Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 1

255

Kevalam also called Jñâna, moksha, nirvâṇa. The nirvâṇa of the Jains is clearly not incompatible with the continuance of intelligence and knowledge.

256

Uttarâdhyâyana XXXVI. 64-68 in S.B.E. XLV. pp. 212-213.

257

S.B.E. XLV. p. xxvii. Bhandarkar Report for 1883-4, pp. 95 ff.

258

Somewhat similar seems to be the relation of Jainism to the Vaiśeshika philosophy. It accepted an early form of the atomic theory and this theory was subsequently elaborated in the philosophy whose founder Kaṇâda was according to the Jains a pupil of a Jain ascetic.

259

E.g. see Acarânga S. I. 7. 6.

260

They seem to have authority to formulate it in a form suitable to the needs of the age. Thus we are told that Parśva enjoined four vows but Mahâvîra five.

261

When Gotama after attaining Buddhahood was on his way to Benares he met Upaka, a naked ascetic, to whom he declared that he was the Supreme Buddha. Then, said Upaka, you profess to be the Jina, and Gotama replied that he did, "Tasmâ 'ham Upakâ jinoti." (Mahâvag. I. 6. 10.)

262

The exact period is 100 billion sâgaras of years. A sâgara is 100,000,000,000 palyas. A palya is the period in which a well a mile deep filled with fine hairs can be emptied if one hair is withdrawn every hundred years.

263

See M. Bloomfield, Life and Stories of Pârçvanâtha (1919).

264

See the discussions between followers of Parśva and Mahâvîra given in Uttarâdhyâyana XXIV. and Sûtrakritânga II. 7.

265

There are many references to the Nigaṇṭhas in the Buddhist scriptures and the Buddha, while by no means accepting their views, treats them with tolerance. Thus he bade Siha, General of the Licchavis, who became his disciple after being an adherent of Nâtaputta to continue to give alms as before to Nigaṇṭha ascetics (Mahâvag. VI. 32).

266

Especially among the Âjîvikas. Their leader Gosâla had a personal quarrel with Mahâvîra but his teaching was almost identical except that he was a fatalist.

267

Uttarâdhyâyana. XXIII. 29.

268

According to Śvetâmbara tradition there was a great schism 609 years after Mahâvîra's death. The canon was not fixed until 904 (? 454 A.D.) of the same era. The Digambara traditions are different but appear to be later.

269

See especially Guérinot, Répertoire d'Éipigraphie Jaina

270

So Bühler, Pillar Edict no. VIII. Senart Inscrip. de Piyadasi II. 97 translates somewhat differently, but the reference to the Jains is not disputed.

271

Rock Edict VI.

272

Rice (Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions, 1909, p. 310) thinks that certain inscriptions at Sravana Belgola in Mysore establish that this tradition is true and also that the expedition was accompanied by King Candragupta who had abdicated and become a Jain ascetic. But this interpretation has been much criticised. It is probably true that a migration occurred and increased the differences which ultimately led to the division into Śvetâmbaras and Digambaras.

273

Guérinot, Épig. Jaina, no. 11.

274

Rice, Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions, 1909, pp. 113-114, 207-208.

275

Similar tolerance is attested by inscriptions (e.g. Guérinot, nos. 522 and 5776) recording donations to both Jain and Saiva temples.

276

They also make a regular practice of collecting and rearing young animals which the owners throw away or wish to kill.

277

Or Sthânakavâsi. See for them Census of India, 1911, 1. p. 127 and Baroda, p. 93. The sect waa founded about A.D. 1653.

278

Their names are as follows in Jain Prakrit, the Sanskrit equivalent being given in bracketa:

1. *Âyârângasuttam (Âcârânga).

2.*Sûyagadangam (Sûtrakṛitângam).

3. Thânangam (Sthâ.).

4. Samavâyangam.

5. Viyâhapaññatti (Vyâkhyâprajnâpti). This work is commonly known as the Bhagavatî.

6. Ñâyâdhammakahâo (Jñâtadharmakathâ).

7. *Uvâsagadasao (Upâsakadasâh).

8. *Antagadadasao (Antakritad.).

9. *Anuttarovavâidasâo (Anuttaraupapâtikad.).

10. Panhâvâgaranâim (Prasnavyakaraṇâni).

11. Vivâgasuyam (Vipâkasrutam).

The books marked with an asterisk have been translated by Jacobi (S.B.E. vols. XXII. and XIV.), Hoernle and Barnett. See too Weber, Indischie Studien, Bd. XVI. pp. 211-479 and Bd. XVIII. pp. 1-90.

279

It is called Ârsha or Ardha-Mâgadhi and is the literary form of the vernacular of Berar in the early centuries of the Christian era. See H. Jacobi, Ausgewählte Erzählungen in Maharashtri, and introduction to edition of Ayarânga-sutta.

280

The titles given in note 2 illustrate aome of its peculiarities.

281

When I visited Sravana Belgola in 1910, the head of the Jains there, who professed to be a Digambara, though dressed in purple raiment, informed me that their sacred works were partly in Sanskrit and partly in Prakrit. He showed me a book called Trilokasâra.

282

But see Jagmanderlal Jaini, l.c. appendix V.

283

Compare for instance Uttarâdyayana X., XXIII. and XXV. with the Sutta-Nipâta and Dhammapada.

284

I have only visited establishments in towns. Possibly Yatis who follow a severer rule may be found in the country, especially among Digambaras.

285

In Gujarat they are called Cho-mukhji and it is said that when a Tîrthankara preached in the midst of his audience each side saw him facing them. In Burma the four figures are generally said to be the last four Buddhas.

286

This seems clear from the presence in Burma of the curvilinear sikra and even of copies of Indian temples, e.g. of Bodh-Gaya at Pagan. Burmese pilgrims to Gaya might easily have visited Mt Parasnath on their way.

287

I have this information from the Jain Guru at Sravana Belgola. He said that Gomateśvara (who seems unknown to the Śvetâmbaras) waa a Kevalin but not a Tîrthankara.

288

Two others, rather smaller, are known, one at Karkâl (dated 1431) and one at Yannur. These images are honoured at occasional festivals (one was held at Sravana Belgola in 1910) attended by a considerable concourse of Jains. The type of the statues is not Buddhist. They are nude and represent sages meditating in a standing position whereas Buddhists prescribe a sitting posture for meditation.

289

The mountain of Satrunjaya rises above Palitâna, the capital of a native state in Gujarat. Other collections of temples are found on the hill of Parasnath in Bengal, at Sonâgir near Datiâ, and Muktagiri near Gâwîlgarh. There are also a good many on the hills above Rajgîr.

290

The strength of Buddhism in Burma and Siam is no doubt largely due to the fact that custom obliges every one to spend part of his life—if only a few days—as a member of the order.

291

One might perhaps add to this list the Skoptsy of Russia and the Armenian colonies in many European and Asiatic towns.

292

Throughout this book I have not hesitated to make use of the many excellent translations of Pali works which have been published. Students of Indian religion need hardly be reminded how much our knowledge of Pali writings and of early Buddhism owes to the labours of Professor and Mrs Rhys Davids.

293

Sanskrit Sûtra, Pali Sutta. But the use of the words is not quite the same in Buddhist and Brahmanic literature. A Buddhist sutta or sûtra is a discourse, whether in Pali or in Sanskrit; a Brahmanic sûtra is an aphorism. But the 227 divisions of the Pâtimokkha are called Suttas, so that the word may have been originally used in Pali to denote short statements of a single point. The longer Suttas are often called Suttanta.

294

E.g. Maj. Nik. 123 about the marvels attending the birth of a Buddha.

295

See some further remarks on this subject at the end of chap. XIII. (on the Canon).

296

Also Sakya or Sakka. The Sanskrit form is Śâkya.

297

See among other passages the Ambaṭṭha Sutta of the Dîgha Nikâya in which Ambattha relates how he saw the Sâkyas, old and young, sitting on grand seats in this hall.

298

But in Cullavagga VII. 1 Bhaddiya, a cousin of the Buddha who is described as being the Râjâ at that time, says when thinking of renouncing the world "Wait whilst I hand over the kingdom to my sons and my brothers," which seems to imply that the kingdom was a family possession. Rajja perhaps means Consulship in the Roman sense rather than kingdom.

299

E.g. the Sonadaṇḍa and Kûṭadanta Suttas of the Dîgha Nikâya.

300

Sanskrit Kapilavastu: red place or red earth.

301

Tradition is unanimous that he died in his eightieth year and hitherto it has been generally supposed that this was about 487 B.C., so that he would have been born a little before 560. But Vincent Smith now thinks that he died about 543 B.C. See J.R.A.S. 1918, p. 547. He was certainly contemporary with kings Bimbisâra and Ajâtasattu, dying in the reign of the latter. His date therefore depends on the chronology of the Śaisunâga and Nanda dynasties, for which new data are now available.

302

It was some time before the word came to mean definitely the Buddha. In Udâna 1.5, which is not a very early work, a number of disciples including Devadatta are described as being all Buddhâ.

303

The Chinese translators render this word by Ju-lai (he who has come thus). As they were in touch with the best Indian tradition, this translation seems to prove that Tathâgata is equivalent to Tathâ-âgata not to Tâtha-gata and the meaning must be, he who has come in the proper manner; a holy man who conforms to a type and is one in a series of Buddhas or Jinas.

304

See the article on the neighbouring country of Magadha in Macdonell and Keith's Vedic Index.

305

Cf. the Ratthapâla-sutta.

306

Mahâv. I. 54. 1.

307

Devadûtavagga. Ang. Nik. III. 35.

308

But the story is found in the Mahâpadâna-sutta. See also Winternitz, J.R.A.S. 1911, p. 1146.

309

He mentions that he had three palaces or houses, for the hot, cold and rainy seasons respectively, but this is not necessarily regal for the same words are used of Yasa, the son of a Treasurer (Mahâv. 1. 7. 1) and Anuruddha, a Sâkyan noble (Cullav. VII. 1. 1).

310

In the Sonadaṇḍa-sutta and elsewhere.

311

The Pabbajjâ-sutta.

312

Maj. Nik. Ariyapariyesana-sutta. It is found in substantially the same form in the Mahâsaccaka-sutta and the Bodhirâjakumâra-sutta.

313

The teaching of Alâra Kâlâma led to rebirth in the sphere called akiñcañ-ñâyatanam or the sphere in which nothing at all is specially present to the mind and that of Uddaka Râmaputta to rebirth in the sphere where neither any idea nor the absence of any idea is specially present to the mind. These expressions occur elsewhere (e.g. in the Mahâparinibbâna-sutta) as names of stages in meditation or of incorporeal worlds (arûpabrahmâloka) where those states prevail. Some mysterious utterances of Uddaka are preserved in Sam. Nik. XXXV. 103.

314

Underhill, Introd. to Mysticism, p. 387.

315

Sam. Nik. XXXVI. 19.

316

The Lalita Vistara says Alâra lived at Vesâlî and Uddaka in Magadha.

317

The following account is based on Maj. Nik. suttas 85 and 26. Compare the beginning of the Mahâvagga of the Vinaya.

318

Maj. Nik. 12. See too Dig. Nik. 8.

319

If this discourse is regarded as giving in substance Gotama's own version of his experiences, it need not be supposed to mean much more than that his good angel (in European language) bade him not take his own life. But the argument represented as appealing to him was that if spirits sustained him with supernatural nourishment, entire abstinence from food would be a useless pretence.

320

The remarkable figures known as "fasting Buddhas" in Lahore Museum and elsewhere represent Gotama in this condition and show very plainly the falling in of the belly.

321

Âsava. The word appears to mean literally an intoxicating essence. See e.g. Vinaya, vol. IV. p. 110 (Rhys Davids and Oldenburg's ed.). Cf. the use of the word in Sanskrit.

322

Nâparam itthattâyâti. Itthattam is a substantive formed from ittham thus. It was at this time too that he thought out the chain of causation.

323

Tradition states that it was on this occasion that he uttered the well-known stanzas now found in the Dhammapada 154-5 (cf. Theragâthâ 183) in which he exults in having, after long search in repeated births, found the maker of the house. "Now, O maker of the house thou art seen: no more shalt thou make a house." The lines which follow are hard to translate. The ridge-pole of the house has been destroyed (visankhitaṃ more literally de-com-posed) and so the mind passes beyond the sankhâras (visankhâragataṃ). The play of words in visankhitaṃ and visankhâra can hardly be rendered in English.

324

As Rhys Davids observes, this expression means "to found the Kingdom of Righteousness" but the metaphor is to make the wheels of the chariot of righteousness move unopposed over all the Earth.

325

At the modern Sarnath.

326

It is from this point that he begins to use this title in speaking of himself.

327

Similar heavenly messages were often received by Christian mystics and were probably true as subjective experiences. Thus Suso was visited one Whitsunday by a heavenly messenger who bade him cease his mortifications.

328

It is the Pipal tree or Ficus religiosa, as is mentioned in the Dîgha Nikâya, XIV. 30, not the Banyan. Its leaves have long points and tremble continually. Popular fancy says this is in memory of the tremendous struggle which they witnessed.

329

Such are the Padhâna-sutta of the Sutta-Nipâta which has an air of antiquity and the tales in the Mahâvagga of the Saṃyutta-Nikâya. The Mahâvagga of the Vinaya (I. 11 and 13) mentions such an encounter but places it considerably later after the conversion of the five monks and of Yasa.

330

The text is also found in the Saṃyutta-Nikâya.

331

Concisely stated as suffering, the cause of suffering, the suppression of suffering and the method of effecting that suppression.

332

Writers on Buddhism use this word in various forms, arhat, arahat and arahant. Perhaps it is best to use the Sanskrit form arhat just as karma and nirvana are commonly used instead of the Pali equivalents.

333

I.15-20.

334

Brahmayoni. I make this suggestion about grass fires because I have myself watched them from this point.

335

This meal, the only solid one in the day, was taken a little before midday.

Ye dhammâ hetuppabhavâ tesam hetum Tathâgato Âha tesañca yo nirodho evamvâdi Mahâsamano ti.

The passage is remarkable because it insists that this is the principal and essential doctrine of Gotama. Compare too the definition of the Dhamma put in the Buddha's own mouth in Majjhima, 7Dhammam te desessâmi: imasmim sati, idam hoti: imass' uppâdâ idaṃ upajjhati, etc.

Pârâjikam } together constituting the Sutta-vibhanga.

Pacittiyam}

Mahâvagga } together constituting the Khandakas.

Cullavagga}

Parivâra-pâṭha: a supplement and index. This book was rejected by some schools.

Something is known of the Vinaya of the Sarvâstivâdins existing in a Chinese translation and in fragments of the Sanskrit original found in Central Asia. It also consists of the Pâtimokkha embedded in a commentary called Vibhâga and of two treatises describing the foundation of the order and its statutes. They are called Kshudrakavastu and Vinayavastu. In these works the narrative and anecdotal element is larger than in the Pali Vinaya. See also my remarks on the Mahâvastu under the Mahayanist Canon. For some details about the Dharmagupta Vinaya, see J.A. 1916, ii. p. 2for a longish extract from the Mülasarv. Vinaya, J.A. 1914, ii. pp. 493-522.

I. Dîgha-Nikâya }

II. Majjhima-Nikâya } Collections of discourses mostly attributed to the

III. Samyutta-Nikâya } Buddha.

IV. Anguttara-Nikâya }

V. Khuddaka-Nikâya: a collection of comparatively short treatises, mostly in poetry, namely:

1. Dhammapada.

2. Udâna } Utterances of the Buddha with explanations of the

3. Itivuttakam } attendant circumstances.

4. Khuddaka-pâtha: a short anthology.

5. Sutta-nipâta: a collection of suttas mostly in verse.

*6. Thera-gâthâ: poems by monks.

*7. Therî-gâthâ: poems by nuns.

8. Niddesa: an old commentary on the latter half of the Sutta-nipâta, ascribed to Sâriputta.

*9. The Jâtaka verses.

10. Paṭisambhidâ.

*11. Apadâna.

*12. Buddha-vaṃsa.

*13. Vimâna-vatthu.

*14. Peta-vatthu.

*15. Cariyâ-piṭaka.

The works marked * are not found in the Siamese edition of the Tripiṭaka but the Burmese editions include four other texts, the Milinda-pañha, Petakopadesa, Suttassanigaha, and Nettipakaraṇa.

The Khuddaka-Nikâya seems to have been wanting in the Pitaka of the Sarvâstivâdins or whatever sect supplied the originals from which the Chinese Canon was translated, for this Canon classes the Dhammapada as a miscellaneous work outside the Sutta Pitaka. Fragments of the Sutta-nipâta have been found in Turkestan but it is not clear to what Pitaka it was considered to belong. For mentions of the Khuddaka-Nikâya in Chinese see J.A. 1916, pp. 32-3.

1. Dhamma-sangaṇi.

2. Vibhanga.

3. Kathâ-vatthu.

4. Puggala-paññatti.

5. Dhâtu-kathâ.

6. Yamaka.

7. Paṭṭhâna.

The Abhidhamma of the Sarvâstivâdins was entirely different. It seems probable that the Abhidhamma books of all schools consisted almost entirely of explanatory matter and added very little to the doctrine laid down in the suttas. It would appear that the only new topic introduced in the Pali Abhidhamma is the theory of relations (paccaya).

1. The Vinaya-Samukasa. Perhaps the sermon at Benares with introductory matter found at the beginning of the Mahâvagga. See Edmunds, in J.R.A.S. 1913, p. 385.

2. The Alia-Vâsâni (Pali Ariya-Vâsâni) = the Samgîti-sutta of the Dîgha Nikâya.

3. The Anâgata-bhayâni = Anguttara-Nikâya, V. 77-80, or part of it.

4. The Munigâtha=Sutta-Nipâta, 206-220.

5. The Moneyasute=Moneyya-sutta in the Itivuttakam, 6see also Ang. Nik. III. 120.

6. The Upatisapasine. The question of Upatissa: not identified.

7. The Lâghulovâde musâvâdam adhigicya. The addresses to Râhula beginning with subject of lying=Maj. Nik. 61.

336

I. 53-54.

337

His father.

338

I.e. the Buddha's former wife.

339

Half brother of the Buddha and Suddhodana'a son by Mahâprajâpatî.

340

Jâtaka, 356.

341

Mahâvag. III. 1.

342

Thus we hear how Dasama of Atthakam (Maj. Nik. 52) built one for fifteen hundred monks, and Ghotamukha another in Pataliputta, which bore his name.

343

Maj. Nik. 53.

344

Cullavag. VI. 4.

345

Probably sheds consisting of a roof set on posts, but without walls.

346

Translated by Rhys Davids, American Lectures, pp. 108 ff.

347

E.g. Maj. Nik. 62.

348

But in Maj. Nik. II. 5 he says he is not bound by rules as to eating.

349

Maj. Nik. 147.

350

In an exceedingly curious passage (Dig. Nik. IV.) the Brahman Sonadaṇḍa, while accepting the Buddha's teaching, asks to be excused from showing the Buddha such extreme marks of respect as rising from his seat or dismounting from his chariot, on the ground that his reputation would suffer. He proposes and apparently is allowed to substitute less demonstrative salutations.

351

Cullavagga V. 21 and Maj. Nik. 85.

352

Visâkhâ, a lady of noted piety. It was probably a raised garden planted with trees.

353

Maj. Nik. 110.

354

Dig. Nik. No. 2. Compare Jâtaka 150, which shows how much variation was permitted in the words ascribed to the Buddha.

355

Sam. Nik. XLII. 7.

356

Mahâparinib-sutta, 6. 20. The monk Subhadda, in whose mouth these words are put, was apparently not the person of the same name who was the last convert made by the Buddha when dying.

357

His personal name was Upatissa.

358

This position was also held, previously no doubt, by Sagata.

359

Mahavâg. X. 2. Compare the singular anecdote in VI. 22 where the Buddha quite unjustifiably suspects a Doctor of making an indelicate joke. The story seems to admit that the Buddha might be wrong and also that he was sometimes treated with want of respect.

360

VII. 2 ff.

361

The introductions to Jâtakas 26 and 150 say that Ajâtasattu built a great monastery for him at Gayâsîsa.

362

The Buddha says so himself (Dig. Nik. II.) but does not mention the method.

363

The Dhamma-sangaṇī defines courtesy as being of two kinds: hospitality and considerateness in matters of doctrine.

364

Maj. Nik. 75.

365

Mahāv. vi. 31. 11.

366

Cullavag. x. 1. 3.

367

Mahâparinib. V. 23. Perhaps the Buddha was supposed to be giving Ânanda last warnings about his besetting weakness.

368

Udâna 1. 8.

369

Compare too the language of Angela of Foligno (1248-1309) "By God's will there died my mother who was a great hindrance unto me in following the way of God: my husband died likewise and all my children. And because I had commenced to follow the aforesaid way and had prayed God that he would rid me of them, I had great consolation of their deaths, although I did also feel some grief." Beatae Angelae de Fulginio Visionum et Instructionum Liber. Cap. ix.

370

No account of this event has yet been found in the earliest texts but it is no doubt historical. The versions found in the Jâtaka and Commentaries trace it back to a quarrel about a marriage, but the story is not very clear or consistent and the real motive was probably that indicated above.

371

See Rhys Davids, Dialogues, II. p. 70 and Przyluski's articles (in J.A. 1918 ff.) Le Parinirvana et les funérailles du Bouddha where the Pali texts are compared with the Mûlasarvâstivâdin Vinaya and with other accounts.