Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 2

681

See Annales du Musée Guimet, Tome VIII. Si-Do-In-Dzon. Gestes de l'officiant dans les cérémonies mystiques des sectes Tendai et Singon, 1899.

682

See Underhill, Mysticism, chaps. VI. and VII.

683

See Dhalla, Zoroastrian Theology, p. 116.

684

Specially Ath. Veda, XII. 1.

685

Village deities in south India at the present day are usually female. See Whitehead, Village Gods, p. 21.

686

Thus Cândî is considered as identical with the wood goddess Bâsulî, worshipped in the jungles of Bengal and Orissa. See J.A. 1873, p. 187.

687

Vaj. Sanh. 3. 57 and Taittir. Br. I. 6. 10. 4.

688

Crooke, Popular Religion of Northern India, I. 63. Monier Williams, Brahm. and Hinduism, p. 57 gives an interesting account of the shrine of Kâlî at Vindhyâcal said to have been formerly frequented by Thugs.

689

This idea that deities have different aspects in which they practically become different persons is very prevalent in Tibetan mythology which is borrowed from medieval Bengal.

690

Though there are great temples erected to goddesses in S. India, there are also some signs of hostility to Śâktism. See the curious legends about an attendant of Śiva called Bhriṅgi who would not worship Pârvatî. Hultzsch, South Indian Inscriptions, II. ii. p. 190.

691

There is a curious tendency in India to regard the male principle as quiescent, the female as active and stimulating. The Chinese, who are equally fond of using these two principles in their cosmological speculations, adopt the opposite view. The Yang (male) is positive and active. The Yin (female) is negative and passive.

692

The Mahânirvâṇa Tantra seems to have been composed in Bengal since it recommends for sacrificial purposes (VI. 7) three kinds of fish said to be characteristic of that region. On the other hand Buddhist works called Tantras are said to have been composed in north-western India. Udyâna had an old reputation for magic and even in modern times Śâktism exists in western Tibet and Leh. It is highly probable that in all these districts the practice of magic and the worship of mountain goddesses were prevalent, but I find little evidence that a definite Śâkta sect arose elsewhere than in Bengal and Assam or that the Śâktist corruption of Buddhism prevailed elsewhere than in Magadha and Bengal.

693

But the Brahmans of isolated localities, like Satara in the Bombay Presidency, are said to be Śâktas and the Kâñculiyas of S. India are described as a Śâktist sect.

694

The law-giver Baudhâyana seems to have regarded Aṅga and Vaṅga with suspicion, I. 1.13, 14.

695

See especially the story of Manasâ Devi in Dinesh Chandra Sen (Beng. Lang. and Lit. 257), who says the earliest literary version dates from the twelfth century. But doubtless the story is much older.

696

Virâtap. chap. VI. (not in all MSS.). Bhishmap. chap. XXIII. Also in the Harivaṃsa, vv. 3236 ff. Pargiter considers that the Devî-Mâhâtmya was probably composed in the fifth or sixth century. Chap. XXI. of the Lotus Sûtra contains a spell invoking a goddess under many names. Though this chapter is an addition to the original work, it was translated into Chinese between 265 and 316.

697

But he does mention the worship of the Divine Mothers. Harshacar. VII. 250 and Kâdamb. 134.

698

Hymns to the Devî are also attributed to him but I do not know what evidence there is for his authorship.

699

As pointed out elsewhere, though this word is most commonly used of the Śâkta scriptures it is not restricted to them and we hear of both Buddhist and Vaishṇava Tantras.

700

The Adhyâtma Râmâyaṇa is an instance of Śâktist ideas in another theological setting. It is a Vishnuite work but Sità is made to say that she is Prakṛiti who does all the deeds related in the poem, whereas Râma is Purusha, inactive and a witness of her deeds.

701

XI. iii. 47-8; XI. V. 28 and 31. Probably Vishnuite not Śâktist Tantras are meant but the Purana distinguishes between Vedic revelation meant for previous ages and tantric revelation meant for the present day. So too Kullûka Bhaṭṭa the commentator on Manu who was a Bengali and probably lived in the fifteenth century says (on Manu II. i.) that Śruti is twofold, Vedic and tantric. Śrutisca dvividhâ vaidikî tântrikîca.

702

II. 15.

703

See for full list Avalon, Principles of Tantra, pp. lxv-lxvii. A collection of thirty-seven Tantras has been published at Calcutta by Babu Rasik Mohun Chatterjee and a few have been published separately.

704

Translated by Avalon, 1913, also by Manmatha Nath Dutt, 1900.

705

Analysed in J.A.O.S. XXIII. i. 1902.

706

Edited by Târanâtha Vidyâratna, with introduction by A. Avalon, 1917.

707

See Avalon, Principles of Tantra, p. lxi. But these are probably special meanings attached to the words by tantric schools. Nigama is found pretty frequently, e.g. Manu, IV. 19 and Lalita-vistara, XII. But it is not likely that it is used there in this special sense.

708

Edited by Avalon, 1914.

709

Satirical descriptions of Śâktism are fairly ancient, e.g. Karpura Mañjarî, Harvard edition, pp. 25 and 233.

710

Tantrism has some analogy to the Fêng-shui or geomancy of the Chinese. Both take ancient superstitions which seem incompatible with science and systematize them into pseudo-sciences, remaining blind to the fact that the subject-matter is wholly imaginary.

711

For what follows as for much else in this chapter, I am indebted to Avalon's translation of the Mahânirvâṇa Tantra and introduction.

712

Paśu-, vîra-, divya-bhâva.

713

Avalon, Mahân. Tan. pp. lxxix, lxxx.

714

"The eternal rhythm of Divine Breath is outwards from spirit to matter and inwards from matter to spirit. Devî as Mâyâ evolves the world. As Mahâmâyâ she recalls it to herself.... Each of these movements is divine. Enjoyment and liberation are each her gifts." Avalon, Mahân. Tan. p. cxl.

715

Yair eva patanam dravyaih siddhis tair eva coditâ—Kulârṇava Tantra, V. 48. There is probably something similar in Taoism. See Wieger, Histoire des Croyances religieuses en Chine, p. 409. The Indian Tantrists were aware of the dangers of their system and said it was as difficult as walking on the edge of a sword or holding a tiger.

716

Vâmâcâra is said not to mean left-hand worship but woman (vâmâ) worship. This interpretation of Dakshiṇa and Vâmâcâra is probably fanciful.

717

Sometimes two extra stages Aghora and Yogâcâra are inserted here.

718

Mahân. Tan. X. 108. A Kaula may pretend to be a Vaishṇava or a Śaiva.

719

Although the Tantras occasionally say that mere ritual is not sufficient for the highest religions, yet indispensable preliminary is often understood as meaning sure means. Thus the Mahânirvâṇa Tantra (x. 202, Avalon's transl.) says "Those who worship the Kaulas with panca tattva and with heart uplifted, cause the salvation of their ancestors and themselves attain the highest end."

720

But on the other hand some Tantras or tantric treatises recommend crazy abominations.

721

Mahânir. Tant. X. 79. Bhartrâ saha kuleśâni na dahet kulakâminim.

722

Ib. XI. 67.

723

E.g. It does not prescribe human sacrifices and counsels moderation in the use of wine and maithuna.

724

See Frazer's Adonis, Attis and Osiris, pp. 269-273 for these and other stories of dismemberment.

725

See Frazer, Golden Bough: Spirits of the Corn, vol. I. 245 and authorities quoted.

726

Images representing this are common in Assam.

727

Hsüan Chuang (Walters, vol. I. chap, VII) mentions several sacred places in N.W. India where the Buddha in a previous birth was dismembered or gave his flesh to feed mankind. Can these places have been similar to the pîths of Assam and were the original heroes of the legend deities who were dismembered like Satî and subsequently accommodated to Buddhist theology as Bodhisattvas?

728

It is an autumnal festival. A special image of the goddess is made which is worshipped for nine days and then thrown into the river. For an account of the festival which makes its tantric character very clear see Durgâ Puja by Pratapachandra Ghosha, Calcutta, 1871.

729

One explanation given is that she was so elated with her victories over giants that she began to dance which shook the Universe. Śiva in order to save the world placed himself beneath her feet and when she saw she was trampling on her husband, she stopped. But there are other explanations.

Another of the strangely barbaric legends which cluster round the Śakti is illustrated by the figure called Chinnamasṭakâ. It represents the goddess as carrying her own head which she has just cut off, while from the neck spout fountains of blood which are drunk by her attendants and by the severed head itself.

730

Yet the English mystic Julian, the anchoress of Norwich (c. 1400), insists on the motherhood as well as the fatherhood of God. "God is our mother, brother and Saviour." "As verily God is our father, so verily God is our mother."

So too in an inscription found at Capua (C.I.N. 3580) Isis is addressed as una quae es omnia.

The Power addressed in Swinburne's poems Mater Triumphalis, Hertha, The Pilgrims and Dolores is really a conception very similar to Śakti.

731

These ideas find frequent expression in the works of Bunkim Chandra Chatterjee, Dinesh Chandra Sen and Sister Nivedita.

732

See Dinesh Chandra Sen, Hist. Beng. Lang, and Lit. pp. 712-721. Even the iconoclast Devendranath Tagore speaks of the Universal Mother. See Autobiog. p. 240.

733

So I was told, but I saw only six, when I visited the place in 1910.

734

Rudhirâdhyâya. Translated in As. Researches, V. 1798, pp. 371-391.

735

See Frazer, op. cit. p. 246.

736

In the Sarva-darśana-saṅgraha, the best known compendium of Indian philosophy.

737

J.C. Chatterji's definition of Indian philosophy (in his Indian Realism, p. 1) is interesting. "By Hindu philosophy I mean that branch of the ancient learning of the Hindus which demonstrates by reasoning propositions with regard to (a) what a man ought to do in order to gain true happiness … or (b) what he ought to realize by direct experience in order to be radically and absolutely freed from suffering and to be absolutely independent, such propositions being already given and lines of reasoning in their support being established by duly qualified authorities."

738

See Chatterji's work above cited.

739

It is this idea which disposes educated Hindus to believe in the magical or sacramental power of mystic syllables and letters, though the use of such spells seems to Europeans incredible folly.

740

See especially Garbe, Die Sâṅkhya Philosophie, 1894; and Keith, The Sâṅkhya System, 1919, which however reached me too late for me to make any use of it.

741

E.g. in the Bhagavad-gîtâ and Śvetâśvatara Upanishads. According to tradition Kapila taught Asuri and he, Pañcaśikha, who made the system celebrated. Garbe thinks Pañcaśikha may be assigned to the first century A.D.

742

This appears to be the real title of the Sûtras edited and translated by Ballantyne as "The Sâṅkhya Aphorisms of Kapila."

743

Or topics. It is difficult to find any one English word which covers the twenty-five tattvas, for they include both general and special ideas, mind and matter on the one hand; special organs on the other.

744

Sâṅkh. Pravac. I. 96.

745

Garbe, Die Sâṅkhya Philosophie, p. 222. He considers that it spread thence to other schools. This involves the assumption that the Sâṅkhya is prior to Buddhism and Jainism.

746

Ears, skin, eyes, tongue and nose.

747

Voice, hands, feet, organs of excretion and generation.

748

Verse 40.

749

Cf. the Buddhist Sankhâras.

750

Sâṅkh. Kâr. 62.

751

Sâṅkh. Kâr. 59-61.

752

Sâṅkh. Pravac. I. 92-95.

753

Sâṅkh. Pravac. V. 2-12.

754

Thus Sâṅkh. Pravac. V. 46, says Tatkartuḥ purushasyâbhâvât and the commentary explains Îśvara-pratishedhâd iti śeshah "supply the words, because we deny that there is a supreme God."

755

Nevertheless the commentator Vijñâna-Bhikshu (c. 1500) tries to explain away this atheism and to reconcile the Sâṅkhya with the Vedânta. See Garbe's preface to his edition of the Sâṅkhya-pravacana-bhâshya.

756

VI. 13.

757

V. 5.

758

Îśvara is apparently a purusha like others but greater in glory and untouched by human infirmities. Yoga sûtras, I. 24-26.

759

It is a singular fact that both the Sâṅkhya-kârikâ-bhâshya and a treatise on the Vaiśeshika philosophy are included in the Chinese Tripitaka (Nanjio, Cat. Nos. 1300 and 1295). A warning is however added that they are not "the law of the Buddha."

760

See Jacobi, J.A.O.S. Dec. 1910, p. 24. But if Vasubandhu lived about 280-360, as is now generally believed, allusions to the Yogâcâra school in the Yoga sûtras do not oblige us to place the sûtras much later than 300 A.D. since the Yogâcâra was founded by Asanga, the brother of Vasubandhu.

761

I find it hard to accept Deussen's view (Philosophy of the Upanishads, chap. X) that the Sâṅkhya has grown out of the Vedânta.

762

See e.g. Vishṇu Purâṇa, I. chaps. 2, 4, 5. The Bhagavad-gîtâ, though almost the New Testament of Vedantists, uses the words Sâṅkhya and Yoga in several passages as meaning speculative truth and the religious life and is concerned to show that they are the same. See II. 39; III. 3; V. 4, 5.

763

It is perhaps hardly necessary to add that there has been endless discussion as to the sense and manner in which the soul is God.

764

Bṛihad Âran. IV. 4. 6; Ib. I. iv. 10. "I am Brahman."

765

See above Book II. chaps. V and VI.

766

Chând. Up. III. 14.

767

Chând. Up. VI.

768

See Deussen, Philosophy of the Upanishads.

769

Ato'nyad ârtam. Bṛihad Âr. III. several times.

770

Maitrâyaṇa. Brâh. Upanishad, VI. 20. "Having seen his own self as The Self he becomes selfless, and because he is selfless he is without limit, without cause, absorbed in thought."

771

There is nothing to fix the date of this work except that Kumârila in commenting on it in the eighth century treats it as old and authoritative. It was perhaps composed in the early Gupta period.

772

Keith in J.R.A.S. 1907, p. 492 says it is becoming more and more probable that Bâdarâyaṇa cannot be dated after the Christian era. Jacobi in J.A.O.S. 1911, p. 29 concludes that the Brahma-sûtras were composed between 200 and 450 A.D.

773

Such attempts must have begun early. The Maitrâyana Upanishad (II. 3) talks of Sarvopanishadvidyâ, the science of all the Upanishads.

774

See above, p. 207 ff.

775

The same distinction occurs in the works of Meister Eckhart († 1327 A.D.) who in many ways approximates to Indian thought, both Buddhist and Vedântist. He makes a distinction between the Godhead and God. The Godhead is the revealer but unrevealed: it is described as "wordless" (Yâjnavalkya's neti, neti), "the nameless nothing," "the immoveable rest." But God is the manifestation of the Godhead, the uttered word. "All that is in the Godhead is one. Therefore we can say nothing. He is above all names, above all nature. God works, so doeth not the Godhead. Therein are they distinguished, in working and in not working. The end of all things is the hidden darkness of the eternal Godhead, unknown and never to be known." (Quoted by Rufus Jones, Studies in Mystical Religion, p. 225.) It may be doubted if Śankara's distinction between the Higher and Lower Brahman is to be found in the Upanishads but it is probably the best means of harmonizing the discrepancies in those works which Indian theologians feel bound to explain away.

776

Vedânta sûtras, II. 1. 32-3, and Śaṅkara's commentary, S.B.E. vol. XXXIV. pp. 356-7. Râmânuja holds a similar view and it is very common in India, e.g. Vishṇu Pur. I. chap. 2.

777

See too a remarkable passage in his comment on Brahma-sûtras, II. 1. 23. "As soon as the consciousness of non-difference arises in us, the transmigratory state of the individual soul and the creative quality of Brahman vanish at once, the whole phenomenon of plurality which springs from wrong knowledge being sublated by perfect knowledge and what becomes then of the creation and the faults of not doing what is beneficial and the like?"

778

Although Śaṅkara's commentary is a piece of severe ratiocination, especially in its controversial parts, yet he holds that the knowledge of Brahman depends not on reasoning but on scripture and intuition. "The presentation before the mind of the Highest Self is effected by meditation and devotion." Brah. Sut. III. 2. 24. See too his comments on I. 1. 2 and II. 1. 11.

779

See Sukhtankar, Teachings of Vedânta according to Râmânuja, pp. 17-19. Walleser, Der aeltere Vedânta, and De la Vallée Poussin in J.R.A.S. 1910, p. 129.

780

This term is generally rendered by qualified, that is not absolute, Monism. But South Indian scholars give a slightly different explanation and maintain that it is equivalent to Viśishṭayor advaitam or the identity of the two qualified (viśishṭa) conditions of Brahman. Brahman is qualified by cit and acit, souls and matter, which stand to him in the relation of attributes. The two conditions are Kâryâvasthâ or period of cosmic manifestation in which cit and acit are manifest and Karaṇâvasthâ or period of cosmic dissolution, when they exist only in a subtle state within Brahman. These two conditions are not different (advaitam). See Srinivas Iyengar, J.R.A.S. 1912, p. 1073 and also Sri Râmânujâcárya: His Philosophy by Rajagopalacharyar.

781

Compare the phrase of Keats in a letter quoted by Bosanquet, Gifford Lectures for 1912, p. 66. "As various as the lives of men are, so various become their souls and thus does God make individual beings, souls, identical souls of the sparks of his own essence."

782

This tenet is justified by Bṛihad Aran. Up. III. 3 ff. which is a great text for Râmânuja's school. "He who dwells in the earth (water, etc.) and within the earth (or, is different from the earth) whom the earth knows not, whose body the earth is, who rules the earth within, he is thyself, the ruler within, the immortal."

783

Bhag.-gîtâ, XV. 16, 17.

784

The two doctrines are called Vivartavâda and Pariṇâmavâda.

785

These are only the more subtle tattvas. There are also 60 gross ones. See for the whole subject Schomerus Der Çaiva-Siddhânta, p. 129.

786

It also finds expression in myths about the division of the deity into male and female halves, the cosmic egg, etc., which are found in all strata of Indian literature.

787

An account of tantric cosmology can be found in Avalon, Mahân. Tantra, pp xix-xxxi. See also Avalon, Prapancasâra Tantra, pp. 5 ff.; Srinivâsa Iyengar, Indian Philosophy, pp. 143 and 295 ff.; Bhandarkar, Vaishṇ. and Śaivism, pp. 145 ff.

788

Sarva-darśana-saṇgraha, chap. IX. For this doctrine in China see Wieger Histoire des Croyances religieuses en Chine, p. 411.

789

See Yule's Marco Polo, II. pp. 365, 369.

790

See Rhys Davids' note in his Dialogues of the Buddha on Dîgha Nikâya, Sutta V. pp. 166 ff. He seems to show that Lokâyata meant originally natural philosophy as a part of a Brahman's education and only gradually acquired a bad meaning. The Arthasâstra also recommends the Sânkhya, Yoga and Lokâyata systems.

791

Maitr. Up. VII. 8.

792

See also Suali in Muséon, 1908, pp. 277 ff. and the article Materialism (Indian) in E.R.E. For another instance of ancient materialism see the views of Pâyâsi set forth in Dig. Nik. XXIII. The Bṛihad Ar. Up. III. 2. 13 implies that the idea of body and spirit being disintegrated at death was known though perhaps not relished.

793

Translation by Shea and Troyer, vol. II. pp. 201-2.

794

Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Adyar Library, 1908, pp. 300-1.