Buddhism and India

Studies in Indian Culture, Religion and Society Series - 3

Buddhism and India

J.B. Sharma S.P. Sharma

· 1999 Sublime Publications

Jaipur

India

First Published: 1999 ISBN : 81-85809-48-8 ©Author Price : Rs. 595 Published by

Sublime Publications 18, Jain Bhawan, Opp. N.B.C., Shanti Nagar, Jaipur - 302 006 Tel. 0141 - 220590, 221456 Printed at Tarun Offset Printers, New Delhi

Preface

Indian history boasts of certain religions which had moved the hearts of uncountable peoples. Buddhism is one of them. It is a religion of kindness, humanity and equality. Its expansion and wide literature within India and abroad has hardly a parallel in the history of the world. One of the important factors for its appeal on a massive scale was its catholicity. · Buddhism may best be defined simply as the means to enlightenment. The more we study Buddhism the more we realize its greatness as a religion and philosophy. In the words of Rabindranath Tagore "Like the religion of the Upanishads, Buddhism also generated two different currents; the one imper­ sonal, preaching the self-abnegation of self through discipline, and the other personal sympathy for all creatures, and the other which is called the Mahayana, had its origin in the positive element contained in the Buddha's teachings, which is immeasurable love. It could never, by any logic, fi11d its reality in the emptiness of the truthless abyss." Buddhism with its religion, philosophy, literature and art is a tremendous storehouse of"knowledge. It played a predominant part not r,nly in the evolution of art in India but also in other countries where it had been a cepted as a way of life. Buddhist literature in its multifarious forms still constitutes the classics of many countries.

6

PREFACE

However, Buddhism has become a civilisation of international importance. Historically, it was one of the most tremendous religious movement that the world ever saw, the most gigantic spiritual society. There is hardly any civilisation on which its effect has not been felt in some way or other. The present series consist of numerous speeches/writings of a galaxy of intellectuals. I express my sincere gratitude to all of them. EDITORS

Contents

Preface

V

1. INDIA AND BUDDHISM -Hermann O/denberg

9

2. INDIA AND BUDDHISM -P.V. Bapat

22

3. THE LAND OF BUDDHA -Fah-Hian

29

4. BUDDHISM AND INDIA -Kai/as Nath Katju

32

•5. BUDDHISM IN INDIA IN THE CENTURY OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA -J. Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire

SEVENTH

34

6. IN THE SACRED PLACES OF BUDDHISM -Rene Grousset

122

7. SITES OF ASOKA'S EDICTS

150

8. BODH-GAYA FROM BUDDHIST POINT OF VIEW -Benimadhab Barna

155

8

CONTENTS

196

9. THE GREAT SANCHI CONGREGATION -N. Rajamani

10. INTRODUCTION OF BUDDHISM IN CHINA -Phanindra Nath Bose

202

11. STUDIES IN CHINESE BUDDHISM -Phanindra Nath Bose

215

12. BUDDHISM COMES TO TIBET -Charles Bell

228

13. AN OUTLINE OF THE BUDDHISM OF TIBET -Dalai Lama

245

14. BUDDHISM CAPTURES MONGOLIA -Charles Bell

261

15. EXPANSION OF BUDI'HIST NORTH-EAST ASIA -Nalinaksha Dutt

CULTURE

16. BUDDHISM IN THE MODERN WORLD -B. Sangharakshita

IN

269

280

1 India and Buddhism -Hermann Oldenberg

The history of the Buddhist faith begins with a band of mendicant monks who gathered round the person of Gotama, the Buddha, in the country bordering on the Ganges, about five hundred years before the commencement of the Christian era. What bound them together and gave a stamp to their simple and earnest world of thought, was the deeply felt and clearly and sternly expressed consciousness, that all earthly existence is full of sorrow, and that the only deliverance from sorrow is in renunciation of the world and eternal rest. An itinerant teacher and his itinerant followers, not unlike those bands, who in later times bore through Galilee the tidings: "the kingdom of heaven is at hand," went through the realms of India with the burden of sorrow and death, and the announcement: "open ye your ears; the deliverance from death is found." Vast gaps separate the historical circle, in the middle of which stands the form of Buddha, from the world on which we are wont next to fix our thoughts, when we speak of the history of the world. Those upheavals of nature which partitioned off India from the cooler lands of the west and north by a gigantic wall of vast mountains, allotted at the same time to the people, who should first tread this highly favoured land, a role of detached isolation. The Indian nation, in a manner scarcely paralleled by any other nation

10

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

m the civilized world, has developed its life out of itself and according to its own laws, far removed alike from the alien and the cognate peopks, who in the west, within the compas:, of closer mutual relations, have perfonned the parts to which history called them. India took no share in this work. For those circles of the Indian race, among whom Buddha preached his doctrine, the idea of non-Indian lands had hardly a more concrete signification than the conception of those other worlds, which, scattered through infinite space, combine with other suns, other moons and other hells, to form other universes. The day was yet to come, when an overpowering hand broke down the partition between India and the west-the hand of Alexander. But this contact of India and Greece belongs to a much later period than that which formed Buddhism: between the death of Buddha and Alexander's Indian expedition there elapsed perhaps about one hundred and sixty years. Who can conceive what might have been, if, at an earlier epoch, when the national life of the Indians might have opened itself more freshly and genially to the influences of a foreign life, such events had overtaken it as this incursion of Macedonian weapons and Hellenic culture? For India Alexander came too late. When he appeared, the Indian people had long since come, in the depth of their loneliness, to stand alone among nations, ruled by forms of life and habits of thought, which differed wholly from the standards of the non-Indian world. Without a past living in their memory, without a present, which they might utilize in love and hate, without a future, for which men might hope and work, they dreamed morbid and proud dreams of that which is beyond all time, and of the peculiar government which is within these everlasting realms. On scarcely any of the creations of the exuberant culture of India, do we find the stamp of this Indian characteristic so sharply, and therefore, too, so enigmatically impressed, as on Buddhism. But the more completely do all external bonds between these distant regions and the world with which we are acquainted, as far as they consist of the intercourse of nations and the interchange of their intellectual wealth, seem to us to be served, so much the more clearly do we perceive another tie, which holds closely together

INDIA AND BUDDHISM

11

internally what are outwardly far apart and apparently foreign: the bond of historical analogy between phenomena, which are called into being in different places by the working of the same law.

Invariably, wherever a nation has been in a position to develop its intellectual life in purity and tranquillity through a long period of time, there recurs that phenomenon, specially observable in the domain of spiritual life, which we may venture to describe as a shifting of the centre of gravity of all supreme human interests from without to within: an old faith, which promised to men somehow or other by an offensive and defensive alliance with the Godhead, power, prosperity, victory and subjection of their enemies, will, sometimes by imperceptible degrees, and sometimes by great catastrophes, be supplanted by a new phase of thought, whose watchwords are no longer welfare, victory, dominion, but rest, peace, happiness, deliverance. The blood of the sacrificial victim no longer brings reconciliation to the dismayed and erring heart of man: new ways are sought and found, to overcome the enemy within the heart, anc1 to become whole, pure, and happy.

This altered condition of the inner life gives rise externally to a new fonn of spiritual fellowship. In the old order of things nature associated religious unity with the family, the clan, and the nation jointly, and inside these unity of faith and worship existed of itself. Whoever belongs to a people has thereby the right to, and is bound to have a share in, the worship of the popular gods. Near this people are other people with other gods; for each individual it is detem1ined as a natural necessity by the circumstances of his birth, what gods shall be to him the true and for him the operative deities. A particular collective body, which may be denominated a church, there is not and there cannot be, for the circle of all worshippers of the popular gods is no narrower and no wider than the people themselves. The circumstances under which the later forms of religious life come to the surfate are different. They have not an antiquity co-eval with the people among whom they arise. When they come into existence they find a faith already rooted in the people and giving an imprint to popular institutions. They must begin to gather

12

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

adherents to themselves from among the crowds of professors of another faith. It is no longer natural necessity, but the will of the individual, which determines whether he hopes to find his salvation on this side or on that. There arise the fonns of the school, the society, and the holy order. From the narrow social circle of teacher and disciples there may eventually grow a church, which, exceeding the limits of the nation, the limits of all seats of culture, may extend to distances the most remote. Were it allowable to borrow from one particular instance of those cases which illustrate this, a designation for this revolution of universal occurrence. which transfonns the religious life of nations internally as well as externally, we might describe it as the transition from the Old Testament dispensation to the New Testament dispensation. The honour of having given the most unique and most marked expression to this transition in fonns unequalled in history, belongs to the Semitic race. Somewhere about five hundred years earlier than in Palestine, analogous occurrences took place among the Indo-Germanic nations in two places, widely separated in locality, but approximate in time, Greece and in India. In the fonner case we find the most eccentric among the Athenians, the defining explorer of the bases of human action, who, in the market and over the wine-cup, to Alkibiades as well as to Plato, demonstrates that virtue can be taught and learned-in the latter case there steps out as the most prominent among the world's physicians, who then traversed India in monastic garb, the noble Gotama, who calls himself the Exalted, the holy, highly Illumi­ nated One, who has come into the world to show to gods and men the path out of the sorrowful prison of being into the freedom of everlasting rest. What can be more different than the relative proportions in which in these two spirits-and historical treatment will permit us to add as a third their great counterpart in his mysterious majestic form of suffering humanity-the elements of thought and feeling, of depth and clearness, were arranged and mixed? But even in the sharply-defined difference of that which was, and still is, Socratic,

INDIA AND BUDDHISM

13

Buddhistic, and Christian vitality, historical necessity holds good. For it was a matter of historical necessity that, when the step was attained at which this spiritual reconstruction was required and called for, the Greeks were bound to meet this demand with a new philosophy, the Jews with a new faith. The Indian mind was wanting in that simplicity, which can believe without knowing, as well as in that bold clearness, which seeks to know without believing, and therefore the Indian had to frame a doctrine, a religion and a philosophy combined, and therefore, perhaps, if it must be said, neither the one nor the other; Buddhism. Our sketch is intended to keep in view, at every step in detail, the parallelism of these phenomena. While it obtains from the similar historical pictures of the western world a light which enables it in many a dark place within its own province to descry outlines and fonns, it hopes on its part in return to aid thereby in suggesting bases founded on facts, sifted and assured, for the discovery of those universally valid rules, which govern the changes in the religious thought of nations. The course which our sketch will have to follow, is clearly indicated by the nature of the case. Obviously, our first task is to describe the historical national antecedents, the ground and base on which Buddhism rests, above all the religious life and philosophi­ cal speculation of pre-Buddhist India; for hundreds of years before Buddha's time movements were in progress in Indian thought, which prepared the way for Buddhism and which cannot be separated from a sketch of the latter. Then the review of Buddhism will naturally divide itself into three heads, corresponding to that Triad, under which even in the very oldest time the Buddhist society in their liturgical language, distributed the whole of those matters which they esteemed sacred, the trinity of Buddha, the Law, the Order. Buddha's own person stands necessarily in our sketch also, as it did i:1 that ancient fonnula, in the foreground. We must acquaint ourselves with his life and his death, with his debut as teacher of his people, with his band of disciples, who gathered round him, and with 'his intercourse with rich and poor, high and low. We shall then tum, in the second place, to the dogmatic thought of the ·oldest Buddhism. above all tq that which stands overcome as a focus in this world of thought, to the doctrine of the

14

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

sorrow of all that is earthly, the deliverance from this sorrow,Jhe goal of all effort to escape, the Nirvana. There then remains the characteristic feature of Buddhism, as well as of Christianity, that which externally binds together all who are united by a common faith, and a common effort for deliverance, in bonds of a common church fellowship. In that formula of the Buddhist trinity we find the order named after Buddha and the Law as the third member. We shall follow this course and, when we have spo�en of Buddha and his Law, we shall keep in view, in the third place, the Order and their corporate life. We shall come to understand the organization which Buddhism has given to the narrower circle of believers, who have taken their vows as monks and nuns, as well as to the lay community, who accept the doctrine of Buddha. With this will end the investigation of the most ancient Buddhism; or, more accurately expressed, the sketch of Buddhism in that form, which is to us the oldest; and to this investigation only will our sketch be confined.

WESTERN AND EASTERN INDIA­ THE BRAHMAN-CASTES The stage upon which antecedent history as well as the most ancient history of Buddhism was enacted, is the Gangetic valley, the most Indian of Indian lands. In the times of which we have to speak, the Gangetic valley, almost alone in the whole peninsula, comprised within itself all centres of Aryan state-government and culture. The great natural divisions of this territory, which coincide with stages in the distribution of the Indian family-stock, and with stages in the extension of old-Indian culture, correspond also to stages in the course of development which this religious movement has taken.

At the outset we are carried into the north-west half of the Gangetic valley, to those territories where the Gangetic tracts and the Indus tracts approach each other, and to those through which the two twin streams of the Ganges and Yamuna flow as they converge to their conjunction. Here, and for a long period here alone, lay the true settlements of Brahmanical culture; here first, centuries before· th,e time of Buddha, in the circles of Brahman

INDIA AND BUDDHISM

15

thinkers, at the place of sacrifice and in the solitudes of forest life, those thoughts were thought and uttered, in which the transition from the old Vedic religion of nature to the doctrine of deliverance began and ultimately found development. The culture fostered in the north-west, and with it those thoughts, following the course of the Ganges, flowed on to the south-east through those powerful veins in which from of old beat most strongly the life of India. Among new peoples they assumed new forms, and when Buddha himself at last appeared, the two greatest kingdoms in the south-eastern half of the Gangetic valley, the lands of Kosala (Oude) and Magadha (Bihar), became the chief scenes of his teaching and labours. Thus there lie broad strips of land between the tracts in which, long before Buddha, Buddhism began its preparatory course of development, and those in which Buddha himself gathered round him his first believers; and this change of scenery and actors has had, it could not have been otherwise, an appreciable effect in more than one re�pect on the course of the play. We next take� glance at the tribes, which successively meet us, some as the originators and others as the promoters of this religious movement. The Aryan population of India came into the peninsula, as is well known, from the north-west. The immigration lay already in the remote past at the time to which the oldest monuments which we have of religious poetry belong. The Indians had as completely lost the memory of this as the corresponding events had been forgotten by the Greeks and Italians. Fair Aryans pressed on and broke down the strongholds of the aboriginal inhabitants, the "black-skinned", the "lawless", and "godless". The enemy was driven back, annihilated, or subjugated. When the songs of the Veda were sung, Aryan clans, though perhaps only as adventurous, solitary pioneers, had already pressed on to where the Indus in the west, and possibly "alfo to where the Ganges in the east, empty their mighty waters irtto the sea; inexhaustibly rich regions in which the flocks of the Aryans grazed and the Aryan deities were honoured with prayer and sacrifice.

16

INDIA BUDDHISM AND ------------

Probably the first immigrants, and, therefore, the farthest forward to the east, whether confederate or disassociated we know not, are those tribes which meet us later on east of the junction of the Ganges and Yamuna, settled on both banks of the Ganges, the Anga and Magadha, the Videha, the Kasi and Kosala.

A second wave of the great tide of immigration brought with it new groups of Aryans, a number of tribes closely interconnected, who, surpassing their brothers intellectually, have produced the most ancient great monuments of the Indian mind which we possess, and which we call by the name of the Vedas. We find these tribes at the time of which the hymns of the Rig Veda give us a picture, near the entrances of the Indian peninsula, at the Indus and in the Panjab; later on they are driven to the south-east and have founded on the upper stream of the Ganges and on the Yamuna those kingdoms, which are called in "Manu's Institutes" the land of the "Brahmarshis", the home and the type of holy, upright living: "By a Brahman who has been born in this land," says the Law ( of Manu), "shall all men on earth be instructed as to their conduct." The names of the Bharata tribe, Kum, Pancala, stand out among the peoples of this classic land of Vedic culture, which lies before our gaze in clear illumination as a land rich in advanced intellectual creation, while the destinies of the other tribes, who had immigrated at an earlier date, remained in darkness until the period when they came into contact with the culture of their brother tribes. In a Vedia work, the "Brahmana of the hundred paths," we have a remarkable legend, in which is clearly depicted the course which the extension of the cult and culture of the Veda took. The flaming god Agni Vaicvanara, the sacrificial fire, wanders east­ ward from the river Sarasvati, beyond the old sacred home-land of the Vedic Sacra. Rivers cross his path, but Agni bums on across all streams, and after him follow the prince Mathava and the Brahman Gotama. Thus they came to the river Sadanira, which flows down from the snowy mountains in the north: Agni does not cross it. "Brahmans crossed it not in former ages for Agni Vaicvanara had not burned beyond it. But now many

INDIA AND BUDDHISM

17

Brahmans dwelt beyond it to the east. This was formerly very bad land, inundated soil, for Agni Vaicvanara had not made it habitable. But now it is very good land, for Brahmans have since made it enj oyable through offerings; " -in India bad land is not converted into good, as in the rest of the world, by peasants who plough and dig, but by sacrificing brahmans. Prince Mathava takes up his abode to the east of the Sadanira, in the bad land, which Agni had not essayed to enter. His descendants are rulers of Videha. The opposition is clear in which these legends place the eastern tribes to the western, among whom Agni Vaicvanara, the ideal champion of Vedic life, is from of old at home. Who­ ever pursues an inquiry into the beginning of the extension of Buddhism, must remember that the home of the oldest Buddhist communities lies in the tracts or near the limits of those tracts, into which Agni Vaicvanara did not cross in his flaming course when he travelled to the east.

We are unable to fix any graduated series of dates, either b} years or by centuries, indicating the progress of this victoriom campaign, in which Aryans and Vedic culture over-ran the Gangetic valley. But, what is more important, we are able from the layers of Vedic literature which overlie each other, to gather some idea of how, under the influences of a new home, of Indian nature and Indian climate, a change came over the life of the people-first and foremost of the Vedic people, the tribes of the north-west-and how the popular mind received that morbid impression of sorrow and disease, which has survived all changes of fortune, and which will last as long as there is an Indian people.

In the sultry, moist, tropical lands of the Ganges, highly endowed by nature with rich gifts, the people who were in the prime of youthful vigour when they penetrated h her from the north, soon ceased to be young and strong. '.vlen and peoples come rapidly to maturity in that land, like the plants of the tropical world, only. just as rapid!v to fall asleep both bodily and spiritually. The se." with its invigorating breeze, and the school of noble national energy, play no part in the life of the Indians. The Indian has above all, at an early stage, turned aside from that ·

18

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

which chiefly preserves a people young and healthy, from tne battle and struggle for home, country, and law. The thought of freedom with all the quickening, and, it is true, also with all the deadly powers which it brings in its train, has always been unknown and i.n comprehensible in India. The free will of man may not chafe against the system of Brahma, the natural law of caste, which has given the people into the power of the king and the king into the power of the priest. Well might it awaken the astonishment of t'he Greek to see in India the peasant calmly go forth between opposing armies to till his fields: "He is sacred and inviolable for he is the common benefactor of friend and foe. " But in what the· Greeks mention as a beautiful and sensible feature in Indian n4i.onal life, there lies something more than mere soft mildness. When Hannibal came, the Roman peasant . ceased to sow his fields. The Indians are wholly strangers to the highest interests and ideals which are at the basis of all healthy national life. Will and action are overgrown by thought. But when once the internal balance is disarranged and the natural relationship between the spirit and the reality of the world is disturbed, thought has no longer the power to take a wholesome grasp of what is wholesome. Whatever is, appears to the Indian worthless compared to the marginal illuminations with which his fancy surrounds it, and the images of his fancy grow in tropical luxuriance, shapeless and distorted, and tum eventually with terrific power against their creator. To him the true world, hidden by the images of his own dreams, remains an unknown, which he is unable to trust and over which he has no control: life and happiness in this world break down under the burden of exces­ sively crushing contemplation of the hereafter. The visible manifestation of the world to come in the midst of the present world is the caste of the Brahmans, who have knowledge and power, who can open and shut to man the approach to the gods, and make friends or enemies for him above. Those powers, which were excluded from development in political life, could find i n the case of the Brahmans alone a sphere for creation, but verily for what a creation ! Instead of Lykurgus or a Thernistokles, whom fate peremptorily denied to the Indians, they have had a l l the more Arunis and Y aj11avalkyas,

INDIA AND BUDDHISM

19

who knew how to found with masterly hand the mysteries of fire-offering and soma-offering, and to give currency in not less masterly fashion to those claims which pre advanced against the secular classes by the champions of the kingdom which is not of this world. No one can understand the course which Indian thought has taken, without keeping in view the picture, with its lights and shadows, of this order of philosophers, as the Greeks named the Brahmanical caste. And above all it must be remembered that, at that time at least, which has shaped the determinative fundamental thoughts for the intellectual efforts of a subsequent age and for Buddhism also, this priestly class was something more than a vain and greedy priestcraft, that it was the necessary form in which the innermost essence, the evil genius, if we may so call it, of the Indian people has embodied itself. The days of the Brahman passed in solemn routine. At every step those narrow, restraining limits held him in, which the holy dignity that he represented imposed on the inner and outer man. He passed his youth in hearing and learning the sacred word, for a true Bralm1an is he alone "who has heard . " And if he acquired the reputation "of having heard, " his adult life passed in teaching, in the village or out in the solitude of the forest in the consecrated circle, on which the sun shone in the east, where alone the most secret instruction could be imparted openly to the muffled scholar. Or he was -to be found at the place of sacrifice, performing for himself and for others the sacred office, which with its countless observances, demanded the most painful minuteness and the most laborious proficiency, or he fulfilled the life-long duty of Brahma­ offering, that is, the daily prayer from the sacred Veda. Well might riches flow into his hands by the remuneration for sacrifice, which kings and nobles gave to the Brahmans, but he passed as most worthy, who lived, not by offerings for others, but by the gleanings of the field, which he gathered, or by alms for which he had not asked, or such charity as he had not begged as a favour. Still, living even as a beggar, he looked on himself as exalted above earthly potentates and subjects, made of other stuff than they. The Brahmans call themselves gods, and, in treat y with the gods of

20

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

heaven, these gods of earth know themselves possessed of weapons of the gods, weapons of spiritual power, before which all earthly weapons snap powerless. "The Bralfulans, " says a Vedic song, "carry sharp arrows: they have darts; the aim, which they take, fails not. They attack their enemy in their holy ardour and their fury, they pierce him through from afar. " The king, whom they anoint to rule over their people, is not their king; the priest, at the coronation, when he presents the ruler to his subjects, says: "This is your king, 0 people; the king over us Brahmanas is Soma. " They, the Brahmans, standing without the pale of the State, bind themselves together in a great confederacy, which extends as far as the ordinances of the Veda are current. The members of this confederacy are the only teachers of the rising youth. The young Indian of Aryan birth is as good as out-caste, if he be not brought at a proper age to a Brahman teacher, to receive from him the sacred cord, the mark of the spiritual twice-born, and to be inducted into the wisdom of the Vedas. "Into my control, " then says the teacher, "l take thy heart, let thy thought follow my .thought, with all they soul rejoice in my word. " And through the long years, which the pupil passes in the master's house, he is coerced by his fear and obedience to him. The house of the Brahman is, like the army in the modem State, the great school, which demands of every one a share of the best part of his life, to discharge him eventually with the indelibly implanted conscious­ ness of subordination to the idea embodied, in the one case in the State, in the other case in the Brahman-class.

In the streng�h and the weakness of the fom1s of life of this class of thinkers lies also, as it were in a genn, the strength and wezi.kness of their thought. They were, so to speak, banished into a self-made world, cut off from the refreshing atmosphere of real life, by nothing shaken in their unbounded belief in themselves and in their unique omnipotence, in comparison with which all that gave character to the life of others, must have appeared small and contemptible. And thus, therefore, in their thought also the utmost boldness of world-disclaiming abstraction shows itself, which soars beyond all that is visible into the regions of the spaceless and timeless, to caper in sickly company in baseless chimeras, without limit or aim, in fancies such as can he conceived only by a spirit

INDIA AND BUDDHISM

21

which has lost all taste for the sober realities of fact. They have created a mode of thought in which the great and profound has joined partnership with childish absurdities so uniquely that the history of the attempts of humanity to comprehend self and the universe affords no parallel. To study this thought in its develop­ ment is our next task. (From Buddha: Life, His Doctrine, His Order, 1927)

2 India and Buddhism -P. V. Bapat

People from other countries are often intrigued by the phenomenon that, originating in India, Buddhism should, except for a few remnants in Bengal, Assam or Orissa, have given place to Hindu­ ism, which is now the dominant religion of the country. This is particularly strange in view of the fact that Buddhism, as a humanist force, profoundly affected religious and moral ideas in its time, and acted �s a powerful catalytic factor in transforming existing social conditions. Buddhism is a religion of kindness, humanity and equality. While the religion of the Vedas allowed animal sacrifice to propitiate the gods, Buddhism set its face against such sacrifices; on the contrary, it waged a merciless campaign against this practice. The complicated nature of the sacrificial ritual required the services of Brahmanas, who had specialized in that lore. The Brahmana therefore came to hold a unique position in the social structure of the Indo-Aryans. Even the Ksatriya and the Vaisya, who as dvijas (twice-born) enjoyed certain privileges in common with the Brahmana, could not take as prominent a part as the Brahmana in the performance of the sacrifice. The Sudra on the other hand was assigned menial tasks such as chopping wood and cutting grass for the sacrifices, and dragging to the sacrificial ground dumb animals like cows, bullocks and rams, with tears trickling down their faces as described in the Buddhist texts such as the Kutadanta-sutta of the Digha-nikaya.

INDIA AND BUDDHISM

23

The sramanas who lived a life of retirement in the forests and gave themselves up to philosophical speculation did not sympa­ thize with sacrifices involving the slaughter of animals. Public opinion was thus being gradually fom1ed against such sacrifices and clear indications of this change in public opinion can be found ·. in the Mahabharata and the Bhagavata Purana. Santiparva refers to two sides of the controversy, in w�ich the hermits pleaded for sacrificial offerings of com or grain, while the gods favoured offerings of living animals. In chapter 254 of the same parvan, there is a dialogue between Tuladhara and Jajali where animal sacrifice is condemned and the practice of eating meat at such sacrifices is attributed to interested rogues. In another place in the same parvan (257, 6), it is claimed that ahimsa is the highest principle. The Bhagavata Purana ( 1 , 8, 52) says that the killing of animals is not to be condoned because it fonns part of a sacrifice. Indeed, the Brahmanas had subsequently to modify their position and substitute for live animals images made of com-flour (pista-pasu). In this connection, it may legitimately be asked how the Buddha preached the principle of ahimsa and kindness to living animals, if he himself could eat meat and allow his followers to do so. The explanation is simple. In a society where meat was commonly used in daily food, he and his followers had to d_epend upon ·public alms; so that if they had refused to eat meat, . they would probably have starved to death. As a practical man, the Buddha had to avoid extremes. Here also he followed the Middle path . He only imposed the restriction that if any monk either saw or heard or even suspected that an animal had been killed specially for him, then he was not to accept the meat. Another special feature was that Buddhism denounced all claims to superiority on the ground of birth as- the Brahmanas claimed. It denounced all social distinctions between 111:111 and man, and declared that it was karma, the actions of man, that dete;nin-ed the eminen� or lowness of aif individual. In Buddhist literature, .there are a number of sutras where the Buddha (or his disciple) is . represented_ holding a discussion with renowned Brahmanas ai1d ultimately bringing them round to his own way of

as

24

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

thinking. Assalayana-sutta and Vajrasuci, for instance, illustrate the Buddhist point of view. The position of the Buddhists in this respect is appreciated and accepted in the Mahabharata and Bhagavata. The insistence on the equality of social status based t on one's actions and not on birth is an i11tegral pa� he literature of mediaeval saints like Ramananda, Caitanya, Kabir, Ekanath and others ( 1 4th- 1 7th century A D.). The followers of the Buddha did not all belong to the higher classes, but also included the lower classes such as barbers, sweepers or candalas. Among the mediaeval saints, too, Tukaram was a Sudra, Rohidas a cobbler, and Sena a barber. Similarly, some sects like the Lingayats, the Mahanubhavas and Ramananandis observe no class distinction.

Another feature of great sociological significance in Bud­ dhism was the fact that it threw open the doors of organized religious life to women and men alike. It is said that the Buddha was at first unwilling to admit women into the religious organization of the Sangha. However, when Ananda approached him on behalf of Mahapajapati Gautami, he finally agreed, though not without misgivings about the ultimate result of such a step. At the same time, he laid down certain conditions which seem to imply the subservience of women to men. Nevertheless, it must be remembered that he should not be judged by the standards of the twentieth century. In his day, this was a great step forward, and in religious life women enj oyed the same right of access to the highest position, that of Arhatship, for instance, as it was recognized that women could also be as learned and wise as men. In this connection,_ the names of distinguished nuns like Khema, Patacara and Dhammadinna may be mentioned. Outside the Sangha women like Sujata, Visakha and Samavati all achieved positions of eminence in different spheres. Even courtesans like Amrapali were not denied opportunities to embrace the religious life. In the Therigatha also women like Uppalavanna, Subha, Kisa, Gautami and Soma are referred to as having renounced the world out of unhappiness with life in general. They accepted a life of devotion in order to overcome mundane suffering and it is said that they made the best use of the opportunities religion offered.

INDIA AND BUDDHISM

2:

The institution of a band of disciplined, selfless workers was at the very foundation of the B uddhist organization. The Buddha 's inj unction to these workers was always to go from place to place, preaching his teaching throughout the year except during the rainy season. He asked them to have compassion on the people and to work for their happiness. One of his important instructions was, as he said, "Let not two of you go in one and the same direction" (Ma ekena dve agamittha). Herein lies the secret of success of the Buddhist missionary activity. This practice naturally inspired the Buddhist missionaries to create new spheres of activity for each group. It is worth noting that the popularity of the Buddha and his religion largely depended upon his method of approach to the masses. The Buddha had asked his disciples to preach his doctrine in the people's own speech (sakaya niruttzya)': The people were naturally impressed. This appeal in a local dialect struck a sympathetic chord in the hearts of the people, and they listened to the message of the Buddha, particularly as it came to them through a band of selfless preachers who had travelled long distances. Though Gautama Buddha belonged to an aristocratic family, his life and work were those of a democrat. He served the interests of the masses and was concerned with their happiness. He travelled widely for forty-five years, preaching to them. To carry out his life ' s mission, he founded the Sangha, the Order of the Buddhist fraternity of monks and nuns. The .constitution and working of his organization was' on democratic lines. Everyone who was ordained as a Buddhist monk could be a member of the Sangha in a particular locality and all official business in a formal meeting of the Sangha was transacted according to democratic principles. Every member had a vote and the decision of the Sangha was taken by a vote of the majority. When a complicated question came up before the Sangha, it was referred to a select committee, whose recommendation had to be placed before the Sangha for ratifica­ tion. If a member of the Sangha was absent on account of illness, his vote was record�d by bringing him, sometimes carrying him, .to the meeting P-lace to case his vote. All members of the Sangha in a parish were ;equired to be present at a formal meeting of the

26

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

Sangha. Questions about fixing the days of the Uposatha (day of fast), or the beginning of the Vassavasa (retreat in the rainy season) were settled by the majority, and the minority had to submit to its decision, unless, of course, it was a question of fundamental principles necessitating the convening of a synod o�--�iig/ous council. The leader of the Sangha was generally elected f��m among the theras or senior monks and he was respected by all. As Buddhist monks had no private or personal property of their own, all furniture or things in the monastery for the use of the monks, such as cots or water jars, belonged to the whole community or the Sangha. No one dared to question the authority of the Sangha which had come to be respected as one of the Three Jewels (ratnani). The Sangha, however, was not a close body of people belonging to a particular place, but was open to monks from all the four directions (catuddisa-sangha). In short, no official act of the Sangha was valid unless it was decided at a meeting where all members and visiting monks in a parish were either present or could communicate their wishes (chanda).

When it came to voting, marked sticks (salakas) were used and a responsible officer was appointed to keep watch over the voting. - As monastic establishments developed, the Sangha began to appoint office-bearers to supervise new constructions, to look after property, the distribution of clothing, the allotment of dwelling places, the acceptance of property as a gift to the .::iangha, land the like. All these officers were appointed after due election at a meeting of the Sangha, where the proposal was announced three times, and if there wm; no dissenting voice it was declared carried. During his lifetime, the Buddha allowed things to be decided democratically by the Sangha, and after his death, too, he did not want to restrict the freedom of the Sangha by appointing his own successor. He wanted the Dhamma and Vinaya to be__its guides after his death and anything which was not authorized by the Dhamma and Vi�aya was to be rejected by the Sangha. In running its affairs, the Sangha no doubt drew its inspiration from small oligarchies (ganarajya) like those of the Vajjis or Licchavis of Vaisali and of the Mallas of Pava or Kusinara. At

INDIA AND BUDDHISM

27

one time the Sakyas also enjoyed a similar form of government, but they seem to have lost it long before. The Buddha showed great admiration for the Vajjis or Licchavis when, in the Mahapari­ nibbana-sutta, he likened the Licchavis to the thirty-three gods (Tavatimsa). He also warned Ajatasatru's Minister, Vassakara, saying that the Vajj is would remain invincible as long as they adhered to the seven rules governing their conduct (satta appari­ haniya dhamma), namely, (i) daily meetings for consultation; (ii) unity in action; (iii) adherence to old injunctions; (iv) respect for elders; (v) respect for women who were never to be molested; (vi) reverence for places of worship within or without their territory; and (vii) protection to worthy saints (Arhats) in their territory. The li_!>e!_al a_ni_tµde shown by the Buddhist§ in throwing the doors wide open to all who wished to participate_ in religious life seems to have found gene�al acceptance as the Gita indicates. The worship of the images of deities became a common feature of both Buddhist and non-Buddhist religious practice. There was nothing in tne -practical life of a follower of the Buddha to which a non-Buddhist could take exception. Thus, many aspects of the Buddhist religion came to be accepted by others and gradually no distinction remained. In the course of time, Buddhism was absorbed by the reformed religion of Hinduism. This, however, is not all. The Mahayana form of Buddhism, perhaps under the influence of non-Aryan or aboriginal popular cults in the lower strata of society, came to assume a darker and debased form of Tantrism. This might have resulted from a misunderstanding of the symbolic language of the esoteric text of the Tantric school. Magic and sorcery and secret rites and rituals introduced into later Buddhism, particularly in respect of the female deities, no doubt, alienated the people. It was therefore not surprising that people were antagonized by some of the corrupt practices of the Tantri · s. This unhealthy development, too, must have contributed considerably to the decline of Buddhism. This form of Buddhi�"l was in the ascendant and was studied at the

28

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

Buddhism universities of Nalanda and Vikramasila until the end of the 1 2th century A.D. l'he beginning of the 1 3 th century brought evil days bQ!h for Buddhism and Hinduism. For the fonner, however, the blow proved to be more severe. The monasteries of Bihar were despoiled and many of the monks fled to Nepal and Tibet. The lay Buddhists were left without any religious guidance, which made it easier for them to be absorbed in the non-Buddhist community as there was 1ittle distinction left between the lives led by the Buddhists and non-Budclhists. Nevertheless, a few isolated groups of Buddhists remained in Orissa, Bengal, Assam and parts _of South India. An inscription recently discovered in Korea tells us of an Indian monk called Dhyanabhadra who visited Kancipura where he listened to a discourse on an Avatam saka-sutra in the 1 4th century A.D. There followed a long interregnum in the history of Buddhism until in the latter half of the 1 9th century the attention of European scholars was drawn to the study of the Buddha and his religion. (From 2500 Years of Buddhism)

3 The Land of Buddha -Fah-Hian

This country is exceedingly prosperous; the people are very wealthy, and all of them, without exception, reverence the Law of Buddha, and take delight in attending to their religious duties.The body of priests may, perhaps, amount to ten thousand men, and principally belong to the system of the Great Vehicle. They all partake of their meals in common. The people of the country build their houses in clusters. Before the doors of their houses they erect small towers. The smallest are about twenty-two feet high. They also construct apartments for foreign priests, where they entertain them as guests, and provide them with all they require. The ruler of the country located Fah Hian and his companions in a Sangharama, which was called Gomati. The priests of this temple belong to the system known as the Great Vehicle. At the sound of the gong, three thousand priests assemble together to take their meal. Whilst entering the dining hall they observe the greatest decorum and propriety of conduct: one after another they take their seats. Silence is observed amongst them all; they make no noise with their rice-bowls, and when they require more food there is no chattering one with the other, but they simply make a sign with their fingers (and so are,._supplied). Hwui King, T.ii� Ching, and Hwui Ta, set out advance towards Ki 'a-Cha (Kartchou). Whilst Fah Hian and the rest, wishing to witness the ceremony of the procession of images, halted here for

30

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

a period of three months and some days. In this country there are fourteen large Sangharamas, without reckoning the smaller ones. On the first day of the fourth month, they begin within the city to sweep and water the roads, and to decorate the streets. Above the chief gate of the city they stretch out a large cloth screen, and ornament the covered space in every possible way, then the King and the court ladies, with their attendants, take their places there. The priests of the Gomati temple belonging to the Greater Vehicle, being chiefly honoured by the king, first take their images in procession. They construct a four-wheeled image-car about three or four Ii from the city, its height is about thirty-five feet, and in appearance like a moving royal pavilion. It is adorned with seven precious substances, and adorned with silken streamers and flags and curtains. The chief image is then placed upright in the centre of the carriage, with two Bodhisatwas in attendance, and sur­ rounded by all the Devas. All are made of gold and silver, whilst glittering gems are hung suspended in the air. When the image is about one hundred paces from the city gate, the King removes his royal head-dress, and putting on new garments, with bare feet he proceeds from the city to meet the procession, holding flowers and incense in his hand, and followed by his suite. On meeting the car he bows down with his face to the ground in adoration, whilst he scatters the flowers and bums the incense. At the time when the image enters the city, the court ladies and their attendants throw down from the pavilion above the gate flowers in endless variety. Thus everything is sumptuously arranged. Each Sangharama has its own car, its own day, for the procession. Beginning on the first day of the fourth month, they continue till the fourteenth day, after which they conclude, and the King and the ladies return to the Palace. Seven or eight Ii to the west of this city is a Sangharama, called the Royal New Temple. During the last eight years three kings have contributed towards its completion. It is about two hundred and ninety feet high. There· are many inscribed plates of gold and silver within it. Jewels of every description combine to give a perfect finish (to the pinnacle) above the roof. There is a hall of Buddha behind the main tower, which is perfectly adorned and very magnificent. The beams, pi!Jars,

THE LAND OF BUDDHA

31

doors, and windows are covered with gold plates. Besides this, there are priests , chambers elegantly finished and adorned, so that no wards can adequately describe them. All the kings of the six kingdoms to the east of the great mountain range called (Tsung) Ling send as religious offerings to this temple whatever most costly gems they have, and in such abundance that but few of them can be used. (A.O. 40 1 - 1 2) {From Travels of Fah-Hian and Sung-Yun, Buddhist Pilgrims from China to India)

4 Buddhism and India -Kailas Nath Katju

The royal return of the sacred ashes of the two great and favourite disciples of Lord Buddha. Sariputta and Maha Moggallana over two years ago back to the shores of India aroused a wave of devotion in the country for the Blessed One, and thoughts of millions in this ancient land went back to the days when He walked through towns · and villages of modems Bihar, spreading His message of love and compassion for all animate beings on the face of the earth. And now when those sacred ashes will be deposited once again at Sanchi on the spot where they lay for nearly 2400 years, that devotion will grow stronger and will bring peace and tranquillity into millions of hearts in India. With the awakening from deep slumber of hundreds of milllons in South-East Asia and the revival of the past glories of Asia arid Asians, it is not surprising that the faith in the great doctrine, which was born in this country and spread far and wide into Asia, should again revive in its old intensity. Lord Buddha taught mankind on this blessed soil of India, 2500 years ago, and we Indians profited by His preachings for over 1 000 years and guided ourselves by it. Those 1 000 years were in many ways the grandest in our history. The name and fame of India rose to the highest peaks in those centuries and in the realms of art and literature, learning and piety, Indian achievement reached heights still unsurpassed. It was not merely a case of those who professed formally their belief in Buddhism; th� noble doctrine entered

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

33

and influenced the lives of all, professing and non-processing Buddhists alike. That was the secret of its excellence, it was so universal. The noble eightfold path invited everybody to tread on it and led everyone to peace and contentment, and freedom from fear and anxiety. How that doctrine had spread into every nook and comer of India is to be found in all parts of the country. And then came misfortunes and calamities. and the darkness of night descended upon the Indian people. Gradually they lost their freedom and independence and that was, I verily believe hastened by their lessening attachment to and reverence for, the person of Lord Buddha and His excellent doctrine. J\nd th.en in the darkness of this night Indians even forgot His name and all remembrance of how He had lived and what He had achieved. With the loss of independence was lost also all contact with South-East Asia. No more came crowds of pilgrims from the South-East Asian countries and China and Japan to our shores for paying homage to the memory of the Blessed One, and even the names and sites of places where He had lived and worked were lost iri oblivion.

Fortunately all that has now changed. During the last 1 00 years with growing national consciousness has come also ever-growing and deepening knowledge of Lord Buddha and the priceless treas­ ures that He has left u s, and side by side has been recovered the knowledge of the identity of places where He was born and worked and lived His long life. India owes a great debt to archaeolo�ists and antiquarians who have worked so devotedly in unearthing these treasures in numerous place and bringing to life once again the scu lptures associated with the Buddhist faith, and the features of Lord Buddha carved in stone 2000 years ago are once again a familiar sight in every home in India.

This awakening of our faith in Lord Buddha and the increasing intensity of our struggle for national freedom has now come to consummation. India has achieved Independence and I have not the slightest doubt that the f�ith in Lord Buddha will spread rapidly in this free and indepe11dent India. (From Maha Bodhi Society ofIndia: Diamond Jubilee Souvenir, 1891 - 1 95 1)

5

Buddhism in India in the Seventh Century of the Christian Era

-J. Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire I After having studied the origin of Buddhism, we pass over a space of twelve centuries, and from the year 543 B.C., the date of the Buddha's death, we re::i._chihe6-30tfi yeai: ofthe Christian era,Jlie­ Jate at which a Chi;;ese ;;on1(, named-Hiouen-Thsang(the Master of the Law)-a barbaric name which henceforth becomes familiar and even venerated-travelled through India. Hiouen-Thsang's travels are known by two works, which that excellent sinologist Stanislas Julien has translated from the Chinese into French: one is the Histoire de sa vie et de ses voyages, by two of his disciples, Hoei-Li and Yen-Thsong; the other is a collection of Hiouen­ Thsang's own Memoirs on the western countries (Si-yu-ki) he travelled over for sixteen consecutive years. By western countries India is more especially understood, as it is in fact situated to the west of China. By the help of these two authentic documents, we will study Buiidhism as it existed in the Indian peninsula twelve hundred years after the Nirvana of the Tathagata, and about four� ---years before the invasion of the Moslem. However, in order thoroughly to appreciate Hiouen-Thsang we must consider his position, not only among the five or six heads of missions whom he imitated and surpassed, or who followed him,

BUDDHISM IN INDIA IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY

35

but in the general effect of that great movement which, for so many centuries, incited all Buddhist China towards India. Facts and records of all kinds attest uninterruptedly and with undeniable authenticity that this movement, which still exists, was of national importance. Hiouen-Thsang, in the seventh century of the Christian era, assisted it as much as lay in his power; but he only followed it and took his part, after or before many others.

It appears certain that two hundred and seventeen years before Christ, a Sramana had first penetrated into the Chinese Empire, and had brought thither the gem1 of the new religion. This event, recorded in the Chinese Annals, proves that Buddhism, as might be supposed, had its apostles, and that the missionary spirit, of which the Buddha himself had given the example, was not wanting to this religion more than to any other. Proselytism is a duty when it is believed that men can be saved by a truth already in our possession; and this is one of the most noble if not the most justifiable pretentions of Buddhism. However, China was not destined to i"eceived Buddhism nor to see it propagated by the apostles who came from India. This nation, which seems to do everything in an inverted order, far from waiting for the religious faith to be brought to it, went to seek for it in foreign lands. It was as it were proselytism reversed. The Chinese pilgrims, for they cannot be called missionaries, went to India, some thousand miles from their own country, to imbibe a purer dogma or to revive a failing faith. It was necessary to do this several times, and during six centuries there were constant pilgrimages carried on, with more or less success.

This is certainly a unique fact in the history of religions, and it would seem that no other example can be quoted in the annals of humanity; for if we take two of the best known, Christianity and Mohammedanism, we find that both have been propagated in the opposite manner. Chris-tianity, which sprang from an obscure comer of Judea, was spread by missions and preaching over the Greco-Roman world, which it soon subjugated. Through its apostles it conquered by degrees the barbarians in different parts of Europe, and at the present day it is stIII through its missionaries that

36

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

it seeks to carry its benefits to the uttermost parts of the globe, and more especially to China. But the nations were never converted, nor was their Christianity strengthened by returning to the spot from whence Christianity had issued; even the crusades, admirable as they were, did not attempt this object; and· Europe did not free the Holy Sepulchre from the Saracens in order to learn more about the faith it professed. As for Mohammedanism, it was propagated like the Christian faith, far from the place of its birth. It spread rapidly and extensively, but the nations converted by force and by the sword never came, to receive its tenets, to the place where the prophet was born. The pilgrimage to Mecca was always an act of piety, never a religious teaching.

The Chinese, therefore, retain this kind of privilege, and the manner in which they appropriated Buddhism to themselves is not the least of their peculiarities.

The first Chinese pilgrim who wrote down his travels in India was Chi-tao-an. He travelled at the beginning of the fourth century, that is about eighty years before Fa-Hian. His book, entitled Description of the Western Countries, is probably lost, or at least it has not yet been discovered in the convents, where it possibly remains concealed. It is only known by the very brief mention of it made in encyclopedias or biographies published some centuries later. The extent of the work is unknown, !;mt Stanislas Julien seems to think its loss is much to be regretted. The second journey recorded is that of Fa-Hian. His narrative, which has reached us, is famous under the name of Foe Koue Ki, or Reccllections of the Kingdoms of the Buddha. It was a real revelation when, some fifty years ago, Abel Remusat, aided by Klaproth and Landresse, brought out a translation which gave the first idea of this narrative. However limited this was, it threw a ray of light, and, thanks to the details it contained, it was at once seen,notwithstanding its omissions and defects, what resources such documents afforded. Fa-Hian had travelled fifteen years in India, from the year 3 99 to the year 4 1 4. But he had only travelled over thirty kingdoms, and his intelligence did not equal his courage. His short narrative is obscure by reason of its conciseness.

BUDDHISM IN INDIA IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY

37

The notes that Abel Remusat, Klaproth, and Landresse added were not sufficient to render it perfectly intelligible. However, it was already a great work to have taken this glorious initiative, and this first dis�overy promised many others more fruitful and more complete. About a hundred years after Fa-Hian, two pilgrims, Hoei-Seng and Sang-Yun, sent to India by order of an empress, wrote a description of their j ourney, but with even fewer details than Fa-Hian. Ch. Fred. Neumann has translated this account into German in his Recollections of the Pilgrimages of the Buddh ist Monks. Hoel-Seng and Sung-Yun seem more especially to have travelled through the n9rthern parts of India, and they remained two whole years in the Udyana country . After these two narratives we come to Hiouen-Thsang's, which is of much grater compass, and in every point infinitely more instructive. This work is entitled Si-yu-ki, or Memoirs on the Western Countries. It consists of about 600 pages in quarto in the Chinese text, that is to say it is ten or twelve times longer than that of Fa-Hian. It was honoured by passing through several imperial editions. To complete the Memoirs of Hiouen-Thsang must be men­ tioned the History of his life by his two disciples, who add a quantity of curious facts to the dry stati5tics of the Memoirs. Between Hiouen-TMang's journey and that of fifty-six monks a hundred -years elapse, or at least it was in 730 that a learned man called 1-tsing drew up, by virtue of an imperial decree, 'The History and itinerary of the monks of the dynasty of the Thangs, who travelled to the west of China in search of Law.' This work is rather less extensive than that of Fa-Hian. Finally, to complete the series of Chinese pilgrimages in India, there is the Itinerary. o.l Khi-Nie 's journey through the Western Countries. By the emperor 's orders Khi-Nie had left China in 964 at the head of thre� hundred Samaneans, and remained absent from his country twelve years. It seems that there only exists a few

38

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

memoranda of this long journey, not more that eight quarto pages, which a learned man has included in one of his works. Such is the substance of the narratives by the Chinese pilgrims; and in translating the Biography and Memoirs of Hiouen-Thsang, Stanislas Julien has given the most interesting portions of these narrations. These two works are far superior to all the others, and in comparing Hiouen-Thsang to his predecessors and his succes­ sors, his great superiority over them, both in the extent and in the exactness of his information, is strikingly shown. Hiouen-Thsang was gifted with a real aptitude for this kind of investigation, and had he lived at a different time, and amongst ourselves, he would certainly have been classed among the most learned and illustrious geographers and travellers. It is true that the days in which he lived were peculiarly favourable ·to studies of this kind. From political and commercial, as much as from religious reasons, the Chinese emperors of the seventh century, either of the Sour or the Thang dynasties, appear to have taken great interest in . the western countries, and more especially in India. Besides the missions of the Buddhist monks, there were a great number of missions composed of generals and magistrates, who all brought back from their travels very useful documents. The Chinese government, which in those days had, it would seem, much more intercourse with India than at present, did not fail to utilize all these documents and place them within reach of the public. Stanislas Julien mentions no less than eight large works of this kind which were published in the course of the seventh century. With regard to pilgrims and famous men of learning their number was considerable, and the services they rendered were brilliant enough to excite public admiration-even in the most remote times---and to induce the ancients to preserve their history in special writings. The St. Petersburg library possesses eight Chinese miscellanies, some of which have twenty or two-and­ twenty volumes in quarto on the biographies of the most celebrated Buddhists. The first of these biographies was com­ oosed from the year 502 to the year 556; and the last is almost of

BUDDHISM IN INDIA IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY

39

modem times, having been compiled jn 1 777. The others belong to the seventh, tenth, eleventh, thirteenth, fifteenth, and seven­ teenth centuries; for China, although often invaded by foreigr> nations, has known neither the intellectual cataclysm, called in western history the invasion of the barbarians, nor the darkness of the Middle Ages. Even from the beginning of the eighth century, in 7 1 3, that is after six or even hundred years of almost uninterrupted communi­ cation, the multitude of works brought back from India was sufficiently cumbersome to necessitate voluminous catalogues, in which the titles of the books were classed according to their dates, followed by the names of the translators and editors, with more or less detailed notices. One of these catalogues, printed in 1 306 under the Yuens, comprised fourteen hundred and forty works, and was itself but the epitome of four others, successively published in 730, 788, 1 0 1 1 , and 1 037. It was the collective work of twenty-nine learned men 'versed in the languages, ' who were associated together for this long work, and of a Samanean especially appointed to verify the accuracy of the Indian words. Besides these catalogues, the Chinese had other collections that contained analyses of Buddhist writings, intended to take the place of this mass of unwieldy books. The Tohin-i-tien, which exists in the Public Library in Paris, and whence Stanislas Juli�n drew the most instructive information, is a compilation of this kind. With regard to the translation itself of the sacred books, it was the object of the most minute care, and surrounded with every possible guarantee. Colleges of translators, authorized by imperial decrees, were officially appointed. This work of translation necessitated the employment of whole com:ents; emperors them­ selves did not disdain to write prefaces for these books, intended for the religious and moral instruction of their subjects. Out of piety and respect for the traditions of their ancestors, the dynasty reigning at the present moment in China has had reprinted, in an oblong folio size, all the ancient Chinese, Tibetan, Manchou and Mongolian translations, and this immense collection fills no less than thirteen hundr ed and ninety-two volumes.

40

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

We will no study Hiouen-Thsang's share in this vast enter­ prise. When he followed his vocation as missionary, the Buddhist faith had been publicly adopted in his country for about five hundred years (the year 6 1 or 65 of our era). It had reaped great triumphs, and had sustained dismal eclipses. Hiouen-Thsang strove, like m.any others, to revive it during one of its periods of decline; but if he was one of its most useful and enlightened apostles, he was not the only one, and it would be showing little appreciation of his worth if a glory that he shares with many of his co-religionists were exclusively attributed to him. This point must not be lost sight of in studying his biography, which is calculated to excite the greatest curiosity; for it may be doubted whether in our western countries, in the midst of the seventh century, it would be possible to find a literary and religious personage more interesting than Hiouen-Thsang, not withstanding his prejudices and his incredible superstition. A native of Tehin-Lieou, in the district of Keou-Chi, Hiouen­ Thsang belonged to an honourable family, who had held impor­ tant posts in his province. His father, Hoei, had refused, out of discretion and love of study, to follow the career of his ancestor, and had avoided public duties in times of civil disturbances. Having undertaken himself the education of his four sons, he soon noticed the precocious intelligence and earnestness of the youngest, Hioucn-Thsang, and he devoted himself to the culture of these remarkable dispositions. The child repaid him for his care, and at a tender age was confided to the management of his second brother, who had embraced a religious life in one of the monasteries of Lo-Yang, the eastern capital. He displayed the same diligence and prodigious aptitude at the convent as under his paternal roof, and by an exception, which the elevation and steadiness of his character more even than his knowledge justified, he was admitted without examination at the age of thirteen among the monks. The fact is that even at this early period his vocation had revealed itself, and 'his sole desire was to become a monk in order to propagate afar the glorious Law of the Buddha.' The books he studied most particu­ larly, and with which he was thoroughly acquainted, were the sacred book of the Nie-pan (Nirvana) and the Ch e-ta-ching-lum

BUDD HISM IN INDIA IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY

41

(Mahayana Samparigraha Sastra, the complete summary of the Great Vehicle). For seven years the youthful novice went with his brother to all the most renowned schools to finish his education, and in the midst of the sanguinary revolutions that were these agitating the empire, he underwent trials that prepared him for those he had to undergo in his future travels. He remained a few years in the Chou district, which was less disturbed than the others, and he there diligently followed the lectures of the best qualified masters. The two brothers vied with one another in learning and virtue, and in the Kong-hoeisse convent of the town of Tehing-Tou they were both noticed for 'the brilliancy of their talents, the purity of their morals, and the nobility of their hearts. ' At the age of twenty Hiouen-Thsang finished his novitiate and received full monastic orders; this took place in the fifth year of the Wou-te period, that is in 622. During the summer retreat that followed, he studied discipline, the Vinaya, and continued investigating the Sutras and Sastras. He still had some doubts about different points of doctrine that neither he nor his brother had been able to solve, and in order to decide these, he went from town to town during six years, to consult the professors who were considered the most learned. But even at that time he was· himself a consummate master, and in the convents where he soj 0urned he was often requested to explain some of the most important works. Thus, in the convent of Thien-hoang-sse, at King-Teheou, he expounded three times during the autumn season the two books of the Mahayana Samparigraha Sastra and the A bhidharma Sastra. Such was the fame of his teaching, that the king, Han-yang, accompanied by his officers and a multitude of monks, came to hear him, and were the admiring spectators of a brilliant victory the Master of the Law gained over those who had come to interrogate and discuss with him. At Teh' -ang'na his success was no less brilliant, and the oldest and most scholarly masters admitted that this young man's knowledge surpassed theirs. Nevertheless, Hiouen-Thsang felt that he still lacked many things, and far from being blinded by the praise that was lavished on him, he resolved to travel in the countries of the :_west, in order to consult wise men as to certain points of the Law on which his mind was still disturbed. Moreover,

42

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

he recalled to mind the travels of Fa-Hian and of Tehi-Yun, the first scholars of their day, and 'the glory of seeking the Law which was to guide men and procure their happiness' seemed to him worthy of imitation. In concert with several other monks, he presented a petition for leave to travel in India; but having been refused by an imperial decree, he decided to start alone, notwithstanding the difficulties and perils which awaited him. He was still hesitating when the recollection of a dream of his mother's and one of his own settled his mind, together with the predictions of a skilful astrologer who had drawn his horoscope, and whose prophecy came true. Hiouen-Thsang was at this time twenty-six years of age. He at once repaired to Liang-Tcheou, the general resort of inhabitants of the west bank of the Yellow River and 0f all the merchants of the neighbouring countries. He was preparing to leave this city, after having delivered there, as elsewhere, several well-attended lectures on the Law, when a first obstacle nearly overthrew all his plans. The governor of the city had received the strictest orders from the imperial administration to prevent any­ body leaving the country. But, thanks to the secret assistance of some professors who approved his purpose, Hiouen-Thsang suc­ ceeded in escaping from the city, remaining hidden during the day and travelling all night. A little further on, at Koua-Tcheou, he would have been arrested on the denunciation of spies sent in pursuit of him, if the governor, touched by the frankness of the pilgrim, who confessed who he was, and by his magnanimous courage, had not saved him by destroying the official document containing his description. Two novices who had followed him so far took fright at these first obstacles and abandoned him. Left alone and without a guide, Hiouen-Thsang bethought him that the best way to procure one was to go and prostrate himself at the feet of the Mi-le 's (Maitreya Bodhisatwa) statue and offer up fervent prayers. The next day he repeated them with equal faith, when he suddenly saw near him a m::i n from the barbarian countries come in, who declared his wiish

BUDDHISM IN INDIA IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY

43

to become a monk and receive his instructions, and who willingly consented to be his guide. The flight was not easy. At the extreme frontier, about fifteen miles from the city, it was necessary to pass unperceived through a barrier, 'which was the key to the western frontier. ' It was situated near the Widest part of an extremely rapid river, and beyond this barrier five signal towers, guarded by vigilant sentinels, had also to be avoided. The barrier was cleverly evaded, thanks to the youthful guide; but he declined to go any further, and he left the Master of the Law to continue his perilous journey alone. The twenty-four long miles that separated the barrier and the towers was a desert of arid sand, where the road was only marked by heaps of bones and the marks of horses' feet. No sooner had Hiouen-Thsang entered it than he was assailed by visions caused _ by the mirage; he supposed them to be delusions, created by the demons who wish�d to oppose his undertaking; but he heard in the air a voice that cried to him to sustain his courage: ' Fear not! Fear not! ' Reaching by night the first tower, which he was obliged to approach in order to get water, he ran the risk of being killed by the arrows of the sentinels. Fortunately the commander of the guard-house, who was a zealous Buddhist, consented to let him pass, and moreover gave him letters of recommendation to the chief of another station, to whom he was nearly related. The traveller was obliged to make a long circuit to avoid the last station, where he would have found obdurate and violent men; but he lost his way in the second desert he had to cross. To crown his misfortunes, the goat-skin that contained his supply of water was empty. In utter despair, he was about to retrace his steps and return e8:stwards. But no sooner had he gone three miles in this new direction than, seized by remorse, he said to himself, 'Originally I swore if I did not reach Thien-tchou (India) I woµld never take one step to return to China. Why have I come here? I.prefer to die going west than to return to the east and live. ' He therefore resumed his way, and fervently pray'ing to Kauan-in (Avalokitesvara), he again directed his steps. towards the north-west. Four nights and five days he wandered in tne desert without a drop of fresh water to refresh

44

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

his parched throat. He kept up his drooping courage by reading in the midst to his prayers the Pradjna-Paramita and Avaloki tes­ vara's Sutra. However, overcome by thirst, fatigue, and want of sleep, he was about to perish when a breeze that rose in the night revived him, as well as his horse, which was almost equally exhausted. They therefore managed to struggle on, and in a few moments they reached the bank of a pond surrounded by fresh pasture-land, towards which the animal' s infallible instinct had led him.

After two more day of painful j ourneying he at last reached a convent in I-gou (the country of the Oigurs), where he found some Chinese monks.

These first details, which bear an evident impress of truth, notwithstanding some exaggerations on the part of his biographers, give us an insight into the character of Hiouen-Thsang, as well as the terrible obstacles he had to overcome. Besides the knowledge which had already made him famous, he possessed an imper­ turbable faith, boundless courage, and an energy that nothing could dis� earten; he was, in fact a perfect missionary.

Other trials of a different nature, but no less formidable, still awaited him. No sooner had he rested a few days at l-gou than the powerful king of Kao-Tch 'ang, one of the tributaries of China, sent messengers to invite him to come to his kingdom. This was � command the poor pilgrim could not disobey. The reception which the king Khio-wentvi gave him was no less cordial than it was magnificent, but when, ten days later, the Master of the Law wished to leave, the king declared his firm intention of keeping him to the end of his life, as teacher of his subjects and chief of the monks appointed to instruct them. In vain did Hiouen-Thsang protest, alleging the sacred purpose of his journey, the king remained inflexible.But the Master of the Law took on his side a no less extreme resolution, and knowing that 'the king, notwith­ standing his great power, had no control over his mind and will,' he refused to eat, determining to die of hunger sooner than abandon his design. Three long days had already elapsed, when the king, ashamed and afraid of the consequences of his obduracy,

BUDDHISM IN INDIA IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY

45

respectfully offered him his apologies and set him at liberty. Feeling but little reassured after so much cruelty, Hiouen-Thsang made the king swear he would keep his word, first by taking to witness the sun, and then the Buddha, before whose statute they worshipped together. The king swore, in the presence of his mother the princess Tchang, that he would always treat the Master of the Law as a brother, on condition that on his return from India, he would come back to the country of Kao- Tch 'ang, and spend three years there. Hiouen-Thsang consented to this, and sixteen years after fulfilled his promise. Moreover he consented to remain another month in the Kao Tch 'ang country, and he devoted all that time to the religious instruction of the court, which, with the king at its head, came every evening to listen to his pious lessons. When the month had expired, the Master of the Law departed, loaded with rich presents and accompanied by a numerous escort he had himself chosen; he was provided with a quantity of provisions, besides twenty-four letters of recommend�tion to the sovereigns of the different countries he had to pass through. In an elegantly expressed letter, which his biographers have carefully given at full length and which was indeed worth preserving, he thanked the king for his great generosity. The remainder of the journey, thanks to all these supplies, was somewhat less fatiguing, although interspersed with many hard­ ships. On leaving the kingdom of Kutch, the first in which the pilgrim found Buddhism the established religion, the caravan had to cross a high mountain, Ling-Chan (Musuraola) covered with perpetual snows, which took seven days, and where they lost four­ teen men and a quantity of oxen and horses. After having skirted the lake of Issikul and gone fifty m iles beyond it, Hiouen-Thsang met, in the city of Sou-che, the Turkish Khan (Tau-Kie), who received him sumptuously in his tents of felt, and who, after a banquet, surrounded by his horde, listened to his pious instruc­ tions on the Ten Virtues and the Six Paramitas (Po-lo-me), l "" dismissed him, load�< ' with magnificent presents, and gave him an interpreter to C(!�duct him to Kapisa, in India. At Samarkand, Hiouen-Thsang tried to c6nvert the king and the people, who were fire-worshippers, and by appointing monks, he was able to hope

46

BUDDHISM AND INDIA

that he had re-established Buddhism, which had in former days been brought there, as the presence of two deserted convents attested. At Baktra (Balk, Fo-ko-lo), he first found Buddhism flourishing, with its monuments, relics, and legends of all sorts. There were no less than a hundred convents and three thousand monks,-all devoted to the study of the Little Vehicle. In a convent called the New Convent, an imposing edifice, richly decorated, situated north-west of the city, the showed the Buddha's water-jug, his broom, and one of his front teeth. On festivals, the three relics were exhibited, and the people and the monks worshipped them. It was said, in the city of Poli, situated about thirty miles from Baktra (Balk) that the Tathagata had come to these places, and two stupas had been raised as memorials of his presence and his benevolence.

In the kingdom of Bamian (Fen-yen-na) Hiouen-Thsang found no less ardent faith, with convents, stupas, magnificent statues of the Buddha, and monks belonging to divers schools, devoted to the study of the Law. After having twice crossed the Black Mountains (Hindu Kush) and the kingdoms of Kapisa (Kia-pi-che) and Lampa (Lan-po) he entered the kingdom of Nagarahara, where he saw the first monuments of the great monarch Ashoka ( Wou-yeou) whose dominion seems to have extended to these distant countries. A stupa three hundred feet high, erected at the gates of the city, was attributed to him. From this moment the pilgrim found everywhere traces of this potentate, whose empire appears to have comprised the greater part of the peninsula. We have shown Hiouen-Thsang's courage and the knowledge he had acquired about the most difficult religious subjects; but his character would not be complete if we did not also mention some of his superstitions.

In the kingdom of Nagarahara, he visited a city which bore the unknown name of City of the Top of Fo's Cranium. The following account gives the reason of this singular name. On the second story of a pavilion, in a small tower ' formed of seven precious things,' a famous relic called Usnisha was enshrined. This bone, enclosed

BUDDHISM IN INDIA IN THE SEVENTH CENTURY

1

47

in a casket, was more than a foot in circumference. It was of a yellowish-white colour, and the minute holes where the hair had grown were still distinctly visible. Those who wished to know the extent of their sins and their virtues used to pound perfumes, and with the power make a soft paste which they deposited, well wrapped up in silk, on the sacred bone. The box was then closed, and according to the state of the paste when it was taken out again, each of the consulting parties knew what amount of happiness or misfortune they might expect. Hiouen-Thsang received for his share a moulded figure of the Tree of Wisdom (Bodhidruma), while a .young Sramana who accompanied him only obtained the 1 figure of a lotus. The custodian of the sacred bone, seeing this miracle, was delighted; he snapped his fingers and, scattering flowers, he said to Hiouen-Thsang: ' Master, what you have obtained is exceedingly rare, and clearly shows that you already possess a portion of the Pou-ti (Bodhi, Wisdom of the Buddha).' They also showed the pilgrim, who on his side was most generous, other relies no less saintly, and among others, the eyeball of the Buddha, which was so brilliant, the biographers say, that it was seen to shine through the box. They also showed him the Buddha's raiment (sanghati) and his staff. It might be supposed that in this first adventure Hiouen-Thsang was the dupe of some cunning trick; but the following is still more complicated and more extraordinary. He heard that six miles distant from the city of Teng-Kouang­ tching (Pradiparasmipura) there was a cave where the Tathagata, having conquered the king of Dragons who inhabited it, had left his shadow. He resolved to go and render him homage 'not wishing,' he said, 'to have come so near without worshipping him, and well aware that if he lived for a thousand kalpas, it would be difficult to find, even once, the real shadow of the Buddha.' In vain was it represented to him that the roads were dangerous and infeste_