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ascertained. The cause of the continuance of existence is ignorance, from which merit and demerit are produced, whence comes consciousness, then body and mind, and afterwards the six organs of sense. Again, from the organs of sense comes contact; from contact, desire; from desire, sensation; from sensation, the cleaving to existing objects; from this cleaving, reproduction; and from reproduction, disease, decay, and death. Thus, like the revolutions of a wheel, there is a regular succession of death and birth, the moral cause of which is the cleaving to existing objects, whilst the instrumental cause is karma. It is therefore the great object of all beings who would be released from the sorrows of successive birth to seek the destruction of the moral cause of continued existence, that is to say, the cleaving to existing objects, or evil desire. It is possible to accomplish this destruction, by attending to a prescribed course of discipline, which results in an entrance to one of the four paths, with their fruition, that lead, by different modes, to the attainment of nirwána. They in whom evil desire is entirely destroyed are called rahats. The freedom from evil desire ensures the possession of a miraculous energy. At his death the rahat invariably attains nirwána, or ceases to exist.

But this review must be regarded as containing only a brief summary of some of the principal doctrines of Budhism, intended to assist the reader of the following pages; the system is so vast and complicated, that many volumes must be written before it can receive a perfect elucidation.

II. THE LAWS AND REGULATIONS OF THE PRIESTHOOD.

About two months after the prince Sidhártta had attained the dignity of a supreme Budha, he went to the city of Benares, and there delivered a discourse, by which Kondanya, and afterwards four other ascetics, were induced to become his disciples. From that period, whenever he preached, multitudes of men and women embraced his doctrines, and took upon themselves certain obligations, by which they declared themselves to be prawarjita, or to have renounced the world. From time to time rules were made, and afterwards enlarged or modified, and exceptions allowed, by which the code was gradually completed. It is evident that all

laws referring to untried situations and circumstances must arise in this manner; and though the Budhists maintain that their founder declared at an early period in his career that this would be his rule, the statement was most probably invented to avoid the imputation that might otherwise have been made against his omniscience. It is necessary to remember that these modifications took place, or the student of Budhism will meet with many anomalies for which he cannot account.

Milinda, the king of Ságal, when conversing with the priest Nágaséna, objected to the mode in which Budha instituted the priestly discipline, and said, "If the rishis, by their own intuitive knowledge, were able to tell at once the nature of all diseases, and to prescribe remedies for them, why did not Budha, who by his divine eyes must have seen beforehand the faults of his disciples, forbid the commission of such and such things previous to their occurrence?" Nágaséna replied that it was forseen by Budha, at the commencement, that there were 150 precepts it would be proper to enforce; but he reflected thus, "If I at once enforce the observance of all these precepts, the people will say, 'In this religion there are a great number of things that it is necessary to observe; it is indeed a most difficult thing to be a priest of Budha,' and be afraid; those who might think of becoming priests will hesitate; they will not listen to my words; they will not learn my precepts; they will despise them, and thus be born in a place of torment. It will therefore be better, when a fault has been committed, to issue a precept forbidding it to be repeated." At subsequent periods, nine kelas (each kela containing ten millions), one hundred and eightyfive lacs, and thirty-six precepts, were promulgated by Budha.*

The manner in which the code was gradually perfected may be learnt from the circumstances under which the precept relative to continence arrived at the state in which it was promulgated in its complete form. There was a priest named Sudinna, who was solicited by his mother-in-law to lie with the woman who was his wife previous to his embracing the life of an ascetic, that there

Milinda Prasna: a work in Pali, of which there is a Singhalese translation, that contains an account of conversations that took place between Milinda, king of Sagal, supposed to be the Sangala of the Greeks, and Nágaséna, a Budhist priest, a short time previous to the commencement of the Christian era. In the following chapters, whenever the name of Nágaséna, is introduced, it is to be understood that the information is taken from this work.

might be a rightful heir to the family possessions. At that time there appears to have been no law prohibiting such a course; but when Sudinna yielded to the solicitations by which he was assailed, and was afterwards led, from a conviction that he had done wrong, to declare to his fellow priests what had taken place, Budha, after reproving him for his conduct, enacted the following law, and declared that it was universally binding upon those who would renounce the world. "Yo pana bhikkhu méthunan dhamman patiséweyya párájikó hóti asanwáso: What priest soever shall have intercourse with a woman is overcome and excluded.' Under the plea that intercourse with women alone was prohibited by this law, another priest acted improperly in a forest frequented by monkeys, so that it became necessary to introduce the clause "antamaso tiratchánagatayapi: Even with an animal." At a subsequent period, some priests of Wajji, without a formal renunciation of asceticism, were guilty of improper conduct. Though they then laid aside their robes, yet, as they met with many afflictions in the world, such as the loss of relatives, they requested readmission to the priesthood. This request was not granted; but a clause was added to the form of prohibition, by which any priest who was unable to maintain a state of continence might receive permission to become a laic, without any bar to his readmission to the priesthood at a future period, if he so willed it. The entire prohibition was then to this effect: "Any bhikkhu who has engaged to live according to the laws given to the priesthood, if he shall, without having made confession of his weakness and become a laic, hold intercourse with a female of what kind soever, is overcome and excluded."*

Of the five sections into which the Winaya Pitaka is divided, the first and second, Párájiká and Páchiti, contain a code of ordinances relative to priestly crimes and misdemeanors; the third and fourth, Maha Waga and Chula Waga, miscellaneous rules and regulations, relative to ordination, the ceremony called wass, &c.; and the fifth, Pariwánapáta, contains a recapitulation of the preceding books.

The precepts and prohibitions contained in the Párájiká and Páchiti, 227 in number, are collected together, apart from the details and explanations by which they are accompanied, in a work called Pátimokkhan, or in Singhalese, Prátimóksha, which is to be recited twice every month in an assembly of priests consisting of

* Gogerly's Essay on Budhism, Journ. Ceylon Branch Royal As. Soc.

not fewer than four persons. The subjects of investigation are arranged in the following order:—1. Párájiká, four in number, referring to crimes that are to be punished by permanent exclusion from the priesthood. 2. Sanghádisésá, thirteen in number, that require suspension and penance, but not permanent exclusion. 3. Aniyatá-dhammá, two in number, that involve exclusion, suspension, or penance, according to circumstances. 4. Nissagiyapáchittiya-dhammá, thirty in number, requiring forfeiture of such articles as the priests are permitted to possess. 5. Páchittiyádhammá, ninety-two in number, requiring confession and absolution. 6. Pátidésani-dhammá, four in number, involving reprimand. 7. Sékhiya-dhammá, seventy-five in number, containing various prohibitions, and inculcating certain observances and proprieties. 8. Adhikarana-samatá-dhammá, seven in number, the rules to be observed in conducting judicial investigations relative to the conduct of the priests.*

The four crimes that involve permanent exclusion from the priesthood are sexual intercourse, theft, murder, and a false profession of the attainment of rahatship; but as the whole of the rules contained in the Pátimokkhan appear in thefollowing chapters, under the heads to which they respectively belong, it will not be necessary to insert them in the order in which they are recited in the bi-monthly convention of ecclesiastics. The various rules and obligations of the priest have been divided into an almost numberless array of classes; but their tedious minuteness must ever tend to deter any one from prosecuting their examination, who does not trust in the three gems as an object of religious confidence.

There is, however, one division, called the Teles-dhútanga, from teles, thirteen, dhúta, destroyed, and anga, ordinance, meaning the thirteen ordinances by which the cleaving to existence is destroyed, too important to be omitted. These ordinances enjoin the following observances on the part of the priest by whom they are kept. 1. To reject all garments but those of the meanest description. 2. To possess only three garments. 3. To eat no food but that which has been received under certain restrictions. 4. To call at all houses alike when carrying the alms-bowl. 5. To remain on one seat, when eating, until the meal be finished.

6. To eat only from

*Gogerly's Essay on the Laws of the Priesthood, Ceylon Friend, 1839. Nearly the whole of my information relative to the contents of the Pátimokkhan has been derived from this source.

one vessel. 7. To cease eating when certain things occur. 8. To reside in the forest. 9. To reside at the foot of a tree. 10. To reside in an open space. 11. To reside in a cemetery. 12. To take any seat that may be provided. 13. To refrain from lying down under any circumstance whatever. The three principal observances are the 4th, 5th, and 10th; and he who observes these three may be said to practise the whole series. The entire number may be kept by priests, eight by priestesses, twelve by novices, seven by female novices, and two by the lay devotees called upasakas, whether male or female. Thus there are in all forty-two divisions. The five observances that the priestesses are forbidden to keep are the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th; the last three cannot be observed by them under any circumstances, as it would be highly improper for the priestess to remain in a solitary place. The novice may keep all except the 2nd. The lay devotee can keep only the 5th and 6th.*

Nearly the whole of these observances are included in the code that is known among the Chinese by the name of Chi eul theou tho king, or The Sacred Book of the Twelve Observances, quoted in the San tsang få sou, lib. xliv. p. 10. Cf. Vocabulaire Pentaglotte, sect. xlv.f

III. NAMES AND TITLES.

The priests of Budha have received various names, of which the following are the principal:-1. Sráwakas, from the root sru, to hear, answering to the aкovσTIKOL of the Greeks. 2. Sarmanas, from srama, the performance of asceticism, answering to the doкntai, exercisers, of the ancient church. By the Chinese the word is written Cha men and Sang men, and is said by Klaproth to mean "celui qui restreint ses pensées, ou celui qui s'efforce et se restreint." It is probable that the epithet Samanean, as applied to the religious system of Tartary, is derived from the same word. It is to the priests of Budha that Strabo (lib. xv. cap. i.) refers,

* Milanda Prasna: Wisudhi Margga Sanné.

† Foě Kouě Ki, ou Relation des Royaumes Bouddhiques: Voyage dans la Tartarie, dans l'Afghanistan et dans l'Inde, exécuté a la fin du ive Siècle, par Chy fă hian. Traduit du Chinois et commenté par M. Abel Remusat. Ouvrage posthume, revu, complété, et augmenté d'éclaircissements nouveaux, par MM. Klaproth et Landresse: Paris, 1836.

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