Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/695

* BUDDHISII. 617 BUDDHISM. Century B.C. The canon was not reduced to writing till the First Century B.C. Besides the Tripitaka referred to above, the canon of the Great Vehicle iifahOyatui) contains two special works, dating not certainly earlier than the times of Kanishka, and of the First Century A.D. These are 'The Lotus of the Good Law.' and the Lalita Vi.ttara, the latter of which contains the life of Buddha. To these may be added the Mahavastu, which belongs to the Second Cen- tury B.C. All the northern Buddhists recognize these books as authoritative. The Btiddha- carita. the earliest life of Buddha, dates from the First Century A.D. I See Asv.^ghosh.). The Buddhist religion early manifested a zealous missionary spirit, and princes and even prin- cesses became devoted propagandists. A prince of the royal house of Magadha, JIahindo, car- ried the faith to Ceylon, B.C. 307. The Chinese annals speak of a Buddhist missionary as early as B.C. 217; and the doctrine made such progress that in A.v. Co it was acknowledged by the Chinese Emperor as a third State religion. The Chinese Buddhists have always looked on India as their 'holy land,' and, beginning with the Fourth Century of our era, a stream of Buddhist pilgrims continued to flow from China to India during six centuries. Several of these pilgrims have left accounts of their travels, which throw a light on the course of Buddhism in India, and on the internal state of the country in general, that is looked for in vain in the literature of India, itself. See Hiouex-Ths. g. A prominent name in the history of Buddhism is that of Asoka, King of Magadha in the Third Century of our era, whose sway seems to have extended over the whole peninsula of Hindustan, and een over Ceylon. (See Asoka.) This prince was to Buddhism what Constantine was to Christianity. He was at first a persecutor of the faith, but being converted — by a miracle, ac- cording to the legend — he became a zealous propagator of the religion — not. however, as princes usually promote their creed, for it is a ilistinguishing characteristic of Buddhism that it has never employed force, rarely even to resist aggression. Asoka showed his zeal by building and endowing viharas or monasteries and raising topes and other monuments over the relics of Buddha, and in spots remarkable as the scenes of his labors. Hiouen-Th>ang. in the Seventh Centuiw of our era, found topes attributed to Asoka from the foot of the Hindu Kush to the extremity, of the peninsula. There exist, also, in different parts of India, edicts inscribed on recks and pillars inculcating the doctrines of Buddha. The edicts are in the name of King Piyadasi. Not a single building or sculptured stone has been discovered in continental India of earlier date than the reign of this monarch. A remark- able spirit of charity and toleration nms through these royal sermons. The 'king beloved of the gods' desires to see the ascetics of all creeds living in all places, for they all teach the essen- tial rules of conduct. "A man ought to honor l;is own faith only; but he should nevei abuse the faith of others. . . . There are even circumstances where the religion of others ought to be honored, and in acting thus a man fortifies his own faith and assists the faith of others." For the glimpses we get of the state of Bud- dhism in India we arc indebted chiefly to the accounts of Chinese pilgrims. Fa-hian, at the end of the Fourth Century, found some appear- ances of decline in the east of Hindustan, its birthplace, but it was still strong in the Punjab an<l the north. In Ceylon it was flourishing in full vigor, the ascetics or monks numbering from .50,000 to 60.000. In the Seventh Century^that is, 1200 years after the death of tlic Buddha — Hiouen-Ths.mg represents it as dominant but de- caying, though patronized by powerful rajas. During the first four or five ccnturie-s of our era, and in some instances much earlier. Buddhists, perhaps driven from the great cities, retired among the hills of the west, and there construct- ed those cave-teraplcs which, for their number, vastness, and elaborate structure, continue to excite the wonder of all who see them. There are reckoned to be not fewer than 900 Buddhist excavations still extant in India, nearly all with- in the Presidency of Bombay. How the destruc- tion of the Buddhist faith in Hindustan came about — whether from internal corruption, or the persecution of powerful princes, adherents of the old faith — we are utterly in the dark. But it is certain that from the time of Hiouen-Thsang's visit its decay must have been rapid beyond precedent, for about the Eleventh or Twelfth Century the last traces of it disappear from the Indian peninsula. What, then, is the nature of this faith, which has been for so long, and is still, the sole light of so many millions of human beings? In an- swering this question we must confine ourselves here to a brief outline of the intellectual theory on which the system is based, and of the general character of its morality and ritual observances, as they were conceived by the founder and his more immediate followers; referring for the arious forms which the external observances have assumed to the several countries where it ia believed and practiced. See BiiiMA ; Ceylon ; China : .Japax : Lamaism. Buddhism accepts without questioning the doc- trine of transmigration, which lies at the root of so much that is strange in the Eastern character. For a particular account of this important doc- trine or notion, which seems ingrained in the constitution of Eastern minds, and without a knowledge of which no phase of thought or feel- ing among them can be understood, the reader is referred to Metempsychosis; while the peculiar cosmogonj' or system of the universe with which it is associated, and which is substantially the same among Hindus and Buddhists, will be described under Ixdia. It is sufficient here to say that, according to Buddhist belief, when a man dies he is immediately bom again, or appears in a new shape ; and that shape may, according to his merit or demerit, be any of the innumerable orders of being that compose the Buddhist universe — from a clod to a divinity. If his demerit would not be sufficiently punished by a degraded earthly existence — in the form, for instance, of a woman or a slave, of .a perse- cuted or a disgusting animal — he will be born in some one of the 1.30 Buddhist hells, situated in the interior of the earth. These places of pun- ishment have a regular gradation in the inten- sity of the suffering and in the length of time the sufl'erers live, the least term of life being 10,000,000 of years, the longer terms being al-