Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch Volume I Part 24

Yet his followers were said to regard him as a G.o.d, and whether this is a correct statement or not, it is certain that he was credited with superhuman power and received a homage which seemed even to Indians excessive[739]. It is in the light of such incidents and such temperaments that we should read the story of the Buddha. Could we be transported to India in the days of his preaching, we should probably see a figure very like the portrait given in the more sober parts of the Pitakas, a teacher of great intelligence and personal charm, yet distinctly human. But had we talked about him in the villages which lay along his route, or even in the circle of his disciples, I think we should have heard tales of how Devas visited him and how he was wont to vanish and betake himself to some heaven. The Hindu attributes such feats to a religious leader, as naturally as Europeans would ascribe to him a magnetic personality and a flashing eye.

The Pitakas emphasize the omniscience and sinlessness of the Buddha but contain no trace of the idea that he is G.o.d in the Christian or Mahommedan sense. They are consistently non-theistic and it is only later that Buddhas and Bodhisattvas become transformed into beings about whom theistic language can be used. But in those parts of the Pitakas which may be reasonably supposed to contain the ideas of the first century after the Buddha's death, he is constantly represented as instructing Devas and receiving their homage[740]. In the Khuddaka-pa?ha the spirits are invited to come and do him reverence. He is described as the Chief of the World with all its G.o.ds[741], and is made to deny that he is a man. If a Buddha cannot be called a Deva rather than a man, it is only because he is higher than both. It is this train of thought which leads later Buddhists[742] to call him Devatideva, or the Deva who is above all other Devas, and thus make him ultimately a being comparable with Siva or Vishnu.

The idea that great teachers of mankind appear in a regular series and at stated intervals is certainly older than Gotama, but it is hard to say how far it was systematized before his time. The greatness of the position which he won and the importance of the inst.i.tutions which he founded naturally caused his disciples to formulate the vague traditions about his predecessors. They were called indifferently Buddha, Jina, Arhat, etc., and it was only after the const.i.tution of the Buddhist church that these t.i.tles received fixed meanings.

Closely connected with the idea of the Buddha or Jina is that of the Mahapurusha or great man. It was supposed that there are born from time to time supermen distinguished by physical marks who become either universal monarchs (cakra-vartin) or teachers of the truth. Such a prediction is said to have been made respecting the infant Gotama and all previous Buddhas. The marks are duly catalogued, as thirty-two greater and eighty[743] smaller signs. Many of them are very curious.

The hair is glossy black: the tongue is so long that it can lick the ears: the arms reach to the knees in an ordinary upright position: the skin has a golden tinge: there is a protuberance on the skull and a smaller one, like a ball, between the eyebrows. The long arms may be compared with the Persian t.i.tle rendered in Latin by Longima.n.u.s[744] and it is conceivable that the protuberances on the head may have been personal peculiarities of Gotama. For though the thirty-two marks are mentioned in the Pitakas as well-known signs establishing his claims to eminence, no description of them has been found in any pre-Buddhist work[745], and they may have been modified to suit his personal appearance. At any rate it is clear that the early generations of Buddhists considered that the Master conformed to the type of the Mahapurusha and attached importance to the fact[746]. The Pitakas repeatedly allude to the knowledge of these marks as forming a part of Brahmanic training and in the account of the previous Buddha Vipa.s.si they are duly enumerated. These ideas about a Great Man and his characteristics were probably current among the people at the time of the Buddha's birth. They do not harmonize completely with later definitions of a Buddha's nature, but they show how Gotama's contemporaries may have regarded his career.

In the older books of the Pitakas six Buddhas are mentioned as preceding Gotama[747], namely Vipa.s.si, Sikhi, Vessabhu, Kakusandha, Konagamana and Ka.s.sapa. The last three at least may have some historical character. The Chinese pilgrim Fa Hsien, who visited India from 405 to 411 A.D., saw their reputed birthplaces and says that there still existed followers of Devadatta (apparently in Kosala) who recognized these three Buddhas but not Gotama. Asoka erected a monument in honour of Konagamana in Nepal with a dedicatory inscription which has been preserved. In the Majjhima-Nikaya[748] we find a story about Kakusandha and his disciples and Gotama once gave[749] an extended account of Vipa.s.si, whose teaching and career are represented as almost identical with his own. Different explanations have been given of this common element. There is clearly a wish to emphasize the continuity of the Dhamma and the similarity of its exponents in all ages. But are we to believe that the stories, true or romantic, originally told of Gotama were transferred to his mythical forerunners or that before his birth there was a Buddha legend to which the account of his career was accommodated? Probably both processes went on simultaneously. The notices of the Jain saints show that there must have been such legends and traditions independent of Gotama. To them we may refer things like the miracles attending birth. But the general outline of the Buddha's career, the departure from home, struggle for enlightenment and hesitation before preaching, seem to be a reminiscence of Gotama's actual life rather than an earlier legend.

There is an interesting discourse describing the wonders that attend the birth of a Buddha[750], such as that he pa.s.ses from the Tusita heaven to his mother's womb; that she must die seven days after his birth: that she stands when he is born: and so on. We may imagine that the death of the mother is due to the historical fact that Gotama's mother did so die, while the other circ.u.mstances are embellishments of the old Buddha and Mahapurusha legend. But the construction of this sutta is curious.

The monks in the Jetavana are talking of the wondrous powers possessed by Buddhas. Gotama enters and asks what is the subject of their discourse. They tell him and he bids ananda describe more fully the wondrous attributes of a Buddha. ananda gives a long list of marvels and at the end Gotama observes, "Take note of this too as one of the wondrous attributes of a Buddha, that he has his feelings, perceptions and thoughts under complete control[751]."

No pa.s.sage has yet been adduced from the suttas mentioning more than seven Buddhas but later books, such as the Buddha-va?sa and the introduction to the Jataka, describe twenty-five[752]. There are twenty-four Jain Tirthankaras and according to some accounts twenty-four incarnations of Vishnu. Probably all these lists are based on some calculation as to the proper allowance of saints for an aeon. The biographies of these Buddhas are brief and monotonous. For each sage they record the number of his followers, the name of his city, parents, and chief disciples, the tree under which he attained enlightenment, his height and his age, both in extravagant figures. They also record how each met Gotama in one of his previous births and prophesied his future glory. The object of these biographies is less to give information about previous Buddhas than to trace the career of Gotama as a Bodhisattva.

This career began in the time of Dipankara, the first of the twenty-five Buddhas, incalculable ages ago, when Gotama was a hermit called Sumedha.

Seeing that the road over which Dipankara had to pa.s.s was dirty, he threw himself down in the mire in order that the Buddha might tread on him and not soil his feet. At the same time he made a resolution to become a Buddha and received from Dipankara the a.s.surance that ages afterwards his wish would be fulfilled. This incident, called pra?idhana or the vow to become a Buddha, is frequently represented in the frescoes found in Central Asia.

The history of this career is given in the introduction to the Jataka and in the late Pali work called the Cariya-pi?aka, but the suttas make little reference to the topic. They refer incidentally to Gotama's previous births[753] but their interest clearly centres in his last existence. They not infrequently use the word Bodhisattva to describe the youthful Gotama or some other Buddha before the attainment of Buddhahood, but in later literature it commonly designates a being now existing who will be a Buddha in the future. In the older phase of Buddhism attention is concentrated on a human figure which fills the stage, but before the canon closes we are conscious of a change which paves the way for the Mahayana. Our sympathetic respect is invited not only for Gotama the Buddha, but for the struggling Bodhisattva who, battling towards the goal with incredible endurance and self-sacrifice through lives innumerable, at last became Gotama.

It is only natural that the line of Buddhas should extend after as well as before Gotama. In the Pitakas there are allusions to such a posterior series, as when for instance we hear[754] that all Buddhas past and to come have had and will have attendants like ananda, but Metteya the Buddha of the future has not yet become an important figure. He is just mentioned in the Digha Nikaya and Buddha-Va?sa and the Milinda Panha quotes an utterance of Gotama to the effect that "He will be the leader of thousands as I am of hundreds," but the quotation has not been identified.

The Buddhas enumerated are supreme Buddhas (Samma-sam-buddha) but there is another order called Pacceka (Sanskrit Pratyeka) or private Buddhas.

Both cla.s.ses attain by their own exertions to a knowledge of the four truths but the Pacceka Buddhas are not, like the supreme Buddhas, teachers of mankind and omniscient[755]. Their knowledge is confined to what is necessary for their own salvation and perfection. They are mentioned in the Nikayas as worthy of all respect[756] but are not prominent in either the earlier or later works, which is only natural, seeing that by their very definition they are self-centred and of little importance for mankind. The idea of the private Buddha however is interesting, inasmuch as it implies that even when the four truths are not preached they still exist and can be discovered by anyone who makes the necessary mental and moral effort. It is also noticeable that the superiority of a supreme Buddha lies in his power to teach and help others. A pa.s.sionless and self-centred sage falls short of the ideal.

[Footnote 1: The frontier seems to be about Long. 65 E.]

[Footnote 2: See Coedes's views about Srivijaya in _B.E.F.E.O._ 1918, 6.

The inscriptions of Rajendracola I (1012-1042 A.D.) show that Hindus in India were not wholly ignorant of Indian conquests abroad.]

[Footnote 3: But the j.a.panese syllabaries were probably formed under Indian influence.]

[Footnote 4: Probably the Christian doctrine of the atonement or salvation by the death of a deity is an exception. I do not know of any Indian sect which holds a similar view. The obscure verse Rig Veda x.

13. 4 seems to hint at the self-sacrifice of a deity but the hymn about the sacrifice of Purusha (x. 90) has nothing to do with redemption or atonement.]

[Footnote 5: It is possible (though not, I think, certain) that the Buddha called his princ.i.p.al doctrines _ariya_ in the sense of Aryan not of n.o.ble. But even the Blessed One may not have been infallible in ethnography. When we call a thing British we do not mean to refer it to the ancient Britons more than to the Saxons or Normans. And was the Buddha an Aryan? See V. Smith, _Oxford History of India_, p. 47 for doubts.]

[Footnote 6: This is not altogether true of the modern temple ritual.]

[Footnote 7: It is very unfortunate that English usage should make this word appear the same as Brahman, the name of a caste, and there is much to be said for using the old-fashioned word Brahmin to denote the caste, for it is clear, though not correct. In Sanskrit there are several similar words which are liable to be confused in English. In the nominative case they are:

(1) Brahmanah, a man of the highest caste.

(2) Brahmanam, an ancient liturgical treatise.

(3) Brahma, the G.o.dhead, stem Brahman, neuter.

(4) Brahma, a masculine nominative also formed from the stem Brahman and used as the name of a personal deity.

For (3) the stem Brahman is commonly used, as being distinct from Brahma, though liable to be confounded with the name of the caste.]

[Footnote 8: For some years most scholars accepted the opinion that the Buddha died in 487 B.C. but the most recent researches into the history of the Saisunaga dynasty suggest that the date should be put back to 554 B.C. See Vincent Smith, _Oxford History of India_, p. 52.]

[Footnote 9: This is sometimes rendered simply by desire but _desire_ in English is a vague word and may include feelings which do not come within the Pali _tanha_. The Buddha did not reprobate good desires. See Mrs Rhys David's _Buddhism_, p. 222 and _E.R.E._ s.v. Desire.]

[Footnote 10: It is practically correct to say that Buddhism was the first universal and missionary religion, but Mahavira, the founder of the Jains and probably somewhat slightly his senior, is credited with the same wide view.]

[Footnote 11: It may be conveniently and correctly called Pali Buddhism.

This is better than Southern Buddhism or Hinayana, for the Buddhism of Java which lies even farther to the south is not the same and there were formerly Hinayanists in Central Asia and China.]

[Footnote 12: See Finot, _J.A._ 1912, n. 121-136.]

[Footnote 13: There is no Indian record of Bodhidharma's doctrine and its origin is obscure, but it seems to have been a compound of Buddhism and Vedantism.]

[Footnote 14: This is proved by coins and also by the Besnagar inscription.]

[Footnote 15: I do not think that this view is disproved by the fact that Patanjali and the scholiasts on Panini allude to images for they also allude to Greeks. For the contrary view see Sten Konow in _I.A._ 1909, p. 145. The facts are (_a_) The ancient Brahmanic ritual used no images. (_b_) They were used by Buddhism and popular Hinduism about the fourth century B.C. (_c_) Alexander conquered Bactria in 329 B.C. But allowance must be made for the usages of popular and especially of Dravidian worship of which at this period we know nothing.]

[Footnote 16: Few now advocate an earlier date such as 58 B.C.]

[Footnote 17: His authorship of _The Awakening of Faith_ must be regarded as doubtful.]

[Footnote 18: Much of the Ramayana and Mahabharata must have been composed during this period, both poems (especially the latter) consisting of several strata.]

[Footnote 19: _E.g._ the Vyuhas of the Pancaratras, the five Jinas of the Mahayanists and the five Sadasiva tattvas. See Gopinatha Rao, _Elements of Indian Iconography_, vol. III p. 363.]

[Footnote 20: I draw a distinction between Saktism and Tantrism. The essence of Saktism is the worship of a G.o.ddess with certain rites.

Tantrism means rather the use of spells, gestures, diagrams and various magical or sacramental rites, which accompanies Saktism but may exist without it.]

[Footnote 21: According to _Census of India_, 1911, _a.s.sam_, p. 47, about 80,000 animists were converted to Hinduism in Goalpara between 1901 and 1911 by a Brahman called Sib Narayan Swami.]

[Footnote 22: It is said that in Burma Hindu settlers become absorbed in the surrounding Buddhists. _Census of India_, 1911, I. p. 120.]

[Footnote 23: The life and writings of Vasubandhu ill.u.s.trate the transition from the Hina-to the Mahayana. In the earlier part of his life he wrote the Abhidharmakosa which is still used by Mahayanists in j.a.pan as a text-book, though it does not go beyond Hinayanism. Later he became a Mahayanist and wrote Mahayanist works.]

[Footnote 24: As already mentioned, I think Saktism is the more appropriate word but Tantrism is in common use by the best authorities.]

[Footnote 25: In India proper there are hardly any Buddhists now. The k.u.mbhipathias, an anti-Brahmanic sect in Orissa, are said to be based on Buddhist doctrines and a Buddhist mission in Mysore, called the Sakya Buddhist Society, has met with some success. See _Census of India_, 1911, i. pp. 122 and 126.]

[Footnote 26: See the quotation in Schomerus, _Der Saiva Siddhanta_, p.

20 where a Saiva Hindu says that he would rather see India embrace Christianity than the doctrine of Sankara.]

[Footnote 27: Some think that the sect called Nimavats was earlier.]

[Footnote 28: The determination of his precise date offers some difficulties. See for further discussion Book v.]

[Footnote 29: The Kadianis and Chet Ramis in the N.W. Provinces are mentioned but even here the fusion seems to be chiefly between Islam and Christianity. See also the article Radha Soarai in _E.R.E._]