THE W AY TO NI RvANA

SI 'LECT U RES ON A N C IEN T B U DDHISM AS A DISCIPLIN E OF S A LV A T ION

I L U S S LL G H BBERT ECT RE , MANCHE TER CO E E , O'FORD F U Y— I L 1 16 , EBR AR APR 9

by

DE LA V LLE OU L . A E P S S IN

’ pro fesseu r 21 l U n i ver si té d e G a n d

Ca m b r idge a t th e U n iver sity P r ess

A M E S COLLEC UES PAU L FREDERI CQ E T HE NRI PI RENNE

E N TEM C I C NAG E

DE RE SPE CT ET D ’ A FFECTI ON

PREF A C E

’ ’ E suis fort heureux d a vo i r accepté l i n vi ta tion des Hibbert Trustee s e t de mon excellent ’ i t u n e . C éta ami l e Dr J . E . Carpenter bonne ’ o ccasion de faire une sorte d exa m en de con ’ science et d exp o s er b r ievem en t et clairement ’ c e e d u que j pense d un des aspects Bouddhisme , l e vieux Bouddhisme monastiqu e et s es théories e l l o . e sur salut M me ainsi circonscrit , suj et et reste vaste , sur combien de points on pourrait ’ épilogu er a p ert e de vu e ' C est u n des dr a w ’ ba ck: d u genre Lectu r es qu il faut s a cr ifier les ’ ’ nuances ; m a is C est u n de ses avantages qu il ’ A a ifi faut all er a l es s en ti el . s cr er quelques ’ bouquets d arbres et une bonn e partie de la

o n e u n e e d e frondaison , obti nt meilleure idé la E ’ e . t u n for t couper , parfois avec peu d arbi ’ e d es e trair , avenues dans la for t , c est , tout

l e d e compte fait , seul moyen la parcourir . Les

ch a r rn a n ts sentiers sont , mais ils égarent . Jamais j e me me serais hasardé a parler en ’ ’ e n u et l extr ém e anglais si j avais p compter , sur bienveillanc e des maitre s et des étudiants de — e Manchester College , bienveillance qui pr ta tant

a fa m ilier e et de charme une exquise hospitalité , PREFACE

—e t l e d e d e a sur concours mes amis C mbridge .

i a li s e et e r v r en t d e z él e . Tous , anciens nouv aux , I l fall ait expulser solécism es et b a rbarismes de

il a l a a e difli cil e ma phrase anglaise ; f l it , t ch plus ’ e t a r ti cu li er em en t e m a r en d r e a p ingrat , pp pro ’ n o n cer d une maniere a peu pres intelligible

l es c e e t les mots et périodes . Dans c doubl

e fi o r t . . e , Miss C M Ridding a déployé une pati nce et une ingéniosité admirables . J e garde aussi u n souvenir ému de la bonté avec laquelle l e ’ l et d Em m a n u e . e e Master Mrs P Gil s ont , p ndant les vacances d e Noel 19 15 et la veill e d e chacun e de mes expériences oratoire s en février et mars 1 16 9 , écouté mes élucubrations bouddhiques , ’ r ectifi a n t l a cc en t a , donnant leurs soins la

e et a — me couleur des voyell s aux spirations , si ces

et difii cil es — saires si , proposant des variantes ’ A l e a l él o cu ti o n . ces favorables exercices , ’ n e d e s a m éli o r er et texte manquait pas , pensée

11 a e a . . . style . doit ussi b aucoup M E J Rapson , ’ e al U n iver s i té e prof sseur de sanscrit de Cambridg ,

l u e e e et a qui a tr s util ment les épreuv s ,

a M . E . J . Thomas qui laissé s a marque sur l e d toutes s pages u manuscrit .

L . V . P .

16 Décem br e 19 16 CONT ENT S

PAG E O R IG IN S OF TH E INDIAN DISCI P L INES OF SA LVATION

I el o n s a n d sc l n es o f sal a o n 1 . R igi di ip i v ti , p . . I I Old n b el efs th e ea o s . a Ary i , d d , g d , fice 0 I I I ahm n cu l a Sac 1 . a s e ri , p . . Br p ‘ ’ o n h eo l o u al sm r e - ea h Z l ma n ti , t gy, rit i , d t , , 16 p . . T H E B U DD H IST SOU L

I h sm f n l sm u a o m o f a o a 0 . . B dd i r r ti i , p . 3 I I h n . u s s cho l o co a c o n s B dd i t p y gy ; tr di ti , I I I h e e i s n o Self : M a n i s a p . 3 4 . . T r h V h i ew c a o . I e e s a o f ri t, p 3 5 . . T r r rd i n W a c n s fu tu r l fe . . h e h e o a e . ti i , p 4 5 V t r B u ddhi sts d en y reb irth o r m igratio n o f a so u l w h l e m a n a n n m a o n o f ka r , i i t i i g igr ti h m r V I . m o c a ac e . u h s s r t r, p B dd i t a m a so o f so u l 0 d it rt , p . 5 . B U DD H IST D EF INITION OF KARM A N

I I n o u c o h o . I I . n c en s tr d t ry, p . 5 7 . A i t i t ry o f I I I a a m an . 6 0 . m an i s K r , p . K r l o o n a n d o l u n a ac o n . 6 v iti v t ry ti , p 7 . I V . a m i s m l c n . a n o a a o . K r r ti , p 7 3 T H E DOCTR INE OF KARM AN A ND TRA NS M G RAT C SM G Y TH E G Y I ION , O O ON , O ON

I . ech n m f n sm o n 8 0 . a s o a a . M i tr igr ti , p l fi n o f a n an m e I I . C assi catio ctio s d

ch ni sm f fr t fi i n 8 8 . a o he u c i cat o . t ir , p

- I I I . n ll . es f ee w so l a . D ti y, r i , id rity, p 9 4 I n V . o sm o o n . 10 0 . . h eo o C g y, p V T g y, 10 1 p . . CONTENTS

N IRVANA Z I I n tr o d u cto r . ess m sm an d el e an ce . y P i i d iv r r n fi cu l es i n asce a n n o Nirva a . Dif ti rt i i g th e n a u e o fd eliver a n ce 10 I I t r , p . 7 . . Ety m o l o an d m ean n o f the w o an a gy i g rd Nirv . Three o pi n io n s o n the state o f a Sai n t I a f e ea h 11 I I . n n h l a o n t r d t , p . 3 . A i i ti ‘ 116 e I V U n u al fie el e a n ce p . . qi d d iv r ,

1 . n l u s o n S h l c 2 . o c . c o as p . 3 V C i ti view s o n th e co n flicti n g statem en ts i n the

Sc u es 1 2 . ript r , p . 3

T H E PATH To N IR VANA I h h h T e a i s t e e a ca o n o f es e 1 . . P t r di ti d ir , p . 3 9 I I m l e w a b e w een a sce c sm a n d . A idd y t ti i l I . h e l n u en e 1 2 . f c . I I e o i d g , p 4 A t r d

i n th h s h . a n n e u u s . 1 1 tr i i g B dd i t tr t , p 5 k l l I V . s fu a c ce o f a n ces . 1 A i pr ti tr , p 5 9 .

. o n cl u s o n 166 . V C i , p . I NDE' C H A PTER I

I NDI AN DI SCI PLI NE S OF SALVATI ON

I . l n s n es o f al e o an d sc s a o n . A a n R igi di ipli v ti I I . Old ry h o a fi b el efs t e ea s s c ce . I I hm a c I . a n s e u i , d d, g d , ri Br p ‘ ’ l a o h u al sm r e - h n eo o ea Z tmz m. ti , t l gy, rit i , d t , I General definitions are always somewhat mis leading and give rise to discussion . But some definition of the title of these lectures is necessary . ‘ ’ Buddhi sm as a discipline of salvation is to be ‘ i ’ contrasted wi th Buddh sm as a religion .

There are and there have been in India , since the beginning , a number of religions , religions properly so called . They present an endless variety ; they often difi er essentially one from another ; they belong to distinct types of civilisa tion . But , although some are polytheistic , some monotheistic , and a larger number tinged with pantheism ; although some are pagan , dishonest , superstitious and magical , and some lofty and pure in every respect , some logical and cold,

— o f and some mystical and passionate , all them

P . B . D N D C C IN IA IS IPLINES [ H . nevertheless come under the concept of religion as this word is generally understood by modern students of religious history . Whatever be their ‘ ’ diversity, all were made to meet , and they do n meet in some manner , the needs of Man livi g

ul in society , needs supernatural, moral and sec ar ,

e needs individual and social . They teach a sup r

e human power , whatever be the natur and the dignity of thi s power ; they explain the duties of Man towards it , or , more uncompromisingly, the right m o du r vi ven di of Man with it ; they have prayers or formulas , sacrifices , sacraments .

They are concerned with the welfare of the dead , and also with personal welfare in thi s life ; they have devices and ceremonies for the work and o f ill the anxieties everyday life, for nesses and fo r . sins , which are often another kind of illness

ul They teach a general r e of conduct , and pene o f trate the Law of family or tribe , for there is no clear and constant distinction between profane and sacred things . Although the religions of India are usually l quite Indian , quite Hindu, paralle s are to be found to each of them outside India . Hindu is the word we use to emphasize the special and

’ composite character of the Indian civil isation . There is no Sanskrit word whi ch covers the OF SALVATION 3 whole field of beliefs and practices that the word ‘ ’ religi o n suggests . But if we examine the many

a fi a words which convey a religious meaning , y j ,

’ ‘ ‘ ’ a fi a sacrifice , m gical to some extent , p j , worship , ’ bb a kti db a r m a often idolatrous , , devotion , , moral ‘ ’ and social rule, law and virtue, we see that , ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ Whi l e I n di a n sacrifice, cult , devotion , law, are

a n d quite Hindu , are unlike the Semitic sacrifice , the Egyptian cults , the Christian love of God , the

u r m a o r a m e e e Romanj j , they are n verth l ss simply

’ human (b u m a z n to u t co u r t) as far as their leading ‘ ’ e hi motiv and their p losophy are concerned .

For instance , the gods and the rites of the Vedic religion are quite Hindu ; they differ la rgely from the Iranian types , not to mention the other r eli gions of the An cient World . Nevertheless Vedism is clearly a branch o f the Indo- European tra dition ; it is akin to a ll naturalistic and patriarchal beliefs the world over , while it is con ta m i n a ted to a no small extent with the common fancies of the old and always living paganism .

Side by side with the religions properly so

e called , th re arose in India from about the seventh — e B . C c ntury . to last for many centuries , attract ing thousands of adherents and exercising—a strong influence on the Indian religions a 4 INDIAN DISCIPLINES number of ‘ di sciplines ’ with a special character of their own . They cannot be exactly described either as philosophies or as religions . We have to see what name is the right name for them . ‘ di ’ They are sciplines , that is bodies of doctrines and practices , together with a rule of — life, aiming at a practical end, the Indian word

‘' ‘ ’ ‘ ’ m a r a fi n a — hi is g , path , or y , vehicle , and, from t s point of View, they are something more than i philosoph es , theories , or scholasticisms . But it i ’ is doubtful whether they can be styled rel gions .

w e In contrast ith religions , the disciplin s are made for ascetics , for ascetics only . Further they are purely personal or individualistic , that is they do not care for one’ s neighbour or for the dead . They are unsocial and often antisocial they deprecate and often prohibit marriage . As a rule , they originate sects or orders and it may be churches , but such social formations are not

: hi essential to them even in Budd sm , where the

Master and the Church are all important , a

e belief exists that , in the days to com , when the

C u Master is forgotten , the h rch dissolved and

e Buddhism xtinct , there will arise, from time to ‘ ’ m t eka bu ddba time , individual saints (p y ) who hi will be, by themselves , perfect Budd sts , living 1] OF SALVATION 5

alone in the wilderness , like a rhinoceros , without

companions or pupils . Another feature of the disciplines is that they are not concerned with mundane ends at

eff all . The Buddhist teaching is clear to this ect any action which aims at any advantage what

ever in the present life , is bad . These two characters may be found in some institutions of the West . There are , for instance , Christian sects or orders which are practically unconcerned with social and mundane interests ; —and so far the Indian Paths could be described ‘ ’ as individualist transcendent religions . But

e th y present a third character , in respect of which

- all non Indian parallels prove inadequate , except

Sufi s e e the , the b st instance of a s ct of Indian

— a Spirit outside India third character , in respect of which our western nomenclature is deficient . Either the Indian ascetic does not believe

e e in God ; or, wh n he b lieves in God he says , as the outspoken Sufi or as Spinoza : There is nothing but God . I am God . But the attitude of the Indian ascetic is not th e attitude of the il western ph osopher , a Lucretius or a modern

e monist . For he has b liefs of his own , foreign

e to his occidental broth rs . To put it shortly, he believes in transmigration and transmigration 6 INDIAN DISCIPLINES

he dreads . His positivist or monist philosophy i is therefore combined with a discipl ne , a Path ,

h e e for has to sav himself, to liberate himself from transmigration .

Man migrates from existence to existence , driven by the wind of his actions : there must be a Path to deliverance from rebirth and death . Thi s Path must be a certain knowledge or esot eric wisdom , or a certain sacrifice , or a certain asceti ci s m , or a certain ecstatic meditation .

I t i s diffi cu lt to sta te a ccu ra t ely th e po sitio n o f a e o r sh n d m a I e s n e pr y r w o r ip a o f o r lity n th di cipli s . P ra yer o r w o rship i s n ever a n es s en ti a l p a rt o f th e a Bu t h a en s h a a n a s c e c—fo r i n s a n ce th e p th . it pp t t ti t — B u ddhis t o f th e Ma h a ya n a s ch o o l b eli eves th a t go ds o r ni s e s a n s m a h e hi m o w a s th e a h o r divi d i t y lp t rd p t , even i n clim bi n g a lo n g th e fi rs t Slo p es o f th e p a th a e a n d w o sh a r e i n su ch a ca s e u s e u o r e en p r y r r ip , , f l v n eces s a b u t h e h a e to b e i en u o n ce th e a sce c ry, t y v g v p ti a m e n e h s so wh a t a dva c d . As c o n ce n s m o a i n o sc n e a m s h a a n r r l ty, di ipli d it t t im m o ra l m a n ca n r ea ch th e p a th : a pu rga tive pro ces s l i s eem e n e e s a r Bu t a ll s c n es a r e o n o f d d c s y . di ipli f d s a i n h a a s a n i s e o n m e a n d em e o o t t g t t i t b y d rit d rit, g d d eed a n d si n : n o m erit ca n a cc ru e to hi m ; n o si n ca n s o hi m I n a ha an a u hi sm a c e m o a il . M y B dd , tiv r lity, ’ s s e —s a cr ifice fo r th e w e a e o f o n e s n e h o u a r e gift , lf lf r ig b r, a e e e s n i s e n i o n n ss n ti a l p a rt o f th p a th . A a i t by d fi it

1 “ As a cl ea n cl o h ee o m s a n du l a k es the d e s o i n t fr fr t i y t y , Ya s a the n o b l e o u h a o s e a u e u n s a n ed n s h n o th e , y t , r p r , t i i ig t i t ” n d o ctri e. OF SALVATION 7

‘ ’ ‘ ’ a e a co m a ss o n a e : b u t hi s s a r e to b e giv r, p i t gift C 3 p erfu m ed WI th th e kn o w l edge o f th e tra n scen den t u th h a i n ea h e e i s n o e n o i n o tr t t r lity t r giv r, g ft, ece e see e o w r iv r ( b l p .

r fi r tb a By this Path, th ough this Ford ( ) , the ascetic will cross the ocean of transmigration , as well as the worlds of the gods or paradises . The ascetic believes in such worlds—for he is not a w li sceptic , he il ngly admits the whole of the — traditional or pop ul ar mythology but he de

S i s es ' e u p them he d spises , as a philosopher wo ld ’ say, every contingent existence ; he aims at hi somet ng that is beyond the worlds , that is ‘ ’ h er co s m ic a l i yp (to translate the Buddh st idiom , lo ko tta m ) , a mysterious somewhere , a somewhere ‘ ’ hi that is eternal and free from sorrow, and w ch ‘ ’ m o /er a m u kti is called sometimes deliverance ( , , ‘ ’ a a w r a n i r r ti n a i b p g ) , sometimes happiness ( a , ‘ ’ i r e a r a y ) , sometimes Nirvana , that is refreshment ’ or peace . Such are the common features of these thoroughly Hindu institutions . In many respects , they are widely different one from another . Some are monist , pantheist or mystical (Upanisads ,

e Vedanta , Yoga) ; som purposely atheist and rationalist (Jainism , Buddhism , S amkhya) . But

1 An ex o s e o f hi s n ca e d o c n e m a b e o u n i n H a s t n s p t i tri t tri y f d i g , ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ see Bo h s a a Ma ha an a N h l sm . d i ttv , y , i i i 8 INDIAN DISCIPLINE S

e th y are sisters born from the same parents ,

namely disgust with life and love of myst ery . If they do not agr e e concerning deliverance and

a e a ll the p th to deliverance, th y pursue deliver

e e e ance . The right nam for th m s ems to be ‘ disciplines of salvation ’ or ‘ paths to deliver l ’ ance .

The time of S akyamuni was an epoch of

a spiritual effervesc ence . Br hmans taught new

w o doctrines . There ere discussions and ide logical tournaments . Scores of ascetics claimed ‘ e a to be discover rs of the P th, literally ford ’ makers , who had found a ford across trans

o r e a to b e bu ddha s migration , th y cl imed , that is ‘ ’ ‘ ’

e . e w a s a e awak ned, enlightened Th re a l rg

e e : e e e following for the l ad rs p opl complain d that , “ e a n d e by th ir lessons th ir example, they caused

to the fathers to beget no sons , the wives become ” Widows and the families to die out . So large was the numb er of the candidates for deliveranc e

e e eu n es s e nobl men , merchants and tr asurers , thej do r ée e m en , pri sts and of priestly parentage , women , girls and wives and widows of good i family, members of low caste or outcasts , C pa ,

1 ’ On the n o o n o f del e a n ce s ee Mrs Rh s Da ds a t cl e ti iv r , y vi r i ‘ ’ - Mo k s a in H a s ti n s R. . rrr . 0 . E. E v , g , , pp 7 7 7 7 4

INDIAN DISCIPLINES luck led them to the great man for whom the

bu ddl m l common name or adj ective , , en ightened, has become a proper name, to S akyamuni , the originator of the most celebrated among the di In an Paths of salvation . We shall follow in their Steps and respectfully hear the doctrine to which they clung . If, with hi the best will in the world , we cannot accept t s

e . doctrine, it is none the less worth consid ring But before becoming the di sciples of S akya

muni , it is necessary to study the origin of the ideas on which Buddhi sm—as well as the other — disciplines of salvation is built ; and this inquiry wil l be our task for the present .

II The disciplines of salvation arose from about

B . C . the eighth to the sixth century , in the middle

h e and upper valley of t Ganges . At this time hi and in t s place , there had been already a long and intimate intercourse between the two ele

ments of the Hindu population .

On the one hand , were the aborigines , concern ing whom we lack any direct information . It has been usual to assume that a ll the elements of l the later Hindu civi isation which are not Aryan , or do not look Aryan , are due to their influence . 1] OF SALVATION

hi However t s may be , modern inquiry as to the non - hinduized populations of India has been

th e fruitful . For instance we know that abori gines , as is the case with many savages , believed in reincarnations ; they explained conception by the descent of some di si n ca r n a ted spirit who had previously inhabited a human or an animal body or even a tree .

On the other hand , the Aryas , the Indo

European invaders of India , who , after settling in North West India , had in time reached the l wi val ey of the Ganges , bringing th them their language—whi ch had already split up into — dialects their Book or Bible, the Veda , and their own civilisation , which was every day modified owing to an evolution due to manifold

factors . We are to study some aspects of this evo l u

tion , taking as our starting point the Aryan

beliefs .

The Arya is a member of a strongly organized

body, the family of men in close relations with

the e e gods , specially with the ternal domestic

fire, and with the dead . The whole fabric of domestic and social life

is built on the beliefs concerning the dead . The INDIAN DISCI FLINES destiny of the dead depends strictly on the services rendere d to them by their descendants in the male line , born in legitimate wedlock and properly initiated into th e religious rites of

e the family . H nce a strict obligation to marry , not only to ensure a man’ s personal happiness after death , but also that of his ancestors . Hence too a strict obligation to pass through a series of ceremonies of a sacramental character which ’ affect the whole of a man s life fr o m conc eption — to initiation with a p eriod of study in the — house of a preceptor from marriag e to death .

e No one is ntitled to fulfil the funeral rites , the fortnightly banquets and the daily offerings for

o f the dead , if he is not a member the religious body . No one can hope for happiness after death if the rites are not properly performed for him at his death and in the ages to come by a member of this body . Such were the conditions of welfare after death according to the oldest ideas of our race .

Superstitions connected with the belief that

e fo r the dead are living in the grav , depending this shadowy life on the offering poured on the l grave , are not abolished in the Vedic civi isa tion . The general View is nevertheless an 1] OF SALVATION 13

ul . altogether hopef one The dead, who are called the Fathers , do not envy the living as did Achi lles .

Some o f them are now gods . The first of the “ mortals , Yama , who first went over the great mountains and spied out a path for many, who found us a w ay of which we shall not be fr u s ” trated , Yama the King sits under a tree with

Varuna the righteous god . The Fathers are hi m gathered around , drinking nectar , enj oying

o — the libations of the living , enj oying als and — this point is worthy of notic e their own pious works , their sacrifices and their gifts , especially 1 their gifts to the priests . The abode of the Fathers is an immortal “ : unending world There make me immortal, says the Vedic poet , where exist delight , j oy, re ” i n o i c . j g , and j oyance , where wishes are obtained

i n o t It s a spiritual paradise . Whatever poetical ‘ ' descriptions we may find , supreme luminous regions , middle sky, third heaven , lap of the ’ red dawns , the pleasures of the Fathers are

ll : essentia y mundane ones rivers of mead , milk and waters , pools of butter with banks of honey, also Apsarases or celestial damsels . The dead were happy ; their life was worthy

1 ’ Olden e . V . H en Rel i i o n da eda . V . b rg (tr ry), g , pp 4 53 , 4 57 I 4. INDIAN DIS CIPLINES

to be lived . The men of these old Ar yan days might have said what th e philosophers said “ later : Man has three births : he is born from

e e o his moth r , r born in the pers n of his son , and he finds his highest birth in death . — — While the ascetic the learned ascetic does not expect anything from th e gods or fear any

th e th e o ld thing from demons , with Aryas happiness in this life dep ends on th e goodwill of the gods and th e deprecation of m a lignant 1 “ a spirits . A . Barth s id eloquently : The con n exi o n between man and the gods is conc eived

a a n d as a very close one . Alw ys everywhere he feels that he is in their ha nds and tha t all his

a r a movements are under their eye . They e m sters

w ho e to close at hand , xact tasks of him and

o e wh m he ow s constant homage . He must be

e e e a r e humbl , for he is w ak and th y strong ; he

must be sincere towards them , for they cannot

e h e be d ceived . Nay, knows that they in turn

do not deceive , and that they have a right to

e require his confidence as a fri nd , a brother , a is oft en an act of affection and r gratitude towards the gods , th ough which man acknowledges their sovereignty, renders thanks to

1 Reli i o n s o I ndi a . oll . g f , p 3 5 f 1] OF SALVATION 15 them for their ben efits and hopes to obtain others ” in the future either in this life or after death .

few The Vedic gods , except in a instances , ‘ ’ are not regarded as transcendent ; to a

e . certain ext nt , they depend on man As the dead are fed by funeral oblations , so the gods

e need sacrificial oblations . A . Barth continu s “ e e In the gross st sens , sacrifice is a mere bargain .

Man needs things which the god possesses , such as rain , light , warmth and health , while the god is hungry and seeks offerings from man ; there is giving and receiving on both Sides ‘ ul As at a stip ated price , let us exchange force

r ' a and vigou , O Indra Give me and I sh ll give thee ; bring me , and I Shall bring

Malignant spirits , if not in the Rigveda itself , at least in the Vedic religion , are no less import ant than the gods . All the movements of daily life as well as all the ceremonies of reli gion are to be made safe from their attacks . Illnesses and mishaps of every description are their work .

Therefore they must be propitiated , and it is an old formul a that “ every supernatural being ” a /er a f (y ) ha s a right to his own of ering . INDIAN DISCIPLINES

III

Such were the fundamental ideas o f the

Aryan religion and life . The Arya , without being

Seca taa o véo r e o e m p g, did love and resp ct his ’ gods ; h e used meat and even cow s flesh ; he sacrificed to obtain male offspring and a life of a hundred autumns ; he ho ped after death to j oin the Fathers and to enj oy, with them , the

ffe e o rings of his sons . Lif is serene , j oyful,

e l . activ , not in any way spiritual or intel ectual One sees how radical a change was necessary for asce ticism and the disciplines of salvation to i be possible . The inborn feel ngs of the Aryas had to be destroyed to make room for an altogether different conception of life and human destiny . What were the causes of thi s change ? They certainly were many and manifold .

To begin with , we must not forget that the

- e e Sanskrit speaking p ople , the priestly and f udal aristocracy who cr eat ed the disciplines o f salva

e e tion , w re no longer of unmixed Aryan rac , as the old poets of the Veda , but a mixture of

e e Aryas and of the aborigines . Old nb rg has laid

: e much stress on this fact we should not ventur ,

to in our present state of knowledge , base too much ‘ ’ upon it . But it is certain that the intellectual

INDIAN DIS CI FLINES

e a again may be prov d in m ny cases , and we sha ll quote a n inst a nce which is of Special interest

e w a s for us . The beli f in reincarnations a purely

e savage surmise, liabl to be organized into what is called totemism , an unprogressive and absurd

: paganism , and no more to be sure of it , we have

th e o kh i m only to open bo ks of Tylor or Du r c e .

o Brahmans and Buddhists b rrowed this belief, which was a ltogether new to the Aryan tradition ; but they fo und no difli cu l ty in adapting it either to the dogma of the reward of good and evil deeds , or to a monism as rigid as that of th e Eleatic school .

The change we are studying is , to a large extent , not a revolution , but an evolution ; and the safest way to understand it is perh a ps to describe it as an autonomous alteration of the genuine Aryan beliefs and notions . The Brah

a mans , endowed with an equ l genius for con servation and adaptation , were the workers of the change .

A w o o n th e a hm a n s a n d h e o a e o i n rd Br t ir p r b bl r gi . Th e o ld es o f th e a m o ffer n s to th e o m es i c rit f ily, i g d t fir e h a d i n th e e n n n a n d fo r a o n m e n o r o , , b gi i g l g ti , p n a l es Th e a h e a n d th e m o h e w e e th e fes si o p ri t . f t r t r r 1 h e fir e Bu t a c e a n u a wh ch i s a s es s a t . pri t t ir rt i rit l , i o ld a s th e p eri o d w h en th e a n ces to rs o f th e Ira n ia n s a n d o f th e V e i c I n i a n s i e o e h e th e u a o f d d l v d t g t r, rit l

1 ‘ ' Ol a m a e Le r o l e da a o b n a da ns l e s a cr i ce. P . T m tr r , j fi 1] OF SALVATION 19

- S o m a Ha o m a h a d o m o f o ld a c e o f i ts o wn . An d , fr l rgy , a s o w o ess th e m em e s o f ce a n c a n s e e by l pr gr , b r rt i l , b tt r pro vid ed th a n o th ers with t echni ca l kn o w l edge i n o m u a s a n d i n es eca m e th e m a s e s o f th e a a f r l rit , b t r lt r a n d th e a ckn o w l edged in t erm edi a ries b etw een go ds a n d m en Th e w e e th e a n ces o s o f th e a hm a n s . . y r t r Br

The Brahmans were , by profession , busied with gods , sacrifice , and ritual . After a time , a before even the Rigved was compiled , they b ecame philosophers and they made many striking discoveries . Four are worthy of notice . I . The most ancient , if not the most import ant : the traditional gods are not the self- existent and individual beings whom the poets of old praised so ardently . Each of them had long been credited with the featur es and the characteristic powers of his ‘ ’ l — s o - col eagues the called henotheism , which is not , as Max Muller said , a stage in the making of the gods , but , on the contrary , a stage towards their disintegration .

Polytheism pure and simple was not crushed , and it remains as living in the India of to- day as it was thirty centuries ago ; but another

e a n d theology crept behind and b low it, was

e admitted , first among think rs , then by the great public , as an esoteric and more scientific

View of the universe . INDIAN DISCI FLINES

The gods , the gods we know , are not real gods . Who then is the true god, the unknown god ? The texts permit us to trace different lines in the develo pment of the theological inquiry . We meet sometimes in the Veda lofty expres — sions of a moral monotheism , and, throughout

t e— history , they are echoed from time to time .

e Varuna , for instanc , is more than once a sort of Jehovah of the Far East : he has established the sun and made a path for it ; it is in accordance with hi s order or his rul e that the moon and the stars go their changeless course ; he loves truth and hates iniquity ; he pardons th e sinner who repents . But there is no evidence that this monotheism is a product of philosophical sp ecu lation ; we are inclined to think that it is rather the spontaneous expression of religious feeling , a devotion rather than a doctrine . As a matter of fact , the theology of the later Veda tends to become a pallid deism , coupled with pantheistic tendencies which become stronger as time goes on .

The true god is a generator , an architect of

e the cosmos , as w re the maj ority of the old gods , each in his turn But the changes in the divine nomenclature show the evolution 1] OF SALVATION

of the philosophical thought . Instead of Agni,

e the omnipres nt but visible fire or Indra , holder

e o of the thund rb lt , or Varuna , who is the ocean ’ and is contained in a drop of water , the Vedic

e poets now pr fer new names , Praj apati , the

Viéva k a r m a n Lord of creatures , , the fabricator

of the universe , the great Asura or Great Spirit ,

Sva a m b hu - P a r a m esthi n y , the self existing Being , , the Supreme .

Little personality is attached to these gods , who have no history as Indra or Heracles has , and who are not ‘ natural gods ’ as the Fire or the Sky . While the old gods , the gods of the sacrifice , the heavenly heroes endowed with

les di eu x bi o r a bi e cosmical powers , g p , fade before them , they themselves appear as mere shadows of a more abstruse reality, or rather as the mere names of an impersonal anonymous force , a universal principle . “ The gods are only one Single Being under ff ” di erent names ,

‘ eka m s a d o i r ei ba b u db a o a da n i p t . Is this Being a god or a force ? Is the universe b o rn from a principle possessed of name and r o t ff form ( ) , or from a liquid and undi erentiated mass ( a m t) ? Did the gods come first and the universe afterwards ? The poet professes to INDIAN DISCIPLINES

“ ignore the right answer : The god that is above ” knows it , or he does not know ; but the real thought of the poet is n o t doubtful : the primeval

e e force is styled H at , Order , Truth , Wat rs ,

Golden Germ (first born of the Waters) , K ama

th e or Desire , the starting point in evolution of

e e being , K ala or Tim , cr ator and destroyer , or , with a name which is destined to have a marvel lous fortune , Brahman .

Brahman is a new god, but an old word

a it meant prayer or s cred formula . How did the word acquire a new meaning of this kind ? Because the sacred formula came to be regarded as the great creative power . 2 . While speculation on the gods and on cosmogony leads to the substitution , for the divine heroes of yore, of abstract and obscure forces , the speculation on sacrifice leads to a like result . Victor Henry is inclined to believe that the

— - Indo Iranian sacrifice of Soma Haoma , from

e which the Vedic sacrific of Soma is derived , was originally a magical rite for rain . This View

e is onl y a conj ecture . But two points se m to 1 be ascertained . ( ) While magical notions are

th eo l o always lurking in old rituals , the oldest gians of the Veda—the authors of the Hymns OF SALVATION 2 3 saw in the sacrifice of Soma more than a mere “ : act of oblation To sacrifice is to stir up , l actual y to beget , two divinities of first rank ,

a r excell en ce the two principles of life p , Agni , l ” l a i Ob t o n . 2 the Fire , and Soma , the ( ) On the other hand, the magical conception of sacrifice was , for a long time and to a large extent , checked by the lofty idea the Aryan had of his gods . Later on this conception underwent an enormous development in the circle of the

s a cr ificer s professional . — Indians sorcerers , priests , philosophers or — poets are not a little ambitious : i ls vo i en t

r g a n d . The Vedic priests ventured to think that

u e their hymns , form lae and rit s were , not only ' the i n vigo r a ti n g p o w er that helps the gods in “ e th e the struggle for light and wat rs , but ” o conditi n even of the normal course of things . Sacrifice prevents the world from lapsing into

r e chaos . Fu th r , if sacrifice is the actual cosmical

a e agency , it must prob bly at the b ginning have

a been the cosmogonical f ctor . It was by sacrifice that the gods delivered the world from chaos ;

th e it was by sacrifice that gods became immortal, and why should not Man also become immortal by sacrifice ?

1 B a h Reli i o ns l ac. ci t. rt , g , INDIAN DISCIPLINES

Sacrifice to whom ? To no o n e . Rites and

e formulae are , in th mselves , efficient .

e In short , the univ rse was conceived as a huge

e ritual, the quintessenc of which is the Veda ,

. o the eternal and productive Word Vac , the V ice

a is praised in some pass ges as another Logos ,

hi e but t s Logos is magical sound , not r ason .

3 . The fading away of the living gods , the rise of pantheistic gods , the mechanical conception

s a cr ifi ce — of a cosmic , all these transformations of the old ideology went hand in hand with another and possibly more important trans formation . The beliefs concerning the destiny of

Man were utterly modified . The Vedic Indians discovered—step by step—the doctrine of trans

s a s d m migration ( m ) .

How they made this discovery , that the Fathers die in the heaven whither they have

a been brought by funer l ceremonies , that the dead are reborn as men or as animals , that — animals may be r eborn as men how they came to accept these ideas which were as foreign to their ancestors and to their sacred folk - lor e as l — hi s o r they are to u s is a long t y . It is the history of a radical change in mental and

1 ‘ ’ M B o e E u s u See A. . e r l o ri in e de l a o c n e du Sa m y r, t d g d tri ’ sa a . As . 1 0 1 1 . 1. r , 7 9 , , p 4 5

2 6 INDIAN DISCI FLINES

r Ole the of philosophy to destroy natural beliefs , and to rebuild them according to som e n ew pattern . This second task of a philosophy the

Vedic philosophy did not fail to fulfil .

Psychology began . The following distinction was made .

There is , on the one hand , the body with the vital en ergies that se em in a closer relation with

e the body , and which savag s often explain by a number of souls . There is , on the other hand , the truly living principle ( fir m) that constitutes the true self of Man . This principle , which is ‘ ’ an entity , really a noumenon , is called either ‘ ’ ‘ ’ u r u r a fi tm a n p , man , spirit , or , etymologically ‘ ’ ’ e e br ath literally Self, the refl xive pronoun and the noun .

' i n - a m a The p u m or t n is eternal . It has inhabited various bodies and is destined to inhabit new ones ; but its natura l aim is to

e reach an eternal , changeless abode ; fre from any created or generated body , it will live by itself, either conscious or unconscious , either a c formless or wrapped in a form of its own , cording to the preferences of the philosophers . There have been many diverging conc eptions of the Self .

But the solution , which is by far the most 1] OF SALVATION 2 7

popular among the Brahmans , is to identify the S elf with the universal god then in process of discovery , with Brahman . The inquir y as to the gods and the universe has shown that the true god is a nameless ,

th e . universal agent , the self or breath of world Therefore the god who blows in the wind and shines in the sun is the same principle that breathes through the human mouth and keeps the living body warm . The universal self is the true self of Man , as it is the life and the essence of Nature : It directs the eye and the ear ; it is the ear of the ear , the mind of the mind , the breath of the breath the speech of the speech ,

‘ a tm a n the eye of the eye . This Breath ( ) is the guardian of the world , the Lord of the world ” he is my Self .

: Such an admission I am that Being , ” I am Brahman , was a bold and a decisive move . In short , that was the great discovery which has remained for at least twenty- five centuries the capital and the most cherished

truth of the Indian people . It is much more

than an academical theory .

There is only one Self, for the self of man is

not a creation , an emanation or a part of the INDIAN DISCI FLINES

“ Self of the universe : it is this very Self . The

e unique and indivisibl Self is immortal , happy,

a e unqu lifi d, unconscious ; but he animates the

e h e body , he becomes , as it w re , man . As such experiences pain and desire, he accumulates

e merit and demerit , he migrates from xistence to existence , always unhappy because he is

e — always a prey to ever r curring death , and without any hope of deliverance , as long as he

e does not withdraw himself from the not S lf . But as soon as the individua lized S elf has acquired the perfect immediate certainty that he is the universal Self, he no longer experiences

r e . doubt , desi e or suff ring He Still acts , as the wheel of the potter continues to revolve when the potter has ceased to turn it . Death , at last , abolishes what no longer exists for him , the last 1 ” appearance of duality .

— e That is perfect bliss , which we som times experience in dreamless sleep , when the Self is

e — withdrawn from not S lf , and unconsciousness for , where there is a duality , one can see the

e th e o n e other , one can sm ll other , can address the other , one can hear the other , one can think of the other , one can grasp the other . But where for e ach everything has turned into his

1 A. B a h Reli i on s o I ndi a . 8. See el o w . 16 1. rt , g f , p 7 b , p OF SALVATION 2 9

own self, by whom and whom shall he see , smell , 1? ” address , hear , think or grasp

That the doctrines of transmigration , of the

Self, of the merging of the individual self in the great self, were antagonistic to the traditional beliefs in the gods , the sacrifice , the paradises , and aimed directly at the destruction of the

- whole fabric of social life, is self evident . The times were ripe for asceticism and the disciplines of deliverance to arise .

1 B r b a dar a n a ka 11 I co m a e I v 2 . y , , 4 , 3 ; p r , 3 , 3 C H A PTER I I

THE BU DDH I ST SOU L

I d hi sm a fo r m o f o n al sm h h l Bu d a . I I . u s s c o o . r ti i B dd i t p y gy ; h o n a c I I I . e e i s n o elf M an i s a ch a o . c tr di ti o n s . T r S : ri t

I V h e e i s ew a o f c o n s i n fu u l fe . . T r r rd a ti a t re i Wh e he u h s s en eb h o r m a o n o f a V . t r B dd i t d y r irt igr ti so u l w h l e m a n a n n m a o n o f ka r ma n o r cha ac e , i i t i i g igr ti r t r . V I u h s s a m a so o f so u l . B dd i t d it rt .

. I

We have given a general definition of the Indian disciplines of salvation and tried to make

th e clear that they are Paths leading ascetic , beyond the ocean of transmigration , to some

e mysterious som where . Buddhism has been , l from the beginning , a religion , a re igion properly

ee so called ; that is , there have b n , from the beginning , Buddhists for whom Buddha was a god and who did not hope for a better state than ’ rebirth in Buddha s heaven ; but thi s Buddhi st religion has nothing or little to do with the most authentic teaching of Sakyamuni . Old Buddhism is essentiall y a discipline of salvation —and this _ _ discipline widelydiffers from the other disciplines

o f . . salvation If w e were asked to characterise in a word the 11 1 C H . ] THE BUDDHIST SOUL 3 old Buddhist discipline of salvation and the old B i uddh sm as a whole , we should say that it is a form of rationalism . Every idea and every practice made use of by Sakyamuni to build up his theory and his rule of religious life have been freed from any tinge of mysticism .

Four points may be distinguished . ‘ hi ’ 1. The most conspicuous and budd stic feature of Buddh ist rationalism is the definition

Sakyamuni and hi s disciples give of Man . Man i s w afi ét s z eslj ss mg rz asznis r a ti ss sé s tm és do ‘ ’ we mean by th e vyo r d man Much depe n ds on u i the answer , which will be studied in th s chapter .

e 2 . As conc rns transmigration and the factors that govern transmigration , the rivals of Sakya i muni bel eve that God , or the gods , or destiny, or sacrifice are of greater or less importance .

Sakyamuni , on the contrary , teaches that trans 1 o n hi e migration depends the actions of Man ms lf .

3 . As concerns the aim to be reached,

d . eliverance For the rivals of Sakyamuni , deliverance is either th e m erging o f the individual

th e e e Self in gr at Self , or som mystical state of the Self ; while Sakyamuni takes a m erely negative View of deliverance : the Buddhi st d eliverance or 2 e /. / , a w Nirv na is only cessation of reCbirtv h of miser M nd y - '

1 2 See h a e 1 ee ha e . c pt rs 11 a n d I V . S c pt r v THE BUDDHIST SOUL

a 4 . As concerns the P th leading to deliver

Sék a m u n i ance , the rivals of y lay much stress

e e on sacrifice , p nance , ecstasies , esot ric wisdom ,

e e e e . as m ans to d liv ranc With Sakyamuni , the essential part of the Path is the understanding ‘ ’ : e of a few very simple truths Life nds in death , ‘ i l ’ Everything is m s er y .

We say that old Buddhism was rationalistic , thoroughly rationalistic ; but this thoroughness

ul was not absolute , and co d not be absolute .

e This fact must be borne in mind , ven when the rationalistic character of Buddhism is emphasized, if w e are to avoid the mistake of some historians who describe the old Buddhi sts according to the patt ern of the agnostics or the materialists of

- to day . Buddhism originated in pagan and mystical surroundings . It is true that it succeeded in explaining th e cosmos and human destiny without having recourse to any metaphysical agent ; that it succeeded in ma king all the popul ar beliefs

a a belief in transmigration , in p r dises , in hells , — in magical powers and nearly all the ascetic — — practices penances and ecstasi es subservient to its own rationalistic ideals and principles .

1 Se h a e c pter v1.

3 4 THE BUDDHIST SOUL

Chr comparable , in many respects , to the istian dogma of the communion of saints .

II The Buddhist definition of Man is summarized ' ‘ ’ o n a i r a tm a s elfles s n es s in a w rd , y , , not , as usually ‘ ’ l . translated , soul essness The matter is some

diffi cu l t o e e what , the m r so b cause we do not

agree with the common opinion of scholars , and we cannot avoid discussing this opinion . Two facts are well ascertained and beyond discussion ( I ) Sakyamuni does not admit the existence of a Self a permanent i n di vi — dual ; he teaches that the s o called Self is a compound of material and spiritual data called s ka n db a s ( 2 ) but he nevertheless teaches reward

r i a a e . m ci of actions in a future life There is , p f ,

a contradiction . The common explanation of this co n tr a di c tion is as foll ows : S akyamuni teaches annihila

tion at death , and denies rebirth or transmigra

e tion ; but he b lieves that , owing to the strength

of actions , a new being is created who is to inherit the actions of the dead man and to enj oy

their fruit . A man dies and is dead for ever , but his goodness or wickedness persists and causes

another man to be born . THE BUDDHIST SOUL 3 5

We shall Show, to the best of our power , that this explanation lacks the support of the texts and is inadmissible ; and we shall set forth the doctrine which is clearly deline ated by the

e — Buddhists thems lves not , it is true , by the

e e oldest Buddhists . Ther is not a S lf , a per

e manent substantial unity , but there is a p rson , to be described as ‘ a living continuous fluid ’ e complex , which does not remain quit the same for two consecutive moments , but which con ti n u es for an endless number of existences , bridging an endless number of deaths , without ff becoming completely di erent from itself .

III t The primi ive psychology, in India as else ‘ ’ where , was animistic .

e There is a principle of lif and heat , which moves the body , feels and wills . This principle , although it is often identified with the breath

r an a (p ) , is not a spiritual entity . Rather is it — a semi material soul, or an impalpable body ‘ ’ ’ a subtle body (r akrm a s a r Zr a ) as the Indians —a say double which , during life , may abandon

o fl eshl the gr ss body, its y abode , when for instance it travels far away in dreams ; and

e which, at death , finally flies away by an ap rture 36 THE BUDDHIST SOUL

at the top of the head , only to be reincarnated

e elsewher . The Brahmans started from these ‘ animistic ’ views to develop a metaphysical psychology,

e f e quit dif erent from the th ories of the West . It must never be forgotten that the Indian philo sopher found his materials , not in Nature ,

hr e t ough a direct and scientific obs rvation , but in the crude surmises of the popul ar or ritualistic tradition . A strong and truly philosophical thought came into contact , not with real and

e ascertained facts , but with wild Sp culations .

The result is often somewhat bewildering .

l ea di i p i e

'T n The g ps g n p l of the philosopher was

f . tha whaqt is transitory cannot be the Self He n ’ - -- ' - diStirI fii Shgd COHSti u en ther efo r e g two t ts . The ‘ ’ first one is the subtle body of the old animistic

: belief subtle elements , subtle earth, water, wind and fire , making subtle organs of sensation ,

e one of which is the mind . The s cond consti tuent is an everlasting and spiritual principle , the Self that is enveloped in the subtle body , in

- a the semi materi l soul . On the nature of the Self the Brahmans do

a r e not agree . Two schools prominent , the samkhya and the Vedanta . Si m kh a According to y , there are many Selves , THE BUDDHIST SOUL 3 7

u r u sa . called p , a word which means Man They

u n m o difi a b l e are eternal, and passive , producing nothing and doing nothing ; they are enveloped in the subtle body ; they illuminate the play of the senses and of the mind ; they experience pleasure and disgust ; they migrate from existence to existence until the day when , fully satiated and recognising themselves as distinct from

e matt r , they break partnership with it and return 1 to their primeval liberty and unconsciousness

The Self has no longer anything to illuminate .

e With the second school or V danta , there is

u n m o difi a b l e only one Self, the great , unique and

Self, another name of which is Brahman . This

e l unique Self becom s mu tiform in appearance , owing to the diversity of the material envelopes — in which it is wrapped ; these envelopes as

s — well as the whole cosmo are the creation , the ’ magic of the Self ; but it does not know . When it knows , the illusions come to an end and the Self is delivered from individuality and from pain .

e th e In both these syst ms , the Self is , as

hi e p losophers say, transcend nt to the psychical

. a life For S amkhya , the Self is only a light th t hi illuminates the play of senses and mind, w ch

1 B a h eli i R o n s o I n di a . 0 . rt , g f , p 7 3 8 THE BUDDHIST SOUL are ma terial and by themselves unconscious ;

a for Vedanta , only a magici n who takes interest in t h e magical shows that he unwillingly creates ; ‘ ’ for Samkhya and Vedanta , ideation is exterior to the Self . The question is whether it is not

a possible to dispense with such a Self . S kyamuni answers in the affi rmative .

, The Buddhist psychology in sharp coa .sn. Mtrast ‘ M ‘ fi c: — i m a b e with Brahman psycholog es _ and, it “ y

- said, _ nearly all with _ . avoids or psychologies i a i i I pretends to avoid n m e p hys ca l s u r m s e . t a y - t l is bui t up of facts: of the facts that seemed , in

e a that old time , to be sci ntific lly ascertained .

And it is a surprise that , but for one point — g apsm igr a ti o n the theory concocted by the — yell o w garbed m o nks of yore One S of the modern theories of the oul , the theory

' ‘ ' f ni o Hu e o r Taine and of many scientists .

Ac di n th e I s ggg g to that , a e ee no unity , perm n nt f ling or thinking entity,

i We o comes into th e field of nquiry . kn w only

w 18 the body, hich visibly a composite , growing

a and dec ying thing , and a number of phenomena ,

e e fe lings , perc ptions , wishes or wills , cognitions i n a e philosophic l nguage , a number of Stat s of consciousness . That these states of consciousness THE BUDDHIST SOUL 39

the r Ou ct a S elf depend u are fi pqr d of ' p on” a r i s e i n a S f i l a s , o n , or . el h y _ _ h is no consciousness of a S elf outside these states

a of wrong surmise , since _ there cannot be connexion between ‘ ’ : becoming “There are perceptions , but we do ” er Ei Cf not know a p C V . AS a matter of fact , we are well aware of the origin of perceptions , of the origin of all the states of consciousness . — hi There is an organism , a physico psyc cal organism . On the one hand , the gross body, fi ve . with the gross organs , eye and so on On the other hand , the subtle body, that is , the five true organs , subtle eye and so on , and the intel

: lectual organ , the mind an organ , made of subtle matter like the Visual organ , which knows ideas as the Visual organ sees colou rs . There are exterior obj ects which are brought into contact with this organism . 1 “ Thus arises consciousness : Th e colour blue

e b ing given , the organ of the eye being also given , there arises a contact which originates ” a visual knowledge , namely a blue image . This image is at once ela borated by the mind which

1 See Sa r utta 11 . 2 M a bi m a 1 111 M ili nda . 6 ny , , p 7 ; jj , , ; , p 5 a n d pas s i m . 4 0 THE BUDDHIST SOUL creates an intellectual or mental knowledge in “ ” giving a name to the object : that is blue . u m Hence follows a sensation , pleasant or

i e o r pleasant , which produces des r disgust , which

in turn produces an act of volition , an action . Buddha is reported to have said that “ there is ” action , but there is not an agent .

A very bold statement , but a very logical

one . For what the heretics , that is the Brahmans ,

call a Self is not an individual , but a complex of hi r a a elements , some of w ch are material ( p ) and — — gross the Visible b—ody some of which are material and subtle the organs prop erly s o

— - call e d some of which are non material (a r fip i n ) — the states of consciousness , feeling , naming ,

will , cognition . Man is made of these elements 1 (s ka n db a s) ; he is a compound ; and no com

o u n d . E can be an individual, a being / —a This position , denial of any entity soul which gives unity and permanence to what we

call the individual, is to be j ustified by intricate h Speculations , both in the East , with the Budd ists ,

and in the West , with our modern psychologists .

But it is very simple in itself, and was made

intelli gible to any one by similes .

1 Fo r techni cal definitio n s s ee Abbi db a r m a ko fa 111 a n d Mr s Rhys

Dav d s P s cb ol o 1 1 0 £0 11. i , y gy , 9 4 , p . 4

THE BUDDHIST SOUL a r e o f n o e h n ce a n d o u w a i n th e m e bl birt , pri , if y lk iddl o f th e d a o n h o t s a n o u n i s e b a d fo r o u y dy gr d, it v ry y r ee n d i P r a o u o a o u m n . o u co m e f t , y r b dy y r i d y, did y ” ” o n o o o r i n a ch a o ? I ca m e i n a ch a o f t ri t ri t . “ — I f o u ca m e i n a ch a o e a n to m e wh a a ch a i o y ri t, xpl i t r t I s th e o e th e ch a o i s . p l ri t i n a co n ess es h a n e h e th e o e n o r the M li d f t t it r p l , a e n o r th e w h ee s n o r th e a m e n o r th e o e n o r xl , l , fr , y k , a n y p a rt o f th e ch a ri o t i s th e ch a rio t ; a n d Naga s en a “ ‘ ’ co n c u es : h en o u s a : I ca m e i n a ch a o l d W y id ri t ,

l . o u s o e a a s eho o a li e h e e i s n o ch a r i o t y y p k f l d, ; t r

For , as it is said elsewhere

‘ ’ J u st a s th e w o rd ch a rio t i s b u t a m o d e o f expres s o n fo r a e w h ee s a n d o h e co n s u en m em e s i xl , l , t r tit t b r , a ce i n a c e a n e a i o n to ea ch o h e b u t w h en pl d rt i r l t t r ; , w e co m e to e a m n e th e m em e s o n e o n e w e s co e x i b r by , di v r h a i n a n a so u e s en s e h e e i s n o ch a o u s a s t t, b l t , t r ri t ; j t ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ ‘ ’ th e w o s h o u se fis t u e a m c ee rd , , l t , r y, ity, tr , a r e o n ly m o d es o f expressio n fo r co ll ec ti o n s o f c erta in h n s s o s e i n a c e a n m a n n e i n e a c th e t i g di p d rt i r, x tly, ‘ ’ ‘ ’ s a m e w a th e w o s l n e n a n d e o a r e o n y, rd ivi g b i g g ly m o d es o f expr es sio n fo r a co m pl ex o f b o dily a n d n o n z o i co n s ti tu en ts b d ly . The problem of the whole and the parts

a o a a o a a o a a o i n ( y , y ) has been , in India , the topic hi of long and abstruse discussions . The Budd sts ' maintain that the who le is only an étr e de r a i s o n ;

e their opponents are as clever as th y are . That

1 M ili nda . 2 Rh s Da ds 1 . 0 a en , p 5 ; y vi , xxxv), p 4 ; W rr ,

B uddbi s m i n tr a n s l a ti on s . 12 E . . h o m a s B u ddhi s t Scri tu r es , p 9 ; J T , p ,

s do m o f th e E a st er es . 118. (Wi S i ), p 2 Vi suddbi m a a a u d a rr en . 1 . gg , p W , p 3 3 THE BUDDHIST SOUL 4 3

e this problem is a real one , not a m re logomachy , is made clear by th e following remark which well ’ “ summarizes N aga s en a s thought : If you infer an entity behind an individual man , you must also logically infer it behind every individual hi thing , such as a chariot . Budd sts rej ect both entities , and Plato equally logically accepts both, “ when he recogniz es in a bed the existence of some one Form , which includes the numerous particular things to which w e apply the same ” 1 R . name ( ep . x)

But it may be urged that , among the con s titu en ts of the Self, there is a constituent which is likely to be the very Self : the mind or thought n or co sciousness , the thing that exerts itself, that keeps the memory of its feelings and exertions .

e Sakyamuni was well awar of this obj ection , i 2 and he scornfully rej ects t .

Men i n en e a e en th e n o n - u hi s s wi n , g r l , v B dd t , lli gly a ee h a h s o c o m o s e o f th e o u e em en s gr t t t i b dy, p d f r l t , ea h w a e a i r a n d fi r e i s n o t th e S e h e ea s rt , t r, , lf ; t y ily di ves t th em s elves o f p a s sio n fo r it : th e in c rea s e a n d th e “ Bu t w a s ti n g a w a y o f th e b o dy a r e m a n ifes t en o u gh . h a O m o n s wh ch i s c a e m n ho u h co n s c o u s t t, k , i ll d i d , t g t , i n es s h e e th e n o n - u h s s ees hi s o w n S e a n d h e , r B dd i t lf,

1 E . Th o m a s B uddbi st Scr i tu r es . 11 . . J , p , p 9 1 Sa r u tta 11 . . ny , , p 94 44 THE BUDDHIST SOUL

i s n a e Wh i c p a bl o f di ves ti n g hi m s elf o f p a ssi o n fo r it . y d o I s a so ? eca u s e o m m e m m em o a o m y B , fr ti i ri l , fr th e b egi n n i n g o f tra n s m igra tio n w hi ch i s with o u t b egi n ni n th e n o n - u h s h a s h e ch e sh e a n d o e g, B dd i t ld, ri d l v d ‘ ’ h s n o o n : hi s i s m n e h s I a m h s i s m S e . t i ti t i , t i , t i y lf Bu t it i s l ess fo o li sh to co n sider th e bo dy co m po s ed o f th e e h a n e m n Wh o u em en s a s a S e a h e th . f r l t lf, r t r t i d y d o I s a s o ? eca u s e i s e i en O m o n s ha h s y B it v d t, k , t t t i o a s s fo r o n e ea fo r tw o h ee o u five ten b dy l t y r, , t r , f r, , , w en hi o ea s a s s fo r a hu n e t ty, t rty, f rty, fifty y r , l t dr d ea s d e en m e h a m o n s whi ch i s a n o . Bu t O y r v r t t, k , ca e m n h o u h c o n s c o u s n es s ee s u a n i n ces ll d i d, t g t, i , k p p s a n o u n d a a n d n h o f e shi n a s o n e t r d, by y by ig t, p ri g ” h n a n d S n n u a s a n o h e t i g p ri gi g p t r . The conclusion that seems to be forced upon us has been vividly drawn by Rhys Davids 1' Saky a m u n i a ckn o w l edged th e rea lity o f th e em o ti o n a l a n d n e ec u a s o s o n s b u t h e e u s e i t ll t l di p iti , r f d a s o u e to o o n h em a s a u n Th e o s o n b l t ly lo k u p t ity . p iti i s s o a s o u e s o o en n s s e o n s o u n a m en a to b l t , ft i i t d , f d t l th e ri ght u n d ers ta n din g o f pri m itive B u ddhi sm th a t it s e se a e e e n m s a e a o Yet i s n ti l th r sho u ld b o i t k b u t it . th e o s o n i s a s o s o o n a s o u n a m en a o o s e p iti l rigi l, f d t lly pp d to w h a i s u su a u n e s o o a s e i o u s e e o h t lly d r t d r l gi b li f, b t i n In a a n d e s ewh e e h a h e e i s ea em a o n di l r , t t t r gr t t p t ti to a tt em p t to fin d a Io o ph o le thro u gh w hi ch a t l ea s t a co e o r eso eri c e e i n a s o u a n d i n th e u u e e v rt t b li f l , f t r lif h a i s o f co u s e o f a so u c a n b e eco n z e i n s o m e (t t r l) , r g i d, s o o f w a a s a o f s o w e a cce e a e i o u s rt y, p rt id ly p t d r l gi s s em Th e e i s n o o o h o e a n d th e effo s to fin d y t . r l p l , rt o n e h a ve a lw a ys m et wi th u n sw ervi n g Opp o sitio n b o th i n th e S crip tu res (Pita ka s) th em s elves a n d i n extra ca n o n ca w o s i l rk .

1 Di al o u es o tb e B u ddb o 1 . 18 . g f , , p 9 THE BUDDHIST SOUL

IV Are we to admit this conclusion ?

If Man is a chariot , if there is no soul, there

e is no fr e will, no responsibility, no sin , no merit , no future life , no reward of actions in a future

e life . The r marks of Menander hold good . But it is an ascertained fact that , from the beginning , Buddhism waged an obstinat e war against the

th e Nas tik a s materialists or unbelievers , , that is , “ ” : the philosophers who say It is not , who deny the reward of good actions and the punish ment of bad ones in a future life . 1 We shall s ee that these unbelievers wer e — numerous at th e time of Sakyamuni a n epoch i — of ph losophic analysis and that Sakyamuni ,

e who is as a rul described as a denier of soul , may b e more exactly d escribed as a strong

e maintain r of responsibility and future life . He said :

To sa h a Ma n w hen th e o sso es i s cu t o ff y t t , b dy di lv , , er shes o es n o t e s a n o n e ha i s he es p i , d xi t y l g r, t t r y, h e e ca e e e e e e e c a wi e n ess h c a u n h . r ti l b li f, r ti l j gl , r ti l ld r

It is more than a heresy ; it is the heresy : ‘ it is what is calle d technically wrong view

1 See el o w 6 1. b , p . 4 6 THE BUDDHIST SOUL the most dangerous and wicked 1 among human errors and sins a s it is destructive

e of all morality , and precipitates the unbeli ver “ e into hell : You say that ther is no future life .

e ' e e W ll the ex cution rs of Yama , the king and the judge of the dea d will soon change your opinion on the matter .

th e So much for dogmatic evidences .

a ff On the other h nd , the texts which a irm the reward of actions , and the personal character of this reward , are innumerable . There are hun dreds of Birth stories , J atakas , legendary and

e : moral tales , stories of the days of yor all end in the same stereotyp e d sentences with the s o “ called identification of the characters : What i 0 — —I do you th nk , monks says Buddha was

th e wi Deva d a tta then se white elephant , was ” the wicked hunter . Els ewhere ' — — An a n d a th e b elo ve d di s cipl es h a s co m m itt ed su ch a Who wi en o th e u o f h s a ct b u t n a n a n a ct . ll j y fr it t i A d But the most emphatic affirmation of the

1 ‘ ‘ To el e e i n 3 el i s a he es dr s i th e sd sva ta o r s a tkd a b i v S f r y ( t) , y Her es e en s the a c u s t o n o f ho l n ess dr sti b u t i s n o t a sin . y pr v t q i i i i a n d o f N an a b u t do es n o t e en the a c u s o n o f m er . A irv , pr v t q i iti it m b eliever i n th e S elf m a y b e reb o rn a s a go d an d even a s Bra h a. On the co n a the d eni al o f the ewa d o f a ct o n s i n a fu u e l e tr ry, r r i t r if

i s a si n u s a s m u de he etc . , j t r r, t ft, THE BUDDHIST SOUL 4 7 personality of reward is perhaps to be found in the beautiful text (Deva dfi ta su tta ) which narrates the meeting of the sinner with Yama1

Ha e o u 0 m a n wh en o u ea ch e o ld a e h o u h v y , , y r d g , t g t ‘ wi h n o u s e : I a m ea h w e h en ' t i y r lf d t ; ll , t I w d o o o i n h o u h w o a n d ill g d t g t, rd o u e i ee s o u m o h e h a s n o t o n e n o r o u y r v l d d y r t r d , y r a h e n o r o u o h e n o r o u s s e n o r o u f t r, y r br t r, y r i t r, y r i en s a n d a s e s n o r o u co n n e i o n s a n d o o fr d dvi r , y r x bl d i s e a es n o r a s ce cs n o r a hm a n s n o r o s . I r l tiv , ti , Br , g d t yo u a lo n e w ho h a ve do n e th es e evil deeds ; yo u a lo n e en o h e u will j y t ir fr it .

V l Here is a ridd e . Here is a flagrant contra diction . On the one hand , the texts we have quoted and a large number of texts to the same — effect o n the composite nature of Man ; on the chariot- like character of Man ; on the origination — of consciousness , a mere sensationalism force upon us the conclusion that there is no S elf . On the other hand , we cannot doubt for a moment that actions are rewarded in a future life . The very text (above p . 4 3) which emphasizes the ‘ mobility and the unsubstantiality of what 18 ’ called mind, thought , consciousness explains

1 An utta r 1 . 1 8 W a en . g a, , p 3 ( rr , p 4 8 THE BUDDHIST SOUL

that Man looks upon his mind , thought and

e e consciousness as a S lf, b cause , from the

o f e beginning ages , he is accustomed to ch rish his mind , thought and consciousness , as his

Self . Thi s contradiction for a long time exercised the o h a s a acuteness of sch lars , but it fin lly been explained by a theory which has g a ined a fairly

e general approval . This theory is summariz d in

a i da i r e l . . : the p sentence of H C Warren Rebirth, h ’ r a n s i r a ti o n

‘ mg a Tfl fi

‘ s a n ler a m a s a m kr a n ti There is no migration ( r , ) , no passage of an individual from this life to a n

. a other When man dies , the physical organism ,

hi s i n e u a n o n w ch is the condition q of psychical life ,

e dissolv s , and the psychical life therefore comes “ to an end . Consciousness is only an inter mittent series of psychic throbs , associated with

- a living organism , beating out their coming to 2 ” know thr ough one brief span of life .

e e But , on the oth r hand , although th re is no

e migration , no future life of a soul , th re is rebirth, owing to the efficient force of the acts which the dead man has accomplished and whi ch inevitably

1 r a nsl a ti o ns . 2 . B uddhis m i n T , p 34 1 Mr s Rh s Da d s B uddbi s t P s chol o u es t e es y vi , y gy (Q S ri ,

5 9 THE BUDDHIST SOUL by one th e number of living and suffering beings .

e Such a cons quence is inevitable . With the exception of A . Barth , it was or it is , more or less reluctantly, admitted by the historians of hi Budd sm .

VI The riddle or contradiction has been ex plained by the Buddhists themselves . At the

l es deu x bo u ts de l a beginning , they held firmly cb a i n e— e e — th re is no Self, ther is rebirth without troubling themselves too much for an explana tion . But they soon discovered the explana tion when they combined the two ideas that are prominent in the oldest records of the Buddhist ‘ ’ tradition , the idea of causation and the idea of ‘ transitoriness ’ These two ‘ ’ ideas are merged in the idea of continuity .

It is true that , but for action , there would not be rebirth ; it is true that th e man who revives is the heir of th e actions of the dead man ; it is true that the man who revives is a new being , and that , therefore, there is no trans

fafo a ta : th e migration , no permanent identity ( ) texts , both scriptural and scholastic , are clear to THE BUDDHIST SOUL 5 1

f . that ef ect But the Buddhist added, from the

e e b ginning , that th re is no annihilation , cutting o ff a ceb eda e — ( ) , becaus as it was soon ascertained —if the being who revives is not the same as

o ld ff the one , it is not , on the other hand, di erent from the old one .

That seems a queer statement , but , in the words of the Brahman when explaining intricate “ mysteries to his wife , we are not to be perplexed ” a at this st tement , it is really very simple . In any case , it is quite Buddhist . ‘ ’ The problem of the non- identity of the new

o n e being with the previous , is only a special instance of the general rule of existence .

a n a a bb a o a Existence is transformation ( y tb ) . What I s called a being 18 a complex of different

: 18 constituents , a chariot that the Static point

‘ ' s a i ta n a of View . But a being is also a series ( n ) of successive states , originating in dependence ; hi a being is a fire or a plant . T s point of View, which may be styled dynamic , is to be traced in the Scriptures and is frequently insisted on in the scholastic texts .

When milk is turned into curds , the non

— fafo a ta identity, the non permanence ( ) is evident curds are not milk . But , as a matter of fact , ‘ ’ e u ccb eda th re is no interruption ( ) , because there — 4 2 5 2 THE BUDDHIST SOUL has been an incessant and gradual change in milk , long before it was curds , even when it k 1 seemed to be the same mil .

In the same way, Man is a living continuous

e hi u compl x , w ch does not remain q ite the same for two consecutive moments , but which continues fo r an endl ess number of existences without becoming completely different from z i ts elf .

If we consider a man at two different moments hi s of present life , it is safe to say that he is not the same ; but is it not equally evident that he is not another ?

‘ ’ Th e m u rderer who m th e ex ecu tio n ers l ea d to th e ‘ ’ sc a ffo i s n o t a m u e e fo r h e i s n o t th e s a m e m a n ld rd r r, wh o h a s co m m itt ed m u rd er ; b u t h e m erits pu n ishm en t b eca u se h e ca n n o t b e s a id to b e a n o th er th a n th e m u r ‘ ’ e e e n th e co n n u a o n o f th e m u de e Th e d r r, b i g ti ti r r r . gi rl i s n o t th e chi ld ; b u t sh e n everth el es s b elo n gs to th e m a n to wh o m sh e h a s b een m a rri ed w h en a child a s a th e o w Th e a h e o f th e a n d who h p id d ry . f t r girl h a s n o t th e righ t o f givin g th e girl to a n ew hu s b a n d ‘ ’ fo r a n ew o w eca u se th e i s th e co n n u a o n d ry, b girl ti ti 3 o f th e chi ld

In the same way, the being who is to enj oy

1 Wa r en B uddhi s m i n Tr a n s l a ti o ns . 2 . r , , p 3 7 1 i s uddbi m a a v111 Wa en . M a b dn iddes a . 11 V , p 7 ; gg , ( rr , p 3 n . Tho m a s B u d bi s t a o ll . Wa e 2 6 E . . d M i li nd . 6 , p 4 f ; rr , p 3 ; J ,

Scri tu r es . 12 . p , p 3 THE BUDDHIST SOUL 5 3 the fruit of the acts of a dead man is the con ti n u a ti o n of the dead man . 1 Here is a good simile .

l Let us imagine a jungle , bounded by a river , and a fire that is burning this jungle . As a matter

a of fact we have no right to spe k of a fire , as if

nl it were a unity . There is o y a succession of flames ; each of them lasts only for a moment and dies together with the fuel it consumes at the very place where it is born ; but these flames are generated in succession and strictly depending one upon another , although the fuel they consume is Spread over a large space . This fire , burning a jungle bounded by a river , provides us with an exact image of the life of a man during one

o - existence . l The physic psychical life does not depend upon a living principle (j i o a ) or a Self ; in itself it is not a something ; it is lacking both in substance and in unity ; it is only a series of phys I ca l states and of states of consciousness

a gener ted in succession , depending one upon

e another , although each of th m lasts only for

e a mom nt .

l Now suppose that , owing to the strength of th e th e wind , a fire were to appear across river , in another jungle , at the moment when the first

1 Th r e firs t p a t i s fr o m Abbi db a r m a s o u rces . 5 4 THE BUDDHIST SOUL

fire is dying on the nearer bank of the river . One cannot say that the fire has crossed the river ; one cannot say that the fire in the new jungle is not the very fire that has burned the

e : first j ungl in an absolute sense, there is not

fir e one , there are not two fires ; a fire does not exist indep endently of the fla m ei j In an a b s o lute sense, we are concerned with one succession of flames , and it is evident that this succession

u ccbi n n a has not been interrupted ( ) by the river , in the same way as it was not interrupted when it developed in the jungle itself . The fact is that , but for the wind , this succession would o ff have been cut on the nearer bank ; but , owing to the strength of the wind, a certain number of flames has been created, forming as it were a bridge between the two banks . That simile gives us an image of a living series extending over two or many different existences . Owing to the strength of the wind of actions , the—ultimate state of consciousness in an existenc e that is the consciousness of the

' - m a r a n a n ti lea dying man , the death consciousness ( ' — o ij nan a ) begets or rather inaugurates a Short series of states of consciousness (coupled with a subtle organism) , the last of which takes up

' its abode in some matrix (p r a ti s a m dbi o zyn an a THE BUDDHIST SOUL 5 5 4 It is in this way that the Buddhi st scholastic has solved the riddle and understood one of the clearest statements of S akyamuni ' If the con s ci o u s n es s were not to descend into the maternal womb , the new being , body and mind , would ” not arise .

How is therefore to be understood the Bud ‘ ’ dhi s t doctrine of s elflessn es s ? Does it mean that there is no soul and no future life of a soul ? C ertainly so , if we have in View a metaphysical hi entity, a soul w ch is sometimes looking through the senses , as so many windows , sometimes busied

e ul with itself , sometimes asle p ; a so which, with out being itself subj ect to change, is apt to take a new abode when the body dissolves . The

Buddhists do not admit any soul of this kind, for , according to them , it would be master of 1 its sensations and feelings ; but , in its stead , they recognize a living complex , a continuous

fluid complex both bodily and mental, a person which, in fact , possesses nearly all the characters of a soul as we understand the word : it continues through many existences eating the fruit of i ts acts ; it controls itself ; it makes exertions to

reach a better state ; it may, when it is sublimized

1 Vi n a a Texts 1 . 10 0 o ll . y , , p f 6 D 11 5 THE BU DHIST SOUL [C H .

by appropriate exertions , abandon its bodily con s titu en ts and live for centuries in some imma ter i al heaven as a pure spirit . But thi s person is not a substance and it is i therefore capable of dissolution . This d ssolution ‘ ’ is deliverance or Nirvana : the series of the states of consciousness I s interrupted at death when desire and action have been destroyed , j ust as the fire dies on the nearer bank of the river when there is no wind .

5 s BUDDHIST DEFINITION a belief is a very common one and has nothing l specifical y Indian . The doctrine of Karman presupposes the b elief in transmigration and is prima rily a ration a li s tic and moral explanation of the variety of the conditions of living beings through many

e e cons cutiv existences .

a n d a By a rationalistic mor l explanation , we mean an explanation which is founded on the principle of causality understoo d as follows ‘

The good deed is rewarded, the evil deed is ” punished ; an explanation which leaves no

a e place or very little pl ce for any th ological , mystical or superstitious agency : it is in the Very nature of a good deed to produce reward ; reward is automatically produced , that is inde pendently of any exterior factor , out of the very

e pot ntiality of the good de ed . The deep rea son of the origin and of the

Spread of this doctrine was , without doubt , a

o a sentiment of j ustice . It is n t j ust th t crime should remain unpunished and virtue unrewarded . Unmerited suffering and unmerit ed pleasure offend us for the same reason . Hence a certitude , a sort of scientific certitude , first that sin is certain to turn into pain a n d a good deed int o

a ple sure , j ust as for the modern physicist motion OF KARMAN 5 9

e turns into heat , and, s cond , that pain and pleasure are respectively the product of sin and of Virtu e . It may be said wi thout exaggeration that this

th e certitude has been , for centuries , strongest

- . e and most popular feeling of India Ev n to day, i in the castes which practise ch ld marriage , young widows are looked upon as criminal What a sinner you have been to lose your husband so soon '”

With the Buddhists , the doctrine of Karman 1 is , as a rule , strictly understood , and is almost

- everything . In the case of the non Buddhists , with the possible exception of the ‘ religions of ’ bb a ktz e devotion ( ) , it is no l ss important , although z s tr i ctl it is not understood y .

We propose to examine the history of Karman , h and the part of Budd ism in this history . The conclusion of this inquiry will be ( 1) that the 2 Buddhists did not discover Karman , but ( ) that they were among the first to give a reasonable

e e and moral d finition of Karman . Moreov r the Buddh ists alone were successful in drawing from the doctrine of Karman all its consequences :

1 N a s en a in M i li nd a . 1 a n sl a o n 1 1 1 i s n o t s fi c . g , p 3 4 (tr ti , , 9 ) tri t 1 ‘ ’ See W. H o k n s Mo d ca t o n s o f the K a m a Do c r n e p i , ifi i r t i ,

1 0 6 . 8 1 1 0 . 66 . 9 , p 5 , 9 7 , p 5 60 BUDDHIST DEFINITION

human destiny , cosmogony and theogony are ,

in Buddhism , built on Karman .

II

There were , at the time of Sakyamuni ,

I e ( ) unb lievers , deniers of soul , transmigration 2 and action , ( ) believers in transmigration and

e in destiny , (3) beli vers in transmigration who foreshadowed the doctrine of action , (4) believers in trans migration and in action .

We have , but briefly , studied the development

of philosophical analysis which , for a long time , had been destroying the old religious and cosmical notions of the Aryas . This analysis created an esoteric theology—literally a gnosis—took a pan

o r theistic monistic direction , and finally made

e prominent the idea of the univ rsal Self . But that 18 only one of the branches of the ‘ ’ philosophical evolution , the orthodox branch , or the Vedic or Brahmanic br a nch properly so called . In contrast with pantheists and mystics , there were materialists and positivists—many more , as it seems , in old India than later .

Our sources , which are both Brahmanic and 1 e . Buddhistic , agre on the whole Brahmanic 1 ‘ M ’ See H a s n s a r t. a er a l sm . ti g , t i i OF KARMAN 6 1 sources lay much stress on the impiety of the ‘ ’ ‘ ’ —b e a n would philosophers , philosophasters (p di ta m an i ka ) who do not believe in the Veda and in

Sacrifice . Buddhists , who themselves broke with r e sacerdotalism and theology, are especially p occupied vvi th the negation of soul and future life .

The common name for the ‘ unbelievers ’ is ' ‘ ’ ‘ ’ lea a a i /ea l o t n as t y , mundane , and , negator , ‘ ’ ‘ ’ : n a a s ti denier , people who say , it is not that

e is , when a priest or a m ndicant wants an alms “ ” “ There is nothing for you ; and also : There a ff is no such thing as a gift , a s crifice , an o ering , ” “ a result of good or evil deeds ; there is no ” : mother , no father parents are not entitled “ to any respect ; no ascetic or Brahman has discovered truth or can ascertain the reality of another life ” the sacerdotal tradition and the revelations of the holy men , leaders of ascetic orders , are alike falsehoods and vain pretences to extort money . The unbelievers had probably a sort of philo sophy . When we get more precise information

a concerning them , that is some centuries fter

as tik a s the time of Buddha , we are told that the N were strong materialists , in the modern meaning

of the word . Man is made of material elements ; BUDDHIST DEFINITION psychical phenomena are to be explained by the special possibilities of these elements when com b i n ed in a certain mixtur e : just as a mixture of rice

e and water dev lops an intoxicating power , in the same way consciousness arises in the living body .

as tik a s However it may be with the ancient N , the old Buddhist texts report their views as follows 1 '

Ma n i s co m o s e o f o e em e s en a n p d f u r l n t . Wh M i es th e ea h e em en e u n s a n d e a s es n o th e d , rt y l t r t r r l p i t ea rth ; th e w a tery el em en t retu rn s in to th e w a t er ; th e fi ery el em en t r etu rn s in to th e fir e ; th e wi n dy el em en t e u n s n o th e wi n h e s en es a s s S a e o u r t r i t d ; t s p in to p c . F r m en w h th e co s e a s a h o to th e c em e er , it rp fift , g t y, m u m u n a e Bu t h e o n es a r e ea ch e i n r ri g pr y rs . t b bl d th e fla m e a n d th e o ffe n s o f th e n e sh i n th e , ri g livi g p ri a sh es o f hi s e s e a n d o o a e w h en th e o pyr . Wi f l lik , b dy s s e ff e s n e o s a r e cu t o h do n o t e s a n o . di lv , , p ri , xi t y l g r

A a Thus spoke t of the garment of hair .

P u r i n a Therefore , as says Kassapa

Th ere i s n o gu ilt fo r th e m a n w h o m u tila t es o r Ca u s es a n o h e to m u a e w ho i s a es w h a i s n o t en t r til t , k ll , t k t giv , ea s n o h o u s es co m m s a co o r o e o r br k i t , it d ity, r bb ry, a u e a n d s o n Sho u h e m a e a ll n c ea u es d lt ry ; o . . . ld k livi g r t r o n e h ea o n e m a s s o f fl esh h e e w o u b e n o u p , , t r ld g ilt . e e h e to o a o n th e a n es n a m s a n d o e n W r g l g G g givi g l , rd ri g gi fts to b e w o u ld b e n o Such were the strange sermons of the unbe lieving ascetics ; for ascetics had an absolute

1 Di al o u es B u ddb a 1 . 6 6 1 . g of , , pp 4 , 9, 7 , 7 3 OF KARMAN 63

right of preaching the truth . As says the King “ A ata éa tr u : u j How sho ld such a one as I am , think of giving dissatisfaction to any ascetic or ” ? w a s Brahman in my realm In India , thought free ; Opinion was no crime ; but evildoers were summarily dealt with .

as tik a s Side by side with the thorough N , a few philosophers , while believing in soul and transmigration , denied action and reward .

Th ere a r e eighty- fo u r h u n dred th o u s a n d p eri o ds u i n wh ch o h o o s a n d w s e a e w a n e i n i n d r g i b t f l i lik , d r g a n sm a o n w a t a s m a e a n en d o f tr igr ti , ill l t k h a n es s a n d a n m ea su e o u t a s w e e w h a ppi p i , r d , it r , it m ea su e ca n n o b e a e e i n th e co u s e o f a n sm a r , t lt r d r tr igr o n h e e a e e n ea e n r e ea s e e eo ti ; t r c n b e n ith r i cr s o d cr th r f . J u s t a s a b a ll o f s tri n g w ill s tretch j u s t a s fa r a s it ca n u n wi n u s s o o h o o s a n d w s e a e a r e w a n e i n d, j t b t f l i lik d r g i n a n sm a n e h e a o e e m tr igr tio xa ctly fo r t ll tt d t r . Th e e i s n o ca u se e h e u m a e o r em o e fo r r , it r lti t r t , th e d epra vity o r rec titu de o f b ein gs ; th ey b eco m e e a e o r u e wi h o ea so n a n d w h o u c a u s e d pr v d p r t u t r it t . Th ere i s n o su ch thi n g a s p o w er o r en ergy o r hu m a n s en h o r hu m a n o u e n s a r e en h s w a tr gt vig r . B i g b t t i y o r h a h e a e h e n u a n a u e t t by t ir f t , by t ir i divid l t r .

Nor were th e Brahmans very clear concerning the power which predetermines transmigration . It is true that references to Karman are not wanting

Th e s a t ea h a es u o n s e a n o h e n ew pirit, d t , t k p it lf t r o m a o m o f a h e s o r o f a n dha a s o f n e o r f r , f r F t r G rv , divi 64 BUDDHIST DEFINITION hu m a n n a u e o r o f a n o h e i n o f t r , y t r k d h e a c e a n d a s h e w a e s o h e eco m es He e t d lk d, b . wh o do s o o eco m es a o o e n h e wh o o es b a d g d b g d b i g, d b eco m es a b a d e n h e eco m es u e u e a c o n e b i g ; b p r by p r ti , vil by e a c o n vil ti . Elsewhere we meet a formula which is dis ti n c tl hi y Budd stic in tone and in meaning .

’ a n s n a u e e en s o n esi e As hi s es e s . o M t r d p d d r d ir , i s hi s a s a o n a s hi s a s a o n s o i s th e co u s e o f pir ti ; pir ti , r a ctio n whi ch h e pu rsu es ; wh a t ever b e th e co u rs e o f a c o n h e u su es h e a ss es to a co es o n i n s a e ti p r , p rr p d g t t o f e n b i g .

But , according to an important passage in

th e the same book , doctrine of Karman is a

e new doctrine , a doctrine to be kept s cret . In the course of a phi losophical tournament such tournaments are not a rarity from the — oldest times down to Akbar J ar a tk é r a va Arta bhaga questions Yaj fi a va lk ya on the destiny of

th e e the dead, and cel brated Brahman answers “ Give me your hand , my friend ; we two alone must be privy to thi s ; not a word on that subj ect where people are listening And the narrator dryly summarizes the debat e they had privately

e What they said , th y said regarding action ; ” by pure action , man becomes pure .

To sum up , references to Karman are not

o ld numerous in the Brahman literature, the

66 BUDDHIST DEFINITION

hi they believe in Karman . The Master, for t s

a re son , made an exception to the rule which wisely secured a thorough preparation for fu ll 1 admission to the Order . But our point is that the t eaching of Sakya

muni on Karman is in no way an improvisation , and clearly obtains a success whi ch it could not have obtained if it had been new . Sakyamuni

taught a path to deliverance, because many people were anxious to get deliverance . The same holds good for Karman . Human destiny , free

l efli ca c wil , the y of penance for destroying sin , — ‘ tog ether with such questions as Is the soul ‘ ’ — ’ the Is the universe i n fin i te ? were the topics of lively discussions among hermits l and mendicants ; whi e the laymen , who actually fed all these troops of spiritual men , took great interest in these phil o s o phu m en a and were disposed to admit the doctrine of Karman . This

e doctrine, as well as the doctrin of transmigra tion which it so happily completes , was already deeply rooted in the pop ul ar feeling .

1 I t m a y b e u rged tha t thi s excep tio n pro ves tha t the b eli ef i n u es t o n a s ce t o n a l e h nk ha the o n l l e t m a e q i w al so ex p i . W t i t t y gi i t co n cl u sio n i s th a t n o o th er co n stitu ted b o dy o f a s cetics w a s a ccepta bl e a s a Who l e to the Bu ddhists . OF KARMAN

III As far as we can surmise—there are many more conj ectures than ascertained facts in this — old hi story S a kyamuni was the first or one of the first to gi ve a reasonable and moral d efin i tion of Karman . That appears from the comparison between

hi th e o the Budd sts and Jains , a p werful mendi cant order which originated or was reorganized a few yea rs before S a kyamuni .

The Jains are , in many respects , very much

i hi e a ff l ke the Budd sts , so much lik th t the di erent

e e origin of the two s cts was for a long tim denied . — They are good atheists they even obj ect to the

deo o o a r s a ti z es i3a common Indian saying , , g ; they - b e lieve that Karman is the governing force in human destiny . But they cherish the most materialistic idea of Karman . They are of opinion that bodily and verbal actions are important , that they create a subtle matter that envelops the soul and produces retribution—whereas mental action

fli a i s i n e c c o u . is weak ,

Buddhism, on the contrary , teaches that there is no Karman without consciousness and even premeditation . BUDDHIST DEFINITION

Karman is twofold : ( 1) volition or mental or spiritual action and ( 2 ) what l i is born from vo ition , what is done by vol tion , ‘ ’ e what a person do s after having willed , namely 1 bodily and verbal action . i By giving gold, wh le intending to give a Stone ,

a gift of gold is indeed made ; but , as it has not i been premeditated or w lled , the act is as if it were ‘ ’ e not done . It is not appropriat d ; it is not ‘ ’ u a i a stored up ( p c t ) ; it wi ll bear no fruit . In l the same way , if a man ki ls his mother when striking at what is believed to be a pumpkin ,

e e there is no matricide , th r is no murder , there is l on y destruction of a fruit .

e The Jains criticiz this doctrine strongly , and would believe that the unintentional mur derer of hi s mother is a hideous criminal . The man who commits murder , or who harms in any way a living being , without intent , is none the less guilty, j ust as a man who touches fire is burned .

But this would lead to palpable absurdities . The embryo and the mother would be guilty of

ffe making each other su r . The murdered man

b e himself would guilty , for he is the obj ect and therefore the origin of the action of murder .

1 Sa r u tta 11 . M a db a m a ka o rtti . 0 6. ny , , p 99 ; y , p 3 OF KARMAN 69

Fur ther the comparison of the fire is not a happy one : a man would not be guilty of murder if he got another person to commit it , for we are not burnt when we touch fire by means of another . Again unconscious sin would be more heavy than conscious sin : a man who touches hot l iron without knowing that it is hot , is ikely to be more deeply burnt than the man who 1 knows .

This contrast of the Buddhist doctrine with the Jain doctrine draws our attention to this

a fact that the views of S kyamuni , which seem

e to us reasonable indeed , but rath r evident , were

- bold and new, and of far reaching consequences . To take the risk of acquitting the u n i n ten ti o n a l murderer was in fact to break with the immemorial conception of sin . We do not mean that , in the oldest times , a moral conception of duty and sin did not exist ; but sin was also looked upon as a sort of contagious fluid , a sort and the most dangerous sort of impurity . One becomes sinful , hateful to gods and men , not

1 Wh en s a n hes e co n s e u en ces o f the a n o n o n the t ti g t q J i pi i , a u tho r o f the Abb i db a r m a ko i a (ch a pter I v) fo rgets tha t Nag a s en a ea ches M li n d a the h t i very J a in d o ctrin e a n d t e sim i l e o f the fir e. ‘ ’ I n h s co n n e o n co m a e Pl a o o n the li e i n the s o ul Re t i xi , p r t ( p . ‘ ’ 1 d B o u r al u n h a u n s e Bk 1 a n d o e o t e ss e co c n ce. . , f i 7 o BUDDHIST DEFINITION

ul only by sinf acts , but also by kinship or any sort of contact . A consequence of this materia listic co n cep tion is that sin is to be dispelled by physical contrivances , is to be burnt out by penances

ta a s — ( p ) , by the heat penance standing between the four penitential fires , with the sun above when the sin is as it were ‘ extracted ’ from the body along w ith the perspiration . Or the sin is to be washed away by baths , especially by baths

o in the h ly water of the Ganges . These old and always living specul ations have been somewhat Spiritualiz ed in some Indian religions , but Buddhism alone radically ignores

e We e d efi n i or cancels th m . must consid r this “ tion , Karman is volition , and bodily or verbal ll action which fo ows volition , as one of the steps in the history of the Indian thought .

Volition is all important . Our future depends

e a n d on our pr sent volition , our present state depends on our past volition .

All th a t w e a r e i s th e resu lt o f wh a t w e h a ve th o u gh t ; i t i s fo u n d ed o n o u r th o u ghts ; it i s m a de u p o f o u r ho u h s I a m a n s ea s o r a c s w h a n e h o u h t g t . f p k t it vil t g t , a n o o w s hi m a s th e wh ee o o w s th e o o o f th e o x p i f ll , l f ll f t h a a w s th e w a o n t t dr g .

ll We are what we think , we are what we wi . OF KARMAN 7 1 While emphasizing the all—importance of

i e e i m vol tion , Buddhism do s not minimiz the

n d portance of bodily a verbal action , the action that a person does after having wi lled . To forsake the secul ar life and actually j oin the Buddhi st Brotherhood is an entirely different ll thing from resolving to do so . To ki a man is more hideous than to resolve to kill a man . It hi is true that , in the case of a Ris , endowed with ll magical power , the resolve to ki actually kills ; but in the case of ordinary mortals murder sup a poses wi ll strong and persistent .

A o n o f th e a e s ch o a s c s m i s w o h m en o n n p i t l t r l ti i rt ti i g . ‘ Whil e a pu re vo litio n o n ly l ea ves tra c es (o ds a n a ) i n th e s e es o f h o u h s o di a n d e a a c o n s—wh ch a r e ri t g t , b ly v rb l ti i — co rp o rea l a n d m a teri a l c rea te a thi n g o f a p a rticu la r n a u e s em - m a e a r u a a n d s em - s u a wh ch t r , i t ri l ( p ) i pirit l , i ‘ i s c a e a c o n a ho u h i s ea a esu o f a c o n ll d ti lt g it r lly r lt ti . S ch o a s cs n a m e a o i n a t n c e o u c e a l ti it j p i . O pr d d by o u n a e a o r o a c o n o i n a ti th e a o t n a ti v l t ry v rb l b dily ti ( j p ) , j p e s s a n d e e o s o f i ts o w n a cco w ho u th e a en c xi t d v l p rd, it t g y o f ho u h w h e h e a m a n i s w a n s ee n o r a s o e t g t , t r ki g, l pi g b rb d i n o n em a o n c t pl ti . Th e id ea w hi ch ga ve ri se to th e co n c ep ti o n o f a o fi a ti i s c ea en o u h A m a n wh o h a s a en h e ij p l r g . t k t vo w s (s a m o a r a ) o f th e r eligio u s life by a so l em n d ecl a ra o n o i na ti — a e a a c o n —i s n o t a m a n l e o h e s ti ( j p ) v rb l ti ik t r . He h a s en a e hi m s e to a o c e a n a c o n s i n g g d lf v id rt i ti , k lli g, e n hi s e—m e He s n s ea n tc . u i o t a a s . w t li g , , d ri g lif ti l y p o n d eri n g o ver this en ga gem en t du ri n g s l eep o r a t a n y 7 2 BUDDHIST DEFINITION o th er tim e ; n everth el es s a s l o n g a s h e h a s n o t fo rm a lly given u p hi s vo w s o r co m m itted a n a c tio n co n tra ry to hi s o w s h e em a n s a m a n wh o h a s a en th e o w s v , r i t k v , ‘ litera lly wh o i s res tra i n ed hi s a vo ida n ce o f si n fu l a c tio n s i s a n o th er thi n g th a n th e ca su a l a vo id a n ce o f sin fu l a c ti o n s by a m a n wh o h a s t a k en n o W VO S .

‘ ’ An action , to be complete and really ‘ ’ ‘ ’ e hr e fruitful , apt to rip n , must consist of t e

: 1 o parts ( ) the preparati n , that is the first volition and all the contrivances necessary to the ‘ ’ - s o . called principal action For instance , a

e e butcher arises , tak s some money, go s to the m arket , buys a goat , has the knife in his hand ; ( 2 ) the princip a l action : the killing of the goat ‘ the actual death- dealing blow ; (3) the back of the principal action : the cutting up and sell ing

etc . of the meat , The Buddhi st theory of confession is based upon thes e considerations . The moral benefit or merit (pu n ya ) of a gift I S totally or almost totally . lost for the gi ver if he regrets his gen erosity ; 1l the same way a sin is not done, it is only ha f ’

e e . done, if one r gr ts one s sin Confession , as it is practised by the Buddhist monks , is not a sacramental rite ; it is an expression of repent ” ff : ance , an a irmation I will not do it again , and also the accomplishment of one of the vows

7 4 BUDDHIST DEFINITION

f a o r a a so many superstitions ( i l t ) . In the same way they abandon the most pious among the pious works of yore , gifts to the dead, funeral rites : the monks took no care of the funeral of

Sakyamuni himself .

‘ Morality alone makes the value of an act .

The fact has often been emp hasized that the

hi ul t Budd st r e of morali y is , or seems to be,

e a purely n gative one : to avoid the ten sins . “ ll Do not ki , do not take what is not given , do l ”— not indu ge in illicit love, three bodily sins . “ i Do not use misch evous , rude , mendacious , ”— “ foolish language, four verbal sins Do not cherish lust , hatred , wrong doctrines , especially —the doctrine that there is annihilation at death, three mental sins . A layman has to accept thi s tenfold discipline or restraint (s a m o a r a ) to be admitted as a ‘ ’ u as a lea devotee ( p ) . Monks take a more strict

: discipline for instance , they renounce not only ll i icit love , but also marriage ; but the negative character of their morality (bbi les u ta) is the same as it is for laymen .

Are we to conclude that positive morality ,

e o hi altruism or lov , is f reign to the Budd st ideal

? e . of conduct As is w ll known , scholars disagree OF KARMAN 7 5

P . i s ch el e R , following Taine , has maintain d that love of one’ s neighbour is the leading motive of Buddhism 1 It may be first observed that Indian philo sophers have b e en from of old keen enough to understand that man has always in View his

' e own interest , ven when he seems to be the most generous and disinterested . They have “ discovered La Rochefoucauld long ago . It is for the sake of Self that Man loves cattle , wife, sons or riches , says the Upanisad . And S a kyamuni comforts the king P r a s en a t and hi s wife the queen Mallik a this loving pair ashamed at discovering that each of them “ preferred hi s or her S elf to anybody else : I do ‘ ‘ a not see , says S kyamuni , any living being in the thr ee worlds who does not prefer his own Self to anything 2 3 - - Self love , self love well understood , governs

all the actions of a Buddhist , whether monk or

layman . The monk has arrived at a stage in the spiritual car eer when a purely egoist b ehaviour

h a s is necessary . The monk not to practise

1 Ta n e N o u vea u x Ess a i s P i s chel B uddb a Olden e A us i , ; , ; b rg,

I ndi en a n d I r a n a n d Deu ts cb e Ru n ds cb a u 1 0 8 v1 . 80 . , , 9 , , p 3 2 S a u t n ta 1 . r y , , p 7 5 . 3 Sa u t a r ka 111 t . 1 a en ata . 2 . my , I , p 7 (W r , p . f , , p 7 9 7 6 BUDDHIST DEFINITION

o — h e good acti ns , such actions has done in heaps

—h e o e in former births , has only to av id vil

o f actions , to avoid any occasion an evil action ,

e e to extinguish desir . His id al is absence of

e d sire , absence of action . The monk has broken natural and social bonds ; he has no o bligation 1 w e hi s e . towards his former if , form r children The case is quite different as concerns the

h e layman . The layman has to acquire merit ,

t . has to do positive acts of morali y , good acts ’ A g ood act is the act that benefits one s neigh ’ bour ; a bad act , the act that harms one s neigh z ” b o r u .

Such a dogmatical definiti o n of good and evil

u o is scarce, and as a r le the m rality of acts is “ to be known by their fruits : A good act is an act that ripens into a pleasurable existence ; ff ” e . a bad act , an act that begets su ring Proofs are innum erable that Buddhi sts recommend good acts of every description . A man who does Si n l not commit any wi l be reborn as a man , not l as an inhabitant of hel , an animal or a ghost ; but if this sinless person is wanting in positive

1 z Ol en e B b a u h er . 1 . d u dd . Fo c b rg, , tr , p 4 9 1 ‘ ’ Th e Abbidb a r m a kOSa s a es h a w o n ew s ee a o e t t t t r g vi ( b v , “ i s si n hen i t ceeds to d s cu s s hi s s a em en : H o w p . 4 6) a ; t pro i t t t t ‘ ’ ca n it b e s aid tha t wro n g vi ew i s a si n sin ce a go o d a ct i s the a ct ’ th a t b en efits o n e s OF KARMAN 7 7

meritorious actions , especially in giving , he will be reborn as a poor man . Whereas a generous man , who has indulged in some sin , will , it is true , pay for thi s sin by rebirth in an inferior state

l l e e (he l , but he wil also , after being r l ased

o o f e fr m the ties sin , nj oy on this earth , as a rich man , or in heaven , as a god , the fruit of his gifts .

Among meritorious actions , giving is the most

e fruitful . It may be inter sting to state the principles of the valuation of the merit of giving . On e must take into account :

1 Th e e e . qualiti s of the giv r , faith , morality ‘ : learning , and his intention in giving I give in ’ ‘ e e ord r to rec ive in my turn , I give because ’ ‘ e I have receiv d , I give because my parents and grand- parents were wont to give

2 . : The manner of giving with respect ,

the a a t e with right h nd , the opportun moment .

e 3 . The qualities of the obj ect given , exc l

l . lence in colour , sme l , and so on There is never ’ thel es s l e an episode para l l to the widow s mite .

. a e th e 4 The qu liti s of person who receives , ‘ ’ lesetr a that is , as Indians say , the field ( ) on which the gift is poured . Much depends , in hi t Budd sm and in Brahmanism , on the fertili y

a of the field . Our sources distinguish ( ) the 7 8 BUDDHIST DEFINITION

excellence in r elation to the kind of existence a gift to a wicked man has a hundred times the value o f a gift to an animal ; (5) the excellence due to suffering : gifts to the poor and to th e sick are especiall y productive of fruit ; ( c) the excell ence due to servi ces received : our parents are our benefa ctors and have a right to our gifts ; hi the preacher , who teaches us the Budd st doctrine , gives us a second birth , better than the d first ; ( ) last not least , the excellence due to qualities , morality, knowledge , in a word to sanctity . Buddhists are not as j ealous as the

a Brahmans , and S kyamuni extols the gifts made to the ascetics of the rival s ects . But a Buddhist ‘ ’ e e monk is evid ntly a better field than a h retic .

b e A gift to a Buddha , small as it may , is very good indeed . The gift given by a man who does not care for reward , who gives in order to free himself

u from greed , who understands f lly the Buddhist

— u n su b s ta n doctrine , that is , who knows the

‘ ti a li t n a i r a tm a the y ( y ) of the giver , of gift and — of the receiver , that is the best gift .

‘ ’ ' ‘ The confusion of good (leu s a l a ) and meri ’ ’ to r i o u s u n a , bearing a pleasant fruit (p y ) , which seems to be one of the consequences of OF KARMAN 7 9 the doctrine of Karman as understood by the hi Budd sts , leads to some results that are not perfectly sound . For instance , a man will abandon secular life in order ' to be reborn as a god and to enj oy pleasures incomparably

he e greater than t pleasures of human lif . The story of Nanda is a good illustratio n of this case once this relative of Sakyamuni r ealizes that hi s wife cannot vi e with the celestial damsels just as the female apes cannot Vie with his wife

—he n becomes a mo k , for he will obtain , through actual continence, sensual pleasures of the 1 highest degree . An action is good when it does not aim at

a i bi ka immediate ( ) ends , when it is made in order to obtain reward in a future life ; it is

V iz . bad when it aims at an immediate end, hi pleasure in t s life . This rule , practically a golden rule, is possibly a little too empirical .

But to appreciate it without prej udices , we must remember, first , that a system of morals is not to be estimated from the details of casu i s tr i y, and, second , that the true Buddh st is the man who does not care for merit or reward , but who strives for Nirvana .

1 ’ é a ho a A v s Sa u n da r a n a nda kd a a a l a n sl a o n A. g s oy , p rti tr ti by B a s o n 1 12 1 t , 9 , , p . 7 9. C H A PTER I V

THE DOCTRI NE O F KARMAN AND TRANS I G I S G Y G Y M RAT ON , CO MO ON , THEO ON

I h n sm f sm a o n I I l ass fica o n ec a o an . . o f ac o . M i tr igr ti C i ti ti n s h h i a ti n d m ec an sm o f e fr u ct fic o . I I I e a n . s n i t ir D ti y,

- ll I o sm o o n w V . h o f ee so a . e o n r i , lid rity C g y. V . T g y.

I The Buddhists did not discover the notion

e of Karman , but th y were amongst the first to

e th e emphasiz its importance , and probably first to understand clearly its nature . It remains to be s een how the doctrine of Karman provides them with a ratio nalistic theory of the soul as

- a transmigrating non entity, with a theory of cosmogony, or creation of the world , and of theogony , or origin of the gods .

Man , according to the Buddhists , is not a

a n metaphysical entity , individual , a thing in

cb o s e en . itself ( a self Were he a Self , he could not be m o difi e d ; he could not be exti n g u i s h ed ; he would endure as he i s a n d as he

8 2 C H . KARMAN AND TRANSMIGRATION , [ the consequences of this principle ; but what follows is the essential . If we consider the changes a being undergoes during th e long j ourney through transmigratio n —more exactly the changes which modify the — complex w e call a b eing f i t is evident that these

a th e chang es r e of a manifold nature . On one — hi hand , they are either physico psyc cal or moral .

a On the other hand , they are either sm ll or great , either of the nature of an evolution or of the

a nature of revolution . There is a n incessant change both physico psychical and moral .

I n th e course of one existence , that is , between what is call e d conception or birth and what is

e - called d ath , physico psychical changes are , as a rule , small . When a being is born as a man , an animal, a god , it lives and dies as a man , an

a . anim l , a god There are exceptions . It is , for instance , recorded that a certain monk for having abused the congregation and having styled hi s '” colleagues Women suddenly became a woman . It happens that the murderer of a saint is

e thrown down alive into h ll , and , without

a dying as a man , is wr pped in a body of hell . — Such events are rare . The physico psychi cal k changes that ta e place during a life do not , as I v THEOGON 8 ] COSMOGONY , Y 3

a rule , affect the general frame of the body or the mind .

Moral changes may, on the contrary, be

enormous , as is the case when a man becomes a ‘ saint or a murderer , when a man plants a strong ’ root of merit or when he commits a hellish sin . Let us observe in passing that man and woman alon e are usually regarded as being capable of sin or good deeds . The other states of existence,

a hells and par dises , are almost exclusively states of enj oyment , of reward or punishment .

But then comes death . Death occurs when the mass of actions that were to receive r etr ib u tion in some existence is exhausted . A life as — — a rule for there are exceptions is measured out with a measure , in length , in pains and pleasures , to make up exactly the quantity and the quality of r eward for the enj oyment of whi ch this life has been started . Death, we say, is the moment for great physico- psychical changes hi which depend on moral changes . At t s moment, a sort of balance is made of the moral debit and

e cr dit . The moral Status is ascertained and the next existence is to be in accordance with this — status . A new physico psychical complex suited hi to t s next existence is to be created, and, in order to create it , the last state of consciousness ,

6—2 8 AN AND AN C H . 4 KARM TR SMIGRATION , [

that is , the dying consciousness , takes such and such a form . For instance , if the new existence l is to be hel , the dying man hears the cries of the

h e e damned ; dies and, at the sam moment , the dying consciousness is continued into the first state of consciousness of a new infernal being . This first state of consciousness of a new being ‘ ’ - is what we call technically, birth consciousness ‘ ’ or conception- consciousness (p r a ti s a m dbi o i

fi d n a j ) .

Here we have to make a distinction . Infernal beings and gods have no parents ‘ ’ their birth is apparitional, that is , is accounted

a . e for as a magical pparition To put it oth rwise, the birth- consciousness of a new god or creature

e of hell is apt to make for its lf and by itself, out of unorganized matter , the body it is to inhabit . Therefore the birth of such beings will follow immedi a tely after the death of the being which is to be reborn as infernal being or god . ff The case is di erent , as a rule , with animals ,

“ m en ghosts and ; with such beings , birth or conception presupposes physical circumstances that may not be re a liz ed at the moment of the death of the being to be reincarnated . Physical 8 COSMOGONY , THEOGONY 5 conditions of conception are wanting if a being is to be reborn as a dog at a moment when the season of dogs is over . Physical conditions of birth are wanting for such animals as maggots ,

a r e which born from putrid meat , if there is no meat to be found in such a state . In these cases , and in many similar cases , the dying consciousness c a n n o t b e continued at once into

- the birth consciousness of a new being . Hence a difficulty which is clearly solved by ‘ the schools which maintain the s o - calle d inter mediary existence ’ According to these Schools , the dying consciousness is con ti n u ed - Ga n db a r o a into a short lived being , named , which lasts for seven days or for seven times — seven days evidently a notion borr o wed from

e . the animistic th ories of old This Gandharva ,

di s i n ca r n a ted s very like a spirit , create , with the

e o help of the conc pti nal elements , an animal

e o embryo , a ghostly or human mbryo , as s on as it can find opportunity . It is driven by the wind of acts towards th e right matrix ; but there

e e : a are , sometim s , mistak s for instance it h ppens that the new animal is born as a j ackal instead of a dog .

The decisive element on which depends the 86 n AND o . KARMAN TRANSMIGRATION , [

next existence is the dying consciousness . It is the dying consciousness which originat es the

- birth consciousness , and which is the immediate

- cause of the birth consciousness . That the moral dispositions at death are of great importance has been admitted by many a religion , in India and outside India . And that these dispositions depend on the li fe whi ch is ending , that a man dies as he has lived, this is also a common notion and not a bad piece of psychology . Ideas that have been cherished during life reappear at death ; a man has , in this crucial moment , a Vivid memory of his sins and good — deeds , and, in the latter case , of the reward for whi ch he has been striving . S akyamuni says this in so many words

A man , who is endowed with merit , has been “ thinking May I , when my body dissolves , '” obtain rebirth in a powerful princ ely fa mily

He thinks this thought , dwells on this thought , hi cherishes this thought , and t s thought , which

e ll he has thus cherished and fost red , wi be his “ h last thought . T is is , O monks , the avenue and path which leads to rebirth in a powerful princely

family . The last thought is often a summary and the I v COSMOGON 8 ] Y, THEOGONY 7 res u lt of the moral and intellectual life o f a dying man . But such is not always the case . The last thought is to bring about the next ex istence ; it is therefore predetermined by the action which is to be rewarded in thi s next exi s tence—and this action may be a very ancient action , performed many centuries ago . This will be made evident by an example .

When an animal is to be reborn as a man , it will have a dying consciousness to this effect . This dying consciousness does not depend on any action or thought of the animal , for animals are du ll and incap a ble of morali ty ; this dying con s ci o u s n es s depends on some ancient good deed

’ to r i en which was p into a human birth and which , for a long time , has been prevented from pro d u ci n g its result : there was a mass of bad actions

first requiring retribution . Now that this mass of bad actions has borne its fruit—let us say a score of infernal or animal rebirths—the turn of the good action comes at last , and the last animal in the score of animal rebirths cherishes

e in its last moment the ideas , d sires or images , which will c a use a human rebirth . The Buddhists say that if the seed of a plant

a l has been dyed certain colour , this colour wil reappear in the flower although it does not ss N AND N c a KARMA TRA SMIGRATION , [

exist in any of the stages of developm ent of the

a n d plant , in the stem so on . A western com

e h e parison is better and r ally to t point : heredity .

e A man may be like his grandfath r , not like his

e father . The g rms of a disease have been intro d u ced into th e organism of an ancestor ; for some generations they remain dormant ; they

e i suddenly manifest th mselves in actual d sease . So intricate is the living complex ; so mysterious

the laws of heredity, we Should say ; so mys ter i o u s the reward of actions , say the Buddhists . We believe that this comparison is to the point . For every moment in the life of these physico- psychical complexes which are called living beings , is the heir of the preceding one , and carries all the potentialities of a very long past .

II

A few remarks are n ecessary on the time of the reward of actions .

e lo /eo a r a tt There are actions which are Styl d , supermundane, actions that are not born from desire . They bear no fruit , except the fruit of deliverance (o i s a rnyoga ) ; they destroy desire ; they cancel the reward of the other actions ;

0 R C H 9 KA MAN AND TRANSMIGRATION , [ .

I n th e s a m e w a th e m o a s a u s o f a o o m a n i s y, r l t t g d n o t m o e a sm a si n b u t hi s si n co m e e difi d by ll ; t , if pl t , i s to b e ew a e i s h e e o e ew a e h e e e r rd d ; it t r f r r rd d r b lo w .

2 . Some acts are necessarily rewarded in the next existence . Their retribution cannot be delayed by the retribution of any other act ‘ e and they are accordingly styled imm diate ,

an a n ta r a . . h y Parricide, for instance Suc sins prevent the acquisition of Sanctity .

r 3 . There is a third catego y of sins , which, heavy as they may be , are not necessarily rewarded in the following existence . Their retribution may be delayed to make room for the retribution of other acts ; in that case they ‘ ’

e . hi are rewarded lat r on Or , and t s point is interesting , as they do not prevent the acquisi

a r e tion of Sanctity, it happens that they turned

e into actions to be rewarded here b low . The classical ill ustration of this rule is the “ An u li m al a m a n case of g , the with a garland ” o of fingers , a celebrated r bber and murderer .

Sakyamuni converted him , owing to some ancient root of merit he possessed hidden under a heap

An u li m al a a of sins . g became a monk and Saint , that is a man who has obtain ed d elivera nce and will n o t be reborn ; but he did not avoid the fruit of his sinful actions : when he goes into the town I v 1 ] COSMOGONY, THEOGONY 9

to collect alms , as the monks do every day, the populace greets him with stones ; he is covered with blood ; his begging bowl is broken and his robe torn . In this state he comes to Sakyamuni

: who says to him The reward of your evil deeds , you should have experienced for long years , for many thousands of years in hell ; and you are 1 ” now experiencing it already in this life .

II . A few words will give an idea of the actions which are not necessarily rewarded ‘ which may be abandoned or left behind .

A Saint , who has acquired much merit , is not

: obliged to enj oy this merit in paradise he will , at death , reach Nirvana . Again , a man who is to be reborn in o n e of the highest heavens and — to obtain Nirvana there i n technical language

An a am i n — th e an g abandons all actions , good

e i or v l, that were to be rewarded in hell, here

below or in the inferior paradises . In the same

way, say the texts , a man who changes his

residence for ever , leaves his debts behind him .

We are now able to understand the mechanism z r ifi i n o f a i of the f u ct ca t o ct o n s . 1 i M a bi rn a 11 . . The s o o f Lo s ak a t s s a dza ka 1 jj , , p 97 t ry O , , i s n e e n h n n e . 1 . 110 i n s co o e 2 . s n. S e al so p 3 5 , tr , p ) i t r ti g t i xi r dika 1 V a a cch e 6 . j , 1 Abbidb a r m a ko fa ch a . I V . , p 2 N C H . 9 KARMA AND TRANSMIGRATION , [

Exist ences a r e good or bad : human and divine existences are good ; infernal existence , ghostly existence , animal existence are bad .

e An existenc , a rebirth , is caused , technically ‘ ’ e e proj ct d by a single act . All men are reborn as m en owing to a good action : how is it then that s o many men are unhappy ? Because a number of acts combine to condition an existence ; hence the variety of the living

e beings b longing to the same kind . h a d A man , owing to wrong views or inherited dispositions commits one of the ten sins : he

e commits murder , th ft , adultery ; he uses men d a ci o u s , malignant , rude , foolish language ; he

e e nourishes cov tous designs , hateful s ntiments , wrong views . These sins are supposed to be complete , that is , fully premeditated , consciously

e : a r e done , cherish d and approved they to be necessarily rewarded in the follow ing existence ; and accordingly th e man is reborn in hell . When

e . the sin is very heavy (owing to r petition , etc ) this man dies in some hell only to be reborn in another hell ; and that ten times , a hundred

t . times , a thousand imes His infernal existences and his sufferings are what is technic a lly called

‘ ’ ‘ the fruit of ripening (o ip a leap b a la ) of his sin . The birth- proj ecting force of the sin is not

AND AN C H . 94 KARMAN TR SMIGRATION , [

a o tions in accord nce with the dispositi ns which,

ul . long ago , c minated in an actual sin The

o i aka b a l a murderer , after a long abode in hell ( p p ) ,

n i s a n da b a la has been reborn as a tiger ( y p ) and , suffered as a tiger Dying as a

‘ a o i a lea b a l a tiger , he is reborn as man ( p p of a

e e former good act) , but as a man d stin d to violent death and o f a cruel nature (n i s ya n dap b a l a of the sin) . And so on . In short , Karman ‘ explains ev e rything that concerns the world of ’ s a tto a l o ka a ll living beings ( ) , inh bitants of he , animals , ghosts , men and gods ; the power of

a w gods and kings , the physic l beauty of omen , the Splendid tail of peacocks , the moral dis positions o f every one .

III

Ancient India , as does also to a large extent

- e e r v r the India of to day , b lieved in d stiny , a xj , da i o a deo a o i dbi b a tba the , from , god (also or ) , a blind power against which human wisdom - and

e e endeavour are weak . Man is not ven fre to

a n d e deu s u o s o u lt er der e r i u s be prudent wis , q p p dem en ta t ul ' e , a formula which co d be th motto of many an episode in the Mahabharata . Buddhism does not deny the power of I v O ] COSMOG NY , THEOGONY 95 destiny ; but it m a intains that destiny is only ’ one s own former action . A man is born from hi s his own deeds , not from parents , or more exactly he has the parents he merits to have

My a ctio n i s m y p o s s es sio n ; m y a cti o n 13 m y i n h er i ta n ce ; m y a cti o n i s th e m a trix w hi ch b ea rs m e ; m y a c tio n i s th e ra ce to w hich I b elo n g ; m y a cti o n i s m y 1 e u e r f g .

AS it is said All th a t w e a r e i s th e resu lt o f wh a t w e h a ve th o u ght a n d o n e d . But the question is whether all that we do now, in this present life , is the result of what we have done ” ? The conception of destiny left some room for free- will : does the doctrine of i Karman , understood strictly as the Buddh sts are ? prompt to understand it , leave any loophole

Here we are , as is often the case with

Buddhism , in the very middle of a j ungle of contradictions .

On the one hand , Buddhist ontology does not ka r ta r admit the existence of an agent , a doer ( )

No o e i s h e e n a u h s a e th e ee i s o u n d r t r , g t v d d f d .

‘ ’ There is no Self, but only a series of physico psychical phenomena . We have seen that a volition is only the further state of a desire .

1 M a b i m a 111 . 0 M i li nda 1 2 . 10 1 jj , , p 3 ; , , p . 6 N AND N C H . 9 KARMA TRA SMIGRATION , [

On the other hand , we are told that our actual dispositions are inherited . A man is not cruel or covetous because he chooses to be so , but because he has just been a tiger or a lustful animal .

Further , living beings are without real con n exi o n - one with another . They are water tight

e series of thoughts . Each of th m eats the fruit of his own actions . Accordingly Sakyamuni teaches that “ Nobody can harm or benefit ” “ Th e another , for Self is the protector of the Self : what other protector could the Self have The most powerful demon cannot harm a man

e who has not merit d to be crushed by him ; and , inversely , Buddha himself cannot favour a disciple with a lesson which this disciple has not merited to receive .

- i ffi The problem of free W ll is a di cult one, but it can be said that Buddhism has added difficul ties and contradictions of its own to a fi problem in itself diffi cult . These dif culties are i the more striking in Buddh sm , because Bud dhi s m e , which flatly deni s freedom and solidarity, is essentially a discipline of endeavour and bene

l n vo e ce . i hi Buddh st p losophers , it is true , do not

8 N AN C H . 9 KARMA AND TR SMIGRATION , [ — Just as the Christian philos o phers Ca lvin or — th e Jans enists w h o strictly limit or a r e incline d

e a e - a r e e e to d ny hum n fr e will , n verth less fairly ‘ ’ e e a e good t ach rs of energy, in the s m way Buddhists lay a ll the str ess o f their teaching

th e o e e o e — on cultivati n of nd av ur , on s lf restraint 1 a r a Th s a m a m a s a m o . e e e e ( y , ) Virtu of n rgy

o i r a the ( y ) is indispensable , for struggle is hard

e . w a s against lust , hat , and error Sakyamuni ‘ ’ e o n e bu ddha e a an enlight ned , ; but he was qu lly

o o i r a i n a a her , a conqueror , , j ; and his disciples

must be worthy of such a king .

a e A most h ppy contradiction ind ed . A second contradiction is no less striking

and happy .

Buddha is not a saviour . Buddha is only a preacher ; th e p a th to deliverance is open to

o e everyb dy ; but , according to th ir dispositions , ”

e . some will be d livered , some will not Again ,

er the v y fact that we are reborn as men , in

a m b u dvi a J p , in India , at the time when Buddha

th e opens Path , is the result of our own good

e e d eds accumulated during many ag s of men . But Buddha looks twice every day in all dir ec tions in order to s ee whether he can help some ‘ of his fellow creature s ; owing to his eye of a

1 Mr s Rh s Da ds P s cb ol o . y vi , y gy p 3 7 . I v COSMOGON ] Y , THEOGONY 99

’ ‘ e e e Buddha , he is keen to p rc iv any root of ’ merit which any miser a ble and wretched man can hav e stor e d up at any time in the past ; h e ‘ ’ takes a n y trouble to bring this root of m erit

a a o to m turity by ppr priate sermons or miracles .

i e e e e Ow ng to his str ngth of b nevol nce , he conv rts

e e l e whomso v r he wil . His disciples are urg d to

e e th e e a n d th e ea e imitat , in som way , Virtu s p c ful

e conque sts of the Mast er . They hav to practise

e o f th e o f the b st sort gift , gift the Doctrine they hav e to convert and edify sinners by fri endship and benevolence .

Th e a To sum up , doctrine of Karm n is the

e a e root of morality . It mak s cle r the nec ssity “ e of avoiding what is vil, practising what is ’ ” ” good , purifying one s thought and that is , “ th e e a e in short , rul of Buddh The id a that our en emies are only th e deleg a tes of our old sins will mak e us pati ent a n d compassionate : “ My enemies do harm to themselves when they n ot try to harm me ; and they do harm me , ” nay they a r e very us eful to me . But there are certain cons equenc e s of the doctrine of

a b e K rman . What is to said about denial of

- l ? free wi l , impossibility of benevolent action Buddhi sts see and plainly state these c o n s e

u en ces a r e m en q , for they candid and good — 7 2 I o o A AND C H KARM N TRANSMIGRATION , [ .

a e schol rs . But th y do not trouble themselves about them ; they write and they live as if they had not se en them .

In that they are wise , and they only follow th e golden principle of Sakyamuni . It happened

d a one y that , being questioned on the doctrine “ m o : of Kar an , he s berly answered My teaching ” is to do good deeds , to avoid evil deeds . And,

e more than onc , he ventured to say that this doctrine is inconceivable or incomprehensible

a ci n t a ( y ) , that is to a human mind, for a Buddha is omniscient .

IV

' The variety of the material universe (M a

a n a l o lea ll j ) , including the he s , the earth with

e the plants , and the h avens , depends upon some cause.

To admit that things are such as they are, because they are such as they are , that lotuses are lotuses , thorns thorns , owing to their own

s o a bba j a nature ( g ) , such is the doctrine of the philosophers ‘ who attribute the origin of all things to chance ’ ( ‘ fortuitous

That is pure nonsense . The truth is that ‘ ’ e a dbi a ti b a l a actions b ar a fruit of mastery ( p p ) ,

1 Di alo u es o i b e Bu ddb a 1 . 1 1. g f , , pp 4 , 7

10 2 SMI GRATION C H . KARMAN AND TRAN , [

l that many gods are bad , fond of ki ling , stealing , w a n to n l a y destroying , and that S kyamuni did his

Th e best to tame them . gods die when their reserve of divinity is e xhausted by the very experience of divine pleasures : they are the ‘ happy or rather unhappy poss essors of a peau ’ th e e z de chagrin and , as h ro of Bal ac , they know that it is drawing in . Further the Brahman gods have to struggle

e . for lif , for their divine life While they are enj oying their reserve of power , there are in the vast world ascetics who are heaping up penances

e and merits , penances and m rits which can be ,

e at the will of the asc tics , turned into divinity

e at th e cost of the actual gods . The gods def nd M a babb a thems elves as they can . The Epic ( r a ta a e ) cont ins num rous stories of temptations ,

o a when the g ds , anxious bout the accumulating

o f e e austerity som Muni , dispatch to him heav nly damsels to disturb hi s pio us exercises . A danger

o : a a a ous empl y S kunt l , the most charming child of Indian fancy , was born in such circum

e e . stanc s ; but M naka , her mother , perished Sakyamuni hims elf was a ttacked by the daughters

of Mara , the god of love and death .

e But this th ogony in terms of merit , penance ,

or sacrifice , is , in Brahmanism , only a theoretical C 19 OSMOGONY, THEOGONY 3

View and a literary topic . It does not endanger the tr a dI tl o n a l mythology or j eopardize th e status of the supreme god , whether Brahma or — s o e . Visnu or Siva , many nam s for the Absolute

In Buddhism , Karman and transmigration apply , in fact as in theory , to all beings .

The position of the gods , when compared with

th e . Buddhist saints , is a subordinate one It is true that th e actions resulting in the present happiness and power of the gods are good actions ; but these actions were accomplished through ‘ ’ worldly motives : the gods have reached the reward for whi ch they have been striving : o a n t

a n a w ho v m . A monk has begun his career towards a loftier aim , Nirvana , is by far superior

e a . to the gods , ev n in m gic

As concerns Brahma , who according to the ' I sva r a Brahmans is , the Lord , the universal

e sover ign who cares for everything , who takes account of actions and governs the transmigra

o ti n of individual beings , who designs the successiv e creations of the universe after the — successive periods of chaos the Buddhists do not recognize him . They know that an infinite

e o numb r of g ds , each with the title of Brahma ,

a e but h ving a separate name of his own , hav reigned in succession , each during a cosmic 19 AND RA C H . 4 KARMAN T NSMIGRATION , [

' ka a o period ( lp ) . Such g ds are great gods ; they

th e e e o f enj oy fruit of v ry good d eds , the fruit 1 very high medit a tions ting ed with a ltruism ;

e a r e i s I r I tu a l - e a th y quas p , non s xu l gods , but by

ea e e o ea no m ns sov r igns of the w rld , cr tors , or

e th e e o overrul rs of r tribution of acti ns . z e a t er i o d Wh n , the beginning of a cosmic p ,

e th e i e e aft r the chaos , the inferior part of un v rs

b e th e ea e o r a a is to rebuilt , h v n p l ce of Brahma ‘ ’ is th e first part of the recepta cle world to ‘ ’ a th e o f appe r , as fruit of mastery the actions of th e b eing who is to b e th e Bra hma o f the

o period . Then this Brahma is pr duced in this

a a e e e hi s o p l ce . As he does not r m mb r f rmer

e a t e existenc s , he is p to believ that he is born

h - o a a e a e e s m hhu . from hims lf, th t is s lf existent ( y )

e a e h e e e Aft r tim , gets tir d of his solitud ; he thinks that servants and c o mpanions would be

e th e a e o e e e a r e pl asant , and , at s m m m nt , th r produced th e gods Companio ns of B r a hm a ; that

th e e e is to say , owing to special natur of th ir ’ a a e a r e B r a hm éi s own cts , cert in b ings born in the

a a pal ce . Brahma , of course , believes th t he h a s a n d created them , they, in turn , believe

a e a e a th t th y have been cre t d by Br hma . They

1 Mr s Rh s Da ds P s cholo . 10 . y vi , y gy p 3 2 ‘ ’ i n a s n See ar t. o sm o l o H s E. R .E C gy ti g , .

I o 6 THEOGONY

e u n to th e o a sk hi m th e u es o n a n d a cce th e r t r L rd, q ti , pt ” a n sw e a cco n a s h e sh m a e e e r rdi g a ll k r ply . Th m o n k “ e u n e to Sa a m u n w h o o hi m : o n a o 0 r t r d ky i t ld L g g , m o n s ea —a n a e s w e e w o n w h en h e w e e s et k, f ri g tr d r r t , t y r n s a o n a n o c ea n o a e to a e wi h h em a a n ti g il v y g , t k t t l d s h n a w o u fl to th e E a s a n d ig ti g bird ld y t, to th e a n d n o a n w e e i s e w o u if l d r v ibl , it ld c o m e a e d h a n c to th sh . u s so 0 m o n o o u b k ip J t , k, y , vi g s o u h a n a n sw e to h s u es o n e en u to th e w o g t r t i q ti , v p rld ” o f a hm a co m e a c to m e Br , b k .

S akyamuni is the only source of truth . It happened that the god Indra met some monks , and wondered at the wisdom of their s a yings “ ” “ Here is , he said , a fine doctrine . Did you discover it by yours elves The monks answered : “ When there are to be seen , in the neighbour

o f hood a large granary, men bearing corn , some

e in baskets , some in th ir robes , some in their hands , it is not difficult to guess where the corn ‘ e comes from . In the same way, very good ’ and true saying (s u hhas i ta ) comes from the 1 ” Lord .

1 An u tta r a W 16 . See el o w . 1 . g , , p . 3 b , p 53 C H A PTER V

NI RVANA

I n o u c o ess m sm an d el e an ce o r an a . tr d t ry. P i i d iv r Nirv Difli cu l ti es i n asce a n n the n a u e o f el e a n ce rt i i g t r d iv r . I l an I . a Etym o o gy a n d m ean i n g o f the w o rd Nirv .

Three Opi n i o n s o n th e state o f a Sai n t after death . I ‘ ’ I I . n n h l a o n . I V U n u al fie el e an ce . A i i ti . qi d d iv r

. o n cl u s o n Sch o l as c ew s o n th e co n fl c n V C i . ti vi i ti g s a em en s i n the Sc u es t t t ript r .

I

Older Buddhism , more accurately the Bud dhi s m e of the old Books , is almost exclusiv ly a

e discipline of d liverance , deliverance from rebirth and death , deliverance from transmigration .

Like the other disciplines of deliverance , the

th e doctrine of Upanisads or the S amkhya , it is founded on pessimism . Indian or Buddhist pessimism is often looked upon as a natural consequ ence of the b elief in

a e i transmigr tion . Much has been writt n on th s ’ e — e e e subj ct som tim s perhaps unint lligently, 1 as E . J . Thomas rather strongly asserts . India 1 B u ddhi st Scr i tu r es . 2 0 . p , p NIRVANA

ee as a whole has never b n , as it were , hallucinated

- o f by the idea rebirth and death . Common religious people dreamt of paradises , of eternal

o e paradises ; and there has been , fr m the b gin ning , side by side with the Buddhist discipline

a of s lvation , a Buddhist religion , a moralized

Th e e a a Hinduism . doctrin of tr nsmigr tion itself Opens out cheerful possibilities : rebirth does n o t

a l necessarily me n rebirth as a creature of he l ,

a e Th e as an anim l , a ghost , a mis rable man . Sa ta p a th a b r ah m a n a e xpr essly stat es tha t rebirth ‘ s —a in this world is a reward . The o c lled bad ’ stat es (du rga ti ) are not without their o w n satis ‘ factions : to be a serpent or a ghost endowe d ’ with a great ma gical p o wer is after all not despicable . But the most striking evidence that transmigration did not frighten the Buddhist monks is that they have built a number o f

: o heavens , fit for any temperament enj yable

e and meditative h avens . They know , better than

e e e the Brahmans th ms lves do , the path that l ads

e ' a to the heav n of Brahma In word , Trans

e a a a migration is d ath ag in and g in , but it is also inexhaustible life . But there were in the days of Sakyamuni many m en to whom the very idea of death

a e . o to proved intoler bl Why, wing what climatic ,

NIRVANA

“ Th en I s a to h em : Do o u n o w a w a o r a id t y k y, m e h o wh ch o u ca n ea i z e a s a e h a i s a o t d, by i y r l t t t t lt ” e h e h a ? An d s to h a u es o n h e g t r ppy till t t q ti , t y “ 1 ” a n sw e e NO r d .

e In a word , ther were many, men and women ,

e old and young , nobl men and outcasts , merchants and robbers , who had learnt to despise the

o f trivial j oys existence , who wished for absolute

e happiness and despaired of reaching it . Deliv r ance from r ebirth seemed to them a go a l for hi w ch it was worth whi le to strive .

Deliverance , or Nirvana , is the central idea of the teaching of Sakyamuni and the r a i s o n ’ ' d etr e of the religious life : “ As the vast ocean , O monks , is impregnated with one flavour , the flavour of salt , so also,

e I s O monks , this my Law and Disciplin Impreg n a ted with but one flavour , with the flavour of deliverance ? ”

It seems therefore that we should be amply provided with definitions of Nirvana and that ther e shoul d be no doubt as to the actual meaning of this word . r As a matter of fact , we know what Ni vana

1 ha 1 Di a l o u es o the B u dd . 2 8 . g f , , p 7 1 Cu ll a o a a l x 1 . gg , , , 4 NIRVANA

a s e e e e is w ll as the Buddhists th ms lv s , and it is not our fault if we a r e not able to give an unam b i g u o u s statement . The Buddhists were satisfied hi with descriptions w ch do not satisfy us .

o n e a a On the hand , where s we h ve been for

a o u r a centuries trained to m ke ide s clear, this

a Th e was not th e case with Indi ns . historian has not to deal with Latin notions worked

a - e out by sober and cle r sight d thinkers , but ‘ ’ with Indian phil o s o ph u m en a concocted by the ascetics whom we Shall describe presently : men exhausted by a s eve re diet and often s tu p efi ed

e by the practic of ecstasy . Indians do not make

e a cl ar distinction between facts and ideas , between ideas a n d words ; they have never clearly recogniz e d the principle of contradiction . Buddhist dialectic has a four- branch ed di

a : - lemm Nirvana is existence , or non existence ,

- or both existence and non existence , or neither

- existence nor non existence . We are helpless . We are prepared to admit that there m a y be ‘ ’ degrees in being , pleroma and kenosis . But our logical categories are not numerous enough for a theory of degrees in ‘ voidness ’ or non existenc e as Matr ceta states it :

Oth ers th a n B u ddh a h a ve w o n the s a m e lib era tio n o r N an a b u t i n u h a th e su e i o i s a o e h e irv , B dd p r rity lt g t r NIRVANA

ea h e e e r e e . A t a a o b u t h s a es o o m gr t ll lib r t d v id, t i l v r fo r th e s u p eri o rity o f Bu ddh a : th e vo id o f a p o re o f th e s kin co m p a res b u t po o rly wi th th e l a rge vo id o f th e 1 s k y .

th e hi Moreover , we look at Budd st doctrines

e from the outside . Wh reas Nirvana is for us — — — p a ce the neo Buddhists a mere obj ect of

a e fo r arch eological inter st , it is Buddhists of

a paramount practical importance . Our t sk is to study what Nirvana may be ; th e task of a

Buddhist is to reach Nirvana . Comparisons a r e misleading ; but the I m i ta ti o “ Chr i s ti may be quot ed : What avails th e under

o f w e th e standing the holy Trinity , if displease ” ? n o t Trinity We have to please God , to realize the nature of God . Rather in the same way , S a kyamuni prohibited discussion concerning N 11

h e a . t v na For a Buddhist , important thing is ,

r a e not to know what Ni v na is , but to r ach

N a a n d a irv na , Inquiry concerning Nirv na may - AS i r i ca l o . pr ve disastrous h sto students , our O - nly danger is to make mistakes , and we can afford it .

1 — Va r n a nd r ha o a r a n a 1 10 11 ed . . W. ho m a s I ndi a n n , , , F T , ’

A nti u a r 1 0 . 1 a n d H o ernl e s M a n u s cri t R em a i ns 1 . 8. qy , 9 5 , p 4 5 , p , , p 7

I I 4 NIRVANA

For Nirvana may b e cooling of suffering — — a n eternal refreshment o r extinction of exist

ence .

In the Pali literature , it is not always evident whether the word Nirvana with its

a th e numerous synonyms , means S nctity , state

a of a living S int , or the state of a Saint after

th e death . The first meaning is more common .

On the other hand , in the Sanskrit literature of e Buddhism , Nirvana gen rally means the state

of a Saint after death . We will use the word Nirvana in this last meaning and style Sanctity the state of a living Saint .

Two points are beyond doubt

s u u ho n u m . 1. Nirvana is the m m m 2 . Nirvana belongs to Saints and to Saints

alone . Let us consider the death of an ordinary man

and the death of a Saint . Men who at death are endowed with desire and who have not

destroyed their ancient Karman , have to be

e reborn according to their merit and d merit .

a h a s Th ey continu e transmigrating . A S int not to be r eborn ; he has passed beyond birth old age and death ; in the technica l phrase : He has destroyed rebirth ; he has led the religious v] NIRVANA 115 life ; he has done what he had to do ; he has 1 ” e nothing more to do with lif here .

So much is certain . But it can be maintained either ( 1) that the t dead Saint is annihila ed , cut off , does not exist any longer ; or ( 2 ) that he has reached an immortal state ; or ( 3) that we can only assert , without being able to state positively what

e e deliv rance is , that he is d livered from trans migration .

e In other words , Nirvana is eith r annihilation , ‘ ’ a or immortality , or unqu lified deliverance , a deliverance of which we have no right to predi cate anything .

It is fairly certain that , from the beginning , there have been Buddhi sts who held one of these

r e Th e o th e opinions . p int is to realize the relative importance of these conflicting views , and to state which is the prevaili ng teaching of th e Scriptures and the ruli ng idea of the Buddhi st

o religi us life .

1 i n the P l r u e m u Th e h e e a r e a s c s tw o o l a s . s o n e T r , i ipt r , f r fir t , w hi ch w e el e e i s the ea l e i s a n sl a ed a o e n d a r a m i ttha td a b i v r i r, tr t b v , p y ; it p o in ts o u t th a t the S a in t i s n o t to b e r eb o rn i n this w o rld . Th e ’ s eco n d o n e n a tthi ta ss a u n a hhha o o s a es h a t the a n i s n o t to , p , t t t S i t I n h e a n k a n n th e s m u l a i s de b e e o r n . t s t c o o w o d a s r b S ri , fir t f r r fo ll o w s : n dpa r a m as m dd hha vdt p r aj an am i ; als o a cl ea r a n d d efini te n e ega tio n o f r birth. NIRVANA

III

' — That Nirvana is annihil a tion results a t least — for u s b o th from the g en eral principles of Bud dhi s t i ph losophy and from cle ar stat ements .

e e Th r is nothing p ermanent I n Man . Man is a complex o f bodily and spiritual c o nstituents

h o — a o whic form a physic psychic l rganism . In the m en w h o a r e n o t a case of S ints , this organism

n o t o ff e th e e is cut at d ath when body p rishes ,

e i because , owing to d s re and to Karman , it is n ’ co tinued in a new organism , heir of the first . Now suppose that— as is the case of a dying Saint—desire is destroyed and Karman to be

e o eda n i a e experienc d ( y ) absent , th re is no cause

e b e o for r birth . There will not a new c mplex of bodily and spiritu a l constituents to b e r eborn

a a e n o e e e when S int dies . And ther is xist nc possible outside these co nstitu ents : th e Buddhist criticism h a s sedul o usly d estroye d a ll the mystical — or psycho lo gical da ta ide a of a tra nscendent

e a e a o e soul (S amkhya) , id a of an imm n nt bs lut

— a e (Upanisads , Vedanta) th t could giv any sup port to a conc eption of survival of whatever kind .

Selfles sn es s precludes a ll p o ssibility o f surviv a l . — M o reo v er it is certa in tha t th e Buddhists I mean the Buddhists who compiled th e Scriptures

NIRVANA Does that imply that Buddhists aim at annihi la tion ? Not exactly so . Scholars who ha ve maintained tha t Nirvan a was chiefly looked upon as annihila tio n do not say that a monk leads the religio us life in order to be annihilated at

e r el l l o u s e e death , but that he l ads the g lif in ord r

a a . a to become a S int . Sanctity is the go l S nctity

ho n u m a s u m m u m . is the , deliver nce , Nirvana 1 In the words of Rhys Davids , the deliverance Sakyamuni preaches is a salvation fro m the

e sorrows of life , which has to be reach d here on ” earth in a changed state of mind . The hope of a monk is to obtain a lasting state of happiness and peace to be re ached here on earth by the ” fi e e r . xtinction of the of lust , hatred and delusion ‘ A lasting state of from th e moment when Sanctity is attained to the hour of death . Buddhism would thus be only a discipline of happy life here below .

Our opinion is that these statements are very ' r wide o f th e mark . But it is only fair to admit that much may b e said in their favour and that they are to some ext ent exact . We must honestly admit that Sanctity—coupled with annihilation

1 — M a n u a l . 110 11 c her t ectu r es . 16 1 pp 5 ; L pp ,

2 0 8 . 2 5 3 ; co m p a re Child ers p . NIRVANA I 19

may have been and has been , for many a

h e e e t . monk , ruling motiv of the r ligious life According to the philosophic a l tenets of — — Buddhism strictly understood o n the one

a a a e hand, tr nsmigr tion is p in ; on the oth r

n o t hand , the Saint , at death, does exist any

a e longer . The life fter d ath having lost any

e o o int rest for the Buddhist , he had nly to w rk out a supr eme ideal of ha ppiness in this very

e life . That he did . It is a professional happin ss .

a — The monks , technici ns of Sanctity that is , absolute detachment , mental and moral apathy — were apt to m a ke Sanctity th e chief point of ’ ‘ [ s n a i en a s a discipline of their own . l et t p

do u u r r i en Hi n s p o . India has always been full of awe and admira tion for th e ascetics and ecstatics who have

e e dr a r ach d a thorough tranquillity, a perfect

a fa a to p f , insensible to ple sure and pain and there

e a fore altogeth r happy . Such men were natural

a e product of the Indi n soil . Th y have been the

e m patt rn of Brah an and Buddhist Sanctity . The Bra hmans havework e d out a metaphysical

e e int rpr tation of the ecstatic Saint . They style ‘ ’ i o a n m u leta him a j , delivered yet living , and

h e assert that is actually identified with Brahman , that is to say with the immanent Absolute . NIRVANA The Buddhists have as a Starting point the sam e type of Saint ; but they do not attempt

e any metaphysical int rpretation . They are satis fi ed wi th a study of the psychologic a l asc ertaine d h i . t e facts To put it shortly, Buddh st Saint is plunged in the concentration ‘ where notion and feeling are

e While dw lling in concentration , the S aint is

. hi s happy When he , sometimes , opens eyes to the spectacle of the world , he is also happy . He cont emplates from the shores of the island of serenity the painful agita tion s of men : he is free , they are fettered by desire . He enjoys l one of the most delicate pleasures in this ife , the pleasure of self- complacence coupled with altruism . He says , in the style of the Lucretian sage :

Th e w s e c m n th e e a ce h e h s o f wi s o m i , li bi g t rr d ig t d l o o ks do w n u p o n th e fo o l s ; s eren e h e lo o ks u p o n th e o n c o w a s o n e w h o s a n s o n a m o u n a n o o s t ili g r d , t d t i l k 1 e h a n n e do w n u p o n th o s t t s ta d u p o th pl a i n . A sublime pattern of thi s serene happin ess a was afforded by S kyamuni . A halo of mystery

e is not wanting . Neophyt s long for such a

a h ppiness , for such a perfection . To become like Sakyamuni is no mean ideal .

1 ha m m a a D ad 8. p , 2

NIRVANA

‘ conc entra tion where feeling and notion a r e ’ e e a o d stroy d As matter of fact , annihilati n

u ccheda n i r o dha a o ee ( , ) is this happy st te of c n n tr a ti o n e a continued for et ernity . Therefor nni hil a ti o n n d a e is a state a a happy st t .

' en 3 . N evertheless I n di a n a s ceti cs were m ; and men long for immortality , not immortal

a a e . e e w a s o e a de th, but immort l lif Th r h w ver

e a means , an excell nt means of gr tifying the needs o f the heart while maintaining th e dogma of annihilation .

Death has nothing awful for young people ,

e e e e who have the whole of lif b for th m , who do “ ” not r ealiz e tha t Life indeed ends in death .

th e w a a v In same y , annihil tion in Nir ana will ‘ ’ be easily acc ept ed if Nirvana is postp o ned . Th e monk m a y be given some exist enc es to reach Nirvana .

e a ll the At the b ginning , almost disciples

e a b e of Sakyamuni becam S ints , to extinguished at death : but soon a new theory was framed according to which the stat e of a Saint requir e s

a - e e e e more than life long xercis and , ther for , is

e a r e to be re aliz e d by steps . Th re disciples on the r o a d to Sanctity to whom s even or less

e e e e e e a num rous new xist nc s , human or c l sti l, fi i a r e all owed to complet e their s a n cti ca t o n . NIRVANA I 2 3

It is worthy of notice tha t Brahmanism has

a built parallel theories of gradu l salvation . Side ‘ by side with th e merging in Brahman during ’— this life the only n o tio n known in the earliest — texts the V edantists institut ed a discipline

a i leading to d eliveranc e by St eps (ler a m m u let ) .

Th e rea so n s o f thi s n ew d ep a rtu re w ere c erta in ly m a n o n e w a s h a a n c ca m e to b e o o e if ld . O t t S tity l k d u o n a s a ffi cu a s Th e o h e a n d o ss th e p di lt t k . t r, p ibly s o n e w a s ha m o n s w e e ea h a to o s o n e tr g r, t t k r r lly ppy p tp ‘ ’ a n a h a s a n i s su e ea ch a n a a t Nirv . A lf i t r to r Nirv h e en d a n e t d su r to en j o y pl ea s a n t rebirth s o n th e w a y . Hi s l o t i s a u c l ee l ky o t i n d d . — — — Neo B u ddhi sm Ma hayan a w en t fa r i n thi s di rce

o n . an a s e e em o e a n e ti Nirv w a r l ga t ed to a r t dis t c . Acco n to th e o u s o f th e T u e La w a m a n to ea ch rdi g L t r , , r N a n a h a s to eco m e s a u h a a n d to eco m e irv , b fir t B dd , , b a u h a h o u s a n s a n d h o u s a n s o f s en u o u s a n d B dd , t d t d tr ch a a e h s a h sm es a r e n ec es s a . I n w u rit bl liv ry t i y, B dd i s u cc ee e i n e n n o t o f th e e n o o n o f d d g tti g rid , if v ry ti N an a a t ea s o f N n a a s a c a ea Th e a a c . irv , l t irv pr ti l id l s ta rtin g p o in t o f thi s ch a n ge i s to b e fo u n d i n the o ld h eo o f th e s e s S a n t ry t p to ctity .

IV The preceding remarks have done full justice

th e e Pi sch el to vi ws of Childers , Rhys Davids ,

o a and ther schol rs . But we do not believe that the d efinition they have given of the aim of the i v z . Buddhist religious life , S anctity coupled 12 4 NIRVANA

a e the with nnihilation , conv ys right idea of

Nirvana . It I s true that,according to the doctrinal

e s tr i ctl a a a a t nets , y understood , S int is nnihil ted

e a a e o a at d th . It is true th t there are cat g ric l

e e ffe a n d u e stat m nts to this e ct , Max M ll r was wrong in denying that Nirvana in th e s ens e of

- I t annihilation is a dogma of Buddhism . is a dogma of Buddhism . But Buddhism is not an o o e e rth doxy , a coh rent syst m of dogmas ; it is

e a a a rath r a pr ctic l discipline , training ; and in ‘ ’ e th e - this disciplin , notion Nirvana annihilation

e e a n d is chi fly a r sult of philosophical inquiry ,

e e o th r fore , a noti n of secondary rank . ‘ ’ This notion was n o t a n origin a l purpose o f hi a Budd sm , a doctrine aimed at by S kyamuni . S a kyamuni did not st a rt with such a notion of

e e the d liveranc from birth , old age , death and suffering ; this notion w a s forc e d upon him — or upon the Church because he h a d been ra sh enough to deny the existence of a Self and to i n

— o r - o l vent to adopt the theory of a composite s u .

hi m b e e T s fact ust emphasiz d , for it seems to b e important both for th e history of Buddhism

th e e o i o r and history of r ligi n n g eneral . Logic dialectic is a dang erous auxiliary of religious thought : doctrines may be altogether reversed

12 6 NIRVANA

same way, final annihilation was in Buddhism

e only a corollary of the denial of a S lf, a result ,

a not an obj ect aimed at by S kyamuni , not a

the a s postulate of Indian mind , depressed it may

e e have been by the mis ri s of life , intoxicated as

e e it may hav be n by phi losophical meditations .

a r e e e In fact , there evid nc s that would lead us to b elieve tha t S akya muni did his best to

l e avoid this resu t , and even obj ected to a definit statement of such a result .

These evidences are to be found in a number of texts which profess to st a te the position taken

a e by S kyamuni as conc rns metaphysics , as concerns the existence of a soul (j i o a ) distinct from the body , as concerns the survival of a

Saint . This position is a sort of agnosticism or pragmatism . a S kyamuni knows everything , but there are truths h e refuses to reveal . The reason of his silence is that the knowledg e of the truths which are not necessary to Sanctity is a dangerous knowledge ; or that a man , and even a Saint ,

a a is not intellig ent enough to gr sp cert in truths .

a e Th t Sakyamuni knows ev rything , no Bud

On e dhi s t has ever doubted . of the most e s a r o a na celebrat d titles of a Buddha is j , NIRVANA 12 7

’ ‘ ‘ s a r o a ka r a na omniscient , or with more precision , j , ‘ ’ who knows everything as it is . Buddhists

h e ho dhi believe that Sakyamuni , when obtained , illumination or enlightenment , acquired universal

. He e knowledge do s not know, at any moment ,

e everything , becaus his knowledge , like all

e knowledg , consists of so many distinct and successive acts of attention but he knows everything he desires to know . Sakya “ ” e : muni , ther fore, never says I do not know, but in some circumstances he says plainly : ” You will not know, you shall not know . Here is a simile1 ' S akya m u n i w a s s ta yi n g a t Ka u s a m b i i n th e gro ve o f Aso a ees He o o a few So k a ea es i n hi s k tr . t k A l v “ h a n a n d s a to hi s sc es : h a do o u h n d id di ipl W t y t i k, 0 m o n s wh e h e h es e few ea es whi ch I h a e k , t r t l v , v a h e e i n m h a n a r e m o e o r th e o h e ea es g t r d y d, r , t r l v ” “ yo n der i n th e gro ve ? Th e few l ea ves whi ch th e o h o s i n hi s h a n a r e n o t m a n b u t m a n m o e L rd ld d y, y r ” “ a e h s e e e i n th e e — o n s i s r o a s o . So a l s o O m t l v gr v h , k , th a t m u ch m o re w hi ch I h a ve l ea rn ed a n d n o t to ld o u h a n h a wh ch I h a e o o u y t t t i v t ld y .

e Sakyamuni is said to have l ft unsettled , to have set aside and rej ected th e questions con cerning th e e xistence of a soul (j i o a ) distinct from the body, and the nature of Nirvana .

1 S a m u tta . co m a e M i li nd a . 1 Di ha 11 y , v, p 4 3 7 ; p r , p 4 3 ; g , 10 0 p . . NIRVANA

AS C a matter of fact , there are in the anon many sayings of Sakyamuni which, at least

th e indirectly , settle these questions in sense of soullessness and annihilation . We may admit I ( ) that some disciples , or many disciples , felt

e dissatisfi d with the nihilistic doctrines , and

e e therefore hop d , at the bottom of th ir hearts ,

Le that they misunderstood the Master . t us not forget that th e disciples of Sakyamuni came to him as to the discoverer of th e path to

a m r ta . 2 e immortality ( ) Or , possibly ( ) there wer

n e mo ks without any pr judices , anxious only to

e be made quite sur about Nirvana , not by logical conclusions drawn from psychological premisses ,

hr not by metaphorical and conflicting p ases , but by a direct and definite statement from the lips of the Omniscient . Last , not least , ( 3) there wer e monk s who had never heard of the nihilistic sayings of S akyamuni and wondered at Sakya ’ muni s silence conc erning soul and survival . 1 Mél u nky ap u tta was one of these monks . “ “ Th e e a r e s a Mal u nk a u tta u es i o n s h a r , id y p , q t t t u h a h a s e u n s e e h a s s et a s e a n d B dd l ft ttl d, id wh eth er th e s o u l a n d th e bo dy a r e iden tica l ; w h eth er th e so u l i s o n e thi n g a n d th e bo dy a n o th er ; w h e th er a s a i n t exi s ts a ft er d ea th ; w h eth er a s a in t do es n o t exi s t a fter d ea th ; w h eth er a s a i n t bo th exis ts a n d do es

1 ‘ ’ M a hi m a 1 2 6 H a s n s E . R . E. ar t. A n o s c sm . jj , , 4 ; ti g , g ti i

NIRVANA

I t i s a s if a m a n h a d b een w o u n d ed by a n a rro w h c sm ea e w h o so n a n d hi s m a n w e e to s a : t i kly r d it p i , t r y “ I w ill n o t h a ve thi s a rro w t a k en o u t u n til I h a ve l ea rn t w h eth er th e m a n w h o w o u n ded m e b el o n gs to th e c a s t e o f th e I h a e een o hi s n a m e hi s v b t ld , c a n hi s s a u e hi s c o m e o n e o e I h a e een l , t t r , pl xi ; b f r v b o th e n a u e o f th e b o w o f th e b o w Thi s t ld t r , m a n w o u di e e o e h e n ew ld b f r k .

As the kno wledge o f all thes e circumstances has nothing to do with th e r emoval of the de a dly

o e e arr w , ven so the knowl dge of the meta physical points is totally extraneous to th e dis ci li n e p which abolishes suffering and desire , to the discipline of Sanctity :

Th e religi o u s life do es n o t d ep en d o n th e do gm a th a t th e s o u a n d th e o a r e en ca o n th e o m a h a l b dy id ti l , d g t t th e so u i s o n e hi n a n d th e o a n o h e hi n o n l t g b dy t r t g, th e o m a h a a s a n e s s o es n o t e s o h d g t t i t xi t , d xi t, b t e i s s a n d o es n o t e i s n e h e e i s s n o r o es x t d x t , it r x t d e h e h e h s o r h a o m a i s n o t exi s t a ft er d a th . W t r t i t t d g u e h e e s em a n h o ld a e ea h fo r th e tr , t r till r i birt , g , d t , exti n c tio n o f whi ch I a m givin g

I h a e e u n s e e l et h a em a n u n s e e . v l ft ttl d, t t r i ttl d

Thus spoke Sakyamuni . These agnostic ’ statements are astonishingly to the point . Whatever opinion a Buddhist may i entertain concerning the dest ny of a dead Saint , this opinion is an obstacle to serenity , to detach

. ment , to Sanctity, and therefore to Nirvana itself . NIRVANA 13 1

n If Nirvana be a happy state , the mo k would strive for Nirvana as o n e would striv e for a

o : paradise , and he would acc rdingly miss it he

e a e e would r ach at death some par dis , an njoyable

b e but transitory paradis e . If Nirvana annihila

a a I n I n s I r e e tion , Nirvana would g p d sire or

: e . abhorrence in both cas s , Sanctity is impossible Anxiety and sp e culation concerning the life after death (a n tagr ahap a r arn a r fa ) is one of the five “ l et e . e e e heresies Th r for , that remain uns ttled ” a a s th t h 119 1 b een 3 9 1119 11 by Sakyamuni . A

e monk will r ach Sanctity and Nirvana , without knowing what Nirvana is , and for this very

ea a w e e r son th t , o ing to this ignoranc , he r mains free from the desire o f exist ence free from th e desire of non- existenc e (o i hha o a tr s n a) : I do not long for life ; I do not long

o f r d e ath . We believe that the most exact and the most authoritative definition of Nirvana is not anni ‘ ’ hil a ti o n , but unqualified deliverance , a deliver ance of which we have no right to predicate anything . The idea of Nirvana generally cherished by

e the Buddhists is not a positiv e one . Th y know that existence is suffering . And they think that a l there is an exit , Nirvana , de iverance from 9 13 2 NIRVANA

e transmigration , from birth , diseas , old age and

ee death ; and that is ind d enough . Nirvana is look e d upon as a 919 1117 9 12 9 9 6? just a as man who is in gaol wants only to be free, ev en so Man does not want to be happy ; he only wants to be delivered from the miseries of life . That is pessimism .

a It is not bsolute nihilism , nihilism boldly

. e looked at in the face It is a negative attitud , which does not appeal to the most innate needs of our mind ; but it is also to some ext ent an expectant attitude , which leaves some food to the needs of the human heart . The monk strives for unqualified deliverance ; he does not inquire whether deliverance is destruction or a mysterious kind of existence ; but he knows that Sakyamuni

e is omnisci nt and compassionate , and such a ‘ ’ caravan- leader is the great man upon whom it is safe to rely .

V

‘ It remains to draw the conclusion of our i n

e quiry, that is , to strik a sort of balance between the contradictory statements with which we are confronted , and to reconcile these statements if possible .

13 4 NIRVANA

a fli r m e which the existence of a S lf, under the u d a l a name of p g (an individual, a person) , these

a e texts cannot be ignored altog ether . They r old ; they are no less authentic than the self lessness texts ; they are th e authoritative texts

Sa m m iti a of the y sect , an important school . The maintainers of the p u dga la theory will admit d that Nirvana , the state of a Saint after eath , is existence .

And , in this connexion , we are not sure that all hi the scriptural passages , w ch describe Nirvana as a happy and stable condition , refer to Nirvana in the s ense of Sanctity ; some of them at least may refer to the state of a Saint after death .

e e If th y all r fer to Sanctity , as is often contended

e by scholars , the r ference is more than once very obscure . The obvious conclusion is that the ancient Buddhist tradition was not clear on the nature of Nirvana as well as on many other points . This conclusion does not pleas e those scholars who are pr epared to turn primitive Buddhism

w e into an orthodoxy . While believe that the s — scriptural contradiction Nirvana annihilation ,

Nirvana immortality , Nirvana a prohibited pro — blem are to be accepted as they are ; while we believe that the true Buddhist state of mind NIRVANA 13 5

is a happy syncretism , scholars of a more ortho do x or less catho lic temperament make a choice

e among the conflicting views ; they deny , xpressly or tacitly , the authenticity or the authority of the 1 hi a e e texts w ch support the view they h ve rej ct d . Much is to be learned from the position taken by th e phi losophers of the Mahayana school — (neo Buddhism) . They are both honest and clear- sighted ; they are plainly conscious of the contradictions of the Scriptures ; they are , on the l other hand , firm be ievers in the authenticity of

e these Scriptures ; th y cannot , therefore , resort

e to the Gordian method of exeg sis .

hi l o s o her s e As p p , they have to mak a choice and unanimously maintain the nihilistic inter

r eta ti o n e p of S lf and of Nirvana . But , as hi s to r i a n s e , they confess that Sakyamuni som ‘ ’ m o ti es indulged in ont logical statements , some time s simply prohib ited inquiry concerning the ‘ ’ e e uns ttled qu stions , sometimes taught anni

hi l a ti o n . They explain why he did so , and the

1 I t i s m u ch s a fer to credit Sakya m u ni a n d the prim itive Bro ther ho o d w h all o u r e s h a n to d en the a n u o f a n dea to it t xt , t y tiq ity y i ’ ’ b e o u n d in hese e s . I l n a o n s a s La B u e e d o u a e f t t xt y p i t, y r y r , vr g si a cco m l ui n e o n di o u en e a u m l eu d e l a cr t u e si s o n p i q f t t t ti r i i i iq , ’ a u teu r vo u l ait en cro ire to u s l es cen s eu rs qu i 6ten t ch a cu n l en dr o i t ” a n e- B eu e u s ed to co m a e H o m e in qu i l eu r pl ai t l e m o in s . S i t v p r r th e h a n ds o f Wo lf a n d Du g a s - Mo n tb el to th e m a n with tw o l overs : “ ’ ’ ” r l e o l ch a u l u n e a a che l es che eu n o s l a u e l es s et a e. rr v x ir , tr g i , v i v 13 6 NIRVANA r e a sons they give for the contra dictions o f th e — Master a r e of fa r reaching importanc e as conc erns th e hi l o s o hi ca l o th e p p soluti n of e probl m itself . It is a n old opinion a mong the Buddhists that Sakyamuni has modified his t eaching a c

th e ee o f e cording to n ds his h arers , according

a a n d o to their intellectu l moral p ssibilities . Let

o a us understand his p sition . A Buddh is a

a o f physician , the physici n this mortal disease

a e e e e th t is named d sire . D sir originates r birth ,

ff e . e a su ering , d ath In order to cur this dise se , ‘ ’ Sakyamuni h a d to employ allopathic con

H e e e tr iva n ces . teaches that ther is not a S lf and with such a n emphasis that he sometim es ‘ ’ giv es the impressio n of b eing a materi a list

- b e cause a man who believes in the reality and

e e ll permanenc of his Self will love his S lf , wi

e e hat the S lf of his neighbour , will be anxious

e e e about the state of his S lf aft r d ath, in a word

e . e e e will desir He t ach s that there is r birth , because the idea of annihila tion at death is likely to produce the heresy of Let us live ” happily so long as we are alive . He emphasizes

e e e e the happin ss of d liv rance , in ord r to induce men to give up the trivial hop es of transitory paradises and many foolish devices to this en d : deliverance is b etter tha n any conceivable state

1 8 v 3 NIRVANA [C H . like a serpent with a j ewel in its hood : it requires a clever h a nd to take the j ewel . In the same way, few men are able to avoid being crushed

e Selfles sn es s by these sublime and terribl truths . wrongly understood would lead to the w rong view that there is no survival ; th e do ctrine of annihilation in Nirvana would originate despair

or distrust . Therefore Sakyamuni has been obscur e on

co n tr a di c these points , and did not avoid some tions ; and , when an inquirer was bold enough to “ nl : ask for a plain answer , he plai y answered You

e a n e o o u e a r d a shall not know C l s r g e p s .

a Buddhism ends in an act of f ith . Sakya muni will lead us to s a lvation provided we close

our eyes and follow blindly his ordinances . The important thing in Buddhism is not dogma , but

u n practice , not the goal , the mysterious and ascertainable Nirvana , but the Path , Sanctity . C H A PTER V I

THE PATH TO NI RVANA

I Th e h i s th f e e I I m l e w . s a Pat e era dicatio n o d ir . . A idd y b w l n I I I h e f l e een asce c sm an d n u e ce . e o t ti i i d g . A t r d a n n i n th h u hs I V sk lfu l ac ce tr i i g e B u dd ist Tr t . A i pr ti

o f . an ces. o n cl u s o n tr V . C i

I

Nirvana is the cessation of rebirth . Desire,

e with action consequent upon desir , is the cause

ea e of rebirth . The path l ding to deliv rance from rebirth must there fore be a path leading to de li ? ' verance from desire In order to avoid rebirth ,

fi e it is necessary and suf cient to eradicat desire,

r desi e for pleasure , desire for existence , desire for non- existence or hatred of existence ; that is to become a Saint , an Arhat , free from sorrow, hope , and fear .

On this point as on many another , we find in Brahmanism parallel conceptions to the

Buddhi st doctrine . The Upanisads state that

o hi s Man is reb rn in conformity with his desire ,

aspiration , his conduct (see above , p . but 14 9 THE PATH To NIRVANA what is the destiny of a man who is free from desire ? “ e When desir ceases , the mortal becomes immortal ; he a ttains Brahman on e arth . He

e who is without desire , who is fre from desire , who desires only his own S elf which is identical

e a a e with the univ rsal Self, he obt ins the com pli shm en t of his desire in th e poss ession of his h Self . He is the universal Self and goes into t e ” e universal S lf . It is not probable that the primitive Buddhi sts

‘ ever heard of these theories : the S elf ( a tm a n ) which they know and rej ect is the individual Self and they never mention the Nirvana of

e the individual Self in the great Self . But th ir doctrine of the P a th may b e shortly described as a secularisation of the Upanisad teaching : to

e free oneself from d sire , while ignoring the uni

a n e versal Self d denying the human S lf .

a On the other hand , the Buddhist path is ‘ ’ rationalisation of a number of practices which were common at this time among ascetics of every faith and aspiration . ‘ ’ - There were many ford makers , but Sakya ‘ ’ e e muni alone has discover d the true ford , or rath r

r e— e e fo r has discov r d it , the Buddhas of old had discovered it long a go ; and he has d esign ed a

THE PATH TO Ni RvANA

II

Laxity or indulg ence means secular married

e o l life . Asc ticism means , not nly , as usua ly with l us , not indulging in morally al owed desire , but inflicting pain , penance .

— i n ta a s The origins of asceticism , S anskrit p , — o fa r a word that means heat , g back into the 1 hi a past . In storic India , sceticism has been turned into a religious and moral institution

- a self torture to please the deity, to wash away the sins one has consciously or unconsciously committed , to avoid sin by mortifying the flesh . W hile assuming these new aspects , or , to put it hi l more uncompromisingly , w e developing in a ta a s moral direction , p remained and remains an essenti ally magical affair . In the ritualistic

to books , it comes the foreground of speculation

: as a creative power Praj apati , the Lord of the generations , performed penance , became hot and produced the worlds by the power of heat ‘ ’ Pr a é a ti or penanc e . j p was a great penitent ; ascetics , men who practise the most extravagant penances , just as the modern fakirs , are penitents

1 ' On ta a s s ee Olden e Reli i o n da Veda . H en p , b rg, g , tr. V ry,

. Th e o ldes s o u ce o n the ecs a c en en Mu n i s R ed a p . 34 5 f t r t ti p it t i igv ’ — n r l o 1 ee H a s t s . R . E. a R e u O e s 6. S E t. s . x , 3 i g , igi rd r THE PATH TO NIRVANA 14 3

l e of a smal er size , but nevertheless demiurg s in their own guise , autonomous and irrepressible forces , frightful to the gods themselves . Th e notion of holiness and wisdom was hope lessly confused with the notion of penance :

o f a o e when the idea deliver nce was disc v red , men naturally thought that penitents only could ha ve

hi a e some chance of reac ng deliver nc .

Accordingly when Gautama , the young prince

a e of the S kya rac , abandoned his home to secure his salvation , he first followed the common track and lived for a time—for many years

I s : as a Muni , that as a solitary penitent hence hi s a I n name S kyamuni . He indulged the most

o a severe abstinence from f od , rem ining upright

hO i n and motionless , p g for a sudden illumination

e hi s o of mind . Fiv ascetics were compani ns in these austerities . A Greek sculptor , five or six centuries later , produced a realistic and spiri tu a liz ed hi s representation of emaciated body, 1 hi s a w ch I one of the masterpieces of Gandh ra art .

ll a But the i umination did not come , and S kya muni felt very weak indeed : he understood that illumination requires strength of mind ; he took some food and soon reached the goal for whi ch he had long endeavoured in vain ; he became

1 ‘ ’ ’ S en ar No es d E i r a hi e 111 P I. 2 . As . t, t p g p , , (7 144 THE PATH TO NIRVANA

e e a Buddha . Int llectual achiev ments depend

a ff on int ellectu l e orts . At the m o ment when Sakyamuni broke his

th e five e e e e fast , asc tics had d s rted him , and wh n Sakyamuni after b ecoming a Buddh a approache d “ a ee e : e them gain , they j r d saying Her is the one that faile d in his aust eriti es . Sakyamuni told them tha t he had obt a ined c o mplete enlighten “ “ e a e o u ment . But , th y sk d , if y could not

e o a e e e succe d in bt ining nlightenm nt by asc ticism , how can w e admit that you h a ve succ eede d when

a o u a e you live in abund nce , when y h ve giv n up exertion ? ” To which Sakyamuni replied that — he had not given up ex ertion for p en a nc e is — not the only exertion and that his life was not a life of abundance ; for the path of th e m en ‘ ’ who hav e given up th e world to obtain deliver

e ance is a middl path between the two extremes , “ asceticism and indulgence . What are the two extr emes ? A life a ddicted to sensual pleasures

hi a a e t s is b se , sensu l, vulgar , ignoble , p rnicious ; and a life addicte d to m o r tifica ti o n : thi s is 1 ” e . painful , ignobl and pernicious

1 h b v 111 . E . o m a M a d a a 1 6 10 fo l] . x . s gg , , , , p 93 ; J T , h h r B i s li n da 11 . 60 . T e s o u ddh t S cr i tu r es . o m . M i p , p C p , , p i t y I t ea s o f the fir st d ays o f B u ddha h o o d i s to b e rea d in full . b r every m a r k o f a u then ticity ; b u t we m u st b ew are tha t I n di a n s a r e w n d e u l - e o rf sto ry tell rs .

14 6 THE PATH TO NI RvANA

e o — for instanc , not to menti n mutilations are injurious to body and therefore to mind . Now full strength of mind is necessary to th e under standing o f the philosophical truths that are

a re lly to purify the thought . The body , there

a fore , must be treated without h tred if without

a e e e love ; the monks have to t k car of th ir body , but it is unjust to say that they love it . As 1 Nagasena told th e king Milinda

H a ve yo u ever a t a n y tim e b een hi t i n b a ttl e by ” “ ” “ a n a o w — es I h a e An d w a s th e w o u n ? Y . rr , v d a n o n e w h o n m en sm ea e wi h o il a n d a n a e i t d it i t t, r d t b d g d ” “ ” “ h a s n e o - es a s — Did w o f fi c h ? Y w . it trip l t , it —“ yo u lo ve yo u r w o u n d ? I n exa ctly th e s a m e w a th e a s ce cs do n o t o e h e o es b u t w ho u y , ti l v t ir b di ; , it t e n a a ch e to h em h e a e ca e o f h e o i es b i g tt d t , t y t k r t ir b d ” i n e n e n e e e o rd r to a dva c i th r ligi o u s lif .

e But , if the body is not to be crush d, the

b e e desires of the body are to crush d . Sakya muni condemns every indulgence ; the sm a llest conc ession may be disastrous ; d esire is every 2 e a r e wher , for we living desire

n s o n a e fi e Th e e e i s o n A h 0 m s r o n r . ll t i g , k , y fir e s e o m s a r e o n fir e su a co n o n s a r e o n , vi ibl f r , vi l g iti fir e m es s o n s ece e th e e e a r e o n fir e a n d , i pr i r iv d by y , w h a e e s en s a o n s ea s a n u n ea s a n o r n e en t v r ti , pl t , pl t i diff r t, o rigi n a te i n d ep en d en ce o n im pres sio n s r ec eive d by th e

1 M i li n d a . Wa en . , p 7 3 ( rr , p 1 M a hd va a 1 2 1. gg , , THE PATH TO NIRVANA 14 7

e e h es e a so a r e o n fir e . An d w h w h a a r e h es e o n y , t l it t t fir e ? h th e fir e o f u s w h th e fir e o f h a e w h Wit l t , it tr d, it t e e n h fir o f in fa tu a tio .

E ar and sounds , nose and smells , tongue and — — taste, body that is the organ of touch and tangible qualities , mind and ideas are also on fire . The right means to extinguish this fire is — vo w not the surgical method neither of silence , in order to avoid sins and desires of the voice for if that be the case , mute animals would be

Saints ; nor absence of thought ; nor craziness , real or simulated folly nor other f stupid and stupe ying devices , such as living as

- a cow or a dog , nor mutilations and self torture ,

h u lti m a r a ti o e nor suicide , t is of the Jain asc tics . Suicide is clearly an action commanded by desire or by disgust : one commits suicideto be better 1 elsewhere or to avoid pain . The Buddhi st must wait his time , without longing for life , without longing for death . The right means to extinguish the fire is the intellectual method which we shall outline pre

s en tl . y, coupled with a moderate asceticism

1. e e Ther w re , in the primitive Brotherhood ,

— e men of penitential tendencies , former adh rents

Ma h i k é é a a of penitential orders , for instance y p

1 W a en . rr , p 4 3 7 . — [ 0 2 14 8 THE PATH TO NIRVANA

and his followers , who had realized the superiority ’ a 8 w ho I n of S kyamuni teaching , had recognized S a kyamuni the Omniscient One and the leader

a of spiritual life . S kyamuni did not provide for them a new rule he condemned the most morbid exaggerations of asceticism and the indecent practices , nakedness and so on ; but he permitted a numb er of m o r tifi ca ti o n s (dhuta gu n a ) which were not in themselves obj ectionable . ‘ ’ ‘ e ar a n a ka m en The h rmits ( y ) , the of ceme

’ ‘ fm a fan i ka teries ( ) form , throughout the history

th e e of church , a sp cial class of monks , danger

sl - o u y like the non Buddhist ascetics . They were 1 holy men , ecstatics and poets , but in some ‘ ’ 2 e e resp cts they were heretics as w ll .

2 e . The conc ption of the truly Buddhist r eligious life is to be found in th e Vinaya which contains the rule s established by Sakyamuni and the first g en eration of Elders for the monks

e o and the nuns of common obs rvance . The m re 3 we study the Vinaya , the more we wonder at the common sense that is visible in the general

principles and in m any details . The monks of common observance have been

1 ‘ ’ ‘ ’ The P s ahn s o f th e Brethren a n d the P s a lm s o f the Sis ters ‘ ’ r Mr s Rh s Da d s a r e m o s l th e w o k o f en en s . (t . by y vi ) t y r p it t 2 See m B ou ddhi sm e P a s . 6 o ll . y ( ri , p 3 5 f 2 l 111 11 . . B S .E . vo . x , xv , xx

15 0 THE PATH TO NIRVANA

can be right to forsake the duties of caste ; and , l ike their Aryan ancestors , they cling to the theory of the four debts . Man pays his debt

e to the gods by sacrifice , to the V da by study,

m en to the dead by the birth of a son , to by hospitality . When he has paid this fourfold t debt , hen only may the Brahman abandon everything and take up his abode in the forest in order to meditate , to save himself, to die as a holy man .

As u su a th e a hm a n c o n o f i ew i s o c l , Br i p i t V f r ibly e es s e i n th e a ha ha a a e a r e o h a a n xpr d M b r t . W t ld t t ‘ ’ a n cho e wh o h a d e th e w o e o e m a i n rit , l ft rld b f r rry g, ca m e to a e e a ce w hi ch w a s i n a c th e i t o f t rribl pl , f t p h e h e e h e eco n e hi s a h e hi s a n a h e . T z ll r r g i d f t r, gr df t r, th e o n s e es o f a ll hi s a n c es o s su s en e o n e e o w l g ri t r , p d d b l a n o h e o n h e en o o f h e a s Th e o e w h ch t r t Op m u th t bys . r p i preven ted th em fro m fa lli n g w a s slo w ly a n d s u rely b ein g n a e m e An d s o m a n w a m o u s e a u e o f T . g d by , fig r i y o ces s o m e w e n o w n em n n hi m o f a ccen s h ea v i , ll k , r i di g t rd wh en a chi s o m e u n n o wn et a ea n to a o o u n ld , k y pp li g pr f d “ a n d h en n s n c s o m a n o c es c i e : S a e u s ' idd i ti t , y v i r d v ” s a ve u s ' Th e o n ly h o p e o f w elfa re fo r th e lo n g s eri es e e a o f th a n ces to rs i s th e s o n to b e b o rn o f th eir d es c n d n t . Th e a n ch o e u n e s o o th e es so n m a e a n d w a s rit d r t d l , rri d, a e to s a e h m se w ho u em o s e h a i n s a e hi s bl v i lf it t r r , v g v d a es / i a 11 1 n c o s See P a r a m a ttha o t e . t r . ( j , , , p

o . The Buddhists are m re consistent Laymen , however faithful, generous and virtuous they may be , even if they practise the fortnightly U a vas a abstinence and continence of the p , THE PATH TO NIRVANA 15 1

cannot reach Nirvana . The only Buddhist , in the proper meaning of the word , is the monk who has broken all the ties of society ; and the sooner

h e a e t . one becom s a monk , better Why del y in getting rid of occasions of greed and of carnal

e ? e hi d sire Ther fore c ldren are admitted , not to

th e religious vows , but to apprenticeship of the

e vows , when th y are seven years old and big enough to drive away the rooks .

a th e If by ch nce , and despite theory , a layman

ul obtains Sanctity , he is mirac ously turned into

a e a monk ; he suddenly appe rs shaved , garb d in

e the yellow robe , alms bowl in hand , lik , in all his demeanour , to a monk who has fifty years of profession .

III

1 The moderate asc eticism we have described is not , to speak exactly , a part of the Path leading to the eradicatio n o f desire ; it is rather only a pr eparation to the P a th : getting awa y

th e o from ccasions of desire . The Path is

e a ess nti lly a training in the Buddhist truths . D esire dep ends on the o rgans o f sense and

e e w e the ext rior obj ects . Wh reas are not allowed to destroy the organs , since suicide , mutilations ,

1 ' Techn call rati m ok as a m va r a i y p s . 15 2 THE PATH To NI RvANA

a e fasting are obj ection ble , the pl asant exterior

e b e e obj cts are too many to suppr ssed . In the

o same way, it is imp ssible to avoid every occasion of ang er ; solitary life does not realiz e p erfect

e e e o lon liness ; suff ring , disgust and ang r f llow ‘ ’ the monk even in the empty room where he sits to meditate . It is said1 Th ere i s n o t l ea th er en o u gh to co ver th e su rfa c e o f h e ea h I n o e to m a e i t sm o h B u t u t o n t rt rd r k o t . p s h o es a n d th e who e ea h w b e sm o o h , l rt ill t . — In order not to avoid lust (r aga ) and anger

do e a — or disgust ( s ) , a mere palliative but to ’ eradicate them , the only method is to cure one s

m o ha self, to eradicate the delusion ( ) that originates lust and anger . We exert no mastery over Nature or over the body, but we can master our own mind and destroy the four mistakes

' o i a r a s a e e ( p y ) looking at what r ally is unpl asant ,

e impure , transitory, and unsubstantial , as if it w re pleasant , pure , permanent , and substantial . We must learn to see thin s as rea lly are ; tech -l . g _ they n i ca ll F u 5 : e e y, we must possess the o r Trut ” v ry existence is a state of suffering or turns to suffer ing exist ence o r I gI n a teS I n desir e cessation — — of rebirth Nirvana is perfect bliss ; t he w a y

1 ' B odhi ca r ao a tar a 1 D. B a n e P a th o Li ht. y , v, 3 ; L . r tt, f g

THE PATH To NIRVANA I

a In some cases , it is possible to scertain that ’ a the Buddh s word is trustworthy ; in others , “ one must say : I admit that b ecause I believe ’ ” “ in Buddha s word ; Buddha knows and I ” do not know . The g eneral principle is as 1 “ follows : One must meditate on and under stand the points of doctrine that a r e intelligible

Fo r . e to an ordinary man the oth rs , one must

l a : wi lingly dmit them , saying That belongs to ’ 2 o a Buddha s d main of vision . It is s id :

’ h en u h a hi s o n o f m en o a s hi s o n s W B dd , t li , r r li o a i n th e a s s em es a n o en u es to sa h a r r bli , if yb dy v t r y t t u h a d o es n o t o ss es s su e h u m a n i u es h a h e B dd p p r v rt , t t o es n o t n o w th e a s o u e u h h a hi s ea ch n i s d k b l t tr t , t t t i g m a e u o f a ec c i s a cco m a n e es ea ch d p di l ti , p i d by r r , e e en ce n u a n u o n —i f a m a n en u es xp ri , i divid l i t iti , v t r to thi n k o r to sp ea k i n thi s w a y a n d do es n o t regre t hi s ho u h o r hi s w o h e w b e ec a e n o t g t rd, ill pr ipit t d i t h e ll .

a s u fli ci en t . 2 . But f ith is not Truths accepted on the authority of others d o not rea lly

e a s e e e belong to us ; th y remain , it w r , xtraneous and precari o us poss essions ; they are not turned

en s a n et n o u r r i tu r e . into our flesh and blood , g Th e Buddhist truths are to be understood a n d

e realized ; the Saint is the man who has becom ,

1 ' ' B o dhi s a tto a hhitm i 1 o m . Sutr ala m ka r a 1 12 , , xviii ; C p . 2 M a hi m a 1 . 1. jj , , p 7 THE PATH To NIRVANA 15 5

i like Sakyamuni himself, but under the gu dance ‘ ’ of Sakyamuni , an enlightened one Texts which recommend or rather enj oin personal inquiry and criticism compare in strength and number with the texts whi ch praise faith . Sakyamuni does not demand a

e blind adhesion ; he does not , as a rule , p rform miracles to convert his opponent . The real ‘ ’ th e miracle is miracle of the teaching . Sakya ’ ‘ ’ muni s teaching is accompanied by proofs ; “ it must not be accept e d out of respect ; on the contrary , it must be criticized , as gold is proved 1 in the fir e

No w 0 m o n s a r e o u o n to s a : We es ec , k , y g i g y r p t th e a s e a n d o u t o f es ec fo r the a s e w e e e e M t r r p t M t r, b li v

hi s a n d a — e a - I s n o t w h a o u t th t W wi ll n o t s y so . t y wi s a to b e u e h a e a c w h ch o u h a e ll y tr , t t x tly i y v by 2 o u se es s een n o w n a ehen e —E a c s o y r lv , k , ppr d d x tly

e This point , as many another, has been v ry

e well illustrated by Old nberg . Buddhas do not liberate their fell o w creatures . A Buddha is only

h e a preacher , and teaches men how to liberate

e thems lves . Disciples accept his preaching , not only because it comes from a man who is visibly

‘ ‘ o i ta r a a a saint , a g , that is a man free from ’ passion , and who therefore , according to the

1 N a a hi ndu fi ro a a ks a M do h r el cm . y y p p , g , 2 M a hi m a 1 . 2 6 . yj , , p 5 15 6 THE PATH TO NIRVANA

s a r Indian opinion , is likely to be omniscient ( — o aj na ) but because his preaching proves a c

a s curate , because , says Oldenberg , aroused by his word , a personal knowledge arises in their 1 ” mind . Pascal says the same thing and he points out the deep reason of the prestige of the great spiritual leaders :

’ On tro u ve da n s s o i - m ém e l a vérité d e cc qu o n ’ en en a u e e o n n e s a a a s u e e ffi t en s o e t d, l q ll v it p q ll y , rt ’ u o n est o é a a m e ce u u i n o u s l e a s en q p rt i r l i q f it tir .

Buddhists a r e introduced into the realm of truth by Faith ; they possess truth only by

Sight . They walk by sight and not by faith . It may be remarked that the position of the Brahman philosopher towards the Veda—more

a ctl y, towards the Vedanta , the Upanisads is almost the same . No human being would have discovered the great axiom of the Upanisads of the identity o f the Self with the universal

S elf ; but the truth of this axiom , once by faith

e it has be n admitted , is proved beyond doubt by personal intuition .

' hhao a n a 3 . Sight must be followed by , that is cultivation , exercise , meditation , pondering again and again , impressing .

1 2 B uddha . A. o u ch er . 2 1. , tr F , p 3

15 8 THE PATH TO NIRVANA

ff lofty feelings , and also so modern an e ort ‘ ’ — towards rationalism , that the student the compiler as well as the reader of a Manual i is l kely to forget its Hindu features .

Visits to cemeteries , where unburied bodies are f le t to decay, are a duty of a monk , and there are in the Buddhi st brotherhood ascetics who choose

‘ — fm a fan i lea s to live in cemeteries the , men of — the cemeteries i n order to meditate u n i n ter r u p tedly on the impermanence and the impurity of the body . The meditation takes on rather 1 physical and emotional characters . ‘ ’ Ten cemeteries , that is ten aspects of the — dead body, are to be realized in turn , to begin with the body one day dead , or two days or — three days dead , swollen , black to continue with an older corpse eaten by crows , with the ‘ corpse whi ch has become this I know not what something that has no name in any language , but which the Buddhi sts are fond of describing at great length—to end with the bones rotting and crumbling into dust , as they have been washed by the rains of years .

The monk , for days and months , lives with “ : the idea Verily, my body also has this nature,

hi . t s destiny, and is not exempt

1 Wa n o ao a a r a M a n u a l . . r e . 60 T c r , p 3 ; g , p 5 3 THE PATH TO NIRVANA - I 59 Such is one of the forms of the meditation

e on loathsomeness . When it has b en practised long enough, it is not enough to say that the beauty and the form of a woman have lost their natura l attractiveness : they are no long er per c eived . The ascetic sees the skeleton only and the forthcoming putrefaction .

‘ ’ ' ' hhao a n a Despite its romantic adjuncts , is

a n - ff intellectual a air , the third degree of the realization of a truth .

To be taught impermanence , to be told that ”

e . Life ends in d ath is one thing Young men , ‘ ’ a e th e inf tuat d by pride of youth , may agree “ ” e : to this stat ment Life ends in death , but

e they do not und rstand its true import . That is Faith, adhesion to the word of the Master .

To ascertain this statement by personal inquiry, is what is called Sight . Finally , to ponder over it , until it becomes not only familiar , but actually always present to the mind , that is Cultivation .

IV The path to deliverance would have been very

e—w e b e reasonabl mean , would thoroughly intel — ligible to u s if the Buddhists had been satisfied 169 THE PATH To NI RvANA

with the realization of the Truths , positive ‘ ’ statements to be believed , seen or understood , ‘ ’ cultivated or pondered over ; but the words

Sight and Cultivation , explained as above, do not convey the true import of the Buddhi st da r fa n a o a hha n a . and A factor, a practically

‘ ' da r fa n a hha o a n a almost necessary factor of and , is what is called co ncentration trance

‘ dh an a s a m a a tti —a - ( y ) , attainment ( p ) non intel lectual element .

The history of trance is a long and obscu re one . Trance has been traced in the semi civilized civilisations . Just as penance is a

- common practice among the medicine men , the

e sorc rers of old, even so trance is an archaic

e d vice . It was admitted that Man obtains , in

- semi hypnotic states , a magical power . The name of a thing is supposed to be either the thing : itself or a sort of double of the thing to master, during trance , the name, is to master the thing .

Just as penance , trance became a means to spiritual aims . ’ That is the case wi th Brahmanism . Trance is the necessary path ’ to the merging of the individual Self into the universal Self . To speak nl more accurately, there is o y one Self, which

THE PATH TO NIRVANA

Buddhism t eaches in so many words tha t not

a a e every tr nce is good . A tr nc which is not aimed at the right end , eradication of desire ,

a u /ei laa l a ffa is a mundane ( ) ir . When undertaken

e o e a e with desir , in rd r to obtain either advant g s

i e e a a e in th s lif , nam ly m gic l powers , or som

a e speci l kind of rebirth , tranc s cannot confer

a n v a a . e a r e spiritual adv nt ge Of cours , if they

a e e a s correctly man ged , th y succe d , any other human contriva nce would succ eed : a monk o r any m a n w h o devo t es hims elf to the c o ncentra ‘ ’ a th e e tion c lled of r alm of the infinity of space , in ord er to live for centuries in th e r ealm of th e ‘ ’ e o n b e gods m ditating the infinity of space , will

e h a s a r born in this realm , provided he not to p y some o ld debts in hell or els ewhere ; h e will live

e e h e e there for c nturi s , as hop d for ; but he will

e d a die there som y and continue migrating .

e But , on the oth r hand , it is an ascertained ‘ ’ fact that Sakyamuni obtain ed enli ghtenment

e by the practice of trances , and accordingly ev ry monk has to practise tranc es if he is to make

a any progress . The more Buddhism discour ges ‘ ’ ‘ a mund ne trance , the more it extols supra ’ a e o /e l o tta r a e mund n ( ) tranc , that is trance

o ff e e entered into , in order to cut d sir , by a monk w h o endeavours to get possessio n of the THE PATH TO NIRVANA 163

a a n Truths . The int ention of the scetic d his moral prepara tion make a ll th e differ enc e b etween

a mundane and supramundane tr nce . Our t exts cle arly state that s everal of the Buddhist trances were pra ctised by non

ee a Buddhists , and scholars agr th t the Buddhists I ’ did actually borrow from the common s to r e o f

a mystic l devices .

Th e b e actual aim of trance seems to , in

: Buddhism , twofold to strengthen the mind , to empty the mind .

1 a . By me ns of trance , the ascetic con cen tr a tes e the mind , strength ns the power of

e o o . e e a r e att nti n , gets rid of distracti n Th r

a many technical contriv nces , among which the

‘ ten kr ts n a ya ta n a s which seem to deserve sp eci a l 1 notice . — Th e m o n k m a k es a di s k o f ligh t r ed cl a y su ch a s — i s fo u n d i n th e b ed o f th e Ga n ges o n e sp a n fo u r in ch es e e He s s a t a s a n e o f tw o a n d a i n di a m t r . it di t c a h lf cu s o m th e i s o n a s ea o f a h e h e bit fr d k, t ig t fix d by u e : h e w e e to si t u h e o ff th e s w o u n o t r l if r f rt r , di k ld a ea a n n ea e th e m e ec o n s o f th e pp r pl i ly ; if r r, i p rf ti s w o u b e s e to o h h h e w o u h a e to di k ld vi ibl ; if ig , ld v en hi s n ec to o o to o l o w hi s n ees w o u b d k l k ; if , k ld e h en th e m e i a o n e n s th e ecs a c h a s to a ch . T d t ti b gi : t ti l o o k a t th e di s k a s lo n g a s it i s n eces s a ry i n o rd er to s ee

1 See a en . 2 . W rr , p 93 C H THE PATH TO NIRVANA [ . i t w h c o s e e es h a i s i n o e to c ea e a m en a it l d y , t t rd r r t t l To ea z e thI s a i m h e m u s co n em m a e o f th e s . i g di k r li , t t a e th e i s s o m e m es w h hi s e es o en s o m e m es pl t d k ti it y p , ti wi h hi s e es sh u a n d hu s fo r a h u n e m es o r fo r t y t , t dr d ti , a ho u s a n m es o r e en m o e u n th e m en a m a e t d ti , v r , til t l i g A th e m e h e co n ce es n e en ce fo r i s s ecu red . ll ti iv i diff r s en su a l pl ea su re ; h e reflect s o n th e qu a liti es o f B u ddh a ; h e a ffi rm s hi s co n fid en ce I n th e effi ca cy o f th e exerci s e h e 13 e n p rfo rm i g .

2 e b e e e a s ef o a . Tranc s may d fin d forts t w rds an actual simplifica ti o n or emptying o f thought ; as endeavours to g et directly rid of the v ery ideas

- 1 e e . a of I , min , being , non b ing As it is s id

Wh en b ein g a n d n o t b ei n g n o l o n g er s t a n d b efo re th e en ho u h i s e n e a ea e m n h s . i d, t t g t d fi it ly pp d

Th e e method is not a Vi w , either discursive

e e e u n s u b s ta n or immediat , of imperman nc or

ti a li t a a e . y , but a mech nic l proc ss

Th e o e e e s a m ahi ta a n d mind , nc conc ntrat d ( ) strengthen e d by ex ercise with the clay disk o r any

e e e e other xercis of the same kind , is succ ssiv ly

o e a Th e t o abandon its c nt nts and its c tegories . ecst a tic starts from a state of cont emplati o n couple d with rea soning and reflection ; h e aban

e o e dons d sire , sin , distracti ns , discursiven ss , j oy ,

' hedo nic feeling ; h e goes b eyond a n y notion of

e a ffe o matt r , of cont ct , of di rence ; thr ugh the

1 See Mr s Rh s Da ds P s chol o . 110 o ll . y vi , y gy p f

THE PATH TO NIRVANA power of arousing desire ; they have been ‘ ’ “ attenuated : The mind of a monk who has risen from the trance of the cessation of feeling and notion is inclined to isolation, has a tendency ” to isolation , is impelled to isolation . Thus says Sakyamuni .

We willingly agree . The professional ecstatic is likely to forget how to see exterior obj ects the mental reflexes he has cultivated turn to be more real than the changing appearances ; in the same way, the ecstatic hears mysterious sounds . He becomes inaccessible to the desires that are born from the senses , inaccessible to pain , for his nervous sensibility is almost de stroyed ; he is happy ; he is a Saint ; he will not be reborn , because he has Introduced into the series of his thoughts such a number of blank spaces that the further generation of thought and desire is stopped .

V

There are many aspects of Buddhism , which are more attractive “ than the aspect we have been studying . Apart from the religious develop ments known as Mahayana , older Buddhism owes the popularity which it has enj oyed in THE PATH TO NIRVANA 167

India and which it enjoys in the West , not to its intricate theories on the soul or on the Path , but to its moral features , to the charming , if enigmatic , personality of the Master , to the mild

th e e e wisdom of its gnomic poetry, to l g ndary literature (Birth Stories) which contains so much folklore , humanity and wit . In fact , we have been busied with the most abstruse Side of

Buddhism , and , by no means , with the most important from the historical standpoint . But , from the philosophical standpoint , it is useful to make out clearly the reasons why this old query “ ” a ? Is Buddhism , since it is theist , a religion is not a real problem . An inadequate knowledge of the nature of Indian mysticism and of the twofold nature of Buddhism is responsible for i the confusion that is impl ed in such a view . hi Secondly, Budd sts have been credited with opinions concerning Soul and Nirvana , which are by no means correct . I venture to think that it is worth while to consider anew these important and controverted points , and that , while the last word will never be said , our endeavours towards a more truly Buddhistic interpretation have not been utterly vain . My late friend Cecil Bendall willingly confess e d that the only means to a right understanding of a 1 8 V I 6 THE PATH TO NIRVANA [CH .

religion is to believe in this religion . I am not

prepared to say that I am a Buddhist , and more over i t is too late to take the p a hhajj a under Sar ip u tta ; but I have spared no pains to thi nk and to feel as did the ‘ yellow—robed monks ’

e e who have r nder d so eminent services , not to

o e C mankind as a wh l , but to India , to hina , to the Far East .

17 o INDE'

El em en s o u 62 i a 10 t , f r, 4 3 , J v 9 Em a c a ed B ddh a 1 i va n m u kta 2 8 11 i t u 4 3 j , 9 Existen ce 5 1 Kal a 2 2 F a ith 153 Kam a 2 2 f Field (ks etr a ) 7 8 K arm a n 57 ; m igra tio n o 4 9 Fire- s erm o n 14 6 kr a m a m u kti 12 3 o d- m a k e s 1 0 kr ts n a a ta n a 16 F r r 7 , 4 y 3 Fo u r- bra n ch ed dil em m a 111 ku fa l a 7 6 Free will 96 F u o f r en n u s m l a to e 82 r it ip i g, fr it i i r Lif the a c o n u o f m a s e o a h s o m en ess m ed a o n o n ti , fr it t ry, L t ( it ti ) 2 10 0 1 6 9 1 5 ’ l o kay a ta 6 1 a n dha r va 6 l o kotta r a 88 162 g 3 , 85 7 , , Ga n es 62 0 g , 7 Gift o f dha r m a 99 ; gift o f go ld Ma hak aSya p a 14 7 68 m er t o f M a ha an a 6 2 12 ; i gift 7 7 y , 3 , 3 Go ds i n B u ddhism 10 1 ; Vedic 14 Ma llik a 7 5 g o vr a ta 14 7 Mal u nk yap u tta 12 8 Gr a du a l delivera n ce 12 3 Mara 10 2 m arga 4 H en o theism 19 Ma terial ists 6 1 M r eta 111 Hen ry (V . ) 2 2 at c H eredity 88 Ma u dga lyaya n a 9 H er m its 14 8 Men ta l o rg a n 3 9 8 Ho k n s E . . Mer 2 p i ( W ) 5 9 it 7 , 7 7 , 7 H er co srni ca l 88 162 M ddl e a h 1 yp 7 , , i p t 4 4 Migra tio n o f k arm a n 4 9 I den t 0 M l n d a 1 1 6 ity 5 i i 4 , 4 I m m edia te sin s 90 Milk a n d cu rds 5 1 I m m o r a l 12 8 M l o n 12 1 t ity 9 , i t I n d du al 1 1 M s ak es th e o u 1 2 ivi 4 , 3 4 i t , f r 5 I n d o - E u o ea n s 11 m i th adrs i 6 6 r p 3 , y g 4 , 7 I n d a 2 1 Mo m en a n e 1 r , 7 3 t ity 4 4 , 5 I n sight 154 Mo ra lism I o o I n e m ed a r e s en ce Mo r a l t r i y xi t 54 , ity 7 3 , 99 I a n a n o ds MUIl er Ma x 1 12 r i g 3 ( ) 9 , 4 Mu n 1 2 1 I Sva r a 10 3 i 4 , 4 3 Mu d e 2 1 r r 5 , 7 J a m s a ak a s 6 Na a sen a 1 1 6 J t 4 g 4 , 4 a til a s 6 n ai r atm a J 5 y 34 , 5 5 j i n a 98 N a n da 7 9 ' i va 2 6 12 6 n asti ka 60 j , INDE'

s a m kr a m a 4 8 Nihilis m 152 s a ms ar a 2 5 a 1 6 116 s a tan 5 , 97 O H. 1 1 m ld en b erg ( ) 3 , , 7 5 , , s a m va r a 2 1 94 14 1 5 5 18 ri u tr a Oltra m a r e (P . ) Sa p 9 O ce 12 1 6 s a t 2 1 m n is cien 7 , 5 ’ Org a n s 3 9 Sa ta k r a tu 7 3 O i n a o n o f co n o n rig ti g iti 39 s a tkay a dr s gi 4 6 s a tto a lo ka 10 1

P a en s 6 1 8 - r t , 7 S elf l o ve 7 5 P a en ce ti 99 S eries '' P en a n ce 0 1 2 m a r éa 1 7 , 4 Si la o r a ta pa r a 7 4 , 4 5 l o f ew a P ers o n a ity r rd 4 7 Sim il es P es s m sm 10 8 12 1 13 2 1 i i , , Ch ario t 4 h l o so h a s e s 6 1 P i p t r Chi ld a n d girl 5 2

P i s chel R . 12 ( ) 7 5 , 3 Fir e 69 P l a o 6 l e t 4 3 , 9 Fire i n a j u n g 53 P o o a n d s ck 8 10 r i 7 Fl avo u r o f s a l t 1 m 1 e P ra gm a tis 3 5 L eaves o f the Siméa pa gr ov P a a a 2 1 1 2 r j p ti , 4 12 7 ' Pr i n t 3 5 Lu m p o f s a l t 89 d a o n 2 P rem e it ti 7 Milk a n d cu rds 5 1 f k a m a n 2 Prep a ra tio n (o r ) 7 P hysici a n 13 6 P n c al a c o n 2 ri ip ti 7 P o is o n ed a rro w 12 9 P o o u n d sl ee 10 ’ r f p 9 P o tter s wheel 2 8 ' d a la vada 1 o l o u 8 pu g 3 4 S eed dyed a certain c r 7 Sh o es 15 1 2 pu n a r m r ty u 5 Tel epho n e 4 9 P u s s i 9 Tigres s 13 7 a a 6 P u r an a k a s s p 3 111 6 6 8 8 S 4 s 9 1 7 4 s 3 1 9 P u ri fica ti o n s 0 7 3 a s 0 7 , s ka n dh 3 5 , 4 , 44 u r u sa 2 6 H a o m a 1 2 2 2 p , 3 7 So m a ( ) 9 , , 3 Spin o z a 5 2 1 R a o n a l sm 3 , 39 l e o d ti i S u bt b y 3 5 , 39 l e wo l d 10 1 10 R ecep ta c r , 4 Sfi fi 5 R e- dea h 2 t 5 S u icide 14 7 R ein ca n a o n 84 r ti 54 , Su n a n d Su n go d 10 1 R en in o f a c o n 88 '' ip g ti Sfi ny agar a 15 2 R s h 1 i i 7 Su p erstitio n 7 4 ‘ ri t a 0 1 p 4 , 7 so a hhao a 10 0 Sva yam b hfi 2 1 ce 2 1 2 2 S a crifi , , 7 3 11 1 Ta n e 8 S ain t 3 , 53 i 3 , 7 5 ta a s 0 14 2 Sak u n ta la 10 2 p 7 , 6 E . . 10 a ” 6 ho m a s ( ) 4 3 , Sfimk hy 7 . 3 7 , T J 17 2 INDE'

ti r tha 1 0 vi bha va tr s n a 1 1 7 , 4 3 To tern i sm 18 Vin aya 14 8 Tr an ce 160 vi s a m y og a pha l a 88 Tra n sfer o f m erit 3 3 Viéva k a r m a n 2 1 Tra n sito rin es s 4 4 vi ta r aga 15 5 Tra n sm igr a tio n 6 Vo litio n 68 u hs th e o u 1 2 o w s o f el o n 1 Tr t , f r 5 V r igi 7

u ccheda dr s ti 1 1 6 a r en H . . 8 4 5 , 5 , 3 W r ( C ) 4 U n b elievers 60 Wh o l e a n d p arts 4 2 U n in ten ti o n al m u r derer 69 Wido w s 5 9 U a n s a ds 6 1 0 1 6 o n V ew 6 6 p i 7 , 3 , 7 5 , 4 , 5 Wr g i 4 , 7 Up as a k a 7 4 Y a j fi a 3 vac 2 4 Yaj fi a va lk ya 64 a u n a 1 2 0 a ks a 1 V r 3 , y 5 va s a n a 7 1 Y a m a edan a an a V t 7 , 3 7 , y 4 Vedi c go ds 14 Y o g a 7

C BR D G E P R TED BY . B . P EAC E M . A A T TH E U N V E R P E AM : N S TY R SS . I I J , I I