perfect, then goes to the king and receives the reward of his skill. No one who has not observed the Thirteen Ordinances, either in the present birth or a former one, can enter the path that leads to the city of peace. . . . Men eat food that they may receive strength, take medicine that they may drive away disease, exercise friendship that they may secure assistance, enter a ship that they may cross the sea, and use flowers and perfumes that a fragrant smell may be emitted: the pupil who would receive instruction places himself under a preceptor; he who would have honour seeks it from the king; and he who would have anything that he can wish for, gains possession of the magical jewel: in like manner, he who would receive the full benefit of asceticism, practises the Thirteen Ordinances. As water for the nourishment of grain, fire for burning, food for imparting strength, withs for binding, women for contention, water for removing thirst, treasure for independence, a ship for navigation, medicines for imparting health, a couch for repose, a place of refuge for safety, the king for protection, weapons for giving confidence, the preceptor for instruction, the mother for rearing children, the mirror for seeing the countenance, jewels for ornament, garments for clothing, scales for equality, the mantra for spells and charms, the lamp for dispelling darkness, and the precept for restraining the disobedient; so is an attention to the Thirteen Ordinances for the nourishing of asceticism, the burning up of evil desire, &c."*

IV. THE NOVICIATE.

For the rapidity of its early extension, and its subsequent popularity, Budhism is in a great measure indebted to the broad basis upon which admission to the priesthood has been placed; and in this respect it stands in perfect contrast with the system to which it is the greatest antagonist. No one can become a Brahman, except by birth; but the privileges of the ascetic are offered to all who will receive them upon the condition implied in their acceptance, unless the candidate be diseased, a slave, a soldier, or unable to obtain the permission of his parents. This comprehensive rule has been disregarded; but the system itself is not to be charged

* Milinda Prasna.

C

with the innovations that have been made in its original constitution. The slave is inhibited from becoming a recluse; but the name is not to be taken in its modern acceptation, as implying a state of degradation. The bar to admission does not arise from the inferiority of the condition, as even the outcast is received; but as the peculium belongs to another, no slave is thought to have the right to place himself in a situation that may for ever deprive his master of his services. In the reign of Justinian (Nov. v. c. 2) slaves were allowed to enter convents without leave of their masters; but among the Anglo-Saxons the candidate for ordination was required to prove that he was not of spurious or servile birth. That the priest should be free from disease has been generally insisted on in all ages. The Jews, in their comments upon Levit. xxi. 17, have enumerated 142 blemishes that produced unfitness to minister before the Lord. Sacerdos integer sit," was a law of the Romans; but among the ancients the disease or the blemish was not a bar to the reception of the office from its unsightliness alone; it was regarded as unpropitious, and it was therefore said, "vitandus est," as it was supposed that it would render the sacrifice coming from such a source of no avail. This idea, though not expressed in the ritual, is entirely consonant with the Budhistical system.

The novice is called a sámanéra, from sramana, an ascetic. He must be at least eight years of age, and must have received the consent of his parents to his abandonment of the world. He cannot receive upasampadá, or ordination, until he is twenty years of age; were even the office to be conferred on him by the proper authorities, and the ceremony to be performed according to the ritual, the proceedings would be invalid if the stipulated age was not attained. The novice is not regarded as a member of the sangha, or chapter; he can perform any religious rite, but is not allowed to interfere in matters of discipline or government. But in China, ordination must be granted at an earlier period, as Bishop Smith states that he saw a little priest, about nine years of age, a pet of the abbot, who looked forward to the age of sixteen, "when he would have his head entirely shaven, and be inducted into the full privileges of the priesthood." *

The necessity of some law, imperatively stating the earliest age at which the obligations of the recluse can be taken, must be at

* Smith's China.

once apparent.

Leo I. required the age of forty in monks before their consecration, and the same age was ordered by several councils. Pius I. recommended the twenty-fifth year, which was confirmed by the third council of Carthage. Synods of a more recent date have allowed vows of virginity to be taken as early as fourteen years of age in males, and twelve in females. The council of Trent recognises sixteen years as the age before which vows should not be taken.* Among the Anglo-Saxons, the vows of the nun were retarded until she had reached her twenty-fifth year. In the monasteries of the Greek church belonging to the rule of St. Basil, the male novices are not allowed to take the vows before the thirtieth, nor females before the fiftieth year. The mendicant orders are accused by Wycliffe of endeavouring to seduce young children into their "rotten habit ;" and it was decreed by the parliament that no scholar under eighteen years of age should be received into the community. †

There are many circumstances that make the yoke of the sámanéra less onerous than that of the stricter communities among the western celibates. The vows are not in any case irrevocable; and the constant intercourse that is of necessity kept up with the people, affords opportunities of communion with the exterior world that are denied to the inmate of the high-walled monastery or the iron-barred convent. It must often cause the deepest sorrow, only passing away with the utter searing of every right affection or with life itself, when the recluse has to reflect that by the step he has taken he has sent the barbed arrow into the heart of an affectionate mother, or stricken to premature age a father whose eye is ever filled with the gushing tear, as he looks around upon the social circle and sees that the place is vacant where the object of his brightest hopes once sat. Yet it was accounted as an additional merit by the Nicene doctors when the vow of celibacy was taken against the wish or advice of parents, or against their knowledge. ‡ It was also regarded as an act of merit when the mother devoted her unconscious child to the service of the sanctuary, as in the case of Gregory Nazianzen, who, before his birth, was devoted to God by his mother Nonna. This was usually done by taking the child before the altar, and placing in its hands the book of the gospels; but at a later period the parents wrapped the hands of their children + Vaughan's Wycliffe.

*Elliott's Roman Catholicism.

‡ Taylor's Ancient Christianity.

in the altar-cloth. By Cod. Just. i. 3, 55, parents were forbidden to hinder their children from becoming monks, if they so wished. Even among the Budhists, it sometimes occurs that a woman vows she will dedicate her son to the temple, should the reproach of her unfruitfulness be taken away; and when the child afterwards received puts on the robe of a recluse, he may at first, and in his youth, be charmed by the honour he receives, so as to be more than reconciled to his situation; and should there be, at a subsequent period, a painful sense of the constraint under which he lives, from a feeling of pride he may never utter to another the story of his woe, or take the liberty that is presented by the institute of returning for a time to the state of a laic. But in all such cases there will be the bearing of a burden that must greatly embitter existence; and the spirit will become moody or morose, that under other circumstances might have been cheerful as the lark at matins, or gentle as the lamb as it crops the grass of the mead.

The sámanéra usually begins his connexion with the monastery by becoming a pupil in the school kept by the priest; and by this means he gains an insight into the duties he will afterwards be required to perform. The priesthood is to be sought in order that existence may be overcome, and that nirwana, or the cessation of existence, may be obtained. It was declared by Nágaséna that the benefits to be derived from embracing the priesthood are, the destruction of present and the avoiding of future sorrow, the preventing of the occurrence of the birth arising from evil desire and scepticism, and the attainment of nirwána. "This," said he, “is the end for which the priesthood ought always to be sought; but it is sometimes sought from a different intention, as the fear of kings or of robbers, or because of debt, or to obtain a livelihood." Whoever would enter upon the course of discipline necessary for the attainment of this great object, must be assured that by the observance of the prescribed rules of asceticism, the cleaving to existence, which is regarded as the source of all evil, will be extinguished. If possible, the novice must live in the same monastery as his preceptor, but if not convenient, he may live in another place, at the distance of four, eight, or sixteen miles. When he thus lives at a distance, he must rise early in the morning, perform what is necessary to be done at his own dwelling, then go to the monastery of his preceptor, and return the following day to his own abode. And when he cannot live within the distance of sixteen miles, he must learn as

well as he can from his preceptor, and afterwards meditate at his leisure on the instruction he has received. In Ceylon, there are not at present any instances in which this privilege is accepted, as the sámanéra invariably resides at the monastery; and from the commencement of his noviciate he is regarded as a priest.

When the pupil becomes an accepted novice, it is required of him that he be careful as to the character of the monastery in which he intends to reside. There are eighteen kinds of places that it will be well for him to avoid: 1. A large wihára (the monastery or temple in which the priests reside), as in such a place many persons will meet together, and there will be much talking; the enclosure round the bó-tree not being swept, and no water brought either to drink or for bathing, these things will have to be done, and thus time will be lost; the novice, after performing this, must go with the alms-bowl, but as he will have been preceded by others, the food intended for the priesthood will all have been given away. In a large wihára, the noise of the novices repeating their lessons will cause a disturbance. But if all the work be properly attended to, and there be nothing to distract, a large wihára may be chosen. 2. A new wihára, as there will be much work to do, which if not done may cause the displeasure of the senior priests; but if there should be others to do the work, so as to leave the novice free, he may remain in a new residence. 3. An old wihára, as it will require much reparation; if this be not attended to, it will bring down the rebuke of the senior priests; and if it be, it will leave no time for meditation. 4. A wihára near a high road, as stranger priests will be continually calling, who will require attention. 5. A wihára near which there are many tanks and much water, as people will resort thither, and the disciples of the learned men connected with the court will come from the city to dye their garments, and will want fuel, vessels, and other things. 6. A wihára near which there is an abundance of herbs, as women will come to gather them, singing all kinds of foolish songs, the hearing of which is as poison; and though they should even not be singing, the voice of a woman heard in any way is an enemy to the ascetic. 7. A wihára near which there are many flowers, as there will be the same danger. 8. A wihára near which there are many fruit-trees, such as mango, jambu, and jack, as people will come to ask for them, and if not given they will become angry or take them by force; and when the priest walks to and fro at night, to subdue the mind,