 section 41 of Hinduism and Buddhism an historical sketch volume one this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Hinduism and Buddhism an historical sketch volume one by Charles Elliot the teaching of the Buddha part six with this stage he attains Nirvana the best known word and the most difficult to explain in all the vocabulary of Buddhism footnote 488 Sanskrit Nirvana Holly Nibbana and footnote it is perhaps used more by Western students than by Oriental believers and it belongs to the same department of religious language as the word saint for most Christians there is something presumptuous in trying to be a saint or in defining the precise form of bliss enjoyed by saints in heaven and it is the same with Nirvana yet no one denies that sanctity and Nirvana are religious ideals in a passage already quoted Gotama described how in attaining Buddhahood he sought and arrived at the incomparable security of Nirvana in which there is no birth age sickness death pain or defilement footnote 489 Majima Nikhaya 26 and footnote this confirmed by many other statements shows that Nirvana is a state attainable in this existence and compatible with a life of intellectual and physical exertion such as he himself led the original meaning is the state of peace and happiness in which the fires of lust hatred and stupidity are extinguished and the participle Nibbutto apparently derived from the same route had passed into popular language in the sense of happy footnote 490 example the words addressed to Buddha Nibbuta Nuna Satnari Yasayam Edisopathi happy is the woman who has such a husband in the Anguttara Nikhaya 355 the Brahmin Janusoni asks Buddha what is meant by Sanditikam Nibbana that is Nirvana which is visible or belongs to this world the reply is that it is affected by the destruction of lust hatred and stupidity and it is described as Akalikam Ehipasikam Oppanayekam Thakatam Veditabam Vinuhi difficult words which occur elsewhere as epithets of Dhamma and apparently mean immediate inviting it says come and see leading to salvation to be known by all who can understand for some views as to the derivation of Nibbana Nibbutto etc see JPTS 1919 pages 53 and forward but the word Nirvana occurs frequently in the Mahabharata and was probably borrowed by the Buddhists from the Brahmins end footnote two forms of Nirvana are distinguished the first is Upadisesa Nibbana or Nirvana in which the Skandhas remain although passion is destroyed footnote 491 or Sa Upadi and footnote this state is also called Arhat chip the condition of an Arhat meaning originally a worthy or venerable man and the person enjoying it is alive the idea that the emancipated saint who has attained the goal still lingers in the world though no longer of the world and teaches others is common to all Indian religions with the death of an Arhat comes the state known as an Upadi Sesa Nibbana in which no Skandhas remain it is also called Parinibana and this word and the participle Parinibutto are frequently used with special reference to the death of the Buddha footnote 492 but Parinirvana is not always rigidly distinguished from Nirvana example Sutta Nipata 358 and in Kula Vaga 644 the Buddha describes himself as Brahmano Parinibutto Parinibutto is even used of a horse in Majjhima Nikaya 65 at Finim end footnote the difference between the two forms of Nirvana is important though the second is only the continuation of the first Nirvana in this life admits of approximate definition it is the goal of the religious life though only the elect can even enter the struggle Nirvana after death is not a goal in the same sense the correct doctrine is rather that death is indifferent to one who has obtained Nirvana and the difficulty of defining his nature after death does not mean that he has been striving for something inexplicable and illusory our hot ship is the aim and some of the Buddha's teaching it is associated in many passages with love for others with wisdom and happiness and is a condition of perfection attainable in this life the passages in the pitakas which seem to be the oldest and the most historical suggest that the success of the Buddha was due to the fact that he substituted for the chilly ideal of the Indian munis something more inspiring and more visibly fruitful something akin to what Christ called the kingdom of heaven thus we are told in the Vinaya that body was found sitting at the foot of a tree and exclaiming ecstatically oh happiness happiness when asked the reason of these ejaculations he replied that formerly when he was a raja he was anxious and full of fear but that now even when alone in the forest he had become tranquil and calm quote with mind as peaceful as an antelopes end quote Nirvana is frequently described by such adjectives as deathless endless and changeless these epithets seem to apply to the quality not to the duration of the arhat's existence for they refer to the time before the death of the body and to signify that in the state which he has attained death and change have no power over him he may suffer in body but he does not suffer in mind for he does not identify himself with the body or its feelings footnote 493 Samyuta Nikhaya 22 118 and footnote numerous passages could be quoted from the poetical books of the Pali Canon to the effect that Nirvana is happiness and the same is stated in the more dogmatic and logical portions thus we hear of the bliss of emancipation and of the happiness which is based on the religious life and the words Nirvana is the greatest happiness are put into Gotama's own mouth footnote 494 Vimuti Sukam and Brahma Karyogadam Sukam footnote 495 Majima Nikhaya 139 compare with also Angutara Nikhaya 2 7 where various kinds of Sukam or happiness are enumerated and we hear of Nekama Sukam Nirupadis Upekas Aruparamanam Sukam etc. and footnote the middle way preached by him is declared to be free from all distress and those who walk in it make an end of pain even in this life footnote 496 example Majima Nikhaya 9 Dithedame Dukas Antakaro Hoti and footnote in one passage Gotama is found meditating in a wood one winter night and is asked if he feels well and happy footnote 497 Angutara Nikhaya 532 and footnote the night is cold his seat is hard his clothes are light and the wind bitter he replies emphatically that he is happy those who live in comfortable houses suffer from the evils of lust hatred and stupidity but he has made an end of those evils and therefore is happy thus Nirvana is freedom and joy it is not extinction in the sense we give the word but light to them that sit in darkness release to those in prison and torture but though it is legitimately described in terms which imply positive happiness it transcends all human standards of good and evil pleasure and pain in describing the progress to it we all whether Indians or Europeans necessarily use such words as better higher happier but in truth it is not to be expressed in terms of such values in an interesting sutta a giant argues that happiness is the goal of life footnote 498 Majima Nikhaya 79 end footnote but the Buddha states categorically first that perfect happiness is only attainable by abandoning the conscious pursuit of happiness and secondly that even absolute happiness when attained is not the highest goal there is a better state beyond and that state is certainly not annihilation or extinction of feeling for it is described in terms of freedom and knowledge the dhamma sanghani speaks of nirvana as the uncompounded element and as a state not productive of good or evil footnote 499 a sank hatadattu compare with the expression a sank haraparini by Pugala Panati 144 end footnote numerous assertions are made about it incidentally but though we hear that it is perfected and super mundane most of the epithets are negative and amount to a little more than that it transcends or is absolutely detached from all human experience footnote 500 tabulated in mrs. Reese david's translation pages 367 to 9 end footnote uncompounded a sankhato may refer to the passing away of all sankharas but what may be the meaning of dhattu or element in this context I do not presume to conjecture but whatever else the word may mean it clearly does not signify annihilation both here and in the questions of melinda an impression is produced in the mind of the reader and perhaps was not absent in the mind of the writer that nirvana is a sphere or plane of existence resembling though excelling space or ether it is true that the language when carefully examined proves to be cautious and to exclude material interpretations but clearly the expository when trying to make plain the inexplicable leaned to that side of error rather than towards annihilation footnote 501 such a phrase as nibhanasa sake kiriyaya for the attainment or realization of nirvana would be hardly possible if nirvana were annihilation end footnote somewhat similar is the language attributed to the Buddha in the uddana footnote 502 uddana seven near beginning end footnote quote there is a state ayatanam where there is neither earth nor water fire nor air nor infinity either of space or of consciousness nor nothingness nor the absence of perception or non-perception neither this world nor another neither sun nor moon footnote 503 these are the formless stages of meditation in nirvana there is neither any ordinary form of existence nor even the forms of existence with which we become acquainted in trances and footnote that I call neither coming going nor standing neither death nor birth it is without stability without movement without basis it is the end of sorrow unborn unoriginated uncreated uncompounded end quote footnote 504 this negative form of expression is very congenial to Hindus thus many centuries later Kabir sang quote with God is no rainy season no ocean no sunshine no shade no creation and no destruction no life nor death no sorrow nor joy is felt there is no water wind nor fire the true guru is there contained end quote end footnote the statements about nirvana in the questions of Melinda are definite and interesting in this work Nagasena tells King Melinda that there are two things which are not the result of a cause to it space and nirvana footnote 505 4713 and following pages and footnote nirvana is unproducible which does not mean unattainable without origin not made of anything and uncompounded he who orders his life a right passes beyond the transitory and gains the real the highest fruit and when he has gained that he has realized nirvana footnote 506 see also book seven of the Melinda containing a long list of similes illustrating the qualities necessary for the attainment of arhat ship 30 qualities of arhat ship are mentioned in book six of the same work see also maha parinibbana sutta three sixty five to sixty and Reese david's note and footnote the parts of the pitaka's which seem oldest leave the impression that those who heard and understood the Buddha's teaching at once attained this blissful state just as the church regards the disciples of Christ as saints but already in the pitaka's we find the idea that the struggle to obtain nirvana extends over several births and that there are four roots leading to sanctification footnote 507 example diga nikaya sixteen two seven kula vaga nine one four end footnote these roots are described by the names of those who use them and are commonly defined in terms of release from the ten fetters binding man to the world footnote 508 example pugala panati 139 the ten fetters are one saccayaditi belief in the existence of the self to visikicha doubt three sila bata paramaso trust in ceremonies of good works for kamarago lust five patigo anger six rupa rago desire for rebirth in worlds of form seven arupa rago desire for rebirth in formless worlds eight mano pride nine uthakam self-righteousness ten avija ignorance and footnote the first is the sota panno he who has entered into the stream and is on his way to salvation he has broken the first three fetters called belief in the existence of self doubt and trust in ceremonies or good works he will be born again on earth or in some heaven but not more than seven times before he attains nirvana he who enters on the next stage is called saka da gammin or coming once because he will be born once more in this world and in that birth attain nirvana footnote 509 there is some diversity of doctrine about the saka da gammin some hold that he has two births because he comes back to the world of men after having been born once meanwhile in a heaven others that he has only one birth either on earth or in a devaloka and footnote he has broken the fetters mentioned and also reduced to a minimum the next two lust and hate the anagamin or he who does not return has freed himself entirely from these five fetters and will not be reborn on earth or any sensuous heaven but in a Brahma world once only the fourth route is that of the arhat who has completed his release by breaking the bonds called love of life pride self-righteousness and ignorance and has made an end of all evil and impurity he attains nirvana here and is no more subject to rebirth this simple and direct route is the one contemplated in the older discourses but later doctrine and popular feeling came to regard it as more and more unusual just as saints grow fewer as the centuries advance further from the apostolic age in the dearth of visible arhats it was consoling to think that nirvana could be one in other worlds the nirvana hitherto considered is that attained by a being living in this or some other world but all states of existence whatever come to an end when one who has not attained nirvana dies he is born again but what happens when an arhat or a buddha dies this question did not fail to arouse interest during the buddha's lifetime yet in the pitakas the discussion though it could not be stifled is relegated to the background and brought forward only to be put aside as unpractical the greatest teachers of religion Christ as well as buddha have shown little disposition to speak of what follows on death for them the center of gravity is on this side of the grave not on the other the all-important thing is to live a religious life at the end of which death is met fearlessly as an incident of little moment the kingdom of heaven of which Christ speaks begins on earth though it may end elsewhere in the Gospels we hear something of the second coming of Christ and the judgment hardly anything of the place and character of the soul's eternal life we only gather that a child of God who has done his best need have no apprehension in this or another world though expressed in very different phraseology something like that is the gist of what the Buddha teaches about the dying saint but this reticent attitude did not satisfy ancient India any more than it satisfies modern Europe and we have the record of how he was questioned and what he said in reply within certain limits that reply is quite definite the question does the target that is the Buddha or perfected saint exist after death which is the phrase usually employed by the pitakas in formulating the problem belongs to the class of questions called not declared or undetermined because they do not admit of either an affirmative or a negative answer footnote 510 of Yakutani the Buddha being omniscient Sabanu must have known the answer but did not declare it perhaps because language was incapable of expressing it and footnote other problems belonging to this class are is the world eternal or not is the world infinite or not is the soul the same as the body or different from it footnote 511 jiva not at the end footnote it is categorically asserted that none of these questions admit of a reply thus it is not right to say that a the saint exists after death be or that he does not exist see or that he both does and does not exist d or that he neither exists nor does not exist the Buddha's teaching about these problems is stated with great clearness in a sutta named after Malungya putta an inquirer who visits him and after enumerating them says frankly that he is dissatisfied because the Buddha will not answer them footnote 512 Majima Nikhaya sixty three and footnote quote if the Lord answers them I will lead a religious life under him but if he does not answer them I will give up religion and return to the world but if the Lord does not know then the straightforward thing is to say I do not know and quote this is plain speaking almost discursive the Buddha's reply is equally plain but unyielding quote have I said to you come and be my disciple and I will teach you whether the world is eternal or not infinite or not whether the soul is identical with the body or separate whether the saint exists after death or not no Lord now suppose a man were wounded by a poisoned arrow and his friends called in a physician to dress his wound what if the man were to say I shall not have my wound treated until I know what was the cast the family the dwelling place the complexion and stature of the man who wounded me nor shall I let the arrow be drawn out until I know what is the exact shape of the arrow and bow and what were the animals and plants which supplied the feathers leather shaft and string the man would never learn all that because he would die first therefore is the conclusion hold what I have determined as determined and what I have not determined as not determined this suit may be taken in connection with passages asserting that the Buddha knows more than he tells his disciples the result seems to be that there are certain questions which the human mind and human language had better leave alone because we are incapable of taking or expressing a view sufficiently large to be correct but that the Buddha has a more than human knowledge which he does not impart because it is not profitable and overstrains the faculties just as it is no part of a cure that the patient should make an exhaustive study of his disease with reference to the special question of the existence of the saint after death the story of Yamaka is important footnote 513 Samyuta Nikaya 1785 end footnote he maintained that a monk in whom evil is destroyed Kina Savo is annihilated when he dies and does not exist this was considered a grave heresy and refuted by Sariputta who argues that even in this life the nature of a saint passes understanding because he is neither all the skandhas taken together nor yet one or more of them yet it would seem that according to the psychology of the pitakas an ordinary human being is an aggregate of the skandhas and nothing more when such a being dies and in popular language is born again the skandhas reconstitute themselves but it is expressly stated that when the saint dies this does not happen the chain of causation says that consciousness and the sankaras are interdependent if there is no rebirth it is because as it would seem there are in the dying saint no sankaras his nature cannot be formulated in the same terms as the nature of an ordinary man it may be noted that karma is not equivalent to the effect produced on the world by a man's words and deeds for if that were so no one would have died leaving more karma behind him than the buddha himself yet according to hindu doctrine whether buddhist or brahmanic no karma attaches to the deeds of a saint his acts may affect others but there is nothing in them which tends to create a new existence in another dialogue the buddha replies to a wandering monk called vaka who questioned him about the undetermined problems and in answer to every solution suggested says that he does not hold that view footnote 514 majima nikaya 72 end footnote vaka asks what objection he has to these theories that he has not adopted any of them quote vaka the theory that the saint exists or does not exist and so on after death is a jungle a desert a puppet show arriving an entanglement and brings with it sorrow anger wrangling and agony it does not conduce to distaste for the world to the absence of passion to the cessation of evil to peace to knowledge to perfect enlightenment to nirvana perceiving this objection i have not adopted any of these theories then has gotama any theory of his own vaka the tathagata has nothing to do with theories but this is what he knows the nature of form how form arises how form perishes the nature of perception how it arises and how it perishes and so on with the other skandhas therefore i say that the tathagata is emancipated because he has completely and entirely abandoned all imaginations agitations and false notions about the ego and anything pertaining to the ego but asks vaka when one who has attained this emancipation of mind dies where is he reborn vaka the word reborn does not fit the case then gotama he is not reborn to say he is not reborn does not fit the case nor is it any better to say he is both reborn and not reborn or that he is neither reborn nor not reborn really gotama i am completely bewildered and my faith in you is gone never mind your bewilderment this doctrine is profound and difficult suppose there was a fire in front of you you would see it burning and know that its burning depended on fuel and if it went out nibayaya you would know that it had gone out but if someone were to ask you to which quarter has it gone east west north or south what would you say the expression does not fit the case gotama for the fire depended on fuel and when the fuel is gone it is said to be extinguished being without nourishment in just the same way all form by which one could predicate the existence of the saint is abandoned and uprooted like a fan palm so that it will never grow up in future footnote five fifteen which is said not to grow up again and footnote the saint who is released from what is styled form is deep immeasurable hard to fathom like the great ocean it does not fit the case to say either that he is reborn not reborn both reborn and not reborn or neither reborn nor not reborn exactly the same statement is then repeated four times the words sensation perception sankaras and consciousness being substituted successively for the word form vaka we are told was satisfied to appreciate properly the buddhas simile we must concentrate our attention on the fire when we apply this metaphor to annihilation we usually think of the fuel or receptacle and our mind dwells sadly on the heap of ashes or the extinguished lamp but what has become of the fire it is hardly correct to say that it has been destroyed if a particular fire may be said to be annihilated in the sense that it is impossible to reconstitute it by repeating the same process of burning the reason is not so much that we cannot get the same flames as that we cannot burn the same fuel twice but so long as there is continuous combustion in the same fireplace or pile of fuel we speak of the same fire although neither the flame nor the fuel remains the same when combustion ceases the fire goes out in popular language to what quarter does it go that question clearly does not quote fit the case but neither does it fit the case to say that the fire is annihilated footnote 516 it may be that the buddha had in his mind the idea that a flame which goes out returns to the primitive invisible state of fire this view is advocated by schrader journal polytext society 1905 page 167 the passages which he cites seem to me to show that there was supposed to be such an invisible store from which fire is born but to be less conclusive as proving that fire which goes out is supposed to return to that store though the quotation from the metree upanishad points in this direction for the metaphor of the flame see also sutta nipata versus 1074 to 6 and footnote nirvana is the cessation of a process not the annihilation of an existence if i take a walk nothing is annihilated when the walk comes to an end a particular form of action has ceased strictly speaking the case of a fire is the same when it goes out a process ceases for the ordinary man nirvana is annihilation in the sense that it is the absence of all the activities which he considers desirable but for the arhat who is the only person able to judge nirvana after death as compared with nirvana in life may be quiescence and suspension of activity only that such phrases seem to imply that activity is the right and normal condition quiescence being negative and unnatural whereas for an arhat these values are reversed we may use to the parallel metaphor of water a wave cannot become an immortal personality it may have an indefinitely long existence as it moves across the ocean although both its shape and substance are constantly changing and when it breaks against an obstacle the resultant motion may form new waves and if a wave ceases to struggle for individual existence and differentiation from the surrounding sea it cannot be said to exist anymore as a wave yet neither the water which was its substance nor the motion which impelled it have been annihilated it is not even quite correct to say that it has been merged in the sea a drop of water added to a larger liquid mass is merged the wave simply ceases to be active and differentiated in the samyuta nikaya the buddha's statement that the saint after death is deep and immeasurable like the ocean is expanded by significant illustration of the mathematician's inability to number the sand or express the sea in terms of liquid measure footnote 517 44 1 end footnote it is in fact implied that if we cannot say he is this is only because that word cannot properly be applied to the infinite innumerable and immeasurable the point which is clearest in the buddha's treatment of this question is that whatever his disciples may have thought he did not himself consider it of importance for true religion speculation on such points may be interesting to the intellect but is not edifying it is a jungle where the traveler wanders without advancing and a puppet show a vain worldly amusement which wears a false appearance of religion because it is diverting itself with quasi religious problems what is the state of the saint after death is not as people vainly suppose a question parallel to am i going to heaven or hell what shall i do to be saved to those questions the buddha gives but one answer in terms of human language and human thought namely attain to nirvana and arhat ship on this side of death if possible in your present existence if not now then in the future good existences which you can fashion for yourself what lies beyond is impracticable as a goal unprofitable as a subject of speculation we shall probably not be transgressing the limits of gotama's thought if we add that those who are not arhats are bound to approach the question with misconception and it is a necessary part of an arhats training to get rid of the idea i am footnote 518 footnote the state of a saint after death cannot be legitimately described in language which suggests that it is a fuller and deeper mode of life footnote 519 see especially sutha nipata 1076 and footnote yet it is clear that nearly all who dispute about it wish to make out that it is a state they could somehow regard with active satisfaction in technical language they are infected with out of parago or desire for life in a formless world and this is the seventh of the ten fetters all of which must be broken before our hardship is attained i imagine that those modern sects such as the zen in japan which hold that the deepest mysteries of the faith cannot be communicated in words but somehow grow clear in meditation are not far from the master's teaching though to the best of my belief no passage has been produced from the pitakas stating that an arhat has special knowledge about the avyakattani or undetermined questions almost all who treat of nirvana after death try to make the buddha say is or is not that is what he refused to do we still want a plain answer to a plain question and insist that he really means either that the saint is annihilated or enters on an infinite existence but the true analogues to this question are the other insoluble questions for instance is the world infinite or finite in space this is in form a simple physical problem yet it is impossible for the mind to conceive either an infinite world or a world stopping abruptly with not even space beyond a common answer to this antinomy is that the mind is attempting to deal with a subject with which it is incompetent to deal that the question is wrongly formulated and that every answer to it thus formulated must be wrong the way of truth lies in first finding the true question the real difficulty of the buddha's teaching though it does not stimulate curiosity so much as the question of life after death is the nature and being of the saint in this life before death raised in the argument with yamaka footnote 5 20 samyutta nikaya 22 85 end footnote another reason for not pressing the buddha's language in either direction is that if he had wished to preach in the subtlest form either infinite life or annihilation he would have found minds accustomed to the ideas and a vocabulary ready for his use if he had wished to indicate any form of absorption into a universal soul or the acquisition by the individual self of the knowledge that it is identical with the universal self he could easily have done so but he studiously avoided saying anything of the kind he teaches that all existence involves suffering and he preaches escape from it after that escape the words being and not being no longer apply and the reason why some people adopt the false idea of annihilation is because they have commenced by adopting the false alternative of either annihilation or an eternal prolongation of this life a man makes himself miserable because he thinks he has lost something or that there is something which he cannot get footnote 5 21 majima nikaya 22 alaga dupama suttam end footnote but if he does not think he has lost something or is deprived of something he might have then he does not feel miserable similarly a man holds the erroneous opinion quote this world is the self or soul and i shall become it after death and be eternal and unchanging end quote then he hears the preaching of a buddha and he thinks quote i shall be annihilated i shall not exist anymore end quote and he feels miserable but if a man does not hold this doctrine that the soul is identical with the universe and will exist eternally which is just complete full blown folly and then hears the preaching of a buddha it does not occur to him to think that he will be annihilated and he is not miserable footnote 5 22 later in the same sutta kevalo paripuro baladamo end footnote here the buddha emphasizes the fact that his teaching is not a variety of the brahmanica doctrine about the atman shortly afterwards in the same sutta he even more emphatically says that he does not teach annihilation he teaches that the saint is already in this life inconceivable anana vejo quote and when i teach and explain this some accuse me falsely and without the smallest ground saying gotama is an unbeliever he preaches the annihilation the destruction the dying out of real being when they talk like this they accuse me of being what i am not of saying what i do not say end quote footnote 5 23 for emphatic synonyms in the original end footnote though the buddha seems to condemn by anticipation the form of the vedanta known as the advita this philosophy illustrates the difficulty of making any statement about the saint after his death for it teaches that the saint knows that there is but one reality namely brahman and that all individual existences are illusion he is aware that he is brahman and that he is not differentiated from the world around him and when he dies what happens metaphors about drops and rivers are not really to the point it would be more correct to say that nothing at all has happened his physical life an illusion which did not exist for himself has ceased to exist for others perhaps he will be nearest to the buddha's train of thought who attempts to consider by reflection rather than by discussion in words what is meant by annihilation by thinking of the mystery of existence and realizing how difficult it is to explain how and why anything exists we are apt to slip into thinking that it would be quite natural and intelligible if nothing existed or if existing things became nothing yet as a matter of fact our minds have no experience of this nothing of which we talk and it is inconceivable when we try to think of nothingness we really think of space from which we try to remove all content yet could we create an absolute vacuum within a vessel the interior of the vessel would not be annihilated the man who has attained nirvana cannot be adequately defined or grasped even in this life what binds him to being is cut but it is inappropriate and inadequate to say that he has become nothing footnote five twenty four diga nikaya one seventy three footnote five twenty five i recommend the reader to consider carefully the passage at the end of book four of sharpenhowers divelt as philo and forestelon haldein and kemp's translation volume one pages five twenty nine to five thirty though he evidently misunderstood what he calls quote the nirvana of the buddhists yet his own thought throws much light on it end footnote and section 41 recording by linda johnson section 42 of hinduism and buddhism an historical sketch volume one this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by nick roach blue mountains australia hinduism and buddhism an historical sketch volume one by charles elliot chapter 11 monks and laymen the great practical achievement of the buddha was to found a religious order which has lasted to the present day it is known as the sungha and its members are called bhikkhus footnote five two six sanskrit bhikshu begha or mendicant because they live on alms bhikshakayam occurs in brihadaranyaka upanishad three five one end footnote it is chiefly to this institution that the permanence of his religion is due corporations or confraternities formed for the purpose of leading a particular form of life are among the most widespread manifestations if not of primitive worship at any rate of that stage in which it passes into something which can be called personal religion and at least three causes contribute to their formation first early institutions were narrower and more personal than those of today in politics as well as religion such relatively broad designations as englishmen or frenchmen buddhist or christian imply a slowly widening horizon gained by centuries of cooperation and thought in the time of the Buddha such national and religious names did not exist people belong to a clan or served some local prince similarly in religious matters they followed some teacher or worshipped some god and in either case if they were in earnest they tended to become members of a society society such as the pythagorean and orphic brotherhoods were also common in Greece from the sixth century bc onwards but the result was small for the genius of the Greeks turned towards politics and philosophy but in india where politics had strangely little attraction for the cultured classes energy and intelligence found an outlet in the religious life and created a multitude of religious societies even today hinduism has no one creed or code and those who take a serious interest in religion are not merely Hindus but follow some sect which without damning what it does not adopt selects its own dogmas and observances this is not sectarianism in the sense of schism it is merely the desire to have for oneself some personal intimate religious life even in so uncompromising and leveling a creed as islam the devout often follow special tariks that is roads or methods of the devotional life and these tariks though differing more than the various orders of the roman catholic church are not regarded as sects distinct from ordinary orthodoxy when christ died christianity was not much more than such a tarik it was an incipient religious order which had not yet broken with deudaism this idea of the private even secret religious body is closely allied to another namely that family life and worldly business are incompatible with the quest for higher things in early ages only priests and consecrated persons are expected to fast and practice chastity but when once the impression prevails that such observances not only achieve particular ends but produce wiser happier or more powerful lives then they are likely to be followed by considerable numbers of the more intelligent emotional and credulous sections of the population the early christian church was influenced by the idea that the world is given over to satan and that he who would save himself must disown it the gentler hindus were actuated by two motives first more than other races they felt the worry and futility of worldly life secondly they had a deep rooted belief that miraculous powers could be acquired by self-mortification and the sensations experienced by those who practiced fasting and trances confirmed this belief the third cause for the foundation and increase of religious orders is a perception of the influence which they can exercise the disciples of a master or the priests of a god if numerous and organized clearly possess a power analogous to that of an army to use such institutions for the service and protection of the true faith is an obvious expedient of the zealot ecclesiastical statecraft and ambitions soon make their appearance in most orders founded for the assistance of the church militant but of this spirit Buddhism has little to show except in Tibet and Japan it is almost absent the ideal of the Buddha lay within his order and was to be realized in the life of the members they had no need to strive after any extraneous goal the Sangha as this order was called arose naturally out of the social conditions of India in the time of Gautama it was considered proper that an earnest minded man should renounce the world and become a wanderer in doing this and in collecting around him a band of disciples who had a common mode of life Gautama created nothing new he merely did with conspicuous success what every contemporary teacher was doing the confraternity which he founded differed from others chiefly in being broader and more human less prone to extravagances and better organized as we read the accounts in the pitakas its growth seems so simple and spontaneous that no explanation is necessary disciples gather around the master and as their numbers increase he makes a few salutary regulations it is almost with surprise that we find the result to be an organization which became one of the great forces of the world the Buddha said that he taught a middle path equally distant from luxury and from self-modification but Europeans are apt to be struck by his condemnation of pleasure and to be repelled by a system which suppresses so many harmless activities but contemporary opinion in India criticized his discipline as easygoing and lax we frequently hear in the vanaya that the people murmured and said his disciples behaved like those who still enjoy the good things of the world some we are told tried to enter the order merely to secure a comfortable existence footnote five two seven maha vaga one forty nine confer ebid one thirty nine end footnote it is clear that he went to the extreme limits which public opinion allowed in dispensing with the rigors considered necessary to the religious life and we shall best understand his spirit if we fix our attention not so much on the regime to our way of thinking austere which he prescribed the single meal a day and so on as on his insistence that what is necessary is emancipation of heart and mind and the cultivation of love and knowledge all else being a matter of indifference thus he says to the ascetic kassapa that though a man perform all manner of penances yet if he has not attained the bliss which comes of good conduct a good heart and good mind he is far from being a true monk footnote five two eight digha nakaya eight end footnote but when he has the heart of love that knows no anger nor ill will when he has destroyed lust and become emancipated even before death then he deserves the name of monk it is a common thing to say he goes on that it is hard to lead the life of a monk but asceticism is comparatively easy what is really hard is the conversion and emancipation of the heart in india where the proclivity to asceticism and self-torture is endemic it was only natural that penance should in very truth seem easier and more satisfactory than this spiritual discipline it won more respect and doubtless seemed more tangible and definite more like what the world expected from a holy man accordingly we find that efforts were made by devadatta and others to induce the Buddha to increase the severity of his discipline but he refused footnote five two nine kalavaga one one three end footnote the more ascetic form of life which he declined to make obligatory is described in the rules known as duttangas of which twelve or thirteen are enumerated they are partly a stricter form of the ordinary rules about food and dress and partly refer to the life of a hermit who lives in the woods or in a cemetery in the pitakas kasapa's disciples are described as duttavada and the advantages arising from the observance of the duttangas are enumerated in the questions of melinda footnote five three zero samyuta nakaya fourteen fifteen twelve angutara nakaya one fourteen end footnote it is probable that the Buddha himself had little sympathy with them he was at any rate anxious that they should not degenerate into excesses thus he forbade his disciples to spend the season of the rains in a hollow tree or in a place where dead bodies are kept or to use an arms bowl made out of a skull footnote five three one maha vaga three twelve end footnote now kasapa had been a brahman ascetic and it's probable that in tolerating the duttangas the Buddha merely intended to allow him and his followers to continue the practices to which they were accustomed they were an influential body and he doubtless desired their adhesion for he was sensitive to public opinion and anxious to conform to it when conformity involved no sacrifice of principle footnote five three two or the opinion of single persons example visakha in maha vaga three thirteen end footnote we hear repeatedly that the lady complained of some practice of his bhikkhus and that when the complaint was brought to his ears he ordered the objectionable practice to cease once the king of magadar asked the congregation to postpone the period of retreat during the rains until the next full moon day they referred the matter to the Buddha quote i prescribe that you obey kings end quote was his reply one obvious distinction between the Buddha's disciples and other confraternities was that they were completely clad whereas the ajivikas jains and others went about naked the motive for this rule was no doubt decency and a similar thought made gotama insist on the use of a begging bowl whereas some sectaries collected scraps of food in their hands such extravagances led to abuses resembling the degradation of some modern fakirs even the jain scriptures admit that pious householders were disgusted by the ascetics who asked for a lodging in their houses naked unwashed men vow to smell and loathsome to behold footnote five three three akarangasut two two two end footnote this was the sort of life which the Buddha called anariyam ignoble or barbaric with such degradation of humanity he would have nothing to do he forbade nakedness as well as garments of hair and other uncomfortable costumes the raiment which he prescribed consisted of three pieces of cloth of the color called kasava this was probably dull orange selected as being unornamental it would appear that in medieval india the color in use was reddish at present a rather bright and not unpleasing yellow is worn in Burma, Ceylon, Siam and Cambodia originally the robes were made of rags collected and sewn together but it soon became the practice for pious laymen to supply the order with raiment. In the Maha and Kalavagas of the Vinaya Pitaka we possess a large collection of regulations purporting to be issued by the Buddha for the guidance of the order on such subjects as ceremonial, discipline, clothes, food, furniture and medicine. The arrangement is roughly chronological Godama starts as a new teacher without either followers or a code as disciples multiply the need for regulations and uniformity of life is felt each incident and difficulty that arises is reported to him and he defines the correct practice one may suspect that many usages represented as originating in the injunctions of the master really grew up gradually but the documents are ancient they date from the generations immediately following the Buddha's death and their account of his activity as an organiser is probably correct in substance one of the first reasons which rendered regulations necessary was the popularity of the order and the respect which it enjoyed King Bimbisara of Magadar is represented as proclaiming that quote it is not permitted to do anything to those who join the order of the Sakyaputia end quote footnote five three four Mahavaga one forty two end footnote hence robbers debtors slaves soldiers anxious to escape service and others who wished for protection against the law or merely to lead an idle life desired to avail themselves of these immunities footnote five three five but converted robbers were occasionally admitted example Angulimala end footnote this resulted in the gradual elaboration of a code of discipline which did much to secure that only those actuated by proper motives could enter the order and only those who conducted themselves properly could stay within it we find traces of a distinction between those bhikkhus who are hermits and live solitary lives in the woods and those who moved about in bands frequenting rest houses in the time of the Buddha the wandering life was a reality but later most monks became residents in monasteries already in the Vinaya we seem to breathe the atmosphere of large conventional establishments where busy superintendents see to the lodging and discipline of crowds of monks and to the distribution of the gifts made by pious laymen but the Buddha himself knew the value of forests and plant life for calming and quickening the mind quote here are trees go and think it out end quote he would say to his disciples at the end of a lecture footnote five three six Samyuta Nakaya four thirty five Majhima Nakaya eight adfinem on the value attached by mystics in all countries to trees and flowers see under hill mysticism page two three one end footnote in the poetical works of the Tri Pitaka especially the collections known as the songs of the monks and nuns this feeling is still stronger we are among anchorites who pass their time in solitary meditation in the depths of forests or on mountaintops and have a sense of freedom and a joy in the life of wild things not found in cloisters these old monkish poems are somewhat wearysome as continuous reading but their monotonous enthusiasm about the conquest of desire is leaving by a sincere and observant love of nature they sing of the scenes in which meditation is pleasant the flowery banks of streams that flow through reeds and grasses of many colors as well as the mysterious midnight forest when the dew falls and wild beasts howl they note the plumage of the blue peacock the flight of the yellow crane and the gliding movements of the water snake it does not appear that these amiable hermits arrogated any superiority to themselves or that there was any opposition between them and the rest of the brethren they prefer to form of the religious life which the Buddha would not make compulsory but it is older than Buddhism and not yet dead in India the sungha exercised no hierarchical authority over them and they accepted such simple symbols of union as the observance of upasatha days the character of the sungha has not materially changed since its constitution took definite shape towards the end of the master's life it was and is simply a body of people who believe that the higher life cannot be lived in any existing form of society and therefore combined to form a confraternity where they are relieved of care for food and raiment where they can really take no thought for the morrow and turn the cheek to the smiter they were not a corporation of priests and they had no political aims any free man unless his parents or the state had a claim on him and unless he suffered from certain diseases was admitted he took no vows of obedience and was at any time at liberty to return to the world though the sungha as founded by the Buddha did not claim still less exact anything from the laity yet it was their duty their most obvious and easy method of acquiring merit to honor and support monks to provide them with food clothes and lodging and with everything which they might lawfully possess strictly speaking a monk does not beg for food nor thank for what he receives he gives the layman a chance of doing a good deed and the donor not the recipient should be thankful at first the Buddha admitted converts to the order himself but he subsequently prescribed two simple ceremonies for admission to the novitiate and to full privileges respectively they're often described as ordinations but are rather applications from postulants which are grounded by a chapter consisting of at least 10 members the first called pabha jar or going forth that is leaving the world is affected when the would-be novice duly shorn and robed in yellow recites the three refuges and the 10 precepts footnote 537 they are abstinence from one destroying life 2 stealing 3 impurity 4 lying 5 intoxicants 6 eating at forbidden times 7 dancing music and theaters 8 garlands perfumes ornaments 9 high or large beds 10 accepting gold or silver end footnote full membership is obtained by the further ceremony called upasampada the postulant who must be at least 20 years old is examined in order to ascertain that he is sui juris and has no disqualifying disease or other impediment then he is introduced to the chapter by quote a learned and competent monk end quote who asks those who are in favor of his admission to signify the same by their silence and those who are not to speak if this formula is repeated three times without calling forth objection the upasampada is complete the newly admitted biku must have an upaja or preceptor on whom he waits as a servant seeing to his clothes bath bed etc in return the preceptor gives him spiritual instruction supervises his conduct and tends him when sick the chapter which had power to accept new monks and regulate discipline consisted of the monks inhabiting a parish or district whose extent was fixed by the sunghai itself its reality as a corporate body was secured by stringent regulations that under no excuse must the biku's resident in a parish omit to assemble on upasatha days footnote 538 these are practically equivalent to sundays being the new moon full moon and the eighth days from the new and full moon in Tibet however the 14th 15th 29th and 30th of each month are observed end footnote the vinaya represents the initiative for these simple observances as coming not from the Buddha but from king bimbisara who pointed out that the adherence of other schools met on fixed days and that it would be well if his disciples did the same footnote 539 mahavaga two one to two end footnote he ascended and ordered that when they met they should recite a formula called patimokha which is still in use it is a confessional service in which a list of offenses is read out and the brethren are asked three times after each item quote are you pure in this matter end quote silence indicates a good conscience only if a monk has anything to confess does he speak it is then in the power of the assembly to prescribe some form of expiation the offender may be rebuked suspended or even expelled but he must admit his guilt otherwise disciplinary measures are forbidden what has been said above about the daily life of the Buddha applies equally to the life of his disciples footnote 540 chapter 8 section 3 end footnote like him they rose early journeyed or went to beg their only meal until about half past 11 and spent the heat of the day in retirement and meditation in the evening followed discussion and instruction it was forbidden to accept gold and silver but the order might possess parks and monasteries and receive offerings of food and clothes the personal possessions allowed to a monk were only the three robes a girdle an arms bowl a razor a needle and a water strainer footnote 541 required not so much to purify water as to prevent the accidental destruction of insects end footnote everything else which might be given to an individual had to be handed over to the confraternity and held in common and the vinaya shows clearly how a band of wandering monks following their teacher from place to place speedily grew into an influential corporation possessing parks and monasteries near the principal cities the life in these establishments attained a high level of comfort according to the standard of the times and the number of restrictive precepts suggests a tendency towards luxury this was natural for the lady were taught that their duty was to give and the order had to decide how much it could properly receive from those pious souls who were only too happy to acquire merit in the larger viharas for instance at savati there were halls for exercise that is walking up and down halls with fires in them warm baths and storerooms the year of the bhikkhus was divided into two parts during nine months they might wander about live in the woods or reside in a monastery during the remaining three months known as vasa or rainy season residents in a monastery was obligatory footnote 542 it might begin either the day after the full moon of asala june or july or a month later in either case the period was three months maha vaga three two end footnote this custom as mentioned existed in india before the buddha's time and the pitakas represent him adopting it chiefly out of deference to public opinion he did not prescribe any special observances for the period of vasa but this was the time when people had the most leisure since it was hard to move about and also when the monks were brought into continual contact with the inhabitants of a special locality so it naturally became regarded as the appropriate season for giving instruction to the lady the end of the rainy season was marked by a ceremony called pavvarana at which the monks asked one another to pardon any offenses that might have been committed and immediately after it came the kathina ceremony or distribution of robes kathina signifies the store of raw cotton cloth presented by the lady and held as common property until distributed to individuals it would be tedious to give even an abstract of the regulations contained in the venaya they are almost exclusively concerned with matters of daily life dwellings furniture medicine and so forth and if we compare them with the statutes of other religious orders we are struck by the fact that the buddha makes no provision for work obedience or worship in the western branches of the christian church and to some extent though less markedly in the eastern the theory prevails that quote satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do end quote and manual labor is a recognized part of the monastic life but in india conditions and ideals were different the resident monk grew out of the wandering teacher or disputant who was not likely to practice any trade it was a maxim that religious persons lived on arms and occupations which we consider harmless such as agriculture were held to be unsuitable because such acts as plowing may destroy animal life probably the buddha would not have admitted the value of manual labor as a distraction and defense against evil thoughts no one was more earnestly bent on the conquest of such thoughts but he wished to extopate them not merely to crowd them out energy and activity are insisted on again and again and there is no attempt to discourage mental activity reading form no part of the culture of the time but a life of travel and new impressions continual discussion and the war of wits must have given the bhikkhus a more stimulating training than was to be had in the contemporary brahmanic schools the buddhas regulations contain no vow of obedience or recognition of rank other than simple seniority or the relation of teacher to pupil as time went on various hierarchical expedience were invented in different countries since the management of large bodies of men necessitates authority in some form but except in lamism this authority has rarely taken the form familiar to us in the roman and oriental churches where the bishops and higher clergy assume the right to direct both the belief and the conduct of others in the sangha no monk could give orders to another he who disobeyed the precepts of the order ceased to be a member of it either ipso facto or if he refused to comply with the expiation prescribed also there was no compulsion no suppression of discussion no delegated power to explain or supplement the truth hence differences of opinion in the buddhist church have largely taken the shape of schools of thought rather than of separate and polemical sects dissension indeed has not been absent but of persecution such as stains the annals of the christian church there is hardly any record the fact that the sungha though nearly 500 years older than any christian institution is still vigorous shows that this noble freedom is not unsuccessful as a practical policy the absence of anything that can be called worship or cultists in gotama's regulations is remarkable he not merely sets aside the older religious rites such as prayer and sacrifice he does not prescribe anything whatever which is in ordinary language a religious act for the pati moka pavarana etc are not religious ceremonies but chapters of the order held with an ethical object and the procedure the proposal of a resolution and the request for an expression of opinion is that adopted in modern public meetings except that a scent is signified by silence it is true that the ceremonial of a religion is not likely to develop during the life of the founder for pious recollection and recitation of his utterances in the form of scripture are as yet impossible still if the Buddha had had any belief whatever in the edifying effect of ritual he would not have failed to institute some ceremony appealing if not to supernatural beings at least to human emotions even the few observances which he did prescribe seemed to be the result of suggestion from others and the only inference to be drawn is that he regarded every form of religious observance as entirely superfluous at first the sungha consisted exclusively of men it was not until about five years after its establishment that the entreaties of the Buddha's foster mother who had become a widow and of ananda prevailed on him to throw it open to women as well footnote five four three kalavaga ten one end footnote but it would seem that the permission was rung from him against his judgment his reluctance was not due to a low estimate of female ability for he recognized and made use of the influence of women in social and domestic life and he admitted that they were as capable as men of attaining the highest stages of spiritual and intellectual progress this is also attested by the pitakas for some of the most important and subtle arguments and expositions are put into the mouths of nuns footnote five four four see the papers by mrs bowde in the journal of the royal asiatic society 1893 pages 517 to 566 and 763 to 798 and mrs reese davids in ninth congress of orientalists volume one page 344 end footnote indeed the objections raised by the Buddha though emphatic are as arguments singularly vague and the eight rules for nuns which he laid down and compared to an embankment built to prevent a flood seem dictated not by the danger of immorality but by the fear that women might aspire to the management of the order and to be equals or superiors of monks so far as we can tell his fears were not realized the female branch of the order showed little vigor after its first institution but it does not appear that it was a cause of weakness or corruption women were influential in the infancy of buddhism but we hear little of the nuns when this first ardor was over we may surmise that it was partly due to personal devotion to gotama and also that there was a growing tendency to curtail the independence allowed to women by earlier arian usage the daughters of asoka play some part in the narratives of the conversion of selon and napal but after the early days of the church female names are not prominent subsequently the succession became interrupted and as nuns can receive ordination only from other nuns and not from monks it could not be restored the so-called nuns of the present day are merely religious women corresponding to the sisters of Protestant churches but are not ordained members of an order but the right of women to enjoy the same spiritual privileges as men is not denied in theory and in practice buddhism has done nothing to support or commend the system of the harim or zenana in some buddhist countries such as berma and sayam women enjoy almost the same independence as in europe in china and japan their status is not so high but one period when buddhism was powerful in japan from 800 to 1100 AD was marked by the number of female writers and among the mansus and Tibetans women enjoy considerable freedom and authority those who follow the law of the buddha but are not members of the sangha are called upasakas footnote 545 feminine upasika and footnote that is worshipers or adherents the word may be conveniently rendered by laymen although the distinction between clergy and lady as understood in most parts of europe does not quite correspond to the distinction between bhikkhus and upasakas european clergy are often thought of as interpreters of the deity and whenever they have had the power they have usually claimed the right to supervise and control the moral or even the political administration of their country something similar may be found in larmesan but it forms no part of gotama's original institution nor of the buddhist church as seen today in berma syam and selon the members of the sangha are not priests or mediators they have joined a confraternity in order to lead a higher life for which ordinary society has no place they will teach others not as those whose duty it is to make the laity conform to their standard but as those who desire to make known the truth and easy as is the transition from this attitude to the other it must be admitted that buddhism has rarely laid itself open to the charge of interfering in politics or of seeking temporal authority rather may it be accused of a tendency to indolence in some cases elementary education is in the hands of the monks and their monasteries serve the purpose of village schools elsewhere they're harmless recluses whom the unsympathetic critic may pity as useless but can hardly condemn as ambitious or interfering this is not however altogether true of tibet and the far east it is sometimes said that the only real buddhists are the members of the sangha and there is some truth in this particularly in china where one cannot count as a buddhist everyone who occasionally intends a buddhist service but on the other hand gotama accorded to the laity a definite and honorable position and in the patakas they notify their conversion by a special formula they cannot indeed lead the perfect life but they can ensure birth in happy states and a good layman may even attain nirvana on his death bed but though the pious householder quote takes his refuge in the law and in the order of monks end quote from whom he learns the law yet these monks make no attempt to supervise or even to judge his life the only punishment which the order inflicts to turn down the bowl and refuse to accept alms from guilty hands is reserved for those who have tried to injure it and is not inflicted on notorious evil livers it is the business of a monk to spread true knowledge and good feeling around him without inquiring into the thoughts and deeds of those who do not spontaneously seek his counsel indeed it may be said that in Burma it is the laity who supervise the monks rather than vice versa those bhikkhus who fall short of the accepted standard especially in chastity are compelled by popular opinion to leave the monastery or village where they have misbehaved this reminds us of the criticisms of laymen reported in the vinaya and the deference which the buddha paid to them the ethical character of buddhism and its superiority to other indian systems are shown in the precepts which it lays down for laymen ceremony and doctrine have hardly any place in this code but it enjoins good conduct and morality moderation in pleasures and consideration for others only five commandments are essential for a good life but they are perhaps more comprehensive and harder to keep than the decalogue for they prescribe abstinence from the five sins of taking life drinking intoxicants lying stealing and unchastity it is meritorious to observe in addition three other precepts namely to use no garlands or perfumes to sleep on a mat spread on the ground and not to eat after midday pious laymen keep all these eight precepts at least on upasatha days and often make a vow to observe them for some special period the nearer laymen can approximate to the life of a monk the better for his spiritual health but still the aims and ideals and consequently the methods of the lay and religious life are different the bhikkhu is not of this world he is cut himself loose from its ties pleasures and passions he strives not for heaven but for ahat ship but the laymen though he may profitably think of nirvana and final happiness may also rightly aspire to be born in some temporary heaven the law merely bids him be a kind temperate prudent man of the world it is only when he speaks to the monks that the Buddha really speaks to his own and gives his own thoughts only for them are the high selfless aspirations the austere councils of perfection and the promises of bliss and something beyond bliss but the lay morality is excellent in its own sphere the good respectable life and its teaching is most earnest and natural in those departments where the hard unsentimental precepts of the higher code jar on western minds whereas the monk severs all family ties and is fettered by no domestic affection this is the field which the laymen can cultivate with most profit it was against his judgment that the Buddha admitted women to his order and in bidding his monks beware of them he said many hard things but for women in the household life the pitakas show an appreciation and respect which is illustrated by the position held by women in Buddhist countries from the devout and capable matron visakha down to the women of Burma in the present day the Buddha even praised the ancients because they married for love and did not buy their wives footnote five four six sutta nipata two eight nine end footnote the right life of a layman is described in several suttas footnote five four seven example maha mangala and damika sutta in sutta nipata two four and fourteen end footnote and in all of them though arms giving religious conversation and hearing the law are commended the main emphasis is on such social virtues as pleasant speech kindness temperance consideration for others and affection the most complete of these discourses the siga lovada sutta footnote five four eight dika nakaya thirty one end footnote relates how the Buddha when starting one morning to beg arms in rajagaha saw the householder sigala bowing down with clasped hands and saluting the forequarters the nadir and the zenith the object of the ceremony was to avert any evil which might come from these six points the Buddha told him that this was not the right way to protect oneself a man should regard his parents as the east his teachers as the south his wife and children as the west his friends as the north his servants as the nadir and monks and brahmins as the zenith by fulfilling his duty to these six classes a man protects himself from all evil which may come from the six points then he expounded in order the mutual duties of one parents and children two pupils and teachers three husband and wife four friends five master and servant six lady and clergy the precepts which follow show how much common sense and good feeling gotama could bring to bear on the affairs of everyday life when he gave them his attention and the whole classification of reciprocal obligations recalls the five relationships of chinese morality three of which are identical with gotama's divisions namely parents and children husband and wife and friends but national characteristics make themselves obvious in the differences gotama says nothing about politics or loyalty the chinese list which opens with the mutual duties of sovereigns and subjects is silent respecting the church and clergy the sungha is an indian institution and invites comparison with that remarkable feature of indian social life the brahman caste at first sight the two seem mutually opposed for the one is a hereditary though intellectual aristocracy claiming the possession of incommunicable knowledge and power the other a corporation open to all who choose to renounce the world and lead a good life and this antithesis contains historical truth the sungha like the similar orders of the jains and other kishatriya sects was in its origin a protest against the exclusiveness and ritualism of the brahmans yet compared with anything to be found in other countries the two bodies have something in common for instance it is a meritorious act to feed either brahmans or bhikkhus europeans are inclined to call both of them priests but this is inaccurate for a bhikkhu rarely deserves the title footnote five four nine it may seem superfluous to insist on this yet warren in his buddhism in translations uniformly renders bhikkhu by priest and footnote and nowadays brahmans are not necessarily priests nor priests brahmans but in india there is an old and widespread idea that he who devotes himself to a religious and intellectual life and the two spheres though they do not coincide overlap more than in europe should be not only respected but supported by the rest of the world he is not a professional man in the sense that lawyers doctors and clergymen are but rather an aristocrat though from the earliest times the nobles of india have had a full share of pride and self-confidence the average hindu has always believed in another kind of upper class entered in some sects by birth in others by merit but in general a well-defined body the conduct of whose members does not fail to command respect the du uddes principle is certainly not wanting but the holy man is honored not so much because he will make an immediate return by imparting some instruction or performing some ceremony but because to honor him is a good act which like other good acts will sooner or later find its reward the buddha is not represented as blaming the respect paid to brahmans but as saying that brahmans must deserve it birth and plaited hair do not make a true brahman anymore than a shaven head makes a bhikkhu but he who has renounced the world who is pure in thought word and deed who follows the eightfold path and perfects himself in knowledge he is the true brahman footnote 550 the same idea occurs in the upanishads example brihara anyaka upanishad 4 4 23 quote he becomes a true brahman end quote end footnote men of such aspirations are commoner in india than elsewhere and more than elsewhere they form a class which is defined by each sect for itself but in all sects it is an essential part of piety to offer respect and gifts to this religious aristocracy end of section 42