MA. BfDi>niv 



IU-|>I>HA, BUDDHISM 



devoted to the Mrviess of religion lead nor* oomct Urn*, according to 

 their i.lw of morality, than U other nlissas, abstaining from the 

 mdulaynoe of CUM! and sensual appetite*" (Uarsden's ' Travels of 

 Marco Polo.') 



An earW xxx>uBt,omnmunicMd probably by travelling minBhinis, 

 of a Lama, or spiritual chief. among th. Buddhist Tajrtars, seem. to 

 bar* occasioned m Europe, the report of PrwUr Jolm, or a Christian 

 Pontiff, resident in Upper AU. It deserve*, however, to I* noticed 

 that Bwhebneu. ( Hi.t- Dyn-t. 1 ) peak* of a prince of the " Hasten 

 Turk.." who waa a Christian, and who waa named rug-khan, or King 

 John (tlalif r*.i. .l i : thia prince reigned about the year 1302. and 

 was dethroned by Gcngwkhan. 



However snull is the information to be gathered from then passage* 

 of foreign wriUn at to the history of Buddhism, it i- at least 

 eoordano* with the tradition, praaerred 

 after the 



selves. For aweral 



Ihism, it i* at least m 

 the Buddhists them- 



several centuries after the appearance of Saky&unha his 

 to have flourished in India, and to have been tolerated by 

 th* Brahman* in nearly the same manner a* the various division* still 

 existing among Hindu- who follow the religion of th* Veda*. 

 Buddhism appear* during this period to have penetrated the peninsula 

 in every direction ; and a succession of men of different parts of India, 

 pre-eminvut for piety, and considered as the living types of Buddha, 

 followed hint a* hi* (figuratively) lineal descendants, and as the 

 patriarch* or spiritual heads of the sect. 



The numerous Buddhist temples, the remains of which are scattered 

 over a wide extent of country in India, must be referred to this period. 

 The** remain* it is not difficult to distinguish from others often found 

 in their immediate neighbourhood, but erected for the purpose* of 

 Brahmamoal worship. The principal characteristics of temple* built 

 for the Buddhist* are the dagobas and the image* of Buddha. The 

 dagoba is a hemispherical or sometimes columnar structure continuing 

 some relic of Buddha, which usually stands either within or (as in 



ylon, Siam, *c.) close by a Buddhiat temple, and i* supported by a 

 i-tal, generally of a cylindrical shape, which varies in height. 

 D ARCHITECTURE.] All images of Buddha, represent merely 

 i figures in a contemplative posture, sometime* standing < 

 or reclining, but more frequently sitting on a bench, or squatted 

 down with the feet crossed and resting upon the thighs ; the forefinger 

 of the right hand sometimes rests on one of the fingers of the left, 

 but usually the left hand rente upon the left knee, and the right hand 

 is placed on the lap, being held open as if to receive an offering. The 

 hair i* always curled almost in the fashion of a wig, and the ears are 

 extended and drawn down as if by the weight of some ornament 

 MMmded at them. A number of small cells is often seen near a 

 ^B^ 11 '^* temple, apparently intended to afford shelter to pilgrims, or 

 to ascetics and priest* perm mently resident near the sanctuary. 



Ante* distinguished by these peculiarities have been found near 

 Benares, at Buddha Gaya in Bengal, at Bag in Mulwa, near the A junta 

 pass, at Ellora, at Nasik, at Juner, at Carli, on Salxette, and at ( lun- 

 toor. Some have even supposed that rums of a similar structure, 

 which have been found at Bamian in the Soliman Mountains, and at 

 Manikyala in Afghanistan, belong to the same clans. Those of Boro 

 Bodo (or Bur* booder) hi Java, cannot be mistaken, and prove un- 

 deniably that Buddhism once prevailed hi the very centre of that 

 island. The simultaneous occurrence of traces of Brahmanic and of 

 Buddhic worship in several of these places is most remarkable, and has 

 not yet been satisfactorily accounted for : the most likely mode of 

 sorring the problem is, in our opinion, one of the three explanations 

 sjissli it by Enkine, namely, that this proximity of their sanctuaries 

 attests the friendly spirit that once prevailed between the two sects. 

 Many notions peculiar to the mythology and cosmography of the 

 Br&bnians seem at an early period to have been received by the 

 Buddhists, and to bare been by them admitted as part of their own 

 belief. Thi remark i* well illustrated by Dr. Francis Buchanan's 

 paper on ' the Religion and Literature of the Burma* ' (' Asiat. Res.' 

 vol. vii.), and by many passages in Bongermano's ' Description of the 

 Burmese Empire,' edited by l)r. Tandy (Home, 1883), which would, we 

 think, be found on comparison to agree almost literally with passages in 

 the Psuranic works of the Brahmans ; and Captain Low, in his account 

 of T'-nnaaserim (' Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,' vol. ii. p. 267), 

 tells us that in that province dramatic representations found'- 1 on tin- 

 history of Kama ore a favourite entertainment of the inhabitants. We 

 merely hint the probability of some influence having been exercised by 

 this adoption of Brahmanic notions upon the architecture and sculptured 

 decorations of temples, Ac. erected by the Buddhist*; and the possi- 

 bility that, where remains of buildings of a Brahmanic character are 

 found near Others of Buddhist character, both may be the work of the 

 fetter Met. 



The first foreign country into which Buddhism was introduced from 

 India appears to have been the island of Ceylon. According to the 

 traditions preserved in the Mahsranst and RAjavali, chronicles of 

 Ceylon, written in the Pali language, the aland received its first civili- 

 sation through Vijsya, the son of Binhabtha, king of Waggoo (in the 

 northern Circars); who, being expelled from his father's kingdom. 

 Marked with 700 followers, and landed on Ceylon on the day of 

 Boddha's death; that is, according to th* Cingalese computation, 

 in April, 543 B.C. But Vijaya himself was not a Buddhist) and 

 although there i* a notion of a primeval Buddhism in Ceylon previou* 



to the *g* of th* reputed founder of the sect, yet it waa not till 

 B.O. 807 that Ceylon was converted. Nearly eight oenturie* later, 

 a learned priest named Buddba-ghosana, who cam* from Jambudwtpa, 

 on the continent of India, amplified and commented upon the tenets of 

 Buddhism. Thu is said to have been done in the reign of king 

 A.D. 410-432. It deserves to be noticed, that according to 



th* Mahaniaaven, chronicle in the Birman language. Pali books (and 

 the doetrmea of Buddha ?) were brought from Ceylon to Pegu by a 

 priest named Boudogoaa ; the date assigned to thia occurrence is the 

 year 940 of the Birman era, corresponding to A.D. 897. (' Alphaletum 

 Barmanum aeu Regni Avensis.' Edit. alt. Kom. 1787.) That the 

 Birmans still acknowledge the reception of their religion and laws 

 from Ceylon ia attnttd by the curious fact that, about the year 1790, 

 the king of Ava sent at separate times two messengers to Ceylon, to 

 procure copies of their sacred writings; and in one instance the 

 Birman minister made an official application to the Governor-general of 

 India to protect and assist the person charged with the commission. 

 (Symes, ' Embassy to Ava,' p. 304.) An opinion seems jjven to prevail 



among the Talapoins or priests of Ava, that out of the Birmese empire 

 and the island of Ceylon, there are no true and legitimate prieata of 

 the laws of Buddha, (Sangermano, p. 83.) Two figures of Gaudama 



were sent from Tayoung, in Birma, by dipt. Hannay to Col H. Burnwy, 

 with inscriptions in the Deva-nagari character, of which the following 

 is a part : " The not doing of every kind of evil, and purifying saw 

 cleansing the heart: these above-mentioned are the precepts of 

 Buddha." 



Of many of the sovereigns of Ceylon we find it mentioned that they 

 formed tanks, or built and restored edifices for various religious pur- 

 poses. Mahtoen, who reigned from A.D. 275 till 301, entered into 

 negotiations with Guhaoeva, king of Dansapura in Kalinga, to procure 

 the surrender l" n r.-lic called the Uangistra Dalada, or right canine 

 tooth of Buddha ; it arrived in Ceylon during the reign of Mahfeen's 

 son (A.D. 308), and has since then on several occasions played a con- 

 spicuous part in the history of the island, owing to the importance 

 attached to it by the inhabitants. As early as the year 209 of our era 

 we find a schism among the Ceylonese Buddhists mentioin-d ; it origi- 

 nated in the doctrines put forth by one Wytooliya, which were adopted 

 by the priests resident at a temple called the Abayagiri vihara. An 

 inquiry was instituted, and the doctrine having been found incorrect, 

 the books in which it was set forth were destroyed. These otrong 

 measures did not, however, effectually check the progress of the 

 BchiHin ; and during a considerable period we find indications of the 

 alternate triumph and oppression of the heretical party. Another 

 heresy, called the Wijrawadiya, is stated to have been introduced into 

 < Vvl.'ii from the continent of India daring the first half of the 9th 

 century. 



With regard to the Cingalese, Mr. Robert Spence Hardy has pub- 

 lished two valuable works, containing an account in considerable 

 detail of Buddhism as it exists in Ceylon. In the first, ' Eastern 

 Monachum,' which appeared in 1850, he has collected from Cingalese 

 authorities an ' account of the origin, laws, discipline, sacred writing*, 

 mysterious rites, religious ceremonies, and present circumstances of the 

 ordt-r of mendicants founded by Gotuma Budha;' the second, 'A 

 Manual of Budhism, in its modern development; translated from 

 Singhalese MSg.' appeared in 18.53; and comprises a full relation of 

 the doctrines and many of the legends, connected with the faith. The 

 main doctrines are the same as those of the Sanskrit ; the variation 

 from them, as well as those of the legends, are such as have been 

 introduced at subsequent periods, and we have preferred taking the 

 statements from the original sources ; but Mr. Hardy's books are well 

 worth consulting. 



But whilst Buddhism had thus gained ground in Ceylon, and waa 

 from thence propagated to the eastern peninsula, it had to endure in 

 India a long-continued persecution, which ultimately had the effect of 

 entirely abolishing it in the country where it had originated. The 

 motive of these persecutions we confess ourselves unable fully to 

 discover. That the caste of the Brahmans could not without jealousy 

 and alarm witness the progress of a sect which threatened to overthrow 

 their authority, and to deprive them of all those privileges which a 

 creed and a social constitution, sanctioned by the Vedaa, secured to 

 til- in. is natural to suppose. But it is lean intelligible why Indian 

 i long a period of toleration, should have consented 

 tin- Hr.iliin.-iiiH their aid in oppressing a class of their subjects 

 whose principles, it would .ip|>ear to us, ought rather to have recom- 

 mended them as the natural protectors of the royal and civil authority 

 against the ambitious arrogance of an hereditary priesthood ; and the 

 perplexity of this question is still increased by the forbearance shown 

 in every part of India to the Jains, a sect so strikingly similar to the 

 Buddhas, in all those particulars at least which seem to have drawn 

 1 1 P. ,n the latter the hatred of the Brabmam 



Mr. Wilson ('Sanskrit Dictionary/ 1st. edit., preface, pp.xv.-xx.) has 

 shown that the religious wars of the Brahmanical Hindus with the 

 Buddhist* commenced in the 6th, and continued till the 7th century of 

 our era. They have evidently contributed to accelerate the diffusion 

 of Buddhism in other countries, though even in India the sect docs not 

 *sem to have been entirely extinguished for several centuries after the 

 persecution, terminated. Buddhism appears to have been first intro- 

 duced into China about the year 65 of our era, by the authority of the 



