countenance with vigilant thought." Thus he persevered in
* " Tlieragatha," saying of the Thera Bhuta (fol. khu ).
f E.g., Malialisuttanta (Digha N.).
J Upakilesiya Suttanta (Majjhima JN".).
SELF- CONCENTRATION. 3 1 7
long-continued motionlessness of body, and freed himself
successively from the disturbing elements of " desire and evil
emotions/ of lf deliberation and reflection/ of joy and sorrow;
at last even breathing stopped. Thus the spirit became
" collected, purified, refined, free from impurity, free from
sin, pliant, ready to be wrought, firm and unflinching." This
was the condition in which the sense of clairvoyant knowledge
of the rationale of the universe became active. As the secret
of creation revealed itself to Christian enthusiasts in moments
of ecstasy, so in this case men imagined they looked back
over the past of their own ego through countless periods of
transmigration, imagined they saw throughout the universe
wandering beings, how they are dying and being born again,
imagined they could penetrate the thoughts of others. Even
the possession of miraculous powers, of the capability of
vanishing and reappearing, of the capability of multiplying
the individual ego, is alleged in connection with this state of
abstraction. In addition to this there is talk of an otherwise
acquired concentration of the mind, which, without pathological
ingredients, rests solely on a progressive and methodical ab
straction from the plurality of the phenomenal world.* " As
this house of Migaramata is empty of elephants and cattle, of
stallions and mares, empty of silver and gold, empty of the
crowds of men and women, and it is not empty only in one
respect, viz., not empty of monks, so also Ananda the monk
gets rid of the notion man/ and thinks only on the notion
f forest/ . . . then he perceives that emptiness has entered
his notions in respect of the notion < village/ and emptiness
has entered in respect of the notion man/ non-emptiness is
alone present in respect to the notion forest." And next
the notion " forest" also is got rid of, so that the notion
* Culasumlatasutta (Majjh. K).
318 THE LAST STAGES OF THE PATH OF SALVATION, ETC.
" earth. " is attained with the omission of all the multitudinous
variety of the earth s surface ; thence the mind mounts in a
similar way to the notion of " endlessness of space," of end
lessness of reason/ of " nothing-whatever-ness/ step by step
approaching deliverance.*
As that which accomplishes deliverance is wisdom, i.e., the
knowledge of the Doctrine, the knowledge principally of the
four sacred truths, wisdom and abstraction lend each other
mutual support and aid : ( There is no abstraction where there
is not wisdom, no wisdom where there is not abstraction.
Truly he is near the Nirvana, in whom abstraction dwells and
wisdom."t
Side by side with the doctrine of abstractions there was
another doctrine matured, which, like it, had as its scope the
last stages of the path of deliverance : the theory of the four
graded classes in which, believers who are approaching the
goal are arranged, according to the greater or lesser perfection
of their saintliness. In the older text this doctrine moved,
comparatively speaking, in the background. Men were then
* It is not impossible that these imaginations, which are here attained
in the normal path of progressive abstraction, appeared also in a patho
logical form, when it is said : " He raises himself to the stage of infinity
of space, which is meant to convey: Endless is space he raises
-himself to the stage of nothing-whatever-ness, which means : There is
nothing whatever. " The pantheistic mysticism derived from Brahmanical
speculation may here possibly join contact with the morbid conditions of
spiritual void familiar to psychiatry. It sounds, in fact, like a translation
from a Buddhist Sutra, where Schiile (" Geisterkrankheiten," p. 100)
describes the "universal feeling of the nothing free from every effect:"
<k Nothing exists, and there is and will be nothing "these being the
^ords of a patient afflicted with this feeling. For Brahmanical doctrine
parallel -to the Buddhist doctrine of Abstractions, compare specially
? Yogasutra," i, 42, seq.
t "Dhammapada," 372.
SELF- CONCENTRATION, 319
content with defining only a double event in the souls of those
who hear and accept Buddha s teaching. At first the know
ledge of the impermaneiice of all being dawns upon them,
<e then bursts upon them/ as the standard ｅxpression of the
texts runs, " the clear and spotless vision of the truth : every
thing whatever that is liable to origination, is also liable to
decease." They discern painful impermaneiice necessarily
inherent in the existence of all being. He who has attained
this knowledge and perseveres as a monk in earnest endeavour,
may hope to take even the last step and reach the stage where,
"by the cessation of the hankering (after the earthly), his soul
becomes free from sins :" the ultimate aim of spiritual aspira
tion, deliverance, and sanctity.*
We refrain from unfolding in this place the system of the
four graded classes of believers, of later date, as it appears to
be, and over weighted, as it is, with ever more increasingly
cumbrous scholastic accessories. f To the belonging to one
* The narrative of Buddha s first discourses and conversions (" Maha-
vagga," Book I) gives ample vouchers for both grades of this succession
of steps.
t We reserve for the third excursus at the close of this work, a more
detailed examination of the texts, which give the psychological attributes
of the four stages. Here we content ourselves with stating the brief
characteristics of those stages, which are not unfrequently met in the
sacred writings (e.g., vide " Mahaparinibbana Sutta,"p.l6, seq.). The lowest
class is made up of the Sotapanna, i.e. those who have attained the path
(of sanctification). Of them it is said : " By the annihilation of the three
ties, they have attained the path ; they are not liable to re-birth in the
lower worlds (hells, spirit worlds, and world of lower animals) ; they are
sure (of deliverance) ; they shall attain the highest knowledge." The
next higher class is that of the Sakadagami (" those who return once ") :
" By the annihilation of the three ties, by the suppression of desire,
hatred and frivolity, they have become once-returning: when they
have returned once only to this world, they shall attain the end of
sorrow." Then follow the Anagami ("the not-returning"): "By the
320 THE LAST STAGES OF TEE PATH OF SALVATION, ETC.
or other of these grades there were, moreover,, attached no-
claims to a more or less prominent position in the Order; how
far each individual had advanced in his approach to the goal
of sanctity, was an affair, which wholly concerned his own
heart only and of which the Order as such took no notice.*
The highest of these stages, that of complete deliverance, was
regarded as attainable by monks alone.f How could those
who had renounced everything earthly for the sake of their
salvation, concede that eternal freedom from the world and
sorrows of the world is compatible with the continuance of
the outer man in worldly life ? Yet an exception was made in
favour of pious lay-disciples, if not in the matter of their life,
at least in their death : a believing, wise layman, who directs
annihilation of the five first ties they have come to be beings, who-
originate of themselves (i.e. who enter upon the state of being without-
being begotten or born; this is the case of the higher worlds of the
gods) ; they attain the Nirvana up there (in the world of gods) ; they are
not liable to return from that world." It seems that in the construction
of this class, special consideration for the laity, who have deserved well
at the hands of the Order, had some share, to whom because of their
lay standing perfect holiness could not be attributed, but to whom a
condition very nearly approaching thereto could not be denied. The
highest of the four stages and last is that of the Arhat, i.e., the Saint.
The view taken by Childers ("Diet.," p. 268, cf. 444), that any higher of
the four stages could not be attained, without having passed the lower
successively, is wholly inaccurate, at least as regards the older period
of Buddhist dogmatic, on which alone I venture to give an opinion.
* only in one place, as far as I know, does Buddhist Church-law
attach any legal importance to a monk s belonging to one of the four
stages : a man who had killed a saint could not receive monastic orders
(" Mahavagga," i, 66), Still, it is possible, that the word " saint " is here
used, as a remnant of a very ancient mode of speech, in a non-technical
signification, and that the injunction in its original sense prohibited
generally the admission of a murderer of a monk to the Order.
f Strictly taken the word Arhat ("saint") signifies this, i.e., one who
has a claim " it is to be supplied : on pious charity and veneration.
THE BUDDHAS. 321
his last thoughts, his last longings, to the cessation of
earthly being, becomes participator in this prize. " I tell thee,
Mahanama, that between a lay disciple, whose soul has
reached this stage of deliverance, and a monk, whose soul is
freed from all impurity, there exists no difference, as far as
concerns the state of their deliverance."*
High above these four stages stand those perfect ones, " who
have of themselves alone become partakers of the Buddha-
hood " (Paccekabuddha) : they have won the knowledge that
brings deliverance, not as disciples of one of the holy, universal
Buddhas, but of their own power, yet their perfection does not
extend so far that they could preach it to the world. The
sacred texts seldom touch this notion of the Paccekabuddhas :
it can only have played an entirely secondary part in the
ancient Order s circle of conceptions. It appears that the
Paccekabuddhas were thought to have lived chiefly in the
earlier ages, when there were no universal Buddhas and no
Orders founded by them ; the notion of a Paccekabuddha seems
to have been principally intended to imply that even in such
periods the door of deliverance is not shut against earnest and
powerful effort. But the doctrine later advanced, that the
* " Samyuttaka Nikaya," vol. iii, fol. lau. The later doctrine, not yet
advanced, as far as I know, in the sacred texts, construes this to mean,
that even a layman can attain holiness, but that he is not able to sustain
the weight thereof, just as a blade of grass is unable to support the
weight of a heavy stone. He must, therefore, on the same day on which
he attains holiness, either receive monastic orders, or, as the external
requisites for this cannot always be complied with, he must enter into
Nirvana (" Milinda Paiiha," p. 265). In the same connection that
wantonly formal conception, also, as far as I know, foreign as yet to the
sacred texts, grows up, that the more highly endowed believers generally
attain deliverance " in the barber s shop," i.e., during the performance of
tonsure, which marks the passage from the worldly to the religious life.
21
322 TEE LAST STAGES OF THE PATH OF SALVATION, ETC.
appearance of Paccekabuddhas is confined exclusively to those
ages, is not, as far as it appears, in accordance with the dog
matic of the sacred Pali texts. " In the whole universe/ 5 says
Buddha,* " there is, except me only, no one who is equal to
the Paccekabuddhas " the existence of saints of this grade
is consequently, to all appearance, admitted even in Buddha s
own time.
Above the four grades of believers and saints, there stand
last of all, embodying in themselves the essence of every
supreme perfection, the " exalted, holy, universal Buddhas."
It may cause surprise, that it is only in this place that our
sketch mentions the dogma of the Buddhas, somewhat as an
appendix to other more essential groups of thought. Is the
doctrine of Buddha s personality a secondary matter, must
it not be a fundamental part of the Buddhist faith, quite as
much as in our regard the doctrine of the personality of Christ
is a fundamental, nay, the fundamental part of the Christian
creed ?
At hardly any other point does the general similarity of
these two lines of evolution appear to diverge more determi-
nately than at this point. It may sound paradoxical, but it is
undoubtedly correct to say, that the Buddhist doctrine might
be in all essentials what it actually is, and yet admit of the
idea of the Buddha being conceived apart from it. That the
ineffaceable memory of Buddha s earthly life, that the belief
in Buddha s word as the word of truth, subjection to Buddha s
law as the law of holiness that all these considerations were
* " Apadana," fol. ki of the Phayre MS. Also when it is said, that
two holy universal Buddhas can never appear in the same world-system
at the same time (" Anguttara Nik.," vol. i, fol. kam), it seems thereby to
he implied, that the contemporaneous appearing of a universal Buddha
with Paccekabuddhas is not excluded.
THE BUDDHAS. 323
of the utmost importance in the formation of religious life and
experience in the Order of Buddha s Tdisciples, scarcely needs
to be said. But as far as the dogmatic treatment of that one
great problem is concerned, with which alone the whole of
Buddhist dogmatic deals, the question of pain and deliverance,
the dogma of Buddha stands in the background. In the creed-
formula of the four sacred truths the word; Buddha does not
occur.
The key to the explanation of this remarkable attitude of
the idea of Buddha towards the central ideas of the Buddhist
circle of thought, is to be found, I believe, in pre -Buddhist
history.
Where a doctrinal system, like the Christian, grows up 011
the basis of a strong faith in a God, it is natural that in the
consciousness of the community a reflection, aye, more than
a reflection of the grandeur and fulness of the almighty and
all-good God should fall on the person of him who, as master,
teacher, example, is in every way of immeasurable significance
to the life of his followers. The grace of God is said to
bestow eternal life on man : the Master becomes the mediator
by whom the grace of God extends to man. His nature is raised
in supernatural dignity to unity with God s nature ; his earthly
doings and sufferings appear to be the world-delivering doings
and sufferings of God.
The preconditions did not exist, under which an analagous
evolution of notions regarding Buddha s person might have
taken place. The faith in the ancient deities had been
obliterated by the pantheism of the Atman theory ; and the
Atman, the eternal inactive universal one, was not a god, who
could evince pity for man by a display of delivering activity.
And even the belief in the Atman itself had been effaced or
lost, and as ruler over the world longing for deliverance there
21*
324 THE LAST STAGES OF THE PATH OF SALVATION, ETC.
remained no more a god, but only the natural law of the
necessary concatenation of causes and effects. There stood
man alone as the sole operative agent in the struggle against
sorrow and death ; his task was, by a skilful knowledge of
the law of nature, to aim at gaining a position against it,
in which he was beyond the reach of its sorrow-bringing
operations.
The data, which must determine the dogmatic treatment of
Buddha s person, were hereby given. He could not be a god-
sent deliverer, for man looked not for deliverance from a gocl.
knowledge is to deliver; my knowledge is to deliver me : so
he must be the great knower and bringer of knowledge for all
the world. He must be a being, who has no inherent super
natural nobility beyond other beings,* but by higher, more
powerful effort first discovers that path, in which others after
him, following his footsteps, walk. In a certain sense we may
say, that every disciple, who is pressing on to holiness, is also
a Buddha as well as his Master.f This idea of essential
* The fact that Buddha, before he is born to his last life on earth,
lives as a god in the Tusita heavens and thence descends to earth, in no
way implies that a superhuman, god-and-man nature is claimed for him.
one who is a god in one existence, may in the next existence be born
again as an animal or in a hell. As Buddha in his last life but one was
a Tusita god, he had been in earlier existences also a lion, a peacock,
a hare, and so on ; but in his last appearance on earth he was a man and
in every way only a man.
f The customary terminology does not indeed designate Buddha 8
saintly followers themselves as Buddhas, but still it is evident on several
occasions, that such an ｅxpression was felt to be really allowable. Thus,
when the Sotapanna (note 2, p. 319) is defined as a person, who "will
attain the highest knowledge (sambodhi)." Especially in poetical texts
it is often doubtful, whether the word buddha is used in its narrower
sense or with reference to every saint. Vide " Dhammapada," v. 398 (cf.
v. 419).
TEE BUDDHAS. 325
resemblance between Buddha and all delivered men is very
significantly set forth in the following words : " As when,
Brahman, a hen has laid eggs, eight or ten or twelve, and
the hen has sat on them long enough, and kept them warm
and hatched them : when then one of the chickens first breaks
the egg-shell with the tip of its claw or with its beak, and
creeps successfully out of the egg, how will men describe this
chicken, as the oldest or the youngest ? " " It will be called
the oldest, venerable Gotama, for it is the oldest of them/
te So also, Brahman, of those beings, who live in ignorance
and are shut up and confined as it were in an egg, I have first
broken the egg-shell of ignorance and alone in the universe
obtained the most exalted, universal Buddhahood. Thus am
I, Brahman, the eldest, the noblest, of beings/ * Buddha
does not deliver beings, but he teaches them to deliver
themselves, as he has delivered himself. They accept his
declaration of the truth, not because it comes from him,
but because, verified by his words, personal knowledge of
that whereof he speaks, dawns on their minds.f
This is not, however, to be understood, as if Buddha s form
had not in. the belief of the Order exceeded the limits of earthly-
human reality, as if dogmatic had disdained to cast round
Buddha s head the halo of a glory that illuminates the universe.
The land of India was not like the Athens of Thukydides and
Aristophanes, in which care was taken that Samniasambuddhas
* " Suttavibnanga, Parajika," i, 1, 4.
t It is said in one of Buddha s addresses, after a prefatory exposition
of the causality formula : " If ye now know thus, and see thus, O disciples
will ye then say : We respect the Master, and out of reverence for the
Master do we thus speak ?" " That we shall not, O sire." . . .
" What ye speak, O disciples, is it not even tliatwhick ye have yourselves
known, yourselves seen, yourselves realized ? " " It is, sire."MaMtan-
liasakhamya Sutta, Majjhima NiMya.
326 THE LAST STAGES OF THE PATH OF SALVATION, ETC.
and god-men should not appear on earth. The eye of the
Indian was accustomed at every step to regard the natural
course of events within their earthly limits as interwoven in
fanciful continuity with, infinite distance. The longer thought
occupied itself with any speculation,, the oftener it recurred to
it, the more the human, the earthly in it vanished behind
the dreamy,, the typical, the universal. The age in which
the doctrines of the sorrow of everything earthly and of
deliverance first engaged young thought, could look upon
a Yajnavalkya and a (Jandilya as merely wise and pure men ;
viewed as the Buddhist viewed them, the floating outlines
of such forms were bound to fix themselves after the type
of the exalted, holy universal Buddhas appearing at fixed
times according to an eternal law of the universe.
It could scarcely be otherwise than that the historical form
of the one actual Buddha multiplied itself under dogmatic
treatment to a countless number of past and coming Buddhas.
It might satisfy a faith, which measured the past of this world
by thousands of years, its future by years, or perhaps by days,
to see standing out above the span of time the form of one
Saviour, to whom the past prophetically pointed, whose second
coming puts an end to the brief future. For the Indian no
horizon bounds the view of world-life; from immeasurable
distance to immeasurable distance, through innumerable,
immense ages of the world, extends the gigantic course of
origination, decease, and re-origination. How could he regard
what appeared to stand in the centre of his own world, of his
own time, as the universal middle point of all worlds,* of all
times ?
* The allotment of time to tlie Buddhas in the different ages of the
world is not an equal one. In one of the Pali-Sutras (Mahapadanasutta)
the statement is found, that the last Buddhas appeared at the following
THE BUDDHAS. 327
As an effort to reach the light that gives deliverance extends
throughout the whole coming and going of ages, throughout
the whole of being, enveloped in dark sorrow, so must at
certain times certain beings obtain a glimpse of this light ;
they must become Buddhas and fulfil the career ordained
from everlasting, of a Buddha. They are all born in the
Eastern half of central Hindostan ;* they all come of Brahman
or Kshatriya families ; they all attain delivering knowledge,
sitting at the foot of a tree. Their lives are of different
duration according to the ages in which they appear, and the
doctrine also which they teach, maintains its hold, sometimes
for a longer, sometimes for a shorter period, but in each case
for a definite length of time. " Five hundred years, Ananda,
will the doctrine of the truth abide/ says Buddha to his
beloved disciple.t Then the faith vanishes from the earth,
until a new Buddha appears, and again "sets in motion the
Wheel of the Law/
It follows that as the line of Buddhas extends throughout
times : one in the ninety-first age of the world, hack from thejresent,
two in the thirty-first age; our present age is a "blessed age" (bhacl
dakappa); it possesses five Buddhas, of whom Gotama is the fourth;
the appearing of Metteyya is still looked for. It is hardly necessary to
observe, that all these Buddhas, Gotama Buddha alone excepted, ^are
purely imaginary forms. (In the corresponding teaching of the Jaina-
sect regarding the Jinas of ancient times, Jacobi, "Indian Antiquary,"
1880, p. 158, seq., believes he can find elements of actual fact. I cannot
convince myself of it.)
* So already the canonical Pali tradition, " Cullavagga," xii, 2, 3.
passage is instructive, inasmuch as it shows how ancient Buddhism,
far from that cosmopolitan breadth of view, which people are wont
conceive as inherent in the Buddhist nature, regards its own
fatherland as the only chosen land.
f "Cullavagga," x, 1, 6. Later on, when this prophecy was
dieted by events, the numbers were naturally made greater.
"Koppen," i, 327.
328 THE LAST STAGES OF THE PATH OF SALVATION, ETC.
the immeasurable extent of time, so also tlie not less
immeasurable expanses of space have their Buddhas. The
sacred texts appear to touch very slightly this idea of Buddha
appearing in distant systems of worlds, but the conception
is quite in keeping with Indian fancy, that even in those
worlds separated from us by infinities the same struggle
of beings for deliverance repeats itself, which is going on on
this earth. fc lt cannot happen, disciples," says Buddha,
" it is impossible for two holy, universal Buddhas to appear in
one world-system at one time, not one before or after the
other"* in these words we may perhaps see a hint given,
that in other systems, apart from what is occurring in our
world, similar triumphs of light over darkness are won, to that
which Buddha has secured under the tree at Uruvela.
We hope to be excused from expanding in detail the
scholastic predicates, which dogmatic attributes to the exalted,
holy, universal Buddhas, from speaking of the ten Buddha
faculties, of the thirty-two external marks of a Buddha, and so
on. Instead of this we shall try to exhibit the tout ensemble,
which the union of all these perfections produced in the
imagination of the believer, the picture of supreme power,
supreme knowledge, supreme peace, supreme compassion.
We shall speak in the words of the texts.
Buddha says : " The all-subduing, the all-knowing, am I,
in everything that I am, without a spot. I have given up
everything; I am without desire, a delivered one. By my
own power I possess knowledge ; whom should I call my
master ? I have no teacher : no one is to be compared to me.
In the world, including the heavens, there is no one like unto
me. I am the Holy one in the world ; I am the supreme
* " Anguttara Nikaya," vide supra, note, p. 322.
THE BUDDHAS. 329
Master. I alone am the perfect Buddha; the flames are
extinct in me ; I have attained the Nirvana."* " The Exalted
one/ Kaccana names him,t " the bringer of joy, the dispenser
of joy, whose organs of life are placid, whose spirit is at rest,
the supreme self-subduer and peace-possessor, the hero, who
has conquered self and watches himself, who holds his desires
in check." " He appears in the world for salvation to many
people, for joy to many people, out of compassion for the
world, for the blessing, the salvation, the joy of gods and
men."J Thus have the Buddhas of bygone ages appeared,
thus shall the Buddhas of coming ages appear.
Will their succession ever have an end ? Will the victory
become complete, so that all beings shall have crossed over to
deliverance ?
The faithful of ancient days directed their thoughts but
seldom to this last question as to the future. But they did
not wholly pass it over. In the narrative of Buddha s death
we read the exclamation to which the god Brahma gave
utterance when the Holy one entered into the Nirvana :
" In the worlds beings all put off corporeity at some time,
Just as at this present time Buddha, the prince of victory, tlie
supreme master of all worlds,
The mighty, Perfect one, hath entered into Nirvana."
Thus beings shall all reach the Nirvana. Then, when
animated, sorrow-susceptible beings have vanished from the
domain of being, will the procession of the Sankharas, the
origination and decadence of worlds, continue in eternity?
Or, after the extinction of all consciousness in which this
procession was reflected, will the world of the Sankharas fall
* " Mahavagga," i, 6, 8.
f Vide supra, p. 146.
% " Anguttara Nikaya," vol. i, fol. ko. and elsewhere.
330 THE LAST STAGES OF THE PATH OF SALVATION, ETC.
to pieces, sinking in its own ruins ? Will the Nirvana, in the
depths of which the realms of the visible have disappeared, be
the one and All ?
We ask too much. " The Exalted one has not revealed this.
As it does not conduce to salvation, as it does not conduce to
holy life, to separation from the earthly, to the extinction of
desire, to cessation, to peace, to knowledge, to illumination, to
Nirvana, therefore has the Exalted one not revealed it."
PART III.
THE ORDER OF BUDDHA S DISCIPLES.
CHAPTER I.
THE CONSTITUTION or THE OKDEE AND ITS CODES OF LAWS.
WE now turn from the examination of the faith which held
together the band of Buddha s followers, to the consideration
of the outward observances, which religious custom and reli
gious discipline have prescribed for the life of this monastic
fraternity. It appears from the very beginning to have been
a society governed by law. The completion of a procedure
prescribed by law was necessary to the reception of a postulant
into the society. The law of the Order pointed out to him his
course of action and of omission. The society itself as a court
of discipline secured conformity to the ecclesiastical rules by
keeping up a regular judicial procedure.
This early appearance of a form of associated life strictly
governed by law can cause no astonishment. It is the
counterpart of the equally early appearance of a matured
and formulated dogmatic; the same characteristic features of
the period in which Buddhism developed itself, the same forces
of preceding history upon which it rests, explain the one
phenomenon as well as the other. The monastic order*
332 THE LAWS OF THE ORDER AND BOOKS OF THE LAWS.
professing other faiths, preceding and coeval with Buddha s
Order, and, in a not less degree, the common source of all
these sects, Brahmanism, have furnished for the formation of a
Church polity, as they did in the case of dogmatic speculation,
a set of ready-made forms, which Buddhism had only to
appropriate.
Quickly as the formation of canonical observances seems to
have attained a complete state, still there is no need of proving
that it cannot have been the work of a moment. In. the texts,
which contain the rules for the life of the members of the
Order, traces are clearly enough discernible which enable us to
distinguish earlier and later phases of development. We can
trace how a complex of injunctions first grew up, which were
regularly propounded about the time of full moon and new
moon in the confessional meetings of the Order; constantly
recurring technical ｅxpressions described in all these rules
what degree of guilt the monk incurred who transgressed
them. It is quite possible that this old collection of prohibi
tions, which has come down to us under the title of Patimokkha
("unburdening"), the basis of the whole body of Buddhist
Church-law, goes back to Buddha s own time, to the confessional
meetings held by him with his disciples.* A later layer of the
sacred texts shows us how further on the necessity made itself
felt in the next period, of supplementing by new regulations
* Not, indeed, in the Patimokkha itself, hut in another portion of the
Church ordinances, bearing likewise the stamp of high antiquity, there
is a clue which appears to point directly to the origin of the rules in
question within Buddha s own lifetime. In the description of the persons
who are not permitted to receive ordination, " he who has shed blood "
appears. It cannot be meant that every one is rejected who has inflicted
on another a bloody wound, for not even all murderers are excluded, but
only parricides, matricides, and murderers of a holy man. Therefore it
can hardly be doubted that the traditional explanation is correct, which
EARL7 FRAMING OF BINDING RULES. 333
the principles laid down in the Patimokkha. But no one
ventured to add anything on his own authority to the old
hallowed formulas. They therefore left the Patimokkha itself
untouched, but undertook, in the form of commentaries and in
new works, a revised and enlarged edition of the canonical
rules. They did not hesitate, indeed, to prescribe punishments
for transgressions which were not specified as such in the
Patimokkha. Yet they did not presume in doing so to use the
same ｅxpressions which had been adopted in the Patimokkha,
but they employed new words and introduced new forms of
disciplinary procedure for bringing to punishment any offences
against the newly-constituted ordinances.* Thus the succession
of earlier and later periods reveals itself to our research more
certainly still and more clearly in the development of the
system of connexional law than in that of dogmatic.
But, we must add, although the Order of Buddha s disciples,
or members thereof specially called on and qualified to do so,
have virtually acted as law-makers, yet in theory the community
has distinctly disclaimed all legislative functions. The authority
to frame a law for the community belongs to Buddha alone
according to Buddhist theory. All commands and prohibitions
received their character as binding rules from the fact that
Buddha has enunciated, or is supposed to have enunciated
them. With his death both the possibility and the necessity
for creating new laws has become extinct. The Order has only
to apply and expound Buddha s regulations, in the same way
here understands: "who has so wounded Buddha that his blood has
flowed." That this definition originated in a time when it had a met
will be regarded, if not as absolutely certain, at any rate as mo*
natural. For the elucidation of the passage in point (
67), cf. " Cullav." vii, 3, 9.
* Cf. the Introduction to my edition of the Vinaya I
p. xvii, seq.
334: THE LAWS OF THE ORDER AND BOOKS OF THE LAWS.
that it has to carefully preserve the doctrine revealed by
Buddha, but it is not called upon nor is it competent to
improve or extend. " The Order does not lay down what has
not been, laid down (by Buddha), and it does not abolish what
he has laid down; it accepts the ordinances as he has prescribed
them, and abides by them " so traditional legend represents
a Church council to have resolved shortly after Buddha s
death.* In the sacred texts, accordingly, all regulations, even
those obviously belonging to later periods, appear as if they
had been issued by Buddha himself. The inconsistency with
which, from this very desire to be consistent, they came to act,
is characteristic : they had no scruple in giving out as orders
of the exalted, holy Buddha, those very rules made by them
selves which they shrank from clothing in the time-hallowed
form of the Patimokkha institutes. The liturgical conscience
was stronger than the historical if, indeed, that complete
indifference with which men in India have at all times regarded
or rather have not regarded, literary and historical authenticity
will allow us in this case to speak of an historical conscience.
The ancient compilations of the laws of the Order share to
the fullest extent in all those peculiarities which cause some
sections of Buddhist dogmatics to appear to us to be a so very
pathless waste. The same subtlety here as there, the same
inexhaustible capability of enjoying long abstract series of
notions purely for their own sake. Here we have, not rules
drawn from life for life, but scholastic lucubrations, unpractical
and, strictly speaking, not even clear. The form in which they
* " Cullavagga," xi, 1, 9, cf. " Suttavibhanga, Nissaggiya," xv, 1, 2.
The narrative of the council at Vesali (" Cullavagga," xii), also clearly
illustrates how the Church, according to the current theory, limited itself
throughout to the authentic interpretation of the spiritual law ordained
by Buddha.
LAW-MAKING JN THE BUDDHIST COMMUNITY. 335
are usually introduced is most simple. In every case the same
outline : At this time, when the exalted Buddha was staying in
such and such a place, this and that irregularity occurred.
The people who came to know of this were irritated, murmured,
and complained : How can monks, who follow the son of the
Sakya house, commit such offences, like wanton worldlings or :
like unbelieving heretics, as the case in point has occurred.
The spiritual brothers hear the whisperings of the people ;
they too are irritated, murmur and complain : How can the
venerable N. N". be guilty of the like ! They mention the
matter to Buddha; he calls the disciples together, delivers
to them an admonitory address, and then issues the order :
I order, disciples, that so and so shall or shall not be done.
Whoso does this is liable to such and such a punishment.
Stereotyped like this narrative itself, which recurs thousands
of times, are also the figures of the culprits who appear in the
narrative, and by their actions afford occasion in every instance
for Buddha s interference. A specific brother turns out to be
the culprit, if the matter be an inordinate exaction of pious
beneficence. If offences of a lascivious description occur, the
actor, as a rule, is the venerable Udayi. But the longest
catalogue of crimes attaches to the Chabbaggiyas, six monks
associated together in all mischievous artifices. Whatever
Buddha may prescribe, the Chabbaggiyas always find a way
of circumventing the law, or, while they comply with it, o
mixing up some evil with their performance. When Buddha
declares that the twigs of certain plants are to be used for
cleaning the teeth, the Chabbaggiyas take long and massive
twigs, and beat the novices with them. If a transgressor is
to be censured before the Order, the Chabbaggiyas raise
objections and thereby defeat the enforcement of discipline.
on one occasion when the nuns had dirty water poured over
336 THE LAWS OF TEE OEDER AND BOOKS OF THE LAWS.
them, the Chabbaggiyas were the actors, and so on through the
long texts of the Kules for the Order the Chabbaggiyas figure
everywhere as the arch-criminals, whose new discoveries in all
regions of mischief the spiritual legislation enacted by Buddha
follows up step by step. There is in these narratives un
doubtedly many an authentic memory of the evil deeds of
this and that black sheep of the flock. But, taken as a whole,
it needs scarcely to be said, a picture of what was wont to occur
within the Order, based on these cases of spiritual discipline,
would only be correct to the same extent as if, for example,
one were to admit Stichus, the much renowned slave of the
Digests, to pass for an illustration of Eoman slaves in general.
We shall now endeavour to present in a connected form the
regulations of the Order, as they are illustrated in the descrip
tions of countless occurrences scattered here and there in the
canonical texts.
THE OEDEE AND THE DIOCESES ADMISSION AND WITHDEAWAL.
The band of disciples gathered round Buddha, out of which
grew the Order and the Church, rested, as without doubt did
also the other monastic orders of India so numerous in that
age, on the forms, which under the older Brahmanical system
governed the relation between the religious teacher and his
religious disciples. The use of the same words, which, in this
case as as well as in that, constituted the solemn ｅxpression of
this relationship, warrant our inferring the homogeneousness
of the last-named system. The youth who desires to commit
himself to the guidance of a Brahmanical teacher to learn the
Yeda, steps before him and says : " I am come for the
Brahmacarya (spiritual discipleship) . I desire to be a Brahma-
TEE ORDER. 337
carin (spiritual disciple)." And the teacher "ties the girdle
round him, gives him the staff into his hand and explains him
the Brahmacarya, by saying : Thou art a Brahmacarin ; drink
water; perform service; sleep not by day; study the Yeda
obediently to thy teacher/ "* In the very same way, accord
ing to Buddhist tradition,, the coming Buddha goes in the time
of his quest of delivering knowledge to the spiritual teacher
Uddaka and says: "I desire, friend, according to thy
teaching and thy direction, to walk in the Brahmacarya."
Uddaka receives him, and the relation thus established is
indicated with the very ｅxpressions, which are those regularly
adopted in the Brahmanical mode of speech, as that subsisting
between Acarya (teacher) and Antevasin (scholar) .f And in
the same way later on, when Buddha himself as a teacher
receives the first students of his gospei, tradition represents
him as doing so in these words : " Come hither, monk, the
doctrine is duly preached ; walk in the Brahmacarya, to put an
end to all sorrow."
The Order of Buddhists presents, as long as the Master is
alive, a union of teacher and scholars after the Brahmanical
model. The transition of such a community, so to speak, from
a monarchical type to a republican, its passing somehow, when
the teacher dies, into a confederacy of independent members
existing side by side, is wholly unknown to the religious system
of the Brahmans.f This very transition has completed itself in
* " Acvalayana G.," i, 22 ; cf. " Paraskara," ii, 2, 3 ; " gat. Br.," xi, 5,
4, seq.
t Thus also when the Buddhists say : " Uruvelakassapo mahasamane
(i.e. bhagavati) brahxnacariyam carati," this amounts to the same as when
it is said in the " Chandogya Upanishad " : " Maghavan Prajapatau
brakmacaryam uvasa ;" when Indra resolves to enter into this relation of
pupil, it is said of him " abhipravavraja."
J Not even in that case in which we should be especially inclined to
22
338 THE ORDER AND THE DIOCESES.
Buddhism. Buddha died, and his disciples, already at that
time scattered over the greater part of India, survived as a
monastic community, which had no visible head and saw its
invisible head only in the doctrine and ordinance declared by
Buddha.* " Be your own light, be your own refuge," says
Buddha, when approaching death, "have no other refuge.
Let the truth be your light and your refuge ; have no other
refuge." Thus became fixed, what has been described as the
trinity of Buddhism, the triad of those sacred powers, in
which the newly- entering monk or lay-brother by solemn
declaration " takes his refuge:" Buddha, the Doctrine, the
Order. Not without hesitation I here venture to hazard a
conjecture, which has no support and can have none in tradi
tion : I think that the formula of this sacred triad does riot go
back to the time of Buddha s life, but that it had its origin in
connection with those very changes which his death wrought
for the community of his disciples. Must not Buddha alone,
as long as he lived, and the Doctrine of deliverance preached
by him have appeared to the believers their refuge ? Could
anyone call the disciples his refuge, as long as the Master was
with them ? His death changed everything. Now the Order
stood as the sole visible exponent of the idea hitherto embodied
in Buddha, as the sole possessor of delivering truth; now he
expect to find such a transition, that, namely, where the pupils of the
deceased teachers had been life-long (naishthika) Brahmacarins. Cf. the
statements as to the scholars, whose teacher dies, in " Gautama," iii, 7,
.seq., " Manu," ii, 247, seq. ; Biihler on " Apastamba," i, 1, 1, 12.
-* Considering the great number and the scattered residences of the
miembers of the Order, it is natural to think it is even probable, that
-Already in Buddha s lifetime the fraternities of his disciples had an
existence independent of Buddha s personality in essential features.
Buddhist tradition also points to this. More intimate knowledge of the
facts bearing on this matter is obviously not obtainable by us.
THE THREE SACRED ENTITIES : BUDDHA, DOCTRINE, ORDER. 339
who desired to become a partaker of this truth, was obliged to
take his refuge also with the Order.
The confession of this sacred triad has been couched in
these articles, to which has been added in the fourth place the
ｅxpression of the determination to abide by the precepts of
holy living. The formula runs :
" To Buddha will I look in faith : he, the Exalted, is the
holy, supreme Buddha, the Knowing, the instructed, the
blessed, who knows the worlds, the Supreme one, who yoketh
men like an ox, the Teacher of gods and men, the Exalted
Buddha.
"To the Doctrine will I look in faith : well-preached is the
Doctrine by the Exalted one. It has become apparent ; it
needs no time ; it says come and see ; it leads to welfare ;
it is realized by the wise in their own hearts.
" To the Order will I look in faith : in right behaviour lives
the Order of disciples of the Exalted one; in proper behaviour
lives the Order of the disciples of the Exalted one ; in honest
behaviour lives the Order of the disciples of the Exalted one ;
in just behaviour lives the Order of the disciples of the Exalted
one, the four couples, the eight classes of believers ;* that is
the Order of the disciples of the Exalted one, worthy of
offerings, worthy of gifts, worthy of alms, worthy to have men
lift their hands before them in reverence, the highest place in
the world, in which man may do good.
" In the precepts of rectitude will I walk, which the holy
love, which are uninfringed, unviolated, unmixed, uncoloured,
free, praised by the wise and not counterfeit, which lead on to
concentration, "
* The different grades of the holy.
t So according to the " Samyuttaka Nikaya," vol. iii, fol. sa; cf.
22*
34:0 TEE ORDER AND THE DIOCESES.
But if the Order be regarded as the ideal unit of believing
monks over the whole face of the earth, as the bearer of a
holiness which resembles the holiness of Buddha and his Doc
trine, yet in actual life the Order never appears in this universal
sense. There is really not one order, but only orders, commu
nities of the monks sojourning in the same diocese. Devout
persons might indeed present gifts and endowments to the
" Church of the four quarters of the world, those present and
those absent;" then the monks happening to be present, or
the monks present of the diocese concerned, appear to have
been regarded as the legitimate representatives of the te Church
of the four quarters " for the receiving of such a gift and the
administration of property so acquired: but regular standing
organization for the superintendence of its concerns the
collective Church had none ; for the forming of any resolution,
the completion of any act in its name, there was a total absence
of legal form.
The difficulties, which were bound to arise from this,
and which have as a fact arisen, are obvious. The band of
disciples, which had gathered round Buddha, had grown with
unparalleled rapidity into a great spiritual power. Throughout
all India and soon beyond the confines of India, in the woods,
through the villages, went the B uddhist monks preaching and
begging. How then was the " Church of the four quarters,
those present and those absent" to undertake in fact the
administration of their common concerns ? This object could
only have been secured by creating a powerful centre, a
spiritual regency in which the will of the whole Church would
" Mahaparin, S.," p. 17, seq. ; " D Alwis, Kachchayana," p. 77. He who
keeps the vows expressed in this confession, Las reached the grade of the
" Sotapanna " (vide p. 319, note 2) on the path of holiness.
WANT OF A CENTRAL POWER. 341
have concentrated itself.* But we find that not even the
slightest attempt has been made in the whole Church-regula
tions for carrying out such arrangements.f The centre of
gravity of all operations of Church-government, if we may
speak of such a thing at all, lies within the circumference,
within the small corps of brethren dwelling in the same
circuit. But in the wandering life of these mendicant monks,
in their constant coming and going, which only the three
months of the rainy season bring to a certain standstill, the
composition of these limited corps is naturally always changing.
These monks to-day, to-morrow those have been thrown
together, to-day these, to-morrow those exercise decisive
* We have already referred (p. 158, note 2) to the fact that after
Buddha s death none of the disciples was regarded as called to what may
be styled the succession. We here insert further the following passage :
" At one time the venerable Ananda was sojourning at llajagaha . . ,
shortly after the Exalted one had entered into JNirvana. At that time
the king of MagadLa, Ajatasattu, the son of the Vedelii princess, was
fortifying Kajagaha against the King Pajjota." The minister, who is
directing these fortifications, Vassakara, asks Ananda: "Venerable
Ananda, has any special monk been marked out by the venerated Gotama
of whom he has said: This shall be your refuge after my death -in
whom you can now find your shelter P" Ananda answers the question in
the negative. The minister further asks : Has then the Church named
a specific monk, has a multitude of elders appointed him and given an
order.: < He shall after the death of the Exalted one be our refuge -
This also Ananda answers in the negative. " If you thus have no refuge,
revered Ananda, how does unity exist among you?" "There is no
want to us of a refuge, O Brahman ; we have a refuge, the Doctrine. ,
<" Gopakamoggallana Suttanta " in the " Majjhima JS ikaya." Cf . also
supra, p. 198.)
t How far the official construction of Church history current in Ceylon
has understood the post of the Vinayapamokkka (" Heads of the Church
Law ") as that of a primate, I do no pretend to determine. But this very
notion of the Vinayapamokkha, wholly foreign to the ancient Church law,
shows that here we meet a not happy fictitious construction of history.
34:2 THE ORDER AND THE DIOCESES.
authority among the brothers. Continuity and succession in
the direction of matters of common interest could not, under
these circumstances, possibly exist and how could there be
wanting in the life of this vast ecclesiastical corporation matters
which demanded a continuous direction ? If the synod of a
particular district had come to any resolution for the decision
of a doubtful point, or as to the right and wrong in a dispute
between spiritual brothers, it was open to every other synod
to resolve the contrary, and higher authority there was none,
either to re-establish harmony in a synod divided within itself,
or to reconcile the rival claims of different synods.* In the
early times after Buddha s death the personal authority of the-
disciples, who had stood nearest to the Master, may possibly
have operated to compensate this want and have checked the
outbreak of serious discord : but a condition of things, which
depends on the weight of individuals, not upon the sure struc
ture of legal institutions, bears in itself the germ of dissolution.
The sacred texts, which became fixed some time towards the
end of the first century after Buddha s death, show clearly
what disorder and confusion must have prevailed in the Church
at that time ; there is reflected in these texts the deep feeling
of disaster, which dissensions among the brethren were bound
to cause and were already causing, and at the same time the
utter incapacity to prevent this disaster. The chapter, on
Schisms in the Church is constantly treated of, whenever the
topic of spiritual life is discussed ; the guilt of him who has
given occasion for such dissensions is reckoned among the
gravest sins ; the most impressive admonitions to the brethren
are put in Buddha s mouth, to live in harmony with each other
* Of the disorder, which hence arising prevailed in the Church law
and subsequently undoubtedly also in the Church life, " Cullavagga," iv,
14, 25, for example, gives us a glimpse.
WANT OF A CENTRAL POWER AND THE COUNCILS. 3i3
and to make concessions, even when in the right, rather than
to allow divisions to arise in the Order. More effective still
than these admonitions would have been institutions, pos
sessing the power to watch over the relations between
communities and members of communities, over the co-opera
tion of all ; such institutions were wholly wanting.
The defect, which lay here, shows itself in nothing more
observably than in those very features which a cursory
examination might be inclined to regard as its remedy : in
the great councils to which such transcending importance
is attached in old Buddhist tradition. The sacred texts
mentions two such councils. The first is said to have been
held at Rajagaha a few months after Buddha s death, for
the purpose of compiling an authentic collection of Buddha s
discourses and precepts. The second took place, as it is said,
a hundred years later at Vesali, occasioned by a difference of
opinion as to certain licenses, which had come to be practised
by the monks of that town. This narrative of the council
at Rajagaha is, we admit, to all appearance quite unhistorical,
but the legal construction, on which it rests, is not on that
account anything the less instructive for us. In the great
gathering of disciples, who came together at Kusinara after
Buddha s death, thought turns upon collecting and arranging
Buddha s discourses, so as to possess in them a weapon against
profane innovators. It is decided that five hundred chosen *
brethren of known holiness should perform this great task at
Rajagaha, and the assembled monks give them a commission
in this behalf by a formal resolution. This resolution decides
that the five hundred are to pass the rainy season at Rajagaha
and that no other monk is permitted to remain then in that
town. Thus the council is held ; the arrangement and the
wording of the canonical texts is fixed by the five hundred
34:4: THE ORDER AND THE DIOCESES.
fathers. Now then, if we ask what is the legal nature of this
assembly, it is evident, that it is nothing more and nothing
less than the assembly of the brethren sojourning in the
diocese of Rajagaha. There have come together, because
of the resolution passed at Kusinara, specially numerous
and specially qualified persons, and, in pursuance of that
resolution, unqualified persons have kept themselves aloof from
that diocese,* but that in no way alters the case, that the
deliberations of this so-called council are in fact only the
proceedings of one specially prominent diocese, brought about
by the resolution of another similar diocesan meeting, but
i not a Church-proceeding, resting on the authority of the
" Church of the four quarters of the world." It seems that
tradition itself was clearly sensible of this, and that it desired
to give ｅxpression to this, when it represented the venerable
Purana, a monk who had not been a sharer in the deliberations,
coming to Eajagaha at their close, and being told : The
fathers, my dear Purana, have fixed the canon of the Doctrine
and Law ; accept this canon." But he answers : " The canon
of the Doctrine and Law, my friends, has been admirably
fixed by the fathers, but I will adhere to that which I have
myself heard and received from the Exalted one." The
fathers make no reply, and cannot, indeed, say anything in
reply; the right of the individual to take as much or as
little notice as he pleased of the resolution of an assembly
such as that at Kajagaha was, could not be disputed with
propriety on the basis of this form of Church.f
* A cogent necessity to do so can scarcely have heen brought about
by such a decree ; the right of every brother to live where he pleases,
could hardly be set aside by a resolution like that here spoken of.
t It is the same as to the Council at Vesali. To remedy the abuses
which had arisen in Vesali, a number of elders come together in that
ANARCHY IN TEE ORDER ADMISSION TO ITS EANE8. 345
The force of existing circumstances and the authority of
influential personages might perhaps for a time help to make
up for, or conceal the utter want of organization ; finally, how
ever, the inherent impossibility of a Church without Church-
government, with ordinances which were only applicable
to the narrow circle of a coterie, was certain to lead to
ever increasingly momentous consequences. Those deeply
incisive schisms, which early arose and never disappeared, the
weakening of the resistance opposed to the Brahmanism at
first so successfully attacked, are phenomena certainly not
unconnected with that fundamental effectiveness of Buddhist
Church-organization. If at last, after a long death-struggle,
Buddhism has vanished from its Indian home, leaving not a
trace behind, we venture to think, that in the old rules of the
community, in what they say and not less in what they leave
unsaid, no small part of the preparatory history leading to that
distant future is clearly enough depicted.
Entry into the Order* was, as a rule, open to everyone. As
earthly suffering affects all, as all are bound as it were by bands
to the paths of metempsychosis, so too must the liberation
from these bands, which Buddha s teaching promises, embrace
all who choose to accept it. Buddha utters at the commence
ment of his career these words :
" Open thou, O Wise one, the door of eternity ;
Let be>eard what them, O Sinless one, hast discovered."
Nevertheless it could not but be that practical necessity
place ; the resolutions of the " Council " are in reality only resolutions of
the diocese of Vesali, to which every monk, who comes to Vesali, eo ipso,
belonged, and the composition of which was modified appropriately to
the importance of this special cause.
* We confine our observations for the present to the Order of Monks.
We shall speak of the nuns farther on.
34:6 THE CHURCH AND THE DIOCESES.
should cause the imposition of certain restrictions on admission
into the Order. The reception of those afflicted with serious
bodily deformities and sicknesses was, as a matter of course,
forbidden ; it was the same with confirmed criminals. Then
there were above all several categories of persons excluded,
whose entry into the spiritual status would have involved an
interference with the rights of third parties : persons who
were in the royal service, especially soldiers, could not be
admitted, as that would have interfered with the rights of
the king as commander of the forces ; debtors and slaves could
not, for this would have been an infringement of the rights of
their creditors and owners ; sons, whose parents had not given
their consent were similarly excluded. Children, too, were
considered unfit for admission into the Order : a person might
be received as a novice at the earliest at the age of twelve
years,* and as a fully-accredited member at twenty.f
The ceremony of initiation is completed in two grades : there
* These twenty years are reckoned not from birth but from conception,
by a method of computation occurring also in the spiritual law of the
Brahmans. (" Mahavagga," i, 75 ; cf. " Qankhayana G.," ii, 1, seq.)
t The statements having reference to invalidity of reception (" Maha
vagga," i, 49, seq. ; 61, seq.) prohibit, partly the completion of the lower,
and partly that of the higher grade of initiation (vide infra). In cases
of the latter kind the initiation granted contrary to rule must be cancelled ;
the old codex of the " Patimokkha" goes even farther, and, in the only case
of the kind which it touches, declares the initiation granted to be ipso
jure invalid (" Pacitt.," 65). For cases of the first kind on the contrary
there is no such clause ; it appears, that in this case the initiation
remained in force, even though it had been conceded contrary to rule.
Thus we might here have a distinction which may be compared to that of
impedimenta dirimentia and impedientia in the legal system of our own
times. In detail the separation of cases falling under the two classes
mentioned gives rise to manifold doubts ; the redaction of the " Maha
vagga " is in this point not without embarrassment.
THE LOWER INITIATION. 347
is a lower, to a certain extent preparatory ordination, Pabbajja,,
i.c. 9 the outgoing, and a higher Upasampada, i.e., the arrival.
The Pabbajja is the going out from a prior state, from the
lay-life or from a monastic sect holding another faith; the-
Upasampada is the entry into the circle of the Bhikkhus, the
fully-accredited members of the Buddhist Order : just as in
Buddha s own life, the departure from home is distinct from
the Upasampada, the attainment of delivering knowledge,
which coincides with the founding of the Order.* Between
the two steps of initiation, if the postulant has not yet attained
the age of twenty years, lies the noviciate, or if he has
previously belonged to another monastic order, a probationary
period extending over four months. f To outsiders, who look
upon the Order as a whole, without considering the difference
based on its internal relationship, he is during this term, as well
as all his brethren, an " ascetic who follows the son of the
Sakya house ; "J but in the Order he is first treated as a
Bhikkhu, a real member, when he has received the higher
initiation. Where the grounds mentioned for separating the-
two steps of initiation did not exist, they appear to have been
gone through, as a rule, at the same time.
We directed attention above (p. ooC) to the analogy which
prevails between the reception of a Buddhist believer into
the Order and the reception of the young Brahman by his
teacher. This is the place to institute a comparison between
the first of the two steps in Buddhist initiation and another
stage in the Brahmanical system, the entry of the Brahman
* " Milinda Panha," p. 76 ; " Mahavastu," vol. i, p. 3.
f So according to " Mahavagga," i, 38. I give this view the preference
to that stated in the " Mahaparinibbana Sutta," p. 59, according to which
the probationary period precedes the Pabbajja.
J Vide e.g., " Mahavagga," i, 46.
-348 THE ORDER AND THE DIOCESES.
into the state of a hermit or wandering beggar. (f When the
Brahman/ we read in Manu s Institutes, " who is living in
the state of a householder, sees his skin becoming wrinkled and
his hair becoming grey, if he sees his son s son, then let him
go forth into the forest. Let him leave all food, such as one
enjoys in the village, and all household furniture behind him ;
to his sons let him commit his wife, and let him go to the
forest, or let him go forth with his wife. Let the Brahman
make the Prajapati-offering and give all his possessions as
remuneration of sacrifice ; his holy fire let him take up in his
own body, and thus let him go forth from his house.* For the
Brahman, who leaves his home and becomes a homeless ascetic,
his own act of outgoing only is necessary ; and Pabbajja, i.e.,
" the outgoing" is therefore used by the Buddhists of the first
step of initiation, by which the change of a layman into an
ascetic takes place, " outgoing from home into homeless-
ness " (agarasma anagariyam pabbajja).
Pabbajja, as is implied by its very essence, is a one-sided
act on the part of the " outgoer." He alone speaks, and of
what he says the Order as such takes no notice ; every, older,
fully-accredited monk can receive his declaration. The candi
date puts on the yellow garment of the religieux, has his hair
and beard shaved off, and says three times in reverential
attitude to the monk or monks present : " I take my refuge in
the Buddha. I take my refuge in the Doctrine. I take my
refuge in the Order."
To full membership of the Order, to be a Bhikkhu, the
novice was raised by the ordination of Upasampada, which,
differing from the lower form, consisted of a ceremony com-
* The word "going forth" (pra-vraj) can be used equally well, whether
the entry upon the condition of a hermit or upon that of a mendicant
monk be spoken of. " Apastamba," ii, 9, 8. 19.
TEE LOWER AND THE HIGHER INITIATION. 349
pleted before the Order and by their participation. The outer
forms were most simple; the old Order was wont when it
undertook ceremonial operations, to express what had to be
expressed, with bare business-like precision, and nothing
more. We find in the ceremony of ordination nothing of the
ceremonies which we are accustomed to look for in Church
observances, no sound, in which we might hear ringing the
depths and the poetry of the religious idea. Instead, we hero
meet, in truly Indian fashion, the careful concise ｅxpression of
all the precautions, which the Order takes before admitting a
new member into their midst. The postulant speaks before
the assembled chapter of the monks, cowering reverently 011
the ground, raising his joined hands to his forehead, saying :
" I entreat the Order, reverend sirs, for initation. May the
Order, reverend sirs, raise me up to itself; may it have pity on
me. And for the second and for the third time I entreat
the Order, reverend sirs, for initiation. May the Order,
reverend sirs, raise me up to itself; may it have pity on me."
Now follows a formal examination of the postulant. " Hearest
thou me, N. N. ? Now is the time come for thee to speak
truly and to speak honestly. I ask thee, how things are.
What is, thou must say thereof: It is. What is not, thou
must say thereof : It is not. Art thou afflicted with any of
the following diseases : leprosy, goitre, white leprosy, consump
tion, epilepsy ? Art thou a human being ?* Art thou a man?
Art thou thine own master ? Hast thou no debts ? Art thou
not in the royal service? Has thou the permission of thy
father and mother? Art thou full twenty years of age ? Hast
thou the almsbowl and the garments? What is thy name?
What is thy teacher s name?" If the answer to all these
* That is, not a serpent-demon in human form, and the like.
350 TEE ORDER AND THE DIOCESES.
questions be satisfactory, the motion for the conceding of
initiation is put to the Order and repeated thrice : ff Reverend
sirs, let the Order hear me. N. N. here present desires as
pupil of the venerable N". N. to receive ordination. He is free
from the obstacles to ordination. He has the almsbowl and
garments. N. N. entreats the Order for ordination with the
said N. N. as his teacher. The Order grants N. N. ordination
with the said N". N". as his teacher. Whoever of the venerable
is for granting the said N". N". ordination with the said N. N.
as his teacher, let him be silent. Whoever is against it, let
him speak." If, after thrice repeating this motion, no dissen
tient voice is heard, it is declared passed. " N. N. has from
the Order received ordination with the said N". N. as his
teacher. The Order is in favour of this ; therefore it is silent ;
thus I understand." Next, when they have measured the
shadow, i.e., determined the time of day, in order to fix the
anciennete of the newly-ordained member, and have announced
the particulars therefore, they communicate to the young
member of the Order the four rules of monastic austerity in
external life : The food of him, who has gone from home into
homelessness, shall be the morsels which he receives by
begging. His clothing shall be made out of the rags which
he collects. His resting-place shall be under the trees of the
forest. His medicine shall be the stinking urine of cattle. If
pious laymen prepare him a meal, if they give him clothing,
shelter, medicine, it is not forbidden him to take them, but he
is to look upon this harsh form of mendicancy as the proper
and appointed mode of life for a monk.
Finally the four great prohibitions are communicated to the
member, the fundamental duties of monastic life, by an
infringement of which the guilty person brings about his
inevitable expulsion from the Order :
THE FOUR GREAT PROHIBITIONS. 351
" An ordained monk may not have sexual intercourse, not
even with an animal. The monk who has sexual intercourse,
is no longer a monk ; he is no disciple of the son of the
Sakya house. As a man whose head is cut off, cannot live
with the trunk, so also a monk who practises sexual intercourse
is no longer a monk : he is no disciple of the son of the Sakya
house. Thou must abstain therefrom all thy life.
" An ordained monk may not take what has not been given
to him, what is called a theft not even a blade of grass. The
monk, who takes ungiven a pada* or a pada s worth or more
than a pada, (commits) what is called a theft, is no longer
a monk; he is no disciple of the son of the Sakya
house. As a dry leaf which has separated itself from the
stalk cannot again become green, so also a monk, who takes
ungiven a pada or a pada s worth or more than a pada, what
is called a theft, is no longer a monk ; he is no disciple of the
son of the Sakya house. Thou must abstain therefrom all
thy life.
< < An ordained monk may not knowingly deprive any creature
of life, not even a worm or an ant. The monk, who knowingly
deprives a human being of life, even by the destruction of
a foetus, is no longer a monk : he is no disciple of the son
of the Sakya house. As a great stone, which has been split
into two parts, cannot again be made into one, so also a monk
and so on.
"An ordained monk may not boast of any superhuman
perfection, as much as to say: < I like to dwell in an empty
house/ The monk, who with evil intent and from covetous-
ness falsely and untruly boasts of a superhuman perfection, t
* A coin or a trivial metallic weight.
t When we here, next to the offences of unchastity, theft and murder,
find the false and fraudulent assumption of spiritual perfections mentioned
352 THE ORDER AND THE DIOCESES.
be it a condition of abstraction, or of rapture, or of concentra
tion, or of elevation, or of the path of deliverance, or of the
fruit of deliverance, he is no longer a monk ; he is no disciple
of the son of the Sakya house. As a palm-tree, the top of
which has been destroyed, cannot again grow, so also a monk
and so on. 1 "
The communication of these four great prohibitions concludes
the ceremony of ordination. We see, that in it no liturgical
elements come to the front which might to a certain extent
serve to express by solemn symbolism the putting off of the
natural man and the putting on of a new man, or the cohesion
of the old believers and the young member into a spiritual
unity.* "We have before us merely a process of spiritual law, not
as the fourth of the major sins, this entitles us to infer, with what offensive
preference this branch of religious swindling must have been cultivated
already even in that age in Indian monastic circles. The sacred texts
("Vinaya Pitaka," vol. iii, p. 87, seq.) narrate as an illustration to-
Buddha s ruling on this point, that a community of monks in the Vajji
tarritory once endured great distress by famine. It was proposed that
they should take service with the laity to obtain the means of living ;
a more quick-witted monk, however, advised that every brother should
attribute the highest spiritual perfections to the other brethren in the
hearing of the laity : " This monk has attained such and such a degree
of abstraction" "this monk is a saint" "this monk possesses the
threefold knowledge "and more of the like. The suggestion is
accepted, and the laity say in astonishment : " It is lucky, very lucky
for us that such monks are spending the rainy season in our midst.
Never in days gone by have monks come to us for the rainy season such
as these monks are, rich in virtue and noble." Naturally then the
liberality of the laity corresponds in full to the high opinion which they
entertain of the spiritual merit of their guests, so that the latter survive
the period of famine, " blooming, well-fed, with healthy complexion and
healthy skin."
* The assertion often made, that the person entering the Order changes
his family-name for a cloister-name, is erroneous or at any rate supported
WITHDRAWAL FROM THE ORDER. 353
a mystic transformation which comes over and permeates the
person of the ordained. The consequence of this conception,
as rational as it is bare, is that there is nothing to prevent the |
breaking off of the relation thus established, either on the part
of the Order* or on the part of the ordained. If the latter bo
guilty of any serious transgression, especially if he infringe
the four great prohibitions, imposed on him at ordination,
it becomes the right and the duty of the Order* to renounce
him. on the other side, to the monk, who has a lingering
fondness for a worldly life, the exit from the Order is always
open : the Order makes no effort to detain him. It is better for
him "to renounce monastic practice and to admit his weakness/
than, remaining in the spiritual state, to commit sin. Whoever
says : My father is in my thoughts/ or my mother is in
my thoughts/ or <e my wife is in my thoughts," or "the
laughter and the jest, the pleasantry of old days is in my
thoughts/ may return to the world. Ho can do so silently
the Order permits him to depart j but the proper way for
him is to declare before a witness, who hears and understands
hiin,t his resolution, that he renounces Buddha, the Doctrine,
and the Order. He departs without enmity ; if ho desires
again to re-establish his connection as a lay-brother or as
a novice with the comrades of his quondam spiritual life,
only by solitary cases. Ananda, as member of the brotherhood, is called
"the venerable Ananda," Kassapa of Uruvela is called "the venerable
Kassapa of Uruvela."
* The technical ｅxpression for this is: the Order "destroys him"
(naseti). A list of the cases in which this occurred these are by no
means confined only to oifences against the four great prohibitions
may be found compiled in the Index to the " Vinaya Pitaka," vol. ii,
p. 346 (s. v. naseti).
t It does not appear to have been required that this declaration should
be made before a monk. Cf. " Yinaya Pitaka," vol. iii, p. 27.
23
354: PROPERTY CLOTHING-DWELLINO-MAINTENANCE.
they do not repel him. Though this unlimited possibility of
recession may have brought evils in its train it is admitted,
that it has led to gross abuses in the present day* yet its
influence on the moral health of monastic life may be regarded
as more beneficial than otherwise. Apart from the fact that
the Order would have been wholly deficient in the external
power to bind its members by forcible means of any kind
whatever, nothing could have been more decidedly opposed to
the nature of Buddhism than such constraint. Every man
might go the way which the strength or the weakness of his
nature, the merit or demerit of past existences led him : the
doors of the Order stood open, but no impatient or pertinacious
zeal pressed the reluctant to enter or impeded the return
of the wayward to the world.
PROPERTY CLOTHING DWELLING MAINTENANCE.
" Community of mendicants " (Bhikkhusangha) was the name
given to themselves by this fraternity of fully-accredited,
ordained monks. This name indicates that among their
duties that of poverty ranked next in order to chastity.
This had always been so, ever since there was a monastic
system in India. A Yedic text belonging to the age of the
first rudiments of this monasticism says of the Brahrnans
* " It happens every day that monks who have entered the cloister
under the compulsion of parents, or to avoid the service of the king, or
from poverty, from laziness, from a love of solitude or of study, or from
any other worldly motive, again quit the cloister, to succeed to an
inheritance, to marry, &e. In further India it is even the custom for
young men, even princes, to assume the monk s cowl for a term only, at
least for three months." Koppen, i, 338.
POVERTY OF THE BUDDHIST MONKS. 355
who renounce the world : They cease from seeking for
children, and seeking for possessions, and seeking thc
worldly, and they itinerate as beggars. For what seeking
for children is, thafc is also seeking for possessions ; what
seeking for possessions is, that is also seeking for the worldly;
the one is seeking as mnch as the other. "* So the Buddhist
monk also renounces all property. No express vow imposes on
him the duty of poverty ; both the marriage tie and the rights
of property of him who renounces the world, are regarded
as ipso facto cancelled by the " going forth from home into
homelessness."t Property was felt to be a fetter, which
holds in bondage the spirit struggling for freedom: "Very
straitened/ it is said, " is life in the home, a state of impurity :
freedom is in leaving the home "" Leaving all property
behind must one go thence" ."In supreme felicity live we,
* " gatapatha Br.," xiv, 7, 2, 26.
f More accurately expressed : the monk, who is resolved to remain
true to the spiritual life, looks upon his marriage as dissolved, his
property as given away. The wife whom he has forsaken, is strictly
termed in the texts "his quondam partner" (puranadutiyika, " Maha-
vagga," i, 8, 78; " Suttaviblianga," Par. i, 5); he addresses her, like
every other woman, as "sister" (Par. I.e. 7). It is in no way
inconsistent with this, if the family of a monk, which desires his return
to a worldly status, looks upon his marriage and his rights of property as
continuing, and if he himself, longing for a worldly life, says to himself :
"I have a wife, for whom I must provide"" I have a village, on the
income of which I desire to live" "I have gold, on it I shall live"
(" Suttavibhanga," Par. i, 8, 2). In one direction the spiritual law
permitted a noteworthy operation of the old rights of property surrendered
by the monk to take eflfect: in certain cases where the receiving of
any new article whatever for monastic house-keeping was forbidden,
e.g., a new almsbowl, he was permitted to take the object in question, if
it had been made for him " from his own means." (" Suttav. Nissaggiya,"
xxii, 2, 2 ; xxvi, 2, seq.) Of. Mayr, " Indisches Erbrecht," p. 145.
23*
356 PROPERTY-CLOTHING-DWELLING MAINTENANCE.
who possess nothing ; cheerfulness is our diet, as of the gods
of the regions of light " " As the bird, wherever he flies,
carries nothing with him but his wings, so also a monk is
content with the garment, which he is wearing, with the
food, which he has in his body. Wherever he goes, ho
everywhere carries his property with him.^
The simple needs, which in the climate of India belong to
the life of a monk, and the common life of a monastic order,
are easily satisfied. " Clothing, food, lodging, medicine for
the sick " this is the standing enumeration of what the Order
looked for from the pious beneficence of the laity, and seldom
looked for in vain. What did not come within the narrow
circle of these immediate necessaries of life, could as little
constitute part of the property of the Order as that of the
individual monk.* Lands, slaves, horses and live stock, the
Order did not possess, arid was not allowed to accept. It did
not engage in agricultural pursuits, nor did it permit them to
be carried on on its account. " A monk," as the old confes
sional formula says, " who digs the earth or causes it to be
* That the Order was allowed to have any kind of possession whatever,
which was forbidden to the individual brethren, has been often asserted,
but, as far I can see, quite groundlessly. The more important items of
property which belonged to the Order, could not indeed by gift or divi
sion pass into the possession of individual monks (" Cullavagga," vi, 15,
16), but it was not unallowable for a monk to possess tilings of this
description (" Mahavagga," viii, 27, 5). Then after his death they fell
into the property of the " Church of the four quarters of the world, the
present and the absent," while smaller articles of a deceased monk were
divided among the brethren with a special regard for those wlio had
attended to him during his. sickness. Mention, however, is made of
death-bed bequests : " A nun said when dying : after my death my
property is to go to the Order " (" Cull.," x, ii). Whether any other heirs
but the Order of the monks or of the nuns could be nominated, is not
known.
POVERTY OF THE MONKS. 357
dug, is liable to punishment."* But most strictly was the
receiving of gold and silver forbidden to Buddha s disciples,
individually as well as collectively. The benefactor, who
desires to give a monk not the things themselves which he
requires, but their money value, delivers the money to
operatives, and the monk then receives from them what is
intended for him. The provisions of the rules of the Order to
meet the case, where a brother permits gold or silver to be
tendered to him in spite of the prohibition, show how lively
was the feeling of what was here at stake for the spirit of their
common life, and how care was taken with an anxiety which has
something touching about it, to guard against the dangerous
consequences of such sinful greed. When the guilty monk
has penitently confessed his transgression before the as
sembled monks, if one of the laity attached to the Order be in
the neighbourhood, the gold is given to him, with these words :
" Friend, take this into thy keeping." If he wishes, he can
then purchase for the monks what . they are permitted to
receive, butter, oil, or honey. This they may all enjoy j only
he who has received the gold, is not allowed to have any share
of it. Or the layman may cast the gold away. If it is not
possible for the Order to get rid of the dangerous possession
in this way, one of the brethren is to be chosen to be the
1 thrower away of the gold/ who has five qualities : who is
* Of Buddha s Order the same may be said which the Brahmajala
Sutta represents people saying to each other regarding Buddha himself:
" From receiving bondsmen and bondswomen, the ascetic Gotama refrains
from receiving elephants, cattle, horses and mares, the ascetic Gotama
refrains from receiving arable land the ascetic Gotama refrains." In
the Vinaya texts, accordingly, nothing is found which points to the
pursuit of agriculture, except only one, quite solitary passage, " Maha-
vagga," vi, 39, which hardly refers to anything -more than the occasional
sowing of seed in the land belonging to the Aramas.
358 PROPERTY CLOTHING DWELLING MAINTENAN CE.
free from desire, free from hate, free from infatuation, free
from fear, and who knows what casting away and what not
casting away means. He is to throw the gold or the silver away,
and is to take care that the place where it lies is not to be
recognized by any sign. If he makes any signs, he is liable to
punishment. Already at an early date severe struggles arose
in the Order regarding this prohibition of the receipt of gold
and silver,* but it was successfully maintained in its integrity
for centuries. By nothing so clearly as by this prohibition
and by the obedience which it has obtained, is it guaranteed
that the ancient Buddhist Order did really remain free and pure
from all hankering after worldly power as well as worldly
enjoyment. Never could it have so completely surrendered
the possession of gold and therewith all possibility of outer
action, had it not been in truth precisely that alone which it
professed to be, a community of those who sought for peace
and deliverance in separation from everything earthly.
The dwelling, food, and clothing of the monks are laid down
in detailed regulations. The character of these rules is very
decided: the abstaining from everything which implies comfort
able enjoyment, being at one s ease in worldly possessions,
is just as urgently demanded, as on the other side excesses of
ascetic praxis are wholly eschewed. Here we find none of
those strange features, with which a fanciful inquirer has
recently made up the picture of what he calls original
Buddhism : a society of ascetics, who were allowed to live
under no roof, but to pass their whole life under the open
heavens, sitting in cremation-grounds or under trees, whose
whole appearance bears upon it the stamp of deformity and
* Apparently in the Council of Vesali (circ. one century after Buddha s
death) the dispute touching the receipt of gold and silver was the
particularly essential among a series of secondary and subtle differences.
CHARACTER OF THE RULES GOVERNING OUTER LIFE. 359
impurity.* In truth all negligence in outer appearance,
especially in clothing, is most strictly tabooed. In the case of
younger monks, who are placed under the superintendence of an
elder brother, the latter has to pay attention to the appearance
of those committed to his care ; he is required to see, that they
make their clothes right, dye them, and wash them properly.
The sanitation and ventilation of the quarters occupied by the
monks, the cleaning of furniture, the sunning of all articles
that require it, are prescribed with the greatest minuteness in
the works on the rules of the Order. Touching the greater or
less degree of abstinence from the necessities and comforts
of regular life, a certain freedom is allowed to the individual,
to allow scope for his individual likes and dislikes. Whoever
wished might take a vow to live only on the food which he
might obtain 011 his begging expedition from house to house,
but no one was forbidden to accept the invitations of pious
laymen to dine, and we read that Buddha himself accepted
such invitations on numberless occasions. Whoever wished
might patch together rags, which he had collected, to make
himself a monk s yellow garment; wandering monks, who
happened to come to a cremation-ground, nsed perhaps to
gather there the shreds from which they made their clothes.
* Wassiljew, der Buddkismus," p. 10, soq. (of the German transla-
tion). Inter alia, it is, there said : In fact we see the Buddha in ti
legends, notwithstanding the specious splendour with which they mves
him, every day in his own person going out of the grove of Anathapmdika
and walking to the nearest town to collect alms. In the face of this,
what meanimr have the cloister rules, the directions for associated
and whatever^else of the kind meets us in the Vinaya? Is it consi
with this, that a host of scholars surround the Buddha and have satiate,
themselves with his doctrine and have taught others P" Of course, how
could scholars indeed satiate themselves with the teaching oi
daily goes out of a wood in person !
360 PROPERTY CLOTHING-DWELLING MAINTENANCE.
But no one was forbidden to dress himself in the garments,
which laymen presented to the monks. " I grant you, monks,
that lie who wears clothes given by the laity, may also wear
clothes made up from gathered rags. If you have a fancy for
both, monks, I have no objection to it/ * Whoever wished,
might dwell in the forest or in the caves of the mountains, but
110 one was forbidden to take up his abode near a village or a
town. With sticks gathered in the forests, and grass, every
monk could easily construct a hut for himself, and laymen not
unfrequently even lent their assistance or caused building
operations to be carried on at their expense for the Order, so
that monks houses (viharas), detached buildings or a complex
whole, with assembly-rooms, council-chambers, dining-halls,
* The following passage of the " Theragatha " (fol. Idie) describes
briefly and graphically the life of a monk, who adheres to the stricter
ordinances in dress, food, and so on : " In solitude and quiet where the
wild beasts have their dwelling and the gazelles, there let the abode of
the monk be, that he may be able to dwell in retirement and seclusion.
on dunghills, on cremation-grounds, and on the streets, let him seek
wherewith he may prepare himself clothing ; rough let the garment be
which he wears. With submissive air let the monk move, watching the
doors of his senses and keeping himself in check, from house to house in
order to beg for food. Let him be content also with poor food ; let him not
desire anything else, many savoury things. lie who is fond of savoury
things, his spirit is not fond of abstraction. Needing nothing, content,
apart from the world, let the wise man live ; layman and anchorite, both
let him avoid. Like a dumb or a deaf man let him show himself; let
him not speak, who is wise, at an unseasonable moment in the Order."
The dangers, which forest life must daily and hourly cause to spiritual
personages, were obviously not fewer in those days than now, when year
after year hermits are killed in hundreds by snakes and wild beasts in
Indian forests. A particular section of the sacred texts, entitled " the
imminent dangers of forest life," contains admonitions to zealous
acceleration of spiritual effort, when every moment may bring violent
death.
DWELLING. 361
structures for warm batlis and ablutions, as well for the Order
in its entirety as for the members individually, were at their
disposal.* on the whole we have undoubtedly to picture to
ourselves monks, those even who had chosen a life in the
forests, t dwelling rather in huts or houses than under the
open sky, perchance under the shade of a tree. Even wan
derers had as a rule a shelter at their disposal. Novices and
scholars used generally to go on ahead and see that quarters
were prepared for their teachers among the communities,
whose places of residence they passed through. The younger
brethren went out to meet the older monks, who came on their
wanderings ; they took their overalls and almsbowls from them,
got water ready for them to wash their feet and showed them
to their quarters for the night. During the three months of
the rainy season in which itinerating ceased, the monks were
expressly forbidden to resort to a place of rest in the open,
at the foot of a tree. Thus the tradition of the Singhalese
represents Mahinda, the converter of the island, and his
spiritual companions, before the rainy season sets in, dwelling
* We are not to think of the viharas of ancient times as cloisters,
which had been erected for the reception of a great number of residents.
on the whole it seems to have been the rule, that one viluira accom
modated only one monk ; such viharas usually lay near one another in
.greater or smaller numbers. The vikara is described as especially great
which is mentioned in the l Cullavagga" (vi, 11), in which seventeen
monks arranged themselves for a rainy season. Six other monks
come thither, and still there is room for them also. Possibly we have to
look upon both parties as accompanied by scholars, novices, and so forth.
Stone, brick, and wood are named as the usual materials for the buildings
of the Order.
t Compare the rules for the house and the day for monks living in the
forest, which we read in the " Cullavagga," viii, 6. The stately vihara,
which the venerable Udayi had built for himself in the forest, is described
in the " Suttavibhanga," Sangh. ii, 1, 1.
362 PROPERTY- CLOTHING D WELLING - MAINTENANCE.
near the capital in a park, which the king had placed at their
disposal, " with a good view and rich in shade, adorned with
flowers and fruit, truly lovely . . . there is a beautiful
lotus pool, covered with lotuses, white and blue ; there is fresh
water in beautiful springs, scented by sweet flowers. But
when the rainy season comes round, when in India damp
weather sets in in Ceylon itself these are the finest months of
the whole year Mahinda leaves the park and goes with the
other monks to the mountain of Missaka, there to provide
himself accommodation in the holes of the rocks. The king
hears of this and hastens out : "Why hast thou left me and
mine and come to this mountain ?" And Mahinda replies :
fc Here we wish to pass the rainy reason, three months long.
Near a village or in the forest, or in a dwelling-place, the door
of which can be shut, has Buddha commanded the monks to
dwell, when the rainy season comes."* Then the king gives-
an order for eight and sixty cells to be hollowed out in the
rock for the monks cells such as throughout the whole of
India and Ceylon, lying often several stories one over the
other, still mark indelibly to-day the old rallying points and
centres of monastic life.
In the village itself, or in a town, the monk is not permitted
to reside except in cases of urgent necessity, nor even as much
as to set foot in them between noon and the appearance of
dawn on the following day.f But he is tied to the neighbour-
* With this passage of the " Dipavamsa " (14, 64) compare tlie rules of
the Order on this subject, " Mahavagga," iii, 12.
f " Pacittiya," 85. on one occasion when Buddha in his wanderings
approaches his native town, Kapilavatthu, he sends on one of the faithful,
saying: " Go, Mahanama, and seek in Kapilavattliu a lodging, in which
I can find shelter to-day for one night" (" Anguttara Nik.," vol. i, fol.
jhau). Instances of this kind occur only quite isolated.
DWELLING-DAILY BEGGING EXCURSION. 36S
hood of village and town by the necessity of supporting life.
Even he, who has taken a vow to live in the forest, lives just
near enough to the village to be able to reach it on his begging
excursion.* Carrying in his hands the bowl, in which he
places the food handed to him, he is to go from house to house,
whether believers dwell in them or unbelievers ; only he is to
pass by the houses of poor people, of whom the Order know
that they would give the begging monks food beyond what
they could afford, and would then themselves to suffer hunger.
Enveloped in his overall, with downcast look, without bustle, and
in neither hasty nor careless fashion, the monk is to enter the
houses. He is not to stand too near nor too far off, lie is not to
stay too long nor to go away too quickly. He is to wait in
silence, until something is given to him ; then he is to nold
out his bowl, and, without looking at the face of the giver,
receive what she gives him. Then he spreads his overall over
the almsbowl, and goes slowly on. "When they leave the
* Cullavagga," viii, 6. For illustration take the narrative in the
" Commentary on the Dhammapada," p. 81, seq. The saintly monk
Palita comes with sixty accompanying brethren in his wanderings, when
the rainy season is near, to a great village, and makes his begging-excur-
sion through it. " The people saw these monks, who were adorned with
right demeanour, and they prepared seats for them with believing heart,
invited them to sit down, entertained them with the best food, and asked
them: Eeverend sirs, whither does your way lie? They replu
Where we may find a place good to dwell in, O believer. The clever
people saw : The venerable men are looking for a dwelling and an abode,
and they said : If you, venerable sirs, be willing to dwell here for HIM.
three months, we shall take our refuge in the faith, and observe t
requirements of upright life. Palita accepts the invitation, whereon t
villagers erect a vihara in the forest (I.e. p. 85, line 13). Thence the
monks go every morning into the village to collect alms. When one c
the monks becomes blind, and can go no longer to the village, t]
residents of the village send him food daily into the forest."
\
364 PROPERTY CLOTHING DWELLING MAINTENANCE.
village/ says an old poem,* "they look back on nothing.
Without looking round they walk about ; therefore dear to me
are the monks/ When the monk has returned from the
begging excursion, there follows about midday the hour for
eating, the one meal in the whole day. " The monk/ it is
said in the confessional formula, " who at an improper timef
takes or enjoys hard or soft food, is liable to punishment."
The meal consists chiefly, as Indian custom requires., of bread
and rice, with which water is drunk. The enjoyment of flesh
and fish is limited spirituous liquors are most strictly for
bidden.
For a monk to dwell alone, without having other brethren in
his neighbourhood, is quite the exception, even in the case of
those who have chosen a forest-life. The provisions of the
laws of the Order are wholly based on the supposition that
small knots or brethren living near each other come together,
who depend on each other to unite for confession, to instruct
one another, to strengthen one another in doubt and temptation,
to care for one another in sickness, and to keep up spiritual
discipline among themselves. " For," says the old confessional
formula, " the band of the disciples of the Exalted one is so
bound together that one exhorts the other and one stablishes
the other." Especially on the young monk is it enjoined as a
duty to seek the company of the older and more experienced
brethren, to be instructed in the doctrines of the faith as well
-as in the external rules of conduct, even down to the directions
for the wearing of clothes and carrying of the almsbowl.
During the first five years, which every monk passes in the
Order, he is required to place himself under the guidance and
* " Therigatha," fol. iii.
f I*e., between the hour of midday and the dawn of the following day.
LIFE IN THE COMMUNITY AND IN SOLITUDE. 365
instruction of two able monks,* who shall have belonged for
at least ten years to the Order. These he accompanies in
their wanderings and begging excursions ; he looks after the
cleaning of their cells, and serves them at their meals. tc The
teacher is to look upon the scholar as a son ; the scholar is to
look upon the teacher as a father. Thus both are to permit
respect, attachment and unanimity of life to prevail between
them, that they may be able to grow, progress, and stablish
themselves in this Doctrine and this Law."f " He who has left
his home for the faith, he who has come hither in early years
and is young, let him attach himself to noble friends, to
unwearying persons of pure walk. He who has left his homo
for the faith, who has come hither in early years and is young,
a monk who is intelligent, let him abide in the Order and
practise the rules." J
There was nothing in the way of differences of rank in the
circles of brethren, but the natural privileges and claims to
respect, which belong to greater seniority i.e. to the greater
length of spiritual standing, which was reckoned from the date
of ordination. In the proceedings, which had to be conducted
before the Order, any " experienced and able monk" could take
the initiative. The numerous office-bearers whom we find
mentioned bear by no means a hierarchical character; they
have to do chiefly with the care of external necessities and the
discharge of domestic duties; thus there was a caretaker of
the sleeping places, a caretaker of the council chambers, a rice
distributor, a fruit distributor, the overseer of the novices, and
* one of them is denominated Upajjliaya, the other Acariya (both
are synonymous for " teacher "). As to the relation of these two appoint
ments, see Davids s and my note to " Mahavagga," i, 32.
t " Mahavagga," i, 25, 6 ; 32, 1.
I " Tkeragatka," fol. kau .
366 PROPERTY CLOTHING DWELLING MAINTENANCE.
other similar officers. As unanimity was necessary as a general
rule in most of the resolutions of the Order, these appointments
also depended as a whole on the unanimous choice of the
brethren present in the diocese.
Ordinary labour of any kind whatever was always foreign to
this monastic life ; it was deeply embedded in the Buddhist
conception of the moral that the educative value of labour
could not be acknowledged here. The whole life and all the
energies were claimed for spiritual exercises. Already at early
morn, before the hour for begging excursions had arrived, in
the chambers of the viharas, in the halls and under the trees
of the cloister-gardens, might be heard the monotonous, half-
singing recitation of the sacred sayings and discourses of
Buddha. The oldest of the brethren present himself recited
or directed one of the others to recite. Or there came forward,
as questioner and answerer, two of the brethren who were
versed in the rules of the Order, and discoursed before the
assembly on important and difficult points of monastic law and
of rules of the Order.* Then after the begging excursion,
after dinner and the hours of rest which followed, when
evening brought the brethren again together, they sat on far
into the night the time allotted to the monks for sleeping
was very scantf silently or in converse with one another.
There were also times when friends made compacts with each
other, like that of Anuruddha and his two comrades, who kept
awake one night every five days, propounding the Doctrine and
discussing it together. J "He who abides in the Order/ we
* In this form of discussion, wliich is treated of at " Maliavagga," ii,
15, 6-11, the proceedings, for instance, of the Council at Yesali regarding
the ten disputed points of the rules of the Order were carried on (p. 343).
f The regular time for rising was about dawn.
" Mahavagga," x, 4, 5.
LIFE IN THE COMMUNITY AND IN SOLITUDE. 367
read,* " talks not of many topics and talks not of vulgar
things. He expounds the word himself, or stirs another up to
its exposition, or he esteems even sacred silence not lightly."
Of the very profane interruptions to which sacred silence
was liable, especially at the greater centres of monastic life,
at places where hundreds, probably sometimes, indeed, thou
sands of monks flocked together from all parts of India, the
texts do not speak very much with relish. An old versef
says with special reference to the spiritual brothers : " Like
Brahma men live alone ; like gods they live in twos ; like
a village they live in threes ; where there are more there is
bustle and turmoil." Particularly in the last clause of this
saying will he fully concur who has seen and especially who
has heard the commotion of a crowd of people, or better still
of a crowd of wrangling and scolding faqirs in India. Thus
many among Buddha s disciples withdrew from the bustle of
the masses, from the great dramas in the neighbourhood of
the towns into the solitude of the forest. J There they lived
in the huts they built for themselves, in small communities, in
twos or threes, or even quite alone and only just near enough
* " Anguttara Nikaya," vol. iii, fol. ki.
t " Theragatha," fol. kau .
J The comparative estimation of solitude and of life with others could
naturally be only a purely personal matter, and so it appears in the sacred
texts. Sometimes we read ｅxpressions like these : " Let him seek out
remote places, therein to dwell; there let him walk, that he may become
free from all bands. If he does not find peace there, let him live in the
Order, guarding his soul from sins with watchful spirit" (" Sainy. N.,"
quoted in the " Milinda Paiiha," p. 402). And then it is said again : " If
he finds a wise associate, a noble comrade of upright walk, then let him
live with him, overcoming all temptation, cheerful and with a watchful
spirit. If he does not find a wise associate, a noble comrade of upright
walk, then let him go forth alone, as a king who abandons his conquered
kingdom, like the elephant into the forest " (" Dhammap.," 328, seq.).
368 PROPERTY CLOTHING DWELLING MAINTENANCE.
to others to be in reach of one another for holding the meetings
of the chapter prescribed for confessional and other purposes.
Perhaps nowhere have the sayings of Buddha,, the earnest
thoughts of the suffering of everything earthly, and the great,
pure expectations of the happy cessation of impermanence, so
fully satisfied human hearts, as among these anchorites in their
small and quiet forest bands. " When shall I," says one of
the spiritual poets,* " dwell alone in mountain grotto without
companions, viewing instability in every form of being? When
will such bo my lot ? When shall I, as a sage clad in garments
inado of rags, in yellow garb, calling nothing my own and
without occupation, desisting from love and hate, ceasing from
infatuation, dwell cheerfully in the forest ? When shall I,
seeing the instability of my body, which is a nest of murder
and disease, oppressed by old age and death, dwell free from
fear, alone in the forest ? When will such be my lot ? " " The
broad, heart-cheering expanses, crowned by kareri forests, those
lovely regions, where elephants raise their voices, the rocks
make me glad. Where the rain rushes, those lovely abodes,
the mountains, where sages walk, where the peacock s cry
resounds, the rocks make me glad. There is it good for me
to be, the friend of abstraction, who is struggling for salvation.
There is it good for me to be, the monk, who pursues the true
good, who is struggling for salvation. 93 -\ Not in many places
on earth will the charms of contemplative solitude have been
enjoyed so fully as there, in the forests on the Ganges and at
the foot of the Himalaya, among the yellow-robed monks of
Buddha s Order.
* " Theragatha," fol. gait.
f " Theragatha," fol. go.
THE CULTUS.
369
THE CULTUS.
Twice in the month, at full moon and at new moon, the
monks of each district, wherever they may happen to be
sojourning, come together to celebrate the fast-day.*
The observance of the fast-day is the most prominent and
almost the only observance of the ancient Buddhist cultus, if the
word " cultus " can be at all applied to these most simple and
plain external forms of mutual religious life. For a faith, which
looks upon man s own heart as the sole place in which decisions
between happiness and ruin can be carried into effect, what
the lip utters and what the hand does, can have a value only in
so far as it is a concomitant of, a symbol corresponding to,
that internal process. And above all in the first age of the
young Buddhist community must that very opposition to the
old faith with its ceremoniousness, with its animal sacrifices
and soma-oiferings, with its hosts of singing and mumbling
priests, have been especially keenly felt and led to the result,
that so much the more earnest heed was taken to preserve the
internal character of the individual faith free from every non-
essential. We must keep before us the fact, that anything in
the way of a mysterium, such as that from which the early
Christian cultus drew its vitality, was foreign to Buddhism ;
the conception that the divine Head of the Church is not absent
from his people, but that he dwells powerfully in their midst
as their lord and king, so that all cultus is nothing else but
the ｅxpression of this continuing living fellowship. Buddha,
however, has entered into Nirvana ; if his believers desired to
invoke him, he could not hear them. Therefore Buddhism is a
* The designation of tins day as a fast-day rests on the ancient usages
of the Vedic cultus. With an actual fast the Buddhist Order had
nothing to do.
24
370 THE CULTUS.
religion without prayer. The preaching of Buddha s doctrine,
the practice of spiritual abstractions, in which they thought
they possessed so powerful an aid to religious effort, permeated
the whole life of the brethren, but they found no ｅxpression in
the forms of a regularly organized cultus ; for this last there
was little room left in that universal sway, conceivable only in
a monastic Order, of religious thought over every word which
the believer utters, and over every step he takes.
Among the operations of this quasi-cultus stands, as already
mentioned, in precedence of everything else, the confessional
celebration, observed on the " fast-day," the check, so to speak,
employed to determine whether the duties of spiritual life have
been truly and fully performed by all the brethren. These
confessional meetings give above all a lively ｅxpression to the
cohesion of the members of the Order.
The eldest among the monks in every district calls the
meeting, and at evening on the fast-day all the brethren, who
are sojurning within the limits of the diocese, come together in
the vihara chosen for the purpose or whatever other place is
selected by the Order, be it a building or a cave in the moun
tain. No one is permitted to absent himself. only in the case
of insanity can a dispensation be granted, and sick brethren
can be allowed to remain away, if they can cause an assurance
of their purity from the transgressions mentioned in the con
fessional formula to reach the assembled brethren through a
comrade. If there be no one to convey this assurance, the
invalid must be brought on his chair or on his bed to the
assembly, or if this cannot be done without danger to him, the
Order must go in a body to his bedside for the celebration.
But under no circumstances is it permitted to go through the
sacred office in an assembly short of the full number.
By the light of a torch the monks take their places in the
CONFESSIONAL ASSEMBLIES. 371
place of assembly on the low seats prepared for them. No
layman, no novice, no nun may be present, for the law of the
Order, which is now to be recited in the form, of a confessional
formula, is regarded as a reserved possession of the monks
alone.* This confessional formula, the liturgy Patimokkha
(" unburdening"), the oldest of the brethren, or he who
otherwise able and qualified, now recites with a loud voice :
" Reverend sirs/ he says, let the Order hear me. To-day
is fast-day, the fifteenth of the half month. If the Order is
ready, let the Order keep fast-day and have the formula of
confession recited. What must the Order do first ? Eeport
the declaration of purity, reverend sirs.f I shall recite the
formula of confession/
* " The monk, who makes an unordained person a partaker verbatim of
the Dhamma, is liable to punishment" ("Pacittiya," 4). I believe, not
altogether in harmony with the ancient commentator in this passage,
that by the term Dhamma the maxims of the confessional formula of the
Patimokkha are to be understood. It can hardly be assumed that a
monk, who, like Mahinda, for example, before the Ceylonese king,
retailed the sayings or preachings of Buddha, thereby incurred the
penalty of an offence. There were, moreover, among the laity themselves
" preachers of the Dhamma " (dhammakathika), as the first of whom
Cittais mentioned byname in one of the sacred texts (" AnguttaraNikaya,"
vol. i, near the beginning) ; and similarly the case is mentioned in the
41 Vinaya," where a layman summons the monks to deliver to them
a discourse of Buddha s, with which he is acquainted, and of which
the knowledge is in danger of being lost (" Mahavagga," iii, 5, 9).
As regards the character of the Patimokkha as a secret lore, cf.
" Milinda Paiiha," p. 190, seq. From this it also follows, when tradition
represents a person like the young Moggaliputta, who is put forward as
the model of a quickly progressing scholar, as still learning during the
four years of his noviciate only the collections of the Suttas and the
Abhidhamma, that the Vinaya was an Arcanum, which became accessible
to him after his ordination, and not till then. Vinaya Pitaka, vol. iii,
p. 299.
t I.e., the declaration in the name of the brethren absent on account of
24*
372 THE CULTUS.
The Order present replies : We all, who are here present,
hear and consider it well."
" Whoever has committed a transgression," the leader goes
on, "let him confess it. Where there is no transgression,
let him be silent. From your silence I shall infer that you. are
clear, reverend sirs. As an individual man,, to whom a ques
tion is put, is supposed to answer, so is it in the case of an
assembly like the present, when the question has been put
three times. A monk, who on the question being put three
times does not confess a fault, which he has committed and
which he remembers, is guilty of an intentional lie. But
intentional lying, reverend sirs, brings destruction ;* thus has
the Exalted one said. Therefore a monk, who has committed
a fault, remembers it, and seeks to be pure therefrom, is to
confess his fault. For what he confesses, will lie lightly on
him."
Now the enumeration of the transgressions which are to be
confessed begins. The most serious stand first, those four sins,
of which every newly entering brother is already warned
at ordination, that whoever commits them, can no longer
belong to the Order (p. 351). "If a monk/- the leader
begins, " who has chosen the exercises and the fellowship of
the monks, has carnal intercourse with any creature whatever,
down even to a beast, without renouncing these exercisesf and
without admitting his weakness, then this involves a defeat
(by evil) and expulsion from the Order." Similar terms deal
with the three other gravest sins, theft, murder, and the false
assumption of spiritual perfections. At the close of this
sickness, that they have committed no transgression enumerated in the
confessional formula.
* I.e., it prevents the attainment of sanctification.
t I.e., leaving the Order.
CONFESSIONAL ASSEMBLIES. 373
enumeration of transgressions, which bring with them " defeat
and expulsion from the Order/ the leader turns himself to the
brethren present with the thrice repeated question : " Here
now I ask the venerable : Are you free from these transgres
sions ? And for the second time I ask : Are you free ? For
the third time I ask : Are you free ? And if all are silent*
Free are the venerable from these, therefore they are silent ;
so I take it."
The enumeration is now directed to the less serious trans
gressions, to those, which the Order visits with a temporary
degradation, and to those, which are atoned for without
any action of the Order by the mere admission of the guilty
party. For example, it is said :
c: The monk who lowers himself to touch a woman s person
with corrupt thoughts, while he clasps her hand or clasps her
* The wording of the formula shows beyond doubt, that according to
the original intention anyone who felt himself guilty of a transgression,
had at this point to confess it before the Order. The later texts (" Khan-
dhaka") give directions which are at variance with this construction. No
one could carry unatoned guilt with him into the confessional meeting.
He had previously to confess and, where any penance is attached, perform
it. Also when he calls to mind an offence first only during the celebra
tion, he has not to answer the question of the leader, but he has to
absolve himself, by anticipation as it were, for the period of the
celebration, by saying to his neighbour : " Friend, I have committed this
and that offence ; when I shall have risen from this place, I shall purify
myself therefrom." Whoever was cognizant of the transgression of
another, had to hold the guilty party to penance before the celebration
of the confession, or " to forbid the confession " in his case by veto,
until he had complied with his duty. We see in this maxim : " No man,
on whom a transgression lies, is allowed to keep the ceremony of the fast-
day " (" Mahavagga," ii, 27 ; cf. " Cullavagga," ix, 2) clearly the more
scrupulous conception of a late period, as compared with the old institu
tion, which had created the observance of the fast-day quite particularly
for those who were burdened by a sense of guilt.
374: THE CULTUS.
hair or touches one part or another of her body, the Order
inflicts on him degradation."
"The monk who in any house belonging to the Order
knowingly so arranges his quarters that he thereby in
commodes a monk who has come before him, and says within
himself : Who finds it too narrow, may go out/ having just
this and nothing else in view ; he is guilty of sin."
" The monk who in anger or enmity extrudes a monk from
a house belonging to the Order, or causes him to be extruded,
he is guilty of sin."
In this manner, in more than two hundred paragraphs
thrown together somewhat unsystematically, are specified
those injunctions, which govern the daily life of the monks,
their residence, eating and drinking, clothing, and their
intercourse with each other and with nuns and laity. Even
the most external and the most trivial matter finds a place j
to the painful fondness for rule, which is here traceable in
every word, nothing is unessential. In the fact that the
Buddhist Order has not been able to invest its most prominent
liturgical creation with any other form than that of a para
graphic collection of monastic rules we may perhaps detect an
element of illiberality ; but insipidity and paltriness he alone
will call it, to whom serious and scrupulous obedience to rule
even in the most trivial matters appears insipid and paltry.
Next to the half-monthly confessional days the yearly
recurring simple and beautiful celebration must be borne
in mind, which bears the name of invitation (Pavaraiia).
When the three months of the rainy season have gone by,
before the wandering begins, the brethren in each diocese,
who have passed this time in common retirement they are
for the most part friends closely attached to each other unite
in a solemn conference, in which every one, from the oldest to
THE HARMONY OF INVITATION. 375
the youngest, sitting in a reverential attitude on the ground,
raising his clasped hands, asks his spiritual comrades, if he
has been guilty of any sin during this period, to name it to
him. "Keverend sirs," it is then said, "I invite the Order,
if ye have seen anything 011 my part, or have heard anything,
or have any suspicion about me, have pity on me, reverend
sirs, and speak. If I see it, I shall atone for it."*
In these few ceremonious observances has been described
the narrow range of that, which, with the disciples of Buddha,
takes the place of regular acts of public worship. It will
be seen that this cultus, if we wish to call it so, goes only into
the outer court of the religious life ; it has only to do with
maintaining among the monks external correctness in decent
behaviour and dealing. Whatever goes beyond this, the
keeping up of instructive meditation and religious concentra
tion, is left wholly to the unfettered action of the individual
brother, of the individual group of brethren.
It may be here observed that at least the first rudiments of
a cultus of another stamp, separated in broad distinction from
that which we have discussed, go back into the times with
which our sketch has to deal : the rudiments of the veneration
attaching to holy places and to Buddha s relics. Four places,
it is said,t are deserving that believing, noble youths should
* According to the original custom every one then, as a matter of
course, said what he had to say in reply to tkis appeal, and when doubta
existed, these were explained before the Order. The " Khandhaka Texts"
here adopted apparently, exactly as we have already (note p. 373) seen
they did in the confessional celebration, the standpoint of a later age.
No one, it is said in this connection, who is under the burden of guilt,
can take part in the solemnization of the " Invitation ;" what every one
has to cast up to the other, must be previously brought to an issue.-
MaJi. iv, G ; 16,
t " Mahaparinibbana Sutta," p. 51.
376 THE CDLTUS.
see them and that their hearts should be moved by them :
the place where the holy Buddha was born ; the place where
he has obtained the highest illumination ;* the place where he
has " set in motion the Wheel of the Law/ the place where he,
delivered from everything earthly, has entered into the perfect
Nirvana. To these places monks and nuns, lay-brothers and
lay-sisters have a desire to travel. " For he, Ananda, who
dies in the faith on the pilgrimage to such holy places, will,
when his body dissolves, beyond death, walk the good road
and be born again in the heavenly world."
The care of Buddha s relics and the institution of festivals in
their honour are committed exclusively to the piety of believing
laity. "What are we to do/ Ananda asks of the Master,
when his end is drawing near,f "with, the body of the
Perfect one ?" " Let not the honours due to the body of the
Perfect one trouble you, O Ananda. Seek ye rather holiness,
Ananda; be intent on holiness: live in holiness without
blemish, in holy haste, seeking after perfection. There are,
Ananda, wise men among the nobles, the Brahmans, and the
* Already one of the texts belonging to the sacred canon points to
festivals, which, are kept at the "Tree of Knowledge." "At the great
Tree of Knowledge of the Buddha Padumuttara there was a festival
celebrated. Then I took vessels of many kinds and offered sweet-
smelling water. When the Tree of Knowledge was to be bathed,
n great rainfall began," and so on. " At the supremely holy foot of the
Knowledge-tree of the Buddha Padumuttara, I planted cheerfully, with
cheerful heart a banner." Apaddna, fol. ghi , ghi, of the Phayre MS.
f "Mahap." p. 51, seq. Cf. "Milinda Paiiha," p. 177, seq. It is
noteworthy, that, as at this place the care for Buddha s remains is not
represented as belonging to the disciples, so the Vinaya texts are nearly
altogether silent as to the last honours of deceased monks. To arrange
for their cremation was perhaps committed to the laity. Vide e.g. Hardy,
Manual, second edn. p. 226 ; cf. however, E&ilekkwdvibhanffa Pdcittya,
BEGINNING OF VENERATION FOR SACRED PLACES. 377
citizens, who believe in the Perfect one; they will do the
honours to the body of the Perfect one." So then after Buddha s
death his relics are divided out to a number of princes and
nobles, each of whom "builds a stupa (monument for relics)
and institutes a festival" festivals at which offerings of
flowers, ablutions and illuminations on a grand scale usually
play the chief part. The Order of monks as such has nothing
to do with this pompous show of veneration ; the old rules of
the Order have not a word to say about it.
THE ORDER OP NUNS.
We have already undertaken in a previous passage (p. 164,
seq.) to show the position of women in Buddha s teaching.
We saw with what decided antipathy Buddha s disciples stood
aloof from the female sex, and how admission to the Order
was conceded to women only with reluctance and under con
ditions which involved their absolute subjection to the monks.
The social law of the Indians also kept woman all her life long
in complete dependence. " In childhood/ says an oft-quoted
sentence in the Institutes of Manu, " let her be subjected to
the will of her father ; in adult life to the will of the man who
has led her home ; to her son s will, when her husband has
died ; a woman is not permitted to enjoy independence." The
rules which Buddhist Church-law lays down for the spiritual
life of nuns might pass for an amplification of this position of
Manu; as the wife is placed under the guardianship of her
husband, the mother under the guardianship of her sons, so
the Order of nuns* is placed under the guardianship of the
Order of monks.
* The nuns constitute by themselves an Order of their own (Bhikkhuni-
sangha), which is co-ordinate with, or rather subordinate to, the Order of
378 THE ORDER OF NUNS.
To a certain extent the fundamental law for the Order of
the nuns is contained in the " eight high ordinances/ which
Buddha is said to have enjoined on the first nuns at their
ordination.*
" A nun/ so run these propositions, " if she have been
ordained even a hundred years ago, must bow most reveren
tially before every monk, even though he be ordained only on
this day, rise in his presence, raise her clasped hands, duly
honour him. This rule shall she observe, esteem sacred, keep >
respect, and through her whole life not transgress.""
" A nun is not permitted to pass the rainy season in any
district in which monks are not residing. This rule also shall
she observe, esteem sacred, &c.
" The nuns are to go once in the half-month to the monks
for two things : they are to ask for the confessional ceremony, j-
and to apply to the monks for the preaching (of the sacred
word). This rule also, &c.
ec At the end of the rainy season the nuns are to give the
the monks (Bhikkhusangha). The two Orders are together denominated
" the two-sided Order" (ubhatosangha). The two-sided Order represents,
however, no particular unifying organism : the term is only a collective-
ｅxpression, which amounts merely to "the Order of monks and the
Order of nuns." The two-sided Order nowhere appears acting on a
common platform. If a layman gives garments to the two-sided Order,
all members, monks and nuns, do not obtain equal shares, but one-half
belongs to the Order of monks, the other half to the Order of nuns.
" Even if there be many monks there and only one nun, slie obtains thc-
half." Mahdvctffga, viii, 32.
* " Cullavagga," x, 1, 4.
"f The nuns have to observe the half-monthly confessional ceremony,,
with an extended liturgy of confession corresponding to the special
circumstances of the Order of the nuns. It is incumbent on the monks
to impart instruction to them regarding this ceremony, as well as
regarding the atonement of any transgressions committed. Culla-
vagga, x, 6.
THE EIGHT RULES.
threefold invitation to both sides of the Order :* (to accuse
them of the crime) if anyone has seen, or has heard of any
thing, or has any suspicion against them. This rule also, &c.
A nun who has been guilty of a grave offence must submit
herself to a half-monthly discipline of penance before both sides
of the Order. This rule also, &c.
" Ordination is to be applied for from both sides of the-
Order only when the postulante has lived for a probationary
period of two years in the six rules. f This rule also, &c.
" Under no circumstances is a nun to revile or scold a monk.
This rule also, &c.
" From this day forward is the path of speech against the
monks closed to the nuns. Yet is not the path of speech
against the nuns closed to the monks. J This rule also/ &c.
The eight "high ordinances" show clearly enough the
subordination in which the Order of nuns is kept to the
monks. None of the more important transactions required
by the rules of the Order could be completed by the nuns,
which did not require to be submitted for confirmation by the
chapter of the monks. If a maiden or a woman, who desires
to obtain the initiations, has kept the vow of the " six rules "
* When the nuns have finished the celebration of the invitation among
themselves (vide supra, p. 364), they send a messenger to the monks on the
following day, who conveys to them in the name of the nuns the invita
tion, to state to the nuns any oifence of theirs, seen, heard, or suspected.
A corresponding invitation of the monks to the nuns does not follow (loc.
cit. x, 19).
f Vide infra, n. .
J The meaning of this ｅxpression cannot be that the nun is notallowe<
to speak to the monk at all. It is probably meant that the nun is not
allowed to charge a monk with an offence, to hold him to penance therefor,
eventually to veto his participation in the ceremonies of the confess
invitation (cf. " Cull." x, 20).
She has to promise expressly : " I undertake, as an inviolable vow, to
380 THE ORDER OF NUNS.
through a probationary period of two years, and Las obtained
ordination from the Order of nuns, she is still regarded as
only " ordained on one side/ and not fully accredited, as long
as she has not appeared before the chapter of monks and in its
presence gone through the whole ceremony of ordination anew.
In the same way the confessional observances and invitation
ceremonies of the nuns Order, the atonement for transgressions,
and the settlement of differences of all kinds, are subject to
control and partly to confirmation by the -monks Order. Every
half-month the nuns betake themselves to the monk, who has
been named to them by a resolution of the brotherhood, to
receive his spiritual instruction and admonition. In the
presence of another monk, that monk sits waiting the nuns,
and when they have made their appearance, bowed themselves
to the ground, and sat down before him, he speaks to them of
the eight high ordinances, and expounds to them, either by
way of sermon or by question and answer, what he deems
profitable of the teaching and maxims of Buddha.*
That, as for the rest, strict separation prevailed between
monks and nuns, is self-apparent. Even the monk, who had
to preach to the nuns, was not allowed to set foot in the
nunnery, except when one of the sisters lay ill and required
his consolation. To make a journey with a nun, to go aboard
-abstain from killing any living creature during two years " in the same
way she then vows not to steal, to commit no unchastity, not to lie, to
drink no intoxicating beverages, and not to eat at the forbidden hours
(i.e., between noon and the break of dawn next day).
* That these discourses do not represent the particular scholastic
traditions of the sacred texts within the Order of nuns and that the latter
was formed chiefly through nun-teachers, follows from the circumstances of
the case, and is confirmed, e.g., by the statements in 18tk cap. of the
Dipavamsa. " Cullavagga," x, 8, when properly understood is not con
tradictory of this.
RELATION OF ORDER OF NUNS TO ORDER OF MONKS. 381
the same boat with her, to sit with her alone and without
witness, was strictly forbidden to the monks. The daily life,
the religious exercises of the nuns were not essentially different
from those of the monks, except that solitude, in which the
latter found so rich a source of spiritual joys, if not absolutely
forbidden to the nuns, was at least restricted and was neces
sarily so : to live in forest hermitages was forbidden them ;
they took up their abode rather within the walls of the village
or town, in huts or nunneries, by twos or in greater numbers,
for a sister was not allowed to live alone. From such places
they made their begging excursions and set out also on those
greater pilgrimages which were deemed for them as well as for
the monks a necessary element of ascetic life. In number
they were apparently far behind the monks,* and therefore it
is to be doubted also, whether at any time there was inherent
in the spiritual sisterhood a degree of influence which could
be felt, bearing on the Buddhist community as a whole. The
thoughts and forms of life of Buddhism had been thought out
and moulded solely by men and for men.
THE SPIRITUAL ORDER AND THE LAY WORLD.
Buddha s Church is a Church of monks and nuns. " Very
straitened/ it is said, " is life in the home, a state of impurity;
freedom is in leaving the home." He>ho cannot or will not I
gain this freedom, is not a member of the^Church. But the
* An illustration of this is given, for example, in the statements of the
"Dipavamsa " (7, i.) regarding the number of the monks and nuns, who
have assisted at a great festival instituted by Asoka. Though the numbers
themselves are inordinately exaggerated, yet they throw a certain light
on the relation of the two sides. The chronicle.speaks of 800 millions cf
monks and of only 96,000 nuns.
382 THE SPIRITUAL ORDER AND TEE LAY WORLD.
nature of the case was such, and the external existence of the
the Church even demanded, that regular relations should be
maintained between it and the worldly circles, which were
favourably disposed to the interests of the Order. Without a
laity, which professed a faith in Buddha and Buddha s teaching,
and evinced this faith in pious offices, above all in works of
helpful beneficence, an order of mendicants could not be
thought of, and the religious movement of Buddhism would
have been shut out from contact with the broad surface of
popular life. Tradition, therefore, as we have pointed out,
represents, assuredly with propriety, not merely monks and
nuns, but also " male votaries " (upasaka) and " female
votaries " (upasika) as gathering round Buddha from the very
beginning, persons who while remaining in the worldly state,
" take their refuge " in Buddha, in the Doctrine, and in the
Order, and show by word and deed their adherence to this
holy triad.*
But while there was framed from the beginning for the
monastic Church an organization, clothed with strict forms of
spiritual procedure, there was no attempt made at creations
of a similar kind for the quasi- Church of lay-brothers and
lay-sisters. Certain, customs of spiritual life and practical
beneficence must obviously have arisen even here; definite
institutions have not followed. There was not so much as any
sharply drawn line between the laity, who were to be regarded
as adherents of the Order of Buddha, and those who stood
aloof therefrom; entry into the circle of "votaries" was
dependent on no qualification and followed regularly upon a
form fixed by custom, but not detennind by rule,t namely upon
* Vide supra, p. 161, seq.
f Any one who is conversant with the method of description prevail
ing in the Yinaya Texts, will admit the conclusion, that, if the form for
MALE AND FEMALE VOTARIES. 383
the person taking the step declaring in the presence of a
monk, either on his own behalf alone, or jointly with wife,
children, and servants, that he takes his refuge in Buddha,
the Doctrine, and the Order of Disciples. Then there was also,
it is true, inculcated on the lay-disciples on the part of the
Order, the observance of certain duties of temperance and rec
titude,* but neither was the profession of a formal vow by them
insisted upon, nor did the Church keep watch in any way
whatever over the actual fulfilment of these duties. A formal
excommunication of unbelieving, unworthy, or scandalously-
living lay-brothers there was not, and, as a result of circum
stances, there could not be. The only procedure prescribed in
the regulations of the Church against laity, who had given
cause of complaint, shows clearly how little the ideas of
admission and expulsion had been applied to this relation :
namely, the Order might resolve " to withdraw the almsbowl "
from such a layman (i.e., take no gifts from him) "and refuse
the admission of anUpasaka had been looked upon as one determined by
rule, some narrative of the introduction of this form by an injunction of
Buddha must also exist. In truth he is an Upasaka, who shows himself
to be so by his acts. It cannot therefore cause astonishment, if
occasionally, people, who show honour to monks and entertain them, are
addressed by them asUpasakas, although they do not make a declaration
of their taking refuge until afterwards (" Dlip. Atth.," p. 81). Cf. also
supra, note p. 162.
* Certain business pursuits were regarded as unallowable for a lay-
disciple, for instance, dealing in arms, in intoxicating liquors, in poison
< Anguttara Nikaya," vol. ii, fol. cain.).-As a counterpart to the confes
sional celebration observed by the monk on the first day, there is also
onjoincd on the laity the observance of an eightfold abstinence ;" the
refraining from killing living creatures, from the appropriation c
another s property, from lying, from the enjoyment of intoxicating liquors,
from unchastity, from eating after midday, from perfumes and garlands ;
and the sleeping on low, hard couches or on the ground
fol. ghau).
384: THE SPIRITUAL ORDER AND THE LAY WORLD.
their company to him at table "*) ; if after this he reformed
and conciliated the Order, then by a new resolution "the
almsbowl would be again presented to him, and the company (of
the Order) at table be granted to him." It is evident, that
what is here dealt with, is not the deprivation or the re-con
ferring of a legal qualification of a kind such as we are in these
days accustomed to associate with membership of a Church
community, but merely the interruption or revival of a purely
factitious relation of daily intercourse, the giving and receiving
of material gifts and spiritual instruction.
It is entirely in keeping with the manner and method in
which the position of the lay believers has been treated, that
regular spiritual gatherings were not instituted for them, and
much less were they admitted to bo present at the ceremonious
proceedings of the Order, or even to a share of any kind
whatsoever in the administration of the business affairs of the
Order. The daily begging excursion of the monks maintained
the usual contact between them and the believing laity, and
gave a natural opening for attentions of a pastoral kind. The
laity also on their part came to the parks of the community
near the gates of the town with gifts of every kind, with food
and medicine, with garlands and perfumes j there they paid
their respects to the monks, and listened to the exposition of
the sacred discourses and sayings. Or they erected buildings
* This separation was not desired in the case of a scandalous mode of
living of this the Order as such took no notice but only as a punish
ment for an affront or injury done to the Order. There are eight cases
noted, in which this resolution was to be passed against a layman : " He
endeavours to prevent the monks obtaining gifts ; he endeavours to cause
the monks to suffer injury ; he endeavours to cause the monks not to
obtain lodgings ; he abuses or scolds the monks ; he causes dissensions
among the monks; lie speaks evil of Buddha; lie speaks evil of the
Doctrine ; he speaks evil of the Order." Cullavagga, v, 20, 3.
RULES WHICH REFER TO THE LAY BELIEVERS. 3S5
for the uses of the Order, and invited the monks to the dedi
catory and opening celebrations. " May it please the venerable
ones to come to me/ the message ran somewhat thus, which
they sent to the Order, <f I wish to present a gift and to hear
the preaching of the Doctrine and to see the monks." Such
invitations the Order is to receive, and even during the rainy
season, when otherwise it is forbidden the monks to travel,
they are allowed in a case of this kind to be absent from their
place of residence for a period of seven days. Or the believers
of a township requested the monks to pass the rainy season in
their neighbourhood; then they provided lodgings for their
guests, and gave them daily food when they made their
begging excursions ; and before the monks proceeded on their
wanderings on the expiration of the rainy season, the lay
believers were in the habit of giving them a farewell meal,
with which was connected a distribution of clothing, or of stuff
for clothing, to the parting spiritual pilgrims. Not unfrequently,
too, a circle of laymen clubbed together to establish among
themselves a "roster of dinners" for the Order, each taking
his turn, and in dear times, when the entertaining of all the
brethren would have exceeded the ability of one layman,
there were instituted " dinners by arrangement/ "dinners by
invitation/ " dinners on subscriptions/ "fortnightly dinners."
They promised the brethren to furnish, be it constantly or only
for a limited period, the medicines of which they might be in
need, or benefactresses of the Order went through the gardens
of the monasteries and asked from house to house: "Who is
sick among you, reverend sirs ? To whom are we to bring
anything, and what ? " That the monks then, on their part,
were not sparing in promising to the givers every heavenly
reward, was a matter of course. "To give houses to the
25
386 TEE SPIRITUAL ORDER AND THE LAY WORLD.
Order," it is said,* " a place of refuge and joy, so that we may
there exercise concentration and holy intuition, has been com
manded by Buddha as the most noble gift. Therefore let a
wise man, who understands what is. best for himself, build
beautiful houses, and receive into them knowers of the
Doctrine. He may give food and drink, clothes and lodging
to such, the upright with cheerful heart. These preach to
him the Doctrine which drives away all suffering ; if he appre
hends the Doctrine here below, he goes sinless into Nirvana."
In another place it is said :f " Well is it for a man always to
dispense boiled-rice if he have a desire for joy, whether he seek
heavenly joy or long for earthly happiness." That occasionally
the givers, for whom the drafts on a heavenly reward-fund in
return for earthly benefaction had so much attraction, must
have allowed themselves to be laid very wantonly under con
tribution by pretentious comrades among the begging stewards
of heavenly treasures, is only natural. Certainly those narratives
are drawn from life, as they are not unfrequently told of such
occurrences in the Vinaya : of the man who had incautiously
offered to give to the venerable Upananda whatever he required,
and from whom he immediately demanded the clothes he was
wearing, or of the pious potter, of whom the monks demanded
almsbowls in such numbers that his business was thereby
ruined. A long series of statements in the confessional
liturgy was directed against this unauthorized exaction of
pious charity, and confined within narrow limits the little,
which monks receive, and the still less, for which they were
allowed to ask. Apparently the criticism was by no means
regarded with indifference, which might be practised in lay
* " Cullavagga," vi, 1, 5.
f " Maliavagga," vi, 24, 6.
BENEFICENCE. 387
circles, and which the rival religious orders certainly did not
neglect to maintain vigilantly and keenly. Monks who exer
cised in any way whatever an evil influence upon the laity, or
caused them mortification, were most severely discountenanced,
and in every way the laity were regarded as an ally on whose
friendship they knew how to put a proper value.
As an ally, but at the same time as nothing more. The
feeling of having a share as a citizen in the kingdom of
Buddha s children, was denied to the laity, much more so even
than was such a feeling denied in the old Brahmanical sacri
ficial-faith to the non-Brahman who, albeit only through the
medium of the priest, could draw near to the god equally with
the priest himself. The Buddhist believer, who did not fec4 in
himself the power to renounce the world, could console himself
with coming ages ; he could hope for this, that it might then
be vouchsafed to him, as a disciple of Metteyya, or of one of
the countless Buddhas, who shall come after him, to don the
garb of a monk and to taste the bliss of deliverance.
For to but a few chosen ones, thus the Doctrine says, was it
given, already in this age to attain the goal as disciples of the
Son of the Sakya house, and short term was allotted to the
existence of the Church on earth. When in the cloister-
gardens at Eajagaha and Savatthi the discourses of Buddha
were recited among the assembled brethren, they bethought
themselves also of the prophecy : " Not a long time, Ananda,
will holy living remain preserved ; five hundred years, Ananda,
will the Doctrine of the truth abide." Who then foresaw, that
after five hundred years the Church of the Buddhists would
overspread India, and that its missionaries far beyond India,
traversing the ocean, crossing the snowy ranges of the Hima
laya, wandering through the deserts of Central Asia, would
brino- the faith of Buddha to nations, whose name even was
o
25*
388 THE SPIRITUAL ORDER AND THE LAY WORLD.
not then named in India to nations among whom this faith
survived and still survives to this day,, while in its parent-land
the spirit of the Indian people, which in endless play dashed
into ever new spheres of thought and fancy, which relegated
to nothingness the wreck of ruined worlds and rebuilt lost
beauty, not always in greater stateliness,* has long since
permitted the Doctrine of Buddha to decay.
* The reader of the original will observe the happy use which
Dr. Oldenberg has made of the Chorus of Spirits in Gothe s "Faust,"
PL I.
Web! Weh!
Du bast sie zerstort
Die schone Welt
Mit machtiger Faust ;
Sie stiirzt, sie zerfallt !
Em Halbgott bat sie zerscblagen !
Wir tragen
Die Triimmern ins Nichts biniiber
Und Idagen
Ueber die verlorne Scbone.
Machtiger
Der Erdensobne,
Prachtiger,
33aue sie wieder,
In deinem Buscn baue sie auf !
EXCURSUS.
FIRST EXCURSUS.
on THE RELATIVE GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF
VEDIC AND BUDDHIST CULTURE.
THOSE of the Indian peoples, among whom Buddhism has its
home,* especially the people of Magadha, dwell far to the east of
the territories, to which the poetry of the Jfogveda introduces us.
Were they then already residing in the east, or were they at least
in the act of penetrating to the east, when the hymns of the Veda
were being sung in the west, in the Panjab and on the Sarasvati ?
Or were they then within the circle of the Vedic world, and have
they not moved eastward until a later period ? The question may
also be expressed thus : If in the epic-Buddhist age there was
Aryan culture in India, as partakers in which we find the Kwof
and Pancalas, the people of Magadha and Kosala and so on, d
these peoples at one time participate in the ancient Vedic cult.
or did the Vedic culture in the Vedic age within the Indian Aryai
dom cover a narrower field, which, for example, included the Kuru
and Pancalas, and on the other hand did not comprise the people
Videha and Magadha ?
We have (p. 9) declared our adherence to the latter of thes
two views, and we here intend to more accurately define and supper!
our view, according to which the culture of the Vedas was
.enous to but one portion of the Aryan peoples of Hmdc
from them reached the other afterwards only at sec
Kajagaha, Savatthi, Saketa, Kosambi, Bara7iasi.
392 RELATIVE LOCATION OF VEDIC AND BUDDHIST CULTURE.
Even, a, priori, considering the wide spread of the Aryan territory
and Aryan peoples in India, it must be considered probable, that
already in the Vedic age a community of culture had no longer
continued to prevail throughout this vast tract. The analogies
of kindred nations which force themselves on our attention
indicate this. As, though we do not shut our eyes to the recip
rocal influences, we are entitled to say that the Dorians of the
Peloponnesus created for themselves a culture apart from the
u^olians or loiiians, and that to a late period Umbrians, Latins,
and Oscans, pursued their own path of religious, political, and
literary development, so the historical treatment of India will in a
similar way have to separate between western stocks with their
Yedic culture, which went ahead in spiritual development, and the
eastern peoples, which developed themselves more slowly, between
Kurus and Paiicalas on one side and the peoples of Kosala, Videha,
and Magadha on the other. It will have to make this distinction
here, even though it is true that the races of India by on means in
themselves, and still less for us, presented so sharply imprinted,
distinguishing individualities, as did the Grecian stocks ; we cannot
expect, it is self-apparent, to realize for ourselves the national life
of the Kurupancalas on the one hand and of the Videha or Kosala
peoples on the other hand, in the same way that we know Dorians
and Athenians as clearly different types.
It is necessary for us in our inquiry, at first to leave the Rik-
Samhita out of sight, and first to ask the question, what stocks
have had a share in the spiritual movements, which are indicated
by the Brahmawa texts and kindred literature. on the basis of
the results hereby gained we shall then attempt to determine how
the group of peoples appearing in the Jftk-Samhita are related to
the great Indian cultured peoples of later times.
The ethnological table in the " Aitareya Brahmawa " (8, 14) shows
how the Indian stocks group themselves from the standpoint of
this text, where the incisions are, which separate the differently
constituted divisions. In the middle " asyam* dhruvayam madh-
* In treating of the other territories, instead of asyam the word etasyam is
used : asyam contains a significant hint that the compiler of the text belongs to
this very territory. Vide Weber, " Ind. Lit. Gesch.," 2 p. 49.
ETHNOLOGICAL TABLES OF THE "AIT. BE." AND OF MANU. 393
yamayam pratisltfAay&m diqi" lie the realms of the Kurupaiicalas
together with Vacas * and U^inaras. To the south of this Land of
the Middle there dwell the Satvats, eastward the Pracyas (we shall
necessarily think chiefly of the Kaci, Kosala,f Videha, and Magadha
peoples), westward the Nicy as, Apacyas. In the north the Middle
Land is bounded by the Himalaya, for as peoples north of the
Middle those are named, who dwell pare?ia Himavantam, the
Uttarakurus and Uttaramadras.
With the sketch of the distribution of Indian peoples, which is
thus given, now admirably fit in the data, which are supplied by
Manu probably following older Sutra texts. The land of the
Brahmarshis, whose customs and rights are taken as a model, whose
* This is the accepted and, as I believe, the correct translation of sava-
<?ocinaramim. The Vacas will be identical with the Vawisas in the Buddhist
enumeration of peoples (vid. infra, p. 407, n. 2,), but can hardly have anything
to do with the Vacas introduced by the Petersburg!! Lexicon from the " Mahab-
harata," i, G684 (if the reading of the Calc. Edition be correct), who are classed
together with the Yavanas, Barbaras, Cinas, and other Mlecchas. The Lexicon
finds, apparently correctly, a mention of the Vacas also in the " Gop. Br.," 2, 9 :
imeshu Kurupancaleshu Angamagadheshu Kacikaucalyeshu Calvamatsyeshu
Qavasa (lege : savaca) ucinareshudicyeshu. Now, from a comparison of " Ait.
Br.," 8, 14, and " Gop. Br.," 2, 9, the relevancy also of a third passage seems to
me to be established, " Kaush. Upan.," iv, 1 : so vasad Ucinareshu savasan
Matsyeshu Kurupailcaleshu Kacivideheshv iti. The " savasan," which here occurs
between the names of the Ucinaras and the Matsyas, cannot be disassociate
from the " cavasa," which stands between the same names in the " Gop. Br.," and
the " savaca," which occurs in the " Ait Br." in conjunction with the name of 1
Ucinaras. Thus, I think, that in this passage the conjecture " savacamatsyeshu
should be preferred to the emendation " Satvan-Matsyeshu," recommended by the
Pet Lex and by Professor Max Miiller (" Upanishads," Introd., p. Ixxvn).
f The Kosala people are by the Buddhists also counted among t
Pracyas. As the Sakyas belonged to the Kosalas, Buddha himself was con-
sidered a Kosala; but as to the Buddhas the rule held good: purattmmes
janapadesu buddha bhagavanto uppajjanti ( Cullav." xii, 2, 3). In the s
it follows that Benares belonged to the eastern land, for the Buddha Kassapa
was born in the kingdom of the king Kiki of Baranasi (Mahapaduna butta
Moreover the Buddhist texts make the king of Kosala rule over Benares also
(Lohiccasutta in the "Digha Nikaya" : raja Pasenadi Kosalo Kasikosa am ajjhu
vasati); in the territory of Kasi Pasenadi fights his battles against Ajatasutta
(Kosala Samyutta).-Cf. further Mahavagga," viii, 2. The chstmcUon o:
northern and southern Kosala kingdom ( Burnouf ," Intr., p. 22, vol. i)
In accordance with the Pali Pifakas.
394: RELATIVE LOCATION OF VEDIC AND BUDDHIST CULTURE.
warriors are the bravest, is Kurukshetra and the territory of the
Matsyas, the Pancalas and (Jurasenas (2, 19 ; 7, 193). Thus the
land of the Brahmarshis embraces what is set down in the Aitareya
as madhyama diq and as south ;* but what is regarded in the
Aitareya as west and east, above all the eastern peoples of Kaci,
Kosala, Yideha, and Magadha, is in Manu excluded from the land of
the Brahmarshis.
Thus we have here a distinction between those stocks, who felt
themselves to be the qualified champions of Aryan culture, and
those who were Aryans, it is true, but were not regarded as
equally accredited partakers in this culture. Momenta of many
kinds may have co-operated to bring about and enhance this
difference. Association with non- Aryan elements, to which the
stocks that had migrated to the greatest distances were especially
exposed, may have been at the same time in play.f But it hardly
lay in this only, that the Kurus claimed to be something other and
better than the Magadhas. Rather here appears to be the place
where the ancient lines of distinction become apparent, which had
come down from an immemorial past, drawn between the different
leading groups and leading types of the Indian Aryan stocks, and
the existence of which we might be entitled to assume almost with
a priori certainty. We must, for the testing of this supposition,.
* Of the peoples of the madhyama die the Kurus and Pancalas occur again in
Manu; that the small stocks of theVacas and Ucinaras are not expressly named,
is no cause of astonishment. In the south new tribal names have arisen : the
Curasenas, who are not named at all in the old texts, are now the chief people of
the south. As to the connection between the Satvats, Bhojas, Yadavas, C ura-
senas, see Lassen, " Ind. Alt.," i, 757 ; cf. Weber, " Ind. St.," i, 211.
f So it is said in the " Baudhayanadharmacastra," i, 1 (according to MSS.
Burnell 39 and 40 in the India Office Library) :
Avantayo figa-Magadhas Surash/ra-Dakshiapatha7i
Upavrt t-Sindhusauvira ete sa7Hkir/myona7<.
Arattan Karaskaran Pu?i(Zran Sauviran Vanga-Kalingan pr&nrmaniti cadagatva
(?sic, the last word being corrected to codag gatva, one MS. ; the other reads :
pram-man iti ca gatva) punastomena yajeta sarvapn shf/mya va. thapy uda-
haranti :
padbhya?7i sa kurute papa? ya/i Kalingan prapadyate,
r/shayo nisbJm tiw tasya prahur vaicvanara?/* haviA.
PROMINENCE OF THE KURUS AND STOCKS. . 395
next submit the Brahma^a texts and finally the Jiik-Sawliita to an
examination as to their bearing on the peoples of the different
groups indicated by us.
If, as we hold, in the Brahma^a period the home of Brahmanic
civilization has been with the Kuru-Pancalas and the stocks of the
west standing in closer union with them, we cannot, nevertheless,
and Ave do not, expect to find this disclosed in the exclusive mention
of peoples of the western groups in the Brahmana texts. But the
cases of their being mentioned, specially of the Kurus and Pancalas,
and in a second degree of the Bharatas,* surpass at once beyond all
comparison in frequency the mentioning of the eastern peoples, and
then the texts frequently attribute to the western peoples unmis
takably the weight of an older and higher sacral authority, than to
the eastern groups, which latter are plainly named in a hostile or
contemptuous tone, or at least appear as peoples who have received
from the west instruction in the spiritual knowledge, which has its
home there.
A selection of the very amply existing materials bearing on this-
matter will suffice for the illustration of what has been said.
The Kurukshetra is the place of sacrifice of the gods (" (Jat." iv,
1, 5, 13 ; xiv, 1, 1, 2). From the Camasa, which the gods used in
the sacrifice, was produced the sacred tree Nyagrodha ; the first
born of the Nyagrodha trees grow on the Kurukshetra (" Ait."
7, 30). In the tale of the Pururavas and Urvas is the Kurukshetra
plays a part (" ^at." xi, 5, 1, 4 ; " Ind. Studien," i, 197). The
offerings which must be performed at the Sarasvati, Dn shadvati
and Yamuna, are known (v. " gankh. 9 r." 13, 29 ; " Katy." 24, 6 ;
" Paiicav. Br." 25, 10 seq). In the north, among the Kurupaiicalas,
is the country, where the Vac has her peculiar home ; the Vac, as
she there is, is truly (nidanena) to be called a Vac (" <Jat." iii,
2, 3, 15). t Some prefer the Pancavattam to the Caturavattam,
but the Caturavattam follows the custom of the Kurupaiicalas,
therefore let it be given the preference (" C^at." i, 7, 2, 8). A
saying of the Kurupancalas with reference to the kings of the
* Concerning these and their relation to the Kurus, see farther on.
f Cf. the gankh. Brahm., " Ind. Stud.," ii, p. 309.
39G RELATIVE LOCATION OF VEDIC AND BUDDHIST CULTURE.
Kurupaiicalas, who have performed the Rajasuya-sacrifice, v. " (Jat."
v, 5, 2, 5. A form of the Vajapeya-offering, which bears the name
Kuru-vajapeya, is explained at " Qankh. cr." xv, 3, 15. To a
disaster which the Kurus sustained by a shower of stones, reference
is made in " Chand. Up." i, 10, 1. An old verse, in which it is
said, " The mare saves the Kurus," is quoted at id. iv, 17, 9.
" The Kurus shall be obliged to fly from Kurukshetra," a Brahman
threatens and his threat is fulfilled ; " (Jankh. r." xv, 15, 10." Cf.
also "Taitt. Br." i, 8, 4, 1, 2.
The brilliant part is well known, which Janamejaya, the king of
the Kurus, plays in a series of the Brahmawa texts, as well as that
Jioble ode in praise of his father, the Kuru king Parikshit, which
we have preserved in " Av." xx, 127, 7 seq.
As Parikshit and Janamejaya among kings, so Anmi among
those versed in sacrifice stands on a high, perhaps on the highest
platform.* To Anmi is attributed the formula with which the
morning and evening sacrifice is celebrated : agnir jyotir agni/t
svaha ; suryo jyotir jyotih surya/t svaha (" Qat." ii, 3, 1, 34), and in
others also of the Yajus formula are found traces of Aruwi s hand
(" gat." iii, 3, 4, 19, vgl. " Taitt, Ar." i, 12, 4). But Arimi is
mentioned as a Kaurupancala brahman ("Qat." xi, 4, 1, 2) ; the
* When the time shall have come for the inquiries, which will have to be made
to create order out of the chaotic mass of names of teachers and other celebrities
of the Brahmaa period, it may turn out that the most important centre for the
formation and diffusion of the Brahmaa doctrine will have to be looked for in
Arui and in the circles which surrounded him. The most divergent lines of
tradition meet in the person of Uddalaka Arum. He is named as the teacher of
Yajnavalkya (" at. Br." xiv, 9, 3, 15; 9, 4, 33 ; cf. of the other books of this
text V. 5, 5, 14). But also in the texts belonging to the jR/gveda he plays a
prominent part. As the Va?ca at the end of the " C/at. Br." makes the teacher,
who in this text enjoys leading authority, namely, Yajnavalkya, a pupil of
Aru/a s, so the Kaushitaki Arayaka (XV) represents Kaushitaki and through
him also his pupil Qankhayana derive his wisdom from Aru?n (" Gu;mkhyac
Chankhayanad asmabhir adhita??*, Gunakhya/i Qafikhayana/t Kaholat Kaushi-
take//, Kahola/t Kaushitakir Uddalakad AruHe/?," etc.). And also the teacher,
whose name we find at the head of another branch of .R/gveda school tradition,
Madhuka Paingya (cf. regarding him " Kaush. Brahm." xvi, 9 ; " Cat. Br." xl, 7,
2, 8), is through the medium of Yajnavalkya brought into connection with Aru?a
{" C/at. Br." xiv, 9, 3, 16). Cf. also " Chand. Up." iii, p. 178 ed. Koer.
THE "CATAPATHA BRAHMA S A" AND THE VIDEHAS. 397
Mahabharata (i, 682, ed. Calc.) defines Mm more closely as a Paii-
calya, with which, the fact is in keeping, that we find his son
gvetaketu* appear in an assembly of the Paiicalas (" (Jat." xiv, 9 r
1, 1 ; "Chand. Up." v, 3, 1), and that a man from Kancambi is
mentioned as Arimi s pupil (" (Jat." xii, 2, 2, 13).
Certain peculiarities of recitation are laid claim to as belonging
to the Paiicalas, others to the Pracyas ("(Jankh. cr." xii, 13, G ; "Bik-
Prati?. Sutra" 137 and 186); we shall perhaps be permitted to
conclude, that on the whole the method of Vedic recitation has
arisen among the Kurus.
The passages bearing on the Bharatas, standing to all appearance
in closest union with the Kurus, will be set forth and explained
farther on. Here we merely mention the saying in " Taitt. Ar." ii, 20 :
namo Gangayamunayor madhye ye vasanti . . . namo Gangaya-
munayor munibhyac. ca.
To the evidence here collected! of the prominent importance of
the Kurupancalas in the Vedic world evidence, a part of which
is drawn from the " Qatapatha Brahmawa " will be opposed the
important part, which the people of Videha, living far in the east,
and their king Janaka play in this very text. The attitude of the
" gatapatha Brahma??a " to the eastern parts of Hindostaii is so
instructive on the matters which now engage our attention, that we
shall go into greater detail on this point.
In the last books of the " Qatapatha Brahmana," the debates, which
are carried on between the Brahmans at the Court of the Videha
king Janaka, bear leading prominence. The hero of these contests,
and at the same time the teacher, whose authority on spiritual ques
tions is regarded as decisive,: is Yajnavalkya. Some passages of the
Brahman make it, if not absolutely certain, at any rate highly
probable, that he belonged by descent, not to the Kurupancalas
* The same, who in a noteworthy passage of the Apastamba (i, 2, 5, G) is
cited as an example of the appearance of ^rutarshayas still .in later ages.
t Compare with these also the very rich collechons of Weber andSti,
189 seq. ; the relevant passages from the Kanaka " are quoted am, 469 ,471.
* For brevity s sake we may here be permitted to omit notice of Books
vi-x, xm, the bearing of which is avowedly peculiar (Weber, Ind. Stud." xia,
205-269 ; Delbriick, " Die Altindische Wortfolge," p. 45).
398 RELATIVE LOCATION OF VEDIO AND BUDDHIST CULTURE.
we may venture to add conjecturally to the Videhas.* Thus
we have here a proof, from which it is clear that Brahman- Vedic
culture was held in honour at a court far east from the land of the
Kurupancalas, and also that, in all probability, the most respected
teacher of this court was himself a native of that eastern kingdom.
This fact cannot be thrown into relief by itself alone, without
setting it in its true light by means of other facts drawn from that
same Brahmana, The " (JatapathaBr." shows itself in the clearest
way, that Brahmanic culture among the Videhas is only an offshoot
from the Kurupancalas. Yajiiavalkya himself is a pupil of Anwi
(note p. 396), who, as we saw, Avas a Pancala. The groups of
Brahmans, who flock to Janaka, are except Yajnavalkya Kuru-
pancalanam brahmana/i (xiv, 6, 1, 1, etc.) ; the king of the east,
who has a leaning to the culture of the west, collects the celebrities
of the west at his court much as the intellects of Athens gathered
at the court of Macedonian princes. How fully throughout the
whole text, which actually appears to have been compiled in the
east, the authority of the west, of the Kurupancalas, is felt and
acknowledged, the passages collected above amply show.f And
most clearly in the well-known narration of the " (Jatapatha Br." i,
4, 1, 10 seq. has the memory been preserved, that there was a
time, when the sacrificial system, as it flourished on the Saras vati,
was still a stranger to the land of the Videhas : Videgha Mathava,
* XIV, 6, 1, 1-3 and especially G, 9, 20.
f Holding as we do with Weber that the " Cat. Br." was compiled in the east, it
is very readily explained how this text not only knows those peoples, kings and
teachers, as do the other texts, but in addition also knows Yajnavalkya and
Janaka, of whom the other texts are almost wholly ignorant (Weber, " Lit. Gesch." 2
p. 146, note 2). The other texts originated at the very centre, the " Qat. Br." at
the periphery of Vedic culture ; in the provinces people know the great folks of
the capital, but not vice rend.
I Cf. Weber, " Ind. Stud." i, 170 seq.
What river that Sadanira here, named as a boundary, is, cannot, as far as I
see, be determined with certainty. Weber (Joe. cit. 172, 181) identifies it with
the Ga?*c?aki, which in later times formed the boundary between the territories
of Kosala and Videha. Against this the fact seems to speak, that the
Mahabharata on one occasion makes its heroes cross " Gawtakiii ca Mahaco/mm
.Sadaniran tathaiva ca " (ii, 794 ed. Calc. ; also vi, 325, 332 the two rivers stand
Jbeside each other in a long list) ; this passage is, of course, not decisive, for the
LEGEND GF AGNI VAICVAXARA-THE MAGADHAS. 309
tlie national hero of the Videhas, goes eastward across the Sadanira
and there establishes the rule of the Videhas. But Agni
Vai9\ T anara, who comes from the Sarasvati, does not accompany
him across ; he cannot burn beyond the Sadanira. Therefore in
earlier ages 110 Brahmans went across the Sadanira to the east, for
it was bad land, whereof Agni Vaicvanara had not tasted. " Now,
however, eastward of that dwell many Brahmans ; . . . now is it
indeed good land, for now have Brahmans made it enjoyable
through offerings." The difference between the ancient Vedic land
of culture in the west and the east, where there was Aryan land,
but not yet for a long time a home of Vaicvanara, can scarcely
be more significantly expressed. Certainly the limits between the
two tracts here appear to have been already pushed forward a stage
farther toward the east ; the Kosalas have entered earlier than the
Videhas into the community of Vedo-Brahmanic culture.*
Still farther off from the old centres of Vedic culture than the
races already named stand the Magadhas. In a well-known passage
of the Atharva-Veda (5, 22, 14) the fever is washed away to the
Gandharisf and Mujavants, and to the Aiigas and Magadhas ; and
^knowledge of the true Sadanira, which lias been lost to later lexicographers in
every instance for the Karatoya cannot possibly be identified with the S. may
have been already wanting to the poets who composed these passages of the
Mahabharata.
* It is quite in accordance with this that among the names of the stocks not held
in full esteem as though being non- Aryan, which are at the same time applied as
the designations of mixed castes, Vaideha occurs as well as Magadha (Manu x,
11 ; cf. Gautama iv, 17), but not Kausalya. We also find the names of the
Nicchivis (Licchavis) and the Mallas (Manu x, 22), the rulers of Kusinara and
Pava and the near neighbours of the Sakyas. Probably, then, the latter also
belonged to the stocks little affected by Brahmanic influences.
t The Gandharas in the north-west will have to be regarded by us as standing
outside the pale of Vedic culture, in the same way as the Magadha people did in
the south-east (cf . Koth, " zur Literatur," see 42). Of course they are known to the
Vedic texts. But their mention in " Chandogya Upan." vi, 14 does not imply that
the compiler of that text was specially near to the Gandharas, so that we cannot
conclude with Prof. Max Miiller (p. 105 of his Translation) regarding the high anti
nuity of the text or the northern origin of its compiler. The passage seems to me
rather to favour the opposite (cf. also Weber, Ind. St." i, 219 note). The matter
dealt with is a comparison of a man, who is led (anlya) away by the Gandharas
with closed eyes, and who then inquires his way back from village to village. The
400 RELATIVE LOCATION OF VEDIO AND BUDDHIST CULTURE.
a host of other passages in the Vedic literature combine to show-
that the Magadhas were looked upon as strangers, and were regarded
by no means with favour.*
If our inquiry up to this point, which has been based essentially
on the Brahma^a Text, has yielded the probability, that, for the
history of the spread of Vedic culture, a sharp distinction must be
drawn between Kurus, Pancalas, and the peoples connected with
them on the one hand, and the Eastern stocks, especially the
Videhas and Magadhas on the other, now is the time to examine
this hypothesis by the data which the .Eik-Samhita supplies. We
ask : Can we discern among the stocks, which are mentioned in
the J&k-Sarahita, a prominence or even an exclusive appearance of
the circle which groups itself round the Kuru- Pancalas ? "We
believe we shall have to answer this question in the affirmative.
passage means the more, the farther the Gandharas are made to reside from
the land where this may have been said. With the Buddhists the capital of the
Gandharas, Takkasila, figures constantly as the place to which anyone travels,
when he desires to learn something good, e.g. " Tat. Att/i.." ii, 2 ; 39 etc. and
already in the Vinaya Pitoka : " Mahavagga," viii, 1, 5, seq.
* Vide the quotations in Professor Weber s "Lit. Gesch.," second edition,
p. 86, 123 seq. 156. I cannot agree with Weber in tracing the light esteem of
the Brahmans (or quasi-Brahmans, for they do not apparently pass as pure) of
Magadha expressed in the passages in point, to the success of Buddhism in that
country. If the Brahmans of Magadha as such are spoken of in a sneering tone,
it is, I think, more natural to think of the light esteem in which their fatherland
was held, than of a circumstance the Buddhist faith which affected only single
individuals among them, but affected, instead, Kosala Brahmans, etc., quite as
much. If this faith and not the origin of the Magadha Brahmans were the real
point, why then was not, for example, the well-known prescript regarding
Vratyastoma based on the faith and not on the descent ? Data of any kind
whatever, which might stand in any connection whatever with Buddhism, I have
not been able to discover in the whole range of the statements regarding the
Vratyas. The role which the Magadha people here play, is amply explained by
the feeling of national antipathy, or of contempt, which was harboured towards
them. Prof. Weber seems to me to hit the mark, when he, "Lit. G.," 2 p. 305,
surmises that the land of Magadha was not wholly Brahmanized. But we need
not suppose that here " the aborigines always preserved a kind of influence." The
Aryan immigrants themselves were not wholly Brahmanized, i.e., not wholly
permeated by the culture of the Kuru-Paficalas. We may here also refer to
" Kaush Ar." 7, 14 : atha ha smasya (i.e., of the Hrasva Mandukeya) putra aha
Madhyama/t Pratibodhiputro Magadhavasi. Thus, dwelling in the Magadha
territory is mentioned as something unusual.
THE STOCKS MENTIONED IN THE HIK-SAMHITA. 401
It is admitted that the status of Indian family-stocks, as it is
given in the Rik-Sa,mhit&, corresponds at first sight only partially
with that which is set forth in the Brahmaraa. A series of the
most important race-names given in the JSik-Sawhita have vanished
wholly, or as good as wholly, in the Brahma?ia : e.g., the Purus,
Turvaas, Yadus, THtsus, and so on. Vice versa, of the names
of Kurus and Pancalas, which stand in the front in the Brahmawa,
not one is named, directly at least, in the Samhita. There arose
apparently on the one side new names instead of the old (note the
well-known change of Krivi and Pancala), on the other, in the
many migrations and struggles in numerous places, the countless
small stocks of the older days cohered into few greater peoples ;*
naturally such events might easily necessitate a change in the
names. Finally the possibility also must not be overlooked, that
one and another among the stocks, which had participated in the
culture of the Jt/tk-Samhita, withdrew later from the circle, in
which the Yedic culture has further developed itself, and new
stocks entered this circle.
The investigation will now naturally take this course : first those
stocks of the jRik- Samhita will be enumerated, which reappear
under the same names in the Brahmaw>a* Then will be mentioned
the unfortunately only few cases, in which the identity of the
name is indeed wanting*, but where from further considerations
of some kind or other a connection between the one case and the
other is rendered probable.
Of instances of the first kind I may cite the following :
Kurus, in the JRtk-Satfthita at least indirectly named, Zim-
mer, "Altind. Leben," p. 130 seq. ; Ludwig, "Mantraliteratur,"
p. 205.
Krivis (= Pancalas), s. Zimmer, p. 102 seq. The small importance-
of the Krivis in ancient times as compared with the later great
prominence of the Paiicalas suggests the supposition, that the
change of names is connected with further changes, some such
* Compare the analogous occurrences in ancient Germany, where, for example,,
the Chamavi, Sigamberi, Ampsivarii of ancient times combined to form the
composite race of the Franks.
26
402 RELATIVE LOCATION OF VEDIC AND BUDDHIST CULTURE.
as a cohesion of the Krivis with other elements to form the Pancala
stock ; we shall return to this matter later on, p. 404 seq.
Matsyas, Zimmer, p. 127. The passage quoted from Mann (supra,
p. 393) and numerous other evidences establish their connection
with the great western groups of peoples.
U9inaras, Zimmer, p. 130. Their belonging to the group of the
Kurus and Pancalas is clear from the genealogical table of the
Aitareya.
Srmjayas, Zimmer, p. 132 ; Ludwig, " Mantra Lit." p. 153 seq. ;
Weber, " Ind. Stud." i, 208 ; iii, 472. Their close connection with
the Kurus has been rightly inferred by Zimmer from " <Jat." ii, 4, 4, 5 ;
cf. also " gat." xii, 9, 3, 1 seq.
Rucamas, Zimmer, p. 129. In the Brahmana we meet with at
least one Rucama (" Pane. Br." xxv, 13) ; this one runs round
Kurukshetra for a bet made with Indra.
Cedis, Zimmer, p. 129. I here insert this stock, although, as far
as I know, it does not meet us again in the Brahmarca, but only
in the great Epic : Pancala? Cedi-Matsya9 ca (Jurasena/t, etc.
(iv. 11). The Cedis are set up as the model of upright living
(i, 2342 seq.). They lie, judging by their later settlements, of all
these peoples farthest to the south-east, s. Lassen, I 2 , 688 A. 3 ;
Cunningham " Archseol. Survey," ix, 54 seq.
Of the Bharatas we shall treat farther on.
Already this of itself confessedly scanty list of names indicates
unmistakably that the Iftk-Sawhita has its home among those
groups of peoples, who are found later on gathered round the
centre of the Kurupancalas. The instances to the contrary are
unimportant. They are the following :
The Gandharis, Zimmer, p. 30. Vide supra, p. 399.
The Kikafas, Zimmer, p. 31. These, according to the lexico
graphers, would have to be taken as identical with the Magadha
people. But, on the one hand, they are mentioned in a way which
appears to point to their distance from, rather than to their nearness
to, the compiler of the poem, and on the other it is more than
uncertain that they are to be really identified with the Magadha
stock. Yaska (Mr. 6, 32) was only able to say of the Kika^as that they
THE STOCKS MENTIONED IN THE HIK-SAMHITA. 403
were non- Aryans. If he was justified in this, then they were not
the Magadhas, if these were Aryans. But if Yaska knew nothing
really of the Kikafos and drew what he said of them only from
the passage of the .Bt gveda, it is then difficult to believe that the
lexicographers knew more.
A connection of the Anga Aurava, who according to the Anu-
kramawi is represented to be compiler of Rv. 10, 138, with the
people of the Angas, we have no reason to suppose.
Ikshvakus, Zimmer, p. 133, cf. p. 104 note. The later ages trace
back the royal race of Eastern Hindostan to Ikshvaku ; the race also,
to which Buddha belonged, regarded itself as a race of Ikshvakuidae.
If Ikshvaku stands outside the circle with which, according to our
investigation, the .Bik-Samhita otherwise deals, the mention of
a mighty prince in this way would of itself scarcely be used
against us as an instance opposed to our result. But the case
itself is questionable: the "(Jatapatha Brahmawa" (xiii, 5, 4, 5)
knows Purukutsa as an Ikshvakuid ;* but Purukutsa was prince
of the Purus (Zimmer, p. 123), whom no one will seek to identify
with those eastern peoples (regarding the Purus see our remarks
presently) . Are we to suppose that the eastern stocks, when they
came into closer contact with the Vedic culture, have appropriated
to their most venerated kingly races ancestors of Vedic nobility,
and that for that purpose the name of Ikshvakuidee, belonging
correctly to the Purus, has been selected ?
We now pass on to consider the cases, in which the identity or
connection of stocks which we mentioned in the Samhita, and such
as are mentioned in the Brahma^a, is to be rendered probable, not
directly by resemblance of name but in some other way.
The Purus are, as is known, brought in the genealogical system
of the great epic into the closest connection with the Kurus. In
the Brahmana there are unfortunately wanting evidences, but
internal probability really speaks for our inferring a connection
between the people, which stands in the age of the J&k-Samhitft in
* Probably it serves to confirm this statement, that according to the " Pancav.
JBr." xiii, 3, 12 Tryaruna Traidhatva was an Aikshvaka ; but a Tryaruiia we know
from JR/gv. v. 2.7 to be a descendant of Trasadasyu.
26*
404 RELATIVE LOCATION OF VEDIO AND BUDDHIST CULTURE.
the centre of Vedic civilization, and that which occupies the same
position in the case of the Brahma?za.* It also deserves to be
noted that the Kurr^rava^a, cf. Jiv. x, 33, 4, is denominated
Trasadasyava ; but Trasadasyu was a prince of the Purus. I
believe that the Piirns were only one among other elements,
which combined to form the people of the Kurus ; another I shall
attempt to point out as we proceed (p. 408 seq.).
The Turvaas, standing in closest connection with the Yadus,
belong of course to the stocks most frequently mentioned in the
jRik-Samhita ; they are sometimes mentioned in a friendly and
sometimes in an unfriendly tone. From the Brahmawa their name
has almost completely vanished ;f nevertheless we have one passage
which gives us a key to the place in which we have to search for
the ancient Turvapas among the people of the later age. In the
lists of kings who have offered the Acvamedha, we find the
Pancala king (Jowa Satrasaha (" (Jat." xiii, 5, 4, 16), regarding
whose horse-sacrifice a Gatha is quoted: "When Satrasaha makes
the A9vamedha offering, the Taurva9as arise, six thousand and six
and thirty clad in mail (varmiwam)." The commentary explains :
Taurva^a/t a9va/i ; the construction (cf. also the folio wing Gatha,
17) clearly shows that the Taurva^as are rather the " varmin," i.e.,
the mail-clad escort of noble races, who have to follow the offered
horse (or the horses offered), so that it be not lost (" <Jat." xiii, 1,
6, 3 ; 4, 2, 16 ; Katy. cr." xx, 2, 11).
We expressed above our doubt that the Krivis of ancient time
alone, without admixture of other elements, are to be set down as
being the same with the Pancala : now we have found bands of the
Turva9a youth actively engaged in the offering of a Pancala king.
Thus the conjecture is justified that we are to look to find in the
people of the Paiicalas, of the stock of the Bik Samhita, the Turva^as
also as well as the Krivis. The union of the Turva9as, frequently
* Cf. the remarks of Ludwig, " Mantralit." p. 205.
t That they are identical with the Vr/civants also named in the Brahma?ia,
as Zimmer (p. 124) would have them, J^v. vi, 27, does not justify us to
assume. This passage is satisfactorily explained also if the Vn civants are
treated only as confederates of the Turvacas (cf. Ludwig, " Mantra L.," p. 153).
THE STOCKS MENTIONED IN THE KLK-8AM.HITA. 405
with the Yadus, and occasionally with the Matsyas (Rv. vii, 18, 6),
falls in completely with this conjecture.
In order to define the position which the Tritsns, whose brilliant
victories are so highly celebrated in the Vasishtfia Hymns, occupy
among the stocks of the Veclic age, we point next to the connection in
which they stand with the Srmjaya (vide supra, p. 402), a connection
which is undoubtedly to be regarded as an alliance. Both have the
same enemies : that the Tritsns stand opposed to the Turvacas in
battle we know from vii, 18, 6 ; 19, 8, and so on ; of the Srmjayas
we gather the same from vi, 27, 7. In the hymns of the Bharadvaja
book (MaweZ. vi) an equal friendship for the Srinjayas and the Tritsu
prince Divodasa appears ; the praises of the gifts and honours which
the bard has received from Divodasa, and of those which he has
received from the Sarnjaya (i.e., Daivavata), are united in the same
poem (vi, 47).* Now we have already mentioned the union of the
Srinjayas and Kurus appearing in the Brahmana ; as the bard of
vi, 47 posed as the Purohita of the Tritsu and Srmjaya princes, so
Devabhaga Qrautarsha (" gat. Br." ii, 4, 4, 5) united the purohital
dignity of the Kurus and Srmjayas. Thus we shall be led by
probabilities to allot to the Tn tsus their place within the circle of
stocks, among which later on the name of the Kurus played the
most prominent part.
Much clearer results are obtained if we accept the important
and acute supposition of Ludwig,t who declares the Tr/tsus to be
identical with the Bnaratas. I think that there is, in fact, more
than one consideration in support of this conjecture. The Tntsns
are mentioned under this name exclusively in the seventh Manila ;
but it is a priori in the highest degree improbable that the race
which thus plays so brilliant a part should be wholly unknown t
* Amon* the vouchers for the connection of the Tr/tsus and SnTijayas I also
reckon IZv. vii, 19, 3, although of course the weight of this passage is diminish
by the mention of Trasadasyu and the Purus being made therein at the same t
As Vltahavya and Sudas- there stand beside each other, it appears to me tc
that Vitahavya is to be understood as a proper name of the Srifijaya 1
Ath V.," v, 19, 1 ; " Taitt. Saiuh." v, 6, 5, 3 ; Pane. Br." xxv, 16, 3. AV tgluwy
is also lauded in the Bharadvaja book, which is, as is well known, friendly tc
Srmjayas (Rv. vi, 15, 2, 3). Aliter Zimmer, p. 132.
f " Mantraliteratur," p. 175.
406 RELATIVE LOCATION OF VEDIO AND BUDDHIST CULTURE.
the remaining parts of the .Eigveda ; there is in them no deficiency
of passages where mention is made of the Tn tsu king Sudas and
his father, Divodasa Atithigva, the conqueror of Qambara. If we
are thus authorized to presuppose that the TWtsus are identical
with one of the elsewhere-mentioned stocks and certainly in all
probability with one of those frequently mentioned there thus
remain, in fact, as the Five Peoples are excluded on account of
their enmity against the Tn tsus, apparently only the Bharatas of
whom we can entertain a thought. That vii, 33, 6, can be used as
well to support as to controvert this view is evident. Direct support
of this identification of the Tr^tsus with the Bharatas is found* in
the following considerations :
Tntsns, like Bharatas, are enemies of the Purus, mentioned
elsewhere in the _R ik-Sa??ihita as a rule in a friendly tone, and
certainly the poet belonging to the VasishtfMdas sides with the
Tritsus as with Bharatas ; cf . vii, 8, 4 ; 18, 13, etc.
The king of the Trz, tsus is Sudas ; the praise of Sudas and of the
Bharatas is found coupled in iii, 53, 9. 12. 24.
In vi, 16, 4. 5, cf. v, 19, the prayer for Divodasa and for the
Bharatas is united in such a fashion that one can scarcely help
taking Divodasa for a Bharata. But Divodasa is, according to viii,
18, 25, the father of Sudas, the king of the Tntsus.
The question of the historical position of the Tr^tsus thus merges
in that of the position of the Bharatas, and to this latter question
we have now to address ourselves.
The Brahma^a texts tell us of Bharata heroes in a distant
antiquity as well as of such as must be regarded as belonging to
a not very remote past. In the list of A9vamedha offerers (" Qat."
xiii, 5, 4) two Bharata princes appear : Bharata himself, the son of
Dushyanta, and (Jatanika Satrajita; the accompanying verses on
both occasions point to the incomparable nobility of the BLarata or
Bharatas, whose greatness is as far beyond that of other mortals
as the heavens are above the earth. The family, as belonging to
which those two princes were regarded by the compilers of the
Brahmawa text, proceeds from the person of the priests, who are
* To a great extent already cited by Ludwig, p. 175.
TIJE BRAE AT AS. 407
named in connection with them : Bharata Daushyanti has received
the kingly installation from Dirghatamas Mamateya, therefore from
a I^ shi of the Etk-Samhita (" Ait." viii, 23), gatanika Satrajita on
the contrary from Soma9ushman Vajaratnayana ("Ait." viii, 21),
therefore from a man, whom his name already stamps as belonging
to a later epoch.
That the existence and prominent importance of the Bharatas
continued down to the age of the compiler of the Brahmaraa is
also evident from a series of other passages,* in which reference is
made to customs of the Bharatas usually in such a way that the
Bharatas appear in what they say and do as the rule for correct
procedure, once (" Ait." iii, 18) also in such a manner that the
knowledge of the Bharata custom is freely designated as something
which not every one has.
In the lists of tribes in "Ait. Br." 8, 14, and in Mann the
Bharatas are wanting ; as little do we meet them in the Buddhists
enumeration of peoples,t or in the numerous references made by
the Buddhist texts to the peoples through whose country Buddha
wanders or who figure in any other place in Buddhist sacred
history.* And anyone who goes through the mentionings made of
the Bharatas in the Brahmana texts will find that there, in a certain
way, the course is being prepared already for the vanishing of the
* < Ait " ii, 25 ; iii, 18 (twice) ; gat." v, 4, 4, 1. Whoever considers these
passages by themselves and in comparison with the evidence to be explained
Lrther on will scarcely adhere to the signification mercenary soldier" for
Bht a WU Pet. Lex/but see in it solely the name of the tnbe. I emend
Satvanam in Ait." ii, 25, to Satvatam (according to a . xm, 64, W
reading-as opposed to the Lex.-is supported by Ait." vm, 14) and translate
"trefore even now go the Bharatas forth for plunder against the Satvats, and
sav : For a fourth part," etc.
Kuupaficsu Macchasurasenesu).
n r^r^rrr
408 RELATIVE LOCATION OF VEDIC AND BUDDHIST CULTURE.
Bharata name out of the circle of Indian tribal names which are
wont to be mentioned. The Bharatas are referred to with great
deference, but in quite another tone than that adopted with regard
to the peoples influencing the life of the Kurus, Videhas, etc. ; in
thelincidental way in which, for example, Brahmans of the Kuru-
pancala stock are spoken of, or in which it is said that some one
wanders in the country of the Matsyas or TJyinaras, the Bharatas
do not appear. The peculiar importance and at the same time the
isolation of the Bharatas shows itself, perhaps, in the most decisive
manner when Agni is spoken of as brahmawa Bharata (" g a t. Br."
i, 4, 2, 2), and is invited to dispose of the offering Manushvad
Bharatavat (ibid, i, 5, 1, 7).
We may, perhaps, be allowed to surmise that in the Bharatas we
have to do with a stock which in the time of the Brahamawa had
politically merged in, or was about to merge in, one of the great
peoples of India in that age, but which had attaching to its name
the splendour of great memories and sacral precedence. If we ask
after the people, which may have absorbed the Bharatas, it is most
natural to seek them in those tracts to which in the Brahmawa
period especially the highest sacral authority appertains in the
domains of the Kurupancala. It fits in with this that, according
to "gat. Br."xiii, 5, 4, 11. 21, one Bharata king has obtained a
victory over the K^is, another has made offerings to Ganga and
Yamuna. It further tallies with the fact that the formula of the
king s proclamation (esha vo, K N., raja) for the people that is
addressed, the following variants occur : Kurava/i, PancalaA, Kuru-
Govinda divided the kingdom between Re?m, the son of the king, and the " ailfie
cha khattiya." It is said of this :
" Tatra suda?;i majjhe Kemissa raililo janapado hoti.
Dantapura??i Kalingana7/i Assakanara ca Potamaw
Mahiyata Avantina??i Soviranaii ca Rorukaw
Mithila ca Videhanam Campa Angesu mapita
Baransi ca Kasina??i ete G ovindamapita ti.
Sattabhu Brahmadatto ca Vessabhu Bharato saha
dve ca DhatarattM tadasu??i satta Bharata ti.
It is seen how here the name of the Bharatas is used in a wider sense
embracing the whole of India (cf. Bharatavarsha), or at any rate its princes.
THE BHARATAS. dOO
pancalcU, and BharataA (vide Weber, " Ind. Lit. G."2 p. 126, note).
With this, above all, fits in the conception running through the
epics. Also those who, like us, do not rate highly the confused
representations of the Mahabharata regarding the stocks of
antiquity in general, will not be able to avoid giving a certain
weight to the evidences which the great epic at every step, and,
indeed, even by its name, furnishes to prove that the royal family
of the Kurus was a Bharata family.*
Our discussions hitherto regarding the Bharatas have not as yet
dealt with the evidence furnished by the IMv-Samhita. We now
inquire, how does its testimony stand to the view of the Bharatas
hitherto conjecturally evolved.
In the hymns of the JRik we meet the Bharatas as one stock
among many othersf ; the Vi9vamitra odes are well known in praise
of the deeds of the Bharatas, the Vasishtf/ta ode referring to their
(quondam) defeat.
Also we find in the Ifo k-Samhita trace of a peculiar position
occupied by the Bharatas, a special connection of theirs with
important points of sacred significance, which are recognized
throughout the whole circle of ancient Veclic culture. Agni is
Bharata, i.e., propitious or belonging to the Bharata or Bharatas ;
among the protecting deities, who are invoked in the Apri-odes,
we find Bharati, the personified divine protective power of the
Bharatas.
We find the Sarasvati constantly named in connection with her ;
must not the sacred river Sarasvati be the river of the holy people,
the Bharatas ? In one ode of the Mawdala, which specially extols
the Bharatas (iii, 23), the two Bharatas, Deva$ravas and Devavata,
* In this connection we may also point to the fact that the list of the
Acvamedhayajinas, gat. Br." xiii, 5, 4, generally states with reference to each
king the people over which he ruled (Purukutsa is designated as Aikshvako raja,
Marutta as Ayogavo raja, Kraivya as Paficalo raja, and so on), but in three cases
this detail is omitted apparently as superfluous: these cases are those of Jana-
mejaya and his brothers, as well as Bharata and gatanika. The first-named
was, as is weU-known, a Kuru prince ; the two last were Bharata kings.
t See the passages in Grassmann s Lexicon, and Ludwig, p. 175, Zimmer
p. 127 seq. Cf. also " Taitt. Ar." i, 27, 2.
410 RELATIVE LOCATION OF VEDIC AND BUDDHIST CULTURE.
are spoken of, who have generated Agni by friction : on the
Dnshadvati, on the Apaya, on the Sarasvati may Agni beam. We
find thus Bharata princes sacrificing in the land on the DHshadvati
and on the Sarasvati. Now the land on the Dnshadvati and on
the Sarasvati is that which is later on so highly celebrated as
Kurukshetra. Thus the testimonies of the Samhita and the
Brahmawa combine to establish the close connection of the ideas
Bharata, Kuru, Sarasvati.*
Out of the struggles in which the migratory period of the Vedic
stocks was passed, the Bharatas issued, as we believe we are entitled
to suppose the course of events to have been, as the possessors of
the regions round the Sarasvati and Dmhadvati. The weapons of
the Bharata princes and the poetical fame of their Ifo shis may have
co-operated to acquire for the cult of the Bharatas the character
of universally acknowledged rule, and for the Bharatas a kind
of sacral hegemony : hence Agni as friend of the Bharatas, tha
goddess Bharati, the sacredness of the Sarasvati and DHshadvati.
Then came the period, when the countless small stocks of the-
Samhita age were fused together to form the greater peoples of
the Brahma?ia period. The Bharatas found their place, probably
together with their old enemies, the Purus, f within the great
complex of peoples now in process of formation, the Kurus ; their
sacred land now became Kurukshetra.
We return from this digression bearing on the Bharatas, to state
the result of our main investigation.
We found that the literature of the Brahmawas points to a cer
tain definitely circumscribed circle of peoples as its home, as the
* on the fact, that in the epic IZa and Sarasvati are named among the divine
ancestors of the Bharatas (" M. Bh." i, 3760, 3779, etc.) I will lay no stress.
More worthy of note, considering the close connection of the Bharatas and
Kucikas (Zimmer, p. 128), is the fact that a tributary of the Dn shadvati bears
the name Kauciki ("M. Bh." iii, 6065). Kegarding the relation of the son of
IZa, Pururavas, to Kurukshetra, see " Qat. Br." xi, 5, 1, 4.
f Is it to be taken as connected with the vanishing of this enmity, that
already in the Eik-Sawhita on some occasions Sudas, or Divodasa on the one
side and Purukutsa, or Trasadasyu on the other, are named together in a friendly
tone? i, 112, 14; vii, 19,3.
TEE BHARATAS. 411
home of genuine Brahmanism. "We found that this circle of peoples
corresponds with those whom Manu celebrates as upright in life.
We found finally, that the names of the stocks named in the
Jfo gveda, especially the most prominent of them, the Purus,
Turva9as, Bharata-Tritsus, go back to the same circle of peoples.
In this way we shall be permitted to consider established the
statement premised to this inquiry, that this circle of stocks has
formed from of old a community in itself closely inter-connected,
separated from the Yidehas, "Magadhas, and also probably, though
less clearly, from the Kosalas. Inasmuch as at the time when
those stocks were pressing forward through the Panjab towards
their later habitations, we find this association and that separation
already existing, we are entitle to assume that the Kosalas, the
Magadhas, the Videhas had at that time already pressed forward
farther to the east, down the Ganges. Vedic culture has not had
its home, originally at least, among these stocks of the east, but
among the peoples of the western group.
It will be an interesting task to follow out the distinction here
indicated also on the lines of the dialects ;* but the time for its
performance will not have come until Indian epigraphic has been
based on wider and surer foundations than the first volume of the
Corpus Inscriptionum presents.
SECOND EXCURSUS.
ANNOTATIONS AND AUTHORITIES FOR THE HISTOET OF BUDDHA S
TOUTH.
The several points noted in the account given in the text of the
family from which Buddha sprang, are derived from " Cnllavagga,"
Tii, 1 seq. (cf. "Dhp. Atth." p. 351), as well as the following
passages: Sowadandfasutta ("DighaK") : samano khalu bho Gotamo
pahutam hiraimam suva^am ohaya pabbajito bhumigatam
* Also the little which we can gather from Buddhist sources regarding the
mythology of eastern lands and their religious terminology, so far as t
Zrgrown by the Veda, coincides by no means with what the western hteiatui
yields.
412 NOTES on THE HISTORY OF BUDDHA S YOUTH.
ca , sama?io khalu blio Gotamo acMakula pabbajito
mahaddhana mahabhoga. " Apadana," fol. kha& : addhe kule
mahabhoge nibbattissatti tavade.
"Apadana," fol. ko :
aparimeyye ito kappe Ukkakakulasarnbhavo (sic)
Gotamo namagottena sattha loke bhavissati.
Idem. fol. garni seq. :
aparimeyye ito kappe bhumipalo mahiddliiko
Okkako nama namena raja T&ttJie bhavissati.
soZasitthisahassanaw sabbasaw pavara ca ya
abhijata khattiyani nava putte janissati.
nava putte janitvana khattiyani marissati,
taruwava (sic) piya kanna mahesittam karissati.
Okkakawi tosayitvana vara? kanna labhissati,
varawi laddha ca sa kanna putte pabbajayissati.
pabbajita ca te sab be gamissanti naguttamam
jatibhedabhaya sabbe bhaginihi samvasissare.
eka Va kanna byadnihi bhavissati purakkhata,
ma no jati pabhijja (sic) ti nikhamyanti khattiya.
khattiyo niharitvaiia taya saddhim vasissati :
bhavissati tada bhedo Okkakakulasambhavo.
tesam paja bhavissanti Koliya nama jatiya,
tattha manusakam bhogam anubhossanti nappakam.
Here we must also compare the data given in the Amba^/zasutta
{" Bigha Nikaya ") for the descent of Buddha from Okkaka, as well
.as Sutta ISTipata, " Paray. Vat thug." v, 16 (" Fausboll," p. 186).
The Bohiwi as a boundary stream between the Sakyas and the
Koliyas : passantu tarn Sakiya KoZiya ca pacchamukham Rohiniyam
tarantam (" Theragatha," fol. khu ).
Ambaif/iasutta (" Digha N.") : The young Brahman Amba^/za
.says to Buddha: ekam idaham bho Gotama samayaw acariyassa
brahma?zassaPokkharasatissa kenacid eva karawiyena Kapilavatthuw/
;agamasi??i yena Sakyana?^ santhagaram ter upasamkami???. tena
kho pana samayena sambahula Sakya c eva Sakyakumarca ca
.santhagare uccesu asanesu nisinna honti annamanna??i angulipato-
dakena samjagghanta sa??iki7anta annadatthu manneva maman neva
anojagghanta na nam koci asanena pi nimaiitesi. tayidam bho
THE NAME GOT AH A. 41 ^
Gotama na cchana?^ tayida?^ na ppatirupa??i yad ime Sakya ibbha
samana na brahma?^e sakkaronti, etc. In the " Aiig. Nik." (vol. i,
fol. kau) Bhaddiya KaZigodhaya putta is mentioned as uccakuli-
kana?? agga among the Bhikkhus, apparently the same of whom
" Cull." vii, 1 speaks. Dhammacetiyasuttanta (" Majjh. N. ;" King
Pasenadi is speaking) : bhagava pi Kosalako aham pi Kosalako.
The supremacy of Pasenadi over the Sakyas appears from the
following passage : Sakya kho pana Yase7ia raniio Pasenadiko-
salassa anantara anuyutta bhavanti ; karonti kho Yase^Aa Sakya
ranne Pasenadimhi Kosale nipaccakara?^ abhivadana?^ paccuz^anam
aiijalikamma?^ samicikammam (Aggannasutta, " Digha 1ST.").
Buddha s claim to the "gotta" of Gotama I cannot satisfactorily
explain. The question must here be put in general terms : how is
the appearance of a gotta-name among members of the Khattiya
caste to be explained ?
I give first of all the essential facts bearing on this point, so far
as they are known to me.
Each of those oft-mentioned noble families, in whose hands lies
the government of separate towns and their adjacent territory,
seems to have borne a gotta-name. Thus the Mallas of Kusinara
are denoted as Yase^Ms (" Mahaparinibb. Sutta," p. 55, etc.), the
Mallas of Pava bear the same gotta (Samgitipariyayasutta in the
"Digha-Nikaya"), the Koliyas are styled Byagghapajja (often in the
" Anguttara Nikaya ") . Is the name of their town Yyaghrapura con
nected herewith ? (Sp. Hardy, "Manual," p. 139.) In the Maha-
padhanasuttta is explained the descent, gotta and so on, of the six
Buddhas, who have preceded the Buddhas of the present age in
the holy dignity. Three of these six Buddhas are Khattiyas, but of
these, as well as of the other three, who are Brahmawas, the gotta
is mentioned as something existing as a matter of course ; the three
Khattiyas are KowcZaimas, the three Brahmawas are Kassapas.. The
last Buddha himself is a Gotama, apparently because his whole
family are (v. Burnouf , " Introd." p. 155) ; at least his father is-
addressed as Gotama (" Mahavagga " i, 54, 4) ; likewise his cousin
Ananda (" Yaiigisathera Samyutta," fol. ca, of the Phayre MS.) ;
Mahapajapati, who at the same time belongs to the Sakya race
414 NOTES on THE HISTORY OF BUDDHA S YOUTH.
(" Lai. Yist." p. 28 ed. Calc. ; " Mahavamsa," p. 9), bears tlie name
Gotami ; so also her sister Maya (" Theragatha," fol. khu ) ; finally
we have in " Jat A.tth." i, 60 and elsewhere Kisa Gotami, who is to
be regarded apparently as a young Sakya woman. Numerous
other instances of the application of a gotta- designation to persons^
of the Khattiya class are to be found in the Jinacaritra of the Jainas
and in inscriptions (it is enough to refer at present to Cunningham,
the " Stupa of Bharhut," p. 128 seq., and Biihler s notice therewith
given).
From these data it appears to me to follow with great proba
bility, that according to that view of custom which is disclosed by
the Buddhist and Jainist texts, every family of the Khattiya as
well as of the Brahma^a caste bears the gentile name of one of the
Vedic Brahman-gottas. If in the case of kings like Bimbisara or
Pasenadi such a gotta cannot be pointed to, the reason of this
seems not to be that they had no gotta name, but rather that the
appellation maharaja or deva was looked on as more respectful and
consequently more correct than Vase^a or Gotama.
That in the appropriation of these Brahmanical names we have
to do with a universal usage, not with a special right of individual
families, dependent for instance on relationships of affinity, is also
rendered probable by the verse often quoted in Buddhist suttas :
khattiyo settho jane tasmim yo gottapa^isarino.
An extension of the mode of distinction here referred to, to
persons of the third class, does not appear to have taken place ;
otherwise traces of it could scarcely have been omitted in the
numberless cases, where they must have been expected to occur in
our texts.
The designation of Buddha as Gotamides is usually traced to this,
that the dignity of purohita may have lain in the case of the Sakyas
in the hands of the Gautama-race.* As is well known, according
to the Brahmanical custom of offering at the Pravara ceremony,
instead of the naming of the ancestors of the person making the
* An express statement that this was the case, of course is not found in our
translation.
SITUATION OF KAPILAVATTUU. 415
offering, in case the latter is not a Brahman, the naming of the
ancestors of his purohita must or can take place (Weber, " Indische
Studien," x, 73, 79 ; Hillebrandt, " Das Altindische Neu- nnd Voll-
mondsopfer," S. 81, A. 1). Bat from the usage of calling upon the
Ao-ni as the Agni who has served the Gotama, in the case of the
offering of a man who has a Gautama as purohit, to the designation
of the man himself and his whole house as " descendants of the
Gotama," seems to me far too wide a step for us to be able to accept
that mode of explanation without hesitation. Here there may be
fictionsTand ｅxpressions of caste-rivalry at play, which to lay bare
even by conjecture the materials at present at our disposal do not
suffice.
To the question of the position of the Sakya kingdom and of the
town of Kapilavatthu we need not return in detail after what has
been said above, p. 92, 25 seq. That Kapilavatthu itself lay
immediately on or in the Himalaya cannot be admitted in face of
the silence which Fa Hian and Hiouen Thsang observed as to the
mountain in their descriptions of the town. True, it is said in the
Pabbajjasutta regarding the Sakyas ( Sutta Nipata," cf. Fansboll s
Trans, p. 68): ujumjanapado . . . Himavantassa passato ;
but this warrants a conclusion as to the situation at the Himalaya
of the territory only of the Sakyas, not of their capital. That Kapi
lavatthu, if it did not lie in the mountain, may not even have lam
in the girdle of damp hollows (the so-called Tarai) which surrounds
the southern margin of the mountain, that it must thus have lain
south of the Tarai, cannot be alleged with certainty. The condi
of the land and air has not been here at all times the same; 11
tracts of the Nepalese tarai, where now malaria prevails and
tiger and wild boar live, are to be found the splendid rums of great
nncient cities (Hodgson in the Journ. As. Soc.," Bengal, 1
p. 121 seq.).
The death of Maya is often narrated in the texts oi
Pifaka
To the circle of testimony collected on this point, the following
passages also belong: " Samyutta Nikaya," vol. iii, fol- ha:
bhante Kapilavatthn iddhan c evapMtan ca bahnjaSnam akimur
416 NOTES on THE HISTORY OF BUDDHA S YOUTH.
nussam sambadhabyuham, se khv ahaw . . . saya^hasamaya?>
Kapilavatthuw pavisanto bhante na pi hatthina samagacchami
bhante na pi assena . . . rathena . . . sakafena na pi
purisena samagacchami. Mahasaccakasutta ("Majjh. N.") :
abhijanami kho panaham pitu Sakkassa kammante sitaya jam-
bucchayaya nisinno vivicc e[va kamejhi viyicca akusalehi
dhammehi . . . paz^amajjhanam upasampajja viharatta (sic). To
this later on was added the known legend of the Vappamangala,
"Jat. Atth."l p. 57 seq.
The following leads me to deny the antiquity of the tradition,
which makes Buddha s father a king. When (as in the Scmadaw-
dasutta of the "Digha K") the external claims of Buddha to
respectful consideration are discussed, it is always admitted merely
that he has come of an "uccakula, khattiyakula, acMakula ;" it is
emphasized that he, when he entered on a spiritual career, forsook
relatives and friends, gold and silver ; the kingly dignity of the
family is not alluded to. If anywhere, it is with reference to
a circumstance of this kind, which assuredly could not have been
suppressed, that the ciryumentum ex silentio is applicable. To this
another consideration must be added. Anyone who knows the
uniform care with which the titulary appellation of persons
appearing in the Pifokas is observed, will also find this difference
decisive, that Buddha s father is there named merely Suddhodhana
Sakka (" Mahavagga," i, 54, and cf. the passage cited above from the
" Mahasaccakasutta ") , just as mention is made of Anuruddha Sakka r
Upananda Sakyaputta, &c., while Bhaddiya, who was really king
of the Sakyas if we may call this petty raja a king is regularly
introduced as Bhaddiya Sakyaraja (" Cullav." vii, 1, 3 seq.).
Moreover, Suddhodana is addressed "Gotama" ("Mahav."!. c.),
as the Mallas are called VaseftM, the Koliyas Byagghapajja, but
no one says to him "Maharaja" as to Bimbisara or Pasenadi. The
oldest evidence which attributes to Suddhodana the kingly dignity,
as far as I know the only passage of the kind in the Tipiteka,
occurs in the Mahapadhanasutta ("Digha K"), where a series
of notices of the lives of the last seven Buddhas is thrown together.
In a systematic manner, exactly as in the passage apparently
BUDDHA NOT A KING S SON. 417
modelled on this Sutta, " Dip." xvii, 3 seq., there is recorded the
length of life, the parentage, home, tree of knowledge, Savakayuga,
&c., of these Buddhas. The three first were kings sons, the
following three Brahmans sons, the last is again a king s son,
the son of Snddhodhana raja. Possibly similar is the statement
also in the concluding portion of the Buddhavawsa it would
be quite in keeping with the character of this text; I regret
not to be able to make any statement on this part of the said texts
as it is not accessible to me at present. There is no need of
enlarging to show that in any case evidence of this description
must retire before the momenta previously brought to bear on this
question. From the Buddhava??isa (Phayre MS., fol. ju ) I have
noted the verse :
mayham janettika mata Mayadeviti vuccati.
Cf. Rahulamata devi, " Mahavagga," i, 54.
As the birthplace of the Bodhisatta later tradition names the
Lumbini grove : from the Tipitfaka itself the only passage bearing
on this question known to me, is the following from the Nalakasutta
of the Sutta Mpata :
jato
Sakyanam game janapade Lampuiieyye.*
The wonders connected with the conception and birth of the
Bodhisatta are detailed in the Acchariyabahutasutta of the "Majjh.
Nikaya " (cf. " Mahaparinibbana Sutta," p. 27) ; there the law is laid
down as universally valid, that the mother dies seven days after
the birth of the child, and is born again in the heaven of the Tusita
deities ; also the so-called Sihanada (" aggo ham asmi lokassa,"
&c., cf. " Jat. A.tth." i, p. 53) is there mentioned. The presenta
tion of the child to the Eishi Asita (or as he is named in the " Jat.
Atth." i, p. 54, KaZadevala) is narrated in the just-mentioned
Nalakasutta of the Sutta Nipataf (v. Fausboll s translation).
* So the Phayre MS.; cf. Fausboll s translation, p. 125. The compiler of
the passage seems to have been hampered by metrical necessity he wished
undoubtedly to say : Sakyanaw janapade game L.
t Also this Sutta belongs to the texts, in which we could not but assuredly
27
418 NOTES on THE HISTORY OF BUDDHA S YOUTH.
Toucliing the youth of the Bodhisatta the most important passage
is found in the " Afiguttara Nikaya " (I give it exactly according
to the MS., vol. i, fol. fiu ) : sukhumalo aham "bhikkhave parama-
sukhumalo accantasukhumalo. mama sukham bhikkhave pitu
nivesane pokkharamyo hariyaka honti, ekattha sukham bhikkhave
uppalam vappati ekattha padumam ekattha pu?i^arikam yavad
evam atthaya. na kho pana es aham bhikkhave kasikam candanam
dharemi, kasikam bhikkhave su me tarn ve^/mnam hoti kasika
kailcuka kasikaw nivasanam kasiko uttarasango. rattidivam kho
pana me su tarn bhikkhave setachattam dhareyya ma nam phussi
sitam va unham va tinam va rajo va ussavo va ti. tassa may ham
bhikkhave tayo pasada ahesum (this is shown to be a universal
custom by comparing " Mahavagga," i, 7, 1 ; " Cullavagga," vii, 1, 1)
eko hemantiko eko gimhantiko eko vassiko ti. so kho aham
bhikkhave vassikapasade vassike cattaro mase nipppurisehi turiyehi
paricariyamano na he^ha pasada orohami. yatha kho pana bhikk
have aniiesam nivesane dasakammakaraporisassa ka^ajakam bhoja-
nam diyyati bilangadutiyam evam eva su me bhikkhave pitu
nivesane dasakammakaraporisassa salimamsodano diyyati. Now
follows the narrative translated at p. 102 seq., how the thought of
old age, disease, and death is awakened in him : therewith ends the
part of that text bearing on this matter. Let it be observed that
the origin of these thoughts is not here attributed to an external
occurrence like the well-known four excursions. The history of
these excursions has been transferred to the later legends, as is
almost expressly stated in the " Jat. Atth." i, p. 59, from the
Mahapadhanasutta (" Digha Nikaya"), where it is introduced as
referring to the Buddha Vipassi* (there and in the Mahapurisa-
expect a reference to the birth of the Bodhisatta in a royal house,runless this
feature first belonged to the later tradition. In Professor Fausboll s translation
of this Sutta Suddhodana s house is designated a ."palace," and the child
frequently a "prince;" the Pali text has bhavana and Jtum&ra respectively.
* When the compiler of this commentary there says for brevity s sake, that
the dialogue between the Bodhisatta and the charioteer may be supplied after
that Sutta, it follows apparently that a Sutta which narrated the corresponding
occurrence regarding Gotama, was quite as unknown to the commentator as
it is to me. Also, the appeal made in " Jat.," i, 59, line 39, to the commentary-
tradition shows that there was no text to which an appeal could have been made.
THE DEPAR1URE FROM KAPILAVATTHU. 419
lakkha^asutta of the " Digha K," the 32 Lakkhawas of the Maha-
purisa are also discussed). Of Gotama Bnddha the excursions are,
as far as 1 know, never narrated in the Tipifoka.*
Regarding the wife and child of Buddha the chief passage is
"Mahavagga," i, 54 ;f Rahula is frequently mentioned in the Sutta
texts as Buddha s son, without any prominent role being ascribed to
him among the circles of disciples by the ancient tradition.
Touching the Pabbajja, first of all we must quote the Pabbajja-
sutta in the " Jat. Atth.," i, p. 66, which stands in the Sutta Nipata
(Fausboll s translation, p. 67, seq.). It begins :
Pabbajjam kittayissami yatha pabbaji cakkhuma
yatha vimamsamano so pabbajjam samarocayi.
sambadh ayara gharavaso rajassayatanam iti
abbhokaso ca pabbajja iti disvana pabbaji.
pabbajitvana kayena papakammam vivajjayi,
vaciduccaritam hitva ajivam parisodhayi.
agama Rajagaham buddho, and so on.
Then follows a narrative of the meeting of the coming Buddha
and king Bimbisara, presented in the "Jat. Aitlt" i, p. 66. After
this Sutta there comes next the following fragment of the
* Here also the verses of the Manava Thera (" Therag." fol. ku) may be
inserted :
]innam ca clisva dukhitaii ca byMhitam
matafi ca disva gatam uyusa/khayaw
tato aha??i nikkhamitu?;ma pabbajiw
pahaya kamani manoramaniti.
(To all appearance we here have the Form nikkhamituna, after which what has
been said by me in Kuhn s " Zeitschr. N. F." v, 323 seq., is to be supplied.)
So of the Buddha Dipamkara (" Buddhava?nsa," fol. cai of the Phayre MS.) :
nimitte caturo disva hatthiyanena nikkhami.
Similarly of the Buddha Kondaima (ibid. fol. co.) :
nimitte caturo disva rathayanena nikkhami.
Similarly of the following Buddhas. Whether at the close of the Buddha-
vamsa the same is directly said of Gotama Buddha, I cannot state at this moment.
Improbable it is not ; here, as also elsewhere, the traces of later legend-building
may already be discernible in the most recent parts of the Pifakas themselves ; a
fact which naturally would not be able to shake the elsewhere acquired inference
regarding the earlier and later form of representations of Buddha s .ife.
t Cf. Dr. Davids s and my note to our translation of this passage.
27*
420 NOTES on THE HISTORY OF BUDDHA S YOUTH.
SowadawZasutta (" Digha N.") recurring at many other places, trans
lated at p. 105 : samawo khalu bho Gotamo daharo samaiio susuka-
Zake sobhadrena yobbanena samannagato pa^amena vayasa agarasma
anagariyam pabbajito ; samano khalu bho Gotamo akamakanam
nmtapitunnam assumukhanam rudantanam kesamassum oharetva
kasayani vatthani acchadetva agarasma anagariyam pabbajito.
Cf. also the passages quoted later on (p. 421). The narrative given
in later legends (e.g. " Jat. Atth." i, p. 61) of the night scene in
Buddha s bedroom, which precedes his flight, is to be found, if
nothing have escaped me, in the Tipifeika, told not of Buddha
himself, but of one of his earliest converts, Yasa (" Mahavagga,"
i, 7, 1. 2) and seems to have been thence transferred at a later time
to the legends of Buddha. The age of the Bodhisatta at the time
of his Pabbajja is stated in the " Mahaparinibbanasutta," p. 59, to
have been twenty-nine years.
Regarding the time from the Pabbajja to the Sambodhi the
tradition of the Tipifaka is to be found in the following passages.
The duration of this period is frequently set down at seven years,
i.e., it is said that Mara pursued the Bodhisatta for seven years
up to the last vain attack he made on him ; Padhanasutta of the
Sutta-Nipata :
satta vassani bhagavantam anubandhim padapadam
otaram nadhigacchissam sambuddhassa satimato.
Similarly in the Marasamyutta of the " Samy. Nikaya " (vol. i, fol.
ghi ) : tena kho pana samayena (namely, when Buddha shortly
after attaining deliverance sat under the tree) Maro papima
satta vassani bhagavantam anubaddho hoti otarapekho otaram
alabhamano.
The consecutive narrations touching this period represent the
Bodhisatta after his Pabbajja confiding himself to the guidance of
AZara Kalama,* and Uddaka Bamaputta (the place where these
* We find two versions side by side in the sacred Pali-Kanon ; on the one side
it is related that Buddha left his home and went to Rajagaha, where the meeting
with Bimbisara took place ; on the other it is said that he left his home and went
to AZara Kalama. The later texts naturally arrange the different occurrences in
one series. It is worthy of remark that the southern tradition and the northern
THE PERIOD PRECEDING THE 8AMBODHL 4:21
persons lived is not given) ; then lie goes on to Uruvela ; then
follow the three comparisons (cf. " Lai. Vist." p. 309), his labours
to obtain the goal by penances, at last the attainment of the
Bucldhahood and the first incidents thereon following.
This recital is to be found in different passages of the " Majjhima
Nikaya," namely, in the Ariyapariyosanasutta (here are omitted the
three comparisons and the Dukkarakarika) ; in the Mahasacca-
sntta, the Bodhirajakumarasuttanta, and the Sangaravasuttanta.
I furnish from the sources indicated a selection of what appears
to me most essential.
From the Mahasaccakasutta :
Idha me Aggivessana pubbeva sambodha anabhisambuddhassa
bodhisattass eva sato etad ahosi : sambadho gharavaso rajapatho
abbhokaso pabbajja, na yidam sukaram . . . (cf . " Mahavagga,"
v, 13, 1) ... pabbajeyyan ti. so kho ahaw Aggivessana aparena
samayena daharo va samano susukalake sobhadrena yobbanena
samannagato pa^/iamena vayasa akamakanaw matapitunnam assu-
mukhanam rudantanam kesamassum oharetva kasayani vatthani
acchadetva agarasma anagariyam pabbajito samano kimkusalagavesi
anuttaram santivarapada?^ pariyesamano yena Alaro Kalamo ten
upasamkamiw, etc.
From the Ariyapariyosanasutta (cf. " Lai. Vist." p. 295, seq.) :
Athakhvfihambhikkhave yena Alaro Kalamo ten upasawkanmn,
npasawikamitva Alara?/^ IGLlamam etad avoca?^ : kittavata no avuso
Kalama dhamma??^ saya??2, abhiiinaya sacchikatva upasampajja
viharamiti pavedesiti. evaw vutte bhikkhave Alaro K. akiiicauiia-
yatanam pavedesi. tassa mayhaw bhikkhave etad ahosi : na kho
Alarass eva Kalamassa atthi saddha mayham p atthi saddha. na
kho Alarass eva Kalamassa atthi viriyaw . . . sati . . .
samadhi . . . panna mayham pi atthi panna. yan nunahaw yam
dhamma?7i Alaro K. sayam abhinnaya sacchikatva upasampajja
have done so in different ways. The former represent Buddha as first going to
Kajagaha and then to Alara (" Jat.," i, 66), the latter has the opposite course
(" Lai. Vist.," p. 296 seq.) : it is seen significantly how here the two branch
later tradition have, independently of each other, gone on building for ti
selves on a common basis, which is to us represented by the Pali-PUakas.
422 NOTES on THE HISTORY OF BUDDHA S YOUTH.
viharamiti pavediti tassa dhammassa sacchikiriyaya padalieyyan ti.
so klio aham bhikkhave na cirass eva khippam eva ta??i dhammam
saya?w abhifma sacchikatva upasampajja vihasim. atha khv ahaw
bhikkhave yena Alaro K. ten upasawkamiw, upasamkamitva
Alaram K. etad avocam : ettavata no avuso Kalama ima?^ dham
mam saya??^ abhinna sacchikatva upasampajja pavedesiti. ettavata
kho avuso imam dhammam s&j&m abhinna sacchikatva upasampajja
pavadesiti (pavedemiti ?). aham pi kho avuso ettavata ima??t
dhammam saya?7i abhinna sacchikatva upasampajja viharamiti.
labha no avuso suladdha?7^ no avuso ye mayam ayasmantam tadisam
sabrahmacarim passama, iti yaham dhammam sayam abh. s. upasam
pajja pavedemi tam tvam dhammam sayam abh. s. upasampajja
viharasi, ya?^ tvam dhammam sayam abh. s. upasampajja viharasi
tarn aha???, dhammam sayam abh. s. upas, pavedemi, iti yahawfc
dhammam janami tarn tvam dhammam janasi, yam tvam dhammam
janasi tarn aham dhamma7? janami, iti yadiso aham tadiso tvam,
yadiso tvam tadiso aham. ehi dani avuso ubho va santa imam
ga?ia^ pariharama ti. iti kho bhikkhave Alaro Kalamo acariyo me
samano antevasim samanam attano samasamam ^/zapesi ularaya ca
mam pujaya pujesi. tassa mayham bhikkhave etad ahosi : nayam
dhammo nibbidaya na viragaya na nirodhaya na upasamaya na
abhinnaya na sambodhaya na iiibbanaya sa?>ivattati yavad eva
akincaiiiiayatanupapattiya ti. so kho aham bhikkhave tarn dhammam
analamkaritva tasma dhamma nibbijja pakkamim. so kho aham
bhikkhave kimkusalagavesi anuttaram santivarapadam pariyesa-
mana yena Uddako Ramaputto ten upasamkamim, upasamkamitva
Uddakam Ramaputtam etad avocam : iccham aham avuso imasmim
dhammavinaye brahmacariyam caritun ti. evam vutte bhikkhave
Uddako Ramaputto mam etad avoca : viharayasma, tadiso ayam
dhammo yattha viniiu puriso iia cirass eva saka??z- acariyakam
saya?^ abhinna sacchikatva upasampajja vihareyya ti. so kho
aham bhikkhave na cirass eva khippam eva tarn dhammam
pariyapu?um. so kho aham bhikkhave tavataken eva o^/mpaha-
tamattena lapitalapanamattena na?ia (sic) vadami theravadan ca
janami passamiti pafajanami ahaii c eva annesauz ca (sic), tassa
bhikkhave etad ahosi : na kho R/amo imam dhammam
ALARA AND VDDAKA. 423
kevalam sabbamantakena (sic) sayam abhiima sacchikatvti upasam-
pajja viharamiti pavedesi, addha Ramo imam dhammam jana?^
passam vihasiti. atha khv aha?)i- bhikkhave yena Uddako Rama-
putto ten upasamkamim, upasamkamitva Uddakam Ramaputtam
etad avoca??^ : kittavata 110 avuso Ramo (sic) imam dhammam
sayam abhiima sacchikatva npasampajja pavedesiti. evam vutte
bliikkliave Uddako Ramaputto nevasamianasaimayatana?^ pavedesi.
tassa mayhairt bHkkhave etad ahosi: na klio Ramass eva ahosi
saddha mayham p atthi saddlia (etc., the following, as above, is the
story of A/ara Kalama. Ramaputta finally says) : elii dani avuso
tvam imam g&n&m parihara ti. iti kho bhikkhave Uddako Rama
putto sabrahmacari samano acariya^Aane mamam f^apesi ularaya
ca mam pujaya pujesi. tassa mayham bhikkhave etad ahosi : nayarn
dhammo nibbidaya . . . samvattati yavad eva nevasaniianca-
samiayatanupapattiya ti. so kho aham bhikkhave taw dhamma??^
analamkaritva tasma dhamma iiibbijja pakkamim. so kho ahaw
bhikkhave ki^ikusalagavesi aniittara7?z, santivarapadam pariye-
samano Magadhesu anupnbbena carikam cararnaiio yena Uruvela
senanigamo tad avasari?^. tatth addasam ramawiyam bhumibhaga^z-
pasadikam ca vanasa?zda^^ nadijii ca sandantii- setaka?)i supatittham
ramawiyau^ samanta ca gocaragamam. tassa mayham bhikkhave
etad ahosi : rama?iiyo vata bho bhumibhago pasadiko ca vanasant/o
nadi ca sandati setaka supatittha ramawiya samanta gocaragamo
alaw ca tidam (sic) kulaputtassa padhanatthikassa padhanaya ti.
so kho aham bhikkhave attana jatidhammo (. . . jaradhammo,
vyadhidhammo, marawadhammo, sokadhammo, sawkilesadliainnio
. . .) samano jatidhamme (. . . jaradhamme, etc.) adinavam
viditva ajatam (. . . ajaram etc.) yogakkhemam nibbanam pari-
yesamano ajata?^ anuttaram yogakkhemam ajjhagamam . . .
asawkili^/iam anuttaram yogakkhemam nibbanaw ajjhagamaw;
fianan ca pana me dassanaw udapadi : akuppa me cetovimutti,
ayam antima jati, n atthi dani punabbhavo ti. tassa mayham
bhikkhave etad ahosi: adhigato kho me, etc. (vide " Mahavagga,"
i, 5, 2).
As a rule we find between the period of instruction by AZAra an
Uddaka and the attainment of Sambodhi, a description of the
424: NOTES on THE HISTORY OF BUDDHA S YOUTH.
Dukkarakarika inserted, which on the whole corresponds to what
is narrated in " Lai. Vist.," p. 314 seq. (excepting naturally the
episode referring to Maya devi). Also the three Upamas of " Lai.
Vist.," p. 309 seq., are found already in the Pali-Tipi^aka (in the
Mahasaccakasutta) .
I quote from the last named Sutta the close of this section which
ends in the narration of the Sambodhi :
So kho aham Aerarivessana oZarika??^ aharam aharesim odanakum-
OO
masam. tena kho pana mam Aggivessana samayeiia paiica bhikkhu
paccupaW/dta honti* yan no samawo Gotamo dhammam adhigamis-
sati tarn no acarissama ti. yato kho aham Aggivessana oZarikam
aharam aharesim odanakummasam atha kho te paiica bhikkhu
nibbijja pakkamimsu bahuliko samawo Gotamo padhanavibbhanto-
avatto bahulliiya ti. so kho aha???/ Aggiressana o/arika???/ aharam
aharito (sic) bala?^ gahetva vivicc eva kamehi . . . (then follows
the well known description of the attainment of the four Jhanas,
then the attainment of the three Vijjas pubbenivasaiia?iam, dibbam
cakkhu, die ariyasacca in the three Yamas of the night ; next :)
tassa me evam janato evam passato kamasavapi cittam vimuccittha,
bhavasavapi cittam vimuccittha, di^Msavapi c. v., avijjasaYapi c. v.,
Yimuttasmi??^ yimutt amhiti nawam ahosi, khi?ia me jati, yusitam
bramacariyam, katam kara?iiyam, naparam itthattaya ti abbhan-
nasiw.
This is the usual description of the Sambodhi, ae it is found also,
e.g., in the introduction to the Vibhanga ("Vinaya Piteka," iii,
p. 4 seq.), in the Bhayabheravasutta ("Majjh. ISTikaya"), and in
the Dvedhavitakkasutta (ibid). To the ancient Order the kernel
and the sole essential to the event of Sambodhi (i.e., the attain
ment of Buddhahood) appeared to be the springing forth of such
and such a knowledge, and of such and such qualities in the mind
of the Buddha, and nothing else.
This shows itself also in the somewhat abbreviated narratives of
* Cf. also " Mahavagga," i, 6, 5, and specially with reference to
Apaclana, fol. khe :
nikkhantenanupabbajji (sic), padhana??i sukata??i maya,
kilese jhapanatthaya pabbajjiwi (sic) anagariyaw.
THE SAMBODHI. 425-
a similar kind, in which the attainment of delivering knowledge
by certain disciples, male and female, is described; Thus in the
history of the PupphachacZdaka (see above, p. 159, n. 1, " Thera-
gatha," fol. kho kho ) :
so ham eko arannasmim viharanto atandito
akasi[m] satthu vacanam yatha mam ovadi jino.
rattiya patf/mmam yamam pubbajatim anussari[wj,
rattiya majjhimara yamaw dibbacakkhuw visodhayiw,
rattiya pacchime yame tamokhandham paclalayim.
tato ratya vivasane* suriyuggamanam pati
Indo Brahma ca agantva maw namaseimsu afijali :
namo te purisajanna, namo te pnrisuttama,
yassa te asava khiwa, dakkhi?ieyy asi marisa.
Similarly in the verses of the Vijaya, " Therigatha," fol. gham :
bhikkhnnif npasawkamma sakkaccam paripucch aham,
sa me dhammam adesesi dhatuayatanani ca.
cattari ariyasaccani indriyani balani ca
bojjhanga^/mngikam magga?^ uttamatthassa pattiya.
tassaham vacanam sutva karonti annsasanim
rattiya purime yame pubbajatiw anussarim,
rittiya majjhinie yame dibbacakkhu^t visodhayiw,
rattiya pacchime yame tamokkhandham padalayiwi,
pitisukhena ca kayam pharitva viharim tada ;
sattamiya pade pasaremi, tamokkhandhaw padalayi [TO].
Compare also the narrative of the Jainas couched throughout in
similar style, of how Mahavira obtained the delivering knowledge,
" Jinacaritra," p. 64, ed. Jacobi.
I here insert the prophecy of the Buddha Dipamkara regarding
Gotama s Buddhahood, contained in the Buddhavamsa (fol. ci of
the Phayre MS.) :
padhana?^ padahitvana katva dukkarakarika??i
Ajapalarukkhamulasmi??! nisiditva tathfigato
* So the MS. ; originally it may have been vivasano.
f Lege: bhikkhunim.
426 NOTES on THE HISTORY OF BUDDHA S YOUTH.
tattha payasaw paggayha (comp. " Jat.," i, p. 69) Neranjaram
upehiti.
Neranjaraya tiramhi payasam adaso jino
pa^iyattavaramaggena bodhimulam upehiti,
tato padakkhiwa?^ katva bodhima^cZam anuttaro
assattharukkhamulamhi bujjhissati mahayaso.
The narratives of Mara s attacks do not stand in the sacred texts
in immediate connection with the history of the attainment of
Sambodhi. Before the Sambodhi is placed that conversation recited
in the Padhanasutta (" Sutta Nipata," p. 69 of Fausboll s trans
lation), of which a northern Buddhist version, pretty closely corre
sponding with the Pali text, occurs in the metrical portion of the
"Lalita Vistara," pp. 327-329. After the Sambodhi, within the
period which Buddha passed under the tree Ajapala, falls the
similar narrative of the Mara Samyutta (" Samy. Nikaya," vol. i,
f ol. ghi-ghu ; here after the temptation by Mara comes that by his
daughters) .
As regards the historical trustworthiness of the traditions, which
relate to the period intervening between Buddha s flight from his
home and the commencement of his public career, I am inclined to
recognize in the leading points therein mentioned real facts. The
names of AZara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta are as trustworthy
as possible ; if there had here been an intention to invent, more
famous names would have been preferably furnished, names of
teachers, who have adopted later on a pronounced attitude, whether
friendly or hostile, to Buddha s own public operations. A/ara, as
far as I know, besides being named in this connection, is elsewhere
mentioned only in the " Mahaparinibb. Sutta," p. 44; of Uddaka
also we hear but little.*
* " Samy. Nik.," vol. ii, fol. gM : Uddako suda? bikkhave Ramaputto evawi
vaca??i bhasati : idam jatu vedagu idam jatu sabbaji ida?w, jatu apalikhita7/i g&nda-
mulam palikhaniti. " Pasadikasutta " (" Digha-N.") : Uddako sudaw Cunda
Bamaputto evawi vacawi bhasati : passa??i na passatiti. kiwi ca passam na passatiti ?
khurassa sadhunissitassa talam assa passati dharan ca khv assa na passati, idam
vuccati Cunda passam na passatiti. The relations of the raja Eleyya to the
samarm Ramaputta are mentioned at " Ang. Nik.," vol. i, fol. ti.
SOME MATTERS OF BUDDHIST DOGMATIC. 427
THIRD EXCURSUS.
APPENDICES AND AUTHORITIES TOUCHING SOME MATTERS OF THE
^BUDDHIST DOGMATIC.
1. The Nirva?za.
In order to clearly set forth the dogmatic terminology of the
Nirvana doctrine, we must first of all go into the categories of the
Anupadisesanibbana and of the Saupadisesanibbana (Nirvawa
respectively without and with a residuum of " Upadi ") Childers
has, as is known (" Diet," pp. 267,526), propounded the theory
that by Saupadisesanibbana is meant the condition of the perfect
saint, in whom the five Khandas are still to the fore, but the desire
which chains- to being is extinct ; Anupadisesanibbana, on the other
handf is said to designate the cessation of all being, the condition
or non-condition ensuing 011 the death of the saint.
To the criticism, adverse to this view, which I propose to advance,
I premise a collection of relevant passages from the texts.
In connection with the notion of Nirvana the following outwardly
similarly sounding ｅxpressions occur : Upadhi ; upadana con
nected with upacla, upadaya, and anupaclana con. with anupada,
anupadaya ; lastly upadisesa, saupadisesa and anupadisesa. I give
a few of the most important passages for each of these termini in
order.
First for Upadhi.
Sunakkhattasuttanta (in the " Majjh. N.") :
So vata Sunakkhatta bhikkhu chasu phassayatanesu samvutakaw
upadhi dukkhassa mulan ti iti viditva nirupadhi upadhisawkhaye
vimutto upadhismim va kayam upasawharissati cittaw va anuppa,
dassanti (mel. dassati) : n ei&m tha,-o&m vijjati.
Samyuttaka Nikaya," vol. i, fol. nan of the Phayre MS. :-
yam kho idam anekavidham nanappaHrakam dnkkbam loke
uppajjati jaramaranam idam kho dukkhaw upadhinidanam upac
hisamudayam npadhijatikam upadhipabhavam ; upadhismim ,
jaramaranam hoti ; . . . upadhi panayam kimniclana etc. ? upa(
tanhanidano tanhasamudayo etc.
4:28 SOME MATTERS OF BUDDHIST DOGMATIC.
" Itivnttaka," fol. ka/z. of the Phayre MS. :
tisso ima bhikkhave dhatuyo. katama tisso ? rupadhatu arupa-
dhatu nirodhadhatu. ime (lege : ima) kho bhikkhave tisso dhatuyo
ti.
rupadhatuparinnaya arupesu Bssaithiib
nirodhe ye vinmncanti (ccanti ?) te jana paccuhayino ti (mac-
cuhayino ?)
kayena amatam dhatum phusayitva nirupadhi
upad"hipai(imssagga??^ sacchikatvana anasavo
desesi samrnasambuddho asoka??i viraja?^ padan ti.
" Saiyuttaka N".," vol. i, fol. ki (= Suttaiiipata, Dhaniya-
sutta.
The first distich is put in the month of Mara) :
nandati pnttehi pnttima goma gobhi tath eva iiandati ;
npadhihi narassa nandanii na hi so nandati yo nirupadhiti.
socati puttehi puttima goma gohi tath eva socati ;
npadhihi narassa socana na hi so socati yo nirupadhiti.
" Samynttaka N.," vol. i, fol. gha :
yo dukkha?)* addakkhi yatonidanam kamesu so jantu katham
nameyya ?
llpadhi 37^ viditva sa??zgo ti loke tass eva jantu vinayaya sikkhe
ti.
Ibid. fol. ghu (Buddha is speaking to Mara) :
amaccudheyya??i pucchanti ye jana paragamino
tes abam pu^7iO akkhami jam tacchawi t&m nirupadhin ti.
Ibid. fol. ghu (Mara s daughters approach, tempting the
Buddha) :
atha kho bhagava na manas akasi yatba t&m anuttare upadhi-
samkhaye vimutto.
" Mahaniddesa," Phayre MS., fol. ko :
katamo upadhiviveko ? upadhi vuccanti kilesa ca khandha ca
abhisa-??ikharti ca. upadhiviveko vuccati amatam nibbanam.
Of. also "Mahavagga," i, 5, 2; 22, 4. 5 ; 24, 3 ; v, 13, 10;
" Cullavagga," vi, 4, 4; "Dhammap. Atthak.," p. 270; Burnouf,,
"Introd.," p. 591 seq. ; M. Miiller on the " Dhammapada, " 418;
Davids s and my note to the translation of the " Mahavagga," i, 5, 2.
UPADANA. 4:29
For Upadana and the termini connected therewith the following
passage will suffice :
" Majjhima Nikaya," fol. khai (Tumour s MS.) : cattar imani
bhikkhave upadanani. katamani cattari. kamupadanam di/mpa-
danam silabbatupadanam attavadupadanam. Cf . " Mahanidana
Sutta," p. 248, ed. Grimblot.
" Samyuttaka Nikaya," vol. ii, fol. to seq. : It is related that
" sambahulanam aunatitthiyasamariabrahma^iaparibbajakanam ku-
tuhalasalanam sannisinnanam" the conversation turned on this,
that each of the six other teachers (Pura^a Kassapa, etc.) " sava
kam abbhatitam kalamkatam upapattisu byakaroti asu amutra
upapanno asu amutra upapanno ti, yo pi ssa savako uttamapuriso
paramapuriso paramapattipatto tarn pi savakam abbhatitam kalam
katam upapattisu byakaroti asu amutra upapanno asu amutra
upapanno ti." Buddha, on the contrary, does the same only with
regard to the other Savakas, "yo ca khv assa savako uttama
puriso pa asu amutra upapanno ti (sic !) api ca kho nam evam
byakaroti acchejji tawham vivattayi safmojanam saminamanabhisa-
maya (sic) antam akasi dukkhassa ti." The Paribbajaka Vaccha-
gotta addresses to Buddha a request for the clearing up of this
point. Buddha answers : " alaii hi Vaccha kankhitum alam vici-
kicchitum. kankhaniye ca pana te Mane vicikiccha uppanna. sau-
padanassa khv aham Vaccha upapattim pannapemi no anupadanassa.
seyyathapi Vaccha aggi saupadaiio jalati no anupadano evam eva
khv aha-?^ Vaccha saupadanassa upapatti2, pannapemi no anupada
nassa ti. yasmim bho Gotama samaye acchi vatena khitta duram
pi gacchati imissa pana bhavam Gotamo ki?^ upadanasmim pailna-
petiti. yasmim kho Vaccha samaye acchi vatena khitta duram pi
gacchati tarn aham vatupadanarn pannapemi, vato hi ssa Vaccha
tassim samaye upadanam hotiti. yasmim bho Gotama samaye
imaii ca kayam nikkhipati satto ca annataram kayam anupapanno
hoti, imassa pana bhavam Gotamo kirn upadanasmim paiiiiapetiti.
yasmim kho Vaccha samaye imassa (sic) kayam nikkhipati satto ca
annataram kayam anupapanno hoti, tarn aham ta^hupadanam vadami,
tanha hi ssa Vaccha tasrnim samaye apadanam hotiti."
"Mahapnrmamaya Suttanta" ("Majjhima Nikaya") :
430 SOME MATTERS OF BUDDHIST DOGMATIC.
ime pana bhante pancupadanakkhandha kimmulaka ti. ime kho
bhikkhu paiicupadanakkhandha chandamulaka ti. tarn yeva nu
kho bhante upadanam te pancupadanakkhandha udahu afmatra
pancupadanakkhandhehi upadanam ti. na kho bhikkhu taw
yeva upadanaw pancupadanam pancupadanakkhandhassa* na pi
annatra paiicupadanakkhandhei [upadanam] . upadanam kho
bhikkhu paiicupadanakkhandhesu chandarago, tamtattha upa-
danan ti.
We may mention in this connection also the place which the
category of Upadana occupies in the causality formula : ta?2,hapac-
caya upadanam.
" Sawy. N"." vol. ii, fol. ghe : samyojaniye ca bhikkhave dhamme
desissami sa?wyojanafi ca, tarn su?tatha. katame ca bhikkhave saw-
yojaniya dhamma kataman ca samyojanam. cakkhu7?z- bhikkhave
sa??iyojaniyo dhammo; yo tattha chandarago tarn tattha samyo
janam. So on the other organs of sense to the mano. Then the
Text goes on : upadaniye ca bhikkhave dhamme desissami upa-
danaii ca, ta??2, su?uUha. There follows exactly the same cletail.f
" Sa??zy. 1ST." vol. ii, fol. na. It is related that Sakka Devana-
minda puts the question : ko nu kho khante hetu ko paccayo yenam
idh ekacce satta dif^eva dhamme no parinibbayanti, ko pana bhante
hetu ko paccayo yenam idhekacce satta di^Aeva dhamme parinib-
bayantiti. The answer runs: santi kho Devaiiaminda cakkhu-
vinneyya rupa ittha, kanta manapa piyarupa kamopasamhita
rajaniya. tan. ce bhikkhu abhinandati abhivadati ajjhosaya ti^Aati
tassa tarn abhinandato abhivadato ajjhosaya ti^7^ato ta??znissitam
vinnawawt hoti tadupadanaiM : saupadano Devanaminda bhikkhu no
* So the Tumour MS.
t Consequently the two words Upadana and Samyojana are synonymous.
With this it is consistent, when on the one hand beings whirled along in the
cycle of existence are designated as tarchasamyojana, on the other hand tawha
is termed an Upadana (in the quoted dialogue with Vaccha). Also the four
Upadanas, so named /car l^o^ nv (kama, ditthi, silabbata, attavada), recur with
tolerable exactness in the series of the ten Samyojana, where we meet the ideas,
kamaraga, avijja, silabbataparamasa, and sakkayadi/a. The last is considered
to be identical with attavada (Childers s. v. sakkaya) and as a fact virtually
comes to the same thing.
UP A DAN A. 431
parinibbayati la santi kho Devanaminda jivhavinneyya rasa
(etc. down to manoviiiiieyya dhamma). aya???/ kho Devanaminda
hetu ayam paccayo yenam idh ekacce satta difi/teva dliamme no
parinibbayanti. santi kho Devanaminda cakkhuviimeyya rupa
etc. ; tan ce bhikkhu nabhinandati nabhivadati na aj jhosaya titth&ti
tassa tarn anabhinandato anabhivadato 110 a j jhosaya tittJiaio na
tamnissitam vinnawam hoti na tadupadanaw ; anupadano Devana-
minda bhikkhu parinibbayati.
" A?ianjasappaya Suttanta" ("Majjh. Nikaya") :
evam vntte ayasma Anando bhagavantam etad avoca:
idha bhante bhikkhu evaw pa^ipanno hoti : no c assa no ca me siyo
na bhavissati na me bhavissati yad atthi, yaw bhutam tarn paja-
hamiti npekhaw pafiabhati. parinibbayi)* nu kho so bhante
bhikkhu ti? app etth ekacco Ananda bhikkhu parinibbayeyya
app etth ekacco bhikkhu na parinibbayeyya ti. ko nu kho khante
hetu ko paccayo yena app etth ekacco bhikkhu parinibbayeyya app
etth ekacco bhikkhu na parinibbayeyya ti. idhananda bhikkhu
evam patfpanno hoti : no c assa . . . taz- pajahamiti npekham
pa^ilabhati. so i&m upekham abhinandati abhivadati ajjhosaya
ti^Aati, tassa tarn upekham abhinandato . . .f) na parinibbayanti.
kaham pana so bhante bhikkhu upadiyatiti. nevasamianasanna-
yatana??* Ananda ti. upadanase^/m^i kira so Bhante bhikkhu
npadiyamano upadiyatiti. upadanaseftfcam so Ananda bhikkhu
upadiyamano upadiyati; upadanasef^am h etam Ananda yad idam
nevasannanasannayatanaw.J
" Paficattaya Suttanta " (" Majjh. N."). Of a " ekacco samao va
brahmano va" it is said: "santo ham asmi nibbuto ham asmi
anupadano ham asmiti samanupassati." Of this the Tathagate
says addha ayam ayasma nibbanam sappayafi ueva paftpadam
abhivadati, atha ca pannyam bhava7 samaiio va brahmano vi put
bant&iwdiWfcim va upadiyamano upadiyati aparantanuc
Probably the Adj. parinibbayi should be placed here, which we have in
antaraparinibbayi, etc.
1 Now folw^n exactly corresponding ashion the opposite case^ere a
BUkkhu "ta upekham nabhinandati;" anupMano Ananda b
nibbayati.
432 SOME MATTERS OF BUDDHIST DOGMATIC.
up. kamasannojanam* va up. up. pavivekam va pitim up. up,
niramisam va sukham up. up. adukkhamasukham va vedanaw up.
up. ; yail ca kho ayam ayasma santo ham asmi nibbano (sic) ham
asmi anupadano ham asmiti samanupassati tad ap imassa bhoto
samaftabrahmanassa upadanara akkhayati.
From the " Rathavinita Sutta " (" Majjh. Nik.") : kimatthan carah
avuso bhagavati brakmacariyam vussatiti. anupadaparinibbana-
ttha???, kho bhagavati brahmacariya?^ vussatiti. kim nu kho avuso
silavisuddhi anupadaparinibbanan ti. no h idam avuso. kim
panavuso cittavisuddhi di^/dvisuddhi kankhavitara?^avisuddhi
maggamaggauawadassanavisuddhi pa^ipadaim?iadassanavisuddhi
anupadaparinibbanan ti. no h idam avuso. kin nu kho avuso
na^adassanavisuddhi anupadaparinibbanan ti. no h idam avuso.
kim panavuso annatra imehi dhammehi anupadaparinibbanan ti. no
n idam avuso. . . . yathakatha?tt, panavuso imassa bhasitassa
attho da^Aabbo ; ti. silavisuddhi??2, ce avuso bhagava anupadapa-
rinibbanam paiifiapessa saupadana??^ yeva samanam anuptidapa-
rinibbanam paiiiiapessa. di^/avisuddhi??i . . . iia^adassanavi-
suddhim ce avuso bhagava anupadaparinibbanam pannapessa
saupadanam yeva sainana??^ anupadcaparinibbana??^ paiinapessa.
aiiiiatraii ca* avuso imehi dhammehi anupadaparinibbanam abha-
vissa, puthujjano parinibbayeyya, puthujjano avuso annatra imehi
dhammehi. Then follows the comparison of the journey of the
king Pasenadi from Savatthi to Sciketa ; he has relays (rathavinica)
lying between the two towns and arrives "sattamena rathavinitena "
at this palace in Saketa. Evam eva kho avuso silavisuddhi yavad
eva cittavisuddhattham . . . iianadassanavisuddhi yavad eva
anupadaparinibbanatthai?i. anupadaparinibbanatthaz kho avuso
bhagavati brahmacariyam vussatiti.
Buddhavamsa : nibbayi anupadano yath agg upadanasawikhaya.
Cf. also "Dhammap." v. 89; " Mahavagga," v, 1, 24 seq.
Eurnouf, " Intr." p. 495 seq., and so on.
Before we proceed to give evidences bearing on the ｅxpressions
* Kamasafinojananam the Tumour MS., which I follow in quoting this
passage.
t So the Tumour MS.
VPADANA. 433
Saupadisesa and Anupadisesa, we shall attempt to briefly point out
the dogmatic signification of Upadana and Upadhi. These ideas
are almost synonymous. The attainment or non-attainment of
iSTirva?ia, victory or defeat in the struggle against suffering is made
dependent upon the presence or non-presence of Upadana and quite
as much so of Upadhi. In one of the above cited passages of the
Samyuttaka Nikaya there is given a series of members which are
joined together by causal nexus : From Tawha comes Upadhi, from
Upadhi comes old age, death, suffering. In exactly the same way
the well-known formula of the twelve Nidanas makes Upadana
come from Tawha, and from Upadana (through a few middle links)
old age, death, suffering. The difference between Upadhi and
Upadana is further diminished, when we remember that besicjc
the Upadhi of the Buddhist texts there occurs in the philosophic
Sanscrit texts an Upadhi (" Colebroke Misc. Ess." I 2 , 308 etc.) and
also the participle Upahita.* Upa-dha signifies " to lay one thing
on another, to give it a support," thus, of anything which would so
to speak float in the air or fly about, to chain it to reality by a
substratum, which is given to it to localize it. This substratum is
exactly Upadhi. Upa-da or Upa-da (middle), on the other hand, is
" to lay hold of anything, to cling to anything," as the name catches
the fuel ; this fuel, or that laid hold of by a being, to which it
clings, as well as the act of this catching, is Up^^dana. It is clear,
that in this way Upadhi and Upadana, although the ideas underlying
them differ, must still acquire significations for Buddhist ter
minology, which cover each other or at least very nearly touch.
We shall now treat of the third of these closely connected ideas,
that of Upadi, which is known only in the compounds Sopadisesa
and Anupadisesa.
" Itivuttaka," fol. kau of the Phayre MS. : vutiani h eta??^
bhagavata vuttam arahata ti me sutawz;. dve ma bhikkhave
nibbanadhatuyo. katama clve. saupadisesa ca nibbanadhatu
anupadisesa ca nibbanadhatu. katama ca bhikkhave saupadisesa
nibbanadhatu ? idha bhikkhave bhikkhu arahaw hoti khiwasavo
* It is characteristic in this connection, that in Sanscrit upadlii and upudhi
are exactly equivalent in the sense of " deceit."
28
434: SOME MATTERS OF BUDDHIST DOGMATIC.
vusitava katakaramyo ohitabharo anuppattasadttho* parikkhitiab-
havasa7?iyojano sammadannavimutto. tassa ti^/iant exa pane*
indriyani yesam avighatatta manapam paccanubhoti sukhadukkham
paftsamvediyati. tassa kho ragakkhayo dosakkhayo moliakkliayo.
ayam vuccati bhikkhave saupadisesa nibbanadhatu. katama ca
bhikkhave anupadisesa nibbanadhatu ? idha bhikkhave bhikkhu
araha??i hoti .... sammadannavimutto. tassa idh eva bhik
khave vedayitanif anabMnanditani sitibhavissanti. ayam vuccati
bhikkhave anupadisesa nibbanadhatu. ima kho bhikkhave dve
nibbanadhatuyo ti. etam attha?^ bhagava avoca. tatth etam
iti vuccati :
dve ima cakkhumata pakasita nibbanadhatu J anissitena
tadina :
eka hi dhatu idh a di^Aadhammika saupadisesa bhavanetti-
samkhaya,
anupadisesa pana samparayika yamhi nirujjhanti bhavani
sabbaso. |
ye etad annaya parawi asamkhata^z, vimutticitta|| bhavanet-
tisamkhaya
te dhamma saradhikammakkhare^" yatha paha??isu te sab.
babhavanitadino ti. |
ayam pi attho vutto bhagavata iti me sutan ti.
It is clear, that the chapter of the Itivuttaka here given supports
throughout the already referred to theory of Childers. He who
attains holiness, attains the Nirvana ; this is, as long as his earthly
life still continues, saupadisesa; the body, the sense-perceptions,
and so on, are still present. When these also vanish, in the death
of the saint, that is, his being thereby enters on the anupadisesa
nibbanadhatu.*
* anuppattapadatto the MS. t devayitani the MS.
* So the MS. saram the MS.
!; Perhaps vimuttacitta as an emendation.
If I cannot venture an emendation without further MS. materials. Apparently,
considering the interchange of r and y so frequent in Burmese MSS., we should
read kammakkhaye.
* So also the commentary on the " Dhammapada," p. 278 (cf. p. 196).
UPADISESA. 435
It must be in the highest degree astonishing that the limit
between saupadisesa and anupadisesa is here removed to a wholly
different place from the limit between saupadana and anupadana,
or between the state of the nirupadhi and the burdened with upadhi.
In the two last named cases we had to do with the ethical
opposition of the internally bound and the internally free ; in
the case now before us, on the other hand, we could only have,
according to the view of Childers and the passage quoted from
the Itivuttaka, to do with the physical opposition of the internally
free, whose external life still continues, and the internally
free, whose external life has ceased. It is really very hard to
believe that, of the three pairs of ideas which all belong to the
Nirvana doctrine, and which at first sight present an appearance
of so close a parallelism, the third should actually have in view
a point so thoroughly different from the first two, that the
"anupadisesa nibbanadhatu " should imply something wholly
different from " anupadaya cittam vimucci" or " anupadhisara-
khaye vimutto."
Notwithstanding, I should not venture to build only on con
siderations of this kind the supposition, that the meaning clearly
and expressly given in the Itivuttaka to sa- and anupadisesa
does not express the true or the original doctrine of Buddhism :
yet the canonical texts themselves give us further points, which
strengthen the scruples we entertain against the testimony of the
Itivuttaka.
In the " Satipaft/ianasutta " ("Majjh. N.") we read : yo hi koci
bhikkhave bhikkhu ime cattaro satipa^Mne evam bMveyya satta
vassani* tassa dvinnam phalana??^ aiiiiataram phalam pa^ikaiikha:
di^/ieva dhamme anna sati va upadisese anagamita.
As is known, he who is born again as Anagami, has still a small
residue of sinful nature in him, from which to purify himself in the
celestial existence, upon which he enters, is allotted to him. In
the passage we have quoted, then, the Saupadisesa is not, as in the
Itivuttaka, he who is pure from sins, who remains still in the
earthly state, but he who is burdened with a residuum of sin,
* It is afterwards stated that a still shorter time suffices.
28*
SOME HATTERS OF BUDDHIST DOGMATIC.
who is re-born into a deified state. And the fully pure, still
lingering on earth " di^Meva dhamme " is in one passage exactly
the person in whom an Upadisesa is EO longer present. Thus
Upadisesa here has not the physical meaning of a residuum of
earthly existence, but the ethical meaning of a residuum of impurity,
the same signification which we have found in Upadana and
Upadhi.
To the passage already quoted we add a proof, which we take
from the " Yangisa Sutta " (Mgrodhakappa Sutta), a text* in
cluded in the " Sutta Nipata." This Sutta begins : Evam me sutam.
ekam samayara bhagava A/aviyam viharati AggaZave cetiye. ten a
kho pana samayena ayasmato Yangisassa upajjhayo Nigrodhakappo
nama thero Agga/ave cetiye aciraparinibbuto hoti. atha kho
ayasmato Yangisassa rahogatassa pafisallinassa evam cetaso parivi-
takko udapadi : parinibbuto nu kho me upajjhayo udahu no pari-
nibbuto ti.f Buddha is asked : Has the Brahmacariyam, in
which he has lived, brought him any advantage? " Nibbayi
so adu saupadiseso ; yatha vimutto aim tawz- sunoma." And
Buddha replies :
Acchecchi tanham idha namarupe ti bhagava, tawhayaj sotam
digharattanusayita?^
atari jatimarawam asesa?^ ice abravi bhagava pancase^7io.
Here also the alternative is put in a way which does not har
monize with Childers s conception. " Has he entered into Mrvaa
or is he Saupadisesa ?" Buddha is asked concerning a monk whose
death had been announced. Saupadisesa must consequently be he,
who, on account of a not yet complete freedom from sinful nature y
cannot yet become partaker of the Nirvfma.
Finally decisive are the data, which the Sunakkhatta Suttanta
(" Majjhima Nikaya") supplies. It uses the ｅxpression, in the eluci-
* See Fausboll s Translation of the " Sutta Nipata," p. 57 seq. Cf. also the
" Kalahavivadasutta," v, 15 (ibidem, p. 167).
t I.e., as also the further detail clearly shows : the fact that Nigrodhakappa
died, is known to him, but he does not know whether he is still liable to re-birth
or not.
\ So clearly the MS. of the Phayre collection consulted by me. Fausboll
" Kasha s (i.e., Mara s) stream."
UPADISESA. 437
elation of which we are engaged, in reference to conditions of
material life. A man, it is sai d in a parable, is wounded with a
poisoned arrow. A physician treats his wound, " apaneyya visa-
dosam saupadisesam* anupadiseso ti maniiamano." He therefore
treats the poison as having been overcome, while really a remnant
of the poisonous stuff is still present in the patient. In opposition
to this is placed a second case, where the danger has been fully
overcome : " apaneyya visadosam anupadisesam anupadiseso ti
janamano." The first patient thinks himself cured, lives carelessly,
and so falls a victim to his wound. The second patient lives care
fully and makes a complete recovery. While then the spiritual
meaning of this parable is being unfolded, the ｅxpression nirupadhi
-occurs in place of the ｅxpression amipadiseso. Of the monk Avho
perseveres successfully, to whom the second of the two patients is
compared, it is said : so vata Sunakkhatta bhikkhu chasu phassaya-
tanesu saravutakari upadhi dukkhassa mulan ti iti viditva nirupadhi
upadhisamkhaye viniutto upadhismim va kayam upasa??^harissati
-cittam va anuppadassatif : n etam Manaw vijjati. Thus it is
.apparent that here also saupaclisesa and anupadisesa point to
the presence or absence of a last remnant of deadly peril in a
.spiritual sense, and the passage establishes at the same time
the identity of the upadi contained in this word with the word
upadhi. Now, as is well known, the anupfidisesa of the Pali in the
northern Buddhist texts corresponds with anupadhiyesha or niru-
padhicesha (Burnouf, " Intr." 590). In the same way reads P.
Sanscritified Singhalese inscription of the twelfth cent. A.D. (" Ind.
Antiquary," 1877, p. 326) : mrupad^eshanirvvaMadhatirvven. We
.shall from these considerations have no scruple in declaring the
problematic upadi to be only a spelling of the word upadhi peculiar
to the Pali probably we should rather say, peculiar to our modern
Pali manuscripts. The origin of this orthography, if we consider
the significant fact that this upadi occurs only in connection with
sesa, is not hard to account tor. As the Pcali manuscripts write the
name of the god Skanda Khandha obviously under the influence
of Khandha = Sansk. skandha, or as the Sansk. smnti is written
* Visadosa upadisese the MS. t Anuppadassanti the MS.
438 SOME MATTERS OF BUDDHIST DOGMATIC.
samnniti in the Pali, under the influence of the word sammuti
" nomination," so, it appears to me, the manuscript tradition of the
Pali has caused the word anupadhisesa to resemble the word
samghadisesa so very familiar to all copyists of sacred texts,
probably by the co-operation of the influence of anupadaya, and
thus has arisen the orthography anupadisesa.
That, if this supposition be correct, then also the signification of
sa- and anupadisesa, corresponding to that of upadhi, must be :
" one with whom there is, or is not, respectively, still present a
remnant of earthly, sinful nature," is self-apparent. How it has
come to pass that a so thoroughly different meaning has been given
to both terms in the Itivuttaka, can naturally not be explained
otherwise than by conjecture. It appears to me, that the expres
sion anupadisesa nibbanadhatu, which contains in fact a tautology
for the nibbanadhatu implies the absence of upadhi might by
its form easily suggest to a misinformed mind the opposition of a
saupadisesa nibbanadhatu, while the word saupadisesa, rightly com
prehended, as we have pointed out from the Satipa^Mna Sutta and
the Vangisa Sutta, excludes the idea of Nirvana. But if once this
adjective had been employed regarding the nibbanadhatu by an
error like that we have supposed, if once the opposition of an
anupadisesa and a saupadisesa nibbanadhatu had been set up, then
it was scarcely possible to attach a more passable meaning to these
words, than that given to them in the Itivuttaka.
The preceding explanation regarding the ｅxpressions, in which
the main difficulty of the Nirvawa terminology lies, has already
given us occasion to quote a series of the passages of the canonical
texts relevant to this doctrine. We shall now proceed to set forth
in the Pali text the more essential of the materials upon which our
previously expounded (antea, pp. 267 seq.) view of the Nirvana
doctrine rests, and therewith also some passages which we have
given above in translation.*
In the " Samyuttaka Nikaya " there comes after the above quoted
(p. 429) passage on the conversation of Buddha with Vacchagotta
Eeference may here also be made to the communication of Dr. 0. Frank
furter, in the " Journ. E. Asiatic Soc.," Oct. 1880.
UPADISESA. 4:39
paribbajaka, the following (cf. antea, p. 272 seq.) : Atha kho
Vacchagotto paribbajako yena bhagava ten upasamkami, upasam-
kamitva bhagavata saddhim sammodi, sammodaniyam katha?/t
saraniyam vitisaretva ekamantam nisidi, ekamantam nisinno Vaccha
gotto paribbajako bhagavantam etad avoca : kirn mi kho bho
Gotama atth atta ti. evam vutte bhagava tu?ihi ahosi. kim pana
bho Gotama n atth atta ti. dutiyam pi kho bhagava timhi ahosi.
atha kho Vacchagotto paribbajako u^Myasana pakkami. atha kho
ayasma Anando acirapakkante Vacchagotte paribbajake bhaga
vantam etad avoca: kirn nn kho bhante bhagava Vacchagottassa
paribbajakassa panhaw iputtho na byakasiti. ahaS. c Ananda
Vacchagottassa paribbajakassa atth atta ti puttho samano atth
atta ti byakareyyam, ye te Ananda samanabrahma?ia sassatavada
tesam etam saddham abhavissati*. ahaii c Ananda Vacchagottassa
parribbajakassa n atth atta ti puttho samano n atth atta ti
byakareyya?7i, ye te Ananda samawabrahma^a ucchedavada tesam
etamf abhavissa. ahan c Ananda Vacchagottassa . . . atth atta
ti byakareyyam, api nn me tarn Ananda anulomaw. abhavissa
nanassa upadayat sabbe dhammma anatta ti. no h eiwn bhante.
ahan c Ananda . . . n atth atta ti byakareyyam, sammuZ/iassa
Ananda Vacchagottassa paribbajakassa bhiyyosammohaya abhavissa
ahuva me nanu pnbbe atta so etarahi n atthiti.
" Samynttaka Nikaya," vol. ii, fol. no. seq. (cf. antea, p. 278
seq.) :
Ekam samayam bhagava Savatthiyam viharati Jetavano Anat
piwdikassa arame. tena kho pana samayena Khema bhikkhuni
Kosalesu carikam caramana antara ca Savatthim antara ca S^ketam
Torawavattimsmim vasam npagata hoti. atha kho raja Pasenadi
Kosalo Saketa Savatthim gacchanto antara ca Saketam antara c
Savatthim Torawavatthnsmim ekarattivasam upagacchi. atha khc
raja Pasenadi Kosalo annataram purisam amantesi: ehi tvarn
purisa Toranavatthnsmiw tatharupam samayam va brahman
jana yam aham ajja payirupaseyyan ti. evam deva ti kho so pn:
- So the MS. ; lege abhavissa. on saddham cf . Abhidhdn. 1147.
t Here undoubtedly saddham is to be inserted. ! Lege uppad
44:0 SOME MATTERS OF BUDDHIST DOGMATIC.
raiino Pasenadissa Kosalassa pa^isutva kevalakappam Tora?iavatthum
ahmc/anto naddasa tatharupam samawam va brahmawam va yam
raja Pasenadi Kosalo payirupaseyya. addasa kho [so] puriso
Khema???, bhikkhunim Tora?iavatthusmim vasam upagatam, disvana
yena raja Pasenadi Kosalo ten upasamkami, upasarakamitva rajanam
Pasenadikosalam etad avoca : n atthi kho deva Torawavatthusmim
tatharupo sama?io va brahmawo va yam devo pairupaseyya, atthi ca
kho deva Khema nama bhikkhuni tassa bhagavato savika arahato
sammasambuddhassa, tassa kho pana ayyaya evam kalyawo kitti-
saddo abbhuggato paradita viyatta medhavi bahusutta cittakathi
kalyaTiapa^ibhana ti, twin devo payirupasatu ti. atha kho raja
Pasenadi Kosalo yena Khema bhikkhuni ten upasamkami, upasam-
kamitva Khema?>i bhikkuniwi abhivadetva ekamanta?>i nisicli. eka-
manta^i nisinno kho raja Pasenadi Kosalo Khemam bhikkhuni?
etad avoca : kirn 1111 kho ayye lioti tathagato para??i marawa ti.
abyakatam kho eta^ maharaja bhagavata hoti tathagato param
marawa ti. kirn pan ayye na hoti tathagato param mara?ia ti.
etam pi kho maharaja abyakatam bhagavata na hoti tathagato
param mara?z.a ti. ki/^ nu kho ayye hoti ca na ca hoti tathagato
para???- mara?ia ti. abyakatam kho etaw maharaja bhagavata
kirn pan ayye n eva hoti na na hoti tathagato param marana ti.
etam pi kho maharaja abyakatam bhagavata . . . The king now
asks why she has given no other answer to all his questions, and
goes on : ko nu kho ayye hetu ko paccayo yena t&m abyakatam
bhagavata ti. tena hi maharaja tail iiev ettha patipucchissami,
yatha te khameyya tatha nam byakareyyasi. tarn kim maiiiiasi
maharaja, atthe te koci ganako va muddiko va samkhayako va yo
pahoti Gangaya valukam gawetum ettaka valuka iti va ettakani
valukasatani ita va ettakani valukasahassani iti va ettakani valuka -
satasahassani iti va ti. no h etam a^^ye. atthi pana te koci ga?^ako
va muddiko va samkhayako va yo pahoti mahasamudde udakam
gawetnm ettakani udakaZhakani iti va . . . ettakani udaka^ha-
kasatasahassani iti va ti. no h eta??i ayye. tarn kissa hetu.
mahasamuddo gambhiro appameyyo duppariyogaho ti. evam eva
kho maharaja yena rupena tathagatam paniiapayamano pannapeyya
tarn rupam tathagatassa pahinam ucchinnamulam talavatthukatam
THE NIRVANA. 441
anabhavam katam* ayatim anuppadadhammam. rupasamkhaya
vimutto kho maharaja tathagato gambhiro appameyyo duppari-
yogaho seyyathapi rnahasaniuddo. hoti tathagato param mararca
ti pi na upeti, na hoti t. p. m. ti pi na upeti, hoti ca na ca hoti
t. p. m. ti pi na upeti, n eva hoti na na hoti t. p. m. ti pi na upeti.
yaya vedanaya . . . yaya sannaya . . . yehi samkharelii
. . . yena vinna?iena tathagatam pafinapayamano paimapeyya
. . ti pi na upetiti. atho kho raja Pasenadi Kosalo Khemaya
bhikkhuniya bhasitam abhinanditva anumoditva u^Myasana Khe-
mam bhikkhunim abnivadetva padakkhi?za?tt katva pakkami. The
text then farther relates how the king later on put the same
questions to Buddha himself, and obtained from him the same
answers word for word as the nun Khema had given him.
" Samyuttaka Nikaya," vol. i, fol. de (cf. antea, p. 281 scq.) :
tena kho pana samayena Yamakassa nama bhikkhuno evarupam
papakam di^Mgatam uppannawi hoti : tathaham bhagavata dham-
ina ??^ desita?^ ajanami yatha khinasavo bhikkhu kayassa bheda
ucchijjati vinassati na hoti para^ marawa ti. (Sariputta resolves
to put the misbeliever 011 the right track and says to him :) tarn
kim maiiiiasi avuso Yamaka rupawz. nicca^i va anicca 3>^ va ti.
aniccam avusof . . . tani kii maiiiiasi avuso Yamaka rupaz-
tathagato ti samanupassasiti. no h eta-wi avuso. vedana?^ tatha
gato ti samanupassasiti . . . tarn kim maiiiiasi avuso Yamaka
rupasmim tathagato ti samanupassasiti. no h etam avuso.
aiiiiatra rupa tathagato ti samanupassasiti. no h etam avuso. J
tarn kim manfiasi avuso Yamaka rupam vedanam safmam samkhare
vinnawam tathagato ri samanupassasiti. no h etam avuso. tarn
kim manfiasi avuso Yamaku aya? so arupi avedano asafiui asa^i-
kharo avinnawo tathagato ti samanupassasiti. no h ct&m avuso.
ettha ca te avuso Yamaka dift/ieva dhamme saccato te tato
tathagato anupalabbhiyamano. kallam nu te tarn veyyakarawam
tathaham bhagavata dhammam desitam ajanami . . . na hoti
* Lege gatam.
t The same then regarding the other Khandas, and the usual conclusions
drawn therefrom as in the " Malmvagga," i, G, 42-40.
I Then similarly : vedamlya, aunatra vedanaya, &c.
442 SOME MATTERS OF BUDDHIST DOGMATIC.
para? marana fci. ahu kho me tarn avuso Sariputta pubbe avid-
dasuno papakam di^Mgatam, idam ca panayasmato Sariputtassa
dhammadesanam sutva tarn c cva papaka?^ di^Aigatam paMnam
dhammo ca me abhisamito. sace tarn avuso Yamaka enam
puccheyyu??!, yo so avuso Yamaka bhikkhu arahara khmasavo
so kayassa bheda param mara?ia kim hotiti : evam -puttho tvam
avuso Yamaka kinti byakareyyasiti. sace mam avuso evam
puccheyyuw, yo so ... kim hotiti, evam pu^o aham avuso
evam byakareyyam : rupam klio avuso aniccam, yad annicam tarn
dukkham, yam dukkha?^ tarn niruddham tad atthamga tarn, ve-
dana, sanna, samkhara, vinna?ia??i aniccam . . . atthamgatan ti.
evam pjattho aham avuso evawi byakareyyan ti sadhu sadhu avuso
Yamaka.
"Udana," fol. ghau (Phayre MS., cf. antea, p. 283): . . .
imam udana?w udanesi : atthi bhikkhave tad ayatanam yattha
n eva pathavi na apo na tejo na vayo na akasanancayatanam na
vinnawanancayatana^i na akincaiiiiayatanam na nevasannana-
sannayatanam nayam loko no paraloko ubdo candimasuriya, tarn
aham bhikkhave n eva ayatim vadami na gatim na thitim na
upapatti77^ : appati^/iam apavatta??^ anaramma?iam eva tarn, es
ev anto dukkhassa ti.*
Ibid. fol. ghau (=" Itivuttaka," fol. kau ; antea, p. 283) : atthi
bhikkhave ajata? abhutam akatam asamk hatam. no ce tarn
bhikkhave abhavissa ajata?^ . . . asamkhatam na yidha jatassa
bhutassa katassa sa??ikhatassa nissara?^am pannayetha. yasma ca
kho bhikkhave atthi ajatam . . . tasma jatassa . . . nissara?iam
pannayatiti.
Ibid. fol. ghau ghani: nissitassa ca calitam, anissitassa cali-
tara n atthi, calite asati passadhi, passaddhiya sati rati na hoti,
ratiya asati agatigati na hoti, agatigatiya asati cutupapato na hoti,
cutupapate asati n ev idha na huram na ubhayamantare. es ev
anto dukkhassa ti.
" Anguttara Nikaya " (Phayre MS.), vol. i, fol. nu : cattaro me
* It is well here to bear in mind the quite similar mode of ｅxpression of
the Jainas. " Jinacaritra," 16 : sivam ayalam aruyam a?iamtam akkhayam
avvabaham apu?iaravatti-siddhi-gai-namadheyam th&n&m.
TEE NIRVANA. 443-
bhikkhave puggala santo samvijjamana lokasmim. katame cattaro?
idha bhikkhave ekacco puggalo di^fteva dhamme sasamkharapari
nibbayi hoti, idha pana bhikkhave ekacco puggalo kayassa bheda
sasamkharaparinibbayi hoti, idha pana bliikkhave ekacco puggalo
ditt/ieva dhamme asamkharaparinibbayi hoti, idha pana bhikkhave
ekacco puggalo kayassa bheda asamkharaparinibbayi hoti. kathan
ca bhikkhave ekacco puggalo di^Aeva dhamme sasamkharaparinib
bayi hoti ? idha bhikkhave bhikklm asubhanupassi kaye viharati
ahare paiikulassanfii sabbaloke anabhiratisanni sabbasa??^ kharesu
aniccanupassi, marawasaniia kho pan assa ajjhattaTJi supati^Mta
hoti. so imani panca sekhabalani upanissaya viharati saddhabalam
hiribalam ottappabalam viriyabalam, pannabala?, tass imani pane
indriyani adhimattani patubhavanti saddhindriyam viriyin driyaw
satindriyam samadhindriyam pannindriyam. so imesa??i pancannam
indriyanam adhimattatta sasamkharaparinibbayi hoti. evawi kho
khikkhave puggalo ditffceva dhamme sasamkharaparinibbayi ^hoti.
kathan ca bhikkhave ekacco puggalo kayassa bheda sasamkhara
parinibbayi hoti? idha bhikkhave bhikkhu asubhanupassi (&c.
as above, for adhimattani, adhimattatta read muduni, mudutta).
kathan ca bhikkhave ekacco puggalo ditffceva dhamme asamkhara-
parinibbayi hoti? idha bhikkhave bhikkhu vivicc eva kameln
-pa- pa^amajihana?^ .... cattutham jhanam upasampajja
viharati so imani panca sekhabalani (&c. as above, then corre-
spondino- to the fourth case, but instead of adhimattani read
muduni). ime kho bhikkhave cattaro puggala santo samvijjam
lokasmin ti.
Ano-uttaraNikiya," NavanipMa, vol. iii, fol. nu : ekam samayai
ayasm^Sariputto Bajagahe viharati VeJuvane Kalandakamvape.
tatra kho ayasm^ Sariputto Wukkhft dmantesi : sukham idam ayu f
nibbanan ti. evam yntte ayasma Udayi ayasmantam Sanpu
etad avoca : kirn pan ettha avuso Sariputta sukham yad
atthivedayitentif etad eva khv etthav^so sukham yad ett
atthi vedayitam. pane ime avuso kamag^a. katame^panc
cakkhuvifineya rupa iJa kanta manapa piyrupa satarupa kam
pasafihita rajaniya, sotavineyya sadda, ... ime kho avu,
panca kamaguna. ya kho avuso ime pafica kamagu^e pafc*
-444 SOME MATTERS OF BUDDHIST DOGMATIC.
uppajjati sukham somanassam idam vuccat avuso kamasukham.
idhavuso bhikkhu vivicc eva kamehi -pa- pa^/^amam jhanam upa-
sampajja viharati, tass ce avuso bhikkhuno imina viharena viharato
kamasahagata sanna manasikara samudacaranti sv assa hoti abadho.
seyyathapi avuso sukhino dukkham uppajjeyya yavad eva abadhaya,
evam ev assa te kamasahagata sanna manasikara samudacaranti, sv
assa hoti abadho. yo kho panavuso abadho dukkham idam vuttam
bhagavata. iminapi kho et&m avuso pariyayena veditabba7?i yatha
sukha^z, nibbanaw. puna ca param avuso bhikkhu vitakkavicaranai?^
dutiyaw jhanawz- upasampajja viharati. tassa ce avuso
bhikkhuno imina viharena viharato vitakkasahagata sanna manasi
kara samudacaranti (see as above). In the third Jhana, the
disturbing element is described as pitisahagata sanna, in the fourth
iipekhasukhasahagata saiina. The exposition then proceeds in the
analogous way also through the highest stages of abstraction.
As in the two last quoted passages the term nibbana is used of
the happy condition of him who has attained the Jhana, so also
this occurs in the following passage :
" Aiig. Nikaya," loc. cit. fol. th&:
sandi/7dkam nibbanam sandi^Mkam nibbanan ti avuso vuccati.
kittavata 1111 kho avuso sandi^Mkam nibbanawz. vuttam bhagavata
ti ? idhavuso bhikkhu vivicc eva kamehi -pa- pa^Aamam jhanam
upasampajja vihareti. etthapi kho avuso sandi^Mkam nibbanam
vuttam bhagavata pariyayena. (Similarly of the following Jhanas
and the stages of higher ecstasy. Finally :) puna ca parara avuse
bhikkhu sabbaso nevasannanasaniiayatanam samatikkamma sailiia-
vedayitanirodham upasampajja viharati pannaya c assa disva asava
parikkhina honti. ettavata kho avuso sandi^/xikam nibbanam vut-
tam bhagavata nippariyayena ti.* Then follows a series of exactly
similar passages : nibbanam nibbanan ti avuso vuccati -pa- parinib-
banam parinibbanan ti, tadanganibbanam tadanganibbanan ti, dittJia,-
dhammanibbanan di^/iadhammanibanan ti avuso vuccati . . .
vuttam bhagavata nippariyayena ti.
The fact that here the Parinibbana is treated as exactly equal
* Here pariyayena (cf. " Dipavamsa," 5, 34) means "in metaphorical sense,
nippariyayena, " without metaphor, in the exact sense."
NIBBANA AND PARINIBBANANAMAR&PA. 445-
with the nibbana and the di^/iadhammanibbana, as well as the fact
that in one of the earlier quoted passages the " di^Aeva dhamme
sasamkharaparinibbaya " is spoken of, gives me occasion to here
refer to the theory advanced by Dr. Rhys Davids, according to
which nibbana and parinibbana are as a rule so used differently,
that the former denotes arhatship, the latter the end of the saint,
his disappearance from the world o^the transitory. As a fact the
usage of the canonical texts follows, on the whole, the rule laid
down by Davids. Yet it seems to me, that here Ave have to do only
with a tendency of the usage of speech, which is liable to exceptions,
in the same way as usage fluctuates between Buddha and Sam-
buddha, Paccekabuddha and Paccekasambuddha. Thus, the word
parinibbuta is used of the saint already during his earthly life,
" Dhp." v, 89, and " Samyutta Nikaya," vol. ii, fol. ja :
kummo va angani sake kapale samodaham bhikkhu manovitakke
anissito aimamaimam apothamano parinibbuto na upavadeyya kiiici
and vice versa nibbuta is also occasionally used of the saint entering
into the hereafter. Anuruddha says (" Theragatha," fol. gu) :
Vajjinam VeZuvagame ah aw jivitasawkhay&
hettAato VeZugumbasmiw nibbayissam anasavo.
Bakkulattherassa-Acchariyabahutasutta ("Majjh. Nikaya") : atha
kho ayasmaBakkulo aparena samayena apapuranam adaya viharena
viharam upasamkamitva evam aha : abhikkamathayasmaiito abhik-
kamathcayasmanto, ajja me nibbanam bhavissatiti . . . atha kho
ayasma Bakkulo majjhe bhikkhusa77ighassa nisinnako parinibbayi.
Compare also the strophe of the Vimanavatthu, which is found
quoted at " Dhp. Atth." p. 350.
2. Namarupa.
To the observations made in note 2, p. 23, regarding the terminus
Namarupa, i.e. " Name and form," or Name and corporeal i
I desire to here add a few of the more important passage:
texts. . .
The ｅxpression Namarupa is known to have had its origin 11
44:6 NAMAR&PA.
Brahmam and Aranyaka period of Indian literature. In the name
of beings the wisdom of those ages finds, as is natural, specially
deep mysteries. Jaratkarava Artabhaga says :* " Yajnavalkya !
what is that which does not forsake a man when he dies ?" And
Yajnavalkya answers : " The name ! An infinite thing in truth is
the name, infinite (innumerable) are all the Gods ; infinite fulness
lie attains thereby." Thus the name of beings or of things is repre
sented as a self-existing power beside their external form. Name
and form are the two " monster powers " of the Brahma, by which
it has got at the worlds or into the worlds. When the universe
lay in chaotic confusion, by " name and form " clearness was created ;
therefore they say, when they wish to make a man knowable : "he
is called so-and-so ; he looks so-and-so." " In this this universe
consists, inform and in name " or, as it is said on another occasion :
" A triad is this world : name, form, act."f
The cessation of the individual being, the attainment of the
everlasting goal presents itself as well to the Brahman as to the
Buddhist method of thought and speech as the cessation of " name
and form." He who has attained the highest wisdom, unites with
the universal spirit, " delivered from name and form, as the streams,
the flowing streams, enter into rest in the sea, leaving namej and
form behind ;" thus we read in the "MuncZakopanishad." And in
the " Suttanipata "|| it is said : " What thou hast asked after,
Ajita, that will I tell thee ; where name and form cease without
a residuum : by the cessation of consciousness,** there that
ceases."
As regards the idea of " name " in this connection, it is to be
understood in its literal meaning, when in the Mahanidana suttaff
* " Qat. Br." xiv, 6, 2, 11.
t " 9at. Br." xi, 2, 3, 3 fg. ; xiv, 4, 2, 15 ; 4, 4, 1 fg. Cf. the Nnsi/wha-
tapaniya Upanishad, " Ind. Studien," ix, 134.
{ It is clear, that here " name " is to be taken quite in the literal sense, cf .
" Cullavagga," Ix, 1, 4.
P. 322 of the edition in the " Bibl. India."
|| Fol. ghau of the Phayre MS. ; Fausboll, p. 191.
** I.e., the Nirvana, cf. supra, p. 266 seq.
tt P. 253, 255, ed. " Grimblot."
NAMARUPA. 447
the attainability of the form- world through the " contact by means
of naming" is traced back to the existence of the " name-world,"
and when it is there said, " that the domain of naming, the domain
of ｅxpression, the domain of manifestation," extends as far as
" name and form together with consciousness." As a rule, however,
another meaning of " name " meets us in the Buddhist texts, so far
as this idea appears in connection with that of form. Thus already
in the " Sutta Pi^aka " (" SammadiWAi Suttanta " in the " Majjhima
Nikaya," fol. khu of the Tumour MSS.), where a reply is given
to the question regarding the definition of Namarupa : vedana
sarma cetena phasso manasikaro idam vuccat avuso namarupam,*
cattari ca mahabhutani catunnam ca mahabhutanam upadaya rupam
idam vuccat avuso rupam. Similarly in the Abhidhamma texts.
" Vibhanga," fol. ci (Phayre MS.) : tattha katamam virmana-
paccaya namarupam ? atthi namam atthi rupawi. tattha katamam
namam ? vedanakkhandho sannakhandho samkharakkhandho idam
vuccati namam. tattha katamam rupa?^ ? cattaro ca mahabhuta
catunna??! ca mahabhutanam upadaya rupam idam vuccati rupam
iti idan ca namam idam vuccati vinnampaccaya namarupam.
" Nettippakarana," fol. ku (Phayre MS.) : tattha ye pane
upadanakkhanda idam namarupam. tattha ye phassapancamaka
dhammat idam namam, yani paficindriyani rupani idam rupam.
tadubhayam namarupam vinnawasampayuttam.
How this explanation of Nama has arisen, is evident. The cate
gory of " form " or " corporeity " (rupa), like that of consciousness,
is to be met as well in the combination " name and form together
with consciousness," as in the system of the five khandhas "form,
sensations, perceptions, conformations, consciousness." Now the
very natural conceit suggested itself to identify the two series of
notions, which had actually arisen wholly independently of each
other, having the members " form " and " consciousness " in com
mon, and thus the three khandhas "sensations, perceptions,
* It appears to me we should read namaw.
t I.e., the five categories mentioned in the passage quoted from the Samma-
ditt/d Sutta, among which phassa is named, not indeed in the last, but in the
fourth place ?
448 THE FOUR STAGES OF HOLINESS.
conformations (Samkhara== Cetana) " of the one series remained
over for the category of " name " in the other series.
Cf. further " Milinda Paiiha," p. 49 ; Burnouf, " Intr." 501 seq.
3. The Four Stages of Holiness.
It is not my intention here to expound in all its bearings the
doctrine of the Cattaro Magga, on the whole rather unprofitable to
the comprehension of Buddhist religious thought. I shall here
only attempt to show how, in the statement of the psychological
attributes which, were attributed to the saints of the four stages,
the earlier and later texts of the sacred Kanon differ from each
other, in a manner which is characteristic of the history of the
development of dogmatic literature.
As far as I know, we possess, regarding the psychological attri
butes of saints of the four grades, no older ｅxpressions than those
which occur in the " Mahaparinibbana Sutta," p. 16 seq., and
conformably very often afterwards in the " Sutta Pifoika." The
four stages are there defined in the following way :
1. iinn&m samyojananam parikkhaya sotapanno avinipatadhammo
niyato sambo dhiparayano.
2. tinnam samyojananam parikkhaya ragadosamohanam tanutta,
sakadagami sakid eva imam lokam agantva dukkhass antam ka-
rissati.
3. pancannam orambhagiyanam samyojanana?? parikkhaya opa-
patiko tatthaparinibbayi anavattidhammo tasma loka.
4. asavanam khaya anasava^i cetovimuttim pannavimuttiin
di^Aeva dhamme sayam abhinna sacchikatva upasamyajja vihasi.
These definitions show evidently that there was a conventionally
arranged series of Samyojanas and this lay at the bottom of the-
speculations upon progressive sanctifi cation. We can scarcely
doubt that this series is the same which is uniformly given by
commentators, and already occurs in the " Sutta Pifoka " :* the
five Orambhagiva Samyojana are Sakkayadi^/n, Mcikiccha>
* " Samyutta Nikaya," vol. iii, fol. dhe.
THE FOUR STAGES OF HOLINESS.
Silabbataparamasa, Kamaraga, Parigha ; the five Uddhambhagiva
Samyojana : Ruparaga, Aruparaga, Mana, Uddhacca, Avijja.
It will be seen how quite unsymmetrically couched the definitions
given of the four stages are,, with reference to this series. Some
times three, sometimes five of the Sa??^yojanas are overcome ; the
categories of Raga, Dosa, Moha, are introduced, of which only the
first figures in the list of the Samyojanas ; in the second stage,
it is said, these three vices are almost overcome ; how it fares with
them in the third stage is not stated ; but for the definition of the
third grade recourse is again had exclusively to the Samyojana
categories. Thus these formulas give a veritable picture of the
confusion which usually prevails in the long and abstruse series of
ideas in ancient Buddhist dogmatic.
It is interesting to observe how the later generation of dogma
tists, whose systematizing and harmonizing labours lie before us in
the Abhidhamma Pi/aka, endeavoured to introduce some order and
arrangement into this confusion. one of the Abhidhamma texts,
the Puggalapaimatti,* deals exclusively with the different grades
of beings in relation to the goal of holiness. Thus the four classes
(by the side of which stand the corresponding subdivisions of
the " phalasacchikiriyaya paripanna," already, by-the-bye, frequently
mentioned in the older Piakas, e.g., " Cullavagga," ix, 1, 4) are
defined as follows :
1. yassa puggalassa iini samyojanani pahinani ayam vuccati
puggalo sotapaimo.
2. yassa puggalassa kamaragabyapada tanubhuta ayam vuccati
puggalo sakadagami.
* Puggala (Sansk. pudgala), the subject bound in transmigration, or corre
spondingly the subject delivered therefrom, is synonymous with Satta, and
Puggala-Satta stands against the pair of synonyms, Dhamma-Sawkhara (vide
supra, p. 250). According to the old strict teaching there are only Dhammas, and
Sattas are spoken of only in accordance with ordinary modes of ｅxpression.
Regarding the juxtaposition of Satta-puggala and Dhamma-Sawkhara compare
" Milinda Panha," p. 317, where in characteristic style the topic is " atthisatta "
and " atthidhamma ;" the Jinalawikara in Burnouf, " Intr.".505 (" Buddho ti ko
satto va samkharo va "), and the northern Buddhist text, which is thei3 quoted,
p. 508 (" Sa pudgalo na dharma/t").
29
450 THE FOUR STAGES OF HOLINESS.
3. yassa puggalassa kamaragabyapada anavasesa pahina ayam
vuccati puggalo anagaxni.
4. yassa puggalassa ruparago aruparago mano uddhaccam avijja
anavasesa pahina ayam vuccati puggalo araha.
The system rests here exclusively on the series of the ten
Samyojanas.* Whatever in the older form of the doctrine referred
to the Samyojanas, is here adopted ; the other categories which
were there dealt with, Raga, Dosa, Moha, and the Asavas, have
vanished from the new wording, or have been replaced by notions
from the Samyojana series. Thus, when we regard the Samyojanas
numbered according to the order given above, the graded course of
their conquest is the following : the Sotapanna has got rid of 1 3 ;
in the case of the Sakadagami and Anagami, 4 and 5 also vanished,
and that in such a way that in the Sak. they were reduced to a
small measure, in the Anag. wholly annihilated ; the Araha finally
has extirpated the last vices also, 6 10.
Thus the doctrine of the four grades gives a picture of the way
in which the confused series of notions contained in the suttas have
been pondered by the theologians of the Abhidhamma, and their
inconsistencies eliminated by them.
* That the notion which was designated in the above-quoted form of the
Samyojana list as Patigha is identical with that here named Byapada, admits of
no doubt.
INDICES,
1. INDEX TO PROPER NAMES.
Acelaka
Aciravati (Kapti) 95 note, 96
Agni Vai(?vanara 10 seq., 399 seq.
Ajatasattu 146, 152, 160
Alara Kalama 105, 123, 420 seq.
Ananda 116, 159 seq., 197 seq., 201
seq., 272 seq.
Anathapindika 144 seq., 163
Anga 9, 403
Angulimala 243 note
Aruni 396 *!
Assaji
Bakkula 445
Beluva 197, 445
Benares 124 ^-
Bhaddiya
Bhallika
Bharata 10, 406 seq.
Bimbisara 133, 143, 163, 419
Buddhagliosa U4 note
gakya, v. Sakya
gandilya 30, 31 note
Cedi 402 se( l-
Chabbaggiya
Devadatta 160 seq.
Dighavu (Long-life) 293 seq.
Dighiti (Long-grief) 293 seq.
Gandhara 399, 402
Ganges
Gargi
Gotama (Vedic sage)
Gotama (Name of Buddha) 95, 118,.
125 seq., 411 seq., 413 seq.
Ikshvfiku (Okkaka) 98, 403, 412
Isipatana 125
Jivaka 147, 163
Kagi 9, 31, 143, 393 note
Kapilavatthu 91 seq., 99 seq., 105, 415
seq.
Kassapa 132 seq.
Kai/mka Upanishad 54 seq.
Khema 278 seq., 439 seq.
Klkafa 4 2
Koliya
Ko?idafma
Kosala 8, 9, 11, 98, 143, 393 note, 412
Krivi 401
Kunala 296 seq.
Kura 10, 393 seq., 395 seq., 401, 410
Kusimira 200 seq.
Magadha 8, 9, 121, 136 seq., 143, 399,.
402
Mahapajapati 93 note, 99 seq., 165
Mahinda 75 note, 361 seq.
Maitreyi
Makkhali Gosiila
Malla 202 seq., 399 note, 413
Malukya 2 74 seq.
Mann 393 Se ^
Mathava
Matsya
Maya 73, 93 seq., 99, 417
452
INDICES.
Metteyya 142 note
Milinda 254 seq.
MoggaUana 134 seq., 156, 158
Mucalinda 118
Naciketas 56 seq., 84
Nagasena
Namuci 88 note
Nataputta 77 seq., 175 note
Niggantha 66, 77, 175
Okkaka, v. Ikshvaku
Pajjota 341 note
Paiicala 10, 404, cf. Kuru
Pasenadi 98 note, 163, 278 seq., 413
Paialiputta 197
Pava 78
Prajapati 21 seq., 26, 29 seq.
Purawa 344 seq.
Pura^a Kassapa 70
Puru . 403, 410
Rahula 101, 103, 159
Rajagaha 133 seq., 143, 344
Eapti, v. Aciravati
92, 96, 412
402
Saccaka 70
Sadanira 10 seq., 398
Sakya 67, 93, 95 seq., 412 seq.
Sairjaya (cf. Smrjaya) 136 seq.
Sarasvati
Sariputta
Savatthi
Siddhattha
Sriiijaya (cf. Safijaya)
Suddhodana
Tapussa
Tritsu
Turvaca
Ucan
10, 409 seq.
134 seq., 158
143
95
402
99, 416 seq.
119
405 seq.
404 seq.
55
Uddaka Eamaputtta 105, 123, 420 seq.
Uddalaka 40 (cf. Arura)
Upali 156 note, 159
Uruvela 106 seq., 132
Vaca 393 note
Vacchagotta 272 seq., 429, 438 seq.
Vajacravas 55
Vassakara 341 note
Vesall 76, 148, 197, 344 note
Vessantara 302 seq.
Videha 9, 11, 31, 31 note, 398
VifZurfabha 98 note
Visakha 167 seq.
Yajnavalkya 13, 31 note, 32, 34 seq., 49,
399 seq.
Yama 55 seq.
Yamaka 281 seq., 441
Yasa 131
2. INDEX TO SUBJECTS.
Abhidhamma 449 seq.
Absolute 18, 27 note, 30 seq., 32 seq.,
53, 59, 64, 251, cf. Everlasting
Abstraction, v. Concentration
Admission to the Order 150 seq., 155
note, 345, 379
Anagami 319 note, 435, 448
Analogy 189
Atman (atta, the ego) 25 seq., 29 seq.,
45, 215, 271 seq., 439
Avidya, cf. Ignorance
Being 247 seq., 258 seq., 262
Beneficence 144, 167 seq., 300 seq., 3S5
seq.
Bhava 236
Bhikku, bhikkuni 161, 354
Biography of Buddha 78 seq., 113 seq.,
138 seq., 411 seq.
Brahma (neut.) 26 seq., 32 seq., 45 seq.
Brahma (masc.) 26 note, 59, 117 note,
121 seq.
Brahmacarya 336 seq.
Brahmanism 13 seq., 117, 148, 154, 157
note, 170 seq.
INDICES.
453
Buddha (word and meaning) 52, 67, 75,
84, 95, 108, 322 seq.
Buddhahood, attainment of the 85 seq.,
107 seq., 129, 424 seq.
Caste 152 seq., 190, 249 note
^atapatha Brahmawa 10, 26, 29, 31, 33,
48 seq., 52
Causality 115, 120, 206, 223 seq., 243,
248 seq., 262
Ceylon (its importance to Buddhism)
75, 78 note
Chaos 40
Chronology of Buddha s Life 81, 159
note
Church Government 341 seq.
Clothing 359 seq.
Concentration 50, 67, 106, 288, 313 seq.,
443 seq.
Confession, the 370 seq., 378 note
Conformations, cf. Sa?;ikhara
Consciousness 227 seq., 253, 266
Contact 232
Contemplation, v. Concentration
Conversions, histories of 131 seq., 147,
183 seq.
Councils 76, 343 seq.
Cultus 369 seq.
Death 45 seq., 55 seq., 267 cf. Trans
migration, Nirvana
Deliverance 7, 45 seq., 49 seq., 64, 130,
205, 216, 235, 263 seq., 266
Desire 48 seq., cf. Tanha
Dhamma 251, 270, 449 note. Dhamma
and Vinaya 286 note
Dhammapada 195, 219, 222, 236 seq.,
283 note, 284, 292
Dialogues 31, 35 seq., 49, 189 seq., 254
seq., 278 seq.
Dinners 149, 385
Disciples 150 seq. The first disciples
131 seq.; their number 133 note,
142 ; typical form 140, 158 ; social
position 154
Dualism 47, 51, 214 seq.
Dwelling 360 seq.
Ecstasy, v. Concentration
Ego, v. Atman
End of things 329
Ethic 50, 61, 286 seq.
Everlasting (cf. Absolute) 263, 269 seq.,
282 seq.
Fables 193, 313
Gardens 143 seq.
Gods 18, 20 seq., 53, 59 seq., 246
Gotra of the nobles 413 seq.
Hell 161 note, 243 seq.
Holiness 263 seq., 319 seq., cf. Deliver
ance, Nirvana
Ignorance 51 seq., 227 seq., 237 seq.
Immigration of the Aryans 9, cf. The
First Excursus
Improvisation, poetical 194
Induction 189
Invitation 374, 379 note
Itinerancy, periods of 142
Jaina (v. Niggantha, Index I)
Jfitaka 193 note
Karman 48, 242 seq.
Khanda 213 seq., 255, 278 seq., 429 seq.
Labour 366
Lay-believers 119, 161 seq., 381 seq.
Legends of Buddha 72 seq., 103 seq.,
108 seq.
Legislation 334
Love 292
Mara the Tempter 54 seq., 58 seq., 73,
85 seq., 104, 116 seq., 192, 198, 258,
266, 309 seq., 420, 426
Material form (cf. Namarupa) 213, 228
Matter 40
Maya 237 seq.
Mendicant Life 14, 32, 61 seq., 149, 161,
363
Miracles 160
Monasticism 33, 61 seq., v. Mendicant
Life, Order, etc.
Myth of Buddha 73 seq., 83 seq., 411
seq.
Ntimarupa (name and form) 41, 227
seq., 445 seq.
Name 352 note, 445
Nidana 224
454
INDICES.
Nirvana 116, 200 seq., 204 seq., 223
seq., 263 seq., 267 seq., 329, 427 seq.
Nothing, Nihilism 212, 238 seq., 267
seq.
Order, The 7, 119, 130 seq., 150 seq.,
161, 336 seq.
Order, Law of the 331 seq.
Order of the day 149 seq., 366
Organized Fraternities 61 seq.
Pabbajja, v. Pravrajya
Paccekabuddha 120 note, 321
Pali 75, 177
Parables 191 seq., 275
Parinibbana, v. Nirvawa
Path, the eight-fold 128, 211
Patimokkha 332, 370 seq.
Pavaraa 374, 379 note
Penances 67, 106 seq., Ill, 175 seq.
Pessimism 42 seq., 209 seq., 221 seq.,
cf. Suffering
-Poetry 193
Poverty 354 seq., v. Mendicant Life
Pravrajya 337 note, 347 seq., cf. Ad
mission to the Order
Property 354
Puggala 449 note
Kainy season 141 seq.
Eelics, veneration for 375 seq.
Retribution, Moral 48 seq., 242 seq., 258
Etgveda 9, 17 seq. Cf. The First Ex
cursus
Sacrificial cultus 14, 20 seq., 46, 172
seq.
Sakadagami 319, 448 seq.
Sama??a 67
Samkhara 225, 237, 241 seq., 251, 253,
258, 270, 285, 449 note
Sammasambuddha 120 note
Sawyojana 429, 448 seq.
Sankhya Philosophy 92
Sanskrit 177
Sayings, poetical 193
Scepticism 69
Sects
Self-discipline
Self-examination
Sensation
Senses, the six
Sermon, the
Sophistic
Sotapanna
Soul
Subject, cf. Atman
Substance
66 seq
305
307
232
231 seq.
125 seq.
68
319, 448 seq.
252 seq., 270
254 seq.
24, 250, 253
Suffering 42, 64, 128, 211, 249, 258
Sun-hero, the 73 seq., 83 seq.
Symbolic System, the 21 seq., 37 seq.,
46
Systems of Ideas 180, 206 seq., 287
Tales 193
Tathagata 126 note, 272, 278 seq., 332
note, 441
Temptation, story of the 115 seq.
Tempter, v. Mara
Theravada 75
Transmigration 43 seq., 216, 229, 240
seq., 261
Tree of Knowledge 87 seq., 107, 108
note, 114, 376
Trinity, Triad, the 6, 119, 339
Truths, the four 128 seq., 211, 223,
240, 286 seq.
Upadana 427, 429 seq.
Upadhi 427 seq.
Upadisesa 427, 433 seq.
Upasampada 347 seq., 349
Uprightness 288, 290, 305
Veda 9 seq., 63, 100, 171 seq., 391 seq.,
cf. jR/gveda
Vinayapamokkha 341 note
Viiiiiajia, v. Consciousness
Virtues 300 seq.
Visions HI
Wanderings, v. Itinerancy, periods of
Withdrawal from the Order 352 seq.
Women 164 seq., 377 seq.
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