One Cause Of The Extension Of The Religion Of Buddha Appears To
Be The Broad Basis Upon Which Admission To The Priesthood Has
'been Placed.
No one can become a Brahmin except by birth, but the
privileges of becoming a Lama are open to all who are willing to
receive them upon the conditions implied in their acceptance.
The
principal duties to be attended to, by one about to become a priest,
are thus laid down: - "He who, with a firm faith in the religion
of Truth, believes in Buddha, shall rise before daylight, and,
having cleaned his teeth, shall then sweep all the places appointed
to be swept in the vicinity of the 'Vihara,' or monastery; after
which he shall fetch the water that is required for use, filter it,
and place it ready for drinking. When this is done, he shall retire
to a solitary place, and for the space of three hours meditate on
the obligations of his vow. The bell will then ring, and he must
reflect that greater than the gift of 100 elephants, 100 horses, and
100 chariots, is the reward of him who takes one step towards the
place where worship is offered. Thus reflecting, he shall approach
the 'Dagoba,' where relics of holy men are placed, and perform that
which is appointed; he shall offer flowers just as if Buddha were
present in person, meditate on the nine virtues of Buddha with a
fixed and determined mind, and seek forgiveness for his faults,
just as if the sacred relics were endowed with life. He shall then
meditate on the advantages to be derived from carrying the alms-bowl
and putting on the yellow robe." The injunctions on the priesthood
relative to their abstracting their thoughts and desires from all
earthly matters whatever, are of the strictest nature. "The door
of the eye is to be kept shut. When the outer gates of the city are
left open, though the door of every separate house and store be shut,
the enemy will enter the city and take possession; in like manner,
though all the ordinances be kept, if the eye be permitted to wander,
affection for worldly objects will be produced." A story is told of a
priest named Chittagutta, who resided once in a cave, upon the walls of
which the history of Buddha was painted "in the finest style of art."
The cave was visited by some priests, who expressed their admiration
of the paintings to Chittagutta, but the devotee replied that he had
lived there sixty years and had never seen them, nor would he, except
for their information, ever have become aware of their existence. There
was near the door of his cave a spreading tree; but he only knew that
it was there by the fall of its leaves or flowers; the tree itself he
never saw, as he carefully observed the precept not to look upwards,
or to a distance!
The priest of Buddha must possess but eight articles: three of these
are matters of dress; the others, a girdle for the loins, an alms-bowl,
a razor, a needle, and a water-strainer. The bowl receives the food
presented in alms; the razor is for shaving the head; the needle
keeps his yellow wardrobe in order; and the water-strainer is the
most serviceable of all, for "if any priest shall knowingly drink
water containing insects, he shall be ejected from the priesthood."
The Dagobas, or shrines of relics, which abound in such numbers in
Thibet, have also been found in India and other countries. Some of
them when opened have been found to contain what appears to be remains
of a funeral pile, also vessels of stone or metal, and, occasionally,
caskets of silver and gold, curiously wrought. "Some of these have been
chased with a series of four figures, representing Buddha in the act
of preaching; a mendicant is on his right, a lay follower on his left,
and behind the latter a female disciple." This somewhat describes the
appearance of the stone-carved figures at the monastery of Hemis.[38]
These caskets have been set with rubies and chased with the leaves
of the lotus. Besides these have also been found small pearls, gold
buttons, rings, beads, pieces of clay and stone bearing impressions of
figures, bits of bone, and teeth of animals, pieces of cloth, &c. The
images are sometimes recumbent, at other times standing upright,
with the hand uplifted in the act of giving instruction. Sometimes
they have three heads and six or more arms.
In order to form clear and accurate ideas of the religion of Buddha,
it would be necessary to study a vast number of volumes, some of them
contradictory and of very doubtful authority, and the result would
appear hardly to compensate for the trouble, so altered has modern
Buddhism become from ancient, and into so many different systems
has it been divided in the many different countries in which it is
professed. Among its doctrines there is much that is virtuous and
true. It preaches benevolence and goodwill towards men, but enjoins no
active efforts to prove the sincerity of such goodwill. It requires
its members to "confess their sins with a contrite heart, to ask
forgiveness of them, and to repent truly, with a resolution not to
commit such again. To rejoice in the moral merit and perfection of
human beings, and to wish that they may attain beatitude; further,
to pray and exhort others to turn the wheel of religion, that the
world may be benefited thereby." Its general aim seems to be to
overcome all emotions and preferences of the mind, and all that would
disturb its repose and quiet. It seeks to destroy the human passions
and not to regulate them; and with faith in Buddha only as its aid,
it succeeds about as well as might have been anticipated.
Between these two religions of Brahma and Buddha, that of the "Jains"
sprang up, apparently a heresy from both.
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