INTRODUCTION. 



THE NAGA IN BUDDHISM, WITH REGARD TO HIS IDENTIFICATION WITH 



THE CHINESE DRAGON. 



§ i. The Waga according to European scholars. 



In order to learn the Buddhist conceptions on the Naga's nature, 

 and the reasons why the Chinese identified this serpent with 

 their four-legged dragon, we have to consult the works of some 

 authorities on Buddhism: Kern, Hardy, Grunwedel and others. 

 For the Naga, known in the Far East, is clad in a Buddhist garb, 

 and the legends about him which became popular in China and 

 Japan were all imbued with Buddhism. Kern, in his History of 

 Indian Buddhism ^, states that the Nagas occupy the eighth rank 

 in the system of the world, after the Buddhas, Pratyekabuddhas, 

 Arhats, Devas, Brahmas, Gandharvas and Garudas, and before 

 the Takshas, Kumbhandas (goblins), Asuras (demons), Raksasas 

 (giants), Pretas (ghosts, spectres) and the inhabitants of hell. 

 "They are water spirits, represented as a rule in human shapes, 

 with a crown of serpents on their heads". And iu his Manual 

 of Indian Buddhism ^ we read that they are "snake-like beings, 

 resembling clouds". As to the enumeration of the beings, this is 

 different in some other texts, as we learn from a note in the 

 same Manual^. In the initial phrase of all the Avadanas 

 Buddha is said to be worshipped by men, Devas, Nagas, 

 Takshas, Asuras, Garudas, Kinnaras and Mahoragas *. These are, 

 however, not exactly the "Eight classes" often mentioned in Chi- 

 nese and Japanese Buddhist works. These are Devas, Nagas, 

 Takshas, Gandharvas, Asuras, Garudas, Kinnaras and Mahoragas ^ 



\ Hisioire du Bouddhisme dans Vlnde, Annales du Mnsee Guimet, Bibl. d'etudes, 

 X et XI, Vol. I, p. 310 (295). 2 P. 59 seq. 3 P. 60, note 1. 



4 LfiON Feer, Avadana-ffataka, Annales du Musee Guimet XVIII, p. 2. 



5 The phrase "Devas, Nagas and (the remaining of the) eight classes" ( ^ ^B /^ 

 ■^ ) is very often found in the Chinese siitras. Edkins {Chinese Buddhism, p. 217) 



says: "Beings inferior to the Devas are called collectively the "Eight classes". This is 



a mistake, for, as Eitel {Sanscr.-Chin. diet. s. v. Naga, p. 103) rightly explains, the 



Verh. Kon. Akad. v. Wetensch. (Afd. Letteri.) N. R. Dl. XIII, N" 3. I 



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