‘To the north-west of the Vihāra there is a grove called “The getting
of Eyes.” Formerly there were five hundred blind men, who lived here;
Buddha preached his Law to them, and they all got back their eyesight.
Full of joy they stuck their staves in the earth, and did reverence.
The staves immediately began to grow, and formed a grove’ (Legge, pp.
58, 59).
Hiouen Thsang states that in his time the towns and monasteries about
Ṡrāvastī were mostly in ruins. He, too, gives an interesting account of
a miraculous incident which occurred there:—
To the north-east of the Jeta-vana garden is the place where the
Buddha washed a sick Monk, who lived apart by himself in a solitary
place. The Lord of the World seeing him inquired, ‘What is your
affliction?’ He answered, ‘In former days, my disposition being a
careless one, I never looked on any sick man with pity, and now when I
am sick, no one looks on me.’ Thereupon the Buddha said to him, ‘My
son! I will look on you,’ and touching him with his hand, he healed
the sickness. Then leading him forth, he washed his body, and gave him
new clothes, and said, ‘From this time forward be diligent and exert
yourself.’ Hearing this, the penitent monk, moved by gratitude and
filled with joy, followed the Buddha and became his disciple. (Founded
on Beal, ii. 5, abridged.)
_Vaiṡālī._
Vaiṡālī (in Pāli Vesālī, now Besārh) lies twenty miles north of
Hāji-pur, on the left bank of the Ganges, and twenty-seven north-east of
Patnā. This town (the city of the Liććhavis) is celebrated as the scene
of the second Council (p. 57). Near it, at a place called Bakhra, is a
celebrated ancient pillar surmounted by a lion (see Cunningham, i. 59).
Vaiṡālī, however, is chiefly noted as one of the places where Gautama
often preached and taught, and where he stopped on his way to Kusinārā,
the place of his death. His usual residence was in a Vihāra, described
by Fā-hien as double-galleried, and in a garden presented to him by the
courtesan Amba-pālī, whom he converted and induced to live a virtuous
life. He also resided for the fifth year of his teaching in a building
called the Kūṭāgāra[209] hall.
Hiouen Thsang speaks of the town and of the objects of interest round it
thus (Beal, ii. 66-75):—
Both heretics and believers are found here living together. There are
several hundred monasteries (Saṅghārāmas) which are mostly
dilapidated. There are also several Deva temples, occupied by
sectaries of different kinds. The followers of the Nirgranthas (i. e.
of the Jains) are very numerous.
To the north is a Stūpa which indicates the place where Tathāgata
stopped and took leave of the Liććhavis, on his way to Kuṡi-nagara to
die. Wishing him to quit the world, Māra (compare p. 41) came to
Buddha and said, ‘You have now dwelt sufficiently long in the world.
Those whom you have saved from the circling streams of transmigration
are as numerous as the sand.’ The Buddha replied, ‘No, those who are
saved are as the grains of dust on my nail; those who are not saved
are like the grains of dust on the whole earth. Nevertheless, after
three months I shall die.’ Māra hearing this was rejoiced, and
departed.
Both within and without the city of Vaiṡālī and all round it, the
sacred vestiges are so numerous, that it would be difficult to recount
them all. To the north-west is a Stūpa at the spot where Buddha dwelt
when he recited the history of his former birth (Jātaka) as a
Ćakra-vartin or Universal Monarch (compare p. 423) possessed of the
seven treasures. To the south-east is a great Stūpa, marking the place
where the convocation of the seven hundred sages and saints was held,
one hundred and ten years after the Nirvāṇa of Buddha, to compel the
monks who had broken the laws of Buddha to obey them.
It appears that the Liććhavis of Vaiṡālī obtained a large quantity of
the relics of the Buddha’s body, and built a Stūpa over them.
According to Fā-hien they also erected a Stūpa over half the relics of
the burnt body of Ānanda (see p. 47 of this volume), the other being
deposited near Rāja-gṛiha. His narrative runs as follows:—
When Ānanda was going from Magadha to Vaiṡālī, wishing his
Pari-nirvāṇa to take place there, king Ajāta-ṡatru heard of his
intention, and set out with his retinue to follow him.
The Liććhavis, too, when they heard that Ānanda was coming to their
city, went out to meet him. In this way both parties arrived together
at the river, and Ānanda, thinking to himself that he ought to please
both, burnt his own body in the middle of the river, and thus attained
Pari-nirvāṇa in a fiery ecstasy of Samādhi. Then his body was divided
into two, so that each got one half as a sacred relic (Legge, pp.
75-77).
_Kauṡāmbī._
Kauṡāmbī (in Pāli Kosāmbī), now Kosam[210], on the river Jumnā, about
thirty miles from Allahābād, was once a place hallowed by many
Brāhmanical associations, and is mentioned in the Rāmāyaṇa. It was the
capital of the Kauṡāmba country, and is said to have been founded by
Kuṡāmba, tenth in descent from Purūravas. Without doubt it was one of
the most ancient cities of India. It was also the city of King Udayana,
whose story is alluded to by the greatest of all Sanskrit poets,
Kāli-dāsa, in his ‘Cloud-Messenger[211].’ Furthermore, Kauṡāmbī is the
city in which the scene of the Sanskṛit drama Ratnāvalī was laid[212].
The Buddha resided there in the sixth and ninth years of his Buddhahood,
and probably visited the place at other times. This was the chief cause
of its reputation in connexion with Buddhism. But it also derived its
sacred character from the fact that it contained the celebrated
sandal-wood image[213] of the Buddha, believed to have been carved
during his life-time, by a sculptor sent by Moggallāna (see last line,
p. 414) at King Udayana’s request, to the Trayastriṉṡa heaven, when the
Buddha was there preaching the Law to his mother (see p. 207).
In a village near at hand Sir A. Cunningham (i. 308) found two
sculptured pillars, and the pedestal of a statue inscribed with the ‘Ye
dharmā’ formula (see p. 104). A great monolith was also discovered
there. In Fā-hien’s time a Vihāra existed at the spot where the Buddha
had explained the Law (Legge, p. 96). Hiouen Thsang mentions that a
lofty Stūpa, 200 feet high, was erected by Aṡoka near at hand.
There was also a cavern in which the Buddha had left his shadow
impressed on the rock. He also speaks of ten monasteries all in ruins.
_Nālanda._
Nālanda[214] was the greatest seat of Buddhist learning in India. It has
been identified by Sir A. Cunningham with the village of Baragaon, about
seven miles north of Rāja-gṛiha, about thirty miles south-east of the
modern Patnā, and about forty miles from Buddha-Gayā. Sir Alexander
states that Baragaon possesses immense ruins and more numerous specimens
of sculpture than any other place visited by him. According to Hiouen
Thsang, the Buddha preached the Law there for three months. The vast
extent and importance of the monastery (Saṅghārāma) or monasteries at
Nālanda have been already alluded to (p. 169). Fā-hien, however, does
not mention them, which seems to indicate that they were built
subsequently to A.D. 425. Hiouen Thsang, who travelled in the seventh
century, is said to have resided there for five years as a student. Ten
thousand monks, renowned for their learning, lived and studied in six
magnificent buildings. The following is an extract from the later
Chinese traveller’s description of it (Beal, ii. 70):—
The monks of Nālanda, to the number of several thousands, are men of
the highest ability. Their conduct is pure and unblamable, although
the rules of the monastery are severe. The day is not sufficient for
asking and answering profound questions. From morning till night the
monks engage in discussion; the old and the young mutually helping one
another. Those who cannot discuss questions out of the Tripiṭaka are
little esteemed, and are obliged to hide themselves for shame. Hence
learned men from different cities come here in multitudes to settle
their doubts; and thence the streams of their wisdom spread far and
wide. For this reason some persons usurp the name of Nālanda students,
and in going to and fro receive honour in consequence.
If men from other quarters desire to enter and take part in the
discussions, the keeper of the gate proposes some hard questions;
those who are unable to answer have to retire. One must have studied
deeply both old and new books, before gaining admission. Those
students who come as strangers, have to show their ability by hard
discussion; those who fail compared with those who succeed are as
seven or eight to ten.
_Saṅkāṡya._
Saṅkāṡya, now called Saṅkisa, about fifty miles north-west of Kanouj,
was identified by Sir A. Cunningham in 1842. It was evidently once a
large town with many remarkable monuments, and ought to be reckoned
among the most sacred places of Buddhism. Hiouen Thsang describes it
under the name Kie-pi-tha (Kapitha).
It is said that the Buddha’s mother died seven days after his birth (see
p. 24 of this volume), and was thus deprived of the advantage of hearing
the Law from her son’s lips. To compensate her for this loss, the Buddha
ascended by his own supernatural power in three steps to the
Trayastriṉṡa heaven of Indra (p. 207), to which his mother had been
transported, and there recited the Law for three months for her benefit.
His return to earth seems to have been a more difficult matter; for his
descent was not effected without the help of a ladder with three
parallel flights of steps, made for him by the god Indra.
Fā-hien describes this miraculous incident in the following manner
(Legge, 48, abridged):—
Saṅkāṡya is the place where Buddha came down after ascending to the
Trayastriṉṡa heaven, and there preaching his Law for three months for
his mother’s benefit. Buddha had ascended there by his supernatural
power, without the knowledge of his disciples; but seven days before
his return, Anuruddha, by his own supernatural vision, saw him in
heaven, and requested Moggallāna (see p. 47 of this volume) to ascend
to Indra’s heaven to inquire after ‘the World-honoured one.’
Moggallāna did so, and returned with the information that in seven
days the Buddha would return. Then the kings of eight countries with
their people, not having seen Buddha for a long time, were all eagerly
looking up for him to return. But the female mendicant Utpalā[215]
thought in her heart, ‘To-day, the kings, with their ministers and
people, are all going to meet Buddha. I am but a woman; how shall I
succeed in being the first to see him?’ Then Buddha, by his
supernatural power, changed her into the appearance of a Universal
Emperor, so that she was the foremost of all to meet and to do
reverence to him.
At his descent three flights of steps were created. Buddha descended
on the middle flight, composed of the seven precious substances;
Mahā-Brahmā, king of the Brahmā heavens (see p. 211 of this volume),
came down by a flight of silver steps on the right side, and Ṡakra
(Indra), lord of the thirty-three divinities (p. 207), descended by
steps of gold on the left side, holding a canopy made of the seven
precious substances. An innumerable multitude of gods followed. No
sooner had the Buddha come down than all three flights disappeared in
the ground, except seven steps, which continued to be visible.
Afterwards King Aṡoka, being eager to ascertain where their ends
rested, sent men to find out by digging. They dug down till they
reached a yellow spring, but could not discover the bottom of the
steps. Hence the king felt an increase of devotion, and built a Vihāra
over the steps, with a standing image of Buddha sixteen cubits high.
Behind the Vihāra he erected a stone pillar, about fifty cubits high,
with a lion on the top of it. A dispute arose between some heretics
and the Buddhist monks about the ownership of the place, and the
former agreed to give up their claim if any supernatural sign
occurred; upon which the lion on the column gave a great roar.
Fā-hien adds that a Stūpa was erected on the spot where Buddha
descended; another where the female mendicant caught the first sight of
Buddha at his descent.
The basement of King Aṡoka’s pillar was found by General Cunningham in
1876. On a previous occasion he discovered the capital of the ancient
pillar surmounted by an elephant, which may have been mistaken by
Fā-hien for a lion (see Cunningham, i. 274).
Hiouen Thsang, in his account of the three ladders (Beal, i. 202), says
that they were arranged side by side from north to south, so that those
who descended might have their faces to the east, and that the flight by
which Indra descended was of crystal (not of gold), while that used by
Brahmā was of silver, and the Buddha’s steps were of gold (or of the
seven precious substances, of which gold was one). This indicated the
superiority of Buddha over the two gods who accompanied him.
In harmony with these ideas Indra and Brahmā are sometimes represented
in Buddhistic sculptures standing one on each side of the Buddha, and
protecting him. They were also present at his birth (see p. 483 and
engraving opposite p. 477).
Hiouen Thsang adds that some centuries before his time the ladders still
existed in their original position; but, when he visited the spot, they
had sunk into the earth, and disappeared. Saṅkāṡya, however, was still
much frequented. A magnificent image of the Buddha was preserved in a
large monastery there, and 1000 priests were studying the doctrines of
the Sammatīya, a school of the Hīna-yāna, in four monasteries.
Furthermore, many ‘myriads’ of pious laymen lived in the neighbourhood.
The story of Buddha’s descent from heaven by help of golden steps is
commonly believed both in Ceylon and Burma to the present day. The
legend, as current in Ceylon, is given by Spence Hardy (Manual, p. 311).
It appears that when Buddha was about to return to earth from the god
Indra’s heaven, the god reflected that, although Buddha had ascended in
three steps, his descent ought to be celebrated ‘with special honours.’
He therefore caused a ladder of gold to extend from the Mountain Meru
(see p. 206 of the present Lectures) to Saṅkāṡya, 80,000 Yojanas[216] in
length. The steps were alternately of gold, silver, coral, ruby, emerald
and other gems. At the right side of the ladder he created another, also
of gold, by which Indra, blowing the conch, descended, accompanied by
his own gods; and on the left another ladder of silver, by which Brahmā
and the Brahmā gods (p. 210) descended, holding umbrellas over the
Buddha. The three flights of steps appeared to the people of the earth
like three rainbows. When Buddha commenced his descent all the worlds
were illuminated by the light from his body.
With this extravagant myth—believed in as a historical fact by most
Buddhists—we may contrast the simple narrative of Jacob’s dream in
Genesis xxviii.
Nevertheless the legend is curious, and I was greatly pleased by
discovering in the Indian Section of the South Kensington Museum, a
small bronze model of the triple ladder, lately dug up at Moulmein. Mr.
Purdon Clarke, C.I.E., the present Keeper, kindly had the model
photographed, and presented me with a drawing of it. This I have had
engraved, and here give.
[Illustration: ]
It will be observed that an image of the Buddha is represented above the
ladder, as if seated in Indra’s heaven, and as if engaged in the act of
teaching there; while the earth is typically represented below in the
shape of a square platform, with four small Buddhist temples, one at
each of the four quarters of the compass (compare p. 85).
A ruder representation of the ladder occurs in the sculptures of the
Bharhut Stūpa (Cunningham, p. 92). The General found an imperfect
representation of it carved in soap-stone at Saṅkisa in 1876 (Report,
xi. 26).
_Sāketa._
Sāketa is a name of the ancient city Ayodhyā (now Ajūdhyā) described in
Valmīki’s great epic the Rāmāyanṇa, and believed to have been founded by
Manu, the progenitor of the human race. This renowned city, which was a
great centre of Brāhmanism, was also, no doubt, at one time a
considerable centre of Buddhism. At all events, the identification of
certain Buddhist sites there has been made clear by Sir A. Cunningham,
who considers Sāketa to be the same as the Pi-so-kia (Viṡākhā) of Hiouen
Thsang and the Shā-che or Shā-khe of Fā-hien. The former found twenty
monasteries there, and 3000 priests studying the Little Vehicle
according to the Sammatīya school; also fifty Deva temples and very many
heretics.
In one of the monasteries resided the Arhat Deva-ṡarmā, who wrote a
treatise called the Vijñāna-kāya-ṡāstra in defence of the doctrine of
the non-existence of any Ego or personal self. A Stūpa, 200 feet high,
was built by Aṡoka in the place where Buddha is supposed to have
preached and taught during six years.
Both Fā-hien and Hiouen Thsang mention the legend that he one day threw
on the ground a twig he had used to clean his teeth (danta-kāshṭha),
which sprouted and grew into a miraculous tree seven cubits high, at
which height it always remained. The Brāhmans became jealous of the
miracle and sometimes cut the tree down, sometimes uprooted it, but it
always grew again and remained at the same height. Here also is the
place where the four Buddhas (p. 400) walked and sat (Legge, pp. 54, 55;
Beal, i. 240).
_Kanyā-kubja (Kanouj)._
Kanyā-kubja[217] is the Sanskṛit name for the ancient city of Kanouj;
(often spelt Kanoj), once the capital of Northern India, and said to be
the oldest city in India, next to Ayodhyā.
When Hiouen Thsang visited this place it was the capital of the
celebrated monarch Harsha-vardhana, also called Ṡilāditya (see p. 167 of
this volume), whose kingdom extended from Kashmīr to Assam and from the
river Narbadā to Nepāl. When he carried off a tooth-relic of the Buddha
from Kashmīr, his procession back to his capital was attended by a large
number of tributary kings. Hiouen Thsang, in describing the piety of
this great monarch, says of him, that ‘he sought to plant the tree of
religious merit to such an extent that he forgot to sleep and to eat.’
He goes on to state as follows:—
King Ṡilāditya forbade the slaughter of any living thing as food on
pain of death. He built several thousand Stūpas, each about 100 feet
high. Then in all the highways of the towns and villages throughout
India he erected hospices, and stationed physicians there with
medicines for travellers and the poor persons round about. On all
spots where there were holy traces of Buddha, he built monasteries.
Once in five years he held the great assembly called Moksha. Then
every year he assembled the monks, and bestowed on them the four kinds
of alms (food, drink, medicine, clothing). He ordered them to carry on
discussions, and himself judged of their arguments. He rewarded the
good and punished the wicked. He promoted the men of talent, and
degraded evil men. Wherever he moved he dwelt in a travelling-palace,
and provided choice meats for men of all sorts of religion. Of these
the Buddhist priests would be perhaps a thousand; the Brāhmans five
hundred[218]. He divided each day into three portions. During the
first he occupied himself on matters of government; during the second
he practised himself in religious devotion (Beal, i. 214).
Notwithstanding Hiouen Thsang’s description of various Stūpas,
monasteries and monuments seen by him, General Sir A. Cunningham was not
able to identify any of the existing ruins in the neighbourhood of
Kanouj, ‘so completely has almost every trace of Hindū occupation been
obliterated by the Musalmāns’ (Report, i. 284).
Fā-hien mentions a Stūpa near the town, built on the spot where the
Buddha preached a discourse on ‘the bitterness and vanity of life,’
comparing it to ‘a bubble or foam on water’ (Legge, 54).
_Pāṭali-putra._
Pāṭali-putra (now Patnā) seems to have existed as a village at a very
early period. Its ancient name was Kusuma-pura. It was enlarged and
practically founded about the time of the Buddha’s death by
Ajāta-ṡatru[219], who did not, however, remove there from his own
capital city Rāja-gṛiha. One of his successors, the great King Aṡoka,
the well-known patron of Buddhism (p. 66), converted Pāṭali-putra into
the metropolis of the kingdom of Magadha, and it thenceforward became an
important centre of Buddhism. Sir A. Cunningham states that it continued
flourishing as the capital of the great Gupta kingdom during the fourth
and fifth centuries of the Christian era.
Fā-hien relates a tradition that King Aṡoka’s palace in the city was
built by genii (spirits), who brought great rocks and constructed
chambers by heaping them together. He describes a monastery belonging to
the Great Vehicle, and a temple belonging to the Little Vehicle, in the
neighbourhood of the city, and gives an account of a Buddhist procession
of four-wheeled cars and images which took place once a year. Each car
was twenty-two feet or more high, and had five stories, with niches on
four sides, in which were placed images of the Buddha and the
Bodhi-sattvas, along with images of the gods (dēvas). They were made to
look like moving pagodas (or Dāgabas). The Hindūs, as we know, have
similar car-processions to this day, when the images of Kṛishṇa are
dragged through the streets of towns and villages.
Fā-hien mentions the interesting fact that the nobles of the country had
founded hospitals in the city to which destitute, crippled, and diseased
persons might repair, and receive advice, food, and medicines suited to
their cases, gratuitously. He adds that Aṡoka, wishing to build 84,000
Stūpas[220] in place of the eight originally constructed over the
Buddha’s ashes, built the first Stūpa and a pillar near Pāṭali-putra.
Near it he says was an impression of the Buddha’s foot, over which a
temple with a door towards the north had been erected (Legge, pp. 77-80;
Beal, i. lv-lviii). The position of the Stūpa and column has been
discovered by Sir A. Cunningham (xi. 157, 158).
_Kesarīya._
Kesarīya is a large village about thirty miles distant from Vaiṡālī
(Besārh). It is chiefly remarkable for a mound of ruined brick-work, 62
feet in height, supporting a solid brick Stūpa (nearly 68½ feet in
diameter), which is also partly in ruins. The people call it the Stūpa
of the Ćakravartī (Universal Monarch) Veṇa, father of King Pṛithu. In
Manu, VII. 41; IX. 66, 67, King Veṇa is described as an arrogant monarch
who resisted the authority of the Brāhmans. Probably he favoured the
Buddhists. At any rate the Buddhists assert that the remarkable Stūpa at
this place was built to mark the spot where Gautama Buddha preached a
discourse, in which he described one of his previous births as a
Ćakravartī king.
Not far from the Stūpa a small mound has been excavated, and the head
and shoulders of a colossal statue of Buddha brought to light
(Cunningham, i. 67).
_Kuṡi-nagara._
Kuṡi-nagara (in Pāli Kusi-nārā) was the place where the Buddha died,
or—to speak more correctly—passed away in Pari-nirvāṇa (see pp. 48, 49,
140). It was long searched for in vain, but has recently been identified
by Sir A. Cunningham with the modern Kasia, eighty miles east of
Kapila-vastu, and 120 miles N.N.E. of Benares.
Neither Fā-hien nor Hiouen Thsang say much about Kuṡi-nagara, except
that it was deserted and had few inhabitants; but the latter’s allusion
to the Buddha’s passing away out of the world at this place, and his
account of the subsequent assembling of the first council at Rāja-gṛiha
by order of the great Kāṡyapa (pp. 47, 55), is so interesting and
curious that I here give an abstract of his narrative, based on Mr.
Beal’s translation (ii. 161):—
Once when the great Kāṡyapa was seated in meditation, suddenly a
bright light burst forth, and the earth shook. Then, exerting his
faculty of supernatural vision, he saw the Lord Buddha passing away
into Pari-nirvāṇa between two trees. Forthwith he ordered his
followers to accompany him to the city of Kuṡi-nagara. On the way
there they met a Brāhman, who, on being asked whence he came, replied,
‘From Kuṡi-nagara, where I saw your master entering into Nirvāṇa. A
vast multitude of heavenly beings were around him.’
Kāṡyapa having heard these words said, ‘The sun of wisdom has
extinguished his rays. The world is now in darkness. The illustrious
guide—the King of the Law—has left us; the whole world is empty and
afflicted. Men and gods are left without a guide.’ Accordingly, he
proceeded to the two trees, and looking on Buddha, offered worship.
But certain careless monks said one to another, with satisfaction,
‘Tathāgata has gone to rest. This is good for us; for now, if we
transgress, who is there to reprove us?’ Then Kāṡyapa was deeply
moved, and resolved to secure obedience to the teaching of Buddha.
Addressing the assembled multitude, he said, ‘We ought to collect the
Law. Those who have kept it without failure, whose powers of
discrimination are clear, such persons may form the assembly. Those
who are only learners must depart to their homes.’
On this they went away, and only 999 men were left, including Ānanda.
But the great Kāṡyapa excluded Ānanda as being yet a learner.
Addressing him, he said, ‘You are not yet free from defect; you, too,
must leave the assembly. You were a personal attendant on Buddha, you
loved him much, and are, therefore, not free from the ties of
affection.’
So Ānanda retired to a desert place. Wearied out, he desired to lie
down. Scarcely had his head reached the pillow, when lo! he obtained
the condition of an Arhat. Then he returned to the door of the
assembly. But Kāṡyapa said to him, ‘Have you got rid of all ties? If
so, prove it; exercise your spiritual power and enter without the door
being opened.’ Then Ānanda entered through the key-hole, and having
paid reverence to the assembled monks, sat down.
This power of reducing the body to the size of an atom, so as to be able
to pass through so minute an aperture as a key-hole, was one of the
supernatural faculties supposed to belong to perfected saints or Arhats
(compare pp. 133, 245 of these Lectures).
The consideration of Buddhist Sacred Places might lead us on to various
hallowed spots in other Buddhist countries, for example, Anurādha-pura,
Adam’s Peak and Kelani in Ceylon; the site of the great pagoda at
Rangoon, and of that near Mandalay in Burma; the site of the Buddha’s
foot-print (Phra Bat) in Siam; the snows of Kinchinjunga in Sikkim; the
city of Lhāssa and its monasteries in Tibet; Kuren in Mongolia; but all
these, and other places, have either been incidentally mentioned in
previous Lectures or will be more fully noticed hereafter.
LECTURE XV.
_Monasteries and Temples._
Buddhist monasteries deserve a fuller notice than the incidental
allusions we have made to them in previous Lectures.
The duty of dwelling under trees, and not in houses, according to the
example set by all the Buddhas (see p. 136), and especially by Gautama
Buddha himself, during his long course of meditation (see p. 31), was in
theory supposed to be binding on all true monks. ‘The root of a tree for
an abode’ was one of ‘the four Resources,’ of which every monk was
allowed to avail himself, and the enumeration of which formed part of
the admission-ceremonies (see p. 80).
At the same time certain dispensations or indulgences were specially
granted at those ceremonies, one of which was permission to live in
covered residences, when not itinerating. The five kinds of dwellings
permissible under varying circumstances are described in Ćulla-vagga
(VI. 1, 2). They are Vihāras (monasteries), Aḍḍhayogas (i. e. houses of
a peculiar shape), storied dwellings (prāsāda)[221], mansions (harmya),
and caves (see note, p. 81 of this volume).
It is clear that any painful exposure of the body to the violent storms
of India was incompatible with one of the principles of Buddhism, which,
though it taught self-denial and self-sacrifice of a particular kind,
deprecated all personal self-inflicted pain and austerity.
Yet it appears (from Mahā-vagga, III. 15) that at the time of his first
residence at Rāja-gṛiha (see p. 29 of these Lectures), the Buddha had
not yet instituted ‘the Retreat’ during the rains (Vassa). Hence the
monks were in the habit of going on their travels alike during winter,
summer, and the rainy season.
The people complained of this, and said that the monks in walking about
during wet weather were unable to avoid crushing vegetable life and
treading on minute living things. Thereupon the Buddha prescribed that
the monks were to keep ‘Vassa,’ and refrain from peregrination during
the rains.
Soon afterwards, when the Buddha had left Rāja-gṛiha and had taken up
his abode during Vassa in the Jeta-vana garden at Sāvatthī (see p. 407),
a wealthy and pious layman (Upāsaka) who had built a monastery (Vihāra)
for the monks, sent to invite them to reside in it, saying that he
wished to hear them recite the Law and to bestow gifts upon them. The
Buddha permitted them to go, but required them to return in seven days.
He gave the same permission when another rich and pious layman had
provided other residences and conveniences for the monks, such as a
storied house, a mansion, a store-room, a cave, a refectory, a bathing
room, a well-house, a pavilion, a park, etc.
On the other hand, when, on a particular occasion, a monk wished to keep
Vassa in a cattle-pen (Mahā-vagga, III. 12) the Buddha permitted him to
do so. So, again, on another occasion he allowed a man to keep Vassa in
a caravan, and on a third occasion in a covered boat or ship. But it is
recorded that he prohibited Vassa from being kept in the open air, or in
the hollow of trees[222] (see Mahā-vagga, III. 12, 3).
It is evident from all this, that even in the early days of Buddhism,
rich laymen were in the habit of seeking to acquire religious merit by
providing comfortable habitations for the monks; and although at first
the use of such luxuries was only permitted in the rainy season, this
restriction was soon removed, and a residence in covered dwellings
became usual at all seasons of the year.
Then, as Buddhism spread, kings, princes, and rich men competed with
each other for the privilege of erecting vast monasteries—sometimes
called Vihāras[223], sometimes Saṅghārāmas—to which temples, libraries,
and schools were generally attached, and in which dwelt wealthy
communities of monks, who were allowed to hold property in land.
The founding of extensive and important institutions of this kind was,
of course, an exceptional proceeding. As a general rule, collections of
monastic dwellings were of a simple and unostentatious character. In
various parts of India are to be seen in the present day ancient
Buddhist cave-monasteries now untenanted, some of them—such as the caves
of Barābar—as old as the third century B.C.
I myself visited those at Elorā (Elurā), twelve miles from Aurangābād in
the Nizām’s territory, as well as others at Nāsik, Kārle, and other
places. The Elorā caves are possibly as old as the third century[224],
and with the adjoining Brāhmanical and Jain caves of later date, extend
for one mile and a quarter along the scarp of an elevated plateau. The
three groups of caves rival each other in the beauty and interest of
their sculptures, and together constitute one of the wonders of
India—their position side by side proving that the adherents of the
three systems lived together in harmony. Among the Buddhist caves are
beautiful ‘Ćaityas’ or halls for general worship (see p. 450),
refectories for commensality, and cells without number for the
habitation of the monks. All the excavations had become partially filled
up; but the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1876 stimulated the Nizām’s
government to clear away the dust and rubbish of centuries.
Then, besides cave-monasteries, the ruins of extensive monastic
establishments built of brick, stone, or other less durable materials,
are scattered everywhere throughout India.
Those of the vast monastery of Nālanda near Rāja-gṛiha, and others at
various other sacred places, have been already described (see p. 412).
Turning next to the monastic structures of modern Buddhist countries,
and beginning with Ceylon, we find that in that island, as Spence Hardy
has pointed out, and as I myself observed during my sojourn there, the
residences of the monks are of very simple construction, and often
extremely mean in appearance. They are called Pān-sālās (Paṇṇa-ṡālā =
Sanskṛit Parṇa-ṡālā) because supposed to be made of leaves. In general,
however, they are constructed of wattle filled up with mud, the roof
being covered with straw, or with the platted leaves of the cocoa-nut.
They are always dirty and always abound in cobwebs.
A monastery which I saw near Kandy consisted of an oblong rectangular
court-yard, surrounded in the interior by a kind of roofed cloister or
verandah, out of which opened the monks’ cells, lighted only from the
sky above the court. The interior walls of both cloister and cells were
begrimed with patches of dirt and masses of cobwebs, which are never
touched for fear of breaking the first Buddhist commandment, ‘kill not’
(p. 126).
Of course there are monasteries of a better and more imposing type, such
as that attached to the Māligāwa temple of the sacred eye-tooth on the
Kandy lake (see p. 454).
In Burma the ordinary residences of the monks appear to be simple in
character, like those in Ceylon. In Siam, on the contrary, they are
sometimes elaborate, and often have richly-covered entrances. At the
same time the Siamese monks (according to Mr. Alabaster) are in the
habit of itinerating a good deal, only remaining in their monasteries
during the three months of rains, when residence there is imperative.
Speaking of the larger and more imposing monasteries (Kyoung) in Burma,
Mr. Scott says (I give his account in an abbreviated form):—
The monasteries are built of teak, or, sometimes in Mandalay and Lower
Burma, of brick. The shape is always oblong, and the inhabited portion
is raised on posts and pillars, eight or ten feet above the ground.
They are, like all the other houses in the country, only one story
high; for if it is an indignity to a layman to have anyone’s feet over
his head[225], it is much more so to a member of the brotherhood. The
space between the ground and the floor is always kept open, and is
never used except by the monastery school-boys. A flight of steps of
stone or wood leads up to the verandah, which extends along the north
and south sides, and frequently all round. From the raised floor thus
reached, rises the building, with tier upon tier of massive roofs (in
diminishing stages), giving the appearance of many stories when there
is only one. The accommodation is simple. It consists in the main of a
central hall divided into two portions, one level with the verandah
where the scholars are taught, and most of the duties of the monastery
carried on, and the other a dais, raised about two feet above the
level of the rest of the building. Seated upon this, the monks are
accustomed to receive visitors, and at the back, against the wall, are
arranged the images of Buddha, a large one usually standing in the
centre on a kind of altar, with candles, flowers, praying flags, and
other offerings placed before it. On shelves alongside are a number of
smaller figures of gold, silver, alabaster, clay or wood, according to
the popularity of the monastery, and the religious character of the
neighbourhood. Occasionally there are dormitories for the monks, but
as a rule they sleep in the central hall, where the mats which form
their beds may be seen rolled up against the wall. The whole area of
the extensive compound in which the monastery stands is enclosed by a
heavy teak fence with massive posts and rails, seven or eight feet
high. The laity, when they enter, take off their shoes and carry them
in their hands. This rule applies to the highest in the land.
The daily life of the monks inhabiting monasteries of this kind in Burma
has been already described (see pp. 311-314 of these Lectures).
If we now pass to northern Buddhist countries we shall find that, as a
general rule, the dwellings of monks are insignificant tenements of poor
construction, attached to or built round small chapels or shrines.
Sometimes the monks live in the rooms built over such chapels.
Sir Richard Temple (Journal, ii. 207) visited a so-called monastery at
Pemyangchi (in Sikkim), which consisted of a single building with two
stories. In the upper some of the monks resided, and a chapel formed the
lower.
The temple-monastery I myself visited in British Sikkim, near Dārjīling,
is similar. The exterior appearance might be compared to that of some
small Dissenting chapel in an English village. The thatched roof, which
once gave it a picturesque appearance, has recently been removed, and a
roof of modern construction substituted. The shrine or temple is on the
ground floor, while the upper floor is the abode of the attendant
priests, and seems also to serve as a store-room with cupboards for
their equipments. The contents of the ground-floor temple, with its
altar at the further end and shelves for the sacred books on one side,
are very indistinctly seen, being only lighted up by a ‘dim religious
light,’ when the door is kept wide open. I noticed three images on the
altar.
The case is different when large numbers of monks congregate in
particular places. In some districts of Ladāk, Mongolia and Tibet,
monasteries (or Lāmaseries as they are sometimes called) have been
erected, which for vastness, magnificence, and grandeur of situation
amid splendid scenery, are unequalled in any part of the world.
According to strict rule, retired localities should be chosen. Hence
large monastic establishments are often found in solitary places[226]
and elevated situations; for instance, in Ladāk those at Lāma Yurru and
Hemis are more than 11,000 feet above the sea, and that at Hanle is
14,000 feet. They resemble romantic castles towering upwards in the
midst of rocks, crags, and snowy mountains.
Another monastery at Kīlang (Kyelang), in the British Tibetan province
of Lahūl (contiguous to Ladāk), stands on the spur of a mountain, at an
elevation of 12,000 feet, and is approached through grand ravines and
glaciers, so that occasionally, after snow-storms, those who pass to and
fro are buried in avalanches.
The outer walls of large monasteries of this kind in secluded situations
are generally lofty. Often they are made of stone or brick, plastered
with mud and surmounted with little pinnacles and poles, on which are
prayer-flags. Within the walls are cells for the monks, the abode of the
Head or Abbot, a room for holding books, a temple, an assembly-hall, a
refectory, store-houses, receptacles for musical instruments, masks,
staves, etc.; the buildings being often arranged in rows, and always
intermixed with Stūpas (see p. 504) and monuments. The walls of the
vestibules and of the great hall are usually ornamented with
fresco-paintings, representing subjects from the Buddhist Jātakas (p.
111). Generally there are corridors or covered cloisters lined with
prayer-wheels, or open walks paved with stone, called in Sanskṛit
Ćankramaṇa (Pāli, Ćankamana), for the monks to perambulate up and down
in meditation. These are supposed to be constructed after the pattern of
the stone walking-places used by the Buddha himself (see p. 400).
In the monastery at Kīlang the roof of the great hall is supported by
massive beams garnished with belts, swords, yaks’ tails, huge and
terrible masks, and all sorts of odds and ends. On one side is a huge
praying-wheel, on each revolution of which a bell is struck. A dim
subdued light pervades the entire hall, exaggerating the ghastly
hideousness of the figures[227].
To take as another instance—the monastery or Lāmasery of Kunbum (or
Kumbum) north of Tibet, celebrated as the birth-place of Tsong Khapa (p.
277), and situated, according to M. Huc, on a mountain intersected by a
broad and deep ravine:—
On either side of the ravine, and up the slopes of the mountain, rise,
in amphitheatrical curves, the white dwellings of the Lāmas, each with
its little terrace and enclosing wall, while here and there above them
‘tower the temples, with their gilt roofs glittering with a thousand
colours.’ The houses of the superior monks are distinguished by
pennants, floating above small hexagonal turrets, while those of the
ordinary monks are simple cells. On all sides mystical sentences, in
the Tibetan character, meet the eye (see p. 381), some inscribed on
doors, some on walls and stones, or on linen flags fixed on poles.
Almost everywhere are conical vessels, in which incense and
odoriferous wood are burning; while numbers of Lāmas circulate through
the streets of the monastery in their red and yellow dresses—grave in
their deportment, and, although under no obligation to silence,
speaking little, and that little in a low voice.
This Lāmasery of Kunbum enjoys so great a reputation, that the
worshippers of Buddha make pilgrimages to it from all parts of Mongolia,
Tartary, and Tibet, and on the occasion of great festivals the
confluence of strangers is immense. It is much frequented by Eastern
Tibetans.
Near Kunbum is a much smaller monastery, devoted to the study of
medicine. It is at the foot of a rocky mountain, on the heights of which
dwell certain contemplative monks. M. Huc saw one of these hermits, who
never communicated with the outer world except for food, which he drew
up to his rocky cell by the help of a bag tied to a long rope (ii. 73).
Some mention should also be made of the monasteries at Kuku khotun, ‘the
blue city’ in Tartary. That town contains no less than five great
Lāmaseries and fifteen affiliated monasteries, with a grand total of
20,000 Lāmas dwelling in them. The chief monastery is that of the ‘Five
Towers’—not to be confounded with one of the same name in the Chinese
province of Shan si.
This latter is a celebrated place for burials (see p. 370), and pilgrims
may there be edified by a sight of the Buddha’s shadow impressed on a
rock.
Another example of a monastery in a remote situation is that of Kurun or
Kuren (see p. 295), situated on the slope of a mountain in Mongolia. In
this celebrated monastery of the Grand Lāma Tāranātha 30,000 Lāmas
(according to M. Huc) are lodged and supported.
The plain at the foot of the mountain is constantly covered with tents
of various sizes for the convenience of pilgrims. Hither throng the
worshippers of Buddha from the most remote countries.
Viewed from a distance, the white cells of the Lāmas, built on the
declivity in horizontal lines one above the other, resemble the steps
of an enormous altar, of which the temple of the Tāranātha Lāma
appears to constitute (in Roman Catholic phraseology) ‘the
tabernacle.’ In this country Tāranātha is the saint par excellence,
and there is not a Tartar Khalka who does not take a pride in calling
himself his disciple.
Passing on now to Tibet, we find that in its principal provinces the
number of monastic institutions connected with its two respective
capitals of Lhāssa and Tashi Lunpo, is more than a thousand, with
491,242 Lāmas. This is the estimate of the latest traveller[228].
According to Huc, more than thirty large monasteries may be reckoned in
the neighbourhood of Lhāssa alone.
Adverting for a moment to Lhāssa itself, we may note that this ‘city of
the gods’—the chief town of the province of U, situated on the Ki-ćhu
river[229]—had in 1854 about 15,000 inhabitants within a circumference
of two-and-a-half miles. According to a Chinese proverb, its chief
inmates have always been ‘priests, women, and dogs.’ Koeppen affirms
that Lhāssa has always been a greater nest of monk-priests than Rome has
ever been.
Doubtless its population is now increased, and includes a considerable
proportion of laymen; yet, in all likelihood, at least two-thirds of the
inhabitants are monks; and it cannot be too often repeated that,
according to the true theory of Buddhism, the only raison d’être of the
laity is to wait upon the monkhood.
Moreover, Lhāssa, next to Benares and Mecca, is, perhaps, the most
frequented place of pilgrimage upon earth. Scarcely a day passes on
which the streets do not overflow with crowds of pilgrims—some from
every quarter of Tibet, some from Bhutān and other Himālayan regions,
some from all parts of Mongolia. All meet here to worship the incarnated
representative of the Bodhi-sattva (Avalokiteṡvara) manifested in the
Dalai Lāma—to receive his blessing, his consecrated pills, and his
prayer-papers (see p. 331 of these Lectures). The residence of this
Lāmistic Pope is at Potala.
In fact Potala on the north-west side of Lhāssa is what the Vatican is
to Rome. It existed in ancient times as a palace, but was rebuilt and
converted into a palace-monastery by the celebrated fifth Dalai Lāma
Navang Lobsang, A.D. 1617-1682 (p. 292 of this volume), and from that
time forward became the residence of all the Dalai Lāmas, who had before
lived either at Sera or at Brepung (Dapung, see p. 442).
In its striking and unique position, it is even more imposing than the
Vatican.
Imagine a lofty structure erected on an isolated hill[230], rising
abruptly from the plain with three long summits or eminences, and
watered at the base by the Ki-ćhu river, which flows into the great
Tsanpo. The south-western ridge is the so-called Iron-hill, on which is
a monastery where Tsong Khapa himself is said to have taught. The
north-eastern bears the name of the Phagmo hill[231], while the highest
is the hill of Potala, with its palace-monastery towering in four
stories to the height of about 367 feet, and ending in a cupola covered
with plates of pure gold.
From this vantage ground the incarnated Bodhi-sattva looks down on the
crowds of pilgrims approaching to worship him, or kneeling at the foot
of the hill. The buildings grouped in the vicinity are said to contain
10,000 rooms, for the accommodation of as many monks. Countless are the
statues of Buddha, with other idols and images of saints, not to mention
obelisks and pyramidal monuments, which meet the eye everywhere. All
sacred objects are manufactured out of gold, silver, or copper,
according to the wealth of those who have brought them as offerings. Two
ascending avenues lead up from Lhāssa to Potala, which are constantly
thronged with foreign pilgrims, troops of Lāmas in official vestments,
higher Lāmas and courtiers in full uniform. Yet we are told that a
solemn religious silence prevails, for the thoughts of all are fixed in
meditation.
I have already given an abstract of Mr. Sarat Chandra Dās’ narrative of
his visit to Potala, and his presentation to the Dalai Lāma on June 10,
1882 (see p. 331 of these Lectures). I now add an account of Mr. Thomas
Manning’s interview with the Dalai Lāma on December 17, 1811. No
European, except Mr. Manning[232], has ever set eyes on a Dalai Lāma,
and no other Englishman has ever seen Lhāssa (for M. Huc was
misinformed; Moorcroft was never there):—
We rode to the foot of the mountain on which the palace is built, or
out of which, rather, it seems to grow; but having ascended a few
paces to a platform, were obliged to dismount. From here to the hall
where the Grand Lāma receives visitors is a long and tedious ascent.
It consists of about four hundred steps, partly stone steps in the
rocky mountain, and the rest mere ladders from story to story in the
palace. Besides this, from interval to interval along the mountain,
wherever the ascent is easy, there are stretches interspersed, where
the path continues for several paces together without steps. At length
we arrived at the large platform on which is built the hall of
reception. There we rested awhile, arranged the presents, and
conferred with the Lāma’s Chinese interpreter.
The Tí-mu-fu was in the hall with the Grand Lāma. I was not informed
of this until I entered, which occasioned me some confusion. I did not
know how much ceremony to go through with one, before I began with the
other. I made the due obeisance, touching the ground three times with
my head to the Grand Lāma, and once to the Tí-mu-fu. I presented my
gifts, delivering the coin and the handsome silk scarf with my own
hands into the hands of the Grand Lāma. I then took off my hat, and
humbly gave him my clean-shaven head to lay his hands upon. The
ceremony of presentation being over, the Munshī and I sat down on two
cushions not far from the Lāma’s throne, and had tea brought to us. It
was most excellent, and I meant to have emptied the cup, but it was
whipped away suddenly, before I was aware of it. The Lāma’s beautiful
and interesting face and manner engrossed almost all my attention. He
was at that time about seven years old; and had the simple and
unaffected manners of a well-educated princely child. His face was, I
thought, poetically and affectingly beautiful. He was of a gay and
cheerful disposition; his beautiful mouth perpetually unbending into a
graceful smile, which illuminated his whole countenance. Sometimes,
particularly when he had looked at me, his smile approached to a
gentle laugh. No doubt my grim beard and spectacles somewhat excited
his risibility. He inquired whether I had not met with molestation and
difficulties on the road; to which I promptly returned the proper
answer. A present of dried fruit was brought and set before me, and
then we withdrew. (Mr. Clements Markham’s Tibet, p. 264, abridged.)
As to the monasteries grouped around this Vatican of Lāmistic Buddhism,
we may make special mention of four, noting a few particulars.
To begin with the oldest monastery, that of _Lā brang_, said to mean
‘abode of Lāmas[233],’ which was built by King Srong Tsan Gampo (see p.
271 of this volume), and founded in the seventh century. This ancient
institution is in the very centre of Lhāssa, and is regarded as the
centre of the whole country. All the main roads of Tibet converge
towards it. Doubtless the area of the monastery has been enlarged by
occasional additions in the course of one thousand years, but not since
it was partly rebuilt and restored in the seventeenth century. Its
magnificent temple (Cho Khang) is the St. Peter’s of Lāmism (see p.
459).
The immense number of monks inhabiting this monastery is proved by the
fact that a huge cauldron is shown which holds more than 1200 gallons of
tea for the Lāmas who perform the daily services.
The other three monasteries near Potala and Lā brang, according to
Koeppen, are devoted to the study of magic and the art of exorcising. We
may take them in the following order:—
First, at a short distance north of Lā brang, stands the monastery
_Ramoćhe_, ‘the great enclosure,’ which was the other ancient monastery
built by Srong Tsan Gampo, or by one of his wives (see p. 271). It is
now a great school of exorcism, and has a celebrated temple (see pp.
462, 463), containing the celebrated image of the Buddha, and also one
of Nanda, Gautama’s step-brother and disciple. Those who study here may
gain the decree of ‘Doctor of Magic.’
Next comes the monastery of _Moru_ (or Muru or Meru), close to the city.
It is noted for its order and cleanliness, and for its printing-press.
Like the last, it contains a school for instruction in magic.
Then, at a short distance east of Lā brang (according to Koeppen), is
the monastery of _Gar Ma Khian_—the mother monastery of soothsayers,
fortune-tellers, and exorcisers (Ćhos-kyong, see p. 266).
Let us next turn to the three ancient ‘mother-monasteries’ of the Yellow
sect—Galdan, Sera, and Dapung.
_Galdan_ (_or Gahdan_), the ‘heaven of contented beings’ (Sanskṛit
Tushita, see pp. 207, 213)—the oldest monastery of the Yellow sect—is
situated on the hill of the same name, about thirty miles[234] east of
Lhāssa. As already stated (pp. 278, 294), it was founded by Tsong Khapa
A.D. 1409. It is three-quarters of a mile in circumference, and has 3300
monks.
_Sera_, ‘the golden,’ founded by Tsong Khapa (p. 278), or by one of his
disciples immediately after his death, lies about three miles north of
Lhāssa, on a declivity of a hill, over which passes the road leading to
Mongolia. It has 5500 monks, and numerous temples, towers, and houses
curving round like an amphitheatre. On the hills above the town are rows
of cells of contemplative monks and recluses.
Sera has three great temples several stories high, the halls of which
are richly gilded. In one temple the staff of Gautama Buddha is
preserved.
_Dapung_ (variously Dapuṅ, Depung, Debung, Debang, Brepung, Brebung,
Prebung), ‘rice-heap,’ so called from the shape of the hill, was also
founded by Tsong Khapa three years before Sera, and is situated four
miles west of the city of Lhāssa. It has 7700 monks. The great temple in
the middle is surrounded by four small ones. One of these four belongs
to the exorcisers and professors of magical arts, of whom there are
nearly three hundred. In the centre of the monastery is a residence for
the Dalai Lāma, when he pays his annual visit. Numbers of foreigners
study here, especially Mongolians. In front of the monastery stands a
Stūpa, which contains the bones of the fourth Dalai Lāma, Jon Tan Yam
Thso, who was of a Mongolian family.
Mr. Edgar (Report, p. 41) mentions four other monasteries of the Yellow
sect around Lhāssa, _Chemiling_, _Tengiling_, _Chechuling_, and
_Kenduling_[235]. The last is said to be the residence of the Regent (p.
286 of these Lectures). Sarat Chandra Dās gives a long list of
monasteries, some containing 5000 monks (e.g. Rnam rgyal grvatsang,
Gongdkar rDorjegdan, etc.) and some 7000.
We have next to describe the great monastery of the second Grand Lāma of
Tibetan Buddhism—I mean that at _Tashi Lunpo_, also belonging to the
Yellow sect.
_Tashi Lunpo_, near _Shigatse_, is the seat of government of the Tashi
Lāma or Panchen Lāma (see p. 284 of these Lectures), and the second
metropolis of Lāmistic Buddhism. Our knowledge of this celebrated place
is derived from the record of the journeys of Mr. Bogle and Captain
Turner, as well as from the narratives of Indian explorers.
According to some of these authorities, Tashi Lunpo is situated about
140 English miles in a nearly westerly direction from Lhāssa. It is
built on a level plain enclosed on all sides by rocky hills, through
which a small river (the Painam) rushes into the great Tsanpo
(Brahma-putra). The monastery is said to have been built by the first
Dalai Lāma, Gedun grub pa, in 1445 (see p. 291 of these Lectures),
though the final seat of the Dalai Lāmas was at Lhāssa.
According to Koeppen four roads meet at Tashi Lunpo; one leading to
Lhāssa, one to Ladāk, one to Nepāl, and one to Bhutān.
Near at hand, on the north-east side of the Tashi Lunpo monastery, on a
rocky eminence protecting it from the cold winds, stands the fort of
Shigatse (also written Shigatze), which, with its surrounding houses,
forms the capital of the province of Tsang, just as Lhāssa constitutes
that of the province of U.
Our fellow countryman, Mr. Bogle, commissioned by Warren Hastings to
open communications between Bengal and Tibet, arrived at Tashi Lunpo in
1774. His description of it is to the following effect. I give it
abbreviated (from Mr. Clements Markham’s Tibet):—
We passed by the foot of Tashi Lunpo, which is built on the lower
declivity of a steep hill. The roof of the palace is all of
copper-gilt. The building is of dark-coloured brick. The houses of the
town rise one above another. Four churches with gilt ornaments are
mixed with them. Altogether the town presents a princely appearance.
Many of the courts are spacious, flagged with stone, and have
galleries running round them. The alleys, which are likewise paved,
are narrow. The palace is appropriated to the Lāma and his officers,
to temples, granaries, warehouses, etc. The rest of the town is
entirely inhabited by priests, who are in number about four thousand.
The following is the substance of Mr. Bogle’s account of his interview
with the Tashi Lāma on November 8, 1774 (abbreviated from Markham’s
Tibet):—
In the afternoon I had my first audience of the Tashi Lāma. He is
about forty years of age, of low stature, and inclining to be fat. His
complexion is fairer than that of most Tibetans, and his arms are as
white as those of a European; his hair, which is jet black, is cut
very short; his eyes are small and black. The expression of his
countenance is smiling and good-humoured. He was upon his throne,
formed of wood carved and gilt, with some cushions above it, upon
which he sat with his legs folded under him. He was dressed in a
mitre-shaped cap of yellow broadcloth, with long bars lined with red
satin, a yellow cloth jacket without sleeves, and a satin mantle of
the same colour thrown over his shoulders. On one side of him stood
his physician, with a bundle of perfumed sandal-wood rods burning in
his hand; on the other stood his cup-bearer. I laid the Governor’s
presents before him, delivering the letter and the pearl necklace into
his own hands, together with a white handkerchief on my own part,
according to the custom of the country. He received me in the most
engaging manner. I was seated on a high stool covered with a carpet.
Plates of boiled mutton, boiled rice, dried fruits, sweetmeats, sugar,
bundles of tea, dried sheep’s carcases, etc., were set before me and
my companion, Mr. Hamilton. The Lāma drank two or three dishes of tea
with us, but without saying any grace, asked us once or twice to eat,
and on our retiring threw white handkerchiefs over our necks. After
two or three visits, he used to receive me without any ceremony, his
head uncovered, and dressed only in the large red petticoat worn by
all full monks, red boots, a yellow cloth vest, with his arms bare,
and a piece of coarse yellow cloth thrown across his shoulders. He sat
sometimes in a chair, sometimes on a bench covered with tiger-skins,
and nobody but the cup-bearer present. Sometimes he would walk with me
about the room, explain the pictures, or make some remarks upon the
colour of my eyes, etc. For, although venerated as God’s vicegerent
through all the eastern countries of Asia, and endowed with a portion
of omniscience and with many other divine attributes, he throws aside
in conversation all the awful part of his character, accommodates
himself to the weakness of mortals, endeavours to make himself loved
rather than feared, and behaves with the greatest affability to
everybody, particularly to strangers.
In 1783, when Tashi Lunpo was visited by Captain Turner, the monastery
consisted of 400 houses, many of which were built of stone and marble,
and at least two stories high. They contained about 3700 monks (now
3800). Around the houses were gilded temples, pinnacles, pyramidal
monuments (Stūpas), and above all the palace of the Tashi Lāma, forming
a striking spectacle.
Captain Turner had a remarkable interview with the Grand Lāma at the
neighbouring monastery of Terpaling, on December 4, 1783. He found the
princely child, then aged eighteen months, seated on a throne, with his
father and mother standing on the left hand. Having been informed that,
although unable to speak, he could understand, Captain Turner intimated
to him ‘that the Governor-General, on receiving news of his decease, had
been overwhelmed with sorrow, and continued to lament his absence from
the world until the cloud was dispelled by his re-appearance. The
Governor hoped that he might long continue to illumine the world by his
presence.’
The infant looked steadfastly at the British envoy, and appeared to be
listening to his words with deep attention, while he repeatedly nodded
his head, as if he understood every syllable. He was silent and sedate,
and conducted himself with astonishing dignity. Captain Turner thought
him one of the handsomest children he had ever seen. It seems that he
grew up to be an able and devout ruler, gratifying the Tibetans by his
presence for many years, and living to a good old age.
Tashi Lunpo was not visited by the French missionaries, but M. Huc
informs us (ii. 157) that in 1846 the then Panchen Lāma was 60 years of
age, and still vigorous. M. Huc was told that he was of Indian origin,
and that he had declared of himself that his first incarnation had taken
place in India some thousands of years before.
Mr. Sarat Chandra Dās, from whose notes of a journey in Tibet so many
extracts have been already given, writes thus of his arrival at Tashi
Lunpo on the 9th of December, 1881 (the extract is not given literally,
and is abbreviated):—
In the afternoon we arrived at Tashi Lunpo. In front of the western
entrance I noticed two Chortens (that is, ‘Ćaityas or Stūpas,’ see p.
504 of these Lectures), one very large, with a gilt spire, and the
other small. On entering the grand monastery, I mustered all my
knowledge of Buddhist ceremonies and monkish etiquette, that I might
not be criticised by the passing monks as one unacquainted with the
duties of the wearers of the sacred costume. I walked slowly and with
gravity, but secretly observing everything around me. There were a few
yaks under the charge of three or four herdsmen, waiting probably for
the return of some of their number from within the monastery. Some
monks, riding on mules, passed us from north to south. A few parties
with heavy grain packages on their backs were entering the monastery
along with us. The rays of the sun, now slanting on the gilded spires
of houses and tombs in the monastery, presented a very magnificent
view to the eye.
While residing in the monastery I saw people busily engaged in
out-door work, such as collecting fuel and tending cattle. In fact,
this was the busiest part of the year, when the Tibetans remain on the
move for the purpose of buying and selling, at a time when the
intensely cold winds wither up the vegetation, freeze the streams,
harden the soil, and dry up the skin. The monks, like the lay-people,
are remarkable for their habit of early rising. No monk within the
walls of the monastery rose later than five in the morning, and the
usual time for getting up was four a. m. Those who slept later,
without any special cause, were subject to correction. At three in the
morning the great trumpet summons all the monks to the religious
service in the congregation hall. Whoever fails to attend is punished
next morning. No register is kept, yet the officer who superintends
the discipline can tell what monk out of two thousand has absented
himself on any particular day. I was the only man who slept up to six
in the morning. The monks used often to remark that, were I a regular
monk of the monastery, the superintendent’s birch would have stript my
body of its flesh.
About six miles from Tashi Lunpo, and on the road leading from it in a
south-westerly direction towards the monastery of Sakya (see below), is
the monastery of _Narthang_, whence issued one of the three copies of
the Kanjur (p. 272) brought to Europe by Brian Hodgson.
We have now to notice the two most important monasteries of the Red
sect.
First, _Sam ye_ (Sam yas) is on the great river Tsanpo, about forty
miles from Lhāssa, in a south-easterly direction. It was the first
monastery founded in the eighth century by Padma-sambhava, after King
Khri Srong De Tsan’s restoration of Buddhism (pp. 271, 272). It is the
metropolitan monastery of the Red-capped monks and Urgyanpa sect. Sam ye
was visited by the Indian explorer Nain Singh in 1874, on his final
journey to Lhāssa[236], and by Sarat Chandra Dās in 1882. Many of its
images are of gold, and it possesses an extensive library.
Padma-sambhava was a master of Indian Yoga and magic. He is fabled to
have worked many miracles—such as filling empty jars with divine
water—at Sam ye. He undertook to expel all evil demons from Tibet, but
was opposed by the Bon priests.
The other chief monastery of the Red sect is that of _Sakya_ (Saskya),
situated about fifty-five miles from Tashi Lunpo, on the road leading in
a south-westerly direction towards Nepāl. It has four great sanctuaries
and a celebrated library, and is surrounded by a large town, with
temples and houses mostly painted red (p. 273).
It should be noted that in all the large monasteries of Northern
Buddhist countries, varied assortments of vestments, robes, costumes,
and masks are kept for use in the religious dances, masquerades, and
dramatic performances which are a characteristic of Northern Buddhism.
Indeed, some of the richer monasteries possess extensive wardrobes of
great value, and the monks in their masquerading dances change their
costumes very frequently and with great rapidity (see pp. 347-350).
Note, too, that the libraries of such monasteries generally contain
large and valuable collections of books. The 108 volumes of the northern
canon called Kanjur, with the commentaries called Tanjur (see p. 272),
constitute a library in themselves. In addition to these, there are vast
numbers of other treatises written to elucidate the mysteries of
Northern Buddhism, most of which are still a terra incognita to European
scholars. It is well known that in mediæval times some Buddhist
monasteries became seats of learning, which might have vied with the
most learned Universities established at that period in Europe.
_Temples._
Although temples have been already adverted to as forming an important
feature in all monasteries, and often an actual part of the edifice
constituting the monastery; it will be worth while to devote a short
space of time to their separate consideration.
In the earliest days of Buddhism neither temples nor halls nor rooms for
meeting together (saṅgha-gṛiha) were much needed. The monk recited the
Law in the open air or in the houses of the laity. It was only when
collections of monks crystallized into regularly organized communities,
and a kind of congregational recitation of the Law became a part of
every day’s duty, that the monks required places of assembly like
churches for the performance of religious services.
Such places of meeting were often, like the cells for the monks,
excavated out of rocks. And, since relic-shrines called Ćaityas (as well
as Stūpas, see p. 504) were erected at the further extremity of the
excavated hall, the hall itself was generally called a Ćaitya.
The two principal rock-excavated Ćaitya-halls visited by me were at
Elorā (also spelt Ellora and Elurā) and at Kārle (Kārlī). I was also
much interested in a smaller one at the Nāsik caves. In their interior
structure they are all strikingly like ancient Christian churches.
The _Elorā_ Ćaitya forms one of the series of caves already mentioned
(p. 169). It is probably as old as the sixth century of our era, and is
of an elongated horse-shoe shape, with a massive ribbed roof arched like
that of a cathedral, supported on twenty-eight octagonal columns, over
which runs a curious frieze, having on it a carved representation of a
buffalo-hunt and boar-chase. There is a nave with side-aisles about 86
feet long by 43 broad. Moreover, over the entrance, supported by two
square columns, is a gallery which may have served for a choir or for a
band of musicians. A lofty solid Dāgaba, in shape like a massive dome
resting on a cylindrical base, stands at the further end of the nave,
the aisles being continued round it, so that worshippers may
circumambulate the apse. The front of this immense relic-receptacle is
hollowed out to receive a colossal sedent figure of the Buddha, about 17
feet high[237], with the Bodhi-tree carved in an arch above his head.
Two images of attendants are in an erect attitude, one on each side, but
are not so prominent as to draw off the eye from the immense central
figure.
The Brāhmans have now appropriated this cave, and dedicated it to
Viṡva-karma, the supposed patron deity of builders and carpenters. I was
told that carpenters come from all parts of the country to worship the
image in its Brāhmanical character. As a token of honour, they smear it
with red paint.
I noticed a remarkable sculpture carved out of the rock near this
cave-temple. It represented worshippers praying to Padma-pāni to be
delivered from fire, from sword, from captivity, from wild beasts, from
snakes, and from the skeleton Death who is seen approaching.
The Ćaitya cave at _Kārle_, near Poona, which I visited in 1876, is in
all its dimensions and arrangements similar to the Viṡva-karma cave at
Elorā, but is still larger, finer, and more imposing. It has a nave and
side aisles, terminating in an apse, round which the aisle is carried.
The whole is about 124 feet long by 45½ feet broad and 46 feet in
height. There are fifteen pillars on each side, separating the nave from
the aisles, and under the dome of the apse is the Dāgaba (or Ćaitya)—a
two-storied cylindrical drum, surmounted by a Tee ornament (p. 456), on
which is a wooden umbrella. There is a cavity in the Dāgaba for relics,
though none are now to be found there.
This wonderful excavation at Kārle is one of the most magnificent
monuments of ancient Buddhism, and one of the most interesting examples
of early Buddhistic art to be seen anywhere in India. And, more than
this, it is probably one of the most striking places of congregational
worship to be seen anywhere in the world.
Of course these rock-excavated churches soon developed into temples
(Vihāras) built of stone or brick, some of which were of a monumental
character, like that at Buddha-Gayā, already described (see p. 390),
while others were unpretending structures near villages, where the laity
could repeat their prayers or make offerings. Others, again, formed the
most important edifice among the group of buildings constituting a
monastery.
The village temples might more suitably be called chapels. All have some
features in common. At the further end of a dimly-lighted room is an
altar of stone or wood. On this are placed the idols, and around them
are arranged vases and cups, in which the offerings of the laity are
deposited. The larger edifices have vestibules, and at the entrance are
generally rude images of the four great kings (p. 206), who are supposed
to be the guardians of Buddhism (p. 206), while inside there are
sculptures, frescoes, and pictures illustrative of the various births
and transmigrations of the Buddhas and Bodhi-sattvas. In the precincts
is always to be found a Bodhi-tree (Bo-tree, p. 519), if the climate and
soil will admit of its being reared. The greater number of sacred
structures, however, even those of a more important kind and more
entitled to be called temples, are mere square or oblong rectangular
buildings, without architectural design or ornamentation.
In Ceylon I visited a temple of this kind on the shore of the Kandy
lake. It consisted of a large bare room or small hall, at the further
end of which was a curtain concealing a highly venerated image of the
Buddha. The attendant drew aside the curtain and showed us the image,
which had representations of rays of light issuing from all parts of his
body, as well as five rays emerging from the crown of his head. In the
enclosure or ‘compound’ of the temple, was a bell-shaped Dāgaba or
relic-shrine of solid brick-work, covered with Chunam, and having a
receptacle for lights in front of it. Close at hand was the usual sacred
Pīpal-tree.
At _Kelani_, about eight miles from Colombo, is a larger and much more
important temple which I also visited. Those who make pilgrimages to
this temple gain great stores of merit. It contains a colossal recumbent
image of the Buddha, thirty-six feet long, lying on his right side, and
representing the founder of Buddhism when about to pass into
Pari-nirvāṇa (see p. 50). The image is protected by a screen, in the
centre of which is a figure of the King of Serpents, while at the sides
are gigantic images of the temple-guardians. Around the interior are
fresco paintings of various incidents in the previous lives of the
Buddha. There are also images of the Hindū gods Vishṇu, Ṡiva, and Gaṇeṡa
(see p. 206). In the garden of the temple are residences for the monks,
a cloister-like enclosure, a room with a good printing press, and an
immense Pīpal-tree.
A still more important temple is that called the Dalada Māligāwa or
temple of the sacred eye-tooth, at Kandy in Ceylon. This is a very
picturesque structure, situated on the margin of the lake close to the
town. It has no surrounding walls, and is easily accessible to all
comers. Steps lead up to a kind of open corridor, in which is the main
entrance, and the walls of which are decorated with coloured frescoes of
the eight principal hells—the supposed abode of evil-doers undergoing
purgatorial torments during one of their states of existence (see p.
120)[238].