Dialogues of the Buddha (Digha Nikaya)

Then certain others, to keep their households going, and maintain their wives, started occupations of various kinds. And these were the first vessas. And some abandoned their homes and became the first recluses (samawas). But all were alike in origin, and the only distinction between them was in virtue. And the highest of them all was acknowledged 1 The words here are quoted in the Milinda, vol. i, p. 229 of my translation. to be the Arahat, who had made himself so by the destruction of the Four Mental Intoxications (the Asavas) and bybreaking the bonds that tied him to rebirths ; the man who had laid aside every burden, who had lived the life, had accomplished all that had to be done, had gained his end, and by the highest knowledge was set free ! We may not accept the historical accuracy of this legend. Indeed a continual note of good-humoured irony runs through the whole story, with its fanciful etymologies of the names of the four va«#a; and the aroma of it would be lost on the hearer who took it au grand se'rieux. But it reveals a sound and healthy insight, and is much nearer to the actual facts than the Brahman legend it was intended to replace.

Had the Buddha's views on the whole question won the day — and widely shared, as they were, by others, they very nearly prevailed — the evolution of social grades and distinctions would have gone on in India on lines similar to those it followed in the West, and the caste system of India would never have been built up 1 . 1 There is an admirable little book by M. Senart on the origin of caste, on the Brahman views about it, and on the present actual facts of caste in India, entitled ' Les Castes dans l'lnde.' Dr. Fick also in his ' Sociale Gliederung im nordostlichen Indien zu Buddha's Zeit ' has collected the evidence found in the Gataka book, and analysed it with great skill. Similar monographs on the Pi/akas, and on the Epics, are much to be desired.

[A young Brahman's rudeness and an old one's 1. i. Thus have I heard. The Blessed One, when once on a tour through the Kosala country with a great company of the brethren, with about five hundred brethren, arrived at a Brahman village in Kosala named I/'/C'/^anankala ; and while there he stayed in the U'/7dnankala Wood. Now at that time the Brahman Pokkharasadi was dwelling at Ukka///za, a spot teeming with life, with much grassland and woodland and corn, on a royal domain, granted him by King Pasenadi of Kosala as a royal gift, with power over it as if he were the king1. 2. Now the Brahman Pokkharasadi2 heard the news: 1 So Buddhaghosa ; but he gives no further details as to the terms of the grant, or of the tenancy. The whole string of adjectives recurs below, pp. in, 114, 127, 131 of the text, and ra^a-bhoggara at Vin. Ill, 222. Compare Divyavadana, p. 620. The land revenue, payable of course in kind, would be a tithe. If the king had full proprietary (zemindary) rights as well, which is the probable meaning of ra^a-bhoggaw, his share would be, either with or without the land tax, one half. The grant would be. of his own rights only. The rights of the peasants to the other half, and to the use of the common and waste and woods, would remain to them. If Buddhaghosa's interpretation of brahmadeyyaw? is correct, then the grantee would also be the king's representative for all purposes judicial and executive. Elsewhere the word has only been found as applied to marriage; and the first part* of the compound (brahma) has always been interpreted by Brahmans as referring to themselves. But brahma as the first part of a compound never has that meaning in Pali ; and the word in our passage means literally '.a full gift.'

2 His full name was Pokkharasadi Opamaw7o Subhagavaniko (M. II, 200); where the second is the gotta (gens) name and the third a local name. See the Introduction to the Mahali Sutta. ' They say that the Samawa Gotama, of the Sakya clan, who went out from a Sakya family to adopt the religious life, has now arrived, with a great company of the brethren of his Order, at I4v£7zanankala, and is staying there in the Iiv£Mnankala Wood. Now regarding that venerable Gotama, such is the high reputation that has been noised abroad : — That Blessed One is an Arahat, a fully awakened one, abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy, with knowledge of the worlds, unsurpassed as a guide to mortals willing to be led, a teacher for gods and men, a Blessed One, a Buddha. He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees, as it were, face to face this universe, — including the worlds above of the gods, the Brahmas, and the Maras, and the world below with its recluses and Brahmans, its princes and peoples, — and having known it, he makes his knowledge known to others. The truth, lovely in its origin, lovely in its progress, lovely in its consummation, doth he proclaim, both in the spirit and in the letter, the higher life doth he make known, in all its fullness and in all its purity.

[88] 'And good is it to pay visits to Arahats like that.' 3. Now at that time a young Brahman, an Amba////a \ was a pupil under Pokkharasadi the Brahman. And he was a repeater (of the sacred words) knowing the mystic verses by heart, one who had mastered the Three Vedas, with the indices, the ritual, the phonology, and the exegesis (as a fourth) '-, and the legends 1 According to Cat. IV, 363. (compare Cat. IV, 366) there were also Amba/Mas who were not Brahmans by birth, but farmers. 2 The fourth is not expressly mentioned. Buddhaghosa (p. 247) says we have to supply the fourth Veda, the Atharva. But the older Pali texts' do not acknowledge the Atharva as a Veda. It only occurs, as the Athabbawa Veda, in the Atf/zakathas and Zikas. And it is quite unnecessary to suppose a silent reference to it here. The fourth place is quite sufficiently filled as suggested in the translation. The Athabbawa, given (in S. IV, 927) as the name of a mystic art (together with astrology, the interpretation of dreams and of lucky signs, and so forth), is probably not the Veda, but witchcraft or sorcery. The Pi/akas always take three Vedas, and three only, for granted. And the whole point of the 'Tevigga. Sutta (translated in full in my ' Buddhist

as a fifth, learned in the idioms and the grammar, versed in Lokayata sophistry, and in the theory of the signs on the body of a great man1, — so recognised an authority in the system of the threefold Vedic knowledge as expounded by his master, that he could say of him : ' What I know that you know, and what you know that I know.' 4. And Pokkarasadi told Amba/Ma the news, and said : ' Come now, dear Amba//^a, go to the Samawa Gotama, and find out whether the reputation so noised abroad regarding him is in accord with the facts or not, whether the Samawa Gotama is such as they say or not.' 5. ' But how, Sir, shall I know whether that is so or not?' 1 There have been handed down, Ambai^a, in our mystic verses thirty-two bodily signs of a great man, — signs which, if a man has, he will become one of two things, and no other2. If he dwells at home he will become a sovran of the world, a righteous king, bearing rule even to the shores of the four great oceans, a conqueror, the protector of his people, possessor of the seven royal treasures. [89] And these are the seven treasures that he has — the Wheel, the Elephant, the Horse, the Gem, the Woman, the Treasurer, and the

Suttas ') is this three-, not four-, fold division. Four Vedas are referred to in the Milinda, at p. 3, and the Atharva-veda, at p. 117. 1 This is the standing description in the Suttas of a learned Brahman. See below, pp. 114, 120 (of the text); A.I, 163; Mil. 10; Divyavadana 620, &c. One or two of the details are not quite certain, as yet. 2 The knowledge of these thirty-two marks of a Great Being (Maha-purusha) is one of the details in the often-recurring paragraph giving the points of Brahman wisdom, which we have just had at § 3. No such list has been found, so far as I know, in those portions of the pre-Buddhistic priestly literature that have survived. And the inference from both our passages is that the knowledge is scattered through the Brahman texts. Many of the details of the Buddhist list (see the note below on p. 106 of the text) are very obscure; and a collection of the older Brahman passages would probably throw light upon them, and upon a curious chapter in mythological superstition. Who will write us a monograph (historical of course) on the Maha-purusha theory as held in early times among the Aryans in India ?

PRIDE OF BIRTH AND ITS FALL. I I I Adviser as a seventh1. And he has more than a thousand sons, heroes, mighty in frame, beating down the armies of the foe. And he dwells in complete ascendancy over the wide earth from sea to sea, ruling it in righteousness without the need of baton or of sword. But if he go forth from the household life into the houseless state, then he will become a Buddha who removes the veil from the eyes of the world. Now I, Amba#/£a, am a giver of the mystic verses; you have received them from me/ 6. 'Very good, Sir,' said Amba^a in reply; and rising from his seat and paying reverence to Pokkharasadi, he mounted a chariot drawn by mares, and proceeded, with a retinue of young Brahmans, to the I^/^anankala Wood. And when he had gone on in the chariot as far as the road was practicable for vehicles, he got down, and went on, into the park, on foot. 7. Now at that time a number of the brethren were walking up and down in the open air. And Amba/Z/za went up to them, and said : ' Where may the venerable Gotama be lodging now ? We have come nither to call upon him/

8 . Then the brethren thought : ' This young Brahman AmbaU/ia. is of distinguished family, and a pupil of the distinguished Brahman Pokkharasadi. The Blessed One will not find it difficult to hold conversation with such/ And they said to Amba/Ma : ' There, Amba^Ma, is his lodging2, where the door is shut, go quietly up and enter the porch gently, and give a cough, and knock on the cross-bar. The Blessed One will open the door for you.' 9. Then Amba/Z/za did so. And the Blessed One opened the door, and Amba/Ma entered in. And the other young Brahmans also went in ; and they exchanged with the Blessed One the greetings and 1 For the details of these seven see further my ' Buddhist Suttas,' pp. 251-259. 2 Vihara ; often rendered 'monastery,' a meaning the word never has in the older texts. compliments of politeness and courtesy, and took their seats. But Amba^a, walking about, said something or other of a civil kind in an off-hand way, fidgeting about the while, or standing up, to the Blessed One sitting there. [80] 10. And the Blessed One said to him : ' Is that the way, Amba/Ma, that you would hold converse with aged teachers, and teachers of your teachers well stricken in years, as you now do, moving about the while or standing, with me thus seated ? '

ii. 'Certainly not, Gotama. It is proper to speak with a Brahman as one goes along only when the Brahman himself is walking, and standing to a Brahman who stands, and seated to a Brahman who has taken his seat, or reclining to a Brahman who reclines. But with shavelings, sham friars, menial black fellows, the offscouring of our kinsman's heels x — with them I would talk as I now do to you ! ' 1 But you must have been wanting something, Amba///£a, when you came here. Turn your thoughts rather to the object you had in view when you came. This young Brahman Amba/Ma is ill bred, though he prides himself on his culture ; what can this come from except from want of training2 ? ' 12. Then Amba///£a was displeased and angry with the Blessed One at being called rude ; and at the thought that the Blessed One was vexed with him, he said, scoffing, jeering, and sneering at the Blessed One : ' Rough is this Sakya breed of yours, Gotama, and rude ; touchy is this Sakya breed of yours and 1 Bandhupadapa^^a. Neumann, loc. cit. p. 521, says 'treading on one another's heels.' Buddhaghosa refers the expression to the Brahman theory that the .Sudras were born from Brahma's heels. And this may well have been the meaning. For though Gotama and the majority of his order were well born, still others, of low caste, were admitted to it, and Amba/Wa is certainly represented as giving vent to caste prejudice when he calls the brethren ' black fellows.' Compare M I, 334 ; S. IV, 1J7, and below, D. I, 103.

2 And is therefore, after all, not so much his fault as that of his teacher. That this is the implication is clear from the text, pp. 90, 91 (§§ 10-13) below. PRIDE OF BIRTH AND ITS FALL. I 1 5 violent. [9l] Menials, mere menials1, they neither venerate, nor value, nor esteem, nor give gifts to, nor pay honour to Brahmans. That, Gotama, is neither fitting, nor is it seemly ! ' Thus did the young Brahman Amba/^a for the first time charge the Sakyas with being menials. 13. ' But in what then, Amba/Ma, have the Sakyas given you offence ? ' ' Once, Gotama, I had to go to Kapilavatthu on some business or other of Pokkharasadi's, and went into the Sakyas' Congress Hall2 Now at that time there were a number of Sakyas, old and young, seated in the hall on grand seats, making merry and joking together, nudging one another with their fingers 3 ; and for a truth, methinks, it was I myself that was the subject of their jokes ; and not one of them even offered me a seat. That, Gotama, is neither fitting, nor is it seemly, that the Sakyas, menials as they are, mere menials, should neither venerate, nor value, nor esteem, nor give gifts to, nor pay honour to Brahmans/

Thus did the young Brahman Amba/Ma for the second time charge the Sakyas with being menials. 1 Ibbha. Chalmers (J. R. A. S., 1894, p. 343) renders this 'nought but men of substance,' and he has been followed by Frazer, ' Literature of India,' p. 118. But Buddhaghosa's interpretation is confirmed both by the context and by the derivation. 2 Santhagara. Childers is quite wrong about this word. It is the hall where a clan mote was held, and is used exclusively of places for the assemblies of the householders in the free republics of Northern Kosala. It never means a royal rest house, which is ra^agaraka, as we had above (p. 1, § 2 of the Pali text). Thus at M. I, 353, 4 and Git IV, 147 we have this identical hall of the Sakyas at Kapilavatthu, and at M. I, 457 a similar one of the Sakyas at ATatumaya ; at M. P. V, 56 (VI, 23 of the translation) in my 'Buddhist Suttas ' we have the congress hall of the Mullas of Kusinard, and at M. I, 228 and Vin. I, 233 that of the LUMavis of Vesali — all of them called Santhagara, and all referred to in connection with a public meeting of the clan.

3 Anguli-patodakena. The Introductory Story to the 52nd Pa&ttiya (Vin. IV, 1 10 = 111, 84) tells how a Bhikshu was inadvertently done to death by being made to laugh immoderately in this way. It must there mean ' tickling.' Here, and at A. IV, 343, it seems to have the meaning given above. 14. 'Why a quail, Amba/Ma, little hen bird though she be, can say what she likes in her own nest. And there the Sakyas are at their own home, in Kapilavatthu. It is not fitting for you to take offence at so trifling a thing.' 15. 'There are these four grades1, Gotama, — the nobles, the Brahmans, the tradesfolk, and the workpeople. And of these four, three — the nobles, the tradesfolk, and the work-people — are, verily, but attendants on the Brahmans. [92] So, Gotama, that is neither fitting, nor is it seemly, that the Sakyas, menials as they are, mere menials, should neither venerate, nor value, nor esteem, nor give gifts to, nor pay honour to the Brahmans.' Thus did the young Brahman Amba/Ma for the third time charge the Sakyas with being menials. 16. Then the Blessed One thought thus: 'This Amba/7/£a is very set on humbling the Sakyas with his charge of servile origin. What if I were to ask him as to his own lineage.' And he said to him :

'And what family do you then, Amba/Ma, belong to ? ' ' I am a Ka«hayana.' ' Yes, but if one were to follow up your ancient name and lineage, Amba/^a, on the father's and the mother's side, it would appear that the Sakyas were once your masters, and that you are the offspring of one of their slave girls. But the Sakyas trace their line back to Okkaka the king 2. 'Long ago, Amba^a, King Okkaka, wanting to divert the succession in favour of the son of his favourite queen, banished his elder children — Okkamukha, Karanda., Hatthinika, and Sinipura — from the land. And being thus banished they took up their dwelling on the slopes of the Himalaya, on the borders of a lake where a mighty oak tree grew. 2 On this famous old king see the legends preserved in the M. B. V, 13 ; Mahavastu I, 348 ; Cat. II, 311 ; Sum. I, 258. And through fear of injuring the purity of their line they intermarried with their sisters. ' Now Okkaka the king asked the ministers at his court : " Where, Sirs, are the children now l ? " ' 1 There is a spot, Sire, on the slopes of the Himalaya, on the borders of a lake, where there grows a mighty oak (sako). There do they dwell. And lest they should injure the purity of their line they have married their own (sakahi) sisters.'

1 Then did Okkaka the king burst forth in admiration [03]: "Hearts of oak (sakya) are those young fellows! Right well they hold their own (paramasakya)2 ! " 1 That is the reason, Amba//-£a, why they are known as Sakyas. Now Okkaka had a slave girl called Disa. She gave birth to a black baby. And no sooner was it born than the little black thing said, " Wash me, mother. Bathe me, mother. Set me free, mother, of this dirt. So shall I be of use to you." ' Now just as now, Amba/Ma, people call devils " devils," so then they called devils " black fellows " (kawhe). And they said: "This fellow spoke as soon as he was born. 'Tis a black thing (kawha) that is born, a devil has been born ! " And that is the origin, Amba///fo, of the Kawhayanas 3 He was the ancestor of the Ka/mayanas4 And thus is it, Amba/7^a, that if one were to follow up your ancient name and lineage, on the father's and on the mother's side, it would appear that the Sakyas were once your masters, and that you are the offspring of one of their slave girls.'

17. When he had thus spoken the young Brahmans said to the Blessed One : ' Let not the venerable 1 Sammanti, 'dwell,' not in Childers in this sense. But see S. I, 2 26 = Sum. I, 125 and Gat. V, 396. 2 The oak (which doesn't grow in the text, and could not grow in the Terai) has been introduced to enable the word play to be adequately rendered. The Pali Saka means a herb. 3 Ka«hayana is the regular form of patronymic from Ka«ha. * Buddhaghosa gives further details as to his subsequent life, Il6 III. AMBATTHA SUTTA. Gotama humble Amba/Ma too sternly with this reproach of being descended from a slave girl. He is well born, Gotama, and of good family; he is versed in the sacred hymns, an able reciter, a learned man. And he is able to give answer to the venerable Gotama in these matters.' 18. Then the Blessed One said to them: 'Quite so. If [04] you thought otherwise, then it would be for you to carry on our discussion further. But as you think so, let Amba/Ma himself speak 1.' 19. ' We do think so; and we will hold our peace. Amba#/fo. is able to give answer to the venerable Gotama in these matters.'

20. Then the Blessed One said to Amba//^a the Brahman : ' Then this further question arises, Amba/7/2a, a very reasonable one which, even though unwillingly, you should answer. If you do not give a clear reply, or go off upon another issue 2, or remain silent, or go away, then your head will split in pieces on the spot 3. What have you heard, when Brahmans old and well stricken in years, teachers of yours or their teachers, were talking together, as to whence the Ka^hayanas draw their origin, and who the ancestor was to whom they trace themselves back ? ' And when he had thus spoken Amba/7//a remained silent. And the Blessed One asked the same question again. [95] And still Ambatt/ia. remained silent. Then the Blessed One said to him : ' You 1 Buddhaghosa (p. 263} says that Gotama's object was to confine the discussion to a single opponent, since if all spoke at once, it could not well be brought to a conclusion. In the text Gotama repeats the whole speech of the Brahmans. 2 A««ena a««am pa/i£arasi. For this idiom, not in Childers, see M. I, 250; Vin. I, 85 ; A. I, 187,' 198 ; Mil. 94 ; Sum. I, 264. It is answering one thing by alleging another.

3 This curious threat — which never comes to anything, among the Buddhists, and is apparently never meant to — is a frequent forniAof expression in Indian books, and is prc-Buddhistic. Comp. Brzhad Ar. Up. Ill, 6. 2 and 9. 26. Buddhist passages are M. I, 231 ; Dhp. 72 ; Dhp. A. 87, 140; Gat. I, 54 ; V, 21, 33, 87, 92, 493, &c. PRIDE OF BIRTH AND ITS FALL. I 1 7 had better answer, now, Amba////a. This is no time for you to hold your peace. For whosoever, Amba^Ma, does not, even up to the third time of asking, answer a reasonable question put by a Tathagata (by one who has won the truth), his head splits into pieces on the spot.' 21. Now at that time the spirit who bears the thunderbolt l stood over above Amba//^a in the sky with a mighty mass of iron, all fiery, dazzling, and aglow, with the intention, if he did not answer, there and then to split his head in pieces. And the Blessed One perceived the spirit bearing the thunderbolt, and so did Amba/Ma the Brahman. And Amba//^a on becoming aware of it, terrified, startled, and agitated, seeking safety and protection and help from the Blessed One, crouched down beside him in awe 2, and said : ' What was it the Blessed One said ? Say it once again ! '

1 What do you think, Amba/Ma ? What have you heard, when Brahmans old and well stricken in years, teachers of yours or their teachers, were talking together, as to whence the Kawhayanas draw their origin, and who the ancestor was to whom they trace themselves back ? ' 1 J ust so, Gotama, did I hear, even as the venerable Gotama hath said. That is the origin of the Kawhayanas, and that the ancestor to whom they trace themselves back.' 22. And when he had thus spoken the young Brahmans fell into tumult, and uproar, and turmoil ; and said : ' Low born, they say, is Amba/^a the Brahman ; his family, they say, is not of good standing ; they say he is descended from a slave girl ; and the Sakyas were his masters. We did not suppose that the Samara Gotama, whose words are righteousness itself, was not a man to be trusted ! ' 23. And the Blessed One thought: [96] 'They 1 Va.g'ira-pant: to wit, Indra, says Buddhaghosa. 2 Upanisidati; whence Upanishad, a mystery, secret, listened to in awe. I I 8 III. AMBA7Ttf A SUTTA. go too far, these Brahmans, in their depreciation of Amba/y/ja as the offspring of a slave girl. Let me set him free from their reproach.' And he said to them : ' Be not too severe in disparaging Amba////a the Brahman on the ground of his descent. That Ka^ha became a mighty seer1. He went into the Dekkan, there he learnt mystic verses, and returning to Okkaka the king, he demanded his daughter Madda-rupl in marriage. To him the king in answer said : " Who forsooth is this fellow, who — son of my slave girl as he is — asks for my daughter in marriage ; " and, angry and displeased, he fitted an arrow to his bow. But neither could he let the arrow fly, nor could he take it off the string again 2.

' Then the ministers and courtiers went to Kawha the seer, and said : " Let the king go safe, Sir ; let the king go safe3." " The king shall suffer no harm. But should he shoot the arrow downwards, then would the earth dry up as far as his realm extends." " Let the king, Sir, go safe, and the country too." " The king shall suffer no harm, nor his land. But should he shoot the arrow upwards, the god would not rain for seven years as far as his realm extends *." " Let the king, Sir, go safe, and the country too ; and let the god rain." " The king shall suffer no harm, nor the land either, and the god shall rain. But let the king aim the arrow at his eldest son. The prince shall suffer no harm, not a hair of him shall be touched." • Then, O Brahmans, the ministers told this to Okkaka, 1 Rishi, mystic sage, magician being no doubt implied, as in B. V. II, 8i = C7at. I, 17 (verse 90). Compare Merlin. 3 The effect of course of the charm which, Buddhaghosa tells us (p. 265), was known as the Amba//£a charm.

3 Sotthihotu. This is the old mystic word s wast i. We have lost the use of such expressions, Faustum fac regem. * All this, says Buddhaghosa, was brutum fulmen. The Amba//#a charm had only power to stop the arrow going off; not to work such results as these. PRIDE OF BIRTH AND ITS FALL. I 1 9 and said : " Let the king aim x at his eldest son. He will suffer neither harm nor terror." And the king did so, and no harm was done. But the king, terrified at the lesson given him, [97] gave the man his daughter Madda-rupi to wife. You should not, O Brahmans, be too severe to disparage Amba////a in the matter of his slave-girl ancestress. That Ka?ma was a mighty seer.' 24. Then the Blessed One said to Amba/7/&a: 'What think you, Amba///£a ? Suppose a young Kshatriya should have connection with a Brahman maiden, and from their intercourse a son should be born. Now would the son thus come to the Brahman maiden through the Kshatriya youth receive a seat and water (as tokens of respect) from the Brahmans ? ' ' Yes, he would, Gotama/ 1 But would the Brahmans allow him to partake of the feast offered to the dead, or of the food boiled in milk 2, or of the offerings to the gods, or of food sent as a present ? '

1 Yes, they would, Gotama.' ' But would the Brahmans teach him their verses or not?' ' They would, Gotama.' ' But would he be shut off, or not, from their women?' 1 He would not be shut off.' 1 But would the Kshatriyas allow him to receive the consecration ceremony of a Kshatriya ? ' ' Certainly not, Gotama.' ' Why not that ? ' ' Because he is not of pure descent on the mothers side.' 25. 'Then what think you, Amba^a ? Suppose a Brahman youth should have connection with a Kshatriya maiden, and from their intercourse a son should be born. Now would the son thus come to the Kshatriya maiden through the Brahman youth receive 1 Literally ' place the arrow (which had a barb shaped like a horseshoe) on his son.' 2 Th£lip&ka. See Gat. I, 186; Mil. 249. It is used in sacrifices, and also on special occasions. a seat and water (as tokens of respect) from the Brahmans ? ' 1 Yes, he would, Gotama.' ' But would the Brahmans allow him to partake of the feast offered to the dead, or of food boiled in milk, or of an offering to the gods, or of food sent as a present ? '

' Yes, they would, Gotama/ ' But would the Brahmans teach him their verses or not?' 1 They would, Gotama.' [98] ' But would he be shut off, or not, from their women ? ' 1 He would not, Gotama.' ' But would the Kshatriyas allow him to receive the consecration ceremony of a Kshatriya ? ' 1 Certainly not, Gotama.' ' Why not that ?' ' Because he is not of pure descent on the father's side.' 26. ' Then, Amba/Ma, whether one compares women with women, or men with men, the Kshatriyas are higher and the Brahmans inferior. ' And what think you, Amba/^a ? Suppose the Brahmans, for some offence * or other, were to outlaw a Brahman by shaving him and pouring ashes over his head 2, were to banish him from the land or from the township. Would he be offered a seat or water among the Brahmans ? ' ' Certainly not, Gotama.' ' Or would the Brahmans allow him to partake of the food offered to the dead, or of the food boiled in milk, or of the offerings to the gods, or of food sent as a present ? ' ' Certainly not, Gotama.'

1 Pakararae. Perhaps 'in consequence of some regulation or other.' Buddhaghosa (p. 267) says 'offence/ but compare Mil. 189. 2 Assa-pu/ena vadhitva, literally 'killing him with (the proceeding called) the Ash-basket.' Compare the idiom ' cut him dead.' It is also mentioned at A. II, 242. ' Or would the Brahmans teach him their verses or not?' ' Certainly not, Gotama.' ' And would he be shut off, or not, from their women ? ' ' He would be shut off.' 27. ' But what think you, Amba/Z^a ? If the Kshatriyas had in the same way outlawed a Kshatriya, and banished him from the land or the township, would he, among the Brahmans, be offered water and a seat ? ' ' Yes, he would, Gotama.' ' And would he be allowed to partake of the food offered to the dead, or of the food boiled in milk, or of the offerings to the gods, or of food sent as a present ?' ' He would, Gotama.' ' And would the Brahmans teach him their verses ? ' • They would, Gotama ? ' 'And would he be shut off, or not, from their women ? ' ' He would not, Gotama.'

[oe] ' But thereby, Amba///za, the Kshatriya would have fallen into the deepest degradation, shaven as to his head, cut dead with the ash-basket, banished from land and township. So that, even when a Kshatriya has fallen into the deepest degradation, still jt holds good that the Kshatriyas are higher, and the Brahmans inferior. 28. ' Moreover it was one of the Brahma gods, Sanaw-kumara l, who uttered this stanza 2 : 1 S an a w-kumar a means 'ever virgin.' According to the legend — common ground to Brahmans and Buddhists — there were five ' mind born ' sons of Brahma, who remained always pure and innocent, and this Brahma was one of the five. See the passages quoted by Chalmers in the J. R. A. S., 1894, p. 344. Hofrath Buhler has pointed out that in the Mahabharata III, 185 (Bombay edition) there is an interesting passage where Sanat-kumara (the Sanskrit form of the name Sanazw-kumara) is actually represented by the Brahmans themselves as having uttered, as referee in a dispute on a point similar to the one here discussed, not indeed the actual words here imputed to him, but others of a very similar import. See the whole article in the J. R. A. S., 1897, pp. 585-588. We either have in our

2 For note 2 see next page. " The Kshatriya is the best of those among this folk who put their trust in lineage. But he who is perfect in wisdom and righteousness, he is the best among gods and men." 1 Now this stanza, Amba///za, was well sung and not ill sung by the Brahma Sanaw-kumara, well said and not ill said, full of meaning and not void thereof. And I too approve it ; I also, Amba^Ma, say : " The Kshatriya is the best of those among this folk who put their trust in lineage 3. But he who is perfect in wisdom and righteousness, he is the best among gods and men." Here ends the First Portion for Recitation 4. text a quotation from an older recension of the same legend, or one of the two — either the Brahman editors of the Mahabharata, or the composers of our Sutta — have twisted the legend a little in their own favour. 2 The verse is a favourite one. It occurs also at M. I, 358 ; S. I, 153; II, 284; and below in the Aggawza Sutta. 3 Gotta-patisarino. Either 'tracing back their gotras' or 'referring back to their gotras' according as we derive the word with Childers from -y/sar, or with Biihler from \/smar. It occurs also in the description (Maha Sudassana Sutta) of the ideal woman as kiwkara-pa/isarini. Biihler, loc. cit., renders it 'record their gotras.'

The next line might also be rendered ' when perfect,' &c, referring to the Kshatriya. 4 This question of caste, besides being often referred to in isolated passages, is described at length also in the Assalayana, Ka««akathala, and Madhura Suttas, all in the Ma^fcima. The first has been translated into German by Professor Pischel and the last into English by Mr. Chalmers, J. R. A. S., 1894, p. 341 and foil. On the facts of caste as disclosed in the Gataka book see Fick's ' Sociale Gliederung in Indien zu Buddha's Zeit,' Kiel, 1897 ; and on the general history of caste in India see Senart's 'Les Castes dans l'lnde,' Paris, 1896. II. 1. ' But what, Gotama, is the righteousness, and what the wisdom spoken of in that verse ? ' ' In the supreme perfection in wisdom and righteousness, Ambattha, there is no reference to the question either of birth, or of lineage, or of the pride which says : "You are held as worthy as I," or " You are not held as worthy as I." It is where the talk is of marrying, or of giving in marriage, that reference is made to such things as that. For whosoever, Amhattha, are in bondage to the notions of birth or of lineage, or to the pride of social position, or of connection by marriage, they are far from the best wisdom and righteousness. It is only by having got rid of all such bondage that one can realise for himself [loo] that supreme perfection in wisdom and in conduct.'

2. ' But what, Gotama, is that conduct, and what that wisdom ? ' \Here follow, under Morality (Sila) 1i The introductory paragraphs (§§ 40-42 of the Sdmanna-phala, pp. 62, 63 of the text) on the appearance of a Buddha, his preaching, the conversion of a hearer, and his renunciation of the world : then come 1. The Silas, above, pp. 4-12 (§§ 8-2 7 J of the text. Only the refrain differs. It runs here, at the end of each clause, through the whole of this repeated passage : ' This is reckoned in him as morality I 1 Buddhaghosa, p. 268, seems to have had a different reading — idam p'assa hoti silasmi^ — from that preserved in our text. It comes to much the same result, but is better, as omitting the word bhikkhu. Then under Conduct (Ka.ra.na), 2. The paragraph on Confidence, above, p. 69 of the text, $ 63. The refrain frotn here onwards is: ' This is reckoned to him as conduct' 3. The paragraph on ' Guarded is the door of his sensesl above, p. 70 of the text, § 64. 4. The paragraph on ' Mindful and self-possessed', above, p. 70 of the text, § 65.

5. The paragraph on Content, above, p. 71 of the text, §66. 6. The paragraph on Solitude, above, p. 71 of the text, §67. 7. The paragraphs on the Five Hindrances, above. pp. 71-2 of the text, §§ 68-74. 8 . The paragraphs on the Four Rapt Contemplations'1 , above, pp. 73-76, §§ 75-82. The refrain at the end of each of them {{higher and better than the last') is here, of course, to be read not as higher fruit of the life of a recluse, but as higher conduct. 9. The paragraphs on Insight arising from Knowledge (iVa/za-dassana^), above, p. 76 of the text, §§ 83, 84. The refrain from here onwards is : ' This is reckoned in him as wisdom, and it is higher and sweeter than the last! 1 o. The paragraphs on the Mental Image, above, p. 77 of the text, §§ 85, 86. 11. The paragraphs on Mystic Gifts (Iddhi), above, P' 77 °f tne iex^ #87, 88. 1 2. The paragraphs on the Heavenly Ear (Dibbasota), above, p. 79 of the text, fjfj 89, 90. 1 3. The paragraphs on Knowledge of the hearts of others (A"eto-pariya-#a«a#z), above, p. 79 of the text, $9i, 92.

1 4. The paragraphs on Memory of one's own previous 1 It is important to notice that these are put, not under wisdom, but under conduct. births (Pubbe-nivasa-anussati-wa/za), above, p. 81 of the text, g 93, 94. 1 5 . The paragraph on the Divine Eye (D ibba^akkhu), above, p. 82 of the text, § 95, 96. 1 6. TAe paragraphs on the Destruction of the Deadly Floods (Asavanaw khaya-wa^aw), above, p. 85 of the text, §§ 97, 98 *.] ' Such a man, Amba/Ma, is said to be perfect in wisdom, perfect in conduct, perfect in wisdom and conduct. And there is no other perfection in wisdom and conduct higher and sweeter than this.' 3. ' Now, Amba/Ma, to this supreme perfection in wisdom and goodness [101] there are Four Leakages 2. And what are the four ? ' ' In case, Ambatlha, any recluse or Brahman, without having thoroughly attained unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct, with his yoke on his shoulder (to carry fire-sticks, a water-pot, needles, and the rest of a mendicant friar's outfit), should plunge into the depths of the forest, vowing to himself: "I will henceforth be one of those who live only on fruits that have fallen of themselves " — then, verily, he turns out worthy only to be a servant unto him that hath attained to wisdom and righteousness.

' And again, Amba/7//a, in case any recluse or Brahman, without having thoroughly attained unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct, and without having attained to living only on fruits fallen of themselves^ taking a hoe and a basket with him, should plunge into the depths of the forest, vowing to himself: " I will henceforth be one of those who live only on bulbs and roots and fruits " — then, verily, he turns out worthy only to be a servant unto him who hath attained to wisdom and righteousness. 1 There are therefore eight divisions of conduct, and eight of the higher wisdom. a Apaya-mukhani, 'outlets, leakages, so that it cannot fill up.' The word aya-mukhaff*. inlet, is used in its concrete sense at D. I, 74, and both words at A. II, 166; and 'outlet' occurs figuratively, in a secondary sense, as in this passage, in the Sigalovada Sutta, p. 299. 126 III. AMBATTffA SUTTA. 1 And again, Amba/Ma, in case any recluse or Brahman, without having thoroughly attained unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct, and without having attained to living only on fruits fallen of themselves, and without having attained to living only on bulbs and roots and fruits, should build himself a fireshrine near the boundaries of some village or some town, and there dwell serving the fire-god J — then, verily, he turns out worthy only to be a servant unto him that hath attained to wisdom and righteousness.

'And again, Amba/Z/za, in case any recluse or Brahman, without having thoroughly attained unto this supreme perfection in wisdom and conduct, and without having attained to living only on fruits fallen of themselves, and without having attained to living only on bulbs and roots and fruits, and without having attained to serving the fire-god, [102] should build himself a fourdoored almshouse at a crossing where four high roads meet, and dwell there, saying to himself: "Whosoever, whether recluse or Brahman, shall pass here, from either of these four directions, him will I entertain according to my ability and according to my power " — then, verily, he turns out worthy only to be a servant unto him who hath attained to wisdom and righteousness. 1 These are the Four Leakages, Amba/Ma, to supreme perfection in righteousness and conduct 2. 4. ' Now what think you, Amba/Ma ? Have you, as one of a class of pupils under the same teacher, been instructed in this supreme perfection of wisdom and conduct 3 ? ' ' Not that, Gotama. How little is it that I can pro- 1 For instances of this see Crat. 1, 285, 494; II, 43. Such service paid to a god has already been condemned in the tract on the Silas, the minor details of mere morality (above, pp. 24, 25).

2 Buddhaghosa here (p. 270) says that all sorts of Brahman ascetics are here intended to be included, and he gives further details of eight different sorts (discussed in the Journal of the P. T. S. for 1891, pp. 34 foil.). 8 Sandissasi sa^ariyako. Compare M. P. S. 6, 7, 8, 9, 24, 25. fess to have learnt ! How supreme this perfection of wisdom and conduct ! Far is it from me to have been trained therein ? ' 'Then what think you, Amba/Ma ? Although you have not thoroughly attained unto this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness, have you been trained to take the yoke upon your shoulders, and plunge into the depths of the forest as one who would fain observe the vow of living only on fruits fallen of themselves ?' ' Not even that, Gotama.' ' Then what think you, Amba////a ? Although you have not attained unto this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness, nor have attained to living on fruits fallen of themselves, have you been trained to take hoe and basket, and plunge into the depths of the forest as one who would fain observe the vow of living only on bulbs and roots and fruits ?'

' Not even that, Gotama.' ' Then what think you, Amba/Ma ? Although you have not attained unto this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness, and have not attained to living on fruits fallen of themselves, and have not attained to living on bulbs and roots and fruits, have you been taught to build yourself a fire-shrine on the borders of some village or some town, and dwell there as one who would fain serve the fire-god ? ' [103] ' Not even that, Gotama.' ' Then what think you, Amba////a ? Although you have not attained unto this supreme perfection of wisdom and goodness, and have not attained to living on fruits fallen of themselves, and have not attained to living on bulbs and roots and fruits, and have not attained to serving the fire-god, have you been taught to build yourself a four-doored almshouse at a spot where four high roads cross, and dwell there as one who would fain observe the vow to entertain whosoever might pass that way, from any of the four directions, according to your ability and according to your power ? ' ' Not even that, Gotama.' 5. ' So then you, Amba/^fca, as a pupil, have fallen short 1 of due training, not only in the supreme wisdom and conduct, but even in any one of the Four Leakages by which the complete attainment thereof is debarred. And your teacher too, the Brahman Pokkharasadi, has told you this saying : " Who are these shavelings, sham friars, menial black fellows, the offscouring of our kinsman's heels, that they should claim converse with Brahmans versed in the threefold Vedic lore ! " — he himself not having even fulfilled any one even of these lesser duties (which lead men to neglect the higher ones). See, Amba///£a, how deeply your teacher, the Brahman Pokkharasadi, has herein done you wrong.'

6. 'And the Brahman Pokkharasadi, Amba/Ma, is in the enjoyment of a grant from Pasenadi, the king of Kosala. But the king does not allow him to come into his presence. When he consults with him he speaks to him only from behind a curtain. How is it, Amba/Ma, that the very king, from whom he accepts this pure and lawful maintenance, King Pasenadi of Kosala, does not admit him to his presence ? See, Amba/Ma, how deeply your teacher, the Brahman Pokkharasadi, has herein done you wrong 2.' 7. ' Now what think you, Amba/Ma ? Suppose a king, either seated on the neck of his elephant or on the back of his horse, or standing on the footrug of his chariot [104], should discuss some resolution of state with his chiefs or princes. And suppose as he left the spot and stepped on one side, a workman (vSudra) or the slave of a workman should come up and, standing there, should discuss 1 Parihinako sa/fcariyako. ' Have been done out of, neglected in the matter of, defrauded of, this wisdom,' &c. * By concealing this suggestive fact, and thereby leaving you ignorant that the king, a Kshatriya, looked down on a Brahman, even one whom he considered, as a Brahman, of great merit. So at Ga.t. V, 257 a king calls a Brahman 'low born' (hina-^aH'o) compared with himself.

the matter, saying : " Thus and thus said Pasenadi the king." Although he should speak as the king might have spoken, or discuss as the king might have done, would he thereby be the king, or even as one of his officers ? ' ' Certainly not, Gotama.' 8. ' But just so, Amba^a, those ancient poets (Rishis) of the Brahmans, the authors of the verses, the utterers of the verses, whose ancient form of words so chanted, uttered, or composed, the Brahmans of to-day chant over again and rehearse, intoning or reciting exactly as has been intoned or recited — to wit, A/Maka, Vamaka, Vamadeva, Vessamitta, Yamataggi, Angirasa, Bharadva^ra. Vase///£a, Kassapa, and Bhagu 1 — though you can say : " I, as a pupil, know by heart their verses," that you should on that account be a Rishi, or have attained to the state of a Rishi — such a condition of things has no existence ! ' 9. ' Now what think you, Amba/Ma ? What have you heard when Brahmans, old and well stricken in years, teachers of yours or their teachers, were talking together — did those ancient Rishis, whose verses you so chant over and repeat, parade about well groomed, perfumed, trimmed as to their hair and beard, adorned with garlands and gems, clad in white garments, in the full possession and enjoyment of the five pleasures of sense, as you, and your teacher too, do now ? '

[106] ' Not that, Gotama.' 1 Or did they live, as their food, on boiled rice of the best sorts, from which all the black specks had been sought out and removed, and flavoured with sauces and curries of various kinds, as you, and your teacher too, do now ? ? 4 Not that, Gotama/ ' Or were they waited upon by women with fringes 1 On these names see Tevi^a Sutta 1, 13 (p. 172 of my 'Buddhist Suttas') and ' Vinaya Texts,' II, 130.

and furbelows ' round their loins, as you, and your teacher too, do now ? ' 1 Or did they go about driving chariots, drawn by mares with plaited manes and tails 2, using long wands and goads the while, as you, and your teacher too, do now ? ' ' Not that, Gotama.' ' Or did they have themselves guarded in fortified towns, with moats dug out round them3 and crossbars let down before the gates 4, by men girt with long swords, as you, and your teacher too, do now ? ' ' Not that, Gotama.' 10. 'So then, Amba#/£a, neither are you a Rishi, nor your teacher, nor do you live under the conditions under which the Rishis lived. But whatever it may be, Amba///za, concerning which you are in doubt or perplexity about me, ask me as to that. I will make it clear by explanation.' ii. Then the Blessed One went forth from his chamber, and began to walk up and down. And Amba#>fca did the same. And as he thus walked 1 VeMaka-nata-passahi. We have here probably the ancient name of the very elaborate girdles which all the fashionable women and goddesses wear on the old bas reliefs. Cunningham, ' Stupa of Bharhut,' PI. LI, gives figures and details of them. To judge from the bas reliefs — and I cannot call to mind any Pi/aka passage contradicting them — the women (lay women of course, the Sisterhood wore robes from the shoulders downwards) have only very elaborate headdresses and necklaces, a skirt from the waist to the ankles, and a very broad and handsome girdle worn over the top of the skirt. They were unclothed from the neck to the waist.

2 Kutta-valehi. The chariot of the time, as represented on the bas reliefs, had standing room for four passengers, the steeds wore plumes on their heads, and had their manes and tails elaborately plaited. ' Stupa of Bharhut/ PI. XII, shows us the chariot of Pasenadi, king of Kosala (see ibid, pp 124, 125). Kutta is not in Childers. But it occurs frequently. 866^1.1,296,433; 11,127,128; IV, 219; Asl. 321. 3 Compare Gat. IV, 106 ; Mil. 330. 4 Okkhitta-palighasu. Childers ~iys (following the Sanskrit dictionaries) bars 'of iron.' But where does the iron come in? This is surely a modern improvement. Unfortunately the word is found elsewhere (M. 1, 139; A. Ill, 84; Dhp. 398) only in an ethical sense. up and down, following the Blessed One, he took stock of the thirty-two signs of a great man, whether they appeared on the body of the Blessed One or not. And he perceived them all save only two. [loe] With respect to those two — the concealed member and the extent of tongue 1 — he was in doubt and perplexity, not satisfied, not sure. 12. And the Blessed One knew that he was so in doubt. And he so arranged matters by his Wondrous Gift that Amba///za the Brahman saw how that part of the Blessed One that ought to be hidden by clothes was enclosed in a sheath. And the Blessed One so bent round his tongue that he touched and stroked both his ears, touched and stroked both his nostrils, and the whole circumference of his forehead he covered with his tongue 2.

1 Neither text nor commentary make it clear what these two marks really quite meant. The first, says Buddhaghosa, is ' like an elephant's,' and the second seems, from what follows, to be the power of extending the tongue, like a snake's, to a great length. This last is possibly derived from poetical descriptions of the tongues of flame or light playing round the disk of the sun. As to the means by which the Buddha made the first visible to Amba//^a, Buddhaghosa simply quotes Nagasena (at Mil. 169) to show that he made a visible image of himself fully dressed in his robes. And the difficulty is to see how that would have helped matters. Only an historical explanation of the meaning of the marks can here guide us to what is inferred. 2 These are two of the thirty-two bodily marks of a Great Being (Maha-purisa), as handed down among the Brahmans (see note above, p. 88 of the text, § 5) and adopted by the Buddhists. They are in part adaptations to a man of poetical epithets applied to the sun, or to the personification of the mystic human sacrifice ; partly characteristics of personal beauty such as any man might have ; and one or two of them — the little wart, for instance, between the eyes with white hair on it, and the protuberance at the top of the head — may possibly be added in reminiscence of personal bodily peculiarities which Gotama actually had.

One of the Dialogues in the Digha, the Lakhawa Sutta, is devoted to these thirty-two marks. They are also enumerated, with slight differences, in the Mahapadhana Sutta ; and later books give other lists differing from each other, and from the old lists, in many small points. The story told here in §§ 11, 12 recurs in identical words in the And Amba/Z/^a, the young- Brahman, thought : ' The Samara Gotama is endowed with the thirtytwo signs of a great man, with them all, not only with some of them.' And he said to the Blessed One : ' And now, Gotama, we would fain depart. We are busy, and have much to do.' ' Do, Amba/Z/za, what seemeth to you fit.' And Amba#/za mounted his chariot drawn by mares, and departed thence. 13. Now at that time the Brahman Pokkharasadi had gone forth from Ukka/Ma with a great retinue of Brahmans, and was seated in his own pleasaunce waiting there for AmbazV/za. And Amba^Ma came on to the pleasaunce. And when he had come in his chariot as far as the path was practicable for chariots, he descended from it, and came on foot to where Pokkharasadi was, and saluted him, and took his seat respectfully on one side. And when he was so seated, Pokkharasadi said to him :

14. 'Well, AmbazY/za 1 Did you see the Blessed One?' ' Yes, Sir, we saw him.' ' Well ! is the venerable Gotama so as the reputation [107] about him I told you of declares ; and not otherwise. Is he such a one, or is he not ? ' ' He is so, Sir, as his reputation declares, and not otherwise. Such is he, not different. And he is endowed with the thirty-two signs of a great man, with all of them, not only with some.' 'And did you have any talk, Ambaz'zVza, with the Samara Gotama ? ' 1 Yes, Sir, I had.' ' And how did the talk go ? ' Then Amba/^a told the Brahman Pokkharasadi all the talk that he had had with the Blessed One. 15. When he had thus spoken, Pokkharasadi said to him : ' Oh ! you wiseacre ! Oh ! you dullard ! Oh ! you Sela Sutta (S. N. No. 33 = M. No. 92) and forms the subject of one of the dilemmas put by King Milinda to Nagasena (Mil. 167). expert, forsooth, in our threefold Vedic lore ! A man, they say, who should carry out his business thus, must, on the dissolution of the body, after death, be reborn into some dismal state of misery and woe. What could the very points you pressed in your insolent words lead up to, if not to the very disclosures the venerable Gotama made ] ? What a wiseacre ; what a dullard ; what an expert, forsooth, in our threefold Vedic lore.' And angr}' and displeased, he struck out with his foot, and rolled Amba////a over. And he wanted, there and then, himself, to go and call on the Blessed One.

[108] 16. But the Brahmans there spake thus to Pokkharasadi : ' It is much too late, Sir, to-day to go to call on the Sama/^a Gotama. The venerable Pokkharasadi can do so to-morrow.' So Pokkharasadi had sweet food, both hard and soft, made ready at his own house, and taken on wagons, by the light of blazing torches, out to Ukka////a. And he himself went on to the Xkkh'knankala Wood, driving in his chariot as far as the road was practicable for vehicles, and then going on, on foot, to where the Blessed One was. And when he had exchanged with the Blessed One the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy, he took his seat on one side, and said to the Blessed One : 17. 'Has our pupil, Gotama, the young Brahman Amba/^a, been here ? ' 1 Yes, Brahman, he has.' ' And did you, Gotama, have any talk with him ? ' ' Yes, Brahman, I had.' ' And on what wise was the talk that you had with him.' 18. Then the Blessed One told the Brahman Pokkharasadi all the talk that had taken place. And when Asa^a a.sagga . . . upaniyya upaniyya. Buddhaghosa is somewhat ambiguous in his interpretation of this idiomatic phrase, on which compare M. I, 250, 251 ; A. I, 172.

he had thus spoken Pokkharasadi said to the Blessed One : 1 He is young and foolish, Gotama, that young Brahman Amba//^a. Forgive him, Gotama.' ' Let him be quite happy, Brahman, that young Brahman Amba/Ma.' [109] 19. And the Brahman Pokkharasadi took stock, on the body of the Blessed One, of the thirtytwo marks of a Great Being. And he saw them all plainly, save only two. As to two of them — the sheath-concealed member and the extensive tongue — he was still in doubt and undecided. But the Blessed One showed them to Pokkharasadi, even as he had shown them to Amba/^a1. And Pokkharasadi perceived that the Blessed One was endowed with the thirty-two marks of a Great Being, with all of them, not only with some. And he said to the Blessed One : ' May the venerable Gotama grant me the favour of taking his to-morrow's meal with me, and also the members of the Order with him.' And the Blessed One accepted, by silence, his request. 20. Then the Brahman Pokkharasadi, seeing that the Blessed One had accepted, had (on the morrow) the time announced to him : ' It is time, oh Gotama, the meal is ready.' And the Blessed One, who had dressed in the early morning, put on his outer robe, and taking his bowl with him, went, with the brethren, to Pokkharasadi's house, and sat down on the seat prepared for him. And Pokkharasadi, the Brahman, satisfied the Blessed One, with his own hand, with sweet food, both hard and soft, until he refused any more, and the young Brahmans the members of the Order. And when the Blessed One had finished his meal, and cleansed the bowl and his2 hands, Pokkharasadi took a low seat, and sat down beside

21. Then to him thus seated [110] the Blessed One 1 Above, p. 106 of the text, § 12 repeated. 2 Onita-patta-pamw. See the note at ' Vinaya Texts,' I, 83. discoursed in due order ; that is to say, he spake to him of generosity, of right conduct, of heaven, of the danger, the vanity, and the defilement of lusts, of the advantages of renunciation. And when the Blessed One saw that Pokkharasadi, the Brahman, had become prepared, softened, unprejudiced, upraised, and believing in heart, then he proclaimed the doctrine the Buddhas alone have won ; that is to say, the doctrine of sorrow, of its origin, of its cessation, and of the Path. And just as a clean cloth from which all stain has been washed away will readily take the dye, just even so did Pokkharasadi, the Brahman, obtain, even while sitting there, the pure and spotless Eye for the Truth, and he knew : ' Whatsoever has a beginning in that is inherent also the necessity of dissolution.' 22. And then the Brahman Pokkharasadi, as one who had seen the Truth, had mastered it, understood it, dived deep down into it, who had passed beyond doubt and put away perplexity and gained full confidence, who had become dependent on no other man for his knowledge of the teaching of the Master, addressed the Blessed One, and said :

' Most excellent, oh Gotama (are the words of thy mouth), most excellent! Just as if a man were to set up that which has been thrown down, or were to reveal that which has been hidden away, or were to point out the right road to him who has gone astray, or were to bring a light into the darkness so that those who had eyes could see external forms, — just even so, Lord, has the truth been made known to me, in many a figure, by the venerable Gotama. And I, oh Gotama, with my sons, and my wife, and my people, and my companions, betake myself to the venerable Gotama as my guide, to the truth, and to the Order. May the venerable Gotama accept me as a disciple, as one who, from this day forth, as long as life endures, has taken him as his guide. And just as the venerable Gotama visits the families of others, his disciples, at Ukka#/*a, so let him visit mine. Whosoever there may be there, of Brahmans or their wives, who shall pay reverence to the venerable Gotama, or stand up in his presence, or offer him a seat or water, or take delight in him, to him that will be, for long, a cause of weal and bliss.'

' It is well, Brahman, what you say. Here ends the Amba^Ma Sutta. This Dialogue comes very appropriately immediately after the Amba////a. That dealt with the general question of pride of birth, or social position. This deals with the special question of what is the essential quality which makes a man a Brahman. The conclusion is, no doubt, substantially the same. But there is a difference, and the difference is instructive. In trying to gain over Amba////a to his (the Buddha's) view of the essential distinction — rather than birth or social position — between man and man, Gotama includes the whole list as set out above in the thirteen divisions of the Sama««aphala1. In trying to gain over So/2ada;/^a to his (the Buddha's) view of what is the essential quality that makes a man a Brahman, he gives the same details, but puts the Guanas (the states of Ecstasy) not under Conduct, but under Pa««a (Intelligence). The reason seems to be simply that the verse, on which the exposition in the Amba///£a turns, mentions only Wisdom and Conduct (containing no word for Intelligence), and that it is not thought accurate to put the states of Ecstasy (which are Indian, not specially Buddhist) under Wisdom. It is true that the Buddhist position is that ' goodness is a function of intelligence, as beauty is of health ' (to quote the words of Matthew Bassendine). But under Intelligence they always distinguish two phases — the enquiring, and necessarily therefore doubting, activity, of the mind ; and the final stage of emancipation and peace when the laws of the universe are clearly seen, and firmly grasped, and cheerfully acquiesced in.

1 See the summary above, pp. 57—59, in the Introduction to the Sama««a-phala. It is this latter phase which they call Wisdom (Vi^a) l — the contrary of the Avi^a, which is ignorance of the action of Karma, of the Four Noble Truths, and of the doctrine of the Asavas or Intoxications. The man who knows these ; who, finally and permanently out of the jungle and in the open, quite beyond the stage of 'wasting his wonder on the fabulous soul,' has attained to, and remains in this state of Nirvana in Arahatship, is not only, in Buddhist terminology, called a Brahman, but is, in fact, declared to be the only true Brahman. It is amazing that Sona.da.ndd., as learned as he is wealthy, does not see that this, the logical outcome of the Buddha's argument, and carefully led up to in the final paragraph of the exposition 2, is really incompatible with the supremacy of the Brahmans in the ordinary sense of that word. He is baffled by the skill with which he is gradually led on, by the usual Socratic method adopted in so many of the Dialogues, to accept one self-evident truth after another. There is indeed nothing, till we come to that last paragraph, which any intelligent Brahman could not, with safety, and with due regard to his own doctrine, fully accept. In other words, the doctrine of Brahman supremacy was intellectually indefensible. It was really quite inconsistent with the ethical standard of the times, which the Brahmans, in common with the rest of the people, fully accepted.

Our Sutta is by no means the only one in which the same, or a similar, argument leads up to the same, or a similar, conclusion. It will aid us in understanding the real gist of our Sutta to mention one or two of these. In the Tika»/;a and Ganussoni Suttas of the Anguttara 3 the question put by the Buddha is: 'What sort of person do you Brahmans acknowledge to be a Tevi^a Brahman (a Brahman with threefold lore)?' The answer of each of the Brahmans is, in the words of our Sutta, § 4 : 'A Brahman well born on both sides, of pure descent, through the father and through the mother, back through seven generations, with no slur put upon him, and no reproach, in respect of birth — a repeater (of the sacred words) knowing the mystic verses by heart, one who has mastered the Three Vedas, with the indices, the ritual, the phonology, and the exegesis (as a fourth), and with the 1 The English equivalents do not exactly cover the corresponding Pali terms, which are not, in the texts, used always with scrupulous distinctiveness. 2 § 23 of the text, and of the translation below.

3 Vol. i, pp. 163-168. legends as a fifth — a man learned in the (etymologies of the) words and in the grammar, versed in Lokayata (Nature-lore) 1 and in the theory of the signs on the body of a great man.' Whereupon the Buddha rejoins that in the teaching of the Arahats the ' threefold lore ' is different ; and on being asked what it is, answers in the words of sections 93, 95, and 97 of the Sama«#a-phala Sutta, which are quoted as the last three paragraphs of his exposition in our Sutta, that is to say, a. The knowledge of one's own previous births. b. The knowledge of other people's previous births. c. The knowledge of the Four Truths, and of the Four Intoxications (Asavas), leading on to the emancipation of Arahatship. The only difference is that at the end of each section, and after the words setting forth the emancipation, the following sentence is added : ' This first (or second, or third) lore hath he required. Ignorance is dispelled within him, and wisdom has been born. The darkness has been dissipated, the light has appeared. (And all this) inasmuch as he has continued in earnestness, in zeal, in mastery of himself.'

And at the end of the whole the following verses are also added : ' Him do they honour whose heart, — unswerving in goodness, and wise, Given to earnest thought, — rests in his own control, Pacified, stedfast. And him resolute, able in method, Threefold in knowledge, dispelling the darkness, the conqueror of Death, who Lived for the weal of gods and of men delivered from folly, Him of the threefold lore, mindful and self-possessed, Him do they honour, the Buddha, our Gotama, wearing now, Conqueror, too, of Birth, the last of his mortal frames ! ' ' 'Tis he who is a Brahmawa indeed Who knows the births that he has lived before ; And sees (with Heavenly Eye) the states of bliss, And states of woe, that other men pass through ; Has reached the end of all rebirths, become A sage, perfect in insight, Arahat, In these three modes of knowledge threefold wise. 1 See below in the Introduction to the next Sutta. 14-0 IV. SOJVADAiVZ>A SUTTA. Him do I call a Brahman, threefold wise, And not the man who mutters o'er again The mystic verse so often muttered through before.' How important a place this doctrine occupied in earlyBuddhism is made evident by the fact that this latter stanza, with variations at the close, is so constantly repeated. We find it in the 99th Sutta of the Iti-vuttaka (p. too) and in the 91st Sutta of the Ma^/zima (the Brahmaya Sutta). And it is quoted also, not only in this Sutta in the Ahguttara, and in another Sutta in the Sarayutta (I, 167), but also in the collection of verses from the Pizakas called the Dhammapada (verse 423); and also in the other collection of such verses (probably belonging to some other school of Buddhists), now preserved in the oldest MS. yet discovered in India, the so-called Kharosh//zi MS., portions of which have simultaneously found their way, last year, to both St. Petersburg and Paris.

The whole section of the Dhammapada, which contains this quotation, consists of no less than forty verses, each of which, from one point of view or another, emphasise this point of the identification, by the Buddhists, of the Arahat with the Brahman. Twenty-seven of them are taken from the Vase/Ma Sutta of the Sutta Nipata, in which the question raised is precisely the same as that raised in our Sutta, and in which the reply, though different in details, amounts to much the same as the reply given here. Two conclusions force themselves upon us. It is, in the first place, a striking proof of the high social esteem in which the Brahmans, as such, and quite irrespective of character, were held by the masses of the people. We have hitherto only had the views which the Brahmans held about themselves. And very absurd they seem to readers whose own vivid sense of superiority rests on a self-complacency quite as inexpugnable as that of the Brahmans. Here we have evidence from an independent source, — evidence all the stronger because it is found in Suttas in which the exclusive claims of the Brahmans by birth are vigorously contested. When the Buddhists, in selecting a title of honour for those they valued so highly, for the best of men, for the Arahats, selected the name of Brahman, it is clear that that word, in the opinion of the early Buddhists, conveyed to the minds of the people an exalted meaning, a connotation of real veneration and respect. And it is not likely that this would have been the case unless the Brahmans had, at least as

a general rule, deserved it — and on other grounds than the mere prerogative of birth. In the second place, if the contention of the Buddhists had been universally accepted — if the word Brahman had come to mean, not only a man of a certain descent, but exclusively a man of a certain character and insight — then the present caste system of India could never have grown up. But it was obviously impossible that the contention should succeed. The method, adopted by all reformers, of pouring new wine into old bottles, putting new meanings into ancient words, can only succeed under conditions, that, in this case, were non-existent. And it is always open to the danger that, with the old and hallowed word, the old superstition associated with it will also survive. It' was a method largely adopted by the Buddhists; and in numerous other cases, to which I have elsewhere called attention, adopted with success. The subsequent language of India is full of phrases and words which bear, not the meaning which they previously bore, but the new and higher meaning put into them by Buddhists. But in this case the two ideas were too widely apart, too contradictory. A physical meaning cannot be replaced by an ethical one. The actual facts of life, which they could not alter, — could not, indeed, attempt to alter, — were a constant influence, against their view, too strong to be overcome. Brahmans by birth, many of them, perhaps most of them, engaged in various worldly trades and occupations, and therefore Brahmans only by birth, were so constant and so important a factor in the daily and hourly life of the people, that the idea of birth could not be dissociated from the word. The Buddhists failed. And they not only failed, their very choice of the word as a title of honour, must (through the wide influence they exercised for so many centuries throughout and beyond the valley of the Ganges) have actually afforded a fresh strength to the veneration which the word inspired. The very means they adopted to lend weight to their doctrine of emancipation became a weapon to be turned against themselves.

It is unlikely that this really mattered much. The point was only one detail in a broad scheme which was doomed from the outset to failure — that is if failure to attain immediate and lasting acceptance can rightly be called the failure of a theory of life. A theory which placed the ideal in Self-conquest, regarded final salvation as obtainable in this world, and in this world 142 IV. SOiVADAiVDA SUTTA. only, and only by self-conquest — a view of life that ignored the ' soul ' and brought the very gods themselves under the domain of law — a religious movement which aimed its keenest shafts against all those forms of belief in the supernatural and mysterious, appealing most strongly alike to the hopes and to the fears of the people — a philosophy that confined itself to going back, step by step, from effect to cause, and poured scorn on speculations as to the ultimate origin and end of all things — might gain, by the powerful personality of its founder and the enthusiasm and zeal of his early followers, a certain measure of temporary success. But it fought against too many vested interests at once, it raised up too many enemies, it tried in ' pouring new wine into the old bottles ' to retain too much of the ancient phraseology, for lasting victory — at least at that time, and in an advancing country then assimilating to itself surrounding peoples at a lower grade of culture. The end was inevitable. And it was actually brought about, not by persecution, but by the gradual weakening of the theory itself, the gradual creeping back, under new forms and new names, of the more popular beliefs.

The very event, which seemed, in the eyes of the world, to be the most striking proof of the success of the new movement, the conversion and strenuous support of Asoka, the most powerful ruler India had had — indeed the first real overlord over practically the whole of India — only hastened the decline. The adhesion of large numbers of nominal converts, more especially from the newly incorporated and less advanced provinces, produced weakness, rather than strength, in the movement for reform. The day of compromise had come. Every relaxation of the old thoroughgoing position was widely supported by converts only half converted. And the margin of difference between the Buddhists and their opponents gradually faded almost entirely away. The soul theory, step by step, gained again the upper hand. The caste system was gradually built up into a completely organised system. The social supremacy of the Brahmans by birth became accepted as an incontrovertible fact. And the inflood of popular superstition which overwhelmed the Buddhist movement, overwhelmed also the whole pantheon of the Vedic gods. Buddhism and Brahmanism alike passed practically away, and modern Hinduism arose on the ruins of both. The struggle is now being renewed under conditions perhaps, on the whole, more favourable. The tone of worldliness and love of material comfort, the eager restless-

ness of modern social, and economic competition, the degradation of learning to a mere means of getting on and making money, are no doubt all unfavourable to any movement for the social and religious elevation of a people. But history shows, notably in the case of the Reformation in Europe, how powerfully the contact of two diverse views of life tends to widen the thoughts of men. Both India and Europe in the twentieth century may be fairly expected to afford fresh examples of the same influence. And in India the powerful aid of the new methods of science and of historical criticism will lend their invaluable aid to the party endeavouring, now once again, to place the ideal, not in birth, but in character and wisdom.

[ill] I. Thus have I heard. The Blessed One once, when going on a tour through the Anga country with a great multitude of the brethren, with about five hundred brethren, arrived at A'ampa l. And there at A'ampa he lodged on the bank of the Gaggara Lake 2. Now at that time the Brahman Scma.da.uaa. was dwelling at A'ampa, a place teeming with life 3, with much grassland and woodland and water and corn, on a royal domain granted him by Seniya Bimbisara, the king of Magadha 4, as a royal fief, with power over it as if he were the king. 2. Mow the Brahmans and householders of A'ampa heard the news : ' They say that the Samawa Gotama of the Sakya clan, who went out from a Sakya family to adopt the religious life, has now arrived, with a great 1 A'ampa, the capital of Anga, was on the East bank of the river of the same name (Gat. IV, 454), which formed the Eastern boundary of Magadha It was close to the modern Bagulpur, about Lat. 240 io' by Long. 870. Like other names of famous places in -India, it was used over again by colonists in the Far East, and there means what we now call Cochin China and Annam (I-Tsing, p. 58).

2 So called after Queen Gaggara, who had had it excavated, says Buddhaghosa (Sum. I, 279). He adds that on its banks was a grove of champaka trees, so well known for the fragrance of their beautiful white flowers. It was under those trees that the wandering mendicants put up. 3 Sattussada. The meaning is really quite settled, though Fausboll wrongly translates ussada 'desire,' and Oldenberg and myself ' uneven,' at S. N. 783 = Vin. I, 3. See No. 15 in the list of the thirty-two marks. Also Gat. IV, 188 = Dhp. A. 339 ; Gat. IV, 60 = Dhp. A. 95 ; Gat. IV, 4 ; P. G. D. 22-44 ; Asl. 307. 4 In the Buddha's time Anga was subject to Magadha. company of the brethren at A^ampa, and is staying there on the shore of the Gaggara Lake. Now regarding that venerable Gotama, such is the high reputation that has been noised abroad : — That Blessed One is an Arahat, a fully awakened one, abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy, with knowledge of the worlds, unsurpassed as a guide to mortals willing to be led, a teacher for gods and men, a Blessed One, a Buddha. He, by himself, thoroughly knows and sees, as it were, face to face this universe, — including the worlds above of the gods, the Brahmas, and the Maras, and the world below with its recluses and Brahmans, its princes and peoples,- — and having known it, he makes his knowledge known to others. The truth, lovely in its origin, lovely in its progress, lovely in its consummation, doth he proclaim, both in the spirit and in the letter, the higher life doth he make known, in all its fullness and in all its purity.

'And good is it to pay visits to Arahats like that' [112] And the Brahmans and householders of Afampa began to leave Aampa. in companies and in bands from each district l, so that they could be counted, to go to the Gaggara Lake. 3. Now at that time SoJta.da.nda. the Brahman had gone apart to the upper terrace of his house for his siesta, and seeing the people thus go by, he said to his doorkeeper : ' Why are the people of A'ampa. going forth like this towards the Gaggara Lake ? ' Then the doorkeeper told him the news. And he said : ' Then, good doorkeeper, go to the Brahmans and householders of Aampa, and say to them : " Sona.danda. the Brahman desires them to wait. He will himself come to see the Samara Gotama," ' Very well, Sir,' said the doorkeeper, and he did so. [lis] 4. Now at that time there were about five hundred Brahmans from different kingdoms lodging at A^ampa for some business or other. And when they heard that So/radaw^/a was intending to visit the 1 Perhaps in ' companies and separately ' ; but I follow Buddhaghosa. Comp. M. I, 231 ; A. II, 55.

Samara Gotama, they went to Sona.da.nda, and asked whether that was so. ' That is my intention, Sirs. I propose to call on the Samawa Gotama.' ' Let not the venerable Sonada.nda, do that. It is not fitting for him to do so. If it were the venerable Sowadaw^a who went to call upon him, then the venerable SowadaWa's reputation would decrease and the Samara Gotama's would increase. This is the first reason why you, Sir, should not call upon him, but he upon you.' 5. And they laid before Sona.da.nda, the Brahman in like manner also other considerations, to wit : That he was well born on both sides, of pure descent through the mother and through the father back through seven generations, with no slur put upon him, and no reproach, in respect of birth — That he was prosperous, well to do, and rich — [114] That he was a repeater (of the sacred words), knowing the mystic verses by heart, one who had mastered the Three Vedas, with the indices, the ritual, the phonology, and the exegesis (as a fourth), and the1 legends as a fifth, learned in the words and in the grammar, versed in Lokayata (Nature-lore), and in the theory of the signs on the body of a great man —

That he was handsome, pleasant to look upon, inspiring trust, gifted with great beauty of complexion, fair in colour, fine in presence \ stately 2 to behold — That he was virtuous, increased in virtue, gifted with virtue that had waxed great — That he had a pleasant voice and pleasing delivery, and was gifted with polite address, distinct, not husky 3, suitable for making clear the matter in hand — That he was the teacher of the teachers of many, 1 Brahma-va/£/£asr. 'With a body like that of Maha Brahma,' says Buddhaghosa (p. 282). The Burmese and Siamese MSS. read vakk/iasi. 2 Akkhuddavakaso, for which Buddhaghosa (pp. 282, 284) gives three contradictory explanations. * Ane/agalaya. 'Not slobbering,' says Buddhaghosa. instructing three hundred Brahmans in the repetition of the mystic verses, and that many young Brahmans, from various directions and various counties, all craving for the verses, came to learn them by heart under him — That he was aged, old, and well stricken in years, long-lived and full of days — That he was honoured, held of weight, esteemed worthy, venerated and revered by Seniya Bimbisara, the king of Magadha — That he was honoured, held of weight, esteemed worthy, venerated and revered by Pokkharasadi, the Brahman —

That he dwelt at Aampa, a place teeming with life, with much grassland and woodland and corn, on a royal fief granted him by Seniya Bimbisara, the king of Magadha, as a royal gift, with power over it as if he were the king — For each of these reasons it was not fitting that he, Sonadatida. the Brahman, should call upon the Samara Gotama, but rather that the Samara Gotama should call upon him. 6. And when they had thus spoken, So?/ada;^a said to them : [115] ' Then, Sirs, listen, and hear why it is fitting that I should call upon the venerable Gotama, and not he should call upon me — ' Truly, Sirs, the venerable Gotama is well born on both sides, of pure descent through the mother and the father back through seven generations, with no slur put upon him, and no reproach in respect of birth — ' Truly, Sirs, the Samara Gotama has gone forth (into the religious life), giving up the great clan of his relations ] — ' Truly, Sirs, the Samara Gotama has gone forth (into the religious life), giving up much money and gold, treasure both buried and above the ground —

1 ' Eighty thousand families on the mother's, and eighty thousand on the father's side,' says Buddhaghosa — making a total for the Sakya clan of 800,000, reckoning five to a family. 1 Truly, Sirs, the Samara Gotama, while he was still a young man, without a grey hair on his head, in the beauty of his early manhood, has gone. forth from the household life into the homeless state — 4 Truly, Sirs, the Samara Gotama, though his father and mother were unwilling, and wept, their cheeks being wet with tears, nevertheless cut off his hair and beard, and donned the yellow robes, and went out from the household life into the homeless state — 4 Truly, Sirs, the Samara Gotama is handsome, pleasant to look upon, inspiring trust, gifted with great beauty of complexion, fair in colour, fine in presence, stately to behold — 1 Truly, Sirs, the Samara Gotama is virtuous with the virtue of the Arahats, good and virtuous, gifted with goodness and virtue — 1 Truly, Sirs, the Sama7za Gotama hath a pleasant voice, and a pleasing delivery, he is gifted with polite address, distinct, not husky, suitable for making clear the matter in hand —

4 Truly, Sirs, the Samara Gotama is the teacher of the teachers of many — 4 Truly, Sirs, the Samara Gotama has no passion of lust left in him, and has put away all fickleness of mind — 4 Truly, Sirs, the Samawa Gotama believes in Karma, and in action \ he is one who puts righteousness in the forefront (of his exhortations) to the Brahman race — 4 Truly, Sirs, the Samawa Gotama went forth from a distinguished family primeval 2 among the Kshatriya clans — 1 Kamma-vadi kiriya-vadi. Compare ' Vinaya Texts,' II, 109, 112. 2 Adina-khattiya-kula. The reading is doubtful, and the Burmese MSS., after their constant habit, have replaced it by an easy reading-, abhinna-khattiya-kula, 'unbroken Kshatriya family.' But all the Sinhalese MSS. agree in reading either adina or adfna; and if the reading had once been abhinna, it is difficult to see how the alteration to the more difficult reading should have occurred. ' Truly, Sirs, the Samawa Gotama went forth from a family prosperous, well to do, and rich — [116] ' Truly, Sirs, people come right across the country from distant lands to ask questions of the Samara Gotama — ' Truly, Sirs, multitudes of heavenly beings put their trust in the Samara Gotama —

' Truly, Sirs, such is the high reputation noised abroad concerning the Samara Gotama, that he is said to be an Arahat, exalted, fully awakened, abounding in wisdom and righteousness, happy, with knowledge of the worlds, a Blessed One, a Buddha — ' Truly, Sirs, the Samara Gotama has all the thirtytwo bodily marks of a Great Being — ' Truly, Sirs, the Samara Gotama bids all men welcome, is congenial, conciliatory, not supercilious, accessible to all, not backward in conversation — ' Truly, Sirs, the Samara Gotama is honoured, held of weight, esteemed and venerated and revered by the four classes (of his followers— the brethren and sisters of the Order, laymen and lay women) — 4 Truly, Sirs, many gods and men believe in the Samara Gotama — ' Truly, Sirs, in whatsoever village or town the Samara Gotama stays, there the non-humans do the humans no harm — ' Truly, Sirs, the Samara Gotama as the head of an Order, of a school, as the teacher of a school, is the acknowledged chief of all the founders of sects. Whereas some Samaras and Brahmans have gained a reputation by all sorts of insignificant matters \ not Buddhaghosa skips the clause, which (if it was in the text before him) is suggestive. He would scarcely have done so unless the matter were really very simple. ' Autonomous ' would make a good sense in the context ; but I have taken the word, in the sense of ' primordial, aboriginal/ as being a derivative from adi, in the same way as ad hi n a is from adhi. This is simple enough; the only difficulty being that the word occurs nowhere else.

1 Literally ' anyhow ' ; ' such as by wearing no clothes ' explains Buddhaghosa (p. 288). so the Samara Gotama. His reputation comes from perfection in conduct and righteousness — ' Truly, Sirs, the king of Magadha, Seniya Bimbisara, with his children and his wives, with his people and his courtiers, has put his trust in the Samara Gotama — 1 Truly, Sirs, King Pasenadi of Kosala, with his children and his wives, with his people and his courtiers, has put his trust in the Samawa Gotama — 1 Truly, Sirs, Pokkharasadi the Brahman, with his children and his wives, with his people and his intimates, has put his trust in the Samawa Gotama — ' Truly, Sirs, the Samara Gotama is honoured, held of weight, esteemed, and venerated and revered alike by Seniya Bimbisara, the king of Magadha, by Pasenadi the king of Kosala, and by Pokkharasadi the Brahman — [117] ' Truly, Sirs, the Samara Gotama has now arrived at A^ampa, and is staying on the shores of the Gaggara. Lake. But all Samaras and Brahmans who come into our village borders are our guests. And guests we ought to esteem and honour, to venerate and revere; And as he is now so come, he ought to be so treated, as a guest —

For each and all of these considerations it is not fitting that the Samara Gotama should call upon us, but rather does it behove us to call upon him. And so far only do I know the excellencies of the Samara Gotama, but these are not all of them, for his excellence is beyond measure.' 7. And when he had thus spoken, those Brahmans said to him : ' The venerable Sowada^a declares the praises of the Samara Gotama on such wise, that were he to be dwelling even a hundred leagues from here, it would be enough to make a believing man go thither to call upon him, even had he to carry a bag (for the provisions for the journey) on his back l. Let us then all go to call on the Samawa Gotama together ! ' 1 Pu/awsenapi. Compare A. II, 183, where a precisely similar phrase occurs. So Sonadandd. the Brahman went out to the Gaggara. Lake with a great company of Brahmans. 8. Now the following hesitation arose in Sonadanda s mind as he passed through the wood : ' Were I to ask the Samara Gotama a question, if he were to say : " The question ought not to be asked so, thus ought the question to be framed ; " the company might thereupon speak of me with disrespect, saying : " Foolish is this Sons.da.nda. the Brahman, and inexpert. [H8] He is not even able to ask a question rightly." But if they did so my reputation would decrease ; and with my reputation my incomings would grow less, for what we have to enjoy, that depends on our reputation. But if the Samara Gotama were to put a question to me, I might not be able to gain his approval 1 by my explanation of the problem. And if they were then to say to me : " The question ought not to be answered so ; thus ought the problem to be explained ; " the company might thereupon speak of me with disrespect, saying : " Foolish is this Sonadanda the Brahman, and inexpert. He is not even able to satisfy the Samawa Gotama by his explanation of the problem put." But if they did so, my reputation would decrease ; and with my reputation my incomings would grow less, for what we have to enjoy, that depends upon our reputation. But on the other hand if, having come so far, I should turn back without calling upon the Samara Gotama, then might the company speak disrespectfully of me, saying: " Foolish is this Soaadafti'a the Brahman, and inexpert, though obstinate with pride, he is so afraid that he dare not call on the Samara Gotama. How can he turn back after having come so far ? " But if they did so, my reputation would decrease ; and with my reputation my incomings would grow less. For what we have to enjoy, that depends upon our reputation.'

9. So Sonadanda the Brahman went up to where the 1 JZittam na aradheyyaw, 'win over his mind.' Comp. M. 1,85, 341 ; II, 10; Mil. 25. Blessed One was. And when he had come there he exchanged with the Blessed One the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy, and took his seat on one side. And as to the Brahmans and householders of A'ampa, some of them bowed to the Blessed One and took their seats on one side ; some of them exchanged with him the greetings and compliments of politeness and courtesy, and then took their seats on one side; some of them called out their name and family, and then took their seats on one side ; and some of them took their seats on one side in. silence. [119] 10. Now as Sona.da.nda. was seated there he was still filled with hesitation, thinking as before set out ; and he added to himself : ' Oh ! would that the Samara Gotama would but ask me some question on my own subject, on the threefold Vedic lore. Verily, I should then be able to gain his approval by my exposition of the problem put ! '

11. Now the Blessed One became aware in his own mind of the hesitation in the mind of Sonada.nda., and he thought : ' This Sowadaw^a is afflicted in his heart. I had better question him on his own doctrine.' And he said to him: 'What are the things, Brahman, which the Brahmans say a man ought to have in order to be a Brahman, so that if he says : " I am a Brahman," he speaks accurately and does not become guilty of falsehood ? ' 12. Then Sona.da.nda. thought: [120] 'What I wished and desired and had in my mind and hoped for^that the Samara Gotama should put to me some question on my own subject, on the threefold Vedic lore — that he now does. Oh ! that I may be able to satisfy his heart with my exposition thereof! ' 13. And drawing his body up erect, and looking round on the assembly, he said to the Blessed One : 'The Brahmans, Gotama, declare him to be a Brahman who can accurately say " I am a Brahman " without being guilty of falsehood, who has five things. And what are the five ? In the first place, Sir, a Brahman is well born on both sides, on the mother's side and on

the father's side, of pure descent back through seven generations, with no slur put upon him, and no reproach, in respect of birth — 'Then he is a repeater (of the. sacred words), knowing the mystic verses by heart, one who has mastered the Three Vedas, with the indices, the ritual, the phonology, and the exegesis (as a fourth), and the legends as a fifth, learned in the phrases and in the grammar, versed in Lokayata sophistry, and in the theory of the signs on the body of a great man — ' Then he is handsome, pleasant to look upon, inspiring trust, gifted with great beauty of complexion, fair in colour, fine in presence, stately to behold — ' Then he is virtuous, increased in virtue, gifted with virtue that has grown great — 1 Then he is learned and wise, the first, or it may be the second, among those who hold out the ladle V 14. ' But of these five things, oh Brahman, is it possible to leave one out, and to declare the man who has the other four to be a Brahman, to be one who can accurately, and without falling into falsehood, claim to be a Brahman ? '

' Yes, Gotama, that can be done. We could leave out colour 2. For what does colour matter ? [121] If he have the other four — good birth, technical training, virtue, and wisdom, as just set forth3 — Brahmans would still declare him to be a Brahman; and he could rightly, without danger of falsehood, claim to be one.' 15. ' But of these four things, oh Brahman, is it possible to leave one out, and to declare the man who has the other three to be a Brahman, to be one who can rightly, and without falling into falsehood, claim to be a Brahman ? ' ' Yes, Gotama, that could be done. We could leave out the verses. For what do the verses matter ? If 1 That is, 'officiate at a sacrifice by pouring out of a spoon a libation of butter, or of spirituous Soma, to the fire god.' 2 Va««a, much the same as 'caste,' though that rendering is not strictly accurate. (See the Introduction to the Amba/Ma.) 3 The full text is repeated, both here and in the following sections. 154 IV. SCWADAiVZ)A SUTTA. he have the other three — good birth, virtue, and wisdom — Brahmans would still declare him to be a Brahman ; and he could rightly, without danger of falsehood, claim to be one/

1 6. ' But of these three things, Brahman, is it possible to leave one out, and to declare the man who has the other two to be a Brahman, to be one who can accurately, and without falling into falsehood, claim to be a Brahman ? ' ' Yes, Gotama, that could be done. We could leave out birth. For what does birth matter ? If he have the other two — virtue and wisdom — Brahmans would still declare him to be a Brahman ; and he could rightly, without danger of falsehood, claim to be one.' [122] 17. And when he had thus spoken the other Brahmans said to Son3.d3.7td3. : ' Say not so, venerable So/zada/z^a, say not so ! He depreciates not only our colour, but he depreciates our verses and our birth. Verily the venerable Son3.d3.nd3. is going over to the doctrine of the Samara Gotama.' 18. Then the Blessed One said to those Brahmans : ' If you, oh Brahmans, think that Son3.da.nd3. is unlearned, that he speaks unfittingly, that he is unwise, that he is unable to hold his own with me in this matter, let him keep silence, and do you discuss with me. But if you think him learned, able in speech, wise, able to hold his own, then do you keep silence, and let him discuss with me.'

19. And when he had thus spoken, So;zada;z^a the Brahman said to those Brahmans: 'Let not the venerable ones say so. Say not so, Sirs. [!23] I do not depreciate either our colour, nor our verses, nor our birth.' 20. Now at that time a young Brahman named Angaka 1, sister's son to Sowada^a the Brahman, was seated in that company. And Son3.d3.nd3. said to those 1 This name looks suspiciously like a kind of personification of the five Angas (the five characteristics) of the true Brahman as just above, § 13, set out. Brahmans : ' Do the venerable ones see this Angaka, our nephew ? ' ' Yes, Sir, we see him.' ' Well ! Angaka, Sirs, is handsome, pleasant to look upon, inspiring trust, gifted with great beauty of complexion, fair in colour, fine in presence, stately to behold — none in this assembly is like unto him in colour, save only the Samara Gotama. ' And Angaka, Sirs, is a repeater (of the sacred words), knowing the mystic verses by heart, one who has mastered the Three Vedas, with the indices, the ritual, the phonology, and the exegesis (as a fourth), and the legends as a fifth, learned in the phrases and the grammar, versed in Lokayata (Nature-lore), and in the theory of the signs on the body of a great man — I myself have taught him the verses.

' And Angaka, Sirs, is well born on both sides, on the mother's side and on the father's side, of pure descent back through seven generations, with no slur put upon him, and no reproach in respect of birth — I myself know his forebears, on the mother's side and on the father's. ' If Angaka, Sirs, should kill living things, and take what has not been given, and go the way of the adulterer, and speak lies, and drink strong drink, what then, Sirs, would his colour avail him ? what the verses ? what his birth ? 4 It is in so far, Sirs, as a Brahman is virtuous, increased in virtue, gifted with virtue that has grown great ; in so far as he is learned and wise, the first, or it may be the second, among those who hold out the ladle, that Brahmans would declare him, as endowed with these two qualities, to be a Brahman, to be one who could rightly say " I am a Brahman " without falling into falsehood.' 21. ' But of these two things, oh Brahman, is it possible to leave one out, and to declare the man who has the other to be a Brahman, to be one who can rightly, and without falling into falsehood, claim to be a Brahman ? '

[124] ' Not that, Gotama ! For wisdom, oh Gotama, is purified by uprightness, and uprightness is purified by wisdom. Where there is uprightness, wisdom is there, and where there is wisdom, uprightness is there. To the upright there is wisdom, to the wise there is uprightness, and wisdom and goodness are declared to be the best thing in the world1. Just, oh Gotama, as one might wash hand with hand, or foot with foot, just even so, oh Gotama, is wisdom purified by uprightness, and uprightness is purified by wisdom. Where there is uprightness, wisdom is there, and where there is wisdom, uprightness is there. To the upright, there is wisdom, to the wise there is uprightness, and wisdom and goodness are declared to be the best thing in the world.' 22. 'That is just so, oh Brahman. And I, too, say the same. But what, then, is that uprightness and what that wisdom ? ' 'We only know, oh Gotama, the general statement in this matter. May the venerable Gotama be pleased to explain the meaning of the phrase.' ' Well then, oh Brahman, give ear, and pay earnest attention, and I will speak.' 23. 'Very well, Sir,' said Sonadanda. in assent to the Blessed One. And the Blessed One said :

\H ere follow the paragraphs 40-63 in the Sdmannaphala Sutta above, pp. 62-70 of the text ; that is, the paragraph on the appearance of a Buddha, his preaching, the conversion of the hearer, his renunciation of the world, all the Silas, and the paragraph on Confidence, ' This also, oh Brahman, is that uprightness' [Silo). [Here follow the paragraphs on the Ghdnas, begtn- 1 Oldenberg renders this ('Buddha,' p. 283) as follows: 'The wisdom of the upright and the uprightness of the wise have, of all uprightness and wisdom in the world, the highest value.' I cannot see how this can be grammatically justified ; though the sentiment is admirable enough, and would have somewhat relieved the monotony • of the paragraph. On pa»«a«a as nominative, not genitive, see, for instance, S. I, 41, 42; Sum. I, 171, 290; A. IV, 342. ning at So v\v\kk eva kamehi in § 75 of the Sdmarmaphala down to the. end of § 82, then the paragraphs on Insight arising from Knowledge, on the Metital Image, on the Wondrous Gifts, on the Heavenly Ear, on Knowledge of the hearts of others, on Memory of one's own previous births, on the Divine Eye, and on the Destruction of the Deadly Floods, all as in the Sdmahha-phala, §§ 83-98 inclusive.]

1 This, oh Brahman, is that wisdom1.' 24. When he had thus spoken, S0na.da.nd3. the Brahman said to the Blessed One : [125] ' Most excellent, oh Gotama (are the words of thy mouth), most excellent! Just as if a man were to set up that which has been thrown down, or were to reveal that which has been hidden away, or were to point out the right road to him who has gone astray, or were to bring a light into the darkness so that those who had eyes could see external forms — just even so has the truth been made known to me, in many a figure, by the venerable Gotama. I, even I, betake myself to the venerable Gotama as my guide, to the truth, and to the Order. And may the venerable Gotama accept me as a disciple, as one who, from this day forth, as long as life endures, has taken him as his guide. And may the venerable Gotama grant me the favour of taking his to-morrow's meal with me, and also the members of the Order with him.' Then the Blessed One signified, by silence, his consent. And Sona.da.nda., on seeing that he had done so, arose from his seat and bowed down before the Blessed

1 The repetition here is nearly the same as that in the Amba/Ma Sutta, summarised above at the translation of p. 100 of the text. The only difference is that the paragraphs 64-74 of the Sama««a-phala there included as coming under Tarawa (Conduct) are here included under Sila (Uprightness). The GV/anas, there put, not under Vi^a (Wisdom), but under Tarawa, are here put, not under Sila, but under Pa««a (Intelligence). In other words Pa««a includes all that was there included under Vi^a, and the Four Guanas besides. But Sila includes all that is put in the Amba//^a under Sila — all indeed of the eight divisions of Sila as summarised above, pp. 57—59. See Buddhaghosa's notes at pp. 219, 268, 292. I58 IV. SOiVADAiVDA SUTTA. One, and walking round him with his right hand towards him, departed thence. And at early dawn he made ready at his house sweet food, both hard and soft, and had the time announced to the Blessed One : ' It is time, oh Gotama, and the meal is ready.' 25. Then the Blessed One, who liad dressed in the early morning, put on his outer robe, and taking his bowl with him, went with the brethren to Sowadaw^a's house, and sat down on the seat prepared for him. And SowadaWa the Brahman satisfied the Blessed One, and the brethren, with his own hand, with sweet food, both hard and soft, until they refused any more. And when the Blessed One had finished his meal, and cleansed the bowl and his hands, Sona.d3.nd3. took a low seat, and sat down beside him, and said :

26. ' If, oh Gotama, after I have entered the assembly, I should rise from my seat to bow down before the venerable Gotama, then the assembly would find fault with me l. Now he with whom the assembly should find fault, his reputation would grow less ; and he who should lose his reputation, his income would grow less. For that which we have to enjoy, that depends upon our reputation. If then, when I am seated in the assembly, I stretch forth my joined palms in salutation, let the venerable Gotama accept that from me as a rising up from my seat. [126] And if when I am seated in the assembly I take off my turban, let the venerable Gotama accept that from me as a salutation with my head. So if, when I am in my chariot, I were to get down from the chariot to salute the venerable Gotama, the surrounders would find fault with me. If, then, when mounted on my chariot, I bend down low the staff of my goad, let the venerable Gotama accept that from me as if I had got down. And if, when mounted on my chariot, I should wave

1 On the ground, says Buddhaghosa (p. 292), that he would be saluting a much younger man, one young enough to be his grandson. If this tradition be correct, it would follow that this Sutta must be describing events very early in the public ministry of the Buddha. my hand, let the venerable Gotama accept that from me as if I had bowed low in salutation 1 ! ' 27. Then the Blessed One instructed and roused and incited and gladdened Sona.da.nda the Brahman with religious discourse, and then rose from his seat and departed thence. Here ends the Sonadanda. Sutta. 1 It will be seen from this section that Sowadawfla is represented as being a convert only to a limited extent. He still keeps on his school of Vedic studies, and is keenly anxious to retain the good opinion of his students, and of other Brahmans. And if that part of the Buddha's doctrine put before him in this Sutta be examined, it will be found to be, with perhaps one or two exceptions, quite compatible with the best Brahman views. No doubt if every detail were carried to its strict logical conclusion there would be no further need for Vedic studies, except from the historical standpoint. But those details are, on the face of them, ethical. They belong to a plane not touched on in the then Vedic studies. They could be accepted by an adherent of the soul theory of life. And the essential doctrines of Buddhism — the Path, the Truths, and Arahatship — are barely even referred to.

Whoever put this Sutta together must have been deeplyimbued with the spirit of subtle irony that plays no less a part in the Suttas than it does in so many of the 6"atakas. I have already called attention to the great importance for the right understanding of early Buddhist teaching of a constant appreciation of this sort of subtle humour1. It has been hitherto, so far as I am aware, entirely overlooked — that is, in the Suttas ; every one recognises it in the £ataka tales. The humour is not at all intended to raise a laugh, scarcely even a smile. And the aroma of it, pervading the whole of an exposition — none the less delightful because of the very serious earnestness of the narrator, all the while, as regards the ethical point at issue — is apt to be lost sight of precisely because of that earnestness. And just as a joke may be explained, but the point of it spoilt in the process, so in the attempt to write about this irony, much more delicate than any joke, one runs great danger of smothering it under the explanatory words. The attempt, nevertheless, must be made. And it is most easy, perhaps, to do so by an example which no one will dispute. In the Ra^ovada Gataka2 we are told of the two kings, reigning over the famous lands of Benares and Kosala, who simultaneously determined to examine into their own faults ! No courtier would tell them of any. So they each went, and went in vain, to the people in the city, outside the palace on a similar quest. Finding no faultfinders there, they each went on to the city gate, and then to the surrounding suburbs, all in vain. So they each made over the kingdom to their respective ministers, and with a single attendant as charioteer, sallied forth into the world,

1 See, for instance, the notes above on p. 33 ; and the remarks, in the Introduction to the Amba/Ma, on the Agganna Sutta. * No. 1 in vol. ii of the Pali text in Prof. Fausboll's edition, and of the Cambridge translation edited by Prof. Cowell. to find some one to tell them of their faults. Bent on this, so serious, quest, the two came face to face in a low cart-track with precipitous sides. Each calls on the other to make way for a king. Both are kings! How to settle the point? ' I have it,' says one charioteer : ' Let the younger give way.' The kings turn out to be exactly of an age. ' Then let the lord of the lesser realm go back.' Their kingdoms are exactly equal in size. And so on, in succession, are found to be the strength of their two armies, the amount of their treasure, the glory of their renown, the fame of their realms, the distinction of their caste, and tribe, and family. Then at last comes the solution. The king of Kosala overcomes evil by evil. Of the other, the king of Benares, it is said :

' Anger he conquers by calmness, And by goodness the wicked, The stingy he conquers by gifts, And by truth the speaker of lies V And on this being proclaimed, the king of Kosala and his charioteer alighted from their chariot. And they took out the horses, and removed their chariot, and made way for the king of Benares. There is not a word in the whole story, here told in abstract 2, to suggest that it is not all sober history. But of course the whole story is invented. The two kings are brought on to the stage merely to carry on their broad shoulders the moral of the tale, and the dry humour of the predicament in which they find themselves ;s there to attract attention to, to add emphasis to, the lesson taught. What is the especial point in this fun — a kind of fun quite unknown in the West? It is the piquancy of the contrast between the mock seriousness of the extravagant, even impossible details, and the real serious earnestness of the ethical tone. The fun of the extravagance can be matched, easily enough, in European, and especially in American humour. The piquancy of this contrast is Indian, and especially Buddhist. Even the theosophic myth-makers of the Vedas had a sense of the humour in the incongruities, the half realities of their myths. One feels it occasionally even in the Brahma/zas. In the Upanishads it is very marked. The Liturgy of the Dogs, the Fable of the Senses, the War of the Devas and Asuras, and several other such episodes

1 This verse is quoted in the Dhammapada (verse 223). 2 The full version can also be seen in my ' Buddhist Birth Stories,' pp. xxii-xxvi. 1 62 v. kOfadanta sutta. have this mixture of unreality and earnestness, and it finds its perhaps most touching expression in the legend of Na^iketas. And the Buddhists, in their £&taka stories, often adopted and developed old Indian tales of a similar sort. But why should we think that this sort of humour is confined to the Gatakas ? We have a 6rataka story of the Great King of Glory, certainly based on the Sutta of the same name, for it expressly quotes it, and embodies the numerous details which lead up to the sublime lesson at the end of it \ And those details are at least as extravagant as the details in the Ra^ovada 6"ataka. Allowing lor all the earnestness undeniably animating both the story-teller and the hearers, it is clear that they enjoyed, all the time, the dry humour of the exaggeration and giotesqueness of the details of the story as it went along. Now the details are given only in the Sutta ; and omitted, as well known, in the £ataka. They build up a gorgeous fairy tale in which the ancient mythology of the sun- myth is brought into play in order to show how the greatest possible majesty and glory of the greatest and best of all possible kings is, after all, but vanity. And the details, here also, in the Sutta, are enlivened by an intentional exaggeration, a designed dry humour, similar to that in the Ra^ovada Gataka, above referred to.

A similar state of things is found in the Agga«#a Sutta, as pointed out above in the Introduction to the Amba///6a ; in the Keva//a Sutta, translated below ; and in many other Suttas. In all of them there is the same exaggeration, the same dry humour, the same restrained art of the storyteller. It is impossible not to see that to the early tellers and hearers of these legends, always striking, often with a special beauty of their own, the unreality of the whole thing was just as evident, and was meant to be as evident, as it is now to us. They knew quite well that the lesson taught was the principal matter, the main point compared with which all others were quite subservient. And it made no difference that, for instance, the Great King of Glory was expressly identified with the Buddha in a former birth. They accepted it all ; and entered none the less into the spirit of the legend as legend, because they enjoyed both the lesson and the manner of the telling of it. And so, I would submit, stands the case also with our present Sutta. The whole legend is obviously invented ad hoc. Its details are not meant to be taken seriously as

1 Both <9ataka and Sutta are translated in full in my ' Buddhist Suttas ' (vol. xi of the S. B. E., pp. 238-289). historical fact. The forced twist given to the meaning of the words vidha and parikkharo is not serious. The words could not be used in the new sense assigned. What we have is a sort of pun, a play upon the words, a piece of dialectic smartness, delightful to the hearers then, and unfortunately quite impossible to be rendered adequately, in English prose, for readers now. And it is quite open to question whether this does not apply as much to the whole Sutta as to the legend of King Wide-realm. The Brahman Kufedanta (pointed-tooth) is mentioned nowhere else, and is very likely meant to be rather the hero of a tale than an historical character. In that case we should have before us a novelette, an historical romance, in which the Very Reverend Sir Goldstick Sharptooth, lord of the manor of Khanumata, — cruel enough, no doubt, and very keen on being sure that his ' soul ' should be as comfortable in the next world as he was, now, in this, — makes up his mind to secure that most desirable end by the murder of a number of his fellow creatures, in honour of a god, or as he would put it, by celebrating a sacrifice.

In order to make certain that not one of the technical details — for to the accurate performance of all these the god was supposed to attach great weight — should be done wrong, the intending sacrificer is ironically represented as doing the very last thing any Brahman of position, under similar circumstances, would think of doing. He goes to the Sama;za Gotama for advice about the modes of the ritual to be performed at the sacrifice ; and about the requisite utensils, the altar-furniture, to be used in making it. The Buddha's answer is to tell him a wonderful legend of a King Wide-realm, and of the sacrifice he offered — truly the most extraordinary sacrifice imaginable. All its marvellous details, each one settled, be it noted, on the advice of a Brahman, are described with a deliberate extravagance none the less delicious because of the evident earnestness of the moral to be inferred. The Brahman of our Sutta wants to know the three modes in which the ritual is to be performed. The three ' modes ' are declared in the legend (§ 15) to be simply three conditions of mind, or rather one condition of mind at three different times, the harbouring of no regret^ either before or during or after the sacrifice, at the expenditure involved. And the material accessories required, the altar-furniture, the priest's outfit, what is that? It is the hearty co-operation with the king of four divisions of his people, the nobles, the officials, the Brahmans, and the householders. That

1 64 V. KtjrADANTA SUTTA. makes four articles of furniture. And eight personal qualifications of the king himself. That makes other eight. And four personal qualifications of his advising Brahman make up the total of the sixteen articles required. No living thing, either animal or vegetable, is injured. All the labour is voluntary. And all the world co-operates in adding its share to the largesse of food, on strict vegetarian principles, in which, alone, the sacrifice consists. It is offered on behalf, not only of the king himself, but of all the good. And the king desires to propitiate, not any god, but living men. And the muttering of mystic verses over each article used and over mangled and bleeding bodies of unhappy victims, verses on which all the magic efficacy of a sacrifice had been supposed to depend, is quietly ignored. It is all ironical, of course — just the very contrary, in every respect, of a typical Vedic sacrifice. And the evident unreality of the legend may be one explanation of the curious fact that the authors of the Gataka book (notwithstanding that King Wide-realm's Chaplain is actually identified in the Sutta with the Buddha himself in a previous birth) have not included this professedly Gataka story in their collection. This is the only case, so far discovered, in which a similar omission has been made.

Having thus laughed the Brahman ideal of sacrifice out of court with the gentle irony of a sarcastic travesty, the author or authors of the Sutta go on to say what they think a sacrifice ought to be. Far from exalting King Wide-realm's procedure, they put his sacrifice at the very bottom of a long list of sacrifices each better than the other, and leading up to the sweetest and highest of all, which is the attainment of Arahatship. Here again, except in the last paragraph, there is nothing exclusively Buddhistic. That a sacrifice of the heart is better than a sacrifice of bullocks, the ethical more worthy than any physical sacrifice, is simply the sensible, rational, human view of the matter. The whole long history of the development of Indian thought, as carried on chiefly by Brahmans (however much it may have owed in the earliest period to the nobles and others), shows that they, the more enlightened and cultured of the Brahmans, were not only as fully alive to this truth as any Buddhist, but that they took it all along for granted. Even in the Vedas themselves there is already the germ of this view in the mental attitude as regards Aditi and Varuwa. And in the pre-Budciii^tic KAandogya, in the mystic identification of the sacrifice with man 1, we find

1 -ffMndogya Upanishad III, 16 and 17. certain moral states placed on an equality with certain parts of the sacrificial procedure. And among these moral states, ahiwsa, the habit of causing no injury to any living thing, is especially mentioned. This comes very near to the Hebrew prophet's: ' I will have mercy, and not sacrifice1.' The more characteristically Indian point of view is, no doubt, in the words of the old saying long afterwards taken up into the Mahabharata, that it is truth (not mercy) that outweighs a thousand sacrifices 2. But there is a very great probability that the ahiw/sa doctrine, foreshadowed in the Upanishad, and afterwards so extravagantly taken up by the Niga;//^as, the ^ains of the Buddha's time, was also a part of the earlier £"ain doctrine, and therefore not only in germ, but as a developed teaching, pre-Buddhistic. Though the Buddhists did not accept this extreme position, there would seem therefore to be no valid reason for doubting the accuracy of the Buddhist tradition that their view of sacrifice was based on a very ancient belief which was, in fact, common ground to the wise, whether inside or outside the ranks of the Brahmans. Our Sutta is, then, merely the oldest extant expression, in so thorough and uncompromising a way, of an ancient and widely held trend of opinion. On this question, as on the question of caste or social privileges, the early Buddhists took up, and pushed to its logical conclusions, a rational view held also by others. And on this question of sacrifice their party won. The Vedic sacrifices, of animals, had practically been given up when the long struggle between Brahmanism and Buddhism reached its close. Isolated instances of such sacrifices are known even down to the Muhammadan invasion. But the battle was really won by the Buddhists and their allies. And the combined ridicule and earnestness of our Sutta will have had its share in bringing about the victory.

That they did win is a suggestive fact. How could they have done so if the Indians of that time had been, as is so often asserted of them by European writers, more deeply addicted to all manner of ritual than any other nation under heaven, more superstitious, more averse to change in religious ceremonial ? There seems to me no reason to believe that they were very different, in these respects, from 1 Hosea vi. 6 ; quoted Matt. ix. 13, and xii. 7. See also Micah vi. 6-8. Prov. xv. 8, and xxi. 13, are, of course, later. 2 Mahabharata I, 3095 nearly = XIII, 1544. Compare XIII, 6073. 1 66 V. KftrADANTA SUTTA. Greeks or Romans of the same period. On the contrarythere was a well marked lay feeling, a wide-spread antagonism to the priests, a real sense of humour, a strong fund of common sense. Above all there was then, the most complete and unquestioned freedom of thought and expression in religious matters that the world had yet witnessed. To regard the Indian peoples through Brahman spectacles, to judge them from the tone prevalent in the Srauta and Grihya. Sutras, it would seem impossible that this victory could have been won. But it was won. And our views of Indian history must be modified accordingly.

There is a curious expression in the stock phrase describing the learned Brahman, so often found in the Pi/akas, which I have left untranslated in this Sutta, being uncertain as to the meaning in which it was used at the time when our Sutta was composed. It will be instructive, in more ways than one, to collect and consider the other passages in which the word occurs. Lokayata is explained by Wilson as 'the system of atheistical philosophy taught by /sfarvaka1,' and by the Petersburg Dictionary as ' Materialism.' Now the description of the good Brahman as put, in the Buddhist Suttas, into the mouth of Brahrnans themselves2, mentions Lokayata as one branch of his learning. The whole paragraph is complimentary. And though the exact connotation of one or two of the other terms is doubtful, they are all descriptive of just those things which a Brahman would have been rightly proud to be judged a master of. It is evident, therefore, that the Dictionary interpretations of the word are quite out of place in this connection. Yet they are each of them, at least for a later period, well authenticated. Kumarila Bha//a, in his Varttika (verse 10), charges the Mimawsa system with having been, for the most part, converted into a Lokayata system, and claims for his own book the merit of bringing it back to theistic lines3. Now of course the Mimawsists would indignantly deny this. Kumarila, who seems to have been a good deal of a bigot, is here merely hurling at adversaries, who claimed to be as orthodox as himself, a term of abuse. But it is clear that he uses that term in the sense of ' atheistic' The exact phrase

1 He gives as his authority the Amara Ko^a ; but the Kosa. merely mentions the word, in a list, without any explanation. '2 Ahguttara I, 163, and other passages. 3 The passage is quoted in Muir's ' Sanskrit Texts/ III, 95. would be n a s t i k a, as opposed to his own astika-patha: that is, the system or the man who says 'there is not,' an infidel. This is somewhat wider than atheist ; it comes however, in Kumarila's mouth, to much the same thing. .SahkaraMrya uses the word Lokayata several times1, and always in the same specific sense as the view of those who look upon the soul as identical with the body, as existing only so long as the body exists, not continuing, after death, in a new condition and separate from the body. A very similar, if not indeed the very same view is also controverted in the Brahma-^ala Sutta (above, p. 46) ; and is constantly referred to throughout the Pi/akas under the stock phrase taw ^ivaw ta.m sarira7«2. But it is never called Lokayata in the Pitekas. It seems to be the view that there is a soul ; but that it is diffused through the body, and dies with it ; and is not a separate unity, within the body but not of it, which flies away from the body after death. It is not necessary to suppose that either .S'arikara or the Buddhists had in their minds any book setting forth a philosophy based on this single proposition, or any actual school using such a book as a manual. It may have been so. But the expressions used point rather to an opinion held by certain thinkers, in union with other opinions, and not expounded in any special treatise. Nor do either the Buddhists or 6arikara pretend to set out that opinion in full. They are dealing with it only so far as is necessary to enforce their own contrary positions. And though ' materialist,' as a rough and ready translation of .Sarikara's Lokayatika, gives a good idea, to a European reader, of the sort of feeling conveyed to vSahkara's Indian readers, yet it is not quite exact. European ' materialists ' (and one or two may be discovered by careful search) do not hold the view which .Sankara describes to his Lokayatikas.

Buddhaghosa in our passage has: Lokayata;/. vu££ati vita«</a-vada-satthaw, 'the Lokayata is a text-book of the Vha.nda.s (Sophists) V This does not help us much ; but previously, p. 91, he explains Lokakkhayika as follows : ' Foolish talk according to the Lokayata, that is the Vitanda, such as : " By whom was this world created ? By 1 For instance in his commentary on the Brahma-Sutra, I, 1, 2 ; II, 2, 2; III, 3, 53. 2 For instance in the Mahali and Galiya Suttas, both translated below. 3 Sum. I, 247. The Vita«</as are quoted and refuted in the Attha Salini, pp. 3, 90, 92, 241 (where the word is wrongly spelt). 1 68 V. kOtADANTA SUTTA. such a one. A crow is white from the whiteness of its bones ; cranes are red from the redness of their blood." Other Pali comments on the word are the Abhidhana Padipika (verse 112), which says simply, probably following Buddhaghosa : Vita^^a-satthaw viniieyyam yam taw lokayataw. The date of this work is the middle of the twelfth century A.D. Much clearer is Aggavawsa in the Sadda-niti, which is a generation older. He says 1 : Loko ti bala-loko ; ettha ayatanti ussahanti vayamanti vadassadenati lokayatam. Ayatati va tena loko, na yatati na ihati va, lokayataw. Taw hi gandhaw nissaya satta pu«#a-kiriyaya £itta;« na uppadenti. Lokayata?^ nama: sabba;/z ukk/rittham sabbam anukk/nttham seto kako ka/o bako imina va imina va karanenati evam-adi-niratthaka-kara;/aparisawyuttam titthiya-satthaw, yaw loke Vitandasatthaw vu£/£ati, yaw sandhaya Bodhisatto asamadhuro Vidhura-pa?^ito :

Na seve Lokayatikaw, n'etaw pu««aya va.dd/ia.na.1/1 ti aha. 'Loko means the common world. Lokayata means: "on that they ayatanti;" that is, they exert themselves about it, strive about it, through the pleasure they take in discussion. Or perhaps it means : " the world does not yatati by it ;" that is, does not depend on it, move on by it. For living beings do not stir up their hearts to right-doing by reason of that book2. Now the Lokayata is the book of the unbelievers (of the Titthiyas) full of such useless disputations as the following: "All is impure; all is not impure ; the crow is white, the crane is black ; and for this reason or for that " — the book known in the world as the Vita;/^/a-sattha, of which the Bodisat, the incomparable leader, Vidhura the pandit, said : " Follow not the Lokayata, that works not for progress in merit." ' 1 Quoted sub voce in Subhuti's ' Abhidhanappadipika Su£i,' p. 310. According to the Sasana Va?«sa Dipika (Dr. Mabel Bode's edition, p. 74), he lived at Arimaddana in Burma in 1127 a.d. See also Sasana Va/wsa Dipo, verse 1238; Gandha Vaw/sa, pp. 63, 67; Forchammer, ' Jardine Prize Essay,' p. 34 ; J. P. T. S., 1882, p. 103.

2 With this attempt at derivation may be compared Nilaka«///a on the passage quoted below from the Mahabharata (as given in B. R.), Loka evayatante te lokayatika. Also Prof. Cowell's suggestion (Sarvad. S., p. 2) that Lokayata may be analysed etymologically as ' prevalent in the world.' The exact meaning of ayata is really very doubtful. The verse quoted — certainly a very old one — is in the Vidhura GUtaka l, and the commentator there says : ' This means: Follow not Lokayata disputation, Vitanda chatter, concerned with useless matters which neither give paradise nor lead men on into the Path.' .Sarikara says : ' There is thus, according to them, no soul, separate from the body, and capable of going to the heavenly world or obtaining release V The unknown author of the £ataka commentary, who certainly wrote however in the fifth century, gives the allied proposition as his own conclusion from the uselessness of their discussions, not as the opinion of the Lokayatikas themselves. It would be an easy transition from the one expression to the other. And the difference is suggestive, especially in the light of other passages in both Sanskrit and Pali books. For while the Mahabharata has precisely the same use of the word as the Pitakas, later works use it in a manner approximating more and more nearly to that of .Sahkara. The passage in the Mahabharata is at I, 2889 ( = Hari Vamsa 14068), where, at the end of a list of the accomplishments of learned Brahmans, they are said to be masters of the Lokayata. Being mentioned, as in our passage, at the end of the list, it# is plain that this branch of learning is meant to be taken as of minor importance. But it is not yet considered unfavourably, much less opprobiously. And the Petersburg Dictionary, from which I take most of these references, points out that the word may possibly, in this passage, have some other meaning than ' Materialism.'

The Ramaya^a goes further. There the word is also in a list, but the Laukayatika are blamed as 'clever in useless things V So in the Saddharma Puwdarika the good Mahayanist does not serve or court or wait upon (among other low people) ' the Lokayatikas who know by heart the Lokayata mantras (mystic verses)4.' The date of 1 Fausboll's edition, VI, 286. No less than four bas reliefs, illustrating this (?ataka, have been found at the Bharhut Tope. See my ' Buddhist Birth Stories,' p. ciL On the greater age of the verses, as compared with the prose, of the Gatakas, see ibid, lxxviii. 2 Loc. cit. See Deussen, ' Vedanta- system,' 310; and Thibaut, ' Vedanta- Sutras,' II, 269. 8 Gorresio's edition, II, 109, 29. Both these passages from the epics are from later portions of them. 4 Chapter XIII, at the beginning. Burnouf (p. 168) reads tantras (instead of mantras), no doubt wrongly, and has a curious blunder in his note on the passage (p. 409). He says Lokayata means in Pali ' fabulous history, romance ' ; and quotes, as his authority, the passage this may be a century or two after Christ. And in the Cain book, entitled the Bhagavati, which Weber puts at about the same time, the Lokayatikas occur in a similar list of blameworthy persons 1.

In the Milinda, which is probably somewhat earlier, the word is mentioned twice. One passage ascribes a knowledge of the Lokayata (in a sentence expanded from the very clause in our Sutta) to the hero of the story, Nagasena2. Here the Milinda is quite at the old standpoint. The other passage is in a parenthesis 3 in which the sub-hero, the king, is described as ' fond of wordy disputations, and in the habit of wrangling against the quibbles of Lokayatas and Vitaw^as.' This may possibly be a gloss which has crept into the text. But in any case it is evidence that, at the time when it was written, the later view of the meaning of the word had become prevalent. In the long list of various sorts of hermits given in the Harsha A'arita the Lokayatikas come among others who would be classed by Vedantists as heretics 4 We cannot, unfortunately, draw any certain conclusion as to whether or not there were actually any Lokayatikas living in Baca's time. In expanding previous descriptions of the concourse of hermits in the forest, he may be merely including in his list all the sorts of such people he had ever heard or read of.