Produced by U Hla Maung. HTML and Unicode versions by Al Haines.
[Note: for ease of reading, this portion of the text file does not
indicate the source book's macron-ized characters. For completeness
and more information, refer to the fully macron-ized version that
follows this portion--search for "[Note:".]
_Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Samma Sambuddhassa_
THE
BUDDHIST CATECHISM
BY
HENRY S. OLCOTT
PRESIDENT-FOUNDER OF THE THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY
_Approved and recommended for use in Buddhist schools by H. Sumangala,
Pradhana Nayaka Sthavira, High Priest of Sripada and the Western
Province and Principal of the Vidyodaya Parivena_
FORTY-FOURTH EDITION. (Corrected)
Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Madras
LONDON AND BENARES: THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY
1915
DEDICATION
In token of respect and affection I dedicate to my counsellor and
friend of many years, Hikkaduwe Sumangala, Pradhana Nayaka
Sthavira and High Priest of Adam's Peak (Sripada) and the Western
Province, THE BUDDHIST CATECHISM, in its revised form.
H. S. OLCOTT
_Adyar_, 1903.
CONTENTS
THE LIFE OF THE BUDDHA
THE DHARMA OR DOCTRINE
THE SANGHA
THE RISE AND SPREAD OF BUDDHISM
BUDDHISM AND SCIENCE
APPENDIX--The Fourteen Propositions accepted by the Northern and
Southern Buddhists as a Platform of Unity
CERTIFICATE TO THE FIRST EDITION
VIDYODAYA COLLEGE,
_Colombo_, 7_th July_, 1881.
I hereby certify that I have carefully examined the Sinhalese version
of the Catechism prepared by Colonel H. S. Olcott, and that the same is
in agreement with the Canon of the Southern Buddhist Church. I
recommend the work to teachers in Buddhist schools, mid to all others
who may wish to impart information to beginners about the essential
features of our religion.
H. SUMANGALA,
_High Priest of Sripada and Galle, and Principal of the Vidyodaya
Parivena._
VIDYODAYA COLLEGE,
_April_ 7, 1897.
I have gone over the thirty-third (English) edition of the Catechism,
with the help of interpreters, and confirm my recommendation for its
use in Buddhist schools.
H. SUMANGALA.
PREFACE
TO THE THIRTY-THIRD EDITION
In the working out of my original plan, I have added more questions and
answers in the text of each new English edition of the Catechism,
leaving it to its translators to render them into whichever of the
other vernaculars they may be working in. The unpretending aim in view
is to give so succinct and yet comprehensive a digest of Buddhistic
history, ethics and philosophy as to enable beginners to understand and
appreciate the noble ideal taught by the Buddha, and thus make it
easier for them to follow out the Dharma in its details. In the
present edition a great many new questions and answers have been
introduced, while the matter has been grouped within five categories,
_viz._: (1) The Life of the Buddha; (2) the Doctrine; (3) the Sangha,
or monastic order; (4) a brief history of Buddhism, its Councils and
propaganda; (5) some reconciliation of Buddhism with science. This, it
is believed, will largely increase the value of the little book, and
make it even more suitable for use in Buddhist schools, of which, in
Ceylon, over one hundred have already been opened by the Sinhalese
people under the general supervision of the Theosophical Society. In
preparing this edition I have received valuable help from some of my
oldest and best qualified Sinhalese colleagues. The original edition
was gone over with me word by word, by that eminent scholar and
bhikkhu, H. Sumangala, Pradhana Nayaka, and the Assistant
Principal of his Pali College at Colombo, Hyeyantuduve Anunayaka
Terunnanse; and the High Priest has also kindly scrutinised the present
revision and given me invaluable points to embody. It has the merit,
therefore, of being a fair presentation of the Buddhism of the
"Southern Church," chiefly derived from first-hand sources. The
Catechism has been published in twenty languages, mainly by Buddhists,
for Buddhists.
H. S. O.
ADYAR, 17_th May_, 1897.
PREFACE
TO THE THIRTY-SIXTH EDITION
The popularity of this little work seems undiminished, edition after
edition being called for. While the present one was in the press a
second German edition, re-translated by the learned Dr. Erich Bischoff,
was published at Leipzig, by the Griebens Co., and a third translation
into French, by my old friend and colleague, Commandant D. A. Courmes,
was being got ready at Paris. A fresh version in Sinhalese is also
preparing at Colombo. It is very gratifying to a declared Buddhist
like myself to read what so ripe a scholar as Mr. G. R. S. Mead, author
of _Fragments of of a Faith Forgotten_, _Pistis Sophia_, and many other
works on Christian origins, thinks of the value of the compilation. He
writes in the _Theosophical Review_: "It has been translated into no
less than twenty different languages, and may be said without the
faintest risk of contradiction, to have been the busiest instrument of
Buddhist propaganda for many a day in the annals of that long somnolent
dharma. The least that learned Buddhists of Ceylon can do to repay the
debt of gratitude they owe to Colonel Olcott and other members of the
Theosophical Society who have worked for them, is to bestir themselves
to throw some light on their own origins and doctrines."
I am afraid we shall have to wait long for this help to come from the
Buddhist bhikkhus, almost the only learned men of Ceylon; at least I
have not been able during an intimate intercourse of twenty-two years,
to arouse their zeal. It has always seemed to me incongruous that an
American, making no claims at all to scholarship, should be looked to
by the Sinhalese to help them teach the dharma to their children; and
as I believe I have said in an earlier edition, I only consented to
write THE BUDDHIST CATECHISM after I had found that no bhikkhu would
undertake it. Whatever its demerits, I can at least say that the work
contains the essence of some 15,000 pages of Buddhist teaching that I
have read in connexion with my work.
H. S. O.
ADYAR, 7_th February_, 1903.
PREFACE
TO THE FORTIETH EDITION
The popularity of this little work is proved by the constant demand for
new editions, in English and other languages. In looking over the
matter for the present edition, I have found very little to change or
to add, for the work seems to present a very fair idea of the contents
of Southern Buddhism; and, as my object is never to write an extended
essay on the subject, I resist the temptation to wander off into
amplifications of details which, however interesting to the student of
comparative religion, are useless in a rational scheme of elementary
instruction.
The new Sinhalese version (38th edition) which is being prepared by my
respected friend, D. B. Jayatilaka, Principal of Ananda (Buddhist)
College, Colombo, is partly printed, but cannot be completed until he
is relieved of some of the pressure upon his time. The Tamil version
(41st edition) has been undertaken by the leaders of the Pañchama
community of Madras, and will shortly issue from the press. The
Spanish version (39th edition) is in the hands of my friend, Señor
Xifré, and the French one (37th edition) in those of Commandant Courmes.
So the work goes on, and by this unpretending agency the teachings of
the Buddha Dharma are being carried throughout the world.
H. S. O.
ADYAR, 7_th January_, 1905.
PREFACE
TO THE FORTY-SECOND EDITION
The writer of this Catechism has passed away from earth, but, before he
left the body, he had arranged with the High Priest Sumangala to make
some small corrections in the text. These are incorporated in the
present edition by the High Priest's wish, expressed to me in Colombo,
in November 1907.
I have not altered the numbering of the questions, as it might cause
confusion in a class to change the numbers, if some pupils had the
older editions and some the new.
ADYAR, )
17_th February_, 1908. ) ANNIE BESANT
THE BUDDHIST CATECHISM
PART I
THE LIFE OF THE BUDDHA
1. Question. _Of what religion[1] are you?_
Answer. The Buddhist.
2. Q. _What is Buddhism?_
A. It is a body of teachings given out by the great personage known as
the Buddha.
3. Q. _Is "Buddhism" the best name for this teaching?_
A. No; that is only a western term: the best name for it is Bauddha
Dharma.
4. Q. _Would you call a person a Buddhist who had merely been born of
Buddha parents?_
A. Certainly not. A Buddhist is one who not only professes belief in
the Buddha as the noblest of Teachers, in the Doctrine preached by Him,
and in the Brotherhood of Arhats, but practises His precepts in daily
life.
5. Q. _What is a male lay Buddhist called?_
A. An Upasaka.
6. Q. _What a female?_
A. An Upasika.
7. Q. _When was this doctrine first preached?_
A. There is some disagreement as to the actual date, but according to
the Sinhalese Scriptures it was in the year 2513 of the (present)
Kali-Yuga.
8. Q. _Give the important dates in the last birth of the Founder?_
A. He was born under the constellation Visa on a Tuesday in May, in
the year 2478 (K.Y.); he retired to the jungle in the year 2506; became
Buddha in 2513; and, passing out of the round of rebirths, entered
Paranirvana in the year 2558, aged eighty years. Each of these
events happened on a day of full moon, so all are conjointly celebrated
in the great festival of the full-moon of the month Wesak
(_Vaisakha_), corresponding to the month of May.
9. Q. _Was the Buddha God?_
A. No. Buddha Dharma teaches no "divine" incarnation.
10. Q. _Was he a man?_
A. Yes; but the wisest, noblest and most holy being, who had developed
himself in the course of countless births far beyond all other beings,
the previous BUDDHAS alone excepted.
11. Q. _Were there other Buddhas before him?_
A. Yes; as will be explained later on.
12. Q. _Was Buddha his name?_
A. No. It is the name of a condition or state of mind, of the mind
after it has reached the culmination of development.
13. Q. _What is its meaning?_
A. Enlightened; or, he who has the all-perfect wisdom. The Pali
phrase is _Sabbannu_, the One of Boundless Knowledge. In Samskrt it is
_Sarvajña_.
14. Q. _What was the Buddha's real name then?_
A. SIDDHARTHA was his royal name, and GAUTAMA, or GOTAMA, his
family name. He was Prince of Kapilavastu and belonged to the
illustrious family of the Okkaka, of the Solar race.
15. Q. _Who were his father and mother?_
A. King Suddhodana and Queen Maya, called Maha Maya.
16. Q. _What people did this King reign over?_
A. The Sakyas; an Aryan tribe of Kshattriyas.
17. Q. _Where was Kapilavastu?_
A. In India, one hundred miles north-east of the City of Benares, and
about forty miles from the Himalaya mountains. It is situated in the
Nepal Terai. The city is now in ruins.
18. Q. _On what river?_
A. The Rohini, now called the Kohana.
19. Q. _Tell me again when Prince Siddhartha was born?_
A. Six hundred and twenty-three years before the Christian era.
20. Q. _Is the exact spot known?_
A. It is now identified beyond question. An archaeologist in the
service of the Government of India has discovered in the jungle of the
Nepal Terai a stone pillar erected by the mighty Buddhist sovereign,
Asoka, to mark the very spot. The place was known in those times as
the Lumbini Garden.
21. Q. _Had the Prince luxuries and splendours like other Princes?_
A. He had; his father, the King, built him three magnificent
palaces--for the three Indian seasons--the cold, the hot, and the
rainy--of nine, five, and three stories respectively, and handsomely
decorated.
22. Q. _How were they situated?_
A. Around each palace were gardens of the most beautiful and fragrant
flowers, with fountains of spouting water, the trees full of singing
birds, and peacocks strutting over the ground.
23. Q. _Was he living alone?_
A. No; in his sixteenth year he was married to the Princess
Yasodhara, daughter of the King Suprabuddha. Many beautiful
maidens, skilled in dancing and music, were also in continual
attendance to amuse him.
24. Q. _How did he get his wife?_
A. In the ancient Kshattriya or warrior fashion, by overcoming all
competitors in games and exercises of skill and prowess, and then
selecting Yasodhara out of all the young princesses, whose fathers
had brought them to the tournament or _mela_.
25. Q. _How, amid all this luxury, could a Prince become all-wise?_
A. He had such natural wisdom that when but a child he seemed to
understand all arts and sciences almost without study. He had the best
teachers, but they could teach him nothing that he did not seem to
comprehend immediately.
26. Q. _Did he become Buddha in his splendid palaces?_
A. No. He left all and went alone into the jungle.
27. Q. _Why did he do this?_
A. To discover the cause of our sufferings and the way to escape from
them.
28. Q. _Was it not selfishness that made him do this?_
A. No; it was boundless love for all beings that made him devote
himself to their good.
29. Q. _But how did he acquire this boundless love?_
A. Throughout numberless births and aeons of years he had been
cultivating this love, with the unfaltering determination to become a
Buddha.
30. Q. _What did he this time relinquish?_
A. His beautiful palaces, his riches, luxuries and pleasures, his soft
beds, fine dresses, rich food, and his kingdom; he even left his
beloved wife and only son, Rahula.
31. Q. _Did any other man ever sacrifice so much for our sake?_
A. Not one in this present world-period: this is why Buddhists so love
him, and why good Buddhists try to be like him.
32. Q. _But have not many men given up all earthly blessings, and
even life itself, for the sake of their fellow-men?_
A. Certainly. But we believe that this surpassing unselfishness and
love for humanity showed themselves in his renouncing the bliss of
Nirvana countless ages ago, when he was born as the Brahmana
Sumedha, in the time of Dipankara Buddha: he had then reached the
stage where he might have entered Nirvana, had he not loved mankind
more than himself. This renunciation implied his voluntarily enduring
the miseries of earthly lives until he became Buddha, for the sake of
teaching all beings the way to emancipation and to give rest to the
world.
33. Q. _How old was he when he went to the jungle?_
A. He was in his twenty-ninth year.
34. Q. _What finally determined him to leave all that men usually
love so much and go to the jungle?_
A. A _Deva_[2] appeared to him when driving out in his chariot, under
four impressive forms, on four different occasions.
35. Q. _What were these different forms?_
A. Those of a very old man broken down by age, of a sick man, of a
decaying corpse, and of a dignified hermit.
36. Q. _Did he alone see these?_
A. No, his attendant, Channa, also saw them.
37. Q. _Why should these sights, so familiar to everybody, have
caused him to go to the jungle?_
A. We often see such sights: he had not seen them, so they made a deep
impression on his mind.
38. Q. _Why had he not also seen them?_
A. The Brahmana astrologers had foretold at his birth that he would
one day resign his kingdom and, become a BUDDHA. The King, his father,
not wishing to lose an heir to his kingdom, had carefully prevented his
seeing any sights that might suggest to him human misery and death. No
one was allowed even to speak of such things to the Prince. He was
almost like a prisoner in his lovely palaces and flower gardens. They
were surrounded by high walls, and inside everything was made as
beautiful as possible, so that he might not wish to go and see the
sorrow and distress that are in the world.
39. Q. _Was he so kind-hearted that the King feared he might really
wish to leave everything for the world's sake?_
A. Yes; he seems to have felt for all beings so strong a pity and love
as that.
40. Q. _And how did he expect to learn the cause of sorrow in the
jungle?_
A. By removing far away from all that could prevent his thinking
deeply of the causes of sorrow and the nature of man.
41. Q. _How did he escape from the palace?_
A. One night, when all were asleep, he arose, took a last look at his
sleeping wife and infant son; called Channa, mounted his favourite
white horse Kanthaka, and rode to the palace gate. The _Devas_ had
thrown a deep sleep upon the King's guard who watched the gate, so that
they could not hear the noise of the horse's hoofs.
42. Q. _But the gate was locked, was it not?_
A. Yes; but the _Devas_ caused it to open without the slightest noise,
and he rode away into the darkness.
43. Q. _Whither did he go?_
A. To the river Anoma, a long way from Kapilavastu.
44. Q. _What did he then do?_
A. He sprang from his horse, cut off his beautiful hair with his
sword, put on the yellow dress of an ascetic, and giving his ornaments
and horse to Channa, ordered him to take them back to his father, the
King.
45. Q. _What then?_
A. He went afoot towards Rajagrha, the capital city of King
Bimbisara, of Magadha.
46. Q. _Who visited him there?_
A. The King with his whole Court.[3]
46a. Q. _Thence whither did he go?_
A. To Uruvela, near the present Mahabodhi Temple at Buddha
Gaya.
47. Q. _Why did he go there?_
A. In the forests were hermits--very wise men, whose pupil he
afterwards became, in the hope of finding the knowledge of which he was
in search.
48. Q. _Of what religion were they?_
A. The Hindu religion: they were Brahmanas.[4]
49. Q. _What did they teach?_
A. That by severe penances and torture of the body a man may acquire
perfect wisdom.
50. Q. _Did the Prince find this to be so?_
A. No; he learned their systems and practised all their penances, but
he could not thus discover the cause of human sorrow and the way to
absolute emancipation.
51. Q. _What did he then do?_
A. He went away into the forest near Uruvela, and spent six years in
deep meditation, undergoing the severest discipline in mortifying his
body.
52. Q. _Was he alone?_
A. No; five Brahman companions attended him.
53. Q. _What were their names?_
A. Kondañña, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahanama, and Assaji.
54. Q. _What plan of discipline did he adopt to open his mind to know
the whole truth?_
A. He sat and meditated, concentrating his mind upon the higher
problems of life, and shutting out from his sight and hearing all that
was likely to interrupt his inward reflections.
55. Q. _Did he fast?_
A. Yes, through the whole period. He took less and less food and
water until, it is said, he ate scarcely more than one grain of rice or
of sesamum seed each day.
56. Q. _Did this give him the wisdom he longed for?_
A. No. He grew thinner and thinner in body and fainter in strength
until, one day, as he was slowly walking about and meditating, his
vital force suddenly left him and he fell to the ground unconscious.
57. Q. _What did his companions think of that?_
A. They fancied he was dead; but after a time he revived.
58. Q. _What then?_
A. The thought came to him that knowledge could never be reached by
mere fasting or bodily suffering, but must be gained by the opening of
the mind. He had just barely escaped death from self-starvation, yet
had not obtained the Perfect Wisdom. So he decided to eat, that he
might live at least long enough to become wise.
59. Q. _Who gave him food?_
A. He received food from Sujata, a nobleman's daughter, who saw him
sitting at the foot of a nyagrodha (banyan) tree. He arose, took his
alms-bowl, bathed in the river Nerañjara, ate the food, and went
into the jungle.
60. Q. _What did he do there?_
A. Having formed his determination after these reflections, he went at
evening to the Bodhi, or Asvattha tree, where the present
Mahabodhi Temple stands.
61. Q. _What did he do there?_
A. He determined not to leave the spot until he attained perfect
wisdom.
62. Q. _At which side of the tree did he seat himself?_
A. The side facing the east.[5]
63. Q. _What did he obtain that night?_
A. The knowledge of his previous births, of the causes of rebirths,
and of the way to extinguish desires. Just before the break of the
next day his mind was entirely opened, like the full-blown lotus
flower; the light of supreme knowledge, or the Four Truths, poured in
upon him. He had become BUDDHA--the Enlightened, the all-knowing--the
Sarvajña.
64. Q. _Had he at last discovered the cause of human misery?_
A. At last he had. As the light of the morning sun chases away the
darkness of night, and reveals to sight the trees, fields, rocks, seas,
rivers, animals, men and all things, so the full light of knowledge
rose in his mind, and he saw at one glance the causes of human
suffering and the way to escape from them.
65. Q. _Had he great struggles before gaining this perfect wisdom?_
A. Yes, mighty and terrible struggles. He had to conquer in his body
all those natural defects and human appetites and desires that prevent
our seeing the truth. He had to overcome all the bad influences of the
sinful world around him. Like a soldier fighting desperately in battle
against many enemies, he struggled: like a hero who conquers, he gained
his object, and the secret of human misery was discovered.
66. Q. _What use did he make of the knowledge thus gained?_
A. At first he was reluctant to teach it to the people at large.
67. Q. _Why?_
A. Because of its profound importance and sublimity. He feared that
but few people would understand it.
68. Q. _What made him alter this view?_[6]
A. He saw that it was his duty to teach what he had learnt as clearly
and simply as possible, and trust to the truth impressing itself upon
the popular mind in proportion to each one's individual Karma. It was
the only way of salvation, and every being had an equal right to have
it pointed out to him. So he determined to begin with his five late
companions, who had abandoned him when he broke his fast.
69. Q. _Where did he find them?_
A. In the deer-park at Isipatana, near Benares.
70. Q. _Can the spot be now identified?_
A. Yes, a partly ruined stupa, or dagoba, is still standing on that
very spot.
71. Q. _Did those five companions readily listen to him?_
A. At first, no; but so great was the spiritual beauty of his
appearance, so sweet and convincing his teaching, that they soon turned
and gave him the closest attention.
72. Q. _What effect did this discourse have upon them?_
A. The aged Kondañña, one who "understood" (_Anna_), was the first to
lose his prejudices, accept the Buddha's teaching, become his disciple,
and enter the Path leading to Arhatship. The other four soon followed
his example.
73. Q. _Who were his next converts?_
A. A rich young layman, named Yasa, and his father, a wealthy
merchant. By the end of three months the disciples numbered sixty
persons.
74. Q. _Who were the first women lay disciples?_
A. The mother and wife of Yasa.
75. Q. _What did the Buddha do at that time?_[7]
A. He called the disciples together, gave them full instructions, and
sent them out in all directions to preach his doctrine.
76. Q. _What was the essence of it?_
A. That the way of emancipation lies in leading the holy life and
following the rules laid down, which will be explained later on.
77. Q. _Tell me what name he gave to this course of life?_
A. The Noble Eightfold Path.
78. Q. _How is it called in the Pali language?_
A. _Ariyo atthangiko maggo_.
79. Q. _Whither did the Buddha then go?_
A. To Uruvela.
80. Q. _What happened there?_
A. He converted a man named Kashyapa, renowned for his learning and
teacher of the Jatilas, a great sect of fire-worshippers, all of whom
became also his followers.
81. Q. _Who was his next great convert?_
A. King Bimbisara, of Magadha.
82. Q. _Which two of the Buddha's most learned and beloved disciples
were converted at about this time?_
A. Sariputra and Moggallana, formerly chief disciples of
Sañjaya, the ascetic.
83. Q. _For what did they become renowned?_
A. Sariputra for his profound learning (_Prajña_), Moggallana
for his exceptional spiritual powers (_Iddhi_).
84. Q. _Are these wonder-working powers miraculous?_
A. No, but natural to all men and capable of being developed by a
certain course of training.
85. Q. _Did the Buddha hear again from his family after leaving them?_
A. Oh yes, seven years later, while he was living at Rajagrha, his
father. King Suddhodana, sent a message to request him to come and let
him see him again before he died.
86. Q. _Did he go?_
A. Yes. His father went with all his relatives and ministers to meet
him and received him with great joy.
87. Q. _Did he consent to resume his old rank?_
A. No. In all sweetness he explained to his father that the Prince
Siddhartha had passed out of existence, as such, and was now changed
into the condition of a Buddha, to whom all beings were equally akin
and equally dear. Instead of ruling over one tribe or nation, like an
earthly king, he, through his Dharma, would win the hearts of all men
to be his followers.
88. Q. _Did he see Yasodhara and his son Rahula?_
A. Yes. His wife, who had mourned for him with deepest love, wept
bitterly. She also sent Rahula to ask him to give him his
inheritance, as the son of a prince.
89. Q. _What happened?_
A. To one and all he preached the Dharma as the cure for all sorrows.
His father, son, wife, Ananda (his half-brother), Devadatta (his
cousin and brother-in-law), were all converted and became his
disciples. Two other famous ones were Anuruddha, afterwards a great
metaphysician, and Upali, a barber, afterwards the greatest
authority on Vinaya. Both of these gained great renown.
90. Q. _Who was the first Bhikkuni?_
A. Prajapati, the aunt and foster-mother of Prince
Siddhartha. With her, Yasodhara and many other ladies were
admitted into the Order as _Bhikkhunis_ or female devotees.
91. Q. _What effect did the taking up of the religious life by his
sons, Siddhartha and Ananda, his nephew, Devadatta, his son's
wife, Yasudhara, and his grandson, Rahula, have upon the old King
Suddhodana?_
A. It grieved him much and he complained to the Buddha, who then made
it a rule of the Order that no person should thenceforth be ordained
without the consent of his parents if alive.
92. Q. _Tell me about the fate of Devadatta?_
A. He was a man of great intelligence and rapidly advanced in the
knowledge of the Dharma, but being also extremely ambitious, he came to
envy and hate the Buddha, and at last plotted to kill him. He also
influenced Ajatashatru, son of King Bimbisara, to murder his
noble father, and to become his--Devadatta's--disciple.
93. Q. _Did he do any injury to the Buddha?_
A. Not the least, but the evil he plotted against him recoiled upon
himself, and he met with an awful death.
94. Q. _For how many years was the Buddha engaged in teaching?_
A. Forty-five years, during which time he preached a great many
discourses. His custom and that of his disciples was to travel and
preach during the eight dry months, but during the season of Way--the
rains--he and they would stop in the pansulas and viharas which
had been built for them by various kings and other wealthy converts.
95. Q. _Which were the most famous of these buildings?_
A. Jetavanarama; Veluvanarama; Pubbarama;
Nigrodharama and Isipatanarama.
96. Q. _What kind of people were converted by him and his disciples?_
A. People of all ranks, nations and castes; rajas and coolies, rich
and poor, mighty and humble, the illiterate and the most learned. His
doctrine was suited to all.
97. Q. _Give some account of the decease of the Buddha?_
A. In the forty-fifth season after his attaining Buddhahood, on the
full-moon day of May, knowing that his end was near, he came at evening
to Kusinagara, a place about one hundred and twenty miles from
Benares. In the sala grove of the Mallas, the Uparvartana of
Kusinagara, between two sala trees, he had his bedding spread
with the head towards the north according to the ancient custom. He
lay upon it, and with his mind perfectly clear, gave his final
instructions to his disciples and bade them farewell.
98. Q. _Did he also make new converts in those last tours?_
A. Yes, a very important one, a great Brahmana pandit named
Subhadra. He had also preached to the Mallya princes and their
followers.
99. Q. _At day-break what happened?_
A. He passed into the interior condition of _Samadhi_ and thence
into Nirvana.
100. Q. _What were his last words to his disciples?_
A. "Bhikkhus," he said, "I now impress it upon you, the parts and
powers of man must be dissolved. Work out your salvation with
diligence."
101. Q. _What convincing proof have we that the Buddha, formerly
Prince Siddhartha, was a historical personage?_
A. His existence is apparently as clearly proved as that of any other
character of ancient history.
102. Q. _Name some of the proofs?_
A. (1) The testimony of those who personally knew him.
(2) The discovery of places and the remains of buildings mentioned in
the narrative of his time.
(3) The rock-inscriptions, pillars and dagobas made in memory of him by
sovereigns who were near enough to his time to be able to verify the
story of his life.
(4) The unbroken existence of the Sangha which he founded, and their
possession of the facts of his life transmitted from generation to
generation from the beginning.
(5) The fact that in the very year of his death and at various times
subsequently, conventions and councils of the Sangha were held, for the
verification of the actual teachings of the Founder, and the handing
down of those verified teachings from teacher to pupil, to the present
day.
(6) After his cremation his relics were divided among eight kings and a
stupa was erected over each portion. The portion given to King
Ajatashatru, and by him covered with a stupa at Rajagrha, was
taken, less than two centuries later, by the Emperor Asoka and
distributed throughout his Empire. He, of course, had ample means of
knowing whether the relics were those of the Buddha or not, since they
had been in charge of the royal house of Patna from the beginning.
(7) Many of the Buddha's disciples, being Arhats and thus having
control over their vital powers, must have lived to great ages, and
there was nothing to have prevented two or three of them, in succession
to each other, to have covered the whole period between the death of
the Buddha and the reign of Asoka, and thus to have enabled the latter
to get from his contemporary every desired attestation of the fact of
the Buddha's life.[8]
(8) The "Mahavansa," the best authenticated ancient history known to
us, records the events of Sinhalese history to the reign of King
Vijaya, 543 B.C.--almost the time of the Buddha--and gives most
particulars of his life, as well as those of the Emperor Asoka and all
other sovereigns related to Buddhistic history.
103. Q. _By what names of respect is the Buddha called?_
A. Sakyamuni (the Sakya Sage); Sakya-Simha (the Sakyan
Lion); Sugata (the Happy One); Satthta (the Teacher); Jina (the
Conqueror), Bhagavat (the Blessed One); Lokanatha (the Lord of the
World); Sarvajña (the Omniscient One); Dharmaraja (the King of
Truth); Tathagata (the Great Being), etc.
[1] The word "religion" is most inappropriate to apply to Buddhism
which is not a religion, but a moral philosophy, as I have shown later
on. But, by common usage the word has been applied to all groups of
people who profess a special moral doctrine, and is so employed by
statisticians. The Sinhalese Buddhists have never yet had any
conception of what Europeans imply in the etymological construction of
the Latin root of this term. In their creed there is no such thing as
a "binding" in the Christian sense--a submission to or merging of self
in a Divine Being. _Agama_ is their vernacular word to express
their relation to Buddhism and the BUDDHA. It is pure Samskrt, and
means "approach, or coming"; and as "_Buddha_" is enlightenment, the
compound word by which they indicate Buddhism--_Buddhagama_--would
be properly rendered as "an approach or coming to enlightenment," or
possibly as a following of the Doctrine of SAKYAMUNI. The
missionaries, finding _Agama_ ready to their hand, adopted it as the
equivalent for "religion"; and Christianity is written by them
_Christianagama_, whereas it should be _Christianibandhana_, for
_bandhana_ is the etymological equivalent for "religion". The name
_Vibhajja vada_--one who analyses--is another name given to a
Buddhist, and Advayavadi is a third. With this explanation, I
continue to employ under protest the familiar word when speaking of
Buddhistic philosophy, for the convenience of the ordinary reader.
[2] See the definition of _deva_ given later.
[3] For an admirable account of this interview consult Dr. Paul Carus'
_Gospel of Buddha_, page 20, _et seq._
[4] The term Hindu, once a contemptuous term, used by the
Musalmans to designate the people of Sindh, whom they conquered, is
now used in an ecclesiastical sense.
[5] No reason is given in the canonical books for the choice of this
side of the tree, though an explanation is to be found in the popular
legends upon which the books of Bishop Bigandet and other European
commentators are based. There are always certain influences coming
upon us from the different quarters of the sky. Sometimes the
influence from one quarter will be best, sometimes that from another
quarter. But the Buddha thought that the perfected man is superior to
all extraneous influences.
[6] The ancient story is that the God Brahma himself implored him
not to withhold the glorious truth.
[7] Brahmanism not being offered to non-Hindus, Buddhism is
consequently, the oldest missionary religion in the world. The early
missionaries endured every hardship, cruelty, and persecution, with
unfaltering courage.
[8] At the Second Council there were two pupils of Ananda,
consequently centenarians, while in Asoka's Council there were pupils
of those pupils.