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올덴베르크. <<붓다>>.Hermann Oldenberg.Buddha: his life, his doctrine, his order. Buddha : sein Leben, seine Lehre, seine Gemeinde

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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.hwp


BUDDHA: 
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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