Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/697

* BUDDHISM. 619 BUDDHISM. for desire is said to bo caused by perception, perception by contact, and so on, until we come to ideas. Ideas, however, are mere illusions, the results of ignorance or error, attributing durability and reality to that which is transi- tory and imaginary. Cut otJ" this ignorance, bring the mind into a state in which it can see and feel the illusory nature of things, and forth- Avith the whole train vanishes; illusory ideas, distinction of forms, senses, contact, perception, desire, att;ichment, existence, birth, misery, old age, death ! Morality and Religious Ohserva)wes. — The eight parts or particulars constituting the theo- retical 'way' (to Xirv.ina), were developed by Gautama into a set of practical precepts enjoin- ing the various duties of common life and of religion. They are all ostensibly intended as means of counteracling or destroying the chain of causes that tie men to existence and necessi- tate being born again, especially that most im- portant link in the chain constituted by the at- tachments or desires resulting from former actions: although the special fitness of some of the precepts for that end is far from being apparent. In delivering his precepts, the Buddha considers men as divided into two classes — those who have embraced the religious life {Srama- nas), and those who continue in the world, or are laymen. These last are considered as too much attached to existence to feel any desire or have any hope of emancipation — at least at this stage. But there are certain precepts which it is necessary for all to obey that they may not bring greater misery upon themselves in their next births, and rivet the bonds of existence more indissolubly. There are ten moral pre- cepts or "precepts of aversion.' Five of these are of universal obligation — viz., not to kill : not to steal: not to commit adultery: not to lie: not to be drunken. Other five are for those entering on the direct pursuit of Xirvana by embracing the religious life : to abstain from food out of season — that is, after midday; to abstain from dances, theatrical representations, songs, and music; to abstain from personal ornaments and perfumes; to abstain from a lofty and luxurious couch : to abstain from taking gold and silver. For the regular ascetics, or monks, there are a number of special observances of a very severe kind. They are to dress only in rags, sewed together with their own hands, and to have a yellow cloak thrown over their rags. They are to eat only the simplest food, and t« possess nothing except what they get by collecting alms from door to door in their wooden bowls. They are allowed only one meal, and that must be eaten before midday. For a part of the year they are to live in forests, with no other shelter except the shadow of a tree, and there they must sit on their carpet even during sleep, to lie down being forbidden. They are allowed to enter the nearest village or town to beg food, but they must return to their forests before night. Besides the absolutely necessary 'aversions and observances' above mentioned, the trans- gression of which must lead to misery in the next existence, there are certain virtues or 'per- fections' of a supererogatory or transcendent kind that tend directly to 'conduct to the other shore' (Nirvana). The most essential of these are almsgiving or charity, purity, patience, cour- Voi.. III.— w. age, contemplation, and knowledge. Charity or benevolence may be said to be the characteristic virtue of Buddhism — a charity boundless in its self-abnegation, and extending to every sentient being. The benevolent actions done by the Buddha himself, in the course of his many mil- lions of migrations, were favorite themes of his followers. On one occasion, seeing a tigress starved and unable to feed her cubs, he hesitated not to make his body an oblatiim to charity, and allowed them to devour him. Benevolence to animals, with that tendency to exaggerate a right principle so characteristic of the Kast, is carried among the Buddhist monks toi the length of avoiding the destruction of fleas and the most noxious vermin, which they remove from llicir persons with all tenderness. The sect of llic Jains carried this to absurd extremes. There are other virtues of a secondary kind, though still highly commendable. Thus, not con- tent with forbidding lying, the Buddha strictly enjoins the avoidance of all ofl'ensive and gross language, and of saying or repeating anything that can set others at enmity among themselves ; it is a duty, on the contrary, especially for a Sramana, to act on all occasions as a peace- maker. Patience under injury and resignation in misfortune are strongly inculcated. Humil- ity, again, holds a no less prominent place among Buddhist graces than it does among the Christian. The Buddhist saints are to conceal their good works and display their faults. As the outward expression of this sentiment of hu- mility, Gautama instituted the practice of con- fession. Tw-ice a month, at the new and at the fall moon, the monks confessed their faults aloud before the assembly. This humiliation and re- pentance seems the only means of expiating sin that was known to Gautama. Confession was exacted of all believers, only not so frequently as of the monks. The edicts of Piyadasi recom- mend a general and public confession at least once in five years. The practice of public confes- sion would seem to have died out by the time of Hiouen-Thsang's visit to India. Such are the leading features of the moral code of the Buddha, of which it has been said that "for pureness, excellence, and wisdom, it is only second to that of the Divine Lawgiver him- self." But the original morality of Buddhism has, in the course of time, been disfigured by many subtleties, puerilities, and extravagances, derived from the casuistry of the various schools of later times. The theory on which the Buddha founds his whole system gives, it must be con- fessed, only too much scope to such perversions; for, on that theory, truth is to be spoken, self to be sacrificed, benevolence to be exercised, not for the sake of the good thus done to others, but solely for the effect of this conduct on the in- dividual himself, in preparing him for escape from existence. To teach men 'the means of arriving at the other shore' was another expres- sion for teaching virtie; and that other shore was annihilation. On this principle the Bud- dhist casuist can, like the Jewish, render of no effect the universal law of charity and the duty of respecting and aiding parents, on which the Buddha laid such stress. Thus, a Bhikshu, or Bhikku — that is, one who has engaged to lead a life of self-denial, celibacy, and mendicancy, and is thus on the high road to Nirvana — is