The Buddhist Catechism Part 5

(2) The discovery of places and the remains of buildings mentioned in the narrative of his time.

(3) The rock-inscriptions, pillars and dagobas made in memory of him by sovereigns who were near enough to his time to be able to verify the story of his life.

(4) The unbroken existence of the Sangha which he founded, and their possession of the facts of his life transmitted from generation to generation from the beginning.

(5) The fact that in the very year of his death and at various times subsequently, conventions and councils of the Sangha were held, for the verification of the actual teachings of the Founder, and the handing down of those verified teachings from teacher to pupil, to the present day.

(6) After his cremation his relics were divided among eight kings and a stupa was erected over each portion. The portion given to King Ajatashatru, and by him covered with a stupa at Rajagrha, was taken, less than two centuries later, by the Emperor Asoka and distributed throughout his Empire. He, of course, had ample means of knowing whether the relics were those of the Buddha or not, since they had been in charge of the royal house of Patna from the beginning.

(7) Many of the Buddha's disciples, being Arhats and thus having control over their vital powers, must have lived to great ages, and there was nothing to have prevented two or three of them, in succession to each other, to have covered the whole period between the death of the Buddha and the reign of Asoka, and thus to have enabled the latter to get from his contemporary every desired attestation of the fact of the Buddha's life.[8]

(8) The "Mahavansa," the best authenticated ancient history known to us, records the events of Sinhalese history to the reign of King Vijaya, 543 B.C.--almost the time of the Buddha--and gives most particulars of his life, as well as those of the Emperor Asoka and all other sovereigns related to Buddhistic history.

103. Q. _By what names of respect is the Buddha called?_

A. Sakyamuni (the Sakya Sage); Sakya-Simha (the Sakyan Lion); Sugata (the Happy One); Satthta (the Teacher); Jina (the Conqueror), Bhagavat (the Blessed One); Lokanatha (the Lord of the World); Sarvajna (the Omniscient One); Dharmaraja (the King of Truth); Tathagata (the Great Being), etc.

[1] See the definition of _deva_ given later.

[2] For an admirable account of this interview consult Dr. Paul Carus'

_Gospel of Buddha_, page 20, _et seq._

[3] The term Hindu, once a contemptuous term, used by the Musalmans to designate the people of Sindh, whom they conquered, is now used in an ecclesiastical sense.

[4] No reason is given in the canonical books for the choice of this side of the tree, though an explanation is to be found in the popular legends upon which the books of Bishop Bigandet and other European commentators are based. There are always certain influences coming upon us from the different quarters of the sky. Sometimes the influence from one quarter will be best, sometimes that from another quarter. But the Buddha thought that the perfected man is superior to all extraneous influences.

[5] The ancient story is that the G.o.d Brahma himself implored him not to withhold the glorious truth.

[6] Brahmanism not being offered to non-Hindus, Buddhism is consequently, the oldest missionary religion in the world. The early missionaries endured every hardship, cruelty, and persecution, with unfaltering courage.

[7] At the Second Council there were two pupils of Ananda, consequently centenarians, while in Asoka's Council there were pupils of those pupils.

PART II

THE DHARMA OR DOCTRINE

106. Q. _What is the meaning of the word Buddha?_

A. The enlightened, or he who has the perfect wisdom.

107. Q. _You have said that there were other Buddhas before this one?_

A. Yes; our belief is that, under the operation of eternal causation, a Buddha takes birth at intervals, when mankind have become plunged into misery through ignorance, and need the wisdom which it is the function of a Buddha to teach. (See also Q. 11.)

108. Q. _How is a Buddha developed?_

A. A person, hearing and seeing one of the Buddhas on earth, becomes seized with the determination so to live that at some future time, when he shall become fitted for it, he also will be a Buddha for the guiding of mankind out of the cycle of rebirth.

109. Q. _How does he proceed?_

A. Throughout that birth and every succeeding one, he strives to subdue his pa.s.sions, to gain wisdom by experience, and to develop his higher faculties. He thus grows by degrees wiser, n.o.bler in character, and stronger in virtue, until, finally, after numberless re-births he reaches the state when he can become Perfected, Enlightened, All-wise, the ideal Teacher of the human race.

110. Q. _While this gradual development is going on throughout all these births, by what name do we call him?_

A. Bodhisat, or Bodhisattva. Thus the Prince Siddhartha Gautama was a Bodhisattva up to the moment when, under the blessed Bodhi tree at Gaya, he became Buddha.

111. Q. _Have we any account of his various rebirths as a Bodhisattva?_

A. In the Jatakatthakatha, a book containing stories of the Bodhisattva's reincarnations, there are several hundred tales of that kind.

112. Q. _What lesson do these stories teach?_

A. That a man can carry, throughout a long series of reincarnations, one great, good purpose which enables him to conquer bad tendencies and develop virtuous ones.

113. Q. _Can we fix the number of reincarnations through which a Bodhisattva must pa.s.s before he can become a Buddha?_

A. Of course not: that depends upon his natural character, the state of development to which he has arrived when he forms the resolution to become a Buddha, and other things.

114. Q. _Have we a way of cla.s.sifying Bodhisattvas? If so, explain it._

A. Bodhisattvas--the future Buddhas--are divided into three cla.s.ses.

115. Q. _Proceed. How are these three kinds of Bodhisats named?_

A. Pannadhika, or Udghat.i.tajna--"he who attains least quickly"; Saddhadhika, or Vipachitajna--"he who attains less quickly"; and Viryadhika, or Gneyya--"he who attains quickly". The Pannadhika Bodhisats take the course of Intelligence; the Saddhadhika take the course of Faith; the Viryaahika take the course of energetic Action. The first is guided by Intelligence and does not hasten; the second is full of Faith, and does not care to take the guidance of Wisdom; and the third never delays to do what is good. Regardless of the consequences to himself, he does it when he sees that it is best that it should be done.

116. Q. _When our Bodhisattva became Buddha, what did he see was the cause of human misery? Tell me in one word._

A. Ignorance (Avidya).

117. Q. _Can you tell me the remedy?_

A. To dispel Ignorance and become wise (Prajna).

118. Q. _Why does ignorance cause suffering?_

A. Because it makes us prize what is not worth prizing, grieve when we should not grieve, consider real what is not real but only illusionary, and pa.s.s our lives in the pursuit of worthless objects, neglecting what is in reality most valuable.

119. Q. _And what is that which is most valuable?_

A. To know the whole secret of man's existence and destiny, so that we may estimate at no more than their actual value this life and its relations; and so that we may live in a way to ensure the greatest happiness and the least suffering for our fellow-men and ourselves.

120. Q. _What is the light that can dispel this ignorance of ours and remove all sorrows?_