{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_47214/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_47214","id":"gutenberg_47214","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/47214","summary":null,"tags":["Buddhism","Buddhism -- Relations -- Christianity","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christianity and other religions -- Buddhism","India -- Religion"],"text":"[Illustration: BRASS IMAGE OF GAUTAMA BUDDHA FROM CEYLON.]\n\n   He is seated on the Mu\u0107alinda Serpent (see p. 480), in an attitude\n  of profound meditation, with eyes half closed, and five rays of light\n                  emerging from the crown of his head.\n                                                        [_Frontispiece._\n\n\n\n\n                               BUDDHISM,\n             IN ITS CONNEXION WITH BR\u0100HMANISM AND HIND\u016aISM,\n                                  AND\n                          IN ITS CONTRAST WITH\n                             CHRISTIANITY,\n\n\n                                   BY\n                 SIR MONIER MONIER-WILLIAMS, K.C.I.E.,\n             M.A., HON. D.C.L. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD,\n               HON. LL.D. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA,\n               HON. PH.D. OF THE UNIVERSITY OF G\u00d6TTINGEN,\n       HON. MEMBER OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETIES OF BENGAL AND BOMBAY,\n      AND OF THE ORIENTAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETIES OF AMERICA,\n                      BODEN PROFESSOR OF SANSK\u1e5aIT,\n            AND LATE FELLOW OF BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD, ETC.\n\n[Illustration: ]\n\n                               NEW YORK:\n                           MACMILLAN AND CO.\n                                 1889.\n\n                        [_All rights reserved._]\n\n\n\n\n                                PREFACE.\n\n\nThe \u2018Duff Lectures\u2019 for 1888 were delivered by me at Edinburgh in the\nmonth of March. In introducing my subject, I spoke to the following\neffect:\u2014\n\n\u2018I wish to express my deep sense of the responsibility which the writing\nof these Lectures has laid upon me, and my earnest desire that they may,\nby their usefulness, prove in some degree worthy of the great missionary\nwhose name they bear.\n\n\u2018Dr. Duff was a man of power, who left his own foot-print so deeply\nimpressed on the soil of Bengal, that its traces are never likely to be\neffaced, and still serve to encourage less ardent spirits, who are\nstriving to imitate his example in the same field of labour.\n\n\u2018But not only is the impress of his vigorous personality still fresh in\nBengal. He has earned an enduring reputation throughout India and the\nUnited Kingdom, as the prince of educational missionaries. He was in all\nthat he undertook an enthusiastic and indefatigable workman, of whom, if\nof any human being, it might be truly said, that, when called upon to\nquit the sphere of his labours, \u201che needed not to be ashamed.\u201d No one\ncan have travelled much in India without having observed how wonderfully\nthe results of his indomitable energy and fervid eloquence in the cause\nof Truth wait on the memory of his work everywhere. Monuments may be\nerected and lectureships founded to perpetuate his name and testify to\nhis victories over difficulties which few other men could have overcome,\nbut better than these will be the living testimony of successive\ngenerations of Hind\u016b men and women, whose growth and progress in true\nenlightenment will be due to the seed which he planted, and to which God\nhas given the increase.\u2019\n\nI said a few more words expressive of my hope that the \u2018Life of Dr.\nDuff\u2019[1] would be read and pondered by every student destined for work\nof any kind in our Indian empire, and to that biography I refer all who\nare unacquainted with the particulars of the labours of a man to whom\nScotland has assigned a place in the foremost rank of her most eminent\nEvangelists.\n\nI now proceed to explain the process by which these Lectures have\ngradually outgrown the limits required by the Duff Trustees.\n\nWhen I addressed myself to the carrying out of their wishes\u2014communicated\nto me by Mr. W. Pirie Duff\u2014I had no intention of undertaking more than a\nconcise account of a subject which I had been studying for many years. I\nconceived it possible to compress into six Lectures a scholarly sketch\nof what may be called true Buddhism,\u2014that is, the Buddhism of the\nPi\u1e6dakas or P\u0101li texts which are now being edited by the P\u0101li Text\nSociety, and some of which have been translated in the \u2018Sacred Books of\nthe East.\u2019 It soon, however, became apparent to me that to write an\naccount of Buddhism which would be worthy of the great Indian\nmissionary, I ought to exhibit it in its connexion with Br\u0101hmanism and\nHind\u016bism and even with Jainism, and in its contrast with Christianity.\nThen, as I proceeded, I began to feel that to do justice to my subject I\nshould be compelled to enlarge the range of my researches, so as to\nembrace some of the later phases and modern developments of Buddhism.\nThis led me to undertake a more careful study of Koeppen\u2019s Lamaismus\nthan I had before thought necessary. Furthermore, I felt it my duty to\nstudy attentively numerous treatises on Northern Buddhism, which I had\nbefore read in a cursory manner. I even thought it incumbent on me to\nlook a little into the Tibetan language, of which I was before wholly\nignorant.\n\nI need scarcely explain further the process of expansion through which\nthe present work has passed. A conviction took possession of my mind,\nthat any endeavour to give even an outline of the whole subject of\nBuddhism in six Lectures, would be rather like the effort of a foolish\nman trying to paint a panorama of London on a sheet of note-paper. Hence\nthe expansion of six Lectures into eighteen, and it will be seen at once\nthat many of these eighteen are far too long to have been delivered _in\nextenso_. In point of fact, by an arrangement with the Trustees, only a\ncertain portion of any Lecture was delivered orally. The present work is\nrather a treatise on Buddhism printed and published in memory of Dr.\nDuff.\n\nI need not encumber the Preface with a re-statement of the reasons which\nhave made the elucidation of an intricate subject almost hopelessly\ndifficult. They have been stated in the Introductory Lecture (pp. 13,\n14).\n\nMoreover the plan of the present volume has been there set forth (see p.\n17).\n\nI may possibly be asked by weary readers why I have ventured to add\nanother tributary to the too swollen stream of treatises on Buddhism? or\nsome may employ another metaphor and inquire why I have troubled myself\nto toil and plod over a path already well travelled over and trodden\ndown? My reply is that I think I can claim for my own work an\nindividuality which separates it from that of others\u2014an individuality\nwhich may probably commend it to thoughtful students of Buddhism as\nhelping to clear a thorny road, and introduce some little order and\ncoherence into the chaotic confusion of Buddhistic ideas.\n\nAt any rate I request permission to draw attention to the following\npoints, which, I think, may invest my researches with a distinctive\ncharacter of their own.\n\nIn the first place I have been able to avail myself of the latest\npublications of the P\u0101li Text Society, and to consult many recent works\nwhich previous writers on Buddhism have not had at their command.\n\nSecondly, I have striven to combine scientific accuracy with a popular\nexposition sufficiently readable to satisfy the wants of the cultured\nEnglish-speaking world\u2014a world crowded with intelligent readers who take\nan increasing interest in Buddhism, and yet know nothing of Sansk\u1e5bit,\nP\u0101li, and Tibetan.\n\nThirdly, I have aimed at effecting what no other English Orientalist\nhas, to my knowledge, ever accomplished. I have endeavoured to deal with\na complex subject as a whole, and to present in one volume a\ncomprehensive survey of the entire range of Buddhism, from its earliest\norigin in India to its latest modern developments in other Asiatic\ncountries.\n\nFourthly, I have brought to the study of Buddhism and its sacred\nlanguage P\u0101li, a life-long preparatory study of Br\u0101hmanism and its\nsacred language Sansk\u1e5bit.\n\nFifthly, I have on three occasions travelled through the sacred land of\nBuddhism (p. 21), and have carried on my investigations personally in\nthe place of its origin, as well as in Ceylon and on the borders of\nTibet.\n\nLastly, I have depicted Buddhism from the standpoint of a believer in\nChristianity, who has shown, by his other works on Eastern religions, an\nearnest desire to give them credit for all the good they contain.\n\nIn regard to this last point, I shall probably be told by some\nenthusiastic admirers of Buddhism, that my prepossessions and\npredilections\u2014inherited with my Christianity\u2014have, in spite of my desire\nto be just, distorted my view of a system with which I have no sympathy.\nTo this I can only reply, that my consciousness of my own prepossessions\nhas made me the more sensitively anxious to exhibit Buddhism under its\nbest aspects, as well as under its worst. An attentive perusal of my\nlast Lecture (see p. 537) will, I hope, make it evident that I have at\nleast done everything in my power to dismiss all prejudice from my mind,\nand to assume and maintain the attitude of an impartial judge. And to\nthis end I have taken nothing on trust, or at second hand. I have\nstudied P\u0101li, as I have the other Indian Pr\u0101k\u1e5bits, on my own account,\nand independently. I have not accepted unreservedly any man\u2019s\ninterpretation of the original Buddhist texts, and have endeavoured to\nverify for myself all doubtful statements and translations which occur\nin existing treatises. Of course I owe much to modern P\u0101li scholars, and\nwriters on Buddhism, and to the translators of the \u2018Sacred Books of the\nEast;\u2019 but I have frequently felt compelled to form an independent\nopinion of my own.\n\nThe translations given in the \u2018Sacred Books of the East\u2019\u2014good as they\ngenerally are\u2014have seemed to me occasionally misleading. I may mention\nas an instance the constant employment by the translators of the word\n\u2018Ordination\u2019 for the ceremonies of admission to the Buddhist monkhood\n(see pp. 76-80 of the present volume). I have ventured in such instances\nto give what has appeared to me a more suitable equivalent for the P\u0101li.\nOn the same principle I have avoided all needless employment of\nChristian terminology and Bible-language to express Buddhist ideas.\n\nFor example, I have in most cases excluded such words as \u2018sin,\u2019\n\u2018holiness,\u2019 \u2018faith\u2019, \u2018trinity,\u2019 \u2018priest\u2019 from my explanations of the\nBuddhist creed, as wholly unsuitable.\n\nI regret that want of space has compelled me to curtail my observations\non Jainism\u2014the present representative of Buddhistic doctrines in India\n(see p. 529.) I hope to enter more fully on this subject hereafter.\n\nThe names of authors to whom students of Buddhism are indebted are given\nin my first Lecture (pp. 14, 15). We all owe much to Childers. My own\nthanks are specially due to General Sir Alexander Cunningham, to\nProfessor E. B. Cowell of Cambridge, Professor Rhys Davids, Dr.\nOldenberg, Dr. Rost, Dr. Morris, Dr. Wenzel, who have aided me with\ntheir opinions, whenever I have thought it right to consult them. Dr.\nRost, C.I.E., of the India Office, is also entitled to my warmest\nacknowledgments for having placed at my disposal various subsidiary\nworks bearing on Buddhism, some of which belong to his own Library.\n\nMy obligations to Mr. Hoey\u2019s translation of Dr. Oldenberg\u2019s \u2018Buddha,\u2019 to\nthe translations of the travels of the Chinese pilgrims by Professor\nLegge, Mr. Beal, M. Abel R\u00e9musat, and M. Stanislas Julien, to M. Huc\u2019s\ntravels, and to Mr. Scott\u2019s \u2018Burman,\u2019 will be evident, and have been\ngenerally acknowledged in my notes. I am particularly grateful to Mr.\nSarat Chandra D\u0101s, C.I.E., for the information contained in his Report\nand for the instruction which I received from him personally while\nprosecuting my inquiries at D\u0101rj\u012bling.\n\nI have felt compelled to abbreviate nearly all my quotations, and\ntherefore occasionally to alter the phraseology. Hence I have thought it\nright to mark them by a different type without inverted commas.\n\nWith regard to transliteration I must refer the student to the rules for\npronunciation given at p. xxxi. They conform to the rules given in my\nSansk\u1e5bit Grammar and Dictionary. Like Dr. Oldenberg, I have preferred to\nsubstitute Sansk\u1e5bit terminations in _a_ for the P\u0101li _o_. In Tibetan I\nhave constantly consulted J\u00e4schke, but have not followed his system of\ntransliteration.\n\nIn conclusion, I may fitly draw attention to the engravings of objects,\nsome of which were brought by myself from Buddhist countries. They are\ndescribed in the list of illustrations (see p. xxix), and will, I trust,\ngive value to the present volume. It has seemed to me a duty to make use\nof every available appliance for throwing light on the obscurities of a\ndifficult subject; and, as these Lectures embrace the whole range of\nBuddhism, I have adopted as a frontispiece a portrait of Buddha which\nexhibits Buddhism in its receptivity and in its readiness to adopt\nserpent-worship, or any other superstition of the races which it strove\nto convert. On the other hand, the Wheel, with the Tri-ratna and the\nLotus (pp. 521, 522), is engraved on the title-page as the best\nrepresentative symbol of early Buddhism. It is taken from a Buddhist\nsculpture at Amar\u0101vat\u012b engraved for Mr. Fergusson\u2019s \u2018Tree and\nSerpent-worship\u2019 (p. 237).\n\nThe portrait which faces page 74 is well worthy of attention as\nillustrating the connexion[2] between Buddhism and Br\u0101hmanism. It is\nfrom a recently-taken photograph of Mr. Gaur\u012b-\u1e60a\u1e45kar Uday-\u1e60a\u1e45kar,\nC.S.I.\u2014a well-known and distinguished Br\u0101hman of Bhaunagar\u2014who (with Mr.\nPercival) administered the State during the minority of the present\nenlightened Mah\u0101-r\u0101ja. Like the Buddha of old, he has renounced the\nworld\u2014that is, he has become a Sanny\u0101s\u012b, and is chiefly engaged in\nmeditation. He has consequently dropped the title C.S.I., and taken the\nreligious title\u2014Sv\u0101m\u012b \u1e60r\u012b Sa\u0107\u0107id\u0101nanda-Sarasvat\u012b. His son, Mr.\nVijay-\u1e60a\u1e45kar Gaur\u012b-\u1e60a\u1e45kar, kindly sent me the photograph, and with his\npermission I have had it engraved.\n\nIt will be easily understood that, as a great portion of the following\npages had to be delivered in the form of Lectures, occasional\nrepetitions and recapitulations were unavoidable, but I trust I shall\nnot be amenable to the charge of repeating anything for the sake of\n\u2018padding.\u2019 I shall, with more justice, be accused of \u2018cramming,\u2019 in the\nsense of attempting to force too much information into a single volume.\n\n                                                      _January 1, 1889._\n\n\n\n\n                              POSTSCRIPT.\n\n\nSince writing the foregoing prefatory remarks, I have observed with much\nconcern that a prevalent error, in regard to Buddhism, is still\npersistently propagated. It is categorically stated in a newspaper\nreport of a quite recent lecture, that out of the world\u2019s population of\nabout 1500 millions at least 500 millions are Buddhists, and that\nBuddhism numbers more adherents than any other religion on the surface\nof the globe.\n\nAlmost every European writer on Buddhism, of late years, has assisted in\ngiving currency to this utterly erroneous calculation, and it is high\ntime that an attempt should be made to dissipate a serious\nmisconception.\n\nIt is forgotten that mere sympathizers with Buddhism, who occasionally\nconform to Buddhistic practices, are not true Buddhists. In China the\ngreat majority are first of all Confucianists and then either T\u0101oists or\nBuddhists or both. In Japan Confucianism and Shintoism co-exist with\nBuddhism. In some other Buddhist countries a kind of Shamanism is\npractically dominant. The best authorities (including the Oxford\nProfessor of Chinese, as stated in the Introduction to his excellent\nwork \u2018The Travels of F\u0101-hien\u2019) are of opinion that there are not more\nthan 100 millions of real Buddhists in the world, and that Christianity\nwith its 430 to 450 millions of adherents has now the numerical\npreponderance over all other religions. I am entirely of the same\nopinion. I hold that the Buddhism, described in the following pages,\ncontained within itself, from the earliest times, the germs of disease,\ndecay, and death (see p. 557), and that its present condition is one of\nrapidly increasing disintegration and decline.\n\nWe must not forget that Buddhism has disappeared from India proper,\nalthough it dominates in Ceylon and Burma, and although a few Buddhist\ntravellers find their way back to the land of its origin and sojourn\nthere.\n\nIndeed, if I were called upon to give a rough comparative numerical\nestimate of the six chief religious systems of the world, I should be\ninclined, on the whole, to regard Confucianism as constituting, next to\nChristianity, the most numerically prevalent creed. We have to bear in\nmind the immense populations, both in China and Japan, whose chief creed\nis Confucianism.\n\nProfessor Legge informs me that Dr. Happer\u2014an American Presbyterian\nMissionary of about 45 years standing, who has gone carefully into the\nstatistics of Buddhism\u2014reckons only 20 millions of Buddhists in China,\nand not more than 72\u00bd millions in the whole of Asia. Dr. Happer states\nthat, if the Chinese were required to class themselves as Confucianists\nor Buddhists or T\u0101oists, 19/20ths, if not 99/100ths, of them would, in\nhis opinion, claim to be designated as Confucianists.\n\nIn all probability his estimate of the number of Buddhists in China is\ntoo low, but the Chinese ambassador Li\u016b, with whom Professor Legge once\nhad a conversation on this subject, ridiculed the view that they were as\nnumerous as the Confucianists.\n\nUndeniably, as it seems to me, the next place after Christianity and\nConfucianism should be given to Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism, which are not\nreally two systems but practically one; the latter being merely an\nexpansion of the former, modified by contact with Buddhism.\n\nBr\u0101hmanism, as I have elsewhere shown, is nothing but spiritual\nPantheism; that is, a belief in the universal diffusion of an impersonal\nSpirit (called Br\u0103hm\u0103n or Br\u0103hm\u0103)\u2014as the only really existing\nEssence\u2014and in its manifesting itself in Mind and in countless material\nforces and forms, including gods, demons, men, and animals, which, after\nfulfilling their course, must ultimately be re-absorbed into the one\nimpersonal Essence and be again evolved in endless evolution and\ndissolution.\n\nHind\u016bism, with its worship of Vish\u1e47u and \u1e60iva, is based on this\npantheistic doctrine, but the majority of the Hind\u016bs are merely\nobservers of Br\u0101hmanical institutions with their accompanying Hind\u016b\ncaste usages. If, however, we employ the term Hind\u016b in its widest\nacceptation (omitting only all Isl\u0101mized Hind\u016bs) we may safely affirm\nthat the adherents of Hind\u016bism have reached an aggregate of nearly 200\nmillions. In the opinion of Sir William Wilson Hunter, they are still\nrapidly increasing, both by excess of births over deaths and by\naccretions from more backward systems of belief.\n\nProbably Buddhism has a right to the fourth place in the scale of\nnumerical comparison. At any rate the number of Buddhists can scarcely\nbe calculated at less than 100 millions.\n\nIn regard to Muhammadanism, this creed should not, I think, be placed\nhigher than fifth in the enumeration. In its purest form it ought to be\ncalled Isl\u0101m, and in that form it is a mere distorted copy of Judaism.\n\nThe Empress of India, as is well known, rules over more Muhammadans than\nany other potentate in the world. Probably the Musalm\u0101n population of\nthe whole of India now numbers 55 millions.\n\nAs to the number of Muhammadans in the Turkish empire, there are no very\ntrustworthy data to guide us, but the aggregate is believed to be about\n14 millions; while Africa can scarcely reckon more than that number,\neven if Egypt be included.\n\nThe sixth system, T\u0101oism (the system of L\u0101o-tsze), according to\nProfessor Legge, should rank numerically after both Muhammadanism and\nBuddhism.\n\nOf course Jainism (p. 529) and Zoroastrianism (the religion of the\nP\u0101rs\u012bs) are too numerically insignificant to occupy places in the above\ncomparison.\n\nIt is possible that a careful census might result in a more favourable\nestimate of the number of Buddhists in the world, than I have here\nsubmitted; but at all events it may safely be alleged that, even as a\nform of popular religion, Buddhism is gradually losing its\nvitality\u2014gradually loosening its hold on the vast populations once loyal\nto its rule; nay, that the time is rapidly approaching when its capacity\nfor resistance must give way before the mighty forces which are destined\nin the end to sweep it from the earth.\n\n                                                                M. M.-W.\n  88 Onslow Gardens, London.\n      _January 15, 1889._\n\n\n\n\n                               CONTENTS.\n\n\n                                                                     PAGE\n  Preface                                                               v\n  Postscript on the common error in regard to the comparative\n          prevalence of Buddhism in the world                         xiv\n  List of Illustrations                                              xxix\n  Rules for Pronunciation                                            xxxi\n  Pronunciation of Buddha, etc. Addenda and Corrigenda              xxxii\n\n\n                               LECTURE I.\n                       Introductory Observations.\n\n  Buddhism in its relation to Br\u0101hmanism. Various sects in Br\u0101hmanism.\n      Creed of the ordinary Hind\u016b. Rise of scepticism and infidelity.\n      Materialistic school of thought. Origin of Buddhism and Jainism.\n      Manysidedness of Buddhism. Its complexity. Labours of various\n      scholars. Divisions of the subject. The Buddha, his Law, his Order\n      of Monks. Northern Buddhism                                    1-17\n\n\n                              LECTURE II.\n                   The Buddha as a Personal Teacher.\n\n  The Buddha\u2019s biography. Date of his birth and death. His names,\n      epithets, and titles. Story of the four visions. Birth of the\n      Buddha\u2019s son. The Buddha leaves his home. His life at R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha.\n      His study of Br\u0101hmanical philosophy. His sexennial fast. His\n      temptation by M\u0101ra. He attains perfect enlightenment. The\n      Bodhi-tree. Buddha and Muhammad compared. The Buddha\u2019s proceedings\n      after his enlightenment. His first teaching at Benares. First\n      sermon. Effect of first teaching. His first sixty missionaries.\n      His fire-sermon. His eighty great disciples. His two chief and\n      sixteen leading disciples. His forty-five years of preaching and\n      itineration. His death and last words. Character of the Buddha\u2019s\n      teaching. His method illustrated by an epitome of one of his\n      parables                                                      18-52\n\n\n                              LECTURE III.\n             The Dharma or Law and Scriptures of Buddhism.\n\n  Origin of the Buddhist Law (Dharma). Buddhist scriptures not like the\n      Veda. First council at R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha. K\u0101\u1e61yapa chosen as leader.\n      Recitation of the Buddha\u2019s precepts. Second council at Vai\u1e61\u0101l\u012b.\n      \u0106andra-gupta. Third council at Patn\u0101. Composition of southern\n      canon. Tri-pi\u1e6daka or three collections. Rules of discipline, moral\n      precepts, philosophical precepts. Commentaries. Buddha-ghosha.\n      A\u1e61oka\u2019s inscriptions. His edicts and proclamations. Fourth council\n      at J\u0101landhara. Kanishka. The northern canon. The nine Nep\u0101lese\n      canonical scriptures. The Tibetan canonical scriptures (Kanjur)\n                                                                    53-70\n\n\n                              LECTURE IV.\n                 The Sa\u1e45gha or Buddhist Order of Monks.\n\n  Nature of the Buddhist brotherhood. Not a priesthood, not a hierarchy.\n      Names given to the monks. Method of admission to the monkhood.\n      Admission of novices. Three-refuge formula. Admission of full\n      monks. Four resources. Four prohibitions. Offences and penances.\n      Eight practices. The monk\u2019s daily life. His three garments.\n      Confession. Definition of the Sa\u1e45gha or community of monks. Order\n      of Nuns. Lay-brothers and lay-sisters. Relation of the laity to\n      the monkhood. Duties of the laity. Later hierarchical Buddhism.\n      Character of monks of the present day in various countries    71-92\n\n\n                               LECTURE V.\n                The Philosophical Doctrines of Buddhism.\n\n  The philosophy of Buddhism founded on that of Br\u0101hmanism. Three ways\n      of salvation in Br\u0101hmanism. The Buddha\u2019s one way of salvation. All\n      life is misery. Indian pessimistic philosophy. Twelve-linked chain\n      of causation. Celebrated Buddhist formula. The Buddha\u2019s attitude\n      towards the S\u0101\u1e45khya and Ved\u0101nta philosophy of the Br\u0101hmans. The\n      Buddha\u2019s negation of spirit and of a Supreme Being. Br\u0101hmanical\n      theory of metempsychosis. The Buddhist Skandhas. The Buddhist\n      theory of transmigration. Only six forms of existence. The\n      Buddha\u2019s previous births. Examples given of stories of two of his\n      previous births. Destiny of man dependent on his own acts.\n      Re-creative force of acts. Act-force creating worlds. No knowledge\n      of the first act. Cycles of the Universe. Interminable succession\n      of existences like rotation of a wheel. Buddhist Kalpas or ages.\n      Thirty-one abodes of six classes of beings rising one above the\n      other in successive tiers of lower worlds and three sets of\n      heavens                                                      93-122\n\n\n                              LECTURE VI.\n    The Morality of Buddhism and its chief aim\u2014Arhatship or Nirv\u0101\u1e47a.\n\n  Inconsistency of a life of morality in Buddhism. Division of the moral\n      code. First five and then ten chief rules of moral conduct.\n      Positive injunctions. The ten fetters binding a man to existence.\n      Seven jewels of the Law. Six (or ten) transcendent virtues.\n      Examples of moral precepts from the Dharma-pada and other works.\n      Moral merit easily acquired. Aim of Buddhist morality. External\n      and internal morality. Inner condition of heart. Four paths or\n      stages leading to Arhatship or moral perfection. Three grades of\n      Arhats. Series of Buddhas. Gautama the fourth Buddha of the\n      present age, and last of twenty-five Buddhas. The future Buddha.\n      Explanation of Nirv\u0101\u1e47a and Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a as the true aim of\n      Buddhist morality. Buddhist and Christian morality contrasted\n                                                                  123-146\n\n\n                              LECTURE VII.\n         Changes in Buddhism and its disappearance from India.\n\n  Tendency of all religious movements to deterioration and\n      disintegration. The corruptions of Buddhism are the result of its\n      own fundamental doctrines. Re-statement of Buddha\u2019s early\n      teaching. Recoil to the opposite extreme. Sects and divisions in\n      Buddhism. The first four principal sects, followed by eighteen,\n      thirty-two, and ninety-six. Mah\u0101-y\u0101na or Great Method (vehicle).\n      H\u012bna-y\u0101na or Little Method. The Chinese Buddhist travellers,\n      F\u0101-hien and Hiouen Thsang. Reasons for the disappearance of\n      Buddhism from India. Gradual amalgamation with surrounding\n      systems. Interaction between Buddhism, Vaish\u1e47avism, and \u1e60aivism.\n      Ultimate merging of Buddhism in Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism     147-171\n\n\n                             LECTURE VIII.\n              Rise of Theistic and Polytheistic Buddhism.\n\n  Development of the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na or Great Method. Gradual deification of\n      saints, sages, and great men. Tendency to group in triads. First\n      triad of the Buddha, the Law, and the Order. Buddhist triad no\n      trinity. The Buddha to be succeeded by Maitreya. Maitreya\u2019s heaven\n      longed for. Constitution and gradations of the Buddhist\n      brotherhood. Headship and government of the Buddhist monasteries.\n      The first Arhats. Progress of the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na doctrine. The first\n      Bodhi-sattva Maitreya associated with numerous other\n      Bodhi-sattvas. Deification of Maitreya and elevation of Gautama\u2019s\n      great pupils to Bodhi-sattvaship. Partial deification of great\n      teachers. N\u0101g\u0101rjuna, Gorakh-n\u0101th. Barlaam and Josaphat      172-194\n\n\n                              LECTURE IX.\n                  Theistic and Polytheistic Buddhism.\n\n  Second Buddhist triad, Ma\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b, Avalokite\u1e61vara or Padma-p\u0101\u1e47i and\n      Vajra-p\u0101\u1e47i. Description of each. Theory of five human Buddhas,\n      five Dhy\u0101ni-Buddhas \u2018of meditation,\u2019 and five\n      Dhy\u0101ni-Bodhi-sattvas. Five triads formed by grouping together one\n      from each. Theory of \u0100di-Buddha. Worship of the Dhy\u0101ni-Buddha\n      Amit\u0101bha. Tiers of heavens connected with the four Dhy\u0101nas or\n      stages of meditation. Account of the later Buddhist theory of\n      lower worlds and three groups of heavens. Synopsis of the\n      twenty-six heavens and their inhabitants. Hind\u016b gods and demons\n      adopted by Buddhism. Hind\u016b and Buddhist mythology           195-222\n\n\n                               LECTURE X.\n      Mystical Buddhism in its connexion with the Yoga Philosophy.\n\n  Growth of esoteric and mystical Buddhism. Dhy\u0101ni-Buddhas. Yoga\n      philosophy. Sv\u0101m\u012b Day\u0101nanda-Sarasvat\u012b. Twofold Yoga system. Bodily\n      tortures of Yog\u012bs. Fasting. Complete absorption in thought.\n      Progressive stages of meditation. Sam\u0101dhi. Six transcendent\n      faculties. The Buddha no spiritualist. Nature of Buddha\u2019s\n      enlightenment. Attainment of miraculous powers. Development of\n      Buddha\u2019s early doctrine. Eight requisites of Yoga. Six-syllabled\n      sentence. Mystical syllables. Cramping of limbs. Suppression and\n      imprisonment of breath. Suspended animation. Self-concentration.\n      Eight supernatural powers. Three bodies of every Buddha. Ethereal\n      souls and gross bodies. Buddhist Mah\u0101tmas. Astral bodies. Modern\n      spiritualism. Modern esoteric Buddhism and Asiatic occultism\n                                                                  223-252\n\n\n                              LECTURE XI.\n Hierarchical Buddhism, especially as developed in Tibet and Mongolia.\n\n  The Sa\u1e45gha. Development of Hierarchical gradations in Ceylon and in\n      Burma. Tibetan Buddhism. Northern Buddhism connected with\n      Shamanism. L\u0101mism and the L\u0101mistic Hierarchy. Gradations of\n      monkhood. Avat\u0101ra L\u0101mas. Vagabond L\u0101mas. Female Hierarchy. Two\n      L\u0101mistic sects. Explanation of Avat\u0101ra theory. History of Tibet.\n      Early history of Tibetan Buddhism. Thumi Sambho\u1e6da\u2019s invention of\n      the Tibetan alphabet. Indian Buddhists sent for to Tibet. Tibetan\n      canon. Tibetan kings. Founding of monasteries. Buddhism adopted in\n      Mongolia. Hierarchical Buddhism in Mongolia. Invention of\n      Mongolian alphabet. Birth of the Buddhist reformer Tsong Khapa.\n      The Red and Yellow Cap schools. Monasteries of Galdan, Brepung,\n      and Sera. Character of Tsong Khapa\u2019s reformation. Resemblance of\n      the Roman Catholic and L\u0101mistic systems. Death and canonization of\n      Tsong Khapa. Development of the Avat\u0101ra theory. The two Grand\n      L\u0101mas, Dalai L\u0101ma and Panchen L\u0101ma. Election of Dalai L\u0101ma.\n      Election of the Grand L\u0101mas of Mongolia. List of Dalai L\u0101mas.\n      Discovery of present Dalai L\u0101ma. The L\u0101ma or Khanpo of Galdan, of\n      Kurun or Kuren, of Kuku khotun. L\u0101mism in Lad\u0101k, Tangut, Nep\u0101l,\n      Bhut\u0101n, Sikkim. In China and Japan. Divisions in Japanese\n      Buddhism. Buddhism in Russian territory                     253-302\n\n\n                              LECTURE XII.\n                  Ceremonial and Ritualistic Buddhism.\n\n  Opposition of early Buddhism to sacerdotalism and ceremonialism.\n      Reaction. Religious superstition in Tibet and Mongolia. Accounts\n      by Koeppen, Schlagintweit, Markham, Huc, Sarat Chandra D\u0101s.\n      Admission-ceremony of a novice in Burma and Ceylon. Boy-pupils.\n      Daily life in Burmese monasteries, according to Shway Yoe.\n      Observances during Vassa. Pirit ceremony. Mah\u0101-ba\u1e47a Pirit.\n      Admission-ceremonies in Tibet and Mongolia. Dress and equipment of\n      a L\u0101mistic monk. Dorje. Prayer-bell. Use of Tibetan language in\n      the Ritual. A. Csoma de K\u00f6r\u00f6s\u2019 life and labours. Form and\n      character of the L\u0101mistic Ritual. Huc\u2019s description of a\n      particular Ritual. Holy water, consecrated grain, tea-drinking.\n      Ceremonies in Sikkim and Lad\u0101k. Ceremony at Sarat Chandra D\u0101s\u2019\n      presentation to the Dalai L\u0101ma. Ceremony at translation of a chief\n      L\u0101ma\u2019s soul. Other ceremonies. Uposatha and fast-days.\n      Circumambulation. Comparison with Roman Catholic Ritual     303-339\n\n\n                             LECTURE XIII.\n         Festivals, Domestic Rites, and Formularies of Prayers.\n\n  New Year\u2019s Festivals in Burma and Tibet. Festivals of Buddha\u2019s birth\n      and death. Festival of lamps. Local Festivals. Chase of the\n      spirit-kings. Religious masquerades and dances. Religious dramas\n      in Burma and Tibet. Weapons used against evil spirits. Dorje.\n      Phurbu. Tattooing in Burma. Domestic rites and usages.\n      Birth-ceremonies in Ceylon and Burma. Name-giving ceremonies.\n      Horoscopes. Baptism in Tibet and Mongolia. Amulets.\n      Marriage-ceremonies. Freedom of women in Buddhist countries.\n      Usages in sickness. Merit gained by saving animal-life. Usages at\n      death. Cremation. Funeral-ceremonies in Sikkim, Japan, Ceylon,\n      Burma, Tibet, and Mongolia. Exposure of corpses in Tibet and\n      Mongolia. Prayer-formularies. Monlam. Ma\u1e47i-padme or \u2018jewel-lotus\u2019\n      formulary. Prayer-wheels, praying-cylinders and method of using\n      them. Formularies on rocks, etc. Man Dangs. Prayer-flags. Mystic\n      formularies. Rosaries. \u1e0damaru. Manual of daily prayers      340-386\n\n\n                              LECTURE XIV.\n                             Sacred Places.\n\n  The sacred land of Buddhism. Kapila-vastu, the Buddha\u2019s birth-place.\n      The arrow-fountain. Buddha-Gay\u0101. Ancient Temple. Sacred tree.\n      Restoration of Temple. Votive St\u016bpas. Mixture of Buddhism and\n      Hind\u016bism. Hiouen Thsang\u2019s description of Buddha-Gay\u0101. S\u0101rn\u0101th near\n      Benares. Ruined St\u016bpa. Sculpture illustrating four events in the\n      Buddha\u2019s career. R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha. Scene of incidents in the Buddha\u2019s\n      life. Deva-datta\u2019s plots. Satta-pa\u1e47\u1e47i cave. \u1e60r\u0101vast\u012b. Residence in\n      Jeta-vana monastery. Sandal-wood image. Miracles. Vai\u1e61\u0101l\u012b, place\n      of second council. Description by Hiouen Thsang and F\u0101-hien.\n      Kau\u1e61\u0101mb\u012b. Great monolith. N\u0101landa monastery. Hiouen Thsang\u2019s\n      description. Sa\u1e45k\u0101\u1e61ya, place of Buddha\u2019s descent from heaven.\n      Account of the triple ladder. S\u0101keta or Ayodhy\u0101. Miraculous tree.\n      Kany\u0101-kubja. \u1e60il\u0101ditya. P\u0101\u1e6dali-putra. A\u1e61oka\u2019s palace. Founding of\n      hospitals. First St\u016bpa. Kesar\u012bya. Ruined mound. St\u016bpa.\n      Ku\u1e61i-nagara, the place of the Buddha\u2019s death and Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a\n                                                                  387-425\n\n\n                              LECTURE XV.\n                        Monasteries and Temples.\n\n  Five kinds of dwellings permissible for monks. Institution of\n      monasteries. Cave-monasteries. Monasteries in Ceylon, Burma, and\n      British Sikkim. Monastery at K\u012blang in Lah\u016bl; at Kunbum; at Kuku\n      khotun; at Kuren; at Lh\u0101ssa. Palace-monastery of Potala. Residence\n      of Dalai L\u0101ma, and Mr. Manning\u2019s interview with him. Monasteries\n      of L\u0101 brang, Ramo\u0107he, Moru, Gar Ma Khian. Three mother-monasteries\n      of the Yellow Sect, Galdan, Sera, and Dapung. Tashi Lunpo and the\n      Tashi L\u0101ma. Mr. Bogle\u2019s interview with the Tashi L\u0101ma. Turner\u2019s\n      interview with the Grand L\u0101ma of the Terpaling monastery. Sarat\n      Chandra D\u0101s\u2019 description of the Tashi Lunpo monastery. Monasteries\n      of the Red Sect, Sam ye and Sakya. Monastery libraries. Temples.\n      Cave-temples or \u0106aityas. The Elor\u0101 \u0106aitya. The K\u0101rle \u0106aitya.\n      Village temples. Temples in Ceylon. Temple at Kelani. Tooth-temple\n      at Kandy. Burmese temples. Rangoon pagoda. Temples in Sikkim,\n      Mongolia, and Tibet. Great temple at Lh\u0101ssa; at Ramo\u0107he; at Tashi\n      Lunpo                                                       426-464\n\n\n                              LECTURE XVI.\n                           Images and Idols.\n\n  Introduction of idolatry into India. Ancient image of Buddha. Gradual\n      growth of objective Buddhism. Development of image-worship.\n      Self-produced images. Hiouen Thsang\u2019s account of the sandal-wood\n      image. Form, character, and general characteristics of images.\n      Outgrowth of Buddha\u2019s skull. Nimbus. Size, height, and different\n      attitudes of Buddha\u2019s images. \u2018Meditative,\u2019 \u2018Witness,\u2019\n      \u2018Serpent-canopied,\u2019 \u2018Argumentative\u2019 or \u2018Teaching,\u2019 \u2018Preaching,\u2019\n      \u2018Benedictive,\u2019 \u2018Mendicant,\u2019 and \u2018Recumbent\u2019 Attitudes.\n      Representations of Buddha\u2019s birth. Images of other Buddhas and\n      Bodhi-sattvas. Images of Amit\u0101bha, of Maitreya, of Ma\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b, of\n      Avalokite\u1e61vara, of Kwan-yin and Vajra-p\u0101\u1e47i. Images of other\n      Bodhi-sattvas, gods and goddesses                           465-492\n\n\n                             LECTURE XVII.\n                            Sacred Objects.\n\n  Sung-Yun\u2019s description of objects of worship. Three classes of\n      Buddhist sacred objects                                     493-495\n\n  Relics. Hind\u016b ideas of impurity connected with death. Hind\u016b and\n      Buddhist methods of honouring ancestors compared. Worship of the\n      Buddha\u2019s relics. The Buddha\u2019s hair and nails. Eight portions of\n      his relics. Adventures of one of the Buddha\u2019s teeth. Tooth-temple\n      at Kandy. Celestial light emitted by relics. Exhibition of relics.\n      Form and character of Buddhist relic-receptacles. \u0106aityas, St\u016bpas,\n      D\u0101gabas, and their development into elaborate structures. Votive\n      St\u016bpas                                                      495-506\n\n  Worship of foot-prints. Probable origin of the worship of foot-prints.\n      Alleged foot-prints of Christ. Vish\u1e47u-pad at Gay\u0101. Jaina pilgrims\n      at Mount P\u0101rasn\u0101th. Adam\u2019s Peak. Foot-prints in various countries.\n      Mr. Alabaster\u2019s description of the foot-print in Siam. Marks on\n      the soles of the Buddha\u2019s feet                              506-514\n\n  Sacred trees. General prevalence of tree-worship. Belief that spirits\n      inhabit trees. Offerings hung on trees. Trees of the seven\n      principal Buddhas. The A\u1e61vattha or Pippala is of all trees the\n      most revered. Other sacred trees. The Kalpa-tree. Wishing-tree.\n      Kab\u012br Var tree                                              514-520\n\n  Sacred symbols. The Tri-ratna symbol. The \u0106akra or Wheel symbol. The\n      Lotus-flower. The Svastika symbol. The Throne symbol. The\n      Umbrella. The \u1e60a\u1e45kha or Conch-shell                         520-523\n\n  Sacred animals. Worship of animals due to doctrine of metempsychosis.\n      Elephants. Deer. Pigs. Fish                                 524-526\n\n  Miscellaneous objects. Bells. Seven precious substances. Seven\n      treasures belonging to every universal monarch              526-528\n\n\n    Supplementary Remarks on the Connexion of Buddhism with Jainism.\n\n  Difference between the Buddhist and Jaina methods of obtaining\n      liberation. Niga\u1e47\u1e6dhas. Two Jaina sects. Dig-ambaras and\n      \u1e60vet\u0101mbaras. The three chief points of difference between them.\n      Their sacred books. Characteristics of both sects as distinguished\n      from Buddhism. Belief in existence of souls. Moral code.\n      Three-jewels. Five moral prohibitions. Prayer-formula. Temples\n      erected for acquisition of merit                            529-536\n\n\n                             LECTURE XVIII.\n                 Buddhism contrasted with Christianity.\n\n  True Buddhism is no religion. Definition of the word \u2018religion.\u2019 Four\n      characteristics constitute a religion. Gautama\u2019s claim to be\n      called \u2018the Light of Asia\u2019 examined. The Buddha\u2019s and Christ\u2019s\n      first call to their disciples. The Christian\u2019s reverence for the\n      body contrasted with the Buddhist\u2019s contempt for the body.\n      Doctrine of storing up merit illustrated, and shown to be common\n      to Buddhism, Br\u0101hmanism, Hind\u016bism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism,\n      and Muhammadanism. Doctrine of Karma or Act-force. Buddhist and\n      Christian doctrine of deliverance compared. Buddhist and Christian\n      moral precepts compared. The many benefits conferred upon Asia by\n      Buddhism admitted. Religious feelings among Buddhists. Buddhist\n      toleration of other religions.\n\n  Historic life of the Christ contrasted with legendary biography of the\n      Buddha. Christ God-sent. The Buddha self-sent. Miracles recorded\n      in the Bible and in the Tri-pi\u1e6daka contrasted. Buddhist and\n      Christian self-sacrifice compared. Character and style of the\n      Buddhist Tri-pi\u1e6daka contrasted with those of the Christian Bible.\n      Various Buddhist and Christian doctrines contrasted. Which\n      doctrines are to be preferred by rational and thoughtful men in\n      the nineteenth century?                                     537-563\n\n\n                                OBSERVE.\n\nThe prevalent error in regard to the number of Buddhists at present\nexisting in the world is pointed out in the Postscript at the end of the\nPreface (p. xiv).\n\n\n\n\n                         LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS\n                           WITH DESCRIPTIONS.\n\n\n                                                                     PAGE\n\n  1. Brass Image of Gautama Buddha obtained by the Author from Ceylon\n                                                           _Frontispiece_\n      He is seated on the Mu\u0107alinda Serpent (see p. 480), in an\n          attitude of profound meditation, with eyes half closed,\n          and five rays of light emerging from the crown of his\n          head.\n\n  2. Vignette, representing the \u0106akra or \u2018Wheel\u2019 Symbol with Tri-ratna\n      symbols in the outer circle and Lotus symbol in the centre (see\n      pp. 521-522)                                        _On Title-page_\n      Copied from the engraving of a Wheel supported on a column at\n          Amar\u0101vat\u012b (date about 250 A.D.) in Mr. Fergusson\u2019s \u2018Tree\n          and Serpent Worship.\u2019\n\n  3. Map illustrative of the Sacred Land of Buddhism         _To face_ 21\n\n  4. Portrait of Mr. Gaur\u012b-\u1e60a\u1e45kar Uday-\u1e60a\u1e45kar, C.S.I., now Sv\u0101m\u012b \u1e60r\u012b\n      Sa\u0107\u0107id\u0101nanda-Sarasvat\u012b                                _To face_  74\n      See the explanation at p. xiii. of the Preface.\n\n  5. Magical Dorje or thunderbolt used by Northern Buddhists          323\n\n  6. Prayer-bell used in worship                                      324\n\n  7. Magical weapon called Phur-pa, for defence against evil spirits  352\n      Used by Northern Buddhists. Brought from D\u0101rj\u012bling in 1884.\n\n  8. Amulet worn by a Tibetan woman at D\u0101rj\u012bling in 1884              358\n      Purchased at D\u0101rj\u012bling and given to the Author by Mr. Sarat\n          Chandra D\u0101s.\n\n  9. Hand Prayer-wheel brought by the Author from D\u0101rj\u012bling           375\n\n  10. \u1e0damaru, or sacred drum, used by vagabond Buddhist monks         385\n\n  11. Ancient Buddhist temple at Buddha-Gay\u0101, as it appeared in 1880\n                                                            _To face_ 391\n      Erected about the middle of the 2nd century on the ruins of\n          A\u1e61oka\u2019s temple, at the spot where Gautama attained\n          Buddhahood.\n      From a photograph by Mr. Beglar enlarged by Mr. G. W. Austen.\n\n  12. The same temple at Buddha-Gay\u0101, as restored in 1884   _To face_ 393\n      From a photograph by Mr. Beglar enlarged by Mr. G. W. Austen.\n\n  13. Bronze model dug up at Moulmein, representing triple ladder by\n      which Buddha is supposed to have descended from heaven (from\n      original in South Kensington Museum)                            418\n\n  14. Remains of a colossal statue of Buddha                _To face_ 467\n      Probably in \u2018argumentative\u2019 or \u2018teaching\u2019 attitude (see p.\n          481). It was found by General Sir A. Cunningham close to\n          the south side of the Buddha-Gay\u0101 temple. The date (Samvat\n          64 = A.D. 142) is inscribed on the pedestal.\n\n  15. Terra-cotta image of Buddha dug up at Buddha-Gay\u0101               477\n      Half the size of the original sculpture. Buddha is in the\n          attitude of meditation under the tree, with a halo or\n          aureola round his head. Probable date, not earlier than\n          9th century.\n\n  16. Sculpture found by General Sir A. Cunningham at S\u0101rn\u0101th, near\n      Benares                                               _To face_ 477\n      Illustrative of the four principal events in Gautama Buddha\u2019s\n          life\u2014namely, his birth, his attainment of Buddhahood under\n          the tree, his teaching at Benares, and his passing away in\n          complete Nirv\u0101\u1e47a (see p. 387). Date about 400 A.D.\n\n  17. Sculpture of Buddha in \u2018Witness-attitude\u2019 on attaining Buddhahood,\n      under the tree (an umbrella is above)                           478\n      Found at Buddha-Gay\u0101. Date about the 9th century. The original\n          is remarkable for its smiling features and for the\n          circular mark on the forehead. The drawing is from a\n          photograph belonging to Sir A. Cunningham.\n\n  18. Sculpture of Buddha in \u2018Witness-attitude\u2019 on attaining Buddhahood\n      under the tree                                                  480\n      From a niche high up on the western side of the Buddha-Gay\u0101\n          temple. It has the \u2018Ye dharm\u0101\u2019 formula (p. 104) inscribed\n          on each side. It is half the size of the original\n          sculpture. Probable date about the 11th century.\n\n  19. Sculpture found at Buddha-Gay\u0101 representing the earliest Triad,\n      viz. Buddha, Dharma, and Sa\u1e45gha                                 485\n      The drawing is from a photograph belonging to Sir A.\n          Cunningham, described at p. 484.\n\n  20. Votive St\u016bpa found at Buddha-Gay\u0101                     _To face_ 505\n      Probable date about 9th or 10th century of our era.\n\n  21. Clay model of a small votive St\u016bpa                              506\n      Selected from several which the author saw in the act of being\n          made by a monk outside a monastery in British Sikkim in\n          1884. This model probably contains the \u2018Ye dharm\u0101\u2019 or some\n          other formula on a seal inside. The engraving is exactly\n          the size of the original.\n\n\n\n\n                        RULES FOR PRONUNCIATION.\n\n\n                                VOWELS.\n\n_A_, _a_, pronounced as in rur_a_l, or the last _a_ in Americ_a_; _\u0100_,\n_\u0101_, as in t_a_r, f_a_ther; _I_, _i_, as in f_i_ll; _\u012a_, _\u012b_, as in\npol_i_ce; _U_, _u_, as in b_u_ll; _\u016a_, _\u016b_, as in r_u_de; _\u1e5ai_, _\u1e5bi_, as\nin mer_ri_ly; _\u1e5a\u012b_, _\u1e5b\u012b_, as in ma_ri_ne; _E_, _e_, as in pr_e_y; _Ai_,\n_ai_, as in _ai_sle; _O_, _o_, as in g_o_; _Au_, _au_, as in H_au_s\n(pronounced as in German).\n\n                              CONSONANTS.\n\n_K_, _k_, pronounced as in _k_ill, see_k_; _Kh_, _kh_, as in in_kh_orn;\n_G_, _g_, as in _g_un, do_g_; _Gh_, _gh_, as in lo_gh_ut; _\u1e44_, _\u1e45_, as\n_ng_ in si_ng_ (si_\u1e45_).\n\n_\u0106_, _\u0107_, as in dol_c_e (in music), = English _ch_ in _ch_ur_ch_,\nlur_ch_ (lur_\u0107_); _\u0106h_, _\u0107h_, as in chur_chh_ill (_\u0107_ur_\u0107h_ill); _J_,\n_j_, as in _j_et; _Jh_, _jh_, as in he_dgeh_og (he_jh_og); _\u00d1_, _\u00f1_, as\nin si_n_ge (si_\u00f1_j).\n\n_\u1e6c_, _\u1e6d_, as in _t_rue (_\u1e6d_ru); _\u1e6ch_, _\u1e6dh_, as in an_th_ill (an_\u1e6dh_ill);\n_\u1e0d_, _\u1e0d_, as in _d_rum (_\u1e0d_rum); _\u1e0dh_, _\u1e0dh_, as in re_dh_aired\n(re_\u1e0dh_aired); _\u1e46_, _\u1e47_, as in _n_o_n_e (_\u1e47_u_\u1e47_).\n\n_T_, _t_, as in wa_t_er (as pronounced in Ireland); _Th_, _th_, as\nnu_t-h_ook (but more dental); _D_, _d_, as in _d_ice (more like _th_ in\n_th_is); _Dh_, _dh_, as in a_dh_ere (more dental); _N_, _n_, as in\n_n_ot, i_n_.\n\n_P_, _p_, as in _p_ut, si_p_; _Ph_, _ph_, as in u_ph_ill; _B_, _b_, as\nin _b_ear, ru_b_; _Bh_, _bh_, as in a_bh_or; _M_, _m_, as in _m_ap,\nja_m_.\n\n_Y_, _y_, as in _y_et; _R_, _r_, as in _r_ed, yea_r_; _L_, _l_, as in\n_l_ie; _V_, _v_, as in _v_ie (but like _w_ after consonants, as in\nt_w_ice).\n\n_\u1e60_, _\u1e61_, as in _s_ure, ses_s_ion; _Sh_, _sh_, as in _sh_un, hu_sh_;\n_S_, _s_, as in _s_ir, his_s_. _H_, _h_, as in _h_it.\n\n\nIn Tibetan the vowels, including even _e_ and _o_, have generally the\nshort sound, but accentuated vowels are comparatively long. I have\nmarked such words as L\u0101ma with a long mark to denote this, but Koeppen\nand J\u00e4schke write Lama. J\u00e4schke says that the Tibetan alphabet was\nadapted from the La\u00f1\u0107ha form of the Indian letters by Thumi (Thonmi)\nSambho\u1e6da (see p. 270) about the year 632.\n\n\n\n\n                                OBSERVE.\n\n\nIt is common to hear English-speakers mispronounce the words Buddha and\nBuddhism. But any one who studies the rules on the preceding page will\nsee that the _u_ in _Bud_dha, must not be pronounced like the _u_ in the\nEnglish word \u2018_bud_,\u2019 but like the _u_ in b_u_ll.\n\nIndeed, for the sake of the general reader, it might be better to write\nBooddha and Booddhism, provided the _oo_ be pronounced as in the words\n\u2018wood,\u2019 \u2018good.\u2019\n\n\n                        ADDENDA and CORRIGENDA.\n\nIt is feared that the long-mark over the letter A may have been omitted\nin one or two cases or may have broken off in printing.\n\n[In this electronic edition, corrections were incorporated in the text;\nadditions were inserted as new footnotes and tagged\u2014_Corr._]\n\n\n\n\n                               BUDDHISM.\n\n\n\n\n                               LECTURE I.\n          _Introductory. Buddhism in relation to Br\u0101hmanism._\n\n\nIn my recent work[3] on Br\u0101hmanism I have traced the progress of Indian\nreligious thought through three successive stages\u2014called by me Vedism,\nBr\u0101hmanism, and Hind\u016bism\u2014the last including the three subdivisions of\n\u1e60aivism, Vaish\u1e47avism, and \u1e60\u0101ktism. Furthermore I have attempted to prove\nthat these systems are not really separated by sharp lines, but that\neach almost imperceptibly shades off into the other.\n\nI have striven also to show that a true Hind\u016b of the orthodox school is\nable quite conscientiously to accept all these developments of religious\nbelief. He holds that they have their authoritative exponents in the\nsuccessive bibles of the Hind\u016b religion, namely, (1) the four\nVedas\u2014\u1e5aig-veda, Yajur-veda, S\u0101ma-veda, Atharva-veda\u2014and the Br\u0101hma\u1e47as;\n(2) the Upanishads; (3) the Law-books\u2014especially that of Manu; (4) the\nBhakti-\u1e61\u0101stras, including the R\u0101m\u0101ya\u1e47a, the Mah\u0101-bh\u0101rata, the\nPur\u0101\u1e47as\u2014especially the Bh\u0101gavata-pur\u0101\u1e47a\u2014and the Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101; (5) the\nTantras.\n\nThe chief works under these five heads represent the principal periods\nof religious development through which the Hind\u016b mind has passed.\n\nThus, in the first place, the hymns of the Vedas and the ritualism of\nthe Br\u0101hma\u1e47as represent physiolatry or the worship of the personified\nforces of nature\u2014a form of religion which ultimately became saturated\nwith sacrificial ideas and with ceremonialism and asceticism. Secondly,\nthe Upanishads represent the pantheistic conceptions which terminated in\nphilosophical Br\u0101hmanism. Thirdly, the Law-books represent caste-rules\nand domestic usages. Fourthly, the R\u0101m\u0101ya\u1e47a, Mah\u0101-bh\u0101rata, and Pur\u0101\u1e47as\nrepresent the principle of personal devotion to the personal gods, \u1e60iva,\nVish\u1e47u, and their manifestations; and fifthly, the Tantras represent the\nperversion of the principle of love to polluting and degrading practices\ndisguised under the name of religious rites. Of these five phases of the\nHind\u016b religion probably the first three only prevailed when Buddhism\narose; but I shall try to make clear hereafter that Buddhism, as it\ndeveloped, accommodated itself to the fourth and even ultimately to the\nfifth phase, admitting the Hind\u016b gods into its own creed, while Hind\u016bism\nalso received ideas from Buddhism.\n\nAt any rate it is clear that the so-called orthodox Br\u0101hman admits all\nfive series of works as progressive exponents of the Hind\u016b\nsystem\u2014although he scarcely likes to confess openly to any adoption of\nthe fifth. Hence his opinions are of necessity Protean and multiform.\n\nThe root ideas of his creed are of course Pantheistic, in the sense of\nbeing grounded on the identification of the whole external world\u2014which\nhe believes to be a mere illusory appearance\u2014with one eternal,\nimpersonal, spiritual Essence; but his religion is capable of presenting\nso many phases, according to the stand-point from which it is viewed,\nthat its pantheism appears to be continually sliding into forms of\nmonotheism and polytheism, and even into the lowest types of animism and\nfetishism.\n\nWe must not, moreover, forget\u2014as I have pointed out in my recent\nwork\u2014that a large body of the Hind\u016bs are unorthodox in respect of their\ninterpretation of the leading doctrine of true Br\u0101hmanism.\n\nSuch unorthodox persons may be described as sectarians or dissenters.\nThat is to say, they dissent from the orthodox pantheistic doctrine that\nall gods and men, all divine and human souls, and all material\nappearances are mere illusory manifestations of one impersonal spiritual\nEntity\u2014called \u0100tman or Purusha or Brahman\u2014and they believe in one\nsupreme personal god\u2014either \u1e60iva or Vish\u1e47u or K\u1e5bish\u1e47a or R\u0101ma\u2014who is not\nliable (as orthodox Br\u0101hmans say he is) to lose his personality by\nsubjection to the universal law of dissolution and re-absorption into\nthe one eternal impersonal Essence, but exists in a heaven of his own,\nto the bliss of which his worshippers are admitted[4].\n\nAnd it must be borne in mind that these sectarians are very far from\nresting their belief on the Vedas, the Br\u0101hma\u1e47as, and Upanishads.\n\nTheir creed is based entirely on the Bhakti-\u1e61\u0101stras\u2014that is, on the\nR\u0101m\u0101ya\u1e47a, Mah\u0101-bh\u0101rata, and Pur\u0101\u1e47as (especially on the Bh\u0101gavata-pur\u0101\u1e47a)\nand the Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101, to the exclusion of the other scriptures of\nHind\u016bism.\n\nThen again it must always be borne in mind that the terms \u2018orthodox\u2019 and\n\u2018unorthodox\u2019 have really little or no application to the great majority\nof the inhabitants of India, who in truth are wholly innocent of any\ntheological opinions at all, and are far too apathetic to trouble\nthemselves about any form of religion other than that which has belonged\nfor centuries to their families and to the localities in which they\nlive, and far too ignorant and dull of intellect to be capable of\ninquiring for themselves whether that religion is likely to be true or\nfalse.\n\nTo classify the masses under any one definite denomination, either as\nPantheists or Polytheists or Monotheists, or as simple idol-worshippers,\nor fetish-worshippers, would be wholly misleading.\n\nTheir faculties are so enfeebled by the debilitating effect of early\nmarriages, and so deadened by the drudgery of daily toil and the dire\nnecessity of keeping body and soul together, that they can scarcely be\nsaid to be capable of holding any definite theological creed at all.\n\nIt would be nearer the truth to say that the religion of an ordinary\nHind\u016b consists in observing caste-customs, local usages, and family\nobservances, in holding what may be called the Folk-legends of his\nneighbourhood, in propitiating evil spirits and in worshipping the image\nand superscription of the Empress of India, impressed on the current\ncoin of the country.\n\nAs a rule such a man gives himself no uneasiness whatever about his\nprospects of happiness or misery in the world to come.\n\nHe is quite content to commit his interests in a future life to the care\nand custody of the Br\u0101hmans; while, if he thinks about the nature of a\nSupreme Being at all, he assumes His benevolence and expects His good\nwill as a matter of course.\n\nWhat he really troubles himself about is the necessity for securing the\npresent favour of the inhabitants of the unseen world, supposed to\noccupy the atmosphere everywhere around him\u2014of the good and evil demons\nand spirits of the soil\u2014generally represented by rude and grotesque\nimages, and artfully identified by village priests and Br\u0101hmans with\nalleged forms of Vish\u1e47u or \u1e60iva.\n\nIt follows that the mind of the ordinary Hind\u016b, though indifferent about\nall definite dogmatic religion, is steeped in the kind of religiousness\nbest expressed by the word {deisidaimonia}. He lives in perpetual dread\nof invisible beings who are thought to be exerting their mysterious\ninfluences above, below, around, in the immediate vicinity of his own\ndwelling. The very winds which sweep across his homestead are believed\nto swarm with spirits, who unless duly propitiated will blight the\nproduce of his fields, or bring down upon him injury, disease, and\ndeath.\n\nThen again, besides the orthodox and besides the sectarian Hind\u016b and\nbesides the great demon-worshipping, idolatrous, and superstitious\nmajority, another class of the Indian community must also be taken into\naccount\u2014the class of rationalists and free-thinkers. These have been\ncommon in India from the earliest times.\n\nFirst came a class of conscientious doubters, who strove to solve the\nriddle of life by microscopic self-introspection and sincere searchings\nafter truth, and these did their best not to break with the Veda, Vedic\nrevelation, and the authority of the Br\u0101hmans.\n\nEarnestly and reverently such men applied themselves to the difficult\ntask of trying to answer such questions as\u2014What am I? Whence have I\ncome? Whither am I going? How can I explain my consciousness of personal\nexistence? Have I an immaterial spirit distinct from, and independent\nof, my material frame? Of what nature is the world in which I find\nmyself? Did an all-powerful Being create it out of nothing? or did it\nevolve itself out of an eternal protoplasmic germ? or did it come\ntogether by the combination of eternal atoms? or is it a mere illusion?\nIf created by a Being of infinite wisdom and love, how can I account for\nthe co-existence in it of good and evil, happiness and misery? Has the\nCreator form, or is He formless? Has He qualities and affections, or has\nHe none?\n\nIt was in the effort to solve such insoluble enigmas by their own\nunaided intuitions and in a manner not too subversive of traditional\ndogma, that the systems of philosophy founded on the Upanishads\noriginated.\n\nThese have been described in my book on Br\u0101hmanism. They were gradually\nexcogitated by independent thinkers, who claimed to be Br\u0101hmans or\ntwice-born men, and nominally accepted the Veda with its Br\u0101hma\u1e47as,\nwhile they covertly attacked it, or at least abstained from denouncing\nit as absolutely untrue. Such men tacitly submitted to sacerdotal\nauthority, though they really propounded a way of salvation based\nentirely on self-evolved knowledge, and quite independent of all Vedic\nsacrifices and sacrificing priests. The most noteworthy and orthodox of\nthe systems propounded by them was the Ved\u0101nta[5], which, as I have\nshown, was simply spiritual Pantheism, and asserted that the one Spirit\nwas the only real Being in the Universe.\n\nBut the origin of the more unorthodox systems, which denied the\nauthority of both the Veda and the Br\u0101hmans, must also be traced to the\ninfluence of the Upanishads. For it is undeniable that a spirit of\natheistic infidelity grew up in India almost _pari passu_ with dogmatic\nBr\u0101hmanism, and has always been prevalent there. In fact it would be\neasy to show that periodical outbursts of unbelief and agnosticism have\ntaken place in India very much in the same way as in Europe; but the\ntendency to run into extremes has always been greater on Indian soil and\nbeneath the glow and glamour of Eastern skies. On the one side, a far\nmore unthinking respect than in any other country has been paid to the\nauthority of priests, who have declared their supernatural revelation to\nbe the very breath of God, sacrificial rites to be the sole instruments\nof salvation, and themselves the sole mediators between earth and\nheaven; on the other, far greater latitude than in any other country has\nbeen conceded to infidels and atheists who have poured contempt on all\nsacerdotal dogmas, have denied all supernatural revelation, have made no\nsecret of their disbelief in a personal God, and have maintained that\neven if a Supreme Being and a spiritual world exist they are unknowable\nby man and beyond the cognizance of his faculties.\n\nWe learn indeed from certain passages of the Veda (\u1e5aig-veda II. 12. 5;\nVIII. 100. 3, 4) that even in the Vedic age some denied the existence of\nthe god Indra.\n\nWe know, too, that Y\u0101ska, the well-known Vedic commentator, who is\nbelieved to have lived before the grammarian P\u0101\u1e47ini (probably in the\nfourth century B.C.), found himself obliged to refute the sceptical\narguments of Kautsa and others who pronounced the Veda a tissue of\nnonsense (Nirukta I. 15, 16).\n\nAgain, Manu\u2014whose law-book, according to Dr. B\u00fchler, was composed\nbetween the second century B.C. and the second A.D., and, in my opinion,\npossibly earlier\u2014has the following remark directed against sceptics:\u2014\n\n\u2018The twice-born man who depending on rationalistic treatises\n(hetu-\u1e61\u0101stra) contemns the two roots of law (\u1e61ruti and sm\u1e5biti), is to be\nexcommunicated (vahish-k\u0101rya\u1e25) by the righteous as an atheist (n\u0101stika)\nand despiser of the Veda\u2019 (Manu II. 11).\n\nFurthermore, the Mah\u0101-bh\u0101rata, a poem which contains many ancient\nlegends quite as ancient as those of early Buddhism, relates\n(\u1e60\u0101nti-parvan 1410, etc.) the story of the infidel \u0106\u0101rv\u0101ka, who in the\ndisguise of a mendicant Br\u0101hman uttered sentiments dangerously\nheretical.\n\nThis \u0106\u0101rv\u0101ka was the supposed founder of a materialistic school of\nthought called Lok\u0101yata. Rejecting all instruments of knowledge\n(pram\u0101\u1e47a) except perception by the senses (pratyaksha), he affirmed that\nthe soul did not exist separately from the body, and that all the\nphenomena of the world were spontaneously produced.\n\nThe following abbreviation of a passage in the Sarva-dar\u1e61ana-sa\u1e45graha[6]\nwill give some idea of this school\u2019s infidel doctrines, the very name of\nwhich (Lok\u0101yata, \u2018generally current in the world\u2019) is an evidence of the\npopularity they enjoyed:\u2014\n\n  No heaven exists, no final liberation,\n  No soul, no other world, no rites of caste,\n  No recompense for acts; let life be spent,\n  In merriment[7]; let a man borrow money\n  And live at ease and feast on melted butter.\n  How can this body when reduced to dust\n  Revisit earth? and if a ghost can pass\n  To other worlds, why does not strong affection\n  For those he leaves behind attract him back?\n  Oblations, funeral rites, and sacrifices\n  Are a mere means of livelihood devised\n  By sacerdotal cunning\u2014nothing more.\n  The three composers of the triple Veda\n  Were rogues, or evil spirits, or buffoons.\n  The recitation of mysterious words\n  And jabber of the priests is simple nonsense.\n\nThen again, the continued prevalence of sceptical opinions may be shown\nby extracts from other portions of the later literature. For example, in\nthe R\u0101m\u0101ya\u1e47a (II. 108) the infidel Br\u0101hman J\u0101v\u0101li gives utterance to\nsimilar sentiments thus:\u2014\n\n\u2018The books composed by theologians, in which men are enjoined to\nworship, give gifts, offer sacrifice, practise austerities, abandon the\nworld, are mere artifices to draw forth donations. Make up your mind\nthat no one exists hereafter. Have regard only to what is visible and\nperceptible by the senses (pratyaksham). Cast everything beyond this\nbehind your back.\u2019\n\nFurthermore, in a parallel passage from the Vish\u1e47u-pur\u0101\u1e47a, it is\ndeclared that the great Deceiver, practising illusion, beguiled other\ndemon-like beings to embrace many sorts of heresy; some reviling the\nVedas, others the gods, others the ceremonial of sacrifice, and others\nthe Br\u0101hmans[8]. These were called N\u0101stikas.\n\nSuch extracts prove that the worst forms of scepticism prevailed in both\nearly and medi\u00e6val times. But all phases and varieties of heretical\nthought were not equally offensive, and it would certainly be unfair and\nmisleading to place Buddhism and Jainism on the same level with the\nreckless Pyrrhonism of the \u0106\u0101rv\u0101kas who had no code of morality.\n\nAnd indeed it was for this very reason, that when Buddhism and Jainism\nbegan to make their presence felt in the fifth century B.C. they became\nfar more formidable than any other phase of scepticism.\n\nWhether, however, Buddhism or Jainism be entitled to chronological\nprecedence is still an open question, about which opinions may\nreasonably differ. Some hold that they were always quite distinct from\neach other, and were the products of inquiry originated by two\nindependent thinkers, and many scholars now consider that the weight of\nevidence is in favour of Jainism being a little antecedent to Buddhism.\nPossibly the two systems resulted from the splitting up of one sect into\ntwo divisions, just as the two Br\u0101hma-Sam\u0101jes of Calcutta are the\nproduct of the \u0100di-Sam\u0101j.\n\nOne point at least is certain, that notwithstanding much community of\nthought between Buddhism and Jainism, Buddhism ended in gaining for\nitself by far the more important position of the two. For although\nJainism has shown more tenacity of life in India, and has lingered on\nthere till the present day, it never gained any hold on the masses of\nthe population, whereas its rival, Buddhism, radiating from a central\npoint in Hind\u016bst\u0101n, spread itself first over the whole of India and then\nover nearly all Eastern Asia, and has played\u2014as even its most hostile\ncritics must admit\u2014an important r\u00f4le in the history of the world.\n\nTo Buddhism, therefore, we have now to direct our attention, and at the\nvery threshold of our inquiries we are confronted with this difficulty,\nthat its great popularity and its wide diffusion among many peoples have\nmade it most difficult to answer the question:\u2014What is Buddhism? If it\nwere possible to reply to the inquiry in one word, one might perhaps say\nthat true Buddhism, theoretically stated, is Humanitarianism, meaning by\nthat term something very like the gospel of humanity preached by the\nPositivist, whose doctrine is the elevation of man through man\u2014that is,\nthrough human intellect, human intuitions, human teaching, human\nexperiences, and accumulated human efforts\u2014to the highest ideal of\nperfection; and yet something very different. For the Buddhist ideal\ndiffers toto c\u00e6lo from the Positivist\u2019s, and consists in the\nrenunciation of all personal existence, even to the extinction of\nhumanity itself. The Buddhist\u2019s perfection is destruction (p. 123).\n\nBut such a reply would have only reference to the truest and earliest\nform of Buddhism. It would cover a very minute portion of the vast area\nof a subject which, as it grew, became multiform, multilateral, and\nalmost infinite in its ramifications.\n\nInnumerable writers, indeed, during the past thirty years have been\nattracted by the great interest of the inquiry, and have vied with each\nother in their efforts to give a satisfactory account of a system whose\ndevelopments have varied in every country; while lecturers, essayists,\nand the authors of magazine articles are constantly adding their\ncontributions to the mass of floating ideas, and too often propagate\ncrude and erroneous conceptions on a subject, the depths of which they\nhave never thoroughly fathomed.\n\nIt is to be hoped that the annexation of Upper Burma, while giving an\nimpulse to P\u0101li and Buddhistic studies, may help to throw light on some\nobscure points.\n\nCertainly Buddhism continues to be little understood by the great\nmajority of educated persons. Nor can any misunderstanding on such a\nsubject be matter of surprise, when writers of high character colour\ntheir descriptions of it from an examination of one part of the system\nonly, without due regard to its other phases, and in this way either\nexalt it to a far higher position than it deserves, or depreciate it\nunfairly.\n\nAnd Buddhism is a subject which must continue for a long time to present\nthe student with a boundless field of investigation. No one can bring a\nproper capacity of mind to such a study, much less write about it\nclearly, who has not studied the original documents both in P\u0101li and in\nSansk\u1e5bit, after a long course of preparation in the study of Vedism,\nBr\u0101hmanism, and Hind\u016bism. It is a system which resembles these other\nforms of Indian religious thought in the great variety of its aspects.\nStarting from a very simple proposition, which can only be described as\nan exaggerated truism\u2014the truism, I mean, that all life involves sorrow,\nand that all sorrow results from indulging desires which ought to be\nsuppressed\u2014it has branched out into a vast number of complicated and\nself-contradictory propositions and allegations. Its teaching has become\nboth negative and positive, agnostic and gnostic. It passes from\napparent atheism and materialism to theism, polytheism, and\nspiritualism. It is under one aspect mere pessimism; under another pure\nphilanthropy; under another monastic communism; under another high\nmorality; under another a variety of materialistic philosophy; under\nanother simple demonology; under another a mere farrago of\nsuperstitions, including necromancy, witchcraft, idolatry, and\nfetishism. In some form or other it may be held with almost any\nreligion, and embraces something from almost every creed. It is founded\non philosophical Br\u0101hmanism, has much in common with S\u0101\u1e45khya and Ved\u0101nta\nideas, is closely connected with Vaish\u1e47avism, and in some of its phases\nwith both \u1e60aivism and \u1e60\u0101ktism, and yet is, properly speaking, opposed to\nevery one of these systems. It has in its moral code much common ground\nwith Christianity, and in its medi\u00e6val and modern developments presents\nexamples of forms, ceremonies, litanies, monastic communities, and\nhierarchical organizations, scarcely distinguishable from those of Roman\nCatholicism; and yet a greater contrast than that presented by the\nessential doctrines of Buddhism and of Christianity can scarcely be\nimagined. Strangest of all, Buddhism\u2014with no God higher than the perfect\nman\u2014has no pretensions to be called a religion in the true sense of the\nword, and is wholly destitute of the vivifying forces necessary to give\nvitality to the dry bones of its own morality; and yet it once existed\nas a real power over at least a third of the human race, and even at the\npresent moment claims a vast number of adherents in Asia, and not a few\nsympathisers in Europe and America.\n\nEvidently, then, any Orientalist who undertakes to give a clear and\nconcise account of Buddhism in the compass of a few lectures, must find\nhimself engaged in a very venturesome and difficult task.\n\nHappily we are gaining acquaintance with the Southern or purest form of\nBuddhism through editions and translations of the texts of the P\u0101li\nCanon by Fausb\u00f6ll, Childers, Rhys Davids, Oldenberg, Morris, Trenckner,\nL. Feer, etc. We owe much, too, to the works of Turnour, Hardy, Clough,\nGogerly, D\u2019Alwis, Burnouf, Lassen, Spiegel, Weber, Koeppen, Minayeff,\nBigandet, Max M\u00fcller, Kern, Ed. M\u00fcller, E. Kuhn, Pischel, and others.\nThese enable us to form a fair estimate of what Buddhism was in its\nearly days.\n\nBut the case is different when we turn to the Northern Buddhist\nScriptures, written generally in tolerably correct Sansk\u1e5bit (with\nTibetan translations). These continue to be little studied,\nnotwithstanding the materials placed at our command and the good work\ndone, first by the distinguished \u2018founder of the study of Buddhism,\u2019\nBrian Hodgson, and by Burnouf, Wassiljew, Cowell, Senart, Kern, Beal,\nFoucaux, and others. In fact, the moment we pass from the Buddhism of\nIndia, Ceylon, Burma, and Siam, to that of Nep\u0101l, Kashm\u012br, Tibet,\nBhut\u0101n, Sikkim, China, Mongolia, Manchuria, Corea, and Japan, we seem to\nhave entered a labyrinth, the clue of which is continually slipping from\nour hands.\n\nNor is it possible to classify the varying and often conflicting systems\nin these latter countries, under the one general title of Northern\nBuddhism.\n\nFor indeed the changes which religious systems undergo, even in\ncountries adjacent to each other, not unfrequently amount to an entire\nreversal of their whole character. We may illustrate these changes by\nthe variations of words derived from one and the same root in\nneighbouring countries. Take, for example, the German words selig,\n\u2018blessed,\u2019 and knabe, \u2018a boy,\u2019 which in England are represented by\n\u2018silly\u2019 and \u2018knave.\u2019\n\nA similar law appears to hold good in the case of religious ideas. Their\nwhole character seems to change by a change of latitude and longitude.\nThis is even true of Christianity. Can it be maintained, for instance,\nthat the Christianity of modern Greece and Rome has much in common with\nearly Christianity, and would any casual observer believe that the\ninhabitants of St. Petersburg, Berlin, Edinburgh, London, and Paris were\nfollowers of the same religion?\n\nIt cannot therefore surprise us if Buddhism developed into apparently\ncontradictory systems in different countries and under varying climatic\nconditions. In no two countries did it preserve the same features. Even\nin India, the land of its birth, it had greatly changed during the first\nten centuries of its prevalence. So much so that had it been possible\nfor its founder to reappear upon earth in the fifth century after\nChrist, he would have failed to recognize his own child, and would have\nfound that his own teaching had not escaped the operation of a law which\nexperience proves to be universal and inevitable.\n\nIt is easy, therefore, to understand how difficult it will be to give\nany semblance of unity to my present subject. It will be impossible for\nme to treat as a consistent whole a system having a perpetually varying\nfront and no settled form. I can only give a series of somewhat rough,\nthough, I hope, trustworthy outlines, as far as possible in methodical\nsuccession.\n\nAnd in the carrying out of such a design, the three objects that will at\nfirst naturally present themselves for delineation will be three which\nconstitute the well-known triad of early Buddhism\u2014that is to say, the\nBuddha himself, His Law and His Order of Monks.\n\nHence my aim will be, in the first place, to give such a historical\naccount of the Buddha and of his earliest teaching as may be gathered\nfrom his legendary biography, and from the most trustworthy parts of the\nBuddhist canonical scriptures. Secondly, I shall give a brief\ndescription of the origin and composition of those scriptures as\ncontaining the Buddha\u2019s \u2018Law\u2019 (Dharma); and thirdly, I shall endeavour\nto explain the early constitution of the Buddha\u2019s Order of Monks\n(Sa\u1e45gha). After treating of these three preliminary topics, I shall next\ndescribe the Law itself; that is, the philosophical doctrines of\nBuddhism, its code of morality and theory of perfection, terminating in\nNirv\u0101\u1e47a. Lastly, I shall attempt to trace out the confused outlines of\ntheistic, mystical, and hierarchical Buddhism, as developed in Northern\ncountries, adding an account of sacred objects and places, and\ncontrasting the chief doctrines of Christianity. In regard to the\nBuddhism of Tibet, I shall chiefly base my explanations on Koeppen\u2019s\ngreat work\u2014a work never translated into English and now out of print\u2014as\nwell as on my own researches during my travels through the parts of\nIndia bordering on that country.\n\nAnd here I ought to state that my explanations and descriptions will, I\nfear, be wholly deficient in picturesqueness. My simple aim will be to\nconvey clear and correct information in unembellished language; and in\ndoing this, I shall often be compelled to expose myself to the reproach\ncontained in the expressions, _\u0107arvita-\u0107arva\u1e47am_, \u2018chewing the chewed,\u2019\nand _pish\u1e6da-pesha\u1e47am_, \u2018grinding the ground.\u2019 I shall constantly be\nobliged to tread on ground already well trodden.\n\nTo begin, then, with the Buddha himself.\n\n\n\n\n                              LECTURE II.\n                  _The Buddha as a personal Teacher._\n\n\nIt is much to be regretted that among all the sacred books that\nconstitute the Canon of the Southern Buddhists (see p. 61)\u2014the only true\nCanon of Buddhism\u2014there is no trustworthy biography of its Founder.\n\nFor Buddhism is nothing without Buddha, just as Zoroastrianism is\nnothing without Zoroaster, Confucianism nothing without Confucius,\nMuhammadanism nothing without Muhammad, and I may add with all\nreverence, Christianity nothing without Christ.\n\nIndeed, no religion or religious system which has not emanated from some\none heroic central personality, or in other words, which has not had a\nfounder whose strongly marked personal character constituted the very\nlife and soul of his teaching and the chief factor in its effectiveness,\nhas ever had any chance of achieving world-wide acceptance, or ever\nspread far beyond the place of its origin.\n\nHence the barest outline of primitive Buddhism must be incomplete\nwithout some sketch of the life and character of Gautama Buddha himself.\nYet it is difficult to find any sure basis of fact on which we may\nconstruct a fairly credible biography.\n\nIn all likelihood legendary histories of the Founder of Buddhism were\ncurrent in Nep\u0101l and Tibet in the early centuries of our era; but\nunhappily his too enthusiastic and imaginative admirers have thought it\nright to testify their admiration by interweaving with the probable\nfacts of Gautama Buddha\u2019s life, fables so extravagant that some modern\ncritical scholars have despaired of attempting to sift truth from\nfiction, and have even gone to the extreme of doubting that Gautama\nBuddha ever lived at all.\n\nTo believe nothing that has been recorded about him, is as unreasonable\nas to accept with unquestioning faith all the miraculous circumstances\nwhich are made to encircle him as with a halo of divine glory.\n\nWe must bear in mind that when Gautama Buddha lived\u2014about the fifth\ncentury B.C.\u2014the art of writing was not common in India[9]. We may point\nout, too, that in all countries, European as well as Asiatic\u2014notably in\nGreece (witness, for example, the familiar instance of Socrates)\u2014men\nhave thought more of preserving the sayings of their teachers than of\nrecording the facts of their lives.\n\nAnd we must not forget that in India\u2014where the imaginative faculties\nhave always been too active, and anything like real history is\nunknown\u2014any plain matter-of-fact biography of the most heroic personage\nwould have few charms for any one, and little chance of gaining\nacceptance anywhere.\n\nHence it has happened that the ballads (g\u0101th\u0101) and legends current about\nGautama among Northern Buddhists, bristle with the wildest fancies and\nthe most absurd exaggerations.\n\nYet it is not impossible to detect a few scattered historical facts\nbeneath stories, however childish, and legends, however extravagant. We\nshall not at least be far wrong, if, in attempting an outline of the\nBuddha\u2019s life, we begin by asserting that intense individuality, fervid\nearnestness, and severe simplicity of character, combined with singular\nbeauty of countenance, calm dignity of bearing, and above all, almost\nsuperhuman persuasiveness of speech, were conspicuous in the great\nTeacher.\n\nThe earliest authorities, however, never claim for him anything\nextraordinary or superhuman in regard to external form. It was only in\nlater times that Buddhist writers pandered to the superstitions of the\npeople, by describing the Buddha as possessed of various miraculous\ncharacteristics of mind and body. He is said to have been of immense\nstature\u2014according to some, eighteen feet high\u2014and to have had on his\nbody thirty-two chief auspicious marks (mah\u0101-vya\u00f1jana), regarded as\nindications of a Supreme Lord and Universal Ruler, eighty secondary\nmarks (anu-vya\u00f1jana), besides one hundred and eight symbols on the sole\nof each foot, and a halo extending for six feet round his person.\n\nAll that can be said with any degree of probability about his personal\nappearance is, that he was endowed with certain qualities, which acted\nlike a spell, or with a kind of irresistible magnetism, on his hearers.\nThese must have formed, so to speak, the foundation-stone on which the\nsuperstructure of his vast influence rested.\n\n[Illustration: SACRED LAND OF BUDDHISM, AND SCENE OF THE BUDDHA\u2019S\nITINERATION AND PREACHING FOR FORTY-FIVE YEARS.]\n\nUnhappily, no authoritative Buddhist scripture gives any trustworthy\nclue to the exact year of the Buddha\u2019s birth. The traditions which refer\nback his _death_ to a date corresponding to 543 B.C. are now rejected by\nmodern European scholars. Nor can we as yet accept as infallible the\nresults of the latest researches, which making use of various other\ndata, such as the inscriptions on coins, rocks, and columns, place his\ndeath more than a century later. We shall not, however, be far wrong if\nwe assert that he was born about the year 500 B.C. at Kapila-vastu (now\nBh\u016bila)\u2014a town situated about half-way between Bast\u012b and Aj\u016bdhy\u0101\n(Ayodhy\u0101) in the territory of Kosala (the modern Oudh, see pp. 29, 48),\nabout sixty miles from its capital city \u1e60r\u0101vasti (a favourite residence\nof Gautama), and about one hundred miles[10] north-west of Benares, and\nnear the borders of the kingdom of Magadha (now Beh\u0101r).\n\nHis father, named \u1e60uddhodana, was a land-owner of the tribe of the\n\u1e60\u0101kyas (a name possibly connected with the Sansk\u1e5bit root \u1e60ak, \u2018to be\npowerful\u2019), whose territory in the Gorakh-pur district extended from the\nlower Nepalese mountains to the river Rapt\u012b in Oudh. It has been\nconjectured that the \u1e60\u0101kyas may have been originally a non-\u0100ryan tribe,\nconnected perhaps with certain nomad immigrants from Tibet or Northern\nAsia, who may have immigrated into India at various periods; but even if\nthis could be proved, it would have to be admitted that the \u1e60\u0101kyas had\nbecome \u0100ryanized. It is said that the chief families claimed to be\nR\u0101jputs, tracing back their origin to Ikshv\u0101ku, the first of the Solar\nrace. It appears, too, that though belonging to the Kshatriya caste,\nthey were agriculturists, and mainly engaged in the cultivation of rice.\nIt is also asserted that \u1e60\u0101kya families were in the habit of taking the\nname of the family of the Br\u0101hmans who were their spiritual guides and\nperformed religious offices for them, and that the family of \u1e60uddhodana\ntook the name Gautama, that is, descendant of the sage Gotama. It does\nnot, however, seem necessary to account for the name in this manner. It\nwas an auspicious name, which in ancient times might have been given to\nthe child of any great land-owner as a proof of orthodoxy, or with the\nview, perhaps, of pleasing the Br\u0101hmans and securing their prayers and\ngood wishes on its behalf.\n\nThe father of the Founder of Buddhism was simply a chief of the \u1e60\u0101kya\ntribe\u2014certainly not a king in our sense of the term\u2014but rather a great\nZam\u012bnd\u0101r or landlord, whose territory was not so large in area as\nYorkshire. His name \u1e60uddhodana, \u2018one possessed of pure rice,\u2019 probably\nindicated the occupation and ordinary food of the peasantry inhabiting\nthe district belonging to him and subject to his authority. Those who\nhave travelled much in India must often have met great land-owners of\nthe \u1e60uddhodana type\u2014men to whom the title Mah\u0101-r\u0101ja is given much as\n\u2018Lord\u2019 is to our aristocracy. For example, the Mah\u0101-r\u0101ja of Darbhanga is\nprobably a more important personage than Gautama\u2019s father ever was, and\nhis territory larger than that of \u1e60uddhodana ever was.\n\nThe name Gautama (in P\u0101li spelt Gotama) was the personal name\ncorresponding to that given to all children at the name-giving ceremony.\nIt was not till his supposed attainment of perfect wisdom that Gautama\nassumed the title of Buddha, or \u2018the enlightened one.\u2019 But from that\ntime forward this became his recognized title. Every other name besides\nGautama (or Gotama), and every other title except Buddha (or together,\nGautama Buddha), are simply epithets; for example, \u1e60\u0101kya-muni, \u2018sage of\nthe tribe of the \u1e60\u0101kyas;\u2019 \u1e60\u0101kya-si\u1e49ha, \u2018lion of the \u1e60\u0101kyas;\u2019 \u1e60rama\u1e47a\n(Samano), \u2018the ascetic;\u2019 Siddh\u0101rtha, \u2018one who has fulfilled the object\n(of his coming);\u2019 Sugata, \u2018whose coming is auspicious;\u2019 Tath\u0101gata, \u2018who\ncomes and goes as his predecessors;\u2019 Bhagav\u0101n (Bhagav\u0101), \u2018the blessed\nlord;\u2019 \u1e60\u0101st\u0101 (Satth\u0101), \u2018the Teacher;\u2019 A\u1e61ara\u1e47a-\u1e61ara\u1e47a, \u2018Refuge of the\nrefugeless;\u2019 \u0100ditya-bandhu, \u2018Kinsman of the Sun;\u2019 Jina, \u2018conqueror;\u2019\nMah\u0101-v\u012bra, \u2018great hero;\u2019 Mah\u0101-purusha, \u2018great man;\u2019 \u0106akravart\u012b,\n\u2018universal monarch.\u2019 Devout Buddhists call him \u2018Lord of the World,\u2019 \u2018the\nLord,\u2019 \u2018World-honoured One,\u2019 \u2018King of the Law,\u2019 \u2018the Jewel,\u2019 etc.; and\nprefer to use the titles rather than the personal name Gautama, which is\nthought too familiar.\n\nThe names of previous Buddhas, supposed to have existed in previous\nages, are given at p. 136.\n\nLittle of the story of the miraculous birth of Buddha is worthy of\nrepetition. Since, however, a white elephant is reckoned among the\nsacred objects of Buddhism, as something rare and precious, it is worth\nwhile mentioning the fable, that when the time came for the Bodhi-sattva\nto leave the Tushita heaven (p. 120) and be born on earth as Gautama\nBuddha, he descended into the womb of his mother in the form of a white\nelephant. He was born under a \u1e60\u0101l tree and the god Brahm\u0101 received him\nfrom his mother\u2019s side. His mother, M\u0101y\u0101, died seven days afterwards,\nand the infant was committed to her sister (Mah\u0101-praj\u0101pat\u012b), a second\nwife of \u1e60uddhodana.\n\nIt is not related of Gautama that, as he grew up, any efforts were made\nto imbue him with sacred learning; though, as a Kshatriya, he was\nprivileged to receive instruction in certain portions of the Veda.\n\nNor are we told of him that as a Kshatriya he was trained to the\nprofession of a soldier. It is more probable, that his love of\ncontemplation developed itself very early, and that from a desire to\nhumour this not uncommon Oriental propensity, he was allowed to pass\nmost of his time in the open air.\n\nThere is a well-known legend, which relates how Gautama\u2019s relations came\nin a body to his father and complained that the youth\u2019s deficiency in\nmartial and athletic exercises would incapacitate him, on reaching\nmanhood, from taking part in warlike expeditions. This might be reckoned\namong the few trustworthy historical incidents, were the story not\nmarred by the legendary addition, that on a day of trial being fixed,\nthe youth, without any previous practice, and of course to the surprise\nof all present, proved his superiority in archery and in \u2018the twelve\narts.\u2019\n\nOne statement may certainly be accepted without much qualification. It\nis said that Gautama was made to marry early, according to the universal\ncustom throughout India in the present day. No son of any respectable\nperson in modern times could remain unmarried at the age of sixteen or\nseventeen, without, so to speak, tarnishing the family escutcheon, and\nexposing the youth himself to a serious social stigma, likely to cling\nto him in after-life. In ancient times marriage was equally universal,\nand there is no reason to suppose that among Kshatriyas it was delayed\nto a much later period of life.\n\nNo doubt, therefore, the future Buddha had at least one wife (whose name\nwas Ya\u1e61odhar\u0101, though often called R\u0101hula-m\u0101t\u0101, \u2018R\u0101hula\u2019s mother\u2019), and\nprobably at least one son, named R\u0101hula. It is said that this son was\nnot born till his father was twenty-nine years of age, or not till the\ntime when a sense of the vanity of all human aims, and a resolution to\nabandon all worldly ties, and a longing to enter upon a monastic life\nhad begun to take possession of his father\u2019s mind.\n\nThe story of the four visions, which led to his final renunciation of\nthe world, is profusely overlaid with fanciful hyperbole, but, however\nslight the basis of fact on which it may reasonably be held to rest, it\nis too picturesque and interesting to be passed over without notice. I\ntherefore here abridge the account given in Mr. Beal\u2019s translation of\nthe Chinese version of the Abhi-nishkrama\u1e47a-s\u016btra, varying (for the sake\nof brevity) the phraseology, but retaining the expression \u2018prince\u2019:\u2014\n\nOne day the prince Gautama resolved to visit the gardens in the\nneighbourhood of his father\u2019s city, desiring to examine the beautiful\ntrees and flowers.\n\nThen there appeared before his eyes in one of the streets the form of a\ndecrepid[**decrepit] old man, his skin shrivelled, his head bald, his\nteeth gone, his body infirm and bent. A staff supported his tottering\nlimbs, as he stood right across the path of the prince\u2019s advancing\nchariot.\n\nSeeing this aged person, Siddh\u0101rtha inquired of his charioteer:\u2014\u2018What\nhuman form is this, so miserable and so distressing, the like of which I\nhave never seen before?\u2019\n\nThe charioteer replied:\u2014\u2018This is what is called an old man.\u2019\n\nThe prince again inquired:\u2014\u2018And what is the exact meaning of this\nexpression \u201cold\u201d?\u2019\n\nThe charioteer answered:\u2014\u2018Old age implies the loss of bodily power,\ndecay of the vital functions, and failure of mind and memory. This poor\nman before you is old and approaching his end.\u2019\n\nThen asked the prince:\u2014\u2018Is this law universal?\u2019\n\n\u2018Yes,\u2019 he replied, \u2018this is the common lot of all living creatures. All\nthat is born must die.\u2019\n\nSoon afterwards another strange sight presented itself\u2014a sick man, worn\nby disease and suffering, pale and miserable, scarcely able to draw his\nbreath, was seen tottering on the road.\n\nThen the prince inquired of his charioteer:\u2014\u2018Who is this unhappy being?\u2019\n\nThe charioteer replied:\u2014\u2018This is a sick man, and such sickness is common\nto all.\u2019\n\nSoon afterwards there passed before them a corpse, borne on a bier.\n\nThen asked the prince:\u2014\u2018Who is this borne onwards on his bed, covered\nwith strangely-coloured garments, surrounded by people weeping and\nlamenting?\u2019\n\n\u2018This,\u2019 replied the charioteer, \u2018is called a dead body; he has ended his\nlife; he has no further beauty of form, and no desires of any kind; he\nis one with the stones and the felled tree; he is like a ruined wall, or\nfallen leaf; no more shall he see his father or mother, brother or\nsister, or other relatives; his body is dead, and your body also must\ncome to this.\u2019\n\nNext day on his going out by a different gate there appeared advancing\nwith measured steps a man with a shaven crown, and monk\u2019s robe\u2014his right\nshoulder bare, a religious staff in his right hand, and a mendicant\u2019s\nalms-bowl in his left.\n\n\u2018Who is this,\u2019 the prince inquired, \u2018proceeding with slow and dignified\nsteps, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left, absorbed in\nthought, with shaven head and garments of reddish colour?\u2019\n\n\u2018This man,\u2019 said the charioteer, \u2018devotes himself to charity, and\nrestrains his appetites and his bodily desires. He hurts nobody, but\ndoes good to all, and is full of sympathy for all.\u2019\n\nThen the prince asked the man himself to give an account of his own\ncondition.\n\nHe answered:\u2014\u2018I am called a homeless ascetic; I have forsaken the world,\nrelatives, and friends; I seek deliverance for myself and desire the\nsalvation of all creatures, and I do harm to none.\u2019\n\nAfter hearing these words, the prince went to his father and said, \u2018I\nwish to become a wandering ascetic (parivr\u0101jika) and to seek Nirv\u0101na;\nall worldly things, O king! are changeable and transitory.\u2019\n\nSuch is an epitome of the legendary story of the \u2018four visionary\nappearances,\u2019 so called because they are supposed to have been divine\nvisions or appearances, miraculously produced. The remainder of the\nlegendary life of Gautama Buddha is interesting and here and there not\nwithout some historical value, and portions of it I now add in an\nabridged form.\n\nVery shortly after the occurrences just described, Gautama receives\nintelligence of the birth of his son R\u0101hula. This is the first momentous\ncrisis of his life, and Gautama remains for a long time lost in profound\nthought. He sees in his child the strongest of all fetters, binding him\nto family and home. But his mind is made up. He must fly at once, or be\nfor ever held in bondage. Around him gather the beautiful women of his\nfather\u2019s household, striving by their blandishments to divert him from\nhis purpose; but in vain. He seeks the chamber of his wife, and finds\nher asleep with her hand on the head of his infant son. He longs for a\nlast embrace; but fearing to arouse her suspicions hurries away.\nOutside, his favourite horse is waiting to aid his flight. He\naccomplishes the first stage of what Buddhists call with pride the\nMah\u0101bhinishkrama\u1e47a, \u2018the great going forth from home;\u2019 but not without\novercoming other still more formidable trials. For M\u0101ra, the evil deity\nwho tempts men to indulge their passions (see p. 120), makes himself\nvisible, and promises the prince all the glories of empire if he will\nreturn to the pleasures of worldly life.\n\nFinding all his allurements disregarded, M\u0101ra alters his method of\nattack; he fills the air with mighty thunderings, and creates on the\nroad before the youthful fugitive\u2019s eyes apparitions of torrents, lofty\nmountains, and blazing conflagrations. But nothing alarms or deters him.\n\u2018I would rather,\u2019 he exclaims, \u2018be torn to pieces limb by limb, or be\nburnt in a fiery furnace, or be ground to pieces by a falling mountain\nthan forego my fixed purpose for one single instant.\u2019\n\nArrived at a safe distance from his father\u2019s territory, he exchanges\ngarments with a passing beggar, cuts off his own hair with a sword, and\nassumes the outward aspect and character of a wandering ascetic. The\nhair does not fall to the ground but is taken up to the Trayastri\u1e49\u1e61as\nheaven (p. 120), and worshipped by the gods.\n\nHis first halting-place is R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha (now R\u0101j-g\u012br), the chief city of\nMagadha, which, with Kosala (Oudh, pp. 21, 48), afterwards became the\nholy land of Buddhism. There he attaches himself as a disciple to two\nBr\u0101hmans named \u0100\u1e37\u0101ra (in Sansk\u1e5bit \u0100r\u0101\u1e0da, with epithet K\u0101l\u0101pa or K\u0101l\u0101ma)\nand Uddaka (Udraka, also written Rudraka, and called R\u0101ma-putta,\nMah\u0101-vagga I. 6. 3), who imbue him with their own philosophical tenets\nand theory of salvation. Sufficient evidence exists to warrant a belief\nin this part of the story.\n\nNo place in India abounds in more interesting Buddhistic remains than\nR\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha (about 40 miles south-east of Patn\u0101), proving that it was one\nof the most sacred places of Buddhism, consecrated by some of its most\ncherished associations. Its P\u0101li name is R\u0101ja-gaha. It may be\nconjectured that the connexion between the metaphysics of Buddhism and\nthose of Br\u0101hmanism was due to Gautama\u2019s intercourse with the Br\u0101hmans\nof this district, and to the ideas he thus imbibed at the earliest stage\nof his career.\n\nBut to resume our story. Gautama fails to find in Br\u0101hmanical philosophy\nthat rest and peace for which his soul was craving when he left his\nhome.\n\nStill there was another way of emancipation and union with the Universal\nSoul, taught by the Br\u0101hmans. This was the way of Tapas[11], or\nself-inflicted bodily pain and austerity.\n\nFrom the earliest times a favourite doctrine of Br\u0101hmanism has been,\nthat self-inflicted bodily suffering is before all things efficacious\nfor the accumulation of religious merit, for the acquirement of\nsupernatural powers, and for the spirit\u2019s release from the bondage of\ntransmigration and its re-absorption into the One Universal Spirit.\n\nAmong other forms of self-inflicted pain, religious devotees (Tapasv\u012bs)\nsometimes went through the process of sitting all day long unmoved\nduring the hottest months on a prepared platform or plot of ground,\nsurrounded by five fires, or by four blazing fires, with the burning sun\nabove their heads as a fifth[12]. Even gods (and notably \u1e60iva) are\ndescribed as mortifying themselves by bodily austerities (_tapas_), so\nas not to be outdone by men; for according to the theory of Hind\u016bism,\nthe gods themselves might be supplanted and even ousted from their rank\nand position as divinities by the omnipotence acquirable by human\ndevotees through a protracted endurance of severe bodily suffering.\n\nHence we are not surprised to find it recorded of Gautama Buddha, that\nseeking in vain for rest in the teaching of Br\u0101hmanical philosophy, and\neager to try the effect of a course of self-mortification, he wandered\nforth from R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha to a wood in the district of Gay\u0101, called Uruvilv\u0101\n(or Uruvel\u0101).\n\nThere, in company with five other ascetics, he began his celebrated\nsexennial fast. Sitting down with his legs folded under him on a raised\nseat in a place unsheltered from sun, wind, rain, dew, and cold, he\ngradually reduced his daily allowance of food to a single grain of rice.\nThen holding his breath, he harassed and macerated his body, but all in\nvain. No peace of mind came, and no divine enlightenment. He became\nconvinced of his own folly in resorting to bodily austerity as a means\nof attaining supreme enlightenment, and delivering himself from the\nevils and sufferings of life.\n\nRousing himself, as if from a troubled dream, he took food and\nnourishment in a natural way, thereby incurring the temporary\ndisapproval of his five companions in self-mortification. Then, when\nsufficiently refreshed, he moved away to another spot in the same\ndistrict. There, under the shelter of a sacred fig-tree (A\u1e61vattha,\n_Ficus religiosa_, known as the Pippala or P\u012bpal), in a village,\nafterwards called Buddha-Gay\u0101, he gave himself up to higher and higher\nforms of meditation (Jh\u0101na = Dhy\u0101na). In this he merely conformed to the\nHind\u016b Yoga,\u2014a method of attaining mystic union with the Deity, which\nalthough not then formulated into a system, was already in vogue among\nthe Br\u0101hmans. There can be little doubt that the Dh\u0101ra\u1e47\u0101, Dhy\u0101na (see p.\n209), and Sam\u0101dhi of the Yoga were resorted to, even in Gautama\u2019s time,\nas a means for the attainment of perfect spiritual illumination, as well\nas of final absorption in the Deity.\n\nIn Manu VI. 72 it is said:\u2014\u2018Let him purge himself from all taints\n(dosh\u0101n) by suppression of breath, from sin by restraints of thought\n(dh\u0101ra\u1e47\u0101bhi\u1e25), from sensual attachments by control, and from unspiritual\nqualities by meditation (dhy\u0101nena).\u2019\n\nIn the later work called Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101 (see p. 95 of this volume) it is\ndeclared:\u2014\u2018holding his body, head, and neck quite immovable, seated on a\nfirm seat in a pure spot with Ku\u1e61a grass around, the devotee (Yog\u012b)\nshould look only at the tip of his nose, and should meditate on the\nSupreme Being\u2019 (VI. 11, 12). Further on he is directed to meditate so\nprofoundly as to think about nothing whatever (VI. 25).\n\nThe very G\u0101yatr\u012b or ancient Vedic prayer (\u1e5aig-veda III. 62. 10, see p.\n78 of this volume)\u2014which is to Hind\u016bs what the Lord\u2019s Prayer is to\nChristians, and is still repeated by millions of our Indian\nfellow-subjects at their daily devotions\u2014was originally an act of\nmeditation, performed with the very object Gautama had in view\u2014supreme\nenlightenment of mind:\u2014\u2018Let us meditate (Dh\u012bmahi, root _dhyai_) on the\nexcellent glory of the divine vivifying Sun, may he enlighten our\nunderstandings.\u2019 Even the selection of a seat under an A\u1e61vattha tree was\nin keeping with Br\u0101hmanical ideas (see \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p.\n335).\n\nThe first result, however, of his engaging in abstract meditation, was\nthat he seemed to himself to be as far as ever from the emancipation\nwhich was the one aim of his great renunciation. Why not then return to\nthe world? Why not indulge again in the pleasures of sense? Why not go\nback to home, wife, and child? Thoughts of this kind passed through his\nmind, while all his old affections and feelings seemed to revive with\ntenfold intensity. Then on one particular night, during this mental\nstruggle, M\u0101ra, the Destroyer and personification of carnal desire,\nseized his opportunity. The spirit of evil had bided his time; had\nwaited to assail the sage at the right moment, when protracted\nself-mortification had done its work\u2014when with exhausted strength he had\nlittle power of resistance.\n\nIt is certainly remarkable that a great struggle between good and evil,\nright and wrong, truth and error, knowledge and ignorance, light and\ndarkness, is recognized in all religious systems, however false. (See a\nnotable allusion to this in \u1e60a\u1e45kara\u2019s Commentary to \u0106h\u0101ndogya Upanishad,\np. 26, ll. 2-8.)\n\nThe legendary description of the Buddha\u2019s temptation, and of the assault\nmade upon him by M\u0101ra (the deadly spirit of sensuous desire[13]), and by\nall his troop of attendants, is so interesting and curious,\nnotwithstanding its extravagance, that I here abridge it:\u2014\n\nFiends and demons swarmed about him in the form of awful monsters,\nfuries, vampires, hobgoblins, armed to the teeth with every implement of\ndestruction. Their million faces were frightful to behold, their limbs\nencircled by myriads of serpents, their heads enveloped in a blaze of\nfire. They surrounded the saint and assailed him in a thousand different\nways. Missiles of all kinds were hurled against him; poison and fire\nwere showered over him\u2014but the poison changed into flowers, the fire\nformed a halo round his head.\n\nThe baffled evil one now shifted his ground. He summoned his sixteen\nenchanting daughters, and sent them to display their charms in the\npresence of the youthful saint. But the resolute young ascetic was not\nto be lured by their wiles. He remained calm and impassive, and with a\nstern face rebuked the maidens for their boldness, forcing them to\nretire discomfited and disgraced.\n\nOther forms of temptation followed, and the debilitated ascetic\u2019s\nstrength seemed to be giving way. But this was merely the crisis. After\nrising to higher and higher stages of abstract meditation at the end of\na long night he shook off his foe. The victory was won, and the light of\ntrue knowledge broke upon his mind. A legend relates that in the first\nnight-watch he gained a knowledge of all his previous existences; in the\nsecond\u2014of all present states of being; in the third\u2014of the chain of\ncauses and effects (p. 102); and at the dawn of day he knew all things.\n\nThe dawn on which this remarkable struggle terminated was the birthday\nof Buddhism. Gautama was at that time about thirty-five years of age. It\nwas then, and not till then, that his Bodhi-sattvaship (see p. 135)\nended and he gained a right to the title Buddha, \u2018the Enlightened.\u2019 No\nwonder that the tree under which he sat became celebrated as \u2018the tree\nof knowledge and enlightenment.\u2019 It is remarkable, too, that just as the\nnight on which the Buddha attained perfect enlightenment is the most\nsacred night with Buddhists, so the Bodhi-tree (in familiar language,\nBo-tree) is their most sacred symbol\u2014a symbol as dear to Buddhists as\nthe Cross is to Christians.\n\nAnd what was this true knowledge, evolved out of a mind sublimated by\nintense meditation?\n\nThis is, perhaps, the strangest point of all in this strange story. It\nwas after all a mere partial one-sided truth\u2014the outcome of a single\nline of thought, dwelt upon with morbid intensity, to the exclusion of\nevery other line of thought which might have modified and balanced it.\nIt was an ultra-pessimistic view of the miseries of life, and a\ndetermination to ignore all its counterbalancing joys. It was the\ndoctrine that this present life is only one link in a chain of countless\ntransmigrations\u2014that existence of all kinds involves suffering, and that\nsuch suffering can only be got rid of by self-restraint and the\nextinction of desires, especially of the desire for continuity of\npersonal existence.\n\nFor let it be made clear at the outset, that whatever may be said of the\nChristian-like self-renunciation enjoined by the Buddhist code of\nmorality, the only self it aims at renouncing is the self of\npersonality, and the chief self-love it deprecates is the self-love\nwhich consists in craving for continuous individual life.\n\nTo those who have never travelled or resided much in the East,\nindulgence in such a morbid form of pessimism, under glowing skies and\namid bright surroundings, may seem almost an impossibility. But those\nwho know India by personal experience are aware that its climate is not\nconducive to optimistic views of life, and that even in the present day\nmen of the Buddha type, who seek in various ways to impress their\npessimistic theories of existence on their fellow-men, are not uncommon.\n\nIn the course of my travels I frequently met ascetics who had given up\nfamily and friends, and were leading a life of morose seclusion, and\npretended meditation, undergoing long courses of bodily mortification.\nNay, I have even seen men who, to prove their utter contempt for the\npleasures of worldly existence, and to render themselves fit for the\nextinction of all personality by absorption into the Universal Soul,\nhave sat in one posture, or held up one arm for years, or allowed\nthemselves no bed but a bed of spikes, no shelter but the foliage of\ntrees[14]. Gautama\u2019s course of protracted cogitation therefore had in it\nnothing peculiar or original.\n\nNor need we doubt that certain historical facts underlie the legendary\nnarrative. We cannot admit with the learned Senart and Kern that the\nlife of Gautama was based on a mere solar myth. To us it is more\ndifficult not to believe than to believe that there lived in the fifth\ncentury B.C. the youthful son of a petty R\u0101ja or land-owner in Oudh,\ndistinguished from ordinary men by many remarkable qualities of mind and\nbody\u2014notably by a thoughtful and contemplative disposition; that he\nbecame impressed with a sense of the vanity of all earthly aims, and of\nthe suffering caused by disease and death; that he often said to\nhimself, \u2018Life is but a troubled dream, an incubus, a nightmare,\u2019 or,\nlike the Jewish sage of old, \u2018All the days of man are sorrow,\u2019 \u2018Man\nwalketh in a vain shadow and disquieteth himself in vain;\u2019 and that like\nmany other of the world\u2019s philosophers, instead of acquiescing in the\nstate of things around him, and striving to make the best of them, or to\nimprove them, he took refuge from the troubles of life in abandoning all\nits ties, renouncing all its joys, and suppressing all its affections\nand desires.\n\nAnd again, it is more difficult not to believe than to believe that in\nsuch a man introspection and abstinence, protracted for many years,\ninduced a condition of mind favourable to ecstatic visions, which were\neasily mistaken for flashes of inner enlightenment.\n\nWe know, indeed, that eleven centuries later another great thinker arose\namong the Semitic races in Western Asia, who went through the same kind\nof mental struggle, and that Muhammad, like Gautama, having by his long\nfasts and austerities brought himself into a highly wrought condition of\nthe nervous system, became a fanatical believer in the reality of his\nown delusions and in his own divine commission as a teacher.\n\nBut the parallel between the Buddha and Muhammad cannot be carried on\nmuch further. And indeed, in point of fact, no two characters could be\nmore different. For the Buddha never claimed to be the channel of a\nsupernatural revelation; never represented the knowledge that burst on\nhis mind as springing from any but an internal source; never taught that\na divine force operating from without compelled him to communicate that\nknowledge to mankind; never dreamed of propagating that knowledge to\nothers by compulsion, much less by the sword. On the contrary, he always\nmaintained that the only revelation he had received was an illumination\nfrom within\u2014due entirety to his own intuitions, assisted by his\nreasoning powers and by severe purgatorial discipline protracted through\ncountless previous births in every variety of bodily form.\n\nBut how did this internal self-enlightenment[15]\u2014the great\ndistinguishing feature of Buddhism\u2014first find expression? It is said\nthat the first words uttered by the Buddha at the momentous crisis when\ntrue knowledge burst upon him, were to the following effect:\u2014\n\n\u2018Through countless births have I wandered, seeking but not discovering\n(anibbisan) the maker of this my mortal dwelling-house (gaha-k\u0101raka),\nand still again and again have birth and life and pain returned. But now\nat length art thou discovered, thou builder of this house (of flesh). No\nlonger shalt thou rear a house for me. Rafters and beams are shattered\nand with destruction of Desire (Ta\u1e49h\u0101) deliverance from repeated life is\ngained at last\u2019 (Dhamma-pada 153, 154, Suma\u1e45gala 46).\n\nContrast with these first utterances of Gautama Buddha the first words\nof Jesus Christ:\u2014\n\n\u2018Wist ye not that I must be about My Father\u2019s business?\u2019 (St. Luke ii.\n49.)\n\nThe Buddha\u2019s first exclamations, as well as the account of his\nsubsequent sayings and doings, are the more worthy of credit as taken\nfrom the Southern Canon.\n\nThe Mah\u0101-vagga (I. 1) tells us that after attaining complete\nintelligence, the Buddha sat cross-legged on the ground under the\nBodhi-tree for seven days, absorbed in meditation and enjoying the bliss\nof enlightenment. At the end of that period, during the first three\nwatches of the night, he fixed his mind on the causes of existence. Then\nhaving thought out the law of causation (p. 102), he exclaimed: \u2018When\nthe laws of being become manifest to the earnest thinker, his doubts\nvanish, and, like the Sun, he dispels the hosts of M\u0101ra.\u2019\n\nNext he meditated for another seven days under a banyan tree, called the\ntree of goat-herds (aja-p\u0101la). It was there that a haughty Br\u0101hman\naccosted him with the question, \u2018Who is a true Br\u0101hman?\u2019 and was told,\n\u2018One free from evil and pride; self-restrained, learned, and pure.\u2019\n\nThen he meditated under another tree for a third period of seven days.\nThere the serpent (N\u0101ga) Mu\u0107alinda (or Mu\u0107ilinda) coiled his body round\nthe Buddha, and formed a canopy to protect him from the raging of a\nstorm\u2014this being one of the trials he had to go through. When it was\nover the Buddha exclaimed, \u2018Happy is the seclusion of the satisfied man\n(tush\u1e6da) who has learned and seen the truth.\u2019\n\nA fourth period of meditation was passed under the tree R\u0101j\u0101yatana,\nmaking four times seven days. May not these symbolize the four stages of\nmeditation (p. 209)? Later legends, however, reckon seven times seven\ndays.\n\nDuring the whole of the interval between the first acquisition of\nknowledge and the setting forth to proclaim it, the Buddha fasted, being\ntoo elated to seek food, and only once receiving it from two merchants,\nnamed Tapussa (Trapusha) and Bhallika. These became his first\nlay-reverers (p. 89) by repeating the _double_ formula of reverence for\nthe Buddha and for his doctrine (the Sa\u1e45gha not being then instituted,\nMah\u0101-v\u00b0 I. 4. 5). A later legend relates that they received in return\neight of his hairs which they preserved as relics.\n\nIn connexion with the legend of a forty-nine days\u2019 fast, I may mention\nthat an ancient carving of Gautama was pointed out to me at Buddha-Gay\u0101,\nwhich represents him as holding a bowl of rice-milk divided into\nforty-nine portions, one for each day.\n\nWith these legends we may contrast the simple Gospel narrative of\nChrist\u2019s forty days\u2019 fast in the wilderness.\n\nThe Buddha\u2019s first resolution to come forth from his seclusion and\nproclaim his gospel to mankind is of course a great epoch with all\nBuddhists.\n\nAnd here it should be observed, that, strictly, according to Gautama\u2019s\nown teaching he ought to have ceased from all action on arriving at\nperfect enlightenment. For had he not attained the great object of his\nambition\u2014the end of all his struggles\u2014the goal of all his\nefforts\u2014carried on through hundreds of existences? He had, therefore, no\nmore lives to lead, no more misery to undergo. In short he had achieved\nthe summum bonum of all true Buddhists\u2014the extinction of the fires of\npassions and desires\u2014and had only to enjoy the well-earned peace\n(nirv\u1e5biti) of complete Nirv\u0101\u1e47a. Yet the love of his fellow-men impelled\nhim to action (prav\u1e5bitti). In fact it was characteristic of a supreme\nBuddha that he should belie, by his own activity and compassionate\nfeelings, the utter apathy and indifference to which his own doctrines\nlogically led (p. 128).\n\nBut he did not carry out his benevolent design without going through\nanother course of temptation (which it is usual to compare with the\ntemptation of Christ). Evil thoughts arose in his mind, and these were\nsuggested, according to later legends, by M\u0101ra (p. 33), thus:\u2014\u2018With\ngreat pains, blessed one, hast thou acquired this doctrine (dharma). Why\nproclaim it? Beings lost in desires and lusts will not understand it.\nRemain in quietude. Enjoy Nirv\u0101\u1e47a\u2019 (Mah\u0101-v\u00b0 I. 5. 3).\n\nTo counteract these malevolent suggestions, the god Brahm\u0101 Sah\u0101mpati\n(P\u0101li Sah\u0103mpati, p. 210) presented himself and exclaimed:\u2014\u2018Arise, O\nspotless one, open the gate of Nirv\u0101\u1e47a. Arise, look down on the world\nlost in suffering. Arise, wander forth, preach the doctrine.\u2019\n\nFirst the Buddha thought of his two teachers, \u0100\u1e37\u0101ra and Uddaka (p. 29),\nbut found they were dead. Next he thought of the five ascetics whom he\nhad offended by his abandonment of the method of gaining true knowledge\nthrough painful austerities. They were at that time prosecuting their\nbodily mortifications at Benares in the Deer-park called Isipatana. It\nwas only natural that the Buddha should think of wending his way in the\nfirst instance to Benares, even if special considerations had not drawn\nhim there; for that city was the great centre of Eastern thought and\nlife, the Indian Athens, where all peculiar doctrines were most likely\nto gain a hearing.\n\nOn his way thither, Upaka, a member of the \u0100j\u012bvaka sect of naked\nascetics, met him and inquired why his countenance was so bright\n(pari\u1e61uddha)? He replied, \u2018I am the all-subduer, the all-wise, the\nstainless, the highest teacher, the conqueror (p. 135); I go to Benares\nto dissipate the world\u2019s darkness\u2019 (Mah\u0101-vagga I. 6. 7).\n\nThe five ascetics (Kau\u1e47\u1e0dinya = Ko\u1e47\u1e0da\u00f1\u00f1o, A\u1e61vajit = Assaji, V\u0101shpa,\nMah\u0101n\u0101ma, and Bhadrika) were soon converted by his words, and by merely\nrepeating the triple formula were admitted at once to his Order of\nmonks. They constituted, with Gautama, the first six members of the\nSa\u1e45gha, or fraternity of men seeking release from the misery of\nexistence by c\u0153nobitic monasticism.\n\nAnd of what nature were Gautama Buddha\u2019s first didactic utterances? His\nfirst sermon, delivered in the Deer-park at Benares, is held in as much\nreverence by Buddhists as the first words of Christ are by Christians.\nIt is called Dhamma-\u0107akka-ppavattana-sutta, or in Sansk\u1e5bit\nDharma-\u0107akra-pravartana-s\u016btra, \u2018the discourse which set in motion the\nwheel of the law,\u2019 or \u2018of the universal dominance of the true belief.\u2019\n\nThe following is the substance of it, as given in the Mah\u0101-vagga (I. 6.\n17). It is important to note that the Buddha spoke in the vernacular of\nMagadha (now called P\u0101li), and not to men generally, but to the first\nfive would-be members of his Order of monks:\u2014\n\n\u2018There are two extremes (ant\u0101), O monks (Bhikkhus), to be avoided by one\nwho has given up the world\u2014a life devoted to sensual pleasures (k\u0101ma),\nwhich is degrading, common, vulgar, ignoble, profitless; and a life\ngiven to self-mortification (\u0101tma-klamatha)\u2014painful, ignoble,\nprofitless. There is a middle path, avoiding both extremes\u2014the noble\neightfold path discovered by the Buddha (Tath\u0101gata)\u2014which leads to\ninsight, to wisdom, to quietude (upa\u1e61ama), to knowledge, to perfect\nenlightenment (sambodhi), to final extinction of desire and suffering\n(Nirv\u0101\u1e47a).\u2019\n\nSo far there is nothing very explicit in the discourse. Doubtless such\nprecepts as \u2018virtue is a mean\u2019 and that \u2018medio tutissimus ibis\u2019 are\nuseful, though trite, truths; but the difficulty is to prove that the\nBuddha\u2019s eightfold path is really a middle course of the kind described;\nfor the most fanatical enthusiasts will always regard their own creed,\nhowever extravagant, as moderate.\n\nThe Buddha, therefore, goes on to propound what he calls the four noble\ntruths (ariya-sa\u0107\u0107\u0101ni = \u0101rya-saty\u0101ni), which are the key to his whole\ndoctrine. They may be stated thus:\u2014\n\n1. All existence\u2014that is, existence in any form, whether on earth or in\nheavenly spheres\u2014necessarily involves pain and suffering (dukkha). 2.\nAll suffering is caused by lust (r\u0101ga) or craving or desire (ta\u1e49h\u0101 =\ntrish\u1e47\u0101, \u2018thirst\u2019) of three kinds\u2014for sensual pleasure (k\u0101ma), for\nwealth (vibhava), and for existence (bhava). 3. Cessation of suffering\nis simultaneous with extinction of lust, craving, and desire (p. 139).\n4. Extinction of lust, craving, and desire, and cessation of suffering\nare accomplished by perseverance in the noble eightfold path (ariyo\na\u1e6d\u1e6dhangiko maggo), viz. right belief or views (samm\u0101 di\u1e6d\u1e6dhi), right\nresolve (sa\u1e45kappo), right speech, right work (kammanto), right\nlivelihood (\u0101j\u012bvo), right exercise or training (v\u0101y\u0101mo = vy\u0101y\u0101ma), right\nmindfulness (sati, p. 50), right mental concentration (sam\u0101dhi).\n\nAnd how is all life mere suffering (I.6.19)?\u2014\n\n  \u2018Birth is suffering. Decay is suffering. Illness is suffering. Death\n  is suffering. Association with (samprayogo) objects we hate is\n  suffering. Separation from objects we love is suffering. Not to obtain\n  what we desire is suffering. Clinging (up\u0101d\u0101na) to the five elements\n  (p. 109) of existence is suffering. Complete cessation of thirst\n  (ta\u1e47h\u0101) and desires is cessation of suffering. This is the noble truth\n  of suffering.\u2019\n\nThis sermon (called in Ceylon the first Ba\u1e47a = Bh\u0101\u1e47a, \u2018recitation,\u2019 p.\n70) was addressed to monks, and however unfavourably it must compare\nwith that of Christ (St. Luke iv. 18), addressed not to monks but to\nsuffering sinners\u2014and however obvious may be the idea that pain must\nresult from giving way to lust and the desire for life through countless\nexistences\u2014is of great interest because it embodies the first teaching\nof one, who, if not worthy to be called \u2018the Light of Asia,\u2019 and\ncertainly unworthy of comparison with the \u2018Light of the World,\u2019 was at\nleast one of the world\u2019s most successful teachers.\n\nBear in mind that, as the result of his earliest meditation (pp. 39, 56,\n102), the Buddha made ignorance precede lust as the primary cause of\nlife\u2019s misery.\n\nOf course the real significance of the whole sermon depends on the\ninterpretation of the word \u2018right\u2019 (samm\u0101 = samyak) in describing the\neightfold path, and the plain explanation is that \u2018right belief\u2019 means\nbelieving in the Buddha and his doctrine; \u2018right resolve\u2019 means\nabandoning one\u2019s wife and family as the best method of extinguishing the\nfires of the passions; right speech is recitation of the Buddha\u2019s\ndoctrine; right work (Karm\u0101nta) is that of a monk; right livelihood is\nliving by alms as a monk does; right exercise is suppression of the\nindividual self; right mindfulness (Sm\u1e5biti) is keeping in mind the\nimpurities and impermanence of the body; right mental concentration is\ntrance-like quietude.\n\nMark, too, that in describing the misery of life, association with loved\nobjects is not mentioned as compensating for the pain of connexion with\nhateful objects.\n\nThe Buddha\u2019s early disciples were not poor men; for the sixth to be\nadmitted to the Sa\u1e45gha was a high-born youth named Yasa. Then this\nyouth\u2019s father, a rich merchant, became the first lay-disciple by\nrepeating the _triple_ formula (pp. 40, 78), and his mother and wife\nbecame the first lay-sisters. Next, four high-born friends of Yasa, and\nsubsequently fifty more became monks. Thus, not long after the first\nsermon, Gautama had sixty enrolled monks; all from the upper classes.\n\nIn sending forth these sixty monks to proclaim his own gospel of\ndeliverance, he addressed them thus:\u2014\n\n\u2018I am delivered from all fetters (p. 127), human and divine. You too, O\nmonks, are freed from the same fetters. Go forth and wander everywhere,\nout of compassion for the world and for the welfare of gods and men. Go\nforth, one by one, in different directions. Preach the doctrine\n(Dharmam), salutary (kaly\u0101\u1e47a) in its beginning, middle, and end, in its\nspirit (artha) and in its letter (vya\u00f1jana). Proclaim a life of perfect\nrestraint, chastity, and celibacy (brahma\u0107ariyam). I will go also to\npreach this doctrine\u2019 (Mah\u0101-vagga I. 11. 1).\n\nWhen his monk-missionaries had departed, Gautama himself followed,\nthough not till M\u0101ra (p. 41) had again tempted him. Quitting Benares he\njourneyed back to Uruvel\u0101, near Gay\u0101. There he first converted thirty\nrich young men and then one thousand orthodox Br\u0101hmans, led by K\u0101\u1e61yapa\nand his two brothers, who maintained a sacred fire (\u2018Br\u0101hmanism,\u2019 p.\n364). The fire-chamber was haunted by a fiery snake-demon; so Buddha\nasked to occupy the room for a night, fought the serpent and confined\nhim in his own alms-bowl. Next he worked other miracles (said to have\nbeen 3500 in number), such as causing water to recede, fire-wood to\nsplit, fire-vessels to appear at his word. Then K\u0101\u1e61yapa and his\nbrothers, convinced of his miraculous powers, were admitted with the\nother Br\u0101hmans to the Sa\u1e45gha. Thus Buddha gathered round him about a\nthousand monks.\n\nTo them on a hill Gay\u0101s\u012bsa (Brahma-yoni), near Gay\u0101, he preached his\n\u2018burning\u2019 fire-sermon (Mah\u0101-v\u00b0 I. 21): \u2018Everything, O monks, is burning\n(\u0101dittam = \u0101d\u012bptam). The eye is burning; visible things are burning. The\nsensation produced by contact with visible things is burning\u2014burning\nwith the fire of lust (desire), enmity and delusion (r\u0101gaggin\u0101 dosaggin\u0101\nmohaggin\u0101), with birth, decay (jaray\u0101), death, grief, lamentation, pain,\ndejection (domanassehi), and despair (up\u0101y\u0101sehi). The ear is burning,\nsounds are burning; the nose is burning, odours are burning; the tongue\nis burning, tastes are burning; the body is burning, objects of sense\nare burning. The mind is burning, thoughts are burning. All are burning\nwith the fire of passions and lusts. Observing this, O monks, a wise and\nnoble disciple becomes weary of (or disgusted with) the eye, weary of\nvisible things, weary of the ear, weary of sounds, weary of odours,\nweary of tastes, weary of the body, weary of the mind. Becoming weary,\nhe frees himself from passions and lusts. When free, he realizes that\nhis object is accomplished, that he has lived a life of restraint and\nchastity (brahma-\u0107ariyam), that re-birth is ended.\u2019\n\nIt is said that this fire-sermon\u2014which is a key to the meaning of\nNirv\u0101\u1e47a\u2014was suggested by the sight of a conflagration. It was Gautama\u2019s\ncustom to impress ideas on his hearers by pointing to visible objects.\nHe compares all life to a flame; and the gist of the discourse is the\nduty of extinguishing the fire of lusts, and with it the fire of all\nexistence, and the importance of monkhood and celibacy for the\nattainment of this end.\n\nContrast in Christ\u2019s Sermon on the Mount the words addressed to the\nmultitude (not to monks), \u2018Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall\nsee God.\u2019\n\nThe Buddha and his followers next proceeded to R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha. Among them\nwere two, afterwards called \u2018chief disciples\u2019 (Agra-\u1e61r\u0101vakas), S\u0101riputta\nand Moggall\u0101na (or Maudgaly\u0101yana), who died before the Buddha, and\nsixteen leaders among the so-called eighty \u2018_great_ disciples\u2019\n(Mah\u0101-\u1e61r\u0101vakas); the chief of these being K\u0101\u1e61yapa (or Mah\u0101-k\u0101\u1e61yapa),\nUp\u0101li, and \u0100nanda (a cousin), besides Anuruddha (another cousin), and\nK\u0101ty\u0101yana. Of course among the eighty are reckoned the five original\nBenares converts. At a later time two chief female disciples\n(Agra-\u1e61r\u0101vik\u0101s) named Khem\u0101 and Uppala-va\u1e47\u1e47\u0101 (Utpala-var\u1e47\u0101) were added\n(see p. 86). Each leading disciple was afterwards called Sthavira, \u2018an\nelder,\u2019 or Mah\u0101-sthavira, \u2018great elder\u2019 (P\u0101li Thera, Mah\u0101thera; fem.\nTher\u012b). Mark, too, that Bimbi-s\u0101ra, king of Magadha, and Prasenajit\n(Pasenadi), king of Kosala, were Gautama\u2019s lay-disciples and constant\npatrons.\n\nIt was not long before the Buddha\u2019s followers were more formally\nincorporated into a monastic Order (Sa\u1e45gha), and rules of discipline\ndrawn up (see pp. 61, 72, 73, 83). And doubtless the success of Buddhism\nwas due to the carrying out of this idea of establishing a brotherhood\noffering a haven of rest to all.\n\nAbout forty-five years elapsed between Gautama\u2019s attainment of\nBuddhahood and his death. During that period he continued teaching and\nitinerating with his disciples; only going \u2018into retreat\u2019 during the\nrains. A list of 45 places of residence is given. He seems to have\nresided oftenest at \u1e60r\u0101vast\u012b (p. 21) in the monastery Jetavana given by\nAn\u0101tha-pi\u1e47\u1e0dika; but the whole region between \u1e60r\u0101vast\u012b and R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha (p.\n29), for nearly 300 miles, was the scene of his itineration. Favourite\nresorts near R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha were the \u2018Vulture-peak\u2019 and Bambu-grove\n(Ve\u1e37u-vana); but continual itineration was one chief means of\npropagating Buddhism.\n\nIt is said that his death occurred at Ku\u1e61i-nagara[16] (Kusin\u0101r\u0101), a town\nabout eighty miles east of Kapila-vastu\u2014the place of his birth\u2014when he\nwas eighty years of age, and probably about the year 420 B.C.[17]\n\nThe story is that Gautama died from eating too much pork (or dried\nboar\u2019s flesh[18]). As this is somewhat derogatory to his dignity it is\nnot likely to have been fabricated. A fabrication, too, would scarcely\nmake him guilty of the inconsistency of saying \u2018Kill no living thing,\u2019\nand yet setting an example of eating flesh-meat.\n\nThese were his words when he felt his end near:\u2014\n\n\u2018O \u0100nanda, I am now grown old, and full of years, and my journey is\ndrawing to its close; I have reached eighty years\u2014my sum of days\u2014and\njust as a worn-out cart can only with much care be made to move along,\nso my body can only be kept going with difficulty. It is only when I\nbecome plunged in meditation that my body is at ease. In future be ye to\nyourselves your own light, your own refuge; seek no other refuge. Hold\nfast to the truth as your lamp. Hold fast to the truth as your refuge;\nlook not to any one but yourselves as a refuge\u2019 (Mah\u0101-parinibb\u0101na-sutta\nII. 32, 33).\n\nAfterwards he gave a summary of every monk\u2019s duties, thus:\u2014\u2018Which then,\nO monks, are the truths (=the seven jewels, p. 127) it behoves you to\nspread abroad, out of pity for the world, for the good of gods and men?\nThey are: 1. the four earnest reflections (Sm\u1e5biti, Sati-pa\u1e6d\u1e6dh\u0101na, on the\nimpurities of the body, on the impermanence of the sensations, of the\nthoughts, of the conditions of existence, p. 127); 2. the four right\nexertions (Sammappadh\u0101na, viz. to prevent demerit from arising, get rid\nof it when arisen, produce merit, increase it); 3. the four paths to\nsupernatural power (Iddhi-p\u0101da, viz. will, effort, thought, intense\nthought); 4. the five forces (Pa\u00f1\u0107a-bala, viz. faith, energy,\nrecollection, self-concentration, reason); 5. the proper use of the five\norgans of sense; 6. the seven \u2018limbs\u2019 of knowledge (Bodhy-a\u1e45ga, viz.\nrecollection, investigation, energy, joy, serenity, concentration of\nmind, equanimity); 7. the noble \u2018eightfold path\u2019 (p. 44). See\nMah\u0101-parinibb\u0101na III. 65.\n\nThen shortly before his decease, he said, \u2018It may be, \u0100nanda, that in\nsome of you the thought may arise:\u2014The words of our Teacher are ended;\nwe have lost our Master. But it is not thus. The truths and the rules of\nthe Order, which I have taught and preached, let these be your teacher,\nwhen I am gone\u2019 (VI. 1).\n\n\u2018Behold now, O monks, I exhort you:\u2014Everything that cometh into being\npasseth away; work out your own perfection with diligence\u2019 (III. 66).\n\nNot long after his last utterances the Buddha, who had before through\nintense meditation attained Nirv\u0101\u1e47a or extinction of the fire of\ndesires, passed through the four stages of meditation (p. 209) till the\nmoment came for his Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a, whereby the fire of life also was\nextinguished. A couch had been placed for him between two \u1e60\u0101l trees (p.\n23), with the head towards the north. In sculptures he is represented as\nlying on his right side at the moment of death, and images of him in\nthis position are highly venerated.\n\nThe chief men of Ku\u1e61i-nagara burnt his body with the ceremonies usual at\nthe death of a \u0106akravartin or Universal Ruler, which the Buddha claimed\nto be.\n\nThen his ashes were distributed among eight princes, who built St\u016bpas\nover them (Buddha-va\u1e49sa 28).\n\nA legend states that when the Buddha died there was an earthquake. Then\nthe gods Brahm\u0101 and Indra appeared and the latter exclaimed: \u2018Transient\nare all the elements of being; birth and decay are their nature; they\nare born and dissolved; then only is happiness when they have ceased to\nbe\u2019 (Mah\u0101-p\u00b0 VI. 16).\n\nContrast with Buddha\u2019s last words the last words of Christ: \u2018Father,\ninto Thy hands I commend my Spirit.\u2019\n\nA greater contrast than that presented by the account of the Buddha\u2019s\ndeath and the Gospel narrative of the death of Christ can scarcely be\nimagined.\n\nOf course as a result of discourses during forty-five years, a large\nnumber were gathered into Gautama\u2019s monastic Order. His first aim was\nthe founding of this Order, and his chief sermons were to his monks; but\nhe accepted all men and ultimately multitudes attached themselves to him\nas lay-brethren (p. 87).\n\nIn fact Gautama\u2019s doctrine of a universal brotherhood, open to all,\nconstituted the corner-stone of his popularity. He spoke to them in\ntheir own provincial dialect, which could not have differed much from\nthe P\u0101li of the texts\u2014and he enforced his words by dialogues, parables,\nfables, reiterations, and repetitions. Probably he was the first\nintroducer of real preaching into India, and by his practical method he\nseemed to bring down knowledge from the clouds to every man\u2019s door.\n\nThe following parable is an example: \u2018As the peasant sows the seed but\ncannot say: the grain shall swell to-day, to-morrow germinate, so also\nit is with the disciple; he must obey the precepts, practise meditation,\nstudy the doctrine; he cannot say to-day or to-morrow, I shall be\ndelivered. Again: as when a herd of deer lives in a forest a man comes\nwho opens for them a false path and the deer suffer hurt; and another\ncomes who opens a safe path and the deer thrive; so when men live among\npleasures the evil one comes and opens the false eightfold path. Then\ncomes the perfect one and opens the safe eightfold path of right belief,\netc.\u2019 (p. 44, Oldenberg, 191, 192).\n\nSix rival heretical teachers are alluded to. His chief opponent was his\ncousin Devadatta, who set up a school of his own, and is said to have\nplotted against the Buddha\u2019s life. His efforts failed (\u0106ulla-vagga VII),\nand he himself came to an untimely end. Possibly he may have belonged to\nthe rival Jaina sect (Niga\u1e47\u1e6dha) of naked ascetics, of which the great\nleader was Vardham\u0101na Mah\u0101v\u012bra N\u0101ta-putta (=J\u00f1\u0101ti-putra).\n\nGautama\u2019s teaching gained the day. It claimed universality, and was\naptly symbolized by a wheel rolling among all alike. Yet at first it had\nno attractions for the poor and the child-like.\n\nBy degrees, a fuller system, adapted in an ascending scale to laymen,\nnovices, monks, nuns, and Arhats, was developed\u2014a system which had its\nabstruse doctrines suited to men of philosophical minds, as well as its\nplain practical side. This constituted the Buddhist Dharma, which was\nultimately collected in certain sacred books to be next described.\n\n\n\n\n                              LECTURE III.\n         _The Law (Dharma) and Sacred Scriptures of Buddhism._\n\n\nProbably most educated persons are aware that Buddhists have their own\nsacred scriptures, like Hind\u016bs, P\u0101rs\u012bs, Confucianists, Muhammadans,\nJews, and Christians. It is not, however, so generally known that in one\nimportant particular these Buddhist scriptures, constituting the\nTri-pi\u1e6daka (p. 61), differ wholly from other sacred books. They lay no\nclaim to supernatural inspiration. Whatever doctrine is found in them\nwas believed to be purely human\u2014that is, was held to be the product of\nman\u2019s own natural faculties working naturally.\n\nThe Tri-pi\u1e6daka was never like the Veda of the Br\u0101hmans, believed to be\nthe very \u2018breath of God\u2019[19]; the same care, therefore, was not taken to\npreserve every sound; and when at last it was written down the result\nwas a more scholastic production than the Veda.\n\nMoreover, it was not composed in the Sansk\u1e5bit of the Veda and \u1e60\u0101stras\u2014in\nthe sacred language, the very grammar and alphabet of which were\nsupposed to come from heaven\u2014but in the vernacular of the part of India\nin which Buddhism flourished. Indeed, it is a significant fact that\nwhile the great sages of Sansk\u1e5bit literature and philosophy, such as\nVy\u0101sa, Kum\u0101rila, and \u1e60a\u1e45kara, in all probability spoke and taught in\nSansk\u1e5bit[20], the Founder of Buddhism preferred to communicate his\nprecepts to the people in their own vernacular, afterwards called P\u0101li.\nNevertheless, he never composed a single book of his own. In all\nprobability he never wrote down any of his own precepts; for if writing\nwas then invented, it was little practised, through the absence of\nsuitable materials. This is the more remarkable as Buddhism ultimately\nbecame an instrument for introducing literary culture among uncivilized\nraces.\n\nAll that Gautama did was to preach his Dharma, \u2018Law,\u2019 during forty-five\nyears of itineration, and oral teaching. It was not till some time after\nhis death that his sayings were collected (p. 97), and still longer\nbefore they were written down. Itineration, recitation of the Law, and\npreaching were the chief instruments for the propagation of Buddhism.\n\nAt present the Buddhist Canon is about as extensive as the\nBr\u0101hmanical[21], and in both cases we are left in doubt as to the date\nwhen the books were composed. How, then, did their composition take\nplace?\n\nAll that can be said is that at three successive epochs after the\nBuddha\u2019s death, three gatherings of his followers were held for the\npurpose of collecting his sayings and settling the true Canon, and that\na fourth assembly took place much later in the North.\n\nThe first of these assemblages can scarcely with any fitness be called a\nCouncil. Nor can the fact of its meeting together in any formal manner\nbe established on any trustworthy historical basis. It is said that a\nnumber of monks (about five hundred, called Mah\u0101-sthavir\u0101\u1e25, \u2018the great\nelders,\u2019 P\u0101li Mah\u0101-ther\u0101) assembled in a cave called Sattapa\u1e47\u1e47i, near\nthe then capital city of Magadha\u2014R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha, now R\u0101j-g\u012br\u2014under the\nsanction of king Aj\u0101ta-\u1e61atru, during the rainy season immediately\nsucceeding the death of Gautama, to think over, put together, and\narrange the sayings of their Master, but not, so far as we know, to\nwrite them down.\n\nThere, in all likelihood, they made the first step towards a methodical\narrangement. But even then it is doubtful whether any systematic\ncollections were composed. The assembled monks chose K\u0101\u1e61yapa (or\nMah\u0101-k\u0101\u1e61yapa, p. 47), the most esteemed of all the Buddha\u2019s surviving\ndisciples, as their leader, and chanted the Thera-v\u0101da (Sthavira-v\u00b0),\n\u2018words of the elders,\u2019 or precepts of their Founder preserved in the\nmemory of the older men; the rules of discipline (Vinaya) being recited\nby Up\u0101li[22], and the ethical precepts (S\u016btra), which constituted at\nfirst the principal Dharma[23] (_par excellence_, in contradistinction\nto the Vinaya), being imparted by Gautama\u2019s favorite \u0100nanda (p. 47);\nwhile the philosophical doctrines\u2014then undeveloped\u2014were communicated by\nthe president, K\u0101\u1e61yapa. If any arrangement was then made it was probably\nin two collections\u2014the Vinaya and Dharma (say about 400 B.C.)\n\nIn regard to the Dharma, two main lines were, in all likelihood, laid\ndown as the basis of all early teaching. The first consisted of the four\nsublime verities, as they are called\u2014that is, of the four fundamental\ntruths originally taught by the Founder of Buddhism, namely, the\ninevitable inherence of suffering in every form of life, the connexion\nof all suffering with indulgence of desires, especially with craving for\ncontinuity of existence, the possibility of the cessation of suffering\nby restraining lusts and desires, and the eightfold course leading to\nthat cessation (see p. 44).\n\nThe second line of doctrine probably consisted of an outline of the\ntwelve-linked chain of causality (nid\u0101na), which traced back all\nsuffering to a still deeper origin than mere lusts and desires\u2014namely,\nto ignorance (p. 103).\n\nIt is not, however, at all likely that any philosophical or metaphysical\ndoctrines were clearly and methodically formulated at the earliest\nassembly which took place soon after Gautama\u2019s death. It is far more\nprobable that the first outcome of the gathering together of the\nBuddha\u2019s disciples was simply the enforcing of some strict rules of\ndiscipline for the Order of monks, and this may have taken place soon\nafter 400 B.C.\n\nAfter a time, certain relaxations of these rules or unauthorized\ndepartures from them (ten in number, such as reception of money-gifts,\neating a second meal in the afternoon, drinking stimulating beverages,\nif pure as water in appearance[24]), began to be common. The question as\nto whether liberty should be allowed in these points, _especially in the\nfirst_, shook the very foundations of the community. In fact the whole\nsociety became split up into two contending parties, the strict and the\nlax, and a second Council became necessary for the restoration of order.\nAll ten points were discussed at this Council, said to have consisted of\n700 monks and held at Vai\u1e61\u0101l\u012b (Ves\u0101l\u012b, now Bes\u0101rh), 27 miles north of\nPatn\u0101, about 380 B.C.[25] The discussions were protracted for eight\nmonths, and all the ten unlawful relaxations were finally prohibited.\n\nIt has been observed that this second Council stands in a relation to\nBuddhism very similar to that which the Council of Nic\u00e6a bears to\nChristianity.\n\nThe exact date, however, of either the first or second assemblies cannot\nbe determined with precision.\n\nNot long afterwards occurred the political revolution caused by the\nwell-known \u0106andra-gupta (= Sandra-kottus)\u2014sometimes called the first\nA\u1e61oka (or disparagingly, K\u0101l\u0101\u1e61oka). This man, who was a low-born \u1e60\u016bdra,\nusurped the throne and founded the Maurya dynasty, after killing king\nNanda and taking possession of P\u0101\u1e6daliputra (or Palibothra, now Patn\u0101,\nthe then metropolis of Magadha or Beh\u0101r), about 315 B.C. He extended the\nkingdom of Magadha over all Hind\u016bst\u0101n, and became so powerful that when\nAlexander\u2019s successor, Seleukos Nikator (whose reign commenced about 312\nB.C.), invaded India from his kingdom of Bactria, so effectual was the\nresistance offered by \u0106andra-gupta, that the Greek thought it politic to\nform an alliance with the Hind\u016b king, and sent his own countryman,\nMegasthenes, as an ambassador to reside at his court.\n\nTo this circumstance we owe the earliest authentic account of Indian\ncustoms and usages, by an intelligent observer who was not a native; and\nMegasthenes\u2019 narrative, preserved by Strabo, furnishes a basis on which\na fair inference may be founded that Br\u0101hmanism and Buddhism existed\nside by side in India on amicable terms in the fourth and third\ncenturies B.C. There is even ground for believing that king \u0106andra-gupta\nhimself favoured the Buddhists, though outwardly he never renounced his\nfaith in Br\u0101hmanism.\n\n\u0106andra-gupta\u2019s reign is thought to have lasted until 291 B.C., and that\nof his son and successor, Vindus\u0101ra, from 291 to (say) about 260 B.C.\nThen came \u0106andra-gupta\u2019s grandson, the celebrated A\u1e61oka (sometimes\ncalled Dharm\u0101\u1e61oka), who, though of \u1e60\u016bdra origin, was perhaps the\ngreatest Hind\u016b monarch of India.\n\nIt was about this period that Gautama Buddha\u2019s followers began to\ndevelope his doctrines, and to make additions to them in such a way that\nthe Abhi-dharma or \u2018further Dharma\u2019 had to be added to the \u1e60\u016btra which\nconstituted the original Dharma (p. 56). Even in Gautama\u2019s time there\nwere great dissensions. Afterwards differences of opinion increased, so\nthat before long eighteen schools of schismatic thought (p. 158) were\nestablished. The resulting controversies were very disturbing, and a\nthird Council became necessary. It consisted of a thousand oldest\nmembers of the Order, and was held in the 16th or 17th year of A\u1e61oka\u2019s\nreign at Patn\u0101 (P\u0101\u1e6dali-putra), about 244-242 B.C.\n\nThis third Council was, perhaps, the most important; for through its\ndeliberations the decision was arrived at to propagate Buddhism by\nmissions. Hence missionaries, supported by king A\u1e61oka (see p. 66), were\nsent in all directions; the first being Mahinda (Mahendra), the king\u2019s\nson, who carried the doctrine into Ceylon.\n\nDr. Oldenberg has shown that in a part of the Tri-pi\u1e6daka now extant, the\nfirst and second Councils are mentioned but not the third. The plain\ninference is that the portion of the Buddhist Canon in which the second\nCouncil is described cannot be older than that Council. Yet in all\nlikelihood a great part of the Vinaya (including the P\u0101timokkha and the\nKhandhaka, p. 62) was composed before the second Council\u2014possibly as\nearly as about 400 B.C.\u2014and the rest of the Canon during the succeeding\ncentury and a half before the third Council\u2014that is, from 400 to 250\nB.C. It was composed in the then vernacular language of Magadha\n(M\u0101gadh\u012b), where all three Councils were held.\n\nIt seems, however, probable that in each district to which Buddhism\nspread the doctrine of its founder was taught in the peculiar dialect\nunderstood by the inhabitants. It even appears likely that when Gautama\nhimself lived in Kosala (Oudh) he preached in the dialect of that\nprovince just as he taught in M\u0101gadh\u012b when he resided in Magadha. The\n\u0106ulla-vagga (V. 33. I) makes him direct that his precepts should be\nlearnt by every convert in the provincial dialect, which doubtless\nvaried slightly everywhere. In time it became necessary to give fixity\nto the sacred texts, and the form they finally assumed may have\nrepresented the prevalent dialect of the time, and not necessarily the\noriginal M\u0101gadh\u012b Pr\u0101k\u1e5bit[26]. This final form of the language was called\nP\u0101li[27] (or Tanti), and no doubt differs from the earlier A\u1e61oka\ninscription dialect, and from M\u0101gadh\u012b Pr\u0101k\u1e5bit as now known.\n\nSome think that the P\u0101li resulted from an artificial infusion of\nSansk\u1e5bit. It is said that nearly two-fifths of the P\u0101li vocabulary\nconsists of unmodified Sansk\u1e5bit.\n\nAt any rate, it was in this language that the Buddhist Law was carried\n(probably by Mahendra) into Ceylon, and the whole Canon is thought by\nsome to have been handed down orally till it was written down there\nabout 85 B.C. Oral transmission, we know, was common in India, but if\nedicts were written by A\u1e61oka (p. 67), why should not the Law have been\nwritten down also?\n\nAs, however, P\u0101li was not spoken in Ceylon, the P\u0101li commentaries\nbrought by Mahendra were translated by him into Sinhalese, and the P\u0101li\noriginals being lost, were not retranslated into P\u0101li till about the\nbeginning of the fifth century of our era.\n\nTurning next to the final arrangement of the P\u0101li Canon, we find that it\nresolved itself into three collections (called Tri-pi\u1e6daka, P\u0101li\nTipi\u1e6daka, \u2018Three baskets,\u2019 the word pi\u1e6daka, however, not occurring in\nthe early texts), namely: 1. Yinaya, \u2018discipline\u2019 for the Order; 2.\nS\u016btra-(P\u0101li Sutta), \u2018precepts,\u2019 which at first constituted the principal\nDharma, or moral Law (p. 56); 3. Abhi-dharma (Abhi-dhamma), \u2018further\nDharma,\u2019 or additional precepts relative to the law and philosophy.\n\nThis division was not logical, as each collection may treat of the\nsubjects belonging to the others.\n\nTaking, then, in the first place, the Vinaya or discipline portion of\nthe Buddhist bible, we ought to observe that a portion of it (the\nP\u0101timokkha) is not only the oldest, but also the most important in its\nbearing on the whole theory of Buddhism. For, as we shall point out more\nfully hereafter, the Buddha\u2019s paramount aim was to convince others that\nto get rid of ignorance, gain knowledge, practise morality, and obtain\ndeliverance, it was incumbent on a wise man to renounce married life and\nbecome a member of a monastic Order.\n\nPure Buddhism, in fact, was pure monachism\u2014implying celibacy, poverty,\nand mendicancy\u2014and this could not be maintained without rules for\ndiscipline and outward conduct, which, as adopted by the Buddha, were\nsimply a modification of the rules for the two religious orders of the\nBrahma-\u0107\u0101r\u012b and Sanny\u0101s\u012b, already existing in Br\u0101hmanism.\n\nWith regard to the classification of the Vinaya rules, they were divided\ninto three sets: _a._ the Khandhaka, in two collections called\nMah\u0101-vagga (Mah\u0101-varga), \u2018great section,\u2019 and \u0106ulla-vagga, \u2018minor\nsection\u2019 (vagga = varga); _b._ the Vibha\u1e45ga (including the two works\ncalled P\u0101r\u0101jika and P\u0101\u0107ittiya), or a systematic arrangement and\nexplanation of certain ancient \u2018release-precepts\u2019 (pratimoksha-s\u016btra,\nP\u0101li P\u0101timokkha) for setting free, through penances, any who had\noffended against the Order; _c._ Pariv\u0101ra-p\u0101\u1e6dha, or a comparatively\nmodern summary of the above two divisions.\n\nMark, however, that the Vinaya abounds in details of the life and\nteaching of Gautama.\n\nThe second Pi\u1e6daka, called Sutta (S\u016btra), \u2018precepts,\u2019 contains the\nethical doctrines which at first constituted the whole Buddhist Law. It\nconsists of five Nik\u0101yas, or collections, viz. _a._ the D\u012bgha, or\ncollection of 34 long suttas, among which is the Mah\u0101-parinibb\u0101na-sutta\n(one of the oldest parts of the Canon after the P\u0101timokkha); _b._ the\nMajjhima, or collection of 152 suttas of middling length; _c._ the\nSa\u1e43yutta, or collection of 55 groups of joined suttas, some of them very\nshort; _d._ the A\u1e45guttara, or miscellaneous suttas in divisions, which\ngo on increasing by one (a\u1e45ga); _e._ the Khuddaka, or minor collection,\nconsisting of fifteen works.\n\nAccording to one school, this fifth Nik\u0101ya is more correctly referred to\nthe Abhi-dhamma Pi\u1e6daka. In character, however, it conforms more to the\nSutta. Of its fifteen works, perhaps the most important are the\nfollowing six:\u2014\n\nThe Khuddaka-p\u0101\u1e6dha, \u2018short readings;\u2019 the Dhamma-pada, \u2018precepts of the\nLaw\u2019 (or \u2018verses of the Law,\u2019 or \u2018footsteps of the Law\u2019); the J\u0101taka\n(with their commentaries), a series of stories relating to about 550[28]\nprevious births of the Buddha (p. 111), which have formed the basis of\nmany stories in the Pa\u00f1\u0107a-tantra, fables of \u00c6sop, etc.; the\nSutta-nip\u0101ta, \u2018collection of discourses;\u2019 the Thera-g\u0101th\u0101 ( =\nSthavira-g\u00b0), \u2018verses or stanzas by elder monks;\u2019 Ther\u012b-g\u0101th\u0101, \u2018verses\nby elder nuns.\u2019\n\nThe other nine are the Ud\u0101na, containing 82 short suttas and joyous\nutterances of the Buddha at crises of his life; the Itivuttaka, \u2018thus it\nwas said\u2019 ( = ity ukta), 110 sayings of the Buddha; the Vim\u0101na-vatthu,\non the mansions of the gods (which move about at will and sometimes\ndescend on earth); the Peta-vatthu ( = Preta-vastu, Peta standing for\nPreta and Pit\u1e5bi), on departed spirits; the Niddesa, a commentary on the\nSutta-nip\u0101ta; the Pa\u1e6di-sambhid\u0101, on the supernatural knowledge of\nArhats; the Apad\u0101na (Sansk\u1e5bit Avad\u0101na), \u2018stories about the achievements\u2019\nof Arhats; the Buddha-va\u1e49sa, or history of the 24 preceding Buddhas (the\nD\u012bgha mentions only six) and of Gautama; the \u0106ariy\u0101-pi\u1e6daka, \u2018treasury of\nacts,\u2019 giving stories based on the J\u0101takas, describing Gautama\u2019s\nacquisition of the ten transcendent virtues (p. 128) in former births.\n\nThe works included in this Sutta-pi\u1e6daka frequently take the form of\nconversations on doctrine and morality, between Gautama, or one of his\nchief disciples, and some inquirer. As constituting the ethical Dharma,\nthey are the most interesting portion of the Canon.\n\nWith regard to the third Pi\u1e6daka, called Abhi-dhamma (Abbhi-dharma,\n\u2018further dharma\u2019), which is held by modern scholars to be of later\norigin and supplementary to the Sutta (p. 62), it contains seven prose\nworks[29]. Moreover, it was once thought to relate entirely to\nmetaphysics and philosophy; but this is now held to be an error, for all\nseven works treat of a great variety of subjects, including discipline\nand ethics. Metaphysical discussions occur, but it is probable that\noriginally Buddha kept clear of metaphysics (see p. 98).\n\nBesides the numerous works we have thus described as constituting the\nTri-pi\u1e6daka or three collections of works of the Southern Buddhists,\nthere are the P\u0101li commentaries called A\u1e6d\u1e6dha-kath\u0101 (Artha-kath\u0101,\n\u2018telling of meanings[30]\u2019), which were translated into Sinhalese,\naccording to tradition, by Mahendra himself. Afterwards the original\nP\u0101li text was lost and some of the commentaries were retranslated into\nP\u0101li by Buddha-ghosha, \u2018he who had the very voice of Buddha,\u2019 at the end\nof the fourth and beginning of the fifth century of our era.\n\nThe Mah\u0101-va\u1e49\u1e61a or \u2018history of the great families of Ceylon,\u2019 a\nwell-known work (written in P\u0101li by a monk named Mah\u0101-n\u0101ma in the fifth\ncentury and translated by Turnour), gives an account of this writer[31].\nIt says that a Br\u0101hman youth, born near Buddha-Gay\u0101 in Magadha, had\nachieved great celebrity as a disputant in Br\u0101hmanical philosophy. This\nyouth was converted by a Buddhist sage in India, and induced to enter\nthe Buddhist monastic Order. He soon became renowned for his eloquence,\nand was on that account called Buddha-ghosha. He wrote a commentary,\ncalled A\u1e6d\u1e6dha-s\u0101lin\u012b, on the Dhamma-sa\u1e45gani, a work belonging to the\nAbhi-dharma. He also wrote a most valuable P\u0101li compendium of Buddhist\ndoctrine called Visuddhi-magga, \u2018path of purity,\u2019 and a commentary on\nthe Dharma-pada containing many parables. He went to Ceylon about A.D.\n430 for the purpose of retranslating the Sinhalese commentaries into\nP\u0101li. His literary reputation stands very high in that island, and he\nwas instrumental in spreading Buddhism throughout Burma.\n\nIt may be noted that the two important P\u0101li works, Mah\u0101-va\u1e49\u1e61a and\nD\u012bpa-va\u1e49\u1e61a (Dv\u012bpa-va\u1e49\u1e61a), perhaps the oldest extant histories of Ceylon,\nare also fairly authentic sources for Buddhistic history before Christ.\n\nTurn we now to the Mah\u0101y\u0101na or \u2018Great Vehicle.\u2019 This cannot be said to\npossess any true Canon distinct from the Tri-pi\u1e6daka, though certain\nNepalese Sansk\u1e5bit works, composed in later times, are held to be\ncanonical by Northern Buddhists.\n\nTo understand this part of the subject we must revert to the great king\nA\u1e61oka. It is usual to call this second and more celebrated A\u1e61oka the\nConstantine of Buddhism. Being of \u1e60\u016bdra origin he was the more inclined\nto favour the popular teaching of Gautama, and, as he was the first king\nwho adopted Buddhism openly (about 257 B.C.) he doubtless did for\nBuddhism very much what Constantine did for Christianity.\n\nThe Buddhist system then spread over the whole kingdom of A\u1e61oka, and\nthence over other portions of India, and even to some outlying\ncountries. For gradually during this period most of the petty princes of\nIndia, from Pesh\u0101war and Kashm\u012br to the river Kistna, and from Surat to\nBengal and Orissa, if not actually brought under subjection to the king\nof Magadha, were compelled to acknowledge his paramount authority.\n\nThis is proved by A\u1e61oka\u2019s edicts, which are inscribed on rocks and stone\npillars[32] (the earliest dating from about 251 B.C.), and are found in\nfrontier districts separated from each other by enormous distances.\n\nThese inscriptions are of the greatest interest and value, as furnishing\nthe first authentic records of Indian history. They are written in a\nmore ancient language than the P\u0101li of Ceylon, and in at least three\ndifferent dialects. Ten of the most important are found on six rocks and\nfive pillars (L\u0101\u1e6ds), though numerous other monuments are scattered over\nNorthern India, from the Indian Ocean to the Bay of Bengal, from the\nVindhya range on the south to the Khaibar Pass on the north[33].\n\nIn these proclamations and edicts (one of which was addressed to the\nthird Buddhist Council), king A\u1e61oka, who calls himself Priya-dar\u1e61\u012b (P\u0101li\nPiya-dass\u012b), issues various orders. He prohibits the slaughter of\nanimals for food or sacrifice, gives directions for what may be called\nthe first hospitals, i. e. for treating men and even animals medically,\nappoints missionaries for the propagation of Buddhist doctrines,\ninculcates peace and mercy, charity and toleration, morality and\nself-denial, and what is still more remarkable, enjoins quinquennial\nperiods of national humiliation and confession of sins by all classes,\naccompanied by a re-proclamation of the Buddha\u2019s precepts. A\u1e61oka, in\nfact, became so zealous a friend of Buddhism, that he is said to have\nmaintained 64,000 Buddhist monks in and around the country of Magadha,\nwhich was on that account called the land of monasteries (Vih\u0101ra = the\nmodern Bih\u0101r or Beh\u0101r).\n\nNo doubt it was A\u1e61oka\u2019s propagation of Buddhism by missions in various\ncountries\u2014where it came in contact with and partly adopted various\nalready existing indigenous faiths and superstitions\u2014that led to the\nultimate separation of the Buddhist system into the two great divisions\nof Southern and Northern.\n\nIndeed, the formation of a Northern School, as distinct from a Southern,\nbecame inevitable after the conversion of Kanishka, the Indo-Scythian\nking of Kashm\u012br, who came from the North, and became a zealous Buddhist.\nHe probably reigned in the second half of the first century (A.D.), and\nextended his dominions as far as Gujar\u0101t, Sindh, and even Mathur\u0101 (see\np. 167, note 2).\n\nIt was during Kanishka\u2019s reign that a fourth Council[34] was held at\nJ\u0101landhara in Kashm\u012br, under P\u0101r\u1e61va and Vasu-mitra. It consisted of 500\nmonks, who composed three Sansk\u1e5bit works of the nature of commentaries\n(Upade\u1e61a, Vinaya-vibh\u0101sh\u0101, Abhidharma-vibh\u0101sh\u0101) on the three P\u0101li\nPi\u1e6dakas. These were the earliest books of the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na or Northern\nSchool, which afterwards formulated its more developed doctrines on the\nIndus, while the P\u0101li Canon of the South represented the true doctrine\npromulgated on the Ganges.\n\nKashm\u012br was a centre of Sansk\u1e5bit learning, and Kanishka, who was a\npatron of it, became to Northern Buddhism what A\u1e61oka had been to\nSouthern. Hence in process of time other Northern Buddhist books were\nwritten in Sansk\u1e5bit, with occasional G\u0101th\u0101s or stanzas in an irregular\ndialect, half Sansk\u1e5bit, half Pr\u0101k\u1e5bit.\n\nIt is usual to enumerate nine Nepalese canonical scriptures\n(Dharmas):\u20141.Praj\u00f1\u0101 p\u0101ramit\u0101, \u2018transcendent knowledge,\u2019 or an abstract\nof metaphysical and mystic philosophy; 2. Ga\u1e47\u1e0da-vy\u016bha; 3.\nDa\u1e61a-bh\u016bm\u012b\u1e61-vara (describing the ten stages leading to Buddhahood); 4.\nSam\u0101dhi-r\u0101ja; 5. La\u1e45k\u0101vat\u0101ra; 6. Saddharma-pu\u1e47\u1e0dar\u012bka, \u2018Lotus of the True\nLaw;\u2019 7. Tath\u0101ga\u1e6da-guhyaka (containing the secret Tantric doctrines); 8.\nLalita-vistara (giving a legendary life of Buddha); 9. Suvar\u1e47a-prabh\u0101sa.\nThe eighth is probably as old as the 2nd century of our era, and next\ncomes the sixth. Tibetan translations were made of all of them. These\nextend to 100 volumes and are collectively called Ka\u2019gyur or Kan\u2019gyur\n(Kanjur). We owe our knowledge of these to the indefatigable Hungarian\ntraveller, Alexander Csoma de K\u00f6r\u00f6s.\n\nCopies of the Sanskrit works were brought to England by Mr. B. H.\nHodgson. The sixth has been translated by Burnouf and recently by H.\nKern. Dr. R\u0101jendral\u0101la-mitra has edited the eighth. As to the\nnon-canonical works M. Senart has edited part of the Mah\u0101-vastu, and\nProfessor E. B. Cowell and Mr. R. A. Neil, the Divy\u0101vad\u0101na. They contain\ninteresting old legends\u2014some about the achievements of A\u1e61oka, some about\nBuddha himself, some perhaps from lost Vinaya books.\n\nAs to the P\u0101li written character, it is a question whether that current\nin the holy land of Buddhism, or in Ceylon, or in Siam (Kambodia), or in\nBurma\u2014that is, Devan\u0101gar\u012b, Sinhalese, Kambodian, or Burmese\u2014should be\nused. Many think Burmese most suited to it, and in Europe the Roman\ncharacter is preferred.\n\nIt should be added that the recitation (Bh\u0101\u1e47a, Sansk\u1e5bit root Bha\u1e47, \u2018to\nspeak;\u2019 in Sinhalese spelt Ba\u1e47a) of the Law is one of the principal\nduties of monks, the reciter being called Bh\u0101\u1e47aka. A peculiar mode of\nintoning is called Sara-bha\u00f1\u00f1a (sara = svara). The Buddha, they say, is\nnot extinct, for he lives in the Dharma and in the Sa\u1e45gha, in the Law\nand in the monks who recite it. Hence the importance of recitation in\nthe Buddhist system (p. 84).\n\n\n\n\n                              LECTURE IV.\n                _The Sa\u1e45gha or Buddhist Order of Monks._\n\n\nPerhaps the first point made clear by the study of the Buddhist\nScriptures is, that the Buddha never seriously thought of founding a new\nsystem in direct opposition to Br\u0101hmanism and caste. Even his Order or\nfraternity of Monks, which attained a world-wide celebrity and spread\nthrough a great part of Asia, was a mere imitation of an institution\nalready established in India. He himself was a Hind\u016b of the Hind\u016bs, and\nhe remained a Hind\u016b to the end. His very name, Gautama, connected him\nwith one of the most celebrated Hind\u016b sages, and was significant of his\noriginal connexion with orthodox Br\u0101hmanism. It is true he was a\ndetermined opponent of all Br\u0101hmanical sacerdotalism and ceremonialism,\nand of all theories about the supernatural character of the Vedas (see\np. 53); but, being himself a Hind\u016b, he never required his adherents to\nmake any formal renunciation of Hind\u016bism, as if they had been converted\nto an entirely new faith; just as, if I may say so with all reverence,\nthe Founder of the Christian Church, being Himself a Jew, never required\nHis followers to give up every Jewish usage.\n\nNor had the Buddha any idea of courting popularity as a champion of\nsocial equality and denouncer of all distinctions of rank and ancient\ntraditions\u2014a kind of Tribune of the people, whose mission was to protect\nthem from the tyranny of the upper classes.\n\nThere was, no doubt, at one time a prevalent opinion among scholars that\nGautama aimed at becoming a great social reformer. It was generally\nsupposed that he began by posing before his fellow-countrymen in a\nsomewhat _ad captandum_ manner as a popular leader and liberator, whose\nmission was to deliver them from the tyranny of caste. But such an\nopinion is now known to be based on mistaken assumptions. What ought\nrather to be claimed for him is that he was the first to establish a\nuniversal brotherhood (Sa\u1e45gha) of c\u0153nobite monks, open to all persons of\nall ranks. In other words, he was the first founder of what may be\ncalled a kind of universal monastic communism (for Buddhist monks never,\nas a rule, lived alone), and the first to affirm that true\nenlightenment\u2014the knowledge of the highest path leading to saintship\u2014was\nnot confined to the Br\u0101hmans, but open to all the members of all castes.\nThis was the only sense in which he abolished caste. His true followers,\nhowever, constituted a caste of their own, distinguished from the laity.\nFrom the want of a more suitable term we are forced to call them\n\u2018monks[35].\u2019\n\nAnd this Order of monks was not a hierarchy. It had no ecclesiastical\norganization under any centralized authority. Its first Head, Gautama,\nappointed no successor. It was not the depository of theological\nlearning. Nor was it a mediatorial caste of priests, claiming to mediate\nbetween earth and heaven. It ought not to be called a Church, and it had\nno rite of ordination in the true sense. It was a brotherhood, in which\nall were under certain obligations of celibacy, moral restraint,\nfasting, poverty, itineration and confession to each other\u2014all were\ndominated by one idea, and pledged to the propagation of the one\ndoctrine, that all life was in itself misery, and to be got rid of by a\nlong course of discipline, as not worth living, whether on earth or in\nheaven, whether in present or future bodies. The founding of a monastic\nbrotherhood of this kind which made personal extinction its final aim,\nand might be co-extensive with the whole world, was the Buddha\u2019s\nprincipal object.\n\nIn point of fact, the so-called enlightenment of mind which entitled him\nto Buddhahood, led him at the early stage of his career into no abstruse\nor transcendental region of thought, but took a very practical\ndirection. It led him to see that an association of monks offering\nequality of condition to high and low, rich and poor, and a haven of\nrefuge to all oppressed by the troubles of life, would soon become\npopular. His Order started with first ten, then fifty, then sixty\noriginal members (see p. 45), but its growth soon surpassed all\nanticipations, and its ramifications extended to distant countries,\nwhere, like the branches of the Indian fig-tree, they sent down roots to\nform vigorous independent plants, even after the decay of the parent\nstem. On this account it was called the fraternity of the four quarters\n(\u0106\u0101tuddisa, Mah\u0101-vagga VIII. 27. 5) of the globe.\n\nIn brief, a carefully regulated monastic brotherhood, which opened its\narms to all comers of all ranks, and enforced on its members the duty of\nextending its boundaries by itinerancy, and by constantly rolling onward\nthe wheel of the true doctrine (Law), constituted in its earliest days\nthe very essence, the very backbone of Buddhism, without which it could\nnever have been propagated, nor even have held its own.\n\nBut we repeat that in this, his main design, Gautama was after all no\ninnovator; no introducer of novel ideas.\n\nMonachism had always been a favourite adjunct of the Br\u0101hminanical\nsystem, and respect for monastic life had taken deep root among the\npeople. Thus we find it laid down in its most authoritative exponent,\nManu\u2019s Law-book (Book VI), that every twice-born man was bound to be\nfirst an unmarried student (Brahma-\u0107\u0101r\u012b), next a married householder,\nand then at the end of a long life he was to abandon wife and family and\nbecome a Sanny\u0101s\u012b, \u2018ascetic,\u2019 or Bhikshu, \u2018mendicant,\u2019 wandering from\ndoor to door. In fact, it was through these very states of life that\nGautama himself, as a Kshatriya, was theoretically bound to have passed.\n\nHind\u016b monks, therefore, were numerous before Buddhism. They belonged to\nvarious sects, and took various vows of self-torture, of silence, of\nfasting, of poverty, of mendicancy, of celibacy, of abandoning caste,\nrank, wife and family. Accordingly they had various names. The Br\u0101hman\nwas called a Sanny\u0101s\u012b, \u2018one who gives up the world.\u2019 Others were called\nVair\u0101g\u012b, \u2018free from affections;\u2019 Yog\u012b, \u2018seeking mystic union with the\nDeity;\u2019 Dig-ambara, \u2018sky-clothed,\u2019 \u2018naked;\u2019 Tapasv\u012b, \u2018practising\nausterities;\u2019 Yati, \u2018restraining desires;\u2019 Jitendriya, \u2018conquering\npassions;\u2019 \u1e60rama\u1e47a, \u2018undergoing discipline;\u2019 Bhikshu, \u2018living by alms;\u2019\nNirgrantha, \u2018without ties.\u2019 Such names prove that asceticism was an\nancient institution. The peculiarity about Gautama\u2019s teaching in regard\nto monachism was that he discouraged[36] solitary asceticism, severe\nausterities, and irrevocable vows, though he enjoined moral restraint in\ncelibate fraternities, conformity to rules of discipline, upright\nconduct, and confession to each other.\n\n[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF MR. GAUR\u012a-\u1e60A\u1e44KAR UDAY-\u1e60A\u1e44KAR, C.S.I., NOW\nSV\u0100M\u012a \u1e60R\u012a SA\u0106\u0106ID\u0100NANDA-SARASVAT\u012a.]\n\n Seated, as a Br\u0101hman Sanny\u0101s\u012b, in meditation (described at p. xiii of\n                             the Preface).\n\nHis usual mode of designating his monks was by the old term Bhikshu\n(P\u0101li Bhikkhu), \u2018living by alms,\u2019 to indicate their poverty. They were\nalso called \u1e60r\u0101ma\u1e47era and \u1e60rama\u1e47a (P\u0101li S\u0101ma\u1e47era, Sama\u1e47a), as subject to\nmonastic discipline[37]. Those who entered the stream leading to\nArhatship (p. 132) were called \u0100rya.\n\nThe term \u1e60r\u0101vaka, \u2018hearers,\u2019 seems to have been used in the H\u012bna-y\u0101na\nsystem to denote great disciples only, and especially those \u2018great\ndisciples\u2019 (p. 47) of Gautama who heard the Law from his own lips, and\nwere afterwards called Sthaviras and became Arhats (p. 133). They had\nalso the title \u0100yushmat, \u2018possessing life.\u2019\n\nWe perceive again the close connexion between Br\u0101hmanism and Buddhism;\nfor clearly the Brahma-\u0107\u0101r\u012b and Sanny\u0101s\u012b of the one became the \u1e60r\u0101ma\u1e47era\nor junior monk, and \u1e60rama\u1e47a or senior monk of the other.\n\nAs to the name \u1e60rama\u1e47a (from root \u1e60ram, \u2018to toil\u2019), bear in mind that,\nalthough Buddhism has acquired the credit of being the easiest religious\nsystem in the world, and its monks are among the idlest of men\u2014as having\nno laborious ceremonies and no work to do for a livelihood\u2014yet in\nreality the carrying out of the great object of extinguishing lusts, and\nso getting rid of the burden of repeated existences, was no sinecure if\nearnestly undertaken. Nor was it possible for men to lead sedentary\nlives, whose only mode of avoiding starvation was by house to house\nitinerancy.\n\nAs to the form of admission, there was no great strictness in early\ntimes, when all applicants were admitted without inquiry. It was only\nwhen the Order increased that murderers, robbers, debtors, soldiers and\nothers in the King\u2019s service, lepers, cripples, blind, one-eyed, deaf\nand dumb, and consumptive persons, and all subject to fits were\nrejected[38].\n\nOriginally it was enough for the Buddha to have said, \u2018Come (ehi),\nfollow me.\u2019 This alone conferred discipleship. In time, however, he\ncommissioned those he had himself admitted to admit others. Then the\nform of admission to the brotherhood was divided into two stages, marked\nby two ceremonies, which have been very unsuitably compared to our\nordination services for deacon and priest. At any rate the term\n\u2018ordination\u2019 is wholly misleading, if any idea of a priestly commission\nor gift of spiritual powers be implied.\n\nThe youthful layman who desired admission to the first degree, or that\nof a novice, had to be at least fifteen years old[39] (Mah\u0101-v\u00b0 I. 50);\nand such novices had to be at least twenty (from conception) before the\nsecond rite or admission to the full monkhood.\n\nThe first rite was called pravrajy\u0101 (pabbajj\u0101), \u2018going forth from home\u2019\n(Mah\u0101-v\u00b0 I. 12). Persons admitted to this first degree of monkhood were\ncalled \u1e60r\u0101ma\u1e47era (S\u0101manera), \u2018novices,\u2019 though they were also called\n\u2018new\u2019 or \u2018junior monks\u2019 (Navako Bhikkhu). They might be admitted by a\nsenior monk without appearing before any formal conclave; but not\nwithout the consent of their parents, and not without attaching\nthemselves to a religious teacher (up\u0101dhy\u0101ya) after their admission. It\nis said that Gautama was urged by his father \u1e60uddhodana to require the\nsanction of parents, in rather touching and remarkable words, to the\nfollowing effect:\u2014\n\n\u2018The love for a son cuts into the cuticle (\u0107havi); having cut into the\ncuticle, it cuts into the inner skin (\u0107amma); having cut into the inner\nskin, it cuts into the flesh; having cut into the flesh, it cuts into\nthe tendons (nh\u0101ru or nah\u0101ru); having cut into the tendons, it cuts into\nthe bones; having cut into the bones, it reaches the marrow\n(a\u1e6d\u1e6dhi-mi\u1e45j\u0101), and abides in the marrow. Let not Pabbajj\u0101, therefore, be\nperformed on a son without his father\u2019s and mother\u2019s permission\u2019\n(Mah\u0101-vagga I. 54).\n\nThe admission ceremony of a novice was extremely simple, and confined to\ncertain acts and words on the part of the candidate, witnessed by any\ncompetent monk. The Sa\u1e45gha, as a body, took no part in it. The novice\nfirst cut off his hair, put on three yellow ragged garments\n(tri-\u0107\u012bvara), adjusted the upper robe so as to leave the right shoulder\nbare, and then before a monk repeated three times the three-refuge\nformula:\n\n  \u2018I go for refuge to the Buddha (Buddha\u1e43 \u1e61ara\u1e47a\u1e43 ga\u0107\u0107h\u0101mi).\u2019\n  \u2018I go for refuge to the Law (Dharma\u1e43 \u1e61ara\u1e47a\u1e43 ga\u0107\u0107h\u0101mi).\u2019\n  \u2018I go for refuge to the Order (Sa\u1e45gha\u1e43 \u1e61ara\u1e47a\u1e43 ga\u0107\u0107h\u0101mi).\u2019\n\nVery remarkably, this, the only prayer of true Buddhism, resembled the\nG\u0101yatr\u012b or sacred prayer of the Veda (repeated by the Brahma-\u0107\u0101r\u012b) in\nconsisting of three times eight syllables. But if the Buddhist novice\nhad a right to the Brahma-\u0107\u0101r\u012b\u2019s sacred cord (upav\u012bta), this was\nprobably abandoned on admission. He was then instructed in the Ten\nPrecepts (Dasa-s\u012bla or sikkh\u0101-pada), which were really ten prohibitions\n(Mah\u0101-vagga I. 56), requiring ten abstinences (verama\u1e47\u012b):\u2014\n\n1. from destroying life (p\u0101\u1e47\u0101tipato = pr\u0101\u1e47\u0101tip\u0101ta); 2. from taking\nanything not given (adinn\u0101d\u0101na); 3. from unchastity (abrahma\u0107ariy\u0101); 4.\nfrom speaking falsely (mus\u0101-v\u0101da = m\u1e5bish\u0101-v\u0101da); 5. from drinking strong\ndrinks (sur\u0101); 6. from eating at forbidden times (vik\u0101la-bhojana); 7.\nfrom dancing, singing, music, and worldly spectacles (vis\u016bka); 8. from\ngarlands, scents, unguents or ornaments; 9. from the use of a high or\nbroad bed; 10. from receiving gold or silver. The prohibition not to\nreceive money, even in return for religious teaching or any supposed\nspiritual benefits conferred, was held to be most important, and was for\na long time obeyed, though in the end monasteries became owners of large\nproperty and landed estates.\n\nOf course the Upasampad\u0101, or admission to full monkhood (described\nMah\u0101-vagga I. 76), was a more formal ceremony. A conclave (Sa\u1e45gha) of at\nleast ten monks was required. The candidate had to appear before them,\nbut was first instructed by some competent and learned monk as to the\nnature of the rite and the questions he would have to answer. This\ninstructor also directed him to choose some other monk competent to act\nas his Up\u0101dhy\u0101ya (upajjh\u0101ya) or teacher for five years after his\nadmission, and made him provide himself with an alms-bowl and with the\nusual yellow monkish vestments. Then his first instructor presented\nhimself before the conclave and informed them that the candidate was\nready to be admitted. Thereupon the novice came forward, adjusted his\nupper garment so as to cover the left shoulder, bowed down before the\nfeet of the assembled monks, seated himself on the ground, and, raising\nhis joined hands, asked three times for admission to the full monkhood,\nthus:\u2014\u2018I entreat the Sa\u1e45gha for full monkhood (Upasampad\u0101), have\ncompassion on me and uproot me (ullumpatu m\u0101m) from the world,\u2019 repeated\nthrice.\n\nThereupon he was questioned [not, as in our Ordination Service: \u2018Are you\ninwardly moved by the Holy Spirit to take upon you this office?\u2019 Not:\n\u2018Will you apply all your diligence to frame and fashion your own life\nand that of your family so as to be wholesome examples?\u2019 but] thus:\u2014Are\nyou free from leprosy, boils, consumption, fits, etc. Are you a male?\nAre you a free man and not in the royal service? Are you free from\ndebts? Have you the consent of your parents? Are you full twenty years\nold? Have you an alms-bowl and vestments? What is your name? What is\nyour teacher\u2019s name?\n\nIf the answers were satisfactory the candidate was admitted. After\nadmission no prayer was pronounced [such as in our Ordination Service:\n\u2018We beseech Thee, merciful Father, send on Thy servant Thy heavenly\nblessing that he may be clothed with righteousness\u2019[40]]; but he was\ninformed that he was to trust to only four Resources (nissaya), and to\nabstain from four chief forbidden acts (akara\u1e47\u012by\u0101ni). These four\nResources and four Prohibitions were then communicated to him thus:\u2014\n\nFirst the four Resources as follow:\u2014(1) Broken morsels given in alms for\nfood; (2) Rags from a dust-heap for clothes; (3) Roots of trees for an\nabode; (4) Liquid putrefying excreta of cows for medicine. Note,\nhowever, that, in practice, indulgences (atirekha-l\u0101bha) were in all\nfour cases allowed; such as, better food when it happened to be given,\nor when invited to dinner by rich laymen; linen, cotton, or woollen\ngarments, if dyed yellow and in three pieces (but only one change was\nallowed); houses, huts, or caves to dwell in, when not itinerating;\nghee, honey, or molasses when out of health (Mah\u0101-v\u00b0 I. 30. 4).\n\nNext the four chief Prohibitions (compare the Ten Prohibitions, p. 78),\nviz.:\u2014(1) Unchastity and sexual acts of any kind; (2) Taking anything\nnot given, even a blade of grass; (3) Killing any living thing, even an\nant, or worm, or plant; (4) Falsely claiming the extraordinary powers of\na perfected saint (uttarimanussa-dhamma. Mah\u0101-v\u00b0 I. 78. 2).\n\nClearly there were great temptations to gain celebrity by claiming such\npowers, or else this fourth prohibition would not have terminated the\nceremony.\n\nSo soon as a man was admitted to full monkhood, he went through a five\nyears\u2019 course of instruction in the entire doctrine and discipline,\nunder the preceptor (Up\u0101dhy\u0101ya, \u0100\u0107\u0101rya) who had been previously chosen\nand was required to be of at least ten years\u2019 standing.\n\nThis was a modification of the Br\u0101hmanical rule that a student\n(Brahma-\u0107\u0101r\u012b) should study under his preceptor for thirty-six years, or\nless, until he knew the Veda.\n\nThe full Buddhist monk had in theory to dwell under trees or in huts\nformed of leaves (p\u0101\u1e47-s\u0101l\u0101 = pa\u1e47\u1e47a-s\u0101la = par\u1e47a-\u1e61\u0101l\u0101); but practically\nhe resided in collections of simple mud or brick tenements, in cells, or\nin rows of caves hewn out of rocky hills. At any rate, collections of\nmonastic dwellings, called Vih\u0101ras[41], were his usual abode during\nVassa (or the rainy season, see p. 82); and at such times he had\nfellow-monks (saddhivih\u0101rika) living in companies around him, or in the\nsame monastery.\n\nStrict discipline was supposed to be enforced, and yet there was no\ncentral authority, no Chief Hierarch, no Archbishop whom he was bound\n\u2018reverently to obey.\u2019\n\nOffences against the four forbidden acts were called P\u0101r\u0101jik\u0101 \u0101patti,\n\u2018offences meriting expulsion from the community of monks (Sa\u1e45gha).\u2019\n\nThen there were thirteen Sa\u1e45gh\u0101dises\u0101 \u0101patti, as well as certain Dukkata\nor less serious offences, requiring only confession before the Sa\u1e45gha,\nand dealt with by a Sa\u1e45gha-kamma, or act of a conclave of monks imposing\nsome penance. There were penances (Pr\u0101ya\u1e61-\u0107itta) for lying,\nprevarication, abusive language, destroying vegetable or animal life,\netc. (see P\u0101timokkha, P\u0101\u0107ittiy\u0101 dhamm\u0101, and pp. 62, 84). The following\npractices were also incumbent on all monks:\u2014\n\n(1) The wearing vestments given by laymen (not purchased) and consisting\nof three lengths of yellow-coloured rags; or, if entire lengths of\ncotton cloths were given, the saleable value had to be destroyed by\ntearing them into at least three pieces, and then sewing them together;\n(2) The owning no possessions except the three cloths, a girdle, bowl,\nrazor, needle, and water-strainer to prevent the swallowing of\nanimalcul\u00e6; (3) The living only on food collected in a wooden bowl by\ndaily going from house to house, but without ever asking for it; (4) The\neating at mid-day the one meal so collected and at no other time; (5)\nThe fasting on four prescribed days; (6) The abiding in one spot for\nthree or four months during Vassa, \u2018the rains\u2019 (from middle of June to\nmiddle of October), when itineration would involve trampling on\nvegetable and insect life; (7) The refraining from a recumbent posture\nunder all circumstances; (8) The visiting cremation-grounds for\nmeditation on the corruption of the body.\n\nIn truth it might almost be said that in every movement and action, in\nwaking and sleeping, in dressing and undressing, in standing and\nsitting, in going out and coming in, in fasting and eating, in speaking\nand not speaking, the Buddhist monk had to submit to the most stringent\nregulations.\n\nIt was a noteworthy feature in Buddhist monachism that monks were never\nallowed to appear in public in a state of even semi-nudity. \u2018Properly\nclad,\u2019 says the Sekhiy\u0101 dhamm\u0101 (4), \u2018must the monk itinerate.\u2019 \u2018Not\nnakedness,\u2019 says the Dhamma-pada (141), \u2018can purify a mortal who has not\novercome desires.\u2019 The monk\u2019s three garments (ti\u0107\u012bvara = tri-\u0107\u012bvara)\nwere an inner one (antara-v\u0101saka), another wound about the thighs\n(sa\u1e45gh\u0101\u1e6d\u012b) and an upper robe (uttar\u0101sa\u1e45ga) worn loosely and brought\nround over the left shoulder. This constituted an important distinction\nbetween the Buddhist monks and the Jaina and other naked ascetics whose\nwant of decency the Buddha condemned.\n\nThe Buddhist monk\u2019s daily life probably began by meditation and by his\nreciting or intoning (Bh\u0101\u1e47a, Sarabha\u00f1\u00f1a) portions of the Law, or by\nhearing it recited, followed perhaps by lessons in doctrine, or by\ndiscussions or by confessions. Next came itineration for food, followed\nby the one noon-day meal. Then came rest and further meditation and\nrecitation, while possibly the senior monks preached to laymen. Such\npreaching took place especially during Vassa. In later times the daily\nduties included offering flowers, etc., at sacred shrines, and repeating\nso-called prayers, which were merely forms of words used as charms.\n\nTo illustrate the immensely meritorious efficacy of constant recitation\nof the Law, a story is told of five hundred bats that lived in a cave\nwhere two monks daily recited the Dharma. These bats gained such merit\nby simply hearing the sound that when they died they were all re-born as\nmen and ultimately as gods.\n\nDoubtless quarrels and faults of omission and commission occurred among\nthe monks, especially during their residence together in Vassa\n(miscalled the Buddhist Lent). We read of six monks named \u0106habbaggiya\nwho were constantly committing offences. Hence a day called Pav\u0101ra\u1e47\u0101\n(Prav\u0101ra\u1e47\u0101), \u2018invitation,\u2019 was kept at the end of Vassa, when all were\ninvited to assemble for confession and for felicitation, if harmony had\nbeen preserved.\n\nAn important part of every monk\u2019s duties was confession on Uposatha\n(Upavasatha) or fast-days (miscalled the Buddhist sabbaths)\u2014which were\nkept at first on two days in each month, at full and new moon\n(corresponding to the Dar\u1e61a and Paur\u1e47am\u0101sa days of Br\u0101hmanism), and\nafterwards also at the intermediate days of quarter-moon. On these four\nUposatha days the P\u0101timokkha or general confession (p. 62) was recited.\nThe confession was by monks to each other, not by laymen to monks,\nthough the four days were also observed by laymen, and we know that\nA\u1e61oka enjoined periodical ceremonies, and expression of sorrow for sins\non the part of all his subjects. Such confession did not cause remission\nof sin or absolution in our sense, but only release from evil\nconsequences by penances (p. 62).\n\nWe have learnt, then, that Buddhist monks were not under irrevocable\nvows. They undertook to obey rules of discipline, but took no actual\nvows\u2014not even of obedience to a superior. Buddhist monkhood was purely\nvoluntary, so that all were free to come and go. It had nothing\nhereditary about it like the rank of a Br\u0101hman.\n\nWe have also learnt, that the term \u2018priest\u2019 is not suitably applied to\nBuddhist monks. For true Buddhism has no ecclesiastical hierarchy, no\nclergy, no priestly ordination; no divine revelation, no ceremonial\nrites, no prayer, no worship in the proper sense of these terms. Each\nman was a priest to himself in so far as he depended on himself alone\nfor internal sanctification.\n\nEvidently, too, all Buddhist monks were integral parts of one organic\nwhole. It is true that in the end they were collected in various\nmonasteries, each of which practically became an independent Sa\u1e45gha\n(each under one Head). But in theory all were parts of one and the same\nbrotherhood, which was republican and communistic in its constitution.\nAnd this word Sa\u1e45gha cannot be correctly rendered by \u2018church,\u2019 if by\nthat term is meant an ecclesiastical body with legislative functions,\nembracing clergy and _laity_ united in a common faith and under one\nHead; for as founded by the Buddha, it was not this. It was simply a\nvast fraternity intended to embrace all monks of the four quarters\n(\u0107aturdi\u1e61a) of the world, from the Buddha himself and the perfected\nArhat (p. 133), to every monk of the lowest degree, but not a single\nlayman. Indeed in its highest sense the Sa\u1e45gha comprised only true\nNirv\u0101\u1e47a-seeking monks who had entered the paths of true sanctification\n(p. 132).\n\nAnd here observe that, notwithstanding the stigma attached to unmarried\nwomen in India, Gautama in the end permitted an Order of Nuns (P\u0101li\nBhikkhun\u012b) and female novices (S\u0101ma\u1e47er\u012b, p. 47). The \u0106ulla-vagga (X. I.\n3) relates how women were indebted to the intercession of a monk,\nGautama\u2019s cousin \u0100nanda, for permission to form an Order, and how\nMah\u0101-praj\u0101pat\u012b, the Buddha\u2019s nurse (p. 24), became the first nun; yet\nwhen \u0100nanda first asked: \u2018How are we monks to behave when we see women?\u2019\nGautama replied: \u2018Don\u2019t see them.\u2019 \u2018But if we should see them, what are\nwe to do?\u2019 \u2018Don\u2019t speak to them.\u2019 \u2018But if they speak to us, what then?\u2019\n\u2018Let your thoughts be fixed in deep meditation\u2019 (Sati upa\u1e6d\u1e6dh\u0101petabb\u0101.\nMah\u0101-parin\u00b0 V. 23).\n\nClearly the Buddha was originally a misogynist as well as a misogamist,\nand wished his followers to be misogynists also. Even when he had been\ninduced to admit the justice of the plea for women\u2019s rights, he placed\nhis nuns under the direction of monks. They could only be admitted by\nmonks, and were subject to the male Order in all matters of discipline.\nThey were under eight special obligations, one of which was to rise up\nin the presence of a monk, even if a novice.\n\nThe Buddha\u2019s exhortation to the first nun is noteworthy:\u2014\u2018Whatsoever, O\nGotam\u012b (Mah\u0101-praj\u0101pat\u012b), conduces to absence of passion, to absence of\npride, to wishing for little and not for much, to seclusion and not to\nlove of society, to earnest effort and not to indolence, to contentment\nand not to querulousness, verily that is the true doctrine\u2019 (\u0106ulla-v\u00b0 X.\n5).\n\nIt was certainly a great gain for a woman when she was permitted to\nbecome a nun (or a Ther\u012b); for, as a nun, she could even attain\nArhatship. This is clearly laid down in \u0106ulla-vagga X. 1. 3. 4. No\nwoman, however, could attain to Buddhahood without being born as a man,\nso that it could scarcely be said that in Buddha there is \u2018neither male\nnor female.\u2019\n\nSuch, then, was the monachism which constituted the very pith and marrow\nof Buddhism. All truly enlightened disciples of Buddha were monks or\nnuns.\n\nLet us not forget, however, that in practice Buddhism admitted\nlay-brothers, lay-sisters, married householders and working-men, as\nnecessary adjuncts.\n\nYet they were only appendages. Of course the Buddha knew very well that\nit was not possible to enforce celibacy on all his followers. He knew\nthat having prohibited his monks from making or taking money or holding\nproperty, they would have to depend on lay-associates and householders\nfor food, clothing, and habitation, and that, if every layman were to\nbecome a monk, there would be no work done, no food produced, no\nchildren born, and in time no humanity\u2014nay, no Buddhism\u2014left.\n\nUniversal monkhood, in short, might have been a consummation to be aimed\nat in some Utopia; but was practically unattainable. In fact Gautama had\nto take the world as he found it, and the very idea of a world\nperpetuating itself\u2014according to his own theory of a constant succession\nof birth, decay, and reproduction\u2014implied that a youth, on reaching\nmanhood, married, had children, worked and earned a livelihood for their\nsupport. He could not impose this burden on others.\n\nBesides, the generality of people were in Gautama\u2019s day what they are in\nIndia now-a-days\u2014bent on early marriage, and resolute in working hard\nfor a livelihood. Even Manu only enjoined celibacy on young religious\nstudents and on old men, though there were occasional cases of perpetual\n(naish\u1e6dhika) Brahma-\u0107\u0101rins.\n\nWithout doubt, celibacy in instances of extraordinary sanctity has\nalways commanded respect in India; but in no country of the world has\nmarried life been so universally honoured. It is not very likely, then,\nthat the following sentiments, enunciated by the Buddha, could have met\nwith general approval:\u2014\n\n\u2018A wise man should avoid married life (abrahma-\u0107ariyam) as if it were a\nburning pit of live coals\u2019 (Dhammika-Sutta 21).\n\n\u2018Full of hindrances is married life, defiled by passion. How can one who\ndwells at home live the higher life in all its purity?\u2019 (Tevijja-Sutta\n47).\n\nAnd in reality Buddha\u2019s anti-matrimonial doctrines _did_ excite\nopposition. The people murmured and said, \u2018He is come to bring\nchildlessness among us, and widowhood, and destruction of family-life.\u2019\nIndeed, the two facts\u2014first, that the foundations of Buddhism were not\nlaid (as those of Christianity notably are), on the hallowed hearth of\nhome and on the sacred rock of family-life with its daily round of\nhonest work; and\u2014secondly, that the precept enjoining monkhood and\nabstinence from marriage was not combined with any organized\necclesiastical hierarchy under a central government, are sufficient to\naccount for the circumstance that Buddhism never gained any real\nstability in India.\n\nNo doubt lay-brethren were always welcomed; but they were bound to\nBuddhism by very slender ties in regard to dogma, and were only expected\nto conform to the simplest possible code of morality.\n\nProbably the only form of admission for a layman was the repetition of\nthe 24 syllables of the three-refuge (tri-\u1e61ara\u1e47a) formula:\u2014\u2018I go for\nrefuge to the Buddha, his Law and his Order\u2019 (p. 78). It was of course\nunderstood that he was to abstain from the five gross sins (p. 126), but\nhe was already bound to do so by the rules of Hind\u016b caste and\nfamily-religion. The chief test of his Buddhism was his readiness to\nserve the monks. It was for this reason, I think, that lay-adherents\nwere not called, as might have been expected, \u1e60r\u0101vakas, \u2018Hearers,\u2019 but\nsimply Up\u0101sakas, \u2018Servers,\u2019 and in the case of women Up\u0101sik\u0101s. They\ncould not be called disciples of Buddha in the _truest sense_, unless\nthey entered his monastic Order.\n\nOf course the majority of Buddhist householders never cared to do this.\nTheir chief religion consisted in giving food and clothing, earned by\ndaily toil, to the monks[42]. If they failed in this, there was only one\npunishment. They were forbidden the privilege of giving at all, and so\nof accumulating a store of merit. No monk was allowed to ask them for a\nsingle thing. Of course, too, the majority of Buddhist householders were\nworldly-minded; they were no believers in ultra-pessimistic views of\nlife. They looked for a life in some heaven, not Nirv\u0101\u1e47a. Yet in theory\nall laymen might enter the paths of sanctification (p. 132), and\nthousands of earnest men are said to have done so[43].\n\nA layman\u2019s progress, however, towards Arhatship, except through monkhood\nand abandoning the world, was almost hopelessly barred. At page 264 of\nthe Milinda-pa\u00f1ha it is implied that an earnest layman might become an\nArhat, even while still a layman, but he had either to enter monkhood or\nelse to pass away in Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a (p. 140) at the moment of becoming so.\n\nThe best proof of the truth of this view of the matter is, that after a\nlayman had attached himself to the Buddha, the Law, and the Order, he\nwas not required to undergo any initiatory ceremony, like baptism, or to\nreceive any stamp of membership, or to assume a peculiar dress, or to\ngive up all belief in his family religion, or caste-customs. In short,\nhe did not as a lay-brother break entirely with Hind\u016bism.\n\nThat universal tolerance was of the very essence of Buddhism is\nindicated by A\u1e61oka\u2019s twelfth edict:\u2014\u2018The beloved of the gods honours all\nforms of religious faith\u2014there ought to be reverence for one\u2019s own faith\nand no reviling of that of others.\u2019 Compare p. 126.\n\nNor did Gautama himself ever set an example of intolerance. He never\nrailed at the Br\u0101hmans. He treated them with respect, and taught others\nto do so; and even adopted the title Br\u0101hma\u1e47a for his own saints and\nArhats (Dhamma-pada 383-423).\n\nWhat he opposed was priestcraft and superstition, not Br\u0101hmanism; as\nindeed other reformers had done before him. Probably the great\nreceptivity of Buddhism was one of the causes that led to its decay in\nIndia.\n\nYet Gautama\u2019s victory over one of the most inveterate propensities in\nhuman nature\u2014the tendency to seek salvation through a mediatorial caste\nof priests\u2014was a wonderful achievement. This is proved by the fact that\nhis followers in other countries became re-entangled in a network of\npriestcraft, even more enslaving than that out of which he had rescued\nthem.\n\nKoeppen, Rhys Davids, and other writers have well shown that the\nBuddhism of Tibet, with its Pope-like grand L\u0101mas\u2014its cardinals and\nabbots, monks and mendicant friars, nuns and novices, canonized saints\nand angelic hosts, temples and costly shrines, monasteries and\nnunneries, images and pictures, altars and relics, robes and mitres,\nrosaries and consecrated water, litanies and chants, processions and\npilgrimages, confessions and penances, bell-ringing and incense\u2014is in\neverything, except doctrine, almost a counterpart of the Romish system.\nHow little could the Buddha have foreseen such a development of his\nbrotherhood of monks, whose chief duties were meditation and\nitineration!\n\nAnd what is to be said of the present condition of the Buddhist\nmonkhood? Do we see anywhere evidences of that enlightenment of mind\nwhich Buddhism claims as its chief characteristic?\n\nWhen I was travelling in Ceylon, I met a few learned monks, but the\nmajority seemed to me idle, ignorant, and indifferent.\n\nIn Burma the monks are called Pung\u012bs (Phongies), and are a little more\nactive. Every youth in Burma is supposed for a time to inhabit a\nmonastery.\n\nIn Tibet the monks are called L\u0101mas (a lower title being Gelong) and\nconstitute a large proportion of the population. They are slaves to\ngross superstitions. Some are mere devil-charmers, a belief in the power\nof evil spirits being the chief religion of the people.\n\nIn China the monks are called Ho-shang (or Ho-sang). They constitute the\nonly section of the population who have a right to be called Buddhists,\nthough, after all, they are mere pseudo-Buddhists. Professor Legge\ninforms me that he has known a few learned men among them, and learned\nworks have been written by them. But the general testimony of Europeans\nin China is that the mass of the monks there are simply drones, or\naimless dreamers, who go through their repetitions by rote. Almost all\nare conspicuous for apathy, inertness, and a vacant idiotic expression\nof countenance.\n\nClearly we have in their condition an example of the fact that even\nmoral restraint, if carried to the extreme of extinguishing all the\nnatural affections and desires, must inevitably be followed by a\nNemesis. Surely we have in these monkish fraternities an illustration of\nthe truth that any transgression of the laws of nature, common-sense,\nand reason\u2014any suppression of the primary instincts of humanity, must in\nthe end incur the penalty attached to every violation of the eternal\nordinances of God.\n\n\n\n\n                               LECTURE V.\n               _The Philosophical Doctrines of Buddhism._\n\n\nOne of the most noteworthy points in the early history of Buddhistic\nthought is that while Gautama Buddha denied the existence of Brahm\u0101 as a\npersonal Creator, and repudiated the Veda and all Vedic sacrifices and\nceremonial observances, he at the same time made the philosophical\nteaching of the Br\u0101hmans the point of departure for his own peculiar\nphilosophical teaching.\n\nAnother noteworthy point is that while Buddhism was undoubtedly a\nmodification of philosophical Br\u0101hmanism, the latter was also modified\nby an interchange with Buddhistic ideas.\n\nIt may certainly be questioned whether Gautama himself, in the early\nstages of his career, ever caused much offence to the most orthodox\nBr\u0101hmans by the free expression of his opinions. He did not spare either\nhis criticism or sarcasm, but it is well known that the Br\u0101hmans were\nnot only tolerant of criticism; they were equally critical themselves,\nand delighted in controversial discussions, as they do to this day.\n\nIn the Tevijja-Sutta an account is given of a discussion in which,\nthough Gautama expressed himself strongly, he does not seem to have\nexcited any wrath in his opponent\u2014a Br\u0101hman named V\u0101settha.\n\nThe argument attributed to the Buddha is so remarkable that a portion of\nit may be given here:\u2014\n\n\u2018Then you say, V\u0101settha, that not one of the Br\u0101hmans, or of their\nteachers, or of their pupils, even up to the seventh generation, has\never seen Brahman (the God of the Br\u0101hmans) face to face. And that even\nthe \u1e5aishis of old, the utterers of the ancient verses, which the\nBr\u0101hmans of to-day so carefully intone and recite precisely as they have\nbeen handed down\u2014even they did not pretend to know or to have seen where\nor whence or whither Brahman is. So that the Br\u0101hmans versed in the\nthree Vedas have forsooth said thus: \u201cTo a state of union with that\nwhich we know not and have not seen, we can show the way and can say:\n\u2018This is the straight path, this is the direct way which leads him who\nacts according to it, into a state of union with Brahman[44].\u2019\u201d\n\n\u2018Now what think you, V\u0101settha? Does it not follow, this being so, that\nthe talk of the Br\u0101hmans, versed though they be in the three Vedas, is\nfoolish talk?\n\n\u2018Verily, V\u0101settha, that Br\u0101hmans versed in the three Vedas should be\nable to show the way to a state of union with that which they do not\nknow, neither have seen\u2014such a condition of things has no existence.\n\n\u2018As when a string of blind men are clinging one to the other, neither\ncan the foremost see, nor can the middle one see, nor can the hindmost\nsee, just so is the talk of the Br\u0101hmans versed in the three Vedas[44].\u2019\n\nThese no doubt were trenchant words, but it might easily be shown that\nthe Br\u0101hmans themselves did not scruple to use almost as strong language\nagainst their own revelation. For instance, the \u0106h\u0101ndogya Upanishad (p.\n473) speaks of the Veda as \u2018mere name\u2019 (n\u0101ma eva). The B\u1e5bihad\u0101ra\u1e47yaka\nUpanishad declares that when a man is in a condition of knowledge, \u2018the\ngods are no gods to him, and the Veda no Veda;\u2019 and the Mu\u1e47\u1e0daka\ndescribes the sacrificial Veda as inferior to Brahma-vidy\u0101.\n\nAnd in truth every Hind\u016b was allowed to choose one of three ways of\nsecuring his own salvation.\n\nThe first was \u2018the way of works\u2019 (Karma-m\u0101rga), that is to say, of\nsacrifices (Yaj\u00f1a), of ceremonial rites, of lustral washings, penances\nand pilgrimages, as enjoined in the Mantra and Br\u0101hma\u1e47a portion of the\nVeda, in Manu, the Law-books and parts of the Pur\u0101\u1e47as.\n\nThe second was \u2018the way of faith\u2019 (bhakti), meaning by that term\ndevotion to one or other of certain commonly worshipped personal\ndeities,\u2014a way leading in later times to the worship of \u1e60iva and Vish\u1e47u\n(unfolded in the Pur\u0101\u1e47as), and involving merely heart-devotion, without\nsacrificial or ceremonial acts.\n\nThe third was \u2018the way of knowledge\u2019 (J\u00f1\u0101na), as set forth in the\nUpanishads.\n\nThe medi\u00e6val Br\u0101hman Kum\u0101rila\u2014a really historical teacher\u2014advocated the\nfirst way; another teacher of less note, \u1e60\u0101\u1e47\u1e0dilya, advocated the second;\nanother celebrated historical teacher, \u1e60a\u1e45kara, advocated the third.\n\nEven in Gautama\u2019s time any one of these ways or all three together might\nbe chosen, so long as the authority of the Br\u0101hmans was not impugned.\n\nThis, at least, is the general teaching of the Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101\u2014an eclectic\nwork which is the most popular exponent of the Hind\u016b creed[45].\n\nYet even the Author of the Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101 had a preference for the way of\nknowledge. In one passage (II. 42) he describes the Veda as \u2018mere\nflowery doctrine\u2019 (pushpit\u0101 v\u0101\u0107), and is careful to point out that works\nmust be performed as acts of devotion leading to absorption into the\nSupreme (Brahma-nirv\u0101\u1e47am).\n\nIndeed there can be no doubt that it was generally held by the Br\u0101hmans\nof Buddha\u2019s time that the way of knowledge was the highest way. But this\nway was not open to all. It was reserved for the privileged few\u2014for the\nmore intellectual and philosophically-minded Br\u0101hmans. The generality of\nmen had to content themselves with the first and second ways.\n\nWhat the Buddha then did was this:\u2014First he stretched out the right hand\nof brotherhood to all mankind by inviting all without exception to join\nhis fraternity of celibate monks, which he wished to be co-extensive\nwith the world itself. Then he abolished the first and second ways of\nsalvation (p. 95), that is, Yaj\u00f1a, \u2018sacrifices,\u2019 and Bhakti, \u2018devotion\nto personal gods,\u2019 and substituted for these meditation and moral\nconduct as the only road to true knowledge and emancipation. And then,\nlastly, he threw open this highest way of true knowledge to all who\nwished to enter it, of whatever rank or caste or mental calibre they\nmight be, not excepting the most degraded.\n\nWithout doubt the distinguishing feature in the Buddha\u2019s gospel was that\nno living being, not even the lowest, was to be shut out from true\nenlightenment.\n\nAnd here it will be necessary to inquire more closely into the nature of\nthat knowledge which the Buddha thus made accessible to every creature\nin the universe.\n\nWas it some deep mystery? Some occult doctrine of physical or\nmetaphysical science? Some startling revelation of a law of nature never\nbefore imparted to the world? Was the Buddha\u2019s open way very different\nfrom the old, well-fenced-off Br\u0101hmanical way?\n\nOf one point we may be certain. He was too sensible to cast aside all\nancient traditions. Nor was he a mere enthusiast claiming to be the sole\npossessor of a new secret for regenerating society.\n\nUnhappily, however, we are here met by a difficulty. The Buddha never,\nlike Muhammad, wrote a book, or, so far as we know, a line. He was the\nSocrates of India, and we are obliged to trust to the record of his\nsayings (see p. 38). Still we have no reason to doubt the genuineness of\nwhat was for some time handed down orally in regard to the doctrines he\ntaught, and we are struck with the fact that Gautama called his own\nknowledge _Bodhi_ (from _budh_, \u2018to understand\u2019), and not _Veda_ (from\n_vid_, \u2018to know\u2019). Probably by doing so he wished to imply that his own\nknowledge was attainable by all through their own intuitions, inner\nconsciousness, and self-enlightening intellect, and was to be\ndistinguished from _Veda_ or knowledge obtainable through the Br\u0101hmans\nalone, and by them through supernatural revelation only. Hence, too, he\ngave to every being destined to become a Buddha the title Bodhi-sattva\n(Bodhi-satta), \u2018one having knowledge derived from _self-enlightening\nintellect_ for his essence.\u2019\n\nBut it should be noted, that even in the choice of a name derived from\nthe Sanskrit root _budh_, the Buddha only adopted the phraseology of the\nS\u0101\u1e45khya philosophy and of the Br\u0101hma\u1e47as. The S\u0101\u1e45khya system made Buddhi,\n\u2018intellect,\u2019 its great principle (Mahat), and the \u1e60atapatha-br\u0101hma\u1e47a\ncalled a man who had attained to perfect knowledge of Self\nprati-buddha[46]. It may be pointed out, too, that Manu (IV. 204) uses\nthe same root when he calls his wise man Budha.\n\nMoreover, the doctrines which grew out of his own special knowledge\nGautama still called _Dharma_ (Dhamma), \u2018law,\u2019 using the very same term\nemployed by the Br\u0101hmans\u2014a term expressive of law in its most\ncomprehensive sense, as comprising under it the physical laws of the\nUniverse, as well as moral and social duties.\n\nIn what, then, did the Buddha\u2019s Dharma differ from that of the Br\u0101hmans?\nOne great distinction certainly was that it contained no esoteric\n(rahasya) and metaphysical doctrines in regard to matter and spirit,\nreserved for the privileged few; yet some of its root-ideas were after\nall mere modifications of the S\u0101\u1e45khya, Yoga, and Ved\u0101nta systems of\nphilosophy. His way of knowledge, though it developed into many paths,\nhad the same point of departure. It was a knowledge of the truth, that\nall life was merely one link in a series of successive existences, and\ninseparably bound up with misery. Moreover as there were two causes of\nthat misery\u2014lust and ignorance\u2014so there were two cures.\n\nThe first cure was _the suppression of lust and desire_, especially of\nall desire for continuity of existence.\n\nThe second cure was _the removal of ignorance_. Indeed Ignorance was,\naccording to Gautama, the first factor in the misery of life, and stands\nfirst in his chain of causation (p. 102). Not, however, the Ved\u0101ntist\u2019s\nignorance\u2014not ignorance of the fact that man and the universe are\nidentical with God, but ignorance of the four truths of Buddhism (p.\n43):\u2014ignorance that all life is misery, and that the misery of life is\ncaused by indulging lusts, and will cease by suppressing them.\n\nIt would be easy to show how all Indian philosophy was a mere scheme for\ngetting rid of the bugbear of metempsychosis, and how common was the\ndoctrine that everything is for the worst in the worst of all possible\nworlds. This was taught by the Br\u0101hmans five centuries B.C., and\ncontinued to be a thoroughly Hind\u016b idea long after the disappearance of\nBuddhism. Witness the following from the Maitr\u0101ya\u1e47i Upanishad:\u2014\n\n  In this weak body, ever liable\n  To wrath, ambition, avarice, illusion,\n  To fear, grief, envy, hatred, separation\n  From those we hold most dear, association\n  With those we hate; continually exposed\n  To hunger, thirst, disease, decrepitude,\n  Emaciation, growth, decline and death,\n  What relish can there be for true enjoyment?\n\nAlso the following, from Manu (VI. 77):\u2014\n\n  This body, like a house composed of the (five) elements, with bones\n  for its rafters, tendons for its connecting links, flesh and blood for\n  its mortar, skin for its covering; this house filled with impurities,\n  infested by sorrow and old age, the seat of disease, full of pain and\n  passion, and not lasting\u2014a man ought certainly to abandon.\n\nAlso Bhart\u1e5bi-hari (Vair\u0101gya-\u1e61ataka III. 32. 50):\u2014\n\n  Enjoyments are alloyed by fear of sickness,\n  High rank may have a fall, abundant wealth\n  Is subject to exactions, dignity\n  Encounters risk of insult, strength is ever\n  In danger of enfeeblement by foes,\n  A handsome form is jeoparded by women,\n  Scripture is open to assaults of critics,\n  Merit incurs the spite of wicked men,\n  The body lives in constant dread of death\u2014\n  One course alone is proof against alarm,\n  Renounce the world, and safety may be won.\n\n  One hundred years[47] is the appointed span\n  Of human life, one half of this goes by\n  In sleep and night; one half the other half\n  In childhood and old age; the rest is passed\n  In sickness, separation, pain, and service\u2014\n  How can a human being find delight\n  In such a life, vain as a watery bubble?\n\nNo doubt this kind of pessimism has always found advocates in all ages,\nand among all nations in Europe as well as in Asia. It was a favourite\nidea with the Stoics, and it has found favour with Schopenhauer, Von\nHartmann, and other modern philosophers; and Shakespeare makes Hamlet\ngive expression to it.\n\nHappily the general tone of European philosophical thought is in another\nkey, and the admirers of Aristotle still constitute a majority in\nEurope. The great Stagirite described God as \u2018Energy,\u2019 and in dealing\nwith Solon\u2019s dictum that \u2018no man can be called happy while he lives,\u2019\ngave expression to a different belief. A good man\u2019s virtuous energies,\nhe asserted, are in this present life a genuine source of happiness to\nhim; misfortunes cannot shake his well-balanced character; he surmounts\nthe worst sufferings by generous magnanimity[48].\n\nEven in the East a greater than Aristotle and no less an Authority than\nthe true \u2018Light of the world\u2019\u2014bade men rejoice and leap for joy under\nthe most trying circumstances of life, and prize His gift of Eternal\nLife as their highest good.\n\nIn India, on the contrary, the Upanishads and systems of philosophy\nwhich followed on them, all harped on the same string. They all dwelt on\nthe same minor key-note. Their real object was not to investigate truth,\nbut to devise a scheme for removing the misery believed to result from\nrepeated bodily existence and from all action, good or bad, in the\npresent, previous, and future births.\n\nThe S\u0101\u1e45khya (I. 1) defines the chief aim of man to be deliverance from\nthe pain incident to bodily life and energy; or according to the Ny\u0101ya\n(I. 2), from the pain resulting from birth, actions, and false\nknowledge; while the Ved\u0101nta considers that ignorance alone fetters the\nsoul of man to a body, and the Yoga defines the divine Purusha (= the\nperfect man of Buddhism) as a being unaffected by pain (kle\u1e61a), acts,\nconsequences of acts, and impressions derived from acts done in previous\nbirths (\u0101\u1e61aya = sa\u1e49\u1e61k\u0101ra).\n\nGautama\u2019s sympathy with these ideas is shown by the twelve-linked chain\nof causation, put forth by him as an accompaniment to his four\nfundamental truths (p. 43), and thus expressed (Mah\u0101-vagga I. 1. 2):\u2014\n\nFrom Ignorance comes the combination of formations or tendencies\n(instincts derived from former births[49]); from such formations comes\nconsciousness (vij\u00f1\u0101na); from consciousness, individual being\n(n\u0101ma-r\u016bpa, name and form); from individual being, the six organs of\nsense (including mind); from the six organs, contact (with objects of\nsense); from contact, sensation (vedan\u0101); from sensation, desire (lust,\nthirst, ta\u1e49h\u0101 = t\u1e5bish\u1e47\u0101); from desire, clinging to life (up\u0101d\u0101na); from\nclinging to life, continuity of becoming (bhava); from continuity of\nbecoming, birth; from birth, decay and death; from decay and death,\nsuffering.\n\nIt is difficult to discover a strictly logical sequence in this curious\ntwelve-linked chain. The first link is a cause, the ten following are\nboth causes and effects, while the last is an effect only. The second\n(sa\u1e43kh\u0101r\u0101) is presented to us afterwards as one of the Skandhas (p.\n109), and we have the whole inverted in a kind of circular chain in the\nform of question and answer, thus:\u2014\n\nWhat is the cause of misery and suffering? _Answer_\u2014Old age and death.\nWhat is the cause of old age and death? _Answer_\u2014Birth. Of birth?\n_Answer_\u2014Continuity of becoming. Of continuity of becoming?\n_Answer_\u2014Clinging to life. Of clinging to life? _Answer_\u2014Desire. Of\ndesire? _Answer_\u2014Sensation or perception. Of sensation? _Answer_\u2014Contact\nwith the objects of sense. Of contact with objects? _Answer_\u2014The organs\nof sense. Of the organs? _Answer_\u2014Name and form, or individual being. Of\nindividual being? _Answer_\u2014Consciousness (vi\u00f1\u00f1\u0101\u1e47a = vij\u00f1\u0101na). Of\nconsciousness? _Answer_\u2014Combination of formations or tendencies (or\nthose material and mental predispositions derived from previous births\nwhich tend to form character, compare p. 109). Of such formations?\n_Answer_\u2014Ignorance.\n\nIn making Ignorance (Avidy\u0101) the first cause of the misery of life,\nGautama agreed with the Ved\u0101nta (though he explained Ignorance\ndifferently, see p. 99), while in the remaining chain of causes (Nid\u0101na)\nwe detect his sympathy with the S\u0101\u1e45khya theory of a chain of producers\nand products.\n\nHis own scheme of causation (often called Pa\u1e6di\u0107\u0107a-samupp\u0101do) occupies an\nimportant place in Buddhistic philosophy, as supplementary to, and\ncomplementary of, the four truths (p. 43). It was thought out before\nthem (see p. 39) and is equally revered.\n\nIt is on this account that the following celebrated formula is\nconstantly repeated like a short creed, and is found carved on numerous\nBuddhist monuments:\u2014\n\n\u2018Conditions (or laws) of existence which proceed from a cause, the cause\nof these hath the Buddha explained, as also the cessation (or\ndestruction) of these. Of such truths is the Great \u1e60rama\u1e47a the\nteacher[50].\u2019\n\nThis was the formula repeated by Assaji to S\u0101riputta and Moggall\u0101na (p.\n47), when they wished to join the Buddha and asked for a summary of the\nspirit (artha), not the letter (vya\u00f1jana), of his doctrine (Mah\u0101-v\u00b0 I.\n23. 5). Certainly the sorites-like form of statement in the scheme of\ncausation had charms for Oriental thinkers.\n\nMoreover the Buddha\u2019s method of clothing old truths in a new dress,\nor\u2014to adopt another metaphor\u2014his plan of putting new wine into old\nbottles, had in it something very attractive to all Indian minds.\n\nOf what kind, then, was the new dress in which Gautama clothed the great\ncentral doctrine of Indian philosophy\u2014the doctrine of metempsychosis,\ninvolving the perpetuation of the misery of life?\n\nThe Buddha, like all Indians, was by nature a metaphysician. He had\ngreat sympathy with the philosophy of the Upanishads. How was it that he\ndisbelieved in the existence of Spirit as distinct from bodily organism?\nA little consideration will perhaps make clear how he was brought to his\nown peculiar agnostic view.\n\nProbably before his so-called enlightenment and attainment of true\nknowledge, he was as firm a believer in the real existence of one\nUniversal Spirit as the most orthodox Br\u0101hman. He had become imbued with\nBr\u0101hmanical philosophy while sitting at the feet of his two teachers\n\u0100\u1e37\u0101ra and Uddaka (p. 29). At that time there were no definite or\nformulated philosophical systems, separated from each other by sharp\nlines. But the S\u0101\u1e45khya, Yoga, and Ved\u0101nta systems were assuming shape,\nand the doctrines they embodied had been foreshadowed in the Upanishads,\nand were orally current.\n\nIn short, it had been repeatedly stated in the Upanishads, that nothing\nreally existed but the one universally present impersonal Spirit, and\nthat the whole visible world was really to be identified with that\nSpirit.\n\nThen it followed as an article of faith that man\u2019s spirit, deluded into\na temporary false idea of separate independent personal existence by the\nillusion of ignorance, was also identical with that One Spirit, and\nultimately to be re-absorbed into it.\n\nFurther, it followed that man\u2019s spirit, while so deluded and so\nseparated for a time from the One Spirit, was compelled to migrate\nthrough innumerable bodily forms, and that such migration entailed\nmisery, from which there was no escape except by a process of\ndisillusionment, that is, by dissipating the illusion of separate\nindividuality, through the acquisition of perfect knowledge leading to\nre-union with the One Spirit, as the river blends with the ocean. And\nsuch knowledge was best gained by suppression of the passions,\nabandonment of all worldly connexions, and abstinence from all action.\nFinally, it was held, with apparent inconsistency, that the storing up\nof merit by good works assisted in effecting this object by raising a\nman, not yet fit for union with the supreme Spirit, to forms of\nexistence in which such union might be accomplished.\n\nNow it is obvious that to believe in the ultimate merging of man\u2019s\npersonal spirit in One impersonal Spirit, is virtually to deny the\nultimate existence of any human spirit at all. Nay more\u2014it is virtually\nto deny the existence of a supreme universal Spirit also.\n\nFor how can a merely abstract universal Spirit, which is unconscious of\npersonality, be regarded as possessing any real existence worth being\ncalled true life?\n\nTo assert that such a Spirit is pure abstract Entity or (according to\nVed\u0101nta phraseology) pure Existence (without anything to exist for),\npure Thought or even pure Consciousness (without anything to think\nabout, or be conscious about), pure Joy (without anything to rejoice\nabout), is practically to reduce it to pure non-entity.\n\nAll that Gautama did, therefore, was to purge Br\u0101hmanism of a dogma\nwhich appeared to him to be a mere sham (Brahma-j\u0101la I. 26).\n\nHe simply eliminated as incapable of proof the doctrine of a purely\nabstract, incorporeal spirit or self, whether human or divine. The\nassertion that any soul or self or Ego really existed (Atta-v\u0101do) was an\nerror. It formed one of the constituents of Up\u0101d\u0101na (p. 109), and was\nthe first of the ten fetters (Sakk\u0101ya-di\u1e6d\u1e6dhi, p. 127).\n\nAnd with the rejection of this dogma, as incapable of demonstration, he\nfound himself compelled to reject also, as beyond the range of man\u2019s\ncognizance, the doctrine of any Supreme Being higher than the perfectly\nenlightened man. Like Kapila in the S\u0101\u1e45khya aphorisms (I. 92, V. 10) he\nfelt bound to admit: \u2018It is not proved that there is a God.\u2019\n\nThis, indeed, is the chief foundation on which rests the assertion that\nBuddhism is a mere system of atheistic negations. And there can be no\ndoubt that from one point of view its statements are steeped in\nnegations, or rather perhaps in evasions. Its morality has been\ndescribed as more negative than positive; but this is scarcely correct,\nand it would be fairer to say that it delights in telling men to abstain\nfrom doing evil, rather than in urging them to active exertions for the\ngood of others. It has many positive precepts.\n\nBut if there was no probability of a soul existing separately from a\nbody after death, how could there be any soul-transmigration? How could\nthere be any agreement between the teaching of the Buddha and that of\nthe Br\u0101hmans, in regard to this important central dogma? The real fact\nwas that the divergence of the Buddhist doctrine from the Br\u0101hmanical,\nas stated in the Upanishads, was not greater than was to be expected\nfrom the difference of belief between the two systems in regard to the\nexistence of soul.\n\nPlato, we know, held that souls \u2018found their prisons in the same\nnatures\u2019 at death, so that an effeminate man might be re-born as a\nwoman, a tyrannical man as a wolf, and so on. In Manu\u2019s Law-book is set\nforth a triple order of soul-transmigration through lower, middle, and\nhigher planes of existence, resulting from good, middling, and bad acts,\nwords, and thoughts. Thus\u2014to instance only the lower\u2014the soul of a man\nwho spoke ill of his teacher was destined to pass into an ass or a dog\n(II. 201), the soul of a thief might occupy a mouse (XII. 62), the soul\nof one who neglected his caste-duties might pass into a demon (XII. 71,\n72); and greater crimes might lead to the soul\u2019s being condemned to\noccupy plants, stones, and minerals. Then there was also an intermediate\ncondition of the soul. According to one idea it went to the moon;\naccording to another it became a hungry ghost which required food to be\noffered to it at the \u1e60r\u0101ddha ceremonies.\n\nThis theory of transmigration, according to the Hind\u016bs, explained the\norigin of evil. Evil must proceed from antecedent evil, and the\nresulting penalty must be borne by the evil-doer in succeeding\nexistences. This was the terrible incubus which it was the great object\nof Indian philosophers to remove. It was equally Gautama\u2019s object, but\nhow could he accept soul-transmigration, denying as he did the existence\nof any spirit, as distinct from material organization? He therefore put\nforth a view of his own, thus:\u2014Every being is composed of five\nconstituent elements called Skandhas (P\u0101li Khandha), which have their\nsource in Up\u0101d\u0101na (p. 103) and are continually combining, dissolving,\nand recombining, viz. 1. Form (_r\u016bpa_), i. e. the organized body. 2.\nSensation (_vedan\u0101_) of pain or pleasure, or of neither, arising from\ncontact of eye, ear, nose, tongue, skin, and mind with external objects.\n3. Perception (_sa\u00f1\u00f1a_ = _sa\u00f1j\u00f1\u0101_) of ideas through the same sixfold\ncontact. 4. Aggregate of formations (_sa\u1e43kh\u0101ra_ = _sa\u1e49sk\u0101ra_, i.e.\ncombination of properties or faculties or mental tendencies, fifty-two\nin number, forming individual character and derived from previous\nexistences; compare the similar sa\u1e43kh\u0101r\u0101 pl. at p. 102). 5.\nConsciousness (_vi\u00f1\u00f1\u0101\u1e47a_ = _vij\u00f1\u0101na_) or thought[51]. This fifth is the\nmost important. It is the only soul recognized by Buddhists.\nTheoretically it perishes with the other Skandhas, but practically is\ncontinued, since its exact counterpart is reproduced in a new body.\n\nFor although, when a man dies, all the five constituents of existence\nare dissolved, yet by the force resulting from his actions (_karma_),\ncombined with _Up\u0101d\u0101na_, \u2018clinging to existence\u2019 (one form of the\nfetters at p. 127), a new set of five, of which consciousness is still\nthe dominant faculty, starts into being. The process of the new creation\nis so instantaneous that it is equivalent to the continuance of the same\npersonality, pervaded by the same consciousness; though each personality\nis only really connected with the previous by the force of acts done and\ncharacter formed in each\u2014such force operating through Up\u0101d\u0101na. In short,\nto speak of transmigration of souls in Buddhism gives a wrong idea.\nMetempsychosis with Buddhists resolves itself into continuous\nmetamorphosis or Palingenesis. For no true Buddhist believes in the\npassing of a soul from one body to another, but rather in the passing on\nof what may be called act-force, or of the merit and demerit resulting\nfrom a man\u2019s acts, so as to cause a continuous succession of\ntransformations\u2014a succession which may be compared to the rolling on of\na wheel through different scenes and over every variety of ground; or to\nthe burning on, through day and night, of a flame which is not the same\nflame at the beginning of the day and end of the night, and yet is not\ndifferent. It is this act-force (Karma), combined with Up\u0101d\u0101na,\n\u2018clinging to existence\u2019 (=abhi-nive\u1e61a in the Yoga II. 9), which is the\nconnecting link between each man\u2019s past, present, and future bodies.\n\nIn its subtle and irresistible operation it may be compared to stored-up\nchemical or electric energy. It is a force which continually creates and\nre-creates the whole man, and perpetuates his personal identity through\nseparate forms, whether it compels him to ascend or descend in the scale\nof being.\n\nYet to say that personality is transmitted, when there is no\nconsciousness of any continuity of identity, amounts, after all, to\ndenial of continuous existence.\n\nBe it observed, too, that the scale of existence is limited in Buddhism\nto six classes of beings\u2014gods, men, demons, animals, ghosts, and\ndwellers in hell (p. 121). Transmigration is not extended, as in the\nBr\u0101hmanical system, to plants, stocks, and stones; though a man could be\nborn as a tree-god (p. 112).\n\nGautama Buddha himself was merely the last link in a long chain of\ncorporeal forms, and he had been preceded by twenty-four Buddhas, who\nwere to previous ages of the world what he was to the present. Every one\nof these Buddhas was gifted with the faculty of recollecting his\nprevious personalities, and Gautama often gave an account of his own\nformer existences. The stories of about five hundred and fifty of his\nbirths (J\u0101takas) are even now daily repeated to eager listeners in every\nBuddhist country, and are believed to convey important lessons, though\nfull of puerilities.\n\nThe interchange of ideas between Br\u0101hmanism and Buddhism is well\nexemplified not only by the twenty-five Buddhas, who correspond to the\nfourteen Manus, or representative men, in each world-period (Antara),\nbut also by the birth-stories, many of which are mere modifications of\nold fables long current in India, while others have been imported from\nBuddhism into Sansk\u1e5bit literature. They constantly remind one of similar\nstories in the Pa\u00f1\u0107a-tantra, Hitopade\u1e61a, R\u0101m\u0101ya\u1e47a, and Mah\u0101-bh\u0101rata. The\nnoteworthy point about the repeated births of Gautama Buddha is, that\nthere appears to have been no Darwinian rise from lower to higher forms;\nbut a mere jumble of metamorphoses. Thus we find him born four times as\nMah\u0101-brahm\u0101, twenty times as Indra, once as a hare, eighty-three times\nas an ascetic, fifty-eight as a king, twenty-four as a Br\u0101hman, once as\na gamester, eighteen times as a monkey, six as an elephant, eleven as a\ndeer, once as a dog, four times as a serpent, six as a snipe, once as a\nfrog, twice as a fish, forty-three times as a tree-god, twice as a pig,\nten times as a lion, four as a cock, twice as a thief, once as a\ndevil-dancer, and so on. He was never born as a woman, nor as an insect,\nnor as a Preta, nor an inhabitant of hell (p. 119), and in all his\nbirths he was a Bodhi-sattva (pp. 98, 135). And in all he suffered and\nsacrificed himself for the good of the world.\n\nHere is the substance of an account of Gautama\u2019s birth as a hare, given\nby himself (\u0106ariy\u0101-Pi\u1e6daka I. 10, translated by Dr. Oldenberg):\u2014\n\n\u2018In one of my lives I was a hare living in a forest. I ate grass and did\nno one any harm. An ape, a jackal, and an otter dwelt with me. I used to\nteach them their duties and tell them to abstain from evil and give alms\non the four fast-days in every month. They did as I told them, and gave\nbeans, corn, and rice. Then I said to myself:\u2014Suppose a worthy object of\ncharity passes by, what can I give him? I live on grass only; I cannot\noffer a starving man grass; I must give him myself. Thereupon the god\n\u1e60akra, wishing to test my sincerity, came in a Br\u0101hman\u2019s form and asked\nme for food. When I saw him I said joyfully:\u2014\u201cA noble gift will I give\nthee, O Br\u0101hman; thou observest the precepts; thou painest no creature;\nthou wilt not kill me for food. But go, collect wood, place it in a\nheap, and kindle a fire. Then I will roast myself, and thou may\u2019st eat\nme.\u201d\n\n\u2018He said:\u2014\u201cSo be it,\u201d and went and gathered wood and kindled a fire.\n\n\u2018When the wood began to send forth flame, I leaped into the midst of the\nblazing fire.\n\n\u2018As water quenches heat, so the flames quelled all the sufferings of\nlife. Cuticle and skin, flesh and sinews, bones, ligaments, and heart\u2014my\nwhole body with all its limbs\u2014I gave to the Br\u0101hman.\u2019\n\nPerhaps the best and most often recited J\u0101taka is the last birth but\none, in which he was born as prince Vessantara (Vai\u1e61y\u0101ntara). This is\ncalled the Mah\u0101-j\u0101taka, \u2018great birth.\u2019 It may be summarized thus:\u2014\n\n\u2018Vessantara (afterwards Buddha) was so liberal that he gave to every one\nwho asked. Among his possessions was a white elephant, which had the\npower of bringing down rain whenever it was needed. At last he gave away\nthis also to a neighbouring country suffering from drought. This so\nincensed his own people that they persuaded the king his father to\nbanish him with his wife and two children to the forest. They set out in\na chariot drawn by horses. First he gave away the horses and next the\nchariot to Br\u0101hmans who begged for them. Then when another Br\u0101hman asked\nfor the children, Vessantara gave them up too, saying: \u201cMay I for this\nact become a Buddha!\u201d In short his sufferings and theirs in banishment,\nand his generosity to every one, led to his recall with great\nrejoicings. When he died he was born again in the Tushita heaven, whence\nhe descended as a white elephant into the womb of M\u0101y\u0101, and was born as\nGautama\u2019 (p. 23).\n\nAnother wise man of the East, who lived long before Gautama, spoke of\n\u2018the path of the just shining more and more unto the perfect day.\u2019 Of\nthis kind of progressive advance towards higher planes of perfection,\nthe Indian sage knew nothing. Nor to the Buddha, of course, would the\nChristian idea of \u2018original sin,\u2019 or of imputed Perfection have conveyed\nany meaning whatever. With Gautama, righteousness and unrighteousness,\nholiness and sin, were the product of a man\u2019s own acts. They were\nproduced by no one but himself, and they were merely troublesome forces\n(see p. 124) causing, in the one case, a man\u2019s re-birth either in one of\nthe heavens or in higher earthly corporeal forms, and, in the other, his\nre-birth in one of the hells or in lower corporeal forms. \u2018Not in the\nheavens,\u2019 says the Dhamma-pada (127), \u2018not in the midst of the sea, not\nif thou hidest thyself in the clefts of the mountains, wilt thou find a\nplace where thou canst escape the force resulting from thy evil\nactions.\u2019\n\nHere also is the substance of a passage in the Deva-d\u016bta-sutta\n(translated by Dr. Oldenberg):\u2014\n\n\u2018Do not relatives and friends welcome a man who has been long\ntravelling, when he returns safely to his home? Even so, a righteous\nman, when he passes from this world to another, is welcomed by his good\nworks, as by friends.\n\n\u2018Through the six states of transmigration does the power of our actions\nlead us. A life in the heavens awaits the good. The wardens of hell drag\nthe wicked before the king of hell, Yama, who says to them:\u2014\u201cDid you\nnot, when on earth, see the five divine messengers, sent to warn you\u2014the\nchild, the old man, the sick, the criminal suffering punishment, and the\ndead corpse?\u201d\n\n\u2018And the wicked man answers:\u2014\u201cI did see them.\u201d\n\n\u2018And didst thou not think within thyself:\u2014\u201cI also am subject to birth,\nold age, death. Let me be careful to do good works?\u201d\n\n\u2018And the wicked man answers:\u2014\u201cI did not, sire; I neglected in my folly\nto think of these things.\u201d\n\n\u2018Then king Yama pronounces his doom:\u2014\u201cThese thy evil deeds are not the\nwork of thy mother, father, relations, friends, advisers. Thou alone\nhast done them all; thou alone must gather the fruit.\u201d And the warders\nof hell drag him to the place of torment, rivet him to red-hot iron,\nplunge him in glowing seas of blood, torture him on heaps of burning\ncoal; and he dies not, till the last residue of his guilt has been\nexpiated.\u2019\n\nAnd this Buddhist theory of every man\u2019s destiny being dependent on his\nown acts is quite in keeping with Br\u0101hmanical ideas. \u2018In that (new body)\nhe is united with the knowledge gained in the former body, and then\nagain goes on working for perfection; for even against his will he is\nforced on (from one body to another) by his former works\u2019 (Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101\nVI. 43, 44). And again:\u2014\u2018The act committed in a former birth\n(p\u016brva-janma-k\u1e5bita\u1e43 karma), that is called one\u2019s destiny;\u2019 and again,\n\u2018As from a lump of clay a workman makes what he pleases, even so a man\nobtains whatever destiny he has wrought out for himself\u2019 (Hitopade\u1e61a,\nIntroduction). In Br\u0101hmanism the influence of Karma or \u2018act\u2019 in\ndetermining every being\u2019s form at the time of his own re-birth is\nuniversal.\n\nThus also the Ny\u0101ya of Gautama (III. 132) affirms that the new body\n(after death) is produced through the irresistible force of actions done\nin the previous body (p\u016brva-k\u1e5bita-phal\u0101nubandh\u0101t tad-utpatti\u1e25). The\ncosmogony of the same philosophy (Vai\u1e61eshika branch), taught that the\nconcurrence of eternal atoms to form the world was the result of\nAd\u1e5bish\u1e6da or the \u2018unseen force\u2019 derived from the acts of a previous\nworld.\n\nWe are reminded, too, of our poet\u2019s own sentiment: \u2018Our deeds still\ntravel with us from afar, And what we have been makes us what we are;\u2019\nand of Don Quixote\u2019s saying, \u2018Every man is the son of his own works;\u2019\nand of Wordsworth\u2019s, \u2018The child is father of the man;\u2019 and of\nLongfellow\u2019s, \u2018Lives of great men all remind us, we can make ourselves\nsublime.\u2019\n\nIn short, we are the outcome of ourselves. Nor can ceremonies avail\naught, nor can devotion to personal gods avail aught, nor can anything\nwhatever possess the slightest efficacy to save a man from his own acts.\n\nIt is said that Buddhism leaves the will unfettered; but surely fatalism\nis taught when the force of one\u2019s own deeds in previous births is held\nto be irresistible.\n\nThe only creator, then, recognized by true Buddhists is Act-force. \u2018My\naction is the womb that bears me,\u2019 says the A\u1e45guttara Nik\u0101ya. It is this\nAct-force that creates worlds. It is this Act-force, in conjunction with\nUp\u0101d\u0101na (p. 109), that creates all beings in any of the six classes into\nwhich they are divided\u2014gods, men, demons, animals, ghosts, and the\ndwellers in hell. We often talk of the force of a dead man\u2019s acts\u2014of his\nbeing dead and yet speaking. It is this force which in Buddhism resists\ndeath; for no force can ever be lost.\n\nAnd what does the modern Positivist philosopher assert? He maintains\nthat both body and mind are resolved into their elements at death. The\nonly immortal part of us consists in the good deeds, words, thoughts,\nand influences we leave behind us, to be made use of by our descendants\nand improved on for the elevation of humanity. And the aggregate of\nthese, combined with the force of will, constitute, according to the\nBuddhist, a power strong enough to re-create not only human beings but\nthe whole material world.\n\nIt was thus that the force of Gautama\u2019s own acts had constantly\nre-created him through a long chain of successive personalities,\nterminating in the perfect Buddha, who has no further births to undergo.\n\nTurn we now to that division of the Buddhist system which concerns\nitself with the external universe, and seeks to explain its\nconstitution, form, and the various divisions of which it consists.\n\nAnd here we must be careful to note the peculiar views of Buddhism,\nnotwithstanding the large admixture of Br\u0101hmanical ideas.\n\nFor Buddhism has no cosmogony like the S\u0101\u1e45khya, Ved\u0101nta, and Vai\u1e61eshika.\nNor does it explain the creation of the universe, in our sense. It only\nconcerns itself with cosmology, and it dissents from Br\u0101hmanical\ncosmology in declining to admit the eternity of anything whatever,\nexcept change or revolution or a succession of revolutions. Buddhism has\nno Creator, no creation, no original germ of all things, no soul of the\nworld, no personal, no impersonal, no supramundane, no antemundane\nprinciple.\n\nIt might indeed have been supposed that since Gautama denied the eternal\nexistence of either a personal God or of Spirit, he would at least have\ngiven eternal existence to matter.\n\nBut no; the only eternal things are the Causality of Act-force and the\nsuccession of cause and effect\u2014the eternity of \u2018Becoming,\u2019 not of\n\u2018Being.\u2019\n\nThe Universe around us, with all its visible phenomena, must be\nrecognized as an existing entity, for we see before our eyes evidence of\nits actual existence. But it is an entity produced out of nonentity, and\ndestined to lapse again into nonentity when its time is fulfilled.\n\nFor out of nothingness it came, and into nothingness must it return\u2014to\nre-appear again, it is true, but as a new Universe brought into being by\nthe accumulated force of its predecessor\u2019s acts, and not evolved out of\nany eternally existing spiritual or material germ of any kind.\n\nIt is thus that Universe after Universe is like a succession of\ncountless bubbles for ever forming, expanding, drifting onwards,\nbursting and re-forming, each bubble owing its re-formation to the force\ngenerated by its vanished predecessor. The poet Shelley might have been\ncalled a Buddhist when he wrote:\n\n  Worlds on worlds are rolling ever\n    From creation to decay;\n  Like the bubbles on a river,\n    Sparkling, bursting, borne away. (Hellas.)\n\nOr like lotuses, for ever unfolding and then decaying, each decay\ncontaining the germ of a new plant; or like an interminable succession\nof wheels for ever coming into view, for ever rolling onwards,\ndisappearing and reappearing; for ever passing from being to non-being,\nand again from non-being to being. It was this ceaseless rotation that\nled to the wheel being adopted as the favourite symbol in Buddhism (p.\n122).\n\nChristianity recognizes in a very different way this \u2018law of\ncircularity\u2019 in the physical world, as the Rev. Hugh Macmillan has ably\npointed out.\n\nAs to the question from whom? or whence? or how? came the original force\nor impetus that started the first movement, the Buddha hazarded no\nopinion. He held this to be an inexplicable mystery\u2014an insoluble riddle.\nHe confessed himself to be a thorough Agnostic. He saw nothing but\ncountless cycles of causes and effects, and never undertook to explain\nthe first cause which set the first wheel in motion. It was not, then,\nwithout a deep significance that Gautama placed Ignorance first in his\nchain of Causation (p. 102. Note, however, the explanation given at p.\n99).\n\nAfter all, these Buddhistic speculations amount to little else than\nBr\u0101hmanism stripped of some of its transcendental mysticism. We know,\nfor example, that the true Ved\u0101nta philosophy makes the Universe proceed\nout of an eternal Illusion, or Ignorance associated with the impersonal\nSpirit Brahman, into which it is again absorbed.\n\nCan it be affirmed, then, a Buddhist might say, that either this pure\nimpersonal Spirit (or Ignorance) is virtually very different from pure\nnothingness?\n\nWhat says the author of \u1e5aig-veda X. 120?\u2014\n\n  In the beginning there was neither naught nor aught,\n  Then there was neither sky nor atmosphere above.\n  Then first came darkness hid in darkness, gloom in gloom;\n  Next all was water, all a chaos indiscreet,\n  In which the One lay void, shrouded in nothingness.\n\nThen as to the vast periods called Kalpas or ages, during which (as in\nBr\u0101hmanism) constant Universes are supposed to appear, disappear, and\nre-appear:\u2014\n\nLet it be supposed, say Buddhist writers, that a solid rock forming a\nvast cube sixteen miles high, and the same in length and breadth, were\nlightly rubbed once in a hundred years with a piece of the finest cloth,\nand by this slight friction reduced in countless ages to the size of a\nmango-seed; that would still give you no idea of the immense duration of\na Buddhist Kalpa.\n\nAnd what, in conclusion, is the existing Universe? Buddhist writers make\nit consist of an infinite number of \u0106akkav\u0101las (\u0106akra-v\u0101las) or vast\ncircular planes, which for convenience may be called spheres. Each\nsphere has thirty-one Satta-lokas (Sattva-lokas) or dwelling-places of\nsix classes of living beings, rising one above the other and distributed\nunder three world-systems, built up in successive tiers through infinite\nspace, below, upon, and above Mount Meru (or Sumeru)\u2014the ideal central\npoint of the whole. This gigantic mythical mountain forms the mighty\nbase or pivot of the sphere.\n\nFirst comes Hell with 136 divisions, to receive 136 varieties of\noffenders, all in tiers one above the other, and lying deep under the\nearth in the lower regions of the \u0106akra-v\u0101la. To be re-born in Hell\n(Naraka) is the worst of all the six kinds of existence, reserved for\nthe worst evil-doers, and although the punishment is not eternal, its\nshortest duration is for five hundred years of Hell, each day equalling\nfifty years of Earth. In Br\u0101hmanism there are twenty-one hells (Manu IV.\n88-90). Buddhism originally had only eight. The most terrific (Av\u012b\u0107i) is\nfor revilers of Buddha and his Law.\n\nAbove the subdivisions of Hell come the other sensuous worlds\n(K\u0101ma-lokas), thus:\u2014(2) the world of animals; (3) that of Pretas or\nghosts; (4) that of Asuras or demons; (5) the earth, or world of men,\nwith concentric circles of seven seas.\n\nHaving distributed all possible places of habitation for migrating\nbeings under the three heads of Hell, four lower worlds, and twenty-six\nheavens (described at p. 206), Buddhism holds that there are only six\nforms or ways (gati) of existence through which living beings can pass,\nand under which every thing that has life must be classed, and of these\nthe first two ways are good, the last four bad, thus:\u20141. Gods; 2. Men;\n3. Asuras, or demons, inhabiting spaces under the earth; 4. Animals; 5.\nPretas, or ghosts, recently inhabitants of earth, and ever consumed with\nhunger and thirst; 6. Beings undergoing torment in the hells.\n\nAs to the gods, bear in mind that Buddhism recognized most of the\ndeities of Hind\u016bism. See p. 206.\n\nSuch gods existed in subtle corporeal forms, and, though not omnipotent,\nwere capable of working benefit or harm. They were subject to the\nuniversal law of dissolution, and after death were succeeded by others,\nso that there was not one Brahm\u0101 or one \u1e60akra, but many successive\ndeities so named, and many classes of deities under them. They had no\npower of effecting any person\u2019s salvation. On the contrary, they had to\nsee to their own, and were inferior to the perfected man.\n\nMoreover, to be born in the world of the gods seems not to have implied\nany vast accumulation of merit, for we read of a certain frog that from\nsimply listening to the Buddha\u2019s voice, while reciting the Law, was born\nas a god in the Trayastri\u1e49\u1e61a heaven (Hardy, p. 392).\n\nIn short, the constant revolving of the wheel of life in one eternal\ncircle, according to fixed and immutable laws, is perhaps after all the\nsum and substance of the philosophy of Buddhism. And this eternal wheel\nor circle has, so to speak, six spokes representing six forms of\nexistence.\n\nWhen any one of the six classes of beings dies, he must be born again in\nsome one of these same six classes, for there are no other possible ways\n(gati) of life, and he cannot pass into plants, stones, and inorganic\nmatter, as in the Br\u0101hmanical system (see p. 108). If he be born again\nin one of the hells he is not thereby debarred from seeking salvation,\nand even if he be born in heaven as a god, he must at some time or other\nleave it and seek after a higher state still\u2014that of the perfect man who\nhas gained Nirv\u0101\u1e47a and is soon to achieve the one consummation worth\nliving for, the one crown worth striving for\u2014extinction of personal\nexistence in Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a (see pp. 138-142).\n\n\n\n\n                              LECTURE VI.\n   _The Morality of Buddhism and its chief aim\u2014Arhatship or Nirv\u0101\u1e47a._\n\n\nThe first questions suggested by the subject of this lecture will\nprobably be:\u2014\n\nHow could a life of morality be inculcated by one who made all life\nproceed from ignorance, and even virtuous conduct in one sense a\nmistake, as leading to continuity of life, and therefore of suffering?\nHow could the Buddha\u2019s first commandment be, \u2018Destroy not,\u2019 when his\nideal of perfection was destruction? How could he say, \u2018be active,\u2019 when\nhis theory of Karma (pp. 110, 114) made action conduce to misery?\n\nThe inconsistency is evident, but it is no less true that,\nnotwithstanding the doctrine that all existence entails misery, and that\nall action, good or bad, leads to future births, Gautama taught that the\nlife of a man in higher bodily forms, or in one of the heavens, was\nbetter than a life in lower forms, or in one of the hells, and that\nneither a higher form of life nor the great aim of Nirv\u0101\u1e47a could be\nattained without righteous action, meditation, and true knowledge.\n\nBuddhism, indeed, as we have seen, could not hold forth as an incentive\nto good behaviour any belief in a Creator rewarding and punishing his\ncreatures according to their works, or pardoning their sins. It could\nnot inculcate piety; for in true Buddhism piety was impossible; yet like\nManu (II. 6) it made morality (\u1e61\u012bla) the basis of Law (Dharma); it\nstimulated good conduct by its doctrine of repeated births, and by\npictures of its numerous heavens, and it deterred men from unrighteous\nacts by its terrible places of torment.\n\nLet it then be made clear from the first that Buddhism, in inculcating\nmorality, used no word expressive of morality, as founded on the love\nand fear of God, or of sin as an offence against God.\n\nIn Buddhism the words kle\u1e61a (kileso), \u2018pain,\u2019 and aku\u1e61ala, \u2018demerit,\u2019\ntake the place of \u2018sin,\u2019 and its perfect saint is said to be \u2018free from\npain\u2019 (nishkle\u1e61a) and from demerit, not from sin in our sense. By an\nunrighteous act it meant an act producing suffering and demerit of some\nkind (p. 113), and it bade every man act righteously in order to escape\nsuffering and to accumulate merit (ku\u1e61ala), and thus work out his own\nperfection\u2014that is to say, his own self-extinction.\n\nDoubtless Buddhism deserves credit for laying stress on right belief,\nright words, right work, instead of on ceremonial rites; and on the\nworship of Hind\u016b gods; but it had its own idea of right. It urged\nhouseholders to abandon the world, or else to be diligent in serving its\nmonks for the working out of their own salvation; and while making\nmorality, meditation, and enlightenment its indispensable factors in\nsecuring perfection, it made perfection consist in freedom from the\ndelusion that \u2018I am;\u2019 and in deliverance from an individual existence\ninseparably bound up with misery.\n\nMark, too, another contradiction. It inculcated entire self-dependence\nin working out this kind of perfection, and yet it set before its\ndisciples three guides; namely, the Buddha\u2019s own example, the Law\n(Dharma), and the example of the whole body of monks and perfected\nsaints (Sa\u1e45gha).\n\nWe now turn to its fuller moral system, keeping this distinct from its\nphilosophy and metaphysics, and freely admitting that there are in\nBuddhist morality many things, true, honourable, just, pure, lovely, and\nof good report.\n\nIt is fair to point out at the outset that Buddhist morality was not a\npurely external matter. It divided men into the outwardly correct and\ninternally sincere. The mere outwardly correct Buddhists might include\nmonks as well as laymen, though a higher standard of profession was\nexpected of monks. The internally sincere were the really earnest\nseekers after perfection (monks and laymen), and were divided into four\nclasses, representing four conditions of the inner life, lower, higher,\nstill higher, and highest, culminating in perfect Saintship, Arhatship,\nand Nirv\u0101\u1e47a (p. 132).\n\nAt the same time there was not much hope of saintship except through\ncelibacy and monkhood; for in true Buddhism the notion of holy\nfamily-life was almost a contradiction in terms.\n\nOf course the Buddhist moral code soon passed beyond the eightfold path\npropounded by Gautama in his first sermon (see p. 44), and Dr. Oldenberg\nhas shown that in the absence of a systematically arranged code, we may\nstill trace out amid a confusion of precepts the three leading duties of\nexternal moral conduct (\u1e61\u012bla), of internal mental concentration\n(sam\u0101dhi), and of acquiring true wisdom (pa\u00f1\u00f1\u0101 = praj\u00f1\u0101). Compare Dr.\nWenzel\u2019s \u2018Friendly Epistle,\u2019 53.\n\nThe five fundamental rules of moral conduct (\u1e61\u012bla), or rather,\nprohibitions, were promulgated very early:\u2014\n\n1. Kill not any living thing. 2. Steal not. 3. Commit not adultery. 4.\nLie not. 5. Drink not strong drink. These five, having reference chiefly\nto one\u2019s neighbour, were called the fivefold law _for all classes_,\nincluding laymen. They were taken from Br\u0101hmanism, but in the vows of\nthe Sanny\u0101s\u012b the fifth was not included. It was Buddhism probably that\nfirst interdicted strong drink. It prohibited too what the Br\u0101hmans\nallowed\u2014killing for sacrificial purposes.\n\nFive others of a more trivial character for monks (often given in a\ndifferent order, p. 78) were added:\u2014\n\n6. Eat no food, except at stated times. 7. Use no wreaths, ornaments, or\nperfumes. 8. Use no high or broad bed, but only a mat on the ground. 9.\nAbstain from dancing, singing, music, and worldly spectacles. 10. Own no\ngold, or silver of any kind, and accept none (Mah\u0101-vagga I. 56). [This\nBuddhist Decalogue may be contrasted with the Mosaic Decalogue.]\n\nAll ten were binding on monks only, and for the third was then\nsubstituted \u2018be absolutely chaste.\u2019\n\nSometimes not only the first five but the first eight were held to be\nbinding on laymen.\n\nAnother was added in later times:\u2014Never think or say that your own\nreligion is the best. Never denounce the religion of others (see p. 90).\n\nThen, although only the first half of the eightfold path (p. 44) was\nsaid to be necessary for lay-brethren, the whole was for monks, who also\nhad to observe the special practices already described (p. 76).\n\nAll gambling and games of chance were prohibited (Tevijja-Sutta II).\nCompare Manu IX. 221-228.\n\nSometimes five renunciations are named:\u2014of wife, of children, of money,\nof life, of craving for existence in future births.\n\nThen sometimes three (sometimes four) corrupting influences (\u0101sava =\n\u0101srava) are enumerated\u2014of lust (k\u0101ma), of life, of ignorance, (of\ndelusion.)\n\nMost important to be got rid of are the ten fetters (sa\u1e43yojana, p. 45)\nbinding a man to existence:\u2014\n\n1. Belief in the existence of a personal self or Ego (sakk\u0101ya-di\u1e6d\u1e6dhi);\n2. Doubt (vi\u0107ikits\u0101); 3. Ceremonial practices (s\u012blabbata = \u1e61\u012bla-vrata);\n4. Lust or sensuality (k\u0101ma); 5. Anger (pa\u1e6digha); 6. Craving for life in\na material form (r\u016bpa-r\u0101ga) either on earth or in heaven; 7. Longing for\nimmaterial life (ar\u016bpa-r\u0101ga) in the higher heavens; 8. Pride (m\u0101na); 9.\nSelf-exaltation (auddhatya); 10. Ignorance. Of these, 1, 3, and 4, with\ndi\u1e6d\u1e6dhi, \u2018wrong belief,\u2019 are the four constituents of Up\u0101d\u0101na, \u2018clinging\nto existence\u2019 (p. 109).\n\nThe seven jewels of the law (p. 49) are\u20141. the five contemplations or\nreflections; 2. the four right exertions (p. 50); 3. the four paths to\nsupernatural power (p. 50); 4. the five moral forces (p. 50); 5. the\nright use of the five organs of sense; 6. the seven limbs of knowledge\n(p. 50); 7. the eightfold path (p. 44).\n\nThe five above-named reflections are\u20141. on the thirty-two impurities of\nthe body; 2. on the duty of displaying love (Maitr\u012b) towards all beings;\n3. on compassion for all who suffer; 4. on rejoicing with all who\nrejoice; 5. on absolute indifference (upeksh\u0101) to joy or sorrow. These\ncontemplations (bh\u0101van\u0101) in Buddhism take the place of prayer. The last\nis the highest. The first is also a Sati-pa\u1e6d\u1e6dh\u0101na (p. 49). They must not\nbe confused with the meditations (Dhy\u0101nas, p. 209).\n\nThen come six (or ten) transcendent virtues called P\u0101ramit\u0101s, \u2018leading\nto the further shore,\u2019 for Arhats. These, too, every Bodhi-sattva had to\npractise before he could attain Buddhahood. They were:\u20141. Generosity or\ngiving (D\u0101na) to all who ask, even the sacrificing of limbs or life for\nothers; this is most important; 2. Virtue or moral conduct (\u1e60\u012bla); 3.\nPatience or tolerance (Ksh\u0101nti); 4. Fortitude or energy (V\u012brya); 5.\nSuppression of desire (Nekkhamma = naishk\u0101mya), or, according to some,\nprofound contemplation; 6. Transcendental wisdom (Pa\u00f1\u00f1a = Praj\u00f1\u0101). To\nwhich are added\u20147. Truth (Satya); 8. Steadfast resolution (Adhish\u1e6dh\u0101na);\n9. Good-will or kindness (Maitra); 10. Absolute indifference or\nimperturbability or apathy (Upeksh\u0101), resulting in a kind of ecstatic\nquietude.\n\nThis kind of memorial tabulation in lists of 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, etc., is of\ncourse a product of later Buddhism.\n\nI now give examples from the Dharma-pada:\u2014\n\n\u2018By oneself is evil done; by oneself is one injured; by oneself is evil\nleft undone; by oneself is one purified; no one purifies another.\u2019\n(Compare Manu IV. 240.)\n\n\u2018Better than dominion over the earth, better than going to Heaven, or\nhaving sovereignty over the worlds, is the attainment of the first step\nin sanctification.\u2019\n\n\u2018Not to commit evil, to accumulate merit by good deeds (kusalassa\nupasampad\u0101), to purify the heart, this is the doctrine of the\nEnlightened\u2019 (165, 178, 183).\n\n\u2018As a frontier town is guarded[52] within and without, so guard\nthyself.\u2019 (Dh. 315.)\n\n\u2018He who holds back rising anger like a rolling chariot, him I call a\nreal driver; any other merely holds the reins.\u2019 (Dh. 222. Compare Manu\nII. 88.)\n\n\u2018Let a man overcome anger by gentleness, let him overcome the evil by\ngood; the parsimonious by liberality, the liar by truth.\u2019 (Dh. 223. Manu\nVI. 47, 48.)\n\n\u2018The fully enlightened finds no satisfaction even in heavenly pleasures;\nbut only in suppression of desires.\u2019\n\n\u2018One by one, little by little, moment by moment, a wise man frees\nhimself from personal impurities as a refiner blows away the dross of\nsilver.\u2019 (Dh. 187, 239.)\n\n\u2018There is a treasure laid up in the heart, a treasure of charity,\npurity, temperance, soberness. A treasure, secure, impregnable, that no\nthief can steal; a treasure that follows after death. (Compare Manu IV.\n241.) Universal science, all the perfections, supernatural knowledge,\nsupreme Buddhaship itself this treasure can procure.\u2019 (Childers\u2019\nNidhi-k\u0101\u1e47\u1e0da.)\n\nThe following are some of the blessed states described in the\nMah\u0101ma\u1e45gala-sutta. They prove that Gautama required married men to\ndischarge their duties faithfully.\n\n\u2018The succouring of mother and father, the cherishing of child and wife,\nand the following of a peaceful calling, this is the greatest blessing\u2019\n(ma\u1e45galam uttamam).\n\n\u2018The giving alms, a religious life, aid rendered to relations, blameless\nacts, this is the greatest blessing.\u2019\n\n\u2018Reverence and humility, contentment and gratefulness, the hearing of\nthe Law at the right time, this is the greatest blessing.\u2019\n\n\u2018Patience and lowly speech, association with religious men, recitation\nof the Law at the right time, this is the greatest blessing.\u2019\n\n\u2018Self-mortification and chastity, discernment of the noble truths,\nperception of Nirv\u0101\u1e47a, this is the greatest blessing.\u2019\n\nIn the A\u1e45guttara (II. iv. 2) it is said that no adequate return can be\nmade by children to parents \u2018even by menial service.\u2019 With Gautama, to\nhonour father and mother was better than to worship the gods of heaven.\n\nMany other examples might be given. Not only was a man forbidden to\nkill, he was never to injure.\n\nThen in the R\u0101jov\u0101da J\u0101taka we have the story of the one king \u2018who\novercomes the strong by strength, the soft by softness, the good by\ngoodness, and the wicked by wickedness;\u2019 and of the other king \u2018who\nconquers anger by calmness, the wicked by goodness, the stingy by gifts,\nthe liar (alika-v\u0101dinam) by truth.\u2019\n\nOther precepts require a man to exercise charity and respect towards all\naged persons, teachers, servants, and animals. He was to set an example\nof self-sacrifice.\n\nIt is recorded of Gautama Buddha that on one occasion he plucked out his\nown eyes, and that on another he cut off his own head, and that on a\nthird he cut his own body to pieces to redeem a dove from a hawk.\n\nYet we repeat that with all this apparently sublime morality no true\nidea of sin, as displeasing to a Holy God, was connected with the\ninfraction of the moral code. Nor did a Buddhist always avoid harming\nothers from any true reverence for life. He was to cherish the life of\nothers, but his chief motive was the fear that by not doing so he would\nentail the misery of continuous life on himself; and his chief motive\nfor avoiding anger was that it was incompatible with that equanimity,\nwhich ought to characterize every wise man who aimed at the extinction\nof his own personality.\n\nThe ease with which charitable acts might be performed is amusingly\nillustrated by a story told in Huc\u2019s travels in Tibet. A certain zealous\nfellow-traveller (who considered that it was quite possible to be at the\nsame time a good Buddhist and a good Christian) invited the French\nmissionaries to co-operate with him in performing charitable acts to\ncommemorate the termination of a fatiguing journey, especially by\nproviding worn-out travellers, like themselves, with horses. The\nmissionaries pleaded their own poverty, but to their surprise were told\nthat they were only required to draw horses on paper, which were taken\nto the edge of a precipice, thrown up into the air, and, certain\nformularies being recited, were carried away by the wind and changed\ninto real horses by the power of Buddha.\n\nLet us by no means, however, shut our eyes to the praiseworthy feature\nof the Buddhist system mentioned at page 125\u2014its recognition of the need\nof inner purity and sanctification\u2014an inner Buddhism of the heart,\nwithout which even a monk was no true Buddhist. Of course the Law could\nbe observed superficially without any real heart-belief or heart-purity.\n\nWhen the inner heart-condition of a Buddhist is described, he is said to\nbe walking on one of four paths (\u0107att\u0101ro Magg\u0101), and is then called\nAriyo (= \u0100rya), \u2018worthy of reverence\u2019 (distinguished from P\u1e5bithag-jana,\n\u2018an ordinary professing Buddhist\u2019). To avoid confounding these paths\nwith the eightfold path (p. 44) it would be better to speak of them as\nfour stages of inner sanctification. Dhy\u0101na, \u2018meditation,\u2019 of four\nkinds, is the chief means of entering and passing through these stages\n(p. 32), which once entered can never be abandoned.\n\nThe first stage is that of the man\u2014be he monk or layman\u2014who is just\nconverted, by an inner awakening, to true heart-Buddhism. This man has\nfreed himself from the first three fetters\u2014namely, delusion of self,\ndoubts about the Buddha\u2019s doctrine, and dependence on external rites (p.\n127). He is called Sot\u0101panno, \u2018one who has entered the stream\u2019\n(Srota-\u0101panna), _inevitably_ carrying him onwards\u2014though not necessarily\nin the same body\u2014to the calm ocean of Nirv\u0101\u1e47a, and his state is called\nSot\u0101patti. He can only be re-born as a god or man, but not in the four\nlower births (p. 121).\n\nMark that the doctrine of \u2018perseverance\u2019 is a remarkable feature in this\nphase of the Buddhist system.\n\nThe second stage is that of the man who has nearly freed himself from\nthe first five fetters, but has a sufficient number left to cause one\nmore birth on the earth. He is called Sakad-\u0101g\u0101m\u012b (Sak\u1e5bid-\u0101g\u00b0).\n\nThe third stage is that of the man who is quite free from the first five\nfetters. Such a man can only be re-born in a Brahm\u0101 heaven, from which\nhe reaches Nirv\u0101\u1e47a. He is therefore called An-\u0101g\u0101m\u012b, \u2018one who will not\ncome back to earth.\u2019\n\nThe fourth stage is that of the completely freed man who attains\nArhatship (Arahatta\u1e43) in this life, and will at death experience no\nre-birth. There is, of course, a difference between one who has only\njust entered each stage of the journey and one who has reached the\nterminus. And this Arhatship is open to all (even to women), though only\nlikely to be attained by true monks or true nuns. The name Arhat (P\u0101li\nArah\u0101, in Ceylon Rahat), \u2018most deserving\u2019 (root _arh_), is significant\nof the highest merit; for the Arhat is perfect, freed from all pain\n(nishkle\u1e61a), from all the ten fetters, from all attachment to existence\n(up\u0101d\u0101na) whether on earth or in heaven, and from all re-creative\nAct-force. He has already entered Nirv\u0101\u1e47a, and while still living he is\ndead to the world. He is the J\u012bvan-mukta, \u2018emancipated living man,\u2019 of\nthe Yoga. By the force of the fourth Dhy\u0101na, he has gained the Abhij\u00f1\u0101s\n(Abhi\u00f1\u00f1\u0101), or \u2018transcendent faculties of knowledge,\u2019 the inner eye,\ninner ear, knowledge of all thoughts, and recollection of previous\nexistences, and the extraordinary powers over matter called Iddhi (=\n\u1e5aiddhi). In short he is Asekha, \u2018one who has nothing to learn.\u2019\n\nAlthough, theoretically, a layman and even beings existing in other\nspheres, might enter the stream leading to Arhatship (see p. 90) without\nbecoming monks, yet it is evident that as a rule it was only likely to\nbe entered by persons who renounced the world and led a celibate\nmonastic life.\n\nBut of Arhats there are three grades:\u2014\n\nFirst, the simple Arhat (described above), who has attained perfection\nthrough his own efforts and the doctrine and example of a supreme\nBuddha, but is not himself such a Buddha, and cannot teach others how to\nattain Arhatship, though he associates with others.\n\nSecondly, and second in rank, but far above the simple Arhat, the\nPratyeka-Buddha or Solitary Saint, who has attained perfection for\nhimself and by himself alone, and not as a member of any monastic Order,\nnor through the teaching of any supreme Buddha (except in some former\nbirth). This solitary hermit-like Arhat\u2014a kind of concentration of\nisolated or selfish sanctity\u2014is symbolized by a rhinoceros. He does not\nappear on earth at the same time with a supreme Buddha, and has not the\nsame epithets (p. 23) applied to him.\n\nThirdly, the supreme Buddha or Buddha _par excellence_ (once a\nBodhi-sattva), who, having by his own self-enlightening insight attained\nperfect knowledge (sambodhi), and having, by the practice of the\ntranscendent virtues (p. 128) and through extinction of the passions and\nof all desire for life, become entitled to that complete extinction of\nbodily existence (pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a), in which the perfection of all\nArhatship must end, has yet delayed this consummation that he may become\nthe Saviour of a suffering world\u2014not in the same manner as the God-sent\nSaviour of Christianity, but by teaching men how to save themselves.\nThis is the supreme Buddha, the founder of the whole monastic Order,\nimmeasurably superior both to Pratyeka-Buddhas and to all mere Arhats.\n\nHe said of himself (Mah\u0101-vagga I. 6, 8),\u2014\u2018I am the all-subduer\n(sabb\u0101bhibh\u016b); the all-wise; I have no stains; through myself I possess\nknowledge; I have no rival (pa\u1e6dipuggalo); I am the chief Arhat\u2014the\nhighest teacher; I alone am the absolutely wise (Sambuddha); I am the\nConqueror (Jina); all the fires of desire are quenched (s\u012btibh\u016bto) in\nme; I have Nirv\u0101\u1e47a (nibbuto).\u2019 See p. 42 of this volume.\n\nThis seems a marvellous assumption on the part of one who never claimed\nto be other than a man; yet he had taken the idea from Br\u0101hmanism, which\nheld that its saints could surpass all gods (Brahm\u0103 only excepted).\n\nSuch supreme Buddhas, who are perfect knowers, and also perfect teachers\nof the truth, are only manifested on the earth at long intervals of\ntime.\n\nGautama is the fourth Buddha of the present age (Bhadra-Kalpa). He was a\nKshatriya; his three mythical predecessors\u2014Kraku-\u0107\u0107handa, Kanaka-muni,\nand K\u0101\u1e61yapa\u2014having been sons of Br\u0101hmans. He is to be followed by the\nfifth Buddha, Maitreya (a name meaning \u2018full of love towards all\nbeings\u2019), but not until the doctrine of Gautama has passed out of men\u2019s\nmemory after five thousand years (p. 181). In their previous existences\nGautama and his predecessors were, (see pp. 98, 112,) Bodhi-sattvas[53],\n\u2018beings who have knowledge (derived from intellect) for their essence,\u2019\na name borne by all destined to become supreme Buddhas as well as by the\nfirst of Gautama\u2019s successors, Maitreya.\n\nThis coming Buddha is, as we shall see hereafter, an object of universal\nreverence among later Buddhists of all sects as a kind of expected\nMessiah or Saviour. Often, indeed, he is more honoured than Gautama\nhimself, because he is interested in the present order of things, as\nwell as in the future, while Gautama Buddha and all his predecessors\nhave passed away into non-being.\n\nTwenty-four mythical Buddhas (the first being D\u012bpa\u1e43kara, \u2018Light-causer\u2019)\nare held to have appeared[54] before Gautama in preceding cycles of\ntime. Many particulars about them are given, including their\nbirth-places, the length of their lives and their statures. Gautama\nhimself is said to have met some of them during his transmigrations.\nEven the trees under which they achieved supreme wisdom are enumerated.\n\nSometimes the last six of the twenty-four are reckoned with Gautama\nBuddha as constituting seven principal Buddhas[55], who seem to have\nbeen grouped together to correspond with the Br\u0101hmanical seven Manus of\nthe present Kalpa. Usually, however, Gautama is held to be the last of\ntwenty-five Buddhas.\n\nClearly, then, the principal lines of Buddhist moral teaching all\nconverge to one focus\u2014to the perfected Arhat or rather to a still\nbrighter point of light in the perfect Buddha waiting for his reward\u2014the\nnectar of the eternal state of complete Nirv\u0101\u1e47a.\n\nAnd this compels us to attempt some explanation of Nirv\u0101\u1e47a. In the first\nplace forty-six synonyms of it are given in the Abhidh\u0101nappad\u012bpik\u0101, e.g.\nMokkha or Mutti, \u2018deliverance,\u2019 Nirodha, \u2018cessation,\u2019 Ta\u1e49hakkhaya\n(t\u1e5bish\u1e47\u0101-kshaya), \u2018destruction of lust,\u2019 Ar\u016bpa, Khema, Kevala, Apavagga,\n\u2018emancipation,\u2019 Nibbuti (= nirv\u1e5biti), \u2018quietude,\u2019 Amata (Am\u1e5bita),\n\u2018deathless nectar.\u2019\n\nThe following is from Rhys Davids\u2019 J\u0101taka (p. 4): \u2018One day the wise\nSumedh\u0101 fell a-thinking, thus:\u2014\u201cGrievous is re-birth in a new existence,\nand the dissolution of the body in each successive place where we are\nre-born. I am subject to birth, to decay, to disease, to death. It is\nright, being such, that I should strive to attain the great deathless\nNirv\u0101\u1e47a, which is tranquil, and free from birth, decay, sickness, grief,\nand joy.\n\n\u2018\u201cFor as in this world there is pleasure\u2014the opposite of pain\u2014so where\nthere is existence there must be its opposite, the cessation of\nexistence; and as where there is heat there is also cold which\nneutralizes it, so there must be a Nirv\u0101\u1e47a that extinguishes (the fires\nof) lust and the other passions; and as in opposition to a bad and evil\ncondition there is a good and blameless one, so where there is evil\nBirth there must also be Nirv\u0101\u1e47a, called the Birthless, because it puts\nan end to all re-birth.\n\n\u2018\u201cJust as a man who has fallen into a heap of filth, if he beholds afar\noff a great pond covered with lotuses of five colours, ought to seek\nthat pond, saying, \u2018By what way shall I arrive there?\u2019 but if he does\nnot seek it, the fault is not that of the pond; even so where there is\nthe lake of the great deathless Nirv\u0101\u1e47a.\u201d\u2019\n\nWhat, then, is the proper definition of Nirv\u0101\u1e47a (P\u0101li Nibb\u0101na)? In\nventuring on an explanation of so controverted a term, I feel rather\nlike a foolhardy person walking barefoot over thorny ground.\nNevertheless I may fearlessly assert two things about it.\n\nThe first is, that the term Nirv\u0101\u1e47a was not originated by Gautama. It\nwas an expression common to both Br\u0101hmanism and Buddhism, and most of\nits synonyms such as moksha, apavarga, and nirv\u1e5biti are still common to\nboth. It was current in Gautama\u2019s time, and certainly occurs in the\nMah\u0101-bh\u0101rata, parts of which are of great antiquity.\n\nIn the celebrated episode of that poem called Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101[56], V. 24,\nwe find the following:\u2014\n\n\u2018That Yog\u012b who is internally happy, internally satisfied and internally\nillumined, attains extinction in the Supreme Being, and becomes that\nBeing\u2019 (Yo \u2019nta\u1e25sukho \u2018ntar\u0101r\u0101mas tath\u0101ntarjyotir eva ya\u1e25, | Sa Yog\u012b\nBrahma-nirv\u0101\u1e47a\u1e43[57] Brahma-bh\u016bto \u2019dhiga\u0107\u0107hati).\n\nThe second point is that it would be about as unreasonable to expect\nthat Nirv\u0101\u1e47a should always be explained in one way as to restrict\nBr\u0101hmanism and Buddhism\u2014two most elastic, comprehensive, and Protean\nsystems, which have constantly changed their front to suit changing\ncircumstances and varying national peculiarities at different epochs and\nin different countries\u2014to one hard and fast outline.\n\nIt is certainly singular that although the term Nibb\u0101na (Sansk\u1e5bit\nNirv\u0101\u1e47a)\u2014like some of the crucial theological terms of Christianity\u2014has\nled to endless discussions, it does not occur often in the P\u0101li texts.\nThe word Arahattam, \u2018Arhatship,\u2019 is more common.\n\nNirv\u0101\u1e47a, of course, originally means \u2018the state of a blown-out flame.\u2019\nHence its first meaning is properly restricted to the complete\nextinction of the three chief fires[58] of lust, ill-will, and delusion,\nand a total cessation of all evil passions and desires[59], especially\nof the desire for individual existence (name and form).\n\nFollowing on this is the state of release from all pain and from all\nignorance, accompanied by a sense of profound rest\u2014a state achieved by\nall Arhats while still living in the world[60], and notably by the\nBuddha at the moment when he attained Buddhahood, forty-five years\nbefore his final Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a. Nirv\u0101\u1e47a then is not necessarily the\nannihilation of all existence. It is the absence of kle\u1e61a (p. 124), as\nin the Yoga system, and corresponds very much to the Br\u0101hmanical\nApavarga, described in the Ny\u0101ya, and defined by a commentator,\nV\u0101tsy\u0101yana, to be Sarva-du\u1e25kha-\u0107heda (\u2018the cutting off of all pain\u2019). In\nshort, it is Arhatship.\n\nBut besides Nirv\u0101\u1e47a we have the expression Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a. This is not\nmerely the blowing out of the fires of the passions but also the entire\ncessation of re-births, with extinction of all the elements or seeds of\nbodily existence. This took place when the Buddha died or \u2018passed away\u2019\nafter innumerable previous deaths. Practically, however, in Buddhism the\ndeath of every ordinary being amounts to this kind of Nirv\u0101\u1e47a; for, if\nthere is no recollection of any former state of existence in the new\nbeing created by Karma, what is every death but utter personal\nextinction?\n\nNow with regard to the Nirv\u0101\u1e47a of Arhatship, no one can have come in\ncontact with the natives of India in their own country, without\nobserving that for a genuine aristocratic Br\u0101hman to allow others to see\nhim give way to any passion, to exhibit any emotion or enthusiasm, is\nregarded as a proof of weakness.\n\nWe can easily understand, therefore, that when the Buddha exhorted his\nfollowers to strive after a wholly impassive condition, he addressed a\nsympathetic audience.\n\nLong before his exhortations were heard in India, his fellow-countrymen\nheld persons in the highest respect who claimed to have entirely\nsuppressed their passions. The only peculiarity in Gautama\u2019s teaching\nwas that he made this object incumbent on all true Buddhists alike,\nwithout exception. And this state of absolute imperturbability is well\nindicated to the eye by the usual attitude of the images which, after\nGautama\u2019s death, were carved to represent him\u2014an attitude of passionless\ncomposure, and dignified calm.\n\nIn the interesting P\u0101li work Milinda-pra\u1e61na (Milinda-pa\u00f1ho), containing\na conversation on the subject of Nirv\u0101\u1e47a between King Milinda (Menander)\nand the monk N\u0101gasena (supposed to have lived about 140 B.C.), the\nlatter compares it to the pure water which quenches fire, and to the\nfathomless Ocean freed from trouble and impurities, which no river,\nhowever vast, can fill to overflowing; and to the Air, which cannot be\nseen or explained, though it enters our bodies and fills us with life;\nand to Space, which is eternal and infinite, and beyond the power of man\nto conceive.\n\nI trust I shall not shock my Indian friends if I illustrate this\ncondition by a comparison of my own drawn from the animal creation. In\ncrossing the Indian Ocean, when unruffled by the slightest breeze, I\nhave sometimes observed a jelly-fish floating on the surface of the\ntransparent water, apparently lifeless. The creature is evidently\nneither asleep nor awake. It certainly is not thinking about anything,\nand its consciousness is doubtful. All that can be affirmed about it is\nthat it seems to be drinking in the warm fluid in a state of lazy\nblissful repose.\n\nNo Buddhist, at least, could look at such a sight without being reminded\nof this idea of Nirv\u0101\u1e47a\u2014the idea of, so to speak, floating in perfect\nrepose and peace and cessation from all pain, and all work, and even all\nthought, on a kind of ocean of half conscious, half unconscious\nbeatitude. It is not consciousness, neither is it unconsciousness. It is\nsymbolized by a full-blown, perfectly formed lotus\u2014a frequent emblem of\nperfection\u2014reposing on a calm mirror-like lake.\n\nWith regard to Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a[61]\u2014the complete termination of migrations\nand passing away of all the elements of bodily existence\u2014if this is to\nbe distinguished from the Br\u0101hmanical idea of absorption into an\nimpersonal spirit\u2014whereby the Ego of personal identity is destroyed\u2014it\nis a distinction without much difference.\n\nStrictly, however, in Buddhism the dissolution of the body leaves no\nsurviving personality or individuality, and consequently Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a is\nnot properly described either as absorption into a void (\u1e61\u016bnya) or as\nannihilation. It is simply the absolute termination of a series of\nconscious bodily organizations. The Buddha himself evaded dogmatic\ndefinitions, and would probably have said:\u2014it is not life, neither is it\nnon-life; it may be compared to infinite space (\u1e61\u016bnya) which is not to\nbe comprehended or explained.\n\nWe should also bear in mind that although Nirv\u0101\u1e47a and Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a\nconstitute the ultimate goal to which all the morality of a true\nBuddhist tends, they have no place either in the aims or thoughts of the\nordinary adherents of Buddhism at the present day.\n\nThe apex of all the desires, the culminating point of all the ambition\nof the most religiously-minded Buddhists of modern times, points to a\nlife in one of the heavens, while the great mass of the people aim only\nat escaping one of the hells, and elevating themselves to a higher\ncondition of bodily existence in their next birth on this earth, and\nperhaps on that very part of this earth which is the scene of their\npresent toils, joys, and sorrows.\n\nIt only remains for me to caution those who may be impressed with the\nbeauty of some of the precepts of the moral code and its theory of\nperfection, as ending in Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a, against deducing therefrom too\noptimistic an estimate of the Buddhist system. Buddhist morality is like\na showy edifice built on the sand. It is a thoroughly fair-weather\nstructure, incapable of standing against flood, storm, and tempest.\n\nIt may be summed up in a few words as a scheme for the establishing of a\nparadox\u2014for the perfecting of one\u2019s self by accumulating merit with the\nultimate view of annihilating all consciousness of self\u2014a system which\nteaches the greatest respect for the life of others, with the ultimate\nview of extinguishing one\u2019s own.\n\nIt must, in short, be clearly understood that if any comparison be\ninstituted between Buddhism and Christianity in regard to the\nself-abnegation, or self-sacrifice which each claims to inculcate, the\nself to be got rid of in Buddhism is not the selfishness condemned by\nChristianity, but rather the self of individuality\u2014the self of\nindividual life, and personal identity.\n\nTo be righteous in a Christian sense a man must be God-like, and to be\nrighteous in a Buddhistic sense a man must be Buddha-like; but the\nrighteousness of the Buddhist is not the perfection of holiness by the\nextinction of sin committed against God, but the perfection of\nmerit-making, with the view of earning happiness for himself in a higher\nstate hereafter.\n\nFor every Buddhist is like a trader who keeps a ledger, with a regular\ndebtor and creditor account, and a daily entry of profit and loss.\n\nHe must not take, make, or hoard money. He is forbidden to store up a\nmoney-balance in a worldly bank, but he is urged to be constantly\naccumulating a merit-balance in the bank of Karma.\n\nIn conclusion, let the Buddha enforce his own moral teaching in his own\nway, by allegory and illustration drawn from real life:\u2014When asked by a\nBr\u0101hman \u2018why he did not plough and sow and earn his own bread?\u2019 he\nreplied to the following effect: \u2018I do plough and sow and eat immortal\nfruit (Amata = Am\u1e5bita); my plough is wisdom (pa\u1e47\u1e47\u0101); my shaft is\nmodesty; my draught-ox, exertion; my goad, earnest meditation (sati); my\nmind, the rein. Faith (saddh\u0101) in the doctrine is the seed I sow;\ncleaving to life is the weed I root up; truth is the destroyer of the\nweed; Nirv\u0101\u1e47a and deliverance from misery are my harvest.\u2019\n(Kasi-bh\u0101radv\u0101ja-sutta of the Sutta-nip\u0101ta.)\n\nThis may be compared with St. Luke viii. 11-15; but have we not here a\ncontrast rather than a comparison?\n\nPerhaps some may think that the contrast is not unfavourable to\nBuddhism. Nay, possibly some may complain that I have not enlarged\nsufficiently on the remarkable resemblance between certain moral\nprecepts in the Buddhist code and in the Christian. I admit this\nresemblance\u2014I admit that both tell us:\u2014not to love the world; not to\nlove money; not to show enmity towards our enemies; not to do\nunrighteous or impure acts\u2014to overcome evil by good, and to do to others\nas we would be done by.\n\nNay, I admit even more:\u2014I allow that some Buddhist precepts go beyond\nthe corresponding Christian injunctions. For Buddhism prohibits all\nkilling\u2014even of animals and noxious insects. It demands total abstinence\nfrom stimulating drinks\u2014disallowing even moderation in their use. It\nexcludes all who aim at perfect sanctity from the holy estate of\nmatrimony. It bids a man, if he strives after perfection, abandon the\nworld and lead a life of monkhood. In fine, its morality is essentially\na monkhood-morality. It enjoins total abstinence, because it dares not\ntrust human beings to be temperate. How indeed could it trust them when\nit promises them no help, no divine grace, no restraining power?\n\nThe glory of Christianity is that having freely given that grace and\nthat power to man, it trusts him to make use of the gift. It seems to\nspeak to him thus:\u2014Thy Creator wills to trust thee and to be trusted by\nthee; He has endowed thee with freedom of choice, and therefore respects\nthy liberty of action. He imposes no rule of total abstinence in regard\nto natural desires; He simply bids thee keep them within bounds, so that\nthy moderation may be known unto all men; He places thee in the world\namid trials and temptations and says to thee, \u2018My grace is sufficient\nfor thee\u2019 and by its aid thou mayest overcome them all.\n\nYes, the grand difference between the morality of Buddhism and the\nmorality of Christianity is not in the letter of the precepts, but in\nthe principle and motive power brought to bear on their application.\n\nBuddhism says:\u2014Be righteous by yourselves, and through yourselves, and\nfor the getting rid of all life in yourselves. Christianity says:\u2014Be\nrighteous through the power of God\u2019s gift of eternal life in His Son. In\na word, Buddhism founds its morality on self. Christianity founds its\nmorality on Christ.\n\nThe Buddha said to his followers:\u2014Take nothing from me, trust to no one\nbut to yourselves.\n\nChrist said, and says to us still:\u2014Take all from me; take this free\ngift. Put on this spotless robe. Eat this Bread of Life. Drink this\nLiving Water.\n\nThink you that any one who receives a priceless gift, is likely\nwillingly to insult the Giver of it? Think you that any one who accepts\na snow-white robe is likely willingly to soil it by impure acts? Think\nyou that any one who tastes life-giving Bread is likely to relish husks?\nor that any one who draws deep draughts at a living Well is likely to\nprefer the polluted water of a stagnant pool?\n\nBeware, then, of judging by the mere letter; or, should you insist on so\njudging, bear in mind that everywhere the Buddha\u2019s Law is a dead letter,\nbecause the Buddha is dead; just as the Sermon on the Mount would be a\ndead letter, if Christ were dead.\n\nFinally, let me say to the admirers of Buddhism:\u2014\n\nIf you insist on placing its moral code on the same level with that of\nChristianity, ask yourselves one plain question\u2014Who would be the more\nlikely to lead a godly, righteous, and sober life, a life of moderation\nand temperance, a life of holiness and happiness\u2014the man who has learnt\nhis morality from the dead, the extinct Buddha, or the man who draws his\nmorality and his holiness from the living, the eternal, the life-giving\nChrist?\n\n\n\n\n                              LECTURE VII.\n        _Changes in Buddhism and its disappearance from India._\n\n\nIn the preceding Lectures I have confined myself chiefly to the\nconsideration of what may be called _true Buddhism_ as taught by its\nFounder and developed by his immediate followers and disciples during\nthe first two or three centuries of its existence in the land of its\nbirth, India.\n\nTo attempt an explanation of all the subsequent phases of Buddhism\nwould, as I have before stated, require the command of unlimited time.\nAll I can hope to accomplish in the concluding Lectures is to give a\nvery general idea of the nature of the changes Buddhism underwent before\nit died out in India, and of its corruptions in some of the countries\nbordering on India and in North-eastern Asia.\n\nAnd I may add that those who desire correct views on this subject, ought\nnot to trust to mere inferences and theories founded on a critical\nperusal of the so-called Sacred Books of the Buddhists. For it is\ncertain that without any practical experience of what Buddhism has\nbecome in modern times\u2014I mean such an experience as can only be gained\nby residing or travelling in countries where Buddhism now prevails\u2014the\nmere study of its ancient scriptures is likely to be misleading.\n\nAt the same time book-knowledge is indispensable, and it is essential to\nbring to the study of later Buddhism a scholarlike acquaintance with\nSansk\u1e5bit and P\u0101li. Even a knowledge of Tibetan ought to be added. Nor\nought the inquirer to be ignorant of the science of comparative\nreligion, seeing that the principles of that science may throw light on\nmany difficult questions.\n\nFor example, a student of comparative religion will be prepared to\nexpect that all religious systems will diverge more or less from their\noriginal type in the hands of enthusiastic disciples, who are ever\ninclined to amplify their master\u2019s teaching and to explain it\ndifferently according to each man\u2019s peculiar temperament and mental\nbias, until in the end the original deposit of simple doctrine becomes\noverlaid with layer upon layer of adventitious matter.\n\nNor will he be surprised to find that the tendency of every religious\nmovement is towards deterioration and disintegration. Nor will it appear\nstrange to him that the chief conservative force is antagonism. As time\ngoes on disagreements among the followers of any great leader seem to be\ninevitable, and always lead to sectarian divisions and subdivisions. Yet\nit is this opposition of religious parties that usually operates to\nmitigate the worst extremes of corruption, and tends to bring about\nre-forming movements.\n\nEven the progress of Christianity\u2014as history shows too well\u2014furnishes\nillustrations of the law of deterioration, disintegration, and\nre-formation. At all events, it is certain that no study of the New\nTestament is likely to give a true idea of the varying condition of the\nChristian religion as exhibited at the present day in different parts of\nthe world.\n\nBut here it is important to caution the student of religions against\nforcing a comparison between two systems of doctrine like Christianity\nand Buddhism, which are radically and essentially opposed to each other.\n\nThe unchristianlike incrustations and divisions which have marred the\noriginal teaching of the Head of our religion exist _in spite_ of\nChristianity. They are not the result of any development of its first\nprinciples; whereas, on the contrary, the corruptions and schisms of\nBuddhism are the natural and inevitable outcome of its own root-ideas\nand fundamental doctrines.\n\nIn proof of this let us revert for a moment to the insight we have\ngained into the origin of Buddhism.\n\nIt will be seen that the most remarkable feature of the Buddha\u2019s\nteaching, so far as it has been stated in the preceding Lectures, was\nthat he altogether ignored the existence in human nature of any\nspiritual aspirations, affections, or instincts higher than or distinct\nfrom the natural aspirations, affections, and instincts of humanity; and\nof any force outside of human nature capable of aiding a man\u2019s own\nefforts in his struggle for salvation. Not that he reviled, or poured\ncontempt on the religion prevalent among his fellow-countrymen, but that\nhe found no place in his system for an external Ruler and Controller of\nthe Universe, and would have stultified his own teaching had he\nacknowledged a Supreme Creator, guiding and upholding all things by His\nwill, and always at hand to co-operate with His creatures and listen to\ntheir supplications.\n\nIf it were possible, in short, to condense into a categorical statement\nthe scattered utterances of a man whose teaching was rarely dogmatic, we\nmight affirm that it was to the effect that for any man to depend on a\nBeing higher than himself, or to centre the noblest affections of his\nnature on a merciful, just, and holy God, whose presence he yearned for,\nwhose aid he prayed for, and to whose image he longed to be\nassimilated\u2014was a mere delusion, though perhaps a harmless one. He\ntherefore set aside every supposed supernatural revelation as useless\nand incapable of proof. He prescribed no prayer, he enjoined no form of\nworship, he established no real church, and instead of a priesthood or\nclergy, ordained to aid men in their progress heavenwards or to console\nthem in the trials of life, he founded an Order of Monks pledged to\ndenounce human life as not worth living, and bound to abstain from all\nparticipation in human affairs.\n\nIt is true that he deserves commendation for having substituted moral\nconduct for useless superstitious rites, but his moral code had no other\naim than the suppression of lusts and desires (p. 139, note 2), and his\npeculiar stoical philosophy had no other object than the removal of the\nignorance which obstructed the path to true knowledge\u2014the knowledge that\nall life is fraught with pain and misery, and not worth perpetuating.\n\nIt is admitted, too, that its moral precepts were of a high order; but\nit promised man no divine aid in observing them, it supplied him with no\nmotive power except the selfish hope of benefiting himself in future\nstates of corporeal existence, and it provided no remedy in case his\nattempts to obey its injunctions ended in failure. How, indeed, could it\ndo any of these things when its only idea of sin was not the infraction\nof God\u2019s law, but the commission of an act fraught with evil\nconsequences to the doer?\n\nFurthermore, it was guilty of the inconsistency of bidding a man cherish\na fellow-feeling for others and diligently engage in all good works,\nwhile it made his true salvation depend on his giving up all love for\nwife and children, and setting before himself, as his final goal, a\ncondition of absolute indifference and inactivity.\n\nWhat, therefore, I am at present concerned to point out is that, if the\nessential doctrines of primitive Buddhism were of the character thus\nsummarized, a rebound from one extreme to another became inevitable, and\nthat such a reaction was due to the very nature of the original teaching\nof its Founder. In point of fact it was not a development that took\nplace, but a recoil\u2014like the recoil of a spring held down for a time by\na powerful hand and then released. And this resulted from the simple\nworking of the eternal instincts of humanity, which insisted on making\nthemselves felt notwithstanding the unnatural restraint to which the\nBuddha had subjected them; so that every doctrine he taught developed by\na kind of irony of fate into a complete contradiction of itself.\n\nLet us take a few examples:\u2014\n\nBuddhism, we know, started with the doctrine that all idea of marriage,\nor of happy home-life, was to be abandoned by wise men\u2014by all who aimed\nat becoming true Buddhists (in direct contradistinction, we may note, to\nthe primary Christian truth that it is not good for created man to be\nalone, and that therefore his Creator created a help meet for him\u2014a\ntruth confirmed in a remarkable manner by the Founder of the Christian\nChurch when He gave the first sign of His divine commission at a\nmarriage ceremony).\n\nWhat, then, followed on the Buddha\u2019s original unnatural teaching in\nregard to marriage?\n\nOf course an immediate result was that, although according to the\nBuddha\u2019s ordinance any one who aimed at perfect sanctity was bound to\nlead a celibate life, the rule against marriage was admitted to be\ninapplicable to the majority of human beings living in the world. The\nmass of the people, in short, were necessarily offenders against the\nprimary law of Buddhism. Though called lay-Buddhists, they were not\n\u2018wise men\u2019 in the Buddhist sense of the term (pp. 86, 88). There is even\nevidence that among certain monkish communities in Northern countries\nthe law against marriage was soon relaxed. It is well known that at the\npresent day Lamaseries in Sikkim and Tibet swarm with the children of\nmonks, though called their nephews and nieces[62]. And far worse than\nthis, Buddhism ultimately allied itself with T\u0101ntrism or the worship of\nthe female principle (\u1e61akti), and under its sanction encouraged the\ngrossest violations of decency and the worst forms of profligacy.\n\nIt was the same in regard to the unnatural vow of poverty. Monasteries\nand Lamaseries now possess immense revenues, and monks are often wealthy\nmen.\n\nThen again, what resulted from the Buddha\u2019s ignoring the existence of a\nGod, and telling his disciples to abstain from depending on any Being\nhigher than what man himself could become? Of course this was opposed to\nevery man\u2019s innermost sense of his own needs and of his own nature. For\nman is so constituted that he cannot be happy without loving and\ntrusting a Being higher than himself\u2014a Being who takes the initiative in\nloving His creatures and is the proper object of their loftiest\naffections. Nor can man in his secret heart regard either himself or any\none of his fellow-men as a being worthy of his highest adoration. Nor\ncan he set his affections on a blank or an abstraction. And so, in spite\nof the Buddha\u2019s teaching, his followers would act on their own\nconvictions. They would believe in beings higher than themselves, and in\na personal Creator knowable and lovable by themselves, and knowing and\nloving His creatures. Nay, they ultimately converted the Buddha himself\ninto the very God he denied, calling him \u2018The chief god of all the gods\u2019\n(Dev\u0101tideva).\n\nAgain, what was the effect of the Buddha\u2019s leading men to believe that\nall supernatural revelation was unneeded\u2014that all enlightenment came\nfrom within, and that every man was competent to think out true\nknowledge for himself by the exercise of his own reasoning powers, in\nthe way that the Buddha himself had done?\n\nOf course the result was that the generality of men who shrank from the\neffort of thinking out truth for themselves, and were wholly destitute\nof any faculty for doing so, insisted on believing in a revelation from\nan external power, and ended in attributing infallibility to the\nBuddha\u2019s own teaching, and worshipping the Law of Buddhism\u2014as a visible\nembodiment of their deceased teacher\u2014with all the ardour of enthusiastic\nbibliolatrists.\n\nFurthermore, what followed on the Buddha\u2019s denying that any prayer,\nhowever earnest, could have any power to modify the operation of natural\nlaws?\n\nOf course men longed for some form of supplication to a higher power,\nand so the Buddha\u2019s disciples not only composed prayer-formularies, but\ninvested the mere letters and syllables of such forms with an efficacy\nwhich no other body of religionists has ever thought of attributing to\nprayer of any kind.\n\nThey not only repeated mystical sentences, which were called prayers,\nthough really mere charms, believing that an occult virtue was inherent\nin the words, but invented a method of manufacturing such sentences\n(Dh\u0101ra\u1e47\u012b) like marketable commodities.\n\nThey fabricated prayers, in fact, by machinery, inscribing them on\nwheels or on rolls inserted in cylinders, which in the present day are\nmade to revolve by hand or by the force of water and wind, and will\npossibly, with the spread of science, be impelled by steam-power, so\nthat each revolution may count for an infinite number of repetitions,\nand be set down to the credit of the owner or manager of the mechanism.\n\nYet again, what was the inevitable consequence of the Buddha\u2019s rejection\nof the doctrine that any benefit could accrue to human beings from\nreligious services conducted by regularly ordained priests, and of his\ninstituting in their stead an Order of Monks, who were little better\nthan a community of drones, contributing nothing to the wealth of the\nworld, doing nothing of any utility to any one, and taught to regard\ninaction as the path of true wisdom?\n\nNaturally, men craved for spiritual helpers, guides, and intercessors,\nand so by degrees these very monks conducted elaborate religious\nservices, and a complicated hierarchy was organized in Tibet, even more\nintricate and far-reaching in its ramifications than that of the modern\nRomish Church.\n\nAnd once more, what resulted from the Buddha\u2019s objection to provide\nvisible images and material objects of worship, with a view to stimulate\ndevotion or aid meditation?\n\nOf course concrete and objective Buddhism of some kind became a\nnecessity. It became essential to make concessions to the weakness and\ninfirmity of human nature, which required external aids, and declined to\nbe devoted to an ideal void, or to meditate on a pure abstraction. Even\nthe Founder of Buddhism himself seems to have felt, as we shall see,\nthat his hold on the memory of his followers would depend on their\nvenerating certain objects and symbols after his death. Unhappily for\nthe purity of Buddhism, but quite in conformity with the inveterate\ntendencies of humanity, the Buddha\u2019s disciples pushed veneration of\nexternal objects to an extreme. They were not contented with mere\nreverence shown to the relics of the Buddha\u2019s burnt body and the shrines\ncontaining them. They worshipped the tree under which he attained\nBuddhahood, the seat on which he sat, the prints of his feet, his shadow\nsupposed to be impressed on rocks, the utensils he used, the books\ncontaining the Law, the wheel which symbolized both the propagation and\nthe character of his doctrine, and finally bowed down before carved\nrepresentations of his body and images of all kinds. It is remarkable\nthat in Buddhist countries idols are far more numerous than among any\nother idolatrous people in the world.\n\nLastly, what resulted from the Buddha\u2019s teaching that the ultimate end\nto which men\u2019s efforts ought to be directed was Nirv\u0101\u1e47a\u2014that is, the\ntotal extinction of all individual existence and personal identity?\n\nOf course men instinctively recoiled from utter self-annihilation, and\nso the Buddha\u2019s followers ended in changing the true idea of Nirv\u0101\u1e47a and\nconverting it from a condition of non-existence into a state of hazy\nbeatitude in celestial regions, while they encouraged all men\u2014whether\nmonks or laymen\u2014to make a sense of dreamy bliss in heaven, and not total\nextinction of life, the end of all their efforts.\n\nBut it was not only this natural and inevitable recoil to the opposite\nextreme that ultimately brought about an entire change in primitive\nBuddhism. Another cause must also be taken into account.\n\nWe have already explained the nature of the tie which bound Buddhism to\nBr\u0101hmanism, from the first day on which Gautama sat as a disciple at the\nfeet of the Br\u0101hman philosophers Udraka and \u0100\u1e37\u0101ra (p. 29). Now, although\nthis tie was soon loosened, and although the Buddha struck out a line of\nhis own, and a separation took place, yet the two systems stood on so\nmuch common ground that they were always ready to draw together again.\n\nAt all events, it is probable that one system never expelled the other,\nand that the constant attrition and contact which took place between\nBr\u0101hmanism and Buddhism, led to a considerable splitting up of the\noriginal fabric of Buddhism, involving, of course, many divisions and\nsubdivisions of Buddhistic thought, some of which were closely allied to\nthe later developments of Br\u0101hmanical philosophy.\n\nIn the Sarva-dar\u1e61ana-sa\u1e45graha four principal sects of Buddhism are\nenumerated, which must have taken root early on Indian soil.\n\nThese four were the Vaibh\u0101shika, Sautr\u0101ntika, M\u0101dhyamika, and Yog\u0101\u0107\u0101ra.\nOf these the first two with their subdivisions[63] were realistic, and\nwere established\u2014though not perhaps thoroughly formulated and\nsystematized\u2014in very early times, long before the council of Kanishka;\nwhile the two later schools are described as idealistic, the M\u0101dhyamika\nbeing a Buddhistic form of the Ved\u0101nta philosophy, and the Yog\u0101\u0107\u0101ra\nagreeing generally with the Yoga system.\n\nIndeed there is good evidence that Buddhism developed in India a greater\nnumber of schools and phases of thought than Br\u0101hmanism itself. Some\nauthorities enumerate eighteen divisions (corresponding perhaps to the\neighteen original disciples, pp. 47-73) which existed in king Kanishka\u2019s\ntime\u2014that is, in the first century of our era, while others specify\nthirty-two; and in the fourth century we find the Chinese traveller\nF\u0101-hien (p. 160) making allusion to as many as ninety-six (Dr. Legge\u2019s\ntranslation, p. 62).\n\nWe cannot wonder then that the author of the Sarva-dar\u1e61ana-sa\u1e45graha\nexpressed himself in rather strong language to the following effect:\u2014\n\n\u2018Though the venerated Buddha be the only one teacher, his disciples are\nmanifold; just as when the sun has set, the thief and other evil doers,\nthe theological student and others understand that it is time to set\nabout their occupations, according to their several inclinations.\u2019\n\nYet, after all, it was chiefly in the North, and in consequence of the\ncouncil held by Kanishka, India\u2019s greatest Buddhist king after A\u1e61oka[64]\n(see p. 69), that the original features of Buddhism underwent the\ngreatest change and became overlaid with coating after coating of\nextraneous matter. It was there, in Northern regions, in the valley of\nthe Indus, that the Protean system called Mah\u0101-y\u0101na arose, and grew, by\nthe operation of the usual laws of accretion, conglomeration,\ndisintegration, and reintegration, into a congeries of heterogeneous\ndoctrines, including the worship of Bodhi-sattvas, deified saints, and\npersonal gods.\n\nNaturally the adherents of this wider method spoke disparagingly of the\nsimpler system prevalent in the South, whose sacred books were the\nTri-pi\u1e6daka of Ceylon written in the ancient vernacular (P\u0101li). That\nsystem they designated H\u012bna-y\u0101na, \u2018the defective method,\u2019 not denying\nhowever that their own enlarged system grew out of and included the\nsimpler one.\n\nThere arose, too, a third method, or \u2018vehicle\u2019 of salvation, called \u2018the\nmiddle method\u2019 (Madhyama-y\u0101na). This, however, is not so well known,\nand, being a compromise between the other two, never gained many\nadherents, though it is still recognized in Tibet\u2014the Tibetans often\nspeaking of Tri-y\u0101na, or \u2018the three vehicles.\u2019\n\nAt all events, it is only necessary for practical purposes to recognize\nthe distinction of the Great and Little Vehicle\u2014the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na[65] and\nthe H\u012bna-y\u0101na. And it may be stated generally that the inhabitants of\nNep\u0101l, Tibet, China, Manchuria, Mongolia, and Japan have always shown a\npreference for the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na, or \u2018Great Vehicle,\u2019 while the people of\nCeylon, Burma, and Siam have always preferred the \u2018Little Vehicle.\u2019\n\nAt the same time, it is important to note that while the Buddhists of\nNorthern countries are supposed to be disciples of the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na or\nGreat Way of Salvation, the Buddhism of each Northern country differs\ngreatly from that of the other, and that the countries nearest to India\nhave still further complicated the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na system by adopting mystical\ndoctrines, and introducing magic and other practices supposed to aid in\nthe acquisition of supernatural powers.\n\nIt must also be borne in mind that, although the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na or Great\nMethod originated on the Indus, and the H\u012bna-y\u0101na or Little Method, on\nthe Ganges, the two streams of teaching were not always confined to\nthese two areas, even on Indian soil.\n\nIn point of fact they were often intermixed, and the changes thus\nbrought about in Buddhism will become more evident by referring to the\nnarratives of three well-known Buddhist travellers from China.\n\nBuddhism was introduced into China between 58 and 75 of our era[66], but\nit was not till much later that Chinese pilgrims visited India\u2014the holy\nland of Buddhism.\n\nThe first traveller of whom we have any record was a certain Chinese\nBuddhist monk named F\u0101-hien, who set out on a pilgrimage to India about\nthe year 399 of our era, with the definite object of searching for and\ncarrying back to China complete copies of the Vinaya or Rules of\ndiscipline for the Order. He wrote a very simple and straightforward\naccount of his travels[67]\u2014which lasted for fourteen years\u2014and of his\nvisits to all the spots in India held most sacred by Buddhists. He was\nfollowed by a Chinese traveller of less mark, named Sang Yun, who\nstarted about 518 A.D., and seems to have ended his journey at Peshawar,\nor at least not to have penetrated much further South. Peshawar, we\nknow, was a great Buddhist centre, and there was a fine St\u016bpa there,\ncontaining the alms-bowl of Buddha. Then after another interval a much\nmore celebrated Chinese pilgrim named Hiouen Thsang[68] started for\nIndia (A.D. 629-644). The narrative of his travels for about fifteen\nyears is perhaps the best known and most commonly quoted of the three.\nIn Chang Yueh\u2019s preface[69] to these travels Hiouen Thsang is described\nas \u2018a Doctor of the three Pi\u1e6dakas, and is said to have translated 657\nworks from the original Sansk\u1e5bit. In all the districts through which he\njourneyed he learnt the dialects and investigated the deep secrets of\nreligion.\u2019\n\nAll three travellers give information in regard to the prevalence of\nBuddhism in India up to the seventh century of our era, and the\nnarratives of two\u2014F\u0101-hien and Hiouen Thsang\u2014are invaluable for the light\nthey throw on the changes which Buddhism underwent in the interval of\ntheir travels. Here and there the pilgrims exaggerate, especially when\nthey venture on numerical statistics or write from hearsay; but on the\nwhole their accounts may be accepted, and we learn that Hiouen Thsang\nfound some monasteries in ruins which were flourishing in F\u0101-hien\u2019s\ntime, and that the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na had supplanted the earlier form of\nBuddhism, or rather co-existed with it in many parts of the South as\nwell as of the North, and was to be found even in Ceylon[70].\n\nAnd this brings us face to face with the greatest change of all\u2014the\ntotal dying out of Buddhism in the place of its origin. How is it to be\naccounted for that no adherents of either the greater or lesser Buddhist\nsystems\u2014of either the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na or H\u012bna-y\u0101na\u2014are to be found in India at\nthe present moment?\n\nThe problem is difficult of solution, and I can only offer a few\nsuggestions for its elucidation.\n\nIn the first place, I think it may be confidently asserted that the\ndisappearance of Buddhism from India was a very gradual process, and\nunattended by any serious or violent religious revolution.\n\nWe have already alluded to the tolerant, liberal, and eclectic spirit\nwhich has characterized Buddhism ever since the period of its first\npromulgation at Benares.\n\nSuch toleration of the doctrines and ideas of co-existing systems had\nits advantages, especially in the early stages of the Buddhistic\nmovement. It certainly had a prophylactic effect in warding off violent\nattacks, and helped to promote the diffusion of Buddhism throughout the\nnumerous countries to which it ultimately spread. In India itself, as we\nhave already seen, Buddhism was never aggressive or combative. Its motto\neverywhere was persuasion and conciliation. Composure, tranquillity, and\nabsence of acrimony were stamped on all its features. The very\nfoundation on which it was reared\u2014the very establishment of a celibate\nmonastic Order, by means of which true knowledge was to be\npropagated\u2014had in it something altogether agreeable to the spirit and\nusages of Br\u0101hmanism.\n\nWe have seen, too, that the Buddha took care to show his respect for\nBr\u0101hmanical traditions, even while promulgating a philosophical theory\nand preaching doctrines opposed to all sacerdotalism, priestly\nprivileges, supernatural revelation, and Vedic ceremonial.\n\nIt does not, of course, follow that the great teacher, to whom the\nmajority of Asiatic races have for centuries looked as their chosen\nexample, had not the courage of his opinions, and was not competent to\nfill the r\u00f4le of a religious reformer.\n\nThe real fact was that he was too wise to enter upon any open crusade\nagainst inveterate customs and ideas. The peculiar calm of an Indian\natmosphere, though occasionally disturbed by political storms sweeping\nfrom distant regions, has rarely been stirred by violent religious\nantagonisms. The various currents of Hind\u016b religious life have flowed\npeacefully side by side, and reformers have generally done their work\nquietly. As for Gautama, there can be little doubt that his whole career\nwas stamped with the impress of his early surroundings, and that he\nimbibed his tolerant ideas from the Br\u0101hmanism in which he had been\ntrained.\n\nIt has been usual to blame the Br\u0101hmans for their arrogant\nexclusiveness, but their arrogance has been rather shown in magnifying\ntheir own caste-privileges and carrying them to an extravagant pitch,\nthan in preventing any discussion of their own dogmas, or in resenting\nany dissent from them.\n\nThe very essence of Br\u0101hmanism was tolerance. Every form of opinion was\nadmissible under a system which made every person and every object in\nexistence manifestations of the one Being, Brahm\u0103.\n\nThe only delicate ground, on which it was dangerous for any reformer to\ntread, was caste. The only unpardonable sin was infringement of\ncaste-rules. Nor was any one tempted to adopt the r\u00f4le of a violent\nagitator, when all were free to express any opinion they liked without\nhindrance, provided they took care to abstain from any act of\ninterference with caste-privileges.\n\nIt does not appear, in short, that the preachers of either Buddhism, or\nVaish\u1e47avism, or \u1e60aivism, or \u1e60\u0101ktism, or of any form of these sectarian\nsystems, ever incurred the special animosity of the Br\u0101hmans or of each\nother, or ever indulged in very violent denunciations of each other\u2019s\nreligious doctrines.\n\nIn real truth, these systems of doctrine were all evolved out of\nBr\u0101hmanism. They were, therefore, not only tolerated by Br\u0101hmanism, but\naccepted as the inevitable outcome of its own pantheistic creed.\n\nNo doubt each received at first a strong stamp of individuality from its\nfounder, marking it off from other systems, but with the lapse of years\nthe deeper shades of difference grew fainter. Then it became a question\nwhich should become merged in the other. In such a competition between\nrival systems Buddhism had less chance of holding its own than either\nVaish\u1e47avism or \u1e60aivism; for its root-ideas\u2014as we have seen\u2014were not\nrooted in the eternal instincts of human nature.\n\nBuddhism, in fact, could never have maintained itself in India till the\ntwelfth or thirteenth century of our era, had it not gradually, and to a\ngreat extent through interaction with Vaish\u1e47avism and \u1e60aivism, dropped\nits unnatural pessimistic theory of life and its unpopular atheistic\ncharacter, and accommodated itself to those systems.\n\nBut Buddhism in parting with its ultra-pessimism and its atheistic and\nagnostic ideas, lost its chief elements of individuality and its chief\nindependent stand-point.\n\nVaish\u1e47avism, on the other hand, was quite alive to its own interests,\nand had an eye to the spread of its own doctrines. It took care to adopt\nall the popular features of Buddhism. It vied with Buddhism in\ninculcating universal love, toleration, liberality, benevolence, and\nabstinence from injury. It preached equality, fraternity, and even in\nsome cases the abolition of caste distinctions. It taught a succession\nof incarnations or rather descents (Avat\u0101ra[71]) of divine beings upon\nearth (as Buddhism taught a succession of Buddhas), and it even adopted\nthe Buddha himself as one of the incarnations of Vish\u1e47u.\n\nThis, indeed, is the best explanation of what has happened at Pur\u012b in\nOrissa, where a temple once dedicated to Gautama Buddha, and supposed to\ncontain a relic of his burnt body, was afterwards dedicated to the\nJagann\u0101th form of K\u1e5bish\u1e47a and supposed to enshrine one of his bones, and\nwhere low-caste and high-caste both eat together the food cooked in the\nhouse of that popular god.\n\nThe same may be said of the interaction which took place between\nBuddhism and \u1e60aivism; for \u1e60aivism, of course, was quite as bent on the\npropagation of its own creed as other systems were. It vied with\nBuddhism in encouraging abstract meditation, and although it had less\nsympathy than Vaish\u1e47avism had with that system, it approached in some\nrespects so closely to its rival, that when Buddhism disappeared from\nIndia, images of Gautama were converted into representations of \u1e60iva\nseated in profound contemplation.\n\nUltimately, the interaction between the three systems proceeded to such\na point that each was influenced and modified by the other; each learnt\nsomething, or adopted some practice from the other.\n\nIt was thus, too, that \u1e60\u0101ktism, i. e. the worship of energy or force\n(\u1e60akti), identified with \u1e60iva\u2019s consort, was imported into Buddhism; its\ndoctrine of the self-evolution of all things from Prak\u1e5biti having much\nthat harmonized with the Buddhist theory of the origin of the Universe.\nThus, too, even T\u0101ntrism in its worst forms became intermixed with\nBuddhistic practice.\n\nEnough, then, has been said to justify the assertion that Buddhism was\nnot forcibly expelled from India by the Br\u0101hmans. It simply in the\nend\u2014possibly as late as the thirteenth century of our era\u2014became blended\nwith the systems which surrounded it, though the process of blending was\ngradual.\n\nIt would certainly be easy to prove from the records of the three\nChinese travellers, that Buddhism and Br\u0101hmanism existed together in\nNorthern and Central India as quite distinct systems till at least the\nseventh century of our era, if not always quite amicably, yet without\nany violent internecine conflict. Bitter controversies between the two\nrival creeds are without doubt clearly alluded to, and F\u0101-hien in one\npassage states that \u2018the Br\u0101hmans with their contrary doctrine became\nfull of hatred and envy in their hearts[72].\u2019 Yet, on the other hand, we\nfind that at a Council held by the great Buddhist king \u1e60il\u0101ditya\n(Harsha-vardhana), whose meritorious acts are fully described by Hiouen\nThsang (ch. v), and who had his capital at Kanouj, in the year 634 of\nour era[73], controversial points relating to both Buddhism and\nBr\u0101hmanism were discussed in a tolerant spirit, though it is said that\nin discussing questions between the Northern and Southern Buddhists, the\n\u2018Little Vehicle\u2019 was condemned.\n\nAgain, the Buddhist drama called N\u0101g\u0101nanda, \u2018joy of the snake\nworld[74],\u2019 throws great light on the amicable relations existing\nbetween the various sectarians and religionists in the days of king\n\u1e60il\u0101ditya. It is the only Sansk\u1e5bit play in which the N\u0101nd\u012b or opening\nprayer invokes the power of Buddha, thus:\u2014\n\n\u2018\u201cOn whom dost thou meditate, putting on a pretence of religious\nabstraction, yet opening thine eyes? See, saviour that thou art, thou\ndost not pity us sick with the shafts of Love. Falsely art thou\ncompassionate. Who is more cruel than thou?\u201d May Buddha, the conqueror,\nwho was thus jealously addressed by the Apsarasas (daughters) of M\u0101ra\n(p. 34), protect you!\u2019\n\nProfessor E. B. Cowell has shown in his valuable Preface that both this\nplay and the sister Hind\u016b play called Ratn\u0101vali were probably put forth\nor at least patronised by Harsha-vardhana (\u1e60il\u0101ditya), and that both\nwere probably acted at the same period, the king being as much a Hind\u016b\nas a Buddhist. Hiouen Thsang praises Harsha-vardhana for his support of\nBuddhism, but in his description of the two Convocations held by that\nking, states that both Buddhists and Br\u0101hmans were equally honoured by\nhim, and intimates that half his subjects held one doctrine and half the\nother. In the second Convocation which took place at Pray\u0101ga (now\nAllah\u0101b\u0101d) eighteen kings were present and 500,000 monks and laymen. On\nthe first day the statue of Buddha was installed; on the second day that\nof the Sun, and on the third that of \u1e60iva. Alms were distributed to\nBr\u0101hmans and Buddhists alike, and even to the Nirgranthas or Jaina naked\nheretics.\n\nAgain the well-known play called M\u0101lat\u012b-M\u0101dhava (by Bhava-bh\u016bti, who\nlived at Kanauj in the beginning of the eighth century) has an opening\nprayer addressed to \u1e60iva, and yet a female Buddhist ascetic and her\nattendant constitute two of the principal dramatis person\u00e6, proving that\nan intermixture of the two creeds prevailed everywhere.\n\nIt was also during the reign of \u1e60il\u0101ditya that the immense monastery at\nN\u0101landa near R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha formed a seat of learning, which might suggest a\ncomparison with the learned monkish communities and even with the\nuniversities of medi\u00e6val Europe[75]. In that monastery might be seen\nseveral thousand novices and monks of the eighteen Buddhist schools\u2014all\nof them supported by royal grants, and thus enabled both to perform\ntheir religious duties, and to prosecute the study of philosophy, law,\nand science in literary ease. It is probable that if disputes and\ndisagreements upon burning questions occurred, they rarely led to\nserious conflicts, and were not general throughout India, but confined\nto particular localities; and I think it may be safely affirmed that if\nBuddhism was ever anywhere persecuted, it never anywhere persecuted in\nreturn.\n\nI myself was much struck in a visit I paid to Ellora in the Niz\u0101m\u2019s\nterritory by the evidence I there saw of the friendly tolerance which\nmust have prevailed between Br\u0101hmans, Buddhists, and Jains. Br\u0101hmanical,\nBuddhist, and Jaina caves are there seen side by side, and their inmates\nno doubt lived on terms of fairly friendly tolerance, much as the\nmembers of the Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Wesleyan communions live in\nEurope at the present day.\n\nEven at Benares, the stronghold of Br\u0101hmanism, I witnessed similar\nproofs of amicable mutual intercourse, and at N\u0101sik\u2014the Benares of\nWestern India\u2014the proximity of the Buddhist caves and ruined monasteries\nwhich I visited, made it abundantly clear that Br\u0101hmans and Buddhists\nagreed to differ and to avoid serious quarrels.\n\nIt must nevertheless be admitted, that in the extreme South of India,\nand perhaps eventually at Benares and a few other strongholds of\nBr\u0101hmanism, the difference between the systems became so accentuated as\nto lead to grievous conflicts. Whether blood was shed it is impossible\nto prove; but it is alleged, with some degree of probability, that\nviolent crusades against Buddhism were instituted by Kum\u0101rila and\n\u1e60a\u1e45kara\u2014two well-known Southern Br\u0101hmans noted for their bigotry\u2014in the\nseventh and eighth centuries of our era. It does not appear, however,\nthat they were very successful either in the conversion or extermination\nof Buddhists.\n\nIt may, I think, be confidently affirmed that what ultimately happened\nin most parts of India was, that Vaish\u1e47avas and \u1e60aivas crept up softly\nto their rival and drew the vitality out of its body by close and\nfriendly embraces, and that instead of the Buddhists being expelled from\nIndia, Buddhism gradually and quietly lost itself in Vaish\u1e47avism and\n\u1e60aivism. In fact, by the beginning of the thirteenth century very little\nBuddhism remained on Indian soil. In a philosophical drama, called \u2018the\nRise of the Moon of Knowledge\u2019 (Prabodha-\u0107androdaya), written probably\nabout the twelfth century, the approaching triumph of Br\u0101hmanism over\nBuddhism is clearly indicated; for the Buddhist and other heretical\nsects are represented as belonging to the losing side.\n\nYet, after all, it is scarcely correct to say that Buddhism ever wholly\ndied away in India. Its name indeed perished there, but its spirit\nsurvived, and its sacred places remain to this day. Its ruined temples,\nmonasteries, monuments, and idols are scattered everywhere, while some\nof these have been perpetuated and adopted by those later phases of\nHind\u016bism which its own toleration helped to bring into existence.\n\nAt all events it may be safely affirmed that the passing away of the\nBuddhistic system in India was on the whole like the peaceful passing\naway of a moribund man surrounded by his relatives, and was at least\nunattended with any agonizing pangs[76].\n\n\n\n\n                             LECTURE VIII.\n             _Rise of Theistic and Polytheistic Buddhism._\n\n\nIn the preceding Lecture we have endeavoured to show generally how\nBuddhism was evolved out of Br\u0101hmanism, how it flourished side by side\nwith Br\u0101hmanism, and how after a chequered career and protracted\nsenility in the land of its birth\u2014lasting for at least fifteen\ncenturies[77]\u2014it ultimately merged its individuality in Vaish\u1e47avism and\n\u1e60aivism, or, in other words, disappeared and became lost in a composite\nsystem called Hind\u016bism.\n\nWe have now to trace more closely the gradual sliding of a simple\nagnostic and atheistic creed, into a variety of theistic and\npolytheistic conceptions.\n\nWe have already seen how the expansion of the H\u012bna-y\u0101na into the\nMah\u0101-y\u0101na became an inevitable result of the Buddha\u2019s own teaching\u2014in\nother words, how a rebound from atheism to theism was as unavoidable as\nthe return swing of a heavy pendulum. We need only repeat here that it\ncould not have been otherwise, when a teacher, who never claimed to be\nmore than a man, attempted to indoctrinate his human followers with\nprinciples opposed to the inextinguishable instincts and eternal\nintuitions of humanity.\n\nIn fact the teachers of the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na school were not slow to perceive\nthat, if Buddhism was to gain any hold over the masses, it was essential\nthat it should adapt itself to their human needs. It became imperatively\nnecessary, as a simple preservative measure, to convert a cold\nphilosophical creed, based on an ultra-pessimistic theory of existence,\ninto some sort of belief in the value of human life as worth living. And\nif life was not to be an invariable current of misery it followed that\nthere must also be some sort of faith in a superintending God\ncontrolling that life, and interesting Himself in Man\u2019s welfare.\n\nUnfortunately, having once advanced beyond definite limits, the more\nprogressive teachers found it impossible to draw the line at any given\npoint.\n\nNo doubt the theistic movement began by simple saint-worship\u2014that is, by\nveneration for the extinct Buddha as for a perfect saint. This was\naccompanied by homage offered to his relics and to various memorials of\nhis person.\n\nThen mere veneration and homage led to actual worship, and the Buddha,\nwho from first to last made his own perfect humanity an essential\nprinciple of his teaching, became elevated to a pinnacle far above\nhumanity and converted into a veritable god.\n\nNext, it is easy to see that a further development of the theistic\nmovement became inevitable.\n\nFor indeed it was only natural that in process of time some of the more\neminent of the Buddha\u2019s followers should become almost equally revered\nwith himself. It was not, however, till some time after their death that\nthey received any homage resembling that accorded to their Master.\n\nIt was then that, instead of being thought of as extinct, according to\nthe orthodox Buddhist doctrine, they were continually elevated in the\nimagination of their admirers to heavenly regions of beatitude.\n\nOf course this constant increase of saint-worship tended to land men by\ndegrees in a mass of theistic and polytheistic conceptions.\n\nAnd polytheism could not prevail in Eastern countries without its usual\nreverse side\u2014polydemonism; and polydemonism could not prevail without\nits usual adjuncts of mysticism and magic. And all of these again\nentailed idolatry, relic-worship, fetish-worship, and various other\ngross superstitions.\n\nSuch was the natural termination of the process of degeneration. Let us\nnow trace it more in detail.\n\nAnd in the first place it must not be forgotten that Gautama himself\nseems to have foreseen this result.\n\nHe seems to have been quite aware of the ineradicable tendency inherent\nin the nature of human beings, impelling them to elevate their saints\nand heroes to the position of gods. He therefore took pains to make his\nbeloved disciple and cousin \u0100nanda understand that the truth embodied in\nthe Dharma or Law which he had taught, was all that ought to take his\nplace and represent him when he was gone.\n\nAccordingly we learn from ancient inscriptions that for many years\nafterwards the only allowable object of veneration among primitive\nBuddhists was the Law\u2014that is, the precepts, rules, and ordinances\npropounded by Gautama himself\u2014many of which may have been committed to\nwriting in early times, though oral transmission was at first the usual\nrule, as it was among Br\u0101hmans.\n\nIn time, however, the interconnexion between Br\u0101hmanism and Buddhism,\nand the tendency to group sacred objects in triads[78], which showed\nitself very early in Hind\u016b religious thought and mythology, seems to\nhave led to the idea of a corresponding triple arrangement of venerated\nobjects among Buddhists. Hence three precious things\u2014sometimes called\nthe three jewels (_tri-ratna_), or the \u2018three Holies[79]\u2019\u2014came first to\nbe held in honour and then actually worshipped; a kind of personality\nbeing accorded to all three, very similar to that supposed to belong to\nthe three chief gods of the Hind\u016b Pantheon.\n\nThis triad of personalities consisted of (1) the Buddha himself, that is\nto say, Gautama Buddha, or the Buddha of the present age of the world;\n(2) his Dharma or Law, that is, the word and doctrine of the Buddha\npersonified, or so to speak incarnated and manifested in a visible form\nafter his Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a; and (3) his Sa\u1e45gha or Order of monks, also in a\nmanner personified\u2014that is, embodied in a kind of ideal impersonation or\ncollective unity of his true disciples.\n\nThis last word, Sa\u1e45gha, which means in Sansk\u1e5bit \u2018a collection\u2019 or\n\u2018assemblage,\u2019 is sometimes, as we have already seen (p. 85), very\nunsuitably rendered by the expression \u2018Buddhist Church.\u2019 It simply\ndenotes \u2018the collective body of Buddhist monks;\u2019 that is to say, the\nentire monastic fraternity, comprising in its widest sense the whole\nassemblage of monks, Arhats, Pratyeka-Buddhas, Bodhi-sattvas, perfected\nBuddhas and not yet perfected saints of all classes, whether on the\nearth or in any other division of the Universe; but not including\u2014be it\ncarefully borne in mind\u2014the still vaster community of living persons\nconstituting the whole body of the Buddhist laity.\n\nThese three, then,\u2014the Buddha, his Law, and his Order of Monks,\u2014passed\ninto the first three divine personifications of early theistic Buddhism,\ncommonly known as the first Buddhist Triad.\n\nHence we find that the Khuddaka-p\u0101\u1e6dha or \u2018lesser readings[80]\u2019 of the\nfifteen divisions of the Khuddaka-nik\u0101ya (p. 63) begins thus:\u2014\n\n\u2018I put my trust in the Buddha, in the Law, in the Order\u2019 (repeated three\ntimes).\n\n\u2018Ye beings (Bh\u016bt\u0101ni) here assembled of earth and air, let us bow, let us\nbow before the Buddha, revered by gods and men. May there be prosperity!\n\n\u2018Ye beings of earth and air, let us bow before the Law.\n\n\u2018Ye beings of earth and air, let us bow before the Order of Monks.\u2019\n\nWhen F\u0101-hien was on his return home and in great peril at sea, he\ncommitted his life to the protection of the Sa\u1e45gha, saying:\u2014\u2018I have\ntravelled far in search of the Law, let me, by your dread and\nsupernatural power, return from my wanderings and reach my\nresting-place.\u2019\n\nAnd again, on ending his travels, he gratefully acknowledged that he had\nbeen guarded in his perils by the dread power of the \u2018three honoured\nones\u2019 or \u2018three precious ones\u2019 or \u2018three Holies\u2019\u2014thus acknowledging the\npersonality of the Law as well as of the Buddha himself and of the\nSa\u1e45gha or collective body of Monks[81].\n\nBut it must be borne in mind that this did not necessarily imply any\nworship of images. It is certain that for a long time even Buddha\nhimself was not represented visibly. This is proved by the sculptures on\nthe Bharhut St\u016bpa. Even in the present day the simple expression of\ntrust in the three revered ones constitutes the only formula of worship\ncurrent in Ceylon. It is true that images of the Buddha are now common\nin that country, and while travelling there I saw numbers of persons\noffering homage and flowers to these images. But no prayer was addressed\nto them, and I noticed no visible representations of the personified Law\nor Sa\u1e45gha[82].\n\nNor, when I was at the Buddhist monastery near Darj\u012bling, did I see any\nimage of the Law side by side with that of Gautama, though every book\nexamined by me in the temple-library began with the words:\u2014Namo\nBuddh\u0101ya, \u2018reverence to the Buddha;\u2019 namo Dharm\u0101ya, \u2018reverence to the\nLaw;\u2019 namo Sa\u1e45gh\u0101ya, \u2018reverence to the Order.\u2019 The only visible symbol\nof the three so-called \u2018Holies\u2019 was a long staff with three prongs, like\nthe Indian Tri-\u1e61\u016bla.\n\nIt seems clear, therefore, that while, in process of time, images of\nGautama Buddha were multiplied everywhere\u2014and, as we shall see, in\nvarious attitudes and shapes\u2014images of the personified Law and Sa\u1e45gha\nwere never common, and indeed rarely found, except among Northern\nBuddhists. Those images of the Law which I have examined are in the form\nof a man[83] with four arms and hands, two of which are folded in\nworship, while one holds a book (or sometimes a lotus) and the other a\nrosary[84].\n\nSometimes, however, the representation of a book alone is held to be a\nsufficient symbol of the Law.\n\nThe Sa\u1e45gha, on the other hand, is generally symbolized by the image of a\nman with two arms and hands, one of which, as in the images of Buddha,\nrests on the knees and the other holds a lotus.\n\nAnd it may be observed here that of the three images of the Buddha, the\nLaw, and the Order, sometimes one occupies the central position and\nsometimes the other. This circumstance has led scholars to speak of what\nit is the fashion to term a Buddhist trinity; but in real fact neither\nBuddhism nor Br\u0101hmanism has any trinity in the true meaning of the term,\nfor although Buddhists claim a kind of tri-unity for their triad, and\nsay that the first contains the second, and that the third proceeds from\nthe first two and contains them, yet the first is clearly never regarded\nas either the Father or Creator of the world, in the Christian sense.\n\nIt appears, in fact, that the earliest Buddhist worship was exactly what\nmight have been expected to follow on the death of a religious Reformer\nand author of a new system. It was merely the natural expression of deep\nreverence for the founder of Buddhism, his doctrine, and the collective\nbody of his disciples.\n\nSo simple a form of worship, however, did not long satisfy the\ndevotional aspirations of the Buddha\u2019s followers, even in the sacred\nland of pure Buddhism.\n\nThe mere offering of homage, either to a system of Law, or to a\ncommunity of living monks or to departed human saints\u2014even though their\nmemory was kept alive by visible representations, and stimulated by\nmeditation and repetition of prayer-formularies\u2014had in it nothing\ncalculated to support or comfort men in seasons of sickness,\nbereavement, or calamity. This kind of simple Buddhism might have\nsatisfied the needs of men in times of peace and prosperity. Under other\nconditions it broke down. It could offer no shelter and give no help\namid the storms and tempests of life. Hence the development of the later\nphases of the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na system, the chief feature of which was a marked\nchange in the meaning attached to the term \u2018Bodhi-sattva.\u2019\n\nThis change will be better understood if we go back to what has already\nbeen mentioned (at p. 98). We have before explained that, according to\nthe original theory of Buddhism, a Bodhi-sattva is one who has knowledge\n(derived from self-enlightening intellect) for his essence; that is, he\nis a being who through all his bodily existences is destined in some\nfinal existence to become a Buddha, or self-enlightened man. Until his\nfinal birth, however, a Bodhi-sattva is a being in whom true knowledge\nis rather latent and undeveloped than perfected. Gautama had been a\nBodhi-sattva of this character (see p. 134), the merit of whose actions\n(Karma) in each of his countless previous existences (see p. 109) had\nbeen transmitted to succeeding corporeal forms, till in the state\nimmediately preceding his last birth on earth he existed as a\nBodhi-sattva in the Tushita heaven (see p. 120). There he continued\nuntil the time came for him to be born on earth as the Buddha of the\npresent age, when he entered the right side of his mother in the form of\na white elephant (p. 23)[85].\n\nAnd it may be repeated here that the white elephant, as something rare\nand beautiful of its kind, was simply symbolical of the perfect\nArhatship which he was destined to achieve in the ensuing birth.\n\nBorn, then, at last as the child Gautama, son of \u1e60uddhodana, and\npurified by a long observance of the six transcendent virtues (p. 128),\nhe ultimately attained to perfect knowledge and Arhatship under the\nBodhi-tree, and in so attaining passed from the condition of a\nBodhi-sattva to that of the highest of all Arhats\u2014a supreme Buddha.\nThen, after about forty-five years of diligent discharge of his\nself-imposed task as a teacher of the right way of salvation, he\nultimately passed away in Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a, or absolute non-existence.\n\nIt is important, however, to remember, that at the moment of his\nattaining Buddhahood he had transferred the Bodhi-sattvaship to\nMaitreya, \u2018the loving and compassionate one,\u2019 who became the\nBuddha-elect, dwelling and presiding as his predecessor had done in the\nheaven of contented beings (Tushita; see p. 120). There he watches over\nand promotes the interests of the Buddhist faith, while awaiting the\ntime when he is to appear on earth as Maitreya, or the fifth Buddha of\nthe present age. His advent will not take place till the lapse of five\nthousand years after the Nirv\u0101\u1e47a of Gautama, when the world will have\nbecome so corrupt that the Buddhist Law will be no more obeyed, nor even\nremembered.\n\nNo wonder then that this Maitreya\u2014whose very name implies love and\ntenderness towards mankind, and who was destined to become, like\nGautama, a Saviour of the world by teaching its inhabitants how to save\nthemselves\u2014became a favourite object of personal worship after Gautama\nBuddha\u2019s death. Even when the worship of other Bodhi-sattvas was\nintroduced, Maitreya retained the distinction of being the only\nBodhi-sattva worshipped by all Buddhist countries, whether in the South\nor in the North. Not that Gautama\u2019s memory was neglected. He was, of\ncourse, held to be superior to Maitreya, who was still a mere\nBodhi-sattva or Buddha-designate. But the feeling towards Gautama\nBuddha, after his Nirv\u0101\u1e47a and death, became different, and the object of\nbringing flowers and offerings to his shrines was simply to honour the\nmemory of a departed, not an existing saint. It was a mere mechanical\nact, fraught with beneficial consequences, but not supplying any real\nreligious need. On the other hand actual prayers were addressed to\nMaitreya, as to a living merciful being, whose favour it was\nall-important to secure, and whose heaven was believed to be a region of\nperfect love and contentment, to which all his worshippers were\nadmitted.\n\nIn Hiouen Thsang\u2019s Travels a heavenly \u1e5aishi is represented as\nsaying:\u2014\u2018No words can describe the personal beauty of Maitreya. He\ndeclares a law not different from ours. His exquisite voice is soft and\npure. Those who hear it can never tire; those who listen are never\nsatiated[86].\u2019\n\nIn fact, the aspirations of few pious Buddhists in early times ever led\nthem to soar higher than the happiness of living with Maitreya and\nlistening to his voice in his own Tushita heaven.\n\nIt is true that afterwards when the worship of the Dhy\u0101ni-Buddha\nAmit\u0101bha came into vogue in Northern countries this Buddha\u2019s heaven,\ncalled Sukh\u0101vat\u012b, fabled to be somewhere in the Western sky, seems to\nhave taken the place of the heaven of Maitreya. But this belongs to a\nlater phase of Buddhism, to be explained when we speak of the\nDhy\u0101ni-Buddhas (p. 203).\n\nIt was for Maitreya\u2019s Tushita heaven that Hiouen Thsang, and other\ndevout men of his day, prayed on their death-beds, and the one Chinese\ninscription found at Buddha-Gay\u0101 is full of expressions indicative of\nthe same longing[87].\n\nIf then, we are able to enter into the feelings of Buddhists everywhere\nin depending on the living, loving, and energizing Maitreya, rather than\non the extinct Buddha who existed only in their memories, we shall find\nit less difficult to understand how it came to pass that the idea of, so\nto speak, canonizing every great saint or popular head of a monastic\ncommunity, and elevating him at death to the position of a Bodhi-sattva\nlike Maitreya, living in permanent regions of bliss, and able to help\nhis votaries to the same position, came into vogue.\n\nIt may make the course of development of Theistic Buddhism clearer if we\nhere revert to the early constitution of the Buddhist monastic\nbrotherhood, and endeavour to show how the homage paid to eminent and\nsaint-like men led, first to the multiplication of Bodhi-sattvas, and\nthen to polytheism and every form of polytheistic superstition.\n\nA full explanation of the early monastic system is given in the learned\nwork of Koeppen[88]. It is clear that as long as Gautama was alive he\nwas the sole Head of the brotherhood of monks. After his death the\nHeadship (as in the Christian brotherhood after the death of Christ) was\nnot assigned to any one leader. The Buddha himself forbade this. The\nterm Sa\u1e47gha at that time merely denoted a republican fraternity of\nmonks, bound by no irrevocable vows and subject to no hierarchical\nSuperior, but all intent on following the example, and propagating the\ndoctrines of their departed leader. Soon, however, the formation of\nseparate centres of union and teaching became inevitable, and the term\nSa\u1e47gha was then applied to each separate society, and sometimes even to\na separate Conclave of each society, as well as to the whole body. It\nseems at least certain that each monastic association had the right to\nadmit monks, to hear confession, and to excommunicate. Naturally, too,\nin course of time it became necessary for each society to have some sort\nof governing body and choose a kind of president, and this presiding\nofficer was originally the senior monk, and accordingly had the simple\ntitle of Sthavira (Thera), \u2018Elder.\u2019 This title appears to have been\nintroduced immediately after Gautama\u2019s death.\n\nIt is believed that ever since the time of the great A\u1e61oka, Sthaviras or\nElders who became actual superintendents of monasteries, exercised\nadministrative powers, like those of Abbots; each over his own monastic\ncommunity. This was the first kind of Headship recognized. It was simply\na superiority of age.\n\nAs to any still higher form of authority corresponding to that of Pope,\nArchbishop, or Bishop, and extending over several monasteries, this did\nnot belong to early Buddhism or to its earliest developments. Lists of\nuninterrupted series of pretended Buddhist Hierarchs exist, but are mere\nfanciful fabrications. Nevertheless, it is certainly a historical fact\nthat along with the superiority of mere age, seniority, and experience,\nthere rapidly grew up _pari passu_ a superiority of knowledge, learning,\nand sanctity, which were generally, though not invariably, combined in\nthe person of the presiding Elder.\n\nAny one, in fact, who was distinguished for the practice of the highest\ndegree of meditation, for complete acquaintance with the Law, for\nspecial purity of conduct, and perfect fulfilment of the precepts, was\nnaturally elevated above the class of ordinary Bhikshus. Such a monk was\nfrom the earliest times dignified by the title Arhat, \u2018very reverend,\u2019\ni. e. more worthy of honour than the generality. Arhat, in short, was\nfrom the first a name for the higher grade of saint-like Bhikshu. Such a\nman, too, before long, was raised to a still higher level in the\nestimation of his fellow-monks. He was believed to have delivered\nhimself from all the consequences of acts, whether bad or good\u2014from all\nthe fetters (see p. 127) of life, and therefore from all re-birth. He\nwas even elevated to a still loftier pinnacle. He was believed by his\nsuperstitious admirers to possess unlimited dominion over nature, space,\ntime, and matter; to be all-seeing, all-powerful, and capable of working\nevery kind of miracle. Then, of course, at death he passed away in\nPari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a and was, so to speak, canonized. Be it noted, however, that\nsuch canonization was never accorded to an Arhat till after his\ndeparture from the world.\n\nProbably the immediate disciples of Gautama Buddha\u2014that is, his\nso-called \u2018great pupils\u2019 (see p. 47), were all considered perfect\nArhats. And these perfect Arhats were probably the only saints of the\nearliest period of Buddhism. Yet there was one who surpassed them all by\nan immeasurable interval, and that one was Gautama Buddha himself. It\nwas the distinguishing mark of a supreme Buddha that he was infinitely\ngreater than all other Arhats, because he had not only gained perfect\nknowledge himself, but had become the Saviour of the whole world by\nimparting to men the knowledge of how they were to save themselves.\n\nIt seems, therefore, only natural that the followers of Buddha, and\nprobably the Buddha himself, before his decease, should have thought it\ndesirable to establish a more systematic gradation of saintship by\nfilling up the immense gap between ordinary Arhats and the supreme\nBuddha. It was this that led to the idea of Pratyeka-Buddhas, that is,\nself-dependent solitary Buddhas[89] (see p. 134), as well as to the\nnotion of a still higher being called a Bodhi-sattva, who, as the\nBuddha-designate and future successor of Gautama, occupied a still more\nexalted intermediate position than a Pratyeka-Buddha.\n\nOf course it became difficult to fix on any living man, or any recently\ndeceased saint worthy of the highest stage of Bodhi, to which a being\nabout to become a perfect Buddha was supposed to attain.\n\nThe first to be so elevated (though apparently not by Gautama himself)\nwas, as frequently mentioned before, the mythical individual Maitreya.\nHe was, we repeat, for a long time the only Bodhi-sattva recognized by\nall Buddhists alike, whether adherents of the H\u012bna-y\u0101na or Mah\u0101-y\u0101na.\nBut he was not a historical personage, like Gautama or his immediate\ndisciples. He was a mere mythological personification of that spirit of\nlove\u2014of that kindly and friendly disposition towards all living beings\nby force of which Buddhism hoped one day to conquer the world, and win\nit over to itself.\n\nAnd in conformity with his mythical character, and probably to prevent\nthe rivalry of pretenders among future ambitious heads of monasteries,\nhe was not to appear for five thousand years, till the teaching of\nGautama had lost its power.\n\nIndeed, it was only to be expected that this rank should at first have\nbeen accorded to one person alone\u2014just as in worldly affairs there could\nbe only one Heir-apparent to the throne.\n\nSuch was the more simple doctrine of early Buddhism in regard to the\nrelative position of the members of the Buddhist community.\n\nHow then did the teachers of the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na proceed to amplify this\ndoctrine?\n\nThey taught that there were two methods of salvation or, so to speak,\ntwo ways or two vehicles\u2014the Great and the Little (Mah\u0101-y\u0101na and\nH\u012bna-y\u0101na)\u2014and indeed two Bodhis or forms of true knowledge which these\nvehicles had to convey[90]. The former was for ordinary persons, the\nlatter for beings of larger talents and higher spiritual powers. The\n\u2018Little Way\u2019 was the simple doctrine, which had many Arhats but only one\nBodhi-sattva; the \u2018Great Way,\u2019 on the other hand, was the wider and\nbroader, which had many Bodhi-sattvas as well as many Arhats. He who\nsatisfied the usual requirements of Saintship received the rank of an\nArhat in both systems. But in the wider system every one who aimed at\nunusual sanctity on the one hand, and knowledge (Bodhi) on the other,\nmight walk on the Great road leading to Bodhi-sattvaship, and receive\nthe title Bodhi-sattva.\n\nWe have seen (p. 136) that the H\u012bna-y\u0101na, or \u2018Little system,\u2019 taught\nthat there were only twenty-four Buddhas who had preceded Gautama. Three\nof these (viz. Kraku-\u0107\u0107handa, Kanaka-muni, and K\u0101\u1e61yapa), with Gautama as\na fourth, had appeared in the present age, and only one Bodhi-sattva\n(Maitreya) was to come.\n\nBut according to the \u2018Great System,\u2019 it was a mistake to limit the\nacquisition of the highest Saintship in this manner. It maintained that\nthere would be numberless supreme Buddhas (and, in addition to them,\nself-taught, solitary Buddhas, called Pratyeka-Buddhas), as well as\nnumberless Bodhi-sattvas, even in the present age of the world. In other\nwords, it propounded the doctrine that the practice of the six (or ten)\ntranscendent virtues (p. 128), and especially the acquisition of\ntranscendent wisdom (praj\u00f1\u0101 p\u0101ramit\u0101), might qualify many saints for the\nattainment of Bodhi-sattvaship and Buddhaship. According to one theory,\nthere were to be at least a thousand Bodhi-sattvas, followed by a\nthousand Buddhas, while, according to others, Buddhas and Bodhi-sattvas\nwere to be reckoned by myriads.\n\nBut this theory of numberless Bodhi-sattvas involved an entirely new\nview of their nature and of the meaning of the term.\n\nIn fact, the Bodhi-sattvas of the more developed Mah\u0101-y\u0101na school were\nnot Bodhi-sattvas at all, according to the strict sense of the term. It\nis true they resembled the genuine Bodhi-sattva in having gone through a\nlong series of existences leading them at last to perfect saintship and\nto a heaven of their own, but they were under no obligation to give up\ntheir Bodhi-sattvaship, quit their celestial abodes, or descend\nultimately as human Buddhas upon earth.\n\nFurthermore, they never appeared to aim at Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a like their\nearthly counterparts. Their most obvious _raison d\u2019\u00eatre_ seems to have\nbeen to supply the need of personal objects of worship, and though in\nTibet they were believed to have their own secondary corporeal\nemanations\u2014sometimes called their \u2018incarnations,\u2019 but more properly\ndescribed as descents (avat\u0101ra) of portions of their essence in a\nconstant succession of human saints,\u2014they never really left their own\npermanent stations in the heavenly regions. Indeed, it is probable that\nthe chief cause of their popularity, as personal objects of adoration,\nwas that they were able to help their worshippers to attain to the same\npermanent and unchangeable regions of bliss.\n\nIt was thus that the \u2018Great Vehicle\u2019 took up an attitude which raised it\nnot only above the simple effort to suppress the passions and desires,\nbut also above the hopeless Nihilism of early Buddhism; for it soon\nbecame the fashion for the most devoted and pious of Buddhist monks to\naspire to the title and actual blessedness of Bodhi-sattvaship rather\nthan to the doubtful blessedness of utter personal annihilation involved\nin Buddhahood. At any rate the numerous Bodhi-sattvas of the \u2018Great\nMethod\u2019 appear to have remained quite contented with their condition, so\nlong as it involved perpetual residence in the heavens, and quite\nwilling to put off all desire for Buddhahood and Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a.\n\nWithout doubt, this more amplified system was the result of a reaction\nof Br\u0101hmanism on Buddhism. It was at first a mere plan for creating a\nclose Hierarchy like that of the Br\u0101hman caste\u2014that is to say, a\nprivileged class of men possessed of higher knowledge and sanctity and\nsuperior to the majority of Bhikshus of the common stamp. Then it soon\ndeveloped into a scheme for satisfying the craving of the masses for\ndivinities of some kind to whom they might appeal for help in time of\nneed.\n\nIn all probability the first to receive the title of Bodhi-sattva, next\nto Maitreya, were the most celebrated Arhats before mentioned, who were\nimmediate disciples of Gautama, not however till death had separated\nthem from their human frames, when, as a matter of course, they received\na kind of worship like that accorded to all leaders of men, just as the\nearliest saints, heroes, and teachers of Br\u0101hmanism did.\n\nTo specify all the Arhats who were elevated to the rank of Bodhi-sattva\nand became objects of veneration in later times would be a difficult and\nunprofitable task.\n\nWe may also dismiss, as unworthy of note, statements such as that in the\nLalita-vistara, in which it is declared that 32,000 Bodhi-sattvas joined\nthe Buddha\u2019s assembly in the Jetavana garden. But we may notice the\nquasi-deification of a few historical personages mentioned by the two\nChinese travellers, whose account of the state of Buddhism in India from\nthe fourth to the seventh centuries has been so often quoted.\n\nFirst of all came the immediate followers and so-called \u2018great pupils\u2019\n(see p. 47) of Gautama, namely, his two chief disciples, \u1e60\u0101ri-puttra and\nMoggall\u0101na (Maudgaly\u0101yana = Modgala-puttra)[91], both of whom are\nbelieved to have died before him. Then came the three great leaders at\nthe first Council: 1. K\u0101\u1e61yapa (pp. 46, 55); 2. Gautama\u2019s cousin and\nbeloved pupil \u0100nanda; 3. Up\u0101li (note, p. 56).\n\nNext to these perhaps the most celebrated teacher elevated to\nBodhi-sattvaship was N\u0101g\u0101rjuna[92]\u2014noticed before as the alleged founder\nof the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na system and its introducer into Tibet. According to one\naccount he was the son of a Br\u0101hman of Vidarbha, and taught Buddhism in\nthe south of India. He had a celebrated disciple named Deva (or\n\u0100rya-deva)[93]. N\u0101g\u0101rjuna was at any rate a great teacher and developer\nof the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na. A legend relates that he was skilled in magic, and was\nable thereby to prolong his own and a Southern Indian king\u2019s life\nindefinitely. This caused great grief to the mother of the\nHeir-apparent, who instigated her son to ask N\u0101g\u0101rjuna for his own head.\nN\u0101g\u0101rjuna complied with the request, and cut his own head off with a\nblade of Ku\u1e61a grass, nothing else having the power to injure him. He is\nsaid by Hiouen Thsang to have lived in Southern Ko\u1e61ala about 400 years\nafter the death of Gautama, and is worshipped under different epithets\nin Tibet, China, Mongolia, and even Ceylon. Probably he lived in the\nfirst or second century\u2014Beal places him between A.D. 166 and 200.\nWassiljew considers him a wholly mythical personage. The additions he\nmade to Buddhist doctrines were undoubtedly great. When he died St\u016bpas\nwere erected to his memory, and in some places he was even worshipped as\nBuddha.\n\nAmong other deified, or partially deified Bodhi-sattvas, whose images\nand St\u016bpas (p. 161) the Chinese pilgrims found scattered in various\nparts of India, may be mentioned, those of the mythical Buddhas who\npreceded Gautama, especially K\u0101\u1e61yapa[94]. Then we have R\u0101hula (son of\nGautama), the patron of all novices, and founder of the realistic school\ncalled Vaibh\u0101shika[95]; Dharma-p\u0101la, Vasu-mitra (or Vasu-bandhu),\nA\u1e61va-ghosha, Gu\u1e47amati, Sthiramati, and others. In this practice of\ndeifying their saints, Buddhists merely followed the example of the\nadherents of Hind\u016bism. And we may add that this tendency is constantly\nrepeating itself in the religious history of all nations.\n\nThere is even a tendency to press the saints of other countries into the\nservice. This is remarkably exemplified in the history of Barlaam and\nJosaphat, current in Europe in the Middle Ages. The zealous Roman\nCatholics of those days thought that they could not exclude so noble a\nmonk as Buddha from the catalogue of their own saints, and so they\nregistered him in their list as St. Josaphat (Josaphat being a\ncorruption of Bodhisat). Colonel Yule, in his Marco Polo, states that a\nchurch in Palermo is dedicated to this saint.\n\nAnd here mention may be made of a modern deified Hind\u016b teacher or sage,\nnamed Gorakh-n\u0101th, who is said to have gone from India into Nep\u0101l, and\nis worshipped there as well as at Gorakh-pur and throughout the Panj\u0101b.\nVery little is known about him, and he belongs more to Hind\u016bism than to\nBuddhism. Some say that he was a contemporary of Kab\u012br (1488-1512), and,\naccording to a Janams\u0101kh\u012b, he once had an interview with N\u0101nak, the\nfounder of the Sikh sect. Such legendary accounts as are current are\nwrapped in much mystery. One legend describes him as born from a lotus.\n\nOthers describe him as the third or fourth in a series of \u1e60aiva\nteachers, and the founder of the K\u0101nph\u0101\u1e6d\u0101 sect of Yog\u012bs. The remarkable\nthing about him is that he succeeded in achieving an extraordinary\ndegree of popularity among Northern Hind\u016bs and among some adherents of\nBuddhism in Nep\u0101l. His tomb is in the Panj\u0101b, and he is to this day\nadored as a kind of god by immense numbers of the inhabitants of North\nWestern India under the hills.\n\nBut the canonization of such historical teachers in India and their\nelevation to semi-divine rank did not satisfy the craving of the\nuneducated masses, either among Buddhists or Hind\u016bs, for personal\ndeities, possessed of powers over human affairs far greater than any\ndeparted human beings, however eminent. In Buddhism the supposed\nexistence of the more god-like Bodhi-sattva Maitreya\u2014venerated by both\nthe Mah\u0101-y\u0101na and the H\u012bna-y\u0101na schools\u2014was not sufficient to satisfy\nthis craving.\n\nHence the \u2018Great Vehicle\u2019 soon began to teach the existence of numerous\nmythological Bodhi-sattvas, other than Maitreya, to whom no historical\ncharacter belonged, but whose functions were more divine.\n\n\n\n\n                              LECTURE IX.\n                 _Theistic and Polytheistic Buddhism._\n\n\nIn the preceding Lecture I have endeavoured to sketch the rise of\ntheistic and polytheistic Buddhism.\n\nWe have now to turn our attention to its development, especially in\nregard to the worship of mythical Bodhi-sattvas, and of the Hind\u016b gods\nand other mythological beings.\n\nSome of the Bodhi-sattvas of the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na or Great System were merely\nquasi-deifications of eminent saints and teachers. Others were\nimpersonations of certain qualities or forces; and just as in early\nBuddhism we have the simple triad of the Buddha, his Law, and his Order,\nso in Northern Buddhism the worship of mythical Bodhi-sattvas\u2014other than\nMaitreya\u2014was originally confined to a triad, namely (1) Ma\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b, \u2018he\nof beautiful glory;\u2019 (2) Avalokite\u1e61vara, \u2018the looking-down lord,\u2019 often\ncalled Padma-p\u0101\u1e47i, \u2018the lotus-handed;\u2019 (3) Vajra-p\u0101\u1e47i or Vajra-dhara,\n\u2018the thunderbolt-handed.\u2019\n\nThese three mythical Bodhi-sattvas were not known to early Buddhists,\nnor to the Buddhists of Ceylon. They are not even found in the oldest\nbooks of the Northern School (such as the Lalita-vistara), though they\noccur conspicuously in the Saddharma-pu\u1e47\u1e0dar\u012bka.\n\nAll we can say with certainty is, that when F\u0101-hien visited Mathur\u0101 on\nthe Jumn\u0101 400 years after Christ, their cult certainly existed there at\nthat time.\n\nWe shall not be far wrong if we assert that it was adopted in about the\nthird century of our era.\n\nAs already indicated (see p. 175), the idea of the first Buddhist\ntriad\u2014the Buddha, the Law, and the Monastic Order\u2014accepted by the\nadherents of both Vehicles\u2014was probably derived from the earliest\nBr\u0101hmanical triad. (See also Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism, pp. 9, 44. 74.)\n\nIn the same way the second Buddhist triad introduced by the advanced\nteachers of the \u2018Great Vehicle,\u2019 viz. Ma\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b, Avalokite\u1e61vara (=\nPadma-p\u0101\u1e47i), and Vajra-p\u0101\u1e47i, corresponded to the later Hind\u016b triad\n(tri-m\u016brti) of deities, Brahm\u0101, Vish\u1e47u, and \u1e60iva.\n\nI have explained in \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism\u2019 (pp. 54, 73) how the gods\nVish\u1e47u and \u1e60iva gradually usurped the position of the god Brahm\u0101, whom\nthey dispossessed of his co-equality with themselves, and how the whole\nmythology of the Hind\u016bs, which was originally complicated by a large\nadmixture of pre-\u0100ryan and Vedic elements, ultimately became more\nsimplified by arranging itself under the two heads of Vaish\u1e47avism and\n\u1e60aivism, all other mythological personages being regarded as forms of\neither Vish\u1e47u or \u1e60iva.\n\nIn contradistinction to this, we find that each member of the two\nBuddhist triads holds its own, and we are led on to a system which\nbewilders us by ever increasing complications\u2014a system which preserves\nthe individuality of its own triads and deified saints, and yet\nrecognizes almost all the gods, demigods, demons, and supernatural\nbeings of Hind\u016bism.\n\nI propose now to offer some account of the development of the Buddhist\nPantheon, beginning with the mythical conceptions peculiar to Buddhism,\nand passing on to those held in common with Hind\u016bism.\n\nAnd first as to the second Buddhist triad above-named, it may be noted,\nas a proof of the very gradual growth of Buddhistic mythology, that in\nthe earlier developments of Buddhism the three Bodhi-sattvas\nconstituting that triad have very restricted functions.\n\nWhen I visited the Buddhist caves at Ellora, I noticed that in the\nancient sculptures there, Padma-p\u0101\u1e47i and Vajra-p\u0101\u1e47i (but not Ma\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b)\nare represented as attendants of the human Buddha.\n\nOf course it is easy to understand that the duty of guarding the Buddha\nultimately expanded into that of watching over and protecting the whole\nBuddhist world, though it is difficult to determine which of the three\nmythical Bodhi-sattvas became first celebrated for the effective\ndischarge of this duty, or to which of the three chronological\nprecedence ought to be assigned.\n\nWithout taking the order already given, we may begin with Padma-p\u0101\u1e47i as\nthe most popular, and may note that he has a name, Avalokite\u1e61vara,\ncomposed of the two Sansk\u1e5bit words avalokita, \u2018looking down[96],\u2019 and\n\u012a\u1e61vara, \u2018lord,\u2019 the latter being the Br\u0101hmanical name for the Supreme\nGod\u2014a name wholly unrecognized by early Buddhism, but assigned by the\nHind\u016bs to the three personal gods, Brahm\u0101, Vish\u1e47u, and \u1e60iva, especially\nto the latter.\n\nIn the duty of watching over and protecting the whole Buddhist world,\nAvalokite\u1e61vara (= Padma-p\u0101\u1e47i), that is, \u2018the lord who looks down with\npity on all men,\u2019 certainly takes the lead, and his name was in keeping\nwith the reputation for answering prayer which he soon achieved.\n\nIn the L\u0101mism of Tibet, he is, as we shall see hereafter, a kind of\ndivine Pope, existing eternally in the heavens as Vicar of one of the\nBuddhas of the present age, but delegating his functions to a succession\nof earthly Popes in whom he is perpetually incarnated and re-incarnated,\nwhile at the same time preserving his own personality in his own heaven.\n\nIndeed, the popularity of his worship is one of the chief\ncharacteristics of the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na system, and is not confined to Tibet,\nthough he is believed to be the special patron of that country. It is he\nwho during the continuance of the present age of the world presides over\nthe whole cycle of soul-migration. In a word, the temporal welfare of\nall living beings, and of all who have to wander through the worlds of\nthe gods, men, demons, ghosts, animals, and livers in hell, is\nespecially assigned to him.\n\nPeople, therefore, pray to him more frequently than to any other\nBodhi-sattva, and not only for release from the misery of future\nre-births, but in all cases of present bodily danger and domestic\naffliction. Hence he has numerous other names or epithets, such as \u2018God\nof mercy,\u2019 \u2018Ocean of pity\u2019 (Karu\u1e47\u0101r\u1e47ava), \u2018Deliverer from fear\u2019\n(Abhaya\u1e43-da), \u2018Lord of the world\u2019 (Loke\u1e61-vara), \u2018World-protector\u2019\n(Loka-p\u0101la), \u2018Protector of the \u0100ryas\u2019 (\u0100rya-p\u0101la); and the Chinese\ntraveller F\u0101-hien says of himself, that he prayed in his heart for the\naid of Avalokite\u1e61vara when in great peril during a storm at sea.\n\nThat his worship was very prevalent among Buddhists of the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na\nSchool all over India, as well as in Tibet, from the fourth to the\nseventh century, is attested also by Hiouen Thsang. Both travellers tell\nus that they frequently met with his images, which were often placed on\nthe tops of mountains. Possibly this fact may account for the name he\nacquired of the \u2018Looking-down lord.\u2019 Or, on the other hand, it is\npossible that his name may have led to the selection of high situations\nfor his temples and images.\n\nAnd it may be observed here that although Avalokite\u1e61vara bears a close\nresemblance in character to Vish\u1e47u, yet his images often conform to the\nBrahm\u0101 type, and sometimes to that of \u1e60iva[97]. He has generally several\nfaces\u2014sometimes even eleven or twelve\u2014and usually four or eight arms.\nThese faces are placed one above the other in the form of a pyramid, in\nthree tiers, and probably indicate that he looks down on all three\nworlds, namely, the worlds of desire, of true form, and of no form (pp.\n213, 214), from all points of the horizon.\n\nNote, however, that two of his hands are generally folded, as if adoring\nthe Buddha, while his two other hands hold such emblems as the lotus and\nwheel (especially the lotus). This distinguishes the images of the mere\nBodhi-sattva Avalokite\u1e61vara from those of the god Vish\u1e47u, who, although\nhe has four arms, is never represented in an attitude of adoration.\nNote, too, that the many-headed images of Avalokite\u1e61vara probably belong\nto the later phase of the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na, when he was regarded as an\nemanation or spiritual son of the Dhy\u0101ni-Buddha Amit\u0101bha, whose head\nforms the eleventh above his own ten. There are descriptions of earlier\nidols, which make it probable that Avalokite\u1e61vara was originally\nrepresented in ordinary human shape.\n\nWhen his worship was introduced into China the name he received was\nKwan-she-yin or Kwan-yin (in Japan Kwan-non)\u2014a name denoting (according\nto Professor Legge) \u2018one who looks down on the sounds of the world, and\nlistens to the voices of men.\u2019\n\nWe know that each of the chief Hind\u016b gods had his female counterpart or\n\u1e60akti, who is often more worshipped than the male. Similarly the female\ncounterpart of the male Avalokite\u1e61vara is the form of the god chiefly\nworshipped in China and Japan[98]. In those countries he is only known\nin the feminine character of \u2018goddess of mercy,\u2019 and in this form is\nrepresented with two arms, but oftener with four or more, and even with\na thousand eyes.\n\nThe connexion of Avalokite\u1e61vara with \u1e60iva, as well as with Vish\u1e47u, is\nproved by the fact that in some characteristics Kwan-yin corresponds to\nthe Durg\u0101 form of \u1e60iva\u2019s wife, and in others to the form called P\u0101rvat\u012b,\nwho, as dwelling on mountains, may be supposed to look down with\ncompassion on the world.\n\nAs to Vajra-p\u0101\u1e47i (or Vajra-dhara), \u2018the thunderbolt-handed,\u2019 this\nBodhi-sattva corresponds in some respects to Indra. He is the fiercest\nand most awe-inspiring of all the Bodhi-sattvas, and was, in time,\nconverted into a kind of Buddhistic form of \u1e60iva, resembling that god in\nhis character of controller of the demon-host and destroyer of evil\nspirits. Hiouen Thsang describes how eight Vajra-p\u0101\u1e47is surrounded the\nBuddha as an escort, when he journeyed to visit his father \u1e60uddhodana.\nVajra-p\u0101\u1e47i is of course a popular object of veneration in all Northern\nBuddhist countries, where a dread of malignant spirits is so prevalent\nthat the waving to and fro of an implement symbolizing a thunderbolt\n(Vajra, or in Tibetan Dorje) is practised as a method of keeping them at\nbay and averting their malice.\n\nNevertheless, Vajra-p\u0101\u1e47i is not so popular as the third Bodhi-sattva,\nMa\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b, \u2018he of glorious beauty,\u2019 also called Ma\u00f1ju-ghosha, \u2018having a\nbeautiful voice,\u2019 and V\u0101g\u012b\u1e61vara, \u2018lord of speech.\u2019 This Bodhi-sattva, as\n\u2018wisdom personified,\u2019 and as \u2018lord of harmony,\u2019 may be regarded as a\ncounterpart of the Br\u0101hmanical Brahm\u0101 or Vi\u1e61va-Karman, the supposed\ncreator of the universe. Brahm\u0101, however, in his character of chief god,\nneeded no Buddhistic substitute, having been incorporated by name into\nBuddhism. Ma\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b, as \u2018lord of speech,\u2019 seems also to be a counterpart\nof Brahm\u0101\u2019s consort Sarasvat\u012b.\n\nAccording to some, a learned and eloquent Br\u0101hman teacher, named\nMa\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b, introduced Buddhism from India into Nep\u0101l about 250 years\nafter the Nirv\u0101\u1e47a of Buddha, and the mythical Ma\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b may have been a\ndevelopment of the historical personage. His worship is mentioned by\nboth F\u0101-hien and Hiouen Thsang[99], and seems to have been very popular.\n\nA personification of Praj\u00f1\u0101 p\u0101ramit\u0101, \u2018transcendent wisdom,\u2019 is also\nnamed. And indeed it seems natural that so soon as the Buddhists began\nto personify qualities and invest them with divine attributes, learning\nshould have been among the first selected for deification, as it was by\nthe Hind\u016bs in early times.\n\nMark, however, that the popular Ma\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b has no place assigned to him\nin the Dhy\u0101ni-Buddha theory.\n\nThis mystical theory was a later development. It may be explained\nthus:\u2014The term Dhy\u0101na (Jh\u0101na) is a general expression for the four\ngradations of mystic meditation which have ethereal spaces or worlds\ncorresponding to them (p. 209), and a Dhy\u0101ni-Buddha is a Buddha who is\nsupposed to exist as a kind of spiritual essence in these higher regions\nof abstract thought.\n\nThat is to say, every Buddha who appears on earth in a temporary human\nbody\u2014with the object of teaching men how to gain Nirv\u0101\u1e47a\u2014exists also in\nan ideal counterpart, or ethereal representation of himself, in the\nformless worlds of meditation (p. 213). These ideal Buddhas are as\nnumerous as the Buddhas, but as there are only five chief human Buddhas\nin the present age\u2014Kraku-\u0107\u0107handa, Kanaka-muni, K\u0101\u1e61yapa, Gautama, and the\nfuture Buddha Maitreya\u2014so there are only five corresponding\nDhy\u0101ni-Buddhas:\u2014Vairo\u0107ana, Akshobhya, Ratna-sambhava, Amit\u0101bha, and\nAmogha-siddha (sometimes represented in images as possessing a third\neye). But this is not all; each of these produces by a process of\nevolution a kind of emanation from himself called a Dhy\u0101ni-Bodhi-sattva,\nto act as the practical head and guardian of the Buddhist community\nbetween the interval of the death of each human Buddha and the advent of\nhis successor. Hence there are five Bodhi-sattvas\u2014Samanta-bhadra,\nVajra-p\u0101\u1e47i, Ratna-p\u0101\u1e47i, Padma-p\u0101\u1e47i (= Avalokite\u1e61vara), and\nVi\u1e61va-p\u0101\u1e47i\u2014corresponding to the five Dhy\u0101ni-Buddhas and to the five\nearthly Buddhas respectively. In Nep\u0101l five corresponding female \u1e60aktis\nor T\u0101r\u0101-dev\u012bs are named (see p. 216).\n\nIt is remarkable that the Chinese pilgrims from the fifth to the seventh\ncenturies, while often mentioning the Bodhi-sattvas, make no allusion to\nany of the Dhy\u0101ni-Buddhas\u2014whence we may gather that Amit\u0101bha, though\nadopted into Indian Buddhism, was not actually worshipped in India at\nleast as a personal god.\n\nIn point of fact, it was only the Buddhism of the North which was not\nsatisfied with the original triad of the Buddha, the Law, and the\nMonkhood. It, therefore, invented in addition five triads, each\nconsisting of a Dhy\u0101ni-Buddha, a Dhy\u0101ni-Bodhi-sattva, and an earthly\nBuddha, though of these triads only one was of importance, namely, that\nconsisting of Amit\u0101bha, Avalokite\u1e61vara, and the human Buddha, Gautama.\nBut the Lalita-vistara does not mention this theory.\n\nIt should be observed, too, that an important addition to the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na\ndoctrine was made in certain Northern countries about the tenth century\nof our era.\n\nA particular sect of Buddhists in Nep\u0101l, calling themselves Ai\u1e61varikas,\npropounded a theory of a Supreme Being (\u012a\u1e61vara), to whom they gave the\nname of a \u2018primordial Buddha\u2019 (\u0100di-Buddha), and who was declared to be\nthe source and originator of all things, and the original Evolver of the\nDhy\u0101ni-Buddhas, or Buddhas of contemplation, while they again were\nsupposed to evolve their corresponding Dhy\u0101ni-Bodhi-sattvas.\n\nIt is clear, of course, that this addition was a mere adaptation of\nBuddhism to Br\u0101hmanism, and that the \u0100di-Buddha was invented to serve as\na counterpart of the One Universal Spirit Brahm\u0103\u2014the one eternally\nexisting spiritual Essence, from which all existing things are mere\nemanations.\n\nSometimes, however, this \u0100di-Buddha is said to have produced all things\nthrough union with Praj\u00f1\u0101 (mentioned before, p. 202), in which case he\nis rather to be identified with the personal Creator Brahm\u0101.\n\nObserve, moreover, that even in early times one of the\nDhy\u0101ni-Buddhas\u2014the one called Amit\u0101bha, \u2018diffusing infinite light,\u2019\u2014lost\nhis purely abstract character, and was worshipped by Northern Buddhists\nas a personal God. He is in the present day held by them to be an\neternal Being, the ideal of all that is beautiful and good, who receives\nhis worshippers into a heaven called Sukh\u0101vati, \u2018paradise of pleasures\u2019\n(see p. 183).\n\nBut it must also be noted that neither \u0100di-Buddha nor Amit\u0101bha, when\nregarded as personal gods, were held to be Creators of the World in the\nChristian sense. They were merely Supreme rulers outside and above it;\nfor Northern Buddhists agree with Southern in thinking that the world\nexists of itself, and that its only Creator is the force of its own\nacts.\n\nWe pass on now to consider how far and with what modifications the\nmythology of Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism was incorporated into Buddhism.\n\nI have already pointed out that although the Buddha changed the\ncharacter of much of the existing mythology, he never prohibited his\nlay-followers from continuing their old forms of worship, or bowing down\nbefore the deities honoured by their fathers and grandfathers.\n\nApart indeed from the shrewd policy of not assuming an attitude of\nhostility to popular creeds and usages, the tolerant tendency and\nuniversality of the Buddha\u2019s teaching obliged him, in common\nconsistency, to recognize, and as far as possible appropriate, the\nvarious religious elements existing around him, and to subordinate them\nto his own purposes.\n\nIn fact, according to the theory of true Buddhism, as has been well\npointed out by other writers, there was only one system of doctrine and\nonly one Law\u2014that Law (Dharma) which Gautama Buddha came to renovate for\nthe benefit of the world in the present age.\n\nHence all the apparently conflicting creeds, dogmas, forms, ceremonies,\nand usages of all nations, tribes, and races, were in reality mere\noutcomes, or dim recollections, or corruptions, of that one and the same\nuniversal Dharma which countless Buddhas had preached to mankind, in\ncountless ages before the time of Gautama, and would continue to preach\nin ages to come.\n\nHind\u016bism, therefore, like all other creeds, was contained in the Dharma\nof Buddhism, and the great object of Gautama\u2019s advent was not to uproot\nthe old religion, but to purify it from error and restore it.\n\nIt was on this account that he regarded the Hind\u016b gods as occupying a\nplace in his own system, though not without some modification of the\nnature of their supposed position, offices, and functions.\n\nAnd here it will be necessary to give an account of the later Buddhist\ntheory of twenty-six successive tiers of heavens, one rising above the\nother (p. 120).\n\nIn the centre of the world-system stands, as we have seen, the vast mass\nof the mythical mountain Meru. On the upper portion of this stupendous\naxis of the universe and above the eight chief hells and the worlds of\nanimals, ghosts, demons, and men, is situated the lowest heaven of the\ngods, where abide the four Mah\u0101-r\u0101jas, \u2018great champions,\u2019 or guardians\nof the earth and the heavens against the demons, who are ever engaged in\nassailing them from their world below. These four are represented in\nfull armour, with drawn swords; one quarter of the heavens being\nassigned to the guardianship of each; viz. the East to Dh\u1e5bita-r\u0101sh\u1e6dra,\nking of the Gandharvas; the South to Vir\u016b\u1e0dhaka, king of the Kumbh\u0101\u1e47\u1e0das;\nthe West to Vir\u016bp\u0101ksha, king of the N\u0101gas; the North to Kuvera\n(Vai\u1e61rava\u1e47a), king of the Yakshas. The inhabitants of this heaven are\ncalled \u0106atur-mah\u0101r\u0101ja-k\u0101yikas, or simply Mah\u0101r\u0101jika-dev\u0101h\u1e25. Above this\nlowest heaven, and on the highest summit of the world\u2019s axis, Meru, is\nenthroned the god \u1e60akra (Indra), known in the Veda as god of the\natmosphere. He is lord of a heaven of his own, and no god is more\npopular among Buddhists or oftener named in their legends; yet he is\ninferior to Mah\u0101-brahm\u0101 and to M\u0101ra (p. 208). Buddha himself was Indra\nin some of his births (p. 111). To this heaven he ascended to preach the\nLaw to his mother.\n\nHence we may infer that in the early days of Buddhism, Indra, who was\nperhaps the chief god of the \u1e5aig-veda, was still the favourite god of\nthe people.\n\nHis heaven forms the second tier, reckoning from the lowest upwards (see\np. 120), and is called Trayastri\u1e49\u1e61a (T\u0101vati\u1e49sa), that of the\nthirty-three divinities\u2014as recognized in the Vedic hymns\u2014consisting of\nthe three groups of eleven Rudras, eight Vasus, and twelve \u0100dityas,\ntogether with personifications of Heaven and Earth.\n\nThe remaining heavens of the gods, which rise in succession above the\nlowest and above Indra\u2019s and therefore in the sky above Mount Meru, are\nthe third, fourth, fifth, and sixth. These are not illuminated by the\nsun and moon, since the gods who live in them give out a sufficient\nlight from their own persons. The first of them, or third of the\nheavens, is inhabited by beings called Y\u0101mas. They were known to the\nBr\u0101hmans and probably presided over the periods of the day. They are\ncalled \u2018strifeless,\u2019 because they have not to take part in the war\nconstantly being waged by the gods of the two lower heavens against the\ndemons (Asuras), who are unable to advance into the regions above Meru.\n\nThe fourth heaven is that of the Tushitas or \u2018perfectly contented\nbeings.\u2019 It is a peculiarly sacred region, as it is the home of all the\nBodhi-sattvas destined to become Buddhas. Gautama Buddha once dwelt\nthere, and Maitreya now presides in it.\n\nThe fifth heaven is inhabited by the Nirm\u0101\u1e47a-rati-dev\u0101\u1e25, that is,\n\u2018beings who constantly enjoy pleasures provided by themselves.\u2019\n\nThe sixth heaven, and the highest of the Deva-lokas, is the abode of the\nPara-nirmita-va\u1e61a-varti-dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018beings who constantly enjoy pleasures\nprovided for them by others.\u2019 These beings are also called M\u0101ras, and\nare \u2018lords of sensuous desires.\u2019 When the theory of races of gods was\ninvented, it led to the figment of millions of M\u0101ras ruled over by a\nchief M\u0101ra, who tempts men to indulge their passions (pp. 28, 33, 41),\nand is always on the watch to enter the citadel of the body by the gates\nof eye, ear, etc. (see note, p. 129). One of M\u0101ra\u2019s names is K\u0101ma,\n\u2018desire.\u2019 He is superior to all the gods of the worlds of sense, even to\n\u1e60akra or Indra. In every \u0106akrav\u0101la or Universe of worlds there is a\nM\u0101ra. He is sometimes called the Buddhist Satan, but this is misleading.\nHe is rather a superior god, whose power consists in exciting sensual or\ncarnal desires.\n\nSo far, then, the heavens are all worlds of sense,\u2014like the earth and\nthe lower regions,\u2014and are spheres inhabited by beings who have sexual\nfeelings and live active lives. But at this point in the ascent upwards\nall sensuality ceases, and we are introduced to beings who enjoy a\nhigher condition of existence in which there is no distinction of sex,\nand all sensuous desires and objects have lost their hold over the\nframe\u2014a condition supposed to be induced by the exercise of mystical\nabstract meditation (Dhy\u0101na, P\u0101li Jh\u0101na).\n\nThe importance of Dhy\u0101na or intense abstract meditation in the Buddhist\nsystem has been pointed out before (p. 32). It is the chief religious\nexercise in which a true follower of Buddha can engage, and although it\nis divided into four stages, the man who exercises himself perfectly in\nany one of the four, becomes so sublimated and refined that he cannot be\nre-born in any of the sensuous heavens, or in any region lower than the\nBrahm\u0101 worlds.\n\nThe first stage of Dhy\u0101na consists in fixing (Dh\u0101ra\u1e47\u0101) the mind and at\nthe same time exercising the thinking faculties on some object, in such\na way that a state of ecstatic joy and serenity is attained.\n\nThe second consists in concentrating the mind or soul so intensely on\nitself that the thinking faculties cease to act and only ecstatic joy\nand serenity remain.\n\nIn the third, nothing remains but perfect serenity.\n\nThe fourth is a trance-like condition of utter indifference and torpor,\nin which there is neither any exercise of thought, nor any conscious joy\nor serenity, but the whole being is released from the fetters of sense\nand soars to a transcendental condition, characterized by latent energy\nand a power of working miracles (p. 133).\n\nThese four stages of abstract meditation must not be confused with the\nfour earnest reflections and the five contemplations (pp. 49, 127),\nwhich are not so abstract and require more earthly objects on which to\nbe exercised.\n\nThe fourth and last Dhy\u0101na is also called Sam\u0101dhi, and properly means\nsuch a perfect concentration of the soul\u2019s faculties, that the soul\nbecomes merged in itself. It is often used to denote an ecstatic\ncondition, scarcely to be distinguished from trance or hypnotism or\ncatalepsy. Those devotees in India who practise it are buried, not\nburnt, and their tombs are called Sam\u0101dhs.\n\nTo return now to Buddhist Cosmology, the theory of later Buddhism is\nthat he who has practised the first Dhy\u0101na will rise at death to one of\nthe three tiers of heavens connected with that first Dhy\u0101na, i.e. to the\nfirst and lowest of the four groups of worlds of true form (r\u016bpa), in\nwhich all sexual distinctions are obliterated.\n\nThis first or lowest group consists of the worlds of the Brahm\u0101s, a high\norder of gods divided into three classes with three tiers of abodes.\n\nThe first class of Brahm\u0101 gods, inhabiting the first or lowest of the\ntiers of the Brahm\u0101 abodes, consists of the Brahma-parisajj\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25, or\nbeings who constitute the retinue of the god Mah\u0101-brahm\u0101\u2014the chief of\nall the Buddhist gods.\n\nThe second class of Brahm\u0101 gods, inhabiting the second tier, consists of\nthe Brahma-purohit\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018beings who are the ministers of\nMah\u0101-brahm\u0101.\u2019\n\nThe third class of Brahm\u0101 gods, inhabiting the highest of the three\ntiers, consists of the Mah\u0101-brahm\u0101s, \u2018great Brahm\u0101s,\u2019 of whom\nMah\u0101-brahm\u0101 is the chief.\n\nThe inhabitants of these three worlds are sometimes called the\nBrahma-k\u0101yik\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018gods having a Brahm\u0101 form.\u2019\n\nIt is important, however, to note that Brahm\u0101 or Mah\u0101-brahm\u0101, sometimes\ncalled Brahm\u0101 Sah\u0101m-pati, \u2018lord of those who have to suffer[100],\u2019 is\nthe king of _all_ the higher heavens (p. 214), ruling there, as Mara and\nIndra do in the lower worlds and heavens of sense and desire. Out of\ndeference to Br\u0101hmanism he has been adopted as the chief god of the\nBuddhist Pantheon, and yet he is far inferior to the Buddha.\n\nFurthermore, it is to be observed that every \u0106akra-v\u0101la or \u2018system of\nworlds\u2019 (see p. 120) has its own Mah\u0101-brahm\u0101 ruling over its own higher\nheavens, and that as there are countless \u0106akra-v\u0101la, so there are\ncountless Mah\u0101-brahm\u0101s. Nor is any of these chief gods eternal. Each has\nto pass into some other form of existence at the end of vast periods of\ntime, and is then succeeded by another. Gautama Buddha himself was born\nfour times as Mah\u0101-brahm\u0101 (see p. 111).\n\nThe second group of worlds of true form has also three tiers of heavens\nlike the first, and is assigned as an abode to those who have risen to\nthe second degree of contemplation.\n\nThe characteristic of these three heavens is that they are regions of\ntrue light\u2014not of the sun\u2019s light, but of mental enlightenment, and each\nof the three is inhabited by beings who have raised themselves to\ndifferent heights of knowledge and intelligence.\n\nIn the first are the Par\u012btt\u0101bh\u0101 (Par\u012dtt\u0101bh\u0101) dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018beings of\ncircumscribed or limited enlightenment;\u2019 in the second are the\nApram\u0101\u1e47\u0101bh\u0101 (Appam\u0101\u1e47\u0101bh\u0101) dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018beings of infinite light;\u2019 in the\nthird are the \u0100bh\u0101svar\u0101 (\u0100bhassar\u0101) dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018beings of the clearest\nlight.\u2019\n\nThe third group of worlds of true form has again three tiers of heavens,\nwhich are assigned to those who have raised themselves to the third\nstage of contemplation.\n\nThe peculiarity of these three seems to be that they are regions of the\ngreatest purity, and that each of the three is the abode of beings\ndistinguished by higher and higher degrees of purity. In the first are\nthe Par\u012btta-\u1e61ubh\u0101 (Par\u012btta-subh\u0101) dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018gods or beings of limited\npurity;\u2019 in the second are the Apram\u0101\u1e47a-\u1e61ubh\u0101 (Appam\u0101na-subh\u0101) dev\u0101\u1e25,\n\u2018beings of unlimited purity;\u2019 in the third are the \u1e60ubha-k\u1e5bitsn\u0101\n(Subha-ki\u1e47\u1e47\u0101) dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018beings of absolute purity.\u2019\n\nThe fourth group of worlds of true form has seven tiers of heavens,\noccupied by those beings who have risen to the fourth or highest grade\nof abstract meditation (Dhy\u0101na), which is really a state of meditating\non nothing and of complete indifference to all concrete objects. These\nbeings are the emancipated Arhats who have delivered themselves from the\ncycle (Sa\u1e43s\u0101ra) of constant re-birth (p. 134).\n\nIn the first tier are the V\u1e5bihat-phal\u0101 (Vehapphal\u0101) dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018beings\nenjoying great reward;\u2019 in the second are the Asa\u00f1j\u00f1i-sattv\u0101\n(Asa\u00f1\u00f1a-satt\u0101) dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018beings lost in total unconsciousness;\u2019 in the\nthird are the Av\u1e5bih\u0101 (Avih\u0101) dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018beings who make no efforts;\u2019 in the\nfourth are the Atap\u0101 (Atapp\u0101) dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018beings who never endure any pain;\u2019\nin the fifth are the Sudar\u1e61\u0101 (Sudass\u0101) dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018beings who see clearly;\u2019\nin the sixth are the Sudar\u1e61ino (Sudass\u012b) dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018beings of beautiful\nappearance;\u2019 in the seventh are the Akanish\u1e6dh\u0101 (Akani\u1e6d\u1e6dh\u0101) dev\u0101\u1e25,\n\u2018highest of all beings.\u2019 In this last must be included all Arhats and\nPratyeka-Buddhas.\n\nHigh above the worlds of true form and above the abode of pure\ncontemplative beings, rise the four heavens of formless entities\u2014beings\nwho have no material frames, even of the subtlest kind, but are mere\nabstractions, such as the Dhy\u0101ni-Buddhas (pp. 202, 203).\n\nIn the first of these formless heavens (Ar\u016bpa-loka) are the\n\u0100k\u0101\u1e61\u0101nanty\u0101yatan\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018beings who are capable of conceiving the idea\nof infinite space;\u2019 in the second are the Vij\u00f1\u0101n\u0101nanty\u0101yatan\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25,\n\u2018beings who are capable of conceiving the idea of infinite\nintelligence;\u2019 in the third are the Aki\u00f1\u0107any\u0101yatan\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25, \u2018beings who\ncan conceive the idea of absolute nonentity,\u2019 or, in other words, that\nnothing whatever exists anywhere; in the fourth and highest of all are\nthe Naivasa\u00f1j\u00f1\u0101n\u0101sa\u00f1j\u00f1\u0101yatan\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25 (Nevasa\u00f1\u00f1\u0101n\u0101sa\u00f1\u00f1\u0101y\u00e5-), \u2018beings who\nabide in neither consciousness nor unconsciousness.\u2019 This is the most\nsublime of all conditions, but these heavens belong to mystical\nBuddhism.\n\nSubjoined is a synopsis of all the heavens and their inhabitants\nexplained above (see Koeppen i. 260).\n\n                                   A.\n            _Heavens of beings liable to sensuous desires._\n\n    (1) Heaven of the four Mah\u0101-r\u0101jas.\n    (2) Heaven of the Trayastri\u1e49\u1e61as.\n    (3) Heaven of the Y\u0101mas.\n    (4) Heaven of the Tushitas.\n    (5) Heaven of the Nirm\u0101\u1e47a-rati-dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (6) Heaven of the Para-nirmita-va\u1e61a-vartins.\n\n                                   B.\n               _Heavens of beings possessing true forms._\n\n\n                             First Dhy\u0101na.\n\n    (7) Heaven of the Brahma-parisajj\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (8) Heaven of the Brahma-purohit\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (9) Heaven of the Mah\u0101-brahm\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n\n                             Second Dhy\u0101na.\n\n    (10) Heaven of the Par\u012btt\u0101bh\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (11) Heaven of the Apram\u0101\u1e47\u0101bh\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (12) Heaven of the \u0100bh\u0101svar\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n\n                             Third Dhy\u0101na.\n\n    (13) Heaven of the Par\u012btta-\u1e61ubh\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (14) Heaven of the Apram\u0101\u1e47a-\u1e61ubh\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (15) Heaven of the \u1e60ubha-k\u1e5bitsn\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n\n                             Fourth Dhy\u0101na.\n\n    (16) Heaven of the V\u1e5bihat-phal\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (17) Heaven of the Asa\u00f1j\u00f1i-sattv\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (18) Heaven of the Av\u1e5bih\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (19) Heaven of the Atap\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (20) Heaven of the Sudar\u1e61\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (21) Heaven of the Sudar\u1e61ino dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (22) Heaven of the Akanish\u1e6dh\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n\n                                   C.\n                    _Heavens of formless entities._\n\n    (23) Heaven of the \u0100k\u0101\u1e61\u0101nanty\u0101yatan\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (24) Heaven of the Vij\u00f1\u0101n\u0101nanty\u0101yatan\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (25) Heaven of the Aki\u00f1\u0107any\u0101yatan\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n    (26) Heaven of the Naiva-sa\u00f1j\u00f1\u0101n\u0101sa\u00f1j\u00f1\u0101yatan\u0101 dev\u0101\u1e25.\n\nThis elaborate description of higher and higher conditions of future\nexistence may be contrasted with the reticence of the Bible and its\nsimple allusion to a new heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth\nrighteousness.\n\nThe description, however, belongs to later Buddhism. It enables us to\nunderstand the true position of the Buddhist gods. They merely\nconstitute one of the six classes of beings, and, as they have to go\nthrough other forms of life, are inferior to Arhats and Buddhas.\n\nMah\u0101-brahm\u0101 is often named, whereas Vish\u1e47u, the popular god of the\nHind\u016bs, is neglected. In point of fact he was, as we have seen,\nrepresented by Padma-p\u0101\u1e47i (Avalokite\u1e61vara, p. 198), who seems to have\ntaken his place in later Buddhism.\n\nAt all events the more modern form of Vish\u1e47u called K\u1e5bish\u1e47a, who is\ngenerally worshipped by the lower orders of Hind\u016bs as the most popular\ngod of medi\u00e6val Hind\u016bism, has not been adopted by the inhabitants of\nBuddhist countries.\n\nWhen I was at Kandy in Ceylon I found one solitary shrine (Dev\u0101l\u012b)\ndedicated, not to K\u1e5bish\u1e47a, but to Mah\u0101-Vish\u1e47u. It was near the\nwell-known Tooth-temple and appeared almost deserted. The shrine was at\nthe end of a bare room, and contained a small silver-gilt image of\nMah\u0101-Vish\u1e47u (as Vish\u1e47u is called when worshipped by Buddhists, just as\nthe chief of the Brahm\u0101 gods is called Mah\u0101-Brahm\u0101) about half a foot\nhigh. In the hands of the image was a thin metal bar with a kind of\nlocket or amulet suspended from it, while round its neck was a long\nrosary and in front of the body a large plate for offerings. The folding\ndoors of the sanctuary had representations of the sun and moon.\n\nTurning to the god \u1e60iva, we may note that he was adopted by later\nBuddhism in his character of Yog\u012b, or Mah\u0101-yog\u012b (see \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and\nHind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 83). Then, as the Buddhism of the North very soon became\ncorrupted with \u1e60aivism and its accompaniments, \u1e60\u0101ktism, T\u0101ntrism, and\nMagic, so in Northern countries various forms of \u1e60iva\u2014such as Mah\u0101-K\u0101la,\nBhairava, Bh\u012bma\u2014and of his wife (P\u0101rvat\u012b, Durg\u0101, etc.), are honoured,\nand their images are found in temples. Sometimes bloody sacrifices are\noffered to them.\n\nAmong the female deities forms of T\u0101r\u0101 are chiefly worshipped, and\nregarded as \u1e60aktis of the Buddhas.\n\nIt is even held by the disciples of the more advanced\nMah\u0101-y\u0101na\u2014especially in Nep\u0101l\u2014that there are five \u1e60aktis or female\nEnergies (corresponding to the five human Buddhas), whose names are\ngiven in corresponding order thus:\u2014Vajra-dh\u0101tr\u012b, Lo\u0107an\u0101, M\u0101mak\u012b,\nP\u0101\u1e47\u1e0dar\u0101, and T\u0101r\u0101 or T\u0101r\u0101-dev\u012b (the latter being the T\u0101r\u0101 _par\nexcellence_)[101].\n\nBut the goddess T\u0101r\u0101 was also worshipped by Buddhists in India proper;\nfor we find that Hiouen Thsang alludes to having seen images of T\u0101r\u0101\nBodhi-sattva[102] in the country of Magadha.\n\nI may mention, too, that in a dilapidated building, which contains the\nVajr\u0101sana or thunderbolt throne of Gautama at Buddha-Gay\u0101 (in the same\ncountry of Magadha), I noticed in a shrine near the temple, an image of\nT\u0101r\u0101-dev\u012b, which, from the crown of fresh flowers encircling its head,\nappeared to have been recently worshipped by some Buddhist pilgrims, who\nhad arrived on the day of my visit in 1876.\n\nThe god Indra, usually called \u1e60akra (Sakka), is, as we have seen, the\nmost popular god of the early Buddhist Pantheon (pp. 51, 207). He is a\nfriendly deity and never exerts evil influences over men, like M\u0101ra. On\nthe contrary, if any good man is in need of his services he descends\nfrom his own heaven to render assistance; and the fact of his aid being\nrequired is made known to him by his throne becoming hot.\n\nThe Dharma-pada (107, 392) mentions Agni, god of fire, and again (48),\nAntaka, god of death, sometimes identified with M\u0101ra or with Yama,\n\u2018ruler in Hell.\u2019 A form of Yama called Yam\u0101ntaka is also recognized.\n\nIn Ceylon I observed several shrines to Kanda-Kum\u0101ra, a form of Skanda\n(son of \u1e60iva), who is said to have received the gift of healing from\nBuddha.\n\nThere also I observed shrines of Saman (sometimes spelt Samanta,\nsometimes Sumana), the tutelary deity of Adam\u2019s Peak, which is thence\ncalled Samanta-k\u016b\u1e6do and Sumana-k\u016b\u1e6do.\n\nThen there were shrines dedicated to a demoniacal goddess called Pa\u1e6d\u1e6dini\n(regarded sometimes as protecting from small-pox), and to certain good\nand evil genii, called N\u0103ths (N\u0101thas?) as in Burma.\n\nNo doubt the worship of devils and demons existed in Ceylon long before\nthe introduction of either Br\u0101hmanism or Buddhism. At Colombo in 1877 I\nwitnessed a so-called devil-dance, performed late at night before the\nthen Governor, Sir William Gregory.\n\nFirst, three men dressed in coarse, loose, jet-black dresses, engaged in\na wild dance together. They had shaggy hair, blackened faces daubed with\nwhite paint, and a set of six or eight long projecting false teeth,\nwhich protruded far below the lower lip, sometimes one, sometimes two at\na time. Their legs were completely covered with small bells, which\nrattled like chains when they moved. In their hands they held three\nflaring torches, branching from one handle. At intervals they increased\nthe glare and smoke from these torches by sprinkling resin upon them.\n\nTheir dance was of the wildest description, in a circle, sometimes\nmoving in and out, and crossing each other, and all the while beating\nthe ground violently with their jingling legs, which kept time to the\nnoisy music of tom-toms, flagiolets, horns, etc., played by attendant\nmusicians. These three men were supposed to represent the various forms\nof typhus fever. At intervals during their dance they assumed frightful\nblack masks with hideous open mouths.\n\nThen with them were two other dancing demons dressed in red, not so\nhideous in appearance, who also danced holding torches. These\nrepresented another form of devil. They danced in the interval of the\ntwo performances of the black devils. There were also three men dressed\nin reddish garments, who formed part of the group and moved about\nquietly among the others. They were described to me as devil-charmers or\nexorcisers.\n\nEvery disease\u2014every calamity has its presiding demon, and all such\ndemons are the servants of Buddha.\n\nIn regard to the other supernatural beings and figments of Hind\u016b\nmythology adopted, with a few unimportant modifications, by Buddhists,\nthe first that call for mention are the Pretas (see p. 121).\n\nThe Pretas are beings of the nature of ghosts and goblins who have\nrecently inhabited the earth, and are often of gigantic size and\nterrific appearance, with dried-up limbs, hairy countenances, enormous\nbellies, ever consumed with hunger and thirst, and yet never able to eat\nand drink by reason of their contracted throats. Some are represented as\ntrying to swallow sparks of fire; others try to eat up dead bodies, or\ntheir own flesh. Possibly this form of re-birth was invented to deter\nthe laity from withholding food from the monks. The Pretas inhabit a\nregion above the hells. Some, however, assign them habitations above the\nsurface of the earth or in desert places on the earth itself.\n\nThe Asuras or Daityas are evil demons who, like the Titans of Greek\nmythology, are always at war with the gods. They dwell under the\nfoundations of Mount Meru, as far underneath the surface of the earth as\ntheir great enemy Indra is above it. In short, if he may be supposed to\nlive at the zenith, they live at the nadir, and their battle-field is on\nthe slopes of Meru.\n\nClosely connected with them are the R\u0101kshasas, who are also enemies of\nthe gods and are represented as monsters of frightful form and\nman-eating propensities. They haunt cremation-grounds and cemeteries and\nway-lay human beings in solitary places to devour them.\n\nThen there is a class of very malignant demons called Pi\u1e61\u0101\u0107as (described\nin \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 242), who are the authors of all evils.\n\nOn the other hand, the Yakshas and Yakshi\u1e47\u012bs are a class of good genii\nruled over by Kuvera, \u2018god of wealth,\u2019 who is often referred to in\nBuddhist writings under his patronymic Vai\u1e61rava\u1e47a (P\u0101li Vessava\u1e47o)[103].\nThese beings are commonly represented in sculptures in human form and\nheld to be harmless, though some Buddhist legends describe them as\ncruel. Stories are told about some of them being converted to Buddhism.\n\nThen come the N\u0101gas, who are constantly alluded to. They properly belong\nto a class of serpent-demons, having human faces with serpent-like lower\nextremities, who live in one of the lower regions below the earth called\nP\u0101t\u0101la, or under the waters. They are introduced into Buddhist\nsculptures as worshippers of the Buddha and friends of all Buddhists,\nbut usually represented as ordinary men. The N\u0101ga Mu\u0107alinda (also\nMu\u0107ilinda), who sheltered Buddha, was a real serpent (see p. 39).\nN\u0101ga-kany\u0101s or female N\u0101gas (serpents from the waist downwards) are also\nnot uncommon[104]. In Kashm\u012br N\u0101gas are connected with fountains and the\nsources of rivers.\n\nThen there are the Mahoragas, \u2018great dragons,\u2019 who also belong to the\nN\u0101ga class of demons.\n\nWe ought also to notice the Kumbh\u0101\u1e47\u1e0das, a class of demons who attend on\nVir\u016b\u1e0dhaka (p. 206); the Garu\u1e0das, a bird-like race ruled over by the\nmythical Garu\u1e0da, king of birds and enemy of the N\u0101gas and serpents; the\nApsarases, or nymphs produced at the churning of the ocean. These last\nare sometimes described in Hind\u016b mythology as the H\u016br\u012bs of Indra\u2019s\nheaven, who are assigned to heroes killed in battle. In Buddhist\nsculptures they are represented as beautiful females, who are properly\nthe wives of Indra\u2019s celestial musicians called Gandharvas.\n\nFinally, mention should be made of the Kinnaras and Kinnar\u012bs\u2014beings who\nought properly to be represented with human bodies and equine heads, and\nare, like the Gandharvas, heavenly musicians. It is even recorded in one\nlegend that the Buddha himself in a former life was a Kinnar\u012b.\n\nAll this proves the close connexion of Buddhism with the Hind\u016bism which,\nlike Buddhism, grew out of Br\u0101hmanism. In short, the one mythology is so\ninterpenetrated with the other, that Buddhism in making proselytes\nthroughout Eastern Asia could not avoid propagating Hind\u016b mythological\ndoctrines along with its own.\n\nThe consequence was that Hind\u016bism, though often regarded as an\nunproselyting and wholly national religion, really exercised a vast\ninfluence outside its own boundaries and among alien races.\n\nIt is, at any rate, a remarkable fact that no mythological system has\never spread over so large an area of the earth\u2019s surface as that which,\noriginating in India, was accepted to a great extent by all Buddhist\ncommunities. And this Indo-Buddhistic system of mythology, with its, to\nus, absurd idolatry, rests on an extremely subtle form of pantheism,\nwhich is not to be brushed aside as too contemptible for investigation.\n\nIt is usual to denounce all such systems as simple Heathenism; but\n\u2018Heathenism\u2019 means the religion of \u2018the nations\u2019\u2014the religion evolved by\nthe men of all countries out of their own imaginations and by their own\nnatural faculties, without the aid of any true supernatural revelation.\n\nAnd assuredly this religion of human nature is still a strong citadel\nentrenched behind the formidable forces of pride, passion, prejudice,\nand ignorance. Yet the walls of the fortress have numerous weak places,\nwhich the wise missionary, armed with the still more powerful forces at\nhis command, will endeavour to discover and quietly undermine. By\npatient and quiet working he must win the day.\n\nWith man, speed and rapidity of action are supposed to be the chief\nevidences of progress and the chief factors in success. The Evangelist,\non the other hand, is a worker for God and a fellow-worker with God, and\nought not to be discouraged by the tardy advance of the Truth which he\nadvocates. He may have his moments of despondency, but he has only to\nlook around and observe that God works everywhere throughout His own\nUniverse by slow and almost imperceptible processes. The ripe fruit\nfalls from the tree in a second, but its maturity is not effected\nwithout a whole year of gradual preparation.\n\n\n\n\n                               LECTURE X.\n     _Mystical Buddhism in its connexion with the Yoga philosophy._\n\n\nThe first idea implied by Buddhism is intellectual enlightenment. But\nBuddhism has its own theory of enlightenment\u2014its own idea of true\nknowledge, which it calls Bodhi, not Veda. By true knowledge it means\nknowledge acquired by man through his own intellectual faculties and\nthrough his own inner consciousness, instincts, and intuitions, unaided\nby any external or supernatural revelation of any kind.\n\nBut it is important to observe that Buddhism, in the carrying out of its\nown theory of entire self-dependence in the search after truth, was\ncompelled to be somewhat inconsistent with itself. It enjoined\nself-conquest, self-restraint, self-concentration, and separation from\nthe world for the attainment of true knowledge and for the\naccomplishment of its own _summum bonum_\u2014the bliss of Nirv\u0101\u1e47a\u2014the bliss\nof deliverance from the fires of passion and the flames of\nconcupiscence. Yet it encouraged association and combination for mutual\nhelp. It established a universal brotherhood of celibate monks, open to\npersons of all castes and ranks, to rich and poor, learned and unlearned\nalike\u2014a community of men which might, in theory, be co-extensive with\nthe whole world\u2014all bound together by the common aim of self-conquest,\nall animated by the wish to aid each other in the battle with carnal\ndesires, all penetrated by a desire to follow the example of the Buddha,\nand be guided by the doctrine or law which he promulgated.\n\nC\u0153nobitic monasticism in fact, as we have already pointed out, became an\nessential part of true Buddhism and a necessary instrument for its\npropagation.\n\nIn all this the Buddha showed himself to be eminently practical in his\nmethods and profoundly wise in his generation. Evidently, too, he was\nwise in abstaining at first from all mystical teaching. Originally\nBuddhism set its face against all solitary asceticism and all secret\nefforts to attain sublime heights of knowledge. It had no occult, no\nesoteric system of doctrine which it withheld from ordinary men.\n\nNor did true Buddhism at first concern itself with any form of\nphilosophical or metaphysical teaching, which it did not consider\nhelpful for the attainment of the only kind of true knowledge worth\nstriving for\u2014the knowledge of the origin of suffering and its remedy\u2014the\nknowledge that suffering and pain arise from indulging lusts, and that\nlife is inseparable from suffering, and is an evil to be got rid of by\nsuppressing self and extinguishing desires.\n\nIn the Mah\u0101-parinibb\u0101na-sutta (Rhys Davids, II. 32) is recorded one of\nthe Buddha\u2019s remarks shortly before his decease:\u2014\n\n\u2018What, O \u0100nanda, does the Order desire of me? I have taught the law\n(desito dhammo) without making any distinction between esoteric and\nexoteric doctrine (anantaram abahiram karitv\u0101). In the matter of the\nlaw, the Tath\u0101gata (i.e. the Buddha) has never had the closed fist of a\nteacher (\u0101\u0107ariya-mu\u1e6d\u1e6dhi)\u2014of a teacher who withholds some doctrines and\ncommunicates others.\u2019 In short, he was opposed to mysticism.\n\nNevertheless, admitting, as we must, that early Buddhism had no\nmysteries reserved for a privileged circle, we must not shut our eyes to\nthe fact that the great importance attached to abstract meditation in\nthe Buddhist system could not fail in the end to encourage the growth of\nmystical ideas.\n\nFurthermore, it is undeniable that such ideas were, in some countries,\ncarried to the most extravagant extremes. Efforts to induce a\ntrance-like or hypnotic condition, by abstracting the thoughts from all\nbodily influences, by recitation of mystical sentences, and by\nsuperstitious devices for the acquisition of supernatural faculties,\nwere placed above good works and all the duties of the moral code.\n\nWe might point, too, to the strange doctrine which arose in Nep\u0101l and\nTibet\u2014the doctrine of the Dhy\u0101ni-Buddhas (or \u2018Buddhas of\nMeditation\u2019)\u2014certain abstract Essences existing in the formless worlds\nof thought, who were held to be ethereal and eternal representatives of\nthe transitory earthly Buddhas. These have been adverted to in a\nprevious Lecture (see p. 202).\n\nOur present concern is rather with the growth and development of\nmystical Buddhism in India itself, through its connexion with the system\nof philosophy called Yoga and Yog\u0101\u0107\u0101ra.\n\nThe close relationship of Buddhism to that system is well known; but the\nvarious practices included under the name Yoga did not owe their origin\nto Buddhism. They were prevalent in India before Gautama Buddha\u2019s time;\nand one of the most generally accepted facts in his biography is that,\nafter abandoning his home and worldly associations, he resorted to\ncertain Br\u0101hman ascetics, who were practising Yoga.\n\nWhat then was the object which these ascetics had in view?\n\nThe word Yoga literally means \u2018union\u2019 (as derived from the Sansk\u1e5bit root\n\u2018yuj,\u2019 to join; compare the English word \u2018yoke\u2019), and the proper aim of\nevery man who practised Yoga was the mystic union (or rather re-union)\nof his own spirit with the one eternal Soul or Spirit of the Universe. A\ntrue Yog\u012b, says the Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101 (VI. 13, 25), should be indifferent to\nall earthly things. To him a clod, a stone, and gold should be all\nalike.\n\nDoubtless this was the Buddha\u2019s first aim when he addressed himself to\nYoga in the fifth century B.C., and even to this hour, earnest men in\nIndia resort to this system with the same object.\n\nIn the Indian Magazine for July, 1887 (as well as in my \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and\nHind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 529), is a short biography of a quite recent religious\nreformer named Sv\u0101m\u012b Day\u0101nanda-Sarasvat\u012b, whose acquaintance I made at\nBombay in 1876 and 1877, and who only died in 1883. The story of his\nlife reads almost like a repetition of the life of Buddha, though his\nteaching aimed at restoring the supposed monotheistic doctrine of the\nVeda.\n\nIt is recorded that his father, desiring to initiate him into the\nmysteries of \u1e60aivism, took him to a shrine dedicated to the god \u1e60iva;\nbut the sight of some mice stealing the consecrated offerings, and of\nsome rats playing on the heads of the idol, led him to disbelieve in\n\u1e60iva-worship as a means of union with the Supreme Being. Longing,\nhowever, for such union and for emancipation from the burden of repeated\nbirths, he resolved to renounce marriage and abandon the world.\nAccordingly, at the age of twenty-two, he clandestinely quitted his\nhome, the darkness of evening covering his flight. Taking a secret path,\nhe travelled thirty miles during the night. Next day he was pursued by\nhis father, who tried to force him to return, but in vain. After\ntravelling farther and farther from his native province, he took a vow\nto devote himself to the investigation of truth. Then he wandered for\nmany years all over India, trying to gain knowledge from sages and\nphilosophers, but without any satisfactory result, till finally he\nsettled at Ahmed\u0101b\u0101d. There, having mastered the higher Yoga system, he\nbecame the leader of a new sect called the \u0100rya-Sam\u0101j.\n\nAnd here we may observe that the expression \u2018higher Yoga\u2019 implies that a\nlower form of that system had been introduced. In point of fact, the\nYoga system grew, and became twofold\u2014that is, it came in the end to have\ntwo objects.\n\nThe earlier was the higher Yoga. It aimed only at union with the Spirit\nof the Universe. The more developed system aimed at something more. It\nsought to acquire miraculous powers by bringing the body under control\nof the will, and by completely abstracting the soul from body and mind,\nand isolating it in its own essence. This condition is called Kaivalya.\n\nIn the fifth century B.C., when Gautama Buddha began his career, the\nlater and lower form of Yoga seems to have been little known.\nPractically, in those days, earnest and devout men craved only for union\nwith the Supreme Being, and absorption into his Essence. Many methods of\neffecting such union and absorption were contrived. And these may be\nclassed under two chief heads\u2014bodily mortification (tapas) and abstract\nmeditation (dhy\u0101na).\n\nBy either one of these two chief means, the devotee was supposed to be\nable to get rid of all bodily fetters\u2014to be able to bring his bodily\norgans into such subjection to the spiritual that he became unconscious\nof possessing any body at all. It was in this way that his spirit became\nfit for blending with the Universal Spirit, of which it was originally a\npart.\n\nWe learn from the Lalita-vistara that various forms of bodily torture,\nself-maceration, and austerity were common in Gautama\u2019s time.\n\nSome devotees, we read, seated themselves in one spot and kept perpetual\nsilence, with their legs bent under them. Some ate only once a day or\nonce on alternate days, or at intervals of four, six, or fourteen days.\nSome slept in wet clothes or on ashes, gravel, stones, boards, thorny\ngrass, or spikes, or with the face downwards. Some went naked, making no\ndistinction between fit or unfit places. Some smeared themselves with\nashes, cinders, dust, or clay. Some inhaled smoke and fire. Some gazed\nat the sun, or sat surrounded by five fires, or rested on one foot, or\nkept one arm perpetually uplifted, or moved about on their knees instead\nof on their feet, or baked themselves on hot stones, or submerged\nthemselves in water, or suspended themselves in air.\n\nThen, again, a method of fasting called very painful (atik\u1e5bi\u0107\u0107hra),\ndescribed by Manu (XI. 213), was often practised. It consisted in eating\nonly a single mouthful every day for nine days, and then abstaining from\nall food for the three following days.\n\nAnother method, called the lunar fast (VI. 20, XI. 216), consisted in\nbeginning with fifteen mouthfuls at full moon, and reducing the quantity\nby one mouthful till new moon, and then increasing it again in the same\nway till full moon.\n\nPassages without number might be quoted from ancient literature to prove\nthat similar practices were resorted to throughout India, with the\nobject of bringing the body into subjection to the spirit. And these\npractices have continued up to the present day.\n\nA Muhammadan traveller, whose narrative is quoted by Mr. Mill (British\nIndia, i. 355), once saw a man standing motionless with his face towards\nthe sun.\n\nThe same traveller, having occasion to revisit the same spot sixteen\nyears afterwards, found the very same man in the very same attitude. He\nhad gazed on the sun\u2019s disk till all sense of external vision was\nextinguished.\n\nA Yog\u012b was seen not very long ago (Mill\u2019s India, i. 353) seated between\nfour fires on a quadrangular stage. He stood on one leg gazing at the\nsun, while these fires were lighted at the four corners. Then placing\nhimself upright on his head, with his feet elevated in the air, he\nremained for three hours in that position. He then seated himself\ncross-legged, and continued bearing the raging heat of the sun above his\nhead and the fires which surrounded him, till the end of the day,\noccasionally adding combustibles with his own hands to increase the\nflames.\n\nI, myself, in the course of my travels, encountered Yogis who had kept\ntheir arms uplifted for years, or had wandered about from one place of\npilgrimage to another under a perpetual vow of silence, or had no place\nto lie upon but a bed of spikes.\n\nAs to fasting, the idea that attenuation of the body by abstinence from\nfood facilitates union of the human soul with the divine, or at any rate\npromotes a keener insight into spiritual things, is doubtless as common\nin Europe as in Asia; but the most austere observer of Lent in European\ncountries would be hopelessly outdone by devotees whose extraordinary\npowers of abstinence may be witnessed in every part of India.\n\nIf we now turn to the second method of attaining mystic union with the\nDivine Essence, namely, by profound abstract thought, we may observe\nthat it, too, was everywhere prevalent in Buddha\u2019s time.\n\nIndeed, one of the names given by Indian philosophers to the One\nUniversal Spirit is \u0106it, \u2018Thought.\u2019 By that name, of course, is meant\npure abstract thought, or the faculty of thought separated from every\nconcrete object. Hence, in its highest state the eternal infinite\nSpirit, by its very nature, thinks of nothing. It is the simple\nthought-faculty, wholly unconnected with any object about which it\nthinks. In point of fact, the moment it begins to exercise this faculty,\nit necessarily abandons for a time its condition of absolute oneness,\nabstraction, and isolation, to associate itself with something inferior,\nwhich is not itself.\n\nIt follows, therefore, that intense concentration of the mind on the One\nUniversal Spirit amounts to fixing the thought on a mere abstract\nEssence, which reciprocates no thought in return, and is not conscious\nof being thought about by its worshipper.\n\nIn harmony with this theory, we find that the definition of Yoga, in the\nsecond aphorism of the Yoga-s\u016btra, is, \u2018the suppression (nirodha) of the\nfunctions or modifications (v\u1e5bitti) of the thinking principle (\u0107itta).\u2019\nSo that, in reality, the union of the human mind with the infinite\nPrinciple of thought amounts to such complete mental absorption, that\nthought itself becomes lost in pure thought.\n\nIn the \u1e60akuntal\u0101 (VII. 175) there is a description of an ascetic engaged\nin this form of Yoga, whose condition of fixed meditation and immovable\nimpassiveness had lasted so long that ants had thrown up a mound as high\nas his waist, and birds had built their nests in the long clotted\ntresses of his tangled hair.\n\nNot many years ago, I, myself, saw at Allah\u0101b\u0101d near the fort a devotee\nwho had maintained a sitting, contemplative posture, with his feet\nfolded under his body, in one place for twenty years. During the Mutiny\ncannon thundered over his head, and bullets hissed around him, but\nnothing apparently disturbed his attitude of profound meditation. Even\nMuhammadans practise the same. The Russian correspondent of the _Times_\nstates (Sept. 18, 1888) that he saw in a mosque at Samarkand men who\nvoluntarily remained mute and motionless for forty days. On a curtain\nbeing pulled aside he beheld a motionless figure seated in profound\nmeditation like a squatting mummy. The guide said that a cannon fired\noff in front of his face would have left him equally unmoved.\n\nIt is clear, then, that, supposing Gautama to have made up his mind to\ndevote himself to a religious life, his adoption of a course of profound\nmeditation was a most usual proceeding.\n\nA large number of the images of Buddha represent him sitting on a raised\nseat or throne (called the Bodhi-ma\u1e47\u1e0da), with his legs folded under his\nbody, and his eyes half-closed, in a condition of abstraction\n(sam\u0101dhi)\u2014sometimes called Yoga-nidr\u0101; that is, a trance-like state,\nresembling profound sleep. (Compare frontispiece.)\n\nHe is said to have seated himself in this way under four trees in\nsuccession (see p. 39 of these Lectures), namely, under the Bodhi-tree\nor sacred fig-tree, under the Banyan-tree, under the Mu\u0107alinda-tree\n(protected by the serpent), and under the R\u0101j\u0101yatana-tree.\n\nAnd those four successive seats probably symbolized the four recognized\nstages of meditation[105] (dhy\u0101na) rising one above the other, till\nthought itself was converted into non-thought (see p. 209).\n\nWe know, too, that the Buddha went through still higher progressive\nstages of meditation at the moment of his death or final decease\n(Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a), thus described in the Mah\u0101-parinibb\u0101na-sutta (Davids,\nVI. 11):\n\n\u2018Then the Venerable One entered into the first stage of meditation\n(pathamajjh\u0101nam); and rising out of the first stage, he passed into the\nsecond; and rising out of the second, he passed into the third; and\nrising out of the third, he passed into the fourth; and rising out of\nthe fourth stage, he attained the conception of the infinity of space\n(\u0101k\u0101\u1e61\u0101na\u00f1\u0107\u0101yatanam, see p. 214); and rising out of the conception of the\ninfinity of space, he attained the conception of the infinity of\nintelligence (vi\u00f1\u00f1\u0101\u1e47a\u00f1\u0107\u0101yatanam); and rising out of the idea of the\ninfinity of intelligence, he attained the conception of absolute\nnonentity (\u0101ki\u00f1\u0107a\u00f1\u00f1\u0101yatanam); and rising out of the idea of nonentity,\nhe entered the region where there is neither consciousness nor\nunconsciousness; and rising out of that region, he entered the state in\nwhich all sensation and perception of ideas had wholly ceased.\u2019 (See p.\n213 of these Lectures.)\n\nClearly, even four progressive stages of abstraction did not satisfy the\nrequirements of later Buddhism in regard to the intense sublimation of\nthe thinking faculty needed for the complete effacement of all sense of\nindividuality. Higher and higher altitudes had to be reached, insomuch\nthat the fourth stage of abstract meditation is sometimes divided and\nsubdivided into what are called eight Vimokhas and eight Sam\u0101pattis\u2014all\nof them forms and stages of ecstatic meditation[106].\n\nA general name, however, for all the higher trance-like states is\n_Sam\u0101dhi_, and by the practice of Sam\u0101dhi the six transcendent faculties\n(Abhi\u00f1\u00f1\u0101) might ultimately be obtained, viz. the inner ear, or power of\nhearing words and sounds, however distant (clair-audience, as it might\nbe called); the inner eye, or power of seeing all that happens in every\npart of the world (clair-voyance); knowledge of the thoughts of others;\nrecollection of former existences; the knowledge of the mode of\ndestroying the corrupting influences of passion; and, finally, the\nsupernatural powers called Iddhi, to be subsequently explained.\n\nBut to return to the Buddha\u2019s first course of meditation at the time\nwhen he first attained Buddhahood. This happened during one particular\nnight, which was followed by the birthday of Buddhism.\n\nAnd what was the first grand outcome of that first profound mental\nabstraction? One legend relates that in the first watch of the night all\nhis previous existences flashed across his mind; in the second he\nunderstood all present states of being; in the third he traced out the\nchain of causes and effects, and at the dawn of day he knew all things.\n\nAccording to another legend, there was an actual outburst of the divine\nlight before hidden within him.\n\nWe read in the Lalita-vistara (chap. i) that at the supreme moment of\nhis intellectual illumination brilliant flames of light issued from the\ncrown of his head, through the interstices of his cropped hair. These\nrays are sometimes represented in his images, emerging from his skull in\na form resembling the five fingers of an extended hand (see the\nfrontispiece).\n\nMark, however, that Gautama\u2019s meditation never led him to the highest\nresult of the true Yoga of Indian philosophy\u2014union with the Supreme\nSpirit. On the contrary, his self-enlightenment led to entire disbelief\nin the separate existence of any eternal, infinite Spirit at all\u2014any\nSpirit, in fact, with which a spirit existing in his own body could\nblend, or into which it could be absorbed.\n\nIf the Buddha was not a materialist, in the sense of believing in the\neternal existence of material atoms, neither could he in any sense be\ncalled a \u2018spiritualist,\u2019 or believer in the eternal existence of\nabstract spirit.\n\nWith him Creation did not proceed from an Omnipotent Spirit or Mind\nevolving phenomena out of itself by the exercise of will, nor from an\neternal self-existing, self-evolving germ of any kind. As to the\nexistence in the Universe of any spiritual substance which was not\nmatter and was imperceptible by the senses, it could not be proved.\n\nNor did he believe in the eternal existence of an invisible Self or Ego,\ncalled Soul, distinct from a material body. The only eternity of true\nBuddhism was an eternity of \u2018becoming,\u2019 not of \u2018being\u2019\u2014an eternity of\nexistences, all succeeding each other, and all lapsing into nothingness.\nIf there were any personal gods they were all inferior to the perfect\nman, and all liable to change and dissolution.\n\nIn brief, the Buddha\u2019s enlightenment consisted, first, in the discovery\nof the origin and remedy of suffering, and, next, in the knowledge of\nthe existence of an eternal Force\u2014a force generated by what in Sansk\u1e5bit\nis called Karman, \u2018Act.\u2019 The accumulated force of the acts of one\nUniverse produced another.\n\nEvery man, therefore, was created by the force of his own acts in former\nbodies, combined with a force generated by intense attachment to\nexistence (up\u0101d\u0101na). Who or what started the first act, the Buddha never\npretended to be able to explain. He confessed himself in regard to this\npoint a downright Agnostic. The Buddha himself had been created by his\nown acts, and had been created and re-created through countless bodily\nforms; but he had no spirit or soul existing separately between the\nintervals of each creation. By his protracted meditation he attained to\nno higher knowledge than this, and although he himself rose to loftier\nheights of knowledge than any other man of his day, he never aspired to\nother faculties than were within the reach of any human being capable of\nrising to the same sublime abstraction of mind.\n\nHe was even careful to lay down a precept that the acquisition of\ntranscendent human faculties was restricted to the perfected saints\ncalled Arhats; and so important did he consider it to guard such\nfaculties from being claimed by mere impostors, that one of the four\nprohibitions communicated to all monks on first admission to his\nmonastic Order was that they were not to pretend to such powers (see p.\n81).\n\nNor is there any proof that even Arhats in Gautama\u2019s time were allowed\nto claim _superhuman_ faculties and the power of working physical\nmiracles.\n\nBy degrees, no doubt, powers of this kind were ascribed to them as well\nas to the Buddha. Even in the Yinaya, one of the oldest portions of the\nTri-pi\u1e6daka, we find it stated (Mah\u0101-vagga I. 20, 24) that Gautama Buddha\ngained adherents by performing three thousand five hundred supernatural\nwonders (P\u0101li, p\u0101\u1e6di-h\u0101riya; see p. 46). These were thought to be\nevidences of his mission as a great teacher and saviour of mankind; but\nthe part of the narrative recording these, although very ancient, is\nprobably a legendary addition.\n\nIt is interesting, however, to trace in portions of the early\nliterature, the development of the doctrine that Buddhahood meant first\ntranscendent knowledge, and then supernatural faculties and the power of\nworking miracles.\n\nIn the \u0100ka\u1e45kheyya-sutta (said to have been composed in the fourth\ncentury B.C.) occurs a remarkable passage, translated by Prof. Rhys\nDavids (S.B.E., p. 214):\u2014\n\n\u2018If a monk should desire through the destruction of the corrupting\ninfluences (\u0101savas), by himself, and even in this very world, to know\nand realise and attain to Arhatship, to emancipation of heart, and\nemancipation of mind, let him devote himself to that quietude of heart\nwhich springs from within, let him not drive back the ecstasy of\ncontemplation, let him look through things, let him be much alone.\n\n\u2018If a monk should desire to hear with clear and heavenly ear, surpassing\nthat of men, sounds both human and celestial, whether far or near; if he\nshould desire to comprehend by his own heart the hearts of other beings\nand of other men; if he should desire to call to mind his various\ntemporary states in the past, such as one, two, three, four, five, ten,\ntwenty, a hundred, a thousand, a hundred thousand births, or his births\nin many an age and \u00e6on of destruction and renovation, let him devote\nhimself to that quietude which springs from within.\u2019\n\nThen, in the Mah\u0101-parinibb\u0101na-sutta (I. 33, Rhys Davids) occurs the\nfollowing;\u2014\n\n\u2018At that time the blessed One\u2014as instantaneously as a strong man would\nstretch forth his arm, or draw it back again when he had stretched it\nforth\u2014vanished from this side of the river, and stood on the further\nbank with the company of the brethren.\u2019\n\nAnd, again, the following:\u2014\n\n\u2018I call to mind, \u0100nanda, how when I used to enter into an assembly of\nmany hundred nobles, before I had seated myself there, or talked to\nthem, or started a conversation with them, I used to become in colour\nlike unto their colour, and in voice like unto their voice. Then, with\nreligious discourse, I used to instruct, incite, and quicken them, and\nfill them with gladness. But they knew me not when I spoke, and would\nsay, \u201cWho may this be who thus speaks? a man or a god?\u201d Then, having\ninstructed, incited, quickened, and gladdened them with religious\ndiscourse, I would vanish away. But they knew me not even when I\nvanished away; and would say, \u201cWho may this be who has thus vanished\naway? a man, or a god?\u201d\u2019\u2014(Mah\u0101-parinibb\u0101na-sutta III. 22, Rhys Davids.)\n\nSuch passages in the early literature afford an interesting\nexemplification of the growth of supernatural and mystical ideas, which\nled to the ultimate association of the Buddhistic system with \u1e60aivism,\ndemonology, magic, and various so-called spiritual phenomena.\n\nI now proceed to show that the development of these ideas in Buddhism\nresulted from its connexion with the later Yoga, which developed similar\nideas.\n\nIn the aphorisms of this later Yoga, composed by Pata\u00f1jali, eight chief\nrequisites are enumerated (II. 29); namely, 1. abstaining from five evil\nacts (yama); 2. performing five positive duties (niyama); 3. settling\nthe limbs in certain postures (\u0101sana); 4. regulating and suppressing the\nbreath (pr\u0101\u1e47\u0101y\u0101ma); 5. withdrawing the senses from their objects\n(praty\u0101h\u0101ra); 6. fixing the thinking faculty (dh\u0101ra\u1e47\u0101); 7. internal\nself-contemplation (dhy\u0101na); 8. trance-like self-concentration\n(sam\u0101dhi).\n\nThese eight are indispensable requisites for the gaining of Pata\u00f1jali\u2019s\n_summum bonum_\u2014the complete abstraction or isolation (kaivalya) of the\nsoul or spirit in its own essence\u2014and for the acquirement of\nsupernatural faculties.\n\nTaking now these eight requisites of Yoga in order, we may observe, with\nregard to the first, that the five evil acts to be avoided correspond to\nthe five commandments in Buddhism, viz. \u2018kill not,\u2019 \u2018steal not,\u2019 \u2018commit\nno impurity,\u2019 \u2018lie not.\u2019 The fifth alone\u2014\u2018abstain from all worldly\nenjoyments\u2019\u2014is different, the Buddhist fifth prohibition being \u2018drink no\nstrong drink\u2019 (p. 126).\n\nWith regard to the second requisite, the five positive duties\nare\u2014self-purification, both external and internal (both called \u1e61au\u0107a);\nthe practice of contentment (sa\u1e43tosha); bodily mortification (tapas);\nmuttering of prayers, or repetition of mystical syllables (sv\u0101dhy\u0101ya, or\njapa), and contemplation of the Supreme Being.\n\nThe various processes of bodily mortification already described (see p.\n228) were repudiated by Buddhism.\n\nAs to the muttering of prayers, the repetition of mystic syllables such\nas Om (a symbol for the Triad of gods), or of any favourite deity\u2019s\nname, is held among Hind\u016bs to be highly efficacious[107]. In a similar\nmanner among Tibetan Buddhists the six-syllabled sentence: \u2018Om ma\u1e47i\npadme H\u016bm\u2019\u2014\u2018Om! the jewel in the lotus! H\u016bm!\u2019\u2014is used as a charm against\nthe sixfold course of transmigration (see pp. 121, 371-373).\n\nMystical syllables are very common. Sir A. Cunningham gives the\nfollowing as current in Lad\u0101k:\u2014Bhyo, Rakmo-bhyo! Rakmo-bhyo-bhyo! Ru-lu,\nRu-lu, H\u016bm Bhyo H\u016bm! (Lad\u0101k, 386.)\n\nOther mystical syllables (such as Sam, Yam, Ram, Lam, etc.) are supposed\nto contain some occult virtue.\n\nThe third requisite\u2014posture\u2014would appear to us a somewhat trivial aid to\nthe union of the human spirit with the divine; but with Hind\u016bs it is an\nimportant auxiliary, fraught with great benefit to the Yog\u012b.\n\nThe alleged reason is that certain sitting postures (\u0101sana) and cramping\nof the lower limbs are peculiarly efficacious in producing bodily\nquietude and preventing restlessness. Some of the postures have curious\nnames, for example:\u2014Padm\u0101sana, \u2018the lotus posture;\u2019 \u2018v\u012br\u0101sana, \u2018the\nheroic posture;\u2019 si\u1e49h\u0101sana, \u2018the lion posture\u2019 (see note, p. 336);\nk\u016brm\u0101sana, \u2018tortoise posture;\u2019 kukku-\u1e6d\u0101sana, \u2018cock posture;\u2019\ndhanur-\u0101sana, \u2018bow posture;\u2019 may\u016br\u0101sana, \u2018peacock posture.\u2019 In the first\nthe legs are folded under the body and the right foot is placed on the\nleft thigh, and the left on the right thigh.\n\nIn short, the idea is that compression of the lower limbs, in such a way\nas to prevent the possibility of the slightest movement, is most\nimportant as a preparation for complete abstraction of soul.\n\nThen, as another aid, particular mystical twistings (called mudr\u0101) of\nthe upper limbs\u2014of the arms, hands, and fingers\u2014are enjoined.\n\nEven in Muhammadan countries certain movements of the limbs are\npractised by devotees with the view of uniting the human spirit with the\nDivine. Those who have seen the whirling and \u2018howling\u2019 dervishes at\nCairo can testify that fainting fits result from their violent\nexertions, inspirations, expirations, and utterances of the name of God,\nand such fits are believed to be ecstatic states of union with the\nDeity.\n\nThe fourth requisite\u2014regulation and suppression of the breath\u2014is perhaps\nthe one of all the eight which is most difficult for Europeans to\nunderstand or appreciate; yet with Hind\u016bs it is all-important. It is\nsometimes called Ha\u1e6dha-vidy\u0101. Nor are the ideas connected with it wholly\nunknown in Europe.\n\nAccording to Swedenborg[108], thought commences and corresponds with\nrespiration:\u2014\n\n\u2018When a man thinks quickly his breath vibrates with rapid alternations;\nwhen the tempest of anger shakes his mind his breath is tumultuous; when\nhis soul is deep and tranquil, so is his respiration.\u2019 And he adds: \u2018It\nis strange that this correspondence between the states of the brain or\nmind and the lungs has not been admitted in science.\u2019\n\nThe Hind\u016b belief certainly is that deep inspirations of breath assist in\nconcentrating and abstracting the thoughts and preventing external\nimpressions. But, more than this, five sorts of air are supposed to\npermeate the human body and play an important part in its vitality. They\nare called Pr\u0101\u1e47a, Vy\u0101na, Ap\u0101na, Sam\u0101na, Ud\u0101na. In the \u0106h\u0101ndogya\nUpanishad (V. 19, etc.) they are described as if they were divine beings\nto be adored and to be honoured by offerings of food. The Ha\u1e6dha-d\u012bpik\u0101\nsays: \u2018As long as the air remains in the body, so long life remains.\nDeath is the exit of the breath. Hence the air should be retained in the\nbody.\u2019\n\nIn regulating the breath, the air must first be drawn up through one\nnostril (the other being closed with the finger), retained in the lungs,\nand then expelled through the other nostril. This exercise must be\npractised alternately with the right and left nostril. Next, the breath\nmust be drawn forcibly up through both nostrils, and the air imprisoned\nfor as long a time as possible in the lungs. Thence it must be forced by\nan effort of will towards the internal organs of the body, or made to\nmount to the centre of the brain.\n\nThe Hind\u016bs, however, do not identify the breath with the soul. They\nbelieve that a crevice or suture called the Brahma-randhram at the top\nof the skull serves as an outlet for the escape of the soul at death. A\nHind\u016b Yog\u012b\u2019s skull is sometimes split at death by striking it with a\nsacred shell. The idea is to facilitate the exit of the soul. It is said\nthat in Tibet the hair is torn out of the top of the head, with the same\nobject.\n\nIn the case of a wicked man the soul is supposed to escape through one\nof the lower openings of the body.\n\nThe imprisonment of the breath in the body by taking in more air than is\nnecessary for respiration, is the most important of the breath\nexercises. It is said that Hind\u016b ascetics, by constant practice, are\nable by this means to sustain life under water, or to be buried alive\nfor long periods of time. Many alleged feats of suspended animation are\nof course mere and sheer trickery. It seems, however, open to question,\nwhether it may not be possible for human beings of particular\nconstitutions to practise a kind of hibernation like that of animals, or\nacquire some power of suspending temporarily the organic functions. A\ncertain Colonel Townsend is said to have succeeded in doing so.\n\nA well-known instance of suspended animation occurred in the Panj\u0101b in\n1837. A Hind\u016b Yog\u012b was there, by his own request, buried alive in a\nvault for forty days in the presence of Runjit Singh and Sir Claude\nWade; his eyes, ears, and every orifice of his body having been first\nstopped with plugs of wax. Dr. McGregor, the then residency surgeon,\nalso watched the case. Every precaution was taken to prevent deception.\nEnglish officials saw the man buried, as well as exhumed, and a\nperpetual guard over the vault was kept night and day by order of Runjit\nSingh himself. At the end of forty days the disinterment took place. The\nbody was dried up like a stick, and the tongue, which had been turned\nback into the throat, had become like a piece of horn. Those who exhumed\nhim followed his previously-given directions for the restoration of\nanimation, and the Yog\u012b told them he had only been conscious of a kind\nof ecstatic bliss in the society of other Yog\u012bs and saints, and was\nquite ready to be buried over again.\n\nWhat amount of fraud there may be in these feats it is difficult to say.\nThey may possibly be accounted for by the fact that Indian Yog\u012bs have\nstudied the habits of hibernating animals; but in some cases the secret\nintroduction of food has been detected.\n\nI may add that it is commonly believed throughout India that a man whose\nbody is sublimated by intense abstract meditation never dies, in the\nsense of undergoing corruption and dissolution. When his supposed death\noccurs he is held to be in a state of trance, which may last for\ncenturies, and his body is, therefore, not burnt, but buried\u2014generally\nin a sitting posture\u2014and his tomb is called a Sam\u0101dh.\n\nWith regard to the fifth requisite\u2014the act of withdrawing the senses\nfrom their object, as, for example, the eye from visible forms\u2014this is\nwell compared to the act of a tortoise withdrawing its limbs under its\nshell.\n\nThe sixth requisite\u2014fixing the principle of thought\u2014comprises the act of\ndirecting the thinking faculty (\u0107itta) towards various parts of the\nbody, for example, towards the heart, or towards the crown of the head,\nor concentrating the will-force on the region between the two eyebrows,\nor even fixing the eyes intently on the tip of the nose. (Compare\nBhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101 VI. 13.)\n\nThe seventh and eighth requisites\u2014viz. internal self-contemplation and\nintense self-concentration\u2014are held (when conjoined with the sixth) to\nbe most important as leading to the acquisition of certain supernatural\npowers, of which the following are most commonly enumerated:\u2014(1) Animan,\n\u2018the faculty of reducing the body to the size of an atom;\u2019 (2) Mahiman,\nor Gariman, \u2018increasing the size or weight at will;\u2019 (3) Laghiman,\n\u2018making the body light at will;\u2019 (4)Pr\u0101pti, \u2018reaching or touching any\nobject or spot, however apparently distant;\u2019 (5) Pr\u0101k\u0101mya, \u2018unlimited\nexercise of will;\u2019 (6) \u012a\u1e61itva, \u2018gaining absolute power over one\u2019s self\nand others;\u2019 (7) Va\u1e61it\u0101, \u2018bringing the elements into subjection;\u2019 (8)\nK\u0101m\u0101vas\u0101yit\u0101, \u2018the power of suppressing all desires.\u2019\n\nA Yog\u012b who has acquired these powers can rise aloft to the skies, fly\nthrough space, pass through the key-hole of a door, pierce the mysteries\nof planets and stars, cause storms and earthquakes, understand the\nlanguage of animals, ascertain what occurs in any part of the world, or\nof the universe, recollect the events of his own previous lives, prolong\nhis present life, see into the past and future, discern the thoughts of\nothers, assume any form he likes, disappear, reappear, and even enter\ninto another man\u2019s body and make it his own.\n\nSuch were some of the extravagant ideas which grew with the growth of\nthe Yoga system, and were incorporated into the later developments of\nBuddhism.\n\nWe learn from Mr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s that in the monastery of Galdan in\nTibet there is at this moment a college specially devoted to the\nteaching of Esoteric and Mystical Buddhism; while magic and sorcery are\ntaught in the monasteries founded by Padma-sambhava (see pp. 272, 274,\n441).\n\nOf course it was only natural that, with the association of Buddhism\nwith the later Yoga and \u1e60aivism, the Buddha himself should have become a\ncentre for the growth of supernatural and mystical ideas.\n\nHence the Buddha is fabled by his followers to have ascended to the\nTrayastri\u1e49\u1e61a heaven of Indra, walked on water, stepped from one mountain\nto another, and left impressions of his feet on the solid rock. Although\nin the Dhamma-pada it is twice declared (254, 255), \u2018There is no path\nthrough the air.\u2019\n\nPerhaps the climax was reached when the later doctrine made every Buddha\npossess a threefold existence or three bodies, much in the same way as\nin Hind\u016bism three bodies are assigned to every being.\n\nThe first of the Buddha\u2019s bodies is the Dharma-k\u0101ya, \u2018body of the Law,\u2019\nsupposed to be a kind of ethereal essence of a highly sublimated nature\nand co-extensive with space. This essence was believed to be eternal,\nand after the Buddha\u2019s death, was represented by the Law or Doctrine\n(Dharma) he taught. The idea seems to have been invented as an analogue\nto Brahman, or the Universal spiritual Essence of Br\u0101hmanism[109].\n\nThe second body is the Sambhoga-k\u0101ya, \u2018body of conscious bliss,\u2019 which\nis of a less ethereal and more material nature than the last. Its\nBr\u0101hmanical analogue appears to be the intermediate body (belonging to\ndeparted spirits) called Bhoga-deha, which is of an ethereal character,\nthough composed of sufficiently gross (sth\u016bla) material particles to be\ncapable of experiencing happiness or misery.\n\nFor observe that it is an essential part of the Hind\u016b doctrine of\ntransmigration or metempsychosis, that a soul _without a body_ is\nincapable of feeling either happiness in heaven or pain in hell.\n\nThe third body is the Nirm\u0101\u1e47a-k\u0101ya, \u2018body of visible shapes and\ntransformations,\u2019 that is to say, those various concrete material forms\nin which every Buddha who exists as an invisible and eternal essence, is\nmanifested on the earth or elsewhere for the propagation of the true\ndoctrine.\n\nThe Br\u0101hmanical analogue of this third body appears to be the earthly\ngross body, called Sth\u016bla-\u1e61ar\u012bra.\n\nIt is evident that the extravagances of mystical Buddhism have their\ncounterparts in Br\u0101hmanism.\n\nThere is a Br\u0101hmanical legend which relates how the great Br\u0101hman sage\n\u1e60a\u1e45kar\u0101\u0107\u0101rya entranced his gross body, and then, having forced out his\nsoul along with his subtle body, entered the dead body of a recently\ndeceased king, which he occupied for several weeks.\n\nThe Yoga of the Br\u0101hmans, in fact, held that adepts, skilled in occult\nscience, might throw their gross bodies into a state of unconsciousness,\nand by a determined effort of will project or force out the ethereal\nbody through the pores of the skin, and make this phantasmal form\nvisible in distant places[110].\n\nAnd now it is declared to be a fact that a community of Buddhist\n\u2018Brothers\u2019 called Mah\u0101tmas, are living at this moment in the deserts of\nTibet, who, having emancipated their interior selves from physical\nbondage by profound abstract meditation, have acquired \u2018astral\u2019 bodies\n(distinct from their gross bodies), with which they are able to rise in\nthe air, or move through space, by the mere exercise of will.\n\nSir Edwin Arnold on the other hand, in his \u2018India Revisited\u2019 (p. 273),\nstates that he asked \u1e60r\u012b Weligama of Ceylon whether there existed\nanywhere Mah\u0101tmas, who elevated in this way above humanity, possessed\nlarger powers and more profound insight than any other living\nphilosophers? Weligama answered, \u2018No! such do not exist; you would seek\nthem vainly in this island, or in Tibet, or in Siam, or in China. It is\ntrue, O my friend, that if we had better interpretations of the Lord\nBuddha\u2019s teaching, we might reach to heights and depths of power and\ngoodness now quite impossible, but we have fallen from the old wisdom,\nand none of us to-day are so advanced.\u2019\n\nI believe that the Psychical Research Society once sent delegates to\nIndia who inquired into this subject, and exposed the absurdity of some\nof the alleged phenomena.\n\nCuriously in agreement with these extravagant notions are the beliefs of\nvarious uncivilized races. Dr. Tylor, in his \u2018Primitive Culture\u2019 (i.\n440), relates how the North American Indians and others believe that\ntheir souls quit their bodies during sleep, and go about hunting,\ndancing, visiting, etc. It is stated by Mr. Finn, late H. M. Consul for\nNorth Persia, that he never could induce his Persian servants to awaken\nhim in the morning. They gave as their reason that the soul during sleep\nwanders away from the body, and that a sleeper will die if awakened\nbefore the soul has time to rejoin the body. The Indian tribes in\nCentral Brazil have the same belief, so says Dr. Karl von den Steinen\n(recently quoted in the _Times_ newspaper).\n\nFurthermore it is clear that the possibility of acquiring supernatural\nfaculties is not an idea confined to one country.\n\nOld legends relate how Simon Magus made statues walk; how he flew in the\nair; how he lept into the fire, made bread of stones, changed his shape,\nassumed two faces, made the vessels in a house move of themselves\n(Colonel Yule\u2019s Marco Polo, i. 306).\n\nWe are told that the phenomena of European spiritualism are to be kept\ndistinct from those of Asiatic occultism. Modern spiritualism, it is\nsaid, requires the intervention of \u2018mediums,\u2019 who neither control nor\nunderstand the manifestations of which they are the passive instruments;\nwhereas the phenomena of occultism are the \u2018achievements of a conscious\nliving operator,\u2019 produced on himself by an effort of his own will.\nAccording to Mr. Sinnett, the important point \u2018which occultism brings\nout is, that the soul of man, while something enormously subtler and\nmore ethereal and more lasting than the body, is itself a material body.\nThe ether that transmits light is held to be material by any one who\nholds it to exist at all; but there is a gulf of difference between it\nand the thinnest of gases.\u2019 In another place he advances an opinion that\nthe spirit is distinct from the soul. It is the soul of the soul.\n\nAnd again: \u2018The body is the prison of the soul for ordinary mortals. We\ncan see merely what comes before its windows; we can take cognisance\nonly of what is brought within its bars. But the adept has found the key\nof his prison, and can emerge from it at pleasure. It is no longer a\nprison for him\u2014merely a dwelling. He can project his soul out of his\nbody to any place he pleases with the rapidity of thought[111].\u2019\n\nIt is perhaps worth noting that many believers in Asiatic occultism hold\nthat a hitherto unsuspected force exists in nature called Odic force (is\nthis to be connected with Psychic force?), and that it is by this that\nthe levitation of entranced persons is effected.\n\nOthers, like the Yog\u012bs, maintain that any one may lighten his body by\nswallowing large draughts of air, and by an effort of will forcing this\nair to diffuse itself through every part of the frame. It is alleged\nthat this phenomenon has been actually witnessed.\n\nThe connexion, however, of similar phenomena with feats of conjuring is\nundeniable. In the Asiatic Monthly Journal (March, 1829), an account is\ngiven of a Br\u0101hman who poised himself _apparently_ in the air, about\nfour feet from the ground, for forty minutes, in the presence of the\nGovernor of Madras. Another juggler sat on three sticks put together to\nform a tripod. These were removed, one by one, and the man remained\nsitting in the air[112].\n\nLong ago Friar Ricold related that \u2018a man from India was said to fly.\nThe truth was that he did walk close to the surface of the ground\nwithout touching it, and would seem to sit down without any substance to\nsupport him\u2019 (Colonel Yule\u2019s Marco Polo, i. 307).\n\nOn the other hand, it is contended, that \u2018since we have attained, in the\nlast half-century, the theory of evolution, the antiquity of man, the\nfar greater antiquity of the world itself, the correlation of physical\nforces, the conservation of energy, spectrum analysis, photography, the\nlocomotive engine, electric telegraph, spectroscope, electric light, and\nthe telephone (to which we may now add the phonograph), who shall dare\nto fix a limit to the capacity of man[113]?\u2019 Few will deny altogether\nthe truth of such a contention, however much they may dissent from\nColonel Olcott\u2019s theosophical views.\n\nThere may be, of course, latent faculties in humanity which are at\npresent quite unsuspected, and yet are capable of development in the\nfuture.\n\nAccording to Sir James Paget, in his recent address on \u2018Scientific\nStudy,\u2019 many things, now held to be inconceivable and past man\u2019s\nimagination, are profoundly and assuredly true, and it will be in the\npower of Science to prove them to be so[114].\n\nMost persons will assent to these propositions, and at the same time\nagree with me when I express my conviction that mystical Buddhism and\nAsiatic occultism are no more likely than modern European spiritualism,\nto bear the searching light of true scientific investigation.\n\nNevertheless the subject of mystical Buddhism ought not to be brushed\naside as unworthy of consideration. It furnishes, in my opinion, a\nhighly interesting topic of inquiry, especially in its bearing on the\n\u2018neo-Buddhism,\u2019 and \u2018Theosophy\u2019 of the present day. At all events it is\nclear from what we have advanced in the present Lecture, that the\npractices connected with spiritualism, mesmerism, animal magnetism,\ntelepathy, clairvoyance, thought-reading[115], etc., have their\ncounterparts in the Yoga system prevalent in India more than 2,000 years\nago, and in the practices of mystical Buddhism prevalent in Tibet and\nthe adjacent countries for many centuries.\n\n\u2018The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is\ndone is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the\nsun.\u2019\n\n\n\n\n                              LECTURE XI.\n_Hierarchical Buddhism, especially as developed in Tibet and Mongolia._\n\n\nEarly Buddhism was, as we have seen, opposed to all ecclesiastical\norganization. It had no hierarchy in the proper sense of that term\u2014no\nchurch, no priests, no true form of prayer, no religious rites, no\nceremonial observances. It was simply a Brotherhood consisting of men\nwho had renounced all family ties, all worldly desires\u2014even all desire\nfor life\u2014and were pledged to devote themselves to meditation, recitation\nof the Law, self-restraint, and the accumulation of merit, not for the\nsake of saving others, but for their own deliverance.\n\nIt was on this account that when the Buddha died he abstained from\nappointing a successor, and gave no directions to his followers as to\nany particular form of government. All that he said was, \u2018Hold fast to\nthe Law; look not to any one but yourselves as a refuge.\u2019 In short, the\nSociety (Sa\u1e45gha) he left behind was a simple brotherhood of monks which\nclaimed some kind of corporate authority for the enforcement of\ndiscipline, but had no Head except the Law. Nor did Buddhism for a long\ntime think of contravening the last injunctions of its Founder. Nor has\nit ever attempted to establish a universal hierarchy under one Head and\nunder one central authority, and although the great K\u0101\u1e61yapa as president\nof the first Council (p. 55) is sometimes held to have been the first\nsuccessor of Buddha, and \u0100nanda the second (p. 56), these men never\nclaimed any supremacy like that of Popes. In point of fact Buddhism\nsimply organized itself in separate monastic institutions according to\nlocal ideas and necessities. And indeed the exigencies of healthy\ngrowth, and even the simple instinct of self-preservation compelled the\nscattered members of the Buddhist Brotherhood to attempt some such\norganization very soon after the death of their Founder. In ancient\ntimes communication was carried on with difficulty, and the Buddhist\nBrotherhood could only hold together by combining for mutual support in\nvarious centres, and adopting some sort of monastic government.\n\nIt was thus that every collection of monks naturally tended to\ncrystallize into a distinct organized society with certain definite\nrules.\n\nNaturally, the earliest constitution of each was moulded according to\nthe family pattern. The living Head of every monastery was a kind of\nspiritual father, while its inmates were his children, and these, again,\nresolved themselves into two classes: the first consisting of the more\nyouthful members of the society; the second, of those whose more mature\nexperience entitled them to greater respect and reverence. Then, again,\nsome kind of pre-eminence was assigned to individuals who were\nremarkable for greater knowledge, or sanctity of character.\n\nIt is easy to understand, therefore, how it happened that the Sa\u1e45gha or\ncollective community of monks was compelled in the end to establish\nseveral gradations of rank and position among its members.\n\nThe following were soon recognized:\u20141. The \u1e60r\u0101ma\u1e47era or \u2018novice\u2019 (who\nbegan by being a \u0106hela or \u2018pupil\u2019 under education); 2. The \u1e60rama\u1e47a (also\ncalled Bhikshu) or full monk; 3. The Sthavira or \u2018elder,\u2019 who was merely\nsuperior to others in virtue of his age; 4. The Mah\u0101-sthavira or \u2018great\nelder\u2019 (sometimes called Sthavira\u1e25 Sthavir\u0101\u1e47\u0101m); 5. The Up\u0101dhy\u0101ya and\n\u0100\u0107\u0101rya. These last were teachers of different kinds, who received honour\nin virtue of their knowledge; the two positions of elder and teacher\nbeing frequently united in the President of particular monasteries.\n\nNo doubt gradations of this kind existed in very early times in India,\nCeylon, and Burma. But in India the whole Buddhistic Order of monks\npassed away.\n\nIn Ceylon and Burma, on the contrary, Buddhism has held its own. It may\neven now be found in a purer form in those countries and in Siam than in\nany other region of Eastern Asia, although it must be borne in mind\nthat, when it was introduced there, it was grafted on serpent-worship,\nN\u0101ga-worship[116], demon-worship, and Nath-worship[117], with all of\nwhich, as well as with the worship of numerous Hind\u016b gods, it continues\nto be adulterated in the present day.\n\nThe Sinhalese (Koeppen, i. 207, 386) give a list of the first five\nsuccessive enforcers of discipline (viz. Up\u0101li, D\u0101saka, Sonaka, Siggava,\nand Moggali-putta), and another list of ten successive Sthaviras or\nelders, beginning with S\u0101ri-putta. These lists are untrustworthy,\nespecially as omitting the great K\u0101\u1e61yapa.\n\nAnd I may here state that the condition of Buddhism in Ceylon is a\nsubject which I have had an opportunity of investigating personally. I\nvisited Ceylon in 1877, and had many interesting conversations with\nintelligent monks, heads of monasteries, and a few really learned men,\nincluding a leading monk named Suma\u1e45gala, who described himself to me as\n\u2018High Priest of Adam\u2019s Peak[118].\u2019\n\nI found, too, that a lofty idea prevails in Ceylon in regard to the\nstatus of the monkhood. Theoretically, a true monk is regarded as a kind\nof inferior Buddha, and revered accordingly. There are boy-pupils,\nnovices, and full monks, as in Burma (see p. 259). The\nadmission-ceremonies resemble those before described (p. 77). Admission\nconfers no priestly powers. Those monks who are Anglicized by contact\nwith our civilization call themselves \u2018priests,\u2019 but they are not real\npriests, and have no sacerdotal functions except teaching, intoning the\nLaw, and preaching. They live as celibates and c\u0153nobites in P\u0101n-s\u0101l\u0101s\n(\u2018houses made of leaves,\u2019 p. 430), or monastic buildings of the simplest\nstructure.\n\nThe number of such monks is said to be about 8,000, and their chief\nduties are supposed to be to meditate a great deal, to perform Ba\u1e47a,\nthat is, to recite the Tri-pi\u1e6daka with its commentary the A\u1e6d\u1e6dha-kath\u0101 in\na sing-song voice, to repeat constantly the three-refuge formula (p.\n78)[119], to teach and to preach, to fast and to make confession to each\nother on at least four days in every month, at the four changes of the\nmoon called Uposatha (or commonly Poya) days (see p. 84); these days\nbeing generally in modern times made to coincide with the Christian\nSunday.\n\nTrue Buddhism does not require monks to perform public religious\nservices in temples. Nor is it the daily practice of monks to set the\npeople an example of worshipping and presenting offerings there. So far\nas I was able to observe, the duty of visiting temples belongs rather to\nthe laity. The monks receive offerings, rather than present them. As to\ntheir dress, it resembles that represented in the Buddha\u2019s images, and\nought to consist of three pieces of cloth stained yellow or of a dull\nyellowish colour. The principal garment is in one piece, but torn and\nsewn together again, the object being to reduce its value and assimilate\nit to a dress made of rags. The end of the dress is brought over the\nleft shoulder, and generally so as to leave the right shoulder bare. In\nsome cases both shoulders are covered, or the right partially so.\n\nA good deal of care seems to be taken in Ceylon to instruct the youthful\nmembers of the Order in P\u0101li; that is, in the language of their sacred\nbooks (p. 60), and to make them conversant with the sacred texts.\n\nI visited two principal colleges for monks at Kandy, which enjoy a\nreputation rather like that of Oxford and Cambridge in our own country.\nOne is called M\u0101lwatte, and the other \u0100sg\u012br\u012bya. In the former I noticed\na large central hall, in which the ceremony of admission to the monkhood\ntakes place.\n\nAt Colombo there has been recently a revival of learning, and a modern\nOriental College (called Vidyodaya), for the cultivation of Sansk\u1e5bit,\nP\u0101li, and Sinhalese, has been established under the superintendence of\nthe learned Suma\u1e45gala, \u2018the High Priest of Adam\u2019s Peak,\u2019 mentioned\nbefore.\n\nEach monastery in Ceylon has a presiding Head, and generally a temple\nand library attached, with considerable property in land, but there is\nclearly no organized hierarchy in the proper sense of the term, and no\nsupreme authority like that of an Archbishop; though it is said that the\nHeads of the two Kandy Colleges exercise a kind of control over the\nafter-career of the monks they have trained. I found that a certain\namount of intelligence and learning exists among the monks both at\nColombo and Kandy, but it must be evident to every impartial observer\nthat the habit of living in houses apart from the laity, of repeating\nthe Law by rote, and of engaging in a kind of meditation which generally\namounts to thinking about nothing in particular, must tend, in the\nmajority of instances, to contract the mind, induce laziness, and give a\nvacant and listless expression to the countenance. It may be safely\naffirmed that the chief religious aim of the Buddhists of Ceylon is to\nacquire merit with a view to \u2018better\u2019 themselves in future states of\nexistence, and that their highest aspiration is to attain to the heaven\nof Indra (\u1e60akra, p. 207). They have no real desire for Nirv\u0101\u1e47a (p. 141),\nand still less for Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a (p. 142).\n\nPassing on to Burma we may remark that although in Burma, as in Ceylon,\na pure form of Buddhism has prevailed ever since its introduction by\nBuddha-ghosha (p. 65), and is still existent, yet we find that the purer\nsystem is mixed up, as in Ceylon, with the worship of N\u0101gas, demons,\nspirit-gods called Naths (commonly spelt Nats, p. 217), and with a kind\nof Shamanism derived from the surrounding hill-tribes.\n\nIn regard to the gradations of the monkhood a more complete organization\nexists in Burma than in Ceylon.\n\nTo begin with the boy-pupils:\u2014In Burma nearly all boys become inmates of\nmonastic houses (called Kyoung) with the one object of learning to read\nand write. They are simply school-boys and nothing more. Indeed, until\nour advent, the monasteries monopolized the education of the country,\nand to a great extent do so still. The real gradations are as follow:\u2014\n\n1. The She\u1e45 or Shi\u1e45, that is \u1e60r\u0101ma\u1e47eras or novices. These are properly\nyouths of at least fifteen years of age (but see p. 307); their hair is\ncut off and yellow garments are put on for a time.\n\nIt should be noted that every male throughout Burma is required to enter\na monastery and become a novice for a portion of his life, if only for a\nsingle Vassa. This is because the Buddha taught that every true Buddhist\nought to conform to his example and become a monk, although he wisely\nabstained from imposing any irrevocable vows. The whole process is often\nmerely formal, and sometimes only lasts for seven days.\n\n2. The Pyit-se\u1e45 or Pyit-si\u1e45 (sometimes pronounced Patzin) or full monks,\nwho have the title Pung\u012b or Phung\u012b (sometimes spelt Phungee or Phongie),\n\u2018full of great glory,\u2019 when they have been at least ten years members of\nthe order. They correspond to the \u1e60rama\u1e47as, and are by Europeans called\nTalapoins (from their carrying fans of palm leaves). Their dress usually\nconsists of three pieces of yellow cotton cloth.\n\n3. The Hsay\u0101 (always a Phung\u012b) or Head of a separate monastery, who\ncorresponds to the Abbot of European countries.\n\n4. The Gai\u1e47-ok or provincial Head, who has a kind of episcopal\njurisdiction over all the monasteries of a district.\n\n5. The Th\u0101than\u0101-paing (Th\u0101than\u0101 = Sansk\u1e5bit \u1e60\u0101san\u0101) or supreme rulers,\nwho correspond to Archbishops. They superintend all religious affairs.\nAccording to Mr. Scott, there are now eight of them.\n\nOccasionally instances occur of hermit-monks who lead solitary lives,\nand sit motionless in meditation for years.\n\nIn Siam the gradations of monkhood are nearly similar to those in Burma,\nand we learn from Mr. Alabaster that the monastic vow is not binding for\nlife, but can be cancelled at any time. This rule leads to every Siamese\nman spending at least three months of his life in a monastery.\n\nWe have now to pass from Ceylon, Burma, and Siam to Tibet (properly\ncalled Bod or Bot or Bhot, Sansk\u1e5bit Bho\u1e6da). And here we leave the\nsimpler forms of Buddhism and are brought face to face with that highly\ndeveloped system which, though nominally resulting from an expansion of\nthe H\u012bna-y\u0101na, \u2018Little Method,\u2019 into the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na, \u2018Great Method\u2019 (p.\n158), was really the product of a still further expansion of the \u2018Great\nMethod\u2019 and its combination with other creeds.\n\nIn truth, Tibetan Buddhism is so different from every other Buddhistic\nsystem that it ought to be treated of separately in a separate volume,\nas Koeppen has done. In his elaborate and excellent work on this subject\nhe has remarked that for the development of a hierarchy no circumstance\nis more favourable than isolation, and that this advantage was offered\nin the highest degree by Tibet. Up to the moment of its conversion to\nBuddhism a profound darkness had rested on it. The inhabitants were\nignorant and uncultivated, and their indigenous religion, sometimes\ncalled Bon, consisted chiefly of magic based on a kind of Shamanism.\n\nTo describe exactly what Shamanism is would be no easy task. The word is\nsaid to be of Tungusic origin[120], and to be used as a name for the\nearliest religion of Mongolia, Siberia, and other Northern countries.\n\nPerhaps we shall not be far wrong in asserting that the two principal\nconstituents of Shamanism are the worship of nature and the dread of\nspirits.\n\nThe inhabitants of Tibet and Mongolia and indeed of other Northern\ncountries believed that spirits, good and bad, influenced the whole\ncourse of nature. They held that such spirits were able either to cause\nor to avert diseases and disasters, to control the destinies of men, and\neven to decide the fate of the lower animals. Hence it is easy to\nunderstand that the chief function of the Shamans, or wizard-priests,\nwas to exorcise evil demons, or to propitiate them by sacrifices and\nvarious magical practices. In this way they pretended to prevent storms,\npestilences, and other calamities. They were supposed, too, to\nunderstand omens and to predict the future by watching the flights of\nbirds, by examining the shoulder-blades of sheep, and by similar\ndevices. Shamanism, in fact, with its Tibetan offshoot, Bon, had much in\ncommon with the lowest types of \u1e60aivism, \u1e60\u0101ktism, and T\u0101ntrism, with\nwhich the Buddhism of Northern India, Nep\u0101l, and the countries bordering\non Tibet, had already become adulterated.\n\nWhen, therefore, this mixed form of Buddhism advanced from those\ncountries into Tibet, its approach was not resisted as an intrusion. On\nthe contrary, Tibetan Shamanism, although it had possession of the\nfield, was quite ready to meet the new religion halfway. The result was\nan alliance, or rather perhaps an amalgamation; and this led to the\nestablishment of a complex religious system which I have ventured to\ncall L\u0101mism[121].\n\nL\u0101mism, then, is a form of Buddhism which, although based on the\nH\u012bna-y\u0101na and Mah\u0101-y\u0101na of India, is combined with Shamanism,\n\u1e60iva-worship, and magic, and has a marked individuality and a peculiar\nhierarchical organization of its own. This organization has been\ncompared to that of the Roman Catholic Church. Doubtless in its great\nreceptivity Buddhism may have borrowed from Christianity, but L\u0101mism\npossesses certain unique features which distinguish it from every other\nsystem in the world.\n\nUnfortunately few Europeans have, as yet, penetrated into Tibet, and its\nsacred literature has been little studied. It follows therefore that the\nvarious gradations of the Tibetan hierarchy are not easily described,\nand only a general idea of them can be given.\n\nWe ought first to note the boy-pupil called Genyen, sometimes spoken of\nas Bandi or Bante (= Bandya[122], a term more properly applicable to\nmonks). Boy-pupils are inmates of every Tibetan monastery; but under\nexceptional circumstances a pupil may live with his parents. He may be\nreceived after seven years of age, and until fifteen, as in Burma (p.\n259). He is placed under a full monk, who teaches him and makes him\npromise to keep the five chief commandments (p. 126). Though sometimes\ncalled a novice he is merely under education, and not necessarily a\ncandidate for the monkhood. The real degrees of the L\u0101mistic hierarchy,\nas explained by Koeppen and others, are as follow:\u2014\n\n1. First and lowest in rank comes the novice or junior monk, called\nGethsul (Getzul), who has been admitted after fifteen years of age to\nthe first stage of monkhood by a Khanpo L\u0101ma or his representative. His\nhair is cut off and he wears the monkish garments, and has 112 rules to\nobserve. He waits on the full monk, and assists in all functions except\nblessing and consecrating. He has been compared to the deacon of the\nEuropean ecclesiastical system, but the comparison is misleading, as\nshown at p. 76.\n\n2. Secondly and higher in rank we have the full monk, called Gelong (or\nGelo\u1e45). He corresponds to the Bhikshu, who has received complete\nconsecration, and is often called by courtesy a L\u0101ma (see note, p. 262),\nthough he has no real right to that title. He is not properly a priest,\nyet it is certain that in Tibet he often discharges sacerdotal\nfunctions. The ceremony of admission to the full monkhood can only be\nperformed after the twentieth year, and binds the recipient to 253 rules\nof discipline[123].\n\n3. Thirdly we have the _superior Gelong_ or Khanpo (strictly mKhan po),\nwho has a real right to the further title L\u0101ma, and from his higher\nknowledge and sanctity sometimes becomes a kind of head-teacher\n(Sansk\u1e5bit Up\u0101dhy\u0101ya or \u0100\u0107\u0101rya). As the chief monk in a monastery he may\nbe compared to the European Abbot; but in respect of consecration he is\nonly a Gelong. Nor are any of the higher grades of monks\u2014so far as the\nforms of consecration are concerned\u2014higher than Gelongs and Khanpos.\n\nAt this point, however, we have to note the special peculiarity of the\nL\u0101mistic system, namely, that some of the higher Khanpo L\u0101mas are\nsupposed to be living re-incarnations or re-embodiments of certain\ncanonized saints and Bodhi-sattvas who differ in rank. These are called\nAvat\u0101ra L\u0101mas (see p. 190), and of such there are three degrees, which\nwe may denote by the letters A. B. C. as follow:\u2014\n\nA. The lowest degree of Avat\u0101ra L\u0101ma. He may be called an ordinary\nKhubilghan (from a Mongolian word\u2014written by Huc, Hubilghan). He\nrepresents the continuous re-embodiment of an ordinary canonized saint\n(p. 188), or founder of some great monastery. He is higher by one degree\nthan the Khanpo Abbot, as presiding over a more important monastery.\n\nB. A higher grade of Avat\u0101ra L\u0101ma called Khutuktu. He exercises a kind\nof episcopal jurisdiction over a still more important monastery than\nthat presided over by the ordinary incarnated L\u0101ma. He represents the\nincarnation of a higher Bodhi-sattva or deified saint, but he sometimes\nclaims to be an incarnated Buddha.\n\nC. The highest Avat\u0101ra L\u0101ma commonly called a Supreme or Grand L\u0101ma. He\nis not an incarnation of a mere ordinary Bodhi-sattva (p. 188), but a\ncontinuous re-embodiment of either a supreme Buddha or of his\nBodhi-sattva. The two notable examples of this highest degree are the\nDalai and Panchen L\u0101mas, who claim an authority, like that of a Pope or\nArchbishop, over extensive regions outside their own monasteries. They\nwill be more fully described in the sequel (see p. 284).\n\nIt may be stated generally, therefore, that the L\u0101mistic hierarchy\nconsists of three lower and three higher grades. We have, besides, to\nreckon certain other distinctions of rank, such as those of the\nRab-jampa, \u2018doctor of theology or philosophy,\u2019 the \u0106horje (strictly\n\u0106hos-rje), \u2018lord of the faith.\u2019 These are sometimes associated with the\nKhanpo or Abbot, though slightly inferior in rank to that dignitary. It\nis said that the \u0106horje often acts as a kind of coadjutor Abbot.\nPractically they rank below the incarnated or Avat\u0101ra L\u0101mas. Moreover,\nin every monastery there are numerous other subordinate officials; for\nexample, schoolmasters, teachers who explain the Law and guide the\nstudies of the brotherhood, precentors or choirmasters, secretaries,\ncollectors of revenue, treasurers, stewards, overseers, physicians,\npainters, sculptors, manufacturers of relics, of amulets, of rosaries,\nof images, and in some monasteries-especially those of the Red\nsect\u2014astrologers, fortune-tellers, magicians (\u0106hos-kyong or \u0106hos-kyo\u1e45),\nand exorcists. The L\u0101ma is not only the priest; he is the educator,\nschoolmaster, physician, astrologer, architect, sculptor, painter; he is\n\u2018the head, the heart, the oracle of the laity.\u2019\n\nThere is also a whole class of mendicant L\u0101mas, who have vowed to live a\nvagabond life for a certain number of years. They are better known than\nsome others, for they often find their way into British territory.\n\nWhen I was staying at D\u0101rj\u012bling, I encountered two specimens of the\nvagabond class who came from some distant part of Tibet. They called\nthemselves L\u0101mas, though, of course, they had no real right to that\ntitle. They were clothed in ragged garments made up of thirty-two\npatches of different cloths, and wore thick buskins to protect them from\nthe snows. Then they carried a kind of knapsack or wallet of goat-skin\nbehind their backs, and in their hands a sort of sacred drum or tabour\ncalled \u1e0damaru (see p. 384).\n\nAccording to M. Huc, these vagabond L\u0101mas travel for the sake of\ntravelling. They wander through China, Manchuria, Southern Mongolia,\nKuku N\u016br, Tibet, Northern India, and even Turkest\u0101n.\n\nThere is scarcely a river which they have not crossed; a mountain which\nthey have not ascended; a Grand L\u0101ma before whom they have not\nprostrated themselves; a people among whom they have not lived, and of\nwhom they do not know the manners and language.\n\nIt should be noted that when an incarnated L\u0101ma is the spiritual Head of\na monastery there is generally a temporal Head to manage its affairs.\n\nThen we must not forget that Tibetan Buddhism has also its organized\nfemale hierarchy, on the highest steps of which are female Khutuktus and\nincarnated Abbesses, as well as lower gradations of nuns and novices,\nliving together in their own convents.\n\nThe rules of discipline for the whole L\u0101mistic hierarchy fill at least\nthirteen out of the 108 volumes of the Tibetan Canon (see p. 272). They\ndo not differ materially from those of other Buddhist countries. The 253\nrules of the Pratimoksha-s\u016btra (see p. 62) are said to contain commands\nand prohibitions relating to five sides of the monastic life\u2014conduct,\ndress, food, habitation, and occupation.\n\nIt must be borne in mind that early L\u0101mism, like true Buddhism, had\nproperly no secular priesthood and encouraged no intercourse with the\nouter world, except for the reception of alms and food from the laity.\nAll grades of the hierarchy were supposed to live together as one\ncelibate fraternity in monastic seclusion, apart from mundane\nassociations. Their only duties were to meditate, recite the Law, and\nobey certain strict rules of discipline. This strictness of discipline,\nhowever, was not long borne with equal patience by the whole fraternity.\nIt soon became irksome to a large section, and the same state of things\nwhich arose in early Buddhism and generally arises in all religious\ncommunities, occurred in L\u0101mism. The fraternity of L\u0101mas became split up\ninto two chief parties or sects\u2014the strict and the lax. We shall see in\nthe end that these two sects were distinguished from each other by the\ncolour of their garments, and especially of their caps, the former\nadopting yellow and calling themselves Gelug pa or Galdan pa, the latter\nadopting red (Sham\u0101r). Of course the lax or Red-cap sect soon infringed\nthe rule in regard to celibacy, and allowed the marriage of monks under\ncertain conditions, though such marriages seem at first to have been\nexceptional.\n\nIt is said, indeed, that in Nep\u0101l, under modern Gorkha rule, the\ncelibate occupies a lower position than the married monk, to whom the\nservices in the temples are committed. It is said, too, that the L\u0101mas\nof Sikkim and other northern countries constantly have children living\nwith them, though they do not admit them to be their own (p. 152). Yet,\nfor all that, celibacy is the rule, and nominally, at any rate, the\ngreat majority of L\u0101mistic monks in Eastern Asia are unmarried\nc\u0153nobites, who live together in monasteries.\n\nCertainly in no other country in the world are monasteries so numerous\nor on so vast a scale as in Tibet and Mongolia (see p. 426).\n\nAnd, indeed, in all probability it was the difficulty of enforcing\ndiscipline and order in these immense establishments, without some\nmethod of securing obedience to a presiding Head acceptable to all the\ninmates, that led to that strange re-incarnation or \u2018Avat\u0101ra\u2019 theory\nwhich is one chief distinguishing feature of L\u0101mism.\n\nThe process by which this remarkable theory was developed is so\ninteresting and so important in relation to the subject of the present\nLecture that it deserves careful investigation, and to clear the ground\nwe must here make a brief digression and advert to some circumstances in\nthe early history of Tibet and Mongolia, as given in Koeppen\u2019s laborious\nwork.\n\nWe learn from him that Nya Khri Tsanpo, who lived in the Yarlung valley,\nwas the first king of Tibet. After several successors came Srong Tsan\nGampo. This king was born in 617, and, according to a legend, exhibited\nat his birth certain marks of perfection like those of Amit\u0101bha or\nAvalokite\u1e61vara (p. 198). He is worshipped as a great Conqueror and\nReformer.\n\nIn the year 632, or about the time when Muhammad died in Arabia, he\nbegan the work of civilizing his subjects. To this end he directed his\nminister Thumi (or Thonmi) Sambho\u1e6da to proceed to India, and make\nhimself acquainted with Buddhist writings. This great man was the first\nto design the Tibetan alphabet on the model of the Indian letters then\nin use (called La\u00f1\u0107ha), but rejecting certain consonants and certain\nvowels as unsuitable for the representation of Tibetan sounds, and\nadding six new letters. Hence he was the first to introduce the art of\nwriting along with Buddhism into Tibet.\n\nIt may be noted here that Buddhism, to its great credit, has generally\ngiven some sort of literary education to the barbarous nations to which\nit has imparted its own doctrines. It has also made the vernacular of\nthe people its medium of instruction, though it has not always\ntranslated its sacred literature or ritualistic formularies into that\nvernacular.\n\nThe first Tibetan author was Thumi Sambho\u1e6da himself, who is said to have\ncomposed a grammar and other books during his sojourn in India. An\nimportant work translated by him into the vernacular was the Ma\u1e47i\nKambum\u2014a Tantra work, alleged to have been revealed by Amit\u0101bha and his\nson Avalokite\u1e61vara. This book describes the introduction of Buddhism\ninto Tibet as well as the origin of the well-known six-syllabled\nprayer-formula of Tibet\u2014Om ma\u1e47i padme H\u016bm (see pp. 371-374). It contains\n100,000 precepts.\n\nThe teaching of Thumi Sambho\u1e6da seems to have been of an orthodox\ncharacter. He may perhaps be regarded as the founder of the strict\nschool of Tibetan Buddhism (already mentioned), which was afterwards\ncalled Kadampa, and finally developed into the Yellow-robed sect, as\ndistinguished from the Red. After Thumi Sambho\u1e6da the propagation of\nBuddhism in Tibet was chiefly carried on by the two princesses, wives of\nKing Srong Tsan Gampo, called Dolkar and Doljang. They were worshipped\nunder the name Dolma, as forms of the wife of \u1e60iva or of the goddess\nT\u0101r\u0101; one being called the white mother, and the other, the dark;\nrepresenting the mild and fierce forms of \u1e60iva\u2019s consort[124].\n\nThe first two L\u0101ma monasteries in Tibet (called L\u0101 brang and Ra mo che,\nfounded about A.D. 650; Edgar, p. 38) were erected at Lh\u0101ssa[125] by\nthem or in their honour, and each monastery contained a renowned\nwonder-working image, which each princess had brought with her (see pp.\n440, 441, 492).\n\nAfter King Srong Tsan Gampo, Buddhism declined in Tibet. One of his\nsuccessors, named Khri Srong De Tsan, who was born in 728 A.D. and\nreigned from 740 to 786, tried to restore it. For this purpose, he sent\nfor religious teachers in great numbers from India. These seem to have\nbrought with them a very corrupt form of Buddhism, which aimed chiefly\nat counteracting the evil influences of demons by magical spells.\n\nFirst came \u1e60\u0101nta Rakshita, with twelve companions from Bengal.\n\nThen the celebrated Padma-sambhava was sent for out of the land of\nUdy\u0101na (= Dardist\u0101n)\u2014west of the Indus, north of Peshawar\u2014where the\npeople were addicted to \u1e60aivism and witchcraft. It was under him that\nthe great monastery at Sam ye (strictly Sam yas) was built (see p. 448).\nHe was celebrated for his skill in magic, sorcery, and alchemy, and\nbecame the real founder of the Red sect, after instructing several young\nTibetans in his own lore. At the same time he was remarkable for his\nknowledge of Indian languages, and was active in promoting a taste for\nliterature in Tibet. It redounds much to his credit that he was the\nfirst to further the translation of the whole Buddhist Canon (almost\nentirely from Sansk\u1e5bit books) into Tibetan.\n\nBut the sacred books had by that time greatly increased, so that the\nTibetan Canon commonly called Kanjur (or more strictly Kangyur and\nKa-gyur, pp. 70, 267) consisted of at least 108 volumes.\n\nThen we have the Tanjur (Tangyur) consisting of 225 folio volumes of\ntranslations, commentaries, and treatises, corresponding to the\nA\u1e6d\u1e6dha-kath\u0101 of Ceylon (p. 65), and embracing works on all subjects\n(often mere translations from the Sansk\u1e5bit), such as grammar, logic,\nrhetoric, poetry, medicine, astrology, alchemy, magic, and the use of\nspells.\n\nA sect called Urgyanpa (or Urgyenpa), another called Brugpa (or Dugpa or\nDukpa), another called Sakyapa\u2014all belonging to the Red-clothed (in\nTibetan, Sham\u0101r) L\u0101mas who are numerous in Nep\u0101l, Bhut\u0101n, Sikkim, Lad\u0101k,\nand in portions of Southern Tibet\u2014follow the rules of Padma-sambhava.\n\nAfter Khri Srong De Tsan came a number of kings who caused Buddhism to\ndecline; but in the second half of the eleventh century it began to\nrecover, and learned men were sent for from Kashmir and India, one of\nwhom was At\u012bsha (strictly At\u012b\u1e61a), who might be called the re-founder of\nL\u0101mism.\n\nHe had an eminent Tibetan pupil named Brom Ton (Brom-sTon or Brom\nBakshi[126]). All violent opposition to Buddhism then ceased. Monastery\nafter monastery was founded in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.\n\nThree of the most important were (1) Raseng (or Ra-deng, strictly Ra\nsGreng), north-east of Lh\u0101ssa, founded by Brom Ton in 1058; (2) Sakya\n(see p. 448), situated in the district of Tsang, south-west of Shigatse,\nand founded by Koncho Yalpo, whose son was the first Grand L\u0101ma of this\nmonastery; (3) Brikhung (also written Briku\u1e45 or Brigu\u1e45 or Brigung), four\ndays\u2019 journey north of Lh\u0101ssa, founded by Koncho Yalpo\u2019s son.\n\nAt\u012bsha belonged to a school which did not favour \u1e60aivism and sorcery in\nthe way that Padma-sambhava had done, and his pupil, Brom Ton of the\nRaseng monastery, was the founder of the sect called Kadampa[127], which\nenforced great strictness of monastic life\u2014a sect which, as we have\nalready mentioned, had its earliest origin in the teaching of Thumi\nSambho\u1e6da, and whose tenets were adopted by the celebrated reformer Tsong\nKhapa (p. 277), the real founder of the Yellow sect.\n\nOn the other hand, the monks of the Sakya monastery belonged to the more\nlax school, and were therefore followers of Padma-sambhava. No doubt\nthese two chief monasteries of Raseng and Sakya maintained at first\ntheir own separate independence, the presiding L\u0101ma of each claiming\nequal authority with the other. Then in process of time, a rivalry\nsprang up between them. Moreover the Brikhung monastery strove with the\nSakya, each trying to acquire predominance. Ultimately they appealed to\nthe Chinese authorities, who decided that the highest position belonged\nto the monastery of Sakya and to the Red sect.\n\nAnd here we have to turn for a short time to Mongolia. That country\nreceived its Buddhism, or rather L\u0101mism, from Tibet. It is well known\nthat the great Mongol conqueror, Jenghiz Kh\u0101n, conquered Tibet about\nA.D. 1206[128]. Before that period the Mongolians had come in contact\nwith various religious cults; for example, with Zoroastrianism,\nBuddhism, and Isl\u0101m.\n\nThey had even had some experience of Christianity; for Nestorian\nMissions existed in Central Asia in the fifth and sixth centuries of our\nera, and penetrated to China in the seventh century. All these religions\nstrove to convert the Mongolians, who soon became an important nation\nthrough the conquests of Jenghiz Kh\u0101n. That conqueror, however, had a\nvery simple religion of his own. He believed in one God in heaven, and\none king on earth; that is, he believed that God had given him the\ndominion of the whole world, and he set himself to conquer the world.\nYet he tolerated all religions. \u2018As the hand,\u2019 he said, \u2018has many\nfingers, so there are many ways to show men how they may reach heaven.\u2019\n\nKhubilai (1259-1294), the greatest of all the descendants of Jenghiz and\nSovereign of a vast empire, was the first to elevate his people above a\nmere life of rapine and plunder; and it struck him that the best method\nof civilizing them would be by adopting and promoting Buddhism, which\nthe greater number of the races subject to him already professed.\n\nBetween the indigenous Shamanism of Northern countries and the doctrines\nof Confucius, or of Isl\u0101m, or of Christianity, there were no points of\ncontact; whereas Shamanism, as we have seen, had much common ground with\nNorthern Buddhism, which had become mixed up with \u1e60aivism and magic.\n\nIt was this that led Khubilai to adopt the L\u0101mistic or Tibetan form of\nBuddhism. He also thought it wise to conciliate the spiritual potentates\nof Tibet, who had for many centuries taken all real power out of the\nhands of their temporal chiefs.\n\nAnd among L\u0101mistic prelates, the Head of the Monastery of Sakya and of\nthe Red school in Southern Tibet had, as we have seen, acquired a kind\nof sovereignty. Many monks of this Red sect married, according to the\npractice of the Br\u0101hmans, and remained householders till a son and heir\nwas born to them. At that time they had a presiding monk, called Sakya\nPa\u1e47\u1e0dita, and the Emperor Khubilai appointed Mati-dhvaja, the Pa\u1e47\u1e0dita\u2019s\nnephew, to succeed him as Head of the monastery, conferring on him a\ncertain amount of temporal power and making him a kind of tributary\nruler of Tibet. He was known as the Phaspa (strictly Phags pa),\n\u2018excellent L\u0101ma,\u2019 and in return for the supremacy granted to him, was\nrequired to consecrate or crown the emperors of Mongolia.\n\nKoeppen observes that Khubilai was thus the creator of the first\nL\u0101mistic Pope; just as Pepin and Charlemagne were of the first Christian\nPope.\n\nThe Mongolians also owe their written character and literature to\nBuddhism. It was Phaspa L\u0101ma who invented the Mongolian alphabet. Taking\nthe Tibetan alphabet as his model, he invented a square character with a\nthousand syllables. He then undertook a new revision of the Buddhist\nsacred writings, causing the Tibetan sacred texts (Kanjur) to be\ncompared with the Chinese. It is said that this lasted from the year\n1285 to 1306.\n\nTwenty-nine learned men, versed in the Tibetan, Ugrian, Chinese, and\nSansk\u1e5bit languages, were occupied on the task of collation, and a few\nyears later, the first Mongolian translation of the sacred texts was\nbegun by the Sakya L\u0101ma \u0106hoskyi Odser.\n\nKhubilai, no doubt, was a great promoter of Buddhism, and founded many\nmonasteries in Mongolia, and a celebrated one at Peking.\n\nAfter the elevation of the Phaspa L\u0101ma to quasi-temporal as well as\nspiritual sovereignty very little is known about the state of Buddhism\nin Tibet, except that the successive Heads of the Sakya monastery\nmaintained their position under Khubilai\u2019s successors, and of course\nperpetuated and extended the doctrines of the Red school of Buddhism.\nProbably they resided at Lh\u0101ssa, and possibly at the Mongolo-Chinese\nCourt.\n\nIn 1368, the last Mongol emperor was expelled by the founder of the Ming\ndynasty, after Jenghiz\u2019s family had occupied the throne of China for\nabout a century.\n\nThe emperors of this dynasty did their best to bring Tibet under the\nChinese Government, and to conciliate the Tibetan L\u0101mas by gifts,\ntitles, and other favours. But they thought it politic to prevent the\npredominance of any one monastery. Hence they made three other Heads of\nmonasteries equal in rank to the Sakya L\u0101ma, and encouraged antagonism\nbetween them. This facilitated the great Reform which L\u0101mism underwent\nin the time of the Emperor Jong lo\u2014a reform brought about by the\ncelebrated Tsong Khapa, sometimes called the Luther of L\u0101mistic\nBuddhism.\n\nTsong Khapa, whose name is as much celebrated in Mongolia and Tibet and\namong the Kalmuk Tartars as that of the founder of Buddhism, is said to\nhave been born in the year 1355 or 1357 of our era, in the land of Amdo,\nwhere the celebrated monastery of Kunbum or Kumbum\u2014situated North of\nTibet on the borders of China\u2014now stands. All sorts of legends, but none\nworth repeating, are related about him. We may note, however, a probable\ntradition that a learned L\u0101ma, \u2018with a long nose and bright eyes,\u2019 who\nhad settled in the land of Amdo, and may possibly have been a Roman\nCatholic priest, became his teacher.\n\nIn process of time, Tsong Khapa set out on a journey from Amdo to Tibet,\nhis object being to acquire a knowledge of the doctrine from original\nsources. He is said to have studied the Law of Buddha at Sakya,\nBrikhung, and Lh\u0101ssa. It was in this way that he became impressed with\nthe necessity of purifying and reforming the discipline of Tibetan\nBuddhism, which the Red sect had corrupted by allowing the marriage of\nmonks and by laxity in other matters. Innumerable pupils gathered round\nhim, all of whom adopted, as their distinguishing mark, the orthodox\nyellow garments of primitive Buddhism, and especially the yellow cap (p.\n268); while the followers of Padma-sambhava and the more corrupt school\nwore red garments and a red cap.\n\nTsong Khapa soon acquired vast influence, and in the year 1409 was able\nto build on a hill about thirty miles from Lh\u0101ssa, the afterwards\ncelebrated monastery called Galdan (or Gahdan) of the Yellow school. Of\nthis Tsong Khapa was the first Abbot. His followers, however, rapidly\nbecame too numerous to be comprehended within so limited an area. Hence\nthere arose in the immediate neighbourhood of Lh\u0101ssa, two other great\nmonasteries, Brepung (also written Dapung, etc., see p. 442), founded by\nJam-yang \u0106hos-rje, and Sera \u2018the Golden,\u2019 founded by Byam \u0106hen \u0106hos-rje.\n\nThese three monasteries once held 30,000 monks of the Yellow sect, but\nnow have only 16,500.\n\nTsong Khapa wrote many works, which enjoy a quasi-canonical authority\namong the adherents of the reformed sect. Many of them exist in\nMongolian translations, but they have not yet been fully examined.\n\nUndeniably, Tsong Khapa\u2019s chief merit was that he caused his followers\nto revert to the purer monastic discipline, especially to the rule of\ncelibacy. He also purified the forms of worship, and greatly restricted\nwithout altogether prohibiting the use of magical rites. Tsong Khapa,\ntoo, is said to have re-established the original practice of retirement\nfor religious meditation at certain seasons, although as there was no\nrainy season in Tibet, another period had to be chosen.\n\nTravellers in Tibet have often described the many points of resemblance\nbetween the Roman Catholic and L\u0101mistic systems, such as the Popedom,\nthe celibacy of the priesthood, the worship of saints, confession,\nfasting, processions, holy water, bells, rosaries, mitres, croziers,\netc. These resemblances and coincidences will be more fully noted in a\nsubsequent Lecture (see pp. 338, 339).\n\nIt is possible that Tsong Khapa may have imbibed some of his notions\nfrom his instructor at Amdo already named (p. 277), who was either a\nRoman Catholic missionary, or was familiar with the constitution of the\nRomish hierarchy. On the other hand, it is certain that celibacy,\nconfession, and fasting existed in Buddhism before the teaching of\nChrist, and long before that of Tsong Khapa.\n\nIn fact, Tsong Khapa\u2019s reformation had been to a certain extent\nanticipated, as we have seen, by the school of Kadampa, founded in the\neleventh century, by At\u012bsha\u2019s disciple, Brom Ton (p. 273).\n\nVery little more is known about Tsong Khapa. He died in the year 1419,\nor, as his disciples believe, ascended to heaven, and that ascension is\nstill celebrated during the festival of Lamps by all orthodox Buddhists\nof the L\u0101mistic Church (see pp. 345, 346).\n\nWhen some time after his death, he was canonized, he was regarded by\nsome as an incarnation of Amit\u0101bha, or by others of Ma\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b, or by\nothers of Vajra-p\u0101\u1e47i (see p. 195), or even of the Mah\u0101-k\u0101la form of\n\u1e60iva, and his image is generally found in the temples of the Yellow\nsect, and often between the two images of the Dalai L\u0101ma and the Panchen\nL\u0101ma, on the right and left respectively.\n\nHis followers of the Yellow school called themselves Gelugpa (or\nGelukpa), \u2018adherents of virtue\u2019 (or, Gal-danpa from their monastery);\ntheir principal characteristic being that they adhered to the purer\ndiscipline.\n\nThe chief point of interest in connexion with Tsong Khapa is the bearing\nof his reformation on the development of the Avat\u0101ra theory already\nmentioned (see pp. 190, 265).\n\nIt is said that Tsong Khapa himself, like Gautama Buddha, had two chief\npupils, and that he appointed these two to succeed him with equal\nauthority as Heads of the orthodox sect. He is also credited with having\nbeen the first to promulgate the doctrine that no election of successors\nto his two pupils would at any time be needed, as each of them on dying\nwould be constantly re-born in a supernatural manner.\n\nThere is, however, no historical foundation for such a statement.\nIndeed, according to the opinion of some, the two Grand L\u0101mas were\nmerely the lineal successors of the two eminent L\u0101mas, At\u012bsha and his\npupil Brom Ton (see p. 273).\n\nAfter all, it seems most likely that the whole Avat\u0101ra theory was an\ninvention of some shrewd Head L\u0101ma, who, perceiving that the strict\nenforcement of celibacy would prevent any hereditary succession, like\nthat possible in monasteries of the Red school, and foreseeing that it\nwould be necessary to prevent the suicidal divisions to which the\nintrigues of an election to the Headship of monasteries\u2014especially of\nGrand L\u0101ma monasteries\u2014would be likely to give rise, bethought himself\nof a compromise between hereditary succession and election. After more\nthan one trial, the system was found to work so well that it was\neventually adopted with little modification by all Northern Buddhists,\nand even by those of the Red sect.\n\nThe date of its invention is as uncertain as the name of the inventor.\nAll that can be said is, that it cannot be traced back to an earlier\nperiod than the fifteenth century.\n\nAnd here we must again guard against the confusion of thought likely to\narise from the usual practice of translating Avat\u0101ra by \u2018incarnation.\u2019\n\nWe have seen that the doctrine of transmigration (gati) through various\nembodiments, as applicable to all beings, is a fundamental dogma both of\nBr\u0101hmanism and of Buddhism, though in Buddhism transmigration properly\nmeans a mere continuous transformation and reconstruction of the\nelements (Skandhas) of being (p. 109).\n\nThe idea is very dimly, if at all, adumbrated in the Mantra portion of\nthe Veda.\n\nIt is more clearly traceable in one of the Br\u0101hma\u1e47as, and distinctly\nenunciated in the \u0106h\u0101ndogya Upanishad (V. x. 7) thus:\u2014\u2018He whose conduct\nhas been good, quickly attains to some good embodiment as a Br\u0101hman,\nKshatriya, or Vai\u1e61ya. He whose conduct has been bad, assumes an inferior\nembodiment, as a dog, a hog, or a \u0106a\u1e47\u1e0d\u0101la.\u2019 In Manu the theory is fully\ndeveloped.\n\nNow it is true that in Buddhism this kind of transmigration may be\ndescribed as a continuous series of incarnations, although genuine\nBuddhism denies the separate existence of a soul between each\nincarnation (see p. 110).\n\nBut the doctrine of repeated incarnations of one individual in six forms\nof life is quite distinct from the Tibetan Avat\u0101ra theory. This theory\nnot only recognizes the separate existence of an immaterial essence or\nsoul, but also teaches that the Head L\u0101ma of certain monasteries is the\nliving, visible embodiment, for the time being, of the continuous\ndescent (avat\u0101ra) on earth of a portion of the essence of the canonized\nFounder of a monastery or of a celestial Bodhi-sattva or Buddha, who\nwill perpetually continue to descend from heaven and re-appear in human\nforms for the welfare of the world (see p. 109)[129].\n\nA similar idea, we know, prevails in India, where the doctrine of the\ndescent (avat\u0101ra) of portions of the essence of Vish\u1e47u and other gods is\ncommon. There is, however, a noteworthy distinction in the Hind\u016b\ndoctrine, because the descents of Vish\u1e47u are not continuous and\nuninterrupted (see \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 pp. 47, 107-116); and\nalthough every great Hind\u016b teacher is supposed to be the embodiment of a\nportion of the essence of a deity, each such embodiment is isolated and\nsingle.\n\nAnd here note that one theory is that the continuous descents of\nBodhi-sattvas and Buddhas into human forms were effected by means of\ntheir third changeable body (Nirm\u0101\u1e47a-k\u0101ya, p. 247), which belonged to\nBodhi-sattvas as well as to Buddhas; or, according to another theory,\nthrough rays of light proceeding from the essences of the Bodhi-sattvas,\njust as the Bodhi-sattvas themselves were held by some to have been\ngenerated by rays of light proceeding from the Dhy\u0101ni-Buddhas.\n\nOr again, the Dhy\u0101ni-Buddhas might incarnate themselves not only\nintermediately through their Dhy\u0101ni-Bodhi-sattvas, but by the\ntransmission of rays of light directly from their own essences into a\ncontinuous succession of human beings of pre-eminent sanctity.\n\nHence it is clear that the Avat\u0101ra L\u0101ma is no example of the working of\neither Hind\u016b metempsychosis or of Buddhist metamorphosis. And indeed,\nre-birth, through transmigration and transformation, according to the\nordinary Hind\u016b and Buddhist theories, is regarded as a kind of natural\nact, whereas continuous incarnation through the descent of a portion of\na celestial essence into human bodies is a supernatural act.\n\nOf course, as we have stated, there were lower and higher Avat\u0101ras,\ncorresponding to the difference in rank of Saints and Bodhi-sattvas (see\npp. 190, 265).\n\nExamples of the highest Avat\u0101ras are the two quasi-Popes, or spiritual\nKings, who are supreme L\u0101mas of the Yellow sect\u2014the one residing at\nLh\u0101ssa, and the other at Tashi Lunpo (Krashi Lunpo), about 100 miles\ndistant, in a south-westerly direction, not far from the town of\nShigatse (or Shigatze, capital of the province of Tsang), and not very\nfar from our Indian frontier.\n\nThe Grand L\u0101ma at Lh\u0101ssa is the Dalai L\u0101ma, that is, \u2018the Ocean-L\u0101ma, or\none whose power and learning are as great as the ocean;\u2019 a half\nMongolian half Tibetan title\u2014Dalai (or Tale) meaning in Mongolian\n\u2018Ocean,\u2019 and L\u0101ma meaning in Tibetan \u2018a superior Teacher\u2019 (see note, p.\n262). He has also the Tibetan title of rGyamthso Rinpoche (Rin-po-\u0107e),\n\u2018Ocean-Jewel\u2019 (the Tibetan equivalent for Dalai being rGyamthso).\n\nThe other Grand L\u0101ma who resides in the monastery of Tashi Lunpo, is\nknown in Europe under the names of the Tashi L\u0101ma (sometimes written\nTeshu L\u0101ma) or Panchen L\u0101ma (called in Mongolian Bogdo L\u0101ma). He has the\nTibetan title of Panchen Rinpoche (Pa\u00f1-\u0107en Rin-po-\u0107e), \u2018the great Pa\u1e47\u1e0dit\nJewel\u2019 (Pan being equivalent to Pa\u1e47\u1e0dita, and chen meaning great).\n\nHence Tashi Lunpo is the second metropolis of L\u0101mism (see p. 443). It is\nsaid to have been built by Gedun grub pa, the chief pupil of the\nReformer Tsong Khapa, in 1445 (see p. 291).\n\nNeither of these Grand L\u0101mas are Popes in the European sense, for\nneither are elected by a conclave of chief L\u0101mas.\n\nThe belief is that when they quit their bodies at death, they re-appear\nafter nine months, or occasionally after the second or third year, in\nchildren whose bodies they have occupied from conception.\n\nThe Dalai L\u0101mas are held to be continuous re-incarnations of the\nDhy\u0101ni-Bodhisattva Avalokite\u1e61vara (p. 197), while the Panchen L\u0101mas are\ncontinuous re-incarnations of his father the Dhy\u0101ni-Buddha Amit\u0101bha (p.\n203).\n\nHence, as the father is superior to the son, and the master to the\npupil, the Panchen L\u0101ma at Tashi Lunpo might reasonably have ranked\nabove the Dalai L\u0101ma at Lh\u0101ssa. But, as Avalokite\u1e61vara is the special\npatron of the L\u0101mistic Church in Tibet, his incarnation at Lh\u0101ssa is\npractically a more important personage than the incarnated Dhy\u0101ni-Buddha\nat Tashi Lunpo. Some hold that the Panchen L\u0101ma is only a re-incarnation\nof Tsong Khapa, who was identified with Ma\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b.\n\nIt is said that the Dalai L\u0101ma exercises secular authority over about\nfour millions of people, including monks; although in the present day\npolitical power has to a great extent been taken from him by the Chinese\nGovernment, which has two permanent Commissioners or Residents (called\nAmpas) at Lh\u0101ssa, and sometimes sends a special Envoy (Kin-Tche)[130].\n\nThe real fact is, that since mere children, who are too young to have\nreceived any education, are elevated to the Grand L\u0101maship, and most of\nthem either die naturally or are made to die before they have gained any\nknowledge, the re-incarnated L\u0101mas are generally unfit to govern, and in\nmonasteries which have an Avat\u0101ra Grand L\u0101ma, an elected chief L\u0101ma acts\nas regent or administrator of affairs, while the incarnated Buddha is\nsupposed to lose himself in sublime heights of meditation and receive\ndivine homage[131]. This elected Regent also governs during the\nintervals of the incarnations, and at Lh\u0101ssa he is the real Head and\nmost powerful Tibetan official. He is called Nomun-khan or Nomin-khan\n(or No min han).\n\nThe manner in which the Avat\u0101ra doctrine is carried into practice has\nvaried at different times.\n\nIt is alleged that formerly the departing L\u0101ma, before he transferred\nhimself to another body, was in the habit of revealing where and in what\nfamily he would be re-incarnated. Or occasionally it happened that\nchildren of two or three years of age called out suddenly, as if\nimpelled by some spiritual influence, \u2018I am a living Buddha, I am the\nchief L\u0101ma of such and such a monastery.\u2019\n\nOr more commonly the sacred books were consulted; or the official\nsoothsayers gave their opinion.\n\nBut the usual rule was that at the death of the Dalai L\u0101ma the\ninterpretation of the traditions and oracles about his re-birth and the\nduty of discovering the family in which he was to appear were committed\nto the Panchen L\u0101ma. When the Panchen L\u0101ma himself died, the Dalai Grand\nL\u0101ma did the same service for him.\n\nIt was only natural that the holy land of Tibet, and especially the holy\ncity of Lh\u0101ssa, should have been most fruitful in re-incarnations, and\nshould even have supplied foreign countries with them.\n\nWhen Messrs. Huc and Gabet were travelling in Mongolia they were about\nto pass a certain L\u0101mistic convent without stopping, when a L\u0101ma came\nout and invited them to enter, that they might have an opportunity of\npaying adoration to the saint enthroned within. \u2018Our saint,\u2019 he said,\n\u2018is not a mere man. In our small convent we have the happiness to\npossess a living Buddha! Two years ago he deigned to descend from the\nholy mountains of Tibet, and he is now seven years old.\u2019 These living\nBuddhas, according to M. Huc, are very numerous. Sometimes a clever L\u0101ma\nbuilds a small temple and attracts a few disciples. Then by degrees his\nreputation increases. Other L\u0101mas build their cells near the temple, and\nbring it into fashion, and proclaim him to be a living Buddha.\n\nIt is said, indeed, that some spiritual Heads of the Hierarchy in Lh\u0101ssa\nhave contrived to instal their illegitimate children in the Headship of\ndistant L\u0101maseries, so that occasionally the supposed living Buddha is\nreally the son of some Tibetan Grand L\u0101ma.\n\nIn the present day the Emperor of China exercises so great an influence\nin the nomination of both the Dalai and Panchen L\u0101mas, that the\nco-operation of the L\u0101mistic priesthood has become little more than a\nform. Still the form is gone through, and the following description\n(chiefly resting on the authority of Koeppen and Huc) may give some idea\nof the whole process.\n\nWhen the Dalai L\u0101ma dies, or rather when his soul\u2014which consists of a\nportion of the essence of Avalokite\u1e61vara\u2014has cast off one body with the\nobject of entering another, the names of all the male children born at\nthe time of his death in Tibet have to be sent in to the great monastery\nof L\u0101 brang at Lh\u0101ssa, and those parents who have reason to suspect that\ntheir children are re-incarnations, are obliged to notify the fact.\n\nA true decision cannot be arrived at until three children have been\nfound, or rather (as is practically the case) until three candidates\nhave been set up for election who are accepted by the Chinese Government\nor its representatives.\n\nThe first stage in the process of election is to write the names of\nthese three children on lots, and place them in a golden urn. Then the\nKhutuktus assemble together in solemn conclave. For six days they remain\nin retirement. During all that period they are supposed to fast and to\nbe engaged in repeating prayers. On the seventh day, the leading\nKhutuktu draws a lot, and the infant or child whose name comes out is\nproclaimed Dalai L\u0101ma. The Panchen L\u0101ma and the representatives of China\nmust be present at the time[132].\n\nIn a similar manner, the Panchen L\u0101mas, Khutuktus, and ordinary Avat\u0101ra\nL\u0101mas are elected.\n\nThe Mongolian mode of election is thus described by M. Huc. (The\nquotation is not literal, and is abridged.)\n\n  The election and enthronization of the living Buddhas is extremely\n  curious. When a Grand L\u0101ma is \u2018gone away,\u2019 that is to say, is dead,\n  the event is by no means made a matter of mourning in the convent.\n  There are no tears or regrets, for every one knows that the living\n  Buddha will soon re-appear. The apparent death is only the\n  commencement of a new existence, a new link added to a boundless and\n  uninterrupted chain of successive lives\u2014a simple palingenesia. While\n  the saint is in the chrysalis state, his disciples are in the greatest\n  anxiety, and the grand point is to discover the place where their\n  master has returned to life. If a rainbow appears, they consider it as\n  a sign sent to them from their Grand L\u0101ma, to assist them in their\n  researches.\n\n  Every one then goes to prayers, and especially the convent which has\n  been widowed of its Buddha is incessant in its fastings and orisons,\n  and a troop of chosen L\u0101mas set out to consult the Churchun or diviner\n  of hidden things. They relate to him the time, place, and\n  circumstances under which the rainbow has appeared: and he then, after\n  reciting some prayers, opens his books of divination, and at length\n  pronounces his oracle; while the Tartars who have come to consult him,\n  listen on their knees with the most profound devotion.\n\n  \u2018Your Grand L\u0101ma,\u2019 they say, \u2018has returned to life in Tibet\u2014at such a\n  place\u2014in such a family;\u2019 and when the poor Mongols have heard the\n  oracle, they return full of joy to their convent, to announce the\n  happy news. Sometimes the living Buddha announces himself, at an age\n  when other infants cannot articulate a word; but whether his place of\n  abode be found by means of the rainbow, or by this spontaneous\n  revelation, it is always at a considerable distance, and in a country\n  difficult of access. A grand procession is then made, headed by the\n  king, or the greatest man in the country, to fetch the young living\n  Buddha. The Mongols often go through incredible fatigue and hardships,\n  traverse frightful deserts, and sometimes, after being plundered by\n  robbers, stripped of everything, and compelled to return, set out\n  again with undiminished courage. When the living Buddha is found,\n  however, he is not saluted Grand L\u0101ma without a previous examination.\n  Doubtless, the simple Mongols are in this matter often the dupes of\n  those who have an interest in making a Grand L\u0101ma of the baby. The\n  title of the living Buddha having been confirmed, he is conducted in\n  triumph to the monastery of which he is to become Grand L\u0101ma; and as\n  he passes along, the Tartars come in great troops and prostrate\n  themselves before him, and bring him offerings. As soon as he arrives\n  at the convent, he is placed on the altar, and every Tartar, from the\n  highest to the lowest in the land, bows down before this child. There\n  is no Tartar kingdom which does not possess one of these living\n  Buddhas; but there is always another Grand L\u0101ma, chosen among the\n  members of the royal family, with whom the real government of the\n  convent rests. The famous maxim \u2018Le roi r\u00e8gne et ne gouverne pas\u2019 has\n  been of old application among the Tartars. [See note p. 306 of these\n  Lectures.]\n\nIt should be noted that the L\u0101mistic community like to keep up the\nfiction of these re-incarnations; and therefore they pretend to\nascertain the genuineness of every re-birth by clear signs. Hence before\na re-born saint is installed, his identity is established by his passing\na kind of examination before a solemn assembly, thousands of witnesses\nbeing present.\n\nSome of the books, clothes, and sacred or secular utensils which the\ndead L\u0101ma was in the habit of using, are brought and mixed with others.\nThe child is then asked to pick out the true ones, or he has to answer\nquestions as to the events in his previous state of existence. If the\nreplies are satisfactory, he is installed as the re-born L\u0101ma amid great\nrejoicings.\n\nKoeppen asserts that no positive information as to the relationship\nbetween the Dalai and Panchen L\u0101mas is forthcoming. Some maintain that\nboth hierarchical systems developed simultaneously. Some say that the\nPanchen L\u0101ma of Tashi Lunpo was the first Grand Avat\u0101ra Lama, while\nothers hold that the elevation of the Panchen L\u0101mas took place later,\nand only resulted from the increase in importance of the Tashi Lunpo\nmonastery in which they reside (p. 284).\n\nThe Dalai L\u0101mas may be enumerated as follow:\u2014\n\nThe first is said to have been Gedun grub pa (otherwise pronounced Gedun\ndubpa). Probably he was the nephew and chief pupil of the Reformer Tsong\nKhapa. It was he who founded the monastery of Tashi Lunpo in 1445, and\nhe is by some therefore called the first L\u0101ma of that monastery. His\nbirth is supposed to have occurred in 1391 or 1419, and his death in\n1473 or 1476. Then he was born again after ten months as Gedun GyamThso\n(or Gedun Yamtso), the second Grand L\u0101ma, who is held by some to have\nbeen the real founder of the Avat\u0101ra system of perpetual succession by\nreincarnations. He filled the Dalai L\u0101ma Chair from 1474 or 1476 to 1540\nor 1542.\n\nThe third embodiment took place in 1543, and bore the name Sod nam\nGyamThso (or Sod nam Yamtso), \u2018sea of virtue.\u2019 He was the first who\nreally took the half Mongolian title of Dalai L\u0101ma. Moreover, he\nlaboured hard to spread Buddhism among the Mongolians, and founded the\nfirst Great L\u0101ma\u2019s Chair in Mongolia.\n\nIn his fourth re-birth, the Dalai L\u0101ma took the name of Yon Jan Yam\nThso, \u2018ocean of merit,\u2019 and lived up to his 14th year (until 1602) in\nMongolia, when he moved to Lh\u0101ssa.\n\nThe fifth Dalai L\u0101ma was the great Navang Lobsang (strictly Ngag dBang\nbLo bSang), \u2018wise speaker or eloquent sage,\u2019 who is the most celebrated\nof all. According to some he was the first real Dalai L\u0101ma, those who\npreceded him being merely supreme L\u0101mas of the Yellow school. His career\nlasted from 1617 to 1682. He was a kind of L\u0101mistic Innocent. But his\nlong minority led to political disturbances. In the end, Navang Lobsang\novercame all difficulties, and as a sign that the power of a king of\nTibet had been made over to him, built on one summit of the triple hill\nPotala, where once the royal castle had stood, that palatial\nmonastery\u2014that wonderful L\u0101mistic Vatican\u2014in which he still resides in\nhis continual re-incarnations (see p. 330).\n\nIndeed the successors of Tsong Khapa had good reason to be satisfied\nwith their position at that time. They had overshadowed the Red sect, or\nreduced it to comparative unimportance. They had won over Mongolia,\nwhich greatly aided them in their struggle for dominion. Monastery after\nmonastery arose there. The sacred books had been translated into the\nMongolian language, and thousands of Mongolians came every year with\nrich presents to worship the re-born L\u0101mas at Lh\u0101ssa, or sent their sons\nthere for education.\n\nWhen Navang Lobsang died, his death was concealed by the Regent, and\ngreat intriguing followed. In the interregnum two Dalai L\u0101mas were\nsuccessively set up and deposed. These are not reckoned in the list of\nlegitimate Dalai L\u0101mas.\n\nThen a child was chosen, who had all the signs of being called to the\nL\u0101maship. This was Lobsang Kalsang Yamthso; he is reckoned the sixth\nDalai L\u0101ma. He died in 1758, after gaining some repute as a writer.\n\nThe seventh Dalai L\u0101ma was Lobsang Jampal (or Champal) Yamthso, who is\nbelieved to have died in either 1805 or 1808.\n\nThe next was Lungtog YamThso, who died a mere infant in 1815 or 1816. He\nhad three child-successors, who were all killed as minors by the acting\nRegent. The last child was made away with in 1837.\n\nIf these three children are reckoned, Ge Mure YamThso must be regarded\nas the eleventh Dalai L\u0101ma. He died in 1855. The twelfth was born in\n1856, and seems to have lived till 1874.\n\nThe discovery of the present Dalai L\u0101ma is thus related by Sarat Chandra\nD\u0101s.\n\n  After the death of an incarnate L\u0101ma, his soul is said ordinarily to\n  remain in the spiritual world for a space (called Bardo) of at least\n  forty-nine days. In 1875, one year after the demise of the late Dalai\n  L\u0101ma, Thinle Gya-tsho, the Regency and the College of Cardinals at\n  Lh\u0101ssa consulted the celebrated oracle of Nachung Chhoskyong about the\n  re-appearance of the Dalai. The oracle declared that the Grand L\u0101ma\n  could only be discovered by a monk of the purest morals. Accordingly\n  the Shar-tse Khanpo of the Galdan monastery, who was well known for\n  his virtuous character and his profound knowledge of the sacred books,\n  proceeded to Chhoikhor Gya, where he sat in profound meditation for\n  full seven days. On the night of the last day he saw a vision, in\n  which a voice from heaven directed him to go and see a miraculous\n  sight in the Ya-tsho lake of Chhoikhor Gya. Awaking from his sleep,\n  the Khanpo went to the lake, where in the crystal-like water he saw\n  the incarnate Grand L\u0101ma sitting in the lap of his mother and caressed\n  by his father. The house with its furniture was also visible. All on a\n  sudden this mirage-like appearance disappeared, and he heard the\n  neighing of a horse. So much of his dream being fulfilled, he\n  proceeded on the horse to the province of Kong-po, and, on the way, he\n  happened to call at the house of a rich and respectable family of the\n  district of Tag-po. Here he recognized the house, the family, and the\n  child he had seen in the lake, and at once declared that the real end\n  of his journey was obtained. On his report the Government officials\n  and the College of Cardinals, headed by the Regent, visited Tag-po and\n  escorted the infant with its parents in great pomp to the palace of\n  Rigyal near Lh\u0101ssa. The princely child was only one year old when he\n  was discovered. He is now ten, and bears the name of Nag-wang Lo-ssang\n  Thub-dan Gya-tsho, \u2018the lord of speech, and powerful ocean of wisdom.\u2019\n  (This extract is abbreviated.)\n\nA similar list of the Panchen L\u0101mas who have reigned at Tashi Lunpo has\nnot been given. When Mr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s was there in August, 1882,\nthe then Panchen L\u0101ma died from grief (so it was said) because he had\nnot been allowed to consecrate the young Dalai L\u0101ma, according to\nprevious custom.\n\nThe next important L\u0101ma in great Tibet (after the Dalai and Panchen\nL\u0101mas) is the Head L\u0101ma or Khanpo of the monastery of Galdan\n(Gahdan)\u2014the oldest monastery of the Yellow sect, founded in the year\n1409 by the reformer Tsong Khapa (see p. 278), who was the first Abbot.\nIt once had 8,000 inhabitants. The body of Tsong Khapa is said to be\nthere visible, preserved from corruption and miraculously poised in the\nair. Prints of his hands and feet and his bed are also shown to pilgrims\n(see p. 441).\n\nBut the Grand L\u0101ma of the Yellow school who comes next in rank to the\nDalai and Panchen L\u0101mas is the Head of the monastery of Kurun (also\nwritten Kuren) or Urga, in the land of the Khalkhas in Mongolia. His\nperpetual re-incarnation began in the sixteenth century. He is generally\ncalled by the Mongolians Maidari or Gegen Khutuktu, but his proper title\nis Je Tsun Dampa (or Tampa) T\u0101ran\u0101tha. A T\u0101ran\u0101tha L\u0101ma (born in 1575)\ncompleted a work on Buddhism in the Tibetan language in 1608 (Markham\u2019s\nTibet, xlviii).\n\nThere is also a celebrated Avat\u0101ra L\u0101ma at Kuku khotun in Tartary who is\na perpetual re-incarnation of Ma\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b Khutuktu.\n\nIndeed Mongolia is a kind of paradise in which the monks of L\u0101mism enjoy\nperennial bliss, for the Mongolians are simpler and more full of faith\nthan the Tibetans.\n\nAnother Grand L\u0101ma is the Dharma-r\u0101ja of Bhut\u0101n (p. 297), and another\nGreat L\u0101ma is at Peking in China (see p. 299).\n\nAs to Lad\u0101k (the capital of which is Le or Leh), this is the most\nwestern part of Tibet that has adopted L\u0101mism. A\u1e61oka\u2019s mission\npenetrated to Lad\u0101k, so that the whole land in king Kanishka\u2019s time\n(that is, in the first century) was Buddhistic. Moreover, the Buddhist\nreligion (both Red sect and Yellow) has maintained itself there until\nnow, while in the neighbouring countries of Kashm\u012br, Kafirst\u0101n, the\nPanj\u0101b, etc., it has been displaced by Br\u0101hmanism, Isl\u0101m, and \u1e60\u0101ktism,\netc. We have little knowledge of the ancient history of Lad\u0101k. It has a\nlarge and ancient monastery at L\u0101ma Yurru, near the Indus\u2014in which is an\nenormous image of the cloven-headed[133] Avalokite\u1e61vara\u2014another at\nHemis, and another at Hanle. (See Cunningham\u2019s \u2018Lad\u0101k,\u2019 Mrs. Bridges\u2019\n\u2018Travels,\u2019 and p. 433 of this volume.)\n\nIn Tangut, all round the blue lake (Kuku N\u016br), L\u0101mistic Buddhism has\nbeen the established religion since the end of the ninth century. It\nseems to have taken a great start upwards in the succeeding four\ncenturies, for it was in the province of Amdo, as before mentioned (p.\n277), that the great Reformer commenced his career. In the North-eastern\ncorner close to China is the L\u0101masery of Kunbum (Kumbum), where Tsong\nKhapa was born. When his reputation increased, L\u0101mas from all parts made\npilgrimages there. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s states that it is inhabited by\n9,000 L\u0101mas of the Yellow sect. Koeppen says that it has a University\nwith four Faculties, and an important printing-press, and that at the\nhead of it is an incarnated living Buddha. The L\u0101mas from Amdo are said\nby Koeppen to be more highly-gifted, intelligent, learned, and religious\nthan the monks of other monasteries. They are intrusted in Lh\u0101ssa with\nthe most important offices, and are employed in the education of the\ninfant representatives of Buddha. Amdo is still almost a terra\nincognita.\n\nPassing on to Nep\u0101l\u2014this country probably adopted Buddhism before the\nbeginning of the Christian era. It is said that A\u1e61oka\u2019s missionaries\nfound their way there; but there is no proof that Buddhism really\nflourished in Nep\u0101l till the seventh century, and even then it never\nexisted except in conjunction with Br\u0101hmanism. It is probable that\nBuddhist monasteries and Br\u0101hmanical temples always adjoined each other.\nIndeed since the immigration of the Hind\u016bs into Nep\u0101l, and especially\nsince the invasion of the Gorkhas, there have always been two\nnationalities, two languages, two literatures, two religions in contact\nwith each other.\n\nIn recent times Br\u0101hmanism has gained the predominance as the\nState-religion, and Buddhism has degenerated, though it is everywhere\ntolerated.\n\nIt is a question whether the spiritual supremacy of the Tibetan Grand\nL\u0101ma has ever been acknowledged in Nep\u0101l proper. But, according to some,\nthe Dalai L\u0101ma formerly had a legate or representative in the largest\nand oldest Buddhistic temple of Khatmandu\u2014the temple of Svayambhu-n\u0101th,\nwho is here at once \u0100di-Buddha and \u1e60iva. The Dalai L\u0101ma also claimed the\nownership of this temple, which, he maintained, had been dependent on\nhim from the earliest times. But it is certain that, even if the Tibetan\nLegate ever possessed the authority arrogated by him, he was compelled\nby the Gorkhas to abandon his claims. Nevertheless the Tibetan tribes\nnow in Nep\u0101l still adhere to Buddhism. The same may be said of the\nNewars, who are the original possessors of the great valley of Nep\u0101l.\nThey profess a kind of Buddhism, though they reject the L\u0101mas, and have\npriests of their own, whom they call Bandya (see note p. 263).\n\nWith regard to Bhut\u0101n (capital town Punakha) it is said to have become\nBuddhist about 350 years ago. Its spiritual ruler and incarnated saint\nis called Dharma-r\u0101ja (or L\u0101ma Rinpoche). He belongs to the Red-cap\nschool, and calls himself Chief of all the monks of the Dugpa sect. His\nsubordination to the Dalai L\u0101ma is little more than nominal. The\ntemporal Governor is called Depa-r\u0101ja (Deb-r\u0101ja).\n\nThe following titles engraved on the Dharma-r\u0101ja\u2019s seal of office will\ngive some idea of his pretensions:\u2014\n\n\u2018I am the Chief of the realm. Defender of the Faith. Equal to Sarasvat\u012b\nin learning. Chief of all the Buddhas. Head-expounder of the \u1e60\u0101stras.\nCaster out of devils. Most learned in the holy Laws. An Avat\u0101r of God.\nAbsolver of sins. Head of the best of all religions.\u2019 (See Dr. Wright\u2019s\nNep\u0101l.)\n\nIt is said that there are about 10,000 monks, and about 50,000 Buddhist\nlay families in Bhut\u0101n. Many of the monks do not live in monasteries,\nbut hold offices under the Government.\n\nNext, as to Sikkim\u2014of which D\u0101rj\u012bling, now the Sanitarium of the Bengal\nGovernment, once formed a part. This is a small boundary country between\nBhut\u0101n and Nep\u0101l. It seems to have adopted Buddhism about the same time\nas Bhut\u0101n, or perhaps a century earlier. The L\u0101mas there belong to the\nDugpa Red sect (p. 268). The aborigines, called Lepchas, though they\nvenerate the L\u0101mas, are really only half Buddhists; and their priests,\ncalled Bijna (Bhikshu?) beggars, are half devil-exorcists. The oldest\ntemple is that of Pemyangchi (see p. 432). Next come the important\nmonasteries of Tassiding, Changachelling, Raklang, and Tamlung (one\nresidence of the R\u0101ja, the other being at Chumbi in Tibetan territory).\nThere is also one near D\u0101rj\u012bling.\n\nWe ought finally to advert briefly to China and Japan. It is noteworthy\nthat next in rank to the Mongolian Grand L\u0101ma comes the Head L\u0101ma of the\ngreat monastery of Peking, who represents L\u0101mism in that country.\nKoeppen informs us that in China, for at least six centuries, there have\nbeen two classes of Buddhist monks side by side, viz. first, the\nHo-shang (p. 92) or Chinese monks, who had become naturalized in the\nyear 65 after Christ; and, secondly, the L\u0101mas. These two schools are\nnot distinguished so much by difference of doctrine and discipline, as\nby the position they hold in the empire. The Ho-shang are little more\nthan separate fraternities of monks, tolerated by the State. They have\nno hierarchical organization, and no bishops, but each monastery stands\nindependently, and has no superior except its own Abbot.\n\nOn the other hand, the L\u0101mas constitute in China a public organized\nsociety, acknowledged to a great extent and supported by the State, and\npossessing certain spiritual and temporal rights over particular\ndistricts. It is said, however, that the L\u0101mistic hierarchy in China is\nsubordinated to the Government Committee for foreign affairs.\n\nIt is further stated that three great monasteries situated in or near\nPeking are exclusively reserved for the Tibetan and Mongolian L\u0101mas, and\nthat of the three L\u0101mas who preside over these the chief is the\nbefore-mentioned representative of L\u0101mism at the Government Court (p.\n295).\n\nIn China proper, within the eighteen Provinces, the number of the L\u0101ma\nmonasteries is said to be small, and these are generally to be found in\nthe Provinces nearest to Tibet and Mongolia.\n\nAs to Japan, it does not appear that the L\u0101mistic form of Buddhism has\npenetrated into that country. In all probability Buddhist writings were\nintroduced there from Corea about A.D. 552[134], but it is certain that\nBuddhism did not gain much ascendency in Japan till the ninth century,\nand even then was not able to displace either Shintoism or Confucianism\nand the worship of deceased ancestors. In fact, Buddhism commended\nitself to the Japanese, as it did to the people of every country to\nwhich it spread by its receptivity; and just as in Tibet, it adapted\nitself to the Shamanism which previously existed there, so in Japan it\nadopted Shintoism, and turned some of the Shinto deities into\nBodhi-sattvas. Then followed the inevitable splitting up of Japanese\nBuddhism, as of all other religious systems, through disagreements and\ndivisions; and in the thirteenth century various sects were developed.\nAs to these, we need only note that while some sects adopt the early\nAtheistic and Agnostic form of Buddhism with its doctrine of Nirv\u0101\u1e47a,\nthe principal sect called Shin is decidedly Theistic.\n\nSir Edward Reed, in his work on Japan (i. 84), informs us that he met a\nlearned priest named Akamatz in company with the Archbishop of the\nWestern sect. This priest\u2019s account of the Shin sect coincides with the\ninformation which I myself received from a learned Japanese priest at\nOxford.\n\nIt appears that the members of this sect believe in Amit\u0101bha Buddha as a\nBeing of infinite light and goodness, their chief prayer-formula being\nNamo Amida (for Amita) Butsu, \u2018Reverence to the Infinite Buddha,\u2019 that\nis to Amit\u0101bha[135]. They place faith in the love and mercy of Amita\nBuddha, or rather in his readiness to receive them into his paradise\ncalled Sukh\u0101vat\u012b (see pp. 183, 204). At the same time they are required\nto lead moral lives, and salvation is practically only obtainable\nthrough their own works. The monks are allowed to marry and to eat flesh\nand fish.\n\nTheir doctrines have many points of contact with Christianity. The late\nMr. Kasawara of Japan, who belonged to this sect and was highly esteemed\nby all who knew him in England, said to a Christian friend that \u2018it gave\nhim great pleasure to meet in the Gospels many coincidences with the\naspirations of his own Buddhist faith, and that he greatly admired the\nidea of the Christ as the concrete expression of the Inscrutable Essence\nin its twofold form of infinite Light and infinite Love.\u2019\n\nAnother well known sect called Nichiren was founded by a celebrated\nstudent and teacher named Nichiren. The Nichirens have been called the\nMethodists or Revivalists of Japan. They are very strict, and esteem the\nbook of the Law as the highest object of veneration. Their prayer is to\nthe following effect:\u2014\u2018Glory be to the salvation-bringing book of the\nLaw!\u2019\n\nDoubtless Japan once had a peculiar hierarchical organization of its\nown, which crumbled away not long ago, and need not now be described.\nEven in the present day each sect may have its leader or Head, who\nexercises a kind of episcopal superintendence like that of a Bishop or\nArchbishop.\n\nWe have already mentioned (p. 200) that a female form of Avalokite\u1e61vara\nis worshipped in Japan and China as the goddess of mercy. Her name in\nChina is Kwan-yin, and in Japan Kwan-non; and she is represented as\npossessing any number of eyes and arms up to a thousand, and sometimes\nthree faces.\n\nIn concluding this Lecture we may note that Russia is the only European\ncountry to which L\u0101mistic Buddhism has hitherto penetrated. There are\nadherents of the Dalai L\u0101ma among the Burat (Buryad) tribes on the\nBaikal Lake, and among the Kalmuks on the Volga. Koeppen informs us that\nthe chief temple and monastery of the former is on a lake thirty versts\nto the North-west of Selenginsk, and that the presiding monk is called\nthe Khanpo Pa\u1e47\u1e0dita and claims to be an Avat\u0101ra L\u0101ma. The Chief L\u0101ma of\nthe latter is said to be appointed by the Russian Government.\n\nHierarchical Buddhism naturally leads us on to the subject of ceremonial\nBuddhism, which must be reserved for the next Lecture.\n\n\n\n\n                              LECTURE XII.\n                 _Ceremonial and Ritualistic Buddhism._\n\n\nHaving in the last Lecture described the manner in which hierarchical\nsystems were established in various Buddhist countries, we are naturally\nled on to consider in the present Lecture the development of what may be\ncalled \u2018Ceremonial and Ritualistic Buddhism\u2019; for no hierarchy can\nmaintain its hold over the masses anywhere without the aid of outward\nmanifestations, rites, ceremonies, and appeals to the senses.\n\nEarly Buddhism was, as we have already shown, vehemently opposed, not\nonly to all sacerdotalism, but to all merely external ritualistic and\nceremonial observances. It swept away the whole Vedic ritual\u2014the whole\nsacrificial system of the Br\u0101hmans; it rejected all penitential\nausterities and painful bodily mortifications; it denounced every form\nof superstition, idolatry, and priestcraft; it maintained that to lead a\nlife of purity and high morality was better than all the forms and\nceremonies of religion.\n\nBut the very vehemence of its opposition tended to bring about a\nreaction. Indeed, the history of all religious movements proves that the\nteaching of extreme doctrines of any kind is almost invariably followed\nby a Nemesis, though the teacher of them may himself not live to see it.\n\nAt the outset a reformer of the ultra type is sure to gain adherents by\nhis enthusiasm and earnestness, as well as by his ardour in condemning\nabuses, but a time is almost certain to come when his followers will\nthemselves lapse into the identical practices which it was his great\nobject to denounce.\n\nAt all events, it is well known that in the present day the Buddha\u2019s\nfollowers have invented a mass of complicated forms and ceremonies\nwholly out of keeping and incompatible with the purer and simpler system\nwhich he himself sought to establish.\n\nIn point of fact the Buddha in promulgating his creed did not take into\naccount the impossibility of eradicating certain deep-seated cravings\ninherent in human nature, which every religion aiming at general\nacceptance must reckon with and satisfy:\u2014for example, the craving for\nthe visible, for the audible, and for the tangible; the craving for some\nconcrete impersonation of infinite goodness and power; the craving for\nfreedom from personal responsibility and for its transference to a\npriesthood; the craving for deliverance from the pains and penalties of\nsin; the craving for an infallible guide in all matters of faith and\ndoctrine.\n\nLater Buddhism, on the other hand, set itself to satisfy these\nlongings\u2014these ineradicable yearnings of the human heart. It felt that\nit could not establish itself on a firm foundation without hierarchical\norganizations, and it could not maintain these without external forms,\nceremonies, and ritual observances. It therefore turned the simple\nmonastic brotherhood into a caste of priests, and it attracted and\ngratified the senses of unthinking multitudes by a great variety of\nreligious rites, usages, and symbols, many of which are quite unique,\nwhile nearly all are accompanied with superstitious practices implying\nan amount of ignorance and credulity on the part of the people, quite\nunparalleled.\n\nThis corrupt phase of Buddhism is especially dominant in Tibet,\nMongolia, and Northern countries. In real truth it might be affirmed of\nevery Buddhist in Tibet that religious superstition colours all his\nthoughts, words, and deeds. It is interwoven with the tissue of his\ndaily life, and is part and parcel of his worldly occupations. It is\nequally part and parcel of the national life, and enters into every\nGovernment transaction. Furthermore, it is fostered by art and science,\nand ministered to by painting and sculpture. Nay, it is stamped on\nNature itself. It is impressed on rocks, stones, and trees. It finds its\nway to the summit of snow-clad mountains, to the recesses of\ninaccessible ravines, and to the extremities of remote deserts.\n\nTo crown all, it might be affirmed that in Tibet religious superstition\ngoes on by machinery, quite independently of the human will. It is kept\nin continual activity, night and day, by the flapping of flags, and by\nthe revolution of innumerable wheels and cylinders, which are acted on\nby the forces of wind and water.\n\nIt may easily, therefore, be imagined that to give an exhaustive account\nof all the ceremonies and superstitious practices of Tibetan, or, as it\nmay be called, L\u0101mistic Buddhism, would require the command of unlimited\ntime. They have been treated of by Koeppen in his second volume, and by\nSchlagintweit in his \u2018Buddhism in Tibet,\u2019 and have been illustrated by\ndescriptions in Huc\u2019s travels[136], in Markham\u2019s account of the travels\nof Bogle, Turner, and Manning, and in the recent narrative of Mr. Sarat\nChandra D\u0101s\u2019 Journey. All I can attempt is to give a concise account of\nsome of the chief L\u0101mistic observances, taking the books just named as\nmy authorities, and adding whatever information I have been able to\ncollect myself from other sources, while travelling in Buddhist\ncountries.\n\nWe must, however, guard against the notion that ceremonial observances\nare confined to Tibet and Northern regions. They are now more or less\nprevalent in Burma and Ceylon, which have adopted much of the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na\nsystem, and to these countries we must give our first attention. Even\nthe ceremonies now observed at the reception of novices and monks in\nBurma and Ceylon are less simple than the early admission-forms already\ndescribed (pp. 77, 78, 256).\n\nOf course every novice has to cut off his hair. He does this to prove\nthat he is ready to give up the most beautiful and highly-prized of all\nhis personal ornaments for the sake of a religious life.\n\nBut other forms have to be gone through in the present day, and I now\ngive an account of the admission-ceremony of a novice\u2014as performed in\nBurma\u2014based on the description in the third chapter of Shway Yoe\u2019s\ninteresting volume called \u2018the Burman[137].\u2019\n\nIt is well understood that, according to the strict letter of the law\n(p. 77 of the present Lectures), a boy ought not to be admitted to the\nnovitiate until he is fifteen, but in modern times, the admission often\ntakes place at twelve or even eleven years of age, the belief being that\nuntil a boy is so admitted he cannot claim to be more than an animal.\n\nThe first point to be noted is that his admission involves the dropping\nof his secular name, and the receiving of another title to mark that it\nis then possible for him to escape the suffering of life. As he is sure\nto have been a scholar or pupil in a monastery (Kyoung) before applying\nto be admitted as a novice, he has learnt beforehand all the forms of\nworship and much that will be required of him during his monastic life;\nfor instance, that he is to address senior monks in a particular manner\nand to wait upon them respectfully; that he is to walk through the\nstreets keeping his eyes fixed on the ground, without gazing about, even\nif he have to pass a pageant or attractive spectacle of any kind; that\nhe is to wear his garments in the prescribed fashion; that he is to eat\nwith moderation and dignity.\n\nOn the day appointed for the induction-ceremony, the young neophyte\ndresses in his gayest clothes, and mounted on a pony, passes at a foot\u2019s\npace through the town or village. A band of music goes before him, and\nall his friends dressed in their best garments, follow in a crowd, the\nyoung men dancing and singing, the girls smiling and laughing. Thus he\nproceeds in procession to the houses of his relations, to bid them\nfarewell. Of course the introductory observance is intended as a kind of\ndramatic imitation of Gautama Buddha\u2019s celebrated abandonment of his own\nfamily and worldly associates, called the Mah\u0101bhinishkrama\u1e47a, \u2018the great\ngoing forth from home\u2019 (see p. 28 of this volume). When the round of\nvisits is finished, the would-be novice turns back with all his\ncompanions to his parents\u2019 house. There he finds a large number of\npersons assembled, and among them the Head of the monastery, with\nseveral of his brother monks. These are seated on a raised dais in front\nof which are the offerings intended for presentation to them, consisting\nof fruit, cooked food, yellow cloth, etc.\n\nThe monks (\u2018Talapoins\u2019) seated in a row, carefully hold up their large\nfan-like screens to shut out the female portion of the assemblage from\ntheir view. Portions of the Vinaya (p. 62 of this volume) are then\nrecited, after which the would-be novice is made to throw off all his\nfine clothes and bind a piece of white cloth round his loins. Then his\nhair is cut off close, and his head is carefully shaved and washed. Next\nhe is taken to a bath, and after immersion in pure water, is brought\nonce more, partially clothed, before the assembled monks. Prostrating\nhimself three times before them, he raises his hands in reverence, and,\nusing the regular P\u0101li form of words, asks to be admitted to the holy\nbrotherhood. Upon that the Head of the monastery presents him with the\nyellow monastic garments. These are duly put on, and the mendicant\u2019s\nbowl is hung round his neck. The ceremony concludes by the formal\nannouncement of his having become a member of the monastery.\n\nThe present admission-ceremony in Ceylon appears to be of a simpler\ncharacter. In fact it differs little from the ancient form. Those boys\nwho are destined for the novitiate usually begin their connexion with\nthe monastery to which they intend to belong by first becoming pupils in\nthe monastery-school. The devotion of the monkhood to the education of\nmere boys was perhaps one of the best results of the progress and\ndevelopment of Buddhism. In monasteries, all boys may learn to read and\nwrite[138]. There also they gain some experience of monastic duties and\nrequirements, so that when the time comes for any pupil to enter the\nnovitiate, his preparedness is taken for granted. He merely makes known\nhis intention to a superior or senior monk. Then having shaved his head,\nand undergone the ceremony of bathing, the applicant, who has furnished\nhimself with the proper yellow robes, presents them to the superior\nmonk, and requests to be allowed to receive them again that he may\nbecome a novice. Next, on his reciting the three-refuge formulary, and\nthe ten prohibitions, he is permitted to take back the monkish garments\nand to put them on. He is then formally admitted, and his admission\nannounced to the other members of the monastery (Hardy\u2019s Eastern\nMonachism, p. 23). It may be noted that the monkish garments do not\ninclude a head-covering as in Northern countries.\n\nAs to the ceremony of admission to the full monkhood, it differs so\nlittle from the ancient rite (described at p. 79), that no further\ndescription need here be given.\n\nWith regard to the religious services performed in the monastic\ninstitutions of modern times, they are, of course, a great advance on\nthe simple formularies used in early days, before the establishment and\norganization of large monasteries.\n\nThe earlier and purer Buddhism, as we have seen, had only one religious\nformula, and that was a simple expression of veneration for the three\njewels\u2014the Buddha, his Law, and his Order of Monks (p. 78).\n\nAny form of worship was altogether out of place, if not a mere mockery,\nwhen there was no supreme Being to worship; when the Buddha himself, who\nnever claimed to be more than a perfected man, had passed away into\nnon-existence, and when all that he left behind was the great ideal of\nhis own memory, to be venerated and imitated.\n\nWhen, however, monastic establishments were organized and the doctrine\nbecame developed, a great development of worship took place.\n\nTo illustrate this I submit a description of daily life in a Burmese\nmonastery, based on the information given by Shway Yoe (p. 307), and\noften using his words.\n\nIt appears that every monastic community in Burma is roused a little\nbefore daylight by the sound of a big bell, beaten with a wooden mallet.\nEach monk has then to rise, rinse out his mouth, wash his hands and\nface, arrange his dress (the same in which he has slept all night) and\nrecite a few formularies, among which is one to the following\neffect:\u2014\u2018How great a favour has the Lord Buddha bestowed upon me in\nmanifesting to me his law, through the observance of which I may escape\nthe purgatorial penalties of hell and secure salvation!\u2019 All the members\nof the fraternity then station themselves before the image of the\nBuddha, with the Abbot at their head, and the rest of the brotherhood,\nfull monks, novices and scholars, according to their order. This done,\nthey proceed to intone the morning service. At its conclusion each\nstands before the Head of the monastery, and pledges himself to observe\nduring the day all the rules and precepts incumbent upon him. They then\nseparate\u2014the pupils and novices to sweep the floor of the monastery,\nbring drinking water, filter it, etc., the more advanced novices and\nfull monks to tend the sacred trees; the elders to meditate in solitude\non the miseries of life, such meditation being beyond all other actions\nmeritorious. Some gather flowers and offer them before the relic-shrine\n(D\u0101gaba).\n\nThen comes a repast, preceded by a grace to the effect that the food is\neaten to satisfy bodily wants, not to please the appetite; that garments\nare used to cover nakedness, not for vanity; that health is desired to\ngive strength for the performance of religious worship and meditation.\nAfter the meal, all devote themselves to study or to teaching. Then\narranging themselves in file, they set out with the Abbot at their head\nto receive their food (not beg). Silently they move on through the\nstreets, fixing their eyes steadily on the ground six feet before them,\nmeditating on the vanity and mutability of all things, and only halting\nwhen a layman emerges from some door to pour his contribution of rice or\nfruit or vegetables into their alms-bowls. The gift received, not a word\nor a syllable of thanks is uttered; for is it not the receivers who\nconfer the favour and not the givers? In this way they circle back to\nthe monastery.\n\nOn their return from their perambulation a portion of the food is\noffered to the Buddha, and then all proceed to eat the remainder,\nconsisting perhaps of cooked rice, boiled peas, fish, cocoa-nut cakes,\ncucumbers, or even curried flesh and fowl, usually wrapped separately in\nplantain-leaves. Next the bowls are washed, and a few hymns are chanted\nbefore the Buddha\u2019s image. During the succeeding hour the boy-scholars\nare allowed to play about, while the monks pass their time in\nconversation, and the Abbot receives people who come to pay their\nrespects. All visitors prostrate themselves before him three times, once\nfor the Buddha, once for the Law, and once for the Monkhood. The Abbot\nin return says: \u2018May the supporter\u2019 (so he calls all laymen; compare p.\n89), \u2018as a reward for merit, be freed from the three calamities (of war,\npestilence, and famine)!\u2019 At about half-past eleven the last regular\nmeal of the day is eaten. Monks are forbidden to eat after noon. When\nthe mid-day meal is over, all return to work. Some undertake the\nteaching of the boy-scholars. Others read the texts of the Tri-pi\u1e6daka\nwith their commentaries, or superintend the writers who are copying\nmanuscripts. Some of the older members of the monastery talk with the\nidlers, who are to be found lounging about the precincts, and some sink\ninto deep meditation, which probably ends in deep sleep.\n\nYet this profound meditation is believed to be all important, for is it\nnot the path to Arhatship, to Nirv\u0101\u1e47a, and to the acquisition of\nsupernatural faculties (see p. 245)? Other monks tell the beads of their\nrosaries and repeat the prescribed formularies, such as: \u2018All is\nchangeful, all is sorrowful, all is unreal,\u2019 followed by invocations to\nthe three holies (see p. 175). Between three and four o\u2019clock the\nlessons are finished, and the scholars perform any domestic duties\nrequired in the monastery. This is the chief return for the teaching\nthey receive. Then most of the pupils go to their own homes for dinner.\nAs to the youthful novices or junior monks, these are all obliged to\nfast like the full monks. Many of them go out with some of the senior\nmonks for a solemn walk. Then at sunset the far-reaching notes of the\nbell summon the walkers back to the monastery. All must be within the\nwalls before the sun goes down. The day\u2019s duties now draw to a close.\nThe boy-pupils are made to repeat all they have learned during the day,\nand some of the P\u0101li rituals are chanted \u2018with spasmodic energy.\u2019 At\nhalf-past eight or nine there are further recitations before the image\nof the Buddha. All assemble, as in the morning, and together intone the\nhymns. When the last sound of the chant has died away, one of the\nnovices stands up and proclaims the hour, day of the week, day of the\nmonth, and number of the year. Then all bow before the Buddha\u2019s image,\nand thrice before the Head of the monastery, and retire to rest (see\nShway Yoe\u2019s \u2018Burman\u2019).\n\nIt is noteworthy that severe asceticism and painful austerities\u2014as\npractised among the Hind\u016bs from the earliest times up to the present day\n(described at pp. 228-230 of this volume)\u2014form no part of the duties of\nBuddhist monks; for Buddhism has never sanctioned bodily torture, as\nBr\u0101hmanism has done.\n\nWe now pass on to a description of the observances usual during the\nperiod of Vassa (see pp. 82-84).\n\nMr. Dickson has given us some valuable notes on the method of keeping\nthis season in Ceylon, and I venture to found a short narrative on the\ninformation he has communicated[139].\n\nIt seems that the villagers of Ceylon esteem it a privilege and a work\nof great merit to send for one or two monk-priests from a monastery and\nto minister to their wants, as well as listen to their preaching and\nrecitations during Vassa.\n\nThe season begins on the fifteenth day of the eighth month; that is, on\nthe day of full moon in the month Ash\u0101\u1e0dha (June, July). Sometimes two or\nthree villages join in inviting a monk-priest to live with them for the\nwhole three months. They prepare a chamber for his sleeping\naccommodation, a room for his meals, a temporary chapel for the\nreception of the Buddha\u2019s image, of the relic-casket and of the sacred\nbooks, and a place in which he can recite the law and explain it.\n\nOn the first day of Vassa the villagers put on their holiday dresses,\nand set off with music, dancers, singers, and flags for the monastery,\nwhere the priest, whom they desire to invite, resides. Thence they\nconduct him in procession to their homes. His first act, after his\narrival, is to set up the image and arrange the relic-casket and books.\nAn altar is placed in front of the image, and on this the people proceed\nto make their offerings of flowers and perfumes. Next every villager\ncontributes something for the priest\u2019s food, such as tea, sugar,\nhoneycomb, orange-juice, and the like. The priest, in return, pronounces\na benediction, and says:\u2014\u2018By virtue of this first offering made for the\nsake of the Buddha, who is like unto the sun of gods and men, and by\nvirtue of this second offering made to the monkhood, which is like a\nfield of merit, may you henceforth be delivered from the evils of birth\nin the place of torment, in the world of beasts, in the world of ghosts,\nand in the world of demons, and inherit the bliss of those who ascend\nand descend through the worlds of gods till you are born again in the\nworld of men (see p. 21)!\u2019\n\nThen the monk-priest proceeds to the preaching-chamber, in the middle of\nwhich is a chair with a cushion. He takes his seat, and, holding a\nscreen before his face to prevent his attention being distracted,\ncommences his recitations. The people sit on the floor\u2014the men on one\nside, the women and children on the other. First he repeats the\nthree-refuge formula (p. 78) and the five prohibitions (p. 126), the\npeople repeating after him. Next he recites some favourite passage from\nthe discourses of Buddha, the one generally selected being the\nNidhi-k\u0101\u1e47\u1e0da Sutta (see p. 129). If any listener interposes a remark, or\nhints that he does not understand, the priest explains the meaning. The\npeople then make obeisance and depart.\n\nThe monk-priest next repeats to himself the appointed Pirit for the\nfirst day of Vassa\u2014namely, the Ma\u1e45gala-sutta, Ratna-sutta, and\nKara\u1e47\u012bya-metta-sutta (see p. 318), after which he retires to rest for a\nfew hours. Rising before daybreak, he meditates on the virtues of\nBuddha, on goodwill towards all living beings, on the impurities of the\nbody, and on death, walking up and down in his own chamber, or in any\nplace suitable for perambulation. Next he goes to the temporary chapel,\nand prostrating himself before the shrine, says, \u2018I worship continually\nall the relic-shrines, the sacred Bodhi-tree, and the images of Buddha.\nI reverence the three jewels\u2019 (see p. 175). He then arranges his\noffering of flowers, and places these with a small portion of his\nmorning meal on the altar. His meal being concluded, he teaches the\nchildren of the villagers, or he prepares for the mid-day and evening\npreaching (ba\u1e47a).\n\nThese preachings are generally well attended, especially on the four\nPoya days (p. 257). On the new-moon and full-moon days, the priest must\ngo to the nearest monastery and join in the P\u0101timokkha (see p. 84); and\non the full-moon day, which terminates the three months of Vassa, he\nmust go there again as before, but on that occasion, addressing the\nassembled monks, he must say:\u2014\u2018Venerable Sirs, I have duly finished the\nVassa; if you have any doubt about it, speak, and tell me in what I have\nerred.\u2019 If no one speaks he is held to have fulfilled his duties\nfaultlessly. Then returning and taking with him a second priest, the two\ntogether perform the R\u0101tri-ba\u1e47a or mid-night service, which concludes\nthe ceremonies of Vassa. Two pulpits, made of four upright posts,\nsupporting small platforms, are erected, and the people from the\nneighbouring villages, dressed in their holiday attire, attend in large\nnumbers. These nocturnal recitations are commonly continued for about\nfive hours.\n\nSome account should next be given of the ceremony called Pirit, which is\nperformed in Ceylon and Burma during Vassa, and also at other times. The\nname Pirit is corrupted from the P\u0101li _paritta_, which again is supposed\nto be connected with Sansk\u1e5bit paritr\u0101 or paritr\u0101\u1e47a, \u2018protection[140].\u2019\nWe must premise that this ceremony had its origin in the fear of evil\nspirits and demons everywhere prevalent in the East (see p. 218); but it\nmust be borne in mind that Buddhism recognizes no order of beings,\ncalled demons, created by God, and eternally separate in nature from\nmen.\n\nDemons are beings who are regarded as created by men, rather than by\nGod; for they may have been men in their last state of existence and may\nbecome men again (see p. 122). They are, however, represented as\ncherishing spiteful and malevolent feelings against the superior race to\nwhich they once belonged; and all kinds of safeguards and counteracting\ninfluences are thought to be needed to protect human beings from their\nmalignity.\n\nThis is quite in keeping with the Hind\u016b theory, which holds that when a\nman addicted to any particular vice dies, his evil nature never dies,\nbut assumes another personality and lives after him as a demon. And this\napplies equally to women, so that the resulting demons may be of either\nsex, and the female is held to be more spiteful than the male.\n\nThe most effective of all safeguards against the machinations of such\nmalignant beings, is believed to be the recitation or intoning of the\nBuddha\u2019s Law, and especially of the Sutta (S\u016btra) division of it already\ndescribed (p. 62). And of this division there are choice\nportions\u2014twenty-nine in number[141]\u2014supposed to possess greater\nprophylactic potency than other portions. Collectively, they constitute\nwhat is called the Pirit, and of these, three are most commonly\nrecited:\u2014the Ma\u1e45gala-sutta, the Ratna-sutta, and the\nKara\u1e47\u012bya-metta-sutta. Part of the first of these has been already given\n(at p. 129 of this volume).\n\nPart of the second or \u2018Jewel\u2019 Sutta (translated by Childers) runs thus:\u2014\n\n  \u2018All spirits here assembled,\u2014those of earth and those of air,\u2014let all\n  such be joyful; let them listen attentively to my words.\n\n  \u2018Therefore hear me, O ye spirits; be friendly to the race of men; for\n  day and night they bring you their offerings, therefore keep diligent\n  watch over them.\n\n  \u2018Whatsoever treasure exists here or in other worlds, whatsoever\n  glorious jewels in the heavens, there is none like Buddha.\n\n  \u2018Buddha is this glorious jewel. May this truth bring prosperity! There\n  is nought like this doctrine. The Law is this glorious jewel. May this\n  truth bring prosperity!\n\n  \u2018The disciples of Buddha, worthy to receive gifts, the priesthood is\n  this glorious jewel. May this truth bring prosperity!\n\n  \u2018Their old karma is destroyed, no new karma is produced. Their hearts\n  no longer cleaving to future life, their seed of existence destroyed,\n  their desires quenched, the righteous are extinguished like this lamp.\n  The priesthood is this glorious jewel. May this truth bring\n  prosperity! Ye spirits here assembled\u2014those of earth and those of\n  air\u2014let us bow before Buddha\u2014let us bow before the Law\u2014let us bow\n  before the Monkhood.\u2019\n\nPart of the third or Kara\u1e47\u012bya-metta-sutta runs as follows:\u2014\n\n  This is what should be done by him who is wise in seeking his own\n  good. Contented and cheerful, not oppressed with the cares of this\n  world, not burdened with riches, tranquil, discreet, not arrogant, not\n  greedy for gifts, let him not do any mean action for which others who\n  are wise might reprove him. Let all creatures be happy and prosperous;\n  let them be of joyful mind. Let no man in any place deceive another,\n  nor let him be harsh towards any one; let him not, out of anger or\n  resentment, wish ill to his neighbour. As a mother, so long as she\n  lives, watches over her child, her only child, so among all beings let\n  boundless goodwill prevail. Let goodwill without measure, impartial,\n  unmixed with enmity, prevail throughout the world, above, below,\n  around.\n\nThe Rev. D. J. Gogerley witnessed the performance of a great Pirit\nceremony in Ceylon (Hardy\u2019s Monachism, p. 240). Taking his account and\nthat of Mr. Dickson, I have compiled the following brief description of\nthe Mah\u0101-ba\u1e47a Pirit, \u2018great Pirit recitation\u2019:\u2014\n\nSo soon as the sun has set crowds of people arrive at the\nRecitation-Hall, bringing oil-lamps made out of cocoanut-shells. The\nHall is decorated, and a canopy, shaped like a pagoda, is erected over\nthe pulpits, which are placed on a raised platform. When darkness\nsupervenes a blaze of light illuminates the Hall. A relic of the Buddha\nis deposited on the platform, and a sacred thread is fastened round the\nHall, one extremity of it being brought close to the relic and to the\nReciters. On the morning of the next day, the recitations begin. One of\nthe Reciters repeats the three-refuge formula, and the five commandments\n(see pp. 78, 126). Then incense is burnt round the platform, and the\nmusicians outside the Hall strike up a lively air. Next, the formula of\n\u2018the twelve successive causes of existence\u2019 (see p. 102) is intoned, and\na hymn of victory chanted.\n\nThe recitation of the Pirit continues uninterruptedly, day and night,\nfor seven days. Twenty-four priests are employed, two of whom are\nconstantly seated on the platform and engaged in reciting. Moreover\nthree times in each day\u2014at sunrise, mid-day, and sunset\u2014they all\nassemble together and chant in chorus. Of course, when the recitation of\nthe Suttas constituting the Pirit is concluded, it is recommenced, and\nin this way all the Suttas are recited again and again. On the morning\nof the seventh day a messenger is sent to a neighbouring temple to\ninvite the attendance of the gods. Then by a stretch of the imagination\ncertain of the gods and spirits are believed to answer the summons, and\non their supposed arrival, the protective Suttas are chanted more\nenergetically than ever till the morning of the eighth day, when a\nbenediction concludes the ceremony, and offerings of robes are made to\nthe priest-reciters.\n\nWe now pass on to Tibet and Mongolia.\n\nThe ceremonies of admission to the monkhood in those countries do not\ndeviate sufficiently from the practices just described to require\nspecial notice.\n\nWith regard, however, to the dress of L\u0101mistic monks after their\nadmission to the Order, the ancient rule, as we have seen, obliged them\nto wear only three garments of a dirty yellowish colour, made out of\nrags, or picked up in cemeteries or on dust heaps. But the necessities\nof a colder climate have compelled the L\u0101mas to increase their official\nvestments, and the higher L\u0101mas sometimes wear bright silken robes\nenriched with ornament. The law is sufficiently obeyed by putting a\npatch or two at one corner.\n\nA full equipment is supposed to consist of an under vestment, a sort of\ntunic worn over it, a mantle, a kind of scarf worn over the left\nshoulder, a loose robe brought round over the same shoulder, and a\ncap[142]. The right shoulder is rarely bare, as it generally is in\nSouthern Buddhist countries.\n\nThe colour of these six articles of clothing, especially of the cap, is\nyellow or red, according to the sect to which a monk belongs.\n\nThe cap is an important mark of sectarian difference, and is of various\nforms, and when it has five points, has been compared to a bishop\u2019s\nmitre, but the five points really denote the five Dhy\u0101ni-Buddhas and\ntheir Bodhi-sattvas.\n\nPart of every full monk\u2019s equipment in Tibet is a peculiar instrument,\nmade of bronze or other metal, and called a Dorje (Sansk\u1e5bit Vajra, \u2018a\nthunderbolt\u2019), the employment of which for religious objects is peculiar\nto Northern Buddhism. It is shaped like the imaginary thunderbolt of the\ngods Indra and \u1e60iva\u2014that is, it consists of a short bar, about four\ninches long, the two extremities of which swell out in globular form, or\nlike small oval cages formed of hoops of metal. The original Dorje is\nsupposed to have fallen direct from Indra\u2019s heaven, and to have been\npreserved in a monastery near Lh\u0101ssa, called Sera pp. 278, 442.\nAccording to another legend, the original instrument belonged to Gautama\nBuddha himself, and on his passing away into non-existence, transported\nitself through the air from India into Tibet. The consecrated imitations\nof it are innumerable. Their primary use is for exorcising and driving\naway evil spirits, especially in the performance of ceremonies and\nrepetition of prayers\u2014the instrument being then held between the fingers\nand thumb and waved backwards and forwards, or from side to side.\n\nThe efficacy of the Dorje in securing good fortune and warding off evil\ninfluences of all kinds is supposed to be of wide application. The idea\nwas really borrowed from \u1e60aivism or from the Tantra system, introduced\nthrough Nep\u0101l by the Red sect. It is easy to understand the enormous\npower supposed to belong to a priesthood which claimed to be the\nwielders of a formidable thunderbolt, sent to them directly from heaven.\n\nNo wonder that the original Dorje preserved at the Sera monastery has\nbecome an object of actual worship. According to M. Huc, countless\npilgrims prostrate themselves before it; and at the New Year\u2019s festival,\non the 27th day of the first month, it is carried in procession with\ngreat pomp to Lh\u0101ssa,\u2014to the two centres of L\u0101mism\u2014Potala and L\u0101 brang.\nOn its way there, the mystical implement is adored by the whole\npopulation, male and female (ii. 221).\n\nBelow is an engraving of a Dorje which I brought from D\u0101rj\u012bling.\n\n[Illustration: ]\n\nIt should be mentioned that the fierce Bodhi-sattva Vajra-p\u0101\u1e47i (see p.\n201 of this volume) is represented holding a similar Dorje in his right\nhand in his character of subduer of evil spirits. In some\nrepresentations the evil demons are denoted by serpents.\n\nAnother important part of a full monk\u2019s equipment in Tibet is the\nPrayer-bell (called Drilbu) employed at the performance of daily\nreligious ceremonies, and rung to accompany the repetition and chanting\nof prayers, or to fill up the intervals of worship. It often has half a\nDorje as a handle, or the handle is ornamented with various mystical\nsymbols carved on it. The object of ringing bells during worship is to\ncall the attention of the beings who are worshipped, or to keep off evil\nspirits by combining noise with the waving of the Dorje in the handle.\n\nThe bell here represented was brought by me from D\u0101rj\u012bling.\n\n[Illustration: ]\n\nThe bells used in Burma are described at p. 526.\n\nOther religious implements used by novices and lay-brethren, as well as\nby full monks, are prayer-wheels, prayer-cylinders, rosaries, amulets\n(see p. 358), drums (see p. 385), and the Phurbu or Phur-pa (pp. 351,\n352).\n\nAs to the daily religious services and ceremonies performed by Monks in\nTibet and Mongolia, these, of course, are far more ritualistic than in\nsouthern Buddhist countries. It has already been explained (at pp. 202,\n225) that certain abstract essences or mystical forms of the Buddha,\ncalled Dhy\u0101ni-Buddhas, were imagined to exist, and these had their\nconcrete energizing vice-gerents called Bodhi-sattvas\u2014beings who\nreceived adoration as if they were actually gods. In Tibet the\nBodhi-sattva Avalokite\u1e61vara, and the canonized reformer Tsong Khapa, and\nother supposed saints, became prominent objects of religious worship.\nThen, in process of time, a complicated ceremonial was developed, which,\nas we shall see (p. 338), has much in common with the ritual of Roman\nCatholic Christianity.\n\nThe language employed in the religious services of the L\u0101mistic\nHierarchy, whether in Tibet, Mongolia, or in the L\u0101ma monasteries of\nChina and Manchuria, is Tibetan. In fact, Tibetan is to the L\u0101mistic\nChurch what Latin is to the Romish. It is the sole orthodox language of\nreligion and religious ceremonial.\n\nAccording to Koeppen, only one Mongolian L\u0101ma-monastery (and that\nestablished at Peking) has the right to perform religious services in\nMongolian instead of in Tibetan[143].\n\nDr. Edkins, however, states that there is a temple (called Fa-hai-si)\nnear the hunting-park, in which the Manchu language is employed instead\nof Tibetan. (Chinese Buddhism, p. 406.)\n\nWithout doubt the acquisition of some knowledge of the Tibetan language\nis incumbent on every L\u0101ma. Nevertheless, few, except in Tibet, really\nunderstand it. They simply repeat the usual prayers and formularies\nmechanically[144].\n\nIt appears that the L\u0101mistic priests assemble three times a day to go\nthrough the prescribed ritual\u2014at sunrise, at mid-day, and at sunset. We\nread that, before commencing the service, they enter the temple or hall\nof worship in procession and seat themselves on low seats in long rows.\nThese are placed the whole length of the hall, from the entrance-door to\nthe altar, being divided in the middle by a passage. At the further\nextremity, close to the altar, are two raised thrones for the Head\nL\u0101mas\u2014a five-cushioned one on the right for the Abbot and a\nthree-cushioned one for the Vice-Abbot.\n\nWhen all have seated themselves, the choir-master or precentor gives a\nsignal with a bell. Then the prayer-formularies are recited or chanted,\ncertain passages out of the Law are intoned and certain litanies sung,\nsometimes in loud tones, accompanied by noisy music or by clapping of\nhands, and generally in unison, though occasionally verses are sung\nalternately with responses.\n\nThen at other times a sentence of the Law is repeated by each monk in\nturn; or a chant is set up consisting of such words as: Praise be to the\nBuddha! or praise be to some Bodhi-sattva! followed by a recital of all\nhis names, titles, and epithets; or mystical sentences and syllables are\nejaculated. The result is said to be a chaos of voices and a deafening\nconfusion of sounds.\n\nThe chief instruments used in the services are a spiral shell, a long\ntrumpet of copper or brass (sometimes more than ten feet long), a large\ndrum, flutes, cymbals, and horns\u2014the last being sometimes made of the\nthigh-bones of human beings[145].\n\nThe ritual is imposing, and still more so when a living Buddha is\npresent. It has been described by M. Huc, and I here give the substance\nof his account[146].\n\n  In front of the chief idol, and on a level with the altar, is a gilded\n  seat for the living Buddha or Grand L\u0101ma of the Monastery. The whole\n  space of the temple, from one end to the other, is occupied by long\n  low seats almost level with the ground, stretching right and left of\n  the Grand L\u0101ma\u2019s throne. These are covered with carpets, a vacant\n  space being left between each row for the L\u0101mas to pass and repass.\n  When the hour of prayer is come, a L\u0101ma, whose office it is to summon\n  the choir, places himself in front of the grand entrance of the temple\n  and blows with all the force of his lungs into a conch-shell trumpet,\n  the sound of which is audible for a league round. This effectually\n  rouses the L\u0101mas and calls them together. Each then takes his mantle\n  and official hat of ceremony, and repairs to the interior court. The\n  trumpet sounds again, and when its note is heard for the third time,\n  the great door is suddenly thrown open; the living Buddha enters, and\n  takes his seat in front of the image on the altar. Then the L\u0101mas,\n  after depositing their red boots in the vestibule, advance towards him\n  barefoot, and adore him by three prostrations. This done, they seat\n  themselves on the long seats according to their dignity, cross-legged\n  and face to face. As soon as the director of the ceremonies has given\n  the signal by tinkling a little bell, everyone murmurs the prescribed\n  prayers, unrolling the formularies on his knees. After this\n  recitation, there is profound silence for a minute. Then the bell is\n  again rung, and a hymn or chant in two choruses begins. The Tibetan\n  prayers, ordinarily arranged in verses, and written in metrical style,\n  are well adapted to harmony; but sometimes at certain pauses indicated\n  by the rubric, the L\u0101ma musicians execute a strain in little accord\n  with the gravity of the psalmody. The result is a stunning noise of\n  bells, cymbals, drums, tambourines, conch-shells, trumpets, and pipes.\n  Each musician sounds his instrument with a sort of fury, and each\n  strives to outdo his neighbour in the noise he can produce. (Huc\u2019s\n  Travels, i. 88, abridged.)\n\nOne important element in some Tibetan religious services is the\nconsecration and distribution of holy water and grain by the chief\nL\u0101mas.\n\nPerfumes, too, are burnt, and censers containing incense are swung\nbackwards and forwards during the ceremonies.\n\nThen, again, some L\u0101mistic ceremonials include the drinking of tea\npoured into little cups, kept in the breast-pockets of the monks\u2019 robes,\nand replenished two or three times during the service.\n\nSir Richard Temple (Journal, ii. 208) thus describes a tea-drinking\nceremonial at which he was present, at the monastery of Pemyangchi in\nSikkim (see p. 298 of these Lectures).\n\n  The priests and monks, some thirty-five in all, were drawn up in full\n  robes to receive us. Then the officials of the monastery were\n  introduced\u2014the steward, the rod-bearer, the deputy master, and lastly,\n  the master. A procession was quickly formed, which we followed into\n  the chapel, where they all took their accustomed seats, while we sat\n  on places prepared for us. The interior of the chapel seemed an odd\n  place for this, but we were told that it was the correct ceremonial. A\n  chant was begun, which lasted some ten minutes, as a sort of grace,\n  and then tea was handed round\u2014first to us, next to the priests, and\n  lastly to the monks. A short chant followed, and then the procession\n  preceded us out of the chapel.\n\nIn the picture which accompanies Sir Richard\u2019s description, all the\nmonks have head-coverings, some of which are like caps or hats of a high\nsugar-loaf shape, while others have several points like episcopal mitres\n(see p. 321).\n\nThe monks of Sikkim are generally of the Dugpa sect[147], and wear red\ncaps (see pp. 273, 298).\n\nWhen Dr. Watt was in Lad\u0101k, he was present at a service performed by a\nnumber of monks belonging to both sects, who seemed to fraternize very\namicably. All the monks of the red sect took up a position on one side\nof the chapel, while those of the yellow sect ranged themselves on the\nopposite side. The two sects entered together, as usual, in procession,\nand part of the ceremonial\u2014as in that witnessed by Sir Richard\nTemple\u2014consisted in drinking tea from little cups taken from the folds\nof their robes, and put back again, to be again taken out and\nreplenished; and this, too, without interrupting the continuous\nrepetition of prayers, chants, and formularies[148].\n\nM. Huc also describes a \u2018Tea-general\u2019 ceremony after morning service in\na temple. Each monk drinks in silence, carefully placing his scarf\nbefore his cup, as if to prevent the sight of the apparent incongruity\nof drinking tea in such a sacred spot (ii. 57).\n\nAnother instance of tea-drinking as an element in L\u0101mistic ceremonial,\noccurs in Mr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s\u2019 highly interesting account of the\nceremony of his presentation to the Dalai L\u0101ma at the palace-monastery\nof Potala, in Lh\u0101ssa, on June 10, 1882. I venture to give the substance\nof it in an abbreviated form and not quite literally[149].\n\nAn account of other presentations both to the Dalai L\u0101ma and Tashi L\u0101ma\nwill be given in a future Lecture (see pp. 439, 444, 447).\n\n  Early in the morning I was informed of the arrival of Chola Kusho, who\n  was ready to take me to Potala for presentation to the Dalai L\u0101ma. We\n  sallied forth on horseback, with three bundles of incense-sticks in\n  our hands, and a roll of scarves in our breast-pockets, chanting as we\n  went along certain hymns, and particularly the mystic \u2018Om ma\u1e47i padme\n  H\u016bm.\u2019 In the street we saw a calf sucking milk, and several women\n  fetching water in our direction. My companions were delighted at these\n  auspicious omens. Arrived at the eastern gateway of Potala, we\n  dismounted, and walked up a long hall, on two sides of which were two\n  rows of prayer-wheels, put there to be twirled, on going in and coming\n  out.\n\n  A young monk now came down to conduct us, and we ascended slowly,\n  looking only on the ground before us. The several ladders which\n  conducted us from one story to another were steep, and placed in dark\n  halls. I counted five, which took us as far as the ground-floor of the\n  Red palace. Half-a-dozen ladders still remained to be scaled.\n\n  At about eight we reached the top, and there found a number of monks\n  anxiously awaiting an interview with his Holiness. A seat was pointed\n  out to me. A monk sat near me, and smilingly observed that it must\n  have been on account of the sins of my former life that I was born in\n  India, where there is no living Buddha.\n\n  From the top of the Red palace we enjoyed a grand panorama of Lh\u0101ssa\n  and its suburbs. Shortly afterwards some L\u0101mas of high rank, dressed\n  in loose yellow mantles, arrived. They entered the hall of reception\n  one after another in solemn array. We remained outside in anxious\n  suspense, fixing our eyes on the entrance door, and expecting to be\n  summoned to his Holiness\u2019 presence.\n\n  At last, three L\u0101mas came towards us and asked us to enter in a line\n  one after another. Walking very gently, we proceeded to the middle of\n  the audience hall\u2014a spacious apartment supported by three rows of four\n  wooden pillars. The walls had paintings of the exploits of Buddha, of\n  Chanrassig[150], Tsong Khapa, and other celebrated saints, besides\n  images of the successive incarnations of the Dalai L\u0101ma.\n\n  As soon as we had entered the official scarf-collectors received the\n  presentation-scarves from our hands. We seated ourselves on rugs,\n  spread in about eight rows, my seat being in the third row, at a\n  distance of about ten feet from the Grand L\u0101ma\u2019s throne, and a little\n  to his left. When all were seated, perfect silence reigned in the\n  grand hall. The state officials walked from left to right with serene\n  gravity, as became their exalted rank, in the presence of the Supreme\n  Vice-Regent of Buddha on earth. At their head walked the Kuchar\n  Khanpo, who carried in his hand the bowl of benediction, containing\n  the sacred Thui (that is, consecrated water stained yellow with\n  saffron) for sprinkling over the audience. The bearer of the\n  incense-pot, suspended by three golden chains, the carrier of the\n  royal golden tea-pot, and other domestic officials, now came up, and\n  stood motionless as pictures, without looking on either side, but\n  fixing their eyes and their attention, as it were, on the tips of\n  their respective noses. Two large golden lamp-burners, resembling\n  flower-vases, flickered on two sides of the throne. The great\n  altar\u2014resembling an oriental throne, and supported by lions[151]\n  carved in wood\u2014on which sat his Holiness, a child of eight, was\n  covered with silk scarves of great value. It was about four feet high,\n  six long, and four broad. A yellow mitre-hat[152] covered the Grand\n  L\u0101ma\u2019s head, the pendant portions veiling his ears, and a yellow\n  mantle enveloped his person. He sat cross-legged, with the palms of\n  his hands joined together to bless us. When it came to my turn I\n  received his Holiness\u2019 benediction, and was able to look upon his\n  divine face. Other L\u0101mas approached him with downcast looks, and\n  resumed their respective seats, not presuming to look up. I longed to\n  linger a few seconds, but other candidates for benediction displaced\n  me by pushing me gently forward. I noticed that the princely child\n  possessed a really bright and fair complexion, with rosy cheeks. His\n  eyes were large and penetrating. The contour of his face was\n  remarkably \u0100ryan, though somewhat marred by the obliquity of his eyes.\n  The thinness of his person was probably owing to the fatigues of the\n  court-ceremonies, religious duties, and ascetic observances, to which\n  he had been subjected since taking the vows of monkhood. Remembering\n  the stories about the freaks of fortune, which had lately brought him\n  to this proud position, and had compelled his predecessors to undergo\n  untimely transmigrations, I pitied his exalted rank: for who knows\n  whether he will not be forced to undergo another transmigration before\n  reaching his twentieth year?\n\n  When all were again seated after receiving the Dalai L\u0101ma\u2019s\n  benediction, the Sol-pon Chhenpo poured tea in his Holiness\u2019 golden\n  cup from a golden tea-pot, while four assistant Sol-pons poured tea in\n  the cups of the audience, consisting of the head L\u0101mas of Meru\n  monastery and ourselves. Before the Grand L\u0101ma lifted his cup to his\n  lips, a grace was solemnly said, beginning with \u2018Om \u0101h H\u016bm\u2019 thrice\n  chanted, and followed by a prayer to the following effect:\u2014\u2018Never even\n  for a moment losing sight of the three Holies, always offer reverence\n  to the Tri-ratnas; let the blessings of the three be upon us.\u2019 Without\n  even stirring the air by the movements of our limbs, we slowly lifted\n  our cups to our lips, and drank the tea\u2014which was delicious\u2014taking\n  care to make no sound with our lips. Three times was tea served, and\n  three times we emptied our cups, after which we put them back in our\n  breast-pockets. Then the Sol-pon placed a golden dish full of\n  consecrated rice in front of his Holiness, which he only touched. The\n  remainder was distributed among those present. I obtained a handful,\n  which I carefully tied in one corner of my handkerchief. The following\n  grace was then uttered by the assembled monks, with much gravity:\u2014\u2018The\n  most precious _Buddha_ is the most perfect and matchless teacher; the\n  most unerring guide is the _Sa\u1e45gha_; the most infallible protection is\n  in the sacred _Dharma_. We offer these offerings to these three\n  objects of refuge. Reverence be to each of them!\u2019\n\nMr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s also witnessed at the same time the performance of\na remarkable ceremony for the translation of the soul of a chief L\u0101ma or\nKhanpo to one of the heavenly mansions.\n\nIt appears that a certain well-known Khanpo had died of small-pox. He\nwas one of the most distinguished scholars of Tibet, and held the\nhighest position in the Court of Potala. The day on which the ceremony\nwas performed was the twenty-seventh day of this chief L\u0101ma\u2019s _Bardo_\n(p. 371); that is, of the interval of forty-nine days between his death\nand his translation to another world. (According to J\u00e4schke the interval\nof the intermediate state only lasts for forty days.)\n\nThe Dalai L\u0101ma, seated on his throne, chanted a hymn in a low indistinct\nvoice. Afterwards the assembled monks in grave tones repeated what the\nGrand L\u0101ma had uttered. Then a venerable personage rose from the middle\nof the first row of seats, and addressing the Grand L\u0101ma as the\nincarnate Lord Chenressig (Avalokite\u1e61vara), recited all the many acts of\nmercy performed by him, as the patron-saint of Tibet, for the benefit of\nits people. Next, he made offerings of certain precious things\n(including an imaginary presentation of the seven mythical\ntreasures[153]) for the benefit of the soul of the late Khanpo,\nsaying:\u2014\u2018I pray that you may graciously accept these presents for the\ngood of all living beings.\u2019\n\nFinally, he prostrated himself three times before the Grand L\u0101ma\u2019s\nthrone. A solemn pause followed; after which the audience rose, and the\nGrand L\u0101ma retired. Mr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s goes on to relate that at the\nend of the ceremony one of the assistant L\u0101mas gave him two packets of\npills, and another tied a scrap of red silk round his neck. The pills,\nhe was told, were chinlab or blessings, consecrated by the Buddha and\nother saints; and the consecrated scrap of silk, called sungd\u016b, \u2018knot of\nblessing,\u2019 was the Grand L\u0101ma\u2019s usual return for presents made to him by\npilgrims and devotees.\n\nWe may note here that in 1866 the Indian explorer Nain Singh saw the\nthen Dalai L\u0101ma. He was a handsome boy about thirteen years old, and was\nseated on a throne six feet high. He had the Regent on his right hand.\nHe was said to be in his thirteenth transmigration[154].\n\nDr. Schlagintweit (p. 239) describes a ceremony in which consecrated\nwater (thui) is poured from a teapot-like vessel over a metallic mirror\n(pp. 458, 463 of these Lectures), which is held so as to reflect the\nimage of Gautama Buddha seated on the altar. This water falls down into\na flat vessel containing a bag filled with rice, and is then suitable\nfor ceremonial ablutions.\n\nAnother ceremony (called Nyungne? by Schlagintweit), involving long\nabstinence, lasts for four days.\n\nThe first and second days are passed in preparations. Those who are to\ntake part in the ceremony rise at sunrise, bathe and prostrate\nthemselves several times before the image of Avalokite\u1e61vara. The head\nL\u0101ma then bids them confess their faults, and meditate on the evils\nresulting from demerit. He next, with his attendants, recites extracts\nfrom certain books of confession. This goes on till ten o\u2019clock, when\ntea is taken. After this the recitations and prayer-recitals continue\ntill two o\u2019clock, when a meal of vegetables is eaten. Then comes a\npause, but the prayers and readings are afterwards carried on till late\nat night, tea being handed round at intervals. Before retiring to rest,\nthe head L\u0101ma specifies the various duties to be performed by the\ndevotees on the following day, and orders them, as a penance, to sleep\nin \u2018the lion-posture,\u2019 viz. to lie on the right side, to stretch out the\nfeet and to support the head with the right hand[155].\n\nThe third day is the most important, and is passed in rigorous\nabstinence from all food. No one is even allowed to swallow his saliva,\nwhich must be ejected into a vessel placed before him. Not a word must\nbe spoken. Each man prays and confesses his sins, but does so in\nabsolute silence. This continues till sunrise on the fourth day.\n\nIt was at first the rule that repetitions of the Law, confessions of sin\n(especially the P\u0101timokkha), and some of the chief religious ceremonies\n(including fasting) should take place, more particularly on the days of\nnew and full moon (called Uposatha, p. 84).\n\nThus we read that \u2018on the day of full moon \u0100nanda purified himself, and\nwent up to the upper story of his house to keep the sacred day\u2019\n(Mah\u0101sudassana-sutra, 1-10). This was in conformity with the ancient\nBr\u0101hmanical rule that every new-moon day (Dar\u1e61a) and every full-moon day\n(Paur\u1e47am\u0101sa) should be set apart for special religious observances[156].\n\nIn later times the intermediate quarter-moon days were also held sacred,\nand so the number of Uposatha days (see p. 84) was increased to four in\nevery month, or once a week. Very strict Buddhists in Tibet eat nothing\non these days between sunrise and sunset except farinaceous food with\ntea (p. 346).\n\nThe laity are invited to join in keeping the Uposatha days, but take no\nreal part in the detail of the services. The same rule applies to all\nreligious ceremonies. Laymen may be present at any rite, but without\nco-operating in carrying out the ritual. Still, laymen have their own\npart to perform. They look on\u2014listen, tell their rosaries, and repeat\nshort prayers\u2014such as the \u2018three-refuge\u2019 and \u2018jewel-lotus\u2019 formula (pp.\n78, 370)\u2014and make declarations to avoid the five great sins (p. 126). Or\nthey walk up to the image-altar and place offerings on it, or bow before\nit and receive the L\u0101ma\u2019s benediction. Theoretically, the laity only\nexist to honour and support the monkhood, and to be blessed by them in\nreturn. At all events a layman\u2019s religion is usually restricted to a\nvery limited range of duty.\n\nOne common way of showing piety is by walking round temples,\nmonasteries, St\u016bpas, and sacred walls (see pp. 380, 505), from east to\nwest, keeping the right shoulder towards them, and even occasionally\nmeasuring the ground with the extended body.\n\nThis last task is by no means a light or easy one. According to M. Huc\n(i. 202), a whole day scarcely suffices to perform the circumambulation\nwhen the monastic buildings and temples occupy an extensive area. People\nbegin at daybreak, and the feat must be accomplished all at one time,\nwithout any break, or even a few moments\u2019 pause for taking nourishment.\nMoreover, the measuring-process must be perfect; \u2018the body must be\nextended to its whole length, and the forehead must touch the earth\nwhile the arms are stretched out in front and the hands joined.\u2019 At each\nprostration a circle must be drawn on the ground with two rams\u2019 horns\nheld in the hands. \u2018It is a sorrowful spectacle, and the unfortunate\npeople often have their faces and clothes covered with dust and mud. The\nutmost severity of the weather does not present any obstacle to their\ncourageous devotion. They continue their prostrations through rain,\nsnow, and cold. Sometimes they go through the additional penance of\ncarrying an enormous weight of books on their backs. You meet with men,\nwomen, and even children sinking under these excessive burdens. When\nthey have finished their circumambulation, they are considered to have\nacquired the same merit as if they had recited all the prayers contained\nin the books they have carried.\u2019 In point of fact they are generally far\ntoo ignorant to be able to read the books, and the carrying of them on\ntheir backs is taken as an adequate equivalent.\n\nThe acquisition of merit by circumambulation is not an exclusively Hind\u016b\nor Buddhist idea. The Holy House at Loretto near Ancona\u2014believed to have\nbeen transported there from Bethlehem by angels\u2014is circumambulated by\npilgrims on their knees, but keeping the sacred object to the left.\nIndeed, we may fitly conclude the present Lecture by a comparison\nbetween the ritual of Tibetan Buddhism and that of Roman Catholicism\u2014a\ncomparison, too, drawn by the Roman Catholic Missionaries themselves:\n\n\u2018The cross, the mitre, the dalmatica, the cope, which Grand L\u0101mas wear\non their journeys, or when they are performing some ceremony out of the\ntemple; the service with double choirs, the psalmody, the exorcisms, the\ncenser for incense, suspended from five chains, and opened or closed at\npleasure; the benedictions pronounced by the L\u0101mas by extending the\nright hand over the heads of the faithful; the chaplet, ecclesiastical\ncelibacy, spiritual retirement, the worship of the saints, the fasts,\nthe processions, the litanies, the holy water, all these are analogies\nbetween the Buddhists and ourselves\u2019 (Huc, ii. 50). To these may be\nadded sacred images, sacred pictures, sacred symbols, relics, lamps, and\nilluminations[157].\n\nThis is doubtless a true comparison. But it does not follow that the\nopinion which the missionaries express\u2014\u2018that these analogies are of\nChristian origin\u2019\u2014is equally deserving of our assent. No doubt one chief\nfeature of Buddhism, as of Hind\u016bism[158], is its receptivity, but may it\nnot be the case that human nature and human tendencies will be found to\nassert themselves independently in every part of the world, wherever\nsurrounding circumstances are favourable to their development?\n\n\n\n\n                             LECTURE XIII.\n        _Festivals, Domestic Rites, and Formularies of Prayer._\n\n\nWe must now turn to the consideration of some of the chief festivals,\ndomestic rites, and prayer-formularies of Buddhism\u2014a subject which\nfollows as a natural sequel to the last Lecture.\n\nIt is well known that the Hind\u016bs have certain festivals and holy days,\ncelebrated at the junction of the seasons which in India are properly\nsix in number\u2014namely, spring, summer, the rains (Varsha), autumn,\nwinter, and the season of dew and mist (see \u2018Indian Wisdom,\u2019 p. 450;\n\u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 428).\n\nBuddhism has adopted the old Hind\u016b ideas on this subject, and has added\nothers of its own, but generally only reckons three seasons\u2014summer, the\nrains (Vassa = Varsha) and winter.\n\nThe festival of the New Year is, of course, universal. It is supposed to\ncelebrate the victory of light over darkness, and, in Buddhist\ncountries, of Buddhism over ignorance. The corresponding Hind\u016b festival\nis called Makara-sa\u1e45kr\u0101nti. In India this marks the termination of the\ninauspicious month Pausha and the beginning of the sun\u2019s northern course\n(uttar\u0101ya\u1e47a) in the heavens. It is a season of general rejoicing.\n\nIn Burma, where a good type of Southern Buddhism is still to be found,\nthe New Year\u2019s festival might suitably be called a \u2018water-festival.\u2019 It\nhas there so little connexion with the increase of the New Year\u2019s light,\nthat it often takes place as late as the early half of April (see Mr.\nScott\u2019s \u2018Burman,\u2019 ii. 48). It is, however, a movable feast, the date of\nwhich is regularly fixed by the astrologers of Mandalay, \u2018who make\nintricate calculations based on the position of various constellations.\u2019\nThe object is to determine on what precise day the king of the Naths\n(see p. 217 of this volume) will descend upon the earth and inaugurate\nthe new year. When the day arrives all are on the watch, and just at the\nright moment\u2014which invariably occurs at midnight\u2014a cannon is fired off,\nannouncing the descent of the Nath-king upon earth. Forthwith (according\nto Mr. Scott) men and women sally out of their houses, carrying pots\nfull of water consecrated by fresh leaves and twigs of a sacred tree (p.\n514 of this volume), repeat a formal prayer, and pour out the water on\nthe ground. At the same time all who have guns of any kind discharge\nthem, so as to greet the new year with as much noise as possible.\n\nThen, \u2018with the first glimmer of light,\u2019 all take jars full of fresh\nwater and carry them off to the nearest monastery. First they present\nthem to the monks, and then proceed to bathe the images. This work is\nusually done by the women of the party, \u2018who reverently clamber up\u2019 and\nempty their goblets of water over the placid features of the Buddhas and\nBodhi-sattvas. Then begin the Saturnalia. All along the road are urchins\nwith squirts and syringes, with which they have been furtively\npractising for the last few days. The skill thus acquired is exhibited\nby the accuracy of their aim. Cold streams of water catch the ears of\nthe passers by. Young men and girls salute one another with the contents\nof jars and goblets. Shouts of merriment are heard in every quarter.\nBefore breakfast every one is soaked, but no one thinks of changing his\ngarments, for the weather is warm, and \u2018water is everywhere.\u2019 The girls\nare the most enthusiastic, and as they generally go in bands and carry\ncopious reservoirs along with them, \u2018unprotected males\u2019 are soon routed.\nThen a number of \u2018zealous people\u2019 go down to the river, wade into the\nwater knee-deep, splash about and drench one another till they are\ntired. No one escapes. For three days no one likes to be seen with dry\nclothes. The wetting is a compliment. A clerk comes up to his master,\nbows, and \u2018gravely pours the contents of a silver cup down the back of\nhis neck,\u2019 saying, \u2018let me do homage to you with water.\u2019\n\nIt appears from Mr. Scott\u2019s amusing narrative that, when there was a\nking in Burma, an important feature of the festival was the formal\nwashing of his Majesty\u2019s head.\n\nThe New Year\u2019s rejoicings in Ceylon require no special notice.\n\nIn Tibet the New Year\u2019s festival properly begins at new moon, and may be\ndelayed till some time in February. The festival lasts fifteen days,\nand, as usual, is a season of general festivity, gifts, congratulations,\nmummery, dancing, and acting. It is the L\u0101mistic carnival.\n\nAccording to M. Huc (ii. 216) the rejoicings commence (as in Burma) at\nmidnight. At Lh\u0101ssa all the inhabitants sit up, awaiting the solemn\nmoment which is to close the old year and open the new. The usages\ndiffer so curiously from those customary in Southern Buddhist countries,\nthat I here give an abbreviated version of the two French travellers\u2019\nexperiences.\n\n  Not being at all eager to watch for the moment of separation between\n  the two Tibetan years, we went to bed at our usual hour, and were\n  wrapped in profound slumber, when we were suddenly awakened by cries\n  of joy issuing from all quarters of the town. Bells, cymbals, conchs,\n  tambourines, and all the instruments of Tibetan music, were set to\n  work together and produced the most frightful uproar imaginable. We\n  had a good mind to get up to witness the happiness of the inhabitants\n  of Lh\u0101ssa, but the cold was so cutting that, after reflection, we\n  decided to remain under our woollen coverlets, and to unite ourselves\n  in heart only with the public felicity. Unhappily for our comfort,\n  violent knocks on our door, threatening to smash it into splinters,\n  warned us that we must renounce our project. We therefore donned our\n  clothes, and the door being opened, some friendly Tibetans rushed into\n  our room, inviting us to the New Year\u2019s banquet. They all bore in\n  their hands a small vessel made of baked earth, in which balls of\n  honey and flour floated on boiling water. One visitor offered us a\n  long silver needle, terminating in a hook, and invited us to fish in\n  his basin. At first we sought to excuse ourselves, objecting that we\n  were not in the habit of taking food during the night, but they\n  entreated us so warmly, and put out their tongues at us with so\n  friendly a grace, that we were obliged to comply, and resign ourselves\n  to a participation in the New Year\u2019s festivities. Each of us,\n  therefore, hooked a ball, which we then crushed between our teeth to\n  ascertain its flavour. For politeness sake we had to swallow the dose,\n  but not without making some grimaces. Nor could we get off with this\n  first act of devotion. The New Year was inexorable. Our numerous\n  friends at Lh\u0101ssa succeeded each other almost without interruption,\n  and we had perforce to munch Tibetan sweetmeats till daybreak.\n\nIt is said that other peculiar customs follow, one of which the Tibetans\ncall the Lh\u0101ssa-Moru. This takes place on the third day, and leads to\nthe invasion of the town and its environs by innumerable bands of L\u0101mas.\nImmense numbers of L\u0101mas, some on foot, some on horseback, some on asses\nor oxen, and all carrying cooking-utensils and prayer-books, crowd into\nLh\u0101ssa from all points. The town is completely over-run. Those who\ncannot get lodgings encamp in the streets and squares, or pitch their\ntents in the suburbs. The tribunals are closed, and the course of\njustice is suspended. The L\u0101mas parade the streets in disorderly bands,\nuttering discordant cries, pushing one another about, quarrelling,\nfighting, and yet, in the midst of all, chanting their prayers (Huc, ii.\n218).\n\nIn Tibet there is a \u2018water-festival\u2019 in the seventh or eighth month\n(about our August and September). At this festival the L\u0101mas go in\nprocession to rivers and lakes, and consecrate the waters by benediction\nor by throwing in offerings. Huts and tents are erected on the banks,\nand people bathe and drink to wash away their sins. It concludes with\ndancing, buffoonery, and masquerading.\n\nThe festival of Gautama Buddha\u2019s conception, or of the Buddha\u2019s _last_\nbirth\u2014for it must be borne in mind that, before Buddhahood, he went\nthrough innumerable previous births\u2014is a most important anniversary in\nall Buddhist countries, but the right date has been the occasion of much\ncontroversy. The event is generally celebrated at the end of April, or\nbeginning of May, or on a day corresponding to the 15th day of the Hind\u016b\nmonth Vai\u1e61\u0101kha, which is also sometimes given as the date of the\nBuddha\u2019s attainment of Buddhahood, and of his death. Everywhere\nthroughout the modern Buddhist world the Buddha\u2019s birthday is kept by\nthe worship of his images, followed by processions.\n\nAs to the day of his death, Sarat Chandra D\u0101s was at Lh\u0101ssa on June 1,\n1882, and wrote thus:\u2014\u2018To-day being the holiest day of the year\u2014the\nanniversary of Buddha\u2019s Nirv\u0101\u1e47a\u2014the burning of incense in every shrine,\nchapel, monastery, and house, darkened the atmosphere with smoke. Men\nhastened to the great temple to do homage to the Buddha and to obtain\nhis blessing.\u2019\n\nThe \u2018festival of lamps\u2019 is an important anniversary with all Buddhists.\nThe Hind\u016bs have their D\u012bv\u0101l\u012b or feast of illuminations (see \u2018Br\u0101hmanism\nand Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 432) when the cold season begins. The early Buddhists\nmarked the end of the rainy season (Vassa = Varsha), which terminated\ntheir period of retirement, by a day of rejoicing (see p. 84). In\nprocess of time they connected the celebration of Gautama\u2019s descent from\nheaven (p. 417) with the termination of Vassa.\n\nIn Tibet the orthodox followers of the Dalai L\u0101ma have a festival of\ntheir own, with illuminations, on the 25th day of the 10th month\n(Nov.\u2014Dec.), to celebrate the ascension of Tsong Khapa to heaven (p.\n280). Sarat Chandra D\u0101s was at Tashi Lunpo on this day in 1881, when\n\u2018hundreds of lamp-burners were tastefully placed in rows on the roof of\nevery building.\u2019 The illuminations of the temples, tombs, and grand\nmonastery \u2018presented a magnificent appearance.\u2019\n\nWith regard to the season called Vassa, it should be noted here that\nsince there is no rainy period of the year in Tibet which corresponds to\nthe Indian \u2018Rains,\u2019 certain seasons of abstinence from food are observed\neither before, or at the same time with the great Festivals. These\nperiods of fasting are distributed equally throughout the year\u2014one in\nFebruary, one in May, one in July, one in November or December.\n\nThe festivals and holy days thus briefly described, are by no means the\nonly festivals of Buddhism. There are numerous other special and local\nones. For example, in Ceylon, the Sinhalese celebrate the coming of the\nBuddha to their island and his victory over the R\u0101kshasas and evil\ndemons by a festival in March or April, when the greater number of\npilgrims flock to his supposed foot-print on Adam\u2019s Peak, or to the\nsacred Bodhi-tree at Anur\u0101dha-pura (see p. 519). Other Southern\ncountries have festivals connected with the worship of special\nfoot-prints and relics of their own.\n\nThen the L\u0101mas in Lh\u0101ssa keep the day of the worship of the Dorje (see\np. 322) on the 27th day of the first month, while those in Sikkim\ncelebrate as a festival the day on which the Lepchas make offerings to\nthe spirit of the mountain Kinchinjunga.\n\nThen, again, at the beginning of the third month an exhibition of sacred\nvessels and pictures takes place at Lh\u0101ssa, accompanied by processions\nin masks, the L\u0101mas appearing as good genii, and the laity as tigers,\nleopards, elephants, &c.\n\nIn other places, too, there are special festivals. For example, a\nsingular festival, called \u2018Chase of the spirit-kings,\u2019 is kept by\nNorthern Buddhists on the 30th of the second month, when there is a vast\namount of religious dancing (with tediously slow movements),\nmasquerading, mummery, and buffoonery, not unlike the devil-dancing\nwhich goes on in Ceylon, and closely connected with the universal belief\nin demons and evil spirits.\n\nThe most hideous masks are used on these occasions. In 1884 I had an\nopportunity of inspecting in a Buddhist monastery near D\u0101rj\u012bling a most\nsingular assortment of religious masks, which for distortion of feature\nand horrible unsightliness, could scarcely be matched anywhere; for\nindeed mask-making is an art which Buddhism has brought to the greatest\nperfection. I also witnessed a religious dance performed by a party of\nmasqueraders which struck me as a remarkable example of the utter\ndebasement of Buddhism in Northern countries.\n\nMrs. Bridges describes a similar religious dance in Lad\u0101k thus:\u2014\n\n  \u2018A group of grinning masks\u2014lions\u2019 heads and harlequins\u2019 bodies\u2014came\n  down the steps, and whirling slowly round, retreated again into the\n  gloom and came out dragon-headed. Then a band of skeletons, the skulls\n  (masks) admirably painted, gnashing their hideous jaws and shaking\n  their lanky limbs, rushed out into the sunshine and executed a real\n  \u201cDance of Death\u201d before us.\u2019 (\u2018Travels,\u2019 p. 101.)\n\nYet all true Buddhists are prohibited from dancing and masquerading (p.\n126 of this volume); just as Manu (II. 178, IV. 15, 212) prohibited\nBr\u0101hmans from engaging in similar frivolities.\n\nThen the religious dramas performed on some of the Buddhist festive days\nare not the least interesting examples of the present prevalent\nsuperstitions.\n\nI witnessed part of a dramatic performance at a Burmese Theatre in\nCalcutta (during the Exhibition year), when the story of the Hind\u016b Epic,\ncalled R\u0101m\u0101ya\u1e47a, and especially that portion of it which relates to the\ncarrying off of S\u012bt\u0101 by demons (see \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 42,\nand \u2018Indian Wisdom,\u2019 p. 337), was dramatically represented. The theatre\nwas a rude wooden enclosure open to the sky, with the exception of a\nportion roofed over for a band of musicians, whose noisy performances\nappeared to constitute an important element in the proceedings. The\nchief musician sat on the ground in the middle of a circular\nframe-work\u2014about two or three feet high\u2014hung round with drums of\ndifferent sizes, which he struck with his hands, and occasionally tuned\nby the application of moist clay in larger or smaller lumps. In the\ncentre of the open area of flat dusty soil which served for the stage, a\nbig branch of a tree was stuck upright, possibly to represent the forest\nin which R\u0101ma lived with his wife. Then the hero and heroine of the\ndrama\u2014R\u0101ma and S\u012bt\u0101\u2014kept up a tedious colloquy, interspersed with jokes,\nfor hours. The former\u2014who, be it remembered, was supposed to be a\ngod\u2014smoked a cigar all the while, and occasionally ejected saliva with\nperfect indifference to all appearances and to all laws of congruity,\nwhile every now and again S\u012bt\u0101, in spite of a tight dress, varied the\nmonotony of the dialogue by executing a slow dance, characterized by\nstrange contortions, twistings, and wrigglings of the limbs. Hideous\nmasks were at intervals assumed by the actors, and, of course, by the\ndemons who intervened at odd moments with much ludicrous gesticulation.\nThe action of the play went on continuously for about ten days, during\nwhich period people came and went as they liked, and the last comers\nentered into the progress of the plot with as much interest as if they\nhad witnessed the whole. There is never much originality of invention in\nthese religious plays. The Indian heroic poems and the five hundred and\nfifty birth-stories (see p. 63) of the Buddha furnish the basis of all.\n\nThe religious dramas of Tibet are of a somewhat different character. The\nfollowing description is founded on Dr. Schlagintweit\u2019s account (p.\n233), and on that of Mrs. Bridges in her interesting \u2018Travels\u2019 (John\nMurray, 1883, p. 130).\n\n  The dramatis person\u00e6 consist of three classes.\u20141. Tutelary deities or\n  good genii, called Dragshed (Drag\u1e61ed), who ward off the assaults of\n  evil demons; 2. Evil demons; 3. Men. The actors of each class are\n  distinguished by their masks. The first class\u2014that is the Dragsheds or\n  good genii\u2014wear masks of enormous size and terrific aspect[159]. The\n  second class\u2014that is the Evil demons\u2014wear larger masks of a dark\n  colour, and their garments are well padded to deaden the force of the\n  blows showered upon them. The third class\u2014that is the Men\u2014wear the\n  usual dress of human beings, and masks of a natural size and colour,\n  while under their clothes they carry heavy wooden sticks, with which\n  at times, during the progress of the drama, they belabour the demons.\n  The gods also get well knocked about by the demons, much to the\n  amusement of the spectators.\n\n  The drama is preceded by the recital of hymns and prayers and by noisy\n  music. The Dragsheds occupy the centre, the men are on their right and\n  the demons on their left. At short intervals the men and the demons\n  execute slow dances, each group by itself. At last, an evil spirit and\n  a man step forth. The evil spirit then tries, in a plausible speech,\n  to tempt the man to violate some precept of morality, while other evil\n  spirits approach and chime in. The man at first stands firm, but\n  gradually gives way and is about to yield, when other men come forward\n  and entreat him not to be seduced by the artful suggestions of the\n  demons. He is then closely pressed by the two opposite parties, but in\n  the end takes the advice of his human counsellors. Upon this all the\n  men break out into praise of the Dragsheds, to whose presence and\n  assistance they ascribe the victory. The Dragsheds now proceed to\n  punish the evil demons. The leading Dragshed, who is distinguished by\n  an unusually large yellow mask, advances against them surrounded by\n  about a dozen followers. Other Dragsheds next rush out from the\n  back-ground, shoot arrows, throw stones, and even fire with muskets\n  upon the demons, while the men belabour them with their sticks,\n  hitherto concealed under their clothes. The demons are routed, and run\n  in every direction pursued by the good genii. The drama concludes by\n  all the actors (men and demons included) singing hymns in honour of\n  the victorious tutelary genii.\n\nAmong the spectators (at the performance witnessed by Mrs. Bridges at\nLeh) were six deities, represented by six L\u0101mas seated on a bench with\numbrellas over their heads. They had incense swung before them by\nattendant priests.\n\nThis curious dramatic performance is paralleled in India by the Hind\u016b\ndrama called Prabodha-\u0107androdaya, \u2018Rise of the moon of true knowledge,\u2019\nin which we have Faith, Volition, Opinion, Imagination, Contemplation,\nDevotion, Quietude, Friendship, &c., on one side; Error, Self-conceit,\nHypocrisy, Love, Passion, Anger, Avarice, on the other. The two sets of\ncharacters are, of course, opposed to each other, the object of the play\nbeing to show how the orthodox faith of the Hind\u016bs became victorious\nover the erroneous doctrine of the Buddha\u2014the Buddhists and other\nheretical sects being represented as adherents of the losing side.\n\nThen\u2014to take a parallel nearer home\u2014we find similar religious dramas\nacted in England not so very long ago (about the time of Henry VIII).\nFor example, in the old English morality play, called \u2018Every-man,\u2019 some\nof the dramatis person\u00e6 on the one side are\u2014God, Death, Every-man,\nFellowship, Kindred, Good-deeds, Knowledge, Confession, Beauty,\nStrength, Discretion; while on the other are personifications of the\nopposite qualities. Then, again, in \u2018Lusty Juventus,\u2019 we have a medley\nof Good Counsel, Knowledge, Satan, Hypocrisy, Fellowship, Abominable\nLiving, God\u2019s Merciful Promises.\n\nAnd here with reference to the supposed contest continually going on\nbetween good and evil, and the participation of human beings in this\nterrible struggle, we may note that the mystical thunderbolt called\nDorje (p. 322) is not the only implement of spiritual warfare employed\nby the L\u0101mas against the demons[160]. Another important weapon is the\nPhurbu or \u2018nail,\u2019 described as triangular and wedge-shaped, with the\nthin end very sharp-pointed, and with the head of Tamdin (a particular\nDragshed = Haya-gr\u012bva, noted for his power) emerging from the broad end\nand surmounted by a half-thunderbolt for a handle.\n\nAccording to Schlagintweit, this weapon is often made of cardboard, on\nwhich mystical sentences (Dh\u0101ra\u1e47\u012bs) in Sansk\u1e5bit are inscribed, some\nagainst the demons of the South, some against those of the East, and\nsome against those of the South-east. In case of illness a L\u0101ma goes\nround the house turning the point of the Phurbu in all directions and\nuttering magical spells.\n\nMost of the Dh\u0101ara\u1e47\u012bs end with the syllables H\u016bm phat\u1e6d, the potency of\nwhich in scaring evil demons is irresistible. Many charms begin with Ah\nTamdin.\n\nThose Phurbus are considered most efficacious which are inscribed with\nmystical syllables and words composed by either the Dalai L\u0101ma or\nPanchen L\u0101ma. These are sold for large sums. It is said (Schlagintweit,\n260) that such Phurbus form an important article of trade for the\nMongolian pilgrims returning from Tibet.\n\nI was fortunate enough to meet with a remarkable specimen of a magical\nweapon of this kind (called Phur-pa by J\u00e4schke) made of metal, and\nshaped like a dagger with three edges, one for each of the three classes\nof demons inhabiting the three quarters. The handle is composed of a\nDorje (p. 322), and is surmounted by carvings of the heads of the three\nmost powerful Dragsheds. I here give a representation of it[161].\n\n[Illustration: ]\n\nIt may be easily understood that among a people, steeped in\nsuperstition, a man armed with such a weapon as this\u2014composed of the\nheads of three potent genii, a divine thunderbolt and a triple-edged\ndagger\u2014would be regarded as a match for the whole demon-host.\n\nIn Burma the tattooing of mystical squares, triangles and cabalistic\ndiagrams and figures on various parts of the body, seems to be regarded\nas a sufficient substitute for the use of magical weapons, and is held\nto be highly efficacious.\n\nObviously we may contrast the Christian armoury described by S. Paul\n(Ephes. vi. 11), \u2018the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit.\u2019 We\nmight also contrast the words of Christ, \u2018Rejoice not, that the spirits\nare subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written\nin heaven\u2019 (S. Luke x. 20).\n\n\n                      _Domestic Rites and Usages._\n\nI now pass on to domestic rites and usages, which are as numerous and\nimportant in Buddhist countries as in India. It is said, indeed, that in\nTibet and Mongolia no one is so poor as not to possess an altar in his\ndwelling on which he daily lays his offerings, and before which he\nperforms devotions.\n\nIn Ceylon and Burma certain ceremonies take place soon after the birth\nof a child. Mr. Scott, describing those in Burma, says that a fortnight\nafter birth a fortunate day and hour is fixed by an astrologer for the\nnaming of the infant. A feast is prepared, and all the friends and\nrelations of the family are invited. \u2018The child\u2019s head is usually washed\nfor the first time on this day,\u2019 and some one suggests a name.\n\nThe name actually given appears to be a matter of choice, but this is\nnot so. The consonants of the language are divided into groups, which\nare assigned to the days of the week, Sunday having all the vowels to\nitself. \u2018It is an invariable rule in all respectable families that the\nchild\u2019s name must begin with one of the letters belonging to the day on\nwhich it was born, but within these limits any name may be chosen.\u2019 A\ncommon belief is that, according to the day of the week (or rather the\nconstellation representing that day) on which a child is born, so will\nits character be.\n\nIn this way every person\u2019s probable characteristics may be inferred. For\nexample, a man born on a Monday is likely to be jealous; on Tuesday,\nhonest; on Wednesday, hot-tempered\u2014but soon appeased\u2014this characteristic\nbeing intensified under the influence of R\u0101hu[162].\n\nThen, again, if born on a Thursday, a man will probably be mild; on\nFriday, talkative; on Saturday, ill-tempered and quarrelsome; on Sunday,\nparsimonious. Saturday is a bad day for everything. Not only has every\nday its special character and its fixed letters, but there is also\n(according to Mr. Scott) a particular animal assigned to symbolize\nit\u2014for example, a guinea-pig stands for Friday; a dragon for Saturday; a\ntiger for Monday\u2014and red or yellow wax candles are made in the forms of\nthese animals to be offered at the Pagoda by the pious. Each worshipper\noffers the creature-candle representing his birth-day.\n\nThen a careful note is made of the exact hour of birth, with the\nimportant object of drawing up the child\u2019s horoscope. This may be\ndelayed till the fifth or sixth year, and a Br\u0101hman astrologer may be\ncalled in for the purpose. He records the year, the month, the day and\nhour at which the child was born; the name given to it and the planet in\nthe ascendant at the moment. All this is scratched neatly on a palm-leaf\nwith a metal style. On the other side are a number of cabalistic squares\nand numbers from which future calculations may be made.\n\nA person born on Monday remains under the influence of the moon for\nfifteen years. Then he passes under Mars for eight years. At the age of\ntwenty-three Mercury presides over him, and so on through all the\nplanets to the end of his life, which may be protracted to 108 years.\n\nR\u0101hu, and especially Saturn, have a particularly sinister influence. A\nman does most of the stupid and wicked things in his life while he is in\nSaturn\u2019s house. Other details will be found in \u2018Shway Yoe.\u2019\n\nThe horoscope is carefully kept by the parents until the child is old\nenough to take care of it himself, and thenceforward it is guarded as a\nvaluable possession.\n\nAll these Buddhist customs have their counterpart in the ceremonies of\nBr\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism.\n\nFor example, the Hind\u016bs have their birth-ceremonies (J\u0101ta-karman), and\ntheir name-giving ceremony (N\u0101ma-kara\u1e47a[163]), and the latter is a\nsolemn religious act fraught with momentous consequences in its bearing\non a child\u2019s future. Hence Hind\u016b boys are generally called after some\ngod, or the name indicates that the child is the god\u2019s servant.\nHoroscopes, too, are as important in India as in Buddhist\ncountries[164].\n\nIn India, too, all Br\u0101hman boys go through the ceremony of tonsure and\ncutting off the hair.\n\nAmong the Buddhists of Burma a boy is sent to the monastery school at\nabout the age of eight. Before he can become a novice he has to undergo\nthe hair-abscission ceremony, followed by shaving every fort-night (as\nbefore described). But those who afterwards elect to lead a secular life\nwear long hair, to wash which is regarded as a kind of religious\nceremonial, and only to be performed about once a month, partly, says\nMr. Scott, because the washing of a Burman\u2019s luxuriant hair takes a long\ntime, and partly because too frequent ablutions \u2018would disturb and\nirritate the good genius who dwells in the head and protects the man.\u2019\n\nIt is considered unlucky to wash the head on a Monday, Friday, or\nSaturday; and \u2018parents sending their boy to a monastery must remember\nnot to cut his hair off on a Monday, or on a Friday, or on his\nbirth-day.\u2019\n\nIt is noticeable that a kind of baptism is practised in Tibet and\nMongolia. It is usual to sprinkle children with consecrated water, or\neven to immerse them entirely on the third or tenth day after birth.\nThis is called Khrus-sol (according to J\u00e4schke).\n\nThe priest consecrates the water by reciting some formula, while candles\nand incense are burning. He then dips the child three times, blesses it,\nand gives it a name. After performing the ceremony, he draws up the\ninfant\u2019s horoscope.\n\nThen, so soon as the child can walk and talk, a second ceremony takes\nplace, when prayers are said for its happy life, and an amulet or little\nbag is hung round its neck, filled with spells and charms against evil\nspirits and diseases.\n\nThe use of _amulets_ (Sansk\u1e5bit kava\u0107a), charms and spells in Northern\nBuddhist countries is universal.\n\nAt D\u0101rj\u012bling I noticed that among the crowds of persons who frequented\nthe bazaar\u2014many of whom were travellers from Tibet, Nep\u0101l, Bhut\u0101n, and\nSikkim\u2014almost every one wore an amulet, or a string of amulets round the\nneck. Most of these amulets are simply ornamental boxes or receptacles\nfor supposed relics of saints, or for little images, or pictures, or for\nprayer-formularies, worn like breast-plates or phylacteries. They are\ncomposed of wood, bone, and not infrequently of beautifully-worked\nfiligree silver, embossed and ornamented with turquoise. The shape is\nsometimes square, sometimes circular or curved, and brought round to a\npoint[165]. I purchased several specimens, but the vendor of any amulet\nin actual use invariably removed the contents before consenting to part\nwith it. Here is a specimen of one of exceptionally beautiful design\nwhich was given to me by Mr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s. It was taken from the\nneck of a woman in the bazaar, but not purchased without much\ndifficulty.\n\n[Illustration: ]\n\nWe pass on next to the Buddhist _marriage-ceremony_. This in Ceylon,\nBurma, Tibet, Mongolia, and indeed in all Buddhist countries, is\nproperly a purely civil contract witnessed only by parents and\nguardians. We have already pointed out, that true Buddhism considers\ncelibacy to be the only sure means of attaining real sanctity of\ncharacter. Consistently with this idea, it has not prescribed any\nreligious ceremony to be performed by monks or priests, as a condition\nof the validity of marriage[166].\n\nHence among Buddhists the ceremony of marriage is very simple, and has\nno religious character, or at any rate no complicated religious\nobservances connected with it, as among the Hind\u016bs[167]. In fact the\ncelibate monks of true Buddhism would be much scandalized if they were\nasked to take part in the celebration of a wedding, or even to ratify it\nby their presence.\n\nThe principal ceremony consists in a feast given by the bridegroom or\nhis parents, to which all the relations, friends, and neighbours are\ninvited. Nevertheless, in most Buddhist countries in the present day the\nmonks manage to have some remunerative work to do in connexion with\nweddings; for their business is to fix the most auspicious days for the\nperformance of the ceremony, in return for which they receive offerings\nof various kinds. We know that in India astrology is a chief factor in\nall marriage-arrangements. Similarly in most Buddhist countries no\nwedding can take place till the astrologer, who is usually a\nmonk-priest, has been consulted as to lucky and unlucky combinations,\nand the benign or baleful aspects of planets and stars. For example, in\nBurma, Saturdays and Thursdays are pronounced unlucky days, and it would\nbe the height of imprudence to marry in certain months of the year.\nThen, again, a woman born on a Friday would be guilty of utter folly if\nshe married a man born on a Monday, seeing that one or other would soon\ndie[168]; and so on through a long list of auspicious and inauspicious\npotentialities.\n\nIt should, however, be set down to the credit of Buddhism that wives and\ndaughters are not imprisoned in Zan\u0101nas, as among Hind\u016bs and\nMuhammadans. I was present at an evening-party given by a rich native of\nCeylon, when the ladies of the family were introduced to the European\nguests, and conversed freely with the rest of the company. Nor is the\nmarriage of mere boys and girls insisted on in Buddhist countries as in\nIndia. The bridegroom is seldom of a less age than eighteen or nineteen.\n\nThen, again, not only births and marriages, but illnesses and death are\nin the present day a source of revenue to the Buddhist monkhood.\n\nFirst, as to _sickness_.\n\nIn Ceylon, when any one is dangerously ill, the monk-priest is summoned\nfrom the neighbouring Vih\u0101ra, after first sending offerings of flowers,\noil, and food. Then a temporary preaching-place is erected near the\nhouse, and all the relatives and friends, and if possible the sick man\nhimself, listen to the reading of the Law (Ba\u1e47a) for about six hours.\nThe part especially read and intoned is the Ratna-valiya section of the\nPirit (see p. 317). After the Ba\u1e47a a number of offerings are given to\nthe reciting priest, including a piece of calico, one end of which is\nheld by the priest, and the other by the sick man. Then the priest\npronounces a benediction, and says words to the following effect:\u2014\u2018By\nreverence do the wise secure health, by almsgiving do they lay up\ntreasures for themselves[169].\u2019\n\nWhen the sick man is likely to die the priest repeats the Three-refuge\nformula (p. 78), the five commandments (p. 126), and the Sati-pa\u1e6d\u1e6dh\u0101na\nSutta (p. 49).\n\nIn Burma, if an epidemic happens to break out in any village, the people\nbegin by painting the supposed figure of an evil spirit on a common\nearthenware water-pot, and then solemnly smashing it to pieces at sunset\nwith a heavy stick[170]. Then as soon as it gets dark all the villagers\nshout, yell, shriek, and make every kind of deafening din, with the hope\nof frightening away the evil spirit who has caused the disease. This\nprocess is continued for three nights, and if no good result follows the\nmonk-priests are called in from the monastery. They recite the ten\nprecepts, chant the Law up and down the road, and intone a particular\nsermon of the Buddha, by the preaching of which he once drove away a\npestilence. These means are, of course, not effective unless abundant\nalms and gifts are bestowed upon the monastery.\n\nAccording to Koeppen and Huc the art of medicine in Northern Buddhist\ncountries is practised exclusively by the L\u0101mas. The theory is that\nthere are 140 different maladies, and that most of these are caused by\ndevils. The monk-priests are the sole doctors, and a sick person can\nonly be cured by them. One process is simple. It begins by the L\u0101ma\ndoctor writing the name of a remedy upon a morsel of paper, moistening\nit with saliva, and rolling it into a pill. The patient takes the paper\npellet with as much faith as if he were swallowing the veritable drug.\nMany Mongols believe that \u2018it is precisely the same, whether you swallow\na drug or its written appellation.\u2019 Then, \u2018if the patient be poor, the\ndevil is a little one, and may be dislodged by a few prayers; but, if he\nbe rich, the case is different; fine clothes, handsome boots, or even a\ngood horse must be presented, or he will not consent to turn out.\u2019\n\nA very effective medicine may be composed of the bones of some pious\nL\u0101ma ground into a powder. This may be given alone or in combination\nwith other substances.\n\nIt appears to be essential that the prayers recited on these occasions\nshould be accompanied by terrific noises. M. Huc relates a story of an\nold woman\u2014the aunt of a certain chief\u2014who was one day attacked by\nintermittent fever. The L\u0101ma, of course, announced that a devil had\npossession of her body; and so in the evening he and eight other L\u0101mas\nbegan operations for its expulsion. First they made a little figure or\nmanikin of dried herbs, which they called the devil of intermittent\nfevers. This they stuck upright in the tent of the sick woman. Then at\neleven o\u2019clock at night the L\u0101mas ranged themselves at the back of the\ntent, armed with bells, tambourines, conch-shells, and other noisy\ninstruments. Nine members of the family closed the circle in front,\ncrouching on the ground, while the old woman remained seated on her\nheels in front of the manikin. Next, \u2018at a given signal, the orchestra\nperformed an overture capable of scaring away the most imperturbable and\nobstinate devil, while all the secular assistants beat time with their\nhands to the hubbub of the instruments and the howling of the prayers.\nWhen this demoniacal music was over, the chief L\u0101ma began his exorcisms,\nscattering millet seeds around as he proceeded; sometimes speaking low,\nsometimes in stentorian tones. Then, appearing to throw himself into a\npassion, he addressed animated appeals, with violent gesticulation, to\nthe manikin.\u2019 Finally, after further incantations, he gave a signal; the\nL\u0101mas thundered out a noisy chorus, the instruments added to the din,\nand the members of the family rushing out in file, made the circuit of\nthe tent, striking it frantically with stakes, and uttering terrific\ncries. Finally, the chief L\u0101ma and his assistants, after joining in the\nyells, set fire to the manikin. This ended the ceremony; the demon being\ncompelled to beat a retreat.\n\nMr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s has given an account of a somewhat similar\nceremony in Tibet performed by some L\u0101mas to cure him of a sickness. An\nimage representing the patient, and supposed to resemble him, was\nconstructed, and a suit of his clothes placed in front of it, together\nwith portions of his usual food and drink. Two L\u0101mas then muttered\nmystic sentences, ringing a bell, waving a Dorje (see p. 323 of these\nLectures), and twisting their fingers and hands into the mysterious\nshapes called Mudr\u0101 (p. 241). Next they broke out into alternate\nexhortations and threats, and at the conclusion of the ceremony the\nofficiating priests supplicated the lord of death (Yama) to accept the\nimage in place of the moribund man.\n\nOn another occasion, when Mr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s was seriously ill in\nTibet, an effective method of curing his disease was proposed to him,\nand, with his consent, actually carried out. This mainly consisted in\nthe ransoming of fish-life. A certain L\u0101ma started off for a fisherman\u2019s\nvillage, and in a short time returned in a high state of satisfaction.\nHe had saved the lives of five hundred fishes for the benefit of the\nsick man. The merit of this deed was credited to the patient on his\nrepeating the following prayer:\u2014\n\n\u2018By virtue of my having ransomed the lives of these animals, let health,\nlongevity, prosperity, and happiness perpetually accrue to me.\u2019\n\nIn the same way in Burma, in times of great heat and drought, when the\nponds and tanks appear to be on the point of drying up, it is held to be\na work of enormous merit to rescue fish, put them in jars, and transport\nthem alive to the rivers. (See Scott\u2019s \u2018Burman,\u2019 ii. 43.)\n\nSimilarly a bird-catcher will sell live birds to pious persons, that\nthey may gain merit by releasing them.\n\nWe pass on, in the next place, to the usages and ceremonies common at\ndeath.\n\nIf a man\u2019s soul is to be separated from his body properly and\npeacefully, so as not to hurt the survivors, and in a manner likely to\ncause a happy re-birth for himself, alms must be bestowed on the\nmonk-priests, and their presence must be invited for the repetition of\nprayers. In Ceylon and Burma monks go to the houses of mourners and\nrepeat portions of the Pirit (see p. 317).\n\nIn Tibet the priest not only recites prayers but compresses the skull\ntill it appears to crack, or else the hair is torn off and a little\nincision is made, to enable the dying man\u2019s soul to escape. The priest\nthen settles what method of burial is to be followed, and the place, day\nand hour, all of which depend on astrological combinations, known only\nto him.\n\nThe method of disposing of a dead body differs in all Buddhist countries\naccording to station, condition, rank, and wealth.\n\nIn Ceylon the bodies of monks are all burnt, and the cremation\nceremonies are carried out under decorated arches or canopies, which are\nnever removed, but left to crumble away.\n\nIn Burma the cremation of a monk distinguished for sanctity is an affair\nof great state and ceremonial. The body (see Mr. Scott\u2019s \u2018Burman,\u2019 ii.\n331) is first embalmed, and next tightly wrapped in white cloth, which\nis varnished and afterwards covered with gold-leaf. The corpse thus\ngilded is placed in an unclosed inner coffin, and left exposed to view\nfor a considerable time. When fastened down, the inner coffin is covered\nwith gold-leaf, like the body. An outer sarcophagus is then prepared,\nand painted to represent scenes from the lives of the Buddha. This is\nplaced in a building erected for the purpose, and there the body lies in\nstate for several months, while a constant line of pilgrim-worshippers\npass in and out. In process of time, when enough money for the expenses\nhas been collected, a grand cremation takes place under a lofty canopy,\nwhich on special occasions may be fifty or sixty feet high. The calcined\nbones are then reverentially collected, and either buried near the\ntemple or pounded and made up into a paste, with which an image of the\nBuddha is constructed for worship in the monastery.\n\nIn Tibet the bodies of the Grand L\u0101mas are generally embalmed and\npreserved in monuments or St\u016bpas. Other L\u0101mas and monks distinguished\nfor sanctity are burnt, and their ashes are either distributed as\nrelics, or preserved in idols or in small D\u0101gabas. Kings, princes, and\ngreat men are also burnt, and of course with much ceremony and\nrepetition of prayers. Then for a long time afterwards prayers continue\nto be recited by the priests, the object being to propitiate Yama, god\nof Death, and to deliver the deceased from the possible purgatorial\ntorments of one of the hells. It is said that this repetition of prayers\nis prolonged, in the case of the rich, for seven weeks, and in the case\nof princes, for a whole year.\n\nMr. J. Ware Edgar, C.S.I., in his interesting Report of his visit to\nSikkim in 1873, gives a description of the remarkable funeral ceremonies\nperformed on the occasion of the death of the R\u0101j\u0101 of Sikkim\u2019s sister\n(see p. 62), which I here abbreviate:\u2014\n\n  The R\u0101j\u0101\u2019s sister had died a few days after his return to Choombi. The\n  body had been buried at Choombi, but her clothes had been sent to\n  Toomlong, and her soul was supposed to accompany them. There a\n  lay-figure meant to represent her, dressed in her costume as a nun,\n  and wearing a gilt mitre and a long white veil, was placed on a kind\n  of throne to the right of the great altar in the principal chapel.\n  Before the figure was a table, on which were different kinds of food.\n  On another table were various things which had belonged to her, while\n  on a third, 108 little brass lamps were arranged in rows. Some days\n  afterwards the lay-figure of the nun was taken to Pemyangchi. There,\n  for three days the figure was seated before the altar, and the monks\n  chanted the litanies for her soul, which had accompanied her clothes\n  from Choombi. On the third day towards evening the tea-cup of the nun\n  was freshly filled with tea, and all the monks solemnly drank tea with\n  her. The monks chanted the litanies, and the Head L\u0101ma went through\n  some elaborate ceremonies. At about nine o\u2019clock the chanting ceased,\n  and the L\u0101ma made a long speech to the soul of the nun, in which he\n  told her that all that could be done to make her journey to another\n  world easy, had been done, and that now she would have to go alone and\n  unassisted to appear before the King and Judge of the dead.\n\n  \u2018You will have to leave your robes, your mitre, and your veil,\u2019 said\n  he, \u2018and clad in the black garment of your sins, or in the shining\n  garment of your good deeds, you will be shown the mirror of the just\n  King. Your gold and silver, your rank, your good name will not help\n  you, when your good deeds are weighed against your evil deeds, in the\n  scales of the King. If you have done ill, you will be punished; but if\n  your sins are found to be lighter than your good works, your reward\n  will be great indeed.\u2019\n\n  When the L\u0101ma had finished his address, some of the monks took down\n  the lay-figure and undressed it, while others formed a procession and\n  conducted the soul of the nun into the darkness outside the monastery,\n  with a discordant noise of conch-shells, thigh-bone trumpets, Tibetan\n  flutes, gongs, cymbals, tambourines, and drums.\n\nIn Japan small portions of the calcined remains (often not larger than\npeas) are preserved in globular glass shrines, and then duly honoured\nand worshipped.\n\nThe method of disposing of the dead bodies of the laity and of the\ncommon people is generally much more simple. In most Buddhist countries\nlaymen are buried, and the priests lead the processions to the grave. In\nCeylon, the laity are certainly, as a rule, buried and not burnt.\n\nIn Burma rich laymen are also generally buried, and, according to Mr.\nScott, the funeral is a grand affair.\n\nThe body is swathed in new white cotton cloth, leaving the face\nuncovered. A piece of gold or silver is placed between the teeth to\nserve as ferry-money over the Buddhist Styx\u2014the terrible river of death\nwhich all deceased persons are compelled to pass. This river is clearly\nthe counterpart of the Vaitara\u1e47\u012b of the Hind\u016bs (see \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and\nHind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 297).\n\nIf the dead man\u2019s family is poor, a copper coin or even a betel nut will\nsuffice. Next the monks are sent for, their immediate presence being\nnecessary to keep off the evil spirits who always swarm near a corpse.\nAfter an interval the body is placed in a coffin, which is sometimes\ngilded and placed on a bier under a canopy. When the right day arrives\nfor the funeral, a long procession is formed, with a number of priests\nin proportion to the amount of alms bestowed, and a crowd of relations,\nfriends, and neighbours. Occasionally those who carry the bier stop and\ngo through a sort of solemn dance, while mournful tunes are played by\nthe musicians and funeral dirges are sung. The body is finally buried in\na cemetery to the west of the town or village. A funeral must never go\nto the north or to the east. The ceremony concludes by alms to the\npriests, who in return intone the commandments and other portions of the\nLaw in P\u0101li. After the funeral, great festivities go on in the\nfamily-abode for the benefit of the crowds who come to offer condolence.\nThen the presence of the priests is again needed, and has to be paid for\nby alms to the monastery, or the evil spirits, who are sure to hang\nabout, cannot be got rid of. In some parts of Burma the cremation of\nrich laymen is not uncommon, and the ashes are either deposited in\nD\u0101gabas\u2014that is, in small St\u016bpas or Pagodas[171]\u2014or are pounded into\npaste and made into miniature St\u016bpas (p. 506) or into small images of\nthe Buddha for worship at the domestic altar.\n\nIn Tibet and Mongolia the corpses of the laity, especially of the poor,\nare often exposed in the fields, in deserts, or on mountain tops, or\nrocks, or in lonely ravines, or sometimes in open places enclosed for\nthe purpose. Occasionally they are covered with a thin layer of earth or\nloose stones. Usually they are devoured by vultures, dogs, and other\nanimals.\n\nIt seems that in Lh\u0101ssa certain dogs are kept for that purpose[172]. A\nclass of professional men exist there, whose business it is to cut up\ndead bodies, and throw the flesh piecemeal to dogs and vultures. Even\nthe bones are sometimes pounded, and the dust, being mixed with flour,\nis given to be devoured. The strange thing is, that this kind of burial\nis thought desirable, and even honourable. To be eaten up by sacred dogs\nafter death is productive of great merit, and leads to re-birth in\nhigher forms. Dogs are the mausoleums of Lh\u0101ssa.\n\nAccording to M. Huc, a common funeral ceremony among the Mongols\nconsists in carrying the corpse to the summit of a mountain, or to the\nbottom of a ravine. The body is walled up in a sort of kiln of a\npyramidal form, with a small door at the bottom, and an opening at the\ntop to maintain a current of air, and allow the smoke to escape. During\nthe combustion the L\u0101mas recite prayers. When the corpse is consumed,\nthe kiln is demolished. Then the bones are collected and carried to the\nGrand L\u0101ma, who reduces them to a powder, and, after adding an equal\nquantity of wheaten flour, kneads the whole carefully, and, with his own\nhands, fashions a number of cakes of various sizes. These are afterwards\nplaced in a pyramidal St\u016bpa, which has been built beforehand in some\nauspicious place.\n\nThe soil of the famous monastery of the Five Towers in the province of\nShan Si, is said to be so holy that those interred there are sure to\neffect a good transmigration. In the deserts of Tartary, Mongols are\nfrequently seen carrying on their shoulders the bones of their kindred,\nand journeying to the Five Towers\u2014there to purchase, almost at its\nweight in gold, a little surface of ground whereon to erect a small\nSt\u016bpa. Some of them undertake a toilsome journey of a whole year\u2019s\nduration, to reach this holy spot (see p. 435).\n\nBurial in rivers, which is highly prized by the Hind\u016bs, is not in favour\namong Buddhists. Only very poor people allow their dead to be thrown\ninto rivers, though this is the only kind of Buddhist burial mentioned\nby Alber\u016bn\u012b (Sachau, ii. 169). Buddhism, from the first, repudiated the\nHind\u016b funeral ceremonies called \u1e60r\u0101ddhas, which are still a great\nincubus on the people. The poorest man in India, if he be of high caste,\ncannot perform a \u1e60r\u0101ddha for a relation for a less sum than forty\nrupees, given in fees to the priests. Buddhism did good service in\ndelivering the people from this burden, but in Northern countries it\nestablished something similar in the Bardo ceremony (p. 334).\n\n\n                        _Formularies of Prayer._\n\nWith regard to prayer-formularies, there is in modern times a good deal\nof difference between Southern and Northern Buddhist countries. We have\nseen that the three-refuge formulary was the sole prayer of early\nBuddhists. Certain orthodox men whom I met in Ceylon, maintained to me\nthat this is the only legitimate form of prayer that ought to be used\neven in the present day. It is certainly a form which is accepted and\nemployed by all Buddhists of whatever nationality.\n\nTsong Khapa, it is said, established at Lh\u0101ssa an annual\nprayer-congregation called Monlam \u0106henpo (see p. 386). But the most\ncommon prayer used in Tibet is a mere formulary, the constant repetition\nof which is one of the most amazing instances of the tyranny of\nsuperstition to be found in any part of the world.\n\nIt consists of the six-syllabled sentence, Om ma\u1e47i padme H\u016bm, \u2018Om! the\nJewel in the Lotus! H\u016bm!\u2019\n\nThis prayer, or rather mystical sentence, is supposed to have been\ncomposed by Padma-p\u0101\u1e47i (Avalokite\u1e61vara), and to have reference to his\nown manifestation as the Patron-Saint of Tibet[173]. It is sometimes\ncalled the Ma\u1e47i or \u2018Jewel\u2019 prayer, and, if brevity is a valuable\nquality, its excellence is undeniable, since it consists of merely two\nSansk\u1e5bit words, between two mystical, untranslatable auspicious\nejaculations, Om and H\u016bm[174].\n\nDoubtless the prayer really owes its origin to the close connexion which\nsprang up between Northern Buddhism and \u1e60aivism. The worshippers of \u1e60iva\nhave always used (compare p. 240) similar mystical sentences and\nsyllables called Dh\u0101ra\u1e47\u012bs, to which a kind of miraculous efficacy is\nattributed. In all probability an occult meaning underlies the\n\u2018Jewel-lotus\u2019 formula, and my own belief is that the majority of those\nwho repeat it are ignorantly doing homage to the self-generative power\nsupposed to inhere in the universe\u2014a power pointed at by the popular\nS\u0101\u1e45khya theory of the union of Prak\u1e5biti and Purusha, and by the\nuniversal worship of the Li\u1e45ga and Yoni throughout India[175]. No\nthoughtful person can have travelled much in India without being\nimpressed with this.\n\nAt all events, whatever be its origin and meaning, no other prayer used\nby human beings in any quarter of the globe is repeated so often. Every\nTibetan believes it to be a panacea for all evil, a compendium of all\nknowledge, a treasury of all wisdom, a summary of all religion. But if\nyou ask Northern Buddhists to give you the reason for this belief, very\nfew are able to give an intelligible reply. According to the most\nlearned doctors of philosophy who are to be found in Tibetan\nmonasteries, it is certainly addressed to their patron deity\nAvalokite\u1e61vara, and the real secret of its efficacy lies in the fact,\nthat each one of its six syllables has a potent influence on some one of\nthe six _Gatis_ or courses of being\u2014that is to say, on some one of the\nsix kinds of transmigration or transformation through which every living\nindividual has to pass (see p. 121)[176].\n\nThe oftener, therefore, this mystical formula is repeated the shorter\nwill be an individual\u2019s course (gati) through some of these six forms of\nexistence, every one of which involves misery or evil. Or it may be that\nby repeating it he will be able to escape some of the six existences\naltogether.\n\nStrange indeed as it may appear to us, it is impossible to shake the\nfaith of a L\u0101mistic Buddhist in the absolutely infallible efficacy of\nhis six favourite mystic syllables. He repeats them, not at all as if he\nwere praying in a Christian sense, but as if he were a farmer intent on\nplanting the very best seed in the most productive soil, and watering it\nincessantly according to the most scientific principles of irrigation. A\nbountiful harvest is absolutely certain to reward his efforts.\n\nIt need not, therefore, surprise us if these six syllables are murmured\nmorning, noon, and night, by every man, woman, and child, wherever the\nL\u0101mistic Hierarchy has extended. And, if not repeated by the voice, an\nincessant stream of repetition\u2014an incessant scattering of the six mystic\nseeds\u2014is kept going by the hand.\n\nThe words are written or printed on roll within roll of paper and\ninscribed in cylinders, which, when made to revolve either by educated\nmonks or by illiterate laymen, have the same efficacy as if they were\nactually said or repeated. The revolutions are credited as so much\nprayer-merit, or, to speak more scientifically, as so much\n_prayer-force_, accumulated and stored up for the benefit of the person\nwho revolves them.\n\nThe cylinder is generally made of metal, the prayer being engraved on\nthe outside, as well as written on paper and inserted inside. It is held\nin the right hand and whirled round, like a child\u2019s toy, by means of a\nhandle in a particular direction (with the sun). If made to revolve the\nother way, its rotations will be set down to the debtor rather than the\ncreditor side of the owner\u2019s account. Here is a drawing of one of\nseveral hand-cylinders (commonly called prayer-wheels or prayer-mills;\nTibetan, \u0106hos-kor or \u0106hos-kyi or Khor-lo), obtained by me at D\u0101rj\u012bling:\u2014\n\n[Illustration: ]\n\nThen, again, the words of the prayer are written or printed millions and\nmillions of times on rolls or strips of paper, and enclosed in much\nlarger barrel-like cylinders, which are set up in temples, chapels,\nmonasteries, corridors, passages, houses, villages, by the road side,\nand in every possible corner, for the convenience of the mass of the\npeople who are too ignorant to read, and too indolent to engage in\ncontinuous oral repetition[177].\n\nIt sometimes happens that quarrels arise from rival claims in regard to\nthe use of such prayer-cylinders. In illustration of this an amusing\nstory is told by the French missionaries:\u2014\n\nOne day when they happened to be passing a praying-machine, set up near\na monastery, they saw two L\u0101mas engaged in a violent quarrel; and, as it\nappeared, all on account of their zeal for their prayers. The fact was\nthat one L\u0101ma had come, and, having set the barrel in motion for his own\nbenefit, was retiring modestly and complacently to his own abode, when\nhappening to turn his head to enjoy the spectacle of the wheel\u2019s pious\nrevolutions, he saw the other L\u0101ma stop it, and set it whirling again\nfor himself. Indignant, of course, at this unwarrantable interference\nwith his own devotions, he ran back, and in his turn put a stop to his\nrival\u2019s piety, and both of them continued this kind of demonstration for\nsome time, till at last losing patience they proceeded to menaces, and\nthen to blows, when an old L\u0101ma came out of a neighbouring cell, and\nbrought the difficulty to a peaceful termination by himself twirling the\nprayer-barrel for the benefit of both parties.\n\nOn the occasion of my visiting D\u0101rj\u012bling in 1884, I was desirous of\njudging for myself of the method of using these remarkable instruments\nof religion. I therefore, soon after my arrival, walked to a Buddhist\ntemple near the town. There I found several large barrel-like cylinders\nset up close together in a row at the entrance, so that no one might\npass in without giving them at least one twirl, or by a rapid sweep of\nhis hand might set them all twirling at once. Inside the\nentrance-portico a shrivelled and exceptionally hideous old woman was\nseated on the ground. In her left hand she held a small portable\nprayer-cylinder, which she kept in perpetual revolution. In her right\nhand was a cord connected with a huge barrel-like cylinder, which with\nsome exertion she made to rotate on its axis by help of a crank, while\nshe kept muttering _Om ma\u1e47i pamme H\u016bm_ (so she pronounced it) with\namazing rapidity. In this way she completed at least sixty oral\nrepetitions every minute, without reckoning the infinite number of\nrotatory repetitions accomplished simultaneously by her two hands. And\nall this was done with an appearance of apathy and mental vacuity in her\nwithered face, which was so distressing and melancholy to behold, that\nthe spectacle will never be effaced from my memory. In truth the\nvenerable dame seemed to be sublimely unconscious that any effort of\nthought or concentration of either mind or heart was needed to make\nprayer of any value at all.\n\nAnd the men of Tibet are quite as much slaves to this superstition as\nthe women. A friend of mine when staying at D\u0101rj\u012bling had some\nconversation on serious subjects with an apparently sensible native, and\nobserved with surprise that all the while he was engaged in talking with\nthe Buddhist, the latter continued diligently whirling a prayer-cylinder\nwith great velocity. My friend, being unacquainted with Tibetan customs,\ncame away from his colloquy under the impression that Buddhists regard\nChristians as dangerous lunatics possessed with evil spirits, which\nrequire specially active measures in the way of exorcism. It did not\noccur to him that the Buddhist was merely intent on redeeming every\ninstant of time for the purpose of storing up merit by prayer.\n\nAnd the hold which this extraordinary superstition has upon the\npopulation is still more forcibly impressed on the traveller who\npenetrates into the regions beyond D\u0101rj\u012bling. He may there see immense\nprayer-cylinders set up like mills, and kept in incessant revolution,\nnot by the will or hand of man, but by the blind, unconscious force of\nwind and water.\n\nIt is even said that great mechanical ingenuity is displayed by the\nmonks in some parts of Tibet, their inventive powers being stimulated by\na burning desire to economize time and labour in the production of\nprayer-merit by machinery.\n\nAn intricate arrangement of huge wheels and other wheels within wheels,\nlike the works of a clock, is connected with rows of cylinders and made\nto revolve rapidly by means of heavy weights. An infinite number of\nprayers are repeated in this manner by a single monk, who takes a minute\nor two to wind up the complicated spiritual machinery, and then hastens\nto help his brothers in industrial occupations\u2014the whole fraternity\nfeeling that the ingenious contrivance of praying by clock-work enables\nthem to promote the common weal by making the most of both worlds. The\nstory goes that, in times of special need and emergency, additional\nweights are attached to the machinery, and, of course, increased cogency\ngiven to the rotatory prayers. It is to be hoped that when European\ninventions find their way across the Him\u0101layas, steam-power may not be\npressed into the service of these gross superstitions.\n\nThe use of prayer-wheels of various kinds is also common in Japan, as\ndescribed in Sir Edward Reed\u2019s work.\n\nBut praying by machinery is not all. Beneficial results are believed to\naccrue through the carving of the all-powerful six syllables on every\nconceivable object.\n\nThe traveller, as he walks along, sees the mystic words impressed on the\nstones at his feet, on rocks, doors, monuments, and trees. Indeed, rich\nand zealous Buddhists maintain at their own expense, companies of L\u0101mas\nfor the sole object of propagating the Ma\u1e47i-padme formula. These strange\nmissionaries may occasionally be encountered, chisel and hammer in hand,\ntraversing field, hill, dale, and desert, their only mission being to\nengrave the sacred six syllables on every rock in their path (Huc, ii.\n194).\n\nAbsolutely incalculable is the grand total of Ma\u1e47i-padmes thus placed to\nthe credit of the world of living beings during the short space of\ntwenty-four hours. Yet, at the end of the New Year\u2019s festival in Tibet,\nthe chief L\u0101ma will sometimes pretend to proclaim the exact sum of\nmystic syllables supposed to have been repeated during its continuance,\namounting perhaps to billions upon billions, for the consolation of all\nthose faithful Buddhists who, oppressed by the evils of life, are\nseeking for some antidote.\n\nBut the \u2018jewel-lotus\u2019 is not the only antidote. There are other short\nprayer-formularies, such as Om Vajra-p\u0101\u1e47i-H\u016bm (addressed to the\nBodhi-sattva Vajra-p\u0101\u1e47i, p. 201), and other still more mystical\nejaculations (such as Om ah H\u016bm); and magical sentences, called Dh\u0101ran\u012b,\nand profoundly significant monosyllables, such as Ram, Pha\u1e6d, H\u1e5bim, H\u1e5b\u012bm,\n\u1e5aim, \u1e5a\u012bm, H\u1e5b\u012bs.\n\nAnd here in connexion with the ubiquity of prayer-formularies, we must\nnot omit to notice the _Praying-walls_, that is, the long stone walls or\nbanks called (from the \u2018jewel-lotus\u2019 prayer inscribed upon them)\n_Ma\u1e47i_[178], or in the provincial dialect Man Dang (variously Man-dong,\nMendong).\n\nThese remarkable stone-structures, peculiar to L\u0101mism, are erected by\nthe side of high-roads, and in frequented thoroughfares, with the simple\nobject of aiding in the accumulation of prayer-merit. Some are only a\nfew feet long, six feet high, and from six to twelve feet broad; others\nhave been met with nearly 1000 yards long, with pyramidal St\u016bpas[179] or\n\u0106aityas (in Tibetan \u0106hortens) at each end. Inserted in these walls are\nslabs on which the six-syllabled, and other prayer-formulas, and\nsometimes images of saints, are carved and dedicated as votive\nofferings. Passing travellers acquire merit by keeping them on their\nleft side[180], so that they may follow the letters of the inscription\nwithout necessarily repeating the words[181].\n\nIn the same connexion we may advert to _Praying-flags_ and\n_Praying-staffs_. And I may mention that, while staying at D\u0101rj\u012bling, I\nvisited a village to which a monastery is attached, and, on approaching\nthe spot, was surprised to see the whole neighbourhood studded with\npoles from which long flags were flying. On the tops of the poles were\ncurious ornaments like caps, made of coloured cloth with flounces. I\nnaturally supposed that I had arrived on a gala day, and that at least a\ngreat L\u0101ma or other high functionary was expected, perhaps to lay the\nfirst stone of some new building connected with the monastery. On\ninquiry, however, I ascertained that there was nothing unusual about the\nappearance of the village, which was merely praying, according to\ncustom, by means of its flag-staffs. Every time the wind, which happened\nto be blowing fresh, extended the long flags, a vast number of prayers\nwere credited to the inhabitants who were themselves all absent, and\nprobably hard at work either in the fields or at D\u0101rj\u012bling.\n\nI managed to obtain facsimiles of some of the flags. On them are\ninscribed various versions of the inevitable Ma\u1e47i-padme formulary,\ntogether with figures of the \u2018flying-horse\u2019 (Lungta, strictly rLu\u1e45-rta,\n\u2018wind-horse\u2019)[182] and other symbols, such as those of the Norbu\ngem[183] and of the Phurbu\u2014which are held to be peculiarly efficacious\nin warding off evil spirits or neutralizing the diseases inflicted by\nthem. Indeed in most cases these flags are regarded by the peasantry as\ntalismans or charms to protect the village from the malice of\nmischievous ghosts and demons, believed to haunt the atmosphere and\nswarm everywhere around.\n\nHere are some of the mystic formularies inscribed on my flags. They\nresemble \u1e60aiva Mantras and Dh\u0101ra\u1e47\u012bs\u2014that is, mystical words or sentences\nused as spells:\u2014\n\nOm ma\u1e47i padme H\u016bm Hring, Om Vajra-p\u0101\u1e47i H\u016bm, Om \u0101 H\u016bm, Om V\u0101g-\u012b\u1e61var\u012b M\u016bm,\nSarva-siddhi-phala H\u016bm, Om muni muni mah\u0101-muni, \u1e60\u0101kya-muni sv\u0101h\u0101, Om\nvajra-sattva H\u016bm, Hulu hulu, Rulu rulu, H\u016bm Pha\u1e6d, etc. (Compare my\n\u2018Br\u0101hmanism,\u2019 etc. p. 197).\n\nOne flag in my possession has representations of four animals at the\nfour corners, viz. a Tiger, Lion, Eagle, and Dragon[184]\u2014supposed to act\nas guards against evil spirits. It also has an inscription in Tibetan\nwhich was translated for me by Mr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s, thus:\u2014\n\n  \u2018Reverence be to the Buddhas and Bodhi-sattvas! Thus hath it been\n  heard by me\u2014once on a time when the adorable \u1e60\u0101kya-Buddha was seated\n  on a marble throne amid the gods of the Trayastri\u1e49\u1e61a heaven, Indra,\n  the Prince of Gods, arrived there, after being completely defeated by\n  the demons (Asuras). Seeing the Buddha, and throwing himself at his\n  feet, he thus reverentially addressed him:\u2014\u201cOh, my Lord, we the gods\n  of the Trayastri\u1e49\u1e61a (heaven) have suffered a complete defeat at the\n  hands of the demons; instruct us, what are we to do? how are we to\n  triumph over our enemies?\u201d To this the adorable one replied:\u2014\u201cO lord\n  of gods, take this mystical formula called Gyatshar gyi tsemoi\n  Punggyan, which, when repeated, will make you unconquerable. I, too,\n  in my former existence of a Bodhi-sattva found it efficacious in\n  securing victory.\u201d\u2019\n\nIt is of course a work of great merit to erect prayer-flags. They form a\nconspicuous feature in every landscape throughout Tibet, fluttering on\nhills and in valleys, by the roadside, and on the river bank, on walls\nand on the tops of houses, in streets, squares, and gardens.\n\nThen, again, the duty of a constant repetition of prayer-formul\u00e6 and\nmystical sentences has led Northern Buddhists to employ _Rosaries_,\nwhich were used both by Hind\u016bs and Buddhists long before they came into\nvogue in Europe. Without these necessary aids to devotion the long\nrounds of repetition could not be accurately completed. In Northern\nBuddhist countries rosaries ought to consist of 108 beads, which in\nTibet are said to represent the 108[185] volumes of the Kanjur. The same\nnumber of beads is used by the worshippers of Vish\u1e47u, who use the rosary\nto aid them in repeating any one of the names of Vish\u1e47u 800 times, the\neight additional beads marking each century of repetitions.\n\nThe commonest Buddhist rosaries are made of wood, or pebbles, or\nberries, or bone[186]; the more costly, of turquoise, coral, amber, or\nsilver, or even of pearls and gems. If a rosary made of the bones of\nsome holy L\u0101ma can be procured, it is of course prized above all others.\nSometimes a Dorje is appended. Northern Buddhist worshippers hold their\nrosaries (like Roman Catholics) in the right hand, and move on the beads\nwith the left, and they will do this while talking together or even\nquarrelling. In China and Japan Buddhist rosaries are often arranged in\ntwo rings. They sometimes consist of enormous beads with relics in the\ncentral bead.\n\nBe it observed, however, that the prayer-formularies of Buddhists are\nnot always a mere unintelligible string of words and syllables,\nmuttered, iterated, and reiterated with the aid of rosaries. Their\nprayers sometimes contain lofty sentiments. For instance, the two\nvagabond mendicant monks seen by me at D\u0101rj\u012bling (described at p. 267)\nwent about chanting the following:\u2014\n\n  Reverence to all the noble Father-L\u0101mas! I address this to the feet of\n  Duang our patron saint. I, Milaraspa[187], sing it. If the soul be\n  white (enlightened), it must be white inside and outside. I am born in\n  consequence of the works of this world. My earthly father is a sower\n  of the seed of sin. My mother is the soil which receives the seed of\n  sin. The child is myself tied to the father by the cord of sin. When\n  you think of your earthly father, think also of your L\u0101ma (spiritual\n  father). Your earthly father is the source of your sin. Your L\u0101ma\n  frees you from sin[188].\n\nBut this song, which was repeated over and over again, invariably\nconcluded by a repetition of the inevitable six-syllabled formula. This\nthey repeated very rapidly, pronouncing it as usual, \u2018Om ma\u1e47i-pamme\nH\u016bm,\u2019 and adding the mystical syllable H\u1e5b\u012bs. Their chanting was\naccompanied by an incessant agitation of their \u1e0damaru or sacred drum,\nwhich I was able to purchase. It is shaped like two hemispheres, joined\non their convex sides, and is encircled by sacred shells. It is sounded\nby means of buttons attached to two pendulous strips of leather. The\nsound made by these drums is out of all proportion to their size. It may\nbe heard at a great distance, and is thought to be highly efficacious in\nfrightening away evil spirits, who dislike loud noises of all kinds.\nHere is an exact representation of the sacred drum now in my\npossession:\u2014\n\n[Illustration: ]\n\nAgain, Dr. Eitel (Lectures, iii.) mentions a manual of daily prayer used\nby Northern Buddhists, which shows that striking words are sometimes\nchanted, though they may be in Sansk\u1e5bit, and therefore unintelligible to\nthose who repeat them. For instance, the following:\u2014\n\n\u2018May all the Buddhas abide in me, instruct and enlighten me with\nknowledge and perfection, free me, deliver me, cleanse me, purify me;\nand may the whole universe be set free (Sarva-tath\u0101gat\u0101 m\u0101\u1e43 sam\u0101vasantu\nbuddhy\u0101 siddhy\u0101 bodhaya vibodhaya mo\u0107aya vimo\u0107aya \u1e61odhaya vi\u1e61odhaya\nsamanta\u1e43 mo\u0107aya)!\u2019\n\nBefore, therefore, concluding this Lecture we must acknowledge, in\nfairness to the inhabitants of Tibet, that much of the spirit of\nreligion may be mingled with their superstitions. The words of their\nprayers are not merely repeated by machinery, written on paper, and\ninscribed on rocks and stones. The voices of men and women, if not their\nthoughts, often go heartily with uttered prayers. The note of prayer is\nraised at all times and seasons\u2014in the morning, mid-day, and evening, in\nprivate and in public, at home or abroad, in the midst of labour and\nidleness, in lying down and rising up, in moving about and keeping\nstill, on the march and on the battle-field, on mournful occasions, and\nin the midst of joy and laughter. Nor is any one ashamed of praying\naloud or praying together in the open streets and squares of crowded\ntowns.\n\n\u2018There exists,\u2019 says the French Missionary (ii. 194), \u2018a very touching\ncustom at Lh\u0101ssa. In the evening, just as the day is verging on its\ndecline, all the Tibetans stop business and meet together, men, women,\nand children, according to their sex and age, in the principal parts of\nthe town and in the public squares. As soon as groups are formed, every\none kneels down, and they begin slowly and in undertones to chant\nprayers.\n\n\u2018The religious concerts produced by these numerous assemblages create\nthroughout the town a solemn harmony, which operates forcibly on the\nsoul. The first time we witnessed this spectacle, we could not help\ndrawing a painful comparison between this pagan town, where all prayed\ntogether, and the cities of Europe, where people would blush to make the\nsign of the cross in public.\u2019\n\n\n\n\n                              LECTURE XIV.\n                            _Sacred Places._\n\n\nIt was only to be expected, that Buddhism, closely connected as it was\nwith Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism, and yet in some respects opposed to those\nsystems, should have certain sacred places and hallowed regions, some of\nwhich were identical with those of Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism, and some\npeculiarly its own.\n\nIn the Mah\u0101-parinibb\u0101na-sutta (V. 16-22, Rhys Davids), we have the\nfollowing declaration:\u2014\n\n  \u2018There are four places which the believing man should visit as a\n  pilgrim with feelings of reverence and awe. The place at which he can\n  say, \u201cHere the Tath\u0101gata (one of the names of Buddha, see p. 23) was\n  born.\u201d The place at which he can say, \u201cHere the Tath\u0101gata attained to\n  perfect insight and enlightenment.\u201d The place at which he can say,\n  \u201cHere the Law was first preached by the Tath\u0101gata.\u201d The place at which\n  he can say, \u201cHere the Tath\u0101gata passed finally away in that utter\n  passing away which leaves nothing whatever behind\u201d (see p. 142, note,\n  and p. 477).\n\n  \u2018And they who die, while with believing heart they journey on such\n  pilgrimages, shall be reborn, in the happy realms of heaven.\u2019\n\nThe Chinese traveller, F\u0101-hien, names the same four sacred places (Chap.\nxxxi.), and says that the situation of the four great St\u016bpas (see p.\n504) has been fixed, namely, (1) where the Buddha was born, (2) where he\nattained wisdom, (3) where he began to turn the wheel of his Law, (4)\nwhere he attained Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a (p. 142). Compare engraving of sculpture\nopposite p. 477.\n\nElsewhere F\u0101-hien mentions two other sacred spots\u2014the place where the\nBuddha discomfited the advocates of erroneous doctrines[189], and the\nplace where he descended after ascending to the Trayastri\u1e49\u1e61a heaven (see\np. 414 of this volume), to preach the Law to his mother (Legge\u2019s\nF\u0101-hien, 68).\n\nThese places are all situated within the area of the sacred land of\nBuddhism (see map opposite p. 21);\u2014that is to say, the land which was\nthe scene of the Buddha\u2019s itineration for forty-five years\u2014a region\nabout 300 miles long, by nearly 200 broad, lying in Gangetic India,\nwithin the modern provinces of Oudh and Beh\u0101r (Bih\u0101r for Vih\u0101ra), or the\nancient kingdoms of Kosala and Magadha, and having \u1e60r\u0101vast\u012b and\nBuddha-Gay\u0101 for its limit towards the north and south respectively.\n\nIt will be interesting to note a few particulars in regard to these and\nother sacred spots scattered throughout this region, in the following\norder:\u2014Kapila-vastu, Buddha-Gay\u0101, S\u0101rn\u0101th near Benares, R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha,\n\u1e60r\u0101vast\u012b (often written \u1e60r\u0101vasti), Vai\u1e61\u0101l\u012b, Kau\u1e61\u0101mbi, N\u0101landa, Sa\u1e45k\u0101\u1e61ya,\nS\u0101ke\u1e6da (Aj\u016bdhy\u0101), Kany\u0101-kubja (Kanauj), P\u0101\u1e6dali-putra (Patn\u0101), Kesar\u012bya,\nKu\u1e61i-nagara. The map opposite p. 21 will make these clear.\n\nTo begin with the Buddha\u2019s birth-place (see p. 21).\n\n\n                            _Kapila-vastu._\n\nKapila-vastu (in P\u0101li, Kapila-vatthu) was long searched for by\narch\u00e6ologists in vain, but is now identified by General Sir A.\nCunningham and Mr. Carlleyle with Bh\u016bila, a village surrounded by buried\nbrickwork in the Bast\u012b district under the Nep\u0101l mountains, about\ntwenty-five miles north-east from Faiz\u0101b\u0101d, twelve north-west from\nBast\u012b, and one hundred and twenty north of Benares. Both F\u0101-hien (Legge,\n67) and Hiouen Thsang describe the neighbouring Lumbin\u012b (Lava\u1e47\u012b) garden,\nwhere the Buddha was born from the right side of his mother (see p. 23,\nand engraving opposite p. 477). They also mention the Arrow-fountain\nwhere Gautama contended with others of his tribe in a shooting-match.\nThe legend is (p. 24) that he gained the victory by shooting an arrow\nwhich passed through the target, buried itself in the ground, and caused\na clear spring of water to flow forth (Legge, 65-67; Beal, ii. 23, 24).\nThis name \u1e60ara-K\u016bpa, \u2018arrow-fountain,\u2019 has now been corrupted into\nSar-Kuia (or Sar-Kuhiya), and the spot has been identified (Cunningham\u2019s\n\u2018Reports of Survey,\u2019 xii. 188).\n\nIt might have been expected that so sacred a place as Kapila-vastu\u2014the\nbirth-place of Buddha and the scene of his education and youthful\nexploits\u2014would have been a favourite place of pilgrimage for Buddhists\nthrough all time; but we learn from the two Chinese travellers, that\neven in their day (from the fourth to the seventh century) the whole\nneighbourhood was a desert and the town in ruins (Beal, i. 50; ii. 14).\nThe reason probably is that Hind\u016bism gained the ascendancy over Buddhism\nin certain localities, and that when this happened the Br\u0101hmans took\npains to obliterate all traces of the rival creed. In later times\nMuhammadan invasions contributed to the same result.\n\n\n                             _Buddha-Gay\u0101._\n\nThis was the place where the Buddha obtained perfect knowledge and\nenlightenment after his sexennial course of fasting and meditation (see\np. 31 of this volume). It is situated six or seven miles from the town\nof Gay\u0101, and about sixty miles from Patn\u0101 and Bankipur. It is of all\nBuddhist sacred places the most sacred, and abounds in profoundly\ninteresting memorials of early Buddhism.\n\nOf course it was only to be expected that memorial structures intended\nto mark important epochs in the life of the extinct Buddha, and\ncalculated to foster feelings of reverence in the minds of his\nfollowers, should have been erected at this and various other holy spots\nof ground consecrated by the presence and acts of Gautama on great\noccasions. And of all such Buddhist monuments the ancient pyramidal\ntemple at Buddha-Gay\u0101, which I visited in 1876 and 1884, is the most\nstriking and full of interest. Probably a monument of some kind was\nerected there not very long after the Buddha\u2019s death, and Hiouen Thsang\n(see p. 399) mentions the temple built there by A\u1e61oka. The temple which\nI saw on the occasion of my first visit was probably not built till the\nmiddle of the second century, but was erected on the foundation of\nA\u1e61oka\u2019s temple, the ruins of which are traceable under the present\none[190]. The materials consist of bluish bricks, plastered with lime.\nHiouen Thsang states that in his time it had eleven stories and an\naltitude of about 165 feet. It also had niches in each story, with a\ngolden statue of Buddha in each niche. The whole was crowned with the\nrepresentation of an Amalaka fruit (Emblic myrobalan) in gilt copper\n(Cunningham\u2019s Report, i. 5). The Burmese probably restored the temple\nbetween 1035 and 1078 A.D. Though falling into decay in 1876, its\nappearance struck me as exceedingly imposing,\u2014even more so than that of\nthe grand pyramidal towers, built over the entrances to the great South\nIndian temples[191]. The annexed engraving of this ancient monument as\nit appeared in 1880, before its restoration, is from a photograph by Mr.\nBeglar, taken on the spot, and enlarged by Mr. Austen.\n\n[Illustration: ANCIENT BUDDHIST TEMPLE AT BUDDHA-GAY\u0100, AS IT APPEARED IN\n1880.]\n\nErected about the middle of the second century over the ruins of A\u1e61oka\u2019s\n         temple, at the spot where Gautama attained Buddhahood.\n\nThe original object of its erection seems to have been simply and solely\nto serve as a monument, and not as a D\u0101gaba or receptacle for relics.\nVery soon, however, monuments of this kind were made to enshrine images,\nand were used as temples and places of worship. On inquiry I found that\nthe ancient image or images of Buddha, which once occupied the shrine in\nthe ancient Buddha-Gay\u0101 temple, had been destroyed or carried off at\ndifferent times[192], and that another stone image, believed to have\nbeen carved in the eighth century, had been recently substituted for it.\nIt is remarkable that during the process of restoring the so-called\n\u2018diamond throne,\u2019 on which the statues were placed, a mass of fragments\nof coral, sapphire, cornelian, crystal, ruby, pearl, ivory, and gold,\nbut no diamond, was found compacted or cemented together in front of\nit[193].\n\nAt the back of the raised terrace which surrounded the ancient temple\nwas a P\u012bpal or sacred fig-tree, fabled to be the very tree under which\nGautama sat during his course of profound meditation ending in\nBuddhahood (see p. 31). Its vitality was on the wane, for its decaying\nbranches drooped over the parapet as if they sought, like those of a\nneighbouring Banyan tree, to gain new life by rooting themselves in the\nground beneath. Some Buddhist pilgrims happened, at the moment of my\nvisit, to be worshipping at the temple, deputed by the King of Burma to\npresent offerings. I observed that they had brought packets of\ngold-leaf, and had gilded the stone steps that surrounded the tree.\nHaving performed this act of homage, they sat near muttering their\nprayer-formularies. No doubt they believed it to be the very Bodhi-tree\nof Gautama\u2019s time, the stem of which had been miraculously preserved,\nthough, had it been really so, the stem would have been about\ntwenty-three centuries old. Considering the well-known properties of the\nP\u012bpal tree, it is possible that the worshippers were, after all, paying\nhonour to the descendant of the original tree, the fact, no doubt, being\nthat as each tree began to decay a new one was produced, by the dropping\nof seeds into the old roots and the springing up of fresh scions.\nProbably most of the sacred trees in the neighbourhood of Buddhist\ntemples throughout India, Ceylon, and Burma were originally raised from\nseeds brought from the ancient Buddha-Gay\u0101 tree.\n\n[Illustration: ANCIENT BUDDHIST TEMPLE AT BUDDHA-GAY\u0100, AS RESTORED IN\n1884.]\n\nIt is a received tradition that a shoot from this tree was taken by the\nMissionary Mahendra, son of A\u1e61oka, in the third century B.C. to Ceylon,\nand planted at Anur\u0101dha-pura, where its descendant still flourishes.\n\nWhen I again visited Buddha-Gay\u0101 in 1884, I found that the old pyramidal\ntemple had been restored according (as is conjectured) to Hiouen\nThsang\u2019s description of the Vih\u0101ra of his day.\n\nIt is said that the late Burmese government, not very long ago, spent\nabout thirty thousand rupees in building a wall round the temple and\nmaking excavations with a view to its restoration. Then our government,\nabout 1881 or 1882, undertook the work, and I believe at least a lakh of\nrupees has been spent in completing it. I give a representation of the\nrestored temple (as it appeared in 1884), from a photograph taken by Mr.\nBeglar, and enlarged by Mr. Austen. Its present height is 176 feet, as\nit has several tiers of the usual umbrella-like ornament, tapering to a\npoint at the summit[194].\n\nThe reconstruction of the temple led of course to the removal of the\nsacred Bodhi-tree, but an effort was made to preserve the tree by\ntransplanting it to a neighbouring garden. No sooner was this done than\nparties of pilgrims from Burma and Ceylon, in their pious desire to\nmaintain the vitality of the venerated tree, covered the stem with\ngold-leaf, and, bringing Eau de Cologne and other scents, poured them\nover the roots, at the same time manuring them with the contents of\nboxes of sardines steeped in oil, choice biscuits, and other delicacies.\nOf course, the result was the speedy destruction of the tree, root and\nbranch. To compensate for its loss, a new P\u012bpal tree was planted behind\nthe restored temple by Sir A. Cunningham in 1885. Another near the\ntemple appeared to be in a flourishing condition in 1884, and I observed\nthat both Hind\u016b and Buddhist pilgrims met together there as worshippers\nof the same sacred object.\n\nThe idol-shrine, under the principal tower of the restored temple,\nconsists of a small vaulted stone-chamber lighted only by the door. My\nfirst act, on arriving at Gay\u0101 in 1884, was to descend to this\ninteresting spot. At the further end is the principal statue of Buddha,\nseated, in the \u2018witness-attitude\u2019 (see p. 480)\u2014on an altar-like throne\nhaving five pilasters, and supposed to represent the original\nBodhi-ma\u1e47\u1e0da. The pedestal of the statue is ornamented with\ndiamond-shaped carvings, and sculptures of two elephants and two\nlions[195].\n\nInside the shrine, at the moment of my visit, were five Burmese pilgrims\nfrom Mandelay. They were apparently monks, as all were habited in yellow\ndresses. Each man bowed down before the image, with hands joined in\nreverence, occasionally touching the ground with his forehead, and going\nthrough a course of prayer-repetition by help of a rosary. After\nworshipping for some time, they deposited a quantity of offerings, of a\nsomewhat miscellaneous description, in front of the image. I noticed\namong other things, rice, fruit, vegetables, flowers of the Bel-tree,\ntin boxes filled with sardines, Huntley and Palmer\u2019s biscuits, bottles\nof the genuine Maria Farina\u2019s Eau de Cologne for watering the\nsacred-trees, and a large number of packets of gold-leaf. I left the\nshrine for two or three hours, and on returning found that the pilgrims\nhad crowned their act of worship by gilding the image with the contents\nof these packets, reserving a supply for covering the other images in\nthe vicinity of the temple. The cost of the whole process must have been\nconsiderable.\n\nAt the back of the great Buddha-Gay\u0101 temple, I found a stone tablet for\nofferings, recently brought and fixed horizontally in the ground by\nanother pilgrim who was from Colombo in Ceylon. It bore an inscription\nindicating that the slab had been placed there as a votive offering by a\nperson calling himself Gu\u1e47a-ratna Muddali R\u0101j\u0101 of Kolamba-pur. The date\ncarved on it (Buddha-vasse 2427) shows that the Buddhists of Ceylon are\nno believers in the researches of modern scholars. They still reckon\nfrom B.C. 543 for the supposed Nirv\u0101\u1e47a of Buddha.\n\nAt a little distance in front of the great Temple, but on the right\nside, are the two smaller temples called T\u0101r\u0101-dev\u012b and V\u0101g\u012b\u1e61var\u012b. In the\nlatter is a circular stone with nine circles of complicated ornaments.\nThis is called a Vajr\u0101sana, from the thunderbolt ornament in the second\ncircle, but it is not the true Bodhi-ma\u1e47\u1e0da.\n\nI may mention here that a portion of the original A\u1e61oka stone-railing,\nwith an inscription, lotus-ornaments and carvings, was discovered in a\nfair state of preservation by Sir A. Cunningham, and is now to be seen\n_in situ_. The Buddha\u2019s walking place was unearthed by Mr. Beglar. The\nmassive new brick railing which now encloses the temple has been well\nconstructed after an ancient pattern, and ornamented with numerous\ncarvings representing scenes in the lives of the Buddha (p. 111). The\npaved quadrangle sets the whole off to great advantage. Indeed, the\npresent appearance of the square and the sacred area of ground\nadjoining\u2014strewn with ruins of the St\u016bpas erected by A\u1e61oka and\nothers\u2014and according to the legend by the gods Indra and Brahm\u0101\u2014is one\nof the most striking sights in all India, and must be seen to be\nappreciated.\n\nIn truth, Buddha-Gay\u0101 is a kind of Buddhist Jerusalem, abounding in\nassociations of thrilling interest, not only to the followers of Buddha,\nbut to all who see in that spot the central focus whence radiated a\nsystem which for centuries has permeated the religious thought of the\nmost populous regions of Eastern Asia, and influenced the creed of a\nmajority of the human race.\n\nAnother remarkable characteristic of this spot is that it was converted\ninto a kind of Buddhist Necropolis, teeming with the remains of\ngenerations of the Buddha\u2019s adherents contained in relic-receptacles\ncalled St\u016bpas (pp. 503-506), some of which have been brought to light,\nwhile countless others still remain to be unearthed.\n\nThe fact was that immense numbers of pilgrims from all parts of India\nand the outlying countries once thronged in crowds to Buddha-Gay\u0101, and\nnearly every pilgrim brought with him a St\u016bpa or relic-shrine of some\nkind, according to his means, and deposited it as a votive offering in\nthis hallowed region, either with the object of acquiring religious\nmerit for himself, or of promoting the welfare of the deceased in other\nstates of being. Often it was inscribed with the usual Buddhist formula,\nYe Dharm\u0101, etc. (see p. 104), and sometimes bore a date and the name of\nthe reigning king. Generally the votive St\u016bpa contained the relics of\ndeceased relatives\u2014perhaps the ashes of a father or mother, or pieces of\nbone, or a small fragment of a single bone placed in an earthen vessel\nor casket of some other material, and buried in the interior of the\nSt\u016bpa.\n\nRelics, however, were not always forthcoming, and so the votive St\u016bpas\nwere frequently mere cenotaphs or models in clay or stone of actual\nSt\u016bpas erected in other places. Often they were beautifully carved and\nornamented with rows on rows of images of the Buddha. I obtained some\nbeautiful specimens for the Indian Institute at Oxford, a drawing of one\nof which will be given (see p. 505). Layers on layers of these have been\nexhumed during the process of the excavations. They are of every variety\nof size, from three inches to several feet high, and of every variety of\nmaterial, from terra cotta and clay turned on a potter\u2019s wheel to\nelaborately sculptured brick and stone. All the upper layers are now\ngone (those made of clay and pottery having naturally crumbled to\npieces), but the lowest are still _in situ_, and furnish specimens of\nall ages from the second century to the tenth or twelfth. I noticed\nhundreds lying about on the ground in 1884.\n\nA sacred tank, mentioned by Hiouen Thsang, is situated three or four\nhundred yards to the left of the Buddha-Gay\u0101 temple. I found, on\nvisiting it, that this hallowed pool is quite as much venerated by\nHind\u016bs as by pilgrims from Buddhist countries.\n\nIndeed, I was much struck by the evidence which Buddha-Gay\u0101 affords of\nthe inter-relationship between Buddhism and Hind\u016bism\u2014especially that\nform of the latter called Vaish\u1e47avism. For instance, on one side of the\ntemple I noticed the tombs of the Mahants, or Heads of the neighbouring\nHindu monastery, who are buried there in a sitting posture. Near these\nagain are shrines of the five P\u0101\u1e47\u1e0dava heroes (who take the place of the\nfive Buddhas), and a shrine containing the supposed impression of the\ntwo feet of Vish\u1e47u. The upper portion of a small Buddhist St\u016bpa has been\nsawn off and inverted[196], and Vish\u1e47u\u2019s footsteps carved on the smooth\nsurface. This certainly symbolizes in a remarkable manner the merging of\nBuddhism in Vaish\u1e47avism, and bears out Dr. Sachau\u2019s assertion that in\nAlber\u016bn\u012b\u2019s time Vish\u1e47u-worship was dominant in India.\n\nThen, again, on the right of the entrance to the principal temple is a\nraised platform of earth, on which are images of Vish\u1e47u, \u1e60iva, P\u0101rvat\u012b,\nand Ga\u1e47e\u1e61a. Here I saw a \u1e60r\u0101ddha ceremony[197], in the act of being\nperformed by some Hind\u016bs\u2014just arrived from the neighbouring town of\nGay\u0101. They were repeating their mantras, offering their Pi\u1e47\u1e0das, and\nputting the finishing stroke to the funeral services (previously\nperformed by them at the Vish\u1e47u-pad temple at Gay\u0101), under the shadow of\na P\u012bpal tree, held as sacred by them as by Buddhists.\n\nTo give an exhaustive account of the objects crowded together at this\nfountain-head of Buddhism would be impossible. The following abbreviated\nversion of the Rev. S. Beal\u2019s translation (ii. 115) of Hiouen Thsang\u2019s\ndescription, throws great light on the state of Buddhism in the seventh\ncentury:\u2014\n\n  Going south-west from Mount Pr\u0101gbodhi, we came to the Bodhi-tree. It\n  is surrounded by a brick wall, and is about 500 paces round. Within\n  the wall the sacred traces touch one another in all directions. In one\n  place there are St\u016bpas, in another place Vih\u0101ras. In the middle of the\n  enclosure is the Bodhi-tree, under which is the diamond throne called\n  Bodhi-ma\u1e47\u1e0da. On this the Buddha sat and attained the holy path of\n  perfect wisdom. When the earth is shaken, this spot alone is unmoved.\n  In old days, when Buddha was alive, the Bodhi-tree\u2014which is a Pippala\n  or sacred fig-tree\u2014was several hundred feet high. Although it has\n  often been injured by cutting, it is still forty or fifty feet high.\n  The leaves never wither either in winter or summer, but always remain\n  shining and glistening, except on every successive Nirv\u0101\u1e47a-day, when\n  the leaves fade, and then in a moment revive as before. On this day\n  thousands and ten thousands assemble from different quarters, and\n  bathe the roots with scented water and perfumed milk. King A\u1e61oka,\n  before he was converted, tried to destroy the tree by force, and after\n  him king Sa\u1e61\u0101\u1e45ka tried again, but the roots sprang up as full of life\n  as ever.\n\n  To the east of the Bodhi-tree, there is a Vih\u0101ra about 160 or 170 feet\n  high, built of blue tiles covered with chunam; all the niches in the\n  different stories holding golden figures. The four sides of the\n  building are covered with ornamental work. The whole is surmounted by\n  a gilded copper Amalaka fruit. To the right and left of the gate are\n  niches; in the left is a figure of Avalokite\u1e61vara Bodhi-sattva and in\n  the right a figure of Maitreya. On the site of the present Vih\u0101ra,\n  A\u1e61oka at first built a small Vih\u0101ra. Afterwards a Br\u0101hman, who became\n  a convert to Buddhism, reconstructed it on a larger scale.\n\n  To the north of the Bodhi-tree is the place where Buddha walked up and\n  down, about 70 paces or so long. When he had obtained enlightenment,\n  he remained perfectly quiet for seven days. Then rising, he walked up\n  and down during seven days to the north of the tree. Not far to the\n  south of the tree is a St\u016bpa about 100 feet high, built by King A\u1e61oka.\n  To the east of the tree is the place (marked by two St\u016bpas) where M\u0101ra\n  tempted Gautama to become a Universal Monarch. To the north-west is a\n  Vih\u0101ra in which is an image of K\u0101\u1e61yapa Buddha, noted for its\n  miraculous qualities. Occasionally it emits a glorious light, and the\n  old records say, that if a man, actuated by sincere faith, walks round\n  it seven times, he obtains the power of knowing the place and\n  condition of his previous births. Outside the south gate is a large\n  tank, about 700 paces round, the water of which is clear and pure as a\n  mirror. To the east of this is the lake of the Snake-king, Mu\u0107alinda.\n  On the west bank is a small Vih\u0101ra. Formerly, when Tath\u0101gata acquired\n  complete enlightenment, he sat here for seven days in perfect\n  composure, and ecstatic contemplation, while Mu\u0107alinda protected him\n  with his folds wound seven times round his body. (Compare the\n  frontispiece.)\n\n  By the side of the river, not far off, is the place where Buddha\n  received the rice-milk, and where two merchants offered some\n  wheat-flour and honey from their travelling-store (p. 40 of this\n  volume).\n\n  Near this a St\u016bpa marks the spot where the four Kings presented Buddha\n  with four golden dishes. The Lord declined such costly offerings. Then\n  the four Kings, casting away the golden vessels, offered silver ones;\n  and afterwards vessels of crystal, lapis-lazuli, cornelian, amber,\n  ruby, and so on in succession; but the Lord of the World would accept\n  none of them. Lastly, the four Kings offered stone vessels.\n\n  Near this spot the Buddha worked various wonders to convert those who\n  were capable of conversion. For example, it was here that the Buddha\n  overcame the fiery snake-demon (see p. 46 of this volume). In the\n  middle of the night the N\u0101ga vomited forth fire and smoke, and the\n  chamber seemed to be filled with fiery flames; but the Buddha having\n  forced the fiery dragon into his alms-bowl, came forth next day\n  holding it in his hand, and showed it to the unbelievers.\n\n  To the south of Mu\u0107alinda\u2019s tank is a St\u016bpa, which indicates the spot\n  where K\u0101\u1e61yapa, having embarked in a boat to save Buddha during an\n  inundation, saw the Lord of the World walking on the water as on land.\n\n\n                        _S\u0101rn\u0101th near Benares._\n\nThe city of Benares (Ban\u0101ras, properly V\u0101r\u0101\u1e47as\u012b) is the most sacred\nplace of Br\u0101hmanism[198], and is certainly the second most holy place of\nBuddhism. For it was from this centre that the stream of Buddhist\nteaching first flowed, and in the days of A\u1e61oka and of his immediate\nsuccessors, Buddhism must have vied with Br\u0101hmanism in the number of its\nshrines and sacred objects collected there.\n\nWe have already seen that memorial St\u016bpas and temples, not intended to\ncontain relics, were reared at various holy spots of ground, consecrated\nby the presence of Gautama on special occasions. The immense ruined\nSt\u016bpa\u2014once a tower-like monument\u2014at a spot now called S\u0101rn\u0101th\n(S\u0101ra\u1e45ga-n\u0101th[199]), three or four miles from the modern city of\nBenares, is a memorial of this kind. It is all that remains of the\ncelebrated structure erected at the spot in the M\u1e5biga-d\u0101va or deer-park,\nonce called Isi-patana (for Sansk\u1e5bit \u1e5aishi-patana), where Gautama first\nturned the wheel of the Law (Dharma-\u0107akra)\u2014that is, where he preached\nhis first sermon (p. 42). It was to this place that Buddhist pilgrims\nonce flocked, and here vast numbers of votive relic-shrines and St\u016bpas\nwere deposited, as at Buddha-Gay\u0101.\n\nI visited this ancient ruin, in company with the late Mr. Sherring, in\n1876, and enjoyed the advantage of his guidance in inspecting it, as\nwell as all that remains of the monastic buildings and other adjacent\nruins, including the octagonal tower called Chaukandi, about half a mile\ndistant. In his book on Benares, Mr. Sherring has followed General Sir\nA. Cunningham, who describes the principal monument\u2014now of a bee-hive\nshape, and called Dhamek[200]\u2014as 93 feet in diameter at the base, 292\nfeet in circumference, and 128 feet above the general level of the soil.\nThe lower part\u2014to a height of 43 feet\u2014is built of stone, and all the\nupper part of bricks. There are eight projecting faces with empty\nniches, which once held statues.\n\nAn old man who was in charge of the ruins when we examined them, lighted\na candle, and took us into the horizontal tunnel-like gallery which the\nGeneral had excavated some years before, in the hope that relics or\nmemorials of some kind might be found buried in the interior. A shaft or\nwell had been previously sunk from the summit, and at the depth of 10\u00bd\nfeet a slab was discovered, inscribed with the well-known Buddhist\nformula \u2018Ye dharm\u0101,\u2019 etc. (p. 104); but the search for relics proved\nunsuccessful. The St\u016bpa, in fact, turned out to be merely memorial, like\nthat at Buddha-Gay\u0101.\n\nProbably some monumental St\u016bpa existed here from the earliest times, and\ncertainly from A\u1e61oka\u2019s time. The present St\u016bpa was seen by Hiouen\nThsang, who has described it in rather a confused manner (Beal, ii. 45).\nHence it must be as old as about the ninth century. F\u0101-hien saw a St\u016bpa\nof some kind there in the fifth century (p. 387).\n\nAbout fifty yards from the St\u016bpa, Sir A. Cunningham found the\ninteresting sculpture given at p. 477.\n\n\n                             _R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha._\n\nR\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha (P\u0101li, R\u0101ja-gaha) is the modern R\u0101j-g\u012br. The old city had the\nepithet Giri-vraja, \u2018surrounded by hills[201].\u2019 It was the first\nmetropolis or mother-city of Buddhism, and the original capital of the\npowerful kingdom of Magadha, when under the rule of the Kings Bimbi-s\u0101ra\n(p. 48) and his son Aj\u0101ta-\u1e61atru, who were contemporaries and friends of\nGautama, and converted by him to Buddhism[202]. The sacred character of\nthe place is attested by the ruins of vast numbers of Buddhist St\u016bpas\nand Vih\u0101ras which once existed here. Unhappily Br\u0101hmans and Musalm\u0101ns\nhave used the materials for their temples, tombs, and mosques.\n\nIt was here that Gautama first studied under the Br\u0101hmans \u0100\u1e37\u0101ra and\nUddaka (p. 29), and here he first imbibed the philosophical ideas which\nafterwards coloured his teaching. It is not surprising, therefore, that\nat a later period of his career he was fond of returning to R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha\nfor retirement during Vassa; his two favourite resorts[203] being the\nBambu grove (Ve\u1e37u-vana, p. 48) and the hill called Vulture-peak\n(G\u1e5bidhra-k\u016b\u1e6da, Legge\u2019s F\u0101-hien, 81, 83), both in the neighbourhood of\nthe city.\n\nIt was here, too, that several interesting incidents in the life of\nBuddha occurred. For example, it was here in a cavern that the Buddha\noften meditated. It was here that he often preached and taught; and it\nwas here, or in the neighbourhood of the city, that the god \u1e60akra\n(Indra) once appeared to Buddha, bringing a musician from heaven to\nentertain him, and afterwards testing his knowledge by forty-two\nquestions. These the god traced with his finger on the rock, and the\nimpression of them, according to F\u0101-hien, was to be seen there in his\ntime, and a monastery was built on the spot. With reference to this\nlegend we may note that the answers to the forty-two questions are\nsupposed to be contained in a celebrated Tibetan work called the\n\u2018Forty-two points on which the Buddha gave instruction[204]\u2019, the\nimportance of which is proved by its being translated into several\nlanguages.\n\nIt was in this neighbourhood, too, that Buddha\u2019s two chief\ndisciples\u2014\u1e60\u0101riputra and Maudgaly\u0101yana (P\u0101li, Moggall\u0101na, p. 47)\u2014had\ntheir noted meeting with A\u1e61vajit (P\u0101li, Assaji), already mentioned (p.\n104). Here, also, a Jaina ascetic made a pit of fire and poisoned the\nrice, and then invited Buddha to eat. Lastly, it was here that many of\nDeva-datta\u2019s plots against the Buddha\u2019s life (see p. 52) were carried\non. The story of these is so interesting that I abridge it from the\nSacred Books of the East (vol. xx. p. 238):\u2014\n\n  Now at that time the Venerable One was seated preaching the Law and\n  surrounded by a great multitude, including the king and his retinue.\n  And Deva-datta rose from his seat, and said, \u2018The Venerable One is now\n  aged, he has accomplished a long journey, and his term of life is\n  nearly run. Let the Venerable One now dwell at ease and give up the\n  Sa\u1e45gha to me, I will be its leader.\u2019 Then said the Buddha, \u2018I would\n  not give over the Sa\u1e45gha, even to S\u0101riputta and Moggall\u0101na; how much\n  less then to so evil-living a person as you.\u2019\n\n  Then Deva-datta thought: \u2018The Venerable One denies me before the king,\n  and calls me \u201cevil-living,\u201d and exalts S\u0101riputta and Moggall\u0101na.\u2019 With\n  these thoughts in his mind he departed, angry and displeased, and went\n  to Aj\u0101ta-sattu and said, \u2018Do you, prince, kill your father, and become\n  R\u0101j\u0101; and I will kill the Venerable One and become the Buddha.\u2019 And\n  prince Aj\u0101ta-sattu, taking a dagger, entered his royal father\u2019s\n  chamber. And the R\u0101j\u0101 Bimbi-s\u0101ra said, \u2018Why do you want to kill me, O\n  prince? if you want the kingdom, let it be thine.\u2019 And he handed it\n  over to Aj\u0101ta-sattu. Then Deva-datta said, \u2018Give orders, O king, to\n  your men, that I may deprive the Samana Gotama of life.\u2019 And\n  Aj\u0101ta-sattu did so. Then sixteen men were sent to kill Gotama. They\n  went, and returned and said, \u2018We cannot kill him. Great is the power\n  of the Venerable One.\u2019\n\n  Next Deva-datta climbed up the Vulture\u2019s Peak, and hurled down a\n  mighty rock on the Venerable One. But two mountain peaks came together\n  and stopped that rock. [F\u0101-hien says that it hurt one of his toes.\n  Legge, p. 83.] Now at that time there was at R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha an elephant\n  named N\u0101l\u0101giri, fierce and a man-slayer. And Deva-datta caused the\n  elephant to be let loose against Gotama. But the Venerable One infused\n  a sense of love into the elephant. And the elephant extended his trunk\n  and took up the dust from off the feet of the Venerable One and\n  sprinkled it over his own head, and retired bowing backwards, gazing\n  upon the Venerable One.\n\nIt may be noted here that the hell to which Deva-datta was condemned for\nhis attempts upon the Buddha\u2019s life, is thus described by Burmese\nauthorities:\u2014\n\n  The impious Deva-datta, a cousin and brother-in-law of the Buddha,\n  suffers terrible punishment in Hell. His feet are sunk ankle-deep in\n  burning marl. His head is incased with a red hot metal cap down to the\n  lobe of the ears. Two large red-hot bars transfix him from back to\n  front, two horizontally from right to left, and one impales him from\n  head to foot. (Shway Yoe\u2019s \u2018Burman,\u2019 i. 121.)\n\nIt should be mentioned in connexion with R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha that Aj\u0101ta-\u1e61atru\nbuilt a grand St\u016bpa there, over a portion of the Buddha\u2019s ashes, soon\nafter his cremation.\n\nAnother fact which enhances the interest of this place is the\npropinquity of the celebrated Satta-pa\u1e47\u1e47i cave (p. 55), where the\nBuddhist brotherhood first assembled after their leader\u2019s death.\n\n\n                              _\u1e60r\u0101vast\u012b._\n\n\u1e60r\u0101vast\u012b (P\u0101li, S\u0101vatth\u012b), sometimes spelt \u1e60r\u0101vasti, has been identified\nby General Cunningham with a place now called S\u0101het-M\u0101het, about\nfifty-eight miles north of Aj\u016bdhy\u0101 in Oudh. The town is said to derive\nits name from the fact that it was built by a certain King \u1e60r\u0101vasta.\nOther native authorities derive it from a \u1e5aishi named S\u0101vattha, who is\nsaid to have resided there. It was certainly the ancient capital of\nKosala (Oudh), and was ruled over by King Prasena-jit (P\u0101li, Pasenadi),\nwho was Gautama\u2019s contemporary. Moreover, it was the Buddha\u2019s favourite\nplace of retreat[205] during the rainy seasons (p. 48 of this volume),\nabout half of his Vassas having been spent there[206] in the Jeta-vana\nmonastery built for him by the wealthy merchant An\u0101tha-pi\u1e47\u1e0dika\n(Anepidu), sometimes called Su-datta.\n\nDoubtless on this account \u1e60r\u0101vast\u012b was once much resorted to by the\nBuddha\u2019s followers, and ultimately became an important seat of Buddhist\nlearning.\n\nThe celebrated monastery, the ruins of which still exist, was erected in\nthe garden (vana) of Prince Jeta, who parted with the land to Su-datta\non condition that he would cover it with gold coins. This was done, till\neighteen krores of coins had been spread out like a pavement on the\nground. Both F\u0101-hien and Hiouen Thsang mention this incident, and the\nformer states that the monastery was seven stories high[207]. The\npavement of coins is represented in one of the sculptures belonging to\nthe St\u016bpa of Bharhut (Cunningham, pp. 84-87), as well as on one of the\npillars of A\u1e61oka\u2019s railing at Buddha-Gay\u0101.\n\n\u1e60r\u0101vast\u012b was the place where, according to F\u0101-hien, the first\nsandal-wood image of Buddha was set up in a monastery by King\nPrasena-jit (see p. 471)[208]. A colossal erect figure of the Buddha was\nfound here in a temple excavated by Sir A. Cunningham, but this was of\nstone.\n\nWith regard to the celebrated sandal-wood image, F\u0101-hien (p. 57) relates\na strange legend of its preservation by a miracle:\u2014\n\n  \u2018The kings and people of the countries around vied with one another in\n  their offerings (to the image). Hanging up about it silken canopies,\n  scattering flowers, burning incense, and lighting lamps. It happened\n  that a rat, carrying in its mouth the wick of a lamp, set one of the\n  canopies on fire, which caught the Vih\u0101ra, and the seven stories were\n  all consumed. The kings and people were all very sad, supposing that\n  the sandal-wood image had been burned; but lo! when a small Vih\u0101ra to\n  the east was opened, there was seen the original image!\u2019\n\nF\u0101-hien goes on to describe another miracle:\u2014\n\n  \u2018To the north-west of the Vih\u0101ra there is a grove called \u201cThe getting\n  of Eyes.\u201d Formerly there were five hundred blind men, who lived here;\n  Buddha preached his Law to them, and they all got back their eyesight.\n  Full of joy they stuck their staves in the earth, and did reverence.\n  The staves immediately began to grow, and formed a grove\u2019 (Legge, pp.\n  58, 59).\n\nHiouen Thsang states that in his time the towns and monasteries about\n\u1e60r\u0101vast\u012b were mostly in ruins. He, too, gives an interesting account of\na miraculous incident which occurred there:\u2014\n\n  To the north-east of the Jeta-vana garden is the place where the\n  Buddha washed a sick Monk, who lived apart by himself in a solitary\n  place. The Lord of the World seeing him inquired, \u2018What is your\n  affliction?\u2019 He answered, \u2018In former days, my disposition being a\n  careless one, I never looked on any sick man with pity, and now when I\n  am sick, no one looks on me.\u2019 Thereupon the Buddha said to him, \u2018My\n  son! I will look on you,\u2019 and touching him with his hand, he healed\n  the sickness. Then leading him forth, he washed his body, and gave him\n  new clothes, and said, \u2018From this time forward be diligent and exert\n  yourself.\u2019 Hearing this, the penitent monk, moved by gratitude and\n  filled with joy, followed the Buddha and became his disciple. (Founded\n  on Beal, ii. 5, abridged.)\n\n\n                               _Vai\u1e61\u0101l\u012b._\n\nVai\u1e61\u0101l\u012b (in P\u0101li Ves\u0101l\u012b, now Bes\u0101rh) lies twenty miles north of\nH\u0101ji-pur, on the left bank of the Ganges, and twenty-seven north-east of\nPatn\u0101. This town (the city of the Li\u0107\u0107havis) is celebrated as the scene\nof the second Council (p. 57). Near it, at a place called Bakhra, is a\ncelebrated ancient pillar surmounted by a lion (see Cunningham, i. 59).\nVai\u1e61\u0101l\u012b, however, is chiefly noted as one of the places where Gautama\noften preached and taught, and where he stopped on his way to Kusin\u0101r\u0101,\nthe place of his death. His usual residence was in a Vih\u0101ra, described\nby F\u0101-hien as double-galleried, and in a garden presented to him by the\ncourtesan Amba-p\u0101l\u012b, whom he converted and induced to live a virtuous\nlife. He also resided for the fifth year of his teaching in a building\ncalled the K\u016b\u1e6d\u0101g\u0101ra[209] hall.\n\nHiouen Thsang speaks of the town and of the objects of interest round it\nthus (Beal, ii. 66-75):\u2014\n\n  Both heretics and believers are found here living together. There are\n  several hundred monasteries (Sa\u1e45gh\u0101r\u0101mas) which are mostly\n  dilapidated. There are also several Deva temples, occupied by\n  sectaries of different kinds. The followers of the Nirgranthas (i. e.\n  of the Jains) are very numerous.\n\n  To the north is a St\u016bpa which indicates the place where Tath\u0101gata\n  stopped and took leave of the Li\u0107\u0107havis, on his way to Ku\u1e61i-nagara to\n  die. Wishing him to quit the world, M\u0101ra (compare p. 41) came to\n  Buddha and said, \u2018You have now dwelt sufficiently long in the world.\n  Those whom you have saved from the circling streams of transmigration\n  are as numerous as the sand.\u2019 The Buddha replied, \u2018No, those who are\n  saved are as the grains of dust on my nail; those who are not saved\n  are like the grains of dust on the whole earth. Nevertheless, after\n  three months I shall die.\u2019 M\u0101ra hearing this was rejoiced, and\n  departed.\n\n  Both within and without the city of Vai\u1e61\u0101l\u012b and all round it, the\n  sacred vestiges are so numerous, that it would be difficult to recount\n  them all. To the north-west is a St\u016bpa at the spot where Buddha dwelt\n  when he recited the history of his former birth (J\u0101taka) as a\n  \u0106akra-vartin or Universal Monarch (compare p. 423) possessed of the\n  seven treasures. To the south-east is a great St\u016bpa, marking the place\n  where the convocation of the seven hundred sages and saints was held,\n  one hundred and ten years after the Nirv\u0101\u1e47a of Buddha, to compel the\n  monks who had broken the laws of Buddha to obey them.\n\nIt appears that the Li\u0107\u0107havis of Vai\u1e61\u0101l\u012b obtained a large quantity of\nthe relics of the Buddha\u2019s body, and built a St\u016bpa over them.\n\nAccording to F\u0101-hien they also erected a St\u016bpa over half the relics of\nthe burnt body of \u0100nanda (see p. 47 of this volume), the other being\ndeposited near R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha. His narrative runs as follows:\u2014\n\n  When \u0100nanda was going from Magadha to Vai\u1e61\u0101l\u012b, wishing his\n  Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a to take place there, king Aj\u0101ta-\u1e61atru heard of his\n  intention, and set out with his retinue to follow him.\n\n  The Li\u0107\u0107havis, too, when they heard that \u0100nanda was coming to their\n  city, went out to meet him. In this way both parties arrived together\n  at the river, and \u0100nanda, thinking to himself that he ought to please\n  both, burnt his own body in the middle of the river, and thus attained\n  Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a in a fiery ecstasy of Sam\u0101dhi. Then his body was divided\n  into two, so that each got one half as a sacred relic (Legge, pp.\n  75-77).\n\n\n                              _Kau\u1e61\u0101mb\u012b._\n\nKau\u1e61\u0101mb\u012b (in P\u0101li Kos\u0101mb\u012b), now Kosam[210], on the river Jumn\u0101, about\nthirty miles from Allah\u0101b\u0101d, was once a place hallowed by many\nBr\u0101hmanical associations, and is mentioned in the R\u0101m\u0101ya\u1e47a. It was the\ncapital of the Kau\u1e61\u0101mba country, and is said to have been founded by\nKu\u1e61\u0101mba, tenth in descent from Pur\u016bravas. Without doubt it was one of\nthe most ancient cities of India. It was also the city of King Udayana,\nwhose story is alluded to by the greatest of all Sanskrit poets,\nK\u0101li-d\u0101sa, in his \u2018Cloud-Messenger[211].\u2019 Furthermore, Kau\u1e61\u0101mb\u012b is the\ncity in which the scene of the Sansk\u1e5bit drama Ratn\u0101val\u012b was laid[212].\n\nThe Buddha resided there in the sixth and ninth years of his Buddhahood,\nand probably visited the place at other times. This was the chief cause\nof its reputation in connexion with Buddhism. But it also derived its\nsacred character from the fact that it contained the celebrated\nsandal-wood image[213] of the Buddha, believed to have been carved\nduring his life-time, by a sculptor sent by Moggall\u0101na (see last line,\np. 414) at King Udayana\u2019s request, to the Trayastri\u1e49\u1e61a heaven, when the\nBuddha was there preaching the Law to his mother (see p. 207).\n\nIn a village near at hand Sir A. Cunningham (i. 308) found two\nsculptured pillars, and the pedestal of a statue inscribed with the \u2018Ye\ndharm\u0101\u2019 formula (see p. 104). A great monolith was also discovered\nthere. In F\u0101-hien\u2019s time a Vih\u0101ra existed at the spot where the Buddha\nhad explained the Law (Legge, p. 96). Hiouen Thsang mentions that a\nlofty St\u016bpa, 200 feet high, was erected by A\u1e61oka near at hand.\n\nThere was also a cavern in which the Buddha had left his shadow\nimpressed on the rock. He also speaks of ten monasteries all in ruins.\n\n\n                               _N\u0101landa._\n\nN\u0101landa[214] was the greatest seat of Buddhist learning in India. It has\nbeen identified by Sir A. Cunningham with the village of Baragaon, about\nseven miles north of R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha, about thirty miles south-east of the\nmodern Patn\u0101, and about forty miles from Buddha-Gay\u0101. Sir Alexander\nstates that Baragaon possesses immense ruins and more numerous specimens\nof sculpture than any other place visited by him. According to Hiouen\nThsang, the Buddha preached the Law there for three months. The vast\nextent and importance of the monastery (Sa\u1e45gh\u0101r\u0101ma) or monasteries at\nN\u0101landa have been already alluded to (p. 169). F\u0101-hien, however, does\nnot mention them, which seems to indicate that they were built\nsubsequently to A.D. 425. Hiouen Thsang, who travelled in the seventh\ncentury, is said to have resided there for five years as a student. Ten\nthousand monks, renowned for their learning, lived and studied in six\nmagnificent buildings. The following is an extract from the later\nChinese traveller\u2019s description of it (Beal, ii. 70):\u2014\n\n  The monks of N\u0101landa, to the number of several thousands, are men of\n  the highest ability. Their conduct is pure and unblamable, although\n  the rules of the monastery are severe. The day is not sufficient for\n  asking and answering profound questions. From morning till night the\n  monks engage in discussion; the old and the young mutually helping one\n  another. Those who cannot discuss questions out of the Tripi\u1e6daka are\n  little esteemed, and are obliged to hide themselves for shame. Hence\n  learned men from different cities come here in multitudes to settle\n  their doubts; and thence the streams of their wisdom spread far and\n  wide. For this reason some persons usurp the name of N\u0101landa students,\n  and in going to and fro receive honour in consequence.\n\n  If men from other quarters desire to enter and take part in the\n  discussions, the keeper of the gate proposes some hard questions;\n  those who are unable to answer have to retire. One must have studied\n  deeply both old and new books, before gaining admission. Those\n  students who come as strangers, have to show their ability by hard\n  discussion; those who fail compared with those who succeed are as\n  seven or eight to ten.\n\n\n                              _Sa\u1e45k\u0101\u1e61ya._\n\nSa\u1e45k\u0101\u1e61ya, now called Sa\u1e45kisa, about fifty miles north-west of Kanouj,\nwas identified by Sir A. Cunningham in 1842. It was evidently once a\nlarge town with many remarkable monuments, and ought to be reckoned\namong the most sacred places of Buddhism. Hiouen Thsang describes it\nunder the name Kie-pi-tha (Kapitha).\n\nIt is said that the Buddha\u2019s mother died seven days after his birth (see\np. 24 of this volume), and was thus deprived of the advantage of hearing\nthe Law from her son\u2019s lips. To compensate her for this loss, the Buddha\nascended by his own supernatural power in three steps to the\nTrayastri\u1e49\u1e61a heaven of Indra (p. 207), to which his mother had been\ntransported, and there recited the Law for three months for her benefit.\nHis return to earth seems to have been a more difficult matter; for his\ndescent was not effected without the help of a ladder with three\nparallel flights of steps, made for him by the god Indra.\n\nF\u0101-hien describes this miraculous incident in the following manner\n(Legge, 48, abridged):\u2014\n\n  Sa\u1e45k\u0101\u1e61ya is the place where Buddha came down after ascending to the\n  Trayastri\u1e49\u1e61a heaven, and there preaching his Law for three months for\n  his mother\u2019s benefit. Buddha had ascended there by his supernatural\n  power, without the knowledge of his disciples; but seven days before\n  his return, Anuruddha, by his own supernatural vision, saw him in\n  heaven, and requested Moggall\u0101na (see p. 47 of this volume) to ascend\n  to Indra\u2019s heaven to inquire after \u2018the World-honoured one.\u2019\n  Moggall\u0101na did so, and returned with the information that in seven\n  days the Buddha would return. Then the kings of eight countries with\n  their people, not having seen Buddha for a long time, were all eagerly\n  looking up for him to return. But the female mendicant Utpal\u0101[215]\n  thought in her heart, \u2018To-day, the kings, with their ministers and\n  people, are all going to meet Buddha. I am but a woman; how shall I\n  succeed in being the first to see him?\u2019 Then Buddha, by his\n  supernatural power, changed her into the appearance of a Universal\n  Emperor, so that she was the foremost of all to meet and to do\n  reverence to him.\n\n  At his descent three flights of steps were created. Buddha descended\n  on the middle flight, composed of the seven precious substances;\n  Mah\u0101-Brahm\u0101, king of the Brahm\u0101 heavens (see p. 211 of this volume),\n  came down by a flight of silver steps on the right side, and \u1e60akra\n  (Indra), lord of the thirty-three divinities (p. 207), descended by\n  steps of gold on the left side, holding a canopy made of the seven\n  precious substances. An innumerable multitude of gods followed. No\n  sooner had the Buddha come down than all three flights disappeared in\n  the ground, except seven steps, which continued to be visible.\n\n  Afterwards King A\u1e61oka, being eager to ascertain where their ends\n  rested, sent men to find out by digging. They dug down till they\n  reached a yellow spring, but could not discover the bottom of the\n  steps. Hence the king felt an increase of devotion, and built a Vih\u0101ra\n  over the steps, with a standing image of Buddha sixteen cubits high.\n  Behind the Vih\u0101ra he erected a stone pillar, about fifty cubits high,\n  with a lion on the top of it. A dispute arose between some heretics\n  and the Buddhist monks about the ownership of the place, and the\n  former agreed to give up their claim if any supernatural sign\n  occurred; upon which the lion on the column gave a great roar.\n\nF\u0101-hien adds that a St\u016bpa was erected on the spot where Buddha\ndescended; another where the female mendicant caught the first sight of\nBuddha at his descent.\n\nThe basement of King A\u1e61oka\u2019s pillar was found by General Cunningham in\n1876. On a previous occasion he discovered the capital of the ancient\npillar surmounted by an elephant, which may have been mistaken by\nF\u0101-hien for a lion (see Cunningham, i. 274).\n\nHiouen Thsang, in his account of the three ladders (Beal, i. 202), says\nthat they were arranged side by side from north to south, so that those\nwho descended might have their faces to the east, and that the flight by\nwhich Indra descended was of crystal (not of gold), while that used by\nBrahm\u0101 was of silver, and the Buddha\u2019s steps were of gold (or of the\nseven precious substances, of which gold was one). This indicated the\nsuperiority of Buddha over the two gods who accompanied him.\n\nIn harmony with these ideas Indra and Brahm\u0101 are sometimes represented\nin Buddhistic sculptures standing one on each side of the Buddha, and\nprotecting him. They were also present at his birth (see p. 483 and\nengraving opposite p. 477).\n\nHiouen Thsang adds that some centuries before his time the ladders still\nexisted in their original position; but, when he visited the spot, they\nhad sunk into the earth, and disappeared. Sa\u1e45k\u0101\u1e61ya, however, was still\nmuch frequented. A magnificent image of the Buddha was preserved in a\nlarge monastery there, and 1000 priests were studying the doctrines of\nthe Sammat\u012bya, a school of the H\u012bna-y\u0101na, in four monasteries.\nFurthermore, many \u2018myriads\u2019 of pious laymen lived in the neighbourhood.\n\nThe story of Buddha\u2019s descent from heaven by help of golden steps is\ncommonly believed both in Ceylon and Burma to the present day. The\nlegend, as current in Ceylon, is given by Spence Hardy (Manual, p. 311).\n\nIt appears that when Buddha was about to return to earth from the god\nIndra\u2019s heaven, the god reflected that, although Buddha had ascended in\nthree steps, his descent ought to be celebrated \u2018with special honours.\u2019\nHe therefore caused a ladder of gold to extend from the Mountain Meru\n(see p. 206 of the present Lectures) to Sa\u1e45k\u0101\u1e61ya, 80,000 Yojanas[216] in\nlength. The steps were alternately of gold, silver, coral, ruby, emerald\nand other gems. At the right side of the ladder he created another, also\nof gold, by which Indra, blowing the conch, descended, accompanied by\nhis own gods; and on the left another ladder of silver, by which Brahm\u0101\nand the Brahm\u0101 gods (p. 210) descended, holding umbrellas over the\nBuddha. The three flights of steps appeared to the people of the earth\nlike three rainbows. When Buddha commenced his descent all the worlds\nwere illuminated by the light from his body.\n\nWith this extravagant myth\u2014believed in as a historical fact by most\nBuddhists\u2014we may contrast the simple narrative of Jacob\u2019s dream in\nGenesis xxviii.\n\nNevertheless the legend is curious, and I was greatly pleased by\ndiscovering in the Indian Section of the South Kensington Museum, a\nsmall bronze model of the triple ladder, lately dug up at Moulmein. Mr.\nPurdon Clarke, C.I.E., the present Keeper, kindly had the model\nphotographed, and presented me with a drawing of it. This I have had\nengraved, and here give.\n\n[Illustration: ]\n\nIt will be observed that an image of the Buddha is represented above the\nladder, as if seated in Indra\u2019s heaven, and as if engaged in the act of\nteaching there; while the earth is typically represented below in the\nshape of a square platform, with four small Buddhist temples, one at\neach of the four quarters of the compass (compare p. 85).\n\nA ruder representation of the ladder occurs in the sculptures of the\nBharhut St\u016bpa (Cunningham, p. 92). The General found an imperfect\nrepresentation of it carved in soap-stone at Sa\u1e45kisa in 1876 (Report,\nxi. 26).\n\n\n                               _S\u0101keta._\n\nS\u0101keta is a name of the ancient city Ayodhy\u0101 (now Aj\u016bdhy\u0101) described in\nValm\u012bki\u2019s great epic the R\u0101m\u0101yan\u1e47a, and believed to have been founded by\nManu, the progenitor of the human race. This renowned city, which was a\ngreat centre of Br\u0101hmanism, was also, no doubt, at one time a\nconsiderable centre of Buddhism. At all events, the identification of\ncertain Buddhist sites there has been made clear by Sir A. Cunningham,\nwho considers S\u0101keta to be the same as the Pi-so-kia (Vi\u1e61\u0101kh\u0101) of Hiouen\nThsang and the Sh\u0101-che or Sh\u0101-khe of F\u0101-hien. The former found twenty\nmonasteries there, and 3000 priests studying the Little Vehicle\naccording to the Sammat\u012bya school; also fifty Deva temples and very many\nheretics.\n\nIn one of the monasteries resided the Arhat Deva-\u1e61arm\u0101, who wrote a\ntreatise called the Vij\u00f1\u0101na-k\u0101ya-\u1e61\u0101stra in defence of the doctrine of\nthe non-existence of any Ego or personal self. A St\u016bpa, 200 feet high,\nwas built by A\u1e61oka in the place where Buddha is supposed to have\npreached and taught during six years.\n\nBoth F\u0101-hien and Hiouen Thsang mention the legend that he one day threw\non the ground a twig he had used to clean his teeth (danta-k\u0101sh\u1e6dha),\nwhich sprouted and grew into a miraculous tree seven cubits high, at\nwhich height it always remained. The Br\u0101hmans became jealous of the\nmiracle and sometimes cut the tree down, sometimes uprooted it, but it\nalways grew again and remained at the same height. Here also is the\nplace where the four Buddhas (p. 400) walked and sat (Legge, pp. 54, 55;\nBeal, i. 240).\n\n\n                        _Kany\u0101-kubja (Kanouj)._\n\nKany\u0101-kubja[217] is the Sansk\u1e5bit name for the ancient city of Kanouj;\n(often spelt Kanoj), once the capital of Northern India, and said to be\nthe oldest city in India, next to Ayodhy\u0101.\n\nWhen Hiouen Thsang visited this place it was the capital of the\ncelebrated monarch Harsha-vardhana, also called \u1e60il\u0101ditya (see p. 167 of\nthis volume), whose kingdom extended from Kashm\u012br to Assam and from the\nriver Narbad\u0101 to Nep\u0101l. When he carried off a tooth-relic of the Buddha\nfrom Kashm\u012br, his procession back to his capital was attended by a large\nnumber of tributary kings. Hiouen Thsang, in describing the piety of\nthis great monarch, says of him, that \u2018he sought to plant the tree of\nreligious merit to such an extent that he forgot to sleep and to eat.\u2019\nHe goes on to state as follows:\u2014\n\n  King \u1e60il\u0101ditya forbade the slaughter of any living thing as food on\n  pain of death. He built several thousand St\u016bpas, each about 100 feet\n  high. Then in all the highways of the towns and villages throughout\n  India he erected hospices, and stationed physicians there with\n  medicines for travellers and the poor persons round about. On all\n  spots where there were holy traces of Buddha, he built monasteries.\n  Once in five years he held the great assembly called Moksha. Then\n  every year he assembled the monks, and bestowed on them the four kinds\n  of alms (food, drink, medicine, clothing). He ordered them to carry on\n  discussions, and himself judged of their arguments. He rewarded the\n  good and punished the wicked. He promoted the men of talent, and\n  degraded evil men. Wherever he moved he dwelt in a travelling-palace,\n  and provided choice meats for men of all sorts of religion. Of these\n  the Buddhist priests would be perhaps a thousand; the Br\u0101hmans five\n  hundred[218]. He divided each day into three portions. During the\n  first he occupied himself on matters of government; during the second\n  he practised himself in religious devotion (Beal, i. 214).\n\nNotwithstanding Hiouen Thsang\u2019s description of various St\u016bpas,\nmonasteries and monuments seen by him, General Sir A. Cunningham was not\nable to identify any of the existing ruins in the neighbourhood of\nKanouj, \u2018so completely has almost every trace of Hind\u016b occupation been\nobliterated by the Musalm\u0101ns\u2019 (Report, i. 284).\n\nF\u0101-hien mentions a St\u016bpa near the town, built on the spot where the\nBuddha preached a discourse on \u2018the bitterness and vanity of life,\u2019\ncomparing it to \u2018a bubble or foam on water\u2019 (Legge, 54).\n\n\n                            _P\u0101\u1e6dali-putra._\n\nP\u0101\u1e6dali-putra (now Patn\u0101) seems to have existed as a village at a very\nearly period. Its ancient name was Kusuma-pura. It was enlarged and\npractically founded about the time of the Buddha\u2019s death by\nAj\u0101ta-\u1e61atru[219], who did not, however, remove there from his own\ncapital city R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha. One of his successors, the great King A\u1e61oka,\nthe well-known patron of Buddhism (p. 66), converted P\u0101\u1e6dali-putra into\nthe metropolis of the kingdom of Magadha, and it thenceforward became an\nimportant centre of Buddhism. Sir A. Cunningham states that it continued\nflourishing as the capital of the great Gupta kingdom during the fourth\nand fifth centuries of the Christian era.\n\nF\u0101-hien relates a tradition that King A\u1e61oka\u2019s palace in the city was\nbuilt by genii (spirits), who brought great rocks and constructed\nchambers by heaping them together. He describes a monastery belonging to\nthe Great Vehicle, and a temple belonging to the Little Vehicle, in the\nneighbourhood of the city, and gives an account of a Buddhist procession\nof four-wheeled cars and images which took place once a year. Each car\nwas twenty-two feet or more high, and had five stories, with niches on\nfour sides, in which were placed images of the Buddha and the\nBodhi-sattvas, along with images of the gods (d\u0113vas). They were made to\nlook like moving pagodas (or D\u0101gabas). The Hind\u016bs, as we know, have\nsimilar car-processions to this day, when the images of K\u1e5bish\u1e47a are\ndragged through the streets of towns and villages.\n\nF\u0101-hien mentions the interesting fact that the nobles of the country had\nfounded hospitals in the city to which destitute, crippled, and diseased\npersons might repair, and receive advice, food, and medicines suited to\ntheir cases, gratuitously. He adds that A\u1e61oka, wishing to build 84,000\nSt\u016bpas[220] in place of the eight originally constructed over the\nBuddha\u2019s ashes, built the first St\u016bpa and a pillar near P\u0101\u1e6dali-putra.\n\nNear it he says was an impression of the Buddha\u2019s foot, over which a\ntemple with a door towards the north had been erected (Legge, pp. 77-80;\nBeal, i. lv-lviii). The position of the St\u016bpa and column has been\ndiscovered by Sir A. Cunningham (xi. 157, 158).\n\n\n                              _Kesar\u012bya._\n\nKesar\u012bya is a large village about thirty miles distant from Vai\u1e61\u0101l\u012b\n(Bes\u0101rh). It is chiefly remarkable for a mound of ruined brick-work, 62\nfeet in height, supporting a solid brick St\u016bpa (nearly 68\u00bd feet in\ndiameter), which is also partly in ruins. The people call it the St\u016bpa\nof the \u0106akravart\u012b (Universal Monarch) Ve\u1e47a, father of King P\u1e5bithu. In\nManu, VII. 41; IX. 66, 67, King Ve\u1e47a is described as an arrogant monarch\nwho resisted the authority of the Br\u0101hmans. Probably he favoured the\nBuddhists. At any rate the Buddhists assert that the remarkable St\u016bpa at\nthis place was built to mark the spot where Gautama Buddha preached a\ndiscourse, in which he described one of his previous births as a\n\u0106akravart\u012b king.\n\nNot far from the St\u016bpa a small mound has been excavated, and the head\nand shoulders of a colossal statue of Buddha brought to light\n(Cunningham, i. 67).\n\n\n                             _Ku\u1e61i-nagara._\n\nKu\u1e61i-nagara (in P\u0101li Kusi-n\u0101r\u0101) was the place where the Buddha died,\nor\u2014to speak more correctly\u2014passed away in Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a (see pp. 48, 49,\n140). It was long searched for in vain, but has recently been identified\nby Sir A. Cunningham with the modern Kasia, eighty miles east of\nKapila-vastu, and 120 miles N.N.E. of Benares.\n\nNeither F\u0101-hien nor Hiouen Thsang say much about Ku\u1e61i-nagara, except\nthat it was deserted and had few inhabitants; but the latter\u2019s allusion\nto the Buddha\u2019s passing away out of the world at this place, and his\naccount of the subsequent assembling of the first council at R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha\nby order of the great K\u0101\u1e61yapa (pp. 47, 55), is so interesting and\ncurious that I here give an abstract of his narrative, based on Mr.\nBeal\u2019s translation (ii. 161):\u2014\n\n  Once when the great K\u0101\u1e61yapa was seated in meditation, suddenly a\n  bright light burst forth, and the earth shook. Then, exerting his\n  faculty of supernatural vision, he saw the Lord Buddha passing away\n  into Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a between two trees. Forthwith he ordered his\n  followers to accompany him to the city of Ku\u1e61i-nagara. On the way\n  there they met a Br\u0101hman, who, on being asked whence he came, replied,\n  \u2018From Ku\u1e61i-nagara, where I saw your master entering into Nirv\u0101\u1e47a. A\n  vast multitude of heavenly beings were around him.\u2019\n\n  K\u0101\u1e61yapa having heard these words said, \u2018The sun of wisdom has\n  extinguished his rays. The world is now in darkness. The illustrious\n  guide\u2014the King of the Law\u2014has left us; the whole world is empty and\n  afflicted. Men and gods are left without a guide.\u2019 Accordingly, he\n  proceeded to the two trees, and looking on Buddha, offered worship.\n  But certain careless monks said one to another, with satisfaction,\n  \u2018Tath\u0101gata has gone to rest. This is good for us; for now, if we\n  transgress, who is there to reprove us?\u2019 Then K\u0101\u1e61yapa was deeply\n  moved, and resolved to secure obedience to the teaching of Buddha.\n\n  Addressing the assembled multitude, he said, \u2018We ought to collect the\n  Law. Those who have kept it without failure, whose powers of\n  discrimination are clear, such persons may form the assembly. Those\n  who are only learners must depart to their homes.\u2019\n\n  On this they went away, and only 999 men were left, including \u0100nanda.\n  But the great K\u0101\u1e61yapa excluded \u0100nanda as being yet a learner.\n  Addressing him, he said, \u2018You are not yet free from defect; you, too,\n  must leave the assembly. You were a personal attendant on Buddha, you\n  loved him much, and are, therefore, not free from the ties of\n  affection.\u2019\n\n  So \u0100nanda retired to a desert place. Wearied out, he desired to lie\n  down. Scarcely had his head reached the pillow, when lo! he obtained\n  the condition of an Arhat. Then he returned to the door of the\n  assembly. But K\u0101\u1e61yapa said to him, \u2018Have you got rid of all ties? If\n  so, prove it; exercise your spiritual power and enter without the door\n  being opened.\u2019 Then \u0100nanda entered through the key-hole, and having\n  paid reverence to the assembled monks, sat down.\n\nThis power of reducing the body to the size of an atom, so as to be able\nto pass through so minute an aperture as a key-hole, was one of the\nsupernatural faculties supposed to belong to perfected saints or Arhats\n(compare pp. 133, 245 of these Lectures).\n\nThe consideration of Buddhist Sacred Places might lead us on to various\nhallowed spots in other Buddhist countries, for example, Anur\u0101dha-pura,\nAdam\u2019s Peak and Kelani in Ceylon; the site of the great pagoda at\nRangoon, and of that near Mandalay in Burma; the site of the Buddha\u2019s\nfoot-print (Phra Bat) in Siam; the snows of Kinchinjunga in Sikkim; the\ncity of Lh\u0101ssa and its monasteries in Tibet; Kuren in Mongolia; but all\nthese, and other places, have either been incidentally mentioned in\nprevious Lectures or will be more fully noticed hereafter.\n\n\n\n\n                              LECTURE XV.\n                       _Monasteries and Temples._\n\n\nBuddhist monasteries deserve a fuller notice than the incidental\nallusions we have made to them in previous Lectures.\n\nThe duty of dwelling under trees, and not in houses, according to the\nexample set by all the Buddhas (see p. 136), and especially by Gautama\nBuddha himself, during his long course of meditation (see p. 31), was in\ntheory supposed to be binding on all true monks. \u2018The root of a tree for\nan abode\u2019 was one of \u2018the four Resources,\u2019 of which every monk was\nallowed to avail himself, and the enumeration of which formed part of\nthe admission-ceremonies (see p. 80).\n\nAt the same time certain dispensations or indulgences were specially\ngranted at those ceremonies, one of which was permission to live in\ncovered residences, when not itinerating. The five kinds of dwellings\npermissible under varying circumstances are described in \u0106ulla-vagga\n(VI. 1, 2). They are Vih\u0101ras (monasteries), A\u1e0d\u1e0dhayogas (i. e. houses of\na peculiar shape), storied dwellings (pr\u0101s\u0101da)[221], mansions (harmya),\nand caves (see note, p. 81 of this volume).\n\nIt is clear that any painful exposure of the body to the violent storms\nof India was incompatible with one of the principles of Buddhism, which,\nthough it taught self-denial and self-sacrifice of a particular kind,\ndeprecated all personal self-inflicted pain and austerity.\n\nYet it appears (from Mah\u0101-vagga, III. 15) that at the time of his first\nresidence at R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha (see p. 29 of these Lectures), the Buddha had\nnot yet instituted \u2018the Retreat\u2019 during the rains (Vassa). Hence the\nmonks were in the habit of going on their travels alike during winter,\nsummer, and the rainy season.\n\nThe people complained of this, and said that the monks in walking about\nduring wet weather were unable to avoid crushing vegetable life and\ntreading on minute living things. Thereupon the Buddha prescribed that\nthe monks were to keep \u2018Vassa,\u2019 and refrain from peregrination during\nthe rains.\n\nSoon afterwards, when the Buddha had left R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha and had taken up\nhis abode during Vassa in the Jeta-vana garden at S\u0101vatth\u012b (see p. 407),\na wealthy and pious layman (Up\u0101saka) who had built a monastery (Vih\u0101ra)\nfor the monks, sent to invite them to reside in it, saying that he\nwished to hear them recite the Law and to bestow gifts upon them. The\nBuddha permitted them to go, but required them to return in seven days.\nHe gave the same permission when another rich and pious layman had\nprovided other residences and conveniences for the monks, such as a\nstoried house, a mansion, a store-room, a cave, a refectory, a bathing\nroom, a well-house, a pavilion, a park, etc.\n\nOn the other hand, when, on a particular occasion, a monk wished to keep\nVassa in a cattle-pen (Mah\u0101-vagga, III. 12) the Buddha permitted him to\ndo so. So, again, on another occasion he allowed a man to keep Vassa in\na caravan, and on a third occasion in a covered boat or ship. But it is\nrecorded that he prohibited Vassa from being kept in the open air, or in\nthe hollow of trees[222] (see Mah\u0101-vagga, III. 12, 3).\n\nIt is evident from all this, that even in the early days of Buddhism,\nrich laymen were in the habit of seeking to acquire religious merit by\nproviding comfortable habitations for the monks; and although at first\nthe use of such luxuries was only permitted in the rainy season, this\nrestriction was soon removed, and a residence in covered dwellings\nbecame usual at all seasons of the year.\n\nThen, as Buddhism spread, kings, princes, and rich men competed with\neach other for the privilege of erecting vast monasteries\u2014sometimes\ncalled Vih\u0101ras[223], sometimes Sa\u1e45gh\u0101r\u0101mas\u2014to which temples, libraries,\nand schools were generally attached, and in which dwelt wealthy\ncommunities of monks, who were allowed to hold property in land.\n\nThe founding of extensive and important institutions of this kind was,\nof course, an exceptional proceeding. As a general rule, collections of\nmonastic dwellings were of a simple and unostentatious character. In\nvarious parts of India are to be seen in the present day ancient\nBuddhist cave-monasteries now untenanted, some of them\u2014such as the caves\nof Bar\u0101bar\u2014as old as the third century B.C.\n\nI myself visited those at Elor\u0101 (Elur\u0101), twelve miles from Aurang\u0101b\u0101d in\nthe Niz\u0101m\u2019s territory, as well as others at N\u0101sik, K\u0101rle, and other\nplaces. The Elor\u0101 caves are possibly as old as the third century[224],\nand with the adjoining Br\u0101hmanical and Jain caves of later date, extend\nfor one mile and a quarter along the scarp of an elevated plateau. The\nthree groups of caves rival each other in the beauty and interest of\ntheir sculptures, and together constitute one of the wonders of\nIndia\u2014their position side by side proving that the adherents of the\nthree systems lived together in harmony. Among the Buddhist caves are\nbeautiful \u2018\u0106aityas\u2019 or halls for general worship (see p. 450),\nrefectories for commensality, and cells without number for the\nhabitation of the monks. All the excavations had become partially filled\nup; but the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1876 stimulated the Niz\u0101m\u2019s\ngovernment to clear away the dust and rubbish of centuries.\n\nThen, besides cave-monasteries, the ruins of extensive monastic\nestablishments built of brick, stone, or other less durable materials,\nare scattered everywhere throughout India.\n\nThose of the vast monastery of N\u0101landa near R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha, and others at\nvarious other sacred places, have been already described (see p. 412).\n\nTurning next to the monastic structures of modern Buddhist countries,\nand beginning with Ceylon, we find that in that island, as Spence Hardy\nhas pointed out, and as I myself observed during my sojourn there, the\nresidences of the monks are of very simple construction, and often\nextremely mean in appearance. They are called P\u0101n-s\u0101l\u0101s (Pa\u1e47\u1e47a-\u1e61\u0101l\u0101 =\nSansk\u1e5bit Par\u1e47a-\u1e61\u0101l\u0101) because supposed to be made of leaves. In general,\nhowever, they are constructed of wattle filled up with mud, the roof\nbeing covered with straw, or with the platted leaves of the cocoa-nut.\nThey are always dirty and always abound in cobwebs.\n\nA monastery which I saw near Kandy consisted of an oblong rectangular\ncourt-yard, surrounded in the interior by a kind of roofed cloister or\nverandah, out of which opened the monks\u2019 cells, lighted only from the\nsky above the court. The interior walls of both cloister and cells were\nbegrimed with patches of dirt and masses of cobwebs, which are never\ntouched for fear of breaking the first Buddhist commandment, \u2018kill not\u2019\n(p. 126).\n\nOf course there are monasteries of a better and more imposing type, such\nas that attached to the M\u0101lig\u0101wa temple of the sacred eye-tooth on the\nKandy lake (see p. 454).\n\nIn Burma the ordinary residences of the monks appear to be simple in\ncharacter, like those in Ceylon. In Siam, on the contrary, they are\nsometimes elaborate, and often have richly-covered entrances. At the\nsame time the Siamese monks (according to Mr. Alabaster) are in the\nhabit of itinerating a good deal, only remaining in their monasteries\nduring the three months of rains, when residence there is imperative.\n\nSpeaking of the larger and more imposing monasteries (Kyoung) in Burma,\nMr. Scott says (I give his account in an abbreviated form):\u2014\n\n  The monasteries are built of teak, or, sometimes in Mandalay and Lower\n  Burma, of brick. The shape is always oblong, and the inhabited portion\n  is raised on posts and pillars, eight or ten feet above the ground.\n  They are, like all the other houses in the country, only one story\n  high; for if it is an indignity to a layman to have anyone\u2019s feet over\n  his head[225], it is much more so to a member of the brotherhood. The\n  space between the ground and the floor is always kept open, and is\n  never used except by the monastery school-boys. A flight of steps of\n  stone or wood leads up to the verandah, which extends along the north\n  and south sides, and frequently all round. From the raised floor thus\n  reached, rises the building, with tier upon tier of massive roofs (in\n  diminishing stages), giving the appearance of many stories when there\n  is only one. The accommodation is simple. It consists in the main of a\n  central hall divided into two portions, one level with the verandah\n  where the scholars are taught, and most of the duties of the monastery\n  carried on, and the other a dais, raised about two feet above the\n  level of the rest of the building. Seated upon this, the monks are\n  accustomed to receive visitors, and at the back, against the wall, are\n  arranged the images of Buddha, a large one usually standing in the\n  centre on a kind of altar, with candles, flowers, praying flags, and\n  other offerings placed before it. On shelves alongside are a number of\n  smaller figures of gold, silver, alabaster, clay or wood, according to\n  the popularity of the monastery, and the religious character of the\n  neighbourhood. Occasionally there are dormitories for the monks, but\n  as a rule they sleep in the central hall, where the mats which form\n  their beds may be seen rolled up against the wall. The whole area of\n  the extensive compound in which the monastery stands is enclosed by a\n  heavy teak fence with massive posts and rails, seven or eight feet\n  high. The laity, when they enter, take off their shoes and carry them\n  in their hands. This rule applies to the highest in the land.\n\nThe daily life of the monks inhabiting monasteries of this kind in Burma\nhas been already described (see pp. 311-314 of these Lectures).\n\nIf we now pass to northern Buddhist countries we shall find that, as a\ngeneral rule, the dwellings of monks are insignificant tenements of poor\nconstruction, attached to or built round small chapels or shrines.\nSometimes the monks live in the rooms built over such chapels.\n\nSir Richard Temple (Journal, ii. 207) visited a so-called monastery at\nPemyangchi (in Sikkim), which consisted of a single building with two\nstories. In the upper some of the monks resided, and a chapel formed the\nlower.\n\nThe temple-monastery I myself visited in British Sikkim, near D\u0101rj\u012bling,\nis similar. The exterior appearance might be compared to that of some\nsmall Dissenting chapel in an English village. The thatched roof, which\nonce gave it a picturesque appearance, has recently been removed, and a\nroof of modern construction substituted. The shrine or temple is on the\nground floor, while the upper floor is the abode of the attendant\npriests, and seems also to serve as a store-room with cupboards for\ntheir equipments. The contents of the ground-floor temple, with its\naltar at the further end and shelves for the sacred books on one side,\nare very indistinctly seen, being only lighted up by a \u2018dim religious\nlight,\u2019 when the door is kept wide open. I noticed three images on the\naltar.\n\nThe case is different when large numbers of monks congregate in\nparticular places. In some districts of Lad\u0101k, Mongolia and Tibet,\nmonasteries (or L\u0101maseries as they are sometimes called) have been\nerected, which for vastness, magnificence, and grandeur of situation\namid splendid scenery, are unequalled in any part of the world.\n\nAccording to strict rule, retired localities should be chosen. Hence\nlarge monastic establishments are often found in solitary places[226]\nand elevated situations; for instance, in Lad\u0101k those at L\u0101ma Yurru and\nHemis are more than 11,000 feet above the sea, and that at Hanle is\n14,000 feet. They resemble romantic castles towering upwards in the\nmidst of rocks, crags, and snowy mountains.\n\nAnother monastery at K\u012blang (Kyelang), in the British Tibetan province\nof Lah\u016bl (contiguous to Lad\u0101k), stands on the spur of a mountain, at an\nelevation of 12,000 feet, and is approached through grand ravines and\nglaciers, so that occasionally, after snow-storms, those who pass to and\nfro are buried in avalanches.\n\nThe outer walls of large monasteries of this kind in secluded situations\nare generally lofty. Often they are made of stone or brick, plastered\nwith mud and surmounted with little pinnacles and poles, on which are\nprayer-flags. Within the walls are cells for the monks, the abode of the\nHead or Abbot, a room for holding books, a temple, an assembly-hall, a\nrefectory, store-houses, receptacles for musical instruments, masks,\nstaves, etc.; the buildings being often arranged in rows, and always\nintermixed with St\u016bpas (see p. 504) and monuments. The walls of the\nvestibules and of the great hall are usually ornamented with\nfresco-paintings, representing subjects from the Buddhist J\u0101takas (p.\n111). Generally there are corridors or covered cloisters lined with\nprayer-wheels, or open walks paved with stone, called in Sansk\u1e5bit\n\u0106ankrama\u1e47a (P\u0101li, \u0106ankamana), for the monks to perambulate up and down\nin meditation. These are supposed to be constructed after the pattern of\nthe stone walking-places used by the Buddha himself (see p. 400).\n\nIn the monastery at K\u012blang the roof of the great hall is supported by\nmassive beams garnished with belts, swords, yaks\u2019 tails, huge and\nterrible masks, and all sorts of odds and ends. On one side is a huge\npraying-wheel, on each revolution of which a bell is struck. A dim\nsubdued light pervades the entire hall, exaggerating the ghastly\nhideousness of the figures[227].\n\nTo take as another instance\u2014the monastery or L\u0101masery of Kunbum (or\nKumbum) north of Tibet, celebrated as the birth-place of Tsong Khapa (p.\n277), and situated, according to M. Huc, on a mountain intersected by a\nbroad and deep ravine:\u2014\n\n  On either side of the ravine, and up the slopes of the mountain, rise,\n  in amphitheatrical curves, the white dwellings of the L\u0101mas, each with\n  its little terrace and enclosing wall, while here and there above them\n  \u2018tower the temples, with their gilt roofs glittering with a thousand\n  colours.\u2019 The houses of the superior monks are distinguished by\n  pennants, floating above small hexagonal turrets, while those of the\n  ordinary monks are simple cells. On all sides mystical sentences, in\n  the Tibetan character, meet the eye (see p. 381), some inscribed on\n  doors, some on walls and stones, or on linen flags fixed on poles.\n\n  Almost everywhere are conical vessels, in which incense and\n  odoriferous wood are burning; while numbers of L\u0101mas circulate through\n  the streets of the monastery in their red and yellow dresses\u2014grave in\n  their deportment, and, although under no obligation to silence,\n  speaking little, and that little in a low voice.\n\nThis L\u0101masery of Kunbum enjoys so great a reputation, that the\nworshippers of Buddha make pilgrimages to it from all parts of Mongolia,\nTartary, and Tibet, and on the occasion of great festivals the\nconfluence of strangers is immense. It is much frequented by Eastern\nTibetans.\n\nNear Kunbum is a much smaller monastery, devoted to the study of\nmedicine. It is at the foot of a rocky mountain, on the heights of which\ndwell certain contemplative monks. M. Huc saw one of these hermits, who\nnever communicated with the outer world except for food, which he drew\nup to his rocky cell by the help of a bag tied to a long rope (ii. 73).\n\nSome mention should also be made of the monasteries at Kuku khotun, \u2018the\nblue city\u2019 in Tartary. That town contains no less than five great\nL\u0101maseries and fifteen affiliated monasteries, with a grand total of\n20,000 L\u0101mas dwelling in them. The chief monastery is that of the \u2018Five\nTowers\u2019\u2014not to be confounded with one of the same name in the Chinese\nprovince of Shan si.\n\nThis latter is a celebrated place for burials (see p. 370), and pilgrims\nmay there be edified by a sight of the Buddha\u2019s shadow impressed on a\nrock.\n\nAnother example of a monastery in a remote situation is that of Kurun or\nKuren (see p. 295), situated on the slope of a mountain in Mongolia. In\nthis celebrated monastery of the Grand L\u0101ma T\u0101ran\u0101tha 30,000 L\u0101mas\n(according to M. Huc) are lodged and supported.\n\n  The plain at the foot of the mountain is constantly covered with tents\n  of various sizes for the convenience of pilgrims. Hither throng the\n  worshippers of Buddha from the most remote countries.\n\n  Viewed from a distance, the white cells of the L\u0101mas, built on the\n  declivity in horizontal lines one above the other, resemble the steps\n  of an enormous altar, of which the temple of the T\u0101ran\u0101tha L\u0101ma\n  appears to constitute (in Roman Catholic phraseology) \u2018the\n  tabernacle.\u2019 In this country T\u0101ran\u0101tha is the saint par excellence,\n  and there is not a Tartar Khalka who does not take a pride in calling\n  himself his disciple.\n\nPassing on now to Tibet, we find that in its principal provinces the\nnumber of monastic institutions connected with its two respective\ncapitals of Lh\u0101ssa and Tashi Lunpo, is more than a thousand, with\n491,242 L\u0101mas. This is the estimate of the latest traveller[228].\n\nAccording to Huc, more than thirty large monasteries may be reckoned in\nthe neighbourhood of Lh\u0101ssa alone.\n\nAdverting for a moment to Lh\u0101ssa itself, we may note that this \u2018city of\nthe gods\u2019\u2014the chief town of the province of U, situated on the Ki-\u0107hu\nriver[229]\u2014had in 1854 about 15,000 inhabitants within a circumference\nof two-and-a-half miles. According to a Chinese proverb, its chief\ninmates have always been \u2018priests, women, and dogs.\u2019 Koeppen affirms\nthat Lh\u0101ssa has always been a greater nest of monk-priests than Rome has\never been.\n\nDoubtless its population is now increased, and includes a considerable\nproportion of laymen; yet, in all likelihood, at least two-thirds of the\ninhabitants are monks; and it cannot be too often repeated that,\naccording to the true theory of Buddhism, the only raison d\u2019\u00eatre of the\nlaity is to wait upon the monkhood.\n\nMoreover, Lh\u0101ssa, next to Benares and Mecca, is, perhaps, the most\nfrequented place of pilgrimage upon earth. Scarcely a day passes on\nwhich the streets do not overflow with crowds of pilgrims\u2014some from\nevery quarter of Tibet, some from Bhut\u0101n and other Him\u0101layan regions,\nsome from all parts of Mongolia. All meet here to worship the incarnated\nrepresentative of the Bodhi-sattva (Avalokite\u1e61vara) manifested in the\nDalai L\u0101ma\u2014to receive his blessing, his consecrated pills, and his\nprayer-papers (see p. 331 of these Lectures). The residence of this\nL\u0101mistic Pope is at Potala.\n\nIn fact Potala on the north-west side of Lh\u0101ssa is what the Vatican is\nto Rome. It existed in ancient times as a palace, but was rebuilt and\nconverted into a palace-monastery by the celebrated fifth Dalai L\u0101ma\nNavang Lobsang, A.D. 1617-1682 (p. 292 of this volume), and from that\ntime forward became the residence of all the Dalai L\u0101mas, who had before\nlived either at Sera or at Brepung (Dapung, see p. 442).\n\nIn its striking and unique position, it is even more imposing than the\nVatican.\n\nImagine a lofty structure erected on an isolated hill[230], rising\nabruptly from the plain with three long summits or eminences, and\nwatered at the base by the Ki-\u0107hu river, which flows into the great\nTsanpo. The south-western ridge is the so-called Iron-hill, on which is\na monastery where Tsong Khapa himself is said to have taught. The\nnorth-eastern bears the name of the Phagmo hill[231], while the highest\nis the hill of Potala, with its palace-monastery towering in four\nstories to the height of about 367 feet, and ending in a cupola covered\nwith plates of pure gold.\n\nFrom this vantage ground the incarnated Bodhi-sattva looks down on the\ncrowds of pilgrims approaching to worship him, or kneeling at the foot\nof the hill. The buildings grouped in the vicinity are said to contain\n10,000 rooms, for the accommodation of as many monks. Countless are the\nstatues of Buddha, with other idols and images of saints, not to mention\nobelisks and pyramidal monuments, which meet the eye everywhere. All\nsacred objects are manufactured out of gold, silver, or copper,\naccording to the wealth of those who have brought them as offerings. Two\nascending avenues lead up from Lh\u0101ssa to Potala, which are constantly\nthronged with foreign pilgrims, troops of L\u0101mas in official vestments,\nhigher L\u0101mas and courtiers in full uniform. Yet we are told that a\nsolemn religious silence prevails, for the thoughts of all are fixed in\nmeditation.\n\nI have already given an abstract of Mr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s\u2019 narrative of\nhis visit to Potala, and his presentation to the Dalai L\u0101ma on June 10,\n1882 (see p. 331 of these Lectures). I now add an account of Mr. Thomas\nManning\u2019s interview with the Dalai L\u0101ma on December 17, 1811. No\nEuropean, except Mr. Manning[232], has ever set eyes on a Dalai L\u0101ma,\nand no other Englishman has ever seen Lh\u0101ssa (for M. Huc was\nmisinformed; Moorcroft was never there):\u2014\n\n  We rode to the foot of the mountain on which the palace is built, or\n  out of which, rather, it seems to grow; but having ascended a few\n  paces to a platform, were obliged to dismount. From here to the hall\n  where the Grand L\u0101ma receives visitors is a long and tedious ascent.\n  It consists of about four hundred steps, partly stone steps in the\n  rocky mountain, and the rest mere ladders from story to story in the\n  palace. Besides this, from interval to interval along the mountain,\n  wherever the ascent is easy, there are stretches interspersed, where\n  the path continues for several paces together without steps. At length\n  we arrived at the large platform on which is built the hall of\n  reception. There we rested awhile, arranged the presents, and\n  conferred with the L\u0101ma\u2019s Chinese interpreter.\n\n  The T\u00ed-mu-fu was in the hall with the Grand L\u0101ma. I was not informed\n  of this until I entered, which occasioned me some confusion. I did not\n  know how much ceremony to go through with one, before I began with the\n  other. I made the due obeisance, touching the ground three times with\n  my head to the Grand L\u0101ma, and once to the T\u00ed-mu-fu. I presented my\n  gifts, delivering the coin and the handsome silk scarf with my own\n  hands into the hands of the Grand L\u0101ma. I then took off my hat, and\n  humbly gave him my clean-shaven head to lay his hands upon. The\n  ceremony of presentation being over, the Munsh\u012b and I sat down on two\n  cushions not far from the L\u0101ma\u2019s throne, and had tea brought to us. It\n  was most excellent, and I meant to have emptied the cup, but it was\n  whipped away suddenly, before I was aware of it. The L\u0101ma\u2019s beautiful\n  and interesting face and manner engrossed almost all my attention. He\n  was at that time about seven years old; and had the simple and\n  unaffected manners of a well-educated princely child. His face was, I\n  thought, poetically and affectingly beautiful. He was of a gay and\n  cheerful disposition; his beautiful mouth perpetually unbending into a\n  graceful smile, which illuminated his whole countenance. Sometimes,\n  particularly when he had looked at me, his smile approached to a\n  gentle laugh. No doubt my grim beard and spectacles somewhat excited\n  his risibility. He inquired whether I had not met with molestation and\n  difficulties on the road; to which I promptly returned the proper\n  answer. A present of dried fruit was brought and set before me, and\n  then we withdrew. (Mr. Clements Markham\u2019s Tibet, p. 264, abridged.)\n\nAs to the monasteries grouped around this Vatican of L\u0101mistic Buddhism,\nwe may make special mention of four, noting a few particulars.\n\nTo begin with the oldest monastery, that of _L\u0101 brang_, said to mean\n\u2018abode of L\u0101mas[233],\u2019 which was built by King Srong Tsan Gampo (see p.\n271 of this volume), and founded in the seventh century. This ancient\ninstitution is in the very centre of Lh\u0101ssa, and is regarded as the\ncentre of the whole country. All the main roads of Tibet converge\ntowards it. Doubtless the area of the monastery has been enlarged by\noccasional additions in the course of one thousand years, but not since\nit was partly rebuilt and restored in the seventeenth century. Its\nmagnificent temple (Cho Khang) is the St. Peter\u2019s of L\u0101mism (see p.\n459).\n\nThe immense number of monks inhabiting this monastery is proved by the\nfact that a huge cauldron is shown which holds more than 1200 gallons of\ntea for the L\u0101mas who perform the daily services.\n\nThe other three monasteries near Potala and L\u0101 brang, according to\nKoeppen, are devoted to the study of magic and the art of exorcising. We\nmay take them in the following order:\u2014\n\nFirst, at a short distance north of L\u0101 brang, stands the monastery\n_Ramo\u0107he_, \u2018the great enclosure,\u2019 which was the other ancient monastery\nbuilt by Srong Tsan Gampo, or by one of his wives (see p. 271). It is\nnow a great school of exorcism, and has a celebrated temple (see pp.\n462, 463), containing the celebrated image of the Buddha, and also one\nof Nanda, Gautama\u2019s step-brother and disciple. Those who study here may\ngain the decree of \u2018Doctor of Magic.\u2019\n\nNext comes the monastery of _Moru_ (or Muru or Meru), close to the city.\nIt is noted for its order and cleanliness, and for its printing-press.\nLike the last, it contains a school for instruction in magic.\n\nThen, at a short distance east of L\u0101 brang (according to Koeppen), is\nthe monastery of _Gar Ma Khian_\u2014the mother monastery of soothsayers,\nfortune-tellers, and exorcisers (\u0106hos-kyong, see p. 266).\n\nLet us next turn to the three ancient \u2018mother-monasteries\u2019 of the Yellow\nsect\u2014Galdan, Sera, and Dapung.\n\n_Galdan_ (_or Gahdan_), the \u2018heaven of contented beings\u2019 (Sansk\u1e5bit\nTushita, see pp. 207, 213)\u2014the oldest monastery of the Yellow sect\u2014is\nsituated on the hill of the same name, about thirty miles[234] east of\nLh\u0101ssa. As already stated (pp. 278, 294), it was founded by Tsong Khapa\nA.D. 1409. It is three-quarters of a mile in circumference, and has 3300\nmonks.\n\n_Sera_, \u2018the golden,\u2019 founded by Tsong Khapa (p. 278), or by one of his\ndisciples immediately after his death, lies about three miles north of\nLh\u0101ssa, on a declivity of a hill, over which passes the road leading to\nMongolia. It has 5500 monks, and numerous temples, towers, and houses\ncurving round like an amphitheatre. On the hills above the town are rows\nof cells of contemplative monks and recluses.\n\nSera has three great temples several stories high, the halls of which\nare richly gilded. In one temple the staff of Gautama Buddha is\npreserved.\n\n_Dapung_ (variously Dapu\u1e45, Depung, Debung, Debang, Brepung, Brebung,\nPrebung), \u2018rice-heap,\u2019 so called from the shape of the hill, was also\nfounded by Tsong Khapa three years before Sera, and is situated four\nmiles west of the city of Lh\u0101ssa. It has 7700 monks. The great temple in\nthe middle is surrounded by four small ones. One of these four belongs\nto the exorcisers and professors of magical arts, of whom there are\nnearly three hundred. In the centre of the monastery is a residence for\nthe Dalai L\u0101ma, when he pays his annual visit. Numbers of foreigners\nstudy here, especially Mongolians. In front of the monastery stands a\nSt\u016bpa, which contains the bones of the fourth Dalai L\u0101ma, Jon Tan Yam\nThso, who was of a Mongolian family.\n\nMr. Edgar (Report, p. 41) mentions four other monasteries of the Yellow\nsect around Lh\u0101ssa, _Chemiling_, _Tengiling_, _Chechuling_, and\n_Kenduling_[235]. The last is said to be the residence of the Regent (p.\n286 of these Lectures). Sarat Chandra D\u0101s gives a long list of\nmonasteries, some containing 5000 monks (e.g. Rnam rgyal grvatsang,\nGongdkar rDorjegdan, etc.) and some 7000.\n\nWe have next to describe the great monastery of the second Grand L\u0101ma of\nTibetan Buddhism\u2014I mean that at _Tashi Lunpo_, also belonging to the\nYellow sect.\n\n_Tashi Lunpo_, near _Shigatse_, is the seat of government of the Tashi\nL\u0101ma or Panchen L\u0101ma (see p. 284 of these Lectures), and the second\nmetropolis of L\u0101mistic Buddhism. Our knowledge of this celebrated place\nis derived from the record of the journeys of Mr. Bogle and Captain\nTurner, as well as from the narratives of Indian explorers.\n\nAccording to some of these authorities, Tashi Lunpo is situated about\n140 English miles in a nearly westerly direction from Lh\u0101ssa. It is\nbuilt on a level plain enclosed on all sides by rocky hills, through\nwhich a small river (the Painam) rushes into the great Tsanpo\n(Brahma-putra). The monastery is said to have been built by the first\nDalai L\u0101ma, Gedun grub pa, in 1445 (see p. 291 of these Lectures),\nthough the final seat of the Dalai L\u0101mas was at Lh\u0101ssa.\n\nAccording to Koeppen four roads meet at Tashi Lunpo; one leading to\nLh\u0101ssa, one to Lad\u0101k, one to Nep\u0101l, and one to Bhut\u0101n.\n\nNear at hand, on the north-east side of the Tashi Lunpo monastery, on a\nrocky eminence protecting it from the cold winds, stands the fort of\nShigatse (also written Shigatze), which, with its surrounding houses,\nforms the capital of the province of Tsang, just as Lh\u0101ssa constitutes\nthat of the province of U.\n\nOur fellow countryman, Mr. Bogle, commissioned by Warren Hastings to\nopen communications between Bengal and Tibet, arrived at Tashi Lunpo in\n1774. His description of it is to the following effect. I give it\nabbreviated (from Mr. Clements Markham\u2019s Tibet):\u2014\n\n  We passed by the foot of Tashi Lunpo, which is built on the lower\n  declivity of a steep hill. The roof of the palace is all of\n  copper-gilt. The building is of dark-coloured brick. The houses of the\n  town rise one above another. Four churches with gilt ornaments are\n  mixed with them. Altogether the town presents a princely appearance.\n  Many of the courts are spacious, flagged with stone, and have\n  galleries running round them. The alleys, which are likewise paved,\n  are narrow. The palace is appropriated to the L\u0101ma and his officers,\n  to temples, granaries, warehouses, etc. The rest of the town is\n  entirely inhabited by priests, who are in number about four thousand.\n\nThe following is the substance of Mr. Bogle\u2019s account of his interview\nwith the Tashi L\u0101ma on November 8, 1774 (abbreviated from Markham\u2019s\nTibet):\u2014\n\n  In the afternoon I had my first audience of the Tashi L\u0101ma. He is\n  about forty years of age, of low stature, and inclining to be fat. His\n  complexion is fairer than that of most Tibetans, and his arms are as\n  white as those of a European; his hair, which is jet black, is cut\n  very short; his eyes are small and black. The expression of his\n  countenance is smiling and good-humoured. He was upon his throne,\n  formed of wood carved and gilt, with some cushions above it, upon\n  which he sat with his legs folded under him. He was dressed in a\n  mitre-shaped cap of yellow broadcloth, with long bars lined with red\n  satin, a yellow cloth jacket without sleeves, and a satin mantle of\n  the same colour thrown over his shoulders. On one side of him stood\n  his physician, with a bundle of perfumed sandal-wood rods burning in\n  his hand; on the other stood his cup-bearer. I laid the Governor\u2019s\n  presents before him, delivering the letter and the pearl necklace into\n  his own hands, together with a white handkerchief on my own part,\n  according to the custom of the country. He received me in the most\n  engaging manner. I was seated on a high stool covered with a carpet.\n  Plates of boiled mutton, boiled rice, dried fruits, sweetmeats, sugar,\n  bundles of tea, dried sheep\u2019s carcases, etc., were set before me and\n  my companion, Mr. Hamilton. The L\u0101ma drank two or three dishes of tea\n  with us, but without saying any grace, asked us once or twice to eat,\n  and on our retiring threw white handkerchiefs over our necks. After\n  two or three visits, he used to receive me without any ceremony, his\n  head uncovered, and dressed only in the large red petticoat worn by\n  all full monks, red boots, a yellow cloth vest, with his arms bare,\n  and a piece of coarse yellow cloth thrown across his shoulders. He sat\n  sometimes in a chair, sometimes on a bench covered with tiger-skins,\n  and nobody but the cup-bearer present. Sometimes he would walk with me\n  about the room, explain the pictures, or make some remarks upon the\n  colour of my eyes, etc. For, although venerated as God\u2019s vicegerent\n  through all the eastern countries of Asia, and endowed with a portion\n  of omniscience and with many other divine attributes, he throws aside\n  in conversation all the awful part of his character, accommodates\n  himself to the weakness of mortals, endeavours to make himself loved\n  rather than feared, and behaves with the greatest affability to\n  everybody, particularly to strangers.\n\nIn 1783, when Tashi Lunpo was visited by Captain Turner, the monastery\nconsisted of 400 houses, many of which were built of stone and marble,\nand at least two stories high. They contained about 3700 monks (now\n3800). Around the houses were gilded temples, pinnacles, pyramidal\nmonuments (St\u016bpas), and above all the palace of the Tashi L\u0101ma, forming\na striking spectacle.\n\nCaptain Turner had a remarkable interview with the Grand L\u0101ma at the\nneighbouring monastery of Terpaling, on December 4, 1783. He found the\nprincely child, then aged eighteen months, seated on a throne, with his\nfather and mother standing on the left hand. Having been informed that,\nalthough unable to speak, he could understand, Captain Turner intimated\nto him \u2018that the Governor-General, on receiving news of his decease, had\nbeen overwhelmed with sorrow, and continued to lament his absence from\nthe world until the cloud was dispelled by his re-appearance. The\nGovernor hoped that he might long continue to illumine the world by his\npresence.\u2019\n\nThe infant looked steadfastly at the British envoy, and appeared to be\nlistening to his words with deep attention, while he repeatedly nodded\nhis head, as if he understood every syllable. He was silent and sedate,\nand conducted himself with astonishing dignity. Captain Turner thought\nhim one of the handsomest children he had ever seen. It seems that he\ngrew up to be an able and devout ruler, gratifying the Tibetans by his\npresence for many years, and living to a good old age.\n\nTashi Lunpo was not visited by the French missionaries, but M. Huc\ninforms us (ii. 157) that in 1846 the then Panchen L\u0101ma was 60 years of\nage, and still vigorous. M. Huc was told that he was of Indian origin,\nand that he had declared of himself that his first incarnation had taken\nplace in India some thousands of years before.\n\nMr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s, from whose notes of a journey in Tibet so many\nextracts have been already given, writes thus of his arrival at Tashi\nLunpo on the 9th of December, 1881 (the extract is not given literally,\nand is abbreviated):\u2014\n\n  In the afternoon we arrived at Tashi Lunpo. In front of the western\n  entrance I noticed two Chortens (that is, \u2018\u0106aityas or St\u016bpas,\u2019 see p.\n  504 of these Lectures), one very large, with a gilt spire, and the\n  other small. On entering the grand monastery, I mustered all my\n  knowledge of Buddhist ceremonies and monkish etiquette, that I might\n  not be criticised by the passing monks as one unacquainted with the\n  duties of the wearers of the sacred costume. I walked slowly and with\n  gravity, but secretly observing everything around me. There were a few\n  yaks under the charge of three or four herdsmen, waiting probably for\n  the return of some of their number from within the monastery. Some\n  monks, riding on mules, passed us from north to south. A few parties\n  with heavy grain packages on their backs were entering the monastery\n  along with us. The rays of the sun, now slanting on the gilded spires\n  of houses and tombs in the monastery, presented a very magnificent\n  view to the eye.\n\n  While residing in the monastery I saw people busily engaged in\n  out-door work, such as collecting fuel and tending cattle. In fact,\n  this was the busiest part of the year, when the Tibetans remain on the\n  move for the purpose of buying and selling, at a time when the\n  intensely cold winds wither up the vegetation, freeze the streams,\n  harden the soil, and dry up the skin. The monks, like the lay-people,\n  are remarkable for their habit of early rising. No monk within the\n  walls of the monastery rose later than five in the morning, and the\n  usual time for getting up was four a. m. Those who slept later,\n  without any special cause, were subject to correction. At three in the\n  morning the great trumpet summons all the monks to the religious\n  service in the congregation hall. Whoever fails to attend is punished\n  next morning. No register is kept, yet the officer who superintends\n  the discipline can tell what monk out of two thousand has absented\n  himself on any particular day. I was the only man who slept up to six\n  in the morning. The monks used often to remark that, were I a regular\n  monk of the monastery, the superintendent\u2019s birch would have stript my\n  body of its flesh.\n\nAbout six miles from Tashi Lunpo, and on the road leading from it in a\nsouth-westerly direction towards the monastery of Sakya (see below), is\nthe monastery of _Narthang_, whence issued one of the three copies of\nthe Kanjur (p. 272) brought to Europe by Brian Hodgson.\n\nWe have now to notice the two most important monasteries of the Red\nsect.\n\nFirst, _Sam ye_ (Sam yas) is on the great river Tsanpo, about forty\nmiles from Lh\u0101ssa, in a south-easterly direction. It was the first\nmonastery founded in the eighth century by Padma-sambhava, after King\nKhri Srong De Tsan\u2019s restoration of Buddhism (pp. 271, 272). It is the\nmetropolitan monastery of the Red-capped monks and Urgyanpa sect. Sam ye\nwas visited by the Indian explorer Nain Singh in 1874, on his final\njourney to Lh\u0101ssa[236], and by Sarat Chandra D\u0101s in 1882. Many of its\nimages are of gold, and it possesses an extensive library.\nPadma-sambhava was a master of Indian Yoga and magic. He is fabled to\nhave worked many miracles\u2014such as filling empty jars with divine\nwater\u2014at Sam ye. He undertook to expel all evil demons from Tibet, but\nwas opposed by the Bon priests.\n\nThe other chief monastery of the Red sect is that of _Sakya_ (Saskya),\nsituated about fifty-five miles from Tashi Lunpo, on the road leading in\na south-westerly direction towards Nep\u0101l. It has four great sanctuaries\nand a celebrated library, and is surrounded by a large town, with\ntemples and houses mostly painted red (p. 273).\n\nIt should be noted that in all the large monasteries of Northern\nBuddhist countries, varied assortments of vestments, robes, costumes,\nand masks are kept for use in the religious dances, masquerades, and\ndramatic performances which are a characteristic of Northern Buddhism.\nIndeed, some of the richer monasteries possess extensive wardrobes of\ngreat value, and the monks in their masquerading dances change their\ncostumes very frequently and with great rapidity (see pp. 347-350).\n\nNote, too, that the libraries of such monasteries generally contain\nlarge and valuable collections of books. The 108 volumes of the northern\ncanon called Kanjur, with the commentaries called Tanjur (see p. 272),\nconstitute a library in themselves. In addition to these, there are vast\nnumbers of other treatises written to elucidate the mysteries of\nNorthern Buddhism, most of which are still a terra incognita to European\nscholars. It is well known that in medi\u00e6val times some Buddhist\nmonasteries became seats of learning, which might have vied with the\nmost learned Universities established at that period in Europe.\n\n\n                               _Temples._\n\nAlthough temples have been already adverted to as forming an important\nfeature in all monasteries, and often an actual part of the edifice\nconstituting the monastery; it will be worth while to devote a short\nspace of time to their separate consideration.\n\nIn the earliest days of Buddhism neither temples nor halls nor rooms for\nmeeting together (sa\u1e45gha-g\u1e5biha) were much needed. The monk recited the\nLaw in the open air or in the houses of the laity. It was only when\ncollections of monks crystallized into regularly organized communities,\nand a kind of congregational recitation of the Law became a part of\nevery day\u2019s duty, that the monks required places of assembly like\nchurches for the performance of religious services.\n\nSuch places of meeting were often, like the cells for the monks,\nexcavated out of rocks. And, since relic-shrines called \u0106aityas (as well\nas St\u016bpas, see p. 504) were erected at the further extremity of the\nexcavated hall, the hall itself was generally called a \u0106aitya.\n\nThe two principal rock-excavated \u0106aitya-halls visited by me were at\nElor\u0101 (also spelt Ellora and Elur\u0101) and at K\u0101rle (K\u0101rl\u012b). I was also\nmuch interested in a smaller one at the N\u0101sik caves. In their interior\nstructure they are all strikingly like ancient Christian churches.\n\nThe _Elor\u0101_ \u0106aitya forms one of the series of caves already mentioned\n(p. 169). It is probably as old as the sixth century of our era, and is\nof an elongated horse-shoe shape, with a massive ribbed roof arched like\nthat of a cathedral, supported on twenty-eight octagonal columns, over\nwhich runs a curious frieze, having on it a carved representation of a\nbuffalo-hunt and boar-chase. There is a nave with side-aisles about 86\nfeet long by 43 broad. Moreover, over the entrance, supported by two\nsquare columns, is a gallery which may have served for a choir or for a\nband of musicians. A lofty solid D\u0101gaba, in shape like a massive dome\nresting on a cylindrical base, stands at the further end of the nave,\nthe aisles being continued round it, so that worshippers may\ncircumambulate the apse. The front of this immense relic-receptacle is\nhollowed out to receive a colossal sedent figure of the Buddha, about 17\nfeet high[237], with the Bodhi-tree carved in an arch above his head.\nTwo images of attendants are in an erect attitude, one on each side, but\nare not so prominent as to draw off the eye from the immense central\nfigure.\n\nThe Br\u0101hmans have now appropriated this cave, and dedicated it to\nVi\u1e61va-karma, the supposed patron deity of builders and carpenters. I was\ntold that carpenters come from all parts of the country to worship the\nimage in its Br\u0101hmanical character. As a token of honour, they smear it\nwith red paint.\n\nI noticed a remarkable sculpture carved out of the rock near this\ncave-temple. It represented worshippers praying to Padma-p\u0101ni to be\ndelivered from fire, from sword, from captivity, from wild beasts, from\nsnakes, and from the skeleton Death who is seen approaching.\n\nThe \u0106aitya cave at _K\u0101rle_, near Poona, which I visited in 1876, is in\nall its dimensions and arrangements similar to the Vi\u1e61va-karma cave at\nElor\u0101, but is still larger, finer, and more imposing. It has a nave and\nside aisles, terminating in an apse, round which the aisle is carried.\nThe whole is about 124 feet long by 45\u00bd feet broad and 46 feet in\nheight. There are fifteen pillars on each side, separating the nave from\nthe aisles, and under the dome of the apse is the D\u0101gaba (or \u0106aitya)\u2014a\ntwo-storied cylindrical drum, surmounted by a Tee ornament (p. 456), on\nwhich is a wooden umbrella. There is a cavity in the D\u0101gaba for relics,\nthough none are now to be found there.\n\nThis wonderful excavation at K\u0101rle is one of the most magnificent\nmonuments of ancient Buddhism, and one of the most interesting examples\nof early Buddhistic art to be seen anywhere in India. And, more than\nthis, it is probably one of the most striking places of congregational\nworship to be seen anywhere in the world.\n\nOf course these rock-excavated churches soon developed into temples\n(Vih\u0101ras) built of stone or brick, some of which were of a monumental\ncharacter, like that at Buddha-Gay\u0101, already described (see p. 390),\nwhile others were unpretending structures near villages, where the laity\ncould repeat their prayers or make offerings. Others, again, formed the\nmost important edifice among the group of buildings constituting a\nmonastery.\n\nThe village temples might more suitably be called chapels. All have some\nfeatures in common. At the further end of a dimly-lighted room is an\naltar of stone or wood. On this are placed the idols, and around them\nare arranged vases and cups, in which the offerings of the laity are\ndeposited. The larger edifices have vestibules, and at the entrance are\ngenerally rude images of the four great kings (p. 206), who are supposed\nto be the guardians of Buddhism (p. 206), while inside there are\nsculptures, frescoes, and pictures illustrative of the various births\nand transmigrations of the Buddhas and Bodhi-sattvas. In the precincts\nis always to be found a Bodhi-tree (Bo-tree, p. 519), if the climate and\nsoil will admit of its being reared. The greater number of sacred\nstructures, however, even those of a more important kind and more\nentitled to be called temples, are mere square or oblong rectangular\nbuildings, without architectural design or ornamentation.\n\nIn Ceylon I visited a temple of this kind on the shore of the Kandy\nlake. It consisted of a large bare room or small hall, at the further\nend of which was a curtain concealing a highly venerated image of the\nBuddha. The attendant drew aside the curtain and showed us the image,\nwhich had representations of rays of light issuing from all parts of his\nbody, as well as five rays emerging from the crown of his head. In the\nenclosure or \u2018compound\u2019 of the temple, was a bell-shaped D\u0101gaba or\nrelic-shrine of solid brick-work, covered with Chunam, and having a\nreceptacle for lights in front of it. Close at hand was the usual sacred\nP\u012bpal-tree.\n\nAt _Kelani_, about eight miles from Colombo, is a larger and much more\nimportant temple which I also visited. Those who make pilgrimages to\nthis temple gain great stores of merit. It contains a colossal recumbent\nimage of the Buddha, thirty-six feet long, lying on his right side, and\nrepresenting the founder of Buddhism when about to pass into\nPari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a (see p. 50). The image is protected by a screen, in the\ncentre of which is a figure of the King of Serpents, while at the sides\nare gigantic images of the temple-guardians. Around the interior are\nfresco paintings of various incidents in the previous lives of the\nBuddha. There are also images of the Hind\u016b gods Vish\u1e47u, \u1e60iva, and Ga\u1e47e\u1e61a\n(see p. 206). In the garden of the temple are residences for the monks,\na cloister-like enclosure, a room with a good printing press, and an\nimmense P\u012bpal-tree.\n\nA still more important temple is that called the Dalada M\u0101lig\u0101wa or\ntemple of the sacred eye-tooth, at Kandy in Ceylon. This is a very\npicturesque structure, situated on the margin of the lake close to the\ntown. It has no surrounding walls, and is easily accessible to all\ncomers. Steps lead up to a kind of open corridor, in which is the main\nentrance, and the walls of which are decorated with coloured frescoes of\nthe eight principal hells\u2014the supposed abode of evil-doers undergoing\npurgatorial torments during one of their states of existence (see p.\n120)[238].\n\nSome are represented in the act of being cut in pieces by demons, or\nfixed on red-hot iron spikes, or torn asunder with glowing tongs, or\nsawn in two with saws, or crushed between rocks, or consumed by flames\nentering the apertures of their bodies. The European visitor inquires\nwith amazement how it is that a system so mild, merciful, and tolerant,\nshould have invented the horrible tortures here exhibited. The\nexplanation is not difficult, and his astonishment ceases when he is\nreminded that Buddhism, recognizing no moral Governor of the Universe,\nis compelled to resort to such artifices for the coercion and\nintimidation of evil-doers.\n\nIn the interior of the building is the shrine, in which is preserved\nbehind iron bars, the golden D\u0101gaba or receptacle of one of the Buddha\u2019s\neye-teeth (see p. 500). On each side are images, and when I visited the\nshrine, the whole chamber was redolent with the fragrance of masses of\nflowers\u2014chiefly jasmine\u2014recently deposited before them as offerings.\n\nBehind the building I found an open quadrangle with cells for the monks,\nand a residence for the Head of the monastery. Not far from the entrance\nwas a spacious library, where I was greeted by a number of youthful\nmonks, dressed in simple toga-like vestments, but with their right\nshoulders left bare. Some were engaged in writing. I therefore asked for\na specimen of their penmanship. Upon which they wrote down for me on\npalm leaves, in the Sinhalese character, forty-eight epithets of the\nBuddha, such as the following:\u2014God of the gods, Indra of Indras, Brahm\u0101\nof Brahm\u0101s, the Almighty, Omniscient, Existing in his own Law, Lord of\nthe Law, Saviour of all, Conqueror, King of doctrine, Ocean of grace,\nTreasury, Jewel, Sun, Moon, Stars, Lotus, Ambrosia of the World, the\nFive-eyed one, the Bull, Elephant, Lion among men, stronger than the\nstrongest, mightier than the mightiest, more merciful than the most\nmerciful, more meritorious than the most meritorious, more beautiful\nthan the most beautiful, etc.\n\nThe temples in Burma are commonly called \u2018pagodas,\u2019 a word corrupted\nfrom the P\u0101li D\u0101gaba (Sansk\u1e5bit Dh\u0101tu-garbha), \u2018receptacle of the\n(sacred) elements\u2019 or relics of the body. They are also called Dagohn.\nAccording to Mr. Scott (\u2018Burman,\u2019 i. 184), the number of temples in\nBurma far exceeds those in Ceylon or Tibet or China. No village so poor\nas to be without its \u2018neatly kept shrine, with the remains of others\nmouldering away around it; no hill so steep as to be without its\nglittering gold or snow-white spire rising up to guard the place; no\nwork of merit so richly paid as the building of a pagoda.\u2019 Some are of\nsimple construction, others elaborate; but of all the temples the great\nRangoon pagoda is the grandest and most crowded with worshippers and\npilgrims.\n\nThe peculiar sacredness and popularity of this wonderful structure (said\nto have been founded 588 B.C.), arises from its containing relics of\nGautama and his three predecessors, that is, eight hairs from Gautama\u2019s\nhead, the staff of K\u0101\u1e61yapa, the robe of Kanaka-muni, and the\ndrinking-cup of Kraku-\u0107\u0107handa (see p. 135 of these Lectures). The\nstately pile stands upon a mound\u2014partly natural, partly artificial\u2014cut\ninto two rectangular terraces one above the other, the upper being 166\nfeet above the ground, and each side facing one of the cardinal points\nof the compass. The ascent is by very dilapidated steps, some of stone,\nsome of \u2018sun-dried bricks, worn almost into a slope by the bare feet of\nmyriads of worshippers.\u2019 None but Europeans may ascend with covered\nfeet. The stairs lead to a \u2018broad, open flagged space, which runs all\nround the pagoda, and is left free for worshippers.\u2019 From the centre of\nthis springs, from an octagonal plinth, the \u2018profusely gilt _solid\nbrick_ pagoda,\u2019 which has a circumference of 1355 feet, and rises to a\nheight of about 328, \u2018or nearly as high as St. Paul\u2019s cathedral.\u2019 On the\nsummit is \u2018the Tee,\u2019 a gilt umbrella-shaped ornament with many tiers of\nrings, on each of which \u2018hang multitudes of gold and silver jewelled\nbells.\u2019 It was \u2018placed there at a cost of not much less than\n\u00a350,000[239].\u2019 At the foot of the pagoda are four chapels, having\ncolossal figures of Buddha at the sides, and their gilded interiors\ndarkened by the vapour of thousands of burning tapers. \u2018Hundreds of\nGautamas,\u2019 large and small, white and black, gilded and plain, sitting,\nstanding, and reclining, surround the larger images. It is said that the\ngreat pagoda has been thrice covered with gold-leaf.\n\nThere is a still higher pagoda (332 feet high) at Pegu, and the most\nancient of all is at Arakan.\n\nPassing to Northern Buddhist countries, we find that the temples are\ngenerally simple, and not to be compared with the grand pagodas of\nBurma.\n\nFor example, at Tassiding in Sikkim, Sir Richard Temple (Journal, ii.\n204) found that the two principal temples were chapel-like structures\nwith \u2018overshadowing umbrella-shaped roofs, thatched with split bamboos.\u2019\nThe walls were of rough stone, the upper half being painted red. The\ninteriors, which were dimly lighted, had two stories, the walls being\ncovered with coloured frescoes illustrating the punishments in the\nvarious hells, \u2018some of which would be suitable for illustrations of\nDante\u2019s Inferno.\u2019 The ends opposite to the entrance were filled with\nimages. In other parts of the chapels were praying-machines, and on\nshelves the remnants of a library of sacred Buddhist manuscripts. Sir\nRichard attended a religious service in one of these chapels, which\nconsisted of a series of chants and invocations to a female demon called\nTanma, represented by a hideous lay figure dressed in robes. According\nto tradition, it was the malevolent action of the twelve Tanmas in\nbringing pestilences on the Tibetans, that led them to send for\nPadma-sambhava, who introduced the debased Buddhism subsequently\nprevalent in Tibet (Note by Capt. R. C. Temple).\n\nAccording to Dr. Schlagintweit (p. 189) and Koeppen the generality of\ntemples in Mongolia and Tibet consist of one large square or rectangular\nroom, with an entrance-hall or vestibule, which in Mongolia looks to the\nsouth and in Tibet to the east. \u2018The inside surface is whitewashed or\ncovered with a kind of plaster,\u2019 and decorated with paintings\nrepresenting episodes taken from the life of the Buddhas, or with\npictures of gods and goddesses of terrible aspect. Generally images of\nthe four great kings are placed here as guardians of the sanctuary (p.\n206 of this volume). Sometimes there are side chambers, which may be\ncompared to transepts, and give the building the form of a cross. These\nchambers often have shelves for the sacred books, wrapped in silk. In\nthe corners are tables for images of the deities, religious dresses,\nmusical instruments, etc. Other articles required for the daily service\nare hung up on wooden pegs along the walls. Benches for the L\u0101mas are\nplaced in the hall of the temple.\n\nThe altar at the further extremity rises in steps made of wood,\nbeautifully carved and richly ornamented. Upon these are arranged images\nof the Buddhas and Bodhi-sattvas, and especially the chief idol\nrepresenting Gautama Buddha in some of his forms and attitudes. Here\nalso are vessels for offerings, bells, Dorjes (p. 323), and other\nutensils used in religious worship. Among the latter may be seen the\nmirror (Melong, see p. 463) used in the ceremony described at p. 335.\nThere is also a vase with peacock\u2019s feathers, and a sacred book is never\nwanting.\n\nThe vessels for offerings are of brass, and like tea-cups. They are\nusually filled with barley, butter, and perfumes, and in summer with\nflowers. Near at hand is a Chorten (p. 380) containing relics, and\nhaving a niche with the image of a Buddha or Bodhi-sattva, to whom the\ntemple may perhaps be dedicated.\n\nFinally, in the entrance-vestibule, at both sides of the door, as well\nas in the interior, stand rows of large and small prayer-cylinders,\nwhich are perpetually kept revolving by the attendant L\u0101mas.\n\nOf course the temples at the great centres of Tibetan Buddhism in and\nnear Lh\u0101ssa, Tashi Lunpo, and other important places, are far more\nimposing. Indeed, for magnificence, few religious edifices in any part\nof the world can compare with them.\n\nThe great temple (called _Cho Khang_) in the monastery of _L\u0101 brang_ at\nLh\u0101ssa is a kind of centre of the L\u0101mistic Church. It is the first and\noldest temple, and, as before stated (p. 440), the St. Peter\u2019s of\nL\u0101mism[240].\n\nThe facade of this vast structure looks to the east, and in front of it\nis a square place, with a kind of obelisk or monolith, commemorating the\nvictory of the Tibetans over the Chinese in the ninth century, as well\nas more recent treaties of peace and friendship between the two\ncountries. The main building is three stories high. Before the entrance\nstands a lofty flag-pole, forty feet high[241], and not far off is a\npoplar, said to have sprung \u2018from the consecrated hair of Buddha.\u2019 The\nportico of the temple consists of a colonnade of six thick wooden\ncolumns. The walls of the portico are covered with rude paintings,\nrepresenting scenes in the biography of Gautama Buddha. In the middle\nare folding doors adorned with bronze carvings in relief. Through these\nis the entrance into the front hall, over which is the first story. In\nthe wall opposite to the entrance is a second door, on each side of\nwhich stand two colossal statues of the four great kings (see pp. 23,\n51, 53, 54 of this volume).\n\nThis second door leads into the interior of the building. On entering,\nthe visitor finds himself in a vast temple, shaped like a basilica,\ndivided by rows of columns into three naves and two transepts. The broad\ncentral nave is lighted from above by transparent oil-cloth instead of\nglass. This is the only light which finds its way into the temple, as\nthere are no side windows. On the outside of the two secondary naves is\na row of small chapels, fourteen on one side and fourteen on the other.\nThe two transepts form the back-ground of the great hall, and are\nseparated from the naves by a silver lattice-work. Here, at the ordinary\nservices, are the seats of the inferior monks. From the west transept a\nstaircase leads to another pillared transept, which forms the vestibule\nof the sanctuary. In the middle of the sanctuary, which is square in\nform, is the altar for offerings. Beyond the altar, at the west side of\nthe sanctuary, and therefore in the furthest recess of the whole\nbuilding, is a quadrangular niche. In front of this niche on the left is\nthe throne of the Dalai L\u0101ma, very lofty, richly adorned and furnished\nwith five cushions, as is customary in the case of Grand L\u0101mas. On one\nside of the Dalai L\u0101ma\u2019s throne is a similar throne for the Panchen\nL\u0101ma, and then, in regular order, the thrones of the Khutuktus and other\nAvat\u0101ra L\u0101mas. The Khanpos and the whole non-Avat\u0101ra monkhood have seats\nin the transept.\n\nOpposite to the throne of the Dalai L\u0101ma, on the right of the niche, is\nthe chair of the Regent, which is less elevated than the thrones of the\nAvat\u0101ra L\u0101mas. Behind are the seats of the four ministers, which again\nare less elevated than those of the non-Avat\u0101ra L\u0101mas. At the west end\nof the niche is the high altar, which rises in numerous steps. On the\nupper steps are small images of deified saints, in massive gold or\nsilver. On the lower ones, as on all Buddhist altars, are lamps,\nincense-holders, bowls for offerings, etc. On the highest elevation,\nbehind silver and golden lattice-work, is the celebrated image of\nGautama Buddha richly gilded. This image is said to have been\nconstructed in Magadha during the lifetime of the Buddha. Others hold it\nto be self-produced; and another tradition ascribes its origin to the\ngod Vi\u1e61va-karma, who, instructed by Indra, constructed it with equal\nparts of five metals and five precious stones. Besides this highest\nobject of worship, the temple contains countless images and pictures of\nBuddhas and Bodhi-sattvas (such as D\u012bpa\u1e43kara, Amit\u0101bha, Maitreya, the\neleven-faced Avalokite\u1e61vara, Ma\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b, etc.), besides gods and\ngoddesses[242], and historical personages, such as Tsong Khapa, who have\nbenefited the L\u0101mistic church (among them being a statue of Hiouen\nThsang), as well as relics, and gold and silver vessels, which are\nexhibited every year at the beginning of the third month.\n\nMr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s, who, in his \u2018Narrative,\u2019 records his visit to the\ngreat Lh\u0101ssa temple, informs us that when he was there, five thousand\noil-burners were lighted in the court of the temple, and those before\nthe principal image were all of gold. He found some of the subordinate\nchapels infested by mice, which are never touched, because supposed to\nbe metamorphosed monks. He observed some Buddhists from Nep\u0101l chanting\nSansk\u1e5bit hymns, and others engaged in circumambulation, while the\nmuttering of Om Ma\u1e47i padme H\u016bm (p. 372) was incessant.\n\nMr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s also describes a visit he paid to the famous\nshrine of _Ramo\u0107he_, before adverted to (see p. 441). I give his\ndescription in an abbreviated form:\u2014\n\n  Our equipment was as usual a bundle of incense-sticks, clarified\n  butter, and a few scarves. Our road turned westward by the side of a\n  long Mandong (see p. 380). I left it to my right-hand side, seeing\n  that to have kept it on my left would have been heretical. A few\n  hundred paces brought us to the gate of the famous temple of Ramo\u0107he,\n  erected by the wife of King Srong Tsan Gampo, the first Chinese\n  princess who introduced Buddhism into Tibet. It is a lofty edifice,\n  flat-roofed, and three stories high, surrounded by a stone wall, with\n  a high and wide porch. About thirty monks were solemnly seated to\n  perform a religious service, on two sides of a row of pillars which\n  supported the roof. The image brought by the Nep\u0101lese princess, lay\n  midway between the pillars. It was grand-looking; and, though its face\n  was gilded, its antiquity was manifest. In the northern lobby of the\n  temple was a vast collection of ancient relics, such as shields,\n  spears, drums, arrows, sabres, long knives, trumpets, etc. In a room\n  to the left of the entrance, enclosed by iron lattice-work, were a few\n  images considered especially sacred. We were also shown a brass\n  mirror, called Melong, said to be possessed of wonderful properties.\n\nThe history of the shrine, according to the same traveller, is this:\u2014The\nprincess being thoroughly versed in astrology, found that there was a\nspot close to the new-built city of Lh\u0101ssa which was connected with the\nlower regions of torment. On that plot of ground she erected the shrine\nof Ramo\u0107he, on the chief altar of which she placed the famous statue of\nBuddha, brought from China. In this way she hoped to intercept the\npassage (_gati_) of wicked people to a life in one of the hells (see p.\n121). Whoever, at the time of death, was brought to this sanctuary,\ncould only be born again in the worlds of either men or gods.\n\nFinally we come to the temple at the second great Metropolis of\nBuddhism:\u2014\n\nMr. Bogle (Markham\u2019s Tibet, p. 100) describes the temple in the\nmonastery at Tashi Lunpo as simply a long room or gallery containing\nthirteen gigantic figures made of copper gilt, all in a sedent attitude,\nwith their legs folded under them. He found them all draped, with\njewelled crowns and necklaces of coral, pearls, and other stones. The\nthrones on which they sat were also of copper gilt, and adorned with\nturquoises and cornelians. Behind them were a variety of conch-shells,\nset in silver, ostrich-eggs, cocoa-nuts, and other articles. At each end\nof the gallery was a large collection of books deposited in\npigeon-holes. Mr. Bogle was present when the Tashi L\u0101ma himself entered\nthe temple, and, as he passed along, sprinkled rice upon the images.\nThis was a kind of consecration-ceremony.\n\nAs an instance of the tolerant character of Buddhism and its readiness\nto accommodate itself to the indigenous creeds of the countries into\nwhich it was introduced, we may note, in conclusion, that in Japan may\nbe seen Buddhist and Shinto temples side by side or even occasionally\ncombined in one building. Buddhism in fact adopted Shintoism in Japan\njust as it adopted Shamanism in Tibet. It took the deities and demi-gods\nof Shintoism and turned them into Bodhi-sattvas[243].\n\nThe subject of Monasteries and Temples naturally leads us to that of\nimages and image-worship; but this and the whole subject of \u2018Sacred\nObjects\u2019 must be reserved for the next two Lectures.\n\n\n\n\n                              LECTURE XVI.\n                          _Images and Idols._\n\n\nOn several occasions during my travels through all parts of India, I\nasked intelligent Pa\u1e47\u1e0dits how they could reconcile the gross idolatry\nand fetish-worship which meet the eye at almost every step throughout\nthe length and breadth of their land, with the doctrine repeatedly\ndeclared to be the only true creed of Br\u0101hmanism\u2014the doctrine that\nnothing really exists but the one eternal, omnipresent Spirit of the\nUniverse (named Brahman or Brahm\u0103)[244].\n\nThe answer I generally received to this inquiry was, that spiritual\nworship was at first the only form of religion dominant in India, till\nthe Buddhists set the example of worshipping material objects and images\n(pratim\u0101-p\u016bj\u0101).\n\nOf course it is impossible to say what amount of truth there may be in\nthis accusation. It seems probable that material impersonations of the\nforces of nature existed before the Buddha\u2019s time. Yet there is no\nevidence of the prevalence of actual idolatry at the time when the\n\u1e5aig-veda was composed. Nor is there any very clear allusion to it in\nManu. Nor have any images of Hind\u016b gods been found which are so ancient\nas some Buddhist images. At the same time nothing is said about\nimage-worship in the Buddhist Pi\u1e6dakas. The statement that the Buddha\nhimself sanctioned idolatry is wholly legendary (see p. 177). Nor is\nthere any proof that carved images of his person were common in India\ntill several centuries after his death.\n\nThe Bharhut sculptures of about the second century B.C.\u2014though\nrepresenting many scenes connected with the Buddha (see pp. 408,\n523)\u2014exhibit no representations of the Buddha himself. Nor are there any\non the S\u0101nch\u012b gateway of still later date.\n\nThe only objects of reverence in the Bharhut sculptures, according to\nSir A. Cunningham, are Bodhi-trees, Wheels, the Tri-ratna symbol,\nSt\u016bpas, and foot-prints (see pp. 521-522 of these Lectures). The\nbas-reliefs on the railing at the Buddha-Gay\u0101 Temple, which is of a\nlittle earlier date, agree in making the Tree, Wheel, Tri-ratna, and\nSt\u016bpa the great objects of reverence. On the other hand, in the edicts\nof king A\u1e61oka veneration for the Bodhi-tree alone is enjoined. Among the\nhistorical scenes represented in the Bharhut sculptures, are the\nprocessions of the kings Aj\u0101ta-\u1e61atru and Prasenajit on their visits to\nthe Buddha; \u2018the former on his elephant, the latter in his chariot,\nexactly as they are described in the Buddhist chronicles.\u2019 There are\nalso bas-reliefs which seem to represent R\u0101ma, during his exile, besides\nimages of other gods, Yakshas and N\u0101gas, but no figure of Buddha himself\nis to be seen anywhere.\n\nYet it is undeniable that in the early centuries of our era, images of\nGautama Buddha and other Buddhas and Bodhi-sattvas had become common\namong the Buddhists in every part of India.\n\n[Illustration: REMAINS OF A COLOSSAL STATUE OF BUDDHA, PROBABLY ONCE IN\nTHE ARGUMENTATIVE OR TEACHING ATTITUDE.]\n\n Found in the ruins close to the south side of the Buddha-Gay\u0101 temple,\nthe date (S. 64 = A.D. 142) being inscribed on the pedestal. (see p. 481)\n\nOne of the oldest statues of the Buddha that has yet been brought to\nlight is the colossal image (now in the Calcutta Museum) dug up in the\nruins outside the ancient temple at Buddha-Gay\u0101 (p. 390), the date\ninscribed on which corresponds to about A.D. 142. The engraving\n(opposite) is from a photograph of this statue, belonging to Sir A.\nCunningham[245]. The thick lips are certainly remarkable. The attitude\nwas probably the \u2018argumentative\u2019 or \u2018teaching\u2019 (described at p. 481).\nAnother colossal statue of about the same date was found by Sir A.\nCunningham at \u1e60r\u0101vast\u012b (see p. 408).\n\nIt was indeed by a strange irony of fate that the man who denied any god\nor any being higher than himself, and told his followers to look to\nthemselves alone for salvation, should have been not only deified and\nworshipped, but represented by more images than any other being ever\nidolized in any part of the world. In fact images, statues, statuettes,\ncarvings in bas-relief, paintings, and representations of him in all\nattitudes are absolutely innumerable. In caves, monasteries, and\ntemples, on D\u0101gabas, votive St\u016bpas, monuments and rocks, they are\nmultiplied infinitely and in endless variety, and not only are isolated\nimages manufactured out of all kinds of materials, but rows on rows are\nsculptured in relief, and the greater the number the greater religious\nmerit accrues to the sculptor, and\u2014if they are dedicated at sacred\nplaces\u2014to the dedicator also.\n\nAnd not only images of the Buddha, but representations of every object\nthat could possibly be connected with him, became multiplied to an\nindefinite extent.\n\nThe gradual growth of what may be called objective Buddhism, and the\nsteps which led to every kind of extravagance in the idolatrous use of\nimages, may be described in the following manner:\u2014\n\nIt was only natural that the disciples of an ideally perfect man, who\nhad taught them that in passing away at death he would become absolutely\nextinct, should have devised some method of perpetuating his memory and\nstimulating a desire to conform to his example. Their first method was\nto preserve the relics of his burnt body, and to honour every object\nassociated with his earthly career. Then, in process of time, they began\nto worship not only his relics but the receptacles under which they were\nburied, and around these they placed sculptures commemorative of his\nlife and teaching. Thence they passed on to the carving or moulding of\nsmall statuettes of his person in wood, stone, metal, terra-cotta, or\nclay, and on these they often inscribed the well-known Buddhistic\nformul\u00e6 mentioned before (see p. 104). Eventually, too, painting was\npressed into the service, and frescoes on walls became common. Indeed in\nsome temples paintings take the place of images, as objects of\nadoration.\n\nIt seems likely that the use of images and paintings was at first\nconfined to the brotherhood, and it is alleged that they were only\nhonoured and not worshipped. But the more the circle of uncultured and\nunthinking Buddhists became enlarged, the more did visible\nrepresentations of the founder of Buddhism become needed, and the more\nthey became multiplied.\n\nNor was this all. The reaction from the original simplicity of Buddhism\nled to a complete repudiation of its anti-theistic doctrines. It adopted\npolytheistic superstitions even more rapidly and thoroughly than\nBr\u0101hmanism did. People were not satisfied with representations of the\nfounder of Buddhism. They craved for other visible and tangible objects\nof adoration\u2014for the images of other Buddhas and Bodhi-sattvas\u2014of gods\nmany and lords many\u2014insomuch that a Buddhist Pantheon was gradually\ncreated which became peopled with a more motley crowd of occupants than\nthat of Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism.\n\nFurthermore, it was only natural that the manufacture of the whole array\nof divinities and semi-divinities, of saints and sages, should have been\ncommitted to the monks. They alone possessed this privilege. They alone,\ntoo, had the power of consecrating each image by the repetition of\nmystical texts and formularies. And when images and idols were thus\nconsecrated, they were believed to be animated with the spirit, and to\npossess all the attributes of the beings they represented.\n\nIn fact, the development of every phase of idolatrous superstition\nreached a point of extravagance unparalleled in any other religious\nsystem of the world. The monks of Buddhism vied with each other in the\n\u2018pious fraud\u2019 with which they constructed their idols. They so\nmanipulated them that they appeared to give out light or to flash\nsupernatural glances from their crystal eyes. Or they made them deliver\noracular utterances, or they furnished them with movable limbs, so that\na head would unexpectedly nod, or a hand be raised to bless the\nworshipper. Then they clothed them with costly vestments, and adorned\nthem with ornaments and jewels, and treated them in every way as if they\nwere living energizing personalities.\n\nIt ought, however, to be noted here, that in some temples images of the\nBuddhas and Bodhi-sattvas were said to exist which were not manufactured\nor consecrated by monks. They were believed to have been self-produced,\nor to have been created supernaturally out of nothing, or to have\nemerged in a miraculous manner out of vacuity. The child-like faith of\nuncultured and imaginative races in the virtue supposed to be inherent\nin such images was perhaps not surprising. The power of working all\nkinds of miracles was gradually ascribed to them; sicknesses were said\nto be healed by them, rain to be produced, and the course of nature\nitself to be subject to their direction and control.\n\nThe two Chinese pilgrims F\u0101-hien and Hiouen Thsang are never tired of\ndescribing the wonders supposed to have been wrought by the statues and\nidols they saw during their travels, especially by the marvellous\nsandal-wood statue mentioned before (see p. 408).\n\nThe following tradition in regard to this image, narrated by F\u0101-hien\n(Legge, 56, 57), is especially interesting as showing that the general\nbelief among all classes of Buddhists in his time was, that Gautama\nBuddha himself was the first to sanction the making of visible\nrepresentations of himself:\u2014\n\n  When Buddha went up to the Trayastri\u1e49\u1e61a heaven and preached the law\n  for the benefit of his mother for ninety days, Prasenajit longing to\n  see him, caused an image to be carved in Go\u1e61\u012brsha sandal-wood, and put\n  in the place where he usually sat. When Buddha, on his return, entered\n  the Vih\u0101ra, this image immediately left its place, and came forth to\n  meet him. Buddha then said to it: \u2018Return to your seat. After I have\n  attained Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a you shall serve as a pattern to the four classes\n  (paths, see p. 132) of my disciples.\u2019 Thereupon the image returned to\n  its seat. This was the very first of all the images of Buddha, and\n  that which men subsequently copied.\n\nIn Hiouen Thsang\u2019s narrative, which is of much later date (see p. 413),\nwe find the following account of this celebrated sandal-wood image\n(Beal, ii. 322):\u2014\n\n  At the town of Pim\u0101 (Pi-mo) there is a figure of Buddha in a standing\n  position made of sandal-wood. The figure is about twenty feet high. It\n  works many miracles, and reflects constantly a bright light. Those who\n  have any disease, according to the part affected, cover the\n  corresponding place on the statue with gold-leaf, and forthwith they\n  are healed. People who address prayers to it, with a sincere heart,\n  mostly obtain their wishes. This is what the natives say: \u2018This image\n  in old days, when Buddha was alive, was made by Udayana, King of\n  Kau\u1e61\u0101mb\u012b (see p. 412 of these Lectures). When Buddha left the world,\n  it mounted of its own accord into the air, and came to the north of\n  this kingdom to the town of Ho-lo-lo-kia (Urgha?).\u2019\n\nWith regard to the form and character of the countless images now\nscattered everywhere, they vary according to country and period (see p.\n485). It should be observed, however, that Buddhism, when it began to\nencourage idolatry, did not make it hideous by giving monstrous shapes\nto its idols. In this respect early Buddhism contrasted very favourably\nwith Hind\u016bism. Nor did the Buddhists of India, as of other countries,\nadopt the practice of endowing their idols with extra heads and arms to\nsymbolize power, or of inventing grotesque combinations of the human\nfigure with the shapes of elephants, birds, serpents, and other animals.\nThey seemed rather to have tried in the first instance to neutralize the\ntendency to extravagant symbolism common among all Eastern peoples, by\ndelineating their great teacher as an ideal man, simply and naturally\nformed, according to the Buddhist ideal of perfection with symmetrical\nlimbs, and a dignified, calm, passionless, and majestic bearing. What\ncan be a greater contrast than the four-armed elephant-headed\nvillage-god of India,\u2014Ga\u1e47e\u1e61a, son of \u1e60iva[246]\u2014and the purely human\nfigure of the Buddha as shown in his statues!\n\nNevertheless it must be admitted that in process of time the\nrepresentations of Gautama Buddha developed certain peculiar varieties\nof form as well as differences in attitude. These differences, indeed,\nconstitute a highly interesting topic of inquiry, and perhaps deserve\nmore attention than they have hitherto received in any treatise with\nwhich I am acquainted.\n\nWithout going minutely into every point, we may begin by noting a few\ngeneral characteristics common to all the Buddha\u2019s images.\n\nIn the first place, they all represent Gautama as clothed\u2014not naked. In\nthis respect they present a pleasant contrast to the images of Jaina\nsaints; for, as already pointed out, Gautama discountenanced all\nextremes of bodily mortification, and disapproved the practice of going\nabout nude, according to the custom of Hind\u016b devotees. In the\nDharma-pada it is said, \u2018Not nakedness, not matted hair, not dirt, not\nfasting, nor lying on the ground, nor smearing with ashes, nor sitting\nmotionless can purify a mortal who has not overcome desires.\u2019\n\nGautama\u2019s robe was drawn gracefully over his shoulders like a toga, but\nprobably the right shoulder was always left bare on formal occasions.\nThe Pi\u1e6dakas give no clear information as to this point. In Indian\nstatues the robe is sometimes represented as fitting so closely to the\nbody that the figure seems garmentless[247]; its presence being merely\ndenoted by a line running diagonally over the left shoulder across the\nbreast, and under the right arm. This line frequently looks so like a\ncord that some have mistaken it for the thread to which, as a Kshatriya,\nBuddha was entitled[248]. In some ancient images no trace of the line is\nleft, but they are not really nude. Most Indian images have the right\nshoulder bare (even in the case of nuns). Of course in colder climates\nboth shoulders are covered. Even in Southern countries some have both\nshoulders covered, or the right partially so.\n\nIn contradistinction to the clothed images of the Buddha, all the\nrepresentations of his great opponent and rival Deva-datta (see pp. 52,\n405) make the latter unclothed, like a Jaina ascetic, or only partially\nclothed up to the waist. Deva-datta is also represented as shorter in\nstature than the Buddha.\n\nOther characteristics generally to be observed in the earlier images of\nGautama Buddha are:\u2014the impassive tranquil features, typical of complete\nconquest over the passions, and of perfect repose; the absence of all\ndecoration and ornament; the long pendulous ears, which occasionally\nreach to the shoulders[249]; the circle or small globe or lotus[250], or\nauspicious mark of some kind, on the palm or palms of the supinated\nhands (as well as often on the soles of the feet), and the short knobby\nhair, often carved so as to resemble a close-fitting curly wig.\n\nIt must not be forgotten that Gautama signalized his renunciation of the\nworld by cutting off his hair with a sword, and the resulting stumps are\nsaid to have turned into permanent knobs or short curls[251].\n\nIn images brought from Burma and Siam a curious horn-like protuberance\non the crown of the head\u2014either tapering to a point, or rounded off at\nthe extremity\u2014is noticeable. Often, too, sculptures found in India show\nthe rounded form of this excrescence.\n\nSome think that it represents an ascetic\u2019s mass of hair coiled up in a\ntop-knot on the crown of the head, as in images of the god \u1e60iva. Others\nregard it as the rough outline of what ought to be an Ush\u1e47\u012bsha or\npeculiar crown-like head-dress, such as may be seen in many later images\nof the Buddha. Some legends declare that the Buddha was born with this\nUsh\u1e47\u012bsha, which was indicative of his future supremacy.\n\nOthers, again, maintain that this protuberance (sometimes lengthened out\nso as to be as high as the head itself) was a peculiar growth of the\nskull, and one of the marks of a supreme Buddha indicative of\nsupernatural intelligence; just as in other images (especially those\nbrought from Ceylon) five flames\u2014in shape like the fingers of a hand\u2014are\nrepresented issuing from the crown of the head (see p. 453), to typify\nthe Buddha\u2019s diffusion of light and knowledge throughout the world.\n\nIt is said that this outgrowth of the Buddha\u2019s skull has been preserved\nas a sacred relic in a town of Afgh\u0101nist\u0101n near Jal\u0101l\u0101b\u0101d.\n\nIn many representations of the Buddha, a Nimbus or aureola of glory\nencircles the head (see p. 478), and in some images rays of light are\nrepresented as emerging from his whole body. An image with a halo of\nthis kind surrounding the entire figure was seen by me in a temple near\nKandy in Ceylon (see p. 453).\n\nIn Nep\u0101l many images represent Buddha holding his alms-bowl, but these\nare not common in other places.\n\nWith regard to the size of the images, they vary from diminutive\nexamples, two or three inches long, to colossal statues twelve,\neighteen, twenty, thirty, forty, or even seventy feet high. They are\ngenerally carved in stone or marble, but sometimes in metal, sometimes\nin wood, and occasionally moulded in clay.\n\nMuch difference of opinion prevails as to the Buddha\u2019s actual stature.\nWhen I asked the opinion of Buddhist teachers in Ceylon, they all agreed\nin assigning to the founder of their religion a majestic bodily frame,\nnot only gifting him with the possession of the thirty-two\ndistinguishing marks of a perfect man and supreme Buddha (see p. 20),\nbut with great height and imposing presence. A common idea is that the\neighteen-feet statues represent life-size. According to other legends\nthe Buddha\u2019s stature reached to twenty cubits. In China, the mythical\nhistory of Buddha gives him a height of only sixteen feet[252]. His arms\nare by some said to have been so long, that he was able to touch his\nknees with his hands without stooping, and if we are to take the\nsupposed impress of his foot on Adam\u2019s Peak and in Siam as the measure\nof his stature, he must have been the most gigantic giant that ever\nlived. Even one of the most enlightened natives of Ceylon, the late Mr.\nJames d\u2019Alwis\u2014a convert to Christianity\u2014told me, in explanation of the\nabnormal size of the eye-tooth at Kandy, that he was convinced that all\nhuman beings were taller in Buddha\u2019s time, and that Gautama was taller\nthan his fellow-men of those days, and was about eight feet high. It was\nhis opinion that as sin increases in the world, so men\u2019s stature\ndecreases. Probably the Buddha was tall, even for the North-west of\nIndia, where the average of a man\u2019s stature is about five feet eight or\nnine inches.\n\n[Illustration: SCULPTURE FOUND BY SIR A. CUNNINGHAM AT S\u0100RN\u0100TH, NEAR\nBENARES,]\n\n  Illustrating the four principal events in Gautama Buddha\u2019s life\u2014his\n  birth from his mother\u2019s side, his attainment of Buddhahood under the\n    tree, his teaching at Benares, and his passing away in complete\n            Nirv\u0101\u1e47a. (Date of the sculpture, about 400 A.D.)\n\nAs to the attitudes of Gautama\u2019s images, they may be classed under the\nthree heads of sedent, erect, and recumbent. I use the word \u2018sedent\u2019 for\nwhat ought to be called a squatting position, with the legs folded under\nthe body. Images which represent a figure sitting in European fashion\nare rare.\n\nFour principal images represent the four principal events in Buddha\u2019s\nlife, as shown in the S\u0101rn\u0101th sculpture engraved on the opposite page\n(compare p. 387).\n\nThe first sedent attitude may be called the \u2018Meditative.\u2019 The example\nbelow is described at p. xxx. 15.\n\n[Illustration: ]\n\nThis represents the Buddha seated, in meditation, on a raised seat under\nthe sacred tree, with the two hands supinated, one over the other.\n\n[Illustration: ]\n\nThe second sedent attitude may be called the \u2018Witness-attitude.\u2019 It is\nperhaps the most esteemed of all, and is represented in a good sculpture\ndelineated below (from Sir A. Cunningham\u2019s photograph, see p. xxx. 17).\nThis represents Gautama at the moment of achieving Buddhahood after his\nlong course of meditation, seated on a lion-throne (si\u1e49h\u0101sana) with an\nornamental back, having two lions carved below (compare p. 394). His\nlegs are folded in the usual Indian fashion, the feet being turned\nupwards, while the right hand hangs over the right leg and points to the\nearth, and the left hand is supinated on the left foot. He has an\naureola round his head and a mark\u2014perhaps the caste-mark of a\nKshatriya\u2014on his forehead, and an umbrella over the sacred tree. This\nattitude is well shown in the S\u0101rn\u0101th sculpture (facing p. 477).\n\nThe tradition is that at the moment of his enlightenment Gautama was\ntaunted by the evil being M\u0101ra with being unable to give any proof or\nsign of his Buddhahood. Thereupon Gautama pointed, not to heaven as a\nBr\u0101hman might have done, but to the earth beneath his feet, calling it\nto witness. Then a six-fold earthquake and other miraculous phenomena\nfollowed[253].\n\nAt this time, too, the evil being M\u0101ra sent his enchanting daughters (p.\n34) to seduce the Buddha. This is shown in the engraving facing p. 477.\n\nThe incident of calling the earth to witness is thus mentioned by Hiouen\nThsang:\u2014\n\n  In the Vih\u0101ra, was found a beautiful figure of Buddha in a sitting\n  position, the right foot uppermost, the left hand resting, the right\n  hand hanging down. He was sitting facing the east, and as dignified in\n  appearance as when alive. The signs and marks of a Buddha were\n  perfectly drawn. The loving expression of his face was like life. Now\n  it happened that a \u1e60rama\u1e47a, who was passing the night in the Vih\u0101ra,\n  had a dream, in which he saw a Br\u0101hman who said:\u2014\n\n  \u2018I am Maitreya Bodhi-sattva. Fearing that the mind of no artist could\n  conceive the beauty of the sacred features, I myself have come to\n  delineate the figure of Buddha. His right hand hangs down, in token\n  that when he was about to reach Buddhahood the evil M\u0101ra came to tempt\n  him, saying, \u201cWho will bear witness for you?\u201d Then Tath\u0101gata dropped\n  his hand and pointed to the ground, saying, \u201cHere is my witness.\u201d On\n  this an earth-spirit leapt forth to bear witness.\u2019 (Beal\u2019s Records,\n  ii. 121, abridged.)\n\nThis \u2018Witness-attitude\u2019 is also shown in the annexed engraving from a\nphotograph of one of the only statues that remained in the exterior\nniches of the ancient Buddha-Gay\u0101 temple before its restoration.\n\n[Illustration: ]\n\nThe two seal-like circles on each side contain the usual \u2018Ye dharm\u0101\u2019\nformula (see p. 104 and p. xxx. 18).\n\nThe third sedent pose or position may be called the \u2018Serpent-canopied.\u2019\nThis is commemorative of the legend that Gautama, when seated in\nmeditation after his attainment of Buddhahood, was sheltered from a\nviolent storm by the expanded hood of the N\u0101ga, or serpent-demon\nMu\u0107alinda (see p. 39), while the coils of the snake were wound round his\nbody, or gathered under him to form a seat. Similarly the ascetic form\nof \u1e60iva is often represented under a serpent-canopy.\n\nOnly one example of this has been found at Buddha-Gay\u0101. Such images,\nhowever, are common in the south, and their prevalence there is not\ndifficult to account for. Indeed, the connexion of Buddhism with the\nserpent-worship of southern countries and with the N\u0101gas of Hind\u016b\nmythology (see p. 220 of these Lectures), was one inevitable result of\nits readiness to graft popular superstitions on its own doctrines[254].\n\nI procured a good specimen of the \u2018Serpent-canopied\u2019 Buddha during my\nstay in Ceylon. It is made of heavy brass, and curiously enough\nrepresents Buddha with an aquiline nose. It has the five rays of light\nbefore alluded to (see pp. 453, 475) issuing from the crown of his head.\nSee the frontispiece opposite title-page.\n\nIn some images an umbrella alone, and in some, as at p. 478, both an\numbrella and tree form the canopy.\n\nThe fourth sedent posture may be called the \u2018Argumentative\u2019 (Tarka)\nattitude (as shown in the engraving opposite p. 477). It represents\nGautama with the thumb and finger of the right hand touching the fingers\nof the left, and apparently going through the heads of his\ndoctrine[255], and enforcing it, as he usually did, by reiterations.\nThis is sometimes called the \u2018Teaching\u2019 attitude.\n\nOften the \u2018Ye dharm\u0101\u2019 formula (see p. 104) is carved either under or at\nthe side of images in this attitude.\n\nThe fifth may be called the \u2018Preaching\u2019 attitude. It is often erect. The\nBuddha has one finger raised in a didactic manner. Monks in the present\nday often read the Law and preach in the same manner.\n\nThe sixth attitude also\u2014as a rule\u2014comes under the erect class, and is\noften scarcely to be distinguished from the last. It may be called the\n\u2018Benedictive\u2019 attitude (\u0100\u1e61irv\u0101da). See the engraving opposite p. 477.\n\nIt represents the Buddha in the act of pronouncing a benediction, the\nright hand being raised. This attitude is sometimes sedent. Even to this\nday Buddhist monks bless laymen in a similar attitude. Occasionally the\nfigure with the hand upraised has a crown, and an ornamental head-dress;\nbut it may be taken for granted that all images of the Buddha which\nrepresent him with a crown of any kind _after his attainment of\nBuddhahood_, are comparatively modern and incorrect.\n\nOn the other hand, it is clear that even ancient sculptures, when they\nrepresent him as a prince, may correctly give him decorations and a\nhead-dress.\n\nThe seventh attitude may be called the \u2018Mendicant.\u2019 This also is a\nstanding figure, holding a round alms-bowl in one hand, and sometimes\nscreening it with the other (compare p. 40). Examples of this attitude\nare rare. There are no real mendicants in Buddhism. No monk ever begs,\nhe only receives alms.\n\nThe eighth and last attitude is recumbent, and this is perhaps as\nimportant as the second, though not so common (see the uppermost figure\nopposite to p. 477). It represents the moribund Gautama lying down on\nhis right side, with his head turned towards the north, and his right\ncheek resting on his right hand, about to pass away in the final\nconsummation of Pari-nirv\u0101\u1e47a (see pp. 50, 140). In many representations\nof this attitude, the usual five rays of light often mentioned before\nare made to issue from the crown of the head. A colossal image of this\nkind was seen by me in a temple near Colombo, and there is a good\nexample of it in the Indian Institute at Oxford[256]. In some carvings\nof the dying Buddha a few attendants are represented, who hold\numbrella-like canopies over the recumbent figure, or bow down\nreverentially before it. It has been asserted that this scene\u2014as\ncommemorative of the grand consummation of the Buddha\u2019s career through\ncountless existences\u2014is held in as much reverence by Buddhists as the\ncrucifixion is by Christians.\n\nThe representation of the Buddha in the act of being born is found in\nsculptures and bas-reliefs, but is never found as a separate image. It\nrepresents him springing out of the side of his mother (note, p. 180).\nThis birth-scene is occasionally carved on temples. It is shown in the\nlower part of the engraving (opposite page 477). The god Brahm\u0101 is seen\nreceiving the new-born child, while Indra stands on his right and the\nmother\u2019s sister (i.e. nurse, p. 24) is on her left.\n\nSome representations of the Buddha, or of certain forms of the\nBuddha\u2014such as Amit\u0101bha\u2014show a sedent figure emerging from a\nlotus-blossom, or seated on a pedestal formed of lotus-leaves, this\nflower symbolizing perfection.\n\nIt must not be forgotten that in every country the images of the Buddha\nare generally moulded according to the type of countenance prevalent in\neach country. Hence the contour and expression of face differ in Ceylon,\nBurma, Siam, Tibet, Mongolia, China, and Japan, although as a rule the\nfeatures are calm, mild, meditative, and passionless.\n\nIn Burma the people are merry; hence the images sometimes have a twinkle\nin the eye and smiling lips.\n\nIn China, again, examples sometimes occur of images which do not exhibit\nBuddha as the ideal of a man who has conquered his passions, but rather\nwith the figure and features of a self-indulgent libertine[257]; while\nothers again portray him with a grim aspect.\n\nWe now pass on to the representations of other Buddhas, Bodhi-sattvas,\nsaints, gods and goddesses.\n\nOften two other images are associated with that of Gautama Buddha\nhimself.\n\nAnd, first of all, his image was joined with the other two persons of\nthe earliest Triad (see p. 175), viz. Dharma (the Law) and Sa\u1e45gha (the\nMonkhood). A sculpture, in a broken and imperfect condition,\nrepresenting this earliest Triad, and dating from the ninth to the tenth\ncentury, was found at Buddha-Gay\u0101. The image of Buddha, under an\numbrella-like tree, is in the centre; that of the Sa\u1e45gha is on his\nright, with a full-blown lotus (p. 177, note 2), and having one leg\nhanging down, while that of Dharma (a female) is on his left with a\nhalf-blown lotus. A drawing of this (from Sir A. Cunningham\u2019s\nphotograph) is given below:\u2014\n\n[Illustration: ]\n\nIn Nep\u0101l the image of Dharma is always that of a sedent female, who is\nsupposed to be an embodiment of supreme wisdom (praj\u00f1\u0101 p\u0101ramit\u0101), and\nsometimes has four arms (see note, p. 178).\n\nNext come the images of the Buddhas who preceded Gautama, especially\nK\u0101\u1e61yapa Buddha, Kanaka-muni, and Kraku-\u0107\u0107handa. It is often mentioned\nthat the images of one or other of these three, as of the Bodhi-sattvas,\nare set up side by side with that of Gautama.\n\nThen, of course, there are the images of the five Dhy\u0101ni-Buddhas.\nPerhaps the commonest of these is that of Amit\u0101bha (see p. 203), but\nimages of Akshobhya and Ratna-sambhava are by no means rare.\n\nThen as to the Bodhi-sattvas, of whom Maitreya is the first and the only\none worshipped by Buddhists of all countries (see p. 182), F\u0101-hien\nrecords that he saw in Northern India a wooden image of Maitreya\nBodhi-sattva eighty cubits high, which on fast days emitted a brilliant\nlight. Offerings were constantly presented to it by the kings of\nsurrounding countries (Legge, 23).\n\nHiouen Thsang (Beal, i. 134) also describes this image of Maitreya as\nvery dazzling, and says it was the work of the Arhat Madhy\u0101ntika, a\ndisciple of \u0100nanda. He saw another image of Maitreya made of silver at\nBuddha-Gay\u0101, and another made of sandal-wood in Western India. The\nlatter also gave out a bright light. Probably these images were covered\nwith some kind of gilding.\n\nIn the present day the images of Maitreya often represent him with both\nhands raised, the fingers forming the lotus-shaped Mudr\u0101, the body\nyellow or gilded, and the hair short and curly.\n\nPassing next to the images of the triad of mythical Bodhi-sattvas,\nMa\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b, Avalokite\u1e61vara, and Vajra-p\u0101\u1e47i (p. 195), we may gather from\nwhat has been already stated (p. 196), that the interaction of Buddhism\nand Hind\u016bism affected both the mythology and imagery of both systems.\nYet it does not appear that the images of the Bodhi-sattva Ma\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b\nwere ever unnaturally distorted. They are quite as human and pleasant in\nappearance as those of Gautama and Maitreya. In general Ma\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b\nrepresented in a sedent attitude, with his left hand holding a lotus,\nand his right holding the sword of wisdom, with a shining blade to\ndissipate the darkness of ignorance (see p. 201). His body ought to be\nyellow.\n\nIt was not till the introduction of the worship of Avalokite\u1e61vara that\nthe followers of Buddha thought of endowing the figures of deified\nsaints with an extra number of heads and arms.\n\nThe process of Avalokite\u1e61vara\u2019s (Padma-p\u0101\u1e47i\u2019s) creation and the\nformation of his numerous heads by the Dhy\u0101ni-Buddha Amit\u0101bha, is thus\ndescribed (Schlagintweit, p. 84, abridged):\u2014\n\n  Once upon a time Amit\u0101bha, after giving himself up to earnest\n  meditation, caused a red ray of light to issue from his right eye,\n  which brought Padma-p\u0101\u1e47i Bodhi-sattva into existence; while from his\n  left eye burst forth a blue ray of light, which becoming incarnate in\n  the two wives of King Srong Tsan (see p. 271), had power to enlighten\n  the minds of human beings. Amit\u0101bha then blessed Padma-p\u0101\u1e47i\u2019s\n  Bodhi-sattva by laying his hands upon him, so that by virtue of this\n  benediction, he brought forth the prayer \u2018Om ma\u1e47i padme H\u016bm.\u2019\n  Padma-p\u0101\u1e47i then made a solemn vow to rescue all the beings in hell\n  from their pains, saying to himself:\u2014\u2018If I fail, may my head split\n  into a thousand pieces!\u2019 After remaining absorbed in contemplation for\n  some time, he proceeded to the various hells, expecting to find that\n  the inhabitants, through the efficacy of his meditations, had ascended\n  to the higher worlds. And this indeed he found they had done. But no\n  sooner was their release accomplished than all the hells again became\n  as full as ever, the places of the out-going tenants being supplied by\n  an equal number of new-comers. This so astounded the unhappy\n  Bodhi-sattva that his head instantly split into a thousand pieces.\n  Then Amit\u0101bha, deeply moved by his son\u2019s misfortune, hastened to his\n  assistance, and formed the thousand pieces into ten heads.\n\nSchlagintweit states, and I have myself observed, that Avalokite\u1e61vara\u2019s\neleven heads are generally represented as forming a pyramid, and are\nranged in four rows. Each series of heads has a particular complexion.\nThe three faces resting on the neck are white, the three above yellow,\nthe next three red, the tenth blue, and the eleventh\u2014that is, the head\nof his father Amit\u0101bha at the top of all[258]\u2014is red. In Japanese images\nthe heads are much smaller, and are arranged like a crown, the centre of\nwhich is formed by two entire figures, the lower one sitting, the other\nstanding above it. Ten small heads are combined with these two figures.\n\nThe number of Avalokite\u1e61vara\u2019s hands ought to amount to a thousand, and\nhe is called \u2018a thousand-eyed,\u2019 as having the eye of wisdom on each\npalm. Of course all these thousand arms and eyes cannot be represented\nin images. Still there is an idol in the British Museum which represents\nhim with about forty arms, two of which have the hands joined in an\nattitude of worship.\n\nA remarkable description of an image of Avalokite\u1e61vara seen by Sarat\nChandra D\u0101s (so recently as 1882) in the great temple at Lh\u0101ssa occurs\nin his \u2018Narrative\u2019 (which I here abridge):\u2014\n\n  Next to the image of Buddha, the most conspicuous figure was that of\n  Chanrassig (i. e. the eleven-faced Avalokite\u1e61vara). The origin of this\n  is ascribed to King Sron Tsan Gampo (p. 271 of this volume). Once the\n  king heard a voice from heaven, saying that if he constructed an image\n  of Avalokite\u1e61vara of the size of his own person, all his desires would\n  be fulfilled.\n\n  Thereupon he proceeded to do so, and the materials he used were a\n  branch of the sacred Bodhi-tree, a portion of the Vajr\u0101sana, some soil\n  from an oceanic island, some sand from the river Naira\u00f1jana, some pith\n  of Go\u1e61\u012brsha sandal-wood, a portion of the soil of the eight sacred\n  places of ancient India, and many other rare articles pounded together\n  and made into paste, with the milk of a red cow and a she-goat. This\n  paste the king touched with his head, and prayed to the all-knowing\n  Buddhas and the host of Bodhi-sattvas, that by the merit of making\n  that image, there might be god-speed to the great work he had\n  undertaken\u2014namely, the diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet.\n\n  The gods, Buddhas, saints, etc. filled the aerial space to listen to\n  his prayer.\n\n  The king then ordered the Nep\u0101lese artist to hasten the completion of\n  the image, and with a view of heightening its sanctity, obtained a\n  sandal-wood image of Avalokite\u1e61vara from Ceylon and inserted it\n  inside, together with the relics of the seven past Buddhas. When the\n  work was finished, the artist said:\u2014\n\n  \u2018Sire, I cannot say that I have made this image, it has passed into\n  self-grown existence.\u2019 Then a current of lightning flashed forth from\n  its feet. Afterwards, the souls of the king and his queen are said to\n  have been absorbed into it, in consequence of which this image is\n  called \u2018the five-absorbed self-sprung.\u2019\n\nIt is recorded in another tradition that a wonder-working image of\nAvalokite\u1e61vara was set up in a monastery near Kabul, and another in\nMagadha near the Ganges. Any worshipper who approached these idols in\ndevotion and faith were favoured with a personal vision of the saint.\nThe statues opened, and the Bodhi-sattva emerged in bright rays of light\n(compare Koeppen, i. p. 499).\n\nOriginally, and still in Tibet, Avalokite\u1e61vara (otherwise called\nPadma-p\u0101\u1e47i) had only male attributes; but in China this deity (as we\nhave already mentioned at p. 200) is represented as a woman, called\nKwan-yin (in Japan Kwan-non), with a thousand arms and a thousand eyes.\nShe has her principal seat in the island of Poo-too, on the coast of\nChina, which is a place of pilgrimage.\n\nThere are two images of Kwan-yin in the British Museum, one with sixteen\narms and the other with eight.\n\nImages of the third mythical Bodhi-sattva\u2014the fierce Vajra-p\u0101\u1e47i,\n\u2018holding a thunderbolt in one hand\u2019\u2014like one form of \u1e60iva\u2014are almost as\ncommon as those of the merciful and mild Avalokite\u1e61vara. He has been\ndescribed in a previous Lecture (p. 201).\n\nIn the Pitt-Rivers collection at Oxford there is an image of this\nBodhi-sattva engaged in combating the power of evil. It is remarkable\nthat the figures of three monkeys are carved underneath, one stopping\nhis ears with his hands, another stopping his eyes, and another his\nmouth, to symbolize the effort to prevent the entrance of evil desires\nthrough the three most important organs of sense.\n\nWith regard to the images of female deities we may observe that T\u0101r\u0101,\nthe wife or \u1e60akti of Amogha-siddha (p. 216), is represented as a green\nsedent figure; her right hand on her knee, her left holding a lotus.\n\nA standing image of the goddess Pa\u1e6d\u1e6din\u012b (p. 217 of this volume) may be\nseen in the British Museum.\n\nIn a temple which I visited near D\u0101rj\u012bling I saw the image of the\nPadma-sambhava or \u2018lotus-born\u2019 form of Buddha occupying the centre of\nthe altar, with the images of Gautama Buddha and of Buddha \u0100yushmat, or\nthe \u2018Buddha of Life,\u2019 on each side.\n\nSir R. Temple (Journal, p. 212) relates how in a chamber of a Sikkim\nmonastery there were three figures, the central of which, with a fair\ncomplexion, was Amit\u0101bha, that on its right Gautama Buddha, and on its\nleft Gorakh-n\u0101th (see p. 193 of this volume).\n\nIn the monastery of Galdan (p. 441) Mr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s saw the golden\nimage of Tsong Khapa (with his golden chain and his tooth and his\nblock-prints), along with the images of Amit\u0101bha, Gautama, Maitreya,\nBhairava (the awful defender of Buddhism), Yama \u2018the lord of death,\u2019 and\nhis terrific messengers.\n\nIn the great Cho Khang at Lh\u0101ssa (see p. 459) he saw images of\nAvalokite\u1e61vara, Ma\u00f1ju-sr\u012b, Maitreya, Kuvera, Padma-sambhava, with an\nimmense number of others, and especially one of the terrific goddess\nPaldan (or Pandan) who is feared all over Tibet, Mongolia, and China, as\nthe greatest guardian deity of the Dalai and Tashi L\u0101mas and of the\nBuddhist Dharma. He found her shrine infested with mice, who are\nbelieved to be metamorphosed monks.\n\nAt Sera (p. 442) he saw images of the Buddha in his character of\n\u2018demon-vanquisher,\u2019 along with Maitreya (in silver), Avalokite\u1e61vara, the\nsix-armed Bhairava, the goddess K\u0101l\u012b, Dolkar (= T\u0101r\u0101, p. 271), the\nT\u0101ntrik Vajra-v\u0101r\u0101h\u012b, the sixteen Sthaviras (pp. 48, 255), and a great\nvariety of others.\n\nAt Radeng (p. 273) he saw a golden image of Milaraspa (p. 384).\n\nIn the monastery of Sam ye (p. 448) he saw images of the Indian Pa\u1e47\u1e0dits\nwho brought Buddhism into Tibet, with a vast number of other images.\n\nAt Tashi Lunpo he saw golden images of Buddha and Maitreya, besides\nimages of 1000 other Buddhas (p. 189), and the four guardians of the\nquarters (p. 206).\n\nAt Yarlung he saw an image of Vairo\u0107ana Buddha, besides images of the\nsixteen Sthaviras, and a gigantic image of the king of the N\u0101gas, and a\nterrific representation of the demon R\u0101va\u1e47a (of the R\u0101m\u0101ya\u1e47a).\n\nAt Mindolling he saw fresco paintings of the six classes of beings (p.\n122) inhabiting the six corresponding worlds. Of course delineations of\nthe J\u0101takas (p. 111) and pictures of all kinds were common in\nmonasteries and temples everywhere.\n\nThe two wonder-working images brought from Nep\u0101l and China have been\nalready mentioned (p. 271).\n\nAs an illustration of the monstrous superstition and idolatry prevalent\nin modern Buddhist countries, I venture, in conclusion, to quote, with\nabridgment, the following description of an idol seen by Miss Bird in\nJapan (see her \u2018Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,\u2019 published by Mr. Murray):\u2014\n\n  In one shrine is a large idol spotted all over with pellets of paper,\n  and hundreds of these may be seen sticking to the wire-netting which\n  protects him. A worshipper writes his petition on paper, or, better\n  still, has it written for him by the priest, chews it to a pulp and\n  spits it at the divinity. If, having been well aimed, it passes\n  through the wire and sticks, it is a good omen, if it lodges in the\n  netting the prayer has probably been unheard.\n\n  On the left there is a shrine with a screen, to which innumerable\n  prayers have been tied. On the right sits one of Buddha\u2019s original\n  sixteen disciples (see p. 47 of these Lectures). A Koolie with a\n  swelled knee applied it to the knee of the idol, while one with\n  inflamed eyelids rubbed his eyelids on it!\n\n\n\n\n                             LECTURE XVII.\n                           _Sacred Objects._\n\n\nNext to the subject of images and idols comes that of certain sacred\nobjects which Buddhists of all Schools\u2014whether adherents of the\nH\u012bna-y\u0101na or Mah\u0101-y\u0101na systems\u2014hold in veneration; for example, relics,\nrelic-receptacles or St\u016bpas, foot-prints, trees, utensils, bells,\nsymbols, and animals.\n\nThe narratives of the Chinese travellers, frequently mentioned before,\nteem with descriptions of such objects. Take, for instance, F\u0101-hien\u2019s\naccount of the district of Nag\u0101ra, near Peshawar in Northern India\n(Legge, 34-40), in which several sacred objects are stated to exist\u2014such\nas a fragment of Buddha\u2019s skull, one of his teeth, portions of his hair\nand nails, his alms-bowl, his staff (contained in a wooden tube, so\nheavy that even a thousand men could not lift it), his robe, and the\nimpression of his shadow. This was at the beginning of the fifth century\nof our era.\n\nF\u0101-hien\u2019s statements are confirmed by Sung-Yun, the next Chinese\ntraveller mentioned before (p. 161 of this volume[259]), who started on\nhis journey rather more than a century after F\u0101-hien.\n\n  We then visited the Ki-Ka-lam temple near Nag\u0101ra. This contains the\n  yellow robe (Kash\u0101ya) of Buddha in thirteen pieces. Here also is the\n  staff of Buddha, in a wooden case covered with gold-leaf. The weight\n  of this staff is sometimes so heavy that a hundred men cannot raise\n  it, and at other times it is so light that one man can lift it. In the\n  city of Na-kie (Nagarah\u0101ra) is a tooth of Buddha and also some of his\n  hair, both of which are contained in precious caskets. Morning and\n  evening religious offerings are made to them.\n\n  We next arrive at the cave of Go-p\u0101la, where is the shadow of Buddha.\n  To anyone entering the cavern, and looking for a long time (or, from a\n  long distance) at the western side of it opposite the door, the\n  figure, with its characteristic marks, appears; on going nearer, it\n  gradually grows fainter and then disappears. On touching the place\n  where it was, there is nothing but the bare wall. Gradually\n  retreating, the figure begins to come in view again, and foremost is\n  conspicuous that peculiar mark between the eyebrows (\u016br\u1e47a), which is\n  so rare among men.\n\n  Before the cave is a square stone, on which is a trace of Buddha\u2019s\n  foot (Beal\u2019s Translation, p. cvii, abridged).\n\nHiouen Thsang, the third traveller, confirms the statements of his\npredecessors in regard to the relics in this district, and adds as\nfollows:\u2014\n\n  There is another little St\u016bpa, made of the seven precious substances,\n  in which is deposited the _eye-ball_ of the Buddha, large as an \u0100mra\n  fruit, and bright and clear throughout. It is deposited in a sealed-up\n  casket (Beal, i. 96).\n\nIt is easy to perceive from the above extracts that the worship of\ncertain sacred objects connected with the founder of Buddhism had become\neven in F\u0101-hien\u2019s time a marked feature of Buddhism. In fact, the number\nof such objects increased so rapidly that before long it became usual to\nclassify them under three heads as follow[260]:\u2014\n\n(1) \u1e60\u0101r\u012brika (or \u1e60ar\u012bra-dh\u0101tu or simply \u1e60\u0101r\u012bra), objects which once\nformed part of the Buddha\u2019s body, such as a bone, a tooth, a hair, a\nnail.\n\n(2) P\u0101ribhogika, \u2018objects possessed or used by the Buddha,\u2019 such as his\nseat, alms-bowl, drinking-vessel (kumbha), staff, vestments, and even\nhis spittoon. Under this division is placed the Bodhi-tree.\n\n(3) Udde\u1e61ika, objects worshipped as in some way commemorative of the\nBuddha or of some event or incident in his life.\n\nIt would be difficult to decide under which of these categories the\n_sacred books_ containing the Buddha\u2019s Law are to be placed, and yet\nthey are deeply revered, and at the present day almost deified, as if\nthey were intelligent and omniscient beings. They are wrapped in costly\ncloth or silk, and their names are mentioned with the addition of\nhonorific personal titles. Occasionally such sacred books are placed on\na kind of rude altar, near the road-side, that passers-by may place\nofferings of money upon them[261].\n\nWithout attempting, therefore, to follow any particular classification,\nwe proceed to notice some of the chief objects in the order of their\nimportance, beginning with relics.\n\n\n                               _Relics._\n\nAdoration of relics constitutes an important point of difference between\nBuddhism and Br\u0101hmanism; for Br\u0101hmanism and its offspring Hind\u016bism are\nwholly opposed to the practice of preserving the ashes, bones, hair, or\nteeth of deceased persons, however much such individuals may have been\nrevered during life.\n\nI remarked in the course of my travels through India that articles used\nby great religious teachers\u2014as, for example, robes, wooden shoes, and\nseats\u2014are sometimes preserved and venerated after their death. All\narticles of this kind, however, must, of course, be removed from the\nbody before actual decease; for it is well known that, in the minds of\nHind\u016bs, ideas of impurity are inseparably connected with death, and\ncontamination is supposed to result from contact with the corpses of\neven a man\u2019s dearest relatives. Nor is the mortal frame ever held in\nveneration by the Hind\u016bs as it was by the ancient Egyptians, and as it\ngenerally is in Christian countries.\n\nEven the living body is regarded as a mass of corruption, a thing to be\nheld in contempt, and a constant impediment to sanctity of life. How\nmuch more then ought every part of a dead body to be got rid of without\ndelay! Hence in the present day a corpse is burnt, and its ashes are\ngenerally scattered on the surface of sacred rivers or of the sea.\n\nIt is true that the bodies of great Hind\u016b ascetics and devotees are\nexempted from this rule. They are usually buried\u2014not burnt. Not,\nhowever, because the mere corporeal frame is held in greater veneration,\nbut because the bodies of the most eminent saints are supposed to lie\nundecomposed in a kind of trance, or state of intense ecstatic\nmeditation (sam\u0101dhi).\n\nThe Buddhist, too, is a thorough Hind\u016b in contemning the living body;\nbut when the corpse is burnt, he does not scatter the ashes on rivers.\nHe takes measures to preserve them.\n\nWe know that according to the teaching of Br\u0101hmanism the burning of a\ncorpse is followed by religious ceremonies called \u1e60r\u0101ddhas[262]. The\ngreater the number of \u1e60r\u0101ddhas which a living man is able to perform in\nbehalf of his deceased relatives, the greater is the benefit which\naccrues to their souls; and if the dead man\u2019s soul happens to be in one\nof the hells, the sooner it is released from its purgatorial pains.\n\nA true Buddhist, on the other hand, considers all such \u1e60r\u0101ddhas as\nuseless; although it is certainly a fact that in the end the more\ndeveloped Buddhism of the North invented similar ceremonies, called\nBardo (see pp. 293, 334).\n\nTrue Buddhism, in short, has only one way of honouring ancestors, and\nonly one method of keeping alive the memory of those perfected saints\nwhose whole personality has become extinct, and whose transition into\nother forms of life has finally ceased.\n\nThe calcined ashes, or certain unconsumed portions of the body\u2014such as\nfragments of bone or hair or nails or teeth\u2014are deposited in\nrelic-shrines.\n\nOf course the most sacred of all Buddhist relics are those of the Buddha\nhimself. It is said that after the cremation of his corpse the chief\nremains consisted of four teeth, the two cheek-bones, and fragments of\nthe skull. But it is believed that, even before his death, portions of\nhis hair and nails were preserved and placed under D\u0101gabas (St\u016bpas). One\nlegend relates that when Gautama had decided on abandoning all worldly\nassociations, his first act was to cut off the mass of his hair, with\nits ornament (\u0107\u016b\u1e0d\u0101-ma\u1e47i), and that these were taken up by the god Indra\nto the Trayastri\u1e49\u1e61a heaven, and there placed under a D\u0101gaba and\nworshipped by the gods.\n\nF\u0101-hien, in a passage already alluded to, says that in the country of\nNag\u0101ra there is a particular spot where Buddha shaved off his hair and\nclipt his nails, and, having done so, proceeded to erect a lofty mound\nor St\u016bpa to enshrine them, as well as to be a model for all future\nSt\u016bpas (p. 504 of this volume).\n\nHiouen Thsang relates a tradition that when the two travelling merchants\nTrapusha and Bhallika (see p. 40) were converted, the Buddha gave them\nat their own request some of his own hair and nail-parings, besides his\nalms-bowl, staff, and a portion of his clothing, and bade them deposit\neach article in St\u016bpas or D\u0101gabas. The two merchants, it is narrated,\nwent home to their own country and acquired an enormous stock of\nreligious merit by being the first to erect a St\u016bpa for the reception of\npersonal memorials of the great Buddha. According to a tradition the two\nmerchants were from Burma, and the shrine which was erected to receive\neight of his hairs afterwards developed into the great Rangoon D\u0101gaba\n(Pagoda). It may be inferred from this legend (as Dr. Oldenberg has\nalready remarked) that the care of the Buddha\u2019s relics, and the\ninstitution of ceremonies in their honour, were in the first instance\nleft to the devotion of religiously minded Buddhist laymen.\n\n  \u2018What are we to do,\u2019 \u0100nanda asks of the Master, when his end is\n  drawing near[263], \u2018with the body of the Perfect One?\u2019 \u2018Let not the\n  honours due to the body of the Perfect One trouble you, \u0100nanda. Seek\n  ye rather perfection for yourselves. There are, \u0100nanda, wise men among\n  the nobles, the Br\u0101hmans, and the citizens, who believe in the Perfect\n  One; they will honour the body of the Perfect One.\u2019\n\nHiouen Thsang (Beal, ii. 40) also states that when certain Indian R\u0101jas,\neight in number, heard of the Buddha\u2019s death, they collected armies and\nmarched to Kusi-n\u0101r\u0101 (p. 424) to seize portions of the relics; but the\nprince of Kusi-n\u0101r\u0101 refused to give them up. In the end the matter was\nsettled amicably, and the relics were divided, so that each of the eight\nprinces might take a share. Then all departed to their own homes, and\neach prince built a St\u016bpa over his own portion of the relics. The gods\nalso took their portions.\n\nF\u0101-hien (chap. xxiii) alludes to the building of the eight St\u016bpas, and\nadds that king A\u1e61oka destroyed them, and in their place built 84,000\nothers\u2014one for the conservation of each atom of the elements of the\nBuddha\u2019s body; the belief being that the bodies of all human beings\nconsist of that number of elementary particles (see p. 423). The\neight-fold division is described in \u2018Buddhist Suttas,\u2019 pp. 133-136 (S.\nB. E. vol. xi).\n\nIt appears probable that the earliest relics of his burnt body held in\nhonour were his teeth; and of these again the most celebrated seem to\nhave been his four eye-teeth. One of the four is said to have been\nappropriated by the gods and another by the N\u0101gas, while the third was\ntaken to G\u0101ndh\u0101ra in the north-west, and the fourth to Kali\u1e45ga in the\nsouth-east.\n\nThe first two eye-teeth have only mythical histories, and little is\nrecorded of the third, but the fourth has gone through a series of\nterrestrial adventures, which have been much written about and would\nfill several volumes. One of the immediate followers of Gautama is said\nto have gained possession of it on the occasion of the eight-fold\ndistribution of the great sage\u2019s relics (p. 499), and to have conveyed\nit to a place afterwards called Danta-pura, \u2018tooth-city[264],\u2019 the\ncapital of Kali\u1e45ga (Orissa), where it is believed to have remained\nundisturbed for about 800 years. After that period it was seized, at the\ninstigation of some Br\u0101hmans, by a powerful Hind\u016b king who reigned at\nP\u0101\u1e6daliputra. Its vicissitudes and adventures for centuries afterwards\nwere very varied. It was conveyed surreptitiously to Ceylon about the\nyear 311 of our era by a princess of Kali\u1e45ga, who concealed it in her\nhair. There it remained till 1315, when it was carried back to Southern\nIndia. After a time it was taken back to Kandy in Ceylon. Next it was\nseized by the Portuguese and carried off to Goa. Thence it was\ntransported to Pegu, and finally the precious tooth-relic (d\u0101\u1e6dh\u0101-dh\u0101tu),\nor at least some imitation of it, was restored to the good people of\nKandy, where it is still preserved by them as a veritable Palladium,\nwith every possible precaution against further outrage, although under\nthe protecting \u00e6gis of our government its security ought not any longer\nto be matter of anxiety.\n\nEvery native of Ceylon (La\u1e45k\u0101), whether Buddhist or Hind\u016b, seems to feel\nthat the welfare of his country depends on its careful conservation. At\nany rate the Sinhalese have placed their tooth-temple\u2014called Dalada\nM\u0101lig\u0101wa\u2014in the loveliest part of their beautiful island (see p. 454),\namid richly wooded hills, from which may be obtained some of the most\nenchanting views in the world. The eye-tooth is in appearance like a\npiece of discoloured ivory about two inches[265] long, and one inch\nacross in the thickest part. Indeed, all the supposed relics of the\nBuddha\u2019s body, and the dress and implements he used, are of such a size\nas to make his worshippers believe that his stature far exceeded that of\nordinary men.\n\nThe tooth is enclosed in nine bell-shaped, jewelled golden cases, one\nwithin the other, each locked by a key, and each key consigned to the\ncustody of a separate official. The interior cases increase in\ncostliness till the most highly jewelled of all is reached, and within\nthis on a golden lotus lies the relic. When I visited the tooth-temple\nin 1877, the cases were kept within iron bars in a dimly-lighted\nshrine\u2014redolent with flower-offerings which exhaled an overpowering\nperfume\u2014and in the very centre of the buildings of the temple. When the\nPrince of Wales visited Kandy in 1876, all the officials assembled to\nunlock the cases and exhibit the treasured relic.\n\nA detailed account of the tooth is given in a book called Dalada-va\u1e49\u1e61a\nor D\u0101\u1e6dh\u0101-va\u1e49\u1e61a, said to have been written originally in ancient\nSinhalese (Elu) about the year 310 of our era, and translated into the\nsacred P\u0101li about the year 1200. This book has been rendered into\nEnglish by the late Sir Coom\u0101ra Sw\u0101my. The tooth is also described in\nmany other P\u0101li and Sinhalese books, including the Mah\u0101-va\u1e49\u1e61a.\n\nAnd here it may be remarked that one feature of the Buddha\u2019s relics was\nthat they gave forth on special occasions celestial light, and had the\npower of working miracles. Sometimes a reverent circumambulation of the\nshrine which contained the relics was believed to be sufficiently\nefficacious in stimulating their miraculous powers. Sometimes they were\ntaken out and exhibited. The following extract from F\u0101-hien reminds one\nof what takes place at Kandy in the present day:\u2014\n\n  In the city of He-lo (the present Hi\u1e0d\u1e0da, west of Peshawar) there is\n  the flat-bone of Buddha\u2019s skull, deposited in a Vih\u0101ra adorned all\n  over with gold-leaf and the seven sacred substances. The king of the\n  country revering the bone, and anxious lest it should be stolen, has\n  selected eight individuals representing great families, and committed\n  to each a seal with which he should seal the shrine and guard the\n  relic. At early dawn these men come, and after each has inspected his\n  seal, they open the door. This done they wash their hands with scented\n  water, and bring out the bone, which they place on a lofty platform,\n  where it is supported on a pedestal of the seven precious substances.\n  The king every morning makes his offerings and performs his worship.\n  The chiefs of the Vai\u1e61yas also make their offerings. Then they replace\n  the bone in the Vih\u0101ra, under a St\u016bpa of the seven precious substances\n  (p. 528 of this volume) more than five cubits high (Legge, pp. 36-38,\n  abridged).\n\nF\u0101-hien records a similar exhibition of the Buddha\u2019s alms-bowl in the\ncountry near Peshawar:\u2014\n\n  When it is mid-day they bring out the bowl and make offerings to it.\n  It may contain about two pecks, and it has a bright lustre. When poor\n  people throw into it a few flowers, it becomes full. If the rich throw\n  in myriads of flowers, they are not able to fill it.\n\nHe states that the Buddha\u2019s robe was also brought out to be worshipped:\u2014\n\n  When there is a drought the people collect in crowds, bring out the\n  robe, pay worship to it and make offerings, on which there is\n  immediately a great rain from the sky (Legge, pp. 35, 39, abridged).\n\nThe relics of all great saints in Buddhist countries were revered in a\nsimilar manner. At the same time it ought to be noted that the\nperiodical exhibition of relics, before the eyes of worshippers, was not\na usual occurrence (as it is in Roman Catholic countries). Indeed, as a\ngeneral rule, the custom seems to have been to shield the ashes and\nremains of revered dead bodies from observation and liability to be\ntouched. Hence they were commonly sealed up hermetically, as it were, in\nthe interior of receptacles which effectually concealed them from view\nand protected them from disturbance.\n\nAnd this leads us to advert to the form and character of Buddhist\nrelic-receptacles.\n\nIt is probable that at a very early period, and even before the Buddha\u2019s\ntime, the Hind\u016bs were accustomed to raise heaps or tumuli over the ashes\nof kings, great men, saints and sages, just as even to this day among\nthe Sikhs of the Panj\u0101b, the ashes of great men are so honoured. Some\nthink that the hemispherical dome-like form of the tumulus was intended\nto represent a bubble\u2014the most transitory of all material objects. In\nall likelihood the dome of the S\u0101\u00f1ch\u012b St\u016bpa\u2014which is thought to be as\nold as the time of Buddha\u2014was constructed in memory of some great man.\n\nSuch heaps were at first generally called \u0106aityas, and afterwards St\u016bpas\n(from the Sansk\u1e5bit roots \u0107i and styai, meaning \u2018to heap together\u2019); but\n\u0106aitya ultimately denoted a relic-structure in an assembly-hall (see p.\n450), while the word St\u016bpa denoted one in the open air. Then inside the\n\u0106aitya or St\u016bpa (P\u0101li Th\u016bpa, corrupted into Tope) there was a\ncasket\u2014made of silver, gold, stone, earthenware, etc.\u2014in which were\ndeposited the ashes, fragments of bone, or the teeth or nails of the\ndeceased. And this relic-casket was called in Sansk\u1e5bit Dh\u0101tu-garbha, or\nin P\u0101li D\u0101gaba (corrupted into Dagoba and afterwards into Pagoda)\u2014that\nis, a repository of the elementary particles of which all bodies are\ncomposed.\n\nThen in time the word D\u0101gaba (Pagoda) denoted the monument as well as\nthe relic-casket. Moreover \u0106aityas and St\u016bpas were often mere pyramidal\nstructures, enshrining images or marking important events (see p. 390),\nbut not containing relics. Among the Hind\u016bs \u0106aitya often denotes the\nsacred village-tree planted on a mound.\n\n[Illustration: VOTIVE ST\u016aPA, RECENTLY FOUND AT BUDDHA-GAY\u0100.]\n\n            (Date about ninth or tenth century of our era.)\n\nThe process by which the simple \u0106aitya or mound developed into more\nelaborate structures is remarkable. First came erections of stone or\nbrick, generally bell-shaped or domed like bee-hives. These again\nexpanded into elongated pyramidal structures, springing from cylindrical\nor octagonal or hexagonal bases, and ornamented with images of Gautama,\nand resting on plinth-like foundations, the summits tapering into\nfinials consisting of three, or seven, or nine, or eleven, or even\nfifteen tiers of umbrella-shaped ornaments (see note, p. 393).\n\nThen, again, in time, these elaborate D\u0101gabas expanded into vast Pagodas\nof enormous height, as, for example, the Rangoon Pagoda (see p. 456) and\nthat at Anur\u0101dha-pura in Ceylon.\n\nIt is doubtful whether in early Buddhism \u0106aityas and St\u016bpas were ever\nempty monuments or cenotaphs. Probably all of them contained ashes,\nfragments of bone, teeth, or hair, though in some cases the most careful\nexamination has failed to discover the vessel in which they were\ndeposited. If made of fragile materials, it rapidly crumbled into dust.\nBut St\u016bpas, even without relics, were themselves objects of reverence.\n\nIn the later period of Buddhism the practice of carving, or moulding\nmere memorial or votive St\u016bpas, and dedicating them at sacred spots\nbecame common. The examples of this kind of St\u016bpa which I saw unearthed\nat Buddha-Gay\u0101 have been described (p. 397).\n\nThe engraving opposite to this page is a copy of one of these votive\nSt\u016bpas which I procured for the Indian Institute through Mr. Beglar.\n\nAt Mandalay there is a large Pagoda with about 620 smaller ones round it\n(in rows of six or seven deep). Each small Pagoda enshrines a\ntablet\u2014exposed to view\u2014on which some portion of the Law is engraved.\nMany small Pagodas are simply canopies of brick or some solid material\nerected over images.\n\nOutside the Buddhist convent near D\u0101rj\u012bling, when I visited it in 1884,\na monk was roughly moulding a number of small votive St\u016bpas in clay,\nwith which he was probably mixing the powdered bones of some deceased\nL\u0101ma. Here is a copy of one exactly the size of the original:\u2014\n\n[Illustration: ]\n\nIf broken open, a terra-cotta seal, inscribed with some sacred formula,\nwould probably be found inside.\n\nOf course most of the Buddha\u2019s chief disciples, such as S\u0101riputta,\nMaudgaly\u0101yana, K\u0101\u1e61yapa, \u0100nanda, Up\u0101li, each had St\u016bpas erected over\ntheir relics.\n\n\n                         _Sacred Foot-prints._\n\nNext in importance to the worship of relics is that of foot-prints\n(Sansk\u1e5bit \u1e60r\u012b-pada or \u1e60r\u012b-p\u0101da). Everywhere throughout Buddhist\ncountries the supposed impressions of the Buddha\u2019s feet are as much\nhonoured as those of the god Vish\u1e47u are by Vaish\u1e47avas.\n\nWhen F\u0101-hien reached G\u1e5bidhra-k\u016b\u1e6da (see pp. 404, 406), he is said to have\nused words to the following effect: \u2018I, F\u0101-hien, was born when I could\nnot meet with Buddha, and now I only see the foot-prints which he has\nleft\u2019 (Legge, 83).\n\nIt is well known that the practice of bowing down and honouring the feet\nis a thoroughly Asiatic custom. The idea seems to be derived from a kind\nof _a fortiori_ argument. If the feet, as the lowest member of the body,\nare honoured, how much more is homage rendered to the whole man. Hence\nchildren honour their parents, not by kissing their faces, but by\nprostrating themselves at their feet and touching them reverentially.\nAnother reason for venerating the feet is well expressed in one of our\nhymns:\u2014\n\n  O let me see Thy foot-marks,\n  And in them plant my own;\n\nand in Longfellow\u2019s\n\n    Foot-prints on the sands of time;\n  Foot-prints which perhaps another,\n    Sailing o\u2019er life\u2019s solemn main,\n  A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,\n    Seeing may take life again.\n\nThis shows that even Europeans are familiar with the idea. There is a\nRoman Catholic church at Vienna which possesses a celebrated image of\nChrist on the Cross. On one occasion I visited this church and observed\nseveral worshippers kissing the feet of the image, while others\u2014too\nshort in stature to reach it with their lips\u2014touched its feet with their\nfingers and then kissed their fingers. A similar honour is paid to the\nimages of St. Peter at Rome, and indeed to that Apostle\u2019s living\nrepresentatives. The alleged foot-prints of Christ are not numerous, but\nthey exist in certain holy places[266].\n\nEvery sentiment in the East is exaggerated, and it need not therefore be\nmatter of wonder if a veneration for foot-prints has led to an excessive\nmultiplication of these symbols, and to an excess of superstitious\nworship paid to them by Hind\u016bs of various sects in every part of India.\nNo true Vaish\u1e47ava will leave his house in the morning without marking\nhis forehead with the symbol of Vish\u1e47u\u2019s feet. In travelling from one\nplace to another I often came across what appeared to be an empty\nshrine, but on a close inspection I found that it contained two\nfoot-prints on a little raised altar made of stone. These are called\nP\u0101duk\u0101 \u2018shoes,\u2019 but are really the supposed impressions of the soles of\nthe feet of the person to whom the shrines are dedicated. In 1876 I\nvisited the celebrated Vish\u1e47u-pad temple at Gay\u0101. Crowds were\nworshipping the foot-mark impressed on the bare stone, but concealed by\nofferings, and surrounded by a silver fence under a silver canopy (see\n\u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 309).\n\nIt is true that Buddhists never imitate the practice of the worshippers\nof Vish\u1e47u by marking their foreheads with the supposed impressions of\nthe Buddha\u2019s feet, but they will nevertheless make long and toilsome\npilgrimages to bow down before what they believe to be the impression of\nhis foot on a rock.\n\nThe Jainas, who are the only Hind\u016b representatives of the Buddhistic\nsystem left in India, are quite as ardent foot-print worshippers. In\n1884 I ascended Mount P\u0101rasn\u0101th (P\u0101r\u1e61va-n\u0101th) in Bengal at the same time\nwith crowds of Jaina pilgrims who, like myself, toiled up the hill to\nvisit the numerous Jaina temples scattered over the uneven surface at\nthe summit, some five thousand feet above the plain. Our objects were\nvery different. Theirs was the acquisition of merit, mine was the\nacquirement of knowledge. Lepers lined the rough pathway, and much\nadditional merit was held to accrue to the pilgrims by distributing alms\namong them. I found that nearly every shrine at the summit consisted of\na little domed canopy of marble, covering two foot-prints of some one of\nthe twenty-four Jaina saints (especially P\u0101r\u1e61va-n\u0101th) impressed on a\nmarble altar. The soles of the supposed foot-prints were either white or\nblack and marked with small gilded circles.\n\nGroups of worshippers bowed down before the shrines and deposited\nofferings of money, rice, almonds, raisins, and spices on the\nfoot-marks. No sooner did they quit one shrine for the next, than a\ntroop of frolicking monkeys promptly took their place and scampered off\nwith the edible portion of the objects offered.\n\nIt is impossible to state positively when either Buddhism or Jainism\nfirst introduced foot-print worship, but the practice must have begun\nvery early.\n\nWith regard to this point General Sir A. Cunningham, in his account of\nthe Bharhut St\u016bpa\u2014a St\u016bpa which dates from the second century\nB.C.\u2014says:\u2014\n\n  Foot-prints of Buddha were most probably an object of reverence from a\n  very early period\u2014certainly before the building of the Bharhut\n  St\u016bpa\u2014as they are represented in two separate sculptures there. In the\n  first sculpture the foot-prints are placed on a throne or altar,\n  canopied by an umbrella, hung with garlands. A royal personage is\n  kneeling before the altar, and reverently touching the foot-prints\n  with his hands. The second example is in the bas-relief representing\n  the visit of Aj\u0101ta-\u1e61atru to Buddha. Here, as in all other Bharhut\n  sculptures, Buddha does not appear in person, his presence being\n  marked by his two foot-prints. The wheel symbol is duly marked on both\n  (p. 112, abridged).\n\nThe General justly remarks that perhaps the worship of the Buddha\u2019s\nfoot-prints may have sprung up in imitation of the homage alleged to\nhave been paid by Mah\u0101-K\u0101\u1e61yapa and 500 monks to his feet, which, it is\nsaid, were exposed to view when his body was lying on the funeral pile.\nThe legend states that while the monks were in the act of bowing down in\nadoration before the feet, the funeral pile ignited spontaneously.\n\nOn one of the gate-pillars of the ancient S\u0101\u00f1ch\u012b St\u016bpa there is a\nsculpture of a foot-print marked with the wheel (\u0106akra, p. 522) symbol,\nwhich the late Mr. Fergusson ascribed to the early part of the first\ncentury of the Christian era.\n\nThere are also sculptured representations of the Buddha\u2019s foot-prints at\nAmar\u0101vat\u012b, supposed to date from the second or third century of the\nChristian era. These representations are often carved on so-called\naltars or else placed before altars.\n\nBut of all foot-prints, that on Adam\u2019s Peak (the highest mountain in\nCeylon, more than 7000 feet above the sea), supposed to have been left\nby the Buddha when he ascended thence to heaven, is the most celebrated.\n\nAccording to F\u0101-hien (Legge, p. 102), when Buddha was in Ceylon he\nplanted one foot on the north of the royal city and the other on\nSumana-K\u016b\u1e6da (Adam\u2019s Peak), fifteen yojanas, or about a hundred miles,\ndistant.\n\nThis fancied impression of the Buddha\u2019s foot (believed by Christians to\nbe that of St. Thomas, by Muhammadans to be that of Adam, and by Hind\u016bs\nto be that of the god \u1e60iva) is merely a shapeless hollow in the rock,\nfive feet seven inches long by two feet seven inches broad, which would\ngive the Buddha a stature of about thirty-five feet. It is said to have\nbeen discovered by a hunter at the beginning of the century before\nChrist, and, although very difficult of access, is annually visited by\nabout 100,000 Buddhist pilgrims. Near it, on the summit of the mountain,\nis a small temple dedicated to Saman (p. 217).\n\nIn a shrine near the tooth-temple at Kandy, I saw a so-called facsimile\nof this foot-print. Those who are physically incapable of toiling up the\nmountain to bow down before the sacred impression on the rock, gain\nnearly as much merit by worshipping its copy. The shrine was filled with\nfragrant flowers recently deposited on the facsimile.\n\nOther foot-prints in various places throughout India, Burma, Siam,\nTibet, Mongolia, and China, are from two to five feet long. A tradition\nis mentioned by F\u0101-hien (Legge, 29) that, when Buddha visited Northern\nIndia, he came to the country of Woo-chang or Udy\u0101na, and there he left\na print of his foot, which appears long or short according to the ideas\nof the beholders.\n\nAnother legend states that Buddha left the print of his left foot on\nAdam\u2019s Peak, and then, in one stride, strode across to Siam, where he\nleft the impression of his right foot.\n\nThe Siamese hold their foot-print in as much reverence as the Sinhalese\nhold theirs. It is called Phra Bat, and, according to Mr. Alabaster, its\nappearance is like that of the foot-print on Adam\u2019s Peak. Nothing is to\nbe seen but a hole in the rock, about five feet long by two broad. A\ntemple is built over it, and every precaution taken to protect it from\nover-zealous worshippers. Mr. Alabaster thus describes his visit to this\nsacred spot:\u2014\n\n  The grating which usually covers the foot-print was removed to enable\n  us to see the bottom, but the temple was so dark that we could not see\n  much of it. We moved aside some of the offerings lying on it, but\n  could see nothing of the pattern except the five marks of the\n  toe-nails\u2014five grooves in the rock\u2014which some declare to have been\n  made with chisels. On inquiry we were told that the other marks were\n  long ago destroyed by an accidental fire. Likeness to a foot there is\n  none. Yet to this holy foot-print year after year crowds of Siamese\n  flock with varied offerings, and even the most enlightened amongst\n  them\u2014the late King for instance\u2014have observed and encouraged the\n  practice. (\u2018Wheel of the Law,\u2019 p. 284, abridged.)\n\nThe soles of the Buddha\u2019s feet are represented as quite flat, and all\nthe toes of equal length. Each sole possesses, as we have seen (p. 20),\none hundred and eight auspicious marks (ma\u1e45gala-lakkha\u1e47a), and of these\nthe principal is generally the wheel (\u0106akra), while around it are\ngrouped representations of animals, inhabitants of various worlds, and\nsymbols of different kinds. In all probability the idea is that all\nthings are subject to the Buddha or belong to him; they are therefore\nmetaphorically placed under his feet. (Compare the metaphor in Psalm\nviii. 6-8.)\n\nThe one hundred and eight marks vary in various specimens. A good\ntypical example (brought from Burma) of the impression of one foot may\nbe seen in the British Museum. The sole is divided into compartments,\neach compartment containing a mark. There are five conch-shells, one in\neach of the five toes, this symbol being highly esteemed by Buddhists as\nwell as by Hind\u016bs.\n\nAmong the one hundred and eight auspicious marks on the Siamese\nfoot-print are the following:\u2014A spear, trident (tri-ratna), book,\nelephant-goad, Indra\u2019s elephant, dragon (makara), ocean, golden ship,\nwater with lotuses, conch-shell, four-faced Brahm\u0101, umbrella, king of\nN\u0101gas, king of horses, of tigers, of birds, sun, moon, ten mountains,\npeacock, flag of victory, deer, fish, water-jar. The wheel (\u0106akra) does\nnot occur in Mr. Alabaster\u2019s list (\u2018Wheel of the Law,\u2019 p. 290), but the\ntwo feet of the Amar\u0101vat\u012b St\u016bpa, described by Mr. Fergusson, have a\nwheel in the centre of the soles. Above is the Tri-ratna emblem with a\nSvastika symbol on each side. There are other Svastika marks, and others\non the toes (see p. 523).\n\nThe Skanda-Pur\u0101\u1e47a and Bh\u0101gavata-Pur\u0101\u1e47a give similar lists of marks on\nthe sole of Vish\u1e47u\u2019s foot.\n\n\n                            _Sacred Trees._\n\nWe now pass on to a brief consideration of sacred trees. Most persons\nare aware that the homage offered to trees and plants is not confined to\nBuddhism. It existed very early in Br\u0101hmanism and is still common\neverywhere throughout India (see my \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 330).\n\nIn point of fact various forms of tree-worship prevail at the present\nmoment in almost every part of the world where superstition and\nignorance are ruling influences. Nor can we really condemn, as either\nunnatural or unreasonable, the feeling of veneration with which trees\nare generally regarded, bearing in mind the grateful shade and shelter\nwhich they afford, the beauty of their foliage, their importance as\npurifiers of the atmosphere, and the hundreds of useful purposes to\nwhich their wood, leaves, and fruit are applicable. According to Dr. E.\nB. Tylor (\u2018Primitive Culture,\u2019 ii. 223), the North American Indians of\nthe Far West often hang offerings on the trees to propitiate the spirits\nand procure good weather and good hunting. He adds that Mr. Darwin\ndescribes the South Americans as doing much the same.\n\nIn Persia and other Eastern Countries trees may often be met with, the\nbranches of which have been recently hung with offerings of cloth, rags,\nand even garments.\n\nIn India the notion of trees being inhabited by deities or semi-divine\nbeings or spirits is to this day very common, and we have already noted\n(p. 112) that during the period of Gautama\u2019s Bodhi-sattvaship, in the\ncourse of which he had to undergo countless births in preparation for\nhis Buddhahood, he was born forty-three times as a tree-god.\n\nIn Siam, according to Mr. Alabaster, offerings are commonly made in the\npresent day to the spirits or deities inhabiting trees. People hang\nvarious votive objects on the branches, or place them on a stand or\naltar beneath any particular tree whose deity they wish to propitiate.\nMoreover they are very averse to the cutting down of any trees of any\nkind, lest the tree-gods should be angry.\n\n  \u2018Some years ago,\u2019 says Mr. Alabaster, \u2018when I employed my spare energy\n  in showing the Siamese how to make roads in the, till then, roadless\n  suburbs of Bangkok, I had to cut my lines through villages,\n  temple-groves, orchards, plantations, and patches of jungle. For the\n  \u201cwicked\u201d duty of cutting down the trees, a gang of the lowest\n  criminals was placed at my disposal.\u2019 But he adds that the removal of\n  any specially holy building or tree was interdicted by the Government.\n\nWe have already seen that, according to the theory of later Buddhism,\nevery Buddha is supposed to have his own special tree under which he sat\nand meditated, and in the end attained supreme knowledge (see p. 136).\nFor example, there is the Pippala (also called A\u1e61vattha, _Ficus\nReligiosa_) sacred fig-tree of Gautama Buddha, the Va\u1e6da or Banyan-tree\n(_Ficus Indica_) of K\u0101\u1e61yapa Buddha, the U\u1e0dumbara (_Ficus Glomerata_) of\nKanaka-muni; the \u1e60ir\u012bsha (_Acacia Serisa_) of Kraku-\u0106\u0107handa; the \u1e60\u0101la\n(_Shorea Robusta_) of Vi\u1e61va-bh\u016b; the Pu\u1e47\u1e0dar\u012bka (_White_ _Lotus_) of\n\u1e60ikhin[267]; the P\u0101\u1e6dali (_Bignonia Suaveolens_) of Vipa\u1e61yin.\n\nThese six Buddhas with Gautama are sometimes held to be the seven\nprincipal Buddhas, and, according to some authorities, the tree of the\nfuture Buddha (Maitreya) will be the Iron-wood tree (Sideroxylon)[268].\nSpecimens of some of these trees are to be found growing in the area of\nthe Buddha-Gay\u0101 temple, and several are represented in the sculptures of\nthe St\u016bpa of Bharhut (of the second century B.C.). On one of the pillars\nof that St\u016bpa elephants are carved in the act of worshipping both the\nP\u012bpal-tree and the Banyan-tree. In fact it must be borne in mind that\nGautama Buddha is said to have meditated under both of these trees, and\nis therefore connected with both (see p. 39).\n\nIt might have been expected, too, that the \u1e60\u0101l-tree would have ranked\nnext in sacredness to the P\u012bpal and Banyan; for according to one legend,\nM\u0101y\u0101 gave birth to Gautama while standing under a \u1e60\u0101l-tree, and\naccording to another legend, Gautama died on a couch placed between two\n\u1e60\u0101l-trees (pp. 23, 50). This tree, however, appears to be more honoured\nin connexion with the Buddha Vi\u1e61va-bh\u016b (p. 136, note 1).\n\nThere are other trees which were held in veneration by Indian\nBuddhists:\u2014for example, the Mango (\u0100mra) and the Jambu, and the A\u1e61oka.\nThe first of these appears frequently in sculptures, and is known by the\nshape of its fruit.\n\nTwo other trees under which the Buddha is said to have meditated after\nhis attainment of Buddhahood\u2014namely, the Mu\u0107alinda-tree[269] and the\nR\u0101j\u0101yatana-tree\u2014are not identified.\n\nBut among all trees revered by all Buddhists of all nationalities, the\nA\u1e61vattha or Pippala (P\u012bpal), under which Gautama achieved Buddhahood and\nperfect knowledge, takes the precedence. In some Buddhist countries the\nclimate prevents its introduction, but if it can by any means be made to\ngrow, it is everywhere planted close to Buddhist temples, monasteries\nand D\u0101gabas, and in many cases is the product of a seed brought from the\nsupposed original tree at Buddha-Gay\u0101.\n\nA tradition relates that Gautama during his lifetime directed \u0100nanda to\nbreak off a branch from that original tree and to plant it in the garden\nof the Vih\u0101ra, or monastery, at \u1e60r\u0101vast\u012b\u2014Gautama\u2019s favourite place of\nresidence\u2014\u2018He who worships it,\u2019 said Gautama, \u2018will receive the same\nreward as if he worshipped me[270].\u2019\n\nThis is a mere legend resting on no historical basis; but the tradition\nwhich makes Gautama choose a seat under the sacred Pippala or A\u1e61vattha\nas the spot where the first stirrings of a divine afflatus and the first\nwhisperings of divine communications\u2014symbolized by the mysterious\nquivering and rustling of its leaves\u2014were likely to make themselves\nfelt, points to a probable fact\u2014a fact quite in harmony with what we\nhave already noted in regard to his early Br\u0101hmanical education and\nideas. We read in the Ka\u1e6dha Upanishad (VI. 1) that the root of the\nA\u1e61vattha-tree was identified with the Supreme Being, Brahman. In a\npassage of the Mu\u1e47\u1e0daka Upanishad (III. 1. 1) and in a Mantra of the\n\u1e5aig-veda (I. 164. 20) the same idea is alluded to. It is true that\nGautama afterwards repudiated the possibility of any divine inspiration\ncoming from any external source whatever, yet it is probable that when\nhe first seated himself under the sacred fig-tree, which is even now\nregarded by the Hind\u016bs as a manifestation of the god Brahm\u0101, he expected\nsupernatural communications of some kind[271].\n\nThe history of the original sacred Pippala (A\u1e61vattha) tree, or as it is\ncommonly called the Bodhi-tree (Bo-tree) of Gautama Buddha at\nBuddha-Gay\u0101, has already been sketched in a previous Lecture (see pp.\n392-394).\n\nHiouen Thsang\u2019s description of the tree, as he saw it in the seventh\ncentury, has also been given (see p. 399). F\u0101-hien, who saw it at\nBuddha-Gay\u0101 in the fifth century, calls it the Patra-tree. The following\nis an abridgement of what he says about it:\u2014\n\n  The Bodhi-sattva advanced to the Patra-tree, placed the Ku\u1e61a grass at\n  the foot of it, and sat down with his face to the east. Then King M\u0101ra\n  sent three beautiful damsels to tempt him. The Bodhi-sattva put his\n  toes down to the ground, and the young maidens were changed into old\n  grandmothers. Buddha, after attaining perfect wisdom, contemplated the\n  tree for seven days (Legge, p. 88).\n\nF\u0101-hien also saw the offspring of the original Bodhi-tree growing in\nCeylon (Legge, p. 103).\n\nIt is recorded that soon after Mahinda, son of A\u1e61oka, arrived in Ceylon\n(about 250 B.C.) for the purpose of propagating Buddhism, his sister,\nwho had become a Buddhist Nun, also arrived there, and brought with her\nfrom King A\u1e61oka a branch of the sacred Bodhi-tree of Buddha-Gay\u0101. This\nwas planted at Anur\u0101dha-pura, and the zealous Buddhists of Ceylon fully\nbelieve that the identical tree exists there still.\n\nAn interesting account of the state of this tree or its descendant,\nabout thirty years ago, is given in Sir Emerson Tennant\u2019s \u2018Ceylon\u2019 (vol.\nii. p. 613). I here give an abridged extract:\u2014\n\n  The Bo-tree of Anur\u0101dha-pura is in all probability the oldest\n  historical tree in the world. Its conservancy has been an object of\n  solicitude to successive dynasties, and the story of its vicissitudes\n  has been preserved in a series of continuous chronicles.\n\n  It would almost seem to verify the prophecy pronounced when it was\n  planted, that it would flourish and be green for ever.\n\n  The degree of sanctity with which this extraordinary tree has been\n  invested by Buddhists, may be compared to the feeling of veneration\n  with which Christians regard the attested wood of the Cross.\n\n  The other Bo-trees which are found in the vicinity of every temple in\n  Ceylon are said to be all derived from the parent-tree at\n  Anur\u0101dha-pura, but they have been propagated by seeds; the priesthood\n  adhering in this respect to the precedent recorded in the Mah\u0101-va\u1e49\u1e61a\n  (when Mahinda himself, taking up a fruit as it fell, gave it to the\n  king to plant), and objecting religiously to lop it with any weapon.\n\n  In the fifth century F\u0101-hien found the Bo-tree at Anur\u0101dha-pura in\n  vigorous health, and its guardians displaying towards it the same\n  vigilant tenderness which they exhibit at the present day.\n\n  The author of the Mah\u0101-va\u1e49\u1e61a, who wrote between the years 459 and 478\n  of our era, after relating the ceremonial which had been observed\n  nearly eight hundred years before, at the planting of the venerated\n  tree by Mahinda, concludes by saying:\u2014\u2018Thus this monarch of the\n  forest, endowed with miraculous powers, has stood for ages in La\u1e45k\u0101,\n  promoting the spiritual welfare of its inhabitants and the propagation\n  of true religion.\u2019\n\nWhen Buddhism became thoroughly mixed up with Hind\u016bism the Kalpa-tree or\ndivine tree of Indra\u2019s paradise was often introduced. It is supposed to\nhave its terrestrial counterpart in some sacred spots on earth, and\nthere to grant all desires, the worshipper having merely to stretch out\nhis hand and take the gifts suspended from its branches[272]. In one\nsculpture it is represented pouring out coins on the ground. This kind\nof wishing-tree is believed to present, among other things, any food\nthat its worshippers may ask for, and to present it ready-cooked, if\ncooking is needed.\n\nThe miraculous tree which developed out of the Buddha\u2019s tooth-cleaning\ntwig, when thrown by him on the ground, has been already described (see\np. 419, and compare \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 337).\n\n\n                           _Sacred Symbols._\n\nSome of the sacred objects already described may be regarded as symbols.\nOf those which are more strictly symbols the _Tri-ratna_ \u2018three-jewel\u2019\nemblem comes first. It is three-pointed, and the three points are simply\nemblematical of the Buddha, the Law, and the Monastic Order. It is often\nused as an ornament. Good examples may be seen in some of the Bharhut\nsculptures (see Sir A. Cunningham\u2019s work). The central point is often\nthe least elevated.\n\nThe use of this triple symbol is another proof of the connexion between\nBuddhism and Hind\u016bism. Both delight in triads and in symbolizing\ntriads[273], but the Buddhist \u2018three-jewel\u2019 symbol should not be\nconfused with the Hind\u016b Tri-\u1e61\u016bla, which is \u1e60iva\u2019s trident used as a\nweapon in his warfare with the demons. The Tri-ratna is merely the\nanalogue of the Tri-\u1e61\u016bla, as it is also of the triple horizontal mark on\nthe forehead of \u1e60aivas, and of the Tri-pu\u1e47\u1e0dra or triple frontal mark of\nthe Tengalai sect of R\u0101m\u0101nuja Vaish\u1e47avas. The two outer marks of the\nlatter stand for Vish\u1e47u\u2019s two feet and the middle for his consort\nLakshm\u012b[274].\n\nSir A. Cunningham was the first to show that the three fetish-like\nfigures of Jagann\u0101th (K\u1e5bish\u1e47a) and his sister and brother, at Pur\u012b in\nOrissa, were derived from three of the combined emblems of the Buddhist\nTri-ratna (compare p. 166 of this volume).\n\nNext to the Tri-ratna comes the _\u0106akra_ or wheel. This symbolizes the\nBuddhist doctrine that the origin of life and of the universe (p. 119)\nare unknowable\u2014the doctrine of a circle of causes and effects without\nbeginning and without end. The wheel also typifies the rolling of this\ndoctrine over the whole surface of the world (pp. 410, 423). It is\nperhaps one of the most important symbols of Buddhist philosophy. It is\noften represented as either supporting the Tri-ratna or supported by it,\nor the latter may be inserted in it.\n\nObserve that the \u0106akra or wheel is equally a Vaish\u1e47ava symbol, but in\nthe hand of Vish\u1e47u or of K\u1e5bish\u1e47a it is a circular weapon, hurled at a\ndemon-foe.\n\nAnother symbol is the _Lotus-flower_. Its constant use as an emblem,\nseems to result from the wheel-like form of the flower\u2014the petals taking\nthe place of spokes, and thus typifying the doctrine of perpetual cycles\nof existence\u2014or from the perfection typified by the regularity of these\npetals, or from the idea that its expanded flower, reposing on a calm\nmirror-like lake, is a fit emblem of Nirv\u0101\u1e47a.\n\nThe Wheel, the Tri-ratna, and the Lotus are so important, as symbols of\nBuddhism, that they are combined in the vignette on the title-page of\nthis volume.\n\nAnother symbol is the _Svastika_ mark, consisting of two lines crossing\neach other, the termination of each arm of the cross being usually bent\nround in the same direction[275]. Much controversy has been devoted to\nthe origin and meaning of this symbol, which simply symbolizes good\nluck, and equally belongs to Hind\u016bism. Long ago I propounded a theory\nthat it might represent the four arms of Lakshm\u012b. I now think it a mere\ncurtailed form of the Wheel, consisting of four spokes with a portion of\nthe periphery of the circle. In my opinion, the four spokes may\nrepresent the four groups of worlds (i. e. the lower worlds and three\ngroups of heavens, p. 213) circling in an eternal cycle. Sir A.\nCunningham considers this symbol to be a monogram or interlacing of the\nletters of the auspicious words _su asti_ (_svasti_) in the A\u1e61oka\ncharacters.\n\nAnother symbol is the _Throne_ or seat of Buddha\u2014a favourite emblem in\nmany sculptures. In Cunningham\u2019s \u2018St\u016bpa of Bharhut\u2019 the throne of each\nBuddha is often represented under his Bodhi-tree (but without any\nimage), and the thrones of the last four Buddhas are joined together in\na single bas-relief. Sometimes the throne is covered by an umbrella with\ngarlands, or the Buddha\u2019s bowl may rest on it. Sometimes two foot-prints\nare on a foot-stool under the throne.\n\nAnother venerated symbol is the _St\u016bpa_ (see p. 505). It is often an\nobject of adoration in itself.\n\nI need scarcely revert to the _Umbrella_ symbol (see p. 393). In Eastern\ncountries it typifies supremacy. If a king is present no one else ought\nto carry an umbrella.\n\nThe _\u1e60a\u1e45kha_ or _Conch-shell_ is a very auspicious symbol, especially if\nthe convolutions turn to the right in the Nandy-\u0101varta form, as on the\nBuddha\u2019s foot (see p. 513).\n\nThe Tibetan symbol of the \u2018_Flying horse_\u2019 (Lung-ta)\u2014able to transport a\nman round the world in one day\u2014has been mentioned before; also the\n_Norbu_ gem (see pp. 381, 528).\n\n\n                           _Sacred Animals._\n\nIt may be truly said that all animals are more or less venerated\u2014though\nnot actually worshipped\u2014under the Buddhist system. How can it be\notherwise when every Buddhist believes that the Buddha himself was\nincarnated in various animals during the period of his Bodhi-sattvaship\n(see p. 111)?\n\nIn the same way the Hind\u016bs believe that the god Vish\u1e47u was incarnated in\nanimals, such as a fish, a tortoise, and a boar.\n\nBuddhism in this as in other respects is like Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism.\nThe feeling of reverence for animals rests on the doctrine of\nmetempsychosis. It is difficult for either a Hind\u016b or a Buddhist to draw\na line of demarcation between gods, men, and animals, when the same\nliving being may exist as a god, a man, or an animal. It is on this\naccount that in India animals appear to live on terms of the greatest\nfriendship and mutual confidence with human beings.\n\n  Everywhere in India animals dispute possession of the earth with man.\n  Birds build their nests and lay their eggs in the fields, untroubled\n  by fears or misgivings, before the very eyes of every passer-by, and\n  within the reach of every village school-boy. Animals rove over the\n  soil as if they were the landlords. Bulls walk about independently in\n  the streets, and jostle you on the pavements; monkeys domesticate\n  themselves jauntily on the roof of your house; parrots peer\n  inquisitively from the eaves of your bedroom into the mysteries of\n  your toilet; crows make themselves at home on your window-sill, and\n  carry off impudently any portable article of jewellery that takes\n  their fancy on your dressing-table; sparrows hop about impertinently\n  and take the bread off your table-cloth; a solitary mongoose emerges\n  every morning from a hole in your verandah, and expects a share in\n  your breakfast; swarms of insects claim a portion of your mid-day\n  meal, and levy a tax on the choicest delicacies at your dinner table;\n  bats career triumphantly about your head as you light yourself to your\n  bedroom; and at certain seasons snakes domicile themselves\n  unpleasantly in the folds of your cast-off garments. (Quoted from my\n  \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism.\u2019)\n\nPerhaps the most sacred animal in the estimation of all Buddhists is the\nelephant. This will be easily understood by recalling what has been said\nin a previous Lecture (see pp. 23, 24). In one of the Bharhut sculptures\nthe white elephant is seen descending to enter the side of Gautama\u2019s\nmother M\u0101y\u0101 (\u2018St\u016bpa of Bharhut,\u2019 p. 84). The elephant, says Sir A.\nCunningham, is a favourite subject for delineation. It is represented in\nalmost every possible position, as standing, walking, running, sitting\ndown, eating, drinking, throwing water over its own back, and lastly,\nkneeling down in reverence before the holy Bodhi-tree.\n\nProbably the next sacred animal to the elephant is the deer. The Buddha\nwas born eleven times as a deer (p. 111), and he delivered his first\nsermon in a deer-park (p. 42). The \u2018goose\u2019 (Ha\u1e49sa, sometimes called \u2018a\nduck\u2019 or \u2018a swan\u2019) is also very sacred. With regard to other animals,\nSir A. Cunningham remarks:\u2014\n\n  The animals represented in the Bharhut sculptures are of two classes,\n  the natural and the fabulous. The latter, however, are limited to\n  three varieties, an elephant with a fish-tail, a crocodile with a\n  fish-tail, and a winged horse; while the former comprises no less than\n  fourteen quadrupeds, six birds, one snake, one fish, one insect, one\n  crocodile, two tortoises, one lizard, and one frog. The quadrupeds\n  include the lion, elephant, horse, rhinoceros, wild boar, bull, deer,\n  wolf, monkey, cat, dog, sheep, hare, and squirrel. The birds comprise\n  the cock, parrot, peacock, goose, wild duck, and quail. The snakes and\n  fishes appear to be of only one kind. The solitary insect is a\n  flesh-fly (p. 41, etc.).\n\nIn Burma people feed sacred fish, and save their lives in seasons when\nthey would perish through the drying up of rivers and ponds (see p.\n364).\n\nDr. Eitel, in his Lectures (p. 136), points out that even pigs are held\nsacred, though not worshipped, by Northern Buddhists. We must not forget\nthat the Buddha in two of his births was a pig (p. 112), that he died of\neating pork, and that in sculptures of the T\u0101ntrik goddess\nVajra-v\u0101r\u0101h\u012b\u2014adopted by Northern Buddhists\u2014a row of seven pigs is carved\nunderneath her three-headed figure, one head being that of a pig.\n\n\n                        _Miscellaneous Objects._\n\nAmong these may be reckoned _bells_ of various kinds. The prayer-bells\ncommon in Tibet, which are held in the hand and used during the chanting\nof prayers, have been already described (p. 323).\n\nIn Burma bells abound everywhere. They are of all sizes, and often of\nimmense weight, but are not used in the same way as in Tibet. Nor are\nthey ever rung in peals or with a clapper. Their use is not to call\npeople to religious services. It is no part of the business of monks or\npriests to summon the laity to any service. Every man worships on his\nown account, and for himself, and by himself, and no so-called priest\nreminds him of his religious duties, or is responsible if he neglects\nthem.\n\nThe real use of bells in Burmese temples is to draw the attention of the\ndeities and spirits (Naths) to the act of worship, and so secure the due\nregistering of prayer-merit. When a man has finished his repetitions, he\nstrikes the bell with a piece of wood or other sacred implement lying\nnear, and the more noise he makes the better. Mr. Scott informs us that\nevery large pagoda has dozens of bells of all sizes, hanging outside,\nand one or two inside the central shrine. They are constantly dedicated\nby religious people, and thus multiplied _ad infinitum_.\n\nThe form of dedication is inscribed on every bell, and is in the P\u0101li\nlanguage, though instances of the vernacular occur.\n\nThe following is a portion of a remarkable inscription in the vernacular\n(Shway Yoe, i. 243, abridged):\u2014\n\n  This bell was moulded with great care and much expense, and is humbly\n  offered by Moung San Yah and his wife, who seek refuge in the\n  boundless mercy of the pitiful Buddha, in the majesty of the eternal\n  law, and in the examples of the venerable assembly. They humbly strive\n  to gain merit for themselves. May the good Naths look smilingly on\n  them. May the Naths who dwell in the air and the earth defend their\n  two fat bullocks\u2014which plough the fields\u2014from evil creatures. May the\n  guardian Naths of the house and of the city keep Chit Oo, their son,\n  and little Mah Mee, their darling daughter, from harm.\n\nThe weight of the bell is generally added to the dedication.\n\nThere is a fine Burmese bell in the Indian section of the South\nKensington Museum. It has a long P\u0101li inscription, a portion of the\ntranslation of which I here give:\u2014\n\n  \u2018Without charity you cannot attain to Nirv\u0101\u1e47a\u2019\u2014so it is written in the\n  P\u0101li Texts.\n\n  I, the giver of this bell, was staying in the sweet-smelling town of\n  Ma-oo\u2014of which I collect the taxes for the king\u2014and with me was my\n  wife\u2014my life\u2019s breath\u2014like to the pollen of a lily, from whom I will\n  not be separated in all the existences which are to come, and out of\n  which we hope soon to escape. We adore Buddha, that we may embark in\n  the golden raft of the Noble Path, which will lead us to the final\n  plunge into Nirv\u0101\u1e47a. We two, brother and sister (that is, husband and\n  wife), have given this bell as an offering. The exact weight of the\n  bell is 2500 kyats. We took our own weight in gold and silver and\n  bright copper and other metal, and mixed them well together, in the\n  year 1209 (1847 A.D.).\n\n  Now I will record all the alms I gave and what I erected within the\n  sacred enclosure. I gave a sacred flag-staff (see p. 380 of these\n  Lectures), the price of which, with all expenses in putting up, was\n  500 rupees. At the foot of it I built four small pagodas. Outside I\n  built a monastery and a rest-house. Such are all the offerings. May I\n  be freed from the Four states of Punishment, from the Three Great\n  Calamities (war, famine, and plague), from the Eight Evil Places, from\n  the Five Enemies, from unfortunate times and seasons, and from bad\n  people. May I escape all these when I die.\n\n  All the merits I have gained, may they be shared with my parents,\n  teachers, and all my relations; with kings, queens, nobles, and all\n  people in the thirty-one places of habitation throughout the universe.\n  (See p. 121 of these Lectures.)\n\nUnder the head of miscellaneous objects, we may note the seven precious\nminerals or substances to which allusion has frequently been made. They\nare gold, silver, pearl, sapphire or ruby, cat\u2019s eye, diamond, and coral\n(Childers); but they vary, and some authorities substitute lapis lazuli\nfor pearl. In Hind\u016bism there are nine precious substances (nava-ratna).\n\nWe may also enumerate here the seven treasures belonging to every\nuniversal monarch. These are:\u20141. a wheel which, being set in motion by\nthe monarch, rolls before him to establish the Law in his dominions; 2.\nan elephant; 3. a flying horse (see p. 523); 4. a jewel which on the\ndarkest night illuminates the earth for seven miles round (p. 381); 5. a\ngood queen or wife; 6. a good minister or servant, who has the power of\ndiscovering hidden treasures; 7. a good general (compare Alabaster\u2019s\n\u2018Wheel of the Law,\u2019 p. 81).\n\n\n\n\n_Supplementary Remarks on the Connexion of Buddhism with Jainism[276]._\n\n\nHaving during the progress of the foregoing Lectures, incidentally\nmentioned the subject of Jainism, I ought not to conclude them without\nexplaining some of the chief points of difference between the system of\nthe Jainas (conveniently contracted into Jains) and that of the\nBuddhists. The Jains in India, according to their own reckoning, number\n1,222,000; but this is incorrect, for by the last Census they only\nnumber half a million. A great authority (Sir William Wilson Hunter)\nconfirms this. (See his \u2018Gazetteer\u2019 and \u2018Indian Empire.\u2019)\n\nMost scholars in the present day are of opinion that the Jaina Teacher\nVardham\u0101na Mah\u0101-v\u012bra (N\u0101taputta) and Gautama Buddha were contemporaries,\nand that Jains were an independent sceptical sect, probably a little\nantecedent to the Buddhists, and were their rivals. At any rate it seems\ncertain that the Niga\u1e47\u1e6dhas[277] or Dig-ambara Jains, that is, a sect of\nnaked ascetics, existed before the Buddha\u2019s time, and that the Tripi\u1e6daka\nalludes to them.\n\nProbably Vardham\u0101na Mah\u0101-v\u012bra (usually called Mah\u0101-v\u012bra) was merely a\nreformer of a system previously founded by a teacher named P\u0101r\u1e61va-n\u0101tha.\nNot much is known of the latter, though he is greatly honoured by the\nJains. His images are \u2018serpent-canopied\u2019 like those of Buddha (p. 480).\nHis pupils are called P\u0101s\u0101va\u0107\u0107ijja (for P\u0101r\u1e61v\u0101paty\u012bya, \u2018belonging to the\ndescendants of P\u0101r\u1e61va\u2019). They were only bound by four vows, whereas\nMah\u0101-v\u012bra\u2019s teaching imposed five vows.\n\nWe have seen that Gautama Buddha, in the fifth century B.C., came to the\nconclusion that bodily austerities were useless as a means of obtaining\nliberation. His main idea seems to have been that liberation from the\npainful cycle of continued re-births, that is, from Sa\u1e43s\u0101ra, was to be\nobtained by means of knowledge (Bodhi), evolved out of the inner\nconsciousness through meditation (dhy\u0101na) and intuition; whereas, in\ncontradistinction to this Buddhist idea, the main idea of the Jain\nteacher Mah\u0101-v\u012bra seems to have been that liberation was to be obtained\nthrough subjugation of the passions and through mortification of the\nbody (tapas). The term Jina, \u2018conqueror,\u2019 is used in both systems, but\nGautama Buddha was a Jina or conqueror through profound abstract\nmeditation, whereas Mah\u0101-v\u012bra was a Jina through severe bodily\nausterity.\n\nIn fact, the Jains, like all other ascetics, were impressed with the\nidea that it was necessary to maintain a defensive warfare against the\nassault of evil passions, by keeping under the body and subduing it.\nThey had also a notion that a sense of shame implied sin, so that if\nthere were no sin in the world there would be no shame. Hence they\nargued rather illogically that to get rid of clothes was to get rid of\nsin; and every ascetic who aimed at sinlessness was enjoined to walk\nabout naked, with the air or sky (Dig) as his sole covering\n(Dig-ambara).\n\nIn the Kalpa-s\u016btra of the Jains we read that Mah\u0101-v\u012bra himself began his\ncareer by wearing clothes for one year and one month, and after that he\nwalked about naked. Now Gautama Buddha was an opponent of Jain\nasceticism, and it seems to me probable that one of the chief points on\nwhich he laid stress was that of decent clothing. In the Dhamma-pada\n(141) occurs the sentiment that \u2018Nakedness cannot purify a mortal who\nhas not overcome desires.\u2019 And again, in the Sekhiy\u0101 Dhamm\u0101 we have\n\u2018properly clad\u2019 \u2018must a monk itinerate.\u2019 (See p. 473 of these Lectures.)\n\nIt is recorded in the Vinaya (Mah\u0101-vagga I. 6. 7-9) that Upaka, a man of\nthe \u0100j\u012bvaka sect of naked ascetics, founded by Gos\u0101la (said to have been\na pupil of Mah\u0101-v\u012bra), met the Buddha just after his enlightenment, and\nnoticing his bright countenance, asked him who had been his teacher? He\nreplied, \u2018Having gained all knowledge, I am myself the highest teacher.\u2019\nThereupon the naked ascetic shook his head and went another road.\n\nClearly these naked Niga\u1e47\u1e6dhas, disciples of the Jain Teacher Mah\u0101-v\u012bra,\nwere no friends of the Buddha. It seems to me even possible that\nGautama\u2019s great rival, Deva-datta (see pp. 405, 406), may have belonged\nto a Dig-ambara sect who opposed the Buddha on questions of stricter\nasceticism, especially in the matter of clothing; for in ancient\nsculptures Deva-datta is generally represented naked or nearly so, and\nis usually in close proximity to his cousin Gautama Buddha, who, in\nmarked contrast to the other, is always clothed. Evidently the question\nof dress was a crucial one, and in process of time a party seems to have\narisen, even among the Dig-ambara Jains, opposed to strict asceticism in\nthis particular.\n\nThis party ultimately formed themselves into a separate sect, calling\nthemselves \u1e60vet\u0101mbaras, that is, \u2018clothed in white garments.\u2019 It is well\nknown that in early Buddhism two similar parties arose, the strict and\nthe lax. But the two Buddhist parties were ultimately reunited. The\nsecond council is supposed to have settled the controversy.\n\nDr. Jacobi has shown that the separation of the two Jain sects must have\ntaken place (according to the traditions of both parties) some time\nbefore the first century of our era.\n\nIt appears probable that the strict Dig-ambaras preceded the more lax\n\u1e60vet\u0101mbaras, though each sect claims to be the oldest. The two Jain\nsects have remained separate to the present day, though in all essential\npoints of doctrine and discipline they agree.\n\nWhen I was last in India, in 1884, I ascended the two hills, P\u0101rasn\u0101th\n(for P\u0101r\u1e61va-n\u0101th) and \u0100b\u016b\u2014both of them most sacred places in the\nestimation of the Jains, and covered with their temples. My ascent of\nthe former has been already described (p. 509). I also visited Delhi,\nJaypur, \u0100jmere, and some other chief Jain stations. Jaypur is the\nstronghold of the Dig-ambara Jains, and two intelligent Dig-ambara\nPa\u1e47\u1e0dits, named Pha\u1e6de L\u0101l and Syoj\u012b L\u0101l, visited me there. We conversed\nfor a long time in Sansk\u1e5bit, and I asked them many questions about their\nreligion, and the points in which they differed from the \u1e60vet\u0101mbara\nsect.\n\nThree chief differences were stated to be: First, the \u1e60vet\u0101mbaras object\nto entirely nude images of any of the twenty-four Jinas or T\u012brtha\u1e43-karas\naccepted by both sects. Hence all \u1e60vet\u0101mbara statues ought to have some\nappearance of a line round the middle of the body, representing a strip\nof cloth. In one respect the images of the Jinas differ from those of\nthe Buddhas. They have a jewel-like mark on the breast. This is\nespecially conspicuous in P\u0101r\u1e61va-n\u0101th. They are also of different\ncolours, and have symbols (generally animals, such as a deer, tortoise,\npig) connected with them.\n\nSecondly, the \u1e60vet\u0101mbaras admit women into their order of ascetics just\nas Buddhists have their Bhikkhun\u012bs, or nuns; whereas the Dig-ambaras,\nfor obvious reasons, do not admit women.\n\nThirdly, the \u1e60vet\u0101mbaras have distinct sacred books of their own, which\nthey call A\u1e45gas, \u2018limbs of the Law,\u2019 eleven in number, besides others,\nmaking 45 \u0100gamas, 11 A\u1e45gas, 12 Up\u0101\u1e45gas, 10 P\u0101innas (Prak\u012br\u1e47aka), 4\nM\u016blas, 6 \u0106hedas, 1 Anuyoga-dv\u0101ra, and 1 Nandi. Dr. B\u00fchler places the\ncomposition of the A\u1e45gas in the third century B.C. Dr. Jacobi places\nthem at the end of the fourth or beginning of the third century. They\nare written in Jain Pr\u0101k\u1e5bit (sometimes called Ardha-M\u0101gadh\u012b, a later\nform than P\u0101li), with Sansk\u1e5bit commentaries. The Dig-ambaras substitute,\nfor the A\u1e45gas, later works, also written in more modern Pr\u0101k\u1e5bit\n(probably in the fifth or sixth century after Christ), and maintain that\nthe \u1e60vet\u0101mbara Canon is spurious. Both sects have valuable Sansk\u1e5bit\nworks in their sacred literature.\n\nI now add a few characteristics of both sects of Jains as distinguishing\nthem from Buddhists.\n\nI need scarcely notice the fact that the Jains of the present day keep\nup Caste. The two Jain Pa\u1e47\u1e0dits who came to me at Jaypur were Br\u0101hmans,\nand wore the Br\u0101hmanical thread. I believe this to be a mere modern\ninnovation, which does not properly belong to the Jain system.\n\nMore important are the following points:\u2014The Jain saints, or prophets,\nare called by a peculiar name T\u012brtha\u1e43-kara, \u2018ford-makers,\u2019 i. e. making\na ford across the troubled river of constant births or transmigrations\n(Sa\u1e43s\u0101ra) to the Elysium of Nirv\u0101\u1e47a; whereas the name T\u012brtha\u1e43-kara with\nthe Buddhists means a \u2018heretical teacher.\u2019 Then there are twenty-four\nJain T\u012brtha\u1e43-karas, whereas there are twenty-five Buddhas. Of the\ntwenty-four Jain saints, the twenty-third and twenty-fourth\u2014P\u0101r\u1e61va-n\u0101th\n(pp. 509, 529) and Mah\u0101-v\u012bra\u2014are the only historical personages. The\nothers, beginning with \u1e5aishabha, are mythical.\n\nNext, the Jains have no St\u016bpas or D\u0101gabas (p. 504) for preserving the\nrelics of their saints.\n\nStill more important is the point that the Jains believe in separate\nindividual souls (J\u012bva), whereas the Buddhists deny the existence of\nsouls. Souls, according to the Jains, may exist in stocks, stones, lumps\nof earth, drops of water, particles of fire. In Buddhism there is, as we\nhave seen, no true metempsychosis, but rather a connected series of\nmetamorphoses, and this stops at animals; whereas the metempsychosis of\nJainism extends to inorganic matter.\n\nWith regard to the moral code two or three points may be noticed. The\nJaina \u2018three jewels\u2019 are Right-belief, Right-knowledge, and\nRight-conduct, whereas the Buddhist Tri-ratna consists in the well-known\nTriad\u2014the Buddha, the Law, and the Monkhood.\n\nThen as to the five chief Moral Prohibitions\u2014the fifth with Jains is:\n\u2018have no worldly attachments;\u2019 whereas with Buddhists it is: \u2018drink no\nstrong drink.\u2019 I believe the Buddhists to have been the first to\nintroduce total abstinence from strong drinks into India. The Jains,\ntoo, lay even more stress than the Buddhists on the first\nprohibition:\u2014Kill no living creature. They strain water before drinking,\nsweep the ground with a silken brush before sitting down on it, never\neat in the dark, often wear muslin before their mouths to catch minute\ninsects, and even object to eating fruits containing seed.\n\nAnother interesting difference is that Jainism makes Dharma and Adharma,\ngood and evil, or rather merit and demerit, two out of its six real\nsubstances\u2014its fundamental and eternal principles (Astik\u0101ya)\u2014the other\nfour being matter (pudgala), soul (j\u012bva), space and time. The Jains\nreject the Buddhist theory of the five Skandhas (see p. 109).\n\nLastly, the prayer-formula of the Jains differs from the well-known\n\u2018three-refuge\u2019 formula of the Buddhists (\u2018I go for refuge to the Buddha,\nthe Law, and the order of Monks\u2019) thus: \u2018Reverence to the Arhats, to the\nSiddhas, to the A\u0107\u0101ryas, to the Up\u0101dhy\u0101yas, to all the S\u0101dhus\u2019 (Namo\nArihant\u0101\u1e47a\u1e43 namo Siddh\u0101\u1e47a\u1e43 namo Ayariy\u0101\u1e47a\u1e43 namo Uvajjh\u0101y\u0101\u1e47a\u1e43 namo loe\nsabba-s\u0101h\u016b\u1e47a\u1e43).\n\nTime will not permit me to notice minor differences, such as the Jain\nrule that the hair should be painfully torn off, instead of cut off,\netc.\n\nCertainly Jainism, when viewed from the stand-point of Christianity, is\neven a colder system than Buddhism, and has even less claim to be called\na religion. Yet no system can show a greater number of temples. Every\nJain who is noted for his piety builds a small temple. He never repairs\nthe temples of others. At P\u0101lit\u0101na in K\u0101thi\u0101w\u0101r, there is a whole city\nof Jain temples. Nor is it at all necessary that every temple built to\nhold a Jain saint should possess either priests or worshippers. What is\naimed at is the acquisition of merit by the performance of pious acts.\n\nI must conclude by expressing my opinion that Indian Jainism is\ngradually drifting back into the current of Br\u0101hmanism, which everywhere\nsurrounds it and attracts it. Jainism, like Buddhism, came out from\nBr\u0101hmanism, and into Br\u0101hmanism it is destined to return.\n\n\n\n\n                             LECTURE XVIII.\n                _Buddhism contrasted with Christianity._\n\n\nIn the previous Lectures I have incidentally contrasted the principal\ndoctrines of Buddhism with those of Christianity.\n\nIt will be my aim in this concluding Lecture to draw attention more\ndirectly and more in detail to the main points of divergence between two\nsystems, which in their moral teaching have so many points of contact,\nthat a superficial study of either is apt to lead to very confused ideas\nin regard to their comparative excellence and their resemblance to each\nother.\n\nAnd first of all I must remind those who heard my earlier Lectures of\nthe grand fundamental distinction which they were intended to\nestablish\u2014namely, that Christianity is a religion, whereas Buddhism, at\nleast in its earliest and truest form, is no religion at all, but a mere\nsystem of morality and philosophy founded on a pessimistic theory of\nlife.\n\nHere, however, it may be objected that, before we exclude Buddhism from\nall title to be called a religion, we ought to define what we mean by\nthe term \u2018religion.\u2019\n\nOf course, it will be generally acknowledged that mere morality need not\nimply religion, though\u2014taking the converse\u2014it is most undeniably true\nthat religion must of necessity imply morality.\n\nUnquestionably there have been great philosophers in ancient times who\nhave lived strictly moral lives without acknowledging any religious\ncreed at all. Many excellent men, too, exist among us in the present\nday, who resent being called irreligious, and yet hold no definite\nreligious doctrines, and decline to accept any system which commits them\nto absolute belief in anything except an eternal Energy or Force.\n\nClearly the definition of the word \u2018religion\u2019 is beset with\ndifficulties, and its etymology is too uncertain to help us in\nexplaining it[278]. We shall, however, be justified if we affirm that\nevery system claiming to be a religion in the proper sense of the word\nmust postulate the eternal existence of one living and true God of\ninfinite power, wisdom, and love, the Creator, Designer, and Preserver\nof all things visible and invisible.\n\nIt must also take for granted the immortality of man\u2019s soul or spirit,\nand the reality of a future state and of an unseen world. It must also\npostulate in man an innate sense of dependence on a personal God\u2014a sense\nof reverence and love for Him, springing from a belief in His justice,\nholiness, wisdom, power, and love, and intensified by a deep\nconsciousness of weakness, and a yearning to be delivered from the\npresence, tyranny, and penalty of sin.\n\nThen, starting from these assumptions, it must satisfy four requisites.\n\nFirst, it must reveal the Creator in His nature and attributes to His\ncreature, man.\n\nSecondly, it must reveal man to himself. It must impart to him a\nknowledge of his own nature and history\u2014what he is; why he was created;\nwhither he is tending; and whether he is at present in a state of\ndecadence downwards from a higher condition, or of development upwards\nfrom a lower.\n\nThirdly, it must reveal some method by which the finite creature may\ncommunicate with the infinite Creator\u2014some plan by which he may gain\naccess to Him and become united with Him, and be saved by Him from the\nconsequences of his own sinful acts.\n\nFourthly, such a system must prove its title to be called a religion by\nits regenerating effect on man\u2019s nature; by its influence on his\nthoughts, desires, passions, and feelings; by its power of subduing all\nhis evil tendencies; by its ability to transform his character and\nassimilate him to the God it reveals.\n\nIt is clear, then, that tried by such a criterion as this, early\nBuddhism could not claim to be a religion. It failed to satisfy these\nconditions. It refused to admit the existence of a personal Creator, or\nof man\u2019s dependence on a higher Power. It denied any eternal soul or Ego\nin man. It acknowledged no external, supernatural revelation. It had no\npriesthood\u2014no real clergy; no real prayer; no real worship. It had no\ntrue idea of sin, or of the need of pardon (p. 124), and it condemned\nman to suffer the consequences of his own sinful acts without hope of\nhelp from any Saviour or Redeemer, and indeed from any being but\nhimself.\n\nThe late Bishop of Calcutta once said to me, that being in an outlying\npart of his diocese, where Buddhism prevailed, he asked an apparently\npious Buddhist, whom he happened to observe praying in a temple, what he\nhad just been praying for? He replied, \u2018I have been praying for\nnothing.\u2019 \u2018But,\u2019 urged the Bishop, \u2018to whom have you been praying?\u2019 The\nman answered, \u2018I have been praying to nobody.\u2019 \u2018What!\u2019 said the\nastonished Bishop, \u2018praying for nothing to nobody?\u2019 And no doubt this\nanecdote gives an accurate idea of the so-called prayer of a true\nBuddhist. This man had not really been praying for anything. He had been\nmerely making use of some form of words to which an efficacy, like that\nof sowing fruitful seed in a field, was supposed to belong. He had not\nbeen praying in any Christian sense.\n\nHere, however, an objector might remind me that according to my own\nshowing, various developments of Buddhism modified and even contradicted\nthe original creed, and that what has been here said about prayer, is\nonly strictly applicable to early Buddhism as originally taught in the\nmost ancient texts.\n\nI grant this\u2014I grant that expressions of reverence for the Buddha, the\nLaw, and the Monkhood, developed into expressions of wants and needs,\nand that these expressions, gradually led on to the offering of actual\nprayers to deified Buddhas and Bodhi-sattvas.\n\nI admit that we ought to judge of Buddhism as a whole. We ought to give\nfull consideration to its later developments, and the gradual sliding of\nits atheism and agnosticism into theism and polytheism. We are bound to\nacknowledge that Buddhism, as it extended to other countries, _did_\nacquire the character of a theistic religious system, which, though\nfalse, had in it some points of contact with Christianity.\n\nNevertheless, admitting all this, and taking into account all that can\nbe said in favour of Buddhism as a religious system, it will be easy to\nshow how impossible it is to bridge over the yawning chasm which\nseparates it from the true religion.\n\nIt is, indeed, one of the strange phenomena of the present day, that\neven educated people who call themselves Christians, are apt to fall\ninto raptures over the precepts of Buddhism[279], attracted by the\nbright gems which its admirers delight in culling out of its moral code,\nand in displaying ostentatiously, while keeping out of sight all its\ndark spots, all its trivialities and senseless repetitions[280]; not to\nspeak of all those evidences of deep corruption beneath a whited\nsurface, all those significant precepts and prohibitions in its books of\ndiscipline, which indeed no Christian could soil his lips by\nuttering[281].\n\nIt has even been asserted that much of the teaching in the Sermon on the\nMount, and in other parts of the Gospel narratives, is based on\npreviously current moral teaching, which Buddhism was the first to\nintroduce to the world, 500 years before Christ[282]. But this is not\nall. The admirers of Buddhism maintain that the Buddha was not a mere\nteacher of the truths of morality, but of many other sublime truths. He\nhas been justly called, say they, \u2018the Light of Asia,\u2019 though they\ncondescendingly admit that Christianity as a later development is more\nadapted to become the religion of the world.\n\nLet us then inquire, for a moment, what claim Gautama Buddha has to this\ntitle\u2014\u2018the Light of Asia?\u2019\n\nNow, in the first place those who give him this name forget that his\ndoctrines only spread over Eastern Asia, and that either Confucius, or\nZoroaster, or Muhammad might equally be called \u2018the Light of Asia.\u2019\n\nBut was the Buddha, in any true sense, a Light to any part of the world?\n\nIt is certainly true that the main idea implied by Buddhism is\nintellectual enlightenment. Buddhism, before all things, means\nenlightenment of mind, resulting from intense self-concentration and\nintrospection, from intense abstract meditation, combined with the\nexercise of a man\u2019s own reasoning faculties and intuitions.\n\nOf what nature, then, was the so-called Light of Knowledge that radiated\nfrom the Buddha? Was it the knowledge of his own utter weakness, of his\noriginal depravity of heart, or of the origin of sin? No; the Buddha\u2019s\nlight was in these respects profound darkness. He confessed himself, in\nregard to such momentous questions, a downright Agnostic. The primary\norigin of evil\u2014the first evil act\u2014was to him an inexplicable mystery.\n\nWas it, then, a knowledge of the goodness, justice, holiness, and\nomnipotence of a personal Creator? Was it a knowledge of the Fatherhood\nof God? No; the Buddha\u2019s light was in these respects also mere and sheer\ndarkness. In these respects, too, he acknowledged himself a thorough\nAgnostic. He admitted that he knew of no being higher than himself.\n\nWhat, then, was the light that broke upon the Buddha? What was this\nenlightenment which has been so much written about and extolled? All\nthat he claimed to have discovered was the origin of suffering and the\nremedy of suffering. All the light of knowledge to which he attained\ncame to this:\u2014that suffering arises from indulging desires, especially\nthe desire for continuity of life; that suffering is inseparable from\nlife; that all life is suffering; and that suffering is to be got rid of\nby the suppression of desires, and by the extinction of personal\nexistence.\n\nHere, then, is the first great contrast. When the Buddha said to his\nconverts, \u2018Come (ehi), be my disciple,\u2019 he bade them expect to get rid\nof suffering, he told them to stamp out suffering by stamping out\ndesires (see pp. 43, 44). When the Christ said to His disciples, \u2018Come,\nfollow Me,\u2019 He bade them expect suffering. He told them to glory in\ntheir sufferings\u2014nay, to expect the perfection of their characters\nthrough suffering.\n\nIt is certainly noteworthy that both Christianity and Buddhism agree in\nasserting that all creation groaneth and travaileth in pain, in\nsuffering, in tribulation. But mark the vast, the vital distinction in\nthe teaching of each. The one taught men to be patient under affliction,\nand to aim at the glorification of the suffering body, the other taught\nmen to be intolerant of affliction, and to aim at the utter annihilation\nof the suffering body.\n\nWhat says our Bible? We Christians, it says, are members of Christ\u2019s\nBody\u2014of His flesh and of His bones\u2014of that Divine Body which was once a\nsuffering Body, a cross-bearing Body, and is now a glorified Body, an\never-living, life-giving Body. Hence it teaches us to honour and revere\nthe human body; nay, almost to deify the human body.\n\nA Buddhist, on the other hand, treats every kind of body with contempt,\nand repudiates as a simple impossibility, all idea of being a member of\nthe Buddha\u2019s body. How could a Buddhist be a member of a body which was\nburnt to ashes\u2014which was calcined,\u2014which became extinct at the moment\nwhen the Buddha\u2019s whole personality became extinguished also?\n\nBut, say the admirers of Buddhism, at least you will admit that the\nBuddha told men to avoid sin, and to aim at purity and holiness of life?\nNothing of the kind. The Buddha had no idea of sin as an offence against\nGod, no idea of true holiness (see p. 124). What he said was\u2014Get rid of\nthe demerit of evil actions and accumulate a stock of merit by good\nactions.\n\nAnd let me remark here that this determination to store up merit\u2014like\ncapital at a bank\u2014is one of those inveterate propensities of human\nnature, one of those irrepressible and deep-seated tendencies in\nhumanity which nothing but the divine force imparted by Christianity can\never eradicate. It is for ever cropping up in the heart of man, as much\nin the West as in the East, as much in the North as in the South; for\never re-asserting itself like a pestilent weed, or like tares amidst the\nwheat, for ever blighting the fruit of those good instincts which\nunderlie man\u2019s nature everywhere.\n\nOnly the other day I met an intelligent Sikh from the Panj\u0101b, and asked\nhim about his religion. He replied, \u2018I am no idolater; I believe in One\nGod, and I repeat my prayers, called \u201cJap-jee,\u201d every morning and\nevening. These prayers occupy six pages of print, but I can get through\nthem in little more than ten minutes.\u2019 He seemed to pride himself on\nthis rapid recitation as a work of increased merit.\n\nI said, \u2018What else does your religion require of you?\u2019 He replied, \u2018I\nhave made one pilgrimage to a holy well near Amritsar. Eighty-five steps\nlead down to it. I descended and bathed in the sacred pool. Then I\nascended one step and repeated my Jap-jee with great rapidity. Then I\ndescended again to the pool and bathed again, and ascended to the second\nstep and repeated my prayers a second time. Then I descended a third\ntime, and ascended to the third step and repeated my Jap-jee a third\ntime, and so on for the whole eighty-five steps, eighty-five bathings\nand eighty-five repetitions of the same prayers. It took me exactly\nfourteen hours, from 5 p.m. one evening to 7 a.m. next morning, and I\nfasted all the time.\u2019\n\nI asked, \u2018What good did you expect to get by going through this task?\u2019\nHe replied, \u2018I hope I have laid up an abundant store of merit, which\nwill last me for a long time.\u2019\n\nThis, let me tell you, is a genuine Hind\u016b notion. It is of the very\nessence of Br\u0101hmanism, of Hind\u016bism, of Zoroastrianism, of Confucianism,\nof Muhammadanism. It is even more of the essence of Buddhism. For, of\nall systems, Buddhism is the one which lays most stress on the\naccumulation of merit by good actions, as the sole counterpoise to the\nmighty force generated by the accumulation of demerit through evil\nactions in present and previous forms of life. Nor did the Buddha ever\nclaim to be a deliverer from guilt, a purger from the taint of past\npollution. He never pretended to set any one free from the penalty,\npower, and presence of sin\u2014from the bondage of sinful acts and besetting\nvices. He never professed to furnish any cure for the leprosy of man\u2019s\ncorrupt nature\u2014any medicine for a dying sinner[283]. On the contrary, by\nhis doctrine of Karma he bound a man hand and foot to the inevitable\nconsequences of his own evil actions with chains of adamant. He said, in\neffect, to every one of his disciples, \u2018You are in slavery to a tyrant\nof your own setting up; your own deeds, words, and thoughts in your\npresent and former states of being, are your own avengers through a\ncountless series of existences.\n\n  \u201cYour acts your angels are for good or ill,\n  Your fatal shadows that walk by you still.\u201d\n\n\u2018If you have been a murderer, a thief, a liar, impure, a drunkard, you\nmust pay the penalty in your next birth\u2014perhaps as a sufferer in one of\nthe hells[284], perhaps in the body of a wild beast, perhaps in that of\nsome unclean animal or loathsome vermin, perhaps as a demon or evil\nspirit. Yes, your doom is sealed. Not in the heavens, O man, not in the\nmidst of the sea, not if thou hidest thyself in the clefts of the\nmountains, wilt thou find a place where thou canst escape the force of\nthine own evil actions[285]. Thy only hope of salvation is in thyself.\nNeither god nor man can save thee, and I am wholly powerless to set thee\nfree.\u2019\n\nAnd now, contrast the few brief words of Christ in his first recorded\nsermon[286]. \u2018The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath\nanointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He hath sent Me to\nproclaim liberty to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind,\nand the opening of the prison to them that are bound.\u2019\n\nYes, in Christ alone there is deliverance from the bondage of former\ntransgressions, from the prison-house of former sins; a total cancelling\nof the past; a complete blotting-out of the handwriting that is against\nus; an entire washing away of every guilty stain; the opening of a clear\ncourse for every man to start afresh; the free gift of pardon and of\nlife to every criminal, to every sinner\u2014even the most heinous and\ninveterate.\n\nStill, I seem to hear some admirers of Buddhism say: We admit the force\nof these contrasts, but surely you will allow that in the moral law of\nBuddha we find precepts identically the same as those of\nChristianity\u2014precepts which tell a man not to love the world, not to\nlove money, not to hate his enemies, not to do unrighteous acts, not to\ncommit impurities, to overcome evil by good, and to do to others as we\nwould be done by?\n\nWell, I admit all this. Nay, I admit even more than this; for many\nBuddhist precepts command total abstinence in cases where Christianity\ndemands only temperance and moderation. The great contrast, as I have\nalready explained, between the moral precepts of Buddhism and\nChristianity, is not so much in the letter of the precepts, as in the\npower brought to bear in their application.\n\nBuddhism, I repeat, says: Act righteously through your own efforts, and\nfor the final getting rid of all suffering, of all individuality, of all\nlife in yourselves. Christianity says: Be righteous through a power\nimplanted in you from above, through the power of a life-giving\nprinciple, freely given to you, and always abiding in you. The Buddha\nsaid to his followers: \u2018Take nothing from me, trust to yourselves\nalone.\u2019 Christ said: \u2018Take all from Me; trust not to yourselves. I give\nunto you eternal life, I give unto you the bread of heaven, I give unto\nyou living water.\u2019 Not that these priceless gifts involve any passive\ncondition of inaction. On the contrary, they stir the soul of the\nrecipient with a living energy. They stimulate him to noble deeds, and\nself-sacrificing efforts. They compel him to act as the worthy,\ngrateful, and appreciative possessor of so inestimable a treasure.\n\nStill, I seem to hear some one say: We acknowledge this; we admit the\ntruth of what you have stated; nevertheless, for all that, you must\nallow that Buddhism conferred a great benefit on India by encouraging\nfreedom of thought and by setting at liberty its teeming population,\nbefore entangled in the meshes of ceremonial observances and Brahmanical\npriestcraft.\n\nYes, I grant this; nay, I grant even more than this. I admit that\nBuddhism conferred many other benefits on the millions inhabiting the\nmost populous part of Asia. It introduced education and culture; it\nencouraged literature and art; it promoted physical, moral, and\nintellectual progress up to a certain point; it proclaimed peace, good\nwill, and brotherhood among men; it deprecated war between nation and\nnation; it avowed sympathy with social liberty and freedom; it gave back\nmuch independence to women; it preached purity in thought, word, and\ndeed (though only for the accumulation of merit); it taught self-denial\nwithout self-torture; it inculcated generosity, charity, tolerance,\nlove, self-sacrifice, and benevolence, even towards the inferior\nanimals; it advocated respect for life and compassion towards all\ncreatures; it forbade avarice and the hoarding of money; and from its\ndeclaration that a man\u2019s future depended on his present acts and\ncondition, it did good service for a time in preventing stagnation,\nstimulating exertion, promoting good works of all kinds, and elevating\nthe character of humanity.\n\nThen again, when it spread to outlying countries it assumed the\ncharacter of a religion; it taught the existence of unseen worlds; it\npermitted the offering of prayers to Maitreya and other supposed\npersonal saviours; it inculcated faith and trust in these celestial\nbeings, which operated as good motives in the hearts of many, while the\nhope of being born in higher conditions of life, and the desire to\nacquire merit by reverential acts, led to the development of devotional\nservices, which had much in common with those performed in Christian\ncountries. Nay, it must even be admitted that many Buddhists in the\npresent day are deeply imbued with religious feelings, and in no part of\nthe world are the outward manifestations of religion\u2014such as temples and\nsacred objects of all kinds\u2014so conspicuous as in modern Buddhist\ncountries.\n\nBut if, after making all these concessions, I am told that, on my own\nshowing, Buddhism was a kind of introduction to Christianity, or that\nChristianity is a kind of development of Buddhism, I must ask you to\nbear with me a little longer, while I point out certain other contrasts,\nwhich ought to make it clear to every reasonable man, how vast, how\nprofound, how impassable is the gulf separating the true religion from\nthe false philosophy, and from the later religious systems developed out\nof it.\n\nAnd first, observe that Buddhism has never claimed to be an exclusive\nsystem. It has never aimed at taking the place of other religions. On\nthe contrary it tolerates all, and a Buddhist considers that he may be\nat the same time a Hind\u016b, a Confucianist, a T\u0101oist, a Shintoist, and\neven, strange to say, a Christian.\n\nA Christian, on the other hand, holds as a cardinal doctrine of his\nreligion, that there is only one Name under heaven given among men,\nwhereby any human being can be saved. To be at the same time a believer\nin Christ and a believer in Buddha implies an utter contradiction in\nterms.\n\nThen it need scarcely be repeated here that Christ is before all things\na majestic example of a great historic personality. Any really\nhistorical, matter-of-fact account of the life of Buddha, like that of\nthe life of Christ by the four Evangelists, may be looked for in vain\nthrough all the Buddhist scriptures. The Buddha\u2019s biography is mixed up\nwith such monstrous legends, absurd figments, and extravagant fables,\nthat to attempt the sifting out of any really historical element worthy\nof being compared with the pregnant simplicity\u2014the dignified brevity of\nthe biography of Christ, would be an idle task.\n\nStill we may note two or three obvious points of comparison and\ncontrast.\n\nAnd perhaps the most important is, that Christ constantly insisted on\nthe fact that He was God-sent, whereas the Buddha always described\nhimself as self sent. How indeed could the Buddha have said \u2018the great I\nAM hath sent me unto you[287]\u2019 when he had no belief in the eternal\nexistence of any Ego at all? Not even in the reality of his own\nindividuality.\n\nAll that he affirmed of himself was that he came into the world to be a\nteacher of perfect wisdom, by a force derived from his own acts. By that\nforce alone he had passed through innumerable bodies of gods, demi-gods,\ndemons, men, and animals, until he reached one out of numerous heavens,\nand thence by his own will descended upon earth and entered the side of\nhis mother in the form of a white elephant (see pp. 23, 477). Let those\nwho speak of his \u2018virgin-mother\u2019 bear this in mind.\n\nChrist, on the other hand, made known to his disciples, that He was with\nHis Father from everlasting, \u2018Before Abraham was, I am.\u2019 Then in the\nfulness of time, He was _sent_ into the world by His Father, and was\nborn of a pure virgin, through the power of the Holy Spirit, in the\nlikeness and fashion of men.\n\nNext let us note a vast contrast in the fact that Christ was sent from\nheaven to be born on earth in a poor and humble station, to be reared in\na cottage, to be trained to toilsome labour as a working-man; whereas\nthe Buddha came down to be born on earth in a rich and princely family;\nto be brought up amid luxurious surroundings, and finally to go forth as\na mendicant-monk, depending upon others for his daily food and doing\nnothing for his own support.\n\nThen, again, Christ as He grew up showed no signs of earthly majesty in\nhis external form, whereas the Buddha is described as marked with\ncertain mystic symbols of universal monarchy on his feet and on his\nhands, and taller and more stately in frame and figure than ordinary\nhuman beings (see pp. 476, 501).\n\nThen, when each entered on his ministry as a teacher, Christ was\ndespised and rejected by kings and princes, and followed by poor and\nignorant fishermen, by common people, publicans, and sinners; Buddha was\nhonoured by kings and princes, and followed by rich men and learned\ndisciples.\n\nThen Christ had all the treasures of knowledge hidden in Himself, and\nmade known to His disciples that He was Himself the Way, and the\nTruth,\u2014Himself their Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and\nRedemption. Buddha declared that all enlightenment and wisdom were to be\nattained by his disciples, not through him, but through themselves and\ntheir own intuitions; and that, too, only after long and painful\ndiscipline in countless successive bodily existences.\n\nThen in regard to the miracles which both the Bible and the Tripi\u1e6daka\ndescribe as attestations of the truth of the teaching of each, contrast\nthe simple and dignified statement that \u2018the blind receive their sight,\nthe lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are\nraised up, and the poor have the gospel preached unto them[288],\u2019 with\nthe following description of the Buddha\u2019s miracles in the Mah\u0101-vagga (I.\n20, 24)[289]: \u2018At the command of the Blessed One the five hundred pieces\nof fire-wood could not be split and were split, the fires could not be\nlit up and were lit up, could not be extinguished and were extinguished.\nBesides he created five hundred vessels with fire. Thus the number of\nthese miracles amounts to three thousand five hundred.\u2019\n\nThen, although each made use of missionary agency, the one sent forth\nhis high-born learned monks as missionaries to the world at the\ncommencement of his own career, giving them no divine commission; the\nother waited till the close of His own ministry, and then said to His\nlow-born, unlearned disciples, \u2018As My Father hath sent Me, even so send\nI you\u2019 (St. John xx. 21).\n\nThen, when we come to compare the death of each, the contrast reaches\nits climax; for Christ was put to death violently by wicked men, and\ndied in agony an atoning death, suffering for the sins of the world at\nthe age of thirty-three, leaving behind in Jerusalem about one hundred\nand twenty disciples after a short ministry of three years. Whereas the\nBuddha died peacefully among his friends, suffering from an attack of\nindigestion at the age of eighty, leaving behind many thousands of\ndisciples after forty-five years of teaching and preaching.\n\nAnd what happened after the death of each? Christ, the Holy One, saw no\ncorruption, but rose again in His present glorified body, and is alive\nfor evermore\u2014nay, has life in Himself ever flowing in life-giving\nstreams towards His people. The Buddha is dead and gone for ever; his\nbody, according to the testimony of his own disciples, was burnt more\nthan 400 years before the Advent of Christ, and its ashes were\ndistributed everywhere as relics.\n\nEven according to the Buddha\u2019s own declaration, he now lives only in the\ndoctrine which he left behind him for the guidance of his followers.\n\nAnd here again, in regard to the doctrine left behind by each, a vast\ndistinction is to be noted. For the doctrine delivered by Christ to His\ndisciples is to spread by degrees everywhere until it prevails\neternally. Whereas the doctrine left by Buddha, though it advanced\nrapidly by leaps and bounds, is, according to his own admission, to fade\naway by degrees, till at the end of 5000 years it has disappeared\naltogether from the earth, and another Buddha must descend to restore\nit. (Compare Postscript at end of Preface, p. xiv.)\n\nThen that other Buddha must be followed by countless succeeding Buddhas\nin succeeding ages, whereas there is only one Christ, who can have no\nsuccessor, for He is alive for ever and for ever present with His\npeople: \u2018Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.\u2019\n\nThen observe that, although the Buddha\u2019s doctrine was ultimately written\ndown by his disciples in certain collections of books, in the same\nmanner as the doctrine of Christ, a fundamental difference of\ncharacter\u2014nay, a vast and impassable gulf of difference\u2014separates the\nSacred Books of each, the Bible of the Christian and the Bible of the\nBuddhist.\n\nThe characteristic of the Christian\u2019s Bible is that it claims to be a\nsupernatural revelation, yet it attaches no mystical talismanic virtue\nto the mere sound of its words. On the other hand, the characteristic of\nthe Buddhist Bible is that it utterly repudiates all claim to be a\nsupernatural revelation; yet the very sound of its words is believed to\npossess a meritorious efficacy capable of elevating any one who hears it\nto heavenly abodes in future existences. In illustration I may advert to\na legend current in Ceylon, that once on a time 500 bats lived in a cave\nwhere two monks daily recited the Buddha\u2019s Law. These bats gained such\nmerit by simply hearing the sound of the words, that, when they died,\nthey were all re-born as men, and ultimately as gods.\n\nThen as to the words themselves, contrast the severely simple and\ndignified style of the Bible narrative, its brevity, perspicuity,\nvigour, and sublimity, its trueness to nature and inimitable pathos,\nwith the feeble utterances, the tedious diffuseness, and I might almost\nsay \u2018the inane twaddle\u2019 and childish repetitions of the greater portion\nof the Tripi\u1e6daka (see note 2, p. 541).\n\nBut again, I am sure to hear the admirers of Buddhism say: Is it not the\ncase that the doctrine of Buddha, like the doctrine of Christ, has\nself-sacrifice as its key-note? Well, be it so. I admit that the Buddha\ntaught a kind of self-sacrifice. I admit that he related of himself\nthat, on a particular occasion in one of his previous births[290], he\nplucked out his own eyes, and, that on another, he cut off his own head\nas a sacrifice for the good of others; and that again, on a third\noccasion, he cut his own body to pieces to redeem a dove from a\nhawk[291]. Yet note the vast distinction between the self-sacrifice\ntaught by the two systems. Christianity demands the suppression of\nselfishness; Buddhism demands the suppression of self, with the one\nobject of extinguishing all consciousness of self. In the one, the true\nself is elevated and intensified. In the other, the true self is\nannihilated by the practice of a false form of non-selfishness, which\nhas for its real object, not the good of others, but the annihilation of\nthe Ego, the utter extinction of the illusion of personal individuality.\n\nFurthermore, observe the following contrasts in the doctrines which each\nbequeathed to his followers:\u2014\n\nAccording to Christianity:\u2014Fight and overcome the world.\n\nAccording to Buddhism:\u2014Shun the world, and withdraw from it.\n\nAccording to Christianity:\u2014Expect a new earth when the present earth is\ndestroyed; a world renewed and perfected; a purified world in which\nrighteousness is to dwell for ever.\n\nAccording to Buddhism:\u2014Expect a never-ending succession of evil worlds\nfor ever coming into existence, developing, decaying, perishing, and\nreviving, and all equally full of everlasting misery, disappointment,\nillusion, change, and transmutation.\n\nAccording to Christianity, bodily existence is subject to only one\ntransformation.\n\nAccording to Buddhism, bodily existence is continued in six conditions,\nthrough countless bodies of men, animals, demons, ghosts, and dwellers\nin various hells and heavens; and that, too, without any progressive\ndevelopment, but in a constant jumble of metamorphoses and\ntransmutations (see p. 122).\n\nChristianity teaches that a life in heaven can never be followed by a\nfall to a lower state.\n\nBuddhism teaches that a life in a higher heaven may be succeeded by a\nlife in a lower heaven, or even by a life on earth or in one of the\nhells.\n\nAccording to Christianity, the body of man may be the abode of the Holy\nSpirit of God.\n\nAccording to Buddhism, the body whether of men or of higher beings can\nnever be the abode of anything but evil.\n\nAccording to Christianity:\u2014Present your bodies as living sacrifices,\nholy, acceptable to God, and expect a change to glorified bodies\nhereafter.\n\nAccording to Buddhism:\u2014Look to final deliverance from all bodily life,\npresent and to come, as the greatest of all blessings, highest of all\nboons, and loftiest of all aims.\n\nAccording to Christianity, a man\u2019s body can never be changed into the\nbody of a beast, or bird, or insect, or loathsome vermin.\n\nAccording to Buddhism, a man, and even a god, may become an animal of\nany kind, and even the most loathsome vermin may again become a man or a\ngod.\n\nAccording to Christianity:\u2014Stray not from God\u2019s ways; offend not against\nHis holy laws.\n\nAccording to Buddhism:\u2014Stray not from the eight-fold path of the perfect\nman, and offend not against yourself and the law of the perfect man.\n\nAccording to Christianity:\u2014Work the works of God while it is day.\n\nAccording to Buddhism:\u2014Beware of action, as causing re-birth, and aim at\ninaction, indifference, and apathy, as the highest of all states.\n\nThen note other contrasts.\n\nAccording to the Christian Bible:\u2014Regulate and sanctify the heart,\ndesires, and affections.\n\nAccording to the Buddhist:\u2014Suppress and destroy them utterly, if you\nwish for true sanctification.\n\nChristianity teaches that in the highest form of life, love is\nintensified.\n\nBuddhism teaches that in the highest state of existence, all love is\nextinguished.\n\nAccording to Christianity:\u2014Go and earn your own bread, support yourself\nand your family. Marriage, it says, is honourable and undefiled, and\nmarried life is a field on which holiness may grow and be developed.\nNay, more\u2014Christ Himself honoured a wedding with His presence, and took\nup little children in His arms and blessed them.\n\nBuddhism, on the other hand, says:\u2014Avoid married life; shun it as if it\nwere \u2018a burning pit of live coals\u2019 (p. 88); or, having entered on it,\nabandon wife, children, and home, and go about as celibate monks,\nengaging in nothing but in meditation and recitation of the Buddha\u2019s\nLaw\u2014that is to say\u2014if you aim at the highest degree of sanctification.\n\nAnd then comes the important contrast that in the one system we have a\nteaching gratifying to the pride of man, and flattering to his\nintellect; while in the other we have a teaching humbling to his pride,\nand distasteful to his intellect. For Christianity tells us that we must\nbecome as little children, and that when we have done all that we can,\nwe are still unprofitable servants. Whereas Buddhism teaches that every\nman is saved by his own works and by his own merits only.\n\nFitly, indeed, do the rags worn by the monks of true Buddhism symbolize\nthe miserable patchwork of its own self-righteousness.\n\nNot that Christianity ignores the necessity for good works; on the\ncontrary, no other system insists on a lofty morality so strongly; but\nnever as the meritorious instrument of salvation[292]\u2014only as a\nthank-offering, only as the outcome and evidence of faith.\n\nLastly, we must advert again to the most momentous\u2014the most essential of\nall the distinctions which separate Christianity from Buddhism.\nChristianity regards personal life as the most sacred of all\npossessions. Life, it seems to say, is no dream, no illusion. \u2018Life is\nreal, life is earnest.\u2019 Life is the most precious of all God\u2019s gifts.\nNay, it affirms of God Himself that He is the highest Example of intense\nLife\u2014of intense personality, the great \u2018I AM that I AM,\u2019 and teaches us\nthat we are to thirst for a continuance of personal life as a gift for\nHim; nay, more, that we are to thirst for the living God Himself and for\nconformity to His likeness; while Buddhism sets forth as the highest of\nall aims the utter extinction of the illusion of personal identity\u2014the\nutter annihilation of the Ego\u2014of all existence in any form whatever, and\nproclaims as the only true creed the ultimate resolution of everything\ninto nothing, of every entity into pure nonentity.\n\nWhat shall I do to inherit eternal life?\u2014says the Christian. What shall\nI do to inherit eternal extinction of life?\u2014says the Buddhist.\n\nIt seems a mere absurdity to have to ask in concluding these\nLectures:\u2014Whom shall we choose as our Guide, our Hope, our Salvation,\n\u2018the Light of Asia,\u2019 or \u2018the Light of the World?\u2019 the Buddha or the\nChrist? It seems a mere mockery to put this final question to rational\nand thoughtful men in the nineteenth century: Which Book shall we clasp\nto our hearts in our last hour\u2014the Book that tells us of the dead, the\nextinct, the death-giving Buddha, or the Book that reveals to us the\nliving, the eternal, the life-giving Christ?\n\n\n                              POSTSCRIPT.\n\nSince the printing of my concluding Lecture, it has occurred to me that\nI ought to make a few remarks in regard to a very prevalent error\u2014the\nerror that Buddhism still numbers more adherents than any other religion\nof the world. For these remarks the reader is referred to the Postscript\nat the end of the Preface (p. xiv).\n\n\n\n\n                               Footnotes\n\n\n[1]\u2018Life of Alexander Duff, D.D., LL.D., by George Smith, C.I.E., LL.D.\u2019\n    London: Hodder and Stoughton; published first in 1879, and a popular\n    edition in 1881.\n\n[2]A reference to pages 74, 226, 232 of the following Lectures will make\n    the connexion which I wish to illustrate clearer. In many images of\n    the Buddha the robe is drawn over both shoulders, as in the portrait\n    of the living Sanny\u0101s\u012b. Then mark other particulars in the\n    portrait:\u2014e.g. the Rudr\u0101ksha rosary round the neck (see \u2018Br\u0101hmanism\n    and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 67). Then in front of the raised seat of the\n    Sanny\u0101s\u012b are certain ceremonial implements. First, observe the\n    Kama\u1e47\u1e0dalu, or water-gourd, near the right hand corner of the seat.\n    Next, in front of the seat, on the right hand of the figure, is the\n    Upa-p\u0101tra\u2014a subsidiary vessel to be used with the Kama\u1e47\u1e0dalu. Then,\n    in the middle, is the T\u0101mra-p\u0101tra or copper vessel, and on the left\n    the Pa\u00f1\u0107a-p\u0101tra with the \u0100\u0107aman\u012b (see \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 pp.\n    401, 402). Near the left hand corner of the seat are the wooden\n    clogs. Finally, there is the Da\u1e47\u1e0da or staff held in the left hand,\n    and used by a Sanny\u0101s\u012b as a defence against evil spirits, much as\n    the Dorje (or Vajra) is used by Northern Buddhist monks (see p. 323\n    of the present volume). This mystical staff is a bambu with six\n    knots, possibly symbolical of six ways (Gati) or states of life,\n    through which it is believed that every being may have to migrate\u2014a\n    belief common to both Br\u0101hmanism and Buddhism (see p. 122 of this\n    volume). The staff is called Su-dar\u1e61ana (a name for Vish\u1e47u\u2019s \u0106akra),\n    and is daily worshipped for the preservation of its mysterious\n    powers. The mystic white roll which begins just above the left hand\n    and ends before the left knot is called the Lakshm\u012b-vastra, or\n    auspicious covering. The projecting piece of cloth folded in the\n    form of an axe (Para\u1e61u) represents the weapon of Para\u1e61u-R\u0101ma, one of\n    the incarnations of Vish\u1e47u (see pp. 110, 270 of \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and\n    Hind\u016bism\u2019) with which he subdued the enemies of the Br\u0101hmans. With\n    this so-called axe may be contrasted the Buddhist weapon for keeping\n    off the powers of evil (engraved at p. 352).\n\n[3]\u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism.\u2019 Third Edition. John Murray, Albemarle\n    Street.\n\n[4]The heaven of \u1e60iva is Kail\u0101sa, of Vish\u1e47u is Vaiku\u1e47\u1e6dha, of K\u1e5bish\u1e47a is\n    Goloka.\n\n[5]The S\u0101\u1e45khya system, as I have shown, was closely connected with the\n    Ved\u0101nta, though it recognized the separate existence of countless\n    individual Purushas or spirits instead of the one (called \u0100tman).\n    Both had much in common with Buddhism, though the latter substituted\n    _\u1e60\u016bnya_ \u2018a void\u2019 for Purusha and \u0100tman.\n\n[6]Freely translated by me in Indian Wisdom, p. 133, and literally\n    translated by Prof. E. B. Cowell.\n\n[7]\u2018Let us eat and drink for to-morrow we die.\u2019 1 Cor. xv. 32.\n\n[8]See Dr. John Muir\u2019s Article on Indian Materialists, Journal of Royal\n    Asiatic Society, N. S. xix, p. 302.\n\n[9]It is difficult to accept the theory of those who maintain that\n    writing had not been invented.\n\n[10]One hundred is given as a round number. The actual distance is about\n    one hundred and twenty miles.\u2014_Corr._\n\n[11]Tapas is a Sansk\u1e5bit word, derived from the root tap, \u2018to burn,\n    torment.\u2019 It is connected with Lat. tepeo, Greek {Thapt\u00f4}, which\n    last originally denoted \u2018to burn,\u2019 not \u2018to bury\u2019 dead bodies. Tapas\n    ought not to be translated by \u2018penance,\u2019 unless that word is\n    restricted to the sense poena, \u2018pain.\u2019\n\n[12]Such men are called Pa\u00f1\u0107a-tap\u0101s (Manu VI. 23). A good representation\n    of this form of Tapas may be seen in the Museum of the Indian\n    Institute, Oxford.\n\n[13]According to Dr. Oldenberg, the M\u1e5bityu of the Ka\u1e6dhopanishad.\n\n[14]In the same way the Cistercian monks of Fountain\u2019s Abbey lived under\n    certain trees while the Abbey was building.\n\n[15]The Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101 (V. 28) asserts:\u2014\u2018The sage (Yog\u012b) who is\n    internally happy, internally at peace, and internally illumined,\n    attains extinction in Brahma.\u2019 This is pure Buddhism if we\n    substitute Cessation of individual existence for Brahma.\n\n[16]Or Ku\u1e61a-nagara, identified by Gen. Sir A. Cunningham with Kasia, 35\n    miles east of Gorakh-pore on an old channel of the Chota Gandak.\n\n[17]I give 420 as a round number. Rhys Davids has good reasons for\n    fixing the date of Gautama\u2019s death about B.C. 412, Oldenberg about\n    480, Cunningham 478, Kern 388. The old date is 543.\n\n[18]See Book of the great Decease, translated by Rhys Davids, p. 72.\n\n[19]The \u1e60atapatha-br\u0101hma\u1e47a (p. 1064) and the B\u1e5bihad-\u0101ra\u1e47yaka Upanishad\n    (p. 455) affirm that the \u1e5aig- Yajur- S\u0101ma- and Atharva-veda, the\n    Upanishads, Itih\u0101sas, and Pur\u0101\u1e47as were all the breath (ni\u1e25\u1e61vasit\u0101ni)\n    of the Supreme Being. And S\u0101ya\u1e47a, the well-known Indian Commentator\n    on the \u1e5aig-veda, speaking of the Supreme Being in his Introduction,\n    says, Yasya ni\u1e25\u1e61vasita\u1e43 Ved\u0101\u1e25, \u2018whose breath the Vedas were.\u2019\n\n[20]How else can we account for P\u0101\u1e47ini\u2019s applying the term Bh\u0101sh\u0101 to\n    colloquial Sansk\u1e5bit? Professor E. B. Cowell holds that P\u0101\u1e47ini\u2019s\n    standard is the Br\u0101hma\u1e47a language as opposed to the Sa\u1e43hit\u0101 of the\n    Veda and to Loka or ordinary usage.\n\n[21]According to Professor Rhys Davids, the P\u0101li text of the whole\n    Tri-pi\u1e6daka, or true Canon of Buddhist Scripture, contains about\n    twice as many words as our Bible; but he calculates that an English\n    translation, if all repetitions were given, would be about four\n    times as long. I should state here that in this chapter Koeppen,\n    Childers, Rhys Davids, and Oldenberg have all been referred to,\n    though I have not failed to examine the original P\u0101li documents\n    myself.\n\n[22]Up\u0101li is said to have been originally the family barber of the\n    \u1e60\u0101kyas. Professor Oldenberg rightly remarks that this did not make\n    him a man of low position, though he was probably the lowest in rank\n    of all the early disciples of Gautama.\n\n[23]Professor Oldenberg, in his preface to his edition of the\n    Mah\u0101-vagga, shows that in early times there were only two divisions\n    of the Pi\u1e6daka, one called Vinaya and the other Dharma (Dhamma),\n    which were often contrasted.\n\n[24]The ten usually enumerated are the three above-named and seven\n    others, viz. power of admitting to the Order and confession in\n    private houses, the use of comfortable seats, relaxation of monastic\n    rules in remote country places, power of obtaining a dispensation\n    from the Order _after_ the infringement of a rule, drinking whey,\n    putting salt aside for future use, power of citing the example of\n    others as a valid excuse for relaxing discipline.\n\n[25]According to Professor Oldenberg\u2019s calculation. The date is\n    doubtful. A round number (say 350 B.C.) might be given.\n\n[26]Professor Oldenberg places the locality of the P\u0101li on the eastern\n    coast of Southern India in the northern part of Kali\u1e45ga (Pur\u012b in\n    Orissa), and would therefore make it an old form of Uriya. That\n    country he thinks had most frequent communications with Ceylon.\n\n[27]Professor Childers thought that P\u0101li merely meant the language of\n    the line or series of texts, the word p\u0101li like tanti meaning\n    \u2018line.\u2019 P\u0101li differs from the Pr\u0101k\u1e5bit of the Inscriptions, and from\n    that of the dramas, and from that of the Jainas (which is still\n    later and called Ardha-m\u0101gadh\u012b), by its retention of some consonants\n    and infusion of Sansk\u1e5bit. The G\u0101th\u0101 dialect of the northern books is\n    again different.\n\n[28]550 is a round number. The text of the J\u0101takas has been edited by\n    Fausb\u00f6ll and translated by Rhys Davids and others. See a specimen at\n    p. 112.\n\n[29]The seven are called: 1. Dhamma-sa\u1e45ga\u1e47i, \u2018enumeration of conditions\n    of existence,\u2019 edited by Dr. E. M\u00fcller; 2. Vibha\u1e45ga, \u2018explanations;\u2019\n    3. Kath\u0101-vatthu, \u2018discussions on one thousand controverted points;\u2019\n    4. Puggala-pa\u00f1\u00f1atti, \u2018explanation of personality;\u2019 5. Dh\u0101tu-kath\u0101,\n    \u2018account of elements;\u2019 6. Yamaka, \u2018pairs;\u2019 7. Pa\u1e6d\u1e6dh\u0101na, \u2018causes.\u2019\n\n[30]A list of these is given in Childers\u2019 Dictionary.\n\n[31]See Introduction to Buddha-ghosha\u2019s Parables, by Professor Max\n    M\u00fcller; Turnour\u2019s Mah\u0101-va\u1e49\u1e61a, pp. 250-253.\n\n[32]They are in two quite distinct kinds of writing. That at\n    Kapurda-garhi\u2014sometimes called Northern A\u1e61oka or Ariano-P\u0101li\u2014is\n    clearly Semitic, and traceable to a Ph\u0153nician source, being written\n    from right to left. That at Girn\u0101r, commonly called Southern A\u1e61oka\n    or Indo-P\u0101li, is read from left to right, and is not so clearly\n    traceable. If it came from the west it probably came through a\n    Pahlav\u012b channel, and gave rise to Devan\u0101gar\u012b. General Cunningham and\n    others believe this latter character to have originated\n    independently in India. James Prinsep was the first to decipher the\n    inscription character.\n\n[33]See Dr. R. N. Cust\u2019s article in the \u2018Journal of the National Indian\n    Association\u2019 for June, 1879, and one of his Selected Essays, and\n    General Sir A. Cunningham\u2019s great work, \u2018The Corpus Inscriptionum\n    Indicarum.\u2019 The General reckons thirteen rock inscriptions,\n    seventeen cave inscriptions, and six inscribed pillars.\n\n    The eight most important rock inscriptions are those on (1) the Rock\n    of Kapurda-garhi (at Sh\u0101hb\u0101z-garhi), in British Afgh\u0101nist\u0101n, forty\n    miles east-north-east of Pesh\u0101war\u2014this is in the Ariano-P\u0101li\n    character; (2) the Rock of Kh\u0101lsi, situated on the bank of the river\n    Jumn\u0101, just where it leaves the Him\u0101laya mountains, fifteen miles\n    west of the hill-station of Mussourie; (3) the Rock of Girn\u0101r,\n    half-a-mile to the east of the city of Junagurh, in K\u0101thi\u0101w\u0101r; (4)\n    the Rock of Dhauli, in Kuttack (properly Ka\u1e6dak), twenty miles north\n    of Jagan-n\u0101th; (5) the Rock of Jaugada, in a large old fort eighteen\n    miles west-north-west of Ganjam in Madras; (6) Bair\u0101t; (7) R\u016bpn\u0101th,\n    at the foot of the Kaimur range; (8) Sahasar\u0101m, at the north-east\n    end of the Kaimur. The second Bair\u0101t inscription is most important\n    as the only one which mentions Buddha by name.\n\n    The five most important pillars are: (1) the Pillar at Delhi known\n    as Firoz Sh\u0101h\u2019s L\u0101\u1e6d; (2) another Pillar at Delhi, which was removed\n    to Calcutta, but has recently been restored; (3) the Pillar at\n    Allah\u0101b\u0101d, a single shaft without capital, of polished sandstone,\n    thirty-five feet in height; (4) the Pillar at Lauriya, near Bettiah,\n    in Bengal; (5) the Pillar at another Lauriya, seventy-seven miles\n    north-west of Patn\u0101.\n\n[34]Hiouen Thsang states that the three commentaries were engraved on\n    sheets of copper and buried in a St\u016bpa. Beal, I. 152-156.\n\n[35]Our word _monk_ (derived from {monachos}, \u2018one who lives alone,\u2019) is\n    not quite suitable unless it be taken to mean \u2018one who withdraws\n    from worldly life.\u2019 See p. 75.\n\n[36]Although he discouraged, he did not prohibit monks from living\n    solitary lives. See p. 132 as to the Pratyeka-Buddha, and note, p.\n    72.\n\n[37]Some prefer to derive the P\u0101li \u1e60ama\u1e47o from the Sansk\u1e5bit root \u1e60am,\n    \u2018to be quiet.\u2019 \u1e60m\u0101\u1e61\u0101nika, \u2018frequenting burning grounds,\u2019 is a later\n    name, life being to monks a kind of graveyard.\n\n[38]We may note that in the \u2018Clay-Cart,\u2019 a Sansk\u1e5bit drama written in an\n    early century of our era, a gambler becomes a Buddhist monk.\n\n[39]I hear from Dr. Oldenberg that the mention in his \u2018Buddha\u2019 of twelve\n    years as the minimum is a mistake. The age of eight mentioned by\n    Prof. Rhys Davids as the minimum, must be a modern rule peculiar to\n    Ceylon, if it be admissible at all.\n\n[40]I give these quotations to show the unsuitableness of the term\n    \u2018Ordination\u2019 applied to Pabbajj\u0101 and Upasampad\u0101 in the S. B. E.\n\n[41]In Mah\u0101-vagga I. 30. 4, five kinds of dwellings are named besides\n    trees, viz. Vih\u0101ras, A\u1e0d\u1e0dhayogas (a kind of house shaped like\n    Garu\u1e0da), storied dwellings (pr\u0101s\u0101da), mansions (harmya), and caves\n    (guh\u0101).\n\n[42]Comparing Western with Eastern Monachism, I may remark that the\n    chief duty of the lay-brethren attached to the Cistercian monastery\n    at Fountain\u2019s Abbey was to wait upon the monks, procure food and\n    cook it for them; and we learn from the _Times_ of December 24,\n    1885, that the same duty devolved on the Carthusian lay-brothers.\n\n[43]The Chronicles of Ceylon state that 80,000 laymen entered the paths\n    in Kashm\u012br. Compare Divy\u0101vad\u0101na, p. 166, line 12; p. 271, 12.\n\n[44]See Tevijja-Sutta, S. B. E. \u00a7\u00a7 14, 15.\n\n[45]The venerable Sv\u0101m\u012b \u1e60r\u012b Sa\u0107\u0107id\u0101nanda Sarasvat\u012b, in sending me a copy\n    of the Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101 with a metrical commentary, says, \u2018It is the\n    best of all books on the Hind\u016b religion, and contains the essence of\n    all kinds of religious philosophy.\u2019 I find in the Madras _Times_ for\n    October 29, 1886, the following: \u2018At a meeting of the \u201cSociety for\n    the Propagation of True Religion,\u201d at 6 p.m. to-day, the\n    Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101 will be read and explained.\u2019\n\n[46]XIV. 7. 2. 17. This was first pointed out by Professor A. Weber.\n\n[47]Centenarians (\u1e60at\u0101yus, \u1e60ata-varsha) seem to have been rather common\n    in India in ancient times, if we may judge by the allusions to them\n    in Manu and other works. See Manu III. 186; II. 135, 137.\n\n[48]I here merely give the substance of what may be found fully stated\n    in Aristotle\u2019s Ethics, I. 1 and IV. 3.\n\n[49]That is, Sa\u1e43kh\u0101r\u0101 = Sansk\u1e5bit Sa\u1e49sk\u0101r\u0101\u1e25 pl. (see p. 109), \u2018qualities\n    forming character.\u2019 In the Vai\u1e61eshika system Sa\u1e49sk\u0101ra is one of the\n    twenty-four qualities, the self-reproductive quality. In the Yoga\n    system Sa\u1e49sk\u0101ra = \u00c4\u1e61aya, \u2018impressions derived from actions done in\n    previous births.\u2019 According to Childers, Sa\u1e43k\u0101ro is practically =\n    Karma, \u2018act.\u2019 It may also stand for \u2018matter,\u2019 and for a quality, or\n    mode of being; e.g. not only for a plant but for its greenness.\n\n[50]The P\u0101li in Mah\u0101-v\u00b0 I. 23. 5, is:\u2014Ye dhamm\u0101 hetuppabhav\u0101 tesa\u1e43 hetu\u1e43\n    Tath\u0101gato \u0101ha tesa\u1e43 \u0107a yo nirodho evamv\u0101d\u012b Mah\u0101-sama\u1e47o. The form\n    Tath\u0101gato is also common in Sansk\u1e5bit versions. The metrical form of\n    the sentence has become broken.\n\n    Professor Cowell informs me that the Sanks\u1e5bit given in an old MS. at\n    Cambridge is:\u2014\u2018Ye dharm\u0101 hetu-prabhav\u0101 hetu\u1e43 tesh\u0101\u1e43 Tath\u0101gata\u1e25 | Hy\n    avadat tesh\u0101\u1e43 \u0107a yo nirodha eva\u1e43-v\u0101d\u012b Mah\u0101-\u1e60rama\u1e47a\u1e25.\u2019 Burnouf gives\n    a slightly different version, thus:\u2014Ye dharm\u0101 hetu-prabhav\u0101s tesh\u0101\u1e43\n    hetu\u1e43 Tath\u0101gata uv\u0101\u0107a tesh\u0101\u1e43 \u0107a etc. Sometimes both _avadat_ and\n    _uv\u0101\u0107a_ are omitted.\n\n[51]Sometimes a human being is said to be made up of the five\n    elements\u2014ether, air, fire, water, earth\u2014with a sixth called Vij\u00f1\u0101na.\n\n[52]The body is often compared to a city with nine gates or apertures,\n    which have to be guarded (viz. two eyes, ears, nostrils, etc.).\n\n[53]In fact Gautama remained a Bodhi-sattva until he was thirty-four or\n    thirty-five, when he attained perfect enlightenment and Buddhahood.\n\n[54]Their names are D\u012bpa\u1e43kara, Kau\u1e47\u1e0dinya, Ma\u1e45gala, Sumanas, Raivata,\n    \u1e60obhita, Anavama-dar\u1e61in, Padma, N\u0101rada, Padmottara, Sumedhas,\n    Suj\u0101ta, Priya-dar\u1e61in, Artha-dar\u1e61in, Dharma-dar\u1e61in, Siddh\u0101rtha,\n    Tishya, Pushya, Vipa\u1e61yin, \u1e60ikhin, Vi\u1e61va-bh\u016b, Kraku\u0107anda, Kanaka-muni\n    (or Ko\u1e47\u0101gamana), K\u0101\u1e61yapa.\n\n[55]Beginning with Vipa\u1e61yin. These are the only Buddhas mentioned in the\n    D\u012bgha-nik\u0101ya. If the coming Buddha Maitreya is reckoned, then\n    Vipa\u1e61yin must be omitted.\n\n[56]It must not be inferred that the episode of the Bhagavad-g\u012bt\u0101 is of\n    great antiquity. This point I have made clear in \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and\n    Hind\u016bism\u2019 (p. 63) as well as in \u2018Indian Wisdom.\u2019 My object at p. 138\n    is simply to show that Nirv\u0101\u1e47a is an expression common to Buddhism,\n    Br\u0101hmanism, and Hind\u016bism.\u2014_Corr._\n\n[57]The expression Brahma-nirv\u0101\u1e47a is repeated several times afterwards.\n    Mark, too, that one of the god \u1e60iva\u2019s names in the Mah\u0101-bh\u0101rata is\n    Nirv\u0101\u1e47am.\n\n[58]R\u0101ga, dvesha, moha. Eleven fires are sometimes enumerated.\n\n[59]Dr. Rhys Davids holds that the Buddha only advocated the suppression\n    of good desires; Fausb\u00f6ll says \u2018desire in all its forms.\u2019 I agree\n    with the latter.\n\n[60]When I was on the confines of Tibet, this was described to me by a\n    Tibetan scholar as the unchangeable state of conscious beatitude.\n\n[61]Or _Anup\u0101di-\u1e61esha_, that is, Nirv\u0101\u1e47a without remains or remnants of\n    the elements of existence. See Childers\u2019 P\u0101li Dictionary, s. v.\n\n[62]This was remarked by Hooker when travelling in Sikkim. Sir Richard\n    Temple in his Journals (II. 216) asserts that he often found married\n    monks in Sikkim, and they make no secret of it. They are free to\n    resign the monastic character when they choose.\n\n[63]The Vaibh\u0101shika was divided into Sarv\u0101stiv\u0101da (assertion of the real\n    existence of all things), Mah\u0101sa\u1e45ghika, Sammat\u012bya (said to have been\n    founded by Up\u0101li), and Sthavira; the Sautr\u0101ntika had also its own\n    subdivisions.\n\n[64]Another great king was the celebrated Harsha-vardhana or Sil\u0101ditya\n    of Kanauj, who flourished about A.D. 610-650, and who is said to\n    have founded an era formerly much used in Northern India. He ruled\n    from the Indus to the Ganges, and his doings are described by Hiouen\n    Thsang (Beal\u2019s Records, I. 210-221.)\n\n[65]The Mah\u0101-y\u0101na is said to be connected with the M\u0101dhyamika and\n    Yog\u0101\u0107\u0101ra Schools, and the H\u012bna-y\u0101na with the Vaibh\u0101shika and\n    Sautr\u0101ntika.\n\n[66]Professor Legge\u2019s Travels of F\u0101-hien, p. 28.\n\n[67]Translated from the Chinese by the Rev. S. Beal and more recently by\n    Professor Legge.\n\n[68]According to Dr. Legge\u2019s orthography this name should be written\n    Hs\u00fcen Chwang.\n\n[69]See Beal\u2019s \u2018Records of the Western World,\u2019 which gives a translation\n    of these travels in two volumes.\n\n[70]Hiouen Thsang describes the Sthavira form of the Mah\u0101-y\u0101na as\n    existing as far south as Ceylon. He found many monks studying both\n    the Great and Little Vehicles in Central India. Beal\u2019s Records, ii.\n    247, 254, 257.\n\n[71]As I have shown in \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 the term incarnation\n    is not strictly expressive of the Hind\u016b idea of Avat\u0101ra, which means\n    \u2018a descent\u2019 of a god (or a portion of his essence) in various forms\n    upon earth.\n\n[72]Professor Legge\u2019s translation, p. 56.\n\n[73]There are four great Buddhist kings of India who may be called\n    historical, the dates of whose reigns may be fixed with fair\n    certainty:\u20141. \u0106andra-gupta, who was at any rate a sympathiser with\n    Buddhism, B.C. 315-291. 2. A\u1e61oka, a decided Buddhist, B.C. 259-222.\n    3. Kanishka (see p. 69). 4. \u1e60il\u0101ditya, above. Some consider Kanishka\n    to have founded the \u1e60aka era, dating from A.D. 78.\n\n[74]Translated in 1872 by Mr. Palmer Boyd, and published with an\n    interesting introduction by Professor Cowell.\n\n[75]See Beal\u2019s Records, ii. 167-172; a long account of this monastery\n    visited by Hiouen Thsang is there given.\n\n[76]No doubt there are places in the South of India where there is\n    evidence of some violent persecution. I may instance among the\n    places I visited Tanjore and Madura. When I concluded the reading of\n    a paper on this subject at the meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society\n    on February 15, 1886, the then President, Colonel Yule, justly\n    remarked that the members of two religious communions who hold very\n    similar doctrines, often on that account hate and oppose each other\n    all the more; but my point was that the ultra-tolerance which was of\n    the very essence of both Br\u0101hmanism and Buddhism must have prevented\n    actual persecution, except under special circumstances. Br\u0101hmanism\n    was much more likely to have adopted Buddhism as part of its system,\n    than to have persecuted and expelled it. In point of fact, the\n    Br\u0101hmans, as is well known, are ready to regard any great teacher as\n    one of Vish\u1e47u\u2019s incarnations, and in this way are even willing to\n    pay homage to the Head of Christianity.\n\n[77]Buddhism began to lose ground in India about the fourth or fifth\n    century after Christ, but it maintained a chequered career for\n    several succeeding centuries even after Hiouen Thsang\u2019s time. See p.\n    161.\n\n[78]First, the Vedic triad of gods, Agni, \u2018Fire,\u2019 Indra, \u2018wielder of the\n    thunderbolt,\u2019 and S\u016brya, \u2018the Sun,\u2019 followed by the Tri-m\u016brti or\n    Brahm\u0101, \u1e60iva, and Vish\u1e47u. Then the three Gu\u1e47as or constituents of\n    the material Universe, Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas, and lastly the\n    triple name of Brahm\u0103, Sa\u0107-\u0107id-\u0101nanda.\n\n[79]Sarat Chandra D\u0101s, in his interesting Tibetan journal, describes\n    them as the \u2018three Holies.\u2019\n\n[80]Edited by Childers. See Journal R. A. S., N. S. iv. 318, and Kern\u2019s\n    Buddhismus, ii. 156.\n\n[81]Legge\u2019s F\u0101-hien, pp. 112-116.\n\n[82]Capt. Temple states that the Sa\u1e45gha is personified in Sikkim under\n    the form of a man holding a lotus in his left hand, the right hand\n    being on the right knee.\n\n[83]Probably all the images of Dharma are meant to be female, as\n    described in the note on the same page, and at p. 485.\u2014_Corr._\n\n[84]According to Capt. Temple, Dharma, \u2018the law,\u2019 is personified in\n    Sikkim as a white woman with four arms, two raised in prayer, the\n    third holding a garland (or rosary), the fourth a lotus.\n\n[85]One legend says:\u2014\u2018Thus, O monks, Buddha was born, and the right side\n    of his mother was not pierced, was not wounded. It remained as\n    before.\u2019 Foucaux, p. 97. Hiouen Thsang relates that there is a\n    Vih\u0101ra at Kapila-vastu indicating the spot \u2018where the Bodhi-sattva\n    descended _spiritually_ into the womb of his mother,\u2019 and that there\n    is a representation of this scene drawn in the Vih\u0101ra. I have myself\n    seen many representations of it in Buddhist sculptures.\n\n[86]Beal\u2019s Records, i. 228.\n\n[87]Beal\u2019s Records, i. 134, note.\n\n[88]This work, \u2018Die Religion des Buddha,\u2019 by Carl Friederich Koeppen,\n    has been long out of print, and has unfortunately never been\n    translated into English. The German is often difficult, but I have\n    endeavoured to give a correct idea of Koeppen\u2019s statements in the\n    instances in which I have made use of them. It is now somewhat out\n    of date.\n\n[89]It is obvious to remark that in the same way those who are\n    intellectually self-dependent and self-raised among ourselves\n    generally rise to a higher level of popular esteem than those taught\n    by other men.\n\n[90]There was also a \u2018middle way,\u2019 see p. 159.\n\n[91]See pp. 47, 104. Koeppen compares them to St. Peter and St. Paul.\n\n[92]The Rev. S. Beal (Ind. Antiquary for Dec., 1886) shows that\n    N\u0101g\u0101rjuna and N\u0101gasena are two different persons. Sir A. Cunningham\n    is of the same opinion. It may be noted that Padma-sambhava is\n    credited with introducing the more corrupt form of Buddhism along\n    with magic into Tibet at a later date, probably in the eighth\n    century.\n\n[93]For the account of N\u0101g\u0101rjuna\u2019s disciple Deva, mentioned by Hiouen\n    Thsang, see Beal\u2019s Records, ii. 97.\n\n[94]Of course not to be confounded with Gautama\u2019s disciple of the same\n    name, who is generally called Mah\u0101-K\u0101\u1e61yapa.\n\n[95]According to Eitel he is still revered as the patron-saint of all\n    novices, and is to be re-born as the eldest son of every future\n    Buddha; see Legge\u2019s F\u0101-hien, p. 46.\n\n[96]The use of the passive participle in an active sense is not uncommon\n    in Sansk\u1e5bit, but is generally confined to verbs involving some idea\n    of motion.\n\n[97]See Beal\u2019s Records, i. 114, note 107.\n\n[98]Professor Legge tells us that an intelligent Chinese once asked him\n    whether \u2018the worship of Mary in Europe was not similar?\u2019\n\n[99]Legge\u2019s Translation, p. 46. Beal, i. 180, ii. 220. According to\n    Schlagintweit, a historical teacher named Ma\u00f1ju-\u1e61r\u012b taught in the\n    eighth or ninth century A.D.\n\n[100]Even the Brahm\u0101s, after immense periods of life in the Brahm\u0101\n    heavens, have to go through other births in one of the six ways of\n    migration. Sah\u0101m-pati may therefore mean \u2018the lord of sufferers,\u2019\n    \u2018all life involving suffering,\u2019 and this excludes the idea of his\n    \u2018being lord over the Buddha who has not to be born again.\u2019\n\n[101]See Wright\u2019s Nep\u0101l, p. 43.\n\n[102]Beal\u2019s Records, ii. 103, 174.\n\n[103]The images of this deity represent him as coarse and ill-favoured\n    in form (his name in fact signifying \u2018deformed\u2019). He has sometimes\n    three legs. As guardian of the northern quarter he is sculptured on\n    the corner pillar of the northern gate of the Bharhut St\u016bpa. He had\n    a metropolis of his own, according to Hind\u016b mythology (as we know\n    from the Megha-d\u016bta), called Alaka, on the Him\u0101layas.\n\n[104]A very interesting specimen of ancient sculpture representing a\n    N\u0101ga-kany\u0101 may be seen in the museum of the Indian Institute,\n    Oxford. It belongs to a collection of Buddhist antiquities lent by\n    Mr. R. Sewell, of the Madras Civil Service.\n\n[105]I give this as my own theory. I am no believer in the learned M.\n    Senart\u2019s sun theory, or in its applicability to this point.\n\n[106]These are described in Childers\u2019s P\u0101li Dictionary, s.v.\n\n[107]See my \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 105.\n\n[108]Quoted in Colonel Olcott\u2019s \u2018Yoga Philosophy,\u2019 p. 282.\n\n[109]See my \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 35.\n\n[110]Colonel Olcott and Mr. Sinnett mention this faculty as a peculiar\n    characteristic of Asiatic occultism.\n\n[111]\u2018The Occult World,\u2019 by A. P. Sinnett, Vice-President of the\n    Theosophical Society, pp. 12, 15, 20.\n\n[112]At a meeting of the Victoria Institute, where I repeated the\n    substance of the present Lecture, Mr. W. S. Seton-Karr, who was for\n    some time Foreign Secretary at Calcutta, stated that he also had\n    witnessed the performance of this feat in India.\n\n[113]Colonel Olcott\u2019s \u2018Lectures on Theosophy and Archaic Religions,\u2019 p.\n    109.\n\n[114]Report in the _Times_ newspaper.\n\n[115]See Mr. Walter Besant\u2019s recent interesting story, \u2018Herr Paulus.\u2019\n\n[116]N\u0101ga-worship is not always identical with serpent-worship. See p.\n    220.\n\n[117]The Naths are certain demons or spirits of the air more worshipped\n    in Burma than in Ceylon. See p. 259.\n\n[118]His proper title is \u1e60r\u012bp\u0101da Suma\u1e45gala Unn\u0101nse. The title Unn\u0101nse is\n    used by all the superior monks of Ceylon for \u2018venerable\u2019 (Sansk\u1e5bit\n    _vandya_).\n\n[119]Suma\u1e45gala informed me that this was the only prayer used in Ceylon.\n    It is no real prayer, but only an expression of reverence. Often,\n    however, wishes for good luck are expressed like prayers. They are\n    called Ma\u1e45gala or Jaya-ma\u1e45gala. For example: \u2018May I for this\n    particular act of merit obtain some particular piece of good\n    fortune!\u2019\n\n[120]Some connect the wizard-priest Shaman with the Buddhist \u1e60rama\u1e47a.\n\n[121]L\u0101ma (written in Tibetan bLama) is the Tibetan name for a superior\n    teacher (Sansk\u1e5bit Guru), and from this word the hierarchical system\n    of Tibet is usually called L\u0101maism. It seems, however, as legitimate\n    to form a word L\u0101mism from L\u0101ma, as Buddhism from Buddha. At any\n    rate my adjective L\u0101mistic is less awkward than L\u0101maistic. As to \u0101\n    in L\u0101ma, see Rules for pronunciation at p. xxxi.\n\n[122]This is the Sansk\u1e5bit _vandya_, \u2018to be saluted.\u2019 I cannot help\n    thinking that Bante and Bandya may be the origin of the term Bonze,\n    applied to monks or priests in China, though I believe Professor\n    Legge connects Bonze with Munsh\u012b.\n\n[123]According to Dr. Schlagintweit the number of rules is 250, and they\n    are detailed in the first or Dulva portion of the Kanjur.\n\n[124]One was a Nep\u0101lese princess (called Bribsun) and the other a\n    Chinese princess (called Wenching). According to Koeppen, they were\n    worshipped under the general name D\u0101ra Eke\u2014D\u0101ra standing for the\n    Sansk\u1e5bit T\u0101r\u0101 and Eke meaning Mother.\n\n[125]Some write Lh\u0101sa (strictly Lhasa). I prefer Lh\u0101ssa as best\n    representing the pronunciation. It means \u2018the city of the gods\u2019 (lha\n    or lh\u0101).\n\n[126]Bakshi is probably a corruption of Bhikshu. Koeppen says it is\n    Mongolian for Ton. Mr. Edgar (Report, p. 39) pronounces Brom Ton\n    Domton.\n\n[127]Dr. Schlagintweit (p. 73) identifies this with the sect which wear\n    _red_ dresses, but this must surely be an error for _yellow_.\n\n[128]Through the Mongols Tibet gradually came under the power of China\n    from 1255 to 1720. The dynasty in China is now Manchu.\n\n[129]It is remarkable that the expression {ho katabas} is said of Christ\n    in the New Testament.\n\n[130]According to the _Times_ Correspondent Lh\u0101ssa stands in no closer\n    relation to China than the least dependent of Indian States to the\n    British Empire; history, however, proves that China can, when her\n    interests demand it, assume a very different position. The military\n    power of China is not great, but that of the L\u0101ma Government is\n    nearly _nil_. The expulsion of the missionaries Huc and Gabet proves\n    this.\n\n[131]It is said by some that even his excreta are held sacred. They are\n    dried, ground to powder, and either swallowed or made use of as\n    charms. Others deny this.\n\n[132]In the _Times_ newspaper for June 15, 1888, is the following: \u2018_How\n    the Grand L\u0101ma of Tibet is appointed_.\u2014A recent number of the\n    _Peking Gazette_ contains a memorial to the Emperor from the Chinese\n    Resident at Lh\u0101ssa, stating that a certain Tibetan official called\n    the Nominhan (see p. 286 of this volume) had reported to him that he\n    had found three young boys of remarkable intelligence and acuteness,\n    into one of whom beyond a doubt the spirit of the late L\u0101ma of Tashi\n    Lunpo (one of the two supreme pontiffs) had passed. Thereupon the\n    Chinese Resident sent a report to Peking, asking that the ceremony\n    of selecting one of these three children might be permitted. By the\n    time the authority arrived, the Nominhan with the children had\n    reached Lh\u0101ssa, and a lucky day was chosen for the ceremony. The\n    golden vase in which the lots are cast was brought and placed before\n    the image of the Emperor. Prayers were chanted before the assembled\n    L\u0101mas, and the children were conducted into the presence of the\n    Resident and Tibetan authorities in order that their intelligence\n    and difference from other persons might be tested.\u2019\n\n[133]\u2018Cloven-headed\u2019 seems a misprint for eleven-headed; but the account\n    of the creation of Avalokite\u1e61vara at p. 487 of this volume justifies\n    \u2018cloven-headed.\u2019\u2014_Corr._\n\n[134]Article on Japan in the last edition of the Encyclop\u00e6dia\n    Britannica.\n\n[135]According to one of my Japanese informants Butsu should he Bhutsu,\n    and the formula should be translated, \u2018Reverence to the Infinite\n    Being.\u2019\n\n[136]My quotations from the travels of Huc and Gabet have been made from\n    excellent translations by Mrs. Percy Sinnet and W. Hazlitt, but I\n    have been compelled to abbreviate the extracts.\n\n[137]Published by Messrs. Macmillan & Co. Shway Yoe is an assumed name.\n    The author\u2019s real name is Scott.\n\n[138]I was told when in Ceylon, that many monasteries in the Kandyan\n    provinces had misappropriated their endowments and dropped the\n    schools, which they were bound to keep up.\n\n[139]Notes illustrative of Buddhism as the daily religion of the\n    Buddhists of Ceylon, by J. F. Dickson, M. A. Oxon.\n\n[140]This is the derivation given by Childers; one might otherwise have\n    been inclined to suspect some connexion with Preta, a ghost (pp.\n    121, 219 of this volume).\n\n[141]The texts and commentaries of some of these were collected by M.\n    Grimblot, and translated with notes by M. Leon Feer, in the Journal\n    Asiatique. The Tibetan Pirit is said to consist of only thirteen\n    Suttas.\n\n[142]A cold climate necessitates the addition of trousers, and boots and\n    occasionally shoes are worn.\n\n[143]This is probably permitted with a view to prevent the study of\n    Mongolian from entirely dying out. It is certain that, although the\n    Buddhist sacred books have long been translated into Mongolian,\n    Chinese, and Tungusic, only the Tibetan texts are esteemed as\n    canonical.\n\n[144]The indomitable persevering Hungarian traveller, Alexander Csoma de\n    K\u00f6r\u00f6s, already mentioned (at p. 70), was the first European to throw\n    light on the Tibetan language. He had been impelled to acquire it by\n    the task he had imposed on himself of searching out the progenitors\n    of his race. More than eighty years ago he set out on his travels,\n    and his search ultimately brought him to Tibet. There he devoted\n    himself to the study of the Tibetan language and its sacred\n    literature, taking up his abode in the monastery of Pugdal, in\n    defiance of intense cold and other hardships. But his heroic energy\n    did not end there. In 1831 he travelled from Tibet to Calcutta, and\n    in that city, about the year 1834, published his Grammar and\n    Dictionary of the Tibetan language, besides his table of contents of\n    the Kanjur and the extra-canonical treatises. At length fancying\n    himself qualified for the accomplishment of his self-inflicted task,\n    he started off again, and died in Sikkim in April 1842. He is buried\n    at D\u0101rj\u012bling. We Englishmen, who ought to have taken the greatest\n    share in these linguistic conquests\u2014so important in their bearing on\n    the interests of our Indian frontier\u2014have hitherto, to our great\n    discredit, almost entirely neglected them. Meanwhile, St. Petersburg\n    and Paris have founded chairs of the Tibetan language, and nearly\n    all that has been effected for promoting the study of Tibetan has\n    been due to Russian and French scholars, and to German and Moravian\n    missionaries, especially to J\u00e4schke and Hyde.\n\n    I am glad, however, to see from the annual address delivered by the\n    President of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and published in the\n    Report for February, 1888, that this reproach is now being wiped out\n    by our fellow-subjects in India. Babu Prat\u0101pa Chandra Ghosha is\n    bringing out in the Bibliotheca Indica the Tibetan translation of\n    the Buddhistic work Praj\u00f1\u0101-p\u0101ramit\u0101, forming the second division of\n    the Kanjur, while Mr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s, C.I.E., is editing the\n    Tibetan version of the Avad\u0101na-Kalpalat\u0101 (a store-house of legends\n    of Buddha\u2019s life and acts), and compiling a Tibetan-Sansk\u1e5bit-English\n    Dictionary. Great credit is due to our Indian Government for the\n    publication of J\u00e4schke\u2019s Tibetan-English Dictionary.\n\n[145]As corpses are exposed to be devoured by animals in Tibet human\n    bones are easily obtained for this purpose.\n\n[146]As before stated (p. 306, note) I have been compelled to abbreviate\n    the translator\u2019s version and occasionally to vary the expressions,\n    and have therefore felt it right to omit inverted commas.\n\n[147]According to Schlagintweit this sect (also called Brugpa, p. 272)\n    are especially worshippers of the Dorje (see p. 322), and are\n    therefore T\u0101ntrikas.\n\n[148]This I heard from his own lips.\n\n[149]The abstract has been made by me from a copy of Sarat Chandra D\u0101s\u2019\n    Report kindly lent to me by Sir Edwin Arnold. But I learnt much from\n    Mr. S. C. D. in personal conversations. In my numerous quotations I\n    have ventured to make a few alterations in the English.\n\n[150]This is the Tibetan name of Avalokite\u1e61vara or Padma-p\u0101\u1e47i. It is\n    often spelt Chenresi, or Chenresig, or Chenressig.\n\n[151]The Lion is an emblem of the Buddha, and he is called \u1e60\u0101kya-si\u1e49ha,\n    \u2018the Lion of the \u1e60\u0101kya tribe\u2019 (see pp. 23, 394).\n\n[152]See p. 321.\n\n[153]See these enumerated at p. 528.\n\n[154]See Mr. Clements Markham\u2019s Tibet, p. cxiii.\n\n[155]This was the Buddha\u2019s attitude when he died (see pp. 50, 241). He\n    is called \u2018a Lion.\u2019 (See note 2, p. 332.)\n\n[156]See my \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 367.\n\n[157]I found, when in the South of India, that an image of Bhav\u0101n\u012b in a\n    Hind\u016b temple was very like that of the Virgin Mary in an adjacent\n    Roman Catholic Church. I was told that the same Hind\u016b carver carved\n    both.\n\n[158]We know that Hind\u016bism, in the end, adopted Buddha himself, and\n    converted him into one of the incarnations of Vish\u1e47u (see\n    \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 114).\n\n[159]These good deities, according to Schlagintweit, are represented\n    with formidable countenances and dark complexions, and a third eye\n    in the forehead\u2014probably the eye of wisdom, as in the Dhy\u0101ni-Buddhas\n    (see p. 203 of these Lectures).\n\n[160]See the account of the female demons called Tanma at p. 457 of\n    these Lectures.\n\n[161]The shape is not quite the same as that of the Phurbu, but there\n    can be no doubt of its being a kindred weapon. I purchased my\n    specimen at D\u0101rj\u012bling, and was assured that it came from Tibet, and\n    was used by the Tibetans in the same way as the Phurbu.\n\n[162]See \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 345.\n\n[163]See my work on \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 pp. 357, 358, 370, etc.\n\n[164]See the translation of a horoscope given in \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and\n    Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 373.\n\n[165]According to Schlagintweit, those amulets which are curved round to\n    a point are intended to represent the leaf of the sacred fig-tree.\n\n[166]In this it did good service, at least for a time; for the cost of\n    marriage-ceremonies among the Hind\u016bs often cripples the resources of\n    a family for years. The marriage of the poorest persons sometimes\n    entails expenses in gifts to the Br\u0101hmans, etc., to the amount of\n    300 rupees.\n\n[167]Mr. Scott points out in his \u2018Burman\u2019 that this is especially the\n    case in Burma.\n\n[168]Scott\u2019s \u2018Burman,\u2019 p. 125.\n\n[169]My authority for this is Mr. J. F. Dickson\u2019s pamphlet called \u2018Notes\n    and illustrations of Buddhism,\u2019 etc.\n\n[170]Scott\u2019s \u2018Burman,\u2019 i. 282.\n\n[171]The D\u0101gabas of laymen have no umbrellas at the top (see p. 505).\n    This privilege is only accorded to the monkhood (Scott\u2019s \u2018Burman\u2019).\n\n[172]This is mentioned by Huc as well as by Koeppen.\n\n[173]He is sometimes represented seated on a Lotus, or born from a\n    Lotus.\n\n[174]Om is borrowed from the Hind\u016bs. It is their most sacred syllable,\n    symbolical of their triad of gods, Brahm\u0101, Vish\u1e47u, and \u1e60iva, denoted\n    by the three mystical letter A, U, M (see my \u2018Br\u0101hmanism,\u2019 p. 402).\n    When imported into Buddhism it may possibly symbolize the Buddhist\n    triad. Om is sometimes translated by Hail! H\u016bm, as a particle of\n    solemn assent, is sometimes translated by Amen! I prefer to treat\n    both Om and H\u016bm as untranslatable ejaculations.\n\n[175]I had formed this opinion long before I saw the same view hinted at\n    in one of Koeppen\u2019s notes (see my \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 33).\n    It is certainly remarkable that the name Ma\u1e47i is applied to the male\n    organ, and the female is compared to a lotus-blossom in the\n    K\u0101ma-\u1e61\u0101stras. I fully believe the formula to have a phallic meaning,\n    because Tibetan Buddhism is undoubtedly connected with \u1e60aivism.\n\n[176]Some think, however, that the six syllables owe their efficacy to\n    their symbolizing the six P\u0101ramit\u0101s or transcendent virtues.\n\n[177]Dr. Schlagintweit mentions (p. 121) that when Baron Schilling\n    visited a certain convent he found the L\u0101mas occupied in preparing\n    100 million copies of Om ma\u1e47i padme H\u016bm to be inserted in a\n    prayer-cylinder. He also states that the inscription relating to the\n    foundation of the monastery of Hemis in Lad\u0101k (see p. 433 of these\n    Lectures) records the setting up of 300,000 prayer-cylinders along\n    the walls and passages of the monastery.\n\n[178]The _Ma\u1e47i-padme_ prayer is itself for shortness often called Ma\u1e47i.\n\n[179]St\u016bpas and \u0106aityas are explained at p. 504.\n\n[180]So says Schlagintweit, but he adds that in some places passers by\n    keep them to the right. Mr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s also mentions this.\n\n[181]According to Sir Richard Temple (Journal, p. 198) travellers walk\n    first on one side and then on the other.\n\n[182]Schlagintweit (p. 253) says this is the horse which constitutes one\n    of the seven treasures (see p. 528 of these Lectures). It brings\n    good fortune to the man who keeps it flying on a flag.\n\n[183]The gem called Norbu is another of the seven treasures.\n\n[184]Dr. Schlagintweit says that a Dh\u0101ra\u1e47i to the following effect is\n    often written on the flag: \u2018Tiger, Lion, Eagle, and Dragon, may they\n    co-operate Sarva-du-du-hom! (\u2018Tibetan Buddhism,\u2019 p. 255).\n\n[185]The number 108 seems sacred, as the sole of Buddha\u2019s foot is said\n    to have that number of marks upon it.\n\n[186]Common people in Buddhist countries are satisfied with 30 or 40\n    beads.\n\n[187]This is a great Tibetan saint, author of a hundred thousand songs.\n\n[188]Translated for me by Mr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s, who was my companion\n    during part of my sojourn at D\u0101rj\u012bling.\n\n[189]Hiouen Thsang says that this place is near Pray\u0101ga (the modern\n    Allah\u0101b\u0101d), and that A\u1e61oka built a St\u016bpa there. (Beal, i. 231.)\n\n[190]General Sir A. Cunningham puts the date at about A.D. 150.\n\n[191]See the account given in \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 442.\n\n[192]Many images and sculptures were abstracted by the Burmese, but many\n    never reached Burma, for they accidentally fell into the Ganges in\n    the process of being transported there. The colossal image found\n    outside the temple is now in the Calcutta Museum (see the engraving\n    opposite to p. 466).\n\n[193]Mr. Beglar gave me specimens of the fragments, which I have still.\n\n[194]The umbrella is symbolical of supremacy. See p. 523.\n\n[195]The lion is often associated with Buddha, who is called \u1e60\u0101kya-si\u1e49ha\n    (see p. 23), and whose throne is therefore called a _Si\u1e49h\u0101san_.\n\n[196]This will be evident to any one who examines it attentively. The\n    socket-hole of the umbrella-ornament may be easily detected.\n\n[197]The form of ritual observed was like that I witnessed at Gay\u0101, and\n    described in my \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 310.\n\n[198]See my \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 434.\n\n[199]That is, \u2018the lord of deer.\u2019 S\u0101ra\u1e45ga is a kind of deer, and the\n    Buddha was probably called so because he is fabled to have wandered\n    about as a deer in this very place in one of his former births (see\n    p. 111 of this volume). The legend is that he was born eleven times\n    as a deer, and on this account a deer is one of the sacred symbols\n    of Buddhism. We learn from General Sir A. Cunningham (i. 105) that\n    the name S\u0101rn\u0101th properly belongs to a temple dedicated to \u1e60iva near\n    the Buddhist monument, and the epithet \u2018Lord of deer,\u2019 is equally\n    applicable to the god \u1e60iva, who is often represented in the act of\n    holding up a deer in his hand.\n\n[200]The name Dhamek may possibly be a corruption of Dhamma-\u0107akka\n    (Dharma-\u0107akra).\n\n[201]F\u0101-hien says that the old city was girdled by five hills. These\n    hills are now called Baibh\u0101r (on which are five Jain temples),\n    Vipula, Ratna, Udaya, and Sona-giri. A long account of the place\n    will be found in Cunningham\u2019s \u2018Ancient Geography of India,\u2019 pp.\n    462-468, and in his \u2018Arch\u00e6ological Report,\u2019 i. 20. Bimbi-s\u0101ra seems\n    to have built the town, which was afterwards improved by\n    Aj\u0101ta-\u1e61atru, and the site of the new portion being not quite\n    identical, the new town was called \u2018new R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha.\u2019 Legge\u2019s\n    \u2018F\u0101-hien,\u2019 p. 81. There are several hot springs in this locality.\n\n[202]Aj\u0101ta-\u1e61atru seems first to have sided with Buddha\u2019s enemy\n    Deva-datta.\n\n[203]It may be mentioned here that any place or house in which the\n    Buddha resided for a time was afterwards called Gandha-ku\u1e6d\u012b\n    (probably from the fragrance of the perfumed offerings always to be\n    found in it). Hence the Bambu grove at R\u0101ja-g\u1e5biha, and the Jeta-vana\n    at Sr\u0101vast\u012b (p. 407), were both Gandha-ku\u1e6d\u012bs.\n\n[204]A magnificent edition of this work in Tibetan, Mongol, Manchu, and\n    Chinese came into the possession of the French Missionaries (Huc,\n    ii. 74).\n\n[205]Here, therefore, there was a Gandha-ku\u1e6d\u012b (see note, p. 404).\n\n[206]F\u0101-hien says, \u2018Here lived Buddha for a longer time than at any\n    other place,\u2019 and on that account, perhaps, was called\n    Dharma-pattana (Beal\u2019s \u2018Records,\u2019 ii. 1). It was at this place that\n    the Brahma\u0107\u0101r\u012bns killed a courtesan, and accused Buddha of adultery\n    and murder (see Legge, p. 59; Beal, ii. 8).\n\n[207]Legge, pp. 57, 59; Beal, ii. 5.\n\n[208]Another statue, claiming to be the genuine sandal-wood image, was\n    at Kau\u1e61\u0101mb\u012b (see p. 412).\n\n[209]A k\u016b\u1e6d\u0101g\u0101ra is properly any building with a peaked roof (k\u016b\u1e6da) or\n    pinnacle.\n\n[210]Cunningham (i. 301) gives a full account of the place.\n\n[211]The story is fully narrated in the second and third books of the\n    Kath\u0101-sarit-s\u0101gara of Soma Deva. See my \u2018Indian Wisdom,\u2019 p. 511.\n    King Udayana is said to have been a contemporary of the Buddha.\n\n[212]See my \u2018Indian Wisdom,\u2019 p. 486.\n\n[213]See Hiouen Thsang\u2019s account of it, p. 471. Another similar image\n    belonged to King Prasenajit at \u1e60r\u0101vast\u012b, see pp. 408, 471.\n\n[214]The name is said to have been derived from that of a N\u0101ga, who\n    lived in a neighbouring tank. See the description in two Chinese\n    Buddhist inscriptions found at Buddha-Gay\u0101. R. A. S. Journal, vol.\n    xiii.\n\n[215]This Utpal\u0101 must be the same as Utpala-var\u1e47\u0101 (see p. 48 of this\n    volume).\n\n[216]A Yojana is variously estimated at 4 or 5 or 9 English miles.\n\n[217]Hiouen Thsang states that this name, which means a \u2018hump-backed\n    virgin,\u2019 is derived from the fact that an old sage (\u1e5aishi), who\n    possessed supernatural powers, cursed ninety-nine daughters of king\n    Brahma-datta for refusing to marry him, and made them deformed\n    (Beal, i. 209). A different legend is given in my Sansk\u1e5bit-English\n    Dictionary.\n\n[218]This is very instructive in regard to the numerical proportion\n    between Br\u0101hmans and Buddhists at this place.\n\n[219]According to Cunningham, about B.C. 450.\n\n[220]One for each of the 84,000 elements of the body (p. 499). The real\n    number of St\u016bpas was 84, but, as usual, three ciphers have been\n    added.\n\n[221]It is difficult to understand exactly what these A\u1e0d\u1e0dhayoga, Pr\u0101s\u0101da\n    and Harmya were. In some Buddhist countries storied houses are\n    considered objectionable, as no one likes to submit to the indignity\n    of having the feet of another person above his head.\n\n[222]The objection to the hollow of trees was that spirits, ghosts, and\n    goblins often took up their abode there.\n\n[223]The term Vih\u0101ra was afterwards usually applied to temples, or to\n    buildings combining temple and monastery in one.\n\n[224]Some authorities place them in the sixth century of our era.\n\n[225]This is curiously illustrated in a recent letter from a resident in\n    Burma to the Editor of the _Times_ newspaper, in which it is stated\n    that about six months after King Theebaw had been deported, some of\n    his things were exhibited by us in the lower rooms of the Rangoon\n    Museum, to the great disgust of his Burmese admirers, who asked,\n    \u2018how we dared place their king\u2019s things in a lower room where people\n    could walk above them?\u2019\n\n[226]It is for this reason that in the Tibetan language they are called\n    Gonpa.\n\n[227]So described in a pamphlet on Buddhist Monasteries in Lahoul, by a\n    Moravian Missionary.\n\n[228]Mr. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s gives the names of 1026 monasteries. Koeppen\n    makes 3000 monasteries and 84,000 L\u0101mas.\n\n[229]A small river flowing into the Tsanpo or Brahma-putra.\n\n[230]The hill is called Potala, and the palace-monastery is named after\n    it. Koeppen says it has three peaks, but the illustration in\n    Markham\u2019s account of Manning\u2019s journey (p. 256) shows three long\n    summits rather than peaks. The hill is called Buddha-la by Huc (ii.\n    140), but Koeppen (ii. 341) is more correct in stating that Potala\n    is the name of a sea-port on the river Indus, called Pattala by the\n    Greeks, and now Tatta. There is a tradition that this Potala was the\n    original home of the \u1e60\u0101kya tribe (see p. 21 of this volume).\n\n[231]Koeppen translates this by the German sau, but says it may also\n    mean \u2018Hintere Berg.\u2019\n\n[232]Messrs. Huc and Gabet failed in their attempt to obtain an\n    interview with the Dalai L\u0101ma of 1846.\n\n[233]It may also mean temple of Lh\u0101ssa and \u2018abode of gods,\u2019 in which\n    case L\u0101 would be for Lh\u0101.\n\n[234]Huc says \u2018four leagues;\u2019 Koeppen \u2018drei meilen,\u2019 which is incorrect.\n\n[235]These are also mentioned by Sarat Chandra D\u0101s and by Markham (p.\n    130, note 3), and again, differently spelt, at p. 264, note 1.\n\n[236]For his services as an explorer and surveyor Nain Singh enjoys a\n    Government pension, and has been awarded the gold medal of the\n    Geographical Society. Sarat Chandra D\u0101s has been made a C.I.E.\n\n[237]My authority for all these details is Dr. Burgess\u2019 Report.\n\n[238]Copies of these were made for me by a Sinhalese artist.\n\n[239]In this description I have chiefly followed Mr. Scott.\n\n[240]This description is based on Koeppen, ii. 234, and on the narrative\n    of Sarat Chandra D\u0101s\u2019 journey in 1881, 1882.\n\n[241]Sarat Chandra D\u0101s mentions a \u2018flag-pole forty feet high, on which\n    are some inscriptions, two tufts of yak hair, and several yak and\n    sheep-horns.\u2019 Possibly this may be the obelisk mentioned by Koeppen.\n\n[242]One of these is the terrific goddess Paldan (p. 491), worshipped by\n    all Tibetans and Mongols, and identified with the goddess K\u0101l\u012b.\n\n[243]My authority for this is Bishop Edward Bickersteth, the present\n    Bishop in Japan.\n\n[244]See my \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism\u2019 (published by Mr. Murray of\n    Albemarle Street), pp. 2-20.\n\n[245]Another ancient statue but not so old, though of a highly\n    interesting type, was procured by me (for the Indian Institute at\n    Oxford) from Buddha-Gay\u0101 on the occasion of my last visit in 1884,\n    through the kind assistance of Mr. Beglar. It is in the erect\n    attitude.\n\n[246]See \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 214.\n\n[247]A good example of this tight-fitting robe is afforded by the\n    ancient statue of the Buddha, mentioned at p. 467, note.\n\n[248]When Gautama renounced his family and caste, he doubtless discarded\n    the cord, just as a true Sanny\u0101s\u012b is required to do (p. 78).\n\n[249]In the Jaina statues, the lobes of the ears, so far as I have\n    observed, always touch the shoulders.\n\n[250]Some think that this represents the wheel of the \u0106akra-vart\u012b\n    emperor, or the wheel of the law, or the cycle of causes, or the\n    continual revolution of births, deaths, and re-births. Dr. Mitra\n    maintains that a lotus, and not a wheel, is always intended, though\n    the lotus is often so badly carved that it may pass for any circular\n    ornament.\n\n[251]Dr. Rajendral\u0101la Mitra considers that curly locks were given to\n    Gautama Buddha because the possession of curls is believed to be an\n    auspicious sign. Some have actually inferred from the curl-like\n    knobs, that Buddha was a negro!\n\n[252]See Dr. Edkins\u2019 \u2018Chinese Buddhism\u2019 (p. 256).\n\n[253]See Lalita-vistara (Calc. ed.), pp. 402, 403, 449, ll. 6-14.\n\n[254]See my remarks on the worship of serpents in \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and\n    Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 319; and Fergusson\u2019s great work, \u2018Tree and Serpent\n    Worship.\u2019\n\n[255]There is a striking parallel in a well-known picture by Bernardino\n    Luini (of the Milan school) of \u2018Christ disputing with the Doctors\u2019\n    to be seen in our National Gallery.\n\n[256]Procured for me by Mr. Burrows, of the Ceylon Civil Service.\n\n[257]See especially an image in the British Museum. In China Bas-relief\n    images of Buddha are sometimes inserted by Buddhist priests in large\n    mussel-shells while the animal is living, and are covered by it with\n    a coating of mother of pearl. This they call a miracle. An example\n    is in the Indian Institute, presented by Mrs. Newman Smith.\n\n[258]The sculptured figures of Padma-p\u0101\u1e47i observed by me in the caves of\n    Elor\u0101 represent him with Amit\u0101bha in his head-dress.\n\n[259]Observe that Sang Yun, as there given, is more correctly spelt Sung\n    Yun or Sung-Yun.\n\n[260]Compare Hardy\u2019s \u2018Monachism,\u2019 p. 212.\n\n[261]See Hardy\u2019s \u2018Eastern Monachism,\u2019 p. 192.\n\n[262]See my \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 303.\n\n[263]\u2018Mah\u0101-p.\u2019 p. 51. \u2018Milinda Pa\u00f1ha,\u2019 p. 177. \u2018It is certainly\n    noteworthy,\u2019 says Oldenberg, \u2018that as the care for Buddha\u2019s remains\n    is not represented as belonging to the disciples, so the Vinaya\n    texts are nearly silent as to the last honours of the deceased\n    monks. To arrange for their cremation was probably committed to the\n    laity.\u2019\n\n[264]Subsequently called Pur\u012b, and noted for the worship of Jagan-n\u0101th\n    or K\u1e5bish\u1e47a, who became the successor of Buddha as an object of\n    worship (see p. 166 of this volume).\n\n[265]Hardy\u2019s \u2018Eastern Monachism,\u2019 p. 224. The size of the tooth does not\n    seem very preposterous, on the assumption of the truth of the\n    tradition that Gautama attained to the stature of twenty cubits.\n\n[266]Mr. Lesley, in his \u2018Lectures on the Origin and Destiny of Man,\u2019\n    states that there are two foot-prints sculptured on the summit of\n    Mount Olivet, and worshipped by pilgrims as the marks left when\n    Christ sprang into the sky at His ascension. There is another\n    alleged foot-print of Christ in the Mosque of Omar, and two\n    foot-prints at Poitiers in France. There are two foot-prints of\n    Ishmael in the temple at Mecca. This is mentioned by Mr. Alabaster\n    (p. 262).\n\n[267]Or according to some the \u1e60\u0101lmali or Silk-cotton tree (S\u012bmal).\n\n[268]Spence Hardy\u2019s \u2018Eastern Monachism,\u2019 p. 215.\n\n[269]I conjecture that the Mu\u0107alinda-tree may have been the Sandal, for\n    it is described in Sansk\u1e5bit literature as infested by snakes. The\n    fact of a serpent having emerged from the roots of this tree and\n    protected the Buddha instead of injuring him, may account for the\n    sacred character of the sandal-wood statue (see p. 408).\n\n[270]Hardy\u2019s \u2018Eastern Monachism,\u2019 p. 212.\n\n[271]I noticed a fine specimen of this tree growing in the courtyard of\n    the temple of the god Brahm\u0101 at Pokhar, near \u0100jmere, visited by me\n    in 1884. Near it were two Banyan trees, a N\u012bm tree, and A\u1e61oka tree.\n    Brahm\u0101\u2019s other temple at Idar was not visited by me.\n\n[272]Compare my translation of \u2018\u1e60akuntal\u0101,\u2019 pp. 90, 91 (fifth edition).\n    The Christmas-tree with its suspended gifts offers a curious and\n    interesting analogy. The wonderful tree described by Messrs. Huc and\n    Gabet as seen by them (vol. ii. p. 53, Hazlett\u2019s translation) can\n    only be regarded as an example of a remarkably clever hoax.\n\n[273]Mr. R. Sewell has written an interesting article on \u2018Early Buddhist\n    Symbolism,\u2019 in which he connects certain symbols with solar ideas\n    derived from the West. Mr. Frederic Pincott thinks that the triple\n    symbol stands for the ancient Y of the \u2018Ye dharm\u0101\u2019 formula.\n\n[274]See my \u2018Modern India,\u2019 p. 193, published by Messrs. Tr\u00fcbner and\n    Co., and \u2018Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism,\u2019 p. 127.\n\n[275]The Jaugada inscription has two Svastikas, the arms in each of\n    which are bent in opposite directions.\n\n[276]The expression Jainism corresponds to \u1e60aivism, just as Jaina does\n    to \u1e60aiva. Consistency would require Bauddhism and Bauddha for\n    Buddhism and Buddhist, but I fear the latter expressions are too\n    firmly established.\n\n[277]Niga\u1e47\u1e6dha (also spelt Niggantha) is from the Sansk\u1e5bit Nir-grantha,\n    \u2018having no ties or worldly associations.\u2019\n\n[278]Cicero (De natura deorum) derives _religion_ from relego, and\n    explains it as a diligent practice of prayer and worship. Others\n    have derived it from religo, and hold that it means \u2018binding to\n    God.\u2019\n\n[279]Here is an extract from a book called \u2018The Mystery of the Ages,\u2019\n    published in 1887:\u2014\u2018Buddhism is the Christianity of the East, and,\n    as such, even in better conservation than is Christianity, the\n    Buddhism of the West.\u2019\n\n[280]As instances of the trivialities I give the following from the\n    \u0106ulla-vagga (Sacred Books of the East, vol. xx. v, 31, p. 146; v, 9.\n    5, p. 87):\u2014\n\n    \u2018Now at that time the Bhikkhus hung up their bowls on pins in the\n    walls, or on hooks. The pins or hooks falling down, the bowls were\n    broken. They told this matter to the Blessed One. \u201cYou are not, O\n    Bhikkhus, to hang your bowls up. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty\n    of a dukkata\u201d (offence). Now at that time the Bhikkhus put their\n    bowls down on a bed, or a chair; and sitting down thoughtlessly they\n    upset them, and the bowls were broken. They told this matter to the\n    Blessed One. \u201cYou are not, O Bhikkhus, to put your bowls on a bed,\n    or on a chair. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty of a dukkata\u201d\n    (offence). Now at that time the Bhikkhus kept their bowls on their\n    laps; and rising up thoughtlessly they upset them, and the bowls\n    were broken. They told this matter to the Blessed One. \u201cYou are not,\n    O Bhikkhus, to keep your bowls on your laps. Whosoever does so,\n    shall be guilty of a dukkata\u201d (offence). Now at that time the\n    Bhikkhus put their bowls down on a sunshade; and the sunshade being\n    lifted up by a whirlwind, the bowls rolled over and were broken.\n    They told this matter to the Blessed One. \u201cYou are not, O Bhikkhus,\n    to put your bowls down on a sunshade. Whosoever does so, shall be\n    guilty of a dukkata.\u201d Now at that time the Bhikkhus, when they were\n    holding the bowls in their hands, opened the door. The door\n    springing back, the bowls were broken. They told this matter to the\n    Blessed One. \u201cYou are not, O Bhikkhus, to open the door with your\n    bowls in your hands. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty of a\n    dukkata.\u201d Now at that time the Bhikkhus did not use tooth-sticks,\n    and their mouths got a bad odour. They told this matter to the\n    Blessed One. \u201cThere are these five disadvantages, O Bhikkhus, in not\n    using tooth-sticks\u2014it is bad for the eyes\u2014the mouth becomes\n    bad-smelling\u2014the passages by which the flavours of the food pass are\n    not pure\u2014bile and phlegm get into the food\u2014and the food does not\n    taste well to him who does not use them. These are the five\n    disadvantages, O Bhikkhus, in not using tooth-sticks.\u201d \u201cThere are\n    five advantages, O Bhikkhus\u201d (etc., the converse of the last). \u201cI\n    allow you, O Bhikkhus, tooth-sticks.\u201d Now at that time the\n    \u0106habbaggiya Bhikkhus used long tooth-sticks; and even struck the\n    S\u0101ma\u1e47eras with them. They told this matter to the Blessed One. \u201cYou\n    are not, O Bhikkhus, to use too long tooth-sticks. Whosoever does\n    so, shall be guilty of a dukkata. I allow you, O Bhikkhus,\n    tooth-sticks up to eight finger-breadths in length. And S\u0101ma\u1e47eras\n    are not to be struck with them. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty\n    of a dukkata.\u201d Now at that time a certain Bhikkhu, when using too\n    short a tooth-stick got it stuck in his throat. They told this\n    matter to the Blessed One. \u201cYou are not, O Bhikkhus, to use too\n    short a tooth-stick. Whosoever does so, shall be guilty of a\n    dukkata. I allow you, O Bhikkhus, tooth-sticks four finger-breadths\n    long at the least.\u201d\u2019\n\n[281]Although this Lecture was written and in type before the\n    publication of the Bishop of Colombo\u2019s article in the July (1888)\n    number of the \u2018Nineteenth Century,\u2019 I need not say that I wish here,\n    as the Bishop has done, to draw attention to the collection of\n    \u2018moral horrors\u2019 existing in some parts of the P\u0101r\u0101jika books\u2014the\n    disgusting detail of every conceivable form of revolting vice,\n    supposed to be perpetrated or perpetrable by monks.\n\n[282]Dr. Kellogg, in his excellent work, \u2018the Light of Asia and the\n    Light of the World,\u2019 well criticizes Professor Seydel\u2019s\n    Buddhist-Christian Harmony, as well as the Professor\u2019s views on this\n    point expressed in his work entitled \u2018Das Evangelium von Jesu in\n    Seinen Verh\u00e4ltnissen zu Buddha-Sage und Buddha-Lehre.\u2019 Leipzig,\n    1880.\n\n[283]It is true that in the Lalita-vistara Buddha is described in terms\n    which appear to assimilate his character to the Christian conception\n    of a Saviour; but how could any man, however good and great, have\n    any claim to be called either a Saviour or Redeemer, who only\n    revealed to his fellow-men such a method of getting rid of pain and\n    suffering, through their own works and merits, as must lead them in\n    the end to extinction of all personal existence? The very essence of\n    Christ\u2019s character as a Saviour is His divine power of transferring\n    His own perfect merits to imperfect men, and leading them from death\n    to eternal life, not to eternal extinction of life.\n\n[284]In regard to the Buddhist doctrine of terrific purgatorial torments\n    in some of the numerous Hells see p. 120 of this volume.\n\n[285]See Dhamma-pada, 127.\n\n[286]I have not followed the exact words in our authorized translation\n    of St. Luke iv. 18, because they must be taken with Isaiah.\n\n[287]Exodus iii. 14.\n\n[288]St. Matthew xi. 5.\n\n[289]Sacred Books of the East, xiii. 133.\n\n[290]It is necessary to point out that these acts of self-sacrifice took\n    place in former states of existence, for when a man becomes a Buddha\n    he has no need to gain merit by self-sacrifice.\n\n[291]See p. 130.\n\n[292]A Buddhist writer in a Buddhist magazine, published in Ceylon, has\n    lately taken me to task for asserting in a recent speech that\n    Christianity denies the all-sufficiency of good works as an\n    instrument of salvation. It is easy to quote passages, such as those\n    in the epistle of St. James, in support of his one-sided view of\n    this question, but I need scarcely say that the writer has much to\n    learn as to the true character of our Bible, in which no text has\n    full force without its context, and no part can be taken to\n    establish a doctrine without a comparison with other parts, and\n    without the balancing of apparent contradictions in both Old and New\n    Testaments.\n\n\n\n\n                      _WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR._\n\n\n  _Br\u0101hmanism and Hind\u016bism_, or Religious Thought and Life in India, as\n  based on the Veda and other Sacred Books of the Hind\u016bs. Third and\n  cheaper Edition, with full index. John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1887.\n  10_s._ 6_d._\n\n  _Indian Wisdom_, or Examples of the Religious, Philosophical, and\n  Ethical Doctrines of the Hind\u016bs: with a brief history of the chief\n  departments of Sansk\u1e5bit Literature, and some account of the past and\n  present condition of India, Moral and Intellectual.\n\n  _Modern India and the Indians_: A Series of Impressions, Notes, and\n  Essays. Fourth Edition, with index. Tr\u00fcbner & Co., Ludgate Hill. 1888.\n\n  _Hind\u016bism._ Published by the Society for Promoting Christian\n  Knowledge.\n\n  _Sansk\u1e5bit-English Dictionary._ Published at the University Press,\n  Oxford. Henry Frowde, 7 Paternoster Row. 1888.\n\n  _English-Sansk\u1e5bit Dictionary._ At the India Office.\n\n  _Practical Sansk\u1e5bit Grammar._ Fourth Edition. At the University Press,\n  Oxford. Henry Frowde, 7 Paternoster Row. 1877.\n\n  _Sansk\u1e5bit Manual with Exercises._ W. H. Allen & Co.\n\n  _\u1e60akuntal\u0101._ A Sansk\u1e5bit Drama, in Seven Acts; the Text, with critical\n  and explanatory notes and literal English translations. Second\n  Edition. At the University Press, Oxford. Henry Frowde, 7 Paternoster\n  Row. 1876. 8vo. cloth, 21_s._\n\n  _Vikramorras\u012b._ A Sansk\u1e5bit Drama. The Text. Stephen Austin, Hertford.\n\n  _A Free Translation in English Prose and Verse of the Sansk\u1e5bit Drama\n  \u1e60akoontal\u0101_, with a portrait of the heroine and her two friends. Fifth\n  Edition. John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1887. 7_s._ 6_d._ First\n  Edition printed on fine paper, illuminated and illustrated by Stephen\n  Austin, Hertford.\n\n  _Story of Nala_: A Sansk\u1e5bit Poem, with full Vocabulary and an improved\n  version of Dean Milman\u2019s Translation. University Press, Oxford, and 7\n  Paternoster Row.\n\n  _Application of the Roman Alphabet to the Languages of India._\n  Longmans.\n\n  _Practical Hind\u016bst\u0101n\u012b Grammar._ Longmans.\n\n  _B\u0101gh o Bah\u0101r._ The Hind\u016bst\u0101n\u012b Text in the Roman character. Longmans.\n\n\n\n\n                          Transcriber\u2019s Notes\n\n\n--Corrected palpable typos.\n\n--Incorporated most author\u2019s corrections into the text.\n\n--Inserted author\u2019s additions into additional footnotes tagged\n  \u201c\u2014_Corr._\u201d","title":"Buddhism, in Its Connexion with Brahmanism and Hinduism, and in Its Contrast with Christianity","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":159517}