our author, in a truly philosophical spirit, at first puts to himself the three following questions: what is the[192] origin of the law? what is man, the subject of the law? what is the individual who is the promulgator of the law? the three questions he answers in the following manner: 1st. all that exists is divided into two distinct parts, the things which are liable to change and obey the principle of mutability, such as matter, its modifications, and all beings which have a cause;[45] and those which are eternal and immutable, that is to say, the precepts of the law and neibban. these have neither author nor cause; they are self-existing, eternal, and placed far beyond the reach of[193] the influence that causes mutability. 2d. as to the publisher of the law, buddha, he is a mere man, who during myriads of centuries has accumulated merits on merits, until he has obtained the neibban of kiletha, or the deliverance from all passions. from that moment till his death this eminent personage is constituted the master of religion and the doctor of the law. owing to his perfect science he finds out and discovers all the precepts that constitute the body of the law. impelled by his matchless benevolence towards all beings, he promulgates them for the salvation of all. he is not the inventor of those precepts; he merely discovers them by the power of the supreme intelligence, in the same manner as we perceive clearly during the night, by the help of a light, objects hitherto wrapped in utter darkness. 3d. man, who is to be subjected to the observance of the law, is distinguished by the following characteristics. he possesses more knowledge than the animals and other beings, except the nats and brahmas; his intelligence and thoughts reach farther than those of other beings; he is capable of reflecting, comparing, drawing inferences, and observing freely the rules of life;[46] despite the allurement of his passions, he can free himself from the three great passions, concupiscence, anger, and ignorance; finally, he is a descendant from those brahmas who, in the beginning of this world, came from their seat,[194] lived on earth, and, by their eating the rice tsale, lost all their glorious privileges, and became beings similar to those who are known to us under the denomination of men.
the great end to be aimed at in the observance of the precepts of the law and the exercise of meditation is the obtaining of a state of complete indifference to all things. the state of indifference alluded to does not consist in a stupid carelessness about the things of this world. it is the result of a knowledge acquired with much labour and pain. the wise man who has possessed himself of such science is no longer liable to the influence of that vulgar illusion which makes people believe in the real existence of things that have no reality about them, but subsist only on an ephemeral basis, which incessantly changes and finally vanishes away. he sees things as they truly are. he is full of contempt for things which are at best a mere illusion. this contempt generates a complete indifference for all that exists, even for his own being. he longs for the moment when it shall be given to him to cast away his own body, that he may no longer move within the circle of endless and miserable forms of existence. in this sense must be understood the state of perfect quietism or indifference, which is the last stage the wise man may reach by the help of the science he possesses. the religious of the brahminical creed have professed the same indifference for all the accidents of life. hence our buddha, when he became a perfected being, looked on the wicked dewadat with the same feelings as he did on the great maia, his mother. numberless rathees or anchorites have ever been eulogised for having allowed themselves to be devoured by ferocious beasts or bit by venomous snakes, rather than offer the least resistance that could exhibit a sign of non-indifference. entire was their unconcern towards their very body, which they knew well is, as everything else, a compound of the four elements, a mere illusion, totally distinct from self.
five commandments constitute the very basis whereupon[195] stand all morals, and are obligatory on all men without exception. they include five prohibitions. (it is not a little surprising that the five precepts obligatory on all men are merely five prohibitions designed not to teach men what they have to do, but warning them not to do such things as are interdicted to them. this supposes that man is prone to do certain acts which are sinful. the buddhist law of the five precepts forbids him to yield to such propensities, but it does not teach him particular duties to perform. it does not elevate man above his original level, but it aims at preventing him from falling lower.) the five prohibitions are: not to destroy the life of any being; not to steal; not to commit adultery; not to tell lies; not to drink any intoxicating liquors or beverages.
our author seems to be a perfect master in casuistry, as he shows the greatest nicety and exactness in explaining all the requisite conditions that constitute a trespassing of those precepts. we will give here but a few samples of his uncommon proficiency in this science. as regards the first prohibition, he says, five things are necessary to constitute an offence against the first commandment, viz., a being that has life, the intention and will of killing that being, an act which is capable of inflicting death, and the loss of life of that being consequent on the inflicting of that action. should but one of these conditions be wanting, the sin could not be said to have taken place, and therefore no complete trespassing of the first prohibition.
again, as regards the second precept, five circumstances or conditions are necessary to constitute a trespassing, viz., an object belonging to another person, who neither by words nor signs showed any intention to part with it; the knowing that the owner intends to keep possession of it; having the actual intention to take away secretly or forcibly that object; an effort to become possessed of the thing by deceiving, injuring, or by mal-practices causing the owner or keeper of the thing to fall asleep; and,[196] finally, removing the thing from its place, however short may be the distance, should it be but that of the length of a hair of the head.
for the infraction of the third precept the following conditions are required: the intention and will of sinning with any person of another sex, which comes within the denomination of akamani-jathan, that is to say, persons whom it is forbidden to touch; acting up to that intention and the consummating of such an act. women that fall under the above denomination are divided into twenty classes. the eight first classes include those that are under the guardianship of their parents or relatives; the ninth class comprises those affianced before they be of age; the tenth, those reserved for the king. within the ten other classes come all those who, owing to their having been slaves, or from any other cause, have become concubines to their masters, or married their seducers, &c.
the fourth prohibition extends not only to lies, but likewise to slander, coarse and abusive expressions, and vain and useless words. the four following conditions constitute a lie, viz., saying a thing that is untrue; the intention of saying such a thing; making manifest such an intention by saying the thing; and some one’s hearing and clearly understanding the thing that is uttered. that the sin of medisance may be said to exist, it is required that the author of it should speak with the intention of causing parties to hate each other or quarrel with each other, and that the words spoken to that end should be heard and understood by the parties alluded to.
the fifth precept forbids the drinking of sura and meria, that is to say, of distilled liquors and of intoxicating juices extracted from fruits and flowers. the mere act of putting the liquor in the mouth does not constitute a sin; the swallowing of it is implied.
besides these five general precepts, obligatory on all the faithful without exception, there are three other precepts, or rather counsels, that are strongly recommended to the[197] upasakas, or pious laymen. they are designed as barriers against the great propensity inherent in nature which causes men to exceed in all that is used, through the senses of taste, hearing, seeing, smelling, and feeling. they are so many means that help to obtain a sober moderation in the daily use of the things of the world.
the first counsel regulates all that regards eating. it forbids using any comestible from noon to daybreak of the following morning. the second interdicts the assisting at plays, comedies, and the use of flowers and essences with the intention of fondly handling and smelling them. the third prescribes the form and size of beds, which ought never to be more than one cubit high, plain and without ornaments. the use of mattresses and pillows, filled with cotton or other soft substances, is positively prohibited. the very intention of lying upon these enervating superfluities, and a fortiori reclining on them, constitutes the breaking of such a command.
these three latter precepts are to be observed chiefly in the following days, on the 5th, 8th, 14th, and 15th of the waxing moon, and on the 5th, 8th, and 14th of the waning moon, as well as on the new moon. the pious upasakas sometimes observe them during the three consecutive months of the season of lent.
in the opinion of our author those men and women are deserving of the respectable title of upasakas who have the greatest respect for and entertain a pious affection towards the three precious things, buddha, the law, and the assembly of the perfect. they must ever view them as the haven of salvation and the securest asylums. they must be ready to sacrifice everything, their very life, for the sake of these three perfect things. during their lifetime, under all circumstances, they must aim at following scrupulously the instructions of buddha, such as they are embodied in the law and preached by the rahans.
five offences disqualify a man for the honourable title of upasaka, viz., the want of belief and confidence in the[198] three precious things, the non-observance of the eight precepts, the believing in lucky and unlucky days,[47] or in good and bad fortune, the belief in omens and signs, and keeping company with the impious, who have no faith in buddha.
we now come to the rules which are prescribed to all the buddhist religious. they are 227 in number, and are found in a book called patimauk. this book is the vade mecum of all religious. they study it and often learn it by heart. on certain days of each month the religious assemble in the thein. the patimauk is then read, explained, and commented upon by one of the elders of the fraternity. it is an abridgment of the wini, the great book of discipline. it teaches the various rules respecting the four articles offered by the faithful to the religious; that is to say, vestments, food, mats, and the ingredients for mastication. these rules likewise regulate all that relates to the mode of making prayers, devotions, walking, sitting, reclining, travelling, &c. everything is described with a minute particularity.
here, if any interest could be awakened, would be the place to enter into the system of casuistry carried by buddhist religious to a point of nicety and refinement[199] truly astonishing. suffice it to state that they have gone over the boundless field of speculative conjectures respecting all the possible ways of fulfilling or trespassing the precepts and regulations that concern the body of religious.
every law and precept must have a sanction. this essential requisite is not wanting in the buddhist system. let us examine in what consists the reward attending a regular and correct observance of the precepts, and what is the punishment inflicted on the transgressors of these ordinances. as usual, we will follow our author and allow him to make known his own opinions on this important subject. it is often inquired of us, says he, why some individuals live here during many years, whilst others appear but for a short time on the scene of this world. the reason of the difference in the respective condition of these persons is obvious and evident. the first, during their former existence, have faithfully observed the first command and refrained from killing beings, hence their long life; the second, on the contrary, have been guilty of some trespassings of this precept, and therefore the influence of their former crimes causes the shortness of their life. in a similar manner we account for all the differences that exist in the conditions of all beings. the observance or trespassing of one or several precepts creates the positions of happiness and unhappiness, of riches and poverty, of beauty and ugliness, that chequer the lives and positions of mortals in this world.
in addition to the rewards bestowed immediately in this world, there are the six seats of nats, where all sorts of recompenses are allotted, during immense periods, to those who have correctly attended to the ordinances of the law. there are likewise places of punishment in the several hells, reserved to the transgressors of the precepts. the conditions of animal, athoorikes and preittas, are other states of punishment.
a lengthened account of all that relates to the blissful[200] regions of nats and the gloomy abodes of hell is found in one of the great dzats, or accounts of the former existences of gaudama, given by himself to his disciples, when he was a prince under the name of nemi. the writer has read and partly translated this work, which delightfully reminded him of the fine episodes on similar subjects he had read in the sixth book of the ?neid. the wildest, most fertile, and inventive imagination seems to have exhausted its descriptive powers, on the one hand, in multiplying the pleasures enjoyed in the seats of nats, and beautifying and adorning those delightful regions; and, on the other, in representing with a dark and bloody pencil the frightful picture of the numberless and horrid torments of the regions of desolation, despair, and agony.
all that is so abundantly related of the fortunate abodes of nats in their sacred writings supplies the buddhist religious with agreeable and inexhaustible topics of sermons which they deliver to their hearers, to excite them more effectually to bestow on them abundant alms. the credulous hearers are always told that the most conspicuous places in those regions are allotted to those who have distinguished themselves by their great liberalities. we think it idle and superfluous, uninteresting and fatiguing to repeat those fabulous accounts of the seats of nats and abodes of hell, as given at great length by buddhist authors. the only particulars deserving to be attended to are these: the reward is always proportionate to the sum of merits, and punishment to that of demerit. there is no eternity of reward or of punishment.[48]
[201]
this first article shall be concluded by an important remark bearing upon the system under consideration. the seats of happiness, as already mentioned, are divided into two great classes; the one including the superior, and the other the inferior seats. the latter are the six seats of nats, and are tenanted by beings as yet under the influence of concupiscence and other passions. those who observe the five general precepts have placed, and, as it were, established themselves on the basis whereupon stands perfection, but not yet in perfection itself; they have just crossed the threshold thereof. they are as yet imperfect; but they have prepared themselves for entering the way that leads towards perfection; that is to say, meditation, or the science of dzan. the very reward enjoyed in those seats is, therefore, as yet an imperfection. the superior seats can only be reached by those who apply themselves to mental exercises. these exercises are the real foundation of the lofty structure of perfection and the high-road to it.
