on buddha and buddhism (january 1, 1856)

7/30/2019 On Buddha and Buddhism (January 1, 1856)

1/38

EarlyJournalContentonJSTOR,FreetoAnyoneintheWorld

Thisarticleisoneofnearly500,000scholarlyworksdigitizedandmadefreelyavailabletoeveryonein

theworldbyJSTOR.

KnownastheEarlyJournalContent,thissetofworksincluderesearcharticles,news,letters,andother

writingspublishedinmorethan200oftheoldestleadingacademicjournals.Theworksdatefromthe

mid-seventeenthtotheearlytwentiethcenturies.

WeencouragepeopletoreadandsharetheEarlyJournalContentopenlyandtotellothersthatthis

resourceexists.Peoplemaypostthiscontentonlineorredistributeinanywayfornon-commercial

purposes.

ReadmoreaboutEarlyJournalContentat http://about.jstor.org/participate-jstor/individuals/early-

journal-content.

JSTORisadigitallibraryofacademicjournals,books,andprimarysourceobjects.JSTORhelpspeople

discover,use,andbuilduponawiderangeofcontentthroughapowerfulresearchandteaching

platform,andpreservesthiscontentforfuturegenerations.JSTORispartofITHAKA,anot-for-profitorganizationthatalsoincludesIthakaS+RandPortico.FormoreinformationaboutJSTOR,please

[email protected].


2/38

229Art. XIII.?On Buddha and Buddhism. By Professor

Wilson, Director of the ll.A.S.[Read as a Lecture, April 8, 1854.]

Much has been written, much has been said in various places, andamongst them in this Socioty, about Buddha, and tho religious systemwhich bears his name, yet itmay bo suspected that the notions whichhavo been entertained and propagated, in many particulars relating toboth tho history and tho doctrines, have been adopted upon insufficientinformation and somewhat prematurely disseminated. Very copious

additions, and those of a highly authentic character, havo been, butvery recently, made to tho stock of materials which wo heretoforepossessed, and thero has scarcely yet been sufficient timo for theirdeliberate examination. Copious also and authentic as they are, (heyaro still incomplete, and much remains for Oriental scholars toaccomplish before it can bo said that the materials for such a historyof Buddha as shall command tho assent of all who study the subject,havo been conclusively provided. I have, therefore, no purpose ofproposing to you in tho views I am about to take, that you shouldconsider them as final; my only intention is to bring tho subjectbeforo you as it stands at present, with some of that additionalelucidation which is derivable front the many valuablo publicationsthat have recently appearod, and particularly from the learned andauthentic investigations of the late Eugene Burnouf, the only scholaras yet who has combined a knowledge of Sanscrit with that of Paliand Tibetan, and has been equally familiar with the Buddhistauthorities of the north and south of India: unfortunately ho hasbeen lost to us beforo ho had gone through the wido circuit of researchwhich ho had contemplated, and which he only was competent tohavo traversed; and although ho has accomplished more than anyother scholar, more than it would seem possible for any human abilityand industry to havo achieved, it is to bo deeply and for everregretted that his life was not spared to have effected all he hadintended, and for which ho was collecting, and had collected, manyvaluable and abundant materials. Still he has left us, in his Introduction t\rilistoiro do Bouddhisme, and in his posthumous work Lo

Lotus do la Bonne Loi, an immense mass of authentic informationwhich was not formerly within our reach, and which must contributoeffectually to rationalize the speculations that may be hazarded infuturo on Buddha and his faith. Some of thoso which have beenstarted by tho erudition and ingenuity of the learned in past ages will

vol. xvi, it


3/38

230 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.best introduco us to the opportunity we now have of ascertainingwhat is probable, if wo caunot positively affirm that it is all true.'It is sometimes supposed that tho classical authors supply us withevidence of the Buddhist religion in India three centuries before theera of Christianity, drawing this inferenco especially from tho fragments which remain of the writings of Megasthenes, tho ambassadorof Scloucus to Ohandragupta, about tho year n.o. 295, according to hislatest editor, Schwanbcck, and to whoso descriptions of various particulars respecting India tho other ancient writers are almost whollyindebted. It is well known that he divides the Indian philosophersinto two classes, tho Brachmanai and tho Sarmanai; and tho latter ithas been concluded intend the Sramauas, one of tho titles of thoBuddhist ascetics. This is not impossible. If wo trust to the traditionsof tho Buddhists, their founder lived at least two centuries before thomission of Megasthenes, and in that coso wo might oxpect to meetwith his disciples in tho descriptions of the ambassador. At tho sametime Sramana is not exclusively tho designation of a Buddhist, it isequally that of a Brahmanical ascetic, and its uso docs not positivolydetermine towhich class it is to be applied.1 In truth, it is clear from

what follows that tho Brahman was intended, for Mogasthones proceeds to say; "of the Sarmanai, tho most highly vonoratcd among themare tho Hyllobii," that is, as ho goes on to explain tho term, " thoso

who pass their lives in tho woods (?.ei'T.t? ci' t


4/38

BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM. 231Megasthenes; but when we como later down, or to tho early agesof Christianity, various curious notices of Buddhism occur in thowritings of the Fathers of the Church, which though meagre arc in thomain correct. Wo need not be surprised at this : there is no doubtthat Buddhism was in a highly flourishing state in India in the firstcenturies of Christianity, and it is not extraordinary that some indications of its diffusion should have found thoir way to Syria and Egypt.

Clemens of Alexandria, who lived towards tho close of tho secondcontury, had ovidontly heard of tho monastic practices, and of thopeculiar monuments or Topes of the Buddhists. When ho speaks oftho Brachmanai and tho Sarmanai as two distinct classes of Indian

philosophers, ho uses tho very words of Megasthenes, and merely,therefore, repeats his statement; but that ho docs not understandBuddhists by Sarniancs is clear enough, for ho proceeds to add, " theroaro of the Indians some who worship Buddha, or Boutta, whom theyhonour as a god"; and in another passago he observes: " those of thoIndians who are called Somnoi cultivate truth, foretell events, androverence certain pyramids in which they imagine tho bones of somodivinity are deposited ; they observo perpetual continence ; there aroalso maidcus termed Seinnai." Semnoi and Sonuiai might bo thoughtto have somo relation to Siamanas, but tho words, perhaps, bear onlythoir original purport, "venerable or sacred."

About thoiniddlo of tho following century, Porphyry repeatsinformation gathered from Bardesancs, who obtained it from thoIndian envoys sent to Antoninus; and although tho account is somewhat confused, thoro is an evident allusion to Buddhist practices."Thoro arc," ho says, "two divisions of tho Gyninosophists, Brachuians,and Sainaiiai,"?not Sarmanai, but Samanai,?"tho former aro so bybirth, tho latter by election, consisting of all those who give themselves up to the cultivation of sacred learning : they live in colleges,in dwollings, and temples constructed by the princes, abandoning theirfamilies and proporty : thoy aro summoned to prayer by the ringing ofa boll, and livo upon rico and fruits." Cyril of Alexandria also

mentions that tho Samamoans wcro tho philosophers of tho Bactrians,showing tho ox tension of Buddhism beyond tho confines of India; andat. Jerome, who, liko Cyril, livod at tho end of the fourtii andbeginning of tho fifth contury, was evidently acquainted withBuddhistical legends, for ho says that Buddha was believed to havobeen born of a virgin, and to havo como forth from his mother's side.From Cyril of Jerusalem and Ephraim, writers of tho middle of thofourth century, wo learn that Buddhism tainted somo of tho heresiesof tho early Christian Church, especially tho Munichumn, which tho

11 2


5/38

232 ??D?IIA AND BUDDHISM.latter terms tho Indian heresy; tho fortnor states that Tcrebinthus,the preceptor of Manes, the Persian Mani, took the name of Baudas.

Hydo and Beausobro explain this to mean no moro than that thoword Tcrebinthus in Greek was the same as Butam in Chaldaic, akind of tree; but the word in Cyril is Baudas, not Butem, and it ismoro likely that Tcrebinthus styled himself a Bauddha, or a Buddha,especially as an Indian origin was assigned to the doctrines he introduced. Epiphanius, indeed, explains how this happoucd by goinga step further. According to hint Scythian us, quasi Silky a, tho masterand instructor of Terobinthus, was an Arabian or Egyptian merchant,who had grown rich by trading with India, whenco ho imported notonly valuable merchandise, but heretical doctrines and books. Suidascalls Manes himself a Brahman, a pupil of Baudda, formerly calledTcrebinthus, who, coming into Persia, falsely pretended that ho wasborn of a virgin. Theso accounts are no doubt scanty and iu somorespects inaccurate, but they demonstrate clearly that the Buddhismof India was not wholly unknown to tho Christian writors betweenthe second and fifth centuries of our era.

Without at present referring moro particularly to the informationfurnished us by Chinese travellers in India between the third and sixthcenturies, we may next advert to tho strango theories which werogravely advanced, by men of tho highest repute in Europe for eruditionand sagacity, from tho middle to tho end of the last century, respectingthe origin and character of Buddha. Deeply interested by the accountswhich were transmitted to Europe by the missionaries of tho RomishChurch, who penetrated to Tibet, Japan, and China, as well as byother travellers to those countries, the members of the French Academyespecially, set to work to establish coincidences the most improbable,and identified Buddha with a variety of personages, imaginary or real,with whom no possible congruity existed; thus it was attempted toshow (hat Buddha was the same as the Thoth or Hermes of thoEgyptians,?the Turin of tho Etruscans; that ho was Mercury,Zoroaster, Pythagoras; tho Woden or Odin of tho Scandinavians:?Manes, tho author of the Man ?chacunheresy; and

even the divinoauthor of Christianity. These wero tho dreams of no ordinary men;and, besides, Giorgi and Paolino, we find amongst the speculators thonames of Iluct, Vossius, Fourmont, Leibnitz, and De Guignes.The influence and example of great names pervaded the inquiry,even after access to moro authentic information had been obtained,and shews itself in some of the early volumes of the researches of ourvenerable parent the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Thus Chambers isdivided between Mercury and Woden. Buchanan looks out for an


6/38

BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM. 233Egyptian or Abyssinian prototype, and even Sir William Jonesfluctuates between Woden and Sisac. In the first instance he observes :"nor can wo doubt that Wod or Odin was tho same with Budh;"but in a subsequent paper ho remarks: "we may safely concludethat Sacya or Sisak, about 200 years after Vyasa, cither in person,or by a colony from Egypt, imported into this country [India] thomild horcsy of tho ancient Bauddhas." This spirit of impossibleanalogies is, oven yet, not wholly extinct; and writers arc found toidentify Buddha with tho prophet Daniel, and to ascribo the appearance of Buddhism in India, to the captivity and dispersion of the Jews.

When, howover, a moro profound acquaintance with tho literatureof tho principal Buddhist nations began to shed genuine light uponthe subject, it soon scattered the shadows which tho darkness ofignoranco had begotten. Tho languages of the Chineso and of tho

Mongols, were assiduously studied in tho early part of tho presentcontury, especially by Klaproth, Remusat, and Schmidt; and thoapplication of their acquirements to the illustration of Buddhism, wasevinced in numerous interesting and authentic contributions to theearly volumes of tho Journal Asiatique, and the transactions of theImperial Academy of St. Pctersburgh, and more particularly in thecopious annotations which accompany tho French translation, by

Roiuusat, Klaproth, and Laudrcsso, of tho travels of tho Chinesepriest, Fa llian, in the end of tho fourth and beginning of the fifthcenturies. Valuable as this work undoubtedly is, as a Buddhistpicture of tho condition of India at that period, it would have beenin many respects almost unintelligible without tho amplification ofits briof notices into tho extensivo views of the system and its authors,which aro to bo found in tho notes attached to tho text; tho detailscontained in which aro mainly derived from tho Buddhist literatureof China, with somo accossions from that of thoMongols.In tho moan time, however, the interest, which had languished inIndia, subsequently to tho first vain concoits of the Bengal AsiaticSociety, revived ; and a whole flood of contributions of a character

equally novel and important was poured upon the public, both from thonorth and from the south. Tho former took the lead, and Buddhismas still prevalent inNepal and the adjacent Himalayan regions waszealously investigated by Mr. Hodgson, the results of whoso inquirieswere communicated to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and subsequentlyto tho Royal Asiatic Society. Besides the information which hohimself collected, he contributed still moro importantly to tho progressof tho investigation, by first bringing to our knowledge the existenceof a number of Buddhist writings in Sanscrit, as well as that of amost


7/38

234 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.voluminous body of works, chiefly if not exclusively Buddhist, in tholanguago of Tibet. Ho did more; ho procured the books', and in thoexercise of a sound judgment, as well as a gonorous liberality, sentthem where they wero likely to bo turned to good account, to thoseveral Asiatio Societies of Calcutta, London, and Paris. To tho former,between 1824 and 1830, ho presented nearly 50 volumes in Sanscrit,and 200 in Tibetan: to this Society he presented above 100 volumos inSanscrit and Tibetan, and at various dates ho forwarded to tho Soci?t?

Asiatique 88 volumes of Sanscrit, besides tho whole of tho greatTibetan collections, tho Kah-gyur and Stan-gyur, in more than 300volumes. Ho finally presented to tho East India Company, a copy ofthe two Tibetan collections, which aro now at tho India Houso.Mr. Hodgson sent these books to Europe, not, as M. Burnouf observes,hat they might slumbor iu undisturbed reposo upon tho shelves of alibrary, but that they might bo mado to yiold tho information thoy

might contain. That theso expectations havo not been wholly disappointed is due, I am sorry to say, to no zeal or acquirement nativo tothe soil; and tho books in tho Society's possession

havo dono littlomore than reposo in dust and oblivion upon tho shelves where thoywere originally deposited.The accumulations of Mr. Hodgson havo, howover, not been madoin vain. Tho Tibetan volumes especially were fortunate in findingnn expounder in Alexander Csoma K?'ri?si, whose ardent aspirationsafter kuowlcdgo led him, penniless and friendless, from Transylvaniato Ladakh, where, with the aid of our equally adventurous countryman

Moorcroft, ho was enabled to study andto master tho languago of

Tibet. Placed subsequently in communication with tho AsiatioSociety of Calcutta, ho dovotcd much of his timo to the examinationof the volumes of the Kah-gyur, and has given the results of his labourto the publie in tho Journals of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and inthe 20th vol. of tho llcscarchos; he has also afforded, by a grammarand dictionary of Tibetan, tho means of prosecuting tho cultivation ofthe languago in Europo; and tho Transactions of tho Imporial Acadomyof St. Pctersburgb,

as woll as other publications,ovinco tho scholar

ship of Mr. Schmidt in Tibotan as well as in tho literaturo of tho-Mongol?. Wo havo also a very valuable contribution to tho Historyof Buddhism in a lifo of Buddha, translated originally front Sanscritinto Tibetan, and from that languago into French, and published twoor three years sinco by M. Foucaux. M. Burnouf also qualified himselfto mako use of tho Tibetan books supplied by Mr. Hodgson, butfound abundant occupation for his time in translating from tho Sanscritoriginals. His Introduction to the History

of Buddhism contains copious


8/38

BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM. 235translations from many of tho principal Buddhist works, whilst thework published after his death, the " Lotus do la Bonno Loi," is atranslation of a Sanscrit Buddhist work which has been known to bohighly estimated for centurios whcrovor Buddhism is professed.At tho samo time that Hodgson and Csoma were illustrating theliterature of Buddjiism, as it existed in tho north of India, a likospirit of research animated tho regions of tho south, and the Palischolars of Ceylon began to draw from tho stores within their reach,now and valuablo sources of information. Besides various contributions to the Ceylon periodicals, and to tho Journal of tho BengalSociety, tho late Mr. Tumour has in his edition and translation of theMah?wanso furnished us with an authentic record of tho notionswhich are current not only amongst the people of Ceylon, but those ofAva and Siam, who belong to tho saino school, and whoso authoritiesaro identical. Tho course commenced by Mr. Tumour has beenfollowed up with great ability by tho Rev. Mr. Gogerly in the Friendof Coylon, and the proceedings of tho branch Asiatic Society institutedou tho island, whilst Mr. Hardy in his Eastern Monachism, andManual of Buddhism, has brought together all that is at present knownof tho Buddhism of tho South.

Wo aro not, therefore, in want now of genuino means of formingcorrect opinions of tho outlino of Buddhism, as to its doctrines amipractices, but thcro aro still questions of vital importanco to its historyfor tho solution of which our materials aro defective. Disregardingall tho fancies of speculation which aro based upon imperfect knowledge, and receiving with caution tho accounts given us by the Chinese

missionaries, tho most rational courso to bo adopted in seeking forinformation on which dependence may bo placed, is, to consult theworks which tho Buddhists themselves regard as their scriptures, andfrom which their own history and doctrines are derived : but then, whowill answer for tho authorities? what is the history, what is tho date,of tho numerous works that aro available, aud which consist oftwo great divisions, tho Sanscrit and tho Pali . and what is thecomparativo valu? of tho respective classes ? Aro they to beregarded as synchronous and independent 1 and if not, which istho senior, which h. tho original. These are questions which M.Burnouf himself declares cannot yet bo answered with confidence :an exact comparison between tho two scries of works, he declaresto bo impossible in tho prosont state of our knowledge. We are notyet in possession of all tho works that may exist in cither class, buteven if they wero all collected in any European library, they must boread and studied, translated and commented upon, and the translationsand comments must be published. This task, more tedious than difli


9/38

23? BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.cult, would require tho cooperation of many laborious and patientscholars, and upon its completion in a satisfactory manner couldcritical investigation alono commenceAlthough, however, it is perfectly true that conclusions on whichimplicit rolianco is to bo placed must bo preceded by such a series of

operations as M. Burnouf indicates, yet, as that preliminary processis indefinitely doferrcd and may novcr bo perfected, wo must bo content in tho meanwhilo to mako uso of such means as wo possess, andfrom them to form a conjectural approximation, if not a positivopropinquity, to tho solution of tho question upon which tho wholodepends?tho antiquity and authenticity of tho writings in which thoBuddhists themselves record tho history of thoir founder and tho doctrines which they maintain, aud from which alone wo can derivoinformation that is of any real valuo. The great body of the Buddhistwritings consists avowedly of translations ; tho Tibetan, Mongolian,Chinese, Cingalese, Burman, and Siamese books, are all declaredlytranslations of works written in the languago of India?that whichis commonly called Fan, or moro correctly Fan-lan-mo, or " tho lan

guago of the Brahmans ;"and then comes tho question, towhat languagodoes that term apply? docs it mean Sanscrit or docs it mean Pali?involving also tho question of the priority and originality of tho works

written in thoso languages respectively ; tho Sanscrit works as theyhavo como into our hands being found almost exclusively iu Nepal,those in Pali being obtainod chiefly from Coylon and Ava.Until very lately, tho language designated by tho Chinese Fan,was enveloped in some uncertainty. Fa Hian in tho fourth centurytakes with him Fan books not only front India but from Coylon, andthe latter it has been concluded were PAH. No Sanscrit Buddhist

works, as far as wo yet know, havo been met with in tho south anymore than Pali works in the north, although Sanscrit works aro nottiufrcqiicnt iu Ceylon iu the present day. Tho mystery, however, isnow cleared up. In the life and travels of IIwan Tsang, written bytwo of his scholars and translated from tho Chineso by M. Julien,the matter is placed beyond all disputo by tho description and by thoexamples which the Chinese traveller gives of tho construction of thoFan language, in which ho was himsolf a proficient, having beenengaged many years in the study whilst in India, and in translatingfrom it after his return to China. We learn then front him, that thowords of the Fan languago aro distinguished under two classes, Tinganta and Svp-anta* tho Sanscrit grammatical designations of verbsand nouns; that the former havo eighteen modifications or persons,in two divisions, nine in each, ono called Fan-to-sa-mi, or, in Sa.iscrit,l*ara$mai; the other Oia-mo-ni, or inSanscrit, Atmane, All verbs and


10/38

BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM. 237nouns have three numbers, singular, dual, and plural, of which hegives us examples both in conjugation and declension. All this isSanscrit; and what ismore to tho point, it is not Mngadhi, tho properdesignation of tho dialect termed in tho south Pali. No form of Prakrit,Pali included, has a dual member, and thotermination of the cases oftho noun are, in several respects, entirely distinct.1 H wan Tsang alsocorrectly adds that the grammar in uso in India, in his timo, was tho

1 The following examples nrc given by H wan Tnang of the inflexions of a verband noun :VERB.

Sanhkhit.iiin.:sb.Third Person.

Sing. P'opotiDu. P'o-po-paPL Pofan-tlSecond Person?

Sing. P'o-poHsoDu. P'o-popoPL Popo-t'a

First Person.Sing. P'opomiDu. P'opohoa

BhavatiBhavapa (for Bhavatah)Bhavanti

BhavasiBhavapa (for Bhavathah)Bhavatha

BhavfunlBliavAvahPI. P'o-pomo V.P'opo-mo-sac Bhavfunah

NOUN.Chinese.

Nominative.Sing. Pu-lushaDu. Pu-ht-shaoPL Pu-lu-sha-so

Accusative.Sing. Pu lushanDu. Pu lu-shauPt. Pulunhoang

Instrumental.Sing. Pnlu-fihai-naDu. Fu lusha-picni Pu-lu-hhapi

I Pulu-shasKODative.

Sing. Pu-hi-hin-yoDu. Pu-lu -shapicnPL Pu-lu-shaicho

Ablative.Sing. Pu lu-shatoDu. Pu-lusha-picnPL Pu-lu she cho

Genitive.Sing. Pu-lu aha-tsicDu. Pu lu

shapicnPL Pulu-sha-nan

SANSKRIT.

Puru?hahPurushauPurush??sPuriibhamI'uniHliaii

Purushau

PiirushcnaPuniHhfibhyfimPurushiibhih \Purushais /

PuriishfiyaPuni.sh?ibhy?lmPurushcshu (for Purushcbhyah)PurushiitPiuu.sh??bhy?imPurushcshu (for Purushcbhyah)

PurushatsyaPurushftbhyfim (for Purushayoh)Puru?liiiuum

En?I-ISH.

He isThey two arcThey arc

Thou artYou two aroYou aro

I amWc two aroAYe arc

English.

ManTwo menMenManTwo menMen

By a manBy two menBy men

To manTo two menTo men

From a manProm two menFrom men

Of a manOf two raenOf men


11/38

238 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM,work of a Brahman of the north, a nativo of Tula or S?latula, namedPo-ni-ni, or P?nini, the well known Sanscrit grammarian ; and he notices a form of tho verb peculiar to the Grammar of tho Vedas, (Fei-to).

Tho ovidenco of Hwan Teang, thcroforo, is conclusive as to tholanguago of the books which woro sought for and studied by the Chinese Buddhists in ludia, and carried with them to China, aud therotranslated into tho form and undor tho appollation in which thoy stillexist. Whether tho books they took from Ceylon wero Sanscrit or

Pali, wo havo no further indication than tho name Fan, which it seemsmost probablo that Fa Hian employed in the samo sonso as HwanTsang, or that of Sanscrit ; and it is also to bo observed that the principal works of Ceylon are subsequent to his time, which makes it further almost certain that thoFan books of Coylon wero also in Sanscrit.Tho Buddhist authorities of India Proper, then, wero undeniablySanscrit; those of Ceylon might havo been Pali or Miigadhi : werothey synchronous with the Sanscrit books, or were they older, or werothey younger, moro ancient or more modern ? To answer theso questions we must endeavour to determino their rolativo chronology, fromthe imperfect means which are within our reach. Both sets of authorities undoubtedly, Sanscrit and Pali, wero in oxistenco in the fifthand sixth centuries of our era. The Sanscrit works, according to thotestimony of Chinese travellers, wero carried from China to India invery considerable numbers from a much earlier dato ; in ono instancoit is said two years beforo Christ, but it was not till aftor a.D. 70,the date of the introduction of Buddhism into China, that they weroimported in any numbor, and not till tho third and fourth centuriesthat they had become very numerous. In

a Chineso history of celebrated Buddhist teachers, published botweon 502 and 556, and fromwhich M. Julien has given us extracts, a Buddhist priest namod Dharma,is said to havo brought to China one hundred and sixty-five works,amongst which were several that may bo readily identified with thoSanscrit works procured by Mr. Hodgson : wo cannot hesitate, for oxnniplo, to recognise in the Ching-fa-hua, meaning " Tho Flower of tho

Chinese. Sanskrit. English.Locative.

Siug. Pu-lu-sh'al Purusho In a manVu. Pu-lu-sha-yu Purushayoh In two menn. Pu-lu-sltai-tscu Purushcshu In men

Vocative.Sing. Hi(IIc)Pulu-_lia Purusha OmanDu. Hi (He) Pu-lu-sbao Purtishau O two menPI. IB (He) Pulu-slm Purushah O men

The verb docs not differ materially from tho Pali verb; but the inflexionalterminations of tho cases of the noun differ very widely: somo of them

arc minslated, but this is probably from errors of transcription.


12/38

BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM. 239right Law," tho Sad Dharma Pundar?ka, " Lo Lotus do la bonne Loi,"which, as has been mentioned, was the last labour of M. Burnouf. Ofthis work, repeated translations havo been mado into Chinese, tho firstof which dates a.d. 280, whilst of tho Laiita Vistara, or life of S?kyaMuni, tho earliost Chinese version was mado between A.n. 70?76.Wo may be satisfied, therefore, that tho principal Sanscrit authoritieswhich wo still possess wero composod by the beginning of the Christian era at least ;how much earlier is less easily determined.

According to tho Buddhists themselves, the doctrines of S?kyaMuni wero not committed to writing by him, but were orally communicated to his disciples, and transmitted in liko manner by them tosucceeding generations. When they were first written is not clearlymado out from tho traditions of tho north; but they agree with thoseof tho south in describing tho occurrence of different public councilsor convocations at which tho senior Buddhist priests corrected theerrors that had crept into tho teaching of heterodox disciples audagreed upon tho chief points of discipline and doctrine that were tobo promulgated. Tho first of these councils was held, it is said, immediately after Sakya Muni's death ; the second 110, and the third 218years afterwards, or about 240 u.c. Tho northern Buddhists confoundapparently tho second and third councils, or tako no notice of thelatter iu the timo of Asoka, but place tho third in Kashmir under thepatroimgo of Kanishka or Kanorka, ono of the Hindo-Sythic kings,400 years after Buddha's Nirvan, or b.c. 153. Both accounts agreothat the propagation of Buddhism, by missions dispatched for thatpurposo, took place after tho third council.

According to the traditions which aro current in the south as wellas tho north, the classification of tho Buddhist authorities as theTripithaka, (tho threo collections,) took placo at tho first council; theportion termed Sutra, tho doctrinal precepts, being compiled byAnanda; tho Vinaya, or disciplino of tho priesthood, by Up?li; andtho Abhidharma, or philosophical portion, by Kasyapa?all threeBuddha's disciples. Their compilations wero revised at tho secondcouncil, and wero finally established as canonical at tho last. Thoirbeing compiled, howovcr, docs not necessarily imply their beingwritten; and, according to tho northern Buddhists, they wero notcommitted to writing until after tho convocation in Kashmir, or153 n.c; whilst tho southern authorities state, that they weropreserved by memory for 450 years, and wero then first reduced towriting in Ceylon.It is to the former of these periods that M. Burnouf would ascribotho composition of the principal Sanscrit works which arc still extant.That they continued to bo written for four or fivo centuries afterwards


13/38

240 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.is obvious from internal cvidenco, and even from their number andextent. In the sixth century Hwau Tsang and his assistantstranslated 740 works, forming 1,335 volumes. Of these he himselftook to China C57, and thoy had been brought thither in greatnumbers before his time. There is also a considerable body of worksof a still more recent date, forming tho basis upon which manyadulterations have crept into Buddhism; evidently borrowed from thoTantras of tho Brahmans: 700 works, however, all undoubtedly priorto the sixth century, must have been tho work of many years, and havofurnished full occupation to tho Buddhist scholars of several ccnturios

preceding. We may consider it then established upon tho mostprobable evidence, that tho chief Sanscrit authorities of tho Buddhistsfctill in our possession wcro written, at tho latest, from a century andu half before, to as much after, the era of Christianity.Now what is tho case with [the Piili authorities of tho South?Wo have it most explicitly stated in the great Cingalese authority,tho Mah?wanso, that tho doctrines of Buddha wore handed downorally, for moro than four centuries after his death; and that theywere not reduced to writing till tho reign of Wattag?mini, betweenu.c. 104 and 7G. And that then the Pittakan wcro first written inP.ili, and the commentary upon them (tho Atthakatha) in Cingalese.The latter did not exist hiPali until thoffth century of tho Christianera, or between A.D. 410, 432, whon Buddhnghosa, originally a Brahman of Magadha, arrived in Ceylon, and gavo tho first impulse to thocultivation of his own dialect, tho Mdgadhi, to which tho people ofthe south have applied the term Piili; moaning, according to

M. Tumour, " perfect, regular." Tho word is not known in India : it isnot an Indian term. Buddlrighosa, it is said, repaired with his booksto Pegu, and thenco nlso dates tho introduction of Piili as tho sacredInngungo of the Buddhists of A va and Siam. Shortly after his time,or between A.n. 459 and 477, the other great Piili work of tho

CingA-leso (the Maluiwanso) was composed. Of the Dipawanso anotherof their authorities, tho date is not specified; but as it brings downthe history of Coylon to the beginning of tho fourth century when itwas left unfinished, and as Buddluighosa was tho main instrument ofintroducing the uso of Piili into Ceylon, it must bo of tho same period,or tho fifth century. Tho principal Piili works of tho South arc,therefore, of a period considerably subsequent to tho Sanscrit Buddhist ical writings of India Proper, and dato only from tho fifth centuryafter Christ. Their subsequent date might also bo inferred frominternal evidence; for, although they arc in all essential respects thovery same as tho Buddhist works of India?laying down tho samolaws and precepts aud narrating tho same marvellous legends?they


14/38

BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM. 241bear the characteristics of a later and less intellectual cultivation, intheir greater diffusoncss, and tho extravagant and puerile additionsthey frequently mako to the legendary matter. They seem also to bevery scantily supplied with tho Abhidharma or metaphysical portionof tho Tripithaka, as compared with the S?tra and Vinaya. Suchportions of tho Pittakan as havo been translated arc, however,essentially the same as tho Sanscrit Sutras, whilst tho Atthakathas, orthe commentaries, tako a moro discursive range, and are of a lessauthentic character; being in fact the compositions of Buddhaghosa,taken, as he himself states, not translated, from the Cingalese Atthakatha

which are no longer cxtaut. How much therefore is his own, cannotbo now determined.

Of the threo classes of works constituting the Tripithaka, that oftho Sfitras is historically the most important. A SAtra is properly abrief aphorism or precept, conveying a position or dogma in a fewconciso, and not unfrcqucntly obscuro, terms. The Buddhist Sutrasaro not exactly of this nature. Thoy are supposed to be the ipsissiinaverba of

S?kya himself,the Bttddha-vachana, repeated by

Ananda as behad heard them; and they all begin, whether inSanscrit or iu Pali, withthe expression : " This has been heard by me.?Etan-may? sriitam, Esoniayasuttain," They aro in tho form of a dialogue, in which thedisciplo asks questions and S?kya explains; illustrating his explanationby parables and legendary talcs of various extent. M. Burnouf hasshewn, however, that the Sfitras are of two different descriptions. Inono class, no doubt tho oldest, tho stylo is much more simple, and is

wholly prose;and the

legendsaro less extravagant. They

are calledby M. Burnouf, the simple Sutras. In the other, which tho Buddhiststhemselves term Vaipulya S ft tras, "expanded or developed Sutras,"the style is more diffuse, and is mixed prose and verse; and the latteris very remarkable, as containing many ungrammatical forms; thenarratives arc prolix and marvellous; and new persons arc introducedwho, although unknown to tho simplo Sutras, evidently performed aconspicuous part in the subsequent dissemination and corruption ofthe Buddhist religion; such aro N?g?rjuna or N?gasena, Manjusri, amiPadmap?ni, to the latter of whom the invocation that is now soconspicuous in tho temples of Nepal and Tibet is addressed under a

modified name iu ungrammatical Sanscrit, and with additions palpably borrowed from tho Tantras of the Brahmans?Out ! Mauipudiuo !

Hum I?-Glory to Manipadma?Hum I Another personage is also, forthe first time, introduced,?Avalokitcswara, who is regarded by theTibetans as their particular patron, ami who is an object of especial

worship to the Mongols and Chinese, amongst whom he is sometimes


15/38

242 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.represented as having eleven heads and eight arms; or sometimes athousand eyes and a thousand hands, as expressed by his Chinese namo

Kwan-shi-in. Many absurd legonds respecting this Bodhisatwa arocurrent amongst the Buddhists of the north, but they, and thomultiplied limbs of Avaloki teswara, are, no doubt, unauthorized additions, even to tho texts of the Vaipulya Sutras. Tho introductionof such legendary and mythological personages is, howovor, suflieiontevidenco that theso works are later than tho simplo Sutras, althoughmost of them were current in India when visited by tho Chineso intho fifth and sixth centuries.

It is, therefore, to the simplo Sutras that wo are to look for thoearliest and least corrupt form inwhich, according to Buddhist notions,the doctrines of their founder are delivered. M. Burnouf has givenus specimens in the M?ndhatri and Kanakavarna S?tras, portions of alarger work, tho Divya-avad?na; they record severally the names ofBuddha when ho was the king Mnndluitri, a namo well known inPauranik fiction, and when as king Kanakavarna, he gave away to aBodhisatwa tho last morsel of food which a long drought and faminohad left for his sole sustenance. Of courso this act of charity wasfollowed by an immediate fall of rain and the return of plenty. To

judge from these specimens, tho simplo S?tras, although tho earlier, aronot tho most interesting of the Buddhist writings, and details whicharo of moro valu? to tho history, if not to tho doctrino only, aro to bofound in tho Vnipulya S?tras?constituting tho authorities of thoMnhnyana, the great vehicle, which woro tho particular objects ofHwan Tsang's studies and collections. Amongst theso wo may particularize tho Laiita Vistara?tho expansion of the sports [of Buddha] ;being his life?and in Buddhist belief, his autobiography?havingbeen repeated by himself. Tho Sanscrit original is not vory raro inIndia, and tho Asiatic Society of Bengal has undertaken tho publication of the text and translation by Itnjcndra lalMitra: the first faseicloonly has appeared. Tho en tiro work has boon published at Paris,translated from the Tibetan, as I Iuiyo mentioned, by M. Foucaux,who has compared it carefully

with tho Sanscrit, and bears testimonyto the closeness of the Tibetan translation. He ascribes its compositionto a period subsequent to the third convocation, or about 150 years u.c.It was translated, as I have stated, into Chinese in tho first contury

after, which is compatible enough with tho date assigned to its firstcomposition, and there is internal evidence in favour of tho samo dato.It is, undoubtedly, subsequent to tho Mah?-bhdrata, which I havoelsewhere conjectured to be about two centuries prior to Christianity;for it is said, that when the choice of the family in which the

Buddha


16/38

BUDDHA AND BUDD??ISM. 243should be born was under consideration in the Tushita heaven, thatof tho P?ndavas of IIastinapura was objected to, because they hadfilled thoir genealogy with confusion, terming Yudhishthira the sonof Dharma, Bhfmasena the son of V?yu, Arjuua of Indra, Nakulaand Sahadeva of the Aswins; all very correct citations. In thoproofs also of his skill in archery which S?kya displays in his youth,ho pierces with his arrow an iron offigy of a boar, tho very feat whichArjuna performs, only that tho P?ndu prince achieves it within thoreasouablo compass of a meadow, whilst, iu the usual strain ofBuddhist exaggeration, S?kya hits tho mark at tho distance of ten kos,or twonty miles off: theso circumstances clearly refer to tho Hindupoem, and concur in placing tho ago of tho Laiita Vistara about acentury and a half beforo tho Christian era. It ombodios, however, nodoubt, tho traditions of an earlier date, traditions not long subsequentto tho first dissemination of the principles of Buddhism.The circumstances of Buddha's life, as told in tho Lalita Vistara,have furnished all the Buddhist nations with thoir traditions. Tholife and acts of Buddha aro always related to tho samo purport, andvery nearly in the same words, in Chinese, Tibetan, Mongolian, Pali,Burman, Siamese, and Cingalese. After an infinitude of births iuvarious characters, during ten millions of millions and ono hundred thousand millions of kalpas, the shortest of which consists of sixteen millionsof years, and tho longest of thirty-two millions; after this, ho attainedtho rank of Bodhisatwa, that which is inferior only to a Buddha, in theTushita heaven, whero he taught his doctrine to innumerable millionsof Bodhisatwas,

or future Buddhas, and gods and spirits; andwas

glorified by Sakra, Brahm?, Maheswara, Nagas, Gandharbas, Yaksbas,Asuras, and other creations of tho Brahmanical mythology. To risoto tho elevation of a perfect Buddha one existonco moro on earth

was nocessary, and ho, therefore, becomes incarnato as tho son of thoS?kya princo Suddhodana, king of Kapilavastu, and M?y? his wife:ho is born miraculously from his mothor's side, who died seven daysafter his birth : as soon as born ho took seven steps to each of thofour

quarters, announcingaloud his

supremacyin

language,which tho

Lalita Vistara and tho Buddhist writings of Ava and Ceylon similarlyrepeat, at least substantially. The Lalita Vistara, for instance, makeshim say in tho east; "I shall proceed, tho first of all existences, springing from the root of virtue :" in tho south, " I shall be worthy of theofferings of gods and men :" in the west, "This ismy last birth; I shallput an end to birth, old age, disease, and death :" in the north, " Ishall have no superior amongst beings." So Mr. Hardy, translatingfront various Buddhist works in Pali, says: "at his birth he was


17/38

244 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM,received by Mah? Brahm? in a golden net, from which ho was transferred to tho guardians of tho four quarters, who received him on atiger's skin, from the downs ho was received by tho nobles, who

wrapped him in folds of the finest and softest cloth, but at oncoBodhisat descended from their hands to tho ground, and looked to thofour points, and to the four half points, and above and below; whenhe looked towards the north ho proceeded seven steps in that directionand exclaimed: 'I am tho most exalted in the world. I am chiof intho world. I am tho most oxcellent in the world. Hereafter there isto mo no othor birth/" Tho legend is ovidently tho same althoughslightly varied.

Siddlmrtha, his namo as a prince, was educated as a prince,married to difi?rent wives, and led a life of pleasure and enjoyment,until the vanity of worldly existence was impressed upon his conviction by bis meeting, on tinco several occasions, with a sick man, acorpse, and a mendicant, on which ho resolved to abandon his royaltyand devote himself to solitary meditation. His father disapprovesof his intention, and places him under restraint; but ho makes hisescape miraculously by night, with ono attendant, and having reacheda convenient distance from tho city changes his dress with a hunter,?a demigod in disguise,?and with his sword cuts oft* his own hair.According to a Pali authority quoted by M. Biiruouf, this was thoorigin of tho curly hair of tho figures of Siikya, which induced earlyEuropean writers to consider him as of Abyssinian origin, for thohair, shortened to tho length of two fingers, turning upwards, romaincdin that position the rest of his life. Ho then engages in sacred studyunder different Brahmaus, but, dissatisfied with their teaching, retiresinto solitude, followed by five of his fellow-disciples, and for six yearspractises rigorous austerities : finding their effects upon tho bodyunfavourable to intellectual energy, he desists and adopts a morogenial course of life, on which his ?vo disciples quit him and he is leftalone. He is then assailed by the demon of wickedness, Mdra, "thokiller," who is identical with Knma-dcva, or tho God of Lovo; butterrors and temptations fail to disturb his serenity, and tho Tempteris compelled to acknowledge his defeat, and to withdraw. Buddha,resinning his meditations, contemplates tho causes of things, which isthe key to the well-known formula of tho Buddhists found upon so

many of their images, and of which tho various readings, a3 given inn communication by Colonel Sykes, in tho forthcoming number of ourJournal,1 are ovidently nothing more than the blunders of ignorant

'Auto, p. 37.


18/38

BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM. 245transcribers, or defects in cutting the letters on clay or stone. In thoLalita Vistara, Buddha's meditations are thus recapitulated:?"Thus thought tho Bodhisatwa: 'from what existing thing comedisease aud death? ago and death being tho consequences of birth,birth is tho cause of disease and death/" He then proceeds toanaly.seiu the samo strain the causes of birth, of conception, of desire, ofsensation, of contact, of the senses, of name and form, of comprehension, of idoas; and concludes that ignorance, Avidy?, is tho cause ofideas, and is tho remoto cause of existence.The next subject of his meditations is the means by which thischain of causes is to bo counteracted, and ho concludes: "Birth beingnomore, old age and death are not; therefore, by annihilation of birth,old age and death are annihilated; and as ignorance is tho ultimatecause of existence, then by the removal of ignorance all its consequences are arrested, and existence ceases, by which means old ago,death, wretchedness, sorrow, pain, anxiety, and trouble, the wholemass of suffering, becomes for ever extinct." This is the summary ofBuddhistic wisdom set forth in the popular stanza,"

Yc dharma hctu-prabhav?,"with which we have long been familiar.Tho'Lalita Vistara is somewhat silent on the subject of S?kya'speregrinations, and represents him as chiefly engaged in discourses tohis Bhikshus, or mendicant followers, or in intercourse with the Nagasand the Dovas. lie attains to the perfection of a Buddha at Bodhi

mandn, which is apparently ancient Gaya, and resides thero until hothinks it necessary to look out for some person who may succeed himas teacher of tho law; he then proceeds to Benares, and on his way,having no money to pay for being ferried across the Ganges, hetransports himself over it iu tho air. At Benares he recovers his fiveoriginal disciples, but it does not appear that they arc appointed tosucceed him, on tho contrary, Buddha addressed these words, it is said,to Mah? K?syapa, Ananda, and the Bodhisatwa Maitroya ; "Friends !tho Supreme Intelligence, perfect and full, which I have acquired iua hundred thousand millions of kalpas, I deposit in your bands. Doyou yourselves receive this part of tho Law, teach it fully in detail toothers." Ho then praises tho Sutra, the Lalita Vistara, after which,"the sons of the gods, the M?hcswaras, and the rest of the gods,tho Siddhakav?sak?yikas, Maitroya, and, all the other Bodhisatwas,Mah?sattwas, Mah? K?syapa, and the rest of the Mah? Sr?vakas,Ananda, and tho worlds of the gods, of men, of Asuras, of,Gandharbas, rejoiced, and praised aloud the instructions of Bhagav?n."As the Lalita Vistara is attributed to S?kya himself, it cannot

vol. xvi. ?


19/38

24? BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.contain any account of his death. For this we must have recourse tothe Mah? Parinirv?na S?tras, of which we have only the Tibetan translation, in tho eighth and two following volumes of theNya volume of theDo Class of the Kahgyur, and of which Csoma has given us an abridgedtranslation ;we have italso in tho life of S?kya in theMongol, as translated by Klaproth in the Asia Polyglotta, and we have what is no doubtthe same work in Pali, tho Parinibbana Suttan, a section of the Dighanik?yo,of which Mr. Tumour has given usan analysis (J. A. S. B., vii.,991). The accounts, as far as they go, aro substantially the same, butthe proximate cause of Sakya's death, illness brought on by eating pork,seems to be an addition of the compiler of tho Cingalese narrativo; nosuch incident isalluded to by either Csoma or Klaproth, and it seems

very inconsistent with Sdkya's recommendation of abstinence: asalso S?kya had attained the ago of eighty homight have been allowedto die of natural decay. The Pali legend adds that the pork wasprovided for him, and for him alono, by his host, at his particulardesire, because he knew it would cause his death. According to bothnarratives ho directed his disciples

to dispose of his remains after thofashion of that of tho Chakravarttis, or universal inonarchs, the ashesof whose bodies, after burning, wcro collected and deposited in statelypyramidal monuments. Accordingly his ashes wcro at first placed in amonument erected where he died, inKusinagara, or Kusia inGorakhpur,but portions were claimed by various persons ; and the warriors of Kusa,although they at first refused to givo up any of the precious deposit,were at last induced by the mediation of a Brahman, who is not namedin Csoma's analysis, but is termed Dono, that is,Drona, by Tumour, toassent to a division. Tho distribution is in some respects not veryintelligible; ono part is for the champions of Kusa, ono for those of

Digpachan or Tibet, one for the royal tribo of Baluka, ono for tho royaltribe of Krodtya, one for a Brahman of Vishnudwipa, one for the Siikyaa,one for tho Lichhavis of Allahabad, and one for Ajdtasatru, hing ofMagadha: they all built chaityas over them and paid them worship.Tho urn in which the reliques had first been placed, was given to thoBrahman who had

mediated,and another Brahman received the cinders :

they also erected chaityas. Of the four eye-teeth, two wore distributedto the deities called Trayastrinsats, and tho Niigas; one was placed in"The Delicious City," and ono in tho country of tho king of Kalinga,whence in timo it found its way to Ceylon, whero it is still preserved.Hence originated tho practico of constructing tho monuments calledSt hupas, or Topes, which have excited so much interest of lato years,and of which a subsequent sovereign of Magadha, Asoka, is said tohave constructed 84,000. In man}' parts of Tibet, where they aro


20/38

BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM. 247moro usually termed Chaityas, or Chaits, they are numerous butsmall, containing, it is supposed tho ashes of distinguished Lamas.Chaitya, which is a Sanscrit term, is in fact equally applicable to anysacred object, a temple, or a tomb; every Sthupa may bo a Chaitya,but a Chaitya may be also something else of a religious character.These accounts of S?kya's birth and proceedings, laying aside themiraculous portions, have nothing very impossible, and it does notseem improbable that an individual of a speculative turn of mind, audnot a Brahman by birth, should havo set up a school of his own inopposition to the Brahmanical monopoly of religious instruction, aboutsix centuries beforo Christ; at tho same time there arc various considerations which throw suspicion upon the narrative, and render itvery problematical whether any such person as S?kya Sinha, orS?kya Muni, or Sramana Gautama, ever actually existed. In thofirst place, the Buddhists widely disagree with regard to the date ofhis existence. In a paper I published many years ago in the CalcuttaQuarterly Magazine, I gave a list of thirteen different dates, collectedby a Tibetan author, and a dozen others might be easily added, thowhole varying from 2420 to 453 n.c. They may, however, bodistinguished under two heads, that of the northern Buddhists,1030 u.c. for the birth of Buddha, and that of the southern Buddhists,for his death u.c. 543. It is difficult, however, to understand whythero should bo such a difference as fivo centuries, if S?kya had livedat either the one or the other date.

The name of his tribe, the S?kya, and their existence as a distinctpeoplo and principality, find no warrant from any of the Hinduwriters, poetical, traditional, or mythological ;and the legends that arogiven to explain their origin ami appellation arc, beyond measure,absurd. Tho most probable affinity of tho name is to that of theSakas, or Scythians, or Indo Scythians, as if they wero an offshootfrom tho race that dislodged the Indo-Bactrian Greeks, but this is notcountenanced by any of the traditions, Brahmanical or Buddhist.

The name of S?kya's father, Suddhodaua, "ho whose food is pure,"?suggests an allegorical signification, ami iu that of his mother, Maya,or M?y ?dev?," illusion, di vine delusion,"?wo bave a manifest allegorical

fiction; his secular appellation as a prince, Siddlu'trtha, "ho by whomtho end is accomplished,"?and his religious name, Buddha, "he bywhom all is known," are very much in the style of the Pilgrim'sProgress, and the city of his birth, Kapila Vastu, which has no placeiu the /roography of the Hindus, is of tho same description. It isexplained, "tho tawny site," but it may also be rendered, "thesubstanceof Kapila," intimating, in fact, the S?nkhya philosophy, the doctrine ofS 2


21/38

248 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.Kapila Muui, upon which tho fundamental elements of Buddhism, thoeternity of matter, tho principles of things, and final extinction, aroevidently based. It seems not impossible, after all, that S?kya Muniis an unreal being, and that all that is related of him is as much afiction ns is that of his preceding migrations, and the miracles thatattended his birth, his life, and his departure.At the samo timo, although wo may discredit tho actuality of thoteacher, wo cannot dispute tho introduction of tho doctrine, and thciomay havo been, about tho time attributed to Siikya's death by thosouthern Buddhists, a person, or what is moro likely, persons of variouscastes, comprising oven Brahnians, who introduced a now system ofhierarchical organization, for that seems to havo been the chief, if nottho sole innovation intended by the first propagators of Buddhism.Tho doctrino of transmigration was common to tho Buddhists and toevery division of tho Brahman ?calHindus: the eternity of matter andthe periodical dissolution and renovation of tho world wcro alsofamiliar to all the schools; the Buddhists did not abolish caste, theyacknowledged it fully ns a social institution, but they maintained thatit was merged in tho religious character, and that all those whoadopted a religious life wrerc thereby emancipated from its restrictions,and were of ono community: tho moral precepts which they inculcated, with at least ono exception?the prohibition of taking awayanimal life, were common to them and to the Brahnians; and tho latterseem to have adopted from the Buddhists, very possibly, the merit ofAhins? : the Buddhists recognised tho existenco of all the gods oftho Brahmaiiical

pantheon,with

perhapsono or two

exceptions whichmay have been of later date, such as Krishna for instanco : thenotion of final extinction or Nirviiu, although more unqualified, wasnot exclusively confined to the Buddhists. In short, the philosophy ofBuddhism, as is observed by Mr. Gogerly, was essentially eclectic,and the main point of disagreement was the political institution of areligious society which should comprise all classes, all castes, women aswell as men, and should throw oil' tho authority of the Bruhmuns a. thosole teachers of religious faith. It seems likoly also that the sanioinnovators discarded the ritual of tho Vedas, and discontinued thoadoration of the Hindu divinities, placing tho observance of moralduties and tho practice of a lifo of self-denial and restraint above thoburthensomo and expensive charges of formal worship. Their departure from the Brahmaiiical system started about tho timo ascribed toSiikya's teaching, became gradually developed as the organization ofthose by whom they were professed became more perfect, and by thomiddle of the third century before Christ, they may have enjoyed tho


22/38

BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM. 249patronage of Asoka, tho Raja of Central India, as tho Buddhist traditions maintain, and under his encouragement a convocation may havobeen held, at which tho associated Buddhists commenced that course ofpropagation which spread their religion throughout India and beyondits confines to tho north and to the south. I do not think that thodifficulties which attend the identification of Asoka with Piyadasi haveyet been cleared up, but wo may admit that tho edicts on the columnsand the rocks were inscribed about the time of Asoka's reign, or intho third century before Christ. We may admit also that they arointended to recommend Buddhism, but their tono is not that of atriumphant or exclusivo form of belief, and the spirit of toleration

which they breathe is an unequivocal proof of a nascent faith, a system that courts compromise rather than provokes and defies hostility.

At this period wo may conceive the marvels of S?kya's life and themore detailed expansion of the doctrines ascribed to hint to have beendevised, as calculated to excite the admiration and win the belief ofthe natives of India, ever ready to give credit to the supernatural, andto pay superstitious homngo to the assumption of divinity.

Besidestho inscriptions attributed to Asoka, he is said to have been a profuseconstructor of Vih?ras, Buddhist monasteries, and of Sthi'tpas ormonuments over Buddhist reliquia). Vih?ras were probably multipliedabout this timo or oven earlier: wc have not yet mot with any Sthi'ipasto which so high an antiquity can be confidently assigned. It seemslittlo likely that S?kya, or the first propagators of the system, would

havo enjoined tho construction of monuments to preserve the frailrelics of

humanity,when their first dogma was the worthlcssness of

bodily existence, and it could not have been until S?kya was elevatedby his followers to tho rank of something more than a god that hisrelics, or thoso of his early disciples, should have been held entitled tosuch veneration; at any rate wc have no evidence of the erection of anyStlu'ipa as early as the middle of tho third century before Christ, whilst

wo havo several proofs of their construction after the era of Christianity, down as late as the sixth century afterwards. These are afforded

by tho discovery, in the solid body of the monuments, of the coins oftho consular families of Rome, and of the first Crcsars; of the coins ofthe emperors of Constantinople, Thcodosius, Murcian, and Leo, whoreigned from A.n. 407 to A.D. 474 ; and of great quantities of thecoins of the Sassanian princes of Persia, down to Kobad, who diedA.n. 531. Theso coins are found iu the Topes of the Punjab andAfghanistan, and establish beyond dispute that the practice of constructing monuments of this class prevailed in tho northwest of Indiafrom somo time after tho beginning of tho ?hristiau era until thq


23/38

250 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.sixth century. The most remarkable monument of this olass in Central India is that of Bhilsa or S?nchi, in its neighbourhood. Thiswas first brought to notice by Captain Foil, who published a description of it in the Calcutta Journal in 1819 ; this description, with additions, was reprinted by Mr. J. Prinsop, in tho third volumo of theJ. B. Asiatic Society, and at his suggestion sketches of the mostremarkable objects and facsimiles of inscriptions abounding on thospot, wcro sent him by Captains Smith and Murray, and published byhim, with translations and important commonts, in the sixth volumo ofthe Journal. Moro recently, Lieutenant Maisoy has been omployed bythe government of Bengal to make caroful drawings of theso romains;and some of his sketches which have been sent homo evinoo his great

merit as an artist as well as an antiquarian. The publication of thesodocuments has boon anticipated by Major Cunningham, who had associated himself with Lieutenant Maisey in the investigation, and whohas published tho results of his own labours in a work entitled ThoBhilsa Topes, in which he has given not only sketchos of variousinteresting objects, but copios

and translations of moro than 200inscriptions. Thoy are mostly short, merely specifying tho liberality ofsome devout Buddhist in a gift which is not specified ; as, Dhammarakhitasa bhichchuno dduam, " tho gift of the mendicant DharmaRnkshitu." Major Cunningham conjectures tho gifts to havo beenstones or sculptured contributions to tho structure. From ono of themhe infers tho date of tho inclosure to havo been the early part of thoreign of Asoka?" Subahitasa Gotiputasa Haja-lipikarasa d?uam?thogift of the king's scribe, Subahita,

sou of Goti;" Gotiputra being thoteacher of the celebrated Moggali-putra. From an inscription in one ofthe gateways in which tho namo of Sri Sat Kami occurs, Major Cun

ningham concludes tho gateways wcro erected about the boginning ofthe Christian era, in which Lieutenant Maisoy concurs. These,however, he considers long posterior to the body of tho building, whichho would carry as far back as 250 u.c., or even 500 li.c, on somewhatinsufficient evidence; its being ns old as Asoka, depending upon thoidentification of Gotiputra the teacher of Moggali-putra, who prosided, it is said, at the third council in a.D. 241, a statement altogothererroneous, as Mogali putra, Maudgalu, or Maudgulriyana, was ono ofSiiky.as first disciples, threo centuries earlier. In the second andthird of the topes of Sanchi, Major Cunningham found relic boxes,inscribed with the names of K?syapa, Mogaliputra, and Sdriputra, fromwhich ho would seem to infer that the topes must have been erectedsoon after their deaths, or some timo between 550 u.c. and 250 u.c.;but, as he himself remarks, tho reliques of Buddha and his principal


24/38

BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM. 251disciples wero very widely scattered, being found in different places;and onco the notion of their sanctity was adopted, they were no doubt

multiplied,as so

many pious frauds, in orderto

givea

reputationto tho

building in which thoy were said to be enshrined ; similar vases werealso found at Satdhara and Andher, furnishing examples of this multiplication of relies in tho samo immediate neighbourhood. Their assorted prcsonco, in any monument, is no more a proof of its antiquitythan would tho hairs of Buddha, if ever dug up, prove the Shwedagon of Rangoon to havo been built in his day. No legitimate conclusion can bo drawn, therefore, from inscriptions of this class, as tothe date of the S?nchi monuments, whilst tho name of a S?t Kamiprince is a palpable indication of their being erected subsequent tothe Christian era. The topes of Ceylon, however, appear to be of anearlier date, if wo may credit the tradition which ascribes the erectionof the Ruanvelli mound at Anur?dhapura to king Dutthag?mini, whoreigned, 161 n.c. to 137 u.c.A somewhat earlier period than that of the Indian Sthiipas may boassigned to another important class of Buddhist monuments ?thoCave Temples belonging to that persuasion?but they also, as far ashas been yet ascertained, are subsequent to Christianity. The Rev. Mr.Stevenson has lately furnished important illustrations of this subjectto tho Journal of the Branch Asiatic Society of Bombay, in his translations of the inscriptions in the Cavo Temples of Kanbcri, Karlen,Junir, Nasik, and other places in tho Sahyadri range of bills, fromfacsimiles taken under the authority of the government by Mr. Brett.

They, liko tho inscriptions on the Sthiipas, are usually brief records ofgifts not specified, by persons, for tho most part, of no mark or likelihood, but thero are a few names of historical value, as well as a fewdates. In ono case, tho excavation at N?naGh?t, Mr. Stevenson conjectures for it an antiquity of 200 n c , but there do not seem to bosufficient grounds for such a conjecture. In another case ho proposes, fora column at Karlen, the date 70 n.c, as it was set up by Agnimitra, sonof Maharaja Bhoti, whom ho would identify with the last of the Sungadynasty, Devabhuti ; but this, to say tho least, is problematical, and inthis, as well as in tho preceding, Mr. Stevenson himself queries thechronology : tho dates which he proposes without hesitation begin withA.D. 189, but wo tread upon tolerably safe ground when we como tovarious dates from 20 u.c. to a.D. 410, because the inscriptions give usseveral of the names of tho Andhra-bhritya, or, in tho dialect of theinscriptions, ?dh?-bhati princes; such as B?lin, Kripa Kama, Gautainiputra, and Yajna Sri S?t Kami, members of a dynasty who weretho powerful princes of the "Andbra gens," noticed by Pliny, and who,

we learn from the Pur?nas, confirmod by the accounts of the Chinese


25/38

252 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.travellers, extended their authority to Central India, and reigned at

Pntaliputra from tho commencement of tho Christian era to tho fifthcentury after it, which period wo may consider as the date of thoprincipal Buddhist excavations in the west of India.The evidence thus afforded by tho Sth?pas, and tho caves, of thetime inwhich the principal monuments of Buddhism were multiplied,harmonises with that which wo havo derived from tho more lastingliterary monuments of tho same faith, and lcavo no doubt that thofirst four or ?ve ceutiirics after Christ, wcro tho period during whichthe doctrino was most successfully propagated, and was patronized by

many of the Bajas of India, particularly in tho north and in the wost.Ever ready as tho Chineso traveller, Fa-Hian, at tho ond of thofourth century, is to see Buddhism everywhere dominant, ho furnishesevidenco that in tho east, and particularly in tho placo of its reputedorigin, tho birth placo of S.ikya, which had beconio a wilderness, ithad fallen into neglect. In the seventh century, Hhwan Tsuugabounds with notices of deserted monasteries, ruiued temples,diminished number of mendicants, and augmented proportion ofheretics. It has been already conjectured that this was tho term ofits vitality, and that tho soventh century witnessed its disappcaraiicofrom tho continent of India. Traces of Buddhism lingered, no doubt,till a much later period, as is shewn by tho inscription found atS?rn?th as lato as the eleventh century; but itwas then limited to afew localities, and had shifted its sccno to tho regions bordering onits birth-place, being shortly afterwards so utterly obliterated in IndiaProper, that by tho sixteenth century tho highest authority in thocountry, tho intelligent minister of an inquiring king, tho minister ofAkbar, Abulfazl, could not find an individual to givo him an accountof its doctrines.

It would bo impossible, in the limited time at our disposal, toenter upon a detail of what those doctrines are; but I may brieflyadvert to ono or two of those which may bo regarded as mostcharacteristic. Some of those which aro common to Buddhists andBrahnians havo been noticed, and of thoso which are peculiar, thodifference is rather in degree than in substance.Thus the attribution to a Buddha of power and sanctity, infinitelysuperior to that of tho Gods, is only a development of tho notion thattho gods could ho made subject to tho will of a mortal, by hisperformance of superhuman austerities; only the Buddhists ascribedit to the perfection of tho internal purity acquired during a successionof births. Tho notion of Buddha's supremacy onco established, thoworship of tho gods became superfluous; but as the mass of mankindarc in need of sensible objects to which thoir devotions aro to bo


26/38

BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM. 253addressed, Buddha came to be substituted for the gods, and his statuesto usurp their altars. In tho course of time, in somo of the Buddhistcountries, at least other idols, several of them very uncongenial withthe spirit of Buddhism, and evidently borrowed front Hinduism, cameto be associated with him, particularly inTibet and China, in whichlatter country the temples commonly present threo principal colossalimages, which aro tho representatives of Buddha and two of hischief disciples, S?kya, S?riputra, and Maudgal?yana; or, accordingto some authorities, of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, or Buddha, thoLaw and the Community. They arc sometimes also said to be thoBuddhas of tho past, present, and futuro ages, The temples, however,present many other idols, such as a goddess of mercy, a queen ofheaven, a god of war, a god of wealth, a tutelary divinity of sailors,tutelary divinities of cities, and various other fanciful and nottinfrequently grotesque beings, amongst whom we have Gancsa withhis elephant head. In Japan, if wo may trust to Kicmpfcr, we havorepresentations of the avatars of Vishnu; and inNepal and western

Tibet, as already remarked, wo havo tho Dhyani Buddha.*}, andBodhisatwas, Manipadma, Manjusri, and Avalokiteswam, and a hostof inferior spirits and divinities, of whom pictures or statues fill thecourts, or cover the walls of tho temples. The representation audworship of theso idols, although not prohibited by anything in thoreligion of Buddha, is obviously incompatible with its spirit, and mustbo regarded as exotic corruptions; no such auxiliaries seem to boadmitted in thoso countries where tho system exists in its greatestpurity,

as in A va, Siam, and Ceylon, as, although the images in thetemples aro often exceedingly numerous, they are, with exception ofsubsidiary figures which are not worshipped, such as dragons and lions,all of tho sanio character, representing Gautama or his disciples generally in a sitting posture, with tho legs crossed, and the hands in thoact of prayer or benediction; tho indefinite multiplication of theimages arising from its being considered an act of merit to set up astatue of a Buddha or of a Buddhist priest of reputed sanctity.The organization of a regular priesthood from all classes, and theirassemblago in Vih?ras or monasteries under a superior, is also one ofthe distinguishing features of Buddhism, as opposed to Bralimanisni,although not wholly unknown to the institutes of the latter. The

monastic system, however, docs not seem to have originated withS?kya himself, for he and his ?inmediato followers were migratory,passing front ono part of central India to another, except during therainy season, when they dispersed to their respective homes, reassem

bling after tho rains; the organization commenced probably with tho


27/38

254 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.first convocation, and was brought to perfection by the third. In thefirst instance, the heads of the communities wcro elected by theassociates, on account of thoir superior ago and learning; but other

motives, no doubt, soon camo to influence tho choico, and in time newprinciples were introduced, which were not originally recognized,although not wholly foreign to tho spirit of the system, particularlytho notion that guides tho elcotion of a successor to a deceased DalaiLama of Lhassa, or a Tashi Lama of Toshulaiubu, the selection of achild in whoso person the soul of tho decoascd is supposed to havebccoino regenerate, being in fact that of a Buddha on bis way toperfection. This notion is now, at least, no longer confined to Tcshulambu, or to Lhassa; but is spread very generally through Tartaryaccording to the French missionaries; and every monastery of note seeks,upon the demise of its Superior, for a child to succeed him, sendingusually to western Tibet to discover him, and detecting him by placingbefore the boy a variety of articles, from which he picks out such ashad belonged to the deceased, and which ho is supposed to recognizeas having been his property in a prior existence. This, if true, may nodoubt be easily managed by a littlo dexterity, but Messrs. Hue andG?bet suspect that Satan is at the child's elbow, and prompts thoverification of tho articles. Tho notion howovcr is admitted to bo ofcomparatively modern introduction, as lato as tho thirteenth or fourteenth century.Another essential difference between Brahmanism and Buddhism,wns the proselyting spirit of tho latter. Although Bralnuanisiii hasspread into countries where it could not have been indigenous, yet aBrahman, like a poet, "nascitur non fit;" and, consistent with the spiritof tho code, a man must be born a Hindu, ho cannot become- a Hinduby conversion. Tho Buddhists adopted tho opposite course, and heneo,no doubt, their early success. The publie teaching of Buddha or of thefounders of the faith must have been so novel and attractive, that wocan easily believe the Buddhist narrativos, that vast multitudes of allclasses and of both sexes attended tho publie preaching of tho Buddhist

missionaries, an encouraging precedent we may observe, by tho way, forthose of a puro religion. There are, however, some peculiar features intho teaching of S?kya and his disciples, which render itmore surprisingthat it should ever have been successful than that its success shouldhave been of temporary duration. Its object is not the good of thopeople in their social condition : it no doubt enjoins the observance ofmoral duties, and reverence to pareuts and teachers, and the generalpractice of compassion and benevolence, but to whom aro these injunctions addressed? according to tho authorities of the religion,


28/38

BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM, 255whether Sanscrit or Pali, to Bhikshus and Bhikshunis, persons whohave separated themselves from the world, and who, besides professingfaith in Buddha, engago to lead a life of self-denial, celibacy, aud

mendicancy, and to estrange themselves from all domestic and socialobligations : with all its boasted benevolence it enjoins positive inhu

manity where women aro concerned, and in its anxiety for the purityof tho mendicant, prescribes not only that ho should not look at orconverse with a female, but that, if she bo his own mother and havefallen into a river, and bo drowning, ho shall not give her bis hand tohelp her out; if there bo a polo at hand he may reach that to her, butif not, she must drown. An interesting illustration of this barbarityoccurs in tho drama called Mrichchhakati, which represents Buddhistinstitutions with singular fidelity. In this spirit is tho whole of theVinaya or Buddhist disciplino conceived : it is a set of rules for individuals separated from society, in whom all natural feeling is to bosuppressed, all passions and desires extinguished, consistently enoughwith tho doe'rino that life is the source of all evil, and that one meansof counteracting it is by the checking the increase of living beings.Rigid compliance with tho restraints imposed, has, however, beenfourni impracticable, and considerable latitude has been allowed inpractice. Tho rules of abstinence and celibacy must be strictly observed whilst the individual continues in the order of tho priesthood,but he may withdraw from that order, cither for ever or for a season,and may marry and lead a secular life ; ho may, after an interval, boreadmitted, and bis second admission is considered as final, but eventhis does not seem to be very rigorously enforced.

Belief in a Supreme Being, the Creator and Ruler of the universe,is unquestionably a modern graft upon tho unqualified atheism of

S?kya Muni : it is still of very limited recognition. Iu none of thostandard authorities translated by M. Burnouf, or Mr. Gogerley, isthere the slightest allusion to such a First Causo, tho existence of whomis incompatible with the fundamental Buddhist dogma, of the eternity of all existence? The doctrine of an Adi Buddha, a first Buddha,in tho character of a Supreme Creator, which has found its way into

Nepal, and perhaps intoWestern Tibet, is entirely local, as is that oftho Dhy?ni Buddhas and tho Bodhisatwas, their sons and agents increation, as described by Mr. Hodgson. They are not recognised in theBuddhist mythology of any other people, and have no doubt beenborrowed from tho Hindus. There can bo no First Buddha, for it is oftho essenco of tho system that Buddhas aro of progressive development: any one may become a Buddha by passing through a scries ofexistences in the practice of virtue and benevolence, and thevo have


29/38

25? BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.been accordingly an infinitude of Buddhas in all ngcsand inall regions.One of the Pali authorities records tho actions of twenty-four; Schmidt,from a Mongol work, has given us the names of a thousand Buddhas.(Trans. Soc. St. Petersburg, 2, GH.) There aro Sanscrit authorities forseven in the present ago of the world, whose praises 1 havo translated,(Asiatic Researches, vol. xvii.) and who are represented in tho Ajuntapaintings. An eighth, Muitroya. is to come; but theso aro only a few,confined to certain poriods: the number during all the extravagantintervals of Buddhist chronology has no limitation, and there can nomoro bo a Jirst than there can be a last, each passing on in his turn tothe end and aim of his existence,?extinction?nirvana.Utter extinction, as the great end and object of life, isalso a funda

mental, and in some respects a peculiar, feature of Buddhism. N irvduais literally a blowing-out, as if of a candle,?annihilation : it has beenobjected to this that Buddhism recognises a system of rewards andpunishments after death, ami no doubt its cosmology is copiously furnished with heavens and hells; but this it has in common with Brahmanisin: it is a part of tho scheme of transmigration; tho wicked aropunished and the good rewarded, but tho punishment and reward aroonly in proportion to thoir bad or good deeds, and when they havobeen balanced tho individual returns to earth to run up a fresh score,to incur in fact, according to Buddhism, a fresh infliction of suffering,life being tho causo of ovil from which thoro is no escapo, but byfinally ceasing to be. Brahmaiiical speculation contemplates equallywith Buddhism, exemption from being born again as the summumbouum, but proposes to effect this by spiritual absorption either intouniversal spirit, or into an all comprehending divine spirit ; but thoHuddhists recognize no such recipient for tho liberated soul. Nodoubt, amongst tho Buddhists, as amongst tho Brahnians, differencesof opinion occasionally prevailed, giving rise to various schools; fourof these wcro known to tho Brahmanical controversial writers heforothe sixth century; but, besides them, who aro styled Sautrdntika,

Vaibhsishika, Mndhyuniika, and Yog.iohdru, there was an Aiswarya,or thcistieal school, with which tho notions admitted into Nepal mayhave originated : tho more ancient and genuino school, however, wasthat of the Swabluivikus, whoso doctrino is thus summarily indicatedin a Buddhist Pdli book : "Whence como existing things? from theirown nature,?swabh?v?t. Whore do they go to afterlife? into otherforms, through the samo inherent tendency. How do they escapo fromthat tendency ? where do they go finally? into vacuity,?sunyat?" auulibeing the sum and substance of tho wisdom of Buddha. That thiswas the meaning

of Nirvana is shown in numerous passages both in


30/38

BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM. 257Sanscrit and in Pali. In the Saddharma Lank?vatara, S?kya is represented as confuting a.ll the Brahmanical notions of Nirvana, and concludes by expounding it to bo tho complete annihilation of tho thinking principle, illustrating bis doctrine by the comparison generallyemployed of tho exhaustion of tho light of a lamp which goes out ofitself. In the Brahnia-j?la, a Pali Sutra, where again S?kya is madeto confuto sixty-two Brahmanical heresies, bo winds up by saying :" Existence isa tree ; the merit or demerit of the actions of men is thofruit of that tree and the seed of future trees ; death is the withering

away of the old tree from which the others have sprung; wisdom amivirtuo take away the germinating faculty, so that when the tree diesthere is no reproduction. This is Nirv?n."The segregation of the Buddhist priesthood from the people,although, in tho first instance, probably popular, from the priestlycharacter being thrown open to all castes alike, must have beennnpropitious to the continued popularity of the system, and its successcan only be attributed to the activity of its propagators, and theindolent acquiescence of the Brahmans. When the influence acquired

by tho Buddhists with the princes of India gave them consideration,and diverted tho stream of donations as well as of honours, thoBrahmans began to bo aroused from their apathy, and set to work toarrest tho progress of the schism. The success that attended thoirefforts could havo boon, for a long time, but partial; but that thoy

wero ultimately successful, and that Buddhism iu India gave waybefore Brahmanism, is a historical fact: to what cause this was owingis by no means established, but it was more probably the result ofinternal decay, than of external violence. There are traditions of

persecution, aud it is very possible that local aud occasional acta ofaggression were perpetrated by the Brahmauicnl party: the Buddhistwritings intimate this when they represent the Bodhisatwas as sayingto Buddha: "When you have entered into Nirvana, and the end oftime has arrived, wo shall expound this excellent Sutra, in doingwhich wo will endure, we will sutler patiently, injuries, violence,menaces of

beatingus with sticks, and the spitting upon us, with

which ignorant men will assail us. The Tirthakas, composing Sutrasof their own, will speak in the assembly to insult us. In the presenceof kings, of the sons of kings, of the Brahmans, of Householders, andother religious persons, they will censure us in their discourses, and willcause tho language of the Tirthakas to be heard; but we will endure allthis through respect for the great Rishis. We must endure threateninglooks, and repeated ins'a.iccs of contumely, and suffer expulsion frontour Vih?ras, and submit to be imprisoned and punished in a variety of


31/38

258 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.ways; but recalling at the end of this period the commands of thochief of the world, we will preach courageously this S?tra in thomidst of the assembly, aud we will traverse towns, villages, the wholoworld, to give to those who will ask for it, the deposit which thou hastentrusted to us.'1 This is tho language of the Sad-dharma Puudarika,which, as I have mentioned, had been translated iuto Chinese boforothe end of the third century, and shows that tho career of theBuddhists had not been one of uninterrupted success, oven at so earlya date, although tho opposition had not been such as to arrest theirprogress : this, if it at all occurred, was the work of a later period,but wo have no very positivo information on tho subject. Accordingto Mddhava ?clu?rya, a celebrated writer of the fourteenth century,the Buddhists of the south of India were oxposed to a sanguinarypersecution at the instigation of K urnaril Bhatta, tho great authorityof the Mimdnsakas, who, as he preceded Sankara ?chdrya, may havelived in tho sixth or seventh century, or earlier. Mddhava assertsthat, at his recommendation, a princo named Sudhanwan issued ordersto put tho Buddhists to death throughout the wholo of India :"A-sctor-d-tushddro Bauddhdndm vriddhabdlakdu

na hanti sa hantavyo bhritydn ityanwasdt nripuh.""The king commanded his servants to put to death the old men andthe children of tho Bauddhas, from tho bridgo of ltdma to tho

snowy mountain; let him who slays not be slain."We do not know who Sudhanwan was, but his commands wcro not

likely to bo obeyed from Capo Comorin to the Himalaya, aud whatevertruth there may be in his making Buddhism a capital crime, his authority must havo been of restricted extent, and tho persecution limitedto his own principality. The dissemination of Buddhism, however, inthe countries beyond tho Bay of Bengal does seem to have received afresh impulse about the sixth or seventh centuries, and this may havobeen connected with somo partial acts of persecution in India, andconsequent ?migration of tho Buddhists; wo havo no record, howover,of its having been universal, and its having boon of any great extentmay be reasonably doubted : it seems moro likely that Buddhism dieda natural death. With tho discontinuance of tho activity of its professors, who,yielding to the indolenco which prosperity is apt toongonder,ceased to traverse towns aud villages in seeking to make proselytes,the Buddhist priest in India sunk into the sloth and ignoranco whichnow characterise the bulk of the priests of the samo religion in othercountries, especially China, nnd seem thero to be productivo of thosame result, working the decay and dissolution of

the Buddhist religion.


32/38

BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM, 259Although expelled from India, and apparently in a state of declinein somo of tho regions inwhich it took refuge, Buddhism still numbers

amongst its followers a largo proportion of tho human race. According to Berghaus, as quoted by Lassen, there are four hundred and fiftyfivo millions of Buddhists, whilst tho population of the Christian statesis reckoned at four hundred and seventy-four millions :Mohammedans

and Hindoos are very much fewer. Tho enumeration of the Buddhists,however, includes tho whole of tho population of China, withoutadverting to their distribution as tho followers of Confucius or Taii-se,or, as we havo latoly learned, as the professors of a compositeChristianity.

Numerous, however, as tho Buddhists still are, the system seems tobe on the decline, whero it is not upheld by the policy of the localgovernments, or where the priesthood does not constitute a very largoshare of tho population. The people in general do not seem to takemuch interest in the worship of tho temples, nor to entertain anyparticular veneration for their priests. The temples are always open,aud service is regularly performed, usually three times a day, like thoSandhya of the Brahmans: on these occasions tho priests assemble,usually seated in two divisions or semi-choirs, who chaunt passagesfrom the sacred books, Tibetan, Pali, or Sanscrit, tho two latter beingutterly unintelligible to tho people, and understood by very few of thepriests. The ehaunting is relieved by the accompaniment of bells,and cymbals, and drums, and tho blowing of the conch shells or brasstrumpets, or, in tho eastern Himalaya, of trumpets made of humanthigh bones; incense is burnt beforo the images of the Buddhas, andfruit and flowers, and dishes of food placed before them. The peoplotako no part in this performance, and come in small numbers, at theirown convenience, and mako their offering and prostration, and thendepart, Tho priests, again, arc said to enjoy little personal consideration, not that they forfeit it by any conduct inconsistent with theirprofession, for, although thero may be occasional exceptions, theyseem in general to load inoffensive, if useless, lives. In Ceylon,according to Sir Emerson Tenncnt, the people pay more respect to thogarb than to tho wearer, and tako every opportunity of making itknown that tho yellow robe, and not the individual, is tho object oftheir veneration. According to Mr. Hardy, tho whole number ofpriests in Ceylon, although many of tho communities possess extensivelanded estates, the gilts of the piety of former princes, docs notexceed 2,500, dispersed in monasteries, the largest of which hasseldom more than twenty resident members. In Fa Hian's timothero were, according to him, from 50,000 to 60,000 priests in


33/38

260 BUDDHA AND BUDDHISM.Ceylon, and in ono of tho monasteries at Anunidhapurn, there wcro5,000. Mr. Hardy adds: ''in no part of the island that I havo visited,do tho priests as a body appear to bo respected by tho people:although occasionally nn individual may recommend himself by agreonble manners :" they aro sometimes treated unceremoniously; a

on buddha and buddhism (january 1, 1856)

Documents