CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library BL 1451.T61 The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022981280 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH MAP TO ILLUSTRATE (l) THE ROUTE TAKEN BY BUDDHA WHEN HE FLED FROM home; (2) THAT PROBABLY TAKEN BY HIM WHEN HE LEFT pAtALIPUTRA ON HIS LAST JOURNEY. The continuous straight line shows No. i and the dotted line No. 2. THE Noble Eightfold Path BEING Ube 5ames Xong Xectures on 3Bu&&bism for 1900—1902 H.D. BY THE REV. W. ST. CLAIR-TISDALL, M.A., C.M.S. AUTHOR OF 'THE RELIGION OF THE CRESCENT,' ETC. ' Ayam eva Ariyo Atthangiko Maggo ' Dhammacakkappavattana-Suttam, § 3. lias yap b ^los rod dvOpibwov e'dpvdfj.tas re Kal edapfLOffHas SeLTai. Plato : Protagoras^ 326, B. LONDON ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.G. 1903 TO SIR WILLIAM MUIR, K.C.S.I., D.C.L., etc., VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRINCIPAL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, IN TOKEN OF RESPECT AND ADMIRATION, THIS LITTLE WORK IS, WITH HIS PERMISSION, DEDICATED PREFACE THE four lectures contained in this volume are those which, in a somewhat shorter form, have been delivered at the Universities of Cambridge (Westminster College) and Durham, at Manchester Cathedral, and at many other places, during the last two years, under the auspices of the Trustees of the James Long Lectureship Fund in connexion with the C.M.S. I gladly embrace this opportunity of acknowledging the kindness with which my attempt to show what the main features of Buddhism in its original form were has been everywhere received. It will be observed that I have throughout dealt with Buddhism at its best — that is, with the doctrines taught by Buddha himself, and not with the corrupt forms of Buddhism now found in Tibet, Mongolia, China, Japan, and other lands. To deal with these latter at all satis- factorily would have enlarged the book to many times its present 'size, and would have tended to distract the reader's attention from the original and purest form of the philosophy which I have tried to explain. It would be difiScult to find anything to say in favour of these corrupt forms of Buddhism, and to deal with them thoroughly would require far more learning than I possess. X PREFACE Having for many years been an earnest student of religions and philosophies, and at the same time of Oriental languages, it has been my principle never to accept any statement second-hand, as it were, regarding any religion or philosophy, but to test everything for myself, and to go to the root of the matter, as far as possible, by consulting authoritative documents in the original languages. This plan I have pursued in the present work, just as I did in a previous course of James Long Lectures on Muhammadanism, published in 1895 under the title of ' The Religion of the Crescent.' In order, however, to enable the student to test the correct- ness of the views I have enunciated, on all important points I have quoted in the notes the original documents upon which my statements are based. I have also, of course, consulted the leading English, German, and French works on Buddhism, as far as I could, and gladly acknowledge my indebtedness to not a few of them. But L trust that, being naturally ' Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri,' I have not adopted a single opinion without having carefully tested its correctness to the best of my ability. Should this little work in any degree enable the thoughtful reader to attain a correct and impartial view of the true nature of Buddhism in its original form, and should it prove useful to Christians living among Buddhists in producing in their minds more true sym- pathy with the latter, and thus aid them to understand how best to present the great truths of the Gospel to those whose own gloomy philosophy so clearly proves their deep need of Chnst, I shall be more than repaid for the many months of steady work which I have devoted to the preparation of these pages. In my quotations from the original Buddhist Scriptures PREFACE xi I have in almost every case quoted from the valuable edition of these works issued by the Pali Text Society. It is unnecessary for me to testify to the care with which the series has been prepared for publication, but it would afford me much pleasure to know that this little book had been of use in calling attention to the value of this edition. Buddhist philosophy deserves more serious study than it has yet received — at least, from the majority of the pro- fessed admirers of Buddhism in England and America. The only way to obtain a real knowledge of it is to study its origines in the books of the Pali Canon. What would be thought of one who professed a great admiration for Plat.o or Aristotle, but was unable to read a line of these authors in the original ? If those who praise Buddhism so much, as many do nowadays, are really in earnest, let them study the philosophy seriously, as this edition enables them to do. They will thus be better fitted to form a correct judgment regarding Buddha's place in philosophy, and be far less liable to deceive themselves and others regarding it. Professor Rhys Davids' Hibbert Lectures and other works on Buddhism, together with Dr. Hoey's admirable English version of Oldenberg's ' Buddha,' will also prove of great value to the student, as will many other works mentioned in the appended Bibliography. It remains for me to express my recognition of the deep debt of gratitude which I owe to Dr. Hoey for very carefully reading over these lectures in manuscript, and for the many valuable suggestions and the kind en- couragement he has afforded me. Dr. Hoey when ir India devoted much care to the task of identifying the various places^ mentioned in early Buddhist works in 1 It is unfortunate that no two neighbouring places visited by either of the Chinese Buddhist pilgrims have been identified with absolute xii PREFACE connexion with the life and labours of Buddha, and I am greatly indebted to him for the information on this subject which he has so kindly given me, and also for the map which he has himself provided for this book. I have made great use of his two articles ' On the Identi- fication of Kusinara, Vaisali, and other Places mentioned by the Chinese Pilgrims,' published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (vol. Ixix., part i., No. i, 1900, and vol. Ixx., part i., No. i, 1901). It is to Dr. Hoey's assistance in this matter that I am indebted for the opportunity of laying before the reader the very latest geographical discoveries in connexion with the ' Holy Land of the Buddhists.' I have also to thank Professor Rhys Davids for very kindly perusing the manuscript of this work and advising its publication. W. St. C.-T. Bedford, December, 1902. certainty, nor has the course taken by them between any two points been ascertained beyond all doubt. Hence it has not been possible to calculate with accuracy the value of either a yojana or & li. But the value of the identifications proposed by Dr. Hoey in the two papers contributed on this subject to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal seems to me to be very considerable. The map will enable the reader to follow any further discoveries that may be made. The probable site of Sravastt has been discovered, and will soon be made public. NOTE ON THE PRONUNCIATION OF THE ENGLISH LETTERS EMPLOYED IN THESE PAGES TO TRANSLITERATE PALI AND SANSKRIT WORDS ALL the vowels, except a, have the same pronuncia- tion as in Italian, o and e being properly, how- ever, always long. When a is not marked long, it is pronounced like u in hut. The dotted letters t, d, I, If, are cerebrals, pronounced by applying the point of the tongue to the palate. T and d are pronounced as in Italian, more softly than in English. Sh is a cerebral, while s is the ordinary English sh. C is pronounced as ch in church, which word would in Pali be written care. Kh, gh, th, dh, th, dh,jh, bh, have each letter pronounced separately, as in inkhorn, hit him, etc. M has a nasal sound ; n is pronounced as in Spanish, ny ; / and the remaining letters as in English, except that g is always hard. CONTENTS PAGES Preface ix Introduction viv LECTURE I LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA Character of Period at which Buddhism arose — Intended to be a Universal Religion, the First such Scheme — India had lost Knowledge of God — Aim of Buddha's Philosophy — His Birth and Early Life — Becomes an Ascetic — Reason for this Con- duct — Dissatisfied — Became ' Enlightened ' — His Claims — No Room for God in his Philosophy — Its Essence — First Preach- ing at Banaras— The Middle Path— The Four Noble Truths- No Search for God — Buddha's Command to preach the Law — ^Converts numerous — The Threefold Refuge — Creed of Buddhism— Buddha's Son Rahulo — Unworthy Adherents — Buddha's Daily Life — Nuns — Buddha's Teaching not for the Simple — Attitude towards BrS.hmans and Caste — Method of Teaching — False Disciples — Parting Addresses to his Order — The Final Scene i— 66 LECTURE II THE CHIEF DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM Foundation on which Buddhist Doctrines rest — Canonical Pali Books— No Inspiration claimed— The Four Truths explained Pessimism — Noble Eightfold Path- — Nirvana — Karma — Evil the Fruit of Evil, Good of Good— Universality of Suffer- ing — Cause and Extinction of SutFering — Chain of Causation xvi CONTENTS PAGE — The Ego— Previous Budcihas — The Future Buddha — Trans- migration — The God of Death — The Deities also suffer and die — No Escape but in obtaining Nirvana — Buddhist Calm — Is Nirvana Extinction ? — Comparison with Hindu Philosophy — ' Menander's Inquiry ' — Why did Buddha suffer ? — Not all Suffering from Sin — Comfort to the Sorrowing — Story of Kisa-Gotami — Influence of his Environment on Buddha's Teaching — The Devas and other Superhuman Beings — The Heavens— Sakko, Maro, Brahma — The Hells— Buddhist Cos- mogony and Geography — Eclipses— Origin of Later Forms of Buddhism — True and False Liberalism in Religion - 67^1 r 5 LECTURE III buddha's moral teaching Buddha regards Everything from a Selfish Standpoint — Moral Ideas conditioned by Desire to obtain Nirvana — Good and Evil have no Real Existence — Three Varieties of Ethical System^Duty of Lay Adherents — ' Buddhist Beatitudes ' — Verses from the Dhamtnapadam — Confusion between Innocent and Wicked Deeds — Influence of Doctrine of Metempsychosis on Ethics — Evil Conduct condemned — 'An Outcast ' defined — Ten ' Moral Precepts '—The ' Four Prohibitions '—The Pati- mokkham — Uposatho, or Buddhist Sabbath — Defects of Bud- dhist Moral System — The Asavos — BenevoIence-^The ' Ten Fetters ' — Meaning of ' Ignorance ' (Avijja) — ' Disgust ' — The Four Stages on the Road to Nirvana — Transmigration — Duties of an Inquirer — Of the Buddhist Monk — ' Purity ' — The 'Four Destructions ' — The 'Six Crimes ' — Buddhist Morality Negative— Oldenberg on Buddhist ^ Benevolence ' — Less expected of the Arahat than of the Lay Adherent — The ' Ten Perfections ' — Buddha's Previous Births — As a Monkey — As Samo — As an Elephant — As Prince Vessantaro — The Latter Tale a Complete Exposition of Buddhist Ethics 116 — 159 LECTURE IV BUDDHISM AND CHRISTIANITY I. Comparison with Christianity — Lack of Noble Motive in Bud- dhist Morality— Its Self-contradiction— Buddhist Selfishness CONTENTS xvii PAGES and Christian Love to God — No Aim of Existence in Bud- dhism — Christianity reveals Divine Purpose — Buddhist Half- truths — Earth's Pleasures unsatisfying — ' Other-Worldliness ' also Vain — Buddhist Equanimity and Christ's ' Peace ' — Im- portance of Conduct here — 'Whatsoever a Man soweth' — Buddha failed to find Remedy for Evil — ^Christ's Atonement — Evil overruled for Good — Need to burst World Fetters — Various Buddhist Precepts compared with Christian Ones — Perverted Ideas of Self-Sacrifice — Buddhist Celibacy — Its Cause and Bad Effects. 2. Contrast between Buddhism and Christianity — B. a Doctrine of Despair, C. of Hope and Joy — Buddhist Arakat and Christian Saint — Buddhist Monk's Idleness — Christianity teaches Dignity of Labour — Maro's Realm and God's World — Buddha's Atheism — The Heavenly Father — Contrast between Buddhist and Christian View of Good and Evil — Buddhistic Cosmogony and Science — The Bible and Science — Buddhism and Christianity in their In- fluence on the World — Attitude towards Women — Buddhism and Christianity in Reference to Death. 3. Influence of Buddhism on Christianity — Supposed Resemblances between Gospel Passages and Buddhist Writings — Parable of the Mustard Seed— Greater Resemblance to Teaching of Greek Philosophers — Professor Rhys Davids' Opinion — Influence of Buddhism on Corrupt Forms of Christianity — Barlaam and Josaphat — ^Monastic System — Lamaism and the Papacy — Gnosticism — Manichaeism — Apocryphal Gospels and Maha- yana Books — 'Romantic History of Buddha' — Uncertain Date of Buddhist Works— Harnack on the Date of the New Testament Writings— Metteyo Buddha— Conclusion 160- 201 Note on Buddha's Birth 202 Bibliography ^°^ INTRODUCTION GREAT as has been the progress made by the civilized world in our own times in learning and science of every kind, theoretical and practical, in no department of study have greater facilities for progress been afforded than in that of Comparative Religion. If we have not advanced as much in this matter as in Medicine, in Telegraphy, in Mechanics, it is perhaps because we have not been equally earnest in our endeavours, and have not employed the true scientific method. The study has perhaps been left too much to men with some very decided bias, often an anti-Christian one, and their efforts have too often been directed, not to eliciting the truth from carefully observed facts, but to establishing some preconceived theory of their own. They have been followed by distinguished essayists and novelists, men and women of great literary ability, but with no particular training in this important branch of study, possibly without any great knowledge of languages and of philosophy to qualify them for conducting a care- ful and scientific investigation into such a deep and abstruse subject. Sciolists have then entered the field, and, in the most light and airy manner, have — to their own complete satisfaction, and with the smallest possible modicum of thought and study — settled for ever those XX INTRODUCTION deepest of all questions which for ages have occupied the attention, and too frequently baffled the investiga- tion, of some of the most thoughtful of the human race. Busy men too frequently accept the lucubrations of such writers or talkers as representing proved and generally accepted facts, and hence their faith in Christianity becomes shaken, and nothing definite is given to put in its place. The cure for this is that the study of the surviving non- Christian religions and philosophies of the East should be undertaken in earnest — at least as much so as that of the ancient philosophies of Greece and Rome. Instead of that, what do we see? Men ignorant of Greek would never venture to express an opinion upon the philosophies of Plato, of Aristotle, of Zeno, and would not be listened to if they did. But anyone with- out the slightest knowledge of Pall may set himself up as an exponent of Buddhism, and may even persuade people to accept him as an authority upon the subject. Surely this is not as it ought to be. There is a deep difference between Religion and Philo- sophy, it is true, yet they are sufficiently near akin to one another in many respects to render it possible to study both in somewhat the same manner. They both profess to solve some of the most important problems of existence, the difference being that philosophies are avowedly mere human guesses at their solution, while religions claim to be Divine revelations. Nor is it un- reasonable to suppose that perhaps such a claim may have some foundation in fact— that the different non- Christian faiths may enshrine, so to speak, some frag- ments of Divine truth, perhaps some scanty reminis- cences of an early Revelation. But whether this be so or not, they claim our reverent and thoughtful study as INTRODUCTION xxi being of deep human interest, seeing that they have, in most cases, exercised an immense influence for good or evil upon multitudes of our fellow-creatures, and have formed the consolation or the torment of their devotees. Their existence is a fact, and as such must play some part in the Divine scheme. Hence they must, if care- fully studied, be capable of teaching us something, if not of God's great purposes, at least of human nature and of human needs. Religions, like philosophies, even by their errors and failures may teach us man's inability to ' find out the Almighty unto perfection,' and thus enable the Christian, not merely to prize more truly the light which has shone upon us ' in the face of Jesus Christ,' but also to understand better than he otherwise could the necessity of some parts of Divine Revelation which might not perhaps be plain to him in any other way. The study of religions is a necessary part of the study of Anthropology, of History, of Ethics, and of Philo- sophy. De Quatrefages and others have shown that man has always had a religion. Even such a (practically) Atheistic Philosophy as that taught by Buddha has had • to yield place to the religions which have sprung from it in Tibet, in Ceylon, in Burma, and elsewhere. Does not this prove that Religion is a necessary part of our human nature ? And if, as Lucretius held, false religions have often proved scourges to humanity, and led to the commission of inhuman deeds of cruelty, does not that, explained by the proverb ' Corruptio optimi pessima,' tend to show that what is needed is, not the rejection of religion, but its amendment, the substitution of the true for the false ? The student of philosophy, when he finds school succeeding school, and men of the keenest intellect 'in wandering mazes lost,' should, from the failure of each and every such purely human system, learn that xxii INTRODUCTION such a ' raft ' is not enough to carry man safely over the ocean of existence, but that ' some word of God ' — nay, rather, ' The Word of God ' Himself — is requisite. The thoughtful man of the present day can no longer content himself with the scoff which declares that to the ignorant every religion is equally true, to the philosopher equally false, and to the politician equally useful. Those who, in accordance with the false liberality of our own time, profess to look upon all religions as alike good for those who believe in them, may at least learn from the study of these faiths that this view is not the outcome of learning, but of ignorance. True learning explodes this idea, as it has exploded many other similar fallacies. While a modicum of truth may be found in all religions and in all philosophies, the honest student will soon 1 earn that, in order properly to estimate the value of any system, and even to understand its teachings aright, it is not enough to cull pretty-sounding sentences or lofty moral sentiments from its leading books. Men have often done this, and then, reading Christian meanings into words . expressive of very different ideas, given them forth to the world as proving that men do not need the Gospel. The honest and the only profitable course is to study the system as a whole, endeavouring to ascertain the exact meaning of each maxim, taking the bad with the good, and thus forming a fair judgment on the whole system of religion or philosophy which we are studying. In these lectures it will be seen how easy it is to misunderstand, e.g., such Buddhist terms as ' Immortality ' (amata), ' Law,' ' Ignorance,' and many others, if they are taken apart from their context. Nor, again, can theory be separated from practice. Each religion especially, to be properly understood and judged, must be historically studied in its origin and its growth, in its development and its INTRODUCTION xxiii decay ; and the teaching of history regarding the influence for good or ill which it has, when its pyecepts have been carried into practice, exercised on its professors, must be taken into account as well, for ' the tree is known by his fruit.' While something may doubtless be learnt (as we shall see) from Buddhism, just as (though not to the same extent as) from Platonism, Aristotelianism, the philo- sophy of Kant, or any other such system, yet the recognition of this fact does not compel us to applaud the attempts that are even now being made in certain quarters to revive Buddhism in its original form. To do this is to endeavour to put back the hands of the clock of the world's history, of the human understanding. As well — nay, better far — attempt to revive Platonism, a far nobler philosophy. Why should we not, on the same principle, try to re-establish the Copernican theory, or strive to bring once more into vogue the medical system of Galen and Hippocrates ? The fact is that these systems, whether of Science or of Philosophy, have had their day, and to electrify them into even a semblance of vitality is impossible. Their work is done, the world has outgrown them. The Buddhism which it is attempted to revive is not really beHeved in even by the most zealous of its Western advocates. The stream can rise no higher than its source. A revived Buddhism could not attain a higher moral or intellectual level than that occupied by Buddha himself in what were dark ages indeed in comparison with our own. We have seen what comes of such revivals under far more favourable circumstances in connexion with another faith, a religion and not a philosophy— the Muhammadan. Made not by outsiders but by earnest believers in the creed, such attempts have resulted in the xxiv INTRODUCTION production of a Mahdi, a Khallfeh, a Mad Mulla, who have very fairly reproduced the character and the con- duct of Muhammad. A revival of pristine Buddhism might, if successful, show us characters more peaceful, it is true, but not less out of place at the present period of the world's history. The world has not yet outgrown the Jesus of the Evangelists, and does not seem very likely soon to do so. If, therefore, those who long to revive something, and ' to work some deliverance in the earth,' would strive to revive in men's hearts something of the old faith and zeal, of the love and devotion, of early Christian times, they would be more likely to see their efforts crowned with success, they would be doing infinitely more good to their fellow-men, and be bringing nearer that glorious and now,. perhaps, not so very ' far-off"D\v'uie event, To which the whole creation moves. ' LECTURE I LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA • Majjhena Tathagato dhammani deseti." ' Fecisti nos ad Te : et inquietum est cor nostrum, donee requiescat in Te.' — Augustine: Conff., lib. i., § i. \. ' I '"HE period at which Buddhism arose in India was T one which, whether we consider it from a poHti- cal or from an intellectual standpoint, must un- doubtedly be regarded as one of the most remarkable in the history of the world. The fall of Babylon in e.g. 538, when the Persian Empire under Cyrus arose on the ruins of the Assyrio-Baby Ionian, was one of the great turning- points in history, for it marked the passing away of the temporal power of the Semites and the accession of the Aryan (Japhetic) family of nations to the sovereignty of the world. In a somewhat similar manner, though more gradually, had the Semites themselves, more than a thousand years previously, wrested the pre-eminence from Accadians, Elamites, and Egyptians, members of another great division of the human race, known in the Bible as the Hamitic family. From the time of Cyrus to the pre- sent day the world has been ruled by the Aryan race, and their elevation to this exalted position took- place in the lifetime of Gotamo Buddha. The same period which witnessed the growing political ascendancy of the Aryan family of nations — that which I 2 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH may be approximately included between the sixth and the fifth centuries before the Christian era — was noted for its fertility in the deepest religious and philosophical thought. To it we trace back the origin of Hellenic as well as that of Indian philosophy. And, although our ignorance of the time at which Zoroaster lived renders it impossible to assert with any certainty that the great religious and intellectual movement associated with his name coincided with the period of which we are now speaking, yet much may be said in favour of such a supposition. Nor was this great outburst of mental, and in some measure of spiritual, earnestness and effort by any means confined to the Aryan nations, as we learn from a study of the contemporary Chinese i and Hebrew writings. Over the whole, or nearly the whole, of the civilized world at that epoch there seems to have brooded a spirit of inquiry which is perhaps without a parallel in the intellectual history of mankind. With its results, as far as the Western WiOrld is concerned, all students of Greek philosophy are acquainted. Completely independent, doubtless, of the ^ilniost contemporary movement of Grecian thought, there gradually diffused itself in India at the time of which we write, and perhaps somewhat previously, a very general feeling of dissatisfaction with the religious doctrines of the Brahmanical faith — of unbelief in the deities then wor- shipped by the Indian Aryans. This gave rise to a desire to obtain by thought and investigation some more satis- factory answer to the great problem of human existence and of human suffering than was afforded by the hymns of the Rig Veda, the earliest ethnic scripture of the Aryan family, written in an ancient dialect, the meaning of which had almost ceased to be understood. Times had very 1 Confucius was born in 551 e.g., and died in B.C. 478. Lao-tse was his contemporary and that of Buddha. LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 3 materially changed since the early Aryan conquerors of the Panjab had poured forth their simple prayers to the gods of the elements and the great powers of Nature, as represented by Indra, Agni, the Maruts, the Adityas, and similar deities. Men felt that there was, even in this world, something more necessary to render them truly happy than abundant herds of cattle, bountiful harvests, and victory over their foes. The lofty 1 conceptions of certain Divine attributes, which in early ages had been embodied in the Dyaush-pita and the Varuna of the Vedas, had now faded from men's minds along with much else of the ancient Aryan heritage of truth ; nor had they been able to replace these by any fuller and more realistic ideas regarding the Divine nature. On the other hand, their recognition of the existence of physical, mental, and moral evil in themselves and in the world at large, which knowledge had already to some degree found expression in more than one of the early hymns, had deepened. Thus, their lives and hearts had become darkened both ' by the loss of the realization of the Divine and by the acquisition of more correct ideas about man's actual con- dition in this life. The meaning of the sacrificial cultus of ancient times had been lost in the course of centuries. For these, among other reasons, thoughtful men felt their need of some fuller and more definite knowledge with regard to both this world and the next than the theories of the Upanishads could supply. Hence there gradually arose the six great systems of Hindu philosophy, ^ which 1 See that grand hymn ]Jig-Veda x. 121. = Called respectively the Sankhya, the Yoga, the Nyaya, the Vaiseshika, the MSmamsa, and the Vedanta darsanas. All these systems, as we have them, are post-Christian. But 'it seems likely that the founders of the six systems of philosophy . . . belonged to the same period of philosophical and religious fermentation which gave rise to the first spreading of Buddha's doctrines in India ' (M. Miiller, I — 2 4 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH testify to the immense amount of thought which the Indian mind in those ancient times had devoted to such matters. But even these philosophical systems,^ though they appealed to a far larger portion of the community than did the philosophies of ancient Hellas, were far from satisfying even the intellectual, much less the moral and spiritual, needs of the mass of men. Perhaps they were dimly conscious that they required a religion in which they could truly believe, a revelation of God to the human heart. And, despairing of obtaining this, forgetting even God's existence, men fancied that they could by abstruse thought discover at least something more satisfying than anything which had yet been found. The Indian mind longed and sought for the best of all possible philosophies, hoping thereby, as on a raft (to use 'Six Systems of Indian Philosophy,' p. 117). It is probable that Jainism is more ancient than Buddhism (vide, inter alia, Thomas, 'The Early Faith of Asoka'), and doubtless exercised a great influence upon Buddha's mind. But we have not sufficient material to enable us to ascertain with precision what the very earliest Jaina tenets were. ' The question as to whether Buddha borrowed from any of these philosophies has been much discussed. Max Miiller has pointed out that many ideas were common to all of these systems of philosophy, and that this common substratum had worked itself into the Indian mind in Buddha's tiine. This accounts for such resemblances as may be traced at times between Buddha's doctrines and now one, now another, of these philosophies ('The Six Systems of Indian Philosophy,' p. 137). Elsewhere he says : 'We have looked in vain for any deHnite similarities between the system of Kapila, as known to us in the Sankhya-sutras, and the Abhidharma or metaphysics of the Buddhists ' ('Chips from a German Workshop,' vol. i., p. 226). Oldenberg ('Buddha,' English translation, p. 92, note) agrees with this dictum. Regarding the meaning of the word 'Abhidharma' (in Pall 'Abhidh- ammo'), however. Professor Khys Davids rightly denies that the term should be translated ' metaphysics.' LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 5 Plato's words), to cross in safety the sea of existence. 1 Men were longing for some positive system of teaching which, if not a sufficient answer to all the human spirit's questionings, might at least in some measure satisfy their minds. They were waiting for a philosophy which might solve some of the problems of human life, and might point out a way to escape from sorrow and suffering, if not in this existence, yet in some future state. Buddhism, itself the natural^ outcome of the age and country in which it arose, offered itself as the solution of these problems, the satisfaction of men's deep-felt need. It is our object in these lectures to inquire into the nature and the value of the answer thus afforded, to seek to discover to what extent it is true and satisfactory. We shall deal with Buddhism as with any other system of philosophy ancient or modern, seeking to learn some- thing from Buddha as we do from Socrates and Plato, from Aristotle, from Epictetus, from Marcus Aurelius, Descartes, Hegel, and Kant. In order to do this, it will be necessary to investigate the root-ideas and main principles of Buddha's teaching, and to consider in what degree Buddha succeeded in his noble and daring attempt to evolve a philosophy which might confer the greatest benefit upon the whole human race. ' El /i^ Tis divaiTO dOT^piav Toiis \6yovi irpeff^eiov. koI ii^pi /xiv 'ApX^^Aov Tb (j>v efSos ^v • airi di 2wK/)dTous . . . t4 ijdiKdv • airb dk Z^vuvos ToO 'BXeiiTou to haXeKTiKbv (Diogenes Laertius, ' Vit. Phil.,' Prooemium xiii. 18). Thales held water to be the origin of all things (ibid., lib. i., vi. 27), but among his recorded sayings are : Jlpej^iTaTOf Tuv SvToiv, debs " i.'ykvvryTOV ydp. KdWiffTov, Kb^/ios • woiqiia ykp 9eod (loc. at., lib. i., ix. 35). 10 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH regard to that matter, at least, he parted company with the philosophy of his time. He felt that regarding that fact there was no illusion, and upon belief in it his whole system was founded. The one great task which he set himself with all his might to accomplish was. Given the existence of a world of suffering, to find the cause of that suffering and the way to escape from it.i As has well been said,^ ' His object was to get rid of the terrible burden of an existence without God and without hope,' which he felt to be ' all the more grievous because — on the theory of a belief in the transmigration of the soul or of repeated births — life does not end with physical death.' To Buddha life seemed not only to be entirely devoid of an object, and therefore valueless, but a curse instead of a blessing. But while all the happi- ness of life seemed delusory, or even worse, yet ' all that causes suffering — birth, sickness, death, separation from what is dear to us and union with what is hateful ' ^ — remained. ' And this stream of misery and tears extends backwards to all eternity . . . and stretches forward to all the eternities. This is what is implied in the cease- less passing of all beings . . . into life, until they die, and again from death, by means of repeated births, into a. new existence full of suffering.' Buddha sought, and professed to have found, for himself and for all who would learn from him, a means of deliverance from this chain of existence, which, under such circumstances and ^ ' Der Buddhismus ist eine Philosophic des Leidens und der Erldsung. Die UberzeuguDg von dem Elende des Daseins und das durchdringehde Geflihl der Erlosungsbedurftigkeit geben dem Buddhismus Gestalt und Faibe' (J. Dahlmann, 'Buddha,' p. 15). ^ Grau, 'The Goal of the Human Race,' English translation, pp, 145 et seq. ' Grau, op. cit., pp. 146, 147 ; cf. Oldenberg, 'Buddha : sein Lcben, seine Lehre, seine Gemeinde,' p. 258 et seq. LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA ii apart from God, he rightly deemed to be never-ending misery and despair. In judging his system of philosophy, we must not forget at what he aimed i and under what circumstances he arrived at the conclusions which he reached. The exact date at which Buddha lived has only recently been discovered. On the evidence of the in- scriptions of King Asoka Piyadassi {Priyadanhin), Pro- fessor Biihler^ fixes the year of his death at b.c. 477-478. ^ The aim of the Sankhya school of Kapila was very similar, for in Isvara-Krishna's ' Sslnkhya-Karika ' the leading principle of the philo- sophy of Kapila is thus stated : ' Duhkhatrayabhighatajjijnasa tadapaghatake hetau' (verse l). ' From the assault of the threefold kinds of suffering [arises] the desire to know the method by which they may be repelled.' The Bhagavadgita shows that other questions more akin to Greek philosophy occurred to other minds, for there we find Arjuna asking Krishna : ' Kirn tad brahma, kim adyatmaiii, kiin karma, purushottama ? Adhibhutain ca kiin proktam, adhidaivain kim ucyate ? Adhiyajnah katharn ko 'tra dehe 'smin, Madhusudana? Pray^nak^le ca kathain jiieyo 'si niyatatmabhih ?' 'What is that brahman \ = 6iiov\, what the Over-soul, what karma, O best of beings ? 'And what is the so-called Over-existent, what is the Over-fate called ? ' How and what is the Over-sacrifice here in this body, O destroyer of Madhu ? ' And at the time of expiring, how art thou to be known to humble [bound] souls ?' The ' threefold kinds of suffering ' referred to in the S4nkhya philo- sophy are respectively the suffering which originates from one's self, that caused by animate things of this world, and that produced by the action of the deities (devas). ''■ Buhler ('Three New Edicts of Asoka,' p. 20) says that he agrees with Professor Max Miiller, General Cunningham, and others, on the 12 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH His birth therefore occurred in b.c. 557-558, as he is said to have Hved for eighty ^ years. Tradition states that the place of his birth was a grove named Lumbini,^ near the city of Kapilavastu,^ at the foot of Mount Palpa in the Himalaya ranges, within the present territory of Nipal. The traditional spot has quite recently been dis- covered, and an inscription of King Piyadassi (Asoka)* found there states that, in the twentieth year of his reign, the King visited the spot, which on the stone itself he calls ' the birthplace of Sakya^ - Muni.' His father, Suddhodanp, is termed in the Buddhavamso " a raja, evidence of the Edicts, in believing that the date of the Nirvana of Buddha is B.C. 477-478. 'If, therefore,' he adds, 'the date 477-478 for the Nirvana should eventually be proved to be wrong, the fault cannot be more than five or six years one way or the other.' ' In his last year, in the verses quoted in the notes to p. 17, he speaks of having lived fifty years since he left home at the age of twenty-nine. Again, in MahS,parinibbana-Suttain, p. 23, when about to die, he says he is eighty years old (vide p. 57, below). ^ 'Jato Sakyanam game janapade Lampuneyye' (Nalakasuttain). The place is still called ' Rumin-dei' — ?".«., Lumbini. Devt. See on the subject an article by Birdwood in the Buddhist, Colombo, October i, 1897 ; also ' Sitzungsberichte der Koniglich : Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin,' 1897, p. 594, and authorities quoted by Griindwedel, 'Mythologie des Buddhismus,' p. 197, note 5. ' In Pali ' Kapilavatthu.' This small city stood on the banks of the little river Rohini (still called by the same name), probably, as Dr. Hoey thinks, somewhere near Taulihwa, a Nepalese Talisili station between the Jamwar and Banganga Rivers, about seven miles north of the British frontier. The AciravatI, a river often mentioned in the Buddhist Scriptures, is now known as the Rapti. * Asoka reigned from B.C. 257 to 220. ' This title of Buddha merely means 'the Ascetic of the Sakya tribe ' (see below). ^ Buddhavamsa, xxvi. 13 : ' Nagaraip Kapilavatthu me raja Suddhodano pita, Mayham janettika mata Maya devi ti vuccati.' LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 13 which cannot mean more than the same title does in India to-day. Professor Oldenberg shows that we have absolutely no evidence that Suddhodano was a territorial monarch,i and hence all that has been said of Buddha's resignation of his ancestral kingdom falls to the ground. Buddha's mother was named Maya, and his parents belonged to the Sakya tribe (in Pali, Sakko). This tribe, as their name implies, was part of a fair- skinned Indo-Scythian2 or Tatar nation, the Sakas^ (Greek 2a/cat, Latin Sacte), that overran a large portion of India before the Aryan invasion. They had become in process of time in great measure Aryanized, and hence Buddha's family belonged to the Kshattriya or warrior caste. Buddha's own original-* name was So also oji. cit, ii. 66 : ' Imassa janika mata Maya nama bhavissati. Pita Suddhodano nama ayam hessati (Jotamo.' But in this last extract Suddhodano is not called a raja ; see also Mahavaggo, i. 54, i. ' 'The idea that Buddha's father, Suddhodana, enjoyed this royal dignity is quite foreign to the oldest forms in which the traditions regarding the family are presented to us ; rather, we have nothing more or less to contemplate in Suddhodana than one of the great and wealthy land-owners of the S§.kya race, whom later legends first trans- formed into the great King Suddhodana ' (' Buddha,' p. 99). Elsewhere (pp. 416, 417) he denies the antiquity of the tradition which makes Buddha's father a King. Vide also Men. Williams, ' Buddhism,' p, 22. ^ Vide Mon. Williams' Sanskrit Dictionary, new edition, s.v. Saka. * The tradition of Buddha's Scythian origin explains what is said about ManSs' indebtedness to Scythianus (by which Buddha is evidently meant) in a Greek ecclesiastical historian (Socrates, 'Hist. Ecc.,' lib. i., cap. xxii.). * But Mon. Williams doubts this, and believes that this name was merely honorific, and conferred on him later ('Buddhism,' p. 23). Of course, the word ' Buddha ' itself is an appellation which he did not acquire until after his attainment to Bodhi (see below), and means 'the Knower.' 14 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH Siddhartha (in Pali, Siddhattho), but he is also often styled Gautama (in Pali, Gotamo), which seems to have been a family name. Maya, we are informed, died sfeveni (Jays after her son's birth, and he was brought up by her sister,^ his foster-mother, Mahaprajapati (in Pah, Mahapajapati), who was herself also one of Suddhodano's wives. The sacred books of the southern Buddhists, which alone afford any information on the subject worthy of even the slightest consideration, con- tain no biography of the noble youth,^ the nearest approach to one being the short account in verse found in the twenty-sixth chapter of the Buddhavamso. But certain details are to be found scattered about among the other books* of the Southern Canon. His youth was passed at Kapilavastu or in its neighbourhood, but the early Buddhist records tell us nothing whatever ^ This is often asserted in the Pali books. On Buddha's birth, see note at the end of the fourth lecture. ^ CuUavaggo, *. I, 3. ' The story of the child's prtsentation to the Rishi Asito (Nalaka- suttam of the Sutta-Nipato), or Kftladevalo (Jat. Atth, i., p. 54), is evidently of later origin. It underwent great amplification in later times still (vide Beal, ' Romantic History of Buddha,' p. 56 et seq.), but even in the introduction to the Jataka the legendary nature of the story is evident. It begins thus : ' On this same day the happy and delighted hosts of the Heaven of the Thirty-three held a celebration, waving their cloaks and giving other signs of joy, because to King Suddhodano in Kapilavattliu had been born a son who should sit at the foot of the Bo-tree and become a Buddha. Now it came to pass at that time that an ascetic named Kaladevalo . . . went, after his daily meal, to the Heaven of the Thirty-three to take his noon-day rest,' etc. (from Warren's translation, ' Buddhism in Translations,' pp. 48, 49). * E.g., in the CuUavaggo, the Aiiguttara-Nikayo, and the Mahapari- nibb^na-Suttaip ; also, mixed with many wonderful fables of later growth, in the Acchariyabahutasuttaip of the Majjh.-NikSyo. Cf. also accounts in the Digh.-Nik., Sutta-Nip^to, Mahavaggo, Sainyut.- Nik., etc. LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 15 of the philosophical studies to which he is sometimes supposed to have devoted himself. He resided with his father during the winter, summer, and the rainy season in one or another of the three 1 country-seats which early tradition has dignified with the title of ' palaces.' In accordance with the custom of early marriage, which then existed in India as it does now, he was married probably at the age of sixteen or seventeen years. We are uncertain as to the number of his wives. The Buddhavainso represents him as stating that he pos- sessed no fewer than 40,000 of them,^ but one is especially mentioned as the mother of Rahulo, his only recorded ^ Maj.-Nik., 75; so also in ASg.-Nik., quoted below, and Buddha- vamso, xxvi. 14. This was customary in rich families (Cull., vii. 1, i) ; compare what is said of the rich youth Yaso (Mahavaggo, i. 7, i). Of course, this account of Buddha's palaces may be borrowed from this latter passage, as from this very passage is borrowed (in the Lalita- Vistara, p. 521 ; Jataka, i., p. 6r, etc.) the story of Buddha's disgust at seeing the dishevelled condition of the sleeping women (so Rhys Davids and Oldenberg think : ' Sacred Books of the East,' vol. xiii., p. 102). In the AHg.-Nik. Buddha gives the following account of his early luxury : ' SukhumMo aham, bhikkhave, paramasukhumSlo accanta- sukhumaio. Mama sukham, bhikkhave, pilu nivesane pokkharaniyo hftriySka honti ; ekattha sukham, bhikkhave, uppalam vappati, ekatlha padumam, ekattha punnarikam, yavad evam atth%a. Na kho pana as' aham, bhikkhave, kilsikain candanam dhSremi, kasikam, bhikkhave, su me tarn vethanam hoti, kSsikS, kancukS,, k^sikain nivfeanani, kfeiko uttarfcango. Rattidivam kho pana me su tam, bhikkhave, setachattain dhSreyya mS nam phussi sitam vS, unhain vS,, tinain \&, rajo vS, ussSvo vS, ti. ' Tassa mayham, bhikkhave, tayo pSsSda ahesuin, eko hemantiko, eko gimhantiko, eko vassiko ti. So kho ahain, bhikkhave, vassikapSrS^de vassike catt^ro m^se nippurisehi turiyehi paricSriyamano na hettha pis^di oroh^mi. YathS, kho pana, bhikkhave, aiinesam nivesane dasakammakarSporisassa kanajakarn bhojanaip diyyati bilaiiga- dutiyam evam eva su me, bhikkhave, pitu nivesane dasakammakarS- porisassa sUlimamsodano diyyati' (quoted by Oldenberg, 'Buddha,' p. 4i»)- - Buddhavamso, xxvi., canto 15. 1 6 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH child. Traditions differ as to the name she bore. That which has been most generally adopted by European scholars is Yasodhara,i but this name is not given to her in the canonical Pali books, where she is sometimes spoken of as Bhaddakacca.2 The fact that in the sacred books she is generally styled simply Rahula- mata,s ' the mother of Rahulo,' makes it probable that even in very early times her name was unknown. This is all that can be stated with any certainty about Buddha's early life. From the time of his marriage until he attained the age of twenty-nine years he lived the life of a 'householder,' and no event of that period is known to us except the mere fact of his son's birth. Nor do the more ancient Pali books afford us the in- formation at precisely what time before he left his home his son Rahulo was born. But not long after the recluse had attained Buddhahood, when his visit to his home is mentioned, his son is called ' young* Rahulo.' This does not conflict with the later legend, which states that the child was an infant^ when the ' Great Renunciation ' took place. ^ E.g., by Sir Edwin Arnold in the ' Light of Asia ' ; also by Mon. Williams, ' Buddha,' p. 25. She is so called in the ' Romantic History.' , ^ Buddhavamso, xxvi. 15. Childers (Pali Dictionary, s.v.) says she is mentioned in the Pall books also as ' Bhaddakaccana.' In the books of the MahaySna, or ' Great Vehicle,' which are held as canonical by the Northern Buddhists, though they are of very late date as compared with those of the Southern Canon, she is often called ' Gopa. ' She is called ' Yasodhara ' in the Buddha-carita (i. 26, 46, et passini). Vide the subject discussed in Rhys Davids' 'Buddhism' {Non-Christian Religious Systems Series), p. 50 et seq. ' This is so even in the Jataka (i. 58, 60, etc. ). * Mahavaggo, i. 54, I, 2. * This is stated also in the introduction to the Jataka (i. Co et seq.). We are there told that Buddha named his son Rahulo, or a 'hindrance,' LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 17 When Siddhartha was twenty- nine 1 years of age, leaving his home and all the pleasures of life, he retired into the wilderness, and became an ascetic anchoret. At that time in India there was nothing at all uncommon in such conduct, nor has the practice of thus retiring from the world by any means ceased in the India of our own time. The laws of Manu enjoin that every Brahman shall spend his old age as a solitary ascetic. This, doubtless, was a practice which was in vogue for cen- turies before those laws were drawn up in their present form. It was incumbent upon Brahmans, because their priestly caste seemed to make it more natural for them than for others to leave the things of the world and to aim at attaining union with the Divine. But this same course was the only one open to any man at all anxious about spiritual things, if he wished to attain to calm of heart. Asceticism, coupled with meditation, was then, and had for ages been, considered to be the one means of freeing one's self from the fetters of existence, the necessary condition for spiritual progress. Buddha was not himself a Brahman by caste ; yet under these circumstances we may well understand that he, feeling the vanity of all mere earthly joys and sensual pleasures, and finding therein nothing to quench the thirst of his spirit, was readily drawn to follow the usual procedure in evidently because likely to bind him to worldly life (Bodhisatio tam sutva, — the news of his son's birth, — Rahulo jato, bandhanam jaian-ti aha : loc. cit.'). ' Buddhavamso, xxvi. 14. So also in Mahaparinibbana-Suttam it is stated in the verses : ' Ekunatimso vayasS, Subhadda, Yam pabbajim kirnkusaUnvest. Vass^ni paSiiiSsasam^dhikani Yato aham pabbajito, Subhadda, Nayassa dhammassa padesavatti. ' 2 1 8 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH such cases. Many, both before and after him in all ages and in all lands, having learnt that the world cannot give them peace of heart, have similarly determined to forsake the world with all its joys and sorrows, its pleasures and its temptations, and to seek for something higher and nobler than the things of sense. The reason for his retirement from the world will become clearer if we for a moment glance at some of the leading philosophical ideas of the time. Plato has well and truly observed of the Greek nation that their great characteristic was the love of know- ledge.i This is in great measure true of other divisions of the Aryan race as well, but it certainly holds good even more of the Indian Aryans than of those of ancient Hellas. Hence perhaps it is that the philosophy of the Upanishads makes Ignorance [Avidya) the cause of so many of the evils of life. Not only does each of the sacred books of the Brahmans bear the title of Veda (Knowledge), but in India, in early ages as well as at present, Knowledge is supposed to possess magical efiScacy, especially such knowledge as enables its possessor to burst the bands ^ of Illusion (Maya) and to recognise the truth of the Hindu creed, Ekamevddvitiyam, thereby attaining to yoga or union with the Paramdtmd, the Supreme Soul, the only truly existent Being. The supposed efficacy of Knowledge was, in the opinion of the Hindus, rivalled only by that of austerity, or asceticism {tapas, self-torture), which might even be ' ' De Republica,' book iv., § ii. " So in the SaJikhya philosophy the Purusha, ultimately by Know- ledge (Jndnani), reaches the conviction of his own non-existence : ' Evam tattvabhyasannasmi na me nahamityaparisesham : Aviparyayadvisuddhani kevalamutpadyate jfianam ' ' Saakhya-Karika,' verse 64. LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 19 carried so far as to exalt the Brahman ascetic above the gods themselves. Sanskrit poetry is full of tales of how certain Brihrnansi not only ventured to enter into contest with the gods for supremacy in virtue of their austerities, but even caused the gods to quake for their power, and compelled them to devise temptations for the Brahmans in order to induce the latter to relax their exertions. Buddha would therefore naturally hold it as a fact requiring no proof that, either by means of asceticism or through attaining the requisite degree of knowledge (to be obtained not by study but by intense meditation), he might gain rest and peace, deliverance from passion and from all the transitoriness of worldly joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain. We shall find that he adopted both these methods, the latter only after failing to obtain what he sought by means of the former. As has already been pointed out, in leaving his home in order to wander about the country as a religious mendicant, Buddha took a step which, while to us Europeans of the twentieth century it may appear strange, seemed quite natural to the people among whom he lived — as, indeed, similar conduct actually does to a Hindu of to-day. But this very fact should lead us to feel the deepest sympathy, not with Siddhartha alone, but with all those countless myriads — some of them, it may be, in some respects, among the noblest of men — who have deeply felt the pangs of spiritual thirst, that thirst of the soul of the universality of which Homer of old spoke so eloquently,^ and have known no better than did his heroes where to find the Water of 1 Vide examples in, e.g., Bopp's ' Indralokagamanam, nebst anderen Episodien,' and ' Diluvium, cum tribus aliis MahabMratae Episodiis.' 2 IIiii'7-es hk BeQi' xo^'r^ovcr' &v8puirro(. ('Odyss.,' iii. 48). 2 — 2 20 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH Life, wherewith to quench its flames and allay their tortures. It is, we may be sure, no slight longing, no trifling unrest of mind, that forces men to leave all the tender ties of home and family, to forsake all the innocent pleasures as well as the alluring vices of the world, to go forth homeless and friendless, to wander ceaselessly from town to town, from village to village, from one teacher to another it may be, trying to stifle the noblest as well as the lower and baser instincts of humanity, and thus to gain for their desolate souls that peace and rest of heart for which they yearn in vain. In the Anguttara-Nikayo, Siddhirtha, after attaining Buddhahood, is represented as explaining to his dis- ciples the reason why he forsook his home and withdrew from the world. Having described his wealth and the comfort and luxury in which he had been brought up,i he spoke thus : 'Then2 these thoughts arose with me. "A weak- minded, everyday man, although he is himself liable to decay, and is not free from the power of old age, feels horror, revulsion and disgust, if he sees another person in old age. The horror which he then feels recoils upon himself: I also am subject to decay, and am not free from the power of old age. . . ." While I thus reflected, O mendicants, in my own mind, all that buoyancy of youth, which dwells in the young, sank within me.' He proceeds to use similar language regarding his thoughts concerning and his dread of sickness and death, and thus concludes, ' While I, mendicants, thus reflected in my mind, all that spirit of life which dwells in life sank within me.' Again, in ' See the original quoted in notes to p. 15. 2 I quote, with but few changes, Oldenberg's translation ('Buddha,' p. 102). LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 21 another passage he says : ' I,i indeed, . . . being still young, in the time of adolescence, endued with bright youth, in the first time of life, my mother and father being unwilling and tearful and weeping, having shaved off my hair and beard, having put on yellow robes, having gone forth from home into homelessness, seeking " What is happiness ?" searching out the supreme, best state of calm, went to where Alaro Kalamo was.' We thus learn that Siddhartha's reason for ' the Great^ Renunciation,' as it has been called, was his conviction that all worldly happiness was transitory, and his desire to attain to a peace and calm which nothing could disturb or end. He sought this first for himself alone, and only afterwards did the thought occur to him that what had brought peace to him would be equally beneficial to others. On^ beginning his life as an anchoret, Siddhartha first attached* himself to a hermit named Alamo Kilamo,^ as we have just read. After a while, leaving him, the ' ' So kho aham . . . daharo 'va samano, susukaiake, sobhadrena yobbanena samannagato, pathamena vayas^, akamakftnaiii 'm4tS- pitunnam, assumukh^nam, rudantSnam, kesamassum oha.retva, kSs^y^ni vatthini acch^detva, ag^rasin^ anag^riyam pabbajito satn&no, kimkusala- gaves}, anuttarara santivarapadani paiiyesam&no, yena AlSro Kalamo, ten' upasamkamim ' (Mahasaccaka - Sultam). A somewhat similar passage occurs in the Sonadanda-Suttam of the Digha-Nikayo. 2 'Mahabhinikkhamanaip,' Pali; ' MahUbhinishkramanani,' Sanskrit. ' A later legend, which we first meet with in the introduction lo the Jataka, relates that the sight of a decrepit old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a monk, finally decided Siddhartha to leave the world (Jataka, i. 58, 59). The writer there quotes from the Digha-Nikayo. A much amplified and still more legendary account is given in the 'Romantic History of Buddha,' Beal's translation, p. 115 et seg. * The Jataka (i. 66) says that first of all he went to Rajagaham, and there met King Bimbisaro ; but this probably took place later. 5 Cf. Mahavaggo, v. 13, I, and the Ariyapariyosa,na-Suttarn. The Lalita-Vistara mentions this, though it cannot be quoted as an authority (Lal.-Vist., p. 295 et seq.). 22 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH young devotee went for instruction to another recluse named Uddako^ Ramaputtp. In each case he expressed his desire to 'walk 2 the religious walk,' according to their respective rules, hoping thus to attain to the Nirvana^ which the Hindus sought. But, though prac- tising the self-concentration and the other methods which they enjoined until he became exactly like themselves, Siddhartha ultimately found that he could not thus attain his goal. The conclusion he reached in each case is thus expressed in his own words : ' This Law conducts neither to disgust with the world, nor to release from passion, nor to annihilation, nor to quietude, nor to supernatural knowledge, nor to perfect Buddhahood, nor to Nirvina, while it leads to rebirth in the Realm of Nothingness.' The ' Realm of Nothingness ' is the name of the third of the heavens of the Formless Beings (Arupabrahmaloki), and it is so called because its inhabitants believe that nothing exists.* Failing thus to obtain the 'supreme, best state of ' MahSvaggo, i. 5, 2 ; Lal.-Vist., p. 296 et seq, ^ ' Iccham' aham, Svuso, imasmim dhammavinaye brahmacariyam caritun-ti ' (AriyapariyosSna-Suttana). ' The Hindu idea of Nirvana differed considerably from that which Buddha ultimately taught his followers to aim at. It may be briefly explained as consisting of the loss of one's personality in the Divine, or, rather, deliverance from the delusion of personality. See Elkund, ' Nirvana,' p. 75 : ' Nirvana ar nu just att blifva detta Brahman, bUfva ett darmed, fk sitt lif "absorberadt i Brahman." Det ar detsamma som att finna och kanna sitt sjalf, Atman, sSsom Brahman. "NS Nirvana " och " blifva Brahman " aro ett. " De gora sig losa him alia sbndrande kvaliteter och ingS i det eviga kvalitetslosa varat."' Vide also Dahlmann, ' NirvSna,' pp. 54, 55, 68. ^ Childers, Pali Dictionary, s.v. AkincannSyatanani. Buddha's words are : ' Tassa mayharn, bhikkave, etad ahosi : NSyaip dbammo nibbidS.ya, na virSgdya, na nirodhSya, na upasamaya, na abhifinaya, na sambodh- aya, na nibbSnaya sarnvattati, yavad eva akincaniiayatanupapattiya ti' (Ariyapariyosana-Suttam). LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 23 calm' for which he sought, Siddh^rtha then resolved to endeavour to attain it by practising extreme self- mortification. Travelling through Magadha, he reached the town of Uruvela,i on the banks of the river Neran- jara ; and there, dwelling in the woods, holding his breath, abstaining almost entirely from food, he strove to obtain the calm for which he longed. Five^ other ascetics there joined him, but Siddhartha outstripped them all in his self-inflicted privations, and won their admiration by his devotion to his task. At last, however, finding that he was no nearer his goal, he desisted from this method, and partook of more abundant food. His companions, deeming him a renegade, left him alone in disgust, and went away to Banaras. This period' of fruitless search is said to have lasted for seven years, reckoning from the time when Siddhartha left his home to the date of his enlightenment. One night, as he sat meditating in the woods near Uruvela, under a pipal,* or Ficus religiosa, since known ^ Still called ' Urwal ' ; it stands on the eastern bank of the river S&n, not far from Buddhagaya, to the south of Patna. The Neranjara (Sanskrit ' Nairanjard ') is the modern S6n. ^ Their names were Kondanno, Vappo, Bhaddiyo, Mah^namo, and Assaji. See note to Mah^vaggo, i. 6, 5 ; ' Sacred Books of the East,' vol. xiii., p. 90. 2 Oldenberg (' Buddha,' p. 420), in support of the statement that seven years elapsed before Buddha's enlightenment, quotes the following passages : ' Satta vass^ni Bhagavantam anubandhim pad^padam Otaram nSdhigacchissam sambuddhassa satimato.' Padhana-Suttam of the Sutta-Nipato. ' Tena kho pana samayena, M^ro p^pim^ satta vass^ni Bhagavantam anubaddho hoti otarapekho otaram alabhamano ' (Mara-Samyuttam of the Sarny.-Nikayo, iv., § 4, 2). The Hindus regard this tree as sacred, and no one will venture to utter an untruth under a pipal-\xe.t ; hence, probably, Buddha chose one to reflect under. 24 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH as the Sacred Bo-Treei (Bodhi-rUkkho, or Tree of Buddha- hood), he fell into deep reflection. This resulted in his passing in some mysterious manner from one degree of abstraction to another, until he at last reached omniscience (sambodhi), and not only knew the past and future, but also discovered the cause and cure of all human existence and consequent suffering. Only after this had he the right to the title of Buddha, or 'the Knower,' His own account runs thus^ : ' When I thus knew that ' (the Four Noble Truths which formed the basis of all his later teaching), ' when I thus beheld that, my mind was released from the defilement of sensual desire, my mind was released from the defilement of earthly existence, my mind was released from the defilement of heresy, my mind was released from the defilement of ignorance. In the emancipated arose the knowledge, " I am emancipated, rebirth is extinct, the religious walk is accomplished, what had to be done is done, there is no more need for this present existence " : thus did I perceive.' , The lofty position which Buddha after this claimed for himself is thus stated in the words which he is said^ to have uttered shortly afterwards in answer to a gymno- sophist, Upako of the Ajivaka sect, who asked him, 1 A branch of this tree was planted in Ceylon (at AnurSdhapura) in B.C. 288, and is well known to exist there still. ^ ' Tassa me evam janato, evara passato, kamSsavapi cittam vimuc- cittha, bhavasavSpi cittarn vimuccittha, ditthSsavSpi cittam vimuccittha, avijjfeavapi cittaiii vimuccittha. Vimuttasmim, "Vimutf amhiti," iianam ahosi, "khtna, me jati, vusitam brahmacariyam, katam karaniyam, naparain itthattaya" ti abbhaniiasiin ' (MahSsaccaka-Suttain). Fide also Vibhanga-Vinaya Pitakam, iii., p. 4 et seq. ; Bhayabherava-Suttam of the Majjh.-Nikayo; Dvedhavitakka-Suttam of the Majjh.-Nik. ; and Oldenberg, ' Buddha,' p. 424. ' Mahivaggo, i. 6 ; 7-9. I have slightly altered the translation given in 'Sacred Books of the East,' vol. xiii., p. 91. LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 25 ' Who is thy teacher ? Whose doctrine dost thou pro- fess ?' Buddha replied in these words : ' I have overcome all foes ; I am all-wise ; I am free from stains in every way; I have left everything, and have obtained emancipation by the destruction of desire. Having myself gained knowledge, whom should I call my master ? I have no teacher ; no one is equal to me ; in the world of men and of gods no being is like me. I am the holy one in this world ; I am the highest teacher. I alone am the absolute omniscient one (sambuddho) ; I have gained coolness (by the extinction of all passion), and have obtained Nirvana. To found the kingdom of the law (dhammo) I go to the city of the Kasis (Banaras) ; I will beat the drum of immortality 1 in the darkness of this world.' He went on to boast of having reached ' extinction of the defilements,' ^ and of having overcome all states of sinfulness. In such a philosophy as this there is no room for God. It is not strange, therefore, to find that Buddha never seems to have sought for God at all. One of his disciples in our own time is, therefore, practically correct in saying^ ^ By 'immortality' {amala) Buddha means ' Nirvana.' It is so called as the state in which there can be no death as there U no existence. We might, perhaps, equally well call it ' eternal death.' " The ' defilements ' are those four mentioned above— viz., sensual desire {kdmo), earthly existence or individuality {bhavo), heresy (ditthi), and ignorance (avijjS) of the Four Noble Truths. ' Subhadra Bhikschu, ' Buddhistischer Katechismus ' ^ ' Es giebt kein Gott-Schbpfer, von dessen Gnade oder dessen Willen der Bestand der Welt abhinge. Alles entsteht und entwLckelt sich durch und aus sich selbst, kraft seines eigenen Willens und gemass seiner inneren Natur und Beschaffenheit (seinem Karma). Einen persbnlichen Gott- Schbpfer hat nur die Unwissenheit der Menschen erfunden. Die Buddhisten aber verwerfen durchaus den Glauben an einen persbnlichen Gott und halten die Lehre von einer Schopfung aus Nichts fur einen Irrwahn' (p. 40). 26 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH that Buddhism teaches that there is no God,i the Creator of the world. If it be asked in what that knowledge consisted which Buddha deemed himself to have acquired, and in what way it seemed to him efficacious in emancipating him from all ' world fetters ' (samyojandni), this will be best understood from a study of the language he used in the first sermon which he is stated to have preached after attaining Buddhahood. The Mahivaggo states that, after spending four times seven ^ days in meditation under various trees, during which time he at first thought of ceasing to exist, and thus entering at once on the enjoy- ment of his emancipation from all suffering, he at length decided to remain alive in this world in order to teach to others the way of deliverance which he had evolved from his own inner consciousness or intuition.^ The tradition says that he was induced to come to this reso- ^ The very discussion of the question by whom the world was created was condemned as ' talking about absurd and frivolous subjects of con- versation.' So we find it said in the Brahmajaia-Suttain Atthakatha: ' Lokakkhayika, ti, " ayain loko kena nimitto ?" — " Asukena nama nimitto." " Kako seto atthinam settata ;'' " baUka ratta lohitassa rattatta," ti. Evamadika lokayata-vitanda-sall4pa-katha.' The con- tempt for any such inquiry is shown by the questions here compared with it. ^ The later traditions say ' seven times seven days ' (Buddhaghosa's Commentary ; Beal, ' Romantic Legend,' p. 236 ei seq. ; Lalita-Vistara, p. 488 et seq. ; Jataka Atthav., vol. i., p. 77 et seq. ; Dipavamso, i. 29, 30). A later story, contained in the Mahaparinibbana-Suttam (p. 30 ei seq.), and Mara-Samyuttam of the Sutta-Pitakam (cap. i., §§ 1-3), and afterwards amplified in the Lalita-Vistara (p. 489 et seq.), represents the evil principle MSro as tempting Buddha to enter Nirvana at once, so that his doctrine might not be preached to the world. The ' Komantic History' places a long series of temptations and assaults before the attainment of Buddhahood (pp. 199-224). ^ Cf. Mahavaggo, i. i : 23. LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 27 lution by the humble entreaties of Brahma Sahampati.i the being who, in Buddhist mythology, rules over the highest of all the heavens. This archangel, as we may term him, most humbly kneeling before Buddha, said, ' Let the Tathagato^ preach the doctrine ! There are beings whose mental eyes are darkened by scarcely any dust ; but if they do not hear the doctrine they cannot attain emancipation. These will understand the doctrine.' We can the better understand this urgency when we remember that the devas are also subject to the miseries of existence, and their only hope of deliverance lay in accepting the doctrine of Buddha. Learning that his former instructors Alamo Kalamo and Uddako Ramaputto^ had died, Buddha resolved to go to teach his five former companions, who had gone to Banaras. He found them there in the deer-park Isipatano.* At first they refused to show him any respect, but at last consented to listen to his teaching. Buddha then delivered his first sermon, which is called the ' Discourse regarding the Inauguration of the Dominion of the Law.'^ It sets before us an epitome of the main principles^ of the philosophy which he taught. Nearly ^ He is evidently identical with the Brahma of the Hindus, though we do not know the exact meaning of the title ' Sahampati.' ^ Maha.vaggo, i. 5. 2 Hid., i. 6: 1-4. '' 0/1. cit., § 5 et seq. " Dhammacakkappavattana-Suttam. It is quoted in Mah^vaggo, i. 6 : 17-29. * Of this sermon Subhadra Bhikschu says : ' Diese Predigt enthalt in kurzen Worten die Grundziige der ganzen Lehre' ('Buddhisiischer Katechismus,' sixth edition, p. 18, § 45). His interpretation, however, of the title of the discourse, which he renders ' Verkiindigung der moralischen Weltordnung, oder die Griindung des Reiches der ewigen Gerechtigkeit,' is incorrect. Many other writers also, by using Christian technical theological terms as translations of Buddhist ones, convey to 28 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH every other recorded address deals, generally speaking, with the same subjects, amplifying and explaining them in detail. If we thoroughly grasp the meaning of the instruction contained in this discourse, we shall have a very fair idea of the leading doctrines of Buddhism in its original form. Omitting repetitions, it may be rendered as follows : ' These are the two extremes, O mendicants, which ought not to be practised by an anchoret. ' Which two ? ' Both this, which in lusts is devoted and attached to lust and pleasure, is low, common, worthy of a profane person, ignoble, pernicious ; and this, which is devoted to self-mortification, is painful, ignoble, pernicious. Having shunned both these extremes, O mendicants, the Tatha- gato has thoroughly comprehended the Middle Course, which produces insight, which produces knowledge; it conducts to quietude, to supernatural knowledge, to perfect Buddhahood, to Nirvana. ' And which, O mendicants, is that Middle Course which the Tathagato has thoroughly comprehended, which produces insight, which produces knowledge, which conducts to quietude, to supernatural knowledge, to perfect Buddhahood, to Nirvana ? ' This is verily the Noble Eightfold Path, namely : Perfect opinion, perfect resolve, perfect speech, perfect employment, perfect condutt, perfect exertion, perfect thought, perfect self-concentration. 'This indeed, O mendicants, is that Middle Course^ the ordinary reader an altogether false idea that Buddhism has much in common with Christianity. 1 With this 'Middle Course,' compare what Aristotle says : "On ijiv odv iarlv t) dperT] t] tiBik^ /j.err6r7js, rai irOj, Kal in fie truffle {'Buddh.'Katechismus,' p. 26, note). Dr. Hoey says that it 'is not boar's flesh, but sAkara-kanda, "hog's root," a bulbous root found chiefly in mounds and jungles, which I have seen Hindtls eat with avidity. It is a phalahar, permissible to eat on fast- days ' {Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. Ixix., part i.. No. I, 1900). ' MahSparinibbana-Suttarp, pp. 12-14. 54 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH rightly understood, show his attitude towards the deities worshipped in different parts of India. Though deeming himself far superior to all the gods, Buddha none the less acknowledged their existence. He therefore said i^ ' In whatever spot the learned man fixes his abode, There, having fed the virtuous, self-restrained, religious men. Whatsoever deities there may be there, to them let him present a gift. They, having been reverenced, reverence him ; being honoured, they honour him. Thus they pity him as a mother her own son. A man pitied by the deities always sees good things.' It is evident that Buddha is here speaking of the way in which people, othev than members of his own Order? ' ' Yasmim padese kappeti vasam panditajatiko, Silavant' ettha bhojetva saiiiiate brahmacarayo, YS. tattha devata assu, t3,sam dakkhinam adise : T4 pfijita plijayanti, manita manayanti nam. Tato nam anukampanti mSt^ puttani va orasam : Devat§.nukampito poso sada bhadrani passatiti. ' Mahaparinibbana-Suttam, p. 14. ^ Bishop Copleston does not seem to have observed this, for he speaks of these verses as ' inconsistent with the strictest Buddhism ' ('Buddhism,' p. 70). The view which I have here advocated is supported by the somewhat similar stanzas in the ' Ratana-Suttam ' ('Parittain'), There we find a great deal in praise of the Law and the Order, and at the same time such verses as these : ' Y&ntdha bhtit^ni sam^atftni, Bhumm&ni va, y^ni v^ antalikkhe, Sabb' eva bhuta suman^ bhavantu, Atho pi sakkacca sunantu bhasitam. ' Tasm^ hi, bh(^tS., nisametha sabbe ; Mettam karotha m^nusiy^ paj^ya, Diva-ca ratto-ca haranti ye balim : Tasm^ hi ne rakkhattha appamattS,. LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 55 should act. We are told that he perceived that many ^«W5, inhabited the spot where the people of Magadha were fortifying Pataligimo, and he approved of the conduct of these people in both worshipping the gods, to gain their favour and protection, and in showing him respect and providing food for himself and his followers. We never find Buddha commanding his own mendicant Order to feed other ascetics. That they could not do, as they were themselves dependent upon the alms of the pious. Nor does he ever enjoin upon his followers the duty of worshipping the devas, from whom they could hope for no aid, and who were inferior to the Buddhist avahats. While spending the rainy season in retirement at Beluva, near Vesali, Buddha became dangerously ill.i On that occasion his faithful attendant Anando urged him to give some parting directions to his followers, to be by them observed after his death. Buddha rebuked ' Y^ntdha bhdtani samagatani, Bhummani v&, y&ni \% antalikkhe, Tathagatam deva-manussa-piijitam Buddham namassama : suvatthi hotu.' Ratana-Sutlam, I, 2, 15. Here' we see that though ' all the spirits which are here assembled, whether terrestrial or those which are in the air,' are invoked, and are urged to ' show benevolence towards human beings who bring you an offering both day and night : therefore preserve them carefully ' ; yet it is said : ' We revere Buddha, the Tath&gato, who is honoured by gods and men.' Such invocations, however, no doubt made it easy for Buddhists to fall into demon- worship, as they have done in Ceylon, and helped to encourage the development of later forms of Buddhism with hosts of deities of various kinds, as in Tibet. ' ' Atha kho Bhagavato vassupagatassa kharo ab^dho uppajji, PabMh& vedana vattanti maranantika' (Mah&parinibb.-Sutt., p. 21). 56 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH him for this in an instructive discourse, part of which we here translate : ' Moreover,! Anando, what does the Order of Mendi- cants look for from me ? The Law, Anando, has been set forth by me, having made nothing esoteric^ and nothing exoteric. There is not therein, in the affairs of the TathS,gato, a " teacher's handful."^ He whose words, Anando, may be such as these, "/ shall keep on foot the Order of Mendicants," or, "To my ordinance is the Order of Mendicants subject" — let him,* forsooth, Anando, utter some command with regard to the Order of Mendi- cants. The word of the Tath^gato, indeed, is not thus : " / shall keep on foot the Order of Mendicants," or, " To my ordinance is the Order of Mendicants subject." Why should the Tatha.gato, Anando, utter some command for the Order of Mendicants? Moreover, Anando, indeed '■ Op. cit., pp. 22, 23. ^ Hence we see the absurdity of the modern fraud calling itself 'Esoteric Buddhism.' There was in ancient times an 'Esoteric Buddhism,' but its nature was such that it cannot be fully described in these pages. See, however, what Rajendralala Mitra says of it in his introduction to the Lalita-Vistara (Fasc. vi., Calcutta, 1877), part of which will be found quoted in the notes to Lecture III., p. 157, below. This vile system cannot justly be attributed to Buddha, but those who now so learnedly discuss ' Esoteric Buddhism ' should be careful lest their, hearers should inquire more closely into what alone can rightly be so called. The modern theosophical system which claims the title is essentially modern. Our objections to the use of this title are only two, very similar to those which are known to apply to the phrase ' Holy Roman Empire.' ' 'Na tatth', Ananda, Tath^gatassa dhammesu ^cariya - mutthi ' {ibid.). A ' teacher's handful ' is some further knowledge kept back by the teacher that he may remain at least a little in advance of his pupils. * This passage doubtless refers to the words of Devadatto when he demanded that the leadership of the Order should be made over to him: ' Ahain. bhikkhusangham pariharissftmi, niyy^detlia me bhikkhu- sangham ' (quoted by Childers, Pali Dictionary, p. 341). LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 57 I am now decrepit, old, aged, advanced in years. I have reached old age ; my age is eighty years. Just as a broken-down waggon, too, Anando, is with difficulty kept going, exactly so indeed, Anando, is the Tathagato's body with difficulty kept going, I consider. At whatever time, Anaodo, the Tathagato dwells, having, through ceasing to pay attention to all attributes,^ through the cessation of certain sensations, attained to unconditioned concentration of mind, at that time is the Tathagato's body comfortable. Therefore, since this is so, Anando, being your own Lamp, abide ye as your own Refuge, recognising no other Refuge, having the Law as your Lamp, having the Law as your Refuge, recognising no other Refuge. And how, Anando, does a "mendicant abide as his own Lamp, his own Refuge, recognising no other Refuge, having the Law as his Lamp, having the Law as his Refuge, having no other Refuge ? Here in the body, Anando, a mendicant, meditating on (the impurity of) the body, abides strenuous, conscious, thoughtful : let him subdue the melancholy of longing in the world. Thus indeed, Anando, a mendicant abides as his own Lamp, his own Refuge, recognising no other Refuge, having the Law as his Lamp, having the Law as his Refuge, recog- nising no other Refuge. For, Anando, whosoever they be that, either now or on my decease, shall abide as their own Lamp, as their own Refuge, recognising no other Refuge, having the Law as their Lamp, having the Law as their Refuge, recognising no other Refuge — those mendicants, Anando, shall to me stand in the foremost place, whosoever they be that are lovers of the Precepts.' Who can fail to notice here how completely Buddha, ' That is to say,_to greed, anger, and infatuation (rogo, dosQ, moho), the three things that cause suffering in the world (Sarnyutta-Nik., iii. 3 : 3, 4). 58 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH quietly but firmly, repudiates the idea that any deity or deities can assist his followers in working out their deliverance from the fetters of existence ? Having recovered from this attack of illness, Buddha one day went his rounds at Ves^lii to beg, according to his usual custom. Afterwards he said to Anando, ' Anando,^ take the mat to sit on ; we shall go to pass the heat of the day at the Capalara shrine.' They did so. There Maro, the god of death and of all that causes death, approaching Buddha, tempted^ him to hasten his depar- ture from this world, and from existence. Buddha's own account of this incident, supposed to be given on the same day to his attendant, runs thus : ' Just* now, indeed, Anando, at the CapMam shrine to-day, wicked Maro approached the place where I was, and, having approached, stood to one side. Standing to one side, indeed, Anando, wicked MS.ro said this to me : " Sir, let the Worshipful One now become extinct (or enter Nirvana), let the Prosperous* One become extinct. Sir, ■ it is now time for the Worshipful One's complete extinction. Moreover, indeed, the Worshipful One did utter this speech, saying, ' I shall not become extinct, Wicked One, until the mendicants, my disciples, shall have become wise, well-trained, experienced, thoroughly instructed, keepers of the Law, observers of the Law and of the lesser directions, conforming to propriety, walking according to the lesser directions, having acquired as their own the position of teachers, until they shall have declared, proclaimed, promulgated, set going, detailed, inade clear the miraculous law, quoted without con- 1 Mahaparinibb&na-Suttam, p. 23. " ^ ' Ganhahi, Ananda, nisidanam ; yena Capftlam cetiyam, ten' upasaii- kamissS.ma divaviharayS-ti ' {Hid.). ^ Op. cit., pp. 24-26. '' Op. cit., pp. 31, 32. » Sugato. LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 59 troversy and correctly, and, holding fast and well what they hold fast, shall have preached it.' Moreover, now indeed, sir, the mendicants, the disciples of the Worshipful One, having become wise, well-trained, etc., are preaching the Law." ' M^ro went on to point out that not only the male and female mendicants, but also the male and female lay adherents, were fully competent to do without Buddha's further assistance, and again urged him to keep his implied promise of becoming extinct. Buddha tells us that he said in reply to this temptation : ' Be noti anxious. Wicked One; soon will the Tatha- gato's extinction take place. After the lapse of three months from the present time, the Tathagato will become extinct.' And, in concluding his recital, Buddha said, ' Just now, indeed, Anando, at the Capalam shrine to-day has the Tathagato, while thoughtful and conscious, re- nounced the aggregate 2 of his life.' On hearing this sad news, Anando began to entreat his beloved master to prolong his existence in this world to the end of the present vast world-cycle (Pali kappo, Sanskrit kalpa). ' Sir,' he said, ' let the Worshipful One remain for a World-cycle, let the Prosperous One remain for a World-cycle, for the sake of many people, for many people's happiness, out of pity for the world, for the cause, for the sake, for the happiness, of gods and men.'^ ' MahSparinibbana-Suttam, p. 32. ^ ' Idan' eva kho, Ananda, ajja CapSle cetiye Tathagatena satena sampajanena ayusafikharo ossattho-ti' (ibid.). The 'aggregate of life' means the whole period that anyone has to live in any existence. Its length is determined by his conduct {karma) in that or any previous existence — ' dasakusalakanimehi ayusaBkharo pi 'ssa vaddhati ' (Attan- agula-nafisaip, p. 212 ; Childers, s.v. Sarikharo, Pali Dictionary, p. 455). Buddha means to say that he has resolved to die. ' 'Titthatu, Bhante, Bhagava kappam, titthatu Sugato kappam, bahujanahitaya, bahujanasukhaya, lokanukampaya, atthaya, hitaya, sukhaya devamanussanan-ti ' (op. cit., p. 32). 6o THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH But Buddha's mind is made up. He informs Anando that on several occasions,^ if the request had been made, it would have been granted. ' O, Anando,^ if thou hadst requested it of the Tathigato, the Tath%ato would have rejected thy words just twice ; then he would have acceded to the third request.' But it is too late now. He proceeded, accompanied by Anando, to a wood in the neighbourhood, called the Mahdvmiam, or Great Forest. In that wood there stood a building something of the nature of a pagoda, hence known as the KutagarasS.1^,^ which was the place of abode of the monks when spend- ing the rainy season there. By Buddha's desire, Anando assembled all the monks then living in the neighbourhood of Vesali,* and Buddha received them in the state-room (upatthdnasaldy of the monastery, that they might hear his final address. When they were assembled, Buddha reminded them of the precepts he had given them, and urged them to walk in the Noble Eightfold Path with unceasing diligence. In conclusion he spoke thus : ' Come^ now, mendicants, I bid you farewell. Com- pounds are subject to dissolution. Succeed through diligence. Soon will the Tathagato's extinction take 1 Op. cit, pp. 33-35. ^ ' Sace tvam, Ananda, Tathagatam yaceyy9si, dve 'va te vSca TathSigato patikkhipeyya, atha tatiyakam adhivaseyya ' (op. cit., P- 35)- ' Op. cit., p. 36. * Dr. Hoey has very clearly proved that VesaiJ must be identical with, or very close to, the modern town of Cherand, at the junction of the Ganges, Son, and Gogra rivers (/. A. 'S. B., vol. Ixix., part i., No. 1, 1900). ' Op. cil., p. 36. * 'Handa dSni, bhikkhave, ^mantay.^mi vo : vayadhammS saflkhSra, appamfidena sampadetha : naciram Tathagatassa parinibbanam bhavis- ?ati : ito tinnam masanam accayena Tathagato parinibbayissatiti ' (Mahaparinibbana-Suttam, p. 37). LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 6i place ; after the lapse of three months from now will the Tathagato become extinct. ' My' age is full ripe, my life is brief, Leaving you I shall depart : I have formed my own refuge. Diligent, mindful, virtuous be ye, mendicants : Very steadfast in resolve, guard your own minds. He who shall continue diligent in this discipline of the Law, Leaving birth-transmigration shall make an end of suffering.' Buddha had resolved to die at the town of Kusinara (Sanskrit, Kusinagaram),^ the capital of the Malla tribe. He therefore set out to travel thither with Anando as his companion. Journeying along by short stages, as was the custom of the mendicants, they stopped for a time at a mango-grove at Pava,^ which belonged to a smith named Cundo. It was at a feast which this lay adherent prepared in honour of Buddha that the latter ate the food* which was the immediate cause of his death. Ill as he was, however, Buddha continued his journey, attended by Anando and a considerable band of mendi- cants. When they reached the little river Kakuttha,* not far from Kusinara, Buddha bathed and rested for a while. Certain verses contained in the Mahaparinib- ^ ' Paripakko vayo mayham, parittam mama jtvitarn, Pah^a vo gamiss^mi, katam me saranam attano. AppamattS,, satimanto, susilS. hotha, bhikkhavo, SusamShitasankapp^ sacittam anurakkhutha. Yo imasmirn dhammavinaye appamatto vihessati, Pah^ya jMisamsS,ram, dukkhass' antain karissatlti.' Mahaparinibbana-Suttam, p. 37. ^ Near the modern town of Titaria (Dr. Hoey, article iny. A. S. B., vol. Ixix., part L, No. i, 1900). 3 Now Pappaur, near Si wan (Dr. Hoey, op. cit.). * Vide note to ji. 53, and Mahaparinibbana-Suttarii, pp. 41,- 42. ^ This stream is probably either the Daha or the.Sattiar, both of which flow near the town of Titaria (KusinSra). 62 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH bana-Suttam, which seem to be there quoted from an ancient metrical account of Buddha's life, relate what occurred in these words : ' Buddha,' having come to the River KakutthS With its pellucid, glad, calm waters. The thoroughly weary-looking Teacher plunged in. The Tathagato, quite matchless in the world. Having both bathed and drunk, the Teacher crossed over, Pre-eminent in the midst of the Order of Mendicants. Here the Teacher, the Establisher in the Law, the Worshipful One, The great Sage, came to the mango-grove (Ambavanain). He addressed a mendicant, Cundako by name : " Spread for me my garment fourfold ; let me lie down." That Cundo, delighting in the Devoted One, Quite speedily spread the robe fourfold. The thoroughly weary-looking Teacher lay down. Cundo also sat down there in front of him.' Having rested for a time, Buddha and his followers drew near to a grove of «^/-trees on the bank of the Hirannavati River near Kusinari. ' Go, Anando,' said the old man, ' prepare thou for me between two twin sa^trees a couch with the head northwards. I am ex- hausted, Anando ; I shall lie down.'^ When he lay down on his simple couch, a strange scene is said to have been visible. ' Moreover^ at that time the twin ?&l-\x&es burst into full bloom with untimely flowers ; they strew the Tath§.gato's body ; they sprinkle and scatter them over it out of reverence for the Tatha- gato. Divine coral-tree blossoms, too, fall from the atmosphere : . . . divine sandal-tree powders, too, fall from the atmosphere ; they strew the Tathigato's body, they are sprinkled and scattered over it : . . . divine 1 Mahftparinibbana-Suttain, p. 47 : ' Gantv^na Buddho nadiyain Kakutthaiii,' etc. 2 Ibid., p. 49. 8 /^2^_ LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 63 tabors, too, sound forth in the air : . . . divine chantings, too, go on in the air, out of reverence for the Tathagato.' But, though calling his disciples' attention to all this, Buddha valued something else far more. ' Not thus,i indeed, O Anando,' he said, 'is the Tathagato either honoured or revered or glorified or reverenced or re- spected. Whosoever, Anando, whether male or female mendicant, or male or female lay adherent, continues to carry out in practice the law and the lesser directions, observing propriety, walking according to the lesser direc- tions, he it is that honours, reveres, glorifies, reverences, respects the Tathagato with the highest reverence.' A monk named Upavano then stood in front of Buddha and began to fan^ him. Buddha repelled him, saying: ' Go away, mendicant ; do not stand in front of me.' When Anando remonstrated with his master for thus driving away one who had come a long distance in order to be near him, Buddha explained and defended his own conduct in these words : ' In^ large numbers in the ten spheres, Anando, are the devas assembled to behold the Tathagato, so that ... all around, for a distance of twelve stages, there is not a space as large* as the top of a hair that is not pervaded with mighty devas. The devas, Anando, murmur, saying, " Lo, we have come from afar to see the Tathagato. Sometimes, on some occasions, Tathigatos arise in the world, perfect, omniscient ; and to-day, at the last watch of the night, the Tathagato's extinction will occur ; and this big mendicant, standing in front of the Tathigato, 1 Mahaparinibbana-Suttam, p. 49. 2 Op. cit., p. 50. 3 Op. cit., pp. SO. 51- * Cf. the saying of Heraclitus, Xldcra ^uxw" etvai, Kal Stufi^voiv irXij/ji; (Diog. Laertius, lib. ix., cap. i., § 6), and that of Pythagoras, ETval re irdrra rbv &ipa ipvxSiv i/iirXeav (op. cit , lib. viii., cap. i., § 19, 32). 64 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH hinders us, and at the last moment we do not get the opportunity of seeing the Tathagatc5." Thus do the devas murmur, Anando.' When the latter inquired in what condition of mind he perceived the devas to be, Buddha replied: 'There are in the air, Anando, devas concerned with earthly things; having strewn abroad their locks they wail ; they fall as if down a sheer pre- cipice ; they turn about and revolve, saying : " Very soon will the Tathagato become extinct ; very soon will the Prosperous One become extinct ; very soon will the Eye vanish in the world." . . . Moreover, those devas who are freed from passions, they quietly and composedly endure it, saying, " Compounds are impermanent ; other- wise how would that be allowable here ?" ' Anando 1 was so much overcome with grief at the thought of his beloved master's approaching decease that he retired to weep in private. But Buddha, know- ing this, sent for him, and did what he could to comfort him by praising him for his long and faithful service, and urging him to continue to walk in the Noble Eightfold Path. Among other visitors who came to interview Buddha during his last moments was a monk named Subhaddo,^ who belonged to a different sect. Struck by Buddha's conversation, this man joined the Order, and was the last convert made by Buddha. The concluding scene is related in these words : ' Then indeed the Worshipful One addressed the mendicants : " Come^ now, mendicants, I bid you fare- well. Compounds are subject to dissolution. Prosper ye through diligence." This was the last speech of the Tathagato.' ' MahaparinibbSna-Suttam, pp. 53, 54. ^ Op. cit., pp. 56-60. ^ Op. Hi. p. 61. LIFE AND WORK OF THE BUDDHA 65 Then Buddha, becoming unconscious, passed through the four stages of ecstasyi {jhanam), and thus departed, or, in the language of the text we are quoting, ' became extinct.' ^ Difficult as it is to separate the historical from the legendary in Buddha's life, yet it is clear that he was one of the most remarkable men— perhaps the most remark- able man — that India has ever produced. A great deal of the success of his teaching must have been due to his marvellous personal influence^ over those with whom he came in contact. He was a man of great earnest- ness, of moral courage and great self-control, of uncon- querable resolution, of deep though thwarted sympathy. His regard for his fellow- men was shown by the zeal and self-denial with which he laboured, during the greater part of his long life, to teach them what he firmly believed to be the highest of all truths, the only doctrine which would enable them to obtain release from their misery. The system of philosophy which he founded has for more than two thousand years influenced for good or ill vast multitudes of men throughout a very large part of the East. Even from his very failure we may learn much, and still more from his zeal in spreading his cheerless creed. His intellect was not of the highest order, though his imagination was powerfully developed. He does not seem to have been a man of deep spiritu- ality, as was Socrates ; but with whatever great philo- sopher of ancient times he may be compared, Buddha loses nothing from the comparison. The lines which Sakko is related to have uttered on Buddha's death sum up the whole of Buddha's ' gospel,' if we may so style a philosophy which teaches that the 1 Op. cit., p. 62. " ' ParinibbSyi,' idem. * ' Six Systems,' p. 30. 66 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH only possible way in which any living being, in heaven or on earth, can escape from misery and suffering is by becoming extinct. These verses may be translated thus : ' Lo ! compounds are impermanent, subject to springing up and dissolution : Having sprung up, they perish : happy is their suppression. '^ To those who are content with such a creed, may we not well apply the words of the Dhammapadam, one of the best known of the tractates included in the Buddhist canon : ' Shrouded in darkness, do ye not seek a torch ?'^ Do not ' Those wise answers of the far-off Sage — So wise, they shut out God — and can enchain To-day, in narrow bands of foolishness, The subtle Eastern brain '' — showing as they do man's need of a Divine revelation — appeal to us, by their very sadness and despairing courage, to bear to Buddha's disciples of the present day the good news of Him who said so long ago, and still says to the sorrowing, suffering, wandering, and doubting of our own times : ' I am the Light of the World ; he that followeth Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the Light of Life'? 4 ' ' AnicfcS, vata sankhstr^ uppSidavajiadhammino : Uppajjitva nirujjhanti : tesam vupasamo sukho-ti.' MahiparinibbSna-Suttam, p. 62. For a translation of the commentary on these lines, vide Rhys Davids' Hibbert Lectures for 1881, pp. 212-214. " ' Andhakarena onaddhit padtparn na gavessatha ?' Dhammapadam, si. 146. ' L. Morris, ' The Wanderer.' * '"Eytl> elfu. t6 0ffls toC xiirfiov " 6 &ko\ovBuv yu,oi oi ijA) vepmariivy iv T^ (Tkot/^, S°- He shows that the word 'Abhidhamma' does not mean 'metaphysics.' ' The Maha-Vamso, quotedby Max Miiller, ' Six Systems of Indian Philosophy,' p. 5 ; but see Childers, Pali Dictionary, preface, p. ix, note. Professor Rhys Dfivids, in speaking of the Vinaya-Pitalcam, says : ' The great bulk of it must be older than the year 350 B.C. , It received, however, its last touches about a century later, andit contains . also some poetic portions . . . which may even reach back to the life- time of the Buddha .himself. In other words, these books wete in existence, practically as we now have them, within about 150 yeprs after the time of Gotama' (Hibbert Lectures, 1881, p. 43). But the fact that the Pali of these books differs very considerably from the 70 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH distinctly that the Southern Canon was not reduced to writing till the first century B.C., under King Vatta- gamani (about 80 b.c). 'Before this time,' they say, 'the wise monks had handed down the texts of the Tipitakam orally, and also the Atthakatha (commentary). At this time the monks, perceiving the decay of beings, assembled, and, in order that the Law might endure for a long time, they caused it to be written down.' But when we remember how habitually in India literary composi- tions of enormous length were handed down from genera- tion to generation by oral tradition, it is not diiEcult to believe that a great deal of the Three Pitakas may be very ancient. It is not easy to identify for certain any of the tractates in the Canon with those mentioned by name in the inscriptions of Asoka;i yet the identity of the Buddhist formula, which may be called the creed of Buddhism, as given in the Mahavaggo,^ with that in- scribed by Asoka's orders on monuments in so many MagadhI of King Asoka's inscriptions, and seems much more recent in character, renders tiiis somewhat doubtful. The absurd fables which are found even in the Three Pitakas must have required a considerable time for their development. All this leads me to agree with Barth ('Religions of India,' pp. 102, 103, note) in doubting whether the Three Pitakas are as ancient as Professor Rhys Davids thinks. ^ Especially in the Bairat inscription ; but see the matter dis- cussed in Monier- Williams' ' Buddhism,' pp. S3-70> and Bishop Cople- ston's 'Buddhism,' pp. 269, 274. The tractates specially mentioned in that inscription are Vinaya-samukasa, Ariyavasa, Anagata-bhaya, Muni-gatha, Upatisa-pasina, Moneyasiita, and the Sermon to R4hulo. Thomas (' The Early Faith of Asoka,' p. 23 et seq.) shows that Asoka was originally ^ Jaina (as was Candra-gupta, his grandson), and that the title 'devanainpiya' ('beloved of the gods') which he bears in some of his inscriptions was a conventional title among the Jainas (as is evident from the Kalpa-Sutra). It is omitted in the Bhabra inscription, because the Buddhist faith 'ipso facto repudiated all gods' (pp. cil., P- 55)- go, i. 23 : 5, quoted above, Lecture I., p. 41, note 1. THE CHIEF DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM 71 parts of India, and the fact that there is no discrepancy in the testimony as to the nature of Buddha's teaching given in the different parts of the Three Pitakas — all this enables us to speak with a near approach to absolute certainty as to what the main doctrines were which he taught. There can be n6 doubt that the speeches attri- buted to Buddha in the Three Pitakas represent very correctly what he actually said. As we have already seen, Buddha had no room for God in his philosophy. Hence there could be no claim in favour of the inspiration of these books, or, indeed, of any portion of his teaching. It is all supposed to have flashed upon him suddenly on the night when he became a Buddha. He had previously learnt by ex- perience the misery of existence — an existence apart from God. He now believed that he had learnt three other things — the cause of this misery and suffering, the possibility of its cessation, and the way to attain to that end. The explanation of these four points constitutes almost the whole of his teaching, and certainly its most important part. Hence it is that we so frequently find these foundation ' truths ' repeated again and again in the sacred books. We proceed to give a few more extracts, in order to let Buddha and one of his most eminent disciples respectively explain to us exactly what they thought it most necessary for men to know. On one occasion, some time before his death, going to KotigS-mo with a large company of mendicants, Buddha is related to have addressed them thus : ^ ' O mendicants,^ it is through want of knowledge and ' Mah^parinibMna-Suttam, § 2, I, p. 15. '^ Mahaparinibbana-Suttam, § 2, 1 : ' Catunnam, bhikkhave, ariya- saccanam ananubodha appativedha evam idam digham addhanam sandhavitam, samsaritara, maman-c'eva tumhakafi-ca. . . . Tayidam, 72 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH non-comprehension of the Four Noble Truths that this long road, both mine and yours, has been traversed and transmigrated.' He then mentions the Four Truths: The Noble Truth of Suffering, that of the Origin of Suffering, that of the Cessation of Suffering, and that of the Way to the Attainment of the Cessation of Suffer- ing, and continues : ' But when, O mendicants, the Noble Truth of Suffer- ing has been fully known and comprehended, when the , Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering has been fully known and comprehended, when the Noble Truth of the .Cessation of Suffering has been fully known, and com- prehended, when the Noble Truth of the Way to tjie Attainment of the Cessation of Suffering has been fully known and comprehended, the thirst for existence is eradicated, lust is exhausted ; thenceforth there is no rebirth.' The text goes on to say : ' This the Worship- ful One said ; having thus spoken, the Prosperous One, the Teacher, said this furthermore : ' " Through the non-perception of the Four Noble Truths as they really are, The long road has been transmigrated in those, in those very births. Those, these have been seen : lust is eradicated ; The root of suffering is utterly extirpated ; henceforth there is no rebirth.'" bhikkhave, dukkham ariyasaccam anubuddharn patividdhaia, dukkha- samudayam ariyasaccam anubuddharn patividdhain, dukkhanirodham ariyasaccam anubuddharn patividdham, dukkhapirodhagamini patipada ariyasaccam anubuddharn patividdhain, ucchinna bhavatanha, kbina bhavanetti, n'atthi dani punabbhavo ti. Idam avoca Bbagava, idam valva Sugato, atbaparam etad avoca Sattha : ' " Catunnam ariyasaccanani yalhabhutam adassana Sainsitam digham addhanatn tasu tas' eva jatisu : Tani etani ditthani, bhavanetti samQhata, Ucchinnamulaip dukkhassa ; n'atthi dani punabbhavo, ti." ' THE CHIEF DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM 73 In the Saccavibhango, at Buddha's bidding, Sariputto explains this doctrine at full length. ' Birth,' he says, 'is painfull; old age is painful; sickness is painful; death is painful ; grief, lamentation, pain, dejection, despair, are painful ; the wish which one does not obtain, that, too, is painful ; in short, the five elements of attachment to existence are painful.' He then goes on to explain the full meaning of each term, and to show how much misery is involved in birth and rebirth, in old age, sickness, and death, in grief, disappointment, and despair, and in physical pain. He points out how those beings who are liable to birth 2 feel within them the longing, ' Ah,^ would that we might not be born, would that birth came not to us !' The same longing is felt by all beings who are exposed to sickness, old age, and death ; yet in all alike the longing is torture, for it is in vain. ' This is not to be obtained by longing.'- After this he mentions the five elements of attachment to exist- ence (Panc'updddnakkhandhd) — form^, sensation, percep- ' The original runs thus: 'Jati pi dukkha, jara pi dukkha, vyadhi pi .dukkha, maranam pi dukkha, soka-parideva-dukkha-domanassa- upayasa dukkha ; yam p'iccham na labhati, tam pi dukkham ; saii- khittena paflc' upadanakkhandha dukhha ' (Saccavibhango, ii , § i). '' Cf. Lucretius' remark on the babe's wailing when born (lib. v., vv. 222-227) : ' Turn porro puer, ut ssevis proiectus ab undis Navita, nudus humi iacet, iiifans, indigus omni Vitali auxilio, cum primum in luminis oras Nixibus ex alveo matris natuia profudit, Vagituque locum lugubri complct, ut iequum'st Cui tantum in vita restet transire malorum.' ' ' Aho ! vata mayam na jatidhamma assama, na-ca vata no jat agaccheyyati ' (Saccavibhango, § 9). ■* ' Na kho pan' etam icchaya pattabbam.' ° ' Rup-upadanakkhandho, vedan-upadan.ikkhandho, saiifiupadanak- khahdho, sankhar-upadanakkhandho, vinnan-upadanakkhandha ' (§ 10) 74 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH tion, components, consciousness— and classes under the Origin of Suffering the thirst^ which manifests itself in desire for future existence, happiness, and joy, which thirst is comprised under three heads : Thirst for sensual pleasure, thirst for (eternal) ^ existence, and thirst for the (instant) cessation of existence. The Noble Truth of the Way to the Attainment of the Cessation of Existence is called the Noble Eightfold Path, and is explained (as we have already seen) as consisting in the following : ' Perfect opinion, perfect resolve, perfect speech, perfect employment, perfect conduct, perfect exertion, perfect thought, perfect self-concentration.'^ The last and final step on this path leads the devotee through four stages of mystic trance {jhdnam), the fourth of which is thus described : ' Through abandonment of pleasure and abandonment of pain, and through the dis- appearance of the previously experienced enjoyment and dejection, having attained to painless, pleasureless in- difference of mind and purity, to the fourth ecstasy, he thus abides. This, O friend, is called perfect meditation.' * When a man has passed through all these various stages he has reached Arahat-shxp, which is often called Nirvana (Nibbanarn). Much discussion has taken place regarding the precise meaning of this term, but scholars are now in the main ' ' Yayam tanha ponobbhavikanandiraga-sahagata tatra tatrabhinan- dini : seyyathldam : kama- tanha, bhava-tanha, vibhava-tanha ' (iii. , §8). " See Childers' Pall Dictionary, s.v. Vibhavo. ^ ' Ayam eva ariyo atthafigiko Maggo : seyyathidam : Sammaditthi, sammasailkappo, sammavaca, sammakammanto, samma-ajivo, samma- vayamo, sammasati, sammasamadhi ' (iii., § lo). * ' Sukhassa-ca pahana, dukkhassa-ca pahana, pubbe-ca somanassa- domanassanam ^tthagama, addukkham asukham upekkhasati - pari- suddhim catutthajjhanam upasampajja viharati. Ayam vuccat', avuso, Sammasamadhi ' (iv., § 8). THE CHIEF DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM 75 agreed as to what is denoted thereby. It literally means extinction,'^ the being puffed out of a flame. But it would be incorrect to understand by this the destruction of the human spirit, of the self, the personality, the ego ; for the Buddhist does not acknowledge the existence of human personality, much less that of an immortal spirit, in man. A human being is said to be made up of the five '-elements of existence ' (Khandhos) mentioned above — form, sensation, perception, components, consciousness. When he dies these are utterly destroyed, and the man entirely ceases to exist. But a new set of Khandhos is immediately produced, and these, which constitute a new being (technically called Namarupam, ' name and form '), inherit and carry on the man's character'^ and his Karma (Pali Kammam ; literally, ' deed '), the net result of all his deeds, good and bad. The good produce good results and happiness in the next state of existence, which may be passed either in this or in some other world, or in some of the numerous Buddhist heavens. They place him in a better position for attaining merit, and thereby approaching nearer the summum honum of the Buddhist's hope, Nivva^a. His evil deeds also have their own fruit, either in this or in some other life, for it is said : ^ ' The evil done by one is being suffered for by one's self, The evil not done by one is being cleared avi(ay by one's self : The pure and the impure separately : one does not purify another.' 1 Nirvdnam, (Pali Nibbdnam) is derived from the negative or primitive particle nis and the root vd, ' to blow ' (from which comes the Sanskrit vdta, Latin ventus, English wind), with the termination -narp,. Hence it literally means 'the being puffed out,' or 'the state of being puffed out.' In Sanskrit the word is used as an adjective (nirvdna, m., f., n.), meaning ' blown out,' of a lamp. 2 Hibbert Lectures, R. Davids, p. 92, ■• ■ Attana va katain papain attana sankilissati, Attana akatam papam attana va visujjhati : Suddhl asudhi paccattam : n'ailiio annam visodhaye.' Dhammapadam, si. 165. 76 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH And, again : ^ ' The wicked man, too, sees good, until his evil matureth ; And when his evil matureth, then the wicked man sees evil things. The good man, too, sees evil. Until his good matureth ; And when his good matureth. Then the good man sees good things.' Once more i^ ' Here he grieves, hereafter grieves The evil-doer, in both worlds he grieves ; That man grieves, that man is afflicted. Having seen his own vile deed. ' Papo pi passati bhadram, yava paparn na paccati ; Yada-ca paccati papam, atha papo papani passati. Bhadro pi passati papam, ' Yava bhadram na paccati ; Yada-ca paccati bhadram, Atha bhadro bhadrani passati.' Ibid., sU. 119, 120. ° ' Idha socati, pecca socati Papakari, ubhayattha socati ; So socati, so vihaiinati, ,, Disva kammakilittham attano. Idha modati, pecca modati Katapuniio, ubhayattha modati ; So modati, so pamodati, Disva kammavisuddhim attano. ■ > '■ Idha tappati, pecca tappati Papakari, ubhayattha tappati ; Papam me katan-ti tappati : Bhiyyo tappati duggatim gato. ' '\ Idha nandati, pecca nand£].ti ^■ Katapuniio, ubhayattha nandati ; Puniiam me katan-ti nandati, lihiyyo nandati suggatim • gato.' , >« atha so puriso tato pi pakkam ambam khaditva atthiin ropeyya, tato pi mahanto ambarukkho nibbattitvi phal^ni dadeyya, evam etesarn rukkhinam koti na pannayati ; evam-eva kho, maharaja, idha jato idh' eva ma,rati, idha mato annatra uppajjati ; evam kho, maharSja, samsaro hotlti.' — 'One born here, great king, dies just here; having died here he comes into existence elsewhere : born there he dies just there; having died there he comes into existence elsewhere :. thus indeed, great king, does transmigration come to pass. — Give an illus- 88 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH moment another being starts into life, to which the Karma of the former is transferred. This process goes on through countless ages. It has gone on in the past with Buddha himself, for in the Cariya-Pitakami he relates many tales regarding his previous states of existence as a man, a monkey, an elephant, and so on, relating how in each stage he exhibited certain perfections, gradually pro- gressing in excellence, until in his last birth he became Siddhartha. An ordinary being does not remember any- thing of his own previous births, but when Gotamo attained Buddhahood he remembered everything that had befallen him in the past. All existence is suffering, and all pain or joy that befalls a man in this life (except in certain instances 2) is the result of previous good or bad actions. Hence the striking words in which Buddha describes the amount of .suffering which men endure. 'The transmigration (samsaro) of beings, O mendi- cants,' he says,^ ' has its beginning in eternity. The opening cannot be found from which, having come forth. tration. — As, great king, were any man whatever, having eaten a ripe mango, to plant the kernel, a great mango-tree having sprung up thence would give its fruits : and were that man, having eaten a ripe mango therefrom also, to plant the kernel, a great mango-tree, having sprung up thence also, would give its fruits : thus no end is found of these trees. Even thus indeed, great king, one born here dies just here ; having died here he comes into existence elsewhere,' etc. ■■ Cariya-Pitakam, book iii., story vii. (as a Monkey -king) ; bookii., story i. (as a Virtuous Elephant). ^ Vide Milinda-Panho, Trenckner's edition, p. 134. ^ Samyutta - Nik^yo, vol. i;, quoted by Oldenberg, 'Buddha,' pp. 216, 217. Professor Rhys Davids (Hibbert Lectures for i88i, p. 73) well says, in reference especially to the doctrine of transmigra- tion : ' Buddhism was, in a great degree, the pouring of new wine into old bottles.' THE CHIEF DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM 89 beings, led astray through ignorance, bound by the thirst for existence, stray and wander. What do ye think, O mendicants, which of the two is the more, — the water which is in the four Great Oceans, or the tears which have poured from you and have been shed for you, while ye wandered and went astray in this long transmigration, and sorrowed and wept, because that which ye hated was your portion, and that which ye loved was not your portion ? A mother's death, a father's death, a brother's death, a sister's death, a ^on's ■death, a daughter's death, the loss of relations, the loss of property, all this have ye experienced through long ages. And while ye experienced this through long ages, more tears have poured from you and have been shed by you, while ye strayed and wandered on this long pilgrimage, and sorrowed and wept because that which ye hated was your portion and that which ye loved was not your portion, than all the water which is in the four Great Oceans.' We have seen that Buddha taught that good deeds would bring their own reward and bear fruit in a happy state after death, just as surely as evil deeds would bear evil fruit to the doer. Adopting popular language, he spoke of a great variety of gods, nymphs, yakkhos or demons (Sanskrit yakshas), and other superhuman beings, among whom one, Maro (the god of death 1 and all that involves death, change, and decay) is very frequently mentioned. This Maro is represented as again and again endeavouring under various forms to deceive Buddha and to lead him to give up his passive indifference to pleasure and pain, joy and grief, thus striving to produce in him some desire for the things of the world, or at least ' Vide ' Maro ' in Childers' Pali Dictionary. 90 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH to terrify him.i On each occasion Buddha recognises ' evil Maro ' and discomfits him. But Maro's efforts are not directed against Buddha alone. In the Bhikkhuni- Samyuttam, one of the books contained in the Samyutta- Nikayo, we find him endeavouring to disturb the calm of the female Buddhist mendicants by the same arts, but always failing. We quote one of these episodes to show, not the constancy of the tempted woman, or even the nature of the temptation, but rather the Buddhist view of the universality of suffering. The story runs thus. One day Maro found a certain ■ female mendicant or Buddhist nun, called Upacala, seated at the foot of a tree to take the usual mid-day.rest. Approaching her, he tried to disturb her equanimity by leading her to think of and long for the joys promised to the virtuous in the after-life. The desire for such things, being ' otherworldliness,' would injure her as much as any other desire, because it would bring her again into bondage to that Thirst for Existence which is the cause of so much suffering, Maro thus addresses her : ' Where 2 dost thou then desire to be reborn, O nun ?' ' The whole of the ' Mara-Samyutta ' (book iv. of the Samyiitta- Nikayo) is taken up with the account of Maro's attempts to lead Buddha astray. See also Mahaparinibbana-Suttatn, pp. 24-26 and 30-32. Maro is also called 'Antako,' 'the Ender,' = the Sanskrit Antaka with the same meaning, which in the Atharva Veda is used as equivalent to Yama, the god of death. ^ ' Kattha nu tvam, bhikkhuni, uppajjitu-kama?-ti.' ' Na khvaham, avuso, katthaci uppajjitu-kama-ti.' ' Tavatimsa-ca Yama-ca Tusita-capi devaia, Nimmanaratino deva, ye deva Vasavattino ; Tattha cittam panidhehi, ratim paccanubhossasi-ti.' ' Tavatimsa-ca Yama-ca Tusita-capi devata, Nimmanaratino deva, ye deva Vasavattino : Kamabandhana-baddha te, enti Mara-vasam puna. THE CHIEF DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM 91 In reply she says to him : 'Frien ' Buddhaghosha's Parables,' chapter a., quoted by Professor Rhys Davids in his ' Buddhism ' (' Non-Christian Religious Systems ') PP- I33i 134- The story is also given in the commentary upon the Dhammapadam. THE CHIEF DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM 105 " My good girl, I myself have no such medicine as you ask for, but I think I know of one who has." " Oh, tell me who that is," said Kisa-gotami. " The Buddha can give you medicine ; go to him," was the answer. She went to Gotamo, and, doing homage to him, said, " Lord and master, do you know any medicine that will be good for my child ?" " Yes, I know of some," said the Teacher. Now, it was the custom for patients or their friends to provide the herbs which the doctors required, so she asked what herbs he would want. " I want some mustard-seed," he said; and, when the poor girl eagerly promised to bring some of so common a drug, he added, ' ' You must get it from some house where no son, or husband, or parent, or slave has died." " Very good," she said, and went to ask for it, still carrying her dead child with her. The people said, " Here is mustard-seed, take it ;" but when she asked, " In my friend's house has any son died, or a husband, or a parent, or slave ?" they answered, " Lady, what is this that you say ? The living are few, but the dead are many." Then she went to other houses; but one said, "I have lost a son;" another, " We have lost our parents ;" another, " I have lost my slave." At last, not being able to find a single house where no one had died, her mind began to clear, and, summoning up resolution, she left the dead body of her child in a forest, and, returning to the Buddha, paid him homage. He said to her, " Have you the mustard- seed ?" " My lord," she replied, " I have not ; the people tell me that the living are few, but the dead are many." Then he talked to her on that essential part of his system — the impermanency of all things — till her doubts were cleared away, and, accepting her lot, she became a dis- ciple and entered the first Path.' That is all the consolation that Buddha could give to io6 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH the sorrowing. Those who from bitter experience know what sorrow is know best how little comfort such words can give. Do they not remind us of the mournful in- scriptions on Greek and Roman tombs in the times of dying heathenism in the West, ' Be^ of good cheer, O Midon : no one is immortal ; even Hercules died.' ' To^ my dearest, sweetest, most saintly mother : Be of good cheer, mother ; no one is immortal '? We have now dealt very briefly with the leading philo- sophical doctrines of Buddhism, as taught by Buddha himself and accepted by his earliest disciples. Every man is said to be the creature of his environment, at least to a very great extent, and Buddha was no exception to the rule. Although every one of the doctrines already stated may be found in one or other of the Hindu systems of philosophy so widely current in Buddha's day, yet he cannot be said to have slavishly borrowed from any of them. Every doctrine which he taught has been very considerably modified by him in passing through his mind, so much so that his claim to be a most deep and original thinker cannot be disputed. But while traces of Hindu philosophical speculations are very evident in what we have already learnt of his teaching, yet in the mythology and cosmogony of early Buddhism we shall find the same phenomenon even more clearly evident. That is to say, the mythology and cosmogony of Bud- dhism are far more plainly derived from those of the Hindus than is its philosophy. The reason of this is clear. Buddha held and taught that men ought not to 1 ET*TXEI ■ MIAfiN • OTABIS ■ AGANATOS • KAI • ■ HPAKAHS • AnBGANB (Maffei, 'Mus. Veron.,' p. 268, n). " MATRI • PIENTISS • DVLCISS • SANCTISSIMyE • OTXI {leg-e ET^TXEI ?) ■ TEKOTSA • OTAEIS • AGANATOS (Fleetwood, ' Inscriptt. Antiqq.: Sylloge,' p. 275). THE CHIEF DOCTRINES OF BUDDHISM 107 waste their time, as he thought, in speculations^ about the gods, heaven, hell, the after-life ; the only thing worth thinking about was the way to escape from the suffering caused by existence. Hence, he did not go out of his way to teach anything to his disciples regarding their relation to the various superhuman beings that everyone in the India of his day believed to exist in the air, in natural objects, the planets, and so forth. These deities and other good and evil spirits could not save a man from the consequence of his own deeds ; they were, like man himself (he held), subject to birth and death. Believing that the universe was not created, and knowing nothing of a Creator,^ deeming himself and the arahats far superior to all the gods, no matter of theology seemed to him worthy of much consideration. But not seeing any reason to disbelieve in the existence of superhuman though perishable intelligences, his mind naturally led him to remodel, consciously or unconsciously, what was believed about the devatds, in such a way as to fit into his Weltanschauung, his manner of looking at things in general, his theory of existence. Hence in the earliest form of Buddhism we find that the Hindu devas, while acknow- ^ Majjhima-Nikayo, Sabbasava-Suttam, quoted by Rhys Davids, ' Buddhist Suttas from the Pali,' pp. 298-300, and also in Hibbert Lectures, pp. 88, 89. " With regard to the existence of a Creator, there is a long disquisi- tion in the Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king (iv., §§ 1455-1468), though it is doubtful whether this is to be attributed to Buddha himself or to Asvaghosha (the author of the Buddha-carita, of which this Chinese work is a translation, though only seventeen chapters out of the twenty- eight are found in Sanskrit). The first and last of these paragraphs run thus : ' He argued not that Isvara was cause, nor did he advocate some cause heretical, nor yet, again, did he affirm there was no cause for the beginning of the world. . . . Thus, you see, the thought of Isvara is overthrown in this discussion (sdstra), and all such contradictory assertions should be exposed ; if not, the blame is ours.' lo8 THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH ledged to exist, have undergone very considerable modi- fication. Instead of being immortal they are mortal. Not being free from the dominatibn^ of the passions, as even their worshippers acknowledged, they must work out their own deliverance from existence much in the same way as men ought to do. In a word, Buddha re- presented these invisible beings as very much akin to men, instead of being immeasurably superior to them. His doctrine was preached ' for the sake of, because of, out of pity for both gods and men.' In fact, this part of Buddha's teaching reminds us very strongly of Pindar's view,^ *'Ev AvSpuVf Sv deujv y^vos ' ^k /uas dk w^ofiev /iarpos i/x^dTepoL • dtetpyei di Troira KeKpi/Uva SOvafus, though Buddha could not have said — to continue the quotation, lis TO //.iv oidiv, 6 Si x^^"^"! ouripaXis aliv iSos pAvet, oipavii, nor could he have spoken of the gods as adavaroi, as the Greek poet does immediately after. While endeavouring to exalt men to the condition of at least Epicurean^ gods, ■ See, for example, the language used in the Dhajagga-Parittam (Saipyutta-Nikayo, XI., i., § 3 : 10) about Sakko : ' Sakko hi, bhikkhave, devanam indo, avltarago, avitadoso, avltamoho, bhiru, chambhl, utrasi palayi-ti.' But in the same passage it is said of Buddha himself,: ' Tathagato hi, bhikkhave, araham, samma - sambuddho, mtarago, vitatioso, vltamoho, abhiru, acchambhi, anutrasi apalayi-ti ' (§ 3 : 17). * Pindar, Nem., vi. 1-4. How different from Buddha's view, on the other hand, was that of Xenophanes (circa 560 B.C.) : 'Bts Geds, H re deolffi koX d.v6p(ij7roL